The Ed forum and Deep Politics forum

[James DiEugenio]

Does everyone see what has happened to EF?
 
Ray Baby has started a Seamus Heaney thread, which has zilch to do with JFK's murder.  ANd its rated number one.
 
Dave Reitzes is posting as his usual troll self.  Two threads.  Comparing critics of the WC with those who believe in paranormal activity.
 
Where are the mods?
 
What  train wreck.

[greg_parkerAdmin]

What I want to know, Jim is...

Who Speaks for David Reitzes?

I think we need a 4 part series to answer that question and have it hosted by John McAdams.

[James DiEugenio]

LOL

My God, do I have to get all these guys?

Even a flunky like Reitzes.

[Hasan Yusuf]

Dave Reitzes is posting as his usual troll self.  Two threads.  Comparing critics of the WC with those who believe in paranormal activity.

Where are the mods?

The mods are too busy licking David Lifton's backside, Jim.

[GuestGuest]

LOL

My God, do I have to get all these guys?

Even a flunky like Reitzes.

The EF now has a small handful of excellent researchers trying to keep their threads up and running while the likes of Ray Carroll ruins them and along with Dave Reitzes tries to divert attention away by creating new threads composed of utter crap or provocation.  

But by the same token, Jim, Deep Politics Forum is worse IMO.  Never in my life have I ever read such abject nonsense and watched regular OTT bullying of people trying hard to contribute their thoughts and ideas.  

Each time I head to the DPF web page I'm sat wondering which poor sod is getting it today?  

EDITED in response to Ian's post in another section.  Best I could do whilst still wishing to air my views.

[Hasan Yusuf]

I have split the above posts from the Prayer man thread. There are some posts which I have missed, and will return to them later on.

I might even go ahead and start a forum for these types of discussions.

[dwdunn(akaDan)]

Hasan,

Feel free to move my "Interlude" posts to here, and please don't concern yourself in the least (where I'm concerned) about such administrative decisions. If I ever expereience anything I disagree with I'll probably say something about it.

I would like to add a couple of points though, to what's been said already on the general issue.

1. If we're going to have a thread called "'Prayer Man' on the Education Forum" it shouldn't come as a surprise to find some discussion of personalities at that forum or about that forum itself.

2. I'm not in favor of making more work for Admins/Moderators. So "more work" in this case would be going thru threads to determine what is & isn't "off-topic," wondering whether various persons will object to having their posts moved, moving the posts to a new thread elsewhere, and so on. So I think the less of that kind of things the Admins have to do, the better.

[Hasan Yusuf]

Hasan,

Feel free to move my "Interlude" posts to here, and please don't concern yourself in the least (where I'm concerned) about such administrative decisions. If I ever expereience anything I disagree with I'll probably say something about it.

I would like to add a couple of points though, to what's been said already on the general issue.

1. If we're going to have a thread called "'Prayer Man' on the Education Forum" it shouldn't come as a surprise to find some discussion of personalities at that forum or about that forum itself.

2. I'm not in favor of making more work for Admins/Moderators. So "more work" in this case would be going thru threads to determine what is & isn't "off-topic," wondering whether various persons will object to having their posts moved, moving the posts to a new thread elsewhere, and so on. So I think the less of that kind of things the Admins have to do, the better.

Thanks, Dan. It's not something I intend to do on a constant basis.

[Vinny]

Considering how Simkin keeps banning people at the Ed Forum,it is a wonder that the forum still survives. Just yesterday another guy got banned there.

[James DiEugenio]

And there are people who were on before he took it down who cannot get back on.

I think its pretty obvious what happened.

See, Simkin survives on ad revenue.  In the entire EF cosmos, there is no other aspect of it that gets anywhere near the number of views that his JFK Debate gets.  Therefore, he decided to bring it back so as not to have the ad revenue cut.  Even in this very much constricted form, its still worth it to him to do that.

[GuestGuest]

One of my regrets is that I did not take Michael Hogan's, "I've had enough," comment on 2 June for what it meant. Michael has not logged in on the Ed Forum since.:
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4621&p=274933

If I am interpreting Michael's decision correctly, he left the Ed Forum because I had posted in the opposite spirit of the reason I was soon to be banned from the Ed Forum.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=19016&p=275214
#35 [Albarelli's "A Secret Order": post #35] Guest_Gary Loughran_* Posted 09 June 2013 -
This decision was a reaction to Albarelli's email John quotes and has its foundations in a long standing dispute between Janney, Simkin and Di Eugenio. No one post is to blame, as I understand it. Tom's problem was caused by the Mitchell exposé which was becoming a source of embarassment - again as I understand it.

John is attempting to revert the forum to its original aims and should be supported in this endeavour.

I completely agree with Daniel Wayne Dunn's post and it pretty much resonates, more eloquently it has to be said, with my own minority view in moderation.

To be clear, this was a unilateral, not a moderated decision.

Martin, Dawn and others can I caution you to be circumspect in your reaction. This thing needs no more casualties.

Do I have this right? I was banned because I supported Jim DiEugenio and Michael Hogan signed off because I posted in contradiction to Jim and Lisa?

Over on the Amazon.com discussion thread of indvidual reviews of Robert Dallek's new book. Mr. Ed Forum himself, Robert "Nuggets" Morrow is in the thick of it. Anyone want to jump in and show him their support?

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LN6XS8PSC7SW/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg2?ie=UTF8&asin=006206584X&cdForum=Fx179IQ7X1DOXKH&cdPage=2&cdThread=Tx2A1X83A3DSAUX&store=books#wasThisHelpful

In reply to an earlier post on Aug 22, 2013 8:26:30 AM PDT
Last edited by the author on Aug 22, 2013 8:27:08 AM PDT
Robert P. Morrow says:
Philip, I read your profile and saw where you worked for the CIA. You are in denial. Players in your organization - the operations division - had a big role in the JFK assassination and LBJ himself admitted it himself. Johnson, btw, was murdering people down in Texas and had his own personal hit man Malcolm Wallace. LBJ himself also was one of the handful of early congressional overseer of the CIA.....

Philip A. True says
Sorry, Robert, but as mentioned earlier, miscellaneous factoids and reliance on concocted stories by people such as Madeleine Duncan Brown--and she is one of several who claim X, Y, Z killed JFK--whose stories have long since been debunked [claimed dates of who was where and when, for example], does not disprove that Oswald was the lone gunman. Yes, I worked for 47 years in the CIA and to believe that someone the DO was involved strains credulity.....

Nathaniel has been pushing against Dallek.:
https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showthread.php?12176-Dallek-In-Panzer-Land.-This-book-MUST-be-reviewed-a-lot-as-soon-as-it-comes-out.&p=76020#post76020

And it is interesting that Robert Dallek's brother-in-law worked for the head of the OSS Ministry of War Information,:

The Shatzkin Files
books.google.com/books?isbn=0986939706
Mike Shatzkin - Full view - ‎More editions
June 8, 2009 at 7:37 am Leonard Shatzkin was trained in printing. He left City College of NY a semester short of a ... years at Viking, proprietor Harold Guinzberg told Len to find a job at a bigger publishing house. “You have lots of big ideas,”

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2601&p=275018
Continuing from my last post..... This is background on Thomas Guinzburg's father, Howard, the co-founder of Viking Press.

It seems the OWI, Office of War Information, did not stand down at the end of WWII.

Books As Weapons: Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for ... - Page 60
books.google.com/books?isbn=0801448913

John Hench - 2010

....Two Bookmen of OWI: Chester Kerr and Harold Guinzburg
Kerr was one of two men — Guinzburg being the other — who played particularly significant roles in the book programs of OWI. A man with feet planted squarely in both worlds of trade book publishing and wartime government service, Kerr was largely responsible for linking the strategic aims of post D-Day US propaganda with the long-term interests of US book publishers....

...as a refugee from the failed revolutions of 1848. His father, Henry A. Guinzburg, was a wealthy rubber merchant and philanthropist.85 When he went to work for OWI in January 1942, Guinzburg was president of The Viking Press, which he and George Oppenheimer, a Harvard friend, had founded in 1925....

.........................

H.W. Wilson Company, Marjorie Dent Candee - 1958 - Snippet view
During World War II Harold Guinzburg served with the Office of War Information ; first he was employed with the overseas branch and then in 1943 he was appointed chief of the domestic bureau of publications.

Guinzberg's son Thomas was Peter Matthiessen's Yale roommate and an usher in John Macomber's wedding. Macomber became president of the Kleberg founded Celanese Corp. and appointed Tom Devine as VP-Comptroller.


Dallek's wife's best friend.:


Biography - Thomas Pynchon
http://thomaspynchonworld.com/BioTimeline.html‎
Jun 12, 2011 - 1957-59: He went back to Cornell where he met Faith Sale, who later became his editor for V. and Gravity's Rainbow. June 1959: Received a ..

https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showthread.php?1208-Gravity-s-Rainbow-by-Thomas-Pynchon/page3
Thread: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon ...

My research convinces me Dallek could not save his wife, the demons of her life experience obviously overwhlemed her, but did he hasten her demise? One source claimed she registered at the hotel, giving her street address as "Tod" the German word for death. What attracted her to Dallek in the first place?


More than enough in one post. Dallek's wife's life experience is among the most intense and moving I have ever researched. Her real father was Zygmunt Frydrych. If she affected Dallek's personality and character, it was in ways too subtle for me to detect.

[GuestGuest]

I joined this forum to let Lee Farley know that his bus thread was still available to view on the " Dead Poets Society ". That thread illustrates all that is wrong over there. The thread was invaded by a VIP shit slinger who managed to go unpunished for breaking multiple forum rules. When Lee replied in kind, ST DON the JUST decended to tell LEE how honoured he should be that Liftons diamond encrusted waste was smearing him.
This forum is such a refreshing change. The level of knowledge avaialable to a newcomer such as myself is immense. Should a dispute arise, it is NEVER personal, simply about the evidence and how to interpret it. This is a happy place to be. I am sure Greg would like more posters, but as it is i would take quality over quantity every time.

[James DiEugenio]

That really was pretty bad.

As bad as what Ray Baby is trying to do to Sean right now.

Isn't is shocking to see: 1.) Reitzes still posting there when the guy should either be decimated or ignored. 2.) Lifton and Ray baby agreeing with him on his trashy Garrison stuff.

When Reitzes was there last with DVP pushing this anti JG stuff, I went after him for about five days in a row.  He finally left.

He's found a new home now.

[Hasan Yusuf]

I've just tried to view the DPF several times. However, each time I tried, a pop up box kept asking me to enter a username and password. Anyone else having this problem too?

[GuestGuest]

It's been hacked, Hasan.

[Hasan Yusuf]

Thanks, Lee.

[James DiEugenio]

God, if anyone ever wondered about Ray baby, take a look at his Irish poet thread now.  See how many people have contributed to it. 

It is clearly meant to distract from Sean.  Just as Ray Baby always holds against the fact Oswald was an intel operative, here he holds out for the WC Baker/Truly/ Oswald meet up.

BTW, where is Ray baby's buddy, Lifton?

Nowhere to be found.

His Baker conspiracy, which was idiotic to begin with, is going up in smoke.

[dwdunn(akaDan)]

And there are people who were on before he took it down who cannot get back on.

I think its pretty obvious what happened.

See, Simkin survives on ad revenue.  In the entire EF cosmos, there is no other aspect of it that gets anywhere near the number of views that his JFK Debate gets.  Therefore, he decided to bring it back so as not to have the ad revenue cut.  Even in this very much constricted form, its still worth it to him to do that.

It would be great if that was all it's about Jim, but as now indicated with DPF's hacking, it seems the heat is on a variety of ways. And obviously it doesn't help to have so many lawyers giving advice, my apologies to beowulf. But my suspicion has been a caving-in to higher powers of a more directly political nature all along. Lancer UK you know, everybody have a nice nap.

[GuestGuest]

The new U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. is the wife of the Obama bud who advocated for gov sponsored agents to maintain the official line in internet forums.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Power#Personal_life

The Ambassdor's husband, Cass Sunstein coauthored this in 2008:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Sunstein#.22Conspiracy_Theories.22_and_government_infiltration
.....................
"Government agents (and their allies) might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action."[29] They refer, several times, to groups that promote the view that the US Government was responsible or complicit in the September 11 attacks as "extremist groups."

The authors declare that there are five responses a government can take toward conspiracy theories: "We can readily imagine a series of possible responses. (1) Government might ban conspiracy theorizing. (2) Government might impose some kind of tax, financial or otherwise, on those who disseminate such theories. (3) Government might itself engage in counterspeech, marshaling arguments to discredit conspiracy theories. (4) Government might formally hire credible private parties to engage in counterspeech. (5) Government might engage in informal communication with such parties, encouraging them to help."...

The recently appointed UK Ambassdor to the US is a former aid to Prince Charles married to the sister of the convicted multi million dollar thief and best friend of Alan Quasha:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Westmacott#Personal_life

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=19668&p=271253
......................
Britain's new man in Washington Sir Peter Westmacott is brother-in ...
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Britains-new-man-Washington-Sir-Peter-We...
Dec 6, 2011 – This is because his brother-in-law is a convicted fraudster who ... Fraudulent: Hassan Nemazee (left) donated some of the stolen money to high ...

Dan, do you think the Ed Forum was issued an ultimatum, offered an alternative to being inactivated? Colby's been logged off since 10 August and Ray seems to be handling the disruption duty even without the active assistance of Tommy Graves. BTW, Mike Rago is up and running on McAdams' alt.assassination.jfk, daring posters to admit they see something in the photos he demands they examine. It took an iron resolve to stop Carroll and Rago and nobody has the interest to do it.

Dan, thank you for showing others how to maintain their self respect when they show no inclination to do it.

[Robert Charles-Dunne]

And there are people who were on before he took it down who cannot get back on.

I think its pretty obvious what happened.

See, Simkin survives on ad revenue.  In the entire EF cosmos, there is no other aspect of it that gets anywhere near the number of views that his JFK Debate gets.  Therefore, he decided to bring it back so as not to have the ad revenue cut.  Even in this very much constricted form, its still worth it to him to do that.

When I posted that John Simkin's personal relationship with Peter Jannedy was in part responsible for the decision to remove Jim D. and Tom S., John referred to me in a post as one of his "critics."  I wrote him an email to complain that I thought this was an incorrrect assessment.  I had always praised John effusively, and tried to be polite as a guest in his virtual classroom.  Stating a fact is not necessarily a criticism, but it sure struck him as such.

He replied to say that he was shutting the EF down, permanently after the 50th anniversary.  He said that he was sick of losing money on the EF, only to be accused of being a CIA stooge and much else, for his efforts.  It's like the Elvis Costello songs says:  "He stands to be insulted and pays for the privilege."

Were the Forum actually making any appreciable money, I think he would have grown thicker skin, or just banished himself from the JFK section, where all his headaches arose.  Based on the above, I'd be surprised if the ad revenue even covered the cost of operation.

[GuestGuest]

And there are people who were on before he took it down who cannot get back on.

I think its pretty obvious what happened.

See, Simkin survives on ad revenue.  In the entire EF cosmos, there is no other aspect of it that gets anywhere near the number of views that his JFK Debate gets.  Therefore, he decided to bring it back so as not to have the ad revenue cut.  Even in this very much constricted form, its still worth it to him to do that.

It would be great if that was all it's about Jim, but as now indicated with DPF's hacking, it seems the heat is on a variety of ways. 

Regardless of the reasons why Deep Politics Forum has been hacked (although I suspect it's a random attack based upon poor security) one good thing may come of it; Peter Lemkin's crazy brain may explode at the paranoid machinations he will no doubt be unable to stop forming.  He is probably rolled up in a ball in the corner of his Prague apartment, drapes drawn, doors nailed shut, with a variety of USB sticks planted down his undies containing copies of the Muchmore Polaroid and the Katzenbach memo.

If I could throw a selection of JFK "researchers" down a well, Peter Lemkin would be fourth down there with only Ralph Cinque, Jim Fetzer and Raymond Carroll for company.

[GuestGuest]

And there are people who were on before he took it down who cannot get back on.

I think its pretty obvious what happened.

See, Simkin survives on ad revenue.  In the entire EF cosmos, there is no other aspect of it that gets anywhere near the number of views that his JFK Debate gets.  Therefore, he decided to bring it back so as not to have the ad revenue cut.  Even in this very much constricted form, its still worth it to him to do that.

When I posted that John Simkin's personal relationship with Peter Jannedy was in part responsible for the decision to remove Jim D. and Tom S., John referred to me in a post as one of his "critics."  I wrote him an email to complain that I thought this was an incorrrect assessment.  I had always praised John effusively, and tried to be polite as a guest in his virtual classroom.  Stating a fact is not necessarily a criticism, but it sure struck him as such.

He replied to say that he was shutting the EF down, permanently after the 50th anniversary.  He said that he was sick of losing money on the EF, only to be accused of being a CIA stooge and much else, for his efforts.  It's like the Elvis Costello songs says:  "He stands to be insulted and pays for the privilege."

Were the Forum actually making any appreciable money, I think he would have grown thicker skin, or just banished himself from the JFK section, where all his headaches arose.  Based on the above, I'd be surprised if the ad revenue even covered the cost of operation.

[quote]

Let us see if, by closing down the forum, he will risk losing the synergy of the Ed Forum driving traffic to his Spartacus Pages. It seems an integrated set up. HIs crying poor seems a manipulation. The entire Ed Forum has 2075 registered members. It is hosted by IP Host. The monthly charge for 450 simultaneous logged in users is $330. https://www.invisionpower.com/pricing
The 9 Sept. "Most Online" number was 140.: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?act=idx

UK residents know better the taxation considerations of a money losing subsiduary of a business with a successful revenue stream as far as deductibility of losses and expenses vs overall income. On the surface I do not understand how Mr. Simkin could have made the assertion to you that the financial costs of maintaining the forum outwiegh the overall financial benefit of doing it, especially since every page of the forum I visit serves up Google Adsense ads displayed prominently.:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?app=forums&module=extras§ion=boardrules

This forum is owned by Spartacus Educational http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk

John Simkin
Richard Jones-Nerzic
Andy Walker

http://wikipedia.atpedia.com/en/articles/j/o/h/User_talk~John_Simkin_7540.html

Nzd, sorry for the late reply to your comments about my West Ham website. I also apologise for my aggressive tone in my first posting about the removal of the Wikipedia link to my site. I am still a victim of my tough working-class childhood.

I created my Spartacus Educational in 1997. I was a history teacher who wanted to produce materials that my students could use when studying local history. The website was popular with students all over the world and so I decided to make it into a full-time job. This of course meant that I had to find a way of funding the website. As I was fully committed to the idea that this information should be available to everyone who wanted to use it I rejected the subscription model. Instead I sold advertising space on my site. For many years I ran the website at a loss. However, since the emergence of Google AdSense, it has been possible to make a living from a website.

I am unclear why I should be criticised for selling advertising space in order to keep information free. I am aware that Wikipedia does not carry advertising. However, is a site owned by a multimillionaire morally superior to one being produced by an educationalist?

In fact, my main intention has been to create materials that have little commercial value in book form. I have therefore concentrated on writing about the past from the perspective of those without power. Historians tend to call this approach: “history from below”.

I went to school in Dagenham and have been a supporter of West Ham for over 50 years. As I have created a website that provides me with a reasonable living, I decided to spend the next couple of years producing a comprehensive online history of West Ham. This will enable students to research the subject in some detail. When I was a teacher a lot of the students were unable to do GCSE coursework on the history of West Ham because of the shortage of materials online. Hopefully, my website will able to change that situation.

My plan is to produce a year by year account of the history of West Ham. So far, I have produced the first-draft of the first 12 years........

https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/187567?hl=en
Adsense
Success stories
Spartacus Educational
...... in 1997. Simkin left a job as a textbook publisher to set up his own company, providing academic publications online.

Today, Spartacus Educational offers a series of history encyclopedias online, providing a valuable free research tool for schools and universities across the country. The Spartacus website receives some 6 million page impressions each month, usually from students and researchers.

"I started with the idea of providing a research source for schools and universities that was free of charge," explains Simkin. "I mailed all the schools and universities and did some advertising on Google at the start, and now 137,000 schools and colleges link to the site, which makes it very popular."
Challenge

Offering academic content over the Internet presents Spartacus Educational with some unique challenges, explains Simkin. "Because the encyclopedias are 7 or 8,000 pages, each designed individually, putting ads onto each page was too timeconsuming," he says.

To overcome this problem, Simkins decided to try contextual advertising, which would be less time-consuming to use. After considering a number of services, he decided that Google AdSense offered the best value for money and performance. "I read about AdSense in the press initially, then I met a friend who was doing very well with AdSense," he adds. "That made my mind up."

As a one-man business, Simkin looks for solutions that don't require a lot of time and expertise – and Google AdSense fitted the brief perfectly. "It was a very straightforward process to sign up, it took a matter of minutes," he says.

To make the process even easier, Simkin added a couple of hundred pages to AdSense to begin with, and adds further pages gradually over time. "It's not hard to do, and the colours, shapes and options are all straightforward," he says.
Results

Today, Spartacus Educational uses Google AdSense on all the main pages of the online encyclopedias. This means Simkin no longer has to laboriously insert individual ads on each page, freeing up time to concentrate on growing the business. "I've told lots of people about AdSense," he says. "It's a great system and anyone with a website who can follow instructions can use it fine." ......

http://spartacus-educational.blogspot.com/
About Me
John Simkin
n September, 1997, Spartacus Educational founder and managing director John Simkin became the first educational publisher in Britain to establish a website that was willing to provide teachers and students with free educational materials. According to a survey carried out by the Fischer Trust, Spartacus Educational is one of the top three websites used by history teachers and students in Britain (the other two are BBC History and the Public Record Office’s Learning Curve). The Spartacus Educational website currently gets up to 7 million page impressions a month and 3 million unique visitors. As well as running the Spartacus Educational website John Simkin has also produced material for the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, the Virtual School and the Spring Europe Project and done other online work for Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) and the Historical Association.

View my complete profile

[James DiEugenio]

Johnny has made quite a living off of Ad Sense it seems.

Be interesting to see what he does after the 50th with the JFK  side of it.

[greg_parkerAdmin]

 It seems an integrated set up.

I think I have basically said all I want to about the Ed Forum. The Prayer Man thread here alone has thrown out a couple of misattributions from over there which I have not bothered to correct.

I'm not calling what follows a "correction" - you can make your own mind up, but fwiw, at one stage in  a thread there, I took exception to the ed forum being referred to as John's "home", and made the statement that it was actually part of his overall business. John, in reply, denied that the JFK forum was connected in any way to his Spartacus educational website. 

If it is not part of his business website, then he would not be allowed to offset any losses incurred there against Spartatus income.

On the other hand, if he is making a profit from the JFK side, I don't see how he could NOT be declaring it as income as part of his business enterprise.

[dwdunn(akaDan)]

Dan, do you think the Ed Forum was issued an ultimatum, offered an alternative to being inactivated? Colby's been logged off since 10 August and Ray seems to be handling the disruption duty even without the active assistance of Tommy Graves. BTW, Mike Rago is up and running on McAdams' alt.assassination.jfk, daring posters to admit they see something in the photos he demands they examine. It took an iron resolve to stop Carroll and Rago and nobody has the interest to do it.

Dan, thank you for showing others how to maintain their self respect when they show no inclination to do it.

This last line worries me a little, Tom; kinda sounds like I might have no inclination to maintain self-respect but am able to show others how to fake it.   Thank you for the compliment though.

In my previous post I was mainly referring to my impression that what's wanted is quietism (in the political sense). So for instance, Shane Sullivan has a seal of approval but here comes a cad like Tom Scully broaching uncomfortable questions. Or Joan Mellen has a seal of approval and along comes a dirtbag with no sense of decorum like Dunn, rasing issues about Mellen's sources and her eagerness to believe anything bad about Robert Kennedy. There are larger issues involved, like how does one obtain the coveted seal of approval, who bestows it, why are they in a position to control such things, and so on. So my growing impression over the past year has been that the heat is on & pressures are being applied, and that this is what we should expect if we're going about things the right way. But of course there will be some who will fold up and give in/go along. I don't think any grand "ultimatum" was issued, other than the complaints of Albarelli (and whatever behind-the-scenes supporters he may have had); but if, just as a hypothetical example, Albarelli had told Simkin that he planned to take legal action against someone for calling him a "wussy" and a "pathetic git," Simkin might have rationalized his subsequent actions as "protecting" a mouthy dirtbag from being sued. So out goes the "attacker," there's more civility, now the forum's a place we won't be ashamed to bring the grandkids to.

I seem to be rambling, but I do a lot of that these days. I guess my main point, in replying to Jim's post, was that it would be fairly innocuous if we only had to deal with the idea of Simkin being only a grasping old fellow after all. But since he's shown himself to be unaccountably favorable towards people who have what I'd consider as extremely regressive political agendas, then I think we are talking about the larger political issues of who controls the information and the flow of information, who gets the seal of approval to be "in the club," who gets marginalized and why.... So in other words, you can obsessively post image after image of John Kennedy's brains blown out, you can dwell repeatedly on the idea of Lyndon Johnson having sex with his own grandmother, you can make the most bigoted statements (against Muslims, Jews, black people, take your pick) -- you can do any number of objectionable things, but by God one thing you cannot do is bring stuff up that disturbs the status quo. We prefer our conspiracy theory a bit quieter you see.

On (some of) your other points, I get the impression Team Colby may still be amazed at Mr. Simkin's cold-blooded efficiency (didn't know he had it in him) & may even miss some of us. And until I looked thru the Seamus Heaney thread last night I didn't realize that Ray Carroll has gone mad. Maybe his newfound power and influence was too much for him to handle.

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