Throughout the election, there was one particular superficial criticism of President Donald Trump that seemed to stick–that his hands were rather small. Trump–who’s known for dealing poorly with criticism–may have taken that particular jab to heart. Because now some internet sleuths are claiming that the White House is photoshopping official photos to make Trump’s hands look bigger than they actually are.

Here’s the evidence, in gif form:

The discrepancy in hand size appears to have first been noticed by Dana Schwartz, who writes for the Observer. She tweeted:

Trump 100% photoshopped his hand bigger for this picture hanging in the white house, which is the most embarassing thing I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/MGTbFfdLqp

— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) January 27, 2017

Schwartz, as well as some of her followers, tried to get to the bottom of what I’ve wisely decided to dub PhotoshoppedHandGate.

@DanaSchwartzzz Here, this is the absolute most precise I could get it. The color & contrast changes, but nothing moves. pic.twitter.com/zHFItu8Knx

— Christopher Keelty (@keeltyc) January 27, 2017

@DanaSchwartzzz tried to scale the photos based on their shoes (and was generous). Trump’s hand is still enormous compared to the original. pic.twitter.com/9XraoWKO8l

— Joon Lee (@iamjoonlee) January 27, 2017

Based on my (unscientific) eye Trump’s hand certainly looks bigger in the White House release. But what exactly happened? Some have hypothesized that PhotoshoppedHandGate may be similar to the “dress” phenomenon–lighting and angles are playing a trick on our eyes. And Philip Bump, from the Washington Post pretty handily (see what I did there?) debunked it on Twitter.

OK. So, this “Trump’s hand is Photoshopped” thing is nonsense.

— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 27, 2017

First, the ABC segment clearly uses a version of the photo from Getty, not a shot of the photo on the wall. https://t.co/h0JMpVsU1A

— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 27, 2017

Second, if you compare ABC shot (in preceding tweet) with image from Getty, below, they’re the same, except color. https://t.co/cbeUwuoNp8

— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 27, 2017

And here you go: A GIF that I just made. Not aligned perfectly (my fault), but the hand is the same. pic.twitter.com/N7Zii1qRMY

— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 27, 2017

So as fun as it could have been to pretend that there’s an official White House staffer dedicated to photoshopping Trump’s hands in photos…that’s almost certainly not the case. But, for a few minutes during a long week, at least we were all distracted by the possibility.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Is the White House Editing Pictures of Trump’s Hands?: Probably Not appeared first on Law Street.

A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he entered a Washington D.C. pizzeria with an assault rifle hoping to investigate an online fake news story involving Hillary Clinton.

Police respond to reports of man with gun at Comet Ping Pong restaurant in D.C. https://t.co/ccH50zq6KH pic.twitter.com/b6mLPkxxRg

— WTOP (@WTOP) December 4, 2016

Police say Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina walked into Comet Ping Pong–located in Chevy Chase–and pointed an AR-15 assault-style rifle in the direction of a restaurant employee, who fled and called police.

Welch reportedly fired the rifle inside of the restaurant, but no one was injured.

According to the Washington Post, police also seized a Colt .38 caliber handgun and a shotgun from Welch. One of those weapons was found inside the restaurant, while the other was located in his car.

Comet Ping Pong was the unlucky target of the #Pizzagate conspiracy theory that went viral last month. A string of fake news stories claimed that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta were running a pedophilic sex ring from the pizzeria’s back rooms.

None of the rumors were true, but that didn’t stop the restaurant’s owner, James Alefantis, and his employees from being attacked on social media and receiving death threats.

Reddit banned the Pizzagate subreddit from its site, citing its strict policies against posting personal information of others; however, this was met with a wave of criticism from users on r/The_Donald, a popular pro-Trump subreddit, who felt Reddit’s decision was an act of censorship.

Every “conspiracy” theory has proven right&media wrong. Comet ping pong and #Pizzagate are real. I trust Twitter “reporters” more than CNN

— Jill SteinCrazy (@terrymendozer) December 5, 2016

The rise of fake news stories has become a growing concern as some experts argue it altered the fate of the presidential election. Facebook even went as far as to announce plans to crack down on fake news, but eradicating these types of stories from social media may be next to impossible.

In a statement on Sunday, Alefantis vowed that Comet Ping Pong would “continue to operate safely and securely,” and he condemned those who are working to spread the malicious accusations.

“What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences,” he said. “I hope that those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away.”

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Comet Ping Pong Gunman Says He Was ‘Investigating’ Fake News Story appeared first on Law Street.

The Twittersphere was treated to a particularly strange dose of conspiracy theory nuttiness this week when rapper B.oB. went head-to-head with famed scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson over whether or not the earth is flat. Fellow Law Streeter Alexis Evans published an excellent rundown of the bizarre feud on Tuesday, but it got me thinking: why do so many seemingly insane conspiracy theories exist? After all, we all know that the earth is round, and vaccines don’t cause autism, and that Elvis Presley is probably dead. But then, some conspiracy theories do kind of turn out to true–take, for example, the NSA spying on Americans. So, how do we separate the crazy from the not-so-crazy? Turns out University of Oxford postdoctoral research associate David Robert Grimes has figured out a way, by determining how long it would take conspiracy theories to be debunked.

Grimes essentially set out to answer a simple question: how long would it take for the truth to come out about a conspiracy theory? In order to test the equation he developed, Grimes looked at three conspiracy theories that have turned out to be true, and compared them to four other long-standing theories, in an attempt to figure out how long it would have taken those theories to be debunked, whether intentionally or accidentally.

The three “true” conspiracy theories that Grimes looked at were:

• The NSA’s spying program, which whistle-blower Edward Snowden released information about in 2013.
• The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, a horrifying “clinical study” that involved researchers essentially experimenting on and withholding treatment from 600 African-American male participants.
• The FBI’s use of questionable techniques and pseudo-science in sworn testimony, particularly involving the FBI’s microscopic hair comparison unit, that led to hundreds of wrongful convictions.

According to Grimes, these conspiracy theories were exposed in six years, 25 years, and six years respectively. Grimes’ equation takes into account conditions like how many people would have to be involved in each coverup and the amount of effort the coverups would require. So he was able to mathematically calculate how long it should take a secret to be exposed–whether from a whistle-blower’s actions or accidentally.

Using that calculation, he was able to determine how long it would take four popular conspiracy theories to have been debunked:

• NASA faking the moon landing would have been uncovered in four years.
• Climate change, if only concealed by climate scientists, would have taken 27 years to be debunked. But, if you involved scientific bodies and agencies, the possible cover up time drops to under four years.
• The conspiracy theory that vaccines aren’t safe would take just over three years if drug companies were involved, but much longer (35 years) if it was limited to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
• If pharmaceutical companies knew how to cure cancer but were withholding those cures from the public, we would have found out in a little over three years.

According to Think Progress’s Lauren C. Williams:

For a conspiracy to last five years, just over 2,500 people could actively know the truth before it’s revealed. Fewer than 1,000 people can know about it to keep the conspiracy alive for 10 years, and only 125 people could be involved to keep a conspiracy going for a century, the study found.

So, is the world flat? Well, we already know it’s not, but now here’s proof that if it is, it defies what science tells us in more ways than one.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post The Earth isn’t Flat: The Science of Waiting Out Conspiracy Theories appeared first on Law Street.

Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) has taken a new, innovative approach to dealing with the insane conspiracy theorists in his state. He appears to have joined them.

Since President Obama was elected in 2008, a number of particularly unhinged individuals have spouted theories that he’s going to enact some sort of martial law, or take over the country. It’s a fringe theory, to be sure, but one that has permeated many facets of the extreme right wing side of the internet. Go ahead, google “Obama martial law.” I’ll wait here patiently, while you get sucked into the crazy wormhole. The theories all boil down to one particular idea–Obama wants to remain President, so he’ll declare martial law and take over. This will, apparently, be the end of the United States as we know it.

One of the places where this conspiracy theory has taken hold is in deeply conservative Texas. So when the federal government announced that there will be a series of training exercises held by the United States military in a number of Southwestern states, including Texas, it raised red flags for some. Some very, very red flags.

Operation Jade Helm 15 will involve 1,200 special operations forces. It’s designed to help these special forces practice their readiness skills, and will take place in various sites across Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nevada and California for two months this summer.  While in some cases it will not be immediately obvious that this is a military operation, as some of the forces involved may be blending in as civilians, only public land will be used, or private land if the government has gotten permission to use it. Practice operations like this are a relatively normal practice for our military, and happen on a fairly regular basis.

However, the  people waving those very red flags seem to think that it will lead to tyranny, martial law, and takeover by the federal government.

Operation Jade Helm 15 Huge Step Closer Towards Permanent Military Presence On Main Street http://t.co/w4eKQcwXF7

— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) April 30, 2015

Some are even purporting that the protests in Ferguson and more recently, Baltimore, are a set-up for more extended martial law in Texas and around the country. Again, not only is this completely bonkers, but it does a complete disservice to the very real issue in our country of police militarization and abuse. 

Obama is taking over Democrat-held cities via martial law like ISIS is taking over places in the M.E. via #SocializedTerrorism @CyberMommie — Kickin’ It Crews (@imcrews) April 28, 2015

The riot in Baltimore is exactly what operation jade helm 15 was about to prepare for martial law where we the people are the enemy

— Kevin Lancour (@kevinlancour30) April 28, 2015

In light of this totally irrational paranoia and terror, Governor Greg Abbott decided to get on board and stoke his citizens’ fears by ordering the Texas Militia to monitor Operation Jade Helm 15. Abbott elaborated in a letter to Major General Gerald “Jake” Betty his reasoning for the monitoring, stating:

During the training operation, it is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed.

In response to Abbott’s horribly misguided call, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest spoke for many of us when he bluntly stated: “I have no idea what he’s thinking.”

Abbott stating that he will be monitoring Operation Jade Helm 15 so that Texans know that their rights will remain in tact can mean one of two things. The first that he could be acting like a dad who will check in the closet for monsters so his child will go to sleep, even though the father knows that there are no monsters in the closet. That’s an unflattering picture to paint of a chief executive of a state–that he thinks his citizens are so idiotic and immature that they can’t simply be told that there is no monster in the closet.

Or, by ordering the forces to keep an eye on the operation, Abbott is telling his citizens that their worries are warranted and that there’s a chance that their rights won’t remain protected. By doing so, Abbott is legitimizing the conspiracy theorists who are freaking the fuck out about a relatively normal military practice operation. That’s not so great either, because that tells me that the head of our second biggest state thinks there’s a chance, however infinitesimal, that the federal government could be coming to take over his state.

I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, I think we’re all a little too old for conspiracy theories and monsters in the closet. Too bad Governor Abbott doesn’t agree.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Governor Greg Abbott is Pandering to Conspiracy Theorists appeared first on Law Street.