BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Chevy Chase -- Comet Ping Pong (5037 Conn Ave, NW)

DC -- Chevy Chase -- Comet Ping Pong (5037 Conn Ave, NW):

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Description of Pictures: The Comet Ping Pong restaurant near the Politics and Prose store had been targeted with fake news trying to drive it out of business. The world of Trump-provoked truthiness continues to ooze like a plague. From https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/22/how-fake-news-articles-fabricated-child-trafficking-story-and-led-death-threats-pizzeria/214602

How Fake News Articles Fabricated A Child Trafficking Story And Led To Death Threats For A Pizzeria
Blog ››› November 22, 2016
The New York Times highlights the case of Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria based in Washington, D.C., that was the subject of several fake news stories online.
These stories falsely alleged that the restaurant was a hub for child trafficking after Comet was mentioned in the hacked emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta that were released by WikiLeaks.
As the Times reports, “The articles appeared on Facebook and on websites such as The New Nationalist and The Vigilant Citizen, with one headline blaring: ‘Pizzagate: How 4Chan Uncovered the Sick World of Washington’s Occult Elite.’”
As a result, the owner of the restaurant and the staff started receiving a torrent of threats via social media, including one message that said, “I will kill you personally.”
After Media Matters launched a petition asking Facebook to take action to address the rampant problem of fake news circulated via its service, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly committed to working on the problem at the social media giant.

Pictures also include December 9, 2016 which was #standwithcomet day. This was the day of support for the nutjob-targetted restaurant. I was the first in line to get in. I have pizza fairly often but it had been years since I had a calzone so that's what I got. Good and filling! You weren't allowed to take real photographs inside -- cell phones only -- so I didn't do my normal obsessive thing but it was good to support them.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] COMET_161201_02.JPG	[2] COMET_161201_04.JPG	[3] COMET_161203_04.JPG
[4] COMET_161209_001.JPG	[5] COMET_161209_007.JPG	[6] COMET_161209_008.JPG
[7] COMET_161209_011.JPG	[8] COMET_161209_014.JPG	[9] COMET_161209_018.JPG
[10] COMET_161209_021.JPG	[11] COMET_161209_022.JPG	[12] COMET_161209_025.JPG
[13] COMET_161209_032.JPG	[14] COMET_161209_037.JPG	[15] COMET_161209_046.JPG
[16] COMET_161209_048.JPG	[17] COMET_161209_057.JPG	[18] COMET_161209_070.JPG
[19] COMET_161209_089.JPG	[20] COMET_161209_093.JPG	[21] COMET_161209_102.JPG
[22] COMET_161209_107.JPG	[23] COMET_161209_117.JPG	[24] COMET_161209_120.JPG
[25] COMET_161209_129.JPG	[26] COMET_161209_132.JPG	[27] COMET_161209_140.JPG
[28] COMET_161209_144.JPG	[29] COMET_161209_148.JPG	[30] COMET_161209_159.JPG
[31] COMET_161209_161.JPG	[32] COMET_161209_162.JPG	[33] COMET_161209_164.JPG
[34] COMET_161209_169.JPG	[35] COMET_161209_171.JPG	[36] COMET_161209_173.JPG
[37] COMET_161209_179.JPG	[38] COMET_161209_180.JPG	[39] COMET_161209_184.JPG
[40] COMET_161209_188.JPG	[41] COMET_161209_191.JPG	[42] COMET_161209_193.JPG
[43] COMET_161209_196.JPG	[44] COMET_161209_203.JPG	[45] COMET_161209_207.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. COMET_161203_04.JPG: Conspiracy nutjobs continue to terrorize the Comet Ping Pong store. A mature leader who realized his followers are assaulting the place on the Internet and in person would loudly condemn the whackos and publicly eat at the store. #standwithcomet
2. COMET_161209_007.JPG: We're Still Here
3. COMET_161209_008.JPG: [We Stand] With Comet Love Trumps Hate! Demand Real News! Stop the lies! Dems the truth! Hey neighbor! Sending love from Luca (5 years old) Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27 Hate has no place We [Heart] Our Neighbors
4. COMET_161209_011.JPG: Love, not hate Real, not fake I #standwithcomet
5. COMET_161209_014.JPG: Fake news is not OK
6. COMET_161209_018.JPG: G.F. [Guy Fieri] Ate Here Food Network
7. COMET_161209_022.JPG: We support Comet To James + the Comet Staff!
8. COMET_161209_025.JPG: You can bet we stand with Comet!
9. COMET_161209_032.JPG: James -- My family and I came to eat at Comet to show solidarity. We are thinking of you and are with you in this nightmare -- and we'll see you soon. Leon Wieseltier And f-ck the digital scumbags.
10. COMET_161209_057.JPG: I was the first in line
11. COMET_161209_107.JPG: James Alefantis addresses the staff before the re-opening
12. COMET_161209_140.JPG: We Stand With Comet
13. COMET_161209_144.JPG: Comet Love
14. COMET_161209_161.JPG: Temple Sinai Stands with Our Neighbors: Comet Ping Pong Politics and Prose Tera Sol, Besta Pizza and other threatened businesses. #TruthNotLies
15. COMET_161209_162.JPG: Comet Love Song We love you Comet Oh yes, we do You have great Pizza And big hearts, too We're standing with you True Blue Oh Comet, we love you
16. COMET_161209_169.JPG: Erick Sanchez (a local celebrity and promoter who was the main voice behind the Stand With Comet Facebook page) being interviewed.
17. COMET_161209_171.JPG: Fake News is not OK
18. COMET_161209_173.JPG: Stop the Hatred Real News, Not Fake News #Peace Temple Sinai supports our neighbors and their businesses
19. COMET_161209_179.JPG: Your small business is your dream. So we will help you get through this nightmare.
20. COMET_161209_180.JPG: Hate has no place We [Heart] Our Neighbors
21. COMET_161209_184.JPG: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
22. COMET_161209_188.JPG: Hey neighbor! Sending love from Luca (5 years old)
23. COMET_161209_191.JPG: [Love] [Peace] Comet
Wikipedia Description: Comet Ping Pong
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comet Ping Pong (often abbreviated as Comet) is a pizzeria restaurant and concert venue located in Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C., on Connecticut Avenue. It was founded in 2006 by James Alefantis and Carole Greenwood, with Alefantis eventually becoming the sole owner.

History

Founding and Carole Greenwood

Comet Ping Pong was originally founded by James Alefantis and Carole Greenwood in 2006. It was placed on the same block as another restaurant that they co-owned together, Buck's Fishing and Camping, so they could easily move back and forth between the locations. The restaurant met with initial success and was able to find a niche in the gourmet pizza market in the D.C. area. Greenwood served as the chef of both restaurants; she left her position as executive chef and co-owner in 2006 citing urgent family matters and other personal interests. The Washington City Paper's Tim Carman felt that both Comet and Buck's Fishing & Camping had managed to succeed without Greenwood after her departure.

Conflict with the ANC

Ping Pong games are played inside of the restaurant.
When Comet Ping Pong opened in 2006, Alefantis agreed with the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board that the restaurant would not stay open past midnight and would not have live entertainment. By 2008, however, the restaurant was hosting live music events and some neighborhood residents complained that the business was open after midnight. Also, a member of the ANC criticized Alefantis for having placed a ping pong table on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant to attract and entertain customers. The ANC member, Frank Winstead, published a video on YouTube, "Ping Pong in Public Space", which showed people playing ping pong outside the restaurant and implied that the situation was a traffic hazard. Anticipating that he was going to request outside seating, Alefantis brought the table indoors.

Alefantis held a meeting with the local ANC board to formally request that it recommend remove its formal arrangement so he could put in outside seating, have live entertainment in the restaurant, and remain open after midnight. The meeting was acrimonious, with some ANC members accusing Alefantis of violating the agreement and holding live entertainment in the venue. Frank Winstead stated that Alefantis was, "... trying to turn this area into Adams Morgan with the murders and rapes." The ANC decided in Comet's favor by a 4–3 vote and the audio recording of the meeting went public. Live music resumed on August 8, 2008, after the decision and Frank Winstead was defeated by a wide margin in the next election.

Services and reputation

Comet Ping Pong is both a pizzeria and a live concert venue. The Washington Post's food critic, Tom Sietsema, gave Comet two and a half stars, noting that its pizzas "are as good for their thin and yeasty crusts as for their toppings." The Washingtonian called the restaurant in the "top tier" of Washington pizzerias. New York magazine featured Comet in its "Where to Eat" section of a 'Navigating the Potomac' feature, describing the restaurant as a "hipster-heavy pizza parlor". The DCist featured Comet Ping Pong's 'Time-Out' pizza as one of the ten best in the area. The restaurant also appeared on an episode of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri, where he called the Yalie clam and the Philly calzone pizzas some of the "best he's ever had".

GQ ranked James Alefantis as the 49th most powerful person in Washington partly on the basis of owning Comet Ping Pong and its cultural cachet. Ping pong tables populate the back room which serves as Comet's concert venue, which features a stage at nearly ground level. A number of artists and bands have performed at the restaurant, including The Apes, Heavy Breathing, Speedy Ortiz, and Tussle. DCist's Mehan Jayasuriya noted of the venue, "It's not often that, on your way into a punk rock show, you have to carefully skirt around the band members, for fear of interrupting their ping-pong match."

"Pizzagate" conspiracy theory and 2016 attack

In early November 2016, several fake news websites and online forums falsely implicated the restaurant and various Democratic Party figures as part of a supposed child trafficking ring, which was dubbed "Pizzagate" on Internet forums. The rumor was debunked by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, fact-checking website snopes.com and The New York Times, among others. However, the restaurant's owners and staff were harassed, threatened on social media websites, and given negative Yelp reviews. After continued threats, Comet Ping Pong increased the security for concerts held inside its premises.

On December 4, 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, North Carolina, walked into the restaurant with a semi-automatic rifle, and fired one or more shots inside the building before being arrested; no one was injured. In addition to the AR-15 style rifle, police seized a Colt .38 caliber handgun, a shotgun, and a folding knife from Welch's car and person. Welch told police that he planned to "self-investigate" the conspiracy theory, and was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a pistol without a license, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and carrying a rifle or shotgun outside the home or business.
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