Sometimes I think that Sheldon Baker, one of the leading lights on Slugger O’Toole is a bit rude. A few minutes ago, he was rather unpleasant to me on a thread that he started. I am not one to get agitated but I flagged it as inappropriate and hope that the Moderator on Slugger will look at my point in an even-handed way.
I am not in any way discouraged by the fact that the moderator is…..Sheldon Baker.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
Slugger has gone from a pretty fair and moderate Alliance-style pro-union editorial position to a full on Paddy-bashing Brexit-apologist website. It’s extraordinary to witness how the very real threat to the “union” posed by Ireland’s reaction to Brexit has sent the site over the edge.
It proves yet again that when the chips are down there are no neutrals on the border.
God knows what the reaction will be to an actual border poll. But I can guess…
Sluggers editorial stance is certainly shifted. Walker is seemingly calling the shots.
But the “no neutrals” thing works both ways. We have a new pan-nationalist front. The SDLP-FF connexion is interesting, the Waterfront event, the southern parties in broad agreement……..the Irish-Americans.
Arguably, SDLP will lose some support but make up some too and “Catholic” letsgetalongerists might desert Alliance.
I see a parallel to 1969 Troubles and 1972 John Hume statement that it was “a united Ireland or nothing”.
Despite all the conciliation rhetoric, this is embedded in the DNA of most SDLP folks and has been diluted at the behest of the leftists in SDLP who are a busted flush. They always think that appearing on TV with Carruthers and the like appealed to some middle ground.
All they succeeded in doing was leaning too far and unbalancing themselves and losing core support.
I find myself wondering what sort of 3D chess is Mick playing over at Slugger. The stuff he writes couldn’t possibly be sincere, could it?
Slugger is still a great resource, and if it were as malign as some of its critics allege David McCann wouldn’t be there. And I say this as someone arbitrarily banished from the platform.
I’m not sure Pete Baker is a unionist at all. I’ve always pegged him as one of those maladjusted, obsessively anti-SF weirdos you find on the hard left. Not that it matters, tbh. He’s always made everyone’s skin crawl as long as I can remember.
I understand that Baker has SDLP family connexion but it doesn’t exactly show in his posts.
We took an instant dislike in 2010.
The key to the Slugger attitude is probably finance.
It has no funding other than thru donation. It is I think counter-productive. Last week I was poised to make a donation but twice in a week, I was (in my view) insulted by moderators. So I changed my mind.
Yes, Baker is from an SDLP background.
Thanks for this confirmation.