Tim Bergling and Trafficking – The Real Story

On April 20th, Swedish DJ and producer Tim Bergling (who performed under the name Avicii) was found dead in a hotel in Muscat, Oman. Bergling had been visiting friends in that city as part of a process of down-scaling his relentless touring and producing schedule, and of dealing with persistent health problems.

The death of anyone Bergling’s age (he was 28) of apparent natural causes is going to raise eyebrows, and for a few days, it wasn’t clear what happened – or if the causes were indeed natural. He’d been a heavy drinker, and as well as suffering from extreme pancreatitis. And yet…it seemed like there had to be something else.

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Why Kanye West is the Far Right’s Newest Hero

After taking a year off Twitter, rapper Kanye West returned to the social media site on April 13th. Like his previous use of Twitter, West’s musings were all over the map. Some were purely self-promotion, others teased new creative product, and there were some philosophical nuggets and random thoughts thrown in.

But West used his Twitter platform to continue one particular thread he was exploring a few years ago – one that could be either encouraging or disturbing, depending on your political point of view.

On Saturday, West tweeted his support for Candace Owens, notable for being one of the few black women in the media to openly support Donald Trump.

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Mrs. Bush – Or Ms. Crowley?

Like every event everywhere, the death of former First Lady Barbara Bush became an opportunity for conspiracy theorists to spout ludicrous accusations against a person they view as part of the “wealthy elite” controlling the world.

Mrs. Bush died on April 17th at the age of 92, of natural causes. There is nothing the least bit mysterious about her death, and there was little controversial about her life.

Yet there were members of conspiracy theory communities who immediately started the churn of salacious rumor that accompanies the daily grind of news.

Here’s a rundown of the most oft-mentioned Barbara Bush conspiracy theories, and whether they have any truth to them.

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The #QAnon “Map” Examined

Like any good role playing game, one of the foundations of the #QAnon conspiracy theory is maps. Q and the others pretending to be Q love making references to maps, tossing out cryptic phrases like “news unlocks map” and “learn to read the map.”

The crux of #QAnon is that a vast secret parallel history of the world has unfolded over the centuries, with powerful families and religious interests shaping events around them to maximize profit, quell dissent, and increase their power over the witless sheep under them. It involves everyone, has its hooks in everything, and is everywhere.

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Debunking YouTube Shooting Conspiracy Theories

Here we go again.

On Tuesday afternoon, a female suspect entered the main campus of YouTube in San Bruno, CA, and opened fire.

Mass shootings bring heartache for their victims, and anger and confusion for those helplessly watching. Now, they also bring conspiracy theories meant to either politicize the incident, grift off those predisposed to believe conspiracy theories, or simply troll.

Here is a roundup of YouTube shooting conspiracy theories and hoaxes, and it will updated continuously.

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