I'm not one for conspiracy theories. I prefer to base my opinions on demonstration fact that I can point to. However, after looking at an extremely odd photo of President Obama "throwing" a football, I have my doubts that this photo is real.
First things first, however. I found this picture from
the White House's official twitter source. Here's a screenshot of the tweet:
At a quick glance, the picture seems real:
However, on closer inspection , some very odd things pop up. If you go to the linked picture, in which the photo is notably larger, peculiar things become obvious. In particular, the President's enlarged eyes in the photo and the pixels that surround his head and arms, but are not present in any other part of the picture. Zoomed in, this is what it looks like:
Note the pixelation that occurs around the entirety of the President's head. Such deterioration does not exist anywhere else (at least so obviously) in the photo. Also note Mr. Obama's oddly large eyes. Additionally, President Obama is inexplicably looking upward, unless his target is sitting somewhere in the cheap seats 100 yards away.
On top of it all, this throwing motion does not match Mr. Obama's previous photo ops. Compare the new picture's motion with this one of Mr. Obama throwing a baseball (click for better resolution):
You should notice several things right off the bat. The picture on the left is less heavily pixelated. More importantly, however, with the picture on the left, Mr. Obama's left arm has decidedly more bend in it, his right arm is lowered, and his shoulders are more squared.
So, is this picture doctored? It's up to you to decide. However, the fact that the White House may have altered a picture of the President throwing a football speaks to how desperate they are to perfectly manicure his public image.
And on the bright side, even if this isn't photoshopped, the photographer did a terrible job making the President look athletic. Oh, and our Commander in Chief is taking official photos of him throwing a football poorly as our debt nears $16,000,000,000,000.
Update: An intrepid commenter posted
a link to a better quality image of Mr. Obama throwing the football. It proves that the photo was probably not doctored, but simply staged (poorly).
Please bookmark!
Translation: "I don't like Obama. He's black. The way he looks throwing this football makes me feel threatened."
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you feel that way, Anonymous. Care to talk about your racism?
DeleteDoes every black who throws a football make you feel threatened? Must be a lot of fun in your house on superbowl day..
DeleteThe obvious question to ask is "Does Aurelius have pants on when he tackles the big issues of the day"?
DeleteAurelius must have a raging Boehner over this. I'll bet you could bust a tattoo needle on it.
DeleteYes, it looks so suspicious. Like the way he holds the football looks NOTHING like the way he holds a baseball. Like how his tie is also pixelated around the edges. Like how his facial expression is different, his mouth expression is different, the angle of the head. But hey, at least he is throwing something in the same direction on both pictures so that is IRON CLAD PROOF.....that whoever wrote this story is a retard.
DeleteHe throws like a girl and is a liar and a fraud regardless of his "color".
DeleteAnd the post edit translates to, "I have learned of JPG artifacts, but regretfully, Obama is still black."
DeleteInteresting how fixated the left and obots (could draw a Vann diagram here) are on race. Someone should do a study.
DeleteNotice how the obotted left (is that like the "besotted left"?) has managed to get in
Deletean accusation of bigotry followed by an actual example of bigotry.
I think they're still using 2008's talking points.
here's hoping this image-obsessed liar loses all 50 states
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping he wins them all, just to piss off redneck idiots. Plus you, assuming you're not a redneck idiot, which is a massive assumption.
DeleteJesus Obama couldn't win all 57 states last time, dimbulb (just ask Him!). How will He pull it off this time? Oh, that's right, He's a democrat.....honest voting is a subject totally beyond His ken.
DeleteYeah, maybe next he'll appear on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit.
Deletewith a pickle in his pants
DeleteThis is the funniest **** ever. More, please.
ReplyDeleteLike who the **** throws a football the same as they throw a baseball? "Aurelius" has obviously done neither in his entire life.
"Note the pixelation that occurs around the entirety of the President's head." lololololololol.
Dumb as hell. Very amusing. Great insight into the mind of a deranged conservative lunatic/imbecile.
Well, I thought this picture was photoshopped, but your brilliant argument of "lololololololol" has completely changed my mind
DeleteHere's the original...
Deletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/7239173724/sizes/o/in/photostream/
lololololololololol.
Pssst..kid..I don't know if I should be telling you this, but...you know that Allinsky ridicule thing? They're onto it.
DeleteI love these "Conspiracies" almost like they were engineered to encourage Conservatives to kill them selves. Well do it... what are you waiting for?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/7239173724/sizes/o/in/photostream/
ReplyDeleteYes, in the largest version of this picture I detect mustard on the football. Oh wait... that was a different controversy. OK, well then, the controversy continues!
DeleteKenyan Muslims can't throw.
ReplyDeleteBlah blah blah, conservatives are racist, blah blah blah, Obama's awesome, blah blah blah logical fallacy, blah blah blah ignore that the President is taking "official photos" while civilians die in Syria
ReplyDeleteExactly. All official photography should be suspended while civilians die in Syria. This should be the official policy.
DeleteOnce the administration is less distracted by photography, we will have peace in the Middle East. It is photography, and nothing else, that is driving all of the key events in the world.
"despereate" -- Spell check is your friend.
ReplyDeleteSo this is what it's come to? Now that the "birther" B.S. is over, we're picking up on petty things such as whether or not he really threw a football? Quick, someone ID the lone, well dressed stranger in the background and subpoena him as an eye-witness!
I'm peeved at myself for even clicking the link to load this page, considering how much ad $$ they just collected from the pageview. Carry on folks, nothing to see here but a desperate link troll.
You mean there are still people out there who like obama? And aren't embaressed about it? Now, THAT'S funny!
Delete"embarrassed" - spell check is your friend.
DeleteOMG LOOK AT THE PIXELATION OF THE GRASS ON THE FIELD!!! EVEN THE GRASS IS FAKE!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteLook how empty that stadium is! I bet Mitt Romney could have not only thrown that football the proper way, but he'd have done it in a packed stadium! Just another example of how Obama has failed our country. Throwing footballs while Congress continues to do everything they can to put this injured nation BACK ON TRACK! Romney/Palin 2012!!!!111!!1!!!!!11!!11
ReplyDeleteNobody likes Romney. But nobody likes obama even more.
DeleteDefinitely staged if not shopped. Guys like Obama "throw" biting their tongues, or their lips, or with their tongues completely hanging out of their mouths.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why they do it...probably a deficient or altogether missing athletic gene or something.
His vacuous facial expression shows no musculo-motor concentration at all.
Next up...look for Obama to be photographed shooting a rifle attempting to snag the YMCA gay cowboy vote.
Wow, expert analysis there. You must work for ESPN? Or maybe Jimmy the Greek was your papa? Give me a break you loser. Other than not planting the back foot, Obama has a pretty good form here. Or, according to you, here's another guy who must show "no musculo-motor concentration at all" (whatever that is):
Deletehttp://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/article/Column-Brady-will-get-another-chance-at-legacy-3058626.php#photo-2278268
Translation: The WH is trying to make a president ,who is about as far from it as he can get,look macho. I could care less. However I do care about the economy,lousy Obamacare and the lack of jobs in this nation.And I will remember all of this in November ,when I cast a vote for Romney.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but the fact that conservatives are pointing out facts makes us all racist, right? Oh, wait, no. No it doesn't
Delete...Because Romney can throw a football. AND give gay kids haircuts.
DeleteObama will lose in a land slide, Penn Jillette's lastest is right on
DeleteThat's another problem with right-wing zombies: they don't even understand what 'macho' is. To them, Ted Nugent is macho instead of just ignorant, for example. I don't feel we have a "right-wing" and a "left-wing" in this country, to me it is more like "imbeciles" and "enlightened". There is no hope for the right-wing imbeciles.
DeleteYes,
DeleteI agree totally.
The 90% of blacks who vote left-wing are totally the enlightened blacks.
Just ask anyone from Detroit.
Funny how 'blacks' have a collective thought.I guess all these years of white people voting for white Presidents were also telling of their predisposition.
DeleteUm...llthe candidates were white before, so....oh,never mind.
DeleteFish. barrell.
No.
ReplyDeleteThis concludes another episode of "Smart Answers to Stupid Questions." G'night, folks!
The great mystery raised here is whether the stupidity of conservatives outpaces their racism or vice versa.
ReplyDeleteDo you ever get tired of using the same failed talking point over and over again? Republicans are asking questions about [insert name here]?! They must all be racists!
DeleteThe blogger failed to dig up the original, hi-res photo before he wrote his post.
DeleteMaybe he's just stupid. There are a lot of stupid conservatives and he might just be one of them.
But he might just be a racist. A racist might not go looking for the original photo, either.
See? It's a mystery!
Are there stupid liberals?
DeleteOf course, but there are less of them than smart republicans.
DeleteKewpie Doll! The SECOND mention of racism! The boy wins a prize!
DeleteOH MY FUCKING GOD... THEY DANG PHOTOSHOOTTED A DURN FOOTBALL IN HIS HAND YALL!!! THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING!!!! CHECK OUT THEM DANG PIXELS!!!!!!! A SURE SINE OF DESPAREAITION FROM THE WHIT HOSE!!!!!
ReplyDeleteVOTE ROMNAY 2013 AND LET'S TAKE AMERICA STRATE INTO THE COMODE!!!!
Well, since it's in the sewer now, that might be an improvement.
Delete"Update: An intrepid commenter posted a link to a better quality image of Mr. Obama throwing the football. It proves that the photo was probably not doctored, but simply staged (poorly)."
ReplyDeleteIn other words - the blogger is either too stupid, too lazy, or too ideologically twisted to bother to verify what is posted BEFORE it is posted. Regardless, it equals incompetency.
Oh, and by adding the snarky comment about the staging being done "poorly" they are justifying their premature publishing, blaming the folks who did the staging for their own incompetency.
Fucking genius post this. Traffic machine! You do a good job attracting these witless morons Site master, keep it up! they love bullshit like this as long as they get to vent about their president.
ReplyDeleteI have a great idea! Let's all visit this stupid blog and give the site more hits, i.e. more reason to post things like this. On top of it, let's post plenty of swears and misspell words so that our cause looks completely inept instead of making direct, relevant points to make the author look like a moron.
ReplyDeleteNo? Let's get goaded into taking the bait and looking almost as stupid as those on this site? Sigh. All right, I guess.
Raaaaciststs! Fucking genius post this!
Wow, you folks clearly are suffering from ODR (Obama Derangement Syndrome)
ReplyDeleteWhoever wrote this has proven they are insane.
ReplyDeleteThis was hilarious. I had to check the top to make sure I wasn't reading the Onion. This article says more about Aurelius (the blogger) than Obama. Namely that he's a delusional moron.
ReplyDeleteI hope he never stops. What's the next big conspiracy, Aurelius? Please never lose your dementia. It's really made our Tuesday morning much more enjoyable.
"...the FACT that the White House MAY have altered a picture of the President throwing a football SPEAKS VOLUMES..."
ReplyDeleteMy emphasis to highlight that that is the most tenuous bit of claptrap I have ever read.
Angles, you fool. It's all about "angles."
ReplyDeleteWhat's your angle, Aurelius?
If you look at the pixels, he's clearly black.
ReplyDeleteAnd, that really is the issue.
Why did they release this photo in the first place? The answer is the same as the press release from N. Korea that told us Kim Jong Il had 13 holes in one in his first golf outing.
ReplyDeleteWe must all hail our glorious leader!
True that. A real man would have donned a flight suit and rode in the that stadium on a fighter jet. Mission accomplished, a holes. Now *that* is some good theatre right there.
DeleteFucking hilarious. Yeah... uh "Teh Obabammar Whit Houze has dun photoshpd a pickshur of teh Mooslim tryin too throe a fotbal. Look Skeeter!"
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I think Republicans obsession over these things are the result of repressed homosexuality, the same way as their frothing hate of teh gayz.
ReplyDeleteThe all secretly want to take long warm showers with Obama the hot black man.
I love the Update, which essentially means:
ReplyDelete"The photo was badly staged because I was able to dream up a conspiracy theory in connection with it."
There's still time to get help.
Who cares if the fairy can throw a ball?
ReplyDeleteDon't you understand how jpeg image compression works? The pixels are grouped into large blocks, and each block has a color palette. The higher the compression, the fewer colors in each block's palette. So, whenever you have contrast like light edging of a head to a dark background, high compression sacrifices some of the palette, thereby reducing gradience, thereby causing your "suspicious" blocking. Sometimes it's the twitter picture subsite. Rarely it's the photo's editor. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a colossal waste of everyone's time.
ReplyDeleteObama encourages so many conspiracies because most anything this man does is couched in a spin, a trick or a deception. Race is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteOr.....hate, it's a hell of a drug.
Deleteyes of course, that's what ALL of you angry white racist male assholes say every time you make asinine comments like this..."I'm not a racist but..." Fucking moron, you wouldn't know a decent, honest human being if your life depended on it...and if you're looking for 'a spin, a trick or a deception' see the ENTIRE 8 FUCKING YEARS of the Cheney/ Bush propaganda clusterfuck but I guess you weren't payin' attention then eh, moron...idiot, also, too
DeleteWhat an embarrassment of a "story"
ReplyDeleteNotice also that the foot"ball" isn't even spherical!
ReplyDeletehahaaaa
DeleteI don't really see any unusual pixelation in the largest version of this photo I could find on google images, but I do notice something strange. In the baseball pic, he's looking at where he's throwing the ball. In this one, WTF is he looking at???
ReplyDeleteI knew conservatives were unfamiliar with things like...reality, but apparently they are also unfamiliar with JPEG compression artifacts.
ReplyDeleteYou are a damned idiot.
Wait. You mean he's not a professional football player. You mean they staged this whole thing? And you know now that you mention it, they did do a poor job. He wearing a tie!!! I feel like such a dope. Thanks for clearing this up.
ReplyDeleteIn this story we learn that some people that write articles about their opinion really should of looked for other avenues of a hobby. I say hobby because I hope to god this person is not paid. Here is a link to another image that doesn't have artifacts (or at least less) created from compression. http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/7239173724/sizes/o/in/photostream/
ReplyDelete"Level economic playing field still littered with GOP turds"
ReplyDeletewhat kind of mentally retarded sub-human takes the time to even write crap like this let alone 'examine' pixels and throwing motions and other non-sense? srsly are you THAT much of a fucking bigot that you will stoop even THIS low to 'prove' some delusional 'point' in your own deluded mind...sweet holy jeebus Obama Derangement Syndrome has truly taken over the collective angry white male racist/ douchebag demographic...you mental midgets need to get a LIFE (and a clue)
ReplyDeleteoh and for whatever Repugnant moron who 'wrote' this asinine piece o' propaganda, you should remember that 'as our debt nears $16,000,000,000,000' over $14.7 TRILLION of that ENTIRE national debt was directly caused by the last THREE Repugnant Presidents...sweet holy jeebus you Repigs are stoopid!
ReplyDeletehttp://reaganbushdebt.org/
The Current ReaganBush Debt is:
$14,788,063,189,563.20
which means that in a total of 20 years, these three presidents have led to the creation of
94% of the entire national debt in only 8.5% of the 236 years of the existence of the United States of America.
Wow. This was either the worst piece of journalism or the best PSA warning against the dangers of eating paint chips I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm just providing revenue to the idiot, but I really had to see this for myself. Wow.
ReplyDelete"Stories" of this sort have now reached the level of the pitiable - both the words and their authors.
ReplyDelete