mass media | Skeptical Humanities

New Article Up at CSI

May 17, 2012

As you likely know, I have “The Conspiracy Guy” column at CSI’s website now, and my most recent contribution is up. It’s called, “Out of Mind? Out of Sight!” And yes, I am very proud of that title. I want to invite you to respond to it here, since there is no option to reply at the CSI website.

RJB

5 Comments | conspiracy theory, humanities, mass media, UFOs | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (11 May 2012)

May 11, 2012

Things are looking up. Last week I accepted a Visiting Assistant Professor position in Wisconsin, so at the end of the summer, the home base of Skeptical Humanities is going to be shifting northward. This does not mean, however, that I am going to be able to let the goofers of the world off the hook. Indeed, I will likely dive into it with more zeal than ever since I am less likely to overheat way up there than I am in Atlanta.

Here’s a new one! Gangsta rap was introduced in the 1990s in order to drive up returns on the music industry’s investments in the private prison industry! Clever. Convoluted. Implausible. I like it.
America’s missing 40 trillion dollars? And sunk it into underground excavation?
Unanswered questions that PROVE that the Titanic was deliberately sunk! (Hilarious.)
Here’s an old one! PrisionPlanet release a document that they say authorizes “Red Dawn” style reeducation camps. In fact, the DOD merely updated their MP field manual. (Read the Preface.) NewsWithViews picked up on it, and they can confirm that unidentified people of uncertain credentials believe…whatever NwV happens to believe.
Ahhh. Madonna and Elvis’s Illuminati link! This is a textbook case of how not to do research, by the way.
Ah, Godwinning the Obama Presidency never gets old.
LOOK! In the sky! A JewFO!!!!!!
Matt Smith is a REAL TIME TRAVELER!

See?

Guy on Internet the great shift coming in Dec 2012. Will he revise his thesis now that a Mayan calendar that goes past 2012 has been discovered?
Rand Paul is afeared of the TSA.
Finally, someone putting forth a reasonable argument against the moon landings. I’m sorry I meant, obsessive and bonkers argument. My bad.
Fun little article on conspiracy theories and comic books.
UFO circling the sun or cosmic ray?
You know where I want to be in November of 2013? Dallas. Without Jim Marrs.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins says that Obama’s birth certificate is a legitimate issue. I don’t think that he really believes Obama’s a “furriner,” but the cynical use of conspiracy is only destructive, and it makes him just that much more of a worse person.
Ach! I can’t believe I missed the CSPAN discussion of “false flags” with Jonathan Kay! Grr. I must watch the whole thing when I have a minute!
Oh, the Bilderbergers are meeting soon, in Virginia again, where Alex Jones may have his power shut off…sinisterly!! This has spawned the Occupy Bilderberg movement. The only plus side is that I get to see Jesse Ventura panhandle. Hey, Gov! Don’t you make enough to kick in a little coin?
FoxNews: “Ron Paul is bigger than most people realize.” Apparently, he’s 5’10”, which is really rather large for a leprechaun. Is it fucked up that this showed up on The Daily Paul because someone thought that the media was trying to make him look smaller? No, actually. This is apparently normal for them, it seems. Looks like Paul delegates at the Republican convention should bring official tasters for them so they don’t get poisoned.
Twisted little tick and sheriff outfit owner Joe Arpaio is getting sued by the Justice Department for alleged civil rights violations.
IntelHub contributor finds false flag hints in an episode of Sherlock. Spoiler: It’s idiotic.
Ah. ChemTrail Truth. When you put “truth” in your name, I stop listening.
We Are Change San Antonio learns the hard way that fascism shows up in short pants on bikes.
The only witness to Breitbart’s death disappears. This stupid story is going to outlive me, unless the cops can debunk it.
America is preparing to welcome its Russian occupiers, some 30,000 to 100,000 Russian troops who will arrive within the next 7 months or so according to the CIA, or some guy who heard from the CIA.
Dick Morris and Sean Hannity discuss the coming NWO and somehow are not admitted for psychiatric evaluation.
IAEA member killed in Iran in a car accident. Assassination or OMIGOD THE TRAFFIC IN IRAN IS UNHINGED!?! (Video.)
White nationalists arrested for planning a race war in Florida. And also in news that would set Chip Berlet’s teeth on edge, a white supremacist in Idaho who is running for sheriff hosts friendly neighborhood cross-burning, and another white supremacist with political aspirations, this time in Arizona, seems to have killed 4 people and himself. All this while the Golden Dawn (neo-Nazis) in Greece earns a number of seats in the Greek parliament. Oh, and are threatening their rivals.
There’s that damned sun destroying the world again. So, why is the ISS reporting sun entities and are we shooting energy beams at the sun? I’m putting together a file on these stories.
Is Orly Taitz as bad a dentist as she is a lawyer? A recent decision by the California Court of Appeals “point out about 147 things that were wrong with Taitz’s filing.” Also, she should sue more people.
LOOKOUT! (another) MASS EXTINCTION EVENT IMMANENT FROM FUKUSHIMA! What bothers me is not these people don’t understand radiation, rather that they are promoting the consumption of potassium iodide, a real drug with a very, very limited use (blocks radioactive iodide contamination from being absorbed into the thyroid, and that’s ALL). It’s a drug with risks with no possibility of benefit.
World Net Daily claims that the endtimes are here (again). Hack failure Aaron Klein has an article titled, “Not Kidding: Obama Has New ‘Atrocities Czar’.” Samantha Power is the new head of the White House’s new Atrocities Prevention Board. Dipshit. Of course, they also recently published this paragraph:

Through the influence of a Rosicrucian-Masonic brotherhood, Washington D.C. seems to be constructed to be the capital of Francis Bacon’s vision of the New Atlantis, which is likely to become the center of the New World Order. On the back of the dollar bill we read the words Novus Ordos Seclorum, which means New Order of the Ages or New World Order. These words are found below an Egyptian pyramid with the all-seeing eye of Lucifer above it, inside of a smaller pyramid. This occult symbolism signifies that in the New World Order, a Luciferian elite will rule the masses; or to use the terminology of the Fabian socialists like H.G. Wells and Bertrand Russell, a scientific elite. This is the restructuring that is going on in America right now.

An interesting write up at Media Matters for America that focuses on an idea being pushed on the right that the media failed to “vet” Obama during the last election cycle, a narrative with distinct conspiratorial undertones. I would say that the entire right was blindsided by Obama’s rise and victory. They really were focusing on Sen. Clinton.
Vigilant Citizen finally came up with something genuinely creepy, but still seems surprised that a Betty Boop film about secret societies might refer to…secret societies:

This week in wild-assed speculation, you know those grave liners in South Georgia that are supposed to be waiting for the FEMA camp victims, or whatever. Well, someone saw them heading North (really, there is no other direction for them to go in this country), which of course means that they are going up for the bodies that will be pouring out of Chicago during the NATO summit.
Charlotte Iserbyt, whose name is an anagram of “breast or tetchily,” is freaking out because she thinks that Maine’s public education is essentially becoming “socialist/communist education workforce training.”

Twit of the Week:

Yeah, this one. It’s like the worst kickstart ever:

@MarkDice

I will go to #Bilderberg2012 if you help fund my voyage. A Chipin donation box is up on http://MarkDice.com. Use PayPal. Thanks in advance.

Mark did leave a couple of unpleasant presents in my twitter feed this week. Another one is:

@MarkDice
We only know the new #UnderwearBomber was a #CIA agent because someone leaked it to the #AssociatedPress. There are good people in gov.

It sounds like the CIA is annoyed that the news got out, but think of their position: is the entire support structure behind the operation now blown, as well as…how many other covers? Are now other lives in jeopardy I can see why they might be miffed.

Visibility911 made a valiant effort this week, though:

@Visibility911
It’s just plain old nauseating how @BarackObama is trying to grandstand over killing Osama bin Dead For 10 Years.

Conspiracy Theory of the Week:

Without a doubt the conspiracy theory of the week is the notion that the CIA staged a fake underwear bombing scare. The evidence is, of course, the fact that the bomb-makers assigned an informant to deliver the bomb. And then he informed, as it were. It’s all the rage, and the media illiterate are flailing about in their own ignorance exultantly under the delusion that everything that they always believed about the CIA staging domestic terrorism was true. The IntelHub (sigh) it was a “corporate media manufactured story [that] was literally a NON EVENT.” There is a difference between making a bomb and being handed a bomb, ding-dongs. Go out and show that the CIA made the bomb and you’ll get Pulitzers. Really.

UPDATE! This wins. I must strip the IntelHub of the only award it ever earned. I saw this minutes after I posted and felt compelled to revise. A concerned citizen from Nebraska gives her view of Dutch gays who like watching people perish, as well as p-e-n-i-s homiciders and anus-licking gay child molesting genociders who go to Gender Studies, but because only because they are gay like Hillary Clinton. She also talks about why college kids need their own doom rooms, when Canadian corpse funguses come from gay ruptured instestines, while Roman bathhouse orgiers watched Christians be eaten at the Colosseum, so that gays cuss sadistically after gaying each other sexually and before committing treason and their children rape each other hetero all day when they aren’t told not to and Judas was a homo:

I’m out of here. I’m going to try to get these back on a more regular schedule in the next week or two. Meanwhile, check out some of my other work which is popping around the web. I recently posted about Ancient Aliens at Skepchick; I wrote about using fiction (specifically Carl Sagan’s contact) to teach critical thinking over at the JREF Swift Blog (the first of many posts on teaching and skepticism); and my next article should be up at the CSICOP website shortly.

RJB

2 Comments | conspiracy theory, critical thinking, history, humanities, mass media, politics, UFOs, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (11 April 2012)

April 12, 2012

It’s that time of the week, y’all, when I mosey up to biggest and baddest in conspiracy theory, size ’em up, and brand them with humor. Then I run away, trying not to get gored.

Let’s see what’s shaking.

This week, the big freak out was about DHS’s purchase of hollow point bullets. This has been brewing for a couple of weeks. The Intel Hub had a little flutter about the purchases and is apparently in the business of trying to scare the crap out of its readership. Take this, which I can only imagine Alexander Higgins wrote while weeping: “Fukushima Has Potential to Destroy the World and Our Civilization!” Keep it classy! Oh, also the USDA ordered some bullets too, but I can assure you those are to keep the delicious, delicious beef supply docile and compliant. Do you think that the USDA will open concentration camps like FEMA? What about US Fish and Wildlife, who also bought bullets?
The US military is preparing for an alien attack. The only appropriate response to an interstellar species is, “I surrender.”
As the bizarre campaign against GMO continues, people are surprised that Monsanto would take a dim view of a labeling campaign against them. We put warning labels on things that are shown to be worth warning you of. The problem is that we have not seen a single death caused by a GMO, a single sickness (aside from being stuffed!), nor any reason at all to think that GMO is inherently dangerous to consumers.
Natural News is understandably miffed that Louisiana’s state medical board disapprove of witchdoctors.
A Day in the Life of David Icke. He gives you a lesson, honestly, about doing your research before making claims about someone. Heheh.
Oh, dear. The Illuminati and Masons are teaming up to rewrite the Word of God, which is of course Christian.
Oh, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is just collapsing under the weight of his own inanity. He says he’s being strong-armed by Obama. It is the beginning of what, according to the Daily Show, will be known as MakeFunOfJoeArpaioGate. How do we get this crazy person, who is clearly unfit for public service, out of a position of power? Perhaps this is the first step, disbarring his crony? Also, roasting Arpaio has to be a fun gig!
Area 51 museum opens! Curator denies it exists.
Some fun Titanic conspiracy theories.
Something is boring underground. This is part of the recent “mysterious boom” phenomenon, I think.
Missouri sends another winner to Congress. This time it’s Vicki Hartzler, and she’s a birther. Oh, she’s also a birther flip-flopper.
The guy who won the Masters? Shape-shifter.
Tornadoes are targeting cities this year, it seems. Probably because of HAARP or something. (See the “HAARP rings” video at the bottom.)
Well, it’s been confirmed on the Internet. We bombed Pearl Harbor in planes designed to look like Zeros. I guess that means we also simultaneously raided the ever-loving hell out of the Philippines at the same time using only American Nisei soldiers.
According to the American Free Press, an SPLC-identified hate group/holocaust denier outfit, sheriffs have lost the power of arrest in Delaware. Of course, they are the only group reporting this, I mean, besides a bunch of Ron Paul sites.
Is Obama a Russian agent?
Not using your life? The movie list of fail, from FederalJack.
The homosexuals have conquered Afghanistan!
The Sovereign Citizens are having a freakout party about the coming mass arrests of the Illuminati and Bankers this month. Stay tuned!
Ed Brayton comes across the gay Planned Parenthood Uganda anti-Christian AIDS genocide conspiracy.
The truth of 9/11 will be Israel’s undoing. Muahahaha!
Conspiracy theorists lash out at “hateful, condescending, maliciously derogatory” normal people.
A Labour councillor declares his mother is a 9-foot tall, 8-fingered alien. I checked the date. Not an April Fool’s Day prank.
David Icke: “Just because your colon is cleansed doesn’t mean you’re awake.” Can’t argue with that.
Is Trayvon Martin’s dad a Mason? Who cares? I’m more worried about the NeoNazis in town. Of course, this was all planned from the beginning.
You know who also had a Roswell? HITLER!!!!!1110101001101011
Nazi elevators.
Ron Paul redditor fantasizes about Ron Paul being some sort of martyr. These people live in fear, and I find that depressing.
I strongly encourage Larry Silverstein to sue Veterans Today for defamation. This is not legal advice, only wishing out loud.
Oh no! Greek concentration camps are going up! Will the guards look like this:

The Breitbart Autopsy Has Been Completed/Deferred Until More Tests Come In!
The morons at FoxNews floated a conspiracy theory this week that Obama sought to have Chelsea Clinton murdered. I suspect that Osama bin Laden would say that when the President wants someone dead, that person gets put in the ground.
Is Obama, an admitted black man, becoming an African dictator…IN AMERICA?! (Yeah, only the type who says he has to be elected when he thinks the mic is off!)
Favorite headline: “Putin Confirms Russian Zombie Radiation Gun.”
Conservatives distrust science. Apparently reality has a liberal bias.
The IntelHub and Russia Today (actually, most news organizations consider RT to be state-run television, ironically for the freedom lovers who think that the media is merely an arm of the government/Illuminati/elite) report on a radioactive dump that is heading straight for a shelter for homeless blind kittens! If I’m doing my math right, the amount of water dumped is about one-114 trillionth of the volume of the ocean. I thought the radiation was already here, guys!
New Ron Paul video game: “Ron Paul: Road to REVOLution.” In it, Ron Paul, wearing a plumber’s outfit, hordes gold coins.
“Madonna’s New Age End Time Satanism…It Is Reappearing In These End Days. It Did Not Begin With The Super Bowl” You know, most Pulitzer-winning investigative reporting begins, “Before I was saved by the Lord….”

Twit of the Week:

President @BarackObama claims to be a Trekkie. But where’s the proof? Why won’t he release his fan fiction? — Conan O’Brien (@ConanOBrien)

Conspiracy Theory of the Week:

Man Attacked by the Moon!

Well, that’s about all I can take this week folks. I have a backlog of conspiracy theories for you, but a lot of work to attend to in the near future. Also, my brother suckered someone into marrying him this weekend, and I need to write the best man’s toast. But I will keep my ear to the ground, don’t you worry.

RJB

By the way, I also write as “The Conspiracy Guy” for the CSICOP website. Visit me there for in-depth coverage of some of the major conspiracy theories. My latest is about the Denver International Airport.

4 Comments | 9/11 conspiracy theories, conspiracy theory, mass media, politics, psychology, Uncategorized, urban legend | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (19 March 2012)

March 19, 2012

Well, it’s me, and I have been very busy for the last few weeks. I did manage to strike the UFO post off of my list, but I have about 4 rather largish projects going simultaneously.

Anyway, I have another piping hot collection of fresh conspiracy theories that will rock your socks off. These span the last two weeks. I apologize because I can’t be more comprehensive this week, but I will get to the rest of it soon.

This week the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report discussing the explosion in the conspiracy-minded hate groups. The number of groups have grown by 755% in the last 3 years. This is important stuff. (Tip: @IDoubtIt) It seems that gun sales are increasing in anticipation of Obama’s reelection. Sigh. Newsbusters replies: “Nuh-uh!“

Speaking of Sovereign Citizens (mentioned in the SPLC report), Mike Adams’ website is defending one who is charged with securities fraud, or as their headline says: “Ventura county District Attorney’s office wages campaign of personal revenge against raw milk farmers; resorts to tactics resembling North Korea.” This one is a real mind-job from the usually hysterical Adams. North Korea is known for ruthlessly reducing bail. The charges:

South Pasadena Farmers’ Market vendor Sharon Palmer is being held on $2 million bail after being arrested by Ventura County sheriffs on 39 counts, including money-laundering and grand theft.

She’s apparently a convicted felon who did not disclose her criminal history while soliciting funds. Oh, and they sell a dangerous product, raw milk. Mike sure seems scared by this prosecution. Wonder why?

Speaking of charlatans getting what’s coming to them, I saw Contagion this week, and while it is satisfying to see Jude Law end up in prison, it is even better when he plays an online health “expert” profiting from fear. Vigilant Citizen saw it too, and makes some basic mistakes when while analyzing the movie. Gymnasiums commandeered to provide beds for the sick (and which are clearly evoking images of the public wards during the Spanish influenza), in VC’s diseased mind, become “FEMA camps,” with all the attendant semantic baggage:

FEMA aid station in Contagion

Army camp during the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak

VC also captions a picture of Law being arrested: “Krumwiede is arrested due to the contents of his blog. Contagion sends out a powerful message against ‘alternative’ information sources: Diverging from ‘official sources’ is dangerous and against the law,” and this is simply flat wrong. The prosecutor (I presume) tells the Adams stand-in that he wishes he could take away Krumwiede’s computer, but he can’t. Freedom to be a completely irresponsible idiot rings! Huzzah! Also, as far as I can tell, VC takes issue with the idea that someone can catch a disease from contact with their mom. I think this means he is rejecting germ theory.

Wow! Really crummy evidence of primary-tampering! Thanks, @FederalJack!
Here. Have some erotic Ron Paul fan fiction. This one is called, “You Can’t Spell Liberty Without L.O.V.E.” Via Rebecca Watson. (satire. Also, hilarious–be sure to listen to through the reading.)
Hitler was an agent of British Intelligence. Part 1 of 6.
David Icke is starting to think his wife is a reptillian.
Via Jesse Ventura: Alex Jones: Arrest Angelina Jolie For War Crimes: Kony 2012.
An oldie but weirdie. Obama’s hypnosis techniques (.pdf).
Member of sheriff outfit owner Joe Arpaio’s office says to World Net Daily (who broke, or “made up” the Obama birth certificate story) that the media has been threatened about investigating. Odd they’d say that to WND, who you think would know since they are the only ones still stuck on it. Why aren’t they charging someone with threatening them? HMMM?
ExoUniversity is about to open in Vancouver. Someone should send Fraser Cane from Universe Today. I would love to see him cover it! Do eet!
Yay! Obama turned over the military to the UN!
This is not, strictly speaking, conspiracy theory. It’s just newage gobbledygook. This post, however, goes from newage to a “hidden medical knowledge” conspiracy.
Illuminati on run, Icke tells Jones.
More Andrew Breitbart murder…NO ASSASSINATION!…coverage. By the way, the explosive video that got Andrew Breitbart murdered with a heart attack gun was REALLY dull!
The AE911truth people are soliciting volunteers to write for them.
My favorite headline for a while: “Ice Age, Supervolcano Could Topple US Government.” Why, yes. I imagine they could. So could a Death Sun scenario, though I don’t know how that will happen when a mysterious object is feeding off of the sun. Also, what energy will be left after the exploding sun spawns thousands of super-tornadoes. (It was a scary week to be in the solar system, apparently.)
Rush Limbaugh’s history of conspiracy mongering. You know, back when he had advertisers.
And I called it. “Bust Reveals Government Runs Hacking Groups.”
Someone has analyzed the new $100 bill and found that it signals we’re going back on the gold standard.
Glenn Beck is still around?
Hey, everyone! It’s martial law! Yay! I hope that I don’t have to bunk with the stinky kid at the newly created FEMA camps. (I thought they existed already, guys. Make up your minds.) I bet the first thing they do when they round us up is…give us vaccines!
I do love it when fundamentalists get into slap fights. This time it’s Ed Decker and Kirk Cameron.
The Kony campaign: psyop for invasion for invasion of Africa!
Expolitics, by the way, couldn’t even settle on a headline they were so ridiculously worked up: “OBAMA/MARS JUMP ROOM COVER-UP: First-ever law enforcement investigation concludes Soetoro-Obama birth certificate ‘computer-generated forgery’“
Freaking Ron Paul people. I tell you.
Oh, yeah, New Mexico. You have problems. NM town elects a mayor who called Obama “evil.”
Pat Robertson sees Sandra Fluke’s $3000/year sex addiction as part of a 200-year plot to destroy religion and the family, during every second of which Pat Robertson has been ancient.
The tragic story of the children who witnessed Roswell.
Just drink in Jesse Ventura’s fans. That is all.
We’re going to Mars in 2013!
A city of giants has been found off of the coast of Georgia. Really.

Twit of the week:

Angelina Joli & George Clooney are white empire evil actions promoters. Don’t believe it? Both are members of the CFR. Believe it know ? — FederalJack (@FederalJack)

No conspiracy theory of the week this week, folks.

I’ve got an interview in St. Louis this week for a pretty nifty looking job in Wisconsin, and I’m volunteering at the CCCC conference. It’s all very exciting. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to grade until my eyes bleed.

RJB

3 Comments | conspiracy theory, mass media, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (4 March 2012)

March 4, 2012

Georgia seems to have survived yet another assault of tornados sent to us by HAARP, probably to silence the beacon of reason that is this website. Of course, now that Skeptical Humanities is an international affair, it will be harder to take us down. Muahahaha!

So, this is the Week in Conspiracy, my take on the week in weak. And this week was not weak in terms of its weakness. It was powerful weak.

The biggest story on the scaredy-sphere this week was the death of right-winger and all around truly horrid person Andrew Breitbart, which I imagine was a tragedy for someone, somewhere. Probably someone like Rush Limbaugh. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, you’re lucky, but he would fake stories about supposed devious doings on the left, which, for some reason, the media took seriously. Think of the Shirley Sherrod affair a few years back. Breitbart.

Conspiracy theories appeared almost instantaneously. Alex Jones wondered if the Obama crime machine was responsible for the death. He goes so far as to wonder if there is a Stalinist purge of Administration critics in the works. Truth Excavator wonders:

“Was Breitbart becoming too big of a problem, and needed to be taken out, mafia-style? This is only speculation at this point. But 43 is too young for someone to die of natural causes, so let the conspiracy theories fly and we’ll see where the truth lands.”

People die of natural causes at young ages all the time. Insofar as Breitbart being a big problem, Obama is head and shoulders above whatever goofball the Republicans put up against him in November. The going theory among the less than scrupulous is that Breitbart was going to release college video footage of Obama. Why risk killing someone? As for the question, “Cui bono?” which is being asked all over the conspirasphere, clearly the conspiracy theorists have benefited and are therefor the most likely killers of Andrew Breitbart. Of course Breitbart predicted something would happen on the first of March. Did the CIA use a “heart attack gun” on Breitbart? A poison dart? Perhaps the autopsy will get to the truth. The best part of this story was a comment thread following Gawker’s coverage about the conspiracy theories that exploded on Twitter after Breitbart’s death was announced.

Osama bin Laden’s corpse secretly brought to the USA, For what possible reason, I have no idea. Cloning, I betcha.
I feel sorry for the Fed chairman. How did that happen? Ron Paul.
Illinois congressman Art Jones apparently thinks that the Holocaust never happened.
Go on vacation with David Icke! To Peru! For some reason!
Mike Adams announces hunger strike. ….What? Then what the heck is a Declaration of Food Independence? Seriously, the anti-raw milk conspiracy theory is so strange. It only makes sense if the germ theory of disease is wrong. Seems Vernon Hershberger is on trial for breaking all sorts of FDA rules. He faces three years in jail for endangering his customers without a license.
US loses submarine to UFO attack.
Sheriff costume owner Joe Arpaio decides that Obama’s Birth Certificate is a forgery. Can anyone ever trust him to gather evidence?
Last night, someone at VDS turned me on to John Todd’s anti-Illuminati crusade from the ’70s. He was a “former Illuminati witch and errand boy.” Jack Chick seems to have cribbed a bunch of Todd’s techniques and beliefs.
Is the government keeping a secret database of vaccine-damaged children? Well, if by “secret” you mean “public,” by vaccine-damaged you mean “reported potential adverse events” and by “children” you mean “anyone noticed by any doctor ever,” then, well, sure! Of course, VAERS can’t show a causal relationship between vaccines and any disease.
Killer asteroid headed straaaaaaaaa…..YAAAAWN!..t for earth. Again. The first problem is that the picture they selected is of a comet. It also has a Torino scale rating of 1. We’re fine.
Japanese scientists invents the most irritating weapon ever. It plays back your voice to you a few milliseconds later, shutting you up.
Can you imagine worse luck? You fly 25,000 light-years, get a seagull through your windscreen, and crash your flying saucer. You get out and you are surrounded by Nazis.
A judge quashes Virginia AG’s request for climate scientist’s emails. He’s trying to show that climate science is a fraud. It looks like intimidation to me.
Wyoming legislature narrowly defeats bill to prepare for the apocalypse.
Chemtrials confirmed! By unnamed source! On Internet!
An interesting one from the horse-race was apparently pushed by Santorum, that Mitt Romney and Ron Paul had come to a deal so that Rand Paul would be the Romney VP running-mate. This, of course, makes Paul seem like a bigger threat than anyone really thinks he is. It also led Paul to state, without milk spurting out of his nose or anything, that “Some people are much more into conspiracies than others.”
A music video by “UFO truth-seeker Gary McKinnon.” Be prepared for some truly overwhelming closeups.

PBS gets a big raspberry from me this week, as they have been showing a AE911 short recently. (Check out the money that’s flowing in from the faithful on the website!) By the way, if you want to know why PBS decided to run this tripe, send a message to the ombudsman, Michael Getler. I actually called the station this originated from way back in the day to see, you know, what the hell? The programming director for the outfit in Colorado was unmoved by my eloquence.
I’m fairly annoyed with NPR’s audience this week, or at least the members who posted on the news that a lawsuit brought against Monsanto by organic farmers had been dismissed, because a good number of those people jumped to the conclusion that the judge had been bought.
Is there an alien particle accelerator on Iapetus? Probably not. Also addressed in the Astronomy meetup in the preceding link is speculation that the discovery of faster-than-light neutrinos was caused by hardware errors will end up attributed to a cover up. Oh, how right you guys were!
Was 9/11 predicted by random number generators? Uhhh….
Yes, Santorum, you figured us out. “Universities are indoctrination centers.”
A brief, if not always correctly spelled, primer on conspiracy theory terminology.
Was there a plot to kill Putin? Probably not, think Russians.
From our strange friends to the North: “World War III and Interdimensional Aliens: Great Pyramids linked to 2012 agenda“

Conspiracy Theory of the Week

I can imagine it now–an adviser to Ron Paul shuffles up to the candidate and whispers: “Dr. Paul, why don’t you stand here in front of this big freaking Confederate flag and bitch about how the Civil War deprived white people of rights…OH, F*CK I WAS JOKING!”

RJB

7 Comments | 9/11 conspiracy theories, conspiracy theory, history, mass media, politics, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (19 February 2012)

February 19, 2012

Just got back from Alabama (no banjo on my knee), where Eve was giving a talk about creationist interpretations of Beowulf to the Alabama Freethinkers. It was a rollicking good time prefaced by a spicy sausage potluck.

It was a rather slow week for conspiracy, truth be told. I saw a lot of leftover speculation about Whitney Houston’s death, all of which was as dull as it was predictable. Don’t try to confuse us, conspiracy theorists. We know that she is living in Bahrain with Michael Jackson, away from the prying eyes of the world.

First, a heap of irony from Joe Mercola, who plays doctor on the Internet, and not in a fun way: “This Revolting Practice Targets Poor Unsuspecting People First – And You Next.” Do you mean suggesting that Dow and Monsanto are trying to poison your food with Agent Orange? Selling people sham veterinary advice about persistently undefined “toxins”? Or suggesting that root canals cause cancer, which, like you actually did this week, with the headline: “97% of Terminal Cancer Patients Previously Had This Dental Procedure…“? (By your logic, because 100% of cancer patients have had haircuts, haircuts are linked to cancer.) Or is it the completely cynical statement at the bottom of your page that you think will somehow cover you when someone you hurt sues you: “The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.” How could anyone mistake a “how to” article for advice? You people make me so sad.
From the awful to the awfully funny: Alfred Lambremont Webre at Exopolitics turns the goof up to eleven week: “Four U.S. exotic black ops used in 9/11: Tesla time travel, antigravity UFO, directed energy weapons, mini-nukes.”
A river in Beirut, says Before It’s News, has mysteriously turned red. This, of course, means that Pharaoh is in for heap of hurtin’ or that a company dumped a large amount of dye into the river.
Why don’t THEY want you to know about Nikola Tesla’s accomplishments? Well, it’s clearly just the greatest conspiracy of all time.
“Are HAARP’s high frequency waves driving people crazy?” asks BIN. “Not unless you can hear microwaves, ding-a-ling,” reply scientists.
Homeopath declares a war on the “war on cancer cures”. Fight fire with water, eh wot?
Henry Makow (Satanic-Illuminati-feminist media guy) goes after Jeff “I Already Believe It” Rense. Scraps of flesh go flying like a ticker tape parade when the claws come out! (From Raymond Wiley.)
Sherrif Joe Arpaio: Total embarrassment. I can’t believe this little tough is still a public servant.
Ed Asner has been briefed by SEALs about the upcoming false flag attack to get into a war with Iran. Did he see Victoria Jackson there?
Immortals walk among us!
This was a fun one, “ET mummy found in Egypt,” reads the headline, but the first picture you see is of Zahi Hawass! Yeah, the dude’s from another planet, but c’mon! (Actually, the images that they have are lovely examples of pareidolia, which I may use in future classes.
Oh, Intel Hub. They sort of freaked out when they read that 9/11 Truthers were to be considered possible terrorists, as did most alternate-reality media. Let me explain. No one weird belief, like 9/11 Trutherism, is enough to put anyone on a watch list. However, large clusters of strange, prosecutorial beliefs in individuals or groups can indicate that something is in fact wrong. You will never be rounded up, guys. Really. You are totally safe. If that happens, I’ll be the first to try to get you out. But I’m not worried.
Here is Kitty Werthmann’s own little Valentine’s day love letter to America: “25 Signs That The Nazification Of America Is Almost Complete.”
The Daily Paul links Rick Santorum to the Penn State scandal. Ach. A pox on both your houses. And don’t you make me defend that former senator.
I’m filing this one under “O” for “Oh, Jeez.” Rick Santorum: Member of the Knights of Malta.
Researchers link Morgellons (delusional parasitosis by any other name would itch as much!) to a slime mold, says guy on Internet. A few weeks ago, by the way, the CDC released a comprehensive study of this “unexplained dermopathy” and found bupkis.
From TPM comes, “A ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Sues Prosecutors For Grammar-Based Conspiracy.” (Does the lusting for power of English teachers know no end?!?) This sounded familiar, and, yes, this is the same conspiracy that Jared Loughner, who shot Gabrielle Giffords, endorsed.
From Mike Adams’ site, with its usual lack of nuance and comprehension, comes the “Arrogant doctors refusing to provide health care services to parents who refuse vaccines.” You know, doctors agonize over this, but the problem comes with inviting someone who may be sick with a highly communicable disease, like measles, to sit in their waiting room with other patients who may have weakened immune systems.
Speaking of antivaccine cranks, Meryl Dorey, according to Reasonable Hank, Godwinned herself pretty hard this week. I loved her defense: “I wasn’t comparing myself to the freedom fighters–I was comparing you to the Nazis and Brownshirts.”
Also, in antivax news, Jenny McCarthy is going to get a show on VH1. Here’s who you contact to let them know that 96 million households deserve better:

VH1
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
Tel. 212-258-7800
Fax 212-846-1753

FoxNews: Left’s preoccupation with contraception (?) is about getting rid of the poor. It’s a variation on a theme.
Rick Santorum says that Satan has infiltrated academia.
This week, contraceptive was on the agenda as well. Of course, now some daft GOPper is saying that the pill has been linked to prostate cancer.
Alex Jones’s fill-in takes it up a notch, claiming that Bohemian Grove is a secret gay resort.
Contrary to what many conspiracy theorists seem to believe, it is very difficult to know what is going on inside someone else’s head. Sometimes, intent to cause harm can only be indicated indirectly, which is why the Intel Hub’s report on how the FBI routinely sets up patsies…for some reason…rings as false as vows of celibacy in the French marriage rite. (With apologies to Blackadder.)

Conspiracy theory item of the week:
This is more of a conspiracy than theory, but the documents leaked from the Heartland Institute suggest that they are actively seeking to discredit the science of global warming, over which there has long since ceased to be debate among knowledgeable experts. I thought this might get picked up by Science Friday this week, but alas! Maybe next week, because this is important.

Conspiracy Theory of the Week:

This week’s winner came from Weird Al Yankovic, who I know from going to one of his shows can totally rock a peacock outfit:

Al Yankovic @alyankovic:
Why do they not make urinal PIES? #CakeConspiracy

Please sign the Weird Al at the Superbowl Half-Time Show Petition. I would actually watch the Superbowl again. The NFL needs to make this happen. I don’t do a lot of advocacy, but this is the defining issue of my generation.

That’s it for now. I’m working on a write-up about a pretty nifty little topic. I hope to have it ready in the next week or so.

RJB

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Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (11 February 2012)

February 13, 2012

In the beginning, it was a dark and stormy night, so you can call me Ishmael. Or Al. Doesn’t matter.

Lemme tell you, as I start this post, it’s unpleasant in Atlanta, kids. The wind was pretty impressive this evening, as was, not coincidentally, the amount a certain tree near my apartment can bend without breaking and my sudden desire to purchase renter’s insurance. But not even 2 tons of wood accelerating at 9.8 m/s/s through my roommate’s bedroom would stop me from bringing you the week in conspiracy.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.

So, let’s get some of the goofier stuff out of the way. Apparently, UFOs are dropping “ominous” care packages to earthlings. At least, that’s the takeaway from this BIN post. Oddly, according to BIN’s online polls, fewer people think that the boxes washing up on shore is likely to be true than those who believe the pyramids at Giza are beaming energy to a strange space cloud. I don’t understand you earthlings.
Now, let’s visit the Amateur Geology Corner. This week, conspiracists revisited the Japanese earthquake. First, in a post by some guy on the Internet that will scandalize “Big Geology” into squirting milk from its nose comes the hypothesis that there was no 9.0 earthquake in Japan last year. At the same time, the conspiracy theory-o-sphere reported that the number of large earthquakes in 2000 is 10 times less than those in the last year. If their data is correct, I don’t know if the spike represents better data 10 years on or the fact that most of the increased activity surrounds one of the greatest releases of energy on the planet in recorded memory (which, of course, never happened). Of course, you should never have a sample size of “two non-continuous years.”
The GOP and CPAC yielded their own rather fetid load of donkey’s kidneys this week. Let’s start with Rick Santorum’s assertion that global warming is a “hoax.” The suspiciously French-sounding Wayne LaPierre, President of the NRA, tried to scare the crap out of his supporters (again) by asserting that Obama was out to destroy the Second Amendment. Of course gun control legislation hasn’t been on the President’s radar, so nobody would take that seriously, right?…”Obama Vows to Outlaw Guns if Reelected.” Now, the funniest/scariest thing to come out of the CPAC was Iowa Rep. King’s contention, to use Prairie Weather’s epic headline: “Weird Lightbulbs in Republican Offices on Capitol Hill Were Put There by Communist German Janitors.” I mean, wow.
Lastly, Ron Paul is going to speak to Sovereign Citizens, the scariest sumbitches I know of. In fact they are one of the groups the FBI is most concerned about. I know that Crooks and Liars is biased, so I check up on the conference, and, yep, t hey are out there. I notice that they are hosting Susan Lindauer, who was brought up on charges of espionage for Iraq, but was found to be so delusional as to be incapable of contributing to her own defense. Here’s the indictment. From the trial summary: “Dr. Goldstein, the defense psychiatrist, was somewhat less tentative, dismissing as ‘classic examples of the grandiose variety’ her claims that she was ‘a preeminent government operative who was not sufficiently appreciated’ and had contact with high-level government figures, and was possessed of psychic powers. (Goldstein Report 5/20/06 at 3) He reported also that ‘many of Ms. Lindauer’s delusions are classic examples of the persecutory type.’ (Id.)” Ron Paul will fit right in.
How does the left help goofiness on the right spread?
I’ve been beating up on the right. Here’s one about the left being batty. Monsanto does not allow its employees to eat GMOs.
From Natural News, the worst site in the universe, comes the headline “Arrogant scientists say NY students’ neurological symptoms caused by mass hysteria, not chemicals”. If by “scientists” they mean “neurologists who have examined the girls directly and know what poisoning looks like and decided this ain’t it,” then why “arrogant”? It’s their job to make these decisions. Epidemiologists would likely tell you that if it were poisoning from the environment (like the superfund site hypothesis I’ve heard lately), we wouldn’t expect a sudden spike in twitchy teenagers; instead the teens in that area (and probably not just the girls) would have always been more twitchy. So, yeah, this is an outbreak of contagious mental illness. My favorite mass psychogenic illness outbreak was in 1962 in Africa, when a laughing epidemic broke out. Although the meowing nuns come close. I love my job. Have I mentioned that?
Here’s a video of the entrance to the hollow earth. The guy who posts it says that if it’s real it’s “some crazy shit.” I’d say it continues to be “some crazy shit” if it is not real.
Wow. Veterans Today. Wow.
The ever-classy Alex Jones opines about Whitney Houston’s death. For more expert analysis, see Mark Dice’s video. He’s this week’s worst person ever. (He’s made it on here twice now. Hm.) And not to be left in the playpen all alone, Vigilant Citizen comes out with the shocking–shocking!–revelation that Houston’s death confirms everything that he has ever believed about the music industry. Twit of Ages Mike Adams finds that Houston is a victim of the pharmaceutical industry, not you know, a lifetime of alcoholism and drug dependency. Thanks for waiting for the coroner’s report, you ghoul. Jason Bermas, of 9/11 Truth’s Loose Change: Beyond Thunderdome Director’s Revised Cut Reloaded fame, claims that Fox fingers the pharmaceutical industry as the culprit, though this seems to be a reading comprehension problem. And at the Grammys, Nicki Minaj, who I never heard of until the Super Bowl, was signaling who killed Whitney through the Illuminati-approved medium of Versace clothing. (The update on this one is pretty hilarious.)
Also from Mike Adams’ site, pharmaceutical runoff makes shrimp “commit suicide.”
From Mother Jones, a list of 109 separate things Republicans think Obama has declared war on.
Black Helicopters have landed in Chicago “in Mass,” according to Intel Hub. I bet the priest was annoyed!
Tesla, the Elvis of impossible technology enthusiasts, was MuRdErEd!
Oh, no! Anonymous has gotten hold of dangerous Xtranormal technology! In the “Protocols of the Illuminati” video, the speaker claims that the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is the Illuminati’s playbook, the fact that they were debunked as a word for word forgery of a couple of different sources almost immediately notwithstanding. You know, replace “Illuminati” with “lizard people” and you are David Icke. Something tells me that Anonymous’ B-team is putting together the Xtranormal vids.
File this under “forgotten/forbidden knowledge”–Ancient nuclear blasts and flying machines:

I don’t know what this is…but I like the idea…Space Nazis!:

Oh dear. this weekend I’m going to a talk about maafa and abortion, I think. This is this is related to this guy’s interview.
DHS released a study (which they funded, but did not carry out) about terrorism and various forms of extremism over the last few decades which is meant to illuminate characteristics of threats. This was, of course misrepresented in conspiracy theory land: “According To A New DHS Report, If You Love ‘Individual Liberty’ Of If You ‘Believe In Conspiracy Theories’ You Are A Potential Terrorist.” Of course no one of these characteristics alone makes you more likely to carry out a terrorist attack. Only in clusters and with increased intensity do otherwise non-indicative signals correlate with a capacity for violence. You know, like members of the Hutari militia, who wanted to take out the Feds and whose trial starts very soon.
Is the US Government hiding evidence of Egyptian expeditions to the Grand Canyon?
Dude in Missouri: “US public schools are a Klan conspiracy.“
“Exo-scientists” confirmed that humans have alien DNA this week. I looked for the link to the peer-reviewed science journal, but could not find one. Go figure.
Intel Hub reports: “Going Rogue: Giant Wave Damages Cargo Ship, Is Electromagnetic Experimentation To Blame?” Oh, that’s easy. No. You’re welcome.
The Atlantic turned its attention to conspiracy theory this week. The first article is about “Agenda 21,” or as the Atlantic puts it, “Is the UN Using Bike Paths to Achieve World Domination?” Also, ooh! an excerpt from a new book about conspiracy and rightist rage. Want! Want!
Oh, jeez. ABC is going to create a show about an editor of a skeptical magazine who uncovers a conspiracy theory. Page Ben Radford!

That’s it for this week, folks. No conspiracy theory of the week. Oddly, nothing struck me as absurd enough. I hope that doesn’t mean that I am building up a tolerance. I’ve started working on a story about UFOs in the Renaissance. I may try to peddle it to, well, Ben Radford. We’ll see. Take it easy! Also, Eve, who has been a little AWOL lately, is working on something utterly hilarious. I hope that will be up soon.

RJB

12 Comments | conspiracy theory, fun, mass media, politics, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (5 February 2012)

February 6, 2012

BAM! Finished another article and sent it off tonight. What next? I could watch Puppy Bowl reruns….Aw shucks, let’s do a conspiracy theory round-up!

Orly Taitz gets smacked down–again–this time in Georgia. Here’s the judge’s decision. What was it that Intel Hub said two weeks ago? “POTUS Gets a Failure to Appear – 100 Times Bigger than Watergate,” I think it was. *facepalm* I know I’d get tired of being wrong after a while. If that ever happened. HA!
Lizard-sniffer-outer David Icke is making friends with the Zionist Rothchilds.
Is Barrak Obama really the clone of Akhnaten? (Conspiracy theory of the week contender for sure.)

Remember that tsunami that knocked out the Fukushima reactor? Turns out actually it was Israeli nukes. Or possibly Jews using Stuxnet, the virus that was designed to apparently take out specific hardware in Iran. Not that tsunami that drowned the plant. Jews.
The case for the alien agenda. If we are being controlled by aliens, rest assured that I have already betrayed the human race.
Chris Pinto, who you may remember is scared of Jesuits, says, “[…] conspiracy theories have little or no value unless they glorify God, and demonstrate the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.”
GET OFF MY LAWN, DAGNABBED ILLUMINATI!:

ATS finally clears things up: the ancient aliens were actually time travelers.
Wow. 8 hours of 9/11 with Bill Cooper, as it happened. I mean, I’m not going to sit through all of it, but, it’s a moment in conspiracy theory history.
You know how the gummint has it out to crush unpasteurized milk with FASCISM?! [sic]. There are numerous reasons that food products are regulated, and one of them is Campylobacter, which has made 37 people sick in 4 states. Campyobacter can kill people with compromised immune systems. Or you can embrace the crazy and invoke the Bible in your defense of raw milk, which, of course kills immunodeficient Christians too.
Man, the Jesuits bomb a lot of boats, it seems. This time it is going to be the USS Enterprise and be done to provoke war with Iran.
Girls sucked kicking and screaming into alternate universe.
Alex Jones’s site reports that “Big Evidence” forms a lobby group to keep atl med from being taught in universities. Good.
What do Warren Buffet, Dakota Fanning and Lady Gaga have in common?
On the heels of last week’s announcement that conspiracy theorists can embrace multiple, mutually exclusive conspiracy scenarios at once come three different JFK conspiracy theories at the Intel Hub. Was it LBJ? Was it the monkey-polio-cancer-virus people? Was it…some guy’s dad? It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s not the official story.
An evangelist says that this is the year that endtimes prophecy will be fulfilled. It sounds like the type of thing a “Clontz” would write.
Joe and Rosie, talking about things they don’t understand.
The FDA is mercilessly regulating medical treatments. Or as Blacklisted News and the Alliance for Natural Health report it: “FDA’s New Claim: Your Body is a Drug and We Have the Authority to Regulate it!“
Who is stopping Ron Paul from winning. I know, I thought it was Ron Paul and his crazy ideas, but apparently it is the Zionists.
Fluoride, the weirdest, most durable conspiracy theory, still weird, seems enduringly durable.
Amy Winehouse’s coroner resigns; is news for some reason.
Salon wonders if we need a sort of Ministry of Truth for the Internet to counter brain-and society- damaging misinformation like anti-vax and climate change denialism. I will happily be Big Brother.
Tapes of conversations between Air Force One and Washington on date of Kennedy’s assassination released.
Why does the government want you to keep you from eating horse meat? Also, why has the ban on horse meat been lifted (as of Nov. 2011)? EXPLAIN THAT!
Mysterious Crop Circle Code Finally Cracked: “Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine.” There was another post related to reading crop circles titled, “Did Carl Sagan know something?” To which the answers is, yes, he knew a lot of things, I think you’ll find.
Some of Ron Paul’s supporters in Georgia have started a new MeetUp, but all I see is that Paul is allowing that baby to desecrate an American flag.

Conspiracy Theory of the Week: Ron Paul Edition

First, an irony of epic proportions. It turns out Ron Paul’s biggest donor is a Bilderberger.

Also, and I know I posted this earlier, but I love, freaking LOVE, this video at the Georgia Guidestones by a Ron Paul supporter/conspiracy theorist. Make sure you watch until after the wind dies down, because, wow, there is some profound linguistic analysis.

Conspiracy is so much fun!

Anyway, I have a couple of reviews in the pipeline, so stay tuned. Keep it classy, Internet!

RJB

5 Comments | 9/11 conspiracy theories, conspiracy theory, critical thinking, history, mass media, politics, psychology, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This YouTube video is why we must save the Internet

January 30, 2012

I put up the conspiracy theory round-up last night, and this only arrived last night. It will doubtlessly be in the running for the conspiracy theory of the week. It’s really this guy’s language skills that knock me off my feet, hold me down, and beat me mercilessly:

RJB

2 Comments | conspiracy theory, mass media, politics | Permalink
Posted by Bob

This Week in Conspiracy (28 January 2012)

January 29, 2012

Amazingly, there were no new conspiracy theories this week. Everyone just kind of got it together and things ended up being pretty groovy. OH WHO AM I KIDDING?! I’VE BEEN SENTENCED TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE!!!

At any rate, I picked up Conspiracy Rising by Martha F. Lee. I’ll likely review it here in a few days. It’s one of my first few ebooks. I may review the ebook experience while I’m at it, since I have been a holdout for a long time.

Nanoparticles? At Fukushima? Oh no! Not NANO! Nano’s the conspiracy theorist’s flubber! Sure, there haven’t been any deaths from the meltdown at Fukushima, that doesn’t mean you can’t scare your readers. Unethical, InfoHub. Would you at least apologize when you are wrong? Reputable news outlets do that when they screw up so epically.
A new study finds that some conspiracy theorists are capable of believing two incompatible conspiracy theories at once. We are going to have to revise the definition of “genius,” clearly.
Well, a graduate student at Yale is having a bit of a protracted freakout. She was relieved of her teaching duties when she unrolled a mother of a conspiracy theory on her students. It’s out there.
Now, I’m not calling Above Top Secret reputable, mind you, but a mod did go out of his/her way to correct misinformation a contributor released. The tweet I received read:

Judge Has Ruled, Secretary Of State Agrees, Obama Off Of Ballot In Georgia!!!!!! (69 flags) dlvr.it/17Ttp

A moment’s consideration reveals that since this is not front page news all over the country it is unlikely to be true. The mod links to the AJC, which is darned respectable. Here’s their take.

Sometimes I wish I could make money by crusading against boogeymen like Alex Jones does. Of course, if it means that I would have to speak in a civil tone to Mayer Eisenstein, it’s can’t possibly be worth it. Odd that Jones does not mention the fact that Eisenstein was on the losing end of one of the largest infant death malpractice suits in history–$30 million. I think that any doctor who suggests there is a link between autism and vaccines should have their medical license revoked for incompetence. (I’m looking at you, Mayer.)
Of course, Alex Jones has discovered, eek, more “FEMA rendition camps.” The description of this facility is the same one I got from someone fretting about the murals in the Denver International Airport:

The photos and an interview with an eyewitness who described the facility and its inward facing barbed wire fence and one-way turnstiles add more compelling evidence to the indisputable fact that FEMA operates as a modern version of the Gestapo.

Protip: nothing is indisputable. Also, I thought they were preparing stadiums in L.A. for rendition. It’s interesting, but Rex84, the source of this latter theory, first appeared, if I remember correctly, in the Soviet paper Pravda. Not exactly an unbiased source, given the times.
Of course, it is the Intel Hub. They ran a headline about the President not showing in a Georgia courtroom to answer idiot questions from birther and dentist Orly Taitz, “POTUS Gets a Failure to Appear – 100 Times Bigger than Watergate.” So, they don’t really have that whole perspective thing down yet. So it goes.
Bob Tuskin, oh, man, made an ass of himself at Rudy Giuliani’s appearance in Gainesville. I met him at the Richard Gage event in Altanta back in the day. The local Truth community filmed my interview with him. (The comments are, as always, precious and dear to my heart.) Bob, the crowd was not laughing at Building 7, but at you. Seriously, walk away from this silliness while you are still young.
ATS contributor uploads photo of a werewolf, ATS readers get hilarious. (No werewolves were harmed in the writing of this post. Or the picture in question.)
Does the Fed “print money”, like so many conspiracy theorists claim? Yahoo! finance tries to clarify what the Fed does and does not do.
And the psychogenic illness spreading among teens at a New York school continues. Now, so help me, Erin Brokovich gets involved.
Brian Dunning hops out of the Hot Tub of Justice just long enough to talk about a possible explanation for perceiving non-existent malevolent agency everywhere as a part of his InFact video series.
Dr. Rachie is a conspiracy-debunking machine, but not a robot:

Rand Paul was stopped at an airport gate this week but refused a pat-down. That guy holding up the line? A Senator. I told the TSA workers at the Atlanta airport this week that I felt safer knowing that Rand Paul was not on my flight. One worker was positively distraught by the coverage they got in the press, noting that when they get charged by the press for “confiscating 100s of thousands of dollars a year” when passengers with short attention spans have actually left their change in the little trays.
There was a little buzz this week about military equipment being moved in and around the Mexican border. Eric Jon Phelps thinks it may be “used for America’s future Sino-Soviet-Muslim-Mexican invasion.” I didn’t even know we were going to have one. Dr. Roth (if I’m reading her ‘about the author’ right, she has a Ph.D. in Tae Kwan Do) thinks the shipment is to impose martial law.
ALRIIIIGHT! ZOMBIE RAGE VIRUS!
I have wondered about this, whether 9/11 Truther would go on the record suggesting that the commander of the fire department in NYC was complicit in the catastrophe. And, yes, they go that low. Put aside the fact that fire departments have neither the training, equipment, nor authorization to tear down a building, and it i still just a crummy thing to suggest. However, if Shepard Ambellas ever decides to attend be in the same room with Thomas von Essen, I would pay cash money to be there. You’ll notice that this reporter’s villain is indistinguishable from Icke’s reptilians.
Sigh. Someone thinks we’re setting up an “Iranian Pearl Harbor.”
Why doesn’t Santorum correct this woman who says Obama is a Muslim? What a barf.
David Aaronovich interviewed about conspiracy theories.
More about Lady Gaga “bathing in blood,” from the WhoForted blog.
“Whistleblower: Monsanto Wants to Kill The Bees To Make Way For Its Super-Bee“
Here’s Eve’s contribution to the week in conspiracy.
A writer at the Washington Times finds herself mentioned in a conspiracy theory and is not impressed.
HAARP can not only cause earthquakes, but it makes the skies snore.
Ron Paul’s newsletter entertained the idea that Oklahoma City was an inside job.
Slate asks if Google should tweak its algorithm to knock down anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
Ooh! PalMD made it on my list this week! Are liberals or conservatives more likely to reject science? Yes.
I’m not necessarily on board with the politics of the Center for Consumer Freedom, but they do have some humdingers from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: “[hog producers] “a greater threat to the United States and democracy than bin Laden’s terrorist network.” Kennedy, you may remember, published a hysterical, utterly uninformed article about vaccines in Rolling Stone that was basically corrected out of existence point by point after the public pointed out his factual errors.
Why does NASA keep the blurry, unclear photographic evidence of aliens patrolling the solar system under wraps? Surely it’s not out of fear that those not trained to examine it would blow it way out of proportion!
Here’s a sort of new age twist on the Matrix metaphor of conspiracy.

Conspiracy Theory of the Week:

I easily could have picked “Extraterrestrial War of the 1930’s reveals Jewish holocaust true masterminds,” but I didn’t. I picked the conspiracy theory I’m calling: “You got the right one–babies!” Mike Adams over at Natural News accuses Pepsi of using aborted fetuses in taste tests. The story does not originate with Adams, who I can’t remember ever being right about anything, but it prompted an Oklahoma state senator to introduce anti-Soylent Green legislation. This guy also happens to be a birther. My favorite headline: “Fun-Hating Legislator Proposes Ban on Eating Aborted Human Fetuses.” Forbes discusses the fake controversy.

Exopolitics let me down this week, I have to day. Oh, well. I’m sure there will be more to it.

10 Comments | conspiracy theory, history, mass media, politics, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Bob

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This YouTube video is why we must save the Internet

This Week in Conspiracy (28 January 2012)

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