The secondary boycott of Rush Limbaugh advertisers is portrayed in the media as a reaction to a groundswell of public outrage. In fact, the secondary boycott was initiated by and driven by Media Matters, which had a “Stop Limbaugh” campaign on the shelf waiting to be used, and was executed by Angelo Carusone, Director of Online Strategy for Media Matters.
Carusone was the person behind online efforts against Glenn Beck even before joining Media Matters in 2010, and also is behind Stop Fox News and Stop Limbaugh efforts. His role appears to be going after advertisers, and getting others to do so via Twitter and other online media.
In an interview with The Village Voice, Carusone acknowledged that there already was a dormant Stop Limbaugh campaign at Media Matters, which then was activated for this controversy:
Stop Rush, I initially rolled it out in late 2009 and early 2010. At the time, the Beck work was doing well. I thought that in dealing with advertisers, some really appreciated being educated about where their ads were running. The ad market took care of this. The word “boycott,” it’s very rare that I called for a boycott or attacked a company. For the most part, I let advertisers know where there money was being spent, where it was going, and what it was helping. They made the decision themselves.
I started Stop Rush in 2009, 2010, and when I went to register the domain, I saw that Rush owned StopRush.com….
The Beck work was working, and I kind of froze the Rush work, and experimented with it a little, to get a sense of who Rush’s advertisers were and what their comfort level with him was. It was definitely valuable, and I am glad I spent some time doing it. It has informed the work I am doing now.
The second the Fluke controversy broke, Carusone swung into action contacting Rush advertisers and getting others to do so, as reported by The NY Times:
Some of the same activists that persuaded advertisers to boycott Glenn Beck’s television show on Fox News in 2009 are now mobilizing against Rush Limbaugh in the wake of his verbal attacks on a Georgetown University law school student this week.
Actually, they are remobilizing. A Twitter account, “Stop Rush,” which has been dormant since late 2010, woke up on Wednesday, when Mr. Limbaugh first called the student, Sandra Fluke, a “slut.” …
Mr. Limbaugh’s comments on Wednesday about Ms. Fluke, who had testified in support of the Obama administration’s requirement that health insurance plans cover contraceptives for women, were immediately noticed by Media Matters, a liberal media monitoring group that has been raising red flags about Mr. Limbaugh’s language for years.
The “Stop Rush” Twitter account asked on Thursday [March 1], “Are y’all ready to @StopRush? Getting the strong sense that it’s time and the feedback has been there so far. Spread the word.”
The person behind the account, Angelo Carusone, has subsequently started to contact some of the sponsors of “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” which is distributed by local radio stations across the country.
As reported by Businessweek:
A day after Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke “a slut,” Angelo Carusone, a Washington-based activist, began contacting advertisers to boycott Limbaugh’s show — over the phone, via e-mail, through Twitter Inc. and on Facebook Inc. (FB) ….
“The boycott wouldn’t have had the same effect without Twitter or Facebook,” said Carusone, campaign director for Media Matters for America ….
In the Village Voice interview, Carusone acknowledges he talked to advertisers all weekend, and that the Carbonite Saturday night announcement was a key turning point:
I started talking to advertisers on Thursday, and got a lot of feedback on Friday, and I knew a lot of movement was taking place. This was important to think about from a business perspective. The very clearest example was when Carbonite came out on Saturday night. That was significant because they had been one of his biggest advertisers, and they announced their drop after the so called apology. They said the apology didn’t matter. Rush had exposed himself as too volatile to do business with.
Carusone doesn’t state that he communicated with Carbonite, but it’s certainly implied in his interview.
While Carusone was contacting advertisers, Media Matters began running almost daily counts of how many advertisers had “dropped” Limbaugh. Media Matters did not disclose that advertisers were “dropping” Limbaugh as a result of the efforts of Media Matters’ own employee, Carusone.
Carusone did not try to hide his efforts in his media interviews, but Media Matters itself did not attribute the success of the campaign to its own efforts.
The weekend Twitter and Facebook campaign by Carusone paid dividends, as many of the initial advertisers cited online complaints as one of the reasons for dropping Limbaugh.
Media Matters also inflated the numbers, including advertisers who never advertised on Limbaugh but merely acknowledged a pre-existing policy. Yet those inflated numbers (50? 100? 140?) then were picked up by the media, to create the appearance of momentum.
Media Matters then published an account of “dead air” during Limbaugh’s show on WABC in New York City. In the text of the article it’s revealed that the dead air was only on the online broadcast, but the lazy and biased mainstream media simply regurgitated the headline of dead air, which has become an urban legend.
There is no equivalent of Media Matters on the conservative side, a well-funded organization devoted to silencing political opponents through secondary advertiser boycotts. George Soros donated $1 million in 2010 for the anti-Fox News campaign, the same year Media Matters hired Carusone for the various “Stop” campaigns.
While much of the public outcry against Limbaugh was genuine, the advertiser secondary boycott was astroturfed by Media Matters, which initiated a pre-existing “Stop Limbaugh” campaign, executed it over the first weekend of the controversy, and then hyped it and spoon fed it to the mainstream media without disclosing that a Media Matters employee was behind it all.
Related: Amex denies being part of conservative radio boycott, and The real threat to conservative talk radio is not what you think.
Update 3-19-2012: Rush move to Twitter has boycott organizers worried and The answer to the Twitter war is sunshine
I discuss the Limbaugh boycott on Pundit Review Radio:
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There is need to display the innocent victims of their war on advertisers, feature some businesses who’ve closed or went bankrupt and their employees lost their jobs, been foreclosed on, suffered mental trauma, the damage to the economy… ect.
illegal, unjust freedom of speech squashing actions by despicable leftist ideologue warmongers that should be brought up on charges, hung!.. lol
Here’s a synopsis of Carbonite v. Limbaugh
NASDAQ:CARB – A DINOSAUR DOT-COM DISASTER
Carbonite’s first-and-only Annual Report (2011) reveals a seven-year-old dot-com disaster on the fast-track to insolvency.
Just as the Sandra (you-should-pay-for-my-birth-control) Fluke controversy was breaking out, Carbonite reported that it is $100 million in the hole, burning $2 million per month, and that there is no end in sight to its huge losses!
“We experienced net losses of $19.2 million for 2009, $25.8 million for 2010, and $23.5 million for 2011, respectively, and have an accumulated deficit of $100.4 million as of December 31, 2011.”
“We have not generally achieved positive cash flow from our operations or reported net income, and we do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future.”
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1340127/000119312512101462/d277280d10k.htm
Carbonite had only six months to live when staged a desperation ‘Hail Mary’ IPO during the Aug 2011 market downturn.
(NASDAQ:CARB initially proposed $122 million but sold only $62 million of stock, netting $55 million. Furthermore, the WSJ reports that there were serious disclosure delay issues with existing venture capital insiders who quietly bought up half of their own IPO.)
When its piggy bank is empty, Carbonite must either go bankrupt or be liquidated by acquisition in a fire-sale auction of its tangible assets.
By withdrawing its ads from his talk-radio show, Carbonite has spared Rush Limbaugh the embarrassment of being associated with the collapse of a yet-another delusional “spectacular dot-com flameout.”
“When its piggy bank is empty, Carbonite must either go bankrupt or be liquidated by acquisition in a fire-sale auction of its tangible assets.
By withdrawing its ads from his talk-radio show, Carbonite has spared Rush Limbaugh the embarrassment of being associated with the collapse of a yet-another delusional “spectacular dot-com flameout.””
Couldn’t happen to a better bunch of people!
Have y’all seen the latest Carbonite TV ads?
Every time they come on and insist, “You’re going to lose everything!” I shout back, “Yeah, right…”
The joke is on them!
They would know about losing everything…
This is silly.
There’s nothing illegal in a boycott, Limbaugh hasn’t lost a dime or a minute of air time, Carbonite’s stock has been on a slide since it went public, and if the two or three stations that supposedly dropped Limbaugh’s show, they probably couldn’t afford it and were looking for a reason, and the listeners can probably pick it up on another station. I live in the boonies and there are three strong signals and one weak one here.
Astroturfing has been used by every side of the political spectrum, to derail Hillerycare, to stop smoking bans, to get smoking bans, etc.
The big 140 number of sponsors dropping conservative talk radio came from an online radio trade journal about it, not Media Matters.
Kim Kammando still has the best analysis and response to the whole thing: listeners and non-listeners have a right to complain, advertisers have a right to decide where they will or will not advertise, and Kim Kammando isn’t going to weigh in on what Limbaugh says on his show. After weeks of this foolishness, that’s still the best response.
Welcome Rush Limbaugh Twitter followers who via Rush’s first tweet were share linked to the Legal Insurrection blog.
Professor William Jacobson is CPAC 2012 Red Carpet Blogger Awards recipient of the award for the Most Underrated Blog, so it should be no surprise that this is not the first time Rush Limbaugh has cited Legal Insurrection.
Rush Limbaugh reads Legal Insurrection blog post So Now All These People Will Apologize To Sarah Palin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7vzbyVSv0I
Professor Jacobson is a well researched, thoughtful and humble blogger in relentless pursuit of Truth, Justice and the American Way on issues of concern for conservatives.
Please bookmark and make Legal Insurrection one of your daily reads.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/03/poor-sandra-fluke-she-wants-you-to-pay-for-her-9month-birth-control-as-she-frolics-in-spain-pompeii/
Puuuuurrrr Sandra FLUCK. Life is HARD…
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2012/03/no-wonder-sandra-fluke-needs-so-many-contraceptives.html
I wonder about the need for birth control at all… Can you say “meterosexual”.
On the other hand…
Rush is GAINING audience. And advertisers. More will come.
Of course she needs $3 grand a month for birth control! To steal a quote from Boris Yeltsin, her abilities may be few, but her needs are so many!…
Once again, Rush was right.
Once again, I ask: does this not qualify as a RICO violation by MMfA? It is clearly “interfering with commerce” in this “advertising boycott” coordinated effort targeting Rush, not to mention targeting Fox News and other personalities the MMfA admittedly chose to isolate and use thuggery against because they didn’t agree with their viewpoint.
At the very least, this should require an investigation into the “non-profit” status, which is required by law to be “non-partisan.”
Sheesh!!
It qualifies as a textbook description of liberals mob mentality, ie claim that voter ID laws are violation of Voting Rights but then abuse rights of others and hijack democracy with various efforts to steal elections…
…then even openly tout those actions as, its what we do.
cuz they’re the mob.
Is there really any question that the Media Mutters people and the White House work in lock-step?
Is there really any question that Media Mutters is an organ of the Deemocrat Party?
To maintain their tax-exempt status they don’t have to be without an agenda, or even impartial. They just have to be what they are not…
Thing is, who would you find to go after them, outside of Congress? Eric “Critical Race Theory” Holder?
“The Beck work was working, and I kind of froze the Rush work, and experimented with it a little, to get a sense of who Rush’s advertisers were and what their comfort level with him was. It was definitely valuable, and I am glad I spent some time doing it. It has informed the work I am doing now.”
“The work…”??? Funny, innit, how the Collective just can’t fight that ol’ totalitarian urge?
Crush opposing voices, since you can’t successfully counter them with your delusional dogma. Tear down, since you know you cannot create.
It appears that (to paraphrase Mark Twain)
The reports of Rush’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
Thank you very much for publishing this information.
Today’s San Diego Union-Tribune has an article by Lawrence M. Hinman, identified as a professor of the University of San Diego, who “writes often about ethics.” Today’s topic is titled “Civil discourse essential for debate to be fruitful.”
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/14/civil-discourse-needed-for-fruitful-debate-civil/
His article otherwise rather sensible article, unfortunately, cites only Rush’s sins, giving the false impression that this abuse of a female in politics is an unusual occurrence.
It would be so much more persuasive if it mentioned a few other of the filthy voices polluting our national dialog. Bill Maher comes immediately to mind, as does Ed Schultz.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/dem-rep-maher-can-stay-air-rush-cant/427806
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-bozell/2012/03/14/bozell-letter-msnbc-president-take-responsibility-hateful-ed-schultz
Meanwhile, the ladies demonstrate that they have a wholly different set on concerns about the upcoming election. Personally, I suspect that the election of Newt Gingrich and the resulting enhanced economic recovery would put a whole lot more than either the $9.00 or $100/month the Obama administration is offering. For sheer magnitude of financial benefit to ordinary Americans at all levels of our society, Gingrich’s policies have Obama’s beat, hands down.
http://templeofmut.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/no-the-real-conservatives-are-not-going-after-our-lady-parts/
Let’s hope advertisers realize they were duped by Media Matters and maybe next time they won’t be so quick to join a “boycott”!
Unfortunately no.
Most of the advertisers are run by Liberal owners who have “success-guilt” and as such won’t be able to comprehend the poor decision making that they have wrought in terms of damaging the market for their products.
These companies join “boycotts” like this not out of any business realization, but first out of liberal dogma (advertising staff are NOTORIOUSLY a liberal bunch, part by nature and part by the nurture of the social circles they are forced to travel in, and second because they don’t want to be on the “bad” end of a liberal screaming match, because the dirty hippy true-believer liberals will camp out on your lawn, threaten your family and attack your customers.
Excellent research and write up Professor. This needs to be spread far and wide.
I would add that Media Matters has documented close ties to the White House. I’m glad it is backfiring on them by not only increasing Rush’s audience but spurring his audience off the couch to take action.
“This needs to be spread far and wide”
Excellent idea! My plan for the day is to send a link to this write up to every advertiser who joined the boycott….oh, and what the heck, I think I’ll also send it to any other company I can think of as an alert to resist being duped by false claims.
Poor Sandra, just when she became a star!
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/03/poor-sandra-fluke-she-wants-you-to-pay-for-her-9month-birth-control-as-she-frolics-in-spain-pompeii/
Just when you thought you’d seen everything.
Poor Sandra Fluke, the 30 year-old far left activist who wants you to pay for her $9 a month birth control, is dating a rich socialist.
They recently traveled to Spain and Italy together.
It was a lovely getaway for the women’s rights activist and her rich socialist boyfriend.
Here the two lovebirds are roughing it late at night in Barcelona – drunk.
As I said before,
Of course she needs $3 grand a month for birth control! To steal a quote from Boris Yeltsin, her abilities may be few, but her needs are so many!…
Once again, Rush was right.
Well…two can play this game. Not targeting advertisers, but targeting the ultimate source. I am still mad about hearing Louis CK’s comments about Palin and then learning through Breitbart he may have been invited to the White House afterwards. I am all for adopting Alinski rules of holding Barack Obama and the Dems to their own rules.
Fluke Media Matters
I guess they always want us to shut up because that’s the only way they’ll win ther argument.
I am thinking that Rush might have a possible legal action for interference with contract.
Not only is there nobody on the conservative side who delibrately tries to silence opposing voices, we often encourage those opposing voices be heard.
I’m reminded of when Keith Ogremann was temporarily suspended from MSNBC beause he violated corporate policy that prohibitted him from making political donations going into the 2010 mid-term elections.
Bill Kritosl at the Weekly Standard and Dana Loesch writing at Breitbart’s Big Journalism both wrote articles denouncing the decision by the corporate suits at MSNBC to suspend him. Both insisted the suspension be lifted immediately so he could return to his duties as being the chief (hateful) crtitic of the politics and the policies that both Kristol and Loesch routinely champion.
When he did return to the airwaves, Ogremann not only thanked Bill and Dana for their support, but in a moment of candor he admitted that if the tables were turned and they were the ones that had been suspended he “doubted” that he would have called for their suspensions to be lifted.
And by “doubted”, of course he meant there’s no fricking way he would have come to bat for them.
Hitler rants about Sandra Fluke.
Damn you!
I’m angry about all of this bull and wasn’t planning to smile today.
Thanks 🙂
Thank you DougfromUpland for providing hilarity in the midst of such trash.
We need to organize a boycott of everything MMFA. Everything that provides funding, everything that provides ad space, everything they believe in needs to be notified that boycotts of Rush will not work.
“We need to organize a boycott of everything MMFA. Everything that provides funding,”
George Soros and other foundations are the source of that funding.
How do we boycott private foundations? How do we dry their funds? How do we expose them as the criminal frauds they are? How?
By putting up that Bill Press sound bite, Prof, you just increased by a power of ten the people who have ever heard his radio show.
NTTAWWT. We should know our enemies.
The 1st Amendment gives these people the right to do these things. The problem is that they seem to figure slimy ways to get public monies to support their activities. The laws about non-profits need to be tightened and we need Congress to stop giving our money to all non-profits. Make them stand or die on their own.
[…] Jacobson details how Media Matters astroturfed the Limbaugh secondary boycott. It is a case study in the tactics of total war in the ideological […]
[…] Contrast with the reaction to Rush and one can only conclude that all the Fluke vs. Rush brouhaha is not about respect. It’s about silencing dissenting voices. […]
[…] religion, whaddya mean we hate religion? You’re stupid. And sexually repressed.Coming soon: No free speech for you! Only for you.The Obama Flag: Never have we seen a cult so eager to slap a president’s face […]
[…] Contrast with the reaction to Rush and one can only conclude that all the Fluke vs. Rush brouhaha is not about respect. It’s about silencing dissenting voices. […]
So if all the “consumer complaints” against Coke, are revealed to have been funded/provoked by Pepsi, should that hurt Pepsi’s brand?
Pepsi must taste like number two, if they have to fund complaints against number one.
When I heard of all those companies “running” from Rush, I wrote to as many as I have used or planned to use in the future. My basic question was “Because of this controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh, what is your plans about advertizing on his show currently or in the future?” I received several replies — Lifelock, for example. They all stated they wished Rush had used “better” language and had contacted him about it, but were not planning to drop him. Only Carbinite and ProFlowers did not respond. I am more than certain that the “boycott” was greatly exaggerated.
[…] is fantastic. While Media Matters is out astroturfing their boycott of Limbaugh’s show, real advertisers are taking a stand to defend him. They are now buying […]
[…] and is currently running one from the New York Times; the secondary boycott appears to be some sort of Media Matters operation, which tells you how “grassroots” the outrageous outrage is; and I’ve spent more […]
Fantastic article, WAJ; it appears that operatives from Obama for America were also party to the StopRush campaign.
[…] via Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion […]
Here is Carbonite founder David Friend’s failed “money machine” business plan:
“I’m sure that Carbonite will have a big payoff.”
“It was pretty clear that we could spend a dollar on marketing and get three or four dollars of customer value back.”
“So I said, ‘Holy Mackerel, we have a machine here where you can put a buck in the top turn the crack and three or four dollars comes out. … I want to start shoveling money into the top of this machine as fast as I can.’”
http://mixergy.com/david-friend-carbonite-interview/
(29 Apr 2011)
So basically you can set up your own astroturf sweatshops and sell it to Media Matters? Thanks to the money courtesy of George Soros and they are burning money on manufactured outrage.
[…] headline to lure in the readership. Like the Big Man says, Time to clear the freaking browser tabs!Media Matters astroturfed the Limbaugh secondary boycott – Well, of course they did!Meghan McCain confesses she’s hetero and name-checks Dan […]
[…] actually created in 2009, but stayed inactive until the Sandra Fluke controversy boiled over (via Legal Insurrection): I started Stop Rush in 2009, 2010, and when I went to register the domain, I saw that Rush owned […]
CONGRATS!
Rush Limbaugh enters the Twitter fray
Posted at 3:34 pm on March 15, 2012 by Twitchy Staff | View Comments
Rush Limbaugh@limbaugh
Here’s how the opposition astroturfs advertisers. Smart piece from @LegInsurrection Pls. Retweet bit.ly/y6Tnnv @mmfa
15 Mar 12 Reply
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Conservative talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh announced on his show this afternoon that he would begin tweeting personally on the microblogging platform. Soon after, he delivered.
http://twitchy.com/2012/03/15/rush-limbaugh-enters-the-twitter-fray/
Media Matters and other Soros paid attack dogs, are not about media, liberal causes, etc. Soros supports “liberal causes” to keep the MSM off his back. He is the dirtiest capitalist of all – money speculator. He cares about nothing, he creates nothing, just plays the market to enrich himself, while bringing destitution to uncounted people, and countries as well. He created Media Matters with sole purpose – to protect himself by attacking media personalities who come out against him, the rest is just a bit of disguise. Beck had guts to attempt to expose Soros, so he had to go. Now Limbaugh is attacked because Soros consider him a danger for himself and his operation; nothing to do with Fluke or protecting women rights whatsoever. It’s all only about Soros’s comfort.
The self declared liberals at the Media Matters are just tools at the service of Soros, the nastiest money bag in existence at the moment. I bet they know it, judging buy their habitual hypocrisy, that’s Media Matters’ and the rest of the lefty medias’ middle name.
Why Soros buys services of the lefties? They are majority of the media and he knows they can be bought. How he knows they can be bought? Moral relativity is the second name of the so called ‘liberals’, so they can always excuse their own greed while covering it up with “universal justice” slogans.
[…] secondary boycott of Rush Limbaugh advertisers is portrayed in the media as a reaction to a groundswell of public outrage. In fact, the secondary […]
[…] As Professor Jacobson observes: “There is no equivalent of Media Matters on the conservative side, a well-funded […]
[…] know this was just a short clip, but I wonder if she ever mentioned the astroturf campaign that Media Matters implemented while trying to make it look like advertisers were just leaving of […]
“There is no equivalent of Media Matters on the conservative side…”
Perhaps that’s because we don’t believe in silencing the opposition.
Let them speak – it reveals them for what they are.
[…] At Legal Insurrection (HT Instapundit): Media Matters astroturfed the Limbaugh secondary boycott […]
[…] blog post, written by Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson, highlights non-profit Media Matters as a […]
[…] actually created in 2009, but stayed inactive until the Sandra Fluke controversy boiled over (via Legal Insurrection): I started Stop Rush in 2009, 2010, and when I went to register the domain, I saw that Rush owned […]
Freedom of speech is absolute, I don’t disagree there at all. But it doesn’t mean I have to listen, or remain mute when Rush pornography invades my airspace. If a majority of people are offended and decide to pressure an advertiser, that’s democracy in action. You just don’t like it when it hurts on your end.
[…] Professor Jacobson, exposed the astroturfing by Media Matters yesterday, I and some other bloggers began sending the […]
[…] At Legal Insurrection (HT Instapundit): Media Matters astroturfed the Limbaugh secondary boycott […]
[…] by a bunch of Democrat activists. Tapscott also highlights the story confirmed last week, that the allegedly nonpartisan Media Matters led the boycott charge against Rush Limbaugh. Carbonite’s Democrat owner turned out, in that case, to have been a useful idiot in the […]
[…] alleged “mass exodus” of Rush Limbaugh Show advertisers. William Jacobson over at LegalInsurrection.com lays down the wood on the “Stop Rush” effort, which was a pre-packaged campaign […]
[…] thinking about cancelling, don’t tell them it was because their progressive CEO is part of some astro-turfed outrage orchestrated by Media Matters against Rush Limbaugh, tell them you have had technical problems or…that you no longer even have a computer to back up […]
[…] are the details: Media Matters astroturfed the Limbaugh secondary boycott The secondary boycott of Rush Limbaugh advertisers is portrayed in the media as a reaction to a […]
[…] truth about who really went after Limbaugh advertisers. The Legal Insurrection article by William A. Jacobson Associate Clinical Professor, Cornell Law School show just how […]
[…] The good Professor over at Legal Insurrection exposed the Rush boycott for what it is, his article went viral when mentioned on the Rush Limbaugh […]
[…] Media Matters is proving what we all knew: The grassroots campaign against Limbaugh is Media Matters astroturf, funded and stoked by George Soros’ $1 million donation for a war on conservative media, and […]
[…] had its astroturf campaign against Rush just sitting on a shelf collecting dust was uncovered by Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection on March 15, 2012. Lefties tried to laugh off the astroturf charge, but two days ago an excellent bit of […]
[…] in 8 cities calling on citizens to force the talk radio star off the air. The ad buy is part of a carefully coordinated war that the left is carrying out against Limbaugh as they seek to silence one of the major […]
With the exception of this partial line (i.e., “While much of the public outcry against Limbaugh”), a well written and accurate post.