Excellent, thorough and brilliant analysis. And I completely agree with your conclusions.

I have only one problem with your article, and it is merely a trivial detail, and also a pet peeve of mine: “begging the question” is a logical fallacy, referring to those instances in which the premise of an argument is at least as dubious as the conclusion. Begging the question refers to the logical fallacy of basing a conclusion upon a premise that has not been established.

“That begs the question…” is frequently used, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a misstatement. “That PROMPTS the question,” or “that RAISES the question.”