Great Read: Heather MacDonald, "Trump's Science Reform Veers Off Course"

I'm not even going to quote from this--it's short, and eminently worth a read.

   About half of MacDonald's argument, there can be no doubt: the left has been destroying science by turning it into a vehicle for advancing their extremist politics.

   About the other half: I'm less sure, but I'm under the impression she's right: they're over-emphasizing technological results and under-emphasizing pure/basic research. This is consistent with what I consider to be a general cluster of errors on the right: over-emphasis on practical results--e.g. over-emphasis on vocational training in higher ed. But here I'm operating on little more than impressions.

   There's more to this disagreement. E.g. some argue that, if someone is using our money, he ought to give us a tangible return on investment--like faster computers or a cure for cancer. But you know the responses. And at least this is a reasonable argument about which reasonable people can disagree.

   So it stands in start contrast to the trainwreck on the left. Over there, if we advocate for objective, pure, hard scientific research, their main response is:  THAT'S RACIST. The all-purpose progressive-left response...