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QAnon's Corrosive Impact On The U.S.


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1 minute ago, DesertEagle said:

Oh Shabbs,  I started investing back around '08 give or take. My uncle had a transportation service at the time carrying around govt officials and believe it ir not one of his drivers suggested the dinar to him and of course he relayed it to me. Thats how I got involved.

 

I was dinarified here at one time, my account was hacked here several years back and literally just got it straightened out about a year ago with admin.

 

Someone got my email address, I couldn't log in etc etc....so once I was able to prove all this crap to admit they got me set back up.

 

Lil more south than the three cities you mentioned.  Charles county, about 20 minutes south of DC

 

Wife and I used to shop at the Potomac Mills outlet mall in the late 80's....Is it still there?

 

GO RV, then BV

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5 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

For a guy who pushes "value added" posts.....it seems out of place that you would be on a witch hunt of your own.

 

GO RV, then BV

 

I'll let my "value added" here on DV speak for itself....

 

There is no witch hunt.....just calling out straight up BS.....

 

Your posts are very devisive.....you seem to enjoy playing the "division" game here on DV.....

 

I have grown weary of the gamesmanship.....

 

You really might try some "value added" posting.....

 

 

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Just now, coorslite21 said:

 

I'll let my "value added" here on DV speak for itself....

 

There is no witch hunt.....just calling out straight up BS.....

 

Your posts are very devisive.....you seem to enjoy playing the "division" game here on DV.....

 

I have grown weary of the gamesmanship.....

 

You really might try some "value added" posting.....

 

 

 

The only reason it's not value added in your mind is because you disagree with it.....So in reality, value added is simply a term you use for articles that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Two sides to every story, CL.  Not everything is going to go your way, sorry.

 

GO RV, then BV

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5 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

The only reason it's not value added in your mind is because you disagree with it.....So in reality, value added is simply a term you use for articles that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Two sides to every story, CL.  Not everything is going to go your way, sorry.

 

GO RV, then BV

 

There is more to DV than the political section.....

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8 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

The only reason it's not value added in your mind is because you disagree with it.....So in reality, value added is simply a term you use for articles that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Two sides to every story, CL.  Not everything is going to go your way, sorry.

 

GO RV, then BV

 

I look at it like this......

 

This site has a number of moderators that you have been at odds with......

 

Then you take members like Pitcher.....

 

(and yes, he can stand up for himself)

 

Pitcher is "added value" all the way.....and I see you bait him, frustrate him and ridicule him.......you seem to do all of those things to many here....

 

DV is a business....in a business, if you have someone that is adverse to the team....they are removed.....

 

If it were my site, you would have been gone long ago....you're not here for the right reasons....

CL

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1 minute ago, coorslite21 said:

 

I look at it like this......

 

This site has a number of moderators that you have been at odds with......

 

Then you take members like Pitcher.....

 

(and yes, he can stand up for himself)

 

Pitcher is "added value" all the way.....and I see you bait him, frustrate him and ridicule him.......you seem to do all of those things to many here....

 

DV is a business....in a business, if you have someone that is adverse to the team....they are removed.....

 

If it were my site, you would have been gone long ago....you're not here for the right reasons....

CL

 

I ridicule him?  He's calls me a piece of garbage and trash, unabated and without consequence....and I'm the one ridiculing?

 

GO RV, then BV

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4 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

And it sounds like you're pulling every trick possible to get me banned.  Happy with yourself?

 

GO RV, then BV

 

No tricks.....just pointing out the facts of how you conduct your business here on DV....

 

Think I'll kick off an enjoyable weekend now....and you can just keep spreading your "joy"....

CL

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48 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

ridicule him?  He's calls me a piece of garbage and trash, unabated and without consequence....and I'm the one ridiculing?

 

Stop playing the victim Shabbs.  Rhetoric and words have consequences.  

 

Lets put the words I called you into context of our conversation.

 

A few weeks ago we were in the middle of one of the worst weather situations our State has ever suffered through.  I asked you twice to give the politics a rest but you kept on needling and egging the situation to meet your twisted Dem political logic. You were in attack mode imo, and I called you a piece of trash Shabbs.  At that point I was more that frustrated with you for exploiting the sufferings of our State.

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

How do you know I didn’t have a warning or any consequences.  Do you have access to my private messages that I have with the mods?

 

Ok, I am an old fart, I'll ask. Did you?   😆  Just kidding. It's your business.

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13 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

 

Stop playing the victim Shabbs.  Rhetoric and words have consequences.  

 

Lets put the words I called you into context of our conversation.

 

A few weeks ago we were in the middle of one of the worst weather situations our State has ever suffered through.  I asked you twice to give the politics a rest but you kept on needling and egging the situation to meet your twisted Dem political logic. You were in attack mode imo, and I called you a piece of trash Shabbs.  At that point I was more that frustrated with you for exploiting the sufferings of our State.

 

 

 

 

No no....I remember that quite well.  The next day, while Texans were still out of power and still hurting, somebody else politicized the situation, you jumped in and went with it just fine, looking to pass blame on politicians or Ercot or whoever and it was just fine....the difference being, I wasn't the one to broach the subject....it was a conservative and therefore fair game, while those same people in your state were still hurting.  Yes, I remember it well, Pitcher.  

 

GO RV, then BV

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14 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

Yes, I remember it well, Pitcher.  

 

Do you remember that I asked you to stop with the politics?  Do you remember that I said there would be another time to discuss blame and politics.   Do you remember that I said people were dying and to give it a rest?   Were you a decent human being and did you give it a rest. 

 

Imo, Noooooooooo!!!!!

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Associated Press

Arizona man who wore horns in Capitol riot to remain jailed

  • This image provided by The Alexandria (Va.) Sheriff's Office shows Jacob Chansley. A judge ordered corrections authorities to provide organic food to the Arizona man who is accused of participating in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns. He was moved from the Washington jail to the Virginia facility. (Alexandria Sheriff's Office via AP)

Capitol Breach Chansley

This image provided by The Alexandria (Va.) Sheriff's Office shows Jacob Chansley. A judge ordered corrections authorities to provide organic food to the Arizona man who is accused of participating in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns. He was moved from the Washington jail to the Virginia facility. (Alexandria Sheriff's Office via AP)
Mon, March 8, 2021, 6:54 PM
 
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Arizona man who stormed the U.S. Capitol two months ago while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns will remain jailed until his trial, a federal judge ruled Monday, saying the man’s willingness to resort to violence and refusal to follow police orders during the siege signal that he wouldn’t follow court-ordered conditions of release.

Judge Royce Lamberth said Jacob Chansley doesn’t fully appreciate the severity of the charges against and found none of Chansley’s “many attempts to manipulate the evidence and minimize the seriousness of his actions” to be persuasive.

The judge wrote that Chansley carried a spear into the siege, used a bullhorn to encourage other rioters, profanely referred to then-Vice President Mike Pence as a traitor while in the Senate and wrote a note to the Pence saying, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” Chansley, who disputed the note was intended to be threatening, also made a social media posting in November in which he promoted hangings for traitors.

 

“Reading that note in the context of defendant’s earlier promotion of the execution of ‘traitors’ invalidates the notion that defendant breached the Capitol merely to leave peaceful, political commentary on the Senate dais,” Lamberth wrote.

The judge sided with prosecutors who argued that the 6-inch (15-centimeter) spear mounted atop the flagpole carried by Chansley into the Capitol was a dangerous weapon. His attorney had characterized the spear as an ornament.

Chansley’s attorney also said his client was in the third wave of rioters who went into the Capitol. But the judge said video shows Chansley, who entered through Capitol through a doorway as rioters smashed nearby windows, “quite literally spearheaded” the rush into the building.

He has been jailed since his arrest in the days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol as Congress was certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over then-President Donald Trump.

Chansley, who calls himself the QAnon Shaman, unsuccessfully sought a pardon from Trump. He has since expressed disappointment in Trump, though he also said he doesn’t regret being loyal to the former president.

A prosecutor said Chansley claims to be sorry for his actions during the riot, yet he still believes the election wasn’t legitimate.

Chansley’s attorney, Al Watkins, said his client didn’t act violently inside the Capitol and disputed that Chansley was any sort of leader in the riot.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/arizona-man-wore-horns-capitol-235455691.html

 

GO RV, then BV

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Business Insider

Pastors are leaving their congregations after losing their churchgoers to QAnon

 
 
Sophia Ankel
Sun, March 14, 2021, 12:02 PM
 
 
trump captiol prayer
 
President Donald Trump's supporters storming the US Capitol. Samuel Corum/Getty Images
  • Pastors are trying to fight conspiracy theories and misinformation that have gripped churches.

  • Insider spoke with two pastors who left their congregations after seeing members become radicalized.

  • Some research has found outsize support among white evangelicals for the QAnon conspiracy theory.

On the morning of the Capitol riot, Vern Swieringa told his wife during a walk with their dogs: "Something is going to happen today. I don't know what, but something's going to happen today."

The Christian Reformed Church pastor from Michigan had been watching for months as some members of his congregation grew captivated by videos about the QAnon conspiracy theory on social media, openly discussing sex trafficking and Satan-worshipping pedophiles.

He had watched as other spiritual advisors, including the self-proclaimed "Trump Prophet" Mark Taylor, incorporated wild and dangerous QAnon beliefs into their sermons on YouTube and as organizers of the Christian Jericho March gathered in Washington, DC, days before the insurrection, urging followers to "pray, march, fast, and rally for election integrity."

So when hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol hours after his premonition, Swieringa was shocked, but not surprised.

 

"I think some of the signs had been there all along, and it just all came to a perfect storm," Swieringa told Insider.

GettyImages 1197359482
 
Faith leaders praying over Trump during a campaign event at the King Jesus International Ministry in Miami on January 3, 2020. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The pastor said he had been worried about so-called Christian nationalism since Trump was elected in 2016. (Neither Swieringa nor any of the other pastors interviewed for this story say who they voted for in 2016 or 2020.)

He became even more concerned when, in 2018, some older members in his own congregation started sending him what he described as "disturbing" QAnon videos. When Swieringa brought these to the attention of his superiors, he said, they were mostly dismissive, telling him they didn't know what QAnon was.

But when the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, the problem grew larger and a lot more personal.

Swieringa felt increasingly uncomfortable when a large part of his congregation dismissed the pandemic as a hoax.

The 61-year-old pastor had been taking the pandemic very seriously, he said, partly because his wife was considered at risk. A bout of pneumonia in 2019 had left her with permanent scarring in the lungs.

"It was at that point when I put my foot down and said, 'I'm not going to preach in front of a congregation that wants to sing and not wear masks,'" Swieringa said. "But they still wanted me to preach in front of them without wearing a mask."

He said the church offered to him a plexiglass barrier to preach behind, but he felt it wouldn't make much of a difference in an enclosed space.

"We agreed to separate at that point, and so it felt pretty cordial at the time," Swieringa said. "But I found out later that there were really hard feelings amongst the congregation, and many of them felt like I abandoned them. It was heartbreaking."

Swieringa left the church in December after eight years of service.

He now works part time at the Kibbie Christian Reformed Church in South Haven, 30 miles away from his original job. His new church has a mandatory mask rule.

Outsize belief in QAnon among white evangelicals

Swieringa is not the only pastor to struggle with the rapid spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation in his congregation.

A poll released in January by the Christian research organization Lifeway Research found that more than 45% of protestant pastors said they had often heard congregants repeating conspiracy theories about national news events.

Another survey by the conservative American Enterprise Institute found that more than a quarter of white evangelical respondents believed in QAnon and that three in five believed that President Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election was "not legitimate." Those rates were the highest in any religious group.

The trend has prompted hundreds of evangelical pastors and faith leaders to speak out. In February, more than 1,400 of them published an open letter condemning "radicalized Christian nationalism" and the "rise of violent acts by radicalized extremists using the name of Christ," The Washington Post reported.

trump capitol religion
 
Trump supporters outside the Capitol on January 6. Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Among them is Jared Stacey, a Southern Baptist youth pastor from Virginia who ended up leaving the church altogether after QAnon and other conspiracy theories began to divide his congregation.

He moved to Scotland in December, where he now studies theology at the University of Aberdeen.

He told Insider he left to "create some space," adding that pastoring in 2020 was "a struggle" for many faith leaders.

"I do think that a lot of pastors are burdened right now and need a friend," Stacey said. "It's not easy watching people that you've invested time in becoming radicalized so quickly right in front of you."

He said that while some people might say politics shouldn't be discussed in churches, there comes "a point where refusing to talk politics is a false front for protecting the political sensibilities of your stakeholders."

"That is why there is a theological need to address what the Bible would describe as telling lies or having a false God," he added.

But keeping up with the information online is not always easy, and Stacey worries that the church is falling behind in the race to bring Christian messages to a world that spends most of its time online.

"The church is going through the biggest information shift since the printing press," Stacey said.

The road to recovery from QAnon

One person trying to use technology to reach more Christians who have become affected by QAnon is Derek Kubilus, the senior pastor of Uniontown United Methodist Church in Ohio.

Kubilus runs the "Cross Over Q" podcast, which offers "healing for QAnon followers and family members from a Christian perspective."

The pastor started the podcast after the Capitol riot and has received a wide range of listeners, including former QAnon believers who have told him that the podcast has been part of their recovery.

"When I saw crosses being carried alongside QAnon banners and a noose as those folks marched on the Capitol I just knew I had to do something, but from a Christian perspective," Kubilus told Insider.

trump evangelicals
 
A woman praying during the "Evangelicals for Trump" campaign event in Miami on January 3, 2020. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

While some pastors, including Stacey and Swieringa, opted for private conversations with their congregants to warn against the dangers of misinformation, Kubilus does it publicly.

In his podcasts, he debunks theories, speaks about how they're dangerous, and preaches about the importance of unity.

"Members of the clergy are expected to maintain a certain kind of distance from secular politics ... both in order to preserve the unity of our congregation, and to make sure that we don't unduly influence elections," Kubilus said.

"But I don't believe that QAnon is inherently political. It starts with politics, but these are people's lives, in relationships, that we're talking about."

Kubilus is aware that the recovery from QAnon radicalization is by no means a short one, but he's hopeful that his efforts will bring Christians back home eventually.

"It takes a lot of courage, time, and patience," he said. "But when you hear the stories of people who are being hurt, in the families that are falling apart, you recognize that it is absolutely necessary."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pastors-leaving-congregation-losing-churchgoers-160213365.html

 

GO RV, then BV

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The Daily Beast

HBO’s QAnon Docuseries ‘Q: Into the Storm’ Believes It Has Discovered Q’s Identity

 
 
Nick Schager
Tue, March 16, 2021, 5:00 AM
 
 
HBO
 
HBO

A mishmash of abject nonsense about global elite cabals, deep state operatives, and pedophilic child-sex traffickers who consume babies’ fear for its rejuvenating power, QAnon’s belief system is so absurd that it would be laughable if it wasn’t so popular—and thus so dangerous.

Shot over the past three years, Cullen Hoback’s excellent Q: Into the Storm (March 21 on HBO) is a complex story about free speech, social media, anti-establishment fury, white nationalist intolerance, crackpot fantasy, and anarchist villainy, all of which contributed to the rise of the infamous conspiracy theory, which during Donald Trump’s presidency took hold of factions of the GOP, and helped fuel the insurrectionist January 6 Capitol riots. Part on-the-ground journalistic exposé, part sociological study of corrosive internet culture, and part whodunit, the six-part affair shines a spotlight on one of the darkest corners of contemporary American life.

[Spoilers Follow]

What it locates in that gloom, among other things, is the apparent identity of Q himself: Ron Watkins.

 

Hoback’s docuseries focuses on a collection of out-there individuals, beginning—in the premiere’s opening scene—with Watkins, the administrator of 8chan, an everything-goes message board that was owned by his father Jim Watkins, and hosted on servers located (as Jim himself was) in Manila. Jim made money via a pig farm, local retail shops, and by hosting websites in places like the Philippines, where they weren’t beholden to other nations’ laws. One of those platforms was 8chan (now 8kun), which Jim purchased from Fredrick Brennan, a smart, talkative young disabled man who created the site when he was 19 years old before selling it to Jim, who promptly hired Fredrick as its maiden administrator and relocated him to Manila.

8chan was an image board where anonymous users could indulge in unbridled free speech, including memes, photos, and diatribes about white nationalism, sexism, racism, and any other ugly or deviant thing that’s technically permitted by the First Amendment. It was there that, following a brief stint on 4chan (its more moderated ancestor), Q took up permanent residence. Claiming to be a military insider with “Q-level clearance” who was supposedly close to Trump, Q made regular posts (known as “QDrops”) that were full of coded warnings and premonitions about the coming “storm” that would unmask the deep state, and lead to the arrest, trial, and execution of alleged liberal criminals. Adherents began going on “digs” (i.e. research and analysis) to decipher the meanings of these messages, and then re-posting their conjecture in an effort to crowdsource further answers. As Q: Into the Storm defines it, QAnon (the “anon” is short for “anonymous,” in reference to both Q and those who frequented such boards) was “part interactive game, part religion, part political movement.”

In its early going, the series depicts a few die-hard supporters while providing a handy primer on QAnon’s operation and terminology, including “red pill” (a Matrix-inspired phrase meant to imply someone's eyes being opened to the truth) and and its White Squall mantra, “Where we go one, we go all.” Its primary subject, however, is the drama surrounding 8chan. According to early QAnon supporter Paul Furber, Q’s posts changed when he moved to 8chan, suggesting that an imposter was actually posing as the mystery figure. Nonetheless, Q’s subsequent missives were eagerly received by 8chan denizens, fueling the site’s popularity and spawning a cottage industry around his every word, courtesy of Qtubers like Dustin Nemos, Craig James and Liz Crokin, all of whom wax rhapsodic about the movement. To them, Q was a veritable omniscient deity; Crokin claims that Q is so magical she’d now believe anything, including that the Earth is flat. But to Ron and Jim, who profess their disinterest in politics and Q, he was supposedly just one of many users on the site.

Ron comes across as a soft-spoken, off-kilter narcissist whose every word is unreliable, and that goes double for Jim, who has a creepy twinkle in his eye, and an admitted fondness for politically incorrect off-camera speech. When 8chan refused to take down the manifestos of the 2019 Christchurch shooter (and two subsequent copycats), Fredrick had a contentious falling out with Ron and Jim, and their conflict is one of the central dynamics of Q: Into the Storm, since at the same time that 8chan was supplying a safe haven for murderous hatemongers, it was also giving rise to QAnon.

In lucid fashion, Hoback’s docuseries explicates the evolution of this radical, incel-filled corner of the online universe, tracing a clear line from Gamergate (an attack on female video gamers and journalists by a hostile misogynistic mob), to Pizzagate (a 2016 conspiracy about Hilary Clinton and John Podesta trafficking children in the non-existent basement of Washington, D.C.’s Comet Ping Pong pizzeria), to QAnon, which was the culmination of this milieu’s disgusting, prejudiced, paranoid, conspiracy-minded ideas and elements.

<div class="inline-image__caption"><p>Ron Watkins</p></div> <div class="inline-image__credit">HBO</div>
 

Ron Watkins

HBO

Q: Into the Storm is awash in wild players, weird terminology, and unhinged craziness. With the personable Hoback as its guide, it offers real-time access to Ron, Jim, Fredrick, Qtubers, OAN’s Jack Posobiec, and more, and is bolstered by an avalanche of news and internet clips, archival material, and interviews with experts (such as The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer). Q soon attracted the attention of right-wing bigwigs like Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, and Trump himself, who publicly claimed ignorance about QAnon but eventually began reposting Q memes and using Q phrases to court its followers. Over the course of its six installments, the docuseries dives headfirst into what appears to be a prank gone awry, with Q metastasizing from an online lark (or LARP, aka Live-Action Role-Playing game) to a feedback loop-fed crusade embraced by nihilistic loons and promoted by anti-democratic right-wingers like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

 

Rife with talk about inventive tripcodes, covert psyops, child porn, and Section 230 (which shields websites from being sued for what users say on them), Q: Into the Storm becomes a frightening look at the dangers of unfettered free speech, as well as a portrait of a 21st-century America in thrall to delusions, and the myriad people who promote those falsehoods for financial or political gain. In its final installment, which concludes shortly after the Jan. 6 riots (which he attended alongside Jim, camera in tow), Hoback persuasively points the finger at Watkins as the mastermind of this Q ruse. In doing so, he not only brings some closure to his wide-ranging investigation, but also illustrates how modern society is at the mercy of shadowy manipulators using the internet to turn their destructive lies into reality.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/hbo-qanon-docuseries-q-storm-090017080.html

 

GO RV, then BV

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32 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:
 
The Daily Beast

HBO’s QAnon Docuseries ‘Q: Into the Storm’ Believes It Has Discovered Q’s Identity

 
 
Nick Schager
Tue, March 16, 2021, 5:00 AM
 
 
HBO
 
HBO

A mishmash of abject nonsense about global elite cabals, deep state operatives, and pedophilic child-sex traffickers who consume babies’ fear for its rejuvenating power, QAnon’s belief system is so absurd that it would be laughable if it wasn’t so popular—and thus so dangerous.

Shot over the past three years, Cullen Hoback’s excellent Q: Into the Storm (March 21 on HBO) is a complex story about free speech, social media, anti-establishment fury, white nationalist intolerance, crackpot fantasy, and anarchist villainy, all of which contributed to the rise of the infamous conspiracy theory, which during Donald Trump’s presidency took hold of factions of the GOP, and helped fuel the insurrectionist January 6 Capitol riots. Part on-the-ground journalistic exposé, part sociological study of corrosive internet culture, and part whodunit, the six-part affair shines a spotlight on one of the darkest corners of contemporary American life.

[Spoilers Follow]

What it locates in that gloom, among other things, is the apparent identity of Q himself: Ron Watkins.

 

Hoback’s docuseries focuses on a collection of out-there individuals, beginning—in the premiere’s opening scene—with Watkins, the administrator of 8chan, an everything-goes message board that was owned by his father Jim Watkins, and hosted on servers located (as Jim himself was) in Manila. Jim made money via a pig farm, local retail shops, and by hosting websites in places like the Philippines, where they weren’t beholden to other nations’ laws. One of those platforms was 8chan (now 8kun), which Jim purchased from Fredrick Brennan, a smart, talkative young disabled man who created the site when he was 19 years old before selling it to Jim, who promptly hired Fredrick as its maiden administrator and relocated him to Manila.

8chan was an image board where anonymous users could indulge in unbridled free speech, including memes, photos, and diatribes about white nationalism, sexism, racism, and any other ugly or deviant thing that’s technically permitted by the First Amendment. It was there that, following a brief stint on 4chan (its more moderated ancestor), Q took up permanent residence. Claiming to be a military insider with “Q-level clearance” who was supposedly close to Trump, Q made regular posts (known as “QDrops”) that were full of coded warnings and premonitions about the coming “storm” that would unmask the deep state, and lead to the arrest, trial, and execution of alleged liberal criminals. Adherents began going on “digs” (i.e. research and analysis) to decipher the meanings of these messages, and then re-posting their conjecture in an effort to crowdsource further answers. As Q: Into the Storm defines it, QAnon (the “anon” is short for “anonymous,” in reference to both Q and those who frequented such boards) was “part interactive game, part religion, part political movement.”

In its early going, the series depicts a few die-hard supporters while providing a handy primer on QAnon’s operation and terminology, including “red pill” (a Matrix-inspired phrase meant to imply someone's eyes being opened to the truth) and and its White Squall mantra, “Where we go one, we go all.” Its primary subject, however, is the drama surrounding 8chan. According to early QAnon supporter Paul Furber, Q’s posts changed when he moved to 8chan, suggesting that an imposter was actually posing as the mystery figure. Nonetheless, Q’s subsequent missives were eagerly received by 8chan denizens, fueling the site’s popularity and spawning a cottage industry around his every word, courtesy of Qtubers like Dustin Nemos, Craig James and Liz Crokin, all of whom wax rhapsodic about the movement. To them, Q was a veritable omniscient deity; Crokin claims that Q is so magical she’d now believe anything, including that the Earth is flat. But to Ron and Jim, who profess their disinterest in politics and Q, he was supposedly just one of many users on the site.

Ron comes across as a soft-spoken, off-kilter narcissist whose every word is unreliable, and that goes double for Jim, who has a creepy twinkle in his eye, and an admitted fondness for politically incorrect off-camera speech. When 8chan refused to take down the manifestos of the 2019 Christchurch shooter (and two subsequent copycats), Fredrick had a contentious falling out with Ron and Jim, and their conflict is one of the central dynamics of Q: Into the Storm, since at the same time that 8chan was supplying a safe haven for murderous hatemongers, it was also giving rise to QAnon.

In lucid fashion, Hoback’s docuseries explicates the evolution of this radical, incel-filled corner of the online universe, tracing a clear line from Gamergate (an attack on female video gamers and journalists by a hostile misogynistic mob), to Pizzagate (a 2016 conspiracy about Hilary Clinton and John Podesta trafficking children in the non-existent basement of Washington, D.C.’s Comet Ping Pong pizzeria), to QAnon, which was the culmination of this milieu’s disgusting, prejudiced, paranoid, conspiracy-minded ideas and elements.

<div class="inline-image__caption"><p>Ron Watkins</p></div> <div class="inline-image__credit">HBO</div>
 

Ron Watkins

HBO

Q: Into the Storm is awash in wild players, weird terminology, and unhinged craziness. With the personable Hoback as its guide, it offers real-time access to Ron, Jim, Fredrick, Qtubers, OAN’s Jack Posobiec, and more, and is bolstered by an avalanche of news and internet clips, archival material, and interviews with experts (such as The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer). Q soon attracted the attention of right-wing bigwigs like Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, and Trump himself, who publicly claimed ignorance about QAnon but eventually began reposting Q memes and using Q phrases to court its followers. Over the course of its six installments, the docuseries dives headfirst into what appears to be a prank gone awry, with Q metastasizing from an online lark (or LARP, aka Live-Action Role-Playing game) to a feedback loop-fed crusade embraced by nihilistic loons and promoted by anti-democratic right-wingers like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

 

Rife with talk about inventive tripcodes, covert psyops, child porn, and Section 230 (which shields websites from being sued for what users say on them), Q: Into the Storm becomes a frightening look at the dangers of unfettered free speech, as well as a portrait of a 21st-century America in thrall to delusions, and the myriad people who promote those falsehoods for financial or political gain. In its final installment, which concludes shortly after the Jan. 6 riots (which he attended alongside Jim, camera in tow), Hoback persuasively points the finger at Watkins as the mastermind of this Q ruse. In doing so, he not only brings some closure to his wide-ranging investigation, but also illustrates how modern society is at the mercy of shadowy manipulators using the internet to turn their destructive lies into reality.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/hbo-qanon-docuseries-q-storm-090017080.html

 

GO RV, then BV

We know trumps still living in your head but will you be posting anything about the Washington posts screw up  misquoting trump at the Georgia elections or you gona look the other way again?? Seems like your on a one way street orange man bad

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