There is nothing suspicious about Curme, IMO. He asked me out to dinner at a Lancer conference once, and we talked for hours. He insisted on paying the bill, explaining that he felt obliged seeing as he was using some of the material from my website for a continuing education class he'd started teaching at Harvard. I had no idea who he was until months later, when I read an online rant about the mysterious Ollie Curme.
I feel quite certain he is just who says he is--a rich CT who was in position to help the "community" by buying Mary's stash and putting it up online. He did a good thing. It happens.
Pat, I've never met this generous benefactor, you have. You get around more than I do, and you may have a better sense. I have an unfavorable opinion of author Lifton and have no idea of what he did in exchange for the MFF money. I do know his high opinion of Priscilla Livingston Johnson, (as Mr. Simkin persists in labeling her,
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKjohnsonPR.htm ) flies in the face of the facts and the job he did on Garrison seemed over the top at the time and has not held up well.
Author Evica and Charles Drago had a reaction to their dinner host closer to mine than to yours, but Charles was less certain of his perceptions than you posted, about yours.:
https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/thread-1107-post-4935.html#pid4935I spent nearly a year inside the MFF sponsored or subsidized jfkfacts. I don't see how money, other than sourced from Mr. Curme, is the major support of web services for both sites as well as administrative costs of MFF and the foundation's directors' compensation.
Maybe I am too meticulous as far as what authors and other researchers publish or present, but I discern personal goals, other commercial considerations and cliques are often prioritized over accuracy and fair dealing. IOW, I see almost no one amending their inaccuracies, more challenging to amend when published in a book. CTs are their own worst enemies and so much unsupported consensus goes unchallenged. You read Ed Forum threads and you have high standards, from what I've read.
The verdict is not yet in as far as the outcome of Mr. Curme inserting himself. I'm not Z-film obsessed and I have encountered too many coincidences in the process of research to believe there is no such thing as coincidence, as criminal investigators are said to assume. There seem to be far too many, whatever that even means, and Curme's father's role at Kodak happens to be a curious coincidence. Oliver Curme is driven and impressively accomplished. The links in my last post and the "arrangements" he's made resulting in the MFF along with the lack of clarity of his relationship with JFK Assassination research give, "even the appearance of impropriety". LBJ, the FBI, DPD, Bill Decker's department, and the WC all lived under a similar cloud.
I can't decide if the "tone deaf" Curme with the self awareness deficit is more reasonable than a PR managed and filtered version. Have you considered how many times he was "pitched" by talented people seeking financial backing? He has been exposed to good first impressions and knows how to make one. Pursuing Mary and reassuring presenters like Michael Evica or Pat Speer seem within his realm of experience but a reversal of roles.
