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FBI visits prominent birther

I’m still evaluating this breaking news story mentioned by a commenter. Al Hendershot, birther skip tracer from Alabama, and operator of “The Obama Hustle” web site reports that he received a visit from the FBI, who handcuffed him while they searched his place and took his computer.

I have nothing to hide

Hendershot cooperated with the FBI, he says, and now they tell him that he is not in trouble.

The incident seems to be related Hendershot’s reporting about a web site called exposed.su that had, among other things an alleged copy of Michelle Obama’s credit report. I have seen it, and it is the whole thing with bank accounts and credit card payments. Other persons whose reports were on that site include Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI, Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder as well as other government officials and celebrities.

Hendershot, rather than chalking it up to the investigation about the credit reports, casts a more sinister birther-related spin on things:

Later on in the day I received some phone calls from people that I have been working with on the Obama issue.   They, the people that I spoke with said that my activities with the “Cold Case Posse” and my postings on Obama in The Obama Hustle along with the evidence that I have collected on him and his family probably had something to do with my visit from the FBI.

And they would know this how?

Hendershot says the he will keep on birthin’.

Comments { 17 }

The birther “Peter Principle”

Peter Principle (birther version): A birther will dig into the details of the President’s long-form birth certificate image until they reach their level of incompetence with electronic documents, and then declare it a "forgery."

Completing a complex argument is hard work. In a mathematical proof, there is no room for skipping a step. The proof is either complete and fully justified, or it is nothing.

Giving up short of the mark is what I see in birther image analysis. Birthers start out to prove something, not to learn the truth, but putting that aside what they do is to look and look and look at the birth certificate that the White House released until they find something that they don’t understand. Now none of these guys really knows the details of how compression algorithms work. None of them even knows exactly what compression algorithm was used by the White House. Nevertheless, they start with some knowledge, they may search on the Internet for more, and they may do experiments; but ultimately they come upon something that they do not understand. The unbiased observer when stumped just says, “I don’t know.” Birthers, as the ultimate biased observers, when they reach an impasse declare victory and assign the desired conclusion to what they do not understand: forgery. That is the essence of birther image analysis: rising to their own level of incompetence and then claiming victory, an inevitable outcome of the methodology when you think about it.

Then they fall back on the defense of asking others to prove them wrong. Proof doesn’t work that way.

Hillary Clinton supporters were not the first birthers

Of late Birthers have tried to deflect accusations of their being racist in two ways. First, they have tried to call Obama supporters, particularly the “Obots” racist. One commenter on this blog said:

The following Israeli science authority defies the RACIST OBOT’S attempts at proving an un-provable accumulation of distorted BC facts.

and another:

Face it Obots… you are all; RACIST. anti-American, anti free markets, ignoramuses.

The other deflection of criticism is to blame the left for the birther movement, and we see this often on Twitter and even from more mainstream sources, for example:

The birther movement originated with anonymous e-mails from Hillary Clinton supporters. Although Hillary dropped out of the race, others soon picked up the birther cause, and for more than four years, Americans have been hearing endless allegations about Obama’s alleged ineligibility to serve as president, and now the birther movement is turning to smear Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, etc.

Cafe Con Leche Republicans

That’s not true. The birther movement started at the right-wing Free Republic forum. Yes, Clinton supporters were early adopters of birther rumors, most of whom fell away after one of them found the newspaper announcements of Obama’s birth in Honolulu newspapers, but they didn’t originate them.

Read more:

From birthers to drones

Drone aircraftThe latest popular conspiracy theory about Barack Obama is that he is planning drone attacks against his opponents in the US. People who believe this are popularly called “drones.” Rand Paul has popularized this idea with his recent filibuster before the Senate.

Like all good rumors, it starts with a fact, that the Obama Administration has not ruled out the use of drone attacks in the United States in extraordinary situations. The fuel of conspiracy theories is highly implausible things that can’t be 100% ruled out. Of course, administrations generally don’t want to tie their hands by ruling things out and if Obama really intended mass drone attacks on American citizens, wouldn’t he just lie about it?

burial vault photoThis theory follows on a long line of ideas floating around among the more paranoid-styled folks. The FEMA Camp Coffins story is going around again; I just saw it in an ad at WND.COM. You also see ima­ges of FEMA detention centers (surprisingly located in North Korea). That well-known debunking organization Popular Mechanics magazine has even gotten involved in the story. Yes, it’s old news, but in the world of Internet rumors and chain emails, old stuff is as current as today’s tabloid newspaper.

The last birther standing?

It’s been a while since my last reader poll. The question: who will be the last birther standing? That is, who will still be actively promoting birtherism when the others have moved on or passed on?

Who will be the last birther standing?

  • Orly Taitz (62%, 81 Votes)
  • Butterdezillion (12%, 15 Votes)
  • Rudy (Lonestar1776) (8%, 11 Votes)
  • ORYR host (5%, 6 Votes)
  • Theresa Cao (4%, 5 Votes)
  • Dr. Kate (2%, 2 Votes)
  • James D. Manning (2%, 2 Votes)
  • Jerome Corsi (2%, 2 Votes)
  • Terry Lakin (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Tracy Fair (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Mark Gillar (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Mario Apuzzo (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Al Hendershot (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Christopher-Earl: Strunk (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Chalice Jackson (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Charles Kerchner (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Susan Daniels (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Linda Jordan (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Sharon Rondeau (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Bob Gard (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Mike Zullo (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Paul Irey (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Walter Fitzpatrick (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 130

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The post-birther era

Birtherism has become irrelevant. There was never any chance that the birthers would prove their claims of a foreign birth for President Obama, nor that they would win a lawsuit to block his candidacy. Still there was always the remote chance that enough people might believe the birther conspiracy theories to change the results of the election. But that didn’t happen; Obama won handily.

Given the post-election realities, I think it is fair to consign the birthers to history. Even though they are still around and might file the occasional crank lawsuit, there’s really no chance that they will ever accomplish anything except perhaps depleting their own bank accounts.

Just as the cars on the Interstate highway1 slow down to gawk at an accident, and the evening news covers a train wreck extensively, there will always be some interest in looking at the birthers, either with condescending sympathy or indignant derision. There will be ongoing puzzles to see who can knock down the latest birther nonsense in the fewest steps.

I personally sense a sea change. Birthers on Twitter and Facebook are repeating really old rumors. We’re getting more drive-by nasty comments here on the site, both phenomena, I think, a sign of birther frustration. I’m personally becoming less bemused and more annoyed at Orly’s inept legal filings, and my interests are developing in other areas.

This isn’t any sort of “I’m shutting down the blog” article, but things have changed; we are now in the post-birther era.


1Not in San Diego

The mysterious Mr. Hudson

Chatter on the limited-access Obot News Service1 (ONS) has been high today with various Obot stations2 reporting odd telephone calls from someone who identified himself as “Lane Hudson” and who said that he was writing an article about anti-birthers. The only Lane Hudson I know of is a former Democratic Party campaign worker and blogger. The South Carolina native was the one that brought to light the Mark Foley scandal, and now works in England for a global communications firm, and isn’t the person who called.

I didn’t personally receive one of these calls, but others who did report that the caller said he wanted to do an interview. Now James Johnson (aka JimBot)3 warned about an imminent birther impersonation operation4 that the White House had uncovered through its anti-terrorist surveillance program5, and so the cover story, that the Obots are independent bloggers who write about what they believe in, and who receive no support or direction from the President or others6 was quickly deployed. A quick check of the caller’s phone number from Caller ID with the FBI7 determined that the caller was one Walter Fitzpatrick.

So I’ll leave it with that, and those who received calls can talk about their particular experiences.


1There is no Obot News Service.

2There are no Obot stations.

3Former Fannie Mae chairman James Johnson is not JimBot.

4The warning described here never happened.

5I have no knowledge of any White House surveillance of birthers.

6The cover story is true.

7The Fogbow Bureau of Investigation