The crazy cast of characters at the Post & Email

This is the third part in my series of articles on Birther blog The Post & Email. (See The Post & Email–Fake news site and Birtherism’s last bastion–Part 1 and The Post & Email–Fake news site and Birtherism’s last bastion–Part 2 Sharon Rondeau.)

In this article I will cover some of the crazy regular commenters on articles there. Most of them are Birthers we know from their postings elsewhere and from them filing Birther lawsuits in either the 2008 or of the 2012 election cycle.

These include people like Cody Robert Judy from Utah and Robert Laity from New York. I am sure they are attracted to the P&E because every time they file something or the courts reject their idiotic lawsuits Sharon Rondeau writes an obligatory article about it. Rondeau has also allowed them to write guest articles about their wrongheaded opinions on the definition of natural born citizen and their lawsuits.

Laity may be one of the more radical Birthers. He pushes the theory that Barack Obama was subject to the articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice since he was Commander in Chief and can therefore be prosecuted under the UCMJ for usurping the presidency during time of was and should therefore be executed. Laity must be retired and therefore has a lot of time on his hands to think up such utter nonsense.

Laity claims to have an honorary “juris doctorate” and calls himself an expert on the meaning of natural born citizen. He must have ordered a degree from a place that advertised in the back of a magazine.

Blogger NBC wrote one of the best refutations of Laity’s argument on the UCMJ in an article in 2014:

Educating the Confused – Robert Laity and Spying

Robert Laity: Obama has usurped the Presidency of the United States during time of War. That makes Obama a Spy under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice at Section 906,Article 106. Also see: 18USC,Part 1,Chapter 115,Sec.2381.

In order to determine if Laity is correct, we have to look at Article 106 of the UCMJ. It requires the following elements to be true:

1) That the accused was found in, about, or in and about a certain place, vessel, or aircraft within the control or jurisdiction of an armed force of the United States, or a shipyard, manufacturing or industrial plant, or other place or institution engaged in work in aid of the prosecution of the war by the United States, or elsewhere;

(2) That the accused was lurking, acting clandestinely or under false pretenses;

(3) That the accused was collecting or attempting to collect certain information;

(4) That the accused did so with the intent to convey this information to the enemy; and

(5) That this was done in time of war.

Let’s start with (5). Since Laity approvingly has mentioned US v Averette, let’s see how the Court defined ‘in time of war’ and what its ruling was

In 1970, the Court of Military Appeals held that civilian employees of the military overseas could not be subjected to court-martial (United States v. Averette, 19 U.S.C.M.A 363)[, unless in times of war.]

and

the U.S. Court of Military Appeals adopted a strict construction of the phrase “in time of war” finding that the phrase referred only to a congressionally declared war. Since the Vietnamese conflict was not a congressionally declared war, Averette’s trial by court-martial was declared unconstitutional.

US v Averette does not provide any foundation for Laity’s claims that UCMJ 106 applies to our President. Of course, non of the other elements apply either, showing how poorly developed Laity’s arguments really are.

Laity has tried to ‘argue’:

6. Obama has no lawfully granted security clearance

As to the need for a security clearance, see EXECUTIVE ORDER #12968 and the following:

“The president is the one who established the security clearance system by executive order,” said Steven Aftergood, a national security and intelligence specialist with the Federation of American Scientists. “Therefore it is nonsensical to speak of clearances higher than what the president has. As head of the executive branch and commander in chief of the armed forces, there is no information in government that could be denied to the president for security reasons if he determined he needed access to that information.”

…

(More at the link)

Laity won’t listen and has ignored the fact that dozens and dozens of courts have rejected the notion Barack Obama was not eligible to be President. Laity hasn’t given up now that Obama has served two full terms. He thinks Obama can still be arrested. Laity may be an idiot but he is a persistent idiot.

Then there is Cody Robert Judy. Judy, Judy, Judy… (Google Goober Pyle if you don’t get it.)

Where should I start? Judy considered himself a candidate for president in 2008 and 2012 merely because he filed with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate. He wasn’t on the ballot in any state, even his home state of Utah. He never registered as a write in candidate either. To my knowledge he ever received a single vote in either election. Yet, that didn’t stop Judy from filing a lawsuit against Obama (aka Barry Soetoro), the DNC,  and Organizing for America, and several Democratic officials for millions in damages because he claims he was harmed by Obama since he was not a natural born citizen. Judy cites the usual Birther drivel about Minor v Happersett and de Vattel in his complaint. (He threw in Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi as defendants for good measure.

Judy’s writings are best described as word salads, i. e., lots of words thrown together in no particular order. His blog posts are more of the same. He commented quite a while at Obamaconspiracy.org but he was eventually banned. Judy immediately blocks anyone on Facebook or Twitter who is critical of him.

The federal district court in Utah allowed Judy to file in forma pauperis (IFP). When none of the defendants replied (he failed to properly serve all of them) Judy filed for a default judgment. Not only did Judy not get the default judgment the court dismissed his case as frivolous.

Judy appealed to the 10th circuit and the dismissal in district was upheld. He then filed with the US Supreme Court. Judy assumed his IFP status carried over to SCOTUS but the court denied him IFP status and said he would have to go through the process of applying to receive IFP status. Judy either never applied or never received permission to file IFP so his appeal was closed.

In 2017 Judy filed a motion to demand that the 10th Circuit reopen his case based on “new evidence”. His “new evidence” was Mike Zullo’s December 2016 press conference on the Cold Case Posse investigation into Obama’s birth certificate. You may recall that was the “press conference” where the press was not allowed to ask any questions.

The 10th Circuit of course denied Judy’s motion since his case had found to be frivolous and nothing Zullo had presented had anything to do with the merits of his case.

Judy then filed an emergency petition to Justice Gorsuch to request that he force the Tenth Circuit to reopen his case. Judy missed the small detail that Justice Sotomayor and not Justice Gorsuch is assigned to handle emergency petitions for the Tenth Circuit. The clerks at SCOTUS returned Judy’s petition and it was never filed.

Judy seems to live a somewhat miserable existence. He wrote on Facebook that he was kick out of his apartment and had to spend several nights in his meat truck at a KOA campground (Judy is apparently a meat salesman).

Delusion and poverty are not new to Judy. In 1993 he rushed the stage at the BYU Marriott Center where President Hunter was conducting a fireside chat before 17,000 people. “Judy rushed the stage of a multi-stake fireside at the Marriott Center. Judy carried a briefcase and waved a cellular phone that had been taped to look like a bomb. There was a brief exchange of words with President Hunter until police were able to take Judy into custody.”¹

Judy ultimately pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated burglary, assault and escape after fleeing the state mental hospital in the days after his arrest. He was incarcerated in the Utah State prison until he was released on parole in 1999. Judy’s wife divorced him after the incident. ²

Judy was released on parole in 1999 and had to serve six years probation. He seems to have latched on to running for president as a non-candidate and filing lawsuits as a way to put meaning into and otherwise worthless life.

At the Post & Email Sharon Rondeau never brings up the fact that Judy terrorized 17,000 people in a packed arena nor his criminal background. He is praised for continuing to file hopeless motions in the various courts. Of course Rondeau seems to be drawn to criminals like a moth to light bulb at night. I will cover her other favorite criminal Walter Fitzpatrick in a future installment.

¹  http://universe.byu.edu/1999/08/02/cody-judy-leaves-prison-on-parole/

²  https://www.deseretnews.com/article/371141/CODY-JUDY-WANTS-KIDS-TO-VISIT-HIM-IN-PRISON.html

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RIP Henry Wayland Blake, aka “Hermitian”

Henry “Hermitian” Blake 1940-2017

Most of you who have followed the Birthers will recall a prolific commenter who went by the handle Hermitian. He commented here, at Obama Conspiracy Theories, John Woodman’s, at NBC’s blog, and in the comments on Jerome Corsi’s Birther book at Amazon. I happened to run across his obituary today. Henry passed away in March. He was an engineer by trade. Hermitian was 77 and had worked at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee uranium separation facility  before retiring.

To put it succinctly Hermitian was the classic Birther troll. He thought he was smarter than all the Obots. He tried to poke holes in the Xerox workflow theory at NBC’s blog and here. He failed. Hermie liked to play word games. Hermie would never admit he was wrong even when it was demonstrated clearly he was. For example, he claimed that the AP JPEG photo of the handout copy of the LFBC released on April 27, 2011 could not have been a photo because photography was not allowed at the press gaggle where the copies were handed out that morning. I contacted Mr. Applewhite who was the WH photographer for AP on that day. Mr. Applewhite not only confirmed this fact he even told me the make and model of the camera that he used.  Hermitian refused to admit he was wrong even then. All he had to do get his ban lifted was admit he was wrong on that one simple assertion but he couldn’t bring himself to do that.

Henry also filed an affidavit in Orly’s Taitz’s case in Mississippi in which he claimed to provide proof that the PDF copy of the Obama LFBC filed by the defendants in that case was a forgery. Taitz submitted his affidavit as one of her exhibits. Henry offered to testify but the case was dismissed and never reached the evidentiary stage. Of course Blake would have never testified since he wasn’t an expert.

In the obituary Blake’s son writes that he loved to watch Fox News and argue with the commentators while watching. Sounds like something out of a Simpson’s episode doesn’t it? He was also a New York Yankee fan but I won’t hold that against him.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Post & Email–Fake news site and Birtherism’s last bastion–Part 2 Sharon Rondeau

(This is the second in a multi-part series of articles about the Birther blog The Post & Email)

In the first part of this series I wrote about the beginning of the Post & Email and its mysterious founder John Bugnolo (aka John Charlton). After a mere six months Bugnolo turned the control of the Post & Email blog over to a resident of Stafford Springs, CT named Sharon Rondeau.

Rondeau apparently had been involved early on with the P&E. She authored articles as early as the fall of 2009 when Charlton was still running things. As I wrote in Part 1 she was listed as an officer on corporation documents filed in Wyoming beginning in March 2010 when Bugnolo was still the owner.  After Bugnolo was removed as the owner Sharon’s husband Gerard was added as an officer of the Post & Email. I have never seen any articles Gerard authored on the blog.

She tells us a bit about her background on the About Us page at the P&E:

Mrs. Rondeau is a natural born American Citizen* who began researching the eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama during the 2008 election cycle. She has been operating The Post & Email since April 2010 following Mr. Charlton’s departure.  She earned a B.A. from Eastern Connecticut State University in 1986 summa cum laude and worked in the areas of transcription, writing, office skills instruction and word processing for 15 years.

Her ten-year career at a Hartford, CT insurance company ended abruptly in February 2001 after she was permanently injured from a rear-end car accident.

As The Post & Email’s editor, Ms. Rondeau writes daily reports focusing on government corruption; reviews and publishes editorials from syndicated and guest writers; and screens citizen submissions for quality, accuracy, and adherence to the high standards of the newspaper.

Sharon is also an accomplished harpist with more than 28 years of experience performing in a wide variety of venues including solo, small ensemble and orchestral.  In 1998 she released her CD, “Celtic Reflections,” and in 2009, her collection “Easy Scottish Harp Music” was published by Mel Bay.

*[Both Charlton and Rondeau seem to think it is important to say they are natural born citizens as if that somehow makes them better than other people. It’s possible that Sharon added this to Bugnolo-Charlton’s biography on her own.]

I looked into Mrs. Rondeau’s background to attempt to find any connection with John Bugnolo (Charlton). Neither Charlton nor Rondeau showed up on Birther websites before the Post & Email WordPress blog began.

I found that Sharon Rondeau was born in Massachusetts. She is a very accomplished musician. She was a professional harpist for years. She comes from a family with a strong music background. She was one of four daughters of the late Edward and Pearl Hanjian. Edward “Coach” Hanjian was a music director for several years at Fitchburg, MA High School and took the marching band to the Tournament of Roses Parade in 1962 . It was the first high school from Massachusetts ever to march in that event. Mr. Hanjian was a decorated veteran from  World War II and served in the Army Air Corps. In 1962 he moved his family to take a similar position as band director at Conrad High School in West Hartford. CT. He worked there for 25 years until retirement in 1987. Mr. Hanjian passed away in 2011. Pearl Hanjian lived another five years and passed away last year. Fitchburg is near Westminster, MA where Bugnolo lives but Sharon would have been quite young when her family moved to Connecticut.

Ms. Rondeau has two sisters who have had noteworthy careers in music. Her sister Susan Hanjian also lives in Connecticut and was named the music educator of the year in the state in 2016. Her older sister Marcia Hanjian plays the viola and is an instructor for both viola and violin. She has played in several orchestras in Connecticut and even toured internationally with orchestras.

The point for bringing up Sharon’s family is to note that she comes from a talented, well educated family and that makes it even more bizarre that she became a Birther and conservative rabble rouser taking on the causes of truly strange characters like LCDR Walter Fitzpatrick in Tennessee. I looked at her sister Susan’s social media pages and let’s just say she is pretty far away from Sharon’s political views. Another sister is registered with the Democratic party.

The extent of Sharon’s disability is not known. The disability apparently was not severe enough to interrupt Rondeau’s career as a harpist. She played harp professionally from the time of her accident in 2001 until recently. I recall several years ago talking with a harpist who played at a Christmas party to which I was invited. After the party I marveled at how this small lady was able to crate up the harp and roll it out to her van. I had offered to help but she said she had a system and had done it many times. I can’t imagine what an effort it took for a disabled person to do that.

[Update: A reader pointed out that Rondeau has a YouTube channel that that has several videos of her playing the harp. For example:

Her disability is not readily apparent in this video nor any of the ones on her channel that I watched. (By the way, what’s with the wires sticking out of the electrical box in the ceiling?)]

She apparently has a disabled family member living at home, possibly an adult child who receives government benefits including SNAP payments (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or the the program formerly known as Food Stamps). That leads me to…

The SNAP SNAFU:

In October 2013 Rondeau posted the following article during the time Republicans caused a government shutdown by refusing to raise the debt limit:

CONTRADICTORY REPORTS LEAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT FOOD ALLOTMENTS DURING SHUTDOWN

Rondeau’s article was odd for several reasons. First, why did an arch-conservative like Rondeau care about people receiving “food stamps” enough to write a full article about it? Of course she never passed up an opportunity to include a snide remark or two about President Obama:

Obama’s approach to poverty has been to “redistribute the wealth” and raise the national minimum wage, invest more money in public education, and repair “crumbling infrastructure.”

Obama has been called “the Food Stamp president” because of a reported 93.38% increase in SNAP benefits from 2001 to 2009, although in the eight years of Bush’s two terms, Food Stamp use rose 63%.  From January 2009 to April 2013, SNAP recipients increased by 16,000,000.

Obama’s political leanings really had nothing to do with the point of the article but sometimes Rondeau can’t help herself. She continued:

A SNAP recipient in Connecticut received the following letter explaining the reduction in benefits for November 1:

Sharon’s concern for this Connecticut SNAP recipient’s plight was quite touching. The state sent the letter to inform the recipient that their monthly benefit was being reduced because a temporary increase that had been part of Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was ending soon. I make two points. First, this is typical for what passes for news at the P&E. Second, it is always Obama’s fault at the P&E.

Sharon had redacted the recipients name and address. However she didn’t redact the postal bar code in the address. A clever member of the Fogbow forum decoded the bar code to identify the address of the recipient. Bill Bryan aka Foggy the owner of The Fogbow forum let Sharon know her secret was out:

From: Bill Bryan
Subject: We published that you’re the Food Stamp Birther Blogger

Message Body:
Such an honest newspaperwoman! When you wrote: “A SNAP recipient in Connecticut received the following letter explaining the reduction in benefits for November 1″ you forgot to redact the bar code above the address, which is rather easily decoded. The address is:

6 Orcuttville Road, Stafford Springs, CT

That’s your address, sweetie. You’re calling President Obama “the Food Stamp President”? Then that makes you “The Food Stamp Birther Blogger”.
And it means that YOU were the subject of part of one of your “newspaper” stories without disclosing it. Got journalistic ethics? (No, you don’t.)
For now, we’re not publishing the foreclosure, though it’s public record.
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/5245/rondeauy.png
On the bright side, we’re publishing the truth about you, while you continue to publish nothing but lies about me.
–
This mail is sent via contact form on The Post & Email http://www.thepostemail.com

Foggy’s email prompted a response in the form of an article in which she acknowledged that was her address but she claimed she wasn’t the SNAP recipient:

Bryan is apparently responding to the article published on October 16, 2013 regarding whether or not the SNAP program would be in operation on November 1 had the government shutdown continued through that date.
**
Bryan’s reasoning and conclusion about the recipient of food stamps at the address is faulty. Sharon Rondeau is not a recipient of any government benefits, but there is a disabled family member who is.
Bryan is correct that the property is in foreclosure. This writer is not embarrassed to say so, nor will she be blackmailed over it.

I am not sure how Bryan’s letter could be interpreted as blackmail. What he said was true and Rondeau was guilty of poor journalism by failing to identify that the letter was addressed to a family member. She justified this by claiming she was not the actual recipient. However, she was benefiting directly from the SNAP program because the family member is a dependent. She was on the receiving end of what she described as President Obama’s “redistributing the wealth.” That is a serious omission from the article.

Butterfly Bilderberg, a member at the Fogbow, wrote this cordial open letter to Sharon Rondeau. To my knowledge she never responded:

Dear Sharon,

I enjoy the good fortune of coming from a loving and financially secure family, from parents who taught me empathy and passed to me and my brothers the spirit of noblesse oblige. I was blessed, genetically, with an intellect that my parents nurtured and shaped, and I was able to use it to propel myself into a career that has always provided for me and my children, and then some.

Every year since I joined the workforce when I was 22 years old I have been able to share my earnings with those who need a hand up the economic ladder, both through my tax dollars and charitable giving. I can honestly say that I have never resented paying taxes, or that my taxes provide a safety net (as fragile as it is) for those who need it. I feel truly honored that I can assist others. That includes you and your family. That is what we, as a society, do — we take care of one another. If that makes me a “progressive” — a term that you use derogatively — then I proudly wear that label.

You can be grateful that you live in a society where others gladly contribute to the less fortunate. Or you can be bitter. Your choice. I know which one I choose.

Merry Christmas and here’s hoping that you continue to share in the bounty in the coming new year.

I will end this article by saying a few complimentary things about Sharon Rondeau. I think she is a passionate blogger and has a right to write whatever she wants and hold the beliefs she wants. I thinks she is one of the more articulate Birthers I have heard on Birther radio programs. She has on a few occasions corrected obvious misstatements when they were pointed out to her. She has let through some critical comments although her moderation of comments isn’t even handed and she let’s Birthers get away with saying vile racist things. It’s too bad that someone who grew up in an apparently wonderful family and had parents who provided her with a good education decided to buy in to the Republican hate memes and become an eternal advocate of the racist Birther movement.

Next time in Part 3 I will introduce some of the odd characters whom Sharon supports and who occasionally write guest posts at the P&E.

You can read Part 1 in this series here.

Guilty!

Phoenix NewTimes

There is breaking news this afternoon in the criminal contempt case of former Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Jose Arpaio. He was found guilty by federal District Judge Susan Bolton. Bolton issued the ruling today.

The criminal contempt charges were the result of Arpaio  willfully disobeying a 2011 order from Judge Murray Snow in the Melendres v Arpaio civil case. The order forbade the MCSO from stopping people without cause based on mere appearance in an attempt to round up undocumented aliens. Snow found that Arpaio had ignored his order and referred him for criminal contempt prosecution by the US Justice Department. The case was randomly assigned to Judge Bolton. Since the charges were for misdemeanor contempt Arpaio was not entitled to a jury trial.

This is from Judge Snow’s order in 2011:

MCSO and all of its officers are hereby enjoined from detaining any person based only on knowledge or reasonable belief, without more, that the person is unlawfully present within the United States, because as a matter of law such knowledge does not amount to reasonable belief that the person either violated or conspired to violate the Arizona smuggling statute, or any other state or federal law.

Arpaio’s attorneys had argued that Snow’s order was confusing and that Arpaio had not meant to violate it. Judge Bolton disagreed:

The Court concludes that Judge Snow’s order was clear and definite. This conclusion does not require looking beyond the plain words of the order, but even considering the relief sought by the plaintiffs in Melendres, the conduct Defendant and the MCSO had been accused of, and what Judge Snow was seeking to prevent, there is no doubt that the order prohibited the MCSO from conducting detentions in violation of plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. The Melendres plaintiffs complained that MCSO violated their constitutional rights by detaining them without state charges solely for violating civil immigration law and Judge Snow’s order expressly prohibited the MCSO from continuing that conduct.…

It is clear that Defendant had knowledge of the Order. Mr. Casey testified that on December 23, 2011 he made a phone call to Defendant informing him that Judge Snow had issued an order regarding the Melendres plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and that a preliminary injunction had been issued. . . . . The evidence also shows that Mr. MacIntyre, an MCSO employee, lawyer and frequent legal advisor to Defendant, read a portion of the preliminary injunction aloud twice to Defendant and others at an MCSO Executive Cabinet meeting in January 2012.

A few weeks ago former Cold Case Posse lead Mike Zullo and his friend Carl Gallups tried to make the same argument that the order was not clear. Zullo appeared on Gallups “Freedom Friday” radio show on July 7 to discuss the contempt trial. Sharon Rondeau an ardent supporter of both Arpaio and Zullo wrote:

Both Gallups and Zullo said that Arpaio’s previous actions to enforce immigration laws were a manifestation of a conflict between state and federal statutes.  Moreover, Zullo said that some of the prosecution’s witnesses, in his view, aided Arpaio’s cause to prove himself innocent of the charge.

“My understanding is the witnesses called by the DOJ to testify against Arpaio actually helped Arpaio,” Zullo said.  “Not one of those witnesses ever said that Arpaio told them to disregard that order…”

At issue is whether or not Arpaio willfully violated Snow’s order.  “When this thing finally gets adjudicated…then we’re going to make arrangements to have his attorney on your show…” Zullo told Gallups.

That Zullo and Gallups got everything about the case completely wrong should come as no surprise. It’s what they do. (Apologies to GEICO)

We look forward to hearing Arpaio’s attorneys discuss the conviction.

Bolton said the order was “crystal clear” and directly addressed the contention that Arpaio had delegated compliance of the order to his subordinates:

Defendant argues that he has not willfully violated the preliminary injunction order because he delegated enforcement of the order to his subordinates. (Ex. 3A, 478:23-479:2, 482:22-25; Ex. 3F 2527:5-10.) However, willful ignorance of a court order  which a person has knowledge of and a duty to fulfill does not excuse non-compliance therewith. United States v. Hoffman , 13 F.2d 269, 277 (N.D. Ill. 1925), aff’d , 13 F.2d 278 (7th Cir. 1926), and aff’d sub nom. Westbrook v. United States, 13 F.2d 280 (7th Cir. 1926)

…

The evidence shows a flagrant disregard for Judge Snow’s order. Credible Judge Snow’s order. Credible testimony shows that Defendant knew of the order and what the order meant in regards to the MCSO’s policy of detaining persons who did not  have state charges for turnover to ICE for civil immigration violations. Despite this knowledge, Defendant broadcast to the world and to his subordinates that he would and they should continue “what he had always been doing.” The Court concludes that there is no doubt that Defendant knew or should have known that his conduct violated the preliminary injunction order. Greyhound, 508 F.2d at 541. The Court finds Defendant’s violation of the order willful.

Bolton scheduled Arpaio’s sentencing for October 5, 2017 at 10:00 AM MST. The full text of the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law attached here:

Bolton Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Arpaio said he would appeal the conviction and again ask for a jury trial.

The Post & Email–Fake news site and Birtherism’s last bastion–Part 1

The Post & Email is a blog run by a Connecticut resident named Sharon Rondeau. She describes her blog as an “electronic newspaper”.  The blog was founded during Birtherism’s glory days by a mysterious character named John Charlton in August 2009. Not much is known about Charlton, who is still listed as the founder of the P&E on the about page.

Mr. Charlton is a natural born American Citizen and devout Christian who founded The Post & Email as an act of faith in Christ Jesus in order to give the common man a vehicle to report the news in his own words to the world. He believes that our country belongs to the people, and that the best natural protection for it is that the people be given a voice in the public forum.  Mr. Charlton is not a registered member of any political party, though he is a staunch opponent of Communism and Fascism.  He started The Post & Email as a blog in August 2009 and converted it to an electronic newspaper in December of that year.

This is the first in a multi-part series about the Post & Email. In future articles I will cover who runs it, how it distorts the news, and the seamy cast of characters it supports and attracts.

Anti-birther, attorney, and author of the book Bulllspotting, Loren Collins determined that Charlton was a pseudonym for a person named John Bugnolo. Loren didn’t use any fancy investigative techniques. He merely sent the P&E a small donation and waited to see who endorsed the check. Although the Post & Email was incorporated in Wyoming Bugnolo (Charlton) appears to live in Massachusetts. I was able to find that The Post & Email, Inc. was originally incorporated on January 28, 2010 in Wyoming with John  C. Bugnolo listed as the sole officer. The filing listed an address of 2710 Thomes Ave. in Cheyenne, WY.

This address turns up as a small house pictured below:

Looks can be deceiving however. It turns out the the same address is home to 2000 Wyoming corporations including Wyoming Corporate Services, Inc. who registers all these corporations to help hide their true identity. This operation was the subject of an article published by Reuters titled Special Report: A little house of secrets on the Great Plains published in 2011. The authors Kelly Carr and Brian Grow wrote:

The secretive business havens of Cyprus and the Cayman Islands face a potent rival: Cheyenne, Wyoming.

At a single address in this sleepy city of 60,000 people, more than 2,000 companies are registered. The building, 2710 Thomes Avenue, isn’t a shimmering skyscraper filled with A-list corporations. It’s a 1,700-square-foot brick house with a manicured lawn, a few blocks from the State Capitol.

Neighbors say they see little activity there besides regular mail deliveries and a woman who steps outside for smoke breaks. Inside, however, the walls of the main room are covered floor to ceiling with numbered mailboxes labeled as corporate “suites.” A bulky copy machine sits in the kitchen. In the living room, a woman in a headset answers calls and sorts bushels of mail.

A Reuters investigation has found the house at 2710 Thomes Avenue serves as a little Cayman Island on the Great Plains. It is the headquarters for Wyoming Corporate Services, a business-incorporation specialist that establishes firms which can be used as “shell” companies, paper entities able to hide assets.

Other filings show that in March 2010 Sharon Rondeau was added as the Director and President of The Post & Email, Inc. with a business address at 2710 Thomes Ave. in Cheyenne, WY. By the end of 2010 the annual report no longer listed Bugnolo as an officer but listed Sharon Rondeau as President and Director and Gerald Rondeau as Treasurer and Director.

In September 2011 Sharon Rondeau filed to dissolve the Wyoming corporation. All the corporate public documents can be found at the Wyoming Secretary of State web page. I searched the Connecticut Secretary of State’s web site but could find no indication that the Post & Email incorporated in Rondeau’s state of residence.

I searched for information on John Bugnolo. I could only find a few hits. There is a John Bugnolo on Facebook who lives in Massachusetts, and that matches an address given on some of the P&E corporate documents.   I am pretty sure this is John Charlton. He certainly matches Charlton’s political leanings. His Facebook page features hatred of Islam and has all sorts of right wing nutbaggery. However, there is no mention of the Post & Email or any association with it or Sharon Rondeau.

This is an example of Bugnolo’s venom:

Worthless Canadian Trash Justin Trudeau…to bad they don’t have the second admendent [sic] as in the USA. This piece of Socialist Garbage would be 7 feet under already!

Oddly enough, John and his brother Dimitri have formed a company to market board games that is called Bison Games, Inc.

Bison Games, Inc. was registered in Wyoming in 2015 under a different address and a different registering agent than the P&E. This time Bugnolo used United States Corporations, Inc. This appears to be another corporate registration mill in Wyoming consisting of one person.

In upcoming articles we will address questions like who is Sharon Rondeau and what passes for news at the Post & Email.

Apuzzo loses again: Vermont Supreme Court rules unanimously against Brooke Paige

H. Brooke Paige, Photo: JESS ALOE/FREE PRESS)

On Friday the Vermont Supreme Court ruled 5-0 that an appeal of a district court dismissal of case filed by H. Brooke Paige was moot because the election is over and there is nothing within the court’s power and jurisdiction that it could do to grant relief to Mr. Paige since the election is over. Mr. Paige with the assistance of Birther attorney had filed the action against the Vermont Secretary of State James Condos, Attorney General William Sorrel, candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Paige wanted Cruz and Rubio’s names removed from the 2016 primary ballot because he claimed they were not “natural born citizens” of the Untied States and therefore ineligible to serve as president.

Paige (with help from his legal advisor Mario Apuzzo) argued that his appeal was not moot and that the court should issue an advisory opinion as to whether or not Cruz and Rubio were natural born citizens because they were likely to run again 2020. The court found that the appeal was moot because the election was over and neither Cruz nor Rubio had been elected. The court also found that Paige’s claim that he could be harmed again if Cruz or Rubio ran in 2020 was speculative. On this point two of the five judges did not agree that the legal standard for capable of repetition had not been met. All five judges agreed on the dismissal however.

I believe this may be the last of the 2016 “Birther” cases. Paige and Apuzzo could of course file an appeal to SCTOUS, which would almost certainly not be heard. If anyone knows of an active case please leave a comment.

This brings Mr. Apuzzo’s record in Birther court actions to a perfect 0 for 16. I updated the scorecard on Apuzzo’s cases to reflect the current loss.

This is the full decision:

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Carl Gallups “Obot Challenge”

On his PPSimmons Facebook page Carl Gallups issued the following challenge:

CHALLENGE TO OBAMABOTS – AGAIN …
(Obamabots silent as crickets on this one)

How is it that Trump is LYING about Russia (when no evidence exists that he is lying) but Obama is NOT lying about his fake BC when tons of forensic evidence exists to the contrary – complete with a 5-year criminal investigation by America’s 4th largest sheriff’s office and verified by two international document expert entities?

Now – just HOW does THAT work?

Where to start?

It’s amazing that someone who presents himself as a “man of God” could continue to tell such blatant lies. Gallups is a young earth creationist who doesn’t believe in evolution and regularly parades conspiracy nuts on his show and YouTube channel. These include the disgusting and kooky guy who goes by the moniker “Barry Soetoro Esquire” who is a Sandy Hooker Truther. Gallups let BSE peddle his disgusting views that no children died in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT since they were all actors in a staged event. Gallups didn’t contradict a single point. He just let BSE spew his filth. Gallups runs something called the “PPSIMMONS network”,which is actually nothing more than a collection of a web page, a YouTube channel, and a Facebook page. He has a weekly radio program on a small right wing station in Milton, FL in the panhandle that might reach into rural Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia on a good day. Gallups likes to make believe he runs a huge media empire.

First, what exactly does “lying about Russia” suppose to mean?  The Russian issue for the Trump campaign and Trump presidency is a complex and ever evolving scandal. That scandal has grown to such a proportion that committees in both the House and Senate are conducting hearings and Trumps own Deputy Attorney General has appointed a Special Counsel to look into the various scandals involving Russia and the Trump administration. We know that Trump appointees and surrogates have lied about their ties to Russia. Michael Flynn was fired as Trump’s national security advisor for failing to disclose his ties to Russia. Both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and even Trumps own son in law failed to disclose contacts with Russian officials. Multiple intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia tried to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election on the side of Donald Trump.

Putin:

If Gallups is claiming Trump never lied in any claim concerning his association with Putin and Russia that is easy to disprove. Trump claimed during the presidential campaign in 2016 that he had never met Vladimir Putin and no association with him. Trumps own words belie that claim. This article by Michael Isakoff and linked videos show Trump lied about his contacts with Putin. Trump also has lied various times about his financial dealings with Russia.

Tape shows Trump contradicting himself (again) on Putin meeting

Russian Business Ties:

In an interview in October 2016 Trump said:

“The reason they blame Russia is they are trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know about Russia, but not about the inner workings. I have no business there and no loans from Russia. I have a great balance sheet.”

Yet we know that Trump moved the Miss Universe beauty pageant to Moscow and in 2008 and Trump’s own son Donald Trump, Jr. said at a real estate conference “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.” and “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia,”.

Politico: Yes, there is evidence Trump does business with Russians

So there are two easily documented lies that Trump repeated about his connections with Putin and Russia. Anyone can find these on Google in a matter of minutes. Apparently Gallups’ research skills are lacking however. Dare we say willful ignorance?

Obama Birth Certificate:

Gallups tried to manufacture an equivalence of the Trump Russian scandals to the Obama birth certificate controversy. He references the investigation conducted by Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse led by commander Mike Zullo. This is absurd. On this blog I have documented repeatedly the many issues with Mike Zullo’s investigation and conclusion that President Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent. Gallups cites two “international document entities”. First even that short statement is incorrect since one of these “entities” is Reed Hayes from Hawaii. Last time I looked Hawaii was one of the 50 states of the USA.

Let’s look at what those “international entities” did for Zullo and actually said. Zullo went through hundreds of document forensic examiners before finding these two. He said he had contacted 212 examiners before finding graphologist Reed Hayes. Hayes was willing to hire himself out to Zullo and examine the PDF file posted on the White House web site. He never examined the original document. He apparently didn’t even verify that the PDF file given to him by Zullo was actually the same as the one posted at the White House web site.He said he examined a PDF file given to him by Zullo.

We don’t know how many more examiners Zullo had to contact before finding the Italian firm FORLAB. Zullo has never released either report and has only selectively quoted from them. Neither firm stated with certainty that President Obama’s Birth certificate was fraudulent. Both Reed Hayes and FORLAB admitted all they examined was a PDF file given to them by Mike Zullo. Reed Hayes put up a page at his blog to counter some of the false claims about his work made by Birthers like Carl Gallups. Hayes writes:

Under normal circumstances, document examiners who are investigating allegedly altered material work only with original documentation.  In cases where official documents are in question, other similar official documents of the same time period are required for examination and comparison.  Any statements of opinion that I have given are therefore contingent upon examination of the original paper document allegedly in the hands of the State of Hawaii Department of Health.

In short, my examination does not prove that President Obama’s valid Certificate of Live Birth does or does not exist at the State of Hawaii Department of Health.  If the certificate is in fact at the Department of Health, my examination still does not prove that that document is valid.  Again, I have not examined the original and can therefore not be certain as to the authenticity of the COLB.

Hayes also discusses how his credentials have been misrepresented:

I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, “the nation’s foremost document examiner” as some are touting. …

I have never stated in any of my cases that I am “100 percent certain” of anything.  Some have indicated that my report to Mr. Zullo concludes with the statement that “I have never seen a document that is so seriously questionable in so many respects” and “the birth certificate posted on the Whitehouse website on April 27, 2011 is entirely fabricated.”  However, as stated previously and also clarified in my report, I have no knowledge if in fact that document represents the birth certificate in possession of the State of Hawaii.  My report also makes it clear that I suspect the document released by the White House may be a fabricated document intended to bring down President Obama.

Some have erroneously publicized that I work for the Perkins Coie law firm in Seattle.  Others have stated that I have been retained by attorneys at Perkins Coie to render testimony.  Still others claim that I am an expert witness for the firm.  Perkins Coie appears on my list of clients because I worked one (count them—one) questioned handwriting case for the firm in the early ‘90s.  The matter settled out of court and I did not render testimony at deposition, hearing, or trial.  I am not an expert witness for Perkins Coie nor am I associated with them in any way aside from that lone case from years ago.  It amazes me how people can make something out of nothing in order to lend support to their agenda.

I have not seen any public statement by FORLAB on their report and analysis so all we know is what was recounted by Mike Zullo at the December 15, 2016 [not a] press conference and what he has said in subsequent interviews. Apparently FORLAB confirmed what blogger NBC and I claimed: that the origin of the PDF file posted at WhiteHouse.gov in 2011 was a Xerox model 7655 scanner/copier/printer. Zullo admitted this in an interview on the Hagmann Report. I discussed this in a previous article Mike Zullo admits the Obots were correct all along

The bottom line:

What neither Gallups nor Zullo will tell you is one undeniable fact. Under the US Constitution there is a single and ultimate authority who can determine whether Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent. It isn’t Mike Zullo. It isn’t Joe Arpaio, the MCSO or even the state of Arizona. It is the state of Hawaii. Hawaii has verified that they supplied a representative for Barack Obama with two certified copies of his “long form” birth certificate and that the information on the copy posted at the White House web site in 2011. This makes any discussion about layers, kerning, certificate numbers, smiley face optical illusions, typography, or any other Hawaii birth certificate pointless and superfluous.  Of course Zullo has spent time trying to slander and libel the state of Hawaii. He has made the false claim that Hawaii has loose record keeping or is prone to issuing false documents. He has presented no evidence to support that claim, none whatsoever. He has not identified any person who might have been involved in an forgery despite claiming several times they had a “person of interest”. Do you wonder why? It is because he would have been opening himself and Arpaio to a libel charge.

If a law enforcement agency or a legal party needed to verify a vital statistics record there is exactly one place to go. It isn’t a graphologist in Hawaii or a forensic laboratory in Italy. It would be the governmental authority who issued the document. That is what two secretaries of state did when they relented to Birther pressure in 2012 and asked for forfication of Barack Obama’s place of birth. They asked Hawaii and Hawaii verified the authenticity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Hawaii has issued certified birth certificates twice and verified them twice. No birth in history is as well documented as Barack Obama’s birth in Hawaii.

The most Reverend Gallups is welcome to supply any rebuttal he wishes and I will post it here without editing. That’s something he is afraid to do on his own Facebook page. When a commenter even mildly challenged the brave pastor he deleted the entire discussion.