What Does QAnon Stand For?

Source: Bloomberg Opinion.

Economist Tyler Cowen takes up the question of QAnon: “[I]t’s worth asking what the movement is really about…I think it’s necessary to do more than regard QAnon with either incredulity or scorn.”

This makes sense to me. I don’t have a coherent theory to offer about the nature of QAnon, but having followed Q posts for several years I’m stuck by the outright foolishness of much anti-QAnon commentary. Consequently, I am eager for more serious approaches to understanding the event that QAnon represents.

How Long Was the First Millennium?

Source: The Unz Review.

The writer presents the evidence for the proposition that the real events of the first millennium occurred within a time span of only 300 years. It appears that our historical record repeats in sequential order stories depicting the same events from different perspectives as though they were different occurrences, thus inflating the standard chronology by about 700 years. Archeology — especially the hard data of stratigraphy — may force revisions.

Science can be like that. Earth shaking.

Time to Apply the McConnell Rule

In 2016, Mitch McConnell declined to give Judge Merrick Garland even a hearing, much less a vote. According to him at the time it was an election year and “only” nine months before the people could weigh in with their votes. Fast forward to 2020 and here we are with the election less than two months away. We should apply that McConnell Rule again and let the choice of the people make that SCOTUS appointment AFTER the election.

Of course, that is not going to happen. McConnell is already signaling that his rule will not be applied and Trump is indicating an appointment will be made very soon. If the seat is filled in this way and the Senate does fails to stop it, then there is no legal, moral, ethical or political reason for the new Democratic Congress not to reorganize the Supreme Court as it has the power to do. Nine seats are too few for all the important work it does. Fifteen would be more suitable. The Republicans will cry “Foul!” Let them. They threw out the rules and established that it is raw power that counts when Democrats cried “Foul!” in 2016. What goes around, comes around.

As an aside, this rushed appointment looks like a no-win for Trump. If he does not appoint some semi-rabid ideologue, his base will be very unhappy and lose interest in turning out. If he does satisfy them, he will be handing yet another strong issue to the Democrats.