Morongate
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- Date published:
11:29 am, November 4th, 2018 - 13 comments
Categories: Donald Trump, International, internet, journalism, making shit up, Media, social media lolz, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, twitter, us politics, you couldn't make this shit up -
Tags: jacob wohl
It might be my hyper sensitivity but it seems to me that online attempts to smear people who challenge the right is increasing, both here and in the United States.
The latest example involves the sterling efforts of Jacob Wohl. Dumbing it right down, which seems appropriate, he did the following:
- Set up a bogus website under the name of Surefire Intelligence.
- Used his email address as a contact point for the URL.
- Used his mum’s cellphone as a contact point for the URL (how sweet).
- Headshots of Surefire’s purported employees actually belonged to celebrities including Israeli model Bar Refaeli and Austrian actor Christoph Waltz. The managing partner, Matthew Cohen, looked awfully like Wohl himself.
- Surefire then attempted to bribe a woman to falsely accuse Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct.
- Wohl tried to shop around the media a story that Mueller had engaged in sexual misconduct that was posted by the bogus website.
- The date of the alleged incident Mueller was in a different city. With an FBI detail in tow.
- Surefire ran the story.
- Wohl posted the story on another website he writes for.
- He eventually admitted that he was behind the website and had lied earlier because his investigation was “still in flux”. Flux me.
Thankfully his attempt was that inept the Internet rumbled him early on. Twitter had a field day and created the hashtag #morongate. To get a full sense of the absurdity of what happened I recommend that you have a read of associated tweets.
And we all had a good laugh.
The problem is though that this sort of stuff happens all the time.
But the operatives tend to be not so stupid.
Tina Nguyen at Vanity Fair has this perceptive description of what happened and what normally happens.
The Wohl affair, apart from being a diverting spectacle, illuminates several truisms about the far-right media landscape, the opportunists that populate it, and the ways in which MAGA fever dreams take on a life of their own. “The more I read about this Mueller Rape Case business, the more convinced I am that this is a Democrat dirty trick to pull a ‘reverse Kavanaugh,’ trying to impugn Republicans for ‘paying women to make up false rape claims against Mueller,’” theorized pro-Trump radio host Bill Mitchell on Tuesday night. “Just more BS from team DNC.” Forums trafficking in QAnon conspiracy theories were similarly convinced that Wohl was a Deep State mole. Wohl himself doubled down, denied having anything to do with Surefire, and defiantly tweeted a photo of himself smoking a tiny cigar. By Wednesday, he was claiming to be the victim of some sort of mainstream-media cabal, and suggested that Mueller’s office was planting false flags to discredit his work. (He also re-tweeted a Burkman statement calling the “Lorraine” story “a hoax designed to distract the nation from my press conference on Thursday, which is where all eyes need to be.”)
And so we get all these stories spreading below the MSM surface but they tend to not be as spectacularly bad as this particular incident. And there are local versions. Like the allegation that Clarke Gayford was being investigated for offences which circulated earlier this year.
The allegations caused the police to release this statement:
While in general we do not respond to enquiries which seek to confirm if individuals are under police investigation, on this occasion we can say that Mr Gayford is not and has not been the subject of any police inquiry, nor has he been charged in relation to any matter.”
And the nature of the attacks was described in this passage:
Media commentator and Public Address blogger Russell Brown said the comments appeared to be driven by a “troll pack” of users who were pushing the false rumour on the social media platform.
Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager said when contacted that there were people who used social media to leverage gossip and rumour to gain political advantage.
“They are trying to gain partisan advantage through damaging the Prime Minister by a campaign of innuendo.”
Hager said the aim was to steer the public’s political focus away from policy to personal issues which didn’t even need to be true.
“They are trying to find personal or moral things — true or untrue — to smear and marginalise the political figures. It’s never playing with a straight bat, never considering issues.
The only think that is predictable is that the attacks will occur again.
It is a shame really.
Politics should be a debate about the future, about policies, about how we want things to be.
It should not be a battle of who can tell the most outrageous lie. And get away with it.
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- Green Party condemns the passage of Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...1 week ago
- Stand Up for Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...1 week ago
- Release: Over 15,000 sign Labour’s open letter to Luxon
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- Fast Track Bill threatens environment, climate and reputation
The fast-track legislation passing its second reading in Parliament is another step towards environmental ruin. ...1 week ago
- Greens join King’s Counsel in calling for Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned
The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...1 week ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...1 week ago
- Green Party stands in support of survivors of abuse in care
Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...1 week ago
- Green Party calls for conscience vote on Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect
The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Concerns remain over tobacco interference
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- Urgent wake-up call on climate
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- Green MP’s Meme-ber’s Bill set to save the world
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- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
- Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ must pursue independent foreign policy
The Green Party says the need is greater than ever for Aotearoa New Zealand to pursue an independent foreign policy. ...2 weeks ago
- Child Protection Investigation Unit established
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Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Ka mihi ki te mana whenua ko Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Kia ora and good morning everyone. Thank you Fran and Simon for inviting me here today, and importantly your leadership of this forum over several years now. I want to acknowledge David Gehrenbeck, Deputy ...2 hours ago
- Record number of submissions received on granny flat proposal
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- District Court Judge appointed
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- Appointments strengthen Predator Free 2050
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- New facility in Christchurch will improve the lives of young New Zealanders
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- Driver safety screens to be installed on Auckland buses
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- Government action provides Southland farmers more time to meet plan requirements
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- Bill reaffirms Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending
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- Critical milestones for earthquake buildings review
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- State of the art radiology machine for Auckland
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- Foreign Minister to visit Europe
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- First arrests made under gang patch ban
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- Better support for victims of sexual violence
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- MSA pilot participant update
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- Fighting for Kiwis in Trade
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- Improving the lives of young New Zealanders
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- Government continues work to reinstate livestock exports by sea
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- Speech to the National Quality Forum 2024
Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...2 days ago
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Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...2 days ago
- Latest Quarterly Investment Report released
The Government has released its second Quarterly Investment Report (QIR) which shows substantial work still to be done by agencies to improve investment reporting and meet the Government’s expectations, Infrastructure and Acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “New Zealand has significant infrastructure and investment needs. The Government is determined to get ...2 days ago
- New Zealand supporting loss and damage fund
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- Gang crackdown begins at stroke of midnight
The free ride for gangs is over when the clock strikes midnight tonight, with tough new laws officially coming into effect, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell say. “Gang patches will no longer be able to be worn in public. To earn the right to wear a ...2 days ago
- LGFA increases borrowing capacity to support high growth councils
The Government is welcoming the decision by the Local Government Funding Agency to increase access to financing tools for fast growing councils to support greater investment in critical infrastructure, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says.“Communities across the country are facing an infrastructure deficit and significant population growth is projected in ...2 days ago
- Temporary Traffic Management costs revealed
The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did ...3 days ago
- Jurisdiction of Disputes Tribunal to double
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- Protecting New Zealand from foreign interference
Legislation that will specifically criminalise foreign interference and strengthen espionage offences has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “It is normal and appropriate for states to interact and work to influence one another. This encourages cooperation and can have mutually beneficial outcomes. “However, the reality ...3 days ago
- Significant milestone for Canterbury Road of National Significance
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- Health survey results to help drive change
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- Final push needed to get to Smokefree 2025
A renewed effort to get people to quit smoking will build on what has worked to date and target the groups who most need support, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said today. “The latest New Zealand Health Survey results show the daily smoking rate at 6.9 per cent and we ...3 days ago
- New diplomatic appointments
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- Next steps for Regulatory Standards Bill
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- Red Tape Tipline goes live
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- Youth Parliament 2025 announced
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- Police stats show promising change
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- Better coordination of anti-scam efforts
With the launch of Fraud Awareness Week, the Government is committing to new coordination efforts across industry and government to combat online scams, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Online financial scams are a growing problem for New Zealand. New data released today shows that Kiwis lost nearly ...4 days ago
- Minister to consider 7AA select committee report
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The prime minister says it wasn't appropriate behaviour but that Erica Stanford had apologised. ...3 hours ago
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The committee plans to hold hearings in the week starting Monday, 27 January and the weeks starting 10, 17 and 24 February 2025. ...5 hours ago
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It comes as Labour accuses National of not listening to evidence about boot camps. ...5 hours ago
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The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.
with a little help from Fox and Daddy
https://moneyinc.com/jacob-wohl/
you forgot to mention the open fly
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/fly-unzipped-jack-burkman-and-jacob-wohl-make-laughable-smear-claims-against-mueller/
soon america will be great again. anytime soon now
One caught, ten not caught.
They do it cos it works.
Smearing seems a go to technique here there and everywhere.
Hard to combat especially when tacitly supported by authority.
And calling it Morongate will just reinforce the sense of injustice that Trump supporters have burning inside them and guarantee that they can’t see reason where this issue is concerned.
That’s the one aspect of this thing that we can guarantee is true – that the sneering intellectuals of the left (which is most of us frankly) have once again triggered the chip on the shoulder effect of Trumps supporters by calling this Morongate.
If we’re so smart why do we keep doing this? Answer: Because, just like Trumps’s supporters we’re voting and acting from an emotional base. We’re so keen to think we’re smarter than the other side we can’t see how much our own flaws are a part of this picture
As many of them seem to repeat this BS without any thought or research into it them calling them morons seems appropriate.
As the saying goes: Truth hurts.
If this particular incident does not persuade people that there is a major problem nothing ever will.
As I’ve said before – lying in public/publications and the spreading of lies needs to be illegal.
The only way to stop these scum is to put them in prison and fine them into bankruptcy.
And who do you really think will be the main target of those sorts of laws?
Fraud, robbery, tax avoidance, all illegal; political manipulation and bull rot, illegal when done by Russians..but its the small time regular folk who get busted, while the Corporations, banks, World leaders, politicians, think tanks etc walk away laughing.
And what happens if we don’t do anything about it?
Do we just complaining about the lies and misinformation while those doing the lying continue to manipulate the populace anyway they like?
Yes, it’s hard but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.
The Dirty Politics crowd also had some really vicious and nasty lies going around about Helen Clark and her husband. Bits of them still surface among the moron crowd – even today.
Bonus fact: Jacob Wohl has been completely and utterly banned from financial futures trading due to all the fraud charges he’s amassed. And all the major financial banks have issued warnings to the relevant staff on him as well.
A comment on slurs.
A day on the couch, sick off work.
After reading comments below a review of Bohemian Rhapsody, Bryan Singer’s name came up in the comments and a film called An Open Secret.
After a few attempts I have managed to watch it, a sad, grim doco on paedophiles in Hollywood.
Anyhow many of the Google responses were a link to Alex Jones Info Wars. I watched a few minutes of this bombastic man, very passionate about this issue.
Info Wars is almost universally despised round these parts.
Usually for good reason.
Does that mean they/he can never be right.
It occurs to me to slur someone is often an easy way to not have to engage and as Marty says above its here there and everywhere.
If “engagement” is futile or impossible, slurs can be a handy shorthand.
Alex Jones is a self-described performance artist. Any relationship with the truth is propbably an accident.
edit: also, this essay came up in my twitter feed today. Why “engaging” with fascists is a bad idea. It separates them from the inevitable brutality of their policies.
well i’ll be fluxed….unbelievable