https://www.pajiba.com/politics/qanon-8chan-owner-jim-watkins-is-likely-q-or-knows-who-q-is.php

As most are aware now, QAnon is a deranged collective delusion that has consumed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Americans, who believe that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles running a global child sex-trafficking ring is plotting against President Donald Trump. QAnon will soon reach into Congress, after

Marjorie Taylor Greene — a believer in the QAnon delusion — won her Republican primary in Georgia and faces no general election opponent.

In this week’s episode of Gimlet’s Reply/All podcast, PJ Vogt explores not just the origins of QAnon, but theorizes — based on very compelling evidence — the identity of Q, the person (or persons) behind the delusion. I believe that 90 percent of the QAnon delusion lies in the mystery of Q and that revealing his identity will gradually demystify the delusion once Q’s followers begin to understand who he truly is.

Do the thousands of people who have devoted themselves to this delusion know that the guy behind it is a middle-aged former Army mechanic turned Internet porn guru? Is it any surprise that the man behind a delusion devoted to believing that Democrats are running a child sex-trafficking ring is also the owner of 8Chan, a site known for its role as a forum for child pornography (as well as being linked to white supremacism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings)? The man’s name is Jim Watkins:

How he came to be Q is a fairly complicated backstory, and if you want the full lowdown, Reply/All does a tremendously nice job of covering it. The tl;dr version is this: In 2017, a bullshit artist who was a moderator on 4Chan, Paul Furber, created Q (along with some other Internet trolls), and it took off when Furber appeared on Alex Jones’ Infowars to talk about Q’s conspiracy theories. Thereafter, Furber and others created a QAnon subreddit to more easily disseminate and manipulate Boomers who didn’t know how to navigate 4Chan. However, a bunch of people cracked Paul Furber’s passcode, so that anyone could post as Q. In an effort to “authenticate” Q, 8Chan’s moderator, Ron Watkins (Jim Watkins’s son) basically decided who was allowed to be Q by authenticating him, meaning Ron Watkins knew exactly who Q was because Ron Watkins authenticated him.

https://www.nepm.org/post/founder-zero-emissions-truck-startup-resigns-after-fraud-allegations#stream/0

Nikola founder Trevor Milton has stepped away from his startup, which is working on making tractor trailers powered by hydrogen fuel cells, after he was accused of fraudulently exaggerating the viability of some of his company's technology.

Milton, who denies the allegations, says he resigned his position as executive chairman of Nikola's Board of Directors because "the focus should be on the Company … not me." He said he intends to defend himself against "false accusations."

The news comes just weeks after Nikola struck a major deal with GM to build an electric pick-up truck. Those plans are still moving forward.

Bloomberg reported that Milton had previously exaggerated the functionality of Nikola tractor trailers. This month a short seller, Hindenburg Research, went further, calling Nikola "an intricate fraud built on dozens of lies" and accusing Milton of misleading partners, investors and customers by, among other things, pretending that non-functioning prototypes were actually viable products.

As a short seller, Hindenburg Research stands to profit if Nikola stock plummets. The company says the allegations are false and misleading.

In one eye-catching allegation, Hindenburg says that a video that appeared to show a Nikola big rig driving actually showed it rolling down a large hill. Nikola did not deny that the truck in the video was rolling downhill. However, it maintains that Nikola has since created "real working hydrogen fuel-cell powered semi trucks."