Fake news story says pizzeria is the center of child abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton, John Podesta

[Skinner]

This is insanity.

WASHINGTON — Days before the presidential election, James Alefantis, owner of a local pizza restaurant called Comet Ping Pong, noticed an unusual spike in the number of his Instagram followers.

Within hours, menacing messages like “we’re on to you” began appearing in his Instagram feed. In the ensuing days, hundreds of death threats — one read “I will kill you personally” — started arriving via texts, Facebook and Twitter. All of them alleged something that made Mr. Alefantis’s jaw drop: that Comet Ping Pong was the home base of a child abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief, John D. Podesta.

When Mr. Alefantis discovered that his employees were getting similar abusive messages, he looked online to unravel the accusations. He found dozens of made-up articles about Mrs. Clinton kidnapping, molesting and trafficking children in the restaurant’s back rooms. The articles appeared on Facebook and on websites such as The New Nationalist and The Vigilant Citizen, with one headline blaring: “Pizzagate: How 4Chan Uncovered the Sick World of Washington’s Occult Elite.”

None of it was true. While Mr. Alefantis has some prominent Democratic friends in Washington and was a supporter of Mrs. Clinton, he has never met her, does not sell or abuse children, and is not being investigated by law enforcement for any of these claims. He and his 40 employees had unwittingly become real people caught in the middle of a storm of fake news.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this-pizzeria-is-not-a-child-trafficking-site.html

[TreasonousBastard]

1. It is insane, but how do we stop it?

[Hortensis]

2. A small business, the owner's life, destroyed out of malice toward Hillary?

Or maybe mainly towards the owner, a Democrat who was once in a relationship with David Brock. Fake News as a new mccarthyism.

[yardwork]

3. This is so horrible it's almost beyond belief.

[Solly Mack]

4. Damn. Wanna hear something else insane?

In Georgia, a story was was being passed along as "news" that Hillary Clinton contracted HIV from Bill Clinton, who contracted HIV from Magic Johnson. That's why Bill looks "so sick" and Hillary was having "all those health issues". And, yes, the people said they got the "news" from Facebook.

My sister who lives in Georgia called me up with that one. She heard people talking about it.

You get to the point you don't know what to say because the stupid is so horrendous you go tharn for a few seconds.

[Hortensis]

6. So far the more outrageous the lies and scary the

consequences, the more ardently and aggressively the BAD conservatives I'm acquainted with are justifying their own decisions. They need these lies. What you want to bet many of the calls to the Gestapo to come pick up neighbors were part of this syndrome? Somewhere in the backs of those minds, where they can't be examined, are doubt and fear of guilt.

[Solly Mack]

7. I am amazed at what people are willing to believe to justify and boost their opinions.

I shouldn't be, but I am.

I agree. Reminders of how horrible they are, so those reminders must go.

[Hortensis]

8. Ministers across the nation must face losing their positions

if they try to connect god's instructions to political behavior. It hadn't occurred to me before, but Christian ministers who spoke against the Third Reich were imprisoned and murdered, and many were probably informed on by their own offended parishioners.

[Solly Mack]

9. You stand up for what is right regardless of the consequences.

I know that is easier said than done but there comes a point where your fear isn't a means of self-protection but it becomes the means for committing atrocities.

Silence can be deadly.

[Hortensis]

14. I agree, BUT. Standing up in the middle of your own

empty living room is of limited value.

I was just reading that Liberty U is split between ardent Trumpsters who agree with its president Jerry Falwell, Jr., and people who, you know, actually try to follow the word of God. None are tenured, and the latter know beyond doubt that speaking up will get them fired. Wait and hope for a chance to make a difference in the largest Christian university in the nation or make a little individual statement now, like a rock plopping in a pond and disappearing, and go get a job selling insurance?

But, yes, I agree. While they stay, they are part of something evil. Wonder how many ministerial jobs are opening up as church boards realize they have to replace trumpster ministers. And how many more church boards are dissolving in civil war?

[Solly Mack]

15. I think Liberty U is a joke, so I can't say I have any sympathy at all for those who work there.

Or for those who attend school there, and as I am atheist, I have even less sympathy for anyone having an conflict of conscience over Trump. It's cut and dried for me. You either live your principles or you don't.

I'm not trying to be confrontational with this, I just don't see the conflict for anyone - Trump, and JF jr, for that matter, are both horrible people. Any support of either is support for all the wrongs they both do.

Please understand, I'm not trying to offend. I just don't think this is a hard choice.

[Hortensis]

20. Some religious people have no conflict at all --

some students and teachers at Liberty reject Trump with great conviction and are horrified by the behaviors of people they once believed were good, obedient Christians. The conflict isn't internal, it's between factions.

I'm not a person of faith myself, but to wrest our nation back from the evil-doers, both areligious and religious, I'll be more than glad of all the people on my side I can find. And notably welcome, given the power of religion, will be those carrying Bibles and reminding all of the tenets of their religion, the Satan's demons some are sure are active among us, and the danger of spending eternity in a lake of fire.

Hopefully fear may still deter some of the trumpsters who have failed all religious, moral, and ethical trials to date.

[tanyev]

10. I guess that's the basis of Trump's constant "Many people are saying..."

Throw a lot of fake news out there, and then talk about how 'many people' are talking about it.

[Solly Mack]

11. Worked for Fox. Still works for them.

[CottonBear]

5. WTF?

Fake news? I am speechless.

[yardwork]

12. This is why Trump "won" the election.

These kinds of stories have been circulating for months on Facebook and other social media. Enough people in the Midwest were turned away from Hillary to give Trump the electoral win.

[mopinko]

19. reminds me of how w beat ann richards.

started a whispering campaign that she was a lesbian. it was everywhere in texas, tho not in the "media".

and yeah, cant exactly issue corrections either.

[Catherine Vincent]

13. I know it all too well

There were more stories, something about cooking...can't remember. Fake News? Just another name (or another version) for tabloid news.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

16. Insanity

I couldn't agree more.

[bigtree]

17. the new senior nat. security advisor retweeted the fake Clinton sex story

http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-tweets-hillary-clinton-2016-11

[Maru Kitteh]

38. Bigtree that post deserves it's own OP.

depressing as it is

[Snarkoleptic]

18. Uggg! We're all Trump University students now.

n/t

[Fast Walker 52]

21. There's a whole huge conspiracy theory on this pushed by Alex Jones' and his ilk

The conspiracy theory is this is all part of a huge pedophilia ring and Podesta is a Satanist, etc.

If you've heard anyone on the right mention "spirit cooking", this fits into it.

Just beyond sick that people go for this stuff.


Some of the really far out stuff I found yesterday looking into this story:
stateofthenation2012.com/?p=56142

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/11/32-minute-evidence-video-pizzagate-01-pedophilia-satanism-lie-started-illegal-wars-aggression-bankster-looting-constant-lying-annually-kills-millions-harms-billions-loots-trill.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. There was an editorial about this in Saturday's Washington Post:

Last edited Sat Nov 26, 2016, 08:30 PM - Edit history (1)

‘Pizzagate’ shows how fake news hurts real people

By Editorial Board

November 25 at 6:06 PM

SOME OF the people can be fooled all of the time, and some seem plenty pleased about it when it gives them license to exercise their most malicious impulses. How else to explain the noxious torrent of vitriol, venom and threats trained recently against a popular upper Northwest Washington pizzeria, which has been the subject of ludicrous conspiracy theories alleging that it is the center of a child - abuse racket run by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman, John Podesta?

The allegations against Comet Ping Pong, reported by the New York Times, are absurd on their face and detached from any gossamer thread of fact. They took root in the dark crevices of the Web and took flight thanks to social media platforms, whose witless “who, us?” posture in the face of misinformation and outright lunacy is a civic embarrassment.

[Initech]

23. Holy shit!!!!

It's way past time we get Alex Jones kicked off Youtube, anyone else agree with me?

[RKP5637]

27. Definitely!!!!! Alex Jones and his ilk for profit are significant in why the US is so F'ed up with

this CT crap!

[Cha]

24. This is all our damn M$M's fault.. if they did their damn

jobs and reported on trump instead of bowing and scraping and "Normalizing" him then they couldn't get away with their bloody fake news.

But, nooooo.. the same bunch of media****** that brought us the War on Iraq has brought us drumpfuck inc.

Thanks Skinner

[Initech]

28. We need to take back the media. I'm sick of this crap.

The republicans have been peddling the lie of the "liberal media" since Reagan and Nixon and they can't keep getting away with this. I think it starts with us getting Breitbart and Infowars booted from iTunes, Twitter and Youtube. They should not be allowed to get away with their white supremacy and fake news on such public forums, and I think we need to make all advertisers aware of what they're sponsoring.

[Cha]

29. You Got It, Initech.

[get the red out]

30. By normalizing Trump

They have started normalizing these insane fake news stories.

[Cha]

34. Pravda.. it really is government news now.. it has

been all these years with Obama President.. against the Government.

I just found this when I googled..

American Pravda: How Donald Trump could sovietize the media

Pravda is the Russian word for truth.. but as the ol Soviet joke goes there is no truth in Pravda..

MORE.. http://theweek.com/articles/662731/american-pravda-how-donald-trump-could-sovietize-media

[rzemanfl]

25. Didn't the guy who claimed to have been on the plane with Trump

and that woman who came forward have a similar story about the House of Lords or some such shit?

Such bullshit.

[RKP5637]

26. I turned on Alex Jones the other night, he was rambling on and on about this stoking the fires of CT

[get the red out]

35. He is way too popular

Scary dude.

[malaise]

31. There's a real story with the President elect admitting

that he grabs them by the pussy - fuck them all

[seaglass]

32. "Former" DU members have been pushing this on that other site for quite a while. I never

realized how gullible and ignorant some of these people are. And what is considered "fact-checking" and "evidence." Extremely grotesque.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

33. You know what? Maybe I'll just leave the planet.

Build myself a rocket and try out Mars instead.

Because goddamn the human race is getting annoying stupid these days.

[riverwalker]

36. On Twitter too

Was wonder what the he'll they were babbling about. Hashtag "tcot" is like an alternat reality. Bizarre

[still_one]

37. yes it is insane, and Google News a few days before the election was spewing the

bret baier report that "from his sources in the FBI, an indictment against the Clinton Foundation was pending". It was a LIE, and 2 days later fox new's bret baier retracted the comment, but Google and other news did not seem to care much about that retraction, and in fact fox news continued to spew the lie, in spite of baier saying it wasn't true.

This is a very serious issue

[otohara]

39. Got Blocked By Twitter Guy - When I Busted HIm

I had no idea what he was yammering on about pizzagate I thought he was talking about the catholic church. After a little investigating and posted proof...still nothing would convince him it was hooey.

Not NPR, not Snopes, Washington Post - so he blocked me.