Patterico's Pontifications

11/23/2012

Is Neal Rauhauser the One Who Wrote the Anonymous Claim that Rove’s ORCA System Was Hacked?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:18 am



I have warned you time and again to be careful about attributing any significance to factual claims made by anonymous people. A couple of days ago, the Daily Caller reported on an anonymous claim taking credit for supposedly hacking Karl Rove’s ORCA system. Even though the Caller article points out that there is no proof for the claim, and later specifically notes facts that contradict it, the claim somehow became a story on their site. Indeed, the Caller tells its readers that the claim was made by a “mysterious hacktivist group” — when it could just as easily be a single lying loser behind a keyboard. More on who that loser might be in a moment. Here is the Caller:

A mysterious hacktivist group called The Protectors says it is responsible for Project ORCA’s technical failures on Election Day, even though it has offered no proof to support the claim.

Velvet Revolution and Justice Through Music, both activist organizations founded by convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin, had offered a million dollar bounty to tech savvy people prior to Election Day to prove instances of tampering with voting machines.

Kimberlin, who has been extensively profiled by The Blaze and Time, made his foray into election-reform politics in order to prove that Republicans stole the 2004 presidential election.

The Protectors are attempting to claim that reward, stating in a letter to Velvet Revolution — dated Nov. 8, and allegedly received by Velvet Revolution on Nov. 12 — that the group sabotaged the Romney campaign’s efforts to win the presidency.

With all due respect, Daily Caller editors, how do we know this letter is the product of a “mysterious hacktivist group”? How do we know it’s not just some douchebag sitting around making a claim to draw attention?

Let’s look at a couple of red flags. We already know from the first sentence of the article that there is “no proof” for the claim. And this paragraph also suggests that the claim is B.S.:

The timeline The Protectors offered in the letter to Velvet Revolution, however, contradicts accounts from both the Romney campaign and ORCA volunteers.

But the reasons to doubt the claim run much deeper.

The email came in to the mailbox of Brett Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution. To the extent that gullible media outlets report the story, that tends to raise the profile of Velvet Revolution. Cui bono? Why, Brett Kimberlin and his associate Neal Rauhauser, who has heavily promoted the story (and claimed to have received advanced notice of the action) on his gibberish-filled stalker blog. (No links for gibberish-filled stalker blogs.)

But here’s the part that really got my attention: the letter to Velvet Revolution ends this way:

We may just put all our evidence into a tidy little package and give it to a painfully bored nemesis hanging out in a certain embassy in London.

“Tidy little package.”

Bwahahahahahahahaha.

Anyone who has followed Neal Rauhauser for any length of time sees the words “tidy little package” and chuckles — or perhaps laughs out loud, as I just did. You see, Rauhauser loves to use the word “tidy” in connection with compilations of evidence. It’s a verbal tic that is noticed by everyone who has read the guy’s ravings for any length of time.

Just a few examples:

[UPDATE: See the bottom of this post for an example of Rauhauser using this exact phrase.]

Coincidentally enough, the Gaped Crusader (who has many startling similarities to Rauhauser including an IP address) loves the word “tidy” as well:

By contrast, I did a search, and it turns out that in nearly 10 years of blogging, I have never used the word “tidy” in a post, even once. Until this one.

I have a memory of Rauhauser using the precise phrase “tidy little package,” but can find only circumstantial evidence of it. I can’t find a screenshot of it, but Mike Stack and I used to discuss Neal’s use of the phrase, and Mike has used it on his own blog as a quote or paraphrase of Rauhauser. [UPDATE: See the bottom of this post for an example of Rauhauser using this precise phrase.]

Rauhauser’s defenders will claim that I am basing all this on one word, which I clearly am not. There’s his connection to Velvet Revolution, the email being sent to Velvet Revolution, the use of a characteristic word or phrase, and the fact that he is trying to use the traffic to his blog to promote his insane conspiracy theories about me. It’s not proof he did it, but there’s plenty here to make a knowledgeable observer go: hmmmmm.

But forget Neal Rauhauser. The main point of my post is to caution people about believing anonymous sources. Here is ironclad proof that when you credulously repeat claims of anonymous people who offer no proof, you risk looking like a moron. The hacker group Anonymous has a little inside joke where they go around using the number “over 9000” to describe things. “Know your meme” explains:

“Over 9000” is a popular catchphrase derived from the Japanese manga anime series Dragon Ball Z that is typically used as an innumerable quantifier to describe a large number of something like “several”, “lots”, “butt loads” and even the metric “ass tonne”.

As Parmy Olson explained in her book about the hacker group Anonymous, members of that group repeat this meme often — and sucker in news agencies in the process.

Just this month, at least two news organizations have fallen prey to the joke:

TechWeekEurope:

The vice prime minister of Israel, Silvan Shalom, has had his Twitter account hacked, with pro-Palestine messages posted on his micro-blogging.

Meanwhile, Anonymous has ramped up its cyber war on Israel, claiming to have leaked over 9000 documents belonging to Israeli officials.

Wow, some person claiming to be from a hacking group claims to have leaked “over 9000” documents? That’s news, better report it! Here’s another slightly more cautious story from a couple of weeks ago:

Reuters:

A worldwide day of protests and cyber attacks against governments, banks and security firms has been launched by Hacker collective Anonymous to mark Guy Fawkes Day. Hundreds of people marched in London, while another rally hit Washington, DC.

Around 200 Anonymous supporters, according to RT’s London Bureau, assembled in London’s Trafalgar Square for Operation Vendetta, a march to the Houses of Parliament. The group itself claims over 9,000 people joined the action.

Another outlandish claim of “over 9000” something or another being dutifully reported, albeit with some skepticism.

When it comes to Rove’s ORCA failure, anonymous reports claiming hacking are worthless. Indeed, the only story worth reporting is the possibility that the person behind this silly claim is a single loser behind a keyboard with an unusually close connection to Brett Kimberlin.

UPDATE: A tipster provides this link to Rauhauser using the “tidy little package” phrase verbatim using his Stranded Wind persona.

32 Responses to “Is Neal Rauhauser the One Who Wrote the Anonymous Claim that Rove’s ORCA System Was Hacked?”

  1. Ding!

    Patterico (43b036)

  2. My comments are yellow! I like it!

    Patterico (43b036)

  3. I’ve been reading your blog for years, never commented before. Just wanted to tip you on that “over 9000” language. It’s an internet meme, much beloved by Anonymous, that comes from the Dragon Ball Z television show.

    This website explains its history. Considering the internet in general, this is probably NSFW: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-over-9000

    Deusvult (c25bd9)

  4. Orca probably was sabotaged, but probably by insiders, not the way Neal claims. It may have been deliberately written to fail.

    (also possible iis that people were simply selling something that they couldn;’t gte to work, but it should ahve been detcted)

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  5. Haha. Reading comprehension, do you speak it?

    Didn’t see that you noted that already. Back to lurking.

    Deusvult (c25bd9)

  6. When you do one comment after the other, they fade into each other – which doesn’t matter, since they always were that way, excedot that now theer are supposed to be a color division.

    I was going to writen that better than blue italics would be a light blue background and regular type, but you seem to have figured this out already. Yellow is OK.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  7. I know that this topic is painful for you. But I can’t deny I love reading your posts about it.

    Pious Agnostic (20c167)

  8. Why is disinfo loon Ron Brynaert back in Patterico’s twitter feed? Desperation.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  9. I typically ignore these people and will probably start ignoring them again, but I thought I would take some time to point out a handful of blatant lies Brynaert was telling.

    Patterico (43b036)

  10. There should be a tidy amount of wailing coming out of the BK/NR axis any minute now.

    Birdbath (716828)

  11. Thank goodness honorable and ethical man Brooks Bayne is there to help fight back against these speech suppressors and criminals.

    Bless his heart.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  12. Wanna see an “epic fail”?

    Apparently BK and “The Protectors” shop at the same store for their youtube socks.

    Check out the following youtube users [among dozens/hundreds]:
    Mennellasharron, Ostroffalejandra, Rossinjulianne ,Staggergay
    Shellenbargerlilia ,Pippinsrosalinda ,Maudlincarlene, Weidenbachalana , Hayejeanie

    I DO NOT recommend discussion of the “musician” KK at this juncture [that is for another day and BK will use any mention of her as a weapon in his defense right now], but pointing out that VR and “The Protectors” are using the same Youtube Sock Puppet scripts is completely fair game… and hilarious… and sad.

    Auntie Fraud (2f38aa)

  13. I’ve never understood why we should treat anonymous statements as anything but the fantasies of the reporter. If someone refuses to go on record, it’s either because: 1) they don’t have the authority to release the information, and are therefore violating all sorts of ethics and possibly laws; 2) its pure speculation and they don’t want to be caught out getting it wrong; 3) it’s disinformation intentionally being spread for political gain and they don’t want it to be traced back to them.

    Yes, there are whistle blowers — and they go on record or provide hard evidence. We have laws (as little as that means in Obama’s America) protecting whistle blowers.

    Reporting an anonymous comment — particularly one found on the Internet — should be treated with less credibility than claims to have mated with Bigfoot.

    Rob Crawford (e6f27f)

  14. @electmarcorubio = Neal Rauhauser

    Rauhauser sucks at trolling. He is not as smart as he thinks he is. All his fake personas are easy to identify.

    E.g. Rauhauser trolled Nadia Naffe w/ the fake conservative account @electmarcorubio

    The account was registered in 2009 and is now set to private. It’s an obvious sock account w/ a few tweets in 2009. The account was “reactivated” in March 2012.

    – tweets/RTs to the usual suspects (@anonyops, @Occupyrebellion, Breitbartunmask)

    – a tweet about “witness tampering” (NR blogged extensively about it on his OCD diary)

    – a tweet about a “higher target” (Rauhauser’s delusional lawsuit against Breitbart.com LLC???)

    – #Barngate hashtag (The Grandiose Rauhauser is known for creating nonsense neologisms like “Swatgate” or “Kookpocalypse)

    – tweets to @KamalaHarris investigating your SWATting (Gaped Crusader, huh?)

    Here are a few cached tweets from topsy (the site has ten pages)

    http://topsy.com/twitter/electmarcorubio

    ==========================================

    Hate to keep bringing this up, but U should really give a copy of those emails to someone U trust, never know what could happen.

    http://topsy.com/twitter/electmarcorubio?nohidden=1&offset=20&om=aa&page=10

    ==========================================

    Someone ask @NadiaNaffe why she tweets everything to Anonymous. She’s working with people shooting for a higher target

    http://topsy.com/twitter/electmarcorubio?nohidden=1&offset=40&page=5

    ==========================================

    @Ben_Howe @RBPundit I hope you assholes are using TOR. Otherwise, busted for witness tampering. Domestic terrorists. @NadiaNaffe @FBI

    http://topsy.com/twitter/electmarcorubio?nohidden=1&offset=30&page=4

    ==========================================

    @NadiaNaffe Is about to pull a @wikileaks on ACORN pimp James O’keefe. Watch all his dirt get posted online tonight. @patterico #BarnGate

    http://topsy.com/twitter/electmarcorubio?nohidden=1&offset=20&om=aa&page=3

    ==========================================

    @KamalaHarris Atty Gen. Harris please investigate L.A. Dist Atty Patrick Fey aka @patterico, his twitter postings & his blog patterico .com

    http://topsy.com/twitter/electmarcorubio?nohidden=1&offset=10&om=a&page=2

    Tipster (6f421d)

  15. @TrollSecNYC = Neal Rauhauser

    Just take a look at the favorited tweets

    https://twitter.com/TrollSecNYC/favorites

    You know this. All know this: It’s called projection. But no one believes you believe it. Trolling is your livelihood. @Neal_Rauhauser

    https://twitter.com/AndrewBreitbart/status/175081782474063872

    Other favorited tweets are from @RSMcCain, @CouldbeMe7, @BrandonDarby, @Occupyrebellion, @JesseLaGreca, @LeidermanDevine,… (too many to list here)

    Tipster (6f421d)

  16. @OccupyUnmasked = Neal Rauhauser

    same here w/ the favorited tweets:

    http://twitter.com/OccupyUnmasked/favorites

    The first faved tweet is from @AndrewBreitbart 10/08/2010!:

    @GregWHoward I have no idea what you are talking about. You seem like a dick.

    http://twitter.com/AndrewBreitbart/status/26779720617

    – several favorited @BarretBrownLOL tweets

    – Horse ebooks RT (NR frequently promoted the with his now banned @Neal_Rauhauser account – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_ebooks)

    – tweets to Leiderman Devine

    @LeidermanDevine Do you think we should trademark Legitimate Rape(tm)? And make shirts /w @AndrewBreitbart’s & LR logo picture on them?

    http://twitter.com/OccupyUnmasked/status/244317973635010560

    – various tweets from random Anonymous folks

    – tweets from @Stranahn and @Cryingwolfeblog

    Tipster (6f421d)

  17. What did Karl Rove have to do with Orca? This was a 100% Team Romney production, AFAIK.

    But, yeah, it wasn’t hacked. It was just a POS put together by a group inside the campaign that was in over its head.

    Andy (196434)

  18. Ha! Kimblin saw my comment is is feverishly hiding the evidene.
    What a fool

    Auntie fraud (2f38aa)

  19. See the update. Someone found Rauhauser using the “tidy little package” phrase verbatim.

    Hahahahahahahahaha.

    Patterico (61f94b)

  20. #19 – Patterico – Ah! It did seem to me I’d read a quote of Rauhauser’s using it. But I’m not good at that kind of search.

    Dianna (f12db5)

  21. Patterico,

    You’re a good man for standing up to these left wing domestic terrorist scumbags. When tough-fibred people such as yourself stand up to them, it not only encourages other people to stand up to them, but it often has a deflating effect upon the bullies, since bullies generally don’t want a real fight—rather, they want an easy doormat to walk on.

    Elephant Stone (65d289)

  22. It’s even better than that- it’s not an *email* that is claimed, but a bona fide snail mail letter than Neal claims Brett scanned and emailed to him..!

    jhatchet (b53faa)

  23. Seriously, only 20+ comments? The days of 3000+ comment threads behind us.

    There were GIANTS in those days!

    Pious Agnostic (20c167)

  24. I see nothing but upside in Rauhauser keeping his little package tidy.

    Dan Collins (d6cb44)

  25. There were 3,000+ comments because many of the commenters at the time thought that there was a real story going on that had some relation to the actual Weinergate episode. It took quite a while for it to unravel enough so that people realized that it was really more about a pre-existing grudge match between the lefty cyberstalker assholes and their long-term targets (Patterico, Breitbart, Stranahan, and friends). A battle that is fought with some relish on both sides. It was also 3,000+ because Pat stopped posting new threads with open comments for a long time at some point, leaving the “monster” thread open for weeks on end as the “definitive” place to comment. I think that may have been right after the SWATting (which the readers didn’t know about for months later). He may have been advised to “say no more” as it was being investigated. (Notice I said “may have.”) I don’t really remember.

    Saturnian (b1153c)

  26. Labeling it a “grudge match” plays into their hands. I reported on Kimberlin and he targeted me as a result. How is that a “grudge match”? They attack everyone who ever reports on them to make the reporting appear personal. It works because people either don’t report, or if they do the lawyers take out the meaty stuff over fears of lawsuits. That does not make it a “grudge match.”

    Patterico (43b036)

  27. Their real goal is lefty notoriety leading (they hope) to $$$$$$. Aaron’s lawsuit may uncover whether that is working or whether it has backfired.

    Patterico (43b036)

  28. They hold the grudge for your reporting. Strike “grudge match” then. It is something you knew about, in detail, when the story seemed, here, to be about something else altogether.

    Large, epic swaths of the supposed Weinergate saga/backstory were created entirely in pursuit of this grudge by others wrongfully targeting you and your allies.

    That wasn’t evident to those PP/LS/Ace, etc. loyal readers who didn’t understand the scope this long-term “left v. right” dispute until months later.

    Many/most of the commenters here back in June/July 2011 were in earnest trying to figure out what was going on in relation to the juicy Weiner story that was exploding in the MSM, on Red Eye nightly, etc. They didn’t realize that the areas covered in such depth here were just fiction – not to get Weiner – but to get “team Breitbart” (or whatever you want to call it). When NYT and others dropped the story like a hot potato it’s because they realized this – it had nothing to do with Weiner. And the commenters here, Lee, and many others mocked Jennifer Preston for it, because the readers didn’t know the whole story, the real reason behind the WeinerSocks fake scandal. Patterico wrote “Hi Neal” but many/most of the readers didn’t know what that meant for weeks or months. It meant that Pat had sort of figured it out, while others were still wallowing in who was trying to get Weiner – the false premise of the whole episode. The SWATting then soon followed, making Patterico even less able to share info (presumably) and the loquacious Lee to zip it (presumably) as readers were told that law enforcement was handling the whole matter now. Readers didn’t know about the horrible SWATtings (or what that even meant) and thought that “mum’s the word” was about the Alicia Pain & Jennifer George calls, which seemed like things that prolific bloggers wouldn’t clam up about just because the cops were involved. The SWATting makes the cone of silence make more sense in retrospect.

    Saturnian (b1153c)

  29. Do I understand this correctly? BK offered a reward for proof of Republicans tampering with voting machines, and somebody is claiming this reward on the basis that he tampered with the Republicans’ campaign software?! Even if this weren’t NR, even if it were a genuine group and its claim were genuine, how would that qualify for the reward? Rather than providing proof of R crimes, this “group” is admitting crimes of its own, D crimes! The exact opposite of the myth BK wants people to believe.

    Milhouse (15b6fd)

  30. No, the mythology is that they somehow prevented Karl Rove from stealing the election (again).

    Watch to see if Neal collects a “reward” from Velvet Revolution. Or if it goes to some anonymous person who could be Neal.

    It’s good to give rewards to your associates.

    I have been thinking more and more about how these people try to portray conservatives as grifters. Did I ever explain about how they accuse others of what they are doing themselves?

    Patterico (43b036)

  31. Did I ever explain about how they accuse others of what they are doing themselves?

    Oh, that’s long been obvious. In many cases, they actually believe that Rs are doing the same as them. This is known as the “everybody does it” defense. I noticed it very strongly during the Clinton administration.

    Milhouse (15b6fd)

  32. Some time about 1997 I came up with this analogy: Supposing the legal BAC level is 0.1, and Clinton were caught driving with 0.12, his defense would be that the limit should be 0.05, and by that standard lots of people drive while over it, so he’s really no worse than them. Now he may be right that the current standard is too lax, and should be tightened. But he is guilty under the current too-lax standard, while the people he’s trying to use as “guilt shields” are obeying the law as it currently exists. Perhaps if the law were tightened they’d adjust their behaviour accordingly, or perhaps they wouldn’t and then they’d be criminals, but you’re a criminal now, not in some hypothetical universe.

    Milhouse (ea3f0d)


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