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Birds of a feather: Arpaio, Klayman

By on February 24, 2013 in Jerome Corsi, Joe Arpaio

This story is just too weird. It started off as a fairly simple report that, as you probably know, there is a recall effort directed against the newly-reelected Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A group (Citizens To Protect Fair Election Results, LLC) has formed to fight the recall in court, and the folks in that group come from the Surprise Arizona Tea Party, the same group that got Joe Arpaio doing the birther thing in the first place (shown below with Jerome Corsi on the left).

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It gets a little more curious, and a little more on-topic for this web site, when we find that the legal work for the anti-recall group is being done by birther attorney Larry Klayman. Hmmm, birther, birther.

Generally, I’m not a fan of recall elections unless some significant new fact comes to light, but the people of Arizona will do what they will do. The fact that Arpaio has left uninvestigated hundreds of sex crimes while pursuing Obama’s birth certificate is certainly grounds for recall, except that the voters of Arizona already knew that when reelecting Arpaio.

Now where truth becomes stranger than fiction: the Phoenix NewTimes Blogs discovered a court finding in Ohio that attorney Klayman had inappropriately touched his children. NewTimes said:

What are the chances that a lawyer who was found by a court to have “inappropriately touched” children would try to stop the recall of a county sheriff whose agency failed to properly investigate more than 400 sex crimes?

Now, I’m not a fan of open-ended questions either, but it certainly is strange to say the least. There are several details and nuances that I’m not cutting and pasting here in hopes that readers interested in the topic will follow the links below.

Read more at the Phoenix NewTimes Blogs:

Shooting fish in a barrel: Media Matters v. Corsi

By on January 25, 2013 in Jerome Corsi, Media

imageI believe that society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members and so I must level some criticism at Media Matters for America on its recent treatment of conspiracy theorist and political smear writer Dr. Jerome Corsi, in their article, “The Many Conspiracies Of Kerry Swift-Boater Jerome Corsi.”

Ignoring Corsi’s contributions to science, such as his seminal book,  Black Gold Stranglehold that explains that petroleum is not a fossil fuel,  Media Matters instead focuses on Corsi’s  long history of writing crazy material, from the scurrilous lies told in 2004 about John Kerry’s military service, to his scurrilous lies about John Kerry in 2013, by way of his obsession with Barack Obama’s birth certificate, parentage and even his ring; and it really takes no effort on the part of Media Matters to pile up a string of offenses that quickly overwhelm the defenseless Corsi and make him look like a villain or a fool or both.

Corsi has been the victim of any number of deceptions, from the fake vital records manuals he passed on to Mike Zullo whereby the Maricopa County Cold Case Posse was discredited, to Obots who made a fool out of Corsi by feeding him the made-up story of James Johnson (AKA Jimbot), former head of Fannie Mae, being the head of a 100-strong Obot army directed by the White House. It’s as if Corsi went around with a “Punk Me” sign stuck to his back. Obots are still laughing at this video at poor Corsi’s expense:

Can you look at that video of Corsi and Ed Hale and perhaps not have more sympathy when Corsi accuses Muslims of “boy bumping?”

Ever since Corsi’s outing of me at the Internet tabloid web site WorldNetDaily, Corsi has been in my prayer list, and because of that I am very sensitive to attacks on Corsi, no matter how fair, and factual. I have to have some respect for Corsi, who uses this web site in multiple footnotes in his book, Where’s the Birth Certificate?  And can you ignore his patriotic fervor in wearing the flag of our country (right) on his lapel?

How would you feel if your mighty efforts to derail Obama’s second term through lies, faked evidence, smears and open-ended questions, had been roundly rebuffed by the voters who gave Obama an electoral landslide, and at the same time your books only sold when your own publisher bought them, and now even Fox news won’t touch you? Is it really fair to damn someone with their own words and to kick them when they are down? Doesn’t it count for something that Corsi gives me the opportunity to talk about something other than Orly Taitz?

How about a little compassion!

Articles at WND by Corsi mentioning me:

Read More:

Note: In honor of Jerome Corsi’s Ph. D. from Harvard, this article’s reading level has been bumped up to a Flesch-Kincaid reading grade level of 15.9 after the inclusion of this final sentence.

Troll Wars!

By on November 26, 2012 in Jerome Corsi, Orly Taitz, WorldNetDaily

I’m a fan of Storage Wars, but I don’t know about Troll Wars. WorldNetDaily has put up an article, using a graphic featuring stylized Guy Fawkes masks, that talks about “pro-Obama ‘Trolls’ who post misinformation.” Yesterday’s article by Jerome Corsi takes on the Orwellian task of turning Internet censorship into freedom of thought.

Trolls are a problem and I have no doubt that WorldNetDaily gets their share of them. I commend the article for its general discussion of troll behavior and you might want to read that.  What I do not commend is their conspiratorial approach to the topic, concluding that the trolls are paid.

They give one example of an anonymous post at a web site from someone claiming to be a paid troll. So was this a paid troll, or a troll whose gambit is pretending to be paid?

The WND article is somewhat muddled in its description of its troll detection process. It talks about names, email addressees and IP addresses, which it has available to it, but it also includes aggregate message counts from individuals at WND, CNN, Fox News and other sites. I find it hard to believe that CNN is sharing IP addresses with WorldNetDaily. The methodology is not disclosed.

Meanwhile, Orly Taitz has jumped on the anti-troll bandwagon. Reading her site lately, I found fawning praise of Orly in comments that are so over the top that I think the comments are actually making fun of Orly. She is always saying that someone is messing with her web site and this WND article is like gasoline on a fire for her [Link to Taitz web site]:

Obama’s operatives admit to being paid to defame and harass patriots on various sites. They are a part and parcel of a RICO conspiracy to aid and abet a criminal with forged IDs to usurp the U.S. Presidency by fraud

She’s citing the anonymous poster from the WND article, only that person claimed to be working for Republicans.

The return of the McInnish

By on October 24, 2012 in Ballot Challenges, Jerome Corsi, Joe Arpaio

Hugh McInnish of Alabama is joined by Keith Goode in a lawsuit against Secretary of State Beth Chapman filed October 11. The suit in the form of a petition for writ of mandamus seeks to compel Chapman to verify the eligibility of all the candidates running for President in Alabama. What makes this case notable is that plaintiffs are represented by attorney Larry Klayman along with local counsel L. Dean Johnson. Klayman comes off a string of defeats in birther cases.

McInnish had sued Chapman previously in the Alabama Supreme Court. This is the case with the infamous birther-friendly concurring opinion by Alabama Supreme Court Justice Parker. Parker wrote:

McInnish has attached certain documentation to his mandamus petition, which, if presented to the appropriate forum as part of a proper evidentiary presentation, would raise serious questions about the authenticity of both the “short form” and the “long form” birth certificates of President Barack Hussein Obama that have been made public.

The previous case was dismissed because the Court said that there is no original jurisdiction to hear a Writ of Mandamus petition at the Alabama Supreme Court. That mistake is avoided this time by filing the petition in the Montgomery Circuit Court. McInnish claims:

  • Obama’s long form birth certificate is a forgery
  • Obama is ineligible because his father was not a US Citizen

and attaches exhibits (fewer than the previous case):

  • Affidavit of Sheriff Joe Arpaio
  • Affidavit of Jerome Corsi
  • Article on George Washington’s overdue library book (Vattel’s Law of Nations)
  • Article: Book Selections of the Founding Fathers

Klayman moved for summary judgment (apparently too soon).  The Alabama Democratic Party petitioned for leave to intervene, including in their filing the order from Florida dismissing the similar Voeltz case (also prosecuted by Klayman). The motion for summary judgment was opposed by the Alabama Secretary of State through her counsel James W. Davis of the Attorney General’s office, assisted by Margaret L. Fleming. Defendants objections may be briefly stated:

  • The motion for summary judgment was filed too soon
  • There is no statutory requirement for the Alabama Secretary of State to verify eligibility of candidates
  • Only Congress may determine a President’s qualifications (citing Robinson v. Bowen)
  • Plaintiffs failed to join necessary parties (i.e. Barack Obama)
  • The claim was filed too late (voting has already begun).

Given the late date, I would assume that this case was filed solely for publicity value right before the election. However, birther cases are no longer news.

This lawsuit is:

Doomed

Birther activist joins Romney press cohort

By on October 18, 2012 in 2012 Presidential Election, Debunking, Jerome Corsi, Videos, WorldNetDaily

Rachel Maddow did a wonderful segment on her program about what she calls the “conservative media bubble” and attributes such in-bred thinking for Mitt Romney’s major debate gaffe disbelieving Obama when he said that he lad labeled the Libya embassy attack an “act of terror” the day after it happened.  She talked about conservatives holding to contrafactual views because it makes them feel comfortable. The segment was titled “Right-wing truthers lead Romney to debate disaster.”

The lead in was the appearance of Where’s the Real Birth Certificate author Jerome Corsi as part of the accredited press corps traveling with the Romney campaign. Maddow barely scratches the surface of available examples of the nuttiness of Corsi and the online tabloid web site he works for, WorldNetDaily. Politico.com’s Dylan Byers broke the story and did a feature on the Corsi appearance on the Romney plane. I’ll be interested to see what if anything the Romney Campaign does in response to these news stories: defend the freedom of the press, or throw Corsi under the bus out the emergency exit without a parachute.

We see the same insular news sources in birtherism all the time, where they actually believe that Sheriff Arpaio conducted a real police investigation, that everybody was taught in Civics class that US Presidents must have citizen parents, Ann Dunham posed nude for Frank Marshall Davis in 1960, and that Obama stole the social-security number of a guy born in Connecticut in 1890.

Maddow made the quote of the day when she said:

Do not confuse your WorldNetDaily-caliber conservative therapeutic alternative reality fantasy babble for what actually happened.

Of course, debate gaffe’s are not all that important in my book. What is important is that those who actually govern us (not to be confused with political candidates) do so based on the best available facts, and not what they tell each other.

Here’s the video from Maddow’s show:

Continue Reading →

Obama and gay roommate traveled to Mars

By on October 12, 2012 in Jerome Corsi, Wild & Wacky

Image credit: Comedy CentralAn old story takes on new significance in the light of the fact that Comedy Central discovered it. The gold band worn on the left hand of President Obama long before he was married was declared by Jerome Corsi in a YouTube video as proof that Obama was gay. (We’ll ignore for narrative sake that he now claims the ring means Obama is Muslim).

We had a hugely popular discussion earlier in the year on my article “Is Obama a Marsist?” and it’s comment overflow article. Now conservative pundit Stephen Colbert has taken up the baton in his “This Changes Everything” series (3:45 in the video). With interviews and exclusive footage, Colbert provides shocking new evidence and expert testimony by Captain James T. Kirk that Obama teleported to mars.

Obama’s ring

By on October 10, 2012 in Jerome Corsi, Misc. Conspiracies, WorldNetDaily

President Obama wears a gold band on his left hand. From his Harvard school days comes a humorous statement from a satirical Harvard student publication written by Obama about the ring:

Latest Accomplishments: … Deflecting Persistent Questioning about Ring On Left Hand.

The ring appeared in photos as early as 1987 [1981 - see update at the end of this article] when young Obama traveled to Kenya to meet relatives and visit the grave of his father.

WorldNetDaily’s Jerome Corsi has come up with a tale that there is an Arabic inscription about Allah or something on the ring (thoroughly debunked on the Urban Legends site). That suggestion is absurd on the face of it; if Obama were a closet Muslim, he’d never wear a ring that could be blown up to the size of a watermelon by any photographer with a foot-long telephoto lens. Corsi makes lots of stuff up, although I think this is originally the product of fellow smear author Joel Gilbert.

Conspiracy theory thinking

I think this is a very informative story about the mental defects in conspiracy thinking. There are excellent close-up photos of Obama’s ring out there, but Jerome Corsi at WND relies on photos blown up beyond their original resolution to add noise to them. In reality there’s nothing whatever written on the ring — just a regular flat wavy line pattern. Here’s the Corsi imagination photo:

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Here’s what a clear photo (Free Republic, 2009) looks like:

imageWhat’s informative is that conspiracy thinkers are very good at imposing patterns where there are none, or in this case imagining information where there is just a regular wave pattern, with a little noise due to blur and glare in the photos. Conspiracy thinkers fill in the blanks with imagination. There’s nothing wrong with imagination so long as the mental facilities exist to filter out nonsense — conspiracy thinkers like Corsi lack that.

The same imagination gone awry in this article is found all through Corsi’s writing, from finding imaginary smiley faces in Onaka’s signature on the long-form birth certificate, to finding significance in people Obama has known over the years.

This silliness about the ring is emblematic for the birther movement as a whole.

Speculation, all speculation

Because it is pretty much all speculation where the ring came from, and the Arabic writing business has been completely debunked at the Urban Legends site, I might have just ignored the story completely except for the fact that I took some photos of Obama’s ring myself, and thought I would share them, for what it’s worth.

 

Ring1

Ring2 Continue Reading →

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