Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Everybody saw this coming.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

In after Baud. Damn.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The GOP Death Cultists Are At It Again

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: The GOP Death Cultists Are At It Again

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You’d think the opprobrium which greeted his last book might’ve taught him better, but of course Mr. Wade could not resist a high-profile chance to blame Covid-19 on the machinations of the heathen Chinese. And the MAGAts hearing about today’s hearing via the Wingnut Wurlitzer will no doubt be thrilled to death:

… Wade, a British author and former New York Times science writer, wrote a book called “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History” that was widely denounced by the scientific community for misrepresenting research into human population genetics…

Wednesday’s hearing had barely begun when Rep. Raul Ruiz (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, denounced Wade as a “dangerous” and “extreme” pick by Republicans to feature in a hearing supposedly focused on facts and science.

“[Wade] claims that certain populations have been slower to experience an evolutionary change he has described as ‘the transformation of a population’s social traits from the violent, short-term, impulsive behavior typical of many hunter-gatherer and tribal societies’ into ‘the more disciplined, future-oriented behavior observed in other populations,’” he said.

The California Democrat said he wrote to the chairman, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), earlier Wednesday urging him to disinvite Wade from the hearing, “so as not to give legitimacy to a man of such discredited, unscientific and harmful views.”

“His participation hurts the credibility of this hearing,” added Ruiz, with Wade sitting right in front of him. “These views … have no place in a hearing examining the origins of a pandemic that has disproportionately and overwhelmingly harmed communities of color.”…

“When my book first came out, Mr. Ruiz, I think the extreme right wing thought it would help their cause,” said Wade. “But they very soon dropped referring to it because when they actually read it, as many people who talk about my book have not, they found that―”

“David Duke did read your book,” interjected Ruiz. “In fact, he had a whole radio talk show about it and described it in detail. And he did endorse your views.”…

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  1. 1.

    Alison Rose

    former New York Times science writer

    LOLOLOL I bet they’re thrilled to see this little tidbit alongside his name now.

    In other political news that made me laugh, I only found out today that Kellyanne Conway announced last week that she and George are getting divorced. (That’s a paywall-removed link.) I’m sure I’m not the only one to have immediately thought, Well it’s about damn time!  Wonder if she’s gonna end up with some MAGA shithead next.

  2. 2.

    JaneE

    certain populations have been slower to experience an evolutionary change he has described as ‘the transformation of a population’s social traits from the violent, short-term, impulsive behavior typical of many hunter-gatherer and tribal societies

    Those “certain populations” also happen to be the only pure modern humans.  And the last I heard the San had less violence and conflict than modern America by far.  If you want to talk about “violent” and “impulsive” behavior look no further than Jan 6th, 2021.  Not many of those “certain populations” in that bunch.

  3. 3.

    different-church-lady

    former New York Times science writer

    Mama, there goes that newspaper again…

  4. 4.

    geg6

    FTFNYT is a complete and utter disgrace.  Jesus, they hired this asswipe to write about science?  For real?  There is no excuse to read that rag.  Fox News or the NYPost for the MOUs is all they are.

  5. 5.

    different-church-lady

    “[Wade] claims that certain populations have been slower to experience an evolutionary change he has described as ‘the transformation of a population’s social traits from the violent, short-term, impulsive behavior typical of many hunter-gatherer and tribal societies’ into ‘the more disciplined, future-oriented behavior observed in other populations,’”

    But enough about Trump’s voter base…

  7. 7.

    JR

    In case anyone was wondering, Wade’s most recent contribution to the NYT was two years ago, one of many that came after the publication of his 2014 eugenics book.

  8. 8.

    Scout211

    Under the tag “proud to be a Democrat” is the news that Governor Newsom followed-up on his threat to cut business ties with Walgreen’s.
    Link

    The contract between the California Department of General Services and Walgreens allows the state of California to buy specialty pharmacy prescription drugs, mainly used by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation throughout it’s healthcare system, according to the press release.

    On Wednesday, the governor’s office instructed the Department of General Services to withdraw the planned renewal of the agreement which was meant to take effect on May 1, 2023. The state now intends to explore other options to provide this service.

    The loss of the contract could come with a hefty loss of funds, even for the pharmaceutical giant. So far under the contract Walgreens has received about $54 million from the state.

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    @JR: Guess it’s not that surprising, considering they have such a jones for giving a platform to people who advocate eugenics against trans people.

  14. 14.

    cain

    @Scout211: Sucks to be them – hope they enjoy that shit sandwich that Newsom gave them. It would be good for all the other blue states if they have contract to follow suite and let them make it the most painful economic decision they can make.

    It’s one thing we have over these right wing red states – they have no economic power like we do.

  18. 18.

    FelonyGovt

    Once again I’m bummed that the Jewish “financial genius” gene seems to have passed me by. Of course, I still have my space laser.

  21. 21.

    Fair Economist

    It’s not impossible that people from different ethnicities have some statistical genetically based differences (“races” are totally bogus, though) but there is big fat zero evidence for it. 100 years ago East Asians were supposed to be dumb and lazy, and now they’re supposed to be smart and industrious. And I’m sure anything *this* guy wrote is just 100% pure prejudice.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “[Wade] claims that certain populations have been slower to experience an evolutionary change he has described as ‘the transformation of a population’s social traits from the violent, short-term, impulsive behavior typical of many hunter-gatherer and tribal societies’ into ‘the more disciplined, future-oriented behavior observed in other populations,’” he said.

    Hence the proliferation of AR-15s among white people.

  23. 23.

    catod

    former New York Times science writer

    Granted that he is former writer, still Is anyone even surprised at this anymore?  We all know what lies under the woodwork there

    Liberal newspaper, my a$$.

  27. 27.

    Alison Rose

    @Baud: My Dad wasn’t Jewish…but then he did work in business management his whole life. Maybe you’re right! And they just got lucky and found a baby who looks exactly like him :P

  32. 32.

    Redshift

    @JaneE: Yeah, in addition to being racist claptrap, everything in that description is century-old discredited science – the idea that evolution is “progress,” the idea that “primitive” people are inherently violent incapable of long-term planning. This isn’t “I’m misinterpreting some research,” it’s “I regect all of modern biology in favor of Victorian white supremacy.”

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    If you want depraved people with little work ethic in Africa, you should read about Happy Valley in Kenya in the years between WWI and WWII.

  41. 41.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: unrelated: is it possible to get a meal at a restaurant in your state that does not have any cheese in it?  And we both know the answer to this question….

  44. 44.

    CaseyL

    Hunting and gathering is hard work; I don’t think they had a lot of energy left over for ‘impulsive, random violence.”  That’s more the province of urbanized humans.

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
    Downtown? Lupi and Iris. Onesto on Broadway in the Third Ward. Harbor House has both kinds of lobster rolls (Connecticut and Maine), actually any of the Bartolotta places are pretty good. Or go full German and hit Maders.

    ETA:  Some more trendy places south of the river in the Fifth Ward.  But they change so fast.

  47. 47.

    AlaskaReader

     

    Will ‘reporters’ never become journalists?

    It’s seldom reported who it is that is responsible for repeatedly foisting their racism on others through these ‘witnesses’.

    Yeah, I’m sure enough that it’s ‘republicans’ inviting this despicable claptrap, kind of goes without saying, …but which Republican(s) specifically would be the kind of information that journalists would report.

    ‘Reporters’ constantly giving ‘republicans’ cover by not naming them is not journalism.

  50. 50.

    Marmot

    @Redshift: What you just said.

    ETA: Back in the day — early 2000s — it was Wade all over the science section. I’d bet $1M Levenson knows him personally.

  51. 51.

    TriassicSands

    @different-church-lady:

    Now, c’mon, DCL, even pseudoscience needs to be represented. After all, it’s got a much wider and more receptive audience in the U.S. than actual — tedious, boring — “science.” Just as there are alternative fqcts, now there is alternative science, which is every bit as deserving of respect as all the other garbage people in this country believe.

    Everything that could be explained by science (after years of struggle) can be better and more quickly explained by pseudoscience. It doesn’t need funding and everyone can be a BS, MS, PhD (with the emphasis on BS) in pseudoscience.

    It’s also important to remember the common attribute of prominent and successful people — if they are successful at one thing that automatically means they are world class experts in every imaginable field. There have been numerous successful scientists who have gone on to utter absolute nonsense outside of their original area of expertise. We must allow them to do that, because otherwise we might hurt their feelings. In addition, we can’t have an ongoing discussion of scientific issues if the anti-science Republicans are restricted to real science, peer reviewed studies, and people who actually know what they are talking about. Our entire MSM, not just the Times, is dedicated to the profit motive and pleasing the widest possible audience.

    Esteemed former Nebraska Senator Roman Hruska said it best when referring to the hopelessly unqualified judge, G. Harold Carswell, Nixon nominated for a seat on  the Supreme Court.

     

    Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t all have Brandeises, Cardozos and Frankfurters…*

    And that goes for science, too! YeeHah! Otherwise, we shut the Republicans out of the discussion completely. How mean!

    This is the world we live in.

    *And, I’d like to add, Thomases, Alitos, Barretts, et al.

  56. 56.

    Tony G

    @OzarkHillbilly: Besides the obvious racism of this clown, his “logic” makes no sense at all.  I have never tried to survive as a hunter-gatherer in a wilderness (nor has he, I assume) but I suppose that impulsive behavior in that environment would be a good way to get yourself killed by a predator and/or to starve to death because you scared away the game.  Just idiotic.  Nice job by the New York Times giving this guy a job.

  57. 57.

    Dangerman

    Good Grief. This fucker needs to go where he belongs, but please flush at least twice and use a full carton of Lysol. Bullshit bilge.

  58. 58.

    James E Powell

    @catod:

    Re the FTFNYT

    Liberal newspaper, my a$$.

    It is liberal in the sense that liberals pay to keep it in business.

  59. 59.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    If you want depraved people with little work ethic in Africa, you should read about Happy Valley in Kenya in the years between WWI and WWII.

    I never knew of the existence of that place and those people until I watched a British TV show about a London cop who gets sent there after pissing off his boss or something. The horrors of colonialism.

  60. 60.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @James E Powell: It’s liberal in the sense that it’s capitalist and, furthermore, dedicated to whitewashing the excesses of modern capitalists and the traditional benefactors of American capitalism.

  66. 66.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Do these congress critters not have staff to look these people up before they invite them to speak at these hearings?  Wade’s got a Wikipedia page that goes into his genetics book controversy. This was maybe a five minute Google search and quick read of the Wikipedia page(yes, I know Wikipedia isn’t always 100% right but its gives you a general idea.) What kind of staff are these idiots hiring who can’t even do  a simple Google search?

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Manu Raju @mkraju 9m
    McConnell spox: “This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatmet.”

    Thoughts and prayers.

    thinking… praying….

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Lauren Boebert, who dropped out of high school to give birth to her first son, just announced that said son is upholding the family tradition

    PatriotTakes @patriottakes 11h
    Lauren Boebert publicly announced that her 17 year old son, Tyler, will be making her “a 36 year old grandmother” in April.

    She got her GED in 2020, a month before she won the primary that would send her to Congress.

  74. 74.

    lgerard

    It appears that the bigots of Tennessee not only have a drag queen for a governor, the Lt Governor is, uh, curious

    Republicans are so weird about sex

  75. 75.

    JWR

    Good:

    The conservative grassroots group FreedomWorks laid off 40 percent of its staff on Tuesday. “It’s heartbreaking but we have to learn the lessons from what went wrong in 2022 and we can’t pretend that there weren’t systematic problems to miss that red wave,” the group’s president Adam Brandon told Daniel in an interview. Of their 50 staff, around twenty people were laid off on Tuesday, Brandon said, including executive vice president Noah Wall.

  78. 78.

    JWR

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    He’s being homeschooled by mommy right?

    Just saw a tweet from Oct 2021 claiming she was a homeschooler, which makes me wonder if we need to put more thought into whether a person is even qualified to homeschool, because I suspect that GED of hers ain’t gonna cut it.

  79. 79.

    Montanareddog

    @schrodingers_cat:

     

     

    Why are these British imports so racist. Besides Wade there is Sully and the guy who started VDARE.

    Every nation has its racist crackpots. You might well ask why so many of them are attracted to living in the US?

  82. 82.

    WereBear

    “[Wade] claims that certain populations have been slower to experience an evolutionary change he has described as ‘the transformation of a population’s social traits from the violent, short-term, impulsive behavior typical of many hunter-gatherer and tribal societies’ into ‘the more disciplined, future-oriented behavior observed in other populations,’” he said.

    In my youth I had Baptists tell me this and I couldn’t laugh in their faces because they were in authority over me. But apparently I knew anthropology and they did not.

    Oh yes, those Southern Baptists have a grip on disciplined, future-oriented behavior. Tell me another.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    In response to Friday’s deadly attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs that left three dead and nine injured, pro-choice activist and abortion patient escort Michelle Kinsey Bruns took to Twitter to demonstrate that violence against abortion clinics and providers is a continuing problem in America.
    Using the hashtag #is100enough, Bruns cited at least 100 examples of threats and attacks perpetrated against abortion clinics and providers starting with the first known arson attack in 1976 to now. Below is a map of 57 of those incidents for which we were able to identify geographical data.

    If you think the people who belong to this incredibly violent and radical fundie religious movement are going to STOP at the border to NY or CA, you are not in a position to give anyone advice. You’re bad at “advice”.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @JWR:

    Just saw a tweet from Oct 2021 claiming she was a homeschooler

    Another “homeschooler” who isn’t home or doing any actual schooling. We have many of them in the county where I live.
    So he’s a truant. Great! That always works out really well for the kid. But she got to loudly proclaim she was “homeschooling” and own the libs so sacrificing his future is worth it, I guess.
    Do red states no longer have truancy laws? How do theu think this “we are not educating our kids at all” thing is going to work out for the country?
    Haul her into juvie court and make her explain why her kid doesn’t show up for school.

  90. 90.

    Paul in KY

    @lgerard: God bless Franklyn. He’s a good young man who seems to make Liberace look like Rambo. I hope the old creeper LTGov leering at him get’s raked over the coals for this. What a bunch of hypocrites!!!

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