The Florida Atlantic University professor who questioned “whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took place” is also raising doubts on his personal blog about government and police accounts of the Boston Marathon bombings.
James Tracy, an associate professor of communications, writes on his blog that “the event closely resembles a mass-casualty drill, which for training purposes are designed to be as lifelike as possible.”
The blog isn’t affiliated with FAU, but has nonetheless landed him in hot water with the university. He drew national attention in January for blog posts about the Newtown, Conn., massacre. He suggested “Obama administration complicity or direct oversight” of the incident to spark debate on gun control and raised the possibility that “crisis actors” were employed.
Tracy’s blog includes a disclaimer that his posts “are not representative of or condoned by Florida Atlantic University or the State University System of Florida.” But FAU recently sent him a letter of reprimand, accusing him of not making it clear enough that his personal writings weren’t connected to the school. Tracy plans to contest the reprimand through the faculty union.
Writing about the Boston bombings, Tracy said: “What exactly took place on April 15 at the Boston Marathon is unclear, yet what is now evident is a stark divergence between the narrative description of excessive carnage meted out as a result of the explosive devices and at least a portion of the video and photographic documentation of the bombing itself.”
Tracy’s blog post says photographic and video evidence don’t seem consistent with the reports of more than 170 injuries and three deaths.
"In short, the event closely resembles a mass-casualty drill, which for training purposes are designed to be as lifelike as possible. Since it is mediated, however, and primarily experienced from afar through the careful assemblage of words, images, and the official pronouncements and commentary of celebrity journalists, it has the semblance of being for all practical purposes "real."
Later, he writes that “photographic evidence of the event suggests the possibility of play actors getting into position after the detonation of what may in fact have been a smoke bomb or similarly benign explosive.”
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