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Hate mail sent to Prof. James Tracy for being a Sandy Hook skeptic
Posted on December 28, 2015 by Dr. Eowyn | 15 Comments
On December 11, 2015, 3 days before the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting the (Florida) Sun-Sentinel published an op/ed by Lenny and Veronique Pozner, titled “Sandy Hook Massacre 3rd Anniversary: Two parents target FAU conspiracy theorist”.
In their op/ed, the Pozners specifically targeted James Tracy, a tenured professor at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), as “chief among the conspiracy theorists” who have raised many troubling — but unanswered — questions about the massacre.
The Pozners are the parents of Noah, a boy who has the distinction of being killed twice — first at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012; then thousands of miles across the world at the Peshawar Army School shooting in Pakistan 2 years later on December 16, 2014.
Instead of investigating why his son’s visage was included among images of those who were killed at Peshawar, Lenny Pozner aggressively has gone after YouTubers and bloggers in the United States for using images of Noah, over which Lenny claims copyright, although those images are published on a Noah Pozner memorial page on Facebook,some of which were submitted to the media by the Pozners, which rendered those images ‘public domain’ and no longer subject to copyright infringement claims.
Lenny’s mere assertion of copy right was enough to convince YouTube to take down those videos, and this blog’s server, WordPress, to unilaterally delete those images, in spite of Fellowship of the Minds‘ ‘fair use’ clause governing distribution of otherwise copyrighted materials. WordPress also threatened to shut down this blog if we ever again post an image of Noah.
Lenny did the same to James Tracy, since WordPress is also the server of his Memory Hole Blog. (For Lenny’s complaint to WordPress, see “DMCA_Complaint_Pozner“.) So Tracy asked WordPress and Lenny for proof that he holds copyright over those images since the copyright infringement complaint was submitted by HONR Network, an ‘agent’ purporting to speak on behalf of the supposed owner of the copyright. To that end, Tracy sent a registered letter to Lenny, asking about his claim of copyright over Noah’s photos, and clarification of his relationship with Noah. Contrary to what’s been repeatedly asserted in the media, Tracy’s letter said nothing about whether Noah is dead or alive, or whether Noah had ever lived as some Sandy Hook skeptics doubt.
For sending that registered letter, Tracy is accused by the Pozners of “harassment” — an accusation that the readers of their op/ed swallowed, while displaying no interest in Tracy’s side of the story. (See “Parents of alleged Sandy Hook victim want Professor James Tracy to lose his job”)
In writing their op/ed, the Pozners evidently wanted to get Tracy fired. They wrote:
Although FAU issued a “reprimand” to Tracy for the irresponsible and insensitive comments he made in late 2012, he has shown no remorse and continues to conceive conspiracy theories out of each new mass shooting . . . . It is time FAU reassess if their priorities properly reflect the best interests of their staff, donors and — most importantly — their students.
On December 16, 2015, five days after the Pozners’ op/ed, Florida Atlantic University issued a statement that Tracy had been served a Notice of Proposed Discipline-Termination. FAU did not give a reason for its termination of Tracy, who has tenure.
James Tracy
FAU’s statement was picked up and published by many media outlets — state, national, and international. (For some examples, see here.) The publicity resulted in Tracy’s university email account being hacked, as well as an obscene post card sent to his home address, with his wife’s name and their home phone number scribbled on the card. (See “Prof. James Tracy harassed with threats, email hack & obscene post card“)
Tracy also received an avalanche of hate emails that are nothing less than stunning and sickening in their venom and viciousness. Tracy is called “insane”, “mentally ill”, “a moron”, “a shit”, “an asshole”, “liar”, “despicable” and “evil”. He is told to “fuck” himself, to “go to hell”, and that he richly deserves to lose his tenured professorship and never again to find employment. His life and the lives of his children are threatened. One email said his mother should have aborted him.
Since Florida Atlantic University is a public university, part of the 12-campus State University System of Florida, any communication received by an employee of FAU is considered public record by Florida law.
So that a full record is available to those who wish to critically review the entire case, this blog, Fellowship of the Minds, is publishing the emails as a public service.
The following emails were sent to Tracy’s university email address and, as such, are public records under Florida State Statute Chapter 119, specifically:
119.01 (1): “It is the policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person. Providing access to public records is a duty of each agency.”
119.011 (2): “‘Agency’ means any state, county, district, authority, or municipal officer, department, division, board, bureau, commission, or other separate unit of government created or established by law including, for the purposes of this chapter, the Commission on Ethics, the Public Service Commission, and the Office of Public Counsel, and any other public or private agency, person, partnership, corporation, or business entity acting on behalf of any public agency.”
119.011 (12): “‘Public records’ means all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings, data processing software, or other material, regardless of the physical form, characteristics, or means of transmission, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any agency.”
Below are the hate emails, in chronological order. Note that the emails began soon after the Sun-Sentinel‘s publication of the Pozners’ op/ed.
From: David Streever
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2015 5:48 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: I’m sorry.
I hope you get the mental health counseling you need. I can’t believe that someone who was fortunate enough to go to college is also unable to differentiate reality from fiction, and lacks a fundamental understanding of conspiracy theories.
_____________________________
From: Steve Wagner
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 11:16 AM
To: James Tracy
Subject: say it ain’t so!
Mr. James Tracy:
Do you really believe Sandy Hook was a hoax? Only a fraudster/trickster could be that inanely foolish/evil. How in the world did you become a “Professor” at a University. Is this college funded by Koch Brothers money by chance?
_____________________________
From: hal muskat
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 12:18 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: retire
Retire you dumb fuck cause you don’t deserve to be in front of students. If your white trash ass were on fire across the street, I’d not jaywalk to pee on you.
_____________________________
From: Joel Arnold
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 1:43 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: WOW!
You are one sick puppy–Alex Jones must be so proud! And FAU must be a real high quality school to keep you on staff. And you have a PhD from an actual school? In my travels through Purdue, Notre Dame, Wright St, and the U. of Dayton, I never encountered any fruit cake approaching your magnitude. I just hope the Pozners find some way to destroy your life–it will be much deserved. And I wish there were some way I could contribute to that destruction. If we were in the same room, I don’t think I could keep from kicking your ass–what a joy that would be!
joel
Joel W. Arnold
Dayton, OH
_____________________________
From: Ron Walker
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 1:51 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: In the bushes
Dr. Tracy –
The liberty and benevolence of our nation are under siege by a tiny, but astonishingly vocal, group of people who are so consumed by hatred and cognitive dissonance that they unable, or pathologically unwilling, to accept simple fact. Most of these people have the excuse of lack of education and moral upbringing, as well of, for some, marginal literacy. You, however, have no visible excuse for your behavior, speech, and the damage both are causing. The ability to pull off a Sandy Hook or 9/11 hoax far exceeds the competence of our government. You ascribe to yourself and your ilk much greater stature than you actually possess. You are a lunatic nobody with nothing of value to say. I wish you would stop hurting, over and over, parents grieving for their loss. I’m sure someone would grieve your death, but it’s hard to understand why,
_____________________________
From: Kelly Daugherty
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 2:09 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Love Your Work
Hi, Dr. Tracy –
I want to say that what you are doing is commendable. I would really like to see you continue uncovering the mask of truth that mass media pushes on the public. And now that you have been drawn in, let me tell you that you are a miserable human being. Just simply detestable. You take a tragedy like the Sandy Hook shooting and exploit the victims and their families in order to get your own name out there. What a pathetic attempt at relevance. Look, its okay that as a college professor you will only ever be important to other academics. Its okay that your life’s work means nothing to anyone not in academia. But don’t turn your disgusting little need for attention on the victims of horrible violence because it just makes you look like an asshole. Which is, after all, what you are, but do you need to advertise that fact at the expense of other people? I am sure you can get plenty of feedback from everyone who knows you and they will tell you what a miserable, lying, fear mongering, victim blaming, conspiracy hawking piece of human trash you are. I cannot believe that one university would give you a Ph.D and another a faculty position. But I assume you will not be there for much longer. So to close, fuck you and everything you stand for. And I would love to hear back from you.
Kelly Daugherty
_____________________________
From: Stephanie J. Ciulla
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 2:19 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: POS
Stands for piece of shit, which you are! I hope you lose at least your job. Pig!
_____________________________
From: McDaniel College
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 2:27 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: You’re a worthless f’n bitch
Go fuck yourself you dickless KKKlansmen. America laughs at you and your itty bitty lil impotent tbagger dick
_____________________________
From: Juanita Carson
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 2:49 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Teacher?
If you are harassing the poor parents who lost children three years ago, you are truly a disgrace to the teaching profession. I could understand some uneducated bastard doing this but someone who is supposed to be teaching others? There is a special place in hell for people like you.
_____________________________
From: Lynn Nilson
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 2:51 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: POS
Are you a parent?? Do you really think people would pretend to bury their children? Were you raised by a pack of wolfs?? Shame on you, your common sense has completely left you..to add to someone’s pain because of your lack of insight is horrible..Karma will get you.I hope you lose your job..I have signed the petition.
_____________________________
From: claudia schuster
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 2:57 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: SANDY HOOK
If you’re the guy that made the IDIOTIC REMARKS about the kids from Sandy Hook School……….. MAY GOD FORGIVE YOU. MAYBE
YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR BRAINS BLOWN OUT………
OR MAYBE
YOUR STUDENTS. HOW WOULD THAT MAKE YOU FEEL.
_____________________________
From: Willam Lara
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 3:12 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Re Sandy Hook
Let me start by asking you who gave you the right to bring that horrible tragedy up to remind the parents and family members that lost love one that fateful day. As a human being I don’t have any respect for a low life like you. I’m kind of surprise that with your ignorant mentality you hold a position of higher learning at that university. What you truly lack is a course in sensitivity training you stupid jerk.
_____________________________
From: John Weber
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 3:21 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Voices
Dear James,
How long have you been hearing these voices in your head? Maybe I can recommend someone?
_____________________________
From: Pat F
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 3:33 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Education
And you call yourself an educator… You SHOULD be fired for spreading your ridiculous conspiracy theories concerning the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. To suggest that gun control is NOT needed after such a horrific act of gun violence is irresponsible. Children died . December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Families are mourning the loss of their babies. Crawl under a rock, you vile waste of air.
_____________________________
From: Rutledge,John A,JR
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 3:46 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Your resignation
You are bringing shame to the profession. Resign.
_____________________________
From: Jennifer Jones
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 4:09 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject:
You are disgusting. I hope fau fires you.
_____________________________
From: carol31359
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 4:35 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Sandy hook
You are one sick person. May God have mercy on your soul.
_____________________________
From: Kelly Halpine
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 5:07 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: DROP DEAD
You’re a monumental piece of shit. A professor at Florida Atlantic University has been attacking the parents of Sandy Hook victims online, saying they faked the shootings to make a profit. Drop dead, fucktard.
_____________________________
From: Michael Morrissey
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 5:09 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Piece if Shit
That is what you are. I hope your 3 kids get shot in the face someday, and we can all talk about it being a big conspiracy. Rot in hell dirtball.
_____________________________
From: Jeff Borden
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 5:46 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject:
Hey professor,
It’s a pity I don’t believe in heaven or hell because hell is certainly where a loathsome and grotesque husk like you belongs. Clutch your pathetic fantasies as tightly as you want, but you have no right to continue to harass those whose lives were forever altered by a lunatic with easy access to powerful firearms. I sincerely hope the people you have hassled and hurt with your tin foil fantasies sue you for every penny you have. A life lived under a bridge eating garbage and fending off other assholes fighting over the same chicken leg seems about right for human flotsam like you. Enjoy your brief moment in the spotlight. You will certainly pay dearly for it.
Jeff Borden
_____________________________
From: Ned Murphy
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 6:31 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Owls!
Tracy:
A quick note here to remind you how despicable you are as well as your actions involving “truthing” a massacre of children and their teachers. Our right to free speech has been perverted by unhinged jerks like you who like to invent “conspiracies” that always have hidden motives. As a parent who has lost a child, I am furious that you would mock those who have suffered the ultimate tragedy to further your baseless agenda. I will be pleased to protest your continued employment at FAU when I visit Delray Beach this winter. Please tell your maniacal pal Wayne LaPierre to go to hell as well for me.
Sincerely,
Ned Murphy
_____________________________
From:
smallfamily87@***.net
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 6:37 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: job opening
There’s a job for you in HELL! please apply, you are very well qualified. Actually, no need to apply, your spot has been reserved. I encourage you to visit Connecticut and try and plead
your ‘truther’ BS up here, but I’m sure
you don’t have the balls to try and spew
your moronic rhetoric up here – I dare you big boy.
Your PHD should be revoked, but then, you’re not a real doctor anyway. You and those few that follow your conspiracy theories all deserve each other. Speak to those gullible few who will listen, but please leave the families alone, they have been through enough.
Let’s hope that you have not procreated and
may one day lose a child to senseless violence._____________________________
From: Willow Arune
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 7:04 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Sandy Hook
You are such a total idiot – you give academia a bad name…
_____________________________
From: Joanne Klein
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 9:01 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Sandy Hook
You are one fucking sick dick! Lets see your kids get shot up and dead.
_____________________________
From: Fred Grier
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 9:46 PM
To: James Tracy
Subject: Leave Sandy Hooks parents alone
You should be a shame of yourself tormenting those grieving parents. God does not approve of your disgusting behavior
_____________________________
From: happy hour
To: James Tracy
Sent: Sat, Dec 12, 2015 12:19:45 AM
James Tracy – are you that wacko professor who thinks the Sandy Hook shooting is a conspiracy? So, the student and teacher witnesses, first responders, law enforcement, media, Newtown residents, etc. are all in on it? And not one person has come forward? You’re such an embarrassment to your family. …and you’re a spineless little coward...
_____________________________
From: Fido McCokefiend
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 10:27 PM
To: President; Office of the Provost; Peter Hull; Stacy Volnick; James Tracy
Subject: Is this what you want to be known for?
I would think that someone in the School of Business, probably the Marketing Department understand public relations at Florida Atlantic University. Given that, I would highly recommend that the President and the Provost, go take a visit with the professors of that department and ask them if employing a man that openly and publicly mocks the parents that have lost their children at Sandy Hook and publicly endorsing his messages is the type of thing you’d like your University to be known for. I’m aware of the adage that “all publicity is good publicity”, however making light of the death of 20 children simply to support his paranoid delusions and his adherence to his guns seems beyond the pale. To me at least, but I’m funny in that way that I think mocking the parents of dead children is not cool. So I would ask Dr Kelly one question, and one question only. Why foes FAU endorse the insane ramblings and delusions of this man? He continually signs his name as well as his teaching position at your University to his postings, and has for some time, with no repercussions. Hence, if you have not prevented him from signing his credentials, and he doesn’t even state “My opinions do not reflect those of my employer”, then Dr Kelly, you must be in full support of his message. If James Tracy, private citizen makes insane claims and wants to looks like a heartless monster simply because his messiah Wayne LaPierre tells him to, and he is afraid of the black man in the whitehouse, by all means, that’s his right and I’d never email his employer. But, again, his ramblings and mocking and his lies are all signed as being from Florida Atlantic University. What I don’t understand is how an institution of higher learning can continue enable, employ, and willingly approve of his messages. Were this person in my employ, I would have warned him once that his messages outside of official University business are his, and he cannot bring the University into it or he would be terminated. I can only reason that Dr Kelly, like your mentally deranged employee, you too think that the deaths of 20 small children were faked simply to promote gun control and you feel mocking the parents of those children is legitimate positions to take. Bold position for the University to take, no doubt. But, here we are.
_____________________________