Happy New Year, Elliott, and thank you for one of the most important contributions to journalism that anyone can make - statistical analyses of data to clean the darkness off the glass, so that we can see clearly. In my lifetime, I have seen deliberate obfuscation of facts around the murders of Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy; about the Gulf of Tonkin, the Nixon administration's assault on the Constitution, the Iran-Contra lies of the Reagan administration, the weapons of mass destruction lies by Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, the endless lies of the Trump administration. Journalists bearing facts, facts based in statistical analyses, these are the greatest gifts a democracy can have. Without them, we become yet another ex-democracy.
Happy New Year, Elliott, and thank you for one of the most important contributions to journalism that anyone can make - statistical analyses of data to clean the darkness off the glass, so that we can see clearly. In my lifetime, I have seen deliberate obfuscation of facts around the murders of Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy; about the Gulf of Tonkin, the Nixon administration's assault on the Constitution, the Iran-Contra lies of the Reagan administration, the weapons of mass destruction lies by Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, the endless lies of the Trump administration. Journalists bearing facts, facts based in statistical analyses, these are the greatest gifts a democracy can have. Without them, we become yet another ex-democracy.
Merry Christmas, Elliot! Enjoy your break!
Typo to your letter substack is misspelled