Westboro Baptist hacked for planned Sandy Hook protests
Twitter has suspended an account linked to Westboro Baptist Church, either for messages detailing the group’s plan to picket the funerals of those killed Friday in the Connecticut school shootings or because the account has been hacked by the group Anonymous.
The URL for Westboro’s Twitter feed only says the account of church spokesman Shirley Phelps-Roper has been suspended.
Phelps-Roper, hours after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., tweeted “‘Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.”
Westboro Baptist, which has just a handful of members in Topeka, Kan., has been in the news before, of course. It first gained notoriety for anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. soldiers.
Anonymous hackers must have been displeased, reports are the group hacked the church’s website — godhatesfags.com — and took control of Phelps-Roper’s @DearShirley Twitter account.
Examiner.com reports the hack is the work of a 15-year-old who goes by the name CosmoTheGod. The California teen is already on probation for hacking NASDAQ, so he might want to enjoy the online accolades while he’s still allowed to look at a computer screen.
The hacking group had recently published private emails, home addresses, phone numbers and social security numbers of Westboro members.
The hackers also want the White House to declare Westboro a hate group. An online petition has 183,000 signatures in four days.
Slate says the urge to cheer for Anonymous should be contained.
“Westboro may be the closest thing to an embodiment of evil that we have handy,” writes Will Oremus, but the tiny church is “best ignored.”
Meanwhile, residents of Newtown, Conn., many of whom are preparing for the funerals of 20 children and six adults, have created a Facebook page where they are making plans to block church members from picketing near mourners.
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51 comments Add your comment
tron777
December 18th, 2012
8:27 pm
If you own guns invest in a gun vault and keep it locked when you are not home.
Its not guns its crazy people
December 18th, 2012
8:28 pm
TEX…the are not Baptist…they’re just using the name. Its a cult..The Devil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brandt Hardin
December 18th, 2012
8:34 pm
Where in Christianity is hate-mongering an involved practice? What are Fred Phelps and the WBC afraid of anyhow? Rainbows? Unicorns? A flaming pink queer apocalypse? I attempted to address this with a portrait of the good reverend on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/03/fred-phelps-and-westboro-baptist-church.html Drop in and let me know what you think!
jj
December 18th, 2012
8:40 pm
Since Friday morning …This pass week-end there was record number of guns sells in US..I went to gun store in Atlanta and couldn’t even get up to the counter for so many people buying….Why? because we can’t depend on the Govt and police to protect us. Congrees and Pres are not protecting us with there stupid laws..when the good people don’t have gun then it will be like Hitler again..The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they wrote the 2nd amendment.
Greg Camp
December 18th, 2012
8:48 pm
The big issue here is that Westboro Baptist is a cult of sick and depraved individuals who hide behind First Amendment rights to promote their agenda. They don’t just hate gay people, they hate Catholics, Jews, and Muslims as well. To picket a funeral of ANY kind is bad enough but Soldiers and children is as low as it goes. They are a HATE group and should be branded as such. For an organization to CELEBRATE the murder of innocent children and teachers qualifies them as such.
PR
December 18th, 2012
9:16 pm
Someone needs to get rid of all the members of the Westboro Baptist Church.
Dave Francis
December 18th, 2012
9:21 pm
My son has Autism and has drawn a knife on his Mother several times. It’s very sad that the opponents of gun control dribble out of the woodwork, like the political maggots they are demanding new gun laws when there is a traumatic incident as the one in Massachusetts. However there are limits to what help you can receive from the medical profession as my family has found out. THERE IS LITTLE INTERVENTION OR ASSISTANCE TO HALT THIS TERRIBLE NEUROLOGICAL BRAIN IMBALANCE. ONCE AGAIN IT’S ALL ABOUT MONEY AND THE SILENCE FROM THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES WHO ARE BENEFITING FROM THIS ISSUE WITH BUCKETFUL OF DRUGS.OF COURSE THERE IS ANOTHER FACTOR THAT THE GUN ADVOCATES SAY LITTLE ABOUT, IN THAT THE DRUG COMPANIES MAY BEAR SOME RESPONSIBILITY IN THE INJECTIONS CONTAINING SMALL AMOUNTS OF TOXIC MERCURY GIVEN TO BABIES AT TIME OF BIRTH. In addition an only small contribution is evident to the growing problem of Autism, which is reaching uncomfortable proportions? More money is needed for research relating to the Autism Spectrum Disorder, which thousands of families must deal with on a daily basis. There are no guns in my household and yet I do not blame gun owners, the NRA or others who possess them to protect their families from heinous criminals who will circumvent any new gun laws.
hanna
December 18th, 2012
10:02 pm
would you bunch of na na na na boo boo’s quit !!!!!!!!!!!! ,no it did’nt, yes it did, no it did’nt yes it did…..STOP.NONE OF IT IS IMPORTANT…WHO CARES WHO IS RIGHT LET IT GO
Andy
December 19th, 2012
6:12 am
Seriously take one look at this massacre and tell me you believe in a fat guy on a cloud who knows what everyone is thinking, loves all of his children and can work miracles.
Nate Phelps, Former Westboro Baptist Church Member: They Should Be Barred … – Huffington Post | Syndicated News
December 19th, 2012
7:33 pm
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