Interesting that Shafer uses the word "bogus," which seems in keeping with current common usage and Slate style, while the headline writer for the Slate home page reverted back to the old-fashioned "hogwash"!

What is hogwash anyway? Do modern factory farms ever bother to wash their hogs? Never mind, just letting the mental wheels spin ...

Serious about what is "hogwash"? If etymology online is correct, as it sometimes is, since 1773 "hogwash" has been "inferior writing" as appears to sometimes be the case, even with a NYT article:
hogwash c.1440, from hog + wash; originally "slops fed to pigs;" extended to "cheap liquor" (1712) then to "inferior writing" (1773).