The Barnes and Noble Censorship Two-Step Dance To Oblivion Starring Milo Yiannopoulos

The Big Book Chain’s Self-Defeating Censorship Throws Huge Chunks of Cash to Their Dreaded Enemy amazon.com

by Paul Hunt

Sometimes you just have to shake your head in disbelief and wonder just how stupid some of the executives at big corporations can be?.  How did these morons ever rise to their positions?  Why do executive boards continue to pick guys to run a book company who have no experience in the book business?  More importantly, why hire a CEO who has no understanding of the field the company is in?

Barnes and Noble has had a series of mis-steps in the last couple of years.  The previous CEO decided that what was needed was for the bookseller to open up restaurants and bars inside their stores. They thought it would be nice to have folks sipping wine and browsing through the stacks.  A bad idea if there ever was one.  The stores are big on children’s books and young adult books, the last thing they need is a bunch of drunks or tipsy fobs populating the aisles.  They have opened several “test” locations but I think that idea will be a wash out.  The executives behind that bold move were canned and a new crowd brought in.  Things have gotten worse.

The flamboyant Milo Yiannopoulos has a new book out, called Dangerous.  Say what you want about this ever fascinating, outrageous self-promoting and offensive author, but he is a popular guy in some quarters. He was so controversial that a big gang of thugs did major damage to U.C. Berkeley do keep him from speaking.  The home of the Free Speech Movement.  Yeah, right.  No more “free speech” in that neighborhood. Enter the big bookseller Barnes and Noble.  Not to be outdone by the Berkeley street gangs, they have refused to stock Milo’s new book “Dangerous”.  This move of censorship opens a big area of discussion, and disgust with B & N.

How many times have we been down this road?  How many Henry Millers have caused crushing censorship?  How many displays in public libraries across the land to make controversial material available?  How many headline-grabbing legal battles?  How many years has the American Bookseller’s Association put on their famous “Banned Book Week” promo?  Booksellers know why.  It’s in our basic bookselling genes to have available the many different ideas of our culture and in fact all political and cultural ideas put out in books.  So B & N won’t stock the book “Dangerous”  They will “order” it for you, but not actually have it on their shelves. This is the big achievement of the new regime at B & N, censorship by refusing to stock a controversial book, in this case, a book called “Dangerous”.

The word in Wall Street circles is that B & N may be up for sale.  Maybe one of the reasons is that they don’t have anyone leading the company who knows a damned thing about selling books, or the ethics of bookselling, or why booksellers and libraries should have books that are not necessarily “popular”.  So who is reaping the benefits of this lunacy?  Amazon, of course.  “Dangerous” has sold over 100,000 copies online, and is a best seller in many parts of the book world.  The cash is flowing into amazon.com coffers.  Does B & N somehow think that people are going to flood into their stores because they are NOT stocking “Dangerous” ?

Meanwhile, that wild and crazy guy Milo, is putting on one of the best promo campaigns you will ever see.  TV appearances, street guerrilla theater in front of the other sad sack in this case, Simon And Schuster publishers, who pulled out of the book deal with Milo and is now being sued, has lost face, and has lost a small fortune.  Simon and Schuster, now owned by CBS, which also owns Pocket Books, Scribner’s Sons and Athenium, seems to have caught the censorship disease first, even before B & N. The drama goes on every day, with Milo on Facebook, Milo in the News, Milo taking shots at B & N for not stocking the book, Milo dancing in the streets of New York with his followers. Sales of his book get better and bigger.

All of a sudden, the financial analysts and bean counters are trying to figure out if B & N stock is worth more than eight bucks a share.  And oh, BTW, amazon.com is selling for over $1,000 per share. Looks like another brick and mortar headed for boot hill, in this case helped along by their own insane doings.

Conspiracy Dudes, Scary Scientology Green Thetans and Murder Above The Bookstore

Verification Failed -Time Has Expired

by Paul Hunt

Kenn Thomas

This latest mini-adventure started with a Facebook posting by Kenn Thomas, an author of various books on my favorite subject, (after Gnosticism}, which would be conspiracy theories and conspiracy facts. For many years I ran a bookshop called Atlantis Books, which specialized in books on various conspiracies throughout history. We also had a huge video library of tapes covering UFOs, Deep State Politics, Ancient Mysteries, Alternative Medicine, and Alt Politics of all kinds. I had sold a lot of Kenn’s books, so when I ran across his FB postings, I decided to follow him.

Jim Keith

In June, he posted something about Jim Keith, one of the great writers of conspiracy titles. I disagree with some of his conclusions but his books are always fascinating, he was an excellent researcher, going to small town newspaper archives across America and really digging into his subjects. Nowdays, with the internet, so-called researchers never crack open a book or look through newspaper archives. If it’s not on the internet, it doesn’t exist. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of great information on the net, much of it now being monetized by information companies, but it has made many of the “researchers” lazy beyond belief. Most of the so-called “content creation” that is done for websites is just rehashed from other web sources. Most of the big newspapers and media are also into this, and they have a new twist, called “content curation”, meaning they get someone else’s info and “curate” it by adding a few things and then using it as fill on their own news sites and TV. Hey, it saves a lot of money: fire all the reporters and hire some fast typists who are paid by the job. Get the L.A Times (or fill in the blank) into the profit. Who needs a bunch of rowdy reporters jamming up the news room, turning in expense sheets, and causing law suits and controversy. This detracts from the yellow brick road to profit.

Jim Keith would be disgusted with this kind of behavior. If he were alive, that is. He fell off a stage at Burning Man in 1999, and died in the hospital from a knee injury. There’s a lot of information about his strange death, a healthy guy who spent a lot of time blasting the CIA and the Deep State. Check it out on the internet, it’s too long for this discussion, but there was never a proper investigation into his death that satisfied those who watch the murderious activities of the CIA and the Deep State, those wonderful fellows who run torture prisons around the world and “render” (kidnap) their enemies from anywhere in the world and dump them into hidden prisons in Poland.

So when Kenn Thomas posted something about Jim Keith on Facebook back in June this year, it triggered a memory of an interesting story about Keith. I wrote Thomas and said I would write it up and email it to him. He said OK, but never got it, probably went into his spam folder along with the offers of millions of dollars from the former Treasurer of Nigeria. Here’s the story that I sent to Kenn, who is also a fan of Jim Keith. It is not very flattering, but hey, we were all young once, and the late 60s were drugs and rock and roll, right?

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The Magic Door Bookshop, Pomona

One night, a few years ago, around 9 or 10 pm, I stumbled across an amazing book store in Downtown Pomona. I was with a friend and we immediately parked and went into the place, called The Magic Door. I believe it is still up and running, and has a Facebook page.

Dwain Kaiser

I rummaged around and found a couple of Jim Keith books. The owner, Dwain Kaiser, quizzed me about them, and after some chatter he told me that he had known Jim Keith, and had roomed with him when they were in college. He said a bunch of guys rented a big house and shared it to save money while in college.

Jim Keith was assigned to sleep in an upstairs room. At this time (I’m guessing late 60s) Jim was deep into Scientology, and avidly reading all of Hubbard’s work. During one winter, his upstairs room was really cold, there wasn’t any heat in it. Jim started telling everyone that he was having problems sleeping, and that Hubbard had talked and written about an entity, a big blue – green demon Thetan which was visiting Jim almost every night. He was so distrought that he couldn’t sleep in the room anymore.

He convinced the rest of the tenants to let him sleep downstairs, so he carved out a spot where he slept right next to the warm floor heater. All was well until one day Jim raced off to school, leaving his blankets on the heater. They caught fire filling the house with dense smoke. The Fire Department arrived and put out the fire before it consumed the whole house. While there, they also noticed a lot of pot and other drugs laying around, which they relayed to the police.

A short time later, the Narcs raided the house and arrested everyone for drug possession, except for Jim Keith who was gone on a trip. The guys had to hire lawyers and fought the case but ended up being fined, although I don’t remember if Dwain said any of them had to serve any time in jail. Jim Keith kept a low profile and slipped out of the fracas, which he had totally caused by seeing L.Ron Hubbard’s blue – green Thetan demon and moving downstairs to sleep next to the heater.

You could probably get hold of Dwain to verify this, I hope I got it right, just from memory, I didn’t take any notes. Jim Keith’s blue-green demon may have been caused by drug use, or Scientology mind control, or just an excuse to get downstairs to get warm. We’ll never know, although if caused by drug use it would be nice to know exactly which drug, so as to avoid use under any circumstances. Scientology was vehemently against drug use, so I vote for the warm heater scenario. Knowing that Jim loved Burning Man, I submit that into evidence, also.

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Checking back on my email, I sent Kenn the story at 11:31 a.m. on July 2nd. I told him that he could check with Dwain Kaiser at The Magic Door to verify it and maybe embellish it. Little did I realize that gave Kenn Thomas only about 14 hours to contact Dwain. Since Thomas said he never got the email, the point is moot. Dwain Kaiser was brutally shot to death just after midnight on July 3, 2017.

Dwain Kaiser was a really cool guy. I greatly enjoyed my conversation with him. His store was full of good books, and his wife JoAnne was working with him the night I was there. What a damned shame that he was murdered, evidently by a teen-ager who was living with the Kaisers in the apartment above the Bookstore. If the book store closes it will leave a huge hole in the cultural center of Pomona.

It also left me with a weird feeling. Why did all that pop into my mind just before he was killed? If one of us had called him, would it have changed anything? Change the time-track? Prevent the murder? Dwain Kaiser was big into Science Fiction. He would understand what I’m saying.

So Dwain Kaiser has now gone through another Magic Door, the Door of Mystery and entrance into the Spirit World, where he joins his friends, Jim Keith and Jerry Smith, another former Scientologist and Conspiracy writer.   Maybe the three of them will be able to solve the greatest Mystery to face all humans. Please dudes, if you reach a conclusion, let us know.

Jerry Smith, friend of Jim Keith and Conspiracy Writer

I’m posting some important links below, to Dwain’s website (the store is still open for a while), Jerry Smith’s website and other relevant stuff.  May  all your Thetans be pink and fluffy.

Magic Door Facebook Page:  Click Here

Jerry E. Smith Webpage:  Click Here

Kenn Thomas, Steamshovel Press Click Here

Kenn’s book Trumpocalypse Now!: The Triumph of the Conspiracy Spectacle Paperback is available at amazon.com.

Feral House Publisher: Click Here

Feral House still has Jim Keith’s “Octopus” conspiracy book, as well as some Kenn Thomas titles and many other wild and crazy pop culture, alt culture and conspiracy titles.

Incredible Book Find of Rare Thomas Paine Pamphlets

Felix O’Neill Finds Amazing Treasure at Irish Book Auction.  He Will Be Interviewed on Steve Eisenstein’s Radio Show

Owen Felix O’Neill
Irish Rare Book Dealer

Here’s the original email post from Felix to Steve about this amazing find of rare material:

Hi Steve…I hope all is well with you and family ….all is very well here in Ireland…I thought I would share this with you…I attended a Book Auction in a very rural part of Ireland last weekend, and they were selling 35, 0000 volumes of Books…It was to me Book Heaven…miles and miles of books most of the people who came to see them had no idea about the books…and guess what…I struck gold, there was this single book, very well trashed from the late 18th. century missing its covers and with no spine, I saw it before the auction and I all but had a heart attack, the book was in reality a series of 9 Pamphlets gather together into this book, probably in the late 18th. Century, I pick the book up and looked at the front title page, and I smiled, the first Pamphlet was by Thomas Paine and his signature was to the last page, I looked through the book and counted the Pamphlets, I put the book down, I was very excited, I knew what I saw and had. My notes on the Paine Pamphlets below…of the 9 Pamphlets 2 were by Thomas Paine, another 2 were by Wilberforce, on Slavery in 1790 , 1. on The Laws on British Parliament 1788, and 1 on Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, 1790, 2 more were Poets, Alexander Pope, 1780s and the last was on the Birmingham Riots of 1791..what a find I thought to myself, most of the books about 99% were rubbish, 1 % were interesting, my problem was to look for gold among the muck, and this I did, all my years of accumulation of my book knowledge paid off…I bough a few other books, including 1768 Samuel Johnson’s 8 Volume stunning set of Shakespeare Plays. With no internet bids I only spend one thousand dollars for about 50 books, what a steal….Tell you more when we next speak…enjoy the Summer, say hello to all including you lovely wife….Felix
PS. My details Note below on the two Thomas Paine Pamphlets.
1. Letter to the Addressers, on the late Proclamation, by Thomas Paine
 No Publisher’s name on the Title- Page, but the name of  H.D. Symonds to the last page of ads. So it could also be the elusive Publisher J. S. Jordan, (Jeremiah Samuel Jordan), Jeremiah Samuel Jordan published all his Pamphlet on light blue paper, If so, this is the very  rare and non existence,1st. Edition of “Letter to the Addressers, on the late Proclamation”, by Thomas Paine which has forty pages and was published in London by the Publisher J. S. Jordan of No.166, Fleet-street. also in 1792; however, to the best of my knowledge that 1st. Edition does not exist, but I do think, (more research) this Pamphlet of 42 pages including title-page and the last ad page, bring this Pamphlet to 42 pages is by, Jeremiah Samuel Jordan, he was the Publisher of most of Thomas Paine’s works at the time, as was  H.D. Symonds in Paternoster Row also of London, H.D. Symonds ads would appear on the back page of the Pamphlets by J. S. Jordan, that was normal, they were both friends.
The Printing of Letter to the Addressers, on the late Proclamation, by Thomas Paine, was untaken by both the Publishers Jeremiah Samuel Jordan and H.D. Symonds of London, which would have been the norm at the time, because it would require the printing in excess of 25,000 Pamphlets, a huge job at he time, it also would be one of many other Pamphlets and Books that were printed by both of them. Both printers done other printing for Thomas Paine, both were friends.
Anyway Published in London, in 1792 on very light blue paper by either J. S. Jordan or H.D. Symonds. 1st. Edition thus, original Pamphlet form of 42 pages, very light blue original wrappers within dark green and gold marbled paper wraps as covers. Untrimmed papers which is normal for any Pamphlet or Tract published at the time. Rear very light blue original wrapper with publisher’s advertisements for “Rights of Man” part I and part II,  and other cheap editions of the above works, including the prices by the Publisher’s, H.D. Symonds, in Paternoster Row.
This Pamphlet is Thomas Paine’s reply to the controversy stirred up against both parts of his “Rights of Man” by the “Proclamations and Addresses” in “Corporations and rotten Boroughs” This Pamphlet, in which Paine discusses the reception of the two parts of his Rights of Man and continues his attack on the evils of the English Government, particularly as embodied in the writings and speeches of Mr. Edmund Burke, is essentially a third part of the Rights of Man itself. The late proclamation” refers satirically to the royal proclamation against seditious writings, issued May 21, 1792, and directed particularly against the second part of Paine’s Rights of man. Also this Pamphlet contains the final leaf of advertisements, which is often missing. Thomas Paine corrected the proofs while in Paris and sent them to London for publication to both J. S. Jordan  and H.D. Symonds,  both the Publishers, J. S. Jordan, and H.D. Symonds were prosecuted for publishing this work. “Paine here makes a brazen call for a revolution in England and outlines a plan for calling together a convention for the purpose of reviewing the whole mass of English laws and retaining all worthy ones, while letting the rest drop”
A Pamphlet or Tract is a small booklet or leaflet containing information or arguments about a single subject. A Pamphlet or Tract is also an unbound sheet of paper without a hard-cover or binding It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called aleaflet, or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddled stabled (staples into the spine ) at the crease to make a simple booklet. The pamphlet form of literature has been used for centuries as an economical vehicle for the broad distribution of information. Also due to their low cost and ease of production, Pamphlets have often been used to popularise political or religious ideas. Ephemeral (Pamphlets or Tracts) and to wide array of political or religious perspectives given voice by the format’s ease of production, Pamphlets are prized by many Book Collectors, Research Libraries, Private Institutions such as Universities. Substantial accumulations have been amassed and transferred to ownership of academic Research Libraries around the world. Also Pamphlets or Tracts were printed on scarce paper at the time, so when finished were more often then not used as toilet paper, (toilet paper at the time was non existent,) or also used to start a home fire, so paper Pamphlets or Tracts rarely survived, hence there greater value.
Contemporaneous  notes  hand-written notes to the last blank page, before the final page of ads for other Thomas Paine Books is this, I copied exactly as written….
Line 1.    At Chelmsford Sessions one
Line 2.   Christopher Payne of Saffron Walden
Line 3.    Bookseller was tried for selling
Line 4.    Paine’s Letter to the Addressers
Line 5.    an error in the indictment proved
Line 6.    fatal to the Prosecution and honest
Line 7.    Valiant was acquitted…..
2. Mr Paine’s letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas by Thomas Paine, 1792
This 1st. Edition, 16 page Pamphlet  was Printed and distributed gratis by the Society for Constitutional Information. The Society for Constitutional Information, which was a British activist group founded in 1780 by Major John Cartwright, to promote parliamentary reform. The Society flourished until 1783, but thereafter made little headway. The organisation actively promoted  Thomas Paine’s “Rights of Man” and other radical publications, After the British Government repression and the 1794 Treason Trials in October, in which the leaders were acquitted, the society ceased to meet. The Title-Page has no date but the page after the Title -Page has a printed note
“ At a Meeting of the Society for Constitutional Information, held at the Crown and Anchor, Friday June 15th. 1792. ——Resolve, That Twelve Thousand Copies of Mr. Paine’s letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas, be printed, for the purpose of being distributed to our Correspondents throughout Great Britain”This very rare Pamphlet has a few Contemporaneous notes hand-written names to the Title -Page, plus Thomas Paine’s name inked in, almost like a signature to the last page, page16, bottom right. The Contemporary hand-written name of John Jones, three times written, as a signature of one,  John Jones, and two dates 1792 and 1799. (maybe Captain John Paul Jones) 1792? and his Son 1799?? A few slight tears but no damage to the text, page 9 and page 10 top centre of the pages.
The 2nd Edition of Mr. Paine’s letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas by Thomas Paine was published by J. Parsons, London 1792
Major John Cartwright wrote The English Constitution, which outlined his ideas including Government by the people and legal equality which he considered could only be achieved by universal suffrage, the secret ballot and equal electoral districts. He became the main patron of the Radical publisher Thomas Jonathan Wooler, best known for his satirical journal The Black Dwarf, who actively supported Cartwright’s campaigning. Major John Cartwright had sent a copy of The English Constitution to former President of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson wrote back to Cartwright in July: “Your age of eighty-four, and mine of eighty-one years, ensure us a speedy meeting. We may then commune at leisure, and more fully, on the good and evil, which in the course of our long lives, we have both witnessed; and in the mean time, I pray you to accept assurances of my high veneration and esteem for your person and character”.
Check out Steve Eisenstein’s “Bucks on the Bookshelf” Radio Show on WDBF Radio:  Click Here for Radio Show
 Saturday 9am-11am Pacific Time
Website of Felix O’Neill, Click Here