Work is a journey on which you welcome challenge . . .
Work does not instantly respond — work digs to discover and inquires to clarify. Work is difficult and demands discernment. Work wonders, pauses, listens, absorbs, and reflects.
Work does not rest on who’s right and who’s wrong: Work wants to know if there’s something more to see, something to learn, something that sharpens the mind. Work never stops building on the foundation of your own work and what you learn from the work of others.
Work works its way through material that is not easy.
Work recognizes complexity and the demands of in-depth explanation. Work will go on a trip to ideas that take time and effort to understand. Work knows that you can’t see your way to a solution without understanding the different dimensions of a problem.
Work does not defend before you consider
Work does not race to conclusions — work arrives at them through careful consideration. Work is willing is rethink what you think you know. Work takes integrity, courtesy, curiosity, courage, and decency.
Work comes with the willingness to be wrong.
Work is not self-satisfied. Work does not sling snippets of certitude — work crafts argument on the merits. Work is an exchange where each party takes information into account. Work does not issue childish insults — work demands that you act your age.
Work respects your intelligence by using it — and shows respect to others as we work our way to mutual respect. Work won’t be pretty and might even get ugly — but work will do what it takes to work it out.
And if you wanna start solving problems — work is what it’s gonna take.
Speaking of work
I’m looking for fiercely independent thinkers for an idea that could turn the tide. If you’re not interested in hearing me out and having meaningful conversation — we have nothing to talk about and I wish you well.
Please contact me through the site or DM on Twitter — as I no longer respond to Tweets or superficial fragments of any kind.
Thank you!
For nearly 20 years
I’ve been practically spit on by people promoting principles I followed to find he didn’t. I’ve written many pieces on Sowell and this is the best his crowd has to offer:
From the get-go
Almost every post points to an identifiable disconnect — enough to know that something’s not right with people you put on a pedestal.
You could skip the post and go straight to the doc — and watch one at a time for 7 days, 7 weeks or 7 months. You could watch clips and ask questions — exploring in a piecemeal pursuit of the truth in whatever way works for you.
You do nothing of the kind.
You skim my site and breeze on by clips at the crux of the story — as you’re not looking to learn, you’re looking to respond.
And entire industries are engineering that need.
We get rewarded by hearts, likes, thumbs-up — and we conflate that with value, and we conflate it with truth.
— The Social Dilemma
I suggest you start here
Still waiting on your argument for how a rotor with a 3mm wall could maintain 90,000 RPM to make highly enriched uranium.
And I’ll be waitin’ till hell freezes over
You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself gavotte . . .
The “arguments” of “Expert” By Association — taking cue from his kin on Rolodex of Ridicule:
- “You use words like honor, courage and commitment as punch lines at liberal cocktail parties” — ripping off A Few Good Men and thinking I wouldn’t notice
- The “therapist” routine
- “Academia”
- “I’ve stood on the wall — have you?” — Jesus, why not toss in “You weep for Santiago” while you’re at it?
What does any of THAT have to do with the price of tea in China — or THIS?
Hmm, so the dimensions exactly match the tubes used in Iraq’s history of manufacturing the Nasser-81mm artillery rocket (a reverse-engineered version of the Italian Medusa).
Be quite a coincidence if they weren’t . . .
Ya know, connected
Well I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse naturally won
Then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well you’re where you should be all the time
It’s not like you had much information available by July 10, 2004:
People who think they have a monopoly on patriotism — proudly and gleefully ignore the word of world-renowned nuclear scientists:
In favor of professional know-it-alls who won’t go anywhere near this topic and never have.
Explain to me how that fits into following the facts.
opinions lightly adopted but firmly held . . . forged from a combination of ignorance, dishonesty, and fashion
Back to Sowell in a bit
I’m just warming up.
I’ve never believed anything to be true that was demonstrably false.
If I had an idea that was so good that it would eliminate my job, I’d propose it in a heartbeat. My efforts are in service of the best idea and what’s right.
To get in the way of that — would be like asking me not to breathe.
When I first heard from “Two” in the One Voice Became Two — it was on Reddit in response to I Don’t Do Slogans last summer. Based on what he saw in my writing, he made assumptions about my background.
That he loves my writing is wonderful — but it’s unwise to make assumptions about qualifications based on appearances.
And in world affairs — it’s downright deadly.
My first order of business was to reset his perception to reflect what’s real.
I worked my ass off to become a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert — but it’s just a classification for a certification program. Many who have this badge below are actual experts.
I’m not
So the first thing I did when I became an MCSE — was to write a thank-you note to all those who represent the real deal.
Hard to find humility these days.
Funny thing about that
The best of the best (including the experts throughout this story) — their humility tends to match their command of the subject matter.
Naturally, that standard doesn’t apply to every expert.
Then we have experts like Thomas Sowell.
Part of my documentary deals with subject matter that he and I would be in sync on. But I’m not an expert on race relations simply because I took liberals to task for being in lockstep on Trayvon.
But I am an expert on this
Sowell’s knowledge: Talking points at best.
A lot of that goin’ around
The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion … draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects or despises … in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination the authority of its former conclusions may remain inviolate.
Excerpt from Part 12-A
Here we have a perfect expression of the most self-destructive Democratic disease which they seem unable to cure. More than anything — they fear looking weak. To avoid this, they cave, surrender, capitulate — and stand for nothing.
— Glenn Greenwald
The Left institutionalizes weakness — and the Democratic Party is notorious for lacking backbone.
All this ludicrous lingo and ever-expanding acronyms . . .
You are utterly oblivious to the fact that you are weakening the very people you’re trying to strengthen.
branding weakness to boot
And right on cue, the Right kicks the shit out of you for it. I don’t blame ’em — except for the part about them being weak while branding strength.
In our culture of instant offense, we ban before we think. However, banning isn’t a sign of strength or resolve, but an admission of defeat, of showing how little we have engaged with whatever the bigger issue that belies the ban.
Instead of asking or addressing the roots of violent racism in the South in 2015 — far too difficult, far too intimidating — we focus on symbols. If we take a flag down, if we remove a TV show from the schedules, it shows we are doing something. It shows our hearts are in the right places.
Elaine’s exasperation x 100 = how impossibly stupid it is that they banned The Dukes of Hazzard.
But the high five is just so stupid!
The ban is bad enough by itself — but it’s beyond belief that you don’t grasp what comes with it.
A year or two ago on Twitter — a white-guilt guy blocked me for politely mentioning that Black Lives Matter is a counterproductive cause.
That’s the best ya got?
You’d think that a party that prides itself on intellectualism would examine the efficacy of their efforts.
Perhaps even try some predictive analysis . . .
“On top of all that, it seems that the more sensitive we try to be, the more hypersensitive our culture has become. That wasn’t our aim.” — The Yellow Brick Road
What the powers that be in most companies don’t get — is that you create more conflict in cultures that go to excessive lengths to avoid it. It’s just that the conflict is concealed in subtleties that disguise mounting frustration and waste.
While you put out your PR and pretend this undercurrent of crap doesn’t exist. — Part 9 . . .
The same guy who wrote the Green Book bit below — laughed out loud at her language that’s untethered to reality.
In other words, you’re failing — miserably
The Left lumps me in with the Right — the Right lumps me with the Left . . .
Delighting in The Safety Dance of Self-Delusion
Say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind . . .
We can go when we want to
The night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet
And surprise ’em with the victory crySay, we can act if we want to
If we don’t, nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile . . .
This pompous son of a bitch, I swear
His supporters tout his “follow the facts” mantra. Here’s your chance to take a trip to a place he never went.
Anybody can follow facts to their liking — only the genuine article takes the trail no matter where it leads.
Your journey to justice will reveal that you bought myth over merit.
Even great minds I admire fell into that trap. What Mr. McWhorter said below is based on image, not reality.
There’s no two ways about it — they’re wrong.
To deny that in the face over overwhelming and irrefutable evidence — is faith-based belief that falls into the very kind of religion that he brilliantly assigns to off-the-rails anti-racism.
It’s indefensible! Don’t you know that?
Taking Thomas Sowell to task has a purpose. Stick around and you’ll see.
“I’ll take the ‘B'”
Another moment of truth of many.
And whad’ya know — that story mattered to someone today.
Your approach is admirable and I’m working to create more opportunities instead of waiting for them. Thank you
Imagine that!
Excerpt from Part 8:
I think she knew I wouldn’t take it — and was testing me.
That same person on Twitter has repeatedly offered input that has been invaluable to me — including questions that helped frame the 2-part finale of Two Sides of the Same Counterfeit Coin.
His observations and questions reminded me of an idea I came up with years ago.
I didn’t have the framework to make it work then. I do now.
Part 12-B covers all that. I’m dedicating it to him — as he didn’t just drop by with praise, he came with questions that made me better.
Just through chatting on Twitter and thinking through my answers to his questions, the finale unfolded.
If I accomplish nothing of my aim — it was still well worth the effort (especially because of experiences like that).
As I told him: That decision to take the “B” was instantaneous.
But only because that moment of truth was built on the one before it, and that one was built on the one before that.
I had this down to a science long before I ever read about it . . .
Our capacity to choose changes constantly with our practice of life. The longer we continue to make the wrong decisions, the more our heart hardens; the more often we make the right decision, the our heart softens—or better perhaps, comes alive . . .
Each step in life which increases my self-confidence, my integrity, my courage, my conviction also increases my capacity to choose the desirable alternative, until eventually it becomes more difficult for me to choose the undesirable rather than the desirable action. On the other hand, each act of surrender and cowardice weakens me, opens the path for more acts of surrender, and eventually freedom is lost.
I don’t know how your brain accepts truths that are not acceptable unless you’ve had them doled out to you along the way.
That line from the clip below is central to why I see things that most people don’t.
Most of you made a lifelong habit out of protecting your interests (pride, party, family, friends, job, etc.).
Defending someone by association alone — is a disservice to them, you, and mankind to boot. It amazes me how people find it insulting to be challenged by those they expect to automatically come to their defense.
I’m the opposite — I’d be insulted by such low standards.
If you’re wrong, you’re wrong — I don’t care who you are (and that especially includes me).
A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.
Contrast the courage and curiosity of the person who sent the Tweets above with the childish Tweets below. Since Donald Rumsfeld passed away, I took the opportunity to share my links with people commenting on Twitter.
Since I’m the only person on the planet who told the story in full, I thought it would be nice to finally let the truth see the light of day.
Just a thought
In one glance at this picture — I’d think, “This guy’s not f#@%*!` around”
I’d instantly know he’s up to something I’ve never seen before — and I’d have to find out what that is.
That observation isn’t about this photograph — it’s about how you observe anything.
I was bored to death by the professor in that World History class at Purdue — so I started flipping through the pages.
It was a life-altering moment the second I saw that sculpture.
You don’t have to care about art or be uplifted by it — but isn’t there anything that goes off in your mind to wonder, “Hmm, I’ve never seen anything like that before. He’s saying something with it.”
That information tells you something about the sophistication of somebody right off the bat.
Props mounted on lamps. A motorized turntable (serving a practical and symbolic purpose). Black & white outfits. Silver masks.
There’s a sophisticated design here — and not only would I instantly know that, I’d be fascinated by it. I wouldn’t care what I thought I knew.
I’d just know that this guy knows something I don’t.
The artistry in the images below. The names of the sites. The dots between “The Deal.” Trillion Dollar Tube. The story on the postcard’s back.
Most of America is so bogged down by baggage and bullshit — that none of these things even register.
This debate hinges material properties and mathematical certainties.
Keep that and this in mind when you see the Tweets below.
If I had a hundred views or a hundred million — does the former mean it’s false and the latter mean it’s true?
Then there’s the very nature of my efforts. I’m not on anybody’s team, so even if someone loves one side of my work, they’ll hate the other.
The first videographer I called was ecstatic about what I had in mind . . .
Right up till the point when he realized that I’d be taking liberals to task for being in lockstep on Trayvon.
The all-consuming certitude in his reaction was exactly what I set out to address.
That guy was so intrigued that he was going to reduce his fee just to be involved. That call came to an abrupt end once he fully understood what I was doing.
He saw himself as principled when it was just emotion running roughshod over reason.
I get that a lot.
I’m incredibly fortunate that he declined — as Shane Killian was magnificent on all fronts.
10-hour doc of Michael Jordan — hells yeah (and it was damn good)!
2 hours and 40 minutes for a documentary that requires me to reflect on my behavior and the damage it’s done? . . .
I’ll rephrase
Oh, you’re so condescending
Your gall is never-ending
We don’t want nothin’, not a thing from youYour life is trite and jaded
Boring and confiscated
If that’s your best, your best won’t do
Turns out — you were just fine taking it, and had no qualms about losing it.
I never got on board — and I never will
Almost everyone beating up on Rumsfeld was bitching about Bush and the neocons. I don’t play that game — hence “WMD Delusion: Timeless Deceit by Democrats & Republicans Alike.”
I’m not insulted by him highlighting my 383 views . . .
I’m saying it’s stupid
Speaking of which — I just HOWLED when I saw this:
You think because something’s “.com” it magically makes it more “reliable”? I could have had .com, but I was ecstatic when I saw that WordPress had added some new options.
Since I’m writing about life — .life somehow seemed to fit.
But that’s me.
If you don’t like it — that’s fine, I don’t care about that.
It’s just that it’s so stupid.
And that — I do care about
Not because of you . . .
But because of you
To be fair, in earlier times, there were questionable domains as a recall. But I’m not even sure how much that was perception.
I can’t speak with any authority on that history — all I’m saying is that I understand the basis of his belief.
But .life is not the dark web (whatever that is). Look, if you don’t wanna click on something because you’re uncomfortable with it . . .
Fine — but don’t be a prick about it.
As that becomes habit — and that’s how we got here:
Continually dumbing it down into Happy Meal morsels to munch on . . .
Soothing you into submission — while they put a wrench to your brain to remove it from the equation.
He’s gonna show you the bricks. He’ll show you they got straight sides. He’ll show you how they got the right shape. He’ll show them to you in a very special way, so that they appear to have everything a brick should have . . .
But there’s one thing he’s not gonna show you.
When you look at the bricks from the right angle, they’re as thin as this playing card. His whole case is an illusion, a magic trick.
On this next one — it’s preposterous that the first thing you wanna do is fire back with a grid of “acceptable sources” as your Governing Body for Reason.
Perhaps starting with a question such as: What are your primary sources at the core of your case?
Oh, you interviewed a world-renowned nuclear scientist in person (after weeks of corresponding by email)?
You had multiple email exchanges with a world-renowned physicist who wrote extensively on the subject?
You had extensive and ongoing email exchanges with a top intelligence official who was the “acting director of the Strategic, Proliferation, and Military Affairs Office in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) at the State Department at the time of his retirement.”
INR — as in Powell’s very own intelligence bureau . . . that he conveniently ignored.
As INR stuck to its old-fashioned ways:
They agreed with DOE (ya know, the actual experts).
If this were one of those “Select all squares with traffic lights” deal — which ones would you choose that sound related to nuclear weapons?
Mr. Sowell:
Could you tell me why the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) — got an equal say on the aluminum tubes for the NIE vote?
An agency that does imagery analysis of the Earth?!?
Same for NSA and other agencies that had no expertise in centrifuge physics.
And why wasn’t JAEIC allowed to weigh in? You don’t know what JAEIC is?
Allow me
DAVID ALBRIGHT (RWM): An alternative method to resolve this conflict would have been for the DCI to ask for the judgment of the Joint Atomic Energy Intelligence Committee (JAEIC for short) which is officially part of the NIE process. JAEIC has been a standing DCI technical intelligence committee for several decades.
WASHINGTON POST (April 1st, 2005): The CIA refused to convene the government’s authoritative forum for resolving technical disputes about nuclear weapons. JAEIC proposed twice — in the spring and summer of 2002 — to assess all the evidence. The CIA’s front office replied that the CIA was not ready to discuss its position.RWM: For a year and a half the C.I.A. was ready enough to shovel its certitude to the White House. Turner was ready enough to arrogantly dismiss the conclusions of all the world’s top centrifuge scientists. And yet somehow the C.I.A. was never ready enough to openly debate the issue.
DAVID ALBRIGHT (RWM): This polarized debate was formalized, but not resolved, in October 2002 with the NIE In this process, roughly ten intelligence agencies each had one vote, which pitted one agency against the other in a drive for a majority, vote.
RWM: Only DOE and INR dissented. The CIA won a majority vote with agencies that had no business being involved in the discussion — which is where Colin Powell’s empty assertion of “most U.S. experts” came from. What does satellite surveillance and phone tapping have to do with centrifuge science?
Even the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency got an equal say on the aluminum tubes — an agency that does imagery analysis of the Earth.
“Oh, well I have this chart here that tells me you’re at the top dead center for reliability . . . I guess we can get started now.”
Nah, you’re too busy for my outdated ideas on civility.
By all means, question my sources — but you can do that and act like an adult.
I hate Twitter — but I have to seize an opportunity when it presents itself.
So I did just a search on Rumsfeld and provided 4 links to each person. I have no idea what he’s talking about with “keep throwing trash his way.”
And “trash”? This is the finest work ever done on this topic — and if you think you can argue otherwise, I invite you to try.
But if you ever find a modicum of courage and courtesy . . .
Instead of this . . .
Why don’t you try this?
The icing on the cake
All that aside
I have to acknowledge an error in perception on my part. Regardless of the shit he was shoveling, there was an offer to “engage” in the midst of his Mentality of a Mob tactics.
Had I gotten one good night’s sleep in the last month, and not written every day morning till night — maybe I would have been able to put that crap aside.
Don’t you find it interesting that the guy who’s been treated like shit for nearly 20 years on this topic — and just got more of the same yesterday:
Is that guy saying, “Ya know what, I made a mistake here — I could have handled this better.”
None of that goin’ around
I told this guy on Twitter that I was gonna take him to task in this piece I was already writing. As I was prepping the screenshots, I realized what I had missed in my annoyance at his asinine approach to discussion.
After nearly 20 years of being treated that way and far worse on this topic, it wears on you.
But after all but abandoning social media last summer in my transformation to tranquility, I let the insults roll right off me anymore.
Having a human moment at the other end of spectrum earlier in the day — probably had something to do with my reaction.
I was curious to see if he’d keep his word — so I replied with where my doc fits in on his precious chart. I also provided a baseline explanation to kick off a conversation.
not one word — as expected
It amazes me how meaningless one’s word is these days.
If I said something like this below — no matter what transpired in the aftermath, it would be unthinkable for me to not deliver on my word.
Tell you what: if you can provide me evidence for your claims from government agency documents, or any source provided in the green box on this chart, I will absolutely engage in a discussion.
Principle and I go way back
Contrast his attitude (and that of America) — with the short story I tell in Rules of Engagement.
There could not be a more innocuous disagreement — a friendly debate between college classmates over who sang lead on most Pink Floyd songs.
30 years ago, evidence was hardly handy for something like that.
But absence of evidence is no excuse for being so certain about something I didn’t have enough knowledge to back.
Other information was available to take into account — to at least consider the possibility that I might be wrong.
As Bill was a good bit older, he probably knew far more Floyd history than I did (which wouldn’t be hard — since my knowledge was limited to a few albums).
As equally avid fans, I might have thought that our opinions were equal at first — but in the face of evidence to the contrary, I would change my mind.
I would want to know that I was wrong.
I always want to know
When I was writing about the story in the early 2000s, I took a look-see and saw that I had been wrong all along. If I could recall his last name, I would have tried tracking him down to let him know — and have a laugh over it.
That may sound silly — but I don’t see too many people with a habit of admitting mistakes, do you?
That’s because they didn’t make a lifelong practice out of it — to the point where it just becomes second nature.
I like to acknowledge error. It not only reminds you to listen and think things through more carefully in the future, it’s also a gesture of goodwill and respect to say . . .
Hey, sorry I was so hard-headed about that — wish I would have listened to you and thought it through more carefully.
And I started developing that habit long before I ever heard of this book.
I did get some pretty good ideas out of this book though
And even more from my all-time favorite movie
Shown here is a somewhat dehumanized, life-size bronze figure of a human being of no particular sex, age, race, culture, or environment. Compressed between the two wheels, it seems to present humanity as the victim of its own complicated inventions.
The wheels also symbolize the blind ups and downs of fortune. The date 1965 is inscribed on the base, and the whole sad assemblage seems to say that human history and civilization have not exactly turned out as was once more hopefully expected.
— A History of the Modern World
Wheel Man was the first thing I put on my wall when I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1997. A year or so later at a flea market, I came across this book on the making of the movie.
I probably paid $10 but I would have paid a lot more. Inside I found that picture of them on the raft and instantly knew where it belonged.
They were set up to hate each other by the powers that be.
A lot of that goin’ around
Yet they saved one another. I love the look on their faces as they wonder what ship is on the horizon.
I’ve even been to the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana . . .
Mighty important to honor the principles that set your path in motion from youth, don’t ya think?
I see no enemy
Over a decade had passed since I re-evaluated my viewpoint, and a few years ago — just for kicks, I was curious to see just how far off I was.
A lot more material is available online now, so I was able to easily compile the entire catalog to nail down a fairly accurate accounting.
Imagine my surprise when my spreadsheet revealed that Waters came out on top by ten.
So was I right after all?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
First off, I don’t know for certain that the numbers are right — I just know that they’re close and that Waters came out ahead just a bit. But for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that the numbers are correct.
Would that make my right?
No! Because my original belief was based on nothing!
Whatever the numbers, they don’t change the fact that in my ignorance I cast my conclusion with lickety-split judgment — letting my over-the-top loyalty shield me from listening.
Without any knowledge of older albums, I had based my belief on a restricted domain of information — and yet I was completely satisfied that my knowledge was enough to express an opinion with absolute certainty.
Moreover, even on the albums I had listened to a lot — the issue is in doubt, as I heard what I wanted to hear.
And now I hear differently . . .
The irony is that neither one of us was right, as it seems too close to call. But he was far closer than me (since he was basing his belief on actual knowledge).
It wasn’t just that I believed I was right — I didn’t even think it was remotely close.
I can still see Bill shaking his head as we left class that day. Boy do I ever know that feeling.
Only in my case, it would be like having Waters and Gilmour go through every single song — listing every single note they sang on and provide a summary report to boot.
They send me an autographed binder to answer this cosmic question for the ages . . .
And you won’t even crack it open.
In reply to my explanation about how I “heard” the singer I most identified with, a friend and fellow-Floyd fan wrote . . .
Sounds like cognitive dissonance
He was spot-on
Who knew that the discovery would become a key component in my documentary years later.
It hardly gets more harmless than our friendly debate over Floyd, and there was nothing to be gained regardless of who was right.
But something immense was to be found from reflecting on the experience.
Aligning myself with Waters was rooted in my philosophical interests as a teenager in Cold War times.
I still remember the exact moment when I was mesmerized by Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut. I walked into a dark room down at some friends’ house and they had the album blaring.
Even cranked up there was a soul-searching quietude in the tunes that seamlessly flowed from one into the other.
I had never heard anything like it.
But what struck me most was the imagery in Waters’ words. And from that moment on, I’ve been on a never-ending quest to craft such quality.
The rusty wire that holds the cork
That keeps the anger in
Gives way and suddenly
It’s day again
The sun is in the east
Even though the day is done
Two suns in the sunset
Could be the human race is run . . .And as the windshield melts and my tears evaporate
Leaving only charcoal to defend
Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Ashes and diamonds
Foe and friend
We were all equal in the end
It’s bad enough I gotta deal with a nation of know-it-alls like that. But then there’s the impenetrable fortress of folly from the professional frauds:
The Facts Over Feelings parade who feed this f#@%*!) horseshit to a nation that eagerly swallows it.
Over and over and over again
Then I’ve got the intelligentsia on the Left. In their infinite wisdom of weakness — these geniuses do the dumbest things imaginable . . .
Allowing the Right to frame the narrative about who’s weak and follows facts over feelings.
It’s all about feelings here — the only facts you follow are those that go in any direction but yours.
Your abysmal record could not be more clear, but as long as you’ve got somebody else to blame — that’s all that matters in America anymore.
Fox was full of shit on Iraq WMD and still is. But when they spoke the truth about Obama or anything else, it would have been unthinkable for me to play the “fake news” card.
Speaking of the Rock Star — I despised Rush Limbaugh, but he was spot-on about the media overplaying Obama’s qualifications.
As I wrote in Rush Was Right:
Geraldine Ferraro and Rush are in opposite camps, and yet she said essentially the same thing as he did:
If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.
Every word of her statement is true, but that didn’t matter to those who bombarded her with “vicious e-mail messages accusing her of racism.”
for crying out loud — Grow up
And you on the Right — you have no business bitching about them.
Conservatives cornered the market on being crybabies decades before it became a “way of life” for the “snowflakes” of today . . .
And I love how people who refuse to look at the material properties of a tube (the manipulation of which f#@%*$ up the future of the entire world) . . .
Think they can lecture me on what I’m missing.
By the way, I never use infantile insults unless I’m trying to put something in terms you understand.
It absolutely amazes me that someone out there thought they’d be clever by saying . . .
“Libtard,” ooh, I got one — “libturd”
WTF is wrong with you?
And what planet have you been on for the last 30 years, Mr. Sowell?
It’s one of the finest honors of my life to have you following my writings, Glenn.
I didn’t set out to write this series because “Glenn Loury’s following me” — it just happened as part of a chain of events that you inspired.
When I first heard from you last summer, your feedback on I Don’t Do Slogans was key to creating this site. But it was 2 months later before I got it in gear — when one day I got this message below.
Timing and inspiration — story of my life.
Others offered similar support over the summer, but that one lit a fire under me. It would probably take me months to do what I did in 3 days last Labor Day weekend.
But as much as I appreciate the praise, my aim is to solve problems — as I explained about purity in purpose in Part 8.
And that question of “What if we just use a bigger bag?” is the principle upon which my proposal in Part 12-B was founded.
I’m not just taking Thomas Sowell to task for the fun of it. There’s a reason why I chose him over someone like Larry Elder — who behaved like a child when I challenged him.
Whatever I think of Sowell, I don’t think he would do that. That’s something to work with. You’ll see — soon enough.
Working the Refs was something I had in mind for years, so in my excitement of hearing from you again, I wrote it. I had no intention of writing anything else for a while, but then another idea followed — and I seized the day, like countless times before.
Even if you don’t adopt anything I advocate — or I never hear from you again:
You can’t take away the gift of hope you gave — and all the fruit that followed. As maddening as it’s been to be reminded of the endless bullshit around these issues, it’s far more fun than infuriating.
The crafting of arguments and repeatly refining them — I can’t put into words the joy that such challenge brings.
I’ve had many exceptional people who elevated my life in ways I could never repay.
Inspired by Neil Young’s masterpiece below, long ago I created an evergrowing list of Unknown Legends — people who enlighten your life never knowing the full impact of their presence.
And though you’re the first “known” of my Unknown Legends, you most certainly belong on that list.
Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair flyin’ in the wind
She’s been runnin’ half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin’ with the very air she breathes
The air she breathes
Collidin’ with the very air she breathes
With Ronstadt belting out backing vocals like she’s from another world — along with lyrics like that — there couldn’t be better song to honor the spirit of those on that list:
As they helped propel me in my purpose.
First time I ever heard that song, I was blown away — like every time since.
All that aside, Glenn
I have to treat you as objectively as I would anyone else — which is precisely to the point of what I’m about to get to.
I’m looking for the Glenn Loury who had the guts to go out on a limb and say this in 1984 . . .
There’s a market for what you do today that wasn’t available back then. I’m looking for the guy who said what was needed even knowing the risks and without a market.
I’ve been hard on Sowell but with good reason — and because America desperately needs him to live up to his claim to fame.
I’m not a threat to anybody, at least not yet.
Not yet
Get on board with what I have in mind in Part 12-B — and you’ll have a voice unlike anyone’s ever had.
Speaking of clarity and courage . . .
You have a vested interest in protecting Sowell’s reputation — which I have demonstrably proven is not authentic (not even remotely close).
And there’s no two ways about it.
There’s a thing about Sowell that isn’t often mentioned . . . he can step completely outside of the race thing and just express himself about just stuff — which is not the usual.
And I find it interesting that with Sowell — one reason some people today would find it hard to go with him is that he doesn’t write with that tribalist sense.
He’s trying to be purely objective and there’s nothing in him of — here’s what we down here think. Here’s what we’ve been through. It’s not seasoned with any of that — he’s just trying to have a white lab coat on and look at the facts.
He had his chance to put on that “lab coat” and factor for mathematical certainties in centrifuge physics that crush his baseless beliefs.
One glance at these matching dimensions should prompt anyone to wonder . . .
“Wait a minute — that’s suspicious . . . that looks like something I should follow.”
Hmm, so the dimensions exactly match the tubes used in Iraq’s history of manufacturing the Nasser-81mm artillery rocket (a reverse-engineered version of the Italian Medusa).
Be quite a coincidence if they weren’t . . .
Ya know, connected
It’s impossible for you to imagine how absurd McWhorter’s statement is to me.
In the domain of Iraq WMD, it’s so preposterous that it would be like someone saying to you that there’s not even a race problem in America.
You guys don’t stray from your lane, but Sowell does — and by making commentary on that, you’re lending credence to a belief that’s untethered to reality.
You’re making the same mistake my English Professor friend made about Colin Powell.
You see Sowell through the appearance of propriety — and because his arguments are sound in his area of expertise, you assume that translates into areas outside his lane.
You’re making those judgments on myth — not merit.
And this young man is making a huge mistake in following your footsteps on that front:
Too many academics write as if plain English is beneath their dignity,’ Sowell once said, “and some seem to regard logic as an unconstitutional infringement of their freedom of speech.”
You were saying, Mr. Sowell?
The rotor wall thickness for the Beams centrifuge has also been specified as 6.35 mm
Notice how WINPAC/Turner tossed that into the NIE (referenced in Senate Intelligence Report).
Never mind THIS
That people on the political left have a certain set of opinions, just as people do in other parts of the ideological spectrum, is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is how often the opinions of those on the left are accompanied by hostility and even hatred.
Particular issues can arouse passions here and there for anyone with any political views. But, for many on the left, indignation is not a sometime thing. It is a way of life.
Come on, Mr. McWhorter — I could spot this bullshitter a mile away:
[B]ullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant.
“What is surprising, however” . . .
Is that your crowd treating me with nothing but contempt for mathematical certainties for nearly 20 years — slinging baseless beliefs with “hostility and even hatred” . . .
Doesn’t constitute a “way of life” to you, Mr. Sowell . . .
Put aside your reverence for Sowell and look at this as if he were a stranger to you.
On the most world-altering decision in modern history — do his words strike you as someone making an argument of any depth, let alone someone whose claim to fame is “follow the facts”?
Countless people have peddled this crap . . .
Mindlessly spreading chain-letter lies is not the mark of a great man — or even somebody who bothered to do any homework at all.
It’s indefensible! Don’t you know that?
If only we could calculate the astronomical amount of waste we produce in our steadfast refusal to open our eyes as she did.
would it even matter to you then?
As the door swings a breeze her way and she looks around to wonder — she is well on her way to the truth.
And the self-importance of people like Sowell just kills me — how they sit there acting like they’re Senators from Krypton.
That’s not knocking appearance just for kicks — as the look and the language is all part of . . .
The Presentation
And This — is Conformity 101
Ice-cold partisan hackery wrapped in the warmth of a “white lab coat” . . .
The Cloak of Loyalty’s Lies
Mr. McWhorter, I’d like to think that a linguist at your level — would sense how Sowell’s style is smugness under the guise of civility.
He’s engineering an illusion — and you bought it . . .
Without even looking
This abomination of a human being didn’t come out of nowhere.
Sowell seasoned his poppycock with all the proper pleasantries for non-confrontational confrontation . . .
Issuing flowery fluff like “What is surprising, however . . .” and “not readily apparent” — enchantingly spinning this “way of life” of the Left:
As he brazenly ignored the debauchery in his own camp — creating the conditions for Trump to come along and take depravity to new depths.
And why mess with tradition?
The Trench in Part 12-B
Where do you think childish crap like “TDS” came from?
I was stunned when I saw this “lately” bit in John’s piece below. I was being polite in my response in Part 11.
How could a linguist fail to connect the dots with how events have shaped the nation with abominable behavior and juvenile insults over the last 30 years?
He has a rather narcotic joy in dismissal and belittlement
How can you come up with a line like that — and not investigate the history behind how it became so acceptable?
The people had to become that way too — and that took time.
But not long — with the internet and the cable clans paving the way for the onslaught of the utterly absurd.
Which was just a warmup for what was to come with Facebook and Twitter:
Safe-Space Central
By not deviating from your lane, you don’t understand the roadblocks within it that were created outside of it.
You couldn’t possibly understand it and write that lukewarm Snowflake-come-lately.
And not only is there a firewall from the Right’s history of bottomless hypocrisy in an ocean of lies — but by not understanding it, you’re helping to feed it.
As pointed out in Part 8:
Not a trace of Sowell’s “follow the facts” claim to fame can be found on the biggest and most costly lie in modern history. . . .
But because the Left provides a piñata for the Facts Over Feelings parade, people like Sowell can forever pounce — creating an impression about themselves that simply doesn’t square with their record . . .
The Right has a knack for forever sailing Scot-Free — like my malignantly narcissistic manager Rollo Tomassi in Letter of the Law, Part 9, and elsewhere throughout this site.
That the Left brings the piñata on themselves is another matter.
The issue at hand is how the Right so easily gets away with their abominable behavior, record of recklessness, and hypocrisy that knows no bounds.
That firewall requires you to work a helluva lot harder than you should have to in addressing the issues in your lane.
And if you worked a hundred times harder — you still wouldn’t make a dent.
This would — and then some
I was wildly in the wrong on Iraq WMD — as I miserably failed to follow my own standards. For all the wrongs on the Left, we have done more than our share on the Right — and taken no responsibility for them.
We cannot continue to pummel the opposition for things we are unwilling to do ourselves. We delight in deriding their weakness as we pretend to be strong.
What wasn’t readily apparent before and should have been — is abundantly clear to me now: No wonder the Left is so angry — we’ve repeatedly screwed ’em.
What happened to “two wrongs don’t make a right” — and all the other values we only pay lip service to? We cannot show the way by losing ours.
I will no longer be part of the poison I helped to spread. From now on, I follow the facts no matter where they lead.
— Thomas Sowell
That — is the making of a great man, Glenn
If the biggest lie in modern history doesn’t faze you — how about meeting me halfway on incompetence for the ages?
Negative, Ghost Rider
“The pattern is full — [of shit]”
Hard to Imagine
And Damn Disappointing to Boot
One Voice Became Two 
Oliver North. A good patriotic man.
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