QAnon adherents encourage those seeking the truth to “follow the White Rabbit,” but it’s hard to hop down this hole without getting totally lost in their horrorland. The simplest description of the plot line goes something like this: President Trump isn’t under investigation; he is only pretending to be, as part of a countercoup to restore power to the people after more than a century of governmental control by a globalist cabal. Also, there are pedophiles.
A figure named “Q,” who supposedly possesses Q-level security clearance, disperses “crumbs” that “bakers” bring together to create a “dough” of synthesized information. (This is not how baking works, but that seems the least of our worries.) Because Q is the 17th letter in the alphabet and 17 is also a number Trump has said a few times, among other clearly-not-coincidences, he is the real deal, not an Internet troll engaged in an elaborate example of live-action role-play.
...
Now that it’s clear that what starts on the fringe doesn’t stay there, it is a real concern. QAnon’s lurch from online to off hasn’t manifested only in T-shirted ralliers wielding weird signs. Last week, a “baker” appeared outside Michael Avenatti’s office because Q sent him there. Others have started searching for child sex camps in the desert outside Tucson. A man in an armored truck blocked a bridge near the Hoover Dam demanding the release of a report that Q claimed the government was withholding. He had two guns.
What’s scariest of all, though, might be what motivates Trump’s base to believe in so byzantine a conspiracy. QAnon isn’t your average story of all-powerful actors exercising complete control over a helpless populace. This time, the heroes are already in charge and, still, the theorists see themselves as victims. Why, even with their man in the Oval Office, do they feel embattled?
One explanation has to do with the on-the-ground reality of this presidency. Perhaps the men and women who buy into this gibberish aren’t so confident that they’re in charge at all. The special counsel looks ever closer to proving ties between Trump and Russia and, in the meantime, Trump appears more erratic. If he really is under investigation and not just pretending to be, all his supporters’ hopes evaporate.
...
The “forgotten men and women of our country” didn’t stop feeling forgotten when their self-proclaimed avatar walked into the White House. There was too much dissent, too much doubt cast on his (and, by extension, their) legitimacy and ability to lead. Now, they’ll only be assuaged by the destruction of everything and everyone that stands in their way, through the mass arrest of those who they say connived against them and the installation of a state filled only with loyalists.
That’s what QAnon followers really want, after all. That’s where their “storm” motto comes from. Most Americans were puzzled when, in a meeting with military leaders months ago, Trump said, “You know what this represents? Maybe it’s the calm before the storm.” But these theorists thought they knew exactly what he was talking about. Trump was pointing at the officers’ uniforms.
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 12:19 pm
by Skinypupy
These particular assholes are going to get someone (or someones) killed.
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 12:33 pm
by LordMortis
And he's happy to have them. I"m sure they're "good people".
Skinypupy wrote: Fri Aug 03, 2018 12:19 pm
These particular assholes are going to get someone (or someones) killed.
I'd really love to see a concerted effort to prank these idiots. It shouldn't be difficult as gullible as they are.
I rather doubt I'd want to prank them. My assumption is that this a generation of script kiddies that grew up to be angry hackers with no skills other than the ones it takes to wage anonymous wars to ruin lives over the Internet.
Unless you mean the people they attract, like the people at the rally. I'd fear they are also too dangerous to prank until such a time as they don't feel invulnerable as long the ihr fuhrer is in power.
Going down the rabbit hole, having never heard of them until this thread...
What's that about reasonable people following Alex Jones?
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 5:40 pm
by Smoove_B
Haven't had a Trump rally AAR in a while. Please do enjoy, written from the perspective of a "undercover" NJ news reporter.
"Remember when I referred to MS-13 as animals," asked Trump. "They are animals!"
Wild applause ensue.
"The only thing they understand--" said Trump.
An African American woman in a blue MAGA T-shirt interjected loudly, screaming "is a bullet in the head!"
Even more cheering follows this.
According to social media, the father of one of my daughter's friends was there last night - he has all kinds of pictures of himself at the rally, blasted out to all his followers. I've known this guy (socially) for over a decade and he's just revealing himself to be a vocal Trump supporter now. I feel gross.
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 7:15 pm
by Enough
I'm going to guess a lot of these jokers were also embroiled in Gamersgate as well.
Skinypupy wrote: Fri Aug 03, 2018 12:19 pm
These particular assholes are going to get someone (or someones) killed.
I'd really love to see a concerted effort to prank these idiots. It shouldn't be difficult as gullible as they are.
I rather doubt I'd want to prank them. My assumption is that this a generation of script kiddies that grew up to be angry hackers with no skills other than the ones it takes to wage anonymous wars to ruin lives over the Internet.
Unless you mean the people they attract, like the people at the rally. I'd fear they are also too dangerous to prank until such a time as they don't feel invulnerable as long the ihr fuhrer is in power.
I was referring to the devotees. Come to think of it, maybe Q is already pranking them.
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 10:11 pm
by RunningMn9
Smoove_B wrote:According to social media, the father of one of my daughter's friends was there last night - he has all kinds of pictures of himself at the rally, blasted out to all his followers. I've known this guy (socially) for over a decade and he's just revealing himself to be a vocal Trump supporter now. I feel gross.
California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!
He literally thinks the CA fires are so bad because they're actively dumping the water needed to fight them into the ocean instead of using it to fight the fire.
California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!
He literally thinks the CA fires are so bad because they're actively dumping the water needed to fight them into the ocean instead of using it to fight the fire.
Stable genius, indeed.
I think it's more likely that he's trying to use the fires as a pretense to obliterate water and wilderness protection laws/regs. Or perhaps more accurately someone who wants to obliterate water and wilderness protection has convinced him of this ridiculous bullshit.
California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!
He literally thinks the CA fires are so bad because they're actively dumping the water needed to fight them into the ocean instead of using it to fight the fire.
Stable genius, indeed.
I think it's more likely that he's trying to use the fires as a pretense to obliterate water and wilderness protection laws/regs. Or perhaps more accurately someone who wants to obliterate water and wilderness protection has convinced him of this ridiculous bullshit.
If there were less trees we would have less forest fires.
California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!
He literally thinks the CA fires are so bad because they're actively dumping the water needed to fight them into the ocean instead of using it to fight the fire.
Stable genius, indeed.
I think it's more likely that he's trying to use the fires as a pretense to obliterate water and wilderness protection laws/regs. Or perhaps more accurately someone who wants to obliterate water and wilderness protection has convinced him of this ridiculous bullshit.
Yeah, a lot of this is his pea brain spitting out random pieces of information that were told to him, mostly by self-interested parties.
To be fair, though, water use laws out west *are* bonkers and terrible, but they're not dumping water into the ocean, and it doesn't have much to do with the forest fires.
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:26 am
by Isgrimnur
Actually, they are dumping water into the Pacific. They're called rivers. If we dry up the rivers before they reach the mouths, that's free real estate!
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:35 am
by stessier
Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:26 am
Actually, they are dumping water into the Pacific. They're called rivers. If we dry up the rivers before they reach the mouths, that's free real estate!
I thought those were extinct in CA due to growing monsoon crops in a desert.
Lewis Carroll wrote:
‘Contrariwise,’ continued Tweetledum, ‘if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’
FTFY
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:31 pm
by AWS260
Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:26 am
Actually, they are dumping water into the Pacific. They're called rivers. If we dry up the rivers before they reach the mouths, that's free real estate!
"Dumping water into the Pacific" is basically a core talking point for lobbyists opposed to California water management plans. See here (emphasis added):
The problem is that flushing water through the system and out to sea is exactly what officials have done for more than 25 years to no effect – fish have continued to decline. All the board is doing is doubling down on the same unsuccessful strategy.
See, the problem is that we haven't restricted river flows enough!
That op-ed also includes the wise observation, "There's no question fish need water." So insightful.
The anarchist hacking group slammed the QAnon conspiracy as potentially dangerous and driven by a “brainless political agenda” in a video posted Sunday to what is widely considered the most reliable Anonymous Twitter account.
“We will not sit idly by while you take advantage of the misinformed and poorly educated,” the group said in the video, which was posted with the hashtags #OpQ and #OpQAnon.
...
The video claims that Anonymous “knew who was responsible for Q” and thought it was funny at first. However, the group now believes the conspiracy theory has gone too far.
“Someone is going to get hurt, so we have to put our foot down and start some shit with you all,” the group said in the video.
Seriously, tell someone 15 years ago that Anonymous would be fighting Qanon on the front line of American democracy. You would be talking gibberish.
The anarchist hacking group slammed the QAnon conspiracy as potentially dangerous and driven by a “brainless political agenda” in a video posted Sunday to what is widely considered the most reliable Anonymous Twitter account.
“We will not sit idly by while you take advantage of the misinformed and poorly educated,” the group said in the video, which was posted with the hashtags #OpQ and #OpQAnon.
...
The video claims that Anonymous “knew who was responsible for Q” and thought it was funny at first. However, the group now believes the conspiracy theory has gone too far.
“Someone is going to get hurt, so we have to put our foot down and start some shit with you all,” the group said in the video.
Are they likely to actually do something, and if so is anything they do likely to be effective?
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 3:03 pm
by Rip
Q is going to bust this mess wide open.........
So many Qs and so little time......
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 3:15 pm
by naednek
Skinypupy wrote: Sun Aug 05, 2018 4:49 pm
Wow. Trump is obviously the only President in the long history of US leaders to make such a noble, selfless gesture...like stopping his motorcade.
don't read the youtube comments.... holy shit.
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 3:39 pm
by hepcat
Rip wrote: Mon Aug 06, 2018 3:03 pm
Q is going to bust this mess wide open.........
So many Qs and so little time......
You do love your conspiracy theories, don't you?
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:02 pm
by Smoove_B
Time for a game! Who said it?
"If you and I fall into bad moral habits, we can harm our families, our employers and our friends. The President of the United States can incinerate the planet. Seriously, the very idea that we ought to have at or less than the same moral demands placed on the Chief Executive that we place on our next door neighbor is ludicrous and dangerous.
"Throughout our history, we have seen the presidency as the repository of all of our highest hopes and ideals and values. To demand less is to do an injustice to the blood that bought our freedoms."
Spoiler:
It was Pence, writing about then President Clinton.
Times sure have changed, eh?
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:34 pm
by Skinypupy
If you and I fall into bad moral habits, we can harm our families, our employers and our friends. The President of the United States can incinerate the planet. Seriously, the very idea that we ought to have at or less than the same moral demands placed on the Chief Executive that we place on our next door neighbor is ludicrous and dangerous.
"Throughout our history, we have seen the presidency as the repository of all of our highest hopes and ideals and values. To demand less is to do an injustice to the blood that bought our freedoms.****
***only valid when a Democrat is POTUS
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:22 pm
by hepcat
I’m a huge fan of Pence’s role as Two Face in the Batman movies.
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 2:38 pm
by Isgrimnur
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 3:06 pm
by LordMortis
is there is difference between what The sitting president does on a regular basis and what Musk did today? Are we entering yet another new normal?
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 3:11 pm
by NickAragua
Musk actually builds stuff, as opposed to playing golf and putting kids into concentration camps?
Re: The Trump Presidency Thread
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 3:16 pm
by El Guapo
LordMortis wrote: Tue Aug 07, 2018 3:06 pm
is there is difference between what The sitting president does on a regular basis and what Musk did today? Are we entering yet another new normal?
The Trump administration is hitting Russia with new sanctions punishing President Vladimir Putin's government for using a chemical weapon against an ex-spy in Britain, U.S. officials told NBC News Wednesday.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed off on a determination that Russia violated international law by poisoning the former spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in March, officials said, a decision that was announced Wednesday afternoon by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.
...
The decision could bolster President Donald Trump's claim that despite the noise of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling, which Trump has called a "witch hunt," his administration has been tough on Moscow in practice and has hit hard when needed.
But Trump had to be nudged by Congress into unleashing the penalties after blowing more than a month past a statutory deadline. The government had two months after a formal congressional request in March for Trump to determine whether Russia had violated international law. After the deadline came and went with no response, Trump was called out in late July by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, NBC News first reported.
...
The sanctions are structured in two tranches, laid out in a 1991 law, the Chemical and Biological Weapons and Warfare Elimination Act. An initial, immediate round limits exports and financing but may have limited impact, because it largely overlaps with other restrictions already in place, such as on selling arms to Russia.
The biggest impact from the initial sanctions is expected to come from a ban on granting licenses to export sensitive national security goods to Russia, which in the past have included items like electronic devices and components, along with test and calibration equipment for avionics. Prior to the sanctions, such exports were allowed on a case-by-case basis.
That new prohibition could cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in future exports to Russia, said a senior State Department official.
A second, more painful round kicks in three months later unless Russia provides "reliable assurances" that it won't use chemical weapons in the future and agrees to "on-site inspections" by the U.N. — conditions unlikely to be met. The second round of sanctions could include downgrading diplomatic relations, suspending state airline Aeroflot's ability to fly to the U.S, and cutting off nearly all exports and imports.
The Trump administration is hitting Russia with new sanctions punishing President Vladimir Putin's government for using a chemical weapon against an ex-spy in Britain, U.S. officials told NBC News Wednesday.
A second, more painful round kicks in three months later unless Russia provides "reliable assurances" that it won't use chemical weapons in the future and agrees to "on-site inspections" by the U.N. — conditions unlikely to be that the Trump administration is likely to pretend have been met. The second round of sanctions could include downgrading diplomatic relations, suspending state airline Aeroflot's ability to fly to the U.S, and cutting off nearly all exports and imports.
