The purpose of this page is to provide deep documentation of:
Fake hate crimes that were allegedly perpetrated against certain minority groups in North America, namely Muslims, black people, Jews, members of the LGBT community, and others.
HuffPost’s complicity in either actively helping to propagate a number of these fake hate crimes, or passively reinforcing the false public perception that they are legitimate — and in doing so, advancing malicious groups’ efforts to tear America apart based on false claims of rampant intolerance, etc.
SaveTheWest has three basic beliefs regarding hate crimes (FBI definition here):
No one should be the victim of a hate crime
Even one hate crime is one too many
Any news organization that chooses to report on hate crimes should investigate and report on them according to the same standards and practices, regardless of who is accused of perpetrating them, and who is the victim/s
In addition, we believe that the recent proliferation of documented incidents in which reported hate crimes turned out to have never happened, or in which the alleged victim perpetrated them, only makes it harder for actual victims of hate crimes to come forward, and to be believed.
To facilitate a fact-based discussion about this issue, we have compiled this roster of fake hate crimes from 2012 through today, broken down into the following categories:
Supplement: Various fake anti-black hate incidents: Proven fake hate incidents against black Americans — not crimes, but which feed the false narrative of rampant racism in America
(1.1) January 2012, Marietta, GA: Mosque torched in arson attack, is blamed on Islamophobia; Later it is determined that a parishioner set the fire
(1.2) April 2014, Montclair, NJ: Muslim university student claimed he was physically assaulted by Islamophobes; Police quickly determine crime never took place, then charged him
(1.3) June 2014, El Cajon, CA: Muslim man claimed wife was beaten to death in their home by one or more Islamophobes; Later, he was convicted of murdering her, staging scene
(1.4) July 2014, Dearborn, MI: Burning Qur’ans were found in front of mosque; Later it was determined that a Muslim immigrant set the fire
(1.5) October 2014, New York, NY: Muslim men produce video alleging NY police officer harassed and assaulted them because of their faith; Later admit video was a hoax
(1.6) December 2014, Fresno, CA: Mosque is vandalized and robbed in suspected Islamophobic attack; Later, perpetrator was identified on video as parishioner
(1.7) February 2015, New York, NY: Muslim man claimed wife was shot to death in front of him and infant son by Islamophobe; His mistress later confessed to crime, both were convicted
(1.8) February 2015, Arlington, TX: Muslim female alleged she was threatened by Islamophobe with gun; Later admitted she made it up
(1.9) March 2016, New York, NY: Muslim female alleged an Islamophobe slashed her face on a Manhattan street; Later admitted she did it to herself
(1.10) August 2016, Oklahoma City, OK: Mosque received mysterious powder, and Muslim store vandalized, is blamed on Islamophobia; Later, Muslim man admitted to both crimes
(1.11) October 2016, Cary, NC: Muslim father claimed 7-year-old son endured extended physical assault on school bus, in front of witnesses; School, police investigations find zero evidence it ever took place
(1.12) November 2016, Lafayette, LA: Muslim female alleged she was physically assaulted by Islamophobes at the University of Louisiana; Later admitted she made it up
(1.13) November 2016, Ann Arbor, MI: Muslim female alleged she was physically assaulted by Islamophobe at the University of Michigan; Later admitted she made it up
(1.14) November 2016, San Diego, CA: A Muslim female student at San Diego State University reported she was assaulted by two Trump supporters, who also stole her car; Later her story unraveled, and she stopped cooperating with police
(1.15) November 2016, Charlotte, NC: A North Carolina teacher was accused of “relentless bullying and harassing” a five-year-old Muslim boy; Investigation revealed it never happened
(1.16) December 2016, New York, NY: Notorious Muslim hate-crime hoax perpetrator alleges discrimination by Delta Airlines; Passengers and airline dispute
(1.17) December 2016, New York, NY: Muslim female alleged she was physically assaulted by Islamophobes on New York subway; Later admitted she made it up
(1.18) December 2016, Houston, TX: Mosque torched in arson attack, is blamed on Islamophobia; Later it is determined that a devout Muslim parishioner set the fire
(1.19) January 2017, Sylvania Township, OH: Muslim family’s home was defaced with racist hate graffiti; Muslim man is later arrested and charged with perpetrating the crime
(1.20) March 2017, Charlotte, NC: Store run by an immigrant from Bhutan was vandalized with anti-Muslim, white supremacist graffiti and set on fire; Black man was arrested after being captured on video perpetrating the crime
(1.21) April 2017, Terre Haute, IN: Muslim professor reported being physically attacked and threatened via emails because of his faith; Police later determined that he fabricated all of his claims, and charged him with numerous crimes
(1.22) June 2017, Loudon County, VA: Muslim teenager was murdered; HuffPost and other media initially claim it was because of her faith; Soon after it was discovered that the perpetrator was Hispanic illegal alien, and that the crime was due to a road-rage incident, not a hate crime, or because victim was a person “of color”
(1.23) May 2017, Queens, NY: Muslim student claims white men kidnapped, assaulted and robbed him, while hurling anti-Muslim insults; Later confessed that he made the whole thing up
(1.24) June 2017, Des Moines, IA: A fire was set within an Islamic culture center, blamed on Islamophobia; Video evidence showed the perpetrator was a Muslim member of the congregation
(1.25) February 2016, Dearborn, MI: Local police were alerted to a plot to bomb a high school attended primarily by Muslim students, days after the ISIS attack in Paris, France; Police determined the threat was a hoax, and a local Muslim woman admitted to making it all up
(1.26) January 2018, Toronto, Canada: An 11-year-old Muslim girl claimed she was attacked by a man who cut her hijab, as she walked to school; Police soon after determined that this attack “did not happen”
(1.1) January 2012, Marietta, GA: Mosque torched in arson attack, is blamed on Islamophobia; Later it is determined that a parishioner set the fire
Summary: Only July 5, 2010, someone broke into the Islamic Center of Marietta, and burned it so severely that it had to be condemned. NumerousMuslim organizations publicly insinuated this was an anti-Muslim hate crime.
Tamsir Mendy
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Three days later, on July 8, Marietta police and fire authorities arrested a congregant of the mosque, Tamsir Mendy, and charged him with the arson. Mendy later pleaded guilty to the charges.
A 26-year-old man has pleaded guilty to burning down a mosque in Powder Springs, but congregation members are still struggling to rebuild. […]
Many were concerned it was a hate crime, but the arsonist turned out to be a member, Tamsir Mendy.
Mendy had only worshipped at the mosque for a few weeks before the fire, and the lack of a trial leaves the congregation with a lot of unanswered questions.
As of January 1, 2017 — more than four years after Mendy pleaded guilty — HuffPost has published nothing about him, or the fact that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime:
(1.2) April 2014, Montclair, NJ: Muslim university student claimed he was physically assaulted by Islamophobes; Police quickly determine crime never took place, then charged him
Summary: On April 24, 2014 a male student at Montclair State University (MSU) in Montclair, NJ reported to university police that he had been attacked by three white males, who allegedly called him an “Islamic terrorist.”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: By the next day, however, MSU police determined that this attack never took place, and charged the complainant, Navjoat Aulakh, with filing a false police report and creating a false public alarm:
Montclair State University officials have announced a student is facing charges for fabricating a story about being assaulted outside a residence hall by assailants who used racial slurs.
Navjoat Aulakh, 18, of Carteret was charged with filing a false report and also will face a count of creating a false public alarm, school officials said.
(1.3) June 2014, El Cajon, CA: Muslim man claimed wife was beaten to death in their home by one or more Islamophobes; Later, he was convicted of murdering her, staging scene
Summary: On March 21, 2012, Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old female Muslim immigrant from Iraq was beaten to death in her California home. Beside her body was a note that read, “This is my country, go back to yours, you terrorist.” Alawadi’s family, bloggers, and HuffPost go-to Muslim analystReza Aslan, blamed the crime on Islamophobia:
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Soon after beginning the investigation, local police determined that Alawadi’s husband, Kassim Alhimidi was lying to them about certain critical issues, then arrested him for murdering her. It was later determined that this was an honor killing, in which Alhimidi had murdered Alawadi because she was threatening to divorce him and move to another state. He was later found guilty, and sentenced to 26 years in prison:
Shaima Alawadi, beaten to death in her home by her husband – who claimed it was an Islamphobia hate crime.
A California judge sentenced an Iraqi immigrant Monday to 26 years-to-life in prison for his wife’s fatal beating — an attack that initially drew international condemnation when authorities believed it was a hate crime.
Kassim Alhimidi, 50, entered the courtroom bound and surrounded by deputies because of his previous outbursts that repeatedly disrupted his emotional trial in San Diego County Superior Court. […]
Alhimidi’s daughter, Fatima, did not attend the sentencing but sent a statement that was read in court in which she told her father: “What I saw scarred me for life.”
She added: “It disgusts me that you made this look like a hate crime.”
HuffPost published numeroussympatheticstories about Alawadi’s murder, blaming it on Islamophobia. However, after her husband was charged and then convicted of murdering her, thus revealing this as a false anti-Muslim hate crime, HuffPost’s own search engine proves it then went silent — and published no headline stories about the reality.
Below is a screencap of a search of at HuffPost for “Shaima Alawadi” reveals that the most recent story it published about her was on June 26, 2012 — two years before Alawadi’s husband was convicted of her murder:
As a reminder, HuffPost’s founder and editor in chief had this to say, four years earlier, about what makes her “news” site different from, and better than others:
“[T]oo many reporters have forgotten that the highest calling of journalists is to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned.”
(1.4) July 2014, Dearborn, MI: Burning Qur’ans were found in front of mosque; Later it was determined that a Muslim immigrant set the fire
Summary: After several Qur’ans were discovered burning in front of a prominent mosque in Dearborn, MI, its leaders and CAIR initially blamed it on Islamophobia.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: It was later discovered that the man who set them on fire is a devout Muslim, Ali HassanAl-Asaidi, an immigrant from Iraq, who was arrested while staging another hoax. He ended up admitting to the rash of anti-Muslim hate crimes.
(1.5) October 2014, New York, NY: Muslim men produce video alleging NY police officer harassed and assaulted them because of their faith; Later admit video was a hoax
Summary: Two Muslim men, Adam Saleh and Sheikh Akbar,alleged they captured video evidence of the NYPD’s bias against, and physical harassment of Muslims.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: After the NYPD investigated the matter, and determined that the “police officer” in the video was not one of theirs, Saleh and Akbar admitted that it was a phony video.
HuffPost originally gave front-page treatment to the “story” as if it were true. But then, HuffPost never published a follow-up headline on its front page, to indicate that this was a hoax.
Instead, on October 21 it dishonestly replaced the original headline it put on this page (“NYPD frisks Muslim clothes”; see URL) with a completely new headline: “Muslim Vloggers Come Clean About Staged Stop-And-Frisk Video (UPDATE)”
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, and may have clicked through read the original, false story, they would have no reason to know: (a) that it was another fake Islamophobia “hate crime,” or (b) that HuffPost had acted so irresponsibly in not validating even the barest of facts, before publishing something so incendiary, and causing it to go viral.
Further, if anyone now does an Internet search with the string, “Huffington Post NYPD harassment clothes Muslims,” it appears as if the original story was never published — and that the only story HuffPost published concerning this incident revealed that it was an apparent hoax:
(1.6) December 2014, Fresno, CA: Mosque is vandalized and robbed in suspected Islamophobic attack; Later, perpetrator was identified on video as parishioner
Summary: On Christmas morning, 2014, Fresno police and the FBI began investigating a report that the Islamic Cultural Center in Northeast Fresno had been vandalized and that certain items had been stolen. According to the ABC-TV affiliate in the area:
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says it is clear the incident is a hate crime which is why the FBI is also investigating this case… Seven doors and windows around the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno are broken. Dyer says river rocks were tossed through them at 10 a.m. Christmas morning. Surveillance video shows the suspect pulling up in what appears to be a Toyota Prius and shattering the windows. Then he went inside.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Two days later however, on December 27, it was discovered that the perpetrator was a local Muslim, Asif Mohammad Khan, who had attended the mosque:
Asif Mohammed Khan, 28, was arrested on several counts of felony vandalism and burglary. Khan is now identified as the man in a video, destroying a place of worship. […] “He said that he was upset with a few people at the Islamic Culture Center,” said Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.
In September 2015, after standing trial for six felonies, Khan was found guilty, and sentenced to behavioral counseling, for his reported mental illness.
(1.7) February 2015, New York, NY: Muslim man claimed wife was shot to death in front of him and infant son by Islamophobe; His mistress later confessed to crime, both were convicted
Summary: In August 2011, a Muslim man, Kashif Parvaiz, claimed to police that while walking with his wife, Nazish Noorani and their young son, they were attacked by a group of men who accused them of being “terrorists,” and who shot and killed Nazish.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: The police quickly determined that this was not a crime driven by Islamophobia, but instead was perpetrated by the victim’s Parvaiz and his girlfriend, Antionette Stephen. A jury took only four hours in 2012 to convict both of them.
According to the Daily Mail (UK):
Nazish Noorani, murdered by her husband and his girlfriend, a crime that was originally blamed on Islamophobia.
According to Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi, Parvaiz’s accounts of the attack were inconsistent and immediately raised suspicions.
Parvaiz told investigators the couple was attacked by a different combination of black and white males who shouted ethnic slurs, authorities said. In his initial story, the group shouted something about the family being ‘terrorists,’ authorities said.
Bianchi said investigators were deeply concerned when Parvaiz suggested it was a bias crime, but within hours ‘it was obvious to investigators that this was sadly the alleged handy work of the victim’s husband who allegedly did the unthinkable and plotted to murder his wife.’
Nazish Noorani lived in fear of her abusive husband as their marriage crumbled and chillingly foretold of her fate to her brother.
In 2012, Parvaiz and Stephen were found guilty of committing Nazish’s murder and other related charges. He was sentenced to 73 years; she to 30 years.
(1.8) February 2015, Arlington, TX: Muslim female alleged she was threatened by Islamophobe with gun; Later admitted she made it up
Summary: On February 11, 2015, a female Muslim student at the University of Texas – Arlington, identified by the Daily Caller as Ambreen Sharif, posted a complaint on Facebook, and filed a police report alleging that she had been threatened by a white man with a gun, because of her faith. Her Facebook post read, in part:
“Im [sic] not going to generalize and say all Americans are like the ones that followed me today but I have to say that others like him will use the Chapel Hill incident of today and continue to do such hate crimes. […] All we can do is protect ourselves and continue to pray to Allah that this country and its people learn to accept Muslims.”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Later the same day, the student admitted to police that she’d made the whole story up:
A UT-Arlington student who claimed she was threatened at gunpoint on campus this week admitted Friday that she’d lied, a university spokeswoman said. The student told police she hadn’t even been at the school the day she said the incident occurred.
UT-Arlington had been investigating the complaint with Arlington, Denton and University of North Texas police, school spokeswoman Kristin Sullivan said.
The Muslim student told police she was followed by the man for six miles before reaching campus. The man who followed her was driving a white Ford pickup with a Texas flag on the antenna.
(1.9) March 2016, New York, NY: A Muslim female alleged an Islamophobe slashed her face on a Manhattan street; She later admitted she did it to herself
Summary: On March 31, 2016, a Muslim woman claimed that while walking down a New York City street in her hijab, a white man called her a “terrorist,” then slashed her face with a knife.
A Muslim woman walking down a Manhattan street during Thursday’s rush hour was slashed in the face by a man who called her a “terrorist,” police said. The 20-year-old woman, a student at the private postsecondary school Make-up Designory, was taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
The attack left a two-inch laceration on the left side of her face, police told CBS New York. The woman was walking near 65 Broadway, in Manhattan’s Financial District, just before 5 p.m., when a man grabbed her arm, slashed her across her cheek and ran away, police said.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime
Within hours, after police confronted her with surveillance video of the scene of her alleged attack, the woman admitted that she made the story up, and had slashed her own face:
Police said Friday morning that a woman who claimed a stranger slashed her in the face made the whole story up. The 20-year-old woman had previously said that she was walking on a lower Manhattan sidewalk Thursday when she was slashed in the face by stranger who called her a “terrorist.”
But by the end of the day, she told police that she slashed her own cheek, leaving a two-inch gash on the left side of her face. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation Thursday night.
Thanks in part to HuffPost’s rushing this story to near the top of its front page, it was covered by news organizations throughout the world, including theExpress-Tribune(Pakistan), Arab-American News, ABC News, The Nation, and many others.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual anti-Muslim hate crime
HuffPost never published a follow-up headline on its front page, to indicate that this was a fake hate crime. Instead, on April 1, 2016 (the next day), it replaced the original headline it put on the story page, with a completely new headline: “Muslim Woman Lied About Being Slashed In Face And Called ‘Terrorist’ (UPDATE); Police say the woman cut a 2-inch gash in her own face as part of the lie,” at the same URL.
So, instead of posting anything on its front page to alert its readers that they had been hoaxed, what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide to put on its front page in the three days after it knew this was a fake hate crime, from April 1-3? Here’s a sampling:
This “news” story appeared near the top of HuffPost’s front page on April 3, 2016.
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, and may have clicked through read the original, false story, they would have no reason to know that it was another fake Islamophobia “hate crime.” And to anyone who clicks on the link to the original story, it falsely appears that that version was never published — and that the only story HuffPost published concerning this incident revealed that it was an apparent hoax.
(1.10) August 2016, Oklahoma City, OK: Mosque received mysterious powder, and Muslim store vandalized, is blamed on Islamophobia; Later, Muslim man admitted to both crimes
Summary: In June 2016, the imam of the mosque at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City received a letter containing a white powder, and a written threat. Then, in August, a Muslim food store was vandalized with anti-Muslim graffiti. Both incidents were investigated by local police and the FBI, and Muslim groups expressed concern that these were hate crimes were driven by Islamophobia.
Proof that these were fake hate crimes: Soon after the second incident, on August 18, 2016 a Muslim man who attended the mosque, Justin William Bouma, admitted to perpetrating both crimes, and was charged with multiple felonies:
An Oklahoma City man was charged Wednesday with a felony after he allegedly sent a threatening letter to a mosque containing a white powder meant to be mistaken for anthrax. […]
Bouma admitted to police on Aug. 18 he sent the “anthrax” letter to the mosque, police reported in a court affidavit. […] Bouma admitted he painted the store but said the imam told him to, the affidavit states.
The graffiti referenced the Council on American- Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR. One statement said “CAIR not welcome.” Other remarks were crude and the terrorist group ISIS was mentioned.
Bouma reportedly attended the mosque in the past. Bouma became a suspect after authorities discovered threatening emails he had sent to mosque members, police reported.
(1.11) October 2016, Cary, NC: Muslim father claimed 7-year-old son endured extended physical assault on school bus, in front of witnesses; School, police investigations find zero evidence it ever took place
Summary: On October 12, 2016, HuffPost broke an in-depth, original story on its front page, in which it alleged that a 7-year-old Muslim boy, Abdul Aziz Usmani, was beaten by his fellow classmates on a school bus to the point where he had a broken arm, and no one did anything to help him:
“I’m done with the U.S.,” Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani’s wife told him on Friday. Seeing her youngest son, just 7 years old, walk off the school bus bruised and battered that afternoon outside their apartment building in Cary, North Carolina, was the final straw.
Little Abdul Aziz, a first-grader and the youngest child of Usmani and Binish Bhagwanee, was traumatized. He told his parents a classmate had tried to force him to eat food that wasn’t halal. When Abdul Aziz refused, five of his classmates ganged up on him, making fun of his name. They punched him in the face, kicked him in the stomach, and twisted his arm while calling him “Muslim” again and again, Usmani said.
“He wants to be president of the United States of America,” Usmani told The Huffington Post on Tuesday, speaking over Skype from Pakistan. Bhagwanee landed in Islamabad on Monday with their three sons. Usmani has an apartment there, and it’s where they all plan to live now, because America doesn’t feel safe.
This screencap shows that HuffPost positioned the story near the top of its front page — and that to the casual viewer, it left no doubt that the attack on this boy actually happened.
HuffPost’s story essentially hinged on a Facebook post by Abdul’s father, Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani, in which he described the incident, showed a picture of Abdul with his arm in a cast, and blamed it on American Islamophobia, and Donald Trump:
Welcome to the United States of America of Donald Trump. Meet my son Abdul Aziz. He is in grade 1, bullied and beaten by his own classmates in school bus for being a Muslim
“They keep beating him all the way from school to home on the bus,” Usmani also told BuzzFeed, adding that his son was traumatized by the attack and has a sprained arm.
HuffPost took whatever the boy’s father said as the gospel truth, infused it with a barrage of its other “research” into rampant Islamophobia in America, and heavily promoted its story on social media, to the point where it went viral throughout both the Western and Muslim worlds. HuffPost also never bothered to ask whether a police report had been filed (none was filed), and whether there was a a single item of supporting evidence to support the father’s incendiary allegations (there wasn’t).
Due to the elaborate nature of HuffPost’s “exclusive” on this story, and its lack of even the most basic journalistic vetting — especially given the rash of fake hate crimes in recent months — the story went around the world, from numerousMuslim sites in the U.S. and Pakistan, to the notoriousBuzzFeed (created by HuffPost co-founder Jonah Peretti), and even to an anti-Muslim site in Tanzania.
There was just one tiny problem with HuffPost’s elaborate story: none of it was true.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime
On October 14, two days of HuffPost published this story, the school district and the local police department released the findings of their investigation: there was no evidence whatsoever to support the allegations, or that this incident ever took place.
The Wake County school system and the Cary Police Department say they haven’t found evidence that a 7-year-old Muslim student was assaulted by classmates on a school bus last week. […]
School and law enforcement officials say they’ve taken the allegations seriously and don’t tolerate bullying. But they say their investigations don’t confirm an assault even occurred. […]
The Cary Police Department has been investigating the allegations as well.
“At this time, nothing has been found, and no police report has been filed,” Cary Town Manager Sean R. Stegall said in a written statement. […]
“No students who were interviewed witnessed an altercation,” Chadwick said in the letter to Weatherstone families. “The bus driver did not witness an altercation. The child did not report to the bus driver any injury.”
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual anti-Muslim hate crime
In response, HuffPost never published a follow-up headline on its front page, to indicate that this was apparently all a hoax. Instead, on October 16 it dishonestly replaced the original headline it put on the story page, with a completely new headline: “N.C. Authorities: No Evidence To Support Father’s Claim Muslim Boy Was Assaulted On Bus (UPDATE).” Further, it inserted a sub-head, that sarcastically gives undeserved credibility to the father: “Oh and by the way, his dad fights terrorism for a living”:
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, and may have clicked through read the original, false story, they would have no reason to know: (a) that it was another fake Islamophobia “hate crime,” or (b) that HuffPost had acted so irresponsibly in not validating even the barest of facts, before publishing something so incendiary, and causing it to go viral throughout the world.
Further, if anyone now does an Internet search with the string, “Huffington Post Abdul Aziz Islamophobia,” it initially appears as if the original story was never published — and that the only story HuffPost published concerning this incident revealed that it was an apparent hoax.
So what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide to put on its front page in the three days after it knew this was a fake hate crime — from October 15-17 — instead of anything to alert its readers that they had been hoaxed? Here’s a sampling:
(1.12) November 2016, Lafayette, LA: Muslim female alleged she was physically assaulted by Islamophobes at the University of Louisiana; Later admitted she made it up
Summary: On November 9, a Muslim female student at Louisiana University-Lafayette alleged she had been beaten and robbed, because of her faith, by several male Trump supporters. HuffPost hurriedly wrote an original story about it, and rushed to position it near the top of its front page:
And HuffPost assigned a reporter to cover the story as if it had, in fact, occurred. [Note: This stands in sharp contrast to how HuffPost routinely inserts parenthesis around allegations that Israel makes against documented incidents of terrorism. One recent example was how HuffPost put “terrorists” in quotes on November 25, 2016, after Palestinians set nearly 1,000 fires across the Jewish state simultaneously, and Netanyahu identified them for who and what they were.]
Police are investigating reports that a student wearing a hijab at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette was hit with a metal object and robbed while walking to class on Wednesday morning. One of her attackers was wearing a white hat that read “TRUMP,” a University of Louisiana Police Department notice sent to students and obtained by The Huffington Post states.
The student told police that she was on her way to class when a dark sedan approached her and two white men wearing sweatpants left the car, according to the notice. She said the suspects struck her with “something metal,” causing her to fall to the ground. They hit her again while she was on the ground and “made obscene comments” at her, the alert states.
Thanks to HuffPost’s global influence and eagerness to position this story so prominently (despite its knowledge of the rash of previous fake hate crimes against Muslim Americans), it triggered worldwide awareness of this alleged hate crime. A Google search reveals tens of thousands of references to it.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime
Within 24 hours, the student admitted that she’d made the entire story up, and the next day, was criminally charged for filing a false police report.
A woman will be charged with filing a false report after she admitted to making up a story about two men robbing her near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus. Karl Ratcliff, spokesman for the Lafayette Police Department, confirmed the charge Friday. The woman was previously identified as an 18-year-old UL student. […]
On Thursday afternoon, Lafayette police said the woman admitted that she fabricated the story and that the case was no longer under investigation.
HuffPost never put up another headline to indicate this was a fake hate crime
Responsible news organizations that fell for this hoax posted new stories, with new headlines, that indicated the reality behind this student’s crime (example: RealClearPolitics).
HuffPost, did, however, change the headline on the original story page (note same URL) to indicate the reality:
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual anti-Muslim hate crime
As in the Ann Arbor case in 1.13, readers who clicked on HuffPost’s front-page link to this story would have no reason to go back to the story page. And if one only gets their news from HuffPost, they would never discover that this was another fake anti-Muslim hate crime. HuffPost decided to just let that false impression stand, to help continue perpetuating the lie of rampant Islamophobia in America — a lie that, in this case, thanks to its efforts, reached all the way to India.
So what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide to put on its front page in the three days after it knew this was a fake hate crime — from November 12-14 — instead of anything to alert its readers that they had been hoaxed? Here’s a sampling:
(1.13) November 2016, Ann Arbor, MI: Muslim female alleged she was physically assaulted by Islamophobe at the University of Michigan; Later admitted she made it up
Summary: On November 11, 2016, a female Muslim student at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor reported to police that a man ordered her to take off her hijab, or he would set it on fire. Numerous groups, including CAIR, alleged this was the latest in a chronic string of Islamophobic-driven hate crimes.
HuffPost’s role in publicizing this alleged hate crime: On November 16, HuffPost published on its front page a major, original news story, describing how the university had been mobilized to stand up for this student. As shown below, by January 17, 2017 the story had been shared 69,000 times, meaning, it gained global traction:
In outright defiance of the rising levels anti-Muslim hate in America, University of Michigan students joined forces on Monday to protect their own.
After hearing that a Muslim student had reportedly been threatened for her faith, hundreds of students and faculty showed up to stand guard around classmates who had gathered in a main square to perform one of Islam’s five daily prayers.
By November 17, this was one of HuffPost’s most-shared stories:
HuffPost also covered this woman’s allegation, and the outpouring of support for her, in twoother stories, which it also gave top publicity.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime
On December 21, 2017, local police announced that “investigators discovered she [the student] fabricated the entire story,” and that she could face felony-level criminal charges:
A University of Michigan student who told police in November that a man threatened to set her hijab on fire could face charges after investigators discovered she fabricated the entire story, police announced Wednesday. […]
“Investigators conducted witness interviews and reviewed multiple surveillance videos of the area in question,” the department said. “During the course of the investigation, numerous inconsistencies in the statements provided by the alleged victim were identified. Following a thorough investigation, detectives have determined the incident in question did not occur.”
HuffPost’s refusal to correct the false perceptions that readers of its three stories about this fake hate crime had acquired, thus willfully perpetuating the notion that it was legitimate
HuffPost never updated its main story page about this matter. This screencap was taken on January 17, 2017 — nearly a month after Ann Arbor police and the FBI determined this was a fake hate crime:
In regards to the other twostories in which HuffPost referenced this alleged hate crime, it later simply removed the references to it in them, as if it never occurred.
Most critically, HuffPost’s own search engine proves that as of January 17, 2017, it never posted a new story to reveal that this hate crime was a hoax. A search using the string “Ann Arbor Muslim hate crime” shows that it has never published another story about this matter, that revealed it as a hoax.
And as of January 12, 2017, HuffPost’s “Islamophobia” website, which it claims provides in-depth reporting on Islamophobic incidents, still listed this fake hate crime as being legitimate:
So instead of posting anything on its front page to alert its readers that they had been hoaxed, what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide to put on its front page in the three days after it knew this was a fake hate crime, from December 22-24? Here is a sampling:
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, and may have clicked through read the original, false story, they would have no reason to know that it was another fake Islamophobia “hate crime.”
Conclusion: Thanks to HuffPost’s acts and omissions, if a person only gets their news there, they would have no reason to know that its original claim that this was an actual anti-Muslim hate crime was false, or that it had been determined by law enforcement agencies to be a hoax.
(1.14) November 2016, San Diego, CA: A Muslim female student at San Diego State University reported she was assaulted by two Trump supporters, who also stole her car; Later her story unraveled, and she stopped cooperating with police
On November 9, 2016, a Muslim student at SDSU reported to police that she’d been robbed by two male Trump supporters, who made hate comments to her based on her faith, then robbed her and stole her car. HuffPost covered her allegation in a story that it published near the top of its front page:
A woman at San Diego State University alleges that two men robbed her after they made comments about Trump and Muslims.
Proof that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime
Police and school officials conducted an intensive investigation to find and prosecute the suspects. Soon, however, the alleged victim’s story began to unravel, and she ultimately decided to stop cooperating altogether with the police.
In the initial report, police said the men took the woman’s car keys and ran off. The student’s vehicle was missing from the parking garage. The student’s report of a stolen vehicle was unfounded since the student forgot where she had parked, SDSU Police Lt. Greg Noll said.
“The remaining portion of the investigation included looking at all surveillance video, re-contacting the victim on several occasions and attempting to verify statements related to the entire case,” Noll said. Although the woman has indicated she was attacked, police have suspended the case because the victim no longer wants to cooperate, Noll said.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual anti-Muslim hate crime
HuffPost never published a follow-up headline on its front page, to indicate that this was a fake hate crime.
So, instead of posting anything on its front page to alert its readers that they had been hoaxed, what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide to put on its front page in the three days after it knew this was a fake hate crime, from January 11-13? Here’s a sampling:
(1.15) November 2016, Charlotte, NC: A North Carolina teacher was accused of “relentless bullying and harassing” a five-year-old Muslim boy; Investigation revealed it never happened
On its Islamophobia website, HuffPost published the following, incendiary allegation of Islamophobic discrimination and physical assault:
WHERE: David Cox Road Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina
WHEN: Nov. 16, 2016
In a letter from the Council of American-Islamic Relations to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board, staff attorney Maya Sayed wrote that a 5-year-old student had been subject to “relentless bullying and harassment.” According to the letter, a teacher would “routinely single out [the student] from his classmates and require him to carry a heavy backpack throughout the day. The backpack contained a large textbook and headphones, which caused [the student] to develop significant back pain.” Sayed also wrote that the teacher would treat the student “harshly and reportedly called him ‘bad Muslim boy’ on multiple occasions.” Then, on Nov. 16, the teacher allegedly “grabbed” the student “by the neck and began choking him,” leaving the 5-year-old “crying and extremely shaken.” A spokeswoman for the school district said an investigation into the allegations is underway.
Proof that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime
School officials and local police conducted an intensive investigation into these allegations. On January 13, 2017, the school district announced the result of its and the local district attorney’s investigation: that these incidents never took place:
A local elementary school teacher has been cleared of wrongdoing following allegations of religious-based mistreatment of a student.
Celeste Spears-Ellis, the principal of David Cox Road Elementary School, said in a letter home to parents Friday that the teacher, identified only as Ms. Simpson, will be returning to the classroom after a thorough investigation found the claims to be unfounded. […]
The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the findings of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Investigation and concluded that “there is no evidence of an assault other than the complainant’s report.”
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual anti-Muslim hate crime
HuffPost’s own search engine proves that it never published a story to reveal that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime. A January 23, 2017 search using the string “David Cox Road Elementary School” reveals zero relevant results.
Further, as of January 23, 2017 — ten days after the results of the investigation were announced — HuffPost has still not updated the item on its Islamophobia site:
If one only gets their news from HuffPost, they would never discover that this was another fake anti-Muslim hate crime. HuffPost decided to just let that false impression stand, to help continue perpetuating the lie of rampant Islamophobia in America.
So instead of posting anything on its front page to alert its readers that they had been hoaxed, what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide to put on its front page in the three days after it knew this was a fake hate crime, from, January 14-16? Here’s a sampling:
This “news” story appeared near the top of HuffPost’s front page on January 14, 2017.
(1.16) December 2016, New York, NY: Notorious Muslim hate-crime hoax perpetrator alleges discrimination by Delta Airlines; Passengers and airline dispute
Summary: On December 19, 2016, Adam Saleh, an American Muslim, called for a boycott of Delta Airlines, after alleging that it removed him from a flight because of his faith.
In regards to Saleh’s latest incendiary allegation, this time against Delta Airlines, HuffPost simply took his word as the gospel truth, and wrote an original story about it, published on December 21:
A YouTuber is claiming he was kicked off a Delta Airlines flight for speaking Arabic on the phone with his mother. Adam Saleh shared a video of the alleged incident on the flight from London to New York on Twitter Wednesday.
[Tweet] We got kicked out of a @Delta airplane because I spoke Arabic to my mom on the phone and with my friend slim… WTFFFFFFFF please spread pic.twitter.com/P5dQCE0qos
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
Proof that it was a fake hate crime: On December 21, Delta issued a flat denial that Saleh was removed from the flight because of his faith, or the language he spoke. Rather, it said, he was removed because of his disruptive behavior, about which twenty passengers had complained.
On December 21, numerous sources began debunking Saleh’s story:
Passengers who were on the plane began speaking out publicly in defense of the airline, directly contradicting Saleh’s allegations.
Then, on December 23, the BBC revealed another one of Saleh’s airline hoaxes, that he perpetrated only weeks before, in Australia; specifically, that Saleh:
“claimed to have hidden in a suitcase and travelled from Melbourne to Sydney in the hold. It was later exposed as a hoax.”
Yet as this December 30, 2016 screencap shows, HuffPost never updated its original, December 21 story (full-page screencap here):
Thus, if a person only gets their news from HuffPost, they would have no reason to know that Delta issued a denial, or what the passengers had to say, or about any of Saleh’s previous deceptions, anti-Semitism or 9/11 conspiracy theories.
(1.17) December 2016, New York, NY: Muslim female alleged she was physically assaulted by Islamophobes on New York subway; Later admitted she made it up
Summary: An 18-year-old Muslim female in New York, Yasmin Seweid, posted on Facebook and told CBS News that on December 1, while riding on a train, she was verbally assaulted by three Trump supporter because of her faith, and that they threatened her — but no one on the train helped her:
HuffPost published Seweid’s smiling face and allegations on its front page on December 5, as part of a story about an actual anti-Muslim hate crime, and both soon went viral throughout the world. [UPDATE, January 2, 2017: HuffPost has now omitted all content relating to Yasmin Seweid in this article.]
Proof that it was a fake hate crime: After an exhaustive investigation by the NYPD, however, Seweid confessed to fabricating the whole story:
Yasmin Seweid, 18, is charged with obstructing governmental administration and filing a false report, according to a high-ranking police source. Both charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail. […]
Hate-crimes investigators called the Baruch College business major in on Wednesday to work on another sketch of her “attackers,” and confronted her with the inconsistencies, another source said.
That’s when she cracked, admitting she had been out late drinking with friends and made up the attack story to distract her angry father, sources said.
Seweid had been having problems with her strict Muslim Egyptian family in North New Hyde Park because she is becoming “Westernized,” one source said. Those problems were aggravated when they learned she was dating a Catholic, the source said.
The next day, the NY Daily News published more details:
As of January 2, 2017, however — more than two weeks after her December 14 confession, and arrest — HuffPost has still not put up a new headline, or new story about Seweid, that reveals it was a hoax (or that it was the latest in a long string of fake anti-Muslim hate crimes). The only entry in its search engine about her is one that announces the fact that she was found on December 10, after having gone missing for a few days:
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, they would have no reason to know that this was another fake anti-Muslim hate crime. This page documents numerous incidents in which HuffPost perpetrated this deception.
The Muslim college student who lied to cops about getting attacked on the subway by drunken Trump supporters took a plea deal on Friday. Yasmin Seweid, 19, copped to falsely reporting an incident and disorderly conduct for the bogus claim.
She must go through six months of counseling and complete three days of community service. If Seweid fulfills the terms of her deal, the top charge against her will be tossed and she’ll be left with just a violation.
The prosecutor read an apology letter from Seweid. “I was stupid,” the teen wrote. “I plan to continue to find ways to better myself.”
HuffPost’s search engine proves it completely ignored this story.
A September 10, 2017 search using the string “Yasmin Seweid” returns only one result: the same, lone story as documented above — that she has been found, after going missing in December 2016. No headlines about the fact that the whole story was made up. Instead, here’s a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost published on its front page, from September 8-10, instead:
This “news” story appeared at the top of HuffPost’s front page on September 10, 2017.
(1.18) December 2016, Houston, TX: Mosque torched in arson attack, is blamed on Islamophobia; Later it is determined that a devout Muslim parishioner set the fire
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Days after the fire, videotaped evidence led police to charge a suspect in the crime: a devout Muslim, Gary Nathaniel Moore, who had attended the mosque daily for years. In December 2016, Moore pleaded guilty to all charges, and was sentenced to four years in prison:
A man has been sentenced to four years in prison for setting fire to the mosque in Texas where he worshipped.
Gary Nathaniel Moore was sentenced Friday in Houston after pleading guilty to arson and using a fire as a deadly weapon. Officials say surveillance video led investigators to the 38-year-old Moore. He was arrested several days after the Christmas Day 2015, fire that caused significant damage.
HuffPost’s own search engine proves it completely ignored the fact that Moore was charged with the crime, and later pleaded guilty. A December 30, 2016 search of the string “Gary Nathaniel Moore guilty arson mosque” returns zero results.
(1.19) January 2017, Sylvania Township, OH: Muslim family’s home was defaced with racist hate graffiti; Muslim man is later arrested and charged with perpetrating the crime
Summary: On January 10, 2017, a Lebanese Muslim family posted a picture on Facebook of anti-Arab hate graffiti that they alleged they found n their garage and mailbox when they came home:
A Facebook post has garnered thousands of reactions after it shows a Sylvania Township garage vandalized with racist language meant to demean Arabs. The graffiti reads: “*explicit* ARABS,” with a swastika in the middle.
The family discovered the racist language when the daughter at the home returned from a trip to the gym, and saw her garage door and her mailbox had been vandalized.
According to the family, she immediately ran inside to check on her mother who was in the home at the time.
Ali, a close relative of the family, spoke on their behalf to NBC 24 and said he believes this was meant to harm their family emotionally. “I don’t think they hate us. I think that was to hurt us,” said Ali, who wished to exclude his last name from this story.
Several days later, the community turned out in a big way to express their support for the family:
Where there was once a swastika, there’s now a heart. Malak Ayache, 21, could not believe anyone would paint a vulgar message about Arabs on her Sylvania Township garage. So, she replaced it with a comment just as simple, but entirely affectionate.
“Toledo [heart]’s Arabs,” the garage door read.
Ms. Ayache said she saw the vandalism about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 7000 block of Cinnamon Teal Court. She wanted to cover the hurtful symbol with a positive replacement. The heart came naturally.
“I honestly want everyone to know that this negative, hateful act is not going to affect this family and I,” Ms. Ayache said.
They have drawn widespread support since this week’s vandalism. Ms. Ayache, a senior at the University of Toledo, posted to Facebook a photograph of the new message with the caption “Much better.” It has reached more than 1,000 likes and 700 shares.
Her mother, Souheir Eltatawy, said “Toledo [heart]’s Arabs” acknowledges the number of people who have sent kind messages. Mrs. Eltatawy, 54, repeatedly thanked the well-wishers who came forward. “Everyone has been supporting us. I could not believe we have this kind of support in the community,” Mrs. Eltatawy said. […]
Among those who contributed is Quality Overhead Door in South Toledo, which will donate a new garage door and replace the vandalized one this morning. Owners Bruce and Lisa Roth of Temperance said they are glad to assist family friends.
Other stories described how members of the Toledo Symphony planned to play outside the family’s home, to show support.
Proof that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime
On February 15, 2017, the Associated Press reported that local police had arrested and charged the man whom they allege perpetrated this crime: Osama Nazzal.
Police have charged an Ohio man with criminal damaging in the spray-painting of a swastika and message cursing Arabs on a Lebanese family’s garage door in suburban Toledo.
Sylvania Township police say 28-year-old Osama Nazzal, of Toledo, has a March 1 court appearance to face the second-degree misdemeanor count. Police say he told them the message wasn’t a matter of ethnic intimidation, but they declined to discuss his possible motive.
Court records don’t list an attorney for him and no one answered a telephone Wednesday that had been listed to him.
The Blade newspaper of Toledo reported that resident Souheir Eltatawy said she has felt afraid since the vandalism occurred; she declined further comment Wednesday.
An installer and radio station donated a new garage door to help the family after the Jan. 10 vandalism, and the community has shown support in other ways. People put encouraging messages on the defaced door about welcoming neighbors and love conquering hate. A couple hundred people also joined members of the Toledo Symphony to sing outside the home.
HuffPost either completelyignored this story — and its happy ending — or removed it from its site.
(1.20) March 2017, Charlotte, NC: Store run by an immigrant from Bhutan was vandalized with anti-Muslim, white supremacist graffiti and set on fire; Black man was arrested after being captured on video perpetrating the crime
On April 6, 2017, the Central Market in Charlotte, NC was subjected to a hate crime, in which a note was left behind that read, in part:
“Our newly elected president Donald Trump is our nation builder for white America. You all know that, we want our country back on the right track. We need to get rid of Muslims, Indians and all immigrants. Specially (sic), we don’t want business run by refugees and immigrant any more(sic). […] If you don’t follow this warning then we are not responsible for the torture starting now. God Bless America… … … …White America”
An attempt to burn an east Charlotte store that included a note warning of plans to “torture” immigrants is being investigated as a hate crime by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.
Police say officers were called at 9:59 p.m. Thursday to a fire at the Central Market, a Nepali Indian store at 5718 Albemarle Road in Charlotte. On arrival, officers were advised by the Charlotte Fire Department that the fire was contained to the front door and burned itself out by their arrival.
Investigators say one of the windows in the door had been broken out with a rock and a note was left near the door. The note stated “the suspect did not want any refugee business owners and that they would torture the owner if they did not leave and go back to where they came from,” according to police. It was signed “White America.”
“We need more safety and more security as business owners,” Kamal Dhimel, owner of Central Market, said. Dhimel is a Bhutan refugee, who fled to Nepal in the early 1990s. He moved to the United States in 2010, and started his business in 2014. He said he has never encountered anti-immigrant sentiments while in the United States, though he said the letter is a sign that people don’t understand the importance of immigrants and refugees in the community
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article143296274.html#storylink=cpy
Proof that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime
Days later, police announced that the suspected white supremacist Trump supporter is actually a black male:
Police [now] believe the letter was signed “White America” by an African-American suspect shown in video surveillance. Investigators say he threw a brick through the door, entered the store, and set the door on fire. […]
CMPD says surveillance video of the incident was recovered and that it showed a black male suspect, who is approximately 5-foot-8, around 200 pounds, and has a short afro and goatee. The suspect was seen wearing a gray hoodie under a black coat with light jeans and black shoes.
Then, on April 11, the man whom police identified on the video, Curtis Flournoy, was arrested and charged with multiple felonies:
The man police said is seen in surveillance video setting an east Charlotte store on fire will face a judge for the first time Tuesday.
Charlotte authorities arrested 32-year-old Curtis Flournoy on Sunday in what they’ve described as a racially tinged arson attack on an immigrant-owned store specializing in goods from the Indian subcontinent.
Flournoy is accused of arson and committing a hate crime at Central Market on Albemarle Road Thursday night, and is charged with burning a building of trade, malicious damage by use of an incendiary material, felony breaking and entering, ethnic intimidation and anonymous or threatening letters.
Curtis Flournoy
Proof that HuffPost completely ignored this story
A search at HuffPost on April 15 using the string “Kamal Dhimel Central Market” returned zero results. Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost decided were more important to put on its front page, in the three days since the arrest was announced, than anything about this latest fake hate crime:
This “news” story appeared near the top of HuffPost’s front page on April 13, 2017.
(1.21) April 2017, Terre Haute, IN: Muslim professor reported being physically attacked and threatened via emails because of his faith; Police later determined that he fabricated all of his claims, and charged him with numerous crimes
According to the Terre Haute, Indiana Tribute-Star, in March 2017 a Muslim professor at Indiana State University, Azhar Hussain, reported to school administrators and police that he had been subjected to an array of Islalophobic crimes, including:
“[A] series of emails… containing anti-Muslim messages and threats of potential violence against members of the Muslim community, according to the university… [that] specifically mentioned Hussain as a target.” […]
“[H]e said he was attacked from behind as he was entering his office early that morning. He told police he was thrown to the floor.”
Proof that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime
On April 21, 2017, the Tribune-Star reported that police concluded that Hussain made up all of his allegations, arrested him, and charged him with numerous crimes:
Azhar Hussain, an assistant professor at ISU has been arrested on charges alleging he made false reports of anti-Islamic threats against him and even reported an attack authorities say did not happen.
Hussain, 56, faces a felony charge of obstruction of justice and a misdemeanor charge of harassment. He was booked into Vigo County Jail at 4:51 p.m. today and is scheduled for a Monday appearance in Vigo County Superior Court 6. Bond has been set at $10,000 cash. […]
“Based upon the investigation, it is our belief that Hussain was trying to gain sympathy by becoming a victim of anti-Muslim threats, which he had created himself,” said Joseph Newport, ISU’s chief of police. […]
Investigators were able to track the computers from which the emails originated and uncovered evidence to charge Hussain with sending the emails himself, according to the university news release.
The next day, April 22, the Daily Caller, one of the most popular conservative news websites,reported the story.
Proof that HuffPost completely ignored this story
A search at HuffPost on April 23 using the string “Azhar Hussain Indiana State University” returned zero results. Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost decided were more important to put on its front page, in the three days since the arrest was announced, than anything about this latest fake hate crime:
This “news” story appeared near the top of HuffPost’s front page on April 23, 2017.
(1.22) June 2017, Loudon County, VA: Muslim teenager was murdered; HuffPost and other media initially claim it was because of her faith; Soon after it was discovered that the perpetrator was Hispanic illegal alien, and that the crime was due to a road-rage incident, not a hate crime, or because victim was a person “of color”
On June 19, 2017, news media (including HuffPost) began reporting that Nabra Hassanen, a 17-year-old Muslim high school student in Northern Virginia, had been murdered after leaving a restaurant, in the early hours of June 18. USA Today published the following story at 9:08am on June 19. Note that it made clear that a) The incident was triggered by a road-rage situation, and b) the police said they did not believe this was a hate crime:
FAIRFAX, Va. – Police believe remains found in a Va. pond belong to a teen who was assaulted and killed after leaving a Virginia mosque early Sunday morning.
Nabra Hassanen, 17, was with a group of friends near the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center Mosque following Ramadan prayers early Sunday when they got into a dispute with a man driving a red car, according to police. Hassanen’s friends said the man assaulted the 17-year-old and they ran back to the ADAMS Center and left the teen behind, police said.
Fairfax Police began searching at 4 a.m. Sunday. The body was found Sunday around 3 p.m. floating in a pond in Sterling, Virginia.
Police noticed a car driving suspiciously in the area and stopped it, arresting the driver, who was taken into custody and identified as 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres, of Sterling. He has been charged with murder.
Fairfax County police tweeted Monday that they are not investigating the attack as a hate crime.
For its part, HuffPost ran three separate stories about Hassanen’s murder on its front page, each of which featured the victim’s face, within 24 hours concerning the story — two of which were published after USA Today reported that this was not a hate crime, and was not perpetrated because she was a “woman of color”:
Then, at 12:46pm on June 20, the Daily Caller revealed that not only was this not a hate crime, but that it was perpetrated by a Hispanic man of color, who is also an illegal alien, from El Salvador — and took to task those in the media and activism who automatically claimed this was a hate crime:
Liberals on Twitter are blaming white supremacy and Donald Trump for the murder of a Muslim teen, despite the fact that the suspected murderer is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Darwin A. Martinez Torres was arrested Sunday as a suspect in the death of Nabra Hassanen, a 17-year-old Muslim high school student from Virginia.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed with The Daily Caller that Torres is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Investigators believe the attack was the result of road rage and is not being investigated as an anti-Muslim hate crime.
In its article, the Daily Caller then provided nearly a dozen examples of media personalities, “educators” and activists who falsely spread the accusation that Hassanen was murdered by a white male Islamophobe, etc.
Then, at 8:22pm on June 20, the Washington Post published the following story, which again asserted that this murder was not committed because Hassanen’s faith or skin color, but because of a road-rage incident:
Yet HuffPost never posted any new headlines that revealed this reality, presumably because it would have revealed its original narrative as completely false. And this omission perfectly fits with its attempts to falsely legitimize other anti-Muslim hate crimes that turned out to be false, or hoaxes.
To prove that HuffPost never put up new headlines to reveal this reality, see the following full-page screencaps from the Wayback Machine, on June 20-22:
(1.23) May 2017, Queens, NY: Muslim student claims white men kidnapped, assaulted and robbed him, while hurling anti-Muslim insults; Later confessed that he made the whole thing up
On Thursday, May 25, 2017, a Muslim college student in Queens, NY, originally from Pakistan, filed a police report, alleging he had been abducted by white Islamophobic males, who beat, robbed and insulted him because of his faith and ethnic origin. His initial story was reported by the New York Daily News at 2:58pm on May 27:
Three masked men snatched a Queens college student off the street, threw him into a van, and robbed and threatened to kill him as they showered him with racial epithets, police said Friday.
A black van rolled up to 21-year-old Shaan Farooqi, a City Tech student of Pakistani descent, on 165th St. and 81st Ave. in Hillcrest about 4:35 p.m. Thursday, police said.
Three men in masks allegedly jumped out, grabbed Farooqi, who was walking home, and threw him in the back of the van. […] They told Farooqi they were on a mission to “intercept” him as they punched him and snatched his wallet — which contained just $6 — along with his ID, cops said.
“Get out of my country, you sand n—-r, or I’ll kill you and your family,” one of his attackers said, according to police.
Proof that this was a fake anti-Muslim hate crime
Less than eight hours after the Daily News’s original report on this story, at 10:14pm it published a follow-up story that revealed that police confirmed that Farooqi made the whole story up:
A Queens college student who told cops he was thrown into a van and robbed by three masked men yelling racial slurs made up the chilling attack, police said Saturday.
Shaan Farooqi, a 21-year-old City Tech student of Pakistani descent, was fibbing when he said he was abducted on 165th St. and 81st Ave. in Hillcrest about 4:35 p.m. Thursday, according to police. […]
Police declined to provide details about why Farooqi lied, but said he recanted his entire story. No word on whether not he will be charged with false reporting.
Proof that HuffPost completely ignored this story
A search at HuffPost on June 27 using the string “Shaan Farooqi City Tech robbed” returned zero results, indicating it either never published the story, or quickly removed it. Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost decided were more important to put on its front page in the three days since this story broke, May 28-30, instead of anything about this latest fake anti-Muslim hate crime:
This “news” story appeared on HuffPost’s front page on May 29, 2017.
(1.24) June 2017, Des Moines, IA: A fire was set within an Islamic culture center, blamed on Islamophobia; Video evidence showed the perpetrator was a Muslim member of the congregation
On June 22, 2017, it was reported that a fire was set inside a Des Moines, Iowa mosque. Within hours, however, surveillance video revealed that the perpetrator was actually a Muslim member of the congregation, and she was arrested and charged with this fake hate crime.
A 22-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of starting a small fire at a Des Moines mosque Thursday morning, police said.
At about 10 a.m., Des Moines firefighters and police were called to the Islamic Center of Des Moines, 6201 Franklin Ave., where there had been a small fire on the carpet, according to a Des Moines police report. […]
Security cameras in the mosque showed a woman, later identified as Aisha Ismail, 22, pouring lighter fluid on the carpet and then starting the fire, said Des Moines police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek. Ismail was not on scene when police and firefighters arrived, according to the report.
Police arrested Ismail at a West Des Moines apartment that evening. She was booked into the Polk County Jail on a first-degree arson charge. […]
“It doesn’t appear that she was trying to burn the place down,” Parizek said. “It seems like she was trying to make a statement.”
Proof that HuffPost completely ignored this story
A search at HuffPost on June 27 using the string “Aisha Ismail Islamic Center of Des Moines fire” returned zero results, indicating it either never published the story, or quickly removed it. Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost decided were more important to put on its front page in the three days since this story broke, June 24-26, instead of anything about this latest fake anti-Muslim hate crime:
This “news” story appeared near the top of HuffPost’s front page on June 25, 2017.
(1.25) February 2016, Dearborn, MI: Local police were alerted to a plot to bomb a high school attended primarily by Muslim students, days after the ISIS attack in Paris, France; Police determined the threat was a hoax, and a local Muslim woman admitted to making it all up
On November 13, 2015, ISIS-affiliated Islamist terrorists mounted a series of attacks in and around Paris, France, that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more.
Six days later, on November 19, Dearborn Police received a phone tip regarding a plot to bomb the Fordson High School, which is attended primarily by Muslim students, allegedly in retaliation against Muslims for the Paris ISIS attacks.
How we know this was a fake hate crime
On February 19, 2016, the Detroit News reported that a local Muslim woman, Saida Chatti, confessed to making the whole story up, and was charged with numerous felonies:
A woman has been charged with making a false police report after she allegedly fabricated a plot to blow up Dearborn Fordson High School to retaliate against the November terrorist attacks in Paris.
Saida Chatti was arraigned Thursday in Dearborn’s 18th District Court on charges of false report or threat of a bomb/harmful device, a felony punishable by more than five years in prison. Bond was set at $2,500.
Police say Chatti called Dearborn investigators Nov. 19, six days after Islamic extremists killed 130 people in Paris. Suicide bombers and gunmen struck a sports stadium during a soccer match, a theater during a rock concert, cafes and restaurants.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
Chatti “contacted the Dearborn Police Department to report that an ‘anonymous’ friend had overheard a group of individuals at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi threatening to bomb Fordson High School in retaliation for the attacks in Paris,” according to a Dearborn police press release.
Fordson has a predominantly Arab-American student body.
“We get a number of threats against Dearborn, mostly from people on Twitter and Facebook, especially after high-profile events like Paris, because of our Muslim population,” Lt. Ron Beggs of the Dearborn police investigative division told The Detroit News on Friday. “So we take these very seriously.
“We expended a lot of resources to investigate this woman’s claim. It became apparent there were holes in her story. When we presented her with the evidence, she admitted it was a false report.”
Proof that HuffPost completely ignored this story
A search at HuffPost on December 19, 2017 using the string “Saida Chatti bomb Fordson High School” returned zero results, indicating it either never published the story, or quickly removed it:
Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost decided were more important to put on its front page in the three days since this story broke, February 20-22, instead of anything about this latest fake anti-Muslim hate crime:
(1.26) January 2018, Toronto, Canada: An 11-year-old Muslim girl claimed she was attacked by a man who cut her hijab, as she walked to school; Police soon after determined that this attack “did not happen”
For two straight days, on January 12 and 13, 2018, HuffPost featured this story on its front page:Clicking on that headline brought the reader to this page:
Notice that HuffPost included the girl’s name, Khawlah Noman, and face, in both the front page teaser, and the story page, along with her personal feelings about the alleged “attack” on her — during which she suffered not so much as a paper cut or bruise of any kind:
Further, as HuffPost’s own story page confirms, there was not a shred of evidence that any of this girl’s allegations were true, such as eyewitnesses or surveillance camera footage.
Three days later, police announced that their investigation revealed the attack on this girl “did not happen”
At 8:01am on January 15, 2018, the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) published the following Tweet, confirming that this was a fake hate crime:
Incident in which 11-year-old Toronto girl alleged a man tried to cut off her hijab did not occur, police say. They say conclusion was reached on basis of interviews, evidence.
An 11-year-old girl’s report last week that a man tried to cut off her hijab as she walked to school didn’t occur, Toronto police said Monday.
“After a detailed investigation, police have determined that the events described in the original news release did not happen,” police said in a release. “The investigation is concluded.” […]
Her story captured national attention and drew public condemnation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory.
“These allegations were extremely serious and not surprisingly, they received national and international attention,” police spokesman Mark Pugash said in an interview.
Police told CBC News that a team of investigators conducted numerous interviews throughout the probe, adding that the girl who reported the incident will not face any legal consequences.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the notion that this was an actual hate crime
A January 15, 2018 search at 6:15p using the string “Khawlah Noman” reveals that HuffPost published only one story using her name: the original allegation:
(2) Fake anti-Black hate crimes
(2.1) October 2012, Winnsboro, LA: Black woman alleged she was set on fire and racial slurs were written on her car, by white racists; Two days later, police determined that she’d done this to herself
(2.2) February-March 2013, Oberlin, OH: During a one-month period, Oberlin College was the site of repeated anti-black, anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti; A police investigation identified the perpetrators as leftist activists
(2.3) August 2013, Jersey City, NJ: Black candidate for high school student council reported receiving racist text messages, threatening him to drop out of the race; Police determine he sent texts to himself
(2.4) February 2016, Albany, NY: Three black college students alleged they were physically attacked on a bus because of their race, by a dozen white people; Soon after, video proof emerged that it was they who had attacked the white passengers
(2.5) May 2016, Naperville, IL: Black college student alleged he was beaten severely by three white men, because of his race; Soon after, he apologized when police confirmed he was the attacker
(2.6) November 2016, South Philadelphia, PA: The day after the election, numerous homes, vehicles were vandalized with racist, pro-Trump graffiti; The next day, the perpetrator, a black man, is arrested and charged
(2.7) November 2016, Greenville, MS: African-American church vandalized with “VOTE TRUMP” graffiti, set on fire; Soon after, perpetrator was identified as black parishioner
(2.8) November 2016, Rehoboth Beach, DE: Black woman alleged that four white Trump supporters threatened to murder her because of her race, then were arrested; Police deny anyone had been arrested
(2.9) November 2016, Bowling Green, KY: Black college student alleged she was physically attacked by white Trump supporters; Soon after, police charge her with criminal offenses after determining she made it all up, based on her hatred of Trump supporters in her family [UPDATE: Another student at same college has been charged with filing false police report about racial assault]
(2.10) November 2016, Malden, MA: Black man alleged two Trump supporters threatened to lynch him; Soon after, admitted to police he made it all up
(2.11) November 2016, Boston, MA: Racist, threatening graffiti was painted on wall of college; Soon after, students confess to perpetrating this crime as protest against Trump
(2.12) December 2016, East Garden City, NY: Nassau Community College was repeatedly vandalized with more than a hundred swastikas and racist signs, over multiple incidents; A brown-skinned man was caught in the act, and charged
(2.13) December 2016, Wellesley, MA: Two men were accused of driving past black students’ gathering spot at Wellesley College after election, yelling pro-Trump racial slurs; Investigation determines they did nothing wrong
(2.14) December 2016, Denton, TX: White couple discovered anti-black graffiti painted on home, and vehicles torched; Soon after, husband confessed to the crime
(2.15) December 2016, Ormond Beach, FL: Woman finds pro-Trump, anti-black racist threats at her home, and her car on fire; Soon after, her (black) ex-boyfriend confessed to perpetrating the crimes
(2.16) January 2017, Baltimore, MD: Apparent anti-black racist group threatens to attack high school; Black student arrested for the crime
(2.17) April 2017, East Knoxville, TN: Threatening, racist letters sent to black people, blamed on Trump supporters; Black man arrested, then confessed to perpetrating it
(2.18) May 2017, Northfield, MN: Threatening, racist note left for a black student at St. Olaf College, triggering school-wide protests; School president soon announced that a student confessed, and admitted it was a fake hate crime
(2.19) September 2017, Las Vegas, NV: A black professional football player apparently lied about police perpetrating a hate crime against him, because of his skin color
(2.20) October 2017, Detroit, MI: Eastern Michigan University was vandalized with anti-black graffiti on numerous occasions; Black man arrested, charged
(2.21) October 2017, Kansas City, MO: A black church was vandalized with KKK and racist graffiti, then set on fire; Within two days, police determined that a black church employee had perpetrated these crimes
(2.22) November 2017, Manhattan, KS: A black man’s car was defaced with racist graffiti; He later admitted to police that he did it
(2.23) November 2017, Colorado Springs, CO: Racist graffiti targeting black cadets was found at the U.S. Air Force Academy; The black cadet who reported finding the graffiti admitted that he did it
(2.24) November 2017, Chesterfield, MO: Anti-black racist graffiti was found in a restroom at a high school; Less than one week later, it was determined that a “non-white” student perpetrated this hate crime, and a confession was secured
(2.25) November 2017, Staten Island, NY: A white NY chiropractor was arrested and charged with sending racist threats against the black child of a school crossing guard, and a black NYPD police officer; The crossing guard was later indicted for writing the letter herself, and multiple other offenses
(2.26) December 2017: A black Navy seaman alleged, on Facebook, that he was subjected to racist vandalism aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush; Navy investigation determined that he staged the incident
(2.27) November 2018, Manhattan, KS: A black student at Kansas State University reported finding a racist note affixed to his dormitory room door; Police and school officials determined it was a hoax, after the alleged “victim” admitted he wrote the note
(2.28) March 2019, Lamar, SC: A black mayor claimed her and her husband’s cars were victims of a racist hate crime, in which their cars were covered with a yellowish substance; police conducted scientific tests and determined the substance was pollen
Various fake anti-black hate incidents: Proven fake hate incidents against black Americans; not crimes, but which feed the false narrative of rampant racism in America
(2.1) October 2012, Winnsboro, LA: Black woman alleged she was set on fire and racial slurs were written on her car, by white racists; Two days later, police determined that she’d done this to herself
A 20-year-old black woman said she was set on fire by three men who wrote the initials KKK and a racial slur on her car in northeastern Louisiana, police said Monday.
Officers found Sharmeka Moffitt with burns on more than half of her body when they responded to her emergency call Sunday night, said Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Lt. Julie Lewis.
Sharmeka Moffitt
The FBI is investigating the attack as a possible hate crime, but no arrests had been made as of late Monday, Lewis said. She said Moffitt was in critical condition at a hospital and that some of her injuries were third-degree burns.
Moffitt told police the men doused her in a flammable liquid and set her on fire at a park in Winnsboro, a town in Franklin Parish. Lewis said she extinguished the fire using water from a spigot before a police officer arrived.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Two days later, on October 24, the police determined that Moffitt had perpetrated these acts on herself. From the local CBS-TV affiliate:
Sharmeka Moffitt, a 20-year-old Louisiana woman who claimed three men set her on fire and wrote the initials KKK and a racial slur on her car, fabricated the attack, authorities said Tuesday. Police believe her third-degree burns were self-inflicted, CBS affiliate KSLA reported.
After two days of investigation, authorities said evidence showed that she set herself on fire, KSLA reported. Winnsboro Police Chief Lester Thomas said Tuesday afternoon that authorities linked Moffitt’s fingerprints to a lighter and a bottle of lighter fluid found at the scene. […]
“The investigation…has revealed that this was not an attack but a self-inflicted incident that happened to her,” Thomas said in a news conference. […]
Her family released a statement shortly after the news conference ended. “Our family is devastated to learn the circumstances surrounding our daughter’s injuries.”
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the myth that this was an actual anti-black hate crime
HuffPost published the original story as a graphic news headline on its front page on October 23, claiming that the hate crime had happened as described. By October 24, however, HuffPost took it off the main news column, and instead moved it to a text item on the sidebar, indicating there was now a question whether she set herself on fire. By October 25, HuffPost completely removed the story from its front page.
When HuffPost believed the story to be legitimate, it ran it with prominence and graphic coverage. Once it became clear that this was another fake hate crime, however, HuffPost removed it from its front page. Thus, anyone who happened to see the original story would have no reason to know that anything had changed, because HuffPost first degraded the prominence of the coverage, then removed it altogether.
(2.2) February-March 2013, Oberlin, OH: During a one-month period, Oberlin College was the site of repeated anti-black, anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti; A police investigation identified the perpetrators as leftist activists
In February and March 2013, Oberlin College was the site of a string of hate-oriented graffiti incidents, targeting blacks, Jews and the LGBT community. According to Slate.com:
Oberlin College canceled classes Monday after someone reported spotting a person walking on campus wearing what appeared to be a Ku Klux Klan-like hooded robe, the latest in a monthlong string of racial incidents on the campus of a college that was among the first in the nation to begin regularly admitting black students nearly two centuries ago.
School officials say that security and local police are investigating the report and that all classes and “nonessential activities” on campus have been suspended in order to hold a schoolwide discussion on the “challenging issues that have faced our community in recent weeks.”
According to the Oberlin Review, the student-run campus newspaper, there have been at least a half-dozen reported incidents involving hate speech and vandalism since early February, including the scrawling of “nigger” on Black History Month materials, writing “Whites Only” above a school water fountain, and drawing a swastika on an LGBTQ poster. (Full list here.)
The alleged hate incidents were covered as if they were legitimate by HuffPost, numerous local and national news media, including the New York Times, and CNN:
Proof that these were all fake hate crimes: By March 5, local police and Oberlin administrators had identified the perpetrators of these hate crimes — but would not release the names of the accused.
It took until August 2013 before Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller was able to obtain the police records, and identify the perpetrators of these hate crimes — as arch leftist Obama supporters:
One of the two students removed from Oberlin College earlier this year for allegedly circulating virulently racist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay messages around campus is an ardent leftist and committed supporter of President Barack Obama, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Dylan Bleier, one of the two students, organized a voter registration drive on behalf of Obama before the 2008 election. That voter drive is still listed on the website for Organizing for Action, the non-profit group whose mission is to advance Obama’s agenda.
The Oberlin Police Department identified Bleier and his partner in the spree, Matt Alden, as two of the principal architects of a month-long spate of racist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay messages at the small, private campus.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the myth that these were actual anti-black hate crimes
A search at HuffPost (and Google) reveal that it never published an article that revealed all these “hate crimes” as hoaxes and identified the perpetrators.
(2.3) August 2013, Jersey City, NJ: Black candidate for high school student council reported receiving racist text messages, threatening him to drop out of the race; Police determine he sent texts to himself
Summary: A sixteen-year-old black male at Saint Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey, City, NJ reported to school officials that he had received four racist text messages, one ordering him to drop out of the race for student council. Several of the texts read:
“We have NEVER and will NEVER have a n*gger to lead our school”
In an interview with The Jersey Journal at the time the texts were sent, the boy’s father said his son was “extremely nervous and feels threatened” and did not want to be interviewed.
“He is the type of boy who does not want any kind of trouble,” the father said. “It’s so sad. He doesn’t want the image of the school to be tainted.”
“It is a predominantly white school and there may be a few sections of the school who are fearful of a new face trying to get in office,” the father said at the time.
Soon after, the police began investigating the incident.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Several weeks later, police and school administrators confirmed that the teen had sent the texts to himself, through what he believed was an anonymous service.
The black St. Peter’s Prep student who purportedly received racist text messages warning him to drop out of the Jersey City high school’s student government election sent the texts to himself, a school official confirmed last week.
“The entire Saint Peter’s Prep community is relieved that this extremely distressing incident has found closure, and we commend the various law enforcement officials for their diligent work on this case over the past months,” said school spokesman James Horan, who confirmed the result of the probe after its disclosure by a police source.
HuffPost has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(2.4) February 2016, Albany, NY: Three black college students alleged they were physically attacked on a bus because of their race, by a dozen white people; Soon after, video proof emerged that it was they who had attacked the white passengers
Three black female State University of New York Albany students alleged they were victims of a hate crime when a group of white students harassed and assaulted them on Saturday.
The women claimed they got into an argument with a group of 10 to 12 men and women from their school after they boarded a city bus, according to the Times Union. The women then allege that they were beaten and called racial slurs by the white students. One women told university police that several men kicked her after she fell to the floor.
The women got off the bus at a campus stop, according to the Times Union, and two of them went to the Albany Medical Center to treat minor scrapes on their faces.
Asha Burwell, one of the three black women, shared their story on Twitter, and said that they immediately reported the incident to university police. “I can’t believe I just experienced what it’s like to be beaten because of the color of my skin,” Burwell tweeted.
HuffPost also included in its story a series of Tweets posted by Burwell, in which she alleged not only were she and her friends beaten savagely in this racist attack, but also, that witnesses did nothing to stop it, and even hurled racial epithets as well:
HuffPost’s article concluded by saying:
Campus community members and activists are showing their support for the three women by using the hashtag #JusticeForUA. Burwell tweeted she appreciated the demand for justice, but she said she doesn’t know “if I’m ever going to be able to get over this experience.”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Three weeks later, on February 25, the Albany Police Department announced that video evidence proved that it was these black students who had attacked the white passengers. Further, the APD announced that it was going to be arresting the students for up to four charges, including assault, attempted assault, falsely reporting an incident, and attempted criminal mischief.
Three SUNY Albany students who claimed they were victims of a racially motivated attack may have been the aggressors, police said Thursday — and they’ll soon face charges.
The students will be arrested about four weeks after allegedly assaulting a passenger on a city bus, then lying about what happened, leading to national outrage over an apparently fabricated story.
The three students — Alexis Briggs, from Huntington, Ariel Agudio, from Elmira Heights, and Asha Burwell, from Huntington Station — will be charged with third-degree assault, police said. Agudio and Burwell will also be charged for falsely reporting the incident.
An Albany County grand jury approved enhanced charges of assault and falsely reporting an incident for Ariel Agudio, Asha Burwell and Alexis Briggs,said District Attorney P. David Soares. […]
Investigators said Agudio, Burwell and Briggs hit a 19-year-old woman several times, and Agudio also struck a 19-year-old man on the CDTA bus, according to the indictment. Agudio tried to assault an 18-year-old and 20-year-old woman as well and Burwell also fought a 19-year-old man, prosecutors said.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the myth that this was an actual anti-black hate crime
HuffPost’s banner claims its first mission is to “inform” its readers: And HuffPost’s top executives have repeatedly said that they adhere to only the highest standards of objective journalism.
HuffPost could not have initially known that this was a fraudulent hate crime. However, given (a) the depth of coverage it devoted to this story, (b) how much it had automatically assumed everything the “victims” alleged was true, and (c) how high it positioned the story on its front page, and (d) how heavily it promoted the story, it clearly had an obligation to correct the public record, so anyone who fell for this hoax would be “informed” of the facts.
Instead, HuffPost chose to let the hoax stand as it was, by ignoring these revelations, as far as anyone who viewed its front page was concerned.
While HuffPost did update its original story page on February 26, it changed the headline and opening copy, to now show that the trio had been charged, but nothing about the original allegations. Now, anyone who does a Google search of “Huffington Post Ariel Agudio Asha Burwell Alexis Briggs” finds that it appears the only story HuffPost published about this incident was the fact that the trio of black students had been charged — nothing about its original story. Here is a screencap of a January 3, 2017 Google search that proves this fact:
Yet HuffPost published nothing on its front page to indicate that these students’ incendiary allegations were a hoax. And the Wayback Machine (Internet Archive), which keeps records of the many major websites, proves this fact. Here are the links to full-page records of HuffPost’s front page over these next three days – February 26-28. Notice there is absolutely nothing there about these students:
So what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide were more worthy of publishing on its front page, from February 26-28, than anything that would alert its readers to the fact that this was a hoax “hate crime”? Here is a sampling:
(2.5) May 2016, Naperville, IL: Black college student alleged he was beaten severely by three white men, because of his race; Soon after, he apologized when police confirmed he was the attacker
On May 5, 2016, HuffPost ran this story on its front page:
The University of Iowa and police said on Wednesday they are investigating as a hate crime a report that a black student was beaten by a group of white men in a racially motivated attack.
Marcus Owens, a 19-year-old freshman from Naperville, Illinois, was beaten after he left a bar on Saturday night by three white men who yelled racial abuse at him, according to an ABC television affiliate in Chicago.
The attack left Owens with a damaged eye socket. He also had his front teeth knocked out and needed about a dozen stitches to close a cut on his lip, ABC-7 in Chicago said.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Less than two weeks later, on May 17, police had confirmed that it was Owens who, while extremely drunk, had attacked the white men, then filed a false police report in which he alleged that he was attacked by them, because of his race:
A black University of Iowa student from Napervillelied about being the victim of a hate crime and was actually an aggressor during several drunken fights that began inside a bar, police said Tuesday. […]
“It became clear at some point that the community, not Marcus, was the victim in this event and it was important to us to get the truth out there,” said Capt. Troy Kelsay, who called Owens a “liar” at a news conference.
Owens and his family said in a letter released by the department that his account was inconsistent partly due to alcohol being involved. The family issued an apology in the letter.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the myth that this was an actual anti-black hate crime
HuffPost never updated the original article to indicate that it was a fake hate crime. Here is a screencap from January 3, 2017, that shows HuffPost never altered its story:
Although HuffPost published a follow-up article on May 18 from Reuters, that indicated this was not an anti-black hate crime, it never showed up on its front page. And the Wayback Machine (Internet Archive), which keeps records of the many major websites, proves this fact. Here are the links to full-page records of HuffPost’s front page from — May 18-20. Notice there is absolutely nothing there about this story:
So what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide were more worthy of publishing on its front page, from May 18-20, than anything that would alert its readers to the fact that this was a hoax “hate crime”? Here is a sampling:
(2.6) November 2016, South Philadelphia, PA: The day after the election, numerous homes, vehicles were vandalized with racist, pro-Trump graffiti; The next day, the perpetrator, a black man, is arrested and charged
South Philadelphia residents awoke Wednesday to find racist and pro-Trump graffiti spray painted on their storefronts, cars, and homes. Police said officers responded to reports of vandalism to a house and three cars on the 900 block of South Sixth Street in the Bella Vista section around 8:30 a.m.
One of the damaged cars was a white SUV that had “Trump Rules” and “Black Bitch” spray-painted across it in large black letters. The 62-year-old owner of the car is a black woman who asked that her name be withheld. She said her first reaction was: “Oh, my God.”
The Huffington Post also ran the story of the S. Philadelphia vandalism, on November 11, as part of a broader compilation of alleged hate crimes being perpetrated in the wake of the election:
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: On December 1, acting on a tip, local police conducted an investigation and identified the perpetrator of the vandalism as William Tucker, a black man, whom they arrested and charged with multiple offenses:
A 58-year-old South Jersey man has been arrested and charged with vandalizing several vehicles and homes in South Philadelphia on the day after the presidential election, police announced Thursday.
William Tucker, of the unit block of Hemmings Way in Lawnside, Camden County, has been arrested and charged in the early-morning Nov. 9 incidents on the 900 block of South Sixth Street, at the border of Bella Vista and Queen Village, police said.
HuffPost’s decision to conceal this discovery: As of January 3 — more than a month after Tucker’s arrest — HuffPost has still not updated its story, and not run a story revealing his arrest. Using HuffPost’s own search engine, a January 3 search of the string “William Tucker South Philadelphia” yielded zero results:
(2.7) November 2016, Greenville, MS: African-American church vandalized with “VOTE TRUMP” graffiti, set on fire; Soon after, perpetrator was identified as black parishioner
Summary: On November 1, 2016, the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, MS was burned, and vandalized with “Vote Trump” graffiti. The Huffington Post ran an original story of this crime near the top of its front page, in which it reveals parts of an interview it did with a church member, and a second story about how to donate to help the church:
A black church in Mississippi was burned and vandalized with pro-Donald Trump graffiti late Tuesday. Authorities responded to the fire at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, Tuesday night. Delta Daily News reports that the majority of the damage was to the main sanctuary and there were no reported injuries. Someone had spray-painted the words “Vote Trump” along the side of the building.
A woman at the nearby Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church told The Huffington Post that Hopewell is a historically black church. She said the community is in shock over what happened. Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons called the incident “a heinous, hateful and cowardly act” in a press conference Wednesday, adding that it was “an attack on the black church and the black community.”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: On December 21, 2016, the AP reported that local police arrested and charged a black parishioner of the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, Andrew McClinton, with perpetrating the crime:
A Mississippi man with a prior criminal record was arrested Wednesday in the burning of an African-American church that was spray-painted with the words “Vote Trump,” and the church’s bishop said the man is a member of the congregation. The state fire marshal said investigators do not believe the fire was politically motivated, but there a signs it may have been done to appear that way.
Andrew McClinton, 45, of Leland, Mississippi, is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Thursday in Greenville — the city where Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church was burned and vandalized Nov. 1, a week before the presidential election. McClinton is charged with first degree arson of a place of worship, said Warren Strain, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the myth that this was an actual anti-black hate crime
As of January 2, 2017, HuffPost has published no new headlines regarding this revelation, nor did it even post an “update” to the headline on the story page. Instead, it merely posted an update at the very end of the article, that read:
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, they would have no reason to know: (a) that this was another fake anti-black hate crime, or (b) that HuffPost had deliberately suppressed this information, to perpetuate the narrative that it was spreading throughout the world, about American racism.
Contrast HuffPost’s actions in this regard to how it acted on December 4, 2016 — three weeks earlier — when authorities began to suspect that a white woman in California had not been actually abducted, but might have perpetrated a hoax. To make sure the world knew the latest in regards to this alleged crime, HuffPost published this headline on its front page (which led to this story page):
These acts and omissions only go to further prove HuffPost’s double-standards when it comes to reporting on hoax crimes, depending on who is alleged to be perpetrating them, and who are the victims.
(2.8) November 2016, Rehoboth Beach, DE: Black woman alleged that four white Trump supporters threatened to murder her because of her race, then were arrested; Police deny anyone had been arrested
Summary: A black woman, Ashley Boyer, published a Facebook post on November 9 that said four white men approached her at a gas station and
“proceeded to talk about the election and how they’re glad they won’t have to deal with n*ggers much longer… how scared are u, u black b*tch??? I should kill you right now. You’re a waste of air… You’re lucky there’s witnesses or else I’d shoot you right here.”
She then removed that post, and put up a new one on Thursday, November 10, that said, “charges were filed, fugitives were caught. Yes I (know) names and no I will not release them.”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: The next day, November 10, local police flatly contradicted Boyer’s claim that the four Trump supporters who allegedly threatened her had been arrested — or that she had even sworn out a complaint in regards to this alleged incident:
An ugly story out of Delaware made the social media rounds on Wednesday after an African-American woman claimed “four males, all of whom were Caucasian” harassed and threatened her with racial slurs and violence outside a gas station.
At the center of the case is a Facebook post from Ashley Boyer of Rehoboth Beach, Del., which didn’t indicate a specific location for the said incident. Per Boyer’s post, the men “proceeded to talk about the election and how they’re glad they won’t have to deal with n—–s much longer.”
Police in Smyrna – where the incident is alleged to have occur – told PhillyVoice on Thursday that no such reports have been filed, and they haven’t heard from the alleged victim or anyone with information about a confrontation that occurred Wednesday.
Spokespersons for the Delaware State Police (which oversees Kent County), New Castle County police, Dover police and Smyrna police all said they had no such reports, either.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the myth that this was an actual anti-black hate crime
HuffPost gave top coverage to Boyer’s allegations, along with dozens of other unproven similar ones across the USA — but then quietly removed hers and another, with an update notice at the very bottom of the article, yet with no notice at the top that anything had changed.
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, they would have no reason to know: (a) that this was another fake anti-black hate crime, or (b) that HuffPost had deliberately suppressed this information, to perpetuate the narrative that it was spreading throughout the world, about American racism.
(2.9) November 2016, Bowling Green, KY: Black college student alleged she was physically attacked by white Trump supporters; Soon after, police charge her with criminal offenses after determining she made it all up, based on her hatred of Trump supporters in her family
Summary: On November 9, 2016, Bowling Green State University student Eleesha Long said on Facebook that she had been assaulted and called racial slurs by several white Trump supporters.
Her allegation was soon picked up by local media, after which she filed a police report. According to the local CBS-TV affiliate, her allegation also led “to a student-organized town hall meeting called ‘Impact of the Election and Respect within Our Community’ on Monday, Nov. 14.”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: One week later, on November 16, police determined that Long had made the whole thing up, and charged her with multiple offenses. From the local ABC-TV affiliate:
Strong accusations were made by a Bowling Green State University student the day after election day. Eleesha Long said she was assaulted and called a racial slur, but BG police said she made the story up. […]
Reports show she posted what happened to her on Facebook page, but never called 911. […]
Lt. Dan Mancuso with the BG Police Division said, “several times the complainant changed her story about what happened, where it happened, and when it happened.”
Lt. Mancuso said they obtained a search warrant for her Facebook and Verizon history. Turned out, she wasn’t where she said she was Lt. Mancuso added.
“Based on that information, it proved that she was not in the location that of when she said it occurred,” Lt. Mancuso told 13abc.
Her text messages allegedly reveal her real motivation may have been frustration with friends and family who were Trump supporters. […] The police reports are laced with racist remarks against Trump supporters that she sent to her boyfriend and mother. According to reports, she used words like, “this is why you should take an IQ test to vote,” “I hope they all get AIDS,” “I haven’t met a decent Trump supporter yet.”
One day later, on November 18, Long was charged with multiple offenses by local police:
[Eleesha] Long is now charged with falsification and obstructing official business. She has since been released from police custody.
Huffington Post has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
UPDATE: Another black student at BGSU who alleged he’d been physically assaulted because of his race has been charged with filing a false police report.
(2.10) November 2016, Malden, MA: Black man alleged two Trump supporters threatened to lynch him; Soon after, admitted to police he made it all up
Summary: On November 17, 2016 according to the Boston Herald (now behind paywall; see article here):
The man … had filed a complaint saying when he got off an MBTA bus near Broadway Square in Malden at 10 p.m. Tuesday, at least two white men approached him.
The men used a racial slur, made a reference to lynching and warned him this is Donald “Trump country now,” according to the report he gave police. He was able to get away from the men and hid before calling police, officials said.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Soon after, police determined this was a fake hate crime, and the man confessed:
Investigators prioritized resources for the suspected “hate crime” incident and re-interviewed the alleged victim.
“As a result, it has been determined that the story was completely fabricated,” Malden police Chief Kevin Molis said in a statement. “The alleged victim admitted that he had made up the entire story,” saying he wanted to “raise awareness about things that are going on around the country.”
HuffPost has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(2.11) November 2016, Boston, MA: Racist, threatening graffiti was painted on wall of college; Soon after, students confess to perpetrating this crime as protest against Trump
Summary: On November 12, 2016, according to an article in the Boston Globe:
[A] visitor to the college [Williams College] discovered “AMKKK KILL” written on a wall in Griffin Hall in a material that resembled blood, Williams spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Two days later, several Williams students confessed to the crime:
The students who stepped forward told officials they were going to write “AMERIKKKA” but “for whatever reason” didn’t, Dettloff said. The students said they didn’t do it with racist intent; instead, “they said they wanted to draw attention to what they felt was racism in the election of Donald Trump,” Dettloff said.
HuffPost has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(2.12) December 2016, East Garden City, NY: Nassau Community College was repeatedly vandalized with more than a hundred swastikas and racist signs, over multiple incidents; A brown-skinned man was caught in the act, and charged
Beginning shortly after the election, Nassau Community College in East Garden City, NY was vandalized repeatedly with swastikas and signs containing “KKK” and “Heil Hitler,” etc. Here is a video report from CBS New York on December 8, 2016 (text story here):
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: On December 21, 2016, the perpetrator was caught, according to police, in the act — and he was not a Nazi or a white supremacist, but rather, was a brown-skinned student:
A student at Nassau Community College waged a two-month campaign of anti-Semitism at the school by leaving swastikas in bathrooms and on campus walls, police said.
Jasskirat Saini, 20, of Plainview, was arrested Tuesday for 12 incidents dating back to Oct. 15, Nassau County police said. He drew 110 swastikas, along with phrases like “KKK,” “Germany” and “Heil Hitler,” mainly using markers, cops said.
He struck at the Garden City campus as recently as the afternoon of his arrest, cops said.
Huffington Post has completelyignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(2.13) December 2016, Wellesley, MA: Two men were accused of driving past black students’ gathering spot at Wellesley College after election, yelling pro-Trump racial slurs; Investigation determines they did nothing wrong
On Nov 9, two students from Babson College, Edward Tomasso and Parker Rander-Ricciardi, drove around Wellesley College shouting slogans from Donald Trump’s campaign and harassing students.Most notably, they allegedly targeted students of color at Harambee House and reportedly spat at a student who approached them and requested that they leave. The students were apprehended by Wellesley Campus Police and asked to leave campus. A snapchat video from Tomasso showed the two boys cheerfully saying “We are officially banned from Wellesley College. If we are caught there, we will get arrested and subject to trespassing” and at the end of the video, Tomasso cheered, “Make America Great Again.”. These students were identified using evidence of Tomasso’s personalized license plate and social media posts.
This incident expands beyond the antagonism and harassment of a community in support of a political candidate. Rather, the incident seems to be a hate crime as students of color, notably Black students and their space, were specifically targeted.
“When one of our siblings of African descent, Gloria Samen ’18, confronted them by requesting that they leave, one of the students spat on her,” stated the Students of African Descent in a statement emailed to the community. “While we gathered in Harambee to grieve and heal together, Mr. Tomasso and Mr. Riccardi parked outside of Harambee House to instill a sense of fear in us,” the letter went on. Samen ‘18 declined to comment due to the personal impact and unwanted attention this incident has had on her.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: After a month-long investigation by the schools, it was determined that Tomasso and Rander-Ricciardi had done nothing wrong:
Babson College has cleared two students of any disciplinary violations stemming from their controversial drive through Wellesley College to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory the day after the presidential election, their lawyers said Monday.
The students, Parker Rand-Ricciardi and Edward Tomasso, faced accusations of harassment and disorderly conduct before the college’s honor board on Friday.
Jeffrey Robbins, an attorney for Rand-Ricciardi, said Monday that his client’s family is relieved the matter has come to a close.
“This has been an extremely difficult, painful five weeks for Parker and his family, one that has naturally taken a toll on them,” Robbins said in a statement. “They are grateful for the kindness and support of so many people, including both friends and complete strangers. Their hope is to spend some time decompressing and enjoying the holidays.”
Huffington Post has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(2.14) December 2016, Denton, TX: White couple discovered anti-black graffiti painted on home, and vehicles torched; Soon after, husband confessed to the crime
On December 12, 2016, David and Jenny Williams were awoken by a neighbor, who advised them that their truck was on fire, and someone had spray-painted “N*GGER LOVER” on their garage door. Soon after, they discovered that David’s motorcycle had also been torched. The story was covered by the local CBS affiliate.
The Williams soon after set up a GoFundMe page to collect donations to replace their losses.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: The next morning, December 13, David admitted to Jenny that he had committed these crimes, and she was helping to ensure that the donations they received were being returned:
On Tuesday, [Jenny] Williams wrote on her Facebook page, her husband told her he was behind the vandalism. She said he was being treated at a mental-health facility and would be arrested upon his release.
“My heart is heavy, and I have more questions then answers,” she wrote. “My children and I are in a state of shock and sadness.”
(2.15) December 2016, Ormond Beach, FL: Woman finds pro-Trump, anti-black racist threats at her home, and her car on fire; Soon after, her (black) ex-boyfriend confessed to perpetrating the crimes
Summary: As chronicled by the Washington Post, a white woman, Staci Winn, 35, was awoken by her neighbors before dawn at her Ormond Beach, FL home, to find her car in flames, and a threatening note, with blood on it, taped to her mailbox. On one side was written “TRUMP,” and on the other was a threat against her children:
“KKK – I HAVE WATHED [ sic ] YOU FOR A LONG TIME YOU AND YOUR N*GGER KIDS DON’T Belong”
Winn then wrote the following post on Facebook, in which she explicitly claimed that she was the victim of a hate crime incident:
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: Police soon arrested and charged Winn’s ex-boyfriend, Vincent Palmer III, for these and other crimes. Apparently, he was behind on support payments to be paid to her to help raise their four children, and was having other problems, so he staged this elaborate fake hate crime, including his own kidnapping. He also staged his own kidnapping, which he blamed on white racists, in a note directed to his parents. From the Daily Mail (UK):
Vincent Palmer III, with his ex-girlfriend, Stacie Winn
A Florida man was arrested twice over the weekend following a bizarre string of incidents that could have potentially put the life of his ex and their four children at risk.
Vincent Palmer III, 27, placed a note with the words ‘KKK’ and ‘Trump’ as well as a slew of racial slurs that were directed at his own children on the mailbox of his ex-girlfriend before smashing a brick through the window of her car and setting the vehicle on fire in the early morning hours of Saturday. […]
A little after 10am, Palmer’s grandfather called police in Daytona Beach to report he had found a bloody note claiming his grandson had been kidnapped, along with drops of blood in the driveway.
That note read:
“KKK….I HATE BLACK MEN WHO F*** WHITE WOMEN….YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR 27 GRANDSON AGAIN ALIVE […]”
Officers quickly pinged Palmer’s phone, which revealed his location to be a nearby Burger King. When police arrived Palmer claimed his name was ‘Raquel B Johnson,’ but then changed his story when the arresting officers from the previous day appeared, admitting to his real identity.
Palmer also admitted at that time to setting the fire and was taken in to be interviewed by authorities.
Huffington Post has completelyignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(2.16) January 2017, Baltimore, MD: Apparent anti-black racist group threatens to attack high school; Black student arrested for the crime
Summary: On or about January 7 or 8, 2017, administrators at Arundel High School in Baltimore, MD became aware of a Tweet that was posted by an anonymous account, that claimed a group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan was going to attack the school the next day. According to an article by the CBS affiliate in Baltimore:
The account, named @KoolkidsKlanKkk, reportedly sent out a tweet that read, “We’re planning to attack tomorrow”
This account used similar language to a racial petition that had been passed around Anne Arundel High School by the “Kool Kids Klan”.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: A fourteen-year-old black girl at the school was identified by police as having set up the Twitter account, and later confessed to the crime.
The Anne Arundel County Police Department has charged a 14-year-old girl with a juvenile citation for sending a threatening tweet related to Arundel High School. […]
Police worked with Twitter, and were able to identify the person who created the account and sent out the threatening tweet.
That person has been identified as a 14-year-old African American female who attends Arundel High School.
Authorities interviewed the girl while she was with her parents, and police say she admitted to creating the Twitter account and sending the threatening tweet.
She was charged with a juvenile citation for disruption of school activities and released to her parents.
Huffington Post has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(2.17) April 2017, East Knoxville, TN: Threatening, racist letters sent to black people, blamed on Trump supporters; Black man arrested, then confessed to perpetrating it
In December 2016, a number of black residents of East Knoxville, TN began receiving letters, threatening them because of their race, and the perpetrator identified himself as a white racist supporter of president-elect Trump. Excerpts from these letters:
“I hate (expletive, racial slur). I’m coming to your house to rape you. I’m going to get a chainsaw and cut your legs off and then cut your head off, black nasty (slur).”
“I am a very racist white man and with Mr. Trump in the White House being the Prisdent (sic) white people going to take over the world.”
On April 13, 2017, the Knoxville, TN newspaper affiliate of USA Today reported:
A man still obsessing over an angry encounter at a West Knox County body shop six years later posed as the owner, pretended to be a racist and sent a graphic, threatening letter to the daughter of the pastor of one of East Knoxville’s most prominent churches, court records filed Wednesday show.
Justin Lamar Coleman has struck a deal via Assistant Federal Defender Paula Voss to plead guilty to a federal charge of mailing threatening communications for six letters he sent last year between July and December, including to the daughter of the pastor of Overcoming Believers Church in East Knoxville. Authorities found an unsent letter, also graphically threatening and addressed to Pastor Daryl Arnold, in Coleman’s home on Overton Lane, U.S. District Court records show. […]
Beginning in July, Coleman launched another attack on McCown’s reputation, sending letters to black citizens — including a former co-worker — posing as McCown and claiming to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Coleman is black.
“The defendant wrote the letters as if McCown was the author, daring the recipients of the letters or their family members to come to the body shop to fight McCown,” Kolman wrote.
A search at HuffPost on April 15 — two days after the story broke of Coleman’s confession, and plea deal — proves HuffPost has completelyignored it. Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost decided were more important to put on its front page, than anything about this latest fake hate crime:
This “news” story appeared at the top of HuffPost’s front page on April 14, 2017.
(2.18) May 2017, Northfield, MN: Threatening, racist note left for a black student at St. Olaf College, triggering school-wide protests; School president soon announced that a student confessed, and admitted it was a fake hate crime
Previously: In March 2017, conservative students at St. Olaf College reported being subjected to violent threats — which HuffPost completely ignored.
The message St. Olaf senior Samantha Wells says she discovered Saturday afternoon on the windshield of her car is frightening.
“I thought it was a ticket,” the Sociology and Anthropology major told Fox 9 Sunday. Worse than a citation, the note issued a racial epithet and a threat. “I’ve already broken down a few times, [I was] just so overwhelmed,” Wells shared.
The message reads, “I’m so glad that you are leaving. One less n—– that this school has to deal with. You have spoken up too much. You will change nothing. Shut up or I will shut you up.”
“I’ve definitely been a lot more aware of my surroundings everywhere I go,” Wells said.
She immediately shared the note on Facebook and with St. Olaf Public Safety.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: A student came forward and admitted that he or she had perpetrated this fake hate crime, “as an apparent strategy to draw attention to concerns about the campus climate.”
A racist threat against a St. Olaf student that touched off campuswide protests and forced the college to cancel classes earlier this month was a hoax, the school revealed Wednesday.
A student confessed to writing the note, St. Olaf President David R. Anderson wrote in a message to students. The threat — an anonymous, typewritten note — was “fabricated,” he said, as an apparent “strategy to draw attention to concerns about the campus climate.”
“This was not a genuine threat,” Anderson wrote in the first of two messages Wednesday to students. “We’re confident that there is no ongoing threat from this incident to individuals or the community as a whole.” […]
On April 29, St. Olaf senior Samantha Wells, who is black, posted images on social media of a threatening note she said she had found on her windshield. Wells was a featured speaker at campus rallies this month, tearfully relaying the discovery of the note and how unsafe it made her feel on campus.
Anderson said Wednesday that a student was responsible for the fake threat, but “federal privacy laws prohibit the college from disclosing the identity of the author of that note and disclosing the actions taken by the college now that we know the author’s identity.”
Wells, on social media early Wednesday afternoon, addressed the president’s disclosure. But it was unclear from what she wrote whether she acknowledges or denies being the note’s author.
“So, it looks like something made its way back to me in the investigation,” she wrote. “I will be saying it was a hoax. I don’t care. There is nothing more that I can do.”
Wells could not be reached Wednesday for an explanation. […]
With Wells bowing out, police have closed the case. The case file points out that police did not see the anonymous typewritten note because Wells “took [it] outside and had a ‘ceremonial’ burning to destroy it.”
Wells said she destroyed the note “because she didn’t want to look at it or have it anywhere near her,” according to the file.
Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost decided to publish on its front page in the following three days, from May 11-13, instead of anything about this latest fake hate crime:
(2.19) September 2017, Las Vegas, NV: A black professional football player apparently lied about police perpetrating a hate crime against him, because of his skin color
On September 6, 2017, this news story appeared near the top of HuffPost’s front page:
Seattle Seahawks defensive end and activist Michael Bennett posted a letter to Twitter on Wednesday stating that a Las Vegas cop threatened to shoot him in the head after the Mayweather-McGregor fight in late August.
In the letter, Bennett said that he was heading back to his hotel after the fight when he heard gunshots. He said he and many others in the area ran for safety, and that’s when the cops stopped him “for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He said they ordered him to the ground.
HuffPost also produced a custom “news” video about Bennett’s allegations — which automatically assumed they were true, even though it knew there was zero evidence to support his claims — and positioned it at the top of the story page:
Proof that this was a fake hate crime
On September 19, 2017, the Daily Wire published the following story:
New video evidence appears to suggest that Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett lied about why police officers took him down in Las Vegas in late August.
Bennett claimed that he was the victim of racial profiling when police officers detained him outside the Cromwell Hotel following the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight as they were searching for a possible active shooter.
TMZ previously reported that everyone in the club was told by the police to get down and not move, at which point Bennett reportedly took off running.
On September 6, Bennett said that police “singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
However, newly-released footage shows that Bennett did not tell the truth about why he was detained. […]
Bennett also claimed that one of the police officers threated to “blow my f**king head off,” of which there is no proof.
The Daily Wire story was based on one from TMZ, which obtained the police videos:
Bennett had claimed he was racially profiled in the early hours of August 27 — when cops detained him outside the Cromwell hotel following the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight.
The footage shows a 3-man police team — made up of 2 hispanic officers and 1 black officer — identify Bennett as a suspicious person who did not get down on the ground as ordered during the hotel sweep.
Video shows Bennett crouching and running in the casino before bolting out of a hotel door, jumping over a gate and running to the street.
One of the officers quickly asks if the man running had a gun and then gives chase.
Once Bennett was detained, cops determined Bennett was not a shooter. They asked for ID. He said, “Michael Bennett. Seattle Seahawks. Look it up.” Cops took his advice and looked him up on their cell phones. Cops say the body cam 100% proves the incident had nothing to do with race.
HuffPost’s complicity in helping to legitimize this fake hate crime
HuffPost’s own search engine proves that it never posted the story about the police video emerging that revealed the reality of Bennett’s allegations. A September 29, 2017 search using the string “Michael Bennett police video” returned zero relevant results:
Note: While this search shows that HuffPost did publish a story that indicated police “disputed” Bennett’s claims, it was posted the day after the original story, on September 7, 2017 — and was never updated:
Note also that HuffPost featured the same propaganda video at the top of the page, as if to emphasize that it was assuming everything Bennett said was true.
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, they would have no reason to know that this was another fake anti-black hate crime.
(2.20) October 2017, Detroit, MI: Eastern Michigan University was vandalized with anti-black graffiti on numerous occasions; Black man arrested, charged
One of multiple incidents of anti-black graffiti found at Eastern Michigan University. A black former student was charged with the crimes.
Beginning in September 2016, multiple incidents of anti-black graffiti were found at Eastern Michigan University. From the Detroit News:
More racist graffiti has been discovered at Eastern Michigan University, a month after two incidents prompted FBI involvement and at least one campus protest.
The words “Leave N******” was found Monday morning on the east exterior wall of Ford Hall, a building that houses classrooms on the south end of campus near Cross Street, according to university officials. The 5-foot-wide message was scrawled in black lettering on two lines.
EMU police responded and immediately removed the paint, according to university president Jim Smith. It is not yet known if surveillance footage is available in the area.
“But the investigation of the incident will receive the full attention of the EMU Police,” Smith said.
The report comes about a month after two separate pieces of racist graffiti sparked outrage on campus, including one piece of graffiti bearing the same message as Monday’s discovery.
On Sept. 20, graffiti was found painted on the side of King Hall that included the letters “KKK” painted in red, white and blue and “Leave N****RS,” administrators said at the time. King Hall hosts human resources, WEMU, the women’s center and women’s commission, according to the university website.
In the wake of these incidents, student groups formed to express outrage:
RIGHT NOW: Eastern Michigan University Students take the campus to protest racist graffiti. This is what democracy looks like. pic.twitter.com/IrigbudNrC
The protests began to gain national coverage, including by PBS and the Washington Post.
Proof that these were fake hate crimes — perpetrated by a black man
After an investigation, the univeristy and local police determined the identity of the perpetrator: a black former student with an extensive criminal history, Eddie Curlin.
Eddie Curlin, charged with a string of anti-black graffiti incidents at EMU.
On October 23, 2017, the Detroit Free Press published the following story:
A 29-year-old former Eastern Michigan University student placed racist graffiti around the Ypsilanti school’s campus last year not because he was politically motivated, the school’s police chief said Monday.
“It was totally self-serving,” Eastern Michigan University Chief of Police Robert Heighes told the media during a quick news conference. “It was not driven by politics. It was not driven by race.”
Heighes would not elaborate more on the motive, but said no other person or groups were involved.
The suspect, identified as Eddie Curlin, is a former student at Eastern who attended from 2014 to early 2016. While at Eastern, he came to the attention of another law enforcement agency, Heighes said.
Additional research reveals that Curlin has an extensive criminal history.
(2.21) October 2017, Kansas City, MO: A black church was vandalized with KKK and racist graffiti, then set on fire; Within two days, police determined that a black church employee had perpetrated these crimes
Sometime during the evening of October 28, 2017, the Concord Fortress of Hope Church in Kansas City, MO was vandalized with racist grafifiti, then set on fire. According to the Kansas City Star:
Someone broke into a predominantly black church in south Kansas City early Sunday morning, starting a small fire and leaving the front doors and windows defaced with racist graffiti, according to law enforcement officials.
Members of Concord Fortress of Hope Church arrived in the morning to see the spray-painted graffiti, which included an ethnic slur directed at black people, the letters “KKK” and what appeared to be an attempt at making a swastika.
Inside the church, police found that someone had entered the building, broke into a vending machine and the church’s financial office, and lit a chair on fire. […]
The ATF, which has jurisdiction over fires at houses of worship, is investigating the fire along with the Kansas City Police Department’s bomb and arson unit and investigators with the Kansas City Fire Department.
A maintenance man at a south Kansas City church spray-painted racist graffiti on the front entrance and set a fire inside — all to cover up his theft of money to buy crack cocaine, according to documents filed in federal court on Monday.
Nathaniel D. Nelson was charged in U.S. District Court with committing an arson inside the adjoining cultural center at the predominantly black Concord Fortress of Hope Church, where he was also a member.
Nelson, 48, had previously served time in prison for arson and burglary and was last released in 2011.
According to allegations in the affidavit filed in court to support the charges, Nelson admitted to stealing money from inside the church’s cultural center to buy crack cocaine. Nelson, who is black, said he had spray-painted the racist graffiti and set the fire in an attempt to throw off investigators, according to the affidavit.
Nathaniel D. Nelson
(2.22) November 2017, Manhattan, KS: A black man’s car was defaced with racist graffiti and threats; He later admitted to police that he did it
On November 1, 2017, the Kansas City Star reported that a black man awoke to find his car covered in racist graffiti and threats:
After a vandal tagged a car Wednesday with racial slurs, African American students at Kansas State University say they are fed up with racist acts at the school.
Riley County Police are investigating the vandalism in an apartment parking lot about a half mile from the Manhattan campus.
“Go Home Nigger Boy” was painted in yellow across the rear windshield. Other expletives were painted on the side of the car.
Police identified the man whose car had been vandalized and he returned a call to The Star Wednesday evening saying he was a student at the university.
The proof that this was a fake hate crime
Five days later, on November 6, the alleged victim confessed to police that he had vandalized his own car. As reported by the Washington Post:
MANHATTAN, Kan. — A black Kansas man has admitted he put racist graffiti on his own car as a Halloween prank that got out of hand, police said Monday.
Photographs posted on social media Wednesday showed the car covered with racial slurs against blacks and messages that included “Go Home,” ‘’Date your own kind,” and “Die.”
The vehicle, covered in graffiti scrawled with washable paint, was parked Wednesday at an apartment complex near Kansas State University and the incident fueled racial tensions at the university and in the community.
[O]n Monday the Riley County Police Department issued a news release saying the 21-year-old owner of the vehicle, Dauntarius Williams, had told investigators that he was responsible for the graffiti.
The fake hate crime, however, had served its apparent purpose — of stoking the narrative that America is racist:
An emergency meeting of the Black Student Union called that evening drew concerned administrators and community leaders as well as students. Kansas State held a Facebook Live event the next day with worried parents. The university stepped up patrols on campus. The FBI opened a civil rights investigation into a possible hate crime.
Further, local authorities announced they would not prosecute the perpetrator:
Authorities concluded that charging him for filing a false report would “not be in the best interests of the citizens” of Manhattan.
Even the possibility of a hate crime has a big impact on the fabric of daily lives, and “we want to acknowledge that people felt anger and pain as a result of pictures and words that they saw,” Kansas State University spokesman Jeff Morris said Monday in a phone interview. “Those are very real responses.”
(2.23) November 2017, Colorado Springs, CO: Racist graffiti targeting black cadets was found at the U.S. Air Force Academy; The black cadet who reported finding the graffiti admitted that he did it
On September 29, 2017, HuffPost produced an original story about racist graffiti targeting black cadets being found at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and positioned the item near the top of its front page:
In a poignant defense of equality, the United States Air Force Academy’s superintendent made it crystal clear that the institution will not tolerate any form of disrespectful behavior toward someone of another race or gender.
The Academy’s Preparatory School found racial slurs written on message boards of five African-American cadets, leading Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria to express his disgust to the Academy’s more than 5,000 cadets, faculty and staff in Colorado Springs.
“If you’re outraged by those words, then you’re in the right place,” he said Thursday. “You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being.”
On September 30, HuffPost moved the story up to the top of is front page, directly atop an original story about its effort to “find a white supremacist meeting in a Tennessee forest”
The proof that this was a fake hate crime
On November 7, 2017 the Air Force Academy announced that it had concluded its investigation into this incident — and that the perpetrator, the black cadet who reported the graffiti, was identified as the perpetrator, and admitted to doing it. As reported by the local NBC TV affiliate:
One of the cadet candidates who claimed to be the target of racist remarks at the U.S. Air Force Academy in El Paso County admitted to writing the slurs, the academy said on Tuesday.
In late September, racist graffiti was found on the doors of five black cadet candidates. This spurred an impassioned speech from Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the Air Force Academy, where he told both Air Force cadets and preparatory students they needed to treat others with dignity and respect or “get out.”
USAFA’s investigation revealed the student, once thought to be a victim, actually wrote the slurs on the doors, including their own.
“We can confirm that one of the cadet candidates who was allegedly targeted by racist remarks written outside of their dorm room was actually responsible for the act,” USAFA said in a statement.
The release went on to say that cadet candidate, who was not named, is no longer at the school.
Soon after, other local news organizations published versions of this discovery, including the Miami Herald, Later, the Daily Caller, ABCNews.com and others news outlets publicized the story.
HuffPost’s complicity in helping to legitimize this fake hate crime
(2.24) November 2017, Chesterfield, MO: Anti-black racist graffiti was found in a restroom at a high school; Less than one week later, it was determined that a “non-white” student had perpetrated this hate crime, and a confession was secured
On November 16, 2017, news broke in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that anti-black racist graffiti was found in the restroom of a local high school:
Parkway Central High School leaders are investigating a racist message written on a mirror in a high school bathroom.
As shown in a photo circulating among students on social media and shared with the Post-Dispatch, the message said, “White lives matter,” followed by a racial slur.
In a letter to parents about the incident, Principal Tim McCarthy acknowledged that “students are understandably upset.”
McCarthy spoke to students about the incident over the public address system Wednesday morning. “This act is a serious violation of our discipline code and an affront to what I believe are the core values of this community,” he said. The school district provided a copy of his remarks, along with a letter he sent to Parkway parents.
McCarthy continued, “…actions and speech which degrade an individual’s human dignity; actions and speech which are motivated by hate, not love, have no place in school … . To all of you, but especially to our African-American students and staff, who for too long have been the target of this type of hate speech, I am deeply sorry this happened today.”
The proof that this was a fake hate crime
On November 21, 2017 school officials announced they identified the perpetrator of this hate crime — and that it was a “non-white student”:
The student who wrote racist graffiti at a high school in Missouri last week is reportedly “non-white.”
Graffiti reading “White Lives Matter” and containing a racial slur was found written on a bathroom mirror at Parkway Central High School.
In a Tuesday report from Fox2, the school district said that the student who wrote it was “non-white” but did not give a name.
Despite the revelation that the graffiti was not in fact written by a white person, the school district argued that fact “does not diminish the hurt it caused or the negative impact it has had on our community.”
HuffPost’s complicity in helping to legitimize this fake hate crime
HuffPost’s own search engine proves that it never posted the revelation that this was a fake hate crime. A November 22, 2017 search using the string “Parkway Central High School white lives matter” returned zero relevant results:
(2.25) November 2017, Staten Island, NY: A white NY chiropractor was arrested and charged with sending racist threats against the black child of a school crossing guard, and a black NYPD police officer; The crossing guard was later indicted for writing the letter herself, and multiple other offenses
On March 15, 2017, the NY Daily News reported the following shock story:
A Staten Island chiropractor was busted for a race-fueled tirade against a black NYPD police officer and a white crossing guard with a black child, authorities said Wednesday.
Danielle Serini sent letters to both women at the 120th Precinct on Monday filled with anti-black statements that threatened Police Officer Ebony Glover and school crossing guard Jennifer Becker’s child, according to prosecutors.
“My next opportunity will be getting rid of you and that ugly a– n—-r child of the crossing guard,” she wrote to Glover, according to court documents. “Keep thinking he’s safe in school, but when the opportunity hits, it will with a bang. N—–s don’t belong in my neighborhood.”
Cops release new images of suspect in bigoted West Village attack
Danielle Serini also sent a bag of Dum Dum lollipops to Glover and Becker’s homes on March 7, according to court records.
Serini, who runs a chiropractic office across from Public School 29 on Victory Blvd. near Slosson Ave. in Castleton Corners — where Becker works — has been having an ongoing dispute with Becker and Glover, who monitors crossing guards at the school.
Since last April, Serini has yelled at crossing guards and cops near PS 29, accusing them of ticketing her clients.
She’s also spit at Becker, called her a “f—–g c–t” and flipped her the bird as she passed, court papers reveal.
Dr. Serini was charged with multiple crimes, and Becker requested, and obtained an order of protection against her.
The proof that this was a fake hate crime
In November 2017, the NYPD announced that it had dropped all charges against Dr. Serini, and had arrested Becker, and charged her with multiple offenses.
A school crossing guard who said she received a threatening letter from a Staten Island chiropractor actually wrote the racist screed herself as part of an ugly frame job, law enforcement sources said.
Crossing guard Jennifer Becker, 44, wrote a letter to the 120th Precinct to herself and NYPD Officer Ebony Glover, pretending to be Danielle Serini, a chiropractor with an office across the street from where she was posted, authorities allege. […]
Now Becker’s the one in handcuffs, charged with making a sworn false statement, falsely reporting an incident, endangering the welfare of a child and tampering with evidence, cops said.
She’ll likely face more charges at her arraignment in Staten Island Criminal Court on Thursday involving additional forged letters, sources said. […]
All of the criminal charges against Serini are expected to be dismissed Thursday, law enforcement sources said.
Racist’s lawyers don’t have defense yet for Times Square slaying
“My client’s life has been ruined. Her chiropractor business had to be closed. Her residence had to be relocated out of state,” said Mark Fonte, Serini’s lawyer. “She was vilified in the press and by those who rushed to judgment.”
Fonte said he was hired after Serini’s second arrest, and he presented prosecutors with proof she was innocent — including evidence she was vacationing in Disney World on one of the dates she was accused of threatening Becker.
“Every allegation ever made against my client is a fabrication,” Fonte said. “My client was falsely accused from beginning to end, and now has been totally exonerated.”
HuffPost’s complicity in helping to legitimize this fake hate crime
HuffPost’s own search engine proves that it never posted the revelation that this was a fake hate crime. A December 3, 2017 search using the string “Danielle Serini” returned zero relevant results:
(2.26) December 2017: A black Navy seaman alleged, on Facebook, that he was subjected to racist vandalism aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush; Navy investigation determined that he staged the incident
Marquie Little, aka “Walty Allen,” in a photo amid what he alleged was racist vandalism of his sleeping area aboard the USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier
According to the Navy Times, on November 15, 2017, U.S. Navy seaman Marquie Little posted the following on Facebook, under a pseudonym, “Walty Allen” (now deleted):
“I proudly serve the Navy and this is what I’m receiving in return. It’s not my first time being called a word such as that,” the aviation boatswain’s mate airman said in a phone interview later that month. “It puzzled me as to who would do it and why they would do it.”
In addition to the physical destruction of material in his sleeping quarters, his post included pictures of explicit, racist messages on the sheets and wall.
The proof that this was a fake hate crime
On December 8, the Military Times published the following article:
A Navy seaman assigned to the carrier USS George H.W. Bush has been disciplined and counseled by his unit after officials determined he staged the vandalism of his own bunk with racist graffiti and then posted about it on Facebook.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service and command officials have been investigating the claim that the sailor was targeted because of his race ever since he posted photos on Facebook on Nov. 15. The investigation wrapped up a few days ago, Naval Air Force Atlantic spokesman Cmdr. Dave Hecht told Military.com.
“After a thorough investigation was conducted with the assistance of NCIS, several indicators supported the conclusion that the incident was staged,” Hecht said, adding there were inconsistencies in the alleged victim’s statements.
Navy Times, which first reported on the matter, identified the sailor as 27-year-old Marquie Little, an African-American. Photos published in Little’s Facebook post, which has since been deleted, show a pillow ripped open and pieces of corrugated cardboard and other garbage stacked in Little’s rack aboard the Bush. The N-word appears to be written on the wall of the bunk in black marker.
(2.27) November 2018, Manhattan, KS: A black student at Kansas State University reported finding a racist note affixed to his dormitory room door; Police and school officials determined it was a hoax, after the alleged “victim” admitted he wrote the note
Broderick Burse
On November 6, 2018, the newspaper of Kansas State University published this story:
Someone reportedly posted a racist sign on a Kansas State University student’s on-campus apartment door.
K-State sophomore Brodrick Burse posted on social media at 10 p.m. Monday pictures of a sign attached to the doorpost of his apartment at Jardine on the west side of campus.
The sign, a white piece of paper with handwriting, said “Beware (N-words) live here!!! Knock at your own risk.”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime
Within 48 hours, police and Kansas State officials determined this was a hoax, after Burse admitted that he wrote and posted the racist sign on his own door.
For the second time in two years, the person who reported a written racist slur found on or near Kansas State University has admitted that it was a hoax, police said.
Officers on Monday received a report of “a note using a racial slur posted on a door in the Jardine Apartment Complex,” K-State police said Thursday in a news release on Facebook.
“Upon questioning, the person who reported the incident admitted to creating and posting the note to their own door,” K-State police said. “The matter will be addressed in accordance with applicable disciplinary procedures.”
December 7, 2018: Burse created a GoFundMe page asking the public for financial assistance to continue his “education” at Kansas State University:
Less than one month later, Burse created this GoFundMe page (archive), on which he asked for donations — but mentioned nothing about the fake hate crime against him that he perpetrated:
HuffPost’s search engine proves it completely ignored this story
A February 17, 2019 search at HuffPost using the string “Brodrick Burse” returned zero results. Note that it appears Fidelity is visibly enabling and legitimizing HuffPost’s biased coverage of hate crimes:
(2.28) March 2019, Lamar, SC: A black mayor claimed her and her husband’s cars were victims of a racist hate crime, in which their cars were covered with a yellowish substance; police determined the substance was pollen
Mayor Darnell Byrd-McPherson
On February 27. 2019, Lamar, SC mayor Darnell Byrd-McPherson reported the following, as appeared in the local media:
Lamar Mayor Darnell Byrd-McPherson said someone came onto her property Wednesday night and vandalized her cars.
Byrd-McPherson said the vandalism maybe investigated as a hate crime.
She released the following statement on the incident:
“The incident happened last night. Even though I drove my car today, I thought it was pollen. My husband and our neighbor noticed the cars looked like someone had spray painted on both our vehicles, which were parked in our front yard. As an aside, during the 70s, crosses were burned in the yard of our home when my Mother was involved with the civil rights movement. On this very same corner in this very same front yard!”
Proof that this was a fake hate crime
Soon after, local and state police investigated the claim, and determined the substance was pollen.
The mayor of a South Carolina town believed she was the target of a hate crime after cars belonging to her and her husband were dusted with a mysterious, “yellow, sticky substance.”
Local and state police investigated the claims made by Lamar Mayor Darnell Byrd McPherson, who reported that on February 7 at 10 p.m. local time, someone sprayed her 2017 Symphony Silver Hyundai Elantra Sport and her husband’s soft-top 1998 Buick Roadmaster with a residue outside of their home. […]
“I likened it as a hate crime because No. 1, there’s a history in our town of Lamar,” the volunteer mayor of the town with approximately 980 constituents, said. […]
She explained in the interview with Newsweek that there were no words or symbols drawn on the cars. The cars were parked in the street near the end of the couple’s driveway, a block and a half from Lamar’s downtown.
“To me that was the message,” she said.
Darlington County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Robby Kilgo explained that an investigation was opened to determine what the substance was on both cars. “We found it to be pollen,” Kilgo explained in an interview with Newsweek. “There was no reason for us to collect a sample.”
HuffPost’s search engine proves it completely ignored this story
A March 5, 2019 search at HuffPost using the string “Darnell Byrd-McPherson” returned zero results. Note that it appears USAA and Sleep Number are visibly enabling and legitimizing HuffPost’s biased coverage of hate crimes:
Supplement: Various fake anti-black hate incidents: Proven fake hate incidents against black Americans — not crimes, but which feed the false narrative of rampant racism in America
September 2013: A black waitress at Red Lobster publicly accused a white customer of not leaving a tip, and writing a racist rant on his receipt; he proved it was completely false.
(3) Fake anti-Semitic hate crimes
(3.1) March 2016, Skokie, IL: Northwestern University chapel is vandalized with painted swastikas, “Trump”; Soon after, two Jewish students confessed to perpetrating the crime, based on video evidence
(3.2) November 2016, San Francisco, CA: A Nazi swastika flag was discovered flying over home; Soon after, it was discovered to be owned by an anti-Trump activist
(3.3) December 2016, East Garden City, NY: Nassau Community College was repeatedly vandalized with more than a hundred swastikas and racist signs, over multiple incidents; A brown-skinned man was caught in the act, and charged
March 2016, Skokie, IL: Northwestern University chapel is vandalized with painted swastikas, “Trump”; Soon after, two Jewish students confessed to perpetrating the crime, based on video evidence
Summary: On March 11, 2016, it was discovered that the chapel at Northwestern University had been vandalized with hate graffiti. According to the Chicago Tribune:
[C]hapel staff discovered a swastika and slurs against African-Americans and gays scrawled on walls and numerous spraypainted penises drawn throughout, even on the chapel’s organ.
Police also said the men sprayed lines over the faces of of Muslim students in photographs and wrote the name Trump — likely referring to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump — under one set of penises they drew.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: The next day, local police analyzed videotape evidence of the crime, and identified and arrested the suspects — two Jewish students at Northwestern — and later charged each with a dozen felonies:
Two one-time Northwestern University students arrested for spraypainting racist and homophobic messages, along with phallic drawings and the word “Trump” inside a campus chapel earlier this year now face two-dozen criminal charges related to the March 11 incident, including a dozen hate crime charges, according to prosecutors.
Anthony Morales, 19, and Matthew Kafker, 18, were charged in connection with the vandalism immediately after it was discovered. But a grand jury was subsequently convened, and handed up an indictment against the men, including 12 counts each of hate crime at a church/synagogue/place of worship, along with four counts of institutional vandalism and burglary, three counts of criminal damage and one count of criminal defacement, all felonies, Cook County prosecutors said this week.
Huffington Post has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(3.2) November 2016, San Francisco, CA: A Nazi swastika flag was discovered flying over home; Soon after, it was discovered to be owned by an anti-Trump activist
Summary: On November 9, 2016, residents in San Francisco’s Dolores Heights neighborhood discovered a Nazi swastika flag flying over a home:
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: According to SFGate.com, the flag was owned and flown by an anti-Trump protester:
Flying a Nazi flag at his home in San Francisco’s Dolores Heights on Wednesday was Frederick Roeber’s attempt to make a social comment on President-elect Donald Trump.
But the 48-year-old quickly realized the display was misguided when neighbors spotted the ominous swastika and immediately confronted him in the street outside the house.
Roeber, who is retired and lives in the storybook-esque home on the corner of Sanchez and 21st streets, said he didn’t like Trump’s comments about Muslims and Mexican immigrants during the election.
“I am hoping people get that this is a political statement, and that I’m not a Nazi supporter,” Roeber said outside his home’s wrought iron gates and manicured garden. “I’m a little afraid that neighbors will get the wrong idea.”
Huffington Post has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
[Ed.: SFGate.com apparently didn’t find it curious why an anti-Trump protester would have a Nazi swastika flag in their possession, ready to fly at a moment’s notice.]
(3.3) December 2016, East Garden City, NY: Nassau Community College was repeatedly vandalized with more than a hundred swastikas and racist signs, over multiple incidents; A brown-skinned man was caught in the act, and charged
(4.1) November 2013, Bridgewater, NJ: A lesbian waitress alleged that homophobic customers left her no tip, and an anti-gay note
(4.2) September 2015: A gay man in North Dakota claimed he was physically assaulted because of his sexual orientation; police soon determined that he made the story up, and was the one who attacked others
(4.3) November 2016, Chicago, IL: Bisexual college student alleged she’d received hate and threat notes from Trump supporters; Later is charged with filing false police report
(4.4) May 2017: A gay church employee admitted he vandalized the facility with anti-gay and swastika graffiti, in apparent support of Trump — which was blamed on conservatives
(4.5) November 2016, Santa Monica, CA: Gay Canadian filmmaker claimed he was severely beaten by Trump supporters on election night, who used anti-gay slurs; Police quickly determined the assault never happened
(4.6) July 2012, Omaha, NE: Lesbian claimed anti-LGBT men invaded her home, carved slurs into her skin; police soon determined she perpetrated this fake hate crime on herself
(4.7) June 2012, Oak Park, IL: Gay nightclub is torched; owner points out anti-gay slurs written on the walls; owner confesses that he burned property for insurance money
(4.8) August 2017, Jackson, MI: Transgender LGBT activist’s home is torched, killing two dogs and three cats; Police later charge “victim” with setting the fire
(4.9) October 2018, Athens, Ohio: A lesbian member of the Student Senate member reported receiving several written death threats; Soon after, police charged her with writing the notes & making false reports
Preface: See the Daily Wire’s roundup of recent fake anti-LGBT crimes here.
(4.1) November 2013, Bridgewater, NJ: A lesbian waitress alleged that homophobic customers left her no tip, and an anti-gay note
Clicking on that headline brought the reader to this story page — note the fact that HuffPost put the alleged “victim’s” name right in the headline, claimed she was a Marine, and stated that this incident had, in fact, happened:
An excerpt from this “story” — which HuffPost just assumed was true:
A waitress in New Jersey who previously served in the Marines received an offensive note from a family who denied her a tip because of her “gay lifestyle.” Now, she is speaking out against those very people whose freedom she once defended.
Dayna Morales, a server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, N.J., wrote an email to gay-friendly blog “Have A Gay Day” about her recent experience with homophobia while serving a family of diners, reports Gay Star News. When Morales introduced herself to the couple and their two children, the mother was allegedly shocked by Morales’ short hair.
“Oh I thought you were gonna say your name is Dan,” she allegedly said. “You sure surprised us!”
At the end of the meal, Morales was left with no tip on the $93.55 bill. Instead, she found a note on the receipt, reading: “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I don’t agree with your lifestyle & how you live your life.”
As HuffPost reported, Morales then implicitly threatened the customers, in a post she put up on a gay website (emphasis added):
Morales expressed her disgust over the incident in her email to Have A Gay Day. The email, later posted to the site’s Facebook page, read:
I am THOROUGHLY offended mad pissed off and hurt that THIS is what her kids will grow up learning and that I served in the Marines to keep ignorant people like them free. Sorry lady but I don’t agree with YOUR lifestyle and the way you’re raising your kids but you didn’t see me throwing that in your face and giving you shitty service. Keep your damn mouth shut and pray we never cross paths again.
Thanks to HuffPost giving her “story” top-level, worldwide coverage, Morales set up a PayPal account so those who sympathized with her could send her monetary donations:
The purported incident created a media firestorm, with well-wishers sending Morales at least $3,000 in donations through a PayPal account.
There was just one tiny problem with the “story”: it was a hoax — and Morales was soon fired by the restaurant at which this fake hate incident occurred. As reported by NBC-New York:
After a gay server at a New Jersey restaurant said a customer denied her a tip and wrote her a hateful note on the receipt, a local family contacted NBC 4 New York and said their receipt shows they paid a tip and didn’t write any such note. […]
But a family contacted NBC 4 New York claiming their receipt from the restaurant shows they did leave a tip, and provided what they said was a credit card statement as proof. […]
They also provided a document they said was a Visa bill, which appears to indicate their card was charged for the meal plus the tip, for a total of $111.55.
The couple told NBC 4 New York that they believed their receipt was used for a hoax. The wife says she is left-handed and could not have made the slash in the tip line, which she said looks to be drawn from the right.
“We’ve never not left a tip when someone gave good service, and we would never leave a note like that,” the wife said.
The husband said he and his wife have both worked in restaurants and believe in the value of tipping, and noted that he didn’t vote for Gov. Chris Christie because the governor doesn’t support gay marriage.
Further research revealed that Morales had been dishonorably discharged from the Marines:
The New Jersey waitress whose story has been questioned after she claimed she received an anti-gay note instead of a tip on a restaurant bill was discharged under dishonorable terms from the Marines last spring after she stopped showing up, NBC 4 New York has learned.
And those who knew and worked with Morales publicly claimed she was a compulsive liar:
Acquaintances say Morales — who was dishonorably discharged from the military — has a history of fibbing and at one point pretended she had terminal cancer.
“She exaggerated every story,” former coworker Julie Howat told The Post. “I knew [the receipt] was fake. When the articles came out, everyone at my job laughed.”
Yet HuffPost’s own search engine proves it ignored these developments. A March 11, 2017 search using the string “Dayna Morales receipt tip” returned no relevant results:
(4.2) September 2015: A gay man in North Dakota claimed he was physically assaulted because of his sexual orientation; police soon determined that he made the story up, and was the one who attacked others
On September 4, 2015, HuffPost published the following story (note that URL now leads only to its Gay Voices section, and a search
A gay man believes his outfit of metallic red shorts and a tank top was what triggered what he said was an assault and homophobic taunting during a weekend incident at a University of North Dakota fraternity house that police are investigating.
Haakon Gisvold, 18, said Thursday he was called anti-gay slurs, choked and stripped down Sunday while attending a party at the Lambda Chi Alpha house in Grand Forks. The fraternity chapter has been placed on limited operations as the University of North Dakota and Grand Forks police departments investigate.
Gisvold said he attended the party with a friend and spent at least an hour there before a member of the fraternity asked him to leave because of what he was wearing.
“I said `Look at these girls. They’re wearing short clothes, too. I don’t see what the big deal is,'” said Gisvold, adding that he then heard homophobic slurs.
Five weeks later, local police determined that Gisvold made a false police complaint, and that it was he — not the accused — who initiated physical violence:
Police in Grand Forks, North Dakota, determined that a man who claimed to have been the victim of a vicious anti-gay attack at a University of North Dakota fraternity made up the entire story.
Haakon Gisvold is accused of lying to police in August about a brutal assault and robbery at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He claimed that fraternity members shouted anti-gay slurs as they beat him, choked him, stripped him down to his underwear and robbed him. He said he hid in a bush until someone brought him clothes, The Daily Caller reported.
“I just want those guys to learn from this,” he told The Associated Press at the time. “They could go to jail, sure, but they could go to jail and then come out with the same mindset that they don’t like homosexuals.
[But] during a monthlong investigation, which included identifying 150 potential witnesses, police determined that Mr. Gisvold concocted the entire story. There was a physical altercation, but police determined that Mr. Gisvold instigated it. Investigators recommended charging him with providing false information to police, but county prosecutor David Jones decided not to file charges.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual anti-Muslim hate crime
Rather than publishing an update to this story, HuffPost has now almost completely removed the story from its site, apparently to try to hide from its readers the fact that they had fallen for another fake hate crime.
Yet when one clicks on that link, it leads to HuffPost’s Gay Voices page — the story itself has been removed.
(4.3) November 2016, Chicago, IL: Bisexual college student alleged she’d received hate and threat notes from Trump supporters; Later is charged with filing false police report
On November 15, 2016, North Park University student Taylor Kalb filed a police report that she’d been receiving hateful, threatening notes from Trump supporters at her college dormitory. From the local NBC-TV affiliate:
A Chicago college student says she has received emails and notes taped to her door containing harassing, threatening language and mentions of President Elect Donald Trump.
Taylor Volk says she is openly bisexual—and last week the North Park University senior from DeKalb was singled out by a hateful note she found taped to her door Friday morning. The note reads “Back to hell,” and “#Trump” along with homophobic slurs. Volk also said she’s received two anonymous emails saying similar things—so she went public with it on her Facebook page.
“This is a countrywide epidemic all of a sudden,” Volk said.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: One week later, on November 22, the same NBC affiliate published a story that claimed North Park University had determined the student made it all up:
Hateful notes and emails allegedly sent to a North Park University student were “fabricated,” the school’s president said Tuesday in a statement, and the woman who claimed they were aimed toward her is no longer enrolled at the school.
“We are confident there is no further threat of repeated intolerance to any member of our campus community stemming from this recent incident,” the university’s President David Parkyn said in a statement.
HuffPost has apparently published nothing about Taylor Volk, or the university’s claim that she made up this hate crime hoax.
(4.4) May 2017: A gay church employee admitted he vandalized the facility with anti-gay and swastika graffiti, in apparent support of Trump — which was blamed on conservatives
On November 14, 2016, HuffPost reported that a church in
In Bean Blossom, Indiana, a swastika and the messages “Heil Trump” and “fag church” were spray-painted on St. David’s Episcopal Church Saturday night. The Episcopal Church is open to LGBT members, and local news station WTHR notes that the St. David’s once performed a same-sex wedding.
“We are disappointed that our safe haven has been vandalized but will not let the actions of a few damper our love of Christ and the world,” the Rev. Kelsey Hutto, priest in charge for St. David’s, wrote on Facebook.
Proof that this was another fake hate crime
On May 3, 2017, the local newspaper reported that after an investigation, a gay employee of the church admitted that he had perpetrated this vandalism, and was being charged with numerous crimes:
The organist at St. David’s Episcopal Church has been charged for spray-painting hate messages on the church shortly after Election Day last November.
George “Nathan” Stang, 26, of Bloomington, called the Rev. Kelsey Hutto on Sunday morning, Nov. 13 before services began to report the vandalism.
On April 28, he admitted to Brown County Det. Brian Shrader that he spray-painted a swastika, “Heil Trump” and “Fag Church” on the building, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed May 3 in Brown Circuit Court.
“Stang, who is gay, stated he felt scared and alone because of the election results,” the court document said. He told the detective that his parents were not very supportive of him because of that and he wanted to “mobilize a movement,” but he didn’t want it to generate the amount of media attention that the vandalism caused, the document said.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual hate crime
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, and may have clicked through read the original, false story, they would have no reason to know that it was another fake anti-gay hate crime.
So what kinds of “news” stories did HuffPost decide to publish on its front page, instead of anything about this latest fake hate crime?
Here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost published on its front page in the following three days, from May 4-6, instead of anything about the fact that this had been a fake hate crime:
HuffPost featured this “news” story on its front page on May 6, 2017.
(4.5) November 2016, Santa Monica, CA: Gay Canadian filmmaker claimed he was severely beaten by Trump supporters on election night, who used anti-gay slurs; Police quickly determined the assault never happened
On November 8, 2016, election night, Canadian filmmaker Chris Ball alleged he was violently attacked by Trump voters when he exited a gay bar in Santa Monica, CA. As reported by the Daily Caller:
The Trump supporters hurled gay slurs at him while he was watching the results come in at a bar, he claims, then followed him out of the bar at the end of the night and assaulted him in an alleyway. Ball posted a photo of himself covered in blood in an Emergency Room as evidence, saying the attackers smashed a beer bottle on his head.
“We got a new president you fucking faggots,” they told him, according to Ball.
Proof that this was another fake hate crime
Police quickly determined that Ball’s story was not credible. Continuing, from the Daily Caller:
He did not provide the name of the bar or the location of the attack, and his story has not been substantiated. The Santa Monica Police Department put out a statement saying they received no information indicating the alleged crime occurred, and that a check of local hospitals revealed no victim of any such incident was admitted or treated in the hospital.
In the end, according to a gay news site (archive), Ball reportedly admitted that his “attackers” may have, in fact, been gay Clinton supporters who were angered by the election outcome, or people other than Trump supporters:
In retrospect, Ball doesn’t think it was really a political issue – it was a hate issue, fuelled by the charged atmosphere of the election night, with a group of drunk people who used Trump’s rhetoric as an excuse to get in a fight. He feels it could very well have been a Clinton supporter, or just someone else with a homophobic attitude on any other night – it’s an ongoing issue.
(4.6) July 2012, Omaha, NE: Lesbian claimed anti-LGBT men invaded her home, carved slurs into her skin; police soon determined she perpetrated this fake hate crime on herself
On July 22, 2012, according to the NY Daily News, Omaha lesbian Charlie K. Rogers claimed to police:
The alleged attack occurred just as Omaha was engaged in a debate about LGBT policy:
Rogers, 33, reported the attack amid a charged debate in Lincoln over the city’s proposed “fairness ordinance,” which would ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The City Council approved the ordinance in May, but two conservative groups gathered enough signatures to force a popular vote on it before it can take effect.
Proof that this was another fake hate crime
Continuing, from the NY Daily News:
Lincoln Police Chief Jim Peschong pointed to a Facebook post by the woman, Charlie Rogers — written four days before the July 22 incident — as a perceived motive for faking an attack.
“So maybe I am too idealistic, but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me,” the post stated, according to police.
The physical evidence police uncovered further indicated the entire allegation was a self-perpetuated hoax:
Rogers, a former University of Nebraska women’s basketball star, was discovered by a neighbor screaming and soaked in blood at around 4 a.m.
A gay slur was discovered spray painted in her basement. Her home was also doused with gasoline to start a fire, although the flames only caused about $200 worth of damages, fire officials said.
Her account appeared sketchy in other respects, according to the arrest warrant.
Although she said she was attacked on the bed, it was found tidy and without blood. A forensic pathologist said the cuts on her body were “superficial, symetrical (sic), avoided sensitive areas of the body, appear that they would have taken considerable time to do and are accessible to the victim and follow the victim’s frame of reference,” the World-Herald reported.
According to Peschong, police found a pile of clothes, white knit gloves and a red box cutter on the living room floor after the alleged attack. Rogers said the gloves didn’t belong to her, but investigators determined that a lot of the DNA found inside the glove was Rogers’ and that none of it came from a male.
Rogers, after she allegedly beat herself up
In December 2012, Rogers was found guilty of filing a false police report, and was later sentenced to jail, community service and probation.
(4.7) June 2012, Oak Park, IL: Gay nightclub is torched; owner points out anti-gay slurs written on the walls; owner confesses that he burned property for insurance money
On June 3, 2012, The Velvet Ultra Rope Lounge was torched in an arson attack that, according to the owner, was motivated by homophobic hatred:
Over the weekend, Oak Park gay bar Velvet Rope Ultra Lounge, was destroyed in a fire. Firefighters were called to the scene around 6:30 a.m. Sunday to put out the blaze, which burned the nightclub’s interior. The fire could be investigated as a possible hate-crime-associated arson after anti-gay comments were discovered scribbled on a wall. In addition, the back door, which was kicked in, also showed negative comments. Arson investigators were reportedly seen removing large pieces of concrete from the wall.
Velvet Rope owner Frank Elliott, who left the bar around 2 a.m., was in shock and disbelief that his bar was the possible target of arson. “My whole life, everything that I’ve worked for … my whole life is on the line and I don’t know what to think or even begin with,” he told the Tribune. Elliott has also been working to open Bonsai, an Asian restaurant, on Halsted in Boystown. No word on whether the Oak Park fire will impede this opening.
Proof that this was another fake hate crime
Soon after the arson attack, Elliott was charged with torching his own nightclub. He later confessed to the crime:
A bar owner admitted he set his gay nightclub on fire in Oak Park.
Frank Elliott pleaded guilty to arson and insurance fraud for the fire at The Velvet Rope Ultra Lounge in 2012.
Prosecutors said Elliott doused the bar in alcohol, wrote gay slurs on the wall, then lit it on fire.
He was sentenced to two years’ probation and has to pay back $107,000 to two insurance companies.
HuffPost’s complicity in perpetuating the false notion that this was an actual hate crime
HuffPost’s own search engine proves that while it published one story that discussed the original allegation, it published nothing about Elliott being charged for the crime, or ultimately confessing.
On February 24, 2019, a search using the string “Velvet Rope Ultra Lounge arson” returned one result. Note the ads from State Farm Insurance:
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, and may have clicked through read the original, false story, they would have no reason to know that this was another fake anti-gay hate crime.
And State Farm and United Airlines visibly enabled and legitimized HuffPost’s subversive behavior in this regard, yet another example of its efforts to tear America apart based on lies about hate crimes.
(4.8) August 2017, Jackson, MI: Transgender LGBT activist’s home is torched, killing two dogs and three cats; Police later charge “victim” with setting the fire
On August 10, 2017, Jackson, MI transgender LGBT activist Nikki Joly’s rented home was severely burned, in what police describe as an arson attack:
JACKSON, MI – A fire that destroyed the home of a LGBT leader in Jackson and killed several pets a week ago is still under investigation for arson.
A Michigan State Police Fire Investigator aiding in the investigation into the blaze continues to sift through the debris inside the home in the 1800 block of Pringle Avenue at 1:17 p.m., Aug. 10, Jackson Police Lt. Sergio Garcia said.
“Arson investigations take some time as there are a lot of things we have to look at and there are several external investigative units involved as well,” Garcia said.
Investigators determined an accelerant was used in the fire, leading police to believe the fire was intentionally set, Director of Police and fire service Elmer Hitt has said.
Indication that this was a fake anti-LGBT hate crime
When the home of Nikki Joly burned down in 2017, killing five pets, the FBI investigated it as a hate crime.
After all, the transgender man and gay rights activist had received threats after having a banner year in this conservative town.
In the prior six months, he helped open the city’s first gay community center, organized the first gay festival and, after 18 years of failed attempts, helped lead a bruising battle for an ordinance that prohibits discrimination against gays.
For his efforts, a local paper named him the Citizen of the Year.
Authorities later determined the fire was intentionally set, but the person they arrested came as a shock to both supporters and opponents of the gay rights movement. It was the citizen of the year — Nikki Joly.
Why would this activist burn down his own house? The Detroit News provided insight, obtained from the local police:
Meanwhile, a police investigative report suggests a possible reason for the fire.
Two people who worked with Joly at St. Johns United Church of Christ, where the Jackson Pride Center was located, said he had been frustrated the controversy over gay rights had died down with the passage of the nondiscrimination law, according to the report.
The church officials, Barbara Shelton and Bobby James, when asked by police about a possible motive for the fire, said Joly was disappointed the Jackson Pride Parade and Festival, held five days before the blaze, hadn’t received more attention or protests.
(4.9) October 2018, Athens, Ohio: A lesbian member of the Student Senate member reported receiving several written death threats; Soon after, police charged her with writing the notes & making false reports
An LGBTQ Ohio University Student Senate member has received a death threat, and Student Senate leadership believes the threat likely came from another senate member.
Anna Ayers, commissioner of the Senate Appropriations Commission, found two notes in the drawer of her desk in the Student Senate office. On Sept. 27, she found a “hateful, harassing” note referencing her LGBTQ identity and calling her a derogatory term. On Monday, Ayers found another note in her desk that included a threat against her life.
The note likely came from someone within Student Senate, Student Senate President Maddie Sloat said. Anyone can enter the senate office, but whoever left the note had to know which desk belonged to Ayers, who is a member of The Post Publishing Board.
Student Senate is not releasing the specific wording of the notes to protect the integrity of an ongoing OU Police Department investigation, Ayers said.
Ayers also addressed the writer of the note directly, saying she hoped that person was in the room. She called that person weak, cowardly and worthless.
“You may find me revolting and worthy of a threat on my life, but in reality, it is your beliefs that are repulsive,” Ayers said. “You need to get this through your head, you f—ing a–hole: I am proud to be who I am, and nothing you could say or do will ever change that.”
Proof that this was another fake hate crime
On the day the above story was published, police arrested Ayers and charged her with perpetrating this hate crime against herself.
Anna Ayers, commissioner of the Ohio University Student Senate Appropriations Commission, was arrested by the OU Police Department on Monday and charged with three counts of making false alarms.
Ayers — an OU senior studying journalism, a member of The Post Publishing Board and a previous Post columnist — reported that she received three threatening messages, two in the Student Senate office and one at her residence. An OUPD investigation found that Ayers placed the messages herself prior to reporting them. […]
Ayers later confessed to writing the notes to herself — and blamed it all on a medical condition:
An Ohio University student pleaded guilty last week to one count of making a false alarm, and received a reduced sentence as a result of a plea agreement with city prosecutors.
Anna Ayers, 21, was sentenced to 30 days in jail on the first-degree misdemeanor count of making a false alarm, with that 30 days suspended by Athens County Municipal Judge Todd Grace as long as she does not violate any laws for two years, and completes 24 hours of community service in Athens County within 90 days (or 48 hours in 120 days if in another county). She also faces a $1,000 fine, with $900 of that suspended.
Ayers also was required to write a letter of apology to OU’s Student Senate.
“During the last week in September, I entered into what is known as a manic episode,” Ayers wrote. “Individuals who suffer from Bipolar One Disorder can have severe mood episodes, especially when they go without adequate treatment. I have been suffering from the mood symptoms of Bipolar One Disorder for many years. Since being officially diagnosed a year ago, I have been inadequately treated for the severity of my illness and was left on a medication that is known to exacerbate symptoms of mania. These are just a few of the factors that triggered this episode.” […]
“These episodes can cause complete disassociation, a disregard for consequence, and, when the episode ends, a limited recollection of what occurred during mania,” she wrote.
(5) Other fake hate crimes
(5.1) November 2016, Minneapolis, MN: Asian student posted allegation on Facebook the day after the election that she was physically attacked by a white male because of her race, then was arrested for beating him up; Police deny incident ever occurred
(5.2) November 2016, Elon, NC: Someone posted an anti-Hispanic message on a whiteboard after the election; School announces a Hispanic student did it as “satirical commentary”
(5.3) March 2017, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan college student confessed to slashing her own face after the presidential election, then filing a false police report that alleged a white male did it
(5.4) March 2017: Leftist college group admitted creating and distributing fake white supremacist, anti-illegal alien flyers — as “part of a series of educational ‘invisible theater’ events”
(5.1) November 2016, Minneapolis, MN: Asian student posted allegation on Facebook the day after the election that she was physically attacked by a white male because of her race, then was arrested for beating him up; Police deny incident ever occurred
Local police departments say they were not involved in the alleged handcuffing of a University student who said she was verbally and physically attacked while crossing the Washington Avenue Bridge in a Facebook post Wednesday.
On Facebook and Twitter, the University of Minnesota Police Department and the Minneapolis Police Department said there were no records of the incident Kathy Mirah Tu described in her Facebook post.
In the widely-shared post, Tu said she was harassed by a white male on the bridge.
“I was stop[ped] in my [tracks] by a white male, who yelled at me to ‘Go back to Asia.’ … I pretended to not hear anything and continue[d] on walking since I didn’t want to create conflict,” Tu, who noted she is Asian-American, wrote in the post on her personal Facebook page. “Shortly after that moment, I was stopped by that same man who told me ‘Don’t you know it’s disrespectful to walk away from someone when they are talking to you?”
In her post, Tu wrote that the man grabbed her wrist and threatened to fight her, so she punched him in the throat.
“His friends who were watching the entire situation go down saw that I was going to the win fight and came over to his rescue and accused me of assaulting him and called the police,” she wrote.
She said police handcuffed her, checked her criminal history and let her go with a warning.
In a tweet Thursday afternoon, UMPD said they did not respond to the incident and asked Tu to contact police. “UMPD was not involved but want to talk to the female who posted this on social media,” the tweet said.
Apparently unaware that this was a hoax, the student body created a whirlwind of activity in response. Continuing from the above article:
University alumna Sandy Moua circulated a petition in reaction to the alleged incident that garnered 592 signatures as of Sunday evening. It calls for University administrators, Board of Regents and police to condemn hateful actions on campus, suspend faculty and students accused of racism and mandate a buddy system between campus security and students — among other requests. […]
Once it became clear that this story was a hoax, however, the alleged victim also took rapid action:
Tu’s Facebook post had more than 17,000 shares and 30,000 reactions as of Thursday evening.
Tu didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. On Friday morning, Tu’s post became unavailable. Later that morning, Tu’s Facebook account appeared to have been deleted.
Huffington Post has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(5.2) November 2016, Elon, NC: Someone posted an anti-Hispanic message on a whiteboard after the election; School announces a Hispanic student did it as “satirical commentary”
On the morning of November 10, 2016, a story went viral that claimed a
A picture shows the message that sent shockwaves through Elon University’s campus on Thursday.
The note written on the corner of a classroom whiteboard reads “Bye bye Latinos hasta la vista.” It’s appearing just days after the country elected Donald Trump as president of the United States.
The university’s president, Leo Lambert, released a statement within hours of its discovery condoning the message:
Early this morning, an Elon faculty member found a message written on a corner of a classroom whiteboard that read “Bye bye Latinos hasta la vista.” The faculty member photographed the message, erased it and talked with the students about the message. He also filed a notice of the incident via the university’s bias response system. Since then, the photograph has been shared on social media and is receiving strong reaction.
The story gained tens of thousands of references on the Internet, according to a Google search.
Proof that this was a fake hate crime: At 6:02pm on November 10, Elon University officials released a statement that read, in part:
The person who wrote the note “Bye Bye Latinos Hasta La Vista” has made a confession, according to a statement from Elon University. “This afternoon a student stepped forward, took responsibility for writing the message and is deeply remorseful,” said Smith Jackson, vice president for Student Life. “The matter is being adjudicated through Elon’s Office of Student Conduct.”
Though the person has been identified, the university will not be releasing a name.
Within the same news story, however, it was clearly stated that the student who perpetrated this alleged anti-Hispanic hate crime was… a Hispanic:
In a reversal of prior statements, Elon University sent out an email to students, faculty and staff Friday night with information about the student who wrote the note “Bye Bye Latinos Hasta La Vista.”
Though the university declined to explicitly identify the person by name, it said a Latino student wrote the note as a joke. “The message was written by a Latino student who was upset about the results of the election and wrote the message as a satirical commentary,” said Smith Jackson, vice president for Student Life.
Multiple sources confirmed on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning the person who wrote the note was of Latino heritage and did so as a joke. ENN looked to confirm the information with a university official, but representatives either refused to provide the information or said they did not know the student’s identity.
Huffington Post has completely ignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(5.3) March 2017, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan college student confessed to slashing her own face after the presidential election, then filing a false police report that alleged a white male did it
On November 15, 2016, a student at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor filed a police report in which she alleged that a white man slashed her face with a safety pin, and that it was a hate crime.
According to the original story at MLive.com, the “victim,” Halley Bass
posted about the attack on Facebook the same day she reported the attack to the police, according to the report. Bass later told detectives she wrote the post to convey “that all people are equal and deserve to have their voice heard and not feel endangered.”
How we know it was a fake hate crime: After local police conducted a thorough investigation and interviewed Bass several more times, she confessed that she’d made the whole story up:
A 21-year-old Ann Arbor woman pleaded guilty as charged to one count of false report of a misdemeanor in 15th District Court on Monday, March 6.
Halley Bass admitted in court that she fabricated a story about a strange man scratching her face in downtown Ann Arbor on Nov. 15. “I was suffering from depression at the time,” Bass told Judge Elizabeth Pollard Hines. “I made a superficial scratch on my face. It was visible and I was embarrassed about what I’d done. So I made up a story and told a friend that a stranger had done it while I was walking. I was encouraged to report it to the police. I made the mistake of doing that.”
At the time, Bass claimed her attack was part of the surge in hate crimes following the election of Donald Trump a week earlier. She told police she was targeted for wearing a solidarity pin connected to Great Britain’s “Brexit” vote.
Bass admitted to scratching her own face with the pin after becoming upset during a Woman’s Literature class at the University of Michigan, according to the Ann Arbor Police Department report.
Huffington Post has completelyignored this story, or removed it from its site.
(5.4) March 2017: Leftist college group admitted creating and distributing fake white supremacist, anti-illegal alien flyers — as “part of a series of educational ‘invisible theater’ events”
On March 16, 2017, this news story appeared on HuffPost’s front page:
Clicking on that headline brought the reader to this page:
Colleges across the U.S. continue to be plagued with fliers promoting racism.
On Monday, multiple fliers posted by members of Vanguard America ― a white supremacy group ― were found on the University of Maryland Campus.
“A notice to all white Americans,” one flier read. “It is your civic duty to report any and all illegal aliens. …They are criminals. America is a white nation.”
“Carry the torch of your people,” another said. It was the third time in three months that fliers were found on the campus, according to The Washington Post.
Similar fliers were found the same day at George Washington University in D.C.
How we know it was a fake hate crime: While the flyers are actually from the racist Vanguard America website, as CampusReformdisclosed on March 23, a leftist activist group on one U.S. college campus admitted that they posted these flyers — as “part of a series of educational ‘invisible theater’ events by numerous student groups:
The “Diversity Leadership Council” at Gustavus Adolphus College has admitted to posting racially offensive posters around campus after the school’s Bias Response Team received multiple reports on the matter.
The signs, which are now being labeled a social experiment, notified “all white Americans” to report “any and all illegal aliens to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement” because “they are criminals.”
“You hurt a lot of people, tarnished the college’s reputation, and will be losing alumni donations.”
Provocatively declaring that “America is a white nation,” the flyers assert that it is the “civic duty” of white Americans to turn illegal immigrants in to law enforcement. […]
[One alumna] took to Facebook again to explain that a friend of hers, who had also filed a complaint with the school’s Bias Response Team, had received a response from Dean of Students Jones VanHecke explaining that the offensive flyers were actually “part of a series of educational ‘invisible theater’ events taking place this week that have been planned by I Am We Are theater troupe, the Diversity Leadership Team, and the Bystander Intervention Committee.”
Instead, here is a sampling of the “news” stories that HuffPost published on its front page in the following three days, from March 24-26, instead of anything about the fact that this had been a fake hate crime:
This “news” story appeared on HuffPost’s front page on March 25, 2017.
Thus, to anyone who only gets their news only from HuffPost’s front page, and may have clicked through read the original, false story, they would have no reason to know (a) that it was another fake hate crime, or (b) that HuffPost had apparently decided to legitimize this fraud, by not notifying its readers that they had been duped.
School Officials: Montclair State Student Who Claimed He Was Beaten, Called ‘Islamic Terrorist’ Made It Up, by NewYork.CBSLocal.com, April 28, 2014. Excerpt:
Summary: Two Muslim men, Adam Saleh and Sheikh Akbar, alleged they captured video evidence of the NYPD’s bias against, and physical harassment of Muslims.
Suspect arrested in vandalism of Fresno Islamic Cultural Center, by Veronica Miracle, ABC30.com (Fresno, CA), December 27, 2014. Excerpts:
Kato Kaelin Says Actor’s Portrayal Of Him In O.J. Miniseries Is ‘Incorrect’
Summary: On October 12, 2016, HuffPost broke an in-depth, original story on its front page, in which it alleged that a 7-year-old Muslim boy, Abdul Aziz Usmani, was beaten by his fellow classmates on a school bus to the point where he had a broken arm, and no one did anything to help him:
Summary: On December 19, 2016, Adam Saleh, an American Muslim, called for a boycott of Delta Airlines, after alleging that it removed him from a flight because of his faith.
The Muslim teen who claimed three drunks taunted her as a “terrorist” on a Manhattan subway train now admits she lied to cops — who arrested her on Wednesday.
Summary: On Christmas day, 2015, the Savoy Masjid Mosque in Houston, TX was deliberately set on fire, which caused extensive damage to the structure, and required 80 firefighters to extinguish. The incident was originally blamed as possibly being caused by Islamophobia, and was covered by CBS, CNN, the Houston Chronicle, .Mic, International Business Times, and RT (Russia Today).
Clicking on that headline brought the reader to this page:
Oberlin College canceled classes Monday after someone reported spotting a person walking on campus wearing what appeared to be a Ku Klux Klan-like hooded robe, the latest in a monthlong string of racial incidents on the campus of a college that was among the first in the nation to begin regularly admitting black students nearly two centuries ago.
[VIDEO] Three SUNY Albany students who falsely reported racial assault on bus indicted on enhanced charges, by Tobias Salinger, NY Daily News, May 2, 2016. Excerpt:
And HuffPost’s top executives have repeatedly said that they adhere to only the highest standards of objective journalism.
Don’t Have Sex In My Pub’s Parking Lot, Angry Landlady Warns
Beating Of Black Iowa Student Investigated As A Hate Crime; The 19-year-old had his front teeth knocked out and needed a dozen stitches, Huffington Post, May 5, 2016. Excerpts:
There’s A Library Of Orgasm Sounds, And It Needs Donations (NSFW)
[A] visitor to the college [Williams College] discovered “AMKKK KILL” written on a wall in Griffin Hall in a material that resembled blood, Williams spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said.
That headline led to this story page:
Two one-time Northwestern University students arrested for spraypainting racist and homophobic messages, along with phallic drawings and the word “Trump” inside a campus chapel earlier this year now face two-dozen criminal charges related to the March 11 incident, including a dozen hate crime charges, according to prosecutors.
Clicking on that headline brought the reader to this story page — note the fact that HuffPost put the alleged “victim’s” name right in the headline, claimed she was a Marine, and stated that this incident had, in fact, happened:
A Chicago college student says she has received emails and notes taped to her door containing harassing, threatening language and mentions of President Elect Donald Trump.
Harassing Message Toward Latinos Found in Elon University Classroom, by Cristen Drummond, TimeWarnerCable News (NC), November 10, 2016.
Clicking on that headline brought the reader to this page:
On Monday, multiple fliers posted by members of Vanguard America ― a white supremacy group ― were found on the University of Maryland Campus.