deleted comments

Deleted comments and bannings

[Note: here's the post about Jon Henke and The Next Right.]

As you can see below, dozens of sites have deleted my comments over the years, or they've moderated them away, or they've gone as far as banning me. Reviewing the comments in the entries below will show a pattern: they were on-topic, they weren't abusive, and they pointed out how the author of the post was wrong. When an author deletes one of my comments, it's almost always the case that they're admitting the weakness of their arguments and they don't want their other readers to find out how they're wrong.

When a site deletes (or moderates away) valid comments, they're more than just an echo chamber. Because of their policies, nothing you read at that site can be trusted. You have to check every single thing they say because they've disabled fact-checking. You never know what was deleted, and it might have been a comment that pointed out how they were wrong.

The most egregious case of this was RedState. In 2006, after almost a year and a half of posting entries - not just comments - at that site, I was banned. I have yet to receive any reasonable explanation, and the closest they can to providing me one was based on their misreading of my last entry there.

On the other hand, Washington Monthly deletes comments so quickly and so reliably that it's almost a joke. Note that they've deleted comments without links or just with links to Ann Althouse and National Review. They're very eager to make sure that their readers don't find out how they're wrong.

Last modified Nov 10, 2009
Discussed in (click each link for the full post):

Deleted Breitbart comments - 09/23/18

This is a running list of my comments that Breitbart News has deleted for showing them and their audience wrong. Note that some of these are on threads supposedly opposing censorship.

Sean Medlock and Jeff Poor don't want you to see this (Daily Caller, Jim Treacher) - 10/02/13

You might not expect the Daily Caller to delete a comment on a thread taking Popular Science to task for shutting off comments, yet that's exactly what they did [1]. On Sep. 25, Sean Medlock (the real name of "Jim Treacher") posted "Popular Science shuts off comments, so take your climate denial somewhere else" [2].

James Pethokoukis doesn't want you to see this (AEI, Marco Rubio, immigration) - 02/03/13

James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute doesn't want you to see how he's wrong about immigration. A few days ago, Pethokoukis offered "Is Rubio really about to ruin the Republican Party?" ( peekURL.com/zCrSvv4 ). A comment I left on that post pointing out he's wrong never appeared. Rather than keep you in suspense, here's what Pethokoukis doesn't want you to see [1]:

What City Journal doesn't want you to see (Troy Senik, "Worst Union", California, immigration) - 06/14/12

Former George W Bush speechwriter Troy Senik [1] and the Manhattan Institute publication City Journal don't want you to see the following comment.

Radley Balko doesn't want you to see this (Huffington Post, immigration, libertarian) - 01/29/12

This site has perhaps the most open commenting policy on the internet. I don't need to delete or moderate comments because I make good, honest arguments and if someone disagrees I can defend my ideas. For a counterexample to the above, see Huffington Post contributor Radley Balko.

Charles Koch Foundation deletes comment about David Koch donating to ACLU - 06/29/11

The Charles Koch Foundation (see Koch family) deleted a comment I left on their Youtube video in which I pointed out that David Koch joined with George Soros and gave the American Civil Liberties Union $10 million.

Shakesville deletes comment (again), bans me (Melissa McEwan) - 11/24/10

Back in February of 2009 I posted "Shakesville deletes follow-up comments (Shakespeare's Sister)" about that site run by Melissa McEwan (of John Edwards infamy). Now, as a follow-up, McEwan has deleted a recent comment I left there (below) and also banned me from leaving future comments. This only matters if you've heard of McEwan or her site and think she has any credibility. If you have, please go right now and see the deleted comments page for why you can't trust anything you read there. The post in question is "Thanks, Republicans" (shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/11/ thanks-...

Why Ta-Nehisi Coates isn't credible (banned by The Atlantic) - 07/28/10

Ta Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic has a habit of banning those who disagree with him or show how he's wrong, and that means that what he writes can't be trusted: he's disabled fact-checking. Instead of engaging those who disagree and trying to present a counter-argument he's more interested in creating an echo chamber of those who agree with him.

Is Brendan Nyhan a trustworthy source? (University of Michigan, health policy) - 05/17/10

Brendan Nyhan is, per him, the "RWJ Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan" and a "political scientist and media critic." Can you trust what he writes? Perhaps in an academic context, but on his blog he's willing to disable "peer review" by deleting comments. When a site delete comments you can't trust anything they write: they've disabled fact checking by their readers.

Sojourners deletes comment showing how Jim Wallis can't be trusted (immigration) UPDATE: they banned me too - 04/23/10

If you trust Jim Wallis or the Sojourners organization, please keep reading. A couple of days ago I left the comment below on one of his blog entries [1]. Despite not violating any provisions of their "Code of Conduct" (printed at [2]), the comment was deleted. Apparently showing how at least Wallis' position on immigration is that of a charlatan is too much for them.

NCLR blocked me on Twitter - 03/13/10

Shortly after Twitter introduced lists, I made a few as an experiment [1]. One was called "The other side" (twitter . com/24AheadDotCom/the-other-side) which at post time is blank. However, it used to have tweets from @NCLR, and I was going to eventually get around to adding other groups. I don't think I ever sent a tweet to @NCLR, so apparently the only thing NCLR didn't appreciate was being added to that list.

What Dan Riehl doesn't want you to know - 03/03/10

This site is about compiling information, and I'm willing to reference a wide range of sources as long as they've got something useful. I might not link to them directly, but I'm never going to hide things from my readers just because I don't like the source for one reason or other.

Tea Party Nation cheap publicity stunt? Say they banned Rachel Maddow, but she never joined - 01/07/10

[UPDATE: I changed the title of this post from "Tea Party Nation bans Rachel Maddow seven minutes after she joined; no dissent will be tolerated!" to the present because Maddow says the person who they banned wasn't her: link. I assumed that Teaparty Nation had verified it was her either by doing a reverse DNS or through direct communication. Either they didn't do that, or - as Maddow says - this is just an attempt to get publicity. In either case they don't look too good and me either for not confirming it.] Tea Party Nation sent out the following email today. They're the group that will be...

"American Thinker" edits comment on sad and delusional tea party screed (Thomas Lifson, Ed Lasky) (UPDATE: bans me too) - 12/23/09

Glenn Reynolds linked (pajamasmedia. com/instapundit/90431) to "Why the 'Angry Mob' Is Angry" from the website "American Thinker" (americanthinker. com/2009/12/why_the_angry_mob_is_angry.html) so I went there to find out. It's a cri de coeur (from "Wendi Lynn G", rightmakesmight4all.blogspot.com) that's as hilarious as it as sad, and I left the following comment:

Can you trust Arnold Kling's economic judgment? Find out. - 11/22/09

Independent economist and Cato Institute affiliate Arnold Kling comments on the recent Jeff Jacoby column and says (econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/11/a_good_line.html): If you had a store that was the only place people could go to buy bread, and people had to wait for hours to get to the checkout counter, some ordinarily honest people would end up stealing out of frustration. We need to fix the checkout counter in our immigration store. Right now, the people our system hurts the most are the people who try to get in legally. Because I've had problems with comments left there in the past...

The Next Right banned me, showing little integrity or intellectual capability - 11/10/09

I used to blog at TheNextRight, until I was banned around August. I sent several emails and spoke to both Patrick Ruffini and Soren Dayton on the phone asking for an explanation. They both promised to get me an explanation but never did.

Why didn't Steve Landsburg approve my comment? It's a mystery. - 11/07/09

Steven Landsburg (armchair *at* troi.cc.rochester.edu) is apparently an "economist" who writes the Everyday Economics column for Slate magazine. My June 2007 discussion of a column he wrote about immigration is at the last link, and when I was recently informed by Glenn Reynolds that Stephen Landsberg had started his own blog I left the following welcome message on his site at thebigquestions.com/2009/10/15/up-and-running: Maybe Landsburg could address the big question of him being a complete idiot: http://24ahead.com/blog/archives/006765.html The comment was put into moderation and based on...

What Brian Stelter and the New York Times don't want you to know - 10/24/09

I rarely leave comments on the New York Times' blogs because they pre-moderate the comments and very few of mine have been approved. Whether the comments contain a link or not, they tend to point out how the author is wrong or isn't telling the whole truth, and in NYT land that's a no-no. So it was on Thursday's "CNN’s Special on Latinos Stirs Protests Against Anchor" (link) by Brian Stelter. Readers of that post might assume that Isabel Garcia is just a "civil rights lawyer"; all he told his readers about her is at [1]. In fact, she's a very strong supporter of illegal immigration who,...

John Hinderaker warns against "Birthers", after admitting (and showing) he knows little about the issue - 07/30/09

John Hinderaker of "PowerLineBlog!" (I add the exclamation mark for emphasis) offers "Forms of Madness" (powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/07/024151.php). Let me try to remove some of his filler: [A talk radio show wanted me to discuss the "birthers" and whether they should give it up...] I do think they should give it up, but I haven't studied the issue closely and won't debate anything I haven't studied, so I declined the invitation... Birtherism is nowhere near as crazy as trutherism... [but...] So, birthers, give it a rest... In case it's not immediately obvious, the following comment I...

What Brad DeLong doesn't want you to see (+he does it again) - 07/24/09

Yesterday, Brad DeLong offered "Buce on the Birthers" [1], which is just a clip post consisting entirely of a portion of someone else's post about the Obama citizenship issue together with a supposed picture of Barack Obama's COLB. I left the two comments below; as predicted, they were deleted.

Rick Moran bans me for showing how he's wrong - 07/22/09

Rick Moran is a low-level conservative commenter at Pajamas Media and his own site, "Right Wing Nuthouse". He's also the brother of Terry Moran of ABC News.

John Aravosis of AmericaBlog confuses the GOP with Amazon.com, hilarity ensues (Chris Frates) - 07/16/09

The GOP has a new web application called the "Obama Card" at gop.com/obamacard. You search for terms and it shows you how much they'll cost you on your "Card". It didn't work for me the two times I tried it, but it appears to be yet another cheap stunt from the GOP; their time would be better spent on, for instance, showing how their opponents are wrong. Speaking of that, John Aravosis of AmericaBlog offers "RNC Web site promoting anti-Semitic, anti-Latino, and pornographic literature" (link) in which he details several searches he did for items at their "store", some of which brought up...

0.005% of Los Angeles' population turns out for massive tea party ("GayPatriot" doesn't approve comment) - 05/18/09

As the world goes to heck, the tea parties continue on whining at a heretofore unseen pace, with a massive protest in Westwood, California momentously occuring yesterday.

Jeremy Leaming /American Constitution Society deletes comment (Obama certificate issue) - 04/05/09

Back on March 6, Jeremy Leaming of the American Constitution Society offered 'Suit Challenging Obama's Eligibility: "Frivolous"' [1] about the recent ruling from Judge James Robertson. The comment appeared but isn't there now (webified): Jeremy Leaming: there's proof that (Ben Smith) is a liar at my name's link. Let me suggest less mindless mocking and more rigorous thinking. If you're not capable of that, the ACS should find someone who is. Leaming is that site's blog editor (acsblog.org/cat-blog-editors.html). He's also their Associate Director of Communications, and he previously worked...

Shakesville deletes follow-up comments (Shakespeare's Sister) - 02/16/09

[If you've heard of and have even a little trust for the site "Shakesville" (of Melissa McEwan fame), read on for why you can't trust what they tell you. Everyone else feel free to skip to the next entry.] [UPDATE BELOW]

Washington Monthly deletes comment on post extolling "diversity of thought", openness - 02/10/09

The Washington Monthly has a habit of deleting comments, and they're even willing to do it on entries lionizing Barack Obama for being open to a "diversity of thought". I guess some "diversities of thought" are more equal than others.

See what Thers/Whiskey Fire is afraid for you to see - 12/03/08

Earlier today, I left the comment below at the site Whiskey Fire at a post written by "Thers" [1]. He or she subsequently edited my comment to change both the link to this site and the link to Youtube in the below comment, and then left another comment saying that he/she had "fixed" my links. In fact, Thers didn't fix anything, and simply revealed that he/she is afraid of and wants to silence those who disagree. And, you never know what other comments Thers has likewise edited and what else he/she is trying to hide from you. Here's the comment: Perhaps this site could tell us why BHO...

Dave Winer deletes comment, locks thread - 10/05/08

Earlier today, Dave Winer of Scripting News offered "I'd like to have a word with Republicans" (scripting.com/stories/2008/10/05/idLikeToHaveAWordWithRepub.html). Clamping his hands down over his ears just as hard as he could, he said: Barack Obama is an honorable person. You may not agree with him, or like where he would take our country, that's your right of course, but he doesn't "pal around" with terrorists. I think we all know that, right? If you have any doubts, you can skip the rest of this post, and please don't leave any comments. Ever the maverick, I left the comment in the extended...

Steve Benen/Washington Monthly gets hat trick: deletes three comments in one day - 10/04/08

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly has scored a hat trick: he or his helpers deleted three comments I left on his entries today. And, the deletions happened very shortly after I left the comments, so obviously they're very worried about their readers learning about the things that Steve Benen isn't willing to tell them.

Are you scared of Barack Obama's followers yet? (kids singing video) - 09/30/08

Please compare these two videos of children singing to their leader. If you aren't scared of Barack Obama and his followers now, it might just change your mind [SEE THE UPDATES; 'SING FOR CHANGE' REMOVED THE ORIGINAL VIDEO]:

UCLA professor Stephen Bainbridge deletes comments showing how he was wrong - 09/28/08

UCLA law professor Stephen Bainbridge recently tried to debunk illegal immigration's role in the mortgage crisis. Along with issuing smears, his only data points in support of his position came from data that was over a decade old. Not only didn't he tell his readers that the data was incredibly out of date, but he deleted two comments pointing out that the data he was using was woefully out of date. One of the comments he deleted was from me: Bainbridge should be embarrassed: for relying on data that's over a decade old (h/t a previous comment). And, all to support illegal activity, to show...

Steve Benen/Washington Monthly continues proud tradition of deleting comments - 09/23/08

During the Kevin Drum years at Washington Monthly, several of my on-topic, non-abusive comments were deleted. As pointed out here a few times, that means you can't trust anything you read there: everything has to be double-checked because they're willing to delete fact-checking by their readers. (I also noted that many of their old pages are full of spam, and if you link to those pages it might harm your search engine ranking.) Now, Steve Benen continues that fine WM tradition. The following comment I left on washingtonmonthly. com/archives/individual/2008_09/014836.php is no longer there....

Barack Obama lies about Rush Limbaugh in Spanish-language ads - 09/17/08

The Barack Obama campaign has a new Spanish-language ad that features racial demagoguery and a distortion of Rush Limbaugh quotes. You can see the ad here: "They want us to forget the insults we've put up with, the intolerance," the television ad's announcer says in Spanish as a picture of Rush Limbaugh appears onscreen with quotes of him saying, "Mexicans are stupid and unqualified" and "Shut your mouth or get out." "They made us feel marginalized in a country we love so much," the ad continues. "John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our...

Kevin Drum/Washington Monthly deletes yet another comment (Obama's Global Poverty Act) - 08/06/08

Kevin Drum obviously doesn't want his readers to know how much of a hack he is, since either he or someone else at Washington Monthly keep deleting comments from me and apparently from others as well.

Banned by Alternet! - 07/29/08

A couple weeks back Alternet deleted a comment I left. Now, after having successfully left another comment, I've been banned. The comment that drove them over the edge is below. Alternet frequently posts articles supporting illegal immigration, and until the last two incidents I've been able to post a dozen or two comments pointing out issues with those posts without a problem. Due to the non-abusive nature of my comments, the issue is that Alternet is afraid of an open debate and only wants an echo chamber. Here's the email they sent me: AlterNet commenting privileges suspended Grounds...

Alternet deletes comment (Kyle de Beausset, NCLR) - 07/15/08

I've left several comments on Alternet's immigration entries, and as far as I know none had been deleted until the last. That last comment was left on the entry "Minutemen Scream "F@$k You Brown Boy!" at Latinos Attending Obama Talk" by Kyle de Beausset (alternet.org/blogs/peek/91440). That post is just the latest in that leftwing site's long line of far-left articles supporting illegal immigration; note that in contrast to some other leftwing sites, left-leaning commenters occasionally call Alternet on their biases. The comment is included below; how exactly it violates their "community...

Youtube's Citizentube blog doesn't want to hear from citizens, deletes all comments - 07/06/08

Youtube's "Citizentube" (citizentube.com) apparently doesn't want to hear from citizens, because that blog where they post promos for Youtube's political ventures has stopped allowing comments on their entries. They used to allow comments, but they've even gone as far as deleting all comments which were left on their past entries. I blame myself, since I pestered Youtube's Steve Grove by leaving the three comments in the extended entry, none of which are there anymore.

PBS "Engage" deletes comment critical of Gwen Ifill - 06/30/08

[PBS re-posted my comment; see the update.] The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has a relatively new effort called "Engage" [1] in which they solicit feedback from their viewers. However, they only want the "right kind" of feedback and are willing to delete or ignore comments that are critical of their (public) network. In this particular case, a comment I left that was critical of Gwen Ifill appeared and then was later deleted. The whole sequence of events - and the comments in question - are included below. If the reader thinks the comment shouldn't have been deleted, please contact PBS...

Jake Tapper "news" is two months old; ABC News deletes comment pointing that out - 06/11/08

For an unknown reason, on June 10, 2008 Jake Tapper of ABC News posted an entry entitled "Dragged Kicking and Screaming, Tancredo Will Pull Lever for McCain". The reader might remember that from a couple months ago, yet Tapper posted it like it happened just recently and with no acknowledgement that it was old news (link). The Tancredo quote referencing Hillary Clinton as a contender should have been a clue, but I guess Tapper needs all the help he can get. Note also that the earliest comment on the entry is from June 10, and that it's currently in their "Recent Posts" sidebar item. I left...

Washington Monthly deletes yet another comment, again - 05/25/08

Washington Monthly has a habit of deleting comments I (and apparently others) leave there. Kevin Drum is apparently on vacation so I don't know whether he popped in just to delete the comment I left earlier today on this thread: washingtonmonthly. com/archives/individual/2008_05/013790.php.

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