Let’s just down all the prestigious institutions of American science, shall we?
The White House signaled interest early this month in investigating whether the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine should be suspended or debarred from federal funding, in response to a letter from 11 Republican lawmakers criticizing NASEM, particularly the climate science chapter of its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows posted an article about the letter on X, adding, “The National Academies have weaponized tax dollars against President Trump for far too long. It’s time to end their contracts.” Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought responded, “On it.”
Russ Vought ranks up there with Stephen Miller as one of the greatest villains of this era, a ranting ideologue with no qualifications who has been given power and influence well above his capacity. His reason for shutting down climate science?
The letter argues that the climate science chapter of the reference manual “violates Gold Standard Science” because the peer review process did not include scientists with differing views on climate science and because its authors and funders had conflicts of interest. It heavily echoes letters sent in January and March by 27 Republican state attorneys general who successfully campaigned to remove the chapter from an online version of the manual.
There are some conclusions of science that are inarguable. The only people who argue against global climate change are crackpots, and the rules have been rigged to give irrational denialists a seat at the table. Do we also have to include flat-earthers and creationists in the ranks of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine? Membership in that institution is an acknowledgement of a long career and an investment in research that has earned the appreciation of the community. People who reflexively deny central aspects of science do not belong.
These people are so irrational, very had to understand. Are they looking to just enrich themselves by staying in power and appeasing the maga asshats? do they genuinely believe their ideas?
The Alchemist’s Guild demands equal representation in writing the chapters on this so-called “chemistry” you young kids have come up with.
Seriously, this is how stupid this country is getting.
Obviously the most productive way to advance biomedical research is to appoint reviewers from the homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, vitalism and humeral theory fields. As the maestro of scientific research himself said, “Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen”.
Things may well change on November 3 when the Congress is flipped. Science should be based on demonstrable facts. Those nincompoops who loudly deny these facts are facts have no business being catered to. What we need now is an organization of climate scientists who will grill candidates on their basic knowledge of climate change and warning America about those candidates who do not understand the facts, and deny that climate change is happening.
I have this idea for a perpetual motion machine that will work if I can just get funding to develop it.
It has been a couple of decades now but the local rag (Dallas Morning News) printed a story, as straight up news, not ridicule, of a local who had this idea for a new way to make a car go. Pump water over a water wheel that drove the car. And the generator that powered the pump. He had applied for a patent and everything. :-)
One of the reasons I finally let my subscription lapse.
“Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows posted an article about the letter on X, adding, “The National Academies have weaponized tax dollars against President Trump for far too long.”
It might also be worth noting that only a raging, pathological narcissist would assume that science he disagrees with was intentionally “weaponized” against him. Someone should point out to Meadows and Trump that the basic facts of climate change were established long before Trump entered politics.
Rich Woods @3
Is humeral theory about what happens when you accidental bang your ulnar nerve? Or is that humorous theory?
@6: Some years back I took a dive into the wonderful world of perpetual motion cranks (motivated by a local one; the results even popped up here once). At the time, the USPTO website had a special section for PMM patent applications (which, so I’ve heard, as a matter of policy they will not review, in the absence of a working model). It made for amusing reading.
So, they’re asking for DEI for incompetents?
For some of them these attacks on facts are straight-up power plays, but some of them believe that the only objective facts are from the Bible and therefore any claims that they do not perceive as ‘Bible-based’ are just bullshit-riddled power plays propelled by Bad Motivations.
@8, shortly after I read that article I found the Museum of Unworkable Devices:
https://dsimanek.vialattea.net/museum/unwork.htm
People have been trying for a long time.
The GOP fascists have almost totally destroyed climate science in the USA already.
It wasn’t even all that hard.
The fact is, science runs on money.
This isn’t that unusual. Just about everything in our society runs on money, the economy, your life, medicine, law, entertainment, etc..
They have just been systematically identifying climate scientists and…cutting off their funding.
A friend of mine is a climate scientist at the local university.
Or was.
Not too long ago, all her funding was cut by the Trump regime. She has since taken early retirement despite not even being all that old.
This happened to her whole department.
They are scrambling to find funding for the graduate students and postdocs right now.
They probably won’t accept any graduate students for next year.
This is an academic disaster, one that will be hard to recover from, and that recovery may never happen.
Any students in climate related fields must be contemplating a change in plans right now.
#4: Why are so many people so optimistic about the next election? I am not so confident.
Seems like American modern-day Lysenkoism. That had appalling consequences in the USSR, causing crop failures. This, if it succeeds, screws the entire world.
@13 – I’m not one to dash anyone’s hopes, but reality must be faced. When criminals and barbarians control the institutions of law and order, there’s none. With the DOJ now corrupted along with SCOTUS, I expect next November to mark the official end of US democracy. Sure hope I’m overreacting.
The consensus on climate is about 97-99%+, so to have a representative panel of reviewers would imply one nut out of 33-50 reviewers. The consensus is going to be formed by the vast majority, so including one nut wouldn’t change things, if they were fair.
A good analogy might be that 1% of Americans are Jewish, or are Islamic, so every Christian church needs to let their doctrine and faith be written by only the minority members.
There is no part of life where policy is set by the 1%, unless it’s under the thumb of the billionaire class.
@Hemidactylus #7:
Damn! I always misspell that word. The stupid thing is that I had previewed my comment before posting and was so sure I had successfully proof-read it. Gah.
“Do we also have to include flat-earthers and creationists” – not far off…
As physicist Bob Park used to report* an average of 6 perpetual motion machines get patented every year. Numerous patent examiners are, and have been, scientific illiterates. One of the goofier (relatively speaking!) morons even openly stated that his goal as a patent examiner was to grant more “new age” patents. Whatever the hell a “new age patent” means (nothing good).
I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with a patent examiner who openly bragged that he had both law and electrical engineering degrees. He was an idiot, and could not even solve Y=X^2 for X as a function of Y! I had to explain that to him, on a patent for an electronic device that a coworker and I had developed for CRTs, decades ago. This is not that isolated, I have some copies of ludicrous patents that have been granted. As an example, and somewhat loosely related to the dschultz@4 example above.
In this moronic granted patent, water behind a dam falls into a turbine to generate electricity. Nothing remotely new there. The remainder of the patent used a series of short siphons (which could not even work) in their cascading tanks to raise the water back up to the level of the dam. It was obvious that the “inventor” was aware that you cannot siphon higher than 32 feet but did not understand why, or even how a siphon works. While an intermediate point can be as high as nearly 32 feet (at sea level) the discharge end of the siphon cannot be higher than the inlet end or else the siphon works “backwards”, since you can only siphon downhill (relative to the two ends). So this “jenius” used a series of intermediate tanks and siphons to raise the water just under 32 feet at a time. As pointed out, not even one of his siphons could work since it was trying to raise the water uphill, but the examiner could not even see that, so the patent was granted. The “combover” was even patented. If you have had the misfortune of visiting Tesla car cult forums**, there are always some idiots claiming that you can extend the range of electric cars by adding an alternator and using that to charge the battery! But the manufactures are either too stupid to do that, or else they don’t want you to know because they are in league with “big battery” or “big electricity”. There is no concept that is so stupid that you cannot find an idiot who will endorse and even staunchly defend it. Read the comment in the below.
https://bangshift.com/general-news/tech-stories/what-happens-when-you-add-an-alternator-to-an-electric-car-extended-range-jeremy-fielding-explains/
The president of Zimbabwe endorsed an OBVIOUS perpetual motion scam, in a very poor country with a very poorly educated population. The Creationists and grifters in control of the US government are seeking the same “ideal” situation in the US.
*While out jogging, an oak tree branch fell and hit him on the head, subsequent aphasia stopped his regular column.
**I have owned and used an electric car for over 8 years, and will never buy or use a “fossil fueled” (misnomer) car again.
zetopan@8–
I have fond memories of the Park Report. It was somewhere between pointed and lacerating and no doubt would have earned the disapproval of the accommodationist crowd, but IMO his targets were almost always so stupid and venal that they thoroughly deserved it.
Oops @19
Let’s not forget that Mark Meadows is a bible-thumping dolt and a young earth creationist who homeschooled his children. He was also involved in a land sale in Colorado to a young earth creationist organization. College dropout, of course, but reported to have an Associate’s degree of some kind. The guy is dumb as a box of rocks.