“The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth, are people with something to hide.”
So rather than begging for money himself, the anonymous Birther Report is letting Helen Tansey, treasurer of the Article II Super PAC1, do it for him–the project: ostensibly to raise funds to move the web site from the hyper-reliable free Google Blogger™ platform to an “independent secure server.” That way, Google can’t take him down again.
Is that a good thing for BR readers? I personally would be grateful if someone took my site down, should I ever start serving malware to visitors. While the clueless BR site owner was running around the Internet saying his site was OK, Google protected BR readers from some nasty malware being passed through from one of BR’s advertisers. Terms of service and acceptable use policies protected BR’s readers the a way that a privately-run server could not.
Tansey paints a picture of someone who started blogging for altruistic purposes, saying:
It is difficult for a blog owner who never weighed into blogging to make money from his readers to now be in the position of having to ask for donations.
That’s an odd description for a heavily-monetized web site like Birther Report. It’s full of aggressive advertising, a fact Tansey glosses over. What I find suspicious is that while asking for donations to move the site, at no time has BR actually stated how much money he needs.2 Tansey claims that it is:
1. To purchase its own web server (not leased) that will more than handle the site’s high traffic load; and 2. Complete the conversion/migration process in order to securely archive4 the thousands of articles documenting Article II eligibility and Obama’s identity document fraud.
Earlier BR had put it this way:
This blog will be moved to a privately owned server [without TOS BS] as soon as possible. It is something that should have been done long ago but lacked the knowledge and resources. More at a later date….
Buying a whole server for a piss-ant web site like Birther Report is massive overkill. But then BR keeps its traffic numbers as secret as it does its expenses and advertising revenue. What are they hiding? This is in contrast to my site, where all that information is public. I listened to BR’s anonymous appearance on the Mike Volin “Where’s Obama’s Birth Certificate?” show and it was clear that he does not have the technical competence to run anything on his own, much less an entire server. That leaves, as I see it, two possibilities:
- BR is going to buy a server and have it co-located at a hosting company that will manage it for him.3
- He’s going to buy a server and hook it up himself at home and have a good buddy run it for him. He’s talking like 20 minutes before he’s hacked.
Frankly, if I weren’t a computer hobbyist, I would never run my own WordPress installation, much less my own server—it’s just too much trouble and too much risk. I would be running at WordPress.com or Blogger™, like most of the folks who blog on either side of the birther issue. They’re free and easy, and far more reliable 🙁
In a follow-up article today, Tansey describes reader fundraising response as “awesome” and said they have reached one-third of their goal (still refusing to disclose what that goal is). I would remind them of the tag line from Barack Obama at the beginning of every Birther Report video: “The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth, are people with something to hide.” Birther Report doesn’t disclose the identity of its owner, its traffic figures, its backers, its revenue and its expenses. What do they have to hide?
Update:
In a reply to a question at BR, Helen Tansey sort of answered the cost question:
As for the hard numbers, it is less than $10k and more than $5k.
😯
1The Tansey letter further fuels suspicions about the identity of Birther Report being Gary Wilmott. Tansey and Wilmott both serve on the board of the Article II Super PAC.
2I didn’t do any significant research into colocation fees. I found one host that says it has the “Industry’s Lowest Prices” and they want $49 a month after a $99 setup fee for hosting your own rack-mounted server on a 10 Mbps pipe, unlimited bandwidth, 7 IP addresses and 2A power. Add maybe $1,000 one time for a rack-mounted server with a decent processor and a big disk drive. The real wild card is how much the software setup and ongoing maintenance is going to cost. If he hosts a server himself, he will need a business class Internet connection, as pretty much all home plans prohibit servers. Business Internet services have policies, such as this one from AT&T.
3Colocation companies have their own terms of service and acceptable use policies. Here’s a sample from ColoUnlimited.
4Securing the content of a Google Blogger™ blog is no big deal:
The desperation is strong in this one.
Footnote 4 on Backing up a Blogger site has been added.
Over at BR Falcon chided me for writing so many articles of late about BR and Arpaio. There are two reasons for that. Those two, plus Taitz, are about all that’s happening in birtherdom, and I’m snowed in.
Then we see this at BR
“BR/ORYR: I would personally like to thank numerous folks that have helped me out behind the scenes and publicly over the last few days and most of ’em over the last 5+ years. Helen,[Tansey?] CDR Kerchner, Bob, Sharon, Gary, [Wilmott?] George, [Miller?] Kevin, Mara, [Zebest?]Mike,[Zullo?]Linda,[Jordan?] Susan, [Daniels?] Erik, CPT Barnett, Dr. Eowyn, Dr. Taitz, Ann, Miki, [Booth?] Robert, Arlen, Scott, Rev. Manning… and so many more. You are all Patriots. Thank you all!! – ORYR
What do you think? Who’s missing? How about a Richard?
And how many messages has the mighty *FALCON* posted? According to his IntenseDebate profile:
★FALCON★
137p
17,209 comments posted · 46 followers · following 0
Anyone know how to determine the time period?
Found it…..243 weeks…..70+ messages a week Busy bird!
Probably Mike Volin rather than Mike Zullo.
Doc scores, is muzzled(?) for his trouble
I was up all night, and noticed this article in the wee hours. Putting on my best straightest face, I sought to feign helpfulness while passively pointing out all the hard info BR was leaving out in this pitch:
potterjd:
Surprisingly, this comment has been allowed to stand. Not-so-surprisingly, BR has not responded, or added to the article. Even stranger, there have been no other comments on this article, until just a few minutes ago. Had me thinking comments were disabled after mine for some reason, as those nuts over there will ramble endlessly about anything!
Doc replied to my “sincere” inquiry, knocking my fat one out of the park:
Dr. Conspiracy:
Stating the obvious and calling the BS!
Gosh, Doc’s comment has not posted. But why not? Their readers would decry Doc as a fiend and a liar, and it’s a great opportunity for them to spin this moneygrab a little deeper. But they don’t have the chops.
If you’re gonna play the con, at least play it well. Sell the rubes a story! The birfer shills absolutely suck at swindling.
Meh, the only two Mikes I’m fond of, are my brother and Mike J Nelson.
i see quite a few Dicks on that list.
JPotter – I’ve responded. Nothing strange, weird or odd I just happen to be busy and only now got around to responding.
Doc – why did you delete your comments over at BR on the same thread JPotter posted his question? I wanted to respond buy you already yanked them. BR didn’t delete them so you’re the only who could. Just curious.
Lastly, there is nothing mysterious or odd or underhanded about an owner of a site wanting to go independent. To try to make something out of nothing is just silly. I’m confident your time can be spent on something more meaningful to your readers. Then again, maybe not.
Tansey notes that the person who runs Birther Report is a “team member” who she’s had the “privilege of working closely with.”
So the individual running BR is supposedly in fear for his safety. I frankly doubt he’s ever received even one “threat of violence,” let alone numerous such threats, but obviously I can’t say for sure. I suppose it’s possible. But it seems to me extremely unlikely.
On the other hand, the story fits the birther narrative: “We’re doing important work! There are secret forces at work, trying to shut us down! Even though we’ve been threatened with violence, we’re bravely risking our lives to bring you this important and hard-hitting coverage! Click on our ads! Send us money!”
Bullcr*p.
It kind of amazes me there is still this group of people out there pushing this BS. “Secret investigation! UNIVERSE-shattering new evidence coming in March! Except… it may be delayed. For the 14th time. Because NOW we’ve got some REALLY good stuff!”
Even more amazing, the suckers who keep soaking it up. But I guess that’s the nature of conspiracy theories, especially when there’s a bit of penny-ante glory to be milked, and a few bucks to be made.
I think it’s plausible that the Birther Report guy got death threats. Overall, though, I have no doubt that birthers issue way more death threats than they get.
By the way, Kerchner ‘indirectly’ (h/t butterdezillion) outed the Birther Report guy by posting a link to the guy’s Pay Pal account on his (Kerchner’s) blog. And Orly Taitz outed him a couple years back because he wasn’t paying enough attention to her and her BS lawsuits and how much she struggles and suffers out of hate for her adopted country, its values, and its people. Anyway, it’s not a secret.
I dare say there’s humor to be found in Tansey’s begging letters.
Wow. Any of the geniuses over there ever heard of backing up your blog? I guess not.
“HIS” efforts? Elsewhere, Tansey pointedly refuses to divulge the gender of the owner of BR. Wow, another genius-level post here.
40,000 page views on a Saturday morning, before 9 am Pacific time? I’m calling BS. I’m also guessing someone’s reading the statistics wrong.
Let’s keep Birther Report free! Send money!
Lol.
So what’s his name?
Oh, I see.
Kerchner’s page links to a PayPal page for “Right Way Network, Inc.”
From there it’s an easy google search for more information, and a name that has been speculatively mentioned before.
I’d say the cat is out of the bag on this one.
The stupid thing is: If you accept the birther narrative, then the people BR would have to “fear” wouldn’t be readers on the internet. It would be the gubmint. And if those folks wanted to know who runs Birther Report, they’d know in short order.
So the whole keep-it-secret narrative is fairly dumb. But I guess when your audience is gullible, you don’t really have to have a good story, just one that passes a pretty low bar.
I’m not convinced, though, that the owner of RWN is also the owner of BR. RWN seems to be a computer outfit. The paypal page says “we’re assisting br.” And the owner of BR doesn’t seem to know anything about computers.
So RWN may just be another birther in the mix, who’s working with BR.
Heh. Orly doesn’t seem to have any doubt about who owns ORYR, though.
What would be really hilarious, would be if all the BR readers who declare they’ve donated, are also fibbin’.They’re shilling for actual dollars in the theater of the mind.
My last employer hosted all of its publications and apps on a colo. Required constant babysitting, many all night trips. Of course, BR is relatively tiny, but such a setup is still beyond their apparent abilities and budget. However, it would be the most realistic explanation of the “private server” meme, if there’s any truth to it at all.
And BR may well be being taken for a ride here, by a networking outfit willing to manipulate their paranoia into a new, paying account. At least they hope it’s paying!
Actually, the more I look at it…
Aside from Orly’s IDing him, there’s also a previous allegation on the interwebs that a person using the name of the apparent owner of RWN has posted using an ORYR handle.
The paypal page, Orly and the just-referenced allegation all point to the same person.
So I’m back to thinking that BR has in fact been outed.
Doc,
“What are they hiding?”
It runs in the family doesn’t it? With BR it’s who owns it, how much money they rake in from ad revenues, donations and expenditures. With the CCCP, it’s donations and expenditures and the Reed Haye’s report. Does it all sound too familiar?
I deleted those comments because, upon consideration, I didn’t want to be a heckler at your fundraiser. I was trying to be a responsible guest.
No, those comments were removed by me.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not think, nor I hope did I suggest, that there is anything underhanded about the BR move to an independent site.
I think it’s a bad idea, and that it is not to the benefit of BR readers. I also wonder why BR is conducting a fundraiser with no stated goal. But BR can move wherever it wants. I don’t even know how many places this site has been (at least 2).
As for providing something more useful for my readers, I’m open to suggestions. The ever-receding event horizon for Mike Zullo’s universe shattering is not providing much news.
Yes. People have arrived at the same name independently and from at least three different directions. Out of respect for Doc’s policy of not outing people, I didn’t include his name, but the trail is pretty clear.
This article has been updated (at end).
Thank you for your response and for choosing not ‘to be a heckler.’ The latter action is one I respect and value.
As for other comments made here about BR’s fundraising efforts know there is nothing, nada, zilch, zero being hidden.
Back in October when the first hack attack occurred BR’s Google AdSense account was suspended. These dollars went back into the site and would have been used to make the transition. Unfortunately, making up for that lost revenue remains a challenge, thus, BR was left with no other option than to raise funds.
You know, I may not post comments or stories over at BR but I do read his and his posters comments daily. I find it fascinating that for years some of the BR posters would make some wildly unfounded accusation toward whatever the topic du jour, but today I learn your posters do the same daggone thing, Doc.
There is nothing there. Nothing. All it is is a guy who wishes to remain anonymous for his own personal reasons who simply wants to assert more control over his own site and its future. As a former fundraiser I offered to help. That’s it.
Candidly, some of the unfounded claims or suggestions made here remind me of Orly and her going on the attack for any who dared to raise funds for anything remotely related to A2. That was some crazy stuff!
I welcome a good challenge but I don’t do crazy. Again, Doc, thank you for not heckling.
Peace
Well, since you removed them intentionally, I regret having brought them up here. I thought your comment was hilarious, and was certain BR had removed it …. or had disabled comments on the page altogether, as none of the regulars had weighed in after several hours.
Again, apologies, I didn’t mean to out you, it didn’t cross my mind that you had removed the comment yourself. If that seemed possible, I would have contacted you directly. I never saw it on BR, only from the intensedebate email. Feel free to scrub the thread here.
Well if he’s using Blogger statistics, they should be correct and easy to interpret. I know that folks sometimes count hits as page views (a hit being any retrieval of an object on a page, like one hit for every commenters avatar, and every javascript, etc). I use Google stats myself.
Alexa.com ranks BR 28,720 in the US, Taitz 71,874 and me 188,592.
What is curious is that according to Alexa, 24% of BR’s traffic comes from Colombia, and I noted a long time ago that Orly has an even stronger Colombian connection at 43.8%.
There’s no problem with the comments here. I just though they were impolite there.
Don’t forget DAN.
Oh, the irony of clutching pearls over keeping the BR owner’s identity “anonymous”, while going after and attacking the personal life, history, birth certificate, school and travel records of a twice duly elected president, none of which are required by law to become president.
Helen:
Perhaps you can answer something for me. This is an honest question.
Why do you and a number of other people continue to push memes that have been soundly disproven? I refer, of course, to the claims about Obama’s birth certificate being a forgery, and to the “Article II” claims.
At this point, we even know what machine was used to produce Obama’s PDF, and how it was produced. It was scanned into a Xerox WorkCentre, rotated, and saved on a Macintosh computer. That simple work flow is known and demonstrated to produce all of the odd effects that birthers thought were “proof of forgery.”
As far as the “Article II” claims go, that’s been analyzed to death as well. And there’s no historical basis for those claims. There’s no legal basis for those claims. There’s no significant legal scholar who supports those claims. Everyone who matters is pretty much in agreement that “natural born citizen,” legally and historically, just means someone who was born a citizen.
We even have a massive and thorough analysis from the Congressional Research Service that says as much.
So why do you and others keep pushing claims that are known and shown to be untrue?
It’s an honest question.
Thank you for your answer.
I think the greater irony is the birthers trying to ferret out the identity of everyone who criticizes them, even to the point of threatening them with questioning to death, and painting them as the enemies of the nation. Sure I think the birthers do some awful stuff, bit I don’t want them frog marched to jail in chains.
I’ll settle for seeing them irreparably demoralized. The tears and bitter rage on their faces that result from knowing that they’ve lost. So pretty much any selfie of a birther on January 20th 2017, moments after Obama hands off to the new guy.
I could bear the prospect of frauds like Apuzzo or Taitz being dragged before the criminal justice system with great equanimity.
It’s a shame Donofrio will most likely not suffer any consequences for inventing and promoting the two parent nonsense.
Yes, so much more! Now, Helen, about that “questionable” SSN: you may want to check out the article on this blog entitled “Breaking News: Taitz SSN gambit crashes and burns,” in which Rickey pretty much solves the puzzle.
Certainly nothing wrong with “just asking questions.” Now, aren’t you glad there is a simple explanation? I mean, that’s all you and your birther friends are looking for, right? Answers to your questions?
The truth is far too painful for birther bigot morons.
Yes, there certainly does seem to be the sound of crickets in response.
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
I think when I wrote the above, I had in the back of my mind that the only thing birthers talk about that I could think of that hadn’t been flat-out blatantly disproven was the social security number stuff. Now it looks like that’s been flat-out blatantly disproven as well.
I mean, this whole thing is the kind of stuff that farces are made of. A bunch of people get an idiotic, entirely false idea in their head, and go on pushing it no matter what.
Hear, hear. I could not agree more.
Heh. Heh. Heh heh heh heh.
Of course, with that particular range of numbers, they could go on collecting donations forever. They could have 50 different people give them $1,000 each towards their “5 to 10k,” and no one would ever be the wiser.
I’m not saying that’s necessarily what they ARE doing, but they certainly could.
Maybe Helen hasn’t seen the question.
I tried emailing “Article II Super PAC” to call her attention to it, but their email address doesn’t work. So I tried sending the following message through the web form at their site:
I guess we’ll see if she answers.
After 24 hours, still nothing but the sound of crickets chirping.
In fairness, it may be that even their web form sends an email to the same email address I tried to reach directly, which failed. So I’m not going to necessarily assume that Ms. Tansey’s lack of response is a refusal to respond.
Still, it would’ve been nice to hear her answer.
Publius, have no doubt that I shall respond. Stay tuned…h
Well, he has already. His costly try into bankruptcy law was directly connected to this. Karma is a b…..
Ah, thank you for appearing and promising a response, Helen.
BTW, you may wish to check the Article II Super PAC email address. When I attempted to contact you via that route, the email bounced.
Pity the poor mendicant blogger!
Kercher Challenges Birthers to Put Their Money Where Their Delusion Are
“I spoke on the phone in the last hour with the owner of BirtherReport.com. While a high end server has now been purchased and paid for with the donations made thus far, he still needs a few thousand dollars to cover the projected costs of professional migration services to move this very large Blogger site from Google hosted servers to his new privately owned server running WordPress as well as other sundry out of pocket cash costs to cover the transition period until the site is once again operating self sufficiently from a cash flow point of view. Remember Google AdSense services have cut off use of that advertising revenue generating tool for this blog. In the meantime there will be monthly operating costs for the new server in a secure and professional manner. And most of these have to be prepaid. Thus it will take awhile to build up the revenues from other ad server companies to make the site self-sufficient once again. Part of the remaining money needed is to cover the expense for a few months to get this rolling along in a break-even cash flow mode.”
Kercher says he’s set up a donation button . . . but why this third party grifting? Can’t BR figure out how load a PayPal button?
Bingo! And I see that after a five days, still no answer from Helen.
There’s a Blogger import feature in WordPress, so I don’t know how much migrations services are needed. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Maybe RC is Jewish and he is from the tribe of DAN, or maybe he’s a Mormon and a member of the mysterious DANnites.
I begin to suspect you guys weren’t impressed by her playing of the victim card.