I had to add “Twitterverse” to my spelling checker. 
So you’ve probably noticed the Twitter widget in the right sidebar if you’re viewing the full version of the site. I’ve been on Twitter for years, but really haven’t done much with it except to announce new articles here and follow Jack Ryan’s document releases. I’m starting to tweet a little more, inspired by this steam of #birther-related material.
One of the commenters mentioned in the Open Thread that now that the jobs numbers have improved just a bit, denialists are saying that Obama cooked the jobs numbers to make up for his lack luster debate performance. So what shall we call this latest bunch of conspiracy theorists? The folks on Twitter seem headed towards the term “jobbers,” although some say “cookers” or “BLS Truthers.” These folks seem kin to the folks that deny polling results showing Obama in the lead getting such names as “pollers,” “poll truthers” and “skewers.”
I wanted to give an update on the secret Obot conference being held at an undisclosed location, now code-named “Ticonderoga.” Security is very tight. Everybody has a code name – mine is “Dr. Conspiracy.” We have an Obots-only Starbucks on the compound. I snapped a photo from there:
You can see (click to enlarge) that They served an Obama coffee blend with “Product of Indonesia” on the left and “Product of Ke[nya]” on the right. Obama was not, of course, born in Kenya, but his father was.
My bet is on #jobtruthers floating to the top. I’m likely wrong though. 🙂
Speaking of Twitter and Obama:
KitchenAid Twitter Account Sends Offensive Tweet About Obama’s Deceased Grandmother
I post to both Twitter and Facebook as my own personal self, and under a corporate persona. I have on occasion posted something under the corporate handle that I meant to be personal, and vice versa.
Damage control was not called for, as I do not say idiotic things under any handle.
(Well, some here may disagree… .)
What has always surprised me is that people do not seem to be aware that you can delete tweets.
By the way, I think the KitchenAid spokesperson wrote a pitch-perfect apology, other than the implication that the loser who originally sent the tweet is possibly still employed by them.
They made an honest apology, good on KitchenAid.
Unlike Australia’s radio shock jock Alan Jones who made a similar remark about the Prime Minister’s father, and basically gave an even more offensive ‘apology’. He is losing hundred’s of thousands of dollars a week in canceled sponsorship, but sadly not his job.
Wow, I am now a real Doctor. I have been awarded the degree of De Facto Juris Doctor Pro Hac Vice.
Heard a great sound bite by elderly woman who had succumbed to jobberism today.
after airing her conspiratorial objection to the new stat, she was asked to comment on the independence of the BLS.
“NO one is safe, anyone can be corrupted by Obama and his Democrats!” *
The reporter missed the obvious follow-up: “Not even yourself?”
… and the obvious follow-up to the follow-up: “Has Mitt rMoney been corrupted by Obama and his Democrats?”
___________
* Great band name!
When the these surrogates for Rmoney have to resort to conspiracy to explain anything good about this President; then it’s pretty certain that they believe their candidate isn’t going to win.
O mischief, thou art swift to enter in the thoughts of desperate men! William Shakespeare
Kudos to you! Are you going to hang out a shingle?
Very cool!
by what University ?
looks like a fake Dr., tricky wording or such
Your post brings an old song to mind, I’m not sure why exactly – maybe its the chorus.
Bob Dylan in 1976
I didn’t say anything about a university. The wording wasn’t intended to be tricky, but it might require a little sophistication to see the humor.
I have a certificate though, and it is signed and sealed.
No. Maybe another bird feeder.
ahh, the humor thing.
In USA you must be funny.
like this: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_begin_bombing_in_five_minutes
our defense-secretary was recently fired because of a fake Dr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_begin_bombing_in_five_minutes
why don’t we have a blog-entry about the Romney-Obama debate ?
is it because Romney won
Because the blog discusses conspiracy theories related to Obama, not general politics.
Have the jobbers sent the birthers a bill for services rendered*? I haven’t heard the word “birther” so much in the punditsphere since the LFBC was released! Of course, it’s always in the context of, “these jobbers are just as nutty as the birthers …” not exactly great press …. the birthers might want to refuse payment to themselves on any such invoice.
I was heartened to hear more than one voice decrying the phenomenon of people spewing fantasy to national audiences. It’s about time. Maybe they’ll finally stop treating FAUX as a copmpetitor. A return the the days of a party paper in every town is not what the doctor ordered.
________
* Yes, I realize they are one in the same 😉
Good article on job numbers truthers:
http://www.nj.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2012/10/the_jobs_numbers_truther_movem.html
I just sent my Senator, Lindsey Graham, a piece of my mind for what he said.
It is called “The occasional open thread.” You’ve been around here awhile. You know this. If not, someone such as yourself concerned about every little possible uncertainty really should make sure you know what you are talking about before being so loose with your speculations. Someone might think you are just a concern troll.
In the latest open thread, Misha even relates the debate to the topic of this blog, conspiracies. And richCares makes a direct straightforward comment about one of the issues highlighted by the debate.
Instead of carping meaninglessly, why don’t you go visit the open thread and see what you can contribute?
from a march article in wapo re the process:
The raw data had arrived at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), like always, on Wednesday the week before the report’s release: millions of characters representing survey information from 55,000 households; and then, a few days later, monthly payroll data from 486,000 businesses. Kosanovich’s boss posted a two-page schedule on the office wall, detailing the tasks ahead for a team of more than 20 economists. They would be required to make a series of six deadlines. Their work would undergo 15 fact checks and then 15 clearance reviews. They would sit together in a windowless conference room and read aloud from their eventual creation, a three-page news release and 24 data tables, debating commas and verbs for hours on end.
They would do it all with absolute discretion during an eight-day security lockdown, signing confidentiality agreements each morning, encrypting their computers and locking data into avery time they walked 10 yards away to use a bathroom. “Is your workstation secure?” asked a sign in the hallway. They all remembered the last security miscue, in November 2008 — the accidental transmission of some data to one wire service a full 25 seconds before the report’s scheduled release, an incident that had necessitated a series of internal investigations and revisions.
“We always tape paper over the windows of the conference room or draw the shades,” Kosanovich said about her typical routine during a lockdown. She made a habit of refraining from answering phone calls or e-mails from unknown numbers and never discussing data outside her office. For eight days, nobody visited her team’s floor at BLS without a security clearance. The custodial staff did not empty their trash until the report was released.
The lockdown was an exercise in tedium and precision, but those have been the hallmarks of BLS for 125 years. The agency remains strictly nonpartisan and intentionally bland. It measures the economy without ever opining on it. “The glass here is never half-empty or half-full,” Kosanovich said, repeating a popular BLS motto. “It’s an eight-ounce glass with four ounces of liquid.” [The Washington Post, 3/9/12]
> The folks on Twitter seem headed towards the term “jobbers,”
In pro wrestling, a “jobber” is an athlete whose only purpose it is to lose (to make a superstar look good, to help establish someone new as “the next big thing” etc.).
Job numbers truther Jack Welch quits Forbes Magazine over blowback from his conspiracy theories about BLS statistics:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/260987-jack-welch-quits-fortune-magazine-after-rigged-jobs-data-flap