Had to laugh at Trump’s press secretary yesterday

[pdq]

On the news yesterday, a few reporters pressed her for examples of the “billions and billions” of purported fraud and waste Trump says Elmo is finding. She came up with a DEI grant which totaled $4 million, and called it “fraud”, though there was nothing “fraudulent” about it; the news (NBC) noted that “fraud” is illegal, and there was no allegation or evidence of illegal behavior.

Also:

Sen. Ted Cruz's list of "woke" science includes self-driving cars, solar eclipses

There is nothing like being in the path of totality during a total solar eclipse.

… But only a sliver of the country gets this first-hand view. For the 2024 eclipse, [Corinne Brevik, a physicist at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale] used money from a National Science Foundation grant to help middle schoolers host a live, interactive broadcast that brought together kids within the path of totality with those around the country outside the path. It meant thousands of students could share the experience.

You may recall that the 125 mile-wide path of totality passed through, yup, Southern Illinois.

… On Tuesday, Brevick was surprised to learn that her grant was one of over 3,400 NSF grants labeled by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as "Woke DEI" research that may be advancing "neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda."

I looked it up in Cruz’ proffered “database” (said Cruz, I am proud to release our investigation’s database, which exposes how the Biden administration weaponized federal agencies to push a far-left ideology.) Brevik’s grant is described as:

Real field trip model for the 2024 total solar eclipses -approximately 7 million school-age children live inside the path of totality for the 2024 total solar eclipse. this means that most school-age children in the united states will not be in the path of totality.

A project run through southern illinois university will develop and assess a remote engagement and access to learning (real) field trip model that would allow any school, regardless of location, funding, or other barriers, to have its students actively participate in large-scale, localized scientific events such as a solar eclipse. the model will be tested, developed and activated for the april 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. the impact of this type of active scientific participation for students will be measured amongst various populations to determine the model’s effectiveness in overcoming inequalities in science-education opportunities.

The real field trip model, if shown to be successful, could be used for a vast array of future scientific events and phenomena, allowing school kids from across the country to interactively participate in distant, real-time, scientific events. this will increase science literacy and numbers of children who become interested in science and stem careers.

three middle schools located in the path of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse and three middle schools located out of the path of totality will participate in the real field trip. student interaction with the real field trip will occur both prior to and during the eclipse via various online streaming opportunities.

prior to the eclipse, teacher-led instruction will be supplemented by pre-recorded downloadable discussions of eclipses from a diverse group of experts, providing scientific as well as artistic, economic, and historical discussions of current and past eclipses. students will also have the opportunity to create their own eclipse videos that can be submitted for inclusion in the live eclipse broadcast. during the eclipse, students, both in and out of the path of totality, will be able to actively participate in the eclipse experience through a variety of streaming interactions including a question and answer chat session, where experts will be on hand to answer student questions in real time. data will be collected prior to and after the eclipse to assess the efficacy of the real field trip model.

in addition, the april 2024 total solar eclipse experience will be expanded beyond the partner schools through a professionally produced live tv broadcast simulcast with the real field trip over the national pbs feed. this broadcast format will reach a much larger national audience. this award reflects nsf's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.

(Sorry about the de-capitalization; Cruz’ database shouts it in ALL CAPS).

So, this person applied for a grant to develop a program to allow schoolchildren across the country to see the 2024 eclipse live, as a model for future similar science/STEM events to inspire kids (not “black kids”, or “girls” or “gay/transgender/LGBTQ kids”, or “left-leaning marxist kids” - just American kids) about STEM interests or careers. And testing the project to see if it had positive results which could be quantified. And it was funded, legally, through normal channels, to the tune of $400k.

That’s how the Biden administration weaponized federal agencies to push a far-left ideology.)

:RollingEyesSmiley5:

[Lemon Drop]

That press sec is something straight out of 1984.

And I don't mean her hair and wardrobe.

The way she maligned the AP for not using "gulf of america" calling them liars...a lightly modified paragraph from Orwell.

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

[DeusxMac]

Lemon Drop wrote:
That press sec is something straight out of 1984.

And I don't mean her hair and wardrobe.

miley-laughing001:

miley-score010:

[pdq]

A little more on Cruz’ “database” of “Neo-Marxist class-warfare propaganda” grants, which he apparently considers fraudulent and wasteful.

I went to the trouble of sorting by grant size. The seven largest grants:

U of Illinois-Urbana computing center [where Mosaic was developed, the predecessor to all modern web browsers]:
… the national center for supercomputing applications (ncsa) at the university of illinois at urbana-champaign will deploy and operate Delta-AI, an advanced computing and data resource that will be a companion system to ncsa’s delta system. in doing so, deltaai will greatly expand the ai-focused computing capacity available within the nsf-funded advanced computing ecosystem…

U of Illinois-Urbana again:
…core national ecosystem for cyberinfrastructure…

Colorado - Wyoming climate resilience engine:
… both states have a commitment to address climate-related challenges faced by communities of this region. the nsf engine has the potential to increase the nation's ability to compete on a global stage as the world races to find technology solutions to the world's greatest climate challenges while also unlocking regional economic growth and creating opportunities…

Louisiana energy transition engine: -
This nsf engines award to the louisiana energy transition engine will advance our nation’s capacity for innovation in clean energy by driving research and commercialization efforts in carbon capture, hydrogen as an alternative fuel, carbon dioxide as a feedstock, sustainable water, sustainable manufacturing for clean energy, and economic and policy research to promote pathways to decarbonization in the state of louisiana…

North Dakota advanced agriculture technology engine:
The North Dakota advanced agriculture technology engine will advance our nation’s capacity for innovation in advanced agriculture by driving research and commercialization efforts to increase the growth of existing crops, introducing new crops, and monitoring and optimizing crop growth in north dakota…

Southwest [Utah, Nevada, and Arizona] sustainability innovation engine:
nsf engines award to the southwest sustainability innovation engine will advance us innovation capacity in three interrelated areas of sustainability: (1) water security, (2) renewable energy, and (3) net carbon emissions. the southwest (sw) region of the u.s. is changing rapidly, and like many regions around the world, is experiencing increasingly harsh climate conditions?with wide-ranging impacts, from extreme weather events that damage infrastructure and pose serious health risks to increasing water and energy insecurity that threaten economic prosperity…

Do those sound like Neo-Marxist class-warfare propaganda to you? It sounds like science dealing with the real world to me. What gives me hope is that the brain-dead approach of these demagogues covers grants all over the country. Fifty to Alabama. Fourteen to Alaska. Eighty-seven to Arizona.

And so on, including two hundred and fifty-six to Cruz’ home state of Texas. Are these states hotbeds of Neo-Marxist class warriors?

This is all BS, and the people that are putting it out know it’s all BS. They’re counting on a lower-information, low-curiosity gullible base to not check out the details.

But it’s going to hit science in this country like a hammer…and all to try to justify their upcoming tax cut giveaway costing trillions.

These people are evil. Also short-sighted, anti-science, and deeply cynical. But mostly just evil.

Don’t let them ruin our country.

[Lemon Drop]

"These people are evil. Also short-sighted, anti-science, and deeply cynical. But mostly just evil.

Don’t let them ruin our country."


The number of people really paying attention is very small.

Only solutions are voting and courts. I'm not sure either will save us.

[PeterB]

DeusxMac wrote:
[quote=Lemon Drop]
That press sec is something straight out of 1984.

And I don't mean her hair and wardrobe.

miley-laughing001:

miley-score010:
She's simply following in the footsteps of one of her predecessors:

[Lux Interior]

She need s a bigger crucifix.

Not sure if she is sufficiently christian.

[NewtonMP2100]

….it is clear that she is out of her depth….probably one of the worst press secretaries……

[SteveG]

Texas? The Harvard educated Canadian Rafael Cruz?

"He was afraid of everything there might be in this wilderness--snakes, rats, brigands, centipedes, mirages, cowboys, fandangoes, tarantulas, tamales--he had read of them in the story papers."
-O. Henry


Cancun is much safer

[Acer]

I miss Jen Psaki. That war-binder of indexed pages was chef's kiss.