From: Cornelius J. Troost [Email him]

The redoubtable Tampa Bay Times recently announced an event that attracted me. It was a festival of books and authors[Festival of Reading, November 12, 2016) that included both those of national renown and those of local prominence. Aware that nearly all of the attendees would be good Leftists of one kind or another, I nonetheless embarked on the twenty-five-mile journey across the bay to the USF campus near St. Petersburg's downtown area.

My destination was the Poynter Institute, a fortress of liberal journalism whose stentorian efforts to dominate the public mind were matched only by the Soviet Pravda campaigns. The only difference being that people at Poynter pretend to be scholars. At Poynter people like Dan Rather, Ted Koppel, and Tom Brokaw are enshrined as immortal greats.

I was surprised to see very large crowds milling about and filling the sites of individual presentations. Liberals were everywhere. Most were beyond fifty and four or five older men had long pony-tails down their backs while women wore chic, very colorful blouses and sweaters as well as interesting metallic jewelry from cultures of Mexico and the Andes. One had to assume that they were dedicated lovers of books and likely fully absorbed by multicultural dreams and myths. Off-beat types were conspicuous with their scruffy hair and well-worn jeans. Two groups were nearly absent: young whites and all blacks. Apparently loving books isn't their cup of tea. If you did a quick show of hands asking how many voted for Trump you would have seen only a lone old man who writes for VDARE.com.

My own main purpose was to attend the session based upon a Pulitzer Prize-winning series by three Times reporters. The series was called "Failure Factories", blaming bad Florida schools for black failures.

I wrote a critique of this series for VDARE.com and wanted to hear the rationale for such a misguided "expose." The presenters were young reporters steeped in PC mindset and amiably chatting about their Pulitzer award and the challenges of treating the black community fairly.

When they flashed photos of black people meeting to help solve the problems of their children, the entire room burst into applause. I sat in astonishment and decided not to question the Pulitzer stars about their avoidance of scientific evidence for racial gaps. The last thing these true believers want to hear is scientific evidence that implies that races are not the same in both IQ and various behavioral parameters. Liberals, after all, only argue about details, not basic assumptions. They march like lemmings to the CultMarx siren song. Better I get out into the sunshine and join the crush of traffic back across the bridge.