EVENTS | 2016
The Genesis of the Pizzagate Hypothesis
Pizzagate constitutes a sprawling sexual scandal hypothesis that emerged from the political fringe of the Internet near the conclusion of the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign.
This theory suggests the existence of a highly sophisticated ring of organised pedophiles operating at the apex of the Democratic Party establishment within Washington, D.C. The claims surrounding Pizzagate are utterly fantastical, weaving together stolen, secret emails, a favoured local pizza establishment, and high-ranking political figures. The subsequent public handling of the accusations by the political and media establishment has been marked by a fierce and uniform campaign of denial, leading to the conclusion that the scandal struck so deeply at the core of the corrupted political system that efforts to suppress it approached hysteria.
The Podesta Emails and Coded Communication
The initial basis for the Pizzagate hypothesis lay in the activities of John Podesta, a long-serving fixture in D.C. political circles who held the position of chief of staff to President Bill Clinton in 1998 and later served as chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Podesta’s apparent carelessness regarding the password security of his Gmail account facilitated a hack, resulting in the subsequent publication of tens of thousands of his personal emails on WikiLeaks.
Anti-Clinton activists meticulously scoured this trove of semi-confidential communications, initially seeking evidence of mundane corruption or bribery. Instead, they discovered numerous exchanges written in conspicuously odd language, seemingly utilising a coded lexicon.
The use of coded language within a supposedly secure private email account immediately raised strong suspicions regarding the nature of the communications, with illegal sex or drugs being the most likely topics under discussion. Given the notably libertine nature of the current era, in which politicians openly celebrate sexual minorities and sexual diversity, one of the very few activities still discussed only in whispers is pedophilia, leading to the suspicion that some of the strange remarks possibly hinted at this deeply taboo subject.
Suspicious Imagery and the DC Elite
The network surrounding John Podesta revealed connections and tastes that further amplified suspicions regarding the nature of their activities.
#### The Art Collection of Tony Podesta
Tony Podesta, the brother of John Podesta and one of the most successful lobbyists in D.C., was found to possess extremely peculiar tastes in art. His extensive personal collection contained major items that appeared to represent tortured or murdered bodies.
One of his favourite artists was principally known for paintings depicting young children suffering under severe distress, lying dead, or being held captive. While the possession of such unusual artwork is not illegal, its themes naturally aroused profound suspicions among those investigating the coded emails.
#### The Friendship with Dennis Hastert
Further evidence linking the Podesta circle to illicit sexual activity was the close personal friendship maintained between arch-Democrat John Podesta and former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Hastert had been convicted as a child-molester. Podesta welcomed the convicted sex offender back into D.C. society following his release from prison.
#### The Pizza Establishment and its Proprietor
Some of the most suspiciously worded Podesta emails referred to events held at a particular local pizza parlour in D.C. highly favoured by the Democratic Party elite. The establishment’s owner was the gay former boyfriend of David Brock, a leading Democratic activist.
The public Instagram account maintained by this pizza entrepreneur contained numerous images of young children, sometimes depicted as being tied or bound. These images were frequently accompanied by hashtags that employed traditional gay slang specifically referring to underage sexual targets.
The proprietor was photographed wearing a tee-shirt bearing the statement I Love Children in French. By a remarkable coincidence, his possibly assumed name was phonetically identical to that very same French phrase, thereby proclaiming to the world that he was a lover of children. Closely connected social media accounts further included pictures of young children, sometimes shown amid piles of high-value currency, accompanied by queries regarding the monetary worth of those particular children. While none of this material was illegal on its face, any reasonable observer would regard this collection of visual material and associations as extremely suspicious.
The proprietor of this local pizza parlour, with his strange focus on young children, possessed an astonishing degree of political prominence. GQ Magazine ranked him as one of the 50 most powerful people in the national capital, according him a higher status than numerous Cabinet members, Senators, Congressional Chairmen, Supreme Court justices, and top lobbyists.
The elevation of a gay pizza parlour owner to such a pinnacle of D.C. power, vastly exceeding the influence of many high-ranking government officials, is entirely baffling unless his establishment or his connections were associated with activities of immense covert significance. The existence of a vast cloud of billowing smoke is not proof of a fire, but only a fool would entirely disregard this large quantity of highly-suspicious material surrounding powerful figures at the apex of the D.C. political world without attempting further investigation.
The Massive Suppression of Pizzagate
The response to the surfacing of the Pizzagate claims was an immediate and coordinated campaign of political and media suppression, indicating that the claims were perceived by the establishment as a mortal threat to the political system.
#### Media Blackout and Coordinated Denial
During the initial phase, a conspiracy of silence was enacted by nearly all elements of the national media, which either minimized or entirely ignored the story.
When the controversy began to reach mainstream newspapers, it was presented in a strange manner: political stories would dedicate a sentence or two to the Pizzagate hoax, consistently describing it as a ridiculous right-wing conspiracy theory while excluding all relevant details of the accusations.
An eerie feeling permeated the media environment, as if an unseen hand had suddenly flipped a switch, causing the entire mainstream media to instantaneously begin displaying identical brightly flashing neon signs declaring Pizzagate Is False—Nothing To See There!. This uniformity of media reaction to an obscure Internet controversy was entirely unprecedented.
The ferocity of the media response suggests that Pizzagate struck deeply at the core of the corrupted political system, necessitating suppression efforts that bordered on hysteria. The media continued its uniform drumbeat of Pizzagate Has Been Disproven!, yet never offered explanation as to how or by whom the story was debunked.
An award-winning investigative journalist at a national network station in Atlanta broadcast a short television segment summarising the controversy and noting that, contrary to widespread media claims, Pizzagate had neither been investigated nor debunked. This journalist was almost immediately purged by his network.
#### Political Lethality and Career Destruction
Mere mention of Pizzagate quickly became politically lethal for those near the top of the government. Donald Trump selected Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, as his National Security Advisor. Flynn’s son, serving as his father’s chief of staff, was purged from the Trump transition team soon after he tweeted links to Pizzagate stories, merely pointing out that the accusations had not been actually investigated, let alone disproven. This purge of the younger Flynn foreshadowed the eventual downfall of his father a few weeks later. It seemed astonishing that a few simple tweets about an Internet controversy could have such immense real-life impact near the very apex of the government.
#### Internet Censorship and the Fake News Campaign
The ferocious attacks and censorship raised obvious dark suspicions, following the principle that enemy flak is always heaviest over the most important target. Simultaneously with the mainstream denial of Pizzagate, articles suddenly appeared denouncing all alternative media outlets—Left, Right, and Libertarian—as fake news websites promoting Russian propaganda. These articles vehemently urged that the content of the alternative media be blocked by all patriotic Internet giants. Prior to this point, the term fake news was unknown, but it suddenly became ubiquitous across the media, again as if an unseen hand had instantaneously flipped a switch.
The wave of censorship that followed, laid the groundwork for the continuing regime of Social Media censorship that has become a central aspect of the modern world. Videos detailing the specific visual and textual evidence supporting the Pizzagate case were purged from platforms. This total dominance of the official narrative, despite the existence of highly suspicious material, strongly suggests that the political-puppeteers controlling the system sought to ensure that their political puppet-strings remained invisible.