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I too am shocked that Wikileaks would publish tabloidish material with little public value. Next thing you know, I'll hear that Wikileaks posted private emails

I too am shocked that Wikileaks would publish tabloidish material with little public value. Next thing you know, I'll hear that Wikileaks posted private emails of a government official talking about pizza. Emails which spawned ridiculous conspiracies about satanic child abuse cults headquartered in the basement of a pizza shop that doesn't have a basement. That would never happen. Not at an august, hard-hitting journalistic outlet like Wikileaks. /s

rorykoehler 6y ago
Still waiting for a valid explanation of what pizza is code for because they certainly aren’t talking about pizza the food in those emails.
- oblongx 6y ago
  Don't forget the 65K in hot dogs.
- _curious_ 6y ago
  Has it been proven that those emails were real in the first place? I too was confused by the use of what appears to be coded language, but then thought to myself: wait, is what I am reading authentic?
  - bassrattle 6y ago
    Yes, the emails were real. It was proven and never denied.
    - ben_w 6y ago
      Would you even bother trying to confirm or deny emails about pizza? I'd consider it an even bigger waste of time than supplying the long form of a birth certificate after someone decided that the short form wasn’t good enough proof of nationality for someone who was by that point already the elected president.
  - dependenttypes 6y ago
    The DKIM signatures were valid.
- blockmarker 6y ago
  Drugs maybe?
- recursive 6y ago
  You may be waiting for a long time. That doesn't really provide any support for the satanic child sex cult thing either though.
  - rorykoehler 6y ago
    I don’t know what they’re talking about. Could literally be anything but they would only codify something they wanted to hide. It’s very weird but I’m not into speculating.
    - lowtolerance 6y ago
      You’re outwardly speculating that it’s coded speech simply because you lack context.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
  I somehow hope they were talking about light drugs. Given the amount of storm it caused, it's beyond me why there was no official examination, to say nothing about explanation.
  - newacct583 6y ago
    Official examination of what? I mean, yeah, you're probably right. More likely than not they were talking about weed. Or plausibly sex workers. Something embarassing. Certainly not child trafficking in a literal pizza shop. > Given the amount of storm it caused It really didn't. Except for the lunatic who walked into the restaurant with a gun, almost none of this stuff penetrated mainstream media. FOX watchers got their fill, but they weren't swayable votes, by definition. To the eyeballs the Clinton campaign cared about, Pizzagate was a non-issue. Lefties like me only like to talk about it because it was so crazy insane. This isn't what cost the election.
- IIAOPSW 6y ago
  Why are you certain they aren't talking about pizza?
- hnThrowaway-123 6y ago
  cp = cheese pizza. code for child porn
  - gentleman11 6y ago
    I don’t think people’s codes are typically that easy to crack
    - Forbo 6y ago
      Cheese pizza is a common euphemism for child pornography online, which I believe originated from 4chan? Not sure on that part, but it's definitely a common slang for it. Now whether that's how they were using it in the emails or not, I have no idea, as I didn't look into the emails. I stopped digging into conspiracy theories around the time the whole Assange "proof-of-life" fiasco was frothing about. I've got better things I can be doing with my time.
  - blaser-waffle 6y ago
    according to 4chan, years ago that a government official is using *chan lingo is a stretch, and lends credence to Bannon's point about trying to appeal to the 4chan demographic aka disaffected male youth, who would get the "cp" connection.
  - lowtolerance 6y ago
    What kind of fucking creep sees “cheese pizza” and immediately thinks of child porn? I’m fairly well convinced that the real conspiracy here is that the whole lot of you pizza-gaters are just projecting.
- jlmorton 6y ago
  Okay, I'll bite. I don't think John Podesta has officially commented on what the emails mean, but I think it's pretty safe to assume it is actually quite literal, and they were indeed talking about a handkerchief, a map, and pizza. https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/32795 https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/32795 > Subject: You left something at the Field house > Susan & Herb > I just came from checking the Field house and I have a square cloth handkerchief (white w/ black) that was left on the kitchen island. > Happy to send it via the mail if you let me know where I should send it. > I also meant to inquire yesterday about the pillows you purchased. I can send them as well, if you let me know where they are in the house. > Safe travels to all > Kate > Hi John, > The realtor found a handkerchief (I think it has a map that seems pizza-related. Is it yorus? They can send it if you want. > I know you're busy, so feel free not to respond if it's not yours or you don't want it. > Susaner I mean, they're talking about a handkerchief with a pattern of a map, with various food items on it, like pizza. I have never seen such a handkerchief, but this is almost certainly some sort of a novelty handkerchief with a map of Italy, featuring various types of cuisine common to the region. Which kind of makes sense, since it's a napkin. Why would you assume it is coded? The realtor emails and says, hey, you forgot your handkerchief. Podesta's friend, who was with him, emails him and says, hey, I think that's your handkerchief, the one with the map and pizza and stuff. And this is supposed to be unusual? This is just how people talk.
AndrewBissell 6y ago
It is so ridiculous to call the emails that WikiLeaks published "tabloid" just because a conspiracy theory sprung up around bizarre language which was used in a subset of them. Taken as a whole, they revealed absolutely rank corruption in the higher ranks of the DNC.
- lowtolerance 6y ago
  That’s amazing, where’s the evidence?? Oh right, it’s nowhere. Nowhere at all outside of the “bizarre language” that you retards invented to make a conspiracy out of fucking nothing.
  - dang 6y ago
    Please follow the site guidelines, regardless of how wrong other commenters are or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
SkyBelow 6y ago
Yeah, the conspiracy theory is just insane. Almost as insane as the conspiracy theory that one of the world's largest religious organizations was engaging in something similar, except at a scale spanning every continent except Antarctica and having done so for at least as long as living memory. For another conspiracy theory, what about the idea that if a conspiracy was uncovered, instead of denying it those with something to lose would double down on the most exaggerated parts of the conspiracy to down out the less insane and more likely parts. Get the public to focus on the pizza shop and not on the (since deceased) billionaire.
- aka1234 6y ago
  Pizzagate != Epstein Leaking Podesta's email spawned a conspiracy theory that high-ranking Democrats were a part of a satanic child abuse and traffic ring. It was specifically partisan. Meanwhile there are multiple layers to the Epstein case. Yes, Epstein was a nexus of child abuse. He was a terrible human being who got away with years of child abuse because of his money and powerful connections. Yes, he died under mysterious circumstances. And Epstein's close friends and confidants included both Democrats and Republicans. Conflating Pizzagate with Epstein is just moving the goalposts to exonerate Wikileak's publishing of private emails. Are some of the people involved in the email dump known associates of Epstein? Yes. But that's not what Pizzagate is, nor was Epstein associated with the email dump.
  - blaser-waffle 6y ago
    Don't forget how Epstein had a girlfriend. Girlfriend's dad was a Big Deal with the Mossad. Like, awarded medals by the Israeli government Big Deal. Like, we can't talk about him in the UK unless we make it an official Parliament discussion -- that is, by law, on the record and can't be sued as libel or slander -- kind of Big Deal.
  - SkyBelow 6y ago
    Imagine if there was something larger than just what that one billionaire was involved in. Kinda like how when stories about the Catholic Church broke there were just a few high level Bishops involved until much more work was done to pull back the curtains. Now imagine some of that gets leaked in a partisan fashion. Maybe on purpose. Maybe by chance. A cover up could be attempted, but that might bring in more investigation. Maybe it would be better to forcefully corrupt it instead. Go from MK Ultra conspiracy theory to moon landings were faked and the earth is flat conspiracy theory. All you have to do is purposefully 'leak' even crazier stuff while making it hyper partisan so that our existing political divide feeds into it. Not saying they are equal, but what if they are both views into a larger conspiracy, though one of those views was purposefully corrupted to try to make any similar conspiracy theory be viewed as utter nonsense. Make it so people think moon landings or flat earth instead of MK Ultra or Operation Northwoods.

rorykoehler 6y ago

Still waiting for a valid explanation of what pizza is code for because they certainly aren’t talking about pizza the food in those emails.

oblongx 6y ago
Don't forget the 65K in hot dogs.
_curious_ 6y ago
Has it been proven that those emails were real in the first place? I too was confused by the use of what appears to be coded language, but then thought to myself: wait, is what I am reading authentic?
- bassrattle 6y ago
  Yes, the emails were real. It was proven and never denied.
  - ben_w 6y ago
    Would you even bother trying to confirm or deny emails about pizza? I'd consider it an even bigger waste of time than supplying the long form of a birth certificate after someone decided that the short form wasn’t good enough proof of nationality for someone who was by that point already the elected president.
- dependenttypes 6y ago
  The DKIM signatures were valid.
blockmarker 6y ago
Drugs maybe?
recursive 6y ago
You may be waiting for a long time. That doesn't really provide any support for the satanic child sex cult thing either though.
- rorykoehler 6y ago
  I don’t know what they’re talking about. Could literally be anything but they would only codify something they wanted to hide. It’s very weird but I’m not into speculating.
  - lowtolerance 6y ago
    You’re outwardly speculating that it’s coded speech simply because you lack context.
dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
I somehow hope they were talking about light drugs. Given the amount of storm it caused, it's beyond me why there was no official examination, to say nothing about explanation.
- newacct583 6y ago
  Official examination of what? I mean, yeah, you're probably right. More likely than not they were talking about weed. Or plausibly sex workers. Something embarassing. Certainly not child trafficking in a literal pizza shop. > Given the amount of storm it caused It really didn't. Except for the lunatic who walked into the restaurant with a gun, almost none of this stuff penetrated mainstream media. FOX watchers got their fill, but they weren't swayable votes, by definition. To the eyeballs the Clinton campaign cared about, Pizzagate was a non-issue. Lefties like me only like to talk about it because it was so crazy insane. This isn't what cost the election.
IIAOPSW 6y ago
Why are you certain they aren't talking about pizza?
hnThrowaway-123 6y ago
cp = cheese pizza. code for child porn
- gentleman11 6y ago
  I don’t think people’s codes are typically that easy to crack
  - Forbo 6y ago
    Cheese pizza is a common euphemism for child pornography online, which I believe originated from 4chan? Not sure on that part, but it's definitely a common slang for it. Now whether that's how they were using it in the emails or not, I have no idea, as I didn't look into the emails. I stopped digging into conspiracy theories around the time the whole Assange "proof-of-life" fiasco was frothing about. I've got better things I can be doing with my time.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago
  according to 4chan, years ago that a government official is using *chan lingo is a stretch, and lends credence to Bannon's point about trying to appeal to the 4chan demographic aka disaffected male youth, who would get the "cp" connection.
- lowtolerance 6y ago
  What kind of fucking creep sees “cheese pizza” and immediately thinks of child porn? I’m fairly well convinced that the real conspiracy here is that the whole lot of you pizza-gaters are just projecting.
jlmorton 6y ago
Okay, I'll bite. I don't think John Podesta has officially commented on what the emails mean, but I think it's pretty safe to assume it is actually quite literal, and they were indeed talking about a handkerchief, a map, and pizza. https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/32795 https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/32795 > Subject: You left something at the Field house > Susan & Herb > I just came from checking the Field house and I have a square cloth handkerchief (white w/ black) that was left on the kitchen island. > Happy to send it via the mail if you let me know where I should send it. > I also meant to inquire yesterday about the pillows you purchased. I can send them as well, if you let me know where they are in the house. > Safe travels to all > Kate > Hi John, > The realtor found a handkerchief (I think it has a map that seems pizza-related. Is it yorus? They can send it if you want. > I know you're busy, so feel free not to respond if it's not yours or you don't want it. > Susaner I mean, they're talking about a handkerchief with a pattern of a map, with various food items on it, like pizza. I have never seen such a handkerchief, but this is almost certainly some sort of a novelty handkerchief with a map of Italy, featuring various types of cuisine common to the region. Which kind of makes sense, since it's a napkin. Why would you assume it is coded? The realtor emails and says, hey, you forgot your handkerchief. Podesta's friend, who was with him, emails him and says, hey, I think that's your handkerchief, the one with the map and pizza and stuff. And this is supposed to be unusual? This is just how people talk.

AndrewBissell 6y ago

It is so ridiculous to call the emails that WikiLeaks published "tabloid" just because a conspiracy theory sprung up around bizarre language which was used in a subset of them. Taken as a whole, they revealed absolutely rank corruption in the higher ranks of the DNC.

lowtolerance 6y ago
That’s amazing, where’s the evidence?? Oh right, it’s nowhere. Nowhere at all outside of the “bizarre language” that you retards invented to make a conspiracy out of fucking nothing.
- dang 6y ago
  Please follow the site guidelines, regardless of how wrong other commenters are or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

SkyBelow 6y ago

Yeah, the conspiracy theory is just insane. Almost as insane as the conspiracy theory that one of the world's largest religious organizations was engaging in something similar, except at a scale spanning every continent except Antarctica and having done so for at least as long as living memory. For another conspiracy theory, what about the idea that if a conspiracy was uncovered, instead of denying it those with something to lose would double down on the most exaggerated parts of the conspiracy to down out the less insane and more likely parts. Get the public to focus on the pizza shop and not on the (since deceased) billionaire.

aka1234 6y ago
Pizzagate != Epstein Leaking Podesta's email spawned a conspiracy theory that high-ranking Democrats were a part of a satanic child abuse and traffic ring. It was specifically partisan. Meanwhile there are multiple layers to the Epstein case. Yes, Epstein was a nexus of child abuse. He was a terrible human being who got away with years of child abuse because of his money and powerful connections. Yes, he died under mysterious circumstances. And Epstein's close friends and confidants included both Democrats and Republicans. Conflating Pizzagate with Epstein is just moving the goalposts to exonerate Wikileak's publishing of private emails. Are some of the people involved in the email dump known associates of Epstein? Yes. But that's not what Pizzagate is, nor was Epstein associated with the email dump.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago
  Don't forget how Epstein had a girlfriend. Girlfriend's dad was a Big Deal with the Mossad. Like, awarded medals by the Israeli government Big Deal. Like, we can't talk about him in the UK unless we make it an official Parliament discussion -- that is, by law, on the record and can't be sued as libel or slander -- kind of Big Deal.
- SkyBelow 6y ago
  Imagine if there was something larger than just what that one billionaire was involved in. Kinda like how when stories about the Catholic Church broke there were just a few high level Bishops involved until much more work was done to pull back the curtains. Now imagine some of that gets leaked in a partisan fashion. Maybe on purpose. Maybe by chance. A cover up could be attempted, but that might bring in more investigation. Maybe it would be better to forcefully corrupt it instead. Go from MK Ultra conspiracy theory to moon landings were faked and the earth is flat conspiracy theory. All you have to do is purposefully 'leak' even crazier stuff while making it hyper partisan so that our existing political divide feeds into it. Not saying they are equal, but what if they are both views into a larger conspiracy, though one of those views was purposefully corrupted to try to make any similar conspiracy theory be viewed as utter nonsense. Make it so people think moon landings or flat earth instead of MK Ultra or Operation Northwoods.