Conspiracy Corner: #PizzaGate: Fake Pedophile Conspiracy Theory Won't Die in Post-truth Trump America

It's not difficult to get sucked into a conspiracy theory. I've written a few times about my brief dalliance with 9/11 Truthers. It was between the infancy of the movement, and when they started to get fairly nutty.  Which is a pretty short space of time. At first, you feel like you've discovered something. Next, you start to see a few "aha!" type puzzle pieces that fit into a fascinating narrative, then those moments pile up with surprising speed. "How deep does this go?" you wonder to yourself, and then--if you are lucky--you start to notice the holes in the theory. And the "fact"-spackle that doesn't quite fit. Eventually, if you don't get sucked in completely, you abandon the whole thing, because they've basically spoiled the soup with crazy.

Image from source, New Yorker

For me, it was "there were no planes."  Which barely scratches the surface of the crazy to be found if you continue to follow with a more skeptical eye. Most conspiracy theories work on exactly the same sort of structure. And you could probably argue that you shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. But that's assuming there is a baby.

And if I used that particular old cliche to describe the #PizzaGate conspiracy theory, they'd all probably say that I'm in on it. Because oddly enough, the latest conspiracy theory to take political junkies by storm has managed to tie Wikileaks, Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, David Brock, MediaMatters and more to a child prostitution/kiddie porn/pedophile sex ring. Seriously. And, according to every fact-checking source out there, it's utterly baseless. As in: nothing to it.

But the #PizzaGate Truthers will not be swayed, and they're deluging the fact checkers with even more adamant "proof" that they're right. They will not be persuaded that it's untrue. What's worse, it's already lead to a crazy guy attacking the place, not to mention death threats and other harassment. Over an invented, "fake news" generated conspiracy theory. Which totally makes sense in post-truth Donald Trump's America.

On a side note, I can't help but notice that the exact same personality profile of your typical PizzaGate Truther matches that of the many of thousands of Josh Duggar supporters of several months ago. So, apparently outrage about fake child molestation by liberals is far more outrageous than real child molestation by conservatives. Or something.

[Excerpt]

THE AGE OF DONALD TRUMP AND PIZZAGATE

When trying to understand what has befallen Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., over the past few weeks, should one start with the gun or with the lies? Both are durable; both are dangerous. The gun is an AR-15-style assault rifle that a man, reportedly a twenty-eight-year-old named Edgar Maddison Welch, carried into the restaurant on Sunday. According to press accounts, Welch waved the gun, pointed it at an employee, and then fired, thankfully not hitting anyone. . .

Read more at: The New Yorker

Oregon Refuge Standoff, and the Derp of Knee-Jerk Politics

Well, the fifth day of the year is almost over, and I've yet to blog once! I guess that tells you about my waning desire to blog of late. Utterly committed to keeping it going, but very low on the blogging bug. Too bad I never managed to monetize the thing, that might have done the trick! Annnnyway. . . .

The one thing capturing my attention (especially with sheer boredom setting in with the pre-Iowa, post-never-ending-months-of-campaigning 2016 battle) is the Oregon standoff. It's funny. It's stupid. It's absolutely larded with misinformation, complete with a compounding and conflicting back-story. And the best part is, this is the best they could do.

Don't believe everything you read. Particularly in a Facebook meme.

For years now, the fringy-fringe of the increasingly mainstream fringe of the conservative-Republican-Libertarian side of politics have been threatening revolution. Whether it's over legal gay marriage, abortion, gun "grabbing," government overreach, race wars. . .pick one or all. They've been threatening "2nd Amendment Solutions." The loons over at FreeRepublic have been itching for Civil War for at least since Obama was elected, probably as far back as the Clinton years. And it was easy to laugh, conjuring images of obese, older white men (and a few women) riding their hover-rounds in formation, with big old guns strapped across their backs to compensate for. . .shortcomings.

They're always a combination of vague on reasoning and solutions, and OCD-levels of detailed on their conspiracy theories. They can belch out long strings of data about what the government has done that aggrieves them. It's barnacled with half-truths, supposition, illogic, lies and loads of Alex Jones' InfoWars tinfoil-hat conspiracy crap. Do you see the meme posted here? It's culled from the Facebook page of one of my mother's conservative friends. It has more than a half dozen errors in it. Here are the ones I'm aware of:

- The Bureau of Land Management was created by FDR in 1946, which pre-dates 1964 by 18 years.
- The Hammonds were accused of setting at least one of the fires to cover up poaching crimes.
- Their fires spread to federally owned land. Which is. . .federal land. . .even if portions of it were being leased by the Hammonds.
- The charge was arson, not "terrorism."

That gun is pointing at the Feds. No one was shot. Isn't that something?
Image from Business Insider.

- They weren't charged with "terrorism" again, or ever.
- The BLM didn't send them to prison, a judge did, after a jury found them guilty.
- They were sentenced to complete their original mandatory minimum sentence, as the original judge didn't follow the correct sentencing guidelines.

To top it all off, the Hammonds themselves willingly turned themselves in. They don't support these yahoos in their "freedom fight." The Bundy family and their allies are not from Oregon, either. In fact, it would seem that the Bundy family--not content with their conservative fame when they held of the Feds at gunpoint and miraculously weren't fired upon--is simply spoiling for a fight. They're looking to start that insurrection the conservative whack-a-doodles have been promising for so long. By taking over a closed bird sanctuary. Ooh, how daring. But they are armed and dangerous, I suppose. Idiots strapped to the tits with weaponry usually are. And one can't help but wonder if they would even still be breathing if they were any other group, taking over a government installation with weapons. Any other color, specifically, but I imagine even any other religion, any other political ideology, any other kind of lethal weapons, rather than guns. I suspect we'd have nuked the site from orbit, metaphorically speaking.

But the meme above is eaten whole by people like my mother's friend. They'll immediately believe anything that seems to comport with their politics. They'll somehow blame it on Obama. And they'll insist Trump is the answer. And I'm sure The Donald would insist that he is too! Because he's just as vague but certain as they are.

[Excerpt]
 
Bundy Boys Promise To Hold Refuge Until People 'Claim It'



Wow, talk about a nanny state. For all the proclamations about liberty and freedom, Ammon Bundy is behaving like a protective grandma. . . Read more at: Crooks and Liars

Right Wing World: Politicians Pander to Fearful GOP Fringe in Texas

I hesitated when writing "Fringe" in the headline. Because, clearly, the fringe has been wholly assimilated into the Republican mainstream these days. What would you have to believe to be considered a fringe right-winger these days? I mean, when you've got a batshit crazy conspiracy theory being given promotion and credence by elected officials and presidential candidates? You've gone around the bend, and I don't think you're coming back. So, please spare me the "both sides are the same." They really aren't. Find me a left-wing Louie Gohmert. You can't do it.

[Excerpt]

Conservatives Keep Pouring Fuel On The Texas Takeover Fire

The Pentagon has no plans to stage a military takeover of the Lone Star state. There are no tunnels covertly being constructed under West Texas' shuttered Wal-Mart stores.
So why are the fringes of the Internet still abuzz with rumors that the U.S. military is on the cusp of imposing martial law in "hostile" Texas under the guise of a training exercise dubbed "Jade Helm 15"? Representatives of the military and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R), whose state is expected to host part of the planned training exercise, have sought to tamp down speculation that "Jade Helm 15" is anything other than a standard training exercise. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Train Derailment Leads to Oil Tanker Explosion in West Virginia

Image from source, NBC News

During the oddly partisan wrangling over the Keystone XL Pipeline in Congress (why they have such a woody for it, I have no idea), the specter of transit disasters via truck and train have been flogged quite a bit. Sure, they'll say, there's the occasional oil pipeline spill, but it's actually safer than transporting the stuff in any other way. Because trains, they go boom. And train just went boom. I don't have my tinfoil hat out of my storage pod yet, but it makes me go hmmmm.

[Excerpt]

Fayette County, West Virginia, Train Derailment Sparks House Fire

A freight train carrying crude oil derailed Monday in southern West Virginia, causing an explosion that set at least one house on fire, according to authorities. Several of the train cars spilled oil into the Kanawha River, east of Montgomery, and caught fire, prompting an evacuation order for a mile-and-a-half around the area where the train skipped the tracks at about 1:30 p.m. ET, according to NBC affiliate WSAZ. Only one train car, of 109, actually fell into the river. . .

Read more at: NBC News

In Case You Missed It: Benghazi Conspiracy Theories Are All Bunk

It must smart. Right Wing World has been putting everything they have into Benghazi, and it's just been shown to be a nothing-burger. Actually, it's a whole sack of nothing-burgers.

Now, let's start out by saying that the Benghazi attack was a genuine tragedy, and I have never belittled the four deaths that happened there. But this has never been about those four men. Certainly, most Benghaziites on the right couldn't name more than one of the four, Ambassador Chris Stevens. It has been about hanging a scandal around Democrats, initially President Obama, and more recently, Hillary Clinton. Any other Dems they could bag along the way would be fair game as well. But in point of fact, the right politicized the four deaths to the point of absurdity, even against the wishes of the survivors' families.

Image from source, MSNBC

But they've been at it so long, they can't let it go. I've never understood the fervor they have over whether or not it was a tape (I agree with Hillary, at this point, what difference does it make?), why they are obsessed with what Susan Rice had to say a few days later, or exactly what the conspiracy was. But it turns out, every single thing on their bullet-pointed list has been debunked thoroughly, and by a Republican investigation. Some diehard true believers are still holding on though, holding out hope for pinhead, Trey Gowdy's superfluous investigation to turn up something, anything.

[Excerpt]

House Intel panel demolishes Benghazi conspiracies
 
The substance of a story is what matters, but sometimes, when a story breaks is nearly as important. The Republican-run House Intelligence Committee, for example, waited until late on a Friday afternoon, the week before Thanksgiving, to announce the results of a two-year investigation into the deadly attacks on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya. . .

Read more at: MSNBC

What Happens in Vegas: Climate Change Deniers Hold Conference

Here's something odd. On KXNT--the Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity station here in Las Vegas--I heard an ad for a conference taking place here. It sounded, at first, like a meeting of climate change scientists. But as the ad went on, it became clear that it was a gathering of climate change deniers. Makes sense, given the station I was listening to, even though it's more of a straight news channel in the early morning. Still, I thought, that's just weird. That they can gather enough scientists and "experts," to make up enough people for such an event.

I suspect that the bulk of the attendees are climate change deniers of the internet commando type, with the experts making up merely the panel of speakers. Finding out is difficult though. Because outside of the commercial I heard, I can't find much of anything on the conference except on arch-right-wing sites. What I did find is fairly thin on information. So, unless it's a rip-roaring success, don't expect to hear much about it outside of those sources, even after it's over.

Now, on a side note, I'd like to say that I don't understand climate change skeptics, and I don't understand how something rooted in science has become so overtly political. How can it be that if you're liberal, you believe the science, if you're conservative, you disbelieve it? I mean, I know that conservatives often disregard science in favor of ideology, but that doesn't mean I understand it. For one thing, I can't figure out what the motive would be, or how someone would accomplish lassoing virtually all climatologists (and related science professionals), and getting them all to agree to go along with a hoax.

One of the few bonuses of climate change is that Rush Limbaugh
lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. Image from  Big Think.

It smacks of the ridiculous notion of a "gay agenda," where 97% of gay people somehow agreed to make up a "lie" that being gay is not a choice. How? When? Who was the ringleader? How do they keep everyone in line? Maybe it helps that so many conservatives are fundamentalist Christians, who routinely go along without asking too many questions? I don't know. But beyond all that, I find it insane that people don't think that a couple hundred years of spewing pollution into the air and water couldn't possibly cause a problem. Anyone remember Lake Erie on fire? Have they seen the smog in china? Acid rain? And on and on. To dismiss that mankind could cause damage to the way the Earth operates is just short-sighted and bullheaded.

[Excerpt]

Climate change denial: skeptics gather in Las Vegas
 
As the Heartland Institute gets ready to organize a conference on climate change in Las Vegas from July 7 to 9 the focus once again has shifted to the fact whether the issue is a fact of a theory. Dubbed by many as “the biggest gathering of global warming skeptics in the world” all eyes are on the ninth International Conference on Climate Change. Moreover it has come in the background of the public opinion in America that strongly feels about the subject. . .

Read more at: Northern Voices Online

Conspiracy Corner: Hillary Clinton and the "Shoe Truthers"

Yes. Because if you're the presumptive front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, you want to get embarrassed by having someone throw a shoe at you in public.

[Excerpt]

‘Shoe Truthers’ Wonder If Hillary Staged Shoe Throwing Incident



And I'm sure she's thrilled with this photo too.
Image from source, TPM.

Call them the shoe truthers.Some conservative media figures are openly wondering if Hillary Clinton staged an incident during a speech in Las Vegas on Thursday in which a woman in the audience threw a shoe at her. The shoe appeared to miss the rumored 2016 presidential hopeful, who ducked and made light of it, while the reported thrower, Alison Michelle Ernst, was booked by the authorities. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Captain Obvious: GOP Talking Points re: BridgeGate Don't Hold Up

It is obvious that in the few days since Chris Christie's "BridgeGate" scandal went national, the GOP (and the rest of Right Wing World) has been following talking points. Whether they came down from Mt. Limbaugh, were concocted by Reince Priebus, or FOX "News," somebody somewhere decided upon a counter-strategy. And that was to say that Christie gave a big press conference, where he "owned it" (debatable), and took questions. Further, they then say that President Obama has not done the same in regard to his scandals. And then they go down the well-worn list of so-called scandals, Benghazi, IRS and then they have some leeway on further scandals. Some throw in "Fast and Furious," some go NSA, others generically site ObamaCare.

But they're all on that same page as a response to Christie. In tandem with that, they'll compare Christie and Obama both being "unaware" what nefariousness people under them are up to. There are several things wrong with this line of counter-attack, starting with the very large difference between being a President and being a Governor. And it's been irritating me all day, as I've heard and read little driblets here and there, and watched some of the Sunday talk shows. So here, in no particular order, are the issues I find with the response by the GOP and Right Wing World.

If you watch FOX "News", you immediately
know this is Benghaziiiii!!!Image from Washington Post

• The IRS "scandal" has been shown to be mostly hooey, with little-to-no connection to the president.
• The IRS investigated political groups seeking tax exempt non-political status, from both the left and the right. Yes, they selected groups with "tea party" and "freedom" in their names, because these were political groups! They also selected left-leaning groups. Whether it was a straight-up 50/50 dragnet is up in the air, but it was not, strictly speaking, an anti-right-wing probe.
• The real scandal with the IRS is that most of the investigated groups got their tax exempt status, even though they're clearly political groups.
• Obama was expected by the right, to know the inner workings and details of the Cincinnati IRS office, but Christie isn't supposed to know what his closest staff is up to?
• Benghazi was an attack on us, not a conspiracy by us.
• The Republican Congress cut funding for security that may have affected the protection and response to the Benghazi attacks
• The Benghazi attacks was ultimately shown to have a connection to the anti-Muslim video that was originally suspected to have been a motivator.
• What happened in Benghazi--terrible as it was--has precedent in many foreign countries with US dignitaries, under other presidents, notably George W. Bush. Loss of life is an unfortunate fact of life in diplomacy, and while minimizing that loss is always an important goal, Republican interest in Benghazi was absent in prior years.

  

  I'm not nuts about drones either, but it's another
  program started in the Bush Era that the right didn't
  used to question, and it has little to do with
  Governor Christie's issues.

• "Fast and Furious" was a continuation of a Bush-era program that was shut down after the Attorney General became aware of it, at least to my understanding. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding, I'm unsure there has ever been a straight-line to the president for the program.
• The NSA is a powerful shadowy group, and I agree that it's creepy and has too much power. But I think that's been true no matter which party or president has been in charge. And it was the post-9/11, Bush Era policies that pushed NSA even further over the edge.
• The allegation that President Obama hasn't responded to or answered any questions about any of this seems kind of ridiculous too. He's had press conferences, interviews, and White House briefings all the way through his presidency. Not enough? Maybe, but there has not been silence.
• Finally, all of the above (and more) have been pored over by the media, in endless, copious amounts. ObamaCare has been beaten against a rock since it was birthed, and at every step along the way. 

There has been another tactic used by the usual suspects that says this BridgeGate scandal is a lot of hot air over nothing, and they're only touting it to "get Christi," while ignoring the scandals of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. To which I say, are you freaking kidding me? Hillary has had more dirty laundry aired than almost any living political figure in the United States. And Obama has had every little scandal-ette magnified to apocalyptic proportions to fill news cycle after news cycle. The evidence for that fills the pages of just this blog alone, and I'm not terribly prolific. You'd have to be willfully amnesic to state otherwise.

Lara Logan and 60 Minutes Producer Suspended Over Discredited Benghazi Story

Image from source, Raw Story

Not since "Rathergate" has 60 Minutes had so much egg on their face (and to be fair, that was 60 Minutes II). In that case, the conservative blogosphere nabbed one of their first scalps. It pretty much put the arch tea-bagger site FreeRepublic.com on the map. This time, the shoe is kind of on the other foot. 60 Minutes was trying to play into a right-wing conspiracy theory, and got suckered by a guy who sold them a story that fit the narrative. Interestingly, the FReeper types still believe the discredited story, in kind of a reverse of the "story is true, but the evidence was fake" theme they made fun of with the Bush National Guard documents of Rathergate. I hope Dan Rather got a chuckle out of this one, at least.

[Excerpt]

Lara Logan and ’60 Minutes’ producer put on leave after discredited Benghazi report

CBS News confirmed on Monday that correspondent Lara Logan and producer Max McClellan had been effectively suspended from 60 Minutes after a discredited report on Benghazi that the network was later forced to retract. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Donald Trump Sued by NY Attorney General

If you think Donald Trump is looking pretty good
(for Donald Trump), it helps to know this shot is from
2004. Image from source, Chicago Tribune.

I can't stand Donald Trump. I've thought he was ridiculous from the first time I saw him, and haven't been dissuaded from that assessment in the 25 years or so since. He's a buffoon. He's proven to be a band-wagoner for any cause that he thinks will keep him in the limelight. He's been possibly the most visible "birther," an adherent of the complex web of self-contradictory (and discredited) conspiracy theories that says President Obama is secretly foreign. And in that endeavor, he has shown himself to be a transparent liar, who can't even keep the different elements of the theory straight.

So, git him, New York. There are very few prominent Americans so richly deserving of a public humiliation and takedown. And if you think I'm being harsh, rest assured I'm restraining myself.

[Excerpt]
 
Donald Trump investment school sued by NY attorney general

New York state's attorney general said on Sunday he has filed a $40 million lawsuit against Donald Trump and his for-profit investment school, accusing them of engaging in illegal business practices. . .

Read more at: Chicago Tribune

The Birther Dilemma: Ted Cruz, Canada, Cuba and "Natural Born Citizen"

What kind of goofy shit is this? Heh. Image from
ObamaConspiracy.net

Birthers and tea baggers (two groups with considerable crossover) have a huge problem looming with the probable presidential run of Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (R-TX). Unlike the fanciful, self-contradictory conspiracy theory that posits foreign birth for President Obama, we know that Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Further, we know that his foreign-born father was born in Cuba. This puts Cruz's nativity story on almost precisely the same ground as the partially invented one the birthers have foisted upon Obama.



Same Question. Image from Wikipedia

Only it's worse. See, Barack Obama Sr. was from Kenya, a country with British ties. Though Cruz's birth country also has British ties, his Dad's birth country is actually considered an hostile to the United States. I don't think even the most rabid birther has tried to assert that Kenya is any kind of enemy. Of course, Obama's real story is even better than Cruz's anyway because he has been confirmed to have been born in the United States, making him unquestionably "Natural Born," no matter how you slice it (fringy, goofy birther tangents don't even rise to asterisks here).

But it's funny, now that Cruz has publicly "renounced" his Canadian citizenship and released his birth certificate, if the birther bunch wants to be consistent, they really need to dive in to Cruz birtherism. Because a great number of the problems they had with President Obama's birth certificate are true for this one as well, along with some other problems. Here is a comment from the great ObamaConspiracy.net, the resource that has effectively debunked every single conspiracy tangent.

 . . .what they will make of these other “issues”:

* “Certificate of Birth”, not a birth certificate
* Record number does not match stamp on the bottom
* No witnesses of birth named, nobody attested to place of birth
* That red blob supposed to be a seal?
* The “E” and “e” in “Eleanor” are not on the same baseline as the rest, unlike in all other words using those letters (“RAFAEL”, “Delaware”)
* When did he ever legally change his name from “Rafael” to “Ted”? Proof?

These are the types of nits that birthers picked with both Obama's "short form" and "long form" birth certificates. It was all nonsense, all of it. I even did my own de-bunking here. Let me be clear, I have no issue with Cruz's place of birth or questions about his citizenship. But I find it very, very amusing that birthers are in this trick bag.

Read more (lots more) here: ObamaConspiracy

Glenn Beck Upset that Rachel Maddow Called Him a ""Conspiracy Theorist"

Is that a microphone plant? Image from source,
Mediaite.

Since Glenn Beck got fired from FOX "News," and took his dog and pony show to the interwebz, I haven't mentioned him all that much around here. Because he's easy to forget (even if he is raking in cash from his gullible following). But every so often, he says something so off-the-wall- it almost requires comment. Just a little while ago, there was a funny story about Beck inventing a conspiracy theory to call him a conspiracy theory. It was only a week ago! And here is that crazy bastard saying he's never been called a conspiracy theory in his life. I guess lying comes easy when you do it for a living.

[Excerpt]

Beck Fires Back At Maddow, Questions Her ‘Intellectual Integrity’: ‘I’ve Never Been Called A Conspiracy Theorist’

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has taken to tearing apart conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and the ever-outraged right-wing response to recent events. On the flip side, Glenn Beck responded to her criticism, calling into question Maddow’s “intellectual integrity” and rejecting the comparison to Jones, with whom he said he disagreed. . .

Read more at: Mediaite

Glenn Beck is Caught in a Conspiracy Theory Moebius Strip

So, according to Glenn Beck, there is a conspiracy afoot. See, his conspiracy theory is that the mainstream media is conspiring to make Beck out to be a conspiracy theorist. See, and the proof that this is happening, is that Beck--by revealing his conspiracy theory--is in fact a conspiracy theorist. But then, if Beck really is a conspiracy theorist, then. . .Oh, I'm lost now.

Epic suffering Beck image from NewsCorpse

[Excerpt]

Glenn Beck’s Latest Conspiracy Theory: The Media Is Conspiring To Label Him A Conspiracy Theorist

Before anyone asks — No, that headline is not from The Onion. And the best way to demonstrate the lunacy in Glenn Beck’s most recent harangue is to let Beck do it himself: “The media has a story line and an agenda, and they will get to it. And they certainly don’t want anybody to ever think that anything is ever planned. The media has their own agenda, and if the media has a storyline, it just writes it in. And currently the storyline is ‘conspiracy theorist. . .’"

Read the rest at: NewsCorpse

Conspiracy Theorists Flummoxed in Face of Actual Scandals

I can't improve upon the actual headline of the excerpted piece below, so I outright stole it. Though I think the actual scandals are more like scandal-ettes at this point. Benghazi isn't a scandal, it was an attack on our people that is being used for political purposes. The IRS thing I'm still convinced was appropriate, except they should have declassified the Tea Party groups' tax exempt status. And the AP one I'm still unsure about. But all three of these scandal-ettes are actual things, and though I'm sure the conspiracy nuts have added their own brand of crazy to them, it's interesting that they haven't quite figured out what to do with them yet.

Crazy Eyes & the Fat Boy would make a good name
for a TV show, don't you think? Image from Salon.

[Excerpt]

Conspiracy theorists flummoxed in face of actual scandals 

If you spend every hour of your working life inventing new ways to attack Barack Obama or the government (or both), this is a very good week for you — or at least it should be. After trudging through the deserts of Benghazi and Fast and Furious for four years, trying to extract any tiny drop of scandal from stone, now suddenly comes manna from heaven, courtesy of the IRS and its misguided attempt to prevent political groups from taking advantage of the nonprofit tax code. Then, even before you could digest the first course, the Department of Justice snoops on reporters. Glory be to Ronald Reagan’s ghost! The Promised Land of Impeachment can’t be far off. . .

Read more at: Salon

Right Wing World: What Benghazi Really Boils Down To

Benghazi is the most important issue to FOX "News," Rush Limbaugh, and thus, all of Right Wing World.  Though the charges of a coverup, and the various threads of conspiracy theory are tangled and vague, Right Wing World is either convinced that something is there, or they're really, really hoping that something will be uncovered.

Watching Meet the Press and other political shows this Sunday showed the Republicans' concern over Benghazi to be what they really are. Firstly, it's about criticizing the White House for being overly political with their initial response to the attack in Benghazi. . .by being overly political. Even FOX "News" Sunday framed the issue as a controversy over talking points. Yes, Benghazi happened before the big 2012 election, and it stands to reason that the Obama administration would seek to finesse any crisis to best position itself. Any administration would. But it is also true that Darrell Issa is on this snipe hunt for purely political reasons . Namely, to hang a scandal (if he can turn this into one) around President Obama's neck, and maybe more importantly, to try to sink Hillary Clinton's chances of becoming President before she even declares.

But I think that the excellent NewsCorpse.com puts an even finer point on it, so I'll just quit yammering about it, and point you there!

[Excerpt]

GOP Calls For Impeachment Of President Hillary Clinton

Vowing to get an early start on efforts to remove Hillary Clinton from the White House, Republican leaders in congress have announced their intention to hold hearings on what they claim are the high crimes and misdemeanors that Hillary Clinton will commit once she assumes the presidency in January of 2017. . .

Read more at: NewsCorpse

Ermahgerd, BENGHAZI!!! Development

Image from NYTimes

I know that Republicans really, really, really want Benghazi to be President Obama's Watergate. And any time anyone makes light of that notion, or dismisses a "cover-up" or a conspiracy theory about Benghazi, they come back with a very serious "four people died." Yes, they did. And that's tragic, and virtually no one has downplayed that. But perspective is important. It is relevant to point out that diplomats have died under previous administrations. It is relevant to point out that on a matter of scale, Benghazi pales as an intelligence failure to something like September 11, 2001. It is relevant to point out that after that day in 2001, Americans put politics aside for a good long while, and came together; whereas after September 11, 2012, Republicans immediately went on a snipe hunt to hang it around Obama's neck.

But mostly, it is relevant to point out that the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi is not really what this is about. The biggest bone of contention for conservatives--for reasons I still don't comprehend--is what Susan Rice had to say on political talk shows five days after the attack. When Hillary Clinton later asked ". . .what difference does it make. . ." that's what she was talking about. Now, if Rice had continued after that day to try to sell a theory after it turned out not to be true, that would be one thing. But she didn't. And if politicians were not known to go on Meet the Press, and just say any damn thing, on shows that are heavily skewed to feature Republicans, that would be another thing. But a YouTube video of all the wrong things John McCain and Lindsey Graham have said on those shows would be child's play to compile. They're on every damned week! Who writes their talking points?

Again, I don't get it. I don't see the scandal here. I don't see the cover-up. And I really don't see a conspiracy theory. Even this new "revelation" seems like a big nothingburger.

[Excerpt]

Benghazi E-Mails Put White House on the Defensive

A long-simmering dispute over the White House’s account of the deadly assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, flared up on Friday, with a disclosure of e-mails that show the White House was more deeply involved in revising talking points about the attack than officials have previously acknowledged. . .

Read more at: New York Times

Conspiracy Corner: The Right-Wing Media Food Chain

This clip from Martin Bashir is an excellent deconstruction of how a crazy conspiracy theory goes from an ultra-fringe blog, to the bigger right-wing sites, to The Drudge Report, onto FOX "News," to crazy-ass questions at important press conferences, and sometimes--sadly--all the way up to and from Capital Hill. Kudos to Bashir, and his guests Ryan Grim of Huffington Post, and Jonathan Alter, who I've liked since his days on The Al Franken Show.

New Hampshire GOP Lawmaker: Boston Marathon Bombing an Inside Job

The face of crazy, from Gawker

GOP Laot much I can add to the Gawker write-up on this batshit crazy New Hampshire House Rep, they cover it pretty well. But, I think a good litmus test for if a person ought to be bounced from office? That they look to Glenn Beck or Alex Jones as a "news" source. That ought to be enough to get you a stay in a padded room.

[Excerpt]

GOP Lawmaker Suggests the Boston Marathon Bombing Was an Inside Job

Tremblay posted on Glenn Beck's Facebook wall last week, saying that the search for the suspects was going exactly as he'd suggested it would. She then goes on to suggest that the U.S. government planned to whole thing, but for what reason she does not specify. The message was posted Friday morning, before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested, for some context. . .

Read more at: Gawker

Seth MacFarlane Condemns Family Guy Boston Bombing Conspiracy Theory

Seth MacFarlane, image from source Raw Story

As predicted, the conspiracy theorists are already out with a slew of half-baked conspiracy theories around the Boston Marathon bombings of April 15. One of them focuses on Seth MacFarlane and his popular cartoon, Family Guy. Unsurprisingly, MacFarlane isn't pleased with this.*

[Excerpt]

Seth MacFarlane condemns ‘abhorrent’ Family Guy mash-up of Boston Marathon bombing

“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane condemned a doctored online clip of the show depicting its star using a cellphone to trigger explosions at the Boston Marathon.
The fake clip was based on scenes from an episode of the cult animated series which aired last month, and which was pulled by broadcaster Fox from online service Hulu.com because of sensitivity after Monday’s blasts. . .

Read more at: Raw Story


*If you really want to send one of these wing-nutters into a tizzy, be sure to tell them that MacFarlane was supposed to be on one of the planes that crashed on September 11, 2001, but was hung over and missed his flight. So he says. Maybe he was tipped off? Okay, wing-nuts. Go!

Will Conspiracy Theorists Will Have a Tough Time with Boston Bombings?

When something bad happens in the news that is of the scale of the bombings in Boston, I feel compelled--and I don't know why I do it--to check in with FreeRepublic.com. Not to get the news, or some kind of insight, heavens no. I just want to see what the lunatic fringe (now, sadly with representation in Congress) is saying, right off the bat.

I liken FReepers to Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, who was said to have suffered a stroke that removed the "tact" filter in her brain. FReepers have no filters, except the reality distorting Right Wing World prism they run everything through. They have no concept of "too soon" or "out of bounds," unless it goes against one of their near-and-dear issues, and then they are extremely easily offended, and full of outrage. They are also prone to instant conspiracy theories. Some flame out very quickly, some catch fire. All have inconsistencies, blind alley tangents and plot holes, with some having coherence problems at the very beginning, and others falling into unintelligiblity later on.

And sure enough, there were already FReepers calling the Boston Marathon bombings a false flag incident. Some were tying it to Sandy Hook. And that of course was leading them to some sort of tie-in with "gun grabbing" and Obama using it to take more of our "freedoms." Yeah, they're idiots. So, while I was glad to find this article from Dave Weigel about why spinning this into a conspiracy will be awkward, he underestimates the wingnuts. They don't care if their theories are around the bend, make no sense and are self-contradictory. They're all id, no tact, no logic, and have no problem with cognitive dissonance. See why I keep tabs on 'em?

[Excerpt]

Why the Conspiracy Theorists Will Have a Tough Time With Boston

. . .We walked past it right in time to hear the "false flag" guy. Dan Bidondi, a "reporter/analyist" (sic) for Alex Jones's InfoWars, managed to ask Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick the very first question in a nationally televised press conference. 

Why were the loud speakers telling people in the audience to be calm moments before the bombs went off? Is this another false flag staged attack to take our civil liberties and promote homeland security while sticking their hands down our pants on the streets? . .

Read more at: Slate