Hillwood, Neverland and the Importance of being Honest
To explain my long silence all I can say is that surviving in the broil of lies and patriotic craziness here with little hope for a better future does not invite to a quiet analysis of Michael Jackson’s situation. It invites you to shutting yourself out and escaping from reality.
In my case the escape has taken the form of growing lilies on the window-sill and weeks spent on redesigning my garden, which also involved ordering a crazy number of new plants and will need a crazy amount of time for planting them in spring. This still has to be coped with, but at the very least it will be a distraction.
Why am I telling you this? Because when studying the various gardens in search for new ideas and harmonious color schemes Michael Jackson somewhat reminded me of himself – the garden that incidentally came my way demanded a comparison with Neverland and once again testified to a huge distortion in public perception of everything Michael did or didn’t do. Simultaneously the life story of the garden’s owner opened my eyes to some incredible details in our joint (Russian/American) history as well as the reality we now live in.
There is even something supernatural in this accidental chain of uncovering the truth – you look for one thing and find another and at some point all of it fuses together into one knot which gets untangled as if by some magic resulting in a totally new perception of things. And surprisingly, very often it is Michael Jackson who is the key to open the door to this new reality.
Let me no longer speak in riddles and explain how the incredibly different subjects fused together and came to be brought in one post.
HILLWOOD
The whole thing started with Hillwood garden in Washington D.C. the photos of which were found in some Russian blog. The blogger was in awe of the splendor of the garden and elegance of the various artwork collected by the owner of Hillwood estate, Marjorie Merriweather Post.
Marjorie Merriweather Post turned out to be a leading American socialite, who was famous for her lavish lifestyle, business acumen, four husbands, philanthropy, a fabulous collection of art and jewelry that used to belong to French and Russian nobility and for her unlimited wealth – she had several homes with an average of 100 rooms each and according to Wiki the net worth of her estate in today’s money is estimated at $5 billion.
Most of her money was amassed during the Great Depression in the US when people couldn’t afford coffee and had it replaced with a drink devised by Marjorie’s father called Postum (which was actually considered a healthier replacement as it was made of cereals).
Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was a leading American socialite and the founder of General Foods, Inc.
She was the daughter of C. W. Post and Ella Letitia Merriweather. At age 27, when her father died, she became the owner of the rapidly growing Postum Cereal Company, founded in 1895. She was subsequently the wealthiest woman in the United States, with a fortune worth about $250 million.
Though a shrewd businesswoman and dedicated philanthropist, the cereal heiress is most remembered for her extravagant tastes, which included many lavish homes and possessions.
In 1925 she built the largest apartment in New York history, with 54 rooms – including one room for ball gowns and a cold-storage room for furs – spread out over three floors.
The lobby of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s triplex overlooking Central Park in New York. Post leased it for 15 years at $6,250 a month. Photo: http://nymag.com/realestate/features/apartments/
Her 126-room Mar-A-Lago mansion in Palm Beach was built two years later. In 1985 it was purchased from the Post Family Trust by Donald Trump, who reopened it as a private club.
Post and her second husband, E. F. Hutton, owned Sea Cloud, the largest privately owned sea-going yacht in the world at the time. She also owned Camp Topridge in the Adirondacks, which she considered a “rustic retreat”. It included a fully staffed main lodge and private guest cabins, each staffed with its own butler. The expansive Great Camp, built in 1923 eventually contained nearly 70 buildings on 300 acres.
The home Post shared with her third husband Joseph Davies in Washington, DC, was called Tregaron. Their other mansion in Long Island is now the C.W. Post College at Long Island University.
The estate Post lived in after divorcing her fourth husband was the 25-acre Hillwood in Washington, D.C. and it was opened to public in 1977 as a museum to display her extensive French and Russian art collection.
Post died on September 9, 1973, in Washington, D.C.
It is interesting that though Post was born at the end of the 19th century by the time she died Michael Jackson was already fifteen, and there was a rather long period of time they shared (like a virtual grandmother and grandson).
So in theory the lavish style that evoked admiration for the cereal heiress should have been similarly accepted for Jackson who earned his money by hard work and touring, however the media perception of them is the opposite though their lifestyles cannot be even compared – look at the 126 rooms in just one of her homes and at 10 or so in his Neverland and you will realize the difference.
But what is okay for some is not okay for others for some reason. The media is still heavily ridiculing Michael for the millions he had to spend on the upkeep of Neverland and the “two floors occupied by his entourage on tours” though to every normal person it is clear that in his situation it was a necessity, while Mrs. Post’s thirst for splendor is not even a subject for discussion though her extravagance was a pure whim, indulgence and even public affront considering that it was taking place during the Great Depression.
Actually her lavishness earned her an informal (and respectful) title of “American royalty” while Michael, the true king of people’s hearts, is forced to defend his much more reserved lifestyle even after his death.
Or take the sculptures in Marjorie Post’s garden, for example.
The more you see of them the more you realize the hypocrisy of it all – what was considered “living artfully” for her would have been called “weird fantasy” for Michael. In fact, if he had had all those sculptures Marjorie Post possessed, he would have been ripped into pieces even more than he was.
The sculptures that Michael’s haters would surely call “naked minors” were scattered all over Mrs. Post’s garden:
And these could be easily called “minors in full frontal nudity”:
And if the following pieces had been in Neverland they would have made the central piece of “evidence” against their owner as these are apparently “young boys with their genitalia exposed”, and with some “weird” legs at that:
Photos 1, 2, 4-6: http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/2991253/post307189574/
And what would the media say if Neverland had the following sculpture of a boy with a horn to his mouth? I am even afraid to think of their comments:
Actually there are many, many more statues of children all over Hillwood:
Photos 4, 7-8: http://happywonderer.com/tag/hillwood-estate/
And as an icing on a cake there is a statue of “adolescent Eros” right in front of the house!
This statue of adolescent Eros is placed in the frontal part of the estate as if welcoming new arrivals and inviting them to this den of sin with a cunning little look on his face (joke).
But seriously, guys, if we forget for a moment that the adolescent Eros and other “naked minors” were in the garden of a successful socialite and imagine them in Neverland instead, what would be the result?
The media would be hysterical and haters would demand explanations “Why children-why naked-why so many???” The attackers would be digging up the names of ancient sculptors to prove that they were boy-lovers (and the owner of the estate was obliged to know it!) and the defenders would have to counter the attacks by feeble excuses that these are objects of art anyone can possess – the argument which will be readily laughed at and dismissed by the critics.
You will agree that the picture is realistic, but isn’t this reality totally preposterous too?
The book seized from Michael as “evidence” of I don’t know what
The constant need to explain most innocent situations in Michael’s life is indeed ridiculous – like, for example, having to explain why some fan sent Michael a book portraying boys playing on the beach and why another book of photos bore his inscription that this is the joyful life he would want for his children (both seized by Tom Sneddon as some “evidence”).
No nonsense like that is said about the Hillwood sculptures, however the horror of this double standard seems to be escaping people’s attention.
This example is also an illustration of how easy it is to blow things out of proportion, distort public perception and create a myth, and do it totally artificially beginning with the allegations proper in the first place.
This intentional malice is seen best when you compare what the media says about the Neverland sculptures with the bronze figures per se. The innocent sculptures portray boys and girls engaged in usual kids’ activities like riding a bicycle, playing with a dog, climbing bars and so on. However what is said about them is absolutely no joke.
NEVERLAND AND THE MEDIA
A recent article dated May 2015 referred to the Neverland lovely statues as “the craziest and most bizarre things on Michael Jackson’s property”. The text accompanying the photos is disgusting – it openly exploits the theme of “young boys”, presents the place as “crazy”, “creepy” and “bizarre” and mentions the 2003 molestation accusations saying no word about Michael’s full acquittal.
The idiocy of the text becomes obvious when you see the statues and compare word with reality, however the apparent discord doesn’t stop a certain Abigail Elise from repeating the old mantras. Her task is simple – to refresh the old lies earlier planted into people’s minds and not allow any different perception of Neverland from the one suggested by the media.
Neverland Ranch For Sale: Photos Of The Craziest And Most Bizarre Things On Michael Jackson’s Property
BY ABIGAIL ELISE ON 05/29/15 AT 1:10 PM
Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch is on the market for $100 million. Check out some of the most bizarre structures on the 2,700-acre property.
Photos taken in July of last year by Vice revealed that many of the property’s creepy features still exist — a water tower with a young boy sitting on a crescent moon, a carousel, a swing ride, the park’s train tracks, a cotton candy stand, a fake fortune teller, a full-sized Ferris wheel, a rotating ride known as “the Zipper,” and even a red and white-striped circus tent.
The property’s private zoo and amusement park are no longer in operation, but many structures and bizarre statues remain.
A bronze statue of a young boy with a dog stands sits abandoned on the grounds of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California on July 3, 2009.
This statue of a young boy riding a bicycle is one of many bronze sculptures that depict young children at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California on July 3, 2009.PHOTO: REUTERS
Two bronze sculptures of young boys playing on a small jungle gym sits on the grounds of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California on July 3, 2009.PHOTO: REUTERS
Jackson had a copper bathtub inside his 12,000 square-foot home on the Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California. After the 2003 investigation that accused the singer of child molestation, he claimed he didn’t want to live on the property anymore. Photo taken on July 3, 2009. PHOTO: REUTERS
What does a copper bathtub have to do with this story about “young boys”, except that it is making some thinly veiled innuendoes? The text is not only suggestive and biased, but is also factually wrong – the photos in Vice it refers to were taken in Neverland in 2007-2008 when Michael was still alive as three trespassers who raided the property at night explained and certainly not in “July of last year” as the author claims.
One of those three photographers (Jonathan H.) who broke into Neverland on several occasions had the courage to tell the real story and disprove the media verdict that “Neverland is the weirdest place on Earth”. It took him some time to write a kind of a confession in which he said that he couldn’t resist going to Neverland again and again, as he felt it to be a place to escape to from the world of cynicism and terror. He added that everything he saw there indicated that Michael was an innocent man.
Here are some quotes from his outstanding account:
“I’m writing this simply to tell a story. It’s a story that I didn’t really have the inclination to say before. Now that Michael’s “Ranch” no longer exists, and — rides dismantled — it simply stands as a bank-owned shadow of its former self, I wanted say a few things about my experience at Neverland, and the truth behind how I was able to get in.
In many ways, I feel this is sort of a confession. [..] As I write this, I still try to justify my actions by thinking how much Michael truly wanted to share his world. It was a genuine wish of his for everyone to understand things the way he did. And the world largely didn’t understand what he was trying to communicate with Neverland, so he abandoned it.
People have asked me over the past year what it felt like to be in Neverland at night, alone. Others asked me how I felt about Michael, after seeing Neverland, but I couldn’t completely answer that […].
Everything I saw at the Ranch indicated to me that he was an innocent man.
The times I spent at Neverland are among the most memorable moments of my life. Neverland allowed me to escape the cynical, xenophobic world of a country mired in war, terrorism, and daily reports of suicide bombers. They may have been only a few nights of escapism, at best, but they allowed me to put myself in the shoes of Michael — moon walking my own way among the soon-to-end dreamscape of a truly magnanimous soul. May you rest in peace, Michael; your dream will live on.”
http://www.terrastories.com/bearings/goodbye-michael-jackson
The above piece is little known as the media promotes their standard story about “young boys” repeated by Abigail Elise last year, so it is all the more interesting to know the real message that Michael’s Neverland conveyed to a trespasser who despite all the surreal circumstances of his night visits could still manage to see it as a joyful and safe place and Michael’s dreamworld about a much better humanity.
Many are wondering why Michael was so nervous and anxious in the few months before his death. Putting aside the role of AEG Live in his situation just look at the media headlines in spring 2009 regarding the Neverland auction (arranged by Tohme without Michael’s authorization) and you will realize that the media nastiness alone could bring him to a brink of a nervous breakdown.
At that time he was only beginning to get over the shock of the trial, and though he was fully acquitted on all counts, it turned out that all the sacrifice and torture of it were in vain as in March-April 2009 it started all over again.
The ugly headlines were loud and hysterical and capitalized on the theme of “young boys” who were “naked” in the opinion of some media which was in full defiance with reality as the statues are actually the quintessence of innocence:
Neverland Filled With Booty Hole Naked Sculptures Of Boys??
Bossip (March 13, 2009): “No “man” should be surrounded by those types of items. Jacko is just a disgusting bottomless pit of pure pedophilia.”
A bronze statue of three children fishing in the creek behind the main house. Photo: AP
Neverland Was Filled with Sculpted Boys
TMZ (March 12, 2009) Michael Jackson has fired off another legal attack in the hopes of keeping his personal creepy stuff from Neverland off of the auction block — but these legal papers come fully equipped with an item-by-item breakdown of every bizarre, disturbing item on his property. Warning: It gets weird…
Jackson’s Neverland Ranch Filled With Statues of Small Boys
Zimbio.com: It’s no surprise the former king of pop is trying to kill the auction, especially after TMZ released an alleged list of all the items set to be sold. The list includes 2,952 items, many of them works of art, including statues of young boys. The guy really loves little boys, not exactly surprising.
JACKSON’S CREEPY CHILDREN STATUES COLLECTION
GlamourVanity.com: Checking out the new photos of the auctioned stuff I freaked out in seeing these children statues that, judging by the pics, were placed in the garden. Looking at these statues I just can’t help but think of the pedophilia scandal Jackson was involved in 2005.
Auction of Michael Jackson’s sinister child-friendly art and toys called off
The Daily Mail: “Surreal: Bronze figures of children feature heavily in the auction.”
Photo: WENN.com
The contrast between the pictures and what the media screams about them is so evident that the liars’ only chance is that readers will not go further than the headlines and will never look at the sculptures – which is exactly what the media counts on in order to reach the desired negative effect.
Well, it’s high time they stopped making fool of themselves – their tricks and agenda are so obvious that it isn’t funny any more. These vile manipulations with the truth are already backfiring as this unjustified sneer and scorn for Jackson strips all the media of their credibility, and this will be a sort of retribution these people will bring upon their heads with their own hands.
There is nothing creepy or bizarre about the Neverland sculptures. The copy of the bronze called “Snapshot”, for example, was purchased by the city of Lakewood in 1994 as its first piece of public art. Kathy Berls, president of the Lakewood Arts Council that chose the work said that Lakewood officials had no idea who the persons the sculpture featured (and probably didn’t know that its original was in Neverland).
Copy of “Snapshot” in Lakewood
The bronze depicts young Michael with friends and was commissioned from artist Jane DeDecker 20 years ago. Its story is told by Michael’s fan (UK loves MJ):
“Jane met Michael Jackson at an arts festival in Los Angeles in 1992. She had a booth on Santa Monica Boulevard, and he stopped to admire her work. Within ten minutes they were surrounded by fans, and Michael fled. The next day he returned in disguise, bought two pieces, and visited with DeDecker for nearly an hour. After that meeting, he commissioned her to make this piece, “Snapshot,” a candid scene of Michael and his friends. He sent her photographs for the work, pictures that she still has. DeDecker put a baseball glove on Jackson’s left hand which delighted him. Says DeDecker, “I just kept everything low-key, and I think he (Jackson) wanted it that way. He was just such a kind man. He loved my work and was always so supportive of me.”
She says “Snapshot” isn’t so much about Jackson as it is about multiculturalism and youth. “And that is still paramount.”
Characters in the sculpture, from the left: Gary Coleman holding a camera; a friend of the sculptor’s; Brandi Jackson Michael’s niece; Janet Jackson Michael’s sister standing; Macaulay Culkin; Michael Jackson; and Brett Ratner a film maker friend of Jackson’s drinking a Coke. The little boy at the rear is a friend of the artist.
The original work is in Michael’s Neverland sculpture garden. The bronze in Lakewood is a copy [..].
The same fan tells the story of the Neverland “Circle of Peace” sculpture. It was created by Utah artist Gary Price, who said that it was “a popular piece of artwork” which “is commissioned in three, five and seven children making up the circle”. So the piece was not made specially for Michael Jackson and is quite popular with other customers too (are all of them “weird” I wonder?).
The idea behind the circle of children playing is beautiful and is actually the essence of everything Michael believed in:
“A beautiful piece chosen by Michael, the life-sized bronze sculpture depicts children from different ethnic backgrounds, including a child with Down syndrome, holding hands in a game of Ring Around the Rosie. Artist Price described the work as ‘Portraying children from all walks of life playing with and enjoying each other. The circle that the children form represents the continuum of humanity. The clasped hands represent the interaction and cooperation, together with compassion and respect, which engenders humanity. Respect for each other’s uniqueness bridges the gap between any indifference.
“I created a space in the circle and it is fascinating to watch children interact with the piece. Quickly, they notice the gap and instantly clasp the two outstretched hands and complete the circle. Each and every person is a vital element in this wonderful circle of life’. This piece is a popular piece of artwork and is commissioned in 3.5. and 7 children making up the circle.”
The ‘Circle of Peace’ has been returned to Neverland and now surrounds a bed of flowers.”
The Circle of Peace is back in Neverland
Only complete cynics can claim that those innocent figures may be suggestive of any filth. And the sculptures in Neverland are definitely a much more pleasing sight than some in Marjorie Post’s collection:
Statues of “small boys” in Hillwood gardens
Hillwood gardens. Dog cemetery
These are of course not the best Hillwood estate specimen as the majority of its artwork is indeed first-class.
To name only a few there are ancient icons, French furniture, tapestry and porcelain there, two Faberge eggs, a diamond diadem that once belonged to Napoleon’s wife and the nuptial crown worn by the last Russian empress at her wedding ceremony.
And this is exactly the point that brings us to another side of the story – the way Mrs. Post acquired those gorgeous objects of art, at least those of them associated with the Imperial Russia, the ones her collection started with at all.
THE COLLECTION
No, no, there was nothing criminal there. Marjorie Post officially got them from the Soviet government that was mindlessly selling the national treasures at minimal prices hoping that this way they would get hard currency for ‘industrialization’ of the country. The money collected was scarce while the losses for museums were colossal, however this was happening mostly in 1929-1933 after which this horrible practice was supposed to cease.
However Mrs. Post acquired her objects of art much later and it is the years when it took place that is giving me shudders. The years were 1937-1938 when her third husband, James Davies was an US Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
Outsiders wouldn’t certainly know what this period meant for our history. This was the time of the biggest Stalin purges when more than 700,000 innocent people were shot dead (1000 people a day for two years) and several million more died in labor camps where they were sent on framed-up charges. The years are called the time of Terror … but what does it have to do with Marjorie Merriweather Post?
I had no idea either and Wiki explained it, and the explanation will be no less interesting to you than it was to me (same as to some Stalin’s apologists if there any here):
A portrait of Marjorie Merriweather Post at the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.
“In 1935 Post married her third husband, Joseph E. Davies, a Washington, DC, lawyer. Before the couple divorced in 1955, they lived in the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1938, while he served as the second American ambassador to the Soviet Union. During this time, Davies and Post acquired many valuable Russian works of art from Soviet authorities.
During the 1930s, the Soviet government under Joseph Stalin began selling art treasures and other valuables seized from the Romanov family and former Russian aristocrats after the Russian revolution to earn hard currency for its industrialization and military armament programs.
Critics have claimed that these items were expropriated; however, Post and Davies’s transactions were from the recognized governmental authority. Neither she nor Davies was involved with the original seizing of the items.
Allegations later surfaced that many works of art from the Tretyakov Gallery and other collections were either donated or offered at nominal prices to Post and Davies, who were both art collectors.
Davies is also alleged to have purchased art expropriated from Soviet citizens well after the Russian Revolution, including victims of Stalin’s Terror at discount prices from Soviet authorities.
A word about Mrs. Post’s husband – Joseph Davies:
While Davies’ predecessor, William Christian Bullitt, Jr. had been an admirer of the Soviet Union who gradually came to loathe Stalin’s brutality and repression, Davies remained unaffected by news of the disappearance of thousands of Russians and foreigners in the Soviet Union throughout his stay as U.S. Ambassador. His reports were pragmatic, optimistic, and usually devoid of criticism of Stalin and his policies.
Davies attended the Trial of the Twenty One, one of the Stalinist purge trials of the late 1930s. Despite widespread evidence to the contrary, he was convinced of the guilt of the accused, although he was a lawyer himself. His opinions were at odds with most of the non-Stalinist press of the day, as well as those of his own staff, many of whom had been in the country far longer than Davies. The career diplomat Charles Bohlen, who served under Davies in Moscow, later wrote:
“Ambassador Davies was not noted for an acute understanding of the Soviet system, and he had an unfortunate tendency to take what was presented at the trial as the honest and gospel truth. I still blush when I think of some of the telegrams he sent to the State Department about the trial.”
For some unknown exploits (possibly, a friendship with the regime) Stalin awarded Davies with the Order of Lenin, the highest form of distinction in the Soviet Union. Considering all that, as well as Davies’s undisputedly benign attitude to the tyrant and the couple’s passion for collecting art I wouldn’t be surprised if the allegations about donations to them or sale of treasures at nominal prices were actually true – especially since by that moment the sell-out practice had long ceased and no one else but them were allowed to buy.
However even this is not an end to the story. Wiki refers to a certain book by Tim Tzouliadis called “The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin’s Russia” which says that Ambassador Davis also had a surprisingly indifferent attitude to the fate of his own countrymen who found themselves trapped in the SU.
This was something completely novel to me and though the book itself is unavailable online (except for some pages on Amazon) the reviews of it made a thrilling read. They provided not only the details, but said that “the American Ambassador actively misinformed Roosevelt to protect his own lavish lifestyle”:
“In the 1930’s the US was going through an enormous economic decline and rampant unemployment. The USSR seemed attractive to many Americans: the country was stabilizing after the October Revolution, in the middle of what was considered a grand social experiment – the first communist country. This was exciting at the time – a young country that had just overthrown Tsarist rule and was trying a new, radical form of government. Thousands of Americans emigrated, searching for work and prosperity, feeling like the original American pioneers looking for fortune in an unknown land. They found work, brought over their families, started a prosperous immigrant society. Russia in the 30’s even had baseball leagues and English language newspapers. Henry Ford did good business with Stalin and helped him set up an automobile construction plant, manned by American engineers and workers.
In the second half of the decade, the Stalin regime started becoming more paranoid, arresting and detaining some of the original revolutionaries in its drive to consolidate its power. This process would become completely unhinged as the years went by, leading to the arrest of hundreds of thousands of people — including the American immigrants. Many of them ended up in the Gulag “corrective labor camps” – concentration camps in Northeast Russia, mainly there to mine gold and later uranium in the most horrible circumstances. The vast majority of the prisoners died within a few months of arrival, necessitating ever more new prisoners to keep the gold flowing. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the amount of people who died in those camps.
Meanwhile, the American embassy in Moscow was completely ineffectual in trying to protect US citizens or get them released from the Gulag system. One American ambassador [Davies] actively misinformed Roosevelt to protect his own lavish lifestyle. The fact that most of the immigrant Americans were forced to release their passports and take on Russian nationality didn’t help. The end result is that thousands upon thousands of Americans were basically abandoned to their fate.”
French drawing-room in Hillwood. PHOTO: http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/about-hillwood/mansion/french-drawing-room
The Economist:
“The real value of his book is in chronicling the extraordinarily supine behaviour of American bureaucrats and politicians towards the fate of their fellow-countrymen. Even before their arrest, most of the Americans were, in effect, prisoners: with their passports confiscated they were involuntary Soviet citizens. But the only people who might have helped saw no reason to do so. Diplomats in America’s newly established embassy in Moscow regarded all the migrants as communist sympathisers who had thrown in their lot with the system. Some were, but many were not. Yet the diplomats put every obstacle and delay in the way of desperate people who were risking instant arrest for even contacting the embassy, for example by demanding that fees for replacement passports be paid in dollars at a time when possession of hard currency was a criminal offence.
America’s ambassador, Joseph Davies, was an idle, gullible, Stalin-loving art collector. When the case of a missing American was half-heartedly raised by a subordinate, he promptly apologised to the Russians. Even when Americans working as locally hired staff at the embassy were arrested, nobody complained. George Kennan, a diplomat, eventually realised what was happening and wrote an eloquent memo. But nobody acted.
A handful of survivors returned to tell their story to an often disbelieving public. Mr Tzouliadis has unearthed scandalous nuggets from the American archives. In that sense, he is right in his comforting assertion that “the truth, although it may be initially disbelieved, will always surface eventually.” http://www.economist.com/node/11880197
Marjorie Post portrayed as Marie Antoinette. Hillwood museum
Davies and his heiress wife at the time, Marjorie Merriweather Post, come across as decadent royalists of the let-them-eat-cake variety.
Davies is best known for his embarrassingly gushing book, Mission to Moscow, which endorsed the Moscow show trials as legitimate and was made into a wartime movie by Warner Brothers.
Post, for her part, spent most of her time in Russia buying up art and antique treasures that had been plundered from the murdered or exiled aristocracy. They now fill up her Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC, open for public viewing.
The reviewers also add that during those years –
“Davies was courting personal favors from Stalin and his henchmen, while at the same time he and Marjorie were cruising the Baltic in one of Marjorie’s yachts and buying up Russian national treasures looted by the Bolsheviks in the early days of the revolution”.
Well, to me this couple comes across as extremely pragmatic opportunists whose personal comfort was on the top of their priority list and who could turn a blind eye to any atrocity or be easily convinced that they were justified as long as they had a chance to maintain their royal lifestyle and replenish their collection with unique objects of art. What a great illustration that elegant greed and powerful brutality can make perfect friendship and go together even despite the difference of political systems in their yards.
And this factor somehow doesn’t allow me to fully enjoy the beauty of those Hillwood exhibits and makes the simple bronze figures of children in Michael’s Neverland much more heart-warming and dearer than all the treasures in Mrs. Post’s house – even despite the media efforts to prove otherwise.
Another thing that caught my eye is that in contrast to Davies who lived in Soviet Russia for two years and still didn’t realize or care who Stalin was, the much more perceptive and caring Jackson who was there a couple of days only half a century later nevertheless noticed the long and lingering shadow of the deceased tyrant. And though the year 1993 was the time of his own worst personal trouble he was still worried and sang in his “Stranger in Moscow”:
“Stalin’s tomb won’t let me be…”
You may wonder why I raised here the matters so uncharacteristic for this blog. The first reason is that the ghost has turned out to be very much alive and this is a source of worry for me too.
Another reason is that people should know the truth no matter in what way, shape or form it is coming. To me these small bits and pieces came in the strangest assortment possible and it is in the same way that I am relating them to you too.
And one more factor is a slowly growing understanding that we have probably been gathered by Michael not only because of the need to defend his good name. Most of us are intolerant to lies and this is why we are here in the first place. But this may also be Michael’s message to us all – now that you’ve found each other try to fight lies and make people understand that there is nothing more valuable than the truth.
His own fate showed that lies are lethal. Lies are not just mere trifles to be used at people’s whim for someone’s entertainment, profit, ratings or convenience. Lies kill. They kill separate individuals like Michael or whole masses of people while corrupting or at least confusing everyone else. And there is no end to this process unless the truth stops it. Truth is the only power on earth that may be a barrier to this slide to destruction and the only force that can also pacify and heal.
And this is probably the main reason for this post.
Vindicating Michael 
What an excellent article. I also believe Michael was discriminated against greatly
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Guys, thanks for your comments. The torch with the light of love we got from Michael is very necessary at the moment of terror happening again in Brussels and Istanbul and Ankara, and we have to pass it on as a very valuable gift to heal the world.
As to the latest news of the Sony/ATV sale there will probably come a post from Helena at some time, but for the moment I would agree with our friend Lou of the Nonlocaluniverse blog to study the matter before expressing an opinion: https://nonlocaluniverse.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/the-music-industry-sony-mj-estate-and-sonyatv-catalog-2/
Right now I am working on a post with a different subject matter which I hope to have ready for publication tomorrow.
Now have a look at the people of Brussels uniting to sing “Heal the world” yesterday:
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You were caring a torch with the light of love,not just in time of crises but all the time.Your mission was to to heal the world to heal the planet to nurture the new seeds we call our children.We torture you,we called you names,we broke your heart,we broke your spirit,angel of love,we the humans your brothers and sisters,we took away your life and we feel the lost the emptiness.Were is the love gone in our world? Michael we miss you now more than ever.We need you now more than ever. Does God punishes us because we gave up loving each other?What can we do to bring the world together you use to do it so easily,you loved us all unconditional,no religion no race no color no politics.LOVE AND PEACE
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I found out a couple of days ago,but i don’t know how to feel about it.As far as i know Michael hold on to the catalog very tight,in a way it was a curse for him,too many people were after him and he was afraid for his life all the time because of it,but still din’t sell it,and selling it know i don’t know.Lets see what their gonna do know.Paris shes gonna be eighteen next month,i don’t know if they have a say on anything,but the 20%that Michael left in his will for charity maybe their ‘ll do something with Neverland! Maybe if he had sold it then he would be alive today! I don’t know its just said that something he hold on to it despite everything gone now.Love you all.PEACE.
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The Estate has done it at last. It has effectively bulldozed Michael’s ownership of the Sony ATV catalogue. http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/arts-and-entertainment/music/sony-to-pay-michael-jacksons-estate-us750m-for-stake-in-music-catalogue-20160315-gnjffp This is ddusgusting.
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Great post! Thanks for pointing out, once again, the deep media hypocrisy. As MJ sang, “Anything for money!”
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Recently happened to see Thomas Barrack on CNN praising Trump.We all recall him as employer of Thome-Thome and the Neverland-sycamore deal.
BTW Michaels sculptures of childen are beutifukl.alive and fun.
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This isvalid e-mail.
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@D.Koutris: Oh thank you very much for clarifying this and for your time-consuming efforts. So both our memories were wrong – I thought it was about Debbie and you thought it was about Helena, lol. But now as you mention LunaJo I remember it, I also heard it, and you are right. LunaJo does a great job with her videos.
And let me tell you it’s admiring how you read and listened to so much material within one year. Thanks for being here!
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Hello there,i just wanna tell you that i miss understood the name about Thom Mesereau mentioning Helena on the King Jordan radio show.I sat down listen to about five shows again,i dint know witch one it was,and it was the one from Feb 13 2015 published on Mar 11 2015 and their were talking about (LunaJo67) I installed internet about a year a go,at the start i was spending allot of time on you Tube i still do watching everything Michael Jackson,and after a wile i start searching and i found Helena’s side witch i love,and it has been almost a year that i heard that comment,so i was sure that he was talking about Helena,because the names when your listening sound very similar (Helena Luna)so i apologize i was wrong.Love to all of you.PEACE.
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@susannerb Many thanks for this. I understand. Well, it’s not big deal although i do think that judging by the titles of those posts they are quite interesting ones. The ones that are available to read are more than enough for people who still have their doubts about who Michael was and what he stood for, to reach the same decision i did: what a wonderful, unique, talented and good man he was. I will try and see if I can contact her. I am sorry tough that she had to go through this. It is a shame that people can act this way nowadays.
All of this demonstrates once again that Michael was indeed better than most of us and there will never be anyone like him. My personal opinion about him:
“A good man does not seek revenge against those who have injured him and always forgives, because at night, before going to bed, always says: “… And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”
A good man does not judge, but helps.
A good man does not feel big or important when helps others, but feels blessed because he knows that help is an honor and an uplifting opportunity.
A good man has a powerful heart and this will help him to always remain strong and will not crumble in front of difficult moments of life.
A good man sees something beautiful even in the ugliest man or thing, sees something good even in the worst man or thing or sees something of value even in the most ordinary man or thing.
A good man remains good no matter how much life throws at him and no matter how much those close to him will fail and disappoint him.
A good man will never lose hope, confidence, strength, faith, tenderness, love.”
And we all know that he was and did all of the above and much more. Bigger than life, if i may add.
Please forgive my ranting, it’s way off the topic….
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@Carmen: Oh now I see what you mean. You are right regarding the posts of lynande51. She once was one of our authors and she recently decided to close her posts because she was stalked by haters.
I am sorry about that, but that’s her decision and she has the right to do so. Perhaps you can contact her on the other blog she was writing for: https://michaeljacksonvindication2.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/announcement-to-our-readers/
and ask her if there is a way to get access to her posts on Vindicatemj. I am not sure at the moment if this is possible. I will also ask Helena about it.
@D.Koutris: That’s really great when you heard Mesereau say that. If you can remember which show it was please let me know. I know the shows are stored and can be listened to later.
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Am sorry am mend to say King Jordan.
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Hi again
Many thanks for replying back to me and doing it so quick as well! Much appreciated.
Please see below one of the posts being password restricted:
Protected: LA Times Article August 28th 1993, enter Victor Gutierrez
August 24, 2010
by lynande51
.
This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:
Password:
It might be a problem form my side only, don’t know. This is one of the many I’ve encountered so far. Mostly posts from 2010 and 2011 (that’s where I am at the moment). I should probably mention as well that I live in London, if that helps in any way?
You might not be able to help, but I just thought I’d try my luck.
Thank you very much!
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I heard with my own hears a conversation between King George and Tom Mesereau,a wile a go and George was making a statement(What about Helenas side) and Tom Meserau answered(ho yes shes doing an excellent job, i don’t know how she manage to find all this stuff shes putting a lot of work on it)Peace and Love.
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@Carmen: Thank you very much for your nice words. We are glad the blog is a source of truth to fans and other people and hope it will spread more as time passes.
Regarding you not being able to read some posts I don’t understand that because none of them are password restricted, they are all free to read. So I don’t know what’s the problem for you.
We have just closed the comment section for further commenting in the older posts because we have saved them as copies in case the blog is shut down for some reason. But all posts are free for reading.
@D.Koutris: Thank you also for your comment and your wise words about Michael and about loving families being the foundation of society.
I just think that Tom Mesereau was not talking about Helena on King Jordan Radio, he talked about Debbie Kunesh and “Reflections on the Dance”, as far as I remember. Of course I would like Tom Mesereau to endorse this blog, but I am not sure if he is aware of it.
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I feel the need to express ones more the respect i have for this side.Its all facts and truth they put it out there and you can make up your own mind.I heard Tom Mesereau on the king George radio program talking about Helena and the excellent job that she’s doing. I also heard from him that in 2016 his going to write a book about M.J.Yesterday i took my grand son swimming,to one of those recreation centers,and when we finish we went together to have a sower,we went to the women’s area.My grand son hes not four yet,and as i was drying him up this young lady come next to us,foul naked and start drying her self with a towel,spread her legs like she was the only one there.I have seen it before not to that extent,but having my grand son there for the first time it hit me.Opposite the women’s area its the mans,and fathers and their children go there from baby’s to a grown ups, women on one side for sowers and man on the other,and am thinking to myself if a man do in there,what that young lady did its so easy to describe someones private property,and i thought about Michael.Am i too naive to think that if someone describes your thinks is that a prove that they have done something wrong; after what i sow yesterday i don’t think so. And with Michael when they were putting him under anesthetic for whatever reason and we know Evan Chandler did they could have done anything they wanted to him and later in his life even worse. How you get away from this nightmare;you cannot,only if you knock you self out.it was much too much for any human been to handle.For everything i reed about Michael i cant help myself but compare,and am trying to put my self in his place(its impossible)but i try any way.I will change one think only i will keep my family little bit closer not too much i know they always wanted something from him,but so as every body else,he should have been firmer and make it clear don’t mix business with pleasure no matter what they loved him more than all the others,i would not change anything else,he wanted to make the world a better plays,and when you love humanity the children are our future,and if we cant give them the love that they deserved and the warmth of a family don’t have children.They don’t asked to come here its our choice.People talk these days like their children stopping them of the life they want to live. Family is the foundation of every human been.Good familys makes a better society and a better world,and when you have a loving childhood its your foundation,in time of need you go back and gain strength.Life is so stressful these days that we have to let our children be children,ones they loose their innocents their childhood is gone,and these days its happening away too early.When i listen to Michael talking i agree with everything he was saying,i want every child to experience a little bit of what i had and am not talking material,and you know what my Mum did hit me it dint bother me then and i laugh now for what i use to do for her to smack me. Anything else he said himself (don’t judged me if you don’t know my reasons)All i know and believe with everything i have that he was a very special human been that he hurt himself by loving others and try to give the best of him to us and he left himself last.
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Dear Helena
First of all, I would like to use this opportunity to thank you and everybody else who is helping you with this blog/website for all the hard work that you do. Really, form the bottom of my heart! Mr Michael Jackson deserves the truth to be told and you guys are doing a great job at it. I have discovered this blog about a couple of months ago and since then I have started reading all your posts, in chronological order, so that I try and understand everything that happened with him.
I have been a fan since I was 13 years old, when he first came to Romania in 1992 for a concert. When I first heard of the allegations, I was too young to understand it, but the second time, things have changed and although I did not have time to actually watch all the coverage (plus in my country there wasn’t really a coverage; only snippets here and there), I did not believe for one second that he could do something like that (don’t really know why, I just didn’t see him capable of doing something like that) and I was really happy when he was found not guilty. And now, after reading about one years’ worth of posts form this website, I know for sure he didn’t. I wasn’t a sceptical, definitely not a hater, just an average fan who trusted her own instincts and believed him not to be guilty of such abominable crimes. So again, thank you for doing this and proving to me I was right in trusting him.
Now, let me get to the point and the reason I have decided to write this comment.
There are quite a few posts that are password restricted and obviously I cannot read them and I would really like to. So, how can I go about reading them?
Thank you and I look forward to receiving a reply form you.
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Dear vindicators,
The best that we can do at this point to bring about change is to donate to Geraldine Hughes who is trying to educate the general public. She has what it takes to accomplish this project she has a production company and the connections and knowledge to make it work. Please support her: https://www.gofundme.com/qcka7mdw
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Forever more I come to realize how devastating the lies were for Michael. But then a quote comes to my mind: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” I feel that it’s just a matter of time for Michael’s truth to go through the final stage. But no matter if that happens for everyone or not, one thing is for sure: Michael will be remembered in history not for the lies that were told about him, but for the great artist and human being that he was.
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I’m afraid there is no chance to keep Neverland unless something extraordinary happens (like Colony Capital making a gift of it to Michael’s children). The Estate cannot and probably shouldn’t pay for it as the terms Tohme agreed about with Colony Capital were predatory and marauding.
We found long time ago that as a result of the so-called “saving” of Neverland Colony Capital acquired the rights of ownership for Neverland, and recently it was indeed confirmed that Michael’s rights in that Sycamore valley joint venture were purely nominal – Colony Capital could very well sell Neverland even without asking for Michael’s consent.
And now if the Estate agrees to buy it back they will have to repay:
– the original sum paid by Tom Barrack (23 million) with an added “applicable interest” to it,
– all the money on maintaining the property spent during these years (2008-2016) with an additional 14% + London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR),
– a certain “success fee” to Colony Capital of 12.5% of the net sum, but no less than $3,3mln (as Colony’s minimal profit in the deal),
– a monthly fee of $25,000 to Colony Capital “for management services” ($300,000 a year for 2008-2016),
– and possibly 10% to Tohme too if he proves in court that he has a right to it.
(http://ru.scribd.com/doc/255769393/Colony-Capital-MJ-Neverland-Deal)
It seems that even if Colony Capital sells Neverland at $75 million there will be little if anything left to the Estate after all those deductions made.
So I fully agree with the Estate that it “wouldn’t it be fiscally responsible for them to spend Michael’s children’s money on purchasing the property again.”
And when I recollect that all those conditions were only one side of Tom Barrack’s agreement with Michael and that there was a second condition to the deal – that Michael would go on an tour for AEG that eventually killed him – I cannot even imagine the Estate paying all that huge money to Colony Capital for all the “good” they did to Michael.
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Its heart breaking what Michael had to go trough.Don’t judge me he was saying if you don’t know my reasons.People should check some Greek or Italian properties, and even at schools the Greek history books and compare,or reality look how people sexualize young girls as models and so on.Michael build a small paradise for children and adults,you go there and you need nothing everything its been taken care of,no rules,no regulations freedom only having people looking for everybodys safety.Why has been tortured for everything?I remember watching his funeral and when i sow the casket and thinking to myself,an angel of love,a heart of gold,a lifeless body in there,and i was wishing for a miracle him jump out and just star moving his head to the rhythm of the music like always.Lately i have been thinking a lot about his children,these are the hardest years of their life they have been exposed to so much and if we feel angry of all the lies can you imagine how they feel?It seems to me that even after his gone for good or for bad every body wants a piece of him,still making money out of him.The man has fallen in love and people crucified him even for that.It doesn’t matter how many times Lisa Marie talked about their love life people still to this day don’t believe that they made love.Michael Jackson was one of the sexiest man alive,he could have any woman and as many as he wanted too, but Michael he wasn’t about sex he was about love making,and sex with out love it was no no for Michael like so many of us.If you love the person you with, your heart drives your body to a journey with a different destination,you don’t open a book or watch some dirty movie.Michael he wasn’t a type of a man to use women for his own pleasure.Talk about eccentric,today their were talking about it on the TV and someone pay ten million for a watch that ones belong to Brad Pitt can imagine if that was Michael!I wish they keep Neverland.He said he dint want to leave there anymore but he dint wanna let go either,it is after all were his children grew up.And i will be one of the first ones to go it doesn’t matter how much it will cost.Love you Michael love you all.PEACE
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Susannerb, I had no idea either and was amazed to find out that thousands of Americans sought work here in the first place – not to mention the fact that they shared with my countrymen the Stalin Terror. Part of Tim Tzouliadis’s book is available online and it makes a very poignant read: https://goo.gl/KkxZfQ
I’m reading it in bits and pieces and it has yet been a very true account free from any ideology and judgment. Very reserved and unbiased and describing those times in a way that you feel it happening as if today. A somewhat uncanny effect.
Here is a photo of American baseball players in Gorky park:
More about them here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3556836/The-Forsaken-Americans-in-Stalins-gulags.html
Yes, opportunistic is a good word to describe them. I will add it to the text.
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Helena, this double standard is so true. And it’s so solidified that people don’t think about it anymore. They just regard everything Michael Jackson as bizarre.
We also have a bronze statue of 3 children of different sizes holding each other at the main entrance of our children’s hospital. It always looked to me very similar to those of Neverland. But nobody would ever get the idea to call them “bizarre”.
What an interesting piece of history you told us about American citizens who emigrated to the USSR in the 30ies of last century during the Great Depression – and then the consequences for them! I wasn’t aware of that.
The behavior of this couple shows that people who act only to their own beneft, without caring about others and about honesty, can be found everywhere. I wouldn’t only call them pragmatic, but rather opportunists. They are not the ones who make the world a better place.
The problem with the lies is also that it is not enough to not allow them, but they also need to be sanctioned. For example we know of so many cases where people lied under oath in Michael’s case – evidentially – but nothing happened to them. What sense does it make to have a perjury law when it is not respected and applied. And what sense does it make to have a law against lies when no one cares about truth. That’s the development we can see everywhere and the reason why people think more and more that it is okay to lie. And it became even a business to invent lies. Lying should be much more punished.
But I remember the News of the World scandal when some journalists were accused of phone tapping. No one cared about the lies they told, it was regarded as a peccadillo, phone tapping was the only thing they were sued for.
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The complexion was obviously the problem, but the witch hunt has not stopped with Tom Sneddon and the 2005 trial – today’s media is still going on with that “creepy- bizarre-weird” mantra about MJ.
The point I was trying to make is that it is high time the media stopped because their lies and agenda have become too obvious and because lying in general is dangerous. Lies have definitely shown themselves not a “harmless” tool to be used for utilitarian ends like raising the media ratings.
In today’s world lying has become a very powerful weapon. Lying provokes nastiness and aggression and does not only kill its victim but does extreme damage to everyone else. People turn into morons and retards. Their minds are so confused that they no longer understand what’s right and what’s wrong, and can’t form a reasonable opinion. And in the long run it backfires against everyone.
As someone who has first-hand experience with the process I see the irreparable harm done by lies to people around me – lies and half-truths form preconceptions and a totally distorted reality for them. The people who have fallen for lies are unable to tell them from truth, are extremely easily manipulated and can be convinced of anything, just anything.
And once their false views are formed and consolidated by repeated lies they no longer want to know the truth, and this is probably one of the most horrible effects of it.
This process proves the conclusions of the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) who warned that if lies were allowed to reign, it would quickly bring an end to civilization. If, for example, there were a law that it is generally OK to tell lies (for “noble” means, for example) then life would rapidly become very difficult – everyone would feel free to lie as they choose, it would be impossible to take any statement seriously without corroboration and society would collapse. There would be no point in communication any longer, and even in telling any more lies, as no one would believe no one anyway.
What seemed to be a fantastic outcome or a purely theoretical hypothesis is quickly turning into reality, and it is those who lie and make it their profession who are responsible for it.
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There was nothing strange about the statues at Neverland ..We have plenty of statues like that , in my town..depicting children at play
The problem, imo, was the complexion of the owner of Neverland .
There are plenty of rich eccentric white people , that are considered perfectly acceptable.
And compared to some other successful people. MJ lived quite modestly
But MJ , had the audacity to think he had every right to live in that town,and he didnt think he should have to bow down to Tom Sneddon ,,Hence the decade long witch hunt.
If you look at this link to pictures in Key West, you can see the outdoor sculptures they have .. had.Although one of them depicts women dancing naked, which is nothing like what MJ had..others show people eating lunch together , carrying groceries
All these statues are tourist attractions..People interact with them
http://www.examiner.com/article/whimsical-sculptures-a-popular-photo-stop-for-key-west-cruise
Why is it, that in Key West, it is artistic and creative , but at Neverland, it is strange and abhorrent ?
I wouldnt call Ron Zonen unsophisticated ..
Surely , he has seen artistic expression before , and yet he and Sneddon were trying to push his artistic expression , to mirror something evil.
It is really incredible , when you think about it
You see ads on tv, with adults playing with water guns , as a way to relax, like MJ did with his supersoakers
You walk through stores and they now have adult coloring books , because it is a way for stressed out adults to relax
Seems to me , it is become clearer, that MJ was involved in the Sonic the Hedgehog computer game , so evidently he was a gamer ,probably helped him to relax
None of these things are illegal activities
MJ was no different than anyone else trying to retreat , from the woes of the world
Tom Mesereau had said the way the police would walk around and touch MJ property, at Neverland was almost demonic , they twisted everything they saw ., They had an agenda , that had nothing to do with kids., imo
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so true
On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 10:17 AM, Vindicating Michael wrote:
> Vindicatemj (Helena) posted: “To explain my long silence all I can say is > that surviving in the broil of lies and patriotic craziness here with > little hope for a better future does not invite to a quiet analysis of > Michael Jackson’s situation. It invites you to shutting yourself out a” >
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