The Very Best Of 2016's Anti-Science Bullshit

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Hurricane Matthew Truthers

In early October, as Hurricane Matthew approached the southeastern United States and officials ordered mass evacuations, a group of right-wing commentators alleged that the Obama administration was conspiring to exaggerate hurricane forecasts in order to scare the public about climate change. On October 5, Rush Limbaugh said hurricane forecasting often involved "politics" because "the National Hurricane Center is part of the National Weather Service, which is part of the Commerce Department, which is part of the Obama administration, which by definition has been tainted." He added, however, that Matthew itself was "a serious bad storm" and hadn't been politicized.

The next day, Matt Drudge took the theory a step further, tweeting, "The deplorables are starting to wonder if govt has been lying to them about Hurricane Matthew intensity to make exaggerated point on climate." He added, "Hurricane center has monopoly on data. No way of verifying claims." Drudge's tweets were widely condemned as dangerous and irresponsible. They also caught the attention of conspiracy kingpin Alex Jones. A day later, Limbaugh also went full Matthew Truther, declaring it "inarguable" that the government is "hyping Hurricane Matthew to sell climate change." Matthew would ultimately kill more than 40 people in the United States and hundreds in Haiti. It caused billions of dollars' worth of damage.

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Trump's Budget Director Isn't Sure the Government Should Fund Zika Research

Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Donald Trump's choice to head the White House Office of Management and Budget, isn't just a global warming denier. As Mother Jones reported, he recently questioned whether the government should even fund scientific research. In September, Mulvaney took to Facebook to discuss the congressional showdown over urgently needed funding for the Zika epidemic—money that would pay for mosquito control, vaccine studies, and research into the effects of the virus. (Among other disputes, Republicans sought to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving Zika funds.) "[D]o we need government-funded research at all[?]" wrote Mulvaney in his since-deleted post. Even more remarkably, he went on to raise doubts about whether Zika really causes microcephaly in babies. As Slate's Phil Plait noted, "There is wide scientific consensus that zika and microcephaly are linked, and had been for some time before Mulvaney wrote that."

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The House "Science" Committee

The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is quickly becoming one of the most inaccurately named entities in Washington. For the past several years, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has used his position as chairman of the committee to harass scientists through congressional investigations. He's even accused researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of having "altered historic climate data to get politically correct results" about global warming. As we explained in February, "Smith is determined to get to the bottom of what he sees as an insidious plot by NOAA to falsify research. His original subpoena for internal communications, issued last October, has been followed by a series of letters to Obama administration officials in NOAA and other agencies demanding information and expressing frustration that NOAA has not been sufficiently forthcoming."

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http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/12/2016-anti-science-trump-pence-flint-nra-hurricane-matthew

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1. Correction: The Very *WORST* Of 2016's Anti-Science Bullshit