Tag: conspiracy theorists

Covid conspiracy doctor claimed he was ‘poisoned after interview’ just days before death

A notorious conspiracy theorist doctor, known for his wild takes on the Coronavirus pandemic, claimed he had been poisoned just a few days before he died.

Dr Rashid Buttar, who was part of the group nicknamed the “Disinformation dozen”, died suddenly yesterday (Saturday, May 20) at the age of 57.

He was known for being a huge anti-vaxxer and became a cult figure during the pandemic.

He went on record to claim that the Covid pandemic was made “planned” and “politically motivated”.

The British-born doctor, who spent most of his adult life in the United States, also claimed that “everyone who has had the vaccine would be dead by 2025.”

His theories and misinformation were so well-known that the Centre for Countering Digital Hate named him one of the top 12 people responsible for producing around 65% of all anti-vaccine content between 2020 and 2023.

However, he has now died just days after claiming he had been given a “poison” containing “200 times of what was in the vaccine.”

His cause of death has not been made public, nor has the reason he recently spent time in intensive care.

However, speaking to Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson earlier this month, a very skinny-looking Dr Buttar said: “I went through a very difficult personal health challenge a few months ago.

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A QAnon Follower Booby-Trapped Her Home With Flashbangs and Pepper Spray

A troubled QAnon follower who believes that former president Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton are trying to have her killed booby-trapped her house with shotguns and pepper spray. She claimed her ex-husband was secretly filming child pornography on the Clintons’ behalf, and is now facing felony charges after being arrested last week.

The incident is the latest example of how QAnon, a conspiracy movement that its adherents repeatedly claim to be peaceful, can drive believers to commit violent, and often deadly, acts.

But the incident earlier this month could have been much worse. In a comment on her Facebook page on Tuesday night, the QAnon believer claimed that when police arrived at her home: “I had 20 guns on me.”

On March 9, a door-to-door salesman named Dylan Martin approached the front door of a house occupied by Bryan Hill and Tracy Jo Remington in Colorado. 

Martin, who works for a house painting company, didn’t notice the “no trespassing” sign just to the left of the steps leading up to the front porch, and walked straight into a tripwire the residents had set up.

Martin heard “a loud bang [and] saw a bright white flash of light,” according to an affidavit reviewed by VICE News. He “immediately felt disoriented with his vision being blurred and [causing] his ears to ring.”

A few houses away, Martin’s colleague Christoper Howard heard the bang and was certain it was a gunshot. Howard rushed to the house and checked Martin over. At that point, the garage door opened, and Hill shouted at the pair: “No trespassing.”

After the incident, Howard and Martin quickly left the area. But over the next few days, Martin’s hearing was still affected and he had a constant headache. He called the police to report the incident, and on March 14, officers visited the property and found the tripwire. They also found a shotgun-type device connected to the tripwire that used blanks to recreate the noise of a 12-gauge shotgun but without the projectiles, in a bush to the side of the path.

The officers, after speaking to people in the area, discovered that the residents of the house had told their neighbors not to let their kids play near the house, according to the charging documents.

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Police told to keep record of ‘conspiracy theorists’ and ‘communists’

The Queensland police are required to report interactions with people who “allegedly hold a range of ideological beliefs” including “conspiracy theorists” according to an email sent to all members of the Queensland Police Service on Thursday and seen by ABC News.

Police must record interactions with such individuals in the state’s QPrime database “at the first available opportunity,” the email states, explaining that in addition to “conspiracy theorists,” “religious, social or political extremists and sovereign citizens, as well as people with ideologies relating to capitalism, communism, socialism or Marxism” also fit the bill.

Officers were also told to report “all matters that indicate concerning or escalating behavior due to ideological beliefs, including religious and single-issue ideologies” and advised of the “risks” inherent in dealing with these groups.

The guidance comes after a deadly shooting in Wieambilla in December left two officers and a civilian dead, in addition to the three shooters. Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train reportedly gunned down constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold and injured two other officers on their property, also killing neighbor Alan Dare when he was drawn to the scene by the noise. The Trains were then killed by specialist police following an hours-long standoff.  

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Why Society Needs Conspiracy Theories & Conspiracy Theorists

It seems like you can’t catch a news headline or social media post these days without coming across the terms conspiracy theory and conspiracy theorist, or phrases like ‘spreading conspiracies’. One has to wonder: why are they so frequently employed?

In my most recent published work, I referenced an article from Canada’s National Post which ran with the headline ‘CBSA says it’s investigating border officer spreading COVID conspiracies online.’

The problem with these kinds of articles is that they are too often merely used as hit pieces to ridicule, degrade, and discredit any individual or group that goes against a certain narrative or disagrees with an author’s (or their publication’s partisanship or funders’) views.

Moreover, their authors very seldom make specific references or claims as to why they label their targets when using such over-used and over-abused disparaging rhetoric. When this is the case, it leads me to believe that the overall purpose of their pieces is to disparage their targets more than anything else.

Another recent example of this involves that from the article entitled ‘Network of Syria conspiracy theorists identified – study’ written by Mark Townsend from The Guardian (UK). In the article, the author claimed “journalist Aaron Maté at the Grayzone is said by the report to have overtaken Beeley as the most prolific spreader of disinformation among the 28 conspiracy theorists identified.” Maté had to refute the claim made against him which also involved contacting Townsend by phone. His counter article and the phone conversation appear on his Substack page (see ‘NATO-backed network of Syria dirty war propagandists identified)’ and is definitely an interesting case on how these ploys take place.

Countless other instances could be cited, but suffice it to say that there is no shortage of them.

But what is perhaps even more laughable with this phenomenon is the fact that these authors wantonly use these terms without even knowing their true meanings and where they actually originate from.

Before looking into these, though, we must first and foremost examine the meaning of the word ‘conspiracy’ itself. Oxford defines it as:

a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal

Conspiracies have been an integral part of humanity ever since people have bonded together in groups for a better chance at survival.

Lord knows that history is riddled with an abundant supply of conspiracies and we will look at some notable examples later on.

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‘Conspiracy Author’ David Icke Banned From EU, Labeled A “Terrorist”

Conspiracy author David Icke has been banned from entering the EU and designated as a “level three terrorist,” according to his son Gareth Icke.

The public speaker and former BBC television host was due to attend an event in Amsterdam this weekend, but will now reportedly be prevented from entering any country in the European Union for a period of two years.

“Received an email from the Dutch. My dad, David Icke, has been banned from entering the EU for two years,” tweeted Gareth Icke. “They claim he is a “level three terrorist,” he added.

“The old man is banned from entering the Netherlands,” wrote Icke in another tweet. “Zero convictions, zero crimes committed. Banned by the government. Wow.”

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Why Society Needs “Conspiracy Theories” and “Conspiracy Theorists”. It‘s No Secret that We’ve been Lied To

It seems like you can’t catch a news headline or social media post these days without coming across the terms conspiracy theory and conspiracy theorist, or phrases like ‘spreading conspiracies’. One has to wonder: why are they so frequently employed?

In my most recent published work, I referenced an article from Canada’s National Post which ran with the headline ‘CBSA says it’s investigating border officer spreading COVID conspiracies online.’

The problem with these kinds of articles is that they are too often merely used as hit pieces to ridicule, degrade, and discredit any individual or group that goes against a certain narrative or disagrees with an author’s (or their publication’s partisanship or funders’) views.

Moreover, their authors very seldom make specific references or claims as to why they label their targets when using such over-used and over-abused disparaging rhetoric. When this is the case, it leads me to believe that the overall purpose of their pieces is to disparage their targets more than anything else.

Another recent example of this involves that from the article entitled ‘Network of Syria conspiracy theorists identified – study’ written by Mark Townsend from The Guardian (UK). In the article, the author claimed “journalist Aaron Maté at the Grayzone is said by the report to have overtaken Beeley as the most prolific spreader of disinformation among the 28 conspiracy theorists identified.” Maté had to refute the claim made against him which also involved contacting Townsend by phone. His counter article and the phone conversation appear on his Substack page (see ‘NATO-backed network of Syria dirty war propagandists identified)’ and is definitely an interesting case on how these ploys take place.

Countless other instances could be cited, but suffice it to say that there is no shortage of them.

But what is perhaps even more laughable with this phenomenon is the fact that these authors wantonly use these terms without even knowing their true meanings and where they actually originate from.

Before looking into these, though, we must first and foremost examine the meaning of the word ‘conspiracy’ itself. Oxford defines it as:

a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal

Conspiracies have been an integral part of humanity ever since people have bonded together in groups for a better chance at survival.

Lord knows that history is riddled with an abundant supply of conspiracies and we will look at some notable examples later on.

Keep reading

Conspiracy theorist suspected to be behind the cult that believes Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic child molesters are controlling the world moves to Australia

A prominent US conspiracy theorist rumoured to be behind the QAnon movement has been spotted in Australia with evidence he might be staying Down Under.

Ron Watkins is the site administrator of 8kun, formerly known as 8Chan, an internet image board that’s become a base for conspiracy theories, the far right, white supremacy and Nazism.

The American, under the anonymous account name ‘Q’, played a major role in spreading the QAnon conspiracy theory that claims the world is controlled by Satan-worshipping cannibalistic child molesters on the websites 4chan, 8chan and 8kun.

Watkins also promoted misinformation about Covid-19 and the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election due to electoral fraud.

QAnon Anonymous podcast host Julian Feeld shared a post to his Twitter account on Wednesday alleging that Watkins was in Sydney and was intending to live in Australia.

Feeld, who has spent years researching and debunking conspiracy theories, says he got the information from a source that wished to remain anonymous.

‘Ron Watkins was in Sydney, Australia with the apparent intention to settle there on July 26th,’ he wrote.

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