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USDA Scrambles To Ease Concerns After Researchers Were Ordered To Stop Publishing Publicly Funded Science (popsci.com)
Layzej writes: Popular Science reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now barred from communicating with the public. [And early this morning, BuzzFeed revealed that] The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has banned scientists and other employees from sharing the results of its taxpayer-funded research with the broader public. From the report: "The memo outlining these new rules has not been made public, but the ban reportedly includes everything from summaries of scientific papers to USDA-branded tweets. Scientists are still able to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, but they are unable to talk about that research without prior consent from their agency. This is not the first time that public science has been hamstrung by a gag order. To this day, the quantity of oil spewed into the ocean during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil spill remains something of a mystery. Many of the scientists who worked on the spill were hired by BP and barred from speaking on it. But gag orders -- while always troublesome -- have usually been limited to one specific issue. Right now, the EPA and USDA have been forbidden to speak about all of their scientific research. It means that many of the kinds of stories we now cover will never see the light of day." UPDATE 1/24/17: The USDA has disavowed the memo sent to employees at its Agricultural Research Service unit. USDA's deputy administrator, Michael Young, clarified that the gag order specifically applies to policy-related statements in press releases and interviews, which need to be vetted with the secretary of agriculture. He told The Washington Post that peer-reviewed scientific papers from the unit should not be blocked, nor should food safety announcements. The Washington Post notes that "the memo's shortness and terse language seems to have exacerbated the confusion: 'Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents. This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content,' wrote ARS chief Sharon Drumm in an email to employees."
Smells like more of what I am starting to refer to as 'Trumped up news'.
Not that I support the man (or in fact could really care less directly about US politics), however it seems very important to quite a group of people to
make it look like the sky is falling right now. It is quite sad to see the side that believes they stand for fairness, doing the right thing, caring of others, etc
having to throw so much dirt so bitterly. Its like watching monkeys at the zoo fighting over scraps.
It is rapidly looking like the new left has taken up the playbook of the old right (and by old, I am starting to worry we are talking german mid 1930s..).
Is it really surprising to anyone that with a major change of control in the US, that departments want to keep a tighter rain on anything that could look like
policy statements for a while? Would seem to be pretty sensible really.
Of course what we get instead is reactionary and sensationalist headlines, without any form of fact checking, because that suits the worldview of the
people publishing. The death of actual journalism, let alone investigate journalism, has been sad to watch.
Let me read the article to you:
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A copy of the interim procedures memo, dated Jan. 23 and seen by Reuters, shows many of the steps reflect either the same or similar measures taken by the previous administration. Reuters also saw a memo, dated Jan. 22, 2009, that was sent to agency officials by former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
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You libs have GOT to quit being so damn gullible about clickbait headlines - it makes you appear stupid, though you probably aren't actually stupid.
This appears to be yet more MSM hyperventilation, this time HuffPo & PopSci in league w/ Buzzfeed. Last time it was CNN & MSNBC in league w/ Buzzfeed, so this appears to be the printed media wing of the Alt-Left Brigade... last time it was the hot mic talking heads cable news wing. Note the common thread: Buzzfeed. Mystery solved. These Keystone Cops clowns generate noise, not signal; heat, not light; and political strife, not common consensus.
To wit:
1. This is a temporary freeze on dolling out new taxpayer cash (grants & contracts) during the administration transition period.
2. This is a temporary freeze on spewing official agency propaganda by extremists w/in the agencies who may resent their funds being cut.
E.g., EPA spox admits: “This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done,”
Existing grants, on-going work and publications and conferences will proceed as normal.
Policy statements and other non-scientific/factual commentary is merely suspended until new official spokespersons are appointed.
Read the core articles from credible sources before you pile on w/ paranoid disinformation, please— viz., https://www.propublica.org/art...
Given the 11th hour sabotage salvos launched by Obama in his last weeks as POTUS, any rational person could sympathize w/ a “stand down” order from the new, in-coming administration to prevent far-left partisan policy loyalists from muddying the waters until the new Presidential cabinet members can take office and plot a course.
And don't pretend to try to paint me as a Trump fanatic: I'm a vehement independent and proud of it. I'm equally suspicious of any and all national parties: RNC, DNC, CNN, MSN, ABC, FOX, etc. The only political unit I trust is WTC (We the People), and even then things run off the rails from time to time. Such is the human condition. We are all mired in muck. Even Pope Francis says so. ;-)
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