Jim Bridenstine, NASA, and the Extent of Scientific Knowledge

In his never ending effort to place the control of federal agencies and departments into the hands of idiots and partisan political hacks, Donald Trump nominated Oklahoma congressman, James Bridenstine to head NASA last September.

Bridenstine's main qualification for the job, besides being a former Naval aviator and a fire breathing tea party/freedom caucus type, is he was once director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium. That's as close as he comes to any sort of hands on expertise in science and space, or engineering.

Of course, as we all know, The Big Orange Guy is never one for details, or qualifications, so long as a nominee has his political back. How else do you explain the appointments of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education and Scott Pruitt as the chief administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency?

So what else do we know about Jim Bridenstine? In 2013 he made a speech on the house floor during which he told the world, "Global temperatures stopped rising 10 years ago." He also claims same sex couples are immoral. Then there is a strange Azerbaijan fetish.

He made a trip there once along with nine other members of congress and assorted staff which was paid for by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic. While there the group pulled down enough swag the house ethics committee initiated an investigation. According to Wikipedia, after the inquiry began, Bridenstine returned a couple of rings worth thousands of dollars to the person who gave them to him. In addition he turned over the rest of the gifts to the House Clerk. Once everything was returned the ethics committee decided all the congressmen involved had no way of knowing the excursion was improperly funded.

That little brush with indiscretion behind him, in 2014 he accepted $29,000 in campaign contributions from, "The Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan," and the, "Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians." On its web site, the TCAE, as it calls itself, tells you it is a, "...fast growing umbrella of Turkic American associations throughout the United States dedicated to pursuing the interests of Turkic Americans and friends of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan."

The iffy Azerbaijan stuff isn't the reason Bridenstine's nomination might die in the Senate though. Hey, he gave up the jewelry and other gifts, so no harm, no foul and, to paraphrase the wizard, pay no attention to the pro Azerbaijani cash.

No, as pointed out in today's, The Oklahoman, there are other ghosts in Jim Bridenstine's history which might bite him in the ass.

According to the story written by Justin Wingerter, the democrats have closed ranks against him thanks to the global warming speech, the homophobic rant, and Bridenstine's past habit of giving interviews to off the wall alt right commentators.

Wingerter quotes Senator Bill Nelson, D-FL, as saying, "His (Bridenstine's) nomination remains in serious jeopardy because many in the Senate agree that NASA needs to have a space professional at the helm and not a divisive politician."

Yeah, yeah, big talk from a guy who belongs to a party which controls only 49 of 100 possible votes, right?

Well it seems there might be a math problem after all. Wingerter points out in 2016 Bridenstine backed Ted Cruz in the early presidential race. During that time he appeared in TV ads and ham handedly suggested Florida GOP Senator, Marco Rubio would make a weak chief executive. In addition he supported the ultra conservative, Kelli Ward in her primary bid to unseat republican incumbent, John McCain.

Oops.

Wingerter quoted one Senate aide as saying, "We can only lose one republican and we know that Rubio has very serious concerns." And what looks to be a keen memory. When it comes to McCain no one knows for sure and his health issues make his presence during the vote problematical. However, if he is there one can easily imagine him doing yet another dramatic thumbs down when Bridenstine's name is mentioned.

No one knows who Trump might pick as a second choice if Bridenstine's nomination does flame out. Perhaps he'll chuck all this partisan nonsense and go with actor William Shatner because of the vast experience in outer space he will bring to the job. If Shatner isn't available, he could choose, Walter Koenig. After all, he spent a lot of time on the bridge of the Enterprise with Captain Kirk playing a Russian for God's sake. And we all know how Trump feels about Russians.

Ah, we can only wish that would be the case.

No, the truth is, if it isn't James Bridenstine it will be some other monstrous conservative wanker who hasn't a clue about the difference between a theory and a hypothesis and is convinced the latest cold snap proves global warming is a hoax.

Trust me. It's a solid bet because, sadly--just like all those crazy right wing evangelical rubes it panders to--that's the extent of scientific knowledge the current American administration possesses.



sic vita est


1-15-18