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Mapping a @monsanto-loving octopus

November 17, 2018
An examination of how a shady set of corporations swallowed up a once-loved blogging site.
Photo via @cgseife
· 15 Nov 2018

Thread: Mapping a -loving octopus. Let's start with (whoa... just realized they blocked me!) was a popular blogging site ca. 2008 that was bought out several times and eventually died. Then , a nonprofit org, bought the moribund site & rights.

3 replies 28 retweets 25 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

Some former bloggers expressed concern about the purchase by . Rightly so, and not just because they posted embarrassing Nazi-sympathetic and antisemitic nonsense.

Replying to @HankCampbell @YetAnotherJon and 6 others
Hank I cannot be the only ex-Sber who will absolutely not grant any rights for anything I’ve written to run beside speculations about the “Jewish Question” and how Hitler “help[ed] Jews to leave Germany.” If you don’t see the problem that’s…interesting.
1 reply 1 retweet 5 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

A step back. In 2008, back when was popular, a man named founded a for-profit corporation, ION Publications, LLC. Hank apparently launched a few low-quality "science blogging" websites of his own: , ...

2 replies 2 retweets 3 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

... and . Not deceptive at all -- who would confuse with , I ask you? Eventually, turned into .

1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

So what was the purpose of ION Publications and all these sites? Well, , a nonprofit org that's inordinately attached to spreading the word about how safe 's products are, says that it's a "website development service" that increases traffic to ACSH's website.

1 reply 5 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

As it happens, the president of is , who, in his role as president is busy paying 's ION Publications $60,000 for promotional activities.

1 reply 3 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

Last year, went nonprofit, apparently not long before they acquired the name. (Presumably, whoever gave financial backing for the acquisition got a nice tax deduction.) They revealed their founding document, only after I reported them to the IRS...

2 replies 1 retweet 3 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

... and its founders are , another disinterested person who happens to be gung-ho about product safety, and . So 's nonprofit is paying 's for-profit which owns 's nonprofit which owns .

1 reply 3 retweets 9 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

(Just for the record, don't try to pay or ION Publications a visit at their address at 705-2 E. Bidwell St. in Folsom.... it's a UPS Store.)

1 reply 1 retweet 7 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

Now, I'm no expert on corporate governance, but this seems kinda fishy to me -- not just the money flow, but the for-profit owning a non-profit with such obvious overlap in governance structure. But heaven forfend that someone suggest etc. are in cahoots!

1 reply 7 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

Attached is a handy-dandy chart for those attempting to follow at home. And disclosure: the network, , and various minions have attacked me and some of my colleagues, incl. on their "Deniers for Hire" website. And I fully admit that I think they're scumbags.

2 replies 6 retweets 18 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

So, the TL;DR version... this is how a once-admired science blogging site, , was acquired by a complex and, IMO, shady network of for-profits and non-profits helping . No wonder said was such a good value for the dollar! --END--

14 retweets 24 likes
· 15 Nov 2018

(correx... after I *THREATENED* to report them to the IRS.)

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