Sailing

[Chap]

I should mention that those of us who have connections with scientists in Europe are familiar with the descriptions of their situation given by visiting scientists from the US. Some of these have travelled to Europe simply to let their colleagues know the strength of the efforts being made by the Trump administration to bring the whole idea of universities as centres for free research and publication to an end. Instead, some of them say, Trump and his facilitators want to move research into opaque 'tech labs' run for profit only, with no open sharing of research results.

Some of these visitors are hoping to find posts in Europe. The consequent drops in salary seem to them to be worthwhile as the price of continuing to be able to do science as they have known it. What is more, young researchers from Europe are said to be hesitant about spending time in the US. None of this looks very favourable to the US continuing to be seen as the world leader in science, with all the economic benefits (and let us not forget the military benefits) that has brought in the past.

[Gunnar]

I should mention that those of us who have connections with scientists in Europe are familiar with the descriptions of their situation given by visiting scientists from the US. Some of these have travelled to Europe simply to let their colleagues know the strength of the efforts being made by the Trump administration to bring the whole idea of universities as centres for free research and publication to an end. Instead, some of them say, Trump and his facilitators want to move research into opaque 'tech labs' run for profit only, with no open sharing of research results.

Some of these visitors are hoping to find posts in Europe. The consequent drops in salary seem to them to be worthwhile as the price of continuing to be able to do science as they have known it. What is more, young researchers from Europe are said to be hesitant about spending time in the US. None of this looks very favourable to the US continuing to be seen as the world leader in science, with all the economic benefits (and let us not forget the military benefits) that has brought in the past.

This seemingly growing trend to dismiss the very idea of establishing and relying on our universities as centers for free research and publication is both alarming and abysmally stupid! Nothing has contributed more to whatever greatness and competitive advantages our nation has achieved, economically, scientifically and technologically than that ideal, and nothing is more certain to result in the disastrous demise of our power, economy, technological leadership and positive influence in the world than abandoning that ideal. The stupid, current vendetta against Doctor Fauci and determination to find or manufacture any excuse they can use to prosecute and demonize him and other epidemiologists who earnestly worked to find the most effective ways to deal with and prevent pandemics like Covid is a tragic example of this growing and abysmally stupid anti-intellectual and anti-science trend.

As pointed out in the Lancet article I cited in a previous post upthread, it is like MAGA and other conservatives are claiming that government efforts to encourage people to take effective preventive measures (such as vaccination or responsibly using masks or distancing oneself from others when knowingly infected) against acquiring or spreading disease is somehow an unacceptable infringement on our basic, God-given human freedoms!

[Jersey Girl]

One of the most disturbing things about ajax is that he is or claims to be a competent and successful optometrist. I find it hard to understand how anyone supposedly possessing the scientific knowledge required for a licensed optometrist can be so clueless about the firmly established scientific consensus of human caused climate change and environmental degradation. He is even more clueless (or simply doesn't care) about the now unequivocally established fact that Trump and his administration is the most corrupt, immoral and pathologically dishonest administration in the entire history of our nation.

You left out the fact that scientific institutions like Lancet have lost most of their respect and public trust for the partisan political pseudoscience they published during the global scamdemic. Fauci was no scientist, just a political partisan.

What you think you're seeing has absolutely nothing to do with Fauci.


Two words: Bait and also switch.

If you can't see the con, then congratulationsm ajax! You're the mark.