Privatizing NASA

   One would think he'd learn by this time.
   Using a Friday night news dump to minimize the impact of potentially controversial or negative coverage doesn't work, since it gives media folk so much more time to prepare a long analytical piece for Sunday's print and broadcast editions.
   This time, the president used the tactic to announce his nominee to take charge of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), even as journalists were busy covering the storm disaster in Texas as well as the likelihood of shattering the futures of 800,000 Dreamers -- those who were brought to America as children and hope to remain here when their citizenship status is resolved. In addition, he wants NASA to stop studying climate change.
   So who's the nominee to be the new administrator of NASA? a Republican congressman from Oklahoma who favors privatizing the nation's efforts in space exploration.
   His name is Jim Bridenstine, and his qualifications to head NASA are that he was a Navy pilot, served as executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium, and on a congressional committee dealing with space and technology issues.
   He defended his interest in space by noting that his Oklahoma constituents "get killed in tornadoes. I care about space," according to published reports.
     The nomination must be approved by the Senate. If approved, Bridenstine would be the first elected official to head NASA.