Q is QAnon's Practical Joker

Q, a practical joker on the TV show, "Impractical Jokers", is fun. QAnon is mumbo jumbo. According to QAnon, Q is so named, because he or she is a miitary or intelligence official with high level classified Q clearance to see nuclear material/weapon information, and QAnon's followers have been described as Christians striving to learn and apply biblical truths. They are certain they have foreknowledge of the inevitable Great Awakening when good destroys evil. Yet, the NEW TESTAMENT, in Mark 13:31-33, says "Heaven and earth will pass away...But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." When faced with inconvenient truths, QAnon's supporters bob and weave to deflect objective truth and reason with ever-changing explanations. QAnon followers see President Trump and themselves, a band of US patriots, fighting to bring down the "deep state" of powerful elite leaders in a cabal of corrupt media, government and education, financial and religious institutions. For QAnon's devoted band, signs from on high provide clues to the future. Maybe the name of the horse that wins Saturday's Kentucky Derby will be significant. They already see the death toll from the coronavirus as giving the media elites a way to hurt President Trump (known as Q+) and his chance of re-election. To believers, President Trump is not part of the Establishment. Conspiracies appeal to QAnon: - A New World Order is trying to dismantale societies throughout the world. - Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ran a ritualistic children's sex ring in the basement of a pizza place in Washington. - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obamatha have a 16-year plan to destroy the US with draught, disease and nuclear war. QAnon tells followers to "Enjoy the show," the forthcoming global Armegeddon. Some scared followers alleviate their paranoia about the certain good versus evil clash by joining the secret community that expects to be on the winning side of good. Since others are willing to participate in the battle to destroy evil schemes and individuals, such as Hillary Clinton, the FBI classifies ANon as a domestic terrorist threat.

Globalization Requires Skepticism

Along with telling children to be kind to others, part of raising kids involves cautioning them to avoid being lured into a van to see or search for a puppy and to avoid being touched in areas covered by their swimsuits. James Bond's dictum to trust no one is a bit too much, but healthy skepticism about ulterior motives is a useful life lesson. If playmates tap them on their left shoulders, while others on the right steal their bags of chips, they get the message.

     Even adults can be duped. Wisconsin's Republican Governor, Scott Walker, and President Trump received splashy news coverage, when they announced the Chinese Foxconn company would bring new jobs to Wisconsin. The State soon learned its taxpayers were expected to contribute $3 billion to the project. The amount grew to a little over $4 billion which required borrowing from the State's transportation budget to build new roads to the plant. Foxconn's environmental plans and ideas about water usage from Lake Michigan required negotiation. The promised 1300 jobs were reduced to an initial 300, and, since the plant site is on the border with Illinois, there was no guarantee that all these jobs would go to employees from Wisconsin.

     The Foxconn deal began looking like an albatross Democrats could hang around Governor Walker's neck. So, the Chinese offered to bring more jobs to Wisconsin to help bail the Governor out from the unfulfilled promise he made to bring 250,000 jobs to Wisconsin during his first campaign in 2010. Foxconn announced additional innovation centers were in the works for Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Eau Claire. According to Foxconn, these job-creating centers are designed to inspire local companies and entrepreneurs to create new solutions.

     Here's where skepticism comes in. Why would China seem eager to help a Republican Governor in a fly-over State not uppermost in many minds? The innovation centers and investments China already has in Silicon Valley provide some clues. With the U.S. preoccupied with Russian interference, Chinese tech companies associated with Beijing's government have been taking advantage of opportunities to pour venture capital billions into U.S. startups in fields, such as virtual reality, AI, financial software, cyber security, quantum computing, robotics, 3D printing, and biotechnology. Since the U.S. military does not purchase technologies from startups with foreign investors, Chinese investments can not only buy up technological advances from Wisconsin's startups, but they also prevent these innovations from improving U.S. defenses.

     Delayed skepticism about the technological advantages the Chinese government can gain from U.S. startup innovations and increased concern about the national security implications involved caused Congress to pass the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIREMA) to enhance the oversight provided by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Already, China is thinking about how to get around the crack down by making a move to Canada a condition for a venture capital investment or by hiring a team of employees from an innovative startup, the way the Chinese online giant, Alibaba, does this in China.