Pentagon Wants To Predict Anti-Trump Protests Using Social Media Surveillance (vice.com)

Alice Marshall shares an excerpt from Motherboard: The United States government is accelerating efforts to monitor social media to preempt major anti-government protests in the U.S., according to scientific research, official government documents, and patent filings reviewed by Motherboard. The social media posts of American citizens who don't like President Donald Trump are the focus of the latest U.S. military-funded research. The research, funded by the U.S. Army and co-authored by a researcher based at the West Point Military Academy, is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to consolidate the U.S. military's role and influence on domestic intelligence.

The vast scale of this effort is reflected in a number of government social media surveillance patents granted this year, which relate to a spy program that the Trump administration outsourced to a private company last year. Experts interviewed by Motherboard say that the Pentagon's new technology research may have played a role in amendments this April to the Joint Chiefs of Staff homeland defense doctrine, which widen the Pentagon's role in providing intelligence for domestic "emergencies," including an "insurrection."

Comments

Executive order to amend the Constitution ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gosh, is there no limit to this miserable sack of pus' stupidity and ignorance ? Did he seriously tell a journalist and the entire world that he would sign an executive order to effectively repel the 14th amendement of the Constitution of the United States ?

Yes he did. But you know what ? It's not because he's stupid. It's because he knows perfectly well that his supporters are stupid, and that he can say pretty much any complete absurdity and absolute lie, but if it's what they want to hear, then they'll believe him anyway.

After all, didn't he get elected even after basically calling all his supporters fucking morons ?

"I could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot someone, and I still wouldn't lose any voters".

Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ?

[serviscope_minor]

Accusing someone of whataboutism is tantamount to accepting their accusations of hypocrisy.

No it's not. Whataboutism is tantamount to accepting their point because your only defense is to deflect.

Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ?

[jebrick]

The SCOTUS has upheld the 14th amendment against this exact challenge multiple times. US v. Wong Kim Ark,https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/169/649

"The amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born, within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States. Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States."

The words mean what they say: A person subject to arrest and prosecution in the United States is “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country. Since the 1980s, a small part of the legal world, however, has begun arguing for a new and improved “original intent” of the clause. These scholars claim that undocumented aliens and their children are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

Then to say that the strict Constitutional judges (like Scalia, Thomas and Aleto ) would rule otherwise is just idiotic.

Almost all aliens in the United States, even citizens of other nations, still fall within our jurisdiction while they are in our territory, otherwise they could commit crimes of all sorts without fear of punishment.” (And that’s the basis of the counterfactual with which we began.)

If this were Obama Fox News would be losing their

[rsilvergun]

shit right about now. Now, Fox & Co are propagandists, so I don't expect even a tiny bit of consistency from them. But I expect a little better from the right wing. There was zero outrage when Trump praised Chinese President Xi for seizing power for life and suggested he'd like to do the same. Again, imagine the shit storm if Obama had done that.

Somebody raised a very good point today. Trump pulled back the FBI from investigating right wing domestic terrorists. We just had a synagogue shot up and a pipe bomber. That is not a coinki-dink. The president responded to this by tweeting about baseball and saying he thought he might miss his rally.... because he was having a bad hair day. That's not "Trump being Trump". That's Trump signaling to the far right that violence is OK.

I'm not gonna try to speak to the alt-righters here because I'm not good enough at it to do anything but piss you off more than you already are. Go watch some Secular Talk or Aron Ra or Bad Mouse Productions on youtube

This message is for the Blacks, Jews and Mexicans who stayed home when it was time to vote for Bernie and did it again when it was time to vote for that bitch Hilary. And it's for the white guys who've got friends in those categories:

I get it. Taxes suck and you don't like being told what to do by smarthy liberals. But if you sit another election out Trump & company are gonna get some signaling themselves. They're gonna figure out that their strategy of riling up the violent alt-right is working. Those people are going to come for you. Because they've got problems. Big ones. And Trump can't solve them. He's not clever enough. To stay in power he's gonna wind them up and send them after you. It's a trick that's thousands of years old and it works.

They're coming for you and you're not going to be safe in your gated communities. Vote. And Vote for whoever has the best chance of taking down Trump and company. Or the violence is going to get worse. A lot worse.

I should add

[rsilvergun]

the post above is what happens when a lefty rants with the kind of bitter rage usually reserved for the alt-right.

Speaking of rage: I'd be a lot less better if I didn't have so many family members who've had the shit kicked out of them by our crap healthcare system because folks won't stop voting for the GOP when they keep telling you they're gonna end Obamacare with it's protection for preexisting conditions. Jeez, I wish I knew how to reach the electorate. 26% of Americans still believe the GOP is gonna save them even after 60 votes to repeal and Mitch McConnell going around saying he's gonna end social security and Medicare.

Re:I should add

[e3m4n]

its been a while since I worked in that industry (1995 when i first came back from 3 tours in the persian gulf after the gulf war); but pre-existing conditions were never permanent. Usually they had a 6month clause that meant that for the first 6 months they would review claims to look for a pre-existing condition. It basically meant that you could not choose to forgo insurance to keep more money, find out you needed medical attention, get insurance, and pay less; then later drop the insurance again. That was supposed to be a deterrent. They would order medical records to see if you had been seen for anything related to it prior to having insurance. They would even invoke the 'prudent person' clause that said 'a prudent person WOULD have sought help'. Internally we had a commentary that went like "No, actually I was in the waiting room for something else, but while I was here, suddenly this started happening..." However the Healthcare Reform act of 1996 had abolished most of this and then HIPAA came along and helped with that by fixing the gap that happened when an insured had to leave one employer and go to another employer.

FACT. The idea that insurance is provided by the employer is deliberately geared to turn you into an undervalued slave. No other insurance works this way. How likely are you to accept abuse or take shit from your employer because they hold the strings on some health benefits you might currently need? It empowers the employee to enter a codependent relationship with the employee where they can misuse you.

Please do not get caught up in the bullshit belief this is only a GOP thing. This shit has been going on since 1995 at least. From 1996 - 2018 the Democrates have controlled the House, Senate, and Executive branch more than once. They COULD have fixed this. They get paid by these special interest too. Nobody in congress is in it for your best interest. Dont fall for the partisan bullshit on this particular topic.

Nope

[iggymanz]

read the article, no source within the article says Trump admin is actually doing that. A bunch of other studies and models referenced.

Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the

[Darinbob]

That's why politics is like a dumb sports game. Everyone drinks a bit too much, they boo for the other time and call them rude names for no reason than for being on the wrong side, and they cheer on their own team as the greatest of heroes merely for being their guys. If one of their guys gets arrested they will wring their hands and wonder if the police are taking things too far, and if one of the other guys get arrested they cheer at their own good luck. After the game is over all the drunk fans go into the parking lot to fight each other.

I'll give you MSNBC

[rsilvergun]

bunch of pro-establishment right wingers over there. Don't let the occasional bit of left wing social politics fool you. MSNBC is hard right on the stuff that matters (economics). CNN would cover it in a centrists milktoast way that doesn't matter worth a fuck. But the right wing media engine? They'd go ape shit.

Re:Why is the military doing this?

[postbigbang]

Fear is a huge motivator. People now use heavy weapons. Look at the violence of the past two weeks if you had any questions.

People's trust in government is at an all-time low, and the distrust with law enforcement has also risen. Were these intentional moves so that government might assert control, bypassing both constitutional and legal constraints?

A pipe bomber plays into their hands. Fear of heavy armament or resistance has always been a motivator to use excessive force. Weapons of mass destruction guarantee a turf war. Will good sense prevail? Will/would the citizenry excuse a military response to a small crisis? Watch the southern US border over the next few weeks, and you'll have your answer. Fear drives a military response against a Honduran march heading towards Texas. This will not go well.

Isn't this unconstitutional?

[Freischutz]

The United States government is accelerating efforts to monitor social media to preempt major anti-government protests in the US

So basically they want to conduct mass surveillance, predict where protests are being planned and crack down on them with maximum force so his Orange Imperial Majesty's delicate little snowflake heart won't melt form the heat of all that unwanted criticism? I seem to remember having read the following in a document considered so important it is kept in a climate controlled armoured glass box flanked by armed guards:

"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed. The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable. The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions, or remonstrances, for redress of their grievances."

Pay particular attention for that last part, "remonstrances" means "forceful reproachful protest" the US constitution literally guarantees the citizen's rights to protest and not be particularly polite about it. The constitution guarantees that the US citizenry's can voice its grievances without having to give a damn about the delicate sentiments of thin skinned and whiny little bitch politicians .

Posse Comitatus

[b0s0z0ku]

Military and their contractors shouldn't be allowed to behave as domestic law enforcement.

Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the

[Xylantiel]

No you can take your false equivalence and shove it. I've always thought political parties were a bad idea, and nobody is a saint, but the degree of lying and cheating that people in the current US republican party will stoop to is unacceptable in a civil society. Your one example shows your argument is hollow. The GOP was all for repealing the ACA because it sounds good in a campaign slogan but didn't do it because they have no real alternative policy, just talking points. That's a concrete promise that was broken. Then you say some random squishy crap about Obama not sticking to "hope and change". Nothing concrete. On the same issue, the democrats ran on revamping healthcare, and that's what happened. Not single-payer, but the ACA was a concrete improvement to the status quo that could be put into law at the time despite an obstructionist opposition party. One of the main motivations for the ACA was getting the healthcare part of the national economy and national debt and deficit more under control, something the GOP claims they want to do but never do. Your claim that both of these are parties saying one thing and doing another is simply false equivalence.

Re:Just wait until they start shooting the Migrant

[Anonymous Coward]

"They were coming right at us!!"

This will probably happen, so IDK why I'm making a south park joke... :(

It is not that Trump particularly wants to kill them. He seems more amoral than anything else. If they die to serve his agenda, well that's fine, seems to be his thought process. In fact actual deaths of good people don't seem to register much to non teleprompter Trump. He just makes up a lie and moves on.

Let's look at the facts. Who does he admire and get along with? Strongmen. Dictators. That's pretty much it.

Which tactics does he use? You guessed it, the tactics of dictators and strong men. Blaming everything on a minority or two. Calling all your enemies evil or an angry mob, or any of the other variations. Continuous, vast, and uncountable numbers of lies.

People are angry. Righteous anger is normal and at times appropriate, but I worry that Trump is making people so angry with his scorched earth tactics to win, that we as a country can never heal.

Will we have our own Tiananmen Square anytime soon? Possibly.

Imagine this scenario. Does it seem likely?

"They were an angry mob with weapons (of some kind, not necessarily guns. Perhaps just a few brooms or something) and they were getting too close to the president. They had to be stopped. This is what happens when you let an angry mob take too much power, but thanks to our new pentagon programs we are active an alert about potential targets of insurrection against the homeland. In fact, to promote public safety we regularly update the public watch list database so employers can make informed decisions."

I find such a scenario quite possible, and if it happens, I'm not sure where it ends. (Needless to say the pentagon should not be involved in law enforcement at all.)

We already are talking kids in cages. Now he is openly talking about disobeying the constitution and throwing out people born in our country. We now have the military facing a non existent threat just to gin up his poll numbers. All of this should be grounds for removal, yet the right does nothing.

We just had proof that one of his rabid followers tried, seriously tried to assassinate two former presidents and a bunch of others. The fact that the guy was apparently too stupid to build a credible bomb is all that saved from disaster.

Another guy walked into a church and started killing, and if you don't think Trump's Us vs Them rhetoric fed the flames your an idiot. I remember Charlotsville well. He was an apologists for an angry mob shouting, "Jews will not replace us!" He said they were fine people.

We don't really need a vast system to predict and quell protests. That way leads on right down a path probably more like Communist China or possibly North Korea, though the shear number of guns in this country limits how far that is likely to go.

What we do need is simple honesty and people in charge willing to at least try to work together and do the job they were elected for, including the president.

I'm beginning to think we also need some history lessons, so as to better guide and guard us against making even more mistakes.

In the last election far too many of us asked, "What do we have to lose?" Now that answer is clear. We could lose everything that makes us a great country that one can be proud of. If there is a time to take action it is one week from now to restore checks and balances, for if we fail, it is possible we won't get another chance.

America the surveillance state. Just the words smell like ashes. Let us hope we can right this ship of state.

Obamacare didn't make your healthcare go to shit

[rsilvergun]

the for profit insurance industry did. There's multiple studies that show it kept prices down.... a bit. They're selling you something you can't live without and that has virtually no competition (since most get it from employers and there's only a few big companies left). The only cap on what they can charge is how much Americans will bear before they demand single payer.

Single payer solves everything. Every country in the world that's implemented it has made it work. Costs are limited because there's virtually no overhead. Doctors aren't employees of the government. It's single payer not single employer. The government is just paying. Docs do better because they no longer fight insurance companies for every scrap and penny.

Malpractice doesn't go away either. Again, we're not talking about nationalizing healthcare, we're nationalizing insurance. Just the paying for it.

The problem you're having is there's a multi-billion dollar propaganda engine putting ideas in your head. That's because the insurance companies are fighting for their lives. If Americans every realize they've got a bloated tick literally sucking the life out of them that's it. End of the gravy train. They spent half a billion last time we did a major reform and it paid off in spades with the "individual mandate" aka Romneycare being the best we could do even with Dems in charge. Don't fall for it. Single payer has been shown to work again and again. It saves money and it saves lives. 45,000 Americans will die of treatable illness this year. Next year you might be one of them. Demand single payer and don't vote for anyone who won't give you it.

Re:He's getting it from Fox News

[Darinbob]

Nazis were right wingers, part of the definition of fascist. I know it's fashionable on the alt-right to claim Nazis were socialists but that's patently ridiculous. Anyone who claims Nazis were liberal socialists is not worth listening to, you may as well hold a more cogent argument in an insane asylum.

The conservative wing of the Republican party got its start as the segregationist Democrats - hardcore racists, home of the Klan, and so forth. Very anti-Jewish. This group migrated en-masse to the Republicans when the Democrats supported civil rights, though some had a brief sojourn with the Dixiecrats. The southern segregationists *hated* the Republicans for a century as the party that forced them to give up slaves, so when today it's ironic when some of the same people still alive claim to be in the Party of Lincoln.

The reason this particular shooter did not like Trump is because he felt that Trump does not go far enough in supporting the racists.

This is the biggest problem Republicans face; how to jettison their racist and white nationalist wing. Or it was shortly before 2016 when there was concern about getting black and hispanic votes in order to remain relevant. Trump proved them wrong though, that you can give a wink and a nod to the racist wing and win an election. I am still surprised that not more Republicans jumped ship after this.

Re:He's getting it from Fox News

[e3m4n]

IMO jewish people keep their opinions to themselves. They might think I'm going to hell for my lifestyle, but they keep it to themselves and do not try to tell me how the fuck to live my life. For that, they always get my support to continue to exist in that exact manner. If they don't fuck with me, I wont ever fuck with them. Its pretty simple. Unlike the southern baptist convention that tried to put Disney out of business in the 90s because they wanted to have same-sex benefits. How exactly was that going to ruin their visit to Disney World? Exactly.

The only religious groups I have a problem with are the ones that want to get in my face and force me to live their lifestyle. Vegans, they are very much like that too. Let me fuck my life up the way I see fit.

and the problem is ?

[Archfeld]

Shouldn't be hard, Where Trump goes a protest will follow, much like Mary, and her lamb.

Trump, the model American Fascist

[TiggertheMad]

They're coming for you and you're not going to be safe in your gated communities. Vote. And Vote for whoever has the best chance of taking down Trump and company. Or the violence is going to get worse. A lot worse.

Well, it was the instability of Germany in the 1920s that allowed the Nazi party to come to power. The communists has just overthrown the Czar in Russia, there was massive inflation and economic instability, mass unemployment, and the fascists were having weekly street riots with the communists. The Nazis stepped in, and offered to mop up the filthy communists, Jews and foreigners who were causing 'problems', and the German people ate it up.

Fascism is about national strength, militarism, xenophobia, and authoritarian solutions. Some of the first attacks Trump made when he came to power were on scientific programs, and he wants to start having military parades. In the 1920s the Nazis had their own newspapers and loved to attack any news that wasn't their own, sometimes go so far as to break into offices and smash other people's presses. The parallels between now and the 1920s are disturbingly similar.

Go read about the early history of the Nazi party, from 1920 to 1933, and think about what is happening now.

Re:Just wait until they start shooting the Migrant

[cascadingstylesheet]

Will we have our own Tiananmen Square anytime soon? Possibly.

You people have completely lost your minds.

You seriously need to get a grip. Turn off the TV, the computer, whatever you need to, for awhile.

Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should

[shaitand]

"First of all, "anti-Trump" protests are not "anti-Government" protests."

Yes, actually they are. He is the President and the head of the United States Government even if only during his term.

"Secondly, it's not very democratic to take sides against the People. A lot of those smart people at the Pentagon study a whole lot of history and should know the inevitable negative consequences of such policies."

Agreed. The Constitution outranks the three branches, including the military and the President and the people outrank the Constitution. If only people had stuck behind the Constitution when doing so conflicted with expediency and their personal agendas the government might have remembered that.