Pizzagate: Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal

[streeb]

You know, exactly like what Jimmy Savile explained to Louis Theroux about how he is granted access to the social events of British royal family members via a pass that he had been issued by a security firm.

Yes, and he also described his deal with the "Royals", right on fucking camera, as "Omerta." The man was in no great hurry to conceal his own activities, largely because there will always be somebody, lots of somebodies in fact, ready to say things like this:

We aren't talking about a baby-fucking monster here. Epstein mostly had sex with escorts. Then he asked one of his escorts to find him "younger looking girls", and a 14 year old was brought to him. She stripped and gave Epstein a massage, then she went to the police. Bing-bang-boom.

Jesus H. Christ. Really?

[American Dream]

Tucker Carlson delivers impassioned defense of white nationalist ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theorist

Brittany Pettibone was barred from the U.K., along with two other noted far-right figures.



Pettibone previously described herself as “one of the leading authorities on Pizzagate,” a fringe conspiracy theory that claims former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta is involved in an international child sex ring. The unfounded conspiracy, which has been debunked several times over, inspired an armed North Carolina man to visit Comet Ping Pong Pizza in Washington D.C. in 2016, where he attempted to search the premises for sexually abused children he believed were tied to the sex ring. Unsurprisingly, he found no evidence to support the theory, and was arrested by local police after firing several shots in the air with his assault-style rifle.

Southern, Pettibone, and Sellner were also all involved in attempts last summer to stop humanitarian ships from rescuing migrants who were drowning in the Mediterranean Sea; the three claimed that the migrants were part of a continental “invasion.” Unfortunately, their boat ran into trouble and they found themselves being rescued by the very humanitarian groups they were protesting.

Naturally, Carlson glossed over all this on Tuesday night, instead choosing to interview far-right British media personality Katie Hopkins about how the U.K. barring Pettibone, Sellner, and Southern proved the nation “really hates itself, its heritage, its own people.”

“It seems…that being white is considered wrong, being Christian is considered wrong, Trump is wrong,” Hopkins told Carlson. “To be Islamic is right, to welcome back jihadis is right, we shouldn’t prosecute them, we should embrace them. It’s really getting to a point here in the U.K. when we’re up there on the endangered species list. To be a white, Christian, conservative woman like myself, I’m right up there on the endangered species list…up there with the black rhino — and the black rhino’s got an advantage because he’s black.”

Hopkins was previously a presenter on Britain’s LBC radio, where she was sacked after she tweeted that “we need a final solution” in wake of the Manchester Arena bombing. Prior to that, she worked for MailOnline, where she was repeatedly taken to court for libel and defamation, costing her employers tens of thousands of pounds in damages and legal fees. (Disclosure: the author of this article previously worked for MailOnline.)

Hopkins now works for Rebel Media, the same far-right company with which Tommy Robinson works, and with which Southern has worked previously.

https://thinkprogress.org/tucker-carlso ... 9dad58383/

[Jerky]

You know, exactly like what Jimmy Savile explained to Louis Theroux about how he is granted access to the social events of British royal family members via a pass that he had been issued by a security firm.

Yes, and he also described his deal with the "Royals", right on fucking camera, as "Omerta." The man was in no great hurry to conceal his own activities, largely because there will always be somebody, lots of somebodies in fact, ready to say things like this:

We aren't talking about a baby-fucking monster here. Epstein mostly had sex with escorts. Then he asked one of his escorts to find him "younger looking girls", and a 14 year old was brought to him. She stripped and gave Epstein a massage, then she went to the police. Bing-bang-boom.

Jesus H. Christ. Really?

The helmet in your ID is far more offensive than anything I've written here, no matter where it comes from. So please save me your sanctimony. Epstein is not Savile, nor is he the monster of your fevered imaginings (sexually, anyway). A few decades ago, his tastes would have been squarely in the mainstream.

J.

[cptmarginal]

It hardly seems reasonable for you to determine whether or not your own words were offensive. At bare minimum you should be able to see that many would find your cavalier attitude here offensive. And before you turn on me, too: I have always read your posts and found value in them, alongside others posting here that frequently say rude or insensitive things, and did not insult you or them about it (well, I insulted Hugh Manatee a few times.) I agree with you: free speech absolutism. Wombaticus Rex did a very admirable job, at least I always thought so - but my personal predilection is to think of forum moderator as a spam and illegality clean-up job, and to welcome thread proliferation as well. Obviously this is wishful thinking, hence my admiration for the job pretty much well done over a long period of time. Anyone would need a break from that.

Nobody in this thread said that Epstein was equivalent to Jim'll Fix It - my intention was simply to point out that we are talking about a billionaire that lives in a world of controlled access. The comparison is apt precisely because Epstein was closely associated with Prince Andrew. And remember what other sorts of phone numbers were in his black book - do you seriously need me to link to Nick Bryant's take on this? This is not making a mountain out of a molehill, here. Though I must admit that your repeated strawman constructions aren't looking so funny to me right now.

[Jerky]

I was addressing Streeb's seeming attempt to link Savile and Epstein in the post two posts above mine.

I would be perfectly willing to learn more about Epstein, as long as it comes from reputable sources (meaning, NOT the same people who pushed PizzaGate, most of the Clinton conspiracies, and any other Far Right psy-op con jobs, which is where most of the Epsteinic Panic crap I've seen originates). Scoff if you will at my use of "reputable", but I'll trust my OWN bullshit detector and take the New York Times and CNN (with a pinch of salt) over the flailing, 100% made-up lies of Alex Jones, the 4Chan set, other such drooling cant any day of the week.

So please, this is a sincere request... send me some info about Epstein to change my mind. Because I grew up in the boonies, and so I just can't pretend to fall on my fainting couch over the idea of a grown man having sex with willing teenagers.

J.

[streeb]

I wasn't trying to link Savile with Epstein. My point was that Savile enjoyed high level protection, and that his crimes turned out to be far worse and far more extensive—almost inconceivably nightmarish, actually—than the rumours that had been wafting around the man since the late 70s, when I was old enough to understand them, and which were already plenty bad enough. (And which the very reputable BBC was well aware of.)

I suspect you know that, but you do tend to misrepresent and smear.

Other than that, all sanctimony aside (sigh), at minimum I don't find it quite so easy to dismiss the tug Epstein received from a 14-year old girl or anything else that he might have received from a "willing teenager", especially given the world he inhabits. But that's your hilarious margin (thank you cptmarginal) vs my "fevered imaginings", I guess.

A few decades ago, his tastes would have been squarely in the mainstream.

Oh, well, that makes it alright, then.

[Rory]

Attacks Jordan Peterson, stans for Epstein.

What a moral compass

[Jerky]

"Stans"?

I'm no Epstein FAN. I don't think billionaires should even exist. He's just not the historically unprecedented depraved monster the idiot conspiracy LARPer cohort claim him to be, that's all.

J.

[Rory]

You have a way of winning over people with your warmth and generosity of spirit.

Conspiratard. This, here. You're a dream contributor to RI

[streeb]

Who said anything about historically unprecedented?

[Jerky]

As a devotee of the conspiracy theory of history, myself, it would be foolish of me to deny the existence of a conspiracy LARPer contingent in the movement. Or do you think Alex Jones and his ilk are respectable, honest actors?

J.

[Rory]

My guess (as I opined before with the fishermen) that our old pal is yanking chains in this instance. You'd have to be ludicrously obtuse to exalt Epstein in this venue, given the mountain of research here pointing towards his less than reputable past (assuming it's not also his present, which given the scale of his apparent appetites, I'm not so sure)

[Rory]

As a devotee of the conspiracy theory of history, myself, it would be foolish of me to deny the existence of a conspiritard contingent in the movement. Or do you think Alex Jones and his ilk are respectable, honest actors?

J.

Quite. You are a conspiracy theorist par excellence!
But the straw mannequin in the shape of the Texan blowhard is still made of dried grass

[Jerky]

Who said anything about historically unprecedented?

Look, dude, it's called "exaggerating for effect". Stop wasting your time and mine by picking at every possible fucking nit to scrounge some meager sense of "gotcha" from, or have the last word in, our interactions. YOU KNOW what I meant, and you know it makes complete sense.

J.

[streeb]

Or do you think Alex Jones and his ilk are respectable, honest actors?

Nope, I've never had anything but contempt for Alex Jones, and to be honest I couldn't find 4Chan if I wanted to. I know that you like to remind us that we're all deluded slaves to our belief systems, but Christ alive, man, the amount of projecting you do is off the scale.

Look, dude, it's called "exaggerating for effect". Stop wasting your time and mine by picking at every possible fucking nit to scrounge some meager sense of "gotcha" from, or have the last word in, our interactions. YOU KNOW what I meant, and you know it makes complete sense.

Sure, but it misses my point, again, doesn't it?