Posted on 12/07/2016 6:46:38 PM PST by nickcarraway
East Side Pies co-owner Noah Polk first heard of the conspiracy theory known as “pizzagate” around the time of the presidential election. The fake news story was started by an online community, fueled by misinterpretations of emails released by WikiLeaks, that claimed associates of Hillary Clinton were behind a child sex-trafficking ring headquartered at the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C. The fake story turned into a real crime scene on Sunday when a gunman walked into that Washington restaurant and fired a shot. Now, Austin police are investigating harassment and vandalism that’s been waged against the local restaurant by believers of the “pizzagate” conspiracy.
For Polk’s restaurant, the conspiracy theory first hit home when someone he’d never met left a review on East Side Pies’ Facebook page. The comment mentioned “pizzagate” and Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis. It was the commenter’s second post in a few days. The first had referenced pedophilia.
That day Polk was also alerted to a thread on the message board Reddit suggesting East Side Pies might also be a part of the fictional sex-trafficking ring. Once he went down that internet rabbit hole, Polk was shocked to find myriad posts falsely tying East Side Pies to the debunked conspiracy theory.
East Side Pies is continuing to suffer sporadic harassment and name-calling via social media, and one of its delivery trucks was vandalized with a scrawled epithet.
The online posts have made wild and baseless accusations about East Side Pies. They interpreted the restaurant’s logo as a symbol of the “Illuminati,” questioned the meaning of photos of pizza-eating children on East Side Pies’ Facebook account, inferred that a picture of staffers with former Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell was proof of nefarious political ties and claimed co-owner Michael Freid, an alumnus of the Culinary Institute of America, had “connections to the CIA.”
“This is absolutely insane and unfounded and ridiculous,” Polk said Tuesday of his thoughts after reading the initial posts. “The dots they are trying to connect are so ludicrous. I was not happy about it.”
Polk said he became worried about the safety of his employees, as well as his restaurant’s reputation, and he contacted Austin police and the FBI on Monday.
Austin police on Wednesday confirmed that a report for criminal mischief had been filed Tuesday involving one of the restaurant’s vehicles. A police spokesman said profane and sexual statements had been carved into the vehicle in the 5300 block of Airport Boulevard. The complete report on the incident and additional details weren’t immediately available Wednesday.
The online targeting of East Side Pies had gained steam Saturday when Owen Shroyer — who hosts a live-streaming podcast called “Engage Liberty” and makes videos for the Austin-based conspiracy-fueled website Infowars.com — hosted a 21/2-hour broadcast detailing his visits to multiple East Side Pies locations.
In the broadcast uploaded to YouTube, Shroyer said he was “weirded out and creeped out” by his visits to East Side Pies. What he saw, he says, left him “gripping my gun tighter every night.”
The “weird stuff” he encountered? Employees with large-gauge piercings and blue hair, a “weird locked-up grate in the back” of one location, disturbing rock music and band fliers with “satanic” symbols. The “coup de grace,” according to Shroyer: two children playing dominoes in the presence of an adult.
He also thought the restaurant’s logo, a pizza in the shape of an eye, with the catchphrase “We know what you want,” was a nod to the Illuminati.
While the other accusations probably don’t require much explanation from a laid-back, family-friendly, rock-and-roll pizza joint in the Live Music Capital of the World, Polk offered a quick back-story on the name and logo.
Polk, who opened the restaurant with Freid in 2006, wanted to name the restaurant East Side Pies, written as three separate words. When he told a friend, the guy immediately quipped, “ESP. We know what you want.” Thus was born a clever piece of marketing, soon to be accompanied by a logo with a circular pizza minus a slice representing an eyeball.
Polk has received about a half-dozen calls over the past several days from people using unidentifiable phone numbers requesting interviews with East Side Pies management or ownership.
The co-owners refused the requests from the suspicious callers, because, in the words of Polk, “You argue with the fool, you’re the fool yourself.”
On Sunday, a North Carolina man was arrested in Washington, D.C., after entering Comet Ping Pong with a semi-automatic weapon and firing at least one shot. Police said he later told them he was “self-investigating” conspiracy theories about child slaves there. The incident, which made national news, reaffirmed to Polk that his instinct to contact law enforcement was correct.
“Luckily nobody got hurt during the shooting, but I do believe it’s come to light now, it’s a national story, about fake news,” Polk said. “I do believe people who’ve been on the fence or thought maybe there was something to it … now most thinking people will realize that this is fake and not to get behind it or think there is any truth to it.”
Freid and Polk said the false accusations and character assassination has been “alarming, disappointing, disconcerting and scary.”
“The biggest thing: It was unfair,” Freid said. “We have too many other things to do just to keep our business going every day. It’s completely unfounded and ludicrous. It is absolutely absurd.”
Ah. The cost of witch hunts.
Still not a single allegation of an “actual crime” of sexual disposition against anyone involved in these businesses.
Agreed. It is mostly a distraction.
It’s ridiculous, and it reflects badly on this forum, and forums elsewhere.
Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t some very convincing information connected to these businesses. But without an actual SINGLE allegation I cannot believe that these people are raping children.
Comet pizza will be shut down along with many other bureaucrats after Jan 20
Isn’t there a real scandal in the Clinton and others connection to Jeffrey Epstein?
Don’t know anything about East Side Pies, but Comet Ping Pong & Podesta have lots of explaining to do.
Really? I thought Trump fired the people talking about this.
Wow. I haven’t seen coverage of a story like this ever since conspiracy theorists misinterpreted computer artifacts in the President’s totally authentic birth certificate and spread the fake news story that there were anomalies in the completely genuine document.
No. They have no explaining to do.
Comet Ping Pong or Podesta have not been accused of sexually doing ANYTHING to ANYONE.
“We are going to talk this evening about a few things that are close to my heart,” Milo told his audience. “Although, I have one announcement to make which is that sadly when I announced I was going to be speaking about Pizzagate this evening, I got a number of phone calls with Washington D.C. area codes saying ‘not yet.’”
The more they deny it, the more I believe it.
Ditto
It’s ridiculous, and it reflects badly on this forum, and forums elsewhere.
I’ve seen one in a few of these pizzagate videos. He claims to be a two time Obama voter. I don’t trust anyone that would vote for Obama even once.
Until I see arrests, I won’t give it much attention.
My guess is that in Austin, some democrat did it hoping to begin to make the original actual suspicion look absurd. Also, an Austin liberal restaurant owner might have wanted to be the edgy cool place.
Look for more of this crap.
So only the law can accuse? I accuse you of purposeful ignorance on the subject.
Isn’t there a real scandal in the Clinton and others connection to Jeffrey Epstein?
Epstein is a creep and he was friends with a lot of influential people. I don’t know of any proof of Bill hooking up with minors. I know there was an “annomous” video that claimed to have proof but thy never delivered.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.