148 thoughts on “All Too Real

  1. Vote Rep #1

    So performance artists with sexual suggestive names flirt with controversy in their songs/videos?
    A pizza place across the road had a sign that may or may not have been something?
    A man who is a well know art collector owns pieces from a very famous artist in his collection?

    Well I think I speak for everyone when I say this is all the proof that is needed to start a witch-hunt to destroys peoples lives.

  2. Listrade

    For the purposes of full information, the FBI document referenced hasn’t been confirmed. It has only appeared on wikileaks and the actual document (even though supposed to be unclassified and sent to law enforcement) hasn’t shown up.

    It has been used by the media and hasn’t been denied, but you would expect other copies to surface rather than only one copy in wikileaks.

  3. Lorcan Nagle

    Paedophiles have more DNA in common with crabs than you or me. There’s no evidence to support this, but it is a fact.

      1. Lorcan Nagle

        This Paedophile is using a complex series of whistles and claps to alert others in the area about an unattended child in the clothing department of a nearby department store.

  4. Tony

    ‘All too real’? ‘Misdirection’? Hardly impartial journalism considering the doubts being cast on allegedly impartial journalism.

    Also, I don’t like the look of that Reality Check logo.

  5. Lorcan Nagle

    Also, it’s worth noting that while Ben Swann works for a CBS affiliate station in Atlanta, Georgia rather than the actual parent company. It’s slightly misleading to represent him as a CBS reporter. T

    1. ahjayzis

      That’s not a real distinction.

      Most of the people who’ve ever served you a Big Mac don’t work for the McDonalds Corporation – they still represent that brand though, their conduct reflects on McD’s.

      1. Lorcan Nagle

        I’m not talking about brand representation but rather prestiege. Presenting Swann as a CBS reporter is suggesting that he’s working in their central newsdesk with access to the coporation’s resources and has been recruited to work at that level, while he’s actually working for a station in Atlanta that pays CBS for the use of their branding and access to their catalogue of programming.

        To return to the McDonald’s analogy, it would be as if an employee in the Phibsboro said something about the nutritional content of a chicken nugget,and it was then posted online as the equivalent of a statement from their headquarters.

  6. ivan

    Well I don’t know about the rest of you but. I think the “self described online investigators” referenced at 1:06 are quite obviously onto something.

    Swann himself hits the nail on the head. There is no evidence. There are a few coincidences. Now I love a good conspiracy theory, hell I went all out Monday and said that I reckon U2 themselves are fully complicit in tickets going straight onto Seatwave, something that doesn’t seem to be a popular viewpoint.

    But this? Seriously? The reason that this isn’t being investigated is because Mr Swann clearly doesn’t understand the subtle distinction between coincidence and connection.

    1. Clampers Outside!

      “U2 themselves are fully complicit in tickets going straight onto Seatwave”

      Popular or not, this has been the case in the past. I had a decent link on it before where TM had argued there case that it was the artist that had insisted on the sky high second option. Can’t find it.

      But here’s another that says both the promoter and the artist are in cahoots…. “http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/official-platinum-seats-how-ticketmaster-benefits-from-sky-high-tragically-hip-ticket-prices?__lsa=1d67-596a

  7. Willie Banjo

    From Ben’s wikipedia page –

    “While working for a Cincinnati-area Fox affiliate WXIX-TV in 2012, Swann suggested on his personal YouTube channel that Adam Lanza was accompanied by another shooter. He has made similar claims about the Aurora shooting and the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting from earlier in the same year. There is no evidence that any additional shooters were present at the shooting”.

    This guy sees the news that nobody else can reach.

    Great catch Bodger!

    1. Bodger

      Willie, here’s a few other names you may want to look up: Seth Rich, Eric Braverman and Monica Peterson.

          1. rotide

            Not sure about one of them but the other two are bandied about constantly with headlines like ‘Why the Clintons Murdered Monica Peterson” with zero actual proof.

          2. Junkface

            Bodger, you need to bend over and take a closer look at your anus. There’s lots more Pizzagate info there!

          3. Yep

            I’ve read the main reports and after doing a little more research …. where is the factual evidence? I really can’t see what you’re seeing Bodger.

            I think I’m gonna take this as the gag it’s meant to be.

          4. jusayinlike

            Why should I? you already made your mind up without even as much as a cursory glance into what it’s all about..

  8. edalicious

    Say what you will about the subject matter but Ben Swann is seriously well dressed there. BRB, buying turquoise tie…

  9. rotide

    This is classic bodger insanity.

    The best bit is defintely the crucial importance of some pictures that they aren’t going to show but trust us, they’re going to blow the entire thing over.

    Oh and the fact that a pizza slice looks like an imaginary symbol used by paedos

    1. Bob

      And the truly horifficly ironic part is that if there really was a paedophilia ring operating out of a pizza shop, Bodger and Co clinging desperately to the weakest of threads and declaring them proof, is guaranteed to make everyone assume it’s a load of rubbish.

        1. Bob

          What if you are? You’re actively engaged in a campaign that’ll destroy people’s lives and has already resulted in an idiot shooting up a pizza shop.

          And as I said, you’re insane crusade based on no proof ensures that nobody will ever take it seriously.

          1. The Lady Vanishes

            “actively engaged in a campaign which would destroy people’s lives”

            I mean really that could be used to shut down any mainstream news story tbf.

            Have you or any of the people feigning quasi-virginal distress at this post actually read the wikileaks emails?

            It’s pretty clear from them that ‘pizza’ is intended to stand for something less savoury than the average Domino’s.

            Kids? Drugs? Weird freaky stuff?

            Not sure but I wouldn’t knock anyone who’s seeking to explore this further.

          2. The Lady Vanishes

            you’re insane crusade based on no proof ensures that nobody will ever take it seriously

            Bob, are you seriously crediting Bodger with the power to shut down a story just because he supports it?

            Quit the hyperbole, you’re seriously over-emoting here with destroyed lives (I mean really, the Podestas are not exactly vulnerable people) and then, conversely, wild allegations about stopping discussion by starting it.

            If this is an asylum, I reckon you’re the chief lunatic.

          3. Bob

            @Bodger, maybe you should do some research? The guy did a tiny bit of acting. That is not proof that his entire life is a lie. Guess what? Trump did acting too! That means he’s not really president! Oh my god, call the press and let them know! And I don’t mean the actual press, I mean make a Youtube video. It’s conclusive proof of everything in this world being a lie!!!!!!!

          4. Bob

            @The Lady Vanishes
            Have you actually read any of the emails, or have you just logged into conspiracy forums and taken what they tell you as gospel, and then decried all media as fake?

            You’ve made an assumption and claim to be correct, without any outside reference. I hope to god you’re never on a jury.

            As for your second post, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” is what comes into play. Bodger and Co come up with mental conspiracies that are easily disproven (because there’s no evidence, just silliness like “a person was an actor at some point in their lives”), so everyone automatically assumes there’s no crimes being committed and nothing to see.

            Of course you knew what I meant, because it was obvious. Thanks for the little insult at the end. Generally it’s the people who think the world is out to get them that get locked up though, so you may be projecting there.

          5. Bob

            Off you go Bodger/jusayinlike, if you’re so fond of it. Some of us are going to stick around here in the hopes of salvaging some of what made the site great again #MBGA

        1. Bob

          Conspiracies and leather coat guy. Maybe Liberal.ie can move in here and make it easier for everyone to get it all in one place?

        2. jusayinlike

          Off you go than ahjayzis, close the door on the way out..

          No surprise to see Bob crying foul over pizzagate..

        3. The Lady Vanishes

          Ahjaysis

          And that comment would have a lot more weight if it wasn’t essentially the same comment you’ve been making since Broadsheet year 1…..

          1. ahjayzis

            Are you new here?

            I’ve been defending BS in the comments for years – from Mercille to Anne Marie McNally they’ve published some really great, incisive stuff. They were heroes over the whole DOB/Catherine Murphy thing.

            So with respect, shove it up yer bleedin’ hoop love, you’re talking crap ;)

          2. The Lady Vanishes

            Eek. Maybe I mixed you up with someone else.

            People do tend to make that kind of comment on here a lot, and then stay commenting.

            Do remember that in order for Broadsheet to publish the stuff we both agree is great and incisive, they presumably have to keep an open mind on things commenters don’t necessarily initially agree with.

  10. Listrade

    Also to noted the Trump supports who promulgated this were selective in what they believed. For example, both Trumpnand Clinton have links to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but apparently only the Clinton link is suspicious.

    Also the women accusing Trump of sexual assault were lying according to them.

    So they are the crusaders for child protection they make out.

    Actual scandals like the Franklin cover up and Epstein and the linked post on football clubs get lost in the noise of this kind of crazy.

    1. jusayinlike

      +1 listrade for mentioning the Franklin scandal, Paul Bonacci was awarded $1 million on the back of the inquiry, he also fingered George Bush snr as one of his abusers

  11. jimmy russell

    ugh this is just more fake news from the alt right wha a bunch of tinfoil hat losers, also there is literally no parallels between this and the media’s reluctance to acknowledge any of this and similar attitudes that allowed multiple pedophiles and sexual predators to operate in the bbc, catholic church etc. for decades Trump is behind this somehow ugh I literally cant even right now

    1. Donker

      I’ll second that, it’s well worth a listen.

      …….Spirit Cooking at mine tonight, all invited.

  12. The Lady Vanishes

    Irish comemnters getting their knickers in a twist at the thought that there might be paedophiles/dodgy people at high levels of power.

    I mean really. After what has happened in this country. All those reports. All those disclosures of corruption. At all levels.

    Not to mention an examination of, you know, history. Just reading a book last night about Sex and the British Empire. Good old General Montgomery and his love for small boys. Hector McDonald, Scotland’s most famous soldier, suicided after being caught circle-jerking in a Far East train with a group of young lads.

    Plenty of British politicians too with a yen for under-age lads. Hardly surprising, given the reality of a public school education.

    All documented in well regarded historical works. Not disputed.

    And yet people are outraged at even the possibility that high-level Democrats could be up to the same thing.

      1. The Lady Vanishes

        Not sure if that’s meant to be sarcastic, but never let it be said that I failed to share my sources.

        The books referencing empire building/political paedophilia that I mention above are all available to buy online on play.com they are:-

        “Closet Queens” by Michael Bloch (referencing quite a few paedophile British politicians, just read the reviews for the most scandalous details, some of these men were as firmly entrenched in the political establishments of their time as the Podestas, and married too)
        “Empire and Sexuality: the British Experience” Ronald Hyams (a lot of it is available to read free on google books, includes discussion of Casement)

        And for a hair-raising read, you can’t beat Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy’s book on the public school system, out of print for years but now reissued in ebook form.

        1. Taanbuaagam

          Thanks lady, and no not sarcastic, not at all!

          Does that first one refer to the Tory paedo scandal of the 80s which involved some thatcher cabinet members?

          1. The Lady Vanishes

            Goes back much earlier than that. The book documents a long history of paedophilia among British politicians going back to the early 19th century.

            There’s a great book about an Irish policeman who tried to expose it, and ended up in a lunatic asylum for his efforts. It’s”Inspector Minahan Takes a Stand: the Missing Girls of England.”

            The paedophile ring in that case was linked to a famous 19th century politician called Sir William Harcourt. he didn’t get to be Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery (another politician with a fondness for under age kids) beat him to it. Sir William’s son Lou-Lou Harcourt, also a powerful politician killed himself in the early 20th century after being caught exposing himself to a young fellow called Edward James (later famous in the art world). As ever, the crime was getting caught.

    1. jusayinlike

      +1 the lady, spooky Theresa May fixed all the inquiries before she was pm, her and Keith “Vaz”eline captain rentboy..

    2. Nigel

      Outraged at what’s passing for evidence here, I think you mean. Not outraged. Cringing. Scarleh for em.

    3. Listrade

      “And yet people are outraged at even the possibility that high-level Democrats could be up to the same thing.”

      Nope. If only that was the accusation.

      All the case you list and all the cases still suspected have one thing in common: a history of victims coming forward (and being ignored). Pizzagate has nothing.

      It is literally one email with a reference to a pizza-related napkin. I mean, it is a weird email for sure. Of all the things it could have been such as type-o, autocorrect, in joke, anything really, reddit “internet sleuths” said it was code for child abduction. Then they found other references to pizza in emails and the case was closed.

      Then we have any symbol on anything that is a heart or a triangle being stated as part of a code. Napkins are code too. Still no victims. just that.

      Couple of things are wrong here. First, the same internet sleuths intent on pushing this theory have dismissed actual victim statements about being abused by Trump. They dismiss Trump’s link to Epstein but push the Clinton’s. So you issue with it being a democrat issue is wrong. The promoters of Pizzagate are making it a democrat issue. That devalues the whole argument immediately. One weird email = conclusive proof of peodophile ring, assault victim’s statements against Donald Trump = red flags! Actors! Lies! Donald Trump also in Epstein’s friend list and on his flights = he was just going for a holiday, Clinton is the only sick person.

      The last problem is that pizzagate isn’t just about sexual assault and you know that. Pizzagate is supposed to be a satanic cult ring according to the theory. Kids are kidnapped while in a pizza restaurant or handed over by their parents. They are then taken to a basement (which may or may not exist) and then via the basement to a series of tunnels (that are only theorised to exist) to other Pizza places and democratic bases. And when you randomly pick 5 locations on a map in DC that are either food or democratic, you sort of get a pentagon so it has to be satanic.

      That’s why, this isn’t being pushed as another sexual abuse ring, it is being pushed as the Democratic party, under the Clintons being a Satanic cult that is sacrificing children that are stolen from a pizza place AND NOBODY HAS NOTICED OR SAID ANYTHING WHEN THEIR BABY DISAPPEARS FROM THE HIGH CHAIR IN THE MIDDLE OF A FAMILY DINNER.

      It’s just dumb. It has nothing but a weird email. It is dangerous because Franklin gets laughed off because the conspiracy loons went too far with the Satanic side again. Victims got ignored. Or we can look at how generations of abuse in the UK through VIP circles was and still is ignored because lunatics keep pushing it as either Satanic or Alien Lizards doing the abuse.

      Fupp the internet sleuths, all of them. Crap like this gets all other actual abuse and VIP abuse thrown into the same crazy pot.

      Crap like this is dangerous Bodger. Dangerous because people reddit users are linking anyone they can to this based on something as simple as seeing the initials C and P somewhere. These people are being threatened, that’s why its dangerous. Its dangerous because it makes people sceptical of your posts on actual abuse and actual conspiracies. That isn’t what the victims need, but you are devaluing and undermining their stories and cases with this crap.

      When we’ve got beyond a weird email, vague similarities to an unconfirmed FBI report and reading into cherry picked music videos, maybe have a look at it.

      1. The Lady Vanishes

        Thanks for the thoughtful response, at last, some proper discussion of this issue rather than just Bodger-bashing.

        Let’s put the idea of a widespread high-level satanic conspiracy to one side. Although satanic paedophile networks are not unknown (one proven case is the Ash Tree Close group in Wales, where there were confessions and convictions), there’s not enough evidence in the public domain to support this at present.

        The paedophilia is a different matter.

        If you read the Podesta emails, it’s clear that the references to pizza, hot dogs, handkerchiefs, are not literal references. They don’t read correctly as such. They are clearly intended to be code for something. And these are words known to be used as code in the paedophile community.*

        *If you’re wondering why food words like these are chosen, I expect it’s the same reason that the term ‘steak’ is used by escort agencies to refer to the services of adult hookers – less obvious in the credit card billing.

        If you then go on to look at the Podestas themselves, they seem to be rather peculiar chaps, as does their friend, the owner of the pizza place involved. Which hosts some rather creepy entertainers. And the Podesta art collection has a distinctly paedophiliac slant.

        None of these in isolation are evidence of paedophilia. But taken together with the pizzagate emails, in my opinion they raise something which requires explanation, given the powerful status of these men.
        Regarding victims not having come forward, it’s a sad fact that most child victims of sexual abuse don’t feel able to share the abuse for many years afterwards. This is particularly true if, as in the case of most children involved in paedophile networks, their parents or somebody in loco parentis are the ones pimping them out. For those who don’t believe parents would do this, sadly, a small but reprehensible minority do do so – there’s a very recent Canadian report documenting this fact.

        So should we assume that the Podestas are paedophiles? No.

        Is this something which requires an explanation? Yes, given their public figure status, which does not make them immune from scrutiny, but rather requires it (wisely, in my view, in light of history and the fact that their power makes it less likely that genuine victims will come forward on their own).

        1. Listrade

          “So should we assume that the Podestas are paedophiles? No.

          Is this something which requires an explanation? Yes”

          This is the problem. We asked to assume the emails are references to a satanic cult of child abuse. That is what the whole pizzagate thing is about.

          I’m not sure it does require explanation, not without any evidence of wrongdoing or even hint of wrongdoing. We haven’t had that here. We have and we do for other abuse circles, we had hints and winks and suggestions and victims long before anything more concrete. But the first connection to anything here is a reference to a pizza related napkin.

          It probably is code, but it could be for something entirely innocent. An in joke among friends and extended friends. Take my emails to my friends and family and look at all the out of context content you could easily infer that is a reference to something nefarious. I’m sure through many irrational leaps on the internet you could have me as the head priest of a Satanic cult by the end of it.

          I got in something of a row with some friends last week about the Trump memo. Harry Reid stated that Trump had to refute with evidence the claims in the memo and they agreed. My response was he didn’t, not until actual evidence of wrongdoing was provided. Same here. No evidence of wrongdoing by Podesta or any of his friends, he doesn’t have to account for anything that at this stage is spurious fabricated innuendo.

          1. The Lady Vanishes

            The satanic cult theory is an overstatement on the evidence available

            (though given the level of paedophilia which is now being exposed in all areas of life, one might well ask, what the hell is causing it…).

            But overstatement shouldn’t justify ignoring the less exciting but equally devastating to children alternative that a public figure might be engaging in paedophilia.

            Podesta’s status and power is such that even apparently wild and unlikely rumours about him need to be investigated thoroughly.

          2. The Lady Vanishes

            If, for instance, the Podesta emails were written by a person not a public figure – I would feel – let it go – let the victims – if there are any 0 come forward naturally. Though I certainly wouldn’t be involved in introducing any child to that person, given their taste in art and their friends’ taste in instagram photos and comments.

            But if Podesta is in fact a baddie, who’s going to get away with accusing him? That’s the flip side of being a public figure – that level of power requires greater journalistic scrutiny.

          3. Listrade

            Why should ambiguous statements in emails to (not from) a public figure require more scrutiny in the absence of any evidence or rumour of wrongdoing any more so than mine ?

          4. The Lady Vanishes

            Not simply ’emails to’ a public figure.

            Email correspondence to a public figure, relating to events/matters that the corresponder was participating with the public figure in, apparently understood and accepted by the public figure, would be more accurate.

            I genuinely believe – and this is not just related to paedophilia or the Podestas – that public figures should be subject to a higher level of scrutiny, and consequent restriction of privacy and disclosure obligations, than private persons.

            Why is this? Well, by reason of the fact that they are entrusted with considerable power, and therefore have the opportunity to do great harm as well as great good.

            Also, because their powerful position discourages people from coming forward with genuine complaints against them, and may also discourage others from looking into those complaints objectively, so that the normal checks and balances to prevent crime don’t work as effectively vis a vis them as they do with private individuals.

          5. Listrade

            A very noble stance. Similar to Bodger’s ‘what if you’re wrong’. I get that you and fellow pizzagate truthers are just thinking of the kids.

            Except…

            Except that’s all bull. Why do none of the pizzagate believers believe or push for the same investigation into the far more tangible and demonstrable links between Trump and child abuse?

            Why is a code (which we don’t know is a code) and an instagram page worthy of thorough investigation but Trump’s links not?

            Where is Bodgers detailed timeline of Trumps links to Epstein and contact with him? Trumps links to Casablancas. Trumps links to Russian monsters (all detailed in various cases and actions against him particularly around the casinos) who are involved in child trafficking.

            There are numerous statements from victims against Trump. There are official dispositions from witnesses against Trump. There are notes about Trump in the journals of Epstein’s butler (now deceased).

            Of course that too is hearsay, innuendo, and rumour. But far more tangible than a code people on Reddit and 4chan made up.

            So keep beating the drum of being the diligent and caring citizen, but while the whole of pizzagate keeps it about Podesta and the Clintons and dismisses any case against Trump as a ‘false flag’ or lying victims, I will not believe any of the sanctimonious bull posted. Every case you have made for believing in pizzagate applies to the accusations against Trump, yet Bodger nor yourself have made any case for that being taken seriously or investigated.

    4. Bob

      So we should automatically believe everything we read on the internet and never have any objectivity? Because there’s no evidence that the whole Pizzagate fiasco was anything more than a conspiracy theory cooked up by the likes of Infowars (who are now desperately erasing all evidence that they propagated it).

      “It happened before” is not a good enough reason to assume every witch hunt will turn up a witch. And it’s fairly moronic to assume so.

      1. The Lady Vanishes

        The fact that an enquiry about something may not necessarily turn up the thing concern about which has prompted the enquiry is not a reason to stop enquiring.

        And enquiring into possible paedophilia is not the same thing as a witch hunt, either literally or figuratively. Taken literally, paedophilia is proven to exist; witchcraft is not. So it’s not necessarily chasing after shadows in the same way as hunting putative witches and warlocks is.

        Secondly, any enquiry into anything can be pejoratively called a ‘witch-hunt’, but the use of the term in this way is really only justified if the enquiry is conducted in an unfair manner. I don’t see anything unfair about asking the questions raised in the video, possibly some of the internet speculation goes further and is unfair, but that shouldn’t shut down reasonable and fairly conducted discussion on this topic.

  13. Kieran NYC

    Bodger, I heard Clinton painted kids bright blue with false flag-shaped emails as part of a daily satanic ritual.

    Why aren’t you reporting on that?! Did she get to you too, cuck?

  14. spudnick

    This really is effing pathetic. Pathetic. Useful idiot posts like this are actually slowly destabilising society as we know it. There’s nothing here. Nothing. Nothing but a bunch of bong-hit wisdom, no evidence, just a willingness to SEE DE TROOF that no one else can see and the self validation that comes with that.

    Blah blah the mainstream media is finished, they’re all evil. But now look. We used to be able to have arguments with each other, arguments that at least assumed we could all agree on what we were arguing about. But now we just flings slogans at each other, half-baked rubbish like this, and everyone else’s facts are wrong to begin with. We’re circling the drain.

    1. The Lady Vanishes

      Genuinely, there is something off about those references to pizza in the Podesta emails. It’s in plain sight, something that’s being referred to in code for discretion.

      If it’s not paedophilia (and it seems that’s the most likely explanation, see my comment above), what is it?

      If the Podestas were private figures, I’d say leave it. But they’re not. And as such they must accept a certain degree of public scrutiny. Secrecy in your private life is not a privilege which should be open to politicians.

      1. The Lady Vanishes

        The mainstream media, in my view, is like a herd of sheep, afraid to follow up anything which doesn’t conform to their largely Democratic, liberal, world view.

        By failing to do so, ironically, they’re doing more damage to the Democratic party, and liberalism, than anything else, just like their Trump-bashing managed to get Trump elected, and their sniffiness is only promoting off-mainstream news.

        Their job is to investigate, that means being prepared to take a chance and go down a blind alley if necessary.

        1. Nigel

          Journalism is supposed to go down blind alleys. It’s part of investigating stuff. It’s not supposed to blare these blind alleys in the hesdlines as actual thoroughfares when they’re clearly not. This is pure special pleading on your part.

          1. The Lady Vanishes

            My point is that there’s been no attempt by the mainstream media to find out for themselves whether it’s a blind alley or a thoroughfare, if it’s a blind alley why not go down it for the purposes of proving this?

          2. Nigel

            Maybe they have? Maybe they are? Maybe they don’t have the resources to give every fake story that surfaces from the id of the net the kind of treatment they’d give a real actual story.

          3. ReproBertie

            Mainstream media did go down the blind alley and they showed it was nothing but a blind alley.

          4. The Lady Vanishes

            Mainstream media strolled up to an entrance with a large gate obscuring eye level view, had a chat with a few nice chaps at the gate who told them there was nothing to see here and that, for their own good, they should know that looking over the gate would be outrageous, unfair, and get them laughed at and probably sued. Mainstream media looked at the gate, said, nothing to see here, and went home.

          5. The Lady Vanishes

            That’s the charitable version.

            The less charitable version is that mainstream media didn’t even need to be told not to look over the gate because mainstream media is damn well used to not looking over the gate where it’s inconvenient for them for a variety of reasons.

          1. The Lady Vanishes

            I read the purported debunking and it didn’t convince. If you want to post links I’ll read them to see if there’s a conclusive debunking I missed.

          2. ReproBertie

            No, sorry it doesn’t work that way. You said the media didn’t investigate. I showed that they did.

          3. The Lady Vanishes

            We’re splitting hairs here. My view is that they didn’t adequately investigate. Yours is that they did.

            Do you want to post those links in case they contain anything which would change my mind on this?

      2. ReproBertie

        Genuinely, the Podesta brothers are well known in Washington circles for their Italian cooking. How is paedophilia the most likely explanation for emails about pizza among people known for Italian cooking?

        Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

        1. The Lady Vanishes

          Bertie, have you read the emails? You should. It’s not as simple as that. The references to pizza jar, and don’t fit in context. It’s clearly coded.

          1. ReproBertie

            Some randomly selected pizza mentions in the Podesta emails:

            “Tony, should the plan be Indian cuisine? If yes, I will send you a list of dishes we can decide on, some of which we can make in the pizza oven.. The shopping list will follow”

            “A woman recently told the campaign her family skipped a pizza dinner at their favorite place so that they could make a difference in this election. ”

            “$40.50 for pizza for canvassers (Papa John’s Pizza) on 10/22 in support of MARK E UDALL (CO Senate)
            $40.50 for pizza for canvassers (Papa John’s Pizza) on 10/22 in support of Obama ”

            “John — Hosting pizza party at Belmont for HFA on April 10. Maya Harris is joining, but need you. Can you come? Thanks much, Tony ”

            “I’m writing from a large open tent in the center of camp. Ringing the outside is a bar, a FoxSports bar, a gym, a media center, and a morale tent. Wifi is readily available in the center of camp (but slow). There is a Dunkin’ Donuts, a Baskin Robbins, a Subway, a Pizza Hut, and a DQ (conveniently located at the pool). ”

            How could I have been so blind!

          2. The Lady Vanishes

            Bertie, regrettably, if the references you cite were the only references to pizza in the emails, or if indeed all the references could be as easily explained away, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

            Have you actually read the emails?

          3. ReproBertie

            Oh FFS. I went to wikileaks. I searched for Podesta emails. I searched for references to pizza. I randomly selected some emails from the returned list and highlighted the mentions of pizza.

            Feel free to do the same and highlight the bits where pizza is clearly a code for child abuse.

          4. Happy Molloy

            You’re reading a single email, in isolation, and deeming it suspicious and indicative of a child sex ring. You’ve lept Everest there. Traditional media, for its many many faults, thankfully would remain a million miles away from such fantastical logic.

            This vanilla world probably seems quite boring to you.

          5. The Lady Vanishes

            The only thing that really bores me is the over-use of the ad hominem in argument, Harry.

            Sadly for a lot of children the world is not as vanilla as it should be.

            I’d recommend you do a search for all references to pizza in the emails and read them in context.

          6. Lucy

            Would anything possibly persuade you this is nonsense? People far smarter than me (listrade I think I love you) have made sensible and measured arguments for this falling under the category of fake news, but you’re bizarelly keen to believe firstly, that there is a code, secondly, that the code refers to paedophilia, not drugs, money laundering, adult prostitutes or any number of alternatives which could logically require obfuscation, and just cos some folks on the Internet claimed it to be so? So what would it take for you to accept that in all likelihood this is an insane conclusion to come to?

          7. Listrade

            How many of the abuse case you have written about involve witnesses pressured to drop cases? Do you not see the irony here Bodger?

            Do you not see the harm you will do to legitimate abuse cases?

            You’re cherry picking which victims to believe based on political bias rather than a consistent philosophy.

            I don’t know if I fully believe all the accusations against Trump, but I do know there is far more tangible evidence for those accusations and they require a less bizarre leap in logic than Pizzagate.

            Pushing one theory over the other, defending one alleged abuser over another, continued whataboutery posts to counter reasonable arguments or questioning the validity of Pizzagate are all political-based and cannot be based on a genuine concern for the welfare of children and young adults. It is pure 4chan, pure r/Donald. It is utterly opposite to any of the serious work to investigate and expose VIP abuse.

      3. Nigel

        ‘Something off about references to pizza’ is not grounds for granting credibility to blatant political smears.

        1. The Lady Vanishes

          The fact that entirely reasonable suspicions of paedophilia are being used for political purposes is regrettable but not an excuse for not following up on these suspicions.

          Is it not reasonable to be concerned that a politician may be involved in paedophilia where words are used by him in his emails in an obviously coded context, those particular words happen to be identical to code words used by the paedophiliac community and he has a documented taste in art exploring the issue of paedophilia.

          1. Nigel

            I see no reasonable suspicion of paedophilia. Everything you say is suppositional, speculative and of entirely dubious provenance.

          2. Nigel

            Look, your heart’s in the right place, and you clearly feel strongly and sincerely about this, but that just underlines the staggering cruelty of hoaxes like this. Literally the only grounds for suspicion are that pizza and paedophilia have the same first letters except for the a, but they sound the same. A serious investigation into this would use up resources badly needed for credible suspects end up smearing innocents. I’m all for scrutnising the rich and powerful until they howl for mercy, but using paedophilia as a flag to attract accusations and investigations and create hysteria against political opponents is vile.

          3. The Lady Vanishes

            Nigel, I really would suggest that you check out the cached instagram photos of the owner of the pizza place in question, Mr Alefantis.

            They feature a lot of random children with and without adults, are peculiar and ring alarm bells in the same way that certain art owned by Podesta does. The comments to the photos contain expressions in currency in the paedophile community such as “chicken lover”. For those who don’t believe the term ‘chicken lover’ could have paedophile connotations as applied to children, read John Devane’s book on his experience as a child prostitute in Limerick city, where the term was in currency in the 1980s.

            When that’s posted in response to someone who likes a photo of a baby, and isn’t taken down, but laughed at, it’s disturbing.

            I’m linking to a google search for alefantis instagram. You should also try googling the work of Biljana Durdjevic, an artist patronised by Tony Podesta.

            If your heart is in the right place, what do you think of these images?

            https://www.google.ie/search?client=firefox-b&biw=1117&bih=610&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=alefantis+instgram&oq=alefantis+instgram&gs_l=img.3…1518.10906.0.11955.19.11.0.0.0.0.989.989.6-1.1.0….0…1c.1.64.img..18.0.0.v-Ff-Phlt1Q

          4. The Lady Vanishes

            Bertie, my link to the Alefantis instagram was to show that the pictures and comments thereon flirt with paedophilia.

            This issue isn’t dealt with at all in the link you posted, it simply refers to a picture of Obama playing table tennis with a young boy posted by Alefantis and says that although some people have given the impression this was taken at Comet Ping-Pong, in fact it was taken in the White House.

            It completely misses the point about the instagram feed.

            Some ‘investigation’. Those pictures and comments I linked to above (and there’s quite a few of them) are very disturbing.

          5. ReproBertie

            It doesn’t just deal with the lies trying to link Obama to the fiction. It also points out the lunacy of the l’enfants photo from his instagram being evidence of anything.

            When all you have is a hammer all you see are nails.

          6. The Lady Vanishes

            Do you not find the photos of children, with comments such as ‘chicken lover’ beside them, disturbing?

            I do. Very much so.

            There’s a persistent theme of children in strange and quasi-sexualised situations running through the Alefantis instagram feed (this is NOT dealt with in the article linked to).

            Just like the paintings in Podesta’s collection also linked to above.

            Children as objects rather than living things – that’s the theme. Extremely unpleasant and disturbing.

          7. ReproBertie

            In your opinion.

            I’m not wasting my time in work flicking through the instagram of someone I don’t know trying to determine if I think the photos and comments, taken utterly out of any and all context, suggest child abuse as part of a conspiracy theory that has already been debunked and which attempts to keep alive led to a sacking within the Trump camp.

  15. Happy Molloy

    Broadsheet would like to apologise for the sporadic posting, Bodger is arguing a good conspiracy theory.

          1. The Lady Vanishes

            I can’t find a photo to illustrate, it, but if you’ve seen the movie you’ll remember it was a blind one. Not a thoroughfare.

            In short, I’m not Bodger. I expect he/she/they are having a late afternoon snooze.

          2. Bodger

            Thanks to The Lady Vanishes and others. I was having a sleep! CBS has removed that report from its website so I guess there’s nothing to see here. They just enjoy pizzas. Meanwhile, in Belgium: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4136536/Former-child-sex-slave-sold-Belgian-recalls-abuse.html

            Update: CBS reporter gets Bodgered:

            Huffington Post: CBS Affiliate Reignites Debunked Pizzagate Conspiracy Theory http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cbs-pizzagate-conspiracy_us_58803dfde4b00d44838d2576

            Media Matters: CBS Atlanta Affiliate Gives Credibility To Debunked Pizzagate Conspiracyhttp://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/01/18/cbs-atlanta-affiliate-gives-credibility-debunked-pizzagate-conspiracy/215044

            Washington Post: CBS affiliate’s ‘big question’: Why no law enforcement investigation of ‘Pizzagate’ allegations?https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/01/18/cbs-affiliates-big-question-why-no-law-enforcement-investigation-of-pizzagate-allegations/?utm_term=.991df8e1953e

            Gizmodo: CBS Imbecile Just Fanned the Pizzagate Flames for No Reason http://gizmodo.com/cbs-imbecile-just-fanned-the-pizzagate-flames-for-no-re-1791333293

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie