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posted by martyb on Sunday November 19 2017, @04:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the Science dept.

President Trump has been accused of deliberately obstructing research on global warming after it emerged that a critically important technique for investigating polar sea-ice extent and concentration is being blocked.

A key polar satellite used to measure the arctic ice cap failed a few days ago, leaving the US with only three others, and those have lived well beyond their shelf lives. Scientists say there is no chance a new one can be launched until 2023 or later. None of the current satellites will still be in operation then. This will put an end to nearly 40 years of uninterrupted data on polar ice.

It seems like there would be a backup satellite, right? In fact, there was a backup satellite ready to go. Then the Trump Administration destroyed it earlier this year, by order of the US Congress. They said the storage costs were too high.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19 2017, @05:15PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19 2017, @05:15PM (#598968)

    Saying it had nothing to do with him is a slight overstatement. That was during the election season and the GOP legislators were being particularly ignorant trying to hitch their wagons to him.

    But, the larger thing is that the GOP has been pulling this kind of crap for years where they don't want something studied because they know they're wrong. They don't want gun violence studied either because they know that fewer guns would be sold if we had regulations out there preventing people that shouldn't have them from having them and preventing everybody from having the kind of weapons that were used in Los Vegas.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19 2017, @06:17PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19 2017, @06:17PM (#598989)

    OK, enough revisionism.

    The GOP legislators were not trying to hitch their wagon to Trump. Many of them were rather loudly anti-Trump. The GOP establishment hated (and still hates) Trump's greasy orange guts. The only thing that united them at all was a distaste for Hillary, and even then some republicans loudly crossed the aisle to say that they preferred her rather than some moronic orange carnival barker with a stupid hat.

    The voting base didn't get the message, but that's a different question.

    As for the gun violence study thing, they have no problem with it being studied, and in actual fact they cheerfully use FBI and ATF statistics on things such as suicide vs murder, type of firearm used, accidental vs deliberate and location all the freaking time. The problem is that they don't want the CDC or other medical establishments trying to make an epidemiological case out of it while ignoring the fact that guns aren't a disease.

    I get where you're coming from; politicians make a hobby of cherry-picking activities that make them happy. But if you want to take them to task, it helps to start with complaints that are founded in reality.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday November 20 2017, @01:41AM (3 children)

      by frojack (1554) on Monday November 20 2017, @01:41AM (#599094) Journal

      The voting base didn't get the message, but that's a different question.

      I think I see your problem, AC. You seem to have forgotten which way the datagrams flow, and who's duty it is to send ACKs.

      The Voting Base was so sick of both parties that they elected a total outsider. It wasn't an accident. It was intentional.
      Those republicans still resisting the message are slitting their own throat.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @02:58AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 20 2017, @02:58AM (#599124)

        Naah, actually kind of agree with you. It was definitely not an insider's election to win. The main question was who would be the fatcat and who'd be at the head of the baying mob.

        The dems lost, and deserved to lose, because they tried to impose their candidate. The republicans, despite their distaste, played a (halfway) honest game with the nomination, and reaped a reward (of sorts).

        For myself, I thought both candidates were ludicrously bad, but had to give a grudging edge to Trump for being somewhat more in conflict with the entrenched powers.

        • (Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Monday November 20 2017, @02:47PM (1 child)

          by DutchUncle (5370) on Monday November 20 2017, @02:47PM (#599245)

          If this were a sport, or an entertainment show, I'd agree. Since these matters have serious real-world consequences, I'd rather have taken the lesser of the weevils.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @05:24PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @05:24PM (#599735)

            You're kidding me, right?

            The US presidential election is a vast, multinational reality show with incredible ratings. It's entertainment, writ large. Even the olympic games can't match it for sheer spectacle, partly because it has such immense opportunities for ego and scandal.

            And as for real world consequences? More of those, please. Presidents have very limited powers, and even most of those powers are constrained by what the US congress will let them do. Remember Obama's weak sauce remark that he had a phone and a pen? Whoop-de-doo.

            And given all that, for most americans - in fact, even most american voters - the presidential election is an event for which, given their real power to change things, they might as well wipe their asses with their ballots. This is reflected in the huge swathes of the US in which the candidates hardly even bother campaigning.

            Yeah, you might as well treat it as a game show.