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solarbirdOkay, so, item 1 gets complicated right out the gate, so let's just call this item one and an explanation.
Dumpster RTed this image today. It was originally posted by his current social media manager.
original tweet
Most people are taking it as not understanding who Nero was and what "fiddling while Rome burned" meant. Fair enough. I don't understand that part; it may be a bit of ratfucking sent to the social media manager who reposted it, I don't know. [ETA: Oh, I'm an idiot. The intent was "playing you libt*rds like a fiddle." C'mon, me, keep up.] But the text is important.
They're otherwise confused. But the lower line in that image is a QAnon tagline. And the QAnon cultists all got it. Instantly.
I think that was the intent.
If you don't remember who QAnon is, it's an alt-right/neofascist conspiracy cult centred around the idea that the world is secretly run by an international cabal of paedophiles including Hillary Clinton and essentially every important Democrat, along with many other people. They are absolutely the most rabid of Trump cultists, and are, really, a subset of the Trump cult.
Remember the guy who charged into a DC pizzeria with a semiautomatic weapon a couple of years ago, demanding to be shown the basement they'd decided was one of the secret pedo headquarters? That was QAnon in action.
They're the people who recognised this, instantly. And it's a threat. Coded, but a threat. Coded, so that only they'll know he's making it, which really, makes it more of a promise? But the result is the same.
He's telling his most rabid cultists that QAnon is real and the mass arrest apocalypse they so desperately want is coming. But he's saying it in such a way that nobody will know it's even being said - except the QAnon cultists.
This doesn't mean the threat is real, or that arrests are actually coming. But it has activated this part of his cult, and I'm quite convinced it was done on purpose. I just don't know to what purpose. But it was on purpose.
Now we just have to wonder why.
-----
Trump’s Coronavirus Press Event Was Even Worse Than It Looked
His remarks at the CDC on Friday were misguided, misleading, and show how misinformation could hamper Covid-19 containment efforts.
Adam Rogers
Science
03.07.2020
https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-coronavirus-press-event-was-even-worse-than-it-looked/
During a visit to the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, President Donald Trump spoke with the press. Alongside CDC director Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar, Trump fielded questions about the federal response to Covid-19, the disease that has so far infected more than 100,000 people around the world and killed more than 3,500—including at least 19 in the United States.
As a reporter, in general I’m not supposed to say something like this, but: The president’s statements to the press were terrifying. That press availability was a repudiation of good science and good crisis management from inside one of the world’s most respected scientific institutions. It was full of Dear Leader-ish compliments, non-sequitorial defenses of unrelated matters, attacks on an American governor, and—most importantly—misinformation about the virus and the US response. That’s particularly painful coming from inside the CDC, a longtime powerhouse in global public health now reduced to being a backdrop for grubby politics. During a public health crisis, clear and true information from leaders is the only way to avoid dangerous panic. Yet here we are.
-----
Gov. Inslee says ‘mandatory measures’ under consideration to combat coronavirus in Washington
March 8, 2020
By Daniel Beekman
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/gov-inslee-says-mandatory-measures-under-consideration-to-combat-coronavirus-in-washington/
Since the novel coronavirus emerged as a threat in Washington, officials have sought to keep people here from infecting each other by offering advice, health care and other assistance. What they haven’t yet done to slow the spread of the virus is tell residents what they can and can’t do.
That could change at some point, however.
Officials are considering mandatory measures for social distancing as part of the state’s effort to combat the outbreak, Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday.
Inslee didn’t disclose many details about the actions being contemplated but did say “social activities” could be curtailed.
“I’m going to a meeting in about an hour about this subject right now,” he said in an interview on the CBS show “Face the Nation.”
The governor joined state Department of Health officials, local health officials, mayors and others Sunday to discuss possibilities, spokeswoman Tara Lee said. Officials aren’t yet ready to share information on options, she said.
“These are multi-jurisdictional decisions and they are complicated,” Lee said in an email, adding, “We do not have decisions yet and nothing will be finalized today.”
Dumpster RTed this image today. It was originally posted by his current social media manager.
original tweet
Most people are taking it as not understanding who Nero was and what "fiddling while Rome burned" meant. Fair enough. I don't understand that part; it may be a bit of ratfucking sent to the social media manager who reposted it, I don't know. [ETA: Oh, I'm an idiot. The intent was "playing you libt*rds like a fiddle." C'mon, me, keep up.] But the text is important.
They're otherwise confused. But the lower line in that image is a QAnon tagline. And the QAnon cultists all got it. Instantly.
I think that was the intent.
If you don't remember who QAnon is, it's an alt-right/neofascist conspiracy cult centred around the idea that the world is secretly run by an international cabal of paedophiles including Hillary Clinton and essentially every important Democrat, along with many other people. They are absolutely the most rabid of Trump cultists, and are, really, a subset of the Trump cult.
Remember the guy who charged into a DC pizzeria with a semiautomatic weapon a couple of years ago, demanding to be shown the basement they'd decided was one of the secret pedo headquarters? That was QAnon in action.
They're the people who recognised this, instantly. And it's a threat. Coded, but a threat. Coded, so that only they'll know he's making it, which really, makes it more of a promise? But the result is the same.
He's telling his most rabid cultists that QAnon is real and the mass arrest apocalypse they so desperately want is coming. But he's saying it in such a way that nobody will know it's even being said - except the QAnon cultists.
This doesn't mean the threat is real, or that arrests are actually coming. But it has activated this part of his cult, and I'm quite convinced it was done on purpose. I just don't know to what purpose. But it was on purpose.
Now we just have to wonder why.
-----
Trump’s Coronavirus Press Event Was Even Worse Than It Looked
His remarks at the CDC on Friday were misguided, misleading, and show how misinformation could hamper Covid-19 containment efforts.
Adam Rogers
Science
03.07.2020
https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-coronavirus-press-event-was-even-worse-than-it-looked/
During a visit to the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, President Donald Trump spoke with the press. Alongside CDC director Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar, Trump fielded questions about the federal response to Covid-19, the disease that has so far infected more than 100,000 people around the world and killed more than 3,500—including at least 19 in the United States.
As a reporter, in general I’m not supposed to say something like this, but: The president’s statements to the press were terrifying. That press availability was a repudiation of good science and good crisis management from inside one of the world’s most respected scientific institutions. It was full of Dear Leader-ish compliments, non-sequitorial defenses of unrelated matters, attacks on an American governor, and—most importantly—misinformation about the virus and the US response. That’s particularly painful coming from inside the CDC, a longtime powerhouse in global public health now reduced to being a backdrop for grubby politics. During a public health crisis, clear and true information from leaders is the only way to avoid dangerous panic. Yet here we are.
-----
Gov. Inslee says ‘mandatory measures’ under consideration to combat coronavirus in Washington
March 8, 2020
By Daniel Beekman
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/gov-inslee-says-mandatory-measures-under-consideration-to-combat-coronavirus-in-washington/
Since the novel coronavirus emerged as a threat in Washington, officials have sought to keep people here from infecting each other by offering advice, health care and other assistance. What they haven’t yet done to slow the spread of the virus is tell residents what they can and can’t do.
That could change at some point, however.
Officials are considering mandatory measures for social distancing as part of the state’s effort to combat the outbreak, Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday.
Inslee didn’t disclose many details about the actions being contemplated but did say “social activities” could be curtailed.
“I’m going to a meeting in about an hour about this subject right now,” he said in an interview on the CBS show “Face the Nation.”
The governor joined state Department of Health officials, local health officials, mayors and others Sunday to discuss possibilities, spokeswoman Tara Lee said. Officials aren’t yet ready to share information on options, she said.
“These are multi-jurisdictional decisions and they are complicated,” Lee said in an email, adding, “We do not have decisions yet and nothing will be finalized today.”
no subject
Date: 2020-03-09 02:45 pm (UTC)And I agree that this is something to worry about in the context of the election-prevention many of us have feared since 2016.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-09 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-09 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-09 06:45 pm (UTC)But this is the first QAnon, I think. Pretty sure.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-09 06:50 pm (UTC)From January 2020:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/2/21046707/trump-qanon-pizzagate-retweets