Tag: fbi

Friday Roundup: FBI and Superheroes

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

Victor Thorn was a divisive figure in alternative media and Faith is an interesting comic book series thus far.
Victor Thorn passed away at the beginning of the month and Thomas is checking out the comic book series, Faith.

This week, I wrote an article reminding people in the alternative media field that Victor Thorn was a divisive figure who encouraged Lisa Guliani, his co-host of WING TV at the time, to go to the FBI over an adult themed satire over 10 years ago. It’s interesting to note that as of late, the WING TV website is only accessible through the Way Back Machine.

For those who weren’t satisfied with what was written, I also did a solo podcast episode going into a bit more detail (if you don’t want to listen below, right click here and select save as).

On a lighter note, I found Faith number one at Hastings, which is going out of business (all locations). Suffice it to say that she isn’t your typical square jawed type of superhero.

That’s all for this week. Check back with us on Monday for more exciting content.

Before We Deify Victor Thorn…

Victor Thorn
He was a cult of personality type.

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

I have no doubt he either killed himself or has a new FBI ID…ROT in Hell asshole. –Jack Blood

I want to start by apologizing to everyone. I know it’s been a long time since I published anything here. The podcast is still going, but due to the election year, I haven’t put out a new episode in a while. Ironically, it’s with the subject matter at hand that jolted me back to life so to speak.

Last week, I saw the posts spreading on Facebook regarding the death of Victor Thorn, including from some popular fan pages. One of the primary links is from the American Free Press, a controversial alternative media site.

He died of a self inflicted gun shot wound.

Due to the fact that 2016 is a Presidential Election year and that Hillary Clinton is running for President, speculation was naturally going to occur. Thorn had written books and articles critical of the Democratic nominee, so this comes as no surprise.

I want to preface this next part by saying that I have no intention of speaking ill of the dead. Other than a minor rant on the YouTube channel, I haven’t publicly talked about it. I understand that there are family and friends who are grieving, and death is not known for being pleasant.

To Scott Makufka’s immediate family, you have my sincere condolences. The rest of this article is not aimed at any of you, for this is something that none of you were involved in. What I am about to say is not something I’m going to enjoy.

The truth must be told

Like with Steve Jobs of Apple, Thorn is already being given that mythic status, but reality must prevail. Before anybody places him on a pedestal, there’s some things you need to know.

Things like the fact that he is no martyr, let alone a hero.

In the beginning of my foray into the alternative media, I actually interviewed both him and Lisa Guliani on WING TV, an online television show that predates the existence of online streaming sites such as YouTube. Granted, the videos used RealMedia for encoding, but it was fairly cutting edge for the time.

Thorn and Guliani would have been what others referred to as conspiracy theorists. They questioned the official narrative of 9/11 and also viewed the state of politics in the early 2000’s with suspicion. That aspect of both of them was not the most controversial part of this duo.

Even more controversial was their criticism of other “like-minded” individuals such as Michael Ruppert, Kyle Hence, Daniel Hopsicker, and several others.

They even did a satirical episode where they pulled Masonic symbols out of Art Bell’s ass. Keep that in mind for later.

One of the major figures they also criticized was Alex Jones of Infowars.com. They stopped doing so for a while until they went to Oklahoma City to talk about the Oklahoma City Bombing with others who questioned the government’s official narrative.

This was over 10 years ago.

Jones didn’t make an appearance, so they began criticizing him again, starting with another satirical episode. They argued that he was only in it to sell his videos, and they would eventually wind up on Frankly Speaking with Frank Whalen on the Republic Broadcasting Network, a rival network to the Genesis Communications Network.

I actually spoke to Guliani, Thorn’s co-host, over the telephone on a regular basis. They both bragged about the results on Whalen’s show; threats were called in, a former associate of Jones cut off a micro-broadcasting station, and more.

Had I been more experienced back then, the fact that they were excited about those things would have raised a red flag.

They eventually made the claim that since GCN was renting satellite time from ABC, they were an affiliate of ABC’s. That’s like referring to me as an affiliate of Charter Communications because they happen to by my ISP at this time. In other words, confirmation bias is what caused them to look for anything proving that GCN, the very network that broadcasts The Alex Jones Show, was nothing more than a corporate sellout.

That was before I had a better understanding of the broadcasting world.

Enter Revere Radio Network. This was a network that both had initially supported until Sonny Crack, one of the show hosts who had an understanding of the broadcasting media world, called out Guliani for her inaccuracy (albeit in a not so diplomatic manner).

He would go on to create an adult themed satire aimed at her.

So what did two alternative media personalities based out of State College, Pennsylvania do about said satire recorded by a host who was based out of Tampa Bay, Florida?

More importantly, if two people claim that they are anti-establishment, what is the best course of action if they wanted to torpedo their own credibility?

At the time, they told me that based on advice from local law enforcement, they contacted the Cyber Crimes Division of the FBI. Robb Revere, the head of the network in question, would receive a friendly call from a special agent.

Fortunately for Revere, since it was a civil matter as opposed to a criminal matter, he wouldn’t have to worry about the FBI knocking on his door.

I was inexperienced and I certainly found that piece of satire to be in poor taste. Still, as the months went on, the worm would begin to turn

Around the time of Hurricane Katrina, I decided to test Robb Revere by sending him information about an individual who worked at a company that served up a significant portion of the Internet and was running on backup power in New Orleans. They were able to broadcast what was going on through webcams that showed what was happening in the streets outside.

Revere himself interviewed him, and eventually wound up realizing that I was no enemy of his. My thoughts at the time was that if he really cared about the news and the truth, he would pursue it. He did.

He decided to put me through a test as well and offered me a spot on his radio network. My initial plan was to torture them and even have the two co-hosts from WING TV on as guests, but both saw this as an act of betrayal.

The magic of Internet drama.

To top it off, I was informed that some things were going to go down in the future and that I wouldn’t be privy to them because of what I did. They would continue attacking and criticizing other alternative media personalities, thus creating more of a divide.

The two individuals were so polarizing that they eventually had a falling out with one another, resulting in Guliani leaving the show. Not long after that, WING TV would transform into a glorified online bookstore.

The rest as they say is history.

That still leaves the question of why he took his own life. The American Free Press has an audio interview with his brother, which should shed some light on the situation.

According to Bill Makufka, Scott Makufka was a complicated individual; Victor Thorn wasn’t just a pseudonym, but a separate identity.

He would tailor the conversation for each individual that he talked to, a description of a trait that sounds all too familiar, but that’s a story for another day.

What you need to know is that he along with his then-cohort did more criticizing than original content creation. They did some original work, such as protesting at Ground Zero on 9/11 a couple of times and Thorn/Makufka would put already existing material into an original format (9/11 On Trial), but they also built long list of people in their so called “Hall of Shame.”

When people are focused on more than ideas, there’s a problem. This holds true regardless of point of view. One can’t claim to be against “The Man” when they go to “The Man” to solve a perceived problem in the first place, especially when it’s a civil matter.

Scott “Victor Thorn” Makufka is no martyr, no hero, no deity. He was human, and in the past he along with a former co-host made a few mistakes (some more egregious than others) and ironically generated negativity, the very thing Makufka disdained.

So please don’t put him on top of a pedestal or argue that Hillary Clinton had anything to do with his death.