Day 1 part 1 and part 2 , Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 part 1 and part 2 of this trial were covered in March, 2014 (write-ups by me at links).
Day 5 will be written up later, as writing it up may affect the trial…
Day 7 part 1 is here – sorry about having had to chop this up into short little bits, it seems my original write up was too long for WordPress to format correctly.
We re-join the action as Mr. Frankel, ‘the CCLA guy’ is cross examining Dr. Baglow.
Much of the next bit of cross examination was designed to demonstrate to the judge just how internet forums worked. The post ‘Yokels with pitchforks’ was used as an example…
In is my strong impression that Dr. Baglow feels really, really badly about having used this phrase. Not because it insults right-wingers, but because as an avowed blue-collar people defender he is supposed to be protective of our agricultural workers (I do believe this was the turn of phrase he used) and using the negative stereotype of the rural farmers as a smear against his ideological enemies comes dangerously close to lifting the proverbial curtain and revealing the champagne socialist behind it…
It is also my strong impression that Mr. Frankel noticed Dr. Baglow’s discomfort with having so bared his prejudices against our rural neighbours and agricultural workers and that this is precisely why he selected the ‘Yokels with pitchforks’ post as an example.
It is also my strong impression that Dr. Baglow understood perfectly well that Mr. Frankel saw through him and that that is why he elected to use this post as an example of ‘nesting’, as he (Dr. Baglow, that is) flushed and chuckled to try to hide his discomfort.
As I said before – look out for Mr. Frankel, he WILL become a superstar of our legal system!
This is the atmosphere in which Mr. Frankel’s cross examination of Dr. Baglow took place.
Aside:
When Ms. Kulaszka cross examined him, D. Baglow was relaxed and calm.
When Connie Fournier examined him, he assumed a patronizing drawl, an air of impatient indulgence towards a particularly dense student as he alternately said he was baffled by the facts that things he had testified could not have happened had actually happened, explained his technical arrogance ignorance and, for a man in his prime , he certainly experienced a lot of memory lapses. But, he kept his cool.
When under cross by Mr. Frankel, Dr. Baglow’s cheeks were flushed, he looked down a lot of the time and he seemed very uncomfortable in his seat.
Other blogs and bloggers were raised. Two that came up a lot were Kathy Shaidle, the Canadian poetess and the grande dame of Canadian blogosphere, for whom Dr. Baglow had visceral contempt (which I found surprising, as she is an acclaimed poetess and Dr. Baglow has his doctorate in poetry – I would have thought there might have been room for some common ground there) and Kate McMillan of Small Dead Animals (SDA).
Disclosure: when I first started blogging, it was Kathy Shaidle who reached out to me, even though we are not of the same ideological bend, welcomed me to the blogosphere and encouraged me to blog…as well as introduced me to several other bloggers. It seemed to me that she did not care about my ideology but thought that the more varied opinions on the Canadian blogosphere there are, the better for everyone. For her kindness and encouragement, I will always be grateful to her.
As for SDA – I am aware of the blog but, as I am not a fan of the format, I am really not aware of what goes on there. I just don’t have the time to follow more than a handful of blogs myself. Yet, after what I’ve heard of Kate McMillan in court, I just might stop by there and check SDA out!
It seemed that the very mention of Kathy Shaidle unsettled Dr. Baglow so much, the judge requested that Mr. Frankel go with the Kate McMillan example – which, with a satisfied smile (I saw that as he turned away from the judge and witness to permit himself that brief smile) he was happy to do. I suspect he wanted to go there all along….as that is where some rather unpleasant ‘stuff’ about Dr. Baglow came out.
A few years ago, Dr. Baglow’s partner suffered an illness, from which she eventually died. Dr. Baglow was her support, her rock – and was understandably devastated by the loss of the partner he loved. He has my deepest sympathies for his suffering and loss, which I am certain he still feels every day.
One of the people who expressed empathy to Dr. Baglow and his partner as they were undergoing these trying times was Kate McMillan of SDA.
Mr. Frankel established, through Dr. Baglow’s statements, that Kate McMillan had put aside all partisanship and supported Dr. Baglow on a human level when he needed it most. For his part Dr. Baglow said he was grateful to her – and looked quite somber and sad as he seemed to know where the questioning was heading… It seems that even though she supported him in his hour of need – human to human – Dr. Baglow had no difficulty in objectifying her as an ideological enemy, with no regard for her humanity, and calling her some truly vicious, unpleasant things.
Dr. Baglow explained that this was because they had had a ‘falling out’…
Sad, so sad…
And I suspect this was not lost on Madam Justice Polowin…
More installments coming soon!
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
June 6, 2014 at 14:54
Again, thank you for this.
When the Canadian blogosphere was first getting going there was a good deal of goodwill between right and left. That largely ended when the combination of the Lying Jackal, non-blogger Richard Warman and assorted acolytes set out on a legal jihad against assorted eighties as a result of the “Anne Cools” affair and various other matters. Lacking arguments the Left started firing off writs.
Baglow, tight with Warman, ambivalent about the Lying Jackal, was late to the party with the absurd Miss New litigation. [I have always thought it would have been entertaining for FD to have 3rd partied Miss New which would have resulted in Dawg suing himself.]
This spate of litigation poisoned the Canadian blogosphere which, I have always thought may have been intentional as it represented a threat the the let’s hold on the MSM narrative. Still does to a degree.