Facebook blocked this blog

About two weeks ago, Facebook removed all posts linking to this blog and the company has prevented all new posts with links to this site. It’s a block across all of Facebook’s platforms, including Instagram. There was no explanation and Facebook never responded to my appeal: the brief note I wrote in the dialog box when I tried to post a link to an article on this site.

Facebook Message

This is an educational site. There are no sales, no unsolicited emails, and no offensive content (well, to anti-racists, at least). Meanwhile, Facebook provides a free platform for white supremacists, grifters, and foreign nationals hellbent on wrecking our republic.

Go ahead, try and post a link to this site, blog.historian4hire.net, on Facebook and see what happens. Let me know in the comments if you come up with a reasonable answer.

facebook-response

With Facebook, there are no appeals and the company simply closes disputes unilaterally with no explanations.

© 2020 D.S. Rotenstein

 

The “Big Six”: Pittsburgh racketeer Israel Mattes

Welcome back to #Mobsburgh.

Israel Mattes was born in Russia and he arrived in Pittsburgh in 1906, along with his mother and four brothers. Abraham Mattes, Esther’s husband and Israel’s father, had come to the city three years earlier. Within 20 years, Israel and his younger brother Nathan became two of the city’s best known Jewish racketeers. Two other brothers, Ben and Sam, also had brushes with the law. This post explores Israel Mattes’s short life and tragic death in a dark Squirrel Hill parking garage. Continue reading