Mr Handley Continues To Make Statements That Are Not Supported by Evidence

Updated with new blog posts & requests from bloggers formerly designated as "anonymous". So naturally the numbers change as well.

 

Yesterday (November 16, 2010), the Age of Autism blog published a phantasmagoria by J. B. Handley, asserting that the blogger known as Sullivan is in fact Bonnie Offit MD, the wife of Paul Offit MD.

In that post, Handley wrote:

I’m personally convinced, I think Bonnie Offit is Sullivan.

Today (November 17, 2010), Mr. Handley posted this comment 

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I'll attend to just the first two sentences:

One of the more enjoyable parts of kicking the hornet's nest is watching the Keyboard Courage Club, aka anonymous bloggers, all get together to defend one of their own. It's a society of chicken-shits.

Two points:

1. Is anonymous the same as pseudonymous?  
2. How many of the bloggers who challenged Mr. Handly's phantasmagoria are in fact -- well, not blogging using their legal names?
   

I'm going to tackle the second point first, and leave the first for another post. Let's look at the evidence to date:

As of November 17, 2010, at 6:39 Pacific Standard Time (PST) November 18 at 8:05 pm there are eighteen twenty responses to Mr. Handley's assertions:

Posts:

1. Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams So Wrong It Is Funny:
2. Orac at Respectful Insolence I am Bonnie Offit
3. Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain I am Bonnie Offit
4. Kim Wombles at Countering No No No I am Bonnie Offit
5. Kim Wombles at Countering It Has to Be Asked
6. Kim Wombles at Countering Age of Autism Runs Out of Steam: Handley, Bonnie Offit, and Sullivan from LBRB
7. Catherina at JusttheVax I am Bonnie Offit
8. Science Mom at JusttheVax I'm Really Bonnie Offit
9. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit!
10. Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's built I am Bonnie Offit
11. Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary Age of Autism, Meet Shark
12. Rene F. Najera at Epi Times  Ich bin Bonnie Offit / Yo soy Bonnie Offit / I am Bonnie Offit / 我邦尼Offit
13. Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit
14. Sheldon at Vaccines Work He Who Pays the Piper--I am Bonnie Offit
15. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit -- Followup
16. Michael Rosch at New York Atheism & Skepticism JB Handley is a deranged psycho (I have proof)
17. Kim Wombles at Countering The Fallout of Handley's Sullivangate: Looking to Tomorrow and Hope
18. Kev Leitch at LeftBrain RightBrain Society vs. Individuals
19. Craig Willoughby at My Socrates Note It Is Time to Step Away from the Accusations, AoA
20. MJ at Autism Jabberwocky When Age of Autism Attacks

I will now segment them:

Responses using the blogger's full, real name: 

1. Liz Ditz at I Speak of Dreams So Wrong It Is Funny: JB Handley Claims "Sullivan" is Bonnie Offit
2. Kim Wombles at Countering No No No I am Bonnie Offit
3. Kim Wombles at Countering It Has to Be Asked
4. Kim Wombles at Countering Age of Autism Runs Out of Steam: Handley, Bonnie Offit, and Sullivan from LBRB
5. Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary Age of Autism, Meet Shark
6. Rene F. Najera at Epi Times  Ich bin Bonnie Offit / Yo soy Bonnie Offit / I am Bonnie Offit / 我邦尼Offit
7. Michael Rosch at New York Atheism & Skepticism JB Handley is a deranged psycho (I have proof)
8. Kim Wombles at Countering The Fallout of Handley's Sullivangate: Looking to Tomorrow and Hope
9. Craig Willoughby at My Socrates Note It Is Time to Step Away from the Accusations, AoA

Let's review.  Hmmn.  Mr. Handley asserted that  "anonymous bloggers" were responding to his post.  So far,   9/18 = 50% 9/20 =45% of bloggers responding did so under their own names.  As the Mythbusters would say, "probably busted."  We aren't done yet. What about the other eight? eleven?

• Orac at Respectful Insolence I am Bonnie Offit

Orac's relationship to David Gorski, MD is well-known.  In fact, at the blog Age of Autism Mr. Handley himself made a big deal out of their relationship, as did Jake Crosby at the same site in an effort to threaten Dr. Gorski's employment.

So we are up to 10/18 = 55.55%.  10/20=50% Progress! Even closer to busted.

Next:

• Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain I am Bonnie Offit
• Kev  at LeftBrain RightBrain Society vs. Individuals

Who is Kev? He is Kevin Leitch;  his real-life identity is well-known to the folk at Age of Autism, as this scurrilous post reveals.

So we are up to 12/18 = 66.66%.  12/20=60% Even closer to busted. Creeping up on busted!

Who is left?  Are they truly anonymous?

1. Catherina at JusttheVax I am Bonnie Offit
2. Science Mom at JusttheVax I'm Really Bonnie Offit
3. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit!
4. Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's built I am Bonnie Offit
5. Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit
6. Sheldon at Vaccines Work He Who Pays the Piper--I am Bonnie Offit
7. Todd W at Silenced by Age of Autism I am Bonnie Offit -- Followup
8. MJ at Autism Jabberwocky When Age of Autism Attacks

Are these people anonymous or pseudonymous?  Let's take them on a case-by-case basis.

• Catherina at JusttheVax -- she and her blogging partner, ScienceMom, were long-time commenters at sites such as Respectful Insolence.  They began their blogging career in April, 2009 
• Science Mom at JusttheVax I'm Really Bonnie Offit They have an email address, justthevax@gmail.com, to which they respond [personal evidence]

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 14/20 = 70%.  Even closer to busted.

• Todd W. is a long-time commenter at sites such as Bad Astronomy.    He has a website, The Truth About the Evils of Vaccination and a blog, Silenced by Age of Autism , to track comments that were moderated out of existence at the Age of Autism site, and an email address to which he responds. [personal evidence]

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 16/20 = 80%.  Even closer to busted.

Next:

• Sheldon at Vaccines Work He Who Pays the Piper--I am Bonnie Offit

Sheldon is a long-time commenter at the Huffington Post (as Sheldon101), and other sites.  In October 2009 he started a blog to curate his comments, some of which were, well, moderated out of existence. (Is there a pattern here?) He has a revealing about page, including an email address to which he replies [personal evidence]

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 17/20 = 85%.  Even closer to busted.

Although I don't know MJ myself, I know people who know him in real life and vouch for his identity.

• MJ at Autism Jabberwocky When Age of Autism Attacks

My call?  Pseudonymous, and therefore the count is up to 18/20 = 90%.  Even closer to busted.

• Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's Built

Laura has an informative about page, but no contact information. I'm putting her in the "anonymous" category.

• Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit

Travis also has an informative about page but not contact information. For that reason I am also putting him in the "anonymous" category.

Both Laura and Travis have left comments that indicate they don't think of themselves as "anonymous" so I'm adding them to a new category: blogs under a partial version of real name:

• Laura at Life at The House That Asperger's built I am Bonnie Offit
• Travis at the Pretend Biologist I am Bonnie Offit

Final count?  20/20 = 100% 

That is strong enough to call

Mr. Handley's assertion is totally and completely busted.

Oh, and about Mr. Handley's comment that

...anonymous bloggers, It's a society of chicken-shits.

 

Well, Mr. Handley, how about your anonymous (and vulgar) comments?

These are his most recent  (the ISP has been verified as Handley's):

 

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Comments

[KWombles]

Laura isn't anonymous to many of the bloggers who read her and are facebook friends with her (where she uses her full name), so although I'll note that Handley if he were to happen on her blog might conclude she was anonymous.

Handley had to have known quite clearly that he was factually incorrect about the anonymous bit, but it may be another example where he simply doesn't understand the meaning of words.

For an anonymous blogger who is on the side of AoA in general but decided Handley owed Sullivan (but oddly enough not Bonnie Offit), see MJ at Autism Jabberwocky.

[JoyMama]

LizDitsy is JB Handley?

Oh, that's priceless!!

[Laura]

Yeah, I didn't know that using my real name, and the real names of my husband and children could qualify me as anonymous. I don't know how to add "contact me" information to my blog, and don't see the point since you can "contact" me by leaving a message on my blog.

I don't know. I'm not really anybody, but I'm hardly anonymous. Just because people don't know "who you are" doesn't mean you're anonymous. And I know it wasn't you who said it, but I'm definitely NOT chicken shit.

[Travis]

I doubt it would be that difficult to track down my full name either. I won't bother posting it here as I do not want to lend credence to their line of reasoning but if anyone sends me a message or comments on my blog I would be very willing to give my full name and answer any questions they might have.

[David N. Brown]

I believe I have the distinction of being easier to track down by my "handle" than by my real name. Surprisingly, there are other people going by the name "Evil possum", but not many.

[David N. Brown]

Here's my reply to this:
http://evilpossum.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/2/2/2622709/hboffitalt.pdf

[Liz]

Thanks David, great work as always.  I added it to the list.

There is one factual error -- I think the Handleys now live in the Northwest -- I can't remember if it is Portland or Seattle.

[Joseph]

I'm quite sure it's clear by now to Handley and all the AoA editors that Sullivan is what he claims he is.

I think everyone wants to know: Is Handley going to make good on his promise, yes or no? If not, what's the justification?

[Chris]

The Handleys live in Portland.

I think my full name is out there somewhere. But it won't help you much. I see it all the time on local real estate signs, but I am not a real estate agent. Last time I googled (30 seconds ago) there 294000 hits.

[MJ]

"Although I don't know MJ myself, I know people who know him in real life and vouch for his identity"

Really? Who vouched for my identity?

If you don't feel comfortable answering that question here then drop me a line at my e-mail address from either this comment or using the link on my site.

[David N. Brown]

It was my impression that JB lived in Washington or Oregon, but the most specific reference I could find on one of his own sites was about him doing business in San Francisco. All are a part of the Pacific Northwest "Bigfoot" territory, so I don't see it as particularly important for my purposes.

This afternoon, I did the logical thing for Olmsted, Blaxill and/or Handley to do if they sincerely doubted Sullivan's identity, which was looking at IP info from one of his emails. I got the following information:
NetType: IANA Special Use...
OrgName: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
OrgId: IANA
Address: 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
City: Marina del Rey
StateProv: CA

So, it looks AT LEAST completely plausible that Sullivan resides in California, which is an awfully long way from Paul Offit's house...

[Joseph]

@David: It's a no-no to post people's personal information on the internet. (I realize that's the ISP's address, but you've identified an approximate geographical location.)

[David N. Brown]

I appreciate that there are issues, and carfully considered what to put. In any event, Handley, Olmsted, et al should ALREADY have this information, and a lot more.

[Sullivan]

Mr. Handley's comment (as LizDitsy) makes more sense to me now than when he first posted it. It was out of context. He wasn't referring to the discussion that was ongoing at LBRB at the time, but to the previous comments by Liz on the Squidalicious blog, the comment that Mr. Handley misinterpreted as stating I am a woman.

[Chris]

Peter Bowditch's badge at TAM in Australia:
Bonnie Offit

[Autism spectrum]

Interesting article ... Me really go with that there are issues, and carfully considered what to put....This is very impressive and informative ..https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=817789614&email=7cff47bb7cdcb76fbfa15e66c81a1961 I feel very willing to give my full name...Its more comforatable too ...

[Truly Anonymous]

David (and Liz), that IP detail wasn't for California. IANA is not an ISP. If it's appearing in an email then it's a mask. IANA IP numbers are not yet assigned.

Liz, if you know MJ's real name please email me at the address I've given you. He's in a lot of legal hot water.