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As you know, the local press has been all aflutter the last few days ever since the surprise departure of conservative writer Jeff Wilson from the freewheeling Apple Cider blog.
But are the two most commonly accepted motives for Wilson’s departure the only possible explanations? Was Wilson, by his own account, simply irritated with his liberal counterpart and fellow attorney Grover Zirconia‘s “bad writing” and 
tireless advocating for the Occupy movement? Or how about the countervailing theory, that Wilson is simply weary of having his ass handed to him in debates with Zirconia and other leftie Apple Cider denizens?
No, says my personal secret law-enforcement source, who demands and is granted anonymity for no particular reason! Apparently there is a lot more to it, and it looks like it may be much more sinister and colorful – this fracas has many of the markings of an initiation ritual for one of those notoriously ferocious gangs of right-wing bloggers, such as that pictured… to the right.
The evidence, or as much of it as my source feels comfortable sharing, is circumstantial but certainly enough to give one pause.
Law enforcement sources see the fingerprints of feared conservative gang leader Jon Fleischman all over this case.
In short, early Thursday afternoon witnesses saw a white Toyota Corolla, model year 2000 to 2003, parked in a Costa Mesa alley around the corner from Wilson’s law firm, and overheard two men inside arguing heatedly. This vehicle is registered to none other than the Flash Report’s Jon Fleischman, the widely feared enforcer of conservative, anti-labor orthodoxy in the California GOP, the rightwing blogosphere, and elsewhere.
Afterwards, Wilson was observed departing the car, slumped and shaken, walked into the nearest bar, ordered a scotch, pulled out his laptop and began typing, while visibly weeping. This was 2PM on Thursday, precisely when Wilson’s farewell post was filed.
And moments after Wilson’s post appeared on computer screens across the county and state, four pudgy thirty–something white men in suits drove slowly by the pub in a convertible, honking and singing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”
Even if this evidence leads nowhere, the very fact that we are suspecting the involvement of Conservative Blogger Gangs (CBG’s) speaks volumes to the reign of terror they’ve held us under, and itself justifies draconian measures against them. I’m thinking of anywhere two or more of these characters congregate together – Red County, the Flash Report, BigGovernment.Com, HotAir, RedState. If a conservative blogger cannot feel free to consort with his ideological opponents without fear of gruesome retaliation, all these CBG’s must be broken up altogether for the vibrancy of our democratic discourse!
Is it irresponsible to speculate this way? No! As Peggy Noonan once memorably wrote in reference to the equally weighty matter of Bill Clinton’s sex life, “It is irresponsible NOT to speculate.”
I always thought it would have been Clemenza, not Willis.
Too bad he didn’t remember to tell you it wasn’t PERSONAL – just BUSINESS.
I should have known it was Fleischzini all along.
Stop it
My anonymous source over at the Apple Juice Press contend that Martha Wilson is upset that she will be handing Mr. Wilson his ass on her own now. That’s going to be a heavy lift for her.
Have you ever been stuck next to a drunken, rambling, middle-aged, conservative hate monger at the bar? It’s not a pretty sight. It’s very uncomfortable.
Nice way to thank someone who actually increased the number of hits for this blog and, as Vern himself admitted, put a little more money in his pocket. Class all the way ladies and gentlemen. But I know it’s in your liberal DNA – you just can’t help yourself when a conservative bests you.
Relax Newbie, this is a good-natured, back-handed tribute. I hope Geoff at least enjoys it…
Meanwhile we’re carrying on his Craigslist tradition – it really works!
I guess I missed all those “good-natured, back-handed” tributes to other Juice bloggers that have left. My mistake.
Such as? Even Larry hasn’t said he’s left. He did an RDA football-spiking post last week. And we rag on Art and Sean all the time, maybe more than we should.
Yeah? And exactly how did Geoff best ANYONE on his gang initiation story?
I’m not a liberal. Wilson is a punk.
The operative words in “a little more money” are the first two.
Look, I hope that Geoff enjoys creating his own version of the Powerline blog. I will probably read it and critique it. I didn’t try to make him leave; I just took what he was writing seriously enough to give it the sort of criticism it deserved.
Not everyone appreciates that.
hey, its mlk day, can’t we all just get along
William,
You must have mistaken the OC blogesphere for a place where serious issues are discussed.
I think the fact that more people like to write about a failed blogger than a humanitarian “Dream” Speaks volumes. Vern, you have work to do with your audience here in the O. C. Rather pitiful.
Why does Bushala think that “Wilson” is a punk?
How do I contact Ms. Ass Burger?
I can hook you up.
She did a nice piece on the origins of Boxing Day last year…
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2010/12/a-brief-history-of-boxing-day/
“Wilson,” without knowing a single fact, slandered Kelly Thomas as a drug-crazed thief who assaulted FPD cops. It was all lies peddled by the FPD and happily passed along by slugs like Willis, er, I mean Wilson. If he ever retracted or apologized for this, I missed it.
Tony tony tony. Paying Chris Thompson to harass Fullerton residents into signing a recall petition or he’ll beat them up? So which candidates have you lined up to run who will bow fealty to you? Bet you got them cheap.
Yeah, In The Know! 1600+ signatures, when all that was needed was about 1000. I think that Chris Thompson scaring the hell out of Fullerton citizens had to account for at least 600 or 700 of those signatures.
That didn’t take long for the Juice to expunge any evidence of Geoff’s posts. Interestingly, I did find Art’s last post still on the Juice. But that goes along with my other comment about this nice “homage” reserved only for his exit and not others.
Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout — Willis? His posts, such as this last one on the gang initiation hypothesis related to the recent serial killings, are still alive and kicking in the archive. Only one post, to my knowledge, was pulled — and that only temporarily, to allow for a cooling off period that had nothing to do with Geoff. When you say “any evidence of Geoff’s posts,” what precisely do you mean?
You’re being nutty, Newbie. The same old conservative victimization. His posts are not on the front page because a lot of posts have been written since his last one (Jan 11) But click on the month of January, and you find this
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/01/serial-killings-may-be-part-of-gang-initiation/
and you can have access to all his posts as long as the internet exists, right here:
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/author/geoff-willis/
I already told him that. I thought you guys worked together.
You guys feel like you’ve been “bested” by Newbie? LOL