While Democrats and leftist alarmists decry conservatives for supposedly peddling "misinformation" about "the Science™" related to climate, COVID, and genders (there are two, FYI), their own Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas is out and about telling constituents some real whoppers about the solar eclipse.
Speaking on Monday at an event she claims to have "created" at Booker T. Washington High School in her Houston-area district, she tried to provide some scientific explanation for the solar system's workings — but any students who listened are going to fail Astronomy 101.
Today, I created the opportunity to see a unique science and solar experience for the students at Booker T. Washington High School.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) April 8, 2024
As a former member of the Science Committee and former Ranking Member of the Space and Aeronautics Committee, this was an irreplaceable moment… pic.twitter.com/DhlorZthW7
"You have the energy of the moon at night," Jackson Lee tried explaining to attendees, seeming to misunderstand that the moon doesn't release energy at night, it is merely reflecting light from the sun.
"And sometimes you've heard the word 'full moon,'" she continued. "Sometimes you need to take the opportunity just to come out and see a full moon," which the graduate of Yale explained is a "complete rounded circle which is made up mostly of gases."
Huh? The moon is, well, solid. That's why astronauts can...land on it. There is a notable lack of gases on the moon, hence the need for space suits for the Apollo astronauts to not immediately die outside of their lunar landers.
Watch:
Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: It's "almost impossible to go near the sun," but the "moon is more manageable" because it's "made up mostly of gases" (it isn't)pic.twitter.com/0t8CPI4QzW
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 9, 2024
Undeterred, Jackson Lee continued, saying "that's why the question is why — or how — could we as humans live on the moon. The gas is such that we can do that," the representative who previously served on the House's Science Committee and Space and Aeronautics Committee claimed. According to NASA, the moon's "weak atmosphere and its lack of liquid water cannot support life as we know it," but seemingly not as Jackson Lee knows it.
Continuing on her celestial tour, Jackson Lee also said that the "sun is a mighty powerful heat and it's almost impossible to go near the sun" while the "moon is more manageable." What a relief?
Hopefully, students will remember viewing Monday's solar eclipse — and promptly forget Jackson Lee's dubious astronomy lesson.
These students will hold this with them forever; I am glad we were able to bring everyone together for such a historic moment. pic.twitter.com/7ldL8w0uql
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) April 8, 2024
Notably, this is not Jackson Lee's first instance of cosmic confusion. As a Texas Monthly report from 1997 explained, the congresswoman once asked scientists whether our rover on Mars managed to photograph the American flag planted there by Neil Armstrong:
Jackson Lee, whose district neighbors the Johnson Space Center, is a member of the House Committee on Science, and so it was that she spent part of her summer recess visiting the Mars Pathfinder Operations Center in Pasadena, California. While there, according to an article by Sandy Hume in The Hill, a weekly newspaper that covers Congress, Jackson Lee asked if the Pathfinder succeeded in taking pictures of the American flag planted on Mars by Neil Armstrong in 1969. Of course, Armstrong planted the flag on the Moon, as any high schooler should be able to tell you, let alone a 47-year-old Yale graduate.
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