Man arrested after firing gun in pizza parlor inspired by fake news, son of Gen. Flynn, looney

Source: CNN

Cops: Armed man investigating fake news story 01:08
Washington (CNN)A suspect arrested Sunday with an assault rifle at a Washington, DC pizzeria admitted he had come to investigate an online conspiracy theory, Washington's Metropolitan Police Department said Sunday evening in a statement.

Police have identified him as 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, North Carolina.
The real problems with fake news

The real problems with fake news 03:29
"During a post arrest interview this evening, the suspect revealed that he came to the establishment to self-investigate 'Pizza Gate' (a fictitious online conspiracy theory)," the police department said in a statement.
"Pizza Gate" is a name given to the online false news stories begun last month that charged the Comet Ping Pong restaurant and its owner were involved in a child sex operation. The owner has vehemently denied the charges, but they continued to proliferate online. The owner and employees said they were repeatedly threatened on social media.

When Welch entered the restaurant he allegedly pointed the rifle in the direction of an employee who police said was able to flee and notify police. Patrons inside the restaurant had rushed out of the building.
Police said Welch has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.
Two firearms were recovered inside the restaurant, and an additional weapon was recovered from the suspect's vehicle police said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/04/politics/gun-incident-fake-news/

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Plenty of idiots to go around!

The restaurant’s owners and employees are baffled at the abuse they’ve dealt with, said Comet owner James Alefantis, if for no other reason than the restaurant does not have a basement — which pokes a large hole in the conspiracy theory.

The restaurants’ owners supported Clinton during the presidential election, which they think may have played a role in the development of the conspiracy, considering even those close to President-elect Donald Trump have half-bought into the rumor.

“What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences,” Alefantis said. “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.”

http://www.breitbart.com/news/man-fires-gun-in-d-c-restaurant-while-investigating-pizzagate-conspiracy/

Good article about the importance of teaching people how to evaluate news stories. As always we must consider the source of the story. In these days of people saying that facts don't matter this is even more important. We now realize that many outlets and bloggers, etc. are not at all interested in preserving their professional reputations as news sources but merely want to spread rumors.

Concern about the prevalence of fake or sensationally biased news sources has escalated in the days following the presidential election, with many citing it as a factor (some even the primary cause) of Donald Trump’s win.

The central focus of the concern is Facebook, which has grown beyond a social platform and is now a key information distributor from which 44 percent of Americans get their news. Though Mark Zuckerberg stated publicly that the idea that fake news on Facebook influenced the election was “crazy,” a BuzzFeed News report uncovered that people within his own company consider this response flippant and are busy organizing in secret to dig into the data and make recommendations to senior leadership. This news came out after a Gizmodo report stated that Facebook had already built a system that could weed out fake news but had chosen not to deploy it because of the undesirable optics of the tool going after mostly right-wing “news” sources. Facebook has denied that report, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about what’s going on behind closed doors.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/13637294/school-libraries-information-literacy-fake-news-election-2016

There is an abundance of irresponsible of national media and journalism. 

http://ijr.com/2016/12/748080-after-madam-president-cover-debacle-fox-host-learns-newsweek-editors-didnt-even-read-or-write-it/

Joanimaroni wrote:There is an abundance of irresponsible of national media and journalism. 

http://ijr.com/2016/12/748080-after-madam-president-cover-debacle-fox-host-learns-newsweek-editors-didnt-even-read-or-write-it/

WTF does the fact that Newsweek farmed out the production of a commemorative collectible aimed at devotees have to do with the proliferation of demonstrably false news on social media??

HINT: Absolutely nothing.

As Donald Trump’s national security adviser, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn will have to advise the president of the veracity of foreign and domestic threats, separating those that require immediate policy action from propaganda or misinformation.

But Flynn himself has used social media to promote a series of outrageous conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama and their inner circles in recent months — pushing dubious factoids at least 16 times since Aug. 9, according to a POLITICO review of his Twitter posts. Flynn, who has 106,000 Twitter followers, has used the platform to retweet accusations that Clinton is involved with child sex trafficking and has "secretly waged war” on the Catholic Church, as well as charges that Obama is a “jihadi” who “laundered” money for Muslim terrorists.

Now some say Flynn’s fondness for spreading fake news casts doubt on his fitness to serve as the White House’s national security adviser, suggesting that he either can’t spot a blatant falsehood or is just ideologically bent to believe the worst of his perceived enemies.

The flak began flying anew after Sunday’s shooting at a Washington pizza restaurant that had been targeted by false, internet-fed rumors accusing it of being the epicenter of a satanic child-trafficking conspiracy involving Clinton and her allies. Flynn had twice used Twitter to promote similar, only slightly less outrageous hoaxes in the past month, including a claim that Clinton’s campaign manager takes part in occult rituals in which bodily fluids are consumed.

Those were far from isolated tweets for Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Even one of Flynn’s former military colleagues expressed puzzlement Monday at the dark turn his pronouncements on social media have taken.

"That is not typically the behavior of someone who needs the necessary sobriety to advise the president on the most critical matters facing the nation," said the former military official, who worked with Flynn every day for more than a year in Afghanistan.

What is most disconcerting to some is the influence Flynn will soon have in the White House.

The national security adviser "is the nexus where all the tools of foreign and national security policy come together," said David Rothkopf, editor of Foreign Policy magazine and author of "Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power."

"This is the least experienced president in American history," Rothkopf added. "That means that his advisers are more important than they have ever been. Getting balanced advice to the president is more important than ever."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michael-flynn-conspiracy-pizzeria-trump-232227

Sal wrote:Flynn Jr,, who has been pushing this loony conspiracy theory along with many others, is working as part of Trump's transition team.

Report on ABC news a minute ago Trump fired him from the team today.

Sal wrote:

ppaca wrote:

Sal wrote:Flynn Jr,, who has been pushing this loony conspiracy theory along with many others, is working as part of Trump's transition team.

Report on ABC news a minute ago Trump fired him from the team today.

Yeah, he's fired until the news dies down, and then he'll be back at the trough.

I hear Manafort is back.

Paul Manafort Is Back and Advising Donald Trump on Cabinet Picks

Paul Manafort left the Trump campaign back in August, or did he? Sources confirm to The Daily Beast that he’s back advising the president-elect.


According to two sources with knowledge of the Trump presidential transition process, Manafort—whose formal association with the president-elect ended in August—is heavily involved with the staffing of the nascent administration.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/30/torture-lobbyist-paul-manafort-still-advising-donald-trump-on-cabinet-picks.html

Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey has changed his opinion on the incoming national security adviser, retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, after reading his tweets.

In an interview on NBC posted online Thursday, McCaffrey acknowledged that he had initially been supportive of Flynn after President-elect Trump announced that he would be his national security adviser, a position which does not require confirmation hearings.

“But I must admit,” McCaffrey said, “I’m now extremely uneasy about some of these tweets, which don’t sound so much as if they are political skullduggery, but instead border on being demented. So I think we need to look into this and sort our what’s going on here.”

“I think that we need to aggressively examine what was going on with Gen. Flynn and his son, dealing with these transparent, nearly demented tweets that were going out,” he continued. “I think it needs closer scrutiny.”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/barry-mccaffrey-michael-flynn-demented-tweets

Joanimaroni wrote:There is an abundance of irresponsible of national media and journalism. 

http://ijr.com/2016/12/748080-after-madam-president-cover-debacle-fox-host-learns-newsweek-editors-didnt-even-read-or-write-it/

Should anyone who pushes this idea of a Clinton lead sex ring at a pizzeria be allowed anywhere near federal politics and policy making?

Here's number 8 from a 20 item list of things we can do to defend democracy. It was first published on FaceBook by a history professor from Yale. To see the other 19 things follow the link.

8. Believe in truth.

To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.




http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/09/1609029/-Yale-History-Prof-Timothy-Snyder-s-20-Pts-for-Defending-Democracy-under-a-Trump-presidency?detail=email&link_id=19&can_id=616754cf5d2049047709573cfc6e6612&source=email-rachel-maddow-poll-reveals-trump-voters-live-in-alternate-state-of-reality-2&email_referrer=rachel-maddow-poll-reveals-trump-voters-live-in-alternate-state-of-reality-2&email_subject=rachel-maddow-poll-reveals-trump-voters-live-in-alternate-state-of-reality

boards of FL wrote:Should anyone who pushes this idea of a Clinton lead sex ring at a pizzeria be allowed anywhere near federal politics and policy making?

NO, for Pete's sake!!!! How can anything Flynn says ever be trusted as real???   My family becomes more and more frightened as each day passes.  We are living in a not-funny carnival fun house.