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U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

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Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#261

Post by nom »

francisofascii wrote: post #34
clintonb wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current administration doesn’t care about climate change, or believes it’s a hoax. Given this, they see no need to fund research and data gathering that tells them otherwise.

That is a charatable interpretation. A more negative take is they are purposely suppressing the evidence.

That is exactly what is happening.

Records of environmental data are a huge pain in the ass for those invested in fossil energy and adjacent industries.

The truth is hurting business and they seem to be going on a rampage actively killing it at the roots. Stop collecting and recording data, destroy and hide the existing data and close the institutions.

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#262

Post by munificent »

peyton wrote: post #164
munificent wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The primary goal of authoritarianism is consolidation of power among a small number of elites. Anything that can reduce that power is an enemy. The essential weakness that the powerful elites have is that they are, by definition, outnumbered. So in order to consolidate and maintain power, they need to disturb any system that the masses can use to coordinate and form collective action. (It's a kid's movie, but Hopper'…

[flagged]

What supporting evidence would be compelling to you?

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#263

Post by throwawaypath »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #258
throwawaypath wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That 300 billion number came from JD Vance. No it didn't, that is fake news. Please provide an unbiased source where JD Vance claims the US will be paying Iran $300 billion.

"Walk through some of this. The Iranians are saying that they're gonna have access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund, true or false?" O'Keefe began. "Well, Ed, that's the sort of thing they could have access to, funded by the Gulf coast coalition, so long as they honor their end of the obligation. I think that one of the things you're going to see, Ed—and people have to be skeptical of this—is that the hardliners…

Thank you for confirming it was fake news. He did not state that the US was going to give Iran $300 billion.

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#264

Post by jaybrendansmith »

epistasis wrote: post #125
xg15 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can anyone explain that "anti-science" crusade to me? This doesn't seem to have any effect than reduce America's standing in the world.

Pretty much every single part of Project 2025 is designed to reduce America's standing in the world, not just the anti-science parts of it. It's a general trend across all authoritarian regimes; it's harder to be authoritarian with lots of international connections, with lots of strength and partnerships. Autarky, authoritarianism, isolation, all go together (along with weak economies, etc., but the goal isn't to hav…

When do we get to the part where we all collectively wake up and realize they are the enemy of the American People? You know, the part with the guillotines?

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#265

Post by Jtsummers »

Hikikomori wrote: post #211
Jtsummers wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That does seem to be their argument. Lots of trolls in this discussion, we don't need to feed them.

What is the argument then?

I think you read a "not" in my comment that wasn't there, I'm agreeing with you about what the person you responded to seemed to be arguing for (stop the science because it's not good enough). Which is, as Supermancho points out, nonsense.

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#266

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

anon_shill wrote: post #74
mullingitover wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no point in spending taxpayer money understanding what may or may not happen in the future, when we already know what will happen: Jesus is coming back. We need to spend on the military for the final battle of Armageddon. ^ Literally the beliefs of the most influential part of the political base of the administration.

Is this from Bannon and co.? What is their rationale for being militaristic during a return of Jesus? Wouldn't Jesus not like that very much?

It's not, it's Hegseth and others that are Christian Zionists. This is not "christians who like zionism", it's a specific evangelical sect that interprets global conflicts as literal fulfillments of biblical prophecy. The popular tenants of Christian Zionists include that women should be subservient to men, homosexuals are evil, white christians should rule supreme, the confederates got a bad rap, COVID and global warming are a conspiracy, and the big kicker: armageddon is coming and we must prepare the way for Jesus to rule the earth. In order to do that they need to wage holy war / WW3 so that Jesus can come back, defeat everyone, and make a new Earth and rule over it. This is why Hegseth said he's fighting a holy war, why he has Crusader tattoos, etc. It's the Christian version of Islamic Extremism. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Wilson_(theologian) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hagee)

“He urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ,” the NCO wrote in the email. “He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.’" - https://www.military.com/daily-news/2026/03/06/lawmakers-wan...

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#267

Post by greycol »

fancyfredbot wrote: post #77

I understand the present US administration would want to stop funding this, and that they have the power to do so. I don't understand how that has led to the sensor network being dismantled. Surely it would have been cheaper to leave it in place and stop maintaining it?

An apologist would argue that leaving the sensors to degrade and leach into the environment or for ones with buoyant parts to possibly break free and endanger seagoers is not better than deconstruction.

The malicious belief would be that it's to ensure that the system can't be easily reactivated and that a non-profit couldn't offer to take over the running costs, there's also the possible "benefit" of redirecting funding that has already been allocated for marine science that would be harder to not dispense rather than arguably use it for this.

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#268

Post by Supercompressor »

lawgimenez wrote: post #216
simonerlic wrote: post #186

I worked directly with the Ocean Networks Canada team for my engineering capstone project- they're a fantastic crew who are really clearly dedicated to providing open access to their data (they have a free API if you want to play with it!) It's honestly a shame that this happened, but I hope they can use it to give a compelling argument for more funding in the future to expand the network (and make up the loss of dat…

Care to link this free API

Think I found it: https://data.oceannetworks.ca/OpenAPI

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#269

Post by vkou »

epistasis wrote: post #158
btown wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the non-cancellable nature of grants is not just a nice-to-have, it's absolutely critical for research with upfront capital costs (buying equipment, building labs, etc.) The very _fact_ that this is a policy is disrupting research, even if specific grants haven't been cancelled. Some universities are stepping in to backstop, but it's a powerful chilling effect.

Some of the specific grants that have been cancelled are shocking in the negative effect they will have on the ecosystem. Cutting off Sean Eddy, a giant in DNA analysis, just baffles the mind: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/11/nx-s1-5807995/some-researcher... There's not even any political angle to pursue here, it is just lighting knowledge on fire with no grander purpose.

> There's not even any political angle to pursue here, it is just lighting knowledge on fire with no grander purpose.

Fucking with people who are capable of reading and writing is the political angle. Pol Pot took this sort of logic a few steps further in Cambodia a few decades ago.

MAGA, meanwhile, is only 'considering' suspending things like habeas corpus.

Re: U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears

#270

Post by hyperman1 »

There is a midterm comming up in the USA. If you're living there and you're now not going to vote,I'm sorry but you're complicit. They might make it inconvenient, but you all still got some power left over there.

Afaik, either a few traditional red states turn blue and make it clear there is a limit to what's politically possible, or you're a dictatorship.

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