January 29, 2017: The Bowling Green Massacre -- That Never Happened

January 29, 2017: The Bowling Green Massacre occurs. Actually, it didn't occur on this day. Or on any other day.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the new President, Donald Trump, said that the outgoing President, Barack Obama, had limited Iraqi immigration because, "Two Iraqi nationals came to this country, joined ISIS, traveled back to the Middle East to get trained and refine their terrorism skills, and come back here, and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre of taking innocent soldiers' lives away."

Kellyanne Conway, wearing her ridiculous
"Revolutionary War" getup to Trump's Inauguration

On the same day, in a brief interview with the gossip website TMZ, Conway said, "He did that because, I assume, there were two Iraqis who came here, got radicalized, joined ISIS, and then were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green attack on our brave soldiers."

Three days later, on February 2, in an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC's Hardball with Christ Matthews, Conway described the "Bowling Green massacre" as an attack of terrorism carried out within the United States by refugees:

I bet there was very little coverage. I bet it's brand-new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized. And they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. I mean, most people don't know that because it didn't get covered.

It didn't get covered because it never happened. There was no massacre in Bowling Green, Kentucky, of anyone, by anyone, affiliated with a terrorist group or otherwise, affiliated with any nation or otherwise.

The day after the interview, Conway said she misspoke, and had been referring to the 2011 arrest of two Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green on charges including "attempting to provide material support to terrorists and to al-Qaeda in Iraq."

She stated that she had mentioned the incident because it led previous Obama to tighten immigration procedures for Iraqi citizens. She did it because she wanted her boss, Trump, to grant her more favor, and because she knew that her statement would touch on two of Trump's favorite subjects: His hatred of nonwhite people and his obsession with Obama, the 1st black President.

Conway's lie went viral, and became the top trending topic on Twitter, with many tweets parodying it. A website was set up anonymously for the purpose of collecting donations for supposed victims. Facebook users used the site's "safety check feature" to act as if the event were real. Mock vigils were held in Kentucky and New York in commemoration.

It provoked widespread press reaction, with many relating it to Conway's earlier use of the phrase "alternative facts" to describe false statements by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in the wake of Trump's sparsely-attended Inauguration.

It became symbolic of Trump and his Administration being willing to tell any lie, hide any truth, exaggerate any fact, and turn any failure into a public-relations victory -- successfully or otherwise.

*

January 29, 2017 was a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was halfway between the Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 142-139 in 4 overtimes at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta. Paul Millsap scored 37 points for the Hawks, Carmelo Anthony 45 for the Knicks.

* The Washington Wizards beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 107-94 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Anthony Davis scored 36 points in defeat for the Pels.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 105-101 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Toronto Raptors, 114-113 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto. Kyle Lowry scored 33 points.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 107-91 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets, 120-101 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. Paul George scored 33 points.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 121-108 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 113-111 at the Moda Center in Portland. Kevin Durant scored 33 points.

And the NHL held its All-Star Game, at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. It was a dumb setup, with a single-elimination tournament, with the NHL's 4 Divisions facing each other, with each game consisting of two 10-minute halves played 3-on-3, and going directly to a shootout if tied after 20 minutes.

In the 1st Semifinal, the Pacific beat the Central, 10-3. In Game 2, the Metropolitan beat the Atlanta, 10-6. In the Final, the Metropolitan beat the Pacific, 4-3. Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers, representing the Metropolitan Division, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.