vxbush 2/4/2021 5:47:07 AM

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Reply to Doppel from yesterday: 

As the Chinese have done at dozens of universities in recent years. When I wanted to find out what Q was, I followed a few accounts on Twitter for a couple of weeks. The vibe I got was basement loser, not sophisticated international psyops. Just my take, that's all. You may very well be right.

If you just followed Twitter, then yes, that's a reasonable conclusion to make. But the Q posts themselves didn't come across that way in the beginning. And I would throw out another idea, just for consideration: Trump has been pretty fixated on what the FBI/DOJ did against him during the 2016 election and thereafter. 

Regarding Q being a Russian psyops: there is a possibility of that, yes. I think it is small, especially in light of all the evidence that supposedly showed Trump was colluding with Russia was how Hillary and the Dems tried to prevent Trump from winning and then tried to use the Russia collusion myth and Steele dossier to get him out of office. A lot of work went into gaining those FISA warrants that were eventually used to spy against people in his administration (Poppadopoulos, Page). Sundance has a lot of the details on this over at Conservative Treehouse, but you would need to spend a significant amount of time going through and reading his posts. I can't post to just one to give the whole picture. In all the research he has done, I don't recall one instance where Q was mentioned as being part of the plan. His meticulous research has always pointed to the same people that Q mentioned. 

Regarding Q being a Chinese psyop: there is a possibility of that, yes. But I'm left feeling that China finds it more useful to attack the politicians and leaders in society as opposed to trying to work through the lower classes of society. All the Chinese institutes at universities, all the money spent drawing Biden & Sons, Inc. into their web, honeypots like Fang Fang and other similar stories all point to Chinese influence being a lot more out in the open, not hidden on a website. 

In any case, I honestly don't feel that Twitter is the right place to get a real understanding of Q or the phenomenon. You'll get a clear understanding of the anons who followed Q, though. 

vxbush 2/4/2021 5:51:54 AM

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Buzz wrote yesterday: 

I grew to admire Trump even before the 2016 election simply because then, and thereafter, he was obviously having to contend with all manner of calumny, much of it obviously fabricated, and---loose-mouthed braggart though he was and is---he handled it with style, grace, and humor. Greene appears to be trying to pick up and wrap herself in Trump's fallen mantle, but she does not strike me as having anywhere near the personal or financial resources to pull that off.  I do not automatically equate opposition to the current gang to "Trump-support," but there appear to be many who do, and I in no way consider Greene a worthy hill for either opposition, or "Trump-support," to die on. 

I have seen nothing about her except what the media has seen fit to share about her fixations on Q and such. You may be right, though, that she is attempting to make herself into the next populist leader. 

vxbush 2/4/2021 5:54:02 AM

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How about a piece of good news for a change? One of the folks who made money on the GameStop saga used his money to help kids in a hospital. 

Occasional Reader 2/4/2021 6:33:57 AM

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vxbush 2/4/2021 6:44:17 AM

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In #4 Occasional Reader said: Happy Day of Thor to y’all.

I'm waiting for the multicultural elite to suggest we rename the weekdays because they aren't inclusive enough of all religions. 

lucius septimius 2/4/2021 7:02:04 AM

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lucius septimius 2/4/2021 7:03:21 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 6:

Me, I'm going to go with it.

doppelganglander 2/4/2021 7:20:07 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 7:

I knew what that was before I clicked.

Next month we sing the songs of my people.

PaladinPhil 2/4/2021 7:47:38 AM

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JCM 2/4/2021 8:00:35 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 7:

Much better version....

JCM 2/4/2021 8:05:05 AM

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Seattle problems moving out of the city and too close to home

buzzsawmonkey 2/4/2021 8:11:16 AM

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Purim is coming!  Usually, this holiday is observed by dressing up in costumes and wearing masks.

I think that I'll suggest that this year, the holiday would be best observed by NOT wearing masks.

Kosh's Shadow 2/4/2021 8:30:13 AM

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Reply to JCM in 10:

Another version

buzzsawmonkey 2/4/2021 8:45:10 AM

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Kosh's Shadow 2/4/2021 8:45:46 AM

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An interesting take on QAnon, copied enough in case the article is behind a paywall:

One reason is that believers discover the details of this conspiracy theory for themselves by solving puzzles and finding clues called “drops.” Game designer Reed Berkowitz says he quickly recognized QAnon as a kind of a game known as an alternate reality game. These are fictional stories that send people out into the real world to gather clues. On the way, players encounter others who are engaged in the same hunt.

Berkowitz doesn’t just think QAnon is like a game — he thinks it is a game, though he says it was intended to fool people into thinking it’s real. When people find drops, they are meant to look like valuable, high-level leaks.

The drops are designed to make people feel a sense of discovery, something believers find highly rewarding. In a piece he wrote for Medium, Berkowitz argues that when people think they’ve found an idea themselves, they become attached to it. And they get pleasure from it.

When I talked to him by phone, he said alternate reality games use something called rabbit holes to send people in search of clues. The games can lead to phone calls and real meetings between players. Reality and fantasy blend, but the players recognize they are taking part in a game.

QAnon, he says, looks like something created with a purpose in mind. “I absolutely think that somebody is designing it and promoting it,” he said. The purpose is propaganda. The game leads people to distrust mainstream media, politicians and medicine, including COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. It also leads them to anti-Semitic and racist beliefs. Players may or may not believe the literal truth of the blood-draining story, but they tend to be bonded by ideology and feelings of distrust.

The community reinforces those ties, says Berkowitz. “If you’re suddenly involved in this community of people who supports you and believes that you’re valuable … this keeps you coming back.” The game is designed to reward people with social credit when they figure out the “correct” answer, which is the answer the QAnon designer or designers had planned all along.

And of course, we’re more isolated than we’ve been in recent history — missing the diversity of social interactions that in normal life keeps us from falling into ideological rabbit holes.

Simon DeDeo, a social scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, says people too easily dismiss believers in conspiracy theories as stupid. And that makes it hard to understand why these explanations draw people in.

“What something like QAnon does is hijack that source of joy we get from solving a murder mystery,” DeDeo said.

JCM 2/4/2021 10:15:40 AM

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This age group is most responsible for COVID-19 spread, study says

After schools re-opened in October 2020, the study says adults in the 20 to 49 range accounted for 72.2% of infections across the U.S. locations they studied.

A 30 year span, encompassing a majority of people, who are the most active.

Of course they are most "responsible".

JCM 2/4/2021 10:23:35 AM

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Reply to JCM in 16:

Talk about lies, damn lies and statistics.

Just keep adding age groups until you make the headline true.

Occasional Reader 2/4/2021 10:23:45 AM

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Question for the concealed carry people here; which concealed carry insurance do you recommend, and why?

/i’m not even asking “if“

JCM 2/4/2021 10:28:30 AM

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USCCA

Large group, great reviews.

Occasional Reader 2/4/2021 10:34:58 AM

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Reply to JCM in 19:

is that what you use?

JCM 2/4/2021 10:37:35 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 20:

Ayup.

vxbush 2/4/2021 11:20:15 AM

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In #15 Kosh's Shadow said: An interesting take on QAnon, copied enough in case the article is behind a paywall:

That is interesting, but of course you could take that information two ways: this was a scam using gaming techniques, or this was using the psychology of games to get people interested in the data and do the research themselves. 

Kosh's Shadow 2/4/2021 11:22:54 AM

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In #22 vxbush said: this was a scam using gaming techniques, or this was using the psychology of games to get people interested in the data and do the research themselves. 

But much of the "research" ends up as conspiracy theory BS, and as a Tabletmag article said, when you go looking for invisible figures behind world events, you end up finding invisible Jews, as there are hundreds of years of conspiracy theories involving Jews running the world.

vxbush 2/4/2021 11:33:51 AM

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In #23 Kosh's Shadow said: But much of the "research" ends up as conspiracy theory BS, and as a Tabletmag article said, when you go looking for invisible figures behind world events, you end up finding invisible Jews, as there are hundreds of years of conspiracy theories involving Jews running the world.

I don't disagree with any of that. But the information Q shared about the FISA stuff used to investigate Trump was spot on. So was it a drop of truth to get everyone lured in so they would believe the crazy stuff after? I'm not sure, but a false flag operation is pretty doable these days. 

Kosh's Shadow 2/4/2021 12:15:54 PM

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Reply to vxbush in 24:

There has to be some truth to get people interested, at least if you don't want them thinking it is just a game. And that is the bait. Use the kind of bait for the kind of fish you want to catch.

lucius septimius 2/4/2021 12:34:57 PM

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doppelganglander 2/4/2021 1:32:21 PM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 26:
They're gonna milk Covid for all it's worth right into 2022. That's when they get slaughtered at the polls, God willing. 

lucius septimius 2/4/2021 1:33:23 PM

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In #27 doppelganglander said: That's when they get slaughtered at the polls, God willing. 

Unless Biden uses his "emergency powers" to stop the elections.  After all the times they accused Trump of planning that you know it's what they want to do.

turn 2/4/2021 1:37:17 PM

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Vice President Mike Pence Joins Heritage Foundation as Distinguished Visiting Fellow

LINK

I’m pleased he’s joining the foundation, he’ll help join their fight in advancing conservative values and policy. I figured his career in politics was coming to an end, the left would have eventually destroyed him just as they did Trump.

Kosh's Shadow 2/4/2021 1:49:41 PM

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In #26 lucius septimius said: Biden has now gone full dictator.

He's just taking dictation.

doppelganglander 2/4/2021 2:32:51 PM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 28:
Under the Iron Law of Projection, you are correct. Would they get away with it? Over my dead body and plenty of others.