So Long and Thanks for All the Fish
This site, FFFF, has been my digital home off and on since I broke the news that Joe Felz committed his “wet and reckless” and ran over Poor Sappy McTree on 09 November 2016. In the 4+ years since that fateful post I have written over 180 posts under my own name and allegedly may have collaborated on some work with Lonnie Machin which led to this blog, David Curlee and myself getting sued.
I’ve made local friends, enemies and a lot in-between in that time and I regret very little of it. I’m not a hero in the story of FFFF as I’ve simply been another voice in a collection of malcontents who have worked to expose some of the corruption at City Hall and in/around Fullerton since this blog was founded circa 2008.
Contrary to some local speculation this isn’t my blog. I do not own it. I do not host or administer it. I do not write the content other than what I previously mentioned. I also try very hard to follow Wreck it Ralph’s first rule of the internet.
That said, my limited activity on here is coming to a close. The lawsuit used by the kleptocrats at City Hall to shield themselves from responsibility took a lot out of me. It was draining for me and my family and it cost me some friendships I’ll miss. Now that it’s all said and done I’ve decided to step away from FFFF as I’ve never really felt like I was a good fit for this place.
I’m too uncompromising. Too much of an ideologue. I’m just not very good at Team Sports and politicking. Because I don’t know who the anonymous bloggers are here at FFFF, it makes it impossible for me to work with them which likewise makes it impossible to share a vision or goals. I know we all want a better city with more responsible government but that’s largely where it ends. I need to stress this next point – and I can’t stress it enough – that’s a ME problem. FFFF was FFFF before I came along. I knew, largely, what I was getting myself into and that I wouldn’t know who I was “working” with on this site. That was and is a feature of FFFF and not a bug. I am/was able to post whatever I wanted with no oversight or editing or controls. It’s a free for all here at FFFF and that freedom can lead to breaking stories, shitposting or lawsuits. It’s a mixed bag.
But I’m looking to get out of the blogging world. I started doing news/politics related videos some time back and found that I enjoy that more than sitting here typing. I like deep diving into a topic at my leisure instead of feeling bad that I don’t post enough or that I haven’t found more people to write for a site that isn’t mine. I feel a big weight on my shoulders writing for FFFF and that weight isn’t mine any more than FFFF is mine.
The videos I was making for YouTube were never on local politics so they didn’t belong here on FFFF – on a site branded and run for local Fullerton politics – but as I shifted from typing to talking more and more I found that as I tried to figure out what content to put where – I wasn’t putting content anywhere. This, again, was and is a ME issue.
I fully realize that the reach this site has (I know how many people get the email list) made me somewhat notorious locally and not the other way around. I appreciate everything the Friends have done for me and my family over the years, especially during that hellscape of a lawsuit when it cost me my job. I made some friends thanks to this site I could not replace if I tried and I’ll always be grateful for that and many other things. But my usefulness here has ended. I’m more of a liability than an asset. More of a distraction than a feature. My interests fall outside of the narrative arcs that the anonymous bloggers publish and that’s not a bad thing.
I’ll always read FFFF and will always be grateful that they asked me to join them after the City Council race of 2016. As I stated earlier I have few, if any, regrets from my time here. I’m also grateful to the many readers who appreciated what I was trying to do in exposing the truth in Fullerton. You’d be shocked how many people stopped me on the street, at the local bars, in the grocery store even – to comment on my posts or to thank me for my writing. It was a pleasure knowing that I had even a limited impact and I hope to continue that with my videos to a different extent.
Thank you all for the years of friendship, malcontentedness and support.
In the words of the Dolphins who left Earth in the Hitchhiker’s trilogy, “So long and thanks for all the fish”. Cheers.
Ahmad Zahra breathes a sigh of relief.
He did that as soon as Spitzer agreed to drop his charges.
Thanks, Joshua, you are a brave and unique voice.
Have a great soul vacay!
Thank you for having true ethics & morals & having the guts to stand up for what’s right. You went up against our shallow & corrupted political government, who used threats & intimidation to try to silence you. Because of you, Fullerton Citizens are now watching more closely on what is going on within our city government and we are continually appalled and disgusted by the findings.
You are one badass MF!
Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street revealed the petty machinations of the ruling elite in a small, prairie town. Driven by greed for political power, money, these shop owners, bankers who originally came to serve the needs of the farmers over time exploited them. Main Street won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920. Main Street won this prize because it echoed and still echoes the petty machinations of politicians, overly officious government workers and “civic leaders” who contaminate all levels of representative government. Unlike the Fullerton Observer that is a mere tool for those whose characters are so flawed they need to be propped up with propaganda, FFFF courageously told the truth about them. Through your pain and loss at the hands of evil, you and FFFF will join those echoes of hope throughout time.
Exceedlying well said. I may copy and post onf my FB page just to irrate my liberal frineds who all believe in more dand more government.
Very well said and I used part on my FB page.
Thank you,
Leon…
Enjoy your life, I am grateful for every post.
Cheers mate!
Your videos should be winners. I’m especially looking forward to the video you’ll make in a year or two when the City Council is forced, because the city’s emergency reserves have become exhausted (that is, reach $0), to place on the Council’s agenda the matter of whether or not the city should file for bankruptcy.
You can’t go…..all the plants are gonna die! (From one of my favorites).
Seriously though, very sad but understandable. This city would do it to anyone. All the best!
It’s a sad day for Fullerton .Thank you Joshua for all you did to expose the criminality. FFFF will return again!
FFFF didn’t go away.
This man is a goddamned hero who stood up for the rest of us. God bless.
This is very sad! I enjoyed all your publications.
You show us the beauty of freedom of speech! You maintained us informed.
No way you’re leaving us C’mon man!
Did Zahra intimidate you, like he has to all the woman he’s surrounds him self to?
Don’t let the Council demeaning you
You quit. We win!
Why’d we want to burn those bridges / Why’d we want to light such a flame / Ain’t no way to stay warm at the fire / Of burning bridges
No Enemies
by Charles Mackay
You have no enemies, you say?
Alas! my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done.
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip,
You’ve never turned the wrong to right,
You’ve been a coward in the fight.
Joshua, your enemies do evil to others, they betray the public trust (Fullerton’s city council members , public servants and civic leaders), they use the color of the law to harm those they have sworn to protect (Kelly Thomas and hide their maligning others behind the guise of objective reporting in their newspaper. Because your (and all the good people of Fullerton) enemies truly are bad people, they mercilessly torn at you to permanently silence your voice. You won the good fight and it has only begun in the city of Fullerton.
Joshua you are a hero. You’re honesty and compassion for the truth actually saved lives. You uncovered a dark and scary world covered in slime. I never liked bad news however I could trust your words. You exposed some sick fools and as they were left naked you would strike for the world to see the ugly mess created by selfish greed . You exposed crime and bad cops, city workers and idiots that ruined lives. You held your ground and suffered as a result of the corruption others created. Because of your honest exposure of some very bad people you allowed others worthy of the truth to go free. I am thankful for who you are and the work you did here. I pray your life is blessed with abundance and prosperity. Thank you for your service. It deserves a pension promotion and praise. Heck I have witnessed people who call themselves professionals get paid for disastrous corruption why shouldn’t you be rewarded for honest journalism. In fair world you would be paid greatly and people you exposed who committed horrible crimes would not have been rewarded for all of their bad behavior. I pray for A sane world however I will probably be waiting for a lifetime.
Glad to see you go honestly. One less goofball to listen to talk about things they know nothing about. Now if only we can get rid of the whole council and management and start fresh..
Well, his ignorance got him 60K and cost the City $700,000 so maybe your knowledge is pretty worthless.
That makes no sense.. It didn’t cost the City anything, it cost you the tax payer. The City doesn’t have money dumbass. Just another clown…
Well then the City has no money to pay you lazy, incompetent leeches.