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More foxes in charge of henhouses.... Perry for Energy Department

Bikewer

Penultimate Amazing
Bikewer
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The man who forgot that the Energy Department was one of the ones he wanted to do away with will now be in charge of same....

The trend continues.
 
The problem with the phrase is it implies the agency, like a hen house, has value operating. That is up for debate.
 
The Department of Energy is responsible for designing, testing, and producing nuclear weapons. As the President-Elect said, "If we have them, why can't we use them?". The DoE needs to keep running for us to have them.

Oh, right. It should probably be transferred to private companies.
 
Armitage72 said:
Oh, right. It should probably be transferred to private companies.
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That's what we've done in the UK:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Weapons_Establishment

The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent. ....<snip>....

AWE plc, responsible for the day-to-day operations of AWE, is owned by a consortium of Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin UK and Serco through AWE Management Ltd, which holds a 25‑year contract (until March 2025) to operate AWE.
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:jaw-dropp

The UK government has a "golden share" which means that AWE cannot be flogged off on a whim but nevertheless :jaw-dropp
 
Bikewer said:
The man who forgot that the Energy Department was one of the ones he wanted to do away with will now be in charge of same....

The trend continues.
Click to expand...

At least I can finally start construction of that unregulated nuclear reactor in my back yard.
 
The Don said:
The UK government has a "golden share" which means that AWE cannot be flogged off on a whim but nevertheless :jaw-dropp
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Many of the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons labs and facilities are operated by private contractors.
 
Colbert had a great joke about this one. Three words: Perry is a dump mother... I forget the third one, oops.
 
Armitage72 said:
The Department of Energy is responsible for designing, testing, and producing nuclear weapons. As the President-Elect said, "If we have them, why can't we use them?". The DoE needs to keep running for us to have them.
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We had nuclear weapons long before we had a DoE.


Honestly, as tempting as it is to hate everything Trump does, this is one that I can't get around to hating. If, for the sake of argument, we assume a president wants to eliminate wasteful spending, then putting someone in charge who thinks there is a lot of wasteful spending strikes me as a good idea.


I doubt it's really going to happen under Trump, but it could in theory.
 
I don't care who Trump puts in, what really counts is the loser left is OUT!!!
 
logger said:
I don't care who Trump puts in, what really counts is the loser left is OUT!!!
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Hell, if Trump said two plus two equals "eleven and a half," I'd agree just to wach libs' heads literally explode. That's when you know you're doing something right.
 
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Ziggurat said:
A nuclear physicist is a hypothetical. Real people can be competent or incompetent regardless of their diplomas.
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That applies to Rick Perry much more than Ernest Moniz. The latter has certainly done more with his education.
 
Beeyon said:
Many of the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons labs and facilities are operated by private contractors.
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They are still government facilities. Most of NASA's work is done by contractors (I am one), so general comments about privatization could apply equally as well to NASA or other gov't agencies. Privatization is not a panacea for efficiency, nor is it necessarily appropriate in many cases (although I'm not saying this is your position, just one that a lot of people hold).

Meadmaker said:
We had nuclear weapons long before we had a DoE.
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Not that long. DOE's forerunner, the Atomic Energy Commission, took over that job in 1947. (The big marble seal of the AEC greets you as you walk into the lobby of the DOE facility in Germantown, Maryland.)

Meadmaker said:
Honestly, as tempting as it is to hate everything Trump does, this is one that I can't get around to hating. If, for the sake of argument, we assume a president wants to eliminate wasteful spending, then putting someone in charge who thinks there is a lot of wasteful spending strikes me as a good idea.

I doubt it's really going to happen under Trump, but it could in theory.
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In theory, but while Perry has some energy-related experience as Texas Gov., I don't think he has the intellectual chops for the job (assuming he can remember where he's supposed to work), and is too steeped in the pro-fossil fuel, anti-scientific, anti-every-part-of-the-Federal government-that-isn't-DOD mindset for this role.
 
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