On Sunday, a man wielding an assault rifle walked into Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, DC, and fired his weapon. No one was injured, but the suspect, 28-year-old Edgar Welch, reportedly told police that he had traveled six hours from North Carolina to "self-investigate" a conspiracy theory known as #Pizzagate that falsely claimed Hillary Clinton and her Democratic allies were secretly running a child sex-trafficking operation inside the business. The theory had been roundly discredited by nearly every major news outlet, including the Times and the Washington Post.
The incident marks the most concrete, physical example of the dangerous consequences when unhinged, fabricated news moves unchallenged from social media to the real world. It also raises questions about the effects from the actions of Donald Trump, an avid conspiracy theorist himself, and some members of the team he's building to help him lead the next White House....
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/trump-fake-news-michael-flynn-pizzagate
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