There was no better ally to have on your side at DU than The Magistrate.
I remember 2014-15 very well.
Ukraine had just gone through its Euromaidan revolution, where its former Russian-friendly strongman Viktor Yanukovych had ultimately fled to Russia after having had his thugs kill dozens of protestors in the middle of Kyiv. Just days later, Vladimir Putin moved into and annexed Crimea, and within a month or so he had stoked up a bloody proxy war in the far East of the country.
This was before the 2016 elections, before the full scale 2022 invasion, and Russian disinformation on the internet was a far less known thing. And unfortunately, it hit DU fairly hard when it came to events in Ukraine. People here were convinced that Maidan was a western sponsored coup and not a popular inherent revolution of the Ukrainian people's own will, that the Crimean annexation was somehow legitimate, and that Ukrainian troops were massacring people in the east of the country. All were lies, but they were being fed convincingly by effective channels of Kremlin disinformation.
And it was beginning to show everywhere, including here on the pages of DU. There would be multiple posts claiming that Nazis were running the government of Ukraine, or that CIA had overthrown Yanukovych, or about this supposed massacre or that one. And they'd get a lot of replies and a lot of likes.
I would try to push back, but it was really disheartening to see these false talking points getting so much traction here at this website. At times, I felt very alone and isolated, as if I were a lone voice of dissent on the matter and that I was losing the argument.
Except...I wasn't.
Because where I would post, I'd frequently find at least one other DUer willing to echo the side of truth on the issue of what had happened in Ukraine. Not only that, he had his own particular style...gentlemanly. Never profane or angry. Always referring to his fellow posters as "sir" or "ma'am." Always rational. Always able to bring the facts and express them just so in the way they'd leave others without a reasoned retort to be had.
In other words, the Magistrate was the best ally in a rhetorical argument you could ever dream to have. He was consistent, he was on point, and he was always there when you needed to count on him.
I never actually met the man. I never knew his real name. But in the virtual world of DU, he was as good a friend and wingman as you could get.
Farewell, good sir, and safest of travels to the Great Beyond. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
now know his name is James. 
I consider him an ally, too., and it felt good to read what he had to say on issues I care about. So I can image how you felt when he was your ally on all that Disinformation on Ukraine back then. 
Mahalo, TC 
