Why Does the MSM Keep Falling for Obvious Hoaxes?

[ramus]

This is simple to understand, Trump, anything that make him look bad is fair game ... why does the msm keep falling for obvious hoaxes? Because they are Trump haters it's that simple....
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Why Does the MSM Keep Falling for Obvious Hoaxes?
By Debra Heine February 18, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/why-doe...bvious-hoaxes/

Another clueless reporter is *shocked* that the Jussie Smollett story turned out to be a hoax:

This is just sad:

The national outrage that simmered after actor Jussie Smollett said he was attacked by people shouting racial and anti-gay slurs was fueled in part by celebrities who spoke out loud and strong on social media.

But the outrage has now been replaced by surprise, doubt and bafflement as the singers, actors and politicians who came out in support of the “Empire” star struggle to digest the strange twists the case has taken. Some conservative pundits, meanwhile, have gleefully seized on the moment.

The narrative that just a week ago seemed cut-and-dry has become messy and divisive — and it’s all playing out again on social media.

If there was a "national outrage" over the dubious incident, it was limited to gullible left-wing journalists, celebrities, politicians, and activists.

The "narrative" only seemed "cut-and-dry" to people who were looking at the case through lenses clouded by their anti-Trump bias. It seemed made up to those of us who noticed that Smollett's allegations were outlandish, implausible, and riddled with inconsistencies from the get-go.

Man Pulls a Gun on Sam's Club Customer Wearing MAGA Hat

Yet even as his story started falling apart (which happened almost immediately), the national media clung to their precious narrative.

There's been much commentary in the past few days about the MSM's lack of critical thinking skills in covering not only the Jussie Smollett "hate crime" fairy tale, but a number of other bogus stories as well.

Over the years, the MSM has fallen for hundreds of hate crime hoaxes, reporting on them as if they were confirmed facts, rather than mere allegations. By the time the story is proven to be a hoax, the media has already moved on to the next manufactured outrage. This phenomenon has only increased since the election of President Trump. Yet people still expressed shock and surprise when it became obvious that Smollett had staged his own hate crime.


Author Roxane Gay tweeted Saturday that she doesn’t know what to say, but that the situation is a “mess” and a “travesty.”

“I genuinely thought no one, and especially no one that famous, could make something like that up,” Gay wrote. “The lie is so damaging. The time the CPD has spent/wasted on this. The people who supported him.”

The AP goes on to note that "there is a consensus among those who very vocally supported Smollett from the outset, it’s that no matter what happens in this case, they will still believe victims."

DuVernay said: “Whatever the outcome, this won’t stop me from believing others. It can’t.”

Gay echoed her sentiments, tweeting that she does not regret believing Smollett.

“I’m not going to stop believing people who say they have suffered,” Gay wrote. “Because more often than not they are telling the truth.”

They say this even as the egg is still dripping from their faces. Meanwhile, Trump supporters who are sick of being smeared are said to be "gleeful" because another hate crime manufactured to make them look bad turned out to be a hoax.

Will Jussie Smollett Go to Prison for Sending Himself a Fake Threatening Letter?

But fake hate crimes aren't the only type of bogus story the MSM routinely falls for.

In the past two years the national media has also rushed to embrace the phony Steele dossier, a multitude of fake Deep State leaks on the Trump/Russia probe that turned out to be spectacularly wrong, the outlandish Kavanaugh smears, and the Covington smears.

PJ Media's own Roger Simon called the media's propensity for believing the unbelievable "magical thinking."

Good Therapy defines magical thinking as "the belief that one’s own thoughts, wishes, or desires can influence the external world. It is common in very young children. A four-year-old child, for example, might believe that after wishing for a pony, one will appear at his or her house."

Another possible explanation for the media's gullibility would be confirmation bias, which is defined as "the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses." The overwhelmingly liberal media tend to embrace stories that confirm their own biases and ignore those that don't.
Sponsored

The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway meanwhile bluntly noted on Twitter that much of the media's credulous reporting on dubious stories in recent months can be explained by the fact that a lot of reporters just aren't terribly bright.

However, many commenters here at PJ Media and elsewhere are convinced that the media -- en masse -- knew the story was bogus from the start, but pushed it anyway because it fit their anti-Trump narrative. That may be true for some in the media, but I think that's giving most of them too much credit.

I suspect that a combination of all of the above can explain the epidemic of fake news in the past few years. Their left-wing bias has been a disgrace for decades and it it's only getting worse. Sadly, there's no reason to believe it won't continue to sully their reportage for the foreseeable future.

How the Media Failed Again on the Jussie Smollett Hoax

[ramus]

More background on the case:

Jussie Smollett Case: Clues Into Potential Motive Behind The Attack

By Charlie De Mar, Brad Edwards, Suzanne LeMignotBy Charlie De Mar
February 18, 2019 at 10:10 pm

Filed Under:Empire, Jussie Smollett, Jussie Smollett Attack

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02...staged-attack/

(CBS) –“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, upset after a racist letter sent to the show’s studio didn’t get a “bigger reaction,” is suspected of paying two men to attack him a week later, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

“When the letter didn’t get enough attention, he concocted the staged attack,” a source told CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards. Other sources corroborated that information.
(CBS) –“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, upset after a racist letter sent to the show’s studio didn’t get a “bigger reaction,” is suspected of paying two men to attack him a week later, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

“When the letter didn’t get enough attention, he concocted the staged attack,” a source told CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards. Other sources corroborated that information.

TIMELINE: Key Developments In The Jussie Smollett Case

FULL COVERAGE: Read CBS 2’s Coverage Of The Case

The blockbuster revelation into at least part of Smollett’s potential motive comes two days after CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar reported Smollett and two brothers — Ola and Abel Osundairo — staged the attack on Jan. 29 in Streeterville.

De Mar spoke on the phone exclusively with the Osundairo brothers Monday afternoon. In a joint statement, they said: “We are not racist. We are not homophobic and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens.”

Smollett received a letter containing a white powder Jan. 22. The letter was mailed to Chicago’s Cinespace Studios, where the show “Empire” is filmed. The letter prompted a HAZMAT response. CPD says the “white substance” was later determined to be aspirin.

The note was crafted with letters apparently cut out from magazines to form words. The pieced-together message contained racial and homophobic threats directed at Smollett. A magazine is one of the pieces of evidence retrieved from the brother’s home last week during a search conducted by CPD. Investigators also recovered a book of stamps.

The brothers are acquaintances of Smollett.
When asked about the letter in a televised interview last week, Smollett said, “On the letter, it had a stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun pointing toward it.” It also had “MAGA” — reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan Make America Great Again – written as the return address.

“In due course all the facts will reveal themselves, and at the end of the day, my clients are honest and credible,” the brothers’ attorney Gloria Schmidt said.

During the search of the brothers’ home last week, a “piece of paper/writing” was also seized. CBS 2 is the only news source with video from inside that house. Police evidence logs exclusively obtained by CBS 2, show investigators took the writing sample, magazine, and a “wallet with stamps.”

Chicago police say the FBI is handling the investigation surrounding the letter, because that’s a federal-level concern.

Smollett claims two men attacked him in Streeterville early Jan. 29 as he was heading to his apartment. He said they yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him, poured a chemical on him and put a rope around his neck.

Sources say at least one of the brothers bought the rope used in the incident at Smollett’s request. The sources also say the “Empire” actor paid for the rope, which was purchased at the Crafty Beaver Hardware Store in the Ravenswood neighborhood the weekend of Jan. 25.

Sources said one of the brothers held the rope and poured bleach while the other wore a plain red hat and yelled slurs at Smollett.

The sources say the red hat was bought at an Uptown beauty supply store and that the attack was supposed to happen before Jan. 29. The brothers told detectives the three men rehearsed the attack days prior to it happening. Smollett paid the brothers $3,500.

When Edwards reached out to CPD, immediately prior to this reporting, a spokesperson responded via text:

“We are not doing any interviews or making any official statements until we can corroborate some information that was shared with police. Until we meet with the Empire cast member, we are not able to confirm, deny or comment on any of the information that was released unofficially.

“When this investigation is over, we will have a detailed accounting of the case. While we are not in a position to confirm, deny or comment on the validity of what’s been unofficially released, there are some developments in this investigation and detectives have some follow-ups to complete which include additional investigation and speaking to the individual who reported the incident.”Smollett’s lawyers replied to request for comment on the new allegations with the following statement:

“We are not going to respond to every new, anonymous accusation or rumor. Jussie Smollett’s lawyers are in contact with the Chicago Police Department. Jussie will continue to cooperate with the investigation in an appropriate and respectful manner that does not include talking to media at this time.”

[conk]

Does MSM fall for hoaxes or create and perpetuate them?

[PurpleLama]

Posted by conk (here)
Does MSM fall for hoaxes or create and perpetuate them?

Hoax or not, if it fits the narrative you are weaving, run with it!

[ramus]

Good question, conk .. I don't think they fall for it, but they do perpetuate it, it fits there agenda.

[TargeT]

Posted by conk (here)
Does MSM fall for hoaxes or create and perpetuate them?

Both?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=k7ZgtEzXcJc

[Andre]

The MSM runs one fake story after another and just keeps moving forward because they no longer have the resources to investigate the veracity of a story anyway. Many of them have seen colleagues get retrenched and they know it's only a matter of time before they go as well. It's a culture of desperation in MSM where they know their days are numbered, they're not paid to research stories and they're no longer expected to do that anyway, so they play it safe and submit stories that are consistent with their master's highly politicized editorial guidelines regardless of whether or not there's any basis in fact to the story. I'm sure a few of them still cling to the outdated belief that outlets like the NYT and CNN are much too important to the establishment and will never be allowed to disappear. They're probably putting a lot of hope in the media giants like Facebook, twitter and so forth killing their competition by closing alternative media down. (Like with the favour Facebook just did for CNN the other day). But will that save them?

On top of all that, most MSM journalists follow consensus reality anyway and do not want to rock the boat by asking too many questions. Again, one of their motivations these days has to be "I need to play it safe, keep my job, and not rock the boat". The irony for a journalist is that following the manufactured narrative is the antithesis of what a good journalist is supposed to do. It's just another industry that isn't faring well in the 21st Century. You just have to look at the readership numbers over the last decade to see how bad it really is for them.

https://skwawkbox.org/2018/02/15/new...-falling-hard/

http://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/newspapers/

[ramus]

TargeT thanks for the link to : Louder With Crowder ... love The Piece of Sh-t segment.

[Tintin]

"Remember that those who should be exposing the intelligence services’ manipulation of the mainstream media are the very same mainstream media that are already compromised. In other words, this story of systematic “fake news” planted by our intelligence services is almost impossible for the media to tell because it would expose a very uncomfortable reality: that they are not, as they claim, watchdogs on power, but rather the lapdogs of the powerful."

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https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2...our-newspaper/

Is the CIA editing your newspaper?
by Jonathan Cook / December 20th, 2016

Here is a great overview by Ed Jones of why corporate media are the arch-exponents of “fake news”.

The media are overwhelming owned and controlled by billionaires and gargantuan corporations, who depend on the support of other corporations for ad revenue, and employ journalists from a narrow, privileged class whose careers depend on maintaining access to elite sources. It would be simply astounding in these circumstances if we had anything resembling a pluralistic media.

The data concerns UK outlets, but the same principles apply in the US.

One section makes especially disturbing reading. It is the little-discussed matter of the intelligence services’ deep penetration of most western, and in some cases non-western, media organisations.

In short, US intelligence services – and to a lesser extent British ones – have for many decades fed information to sympathetic journalists in key positions inside the “free” media, working with them hand in glove. Additionally, the CIA has sought to put its own people into publications to shape directly editorial content and influence public opinion. In some cases, these people may have reached very senior positions.

Nick Davies, of the Guardian, dedicated a whole chapter of his book Flat Earth News to documenting these practices. Strangely, that chapter is rarely mentioned. Journalists who praise the book instead concentrate on his less revealing concept of “churnalism” – journalism compromised by constraints of time and resources.

Jones adds other sources who make much the same point:

Richard Keeble, professor of journalism at the University of Lincoln, … has written on the history of the links between journalists and the intelligence services. … He quotes Roy Greenslade, who has been a media specialist for both the Telegraph and the Guardian [and is a former editor of the Mirror newspaper], as saying: “Most tabloid newspapers – or even newspapers in general – are playthings of MI5 [Britain’s FBI].”

Keeble goes on to say:

Bloch and Fitzgerald, in their examination of covert UK warfare, report the editor of ‘one of Britain’s most distinguished journals’ as believing that more than half its foreign correspondents were on the MI6 payroll [the British equivalent of the CIA – my emphasis]. And in 1991, Richard Norton-Taylor revealed in the Guardian that 500 prominent Britons paid by the CIA and the now defunct Bank of Commerce and Credit International, included 90 journalists.

Keeble has given many more examples in his book chapter of the intelligence services infiltrating the media and changing the politics of the time, including around the miners strikes and Arthur Scargill in the 1980s and during the lead-up to the Iraq war in 2003. …

David Leigh, former investigations editor of The Guardian, wrote about a series of instances in which the secret services manipulated prominent journalists. He claims reporters are routinely approached and manipulated by intelligence agents and identifies three ways – providing examples for each in his article – in which they do it:

• They attempt to recruit journalists to spy on other people or themselves attempt to go under journalistic “cover.”
• They allow intelligence officers to pose as journalists “to write tendentious articles under false names.”
• And “the most malicious form”: they plant intelligence agency propaganda stories on willing journalists who disguise their origin from readers.

Remember that those who should be exposing the intelligence services’ manipulation of the mainstream media are the very same mainstream media that are already compromised. In other words, this story of systematic “fake news” planted by our intelligence services is almost impossible for the media to tell because it would expose a very uncomfortable reality: that they are not, as they claim, watchdogs on power, but rather the lapdogs of the powerful.

If all this still seems hard to believe, please watch this video of a senior German journalist admitting that he was recruited by the US intelligence services (h/t Antonio Nascimento). Udo Ulfkotte covered the Middle East for the Frankfurter Allgemeine for 12 years, and says he regularly acted as a conduit for CIA propaganda.

He adds that many of his colleagues were doing the same, willingly promoting CIA disinformation.

[ramus]

Jussie Smollett faces felony charge for alleged false report of racist, homophobic attack

By Peter Martinez


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jussie-...es-2019-02-20/

Updated on: February 21, 2019 / 3:13 AM / CBS News
Fast Facts

Felony charge of disorderly conduct/filing a false police report has been approved by the Cook County, Illinois, state's attorney's office

Chicago Police Department is working with Jussie Smollett's attorneys on a plan to turn himself in

Smollett is expected in bond court Thursday afternoon, CBS Chicago reports

Smollett's legal team released statement, vowing "an aggressive defense"

Smollett was classified "a suspect" by police earlier Wednesday

Gloria Schmidt, attorney for two brothers previously deemed suspects in the attack, addressed reporters and urged Smollett to say "what actually happened"

Exclusive video from CBS Chicago shows the brothers purchasing a red hat and ski masks from a store one day before the alleged assault

Jussie Smollett has been charged with falsely reporting that he was attacked in January. The Cook County, Illinois, state's attorney has filed a felony disorderly conduct charge against the actor, not long after the Chicago Police Department officially named Smollett "a suspect in a criminal investigation," according to a spokesperson.

Police said earlier that filing a false police report is a Class 4 felony. Smollett could face prison time of one to three years if convicted and be forced to pay for the cost of the police investigation.

Detectives were to contact his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest. The Associated Press said police do not have a time frame for how long Smollett would be given. "We are trying to be diplomatic and reasonable, and we're hoping he does the same," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told AP.

CBS Chicago reports Smollett is expected in bond court Thursday afternoon.

In a statement to CBS News late Wednesday, Smollett's legal team said they will "mount an aggressive defense."

"Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked," said attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson. "Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."

Wednesday's development comes after Smollett's attorneys met with prosecutors and detectives and after police said two brothers, who were earlier deemed suspects, had testified before a grand jury with the power to indict Smollett. In a press conference Wednesday night, the brother's attorney said they had testified for more than two hours.

"I think that Jussie's conscience is probably not letting him sleep right now," attorney Gloria Schmidt told reporters. "So I think he should unload that conscious and tell the American people what actually happened."

CBS News has learned detectives have been granted about a dozen search warrants to comb through Smollett's bank and cellphone records. CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds said Smollett has retained the help of high profile lawyer Mark Geragos, whose clients have included Colin Kaepernick, Chris Brown and Michael Jackson.

The 36-year-old actor, who is black and openly gay, plays Jamal Lyon on Fox's hit TV show, "Empire," a drama that chronicles a family-run record label. He told police he was attacked by two masked men when he was returning home from a Subway sandwich store Jan. 29 around 2 a.m.

Smollett claimed the two men had beat him, said homophobic and racial slurs and put a looped rope around his neck before fleeing. He said he heard, "this is MAGA country," an apparent reference to President Trump's campaign slogan.

A source close to the investigation told CBS News on Feb. 16 two Nigerian brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo, revealed to detectives Smollett paid them to participate in the attack. They said the rope that was found around Smollett's neck was purchased at a nearby hardware store. A raid of their home turned up ropes, masks and bleach.

Chicago police said that information had "shifted the trajectory of the investigation," and prompted another interview with Smollett. The actor's attorneys said he was "angered and devastated" by reports that he knew the alleged attackers, and that one of the men was Smollett's personal trainer. Ola Osundairo had played a prisoner in a season of "Empire."

On Feb. 19, in a statement to CBS Chicago, the brothers said: "We are not racist. We are not homophobic and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens."

Earlier Wednesday, Fox Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television released a statement to say Smollett "continues to be a consummate professional on set" and his character is not being written off the show.
Exclusive surveillance video obtained by CBS Chicago

CBS Chicago has obtained exclusive video of the Osundairo brothers buying a red hat and ski masks from a store the day before the Jan. 29 assault.

The station said footage shows Ola and Abel placing the masks and a hat on the counter. Smollett has claimed two men wearing a similar hat and masks in the attack. CBS Chicago has made multiple phone calls and visited several stores to obtain the video.
More on the investigation

The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspectors are studying a letter mailed to the studio where "Empire" is filmed and where Smollett works. The brothers allege Smollett crafted the letter and when it didn't garner much attention, planned the attack a week later.

On Tuesday, Chicago's top prosecutor, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, had recused herself from the Smollett investigation.

A one-sentence statement, via her spokeswoman, described the decision.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the decision to recuse herself was made to address potential questions of impartiality based upon familiarity with potential witnesses in the case," spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.

Smollett appeared Feb. 14 on ABC's "Good Morning America" for his only television interview about the incident. He teared up in the interview with Robin Roberts and pushed back on those who questioned his story. He had said "pride" made him reluctant to initially report the incident, and that he was hesitant to give his phone to police because of private information on it.

[conk]

MSM so often utilizes the free resources available. Pick any topic and there is someone on the payroll to ghost-write articles or produce videos about this subject matter. These are offered up to the media freely and are published for reading or viewing by the gullible public. Of course the content perpetuates their agenda. The public gobbles it up. "Well, if it was on TV it must be true".

My field of interest is health and nutrition. Almost everything we read or see from MSM regarding health is produced by an entity without our health or edification as their first priority. It's no wonder most are totally confused by the septic content. People will say that they never know what is true, that the guidance changes so frequently. No, dear friends, the truth is constant. Marketing and advertising is what changes.

[TargeT]

Posted by ramus (here)
Jussie Smollett faces felony charge for alleged false report of racist, homophobic attack

Oh man... this, well; it ended up exactly like I thought it would.... haha!


I mean... he wrote them A CHECK to pay them to beat him up.... Who does that?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AsRIcOcZgR4

[Valerie Villars]

Target, I am laughing so hard. What a dumb ass.

[Ba-ba-Ra]

THINK AGENDA

How does a relatively unknown actor (at least before this incident) get to have pictures with The Obamas, Kamala Harris, Valerine Jarrett, Maxine Waters - what is his relationship to them? Would they use him?



Check out the pictures posted here: (Sorry couldn't figure out how to transfer them) https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...=1#post1276129

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Ba-ba-Ra (here)

Whatever image that was intended to be ... totally did not display. The image URL was mangled during the posting process beyond even my ability to guess what was intended.

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Ba-ba-Ra (here)
THINK AGENDA
How does a relatively unknown actor (at least before this incident) get to have pictures with The Obamas, Kamala Harris, Valerine Jarrett, Maxine Waters - what is his relationship to them? Would they use him? (Sorry couldn't figure out how to transfer them)

Posted by Paul (here)
[Whatever image that was intended to be ... totally did not display. The image URL was mangled...

I'm guessing it's this one from this post.

[T Smith]

Posted by ramus (here)
... why does the msm keep falling for obvious hoaxes? Because they are Trump haters it's that simple....
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This can be a maddening question to tackle... until one fully -- and I mean fully grasps that the MSM isn't falling for anything. That would imply they are gullible or off target on their analysis, incompetent, or simply displaying a leftist prejudice, which is simply not what's going on. They are all journalists--or at least were trained as journalists--and absolutely know better. They know exactly what they are doing. Unveiling the truth has nothing whatsoever to do with the underlying agenda. So they're not falling for anything. They knew--just as the rest of us knew who were paying attention--this was a hoax from day one. Pretending it's news and masquerading it as a commentary on racial relations in our current sociopolitical culture advances the agenda.

The MSM push and generate narratives, some carefully selected to distort the truth, some spun from loose facts, some fabricated entirely, while blacking out and ignoring broader truth and reality. True journalism does just the opposite: it surveys reality objectively, without censoring, in an attempt to generate the closest possible rendition of truth.

It doesn't matter they were busted this time around peddling the Kool-Aid because the public truly has a hard time grasping this is was a deliberate hack job. We plebs have a hard time understanding the role the MSM assumes in our society. Those who do understand are simply dismissed as conspiracy theorists (at best) or racists, bigots, hate criminals, and white nationalists (regardless of ethnicity--go figure that one) at worst. Critical thought and reality no longer apply.

George Orwell correctly observed that speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act. I will take this a step further. Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit, amid a balkanization agenda to divide the masses against themselves, or to take down a populous POTUS, is not only a revolutionary act, but also a racist offense, a bigoted act, and a hate crime.

I told a couple of my admirably well-intended, conscientious, (and smart) friends a month ago exactly what was going on here and was summarily accused of being a racist and insensitive to the latent hatred we of white privilege harbor deep inside our hateful souls. Why else would I possibly question the narrative?

The thing is, the MSM isn't journalism at all, it's propaganda in the purest sense of the word. The sooner we understand this the more we'll come to answer the question of why they continually "fall" for narratives that do nothing but advance the interests of the Ministers of Truth.

[rgray222]

The truth is the mainstream media did not fall for this 'hoax' they intentionally help perpetuate it. The media were and still are co-conspirators. Even though this hate crime looked suspicious from day one the media did not hesitate to paint Trump supporters as a group of racist homophobes. One of the media objectives is to label people into groups and then attack whichever group they feel will move their agenda forward. In this particular case, it was Trump supporters.

I also believe that in an odd way Jussie Smollet was not a victim of a hate crime but he perpetrated a hate crime. A hoax is something a bunch of college kids do on the weekend and nobody gets hurt. The term hoax fits the mainstream media's agenda much better than crime or hate crime. Word manipulation is another tactic of the media. The media can use whatever word they feel fits their strategy best but there is no doubt that this 'crime' was born out of hate.

It is sad when a person that has money and moderate fame honestly believes that a victim label will somehow give him more advantages and a better life.

[ramus]

Jussie Smollett Update: Grand Jury Returns 16 Counts Against ‘Empire’ Actor
March 8, 2019 at 11:10 pm

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/03...ry-indictment/

Filed Under:Disorderly Conduct, Empire, Grand Jury, Hate Crime Attack, Jussie Smollett, Tara MolinaCHICAGO (CBS) — Jussie Smollett is now facing deeper legal troubles after a grand jury returned 16 felony counts against the actor for falsely reporting a hate crime attack against him in January.

The grand jury returned the disorderly conduct charges on Thursday. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 14. The specific allegations–“false report of offense”– are Class 4 felonies.

FULL COVERAGE: Read CBS Chicago Exclusive Coverage Of The Smollett Case

“Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed,” according to the indictment.

The indictment expands the case against the actor. The counts focus on allegedly false statements he made to two different Chicago Police officers. Each count covers various alleged acts that Smollett falsely described to the officers–including that he was hit by two men, that they yelled racial and homophobic slurs and poured a chemical on him.

CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said Smollett, if convicted could face probation to up to three years in prison.

“[The grand jury] decided he told multiple lies,” Miller said. “There were going to charge him for each.”

“If you have a crime, and that crime has multiple parts to it, you charge all those separate parts.”

Last month, Smollett was charged with one count of disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a racist and homophobic attack last month in Streeterville.

Smollett, who is black and openly gay, had told police he was attacked as he was walking home around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. He claimed two masked men – one of them also wearing a red hat – shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured a chemical on them.

Police said, in reality, Smollett had paid those two men, Ola and Abel Osundairo, $3,500 by check to stage the attack. CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar has reported Smollett also directed the brothers to buy the noose at a hardware store and the hat and masks at a store in Uptown. Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said police have the check.

Police said the two brothers wore gloves during the staged attack, and did punch Smollett, but the scratches and bruises on Smollett’s face most likely were self-inflicted.

Police at the time said the attack was a publicity stunt because the actor was upset about his pay on the show.

Smollett has denied all the allegations.

[onawah]

Chicago Police Slam Decision in Jussie Smollett Case
3/27/19
https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/chi...smollett-case/

"The twisted tale of Jussie Smollet took another turn yesterday when his case was fully dismissed by Illinois prosecutors.

It had been previously found that Michelle Obama's former top aide, Tina Tchen contacted Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to move the Jussie Smollett hoax attack investigation over to the FBI. With her texts discovered, Foxx recused herself. Chicago Police called for a Federal probe into these developments.

In other words, the CPD was looking for additional crimes in connection to the case when Foxx's deputy, Joe Magats yesterday dropped all 16 felony charges and sealed the case records.

Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emmanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson were caught completely by surprise and both are hopping mad. Emmanuel was Obama's first Chief of Staff. For him to be so angry about a case involving friends of the Obamas says a lot about how crazy this situation is.

Emmanuel and Johnson appeared on many news shows yesterday, stating that Chicago police did an exhaustive investigation and had found so much evidence for prosecutors to prove Smollett's guilt, that a grand jury only needed to see a small portion of it before filing charges.

The case gets stranger. Despite having dismissed the case, the Cook County Prosecutor's Office belief in Smollett's guilt remains unchanged. Eerily echoing the words of Robert Mueller, Magats said,
"This was not an exoneration. To say that he was exonerated by us or anyone is not true. We believe he did what he was charged with doing."

Smollett vigorously maintains his innocence, in a situation where a defendant would normally be required to admit to wrongdoing in order to be absolved (16+ felony charges and counting!)

There is clearly another layer to this story.

A federal probe into the sender of a threatening letter mailed to Smollett remains open that could result in charges against him. The use of the US Postal Service in connection with any kind of fraud is a federal crime."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7E45gPnqnCA

Running Time: 6 mins

Chicago police slam decision in Jussie Smollett case
CNN
Published on Mar 26, 2019
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and Mayor Rahm Emanuel criticized the decision to drop all charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, saying the city of Chicago is owed an apology and it is a "whitewash of justice."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=x57fm8huEac

Lawyer who dropped charges: Smollett isn't innocent
CNN
Published on Mar 27, 2019
"The prosecutor who dropped the charges against Jussie Smollett said he still believes the actor lied to the police about the racist and homophobic attack he allegedly staged in Chicago in January."