Racist Web Posts Traced to Homeland Security

[NewAgeThinker]

Source: NY Times

After federal border agents detained several Mexican immigrants in western New York in June, an article about the incident in a local newspaper drew an onslaught of vitriolic postings on its Web site. Some were racist. Others attacked farmers in the region, an apple-growing area east of Rochester, accusing them of harboring illegal workers. Still others made personal attacks about the reporter who wrote the article.

Most of the posts were made anonymously. But in reviewing the logs of its Internet server, the paper, The Wayne County Star in Wolcott, traced three of them to Internet protocol addresses at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees border protection.

Coming on the eve of the apple harvest season, the Web posts and the investigation — first reported this week on The Star’s Web site — have ratcheted up longstanding tensions in Wayne County, where farmers and laborers have accused immigration officials of using heavy-handed tactics like racial profiling and arbitrary or unjustified detentions.

The newspaper removed the posts. It also reported that it had discovered others, dating to last year, that appeared to have come from computers affiliated with Homeland Security.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25immig.html?_r=2

---

I would say this qualifies as very interesting!

So the server discovered other posts as well dating back to last year from other computers, plural, orginating from DHS.
That statement right there makes this sound like it was an official project of some sort, rather than just the DHS having employed several employes from several computers affiliated with DHS.

That alone shows a trend, not an isolated occurence.

[tj2001]

1. The Bush regime put thousands of RW moles on the civil service payroll

They need to be exposed.

[Enthusiast]

19. Regular old

end times fascist bigots. Birthers, too, most likely.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Color me shocked.

[sarah FAILIN]

10. I'm not shocked at all

My neighbors are with Homeland Security. They never go anywhere but Mass, the rest of the time they're on the computers in their office . They're pretty opinionated too so it wouldn't surprise me if they were hitting chat rooms.

[sarcasmo]

3. USA,USA,USA.

[prolesunited]

4. Gotta feed the hate

[Mist]

11. Yeah, they're becoming impatient for those "civil eruptions" to start. nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. The sounds like a case for ---- Homeland Security.

[frebrd]

6. Racist webposts coming from the Dept. of Fatherland ..errr.....

Homeland Security?

What a shocker!

[Downwinder]

7. Have to protect the Mother -- er -- homeland.

[No Elephants]

8. Well, if we're looking forward when it comes to shredding the Constitution and international

treaties, writing torture memos and conducting torture, we should probably send people who posted stuff on messages boards to the penitentary for life, I guess. One makes as much sense as the other.

[Vidar]

9. Welcome to DU. Homeland Security would make Joseph Goebbels proud.

[lurky]

12. Homelander trolls...

I wonder, is this just a bunch of freeps who happen to work at DHS misusing their government computers to post racist hate speech? (If that's not a firing offense, it almost certainly would warrant an internal investigation and some kind of disciplinary action.) I could see a lot of "patriotic" RW types going to work for the DHS, and even informally organizing themselves to freep certain articles, so this is pretty plausible to me.

However, I think we are obligated to consider the possibility that DHS actually has people out on the web doing this stuff. We now know that the DoD was paying ex-generals to push its viewpoint on TV, and it would be a lot cheaper and easier to have employees post comments on web boards to influence discussions, shout down dissenters, and generally intimidate people. I would be lying if I said it hadn't occurred to me before. In fact, there are certain sub-forums on this very site where apparent "professionals" seem to pop up and poison every discussion.

On the other hand, if this were part of an official program, you would think they would be smart enough to buy some IP addresses and set up a proxy to mask their identity. It's not rocket science, right?

[annabanana]

17. I know a lot of people at DHS and I suspect that "freepers who happen

to work at DHS" are the most likely suspects.

Those I know have worked there since before DHS existed..(US Customs folk)and they are just like, you know, regular Americans. Some are Democrats, some Republicans, most pay no attention to politics at all. . .

[lurky]

20. Thanks! I'm actually leaning that way myself.

The blatant racism and the inability to cover their tracks make me think dumb freepers (oxymoron? :D ).

I just think it's important to consider all possibilities, even if some of them are horrible.

[annabanana]

24. "dumb freepers" = redundancy. . . .n/t

[lurky]

33. doh! n/t

[hughee99]

21. I'm not so sure.

At least one of the posts doesn't sound like a freeper...

"Another post, apparently sent from a separate computer linked to Homeland Security, read in part: “These farmers have a problem because the gravy train that they were riding for soooooo long is being brought to light.”

When the hell have freepers ever complained about cheap labor?

[No Elephants]

50. Whenever it suits them. I doubt foolish inconsistency is an issue for them.

[NBachers]

38. Our Tax Dollars At Work!

[Fainter]

53. Here's Another Confirmed Example Involving Corps Of Engineers in re Katrina ...

http://www.jondonley.com/2009/06/affidavit-on-smear-campaign-against-corps-critics/

[lurky]

57. Wow. Nice find! n/t

[ScottLand]

13. Manufactured unrest

This is like the kid on the bus that starts the fight and then watches from the back. You'd think Homeland Security would already have enough to do.

[Crowman1979]

14. It's sort of like "The Grapes of Wrath".

Only the Okies are Mexicans, and the hostile locals are Homeland Security.

[Bette Noir]

15. Gee, racist thugs working for Homeland Security? Who'da thunk.

[slampoet]

16. Can't figure simple Computer Security.... Yet we trust these idots with our LIVES ?

[Historic NY]

18. You can bet a lot of anti-Obama stuff is coming out from them too.

[yellerpup]

22. Now we know.

Time to take names and kick ass. Clean out HS and open up jobs for Americans who believe in the Constitution and take the security of the USA seriously. Cheney zombies still stalk the unsuspecting. Clean House! :kick:

[hunter]

58. Clean out HS? Forget that, just get rid of it.

The damned fascist name is reason enough.

[yellerpup]

59. I like your idea better.

:hi:

[peacetalksforall]

23. They had a rash of meat packing plants being hit. It would be good to list at the

sources in the areas where these raids took place.

[MorningGlow]

25. My neck of the woods

Two counties over. I had no idea that was even going on. Thanks for jacking up racial tension in my neighborhood, Homeland Security weirdos. :eyes:

[OswegoAtheist]

48. Greetings from Oswego!

When I first moved here, I was driving around the city, trying to get myself oriented. When I drove by the Customs building by Fort Ontario, there was a fair-sized group of people protesting there re: the treatment of illegal immigrants in Border Patrol's custody. This is not just a Florida-Texas-California occurance; anywhere you have agriculture as a major industry, you'll find this sort of conflict always simmering.

Oswego "Funny, I'm an immigrant, and no one ever asks to see my green card" Atheist

[MorningGlow]

52. Hi OA! Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[berni_mccoy]

26. Welcome to DU.

[buckrogers1965]

27. Astroturfing.

The organized message that the extreme right wing promotes across the Internet on any particular day is actually scary. Talking points and phrases are identical on extreme posts on news stories on thousands of web sites. Some stories are hit by blizzard of negative posts in just a few minutes and then they shift onto another site.

But I don't think they are paid to be hateful. I think it just comes naturally to them.

I think a lot of these attacks against web sites is organized on the freeper site and other sites of their "ilk." There are also things like megaphone that the neocons use to promote a particular agenda, and it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the same DHS computers that are posting to specific sites are running megaphone.

It would be interesting to see what the fallout of blocking access to megaphone on government computers would be.

[derby378]

28. Welcome to DU, NewAgeThinker!

Way to make an entrance...! :hi:

[JonLP24]

29. Racism is alive and well in the USA

Having Obama as President doesn't change it. If I'm surprised about anything, it's that they were caught.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

30. "Classist."

:think:

[natrat]

31. and sadly the current administration will not push for any investigation

just as they have protected and paid off the rest of the criminals

[MasonJar]

32. If there are moles, then Obama and his surrogates must root them out.

Why is he keeping all these infiltrators? They are not good for the country, so they need to go. Being a nice person is okay to a point and then it becomes untenable... and well, un-good.

[AlphaCentauri]

34. Have you seen those DU poster that come in pairs

very suspicious folks, sometimes they show up with a supervisor.

[wroberts189]

35. Our hard earned tax dollars at work.. against us that is. nt

[kevsters]

36. Speaking of Racist stuff...

One of the more racist things I have heard in a while was something Mika Brzezinski said yesterday on morning Joe.

Here is the clip.

http://progressnotcongress.org/?p=2288

[tooeyeten]

37. more than interesting

These people have problems when they are stupid enough to use government computers to spread their crazy racism, they are more than ignorant.

[burning rain]

39. No surprise if DHS, border patrol attract an uncommon number....

of racists and xenophobes, just as it's no suprise if police forces and infantry include an uncommon proportion of thuggish types.

[The abyss]

40. Our government at work!

It makes no difference regarding the political party. The agenda remains the same.

Control.

[PainPerdu]

41. It's a riddle

Ever notice that those obsessed with controlling others apparently have little or no ability (or intention) to control themselves?

[The abyss]

42. Sociopathic personalities

that become recruited into a machine.

I don’t consider those personalities particularly dangerous, as individuals they are easily identified.

I consider the machine very dangerous.

[Seldona]

43. Fire anyone who sent a single one.

It's not like they can't trace who sent what. If they can't, they need new IT people.

[Raster]

44. Golly gee. I wonder if DHS has trolls that post on other sites...

...say, liberal or progressive or, uh, sites with definite democratic leanings?

I wonder how many of the conspiracy smearist trolls in the 9/11 dungeon are on the DHS payroll? "...we ain't got no conspiracy here, no sir..."

[winyanstaz]

45. This is easy enough to understand....

They threw the borders open to do a number of things...first to create a problem and a need for more "security" and a loss of more civil rights.
It is also a handy dandy excuse to have more NWO armed thugs running around the country.
It also is a great excuse to have to build walls and fences, not to keep people out like you might think..but to keep Americans in.
It is also a great excuse to demand your papers.
It will be harder for Americans to escape the camps if the borders are all locked down tight when they come to round us up for our "flu" shots.
They are sending out hate messages to keep the project going.
Nothing has happened to changed the rise of the NWO. It is still business as usual.

[jimlup]

46. Homeland Security?

:rofl:

[Odin2005]

47. Ugh, these FASCISTS need to be purged out of the government. Post Hate!

[ensho]

49. Homeland Security should never have come into being

a bunch of gargoyles and dragons

gargoyles used to scare people and dragons used to gather and protect neo con valuables

their den here in Key West is surrounded by a tall black iron fence

[No Elephants]

51. IMO, the FBI and CIA and anything else of similar function should have been combined.

The Secret Service may be an exception to that, but maybe not.

We have too much duplication, waste, loyalty to agency, rather than to country, etc.

[KurtB]

54. Same in canada

Nothing new here, members of the Canadian Human Rights Commission were outed for posting hateful messages on Neo-Nazi web sites using purloined addresses. Seems there wasn’t enough hate being posted.
Neo-Nazi hate, courtesy of the CHRC
By Ezra Levant, National Post (Canada)
July 15, 2009

[jody]

55. It's easy for anyone or group to infiltrate any widely read internet forum and spread propaganda.

Source material can be a mixture of facts and carefully worded speculation supporting or opposing a divisive, polarizing issue.

Among the more successful face-offs is between the Violence Policy Center versus National Rifle Association. Some of their supporters spread false rumors at internet speed and even the venerable Snope group is powerless to rebut such lies.

Now that the MSM is dying, I can no longer reply on it for even a modicum of credible reporting.

MSM is being replaced by anyone who can write her/his own rumor bolstered with a few facts hoping to attract internet surfers to visit one of the advertisers on their web page and earn a few pennies.

I support freedom of speech and freedom of the press but IMO emerging communication technology places a tremendous burden on each individual of We the Power to separate fact from malicious fiction.

[Uncle Joe]

56. That burden was and is always there, but over the past 100 years or so, the people

outsourced their critical thinking skills to the corporations.

The corporations naturally abused their power; "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" or something like that, in pursuit of a corporate supremacy agenda over the American People, now the people are regaining their long lost power, and naturally with that enhancement comes the increased burden of separating fact from fiction but I believe this will only serve to make the people stronger.

I also believe some elements posting outlandish or hate-filled propaganda would be doing so at the behest of the dying one way, top down corporate media model and or corporate supremacist supporters as a means of undermining or weakening the American Peoples' reinvigorated First Amendment Powers via the mass, two way Internet.