The additional open thread: Are we great yet?

Obama Conspiracy Theories closed to new articles on January 20, 2017, as as the very presidential Barack Obama left office, and was replaced by someone completely different. The open thread is a place to leave comments and continue the discussion. This thread will close, and be replaced by another in 4 weeks.

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About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
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220 Responses to The additional open thread: Are we great yet?

  1. Why has Trump spent billions sealing his income tax returns and his grades?

  2. Indeed. Why has he?

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Why has Trump spent billions sealing his income tax returns and his grades?

  3. Obviously there is something in those documents that he doesn’t want people to know about.

    Reality Check: Indeed. Why has he?

  4. Curious George says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Why has Trump spent billions sealing his income tax returns and his grades?

    Has Joe Arpaio spent more than $1.75 to not reveal his birth certificate? Could his birth certificate show something that he doesn’t want revealed?

  5. j.d. sue says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: Why has Trump spent billions sealing his income tax returns and his grades?

    —-

    I’m so glad you’ve asked this question. I’ve been wondering about this too!

  6. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    Curious George: Has Joe Arpaio spent more than $1.75 to not reveal his birth certificate? Could his birth certificate show something that he doesn’t want revealed?

    Arpaio did say that he had experts from his home country of Italy. He admitted to being born in Italy!

  7. Curious George says:

    Arpaio speaking with WABC’s Rita Cosby about his Obama birth certificate investigation. At a little past the 15:00 minute mark in the following link Arpaio claims “We sent it to the FBI two years ago.” https://audioboom.com/posts/6590697-sheriff-joe-arpaio

    What was the MCSO case number assigned to the birth certificate investigation, Joe?

  8. Rickey says:

    Curious George:
    Arpaio speaking with WABC’s Rita Cosby about his Obama birth certificate investigation.At a little past the 15:00 minute mark in the following link Arpaio claims “We sent it to the FBI two years ago.” https://audioboom.com/posts/6590697-sheriff-joe-arpaio

    If he did send it to the FBI, I’m sure that it was passed around the office and everyone had a good laugh.

  9. I’m in the process (not going well by the way) of moving obots.org to a new host. In the process I looked over some of the articles, and I was struck one from 2009 talking about an article by Floyd Brown at WND, in which he argues for the impeachment of Barack Obama. Some of what he said seems almost prescient today:

    In other words, “high crimes and misdemeanors” does not refer to a criminal act. Our Founding Fathers fully intended to allow for the removal of the president for actions which include: gross incompetence, negligence and distasteful behavior.

    For those who mistakenly hold the illusion that impeaching Barack Hussein Obama would be a simple matter of “playing politics,” the founders fully intended that the impeachment of a sitting president be a political act….

    Impeachment is no more or less than the recall of an elected official who isn’t up to the job.

  10. donna says:

    Did Arpaio just learn on TV that accepting a pardon was an admission of guilt?

    Ari Melber: “As you know, when you take a pardon, you’re admitting guilt. Why did you take that pardon and admit guilt?”

    “I didn’t admit guilt,” Arpaio said. “I said I was not guilty, and I say it today.”

    “But you accepted the pardon,” Melber persisted, “and you know under the law that is an admission of guilt.”

    “No, I don’t know about that, you’ll have to talk to the legal scholars about that.”

    Melber then cited Burdick v. United States: the Court said a pardon “carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it.”

    https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/awkward-joe-arpaio-learns-on-tv-that-accepting-his-pardon-was-a-legal-confession-video/

    If Arpaio loses his appeal of the decision, will he refuse the pardon?

  11. Curious George says:

    Birther Chris FARRELL at Mike Volin’s WOBC wrote the following comment tonight:

    “Here’s a campaign slogan that I hope Mike Zullo gets to ‘Sheriff Joe’: ‘SHERIFF JOE KNOWS THE LAW!'”

    Truth in advertising is important. However, Zullo wouldn’t recognize the truth even if it bit him in the a$$. Truth is, Arpaio doesn’t understand the Supreme Law of the Land when it comes to detaining or arresting people based on reasonable suspicion that they had committed a crime. (4th Amendment). Truth is, Arpaio was ordered by a federal court to not violate the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. For nearly a year and a half, Arpaio ignored the federal court order and that is why he was found guilty of criminal contempt. The truth is, law enforcement violating the U.S. Constitution is far more nefarious than a barking dog offense as Arpaio continues to claim. Truth is, the few remaining Birthers who still believe Zullo and Arpaio’s nonsense are delusional and gullible and wouldn’t recognize the truth even if it bit them in the a$$. To put Joe Arpaio in a U.S. Senate seat where he will help pass laws would be inexcusable when he can’t even follow an order of the court.

  12. Northland10 says:

    dunstvangeet:
    Everybody else, I suggest that you disengage from the troll until he answers these questions.

    Not a problem for me. I was not in the mood to play with the troll right now so I have been skipping over his statements. I don’t know what claims he made this time and I don’t care.

  13. I was already done with Jack. Anyone who continues to compare the authenticity of Lucas Smith’s POSFKBC to Barack Obama’s Hawaiian issued birth certificates is either 1) Ignorant 2) blinded by bias or 3) dishonest. He trolled my blog for a while and pulled the same crap.

    Assuming he is 95 it is sad to see someone waste their precious amount of time left on this earth with such inanity. He’s not wasting another minute of my time.

    Don’t feed the troll.

    Northland10: Not a problem for me.I was not in the mood to play with the troll right now so I have been skipping over his statements. I don’t know what claims he made this time and I don’t care.

  14. RAJO says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Why has Trump spent billions sealing his income tax returns and his grades?

    Because the man does not want the world to know that he lost so much money and had bad grades , and is really a failure that should be impeached by the republicans. LOL

  15. RAJO says:

    Dr. Kenneth Noisewater: Arpaio did say that he had experts from his home country of Italy.He admitted to being born in Italy!

    Italy has Italians and not experts,

  16. RAJO says:

    donna:
    Did Arpaio just learn on TV that accepting a pardon was an admission of guilt?

    Ari Melber: “As you know, when you take a pardon, you’re admitting guilt. Why did you take that pardon and admit guilt?”

    “I didn’t admit guilt,” Arpaio said. “I said I was not guilty, and I say it today.”

    “But you accepted the pardon,” Melber persisted, “and you know under the law that is an admission of guilt.”

    “No, I don’t know about that, you’ll have to talk to the legal scholars about that.”

    Melber then cited Burdick v. United States: the Court said a pardon “carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it.”

    https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/awkward-joe-arpaio-learns-on-tv-that-accepting-his-pardon-was-a-legal-confession-video/

    If Arpaio loses his appeal of the decision, will he refuse the pardon?

    7 Clearly, the President may grant a pardon on the condition that the offender pay any court-ordered restitution
    imposed before the pardon was issued. However, the President must expressly state any limitation or condition that
    he wishes to impose because a pardon is presumed to reach all punishment resulting from an offense. Indeed, even
    when a limitation is expressly stated, any ambiguity must be construed in favor of the beneficiary of the pardon.
    See Knote, 95 U.S. at 151.

    The President can not speak the words of the petitioner and the pardon , in effect, prevents any inference that the subject agreed to anything.

    In other words you can not use the crime to punish the pardoned person in any way, as the punishment for the crime has been banned by the pardon.

  17. OK, the site is moved. I’ll see what I can do about the excess basked weave.

  18. bob says:

    RAJO: See Knote, 95 U.S. at 151.

    Knote was decided in 1877. I wonder if the U.S. Supreme Court has said anything about pardons since then? (Hint: yes.)

    Regardless, no one is arguing that Arpaio can still be punished for criminal conviction. Rather, Arpaio’s accepting the pardon was an admission of guilt.

  19. bob says:

    In other news: CNN reported on Mike Volin and gang’s 2013 skip thru Congress.

  20. The site appears to be working normally. I moved it to DreamHost.com where it was some years back. The “budget” account on DreamHost just couldn’t support the 40,000 visitors we used to get back in the day.

    Today, my inexpensive DreamHost plan provides unlimited bandwidth, the thing I ran out of with the more expensive account. It seems like each host has some way of providing what looks like a lot of resource while constraining one thing. I seem to recall that DreamHost limited memory. VPS.NET limits disk space and bandwidth. I get three time more disk space for free from Google than I get from VPS for $20 a month.

  21. Northland10 says:

    Give the customer some hook that makes it look better while providing less in other places. Sounds about right.

    Since the usage is less now and there are no new articles added, your move seems sensible.

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    The site appears to be working normally. I moved it to DreamHost.com where it was some years back. The “budget” account on DreamHost just couldn’t support the 40,000 visitors we used to get back in the day.

    Today, my inexpensive DreamHost plan provides unlimited bandwidth, the thing I ran out of with the more expensive account. It seems like each host has some way of providing what looks like a lot of resource while constraining one thing. I seem to recall that DreamHost limited memory. VPS.NET limits disk space and bandwidth. I get three time more disk space for free from Google than I get from VPS for $20 a month.

  22. The site was loading slowly for me earlier tonight but now seems fine. Congratulations on the move. I very much appreciate your efforts and expenditure to keep a very important resource available.

  23. I am seeing an occasional 500 Server Error message. That is most likely due to excessive aggregate resource usage on the server. The load averages are also a little high; those are how many processes are waiting to execute. These are the sorts of things that led me to move away from Dreamhost a long time ago when the site’s traffic was much higher. I’ll raise the issue with customer service, but if you get an error, just refresh the page. It should come up.

    There may have been some image hotlinking earlier. I have that shut down now.

    I also need to do some more tuning to throttle abusive web crawlers. It appears that the number of these things is huge. It’s not just search engines but marketing and scans for security holes.

    I’m down from 5 hosting accounts down to just two.

    Reality Check:
    The site was loading slowly for me earlier tonight but now seems fine. Congratulations on the move. I very much appreciate your efforts and expenditure to keep a very important resource available.

  24. I can’t find the site anywhere.

  25. As I was posting that comment it got an error.

  26. The problem is that I moved a bunch of sites (8) to DreamHost.com and installed them under the same user. All of the PHP processes for all the sites run under that user. The system monitored the user and figured out I had spawned too many processes and started killing off some. These blogs run all sorts of processes, user requests, malware scans, broken links checking and who knows what else.

    The solution is to move each site under a separate user. I can have as many users as I want under the account. It just takes some time to change things. I’ve moved two already.

    Since this is the big site, it won’t move. All the others will. I think that will solve the issue.

  27. Back to Birthers….

    This may have been posted in the old thread.

    Joe Arpaio said Obama’s birth certificate is a ‘forgery document’
    https://www.circa.com/story/2018/01/11/politics/joe-arpaio-says-barack-obama-birth-certificate-a-forgery-document

    Never heard of Circa. Mark Gillar and Sharon Rondeau make appearances in the comments. I think they both have fled after getting pummeled.

  28. The site seems to hang after posting a comment. I don’t see the comment edit feature either.

  29. I made some changes so the various web sites under my account run as different users. That way procmon won’t think I’m spawning too many threads and start killing them off. I also banned dotbot. Edit seems to be back (again caused by the premature end of a script).

    At the moment, the site is pretty snappy, although that’s never guaranteed.

    Reality Check: The site seems to hang after posting a comment. I don’t see the comment edit feature either.

  30. bob says:

    Reality Check:
    Never heard of Circa.

    New-ish right-leaning site. It is found of accepting Klayman’s leaks, publishing an article about those links, Klayman citing that article in a filing, and then publishing another article about Klayman’s new filing.

  31. justlw says:

    For those of us who cringed just a little bit when the sitting president decided he had to prove he was born in the US by producing a second copy of his birth certificate, I bring you a president who decided he had to prove he can correctly number the first five letters of the alphabet.

  32. justlw says:

    After posting the above, during the page reload, Firefox reported:

    Content Encoding Error

    The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.

    Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

  33. I will check and edit this comment if it is working.

    Dr. Conspiracy: Edit seems to be back (again caused by the premature end of a script).

  34. RAJO says:

    bob: Knote was decided in 1877.I wonder if the U.S. Supreme Court has said anything about pardons since then?(Hint: yes.)

    Regardless, no one is arguing that Arpaio can still be punished for criminal conviction.Rather, Arpaio’s accepting the pardon was an admission of guilt.

    https://www.justice.gov/file/20206/download

    that is where the quotes come from bob, not some blog.

  35. RAJO says:

    from Market Ticker today
    Facebook, in short, has a tiny fraction of its present business value unless it reinforces what you already believe because without doing that you won’t feel good and thus you won’t come back. The firm’s entire intent is to addict you by manipulating your feelings of pleasure and the more successful they are in doing that the more time you spend, the more ads you see, and the more money the company makes.

    It works too

  36. OK I edited this one. The site seems to take quite a while to reload after posting a comment but the response time is improving.

  37. Hosting on a budget server. It is what it is.

    [Edited] This comment did take a long time to post, and that was happening on the previous site too. I optimized one of the comment tables.

    Reality Check: OK I edited this one. The site seems to take quite a while to reload after posting a comment but the response time is improving.

  38. Rickey says:

    RAJO:

    In other words you can not use the crime to punish the pardoned person in any way, as the punishment for the crime has been banned by the pardon.

    The issue is not whether a convicted criminal someone receiving a pardon can still be punished for his crime. He cannot be punished beyond whatever punishment he may have received up to the date of his pardon.

    The issue is whether the pardon extinguishes the criminal conviction, and the Supreme Court has decreed that a pardon does not remove a conviction. Joe Arpaio will never be punished for his crime, but he will go to his grave with a criminal record.

    Of course, the taxpayers of Maricopa County have paid dearly for Arpaio’s transgressions.

  39. Rickey says:

    My latest comment posted immediately.

  40. I have removed the email comment notification feature as part of the long-term hardening of the site. I think that is what was slowing things down.

  41. The comment subscription feature just hits the database once with this query:

    SELECT comment_author_email FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_ID = ‘59599’ AND comment_subscribe_optin=’Y’ AND comment_author_email != ” AND comment_approved = ‘1’ GROUP BY LCASE(comment_author_email)

    That query run in phpMyAdmin only took .0011 seconds and returned the four users that are subscribing to comments. Nevertheless, I’m getting almost instant display after adding a comment now, while it was consistently around 20 seconds before.

  42. I use the comments RSS feed. As a matter of fact I replaced my bookmark on the links bar with that since there are no new articles. It shows me if there are any new comments.

    Edit: This one posted faster.

  43. I set up a FeedBurner account for comments and added a link up in the sidebar.

    Reality Check: I use the comments RSS feed.

  44. dunstvangeet says:

    RAJO, You haven’t answered my questions. So, without a direct answer for you, I will repost them:

    The burden of proof in this is a preponderance of the evidence, which means “is it more likely than not”.

    Now, let me ask you a few questions: Is it more likely than not (the standard of proof) that it’s a forgery if it is signed by someone who claims to have a job that can be proven that he didn’t have at the time that he signed it? The birth certificate was signed by a “Dr. Helton Maganga”. It has a date stamp of February 19, 2009. The Chief Administrator at the time was Dr. Jennifer Othigo. So, please tell me, is it more likely than not that the document alledgely signed by someone who claimed a job title of “Chief Administrator” but wasn’t actually the Chief Administrator is a forgery? I’m not talking about Lucas Smith signing the document, but “Helton Maganga”.

    “Dr. Helton Maganga” signed the document with that spelling. That spelling is evident on both his signature, and the stamp. However, his Linked-in page spells his name “Heltan Maganga”. So, given that there is a misspelling in the name (unless you think that someone purposely set up a Linked-in profile with a misspelled name), is it more likely than not that it’s a forgery if it misspells the person’s name who is signing it? Again, I’m not talking about Lucas Smith, I’m talking about “Dr. Helton Maganga”.

    Now, there is a full birthdate for Stanley Ann Dunham, but there is only a birth year for Barack Obama Sr. Now, Barack Obama Sr. knew his birthdate (June 18, 1936), and it is recorded in documents for the State department. However, the only thing on Wikipedia during the time that this document was made was 1936. So, given the fact that Stanley Ann Dunham has a full birthdate, but Barack Obama Sr. only has a birthyear, despite the fact that he knew his own birthdate, do you think that makes it more likely than not that it is a forgery?

    Kenya generally uses the British dating system of DD/MM/YYYY. All dates on this document are shortened to the American dating system of MM/DD/YYYY. Do you think that this makes it more likely than not that it is a forgery?

    Given that the only word that we have on the authenticity of this document is from the person obtaining it (Lucas Smith), who’s a convicted forger, who states that he literally went to the hospital and bribed people to come out with this document. Do you think that it is more likely than not that it is a forgery?

    Is it more likely than not that it’s a forgery when it comes from a place that doesn’t actually issue birth certificates? Birth Certificates, you said, would be issued from the Department of Health. But according to Mr. Smith’s story of obtaining this birth certificate, he obtained it from the Hospital itself. Furthermore, even if the hospital actually did issue this document, than the fact that it was not issued by the Department of Health would actually take away it’s prima facie value in the court of law, and therefore disregard the evidencial value of it.

    Is it more likely than not that it’s a forgery when it doesn’t even look like other Kenyan Birth Certificates? You can take a look at a picture of a sample Kenyan Birth Certificate here: https://softkenya.com/kenya/birth-certificate-in-kenya/

    When you take these facts together, does it make it more likely than not that it’s a forgery?

    Answer these questions, yes or no. Do you think that it is more likely than not a forgery, given everything that I stated above. This doesn’t even go into the idiotic psuedo-scientific process that birthers have to go through to try to cast doubt on the birth certificate (Oh, this document breaks down into 7 layers. Real PDFs don’t do this, and therefore it’s a forgery) which have all been proven wrong. Just answer these simple questions. Do you believe that it is more likely than not a forgery? Yes, or no.

    Until you answer that question, I will be reposting this comment (Dr. Conspiracy, if you want me to stop, please say so. I don’t want to spam your site if you are expressly against it).

  45. Curious George says:

    The Birthers are at it again fine tuning Birther history. Anyone interested in spending $5.00?

    (H/T to bob at Fogbow.)

    https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0793D8951/genealogicalrese

  46. I got it through my Kindle Unlimited membership for free.

    It’s more of a memoir than a birther book. One thing it makes very clear: Donald Trump was an important birther.

    Curious George: The Birthers are at it again fine tuning Birther history. Anyone interested in spending $5.00?

  47. I thought Amazon dropped the comments on book reviews? There were hundreds or thousands of comments on Corsi’s POS book.

  48. RAJO says:

    dunstvangeet: Is it more likely than not that it’s a forgery when it doesn’t even look like other Kenyan Birth Certificates? You can take a look at a picture of a sample Kenyan Birth Certificate here: https://softkenya.com/kenya/birth-certificate-in-kenya/

    I went to that site and wound up with this, probably because of all of the ads.

    “The only document you need to submit an application for a birth certificate is a copy of your photo ID. Once you are ready to get started, you will find that our application assistance services are comprehensive, secure, and easy to follow.

    Our services offer help by guiding an applicant along a simple, two-step process:

    1/ First, the applicant will choose one of our premium services, which allow for either an electronic download or a physical delivery of completely filled and signed application materials, and crucial submission instructions to their address of choice.
    2/ Then, after following the instructions provided by Efiling, the applicant will place the completed application documents along with a check covering their state’s application fee and a notarized letter* into a mailing envelope, and mail the items to their state Health Department office.

    Once these steps are complete, the individual only needs to wait for approval from the Health Department to receive their official birth certificate. Yes, it’s that simple!

  49. RAJO says:

    And then I went into the site and found this”1. Obtaining a form on Bishop Road at a building next to the ACK Guest House. If you are travelling by public transport you need to alight at Community and cross the road and head towards NSSF (Bishop Rd). Duly fill out and submit the form. However if your child was born at home, the Sub-Chief is authorized to register births in his location. In Nairobi all births are registered at the City Hall. You can also get birth registration services at the District Birth and Death Registries.

    2. You Should have a copy of a notification from the hospital where the child was delivered from if the mother delivered from a hospital. This is usually signed by the doctor and the midwife who were present that act as witnesses that the birth occurred under their watch in Kenya.”

    see that paragraph 2, notifications from hospital , so don’t try to tell us that the hospital does not have such a notification

  50. bob says:

    Gallups and Zullo were on Bill Martinez’s show this week. And Zullo will again be on Gallups’ show today.

  51. RAJO says:

    Now , I notice that the birth certificate shown on the page, is pink, but it is dated O6 and the questionable one is 61, so it might or might not be the same, even though it says it is a birth certificate application form, in is named, as far as I can tell certificate of birth.

    Now I have no way of telling what they were in 1961 but they may have had the same situation.

    I still can not claim that the questioned one is true or fake, as the there is insufficient evidence to dispute the validity or prove the facts claimed

    dunstvangeet: Kenya generally uses the British dating system of DD/MM/YYYY. All dates on this document are shortened to the American dating system of MM/DD/YYYY. Do you think that this makes it more likely than not that it is a forgery?

    You have failed with statement as you used the word “generally” which makes not always true, so you can not use that to declare a forgery, well, you can use it , but it is your choice of what you believe the sentence means.

  52. RAJO says:

    “Now, there is a full birthdate for Stanley Ann Dunham, but there is only a birth year for Barack Obama Sr. Now, Barack Obama Sr. knew his birthdate (June 18, 1936), and it is recorded in documents for the State department. However, the only thing on Wikipedia during the time that this document was made was 1936. So, given the fact that Stanley Ann Dunham has a full birthdate, but Barack Obama Sr. only has a birthyear, despite the fact that he knew his own birthdate, do you think that makes it more likely than not that it is a forgery”

    there are numerous birth dates for Obama Senior, and given the unknown fact about his birth and whether or not there was a birth certificate for him, or even if he was in Kenya in 1961 the birth year might be known but not the birth date.
    So, that little thing is of no consequence to determine truth or falsity.

  53. Substitute “officially” because that is the case.

    Let’s not be hypocritical. If Obama’s birth certificate had dd/mm/yyyy for its date format, the birthers would say it was a conclusive proof it was a fake, and I would too unless there were a fully-documented reason to think otherwise.

    RAJO: You have failed with statement as you used the word “generally”

  54. That’s total bullshit to the extent that your comment actually says anything at all. At the time the Smith fake birth certificate was fabricated there were NO birth dates circulating for Obama Sr. Since then FOIA and other research have found two, but BOTH have the same month and day.

    The birther controversy is over. There are true believers who say Obama was born in Kenya as an article of faith, regardless of the evidence to the contrary and there are rational people who know the idea is counterfactual and nonsense. And then there are the trolls who say stuff just to provoke a reaction.

    RAJO: there are numerous birth dates for Obama Senior, and given the unknown fact about his birth and whether or not there was a birth certificate for him, or even if he was in Kenya in 1961 the birth year might be known but not the birth date.
    So, that little thing is of no consequence to determine truth or falsity.

  55. Given that Trader Jack was banned long ago as a troll and I am tired of him wasting our time. I’m putting the ban back into effect.

  56. Thanks Doc. I have ID’ed Trader Jack from information gathered elsewhere. Out of respect for your policy not to give out personal information I will not give out any details.

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Given that Trader Jack was banned long ago as a troll and I am tired of him wasting our time. I’m putting the ban back into effect.

  57. I have given my own review of Lichter’s book at Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/review/R2VZ35KXKH3RPG/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

    Charles Kerchner and William Lolli gave it 5 stars. Fancy that. I gave him 3.

  58. Gallups actually said Fusion GPS is all about the birth certificate. What a delusional moron. he was inflating his LE experience again without actually revealing what he did. Apparently he coulnd’t make a career out of it.

    bob:
    Gallups and Zullo were on Bill Martinez’s show this week.And Zullo will again be on Gallups’ show today.

  59. Curious George says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Given that Trader Jack was banned long ago as a troll and I am tired of him wasting our time. I’m putting the ban back into effect.

    Thank you.

  60. Pete says:

    Reality Check: Thanks Doc. I have ID’ed Trader Jack from information gathered elsewhere. Out of respect for your policy not to give out personal information I will not give out any details.

    Is he a 95-year-old veteran, or is he lying when he makes that claim?

  61. I have added a Random Posts widget to the right sidebar.

  62. Brian Reilly says:

    Book Review of Jeff Lichter’s “Barack Obama’s Birth Certificate. Questions Raised by Donald Trump, Joe Arpaio, and a Tea Party Group”

    This book is a classic example of Mr. Lichter’s relentless revision of historical events to promote the false Birther narrative of President Barack Obama operating under the cloud of a forged birth certificate. I could write a book about the errors and inaccuracies contained in Mr. Lichter’s book, however, I promised myself and the public I would not write a book or make any money regarding my idea to request Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigate the authenticity of the birth certificate of Barack Hussein Obama II. However, I will make a few comments.

    I developed the idea for the birth certificate investigation and I wrote the petition for the investigation. My wife Denise and I circulated the petition at the Surprise Tea Party Patriots meeting on August 17, 2011, where we gathered 242 signatures to be presented to Sheriff Arpaio at a meeting that I scheduled to be held on August 18, 2011, at 10:00 am on the 19th floor of the Wells Fargo Building (Arpaio’s former Phoenix office location.) Dr. Corsi was kind enough to acknowledge, on video, at the August 17, 2011, Surprise Tea Party meeting at the 52:00 minute mark, that it was my letter that explained my idea for the investigation that caught his attention out of 1,000 emails that he received per day. He contacted me and I arranged for Dr. Corsi to fly to Phoenix for the meeting August 17, 2011. Denise and I paid from our personal funds for Dr. Corsi’s airfare, motel, meals, drinks and his limousine service to and from his home in New Jersey. And for the record, Mr. Lichter, Dr. Corsi did not bring any books to the Surprise Tea Party event. I arranged for Barnes & Nobles to bring Dr. Corsi’s book to sell at the event. Barnes & Nobles sold over 100 books that evening. I actually had to buy Dr. Corsi’s book to present to Arpaio at our August 18, 2011, meeting.

    As for the “Eligibility” book that supposedly contained testimony of over 20 prominent researchers that Mr. Lichter mentioned, it actually contained 12 people mentioned predominantly in WND.com articles. The “Eligibility” book also came with a letter from Mr. Bill Wolf, who later provided volunteer CCP member Mike Zullo, the lead investigator for Arpaio, a $10,000 check for his personal use. Mr. Lichter never mentioned this in his book.

    I presented my petition on August 18, 2011, requesting that Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigate the authenticity of the Obama birth certificate as represented by the PDF image posted on the White House website April 27, 2011. I literally sold Arpaio on the birth certificate investigation. In Chapter 10 of his book, Mr. Lichter fails to show a picture of Denise and myself standing with Dr. Corsi and Sheriff Arpaio, taken at the August 18, 2011, meeting with Arpaio. Another omission from Mr. Lichter’s narrative is that I was appointed as the liaison between the Sheriff’s Office and the Surprise Tea Party Patriots. The MCSO staff, present at the meeting, were instructed that I would serve as the liaison between the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the Surprise Tea Party Patriots and all evidence regarding the birth certificate investigation was to flow through me.

    Another omission that is important is my meeting with Sheriff Arpaio and Deputy Chief Brian Sands at 9 am on August 22, 2011, to discuss my request. Arpaio said that he would use his all-volunteer Cold Case Posse to do the investigation. And for the record, Mr. Lichter, the Cold Case Posse was not formed to investigate the birth certificate and Mike Zullo never attended the meetings on August 18, 2011, and August 22, 2011. The CCP had been in existence since 2007. I was not pleased that Arpaio declined to use the assets of the MCSO for his investigation. I wasn’t thrilled about Arpaio using unpaid volunteers for the task at hand.

    Another omission in Mr. Lichter’s book is that eventually, I was sworn into the all-volunteer Cold Case Posse by Sheriff Arpaio, on April 17, 2012, and I resigned from the CCP on June 30, 2012. Commander Zullo took an additional 10 days to process my resignation, while asking for me to reconsider my resignation. I consider myself to be very well qualified to discuss the subjects addressed in Mr. Lichter’s book.

    One humorous event that I recall happened at the Church on the Green. Mr. Lichter mentioned that he introduced Sheriff Arpaio at the March 31, 2012, 1 pm event held at the Church on the Green that my wife Denise and I put together in 10 days for Sheriff Arpaio. The unedited video of the COG event shows that I introduced Arpaio. Lichter walked off the stage after he spoke about his meeting with Donald Trump, forgetting to introduce Arpaio. I had reluctantly made Mr. Lichter the co-chairman of the event. Jim and Julie Wise did not attend the event.

    But, the most glaring omission from Mr. Lichter’s narrative is his failure to reveal that the state of Hawaii Department of Health had issued 3 certified Verifications of Birth for Barack Hussein Obama II, in lieu of certified birth certificates as per Hawaii Revised Statute 338-18, to the Arizona Secretary of State, the Kansas Secretary of State and to Democratic Party attorneys involved in a court case in Mississippi. All of the certified Verifications of Birth verify the computer generated PDF image of the Obama long form birth certificate and the birth information presented on the document posted on the White House website, April 27, 2011. These documents devastate Arpaio’s alleged findings that the Obama birth certificate is a forgery, as presented in the Arpaio press conferences of March 1, 2012, July 17, 2012, and December 15, 2016.

    The fact is, Arpaio and Zullo never investigated the actual Obama birth certificate. They investigated a computer generated PDF representation of the document. This was also the case in the alleged investigations, done in Hawaii by Mr. Reed Hayes and ForLabs in Italy, that were discussed at the December 15, 2016, press conference. At no time did they investigate an actual certified copy of the Obama birth certificate, only a computer generated PDF image. Neither Arpaio nor Zullo have released the written reports by Mr. Reed Hayes or Forlabs to the general public or to the mainstream media for review.

    After I asked for Sheriff Arpaio, on August 18, 2011, to investigate the authenticity of Barack Hussein Obama’s PDF image displayed on the White House website April 27, 2011, three things finally convinced me that the Obama PDF representation was legitimate and accurate. 1.) The three, Hawaii Department of Health, certified Verifications of Birth for Obama issued in May of 2012. 2.) A review of Arpaio’s evidence in 2012, by Maricopa County Attorney William Montgomery who classified the evidence of forgery gathered by Sheriff Arpaio as “speculation.” 3.) Watching, from the inside of the CCP, how the alleged investigation was being conducted and the Birther sources being utilized.

    For those interested, the link below goes to an article printed in the Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in Arizona, about the birth certificate investigation and how it started. The Arizona Republic article is far more accurate than Mr. Lichter’s book.

    Why am I not mentioned in Mr. Lichter’s less than accurate book? For the same reason that no Birther website will publish my comments. It simply doesn’t look good for the Birther cause when the developer and the initiator of the Arpaio investigation request promotes the truth that the legitimate evidence produced by the Hawaii Department of Health shows that President Obama is an American citizen who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. President Trump and I agree that President Obama was born in America and is a U.S. citizen. However, I vehemently disagree with President Trump’s pardon offered to and accepted by Joe Arpaio. It would be a huge mistake if Arizona selects Birther Joe Arpaio as our next U.S. Senator.

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-best-reads/2016/10/16/how-arizona-became-ground-zero-birthers/91924322/

  63. Rickey says:

    Pete: Is he a 95-year-old veteran, or is he lying when he makes that claim?

    I haven’t seen his birth certificate, but even that would not be reliable by Jack’s standards. It says a lot that Jack is quite certain about when and where he was born but he still questions Obama’s birth certificate.

    That said, I have confirmed that Jack was born in 1922, so it his likely that he did serve in the military during WWII. And his son did serve on submarines in the Navy.

  64. bob says:

    Over at the Fogbow, Brian Reilly posted an extensive review of Lichter’s “book.”

  65. donna says:

    ARPAIO FILES TO HAVE CONVICTION REVERSED FOR A SECOND TIME

    Despite being pardoned by President Donald Trump in August, Bolton accepted that the former sheriff would not face sentencing, but did not vacate her ruling in October that he was found guilty.

    When MSNBC’s The Beat host, Ari Melber, asked why Arpaio accepted the pardon and admitted guilt, the former sheriff said he didn’t know he was admitting he was guilty.

    http://www.newsweek.com/joe-arpaio-conviction-reversed-arizona-arizona-senate-race-786118

  66. Keith says:

    I resemble that remark…

    http://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2018/01/20

    Much too often.

  67. Dave B. says:

    Geez, five bucks for a 42 page book?

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    I have given my own review of Lichter’s book at Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/review/R2VZ35KXKH3RPG/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

    Charles Kerchner and William Lolli gave it 5 stars. Fancy that. I gave him 3.

  68. That’s even more pathetic that Corsi and Zullo’s “A Question of Eligibility” which came in at a paltry 49 pages.

    Dave B.:
    Geez, five bucks for a 42 page book?

  69. Pete says:

    Brian Reilly: The fact is, Arpaio and Zullo never investigated the actual Obama birth certificate. They investigated a computer generated PDF representation of the document.

    The fact is, Arpaio and Zullo never investigated either the actual Obama birth certificate OR the computer generated PDF representation of the document.

    An investigation means assigning competent, reasonably unbiased professional personnel looking into a matter, and exercising due diligence to sort out and report what is fact and what is fiction and lies.

    Scouring the country trying to find anyone and everyone, no matter how crooked, irrelevant or incompetent, that you can parade out as “experts” in support of your desired conclusion is not an investigation.

    That one quibble aside, thank you for the review, and thank you for continuing to stand up for the truth.

  70. You are correct. Zullo and Arpaio are both lied when they claimed that the investigation was started to “clear Obama”.

    Zullo actually had to scour the world to find a second lab who was unethical enough to take his money and provide a report. I will give FORLAB a pass since they might not have known who Zullo and Arapio were and about the idiotic Birther movement.

    Reed Hayes should have known better though. Neither of them did their due diligence.

    Pete: The fact is, Arpaio and Zullo never investigated either the actual Obama birth certificate OR the computer generated PDF representation of the document.

  71. Brian Reilly says:

    Pete: The fact is, Arpaio and Zullo never investigated either the actual Obama birth certificate OR the computer generated PDF representation of the document.

    An investigation means assigning competent, reasonably unbiased professional personnel looking into a matter, and exercising due diligence to sort out and report what is fact and what is fiction and lies.

    Scouring the country trying to find anyone and everyone, no matter how crooked, irrelevant or incompetent, that you can parade out as “experts” in support of your desired conclusion is not an investigation.

    That one quibble aside, thank you for the review, and thank you for continuing to stand up for the truth.

    Pete:
    Thanks for your kind words. And you’re correct, it was an investigation in name only. Zullo once told me that the investigation would be over by the November 2012, election. If it were a real investigation, why would he set a date for its completion? One could only do that if there was another agenda in motion. If it were a real investigation, why would the party requesting the investigation (me) be asked to join and work on the investigation? If it were a real investigation, why would a book author who already had his mind made up on the subject be involved? If it were a real investigation, what is the MCSO case number assigned to the case? I never was made aware of any MCSO case number and none of our reports indicated a case number. In my opinion, Joe Arpaio is simply using the same phony birth certificate marketing strategy for his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2018, that he successfully used for his campaign for sheriff in 2012. It won’t work in 2018.

  72. Brian Reilly says:

    Reality Check:
    You are correct. Zullo and Arpaio are both lied when they claimed that the investigation was started to “clear Obama”.

    Zullo actually had to scour the world to find a second lab who was unethical enough to take his money and provide a report. I will give FORLAB a pass since they might not have known who Zullo and Arapio were and about the idiotic Birther movement.

    Reed Hayes should have known better though. Neither of them did their due diligence.

    And where are the written reports by Reed Hayes and ForLabs that Zullo spoke about on December 15, 2016? If they were convincing reports they would have been released for review by the media and the public. It’s my understanding that two prominent Birthers have read the reports, but they also have failed to release the contents of those reports. Not surprising.

  73. Doc

    Stormy Daniels was performing in your neck of the woods last night. I am guessing you didn’t go see her.

    https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2018/01/21/Others/Images/2018-01-20/180120_wp_stormy_daniels_0166.jpg

  74. And guess who showed up in the comments on Doc’s review last night? )Hint: the troll was recently banned again here.)

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    I have given my own review of Lichter’s book at Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/review/R2VZ35KXKH3RPG/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

    Charles Kerchner and William Lolli gave it 5 stars. Fancy that. I gave him 3.

  75. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    Banned for like the 20th time?

  76. Pete says:

    ^ What Brian said.

    Thanks, again.

  77. Pete says:

    Jack is sort of a sad case. Given that he was born in 1922 (I will accept Rickey’s word on that) then he is undoubtedly part of the vanishing Great Generation who brought us through World War II. Frankly, I would love to hear stories of his service in the war.

    He should be spending his mid 90s investing it in something more meaningful than political fairy tales.

  78. Randy, are you and Stormy related?

    I didn’t go, but I do know where the Trophy Club is because it’s on the standard shortcut around the Greenville Downtown Airport that I take from time to time.

    The closest I ever got to a “jiggle joint” was walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans while there for a convention in 1974 (ish).

    Reality Check: Stormy Daniels was performing in your neck of the woods last night. I am guessing you didn’t go see her.

  79. LOL I never gave that a thought. I will have to check our family trees.

    Of course since Stormy Daniels is a stage name for Stephanie Clifford I would guess not. She also went by Stormy Waters.

    Dr. Conspiracy: Randy, are you and Stormy related?

  80. The text of Brian’s review preceding has been updated.

  81. bob says:

    Robert Laity filed his cert. petition with SCOTUS (challenging New York’s denial of his 2016 ballot challenge).

    The last birther case enters its final act.

  82. Rickey says:

    bob:
    Robert Laity filed his cert. petition with SCOTUS (challenging New York’s denial of his 2016 ballot challenge).

    The last birther case enters its final act.

    Laity is 0-2 at SCOTUS, and soon he will be 0-3.

    This is the guy who tried to get service-connected disability from the V.A. on the basis that he supposedly has PTSD and mitral valve prolapse syndrome (a congenital heart condition). He failed to provide any medical evidence that he actually has those conditions, much less that they were service-related. But then real evidence has never been a strong suit with birthers.

  83. Rickey says:

    Pete:
    Jack is sort of a sad case. Given that he was born in 1922 (I will accept Rickey’s word on that) then he is undoubtedly part of the vanishing Great Generation who brought us through World War II. Frankly, I would love to hear stories of his service in the war.

    He should be spending his mid 90s investing it in something more meaningful than political fairy tales.

    I see no indication that his son, who has a Ph.D. and is a lecturer at one of the campuses of the University of California, shares Trader Jack’s views.

  84. Laity invented a right to not have a candidate he thinks is ineligible on the ballot. It’s complete nonsense. Birther like Apuzzo have made the same flawed argument that such a right exists. What does exist is the right to vote for whomever you want and not vote for whomever you don’t want to be elected.

    He also included this whopper:

    His [Obama’s] Birth certificate has been proven to be forged, in any event. This assertion is public knowledge substantiated by the former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Joseph Arpaio, Cold Case Posse which released the findings of at least two independent forensic document examiners.

    The CCP didn’t release any such findings from either FORLAB or Reed Hayes.

    Rickey: Laity is 0-2 at SCOTUS, and soon he will be 0-3.

  85. Rickey says:

    Reality Check:
    Laity invented a right to not have a candidate he thinks is ineligible on the ballot. It’s complete nonsense. Birther like Apuzzo have made the same flawed argument that such a right exists. What does exist is the right to vote for whomever you want and not vote for whomever you don’t want to be elected.

    He also included this whopper:

    The CCP didn’t release any such findings from either FORLAB or Reed Hayes.

    My prediction is that New York will not file a response and Laity’s petition will be dead filed.

  86. A bit more on our outage earlier in the month:

    It now appears that someone used a commercial site testing service, that provides a free service to check that a site is up once a minute, to access that web page with the hotlinks to an image here. The testing service then uses commercial providers like Amazon Web Services (and others) to do the testing. As best I can figure, someone set up hundreds of accounts with the testing service, all accessing that one page with the hotlinked images. I found in one case over 200 accesses to the page within one minute, and during the entire attack, there were at least 10 hits per minute.

    The testing company is called “New Relic”.

    https://newrelic.com/

  87. Brian Reilly says:

    donna:
    ARPAIO FILES TO HAVE CONVICTION REVERSED FOR A SECOND TIME

    Despite being pardoned by President Donald Trump in August, Bolton accepted that the former sheriff would not face sentencing, but did not vacate her ruling in October that he was found guilty.

    When MSNBC’s The Beat host, Ari Melber, asked why Arpaio accepted the pardon and admitted guilt, the former sheriff said he didn’t know he was admitting he was guilty.

    http://www.newsweek.com/joe-arpaio-conviction-reversed-arizona-arizona-senate-race-786118

    It is understandable that Arpaio would not know that the acceptance of his pardon apparently amounted to an admission of guilt. His Johnny Depp look alike attorney was interviewed briefly as he left the federal court hearing regarding the Trump pardon for Arpaio. Arpaio’s attorney said that the pardon left Arpaio without even a parking ticket on record. Apparently, he didn’t know that a Presidential Pardon didn’t automatically erase the criminal conviction, only the punishment. All they had to do was go to the White House pardon attorney’s website and they would have learned that a Presidential Pardon does not automatically expunge a criminal conviction.

  88. Rickey says:

    Brian Reilly: It is understandable that Arpaio would not know that the acceptance of his pardon apparently amounted to an admission of guilt.His Johnny Depp look alike attorney was interviewed briefly as he left the federal court hearing regarding the Trump pardon for Arpaio. Arpaio’s attorney said that the pardon left Arpaio without even a parking ticket on record.

    That is astounding. Even if Arpaio’s attorney didn’t know that accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt, it says right on the official pardon that it is limited to the specific conviction, as well as any other other charges that might arise out of the Melendres case.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/here-is-the-pardon-trump-signed-for-joe-arpaio/article/2632651

  89. Brian Reilly says:

    Rickey: That is astounding. Even if Arpaio’s attorney didn’t know that accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt, it says right on the official pardon that it is limited to the specific conviction, as well as any other other charges that might arise out of the Melendres case.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/here-is-the-pardon-trump-signed-for-joe-arpaio/article/2632651

    Details, details, details…Arpaio is not big on details. Whenever he sees me, he asks me if I’m still working for FOX News. (He remembers me as “Bill O’Reilly.”) Yes, I’m serious. Apparently Johnny Depp was focused on other things when the pardon memo came down from upstairs.

  90. Pete says:

    Reality Check: which released the findings of at least two independent forensic document examiners.

    I think he’s referring to the likes of what’s-her-name.

    You know, the world’s greatest Photoshop expert.

  91. Pete says:

    Zebest.

    Zebest wuz ze worst.

  92. Pete says:

    Brian Reilly: His Johnny Depp look alike attorney was interviewed briefly as he left the federal court hearing regarding the Trump pardon for Arpaio.

    Are we sure that wasn’t actually Johnny Depp?

  93. Pete says:

    Brian Reilly: Details, details, details…Arpaio is not big on details. Whenever he sees me, he asks me if I’m still working for FOX News. (He remembers me as “Bill O’Reilly.”) Yes, I’m serious.

    That sparked a fit of combined coughing and laughter.

  94. Brian Reilly says:

    On January 10, 2018, former Sheriff Joe Arpaio was interviewed by Rita Cosby on WABC, and at minute marker 15:02 in the link below, Arpaio said: “We sent it [the birth certificate investigation ] to the FBI two years ago.” https://audioboom.com/posts/6590697-sheriff-joe-arpaio

    On January 25, 2018, I contacted the MCSO PIO, Mark Casey and asked:

    1.) Does the MCSO have a case number for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Obama birth certificate investigation?

    2.) Did the MCSO turn over their Obama birth certificate investigation to the FBI “two years ago”?

    3.) Is there a record of any correspondence between the MCSO and the FBI regarding the Obama birth certificate investigation?

    On January 25, 2018, I received correspondence from the MCSO Office Assistant-Specialized Command Administration, Pamela Siegel:

    (Answers to Questions listed above)

    1.) “…[N]o MCSO incident report has been made regarding this matter.”

    2.) “The MCSO Legal Liaison Section is unaware of any instance in which the MCSO as an agency produced the “birth certificate investigation” to the FBI.”

    3.) “This question cannot be responded to without an extensive search conducted on MCSO records. The requester may want to submit a FOIA request through the Media Relations Unit so the Legal Liaison Section can gather any responsive records.”

    Comment:

    So the bottom line is, without any record of a case number, the MCSO never officially investigated the Obama birth certificate. And, the MCSO has no record of “the birth certificate investigation being turned over to the FBI.

  95. Brian Reilly says:

    Pete: Are we sure that wasn’t actually Johnny Depp?

    His attorney looks like a heavy Captain Jack Sparrow, complete with beads hanging down in his braided beard. Captain Jack Sparrow would have know that a Presidential Pardon, doesn’t automatically erase a conviction.

  96. Brian Reilly says:

    Pete: That sparked a fit of combined coughing and laughter.

    Pete, I think this pretty well disqualifies him from running for the U.S. Senate.

  97. Brian Reilly says:

    On January 25, 2018, I contacted the MCSO PIO, Mark Casey and asked:

    The correct date is January 15, 2018.

  98. gorefan says:

    Brian Reilly:
    On January 25, 2018, I contacted the MCSO PIO, Mark Casey and asked:

    The correct date is January 15, 2018.

    On December 30th, 2016, Sheriff Arpaio sent a letter on MCSO letterhead to Congressman Gosar. The letter described his birth certificate investigation and was meant to be a cover letter for an enclosed “executive summary”.

    Can you ask the MCSO if they have a copy of the executive summary?

    Second thing – when Arpaio says that two years ago they gave the FBI the birth certificate investigation stuff, I think he means when Dennis Montgomery turned the hard drives over to them.

  99. I still think someone should file a request with the MCSO for the forensic reports that were part of the investigation that Arpaio keeps citing as proof of forgery. I know Zullo has them locked up somewhere but I still think the work product of the CCP should have belonged to the MCSO, esp. since Arpaio was at all the press conferences and presented it as his departments work.

  100. There were three:

    Mara Zebest, Garrett Papit and the less memorable one that I just can’t seem to find. Even Zullo seemed to forget about it.

    Reality Check: Cold Case Posse which released the findings of at least two independent forensic document examiners.

  101. gorefan says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    There were three:

    Mara Zebest, Garrett Papit and the less memorable one that I just can’t seem to find. Even Zullo seemed to forget about it.

    Tim Selaty Jr. – he was mentioned in the second press conference and later he deleted his report from his website.

    His big contribution was that he was the first to mention that Preview automatically creates a clipping mask when you use the save as pdf command. That’s may be why he deleted his report since that would contradict their previous findings that the clipping mask was proof of forgery.

  102. Actually I was referring to Reed Hayes’ and FORELAB’s reports.

    gorefan is correct that the third one you mentioned was Tim Selaty, Jr. I tried to find his report a while back and was unsuccessful.

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    There were three:

    Mara Zebest, Garrett Papit and the less memorable one that I just can’t seem to find. Even Zullo seemed to forget about it.

  103. Correction: FORLAB.

  104. gorefan says:

    Reality Check: I tried to find his report a while back and was unsuccessful.

    He deleted his report but NBC found a cached version of it. I don’t know if NBC made a copy or not but I copied this from it.

    “One piece of evidence exhibited was that you could turn on and off a layer in Obama’s long form birth certificate and reveal hidden document data including more of the safety paper background and some additional writing to the right.”

    “I confirmed that you can scan an image with a normal household scanner, and when you use Mac OS X Preview’s “Print -> Save as PDF” menu option, it for some reason, rewrites the PDF’s data in such a way where it generates a clipping mask. The clipping mask is a white trim around the PDF. When the PDF is opened in Illustrator, you can reveal the clipping mask to show hidden information or layer data underneath, which in my case, was part of a birth certificate.”

  105. Nice find gorefan. Yet in the same time period Gillar was running a video claiming the hidden data under the clipping mask was proof of forgery.

    gorefan: He deleted his report but NBC found a cached version of it. I don’t know if NBC made a copy or not but I copied this from it.

  106. Unreal. Disbanded Cold Case Posse is still going as though it is legit and ZulloMoore will be on Hagmann and Hagmann in one hour. Oh, and now he’s some sort of expert on “Fusion GPS.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXWDm88lP8M

  107. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    There were three:

    Mara Zebest, Garrett Papit and the less memorable one that I just can’t seem to find. Even Zullo seemed to forget about it.

    Umm it was the guy who owned that conservative facebook site.

  108. I wish I had grabbed Selaty’s report while it was still in the Google cache. I’m trying to get bits of it put together.

    Investigation Report

    This document explains the various research, analysis, and findings preformed on Tim Selaty Jr.’s and President Barack Obama’s long form birth certificate for Sheriff Joe’s Cold Case Posse investigation unit as conducted by Tim Selaty Jr. …

    Clipping mask

    One piece of evidence exhibited was that you could turn on and off a layer in Obama’s long form birth certificate and reveal hidden document data including more of the safety paper background and some additional writing to the right.

    I confirmed that you can scan an image with a normal household scanner, and when you use Mac OS X Preview’s “Print -> Save as PDF” menu option, it for some reason, rewrites the PDF’s data in such a way where it generates a clipping mask. The clipping mask is a white trim around the PDF. When the PDF is opened in Illustrator, you can reveal the clipping mask to show hidden information or layer data underneath, which in my case, was part of a birth certificate. …

    Conclusion

    After vigorous testing of the possibilities and software capabilities of the variables and options while producing a PDF, I found I could explain a few of the anomalies but not all or even the ones of major concern.

    The severity of the anomalies and quirks which is currently unexplainable without forgery or doctoring leaves me to believe the document in its current state provided by the White House has been modified and altered to the degree that it no longing serves as valid proof of an undoctored or tampered birth certificate.

  109. Thank you Doc. It’s interesting that the part about Preview never made it into any of Zullo’s presentations or reports.

    The problem that all the Birther investigators had was that they were limiting their investigation of scanners to small home scanners and software. It would take too much investigation to figure out that isn’t how scanning was done in larger organizations in the 2000’s. They all use office centers for printing, copying, and scanning.

    When anti-Birthers like NBC, Kevin Vickland, gsgs, and others started looking at how the file was constructed and commercial patents by companies like Xerox on scanning and file compression algorithms things fell into place. A commenter here named justlw even had made an educated guess here that a Xerox WorkCentre was THE machine involved.

    I think Zullo knows very well that the LFBC PDF file posted on the White House web site was a scan of a real paper document. That’s why he has changed his story completely and has come up with these absurd theories about the CIA hacking into the Hawaii DoH databases and other nonsense that is easily debunked.

    Zullo is no longer relevant even in the tiny Birther world since Arpaio got defeated, Zullo was fired, and the CCP was disbanded. He is trying desperately to gain back that relevance.

    Dr. Conspiracy: I wish I had grabbed Selaty’s report while it was still in the Google cache. I’m trying to get bits of it put together.

  110. Reality Check:
    Thank you Doc. It’s interesting that the part about Preview never made it into any of Zullo’s presentations or reports.

    The problem that all the Birther investigators had was that they were limiting their investigation of scanners to small home scanners and software. It would take too much investigation to figure out that isn’t how scanning was done in larger organizations in the 2000’s. They all use office centers for printing, copying, and scanning.

    When anti-Birthers like NBC, Kevin Vickland, gsgs, and others started looking at how the file was constructed and commercial patents by companies like Xerox on scanning and file compression algorithms things fell into place. A commenter here named justlw even had made an educated guess here that a Xerox WorkCentre was THE machine involved.

    I think Zullo knows very well that the LFBC PDF file posted on the White House web site was a scan of a real paper document. That’s why he has changed his story completely and has come up with these absurd theories about the CIA hacking into the Hawaii DoH databases and other nonsense that is easily debunked.

    Zullo is no longer relevant even in the tiny Birther world since Arpaio got defeated, Zullo was fired, and the CCP was disbanded.He is trying desperately to gain back that relevance.

    Fired? Oh, do tell.

  111. Brian Reilly says:

    gorefan: On December 30th, 2016, Sheriff Arpaio sent a letter on MCSO letterhead toCongressman Gosar.The letter described his birth certificate investigation and was meant to be a cover letter for an enclosed “executive summary.”

    Can you ask the MCSO if they have a copy of the executive summary?

    Second thing – when Arpaio says that two years ago they gave the FBI the birth certificate investigation stuff, I think he means when Dennis Montgomery turned the hard drives over to them.

    gorefan, I’ll contact the MCSO and see it I can obtain the “Executive Summary” from the PIO. As I recall, in court transcripts, this report was also referred to as “Elmer’s Report.” “Elmer” was the code name for Dennis Montgomery. Elmer’s Report was humorous to say the least and I found a glaring error in it about when Mr.Tim Blixseth first met with Arpaio. Sheriff Arpaio first met Mr. Tim Blixseth On June 15, 2012. As I recall, the report mentioned the first time that Arpaio met Blixseth was in October of 2013. Zullo under oath, testified in court, as I recall, that the first time Arpaio met Blixseth was in October 2013. That is incorrect as I attended the June 15, 2012, Arpaio meeting with Mr. Blixseth.

    Regarding Mr. Arpaio’s comment to Rita Cosby on WABC linked here: https://audioboom.com/posts/6590697-sheriff-joe-arpaio In context, start at minute 12:20 of the interview and you will hear Arpaio state at about 15:23:

    “We sent it to the FBI two years ago, with a lot of other information.” In context, the discussion was about the birth certificate and other information.

  112. Brian Reilly says:

    Reality Check:
    I still think someone should file a request with the MCSO for the forensic reports that were part of the investigation that Arpaio keeps citing as proof of forgery. I know Zullo has them locked up somewhere but I still think the work product of the CCP should have belonged to the MCSO, esp. since Arpaio was at all the press conferences and presented it as his departments work.

    The reports unfortunately belong to the Arizona corporation called the “Maricopa County Sheriff’s Cold Case Posse.” All CCP work product belongs to the non-profit corporation and Mike Zullo. Having been a member of the CCP, I can tell you that the alleged investigation was done by the Cold Case Posse Inc. and not by the MCSO.

  113. bob says:

    Brian Reilly: Regarding Mr. Arpaio’s comment to Rita Cosby on WABC linked here: https://audioboom.com/posts/6590697-sheriff-joe-arpaio In context, start at minute 12:20 of the interview and you will hear Arpaio state at about 15:23:

    “We sent it to the FBI two years ago, with a lot of other information.” In context, the discussion was about the birth certificate and other information.

    On last night’s Hagman report, Zullo claims that Mongtomery’s December 2015 interview with the FBI included some birthering. It would appear that Arpaio and Zullo have agreed that Montgomery’s dumping of his hard drives (to avoid his discovery obligations in his (unsuccessful) defamation lawsuit) have been retcon’ed to be an “official” MCSO/CCP action. When the reality is, in December 2015, everybody already was hating on each other.

  114. Brian Reilly says:

    Brian Reilly: gorefan, I’ll contact the MCSO and see it I can obtain the “Executive Summary” from the PIO.As I recall, in court transcripts, this report was also referred to as “Elmer’s Report.”“Elmer” was the code name for Dennis Montgomery.Elmer’s Report was humorous to say the least and I found a glaring error in it about when Mr.Tim Blixseth first met with Arpaio.Sheriff Arpaio first met Mr. Tim Blixseth On June 15, 2012.As I recall, the report mentioned the first time that Arpaio met Blixseth was in October of 2013.Zullo under oath, testified in court, as I recall, that the first time Arpaio met Blixseth was in October 2013.That is incorrect as I attended the June 15, 2012, Arpaio meeting with Mr. Blixseth.

    Regarding Mr. Arpaio’s comment to Rita Cosby on WABC linked here:https://audioboom.com/posts/6590697-sheriff-joe-arpaioIn context, start at minute 12:20 of the interview and you will hear Arpaio state at about 15:23:

    “We sent it to the FBI two years ago, with a lot of other information.”In context, the discussion was about the birth certificate and other information.

    Here is a link to the Elmer Case Summary document, which I believe is also called the Executive Summary. The Elmer Case Summary interestingly does not mention the June 15, 2012 Blixseth meeting that I attended with Arpaio, Zullo and Blixseth’s attorney.

    https://www.scribd.com/document/290123619/PX-2726-2014-09-04-Elmer-Case-Summary

  115. gorefan says:

    Brian Reilly: Here is a link to the Elmer Case Summary document, which I believe is also called the Executive Summary.The Elmer Case Summary interestingly does not mention the June 15, 2012 Blixseth meeting that I attended with Arpaio, Zullo and Blixseth’s attorney.

    https://www.scribd.com/document/290123619/PX-2726-2014-09-04-Elmer-Case-Summary

    Actually I think they are two separate files. The Elmer file deals only with Montgomery’s stuff. Still it was interesting and thanks for the link.

    There are several references to taped interviews and transcripts made of Montgomery and they might be interesting to view.

    In his letter to Congressman Gosar, Arpaio is specifically talking about the the most recent birth certificate evidence. He writes;

    “The forensic evidence contained in the expanded executive summary you are about to read was extensively examined by two renowned and entirely independent document expert entities. One entity is located in Italy and the other in Hawaii. Both entities assist law enforcement officers and testify in court as expert witnesses.”

    “These specialists worked from two different forensic disciplines, completely unaware that the other was working on the same evidence. At the end of their examination both expert entities concluded the LFBC document proffered by the Obama Administration as Barack Obama’s lawful identifying document (and the only one ever to be publicly presented) is entirely inauthentic, and merely a digitally-created forgery.”

    So this summary is clearly about the December 16th press conference. I suspect it would only be a rehash of the press conference but you never know.

  116. gorefan says:

    Brian Reilly: I’ll contact the MCSO and see it I can obtain the “Executive Summary” from the PIO.

    Could you also see if you can get the Internal Affairs report on the complaint filed by Montgomery against Zullo? The PSB assigned a number to it (IA2016-0383).

  117. Brian Reilly says:

    gorefan: Could you also see if you can get the Internal Affairs report on the complaint filed by Montgomery against Zullo?The PSB assigned a number to it (IA2016-0383).

    Internal Affairs reports according to my understanding normally are not released to the public when employees are involved. In the past we were instructed that we were employees of the SO. I’ll ask. But no guarantees.

  118. Since the CCP has been dissolved by Sheriff Penzone wouldn’t all of its property revert to the MCSO?

    Brian Reilly: The reports unfortunately belong to the Arizona corporation called the “Maricopa County Sheriff’s Cold Case Posse.” All CCP work product belongs to the non-profit corporation and Mike Zullo. Having been a member of the CCP, I can tell you that the alleged investigation was done by the Cold Case Posse Inc. and not by the MCSO.

  119. The Sheriff’s Office did not create the MCSOCCP as a corporation, so while the posse is dissolved, the corporation isn’t.

    Reality Check: Since the CCP has been dissolved by Sheriff Penzone wouldn’t all of its property revert to the MCSO?

  120. Did Sheriff Penzone disband the Cold Case Posse or not? Hoe kept any finds left in the corporate bank account?

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/01/19/maricopa-county-sheriff-paul-penzone-unveils-100-day-plan-for-office/96776750/

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    The Sheriff’s Office did not create the MCSOCCP as a corporation, so while the posse is dissolved, the corporation isn’t.

  121. bob says:

    Reality Check: Did Sheriff Penzone disband the Cold Case Posse or not?

    I think that article suffers from lazy writing: It is more likely the new sheriff disassociated the MCSO from the CCP. But, strictly speaking, the MCSO cannot “disband” (or “dissolve”) the CCP because it did not create it (nor is it an officeholder/board member).

  122. No, it wasn’t lazy reporting. It was direct quote from Sheriff Paul Penzone.

    See the video that I linked in this article.

    https://rcradioblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/case-closed-on-the-cold-case-posse/

    bob: I think that article suffers from lazy writing: It is more likely the new sheriff disassociated the MCSO from the CCP.But, strictly speaking, the MCSO cannot “disband” (or “dissolve”) the CCP because it did not create it (nor is it an officeholder/board member).

  123. That’s funny Nancy. At my blog you commented on an article where I explained that Zullo had been fired. Please try to keep your lies straight.

    https://rcradioblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/case-closed-on-the-cold-case-posse/#comment-30134

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger: Fired? Oh, do tell.

  124. Brian Reilly says:

    Reality Check:
    Since the CCP has been dissolved by Sheriff Penzone wouldn’t all of its property revert to the MCSO?

    No, any work product is still the property of the CCP. The work product never belonged to the MCSO. Zullo can keep it forever and pick and choose what he wants to release, if ever.

  125. Nowhere does it say that ZulloMoore was fired. Disbanded, yes. But, not fired. Hmm…that puts a whole new spin on things. So, are you saying the MCCCP is still in effect?

    What’s your issue? This is what I wrote:

    “The Cold Case Posse didn’t try to expose. That’s why they’ve been shut down, RC. Oh, and by the way, I am still the forger. Now, my question is, who gets the documents. Not that the Reed Hayes is worth anything since they were given false intel.”
    http://iforgedobamasbirthcertificates.weebly.com/

    Reality Check:
    That’s funny Nancy. At my blog you commented on an article where I explained that Zullo had been fired. Please try to keep your lies straight.

    https://rcradioblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/case-closed-on-the-cold-case-posse/#comment-30134

  126. bob says:

    Reality Check: No, it wasn’t lazy reporting. It was direct quote from Sheriff Paul Penzone.

    I get that’s what Penzone said. The writing is lazy because it doesn’t explain under what authority the sheriff could disband a legally distinct entity. (The MCSO, of course, can disassociate itself from the CCP, revoke the posse members credentials, etc.)

  127. Rickey says:

    Reality Check:
    No, it wasn’t lazy reporting. It was direct quote from Sheriff Paul Penzone.

    Sheriff Penzone was never a member of the Sheriff’s office, so he may not have been aware of the corporate status of the CCP when he made those remarks.

    While he cannot technically disband the CCP, he can (and has) refused to allow CCP members to have any access to the MCSO, which effectively leaves them with nothing to do, other than bloviate about the birth certificate.

  128. Well if the CCP Corporation is no longer associated with the MCSO that means they should be filing financial documents as a non-profit for for 2017.

    Rickey: Sheriff Penzone was never a member of the Sheriff’s office, so he may not have been aware of the corporate status of the CCP when he made those remarks.

  129. Brian Reilly says:

    gorefan: Here is what Penzone said:

    https://www.azcentral.com/videos/news/local/phoenix/2017/01/19/maricopa-county-sheriff-paul-penzone-talks-plans-cold-case-posse/96802450/

    The Cold Case Posse “has been “disbanned.” However, the last time I checked the CCP corporation still exists on the Arizona Corporation Commission. I think more descriptive words would be that the MCSO disconnected or disassociated itself from the “Maricopa County Sheriff’s Cold Case Posse, Inc.” According to Zullo, he resigned from his affiliation with the MCSO. I don’t think it’s fair to say that he was fired. However, once Penzone took office, I think the writing was on the wall for Zullo’s longevity and his association was about to expire with the MCSO and he knew it. According to a letter that I received from Mark Casey, the MCSO, PIO, dated March 3, 2017, he wrote the following comments: (excerpts)

    “Sheriff Paul Penzone announced the disbanding of the Cold Case Posse as part of a news conference on January 20, 2017. The disbanding the Posse is ongoing, so I do not have answers to your specific questions. Here’s what I can say with certainty:”

    “We are in the process of locating documents and records of the activities of the Cold Case Posse. That process is ongoing and not complete.”

    “Mr. Zullo is no longer associated with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in either an official or volunteer capacity.”

    “Mr. Zullo is not eligible for reassignment to other Posses.”

    “Posses are volunteer organizations and operate their Facebook pages separately from the official business of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Questions related to their Facebook pages should be directed to the individual Posse.”

    “Posses are volunteer organizations and operate their fundraising separate from the official business of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Questions related to the status and the use of contributions should be directed to the individual Posse.”

    “Since Posses are independent, volunteer organizations, we cannot speak to their filings with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Any questions on their standing with the Arizona Corporation Commission should be directed to that agency.”

    “While we are empathetic about the emotions and passions of anyone asking for an apology, we feel any apologies should come from those who committed the act in question. Sheriff Penzone was not involved in the operations of the Cold Case Posse and moved rapidly, and to use your words ‘formally’ to dissolve it and disassociate this office with its activities.”

    The words above, speak volumes.

  130. Brian Reilly says:

    Reality Check:
    Well if the CCP Corporation is no longer associated with the MCSO that means they should be filing financial documents as a non-profit for for 2017.

    Yes, that’s correct, but my understanding is that only applies if they have received at least $50,000.00 in donations or more for fiscal 2017.

  131. So, RC, where do you get the claim that ZulloMoore was fired? Perhaps, you know more than you are telling us. Again: “Do tell.”

    Reality Check:
    Well if the CCP Corporation is no longer associated with the MCSO that means they should be filing financial documents as a non-profit for for 2017.

  132. One would assume he would have had his legal folks research this before he disbanded the Cold Case Posse.

    Reality Check:
    Well if the CCP Corporation is no longer associated with the MCSO that means they should be filing financial documents as a non-profit for for 2017.

  133. From the words of Sheriff Paul Penzone. His name is Mike Zullo, not Moore.

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    So, RC, where do you get the claim that ZulloMoore was fired? Perhaps, you know more than you are telling us. Again: “Do tell.”

  134. RE:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lG3Wv0BxRE

    https://www.thepostemail.com/2018/01/27/zullo-gallups-discuss-obama-birth-certificate-forgery-hagmann-report/

    The Mike Evans refers to a boy from Clewiston who was framed for the murder of a girl which he did not do. The girl jumped from a bridge committing suicide. Mike ZulloMoore’s boss/Sheriff gave orders to further mutilate her body. Hence the two tattooed slices across the ribs of the serial killer in “Silence of the Lambs.”

    The only ones who DON’T want this exposed are Mike ZulloMoore, Arpaio, Mike Volin, and company.

    I thought I’d fill you guys in. Yes, I know Mike Evans is also the alleged name of somebody else. But, that’s all part of their conspiracy.

    Similar is the Senator Nancy Ruth. Why didn’t they just add the “Owens” for full effect.

    Looks like this “WaterGate-Pales-In-Comparison” conspiracy is going to be exposed, boys.

  135. Thanks, I didn’t realize the threshold for filing a Form 990 was that high these days. There is no way Zullo pulled in that much last year. He might have back in the halcyon days of 2012-13.

    Brian Reilly: Yes, that’s correct, but my understanding is that only applies if they have received at least $50,000.00 in donations or more for fiscal 2017.

  136. No. It’s Mike Moore.

    Reality Check:
    From the words of Sheriff Paul Penzone. His name is Mike Zullo, not Moore.

  137. Brian Reilly says:

    Regarding the Post & Email comment section censorship. I wrote the following comment as a response to a Sharon Rondeau article. Her website responded by reporting “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” My article never was published. Here it is in its entirety:

    “And Mr. Reilly, unlike you, I am privy to the forensic examiner’s reports; I have read them, and they are compelling. I would never publish anything unless I had read the underlying documentation.”

    Ms. Rondeau, you owe it to your readers to publish the two written forensic reports so that they may be read by the public and critiqued. It is troubling that you have chosen not to expose the actual forensic reports referenced in the December 15, 2016 presser. How about showing us the written reports instead of you telling us your interpretation of the reports?

    Former MCSO Chief Deputy Brian Sands, who has decades of law enforcement experience, as I recall, made it very clear in interviews to the press and in his e-book, “Arpaio, Defacto Lawman” that the Cold Case Posse had no evidence that the Obama birth certificate was a forgery. Also, in September of 2012, Maricopa County Prosecuting Attorney William Montgomery, after examining information the Cold Case Posse accumulated, said that the information about President Obama’s birth certificate being a forgery amounted to only “speculation.” And, on December 7, 2016, just eight days before the December 15, 2016, Cold Case Posse press conference, I spoke with Maricopa County Attorney William Montgomery and he stated since 2012, neither the Cold Case Posse nor Sheriff Arpaio had approached him with any new evidence regarding the birth certificate investigation. It would seem to me that if the two written forensic reports had any merit and revealed new “evidence” that indicated that President Obama’s birth certificate was fraudulently and criminally used in Maricopa County, Arizona, that information should have been submitted by the Cold Case Posse to the Maricopa County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review and possible legal action. Mr. Montgomery told me that he never was given any new information by Sheriff Arpaio or Mike Zullo after 2012.

    In addition, once the two Verifications of Birth for President Obama were issued in May of 2012, by the state of Hawaii, the Cold Case Posse investigation essentially come to a dead end. Former MCSO Chief Deputy Brian Sands agreed that there was nowhere for the investigation to go, once the Verifications of Birth were issued.

    You wrote: “And he [Zullo] displayed the findings for all to see.” Unfortunately, neither Zullo nor Arpaio allowed anyone to read the actual written forensic reports and none of the “experts” were on hand to answer any questions from the press regarding their findings.

    You wrote: “And if you’ll notice, the fake press never reported Zullo’s findings.” And the Post & Email never published the two written reports.

    You wrote: “Mr. Reilly makes demands for the production of evidence as if he is entitled. Again, he has no claim.” As the originator and the initiator of the idea for the birth certificate investigation, more than anyone else, I have the right and I have the responsibility to the 242 people who signed my petition for the investigation to request the publication of the “alleged” evidence that is being discussed. You’ve apparently seen and read the forensic reports. It seems only fair that you would publish those reports for your readers and the 242 signers of my petition to review and critique those reports. While you may consider the forensic reports as “compelling” they apparently were not sufficient in merit to provide to the Maricopa County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for legal review and possible legal action.

    I respectfully look forward to you publishing the written forensic reports that were discussed at the December 15, 2016, Cold Case Posse press conference. That would be “Real” news!”

    (As of January 27, 2018, Sharon Rondeau has not published the written forensic reports from Mr. Reed Hayes in Hawaii and ForLabs in Italy which were interpreted by Mike Zullo at the December 15, 2016 presser. Add to this, apparently no case number was ever assigned to this so called investigation.)

  138. Brian Reilly says:

    Reality Check:
    Thanks, I didn’t realize the threshold for filing a Form 990 was that high these days. There is no way Zullo pulled in that much last year. He might have back in the halcyon days of 2012-13.

    You’re welcome. The question remains, how did he survive in 2017?

  139. You’re nutz.

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    No. It’s Mike Moore.

  140. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    No. It’s Mike Moore.

    I thought it was Michael Jordan?

  141. Dr. Kenneth Noisewater says:

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    No. It’s Mike Moore.

    So what’s Donald Trump’s real name?

  142. That’s a good comment but she will never publish it. Her latest excuse for violating her own comment policy is that if she thinks iif what someone posted is “propaganda” she will permanently ban the commenter. There is nothing in her comment policy about “propaganda”. Of course her comment policy is a joke.

    I’d forgotten that Zullo shared the forensic reports with Rondeau. I am sure Gillar, Gallups and others have seen them too. I expect they are vague and hint that something is not right with the PDF file. They gave Zullo what he wanted and took his money. I think Hayes and FORLAB both acted unethically but money talks.

    Brian Reilly: Regarding the Post & Email comment section censorship. I wrote the following comment as a response to a Sharon Rondeau article. Her website responded by reporting “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” My article never was published. Here it is in its entirety:

  143. I don’t know. I wonder if he is going on all these friendly shows to help ratchet up donations or it is because Joe Arpaio is running for the Senate? Maybe some of both.

    Wasn’t he working as a mall security guard recently? Did the family sell the auto dealership? I think he was also a day trader at some point.

    Brian Reilly: You’re welcome.The question remains, how did he survive in 2017?

  144. Brian Reilly says:

    I suspect that if Arpaio wins the U.S. Senate, Zullo will be going to D.C. I don’t know if the family car business or the Bagel Boy’s eatery are still in business. He was a day trader in late 2011 to early 2012 until the birth certificate took all of his time. He was also a bar bouncer and transported prisoners to jail using the car that I was eventually assigned.

  145. Arpaio will not win. I don’t think he will get out of the primary.

    I don’t see a Bagel Boy listed in Phoenix. There is a Bagel Man on Google.

    Brian Reilly: I suspect that if Arpaio wins the U.S. Senate, Zullo will be going to D.C. I don’t know if the family car business or the Bagel Boy’s eatery are still in business.

  146. Brian Reilly says:

    Reality Check:
    Arpaio will not win. I don’t think he will get out of the primary.

    I don’t see a Bagel Boy listed in Phoenix. There is a Bagel Man on Google.

    Too many people in Maricopa County, think that Arpaio walks on water and can do no wrong. The saving grace is that it will be a statewide vote. It would be a blessing if he fails in his bid for the U.S. Senate. If he somehow gets the Republican nod, it will lead to a Democratic victory.

  147. And that would be a win for the people of Arizona. Ms. Sinema would make an outstanding Senator.

    Brian Reilly: If he somehow gets the Republican nod, it will lead to a Democratic victory.

  148. Now they are 100% dark to the public Unless they post something somewhere asking for money, we’ll never know if the Posse has any income or not.

    Reality Check: Well if the CCP Corporation is no longer associated with the MCSO that means they should be filing financial documents as a non-profit for for 2017.

  149. The site is getting about 180 real hits a day and about 15,000 web crawler hits. I found that most of the crawlers don’t identify themselves, but there is no way a human is hitting my 2008 articles one by one. It’s bots of some kind.

    So, I have installed a caching solution so the bots won’t eat resources. If you add a comment, it clears the cache on this page.

  150. Pete says:

    If a cache payment is demanded, does that require Bitcoin?

    And do you keep track of it in a cache register?

  151. In God we trust. All others pay cache.

    Pete:
    If a cache payment is demanded, does that require Bitcoin?

    And do you keep track of it in a cache register?

  152. I’ve been doing a lot of optimization on the site and some things are a lot faster. Specifically, i’ve been using a cache for pages that haven’t changed so you get them in an HTML file rather than dynamically generated. I’ve also leveraged browser caching so that things on the site in your browser cache don’t get re-fetched from the server. When you add a comment, this page gets deleted from the site cache and the re-displayed page is re-generated.

    But there is one more thing. The elephant in the room is the avatars. Those are off site and I can’t cache them easily. The alternative is to remove avatars altogether. I’ve always liked them, but long-time readers will remember that there is a security concern.

    What do you think?

  153. I could live without the avatars if it improved site performance.

  154. gorefan says:

    Listening to Zullo/Gallups on Hagmann and Hagmann from the 26th, is a shout out to the lawyers in the Mississippi Federal case. Beginning at about 1:11. It is breathtakingly stupid.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK7f1ertFUk

  155. Rickey says:

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    No. It’s Mike Moore.

    Mike Moore just posted on Facebook that he’s going to be at a motorcycle rally at Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Tiki Bar in Clewiston on Saturday. Why don’t you get yourself over there and tell him that he is Mike Zullo?

    Be sure to report back and tell us what his response is.

  156. The invisible elephant in the room was the Woo Tabs widget on the sidebar that shows recent comments, recent articles and the tag cloud. Of course there are no recent articles and I doubt anybody cares about the tag cloud. That leaves recent comments. I have put in a single-function recent comments widget and that, along with the caching, browser caching and removing unnecessary widgets seems to have sped the site up. It was taking me 20-30 seconds to save comments before and just now some tests saved them in 3. [Updated: and this one in 6]

    One caveat about the new caching system. When you add a comment, this page gets regenerated so folks see the new comment, and the Recent Comments are updated along with that. I think the Home page gets regenerated too. The rest of the pages on the site don’t get regenerated, so they are not going to see accurate recent comments (I think).

    Reality Check: I could live without the avatars if it improved site performance.

  157. I am on a very poor internet connection right now so I probably can’t do a far test. I will see how fast the site reloads after a comment.I agree the fancy widget probably isn’t need any longer.

    Edit: Yes, even on this lousy connection it reloaded faster after saving a comment. Editing is faster too.

  158. Find a way to get me there and I’ll go. I’m in Riverview, Florida under the guard of the Hell’s Angels and have not been able to get clear since 1989. *sarcastically* Thanks, Alachua. You’ve been a big help.

    Rickey: Mike Moore

  159. gorefan says:

    Listening to some more of Zullo on Hagmann and Hagmann:

    At 1:00:00

    “You have to understand Hawaii law. Hawaii law says anybody can walk in and report a birth, and under their statute the Department of health must issue a certificate – must – there is no discretion.”

    Of course that is complete bull and I suspect was something he heard from the deranged logic of butterdezillion.

  160. Why can’t the Hell’s Angels take you? Don’t they have a kiddie side car? 😆

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    Find a way to get me there and I’ll go. I’m in Riverview, Florida under the guard of the Hell’s Angels and have not been able to get clear since 1989. *sarcastically* Thanks, Alachua. You’ve been a big help.

  161. bob says:

    gorefan:
    Listening to some more of Zullo on Hagmann and Hagmann:

    At 1:00:00

    “You have to understand Hawaii law.Hawaii law says anybody can walk in and report a birth, and under their statute the Department of health must issue a certificate – must – there is no discretion.”

    That’s Zullo’s trademark exaggeration. But later in the same broadcast, Zullo contradicted himself: he said the HDOH lacked the resources to conduct an investigation, so it would just take anyone’s word for it.

    Of course, Zullo has no evidence that is actually what occurred with Obama. I’m also curious how Zullo thinks Obama’s grandparents registered a baby’s birth without, yaknow, the actual baby.

  162. Pete says:

    gorefan: Of course that is complete bull and I suspect was something he heard from the deranged logic of butterdezillion.

    Butternutz.

    Now there’s a name I’ve not heard in a long, long time.

  163. Pete says:

    Speaking of whom, it caused me to wonder what butternutz has been up to lately.

    Looks like she’s trying to be booted from free republic:

    As long as I have an account after I have asked it to be closed, I am being held against my will.

    And as long as you let my posts remain after you’ve called it “nuttery”, then you acknowledge that you either don’t think it’s nuttery or you like nuttery on your site.

    When free republic identifies your posts as nuttery, damn. You know it’s bad.

  164. It also implies that Hawaii law is quite different from other states and that is a complete lie.

    gorefan: “You have to understand Hawaii law. Hawaii law says anybody can walk in and report a birth, and under their statute the Department of health must issue a certificate – must – there is no discretion.”

  165. gorefan says:

    bob: That’s Zullo’s trademark exaggeration.

    Zullo also says this about Hawaii statute 338-18,

    “So then you have a bunch of these challenges go on in the courts about eligibility and about the long form birth certificate and this is the thing that really amazed me in my research on this. Hawaii statutes make it very clear who has the right to see a document and who doesn’t. And they have determined that if you are a person that has a direct tangible interest in that vital statistic record. And that would be the registrant, who is the person who the birth certificate was issued to, the spouse, the parents, descendants, all kinds of things like that. But there’s one item in there item number 9 that says a person whose right to inspect, for a lot of these challenges some of them took place in Federal court. Federal Court. No one petitioned the judge for an order to have Hawaii produce a verified long-form copy, hard copy of that birth certificate and that’s also including representatives of the Mississippi Democratic Party in a lawsuit that was issued by Orly Taitz over this very issue.”

    Here is what item number 9 says:

    “(9) A person whose right to inspect or obtain a certified copy of the record is established by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction;”

    Why didn’t Sheriff Arpaio, the Maricopa Count District Attorney or the Arizona AG petition the courts to have Hawaii produce a verified long-form copy, hard copy of that birth certificate?

  166. bob says:

    gorefan: Why didn’t Sheriff Arpaio, the Maricopa Count District Attorney or the Arizona AG petition the courts to have Hawaii produce a verified long-form copy, hard copy of that birth certificate?

    Zullo brought this up in the context of Taitz’s RICO fail that she filed in Mississippi. Zullo tsk tsk’ed the Mississippi Democratic Party for not seeking a court order. Zullo seems to have “forgotten” that Obama was also a defendant in that case; if the defense thought (another) long form was necessary, no court order was needed.

    Zullo also bragged about how he visited the HDOH “in a law enforcement capacity.” But this out-of-state wannabe lawman “forgot” to bring a court-signed search warrant.

  167. And in that case the Democratic Party of Mississippi filed with the court a duly signed and sealed verification from the State of Hawaii for everything on the certificate the White House posted.

    bob: Zullo brought this up in the context of Taitz’s RICO fail that she filed in Mississippi.

  168. Rickey says:

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    Find a way to get me there and I’ll go. I’m in Riverview, Florida under the guard of the Hell’s Angels and have not been able to get clear since 1989. *sarcastically* Thanks, Alachua. You’ve been a big help.

    Come on, it’s only a 2 1/2 hour drive to Clewiston. Isn’t it worth it to get the chance to confront Mike Moore?

    Where do the Hell’s Angels sleep?

  169. Zullo follows a long line of Birthers who cannot read and understand Hawaii statutes.

    Section 338-14.3 reads:

    §338-14.3 Verification in lieu of a certified copy. (a) Subject to the requirements of section 338-18, the department of health, upon request, shall furnish to any applicant, in lieu of the issuance of a certified copy, a verification of the existence of a certificate and any other information that the applicant provides to be verified relating to the vital event that pertains to the certificate.

    (b) A verification shall be considered for all purposes certification that the vital event did occur and that the facts of the event are as stated by the applicant.

    (c) Verification may be made in written, electronic, or other form approved by the director of health.

    (d) The fee for a verification in lieu of a certified copy shall be a maximum of one half of the fee established in section 338-14.5 for the first certified copy of a certificate issued.

    (e) Fees received for verifications in lieu of certified copies shall be remitted, and one half of the fee shall be deposited to the credit of the vital statistics improvement special fund in section 338-14.6 and the remainder of the fee shall be deposited to the credit of the state general fund. [L 2001, c 246, §1; am L 2010, c 55, §1]

    This section defines the verification and sets the fee for obtaining one.

    Section 338-18 (b) Defines 13 groups of people who meet the direct and tangible interest requirement to obtain a certified copy of a vital record. Group 9 is a catch that if someone doesn’t meet one of the other requirements they might be able to obtain a court order.

    Section 338-18 (g) defines the groups who are allowed to request a verification. (1) Says anyone who has a direct and tangible interest may request a verification in lieu of a certified copy. Then (2) ” A governmental agency or organization who for a legitimate government purpose maintains and needs to update official lists of persons in the ordinary course of the agency’s or organization’s activities;” This the exception under which the Secretaries of State of Arizona and Kansas were granted the verifications.

    Then “(4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings; or”

    This is the exception that allowed Attorney Tepper for the Mississippi Democratic Party to request the verification. Since Orly Taitz filed a copy of the LFBC that opened the door for the Defendants to request the verification. Notice that no court order is required unlike 338-18(b)(9).

    As Bob said above in the Mississippi case President Obama could have requested another certified copy but why do that since he had already done so in April 2011?

    Any birther who filed a challenge or the MCSO could have petitioned for a a court order to obtained a certified copy of the LFBC but getting a judge to agree is another matter.

    gorefan: Why didn’t Sheriff Arpaio, the Maricopa Count District Attorney or the Arizona AG petition the courts to have Hawaii produce a verified long-form copy, hard copy of that birth certificate?

  170. Sounds like a book title.

    Rickey: Where do the Hell’s Angels sleep?

  171. My hosting company has agreed to move the site to a “more stable server.” The migration will take two hours. I’m not sure when the migration will occur, but it should be within 2 days.

    I’m thinking that there won’t be much if any down time. Comments won’t be lost because the database is somewhere else.

  172. Pete says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Sounds like a book title.

    I think you have to condense it slightly for a book title.

    Where Hell’s Angels Sleep

  173. The lack of refresh is a little confusing. I keep wondering what happened to all the comments.

    Dr. Conspiracy: I’m thinking that there won’t be much if any down time. Comments won’t be lost because the database is somewhere else.

  174. gorefan says:

    Reality Check: Any birther who filed a challenge or the MCSO could have petitioned for a a court order to obtained a certified copy of the LFBC but getting a judge to agree is another matter.

    They also would have been able to get their own letter of verification – as long as they were an attorney. I seem to remember a non-lawyer in Alaska trying to get one and the DOH turned him down because he wasn’t an attorney.

  175. You obviously don’t understand what I said.

    Rickey: Come on, it’s only a 2 1/2 hour drive to Clewiston. Isn’t it worth it to get the chance to confront Mike Moore?

    Where do the Hell’s Angels sleep?

  176. I seem to recall that at first Hawaii refused Arizona SoS Bennett’s request for a verification but after some delay they complied. I imagine they reviewed 338-18 and decided that even though Bennett’s request was Birther lunacy it was a valid request under that section.

    gorefan: They also would have been able to get their own letter of verification – as long as they were an attorney.I seem to remember a non-lawyer in Alaska trying to get one and the DOH turned him down because he wasn’t an attorney.

  177. See my article here:

    http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2012/05/hawaii-arizona-hostilities-increase/

    http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2012/05/hawaii-makes-nice-to-arizona/

    Reality Check: I seem to recall that at first Hawaii refused Arizona SoS Bennett’s request for a verification but after some delay they complied. I imagine they reviewed 338-18 and decided that even though Bennett’s request was Birther lunacy it was a valid request under that section.

  178. Obamaconspiracy.org moved to new server complete. Status.obamaconspiracy.org move to new host. Que sera sera.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxoVRTwlNg

  179. Once again OCT is such a wonderful source of accurate information.

    Dr. Conspiracy:

    http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2012/05/hawaii-arizona-hostilities-increase/

  180. gorefan says:

    Reality Check:
    I seem to recall that at first Hawaii refused Arizona SoS Bennett’s request for a verification but after some delay they complied. I imagine they reviewed 338-18 and decided that even though Bennett’s request was Birther lunacy it was a valid request under that section.

    Bennett was able to convince them he was authorized to make a list of candidates.

    Taitz, Apuzzo, Klayman, etc. could have gotten verifications under the following:

    (4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings;

    Of course such a verification would have been contrary to their agenda.

  181. I doubt Zullo could have gotten a verification because he could have not shown he was involved in a valid legal proceeding and he was not an attorney. Ironic isn’t it? Taitz could have gotten a verification and Zullo could not have

    gorefan: Bennett was able to convince them he was authorized to make a list of candidates.

    Taitz, Apuzzo, Klayman, etc. could have gotten verifications under the following:

    .

    (4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings;

    Of course such a verification would have been contrary to their agenda.

  182. gorefan says:

    Reality Check: Taitz could have gotten a verification and Zullo could not have

    If only Zullo had joined forces with Taitz.

  183. Rickey says:

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    You obviously don’t understand what I said.

    You said that you are “under the guard” of the Hell’s Angels. If they are guarding you, where do they sleep? Do you have a bunkhouse for them? Do they accompany you when you go grocery shopping? Do you have to pay them to guard you?

    I’m just wondering how this works, and why the Hell’s Angels would prevent you from travelling to Clewiston.

  184. And, I, the Obama Forger, contacted both of them. Well, Orly who screamed at me, “Why don’t you call the cops?” ZulloMoore and Arpaio would not answer my calls or respond to my emails.

    “Call the cops!?” Seriously, lady, you have no idea from whence I come. And, for the record, I did call the cops (Arpaio/ZulloMoore/Volin).

    Oh, wait, and the FBI who told me to take it to the media.

    gorefan: If only Zullo had joined forces with Taitz.

  185. I think you should keep on contacting them. They will come around in time. I am certain they will. 😉

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger: And, I, the Obama Forger, contacted both of them. Well, Orly who screamed at me, “Why don’t you call the cops?” ZulloMoore and Arpaio would not answer my calls or respond to my emails

  186. gorefan says:

    Over on twitter Arpaio made this announcement:

    Sheriff Joe Arpaio

    @RealSheriffJoe

    FISA memo consistent with memo we are delivering to AG Sessions regarding corruption in DC swamp. Stay tuned.

    Oh boy, looks like he’s going with the Montgomery nonsense.

  187. Rickey says:

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger:
    And, for the record, I did call the cops (Arpaio/ZulloMoore/Volin).

    Zullo and Volin aren’t cops.

  188. And, Arpaio is a convicted criminal.

    Rickey: Zullo and Volin aren’t cops.

  189. While I knew of the occasional article at Pravda.ru supplied by US birthers, I had not realized how much birther material they had published. Here’s a Google search:

    obama “birth certificate” site:pravda.ru

    72 Hits.

  190. j.d. sue says:

    Anyone else think “birthers!” when Sebastian Gorka said “the memo” would be “100 times bigger” than what caused of the American Revolution?

  191. Without access to the actual FISA warrant application (which we’ll never see), the Nunes memo is just claims.

  192. Pete says:

    Nancy Owens, The Obama Forger: And, Arpaio is a convicted criminal.

    Geez. Nancy and I agree wholeheartedly on something.

  193. Several news organizations already filed a FOIA to have the FISA warrant(s) released based on the White House declassification of information in the Nunes memo. I think they are also citing Trump’s tweets that Obama was “wiretapping phones in the Trump Tower back in October 2016”.

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    Without access to the actual FISA warrant application (which we’ll never see), the Nunes memo is just claims.

  194. j.d. sue says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: Without access to the actual FISA warrant application (which we’ll never see), the Nunes memo is just claims.

    —-

    True, though the memo on its face doesn’t claim much. I’m referring to the birther-like hyperbole.

  195. The FISA warrants might really show sources and methods, while the Nunes memo didn’t (beyond Steele, which everyone already knew about). I don’t think they will see the light of day for many years.

    Reality Check: Several news organizations already filed a FOIA to have the FISA warrant(s) released based on the White House declassification of information in the Nunes memo.

  196. The Bing bot is crawling the site in a crazy way. It accessed my Privacy page 201 times today so far. Weird.

  197. Rickey says:

    j.d. sue: —-

    True, though the memo on its face doesn’t claim much.I’m referring to the birther-like hyperbole.

    It was pretty much a yawner. Nunes conveniently forgot to mention that it was Republicans who originally financed the Fusion GPS investigation, and then on page four he inadvertently admitted that that it was Papadopoulos, not the Steele dossier, that prompted the FBI to open an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

  198. gorefan says:

    Some are pushing for Senator Tammy Duckworth to run for President in 2020. Born in Thailand to an American citizen father and Thai citizen mother.

    Hope she runs just to get Laity fired up.

  199. Rickey says:

    gorefan:
    Some are pushing for Senator Tammy Duckworth to run for President in 2020.Born in Thailand to an American citizen father and Thai citizen mother.

    Hope she runs just to get Laity fired up.

    Speaking of Laity, New York State has already waived its right to file a response.

    The SCOTUS website is now providing links to documents when you run a docket search.

  200. I noticed that on Laity’s case. Cool!

    Rickey: The SCOTUS website is now providing links to documents when you run a docket search.

  201. Rickey says:

    Reality Check:
    I noticed that on Laity’s case. Cool!

    I read his cert petition. Like Cody Robert Judy, he uses his petition to re-argue the usual birther talking points instead of addressing the reasons that his ballot challenge application was dismissed.

    His application was dismissed for the following reasons:

    1. On February 23, 2016, the State Board of Elections issued determinations that Laity’s objections to Cruz, Rubio, and Jindal were invalid because he failed to provide adequate proof of service of his objections, the objections were made in the incorrect venue, the objections raised issues outside the ministerial scope of the State Board of Elections, and the State Board of Elections had never received a certification of designation seeking ballot access for Jindal.

    2. Petitioner does not have standing in this proceeding because he failed to comply with the rules of the State Board of Elections when attempting to file his objections to the candidates’ certificates of designation.

    3. Additionally, this proceeding is untimely because petitioner commenced it more than fourteen days after the last day to file a certificate of designation… Due to petitioner’s failure to commence this proceeding within the fourteen-day period after the last day to file a certificate of designation, this proceeding is time-barred.

    4. Further, petitioner failed to join the State Board of Elections as a necessary party to this proceeding. The law is clear that failure to join necessary parties in a proceeding pursuant to the Election Law prior to the time prescribed for initiating such a proceeding requires dismissal of the petition.

    5. In any event, the proceeding is nonjusticiable. Respondents State of New York and Cruz assert that this proceeding is both moot and unripe. To the extent the proceeding challenges the placement of respondents’ names on the April 19, 2016 New York Republican Party presidential primary ballot, it is moot. To the extent the proceeding challenges the potential placement of respondents’ names on the November general election ballot, it is unripe.

    Laity, like Judy, addresses none of the reasons for dismissal in his cert petition. Because Laity’s application was dismissed on procedural grounds, the New York State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals never ruled on his birther claims. The only difference between Laity and Judy is that Laity is a better writer (which isn’t saying much).

  202. I was going to tweet a link to your comment to Robert Laity but the chicken blocked me on Twitter.

    Rickey: I read his cert petition. Like Cody Robert Judy, he uses his petition to re-argue the usual birther talking points instead of addressing the reasons that his ballot challenge application was dismissed.

  203. I tweeted it:

    The only thing more pathetic than beating a dead horse is beating a dead dog, thinking that it’s a horse. http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2018/01/the-additional-open-thread-are-we-great-yet/#comment-386732

    Reality Check: I was going to tweet a link to your comment to Robert Laity but the chicken blocked me on Twitter.

  204. If I were going to file the most important lawsuit or appeal of all time, I think that I would hire an attorney. Birthers overrate their competence to make legal filings just as they do their ability to judge Obama’s eligibility.

    Rickey: I read his cert petition.

  205. Rickey says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    If I were going to file the most important lawsuit or appeal of all time, I think that I would hire an attorney. Birthers overrate their competence to make legal filings just as they do their ability to judge Obama’s eligibility.

    That’s a great point. The reality is that there wasn’t a single notable constitutional attorney anywhere in the United States who was willing to represent a birther. There are many law firms that would take a constitutional case pro bono if it had any merit. Imagine the fame that would ensue if an attorney challenged the eligibility of the President of the United States and won!

    Pro se plaintiffs almost never are granted cert by SCOTUS, but when it happens law firms rush to offer to take the case pro bono. A few years ago an Asian man who lived in New York brought a lawsuit pro se against the City of Baltimore, alleging that the city unlawfully condemned and tore down a building he owned. The District Court dismissed the lawsuit, but he did some research and found a similar case in another District Court which ruled for the plaintiff. SCOTUS granted cert because of the conflicting District Court rulings. A lawyer in California was willing to take the case pro bono but was unable to contact the plaintiff, so he asked me to try to find him. I was able to trace the plaintiff to an address in Queens, but his landlord said that he was out of the country and that mail had been piling up for him. The landlord let us take a look at the mail and there were a half dozen letters from law firms around the country. Nobody knew where he was or how to contact him. By the time the plaintiff returned to New York his SCOTUS appeal had been dismissed because he failed to file his opening brief on time.

    If any of the birther lawsuits had any merit they would have had no problem getting better representation than the likes of Taitz, Apuzzo, Donofrio, Berg, etc.

  206. One of the Birthers many problems is that they think they are smarter than any lawyer. (Except for Mario Apuzzo, Esq. and Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. of course). Any good attorney would tell them their case is hopeless and based on flawed.

    There have been a few who bent their oath and took on cases knowing they would lose. I suppose we could call them the Reed Hayes of the legal profession.

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    If I were going to file the most important lawsuit or appeal of all time, I think that I would hire an attorney. Birthers overrate their competence to make legal filings just as they do their ability to judge Obama’s eligibility.

  207. …. a flawed interpretation of the Constitution and case law …

  208. Does anyone use the Recent Comments widget in the sidebar?

  209. Arthur B. says:

    I use it to check whether a new “open thread” has been started.

    I wonder, could you leave a message on the “current” thread indicating that you’re opening a new one?

  210. Dave B. says:

    I use it.

  211. The Recent Comments widget duplicates the site Comments feed. To view recent comments, click on the Comment Feed link in the sidebar, or just bookmark:

    http://feeds.feedburner.com/CommentsForObamaConspiracyTheories/

  212. A new open thread will open tonight at midnight.

    Arthur B.: I wonder, could you leave a message on the “current” thread indicating that you’re opening a new one?

  213. It’s been my experience dealing with birthers and Trumpsters on the Internet that they tend to fall for fake news, and that people like me tend to fact check. It turns out that my experience is true in general.

    I’ve been reading this fascinating sturdy from Oxford University, titled, “Polarization, Partisanship and Junk News Consumption over Social Media in the US.” It analyzed Twitter and Facebook posts of fake news, and found a stark concentration of the practice among Trump supporters. It was a large-scale study including over 13,000 Twitter users.

    http://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/2018/02/Polarization-Partisanship-JunkNews.pdf

    I found it very interesting. I think that I will Tweet it!

  214. Arthur B. says:

    Dr. Conspiracy:
    A new open thread will open tonight at midnight.

    Great, thanks.

  215. More on the Oxford study. I was a little careless in my wording. Their study was of “junk news” rather than fake news, which is a subcategory. An accompanying document to the study listed 91 junk news web sites, junk news being defined as coming from a site that consistently publishes:

    political news and information that is extremist, sensationalist, conspiratorial, masked commentary, fake news and other forms of junk news.

    WND made the list as well as WesternJournalism, Judicial Watch, Before It’s News, Breitbart News, InfoWars, NewsMax, and the American Thinker.

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