MediaSignage, Inc.’s Post

I try to read as little "news" as possible because it is so filtered and so many biases are introduced. I've learned this firsthand in basic situations where I've been interviewed and the news story made up things I didn't say, such as classes being offered on Sunday [I'm looking at you, Baltimore Sun]. We have an interesting situation now about the FBI's role in Jan. 6. There are news headlines ranging from USA Today's "FBI didn't have undercover agents at Jan. 6 Capitol riot..." to Fox News, "DOJ IG reveals 26 FBI informants were present on Jan. 6." Part of the difference may be semantics, because the report does find no "agents" were present. Those present were "confidential human sources," which the FBI relies heavily on and often directs their actions, as explained in the link below. Newsweek's summary is that no "informants were authorized to enter the Capitol or commit illegal acts, four of them entered the Capitol building, and 13 others entered the restricted area around it. Despite this, none of these informants have faced prosecution. The report reveals that three informants were explicitly tasked with traveling to Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to January 6 to monitor and report on the activities of specific domestic terrorism (DT) subjects believed to be attending the rally. The FBI's Washington Field Office (WFO) authorized these assignments." Back to Eric, the FBI also apparently paid the expenses of the last group. The lesson is that we are all better off reading primary sources than anything filtered through someone else (including me :) ). Unfortunately, most of us don't have the time to read as many primary sources as there are events that interest us. Anyway, here's the link to the DOJ IG report , which, ugh, also references other primary sources: https://lnkd.in/e7u-m8Nf

SERIOUS accusation. I assume we should all agree those who plot should be prosecuted? REVEALED: FBI 'spy hunter' and DOD senior advisor claims to be plotting with retired Generals to 'protect' America from Trump: OMG 18 U.S. Code § 2384 - Seditious conspiracy If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. https://lnkd.in/g9kAfJsd

In revisiting President-Elect Trump's platform and campaign promises relating to issues at the intersection of tech, law, and national security, I came across this video he released last year, laying out his plan to "dismantle the deep state and return power to the American people." Some items that particularly caught my attention: - "we will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus." Presumably this would involve changes to existing personnel rules and protections. This is a complex legal issue, and a fraught one. - "we will totally reform FISA courts." It is important to note that the judges who serve in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court are regular Federal district court judges with lifetime appointments. They are designated by Chief Justice Roberts to serve on the FISC as a duty on top of their regular district court responsibilities. Making a significant change to the way the FISC operates, given that it is an Article 3 court with jurisdiction specified by statute, would be beyond the reach of the Executive Branch in any event, - "we will make every Inspector General's office independent and physically separated from the departments they oversee so they do not become the protectors of the deep state." The inspectors general already have independence from the departments and agencies they oversee and guard that independence jealously, something that Congress has always overseen with intense focus. In any event, in my view the issue of independence has more to do with the President's ability to dismiss IGs at will, which is a Constitutional issue. Moving them to separate buildings (already the case with some OIGs) could be time-consuming and costly, but might provide additional anonymity for whistleblowers. - "will ask Congress to establish an independent auditing system to continually monitor our intelligence agencies to ensure they are not spying on our citizens or running disinformation campaigns against the American people, or that they are not spying on someone's campaign like they spied on my campaign." Strengthening oversight institutions is a valuable endeavor, as is any effort to enhance the guardrails that ensure intelligence agencies are not used for political purposes. - "we will continue the effort launched by the Trump administration to move parts of the sprawling federal bureaucracy to new locations outside the Washington swamp." This strikes me as a good idea from a security perspective, but given the fact that Executive Branch and Congress are located in Washington DC, agencies may find it more difficult to provide intelligence support to key policymakers if they are located far away. - "I will push a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress." This also strikes me as a good idea. https://lnkd.in/g-CYGAiE

Social Media Censorship: Inside the Biden Administration's Actions We expose how the Biden White House enabled the FBI and other agencies to control social media narratives and suppress free speech. Discover the implications of 'malinformation' and uncover the truth behind these controversial policies. #SocialMediaCensorship #BidenAdministration #FBI #FreeSpeech #Malinformation #DigitalRights #GovernmentTransparency #Censorship #SocialMediaPolicy #InformationControl

A new study has found that Trump's tweets and rally speech strongly correlated with escalating violence during the Capitol riot, with feedback loops between online rhetoric and on-the-ground aggression amplifying both the severity and duration of violent actions. #DonaldTrump #CapitolRiots #January6 #PoliticalViolence #SocialMediaImpact

Breaking News: Investigating the Attack on Donald Trump Join us as we delve into the details surrounding the attack on Donald Trump and the ongoing investigation. Get the latest updates on the bullet that nearly struck him and the shocking image capturing the moment. Stay informed with accurate information amid the flood of false news circulating online. #DonaldTrumpAttack #InvestigationUpdate #BulletImage #BreakingNews #FalseNewsAlert #AccurateReporting #CurrentEvents #NewsUpdate #PoliticalScandal #InformationVerification

FBI Report: Debunking Capitol Riot Conspiracy Uncover the truth behind the Justice Department watchdog report! This video debunks misconceptions surrounding the FBI's role in the Capitol riot, analyzing key findings and clarifying the facts. Expert commentary exposes political narratives and sheds light on the actual evidence. #JusticeDepartment #FBI #CapitolRiot #WatchdogReport #PoliticalCommentary #Misinformation #FactCheck #Trump #USPolitics #InvestigativeJournalism

FBI Report: Debunking Capitol Riot Conspiracy Uncover the truth behind the Justice Department watchdog report! This video debunks misconceptions surrounding the FBI's role in the Capitol riot, analyzing key findings and clarifying the facts. Expert commentary exposes political narratives and sheds light on the actual evidence. #JusticeDepartment #FBI #CapitolRiot #WatchdogReport #PoliticalCommentary #Misinformation #FactCheck #Trump #USPolitics #InvestigativeJournalism

”PRESIDENT TRUMP IS CALLING US TO FIGHT”: WHAT THE COURT DOCUMENTS REVEAL ABOUT THE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND JANUARY 6 AND NETWORKED INCITEMENT  - OA PDF: https://lnkd.in/geDPiVcy In this qualitative study, we analyze federal court documents related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, in an effort to identify, categorize, and quantify the most frequently cited reasons for participating in the breach of the Capitol Building. We describe the beliefs, ideologies, fears, conspiratorial narratives, and other themes that most often contributed to the decision to participate in the attack, and present representative excerpts from court documents. In order to estimate the relative popularity of each motivation, researchers coded the contents of 469 charging and sentencing documents, representing 417 defendants. These excerpts provide a unique window into the defendants’ thinking and plans in the weeks and days before the attack, as well as in its aftermath. Our analysis reveals that the members of the Capitol riot were far from consistent in their reasons and goals, although most seemed to share a fear of sociocultural status loss. Some defendants describe a desire for “revolution” or “civil war,” while others describe the attack as a simple “flexing of muscles,” or a demonstration of their frustration with the status quo. We find that the largest fraction of defendants were motivated to come to Washington DC on January 6 by either their desire to support President Trump, their concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election, or some combination of both. IN THEIR OWN WORDS In the time since the violent breach of the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, militia members, conspiracy theorists, and others, diligent news reporting and other research has revealed much about how the accused rioters planned and executed this unprecedented domestic attack on the US government. For example, Just Security reported only four days after the attack that Facebook and Twitter—as well as other popular, publicly accessible social media platforms—had been used by political elites and far-right organizers to spread disinformation about the 2020 election and mobilize Americans from every corner of the nation to make their way to DC for a “historic” demonstration of political unrest (Holt 2021). The New York Times and BuzzFeed News revealed that alt-tech platforms, such as Parler and Gab, also played host to a number of extremist groups and local militias as they planned for a violent uprising at the Capitol that day (Frenkel 2021; Hensley-Clancy and Lytvynenko 2021).