MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN -- SCIENTISTS ARE CONSIDERING RUNNING AGAINST TRUMP
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
NOVEMBER 2, 2018


THIS ARTICLE IS NOT NEW. IT’S FROM 2017, BUT IT WAS NEW TO ME, AND IS A DIRECT REACTION TO THE DONALD TRUMP CATALYTIC EXPLOSION OF THINGS WHICH TO ME ARE PURE EVIL. I’M NOT SAYING TRUMP IS PURE EVIL, BECAUSE I BELIEVE HE DOES LOVE HIS FAMILY. IT’S JUST THAT HE DOESN’T, I’M AFRAID, LOVE THE HUMAN RACE (ALL COLORS) AS MUCH AS OUR PRESIDENT NEEDS TO. “TRUTH-SEEKING SCIENTISTS RUN FOR OFFICE” – “MAKE AMERICA SMART AGAIN,” SAYS ONE DEMONSTRATOR’S SIGN.

I THANK THE HIGHER POWER FOR THIS. WE HAVE GONE DOWNHILL SO FAR SINCE THE 1970S THAT IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY, BUT MAYBE AMERICA ISN’T A WASTELAND YET. MY PERSONAL MOTTO IS, LEARN TO READ AND READ TO LEARN. OH YES, AND EVERY HOME SHOULD HAVE A GOOD COLLEGIATE LEVEL DICTIONARY, IF NOT ALSO A COMPUTER WITH THE INTERNET. THAT WAY, IF YOU DON’T GET TO COLLEGE, YOU DON’T NEED TO STOP MAKING PERSONAL PROGRESS OR LOSE HOPE.


https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8qeypb/3000-scientists-have-asked-for-help-running-for-office-to-oppose-trump
THE RESISTANCE
By Jason Koebler
Feb 22 2017, 3:30pm
3,000 Scientists Have Asked for Help Running for Office to Oppose Trump

A nonprofit organization dedicated to getting more scientists elected has been overwhelmed by the response from the scientific community.

Photograph – Clearly Liberal Clearly Middle-class demonstrators - Image: Kaleigh Rogers

More than 3,000 scientists and STEM professionals have expressed interest in running for office as a reaction to the Donald Trump presidency, according to a nonprofit group hoping to get more scientific-minded people into politics.

In January, 314 Action (named after the first three digits of the number pi) announced that it would be training scientists to run for office as Democrats at all levels of politics in hopes that these new politicians could bring a fact-based approach to crises such as climate change.

At the time, 314 Action was hoping to hold a one-hour webinar to talk the potential candidates through the basics of forming a campaign organization, raising money, and communicating their platform.

"The goal is not to politicize science, but to get scientists involved in politics"

The group set up an online questionnaire asking scientists for some biographical information as well as their specific interest in running for office; so far, more than 3,000 scientists have signed up.

Because of the overwhelming interest, the organization will now be holding an all-day seminar on March 14 in Washington DC featuring training sessions with experienced politicians and organizers. The group expects between 100 and 200 potential candidates to travel to DC for the event, which will be live streamed to those who can't make it.

"It's 3,000 scientists and STEM professionals—engineers, mathematicians, academics," 314 Action spokesperson Ted Bordelon told me. "It's a combination."

Some of the questions 314 Action asked scientists to fill out about their interest in politics. Image: 314 Action

Speakers at the seminar will include Joe Trippi, who helped run Howard Dean's presidential campaign and has worked for California Gov. Jerry Brown. Other speakers include is Melissa Varga, who has previously trained new political candidates for the New Organizing Institute, a now-defunct think tank that promoted first-time progressive candidates and Andrew Zwicker, a physicist who became a New Jersey state lawmaker.

Bordelon said the group can't yet know how many scientists will actually run for office, but said the early support and interest has far exceeded the group's expectations. After the seminar, 314 Action will continue to provide support and advice for scientists running for office, in a similar vein to nonprofits that help women, minorities, and veterans become politicians.

In recent weeks there has been an ongoing debate about the role scientists should play in politics. In the past, many scientists attempted to distance themselves from politics, but the inauguration of a president who has surrounded himself with an anti-science cabinet that debates the role humans have played in climate change has led to robust and nearly uniform rejection from the science community. A March for Science protest in Washington DC has been planned for March 22, which is Earth Day. And at last weekend's American Association for the Advancement of Science conference, a protest of Trump's policies broke out on Boston's streets.

"The goal is not to politicize science, but to get scientists involved in politics," Shaughnessy Naughton, a chemist, former congressional candidate, and board president of 314 Action, told me last month. "When the man who's going to lead this country claims climate change is a hoax, we need people willing to stand up for the facts."


https://www.salon.com/2017/02/02/the-march-for-science-is-set-to-happen-on-earth-day_partner/
An Earth Day protest: The March for Science is set for April 22
Scientists and science lovers are standing up for evidenced-based policy making and inclusivity
BRIAN KAHN
FEBRUARY 2, 2017 11:12AM (UTC

PHOTOGRAPH – DEMONSTRATORS FILL THE STREET (Getty/Mario Tama)

This article originally appeared on Climate Central.
Scientists officially have a date where they’ll be taking to the streets.

The March for Science has been scheduled for Saturday, April 22 in Washington, D.C. A growing constellation of marches are also scheduled for that day in cities across the U.S.

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

March for Science
✔
@ScienceMarchDC
The March for Science will take place on April 22, 2017. We hope to see you in D.C. and around the world! #ScienceMarch

12:06 PM - Feb 1, 2017

What began as a Reddit conversation has grown into a movement of scientists and science lovers standing up for evidenced-based policy making and inclusivity in the science community.

The date of the march isn’t just an average Saturday. April 22 is Earth Day, first celebrated in 1970.

The original Earth Day is seen by many as a turning point in the environmental movement. The year itself also marks a major turning point for the U.S. government and environmental policy. In 1970, Richard Nixon signed the Environmental Protection Agency into existence and it began operating that December.

The circumstances from the March for Science are a bit different in 2017. For one, it isn’t focused solely on environmental science but all disciplines from astronomy to zoology. There’s also not a swell of support for science in the federal government. In fact, the march was inspired by a Congress and president that appear hostile to science, particularly in regards to climate change.

The march comes amid a flurry of other unrelated efforts by researchers to rally around science. That includes a pledge signed by more than 14,000 women scientists, a letter sent to President Trump by 151 scientific institutions arguing that he should rescind the immigration ban, and efforts by researchers around the world to guard federal climate data.

BRIAN KAHN
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