Q BACK
After a month’s absence from the ether,
Q is back and Q is busy. Recent posts
consist of the usual smorgasbord of quasi-
constitutional posturing, numerological riffs
(on B2 bombers, for instance: the Anon
seemed to take particular pleasure in that
one), pro-life propaganda, cryptic allusions
to various public figures, and calls to arms
for the followers. The new accusations
against shamed tycoon Jeffrey Epstein
figure prominently; it’s a nice opportunity
for alt-righters to drag out pictures of all the
famous people who ever flew on a plane (not
a B2) with him, and for Q to egg them on
with a few well-chosen crumbs.
One news item that Q signally has not
commented on is the story – which featured
in quite a number of broadsheets, as well
asRolling Stonemagazine – that QAnon
folks believed JFK Jrwas about to stagea
remarkable comeback, on 4 July. Could this
silence on Q’s part be down to the fact that
the story is really a puff piece, elevated to
news by a media machine thatwas actually
rather missing Q andwanted tokeep the
flames fanned until the elusive posts
came back on stream? Lastyear a QAnon
adherent asked Q about precisely this old
chestnut andwas told, fairly categorically,
that JFK Jrwas, in fact, dead, therefore
not lurking in some kind of Arthurian cold
storage waiting for a significant date on
which to jump up and leer through a split
panel door, bellowing “Here’s Johnny!” or
whatever the patrician Bostonian equivalent
may be. But, truth be damned,you can’t
keep a good story down.
The Kennedy pufferywasn’t the only ghost
of times past to make a media reprise.
News reports claimed that a number of
graves in theVatican’s Teutonic Cemetery
were to be opened in another attempt to
solve the mystery around the disappearance
of Emanuela Orlandi, in 1983. Orlandi, and
another girl named Mirella Gregori, both
15 at the time, disappeared within a few
months of each other and have never been
found. It’s in the capricious nature of the
media hive mind that only Orlandi’s story
has remained in public view, periodically
resurfacing with new rumours and theories.
The Conspirasphere’s archives contain
a trove of theories on the subject:was
Orlandi done in by a rogue Swiss Guard
after a spat with the family?Was she killed
to cover up the sexual misconduct ofa
high-rankingVatican cleric? Did the Mafia
kidnap her in an attempt to pressure the
Italian authorities? Is she still alive and living
as a Cosa Nostra concubine somewhere in
Sicily? And of course, there is the (in)famous
Mehmet AliAgca, the deeply eccentric
Turkish assassin who tried to offPope John-
Paul II, who claimed she had been taken by
the GreyWolves (a deep state paramilitary
group, or a bunch of deludedTurkish
nationalists, depending onyour point of
view) as a bargaining chip in negotiations for
his release; although he later claimed that
Our Lady of Fatimawas his actual liberator,
after JPII had the bullets that struck him
built into her crown. When the tombs were
opened it turned out they contain no human
remains – not even those of the German
princesses meant to be buried there;a
further mystery?
The 50th anniversary of the first Moon
landing has generated a huge amount
of laudatory and nostalgic press activity.
It is also curiously noteworthy, for those
of us who track the trajectory of the
Conspirasphere, that a large proportion
of the articles give space (ouch), and
often a good deal of it, to the theory – by
now something of an industry, and rite of
passage for entry into therabbit hole – that
the landings were faked. Further proof, if any
were needed, that conspiracy theory is firmly
embedded in contemporary mainstream
thought, almost to the point where “fair
and balanced reporting” requires trotting
out a conspiracy angle before a story is
considered complete.FT383 5
THEC NSPIRASPHERE
This month brings a return, a resurrection, anexhumation, and a reprise.NOEL ROONEY
reports on two-way traffic at therabbit hole...VERYSENIOR
CITIZENSA round-up of
the world’s
oldest peoplePAGE
LOOKING
DAGGERSBelief in the evil
eye on a Greek
islandPAGE
TRIPPING
ACROSSTIMEThe man who
got dosed bya
vintagesynthPAGE
FROMAROUNDTHEWORLD
ELVISPRESLEYDENIES
THREATENINGMANWITH
KNIFEAT LAUNDRETTE
Independent, 15 Mar 2019.‘Dinosaurdisco’
discovere d
in Scotland
Toronto Star, 5 Dec 2015.UNICORNTO BLAMEAS
BURGLARALARMANNOYS
RESIDENTS
Scotsman, 6 May 2016.Sex-crazed peacocks
terrorisevillage
in Durham
Yahoo News, via Irish Independent, 7 May 2016.DEAFJURORGETS
AHEARING
(Brisbane) Courier Mail, 26 July 2015.Hobbit spotted in
country park
NottinghamPost, 9 Nov 2016.VACUUMCLEANERTO
HEALCHRONICWOUNDS
D.Mail, 22 Nov 2016.