Did you see this recent news item at Forbes? Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database Of Journalists And ‘Media Influencers’’. Hmmm… That’s interesting. The contract will be for “DHS Media Monitoring Services.” Ah, that sounds suitably mundane. But digging deeper into the original FedBizOpps announcement to read the Statement of Work (SOW), I noticed that it begins with:
1.) Core competencies. Introduce your company’s core competencies and relate those to the specific needs of the attached SOW.
That gave me a laugh. How does one describe a Core Competency in Snooping? Or a Core Competency in Tyranny?
I see that they want to contract with a company that to start has these abilities:
-
- Ability to track > 290,000 global news sources
- Ability to track online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media
- Ability to track media coverage in > 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian. Translation function to instantly translate these articles to English.
- Ability to create up to 20 searches with each unlimited keywords
- Unlimited coverage per search (no cap on coverage)
- Ability to change the searches at keywords at any given time
- Ability to create unlimited data tracking, statistical breakdown, and graphical analyses on any coverage on an ad-hoc basis
With all of their handy-dandy parameters and deep archives that never forget, this database tool will be able to constantly monitor individual trade journalist and bloggers. It could certainly watch for their use of certain key words or phrases. And presumably, if they ever used the, ahem, wrong words, then they could be flagged for action. End result: Something much worse than a traditional Ban List or Round-Up List. Instead, the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate will have a database that constantly watches the article topics and phrasing used by hundreds of thousands of journalists. And if any of them ever use the wrong words, then they could effectively self-select their names for a constantly-updated Action List.
The phrase “chilling effect” doesn’t even begin to describe how journalists might someday feel about writing an investigative story about the DHS or any of its 24 subordinate agencies. This planned database tool is a tyrant’s dream come true!
The Big Selfie
Not surprisingly, as part of the SOW, the DHS also wants to track whether they themselves are mentioned in any news stories or blog posts. That is included in one of the SOW specifications:
“Services shall enable [the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate] to monitor traditional news sources as well as social media, identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event. Services shall provide media comparison tools, design and rebranding tools, communication tools, and the ability to identify top media influencers…” [Emphasis added]
Gee, that strikes me as an agency-level equivalent of a teenager who types in a Google search on her own name once a day.
I’m Not The First
After I started writing this article, I did a web search and quickly found that I’m not the only blogger out there who suspects that this new database has a lot more in common with building a round-up lists and web site-blocking bad boy lists than it does with just creating a super version of CNN Headline News. The trendy Steemit social media site had an article by anarchist blogger “John Vibes”, who warned:
“According to a 2017 report by the independent research group Freedom House, press freedom in the United States and across the world is at its lowest point in 13 years. The report found that there were ‘unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies and new moves by authoritarian states to control the media, including beyond their borders.’ This is an ominous sign of things come for the media, especially those who question authority.”
And videoblogger Lisa Cabrera warns about the plan:
“This government will violate you when they are good and ready. And they don’t care about laws, they don’t cares about [the] Constitution, they don’t care if they gotta jail you illegally. They will do whatever they have to do to silence you. That is what this is all about: Silencing people…”
I also found an essay at Market-Ticker blog, by Karl Denninger. In it, he noted the significance of the fact that the deliverable database access had to be made to the DHS within five days of the contract award:
“Online within 5 business days of handing out the contract which means it already has been built and is operating right now, but you haven’t been told one thing about this, there has been no public debate or disclosure, and someone, or a bunch of someones, already have it running and vacuuming up the data — including the mobile component complete with push notifications.
In other words the option to stop this through peaceful political activity has already expired, the weapon has already been built, tested and is in use right now, almost-certainly by multiple parties without any disclosure or political debate. The scope of work laid forth constitutes tens if not hundreds of man-years of effort at minimum; it is not a trivial undertaking.
Someone, or more-likely a bunch of someones, has expended millions if not tens of millions of dollars, or even more, building this weapon and they have done so in complete secrecy with foreknowledge that this “bid” would then be solicited for their work and thus they would be able to be paid for same. It is flat-out impossible to conclude otherwise given the contents of the request and deliverable deadlines.
It is 100% certain that all of the existing “social media” platforms know about this and have already executed whatever “agreements” were necessary with the government for this weapon to be built, tested and be able to operate.
Every single one of those firms and every employee therein with knowledge of this, which have to number in the hundreds if not thousands, have remained silent during its development. What leverage (threats) was used to keep all of said people quiet?
Congratulations folks; it’s time to give up any pretense that any sort of truly independent media will be allowed to exist in America, ever again.”
Karl Denninger appended his essay this weighty statement, in bold type:
“The 1st Amendment is dead because we, all of us in America, refused for decades to insist on enforcement of the clear and unequivocal words in the 2nd Amendment. We allowed ‘shall not be infringed’ to be not only ignored but spat upon and burnt to ash by every single member of both major political parties.”
Within hours after this criticism started popping up, DHS Press Secretary Tyler Q. Houlton chided in a Facebook post:
“Despite what some reporters may suggest, this is nothing more than the standard practice of monitoring current events in the media. Any suggestion otherwise is fit for tin foil hat wearing, black helicopter conspiracy theorists.”
To me, the message is clear: “Silence, you uppity peons!”
“Paging Mr. Google…”
Clearly, what the DHS announcement is looking for is a company a lot like Google. And in fact Google is perhaps the only company with the advanced datamining ability to meet all of the contract parameters and also able to meet the short fuse deadline. Well, perhaps Facebook or Oracle could handle it. I’ll even go so far as to conjecture that the Statement of Work (SOW) was written around Google’e current capabilities.
Parenthetically, I should mention that back when I worked for defense contracting firms (Dalmo-Victor, Litton, Oracle, and SNC), I learned of a common technique for making “slam dunk” contract awards. A program manager (PM) simply writes a SOW specification that perfectly describes what the company he already has in mind can offer. No others need apply.
Moving Up The List
I suppose that merely reporting this story has earned me a higher ranking on the DHS Bad Boy List. So be it. Oh, to get even higher up on the list, let me close with these three warnings: 1.) The only “Security” that the Department of Homeland Security has in mind is securing the interests and hides of an Elite Few against the potential torches and pitchforks of the Many. 2.) If you think FEMA was a threat to your freedom, then just wait until you see what the DHS has planned. And, 3.) “The Google” is Evil. Enough said. – JWR
Well, well said JWR.
I’ve worked a few government contracts and had to bend my corporate policies to incorporate ungodly amounts of changes in order to obtain their work.
There’s a secret city built in New Mexico by Pegasus Global. I worked directly under the ceo Richard B. in the DC office. They too had to accommodate so much into their corporate enterprise in order to take this project. It is a city being built for stress testing very very very new technologies in waste treatment, water distribution, electrical grid, heating through geo thermal, crop growing through genetically alterations, computer driven automobiles, advanced policing instruments, and a host of other sci-fi futuristic monitoring tools for the chosen few. The few allowed entry into this overly human survallanced metropolis. It will eventually be rolled out with Agenda 21. It will be essentially a glorified interment Camp for the government to give watch on your every move.
The American Redoubt will be our only safe haven and having the numbers as we flock together will prove strength and resolve for our families.
As far as the NSA. I have my contracts there too as an independent contractor. Let’s just say any purchase with you credit card, club card scan, bank statement checking account record, is all being logged. Your facial recognition is picked up many times per day on corporate, governmental, highway, home owners cameras plugged into the network and haveing facial recognition. Social media they all have on you.
Your automobile, they have black boxes in all of them and by law for 2014 and newer. They are like flight recorders in that they are used to detect braking, your turn ratios, turning on any switch like wipers and lights and radios, and now they’ve gone a step further for detecting your GPS coordinates. I’m sure it will be listening to your conversations real soon just like cell phones.
The NSA can turn on your cell phone and listen and take pictures of you through your camera at anytime even if it’s off. The only way to stop this intrusion is to place it into a foil pouch which cuts the signal.
Smart televisions and Xboxes all are monitoring you. Even your refrigerator and lights and freezers and laundray facilities are picked up by your electric companies through smart meters by the noise on the line. Information All given over to NSA.
Also, police cars and highway cameras are recording license plates along with date and time stamps and GPS coordinates when it picked you up. All given to the NSA as they plug the police cars into servers with long cables each evening as I witnessed in doing the accounting for the Dallas police department. Oh, what they show a guy wearing a tie having a leather attaché case.
The NSA has a huge data warehouse in Bluffdale Utah and Even they say that they’re just storing information now with the hopes of 5-10 from now to have the data mining engines in place to actually predict your next move or next purchase or if you’re going to commit a crime. Can you say minority report – the movie where you’re arrested for committing a future crime as the authorities predicted.
It’s all in place folks. I have a book coming out in a few months where I cover all of this in Great great detail including an entire chapter on me witnessing that simulation city for future interment but it’s all in fictional plot format. Te he.
God speed and get to the Redoubt before it’s too late.
Two layers of black electrical tape over the camera hole on your computer or other electrical device will put an end to unauthorized picture taking. At least, from those sources. Putting your device into a aluminum foil bag will fail as soon as you take it out of the bag to use it.
Does anyone have a list of pre 2014 cars which do not have black boxes? I’ve just paid a fortune in repair bills for a much older car, and don’t want to do it again.
Does anyone know about older Subaru’s and black boxes?
You should get a copy of “Raven Rock: The story of the US Government’s secret plan to save itself – while the rest of us die” by Garrett Graff.
COOP/COG programs have been the impetus behind many of the tyrannical initiatives in our government over the last 70 years.
Nuclear weapons and our Constitution don’t mix well. The planning for COG started out innocently enough, like “how do we rebuild after a devastating nuclear strike?” Aside from protecting “key” bureaucrats and politicians in bunkers, resources would needed.
That then begs the question about getting resources after a nuclear exchange. The answer is that the government would simply steal what it thought it needed. But what if the business owners resisted? “We’ll have to make a plan to get rid of them.”
Then came the ADEX list, the Rabelrouser index, the Red lists… and now DHS’ influencer data mining. Need I go on?
COG is all about keeping control, and planning on imprisoning or killing those that are in the way.
A little known initiative at DHS has been to catalog all the critical industries and domestic sources of raw materials – all under the guise of a anti-terrorism program called CSAT and CFATS. It’s a shopping list of places for the government to raid after a collapse of society.
Great article! What we need are more like this, and ways to mitigate or at least slow them down. Most people don’t have a clue or care about this. Some day in the near future they may care.
This build-up started perhaps a decade ago and with “the other guy” (Obama). …and it continues. Both parties are all about control regardless of how they message it.
Aug 17, 2008
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s&=&feature=player_embedded
I assume because of your background that you know foreign influences and foreign operators have infiltrated our MSM and other sources of information in the U.S. There are people who regularly appear on daily news shows who work directly or indirectly for Russian sponsored front groups. The odds are that half of what is reported by the MSM on international affairs is controlled and written by the Kremlin.
Add to that mix of clandestine influence the simple fact that over the last 40 years or so we opened the flood gates to Russian and Chinese immigration both legal and illegal. How many of these people are working for their native countries still today, i.e. spies?
Then consider that just 20 years ago and before politicians who associated with and got assistance from communist organizations within the U.S. at least tried to hide that relationship but today it is often done openly. Today many of our politicians are openly Marxist Leninist and/or communist. Why the media does not report this is a mystery. Consider that if a politicians even foolishly attends a meeting or rally in the same building that a far right activist visited the media is all over that 24/7 trying to make that connection.
Almost all of our labor unions have strong affiliation with communist groups and philosophy and actively work to further those ideals. You will never hear that on the alphabet news channels in fact you won’t hear that on cable news either.
The Democrats; the left, has made a sharp turn to the far left and is no longer the Democrat party of your father. JFK, love him or hate him, would be a moderate in today’s Democrat party. Today’s Democrat party intends to bring us a neo-communist government to replace our Democratic Republic.
The bottom line is that Russia and China ARE at war with us and intend to win while we are either naive or in denial that anything at all is happening.
JFK would be a TEA PARTY candidate in today’s political arena!
Sooo, when everyone’s “on the list”, what then, will they have to make a new list?? What if no one played their reindeer games? And declined to bid on govt contracts? OMG
Be proud your on the list, at least if (they) come to collect you, and put you in a camp, you will be in the BEST of company, and a whole lot of really smart people. Take over the camp, and put the guards in it.
dave of oregon
The three greatest gifts parents can give their children are Jesus Christ, schooling at home and moving to The Redoubt. They may still have to fight, but it will be Plan B and in The Redoubt they won’t be fighting alone.
Hmmmm, Well every thing I was going to comment on has already been said, but I may as well get into the mix. Living on the western edge of the Redoubt I notice every time I drive to town or city, I pass several cameras. And every time I notice them, I wonder if it would only take a person walking in at a right angle with an hatchet in their belt and cut the cables, that would take them out of the loop for a few hours.
Then you get into town or city, and there is a plethora of them on every corner with a stop light. How do you disable all of them, they are linked by 2 or 5 gHz data transceivers. So the next thing is to build a powerful jammer maybe 5 or 10 watts of power on each band to deliberately jam the collection point.
Next identify the collection point. Triangulate, look at the antennas on the light poles and figure they are pointing the way, ahhh ha, go to the several lights and with a paper, map and compass draw a line on the orientated direction they are aimed, don’t use a google map!!!!!! Where the lines cross is where the center is. Oh and remember some of those units on the poles maybe linked to each other before they reach the central data collection point.
Then outside the collection point there should be a phone pedestal where the fiber cable is connected to the facility, again open the box, and cut a big chunk out of the cables in the box with cable cutter, close the box and leave, oh be sure to be wearing gloves. There may not be a camera aimed at the box. but find a phone company looking hat just to look official.
The other thing that may be needed is a good light weight spectrum analyzer good to say 6 GHz and a broadband directional LPD antenna. Well for a cheap one we just had to spend maybe 3 to 6 thousand dollars.
The Jammer will be another one or two Thousand dollars, only if you know how to build microwave broadband amplifiers. Then add in some computer hacking program to your jamming signal media computer. Voila! You may just be successful.
Well I guess I just put several more ticks on my RED LIST pickup identifier. Great I can now bow my head and pray, asking Our Lords protection, and that warring angles would stand guard around me where ever I go. He is our ultimate protection from all of the wicked vile pukes who work in our government and rich and powerful computer firms like Google etc.
Yes, Satan is doing all he can to emulate GOD, but GOD is still in control, He is who most of us are sons and daughters of, if we have given our lives totally to HIM.
We read the word and know all these things we have mentioned are going to occur, we are closer to a major fake armageddon now than ever before. The reason I say fake, is because they have not gathered in Israel, in the valley of Megiddo yet. The Word tells us everything we are seeing now would occur. BUT! don’t fear not, the end is not yet. Jesus is coming back with a rod of iron, and He’s going to use it on the backs of every corrupt government official, president, king, etc. And a place has been prepared for them.
Just as we (believers) have a place prepared for us.
God Bless you Jim and Hugh.
Your good friend
So I can assume that there is nothing left but the shooting? You see, Self Righteous ***holes do believe wholeheartedly in their agenda, and will not change their minds regardless of who it hurts until such time as they are held in handcuffs with a .45 pointed at their temple.
How else do you think the Shadow Government can gain acceptance of their plans by all other than by threatening them with life and limb. There will come a time when the above scenario will become standard for dealing with men and women who think they can run rough shod over the citizenry of this country.
Until everyone understand that the Shadow government / Deep State will do like he stated in the article, “do whatever it takes” to gain our acceptance of being slaves of the state. We already know that the Clintons have filled a whole graveyard with those who got in their way. We will all have to seriously consider which side of the Constitution we want to stand on. It will also come down to this, “Either you stand with us and our Constitution or you leave the country, or die.” Simple really, if the government can do it, so can we !!!
Deagel.com forecasts that the population of the U.S. will reduce 83% by the year 2025.
This will be the result of financial collapse in conjunction with famine caused by the grand solar minimum which we have just entered in to.
It’s going to be very messy, with the chosen few hunkering down in the bunkers until all is clear.
Europe will suffer the same fate to varying degrees, UK down 78%.
This is why they are trying to get the guns.
Or DHS could just use Google!!!!
Gray One:
Do you think they AREN’T?
God Bless…
I’m sitting here doing my taxes today and thinking of all the other stuff I could be doing with this money to be used for good instead of evil.
My heart beats faster reading this stuff, and some of you don’t know the half of it. I work directly with the hardware and software that mines this data. It’s an A.I. working 24x7x365 (I figure the good guys need to have someone on the inside eventually.)
God is still control folks.
When counting them in scripture, there are 365 “Fear Not” commandments and I figure that’s one for every day.
Here’s one..
Matthew 10:26-33 English Standard Version (ESV)
26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a]29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?[b] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Get your head and your heart right with Jesus. Today. Right now.
USA-Jeffery
It may be a powerful server, it is NOT an A.I.
We are still years away from true A.I.
The truth is bad enough…
I just know each day The Lord gives me is one day closer to His Return, cool.
Do not sweat the small stuff like wars and rumors of wars.
Matthew 24:21-22
21. “For then there will be a great Tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.
22 Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days
will be cut short.”
It seems we all have a date with this destiny, I am glad I am one of the elect.
All this Patriot act kind of stuff can be turned around on Americans. I doubt we know the half of what is going on out there.
Can be?
A day late and a dollar short on that thought.
THINK about it. Why do the NEED to spy on you. This is NOT American at all. You are being RULED by control freaks, “covetors” must most of all by COMMUNIST in your government who DO NOT belong there and are hijacking this government of yours.
Ripping you off in illegal taxes and ABC agencies of which 99% are NOT needed.
You been PLAYED!
I have news for everyone, they’ve been tracking us for longer than you know.
Almost thirty years ago with my wife and two sons in our van we were leaving the airport long term parking at the Orlando airport. As I pulled to the kiosk to pay I noticed cameras positioned to scan the license plates of vehicles exiting the facility. As I slowly approached the kiosk the attendant keep motioning me forward. When I got to the point where I could hand him my ticket and money I stopped. He continued to motion me forward and I told him I wasn’t going to pull up any further and why did he need my tag number. He kept insisting and I kept refusing and even turned the van off. This went on for probably ten minutes with cars lining up behind me before he called for additional security. I argued with them till the cops showed up and I finally decided I wasn’t going to get arrested and pulled up and paid.
At no time was any reasonable explanation given for the collection of this information. In fact they didn’t even respond to the question but you must obey.
Keep your powder dry
Take a taxi from the airport and pay with cash.
I was at the Orange County airport in the people’s tepublic of California and had a new car. No plates but that white cardboard advertisement insert from the dealer. After ten minutes of hemming and hawing THEY broke. They let me go without acting out on phoning the police. Ever since I’ve kept my license plate above my passenger visor and never pulled over yet even with police behind me. If I am pulled over it simply comes down and rests on my passenger side dash board illustrating the bolts are the wrong size to hold the plate. And they are BTW.
“DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate”
Is it just me or are our government agency names sounding more and more like government agency names in the old Soviet Union.
Welcome to Amerika comrade, please show us your identity papers.