Double Doses of Stupidity

Within about 15 minutes of each other, two related stories popped up on my phone today. In the first was a story about the recent Trump Administration announcement that all grants from the U.S. Government must be approved by a political appointee, presumably to ensure that the grants meet any political party line requirements, rather than be evaluated against any sort of scientific standard. The devasting impact of the Administration's cuts to medical, climate, weather, and other research grants is already apparent, and this policy promises to keep that wound open and worsening. Then, as if to try to top the level of idiocy, came the announcement that the Administration was awarding $700M to the coal industry to build new plants and infrastructure. Every nation in the world is moving as fast as possible to renewable energy, and we are funding fossil fuels that are more dangerous, dirtier, and more expensive. We might as well start funding sailing ships instead of modern naval vessels.

Coming on top of the Administration paying three companies $1.9 BILLION to abandon offshore wind energy projects and instead invest in fossil fuel, it's clear that the Administration is actively trying to handicap the nation's future. The question is why is the country putting up with it?