As I lie here awake having a mild panic attack about the coming days in the US, I’m remembering that just this spring I found out one of my new mom friends was a Q conspiracy theorist. It came as a complete shock. 1/

We connected early in the kinde year and spent many afternoons hosting casual play dates on the school playground bonding and chatting. Had a Christmas gathering together (2 actually). We bonded over a similar childhood 2/
So it was a complete shock when she sent me and two other moms in our group text a Q conspiracy YouTube video under the guise of, “let’s have hope this (Covid lies/Democrats being in charge) will all end soon.” 3/
I was FLOORED. I’m pretty open about my politics. Many moms and I chatted regularly after school about the stress of a Trump presidency or how much we loved Harris. She’d sat at my kitchen table and agreed with me on values. But this was 🤯 rhetoric 4/
At first I asked if she meant to send that video, and she confirmed she did. So I replied that I was a democrat and didn’t see how that message was overly positive. She told me she was “sad for you” that “you’re not willing to listen to the whole message.” 5/
I told her I had no idea she believed those things but that they were provably false. She replied that we never discussed politics before...Another mom chimed in and agreed with me about the harm of the video. We haven’t spoken to her since. 6/
I say this for two reasons 1) until Wednesday I had a low level feeling of guilt for severing a relationship with a school parent so quickly over one text convo. But after Wednesday it felt like the most affirming thing I could have done. 7/
And 2) this is a wealthy woman living in a VERY liberal community (70% or sos voted for Clinton). She was NOT into any organized religion. She was wine and weed friendly. She befriended every parent at the school openly (we have a diverse group a lots of LGBTQ parents. 8/
She doesn’t fit the definition that media/leftists want to define as Q/Trumpers. Not by any measure. So when I saw doctors, lawyers, firefighters, and real estate agents getting arrested following the siege of the Capitol—it makes sense. 9/
It makes sense because these people are truly among us. They aren’t necessarily economically anxious. But they are conspiracy theorists. They do distrust governance. And they are cultists. And...10/
I firmly believe they ARE racists who are realizing that white nationalism IS on the brink of death, so they’re fighting to keep it alive. That’s the THING they all share: a desire to keep wealthy white people in power. Any disruption of that is a threat to their existence. 11/11

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And here they are...

THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE

Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.

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The winners 👇

#10

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Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad 😲

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Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.

I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!