As if it mattered.
Some poor minion, in thrall to the RWNJ Machine, Tweeted me today that all mass shooters have been Democrats. I know the family of one, who happened to be Republican. The odds of all of them over the years (and we have about one mass shooting each week) being registered Democrats just defies statistical probability. The Columbine shooters were not old enough to vote; the New Town shooter probably was not active politically in any way . . .
Masthead to National Report. C’mon would these guys lie to you?
Oh, yeah, and the Hemingway™ Brand Solid Gold, Shock-proof Sh** Detector started clanging away.
I challenged him for a citation; he offered none, but kept tweeting badgering posts all afternoon . . . finally he named Aaron Alexis. Well, if that were so, that would be one, not “all mass shooters.” I suggested others who would not be Democrats . . .
Then, after I’d cooked, after I’d fed the critters, washed some dishes and sat down, I thought about. Where’d he get the crazy idea that Aaron Alexis was politically involved at all? Nothing in the Fort Worth or Dallas papers (he lived in Fort Worth for many months). So I Googled it. “Aaron Alexis Democrat.”
Here’s the story, at our increasingly least favorite site, National Report. Out of nowhere, the National Report story claims Alexis was a Democrat.
NBC News has identified the suspect in the Washington D.C. Navy Yard shooting as Registered Democract Aaron Alexis, 34, originally of Ft. Worth, Texas (click here for report circulating on Twitter regarding the shooter). Alexis, allegedly a Muslim (possibly gay), was a civilian contractor who reportedly used the ID of a former employee to gain access into the facility. At this time, 13 people are reported dead and several others wounded.
None of the links in the story make any reference to voter registration or any other way of identifying the shooter as a Democrat. Veering off into bizarre, tasteless parody, National Report said:
National Report has attempted to contact Darrell Issa’s office for information regarding an investigation into Obama’s involvement with this tragedy. Alex Jones has information regarding the attack that suggests this was a false flag operation to deter attention from Syria.
National Report extends its warmest wishes to the family and friends of those involved in this horrific attack.
These phrases are red flags for bad information: “Alex Jones has information” and “false flag operation,” favorite phrases of unhinged conspiracy aficionados. “Warmest wishes” seems a particularly inept and tasteless line.
Why would any reporter think the president was involved in any way, and unless the reporter had information California Rep. Darrell Issa was involved himself, why would he contact Issa’s Congressional office? Congress would have no role whatsoever in any investigation at such an early phase.
“National Report” avatar for “Chase Logan.” A man running from the scene of a hoax?
The reporter is identified as “Chase Logan,” which is probably a pseudonym, a mashup of “Chevy Chase-Logan Circle,” two neighborhoods in northern DC and Maryland. Alleged to be a graduate of Georgetown Law, Chase Logan’s bio as a reporter looks like fiction. This alleged reporter is also the wit who wrote the National Report story parody on a new “boobs” merit badge for Boy Scouts.
Taste, accuracy and information, are not in these people.
The claim that the Washington Navy Yard shooter was a Democrat is based in no report deeper than this horrible National Report story, and is a hoax. Bogus claims from an established hoaxing site should not be given the respect and circulation this report got. No other credible source makes the same claim.
When one spots “National Report” as a source, one may well bet that the information sourced there is false, aimed at the truly gullible.
More:
Twitter Wall of Shame, the Truly Gullible:
- File these under “anatomy of the spread of a hoax infection”
This next guy was even told it was a hoax site he got the information from; he chose to dismiss the warnings.
Update: Missed this one.
http://twitter.com/Numb3rTech/status/379706725831430144
Joemel921 came back for another duping:
This guy figured it out, but his whistle-blowing was too subtle:
Original hoaxsters back for another round:
Hoaxsters push deeper into the desert sands:
I don’t see that MSNBC offered the information this guy claimed:
Real crazies start to crawl out, now:
Update January 11, 2014: Good heavens, is this hoax still finding ill-informed, unthinking suckers? Take a look at some of the other debunkers.
- ThinkProgress notes, 17 years after Oklahoma City bombing, right-wing extremism still a major threat
- MotherJones notes, 29 Americans killed by right-wing terrorists since September 12, 2001
- 56% of terrorist plots from the American right wing, at FreakoutNation
- The Examiner is not exactly my idea of rigorous journalism, but even there, Keith Darling-Brekhus did Google searching, found that many mass shooters were right-wing, not Democrats at all
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 