Has it been ten years already?

And thus began one of the oddest occurrences in America political history.

At first I, along with my fellow Alaskans, celebrated the first female governor giving birth to a baby while in office, which was also obviously a first.

But then.....well we all know what happened then.

I think my only real regret after all of these years is that I could never figure out exactly why, how, or from where.

Lots of theories, some of them frankly a little insane.

But no definitive answers.

All we know for sure is that whatever Palin thought she was going to achieve by making this decision, it is clearly not what ended up happening.

Instead of living in the White House with full time nannies seeing to little Trig's needs, she is stuck back in Wasilla hawking weight loss products on the internet with her baby factory of a daughter.

As a busy 🏒mom I need all the energy I can get! I gave up morning coffee for a healthier option suggested by Bristol - @teamiblends teas work! No mid-day crash, steady energy - a lifesaver! -SP
Get 15% off with: “PALIN15” and check it out here! https://t.co/Kq5V3P2UF5 pic.twitter.com/uR7GTmOQzA

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) April 18, 2018

Oh, how the not so mighty have fallen.

Sarah Palin is still getting speaking gigs thanks to Trig.

Courtesy of My Central Jersey: 

Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Party nominee for vice president, will speak at the 2018 New Jersey Right to Life (NJRTL) Banquet Dinner on April 20. 

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency, 2 Albany St., New Brunswick. Speaker, teacher and author David Hajduk will serve as master of ceremonies. 

"We've actually been trying to get Sarah for a very long time," NJRTL Executive Director Marie Tasy said. "We are really excited that we are finally going to have Sarah come to New Jersey. She is an internationally sought speaker and a pro-life leader. We think her life experience is certainly one that people are very interested in." 

Tasy said Palin has a child with Down syndrome. 

"She does speak about her experiences when she found out she was carrying a child with Down syndrome," Tasy said. "I think it's certainly very impressive and inspirational to many women who face unexpected prenatal diagnosis and choose life. 

"She is a great example of a woman who obviously chose life for this child. It's a great example to other women. It's especially inspiring now and is such a contrast to what we're seeing in places like Iceland who have virtually exterminated all children with Down syndrome through abortion." 

Is still find this unbelievable.

It has been almost seven years since I wrote a post that offered definitive proof that Sarah Palin faked her 2008 pregnancy and birth, and STILL people refuse to accept that Sarah Palin is a ginormous fraud.

Man who knew that faking a pregnancy could be so lucrative?

So apparently now Sarah Palin is inserting herself into actual news stories in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.

Courtesy of the Ima Irrelevant's Facebook page: 

So Hillary's campaign stylist apparently leaked to the NYT she wore a white pantsuit to her convention as homage to the democrat female politician, Geraldine Ferraro, who'd also worn white. I was asked why I wore white, too. For the record - I wore it in '08 because it was the outfit with no baby barf encrusted on the shoulder. 

Okay well first off I think we all know that nobody asked her anything about any white outfit, which is why she can't link to an actual article.

And secondly has anybody else noticed that the last nine or ten posts on her Facebook page, besides this one, ALL link to the Independent Journal site which I assume means that they are literally the last place where Palin is welcome to post her obnoxious opinions besides her Facebook page.

So recognizing that makes me wonder if anybody even cares anymore about the information concerning her and her family that I am planning to post this next week?

It is true that the story of Track Palin's might have been/might not have been incarceration manged to attract some attention, but even that only lasted about a day, with nobody even bothering to follow up to find out exactly what REALLY happened there.

Has Sarah Palin now been rendered so irrelevant that nobody even cares anymore?

Would even proof positive that she did not give birth to Trig cause a significant ripple in today's daily news cycles?

I have to tell you, I'm beginning to think the answer might be no, it wouldn't.

Bristol Palin shares photo of Dakota Meyer finally spending time with his child.

too cute not to share

A photo posted by Bristol Palin (@bsmp2) on Mar 24, 2016 at 11:40am PDT

"Too cute not to share."

Yes it is oh so cute to taunt a man over what he is missing by not spending time with his newborn, then fighting him in court over visitation using a non-existent nursing schedule, and then making him fly thousands of miles to see her while still fighting over how much time she can be with him.

And the sad part is that this is just the beginning for Dakota.

It only gets harder and crazier from here.

Your President's Day inspirational post courtesy of Sarah Palin. Try not to laugh.

Okay so if you're like me your first response to this is derisive laughter.

Which is actually my response to a lot of things that Sarah Palin says, wears, or gives birth to.

However then I took a moment to give this a little thought, ie the coffee kicked in, and it occurred to me that in fact Sarah Palin had been a source of inspiration.

For instance when I first heard that Palin had been selected as John McCain's running mate, I determined to learn more about her.

And I did.

Not only that but I was also inspired to look into all facets of corruption up here in Alaska and elsewhere. (Talk about the stuff of nightmares.)

I was also inspired to give voice to those who had stories to tell about the Palins that were being ignored by the MSM. (Though not always.)

I was inspired to help those who had been hurt by the Palins and had no place to voice their frustrations.

And finally I was inspired to spend more time working on this blog, which up to the day of the announcement that Palin was McCain's running mate had sort of been an afterthought.

So, and I cannot believe I am saying this, thank you Sarah Palin for inspiring me.

And doesn't it feel good to know that you are partially responsible for the success of IM?

Oh don't bother answering, the look in your eyes says it all.

Sarah Palin greatly appreciates being chosen by Newmax, as one of "100 Most Influential Pro-Life Advocates" based mostly on her faked pregnancy.

Courtesy of Hypocritical Hattie's Facebook page:

I greatly appreciate a respected media leader, Newsmax, acknowledging the importance of acting on our Founders' commitment to protecting innocent Americans' God-given right to LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, no matter their age. And to even be mentioned in the same breath as many of our culture warriors on this list - I mean Phyllis Schaffly and reps from Concerned Women for America and Susan B. Anthony List? I'm not worthy - but it's the kind of a humbling experience that strengthens resolve to making my life's work useful to the cause of helping save America. (Her "life's work?") Our nation's majority understands respect for life, and I'm sure I speak for others here when I say we're more committed than ever to working on their behalf to open the eyes and hearts of any in a lost culture who were led to believe it's somehow conscionable, profitable and even celebratory to kill a child for convenience. (Says Ms. Wite Out.) By the grace of God, we won't let you down. 

--Sarah Palin

Palin then links to this article over at Newsmax.

There they place her on the list in third place, right behind Franklin Graham and David Daleiden, the guy who created those doctored Planned Parenthood videos.

In the description they wrote, "Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor — Palin proudly doted on “perfectly beautiful” infant son Trig during her address to the 2008 Republican National Convention. Some 40 million viewers learned Trig had been prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome. Palin, the “mama grizzly” who ran for vice president, has been revered by the pro-life community ever since."

So after all of these years that phony pregnancy is still paying off for Palin. 

Not very well of course, but still paying off a little.

Of course this final babygate story remains my great white whale. Now that Palin has lost all credibility as a potential candidate, political king maker, and Christian this remains the final nail to drive into her coffin of irrelevance.

But I'm working on it.

I actually have a new approach to the babygate story that I am pursuing, as well the possibility of an interview with somebody with some very interesting things to share.

Just waiting for some final pieces to fall into place.

Keep those fingers crossed.

Wonkette takes notice that Bristol Palin's story about exactly when she knew that Trig had Down syndrome keeps changing.

First off I have to say that I love the title of Wonkette's post, "Bristol Palin So Glad She Didn’t Abort Her Mom’s Baby."

Something about that makes me think that the folks at Wonkette are among those of us who know the truth about Sarah Palin's fifth pregnancy.

As for the actual article, Wonkette at first relays the story told by Palin about her flirtation with abortion and when she claims to have first learned that Trig had that pesky extra chromosome don'tcha know.

It made her a “pro-life” hero. And then her fail-spawn Bristol also “chose” not to do the thing they believe no one should choose, and she was a “pro-life” hero too! And they were all so happy they’d both chosen not to do abortions to their babies, hooray! 

Then Wonkette takes note of the fact that Bristol is having a fairly difficult time keeping the story straight about just when SHE learned that Trig was going to be the intelligent one in the family.

One version from a 2013 post on her ghostwritten blog says this: 

When I found out Mom was pregnant with a baby who would have Down syndrome, I confess. I was scared. I didn’t know what it would mean for his life or for ours. 

But then in a more recent blog post, she said this:  

We (the kids in my family) didn’t know Trig was Down Syndrome until after he was a few hours old. Looking back now, I’m glad we didn’t know. We would’ve built up preconceived ideas about what our brother would be like and worried too much about it. Trig is one of our biggest blessing (along with Tripp of course) and really is the light of our lives!

That version of course more closely jives with the Willow diagnosed him at first sight story that all of us have heard in the past.

I actually wrote about that 2013 post myself when it first showed up, so we have already covered the fact that the Palins cannot keep their stories straight. (Kind of like when Palin herself forgot that Trig was supposed to have been born in the Valley and not in Anchorage.)

You see that's the problem with lies.

It is just so hard to keep them all straight in your head.

ESPECIALLY when you tell as many as the Palin clan is famous for telling.

(BTW do yourself a favor and meander through some of those comments over on Wonkette. Those folks are having a field day!)

Sarah Palin attends pro-life rally in Washington, proclaims that the movement gave her the courage to give "birth" to Trig.

The lovely @Coynedit standing for women with Sarah Palin and Lila Rose! #WomenBetrayed pic.twitter.com/F5r2BKMDnd

— Melody Wood (@Melodia_wood) September 10, 2015

Courtesy of Life Site News: 

The pro-life movement has convinced an untold number of women to keep their babies. One of those women was Sarah Palin. 

Palin told the "Women Betrayed" pro-life event in Washington, D.C., this afternoon that she has never forgotten the day she learned that her youngest son, Trigg, would be born with Down syndrome. She was 12 weeks pregnant at the time - the first trimester.

Palin then went on to attack Planned Parenthood and trot out her Trig Palin birth mythology.

"Of course, the option is there to join the other 85 to 90 percent of moms who are told their babies have Down syndrome and abort their children," because, in her opinion, Planned Parenthood convinces mothers they are inadequate to raise such a child. 

That's when she drew upon all the intellectual, and spiritual, reasons she had learned to believe that no child should be aborted for any reason. 

"I've always been pro-life, but I've never been asked to walk the walk," she said, emotion rising in her voice. 

Tremendous pressure faces every woman "when you're faced with that decision," she said, choking back tears.

She was "choking back tears?" Oh I need to see the footage to believe that!  


She credited "God convincing me from day one" that every life has purpose - but she said the pro-life movement helped dispel the nagging voices that tried to justify abortion. She spent time "standing on the message," she said. 

'I had to recall all of the rallies, all of the interviews I've seen, all of the ads that run that are pro-life," she said. "That reminded me that - yeah! - we can do it." 

"And it's worth it. Yes, absolutely, we can do it." 

When Trigg was born, "God changed my heart, and my mind, and my eyes," Palin would confess. "I said, 'Hey, we won! My kid's got more chromosomes than your kid.'"

Well her political career is over, and she is now even being called a clown by the likes of Glenn Beck, but Palin can still take refuge behind her anti-abortion creds.

Of course WE all know, and have proven that her story is all bullshit, but I am not sure we will ever convince these people of that fact.

But I sure intend to keep on trying.

One has to wonder why nobody in the audience asked Palin where Trig was right now?

Or asked her exactly how much time she has spent with the child who "God changed her heart" to care for?

Or even asked her why, if she was so darn tooting pro-life, she bothered having an amniocentesis in the first place?

I really cannot believe how stupid some people are sometimes.

Well it appears that there are other bloggers out there who do not think we should stop pursuing babygate either.

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:  

Rumors, innuendo and inconclusive photographs do not a true story make, but the fact of the matter is that seven years after the birth of Trig Paxson Van Palin, there is no proof that right-wing sweetheart Sarah Palin is his biological mother and evidence he may be her grandson. 

If you believe that I - or anyone else - has no business pursuing the question of whether John McCain's 2008 running mate put over an enormous hoax on the American public because the whole idea is so . . . well, yucky, then you need read no further. Besides which, a kid with disabilities having a home with a family that has plenty of dough is enough for many people who are averse to questioning Palin's serial evasions. 

But if you, like me, remain curious about the evasions concerning her alleged pregnancy and Trig's birth, as well as her unwillingness to provide any proof to tamp down rumors that she faked the birth of the Down syndrome child, then stick around. Palin still will not even release a copy of Trig's birth certificate although she hectored Barack Obama to release his. 

This story deserves to have legs because the former half-term Alaska governor turned author and reality show princess and most recently Tea Party carnival sideshow freak not only has not gone away. 

She continues to inject herself into national politics, having campaigned early on for the 2012 Republican president nomination until even she realized that her brand was tarnished despite a small but hard-core conservative constituency that continues to cling to her every statement as if they were Biblical missives.

Gee all of that sounds awfully familiar to all of us here on IM. Nice to hear it said someplace else though, isn't it?

C and L then links to a post over at Kiko's House, updated from 2011, which does an admirable job of laying out Palin's birth story, as well as all of the reasons that it does not hold water.

The author, Shaun Mullins, also quotes from Geoffrey Dunn, Joe McGinniss, and Andrew Sullivan as well.

There are also a few quotes from Professor Scharlott, mostly a refutation of the two Trig's theory that many of you may remember he did not exactly agree with me on. (Actually I think I proved my point with this post, but let's not open old wounds.)

Interestingly enough the updated post was put up on Saturday, which was the same day that I wrote this post wondering out loud if anybody cared about the story anymore.

I have no evidence that Mullins was responding directly to my post, but it does answer the central question.

Apparently yes, it certainly DOES matter to quite a number of people.

Well, I guess it's time to roll up my sleeves again and get to work.

Happy 7th Birthday Trig Paxson Van Palin!

Most recent picture I could find courtesy of Bristol's Enjoygram account.

Seriously is there ANY seven year old on the planet whose birth, and the pregnancy leading up to his birth, has attracted as much scrutiny as Trig's?

I seriously doubt it.

And there are some who argue that after all this time, in the words of Hillary Clinton, "What difference at this point does it make?"

And that is actually a good question.

Personally I think that we here at IM have done a pretty admirable job of proving, beyond what I think is a reasonable doubt, that Sarah did not give birth to Trig on April 18th, 2008.

Some of that proof can be found here, here, and here.

I have just one more lead that I am chasing right now, and it is a humdinger. But to be honest it will still proof insufficient to convince those who simply refuse to entertain the possibility that ANYBODY, Sarah Palin included, would ever attempt to pull off such an audacious hoax.

And once again there are those who wonder does anybody really even care anymore?

So I put it to you my friends, do you think it is still worth the effort?

And if I do manage to gather a few last pieces to the puzzled which proves that she faked the pregnancy, what then?

Feel free to speak your mind. After all this is the place for it.

Is Brian Williams career still twitching? Well Sarah Palin is ready to finally put him out of her misery, and the rest of the mainstream media with him.

Courtesy of Media Watchdog Palin's Facebook page:

Friends, this is a very important post I respectfully ask you to read through. Forgive its length. May it help you nail the coffin that's given shelter to a corrupt press that would stop at nothing in their fight against right. 

(Do you hear that folks? THIS post is important and must be read. The others were shit, but this one is TOTALLY important.)

Reports today claimed Tom Brokaw was calling on his former network to fire Brian Williams for lying for years about being hit by enemy fire in Iraq. Brokaw apparently denies the reports. (Personally, I hope Williams keeps his job as the face of network news to remind America how this all works, and to justify our complete turning away from his ilk in mainstream media.) It appears that some at NBC did know that Williams was lying for over a decade but never said a thing about it. Keep in mind that Williams repeated his bogus story many times on air, yukked it up with David Letterman over the made up drama, and even accepted praise as a "war hero." 

(This is where Palin links to a Breitbart article claiming that Brokaw is calling for the head of Williams. Problem with that is that it is untrue: Tom Brokaw, who held the anchor chair before Mr. Williams, said in an email that he “neither suggested nor demanded Brian be fired,” refuting news reports that he had done so.)

Let’s consider the herd mentality these journalists use to empower and cover for each other. It’s precisely the way a corrupt organization works, like a crime syndicate. (Network news is like a crime syndicate?) Remember the “JournoList” scandal where hundreds of prominent members of the media were finally exposed for operating a secret internet chat group to strategize on how they would cover (read: spin) the news of the day to fit their leftwing agenda, regardless of truth? I haven't forgotten. They would stop at nothing. I was aware of their collective unethical character not only because my college degree was earned using the complete opposite journalism tactics of JournoList's (Wait, what?), but also because I lived it first hand as they began their relentless BS about my family, my hometown, and my record when I was asked to come on the national scene in 2008. 

(Of course by "BS" Palin means multiple truthful stories that the media uncovered with a few that did not quite past the smell test. She also links to the Daily Caller coverage of those Journolist e-mails where Trig's parentage was discussed and the decision not to pursue that story was rendered.) 

My parents just reminded me that right after my acceptance speech at the RNC in 2008, Brian Williams repeated on national television a completely false story that I banned books while I served in office. (Not false.) He did so by reading on air a completely false op-ed by another unethical character who's never clarified nor apologized for including that outrageous censorship lie, among many others. (Thanks, Joe Klein, hope you're keeping it classy.) Those lies – proclaimed on air as if Williams was merely reporting "the news" – were heard by many that night. Lies like that were like a gut punch to my parents that knocked down the foundation of trust they've lived their good lives upon, for they realized, defenselessly, the power of a corrupt press. (To reveal a pattern of lies and coverups that had served Palin well in Alaska.) The media lies rung a bell that can never be “un-rung.” In the minds of millions of Americans, I was tainted as an anti-First Amendment book banning wacko. Brian Williams lied about me in order to affect the way I would be perceived by Americans during the 2008 election. He lies. There is no other way around it. But what’s especially disgusting is the way his corrupt colleagues covered for him. I have never and will never let the shroud of victimization cover me (Seriously? Did she just say that?)– God's given me way too many undeserved blessings to dishonor His goodness by wasting time crying "victim" – but I'm happy to recall the hundreds of Palin-centric false reports if it helps America understand you must never trust JournoList-types. (Well, not exactly "happy" to do it, but willing – all the whilst throwing up a little bit in my mouth, believing the reason the harshness perpetuates may be for others' edification.) 

(So to be clear she does not WANT to play the victim, but will do so in order to help the American people realize how she was victimized. Got it.)

Don't be lulled into thinking this is only an NBC problem. It's all the major networks. Look, for example, at the outrageous media bias at CNN at the same time Williams was making up stories about his “war valor.” 

(Yeah don't think this is just an NBC problem, ALL media who ever reported anything negative about Palin should be blamed. Which essentially is ALL media.)

There is a serious problem with the liberal media’s herd mentality. It's too late for their mea culpa because they've already lost America’s trust (As opposed to Fox News who earns it every day. IF you don't fact check their reporting that is.), and that is a dangerous thing. But while they're still on our airwaves, they need to clean up their act as the rest of us turn to new media that will be held accountable. A free press is a cornerstone of our democracy. They have the tools to be our watchdogs, not liars and lapdogs for the powers that be. 

Thanks for hearing me out. And, *sigh*, for the umpteenth time – for the benefit of the most unprofessional among the herd who will never clarify nor apologize – yes, I am my son's mother. - (Which son is she talking about? If she means Trig, then adopted mother maybe, not birth mother.)

Sarah Palin

Hang on I need an anti-venom shot before continuing.

You know besides the media bashing did anybody else catch the reoccurring theme that ran through this rant?

It was frustration about the supposed "lies" told about her and her family, specifically about Trig's parentage.

It seems that Matt Lewis was right that the thing which is driving her around the bend is the constant searching for answers concerning the babygate story.

So, I guess I know exactly what I need to focus on for the next couple of weeks.

Thanks Sarah. I had been kind of putting that off.

Just when you thought all was lost David Weigel rides to Sarah Palin's defense.

So after days where it seems the whole world has turned on Palin (Finally!), David Weigel takes it upon himself to decide that the whole thing is being exaggerated. And that it is Palin herself who is having the last laugh:  

If there is a political fact lab-tested to irritate reporters, it is this: Sarah Palin may be the most famous politician in America with a journalism degree. (A degree that nobody has ever, ever seen.) The University of Idaho graduate, who holds a bachelor's degree in communications with a focus on the life of kings, baits and commands the media like few people with her resume. (Where in the hell is he getting that?) If her power is fading—and five and a half years after she quit the governor's office, it is—she's still able to bait the press into covering her and mocking her, while she has the last chuckle at them. 

Palin's generally disastrous speech at this weekend's Iowa Freedom Summit was a case in point. In the room and after, it was easy to find people who drifted or were offended by Palin's confusing self-obsession. (She spent a very long time ribbing the media for covering her entry into a charity race.) Yet much of the post-game has focused on a line that made perfect sense to Palin. 

"Her address was a 34 1/2-minute roller coaster ride of cliches, non sequiturs and warmed-over grievances," wrote Karen Tumulty in the Washington Post. "One line that stood out: 'GOP leaders, by the way, you know, ‘The Man,’ can only ride ya when your back is bent. So strengthen it. Then The Man can’t ride ya.'" On the Daily Show, Palin's "the man can old ride ya" line was slotted into a parody of Matthew McConaughey's dada car commercials, because it was obviously gibberish.

Weigel then goes onto defend the remark, by revealing that it was "borrowed" from MLK.  (Apparently he is under the impression that none of us realized that. But of course we did.)

Right on cue, almost as if it had been choreographed or something, Bristol Palin's ghostwriter jumped on this article: 

The pundits either don’t know or don’t care that her comment was alluding to this famous quote. 

Why? They just can’t ever pass up a chance to make fun of my mom. 

Notice that no one is actually talking about the content of her speech? It’s easier to stigmatize her than to deal with her actual arguments. 

I’m proud of my mom who’s back is not bent, who stands up straight, and who fights for what she believes.

Oh trust me moron, WE totally heard the "content of her speech."  And there was plenty there to mock.

And as for that quote remember that Palin did not simply plagiarize the words while staying true to their meaning, she took MLK's inspirational language and did this with it.

 That is why she was mocked, and deservedly so.

Weigel goes on in his column trying to bat down each critical article written about Palin and the Iowa speech, somehow missing the fact that since there are so many that require batting that it takes all of the air out of his argument.

In fact there are STILL articles being written about the speech and its impact.

Just today we have one from The Telegraph, and yesterday there was one from The Guardian reporting that Palin's speech actually raised $50,000 for Hillary.

There is also an article in The Dallas Observer that goes a little something like this: 

She is an idiot. She is a moron. She is an uneducated, ill-read and ill-informed person of atrocious taste and horrible conduct whose appalling hillbilly brood gets into drunken brawls in which people call each other fucking cunts in public.

Fairly succinct, don;t you think?

So David Weigel can carry water for Palin until his tiny feminine looking hands are blistered and bloody, but it will be to no avail.

Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead, David Weigel, Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead.

P.S. Before I close this out I should mention that Weigel has been defending Palin for quite a few years now, and in fact when he briefly subbed for Andrew Sullivan made it a point to sabotage his take on babygate with the help of one of my fellow bloggers.

Sullivan returned to put Weigel in his place, but the damage had already been done, and Andrew actually walked away from babygate for quite awhile. To his credit he did return to promote a few of my posts and to talk about Joe's take on the controversy, but it was never with the same passion.

(Weigel also attempted to save face by calling the Mat-Su Hospital and received a non-answer that he took to be proof positive that we were all off our rocker.)

In short David Weigel is a tool. And what's even more pathetic is that he is a tool that even Sarah Palin can use to do her bidding.

After the debacle in Iowa Sarah Palin loses one of her staunchest supporters.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast, from an article entitled You Betcha I Was Wrong About Sarah Palin:

Demosthenes, she is not, but there’s nothing new about Palin’s penchant for populism or lowbrow rhetoric. What does feel new is that she has finally gotten around to roundly losing conservative opinion leaders. (OK, this has been a long time coming. In 2011, Conor Friedersdorf noted that the hard right was skewering Palin, and that Kathleen Parker had been vindicated. And as recently as this past April, I wondered whether it was finally safe for conservatives to criticize her publicly. But it does feel like we have finally reached a tipping point where criticizing Palin isn’t only acceptable for conservative opinion leaders, it’s now almost expected.) 

Before we go any further, I should confess that I might be one of the most unusual Palin critics you’ll ever encounter. Before most Americans had ever heard of her, I was among the few suggesting she’d make a fine veep pick. My intern at the time even started the Draft Sarah Palin movement. A few years later, I edited a book of Palin quotes, titled The Quotable Rogue. 

I defended her when some on the left said she was to blame for Gabby Giffords’ shooting, and recently defended her daughter Bristol when the press laughed at her for being a victim of what certainly sounded like a physical assault. (For what it’s worth, I’ve also criticized Palin when I thought she was wrong.) This is all to say that I’m not reflexively anti-Palin; I don’t suffer from Palin Derangement Syndrome. 

In fairness, Palin was once a reform-minded governor who enjoyed an 88 percent approval rating. But something happened on the way to Des Moines. I suspect the most vicious attacks (especially the “Trig Truther” stuff) radicalized her and embittered her, but I also suspect she also took the easy way out. Instead of going back to Alaska after the 2008 defeat, boning up on the issues, continuing her work as governor, and forging a national political comeback, she cashed in with reality-TV shows and paid speaking gigs.

There have been a number of conservatives who have recently washed their hands of Sarah Palin, but Matt Lewis is certainly noteworthy in that he was once one of her staunchest supporters and somewhat instrumental in inflicting her on America in the first place.

So for him to break ranks is no small thing.

However I have to admit that what made me decide to write this post was this one line from the article: 

I suspect the most vicious attacks (especially the “Trig Truther” stuff) radicalized her and embittered her.

Lewis views these as "vicious attacks."  But the truth is that if there were no validity to the charges then they would have been the easiest for Palin to have laughed off. In fact she could have used them as proof positive that liberals will say anything to besmirch her character.

However the reason why the trig truther allegations drew blood is because they are grounded in facts. And as more time has passed the stronger the case that she faked her pregnancy and Trig's birth has become.

We now have photos which prove she was not pregnant,  e-mails that indicate access to information that she could not have had before the birth, and even a Providence Hospital schedule that seems to prove that CBJ could not have been the attending physician.

Yes I agree that all of this could have "radicalized" and "embittered" her. I just disagree that it was vicious.

If anything it was necessary. Even, if I dare say, patriotic.

So if there is ANY validity to the charge that the questions about Trig's birth had the effect of making Sarah Palin babble like a demon possessed lunatic in Iowa, which resulted in her losing the last vestiges of support from the conservative Right, then I call that a job well done.

At the end of the article Matt Lewis offers this mea culpa:

It’s probably time to concede that the early critics of Sarah Palin had a point, and that they shouldn’t have been tarred and feathered and (in some cases) nearly purged from the conservative movement. I’m not excusing the vilest attacks, of course, but for a long time, there was close to zero tolerance of anything remotely critical of Palin (or, at least, even mild criticism would evoke stern rebukes), and that was wrong. And, as evidenced by the spate of articles coming from conservative venues this week, it’s also over. 

It is not exactly how I pictured babygate taking her down, but a victory is a victory.

A very sad day for blogging as Andrew Sullivan calls it quits.

So Andrew Sullivan announced just today his intention to give up blogging for good at some unspecified date in the near future.

Admittedly his reasons are quite sound and indeed reflect many of my own thoughts about this job.

Among other things he says: 

I want to spend some real time with my parents, while I still have them, with my husband, who is too often a ‘blog-widow’, my sister and brother, my niece and nephews, and rekindle the friendships that I have simply had to let wither because I’m always tied to the blog. 

Much of that is indeed a challenge. And in fact there are stretches of time where the majority of my interactions during the day happen online. That can indeed make you feel disconnected from the world. 

Fortunately my real job demands that I be present and engaged so I am constantly being called away from the computer to do real world problem solving and communication.

Still it is easy to spend up to 16 hours a day in front of the computer screen. And I often do.

However do not panic, I am not yet considering life after blogging. Not yet.

Andrew's news does come at a rather inopportune time for me though, as I was hoping to include him in on what I have been working on and if it produces results I wanted him to help spread the news.

We have exchanged a few e-mails in the past and he has always been supportive and interested in the things that I have uncovered.

I will still e-mail him when I have more to work with, just in case he is not adverse to a little controversy during his final days.

Finally I would like to wish Andrew a wonderful life without blogging, as he has always been a personal hero of mine, even when we did not see eye to eye on every issue.

Let's take a moment to talk Babygate.

March 14, 2008

I thought it might be a good idea to give all of you an update as to where I am on chasing my own personal white whale.

Toward that end I am pleased to report that I have three entirely separate angles that I am working right now with three entirely different sources. For at least two of these sources there is a timing component which is completely out of my hands, so all I can do is sit patiently and trust that when the time comes they will deliver as promised. 

I am of course being my usual cautious self so that I do not push too hard and frighten anybody away.

And trust me that ain't easy. But the stakes are high.

In my opinion at least two of these sources could blow the babygate thing wide open. And I mean wide open. (Oh I should mention that there is a fourth source that I am trying to locate which has information that is equally explosive, but I am not holding out much hope of locating them for right now.)

So I thought this might be good time to revisit what I do and do not know about Trig's mysterious birth.

Well one thing I know for certain is that the lady on the left did not give birth to him on April 18, 2008.

March 26, 2008.

Not really any question about that if you simply use your eyes.

I am also almost certain that Bristol did not give birth to Trig either. Not in April, nor before.

Now I am not saying that she did not have a baby before Tripp, but if she did it was almost definitely not Trig.

I base that on the observations of a number of people, most of who would love to tell me if she was the mother.

At this point my working theories are that Trig is either entirely unrelated to the family, or, as my source postulated, Todd's kid with another woman.

I have actually come to terms with the fact that we may NEVER know who Trig's real birth mother is, and have instead decided that the important thing to focus on is the false pregnancy and birth story. And that is a goal that I am getting closer to all of the time.

April 13, 2008.

Another thing we may not every know for certain is exactly why Palin did this.

I have entertained a variety of theories, from cementing her pro-life credentials, to protecting a family member, to simply trying to put gossip to rest before being tapped by John McCain. But as for definitive proof, currently there is little.

I sometimes wonder just how much proof it will take to convince the public at large that this hoax actually took place, and how much it will take to convince the MSM that it is not only news worthy, but explosively so.

I have to admit that I really thought we had just about done that back in 2011, with those Juneau pictures.  But after a couple of weeks of excitement on the blogs, it just kind of faded away.

Ultimately it is not enough that I offer the evidence here on IM, it has to go national. And it has to have real evidence that cannot be simply ignored, or dismissed as a conspiracy theory.

Hopefully, if every thing goes right, that is what I am about to come up with.

So when I do I am counting on all of you to help me get it out to the news agencies and websites that will help it to get national attention.

Boy won't that be a great day?

Uncle of Down Syndrome child tries to give Sarah Palin a pass for posting pictures of Trig standing on a dog. Completely fails for reasons that he may not fully understand.

So Steve Friess, a freelancer writer and uncle of a boy with Down Syndrome, posted the above picture, which I think we can all agree is adorable, along with an article over on the Time Magazine website.

In it he makes the case that the average person may not understand the relationship between a developmentally challenged child and their pet:  

Yes, I cringed, too, at the photos Palin proclaimed to be a terrific example of how we all should live in the year ahead. But then I saw a Facebook post from a close friend–an unimpeachable animal lover and inveterate political liberal—who is also raising a boy with Down syndrome. Along with one of the most adorable photos ever taken of a 7-year-old with his dog.

It should be noted that the boy is not using the dog as a stepping stool but rather cuddling with  him while they sleep. The dog in that picture is also weighs 82 pounds.

Jill does not.

Then the author opens his mouth wide to swallow the Palin mythology and that is when he allows himself to be manipulated by one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on the public.

That Trig Palin chose to stand on Jill Hadassah–quite a name for a dog, indeed–was decried by many as animal abuse, particularly because his famous lightning rod of a huntress mother touted it with pride but no empathy for the dog. This is, unfortunately, how she’s become conditioned to react to any negative feedback, to become defensive and sharp-elbowed and treat it like any number of other liberal-versus-conservative skirmishes. 

For the sake of other parents of Down syndrome kids, though, she might consider another approach. Her mothering of Trig is, by far, the most admired, most humanizing part of her biography to many, the one thing even her fiercest critics respect. She may not feel she owes anyone any explanations, but she did anoint herself as an advocate for children with special needs at the 2008 Republican National Convention in her first major national speech. The role of advocates, first and foremost, is to educate people so they will understand and then support your cause. 

Those photos show an intrinsic trust between the child and his dog that implies so much about Trig’s relationship with Jill Hadassah. Sheryl worries it’s not a great habit to encourage, if only because Trig might try to stand on someone else’s, less amenable dog and get hurt in myriad ways. But surely Palin knows that, too.

No, no she doesn't know that.

But what she did know is that she could use her favorite prop to deflect criticism and come out looking like the victim here instead of the victimizer.

She used Trig to draw attention to herself, and then used him again to deflect the criticism back on the critics.  And this moron bought the whole act.

"Her mothering of Trig is, by far, the most admired, most humanizing part of her biography."

And therein lies the problem.

Of course as WE know Palin is not Trig's birth mother, she made up the entire elaborate birth story out of whole cloth, and, as our source recently reported, she spends only minimal time with him and does NOT provide for him the therapy that he so desperately needs.

You know people still ask me why I pursue the babygate story after all of these years, and the answer is because that is the key to finally taking Palin down. And due to my somewhat single minded obsession we are closer than ever.

I can tell you right now that if there were a big political scandal that was uncovered to explain why she resigned back in 2009, it  would dominate the news cycle for about one day and then simply drift away into the ether of public apathy.

However, as the Palin family brawl proved without any doubt, the thing that REALLY has teeth are the revelations about her parenting, and facts which undermine the mythology that she has created surrounding her family.

No Track is NOT a  combat veteran.

No Bristol is NOT a virginal victim of a hockey playing Wasilla man-beast.

No Sarah is not the female version of Ernest Hemingway trudging through the Arctic wilderness slaying dangerous animals with her trusty rifle.

And no Trig Palin is NOT proof of Sarah Palin's pro-life commitment and dedication to unconditional love.

As my source said, Palin uses ALL of her children as pawns, and this sap just got pwnd himself.

Cathy Baldwin-Johnson to end her career as a family physician in the Mat-Su Valley and instead work in Anchorage. Now who do I know that lives in Anchorage?

Courtesy of the Frontiersman:  

Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson says being a family physician has been “a great calling.” 

Fifteen years after she opened the Mat-Su Valley’s first clinic to provide obstetric care in 1985, Dr. Baldwin-Johnson and her two other physicians accepted Providence Medical Group Alaska’s offer to buy their practice. 

“I think the reason we agreed to it is that we felt our missions were really aligned,” Baldwin-Johnson said. 

With a high proportion of uninsured and Medicaid patients, Baldwin-Johnson saw more opportunity to continue seeing those patients with Providence’s help. 

“We were able to see patients like that that other physicians might not have been willing to see when we were a part of Providence,” she said. 

But the end of an era came on New Year’s Eve. As detailed in a November 2014 Frontiersman news story, Providence decided there was no longer a need for the company to have a primary care clinic in the Valley, and as of Dec. 31, 2014, the facility at 2250 S. Woodworth Loop in Palmer will only remain open to behavioral health patients. All the primary care doctors, to the best of Baldwin-Johnson’s knowledge, have accepted positions at other clinics, most of them local. 

Baldwin-Johnson, however, decided to end her more than 30-year tenure as a family physician to work full-time for Alaska CARES, the Providence-owned child advocacy center in Anchorage, where she has worked part-time since 2005. 

And according to paperwork I have seen she was also working there on April 18th through nineteenth when she was supposed to be somewhere else entirely. 

Looks like it might be time to follow up on this.

How are you all enjoying Monday so far?

More Palin family secrets from one who once helped to keep them.

"Okay seriously who is talking to him?"

To start off with I actually sent my source a list of some of the questions that all of you had left in the comments section here at IM.

I did not send everything as that might prove a little overwhelming, but I did send the ones that were suggested the most and that I thought she might know something about.

Here they are as I sent them, with her responses which came first in written form and then were fleshed out over the phone:

1) Do you know whether Sarah has a college diploma?

To this my source answered that she has always been told that Palin had received a degree in journalism but never saw any proof to support that claim. 

2) Have you ever heard the family talk about whether or not Todd is Track's biological father?

To this she answered that she had never heard anything about Todd not being Track's father, though she did know that they got married because Palin was already pregnant.

Such a good Christian girl.

3) Is Trig well cared for? And if so, by whom? (This one really concerns the teachers, therapists, and just everyday parents that come to my site.)

To this my source said that Trig does not, as far as she knows, receive any outside therapeutic treatment but that the nanny who cares for him is trained in something but she does not know what that something is. However she believes that this person is the source for any kind of "therapy" that Trig might receive.

(The nanny is the same person that also cared for Willow and Piper. I have her name but I am not going to share it here, because she deserves her privacy.)

Apparently Trig's main caregivers, besides the nanny, are Todd, Molly Sally, and Bristol.

My source also said that Palin herself spends very little time with Trig, and that he often hits her or acts out in anger, and she is incapable of handling him.

4) How close is Sarah to her extended family. (I think this refers to mostly Todd's family, which you and I have already discussed.)

To this she responded that Sarah is not at all close to most of Todd's side of the family, though she will be fake nice to them during the holidays.

I think this is a good place to explain a comment I left on another post where I suggested that the reason there were no family Christmas pictures on Palin's Facebook page was because they had celebrated Christmas at Todd's sister's house. Which is where Track used to live in Palmer apparently.

That led me to ask who the sister was and exactly how many siblings Todd has, because I was never clear on that.  They are in order of birth Kristy, Todd, JD, and of course Diana.

I also learned that virtually all of them have struggled with substance abuse, serious substance abuse, and that it is a family trait. So apparently Track and Bristol come by it honestly.

5) Does anybody in the family, besides Sarah, actually have a job outside or working for the Mama Grizzly? (There is a persistent story of Bristol working for a dermatologist, but she has taken so many extended leaves of absence that it does not seem like it is a real job.)

My source tells me that lat she heard Willow was working at a hair salon, Track is always unemployed (And back living at home now.), and Bristol has a weird arrangement with a Dr. Cusack in Anchorage at the Alaska Dermatology Laser and Skin Care Center.

According to my source Bristol really has no set hours, and only goes to the office occasionally when it suits her.

Her job is apparently just filing and answering the phones. She does no actual skin care even though she recently graduated from "skin school."

I asked my source why this guy would keep Bristol on the payroll through all of her reality show appearances and DWTS episodes. Her answer was that Cusack is "enraptured with Sarah."

That's kind of what I figured.

6) Do you know anything about Sarah's fling with Brad Hanson?

To this my source answered that all she knew was what everybody else knew, and had never heard anything said about it within the family.

However she did add that Sarah, and I quote, "got around in high school."

 7)  Does Sarah wear a wig or have hair extensions due to hair loss. (I joke about this all of the time, but if you know for certain that would very interesting.)

To this my source said that Palin has hair clips that she adds to give her hair more volume, and sometimes simply wears wig, but does not think that she is actually losing her hair.

She did add that it would not surprise her to learn that Sarah was losing her hair, due to her long term eating disorders.

8) And finally you said that you do not believe that Palin gave birth to Trig, why is that?

To this my source responded that there was a lot of secrecy around the pregnancy, and of course nobody knew about it in the family until the very end. (She also agreed that it would be virtually impossible to hide the pregnancy from Willow and Bristol for that long.)

She also said there was no baby shower which was weird because there had been one with all of the other kids. and that there was no time when anybody was allowed to touch Sarah's belly or felt the baby kick.

She mentioned that Palin was kind of MIA at the time and either out of town, or if home staying in her room and not talking to visitors. Therefore she did not see Palin very often around that time, and when she did see her she was dressed up with scarfs and a vest or jacket that hid her belly all of the time.

At this point I asked my source if she had a theory as to Trig's parentage and she said that she thinks it is very possible that Trig is Todd's child from another woman. Which if you think about it makes quite a lot of sense, and would explain Palin's strained relationship with the child.

(My source is confident she can ascertain more about this, but she has to proceed cautiously.)

During a follow up phone conversation I also learned a few other interesting tidbits:

• Before the brawl started that day in Anchorage Track was high as a kite and kept trying to start a fight with Todd, before he found another target for his aggression.
• Sarah really was a dedicated runner at one time and actually did run all of the time for exercise.
• Speaking of running, Sarah was also at one time seriously contemplating a run for John McCain's Senate seat. My source is not sure what derailed those plans, but of course it never happened. 
• This is not exactly news but the source also says that not only is Trig a prop, but that Sarah treats all of the kids as props or to shield herself from controversy. Like I said we know that but it is still interesting to hear from an eyewitness. 
• Told me that Blanche Kalstrom, Todd's mom, blamed one of Sarah's miscarriages to flying on a small plane and told her to never fly pregnant again. (I thought this was very interesting in light of the Wild Ride story.) 

There are still things that I cannot share due to my source's determination to remain anonymous for the time being, however she assures me that she is serious about coming out of the shadows sometime soon. All she is waiting for is a few legal loose ends to be tied up.

Until then I am continuing to talk with her and she is more than willing to answer questions, so if any of you have more ideas please let me know.

P.S. Photos and documents will be presented at some time in the future as well. Many of them never before seen.

Tomorrow.

At 6:15 Alaska time.

10:15 Eastern time.

See you then.

Bringing everybody up to speed.

I have often in my life felt unsure of myself. Especially when I took on a new job or task that was outside of my comfort zone or required a skill set that I was not sure I possessed.

I can remember starting jobs and worrying that my employers would soon discover I was a fraud and that I could not accomplish what was being asked of me.

In all of those cases I did in fact manage to rise to the challenge despite my misgivings or insecurities. And in fact often the jobs evolved to fit my personality so well that finding a replacement for me when I left was a real challenge.

When I started The Immoral Minority I felt much the same way. After all who cared what some dude in Alaska thought about politics, religion, and world affairs? But then I discovered that quite a lot of people did.

And when this job evolved into one that required actual reporting, and conducting interviews, all of those insecurities came right back.

In many ways I lack the essential component that makes a good reporter. I am not all that nosy.

Part of that is undoubtedly from living in Alaska where we tend to have a live and let live philosophy, and part of it is that I am kind of shy and not very aggressive when it comes to talking to people I don't know.

However I have discovered that I am in somewhat of a unique position so I have attempted to put my insecurities and self doubts aside in the interest of getting the story.

All of the above may seem a little off topic, but in fact it is background to help explain why I have not posted the stories that I talked about starting way back in September.

You see at that time I was quite confident that we would be getting all of the information out before Halloween. And besides that I was pretty sure that Korey Klingenmeyer was about to press charges.

Obviously things did not work out quite that way.