Today, a House hearing on Covid got a bit derailed because it turns out one of the GOP's witnesses wrote a outrageous, racist book speculating that Black people are more prone to violence and Jewish people more financially successful because of genetics. https://t.co/lvXLaroFDZ
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 8, 2023
This hearing had barely begun when the top Democrat on the committee pointed out who, exactly, Republicans had chosen to testify on the science of the coronavirus.
Wade is “dangerous” and “extreme” choice to give a platform to, said Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.).
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 8, 2023
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.”…
Her takeaway:
“Wade’s book is all pseudoscientific rubbish." https://t.co/YhxtidQgWt
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 8, 2023
Pets of Balloon Juice Calendar (Digital Version for Sale)
Alison Rose
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.
JaneE
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.
different-church-lady
Mama, there goes that newspaper again…
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.
different-church-lady
But enough about Trump’s voter base…
Princess
This is who the GOP is.
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.
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
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.
MagdaInBlack
@JR: I was wondering. Thank you.
Baud
I can’t help but feel genetically superior to Wade.
sdhays
@Scout211: Good! Make an example before any others follow suit.
Alison Rose
@Scout211: Yep! Nice to live in a state run by someone who isn’t a fucking monster. But I hate that people’s autonomy is dependent upon their zip code.
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.
Alison Rose
@Baud: the bug that got itself stuck in my window screen for an hour is genetically superior to him
Steve in the ATL
@different-church-lady: zing!
Baud
The NYT is less than garbage.
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.
kalakal
@different-church-lady:
You beat me to it 😀
The GOP have a remarkably shallow pool of talent to draw on.
Alison Rose
@FelonyGovt: Right? Whenever that shit comes up, I’m like, LOL I am so bad with money. Defective Jew.
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.
OzarkHillbilly
Hence the proliferation of AR-15s among white people.
catod
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$$.
Baud
@Alison Rose: Maybe you were adopted.
WaterGirl
@catod: A cross between cockroaches and termites?
Baud
I want to hear what the phrenologist has to say.
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
Chief Oshkosh
@Alison Rose: I’m stealing that one. :)
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Or plastic surgery.
BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️
@cain: Bon Appétit mofos
Alison Rose
@Chief Oshkosh: I felt a bit sorry for the thing. My cat, on the other hand, seemed determined to figure out how to eat it through the glass.
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.”
Mike in NC
“Mr. Wade, your ride to Mar-A-Lago is here!”
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.
randy khan
And Wade is the most credible witness they have.
Anoniminous
@Redshift: Bingo!
Came here to say exactly this.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m reading The Raj Quartet, and there are a lot of them in there as well.
schrodingers_cat
Why are these British imports so racist. Besides Wade there is Sully and the guy who started VDARE.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: To be fair, we have plenty of American-born racists too.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: So we don’t really need this bonus supply of crackpots with clipped accents.
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….
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat:
Maybe they are “[t]he wretched refuse of [their] teeming shore.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Caspian Grill on Gammon Road in Madison. It’s Kazakh.
ETA: What city are you in?
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.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: Milwaukee
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.
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.
JWR
In case anyone missed it, Stephen Colbert really went after Tucker Carlson the other, (Tuesday?), night.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: excellent—thank you
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.
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.
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.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Not at all.
Ken
Probably something in their Pictish and Neanderthal heritage.
Mike in NC
@TriassicSands: Remember when they tried to cram Sarah Palin down our throats just because she represented mediocrity?
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@Ken: I was today years old when I learned who the Picts were.
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.
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.
James E Powell
@catod:
Re the FTFNYT
It is liberal in the sense that liberals pay to keep it in business.
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
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.
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.
TriassicSands
@Mike in NC:
Yes, I remember, but I wouldn’t call Palin mediocre. She’d have to be much better than she is to reach that level.
JWR
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
The Picts were the Orcs of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian books, which were really gory, but a whole lotta fun!
NotMax
Do not ask for whom the bell curve tolls…
//
Steve in the ATL
@NotMax: ha!
Omnes Omnibus
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
Did someone mention Picts?
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?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mai Naem mobile: He is exactly who they wanted.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Thoughts and prayers.
thinking… praying….
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
She got her GED in 2020, a month before she won the primary that would send her to Congress.
Mai Naem mobile
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: some people say it was one of Fucker Charlatan’s goons who tripped Turtleman.
Mai Naem mobile
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: so abstinence education doesn’t work? He’s being homeschooled by mommy right?
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
I did Nazi this coming
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The party of multiple family values
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
JWR
Good:
HumboldtBlue
Fiddler on the Roof actor Chaim Topol dies aged 87
TriassicSands
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Boebert should enjoy being 36. From now on her age will be greater than her IQ
She can hardly wait to give her new grandchild his or her first assault rifle.
JWR
@Mai Naem mobile:
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.
Montanareddog
@schrodingers_cat:
Every nation has its racist crackpots. You might well ask why so many of them are attracted to living in the US?
Kathleen
@TriassicSands: Look for her to introduce “Assault Rifle Implants for Pregnant Women” bill.
Manyakitty
@Omnes Omnibus: love that cut! And one of the best song titles ever 😵💫
WereBear
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.
schrodingers_cat
@Montanareddog: That is true, but the British ones seem to land media sinecures. There are a couple of British Americans at the NRO too IIRC. John Derbyshire comes to mind.
evodevo
@schrodingers_cat: I bet it’s that Brit accent…makes them sound so much more authoritative lol
schrodingers_cat
@evodevo: Despite gaining our independence from Mummy we are still suckers for the accent.
Kay
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”.
Kay
@JWR:
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.
Paul in KY
@Alison Rose: How about O’Keeefe? What a duo they’d make (in an icky way).
Paul in KY
@FelonyGovt: You’n uppity Jews with your fancy space lasers…(shakes fist in direction of California)!!!!
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!!!