The "Palin Brawl" in Anchorage on September 6, 2014: The complete timeline of events and the witness statements do not look favourable at all for the Palin-family, but they now try to rewrite history by distorting the facts - BONUS: Bristol Palin's new post, telling the "truth" about the brawl, contains a blatant, important lie which can easily be debunked (see October 22 in the timeline)

"Born and raised by hypocrites"

Green Day - "Jesus of Suburbia" 

By Patrick

Today is October 25, 2014. The now infamous "Palin-Brawl" happened on September 6, 2014 in Anchorage, more than 1 1/2 months ago.

However, only now we see headlines like this one (from ABC News, October 23, 2014):

So, finally, after such a long time has passed, the Palin-family found their PR-strategy for this incident - and they try to do what they are best at: Claiming to be victims, and trying to rewrite history.

Therefore it is only appropriate to remind ourselves (and the media) what really happened after the brawl.

The Timeline:

Saturday, September 6, 2014:

A massive brawl involving the Palin-family (Track, Bristol, Sarah, Todd, Willow) breaks out at a party at the home of Korey Klingenmeyer in Anchorage, while Bristol's five-year-old son Tripp was waiting for them outside in the car, a Hummer stretch-limo.

The news quickly make the rounds in Alaska, by word of mouth. We hear about it from a source in Alaska already the following day, but the details are still very sketchy. We hear that apparently a group of people from the "Iron Dog" crowd was involved.

+++

Sunday, September 7, 2014:

Sarah Palin posts the following message on facebook:

I was traveling yesterday, so I'm posting Todd's 50th birthday greeting a day late, which is fine because the handsome guy barely looks a day over 50.

- Sarah Palin

Screenshot:

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Monday, September 8, 2014:

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston attend the settlement conference of their new custody trial for their son Tripp, at the Superior Court in Palmer. According to the Alaska court records, a settlement was reached on this day. The details of the settlement are sealed, therefore we do not know the outcome. See our extensive reporting about the custody trial, including the documentation HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Screenshot from the Alaska Court records, accessible via Alaska Court View (click to enlarge):

+++

Tuesday, September 9, 2014:

The first report about the brawl appears in public, written by Alaska blogger Amanda Coyne, containing a few details, but some facts are still sketchy, as Amanda Coyne also admits herself. Title of the post: "Loose Lips: Hell hath no fury like a Palin family visit."

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Wednesday, September 10, 2014:

Politicalgates publishes in the "Important second update" of our post about the brawl several more new details about the brawl, obtained from a source on the ground who saw the incident. Our information was subsequently being confirmed by further media reporting and the police documentation.

Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.

+++

Thursday, September 11, 2014:

Blogger Amanda Coyne publishes a post with more important details, titled "A note to readers about the Palin family brawl."

Then, the first report in a mainstream media outlet, by the "Alaska Dispatch News", Alaska's biggest newspaper, titled: "Witnesses, APD confirm Palin family was present at Anchorage party that turned violent." 

Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.

Then, on the same day, blogger Amanda Coyne publishes her most comprehensive post about the brawl, titled "Eyewitness comes forward on ‘Palin brawl’." As one of the very first eye-witnesses, Eric Thompson, employee at McKenna Paving Bros, goes on the record.

In the meantime, Sarah Palin publishes a new post on facebook about her support for conservative candidate Rob Maness in his bid for the US-Senate seat in Louisiana.

In the evening, Sarah Palin appears on Hannity and talks about ISIS. In this conversation with Sean Hannity, the brawl is not mentioned at all.

+++

Friday, September 12, 2014:

The story about the brawl hits the national media, for example with a detailed TV-report on "Good Morning America", who spoke with eye-witness Eric Thompson:

Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.

Politicalgates is being quoted by a number of mainstream media outlets, for example New York Magazine, New York Post and ABC local news.

Later in the day, news breaks that eyewitness Eric Thompson has been fired from his job by his employer, McKenna Bros. Paving Co, for speaking out about the brawl to the media, in his interview for ABC News.

We posted:

The party happened at the house of Korey Klingenmeyer. He is an employee with McKenna Brothers Paving.

The witness Eric Thompson, who is now fired, was also an employee with McKenna Brothers Paving.

The party was for the 40th birthday of the owners of the company, Matt & Marc McKenna.

The guy who was punched by Bristol Palin was Korey Klingenmeyer.

We believe that the firing of Eric Thompson is also supposed to be a warning to Korey Klingenmeyer, who has a well-paid job there at the company, in order to prevent him to file charges against Bristol. 

The news about the firing of Eric Thompson hit the mainstream media.

+++

Saturday, September 13, 2014:

Although there is still no offical statement from the Palin-family, journalist Scott Conroy publishes "The Palin Family's Side of the Anchorage Brawl Story", quoting only an anonymous source, but the details are rather sketchy, It becomes obvious however that the Palins apparently see themselves as victims.

Multiple media-requests directed at the Palin-family to give a statement about the brawl are denied.

+++

Sunday, September 14, 2014:

Politicalgates publishes more details about Marc and Matt McKenna, the owners of McKenna Bros. Paving Co. who fired Eric Thompson.

+++

Monday, September 15, 2014 to Thursday, September 18, 2014:

Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2014:

Fired eye-witness Eric Thompson gives an in-depth interview to the Alaska Dispatch News:



Eric Thompson talks about Palin's involvement in a house party fight from Alaska Dispatch on Vimeo.

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Thursday, September 18, 2014:

Bristol Palin publishes on her own blog (with her ghost-writer, the right-wing journalist Nancy French) a post in which she jokes that some people mistakenly believe that her parents are getting divorced.

Curiously, Bristol Palin doesn't mention the brawl at all, although it had been reported all over the national media that she apparently played an important role in the brawl and reportedly punched the host Korey Klingenmeyer several times in the face (which was also confirmed by our own source who was at the scene).

Screenshot of Bristol's short post:

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Friday, September 19, 2014:

Finally, a first statement by Sarah Palin, addressing the brawl, nearly two weeks after the incident. 

However, Sarah Palin is very vague and just says that she is "proud" of Bristol and "loves" her. Sarah alludes to the fact that the media reporting was apparently not correct, but doesn't say why this should be the case, or what actually happened in her opinion.

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Saturday, September 20, 2014 to Wednesday, October 8, 2014:

The big silence!

No statement at all by the Palins about the brawl.

Bristol Palin publishes no less than nine (!) posts on her blog during these dates (ghost-written by Nancy French), but none of her posts addresses the brawl in any way.

Same with Sarah Palin:

No less than 12 posts during this time-frame on her facebook-page, but not one of them addresses the brawl.

So far, there is still no meaningful statement from the Palin-family about what happened during the brawl. The news about the brawl start to fade.

On September 21, 2014, CNN-host Brian Stelter states that he believes that the Palins "deserve the benefit of the doubt about the brawl."

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Thursday, October 9, 2014:

If the Palins hoped that the brawl would disappear from the headlines, they are in for a rude awakening. The report by the Anchorage Police Department is released, and several witnesses confirm what Eric Thompson already said in public: The Palins started the whole fight, showed outrageous behaviour, and Bristol punched host Korey Klingenmeyer repeatedly. Also, the police report confirms that Track and Bristol were "heavily intoxicated."

The police report hits the headlines with full force.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE

Screenshots:

It now becomes increasingly clear that the strategy of the Palins, which could so far be described with "dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge", would not work out in the end. The witness statements in the police report are simply too damning. Also, it becomes more than obvious that the "The Palin Family's Side of the Anchorage Brawl Story", which had been published by Scott Conroy on September 13, 2014, as I mentioned above, was not confirmed by any of the witnesses outside the Palin-family.

So, what to do, how to play the victim, the favourite Palin-activity of all time?

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Tuesday, October 21, 2014:

It is very telling that the silence on part of the Palin-family continued.  

However, the publication of the police tapes on October 21, 2014 appeared as a "stroke of luck" from their point of view, as listeners could now hear for themselves how a crying Bristol Palin described her ordeal (or that's what it now sounded like). 

Please note that I have uploaded the complete police audio tapes in just one file HERE for download. I could not upload them to youtube in one file, as they are more than two hours long in total!

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Wednesday, October 22, 2014:

Suddenly, the big silence stops.

The Palin media-machine quickly kicks into gear again - with the old worn-out phrases.

Bristol Palin publishes "the truth" about the brawl, believe it or not. It was all about "violence against women", and Bristol now conveniently claims to have been the victim.

Screenshot:

However, Bristol's post contains a bold, important lie which can easily be debunked - Bristol wrote:

Why would anyone do this? Well, here’s a hint. The guy was on social media during this incident, tweeting, “about to get famous.”

When Willow saw all this happening she looked at the guy’s mom and said “get ahold of your son.”

But apparently the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree, because his mom pushed Willow. A grown woman pushed my little sister.

(...)

But the evening that began so well took a turn for the worse when this guy decided he wanted to “get famous.”

After I got out of the car, I didn’t get far. I never even got to talk to his mom, because a guy in his late thirties or early forties got in my face. He was towering over me – probably at 6 foot something and over 200 pounds. He puffed his chest out and started yelling.

“You c-nt!” he looked right in my eyes and said. “Get the f-ck out of here, you slut!”

I was alarmed that things had gotten so bad so fast. But it got even worse when this guy started pushing me. He had his hands on me, pushing me down. That’s when I swung and hit his face.

Some would say I should’ve never retaliated in defense against him, but certainly he should never have pushed a girl. It didn’t phase him. He pushed me down to the ground and kept me there.

It was scary and awful. He held me down until someone got me out of the situation.

That’s it – that’s the story.

This guy, who Bristol curiously does not mention by name, is Connor Cleary. His twitter is here.

So, according to Bristol, Connor Cleary tweeted at the night of incident he was "about to get famous".

Really, Bristol Palin/Nancy French?

The problem: This is a blatant lie, which can easily be proven. 

Connor Cleary tweeted, but only five days later, on September 11. The sentence he tweeted was: "About to be famous up in this bitch."

Screenshot:

With this proven lie, Bristol's "new story" falls apart completely. As this was tweeted five days after the brawl, how on earth could Willow have used this as a pretext for approaching his mother, in order to "get hold of her son"....?

Connor Cleary has already been named in connection with the brawl, this is not a secret.

He told his story to the National Enquirer - quote from the article:

One victim, Connor Cleary, 26, told The ENQUIRER it was a peaceful party until the reality show family showed up!

Connor said he was approaching the Palins’ stretch-limo Hummer when Track began getting in his face. “He (Track) kept trying to pick a fight with me and then when it all came down – it happened,” Connor said, in an exclusive interview.

“He kept saying, ‘Oh what, are you trying to get into the ----ing limo?’ and he kept cursing at me and walking towards me,” claimed Connor.

Track allegedly threw two jabs at Connor, according to an online report – and that’s when all hell broke loose outside the residence of 39-year-old Korey Klingenmeyer, host of the Sept. 6 bash.

Alarmed, someone screamed, “This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” according to an eyewitness.

No word of apology by the Palins about their own behaviour. No mention that the other witnesses had not confirmed the Palin-version of events.

+++

Friday, October 24, 2014:

Sarah Palin started her favourite activity - hunting journalists. Not seeing the irony that her heavily intoxicated family delivered more than enough "punches" at the brawl, poor Sarah now feels "punched in the gut." Why? Because CNN journalist Carol Costello aired a segment which wasn't to Sarah Palin's liking:

Journalists like Carol Costello are "ruining America", did you know...?

The segment was "truly sickening, yet strangely laughable"...?

I think Queenie Palin should create her own media.

Oh, she tried to do that, totally unsuccessfully? Too bad.

Needless to say that although Carol Costello has already apologized for her remarks, Sarah Palin and her ilk want her scalp. Sarah Palin already said that the first apology in a statement to Politico could not be "accepted":

Unfortunately, Sarah Palin forgot to mention that she herself for example never apologized to former Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (Republican) for laughing when a right-wing radio-jock called Lyda Green a "bitch" and a "cancer." Lyda Green herself is a cancer survivor, which Palin knew.

Watch:

Senior Republican Lyda Green is indeed not a fan of Sarah Palin, which is not surprising, as she had good insights into how Sarah Palin is wired. Green was a guest on the Rachel Maddow show in 2008, explaining her experiences with Sarah Palin (and Todd Palin).

As an inevitable result of Sarah Palin's attack on Carol Costello, the facebook of the CNN-journalist is now being flooded with ugly comments from right-wingers. This might please Sarah, as her favourite attitude towards her perceived enemies has always been the same: Hunt, seek, destroy. 

Screenshot from Costello's facebook:

However, facts have always been the biggest enemy of the Palins, and that is why I wrote this post.

As usual, the deflections and the lies of the Palins are in plain sight, for everyone to see.

Finally, I would like to highlight the following articles in the media:

Josh Marshall, editor and publisher of "Talking Points Memo": "Sarah, Bristol & The Recurrence Of The Eternal Victim"

Andrew Sullivan, "The Dish": "The Odd Lies of Bristol Palin"

Finally, a rather unlikely source - the conservative "Daily Caller" doesn't buy Bristol Palin's accusations against the media: "Bristol Palin Claws Media With 10 Perfect Post Brawl Nails" 

Have a good weekend, everybody!

(h/t KAO!)

Marc and Matt McKenna, give Eric Thompson his job back! You made your fortune with money from the taxpayer, receiving large public contracts for your paving company, now do not fire Eric Thompson for exercising his constitutional rights! - UPDATE: Eric Thompson set up a GoFundMe page to pay for living expenses and lawyer fees, please support him!

Matt and Marc McKenna: They got rich from the taxpayer, 

fired Eric Thompson for speaking out to ABC News as witness for the "Palin Brawl" 

By Patrick

+++ UPDATE October 9th, 2014: Read the newly released 

police report about this incident - it's simply epic, 

and also confirms our reporting, 
as well as the statements by Eric Thompson +++

+++UPDATE October 25, 2014:

The police tapes and the complete timeline of the brawl+++

During the last days, the USA and the rest of the world learned all the juicy details about the ugly "Palin Brawl", with big headlines in all major US media outlets, after the Alaska blogger Amanda Coyne originally broke the story. On Saturday, September 6, 2014, the whole Palin-family (absent only Piper and Trig) drove with a stretch hummer limousine to the 40th birthday party of Marc and Matt McKenna, owners of "McKenna Brothers Paving" and Palin's Iron Dog "snowmachine buddies".

According to our own sources in Alaska, a lot of members of the Iron Dog community were present at the party, and the number of attendees varies in the reports between 70 and 100 people. In any case, it was a very large party, hosted at the home of Korey Klingenmeyer in Anchorage, with lots of food, lots of drinks, and a band which was hired for the occasion.

Korey Klingenmeyer, the host of the party which now became infamous as the "Palin-brawl", is an employee with McKenna Brothers Paving, the company owned by Marc and Matt McKenna (their facebook page is here). He threw the birthday party for his bosses. According to our information from Alaska, he is the operations manager there, having a well-paid job.

Another employee at McKenna Brothers Paving is Eric Thompson. He also works there in the office, as we exclusively revealed in our previous post, or let's just say, he did work there. Because after speaking on the record to ABC News as an eye-witness about the Palin-brawl, in a major news report which then was aired all over the USA, is has been reported that he got fired from his job at McKenna Brothers Paving.

So why did he get fired? What exactly were the reasons? No official statement has been made, but we can guess - and it is not very difficult to come up with possible reasons. However, these guesses do not put the McKenna twins into a good light.

It is well known in Alaska that the McKenna brothers are close friends to the Palin-family. This is also easily confirmed if one for example takes a look at the facebook page of Matt McKenna, I cannot find the page now, maybe it's gone, I don't know, but during the last days, we were still able to find it (EDIT: THE PAGE IS HERE) and took the following screenshot:

Yes, that's Marc McKenna, together with Sarah Palin. This photo was actually taken in 2013 at a car auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, There is a youtube clip with more pictures from this event, also with another picture of Sarah Palin with Matt McKenna:

Screenshot from the video clip:

That's a Shelby Cobra Roadster, by the way, in case you wondered. :-)

So the assumption that the McKenna brothers fired their employee Eric Thompson because he was, well, "embarrassing" their big friends, the Palin-family, with his witness account on ABC News, is more than obvious to us.

In addition, it appears to us that the firing of Eric Thompson also serves as a warning to Korey Klingenmeyer, the host of the party, who was repeatedly punched by Bristol Palin, as several witnesses confirmed. Korey is also their employee, as explained above, and from what we have heard from Alaska, Korey was seriously considering filing charges against Bristol Palin.

In our opinion, the firing occurred as retaliation against Eric Thompson, and as a threatening warning to Korey Klingenmeyer.

Relationships in Alaska, which is an incredibly small society, can be very complex, as we learned over and over again during the previous years.

What is particularly outragous in regards to the McKenna brothers and their recent action towards Eric Thompson is the fact that their paving company made their fortune through public contracts: They got rich through the taxpayer. Even a quick online search reveals multiple public contracts for their company in Alaska, and certainly there are many more. You will see familiar names there - for example Republicans Diane Keller and Verne Rupright, in their capacity mayors of Wasilla.

Examples:

(LINK HERE)

(LINK HERE)

(LINK HERE)

(LINK HERE)

For McKenna Brothers Paving, bad PR is definitely not good PR. 

Let's tell the brothers that Eric Thompson needs his job back. Let's stop with the culture of "if you speak out against the Palins, bad things will happen to you" in Alaska. Yes, this culture does exist, as we and others have heard from sources over and over again during the previous years - and many authors and journalists heard the same when they talked to Alaskans!


Many Alaskans believed that, after Sarah Palin resigned, that the Palins were not a "problem" for Alaska any more, and they slowly started to forget about them. Sarah Palin herself focused on the "Lower 48" and very rarely got involved in Alaskan politics. However, the outrageous behaviour of the Palin-family at the "Palin-brawl", and the fact that the Palins still have the ability to do even more damage to people, that they still have the power to "get people fired", shows that the Palins are still a problem for Alaska. Their mafia-like behaviour should not be tolerated in Alaska any more.

Tell the McKenna brothers to give Eric Thompson his job back immediately!

Contact details HERE.

Their facebook page is HERE.

(The reviews on their facebook, commenting on the firing, are already damning!)

Official company business filing HERE.

They want money from the taxpayer? Then tell them to acknowledge the constitutional rights of Eric Thompson. Do not allow them to intimidate others on behalf of the Palins!

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FINALLY, A LITTE TREAT FOR YOU ALL: 

THE "#PALINBRAWL" SONG!

I really want to hear this with a proper rock band! :-)

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UPDATE:

Eric Thompson is an honest and straightforward man from Alaska, who was punished for telling the truth about the Palin-brawl. Now he needs our help!

In a youtube-clip which he today published himself, he explains that he was "fired within an hour" from his job after the airing of  his interview at "Good Morning America." He has living expenses and lawyer fees to pay.

He set up a "GoFundMe" page and asks for donations.

All we can say is: Give him all you can spare! He is a brave man who really deserves our support.

Here is the clip in which he explains his situation:

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UPDATE 2 (by Kathleen):

Earlier I reached out to Eric Thompson and suggested that he set up a paypal account for those who do not wish to use the GoFundMe site. 

Eric wrote to me and thanked me for the suggestion and support. 

For those wishing to donate by paypal Eric's new paypal address is ericthejobhunter@gmail.com

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UPDATE 3:

New video interview with Eric Thompson by the Alaska Dispatch News (see the article about the interview here).


 

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Websites which linked to this post:

Little Green Footballs

The Palin-clan and the big Alaska brawl: Anger management desperately needed - The drunken, rowdy night with the Palins - IMPORTANT SECOND UPDATE - More shocking details reported, witnesses speaking on the record: Sarah, Todd, Bristol, Track all involved in the fighting - BREAKING: Eric Thompson, eye-witness for ABC News, has reportedly been fired from his job for speaking to the media

By Patrick

+++ UPDATE October 9th, 2014: Read the newly released 

police report about this incident - it's simply epic, 

and also confirms our reporting +++

+++UPDATE October 25, 2014:

The police tapes and the complete timeline of the brawl+++

Yes, it's the Palin-clan again! This time, not just Sarah, but almost all of them: Sarah, Todd, Track, Bristol,Willow - even Tripp! Well, at least poor Tripp was there at well, having to watch the adults behaving badly, showing him what a good role model isn't.

So what is this all about? Well, the story about the "big Alaska brawl of 2014" is already making the rounds, and the well-informed Alaska journalist and blogger Amanda Coyne published a pretty detailed report on her blog:

Hell hath no fury like a Palin family visit: Just when I was about to give up on them, the Gods of gossip came visiting this week, and as they’ve done in the past, they beckoned me to look towards Wasilla, towards the fortress of Our Lady of the North, the woman who was almost a heartbeat away from the presidency, whose family had a dramatic weekend, Wasilla style! As many of us have read, Bristol Palin was visited by a Floridian stalker on Sunday who somehow ended up on the family’s balcony. The stalker currently sits in jail.

That’s pretty dramatic. But that’s the least of it. The night before, Saturday, was a doozy. The details are a little sketchy, but there’s enough of them, from enough different sources, that a story emerges, a story that according to the gossip Gods, looks kind of like this: There’s some sort of Iron Dog/snowmachine party in Anchorage. A nice, mellow party, until the Palin’s show up. There’s beer, of course, and maybe other things.

Which is all fine, but just about the time when some people might have had one too many, a Track Palin stumbles out of a stretch Hummer, and immediately spots an ex-boyfriend of Willow’s. Track isn’t happy with this guy, the story goes. There’s words, and more. The owner of the house gets involved, and he probably wished he hadn’t. At this point, he’s up against nearly the whole Palin tribe: Palin women screaming. Palin men thumping their chests. Word is that Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly, and it’s something to hear when Sarah screams, “Don’t you know who I am!” And it was particularly wonderful when someone in the crowd screamed back, “This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” No, it’s what happens when the former First Family of Alaska comes knocking.

As people were leaving in a cab, Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose.

Note: Amanda Coyne is also the author of the excellent book "Crude Awakening: Money, Mavericks, and Mayhem in Alaska", together with Tony Hopfinger, the editor of the Alaska Dispatch.

While we cannot confirm every detail that Amanda Coyne mentioned in this report, we can confirm through an incredibly well informed source with direct knowledge of these events that this incident indeed took place, last Saturday, close to Anchorage, Alaska. We can confirm further details as well.

We obtained this information at a very early point, but we waited to publish it, because we wanted to see first if anyone who had attended the party reached out to the media.

We were told that this incident happened at a party of an Iron Dog winner called Chris, who we believe to be Chris Olds, as they is no other Iron Dog winner with this first name, At the party, Bristol and Willow wore their big sunglasses and behaved like little Hollywood starlets, and according to our well informed source, they both got totally drunk. The situation continued get worse, and it got to the point where Bristol started a fight with the host Chris, and Bristol punched him repeatedly. Amanda Coyne alludes to this, when she said: "Word is that Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly."

Bristol's little son Tripp was with them at the party, and therefore was forced to watch the whole disaster.

Just like Amanda Coyne mentioned, the fact that Willow's ex-boyfriend (apparently a guy called "Corey") attended the party, started the whole chain of events. Bristol and Willow, the famous mean girls from Wasilla, started to harass him all night in such a bad way that Chris, the host of the party, was forced to intervene - which prompted drunk Bristol to throw several punches at him.

Even after Chris asked Bristol to leave, she continued to punch him several times.

Apart from that, what we were told is that Track also got into a fight, and Todd almost started fighting. But Todd must have jumped in as well...otherwise, Todd's "bloody nose" that Amanda Coyne mentioned in her report would be difficult to explain.

According to our source, Bristol wanted Todd to start fighting the host Chris as well, but we don't know whether this attempt to get her father involved was successful.

As I said at the beginning, Sarah was there the whole time, but her exact involvement is not known by our source.

And little Tripp had to watch the adults behaving badly.

Then the police were called. We don't know about charges being filed.

I think Alaskans will think twice in the future when it comes to inviting the Palin-clan to parties again. The other guests were simply shocked about the behavior of the members of Alaska's former "first family."

Well, maybe that's what Sarah Palin means when she says that people should "go rogue", I don't know.

Just imagine that this could have been the "first" or "second" family of the USA!

UPDATE:

Last night, the Alaska based blogger, Gryphen at the Immoral Minority was given an update on the situation by Jennifer Castro of the Anchorage Police Department.


Hi Griffin , 

What I am able to share with you at this time is the following: 

Case: 14-36989 

On Saturday, September 6, 2014 just before midnight Anchorage police responded to a report of a verbal and physical altercation taking place between multiple subjects outside of a residence located on the 900 block of Harbor Circle . A preliminary investigation by police revealed that a party had been taking place at a nearby residence and a fight had broken out between multiple subjects outside of the residence. None of the involved parties wanted to press charges at the time of the incident and no arrests were made. Alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the incident. Some of the Palin family members were in attendance at the party. 

This case is still pending, therefore, I’m unable to provide any further details or information in the police reports at this time. 

Thank you, 

Jennifer Castro 
APD Communications Director

+++

IMPORTANT SECOND UPDATE:

We just talked to another source with excellent knowledge of this incident, and now many more details have become clear. We also have to correct a few of the claims we previously reported, when everything was still quite sketchy. However, we can safely say that things still just look as bad for the Palin-family as they did at the beginning, perhaps even worse. The source we talked to is well known to us, and absolutely credible.

The party was not at Chris Olds's house. This was a wrong assumption, but now we have the full facts and do not need to "take guesses" any more. It was the birthday party for former Iron Dog winner Marc McKenna, the party for his 40th birthday. However, the party did not take place at his house, but at the house of another couple who hosted the birthday party for him in Anchorage. An old interview with Marc McKenna can be found here. There were about 100 people at the party.

Marc McKenna invited Sarah and Todd, but not the rest of the family, so he was quite surprised when the whole gang showed up.

Another thing which we have to correct is the claim that Tripp witnessed the fight. The truth is that Tripp was in the limousine outside the house, apparently asleep, while the brawl happened. When the fight started outside of the house, the limo driver then drove down the block with Tripp, so that Tripp did not have to see the ugly scenes which were unfolding.

So while Bristol and the rest of the family are partying, Tripp is left in a car with a driver that he does not know. I think that his father might have something to say about that.

The fight originally started after Bristol, with her sunglasses still on at about 11.00 pm and visibly drunk, approached the host (the owner of the house, not Marc McKenna) and "complained" to him that some people at the party "want to have a go at Willow." The host then tried to assure Bristol that this was not the case, but Bristol had none of it and started to punch the host in the face. The host then held up his hands in defence, and push her back slightly, and drunk Bristol then fell to the floor, and her dress was "up" about her waist. The host did not hit Bristol, but just defended himself.

Bristol then started shouting for Todd. He came over, and watched the situation. At this point, he did not intervene.

The host tried again to calm Bristol down, but she continued punching out at him. So then the host carried Bristol out of the house and demanded that every member of  the Palin-family should leave the party. Then everything kicked off, Todd got angry, Track ripped his shirt off and got angry, the fighting started again, and Todd at the end was left with a bloody nose. All this happened outside of the house.

Sarah was there at the party as well when it all happened.

Then the police arrived and told all guests to leave and go home.

Track was totally "out of it", and was walking on the street, "flipping everyone the bird" who was leaving.

Fun fact: There was a band hired for the party, and they kept on playing during the whole fight!

Marc McKenna was very upset that his party was ruined, and so was everybody else. Lots of expensive food was wasted.

This story has also been discussed on local radio stations this morning extensively, our source from Alaska told us.

If we were the host, we would certainly bring charges, and when we asked our source, he said that he thinks that this is a possibility, and would not rule it out.

By the way, our source says that it is rather unlikely that there is cell phone video, as he did not see anybody taking pictures or video.

These are the real facts, not exaggerations, assumptions or hyperbole.

There is certainly more to come. This story is not over yet.

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THIRD UPDATE:

The Alaskan journalist and blogger Amanda Coyne, who originally broke the story, just published a new post with further details, and her research fully confirms our latest reporting, and she also has more embarrassing details:

A note to readers about the Palin family brawl

I wrote about the Saturday-night Palin family brawl in my Loose Lips column—my version of a gossip column–hoping that some other news source, preferably a local news source, would pick it up, and run with it. I’m a one-woman show here. I’m the writer, the editor, and the business manager, and I’m trying to cover the state’s political races. As I write this, I’m at a health care conference in Girdwood, trying to learn as much as I can about why healthcare costs are so astronomically high in Alaska, when they have appeared to be declining elsewhere. (Expect a post on that later). All this is to say that I have little time to track down the details of the brawl. And even if I did, I’d probably pass. I spent many years covering Palin. It’s a rabbit hole every time.

But I thought I should update, because people seem to really want to know. Frankly, I would too if I were them, and weren’t at a health care conference, etc… So, here it goes: What I have heard since, without much trying, and what I knew then, is that the cops were called after the brawl. It’s confirmed that the Palins, all of them, were involved in some way involved in a fight at a house in Anchorage were a party was going it. Bristol’s son, Tripp was at the party. I have confirmed from multiple sources that Bristol punched someone repeatedly, and that charges might be filed. I spoke to a source yesterday who witnessed part of it. She said that some in the crowd were trying to restrain Sarah, who was clawing to get involved in the fight, which had moved to the cul-de-sac outside of the house. She was also screaming loudly. She wore platform high-tops with the American flag on them, and Bristol wore big, round shades. As I reported, Track was at some point in the night, shirtless.

The whole family arrived in a stretch Hummer limo, and had to be told to leave the house.

That’s what I know. Stay tuned, no doubt, for more.

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FOURTH UPDATE:

More confirmation!

Finally, the Alaska Dispatch News, Alaska's biggest newspaper, published a report about the incident, which again confirms what Amanda Coyne and we have already been saying, and adds even more details.

Quote:

Witnesses, APD confirm Palin family was present at Anchorage party that turned violent

(...)

Blogger Amanda Coyne reported Wednesday that the Palins were at the center of the fight. Coyne cites anonymous sources who described a shirtless Track Palin, Bristol Palin throwing punches and former Gov. Sarah Palin screaming during the melee. The reports have been widely re-circulated on national sites, including Wonkette and Gawker.

Neighbor Charles Fryer attended the party, which he described as a joint birthday party for four people, including Todd Palin. He said Sarah Palin was at the party.

Fryer said the party was “basically peaceable” until the fight occurred around 11 p.m. He heard commotion in front of the house and stepped outside to check it out.

He described the fight as a dog pile “just like you see in a football game.”

Fryer didn’t know who was involved. “I’m too old to fool with that stuff,” he said.

On her Facebook page, Sarah Palin posted that she was traveling on Saturday.

One commenter, Kimberley Vranckaert-Trujillo, claimed to be a witness to the incident, writing in the post thread: “Interesting....pretty sure you were not traveling and you and family were on the Southside causing chaos. Saw it happen. Don't fib.”

The Palin family could not be reached for comment.                                                        

According to her Facebook Kimberley Vranckaert-Trujillo works for the Anchorage Police Department. It would seem that even cops in Anchorage are fed up with Sarah's fibs.

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UPDATE FIVE:

The wonderful Amanda Coyne has now spoken to several witnesses, and some of them have spoken on the record, which enabled her to finally provide a pretty complete picture of what happened last Saturday evening at the party in Anchorage, the now already infamous "Palin brawl." The details are truly shocking.

We are pleased that her findings fall in line very with our own reporting and that many of our own facts, obtained through an excellent source, have been confirmed.

We are also grateful that finally the "sins" of Sarah and her famous family are not swept under the rug in Alaska any more, as it was usually the case in the past.

From what we hear from Alaska, we can safely say that the Palins are pretty much "done" there now. This also includes the "Iron Dog" crowd, with many members present at the party. No more favours for Todd!

We knew already yesterday that the party was at the house of Korey and Alisha Klingenmeyer, the "host couple" which we mentioned above, but we held back with this information because they already had enough to deal with at this point.

Amanda Coyne's investigation also proved that Sarah Palin was there on the scene as well, and Sarah behaved very badly, together with the rest of her family members (apart from little Tripp, who was sleeping in the stretch hummer limousine).

We were also told that Sarah had at least one altercation with another person.

What Amanda Coyne does not say is that the police did break up the party and told everyone to go home. However, this was confirmed by our eye-witness.

We got the name of Willow's former boyfriend wrong. Our first source (we had two sources from Alaska, one in the original report, one in the second update), got the name of the ex-boyfriend mixed-up, and said he was called something like "Corey." However, the real name of the ex-boyfriend who was at this party, as Amanda Coyne explains, is Conner Cleary.

Here is Amanda Coyne's new report about the #palinbrawl:

Eyewitness comes forward on ‘Palin brawl’

Eric Thompson was having fun with friends and his wife at a party in South Anchorage on Saturday night. Thompson, who is 56 years old, was the designated driver for the evening, so he wasn’t drinking. But that was okay with him. He was among friends. It was a birthday party for twins Matt and Marc McKenna, who own McKenna Bros Paving, for whom he works as a project supervisor. Marc is an Iron Dog snow machine racer. Other snow machine racers were said to have been there also.

The party was at Korey Klingenmeyer’s house, who is the office manger at McKenna Bros. According to Thompson, Klingenmeyer is a very large, muscular guy, “super easy going, and super friendly.”

Most of the party was outside. A live band was playing. People were dancing. Thompson noticed two girls wearing sunglasses walking with an unusual amount of confidence around the yard. He only noticed them because of the sunglasses. That was odd, because it was at night. His wife told him it was Bristol and Willow Palin. “Does she think she’s Marilyn Monroe?” he said to his wife about Bristol.

Todd and Sarah were there also. Todd races in the Iron Dog. According to another witness, Palin wore platform high-tops with the American flag emblazoned on them. Track Palin was there and so was Bristol’s son, Tripp.

They had all pulled up earlier in the evening in a stretch Hummer limo. It was also Todd’s 50th birthday.

He, along with the McKenna brothers and Klingenmeyer’s son, who was also celebrating a birthday, were brought in front of the band. Everyone sang Happy Birthday.

It wasn’t long after that things started going horribly wrong, according to Thompson and a handful of others interviewed for this story. Screams erupted. Profanities spewed. Fists flew. The Anchorage Police Department was called. The APD released a statement on Thursday, confirming that multiple people were involved in the fight. “However, at the time of the incident, none of the involved parties wanted to press charges and no arrests were made. However, the case is still an active investigation and is being reviewed by APD and the Municipal Prosecutors Office. Alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the incident. Some of the Palin family members were in attendance at the party,” the statement said.

As I had reported a few days ago, multiple accounts say that it started when Track confronted Willow’s former boyfriend, Conner Cleary, who was there with his father Steve and his mother Melissa. Thompson didn’t see this part, but other witnesses, who didn’t want to be named, say that Conner and Track fought on the front yard. Steve tried to break it up. Todd jumped into the mix and began to choke Steve.

After that ended, Conner, Steve, and Melissa Cleary huddled together close to Thompson, who spotted Bristol and Willow from a distance, walking straight towards them with purpose.

“They were on a b-line, coming straight at Melissa,” Thompson said.

The owner of the house, Klingenmeyer, was trying to head them off at the pass. He approached them and told them to leave. Bristol, according to Thompson and other witnesses, planted her feet, “stood straight up, brought her arm back and cold-cocked him right in the face,” Thompson said.

And then she did it again, about six more times, before he pushed her away, and she fell, and Todd appeared.

“I was thoroughly amazed at the restraint Korey showed. He’s a total gentlemen,” Thompson said.

Another melee. This time Sarah got involved and began to scream profanities at everyone. One source, who didn’t want to be named, said that she was “nearly crawling on top of people,” trying to get into the scrum.

As these things go, that also broke up, and the Palins were asked again to leave. They piled into the Hummer, but not until Track stood out in front of the house, inexplicably with his shirt off, his middle finger raised at those who were also leaving.

Then the cops came, and took statements from about 10 people, including Thompson. It’s unclear who called them. Thompson thought it was the Palins.

“It was a really nice, mellow party,” Thompson said. “Then it turned into the Jerry Springer show.”

Sarah Palin herself hasn't said a word about this incident in public so far. She is way too busy with commenting on President Obama's perceived misdeeds on facebook, as usual. Her own misdeeds have never interested her very much.

+++

UPDATE SIX:

"Good Morning America" today broadcast a good report about the "brawl", with Eric Thompson as a witness on the record:



Watch more news videos | Latest world news

+++

UPDATE SEVEN:

It does appear that we do have really bad news! 

The eye-witness for ABC News has been fired from his job for talking to the media!

Elizabeth Applegate, Senior Producer at Entertainment Tonight (ET), just tweeted that she spoke to the witness Eric Thompson, who appeared in the ABC News clip mentioned above, and that Eric told her that he has been fired from his job for talking to the media!

Screenshot of her tweets:

We assume that this information is true, although we ourselves haven't verified it.

According to his LinkedIn, Eric Thompson works as a Projects Supervisor at McKenna Brothers Paving - screenshot:

This is even more shocking in light of the fact that the party was organized for the owners of this company, Marc and Matt McKenna!

Here is their facebook page - let them know what you think!

Screenshot of Eric Thompson from the interview with ABC News:

If this is true, which is extremely likely, it would be another huge scandal. 

+++

UPDATE 8:

We got more background information from a source in Alaska regarding the relationship between the Palin-family and the McKenna family! 

They are very close. They both have got "cabins" very close to each other (these pretty large weekend houses, for which Sarah Palin in the past was not keen to pay property tax), they both know each other closely for a very long time and they are big "snow-machine buddies."

Also, don't forget, it was the McKennas who invited Sarah and Todd to the party.

So it is apparent that the firing of Eric Thompson was most likely, if not certainly a case of retaliation.

+++

UPDATE 9:

Now there is something which we have overlooked at the beginning - in Amanda Coyne's latest update, she wrote:

"The party was at Korey Klingenmeyer’s house, 

who is the office manger at McKenna Bros."

So it could be very well the case that the firing of Eric Thompson is a "warning shot" for Korey Klingenmeyer, who was punched repeatedly by Bristol, so that he is not going to file charges against her. It appears to me that they try to shut him up.

The company McKenna Brothers Paving have also started to delete all the critical comments about the firing from their facebook page. Clearly they do not want to be "disturbed" in whatever they are doing.

(h/t "Got a life")

+++

UPDATE 10:

The "Alaska Dispatch News", Alaska's biggest newspaper, reports that Eric Thompson has now retained legal counsel:

After Thompson’s interviews, senior producer for "Entertainment Tonight" Elizabeth Applegate tweeted that Thompson told her he had been fired from his job because of the interview with ABC News.

Thompson had retained legal counsel on Friday. Attorney Kevin Fitzgerald said he “can’t confirm or deny” that Thompson was fired from his position at McKenna Bros. Paving.

The owners of McKenna Bros. Paving could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Sarah Palin could not be reached for comment Friday. She has not addressed the incident publicly, although she made a public appearance on the Fox News’ “Hannity” on Thursday as reports of the fight circulated and had posted to the Sarah Palin Channel on Friday morning.

In further news, Amanda Coyne published a story about this incident as a co-writer with "The New York Times."

The article in "The Guardian" is also very good.

"Talking Points Memo" published three posts about the incident and did a really good job. The last one is called: "Palin Clan Fight Club: The TPM Investigation"

The rule appears to be:

+++

UPDATE 11:

There is so much information out there now, that some people are starting to get confused.

Here is a very short overview:

The party happened at the house of Korey Klingenmeyer. He is an employee with McKenna Brothers Paving.

The witness Eric Thompson, who is now fired, was also an employee with McKenna Brothers Paving.

The party was for the 40th birthday of the owners of the company, Matt & Marc McKenna.

The guy who was punched by Bristol Palin was Korey Klingenmeyer.

We believe that the firing of Eric Thompson is also supposed to be a warning to Korey Klingenmeyer, who has a well-paid job there at the company, in order to prevent him to file charges against Bristol.

The name of Willow's ex-boyfriend, who was harassed by Bristol and Willow, is Connor Cleary.

+++

UPDATE 12:

CNN finally broadcast an excellent report about this incident, interviewing Amanda Coyne:

(h/t honestingov)



+++

UPDATE 13:

Our great reader "HopeforAmerica" made an excellent find - a picture of Sarah Palin together with Matt McKenna, one of the owners of "McKenna Brothers Paving", who now fired Eric Thompson:

They look very cozy together, do they!

And what a nice shiny car...!

Here are Marc & Matt McKenna together, the owners of McKenna Brothers Paving, who fired Eric Thompson, after he talked to ABC News:

+++

UPDATE 14:

OK, definitely the last update of this post, and a really good conclusion, I think. :-)

Here is the letter by John McCain which we all would like to see:

+++

UPDATE 15:

Another update! Scott Conroy from RealClearPolitics tweeted new information, this time the "Palin-side" of the story, as he calls it. However, the details still do not sound very good for the Palins! Scott Conroy spoke to a source "close to the Palins," and yes, the Palins were all involved in the brawl, and yes, Sarah Palin was there as well.

Also, Track was left with "four cracked ribs"...!

Unsurprisingly, the Palins apparently claim that the others started it, in particular Willow's ex-boyfriend Connor Cleary. I am sure he will have something to say to that!

The confirmed fact that Sarah Palin took an early flight from Houston and was definitely involved in the brawl is particularly damning, because the right-wingers so far refused to believed it, despite the fact that all other sources had previously confirmed this. Several media outlets, including the Alaska Dispatch News and CNN, noted that Sarah Palin sent out a very deceptive facebook message on Monday, September 8, saying the she was "traveling yesterday" and therefore wished Todd a Happy Birthday via facebook. However, in reality, she was there "on the ground" during his birthday, on Saturday, 6 September, when the brawl happened.

In addition, Sarah Palin hasn't uttered a word about the brawl in public so far, despite the fact that she even had a TV appearance on Hannity after the brawl.

Quite strange behaviour, if you really were the "victim." In contrast, it appears that Sarah hoped that the whole affair would simply "blow over" - which of course it didn't.

Also, if they are truly "victims", why don't they press charges?

Scott Conroy is also the co-author of the 2009 bestselling book "Sarah from Alaska."

EDIT: Scott Conroy now also published a post on RealClearPolitics about this, confirming that the new talking point for the Palins will be that they were the victims! It took them only one week to figure this out, and there is still no official statement or ANY word directly from one of the Palins involved.

Here are some of Scott Conroy's tweets:

+++

FINALLY - SEPTEMBER 14, 2014:

The Alaskan blog "Mudflats"just posted a new witness report about the "Palin brawl", with further interesting details, also confirming many facts which were already known, including our own reporting (see our ""Second Important Update" above). It comes as no surprise that the "Palin-side" of the story, reported by Scott Conroy (see our update 15), was again not confirmed. No independent witness has so far confirmed the version that the Palins now apparently want the world to believe.

Excerpt:

The Palins arrived at the party, but not just Sarah and Todd who were the only actual invitees from the clan – the whole fan-damnily and some other tagalong friends from Wasilla turned up in a stretch Hummer limo. Because, of course they did. The party was an adult and relaxed event, with most guests at least in their 30s. Reports have come in that Track got into a fight with an ex-boyfriend of Willow’s. But according to my source, the initial fight started when Track and his buddy were aggressively pursuing… how shall I put this… “romantic relations” with some female guests. They were allegedly explicit and crude in their depictions of what they’d like to do with and to the ladies, expressing a desire to “bend them over on the lawn,” according to my source. Apparently the lawn was large enough to include places one could be “bent over.”

(...)

As Track and his companion were wooing the ladies with honeyed words, certain individuals took exception to it – namely the husbands of the women in question, whose presence right there with their wives the whole time was no deterrant to our confident and ambitious Casanovas from the Mat-Su.

Track did not fare well in the ensuing confrontation with the spouse. The irate husband punched Track with the full force of his annoyance, and the young Palin ended up “spread eagle lying on the grass.” You could say someone did end up bent over on the lawn, but not in the way he first envisioned.

Track’s buddies then got involved in the fracas to defend the honor of their fallen comrade, others followed, and soon Bristol Palin began to punch the host in the face for reasons we do not fully understand. Repeatedly. Then Todd showed up and joined the scrum, ending up with a bloody nose out of the deal. Did I mention that it happened to be his 50th birthday? He probably won’t forget the big 5-Ohhhh.

Then Sarah shrieked, “Don’t you know who I am?” and other such things making clear the importance of the Palins, and the lack of importance of the non-Palins to whom she was speaking. She then apparently tried to fling herself on top of the giant dog pile into the middle of the melée.

If there’s one thing the Palin’s have learned from the last six years it’s that the darned media is ruthless, and every little thing you do is scrutinized, so you keep your nose clean, and walk on eggshells. Oh, and “keep the children out of it.” Don’t forget that one.

After tiring of being punched in the face, our host informed the Palins it was time for them to go home. Bristol’s young son Tripp was apparently sleeping in the back of the Hummer limo at the time, blissfully unaware of intoxicated mommy’s raging fists of fury.

The fight ended up involving about 20 people, but eventually the police arrived, and the marauders piled into their limo and headed north to the wild lands from whence they came. But not before Track ripped his shirt off and stood in the road giving the one finger salute to departing guests. Ok, I kind of loved that part.

“Alcohol may have been a factor,” said the police report filed later.

+++

Read the follow-up:

Marc and Matt McKenna, give Eric Thompson his job back! You made your fortune with money from the taxpayer, receiving large public contracts for your paving company, now do not fire Eric Thompson for exercising his constitutional rights!

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Websites who linked to this post:

New York Magazine

New York Post

ABC local news (various websites)

News.com.au (Australia)

Newsmax

Firebrand Progressives

Little Green Footballs

Mediaite

Wonkette

Toronto Sun

Canoe.ca News

Calgary Sun

Crooks & Liars

Western Journalism

Democratic Underground

Edge on the Net

Daily Telegraph Australia

Breitbart Unmasked

Wonkette (again)

Mock Paper Scissors

Liberaland

Ring of Fire

Crooks & Liars (again)