Ben Brown-Steiner

Trump EPA Abandons Climate Working Group Report in Endangerment Finding Repeal Emails from the hand-picked, secretive group of climate crisis deniers revealed flaws in their methods and “animus” toward leading scientists.

Frankly, this whole thing was embarrassing. Glad the CWG report flubbed, and failed, & proud to be one of the authors of the @andrewdessler.com rebuttal, but can't help but feel 2nd-hand embarassment for the CWG authors, esp given how they come across in these emails.

www.desmog.com/2026/02/13/t...

We already have over 40 signatures from US researchers and professors supporting NSF-NCAR and telling NSF to maintain control of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputer with NCAR! Do sign and share.

Greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare

Share your comments on NCAR with NSF Tell NSF the future that you want for NCAR by 13 March

@agu.org has a tool to help you submit a comment to NSF on the importance of NCAR: agu.quorum.us/campaign/154...

#SaveNCAR

This is beyond frustrating

Headline: "Fossil leaves bear witness to ancient carbon dioxide levels"

About ten times a month I think about this headline from almost a decade ago

"Authoritarian regimes treat scientific evidence not as a tool calibrated by research, collaboration, and the free exchange of ideas, but as an obstacle to overcome."

"That independence is why authoritarian regimes invariably target science and scientists. Authoritarianism acts as a relentless rip tide, pulling science beneath the surface of political control." (3/4)

"Science can serve as an independent voice to help society assess complex challenges, guiding governments away from threats and toward informed actions that keep people safe and prosperous. It offers a vital way to evaluate policies and hold decisonmakers accountable for the results." (2/4)

Science Caught in a Rip Tide: How Authoritarianism Sweeps Away Evidence-Based Policy Independence is why authoritarian regimes invariably target science and scientists. Authoritarianism acts as a relentless rip tide, pulling science beneath the surface of political control.

Just in case the reason for the current federal defunding of science in the USA isn't obvious:

(From blog.ucs.org/melissa-finu... ):

"Healthy democracies rely on scientific evidence to inform environmental policies, support public health, and promote technological advancement." (1/4)

I can't believe this has to be said out loud: it would be idiocy of the highest order for the government to shutter NCAR. I have worked with and have been trained by NCAR scientists for almost 20 years. They've always done gold standard science, well before that phrase became politically poisoned.

The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies Common Crawl claims to provide a public benefit, but it lies to publishers about its activities.

NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.

#NIH is hanging by a thread. The #CDC has been decimated. #RFK Jr. and Russell #Vought are psychopaths--I don't say this frivolously--they are cold, calculating, inflicting violence on millions through public policy. It is where we are right now. These men are not normal. 1/

archive.ph/vQz1d

AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event Three years in, one of AI’s enduring impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Cannot possibly interpret this other than a malicious signal of intent -- disturbing, upsetting, unfortunately unsurprising:

Sections suddenly missing from Congressional Constitution website (Wayback Machine comparison):

web.archive.org/web/diff/202...

Right then...

A quick review of the DOE's new 'critical review' of climate science. Whether it's worth a formal community response - I'm still not sure, but here's my first thoughts

/thread/

To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
(2/2)

Pair that with this Octavia E. Butler quote:

“Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
(1/2)

"WE'VE ARRANGED A society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces. Who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don't know anything about it?" "Science is more than a body of knowledge, it's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along."

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

The details here are particularly harrowing, especially the stories of other people who were not so lucky. I don't understand why anyone would take the risk of visiting the U.S. under these circumstances.

The Federal Budget Process 101 | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) The complicated annual budget cycle can be difficult for outsiders to follow. The below summary helps to explain the process.

Always good to review how the federal government does (or does not) get budgets passed (Note: It is messy/dysfunctional and has been getting messier and more dysfunctional over time):

www.aaas.org/news/federal...

"Authoritarian regimes treat scientific evidence not as a tool calibrated by research, collaboration, and the free exchange of ideas, but as an obstacle to overcome."

"That independence is why authoritarian regimes invariably target science and scientists. Authoritarianism acts as a relentless rip tide, pulling science beneath the surface of political control." (3/4)

"Science can serve as an independent voice to help society assess complex challenges, guiding governments away from threats and toward informed actions that keep people safe and prosperous. It offers a vital way to evaluate policies and hold decisonmakers accountable for the results." (2/4)

Science Caught in a Rip Tide: How Authoritarianism Sweeps Away Evidence-Based Policy Independence is why authoritarian regimes invariably target science and scientists. Authoritarianism acts as a relentless rip tide, pulling science beneath the surface of political control.

Just in case the reason for the current federal defunding of science in the USA isn't obvious:

(From blog.ucs.org/melissa-finu... ):

"Healthy democracies rely on scientific evidence to inform environmental policies, support public health, and promote technological advancement." (1/4)

"...Science can serve as an independent voice to help society assess complex challenges, guiding governments away from threats and toward informed actions that keep people safe and prosperous. It offers a vital way to evaluate policies and hold decisonmakers accountable for the results..." (2/4)

YouTube video by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Zeldin Announces New Online Resources on Contrails and Geoengineering

Why does this feel so angry? I honestly don't know what's going on.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPIP...

Subcommittee Markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding.

Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.

See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.

🧵 1/3