26 Comments
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Dave Plante's avatar

Well well well. Would you look at that. It’s like we’ve been telling the truth the whole time. Very appreciative of the NYSIG’s thorough work and this vindication. Thank you Will for covering this!

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Tanya Goldstein's avatar

I’m glad it turned out to be disgruntled employees with no real “there” there. If the investigation took over a year, they can’t say it wasn’t thorough!

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Edward Low's avatar

there is a saying that is something like

Truth travels on a long winding road, but lies will appear on your welcome matt

in a flaming paper bag that your instinct is to step on to put out, only to be covered in bull manure

well I kind of embellished but the stink of that lie will be around for a while

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Tanya Goldstein's avatar

Sometimes it really just is a sourpuss crankypants who isn’t getting their way and wants to find someone to blame, but I have worked for toxic, egotistical superintendents and principals before. They thrive by turning an organization against itself; some folks are on the outs while others are favored. Like a parent clearly favoring one child over another, it can poison relationships that used to be cordial and professional.

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Edward Low's avatar

so true...

Though some times favoring is more about appreciating an employee who is a good worker... but not always...

People will be jealous of another employee getting rewarded for working hard... and that jealous person will blame the boss, not their lack of initiative.

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Edward Low's avatar

it is clear you have gone through life with your eyes open, acknowledging reality and accepting facts.... noticing the nuances.

So often I seem the problem with the magAholes, is just the opposite.. like the disgruntled employee, they can't accept the reality... if life isn't how they want it, it is because of undocumented workers (who have nothing to do with them) or it isn't fair because that person with an education makes more than them (god forbid that person with a better job is a woman, person of color... or gay)

Serious question

How do you deprogram the racism of the maAholes?

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Tanya Goldstein's avatar

Oh, I have my blind spots too, just ask my husband! But seriously if I knew the answer to that question I’d already be doing it. It’s in our tribal nature to band together with what we consider to be “our kind.” Whether that means family, clan, religion, race, community, or nationality depends on how a person was raised. I suppose the real question is how do we get everyone to think of “our kind” as all of humanity, not just one little segment of it.

I remember a PSA on TV when I was a kid,(late 60’s, early 70’s)that showed little children of all races happily playing together on playgrounds, in backyards, just being little kids, while a song played in the background: “You’ve Got to be Taught How to Hate.” It made quite the impression on me as a child, and I still remember it. I tried looking it up to post a link here, and couldn’t find the commercial I saw, but I did learn that the song was originally from the musical South Pacific, and it caused such a controversy back when the movie was made that there were Congressional hearings about it. The inter-racial romance in the movie made a lot of people very upset. Maybe the lyrics of the song made them feel shame way down deep inside but instead of opening their hearts it closed them even more? Anyway, here’s the song, apparently from a different, older PSA:

https://youtu.be/AAls_gUhlQw

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Edward Low's avatar

One thing stands out to me

#3 we all want to believe we are right* and

#1 Democrats like to KNOW we are right

#2 Democrats don't want to be embarrassed about being wrong because they didn't have the facts or source.

* Republicans go to #3 and stay there. Not even for a second do they question what they believe in, or even take a moment to check where they information is from if it is BAIS and what ever supports what they wanna believe.. that is good enough for them..

a) they like to 'believe' and believe is all they know, nothing beyond that

b) gQpeds 'believe' so hard that they are ignorant of how they are woefully wrong.. you can point how they are wrong, but they don't have enough wherewithal to question, let alone fact check

I have taken to posting links (several) when I confront a gQped (actually I try to post them all the time). I don't suspect they ever go to those links... to do so they would have to question what they believe...

=======

The only thing I can think about, is that republicans don't do that - - > think.

They have heard numerous reports of all the cuts in the Big Beautiful Bullmanure.. Thinks that definitely affect them, their family,, their jobs

and for the benefit of the rich... but they go along listening to the multi-millionaire announces on fox telling them their life is great now because hmpy trmPED0

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Matt Mc's avatar

Whistleblowers? Not exactly. 🙄

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Dave Plante's avatar

It will be a good day in the office for sure. Hope you are well sir!

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Matt Mc's avatar

Thanks Dave! Hope you are well too.

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Roland Van Deusen's avatar

The Adirondack Park is bigger than Yellowstone & Yosemite combined, & I'd be afraid to say how big it would be if we could flatten it out. Such a huge national treasure, like "my" 1000 Islands & Lake Ontario, is in the same league as Niagara Falls & the Grand Canyon. Managing it's bound to be complicated, so we let Ken keep us up to date. Our mission is to keep Trump & Co's mitts off it. 20% of earth's 02 supplies comes from the Amazon rain forest, 2 football fields of which vanishes daily. Al Gore was right.

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Beatriz Roman's avatar

Thanks for the great follow-up, Will.

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Lorraine Duvall's avatar

Speaking of inflamed. What about your recent post entitled:" Hiker's death highlights extreme state policy."

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Will Doolittle's avatar

That was based on the statements of the two (named) rangers who led the search

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Edward Low's avatar

the republican way is now the only way to do politics

Lie

double lie

and hope no one notices that it was a lie (in this case a report that refutes the lies)

there needs to be a law that holds people accountable for their lies

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Maggie's avatar

Considering the anonymity of the "assertions" - so glad it was followed thru and corrected!

Awfully easy for anonymous complaints and rumors to damage someone's entire reputation.

Thanks Will - glad to know this was ended.

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Maggie's avatar

This is likely something of interest to all of us - description of a few items on the Repubs. BBB! Considering that you and I are pretty much members of or close to rural communities - worth reading.

https://popular.info/p/7-things-everyone-should-know-about?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=b9ign&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

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Chad's avatar

What are the chances the Adirondack Explorer will issue an apology or retract the many misleading articles that have undermined the Adirondack Park Agency and slandered Director Barb Rice? Sadly, next to none.

Despite thorough, fact-based reporting—including testimony from APA employees and a clear, conclusive investigation by the New York State Inspector General’s Office—the damage continues. Tracee Ormsby and Gwendolyn Craig show no signs of slowing their pattern of sensationalism and distortion. And that’s deeply disappointing.

Even more troubling is the silence from the Explorer's board, which has repeatedly turned a blind eye to this style of “reporting”. Rather than holding their editorial staff to a higher standard, they’ve allowed the publication to drift into tabloid territory—manufacturing controversy, twisting facts, and stirring division for the sake of clicks and attention. 

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Upstate New Yorker's avatar

Sorry but I don't have a problem with a media outlet highlighting the status of an investigation in which the government probes itself. You know as well as I do that these sorts of things can get forgotten about or swept under the rug without someone holding feet to the fire. The media shouldn't refuse to do their job just because this lady is your friend. I'll note that the Explorer also did an article on the report vindicating her.

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Will Doolittle's avatar

My argument is not that Barb shouldn’t have been investigated because she’s my friend but that I didn’t believe the accusations because of what I know of her character. It turns out the accusations were false and I believe filed in bad faith

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Will Doolittle's avatar

Also I believe it is journalists’ responsibility to make sure accusations are credible before repeating them in print multiple times.

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Upstate New Yorker's avatar

Of course. But as I'm sure you experienced at some point in your career, just because a journalist might find the accusations credible does not automatically mean they are true. Similar to how you need credible evidence to secure an indictment but not every indictment leads to conviction. If the magazine had multiple employees giving a similar story, I don't think it was unreasonable of them to go to print.

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Will Doolittle's avatar

OK. There was a lot of coverage over many months and it was the totality of it, as well as certain specifics, I found excessive and lacking context. In the end, the investigation finding all of the many complaints were unsubstantiated shows, I believe, that the coverage was mishandled

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Matt Mc's avatar

Sad that they seem to have fallen for the clickbait model. Publish lots of unsubstantiated claims and thinly researched scoops to create a narrative that drives engagement with their platforms which they can use to sell advertising. Many news outlets struggle not to be just glorified tabloids these days. This model is ripe for abuse, especially when sources insist upon anonymity.

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Dave Plante's avatar

And further, the magazine depends substantially on funding from environmental interest groups whose job it is to criticize and sue the APA at every chance they get. It behooves the explorer to also be critical of the Agency and to print articles from Protect and others because full page inside cover ads depend on it. And if they have to publish a hit piece on Barb or print my name as the only other person in several articles in order to make a tenuous connection to perceived impropriety, who cares, right? It’s just my reputation and my family’s livelihood…..

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