BY ELAINE MAGLIARO
Conspiracy theories abound in this country. The conspiracy theorists that people are probably most familiar with are the 9/11 truthers and the Obama birthers. What I hadn’t been aware of until recently was the existence of a group of people who claim that the massacre that took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012 was just a hoax.
I bring up the existence of this group because it was reported recently that a “Sandy Hook Truther” had stolen a peace sign from a playground in Mystic, Connecticut. The vinyl sign, which weighed 50 pounds and featured a peace symbol, was based on a drawing done by seven-year-old Sandy Hook victim Grace McDonnell. The sign was displayed on a playground that had been dedicated to her memory.
What makes this story even worse is that a man who claimed to have stolen the sign called Grace’s home. He told Lynn McDonnell, the dead girl’s mother, that he had taken the sign because he believes that the shooting at Sandy Hook was a hoax. Huffington Post reported that the caller taunted Lynn McDonnell by claiming that her daughter Grace had never existed.
Peace Sign Stolen From Conn. Playground Honoring Sandy Hook Victim Grace McDonnell
According to Tom Boggioni of Raw Story, “Sandy Hook ‘truthers’ believe that the Newtown shooting never occurred or was part of a ‘false flag’ operation designed to open the door to the confiscation of all guns by the government.”
Boggioni said that the Grace McDonnell playground is “one of 26 planned playgrounds being built by the Where Angels Play Foundation in honor of all 26 victims.” He added that the theft of the peace sign “comes two weeks after another playground sign, located in Hartford, was vandalized with someone spray-painting ‘Peace to Sandy Hook,’ a peace sign, and the numeral ’2′ on it.”
There are plans to replace the signs at both playgrounds.
SOURCES
Sandy Hook ‘Truther’ Tells Victim’s Mother Her Daughter Never Existed (Huffington Post)
Peace Sign Stolen From Conn. Playground Honoring Sandy Hook Victim Grace McDonnell (CBS)
Sandy Hook truthers more hated than Westboro idiots? (Daily Kos)
Sandy Hook truther steals memorial sign, tells victim’s mother her child never existed (Raw Story)
Sandy Hook truthers claim the Newtown massacre was a hoax (America Blog)
Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
shortfinals
Terry Welshans
ann li-summers
wordcloud9
Flowers For Socrates 
Come on really, there are people that are this dishearting? Wow, I would not want to tell the patents or survivors that this was a false flag.
In re the man who claimed Grace McDonnell didn’t exist:
As a pacifist, I don’t condone or encourage violence except when there is no other defensive option. However, things like that make me understand the desire to act violently sua sponte. Yes they do.
Hopefully this anonymous truther will have bragged to others about his deed and his identity will be uncovered.
Evil is not a term I use often, not do I use it lightly. In this case, it fits.
I am sure there are a number of parents and other sane people in Newton who would set aside any pacifist tendencies they might have and make an exception for the thief.
An evil act to be sure. It is fascinating how far humans will go to rationalize their own predilections. In the case of people who are gun fanatics, They are unwilling to accept anything that would in the slightest reflect negatively on their position.
Mike,
I am an ardent gun supporter. But when you can’t distinguish between false flags and reality then maybe you shouldn’t own a gun. I did not witness this travesty, but I have no problem believing it happened.
I would not want to take away from any person what they saw. People who do this are just plain evil, they have no heart.
And what Blouise, Gene, Charlton and everybody else has said.
“I am an ardent gun supporter.”
AY,
I know that and also know you know I support the 2nd Amendment. The problem is that some of those who agree with us are batshit crazy and psychologically paranoic and that debases the argument.
TBogg is on the case over at Raw Story. TBogg writes,
I didn’t want to embed the video and clutter up this blog with teh crazee. You can read the rest at Raw Story, complete with video of a Florida nutcase in full battle cry:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/13/ron-paul-fanboys-think-those-sandy-hook-truthers-are-on-to-something-so-hmmm/
Does anyone know if The Bells of Dunblane was piped at any of the services for the Sandy Hook dead? It would have been more than appropriate.
Tis true, tis true.
re the Second
I read an article the other day and failed to bookmark it and now, after over an hour searching, can’t find the damn thing but I’m going to pass along the main gist of it just for fun and to “make your day” Gene and AY.
This was a poll taken of first graders the last two years. The question was simple .. “Name two things you don’t like.” Both years, number one was mosquitoes and number two was guns.
I would venture that the batshit crazies have had an impact on more than just the argument.
Blouise, Time is on our side on that one.
Wayne LaPierre has not proven to be an attractive spokesperson for the gunowners.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/01/03/duck-dynasty-familys-new-gun-line-is-a-warning-shot-to-ae/ And Duck Dynasty only appeals to a certain segment.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/guns-bullying-open-carry-women-moms-texas “What the group hasn’t publicized are some of its members’ more degrading antics. In March, a group of them held a “mad minute” at a firing range, pulverizing a female mannequin with a hail of bullets. They positioned the figure with her hands raised in surrender, naked from the waist up. Afterward, they posed with the bullet-riddled mannequin, her arms blown off and her pants down at her ankles. “Mad minute” is a military expression referring to a burst of rapid fire, and Open Carry Texas members have often referred to Moms Demand Action as “mad moms.”
Four of the men who shot up the mannequin were present at the Arlington restaurant, including one listed by Open Carry Texas as a board member and the group’s Director of Operations.”
In all honesty I agree with the children’s No 1 priority. I don’t like Mosquitos either.
“Blouise, Time is on our side on that one.” (SwM)
Yep
(Out of curiosity I just asked my pre-schooler to tell me three things she didn’t like She said skeetoes, bees with stingerthingies, and guns. I asked her why those three things and she responded, “Cause they all hurt kids.”)
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/hillary-clinton-2016-election-ohio-poll-106708.html?hp=r5 Here’s a poll for Tex, Blouise.
A Y
I’m not a big fan of stingerthingies either.
i don’t know what it is about people in georgia, but if you feel the need to carry a gun to church, you should maybe find a new congregation.
and guns in bars are always a good idea. Remember the old song “Cow Pattie”? “Forty shots rang out, forty people fell. Pattie and the Killer missed each other but they shot that town to hell”.
SwM,
Music to his ears. She lost a little ground since Feb but not much as she is still leaving the favorite son-Kasich in the dust though his ratings have improved since he was first elected and he comes closet to her in the ratings.
She’s also doing well in Florida even against Bush.
The big problem here is Obama in the more rural areas and southern Ohio which spells trouble for the Governor’s race but the voters are sophisticated enough to separate her from Obama though you can see the partisan effort to influence that in the latest dustup over “Designation”.
Senator Brown polls well all over the state and Portman is doing okay.
All in all the picture is good. We need to start looking for movement upwards in 2015 and this is a good baseline from which to start. Bookmark the Quinnipiac University Poll site and keep checking it as the season approaches and progresses. They are a good source as they use their polls for research and aren’t funded by any of the political parties.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/
http://www.vox.com/2014/5/20/5734184/chipotle-leave-the-gun-at-home-next-time-you-want-a-burrito
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcLX10o4fZ4
“Yet another massacre occurred last night at an institution of learning, this time the University of California, Santa Barbara. The price we paid for the National Rifle Association’s “freedom” was seven people murdered and seven injured at nine different crime scenes.
A young man who Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown called “severely mentally disturbed” drove by various student hangouts to commit an act of “premeditated mass murder” apparently—according to videos posted to YouTube and threats made to women on campus—due to his anger at being “rejected” by women on campus.
The NRA wants less information and more Santa Barbaras.
Of course, this is all too familiar: a young aggrieved male, mentally disturbed, threatening others—especially women—but still able to get his hands on a high-capacity magazine of the variety used in so many other mass murders. This doesn’t happen in any other high income country with the regularity it does here; in fact, it almost never happens in any of them.
But here, in the good ole US of A, we’ve allowed a group of rich, entitled thugs who run an operation fronting for arms dealers—guys who represent a minority position on pretty much every issue having to do with reasonable regulation of firearms even among gun owners—to dictate our policies to cowardly, careerist politicians.” Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/24/the-nra-s-all-out-assault-on-accurate-information-about-gun-deaths.html
” At a press conference earlier today, a self-identified father of one of the victims in last night’s mass shooting near the University of California, Santa Barbara, named his son, Chris Martinez, as one of the victims. In a heart-wrenching statement the father, Richard Martinez, expressed his profound sadness. His 20-year-old son was on his way to a market when he was killed.
“Why did Chris die?” Richard Martinez said at a press conference. “Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights, what about Chris’ right to live? When will this insanity stop?”” Salon
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/10/5797306/map-school-shooting-sandy-hook Map of the 74 school shootings since Sandy Hook.