TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
NOAA cuts come at our peril
As a coastal community with strong links to the ocean, Vashon should watch with particular trepidation as Elon Musk’s minions slash and burn at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
I retired from a supervisory position there in 2019, where I directed research on cetaceans, and I’ve kept in touch with former staff. This week, a former postdoc of mine (and Vashon resident) was fired as a probationary employee despite having conducted exceptional work of relevance to the management of marine mammal populations under at least four federal statutes.
Needless to say, morale at my former laboratory is at rock bottom while other people await their fate.
Having worked as a federal employee for 21 years, I would be the last to claim that there is not inefficiency in government — indeed, the bureaucracy drove me crazy. But what Musk and his people are doing is not a good-faith attempt to objectively assess how efficiency can be improved; rather it is a group of ignorant bullies taking a wrecking ball to government for the sake of it — a ball that’s being swung with gleeful cruelty, regardless of the damage it inflicts on the lives of countless employees or the many important services that NOAA provides to the nation.
The damage will be irreparable.
Phil Clapham
Taking action for democracy
I spent my 35-year career supporting the NATO alliance, which contains article 5: “an armed attack against one … shall be considered an attack against them all.” Article 5 compels the alliance to aide any member who is attacked.
Article 5 has been invoked only once in NATO history. NATO aircraft provided surveillance and control over the United States following the 9/11 terror attacks.
On February 28, Donald J. Trump expressed clear support to a country which has, over the last eleven years, displayed aggressive military territorial expansion — Russia — driving a wedge into the heart of the NATO alliance.
The threat of our country abandoning global democracies in favor of dictatorships is now clear for all to see.
Who expected “wouldn’t it be great if we got along with Russia” to become “let’s ally with the aggressor to destroy Ukraine and divide the spoils?” Unfortunately, this writing has been on the wall far too long. Now it is cast in history, never to be forgotten.
Restoring our nation’s alignment with the global democratic order, assuming it is not irrevocably broken, may take years, decades, or lifetimes. The risk is high, yet we may be able to restore some semblance of alignment as early as next year.
Indivisible Vashon is dedicated to “taking action for democracy.” The more of us who engage, the more impactful we become. Our next meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 13 at the Vashon Presbyterian Church.
Kevin Jones
