Talk:Gerald Posner

Vandalized

This page was recently vandalized below the References area. (some silliness about being in the Nazi party and killing Michael Jackson. Perhaps it should be locked.

Cleanup

This article needs a huge amount of clean-up. Posner is an author who has written ten books. But the majority of this article is about some of the content from a single chapter in one of his books. I don't want to turn this article into a debate about conspiracy theories, but we need some perspective. MK2 22:32, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

• I added {NPOV} to this page. You're right, it does need a lot of work. As you point out, over half of the article is about part of one chapter of one of his books. It reads as an attempted indictment of the "single bullet theory". More more of my objections: Posner wasn't the first to theorize about the single bullet - that was the Warrern Commission. The evidence soon moved it from theory to fact - all of the accumulated physical evidence is in agreement with the theory and no real evidence contracts it. Posner isn't theorizing about the single bullet theory, he examines the mass of evidence that support the theory as being correct. --Bubba73 17:24, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• In addition, since when is "assassinator" a word? --Roygbiv666

I decided to be bold and snipped out the paragraph. I'm reposting it here for, well, whatever you want. Gamaliel 19:23, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Posner theorized that when Oswald fired his first shot he fired it into the foliage of a closeby tree, only 62' away from Oswald. Posner theorized that first bullet was deflected by a tree branch then traveled some 425', hit the south upper curbstone of Main Street, and caused the right facial cheek wound on James Tague (Tague has always stated he was struck concurrent with the second or third shot --or second or third volley of shots-- Tague remembered hearing). Tague has stated that Posner has never interviewed him, while Posner responds that he has tapes of himself interviewing Tague for his book and cites his phone bill as evidence of conversations with Tague and others. Posner theorized that Oswald fired a second shot less than one second after Kennedy became visible again from behind the tree at Zapruder film frame 207 to 208. Posner theorized that this second bullet was the "single bullet theory" bullet that passed through both Kennedy and Governor John Connally at Zapruder film frame 223, causing seven wounds (counting each entrance and exit wound seperately) while breaking two major body bones, yet the bullet was later found at Parkland Hospital in nearly intact condition, having lost only a documented 1.5% of its average weight. Posner theorized that the third and final 265.3' shot was fired by Oswald and killed Kennedy when it struck him in the right rear of his head between Zapruder frame 312 and 313.

With the "offending" passage removed, shouldn't the article be considered neutral now? Roygbiv666

Yes, I think so. I put up the NPOV so I'll remove it. Now, though, I think the article needs more. Bubba73 16:27, July 11, 2005 (UTC)

CIA Tapes

Someone who cares about this more than I do might want to add this in: The erased CIA tapes that are at the center of a current scandal may have contained footage of the interrogation detailed in Posner's 2003 book.[1] And while you're at it, please clean up that section a bit.--Rockero (talk) 07:47, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Is that because of a medical condition or plastic surgery though? He looks very strange....hormonal imbalance, plastic surgery addiction, or something else?? 68.173.54.151 (talk) 14:42, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Photo

Where did that photo come from, and how relevent is it? Posner is over 50 now. He looks like a punk rocker in the pic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.72.87.221 (talk) 15:41, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Professional Liar and Traitor to the US Constitution

CIA agent E. Howard Hunt's confession to being part of the JFK conspiracy has now been made public. Likewise, the evidence, from the NORAD standing down to the obviously controlled demolition of WTC 7, makes it obvious to the un-brainwashed that 9/11 was staged by the US government. Whether this guy just freelances or actually is contracted to cover-up the crimes of the deep state is somewhat irrelevant here, either way this guy is a professional liar and a traitor to the US constitution.

Why does Wikipedia have to lie too? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.149.232.124 (talk) 20:30, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

There are no links provided to the quotes--which are attributed to the NY Times, Gary Wills and the LA Times--praising Posner's "investigative journalism" in the bio section. Can these quotes be verified?---

Dispute regarding plagiarism section

Critical references and information are repeatedly being removed to minimize the information on plagiarism. The repeated removal of details and portions of the documentation - especially in regard to quote tampering - is inappropriate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.250.39.244 (talk) 01:15, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

For the second time, do not make unfounded accusations against other editors. You have no evidence to show that edits were made for anything other than the stated reason. The quote tampering allegation was removed because it is sourced to a blog. It is forbidden by policy to make such accusations without a solid source (i.e. a mainstream newspaper). Gamaliel (talk) 01:56, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

The blog article contains clear documentation of many cases of plagiarism not discussed elsewhere, and quote tampering within the plagiarized text. All of these instances of plagiarism and quote tampering link to the sources (the relevant Posner article on the Daily Beast and the source which was plagiarized from). I’m actually the individual who discovered Posner’s serial plagiarism and provided the information to Jack Shafer (resulting in Jack’s articles). The material discussed on the blog is the information which, once forwarded to the editors at Daily Beast, resulted in Posner’s resignation. Since all the sources are linked in the blog article, there is little that can be argued with (in the way of solid documentation). And, incidentally, I’m not a conspiracy buff, and was blissfully unaware of Posner until a week ago. I find plagiarism (and lack of integrity in journalism) offensive, and thus began pursuing it. I also think it’s questionable that you previously edited the discussion page to remove this edit warring section. The point of a discussion page is exactly to resolve disputes to avoid repeated reversions in the primary article. I’m willing to work with you on a consensus product, with professional language, but removal of plagiarism documentation and details is inappropriate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eurytemora (talk • contribs) 02:30, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

I've responded to what appear to be identical comments left on my talk page if anyone is interested in my position on the matter. See User_talk:Gamaliel#Gerald_Posner_page. Gamaliel (talk) 14:36, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Neutrality?

The following constitutes a large portion of the Gerald Posner biography (i.e. the initial segment of the Gerald Posner Wikipedia entry):

"John Martin of ABC News says ‘Gerald Posner is one of the most resourceful investigators I have encountered in thirty years of journalism.’ Garry Wills calls Posner ‘a superb investigative reporter,’ while the Los Angeles Times dubs him ‘a classic-style investigative journalist.’ ‘His work is painstakingly honest journalism’ concluded the Washington Post. The New York Times lauded his ‘exhaustive research techniques’ and The Boston Globe determined Posner is ‘an investigative journalist whose work is marked by his thorough and meticulous research.’ ‘A resourceful investigator and skillful writer,’ says The Dallas Morning News."

One or two quotes might not be problematic. But this certainly has the feel of an advertisement. It’s disproportionate in length and especially problematic since it now appears that, in reality, he is neither “painstakingly honest” nor “meticulous” (having plagiarized, falsified quotes in the plagiarized text, etc.). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eurytemora (talk • contribs) 07:53, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

There have been a lot of questions recently about how much of Posner's writing is his own (versus plagiarized). One thing we can be sure about is that did he write most of his own Wikipedia biography section (other than the recently added paragraph about plagiarism). Most of the biography is an exact (word for word) match to the advertisement on his website. See: http://www.posner.com/author%20-%20The%20Posner%20File.htm Yet Wikipedia administrators seem content to let Posner's self-written puffery prose remain, while content elsewhere in this entry has been rewritten to largely minimize information on journalistic transgressions. Let's hear it for Wikipedia professionalism! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.33.55.204 (talk) 03:01, 27 March 2010 (UTC)