The Big Smear has begun; Fascism has arrived. Plus: A new Q suspect

I predicted it. For a while, I thought we could avoid it. Then...

It was always a fait accompli that someone from Fox and someone from the GOP would start Q-Anon-ing the race with disgusting allegations/zero evidence. It was just a question as to who. Now the question is whether their colleagues understand the stink will stick to them if silent https://t.co/81itjPEUcq

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 18, 2020

Elsewhere: The fascists are increasingly bold in identifying themselves. What, I ask you, is the difference between making the "white power" symbol and wearing the swastika armband? "Plausible deniability" is one answer, although the plausibility is wearing quite thin these days.

Today is a good day to re-up this pic. pic.twitter.com/9sfKIKmTDz

— Lincoln's Bible (@LincolnsBible) October 18, 2020

The guy on the left is Zuckerberg croney and Alt Right funder Palmer Luckey, who hosted a major Trump fundraiser tonight. 

In a similar vein, here's Roger Stone and some Proud Boys. You may have seen this image before.

As most of you know, Donald Trump led his brownshirts in chants of "Lock her up" directed at Michigan govnerner Gretchen Whitmer, who was targeted for assassination by American fascists. Trump has never denounced the fascist schemers who tried to abduct her. Neither is there any pretense that she has broken any laws. They want her locked up -- or killed -- for one reason and one reason only: She opposes Trumpism. 

 

This is what we have come to.

 

Q identified? I've had my own Q theories, as you know. This fascinating piece argues that the original Q is musician Thomas Schoenberger. 

“By March of 2017, Schoenberger’s crew linked up with Robert David Steele (former CIA) and William Binney (former NSA), members of VIPS (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity), a group of disaffected former intelligence officers and government officials who worked together writing editorials and sharing information. These groups came together and recruited the network that became Qanon,” the investigator told Heavy.

I am personally persuaded that a member of VIPS was the individual that prompted Marcy Wheeler to squeal to the FBI. Long story, there. I used to have a high opinion of Binney and others associated with this group. Now, I consider them quite dangerous. 

 

Let's get back to the Heavy article referenced above:

Schoenberger “has an extensive criminal record” and “has a history of being accused of co-opting businesses and movements, including “game jacking” the Cicada puzzles and has been convicted of felony stalking, the investigator told Heavy. Court records show Schoenberger, 60, pleaded no contest in 2011 in Napa County, California, to the stalking charge.

“He also appears to be a member of the IAM (I am) cult and convinces members he is a time traveler, an alchemist, and a reincarnation of St. Germain (a prominent figure in the cult).”

Oh, good Lord. I could write a book -- literally, a whole book -- about the I AM cult of the 1930s, a Theosophy spin-off headed up by a nutcase named Guy Ballard. Ballard was an associate of William Dudley Pelley, a mystic who became the most prominent Fascist leader in the United States. Most of the cults that branched off from Theosophy used mystical gobbledy-gook to hide their racism. (Mein Kampf is dedicated to Deitrich Eckhart, a leading German Theosophist.)

“In a 2015 deposition, Schoenberger claims that he worked on a covert operation planned for Afganistan with Bijan Kian in 2011. Kian was a partner with Flynn in the Flynn Intel Group and he was indicted in the Mueller investigation,” Heavy’s source clarified.

As a former high-ranking official in Trump’s administration, Flynn has given a full-throated endorsement of QAnon. Being that his legal defense is funded in part through QAnon events, and he has multiple ties to Schoenberger and his associates, Flynn is an influential figure in the Q community.

QAnon’s origins can be traced to Cicada 3301, a complicated puzzle game that first appeared online in 2012 to test the world’s most “highly intelligent individuals.” Between 2014 and 2016, Schoenberger “stole” Cicada, Heavy’s source said, and he started manipulating the puzzle.

This idea makes sense to me. At least, it makes more sense than does any other solution to the Cicada puzzle that anyone has posited. If you still haven't heard of the Cicada affair, you should check out the many YouTube videos which tell the tale -- this one, for example. (Ah, Cayleigh Elise! My favorite YouTuber. Wish she'd come back.)

 

For more on Schoenberger's adventures in Adolf-land, see here. You don't have to read very far into this important article before you confront the name Peter Thiel. I predict that future historians will say that Thiel played an important role in the current attack on Enlightenment values. 

 

Your brain will sizzle as you contemplate the following paragraph...

In recent years, there have been rumors that the former Deputy Director of the CIA, Bruce C. Clarke Jr., and Debian founder, Ian Murdock, were the original co-founders of Cicada. In fact, Thomas Schoenberger, a music composer who hinted on Facebook in late December 2015, that he was one of the puzzle creators, appears to have known Clarke. He stated during a recent deposition, “…Bruce Cooper Clarke who was a former deputy director of the CIA. He’s a close friend. He’s the one who cleaned up the CIA. It’s dirty again, by the way.” 

This milieu also includes Peter Schweizer, the pro-Trump propagandist behind the 2016 "Clinton Cash" smear. He also appears to be the real power behind the current Biden smears. 

Greenwald. In light of all of the above, check out Marcy Wheeler's takedown of Glenn Greenwald, who has been defending the NY Post's "Magic Computer" smear -- which traces back to the Schweizer/Bannon/Guiliani axis. (And I do mean AXIS.)

Glenn is, as is his wont, being very selective about how he pitches these Silicon Valley companies. He chooses not to describe how Facebook board member Peter Thiel has, like Glenn, been chumming around with right wing racists. He chooses not to explain how Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s Global Public Policy head, had a far more senior job in the W Administration than Andy Stone has ever held. And in his tweets in aftermath of this post, which focus closely on the impact of Facebook’s monopoly position, Glenn makes no mention of a blockbuster WSJ story describing how Facebook tweaked its algorithms to disfavor Mother Jones and also describing private dinners that Mark Zuckerberg has had with Ben Shapiro (the story came out after Glenn originally posted his post though Glenn has updated the post after it was initially published).