Michelle Smith Earns a C+ (AP)

It was always the sophomores who irritated me.

Seniors were a delight: discourse with one was like watching a young eagle that had learned to fly on its own, and the delight they experienced in their new skills, hard-won over four years of library grind, was palpable. Juniors had learned enough to be fumbling towards their own understandings and trying out various arguments to see what fit for them. And even the Frosh were wide-eyes in wonder, eager to save the world, but humble enough to know they first had to learn about the world before they could contribute to it (this was decades ago, before they came in thinking they already knew how to fix the world and believing that those who had yet not done were inadequately compassionate or dedicated to “social justice!”).

But the sophomores were the irritating ones. Listening to them was often no more than listening to a string of declarations of belief that, when challenged, they could little defend, and generally felt no need to do so. Like religious zealots, they mistook intensity of conviction and firmness of statement as the only “argument” they needed. They had learned enough they could opine, but not argue; declare, but not defend.

Michelle Smith of Associated Press has been contacting me to discuss the America Project. It is a seller’s market for me these days with the press, and I choose carefully with whom I interact. Generally I do that by looking back at recent articles of the journalist contacting me, finding a few assumptions that they have woven without argument into their stories, and simply ask them to justify them, or even, simply show that they can grapple with the question. After all, as Thomas Sowell is wont to say, Most people will do anything for their convictions except examine them.

So in the case of Ms. Smith, after a handful of texts between us where I answered her basic questions about the America Project, at the point the conversation started to become substantive, I introduced this wrinkle. I looked at her work and the assumptions that she has made and woven into her work without argument (e.g., dismissing claims of election fraud as “baseless” and using words like “insurrection” without acknowledging that until we look at evidence we do not know whether an insurrection occurred on November 3 or January 6). So I decided to test her gently. Here is how that went:

And before I answer you that, I need to assess your intellectual integrity.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that it was illegal of the Wisconsin election commission two unilaterally change certain requirements regarding “Indefinitely Confined” voters. As a result of which an extra 160 thousand votes were counted in the election.

Do you believe the Wisconsin Supreme Court is guilty of being a conspiracy theorist?

Would you support examining those 160 thousand votes ballots?

If those ballots were 99.2% for one candidate, would that be evidence of fraud in your eyes?

Answer me those questions and I will be happy to continue communicating. But you need to understand that the entire world of journalism is being a path to my door, and I pretty much pick and choose whom I talk to, and people whom I cannot trust me intellectually honest are not people who get any time with me. Answer the questions and we can happily have a good relationship.

To which Ms. Smith responds:

I appreciate you getting back to me, and I would love to speak with you more. I’m obviously interested in speaking with you, or else I would not be texting with you at 5 am! I would love to better understand your goals with the America Project and what you envision. Carl said you read some of my stories, so you know I am a professional journalist, and I work for AP. I’m not going to get into a back and forth answering gatekeeping questions. It’s up to you if you want to talk to me, and I hope you do!

Sadly, Ms. Smith. I am willing to talk to journalists who are capable and willing to engage in intellectual discourse, not just looking for ones looking to snatch quotes to shore-up a narrative upon which they have already settled and are incapable of critically examine.

However, I do commend Ms. Smith for her courtesy, which is rare enough among journalists these days. So I grade her a C+, but without prejudice, so she can reattempt the course at some later date if she chooses, or if at some point my grading curve shifts far enough that we are digging into the Cs.

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  1. Patrick,

    Thanks for all you are doing and have done. Any chance we can get an update on where you believe Durham is presently and if it involves anything with Seth Rich or Rosenstein(if memory serves you had said back in Jan 2021 that you had several deadman’s switches on foreign servers)? Also was hoping to close the loop on both whether a raid actually took place in Frankfurt shortly after 11/3 and if your stance on ItalyGate has changed at all.

    I am a CPA in the private equity world and former big 4 auditor. Fun fact is I also had a spinal cord tumor that was successfully removed a few years ago! Anyways, the amount of evidence (from watching the spin up state hearing last year myself to Favorito’s conference today) is astounding and I still cannot believe anyone is calling the election fraud claims “baseless”. I am only 30 years old and am deeply concerned for the future of this country. It just seems like even if we get the smoking gun and with grass roots movements, we can’t get to that touchdown you always discuss in getting to the endzone with a 30-40 yard pass.

    Lastly, I’ve been doing a deep dive into the 2000’s war on Wall Street since I am a GME and AMC holder and the dark side of the looking glass is an amazing presentation that should be shared on every major network. Hopeful for the DOJ investigation. We’ll see!

    Respectfully and humbly,
    Robert T.

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  2. I have to admit that’s far better behavior from Ms. Smith than I would have expected. However, my expectations for “journalist” behavior is about as low as it can get.

    Still, it’s telling that she can’t even agree to some basic points of fact. How can you have reasonable discourse with someone like that? And, that is my worry about our country. I think a large portion of it is similarly unable to engage in reasonable discourse.

  3. It’s a too bad it’s a “seller’s market”, as some of us would like to hear you answer a few “gatekeeping “questions of our own. Do you stand by your claim that the Maricopa video you posted January 18 shows “Irrefutable Proof of Crimes in Maricopa Voter Roll Administration”? Certainly the videographer doesn’t think so, nor do I, and it looks like you invented that sensationalist headline. Do you really believe that vaccinated Brits 10-59 have twice the death rate of unvaccinated ones? Berenson completely ignored the fact that the vaccinated group is far older, despite it being pointed out in the source data, and you simply presented it as fact.

    I have many more, but I’ll even settle just for hearing you respond to my near name-sake above, with your thoughts on Italygate, foreign servers’ deadman switches (seriously!??!) and the Frankfurt raid.

    Like Robert T, I admire your early work – however I find in recent years. the quality of your presentations and documentaton has seriously declined. Maybe even to a sophomoric level.

  4. To get off the subject of this post, what I would like to see is a FLOWCHART of the election process in Maricopa, with red arrows pointed at the things that are considered suspect or wrong, and the reason or confirmation based on evidence. That would really help average people like me to undwrsrand the issue.

  5. Journalists aren’t hired to tell the truth. They are hired to spin a story according to their editor’s dictates. A few facts are tossed in to give it an air of truth. I suspect Michelle’s headline and first paragraph are already written, so now she needs to pad it with selective quotes from you. Michele doesn’t want to lose her job. She has bills to pay.

    I strongly suspect real journalists with integrity are writing anonymous blogs while earning a crust at propaganda outlets. They probably drink heavily!

  6. Being a journalist isn’t a title reserved for those who are financially rewarded for their leg work. I went to college for journalism and ended up choosing a different path. I have acquired all the skills of a journalist. When I choose to listen, gather, and pass on information, I am a practicing journalist. What Patrick is doing here is an exercise in journalism. So when you categorize journalists make sure to be specific. Just because Michelle Smith works for the AP doesn’t make her a certified intellectual. It makes her a gun for hire. Which is fine, but as journalists we need to raise our fee. Thomas Sowell is the gold standard for intellectual integrity, and we shouldn’t be so hasty to sell our dignity for so little. The stakes have never been this high. Let’s make journalism great again.

  7. Patrick,
    Get on the Tim Pool show Timcast IRL. You will get intellectually challenged and given fair time to make all your points.

    Rogan would be fun also but on Timcast I think you could change some minds. And since one of the Dev’s of Minds is there you will have support.

    P.S. I posted the link to the latest Ravencoin atomic swap marketplace with my handle. This one could be a game changer, check it out

  8. Imagine there was someone running for President and Congress in your state that supported the following policies:

    For example:
    1)Adopting an accurate,fair and transparent voting system, one where any citizen can verify their vote was counted accurately.

    2)Replacing the income tax with Fair Tax or National Sales Tax or nothing

    3)Securing the border,(Land,Air,Sea)

    4)Ending the phony war on drugs, which currently causes more crime,death,murder,gang violence,incarcerations,enriching criminals while millions of people still use illegal drugs anyway.

    5)Supporting a pardon for Julian Assange,Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers/truthtellers etc.

    6)Making generic drugs like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine available over the counter without prescription.

    7)NO vaccine mandates

    8)Sound money $ .

    9) Request that all people in all states hold a vote regarding the issue of abortion.

    Remind everyone that many people object to abortion because a fetus is a human being and they object to them being killed in the womb for the same reason they object to that same human being being killed after they are delivered from their mother’s womb.
    Ask everyone to please stop killing innocent human beings in the womb.

    10)A new foreign policy where rather than military occupation in foreign lands, We The People worldwide unite behind and promote the principles of truth/freedom/goodwill/integrity/humility/Non-Aggression Principle/Golden Rule and focus on winning hearts and minds.
    A worldwide effort to voluntarily help others in the hope that it will win over more people to these principles.

    Would you vote for such a person?I am not running for any office.

    The point is, achieving real change will probably require that people start making demands for the support of a list of policies that ANY POLITICIAN INCLUDING TRUMP need to endorse and publicly advocate for in order to earn the vote of the people,IMO.

    Please let any candidate that you are considering supporting know what policies are important to you and demand specifics for them to earn your vote.

    And of course it would also require making sure elected officials back up words with action after stating support for certain policies.

    This is why I believe supporting , promoting and rallying behind a platform of policies is MUCH more important right now than promoting individual politicians and their vague claims of “vote for me and I’ll make things better”.

    I would support an individual politician when they endorse and publicly advocate for a platform similar to the one above.

    Keep in mind that a platform like this could even become popular in countries worldwide because of the internet and I believe that many people throughout the world would support a platform like this.

    Below is the link to share this platform,if you agree.Thank You.

    https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1336320758019788808

  9. Pelosi has said should Russia not engage in any more “incursions” with Ukraine it’s not that they were not going to but because of President Putins fear of Biden’s words! Omfg is this all bullshit?
    And after seeing your recent post please apologize to Lin Wood! He owns a beautiful Plantation thanks to Nick and Kyle!!! – I am saying to apologize in jest because you say you will keep talking shit about him. 🀣

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