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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    The saga of 'Pizzagate': The fake story that shows how conspiracy theories spread

    The saga of 'Pizzagate': The fake story that shows how conspiracy theories spread



    By BBC Trending What's popular and why


    • 2 December 2016


    Image copyright COMET PIZZA

    No victim has come forward. There's no investigation. And physical evidence? That doesn't exist either.


    But thousands of people are convinced that a paedophilia ring involving people at the highest levels of the Democratic Party is operating out of a Washington pizza restaurant.


    The story riveted fringes of Twitter - nearly a million messages were sent last month using the term "pizzagate".


    So how did this fake story take hold amongst alt-right Trump supporters and other Hillary Clinton opponents?


    Let's start with the facts.

    In early November, as Wikileaks steadily released piles of emails from Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, one contact caught the attention of prankster sites and people on the paranoid fringes.

    James Alefantis is the owner of Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington. He's also a big Democratic Party supporter and raised money for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He was once in a relationship with David Brock, an influential liberal operative.


    Alefantis - who's never met Clinton - appeared in the Podesta emails in connection with the fundraisers.


    And from these thin threads, an enormous trove of conspiracy fiction was spun.


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    Users of 4chan, a message board known for free speech, extreme content and trollish behaviour, began posting speculation and supposed connections gleaned from internet searches. They trawled Alefantis' Instagram feed for pictures of children and the modern art which lines his restaurant's walls, and dreamt up a paedophile sex ring involving prominent politicians and political donors.

    Soon there were protesters outside of Comet Ping Pong. Alefantis even invited some of them in - they filmed the encounter and put it on YouTube.


    "They ignore basic truths," Alefantis tells BBC Trending. For instance, the conspiracy supposedly is run out of the restaurant's basement. "We don't even have a basement."


    "Sometimes an innocent picture of a child in a basket is just an innocent picture of a child in a basket and not proof of a child sex trafficking ring," he says.


    The conspiracy theory bubbled up from 4chan onto the mainstream internet when a Reddit user posted a long document with all of the "evidence" several days before the US election. It first appeared on a section of the site popular with Donald Trump supporters from the extremist white nationalist alt-right.


    Alefantis, along with Comet Ping Pong employees and others, started to get threatening messages. He locked his Instagram account.

    Image copyright GETTY IMAGES

    The fake story remained the preserve of 4chan and alt-right Reddit until mid-November, when Turkish pro-government media outlets suddenly took an intense interest.

    Their tweets were in Turkish, but they used the English hashtag: #Pizzagate.


    As outlined by Efe Kerem Sozeri of the Daily Dot, supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cottoned onto the tale as a way to accuse opponents of hypocrisy.


    Those opponents, the logic goes, had been sharply critical of Erdogan following the revelation of a real child abuse scandal at a Turkish government-linked foundation. So why weren't they similarly outraged about "pizzagate"?


    The rumour also provided a distraction from another controversy: Erdogan's party also recently proposed a controversial draft bill that would have given amnesty to child abusers if they married their victims. It was later withdrawn after protests.


    Sozeri says liberal and secular opponents of Erdogan, already sensitive to mistreatment of children, also picked up on the rumours.


    The Turkish tweets boosted "pizzagate" to whole new levels of prominence online. Around the same time, Donald Trump backed away from talk of an investigation of his defeated opponent over her use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State.


    On Twitter alt-right activists, conservative journalists, and others who had urged Clinton's prosecution over the emails - took up the "pizzagate" cause with renewed vigour.

    Image copyright@CERNOVICH/TWITTERImage copyright@BRITTPETTIBONE/TWITTER

    Despite the complete lack of physical evidence or victim testimony, there are reasons why the hardcore conspiracy theorists are particularly sensitive to allegations of child sex abuse.

    It's known, for instance that Bill Clinton and Donald Trump flew on the private plane of convicted child abuser Jeffery Epstein. Tony Podesta, the brother of the Clinton aide whose emails were hacked, was a friend of Dennis Hastert, a Republican politician who earlier this year was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and has admitted abusing boys. The Jimmy Savile scandal in the UK has featured in speculation as an example of a serial child abuser getting away with his crimes.


    Viren Swami, professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, says "pizzagate" might well be an example of a trend in a hyper-partisan America, where conspiracy theories become fodder for political factions.


    "What's happening in the US over the last year or two is that conspiracy theorising is being deployed as a political weapon," he says. "And that's a very big change in the way that conspiracy narratives are being used."


    The saga has prompted debunkers by the New York Times and Fox News, among many others, but no factual news story has slowed the torrent of Tweets from the true believers.


    "There is some evidence that presenting critical information can reduce belief in a theory, but only among people who have not made up their minds yet," Swami says. "For the people who have already made up their minds, it probably won't change anything."


    Other stories have fuelled the rumours and prompted claims of a cover up. For instance, Reddit deleted a "pizzagate" thread - the page now reads "we don't want witchhunts on our site" - and its CEO admitted altering posts made by Donald Trump supporters.

    Image copyright REDDIT

    Alefantis says threats against him, his staff and his customers have reduced somewhat since the height of the social media flurry, but that he is still wary of the conspiracy mongers.

    "It's very scary to be under a social media attack, a lot of threats are death threats or serious continuing threats by very impassioned people," he told Trending. He's reported the threats to the FBI and local police.


    "I consider this to be a politically orchestrated attack," he says. But it hasn't discouraged him from continuing to be involved in politics: "I like to push back because I consider these threats against me, the artists on our walls, the musicians who play here and my customers here as an assault on first amendment rights and my right to freedom of expression."


    Meanwhile, on 4chan, where the whole saga started, while some users continued to promote the rumours, others were lamenting what had happened.


    "I'm sorry to say this guys but it was a mistake," said one recent post. "Not every conspiracy theory is true."


    "Moral panics are not something new and you're just experiencing a new cycle of it," said another. "You guys have a bunch of creepy pictures and you're finding symbols and other circumstantial bunk...

    You guys have absolutely nothing and it's a little embarrassing that you guys are on a rabid witch hunt based on this evidence.


    "Are you guys even aware of how stupid all of this is."

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.cf86eb91d149

    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 06-22-2017 at 04:54 PM.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Trump team: Flynn Jr., who spread conspiracies, ‘no longer’ with transition

    Dylan Stableford Senior editor

    Yahoo News December 6, 2016

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tea...171258313.html
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Pizza shop gunman says he regrets how he handled situation

    Jonathan Drew and Tom Foreman Jr., Associated Press
    Updated 2:55 pm, Thursday, December 8, 2016




    Photo: AP
    Edgar Maddison Welch, 28 of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, in Washington. Welch, who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out ... more


    SALISBURY, N.C. (AP) — The man accused of firing an assault rifle inside a Washington restaurant said he regrets how he handled the situation but refused to completely dismiss the false online claims involving a child sex ring that brought him there.

    "I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way," Edgar Maddison Welch, who's been jailed since his Sunday arrest, told The New York Times in a Wednesday videoconference.


    Welch, 28, told the newspaper he started driving to Washington from his Salisbury, North Carolina, home intending only to give the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant a "closer look." But while on the way, he said he felt his "heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering."

    Welch would not say why he brought an AR-15 into the pizza shop and fired it, the newspaper reported.


    Asked what he thought when he found there were no children in the restaurant, Welch said: "The intel on this wasn't 100 percent." But he would not completely dismiss the online claims while talking to the newspaper, conceding only that there were no children "inside that dwelling."


    Welch appears to have lived an aimless life that became turbulent in the weeks before he was drawn to the nation's capital by a fake news story.

    Friends and family say he is a well-meaning father of two girls who wanted to be a firefighter. But he also unnerved some with his religious fervor and sometimes had trouble detaching himself from the internet.


    In the weeks before his Washington arrest, there were other signs of turbulence. In late October, Welch struck a teenage pedestrian with his car in his hometown, requiring the boy to be airlifted to a hospital, according to a police report that said he wasn't immediately charged. More recently, days before he drove to Washington, he was dropped from the rolls of a volunteer fire department.


    In past years, he was convicted of drunken driving and minor drug charges.


    But the one constant, friends and family say, was his love for his two young daughters.


    "He's a father and a very loving man, very concerned about children," said his aunt Tajuana Tadlock, adding: "He's not a vigilante, by no check of the words."


    Tadlock said Welch's parents haven't been able to talk to him to ask what he was thinking, and the family's only information comes from the news and the public defender.


    In Washington, court documents say Welch fired an AR-15 rifle multiple times inside the restaurant but later exited with his hands up. He told police "he had read online that the Comet restaurant was harboring child sex slaves," and he wanted to investigate. He said he surrendered when he found no signs of children being held. Welch faces charges including assault with a dangerous weapon.

    On Thursday, a judge delayed a preliminary hearing for Welch. His public defender requested the delay, saying she needed more time to investigate the case. He will be back in court Tuesday.

    In recent years, Welch often mentioned his Christian faith.

    Interspersed with Facebook posts about his daughters are the registered Republican's musings on the Bible and religion.


    Danielle Tillman
    of Raleigh said she met Welch a few months ago and has known his current girlfriend for years. She recalls Welch made her uncomfortable while talking at length about religion. At one point, he grabbed her hand and prayed, asking for "the demons to come out of me," she said.


    Welch's family has roots in the Salisbury area, where his father and grandfather served in local government, according to the Salisbury Post. Friends say he attended West Rowan High School. A woman at the family's property declined to answer questions this week.


    Around age 18, Welch pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug possession charges in neighboring Cabarrus County, according to online records of the January 2007 offense.


    Welch enrolled at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, but court records say he didn't graduate.


    On a break from college in 2009, Welch was interviewed by the Salisbury Post after he made it halfway through a hike of the 500-mile Colorado Trail. He told the newspaper the hike helped him overcome an addiction to the internet.


    "It's a good feeling, going solo," he told the newspaper. "There's something spiritual about it."


    In April 2013, Welch was charged with impaired driving with a blood-alcohol content of .09, court records show. He pleaded guilty, was sentenced to probation and community service and underwent alcohol counseling.


    Rowan County records show that after a short marriage, his wife filed for divorce in November 2014. The thin file doesn't say why they split up. The divorce complaint was dismissed in 2015 after neither attended a scheduled hearing. Documents related to his arrest say they remain separated, and his two children live with him.


    Welch twice served briefly as a volunteer firefighter, and his aunt said he was recently taking classes needed to get a paying job as a firefighter.


    Locke Fire Chief Rusty Alexander said Welch barely showed up at the fire station after joining in 2012, and lasted about six months.


    "He tried it, and basically it wasn't for him," Alexander said.

    In May 2016, Welch became a volunteer firefighter in the town of Spencer, Chief Gray Grubb said. Grubb said Welch stopped attending training sessions and didn't answer alarms, so he was removed from the active roster Nov. 30.

    "When we interviewed him, he seemed like a good guy," Grubb said.

    http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/cri...f-10782211.php

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  5. #5
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    As far as Pizzagate, we don't know anything - anything.
    At least for publication, it seems.

    Has it been investigated by law enforcement?

    Is it deemed a 'fake' news story because it has been proven such? Is it a 'fake' story because main stream media says it is?

  6. #6
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    ALEX JONES APOLOGIZES FOR 'PIZZAGATE' FAKE NEWS

    BY TOM O'CONNOR ON 3/24/17 AT 4:52 PM

    U.S.PIZZAGATECONSPIRACY THEORIES

    Conservative radio host Alex Jones apologized Friday for promoting an anti-government conspiracy theory that allegedly inspired one man to open fire in a Washington restaurant last year.


    Broadcasting from his website InfoWars, Jones said he was not the author of the so-called "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory, but regretted prior comments made in support of it. He specifically appealed to James Alefantis, owner of Comet Ping Pong. The Washington pizza place was one of several that the theory's supporters believed hosted a child-sex trafficking ring sponsored by Democratic Party officials. In December, 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch entered the restaurant and opened fire with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle without any reported injuries. After his arrest, Welch claimed he was motivated to take action based on his belief of the theory and that he was an avid listener of Jones' radio show.


    "I want our viewers and listeners to know that we regret any negative impact our commentaries may have had on Mr. Alefantis, Comet Ping Pong, or its employees. We apologize to the extent our commentaries could be construed as negative statements about Mr. Alefantis or Comet Ping Pong, and we hope that anyone else involved in commenting on Pizzagate will do the same thing," Jones said in a prepared statement.


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    BREAKING: Alex Jones apologizes for pizzagate coverage, blames other media outlets http://mm4a.org/2nwuuNv
    12:25 PM - 24 Mar 2017



    Jones had previously supported the "Pizzagate" theory on his show and website, including a video entitled "PIZZAGATE:

    The Bigger Picture
    " posted days before the Comet Ping Pong attack. In the segment, Jones purported to link a number of high-profile pedophilia cases to a major operation led by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief John Podesta and using underground tunnels to traffic young children through the city. The rumors, which were widely discredited by authorities, were further fueled by the hacking and release of private Democratic Party emails, which conspiracy theorists alleged used code words to refer to the child abuse ring.

    Related Stories



    Jones has been criticized for promoting other conspiratorial ideas such as the 9/11 truther movement and Sandy Hook Elementary School conspiracy theory, both of which claim the tragedies were false flag operations actually conducted by the U.S. government and covered up.


    Around 2 million listeners tune into Jone's radio show every week, according to Southern Poverty Law Center, which called Jones "almost certainly the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America."

    http://www.newsweek.com/alex-jones-a...ke-news-574025

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  8. #8
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    You know we may be more likely to believe fake news today.

    We do have to decide what exactly is 'fake' news and what is real news.

    We have been swallowing the fake news of our so called news media for 50 or so years.

    Maybe we are wiling to listen to a source other than the mainstream press.

    Maybe we are willing to believe more far out, odd, bad things because we are seeing so many actually happening.

    There was a time, we might never have believed our government could do any of those things, but we have seen our government start a very destructive war based on lies.

    We have seen our government fill our country with people from other countries, to be supported by American taxpayers, taking our jobs, committing crimes, and somehow we are supposed to believe we are mean and cruel because we want it stopped.

    We've seen people actually calling for death to a President and it's just mostly ignored. We have seen groups calling for the deaths of another group (white people) and the 'real' media seems to think it's justified.



    Why shouldn't we believe many things other than what our media/government propaganda outlet tells us.

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  10. #10
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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