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Maybe I'm too cynical but that is exactly what I too thought what the cause of this was.

Yeah, I'm reminded of the quote often attributed to Upton Sinclair:

> It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it

It is almost certainly the case that many of his defenders here and elsewhere have a meaningful financial incentive to defend him and hope for his return. The good news is that they're easy to spot, sycophants and boot-lickers for money almost always are.