Sunday, April 11, 2010
Subversion, or anti-subversion propaganda?
Glenn Reynolds links (without comment) to this site, which purports to organize people to "crash Tea Party" demonstrations by posing as genuine demonstrators with signs and such that "exaggerate their least appealing qualities." It seems to me that there are at least four possible explanations for this site:
It is genuine, insofar as it is as it describes itself: An anti-Tea Party black op. It is a pro-Tea Party propaganda device to confuse the media's narrative regarding the "least appealing qualities" of the movement, or its hangers-on ("Hey, Mr. New York Times, how do you know that dude with the racist sign wasn't a liberal in disguise"?). It is an anti-Tea Party device to collect the names and email addresses of people eager to do dirty deeds for the left. It is a pro-Tea Party device to collect the names and email addresses of people eager to do dirty deeds for the left, so that they can be referred to the media or law enforcement, as the case may be.
Are there other explanations? Which is the most probable? Which is the least?
62 Comments:
By 
Teki Setsu, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:05:00 AM:
Most likely, it's some over-zealous leftist with poor judgement who is not part of anything larger just looking for a way to hit a home run among other leftists.
By lonetown, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:09:00 AM:
I think it just inoculated the tea party folks, either way.
By 
, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:11:00 AM:
The second option is by far the least likely, as the media are so involved with the idea that Tea Party protesters are by nature 'Racist' that the idea of them factchecking or researching anyone with a racist sign at a Tea Party rally is hilariously unlikely.
After that, apply Occam's Razor.
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:13:00 AM:
well...
The WHOIS on this site shows that it's registered with a false name and address, but the phone number is valid, and so is the associated address.
Perhaps some phone calls are in order to determine whether the number is being used illegally?
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:14:00 AM:
A tea party loyalist should sign up and infiltrate the black ops, take copious notes and recordings, and come forward and report at the most beneficial moment.
(Most well-run black ops don't have a web site taking anyone that signs up, so that is our opening to wreck the wreckers.)
By Chuck Pelto, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:16:00 AM:
TO: Tigerhawk, et al.
RE: There IS a Way....
....to find out.
Why don't we ALL sign-up and see what happens?
I suspect such an activity would 'crash' the crashers. They wouldn't know WHO to trust nor WHAT to do.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[The best defense is a good offense.]
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:20:00 AM:
Whatever the source (and I do think Occam's Razor applies and Teki Setsu is right) it is likely to lead to an awareness among Tea Party organizers that they'll need to call out end eject the folks with blatantly racist signs. In the long run, this is a good thing even though it is maddening to see this kind of thing going on.
Of course, the "crash the Tea Party" people that do this will adopt the strategy of showing up, taking pictures of their sign with the Tea Party as the backdrop, get ejected, and post the pictures as genuine evidence of racism anyway.
Those who wish to hate will always find a way to justify their hate.
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:21:00 AM:
ah... fifth option...
It's just a clever ploy set up to sell over-priced T-Shirts and make a free-market killing off of leftists who hate capitalism.
Sheila, I salute you! ;-)
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:24:00 AM:
This tea party crash stuff is bog standard anarchist revolutionary juvenile fantasy. Basically, you have a lone creep living in his Mom's basement dreaming grand dreams (well, they seem grand to him) of being Commandante Revolutionary.
I say the kid has had his ten minutes.
By Chuck Pelto, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:26:00 AM:
TO: Tigerhawk, et al.
RE: Here's Something of an 'Indicator'
I registered with this outfit and I can't log-in because there are too many connections at this time.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Practicing random acts of intelligence and senseless acts of self-control!]
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:26:00 AM:
Smart Girl has a post up on this.
By Chuck Pelto, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:28:00 AM:
TO: Goy
RE: Try....
....clicking on the word "Crash" towards the bottom of the text and before the link to sell overpriced t-shirts.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.]
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:32:00 AM:
Plants have already happened, just not organized ones. Regardless, perhaps organizers (or attendees) need to have a few signs that say "Liberal Plant, not a REAL TeaPartier" and be on the lookout for these double-secret spies. When one is found, then pull out your signs and stand next to the plant. No violence or physical actions, just isolate and embarrass.
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:32:00 AM:
More here - turns out the phone number is likely bogus.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:35:00 AM:
So, uh . . . they have determined that the Tea Parties are racist, and in order to reveal this to the nation, they're going to fake racism? Logic dictates that if the Tea Parties really were racist then they wouldn't need fakers.
Also, who thinks that if you dig deep enough into the group, you'll find that the hands of David Axelrod steer this ship? I put nothing past 'em.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:43:00 AM:
Here's the guy who owns it:
Eric Franke
His company is: Lion's Share Media http://www.lionssharemedia.com/
His phone number: 508-410-2087
his email address is: eman77@juno.com
I just called him to ask him about the crashing tea parties and his phone kept cutting out and eventually the call was dropped. he didn't really say much only that he had registered a site to organize people to work to discredit the TP movement. Maybe someone else can give him a call and get more info out of him???
By the way...he made all his information public, so I am assuming he doesn't mind who has it.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 12:00:00 PM:
I just called this dude again since our call dropped earlier and now he is saying that he is actually a tea party member (which is a different song he was singing than before). He said that (hahaha) it's ironic (hahaha) that I would call him because he actually supports the tea party and is planning an event in Plymouth. he said he registered the crashtheparty.org site for something totally unrelated (he didn't say what that unrelated event was) but that he actually belongs to the tea pary org.
that was one fast conversion...15 minutes!!!!
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 12:04:00 PM:
Everybody who opposes Obama is a racist. They may not know it, but they are. We are basically going to conduct a sort of "intervention" and help them confront their inner racist. Trust me, we only have their best interests at heart; we only want them to see the light that is Obama.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 12:05:00 PM:
To answer TigarHawk's question...this is an anti-Tea party guy who realized he wasn't smart enough to make his website's info anonymous and is now claiming to be part of the tea party.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 12:11:00 PM:
It's against ICANN rules and probably against the agreement with the domain registrar to use false information to register a domain. I would think that the addition of a PayPal link for donations would make the fake info even more serious.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 12:32:00 PM:
I don't see how this is a bad thing for the tea-party at all. It's a great thing. Now they can legitimately claim that any jackasses are liberal plants... with a convenient website address to prove it.
If this site didn't exist, some tea-partiers would have to invent it. It's absolutely perfect.
By JPMcT, at
Sun Apr 11, 12:34:00 PM:
My answer is "None of the Above"....simply becasue it doesn't matter.
The Tea Party movement has powerful enemies. They don't NEED to post idiotic blather on websites. They have the MSM solidly on their side and are perfectly willing to use that bully pulpit to prevaricate and slander...it's WHAT THEY DO.
A perfect example is the cadre of liberal, democratic racial "icons" who stated that the Tea Party group chanted racial epitets at them...even though nobody else in this dimension heard it, saw it or recorded it.
Despite that...it is now "A Fact" (at least in the sense that a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth).
Of course, I dare you to show me evidence of ANY gathering of Leftists-With-Signs that does not slander, intimidate or deteriorate into violence.
Please show me ANY evidence that there is a repeated pattern of violence or racism within the Tea party movement.
Andrew Breitbart has posted a $100,000 reward for such information. So far, no takers. So far, interestingly, only "no comments" from the racial "icons".
These people don't need to "infiltrate the movement" or receive donations because they have a well established collection of media syncophants who do it for a living!
Far left Democrats whould be much more successful if they were not so utterly predictable.
If you don't agree with the message...distort it, isolate it, discredit it. (paraphrased from the Alinski moron-manual).
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 12:49:00 PM:
Other possibilities include:
It is a Obama/Union arm, that wants somebody to rip up a poster, or not let somebody in, or otherwise be unkind to a nasty jerk carrying a racist sign, wearing a racist T-shirt, and shouting racist slogans. The MSM will then edit out all the racist anti-Tea party information, and say "See, the Tea Partiers are just like the union thugs. Moral equivalence."
By Stephen, at
Sun Apr 11, 12:56:00 PM:
Isn't it possible to find out who made or owns the site?
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 01:03:00 PM:
Stephen-
Yes, I posted this info earlier:
Here's the guy who owns it:
Eric Franke
His company is: Lion's Share Media http://www.lionssharemedia.com/
His phone number: 508-410-2087
his email address is: eman77@juno.com
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 01:13:00 PM:
Anon - where are you getting that info?
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 01:14:00 PM:
Goy-
http://www.whois.net/whois/crashtheparty.org
he confirmed to me his name is Eric and that he owns the site.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 01:14:00 PM:
It is not a legitimate call to lefties to disrupt the Tea Party activities. The antiAmericans already KNOW how to organize those activities; unions and community organizers have conducted such operations for many years without need for publicity.
My guess is that it mechanism that will allow the presstitutes to "investigate and prove" that this is just another flase flag trick by the Tea Party folks, themselves.
This is one of the few reasons to watch Olberman/Mr. Ed; they already have their instructions and talking points and from their outrage tomorrow, we'll be able to tell the real reason(s).
The "Franke" guy mentioned above will almost certainly turn out to be a flaming racist, homophobe or child molester or the long-time colleague of one.
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 01:17:00 PM:
Anon - you have the wrong URL.
It's http://www.crashtheTEAparty.org/
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 01:23:00 PM:
Not sure why this isn't appearing on the main page, but...
Anon - you have the wrong URL.
It's crashtheTEAparty.org .
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 01:34:00 PM:
You know what...you are correct. Now I feel bad. I can't delete my other post. I'm hoping Tigerhawk will do so. The guy I talked to didn't sound like he was on the up and up...that is why I posted the info. But now I feel really bad.
By buck smith, at
Sun Apr 11, 01:37:00 PM:
This comment has been removed by the author.
By buck smith, at
Sun Apr 11, 01:38:00 PM:
So the WHOIS for crashtheteaparty.org is Ben Franklin on Chestnut Lane in Philadelphia, PA. Go figure.
By goy, at
Sun Apr 11, 01:41:00 PM:
buck, check the preceding posts.
I think this guy is probably going to run into some legal trouble if he didn't get permission from the person at the phone number he "borrowed".
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 01:49:00 PM:
website crashed,game over,nothing to see move along....
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 01:53:00 PM:
Just sent Eric ('crash the TP' site owner) the following email (keeping it civil):
Sweetheart,
Why would you need to work to discredit the Tea Party movement? If they are truly racist, they will discredit themselves.
If they aren't, you would be smearing innocent people.
Sincerely,
MM
By ForNow, at
Sun Apr 11, 02:04:00 PM:
That fellow Eric is NOT connected with the Crash the Tea Party site. People should read the current thread before posting. Somebody got Eric's name by looking up the wrong Website.
Freepers FOUND the real owner, see the Freeper thread already linked twice here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2490291/posts
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 02:22:00 PM:
The guy that is running the site is a guy named Jason Levine, from Portland, Oregon. He works for a school district in Philadelphia, PA, as a technology teacher.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 03:09:00 PM:
After going to the site, I figured it was just some dude who thought he'd cash in on the anti-Tea Party movement by selling them shirts and taking donations.
Which I think is awesome and I wish I'd thought of it. If someone is going to make a small chunk of dough off of leftists, I'd rather selfishly prefer it be me.
By Anonymous, at
Sun Apr 11, 03:56:00 PM:
I say we leave finding their motive to history, and punish anyone who acts out as an individual. Leave the group out of the matter, unless the group they belong to also promotes the same agenda. The TEA Party's credo isn't any of the nasty things being said about them, even if there are individual members who are that wrong about things. Cull the bad apples, don't toss out the entire bushel.
By Robin, at
Sun Apr 11, 04:38:00 PM:
I, evil-capitalist-tea-party conservative-hack, just signed up for infiltration duty to the screwball little group. Mwahahahahahaha. Our evil plot can now unfold.
By tom swift, at
Sun Apr 11, 04:58:00 PM:
Yes, the registration info is doubtless fake. There doesn't seem to be a "Chestnut Lane" in Philadelphia. "Ben Franklin" is probably fake, too. However, the idea of recruiting amateur "black ops" people to besmirtch the Tea Parties is just weird. The opposition already has its well-organized storm troopers, who can be relied on to wave whatever vile propaganda signs they're told to; and if they don't wear their "SEIU" t-shirts, the press will never know who they are.
Very odd, altogether.
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 05:01:00 PM:
In these cases of harmful acts, it seems to me the wisest defensive strategy would be for nearby Tea Party patriots to quickly engage any offender in a stern on-camera lecture about civility and Tea Party principles of non-violence and principled civility.
Even if it's one of your own, a library of such tapes would be great for the kind of image we must strengthen and maintain. And the prospect of being subject to such a recorded lesson in civility would quickly become a deterrant to such behavior and a great teaching tool for our partiots. It would also be an effective PR tool to use with media, both friend and foe.
Opponents who tried to set you up wouldn't dare use the whole recording of the incident. And if they only used part of it, we could use the whole thing, recorded by friends, to discredit their claims as well as any dishonest tactics of planted slurs.
By TrueAmericanGirl, at
Sun Apr 11, 05:49:00 PM:
Please check your information BEFORE you condemn people who are innocent. I am a good friend and can say wholeheartedly that Eric Francke is INDEED an ultra conservative who is a part of the TEA PARTY movement. He owns the site Crashtheparty.org - which is about a CHRISTIAN YOUTH ministry NOT a site to hurt the Tea Party movement. Originally, there was a story by Andy on http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=6008 which put Eric's site on there by mistake (he left out the word TEA from the link). And if you return to that site now, at the bottom, Andy apologizes to Eric for the mistake. As to 'Anonymous,' she did call Eric twice. Once his phone was in bad cell area - but he made it quite clear he was a PART of the Tea Party movement and wanted to tell 'Anonymous' about the other site, but she replied she didn't wish to hear about his politics and hung up on him (from her Houston based phone number). If you did any research on Eric, you would see he has a VERY long standing history FOR conservatism, the Tea Partys, and AMERICA without big government. So please, before you choose to damage someone's reputation, at least check all the facts. Thanks.
By TrueAmericanGirl, at
Sun Apr 11, 05:56:00 PM:
Also 'Anonymous' - your remarks regargaring :The "Franke" guy mentioned above will almost certainly turn out to be a flaming racist, homophobe or child molester or the long-time colleague of one." deserves an HUGE apology. You made an unwarranted judgment call against a totally innocent man - because of an honest mistake from another. I hope you will do the right thing and offer Eric an apology here....
Sun Apr 11, 01:14:00 PM
By Brian Schmidt, at
Sun Apr 11, 06:08:00 PM:
No one's mentioned Poe's Law, which states it's virtually impossible to distinguish a parody from a sincerely held position.
TH's mistake is to think the four possibilities are exclusive of each other - this thing sets up a web forum, so I'm guessing all four camps are posting their nonsense.
Looking at this thread, I'd guess the first "black" guy (named iwantpie) is actually a Tea Party cracker trying to show what he thinks is African-American thinking and writing style:
http://www.crashtheteaparty.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=477
By paul a'barge, at
Sun Apr 11, 06:14:00 PM:
ooohhhhh, you said "black op".
That's RAAACIST
By yes, at
Sun Apr 11, 07:48:00 PM:
" perhaps organizers (or attendees) need to have a few signs that say "Liberal Plant, not a REAL TeaPartier" and be on the lookout for these double-secret spies. When one is found, then pull out your signs and stand next to the plant. No violence or physical actions, just isolate and embarrass. ..." That was my thought.
Look - for the purposes of the movement's public face, a fake "racist" from a leftist group is indistinguishable from a real racist who agrees with the other values of the movement.
You want to isolate expose and shame both in the same way. You don't have to really care what their motivation is, they are both doing the same damage.
So, yes, anyone with a racist sign, 2-3 people walk over, hold up signs which say "He/she does not represent us." "We condemn racist values" or whatever else would be appropriate. Also take photos and video of BOTH the person and any MSM attention they receive.
This also applies to people who yell epithets, threaten violence, anything which makes the movement look bad.
if the person says, "No, i AGREE with you." You tell them racism and threat are not acceptable, and to lose the sign and/or behavior, then come back, and be prepared to tell media they were chastised and their previous behavior was deemed unacceptable. If they dont, kick them out.
And keep a database of those people, in case they show up elsewhere or try to represent themselves as spokespeople for the movement.
Now if only the Left would do this with its assholes....
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 09:01:00 PM:
Whatever the original intent of the site it's clear that it's descended (or ascended really) into full blown parody of the leftist clowns who try to smear Tea Partiers
By E.F. Winslow, at
Sun Apr 11, 09:44:00 PM:
I'm a little late to the party, but I'm Eric Francke, allegedly of crashtheteaparty.org, but actually the owner of crashtheparty.org, a dormant site that was formerly used for church youth work.
This was largely a misunderstanding. "Anonymous" called and asked if I was the owner of Crashtheparty.org and involved in the Tea Party movement, which is yes to both. She didn't know that the original posting had the wrong domain. She presumed that my answer was consenting to the idea that I was into infiltrating Tea Party groups, which is not true. I've been a full time operative for a several conservative activists groups in the past. Although my "day job" these days in running a car dealership, I am nevertheless just as much conservative, and I support any group or movement that holds to constitutional ideals and fiscal responsibility.
God Save the Republic!
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:02:00 PM:
TrueAmericanGirl - This is what I wrote:
You know what...you are correct. Now I feel bad. I can't delete my other post. I'm hoping Tigerhawk will do so. The guy I talked to didn't sound like he was on the up and up...that is why I posted the info. But now I feel really bad.
So I do apologize to Eric for wrongfully calling him out. And made the correction here earlier today.
I didn't write this:
The "Franke" guy mentioned above will almost certainly turn out to be a flaming racist, homophobe or child molester or the long-time colleague of one."
By , at
Sun Apr 11, 11:06:00 PM:
EF Winslow - I apologize for the mistake I made with your site and I did immediately correct it here when I discovered the error. Again, I sincerely apologize.
Apparently, free republic has info of the real owner of the site but I have learned my lesson and will not be posting any of it.
Again, Eric...please accept my apology.
By JPMcT, at
Sun Apr 11, 11:48:00 PM:
Hmmm...see my post above.
Websites offering organized opposition to the Tea party movement are irrelevent.
The "organized opposition" IS the Main Stream Media.
Anything else is blather.
By , at
Mon Apr 12, 12:03:00 AM:
On the website there's a Facebook icon that takes you to a FB fan page registered to Maddy Hatter. He/She is listed as living in San Francisco and is interested in men & women--hmm. Well, if you're interested the link is: http://www.facebook.com/crashtheteaparty.org
By Jeremy Kendall, at
Mon Apr 12, 07:15:00 AM:
My vote is for clever parody.
Clicking their logo at the bottom of the page takes you to their Cafe Press site. The welcome blurb on Cafe Press includes the line, "Be the coolest looking kid at the next rally or bookburning..."
I got a good chuckle out of the book burning thing. No way that's for real.
By Chuck Pelto, at
Mon Apr 12, 07:43:00 AM:
TO: Jeremy Kendall, et al.
RE: Parody?
My vote is for clever parody. -- Jeremy Kendall
Perhaps. But if the ID of the site owner and the creds are correct, I doubt it. After all, take a look at the latest in Boston.
The welcome blurb on Cafe Press includes the line, "Be the coolest looking kid at the next rally or bookburning..." -- Jeremy Kendall
Yeah. I've heard the 'just kidding' arg before. People like my daughter, when she was 7, and people defended by Armed Liberal when they said they wanted to chemically neuter all men.
But I suspect they have a secret desire to actually do the deed.
And that comment at Cafe Press looks a LOT like classic 'projection'.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Where books are burned, people are burned.]
By , at
Mon Apr 12, 09:42:00 AM:
A better question is:
TigerHawk, who are you really working for? You sound like a John McCain NYT apologist.
By , at
Mon Apr 12, 09:54:00 AM:
TigerHawk,
Maybe if you did a little
Research and homework
You wouldn't come up with "blame the tea party" conspiracies to keep the NYT stereotypes and storylines going.
Try this:
http://michellemalkin.com/
By Chuck Pelto, at
Mon Apr 12, 10:04:00 AM:
TO: All
RE: Indicators
I notice that 'anonymouse' (1) lacks the cojons to show themselves and (2) can't seem to provide a useful URL to support their arg.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out....]
By Rich Rostrom, at
Mon Apr 12, 02:39:00 PM:
Also, Eric Franke (note the last name has no 'c') of Lion's Share Media is yet another guy.
He lives in Massachusetts, and LSM built the MassNews.com website, which has articles celebrating the Scott Brown victory, attacking Barney Frank, etc.
So he's OK too.
By , at
Wed Apr 14, 08:54:00 AM:
Will they just be taking pictures of the signs, or will they get pictures of the racist holding the sign? I can believe that they would be willing to take pictures of the sign, but I wonder if they are willing to actually "be" a racist to try to make a point.
Personally, no matter what the cause is, I would not pose as a racist to try to make the point that the cause is suspected of being racist (I don't agree that the TEA PARTY is racist).
For those that choose to crash with racist signs, remember one thing (and this is HUGE)...there is NO DELETE BUTTON on the internet. Good luck getting that job with your face associated with a racist sign!
By , at
Wed Apr 14, 02:41:00 PM:
Its a ruse. He is an online prankster. Its unlikely that beyond his web page that he has any operatives. But he struck a never here. R Speed
