Earlier this month, Blog P.I. tracked a multi-monikered Internet troll whose sole enjoyment in life appears to derive from supplying blog comment sections with underwhelming arguments against Fred Thompson (disclosure).
I promised then to look a little closer at the identity of this dedicated anti-Fredhead, and while I later thought I had thought the better of it, Christopher Caldwell’s piece in the most recent New York Times Magazine afforded me the opportunity to re-rethink that decision.
And so this post exists… in three interminable parts. I don’t often use the below-the-fold feature on WordPress, but this post won’t appeal to everyone, and I don’t want it to get in everyone’s way. But if you’re game, then follow me…
I. Lucky Jim
Let’s start at the beginning. The post mentioned above dared The Artist Sometimes Known as Jim Robinson to post on this site, and to his credit (I suppose) he did:
Jim Robinson Jul 11th, 2007 at 2:14 pm Y’all (thats “you all” dumbed down for FRaudheads) flatter me. I guess if Fred actually had credentials you wouldnt be sitting here worrying about what Im posting on blogs. DOH! Posted Jul 11, 2:14 PM
I went on vacation a few days later, and apparently “Jim” missed the flattery enough to come back and beg for some more:
RepublicanWomenAgainstFredThompson Jul 20th, 2007 at 3:55 pm I thought y’all were gonna do something about me???? What happened? ROFLAMO! losers.
Taunted into submission, eventually I decided to go ahead and see where his IP address was located:
The IP address traces to Bell, California, a nothing city located in Los Angeles County. According to Wikipedia, its most famous native is bandleader Stan Kenton, and was last heard from in 2000, when USPS misplaced some Oscar statuettes and this was inaccurately reported as a stolen shipment. For what it’s worth, this IP address is the same one supplied to me by another blogger hit with similar absurdities from our friend “Jim.”
Next I tried contacting the person at the Yahoo address listed for multiple handles, s1nderella@yahoo.com. I was even going to offer an e-mail interview, if he or she was so willing. Alas, it bounced back immediately.
So I Googled s1nderella, which seems to be a named used by a handful of young female social networkers. I suppose this could lend credence to the idea our “Jim Robinson” is actually a woman in drag. Or maybe not. Perhaps our political prankster is just a little more planned-ahead than usual, and is reasonably sure the IP address will not connect him to his or her job, nor any candidate.
And that’s just as well. It’s not as if these attacks are having any impact besides annoying the Fredheads (I’m sure some will read the very existence of this post as evidence that Fred supporters are “afraid” of such attacks, but I’ll just point again to the title and mission statement of this blog). Meanwhile, “Jim” had struck again (and probably again and again), even getting called out at Sean Hackbarth’s site, where a contributor linked back to my original post.
II. Basil the Great
So “Jim Robinson” continues to hide in plain sight. But what is his agenda, if he has one beyond making a scene? Let’s now look at his actual words. Here’s one of the more peculiar (not to mention widely-distributed) phrases from his oeurve:
One right-wing critic in a widely circulated internet column called Thompson a “neocon globalist” for his immigration, free trade, and foreign policy positions.
I joked at the time that the source must have been left unidentified because he was so obscure as to induce, at best, confusion. Seems I was more right than I knew. The “right-wing critic” appears to be someone named Basil Harrington, who sometimes describes himself as “a retired businessman, poet, and resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina” and sometimes merely as “a scholar, writer and gentleman.”
Mr. Harrington appears to be nobody of any repute, and if he wrote anything prior to March of this year, it’s not easy to find. He is considered a self-promoting crackpot at Free Republic, a website that knows from self-promoting crackpots. In fact, it appears that Mr. Harrington’s limited output as an essayist has been posted to just about any website accepting unpaid conservative commentary: at Liberty Post, Men’s News Daily, Enter Stage Right, ChronWatch, SmallGovTimes (which claims Bill Frist, Dick Morris and others as contributors (i.e. it has copied their words from the Senate floor and The Hill)), and NewsBull to list a few. He is “widely-circulated” all right — apparently all by himself.
NewsBull is (at least one) home to the rant that inspired “Jim Robinson.” It begins:
Fred Thompson: Neocon Globalist By Basil Harrington For the past few days movement “conservatives” and GOP cheerleaders have been ecstatic that Fred Thompson, former Senator from Tennessee, may form an exploratory committee to seek the GOP nomination for president. “Now we’ll have a conservative in there,” said one person, who, I assume, has no idea what a real conservative is. There already are two fine conservative candidates seeking the nomination: Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. And Fred Thompson does not even come close measuring up to them. Fred Thompson is a neocon globalist.
It’s also funny, and possibly telling, that in this brief article Harrington uses the same “one person said” trick often employed by “Jim.” More than once, actually:
As one commentator notes: “Overall, Americans for Better Immigration gives [Thompson] a career grade of C…”
As a rhetorical strategy it subtracts the need to name sources, but it also subtracts credibility. I hesitate to suggest that Basil Harrington doesn’t exist — that he could simply be another invention of “Jim Robinson” — but I suppose I just did. They certainly both have a habit of posting their writings to as many websites as possible, and “Robinson” sure does like to quote “Harrington.”
I have sent Mr. Harrington an e-mail, which at least hasn’t bounced back. But even if he does reply, what would that prove? (Although to be fair, I’m not sure what it would disprove, either.)
III. Keeping Up With The Joneses
The epithet “neocon globalist,” as wielded by “Jim Robinson,” is often accompanied by a mention that Fred is a member of that venerable magnet for conspiracy nuts, the Council on Foreign Relations. Sometimes “Jim” (and possibly other anti-Fredheads) shortens this to “CFRed,” which I must concede is at least sort of clever.
But really, who cares about the CFR? Who actually thinks this book club for the political elite is some kind of, ahem, global conspiracy? Well, just plug CFR, neocon and globalist into Google and it doesn’t take long before you’ll find Infowars, the conspiracy site run by fringe online radio host Alex Jones.
It may be worth pointing out — and I swear, I’ve avoided using this name for as long as I could — that Ron Paul is now a repeat guest on Jones’ online radio show. And while the last time on he didn’t actually say that the U.S. government orchestrated the 9/11 attacks (a favorite theory of Jones’) he certainly did court the support of that theory’s most high-profile proponents. This connection between simultaneous support for Ron Paul, fear of globalism, hatred of neocons, and interest in the so-called 9/11 Truth movement, among other conspiracies (ice hockey and Alanis Morrisette (there’s that Canadian thing again…)) can be found on this YouTube account, and this one and this one. And this one.
So at long last, let’s go back to Caldwell’s fascinating piece for the NYT. Caldwell does not mention Alex Jones and he doesn’t invoke the hoary threat of “neocon globalism,” but he does invoke another name which is better known to conservatives: John Birch.
Paul never deals in disavowals or renunciations or distancings, as other politicians do. In his office one afternoon in June, I asked about his connections to the John Birch Society. “Oh, my goodness, the John Birch Society!” he said in mock horror. “Is that bad? I have a lot of friends in the John Birch Society. They’re generally well educated, and they understand the Constitution. I don’t know how many positions they would have that I don’t agree with. Because they’re real strict constitutionalists, they don’t like the war, they’re hard-money people. . . . ” Paul’s ideological easygoingness is like a black hole that attracts the whole universe of individuals and groups who don’t recognize themselves in the politics they see on TV. To hang around with his impressively large crowd of supporters before and after the CNN debate in Manchester, N.H., in June, was to be showered with privately printed newsletters full of exclamation points and capital letters, scribbled-down U.R.L.’s for Web sites about the Free State Project, which aims to turn New Hampshire into a libertarian enclave, and copies of the cult DVD “America: Freedom to Fascism.”
But the truth is, and here I hope the Ronulans will give me a break (even if I did just call them Ronulans), these people are not all supporters of Ron Paul. They stand along the fringe with him, and include many who are not Republican Party members. Some of them can be found in the Constitution Party, one example being “Unfit for Command” co-author Jerome Corsi, who reportedly
also wonders when people will realize that Thompson, who is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is a globalist who would push for open borders.
Corsi is also known for promoting the theory that President Bush is pushing for a single North American state much like the one imagined in David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” (albeit with fewer Quebecois wheelchair assassins, one presumes.) As PostPolitical puts it,
Of course, why these absolutists suspect they’ll get a better society from the empowerment of the advocates of open borders, atheism and bureaucratic statism, is anyone’s guess. … This one has been sneaking up on us for awhile. It’s increasingly difficult to distinguish the rhetoric of Pat Buchanan, Michael Badnarik, Lou Dobbs and Ron Paul from each other, as representing different schools of political philosophy. That’s a very recent phenomenon and it bodes ill for the GOP.
So, this much we know about their leanings:
- They don’t like Fred Thompson
- They don’t appear to like many Republican politicians
- Only Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo (and sometimes Duncan Hunter) pass muster
- They conflate globalization with immigration
- They make little distinction between legal and illegal immigration
- They fear the Council on Foreign Relations
- They hate “neocons”
- Some of them think the U.S. government may be behind 9/11
This fear of a unified world government is like nothing so much as the conspiracy-minded views of the old John Birch Society, a group evicted from the GOP by one William F. Buckley Jr. nearly 50 years ago. Though the Birchers oppose government-backed wealth redistribution, they also (in its current, withered form) oppose government-backed free trade agreements. And they are, to put it mildly, weird people.
Like the Birchers, who at least managed to correctly identify international communism as an existential threat, Ron Paul is not wrong to maintain healthy fear of government encroachment on individual liberty. But one need not be a Bircher to fear communism, and one need not be a Truther to distrust the government.
Unfortunately for Ron Paul, he has cast his lot with them, and with that, has cast himself out of today’s mainstream Republican Party.
P.S. It should be said, our Basil is not this Basil (as far as I know).
Yo… im back… nice job on the map. But it is a little off. Im actually in the city of Los Angeles, near skid row actually, not Bell, but whatever.
Anywho…while you were so busy stalking me (im flattered), Fred has gone off and hired none other than Mr Pro-Amnesty himself… Spencer Abraham….Is it too soon to say I told you so?
“Abraham was a consistent advocate of Open Borders and worked relentlessly to weaken immigration controls and regulations. For example, in 1997 he received the Congressional Award from the National Council of La Raza”
RE: this blurb By Basil Harrington
“For the past few days movement “conservatives” and GOP cheerleaders have been ecstatic that Fred Thompson, former Senator from Tennessee, may form an exploratory committee to seek the GOP nomination for president. “Now we’ll have a conservative in there,” said one person, who, I assume, has no idea what a real conservative is.
There already are two fine conservative candidates seeking the nomination: Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. And Fred Thompson does not even come close measuring up to them.
Fred Thompson is a neocon globalist.”
There is no fear that Fred will siphon votes from Ron, none whatsoever, since they all know what Fred is about. However he WILl siphon votes from Rudy McRomney and this is good!
Go Fred GO!
sigh Why is everybody in politics either insane or a total waste of air? Oh right, they’re people in politics.
Ron Paul Who ????????????????
If anyone thinks that he can capture the GOP Base, the right or even the left is smoking something good.
RP supporters need to get over themselves and open their eyes to the facts located here: http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Fred_Thompson.htm
Run Fred Run
William..I am about to go on a weekend excusrion. If anything were to happen to me, and I do mean anything, I have instructed friends and family to give this site(with link and screen shot)to the authoritites as the first place to look, since you have posted a map for any and all would be predators to see.
Thank you for the electronic paper trail. All road now lead back to you.
p.s. William… what is your FreeRepublic screen name? I will tell you mine if you tell me yours? ROFLMAO!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1871167/posts
I figure the IP info is correct and not a clever proxy move. The “Fredsforamnesty” troll is stupid enough to spam identical fraudulent posts with identical spelling errors all over the internets, using the same handle, making exposing the fraud all too easy.
Interestingly, the above quote on Abraham only gave three hits in google, tracing back to the wikipedia entry text added August 25, 2006. It was changed by someone else this morning.
Is that where that quote came from? Becuase I found it on FReak Republic. I love how FReak Republic types like to link it as a source when it fits their agenda and then when it doesnt they try to discount it. But thats how FReak Republic types are. They never could stand the taste of your own medicine. I deduced its because their leader is some pansy ass coward stuck in a wheel chair who hasnt been able to get hard on in this century. I pitty the fool actually. Such a miserable person hell bent on sharing it with everyone.
Anyway, suck it up Bitches, Im not going anywhere. :)
Besides, shouldnt all you FRaud Heads be trying to get the gold digging wife to stop running off staffers and less time worrying about how I exercise the First Amendment?
beansox@excite.com,
You should have the courage to use your real name when you defame someone.
Fredsforamnesty is a Giuliani supporter. I have found her.
Here are her initials…. J.D. from LA.
“You should have the courage to use your real name when you defame someone”
Ill let you in on a little secret…”beansox” isnt my real name either. DOH!
But does any of that change the fact that FRaud Thompsons campaign is imploding faster than I can type “Abaraham Spencer”? No.. it doesnt. Its hillarious to watch. Read the blogs bitches…. people are running fast and furious from his campaign…and not just staffers….his campaign is over before he will ever announce…which is now said to be OCTOBER!!! ROFLMAO!
pass the popcorn…
Dont you just love the First Amendement. There is absolutely not a damn thing you can do to me….but sit here and whine like the bitches you are…while this page gets passed all around the internet for the comedic value of it. Yes…thats right…. Word of mouth is a wonderfull tool. You dont know how many people I have forwarded this too ( and they fowarded it…so on and so forth) who think that the fruit doesnt fall from the tree and therefore wont be supporting FRaud Thompson…all because of YOUR actions…and before you come back with some nonsence..they are indeed PRIMARY voters.
It must hurt trying to twist yoursleves into a pretzel in order to support a man who hires openly gay and openly pro-amnesty advisors. Ill leave you to lick your many many wounds now.
Muah~
It must hurt trying to twist yoursleves into a pretzel in order to support a man who hires openly gay…
Yeah, I mean, because being a fuckwitted bigot is such a huge part of the conservative agenda. Don’t you have a Klan rally to get to or something? Be sure to wear a clean sheet, the other Wizards might get the wrong idea otherwise.
“Dont you just love the First Amendement. There is absolutely not a damn thing you can do to me….”
Actually, lying in print is illegal here in California. See Civil Code section 44, et seq. See also Elections Code section 20500, et seq. For your sake, I sure hope you aren’t formally affiliated with Guiliani’s campaign.
You fabricated – out of whole cloth – several quotes for Fred Thompson. This blog documented several of them in the past. I’m sure I could find several posts by you which amount to ‘libel on its face’ in a couple minutes.
Here’s a clue: the First Amendment does not apply to:
1. “fighting words” ( see Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) 315 U.S. 568, 572);
2. a “true threat” ( see Virginia v. Black (2003) 538 U.S. 343, 359);
3. an incitement to imminent lawless action ( see Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) 395 U.S. 444, 447);
4. obscenity ( see Roth v. United States (1957) 354 U.S. 476, 485); or
5. DEFAMATION ( see Beauharnais v. Illinois (1952) 343 U.S. 250, 266)
No, your real name is Jennifer Dixon. Would you like an address with that?
Lol …Dixon is my maiden name. I use it online to filter would be stalkers like yourself. Nice try though.
Maybe you might want to brush up on stalking laws in california seeing as you can’t seem to drag yourself away from all things pertaining to me.
But go ahead and post what you think is my address. I’m interested in seeing what adress pulls up for a name I havnt used in a decade besides on blogs and myspace.
Wrong former Mrs. A,
You see, you spam and skew facts about real human beings, and it would suck . It works both ways. You don’t think we haven’t checked your birthdate, your parents, your younger sister, and your whole freaking life? I’m not going to post it all right now, but I could if I really felt like it.
I AM the younger sister you fucktard. Stop with your hollow threats you are only embarassing yourself. Now please go off and whine some more about me to that cripple on FREAK Republic!
Californian Stalking Law
Cal. Civil Code § 1708.7
(a) A person is liable for the tort of stalking when the plaintiff proves all of the following elements of the tort:
(1) The defendant engaged in a pattern of conduct the intent of which was to follow, alarm, or harass the plaintiff. In order to establish this element, the plaintiff shall be required to support his or her allegations with independent corroborating evidence.
(2) As a result of that pattern of conduct, the plaintiff reasonably feared for his or her safety, or the safety of an immediate family member. For purposes of this paragraph, “immediate family” means a spouse, parent, child, any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any person who regularly resides, or, within the six months preceding any portion of the pattern of conduct, regularly resided, in the plaintiff’s household.
(3) One of the following:
(A) The defendant, as a part of the pattern of conduct specified in paragraph (1), made a credible threat with the intent to place the plaintiff in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of an immediate family member and, on at least one occasion, the plaintiff clearly and definitively demanded that the defendant cease and abate his or her pattern of conduct and the defendant persisted in his or her pattern of conduct.
(B) The defendant violated a restraining order, including, but not limited to, any order issued pursuant to Section 527.6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, prohibiting any act described in subdivision (a).
(b) For the purposes of this section:
(1) “Pattern of conduct” means conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose. Constitutionally protected activity is not included within the meaning of “pattern of conduct.”
(2) “Credible threat” means a verbal or written threat, including that communicated by means of an electronic communication device, or a threat implied by a pattern of conduct or a combination of verbal, written, or electronically communicated statements and conduct, made with the intent and apparent ability to carry out the threat so as to cause the person who is the target of the threat to reasonably fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her immediate family.
(3) “Electronic communication device” includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. “Electronic communication” has the same meaning as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
(4) “Harass” means a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person which seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes the person, and which serves no legitimate purpose. The course of conduct must be such as would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and must actually cause substantial emotional distress to the person.
For the record, I am now clearly and definitively demanding that you cease and abate your pattern of conduct.
4) “Harass” means a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person which seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes the person, and which serves no legitimate purpose. The course of conduct must be such as would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and must actually cause substantial emotional distress to the person
Hello. Aren’t you doing this yourself?
Is that all you could come up with? Lame. Even by your standards.
This article is pure BS and smokescreen propaganda.The NWO/CFR elitist ARE a threat to our freedo and security.Ron Paul and his friends are right on.Noone is buying into this BS anymore.Its a reality and americans are waking up to it and are NOT going to stand for the hitler government controlling us anymore.Get used to it.Ron Paul=truth=freedom.Ron Paul,we love you.Jesus was hated by the pharisees and these are the same people who are against Ron in modern times.They are supremacists that seek to have TOTAL power and control and will do anything to get it.They have been EXPOSED.I know good/truth when I see it and Ron Paul is a good representative of truth and intelligence.We are in an era of good vs evil.I will not be under rule of some money hungry,war mongering,power hungry NWO elite supremacists.You are NOT my masters and I will NEVER bow nor pay allegiance to you-EVER. Go Ron Go!