Freedom, said the British writer George Orwell, is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear - such as, he suggested, that two plus two makes four. Empirical facts can be especially unwelcome to political establishments that want to provide their own "alternative" facts. During his first week in office, President Trump launched orders to gag scientists in federal agencies, and raised the possibility that political officials may now need to clear empirical findings before they can be published. Canadian scientists, who endured a decade of repression under an ideologically similar government, could usefully advise their American colleagues.
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