I appreciate your weekly columns. For Timothy B. Lee and any others who need some reassurance about climate change, I just finished and highly recommend UNSETTLED: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters, by Steven Koonin, former Undersecretary of Energy for Science under President Obama. Basically, Koonin debunks The Science by carefully walking the reader through what the actual science tells us and what it doesn’t. He also makes a number of recommendations at the end of the book, which I think provide an excellent way forward on this issue.
Very good read until almost the end. Regarding the theories of doomsday thinking, I cannot agree or disagree too much when it comes to the reasoning attributed to the left. I just don't have close contact with too many of them but what I do have runs along the lines given. As to the supposed thinking of the right, the reasoning couldn't be more wrong. My guess is Ms. Bowles just doesn't know many of them. I am a member of the right on most things, as are the great majority of people I know and work with. The reality is almost the direct opposite of the description given here. Might be more of the way a very liberal person sees people on the right. Not surprising as they rarely ask or discuss things with them.
Great piece as usual. So glad there are journalists who still have integrity. For anyone who needs a good dose of optimism please check out https://www.humanprogress.org/ that is put out by the Cato Institute. Various articles about how far humanity has advanced over time.
Looking forward to year 2. I agree with your optimism. I am 68 yrs old but when I was 18 years old the world was going to end for many reasons. For some reason it did not happen. WE should not ignore problems but hysteria accomplishes little (except driving up ratings).,
I am glad I have somewhere to go to find some Common Sense!
I'm about halfway through the Q&A with the three medical experts discussing COVID. Like almost every other honestly podcast, it is entertaining, informative, and I think of great value to society. So thank you! One criticism keeps creeping into my head, and it's that the experts seem to go out of their way to not argue with each other, even when slight disagreements emerge. I sort of wish Bari would get two experts on who have string disagreements and just let it fly. And let us million (or whatever) subscribers immerse in how true, messy science operates. Anyway, Happy New Year and thank you all at Common Sense & Honestly for your great journalism.
I find everyday Americans and everyday life here to be a far better and more harmonious than the America Is a Dumpster Fire portrayed so grimly by the commentariat and media. A few hours online and the country feels like rot and doom. I turn it off, go out and about and talk to people, have a meal at a restaurant, all that, and it feels like the America I always known and liked. People are friendly, industrious, cheerful despite the Covid monster, and willing to lend a hand.
Yes, we have problems that need fixing, and our political system is a true mess. But civil war just around the corner? We're gone to hell and never coming back? Americans are walking talking Haters of Everything They See? Not in my experience.
To that end, I'm going to try very hard from today on to not be a snarky* asshole here. It's fun sometimes, but ultimately unproductive. Day one, here I go . . .
*Some are gonna get it because they just beg for it. But most of the folks here are well-intentioned, even if I disagree, so I will try my best to be more nice.
Our biggest threat is not any sort of civil war. Too many sane people (armed) by a ratio of a minimum of 5000 to 1.
No, the biggest threat to the Republic is that the slow-boil of the last hundred years continues, and we wake up some day, and wonder WTF just happened. One of Obama's biggest mistakes was he either was persuaded or persuaded himself that the time was right to accelerate the process. Yet the "March" wasn't yet complete.
Item Three! The ongoing saga of Lia Thomas delivers a reminder that the crazy-quilt world of transgender ideology is, ahem, pregnant with untapped comic potential. Now let me get this, er, straight. Thomas, a man competing in women's swimming, lost to a woman competing as a man in women's swimming. No doubt the latter realizes that his chances of successfully competing against actual men range from exceedingly slim to zero. So she helicopters in to rain on Lia Thomas's parade. Can you say Hulu Original? No, of course you can't. How DARE anyone laugh aloud at the idiocy to which women's sports are being reduced by this zany cult of gender? But, you know, I do believe I hear a chorus of discreet snickering.
Seriously, though, if there's a reason not to laugh at this nonsensical situation, it's because of the pain and humiliation that's being inflicted on so many young woman in the name of—what, exactly? And where are the feminists? They used to be fierce and in all our faces. Now, it seems, they're too frightened of the Twitter mob to do their job.
In my previous response to you below I should have noted that Fox has been responsive to the cause of preserving women's sports. Tucker Carlson has interviewed Beth Selzer and Kara Dansky (attorney for WoLF) on this issue. The Red states are more responsive and legislatures in nine states have passed laws preserving women's sports for women in schools: Idaho, Montana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Florida. Bills are also in process in South Dakota and Indiana.
The answer to "where are the feminists" depends on what kind you're talking about. The progressive ones, who have traded critical thinking for critical theory, believe that transgenderism is the next level in enlightenment and have been convinced that throwing biological women under the bus is a noble thing.
But the ones who understand the issue -- and they are all over the world -- are slogging along unaided and taking the hits. Meghan Murphy, editor of the Canadian blog Feminist Current, travels with bodyguards and has become such a pariah in her own country that she lives somewhere else now. The attorneys at the Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) are suing the State of California for allowing trans-identified male sex offenders to serve their sentences in women's prisons. The organization Save Women's Sports, particularly the brave powerlifter, Beth Selzer, travels from state legislature to state legislature in search of legal protection for high school and college female athletes. For this most heinous of thought crimes, she and her husband are constant targets of harassment and doxxing. You won't read about these women in any mainstream format, but somebody should take the time to showcase the work they're doing. It never ends.
Thank you for highlighting those brave women. I often lament about where are the feminists and I am glad to hear they are still fighting the good fight. Do they have GoFundMe's?
I agree that some of the campus Covid rules are over the top, but as far as "following the science" isn't it important to note that the chance of getting myocarditis from a COVID-19 infection is higher than the chance of getting it from the vaccine?
I want to be an optimist but the left appears to be the French Reign of Terror and the Chinese Cultural Revolution all rolled into one; the right is all mouth, no b##ls, and no brains, and the center is whistling past the grave yard. The root problem, it appears to me, is that there is no chance for meaningful honest debate and discussion. For this I place the responsibility squarely on the left. Truth is not the goal, winning is. We're all lawyers,now, to paraphrase a meme. The statements of the CEO of Mozilla is sickening. Now I have no search engine/ information source that I can trust.
I suggest that instead of "Fact" checking we attach to each article a "Sagan Score"(See https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/). Each time a failure of logic occurs, the article accrues one point. The reader can use it as he will to judge its usefulness... Nah, never mind. The general intelligence of the citizenry is barely double digits. I'm glad I'm old. I won't live to see the s##t show that this will turn out to be. Welcome to the start of the new dark ages.
I appreciate your weekly columns. For Timothy B. Lee and any others who need some reassurance about climate change, I just finished and highly recommend UNSETTLED: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters, by Steven Koonin, former Undersecretary of Energy for Science under President Obama. Basically, Koonin debunks The Science by carefully walking the reader through what the actual science tells us and what it doesn’t. He also makes a number of recommendations at the end of the book, which I think provide an excellent way forward on this issue.
Very good read until almost the end. Regarding the theories of doomsday thinking, I cannot agree or disagree too much when it comes to the reasoning attributed to the left. I just don't have close contact with too many of them but what I do have runs along the lines given. As to the supposed thinking of the right, the reasoning couldn't be more wrong. My guess is Ms. Bowles just doesn't know many of them. I am a member of the right on most things, as are the great majority of people I know and work with. The reality is almost the direct opposite of the description given here. Might be more of the way a very liberal person sees people on the right. Not surprising as they rarely ask or discuss things with them.
Great piece as usual. So glad there are journalists who still have integrity. For anyone who needs a good dose of optimism please check out https://www.humanprogress.org/ that is put out by the Cato Institute. Various articles about how far humanity has advanced over time.
Looking forward to year 2. I agree with your optimism. I am 68 yrs old but when I was 18 years old the world was going to end for many reasons. For some reason it did not happen. WE should not ignore problems but hysteria accomplishes little (except driving up ratings).,
I am glad I have somewhere to go to find some Common Sense!
I'm about halfway through the Q&A with the three medical experts discussing COVID. Like almost every other honestly podcast, it is entertaining, informative, and I think of great value to society. So thank you! One criticism keeps creeping into my head, and it's that the experts seem to go out of their way to not argue with each other, even when slight disagreements emerge. I sort of wish Bari would get two experts on who have string disagreements and just let it fly. And let us million (or whatever) subscribers immerse in how true, messy science operates. Anyway, Happy New Year and thank you all at Common Sense & Honestly for your great journalism.
Great round up this week! Poor Kyrsten Sinema---not Krysten. Never ever name your kid something that can be so easily misstated so regularly.
I have no interest in anything the current Pope has to say.
Thanks. I also choose optimism and I also uninstalled Firefox.
The Pope presides over the least diverse, least tolerant organization I know of.
In case anyone missed it, the article by University of Chicago students linked above is a must read. Share widely.
I find everyday Americans and everyday life here to be a far better and more harmonious than the America Is a Dumpster Fire portrayed so grimly by the commentariat and media. A few hours online and the country feels like rot and doom. I turn it off, go out and about and talk to people, have a meal at a restaurant, all that, and it feels like the America I always known and liked. People are friendly, industrious, cheerful despite the Covid monster, and willing to lend a hand.
Yes, we have problems that need fixing, and our political system is a true mess. But civil war just around the corner? We're gone to hell and never coming back? Americans are walking talking Haters of Everything They See? Not in my experience.
To that end, I'm going to try very hard from today on to not be a snarky* asshole here. It's fun sometimes, but ultimately unproductive. Day one, here I go . . .
*Some are gonna get it because they just beg for it. But most of the folks here are well-intentioned, even if I disagree, so I will try my best to be more nice.
Yes to this!
Our biggest threat is not any sort of civil war. Too many sane people (armed) by a ratio of a minimum of 5000 to 1.
No, the biggest threat to the Republic is that the slow-boil of the last hundred years continues, and we wake up some day, and wonder WTF just happened. One of Obama's biggest mistakes was he either was persuaded or persuaded himself that the time was right to accelerate the process. Yet the "March" wasn't yet complete.
Item Three! The ongoing saga of Lia Thomas delivers a reminder that the crazy-quilt world of transgender ideology is, ahem, pregnant with untapped comic potential. Now let me get this, er, straight. Thomas, a man competing in women's swimming, lost to a woman competing as a man in women's swimming. No doubt the latter realizes that his chances of successfully competing against actual men range from exceedingly slim to zero. So she helicopters in to rain on Lia Thomas's parade. Can you say Hulu Original? No, of course you can't. How DARE anyone laugh aloud at the idiocy to which women's sports are being reduced by this zany cult of gender? But, you know, I do believe I hear a chorus of discreet snickering.
Seriously, though, if there's a reason not to laugh at this nonsensical situation, it's because of the pain and humiliation that's being inflicted on so many young woman in the name of—what, exactly? And where are the feminists? They used to be fierce and in all our faces. Now, it seems, they're too frightened of the Twitter mob to do their job.
In my previous response to you below I should have noted that Fox has been responsive to the cause of preserving women's sports. Tucker Carlson has interviewed Beth Selzer and Kara Dansky (attorney for WoLF) on this issue. The Red states are more responsive and legislatures in nine states have passed laws preserving women's sports for women in schools: Idaho, Montana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Florida. Bills are also in process in South Dakota and Indiana.
The answer to "where are the feminists" depends on what kind you're talking about. The progressive ones, who have traded critical thinking for critical theory, believe that transgenderism is the next level in enlightenment and have been convinced that throwing biological women under the bus is a noble thing.
But the ones who understand the issue -- and they are all over the world -- are slogging along unaided and taking the hits. Meghan Murphy, editor of the Canadian blog Feminist Current, travels with bodyguards and has become such a pariah in her own country that she lives somewhere else now. The attorneys at the Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) are suing the State of California for allowing trans-identified male sex offenders to serve their sentences in women's prisons. The organization Save Women's Sports, particularly the brave powerlifter, Beth Selzer, travels from state legislature to state legislature in search of legal protection for high school and college female athletes. For this most heinous of thought crimes, she and her husband are constant targets of harassment and doxxing. You won't read about these women in any mainstream format, but somebody should take the time to showcase the work they're doing. It never ends.
Thank you for highlighting those brave women. I often lament about where are the feminists and I am glad to hear they are still fighting the good fight. Do they have GoFundMe's?
Laura,
These organizations are constantly in need of money for their work and they survive on donations.
Here are their websites where you can make donations and learn more about their efforts:
Feminist Current: https://www.feministcurrent.com/news/
Save Women's Sports: https://savewomenssports.com/
WoLF: https://www.womensliberationfront.org/
Thank you!
Love the note on optimism! We need more articles that point out all of the wonderful reasons we have to be happy; especially now.
I agree that some of the campus Covid rules are over the top, but as far as "following the science" isn't it important to note that the chance of getting myocarditis from a COVID-19 infection is higher than the chance of getting it from the vaccine?
I want to be an optimist but the left appears to be the French Reign of Terror and the Chinese Cultural Revolution all rolled into one; the right is all mouth, no b##ls, and no brains, and the center is whistling past the grave yard. The root problem, it appears to me, is that there is no chance for meaningful honest debate and discussion. For this I place the responsibility squarely on the left. Truth is not the goal, winning is. We're all lawyers,now, to paraphrase a meme. The statements of the CEO of Mozilla is sickening. Now I have no search engine/ information source that I can trust.
I suggest that instead of "Fact" checking we attach to each article a "Sagan Score"(See https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/). Each time a failure of logic occurs, the article accrues one point. The reader can use it as he will to judge its usefulness... Nah, never mind. The general intelligence of the citizenry is barely double digits. I'm glad I'm old. I won't live to see the s##t show that this will turn out to be. Welcome to the start of the new dark ages.