NewsPoliticsA new Sky documentary that investigates some of the most mind-boggling conspiracy theories of recent years has been shining a new light on some of the most baffling fake news stories to come out of the US

Friday, 12th June 2020, 1:23 pm

After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News aired earlier this month, and surveys the effects of disinformation campaigns on social media and the impacts of well known conspiracy theories.

One of those theories is that of Pizzagate, and the film follows the growth of the story on forums like Reddit and 4chan, how it was fomented by the alt-right and Alex Jones, and then translated into a real-life dangerous situation.

Heres everything you need to know:

Pizzagate was a widely discredited news story which linked Hilary Clintons presidential campaign with a fictional human trafficking ring.

Its so-called because the alleged headquarters of the operation was the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C, which according to the conspiracy was also a meeting ground for Satanic ritual abuse.

It all began in March 2016, when the personal email account of John Podesta, Clinton's campaign manager, was hacked.

WikiLeaks published the emails later that year; conspiracy theorists claimed the emails contained coded messages that alluded to human trafficking and a child sex ring.

The emails contained multiple references to pizza and pizza restaurants, but there is no evidence that they are code or refer to anything else.

Had the claims been true, it would have implicated a number of high-ranking Democratic Party officials.

How was the story debunked?

The story has been widely debunked by a number of fact checking a news organisations from across the political spectrum even Fox News has said the story is completely false.

Theorists claimed that similarities between Comet Ping Pongs logo contained symbols linked to Satanism and paedophilia; the New York Times noted these similarities could be found in the logos of completely unrelated companies, if you looked hard enough.

Claims of a secret underground network beneath Comet Ping Pong were disproven by the fact the establishment has no basement, and evidence that John Podesta played a part in the kidnapping of Madeleine McCann were simply sketches of a suspect taken from the descriptions of two eyewitnesses.

No alleged victims have come forward and no physical evidence has been found.

Despite the theory having zero evidence to support it, that didnt stop those who opposed Hilary Clinton believing the story wholesale.

That included gunman Edgar Maddison Welch, who travelled down from South Carolina to confront the owners of Comet Ping Pong.

He entered the pizza restaurant in Washington D.C. packed with families on a Sunday afternoon and fired an automatic rifle.

Thankfully, no one was injured in the disturbance; Mr Welch told police he had driven from South Carolina to investigate the restaurant after reading online reports.

Why is Comet Ping Pong back in the news?

Though its been four years since the height of the Pizzagate story, the owners still have to deal with death threats and abuse.

As employees continue to search for a new rhythm [during the coronavirus pandemic], say the Washington Post, they still field calls from Pizzagate obsessors.

A few weeks ago, someone jammed the phone line for an entire day, frustrating customers who struggled to place orders. [Comet] has received almost 70 Pizzagate messages in recent weeks.

There also seems to be a renewed interest in the false story in the wake of news that US prosecutors want a face-to-face interview with Prince Andrew over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The story has been trending on Twitter again, despite remaining completely untrue, with theorists linking Epsteins private jet the Lolita Express and his private Epstein Island with the restaurant.

There is no evidence to suggest any of it is true.

Read the original here:
What is Pizzagate? The fake news scandal involving Hilary Clinton and Wikileaks explained - and why its trending amid Epstein inquiry - The Scotsman

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The Justice Department said Friday that it plans to release by June 19 previously redacted portions of Special Counsel Robert Muellers April 2019 report that relate to longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. The deadline falls 11 days before Stone, the longtime dirty trickster who was convicted last year of making false statements to Congress, is set to begin a prison sentence that President Donald Trump has indicated he will erase via pardon.

The timing matters. The portions of Muellers report related to Stone will likely indicate that the Trump campaign believed it was collaborating through Stone with WikiLeaks on the release of Democratic emails stolen by Russia. This information emerged during Stones November trial, but inclusion in the public version of the Mueller report would enshrine it in our most official record of Russian meddling in 2016.

The Trump campaign considered Stone an access point to WikiLeaks, former Trump campaign boss Steve Bannon testified during Stones trial. Without redactions, the report will presumably show that Trump personally communicated with Stone about WikiLeaks plans to release hacked emails and also ordered aides to communicate with Stone about WikiLeaks. Rick Gates, a former top campaign official, testified at the trial that he personally overheard Trump speaking to Stone by phone. After the call, Trump indicated that more information would be coming out, Gates claimed.

Trump told Mueller in written answers that he did not recall discussing WikiLeaks with [Stone], nor do I recall being aware of Mr. Stone having discussed WikiLeaks with individuals associated with my campaign. Given Trumps extensive attention to WikiLeaks releases of hacked emails, its hard to imagine the president forgot having talked to Stone about WikiLeaks. He seems to have lied to Mueller about this.

The release of Muellers findings related to Stone, then, will highlight just how corrupt a pardon of Stone would be. He was convicted of falsely telling the House Intelligence Committee that he did not communicate with the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks, among other false statements. Those communications regarding WikiLeaks occurred at the same time Russian intelligence was using the organization to release material stolen from Democrats in a bid to help Trump win the election.

Stone lied, federal prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky said during the trial, because the truth looked bad. The truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump. In pardoning Stone, Trump would not merely be protecting a personal associate; he would be covering up his own conduct in 2016, including his efforts to benefit politically from Russias interference in the election.

Trump benefited from the timing of Stones arrest, which came in January 2019, toward the end of Muellers probe. This meant that Stones trial came after the April 2019 release of the Mueller report. As a result, information Mueller uncovered about Stone and WikiLeaks was redacted in the report due to potential harm to ongoing matter. By the time Stones trial happened, Trump and Attorney General William Barr had enjoyed substantial success in falsely spinning the report as having exonerated Trump. Stones trial contained major revelations about Trump campaign efforts to coordinate with WikiLeaks. But this news came amid media intense focus on impeachment hearings related to Trumps improper efforts to pressure Ukraine. By then most Americans had made up their minds on TrumpRussia and moved on.

The Justice Department agreed to release information related to Stone only after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Buzzfeed reporter Jason Leopold and the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center. The suit noted that Stones conviction removed the cause DOJ had cited for redacting the Stone material in Muellers report. This release will highlight the extent to which Stones crimes helped to cover up Trumps conduct. That is unlikely to stop Trump from pardoning Stone. It might even encourage the president to move faster. But it ought to make clear that in pardoning Stone, Trump would be protecting not just his old political consigliere but himself.

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Trump's Stone Pardon Would Be Outrageous. DOJ Will Release Evidence Showing Why. - Mother Jones

The HSE has secured High Court orders preventing an IT worker from distributing highly confidential and sensitive information about hospital patients. It is alleged that Neill Bradley had distributed confidential information he obtained from the HSE's computer servers during the course of his now former employment with a third party contracted by the HSE to perform certain IT services.

The information includes patient's personal data and medical databases allegedly sent by Mr Bradley to Wikileaks the non-profit organisation that publishes news leaks provided by anonymous source founded by Australian internet activist Julian Assange.

The orders were granted last week by Mr Justice Tony O'Connor, whosaid he was satisfied that Mr Bradley had gained access to private and sensitive data through his former employment, which he threatened to facilitate the dissemination of patients details and private records.

The judge noted that the defendant in one post on social media had referred to information he obtained, which Mr Bradley knew should be kept secure, as being "stolen. "

The HSE launched proceedings against Mr Bradley following a probe it commenced after becoming aware of a potentially serious data breach from posts on social media of screenshots of the HSE's internal servers.

The HSE claims the posts appeared on three twitter accounts it says were set up and controlled by Mr Bradley.

Through those accounts Mr Bradley allegedly sent messages to a senior official at the HSE, as well as posting to the social media accounts of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ministers Simon Harris and Pascal Donohoe, media figures and Dr Tony Holohan.

In his communications, Mr Bradley made allegations of a cover-up and a scam by the HSE and said he would make public data from over a dozen Irish hospitals, it is claimed.

It is also claimed that he used various hashtags on his posts including #covid19 #lockdown ireland #notmytaoiseach #MAGA and #mediascum.

The HSE said during previous employment as a systems administration Mr Bradley was given access to its servers and patient databases to carry out tasks his previous employer was contracted to do.

That firm's role was to maintaining and servicing a 'smart' automated system used to dispense, record and manage medication given to patients at various hospitals called Omnicell.

The system is used in many hospitals throughout the state.

Since becoming aware of the situation the HSE, in co-operation with Mr Bradley's previous employer, who terminated his employment after learning of the HSE's concerns, have taken steps to secure the servers and prevent the information from being published.

These steps include having posts on thepastebin.comsite and links to the confidential material removed.

The HSE also sought and obtained court orders, including in junctions to prevent him from attempting to post more links to confidential information.

The injunction is to remain in place pending the outcome of any full hearing of the matter.

The application for the injunctions was initially heard in camera, meaning that the proceedings were in private. The Judge subsequently lifted the in camera ruling allowing the media to report on the case.

In its action the HSE, represented by Eoin McCullough SC, Joe Jeffers Bl instructed by Philip Lee solicitors sought the orders against Mr Bradley with an address at Carrigeen Hill, Conna, Co Cork. Mr Bradley had been informed of the application against him.

However he did not attend, nor was he represented during, the court hearings.

Mr Justice O'Connor in making the orders said Mr Bradley would be given the chance to advance a defence to the HSE's claims at a full hearing of the action.

The injunction restrains Mr Bradley and any person to whom he has communicated or may communicate the confidential information from disseminating publishing, communicating by any means, or using any of said information through specific twitter handles and email addresses attributed to him. The order also restrains the defendant, and anyone who received the confidential information from him, from destroying or deleting the information.

He must also deliver up all documents, records and devices containing the confidential information to the HSE's solicitors for forensic analysis.

The court further restrained Mr Bradley from leaving Ireland until he has complied with the order to deliver up the confidential information, and hand over his passport to An Garda Sochana, who will retain it until further order.

The HSE's solicitors were given permission to notify the Department of Foreign affairs, An Garda Sochana, authorities at all points of exit from the State about the court's orders.

Mr Justice O Connor said that Mr Bradley had said in another tweet that he had sold his house and was moving about Europe in a camper van to "ply my skills elsewhere."

The judge also noted the HSE's lawyers undertaking to give the Data Protection Commissioner, the Minister for Health and the Attorney General copies of the order and the documents put before the court during the application if requested by those parties.

Here is the original post:
HSE takes action against man who leaked patient information to Wikileaks - Leitrim Observer