Underreported News
2011
The following is a collection of just a few of the underreported
news stories of the last year or so. I think when you look over
the entries here, you'll be surprised at what the traditional
media overlooks. On to our examples...
Manipulation of Social Media
Software is being developed for the US Military, to let it
manipulate social media sites. The plan is to use fake personas
to influence conversations and to spread propaganda favorable
to the United States. As reported in a Guardian article;
A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with
United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed
operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what
is described as an "online persona management service"
that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10
separate identities based all over the world.
Simply "adding" information under false pretenses
may not sound too nefarious, but Centcom will also be able to
hide opinions they don't like, by crowding them out. They will
be able to create a false consensus on matters as well. Centcom
spokesman Commander Bill Speaks said it would be illegal to address
US audiences, so the plan will target only residents of other
countries. The article added that;
Once developed, the software could allow US service personnel,
working around the clock in one location, to respond to emerging
online conversations with any number of co-ordinated messages,
blogposts, chatroom posts and other interventions. Details of
the contract suggest this location would be MacDill air force
base near Tampa, Florida, home of US Special Operations Command.
Assassination Program
Has the Obama administration put an assassination program
in place? Do the target include US citizens? The answer to both
questions appears to be yes, according to a report on the website
Projectcensored.org;
Court documents, evidence offered by Human Rights Watch
and a special United Nations report allege that U.S citizens
suspected of encouraging “terror” had been put on “death
lists.” Reports of the ‘death’ list’ say
Obama’s Director of National Intelligence told a Congressional
hearing that the program was within the rights of the Executive
Branch of the government and did not need to be revealed. At
least two people are known to have been murdered by Central Intelligence
Agency operatives under the program.
Though the program has been challenged, a New York City court
judge refused to rule on the matter.
Private Prisons Fund Immigration Legislation
Though voters elect lawmakers, laws are often crafted to fit
the needs of companies which fund political campaigns and through
lobbyists who court legislators. So what would private prison
companies want in terms of legislation? We, it certainly helps
them if more people are put in their prisons, and that seems
to be the aim of their support for certain laws that target illegal
immigrants. As reported by Projectcensored.org;
Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer received substantial
campaign financing from Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
and GEO Group which are the nation’s two largest companies
that design, build, finance and operate prisons. CCA, based in
Nashville, Tennessee, and Geo Group, a global corporation based
in Boca Raton, Florida, are the principal moving forces in the
behind-the-scenes organization of the current wave of anti-immigrant
legislative efforts.
Keep in mind that these companies and others like them rely
almost entirely on government money--tax dollars. The incarceration
of illegal immigrants caught by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) is a large source of revenue. The article notes
that;
Brewer employs two former CCA lobbyists as aides that assisted
signing SB 1070 into law on April 23rd. CCA, which already has
several detention facilities in Arizona and is hoping to expand
its immigrant business in that state, is expected to show a huge
increase in revenues when SB 1070 is implemented.
Whatever your opinions about how illegal immigrants should
be handled, it seems problematic to have legislation being influenced
by large companies that stand to make big money from only one
type of solution. Consider, for example, that extending the period
of incarceration is in the interest of these companies, even
though this costs taxpayers much more than faster deportation
would.
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