Salon.com > conspiracy theory

N.H. lawmaker endorses “false flag” conspiracy theory

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 01:37:00 +0000

New Hampshire Republican state Rep. Stella Tremblay posted a video from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Glenn Beck's Facebook page Friday laying out Jones' theory that the Boston Marathon bombing was executed by the government. "The Boston Marathon was a Black Ops 'terrorist' attack. One suspect killed, the other one will be too before they even have a chance to speak," she wrote. "Infowars broke the story and they knew they had been 'found out.'"

“There's just too many things going on that, to me, doesn't make any sense,” Tremblay told the local Fosters' Daily Democrat, explaining other parts of a theory that is all too familiar a little over a week after the bombings.

The right’s new Boston conspiracy theory

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:55:00 +0000

Were you one of the pundits or newspapers who too quickly jumped on the Saudi "person of interest" story, only to have some egg on your face when authorities later cleared him of wrongdoing? Well, thankfully, Fox News' favorite "terrorism expert" Steve Emerson has found an escape clause.

Emerson, a former journalist who has since made a career out of being a self-styled expert, was himself a little too credulous on the New York Post-boosted story line about the Saudi national, telling C-SPAN Tuesday morning that based on "certain classified information" that he was "privy to," he was pretty sure authorities had found their man in "the Saudi national." But six hours later, on Fox, he broke the news that "the Saudi suspect has been ruled out."

Alex Jones: Boston explosion a government conspiracy

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:23:00 +0000

While most observers are witholding judgment about what caused the two explosions at the Boston Marathon this afternoon, right-wing conspiracy theorists already know what's going on -- the government did it and is going to pin the blame on them because today is Patriots' Day, a special day in the militia movement.

Alex Jones, who has become the country's preeminent conspiracy theorist, wasted no time. As with 9/11, Sandy Hook and other national tragedies, he sees the Boston explosions as a "false flag" attack committed by the government. The objective this time: Expanding the Transportation Security Administration's reach to sporting events:

Our hearts go out to those that are hurt or killed #Boston marathon - but this thing stinks to high heaven #falseflag

— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) April 15, 2013

Explosions at the Boston Marathon. Don't that the FBI has been behind virtually every domestic terror plot in the US, as NY Times reported.

— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) April 15, 2013

Aurora Truther arrested for harassing families

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:25:00 +0000

Police in Portland, Oregon arrested a native of the state yesterday on charges that he has been harassing family members of some of those killed in the Aurora, Colorado shooting. "In the beginning it was this conspiracy theory stuff," Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania said, "then it went away from the conspiracy theory into personally attacking the families, calling them names and hoping bad things would happen to them."

As with the Sandy Hook shooting, the Aurora massacare has attracted a host of conspiracy theories, and harassment of victims has gotten so bad that prosecutors there asked the judge to redact the names of victims in court documents to spare them the “relentless contacts by proponents of purported ‘conspiracies.’”

Kentucky PAC slurs McConnell family

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:08:00 +0000

Progress Kentucky, a super PAC in the state that has made it its mission to take down Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has repeatedly attacked his wife for being Chinese, WFPL reports today.

McConnell is married to Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, whom the liberal super PAC targeted in a series of tweets.

In one sent on Valentines Day, the group wrote, "This woman has the ear of (Sen. McConnell) — she's his wife. May explain why your job moved to China!" The Tweet links to a blog post on site run by conspiracy theorist and radio host Jeff Rense, who has promoted conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting and Holocaust denialism. Another tweet noted that, "not many know McConnell's wife is Chinese."

Another read, "China Premier grateful to McConnell father-in-law/@KYGOPcontributor-4 his role in developing China industry."

Jobs report truthers return

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Today’s jobs report, showing the unemployment rate dropped below 8 percent for the first time in over 40 moths, will have Democrats gleeful and Republicans (deep in their hearts) despondent. But what if the numbers are actually just a part of a plot to get President Obama reelected? It’s a stupid question, but the immediate reaction of many conservative media figures has been not only to ask it, but to answer it as well.

On Fox News, which completely ignored the numbers for the first 30 minutes they were out in favor of stories about (what else?) gold and a live performance by 12-year-old Jackie Evancho, host Bill Hemer darkly warned, as he summarized the report, “a lot of questions remain about those numbers.” Co-host Martha MacCallum agreed that the report “raises a lot questions.” Finally, they brought on Fox Business analyst Stuart Varney to give it to us straight: “There is widespread mistrust of this report and these numbers, because there are clear contradictions.” Varney explained that many of the jobs created are part-time, and that there were discrepancies between the two surveys that make up the report (one looks at jobs added and the other calculates the unemployment rate).