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"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
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- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
- Strange Bedfellows in the Academy: Alliance Theory and the Straussian Schism
- Tournier on Desmond Ford
- The Fence and the Blessing: How Jews Have Thought About Gentiles
- Tournier on Luke Ford
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- An Alliance Theory of Antisemitism
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- The Self-Hating Jew
- The Alliance Theory in the Academy
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- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
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Category Archives: Expertise
The Three Layers: Stephen Turner, Tacit Knowledge, and the War in Iran
Stephen P. Turner spent his career arguing against a comfortable assumption in the social sciences: that knowledge is a thing people possess, store, and transfer. His critique of practice theory cuts deeper than most readers realize. Knowledge is not a … Continue reading
Posted in Expertise, Iran, Stephen Turner
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The Jurisdictional Wars: Alliance Theory and the Fight for Power Among American Legal Elites During the Iran War
No one says they want to control the meaning of legality because it gives them power. They say they defend the Constitution, uphold the rule of law, protect national security, or interpret complexity for those who cannot navigate war powers … Continue reading
The Jurisdictional Wars: Alliance Theory and the Battle to Claim Expertise in America
No one says they want to be an expert because it gives them power. They say they follow the evidence, protect the public, or translate complexity for those who cannot navigate it alone. That is the move. Expertise is a … Continue reading
Posted in Covid, Expertise, Stephen Turner
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The Power Wars
82nd Airborne Division Aborigine Yirrkala Tribe Academia Careers Bias Academic Podcasts ADL AI Aish HaTorah Alexander Technique More Amazon America More American Bar Association American Education Outcomes Authority American Fiction American Medical Association American Legal Elites Fight For Status During … Continue reading
Posted in Elites, Epistemics, Expertise, Journalism, Status
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The Jurisdictional Wars: Alliance Theory and the Battle for Elite Attention in the Iran War
The Iran war is not just a military conflict. It is a competition for attention among high-status actors. Journalists, think tanks, politicians, academics, and influencers are not merely analyzing events. They are competing to define what the war means, and … Continue reading
Posted in Elites, Epistemics, Expertise, Iran
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Why Don’t Journalists Situate The Think Tanks They Rely On?
This WSJ story on Israel invading Lebanon quotes experts from the Stimson Center and the Institute for National Security Studies without providing any context for these institutions. That seems shoddy. Think tanks don’t exist to pursue truth in a vacuum, … Continue reading
Posted in Expertise, Journalism
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Is Iran Comfortable Now?
I see Iran experts such as Alex Vatanka (Middle East Institute) claim that Iran is comfortable where they are right now in this war. A Foreign Affairs podcast (March 2026) quotes analyst Nate Swanson: “Iran is very comfortable engaging in … Continue reading
The Power Of The ‘Path Dependence’ Model
“Path dependence” is a powerful model for prediction and explanation because where you end up depends not just on where you want to go, but on where you started and what turns you took along the way. The past constrains … Continue reading
Posted in Expertise
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Decoding Thomas Wright
Thomas Wright is currently analyzing the Iran war as a conflict of competing endgames between Washington, Jerusalem, and Tehran. In a recent discussion with Ian Bremmer on March 14, 2026, he argued that the war has evolved from a simple … Continue reading
Posted in Expertise
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The Definitive Verdict On Trump’s Iran War
The conflict is fifteen days old. The definitive verdicts are already everywhere. That speed is not accidental, and it is not simply a product of media incentives, though those matter. The deeper engine is coalition logic. Each alliance in the … Continue reading