Ex-Ralph Retort politics editor charged with murdering his dad in a fight over a conspiracy theory

By David Futrelle

In August, a Washington state man named Lane Davis was charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed his father to death in an argument over internet conspiracy theories about alleged leftist pedophile rings.

It turns out that Davis wasn’t just some gullible rando who was taken in by pernicious conspiratorial nonsense on the internet; he was in fact a major distributor of such nonsense. And his voice was amplified for years by the Ralph Retort. one of the most scurrilous online rags birthed by the Gamergate hate movement.

Seattle4Truth, as he was known online, was a prolific right-wing YouTuber who pushed a wide assortment of conspiracy theories, ranting about such favorite alt-right targets as George Soros, “anarchist antifa terroristrs” and Black Lives Matter “nutters” in videos sometimes tinged with explicit racism. An enthusiastic Gamergater, he launched attacks on that sordid movement’s designated villains and assembled a three-hour “documentary” pushing a number of convoluted conspiracy theories about gaming.

He was also a longtime contributor — and one-time political editor — of the internet hate site (and former Gamergate propaganda hub) The Ralph Retort.

Naturally, he was also a Trump superfan, regularly posting to Reddit’s The_Donald and at one time going so far as to record his own pro-Trump rap track.

The folks at The Ralph Retort are trying their best to disassociate himself from their former political editor. In a typically combative post, site founder Ethan Ralph — himself currently in jail for assaulting a police officer — offered cursory respects to Davis’ family before launching an attack on the “haters” now who insist on drawing connections between him and, well, a guy he was  connected to for years. Hell, Ethan Ralph tapped Davis to temporarily run his site. along with his wife Nora Ralph, when he reported to prison in June, less than a month before Davis’ own arrest.

A former unpaid contributor to my site, Lane Davis, stands accused of killing his father. My condolences go out to his family. The rush to score points against me, while completely expected, is also completely ridiculous. I’m only responsible for my own actions. …

I expect the memes and attacks to continue. It’s the internet, after all. By all means, enjoy it. I would be a hypocrite to say otherwise. But I hope some of you will spare a thought and/or a prayer for the Davis family. …

Farewell, for now, my friends. As always, the haters can eat shit. Nothing on this Earth will deter me from coming back stronger than before.

In a somewhat more subdued, but equally revealing, official statement posted on his site, Nora Ralph declares:

Lane Davis was a 33-year-old unemployed loser who lived with his parents and had no income to speak of. The man he murdered is the sole reason he was able to subsist at all. He had some volatile anger issues which are evident in the many YouTube streams he’s been present on. He’s also made threats and wild unfounded accusations against a lot of people over the past few years. I thought it was all in jest, but hindsight is always 20-20.

Weird, because a lot of people didn’t need hindsight to realize that threats from people like Lane Davis aren’t actually a joke.

Anybody who even slightly disagreed with Lane became the brunt of his verbal attacks and he would often label his detractors as “leftist pedos.” Lane used this same term against his own parents. When his father asked him to leave, Lane snapped. 

The Ralph Report is currently tossing all things Lane Davis down the old memory hole.

It’s no secret that Lane has contributed to The Ralph Retort for a number of years but those days are over. In fact, after today, I’m erasing all of his articles. …

I don’t care how big his contribution was. A guy that would murder his own father in cold blood doesn’t deserve to be read. No matter how accurate he was in the past, he ended his usefulness to this world when he ended his dad’s life.

So yeah, they’re still defending the allegedly accurate “reporting” of someone who 1) stabbed his father, 2) threatened people and 3) aimed accusations “against a lot of people” that Nora Ralph plainly admits were “wild” and “unfounded.”

Here’s a thought: if someone on the staff of your alleged publication is threatening people and throwing around “wild unfounded accusations,” fire that person and denounce them. Don’t wait until someone gets killed.

Just a thought.

H/T — Wonkette