Weaponizing QAnon

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QAnon is a right wing  conspiracy theory that claims that dozens of Satan-worshiping politicians and A-list celebrities work in tandem with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse. The group also peddles in conspiracies about COVID-19 and mass shootings. None of the fan fiction is grounded in reality. Followers also believe there is a “deep state” effort to annihilate Trump. Lawmakers drafted a bipartisan resolution in the US House to condemn the organization.

The FBI determined the online cabal to be a potential source of domestic terrorism, the first time the agency had so rated a fringe conspiracy theory. In the age of the pandemic this has become an online form of a cult. A memo issued on May 30, 2019 by the FBI said, “These conspiracy theories very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts.” West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center reported, “Though less organized than jihadi or far-right extremists, QAnon represents a novel challenge to public security,” it said, “QAnon also represents a militant and anti-establishment ideology rooted in an apocalyptic desire to destroy the existing, corrupt world to usher in a promised golden age,”

Trump had amplified QAnon messaging at least 216 times by retweeting or mentioned 129 Q Anon-affiliated Twitter accounts, sometimes multiple times a day. When asked directly, Trump praised its followers for supporting him and shrugging off its outlandish conspiracies. Trump responded, “I have heard that it’s gaining in popularity,” He followed with, “I don’t know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much. Which I appreciate.”

The campaign of Democratic nominee Joe Biden responded to Trump’s comments, accusing the President of “giving voice to violence.” QAnon has been connected to several incidents of violence or threatened violence.

In April 2020, an Illinois woman was arrested in New York City for driving onto a pier with a car full of knives in an apparent attempt to reach a Navy hospital ship housing COVID-19 patients. In a live stream of her travels, the woman threatened to kill Joe Biden over claims of sex trafficking. In June 2020, a Massachusetts man led police on a chase through Massachusetts and New Hampshire with his five children in the car. In a live-stream Facebook video of the event, the man discussed QAnon conspiracies. An Arizona man harassed and publicly broadcasting private or identifying information about locals he suspected of participating in the child sex trafficking ring at the heart of the conspiracy theory; and a Nevada man at the Hoover Dam whose truck was found to contain rifles and other ammunition, who was later discovered to have sent letters to President Trump containing references to the movement.

There have also been violent incidents related to a Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which claimed a pizza shop was running a child sex trafficking ring run by Hillary Clinton and other Democratic officials. One armed man entered a Washington pizzeria in 2016 to investigate the baseless theory; another man motivated by the conspiracy theory started a fire at the same pizza joint in 2019.

Mary Ann Mendoza an activist who was scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night August 25, 2020 was abruptly yanked off the program after it was reported that she had shared an anti-Semitic QAnon conspiracy theory on social media hours ahead of her scheduled appearance.

Facebook on Wednesday August 26, 2020 banned about 900 pages and groups and 1,500 ads tied to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon, part of a sweeping action that also restricted the reach of over 10,000 Instagram pages and almost 2,000 Facebook groups pushing the baseless conspiracy theory that has spawned real-world violence. The trouble is that policing on social media is difficult because the informaton can be shared in other less obvious pages and groups.

YouTube’s recommended videos algorithm, which offers content similar to what you’re currently watching, has also been identified as a radicalizing force for many who harbor extremist views, easily allowing users to go down a rabbit hole of misinformation by “slowly introducing you to ideas that are outside the norm.”

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the Daily Dot, “I mean, the allowance of misinformation and disinformation to be widespread and frankly the Republican encouragement of that, has now kind of created this ecosystem that they no longer feel they have control of.” She listed other deep-standing issues as “the fundamental lack of trust in institutions, lack of trust in money and power that creates this very fertile ground for conspiracy theories to grow.” She added: “I think that we see how the president is weaponizing it. It’s very clear that he has identified this as an asset to him.” Simply put, the conspiracy theory helps Donald Trump’s goal of sewing division and his attacks on truth.

Sturgis Surge

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Sturgis, South Dakota was the site of a huge 10 day Biker rally. Over 460,000 bikes from all over the country roared into that town at the rally that ended August 16, 2020. Few bikers wore masks. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, has defied calls to cancel large gatherings and opposes requirements to wear masks. She welcomed the event.

COVID-19 spread in bars, tattoo parlors and at the crowded concerts. Now that the bikers are gone thee city of Sturgis is conducting tests for it’s 7,000 residents. Cell phone data from Camber Systems confirmed that bikers attended the event from 61% of all the counties in the nation. They returned home to share their experiences and the virus with friends and family.

Stephen Groves of AP reported that State health departments have reported 103 cases from people in South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Washington. Health officials in South Dakota have said they don’t know how many people were exposed and have issued public warnings of possible COVID-19 exposure at five businesses popular with bikers. Tracing every infection from the rally is virtually impossible. Every state has its own way of dealing with the virus, so contact tracing across state lines is a nightmare.

A tattoo artist from Asylum Tattoo Sturgis located inside One-Eyed Jack’s Saloon, tested positive for COVID-19. On five different shifts the tattoo artist could have spread the virus to clients in the shop. Health officials reported that the COVID-19 infection rate in South Dakota has been increasing. Kris Ehresmann, the Minnesota Department of Health’s infectious disease division director said, “We’re expecting that we’re going to see many more cases associated with Sturgis. Thousands of people attended that event, and so it’s very likely that we will see more transmission.” ABC News reported.

Posthumous Degree

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A new policy at Boston University now allows students who die while attending the school to receive posthumous degrees. Juan Garcia, a 21-year-old College of Earth and Mineral Sciences student from Allentown, died June 30 of respiratory failure and COVID-19. His death is the first known Penn State student death related to the COVID-19

A slow moving disaster is happening across the country as millions of college students are returning for on campus classes. Nearly 1,000 academic institutions are welcoming students and staff back to their campuses. With no national strategy on how to handle the situation in a pandemic, universities have to decide what to do on an ad hock basis. Some universities are testing students three times a week while others are welcoming limited numbers of students with a face mask stamped with the university’s mascot, a bottle of hand sanitizer and plans to test only a fraction of people on campus. The students are guinea pigs in a giant health experiment. Having so many students crush together for in person learning is particularly dangerous in the United States which United States, which has seen the largest number of deaths to COVID-19 of any country.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced on August 17, 2020 that, because of outbreaks of COVID-19 among students, it would shift all undergraduate classes online, a week after bringing students back to campus. The University of Notre Dame in Indiana reported that 304 students had tested positive. Notre Dame also turned to online learning.

College parties are pushing the rise in cases. Going off to college for many students is their first taste of freedom so this isn’t surprising. Students will rebel against any notion of isolation. The urge to party is too hard to resist. They have been fed the idea that they are not part of a high risk group. With that in mind, partying hard is not a risk. Some students even want to get sick, holding COVID parties and gambling on who gets sick first.

Each city and state is handling COVID-19 in different ways so it would be hard to get every student to embrace the same safety protocols. Outbreaks continue to spread on open campuses. Hundreds of colleges are having to reverse their re-opening plans. Codes of conduct are being instated at colleges with threats of expulsion but lets face it, they can not be enforced.

Though adults over 65 years of are are most at risk, COVID-19 has killed people in all age groups. People age 20 to 44 account for 20% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 12% of ICU admissions according to John’s Hopkins School of Public Health. People under age the age of 40 are developing severe breathing problems and blood clots related to Covid-19. The virus is in discriminant and thrives in crowded spaces.

Pandemic Pup

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, “Some coronaviruses that infect animals can be spread to humans and then spread between people, but this is rare. This is what happened with the virus that caused the current outbreak of COVID-19, with the virus likely originating in bats. The first reported infections were linked to a live animal market, but the virus is now spreading from person to person.”

“At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low. More studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be affected by COVID-19.”

“Cats, dogs, and a few other types of animals can be infected with SARS-C. Animals infected include, dogs, cats, including a tiger and lion, and recently, minks.There have been reports of animals being infected with the virus worldwide.”

“CDC, USDA, and state public health and animal health officials are working in some states to conduct active surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in pets, including cats, dogs, and other small mammals, that had contact with a person with COVID-19. These animals are being tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection and also tested to see whether the pet develops antibodies to this virus. This work is being done to help better understand how common SARS-CoV-2 infection might be in pets as well as the possible role of pets in the spread of this virus.”

“Data from one study suggest some dogs can get infected but might not spread the virus to other dogs as easily compared to cats and ferrets, which can easily spread the virus to other animals of the same species. These findings were based on a small number of animals, and do not show whether animals can spread infection to people. More studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be affected by COVID-19. Of the pets that have gotten sick, most only had mild illness and fully recovered.”

  • It appears that the virus that causes COVID-19 can spread from people to animals in some situations.
  • Treat pets as you would other human family members – do not let pets interact with people outside the household.
  • If a person inside the household becomes sick, isolate that person from everyone else, including pets.
  • Do not put a mask on pets. Masks could harm your pet.
  • Routine testing of animals for SARS-CoV-2 is not recommended.

Voter Suppression

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“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Across the county a record number of Americans plan to vote-by-mail amid the COVID-19 pandemic. USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was called before a Senate committee on August 21, 2020 to answer questions about how the US postal service has been dismantled leading up to the November election. DeJoy who has donated millions to the Donald Trump election campaign and he was put in position by Trump. The president has been falsely claiming that mail in voting is an invitation for voting fraud. He seems to think dogs will be given ballots and that the results will be contested for years. He slammed mail in voting as he signed his own mail in ballot for Florida.

Louis DeJoy confirmed that he will not restore mail collecting and processing capacity that the U.S Postal Service has lost in recent weeks, when pressed by U.S. Senator Tom Carper in a Senate Homeland Security Committee. Over the past few weeks Senator Carper has received hundred of complaints form his constituents about delayed paychecks and prescription drugs.

CNN reported that any Americans have since grown concerned over the USPS’ ability to handle the expected influx of ballots as more voters choose to vote by mail because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Sorting machines and mailboxes that had been removed will not be put back in use. An e-mail instructed postal workers to not to reconnect any mail sorting machines that have previously been disconnected.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons was invited by anonymous USPS employees to see what they called “government destruction of property.” He found a dismantled mail sorting machine that he said was left out in the rain. The senator said employees told him the dismantling happened in a “late-night operation.”

Kevin Couch, a director of maintenance operations said, “We’ve got a president who doesn’t want to have vote-by-mail. We’ve got a president who would like to suppress the vote; we’ve got a president who would like to see the postal service not do well,” he said. “When I see what’s going on with the president who wants to degrade the postal service, wants to get rid of vote-by-mail, you shouldn’t be surprised that we’re alarmed that we’re seeing that kind of degraded service.

Trump told Sean Hannity, a Fox News host, that he also intends to have police officers and sheriff’s deputies patrol polling sites on Election Day. As Trump put it, “We’re gonna have everything. We’re gonna have sheriff’s and we’re gonna have law enforcement, and we’re going to have , hopefully, U.S. attorneys and we’re going to have everybody – and attorney generals.” This pronouncement implies that he plans to suppress voting in key states.

A 1982 Democratic National Committee lawsuit accused the Republican National Convention of trying to suppress votes in New Jersey by, among other things, posting armed, off-duty police officers at the polls in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The lawsuit decree expired in 2018, and this election marks the first presidential election since it expired.

Federal law prohibits intimidation at the polls and makes it illegal for any “civil” or “military” federal officer to order “troops or armed men” to polling places, unless needed to “repel armed enemies of the United States.”

Civilian Poll-watching is a common practice, and both parties use it. A top Trump aide, Justin Clark, said the campaign was working to recruit 50,000 poll-watchers.

 

Pre-Pandemic: Göcek Market

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Sunday is market day in Göcek, Turkey. Stopping at a local outdoor market is a good way to see how the locals buy good for the week.At the end of the market where I was sketching people also gathered for outdoor dining. Gozlemeci are Turkish pancakes and they were being flipped off the grill in quick succession. Wandering the market it was tempting to get some exotic fruits and vegetables but the stay in Göcek was short lived. While doing this sketch a little girl took an interest in my sketch. We didn’t speak the same language but I gave her a pencil and paper so she could sketch as well. She sketched beside me for the duration.

The wearing of masks is obligatory throughout Turkey in crowded places and specifically in markets and supermarkets, hairdressers and barber shops. The wearing of masks is also compulsory on all public transport, including Metro, buses, taxis and ferries, and in some areas, masks must be worn when traveling in private vehicles with more than one person. Those who do not abide by this rule may be issued with a fine of 900 TL (about $129).

As part of its efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19, the Turkish government has imposed curfews. These have been time-limited, or aimed at particular age groups. These can be imposed at short notice and you should stay in touch with local developments.

Turkish authorities have confirmed that any foreign nationals who overstay their visa, due to COVID-19, will not face any fines or penalties, provided they depart Turkey within 1 month of flights resuming to their country of citizenship.

DEO Jalopy

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the online Florida Unemployment system known as Connect as an old Jalopy in the Datona 500. As politicians do, he blamed his predecessor Rick Scott for the failings of the system. Florida has had more than 3.48 million unemployment applications filed since mid-March. Only California had more first-time claims.

The Orlando Weekly reported that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) distributed $13 billion in state and federal assistance to 1.8 million unemployment claimants. The bulk of the money came from a $600-a-week federal unemployment benefit, which expired at the end of July. Connect was designed by the previous Governor Rick Scott and it could not handle the massive number of unemployment claims that began pouring in after the pandemic hit the state in March. The system, which cost nearly $78 million dollars to design was put in place in 2013.

The firm hired to design the site, Deloitte Consulting, got the job by offering the lowest bid. The firm has just on another bid to handle the states Medicaid data. In an interview Monday with Miami television reporter Jim DeFede, DeSantis said, “I mean having studied how it was internally constructed,” DeSantis said, “I think the goal was for whoever designed, it was, ‘Let’s put as many kind of pointless roadblocks along the way, so people just say, oh, the hell with it, I’m not going to do that.” The DeSantis administration was left having to fix a system that could not keep up with demand in the middle of economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19. The state has spent more than $120 million in contracts to prop up the flawed unemployment process during the pandemic.

So, is the DEO Connect site now working? Of course not. Representative Anna Eskamani reported that, “The DEO is aware that a LOT of people are missing both back pay and their $600 payments. DEO has made this issue a priority to address and assures us that money is being released daily. In July the CONNECT system did finally provide a way to at least track $600 FPUC payments.”

For many people who apply for benefits, the online nightmare feels like a full time job. Many feel they are being denied wrongly. Those that are denied are given no reason. DeSantis said that people should not have to keep re logging into the broken system to certify their weeks in order to get paid, but his administration followed up with exactly the opposite information. The Governor ordered work search requirement suspended but people were being denied for not meeting those requirements. FOX 13 Tampa reporter Craig Patrick pointed out that call center questions are seldom answered and responses run in circles. The whole system seems designed to be sure applicants get frustrated and leave in frustration.

Wesh 2 News reported a DEO response, “We are asking Floridians to be patient as we take action to increase our ability to serve those whose employment has been negatively impacted by the mitigation efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Starting July 25, 2020 those $600 payments, going to about 25 million Americans, will stop, which could cause a flood of evictions as people can no longer pay rent. Law makers in Washington have not been able to come to an agreement about what can be done. The system is a wreck.

Grave Threat

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The Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate, just issued a report on the Russian Interference in the 2016 election. It is a smoking gun showing the ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia. The Trump Campaign’s interaction with Russia  during the 2016 presidential election posed a “grave” counterintelligence threat the the Republican-led  committee concluded.

The report details how Russia launched an aggressive effort to interfere in the election on Trump’s behalf. It says the Trump campaign chairman. Paul Manafort, had regular contact with a Russian intelligence officer and that other Trump associates were eager to exploit the Kremlin’s aid. The 1000 page report echos the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation while adding new evidence and details. Mueller’s report was a criminal probe, while the Senate investigation was a counterintelligence effort with the aim of ensuring that such interference wouldn’t happen again.

One of the most damning sections of the report was about the close ties between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russsian oligarch, whom the committee describes as a Russian intelligence officer. Manafort shared internal Trump campaign polling data with Kilimnik and says there is “some evidence” Kilimnik may have been connected to Russia’s effort to hack and leak Democratic emails. Much of the report is redacted.

The Committee reviewed a meeting Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., took in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer he believed to have connections with the Russian government with the goal of receiving information harmful to his father’s opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump and senior campaign officials sought to obtain advance information on WikiLeaks‘ email dumps through Roger Stone, and Trump spoke to Stone about WikiLeaks, despite telling the special counsel in written answers he had “no recollections” that they had spoken about it. Roger Stone was fond guilty of lying to Congress, but Trump pardoned him. WikiLeaks were released to the public right after Trumps pussy grab comments. Trump had said in written answers to Mueller he didn’t recall conversations with Stone about WikiLeaks releases. He clearly lied.

US intelligence officials are warning that Russia continues to target the 2020 election, specifically Trump’s 2020 opponent Joe Biden. “Campaigns should recognize that campaign staff are attractive targets for foreign intelligence services. The threat is ongoing.” the committee said. redacted information in the report that has not yet been released to the public is “directly relevant to Russia’s interference in the 2020 election.

When ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Trump if his his campaign would accept such information from foreigners like  Russia or hand it over the FBI, Trump said, “I think maybe you do both,” he continued, “I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening,” Trump continued. “If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’ — oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”

President Donald Trump has told aides he’d like to hold an in-person meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the November election, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Past meeting have had no one else in the room. they have met five times and what was said is a mystery.

COVID Plumes

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According to a study published in the journal Physic of Fluids published on August 17, 2020, wearing masks should be mandatory when entering a public bathroom. USA Today reported that urinals may shoot plumes of inhabitable COVID-19 particles into the air. COVID-19  can be found in a person’s urine or stool and flushing urinals can generate an upward flow projecting particles further than a toilet flush. It is also advisable to close a toilet seat before flushing it. anti-diffusion improvements are urgently needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Researcher Xiangdong Liu said in a press release “Anti-diffusion improvements are urgently needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Liu and other researchers from Yangzhou University in China simulated urinal flushing using computer models and estimated that, within just five seconds of flushing, virus particles could reach a height of more than 2 feet off the ground.

“Potentially, it could contaminate other surfaces you would touch – the handle, the tap,” said Charles Gerba, a professor of virology at the University of Arizona. “The concern is also – was there anything left over from the person who was there before? Aerosolization from the previous user you may potentially inhale?” At least two studies – one in Tokyo and one in Guangzhou, China – have found COVID-19 RNA in patients’ urine. It’s still unclear whether COVID-19 can transmit through urine and infect another person, Gerba said. More research needs to be done.

Research on particles kicked up in “plumes” has been around for about two decades now, said Joshua Santarpia, a professor of pathology and microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center specializing in bio-aerosols.

“What’s worse, two of COVID-19 reemerging confirmed cases in Beijing have been reported to be infected from a public toilet, which practically proves the danger from the public restroom,” the researchers wrote.

Gutting USPS

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President Donald Trump is gutting the USPS to rig the up upcoming presidential election. For months he has been claiming that mail in ballots will result in election fraud. To restrict access to the ballot box he is literally removing mail boxes from street corners. His basic premise seems to be that he can not win the popular vote, so he will make it more difficult to vote. With the COVID-19 pandemic raging across the country many states are taking steps to make mail in voting a safer option to vote.

The new postmaster general Louis DeJoy is a right-wing millionaire who donated millions to the Trump campaign. DeJoy also has investment in shipping companies that are direct competitor to the post office. AS an investor he would make money by helping to destroy the USPS. Known as the “Friday Night Massacre,” DeJoy dismantled mail sorting equipment and remove mailboxes from the streets. Congress was called back to the hill to have a hearing about the election meddling and Dejoy is set to testify by Friday August 21, 2020.

Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general in 1775 and the organization is older than the government itself. It has a rich history of delivering mail to rural residents and city dwellers alike. Some people rely on the USPS to deliver prescription drugs and other essentials. I have personally noticed the slow down since I have been waiting weeks for a shipment to come in. This is the largest grab for power by the president so far. It is an authoritarian move to discredit, the press, the scientists and then find a way to break the very fabric of democracy by discrediting and trying to remove free elections.