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Post by Admin on Mar 17, 2021 19:34:40 GMT
The notorious “QAnon Shaman” made several stunning claims during his jailhouse interview with CBS News earlier this month—including that his actions during the Capitol riots were not an attack on the United States because authorities left the door open for the MAGA mob to enter. “I didn’t break any windows,” Jacob Chansley said during the interview with 60 Minutes+ that aired March 4. “I didn’t break any doors. I didn’t cross any police barricades. I was peaceful. I was civil. I was calm.” But a federal judge, who last week ordered Chansley to remain behind bars pending trial, insists the accused rioter “blatantly lied” during the interview about his easy entrance into the Capitol. And he has the receipts to prove it. On Tuesday, the court released two videos to debunk Chansley’s claim, showing the chaos outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 as thousands of MAGA supporters smashed through the building’s windows. In the first video, first obtained by Law & Crime, Chansley is seen standing on scaffolding and holding an American flag above a sea of rioters being held back by law enforcement. The second video shows a similar crowd right outside the Capitol doors, and people yelling “this is our country” as a man in an American-flag hat smashes a window and climbs through. Dozens of rioters are then seen entering through the window, while Chansley and several others storm a door next to the window. It wasn’t clear how the door was opened. “This is our house,” someone is heard yelling behind Chansley, who is seen calmly walking down a Capitol hallway. There do not seem to be any law enforcement officers near the breached door and window, contradicting Chansley’s claim. “Not only is [Chansley] unable to offer evidence substantiating his claim that he was waved into the Capitol, but evidence submitted by the government proves this claim false. A video submitted by the government captures rioters breaking through the windows of the Capitol building,” Judge Royce Lamberth said in a March 8 motion remanding Chansley into custody. “At the same moment that rioters smash the glass and crawl through the windows, the video pans over to show a large group of rioters walking through an adjacent doorway into the Capitol building. Included in that group is [Chansley], who is easily identifiable by his horned headdress.” Chansley, 33, from Phoenix, Arizona, was infamously photographed carrying a spear and a bullhorn and wearing a headdress made of coyote skin and buffalo horns during the siege. One of the first people to breach the Capitol and storm the Senate chamber, he admitted to leaving a chilling note for former Vice President Mike Pence that said, “justice is coming.” He was arrested on Jan. 9 and charged with civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and demonstrating in a Capitol building.
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Post by Admin on May 22, 2021 21:38:58 GMT
QANON'S JAPANESE ROOTS Cults and conspiracy theories are far from mainstream in Japan, according to Yutaka Hori, a Japanese and religious studies expert at Tohoku University. But the country still has a history of those types fringe belief systems, many of which long predate QAnon.
During World War II, a state-sponsored version of Shintoism promoted the idea that the Japanese Emperor was an absolute God ruling over the country.
However, once the United States began its occupation of Japan following Tokyo's defeat in WWII, the Emperor issued a declaration in which he said he was not a living god. This sharp departure led many observant Shintoists to have a crisis of faith, Hori said.
According to Hori, while the sudden cultural shift away from nationalistic Shintoism allowed people to choose their own belief systems, it also paved the way for fringe religious movements — some with radical leanings.
By the 1990s, Japan had entered a period of economic uncertainty, and it became easier for cults to play on people's anxieties, according to Matt Alt, author of "Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World."
Infamous doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, which emerged in the 1980s, grew its membership during this period and perpetrated the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack in a Tokyo subway station.
And as the internet took off, the '90s saw the rise of anonymous imageboards. The first widely used imageboard, 2chan (now known as 5chan), spawned chan culture — from which QAnon later emerged — and brought about an era of anonymous unfettered expression.
While 2chan provided a space for people to speak their minds without being judged, the platform quickly became synonymous with Japan's right-wing sympathizers or "netto-uyoku," who used the board to spread anti-immigrant attitudes and hate speech against Koreans.
Japan's internet right-wingers harbor hostile views towards regional neighbors like Korea and China, reflecting the anti-communist and anti-China views that some QAnon adherents in Japan hold today, according to Alt.
"I think QAnon in Japan is bootstrapping itself on a bunch of pre-existing, far-right extreme movements that already existed in Japan," Alt said.
JAPAN'S TWO QANONS Since its inception in 2017, QAnon has quickly metastasized, infiltrating American politics, internet culture and religious groups.
In Japan, two QAnon splinter groups have emerged: J-Anon and QArmyJapanFlynn, which takes its name from Trump's former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn.
The belief systems that underpin the groups have similarities — both mistrust the Japanese government and support Trump. But there are important differences as well.
J-Anon adherents, for example, have taken part in large, well-publicized demonstrations in support of Trump. In contrast, a QArmyJapan Flynn (QAJF) believer told CNN Business that the group does not see the value in holding public rallies to support Trump.
Hiromi and 2Hey, a 33-year-old former real-estate agent turned delivery driver, are members of QArmyJapanFlynn. 2Hey is divorced and has a son. He told CNN Business that at one point he wanted to be a politician to help change Japan, but later decided politics was a farce.
"It's so tough to stay afloat even with both parents working. I kept thinking something was so wrong and that's when I discovered QAnon," he said.
Neither 2Hey nor Hiromi say they were believers of any other online or religious groups before joining QArmyJapanFlynn, which they claim is different from J-Anon and other QAnon groups.
They said the U.S. elections may have been stolen from Trump but their group did not support the violence during the Capitol Hill riots in January. They claim their mission is a peaceful one that goes beyond Trump: They say it's about convincing people to challenge the status quo.
LOST IN TRANSLATION According to Yasushi Watanabe, an American studies expert at Keio University, information on QAnon can be lost in translation as groups rely on English material being turned into Japanese.
"The difference between Japan and the U.S. is that many QAnon believers in Japan do not understand English so well," said Watanabe.
He cited the example of how Trump supporters in Japan wrote the American national anthem lyrics in katakana, a Japanese phonetic alphabet, so they could easily sing along without necessarily understanding each word.
"They are not necessarily responding directly to Trump's literal message, but thinking of him as an anti-establishment cultural icon," added Watanabe.
But the subtle change in meaning across continents has led to confusion.
CNN Business reached out to multiple names listed on J-Anon's website. Only two people responded. Matsumoto, who withheld his full name due to privacy reasons, is a Japanese pro-Trump supporter who helped organize a rally for the former president in Fukuoka prefecture in January.
Matsumoto has been an avid Trump supporter since 2015. He says he flew from Japan to America in 2019 to attend a Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
Since 2016, Matsumoto has believed the world is controlled by a "Deep State" comprised of influential banking figures, but Trump is fighting against them. He also said he felt frustrated with China's mistreatment of Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs.
Although Matsumoto's details appear on J-Anon's website, he said he wasn't a believer and didn't know how his information got there. He said he was familiar with QAnon, but it was not until after the Capitol Hill riots that he began to question the movements' motives.
"I started to feel like QAnon was manipulating people who loved Trump and exploiting them for a different purpose," said Matsumoto. "I think that in Japan, people didn't fully understand what QAnon was. Some people got sucked in because they sincerely supported Trump and thought that Q also endorsed him," said Matsumoto.
Nowadays, whenever Matsumoto meets QAnon supporters in Japan, he cautions that QAnon might be manipulating Trump supporters.
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Post by Admin on Jun 15, 2021 3:06:26 GMT
The FBI has warned lawmakers that online QAnon conspiracy theorists may carry out more acts of violence as they move from serving as "digital soldiers" to taking action in the real world following the January 6 US Capitol attack.
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