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In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice. (nytimes.com)
Anonymous readers share a report: As President Trump prepares to meet Kim Jong-un of North Korea to negotiate denuclearization, a challenge that has bedeviled the world for years, he is doing so without the help of a White House science adviser or senior counselor trained in nuclear physics. Mr. Trump is the first president since 1941 not to name a science adviser, a position created during World War II to guide the Oval Office on technical matters ranging from nuclear warfare to global pandemics. As a businessman and president, Mr. Trump has proudly been guided by his instincts. Nevertheless, people who have participated in past nuclear negotiations say the absence of such high-level expertise could put him at a tactical disadvantage in one of the weightiest diplomatic matters of his presidency.
"You need to have an empowered senior science adviser at the table," said R. Nicholas Burns, who led negotiations with India over a civilian nuclear deal during the George W. Bush administration. "You can be sure the other side will have that." The lack of traditional scientific advisory leadership in the White House is one example of a significant change in the Trump administration: the marginalization of science in shaping United States policy. There is no chief scientist at the State Department, where science is central to foreign policy matters such as cybersecurity and global warming. Nor is there a chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture: Mr. Trump last year nominated Sam Clovis, a former talk-show host with no scientific background, to the position, but he withdrew his name and no new nomination has been made.
"You need to have an empowered senior science adviser at the table," said R. Nicholas Burns, who led negotiations with India over a civilian nuclear deal during the George W. Bush administration. "You can be sure the other side will have that." The lack of traditional scientific advisory leadership in the White House is one example of a significant change in the Trump administration: the marginalization of science in shaping United States policy. There is no chief scientist at the State Department, where science is central to foreign policy matters such as cybersecurity and global warming. Nor is there a chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture: Mr. Trump last year nominated Sam Clovis, a former talk-show host with no scientific background, to the position, but he withdrew his name and no new nomination has been made.
That expire in 6 hours, time to use them!
Do you have any examples (specific quotations would be awesome but I think that might be asking too much) of bad science advice people have given with regards to Korea?
I'm imagining something like "Mr. President, they'll never get an atomic bomb, because according to my phrenology charts, Koreans just aren't smart enough to be able to accomplish it" but I'm just making it up and haven't actually heard such an anecdote. But you have obviously heard some things like that offered to prior presidents, so please, please share!
Yeah I'm sure that South Korea had nothing at all to do with the peace talks. Of course it was God Emperor Trump that scared Kim Jong-Un into submission.
Since when has the US given a hoot about international laws?
Until then, alt's right with the world.
FTFY
#DeleteChrome
Sorry, but you'll have to forgive him, he was typing through a quantum gateway to our universe using some scavenged together computer parts that somehow survived the EMP after Iran and North Korea started WW-III and nuked America in 2009..
If you look back through his netbook's webcam, you can see SuperKendall waving his fist in the air, as he screams into the sky: Thanks Obama!
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
We of the dark side freely admit that Obama was a better golfer than Trump. He had more practice.