Thanks for the note, pmc. 

We were aware that the Bates accusations were mentioned during the presentation (and prior to it, by Senator Ericksen, I believe). The author was present for the presentation and I later watched it prior to issuing the correction. 

The text in the update was intended to bring to light Heller/Goddard's criticism of this post--and then present the link to a source that questions the validity of the Bates claims that Heller/Goddard again pointed to in his response. But you are right; we should have indicated that the Bates claim was a part of the original presentation. I have added a reference within the parenthetical. 

As far as the 15 previous comments, they were not deleted--not with any targeted intention, at least. Rather, we made a scheduled switch to a new commenting platform and they were, unfortunately, lost.

We invite all comments that are made in good faith and we were sorry to see them go.

Thanks for reading,

Mark Baumgarten
Editor in Chief