White House in heightened state of paranoia over possibility that fellow staffers may be wired by Robert Mueller.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Paranoia is enveloping the White House and President Donald Trump’s network of former aides and associates as Robert Mueller’s Russia probe heats up. 

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of the plea deal he reached last week, adding to the worry already inside Trump’s circle surrounding the secret deal struck earlier this summer by former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, whose cooperation was kept quiet for months before being unsealed in late October. 

Both cases raise the possibility that other current or former colleagues have also flipped sides — and they're prompting anxiety that those people could be wearing wires to secretly tape record conversations. 

“Everyone is paranoid,” said a person close to Trump’s White House. “Everyone thinks they’re being recorded.” 

Mueller is doing little to abate those suspicions. Tucked inside last week’s 10-page plea deal Flynn struck with government prosecutors is an agreement that the former White House national security adviser could avoid a potential lengthy jail term in part by “participating in covert law enforcement activities.” 

Wiring up cooperating witnesses is a routine law enforcement tactic used hundreds — if not thousands — of times a year in criminal cases and on occasion for more complex white-collar investigations. It’s done to obtain a record of other conspirators and witnesses talking about their conduct, which can be used as confirmation when pressing for indictments and as first-hand evidence to be introduced during trial. Mueller, a former FBI director, and the team of veteran Justice Department prosecutors with which he’s surrounded himself are schooled in the benefits of the wiring technique.

Okay this is literally my feel good story of the day.

The very idea of all of these White House staffers suspecting each other of surreptitiously working for Robert Mueller, and fearing they are wired up like some drug dealing gang banger in order to gather evidence against a kingpin, just puts the biggest smile on my face. 

EPA is spending almost $25,000 to build a soundproof booth so that Scott Pruitt can communicate privately.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to construct a secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to government contracting records. 

The agency signed a $24,570 contract earlier this summer with Acoustical Solutions, a Richmond-based company, for a “privacy booth for the administrator.” The company sells and installs an array of sound-dampening and privacy products, from ceiling baffles to full-scale enclosures like the one purchased by the EPA. The project’s scheduled completion date is Oct. 9, according to the contract. 

Typically, such soundproof booths are used to conduct hearing tests. But the EPA sought a customized version — one that eventually would cost several times more than a typical model — that Pruitt can use to communicate privately.

The agency is arguing that they need this for the sake of privacy but they already have a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) on site, just like other agencies, so the reason for this extra level of security is somewhat puzzling.

It kind of makes you wonder just what Pruitt is saying that he is so desperate to keep quiet.

And of course who he is saying it to.

Without their favorite boogeyman. President Obama, the gun industry is seeing sales drop precipitously.

Courtesy of Fox News: 

President Trump’s election appears to be negatively affecting gun sales in the U.S. and the bubble appears to be bursting despite a staunch advocate for gun rights in the White House and Republicans ruling Congress. 

"President Obama was the best gun salesman the world has ever seen," Karl Sorken, a production manager at Battle Rifle Co. in Houston. Sorken is an Army veteran and self-described liberal who voted for Obama and notes the change for the industry under Trump is a topic of conversation in the shop. 

Fears of government limits on guns -- some real, some perceived -- led to a surge in demand during Obama's tenure and manufacturers leapt to keep up. Over the decade ending in 2015, the number of U.S. companies licensed to make firearms jumped 362 percent. 

"The trends really almost since Election Day or election night have been that gun sales have slacked off," said Robert Spitzer, political science department chairman at State University of New York at Cortland. "When you take away Barack Obama and you give the Republicans control of both houses of Congress, which is extremely friendly to the gun lobby, then the political pressure subsides. And that surely is at least a key part of the explanation for the drop-off in sales." 

The Washington Post reported that the FBI conducted about 500,000 fewer background checks in December 2016 then in 2015. Gun sales this year have reportedly dropped about 17 percent.

I bet those gun dealers are really wishing that Hillary won the election, because she freaked out the ammosexuals almost as much as Obama did.

So now they finally have the president that they thought that wanted and their business goes right to hell in a hand basket along with the rest of the country.

Irony is a cruel mistress. 

There is one bright note however, apparently there are now some liberals so freaked out over the election that THEY are arming themselves.

That is just wrong on so many levels.

As you might imagine I remain just as dedicated to gun control as always, and will not be purchasing a firearm of my own.

However I do understand that it's a buyers market right now. 

The White House is consumed with paranoia.

Courtesy of Politico:  

A culture of paranoia is consuming the Trump administration, with staffers increasingly preoccupied with perceived enemies — inside their own government. 

In interviews, nearly a dozen White House aides and federal agency staffers described a litany of suspicions: that rival factions in the administration are trying to embarrass them, that civil servants opposed to President Donald Trump are trying to undermine him, and even that a “deep state” of career military and intelligence officials is out to destroy them.

Aides are going to great lengths to protect themselves. They’re turning off work-issued smartphones and putting them in drawers when they arrive home from work out of fear that they could be used to eavesdrop. They’re staying mum in meetings out of concern that their comments could be leaked to the press by foes. 

Many are using encrypted apps that automatically delete messages once they’ve been read, or are leaving their personal cellphones at home in case their bosses initiate phone checks of the sort that press secretary Sean Spicer deployed last month to try to identify leakers on his team. 

It’s an environment of fear that has hamstrung the routine functioning of the executive branch. Senior advisers are spending much of their time trying to protect turf, key positions have remained vacant due to a reluctance to hire people deemed insufficiently loyal, and Trump’s ambitious agenda has been eclipsed by headlines surrounding his unproven claim that former President Barack Obama tapped his phone lines at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

I had written before about Spicey's paranoia concerning leaks, which resulted in him conducting spur of the moment "phone checks," but clearly this paranoia has now spread and deepened. 

In other words the Trump White House is grinding to a complete stand still.

Hard to see that as bad news.

Donald Trump is now accusing President Obama of tapping his phones.

Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

Okay as of right now most news outlets have no freaking idea what Trump is talking about here.

Now it is possible that somebody brought an article written by our friend Louise Mensch back in November to Trump's attention.

Here is the article:  

Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia. 

Contrary to earlier reporting in the New York Times, which cited FBI sources as saying that the agency did not believe that the private server in Donald Trump’s Trump Tower which was connected to a Russian bank had any nefarious purpose, the FBI’s counter-intelligence arm, sources say, re-drew an earlier FISA court request around possible financial and banking offenses related to the server. The first request, which, sources say, named Trump, was denied back in June, but the second was drawn more narrowly and was granted in October after evidence was presented of a server, possibly related to the Trump campaign, and its alleged links to two banks; SVB Bank and Russia’s Alfa Bank. While the Times story speaks of metadata, sources suggest that a FISA warrant was granted to look at the full content of emails and other related documents that may concern US persons.

As you can see this talks about a FISA court request from the FBI concerning one particular server.

The fact that they would have needed a warrant of course means that this is NOT, in any way, like what Nixon did during his administration, nor does it necessarily suggest that the FBI was allowed to tap Trump's phones.

What DO know is that American intelligence agencies WERE tracking the phone calls coming in and out of Russia and that THAT was how they found out that a number of Trump's campaign staff and administration staff had been in contact with certain unsavory folks connected to the Russian government.

Apparently Trump's current freakout is linked to Mark Levin's radio show where he cited these articles and then exaggerated what they said to suggest that the Obama Administration used "police state" tactics to undermine the Trump campaign.

Was Obama using NSA against Trump campaign? https://t.co/xzAOf11y3k

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) March 3, 2017

Remember Trump only trusts Right Wing news outlets and talk shows that make shit up, or exaggerate facts to fit their agenda.

I think Trump has really rounded the bend on this one. 

Spicey is snatching the phones of White House staff in order to find leakers. Can you say "paranoia?"

Courtesy of Politico:  

Last week, after Spicer became aware that information had leaked out of a planning meeting with about a dozen of his communications staffers, he reconvened the group in his office to express his frustration over the number of private conversations and meetings that were showing up in unflattering news stories, according to sources in the room. 

Upon entering Spicer’s second floor office, staffers were told to dump their phones on a table for a “phone check," to prove they had nothing to hide.

Spicer, who consulted with White House counsel Don McGahn before calling the meeting, was accompanied by White House lawyers in the room, according to multiple sources. There, he explicitly warned staffers that using texting apps like Confide -- an encrypted and screenshot-protected messaging app that automatically deletes texts after they are sent -- and Signal, another encrypted messaging system, was a violation of the Federal Records Act, according to multiple sources in the room. 

The phone checks included whatever electronics staffers were carrying when they were summoned to the unexpected follow-up meeting, including government-issued and personal cell phones.

My favorite part of this story is that it ALSO leaked out, which means that Spicey is going to lose his shit that his attempts to stop leaks was also leaked to the press.

This is really starting to feel like Hitler's final days in the bunker.

They know the end is coming and they have already started to suspect and distrust those around them.

Someday all of this is going to make a great book.

Though they will probably put it in the Fiction section since nobody will believe it could have really happened this way.

Donald Trump unhappy to discover that being president is a REAL job. Doesn't like it.

Courtesy of Politico:

Being president is harder than Donald Trump thought, according to aides and allies who say that he’s growing increasingly frustrated with the challenges of running the massive federal bureaucracy. 

In interviews, nearly two dozen people who’ve spent time with Trump in the three weeks since his inauguration said that his mood has careened between surprise and anger as he’s faced the predictable realities of governing, from congressional delays over his cabinet nominations and legal fights holding up his aggressive initiatives to staff in-fighting and leaks. 

The administration’s rocky opening days have been a setback for a president who, as a billionaire businessman, sold himself to voters as being uniquely qualified to fix what ailed the nation. Yet it has become apparent, say those close to the president, most of whom requested anonymity to describe the inner workings of the White House, that the transition from overseeing a family business to running the country has been tough on him. 

Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject — to "seem in control at all times," one senior government official said — or direct questions about details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay — or even stop — him from filling positions and implementing policies.

I think most of us predicted that this would be the case for Trump way back when he first launched his campaign.

In fact Howard Stern said something about this just last week:

"He really does want to be loved, he does want people to really love him, that drives him a lot. I think he has a very sensitive ego. And when you’re president of the United States people are going to be very, very critica,l and I think in his mind right now he’s saying 'I want to protect the country'… I think his motive is 'People will love me because I’m going to keep terrorists out of the country.' I think he’s genuinely shocked when people come back and say, 'Wait a second, there’s more to this.'"
....

"This is something that’s going to be detrimental to his mental health because he wants to be liked, he wants to be loved, he wants people to cheer for him," he said.

Trump has no fucking idea how any of this works, and simply believed he could bullshit his way through it.

Guess what, he can't.

The Politico article went on to say that Trump has become obsessed with the  unprecedented number of leaks coming out of the White House and that he does not know who he can and can't trust.

In other words after only three weeks Trump is already demonstrating Nixonian levels of paranoia.

I predict that he will have a complete psychotic break in the next couple of weeks.

Assuming of course that he has not already suffered one.

FBI arrests three men in North Carolina who were preparing to kill soldiers participating in the Jade Helm 15 exercises.

Anti-‘Jade Helm 15′ nuts arrested in North Carolina after hoarding weapons and making bombs http://t.co/4PWxPh0B1H pic.twitter.com/jwQIcsv9Sp

— R Joseph (@rjoseph7777) August 5, 2015

Courtesy of RT:  

Federal officials say three men arrested in North Carolina were stockpiling weapons for a murderous plot against US soldiers. According to the FBI, the trio believed a Special Forces exercise dubbed Jade Helm 15 was a pretext for imposing martial law. 

FBI documents unsealed Monday say the three residents of Gaston County bought guns and ammunition and attempted to build explosive devices, all with intent of killing US soldiers they believed were coming to establish martial law. The three were identified as Walter Litteral, 50, Christopher Barker, 41, and Christopher Campbell, 30. 

The FBI claims Litteral planned to make explosive devices out of tennis balls covered in nails and coffee cans filled with ball bearings. He also purchased ammunition for a 338 caliber rifle, hand-held radios, Kevlar helmets, body armor and face masks, which the authorities say were to be used in “armed resistance to the feared military occupation,” according to the AP. 

Most of the information in the indictment comes from an FBI informant, who opened a military surplus store in Belmont, not far from Campbell’s tattoo parlor, in January. The informant said Campbell approached him with “anti-government” views and introduced him to Litteral. 

According to court documents, the two men told the informant that they believed “that the federal government intended to use the armed forces to impose martial law in the United States, which they and others would resist with violent force.”

Wait, the FBI informant opened a "military surplus store" and then gathered evidence against these guys?

Now why does THAT sound so familiar?

Drop Zone employee, Sally Heath, and Bill Fulton.

Now I have no evidence that Fulton was involved in this investigation, and of course if I did I would deny it, but you have to admit that this is eerily similar to how Fulton assisted the FBI in the Schaeffer Cox domestic terrorism case.

In this case however it would seem that the FBI might have jumped the gun.

After all if these guys were buying weapons to protect themselves from a military imposed martial law that was never coming, then did they actually represent a danger?

But then again perhaps just the fact that they were willing to kill soldiers, and were arming themselves for that eventuality, might have been reason enough to get them locked up.

Texans still so paranoid about the Jade Helm 15 military operations that they have created a "Counter Jade Helm" to monitor them. No I am NOT kidding.

Courtesy of Houston Chronicle:

When the troops land in Texas for Operation Jade Helm next week, someone will be waiting for them. 

Hundreds of people have organized a "Counter Jade Helm" surveillance operation across the Southwestern states and in an effort to keep an eye on the contentious military drill that's sparked many suspicious of Uncle Sam's intentions. 

Eric Johnston, a 51-year-old retired firefighter and sheriff's deputy who lives in Kerrville, is a surveillance team leader in Texas. He'll coordinate three groups of volunteers, about 20 folks in total, who hope to monitor the SEALs, Green Berets and Air Force Special Ops in Bastrop, Big Spring and Junction when Jade Helm kicks off on July 15. With media prohibited at the drills, the volunteers could be a main source of information for the highly-anticipated seven-state exercise. 

But locations more precise than the towns around which troops will drill remain unknown. For the citizens' surveillance operation, therein lies the first challenge. 

"If a team member sees two Humvees full of soldiers driving through town, they're going to follow them," Johnston said. "And they're going to radio back their ultimate location."

Why do I have visions of these yahoos radioing back to command central with updates like "Army unit stopping to gas up and buy girlie magazines," and "Suspicious convoy currently located in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot?"

Here is more from the Guardian:

Johnston, a retired firefighter and police officer in Arizona who now lives in the Texas hill country, spoke in measured, calm tones and said he and his colleagues were focused on basic transparency, not outrageous conspiracy. 

“We are not far-wing, ‘Oh God, arm ourselves, get in camouflage, block the streets,’” he said. “We’re doing more of a neighbourhood watch kind of thing. 

“We are going to find a central location and set up an area and just cruise the streets, drive up and down the highway through Bastrop … most of us are legal concealed-carry folks, but we’re not going to be running up and down the street with automatic rifles.” 

Now while this guy sounds fairly reasonable, he follows all of this up with the following statement:  

If something mysterious is afoot, Johnston, said, he wants to get to the bottom of it. 

“Two and two doesn’t add up,” he said.

Yeah it does. It's four.  Isn't it four in Texas?

So here's my question. Do you have to prove you're a paranoid schizophrenic to move to Texas, or is that just ultimately what you become after living there for awhile?

Paranoia pimping politician Ted Cruz, questions Pentagon about military exercises in response to internet driven fears of martial law.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Saturday that he'd been hearing concerns about Jade Helm 15, a domestic military training exercise that has become a fount of conspiracy theories, and that he wanted questions about it to be answered. 

"My office has reached out to the Pentagon to inquire about this exercise," Cruz, a Texas senator, told Bloomberg at the South Carolina Republican Party's annual convention. "We are assured it is a military training exercise. I have no reason to doubt those assurances, but I understand the reason for concern and uncertainty, because when the federal government has not demonstrated itself to be trustworthy in this administration, the natural consequence is that many citizens don't trust what it is saying." 

The paranoia about Jade Helm, which started on websites like Alex Jones's InfoWars, had started with familiar fulmination about a mass seizure of firearms or a cover-up for American "death squads." This week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott channeled the concerns of voters in the Southwest, asking the Texas state guard to monitor the exercise for any violations of freedom. "It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed," said the governor.

We mocked Governor Abbott last week for his response to the conspiracy theory crowd, but who among us is really surprised that Cruz so readily boarded this bandwagon?

After all without unsubstantiated fear and paranoia Cruz would never have been elected in the first place.

Once again Texas is pulling ahead in the "we're the most batshit crazy state in the country" sweepstakes.

Awash in paranoid conspiracy theories Texas Governor orders state guard to monitor federal military during maneuvers over fear they are a ruse for Obama to impose martial law. Nope, not a joke.

Courtesy of Dallas News:  

Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor federal military exercises in the state, responding to citizen fears, stoked by online conspiracy theories, that the maneuvers are a ruse to impose martial law. 

Operation Jade Helm 15 is a large-scale training operation scheduled for elite military forces, such as the Navy SEALS and Green Berets. The operation will involve about 1,200 personnel operating in Southwestern states including Texas from July 15 to Sept. 15. 

Fears about the exercise have roiled for weeks online. Several websites, videos and Twitter users have argued that it is really a federal takeover of hostile states, including the confiscation of guns. To address those concerns, Abbott instructed Maj. Gen. Gerald “Jake” Betty, commander of the Texas State Guard, to keep a watch over the exercises and help keep local law enforcement agencies and their citizens informed. “During the training operation, it is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional right, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed,” Abbott told Betty in a letter Tuesday.

This decision has understandably shocked some of the more rational Texans.

The Texas Democratic Party questioned the judgment of Abbott, a Republican, for giving countenance to questions about the military’s integrity and credence to “the most extreme right” aspects of his party. 

“If the governor truly respects the men and women of our armed forces, both national and Texan, he shouldn’t make public policy and operational decisions on the basis of tea party Internet chatter or the rants of conspiracy theorists,” said party spokesman Manny Garcia.

So to be clear Abbott is asking the State Guard to keep tabs on a force that will number among the thousands and include members from numerous branches of the military.

Which begs the question, what would the State Guard do IF the feds were actually planning to take over?

Currently the Texas State Guard consists of six Civil Affairs Regiments, two Air Wings, a Medical Brigade and a Maritime Regiment.

I mean I don't care if every member of the Guard believes themselves to be personification of Rambo himself, the American military routinely overthrows governments and captures dictators without raising a sweat.

If they really wanted to take over Texas, which of course they have no intention of doing, they would simply take over Texas.

By the way this operation, Jade Helm, is not just in Texas. It is also taking place in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

At least so far none of the other governors have allowed themselves to be frightened into making fools of themselves. 

GOP Committeewoman from Iowa warns that undocumented children crossing our borders might be "highly trained warriors" who will "rise up against Americans." Whoa Nelly!

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

On her weekly radio show yesterday, RNC committeewoman Tamara Scott of Iowa warned that child migrants from Central America may have been “highly trained as warriors” and could “rise up against” U.S. citizens. 

“When we see these kids, you and I think young kids, we think maybe 12-year-olds, maybe homeschoolers — excuse me, middle-schoolers,” said Scott, who is also Concerned Women for American’s Iowa state director and works as a lobbyist for the conservative group The Family Leader. “But we know back in our revolution, we had 12-year-olds fighting in our revolution. And for many of these kids, depending on where they’re coming from, they could be coming from other countries and be highly trained as warriors who will meet up with their group here and actually rise up against us as Americans.”

Okay that is where the Right Wing Watch stopped transcribing,  but the next thing this lunatic said was "We have no idea what's coming through out borders, but I would say Biblically it's not a Christian nation when you entice people to do wrong."

WTF?

Is it not "Christian" to offer a safe harbor to those fleeing oppression?

Is it not "Christian" to want to protect children?

Or do I simply not understand the idea behind Christianity?

Roger Ailes think nobody likes him because he's fat. Yeah, THAT'S it!

So Jonathon Alter, Bloomberg View columnist and frequent guest commentator on MSNBC, has written a book called "The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies."

Yesterday over at HuffPo they covered the book, but they focused on the book's coverage of Roger Ailes. Especially these 12 odd facts about the head of Fox News.

1. He Once Worked Out Of A Supply Closet 

Rupert Murdoch told senior staffers one Monday that Ailes was "convinced that the whole News Corp. building was bugged: 'Roger came in over the weekend to work in the only room that he thought was secure -- a supply closet.'" 

2. He Has A Terrorist Monitor At His Desk 

Ailes "had a television monitor on his desk that showed video of the empty hall outside his office so that he would have warning if terrorists were coming to kill him." 

3. He Tried To Bombproof His Office 

Ailes "tried to order bombproof glass for his office because he thought homosexuals outside News Corp. headquarters on Sixth Avenue might shoot at him. 

4. He Flipped Over A 'Muslim-Looking' Janitor

 Ailes "demanded that security throw a 'Muslim-looking' man out of the building and the man turned out to be a janitor." 

5. Murdoch Finds Him 'Cuckoo' But 'Amusing' 

Rupert Murdoch "routinely called Ailes 'cuckoo,' 'bonkers,' 'nuts,' and crazy,' but he also found Ailes's behavior amusing." 

6. He Has 24-Hour Security At His House 

Ailes has "round-the-clock security guards outside the locked gates of his Putnam County, New York estate." 

7. He Enters The Office Through The Side Door 

Ailes "insisted on entering News Corp.'s headquarters through a side door used by no other executives, not even Murdoch, who entered through the front." 

8. He Has Two Bodyguards 

Ailes "had two bodyguards escorting him into the building," while Murdoch only had one, who "doubled as his driver and left him at the curb." 

9. He Terrifies Current & Former Staffers 

Ailes terrified both current and former News Corp. staffers, and his "apparatchiks monitored their email like the Stasi and wreaked vengeance at his command." 

10. He Thinks People Hate Him Because Of His Weight 

Ailes, who "associates described as charming but unhinged and a little pathetic," would tell colleagues, "They hate me because I'm fat." 

11. He Had Chris Christie & Rush Limbaugh Over For A Secret Lunch 

Ailes hosted a meeting at his New York estate for Chris Christie in the fall of 2011. Rush Limbaugh flew in on his private jet to join. Ailes wanted Christie to run for President, but Christie gave three reasons why it wasn't the right time. "I still like to go to Burger King and I'm not going to lose it [the weight]" was one. 

12. He Was Tough On Obama In Their One Meeting 

Ailes, Murdoch and Obama had a tense meeting in 2008, in which Obama "demanded to know why he was accused of being a terrorist on Fox every night." Ailes denied it, and claimed that his biggest concern was that he "wasn't sure Obama would defend the sovereignty of the United States." After Obama left, Murdoch told Ailes: "Boy, you were tough on him." 

13. He Threatened To Quit When Murdoch Told Him To Ease Up On Obama 

Ailes threatened to quit Fox News after Murdoch "pushed him to moderate Fox's coverage of Obama." He was given a "lucrative five-year contract" instead. (There is video interview with Jonathon Alter on HuffPo as well.)

Personally I found it interesting that Roger Ailes is afraid of a terrorist trying to kill him when Fox News has been doing everything they can to help them terrify the American people since even before the Bush administration. If anything you would think that Ailes expected to be made an honorary terrorist.

Hey maybe THAT'S why he is trying to keep them out of the building?

I was also surprised that President Obama agreed to meet with Ailes, though I imagine that the chance to confront a man who has made his job so incredibly difficult must have been compelling.

What I am NOT surprised to learn is that the same paranoia and hatred for Obama that permeates Fox News seems to emanate directly from Jabba the Roger. The organization is essentially an appendage of a man who has hated liberals since the Nixon administration.

Of course Ailes could not let this Huffington Post article stand without SOME response.

This courtesy of Mediaite: 

“Jonathan Alter is living in an altered universe. His fantasies about a man to whom he once applied for a job and was rejected, seem to carry an enormous amount of personal malice. Nearly 100% of the items he lists in his book are factually inaccurate and are in fact complete, outright fiction. This is a desperate attempt to smear Fox News and a few of the items have already been disproved in other books. He appears to have no legitimate sources for his screed. 

Ailes playfully said the only thing he’ll cop to is ‘being fat.’ As he told Zev Chafets in his recent book, Off Camera, ‘My doctor told me that I’m old, fat and ugly, but none of those things is going to kill me immediately.’ Ailes added recently, ‘I told my doctor I’m seeking a second opinion.’ Needless to say, we’re surprised that Simon & Schuster allowed this book to survive with no fact checking whatsoever. It’s sad — Jonathan Alter used to be a journalist.”

So essentially it comes down to who are you going to believe, Roger Ailes mastermind of the least ethical news organization in the world? Or Jonathon Alter?

Oh yeah, THAT'S a conundrum.

Army Special Forces training cancelled in Utah amid fears it was part of a secret government plan to impose martial law on the citizens.

Courtesy of StratRisks:

Army Special Forces soldiers will not “infiltrate” Utah communities this summer — a plan that had riled residents suspicious of the government’s motives. 

Green Berets had planned to parachute into several central Utah counties, cross mountains and work with Utahns who would be playing roles as resisters to an enemy regime. 

The Defense Department wants the soldiers to have fresh training in skills at the heart of Special Forces’ mission, such as covertly cultivating relationships with regular citizens and training resistance forces trying to liberate themselves from oppressive governments, said Col. Robert Dunton, a special projects officer for the Utah National Guard who was helping organize the exercise. 

The Special Operations Command has designated Utah, with its desert and mountain geography as well as a culture dominated by a religious faith, as a good place for such training.

Sounds reasonable right? After all the military has been conducting special forces training in Alaska, due to its harsh weather conditions, for years.  However that training started before Barack Obama became our President.

But budget tightening and other factors have put the kibosh on the training. Paul Weddle, a retired Green Beret contracted to help the Army set up the exercise in Sanpete, Sevier, Emery and Carbon counties, said he got news late Thursday it has been canceled. 

The news was welcomed by some who had resisted the exercise. 

“I’m relieved,” said Alan Braithwaite of Manti. “I like to see them get trained; I just didn’t want them coming here and scaring people and that’s what it was doing.” 

Braithwaite was the leader of a sizable group that protested Manti’s welcoming of the Special Forces exercise last fall. Fifteen people spoke at a Manti City Council meeting the day after President Obama was re-elected, urging the council to rescind the welcome. 

They said they feared the exercise was part of a government plan to impose martial law, that military spies were already in the community and that mentally unstable soldiers would hurt residents.

You know these types of exercises have gone on for years, and accelerated quite significantly after 9-11.  I don't remember ANYBODY expressing concern that the military was about to impose martial law on them during these kinds of exercises while George W. Bush was still president. Anybody else have a different memory?

However THAT is the kind of paranoia that Right Wing news outlets and Fox News have managed to create with their constant attacks on the President. So now the purchase of ammunition for training purposes by the government has become "stockpiling bullets for potential civil unrest in case the country defaults on its loans." and training exercises are feared to be attempts to surreptitiously implement martial law on our citizens.

But that is how you keep people voting Republican. You keep them scared to death.

Before, it was fear of terrorists attacking us on our soil, and now it has been replaced by fear of our government attacking us on our soil. 

Great job!

In case you thought that Alex Jones just had an off day during his interview with Piers Morgan, here he is in full blown paranoia immediately afterward.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Jones said that he was accosted by a member of the NYPD moments before he entered CNN headquarters in New York City. He said one plain cloths police officer in particular confronted him in a threatening manner. “They’re like cops from the movie Good Fellas,” Jones said. 

His associate who was operating the camera said that he believed Jones was being “cased” by members of the NYPD and Bloomberg. 

Jones went on to say that CNN’s producers “panicked” during his interview and cancelled a planned third segment with Morgan. It was after the interview, Jones says, that he became afraid for his life. 

“If you don’t know that Bloomberg is total mafia, you’re on another planet,” Jones said. “They’re thugs. I know what they are.” 

“If something happens to us, or we’re killed by crackheads, it was the NYPD or mafia they hired,” Jones added. “This city runs white slaves, that’s sex slaves, out of here all day,” said Jones. “This is mafia central.” 

“I think putting this video out will protect us,” Jones concluded. “It was just super creepy.”

Well he is right about that, this IS indeed "super creepy." Just not for the reasons that he thinks it is.

This guy clearly has some significant mental health issues, and his cameraman is certainly not doing him any favors by going along with him.

By the way among the numerous things that Jones believes we need to be freaked out about are nerds, which he refers to as "one of the most dangerous groups in this country."  No you heard that right, just click here to see.

Coleman Barney, Alaska Militia member and convicted domestic terrorist, receives five year prison sentence.

Courtesy of Seattle pi:

An Alaska militia group member found guilty of weapons charges was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison in a case involving others convicted of conspiring to kill government officials. 

Coleman Barney of North Pole held his head in his hands and sniffled loudly while he waited for U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan to impose the sentence Monday in Anchorage. 

"I think you got into some real bad stuff here, and this sentence reflects it," Bryan said. 

Barney, 38, and two other defendants have been in custody since their March 2011 arrests. The judge said Barney's time already served will count toward his term. 

Before he was sentenced, Barney apologized for making poor choices and decisions. A member of the Mormon church, he said he loved his country and that the militia started out as a group of "wonderful Christian men" who wanted to protect their families in case of a collapse. He said he got caught up in the hype and said things he didn't mean. 

Barney asked the judge to let him go back to his family. 

"There won't ever be any problems with me," he said. "I'm not a violent man." 

Yeah I actually don't think that Barney is a particularly violent man either, but that does NOT mean he would not have injured, or possibly killed someone if Schaeffer Cox had convinced him that they were in danger. These men were living off paranoia and fear, and there is no telling what they might have been capable of if the Feds, or Alaska law enforcement, had shown up at the wrong time.

By they way is anybody else struck by how easily it seems that "wonderful Christian men" can embrace violence under the right circumstances?

Here is your crazy thought processes of the day. Alaska militia style.

Coleman Barney

Yesterday during the Schaeffer Cox trial, prosecutors were questioning his co-defendant, Coleman Barney, about the reasoning behind why he and fellow militia members walked around heavily armed, seemingly intent on engaging law enforcement officials in a firefight.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

One issue jurors will likely be asked to think about as closing arguments near is whether Cox and his group sought out or created the conditions that would have yielded the potential for violent conflict. Cox had established rules of engagement for the group, centered on whether government came after him or left him alone. Yet by skipping a court date in a minor weapons case, Cox assured his non-compliance with the law and solidified his status as a fugitive, raising the potential for his arrest. 

Coupled with Cox's public displays of disrespect to and defiance of the court system, a climate was brewing that could have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Prior to skipping a court date, Cox had encouraged supporters to come to other, earlier court hearings in ploys to get attention and intimidate state court judges. Barney has said during these courtroom appearances, Cox had twice taken his antics too far. Telling judges that people wanted to kill them in the middle of the night, and telling Alaska State Troopers that the militia had them "outmanned and outgunned" was too extreme, Barney said. As a result of his growing discomfort, Barney had asked Cox to tone it down. Even so, the impact of Cox's courthouse grandstanding has been difficult for Cox and his men to shake. 

During their federal trial this week, when Skrocki asked if Cox was "using the militia to threaten the court system," Barney said "yeah." 

Staying with the theme, Skrocki attempted to show jurors that the security details in service to Cox were more than a group of guys exercising their Second Amendment rights to bear arms. These were men who intended to go to great lengths to keep their man safe. 

"This would have caused a lot of heartache with law enforcement at any level," Skrocki asked, using his right hand to hold up an AR 15 semi-automatic assault rifle in the courtroom. The weapon, a Valentine's Day gift from his wife, was among those Barney carried during a protective detail for Cox in November 2010. Skrocki's point was, if police or troopers or the FBI came across men carrying such weapons in public, they'd be inclined to check the situation out. And yet, it was a confrontation with law enforcement that Cox feared, and the very scenario that had given way to the prospect of launching the retaliatory 2-4-1 plan. 

Barney said he was aware that certain situations required more decorum. A protective detail for Cox outside a Fairbanks courthouse was kept more simple, with maybe nine men armed with handguns, including himself, working to make sure Cox made it safely from the courthouse exit to a waiting car. But when Cox was due for a television appearance, the situation was different. 

The television station was on private property, Barney believed. Because of this, he said he didn't think being more heavily armed would cause public distress. To this location he brought side arms, the AR 15 and 180 rounds. For extra "non lethal" defense tactics, he mounted a grenade launcher to the rifle and loaded it with a canister of rubber pellets -- an illegal combination, according to the indictment. Another man rode the wooded perimeter of KJNP, and Lonnie Vernon, similarly armed, worked the entry point of the lot. 

Skrocki tried to get Barney to admit he'd been given orders by Cox that night to shoot to kill. But Barney was clear, opening fire on law enforcement was only intended as a last resort. And, a last resort only to be invoked if unidentified people, including undercover agents who failed to identify themselves, showed up and started shooting. 

Schaeffer Cox explains that just because he's paranoid, doesn't mean everybody's not out to get him.

"I'm sorry you'll have to speak up. The voices in my head are drowning you out."

As many of you know by now Schaeffer Cox is an extremely paranoid individual who actually took to wearing bulletproof vests and having friends carrying guns stand in as security while conducting visits with the Office of Children's Services.  This has led many to ponder the state of Cox's mental health.

Well ponder no more.

Yesterday Cox was asked just WHY he thought he was the target of a Federal hit squad:

Cox has gotten a lot of mileage out of his story about how federal agents had been dispatched to arrest or kill him. On Wednesday, he finally got the chance to explain how he came up with the theory and the curious string of events he said have given him pause. 

First, he'd had a run in with the Office of Children's Services. He couldn't figure out why the agency was intent on interviewing his 18-month-old son, who wasn't speaking yet. Suspicious vehicles were driving by his house. Out of the blue, an airport police officer pulled him over, not to make a traffic stop but to hand Cox a manila envelope containing Cox's domestic-terrorist profile. The officer never acknowledged what he'd handed to Cox, saying only, "Hang in there, buddy. There's a lot of us pulling for you." 

For months, Cox believed a six-man team from Aurora, Colo., had been sent to Alaska to kill him. According to Cox, he now knows he was wrong about it. He'd misinterpreted short hand notes on the supposed domestic terrorist file. A "Squad 6" in the paperwork wasn't a six-person hit team, but a reference to "squad #6" -- a unit within the FBI. The report had been generated in Aurora, but Cox was convinced that was the hometown of the imaginary agents he thought had been dispatched to deal with him. 

He also claims that around the same time, the summer of 2010, someone from the electric company that services his home called to warn him that the FBI had asked the company to flag Cox's residence as a danger zone and to prevent workers from going on the defendant’s property. A pastor at Bible Baptist Church also spoke to Cox about visits from FBI agents who asked "all kinds of questions" about the defendant. 

And the stories kept coming. Cox claimed he'd heard from a military police officer on Fort Wainwright that U.S. Marshals had stopped in and were talking about a plan to use Cox's son as a way to provoke Cox to act violently, giving them an excuse to shoot him and get rid of the "Schaeffer Cox problem." And finally, Cox heard rumors that a Fairbanks FBI agent had been overheard at church discussing his dislike of Cox. 

 "These things just keep adding up. I just kept not believing, but there becomes a time when you have to," Cox told the jury. "It was enough to make us scared."

Now just to sum up, Cox claims he was tipped off that he was under investigation by an airport police officer who handed him his "domestic-terrorist profile," by an electric company employee who said his residence was a "danger zone," by a pastor who said the FBI was asking questions, and by a Fort Wainwright police officer who warned him that "U.S. Marshals had stopped in and were talking about a plan to use Cox's son as a way to provoke Cox to act violently."

I hate to be a doubter, but this sounds like just about the most unbelievable set of circumstances imaginable. Not one, but TWO officers of the law put their careers in jeopardy by sharing classified information or warning Cox that he was about to be set up by the Feds?  Really?

To me this sounds like the rantings of a paranoid schizophrenic. That may not be a completely accurate diagnosis but I have to say that any doubt of Cox's mental illness should be put to rest after reading this.

Clearly the guy is a nutjob.  A nutjob who was actively attempting to purchase military style weaponry, and plotting the murder of law enforcement officials.

I can't imagine that the jury will have much difficulty deciding that Schaeffer Cox presents a clear and constant danger to his community and that he needs to be put away for a very long time.

And as for this idea he has that he was a target of the FBI? From what I understand Cox was considered nothing more than an irritating insect by law enforcement, a small man with an inflated sense of his own importance. Even after he started his little militia group he was not considered any sort of threat. That is right up until he started talking about kidnapping judges and killing State Troopers in their homes. Then things got real, and Schaeffer's paranoia finally had a reason to exist.

However here is something that people seem to be missing.  Back in 2008 when future FBI informant Bill "Drop Zone" Fulton first met Cox, Schaeffer was just some big mouth kid with no history of violence, and still two years away from his first brush with the law.

Do you remember WHO introduced Fulton to Cox?

I think it's safe to assume that Fulton had no idea at that time he would someday be instrumental in building a case against the skinny kid in the newsman's hat, so exactly WHAT was Fulton doing hanging out with Joe Miller and Frank Bailey in 2008?

Was that just a coincidence, or did Schaeffer Cox's criminal activities suddenly pull attention away from where the FBI was focused at the time?

Personally if I were Joe Miller, Frank Bailey, and Sarah Palin that would be EXACTLY what I would spend my sleepless nights worrying about right now. Especially if I were Joe Miller.

Palin's paranoia continues to grow out of control as pro-Palin bloggers get kicked out of conservative rally because of Sarah's demands for limited media access.

From Mediaite:

Here are the key moments from their live blog:

8:28: J.R. Hoeft: Sekulow introducing Palin – applauding her discipline and decisiveness.
8:29: Brian K: Sarah Palin hits the stage to a standing o
8:31: Brian K: Sarah cheers the Lady Monarchs. Good choice
8:34:J.R. Hoeft: We’re being kicked out. So much for transparency.

The comments on the blog quickly turned into a fight between conservatives who like Palin and assumed that the bloggers broke some rules and those that defended the writers. Eventually, Bearing Drift’s J.R. Hoeft gave his version of the events.

Rude? We were at the event at the request of the event’s organizers.

Then, with no warning, as soon as the speech began, it was “lights out” for us and all I was doing was taking a couple photos and live-blogging the event.

Other media were present taking notes and there were cameras all over the Convocation Center.
We were told at the beginning we could live-blog and take photos, just not stream or record the speech in its entirety – and I had no problem with that policy.

However, I will say this, if she plans on running for president, she ought not to be concerned about a couple of former pro-Palin bloggers!

See?  Dennis and I are not the ONLY bloggers who get kicked out of Palin events!

What a perfect follow up to my post from yesterday.  And some people thought I was exaggerating Sarah Palin's thin skin and rampant paranoia! Hah! 

I do believe this story will have me smiling all day long.

Glenn Beck's constant fearmongering has frightened at least one person...Glenn Beck!

As reported on Page Six of the New York Post.

Controversial Fox News host Glenn Beck is now travelling with an armed guard. Guests at the other day's preview of Broadway musical "Memphis" noticed Beck was closely accompanied -- even to the men's room -- by a bodyguard with a gun partially concealed under his jacket.

An armed guard? Just WHO is Mr. Beck so terrified of? Well according to the Huffington Post, nobody.

There are no public reports of violent threats against Beck.

Did you hear that? No threats. None. Nada.

So apparently Glenn Beck has hired an armed bodyguard to protect him against the voices in his head. You know the ones that keep telling him that the socialists are everywhere, that President Obama wants to take away his health care, and that the creatures under his bed want to bite his chubby little feet.

Perhaps Glenn Beck could save his money and instead invest it in a really good psychiatrist. Just a thought.