#jack kimball

[davebowman4ever]

Dave was very insistent on fishing that day, now we know why

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GOP lawmakers continue to promote fake news conspiracies claiming Hillary Clinton is a murderer

State Rep. JR Hoell (Rich Girard/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Right-wing conspiracy buffs reading between the lines of Julian Assange’s interview with Sean Hannity see evidence confirming one of the presidential campaign’s uglier fake news stories, that Hillary Clinton murdered a Democratic National Committee staffer who leaked the group’s email.

Seth Rich, a 27-year-old DNC employee working on a project to help voters locate their polling places, was shot and killed near his D.C. apartment early one morning in July, 2016. His death, in a neighborhood plagued by a string of armed robberies, remains unsolved.

Before his body was cold, however, a conspiracy theory involving Rich, his employer’s leaked emails and Hillary Clinton had become an alt-right meme. In their eyes, Rich was a "campaign fraud whistleblower" who was planning to meet with the FBI and/or who leaked the emails to WikiLeaks before Hillary Clinton had him killed.

State Rep. JR Hoell (R-Dunbarton) promoted the tale this week when he retweeted an image of Rich that included a conspiratorial caption: “This was who leaked the DNC emails, not the Russians. It could be proven if Hillary hadn’t had him murdered.”

“If true, this man is a hero,” Hoell declared.

Hoell is the latest New Hampshire lawmaker to promote conspiracy theories involving Clinton murders but he is certainly not the first.

In August, state Sen. Kevin Avard (R-Nashua) addressed the Rich murder by sharing a post on his Facebook page with a One News Network video that described "unanswered questions” surrounding the young staffer’s death. “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!!” the accompanying message read. “This is kind of crazy: A DNC voter database employee was set to testify against Hillary Clinton over voter fraud but then was murdered.”

Avard added his own concerns about the “Clinton cartel.” The two-term senator asked, “[W]hat is the Corporate Media saying about this? Nothing to see move on?” Avard added, “Jesus did say ‘Men love darkness more than the light neither will come to the light lest their deeds be reproved. This may explain the condition of our nation's willingness to fall in line with Clinton's cartel.”

Right-wing conspiracists, of course, have been accusing the Clintons of murdering their opponents for over two decades, but the scope of the allegations grew exponentially during Hillary Clinton’s last campaign -- aided and abetted by Granite State lawmakers and officials who promoted the fake news conspiracies on social media.

State Rep. Fred Doucette (R-Salem), Donald Trump’s New Hampshire co-chair, shared a conspiracy story about the death of Shawn Lucas, the man who served papers to the DNC in a fraud class action suit on behalf of Bernie Sanders supporters. “And the ‘hits’ keep on coming…” Doucette wrote. “When will the Left see through all of this...” (The D.C Chief Medical Examiner subsequently ruled Lucas died of an accidental drug overdose.)

Trump veterans adviser Rep. Al Baldasaro posted a dark video titled, “A Look At The Recent Clinton Bodycount.” As ominous music sounds, the video details the deaths of seven individuals linked to the Clintons over the years. “Why won't the media talk about the #ClintonBodycount?” the video asks.

And then there’s former GOP state party chair Jack Kimball. Included among the scores of conspiracy videos posted on his Facebook page is one that asks, Are “Mysterious Deaths Connected to the Clintons?” Another answers, “Three with Ties to DNC Mysteriously Die, It's NOT A COINCIDENCE!”

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This week in GOP science: Chemtrails, random parasites and a cataclysmic cosmic wave

Two years ago, Colbert skewered Republicans who dodged questions about climate change by saying, “I’m not a scientist.” The Colbert Report host noted, “Everyone who denies climate change has the same stirring message. ‘We don’t know what the [bleep] we’re talking about.’ ”

With that in mind, we present three vignettes from This Week in GOP Science -- Granite State edition.

‘Demand the CIA Stop Killing the Planet’

Cynthia Howard, Sullivan County co-chair of the Trump for President campaign, snapped photos and then alerted Infowars’ Alex Jones and the incoming President that she had spotted “chemtrails” in Claremont. “Need to Demand the CIA Stop Killing the Planet & Causing Illness,” the Tea Party activist tweeted.

Conspiracy theorists have long warned that vapor trails similar to those Howard photographed in Claremont are not routine contrails from high-flying aircraft but are the result of chemical or biological agents being deliberately spread by secret government entities.

In directing her message to Jones, Howard is preaching to the choir. Jones says “chemtrails are real” and has suggested Prince and Merle Haggard died from “Chemtrail flu” after publicly voicing their concerns about the phenomenon.

President-elect Trump did not respond to Howard but, given his fierce feud with the CIA over assessments of Russian election hacking, perhaps he’s open to blaming them for poisoning the environment. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the Trump transition team noted.

‘The battle over Creationism vs Darwinism’

State Rep. Gary Hopper took to Facebook to renew his attack on evolution. “The battle over Creationism vs Darwinism is the battle between the idea that God Created you for a reason or you are no more than a random parasite living for an instant in an indifferent universe,” he wrote. “Our schools are teaching our children how pointless their lives are.”

Hopper made national headlines five years ago when he and Rep. John Burt introduced legislation that would have effectively required the state’s public schools to teach creationism along with evolution. “Darwin’s theory is basically antiquated,” he told a reporter for the Nashua Telegraph.

This week, the Weare Republican shared a link to a film by Ben Stein that essentially blames Charles Darwin for Nazism -- a movie that the director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania called “contemptible.”

In a commentary for NBC News, Dr. Arthur Caplan wrote, “To lay blame for the Holocaust upon Charles Darwin is to engage in a form of Holocaust denial that should forever make Ben Stein the subject of scorn not because of his nudnik concern that evolution somehow undermines morality but because in this contemptible movie he is willing to subvert the key reason why the Holocaust took place — racism — to serve his own ideological end.”

‘Alert Alert!’

This week, former New Hampshire Republican Party chair and gubernatorial candidate Jack Kimball took a break from sharing fake political news ("Obama’s Kids Are Adopted!!! I Found The Real Parents!!!" and “#PizzaGate: 100's of CHILDREN MISSING IN VIRGINIA" are just two examples) to share some fake science news.

Kimball posted multiple messages and shared several videos on his Facebook page warning of a cataclysmic cosmic wave that will hit earth the day after Christmas. “Incoming Gamma Rays due to a super nova event, due to hit earth on Dec. 26th,” he wrote. “Alert Alert!”

“Folks, I'm trying as hard as I can to warn you!” Kimball added. “Ignore it at your own peril. Plenty of credible info out there. Check for yourselves!”

The story apparently grew out of reporting on a legitimate scientific study that concluded a flare seen from 3.8 billion light-years away may have been the result of a rare cosmic collision in which a star was ripped apart as it passed by a rapidly spinning black hole.

One of Kimball’s “credible sources,” who claimed the galactic event released “large waves of energy” that will create catastrophic events on earth, related the cosmic wave to bible prophecy.

“We are living in the last days,” the narrator explained. “And so you’re going to begin to see earthquakes in diverse places just like Jesus said. Radiation from these waves are gong to start to create large droughts. It’s going to start frying some of the grass, some of the vegetation, even some of the trees may start to burn up. There is also coming, incoming, brimstone...”

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No, Trump did not promise to free Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and Trump advisor Jerry DeLemus

(Graphic created on faketrumptweet.com)

Before the paint was even dry on Donald Trump’s stunning election night victory, some Granite Staters began lobbying the President-elect to free Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the militiamen who joined him in a 2014 armed confrontation with federal officials.

Most of their attention focused on Jerry DeLemus, the Rochester Tea Party leader and New Hampshire Veterans for Trump co-chair, who sits in a federal prison after being charged with 11 felonies including conspiracy to impede and injure a federal officer, assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice and interference with interstate commerce by extortion.

DeLemus recently announced his intention to withdraw from a plea deal he negotiated with prosecutors in which he confessed to two felonies in exchange for a lenient prison sentence.

The day after the election, local conservative radio talk show host and newspaper columnist Jeff Chidester shared a screenshot on Facebook that appeared to depict a Donald Trump tweet from earlier this year. “My first action as president will be to pardon Cliven Bundy and every other patriot who fought for freedom in Nevada and Oregon,” the tweet read.

Former New Hampshire GOP chair Jack Kimball, a close friend of DeLemus, picked up the charge. “Donald Trump promised to pardon and release all the Patriots in OR and NV once he became President,” Kimball wrote on Susan DeLemus’ Facebook page.

“This promise was made on February 12th of this year,” Kimball continued. “I spoke to Jerry yesterday and he was elated by Trump's election and looks forward to his keeping his word so he can come home to Sue and his Mother-in-Law.”

Chidester subsequently acknowledged the screenshot might not be legit, but refused to remove it from his Facebook page. “Folks - some are questioning the screenshot - it will remain up, until Trump either confirms or deny,” he wrote. “I reached out to the campaign months ago. They did neither. It remains up for either a confirmation, denial, refudation.”

It’s a hoax -- and one easily debunked. The fake screenshot first appeared on Twitter on February 12, 2016 and the original version included a watermark along the right side: “Created on faketrumptweet.com.”

Regardless, there are no signs that Trump plans to intervene in the Nevada trials. In interviews earlier this year, Trump expressed opposition to the Bundys and other armed protesters who occupied a wildlife refuge in Oregon. “You cannot let people take over federal property,” he told the New York Times. “You can’t, because once you do that, you don’t have a government anymore. I think, frankly, they’ve been there too long.”

DeLemus was optimistic that he could change Trump’s mind. He told Reuters that he planned to discuss “the true nature of the standoff in Oregon” with Trump in an attempt to persuade the candidate to back the group. “It’s my intention to ensure that he has the whole story,” DeLemus said. “I think it’ll really arouse him, and once he understands, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him heading out West.”

A few weeks after that interview, DeLemus was arrested by the FBI and transferred to federal prison in Nevada.

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2015: The year in quotes from the Grand Old Party

(Graphic: Mike Licht/CC BY 2.0)

May 2016 usher in a little less bombast and a little more respect and civility in the public square -- but I'm not holding my breath. We begin the new year with a look back at last year’s most provocative, inflammatory and offensive pronouncements from the Grand Old Party.

10. “Thank You Obama And Your Wave Of Illegal Immigrants”

Measles Once Eradicated In United States Now Rampant In 14 States. Can You Say Thank You Obama And Your Wave Of Illegal Immigrants. There Is A Reason To Have Legal Process And Screening!! ... Look at the States Connect The Dots and String Of illness Since The Wave Of Illegals This Summer That were inspired to come because of the Non Enforcement Of Immigration Laws By Obama Administration... There were NO Measles in the US for years Now it is rampant. The spread may be helped by those who refused immunization but the problem was reintroduced to this country how?

– State Rep. Leon Rideout (R-Lancaster) blaming Pres. Obama for a measles outbreak that the Center for Disease Control traced to a California amusement park.

9. “He's a traitor and needs to be arrested”

Obama has been arming and funding ISIS for a long time. It's his Army. That's why he doesn't want to destroy them. He's a traitor and needs to be arrested. Will it happen? Right now I don't think anyone has the courage to do what's right. Sad statement, but true.

-- Former New Hampshire GOP chairman Jack Kimball accusing Pres. Obama of committing treason.

8. “It would be like the McDonald’s...cooking their Big Macs wrong”

It would be like the McDonald’s Corporation. They have several restaurants or franchisees that may be cooking their Big Macs wrong because they got instructions from headquarters. And that could be the same with all their affiliates. They need to be treated as one. They’re one corporation and we need to get this investigated and find out exactly what’s going on here for sure. This is criminal activity.

-- Executive Councilor David Wheeler (R-Milford) explaining his vote to reject contracts that would have funded Planned Parenthood’s five New Hampshire health centers.

7. “That is a lot of Diaper heads”

Coming to a State near you! "Oh” “Yes” it is coming here too! 1200 to 2,000 a day are coming here. Obama asked for to have 10,000 then it expanded to 100,000 [then within] a week it went to 180,000. That is a lot of Diaper heads. The thing is these that Obama is bringing in does not have a wife or family with them! This a invasion! Wake up people we are being taken under with out a shot fired! Obama’s pen does the same thing! If this pisses you off! GOOD!

-- Rep. Richard Marple (R-Hookset) on the Syrian refugee crisis.

6. “They don’t care about human life”

The tragedy of texting bans is that people just hold their cell phone lower to avoid being seen by a cop, which increases accidents and gets people killed. The Law Enforcement Lobby knows this, but pushed for it anyway because they don’t care about human life. It’s not the rank and file cops, It’s the politically appointed officials who are pushing this authoritarian agenda.

-- Rep. Max Abramson (R-Seabrook) on police support for legislation that banned cellphone use while driving.

5. “This president is a racist marxist muslim”

This president is a racist marxist muslim - completely consistent with his upbringing. This should not be a surprise to anyone. The forces that influenced his formative years are well known and documented. One does not listen to Jeremiah Wright for 20 years and not learn hatred and racism. One does not grow up with a Muslim father in Kenya and Indonesia and not learn islam. One who believes in the rule of law does not invite Al Sharpton - who owes $4 million in back taxes - to repeatedly consult with him in the White House. One who follows his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution…against all enemies, foreign and domestic,’ does not bypass the Constitutionally established legislative process to impose his will on a free people with 'telephone and pen.’

-- Former state representative and 2010 congressional candidate Bob Giuda (R-Warren) on Pres. Obama.

4. “The two things seem to be happening at roughly the same time”

Do you think [the rise in heroin overdoses is] related to expanded Medicaid? ... Because expanded Medicaid now has substance abuse disorder treatment. So you’re more able to get substance abuse treatment than you were previously. ... Maybe it’s a little easier to maintain yourself in that situation. I don’t know... The two things seem to be happening at roughly the same time, you know. Are they causal or related? I don’t know.

-- Rep. Dan McGuire suggesting Medicaid expansion may be responsible for the state’s heroin epidemic.

3. Hitlers men remained silent also

Sadly Governor Hassan and NH Law enforcement are willing to allow this discrimination to the people of NH which is known as the “Concealed License.” Why do I have to beg the Government to carry a gun concealed which I do not have to beg the same Government to open carry my gun? The criminals do not beg the Government. ... So the next time I am getting a lot of heat for speaking up should I just, "remain silent so I wouldn't face reprisals?" [Law enforcement officials] are just as guilty. Hitlers men remained silent also. Silence is not always the better side to be on.

-- Rep. John Burt, on law enforcement officials who did not support legislation that would have repealed the license requirement for carrying a concealed firearm.

2. “The most barbarous group of people on the face of the Earth”

Let me remind you that the most barbarous group of people on the face of the Earth are all...MUSLIMS! I know of no other group that beheads innocent human beings who have simply exercised their God-given rights to change their religious beliefs. Only muslims do that! I know of no other group that beheads reporters who are merely going about the business of doing their jobs. ... And lest we forget: How about the innocent people who were first beheaded and then crucified due to their religious beliefs? Who committed that crime? More muslims. All of them are terrorists...those who did these horrendous acts of barbarity. It does not seem to make any difference if they are Palestinians, or Saudis, or from any of the other muslim theocracies.

-- Rep. Don Leeman (R-Rochester) responding to commentary that blamed extremists on both sides for the violence in Israel.

1. “A man’s inclination to stare at it and grab it”

Who doesn’t support a mothers right to feed? Don’t give me the liberal talking points Amanda. If it’s a woman’s natural inclination to pull her nipple out in public and you support that, than you should have no problem with a mans inclanation to stare at it and grab it. After all, it’s ALL relative and natural, right?

-- Rep. Josh Moore (R-Merrimack) responding to Rep. Amanda Bouldin (D-Manchester) who expressed opposition to legislation that would make it illegal for women to expose their nipples in public.

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N.H. fails to report names of dangerously mentally ill for gun background checks

(Graphic: youtube.com/abcnews)

The man who opened fire in a Louisiana movie theater should not have been able to legally purchase the firearm he used to shoot 11 people.

Under federal law, anyone involuntarily committed to a mental institution or found to be a danger to themselves or others is prohibited from owning guns. In 2008, a judge in Georgia ruled John Houser, the Louisiana shooter, was a danger to himself and others and committed him to mental health treatment against his will.

States are not required to provide mental health records to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) system. And New Hampshire is one of 11 states (plus the District of Columbia) that has no law requiring or expressly authorizing courts or mental health facilities to provide those records to the FBI.

The advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety notes New Hampshire has only reported two mental health records to the federal background check system. Based on records from states with strict reporting requirements, Everytown estimates there are over 10,000 New Hampshire residents who are prohibited from owning firearms but have not had their names entered in NICS.

Last year, state Sen David Watters (D-Dover) sponsored legislation that would have required New Hampshire courts to report the name of anyone who had been found incompetent to stand trial due to mental disability, found not guilty by reason of insanity, appointed a guardian or involuntarily committed to a mental health facility.

Gun rights advocates claimed the requirement would infringe their 2nd Amendment rights and would lead to gun confiscation. In a public testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Burt (R-Goffstown) said the legislation “is really the start of what Australia and England have gone through. Currently, they are disarmed. Their legal citizens are disarmed. Their law-abiding citizens. This bill will lead to that,” Burt warned. “I have no doubt in my mind.”

Former state GOP chair Jack Kimball concurred, “We've seen nationally, a move toward gun confiscation in the United States of America. I never thought I'd see that day,” he told the committee. “But as far as I'm concerned, this bill is the camel's nose under the tent which is leading toward that very thing.”

Despite early bipartisan support, the Senate watered down Senate Bill 244 with an amendment that would have instead established a study commission; the House Judiciary Committee unanimously recommended against it; and the full House killed the bill in a voice vote.

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Jack Kimball, from N.H. GOP political boss to wide-eyed conspiracy theorist: ‘Planet X does exist’

(Photo: youtube.com)

Four years ago, Jack Kimball was being courted by presidential contenders and was profiled in the New York Times as the state’s new political boss. Today, the 2010 gubernatorial candidate and former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party is one of the state’s most prominent conspiracy buffs, taking to social media to warn of apocalyptic schemes involving secret governmental plots and cover-ups.

Kimball has written extensively about Jade Helm 15, the Obama administration plot to invade Texas, declare martial law and wage war on the American people. He has claimed the Charlie Hebdo shooting was a fake, “false flag” operation and warned of a United Nations invasion of the Granite State.

Kimball’s latest warning concerns the Nibiru cataclysm, an impending doomsday event involving a supposed collision or near-miss with a heretofore secret planetary object named Nibiru or Planet X. “They are no longer attempting to hide it,” Kimball wrote on Facebook yesterday. “Planet X does exist and is being seen by the naked eye all over the world.”

To backup up his claim, Kimball posted a YouTube video from online theologian Paul Begley. “This video is further proof as Google Sky has now revealed the blacked out area that it has been blocking for a very long time,” explained Kimball. “Take a look at what is there. Astounding revelation but no surprise to those of us who already knew.”

Nola Taylor Redd explains the origin of the Nibiru/Planet X myth:

The story began in 1976, when Zecharia Sitchin wrote "The Twelfth Planet," a book which used Stitchin's own unique translation of Sumerian cuneiform to identify a planet, Nibiru, orbiting the sun every 3,600 years. Several years later, Nancy Lieder, a self-described psychic, announced that the aliens she claimed to channel had warned her this planet would collide with Earth in 2003. After a collision-free year, the date was moved back to 2012, where it was linked to the close of the Mayan long-count period.

Needless to say, astronomers cite the lack of any scientific evidence to back up the claim and reject it as an internet hoax.

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Jade Helm 15 update: ‘Tanks massing in New Hampshire’

(Photos: thecommonsenseshow.com)

The Obama administration to preparing to invade Texas, declare martial law and wage war on the American people.

If you missed that news, you haven't been paying attention to conservative talk radio and Internet conspiracy sites. Fortunately, Jack Kimball is paying attention. The former state GOP chair and Ted Cruz advance man has been keeping his followers updated about the impending military takeover on Facebook.

Kimball first warned his supporters in March. “Wake up America! Operation Jade Helm 15 (look it up) has now expanded to 10 States,” he wrote, with a link to an Alex Jones InfoWars video.

Jade Helm 15 is a two-month long military training exercise scheduled for this fall in which American special operations forces will conduct counterinsurgency war games.

Conspiracy buffs grew suspicious when they discovered a Defense Department planning document for the exercise that labeled Texas and Utah as hostile territory. They noted those conservative states were depicted in red while states friendlier to the president were colored blue.

As Matt Yglesias writes, “The Pentagon's official line is that they are not planning a takeover, but again, that's what you would expect them to say.”

Kimball doesn’t buy it. “Jade Helm 15 just got worse! Pleeeeeese wake up America!” he implored earlier this month. “Massive movement of Military equipment across the US continues,” he warned.

Even though the Jade Helm exercise is taking place in the southwest, observant Granite Staters have spotted evidence of the military build-up here in New Hampshire.

The Common Sense Show (”FREEING AMERICA One Enslaved Mind at a Time”) passed along a report from one Granite Stater who snapped a couple of photos of a tank in Nashua: “Just wanted to let you know about the buildup and military movement in New Hampshire. I’ve seen movements in and around Concord, between Hillsborough and Peterborough, and I just recently saw this in Nashua.”

“Matt” from Manchester recently called Alex Jones to describe the ongoing military build-up around the state. “Something big’s coming...” replied Jones. “If America wasn't concerned we'd be crazy.”