After Edgar Maddison Welch strode into Comet Ping Pong yesterday with his assault-style weapon and fired one shot into the floor, reality struck journalists like thunder, causing reports like the one above to be filed explaining that not only is the entire "Pizzagate" a fevered invention of online Nazis, but now the backlash is real.

In a furious exchange with the son and chief-of-staff to National Security Adviser appointee General Michael Flynn yesterday, Jake Tapper let fly, urging him to delete his insane tweets suggesting that Pizzagate is really a thing.

This is the son of the president-elect’s national security adviser. This country is in so much trouble. pic.twitter.com/APlBbUxSkb — Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) December 5, 2016

Hallie Jackson debunked it pretty well in her MSNBC report, but this is far from over.

Milo Yiannopoulis, the right-wing's chosen Nazi gay propagandist, will be appearing this afternoon at a university in Ohio, where he plans to "address" this lie.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/805768800494817282

Milo's "talk" is sponsored by TurningPointUSA, an Illinois-based non-profit run by a 21-year old by the name of Charlie Kirk. Charlie is an up-and-coming Ron Paul acolyte, reportedly getting a couple of million in startup funds from Foster Friess to launch his propaganda tour on and offline.

Most recently, TurningPointUSA launched a Professor Watch List, intended to identify and harass college professors whom they deem to be socialists, or wish to harass for not denying climate change, or other supposed crimes against the oncoming regime, according to a recent New York Magazine report.

One resident who lives near Comet Ping Pong describes what is really happening. Their name has been withheld out of concerns for their safety.

"They say a place has "received threats" in the media, but that doesn't really express the magnitude of what's going on," they write. "There are threats all day, every day, and everyday these crazy people "discover" another person who has eaten at Comet or gone to a music show there. People are being stalked because they've posted images of Comet on Flickr or Facebook. Many of them were tourists...people getting phone calls, emails."

The writer described many other incidents on and off social media, coming to a chilling conclusion. "They're trying to get people killed for their amusement."

They continue, "People have stopped standing up for Comet online because they're terrified. Everyone knows someone (or more than one person) who has been targeted, and the whole community is really in fear."

This cannot be allowed to continue. This is fascism. Next, the operator of this business will be shut down, simply because some thugs online are carrying their obsession with fantasy into the real world, doing real harm to people.

Gen. Michael Flynn and his son should be smarter about what they believe. And if they cannot be, they need to step away from any role in government.

Lest we forget, this is how the Nazis got started. A few local businesses, the blessing of national leaders, and next thing you know, genocide and concentration camps.

It's not supposed to happen here, but it is happening here, and it needs to stop.

Update: For those wondering about the motivation behind this despicable smear, here you go:

https://twitter.com/GOvenkin_/status/805860076716228608