…that only the “Right” believes any more.
I continue to wage war on the Left’s assault on the language. They are not liberal (or, for that matter, progressive), and never have been.
Category Archives: Media Criticism
China’s Hackers
It’s not possible to overstate what a disaster this is for national security. But the media would rather talk about Confederate flags.
Science, Uncertainty And Advocacy
Judith Curry is attending an interesting conference in the UK, and has some formal comments:
Some people regard any engagement of a scientist with the policy process as advocacy – I disagree. The way I look at it is that advocacy involves forceful persuasion, which is consistent with the legal definition of advocacy.
In the code of ethics for lawyers, where forceful persuasion is part of their job description, they are ethically bound only not to state something that they know to be false. Lawyers are under no compunction to introduce evidence that hurts their case – that’s the other side’s job.
Unlike lawyers, scientists are supposed to search for truth, and scientific norms encourage disclosure of sources and magnitude of uncertainty. Now if you are a scientist advocating for a specific issue, uncertainty will get in the way of your forceful persuasion.
In principle, scientists can ethically and effectively advocate for an issue, provided that their statements are honest and they disclose uncertainties. In practice, too many scientists, and worse yet professional societies, are conducting their advocacy for emissions reductions in a manner that is not responsible in context of the norms of science.
Much of climate “science” abandoned science years ago, going back to Schneider.
The Most Radical $10 Bill Candidate
That would be a cold day in Hell with this gang.
“Progressive” McDonalds
I think this is stupid. I’m not a huge customer, but as a result, I’ll probably start using alternatives. There are plenty of them.
In fact, one of the chains should go back to frying in tallow. It would save them money, and be in your face to nutrition quacks.
Congressional Logic
SLS behind schedule? Increase the budget. Commercial Crew behind schedule? Cut the budget.
And of course, Commercial Crew is not in fact behind schedule. If NASA is hedging its bets by buying Soyuz into 2018, that’s because, for good reason, it has no confidence that it will get the needed funding. So Congressional actions become self fulfilling.
The “Snap Back”
There isn’t anything about the Iran deal that isn’t a delusion, really. The only real question is whether it’s a self delusion, or another fraud.
Sexual Harassment At The State Department
…has increased under Clinton and Kerry.
If the Republicans are beaten by Hillary Clinton, it will be their own damn fault.
“Gun-Free” Zones
…are an easy target for killers. It’s an evergreen theme, the empirical evidence is overwhelming, it’s completely logical, yet every time this happens those who want the government to run our lives use it as a call to disarm us.
The IRS’s Latest Email Excuse
…draws it closer to rogue-agency status:
Let’s cut to the chase here: The IRS is obstructing justice because it doesn’t want the truth to come out . The agency has been caught red-handed targeting opponents of the Obama administration, including the tea party, pro-Israel groups and conservative news media.
It purposely delayed issuances of tax-exempt status to nonprofit groups and held investigations entirely outside its own mandate.
What the IRS is hiding is bound to be the work of malicious political operatives cloaking themselves as impartial civil servants, plotting among themselves against their political enemies through email.
The stiff-arms given by the IRS at every juncture — from Lerner’s invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at a House hearing to this latest claim about preventing duplicates — is consistent with that scenario.
I’d say it’s already been full rogue for many months.