If you'll remember, earlier this week I mentioned James Tracy, the professor at Florida Atlantic University who claimed the Sandy Hook shooting was staged. Among other things, he claims that the shooting was staged by "crisis actors" employed by the White House in an effort to make it easier to push for gun control. Angry Mouse mentioned this as well.
Last night, Anderson Cooper took on Tracy and several other conspiracy theorists who have cropped up. Watch it here:
Apparently Tracy's claims are among the saner ones that have popped up--at least by the standards of conspiracy theories. For instance, one theory claims that Emilie Parker, one of the victims, isn't really dead because her sister was seen sitting on President Obama's lap wearing the same dress Emilie wore in a family picture. Another suggests that Noah Posner isn't really dead because his mother wasn't crying her eyes out when Cooper interviewed her on December 21.
Tracy apparently showed his true colors when he refused to appear on air last night. He did, however, email a statement to CNN which he reproduced on his blog. He apologized for any anguish his posts may have caused, but claimed any anguish that they may have caused was solely due to the mainstream press taking them out of context. This coming from a guy who actually had the nerve to write that the victims' families haven't been subjected to enough public scrutiny.
Cooper seemed particularly disgusted that Tracy is putting this out while working at a state university that gets taxpayer money. As disgusting as Tracy's sentiments are, they don't come close to being cause for yanking his tenure. About the only way I could see him losing his tenure is if he actually encouraged his students to get in touch with the families and try to get them on the record. For now, this guy only deserves to be held up for public ridicule.
Before anyone wonders, Tracy is supposedly on our side. He's a frequent contributor to the Center for Global Research, the leftie version of WorldNutDaily.