I am sitting in front of my laptop, fueled up on caffeine and Jason Isbell, while patiently waiting for inspiration to strike me, or for divine providence to inspire me to write something meaningful and deep. Finding this technique frustratingly slow, I instead turn to today’s news headlines, across a variety of sources, and I am instantly struck by how ridiculous some of them … [Read more…]
The Fourth Estate: Public enemy number one?
Presidential administrations and the media have had an adversarial relationship from the beginning. Our first president, who now is almost universally revered, had his own struggles with America’s “Fourth Estate.” During his first term, this quintessential American icon suffered repeated attacks by the press. By the end of his second term, these attacks evolved into personal … [Read more…]
Fake News alert: no, this Danish woman did not kill 100 ISIS fighters
Over the last week, yet another fake news headline has been making the rounds on social media. "Cute girl slays 100 ISIS fighters, you won't believe what happens next!" This news item was already clichéd during the heyday of ISIS clickbait articles back in 2015. Now it is just getting embarrassing to watch people share these stories. Joanna Palani is a Danish citizen of … [Read more…]
Eeben Barlow: Fake news and propaganda go hand in hand
The following is a excerpt from Eeben Barlow's military and security blog: Lately, there appears to be an increase in using the media as a medium through which to generate and distribute so-called ‘fake news’ to drive specific agendas. One must therefore investigate the origin or source of the 'fake news' as that will determine the agenda(s). The ability to sell a lie and … [Read more…]
Red versus Blue: Facebook through the eyes of the opposition
On Friday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the forty-fifth president of the United States of America. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in cities all over the world to protest the man’s ascent to power – comparing him to despotic dictators of yesteryear and lamenting what they fear will be a dramatic reversal of civil rights for women and minorities … [Read more…]
As Cold War turns to Information War, a new fake news police combats disinformation
PRAGUE — The target of high-stakes Kremlin power plays during the Cold War, the Czech Republic is again on the front lines of a contest with Russia and its sympathizers — this time in the Information Wars. Inside a mustard-yellow stucco building in northwest Prague, Benedikt Vangeli is a commander in that fight — leading a new SWAT team for truth. Armed with computers and … [Read more…]
Trump Presidential Campaign Team under investigation as we continue to obsess over anything but our pain.
Referred pain is when something hurts, but that pain radiates and is felt in other areas of the body. It's nerves, if you tap one in one spot, you might see a reaction elsewhere. Our cultural nervous system is inflamed. A new wave of reports and accusations land on PEOTUS Trump. But, ultimately they will pass and we'll be left with the same broken system. Nearly everything … [Read more…]
Why the present focus on Russian disinformation programs?
Although, or perhaps because, we seem to have a problem with politicization of the Intelligence Community – not many intelligence officers wish to view current national security problems through a political lens – if they expressed such views as I have described below – their careers would be in jeopardy, at a minimum. Conservative columnists have broadly and often discussed … [Read more…]
Information operations in a post-factual world
SOFREP is currently working on a in-depth series of articles about shaping operations, namely information operations, shaping operations, influence, and covert control. In the meantime, the following article from Defense One gives a insightful look into deception in a post-factual world, and why America needs to make moves to counter it. Conventional military dominance is … [Read more…]
Al-Qaeda propaganda: Are we really this stupid?
I was in my senior year of high school when 9/11 happened. Al-Qaeda was behind the attack, and we were now at war. I joined the Army and served in American special operations units in Iraq and Afghanistan. There, I got to see the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other jihadi militants up close, confirming beyond any shadow of a doubt that these guys are scumbags. I got out of the Army in … [Read more…]
Facebook’s new plan to fight fake news? Ask the mainstream media who to trust
Facebook announced a series of new features they would be introducing to the social media site in an effort to combat the distribution of fake news stories. These features come after Facebook and other internet giants like Google received criticism in the media for permitting the spread of false new stories that some claim turned the tide of the recent presidential election in … [Read more…]
Trump team says Michael Flynn’s son ‘no longer involved’ in transition after firestorm over fake-news controversy
President-elect Donald Trump's transition team said in a Tuesday conference call with reporters that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's son is "no longer involved" in the Trump transition effort. Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller said Flynn's son, Michael Flynn Jr., was helping his father with administrative and scheduling duties. The elder Flynn is Trump's incoming … [Read more…]