- James Hall publishes as "SARTRE"
throughout the Web. Perhaps the most prolific right-wing columnist on the
'net, he keeps to himself in private life. Long a retired political activist,
Hall is no longer a believer in organized politics--though very much still
a believer in and spokesman for Jeffersonian anti-federalist, limited government
ideology.
-
- And so he was surprised to answer his
unlisted phone number on January 30th, to the question that was asked three
times in succession: "Is this SARTRE?" (His response each time:
"Who is calling?"). Finally, the caller shouted, "We know
who you are!", followed by a death threat that he has divulged only
to the New York state police department in his area, which he alerted immediately.
-
- Says Hall, "No one calls for Sartre
on my home phone number."
-
- The *64 function on his phone brought
back a Toronto, Canada phone number (xxx-xxx-xxxx) owned by Dr. Laurence
B. Shiff, (address witheld), Toronto, Ontario. Friends assisted Hall in
some Google sleuthing, and which reveals Dr. Shiff an officer of the Kaspu
Corporation. When relaying the events to longtime SARTRE publisher Jeff
Rense, Rense said: "That's the same number we've been getting threats
from, and two of my other writers" (and many of his guests).
-
- The morning of Hall's telephone death
threat, he had published an incendiary piece titled ("Hamas, Israel
and the United States"), which went 'net-wide and which, later in
the week, resulted in his being dropped from New Media Alliance--ostensibly,
a start-up conservative news bureau. The article calls for a complete severing
of the "USrael alliance," as a danger to American citizens and
an affront to the Constitution.
-
- Two weeks before the threat received
by James Hall, fellow Rense.com writer Kurt Nimmo closed down his blog
entirely, citing an inability to reconcile death threats received, his
publishing life and the safety of his family ("Zionist Death Threats:
Nimmo Closes Down Blog").
-
- Writes Nimmo:
-
- "The primary reason I have decided
to stop posting the blog has to do with threats. I have received many of
them, including death threats. Usually, I am able to brush aside threats,
since most are not of a serious nature, but lately I have received several
that are not to be taken lightly, especially considering the fact somebody
has taken the liberty to post my address and telephone number (information
easily attained from the domain registry) in various places on the internet.
First and foremost, I have a responsibility to my family and posting political
commentary obviously comes in a distant second."
-
- On February 2, Rense.com writer Jim Mortellaro
received calls from the same Toronto, Canada phone number: "Beginning
three days ago, two more so-called 'men' began their tirade on this writer.
Like the first person, they informed me that I was a Rense supporter and
that makes me an anti-Semite. Me. Of all people, with a Jewish side to
our family in which 2.15% survived the camps. That would be two out of
93 human beings. You picked the wrong person, guys. ...I now have his name
and address. The man lives in Toronto. He is the son of a (I won't go there,
not to worry), he is a member of a very wealthy family there, with interest
in (major interest) in a very large corporation." ("Zionist Threats
and Harrassment Continue")
-
- Mortellaro received the call on his cell
phone, which, as he writes: "is extremely hard to obtain. You must
have the *authority* to do so and that authority must be high up the food
chain. So, whomever called, did so from a "restricted telephone number"
and had *access* to cellphone numbers and their owners. A 'restricted'
telephone number, being different from a 'restricted call,' makes the case
for a governmental, institutional or large and powerful company as having
made the call."
-
- Messrs. Hall, Rense, Nimmo and Mortellaro
are now coordinating efforts--with state police, FBI and Canadian authorities--for
to bring about a Federal investigation. Each writer has been critical in
their writings of US/Israeli entanglements; each has received death threats
from the same phone source--which has now been identified. All manner of
"special interest groups" have been protected from harrassment
and seen perpetrators punished. That this group is comprised of prominent
writers who hold what are undoubtedly unpopular beliefs, in the eyes of
mainstream media and probably within Washington D.C., will prove a test
case for the law being "fair and balanced."
-
UPDATE 2-14-6
-
- -----Original Message-----
-
- From: laurence shiff
- Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 6:21
PM
- To: sartre@frontiernet.net
- Subject: Further to our phone conversation
-
- Dear Mr. Hall:
-
- I would just like to reiterate my sincere
apologies regarding the harrasing phone calls that you have been receiving
from someone purporting to be me.
-
- I can assure you that I will do all that
I can from here in Toronto to try and track all this down.
-
- If you need any more information, please
do not hesitate to call me collect at my office xxx-xxx-xxxxx, or my home
xxx-xxx-xxxx.
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Laurence Shiff
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