Kelly Keisling, Tennessee Legislator, Mass Emailed Obama 'Staged Assassination' Rumor
11:26 am - 08/03/2012
WASHINGTON -- A Republican member of the Tennessee state legislature emailed constituents Tuesday morning with a rumor circulating in conservative circles that President Barack Obama is planning to stage a fake assassination attempt in an effort to stop the 2012 election from happening.
Rep. Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown) sent an email from his state email account to constituents containing a rumor that Obama and the Department of Homeland Security are planning a series of events that could lead to the imposition of "martial law" and delay the election. Among the events hypothesized in the email is a staged assassination attempt on the president that would lead to civil unrest in urban areas and martial law.
Keisling appears to have forwarded a more widely circulated email from Joe Angione, a Florida-based conservative blogger. Angione prefaces the rumor by saying it has not been confirmed but likewise notes it has not been denied. Angione also writes that people need to work to prevent the rumor from becoming reality.
The conspiracy theory started with an article written by Doug Hammon and posted on CanadaFreePress.com, which he said arose from conversations he had with an informant within the Department of Homeland Security.
The Constitution Party of Florida posted the same Angione story on their website this week. Party chairman Mark Pilling wrote a note saying that he believes some sort of unrest will occur this year.
Pilling wrote:
"Personally, I believe something will happen the last quarter of this year. Financial unrest or another false flag event that causes civil unrest. Now is the time for all Americans to band together against the financial influences that are running our puppets in Washington and the mass media that keeps us distracted to that and their treasonous actions. Here is the rumor. Based on alot[sic] of factors, I think it has potential. Divide and Conquer. Below, there is a link to one of the other more recent false flag events."
Keisling's assistant, Frankie Anderson, confirmed that the email was sent "at Keisling's request" from a state account under the name of Holt Whitt, who is identified in the email as Keisling's assistant. Anderson said he is filling in for Whitt.
Anderson said that Keisling did not offer an explanation for why he wanted the email sent. It went to residents across the 38th district, which includes Clay, Jackson, Pickett and Scott Counties, along with part of Anderson County. Keisling has not returned messages left at his Byrdstown insurance office, and there was no answer at his home.
Janet Moore, one of the recipients of Keisling's email, said she called the lawmaker Tuesday morning to express her disagreement with his decision to send the email. Moore, who lives in an adjoining legislative district in rural Tennessee, told HuffPost that Keisling told her that the rumor was "pretty ridiculous, isn't it?"
When she asked Keisling why he sent the email, if he found it ridiculous, she said that Keisling told her, "I wouldn't put anything past anybody."
Anderson did say that Keisling regularly sends out emails to his constituents using the state account. A copy of the email obtained by HuffPost did not contain an explanation from either Keisling or Anderson. The subject line of the email is "FW: Unbelievable election rumor....." The email also contained a note below Whitt's contact information from a woman identified only as Ruby, who may have sent the email to Keisling. Ruby's name and contact information were not included.
"PLEASE SCROLL DOWN," Ruby wrote. "Something to think and PRAY about. Interesting times...Blessings, Ruby."
Keisling, who owns an insurance agency, was first elected in 2010. In an online profile on KnoxNews.com, Keisling noted that he favors job creation, allowing voters to pick local school directors and that he opposed abortion. Keisling, a former Pickett County executive, serves on the agriculture and transportation committees.
UPDATE: 8/1/2012 -- The Tennessean reported Wednesday that Keisling released a statement Wednesday morning through a Republican legislative spokesperson expressing regret for sending the email to his constituents.
"Earlier this week, I forwarded an email from my legislative office that should not have been sent out. The message was inappropriate for distribution. I regret the error and pledge to be more cautious regarding the information distributed from my office in the future."
Source: Huffingtonpost.
I am just...baffled. I mean...really? REALLY?
Rep. Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown) sent an email from his state email account to constituents containing a rumor that Obama and the Department of Homeland Security are planning a series of events that could lead to the imposition of "martial law" and delay the election. Among the events hypothesized in the email is a staged assassination attempt on the president that would lead to civil unrest in urban areas and martial law.
Keisling appears to have forwarded a more widely circulated email from Joe Angione, a Florida-based conservative blogger. Angione prefaces the rumor by saying it has not been confirmed but likewise notes it has not been denied. Angione also writes that people need to work to prevent the rumor from becoming reality.
The conspiracy theory started with an article written by Doug Hammon and posted on CanadaFreePress.com, which he said arose from conversations he had with an informant within the Department of Homeland Security.
The Constitution Party of Florida posted the same Angione story on their website this week. Party chairman Mark Pilling wrote a note saying that he believes some sort of unrest will occur this year.
Pilling wrote:
"Personally, I believe something will happen the last quarter of this year. Financial unrest or another false flag event that causes civil unrest. Now is the time for all Americans to band together against the financial influences that are running our puppets in Washington and the mass media that keeps us distracted to that and their treasonous actions. Here is the rumor. Based on alot[sic] of factors, I think it has potential. Divide and Conquer. Below, there is a link to one of the other more recent false flag events."
Keisling's assistant, Frankie Anderson, confirmed that the email was sent "at Keisling's request" from a state account under the name of Holt Whitt, who is identified in the email as Keisling's assistant. Anderson said he is filling in for Whitt.
Anderson said that Keisling did not offer an explanation for why he wanted the email sent. It went to residents across the 38th district, which includes Clay, Jackson, Pickett and Scott Counties, along with part of Anderson County. Keisling has not returned messages left at his Byrdstown insurance office, and there was no answer at his home.
Janet Moore, one of the recipients of Keisling's email, said she called the lawmaker Tuesday morning to express her disagreement with his decision to send the email. Moore, who lives in an adjoining legislative district in rural Tennessee, told HuffPost that Keisling told her that the rumor was "pretty ridiculous, isn't it?"
When she asked Keisling why he sent the email, if he found it ridiculous, she said that Keisling told her, "I wouldn't put anything past anybody."
Anderson did say that Keisling regularly sends out emails to his constituents using the state account. A copy of the email obtained by HuffPost did not contain an explanation from either Keisling or Anderson. The subject line of the email is "FW: Unbelievable election rumor....." The email also contained a note below Whitt's contact information from a woman identified only as Ruby, who may have sent the email to Keisling. Ruby's name and contact information were not included.
"PLEASE SCROLL DOWN," Ruby wrote. "Something to think and PRAY about. Interesting times...Blessings, Ruby."
Keisling, who owns an insurance agency, was first elected in 2010. In an online profile on KnoxNews.com, Keisling noted that he favors job creation, allowing voters to pick local school directors and that he opposed abortion. Keisling, a former Pickett County executive, serves on the agriculture and transportation committees.
UPDATE: 8/1/2012 -- The Tennessean reported Wednesday that Keisling released a statement Wednesday morning through a Republican legislative spokesperson expressing regret for sending the email to his constituents.
"Earlier this week, I forwarded an email from my legislative office that should not have been sent out. The message was inappropriate for distribution. I regret the error and pledge to be more cautious regarding the information distributed from my office in the future."
Source: Huffingtonpost.
I am just...baffled. I mean...really? REALLY?
I call bullshit on that. He totally meant to do it, to spread the totally false, unsubstantiated fearmongering around.
Just when I think nothing these GOP crackpots do can surprise me anymore... they lower the bar even more and do just that. Pathetic.
Based on alot[sic] of factors, I think it has potential. Divide and Conquer. Below, there is a link to one of the other more recent false flag events.
Oh, lord. White people know all about how divide and conquer works, yes.
Honest to god, if there was an attempt on Obama's life there would be rioting. Ever since he was elected (hell, even before that during the election) I've always been so, so worried about that possibility. Black folks know what they might have to face if they 'rise above their station.'
It's grotesque, what their xenophobia and racism is driving them to.
To make it even worse sometimes Michelle and the girls are also somehow hurt. For some reason then I go from being so worried to being so incredibly angry. Like, a different kind of angry in my other dreams where it's just Barack.
Just, like, I'm Canadian and the thought of it terrifies me so much. I can't imagine living in the States, especially if you're black or otherwise of colour, and having to worry about it.
The far right in this country scare the crap out of me. If anything would bring this country down, it would be them and their hysterical, fanatic hate and malice.
Heck, I remember reports from the far Right Neo-Nazi white supremacist gatherings, where they were quite openly discussing between themselves how to shoot Bush and pull some sort of coup and invade nuclear missile silos, so that they can launch them at God-knows-who (apparently not realising that it's not as simple as pressing a button), because they hated him, too. Nothing close to that has happened for Obama, from what I know.
The threat of assassination is something all Presidents have to face. Sometimes, even from their own side of the political spectrum: Remember the guy who shot Gifford? MSNBC and the rest went crazy trying to blame Palin on the most ridiculous of reasons (as if she was the first to have used bullseyes and the rather mundane word 'target' in political terms) for influencing him, only for it to turn out he was about as non-Tea Party as you can get.
I noticed the same thing happening during the recent shooting: Instant manufactured suspicion that it somehow 'had to be' Rush Limbaugh to blame, complete with false rumours about the guy's car having a Romney supporter sticker on it. Neither turned out to be true.
I also notice that Glenn Beck's latest gathering, which was literally all about love, went unreported by the mainstream. Presumably because it would go against that narrative. :)
So, don't lose sleep over it. Seriously. Every President, no matter who they are, have to be mindful of potential assassinations. That's what the Secret Service are there for. If Bush didn't get shot, then neither will this one.
Heck, even Romney has to live with the knowledge that this could happen to him, too. That's why he's also got similar protection. Psycopathic behaviour isn't limited to one political stripe or the other.
Part of being real, said Ms. Vereen, whom everyone calls Miss Clara, is worrying that a black president would not be safe.
“I fear that they just would kill him, that he wouldn’t even have a chance,” she said as she styled a customer’s hair with a curling iron. One way to protect him, she suggested, would be not to vote for him.
Last election was nerve-wracking - this one is ulcer-making.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-16/just
It's not just Obama I'm worried about getting shot, but his family too.
I still can't believe they let them do that.
WAT
I fucking hate chain emails, btw
you can't trust them to administer social services without fucking it up, but you think they could fake the moon landing/take away all our guns/fake an assassination attempt? how does that make any sense?
And by impressed I of course mean depressed.
Then I realized that logic isn't really a factor in this kind of thinking.
I think these conspiracy theorists, before they say the government is going to do this and the government is going to do that, should actually watch politicians for a fortnight and realise how they conspire to spectacularly fuck up even the most simple things. Then they'd realise they couldn't subdue a bunch of hamsters let alone a country of millions upon millions of people.
Then maybe they'd not take everything so damn seriously any more, get laid and chill the fuck out.
I suppose it also figures that this is the closest you'll see the right acknowledging the underlying reality and danger of Obama being a high-profile POC in their "post-racial America": when it involves him getting shot to death, and only representing a mere inconvenience to their delusional political plan. As opposed to, you know, a horrifying national crisis. Naturally.