Stage IV Metastatic Crazy

Props to Digby's blog

[Trump ex-wife Marla] Maples, who dabbles in wellness influencing, has periodically mentioned the global pandemic to her Instagram following of 114,000—recommending Vitamin C IV drips, morning prayer, and an idiosyncratic hand-washing method in which she pours a mug of water on her hands without soap. But Tiffany Trump’s mother has stayed largely quiet on the political dimensions of the virus, including how her ex-husband has handled it. Her Thursday post, spotted by CNN’s Betsy Klein, fed into the unfounded, but widely-held belief that Bill Gates has hatched a plot to implement tracking devices on billions of people under the guise of a COVID-19 vaccine. (Maples did not respond to requests for comment)...

Occam's Chainsaw... Cuckoo for Covid Puffs... 

THEN THERE'RE THESE DIM BULBS

Per the Wiki:

Theory
The conspiracy theory, disseminated mainly by supporters of Trump as The Storm and The Great Awakening—QAnon's precepts and vocabulary are closely related to the religious concepts of millenarianism and apocalypticism, leading it to be sometimes construed as an emerging religious movement—has been widely characterized as "baseless", "unhinged", and "evidence-free". Its proponents have been called "a deranged conspiracy cult" and "some of the Internet's most outré Trump fans".

According to Travis View, who has studied QAnon and written about it extensively for The Washington Post, the essence of the theory is that:

there is a worldwide cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who rule the world, essentially, and they control everything. They control politicians, and they control the media. They control Hollywood, and they cover up their existence, essentially. And they would have continued ruling the world, were it not for the election of President Donald Trump. Now,     Donald Trump in this conspiracy theory knows all about this evil cabal's wrongdoing. But one of the reasons that Donald Trump was elected was to put an end to them, basically. And now we would be ignorant of this behind-the-scenes battle of Donald Trump and the U.S. military—that everyone backs him and the evil cabal—were it not for "Q." And what "Q" is, is basically a poster on 4chan, who later moved to 8chan, who reveals details about this secret behind-the-scenes battle, and also secrets about what the cabal is doing and also the mass sort of upcoming arrest events through these posts.

Followers of QAnon also believe that there is an imminent event known as "The Storm", in which thousands of people, members of the cabal, will be arrested, possibly sent to Guantanamo Bay prison or to face military tribunals, and the U.S. military will brutally take over the country. The result of The Storm will be salvation and utopia on earth…

Occam's seriously gonna need a bigger chainsaw. (BTW, check out the huge market of QAnon swag on Amazon. No one ever went broke underestimating The Stupid in the U.S.)

See also The Atlantic's "QAnon is a New American Religion."

Relatedly:

UPDATE: PRESIDENT TRUMP ENDORSES QAnon 

Trump (asked by a press conference reporter about QAnon): “I don’t know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. But I don’t know much about the movement but I have heard that it is gaining in popularity and from what I hear these are people that when they watch the streets of Portland, when they watch what happened in New York City in just he last six or seven months , but this was starting even four years ago when I came here. Almost four years, can you believe it? These are people who don’t like seeing what’s going on in places like Portland and places like Chicago and New York and other cities and states and I’ve heard these are people who love our country and they just don’t like seeing it.

So I just don’t know anything about it other than they do supposedly like me very much and they would also like to see problems in these areas, especially the areas we’re talking about go away. Because there’s no reason the Democrats can’t run a city and if they can’t we will send in all of the federal whether it’s troops or law enforcement, whatever they’d like. We’ll straighten out their problems in 24 hours or less, ok?”

Reporter: The crux of the theory is this belief that you are saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals. Does that sound like something you’re behind?

Trump: “Well, I haven’t heard that. But uh, is that supposed to be a bad thing? Or a good thing? If I can help save the world from problems I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to put myself out there. And we are actually. We are saving the world from the radical left philosophy that will destroy this country and when this country is gone, the rest of the world would follow.”

Comforted?

See also "Herd Insanity" by Tom Sullivan. Spot-on. "QAnon feels like a digital prank that took on a life of its own."

Final note here: Cataloging The Current Crazy ought include the "Boogaloo Movement" and the "Proud Boys." The former is yet another rag-tag nitwit contingent of delusional Playtriot poseurs, while the latter is more on the conventional racist thuggery side.
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UPDATE: OLEANDRIN AND THE MY PILLOW GUY

Science-Based Medicine.

UPDATE: MORE SCIENCE

Dexamethasone and Hydroxychloroquine: Why Randomized Controlled Trials Matter
What does the best evidence tell us about hydroxychloroquine and dexamethasone?

With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, and no vaccine available anytime soon, investigations into repurposing existing drugs, to treat or prevent infections, continue to be a priority. Thankfully, the evidence base has improved dramatically since the early months of 2020, where there was almost nothing to guide treatment. Initial observations, starting in China and then Europe, led to case series reports and eventually, medical professionals started to form hypotheses about potentially effective therapies. Some of these approaches sounded plausible, and weak but promising observational studies started to emerge, showing correlations between specific treatments and better outcomes for patients. At the same time, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were launched, based on the expectation that (1) these therapies might offer some benefit and (2) better evidence was needed. Randomized controlled trials are experiments that are intended to reduce sources of bias, which can confound or distort the findings that come from observational studies. RCTs of COVID-19 treatments are now appearing regularly, as there has been adequate time to plan them, recruit patients, administer the therapy, collect data, and then evaluate and publish the results. And the conclusions of these trials show that some previously promising therapies have not been shown to work. This 180° pivot in treatment advice after only a few months may seem bewildering – after all, if the medical advice isn’t consistent, why should you believe the newest evidence? But the findings of RCTs are exactly what we should have expected when we started treating COVID-19 based on on anecdotes and research that were almost certain to have hidden biases. As more robust evidence has emerged, the evidence-based approach to treating COVID-19 is changing. And it will continue to change. That is a good thing. One way to illustrate this evidence evolution is to examine two therapies that were both initially thought to be promising: Hydroxychloroquine and dexamethasone…

CODA

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More to come...