https://news.yahoo.com/lanl-over-1b-bump-proposed-150300706.html
Putin just handed LANL a cool billion!
Apr. 20—A hefty spending increase proposed for Los Alamos National Laboratory would push its budget to an unprecedented level as federal agencies forge ahead with efforts to ramp up production of nuclear bomb cores to modernize the arsenal.
The Los Alamos lab's funding would jump to about $4.6 billion from this year's $3.5 billion under the U.S. Energy Department's early budget requests for the 2023 fiscal
Ok a nillion is nothing in Musk money but still pretty dam good. By the way did you know Musk majored in physics in college, of course he dropped out his Ph.d in Apllied physcis in Stanford but I think he is still did ok. Kids remember to major in STEM
29 comments:
I always heard the different anti-nuke groups in New Mexico really hate each other. I never realized how much so until the latest round of comments in the Santa Fe New Mexico paper. One group is headed up by Jay Coughlin (Nuclear Watch New Mexico) and the other by Greg Mello (Los Alamos Study Group). From what I can tell neither one has any understating of economics or even simple math and despite hating LANL they seem the hate each other even more. Both groups are going crazy because LANL is supposed to get even more money next year. In any case it is fun to watch them eat other.
Just a couple of comments.
"Jay Coghlan
2 days ago
Greg Mello’s messiah complex has long deluded him into thinking that only he is right. Consequently, he continues his chronic pattern of willfully misrepresenting others, saying “Nuclear Watch has been an important advocate for pit production at LANL since 2003.” "
Jay Coghlan
2 days ago
(continued)Mello’s backwards strategies aid and abet the U.S.’ ~ $1.7 trillion plan for keeping nuclear weapons forever. In practice he is not the nuclear weapons abolitionist he makes himself out to be.
Greg Mello
2 days ago
We agree. I would like to see Nuclear Watch agree also, and take actions accordingly, as Nuclear Watch has been an important advocate for pit production at LANL since 2003 -- important because the permission, active (or passive as is the case for many other so-called "antinuclear" groups), aligns NGO groups with NM Democratic Party goals to rely solely on LANL for pit production.
Mello and Coghlan started out in the same Group. Despite their self-proclaimed expertise, neither has any bonifides on anything related to nuclear matters. At least Mello has a degree from Harvard. It’s safe to say both have issues well outside the norm. They are parasites who make a living off of rich, “concerned” housewives and artists in Santa Fe.
"They are parasites who make a living off of rich, “concerned” housewives and artists in Santa Fe.
4/23/2022 8:46 AM"
These guys are incredibly ineffective in the campaigns. Sure they get money from the NYC divorcees in Santa Fe, but they never seem to gain any traction with local New Mexicans with the whole "the labs are bad for the local economy". In the end the New Mexicans vote in their best interests not in the interest of wealthy east coast elite really do not care about New Mexico.
Can some of that money be used to for war on "misinformation" rather than building pits. Right now our number one threat to democracy is misinformation on social media. With Musk buying twitter we are entering into one of the most dangerous periods in recent history, where anyone can say anything, all sorts of conspiracies, hate speech, Russian interference, and mass hysteria is now possible. The labs can be retooled to fight misinformation and hate speech to take on our enemies such as Putin, Musk, Trump, Alex Jones and the endless masses who fall for this stuff. Free speech is suppose to about the freedom to say things that are true not things that you know for a fact that are false, hateful, or could cause harm. 2016 taught us all a hard lesson, we did not learn and that lead to Jan 6 2020, we cannot afford to let this go on. We are in information war and we better get on the ball or we will lose. LANL, LLNL and Sandia have a lot of smart people that could rise to the occasion to fight this war.
1:52 you really need to enter the real world. 2016 apparently didn’t teach you that a majority of free thinking Americans disagree with you.
1:52 "The Labs can be retooled to fight misinformation and hate speech..."
I am a bit fuzzy how you take expertise in Physics, Engineering and Computing and retool it to achieve the redirection you propose.
If the labs health physicists stated that only properly fitted high quality masks would have any chance of slowing the Covid spread, based on their knowledge of protecting against plutonium and beryllium exposure, would that have been misinformation for those wearing the Walmart cheapies?
Free speech is only for true things? How dare we have movies depicting flying witches and wizards! What if someone says there is a God, and you say that's not the truth and they need to be silenced.
The idea of FREE speech was the #1 thought of the founding fathers when after creating a framework for the government of the new country, they realized that an all powerful government could overstep the rights of the citizens and the first amendment to the constitution was created out of that clarity of mind.
Science has always needed the crucible of free and open debate. Prove that something is not true, don't simply assert it.
It’s obviously a bad idea to send this money to LANL. They haven’t built a bit yet despite trying for over 20 years. Good money after bad is always a bad bet. After LANL and LLNL privatized and took away the pension system, there is no reason for anybody any good to work there. They can hire every engineering graduate in the state and they simply can’t get the expertise needed.
"Science has always needed the crucible of free and open debate. Prove that something is not true, don't simply assert it."
Science is about finding the truth, conspiracy theories and lies are about spread things that are not true, see the difference.
The whole argument abut the founding fathers makes no sense. First they are problematic in that they did not believe in free speech for large sections of their society. Why should we venerate them or go along with what we think the wanted.
Second, we now live in a different world that is much more dangerous where information can just fly at the speed of light to everyones iPhone, with some checks and balances.
Third, and lets us be honest on this we have to admit that we have many millions of Americans who have proven they cannot be in a society with free speech, they simply cannot handle it and need essentially adult supervision, they are dangerous to everyone else and to themselves. In many ways the Constitution is a contract, a large segment of the population broke that contract in 2016 and
2020, which lead to Jan 6 2021. Fox news has broken that contract and number of congress people have broken that contract, as such they should not have the rights of the constitution.
Fourth, allowing misinformation, lies and speech that can harm people has already shown that it leaves the US vulnerable to foreign attack, this is not even up for debate anymore, it allows for people to stop trusting the press, you have people who will still believe nonsense like the election was stolen, Covid is fake, Hunters Bidens laptop is real, Obama is a communists. Our nation cannot function with a free press that the people trust. It is also undermining all our institutions such as schools, military, and industry. We now have narcissistic billionaires creating harm by allowing the flow of misinformation and hate speech. We survived 2016 to 2020, many thought we would not and the healing has begun, but we did not learn our lesson and now the forces of tyranny are making a comeback.
The whole argument abut the founding fathers makes no sense. First they are problematic in that they did not believe in free speech for large sections of their society. Why should we venerate them or go along with what we think the wanted.
4/27/2022 8:52 AM
So you think that the magnificent accomplishments of the Founders, as judged by the standards of their time, should be cast aside because their contemporary beliefs do not comport with your modern ones? You are truly a narcissist and unworthy to even comment about history.
"...millions of Americans who have proven they cannot be in a society with free speech, they simply cannot handle it and need essentially adult supervision, they are dangerous to everyone else and to themselves."
Ok, autocrat.
'You are truly a narcissist and unworthy to even comment about history.
4/27/2022 6:07 PM"
Are you ok with the Russians putting in Trump in 20016, are you ok with the millions that supported the insurrection or would have gladly supported it are still allowed to vote? I could forgive thew3 people for being dumb enough to vote for Trump in 2016, but after every bad thing that we predicted would happened than happened these same people voted for him again...that is a bridge too far. I know history, and when you let the rabble rule it ends in disaster. They broke the contract with the Constitution they should no longer should have the privilege it affords. I am not a narcissist I am a ADULT and only ADULTS should be allowed to vote.
"Ok, autocrat."
You mean "Ok ADULT". Even the founders would not children vote and we have nation of 70 million children, we should not let them comment on the internet, vote or enjoy the rites of democracy that they could never appreciate anyway until they have proven that they are capable of rational thought, get an education, or can reframe form hate speech. Until such a time they should get nada. Unfortunately that narcissistic man child billionaire is now giving these people a free platform to create an echo chamber all under the lie of "free speech". They will never grow up now. Executive action must be taken to stop this madness. The nation is falling apart, part of this decline is the internet, we need to clean it up before it is too late.
"New rule: if you are so uneducated as to think martial law is spelled Marshall Law, you should not be allowed to vote..."
4/27/2022 9:14 PM
Complete deflection to a completely different rant from the original post. As usual. Thanks for the nightly entertainment. If you ever run out, I'll be disappointed. Hey, its Scooby's bandwidth you are wasting.
Complete deflection to a completely different rant from the original post. As usual. Thanks for the nightly entertainment. If you ever run out, I'll be disappointed. Hey, its Scooby's bandwidth you are wasting.
4/28/2022 5:07 PM
The topic is on the extra billion for Los Alamos next year so one can ask if this funding could be better spent in terms of national security. Could this billion go to Ukraine to help defeat Putin, could it go to creating online AI to monitor the internet for misinformation and finds ways to stop it from spreading? In many ways if you look at all the problems we are facing now most if not all due to either the spread of misinformation or cyber warfare in general. Much of the rise of Russia has been their ability to gain power through cyber warfare. After they effectively installed Trump into office in 2016, they become emboldened to amp up these effects and try to bring back their empire hence leading to the invasion of Ukraine. Most experts also believe the rise of right wing extremists and the recent surge in white supremacy in the US is fueled by Russian troll farms spreading propaganda and lies on the internet. The same is true of all the backlash against Covid. If you go to comment sections on forums, twitter, facebook and so on you will see lots of propaganda that looks straight out of a Russian playbook. I suspect that even this blog has had Russian influence. As such we need to prioritize where our national security funding is going. I along with many experts contend that that the battlefield has changed and we are not longer fighting on the field but in cyberspace and that we need a new or even bigger Manhattan project to create the tools and infrastructure to fight the war on misinformation. We have to accept that we are at war and have been for some time, in time of war everyone needs to make some sacrifices, do you really need that extra freedom to insult people on twitter which will allow Russians influencers to spread propaganda?
“ The same is true of all the backlash against Covid. ”
This is where I draw the line - misinformation “against” Covid. Totally unacceptable. It must be Russian trolls saying bad things about Covid. Let’s not let Covid get defamed. Stand up and stop this travesty!
4/29/2022 7:23 AM
Encouraging to see that you never run out of crazy. Keep going, the entertainment is worth the click.
"This is where I draw the line - misinformation “against” Covid. Totally unacceptable. It must be Russian trolls saying bad things about Covid. Let’s not let Covid get defamed. Stand up and stop this travesty!
4/29/2022 12:21 PM"
Cute, of course you know what I mean. The propaganda was that Bill Gates created Covid to kill everyone, that the vaccine had chips, the vaccine will kill everyone, the virus was made in a Chinese lab, that some politicians used Covid to help enact polices that they wanted, that red states did better than blue states, that maybe the way we did the lockdowns was not the best. These are all misinformation and the people that speak these lies should be banned from social medial, face stiff fines, or be socially shunned, barred from voting. The people that believe this are simply not of voting material.
Free speech in the 21st century means something very different than it did in the 18th, when the Founders enshrined it in the Constitution. The right to say what you want without being imprisoned is not the same as the right to broadcast disinformation to millions of people on a corporate platform. This nuance seems to be lost on some techno-wizards who see any restriction as the enemy of innovation. Free speech has become an obsession of the mostly white, male members of the tech elite who “would rather go back to the way things were.
Tech titans often have a different understanding of speech than the rest of the world because most trained as engineers, not as writers or readers, and a lack of a humanities education might make them less attuned to the social and political nuances of speech.
These are all misinformation and the people that speak these lies should be banned from social medial, face stiff fines, or be socially shunned, barred from voting. The people that believe this are simply not of voting material.
4/30/2022 7:35 AM
I'd just point you to that little, tiny thing called the First Amendment to the US Constitution, you know, the first in our Great Big Long List of Things You Yahoos Don't Get to Vote On (with apologies to Kevin D. Williamson).
"I'd just point you to that little, tiny thing called the First Amendment to the US Constitution""
You keep going on about this thing called the Constitution.
It is starting to become problem, in fact it could even be seen as "misinformation".
5/01/2022 10:34 PM
Read it sometime. You won't like it, but it constrains your craziness, to the benefit of us normal people.
I am still asking why are we wasting our time with nukes. We should use that money to arm Ukraine so they can fight Russia over there rather having to fight Russia over here. Russia will try to steal the 2022 and 2024 elections just as they did in 2016 and tried in 2020. We cannot allow this. 2022 may be different because we have a petulant and no so bright billionaire who is allowing twitter to be handed over neo fascists and yes Putin will be using to twitter to push for Republicans. We are in war with Russia and have been since 2016. If we are not willing to go directly to war with Russia then we need to divert all the funds we can to Ukraine until Putin is out and we have regime change in in Russia. Russia needs to pay for 2016.
Is it worth the risk of nuclear war, well which would be worse nuclear annihilation while fighting for freedom against fascists or being taken over by fascists and the end of freedom. We need to do the right thing, history is at crossroads where we can go down the road of facisim in the name of so called free speech, or will we grow up and put the adults in charge. Step 1. shut down Fox, Step 2, bar billionaires from influencing politics in a way that spreads misinformation. Step 3, we arm Ukraine to the teeth, give them everything they need no holds bar. We have crossed a red line and need to respond in kind to the aggression of Russia, they took out our leadership in 2016, we need take theirs out. Step 4, stop with the constant Constitution junk, we are at war, the Constitution was violated all the time in the Civil war, WWI, WWII and the war on terror . We are essentially in WWIII both foreign and domestically, we need to step up and be adults and do the right thing and worry about the Constitution latter.
5/02/2022 9:08 PM
So avoid fascism by becoming a fascist, and ignore the Constitution, because that is the "adult" thing to do. Got it. When is your 12th birthday?
"So avoid fascism by becoming a fascist, and ignore the Constitution, because that is the "adult" thing to do. Got it. When is your 12th birthday?
5/04/2022 5:23 PM"
It is not about fascism it is about freedom for those that are good who can triumph over those who embrace hate. Make no mistake we are at work, it is good and evil, right and wrong, you on on the side of good or on the side of evil. Unfortunately the Constitution has been taken over by the side of evil, if we are to be one the right side of history and side of good we must act like adults and realize that the Constitution is like the Bible or any other religious book in that it is not sacred and it got many things wrong and we should live by it but move beyond it.
"Evil does not exist. It is what we call the other guy's vision of good that we don't like."
"Evil does not exist. It is what we call the other guy's vision of good that we don't like."
Of course evil exist, it does not exist like it does in the bible but does exist. Slavery is evil, discrimination is evil, harming others through words in the name of free speech is evil. Protecting a broken systems of system oppression is evil. History has always shown that right sides of history and wrong. Hitler lost because he was evil, the conservatives will lose because they are evil. You excuse that there is no such thing as evil is just a way to justify your hate.
You excuse that there is no such thing as evil is just a way to justify your hate.
5/05/2022 11:16 PM
No, it was a way to justify my lack of hate. Your hate is obvious. Project much?
True to form, a thread about a bump in LANL funding degenerates into name calling between teeny-trolls.
True to form, a thread about a bump in LANL funding degenerates into name calling between teeny-trolls.
5/09/2022 3:51 PM
In case you were just born, that's what blogs do, especially if the "moderators" don't moderate, or if they agree politically with the majority of trolls.
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