Page 28 of 30

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 10:34 am
by American Dream
QAnon's true believers are devastated as the conspiracy theory goes down in flames — and it won't end well

The Republican midterm loss and the firing of Jeff Sessions blew up the narrative of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Now its believers are at each others' throats.

Image

How are the most prominent #QAnon acolytes taking the blows of Q's fizzled 11/11 prediction and the midterms?

Liz Crokin is accusing Jerry Brown of starting fires with lasers, and Chrissy Tiegen of being a man; while Jordan Sather is yammering about UFOs and misusing "its." pic.twitter.com/XnJ5umhnVg


The notion that some of the remaining QAnon believers might form "citizen militias" is particularly troubling, as far-right conspiracy theories have led to violence - most famously, a man nearly shot up the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington D.C. last year, acting on a hoax that Hillary Clinton and her inner circle were running a sex trafficking ring out of its basement.

Whatever happens, the QAnon conspiracy theory was never fated to end well for its believers. And the whole saga is a cautionary tale about being careful what one believes on the Internet.


https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-polit ... f-sessions

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2018 6:28 pm
by liminalOyster
Mike Pence Tweeted, Then Deleted, A Picture With A Florida Deputy Wearing A QAnon Conspiracy Patch https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sa ... on-florida

A Florida Deputy Was Kicked Off The SWAT Team After He Posed With Mike Pence Wearing A QAnon Conspiracy Patch https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sa ... h-punished

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 11:02 pm
by American Dream
John Podesta
Is Ready to
Talk About Pizzagate



Alefantis told his staff that this Pizzagate thing would blow over after the election. Then Trump won, and the threats got worse. Violent messages poured into Comet’s Instagram and Facebook accounts, some of which Alefantis shared with Rolling Stone:

I will kill you personally

I truly hope someone blows your brains all over comet pizza

Are you scared yet? You should be motherfucker because were [sic] coming for you

You need to be raped killed and tortured like you do to children u sick fuck .. ur days of freedom are numbers u evil douche


The home addresses and phone numbers of Alefantis and his employees were published online. Comet would receive 150 menacing calls in a single day, Alefantis says, so he unplugged the phone. People reviewed Comet on Yelp and said there were chopped-up baby parts in their food.

As the threats became more violent, Alefantis repeatedly contacted the D.C. police and the FBI. He estimates he called the bureau three or four times and described a situation that, he admits, sounded insane. The FBI largely told him to call the police. “They were essentially like, ‘If you get a specific threat, let us know. Thank you, goodbye.'” When he asked what qualified as a specific threat, the FBI said, “A date and time when they’re going to come.” He says the local police visited Comet on multiple occasions but there was zero specific action taken by the police or the FBI as the threats escalated in the weeks after the election. (The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.)

At the same time the Pizzagaters barraged Comet, they attacked Alefantis personally. Strangers filmed his house and questioned his neighbors, he says. Any person or organization connected to him also got sucked in. A non-profit art gallery whose board he chaired received angry calls. Any trace of Alefantis’ life found in public records or social media — an old home address, an event he had attended — was used against him.

He came to see Pizzagate as a real-life video game played by the theory’s true believers. “These are people at home who want to investigate, and basically anything that’s available online is fair game to them,” Alefantis says. Sometimes, when he responded to the people making the threats, they would veer off into unexpected territory. “Some of those messages to me were, ‘How much do you pay your employees? Do you have health care?'” When he told them he did in fact offer health care, some responded, “Will you hire me?”

But the onslaught proved too much for him to handle on his own. Through a friend, he got in touch with Mike Gottlieb, a partner at the firm Boies Schiller Flexner. (David Boies, one of the firm’s founders, is the renowned litigator who has faced criticism for his work on behalf of Harvey Weinstein and the fraudulent blood-testing company Theranos.) Alefantis and Gottlieb met on a Friday in early December 2016, and Gottlieb agreed to take on Alefantis as a client. That Sunday, Welch walked into the restaurant, guns in tow. (Welch did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.)

Image
In this Dec. 4, 2016 file photo, Edgar Maddison Welch, 28 of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police in Washington. Welch, a man who police said was inspired by false internet rumors dubbed “pizzagate” to fire an assault weapon inside a Washington pizzeria pleaded guilty Friday, March 24, 2017, to two charges.


Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... te-766489/

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 11:06 pm
by MacCruiskeen
And this matters why, exactly? In times like the present?

The self-appointed Voice and Conscience Of The True Radical Left At RI has an urgent priority in December 2018: to post a Rolling Stone interview with poor oppressed John fucking Podesta. Naturally without one word of comment, i.e., approvingly.

Image
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ca/c4/f8 ... 9e4460.png

Suffering human beings.

You are completely shameless and totally outed, American Dream. The game's over.

Stillrobertpaulsen versus "American Dream" in 2014.

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 11:45 pm
by JackRiddler
Just speculating, since I'm no good for it, I shall bet QAnon is worthy of an investigation... as an intentional disinformation plot devised to draw attention away from the Epstein-Trump-Clinton-Acosta-Starr-Prince Andrew story. An obvious angle, but one apparently not pursued on this thread. How pernicious it was in this function becomes clear once we see that it has given a chance for Podesta -- after he and his class have done so much to fuck up the world -- to weep for the public. Anything that makes this mofo into a victim, instead of the target of a hostile interview about his part in rigging the 2016 election for Clinton over Sanders, is a favor to him.

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:38 am
by seemslikeadream
vile conspiracy theory that ended in gunfire

and a stupid RI pizzagate thread



Image

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:11 pm
by yathrib
I missedthe meeting where everyone decided 4chan nazis were the voice of public morality and childhood innocence.

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:53 pm
by seemslikeadream


In Blow To Fringe Right Theory, DOJ Official Won’t Testify In Front Of House Oversight

Tierney Sneed

To the great disappointment of the believers of a far-right conspiracy theory about a coming crackdown on a Democratic pedophilia ring, U.S. Attorney John Huber won’t testify at a House Oversight subcommittee hearing Thursday, as the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) had initially hyped.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupic said that Huber wouldn’t be appearing at the hearing — which will focus on how the DOJ is handling allegations against the Clinton Foundation — “[c]onsistent with conversations between the Department and the committee.”

Huber is the Utah-based U.S. attorney who was tasked by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to work with the Justice Department Inspector General to look at an assortment of anti-FBI claims being pushed by the GOP. Sessions was facing pressure from the right at the time to appoint a second special counsel. Meadows said he called this week’s hearing to get an update on the progress of that effort.

However, Huber has also developed a myth-like status among believers of a conspiracy theory known as “QAnon.” The theory suggests that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is merely a guise for a massive probe into a Democratic-linked sex trafficking operation that is quietly being prosecuted under President Trump. “Q” is supposedly a federal government insider — who posts as “Q Clearance Patriot” on 4chan — leaving breadcrumbs about the prosecution. (Q is a reference to a Q-level security clearance.)

Where Huber fits in is with unfounded speculation by QAnon types that he’s helping with this investigation and that there are thousands of sealed indictments that are connected to the effort to bring down the federal government’s Democratic Deep State.

The announcement last month by Meadows that he was bringing Huber in to testify thus prompted excitement by the QAnon community. Their hopes that Huber might finally give some public insight into the supposed operation to dismantle the Democratic cabal came crashing down on Wednesday when TPM reported that he would not be appearing.

December 5, the day the hearing was originally scheduled, was known as “D5” in the QAnon community, and believers hoped it would be the beginning of a wave of revelations, indictments and arrests of Trump’s political enemies.

When the hearing was postponed due to the late President George H.W. Bush’s funeral, the delay spawned a whole new set of conspiracy theories about an impending take down.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker ... ht-hearing

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 3:47 pm
by Freitag
When I confronted my QAnon-obsessed friend with the following, he shrugged it off, which surprised me. I guess QAnon is unfalsifiable. When you base your life around something, you don't want it to be proven wrong.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-bel ... ons-arrest

http://archive.fo/a16tY

QAnon Believers Crushed After Mueller Report Fails to Lead to Hillary Clinton’s Arrest

QAnon fans thought special counsel would take down the Democrats. Instead, Sebastian Gorka made fun of them.

Will Sommer

While most of Donald Trump’s allies braced for the release on Thursday of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, believers in the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory approached the long-awaited publication with a sense of thrill.

For years, QAnon fans have been mocked for believing that Mueller was secretly in league with the president, working hand-in-hand to uncover Satanic rituals committed by top Democrats before shipping them off to Guantanamo Bay. They had been told it was ridiculous to base their entire political worldview on a series of anonymous clues posted on internet message boards—including one that claimed Hillary Clinton was secretly arrested in October 2017.

Now, after all the chanting and waving of “Q” signs at Trump rallies, their hour of vindication was at hand.

Liz Crokin, a leading QAnon promoter, predicted on Wednesday that Mueller’s report would uncover leading Democrats committing crimes that are “punishable by death.”

“I think the Mueller Report will reveal some indicators that the real crimes that took places were committed by Hillary Clinton, Obama, and some of their associates,” Crokin told The Daily Beast. Crokin wasn’t alone. “Patriots’ Soapbox,” a 24-hour YouTube livestream devoted to decoding QAnon clues, urged viewers to check back Thursday for a “BIG day.” Joe Masepoes, a QAnon promoter whose pro-QAnon videos have been shared by celebrities like former baseball star Curt Schilling, urged his followers to “be here tomorrow.”

But when the Mueller report arrived on Thursday morning, it contained none of the bombshell, global pedophile cabal-destroying revelations QAnon fans had predicted. Instead, it detailed a Russian campaign of electoral subterfuge that benefited Trump’s election efforts, along with repeated attempts by the president to impede investigations into his conduct.

Unhappy QAnon believers were left to grapple with the letdown. As the report’s lack of QAnon proofs became clear, the Patriots’ Soapbox livestream quickly moved onto other topics like human trafficking. The channel’s viewers weren’t fooled, though. The comment section quickly filled up with disappointed QAnon fans.

On Voat, a Reddit-style forum alternative popular with QAnon fans, believers lamented the fact that they had been duped again.

“Trump is toast,” said one poster who said he wouldn’t vote in 2020 after the disappointment. “Lied to us to extend his re-election. Good luck Q peeps. I’m done here.”

This isn’t the first time QAnon loyalists have been promised confirmation of their bizarre ideas, only to be disappointed. In June 2018, “Q”—the anonymous person or group of people behind the vague clues that have been strung into QAnon—had promised that a Department of Justice inspector general report would bring down Clinton.

That report didn’t include the revelations QAnon believers were promised either. One angry, armed QAnon believer responded to that let-down by shutting down a bridge near the Hoover Dam with an improvised armored truck.

While QAnon believers grappled with what the Mueller report actually meant, the movement’s foes—including those in Trumpworld—took the opportunity to gloat. Former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka, whose frequent attacks on QAnon have made him a top enemy of Q-heads, took to Twitter on Thursday to urge QAnon believers to “#LeaveTheCult.”

“As of this morning: Q and QAnon are dead,” Gorka tweeted.

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:10 pm
by RocketMan
A broken clock is on time twice a day and all that... The Daily Beast doesn't miss a chance to crow on conspiracy theories, but this time they're on point. :)

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:14 am
by BenDhyan
If this segment's discussion on NSA domestic spying on the Trump campaign reflects reality, there definitely is a storm coming...


Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2019 8:10 am
by BenDhyan
Spygate still has lots to offer, namely the other side of the story... :wink:


Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2019 2:23 am
by BenDhyan
Things seem to be moving quickly now.....

Attorney General Barr puts former intel bosses on notice

By Kevin R. Brock, opinion contributor — 05/22/19 09:00 AM EDT

Things seem to be moving quickly now. It has been a remarkable few weeks in American history. Momentum is building toward uncovering the distasteful possibility that the targeting of a U.S. presidential campaign was actually a political operation, fostered at the highest levels of government, masquerading as an FBI counterintelligence investigation.

Attorney General William Barr has signaled that his interest in examining the origins of the investigation into the Trump campaign extends beyond whether the FBI operated “by the book,” as former FBI Director James Comey asserts. Barr also wants to understand the role that the larger intelligence community, or IC, may have played in all of this.

Barr has thrown punches that have left an interesting mix of characters with a standing eight count. Certain eyes around D.C. are a little glassy right now.

Barr’s words and actions are telling. First, he raised the concern that the Trump campaign was “spied” upon. His use of the word “spying” appears more calculated than casual. The wailing and gnashing of teeth that followed is also telling. “The FBI doesn’t spy” became the sputtering counter-refrain of those trying to mask their nervousness.

It’s a fair point that’s beside the point. The FBI is charged with acting under strict legal restrictions and court orders. Spying is not a term traditionally associated with those activities.

But it also misses the point Barr appears to be making. The IC does spy; that’s what they do. Barr may have been referring less to the FBI and more to the IC’s possible murky involvement.

This seems to be validated by Barr’s second haymaker in as many weeks: his appointment of a surrogate investigator, U.S. Attorney John Durham. Why would the attorney general add a third investigation to those under way by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and U.S. Attorney John Huber? Because those investigations are focused on the FBI. Durham’s assignment is not similarly constrained; his marching orders appear broader.

Through Durham, Barr can start dusting for fingerprints across the government, not just the FBI. The squirming has begun.

In just the past week, we’ve seen a rush to comment by the former directors of national intelligence and the CIA. The FBI’s former general counsel has chimed in publicly and, of course, fired FBI Director Comey has been on a media offensive, practicing character assassination as a strategy with Barr among those in his crosshairs.

Each appears to be anxious about his own role in handling the controversial Steele dossier from the Trump-Russia investigation, and so there is some elbowing under the basket to get optimum positioning. And who can blame them? The attorney general has stated that he is going to focus particularly on the dossier’s exploitation, and specifically on the actions of the leadership of those agencies.

Interestingly, this establishes these leaders as principal witnesses in Durham’s inquiry. In essence they are using their easy access to public media platforms to coordinate and communicate their stories among themselves.

Ordinarily, this type of witness activity is troubling, if not borderline obstructive when done privately. In this case, Durham may be licking his chops as a prosecutor since a certain element of finger-pointing among the principals has emerged.

Each also is dealing with an elephant that’s not just in the room but sitting uncomfortably in their laps. Christopher Steele’s dossier is clearly a Russian intelligence operation (“active measure” in IC-speak) that took advantage of a cooperative outreach by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

If these IC leaders didn’t recognize it as such, then it truly was amateur hour at the top. The more troubling scenario would be if each made a conscious decision to ignore the obvious Russian interference attempt and, instead, wring political value out of the dossier.

This is a key area that deserves Durham’s attention. After all, this Russian active measures operation was used to further an FBI counterintelligence investigation against American citizens, and even secure a court order to electronically intercept former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The American people shouldn’t feel badly if all this seems confusing. Even experienced counterintelligence investigators are scratching their heads. The former FBI general counsel to Comey, James Baker, added to the confusion last week with some lawyer language — that the FBI “took the dossier seriously, but not necessarily literally.” Say what?

IG Horowitz likely will take note of that statement as he finalizes his review of possible abuses by Comey and his team of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process. It seems doubtful that a FISA court judge would have granted an electronic surveillance order had he been told the FBI believed Page was acting as an agent of Russia — but not literally so.

Barr also wants to understand the role of CIA confidential sources, or “assets,” that were cozied up next to Page and another former Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos. Both were announced as Trump campaign members the same week in March 2016, and almost immediately began attracting attention from an interesting cast of characters associated with the agency long before the FBI counterintelligence investigation was launched that July.

The CIA has its own set of restrictions about the use of assets against Americans, and this deserves Durham’s focus as well. Former CIA Director John Brennan has commented on his belief in the sufficiency of FBI predication to investigate the Trump campaign but has said little about the CIA’s role in all of this. Durham will want to make sure that CIA asset activity didn’t somehow help create that predication.

IC leaders aren’t used to being held to account by the Justice Department, and their oversight by Congress generally is mild. Theirs is a comfortable world, obfuscated and kept mysterious by the liberal use of their classified-information shield. The demonization of Attorney General Barr has begun — a sign that he is probably on the right track. And the IC leaders are on notice.

Kevin R. Brock, former assistant director of intelligence for the FBI, was an FBI special agent for 24 years and principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). He is a founder and principal of NewStreet Global Solutions, LLC.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/444802-ag-barr-puts-former-intel-bosses-on-notice


Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2019 10:56 pm
by BenDhyan
Game on....

Subject: Memorandum on Agency Cooperation with Attorney General's Review of Intelligence Activities Relating to the 2016 Presidential Campaigns


The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2019
May 23, 2019

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY
THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

SUBJECT: Agency Cooperation with Attorney General's Review of Intelligence Activities Relating to the 2016 Presidential Campaigns

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following:

Section 1. Agency Cooperation.
The Attorney General is currently conducting a review of intelligence activities relating to the campaigns in the 2016 Presidential election and certain related matters. The heads of elements of the intelligence community, as defined in 50 U.S.C. 3003(4), and the heads of each department or agency that includes an element of the intelligence community shall promptly provide such assistance and information as the Attorney General may request in connection with that review.


Sec. 2. Declassification and Downgrading. With respect to any matter classified under Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009 (Classified National Security Information), the Attorney General may, by applying the standard set forth in either section 3.1(a) or section 3.1(d) of Executive Order 13526, declassify, downgrade, or direct the declassification or downgrading of information or intelligence that relates to the Attorney General's review referred to in section 1 of this memorandum. Before exercising this authority, the Attorney General should, to the extent he deems it practicable, consult with the head of the originating intelligence community element or department. This authority is not delegable and applies notwithstanding any other authorization or limitation set forth in Executive Order 13526.

Sec. 3. General Provisions.
(a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) The authority in this memorandum shall terminate upon a vacancy in the office of Attorney General, unless expressly extended by the President.

(d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(e) The Attorney General is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

DONALD J. TRUMP[/quote]

https://publicpool.kinja.com/subject-memorandum-on-agency-cooperation-with-attorney-1834993466

Re: “The Storm”

PostPosted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 12:23 pm
by liminalOyster
Bump.

Obviously Q is not some sort of legitimate truth teller, reporter, oracle or whsitleblower. But .... what then is he/it?