Thread. Q-promoting former high-ranking intel officials, but who like Flynn mostly left on bad terms, include Michael Scheuer, Bill Binney, Kevin Shipp, Larry Johnson, Ed Loomis -- several praised as Bush-era whistleblowers by liberals but now in deep with Dem-hating Q groups 1/
Read the thread. Lots of names familiar to me from their intel work or their whistleblowing 10 to 30 years ago, but who I had no idea were now in the Q stuff like Flynn 2/
A number are linked to a weird group "International Tribunal of Natural Justice", founded in 2015 in part to combat what they claimed was a global elite conspiracy of child sex trafficking, but also just grifting by representing themselves as legit and charging fees 3/
Website for the group. They allege satanic rituals, organ harvesting, and per writings about them, seem to dislike all transnational institutions -- UN, Catholic church, globalist financiers, etc.
That they were making more or less the full Q argument in 2015 is interesting, though of course the Q "global cabal of child killers" is quite an old (and typically anti-semitic) trope. 5/
You'll find it unsurprising that many are very friendly towards Russia / Putin, including several denying that any 2016 Russia hacking ever happened, and promoting the Seth Rich conspiracy as the alternative explanation. 6/
Indeed, lot of overlap w "Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity", originally 2003 Iraq war opposition group gone steadily more anti-US / pro-Russia, including claims Russia didnt really invade Ukraine and that intl conspiracy is framing Assad for chem use by pro-US rebels
Fitting the "disaffected intel vets who liberals used to like" VISP prominently includes Scott Ritter, though he doesn't seem to promote the Q-style pedophile ring conspiracy theories nor supported Trump
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Good article illustrating downside of giving the military (including @SpaceForceDoD) broad roles in space, especially Moon and other bodies -- very quickly runs into Outer Space Treaty problems, and pushes away potential international partners
I buy that DARPA's intent is to promote general-purpose tech for the use of lunar resources, with the intent of it being available to civil/commercial use too. And only indirectly military, like possibly producing fuel to send to a recon satellite in high orbit 2/
But, the ambiguity of the OST and the sensitivity of the "militarizing space", let alone "militarizing the Moon" debate mean this research grant program faces far more controversy than it deserves, or would have as a NASA, NSF, or Commerce Dept program 3/
25 years ago I attended @exploreplanets 's Planetfest '96 in Pasadena for the landing of Mars Pathfinder and had a blast. Attending hasn't been an option other years but since it's an all-virtual world now, this will be a cool Saturday afternoon.
In 1996 there was no "live streaming" of the landing (I think) and certainly no smartphones, and I have NASA TV in my summer apartment. Watching live feeds from nearby JPL in a hall full of space enthusiasts was awesome. 2/
I wish I could find a program. I think (busy!) Matt Golombeck came over from JPL to speak, and I think @TheRealBuzz Aldrin spoke. I know I had books signed by Kim Stanley Robinson and Larry Niven. Great weekend. 3/3
I'm with Bill Nye and @GarretsonPeter in wanting more attention to impact threats... but there is zero reason to move it to Space Force vs the current NASA lead (per the 2016 national strategy)
What we need now is research: more searches and more effective search methods for objects, and research into the asteroid characteristics (including response to deflection attempts). 2/
Those missions dovetail perfectly with what the astronomy and planetary science mission community do, and which NASA already conducts and supports. Internationally, too, it's universally a subject where civilian science agencies are in the lead, not militaries 3/
I hate to give this credit to even discuss, but "we can be self reliant" is a bold claim for a landlocked nation. US imposes a total embargo to punish secession and Wyoming is reduced to subsistence barley and beef farming.
In light of everything we know, @JohnCornyn is today spreading anti-mask quackery from a group (AAPS) whose "science" qualifications including claiming that Obama literally hypnotized people, noting how the campaign O logo "resembles a crystal ball"
AAPS is closely tied to other Mercer-funded fringe groups that deny climate change, argue against pollution regulation , and most bizarrely, argue that radiation is GOOD for you
Me: I'll put on ratty sweats and my reading glasses and finally get on that basement painting project
World: Every notable local Dem candidate plus Sen. Jack Reed, with a crowd of local media, will ring my doorbell without warning
My ability to cognitively transition turns out to be much weaker than I would have hoped. "Tonight at 11: Local professor says incoherent stuff while squinting, needs shave"
Hope it's not a Hatch Act violation to identify myself as a DoD employee to a federal politician while telling said politician I'm intending to vote for him