Remember Courtney Messerschmidt, the 21-year-old neocon phenom we highlighted? As some suspected, she turned out to be a Gay Girl in Damascus-style hoax:
“Courtney Messerschmidt” is a performance art project run out of Georgia. The ringleader in Chattanooga is a 32-year-old man, but he’s joined by a 24-year-old woman who photographs the pieces, a 24-year-old male researcher they’ve nicknamed “Ridiculous Nicholas” who gathers most of the hyperlinks and several others who have formed into what they call an artistic “collective.” While there is a 21-year-old in the group with the name Courtney, “Messerschmidt” is a play on her last name. According to the registrar at the University of Georgia, she never completed a single credit at the school.
Crispin J. Burke, who has blogged alongside "Courtney," doesn't care. The collective explains itself here.
The Dish 