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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025

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No.

The point is that he lies, and will make up information, and physical artefacts, to drive the story he wants to tell.

He has done this once. Has he done it again? I don't know. But I have to take everything he says through that lens, wether the story benefits 'my side' or not. There is no trust, no faith there - he can put on the Centrist or Conservative mask as much as he wants, but I know it's a mask, I know that he's lied before, and there is no way I can celebrate or advocate for the stories he writes because there is now a non-zero chance he's lying about something explicitly to look good for whatever side he's wearing as a skin suit.

Personally, I'd prefer that he'd give up the 'both sides' grift and just write whatever benefits his side and philosophy, whatever that may be.

Like I said, I'm not interested in making this a referendum on his character. You don't have to accept anything he says on any other subject. That's your own lookout. What I'm saying is that in a context where so many responses to TW's FAA reporting and advocacy are attempts to deflect, to either minimise the issue or to ad hominem the man himself, it is worth the firm reminder that what he has said about the FAA's hiring procedures is true.

Hoaxes are fine, in my opinion, making up evidence to set them up can also be fine. To the extent he was dishonest, it was in the presentation, not the making things depertament. He said LOTT accepted a claim without due diligence, and then proceeded to describe how much work he had to put to get past the due diligence, but since this was about a hated outgroup figure, a decent chunk of his audience bought the framing.

I'd say the lesson is you can't trust his conclusions, not that he'll hide or make up evidence.