Trump administration's war on science has hit 'crisis point', experts warn

[Hal Zerozerozeronine]

Source: The Guardian

Thu 3 Oct 2019 05.00 EDT

The treatment of science by the Trump administration has hit a “crisis point” where research findings are manipulated for political gain, special interests are given improper influence and scientists are targeted for ideological reasons, a nonpartisan taskforce of former government officials has warned.

Safeguards meant to ensure that government research is objective and fully available to the public have been “steadily weakening” under recent administrations and are now at a nadir under Trump, according to a report released on Thursday by the National Task Force on Rule of Law and Democracy.

There are now “almost weekly violations” of previously cherished norms, the report states, with the current administration attempting “not only to politicize scientific and technical research on a range of topics, but also, at times, to undermine the value of objective facts themselves”.

The report echoes complaints by a number of former federal government officials who claim their work on areas such as the climate crisis and pollution standards was either sidelined or subverted by the Trump administration as part of its zeal for environmental deregulation.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/03/science-trump-administration-crisis-point-report

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Weird how foreign news outlets usually do a better job reporting on this country than our own, isn't it?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Republicons are willing to sabotage their grandchildren for personal short term gain.

The richest among them figure that they'll be able to spread money around their grand-progeny to "save them", but for what? To live in guarded enclaves surrounded by new deserts, choked by massive smoke from wildfires and pandas and elephants only a memory? Food grown hydroponically? Robots shooting hungry migrants at the gates?

The rest? Well they are ALL going to get rich once they get the gubmnt off their backs, right?

So narrow-minded.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Science is our birthright. On a hot future day, a tRump granddaughter will shit on his grave. . . nt

[Maxheader]

2. Scary shit..

In order of importance is love, which makes the world go round..
and then Science..

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. for the most part, Americans don't "do" science

too hard. not reality tv. not cult of personality

disgusting (to this scientist)

[Haggis for Breakfast]

5. I shudder to think what they are doing to medical research.

We had a brain drain under W when he prohibited research using stem cells, with hundreds/thousands of scientists fleeing to Europe. I specifically remember the French government openly inviting US scientists to come to France, where they would be free from political intervention and interference in their work.

Lord knows what the current crop of nincompoops are doing to insinuate politics into medical science.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Nowadays, all of biology is grounded on evolution. Medicine is applied biology. . . . nt

[Martin Eden]

4. This should be a major public issue

But in the era of Trumpian scandal overload, it flys under the radar mostly unnoticed.