Trump taps former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to head Energy Department he once vowed to abolish

[dismal]

Oh, there's no way we can survive without a Department of Energy. It's not like we didn't have one for the country's first 200 years and then hastily slapped one together in the wake of some silly Arab oil embargo.

It would be nice to continue to develop a fusion reactor, manage nuclear waste disposal, track weapons grade nuclear material, develop industrial uses for quantum mechanics. But you are right, we can abandon these things and go back to being yeoman farmers.

I thought we were discussing the regulation of energy sources that actually exist. *shrug*

If you like, you can pretend you are dictator and regulate your energy fantasies in fantasy land.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

It would be nice to continue to develop a fusion reactor, manage nuclear waste disposal, track weapons grade nuclear material, develop industrial uses for quantum mechanics. But you are right, we can abandon these things and go back to being yeoman farmers.

I thought we were discussing the regulation of energy sources that actually exist. *shrug*

If you like, you can pretend you are dictator and regulate your energy fantasies in fantasy land.

The DoE does more than regulate.

So if there is no DoE, who looks after our nuclear arsenal?

You do know that the DoE is responsible for all our nuclear materials as well as our national laboratories?

 

[dismal]

I thought we were discussing the regulation of energy sources that actually exist. *shrug*

If you like, you can pretend you are dictator and regulate your energy fantasies in fantasy land.

The DoE does more than regulate.

So if there is no DoE, who looks after our nuclear arsenal?

You do know that the DoE is responsible for all our nuclear materials as well as our national laboratories?

Hmm, you may have me there. It does not seem possible there's any way it could be done without a DOE.

If only there was some time in the distant past when the DOE did not exist but nuclear weapons did that we could time travel back to to see how it might work.

 

[Deepak]

Hmm, you may have me there. It does not seem possible there's any way it could be done without a DOE.

If only there was some time in the distant past when the DOE did not exist but nuclear weapons did that we could time travel back to to see how it might work.

You mean managing it through a federally administered agency like the AEC or the NRC?

 

[Sue Sponte]

I like this choice. Perry struggles to even remember this department exists. Probably never finds the place

Like Spinal Tap wandering around backstage...

Ha.

I could totally see Perry thinking he can immediately increase our energy output by 10% simply by making dials that go to 11.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Why wouldn't he just make 10 bigger?

 

[Sue Sponte]

Why wouldn't he just make 10 bigger?

I believe Nigel's response would be:

Because it goes to 11.

(For the unknowing, see Spinal Tap)

 

[Loren Pechtel]

So keeping score here, we've got...

A Secretary of Energy who wants to eliminate the Energy Department.

An EPA head who hates the EPA.

An Education Secretary who wants to demolish public schools.

The first Secretary of State to have never held a government job or a military position.

A HUD Secretary who is actually qualified...to be Surgeon General.

What's next?

Trump has to be punking us. I swear I am starting to think this is all just some kind of colossal reality prank show for his new tv station. Either that or he is truly trying to destroy the federal government. He has to be searching for the very opposite of suitable candidates for every one of his cabinet picks. There is no possible way this is accidental.

I feel sick to my stomach every time I think about any of this. Seriously nauseous

Earth to Raven Sky: That's exactly what he's trying to do! He sees the government as the enemy, always telling him that he's doing wrong.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Trump has to be punking us. I swear I am starting to think this is all just some kind of colossal reality prank show for his new tv station. Either that or he is truly trying to destroy the federal government. He has to be searching for the very opposite of suitable candidates for every one of his cabinet picks. There is no possible way this is accidental.

I feel sick to my stomach every time I think about any of this. Seriously nauseous

Earth to Raven Sky: That's exactly what he's trying to do! He sees the government as the enemy, always telling him that he's doing wrong.

I think it's more than that, Loren. He does see the govt as the enemy, but not for it telling him he is wrong--instead for managing his selfish predatory behaviors. With the new cabinet positions, it's not about changing morality but instead destroying regulation and reaping rewards for the oligarchs.

 

[Malintent]

I'd like to remind you of a period of American history in '01 and '08 where bad appointments didn't go well. These people are being appointed to undermine the US, not support it.

You are probably correct. i will not argue with you there. What you are starting to see in my opinion is the final looting of the empire.

In my opinion the US is going down and is going down in such a way it will likely not recover in our lifetimes. We are going back to what we were pre-World War Two with a few rich people at the top and a still existing but very, very much smaller middle class that directly serves the rich.

Well what the fuck did you THINK he meant by "make America great Again"?????

The great mass are going to be poor. I do not predict the country will break up or have a military coup or mass starvation or anything like what some people predict. The US is just going back to what it traditionally had been before the World War and the Soviet threat made it have to develop somewhat for the betterment of all and not just an elite few.

I'm going with "military coup", but in the form of a civilian uprising though local organizations... a resurgence of a militia, as it were... tacitly supported by our military through non-involvement.

 

[Malintent]

how possibly can the Senate approve any of his appointments? There is an approval process, you know...

The President shall have the Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

how possibly can the Senate approve any of his appointments? There is an approval process, you know...

The President shall have the Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

Last I heard, the GOP was trying to get a clause put into a budget bill to ignore the part about the nominees needing to be qualified.

 

[KeepTalking]

how possibly can the Senate approve any of his appointments? There is an approval process, you know...

Last I heard, the GOP was trying to get a clause put into a budget bill to ignore the part about the nominees needing to be qualified.

That was specifically for Flynn, as he is not just not qualified, but not allowed to serve as SecDef by law. They dropped that tactic when it became apparent that the Dems were willing to let them shut down the government over it. Now they will likely try to change the law, and end up facing a filibuster, so they will have to convince a few Dems to cross the aisle for a super majority.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Obama the Candidate was pretty good, but quickly sold out to become Obama the president who didn't even TRY for universal health care and put in that ACA you speak of, which is really a gift to the insurance industry, forcing money into their pockets.

In order to have insurance companies lose the right to refuse coverage, mandatory insurance is a must. Second, that isn't what lost the election for Clinton, nor was it bad for Obama, who won a second term. Third, UHC wasn't even remotely possible with the Congress he had available. Want to complain about ACA, talk to Sen. Lieberman and Sen. Nelson... and Norm Coleman.

I repeat: Obama didn't even try. Had Obama tried for true single payer universal health care and the Republicans shot it down, you'd have a point. But this is a president that actually had Democratic control of the congress as he came in initially, and one that didn't even TRY to push for universal single payer.

Obama tried to, but the Republicans wouldn't allow the transfer of prisoners to the US.

How about freeing them or having trials for them? Or trying to find another way? The man was a pussy, as are most elected Democrats. They are paid to be, just as Republicans are paid (often by the same donors) to be ultra aggressive.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I repeat: Obama didn't even try. Had Obama tried for true single payer universal health care and the Republicans shot it down, you'd have a point. But this is a president that actually had Democratic control of the congress as he came in initially, and one that didn't even TRY to push for universal single payer.

It's not clear that simply having Democratic control of Congress would have been enough to get single payer universal health care. Obama was a reasonably pragmatic politician and that probably would have been a big waste of political capital, especially considering how many attacks there were on his legitimacy as President at all.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Earth to Raven Sky: That's exactly what he's trying to do! He sees the government as the enemy, always telling him that he's doing wrong.

I think it's more than that, Loren. He does see the govt as the enemy, but not for it telling him he is wrong--instead for managing his selfish predatory behaviors. With the new cabinet positions, it's not about changing morality but instead destroying regulation and reaping rewards for the oligarchs.

I don't see that you are saying anything I didn't.

The government tells him things like his Trump University scam is wrong, his response is to get rid of the regulators that told him that.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I think it's more than that, Loren. He does see the govt as the enemy, but not for it telling him he is wrong--instead for managing his selfish predatory behaviors. With the new cabinet positions, it's not about changing morality but instead destroying regulation and reaping rewards for the oligarchs.

I don't see that you are saying anything I didn't.

The government tells him things like his Trump University scam is wrong, his response is to get rid of the regulators that told him that.

Suppose he was assaulting a woman. He's not just getting rid of the police about to arrest him for it. He's not just changing laws to make it legal. He's hiring a new gang of pirates in suits to help him with the act.

 

[Derec]

That was specifically for Flynn, as he is not just not qualified, but not allowed to serve as SecDef by law. They dropped that tactic when it became apparent that the Dems were willing to let them shut down the government over it. Now they will likely try to change the law, and end up facing a filibuster, so they will have to convince a few Dems to cross the aisle for a super majority.

You are confusing him with James 'Mad Dog' Mattis. He is the general who is to become SecDef. Flynn is tapped as National Security Adviser, a post that does not require Senate approval.

 

[Shadowy Man]

That was specifically for Flynn, as he is not just not qualified, but not allowed to serve as SecDef by law. They dropped that tactic when it became apparent that the Dems were willing to let them shut down the government over it. Now they will likely try to change the law, and end up facing a filibuster, so they will have to convince a few Dems to cross the aisle for a super majority.

You are confusing him with James 'Mad Dog' Mattis. He is the general who is to become SecDef. Flynn is tapped as National Security Adviser, a post that does not require Senate approval.

Good thing too, considering that Flynn shared classified information inappropriately, something that Republicans pretend to be bothered by when it is done by a Democrat.