Kim & Connie

Okay, y'all pay close attention here.

Earlier this morning, I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Kim and Connie.  Take note that I did not use their last name in this post?

A message for everyone from them both, as related by me:

All is well.  Connie will soon publish, (and may have by time you read this), a brief explanation of their circumstances, and what it will mean to any future writing/blogging from either of them.  I can tell you that they are under no duress, save for the imperative of having to make a living and keep a roof over their heads.

I can also tell you that I am de-linking to the archives which I had pointed to, yesteday.  It is their earnest request that you all do likewise, and that, immediately.

Kim and I are discussing ways for me to host his essays, in such a manner that the KdT name does not keep popping up in Google searches.  Expect a delay of at least one month for this to transpire.

When Connie publishes her update, I shall copy it in full here, and any of you who host a interested blog ought to do likewise.  Please to that, rather than hotlinking to her site.  Again, the purpose is to lower their Google visibility as much as possible.

Be assured, Connie will give as much detail as is suitable to make public. 

Watch this space for further Kim & Connie developments.

UPDATE:  13:14 CST.   From Connie dT

If we could give an explanation we would. Since we can't, we can't. It's sort of the point that we can't (or we would have). For those who have expressed genuine concern: we're fine. We're needing to move to a new chapter in our lives. Our blogs are closed permanently. We're working to "move" the forum to another guardian/location. We apologize for the suddenness of it and for scaring some folks, but it really could not be helped.

Speculations about black helicopter scenarios and such should be stopped. It is nothing like that.

If there was a way of saying more or giving some sort of explanation, we would, but we can't.

Thanks to all who played.

Godspeed, Kim, Connie & kids.  We'll see you 'round the net when you're able.

Comments

[Jack]

I just read the explanation post at the appropriate site. While my curiosity is piqued to the extreme (this sounds almost Heinleinian, if you take my meaning), I will refrain from asking questions and instead offer some hosting space if needed.

Although the bandwidth is not infinite, I do have on one of my hosts "infinite" storage space paid for. Since it is my personal site for my family to see photos I post, bandwidth for archival purposes should not be an issue, so if you run into problems with space, let me know and we can figure out a way to get the archives online.

[Claud]

It seems that the only way they could post essays in the future is to stop using their real names. It's a shame that's necessary, but the world is what it is.

[Tina]

Thank you for the update.

[DJSloan/Houston]

Jim .. Thank you for the update. I assume that if someone else takes the nod to host the archive that you will point us in the right direction. djs

[Moriarty]

Jim,

Thank you and Doc Russia for keeping us up to steam. Please extend warmest regards to Kim and Connie and their family in their new circumstances.

I had a conversation with Doc a few days ago and made a couple of suggestions regarding the future of the NoR forums and that portion of Kim's endeavor. If editing and/or redacting some of his essays and republishing them are of interest or if hosting becomes an issue, please contact me either here or via Doc.

[GunnNutt]

Thanks so much for the update and the promise of future posts from K&C.

Maybe we could have a contest to make up new nom de plumes for them?

[Starhawk]

Thanks for the update Jim.
Try to keep you feet dry this weekend.

[John Jones]

Dumb question, but has our favorite grouch and raconteur considered publishing his essays (in paper form, you know that antiquated thing that went out in the 20th century - I think they called it a book)?

[Addison]

Sorry to run counter to the norm here, but... Well, KdT wasn't once to mince words - bullshit.

Sorry, that's just my feeling on it. Might be unpopular (but I suspect, on a quick poll of my friends, that it's actually quite popular).

I can understand things happen. But KdT made his name, and his fame, via the website. To yank it without explanation is a slap in the face of the community.

I understand there might have been pressing reasons - but the dT's have known of them for some time. I hope they are doing well, I don't know what happened - but to drop the "Nation of Riflemen" down the memory hole is again, bullshit - there are *years* of collected writings (the dT's, *and* all the commentators) that are useful, and due to lack of foresight - and that's what it was - gone.

What of the community that they were a part of?

I wish the dT's well, but I am calling that this was 1) surprising 2) required in this manner. KdT's told me to FU before, I'm sure he will for this opinion - but that's part of the problem, isn't it?

[Addison]

(based on a comment I just received out-of-band):

I'm not saying that the NoR was "community property". if the dT's had to yank it, well, I do understand, you gotta do what you gotta do. Large part of the reason I *don't* have a weblog of my own is (I'd guess) similar concerns.

But - trying to memory hole the past is bullshit. "We" as a group don't stand for that when it's CBS and Dan Rather trying to 'forget' about forged memos. Or the NYT's old editorials (say, on Ginsburg "don't ask specifics") compared to NYT on Roberts now...

Hiding the past won't work - just shows you've got something to hide.

And I guess I didn't figure KdT as the sort of guy who'd run from that kind of a challenge... Maybe that's why I'm so disappointed?

[Mike Williamson]

So let's not mince words: Bullshit. What the fuck kind of pussy tells an employee what they can do with their private life? Do they regulate his beer and blowjobs, too?

It's just a shame any publicity would only hurt the Raconteur. Because I would BURY these fuckers in hatemail through my avenues.

Fine. You realize of course that this means war.

Rac can use a pseudonym. If they even BREATHE about that I will help him buttfuck them with a six foot civil rights attorney wrapped in barbed wire. And there needs to be FIFTY Nation of Rifleman blogs as of right now.

I'll hold off on sticking the banner up in case there's some life threatening reason Rac wants us not to. But I know a lot of Riflemen, and we are a nation.

[Bryn, North Wales, UK]

Reactions:
Very happy to hear that Rac&Co are safe, and moving on with their lives.
Very sorry to hear that circumstances have forced them to close their blogs; Other than the human need to feed & house the family, I cannot imagine what sort of pressure would make these two individuals give up something so important to them and to many others.
I thank Rac for his kind words to me & mine in the past, and wish them well. I will look for their works under suitable noms du guerre in the future.

[Moriarty]

Addison, you remind me of a welfare bum who's lost his check.

As I wrote elsewhere, KdT gave us all innumerable free lunches. Now you feel compelled to whine that the gravy train has ground to a halt.

Too bad. I'm sick of snivellers who indulge in valuable services given away by others in a spirit of public generosity, then bellyache when the services end. KdT and his wife could easily have been spending time in more profitable pursuits than blogging for the likes of you and me; they certainly weren't compelled at any level to keep at it in order to satisfy you.

They've moved on. You don't know their circumstances and they're no one's business but theirs. They owe you nothing - neither in content, in explanation nor in the way they departed. Nothing is "required" of them, and your expectations entitle you to utterly nothing except the contempt of the honest and the productive.

If you're missing the free lunch, time for you to step up and start catering it yourself. Start your own weblog and forum, (assuming you have the talent and resources) but stop your petty bitching that someone else doesn't feel like hauling your water anymore.

... and grow up. My toddler has a greater sense of self-reliance than you.

[Addison]

Moriarty:
Well, glad to see that someone could be found to insult me. Took longer than I expected. But it's about the level that I did expect.

"You don't know their circumstances and they're no one's business but theirs."

Right. Which is why none of us here were worried when they went dark.

Cause, it's none of our business.

No, Moriarty, there's a community they were a part of, one they left high and dry. Look at all the comments and support. If you're right, and it's none of our business, then we've got no concern for them, and no business worrying.

It's hypocritical for us to tip-toe around the reason the site apparently went dark, and to give a free pass, when we don't extend that to other people who don't exercise foresight. Want to talk about your toddler? Better teach it to THINK before it acts - and if not, have enough intestinal fortitute to stand up and admit to mistakes, and not hide them.

Until then, you've got little room to accuse me of needing to "grow up".

[Moriarty]

Addison,

What a transparent and boring little troll you are. And I fell for it.

Since you clearly know less about the situation than even you seem to realize, there's no point in carrying the discussion further.

It is, however, patently obvious why KdT told you to fuck off.

[Addison]

Aw, c'mon, calling me a troll already? I guess this will get me Godwin'ed.

Ah well, Maybe you'll actually, you know, grow up and refute something I said.

In the meantime, Kim DuToit told me to fuck off because I told him that he was going way overboard and it wasn't a good idea. (ITYS? Me? Nah) Silly me for trying to help, I guess.

In the meantime, you've only insulted me. You've proven that you're the last someone I'd want covering my back in a crisis - or signing a contract I'd be a party to.

See, when you just spew venom at people, and say that anybody can do whatever they want to when they want to, cause, you don't owe nobody nuthin! - well, quite technically, you're correct. Can't force you to be polite, nice, or even behave within a large parameter set.

Doesn't make it right when you act like that, though. And that's the grown-up part - knowing it, and behaving even if you can't be forced to.

[SomeChick]

This might be something of interest:
http://www.thenationofriflemen.com

[Chuck]

Total Speculation: Some religiously-motivated homeschooling parents are self-righteous unforgiving prudish killjoys. (And I say that as a born-again fundamentalist evangelical. I hope I don't exhibit those characteristics, but I can sure notice them among [some] of my coreligionists.) These people form a large part of the market to which the dTs were attempting to sell a product. This conflict has already led to KdT's admitted self-censorship when tempted to express himself, er, forthrightly. This conflict also has already led to the renaming of the 'Old Broads' archives. It's no surprise to me if, in an attempt to appease this potential customer-block the dTs made a *business decision* to deepsix a continuing irritant to that group of customers.

Now, whether this block of potential customers is appeasable at all (given that some of them are unforgiving prudish killjoys)...I doubt it. As to the wisdom of offering appeasement in the face of sanctimonious Pharisees...well, I'm just glad I'm not faced with that decision with my family's finances on the line.

Anyway, if this speculation has any relation with the truth, "archiving old essays" on another site kinda defeats the business purpose, doesn't it? (Yet, how is KdT going to dissociate himself from his (racy) novel?)

[SomeChick]

I think you're close, Chuck, but no cigar.

From what I understand, it was a "business decision" but a longer term one--not directly related to any past events.

Repeating the same thing again and again expecting a different outcome is insanity. No reason to recreate a similar scenario and hope for something different, is there?

[JPatterson]

I hope his essays end up in an archive. They are full of wisdom - the kind that should be read again and again, as the reader's personal situation and perspective changes. To lose them forever, whatever the reason, would be utterly tragic.

[Moriarty]

Jim's on his way to safety, Rita's at least temporarily downgraded and hopes are running high that New Dawn just might weather it after all.

Looks like the forums and articles are all back - and well ahead of anticipations. I suppose we can get back to our lives and quit feeling abandoned and left high and dry as we turn our attention to more pressing matters.

Case closed. Arguments cancelled.

(Oh, what the hell...)

Aw, c'mon, calling me a troll already? I guess this will get me Godwin'ed.

It's what you are, pal. Read your first post. You were spoiling for a fight even then.

Also, the technical term is "Plonked," not "Godwined."

Ah well, Maybe you'll actually, you know, grow up and refute something I said.

As soon as you come up with a construct worth refutation, I promise to take a look at it.

In the meantime, ### told me to fuck off because I told him that he was going way overboard and it wasn't a good idea. (ITYS? Me? Nah) Silly me for trying to help, I guess.

If you say so. My personal experience with the gentleman is that he's overwhelmingly gracious and exceedingly tolerant - not the kind of person to tell someone else to fuck off unless they were behaving like an asshole in the first place.

He must have been having a bad day and you just chanced to be there to absorb the brunt of his ill manners. Poor, poor pitiful you.

In the meantime, you've only insulted me.

I'm so sorry. Was it the part where I called you a "whiner" or a "sniveller" that you found insulting?

You've proven that you're the last someone I'd want covering my back in a crisis - or signing a contract I'd be a party to.

Jeez. Now I'll have to call the county SWAT Commander and have him take me off the Advisor/Trainer roster. (He seemed so happy when I volunteered. Oh well.) I'll also contact the 250 or so companies with whom I'm contracted and tell them you think I'm a bad risk.

Pity. I've had such a good record.

See, when you just spew venom at people, and say that anybody can do whatever they want to when they want to, cause, you don't owe nobody nuthin! - well, quite technically, you're correct. Can't force you to be polite, nice, or even behave within a large parameter set.

Try as I might, I can arrive at no idea of what this means. Then again, my abilities are no doubt impaired by over twenty years of higher education and clinical practicum.

Doesn't make it right when you act like that, though. And that's the grown-up part - knowing it, and behaving even if you can't be forced to.

All right. That's the second incomprehensible sentence you've ended in a preposition.

I'm outta here.

[RobC]

WOW! even Wayback is blocked. Somone does not want what they published put out there... this is serious.

[Frank S.]

"because it's none of our business"

That about sums up my view of the situation, but I'll miss it as a part of my required reading each day.

[David, Chandler, AZ]

"I guess this will get me Godwin'ed."

Nope. You didn't bring up Nazis.

I do feel bad that Kim & Connie felt the need to lower their profile. But I'm sure they had good reason to.

Miss you guys already.