Wiretap: Temperatures rise in the war against science

War games

It looks as if the war on science is growing ever more, well, heated. The I’m-not-a-scientist line, so beloved of Republicans, has changed to: Climate change will go away if we just stop letting scientists study it. Elizabeth Kolbert writes in The New Yorker of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s vote for a bill cutting at least $300 million from NASA’s earth-science budget. Earlier the committee had cut funds to the National Science Foundation’s geosciences program. Maybe you can spot a trend here.

Beyond punishment

Mary Koss, whose research played a major role in the first great campus-rape debate 30 years ago, now has another idea about how to deal with the issue. It involves more emphasis on rehabilitation than punishment. This time, no one seems to be listening. Via The National Journal.

Defensive end

Ruth Marcus writes in The Washington Post that Bill Clinton may be the best explainer-in-chief, but he is the worst defender-in-chief. And as long as everyone links Bill and Hillary, that’s going to be a major problem for her. Via The Washington Post.

Backfire

Hillary Clinton’s polling numbers after the email issue are better than they were before. How do you explain that? The New York Times offers the numbers, which show that she is seen more favorably — and as a better leader — today.

Hey guys

Rick Perry writes an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal explaining why he changed his mind on the U.S. Export-Import Bank. What he didn’t mention was that he was hoping that changing his mind might actually get someone to notice he wants to run for president. Via the Wall Street Journal.

Rising tide

A new Swedish study suggests that the rise in autism diagnoses may have less to do with a rise in autism and more to do with the way autism is being diagnosed.

Mad as hell

The news, to date, from al-Jazeera America: terrible ratings, no profits and reports of  dysfunctional management of the newsroom. Via The New York Times.

 

Photo Credit: John LeGear, Creative Commons, Flickr.

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