Tuesday 26 October 2010

Palingates Weekly Roundup - October 18 to October 24 - UPDATE: Sarah Palin's fans encourage voting fraud / Rand Paul rally "head stomping" incident


By Blueberry Tart

I finished last week’s roundup before the Sunday post was updated with the videos of interviews with Richard Tillman (on Bill Maher) and Mary Tillman (on Olbermann), so if you missed those, I recommend you go back to watch. Some excellent comments in the thread, as well.


As if the recent articles revealing the connections between the Tea Baggers and Nazi Germany were not disturbing enough, this post on Joe Miller shows his true colors: Gestapo brown. Miller’s SS goons, whose “security” company DropZone advertises by hanging racist posters of President Obama in the window, apparently didn’t get the memo that we love our freedom of the press in this country. They claimed that Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger seemed “irrational, angry and potentially violent", because he had the audacity to ask candidate Miller some questions following a town hall meeting at a public school in Anchorage. So they “arrested” him, putting him in handcuffs and holding him against his will for some time before police came and released him. The video shows no irrational behavior on Hopfinger’s part, and BTW Joe, he’s not a blogger (not that there’s anything wrong with that ;-)) but a journalist who has written for Newsweek and Bloomberg.

Equally shocking, the post also reveals that Miller extols the “success” of the Berlin Wall and recommends that we follow East Germany’s example in building a wall on the Mexican border. OMG, this whack job is running for U.S. Senate! Patrick shows that the Berlin Walll’s so-called success was due to East Germans being shot if they tried to escape. He adds very moving photos of the people who lost their lives seeking freedom. Please spread the news far and wide about what kind of “freedom” Gestapo Joe Miller and his ilk really stand for – and help get out the vote. MANY UPDATES.

Brace yourselves. This post builds on the last, and on tremendous research by Palingaters, in revealing the connections of Joe Miller to the extremist Alaska Citizens Militia and to the Alaska Independence Party, a secessionist organization to which Todd Palin belonged for seven years. The finds include details on DropZone owner William Fulton, whose company provided security services to Miller that led to handcuffing Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger. You’ll learn of DropZone’s role hosting and supplying militias, its connection to Norm Olson, militia commander, and his roots in the notorious Michigan Militia movement which helped train Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols and other violent fanatics. Cheeriogirl found this quote from Fulton: 3 Sep 2010 Hey never said I was an English Major but if you ever need anything broken or blown up I'm your guy Dropzone Bill Olson quote: “Question: Are you Ready for a Political War against those who would sell Alaska and Alaskans to the wolves? Let's make sure they remember who we are: The Alaska Citizens Militia. We'll fight you in the political arena, and if that fails, we'll lock and load. Norm Olson, Commander Alaska Citizens Militia" Another militiaman, Ray Southwell, was fired from his nursing job and is running for the Alaska House of Representatives. There is much more. (The stuff in the Monday night comment thread about how these people use children is enough to make you nauseous.) These guys are definitely terrorists, and Joe Miller and Todd Palin definitely pal around with them…and Sarah did too (at least AIP).
I want to give special recognition to the Palingaters who conducted the research for this post on an AMAZING comment thread Monday night (and continuing on the next thread). It started innocuously enough when cheeriogirl said (p.7), “Wow this is interesting” – then really heated up with more from cheeriogirl around page 14 (“wow, this is really interesting”) as she found more and more about these connections – and went on all night long (and for several days)! Bandit Basheert, ProChoiceGrandma, Older_Wiser, annettek, anne_123, mxm, CaliGirl22, zane1, Burke3265, dusty17, Guest and many more contributed. Brilliant job, ‘Gaters – kudos to all!

Sarah the ultra-patriot has no compunctions about anything, so why would desecrating the American flag be any different? We already knew that the Flag Code didn’t apply to her, anyway – since she abused it in the Runners World photo shoot and literally and figuratively wrapped herself in it. The post also includes an eyewitness report of Glenn Beck and his security detail at DisneyWorld; as Sondra puts it, “A man who needs body guards at Disney is a sissy boy.” Then we turn to another twitter-manic day by Palin (she is obviously having a bad bout of tweet-arrhea). As Moon observed, this tweet-extravaganza is probably her attempt to divert attention from the Joe Miller debacle.


This post is another in an important series revealing the inner workings of the Koch Brothers and their allies in funding and shaping the right-wing agenda and message. Think Progress has published documents exposing the symbiotic relationship between the Kochs and other right wing power brokers, the media and others, including justices Scalia and Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Kochs organize a semi-annual meeting to strategize their takeover of the Congress and other branches of government, so that they can further their anti-tax, anti-health care, anti-regulatory, anti-little-guy agenda. All the talking points that we hear endlessly repeated on Fox News and amongst the Tea Partiers appear to derive from these sessions. The invitees and participants are a who’s who of right-wing mucky-mucks, although they seem to have left the little guys (and their interests) off the list. (I couldn’t help but notice that the editor of the Washington Post is among them.) Major kudos to Think Progress!

Back to Sarah Palin and her AK cronies. We start with her new best buddy, Joe Arpaio of Arizona, who has a long history of abuse of power (sound familiar?), including politically motivated prosecutions, and his trademark abusive treatment and humiliation of prisoners. Arpaio boasted on Twitter that he gave Sarah Palin some pink underwear... Moving on: the post includes Norm Olson’s response to the false arrest of Tony Hopfinger and then shows a new sign in the window at DropZone (highlighted in Wednesday’s post). In case you were in any doubt that these guys are over the edge and spoiling for a fight, this will remove any question: “If you have any issues with killing people profanity or conservative gun loving paranoid tea party zombie hunters turn around and go crawl back in your peace and love hole The Management DropZone” Let’s see, what else: Sarah’s failed pick for AG, WAR, is now Fulton’s attorney. Some great links, more drivel about Sarah, more exclusion of the press from Joe Miller’s campaign events (this time ADN). The post ends with the amazing, somber documentary, The Fog of War, on McNamara’s admission that the Vietnam War was a mistake.


Comments of the Week

(I was away for half the week and got too far behind to ever catch up with the world’s best investigative bloggers! Great job, Palingaters!)

Linda1961 found this great comment on HP: "A Christian propagandist who quit her service job for fame and fortune is thanking god for an atheist soldier who quit fame and fortune for a life of service and never wanted to be used as propaganda." -MollyTamale

Ltl1: I always want to ask people who espouse the notion that it's just wonderful that anyone can get elected to public office whether they think it would be equally wonderful to have just anybody acting as their physician or flying a plane on which they're traveling, and if not, then why they have such disrespect for the organ of our country responsible for keeping our economy going, starting and ending our wars, maintaining our relationships with our allies and protecting our citizens.

anonPoster: Miller's not the only one who needs his ass kicked. The American press have given a general pass to the extreme right-wing rhetoric ever since PO was elected. Rather than questioning their lies, overt racism, and blatant ignorance regarding the Constitution, our press have dutifully performed stellar stenographic services for these nutjobs' sedition and rabble-rousing. If the vision of an Alaskan journalist hauled away in handcuffs for trying to ask questions of a candidate for public office doesn't wake up the American press to the dangers of extreme right-wingers, then I don't know what will…

Leota2: Good grief! I woke up to get a drink of water and check my emails. WTF--- Joe Miller has morphed into Stalin and is having people arrested by paid thugs. Wow! Raise your hand if you think this man wouldn't have us under martial law in about two minutes if given ANY power. GREAT pick Sarah . . . . . .

Later: OT, but how many people are aware President Obama rallied over thirty-thousand people last night in Ohio--a major swing state, and NOT one of the networks broadcasted it live?

Linda1961: Teabaggers don't want a democracy or a republic, for all of their rhetoric. They truly do seem to want a Soviet style oppressive dictatorship. The Constitution is just a word to them, they don't really care about it at all, and they don't care for anyone but themselves. Hopefully this will wake up all Americans to the dangers of the Teabaggers.

LucindathePook: Haven't seen this discussed yet, though it may have been, and its seems apropos: "The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal of two Colorado residents who were excluded from a speech by President Bush in 2005 because White House aides saw them arrive in a car with a bumper sticker that proclaimed: “No More Blood For Oil.” Although they had earlier obtained tickets to the event, passed through a security checkpoint, and said they had no intention of being disruptive, White House officials and volunteers ordered them removed from the venue by two uniformed police officers. The officials were acting under a Bush administration policy of barring from then-President Bush’s public appearances anyone who might disagree with him."

CR46: The real news is that the Teabagger Fascists don't want Freedom of Speech [and of the press] and will do anything to take that right away from the american people. It is very disturbing that this happened at all, but it is really disturbing for it to have happened to a respected journalist trying to get the answers to the people of his state.

Femme7: The "lamestream media" better wake up. In Sarah Palin's world order, they would all be arrested by hired goons. She actually believes that Freedom of the Press means that she should be free from the press asking her questions.

Aview999 found some great comments on HP: For the past ten years in America, I've been saying "it can't get any worse". But at every turn, it has. We've had illegal wars, illegal wiretaps, illegal torture, illegal politicking (Hatch Act), illegal fundraising and now the illegal detainment of a US citizen on public property at a public event… I shudder to think where we'll be 5 years from now."

Another: In the 1930's fascism was sweeping through Europe: Italy, Spain, Germany. Upton Sinclair wrote a novel called It Can't Happen where he describes what fascism might look like in the US. The party he describes in that book is essentially the tea party. Faux populists who claim to be all about God and the constitution but who in reality are corrupt, incompetent, proud of their ignorance and only respect brute force.

Maelewis: Note to Sarah: Ya can't keep invoking Ronald Reagan and support a Berlin/Mexican wall at the same time.

JSlater: An alarming undertone to the E. German wall is that while referred to for the subject of immigration, such a wall effectively keeps people inside from leaving. This is a classic sign of a military/police state where the citizens have been stripped of all liberties, are subjected to harassment, surveillance, unwarranted search and seizure, checkpoints, absence of privacy, and more. It is not a stretch to imagine that anyone with a mind bent toward such containment methods can move to further extreme ideological positioning.

BfromC: …I see a clear, fortuitous reason why someone from Germany has been working so tirelessly on Palingates…to provide a firsthand account of the direction we are moving, via the likes of Palin and her boy Joe. Thank you Patrick.

Tildama: It has been an amazing 24 hours. I find it ironic that the act of detaining a journalist (because he dared to ask a question of Joe Miller) has brought to light a wealth of information; far more revealing I'm sure, than anything Mr. Hopfinger could have hoped to have discovered from his proposed questions. Oh Joe, you silly silly boy.

465janedoeseeker: This is truly just a few steps removed from a Krystal Nacht type of thing.

anonPoster: "We're itching for a standoff someplace," Norm Olson 1999 in the Washington Post

Moon: I am blown away by the investigative journalism on display here! I am proud to be connected to this blog, albeit in a small way as a devoted reader and poster. Thank you Patrick, Kathleen, Regina, Cheeriogirl and Bandit for your supreme skills.

Cheeriogirl from HP:
Take over the courts - check
Take over the media - check
Make corporations people - check
Unlimited corporate political funding - check
Eliminate taxes for the rich - check
Offshore American jobs - check
Destroy the Middle Class and all other opposition - check
Eliminate privacy - check
Take over Congress - pending
Take over the White House - pending
Re-introduce Debtor's Prisons - pending
Re-introduce Indentured Servitude - pending

ApparentReality summed it up:

A simple primer on what Sarah Palin does not want the public to know.

1. AIP, a secessionist group, was instrumental in getting Palin in as Wasilla mayor.
2. She is married to a person who is/was a member of this secessionist group.
3. In the same year that she ran for VIP (2008), she gave a welcoming speech to the above secessionist group.
4. Palin endorsed Joe Miller to run for national office.
5. Joe Miller then allowed thugs who are tied to an Alaskan militia group to handcuff a reporter at a public school during a public gathering.
6. Wayne Anthony Ross has a long history of belonging to an Alaskan militia.
7. Palin tried to get Wayne Anthony Ross into office as Attorney General for the State of Alaska.
Do we see a pattern emerging? Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Myrtilla documented Sarah’s abuse/desecration of the flag (Thursday thread).

MrsTBB: B-b-b-ut Glenn Beck NEEDS five goons to help him jump the line for the Teacups!

Buffalogal: Beginning in kindergarten…we were taught flag etiquette and it was drilled in to us that you never, EVER get a mark on the flag or let it touch the ground. EVER! …Watching $P sign that thing I have images of our ancient old but tough as nails principal smacking her right across the chops.

SueLu814: Sarah just can't resist an opportunity to condescend…She doesn't realize her comments are a reflection of Her character, not the target she aims them at…
Louie, brilliant as usual: …Shill baby Shill, man just when I thought you were going to lose the crazy-off to Christine you come back swinging, way to go! Pass the Bailey's and the ammo…

Mel: I think it was a very good article because it got to the heart of how she rolls and how she would operate a campaign and an administration. Badly. Chaotically, incompetently, and destructively…I no longer think anyone has much real influence on her any more. I think she's gone rogue even on herself.

Sunnyjane: This just in, from the Sunnyjane Town Crier: We have just learned that Bill Fulton, owner of the renowned DropZone Security enterprise, will make a citizens' arrest upon the person of one Sarah H. Palin of Wasilla for desecration of the United States flag. Said Fulton in this exclusive interview with STC, "The Lady of the Lifeless Lake has gone too far on this here thing. It's about time we brung her down to size. We is gonna get her for signin' the flag with that sharpie pen. That ain't right. Disabled vets ain't gonna have that bein' done to our national symbol." Highlights at 11:00.

Rocky in TX said: What Palin likes most about twitter is that now... She can quit writing on bathroom walls!


Links of the Week

Patrick found this great shout-out to Palingates

and this documentary on the Berlin Wall

and this on DropZone’s lack of licensing

Brilliant comment by Sarah Jones of politicususa

Aview999 on Koch Bros/AFP/TP manipulating social media to attack politicians:

NYT on Joe Miller’s attempts to silence the press

WesinOregon linked to Salon on the militia’s man in the Senate

Cheeriogirl posted a comment on ADN: "These people at the drop zone were clearly white supremecist/milita style scumbags. I would strongly enocourage the media to look at the relationship between Joe Miller and these racist white supremacists, namely William Fulton. This was my experience with the man, and if these are the type of people what Joe Miller hangs out with, our state is in grave danger."

this on Hugh Shelton saying the Bush Admin lied getting us into war

Bandit Basheert linked to Chris Matthews on Miller and other TP candidates outrageous behavior toward the press and includes McCain’s angry desperation in attacking Barbara Boxer

Regina made us chuckle (which we needed) with Sarah’s cojones

Honestyingov: Tony Hopfinger exonerated

on Palin desecrating the flag

Olberman on Palin and AIP

Older_Wiser (and Bandit Basheert) linked to Kos on Joe Miller, Tax Cheat and this from politicususa and to FireDogLake schooling Palin on the 1st Amendment

Lilybart with eyewitness (and former Miller supporter) corroborating Hopfinger’s account:

Paradigm Shift: Joe Miller was using a "security" firm with "agents" who are active duty military and so far, no evidence of permission from their command.

Igetit2 and others: TPM caught The Stupid tweeting a candidate endorsement - in the wrong state!

Anne_123 found a great video of Andy Griffith touting the benefits of health care reform

Phil Munger is helping get the word out about Miller’s ties to militias

ForeverAnonymous had this on AK attempt to circumvent federal regulation of firearms. Kevin and mxm disputed legality of this end-run.

AKSandhills on another former Miller employer’s negative review

Cheeriogirl linked to HP on Scalia/Thomas

BinCo & others: Jonathan Martin on Sarah wreaking havoc on campaign trail

Sunnyjane picked up on Ella’s point about how Sarah shouldn’t get security clearance with her terrorist ties; Salon wrote on these in 2008: HERE and HERE

Maelewis & others on the Teabag/Party founder dissing Palin


Kasha Knish posted a very good, must-see video:



BBT, while throwing in the towel: I officially can’t keep up with all the comments & links this week!!!

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Tweets of the Week

PCG (picking up on austintxx and Junasie14): @SarahPalinUSA has WITCH problem 2x worse than O'Donnell's: http://tinyurl.com/23jasvc #p2 #tcot dbl dbl toil & trbl

Sleuth:

hey @SarahPalinUSA your golden boy @JoeWMiller had a reporter illegally detained at a public event! How R those FREEEEDUMBS working for ya?

@SarahPalinUSA Palling around with terrorists again? http://tinyurl.com/32lf7tc

Grasshopper had a good one; did anyone tweet it? Sarah Palin's home state protege Joe Miller and his SS troops want to build an "East German" style fence along U.S. Border. Heil Twitler!

Grasshopper/Dusty17: @JoeWMiller 's Militia subdues lone reporter armed with only pen&paper.

@SarahPalinUSA 's Goon Squad celebrate great victory for the @GOP

Dusty17: @SarahPalinUSA "should not be allowed to influence American politics a day longer" Media BlackOut please of $arah Palin. @msnbc

Shocking News @JoeWMIller 's Private Militia DropZone's Security License expired 12/31/09!http://tinyurl.com/2ahn6vx #loser Update #9

palingates Say it ain't so, Joe - revealed Security team of Joe Miller headed by local Alaska militia leader with AIP-ties http://tinyurl.com/32lf7tc

ProChoiceGrandma found that Andrea Gusty is on Twitter:

@GustysEyeOnAK, UR (in)famous @Palingates 4 UR pic of @SarahPalinUSA’s fake pregnancy bellyhttp://tinyurl.com/mkf2p8 Were U paid or played?

Say it ain't so, Joe! revealed Security team of @JoeWMiller headed by local Alaska militia leader w/ AIP-tieshttp://tinyurl.com/32lf7tc

Hey @SarahPalinUSA, Mickey Mouse doesn’t have a drinking problem, but what about yours? 2 Baileys before 9am says a lot!

sunnyjane:

@sarahpalinusa: History books on Sarah Palin will be: THIS PAGE PURPOSEFULLY LEFT BLANK. Anybody who cares about her doesn’t read history.

@sarahpalinusa: DO YOU LOVE YOUR FREEDOMS? “Refudiate” illegal detainment of Alaskan Dispatch reporter by Joe Miller’s thugs NOW!

@sarahpalinusa: Say NO to Joe Miller’s vision of America: Using Communist/Fascist Eastern Bloc wall to solve immigration issues.

FreeTrig: @SarahPalinUSA UR Bailey's inspired Tweets scare the crap out of me and my little dog, 2!

Tyroanee: Slow Down @SarahPalinUSA too many tweets while sipping Baileys is hard on those Late Night Comedians to keep up with... Pace Yourself Girl.

Sjkfromthebellyoftheplane: @$arahpaylin, u dont understand the difference between the right to free speech and the right of an employer to terminate for cause. now go quit something.

Finally (to end with a chuckle again)

ManxMamma: and on a lighter note, this bird dances better than Bristol [BBT: so true! Hilarious!]:



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UPDATE:

Facebook comment - NO ID

If you want to watch the crazy and the unhinged, you just have to take a look at the comments on Sarah Palin's facebook.

One of our valued readers spotted a very "special" comment: Somebody called "Michael Vance" boasts on Sarah Palin's latest facebook note about his "personal voting fraud scheme" (see the screenshot above).

Way to go, Palinbots!

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UPDATE 2 - Rand Paul "stomping" incident:

The "head stomper" at the event for Rand Paul has been identified:


Lexington, Kentucky Police Public Information Officer Sherelle Roberts has confirmed that a criminal summons is being served on a Mr. Tim Profitt who has been ordered to appear before a Fayette County District Court judge for the assault on Lauren Valle.


Tim Profitt, Rand Paul for Senate Bourbon County, Kentucky Coordinator with the candidate. Profitt has admitted to stomping his foot on Lauren Valle's head.

Tim Profitt from Paris, Kentucky is the Rand Paul for Senate Bourbon County coordinator and is being sought as the head stomper by the Lexington police. In a statement sent to the Associated Press, Profitt has admitted placing his shoe firmly on the face of a Lauren Valle outside a Senate debate on Monday night, but insisted that the camera angle of the footage that captured the alteration made the scuffle look worse than it was. The fact that Profitt is an official coordinator of the Rand Paul campaign opens Paul to potential civil liabilities.

Profitt was well known to the Paul campaign and touted the endorsement of Tim Profitt at the bottom of an ad they had taken out in a Bourbon County paper.

The available footage is crystal clear - it's not the camera angle which makes the incident "worse than it was" - it's really THAT WORSE. As usual, the wingnuts are unable to take responsibility for their actions.




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UPDATE 3 - A new incident in Virginia:

NBC12 reports, but it's very uncertain whether they report the full story:




NBC12 writes:

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - It is getting ugly in Virginia's 7th Congressional District.

The campaigns are accusing each other of slimy tactics. The battle is getting so heated, one volunteer was forced into handcuffs by police.

It was supposed to be a friendly event where voters could meet Congressman Eric Cantor at a coffee shop in Louisa. It ended with a supporter of the congressman's opponent being handcuffed and arrested.

Jon Taylor, a member of the Louisa Democratic Committee and a supporter of Rick Waugh refused to leave the private event. The owner of the shop then got police involved.

Louisa Town Police and the County Sheriffs struggled with Taylor for several minutes. The tangle required three officers before he was finally subdued. The fracas was captured on cell phone video by Taylor's son Bradley.

He claims the sheriffs and local police were out to get him before he said a word.

"The Louisa County police department was basically used by Eric Cantor's campaign to make a political statement," said Taylor.

Here is the youtube clip:



This is the description of the youtube clip:

This video was taken by the son of the man being subdued. He took it with his cellphone. This man was asked to leave the Solid Grounds Coffeehouse in Louisa, Virginia, at a public event for Eric Cantor. The man was sitting at a table waiting for Cantor to arrive. Then police asked him to leave and, when they got him outside, they arrested him, after an excessive amount of force, as you can see in the video. They came back and arrested the person who videotaped the incident, even though he was on a public sidewalk. They did not arrest, but gave a citation to, a woman with a small child.

The video shows the officers subduing the man, cuffing him, and then another policeman racing in and knocking the man to the ground.

Apparently, the event was only for Republicans although it was advertised as open to the public and the man on the ground had an invitation. Democrats had "Waugh for Congress signs" outside. They, too, were cleared out of a public sidewalk and forced to go across the street with their signs.
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