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The science lobby looks at Trump’s pick for Health Secretary

Link here. The Nature article clearly takes a partisan and opposition view of Trump’s pick, Congressman Tom Price (R-Georgia). Nonetheless, it does give good insight into Price himself. I especially like this quote, used by Nature to imply that Price is somehow hostile to science:

But Price’s stance on biomedical research issues is harder to parse. He has taken few public positions on science, but has consistently pushed to cut overall federal spending. Last year, he voted against a bill that would overhaul FDA regulations and provide US$8.75 billion in mandatory funding to the NIH over five years.

Price also opposes President Barack Obama’s proposed $755-million Cancer Moonshot, which seeks to double the pace of cancer research over the next decade. “We’re all in favour of increasing funding for cancer research,” Price told STAT News in January. “The problem that the administration has is that they always want to add funding on, they never want to decrease funding somewhere else. That’s what needs to happen.” [emphasis mine]

There was once a time where Price’s approach would have been considered plain common sense. In today’s mad leftwing world however the idea that resources are not unlimited and that people have to make careful choices is considered evil and anti-science.

Expect these kinds of attacks to continue nonstop throughout the entire Trump administration, especially if that administration and Congress continue to push for a bit of restraint on budget issues. This is what happened during Reagan’s first term in the 1980s. The result was that eventually Reagan was never able to trim costs or eliminate any federal agencies, as the attacks caused many of his more radical cabinet picks to resign and the Republicans in Congress to eventually back down.

Today, however, things are different in one major way. Then, there was no alternative to the liberal press. Today, there are such alternatives. Moreover, the bias of the liberal press today is much more evident. Many more people recognize it, and do not take their howls of indignation as seriously. If Trump and the Republicans have some courage and do not back down, they can win this battle. All it will take is some courage. We shall see if they have it.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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10 comments

  • Garry

    If Trump truly wants to drain the swamp, he’ll nominate a real tiger to head the VA (I’m thinking someone from industry, with experience in radical restructuring), then work with Congress to change the rules to facilitate personnel moves within the VA hierarchy. Romney may be the perfect man for the job; he has the turnaround experience, and he has as much credibility as anyone else in terms of his integrity.

    Ideally, I’d like Trump to overhaul the VA, and use that as a template to loosen employment rules across the whole government and clean house. Without changing the rules for hiring, firing, promoting, and demoting bureaucrats, the swamp is going to remain largely undrained. I think the VA is the best place to start, because it has the dirtiest laundry.

    I’m not sure what to make of Trump reportedly not working on the VA appointment; I’m hoping that what he and Romney are talking about.

  • LocalFluff

    Climate “science” and cancer curing research haven’t made any significant progress during the last half century or so. Apparently the economy and technology in general, i.e. physics which is making extremely successful progress at unimaginable pace, needs to be given priority until new magic abilities have been created which might change the losing game of climate and cancer science. When we have 100 fold the economy and 100 fold the technology of today, then maybe a second look at those today failed sciences can start to make useful progress.

    @Garry
    Don’t worry about Romney. It is just about humiliating him:
    Trump: “- I very much like your merits for secretary of state, Mitty. But as you well know, the unity of the party and loyalty are very important to me. How do you manage those issues now? I’d really really like to have you as my secretary of state, that was my assumption when I went down that escalator a year and a half ago. Believe me. Do you remember when you were ready to get down on your knees for me when I supported your failed campaign against Romney four years ago? You need to get back into that mindset again.”

    And the Mitt will cry as he in his magic underwear regrets that he bet on the dead horse, and therefor never will have any kind of relevance in politics again.

  • LocalFluff

    Against Obama, of course, typo above.

  • wayne

    Garry–
    I have to respectfully counter-differ on Romney. I just want him to go away…
    (I am just so sick of, all the Usual-Suspects.)
    On board, with your other thoughts.

    LocalFluff–
    You continue to enjoy this all, way-too-much. (but I can’t say I blame you one bit & I’m sympathetic to your Flair!)
    :)
    Not be a lefty thought-police-guy, but I must draw the line with making fun of Mormon attire, Romney has plenty of other loser “accomplishment’s” for which we should rightly MOCK him openly & mercilessly! (within the bounds of civil-discourse, of course.)

    >When it comes to mocking Scientology… Go for it. I’ll help you.

    I’m not as convinced DJT is as Machiavellian as you might suspect. But, we shall see… I worry more about his underlings & the entrenched mid-level Apparatchik’s that actually make the Federal Leviathan function.
    (Unlike Europeans, we American’s have historically distrusted our central Federal Government, and indeed, all Politician’s in general, at all levels. Paraphrasing Mark Twain, “American has no native born criminal class, except for Congress.”

    Tangentially–can you relate DJT to any of the Shakespeare stories?
    (I’m drawing a blank today….)

  • Garry

    LocalFluff – it appears you misunderstand me; I’m hoping that Trump picks Romney for the Veterans Administration. I don’t think anybody can give the VA the overhaul it needs without some serious support from Congress (most importantly, giving the employees less job security), but if Congress gives that backing, I think Romney may be one of the best candidates.

    Wayne, my formative years in management gave me an approach of ignoring personal likes and dislikes and putting people in the job where they could put their talents to best use, whether I liked them or not.

    I was in positions where serious overhaul was needed, and if I fired somebody I had no means of getting a replacement, so I had to work with what I had (or in extreme cases just get rid of somebody toxic and redistribute the workload). Often, as a problem child took responsibility and matured, I found I disliked his less.

    Perhaps that’s been a blind spot of mine the past 10 years as I’ve worked as a supervisor in the private sector and have more options than I used to.

    Romney annoys me, but from what little I know about him, I get the impression he’s a great turnaround artist. Despite the pathetic attempts to paint him as a high school bully, a dog abuser, and a purveyor of “binders full of woman,” I think he has a lot of integrity, good intentions, and a sense of fairness.

    I don’t see him as a good candidate for Secretary of State; I’d be more comfortable with him executing policy rather than making it, and the VA seems like a challenge he could really sink his teeth into, if given the right tools.

  • wayne

    “Romney-Care”
    When it mattered the most, he went Statist.
    I’d happily have him as my next door neighbor but I just want him to go away.

  • Garry

    That’s an example of what I mean when I say that I’d rather have his executing policy than making it.

  • wayne

    Garry–
    Yes, I do agree with that thought.
    I’d just prefer, we didn’t keep picking out of the same pool.

    One major obstacle I think the Trump team is facing, above & beyond “politics,” is that they were late to start compiling lists of potential candidates for 3,500+ appointed positions.
    –You have to delegate that sort of HR task and it’s a lot of work, and open to politicization.

    We’ll have a much better picture of the global direction Trump is going in the next 8 months.
    Same with the Dems and Big Media.

    total tangent-
    –excellent discussion on generic & Patent pharmaceutical’s in the other thread a week ago.

  • Edward

    wayne,
    I’m going to side with Garry on this one, and for a reason that I hope you appreciate.

    The VA is already a statist operation, by design, so Romney couldn’t make it much more so. After his Romneycare fiasco, there is a chance that he would like the “voucher” idea that is kicking around. Finally, the head of the VA is not heard from when things are going well; he is invisible, and no one cares who he is (without looking it up, do you remember the name of the current one?). Unless Romney messes up, putting him there would be more likely to have him seem to go away than many other possible positions that he might end up in, including working in private enterprise.

  • wayne

    Edward-
    I do see your point….
    Just…. suffering Romney-fatigue. Don’t hate the guy, just want him to Go Away.
    (Paraphrasing Jim Morrison & The Doors; “He’s rich, got a big car…”)

    >We had to deal with his whacky Dad in Michigan and I do empathize with Massachusetts.
    My off the cuff analogy might be; how you might feel about the whole Governor Brown thing in California.

    – Bottom line with DJT; he gets to pick anyone he wants. I really shouldn’t expect he would choose people that I like, although I reserve my right to back-seat drive.

    How about maybe considering someone like Darryl Glenn? He needs a job. And I tend to think he would rise to the occasion.

    https://electdarrylglenn.com/meet-darryl/

    (Priebus refused to help him out with RNC money in his election bid.)

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