Treacher catches actor, liberal Democrat activist and possible New York mayoral candidate Alec Baldwin flirting with Trutherism on twitter. Aside: After this and Weiner, Democrats should seriously consider banning themselves from twitter. It’s clearly too much of a hazard for them to handle.
But back to Baldwin. He sets up his trutherism in a series of three tweets. The first was a response to a fan’s tweet, which said:
“What lie do you keep telling yourself is true?” That is a great question.
After tweeting that response, Baldwin tweeted:
Do you think Bin Laden was behind 9-11?
And then tweeted this:
What is Amalgam Virgo?
Like Treacher, I’d never heard of Amalgam Virgo. Here’s what Jim found out about it.
Operation Amalgam Virgo is a CINCNORAD joint task counter-terrorist and field training exercise (FTX) carried out in Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida on early June 2001. NORAD sponsored the multi-agency planning exercise involving the hypothetical scenario of a cruise missile or UAV launched by a terrorist group [1]. Osama Bin Laden was pictured on the cover of the proposal for the exercise. Key military players involved in the exercise also included personnel from the 1st Air Force battalion, the U.S. National Guard, the U.S. Reserve forces, and the U.S. Navy.
Several naval ships including the USS Yorktown and the Navy Aegis cruiser were dispatched to the Gulf of Mexico as part of the multi-service anti-cruise missile operation. Military land personnel from the 1st Air Force also engaged in gathering radar information on low-level targets by using the Joint-Based Expeditionary Connectivity Center (JBECC), a mobile shelter capable of being deployed to high-risk regions while providing early warning signals on cruise missile attacks.
First, let’s lay it on the line: Alec Baldwin believes that the United States military perpetrated 9-11 in a joint attack on the US homeland. That out of the way, can any of my fellow former airdales see what’s wrong with that write-up? Clue:
Key military players involved in the exercise also included personnel from the 1st Air Force battalion, the U.S. National Guard, the U.S. Reserve forces, and the U.S. Navy.
The “1st Air Force battalion” doesn’t exist. The US Air Force doesn’t have a single “battalion” at all. Its org structure goes from airman to section to flight to group to squadron to wing to numbered air force to major command. Battalions are for the ground-pounders. If the minds behind “Amalgam Virgo” got that very basic and verifiable fact wrong, what else did they get wrong? Probably everything. There’s more than one “Navy Aegis cruiser,” for example. “Aegis” means “shield” and is a missile defense system found on both cruisers and destroyers. Say it with me, Alec: Twitter is my enemy, but Google is my friend.
But when you’re as simultaneously as self-involved, pretentious, egotistical and ignorant as Alec Baldwin evidently is, facts don’t really matter. It’s more the pity that Baldwin’s best work is in those credit card ads he’s currently doing…in which he plays himself as self-involved, egotistical, etc.
(h/t Ace)
I am shocked that Mr. Baldwin is a 9-11 truther. That puts him right up there with Van Jones. Equally shocked that his facts are wrong. He must not think much of our military. Or is he merely ‘acting’. He does love the stage so.
Mr. Baldwin is NOT a truther. If one is interested in TRUTH and FACTS and bothers to research Mr. Baldwin’s actual Tweets on this subject, one will discover that Mr. Baldwin was merely posing questions as food for thought and requesting feedback, said feedback to be used as part of a panel discussion he is chairing next month about 9/11 and the anniversary. At NO TIME, did Mr. Baldwin state or even hint that he is a Truther. Ridiculous. Conservatives will go to any stupid length to try to paint well known liberals with a controversial brush.
The “just asking questions” BS is the hallmark of Twoofers and Holocaust deniers. The “questions” they ask have readily available answers; in both cases they simply refuse to learn.
Idunno. His Schweddy balls sketch(es) on SNL may have been as good as the credit card ads.
Oh … and Bryan, you and the rest of PJ are my heroes.
As big an idiot as this guy is, I can’t figure out why he isn’t challenging Obama for the Dem 2012 nomination.
The rarest bird on the planet is an actor who actually knows what they are talking about. ( I believe Tom Selleck and his advocacy for second amendment rights should be noted here)
Remember, these are people who pretend to be someone they are not, and have all their lines written for them. Actors should keep their mouths shut about politics and social issues. ( Except Tom Selleck on the second amendment )
Ha! Yeah, I said it. If you dont agree with me then shut-up.
You imply that a cruise missile attack from and Aegis cruiser isn’t possible, since the Aegis system is for self defense. For clarification, Aegis is the radar system on Aegis cruisers (and destroyers). Such vessels also carry cruise missiles, so a cruise missile attack from an Aegis cruiser is quite within the realm of the possible (just ask the folks in Baghdad).
I implied no such thing. Having actually spent time on a couple of Aegis-equipped ships, I know better. I was merely pointing out that the reference to a “Navy Aegis cruiser” in the Amalgam Virgo write-up made no sense.
And the Wikipedia entry you quote has since been updated, and the Air Force participant now is the “1st Air Force,” with no battalion mentioned.
So an entire numbered Air Force participated now, and yet no one has talked? LOL.
I’ll confess I wondered if the Air Force had a ground component which fielded battalions, perhaps for perimeter security at air bases and so forth. Hell, back during WW2 the Luftwaffe actually had a whole Panzer Division. That aside, it does seem a bit silly for the Air Force to have a battalion. And “the” Navy Aegis Cruiser is somewhat similar to someone telling the cops to follow the Toyota Camry. The Navy has a few of these ships, and they have individual names. That was Bryan’s point. There is no “the” here, perhaps an “a” but no “the.”
The only Baldwin who isn’t a waste of human skin is Stephen, because he is a die-hard Christian.
The other two should be ground up as mulch.
Less Alec Baldwin, more Adam Baldwin.
You can read Adam’s stuff on the Big Hollywood and other Big sites.
Just to clarify: Adam Baldwin is NOT related to the Baldwin brothers. Adam Baldwin is a fine up-standing, intelligent American actor who contributes to Breitbart’s Big Hollywood and co-stars in the TV series ‘Chuck’. The Baldwin brothers are buffons, except Stephen who gave up drugs and Liberalism, which is kinda redundant.
Actors and other entertainers need to understand that their purpose in life is to alleviate the boredom of those of us with real jobs; Lord knows they’re paid well enough.
Post-modernism has given entertainers an inflated sense of self-importance whereby they think of themselves as the new aristocracy, and therefore part of the ruling class. Trouble is, were they back in time when the aristocracy did actually rule, they themselves would still only be court jesters and whores.
The class of ship currently in commission that carries the Aegis weapon system and is classified as a cruiser (CG) is the ‘Ticonderoga’ class.
There is also a destroyer that carries Aegis as well, the Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers (DDG).
I was a Firecontrolman for 10 years in the USN…and for the uninitiated we are the weapon system techs who service and operate these weapons systems (among others).
The “Aegis cruiser” moniker is a common mistake by folks with only a passing familiarity with the subject as well as those with a lack of attention to detail.
Or nutjobs with tin foil hats.
Baldwin threatened to leave the country if Bush were elected in 2000, so I say he should be forced to live eight years outside the US before he can be deemed eligible for public office!
Baldwin is a first class boob/tool.
Alec Baldwin, meet Eric Lichtlau.
Someone said Amalgam Virgo and Alec asked what it was. he never heard of it. This is completely twisting things. i don’t agree with a lot of what he says but this is a lie, it’s right on his twitter. Read it yourselves.
http://www.1af.acc.af.mil/units/jbecc/index.asp
A quick Google of JBECC will also provide more information regarding similar exercises and the mission. The JBECC was a project that had been in the process in the late ’90s. 9/11 pressed the project into a ACTD (Google it). It started under 1AF (yes, battalion is incorrect and possibly written by an Army O6). It now falls under the AFNORTH 601 AOC for Homeland Defense.
I’m thankful that every exercise and contingency that any of the services prepare for don’t come about. Some are very close to the intel of the time and will overlap with reality. It’s very hard to prepare for the worst if these exercises didn’t test the individuals and units in the manner they do.
This very article breaks this site’s posting rules: “Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.” A number of the responses in this thread are ad hominem attacks. Disappointing, to say the least.
#14…”BIG” is right… “1AF (yes, battalion is incorrect and possibly written by an Army O6)”
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES
Public Hearing
Friday, May 23, 2003
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 216
Washington, DC
GEN. MCKINLEY:
First Air Force is a subordinate command of Air Combat Command, and is responsible to the North American Aerospace Defense Commander for the execution of the air defense mission to protect our nation. First Air Force, as NORAD’s continental United States NORAD region, is responsible for the air defense of the continental United States under the NORAD agreements.
I personally took command of 1st Air Force in the continental United States’s NORAD region on August 1st of 2002, and then became the joint force air component commander for General Eberhardt. This was 11 months after the attacks. I am pleased to say today that when I saw the nature of your questions, that I asked General Eberhardt’s permission, and received it, to invite Major General Retired Larry Arnold, the past commander of 1st Air Force, and the commander on the day of the attacks, that led the command through those trying days during and after the event. He is with us today, and has volunteered to be part of this commission’s hearings. I also asked for probably the best subject matter expert I could find on the chronology, the series of events that is so vital to this commission, to be with us today with your concurrence to walk us through the NORAD timeline.
http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing2/9-11Commission_Hearing_2003-05-23.htm
“Alec Baldwin believes that the United States military perpetrated 9-11 in a joint attack on the US homeland.” I’m sorry, but when and where did he ever say this? Where do you get off speaking for someone else, then somehow implying that an inaccuracy in a Wikipedia post is Baldwin’s fault (see: “Military Ignoramus” in title). You’re the only “ignoramus” I see due to the fact that your research on the topic included referencing an open source encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone with little to no oversight. Also, even if he was a so called “truther,” how does not accepting a government story as 100% truth automatically mean you think the US attacked itself? Even six of the ten 9/11 commission members have cast some doubt on their report being the entire story. Does no one remember the Gulf of Tonkin truth being released in 2005? Governments, just like people, will lie to further their cause. Don’t be so nieve.
AMEN!
Baldwin’s tweet implied he was questioning that bin Laden was responsible for 9/11/01 attacks. Just what he was saying was not just picked up on here, but over at the New Yoker website. They asked for a comment on the tweet and Baldwin’s people backpedaled fast. Go follow the links from the essay.
@caseyinaustin: Just what the heck are you impling in your post? And do not hide behind the “Just asking questions” reply. What charge do you have to make against the US government as to 9/11 beyond what is already known as to not “connecting the dots” etc?
Rifle308
I’m implying that we don’t know the entire story of what happened on September 11th, 2001. Do the research yourself. Six commission members said the same thing. Over 1500 architects and engineers have put their careers in danger by signing a petition asking for further investigation namely of how a third building (WTC Bldg 7) fell like it did or how nano-thermite was in the dust of the ruins. Don’t be afraid to “just ask questions.”
Playing the “Just asking Questions.” game becomes a circular argument, you end up chasing your tail. You are apparently unwilling to make a straight up accusation, if you believe 9/11 was an “inside job” say so, and be ready to defend it.
Popular Mechanics has a new edition of book debunking 9/11 myths coming out, maybe you should give it a read.
Rifle308
That’s my point. I don’t know what happened, but I do know that things have been hidden. I’m not going to make accusations without all the information which I believe we deserve. Do I personally believe we did this to ourselves; no. Do I believe that we could have; yes. Do I believe that some within were complacent; probably. “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
Do you think our government is more or less corrupt now than it was in 1962? Research Operation Northwoods if you ever doubt the lengths to which our government will go.