In Response to Joe Backes
Joe took exception to a word I used. Actually an adjectival phrase. “Untalked-of”, He asked about it on Facebook. It was explained by another poster and myself that it is indeed a real word and is listed as such in major dictionaries.
Apparently Joe did not like the answer, or the content of the article and wrote an attack piece, lying about what I said in regard to the status of the article, and basically relying on a string of denials of easily proven facts, and the ever-popular use of straw arguments.
So I called him out on all of that in a comment under the hit piece. Instead of directly responding, he simply wrote a second hit piece, doubling down on lies and straw arguments. There really was no need for any of it. He has my email address. He could have emailed his objections and had a civil private discussion about it.
But it is what it is. I will show him one more time how honest debate works via direct responses to his points. I will not waste further time with him after this.
Joe called his 2nd hit piece:
NO, “Untalked,” is NOT a word. Unspoken is a word. And I’ll happily die on that hill.
After having MW dictionary quoted to him, this is where he stands. Here it is again:
untalked-of
adjective
un·talked-of
¦ən‧¦tȯkˌtəv,
-ˌtäv
: not talked about : not mentioned
But not only is Joe claiming all the dictionaries are wrong, he is dissing Shakespeare and claiming he knows better than the Bard
From Act 2 Scene 3, Romeo and Juliet
JULIET
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Toward Phoebus’ lodging. Such a wagonerAs Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately.Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways’ eyes may wink, and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.
Who’s making your funeral arrangements, Joe?
Who started a post with the name Louise Robertson? Greg Parker did. Now why go from Parker to Armstrong? Because he’s regurgitating something Armstrong wrote. That in and of itself is annoying.
So according to Joe’s logic, one cannot discuss any witness ever mentioned by Armstrong, because to do so is to “regurgitate” Armstrong. What a fucking pile of dribble. That rules out being able to discuss virtually every main character in this case, unless you want to incur the “wrath” of Joe “I’m so good” Backes.
That line of reasoning is obviously ridiculous. But it is no surprise coming from someone who knows better than all the dictionaries and the greatest writer in the English language.
For the record, I never mentioned Armstrong. Armstrong does not own the witnesses he used/misused. Louise Robertson and her story exists outside of the Armstrong narrative. It was Mr. Backes who raised Armstrong in an attempt to tar me in a false comparison.
So, I just happen to have a copy of Armstrong’s book “Harvey & Lee,” and I tried to see where is Armstrong getting this Louise Robertson story from. There’s no citation. Jim DiEugenio regurgitated the Louise Robertson story too. Did he provide the citations Armstrong couldn’t be bothered with? Nope. And now Greg Parker is continuing this ignoble tradition. This nonsense has to stop. Cite the god damn sources people, even if the author you want to criticize or praise didn’t. That way people can follow along and see for themselves what is being discussed. These are the basic standards of scholarship. That’s why I went from Parker to Armstrong. Most people can understand my criticism here.
I agreed in an email I sent you, that you have yet to acknowledge, that I should have included links to the Robertson material. I provided those links to you in that same email. Your response? No reply to me personally. You simply posted the links and claimed YOU found them, modestly adding, that’s how “good” you are at this stuff.
Here is the email I sent
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Greg Parker
Reply
Reply all
Forward
To:
Joseph Backes
Wed 29/05/2024 10:11
Hi Joe, yes, I should have included those links. Have taken the article offline for now.
Here are the links
The information from Louise Robertson starts at the bottom of this page
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57702#relPageId=69
The FBI follow up investigation starts at the bottom of this page
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=95619#relPageId=167
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Wednesday my time would be Tuesday your time.
As for your comments about academic standards… substack is not an academic platform. Which is just as well, given your penchant for titles like “NO, “Untalked,” is NOT a word. Unspoken is a word. And I’ll happily die on that hill.” and your idiotic denial of facts that are biting your ass as you type.
My criticism is quite valid because as far as I know I’m the first person to provide the details where anyone can learn and see for themselves what the FBI said Louise Robertson said, and how they investigated that. Once again, according to the FBI Louise Robertson claims she was told directly by Marguerite that the reason Marguerite brought Lee Harvey Oswald to NYC was so that he could be given mental tests at Jacobi hospital.
I’ll give you this. Your criticism is as valid as your claim that there is no such word as “untalked”. Or put another way, it has no validity at all, outside that vacuum between your ears.
This is from my 2015 book, Lee Harvey Oswald’s Cold War
Yet another reason for the move east can be found in the FBI interview of Mrs. Louise Robertson who had been hired by Marguerite as a cleaner for two or three days a week in the summer of 1953. According to Mrs. Robertson, Marguerite had confided that she had brought her son Lee to New York in order for him to have “mental tests” performed at Jacobi Hospital.[i]
[i] FBI 62-109060 JFK HQ File, Section 21, p26
Do you notice anything? That’s right! A fucking citation! Did you even bother to do a simple internet search to validate your claim about being the first? Of course not. You’re an absolute delusional fuckwit.
I go on to say on the following page….
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Louise Robertson’s statements are more problematic in that the Jacobi Hospital did not open until December 2, 1955 – around 2 years after Marguerite and Lee had left New York. Nevertheless, there is no discernible reason for Mrs. Robertson to have lied to the FBI. It is more likely that she was actually referring to the Bronx campus of the Yeshiva University which is where the Jacobi Hospital was eventually built. Yeshiva has a long and distinguished history of research in psychology, including child psychology.
There is little in Lee Oswald’s known pre-New York history gathered for the Warren Commission, if not for posterity, that hints at the need for him to travel to New York for psychiatric evaluation – or “mental tests” as it was put by Mrs. Robertson. For now however, we will leave this episode. It will be picked up again in the next volume.
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I will skip over your rambling and incoherent diatribe based on what I assume can only be the voices in your head, and move on to the following
Parker also has some dumb theory that throughout the Cold War the CIA and the U.S. military were performing massive secret testing on all U.S. children until they got just the right kind of useful idiot. And an even dumber theory that the Port Security Unit of the U.S. Coast Guard is THE intelligence agency we should all have been studying for the last 60 years. Never mind all that CIA, ONI, FBI crap. No, no, Port Security Unit of the U.S. Coast Guard, that’s the ticket.
Oh, FFS!
Before I take this apart, I do want to acknowledge that you have moved on from your original claim that Pic never worked in any intelligence unit, despite his testimony stating he was in the Coast Guard Intelligence Unit. Well done!
Unfortunately your VERY UNacademic argument above is made of straw.
I made no claim that the CIA and the US military, FBI and ONI should be ignored. You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to shove that bullshit in my mouth.
I never said that the Port Security Unit is THE intelligence unit everyone should study ahead of any other. You should be ashamed of yourself for trying to shove that bullshit in my mouth.
What I did say is that John Pic worked in intelligence while Lee lived with him. YOUR KNEE-JERK REACTION WAS TO DENY HE DID ANY INTELLIGENCE WORK – so again – well done in belatedly arriving at a fact. It must be exhilarating for you! What I also pointed out is that the PSU worked closely with both the FBI and ONI and described the type of work they did.
You are a prime example of what is wrong with this community. Egotistical, delusional to the point of denying facts that are placed under your nose, making the most unacademic posts imaginable while slamming everyone else for not meeting standards you don’t follow, and just basically acting like a coward by avoiding direct contact, and direct responses.
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