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QHAOS: Some followers of QAnon are losing hope in the conspiracy, as yet another of their predictions – that Donald Trump would remain president and arrest the top Democrats for their participation in child trafficking gangs – has not been passed.
Users in various forums and chat rooms spent the morning raising new theories about how Wednesday, dubbed the “Great Awakening”, would still work as the theory had predicted.
But as President Biden’s inauguration continued without incident, the reality began to settle for some of QAnon’s most fervent supporters.
This is not to say that the theory is running out of steam – deviations and new explanations quickly emerged after Biden was installed.
See More information.
DRIVING WITH HIM: In one of his final acts in office, the former President Trump
Donald TrumpLil Wayne gets Trump forgiveness in the 11th hour Trump grants clemency to more than 100 people, including Bannon Trump must forgive Bannon: reports MORE he forgave former Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski, who was sentenced last year to 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets related to autonomous cars.
Levandowski pleaded guilty one year after being indicted on 33 charges for downloading more than 14,000 engineering, manufacturing and business files from Google in the months prior to his departure from the company in early 2016.
“Sir. Levandowski pleaded guilty to a single criminal charge arising from a civil litigation,” wrote the White House in a statement announcing the pardon. “Notably, his sentencing judge called him ‘the brilliant and innovative engineer our country needs “Mr. Levandowski paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to promoting the public good.”
Read more about forgiveness here.
AMAZON OFFERS TO LEND A HAND: E-commerce giant Amazon sent a letter to President Biden on Wednesday offering help with the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, as the newly appointed president plans to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days at the White House.
Dave Clark, Amazon’s consumer business CEO, said the company is willing to help by leveraging Amazon’s “operations, information technology and communication capabilities”.
“Our scale allows us to make a significant impact immediately in the fight against COVID-19, and we are ready to assist you in that effort,” wrote Clark.
He also pressed again for 800,000 essential Amazon workers at his facility to be prioritized in the distribution of vaccines.
Read more here.
TWITTER TURNOVER: The platform was officially transferred from the White House’s institutional accounts to the Biden government on Wednesday.
President Biden will now have access to the @POTUS account and Vice President Harris will have @VP. White House accounts, press secretary and spouses of the new officers are also being transferred.
See More information.
DECIFY THE CODE: President Biden’s administration is looking to recruit technology experts for a federal agency via a hidden message on the new official website of the White House.
The site included a hidden message in its HTML code inviting those who found it to join the US Digital Service, Reported by Reuters Wednesday, when Biden took office and the site was updated.
“If you’re reading this, we need your help to rebuild it better,” said the message, according to the news service.
Read more here.
Lighter click: When the meeting lasts more than 30 minutes
An article to chew: Biden’s team needs some quick wins in technology politics
NOTABLE LINKS THROUGHOUT THE WEB:
Meet the new technological bureaucracy (Protocol / Emily Birnbaum and Issie Lapowsky)
Technologists use Facial recognition in Parler Videos (Joseph Cox / Motherboard)
Right-wing extremists and their supporters use Christian website to raise funds (CNN / Majlie de Puy Kamp and Scott Glover)
A visit from Zune Squad (The Verge / Luke Winkie)