By Matt Agorist

Last month, Jussie Smollett, who plays Jamal Lyon on the Fox show Empire, said two people approached him at about 2 a.m. on a Tuesday as he was walking to get something to eat and got his attention by yelling racial and homophobic slurs—specifically “this is MAGA country.” He claimed these people then hit him, poured an unknown chemical substance on him and wrapped a rope around his neck before they fled.

The nation was outraged, and rightfully so, that such a terrible crime inspired by hatred would take place on the streets of America. Presidential hopeful for 2020, Kamala Harris, weighed in and compared the attack to a modern-day lynching.

.@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate. — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 29, 2019

Coincidentally, after the attack, an anti-lynching bill moved through the Senate, which, after failing multiple times before, passed unanimously this time.

But Smollett’s story was apparently all lies. On Thursday, according to reports, Chicago police laid out their case against Smollett Thursday morning, accusing the TV star of orchestrating an elaborate hoax via two “bogus” hate crimes — one employing an alleged attack, and one involving a threatening letter — all in order to secure a pay raise.

The arrest even prompted a response by the president himself.

.@JussieSmollett – what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

If this was indeed a hoax, the damage Smollett did to the past and future victims of actual crimes is potentially irreparable. Now, every time a person claims they were raped or attacked, they’ll be lumped in with Smollett by half the country and real crimes may go unpunished as a result. We have already seen the comments on those posting videos of police brutality online being called “Smollets.” Shameful indeed.

Now that this story has come out as a hoax, it is receiving round-the-clock coverage from mainstream media. The divisive nature of this incident has the left inflamed and the right just as mad which is the mainstream media’s wet dream.

As Rachel Blevins accurately noted on Twitter today,

Police are claiming that Jussie Smollett staged his own attack as part of a “publicity stunt” to promote his career. …So the fact that the media has spent days reporting on and speculating about every detail of the alleged attack serves as a reminder that the plan worked.

Indeed, it has. While the media continues to focus on what is essentially a non-story meant to provoke hatred between groups of people, some very important issues have been unfolding which have received little to no coverage in the mainstream press.

The Free Thought Project has composed a list of five major stories the media is ignoring while focusing on the Smollett case.

5. Houston police admitted that a raid that killed an innocent couple was likely based on lies

Despite their best intentions of sweeping the deaths of Dennis and Rhogena Tuttle under the rug, the Houston police department is currently under the microscope of the nation. As TFTP reported over the weekend, the officer involved in obtaining the evidence for the raid, Gerald Goines, is accused of lying about that evidence which led to the raid. There never was any.

Also, in yet another major move, the FBI is stepping in as well as Houston-area prosecutors, who will examine 1,400 other cases which are linked to the cop who fabricated evidence to spark the raid on this innocent couple—in which they were murdered in their own home by police.

4. A BBC producer came forward with bombshell evidence showing how the alleged sarin gas attack in Syria last year—was fake

As the report read:

Mainstream media quickly picked up the horrific (but unverified) videos from a Douma hospital, where victims were treated after this “poison attack.” That hospital scene was enough to assemble a UN emergency session and prompt the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’ to rain down dozens of missiles on Damascus and other locations. But Riam Dalati, a reputable BBC producer who has long reported from the Middle East, took the liberty of trying to sift through the fog of the Syrian war. He believes Assad forces did attack the town, but that the much-publicized hospital scenes were staged. After almost 6 months of investigations, I can prove without a doubt that the Douma Hospital scene was staged. No fatalities occurred in the hospital.

3. The Feds have proposed and plan on passing a law that would garnish the wages from those who owe on their student loans

Thanks to a new proposal, currently making its way through the Senate, student loan borrowers could soon have their loan payments directly taken from their paychecks.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, explained that this bill could affect those 40 million people currently holding student debt.

“I think this proposal is likely to become law, after some tweaks,” said Mark Kantrowitz, a student loan expert.

Naturally, consumer watchdogs are crying foul, calling this “mandatory wage garnishment.”

“For borrowers with tight budgets that need to be navigated on a monthly basis, forced automatic payroll withholding may mean diverting money away from rent, heat or food in order to pay their student loans,” a report by the National Consumer Law Center states.

2. Gun confiscation has hit unprecedented new highs as hundreds of citizens have guns seized under red flag laws

As politicians and anti-gun rights activists continuously chant, “we don’t want to take your guns,” behind the scenes — in only the year — politicians have been working overtime to limit your right to bear arms. These laws are all a reaction to the tragic shooting in Parkland, Florida and, like most politicians always do, they are not letting this tragedy go to waste.

Since the tragic shooting in Florida last February, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has recorded a whopping 55 new gun control measures in 26 states—in just the first six months of the year.

Some of these laws being passed are ‘Red Flag’ laws which are used to disarm individuals who are reported as a threat by a family member or friend. Many believe that these red flag laws are dangerous as they can prompt police action with little to no due process.

As a recent report out of FOX32, points out, nine states have passed laws over the past year allowing police or household members to seek court orders requiring people deemed threatening to temporarily surrender their guns, bringing the total to 14. Several more are likely to follow in the months ahead.

To show how willing these states are to use these laws, an unprecedented 1,700 orders to seize guns were issued in 2018, likely resulting in the confiscation of thousands of guns.

1. Measles hysteria over the non-epidemic has come to a head as dozens of states have proposed over 100 bills to attack your right to informed consent

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last month, you’ve likely seen the utter hysteria in the media over the measles outbreaks in the United States. If one were to unquestioningly buy into said hysteria you’d think a deadly epidemic is sweeping the nation and children are dropping dead en masse. But that’s simply not true and the reality is there is no epidemic and no one has died.

Just like the media blew up the Smollett attack, they blew up the non-epidemic of the hundred or so measles cases across the nation. As a result, a widespread war on those who advocate for informed consent has been waged.

Currently, across the country, there are over 100 bills filed in 30 different states proposing to expand, restrict or eliminate vaccine informed consent rights.

Lawmakers have even stepped in and asked for the government to go after people who question vaccine manufacturers. A chilling notion indeed.

But keep on watching those televisions America. Buy into the hatred being sold to you at your own expense and buy into the divide as well. It’s worked wonders for us so far. After all, when Americans care more about some television actor’s hoax than losing rights, murderous cops, and staged attacks that could start WWIII, what else should we expect?

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project, where this article first appeared. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.