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What me virus?

By on April 14, 2013 in Anti-birthers, Social Media

Odd thing on Twitter:

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The last thing I want is any kind of malware on this site. I use strong passwords and keep all the software current. To my knowledge, the site has never been compromised, nor had any malware on it. My role is to study, report and comment on the birther movement, not to be an active part of the story.

I think what this alleges is that the tweeter followed the link to the Birther Headlines page that was in my article. So far as I know, nothing is wrong with that site either. Here’s some more of the tweeting:

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The links in my article were the long-published Birther Headlines web site (which is now invite only) and the site currently linked in the @birtherheadline Twitter profile.

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@birtherheadline on the rampage

By on April 12, 2013 in Social Media

If you’ve spent any time looking at the Twitter feed on this site, you no doubt will have seen many tweets from @birtherheadline. This source has been collecting and disseminating news by and about the birthers for several months now and are a good source of leads for folks like me who try to keep up with what’s happening.

Commenter Thinker here pointed out that @birtherheadline has changed from reporting birther stuff to actively attacking and insulting them. Here’s one of the few tweets I can reprint without going PG-13:

Well, i’m sure not sorry a birther lost his 15 y/o dog. It’s an old dog owned by an old birther – both led privileged lives.

It may not have been readily apparent, but @birtherheadlines was never a birther sympathizer, not at all; however, the account presented a neutral point of view on twitter and its web site.

Well, something has happened. First, the old Birther Headlines web site is now “invitation only” and has been replaced in the twitter profile with an openly-insulting (to the birthers) site, birtherheadlines.com, that just redirects to a page headlined:

Dear Birthers: You’re Idiots

I’d say that there are two possibilities here: 1) birtherheadlines has been hacked by an anti-birther or 2) Birther Headlines was a lure from the start to get lots of birther followers before telling them that they are stupid. Neither of those is particularly appealing as an explanation. There’s no internal Obot chatter on the subject in my emails.

On the hacking theme, I note that one web hosting company reports heavy brute force attacks against WordPress web sites. That might be why this site has been a little show lately. This site uses a strong random password and keeps all software versions at the latest levels.

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The post-birther era

By on March 1, 2013 in Birthers, Lounge, Social Media

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

Orly Taitz: Tea Party v. Twittergate

By on February 5, 2013 in Orly Taitz, Social Media, Tea Party

Orly Taitz demonstrates in her article, “Tea Party United is planning a rally in front of the Federal building in Sacramento, protesting the fact that court is not issuing a default judgment against Obama in Grinols v Electoral college, as Obama was sued as an individual, as a candidate for office, he did not furnish an answer and is currently in default. Tea party patriots are planning similar rallies in front of the 5th circuit court of Appeals, where the court is just sitting on the emergency motion to expedite a default judgment against the Commissioner of the Sociala (sic) Security Michael Astrue for his default in Taitz v Democratic party, dealing with Obama’s use of forged IDs and a stolen CT SSN [redacted, Doc],” just how big WordPress titles can get!

The rally is scheduled for 11 AM on Thursday (which particular Thursday is not specified).

Dr. Conspiracy Twitter pageOrly also cites an Examiner article saying that 70% of Obama’s Twitter followers are fake. Well, I’m not an Obama Twitter follower, so maybe I’m not a fake. Examiner got it’s story from the New York Times, making it more interesting. Apparently the practice of buying Twitter followers is real, although there is some question as to whether the tool that checks for fake followers gives accurate results.

However, the Fake Follower Check does not really say 70% of Obama’s followers are fake; the site, statuspeople.com, actually showed 30% fake, 39% inactive and 31% good. So I asked the site about MY Twitter followers. I’ve never bought a Twitter follower, and I can’t see that anyone else would have either. It said 6% fake, 23% inactive and 71% good. (I have 349 followers for what that’s worth.)

Trump tweets; ORYR incites

By on November 7, 2012 in 2012 Presidential Election, Donald Trump, Social Media

In a contest for the most narcissistic person, I don’t know whether Donald Trump or Orly Taitz wins. In retrospect which was the worst: Orly Taitz believing that she could stop Romney from conceding the election by posting “STOP!!!” on her blog, or Donald Trump thinking he could change the outcome of the election by offering $5 million for Obama long-destroyed college records?

Last night, though, Donald Trump went on what has been called a “rampage” on Twitter. ABC News made a compilation that includes this one:

We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty.

Birthers are happy to use Trump’s tweets to raise the specter of armed insurrection, such as a headline at Obama Release Your Records: “Trump calls for revolution, blasts Electoral College.”

ORYR also reports: “‘Riots’ brew on Ole Miss campus.” Perhaps this signals a new round of tough-sounding talk to vent frustration over the big birther loss.

What effect will birthers have on the 2012 election?

By on October 28, 2012 in 2012 Presidential Election, Polls, Social Media

I don’t think that there is any questioning the fact that birtherism is “out there.” If anyone in public life tells a remotely birther-related joke, it’s all over the news feeds and the social media. Just look at the scrolling Twitter messages in the right sidebar dealing with Obama’s birther joke in New Hampshire yesterday.

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The question that I have, and for which I have no good data upon which to form an opinion, is what if any impact beliefs about the President’s birthplace will have on the 2012 election.

It’s easy to say that the people who are birthers wouldn’t vote for Obama anyway. There seems to be a correlation between foreign-birth beliefs and other ideas such as Obama being a Muslim, a communist, a disbarred lawyer, or an identity thief. Still, polls show that a fair number of Democrats and independents believe the conspiracy theories in addition to a plurality of Republicans.

Does this issue inspire campaign giving? Does it motivate people to vote? Does it make up some people’s minds who would otherwise vote another way? I think that it is an important question to ask at this stage of the development of Internet political culture whether conspiracy theories can make a difference in “real live” and in the outcome of the 2012 election.

The freedom of birther

By on August 4, 2012 in Birthers, Lounge, Social Media

There is no such thing as Birthers

– Comment at WorldNetDaily

That commenter doesn’t like the term apparently. This article was prompted by two recent indents where birther-style remarks were trouble. The first is the video of US Representative Steve King that I recently featured saying that perhaps Barack Obama’s newspaper birth announcements were telegraphed from Kenya.

Another in the news is a tweet from Heidi Wys, an adviser to Puerto Rican House of Representatives President Jennifer González, who advised the Obamas where to go to celebrate the President’s birthday:

Take her to Burger King, buy her a sundae with double banana, take her to your homeland, Kenya!

It’s hard to parse out exactly what that means, but it’s clearly some sort of a jibe at Obama’s heritage, if not his place of birth. Calls for her resignation have been made.

So is being a birther an unforgiveable political sin, punishable only by banishment from the public scene? The US Constitution guarantees certain basic freedoms including the freedom of speech, the press and peaceful assembly. However, as conservatives like to say, actions have consequences. Birthers are not, under law, “protected classes” against which discrimination is illegal.

Right now the rights of the birther to speak are guaranteed, but not the freedom from consequences which, in the case of the birthers, is governed by the marketplace. If enough of the people think being a birther is an issue important enough to effect their vote, then officials should think about dumping birther subordinates, and keeping their own mouths under control.

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