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BumRushDaShow

(153,178 posts)
Sat May 17, 2025, 05:34 PM May 17

Trump administration set to shutter iconic research center in New Yor

Source: Axios

11 hours ago


Scientists at an iconic NASA research center in New York City have been told they have until the end of the month to vacate their building and everything in it— with nowhere else to go.

Why it matters: The closure of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a building owned by Columbia University and made famous for housing the diner that appears in "Seinfeld," is the latest blow to scientists and climate change researchers from the Trump administration and DOGE.

  • Scientists at Goddard who spoke to Axios warn that critical work — including the maintenance of global temperature records dating back to the 1880s used by economists, insurance companies and private developers — is at risk with the Center's closure.
  • Home to more than 100 scientists, the Goddard center is nearly as old as NASA itself, founded in 1966. It's where the terms "black hole" and "quasar" were coined.


  • State of play: Scientists there got an email last month alerting them to the imminent closure of the building, four of them told Axios Friday afternoon.

  • "This is existential for us," said Joy Romanski, a climate scientist at Columbia University who works at the center. "We can't recreate this anywhere else. And it doesn't work to be remote."
  • The others, who work directly for NASA, asked for anonymity for fear of retribution from the federal government.
  • They were told to remove all belongings from the space, down to the bare walls.


  • Zoom out: The magic sauce to the center, they said, is the collaboration between scientists and the post-doctoral students that come through every few years, as well as its close relationship to Columbia University.

  • "This is highly destructive to us, and I believe it's intentional," one said.


  • Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/05/17/trump-nasa-goddard-office
    28 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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    Trump administration set to shutter iconic research center in New Yor (Original Post) BumRushDaShow May 17 OP
    Time for the Real Billionaires Inkey May 17 #1
    Time for them to pay somebody to.... paleotn May 17 #10
    Oh yes wolfie001 May 17 #19
    Neil deGrasse Tyson works there IbogaProject May 17 #2
    Neil is a Trump supporter blue cat May 17 #6
    A silly rumor. Nothing more. paleotn May 17 #12
    Yeah, it makes no sense at all that he'd be a Trump supporter. ShazzieB May 17 #20
    I guess caving to trump choie May 17 #3
    Fuck That Fuckin' Fucker! BidenRocks May 17 #4
    Reminder angrychair May 17 #5
    So MSM should report that, right?? Evolve Dammit May 17 #8
    Exactly. LisaM May 17 #9
    Every day we go backwards n/t hibbing May 17 #7
    Let's face it. ShazzieB May 17 #11
    Reminds me of Nazis and their distaste for "Jewish Science" paleotn May 17 #13
    Both science, history, and woke education. ananda May 17 #15
    It's just what Fascist's do. ReRe May 17 #17
    WRONG!!! Say it aloud: "WRONG!!!!!" BurnDoubt May 17 #14
    Help me out here ... defacto7 May 17 #16
    I don't get that either Bayard May 17 #18
    Remember all those Muskrat-directed GSA-owned building and GSA lease cancels? BumRushDaShow May 18 #22
    But this still implies that the building belongs to the university. defacto7 May 18 #23
    If the government cancels its lease BumRushDaShow May 18 #24
    I think I figured out my problem. defacto7 May 18 #25
    As a 30+ year (now-retired 8 years) fed BumRushDaShow May 18 #27
    Yes. I can imagine, but only imagine the pain you are carrying. defacto7 May 18 #28
    This message was self-deleted by its author LudwigPastorius May 18 #21
    Houston, we have a problem .. Bo Zarts May 18 #26

    Inkey

    (390 posts)
    1. Time for the Real Billionaires
    Sat May 17, 2025, 05:46 PM
    May 17

    To step up and place some endowments
    to secure this information trove before
    it gone. The future awaits you !

    IbogaProject

    (4,451 posts)
    2. Neil deGrasse Tyson works there
    Sat May 17, 2025, 05:47 PM
    May 17

    I have always hated Mr Drumpf but this term has somehow managed to multiply that hatred.

    paleotn

    (20,398 posts)
    12. A silly rumor. Nothing more.
    Sat May 17, 2025, 07:36 PM
    May 17

    If you read and watch his rhetoric, he's most definitely not. Just shows that people are on edge, and when they are they have a bad habit of overreacting and making things up.

    ShazzieB

    (20,715 posts)
    20. Yeah, it makes no sense at all that he'd be a Trump supporter.
    Sat May 17, 2025, 11:48 PM
    May 17

    Last edited Sun May 18, 2025, 03:10 AM - Edit history (1)

    Among other things, Neil is a highly educated, very educated and perceptive individual. I have a hard time imagining him not being aware of how staggeringly stupid Schlump is or being able to fall for the MAGA bull crap. I'd have to see some very hard evidence to be convinced otherwise.

    angrychair

    (10,641 posts)
    5. Reminder
    Sat May 17, 2025, 07:08 PM
    May 17

    The Mango Mussolini has no legal or constitutional authority to do this. This administration is, in fact, breaking several laws including the impoundment act and the Constitution, among others

    ShazzieB

    (20,715 posts)
    11. Let's face it.
    Sat May 17, 2025, 07:33 PM
    May 17

    Schlump won't be satisfied unless and until he can erase science completely. It's truly horrifying. 😱

    paleotn

    (20,398 posts)
    13. Reminds me of Nazis and their distaste for "Jewish Science"
    Sat May 17, 2025, 07:45 PM
    May 17

    Luckily, that "Jewish Science" was integral in creating a working atomic weapon. Nazi Germany went down the rabbit hole of Deutsche Physik, and Heisenberg created nothing. We didn't labor under such foolishness. Unfortunately, in a different way, now we are.

    ReRe

    (11,652 posts)
    17. It's just what Fascist's do.
    Sat May 17, 2025, 08:35 PM
    May 17

    They hate science. History is another field they don't care for. Oh, and education, period.

    defacto7

    (14,064 posts)
    16. Help me out here ...
    Sat May 17, 2025, 08:30 PM
    May 17

    If the building is owned by Columbia University what does the government have to do with commanding that it be cleared it out? Why is that not up to the university to decide? De-funding the institute is one thing, but getting thrown out of the building by a deadline is another. What does the university have to say about it? Do they kowtow to Trump whims? Is there another renter interested in leasing that property? I think there's a red arrow pointing at the university here.

    BumRushDaShow

    (153,178 posts)
    22. Remember all those Muskrat-directed GSA-owned building and GSA lease cancels?
    Sun May 18, 2025, 04:07 AM
    May 18

    I am guessing that the government was leasing the building from Columbia and has now cancelled that lease.

    One of the news sites had linked to an early, later retracted archived list of what DOGE loons had considered "non-core" properties back in March - https://web.archive.org/web/20250304192710/https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/real-estate-services/real-property-disposition/noncore-property-list

    Example article from then - GSA lists agency headquarters among 440 ‘non-core’ assets for possible disposal

    The list has been updated since - the more recent list described with business jargon - https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/real-estate-services/real-property-disposition/assets-identified-for-accelerated-disposition

    defacto7

    (14,064 posts)
    23. But this still implies that the building belongs to the university.
    Sun May 18, 2025, 10:40 AM
    May 18

    That would mean the university would be calling the shots concerning occupancy if the lease was canceled. On the other hand, if the government retained the lease and wanted to sublet it to someone else I guess they could throw them out, but that's not what it says. I think the other docs are about the government wanting to dispense with properties it owns (or leases?). Maybe the government owns that property and they were leasing it to the university and the article got it wrong. I'm just trying to follow what's written in the article and it's unclear where the onus really lies.

    BumRushDaShow

    (153,178 posts)
    24. If the government cancels its lease
    Sun May 18, 2025, 10:53 AM
    May 18

    it's no different than a person cancelling a lease to an apartment.

    The building probably IS owned by Columbia and the government plans to no longer be there and are "vacating the premises".

    It has no bearing on who owns the building it's a matter of no longer paying to be there.

    It is all the AI-programmed bullshit "cancellations" that brainlessly make no provisions for WHERE the occupants WILL be (assuming they haven't already been "fired" since NASA has been undergoing a gutting process).

    There is a similar phenomena of cancelling WAH (work at home) agreements and forcing employees to return to work with not enough leased space to even work. I have former co-workers who had indicated that there was a running joke going around about "driving in to work and sitting in their cars out on the street to try to access their networks" because there was no office space to return to.

    (and just to clarify - federal employees are not just working in "government-owned" buildings but most are probably working in "private" buildings where space is leased by GSA)

    defacto7

    (14,064 posts)
    25. I think I figured out my problem.
    Sun May 18, 2025, 11:42 AM
    May 18

    As an outsider having never been had a government job, it's easy to think that these agencies are individual entities. No, they "are" the government. They and all their stuff, their projects, experiments, equipment, their microwave ovens, it's all owned by the government. They do what they're told. Gees, I have to get it in my head that it's the whole government that's being pulled into a rat hole, not just agencies going off a cliff separately. When you think about that, you realize how practically impossible it will be to recover the losses.

    BumRushDaShow

    (153,178 posts)
    27. As a 30+ year (now-retired 8 years) fed
    Sun May 18, 2025, 12:42 PM
    May 18

    you can imagine the pain I am feeling watching all this unfold. I am glad that I left before it happened (it was 2 weeks after 45's first term inauguration) but I still have former coworkers at my agency (a bunch of whom had a "retirement/layoff" get-together luncheon a few weeks ago).

    When you say "it's all owned by the government" - that's what the old "G.I." term that evolved to reference soldiers, sortof meant - "Government issue".

    As a daughter of a fed, I remember having these at home -



    When I eventually worked for them, we had the Skillcraft-logoed ones (the "ABILITY ONE" contract was with a company that hired the disabled) -



    And then eventually our office just bought pens from Staples.

    I expect ABILITY ONE is on the chopping block (if it wasn't already taken out).

    defacto7

    (14,064 posts)
    28. Yes. I can imagine, but only imagine the pain you are carrying.
    Sun May 18, 2025, 06:27 PM
    May 18

    I'm glad we have this site where people like you can illuminate those of us who haven't had your experiences. I can see what's happening and conjure an image that I can relate to while trying to understand, but I can't know. Thanks for helping fill the gaps with your story.

    Response to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

    Bo Zarts

    (26,011 posts)
    26. Houston, we have a problem ..
    Sun May 18, 2025, 12:18 PM
    May 18

    The spaceship Earth is in mortal danger. Foxtrot Delta Tango. I say again, Foxtrot Delta Tango.

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