Well, At Least It’s Kinda Science.
Uh, we’re having fun now.
Trump just appointed his top science advisor.
Michael Kratsios is now the de facto head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. He’s 31 years old, but at least he has a degree in science – political science, with an emphasis on Hellenic studies.
Close, Trump, but no cigar.
The Scientific American lets their feelings known about still not having anyone named to be head of Science and Technology Policy.
And it’s unlikely to change soon, observers say, leaving President Trump without a science adviser as the administration wrestles with a severe outbreak of the flu, lead-poisoned drinking water and record-breaking disasters that many scientists say are sharpened by rising temperatures.
But, instead we get Michael Kratsios, who is damn proud of his work with Steve Forbes and claims to have “a passion for technology, politics, Greece, and travel.” Yeah, but what can you tell me about physics or biology?
Cheeezzzzzz.
What reputable scientist would want this job?
1None that I know (and I know many, being one myself).
2The Trump misadministration has gone out of its way to find people who are the least qualified possible to fill its positions. They’re out to break the government.
If they follow the usual GOP path, then they’ll complain bitterly how the government is broken, and how nothing will save it but hiring radicals, idiots, and incompetents like them.
3As a poli sci major of yore (Soviet Studies to be exact and oddly enough no longer an irrelevant degree) who works at a non-profit science institution, let me second lumpkin’s rhetorical question. I haven’t yet talked with a scientist who isn’t livid about this administration. Not saying one doesn’t exist but they’d be a rara avis. Or more probably a Rattus rattus.
4Hmmmm
But only the best people. Right?
5So, he has an interest in Greek culture? I wonder whether he knows what that used to be slang for.
I also recall people blaming the fall of the aBritish Empire in part on people who thought the ability to conjugate Latin verbs also imbued one with knowledge of all other matters.
6Yes, let’s return to the golden age of Greece, when they led the known world in science and philosophy. The sun moved overhead across our flat earth. And low taxes. Good times.
7Actually, the Greeks knew the world is round. And they had a pretty good idea of its diameter.
8Franklin Graham’s already got a purty good gig.
9Donnie’s said to have his fingers crossed that he’ll come around. But given the size of those fingers, no-one wants to get close enough to verify that.
“a passion for technology, politics, Greece, and travel.”
Only seems to
10“a passion for technology, politics, Greece, and travel.”
Only seems to be one word missing there. Maybe “science”?
11Jess says:
Actually, the Greeks knew the world is round.
Yes, the turning point (for Greek science) was about 500 BC. And then some time for the general population to catch on. I would guess they probably had a Δημοκρατία (Republic-an) Party that ran on a solid Flat Earth Platform for a long, long period of time well after 500 BC.
12Why not Stephen King, who writes SCIENCE fiction? Oh, wait, King hates Trump.
13I’m assuming that Trump flunked all his science classes, or whatever he had that passed for schooling. He either has no concept of science or scientists, or has some vague notion and hates both. He keeps nominating people off the street for science positions in the administration.
No, scratch that– people off the street would average a better concept of science than that. The people he’s nominating are actively hostile to science and facts.
14How could anyone expect any other outcome with the Drumpf Circus. In order to respect science, one would have to respect education. In order to respect education, one would have respect for the truth. The Liar-In-Chief and all of his sanctimonious psychophants (not misspelled) have absolutely no respect for the truth, therefore science be damned!
15Well, ya gotta realize that when Trump says “the best people”, he means the best people that he knows personally.
And who does he know? Other people just like him. That is; grifters, scammers, contract-breaking chiselers, thieves, tax cheats, social climbers, posers, dirty old men, misogynists, narcissistic authoritarians, pathological liars, and racist d-bags.
When your talent pool is a cesspool, the results are all too predictable.
16I forgot to add:
Many of these people, also like Trump, are privileged, entitled underachievers who have never had a job outside their own family’s company or a friend’s business, never had to compete on anything like a level playing field, and never been held accountable for anything. No wonder they perceive any interaction with the world where the rest of us reside as “unfair”.
Granted, Trump did achieve something on his own, but only aided and abetted by a series of Daddy’s bailouts, multiple bankruptcies, and very able lawyers and accountants, who possess the actual smarts that he claims for himself. He has had more failed ventures, extra chances, and inflated reports of success than any 100 of his competitors. His one true gift: just keep moving and destroy everything in your path, like a shark. A cold-blooded, remorseless predator, he can always smell blood in the water.
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