About Us
Mission Statement
Rules of Conduct
 
Name:
Pswd:
Remember Me
Register
 

The Story was Fake. The Tweet was a Lie... The Gun was Real
Author: Raine    Date: 12/05/2016 13:59:58

If you haven't heard it by now, last night, here in DC, we had a shooting incident. Thankfully, no one was injured or killed.

James Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong, said in a statement: “What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences. I hope that those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away.”

The restaurant’s owner and employees were threatened on social media in the days before the election after fake news stories circulated claiming that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief were running a child sex ring from the restaurant’s backrooms. Even Michael Flynn, a retired general whom President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared stories about another anti-Clinton conspiracy theory involving pedophilia. None of them were true. But the fake stories and threats persisted, some even aimed at children of Comet Ping Pong employees and patrons. The restaurant’s owner was forced to contact the FBI, local police, Facebook and other social-media platforms in an effort to remove the articles.

Last month, citing its policy against posting the personal information of others, Reddit banned the “pizzagate” topic.

But it didn’t stop the harassment, and nearby businesses have received threats as well, according to police. On Sunday, Washington Post reporters involved in this article were the target of online threats shortly after it posted.
Pizzagate is one of the fake news stories that have been going around thanks to the people that decided to leak emails during the campaign.

Earlier in the day, Both future Chief of Staff and Vice President-Elect made it even more clear that we live in a fact-free country.
Dickerson seemed nonplussed. I guess the question is, when you’re president, can you just offer a theory that has no evidence behind it, or does he have to tighten up his standards of proof?”

Priebus responded by reframing the idea of evidence as exactly the kind of tired, elite “conventional thought” that Trump would be doing away with. “I think he’s done a great job. I think the president elect is someone who’s pushed the envelope and caused people to think in this country,” he said.

Mike Pence made virtually the same point Sunday on ABC News’s This Week, when host George Stephanopoulos asked the vice-president-elect how the incoming administration could defend Trump making such false statements. “It’s his right to express his opinion,” Pence said, describing Trump’s penchant for speaking his mind as “refreshing” and one of the reasons he won the election. Stephanopoulos countered, “But why is it refreshing to make false statements?”

Pence replied, “Look, I don’t know that is a false statement, George, and neither do you.” Later, when asked to provide evidence, Pence added: “He’s entitled to express his opinion.”
A few hours after the shooting, 60 Minutes aired its interview with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Ryan said he could not prove Trump’s baseless claim that “millions of people voted illegally,” which the president-elect tweeted to his millions of followers last Sunday.

“I don’t know. I’m not really focused on these things,” Ryan said when anchor Scott Pelley asked him about Trump’s blatant lie.

“I have no way of backing that up. I have no knowledge of such things,” he said.

When Pelley continued to press him, Ryan said that the fact that the president-elect of the United States circulates false information on social media is not a concern to him.

“It doesn’t matter to me. He won the election,” he said. “The way I see the tweets you’re talking about, he’s basically giving voice to a lot of people who have felt that they were voiceless. He’s communicating with people in this country who’ve felt like they have not been listened to. He’s going to be an unconventional president.”

“Who cares what he tweeted, you know, on some Thursday night, if we fix this country’s big problems?” he added. “That’s just the way I look at this.”


I care, to be honest. I think the hundreds of people who were affected by some person who decided to 'self investigate' care. Pat and Joe from Cincinnati care:
When they returned, the house was in a shambles.

Vandals had poured cement into the stove and down the tub’s drain. Walls and staircase railings were kicked in. A ceiling had collapsed.

Most troubling: “White power,” die n—–” and swastikas were spray-painted on walls.

“They wrecked every room,” the couple wrote. “Nothing was spared.”
This church in Silver Spring, Maryland cares. SPLC Cares about the more than 900 incidents of hate since the election. They also care about the thousands of people that were targeted by hate.

No one was killed, this time. The gun was real, the threat was real and lives are in danger, for real.

With Love and Peace,

Raine
 

30 comments (Latest Comment: 12/05/2016 21:54:27 by wickedpam)
   Perma Link

Share This!

Furl it!
Spurl
NewsVine
Reddit
Technorati