The American Geophysical Union: the privileges of government-paid scientists must come above the Constitution and the ordinary citizens who pay the bills
The American Geophysical Union, where
science is no longer practiced
In a public letter issued late yesterday, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) announced it has joined a lawsuit attempting to make the salaries, jobs, and various research grants of scientists immune from cancellation or the budget cuts that have been ordered by the elected president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Plaintiffs assert that such a sweeping Executive Order — which would impact hundreds of thousands of federal workers — goes far beyond the authority of the President to direct, and that such a massive reorganization of federal agencies must be planned in accordance with law and approved by Congress. AGU’s role in the case will involve illustrating the extensive ways in which scientists and the public will be irreparably harmed by the execution of the President’s order, in particular through proposed mass terminations at NOAA, the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, the Environmental Protectional Agency, and the National Science Foundation.
“This Executive Order is demanding layoffs on such a massive scale that they will have drastic, cascading effects on our members, the global scientific community, and the public,” said Janice R. Lachance, Interim Executive Director and CEO of AGU. “From forecasting severe weather and ensuring healthy crops to preventing uncontrollable wildfires and preparing communities for sea level rise, fully functioning federal scientific agencies are critical.” [emphasis mine]
The highlighted phrases show the priorities. The public comes last. More important are “federal workers,” the “members” of the AGU, and “the global scientific community.” Moreover, the letter reeks of privilege and smug superiority. It assumes that the paychecks from the taxpayers must never end, no matter what. The very idea that the president — duly elected by the American people and whom the Constitution vests with the sole power to run the executive branch of the federal government — should actually do what he promised the voters during the campaign actually offends them. “We come first! To hell with what the public wants!”
None of this should surprise anyone. The AGU, along with most national scientific organizations, has been corrupted by leftist politics for decades. It threw out the fundamentals of objective science years ago when it declared that it will reject any paper that does not support the theory of human-caused global warming. Its PR department has consistently reinforced this unscientific bias, pushing global warming in practically every press release.
And if you still have doubts about its leftist agenda divorced from objective science, you need only read its own description at the end of yesterday’s letter, outlining the organization’s priorities:
AGU is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct. [emphasis mine]
The focus is not on pursuing the truth, which is the hallmark of the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution. Instead the AGU has replaced this with the Marxist mantras of critical race theory, focusing everything on aiding the “global community” under “net zero energy” policies that “foster a diverse and inclusive geoscience community.”
Now AGU is joining the rest of the swamp to protect its cash cow (the federal government) from being eliminated. And the members of that swamp — as listed by the AGU in the letter itself — includes all the usual union and Democratic Party operatives.
AGU is part of a coalition of plaintiffs with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and four AFGE locals, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and SEIU Local 1000, Alliance for Retired Americans, American Public Health Association, Center for Taxpayer Rights, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Common Defense, Main Street Alliance, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Northeast Organic Farming Association Inc., VoteVets, Western Watersheds Project, City and County of San Francisco, California; County of Santa Clara, California; City of Chicago, Illinois; City of Baltimore, Maryland; Harris County, Texas; and King County, Washington.
The goal: Cancelling the Constitution
None of these organizations care one whit for the American citizen and what he or she desires. What they care about solely are their own vested interests, almost all of which are very radically Marxist and focused on empowering the Democratic Party, which acts as its agent within the government.
The ultimate goal is to guarantee federal dollars, no matter what the general public wants. Elections must become irrelevant. What matters is keeping this wine-and-cheese crowd well fed with nice cocktail parties and luxuriant benefits and cushy jobs.
So far the federal courts have shown a disturbing reluctance to rein these lawsuits in, despite the fact that they have little merit in law. If the Supreme Court does not do so soon, the country will be faced with a Hobson’s choice: Either allow the federal courts unlimited ability to rule arbitrarily, which appears to be the goal of many judges in these cases, or ignore the courts entirely. This latter option carries with it horrible consequences, because until now the judicial branch of government acted as a wise check on the abuse of power by the other branches.
If either the executive or legislative branch establishes the precedent that it no longer need to obey the judicial branch, then all bets are off. We will be faced with a government of men, fighting each other for power with little to restrain them.
Of course, this is really what the AGU and its allies really want. Having to bend the knee to a lawful election and the will of the people is so humiliating! It is essential such practices against these superior beings end now!
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I think engineers and police do need some protection–a lot of citizen review boards make law enforcement’s job impossible.
The Faucis and Thunbergs of the world should have no such protection.
I remember a line from THE SPACE REVIEW a few years back where a French woman said “environmentalism is non consensual.”
Please, somebody look that up–Google has it buried.
The same people who say the President should have no authority over them want unquestioned authority over the masses.
Stories about this subject remind me of a wonderful moment in the Cheers TV series. Frazier was celebrating the renewal of his grant. His comment that is unforgettable: “Thank God, for a while I thought I just might have to go out and get a real job.”
Trump is not a king. If budgets are to be reduced or programs terminated, that has to be done by the Congress. Congress holds the power of the purse, not the President. The AGU letter is highly appropriate since the current President is acting like a king and is doing great harm to the scientific community in the process. If Congress passes legislation to reduce funding or terminate programs, so be it, but that is not in the purview of the executive branch.
Bill Farrand wrote: “If budgets are to be reduced or programs terminated, that has to be done by the Congress. Congress holds the power of the purse, not the President.”
This is not strictly true. Congress may not have specified every science study that is to be funded, so the executive branch would have discretion there, but the money allocated by Congress must be spent in the areas specified. The AGU has no claim to any money that Congress did not specify to be spent by the AGU scientists. However, any money specified to be spent on earth sciences must be spent on earth sciences, but the executive branch may choose which science studies to spend it on.
The actual savings in money spent comes with next year’s budget, five months from now.
Bill —
I’m sorry, but we are in an existential struggle for the survival of this country, cf, the national debt (and the unpayable interest charges associated with that) and the ongoing, accelerating devaluation of the dollar. Please be advised — assuming that that you have never thought about it in these terms — that the AGU’s cushy “entitlement” program (and much of the rest of what our government does) is increasingly funded with BORROWED MONEY, and I’d greatly appreciate hearing your explanation as to how this can continue to “work.”*
*Those who are enjoying the current series about the life and times of Marie Antoinette on PBS will surely have noted that deficit spending and government borrowing are not a modern invention. Nor will it work out any better for us today, though the people most responsible for our current predicament will probably keep their heads.
,
Sadly, Congress (although you are correct in theory) long ago effectively abdicated any responsibility for putting this country back on a sustainable fiscal path, and they are now a major component of the PROBLEM, not a solution. Like him or not, Donald Trump and the people around him would seem to be the only people in Washington who have any interest in actually halting this country’s slide into
penury, and — again — I’d love to hear your theories about why our present trajectory will work out well for us.
There is an old saying with respect to judicial interpretation that “the Constitution is not a suicide pact,” and — as in Lincoln’s case during the Civil War — adhering to all of the niceties of peacetime is neither advisable nor appropriate in a time of war. Bill, I honestly think that people ought to be down on their knees *thanking* Mr. Trump and his associates for at least having the audacity to believe that they *can* right the ship of state and save it from all of the people who believe in magical thinking and that history holds no lessons for us.
Just saying.
Well good luck with that wish list.
That is going nowhere fast, they will have to wait for the next all Democrat / Communist government that they control and that will not be happening any time soon given the ridiculous and fractured condition their leadership is in.
The “NEW” Democrat / Socialist party leader, AOC has already stated several years ago based on her extensive personal research that the planet only has 12 years left. And that was in 2019 so there is only 6 years to go. The Democrats will be out of political power of consequence for at least the next 15 to 20 years.
https://www.newsweek.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-climate-change-world-will-end-12-years-un-report-1300873
“Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat from New York, called climate change “our World War II” and warned that the world will end in 12 years if we don’t address global warming on Monday.”
Over at threads.com/@geography is a depiction of the African coast if all ice melted–the hump of Africa (where the oil is conveniently) is flooded–but nothing else.
Now depictions of North America show the Deep Gulf South flooded, which has the ring of truth-
–but…
I also looked at images of Africa’s coastline back in the thick of the last ice age.
And the coastline was largely unchanged there too.
Gee–I didn’t know the whole African continent was atop a ginormous mess where the sea levels could rise and fall half a kilometer and it make no difference.
For those of you with better computer skills–please do some screensaves before the maps disappear.
I suppose if you want to scare Republicans, having a shot of the flooded Southeast is like the fear of contagion that allowed Faucis to shut down America.
Jeff Wright,
While I generally regard government employee unions as one of the worst things the left ever saddled us with, the last few years have demonstrated that first responders do need institutional protection from the deranged Democrat wokesters still in charge of most major US cities.
Bill Farrand,
The academic and corporate fraudsters and grifters who benefit most from “science” funding – and who are, of course, wailing the loudest about their ill-gotten rice bowls being kicked over – are the same ones who contribute almost entirely to Democrat Congresscritters who, when they are in a suitable majority, keep the goodies coming. The entire system is corrupt from top to bottom.
If the Congress stays Republican for awhile – and the eminently corruptible RINOs are primaried out – Congress will make a lot of these cuts a matter of law as well as executive order. What, I wonder, will be your sob story then?