Thank you, Tom. This message board (and a post years ago by Kirby Ross in particular) made me realize there is a lot of very interesting non-mainstream information that can be uncovered if one is willing to dig. So I did a little digging.

Regarding the border war, I contacted the professor to let her know I had a different take on the situation, and she said she'd get back to me after reading the article. I haven't heard anything; I am tempted to conclude that after my counterattack, she judged her position indefensible, and abandoned it.