False advertising…
Back in January I published a story about Linda Solomon, the founder and publisher of the Vancouver Observer who launched her newspaper with a rather misleading statement. She claimed that she is a “Pulitzer Nominated” journalist. The problem is that she doesn’t qualify to use that title- a person’s only considered to be a ‘nominee’ if they were one of the three finalists, and Solomon wasn’t.
Of all the liars, creeps and con-artists I’ve written about, Kevin Annett is the one that sits closest to my heart. Not only are his tall tales the most fantastic – fake mass graves, arrest warrants for the queen, how he single handedly dissolved the Canadian state – but, also, Annett has been the perfect litmus test for many of the fools who supported him or repeated his stories. Well, it appears that Linda Solomon is yet another fool who failed the Kevin Annett Litmus Test®.
On September 26, 2011 Solomon published a story in the Vancouver Observer titled Dick Cheney reviled by international rights group. Vancouver Club called “infamous”. Solomon based the story around a press release from a “Brussels based group” called the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church And State (ITCCS). The problem is that this was never a real group, and it was never based in Brussels.
Kevin Annett created the ITCCS by buying a domain name for it in 2009. Annett was about to travel to Europe to expand his con-artistry to victims over there, but he had a big problem. Vancouver’s Co-Op radio had just kicked his ass to the curb after he was caught on videotape smoking crack inside inside their studio with a survival sex worker. Annett needed a distraction, creating this new ‘organization’ was his solution to this embarrassing problem.
You’d have thought that a ‘Pulitzer Nominated’ journalist like Linda Solomon would have taken the time to check the source of Annett’s press release, but it’s most obvious she didn’t. She also could have Googled Kevin Annett’s name where it’s likely she’d have discovered Terry Glavin’s excellent expose on Annett titled Truth And Native Abuse. But, of course, it’s obvious she hadn’t.
Solomon’s coverage of Annett’s press release was as inept as her half-assed attempt to cover up her faux Pulitzer…
Annett’s press release makes some pretty wild (and unfounded) accusations:
“lawyers and journalists have named the Vancouver Club as a site where children are routinely trafficked, exploited sexually and possibly killed“
“Aboriginal children have been a prime target of the Vancouver Club pedophile ring, which involves senior judges, church lawyers, businessmen and politicians.”
“As recently as the summer of 2009, aboriginal children have been observed being taken against their will into the rear entrance of the Vancouver Club at 915 West Hastings street”
“When one of the IHRAAM investigators, Kevin Annett, publicly surfaced this evidence, he became immediately targeted by a COINTELPRO-type “dirty tricks” campaign by the RCMP and its aboriginal agents that continues to the present day”
“Vancouver is one of three cities in the world where “organized child prostitution and trafficking operates with unofficial police and judicial protection … including at the elite Vancouver Club.”
So, a con-artist sends Solomon a press release claiming that the Vancouver Club is a den of paedophiles and their members are actively involved with kidnapping children. He states that the RCMP is actively involved with the cover-up and the Vancouver Club is a location used for child prostitution. And, Solomon, in all her ‘Pulitzer Nominated’ glory publishes this without checking the facts? (For example, she could have verified with the UN that Annett has never worked for them.)
After her Pulitzer gaffe, and her less-than-honourable response to getting caught, I’m sure most of you have already figured out that Linda Solomon (and the Observer) produces some of the worst kind of hack journalism imaginable. One doesn’t publish allegations like this without taking steps to verify. Did she call the Vancouver Club or the RCMP? Did they affirm or deny the story?
Obviously she didn’t. Now, we know that some people who published Annett’s tall tales like Krystalline Kraus of Rabble were intentionally trying to stir-up dissent. Is that what Solomon was doing? Or, is she just so monumentally stupid?
Solomon’s introduction to Vancouver was based on an outright misrepresentation- she never qualified to call herself a Pulitzer nominee. When she got here she started publishing stories like this- attacking established Canadian institutions without checking her facts. Obviously, her work can’t be relied upon.
It’s time for Linda Solomon to pack her carpet bag- there’s a train waiting for her right now…
Related articles
