Category: conspiracy theory

Did Donald Trump Rescue 123 Kids From Traffickers in Detroit?

Mike Rothschild5 Comments

On October 9th, the US Marshals released a statement announcing the successful carrying out of an operation called “MiSafeKid” in the Detroit area.

The press release touted the location and recovery of 123 children that had gone missing, all found and accounted for in one day in late September.

They represented a little more than a third of 300 case files of children in Michigan’s Child Protective Services who had been reported missing at some point and for whom CPS didn’t have a current address.

Obviously, anything that leads to the recovery of missing children is something good. But because so many modern conspiracy theories revolve around exaggerated claims of “child sex trafficking rings,” stories like this also inevitably wind up as fodder for un-evidenced accusations and bizarre plots.

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Brett Kavanaugh and Military Tribunals

Mike Rothschild

The far right has staked almost everything on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In putting a person who possibly committed sexual assault as a teen, and definitely both lied constantly and had a rage-filled meltdown during his hearings, conservatives are basically saying that demeanor, bias, and character don’t matter when it comes to SCOTUS – only winning does.

But to believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory, Kavanaugh’s all-but-certain confirmation to the Supreme Court means something else entirely: the beginning of the end of the cabal that controls the world.

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QAnon Did Not Predict John McCain’s Death

Mike Rothschild2 Comments

Conspiracy theory avatar QAnon has a terrible track record at making predictions.

He came into the world concocting a bizarre scheme where Hillary Clinton and John Podesta were going to be secretly arrested, with the National Guard called up to quell the massive riots that would ensue. It didn’t happen.

He predicted the sham Devin Nunes memo would bring down the deep state. It didn’t happen, and it didn’t happen with the Department of Justice Inspector General report after that, and FISA declassification after that. He’s predicted wars, terrorist attacks, mass suicides, catastrophic falls of public figures, and government purges – none of which took place.

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QAnon is Not a “Non-Violent Research Movement”

Mike Rothschild7 Comments

One of the biggest reasons I write and talk about the QAnon movement is because of its potential to end in violence.

Despite all the lofty talk of “research” and patriotism and bringing “dark to light,” QAnon depends on extrajudicial incarceration, flagrant violation of the Constitution, and eventually, mass killing. It’s the very heart of what Q has been preaching.

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Q&A with QAnon

Mike Rothschild1 Comment

With little fanfare, on Wednesday night, anonymous conspiracy avatar Q announced “Q&A” and began answering questions from users on the image board 8Chan, where all of Q’s “drops” originate.

Immediately, there flowed a torrent of conspiracy questions, Pepe the Frog memes, racist tirades, and general paeans to Q’s greatness. So in that respect, it wasn’t much different than any other Wednesday night on 8chan.

I happened to catch the Q&A at the very beginning, and so got in on live-tweeting it, at least until I had other things to do. So, from that live-tweeting as well as after, here are my analysis of the questions, the answers – and what wasn’t said.

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