Whatever Happened to Troy from West Virginia?

As 2014 closes and the 911 "truth" scam is gasping it's last dying breath, my thoughts go back to trolls of yesteryear, one of the sleaziest a man Troy Sexton, who styled himself as "Troy from West Virginia".

Troy made himself something of a "debunker" celebrity confronting "truthers" who almost always were never the actual architects of the truther con.

For instance Troy never bothered Steven "Earth Quake Machines" Jones, Kevin "Nazi apologist" Barrett or my bestest buddy in the world, Craig Lazo aka Killtown and his obsession with Suzanne Jovin and Val McClatchey.   Nope, almost without fail, much like the fake debunker Jaye Powers, Troy targeted people who were duped into the truth movement.  His motives are unclear, but the effect was to support the idea "agents" were trying to disrupt activism, therefore giving a false confirmation to people duped that their activism is real.

Troy's greatest hits include sending nasty emails as Joey P, examples posted at 911blogger:

http://911blogger.com/news/2007-04-25/troy-west-virginia-crosses-line-william-rodriguez

Today folks, Troy from west Virginia has crossed a line.
Troy sent many emails to William that rival the thoughts of Cho Seung-Hui. I have personally never seen more hate filled text in my entire life. I was utterly beside myself at the things that Troy said in his letters.
The FBI hate crimes div has been contacted. I am going to include the text of the letters sent to William by Troy. I will edit the cuss words. I am working with William personally to bring Troy to justice.
WARNING...THESE LETTERS MAY MAKE YOU VERY MAD...AS THEY SHOULD

First let's pause for a moment.  I've highlighted the FBI hates crimes division.  I don't necessarily doubt the poster's intentions, but he wasn't thinking clearly.  If 911 truth is about exposing a US government cover-up, isn't it a bit risky to contact the FBI?

We continue with the hate email in progress:

I joined the Jref forum to answer questions and told them, that once they acted more civil I will be willing to face them. I really want to open a dialogue and clear some of the misconceptions they may have. I found some real nice people there, but also many viscious one. Sadly I received this email of one of their forum members. A coward and an ignnorant. He is referring to the baby I just lost.
Read below and feel free to email him:
William Rodriguez

EMAIL 1
from Joey P hide details 5:03 am (4 hours ago)
to wtcbill@gmail.com
date Apr 25, 2007 5:03 AM
subject Glad your unborn child died
mailed-by yahoo.com
Now why don't you do the same motherf***er? I dare you to meet face to face with the JREF crew. You're gonna be in for a big surprise you f***ing wetback.

EMAIL 2
On 4/25/07, Joey P wrote:
Not only do I need advice on getting those hard to reach s**t stains off the toilet bowl, I sure could use your expert janitorial knowledge on cleaning any hard to reach areas in the bathroom.
Maybe a few radical Islam f***ers at GITMO could spend a few weeks at the Rodriguez trailer. That would be quite fitting for you America hating pieces of s**t. Uh-oh. The NWO's watching. I best scamper off now.

EMAIL 3 And this one directed to LUCUS:
Joey P to me
show details 11:56 am (1½ hours ago)
Tell that dipf**k Lucus I aint no fucking twoofer. Got that Pedro? For s**ts and giggles see what happens when you poor gasoline over your body and strike a match. Do it, Jose. I'm serious you sorry piece of motherf***ing s**t.
So did your ugly f****ing wife shit your little bastard down the toilet. Do the world a favor and dopn't have children a**hole.
I'm having trouble getting some s**t stains off my toilet. I hear you were a janitor. What do you recommend?

EMAIL 4
Joey P to me
show details 9:44 am (3½ hours ago)
Brought to you by the good folks at the JRef forums. It's a f****ing shame you didn't die on 9/11 you f***er. F**k you asswad. Here's hoping that ugly bitch wife of yours dies. F****ing ugly c**t. How can you even f**k that nasty s**t?

Charming fellow that Troy.  He also made a name attacking family members:

 http://911blogger.com/node/15768

 And generally being oboxious, as Jon Gold writes here:

http://911blogger.com/node/14474

Cheered on by the SLC blog, who also feel it's okay to exploit  a 9/11 family member's personal information (see comments about Andrew Bernstein) as long as it can be used as an excuse to have a go at lefty activists they hate.

Troy Sexton was also behind the Killtwoofers blog, a bit of information I literally stumbled across, after demanding ISP traffic information from a source who had records from that time.  It confirmed what I'd suspected for some time, that SLC knew who it was all along.  Trying to blame me for setting up that blog was a sick, twisted game at least one of the SLC blog owners wittingly engaged in with the help of "truther" conartists known to Casseia/Killtown's group.  Brainless writes:

"When I saw the Killtwoofers site I was disgusted: A Sad Cry for Help."

Yeah, he's a real prince.   That ISP by the way(scroll down to update)? 

 Update: an hour later:

After checking ISP traffic records, it does appear this "killtwoofers" is actually Troy from West Virginia.  Visited commentary about himself from a similar Suddenlink dynamic IP address(es) in September and October of 2009:

 Suddenlink Communications 173.80.157.40

The nature of dynamic IPs is an exact match is unlikely.  Unhappily for "Killtwoofers" the ISP can confirm records at the time.

Brainster knew it was Troy all along, and, sadly, I must accept that the more reasonable JamesB did too, if he was monitoring comments and webstats as he claims here:

 Of Course

Of course I condemn this behavior. I specifically posted two days ago that we would not tolerate threats against people. One of the reasons I decided to start monitoring comments was we had people pretending to be others. We would point out that Eric Williams was a Holocaust denier, and magically just minutes later a brand new blogger profile would be created by an alleged "debunker" Holocaust denier, and Jenny would get all "outraged". People can play these silly and offensive games if they want, they will just have to keep them of our site. That doesn't mean I am going to drop everything I am doing and get outraged everytime they do though.
When we point out cases of truther misbehavior, we point to actual real people, with real faces and names like Eric Williams, Kevin Barrett, and Jim Fetzer. We don't just go out and create a blogger profile so we can denounce him 5 minutes later.

JamesB on Sat, 04/21/2007 - 11:54am.

Turns out, actually they do. 

Which regrettably means JamesB will not be able to put this behind him without a formal apology.  Trolling with snarky comments is in no way equivalent to framing and gaslighting the target (Jenny)of a hate blog while protecting the individual (Troy Sexton) who actually made it.

And they there's Troy's arrest for child abuse.  What a guy.

But we don't hear about Troy any more.  Partly its because there are few people involved in the Truth scam who don't know they are pushing a scam.  But it's also because Troy's been tied up....in the legal system.

‘Obsessed’ Dodgers fan arrested in Cincinnati for violating lifetime ban 
‘He’s outta here!’ Troy Sexton, aka ‘Troy from West Virginia’ was arrested at Great American Ball Park during a game between the Reds and Dodgers. The rabid Dodgers follower was barred from downtown Cincinnati stadium after a 2008 melee that delayed the start of the baseball game.

BY Deborah Hastings

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, June 12, 2014, 8:22 PM

Steee-rike! He's out.
A man with a history of abusive behavior was arrested in Cincinnati Tuesday night for violating a lifetime ban and showing up at Great American Ball Park, where the Reds faced the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Troy Sexton, who's come to be known to Dodger followers as "Troy from West Virginia," was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing official business. He also faces a felony burglary count, though it was not clear what prompted that charge.
He is being held in the Hamilton County Jail on a $40,000 bond, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Sexton, 40, of Hurricane, W. Va., was banned from the stadium on the Ohio River in 2008, after his participation in a brawl raised such a ruckus the game was delayed.
He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in that incident. A charge of resisting arrest was dropped.
According to court documents, Sexton came to Tuesday night's game to "shatter lives (in) the next couple days," the Enquirer reported.

In 2009, Sexton had a series of run-ins with authorities in Putnam County, W. Va., after he was arrested for directing a racial slur at the local police chief and for holding one of his sons upside down and pushing another son to the ground at an elementary school football game.

He was sentenced to probation after his wife told the court her husband had a history of mental health issues and hadn't been taking his medication.
He's also under investigation for sending tapes to authorities alleging they contained the sounds of him beating his children.

It was always clear Troy was unwell, to say the least.  Or at least clear to anyone who wasn't cynically supporting Troy's "debunker" efforts that backhandedly gave undue credence to the Truther con.

Troy's "debunker" friends were just as gullible as they thought "truthers" were.  Whodda thought.

Let's Air The Laundry

I haven't covered as much as I planned this year, but you know, real life.
 happens.    Let's take some time out for some random observations and corrections to our collective perceptions.

1.Self proclaimed "debunker" falls for Gamergate con

First up, I'll indulge a spot of pointing and laughing at one of the owners of Screw Loose Change who was spreading gamergate propaganda at JREF.  Either he's a gullible tool, or he's a secret supporter.  For those lucky few who don't know the clusterfuck that is gamergate, here's a relatively short summary.  Basically gamergate is another fringe political front.  But Brainster is very interested in the debunked sex for review angle:

As for the death threats, this post claims that it is most likely that Anita faked them. Ten tweets in 3 minutes, the last of which Anita screen captured 12 seconds after it was posted.

BTW, I find the story about Zoe Quinn sleeping around to get positive reviews for her games more interesting.

 Uh huh.  About that story:

 ...there is no evidence she "slept around for positive reviews." And to be honest I couldn't find anything more boring than someone else's sex life. Why are you interested in who someone else sleeps with?

 But the reply to the "Anita faked it" angle Brainster is pushing is the best:

Twitter does this thing where if somebody puts your Twitter name in their post, you get notified about it immediately. It doesn't strike me as unusual at all that that any Twitter user would be disturbed by the nature of the first few initial tweets and click the name to see the rest, and quickly screenshot such material before it can be erased. If the person who started the account began tweeting while Sarkeesian was logged into Twitter, she would've seen the tweets immediately. No skullduggery or Truthy conspiracism necessary.

 That must have hurt, the owner of a blog mocking the "truth" movement being told by a fellow skeptic to stop being a Gamergate "truther".  Priceless.

2. Next up in the How Far We Have Fallen category is Michael Shermer.

Shermer is best known in "truther" circles as  a debunker celebrity often lauded at the SLC blog:

Screw Loose Change: Michael Shermer on the Truthers

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2008/.../michael-shermer-on-truthers.ht...

Jan 24, 2008 - Uber-skeptic Michael Shermer discusses the troothers stalking his book tour in his latest podcast, and gets a couple of good shots in. The video ...

Screw Loose Change: The Troofer Michael Shermer ...

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../troofer-michael-shermer-harassment....

Jan 30, 2008 - Michael Shermer posts the series of videos from his recent troofer harassment, including the one I made at Powell's. Even more interesting ...

Screw Loose Change: Glenn Beck on the Bill Maher Hecklers

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../glenn-beck-on-bill-maher-hecklers.ht...

Oct 23, 2007 - Hint, he doesn't like them very much. He has on as guests uber-skeptic Dr. Michael Shermer and James Meigs from Popular Mechanics.

Screw Loose Change: When Troofers Annoy

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-troofers-annoy.html

Jan 21, 2008 - I went and saw Dr. Michael Shermer at a booksigning tonight, for his new work on biology and economics, The Mind of the Markets. The speech ...

Screw Loose Change: Shermer Versus Ryan Debate About ...

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../shermer-versus-ryan-debate-about-to....

Nov 8, 2007 - Shermer Versus Ryan Debate About to Start. Click here and choose ... Labels: Kevin Ryan, Michael Shermer, Thom Hartmann. posted by Pat ...

Screw Loose Change: Shermer Versus Ryan Debate Wrapup

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../shermer-versus-ryan-debate-wrapup....

Nov 8, 2007 - Kudos to Michael Shermer for doing a very, very good job. There were only a couple of missteps. Always consider your audience and tailor ...

Screw Loose Change: Troofers Take on New World Order

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/.../troofers-take-on-new-world-order.ht...

Jan 17, 2008 - Incidently, Shermer is on a book tour, so if I can work it into my schedule I will try and go see him next week. ... Labels: Michael Shermer.

Screw Loose Change: Book Review: The Believing Brain

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2011/.../book-review-believing-brain.ht...

Nov 5, 2011 - The rest are interesting, even though I consider Shermer to be somewhat .... What does that have to do with a book by Michael Shermer?

Screw Loose Change: Bits and Pieces

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2011/04/bits-and-pieces.html

Apr 16, 2011 - Nothing much new to report from the Troofer front. Jesse Ventura was on a radio program the other day with Michael Shermer from Skeptic ...

Screw Loose Change: Truthers on NPR Connecticut

screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2011/.../truthers-on-npr-connecticut.ht...

Apr 19, 2011 - Here are some more crazy people, talking to Michael Shermer in a bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnXDU4AiUQ&feature=

Shermer has also been outed in the Skeptic community as a sexual predator and rapist, operating for possibly years with the protection of high ranking members of the community.  A bit like the Catholic Church. The following timeline is from 2008 to 2013:

Timeline of harassment and sexual assault allegations against Michael Shermer

Events during Shermer's debunking Truther phase: 

June 19, 2008 Alison Smith
At The Amazing Meeting, Alison Smith, then-JREF employee through August 2010, and founder of the now defunct Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal Society (down) (cached copy), alleges that Michael Shermer plied her with alcohol to the point of losing time and memory, then brought her to his hotel room and had non-consensual sex with her. (This is known, in legal circles and to us Social Justice Warriors and feminazis, as rape.)

September, 2008 Pamela Gay
Gay has recounted in several places, without naming names, a story that while being introduced to Michael Shermer at Dragon*Con in 2008, he made a drunken lunge at her breasts instead of shaking her hand. DJ Grothe has related this story a number of times to a number of people, indicating that he had intervened to stop the public groping from happening.

May 2010 Ashley Miller
At a dinner event she attended featuring PZ Myers, Ashley encounters Michael Shermer, who allegedly spoke with her for several minutes while massaging his genitals through his jeans. She describes the incident here.

May 23rd, 2012 pseudonymous commenter Miriamne
A comment left at Friendly Atheist names Michael Shermer as allegedly having harassed her, and “trying to sleep with a new young woman every TAM”.

Disgusting doesn't begin to cover it.  While one is tempted to blame Randi and he is ultimately responsible for what happens in his organization, it speaks well of him or at least of his pragmatism, that he's fired  DJ Grothe formerly in charge of the JREF forums(and apparently an enabler of Shermer) and retaken the helm personally.  

Nonetheless, it's a bit of a mystery why it too so long.  I suspect Randi is very conservative, and while intelligent, it makes him susceptible to a certain type of charmer.   While leftists can be duped by charm and out right lies, people heavily investing in the authoritarian right are the experts at living in DeNile, especially when that person appears to be a vocal fan and supporter.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Shermer has a questionable history with David Cole.

Mr. Cole-stien , adept conartist and Nazi apologist that he is, claims to have known Shermer since 1993 and has a photo to prove it:

 Cole-stien goes on to rant:

I’ve known little Mikey Shermer since 1993. I tell many interesting stories about this “skeptic” fraud in my book, Republican Party Animal (available from Amazon, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble in the US, Waterstones and Foyles in the UK, Indigo/Chapters in Canada…but enough self-promotion).
Shermy got wind of the fact that I include quite a few pages of conversations that I recorded with him in 1994 – conversations in which he admits to defaming me and lying about my work regarding Holocaust revisionism. So, what did “Mr. Freethinker” do? How did “America’s leading skeptic and defender of free inquiry” respond?
He got his lawyers to serve my publisher with a demand to “refrain from publishing or distributing” my book! This is a man who slams religious institutions for stifling free inquiry and suppressing facts. And he wants to ban a book.
That’s some great skepticizin’ there, Mikey.

 Given Holocaust Deniers don't actually have facts, it's unlikely Shermer was trying to suppress anything that supports the fraud of Holocaust denial.  Much more likely Shermer, already under fire from rape allegations, was in damage control mode, trying to hide the rest of the skeletons in his closet.  At the very least, showing Shermer presented himself to the public in a false light.  For instance, no where in this Donahue show dated 1994 [Disclaimer:video uploader interjects commentary showing they have sympathy with Holocaust "revisionism".  Am seeking a better copy of this show] does Shermer admits he knows Cole previously, apart from a couple of phone calls.  Watching the clip, Donahue wonder's why Shermer is going in where other Jewish groups prefer not to tread.  But if one looks at Shermer/Cole banter and Shermer's pugging his Skeptic magazine, a reason presents itself:  this was great publicity for Shermer's magazine and gave him instant credibility among readers.  Remember this was before the Internet.

 In light of  Cole's exposure as a conartist, and Shermer's association with Cole, one has to wonder exactly how much of the truther/debunker/holocaust denial/forum trolling was a deliberate confidence game using JREF forums as a platform as an outpost of the cultural wars.  Remember, in the beginning the 911 truth con was pitched to the Left and the loudest debunkers come from the Right.

Last Notes on Shermer's friend Cole:
- Earlier clip from show, Cole reiterates, in spite of his Jewish background, that he's an Atheist. [Disclaimer:video uploader interjects commentary showing they have sympathy with Holocaust "revisionism".  Am seeking a better copy of this show]

 - The entire claim pushed by Nazi apologists that Cole was driven into hiding by Jews is skewed:  it wasn't Jews or "Zionists", but a man called Irv Rubin who represented a fringe rightwing extremist group.  A brief reading of Wikipedia will show Rubin in no way represents the actions of mainstream Jews or persons who object to anti-Semitism.

A note about fellow Donahue TV participant Bradley Smith from the ADL:

 Though he often tries to present himself as a free speech activist, Bradley Smith has functioned as a propagandist for the Holocaust denial movement since 1983. He has achieved his greatest notoriety as the director of the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust, whose mission is to disseminate Holocaust denial to students on college campuses. In more recent lectures promoting his book, Break His Bones, Smith has sought to refocus his message on the free speech issue and to “decriminalize Holocaust history.” Privately, he admits that his aim continues to be promoting “revisionism” and anti-Israel propaganda.

3. Last in the Laundry airing is Mia Dolan.


The "Mia Dolan" I know was responsible for exposing "gretavo" as Gustavo Espada, a member of Fetzer's Scholars group(a fact Espada has never admitted) in comments at the Daily Kos, where 911blogger users like "Cassiea" and "Vesa" were claiming to spread the truth.  This was in 2006, but I never knew about it until years later, unfortunately.  It would have been much easier to see it was all a scam by early 2007 if I had.

Sadly, Mia Dolan, however useful they've been confirming the Scholars/911blogger/Wtvdemolition scam, has chosen the screen name of a woman who claims to be a psychic:

Mia Dolan is an Isle of Sheppey-born best-selling author^{[citation needed]} and self-proclaimed psychic based in the United Kingdom. She writes and teaches at her own psychic school.^[1]

 While I personally know people who are "psychic readers"- basically talented empathic cold readers who attribute their skills to intuition and/or spirit  guides, the money they "make" is a negligible gratuity and no different from visiting a therapist or priest.
 
When people are making thousands of dollars off so called psychic powers, that's a game changer.  Dolan has been mentioned on James Randi's forum.

The "Mia" at Dailykos appears to be in Minnesotta, at least according to their blog, Minnesota DFL Caucus Reminder (with Poll).

Nonetheless, their choice of screen name should make one cautious about where exactly they're coming.  


That's all for now.  Given the convoluted nature of the "truther" fraud, this is unlikely to be the last of the laundry aired....