TIMELINE
2013
January 2013: Tracy in 2017 remembers the traffic he was getting in the wake of the Sandy Hook controversy:
Jan 1 2013 – appears on The Kevin Barrett show (clip is at 2nd site)
https://noliesradio.org/archives/55640
https://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_prof-james-tracy-the-sandy-hook-school-massacre-unanswered-q/
January 7 2013: Sun-Sentinel publishes a story on Tracy, “FAU Prof Stirs Controversy by Disputing Newtown Massacre,” to which Tracy later attributes all of the controversy regarding his treatment of the Sandy Hook case (see June 2013 letter).
The following day, in a phone conversation, Tracy later claims that the piece’s author “expressed his delight that the story was picked up nationally.”
(Unknown date, but soon after first blog posts): Infowars staffers emails another re: Tracy, “YOU HAVE TO GET THIS GUY ON THE AIR”) – (Williamson, 110)
Jan 9 2013: President of FAU posts a video response, distancing the institution from Tracy’s blog posts but not indicating any disciplinary action is imminent:
Also Jan 9th 2013: Broward Palm Beach News Times publishes piece on Tracy, stating “Fire this guy fast”:
Also Jan 9 2013: “College Misery” blog profiles Tracy:
http://collegemisery.blogspot.com/2013/01/way-to-use-that-tenure-james-tracy-fau.html#comment-form
Also on Jan 9 2013, podcast appearance “Guns and Butter” (a show on the Global Research network)
http://memoryholeblog.org/2013/01/10/james-tracy-on-kpfas-guns-and-butter/
It’s mostly unremarkable and about the then-known details of the case, but his role as blogger/professor is discussed toward the end:
-7:30 re False Flags: “Many progressives, and those on the left, really don’t want to go there, go in that direction or talk about that. Especially if someone is a journalist or a scholar, they risk being called a, you know a dealer in conspiracy theories and so forth, but uh I think that we have to abandon these terms, and uh really look at these occurrences, and so forth, uh more closely, have the courage to do so. Uh, and I, uh, given my capacity and so forth as a professor , that’s something that uh, I should do. I study the media and public opinion, and so on and so forth. Uh and these things are of tremendous significance, certainly, at this point in time. And I think that events such as 9/11 and the decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, these are some of the most important events of the past half century, and so they require greater scrutiny than has been apportioned to them by many of us who consider ourselves to be intellectuals, whether it’s journalistic or academic.”
-5:30 re why more people don’t question mass shootings: “I think that people don’t uh, these are unpleasant things. They don’t want to think about them. If they’re in a position such as being a journalist or an academic, or a public intellectual of some sort, you uh, really do call your judgment and your sense of reason and so forth in to question if you actually begin to ask questions, uh, beyond the pale.”
Jan 10 2013: Appears on Infowars w Rob Dew (content no longer available)
http://memoryholeblog.org/2013/01/15/january-10-infowars-nightly-news-wrob-dew/
Also January 10 2013: Mike Clary publishes a follow-up to his story in the Sun-Sentinel, “FAU Prof Should be Fired, Newtown Official Says”
Jan 11 2013: Anderson Cooper 360 Segment on James Tracy. As part of this segment, a CNN interviewer appeared at FAU and at Tracy’s home to interview him. He would refer back tot his repeatedly in coming years. Per Williamson, Tracy “said no to SNN due to work and family pressures,” but “on the same day he refused CNN’s request, he was arranging to appear on Infowars.” (Williamson 113)
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/acd/date/2013-01-11/segment/01
Deposition statements from 2017:
On page 170, Tracy then claims that he believes Cooper harmed his own reputation, rather than Tracy’s:
Jan 11 2013: Posts “public statement” in response to CNN coverage
The producers of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° have invited me to appear on tonight’s broadcast to discuss this week’s controversy surrounding my articles on the Sandy Hook tragedy. Unfortunately, I am at present unable to accommodate this request. CNN has asked for a written statement from me to present in my absence. This statement, issued to a CNN representative late this afternoon, appears in its entirety below.
Link to January 11, 2013 Anderson Cooper 360° episode.
In my analyses of news coverage on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting I am confident I have put forth questions befitting any decent and reflective citizen, journalist or scholar. My research has led me to conclude that the nation’s media failed to provide an accurate, in-depth and sustained investigation of what took place at the school on the morning of December 14. Unfortunately, most of my observations and their nuance have been reduced to headlines and sound bites that have placed my person and intent in a severely negative light.
The press is not solely at fault, however. A significant portion of the public has chosen to base its judgment of my queries on narrow preconceptions of what they believe intellectual or academic inquiry should consist of and be directed toward. Such individuals have also been quick to judge me personally based on how I have been framed by such media instead of affording my arguments related to the tragedy a less prejudicial hearing.
I maintain that many questions I raise about the Sandy Hook tragedy remain unanswered and that the American public has been underserved by the press in this important regard. I apologize for any additional anguish and grief my remarks—and how they have been taken out of context and misrepresented—may have caused the families who’ve lost loved ones on December 14. At the same time I believe the most profound memorial we can give the children and educators who lost their lives on that day is to identify and interrogate the specific causes of their tragic and untimely demise.
Jan 12 2013: Memory Hole Blog publishes “Does Anderson Cooper Want James Tracy and/or His Family Members Harmed?” https://web.archive.org/web/20130114183025/http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/01/12/does-anderson-cooper-want-james-tracy-andor-his-family-members-killed/
Also Jan 12 2013: FAU’s student newspaper reports that “over 800 news sources” had so far covered the Tracy/Sandy Hook controversy:
Jan 15 2013: 2nd of two segments by Anderson Cooper covering Tracy (Williamson 111)
Jan 16 2013: “FAU opens investigation on James Tracy leaving him unsure of job status”
FAU distanced itself from the Sandy Hook comments and then started an investigation. The reprimand came not because of the comments, but because Tracy failed to keep FAU out of his postings, according to a March 28 letter from Coltman.
[…] Tracy was unsure of his future job status, but did make one thing clear. “But, you know, if they intend to fire me, ultimately, how good of an institution is it? If they’re not going to stand up for free speech and ideas and things of the like, then I’m not too sure I want to be here, either.”
Jan 18 2013: Tracy has meeting with Heather Coltman, Interim Dean at FAU, as well as Diane Alperin and Doaglas Broadfield, regarding the controversy. A follow-up memo summarizing their exchange is sent to Tracy ten days later (Exhibit D):
As noted, the same day as the conversation with FAU administration, Tracy appears on Infowars w PJW (content is no longer available)
Copy: https://soundcloud.com/alex-seitz-wald/james-tracy-interview-on-alex
(It’s not yet been established what the other media appearance was that day, but most likely it will be in the MHB’s web archive from this time period)
Jan 23 2013: Op-Ed on Tracy, from the Sun Sentinel, “FAU takes heat for professor’s Sandy Hook comments”
Jan 29 2013: Another appearance on the Corbett Report (Globalresearch podcast):
https://www.corbettreport.com/the-sandy-hook-controversy-james-tracy-on-grtv/
Jan 18 2013: Alperin and Coltman meet with Tracy regarding his “blogging and constitutionally protected speech.”
NOTE: A footnote in the April 2018 decision notes that “in prior years”, Tracy had indeed filled out the form. So, it appears that he only refused when he knew his outside activities would not stand up to scrutiny (having started Memory Hole and his Sandy Hook denial in 2012)
January 28 2013
March 28 2013: Tracy receives a “Notice of Discipline” and is admonished to remove any reference to FAU from his blog:
April 2013: Union member emails Tracy, arguing that FAU had no right to discipline Tracy for his blogging (per Tracy’s complaint from 2017):
April 12 2013: Inside Higher Ed article on Tracy’s controversy/tenured employment situation.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/12/florida-atlantic-reprimands-professor-over-his-blog
Coltman wrote that this disclaimer was “ineffective” as people — including reporters — continued to associate him with the university. Further, she criticized him for mentioning the university in blog posts (that criticized the university). And she noted that these posts did not have the disclaimer attached to them.
“You may, of course, blog in your personal time. You must stop dragging FAU into your personal endeavors. Your actions continue to adversely affect the legitimate interests of the university and constitute misconduct. This letter of reprimand is disciplinary action subject to Article 20, Grievance Procedure. If you continue to fail to meet your professional obligations and respond to directives from your supervisor, you will face additional disciplinary action,” she wrote.
The university released the letter as a public document under Florida’s open records act. But a university spokeswoman denied that the letter — even though it explicitly reprimanded Tracy and said he could “face additional disciplinary action” — constituted a punishment. “These letters reflect that no employee has been disciplined for his/her personal activities or publications,” she said.
Heather Coltman, interim dean of the College of Arts and Letters, said Tracy’s earlier posting has resulted in a number of negative consequences for FAU, including a large number of parents who withdrew their children’s applications to FAU, a student whose parent asked that she be withdrawn from his class and a donor who withdrew his support to the Department of History.
FAU distanced itself from the Sandy Hook comments and then started an investigation. The reprimand came not because of the comments, but because Tracy failed to keep FAU out of his postings, according to a March 28 letter from Coltman. The entries on the Boston bombings do not mention FAU.
April 15, 2013: Boston Marathon bombing. Tracy is immediately a truther, drawing more press.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/james-tracy-professor-boston-bombing-conspiracy_n_3143643
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2013-04-23-fl-fau-tracy-boston-20130423-story.html
April 24 2013: A Huffington Post article documents Tracy’s denial of the Boston Marathon bombing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/jamestracyprofessorbostonbombingconspiracy_n_3143643.html
Tracy’s Sandy Hook postings received nationwide attention and prompted FAU to issue him a formal reprimand. This posting, though, may hit closer to home for FAU President Mary Jane Saunders, who is a Boston native.
“As with all postings on his personal blog, Florida Atlantic University does not agree with Mr. Tracy’s views or opinions,” a statement from FAU spokeswoman Lisa Metcalf said. “The university stands with the rest of the country in our support of the victims of the Boston Marathon tragedy.”
April 27 2013: Three of Tracy’s colleagues publish an op-ed with the local Sun-Sentinel newspaper (as well as possibly the Palm Beach Post) calling on Tracy to resign:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210628160145/https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/fl-xpm-2013-04-28-fl-online-letter1-20130428-story.html
FAU professor James Tracy infuriated the public with his conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook massacre and is now doing the same with the Boston Marathon bombing.
In each instance, he claimed the events as we know them may not have happened and were perhaps staged using crisis actors. Despite the suffering that he has caused to victims’ families, the poor example he has set for his students and the damage that he has done to the university’s reputation, Tracy continues to blog unabated.
He and his supporters quickly reference his First Amendment right to express his ideas. What James Tracy does not understand is that ideas represent the end product of the intellectual process. Before they can be publicly espoused, ideas must be subjected to rigorous and intensive examination.
Academics test ideas to prove their worth, commentators simply state them. Academics expose their theories to other academics, conspiracy theorists blog them to each other. Academics build on a rich intellectual tradition, people like James Tracy spin tall tales out of nothing.
James Tracy should not resign because he has upset people or brought shame to the university. He should resign because he is not an academic.
Jeffrey Mortonis, Patricia Kollander, Thomas Wilson, professors, FAU, Boca Raton
Tracy recalls this in his 2017 deposition (vol I pg 68):
Tracy recalls the article being distributed among staff later that month, and describes it as “harassment” (noteworthy given that his own conduct, which involved a certified letter directed to one party demanding a response, being defined as harassment, is one of the primary threads to his supposed grievance):
Sometime in April 2013: One of Tracy’s classes, “Media in Crisis”, is canceled without his consent (it was scheduled for Fall of 2013). From his deposition:
Q. Okay. I want to ask you about the harm you allege you’ve suffered as a result of the termination of your employment at FAU. In Paragraph 72 and 73, you allege that you were harassed by faculty members at FAU; is that right?
A. Yes.
A. Okay. How were you harassed?
Q. This had to do in part with the cancellation of my course that I was supposed to teach in September 2 — excuse me, in the fall of 2013, which was canceled after being put on the books. It was canceled in April 4 of 2013. Around that time, as well, –
A. You said — I’m sorry, you said April or fall?
Q. Well, the course was canceled April of 2013, and it was scheduled for fall of 2013, but it was on the books in early to mid-April of 2013 after I proposed it. The rationale I was given for its cancellation was that it had not filled satisfactorily. Well, frequently among students registering for courses until July or August, so it seemed somewhat premature.
Instead he is assigned with teaching “Introduction to Multi-Media Studies” and “Studies in New Media” both of which he found to be “somewhat difficult” for him to teach, because the timing (afternoon, compared to his usual evening classes) conflicted with his childcare schedule.
Other classes are rescheduled:
I addition, I had some courses that were rescheduled at times that were difficult for me. I had brought this to the attention of the chairperson how this was done in coordination with the faculty member who was in charge of my area of the school.
May 15, 2013: FAU president Mary Jane Saunders resigns her position.
https://www.upressonline.com/2013/05/fau-president-mary-jane-saunders-resigns/
She directly attributes her decision to controversies that had unfolded since she started in 2013, which would have to significantly include Tracy’s:
There is no doubt the recent controversies have been significant and distracting to all members of the University community. The issues and the fiercely negative media coverage have forced me to reassess my position as the President of FAU.
…however it is important to note that several other controversial events took place at FAU during that time, including the “stomp on Jesus” professor who was arguably even more notorious than Tracy (though who was, notably, never fired or even disciplined, and who also had no difficulty filling out his Outside-Reporting paperwork).
June 3 2013: Tracy writes a complaint letter to Sun-Sentinel editor in chief Howard Saltz, regarding the January 7th 2013 article “FAU Prof Stirs Controversy By Disputing Newtown Massacre”. Tracy republishes the letter, and Sun-Sentinel’s response, in 2018:
As the above examples clearly indicate, the Sun-Sentinel has repeatedly attacked my person and character. Your paper and staff have on numerous occasions published material suggesting that I be relieved of my position. At no time, however, has your paper sought to seriously dispute what I have said or written concerning Sandy Hook or Boston, instead choosing to ride the tide of poorly informed public outrage it has played a major role in fomenting. Such conduct is not so much journalistic as it is political.
As noted above, the entire controversy regarding my analysis of Sandy Hook massacre news coverage can be traced to a January 7 story written by Sun-Sentinel senior reporter Mike Clary. Clary expressed his delight that the story was picked up nationally in a January 8, 2013 telephone conversation with me. He again drew attention to this a few days later in a follow-up piece. “A Monday story in the Sun Sentinel in which Tracy discussed his views went viral and touched off a firestorm of controversy,” Clary wrote. “While many callers and emailers defended or even applauded Tracy’s remarks, others, including current and former FAU students, said they found his theories outrageous and offensive.” Mike Clary, “FAU Prof Should Be Fired, Newtown Official Says,” January 10, 2013.
Thus much of the “controversy” the Sun-Sentinel repeatedly points to with the underlying suggestion that it is spontaneous can be traced to its initial story—a story that your staff clearly sought to make as sensationalistic as possible. On the evening of January 7 in a telephone discussion with Mr. Clary, your reporter forcefully and repeatedly pushed me to assert that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was staged. He seemed irritated when I responded to his queries by remarking, “It’s a possibility,” or “The coverage suggests that it may have been.” My responses mirror the commentaries on my blog.
Deposition Vol 1 pg 172:
July 23 2013: FAU denies Tracy’s grievance request.
Also on July 23 2013: Tracy contacts the NY Post, asking if any of the Sandy Hook death certificates requested via FOIA, if received, will be publicly shared:
September 2013: Tracy, FAU and the union come to an agreement about Tracy’s blog and its disclaimer:
This may be the same meeting:
September 16 2013: Washington Navy Yard shooting. The shooter suffers from “gang stalking” delusions and Tracy latches onto this facet (in light of his mother’s condition before her suicide). This flares after the 2015 Myron May shooting. More press coverage:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/navy-yard-conspiracy-theory-james-tracy-fau-professor_n_3953865
https://news.yahoo.com/america-worst-college-bizarro-professor-spouts-navy-yard-044822188.html
October 3 2013: Tracy posts “With ‘Disinfo Wars’ Project Censored Abandons Principles” which criticizes the publication Tracy had been associated with for years, Project Censored, because they had posted an article “Disinfo Wars; Alex Jones’ War on Your Mind” by Nolan Higdon.
Tracy’s critique includes this bizarre and tortured paragraph:
Even if Higdon’s appraisal of Jones as a journalistic charlatan can bear scrutiny, the broader concern is that PC has chosen to abandon its own essential impartiality to assail one of its own honorees.[3] After all, the organization’s unambiguous stance in evaluating and designating important news produced by alternative media involves the avoidance of what essentially amounts to political prejudice that could itself lead to … well, censorship.
The footnote indicates that the “honoree” is Jones himself, having been published in Project Censored in 2004. However it is unclear why being critical of a party they had once endorsed should be taken as “political prejudice” rather than impartiality.
Tracy continues:
I have been an admirer of Project Censored for almost twenty years. Their style of media criticism served as an inspiration for my pursuing a career academe, and I have been more than thrilled to contribute to PC’s most recent yearbooks. Thus the notion that the entity would lash out at any public figure in such a fashion is troubling. Further, the article underscores what may be a less apparent problem, specifically how the organization’s criteria for evaluating the news can be compromised by subtle biases that may elude its own field of vision.
October 2013: Publication of “Project Censored 2014″ which Tracy had listed in his professional profile on FAU website; Tracy’s contribution is titled “Diffusing Conspiracy Panics: On the Public Use of Reason in the Twenty-First Century Truth Emergency”. https://www.academia.edu/8187273/Diffusing_Conspiracy_Panics_On_the_Public_Use_of_Reason_in_the_Twenty_First_Century_Truth_Emergency?auto=download
The chapter description reads:
In Chapter 6, “Diffusing Conspiracy Panics,” James F. Tracy distinguishes “human reason from the surface rationality of bureaucratic and technological systems” and argues for the importance of the former in challenging “official accounts of public events” and embracing our own “intrinsic social and historical agency.”
A page from the article describes Tracy’s own position in relation to conspiracy theories, and being perceived as the “conspiracy theory professor”:
Nov 2013 – does Project Censored panel in SF, complains about people ignoring Alex Jones
https://www.filmsforaction.org/news/the-censorship-that-dare-not-speak-its-name/
December 27 2013: Tracy appears for interview with Jim Fetzer
https://altcensored.com/watch?v=CaJ88R8EuCE
December 31 2013 – Interview posted by “Academic Freedom Conference: 9/11, JFK and the Holocaust” (unknown if this was archived)
2014
January 2014: FAU names new president, Dr. John Kelly. Tracy believes this change in personnel played a significant role in his own ouster, two years later. (Note that the previous president resigned due to campus controversies, very much including James F Tracy.)
https://www.fau.edu/president/biography/
March 2014 Bio: https://web.archive.org/web/20140310175131/http://www.fau.edu/scms/tracy.php
March 7 2014 appearance on Truth Jihad
https://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_james-tracy-on-foundation-funded-left-chomsky-climate-scienc/
6 May 2014: (Not archived) – Google Groups discussion notes that James Tracy will not be editor of The Democratic Communique going forward:
They’ve also managed to help migrate the organization’s journal, the Democratic Communiqué, to an online, open source format without losing that all important Peer review process, and we’re in the process of selecting a new editor to receive the torch from and give some respite to longstanding editor Jim Tracy.
June 15 2014: Sends “An Open Letter to Anderson Cooper”
By James F. Tracy
June 15, 2014
Anderson Cooper
C/O CNN
10 Columbus Circle
New York, New York 10019
Dear Mr. Cooper,
Seventeen months have passed since you featured me on your AC 360° program on consecutive evenings to call attention to my commentary and analysis of the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. As you may recall, in the prelude to those January 11th and 14th 2013 broadcasts you sent a production crew to my place of employment that proceeded to pursue staff and administrators on my whereabouts.
Your staff then repeatedly telephoned my residence, later filming in front of my home and disclosing my address to a national audience without my knowledge or consent. This behavior jeopardized my family’s safety and peace of mind, and included a flurry of threatening and abusive communications directed at me. Further, some observers presumed that CNN and other national news media sought to create sufficient controversy that would lead to the termination of my employment. On the other hand, I understand how you may have perceived this as an act of due journalistic diligence rather than coercion.
Further, if at the time ample proof existed that the Sandy Hook massacre was genuine I think you may have been at least partially justified in such activity. Yet in the time since little evidence has emerged to uphold the notion that the event took place as it had been reported by CNN and other news outlets. In fact, the opinion of many independent experts and a wealth of data point to highly questionable elements of the Sandy Hook narrative that require rigorous interrogation through the intrepid investigative reportage of journalists such as you.
Anderson (if I may), that’s why I challenge you to join me on a reportorial quest to Newtown and Sandy Hook in order to revisit and rigorously question the painful affair that still rests so uneasily on the public conscience—one that is called up in memory with each report of another school shooting. Together let us ferret out and present the relevant information, interview the necessary parties, and get to the bottom of what transpired so that we can put the conspiracy theories to rest!
Anderson (again, if I may), this could very well be a landmark event in investigative journalism. If after a thorough investigation we prove that the event in fact took place as CNN and other major media reported, I will concede that you were in fact correct and seriously consider resigning my post in academe.
On the other hand, if we find holes in the official narrative this may in fact be a scandal requiring journalistic performance on par with the paragon set by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein over 40 years ago. It will call for—indeed require—the public service of news professionals like you to find out what really happened and bring the culprits to justice! Anderson, at the end of the day it’s just like you say each evening: we truly need to “keep them honest.”
Yet there are some who say that CNN and, I’m sorry to say, even you may have been in on what they call a “hoax.” These suspicious minds say that some of your reportage from Newtown in the wake of the shooting was “greenscreened.” Others point to the time you spent in the Central Intelligence Agency and subsequent involvement in student and activist groups of several foreign countries. Still others bring up CNN’s sometime questionable coverage of major historical events, such as the Persian Gulf and Iraq Wars.
I say “Hooey!” There are many fine young men from extraordinary wealth and privilege yet limited experience or career prospects who serve in our national intelligence services. These include the nation’s 41st president, George H. W. Bush, in addition to littérateurs such as Cord Meyer. In fact, for over fifty years some of our nation’s finest journalists and political leaders have either served overtly with or maintained ties to the intelligence community. Anderson, both you and I know that serving your country is nothing to be ashamed of.
I think you’ll agree that it’s time to put these Sandy Hook “truthers” to rest for good, thereby allowing the Sandy Hook victims’ families to find comfort in the millions of dollars in donations they have received from sincere and goodhearted Americans.
Anderson, let’s reexamine Sandy Hook together to confirm our own professional integrity, while at the same time striking a potential blow at corruption and deceit. Our conscience requires it. Our nation demands it. Won’t you join me?
Yours,
(signed)
James F. Tracy
(As of March 2022, Anderson Cooper has not taken Tracy up on his offer to collaborate.)
July 1 2014 appearance on Truth Jihad
https://www.unz.com/audio/kbarrett_prof-james-tracy-interviews-kevin-barrett-on-academic-freedo/
Aug 13 2014: Posts the first episode of his own podcast, featuring an interview with Kevin Barrett. (These were first titled “Checkin it out” and later changed to “RealPolitik”
https://web.archive.org/web/20151225181303/http://checkinitout.com/
Tracy describes the production process on page 107 of Vol 1 of his deposition:
More, from pg 224:
Tracy also starts writing a book around this time:
Aug 20 2014 podcast schedule
Sept 2014 podcasts:
October 2014
Note that Tracy is thus covering “Electronic Harassment and Surveillance” before the Myron May shooting in Nov 2014
November 20 2014: Myron May shooting at Florida Status University (not FAU) – shooter is a “gangstalking” believer, i.e. mentally ill. Professor Tracy endorses the shooters beliefs and defends him rather than showing concern for safety on Florida public campuses. (It won’t be until November of 2020 that Tracy reveals his mother suffered from similar paranoid delusions and thus he is invested in believing them himself, as a means of denying her suicide.
- https://www.globalresearch.ca/electronic-harassment-stalking-and-surveillance-florida-state-university-shooter-myron-mays-last-words/5427785
- https://www.globalresearch.ca/florida-state-university-police-shot-attorney-myron-may-struck-nine-times-in-hail-of-gunfire/5425110
- https://www.globalresearch.ca/florida-state-university-shooting-was-myron-may-a-targeted-individual/5415384
November 22 2014: “Lionel” interview
-30:47 On starting blogging: “It began in March of 2012… it was originally intended to be a forum for the essays that I wrote in extracurricular fashion that… were kind of… *exasperated sound* they were an offshoot from some of the things that I was examining and continue to examine in the classroom and in my research, but in a less formal or scholarly way if you will, something that — things that are more palatable for a general audience. Because what I wanted to do was extend what I was discussing and the things I was covering at the University to a larger audience, and that — the site has gone far beyond what my expectations were.”
-18:00 If one is a journalist, if one is a scholar, then their reputation is on the line if they bring up these questions, that are supposed to be relegated to the YouTube land, and late-night talk radio. They’re not open to consideration in certain company, and in the light of day.
-14:40 If we as academics, myself, you know we’ve got a great deal of freedom in terms of having tenure, and if we’re not able to ask these questions, who else can? Journalists frequently can’t because, you know, they’ll be out the door, they’ll be looking for another job. So it’s kind of depressing, it’s a depressing state of affairs, if you don’t even have academics asking these questions. And I’m afraid there aren’t as many as there could be that do.
-9:00 – On 9/11 Architects/Engineers (truthers) : Someone like Stephen Jones or Richard Gage are especially threatening to these coverups, because their — they can be taken quite seriously, and they’re talking about, as you point out, physics. Something that is, you know, very scientific. They exude credibility themselves, and the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth they’re doing great work. And so they’re a real threat. They’re perceived as being a real threat, someone with that degree of expertise. And so they, you know, there’s some cases, special efforts made to discredit them.
-5:10 – On embracing conspiracism: “I thought of myself as being a progressive-left person up until the late 2000’s, more or less after Obama came into office. And I think that did more for me, in terms of making me more of a critical individual than anything else. Because I kind of stepped out of that circle, and was on the outside looking in, and saw a good number of the people that I look up to, kind of using these terms, or at least not questioning their use, like you know: “truther” and “vaxxer” — you might have gotten “climate denier” but that [was it]. And calling people “racist” when they’re basically questioning, uh, the Attorney General or the President, and you know: wouldn’t I be racist if I didn’t question them? And that’s not really brought up in some of these circles.
November 24 2014: Posts to his blog a Youtube video examining whet the Florida State University shooting was a “staged event” that the University’s faculty was involved in perpetrating
Video he linked to has since been taken down:
December 14, 2015: FAU administrators receive press inquiries on the 3rd anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, asking about Tracy’s status and the school’s stance toward his activities (Tracy posted the text in 2018):
December 22 2014: “An Open Letter to Youtube Management” from IMS (We Need to Talk About Sandy Hook)
December 2014 podcasts:
12/31/2014: Blog post “Wolfgang Halbig Shuns Lawsuits”