Guest “Somebody call a wambulance” by David Middleton

‘We need to be ready for a new world’: scientists globally react to Trump election win

Trump’s decisive defeat of Kamala Harris spurs fear about the future of the United States among many researchers.

Scientists around the world expressed disappointment and alarm as Republican Donald Trump won the final votes needed to secure the US presidency in the early hours of 6 November. Owing to Trump’s anti-science rhetoric and actions during his last term in office, many are now bracing for four years of attacks on scientists inside and outside the government.

“In my long life of 82 years … there has hardly been a day when I felt more sad,” says Fraser Stoddart, a Nobel laureate who left the United States last year…

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Worries pouring in this morning align with those expressed by the majority of readers who responded last month to a survey conducted by Nature. Eighty-six per-cent of the more than 2,000 people who answered the poll said that they favoured Harris, owing to concerns including climate change, public health and the state of US democracy. Some even said they would consider changing where they live or study if Trump won.

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Nature

“Some … said they would consider changing where they live or study if Trump won.”

“Well… bye”

Maybe this is the problem…

Eighty-six per-cent of the more than 2,000 people who answered the poll said that they favoured Harris…

This seems to imply that there was damn near one of those 95% scientific consensus thingies. I’m a scientist, a geologist, and I wasn’t surveyed. However, I’m fairly certain that the several dozen geoscientists and engineers I work with every day, would have expressed more than 85% support for President Trump. It all depends on who you ask.

Maybe these “scientists” need some therapy puppies

“Bonnie and Clyde” are ready and willing to help out.

Deal with it

Four years ago, we had to deal with the results of the shamdemic* and the 2020 coup d’état.

(*Shamdemic: government-imposed economic lockdowns and other tyrannical measures in response to ChiCom-19.)

Biden had literally promised to destroy our oil & gas industry and spent the next four years trying to deliver on that promise. We had to deal with that reality. He failed largely due to our victories in court, the resilience of our industry and the fact that the Marcellus Shale and most of the Permian Basin are under state and privately owned lands.

The silver lining to the shamdemic

They used the shamdemic to wage a tyrannical war on individual liberty. This assault on liberty changed our nation’s political dynamic. In 2020, could anyone have imagined that such a diverse a political alliance would form around Donald Trump? J.D. “Hillbilly Elegy” Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Dana White, Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock and now… Joe Rogan? I used to ridicule many of those people. Now they are heroes to me.

The Trump II administration will make science great again.

Making energy great again

Trump vows to cut energy costs in half — and he has a real plan to do it

By Post Editorial Board

Published Aug. 29, 2024

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He’ll “slash red tape,” ramp up approvals of new power plants, spur nuclear energy, and roll back Democrats’ fossil-fuel restrictions.

Hear, hear! It’s the all-of-the-above strategy that led the nation to become in Trump’s first term.

And it would once again yield huge gains not just for America, but the entire Free World.

As former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt made clear on a campaign press call, such plans are vital to future prosperity.

“Between soaring demand and retiring coal, we are facing a great [energy] capacity shortfall of at least 30% by 2032,” Bernhardt warned — arguing that Team Harris-Walz can’t make up the difference thanks to “their net zero vision.”

Democrats are too obsessed with reducing carbon emissions, and so block not only new gas- and oil-drilling, but also new pipelines, refineries, fossil-fuel power plants (and cars and stoves and heating) and so on.

Under Trump’s plan, Bernhardt predicted, “every manufacturing plant, every data center, every semiconductor facility and assembly line will want to be built in America — because America will be the place where the cost of energy is lower than anywhere else on Earth.”

Those lower costs will help rein in inflation in America as well: After all, energy — electricity for manufacturing or oil for transportation — accounts for a hefty share of the cost of nearly every product.

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New York Post

While I don’t see a pathway to cutting energy costs in half, relative to where they are today, ditching the Paris Accord and net-zero mandates will undoubtedly lead to much lower energy costs than the current trajectory. Making energy more abundant and affordable will lead to greater prosperity, which will make more funding available for real science.

To the “scientists” fretting about Trump and his allies:

“You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Watching the Starship booster rocket land on the launch pad was like all of my favorite 196’s space movies and TV shows become a reality.

The fact that Elon’s Starship looks just like Fireball XL5 makes this even more priceless!

Trump & Musk: Ad Astra!

Mars quest: President Trump and Elon Musk’s grand vision

by Greg Autry and Brett Mecum, opinion contributors – 09/28/24

In September of 1962, John F. Kennedy famously told Americans, “We choose to go to the Moon.” Former President Donald Trump recently echoed this sentiment with “Elon, get those rocket ships going because we want to reach Mars.”

Trump has often talked about reaching Mars. We find his new challenge to be a continuation of the fruitful space initiatives of his first administration, complementary to the bold return to the moon under Artemis.

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There would be two launch windows for an efficient Mars mission during a second Trump administration — in 2026 and 2028. The remaining requirements are technical and political.

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When SpaceX first launched a Falcon 9 rocket in 2010, America held a big, fat zero percent of the global commercial launch market today. Today, most payloads are launched by SpaceX, which now flies more rockets than the entire planet did in 2010.

In 2010 there were about 1,000 active satellites in orbit. Today, Musk’s Starlink constellation operates more than six times that number, more than the rest of the commercial, military and governmental world combined.

Trump’s space record is equally intimidating. No president has had a greater overall impact on U.S. space policy. Trump reestablished the National Space Council. He created the Space Force. He initiated NASA’s return to the moon under Artemis.

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We have no doubt that Starships will be standing on Mars by 2029 if the government doesn’t get in Musk’s way. After several test flights, Starship is looking capable, and landing one on Mars is easier in some ways than the moon mission that NASA has contracted it for.

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To achieve that, the second Trump administration must immediately streamline and simplify launch permit and license requirements. Musk has noted that launching each Starship requires “multiple fish licenses,” on top of FAA safety reviews. Requiring each launch to clear several hurdles is a waste of time we cannot afford in a globally competitive market.

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America has always been at its best facing a crisis or a challenge. When we have the will, we have always found bold leaders able to answer the clarion call. Trump and Musk are ready to go: Are we?

Greg Autry served as White House liaison to NASA in the Trump administration and is the co-author of “Red Moon Rising: How America Will Beat China on the Final Frontier.”  Brett Mecum serves on the Arizona Space Commission.

The Hill