Maybe Caging the Animal might be more appropriate at times

I'm not sure the wisdom of making this post, but something I read yesterday on Nikoley's latest post on Jack Kruse just didn't sit right with me.  Were it not for the fact that Dick did his best to contribute to the angst of the past going-on two weeks, I probably would just let it slide.  He's just not the sort of blogger I have ever had much interest in.  I can't relate, and, frankly, he's so cryptic at times as to be exasperatingly annoying.  Really, it's almost as frustrating as having a discussion with Fred Hahn, and anyone who ever has ended up getting talked in circles (as opposed to getting talked circles around) by Fred knows what I mean.   

So any way, here was Dick's first post on Kruse.  You see, he had "inside information" having spoken to Kruse on the night of Jan. 9 when Kruse claims to have undertaken his now infamous epic biohack -- complete with elective surgery, MRSA, no local/post op pain management, and 120 lbs of ice.  Here is what Dick wrote then:

Let's back up to January 9th, the day of his surgery. By coincidence, Jack had been trying to reach me for a few days, and after obligatory phone tag, I settled down to a glass of whiskey on the evening of January 9th and rang him up, having no idea of what was in store. He answered, and something seemed way off...as though he'd been shot and was lying in a puddle of his own blood, bleeding to death. Nope, it was worse. He'd been in 40ish degree water for some hours (under supervision) at that point. He told me all about what he was up to, swore me to secrecy and that was that. I made sure he was under supervision and was eating during the experiment, because he was intending for a long haul in the icy water.

And in comments to Melissa McEwen:

Wait for his Factor X and yes, putting out stuff piecemeal is irritating. He does have an interesting epicenetic argument, on the surface for me. Of course, I’m unqualified. It’s interesting, though. Probably nothing anyone expects.

Not sold by any means, but I have some lines to research. 

And now?  In a post ironically entitled Dr. Jack Kruse, Neurosurgeon, is a Big Fʊ₵ Dick writes:

Addendum (5/17/2012): ... First of all, I talked to Jack by phone—basically a mini-interview—in advance of my first post about him and the controversy involving Leptin Reset and Cold Thermogenesis. I thought both protocols had merit and wanted to spread the word. I'd already seen his Tedx Talk and how he described having had surgery without general anesthesia, went home, had his wife and daughter pack him in ice, etc., etc. As I asked him about all of this over the phone he added that it was that night, January 9th, that I had spoken with him on the phone.

Ever been in a conversation with someone and out of politeness, don't call them on an inconsistency? Perhaps he's mistaken. I didn't actually know which specific evening I'd spoken with him and it's 3 months later. So, maybe he's mistaken about the day. Give it a pass.

Now in retrospect, perhaps it was very important because, you see, for three months I had in mind that when I called, Jack was doing a major CT self experiment. I forget how many hours he said he was going to do, but:

1. He said not one word about having surgery.
2. He said not one word about injecting himself with bacteria.

When I asked why he was doing this, he said, "chronic back pain." He also said that his family had no idea he was doing this, that he had taken time off work to do it, had someone watching over him, and that he was eating during the experiment. So, the Tedx talk 3 months later is the first time I hear about the bacteria, surgery, and that his family was involved in the ice packing. Still, I didn't not connect that with my previous conversation with him because there was essentially nothing about the stories that were the same. So when he claimed our conversation was that same night I should probably have not given it a pass, but I did.

Whoa up there Dick!  I know you're a cryptic dude, but how does the story above mesh with your blogging of April 3?   Surely after 3000 posts you've got the art of relating things as they went down vs. what you now say is, what?, Jack's story?   

Next, during that same phone conversation in advance of my first post, he told me about his "Factor X" and I believe my response was along the lines of 'huh, interesting.' Later, in his podcast interview Abel James, that somehow gets translated into "Richard was totally blown away!" I think he even said it twice. Perhaps it would have been nitpick of me to bring it up then, but not so much now.

The thing is Dick, you were more than happy to tease over Factor X back then.  This doesn't imply your were "blown away", but at least intrigued in the "maybe this guy is on to something" sort of way.  If it were not for what transpired in between these two posts, complete with Dick counseling me that it is unnecessary for me to call a fraud a fraud when I see one, this post probably never happens.  But I just can't let this go without calling this guy out here.  But first, here's a list of all posts I've made here on Jack (if I've missed any, please feel free to add in comments).

• Wonder what he said.  Jack going off on the Taubes/Guyenet dust-up
• Science Krispies ... with a Tall Glass of Leptinade!  Quoting Jack's incoherence on leptin resistance
• Physician Phollies ~ III: Dr. Jack "Leptin Man" Kruse  Response to his encore podcast with Jimmy Moore
• Live Blogging from the Paleo Summit III: Leptin Man!
• Quantum Bullshit  Inspired by the Holy Trinity post
• You, PCS vs. Jack Kruse MD, DDS  More inspired by the Holy Trinity & Jack's UW Radio interview
• The Kruse Missile Defense System  On TEDx fallout and Jack's "smarts"
• Hof, Wim-ania and a Pair of Dimes  Response to Nikoley's first post on Jack
• Changing Stories  Highlighting some inconsistencies
• Some thoughts on cold exposure
• Cold Adaptation, BAT & Thermogenesis
• Leptin Man's TEDx Nashville Talk linking to YouTube video
• Kase Klosed?  the AANS suspension
• Which brings us up to the events that will forever be known as Kruisegate here:  Sheet, Fans and Dr. John "Jack" Kruse , The Quack speaks , More on Dr. John "Jack" Kruse , The more I think about this ... , and It's Over

It's unfortunate there had to be this many, but I think everyone is now painfully aware of what happens when there's some quiet collective biting of tongues in fear of retribution or harming some movement or such.  Why bother with this?  Well, more for the older stuff and history for those that still think I'm just about ad hominem attacks for one.  Since practically day one of mentioning Jack, I've been pointing out problems with his science and expressing publicly that I didn't believe him early on. Sure I have a little fun with my Leptin Man Lego and whatnot, and called him a quack out of the gate, but the crux has always been exposing the nonsense in his "science".  So this just gets it all in one tidy place.  In the first Kruisegate post, this ties into Nikoley's involvement here.  Blog posts, throwing the c-word around and more wild speculations aside, my beef with Dick of a personal nature boils down to those threatening tweets and his continued speculation on his blog over my involvement or whether or not I was named to him by Jack.  I may not have Emily Deans' training, but I do know that when folks are angry and/or possibly tired and/or drinking, what they do and say is likely closer to the truth than when they soberly compose a blog post.  And those threatening tweets can be apologized for, but not removed from the record. Nor can the fact that Dick claims to have discussed with Jack how he should take civil action.  WHY would you counsel someone you think is a liar?  Ahh, yes.  That's right.  Dick didn't have enough information yet to conclude that on his own, despite what (no doubt several) "people" tried to tell him.  It took that fake picture to finally get through.  

And you know what?  That's fine.  Some people seem to like to extend the benefit of the doubt moreso than others -- though I kind of doubt that same benefit would be given to someone like, say, yours truly.  It's more the manipulation of this story for some glory of record page hits and comment counts that got a rise outta Dick that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  Because if there was any deception involved here, there can be no doubt that Dick was neck deep in passing that along to his readers.   He recants the events of Jan 9th as if they were how they went down according to his recollection.  Now, to be fair, he didn't say Jack told him specifically about surgery and MRSA, just "He told me all about what he was up to, swore me to secrecy and that was that."  But now we learn that Dick's recollection was that {paraphrase} 'he said nothing about surgery or MRSA' and {quote} "When I asked why he was doing this, he said, "chronic back pain." He also said that his family had no idea he was doing this, that he had taken time off work to do it, had someone watching over him, and that he was eating during the experiment.".

Dick milked this for what? The glory of page hits and comments?  Hundreds of comments about MRSA and the surgery, and let's not forget another inconsistency with today's story mismatches.  Kruse claimed at TEDx that his family had no idea what he was up to, but learned post haste after the surgery.  Dick says a half dead sounding Jack told him his family had no idea what he was up to even then.  SIGH.

Look, I don't think Dick had anything to do with the inception of what is increasingly looking like Jack taking advantage of an unfortunate event for publicity at best, a hoax at worse.  But he sure as hell got himself neck deep involved in the flurry with that three c's tweet, and he sure as heck is guilty of allowing rank speculation and whatnot on his blog that generated publicity and sympathy for Jack when he could have informed his readers of his own serious concerns to clear up a lot of this a month ago.  Imagine if instead of "I think this has merit", Dick had also expressed his concerns.  As in, why are we just NOW learning that Jack's story of the events of 1/9 doesn't mesh with Dick's own recollection?  Why are we just NOW learning that Jack supposedly talked about a back injury in the private phone call, but got up in front of a TEDx audience and claimed MRSA/surgery?  Really.  WHY NOW AND NOT THEN?

Really folks.  If a close friend of mine did this I'd be questioning -- at least in my mind -- what was going on with that person.  But Jack seems nothing more than an acquaintance to Dick.  And yet he stays silent to his readers over this and seems more than happy to let the sheet fly.  OK.  Who am I to question.  But in light of what he KNEW, even if he didn't share, this makes his tweets and subsequent blog posts ever the more inexcusable.  Does having a popular blog not carry with it even a small iota of accountability to act in a calm and rational manner??  Is it really too much to ask that someone think before they jump to conclusions believing Jack over ANYONE?  

I'm still waiting.  Is there ONE person who came off that cruise who witnessed what went down according to Jack?  Even when this story broke, there were enough facts out there to question this.  I knew I had nothing to do with it.  I also knew when I learned of this at 1am that Tuesday morning that I had a final exam to administer later that morning, and I envisioned if the FBI took this seriously it would not be unprecedented for them to contact me at work.  Who needs that eff show?  And ya know, I've always wondered over those who get worried when they have nothing to worry about.  I won't any more after this, because I knew there was no "there" there, but still I about jumped out of my skin when the screen door was opened w/o a knock last week, and they tried to put mail through my (taped up) mail-slot in the old fashioned door.   Many a life has been ruined for false suspicions and those people rarely get their lives back.  ... Oh ... someone in the audience thinks this is still what happened to Jack?  Hmmph.  He went to the media with this, they didn't come to him.

Bottom line, Richard Nikoley could have, and should have been more forthcoming with his concerns over Dr. John Jack Kruse.   In direct fashion, not cryptic circle jerks.  That he is doing so now just smacks of a lame attempt to save face.  But in doing so he has exposed that he was along for the ride all along.  For shame.  Truly.  And for all who say I needlessly label people here?  Well, I've never titled a post "Fill in the blank is a f'en liar" ... and I never will.  And when I learn information inconsistent with the public record or the science as we know it, I will call it out.

Oh ... and one last thing.  If Dick really feels any remorse, shame or whatever over this, may I suggest:  Reveal Factor X!  I'm sure there's an out there, even when sworn to secrecy, when the person lied to you.