Milblogging.com : The World's Largest Index of Military Blogs (Milblogs)

Posts degrading female Marines down by July

Milblogging.com — Fri, 17 May 2013 03:13:21 GMT

Here's a roundup of some news I haven't already discussed this week having to do with the military, social networking, and the media.

Marines aim to eliminate Facebook posts degrading women by July. Officials at the Pentagon said today they want to eliminate all degrading material aimed at female Marines by July after a Facebook page appeared with lewd photos of women soldiers...
(GlobalPost)

Red Cross Launches Facebook Page To The Armed Forces. In observance of United States Armed Forces Day May 18, the American Red Cross is encouraging Mississippians to thank a service member—in person and online. "The U.S. Armed Forces Day celebrates each individual who serves the country by being a part of the military force and demonstrates the preparedness of our brave soldiers to face every sort of threat and challenge," said Leslie Pitre, Red Cross Mississippi Region Service to Armed Forces manager. "It is a tradition to fly the American flag and to wear red, white or blue colors during this time."
(WJTV)

Jihadists use US servers to spread terror message. Just miles from New York City’s hallowed Ground Zero, an Internet server in New Jersey hosts a Jihadist leader’s website that instructs supporters of al-Qaida to use explosive devices against western civilians, along with blueprints showing how to build the bombs. Another website, hosted on a server located in Miami, provides Hezbollah – designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department – a platform for its television website al-Manar...
(Washington Guardian)

Social media increasingly important for military families. She detailed her pregnancy, with her husband a world away. She diagnosed sudden spells of dizziness. She wrote of the challenges of keeping a budget while attending school. But mostly, Shayla Bowling – a proud Fort Gordon Army wife – has relayed the complexity of life as a military spouse, tending to a home with two young children, with a husband summoned for repeated deployments. “My husband has been in the military four years,” Bowling said. “When he first deployed in 2009, I started blogging.”
(The Augusta Chronicle)

How the Arab Spring taught me to love Twitter. Apart from a two- year assignment in Afghanistan, I’ve spent almost my career as a diplomat working on Middle East issues, either in London or overseas. And along the way, I learned Arabic, spending a year studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, and a year at a Language Institute in Cairo...
(Al Arabiya)

Overseas email scam claims to help military personnel. Attorney General Jim Hood is warning consumers and businesses to be aware of a recent email scam purporting to help overseas military personnel with packages in the U.S. The unsolicited email suggests that the sender is a military officer who has two military trunk boxes that just arrived in the the U.S. and is needing help with safekeeping. In order to help, a reply is needed where then, the alleged military officer claims to have $40 million dollars in the trunks and needs an address to send the money to until he returns...
(The Clarion-Ledger)

Beware of Memorial Day scams aimed at military personnel. Memorial Day is a time to honor those who serve and remember those who have died serving their country. But sadly, it has also become a key opportunity for scammers to target those who are serving or have served previously, especially elderly veterans. As Memorial Day approaches, the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota (BBB) urges consumers and donors to watch out for scammers...
(The ECM Post Review)

News of convictions in journalist murders sadly infrequent. We received an unusual email last week. Michaella Ortega wrote to tell us that Marlon Recamata, who confessed to shooting her father, Philippine journalist Gerardo Ortega, in 2011, had been convicted and sentenced to life for the crime...
(CPJ)

Criticized on Seizure of Records, White House Pushes News Media Shield Law. Under fire over the Justice Department’s use of a broad subpoena to obtain calling records of Associated Press reporters in connection with a leak investigation, the Obama administration sought on Wednesday to revive legislation that would provide greater protections to reporters in keeping their sources and communications confidential...
(The New York Times)

Grisly video from Syria shows executions

Milblogging.com — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:40:59 GMT

Earlier this week, I posted a story about a gory video of a Syrian rebel commander cutting the heart out of a Syrian soldier and taking a bite. If you haven't seen it, its been one of the biggest headlines of the week with nearly every news site discussing the video.

I can honestly say it’s one of the more disturbing videos I’ve seen in awhile.

Of course, more internet videos are emerging from Syria. The latest to hit the net shows the public executions of government soldiers by Islamist rebels.

According to Daily Mail:

“The two and a half minute clip shows three soldiers sitting on a plinth in the centre of the square, surrounded by masked gunmen.

They are wearing green blindfolds and holding their hands together anxiously as a crowd gathers in the background.

A masked gunman can be seen standing next to a van, reading from a piece of paper - it looks as if he is reading into a microphone.

After the speaker gives a gesture, a man wearing a dark flowing robe walks up to the first victim and shoots him in the head at close range, before he falls back.

He then moves along the line and shots the other two men.

The trio are seen lying on the ground twitching as more men pump bullets into them while the militants raise their weapons in celebration.”

I gotta say, even though news sites are starting to focus more on each new video as a result of the cannibal rebel, there have been plenty of gruesome videos and images coming out of Syria from both sides of the war for years.

They're shocking but nothing new.

On a lighter note, my favorite video out of Syria is still this one.

More at Daily Mail.

1000s of troops' Facebook profiles stolen

Milblogging.com — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:01:46 GMT

I swear, people who steal the Facebook profiles of military members in order to scam money out of patriotic citizens, are one of the lowest forms of life.

I’m sure you’ve heard about this before, but it’s always good to be reminded so that you make sure to take steps to protect yourself online.

KJRH News reports:

“Erick Wolf was there when crowds toppled Saddam Hussein's statue during the Iraq War.

He even sat on one of Hussein's thrones one of his many palaces.

And now, all these years later, back in Oklahoma, Erick wages another type of war, after his profile and pictures from Facebook were stolen.

"I was infuriated, not just at the exploitation of my personal identity, but the fact they were using that to hurt people, to get money, to break their hearts," Erick said.

Identity thieves concocted a truly heart-breaking story, Erick found out. They used his name and family pictures from Facebook, even those of a foreign exchange student they hosted a couple of years ago.

The story the thieves put together claimed Erick's wife had passed away while he was serving in Afghanistan and that he desperately needed thousands of dollars to get home to console his daughter back in the states.

Erick learned about the scheme after a woman from Spain found his email address and sent him a message. She detailed how she donated $3,000 for his trip back to the states, only to find out the only person she consoled, was a crook.”

More here including tips.

Website plans to share 8 million WWI stories

Milblogging.com — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:42:59 GMT

This is some pretty ambitious news when you read the headline.

According to Sky News, the Imperial War Museum plans to publish online as many as eight million stories of those who served in uniform and worked on the home front during the First World War, which will mark 100 years in 2014 since it began.

Via Sky News:

“The Imperial War Museum is leading the massive project which will pay tribute to those who served in uniform, as well as people who worked on the home front.

Lives of the First World War will bring together records from museums, libraries, archives and family collections from across the globe.

It is aiming to set up a digital legacy where people can connect, explore, and share information about British and Commonwealth citizens involved in the war.”

The website can be found at Lives of the First World War.

To make this all happen, the museum is asking for people to get involved by signing up at their website.

“IWM will need your help to explore documents, to link them together and to start telling the stories of those who served in uniform and worked on the home front.”

More news at Sky News.

News: How World Press Photo of 2013 was faked

Milblogging.com — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:38:41 GMT

How the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year was faked with Photoshop. It turns out that the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year — the largest and most prestigious press photography award — was, in actual fact, a fake. The World Press Photo association hasn’t yet stripped the photographer, Paul Hansen, of the title, but presumably it’s just a matter of time...
(Extreme Tech)

Check out the satire in this military version of The Onion. As a long-time reader of the satirical newspaper and Web site known as The Onion (see HERE), I was glad to stumble upon The Duffel Blog, a site that offers the same sense of the absurd as The Onion, but with a military slant...
(Carbondale News)

Social Media in Government: Armed Forces Communications. When a citizen joins the Armed Forces, not only do their lives change, but so do those of their families and friends. In many cases, entire families are transplanted from one location to another in support of one parent’s military responsibilities. Supplementing traditional communications with social media techniques, those directly and indirectly affected can be better informed...
(Business 2 Community)

BBB warns of scams aimed at veterans. The Better Business Bureau has identified a number of scams aimed at military personnel, particularly elderly veterans, that ramp up just before Memorial Day. Here are a handful of scams aimed at military personnel...
(StarTribune.com)

Syria coalition publishes videos on rules of war. The war in Syria has claimed over 70,000 lives, many of those civilians. Now the Syrian National Coalition has published several videos on the rules of war. The guides are aimed at encouraging rebel fighters on the ground to follow international criminal laws - like the ones against enlisting children. Tim Carstairs, the Head of Communications at Geneva Call, which produced the videos on behalf of the SNC, speaks to Al Jazeera...
(AlJazeeraEnglish)

War stories will become a play. A HISTORY project is underway in Swindon involving the town’s primary school children. As part of the 2014 World War One centenary next year, pupils are seeking stories about the war and how it affected Swindon...
(This Is Wiltshire)

Memorial to Fallen Journalists Rededicated. On May 13, the Newseum, a popular museum in Washington D.C. will rededicate its Journalist Memorial, which honors journalists who died or were killed while on the job. The Newseum is dedicated to championing the value of a free press and the men and women who dedicate their lives to journalism...
(VOA)

On the road via motorcycle, retired Texas native interviewing WWII veterans of Pearl Harbor. Denton native Mark Humphreys recalled a conversation he had with a World War II veteran who witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The veteran told a story about narrowly escaping death, while at the same time watching other soldiers die during the surprise attack by Japanese fighter pilots, Humphreys said...
(The Republic)

Gory video of rebel eating heart of soldier

Milblogging.com — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:34:09 GMT

Image via YouTube

Gory video of a Syrian rebel commander cutting the heart out of a Syrian soldier and taking a bite has gone viral and making quite a buzz across news sites and blogs.

It's no secret that there are crimes being committed by both sides, but damn!

Reuters reports:

“The New York-based group said an amateur video posted on the Internet on Sunday shows Abu Sakkar, a founder of the rebel Farouq Brigade who is well known to journalists as an insurgent from Homs, cutting into the torso of a dead soldier.

The video has caused outrage among both supporters of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition figures.”

I'm no expert on rallying support, but I'm betting eating part of another person on video isn't going to help your cause.

No doubt this video is going to continue to circulate.

You can watch a tamer edited version of the video here, but WARNING: it's still pretty graphic.

More at Reuters.

News: Duffel Blog a household name with troops

Milblogging.com — Mon, 13 May 2013 06:49:39 GMT

Duffel Blog: Don't get it? He doesn't care. Barely a year after posting its first fake news story, The Duffel Blog has become a household name among troops...
(Marine Corps Times)

Savage Online Videos Fuel Syria’s Descent Into Madness. The video starts out like so many of the dozens coming out of the war in Syria every day, with the camera hovering over the body of a dead Syrian soldier. But the next frame makes it clear why this video, smuggled out of the city of Homs and into Lebanon with a rebel fighter, and obtained by TIME in April, is particularly shocking. In the video a man who is believed to be a rebel commander named Khalid al-Hamad, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, bends over the government soldier, knife in hand. He has sliced through the soldier’s fatigues and is working the knife though the pale skin of the soldier’s torso. He has already cut out the man’s heart...
(TIME)

Syrian pro-Assad hacker insists attacks are funny: ‘Haters gonna hate’. When hackers with a pro-Assad collective known as the Syrian Electronic Army took over The Onion’s Twitter feed on Monday, sending out a stream of fake messages criticizing U.S. policy on Syria in a quasi-satirical tone apparently meant to mimic The Onion, I wrote that one giveaway of the hack was that the messages weren’t very funny. It turns out that at least one self-declared member of the Syrian Electronic Army disputes this: not that they hacked The Onion, for which the group does take credit, but the idea that they’re unfunny...
(The Washington Post)

Soldier's war diaries in book. War history is preserved in a book featuring the wartime diaries of a Southland soldier and the travels of his daughter, launched in Owaka on Saturday. Papatowai woman Mary Sutherland has put together her father Jack Bickley's experiences and her travels with husband Fergus, to produce a ''tete-beche'' book, two books in one - Please Send Home, and Far From Home and Family...
(Otago Daily Times)

Soldier's memoir puts a face on First World War. Pat Thomas's house has stained glass. Brass grates are on heating vents. The floors are solid wood. Her Nutana home is rooted in heritage. Pat has her grandfather's memoir in a bookcase. After Percy Kingsley retired from the Swanson Lumber Company in Saskatoon, he typed the book at a desk in the sunroom of his home on Sixth Avenue in City Park in the early 1970s. He wrote about serving in the Canadian infantry in the First World War. The notes fill page after page in a green, three-ring binder...
(The StarPhoenix)

Assad's Facebook page attacks Israeli who aids refugees. Though Assad and his men are fighting a bloody civil war, it appears they still find the time to read Ynet reports and comment on them on President Bashar Assad's personal Facebook page. Following a report on Friday on Moti Kahana, an Israeli businessman who aids Syrian refugees, Assad's page quickly posted the Israeli's photo from the story, showing him hoisting the Free Syria flag...
(Ynetnews)

The Onion reveals how Syrian Electronic Army hacked its Twitter. The Onion staff put their laughing-making on hold last week when the Syrian Electronic Army hacked its Twitter account — the latest in a growing list of publications invaded by the group. Now, the parody news outlet has taken an atypical moment to very seriously explain how the hacktivists weaseled their way into the company's digital confines...
(ITProPortal)

Twitter: Some smitten by bombing suspect

Milblogging.com — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:43:47 GMT

I find it really amazing (and sad) what people will write about on social media sites like Twitter.

Apparently, thousands of teenage girls have a crush on Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev, and according to The New York Post they are leading a social-media movement to exonerate him.

“The swooning teens will not accept allegations that the bushy-haired college kid — whom they refer to by his nickname, “Jahar” — and his brother, Tamerlan, 26, killed three and maimed hundreds by setting off bombs at the April 15 race and killed an MIT police officer during the ensuing manhunt.

While some scrawl the hashtag “#FreeJahar” on their hands with markers, an 18-year-old in Topeka, Kansas, is going to the extreme — she wants the Dzhokhar’s words inked on her arm forever.”

Just how stupid does it get?

“Getting one of Jahar’s tweets tattooed on me tomorrow. Guess you could say I’m a #FreeJahar supporter,” “@keepitbluntedd” tweeted on May 7.

And yes, it gets even stupider.

“@FreeJahar97,” who identified herself on Twitter as “Gianna,” a 16-year-old with “big boobs,” likened Tsarnaev to a heartthrob.

“Yes i like Justin Bieber and i like Jahar but that has nothing to do with why i support him. I know hes innocent, he is far too beautiful,” she tweeted on April 25.

Clearly, this girl is a genius.

Her parents must be soo proud....

You can read more over at NYPOST.

Fobbit author: How to Tell a War Story

Milblogging.com — Sun, 12 May 2013 17:53:13 GMT

I wasn't going to write about this but I love the word FOBBIT.

According to the Billings Gazette, Fobbit author David Abrams will be at the Parmly Billings Library on May 25 presenting "How to Tell a War Story," a Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau program.

David Abrams was one of many military authors whose stories were published in Fire and Forget, a book of short stories that was coedited by military blogger Matt Gallagher.

I paid a visit to Abrams’ website to learn more about him.

Here’s a snippet from his bio:

“Abrams retired in 2008 after a 20-year career in the active-duty Army as a journalist. He was named the Department of Defense's Military Journalist of the Year in 1994 and received several other military commendations throughout his career. His tours of duty took him to Thailand, Japan, Africa, Alaska, Texas, Georgia and The Pentagon. In 2005, he joined the 3rd Infantry Division and deployed to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The journal he kept during that year formed the blueprint for the novel which would later become known as Fobbit.”

On a somewhat related note, if you're not familiar with the term "fobbit" here's one of the definitions from Urban Dictionary:

The name of those who choose to stay on base rather than run missions on a FOB (Forward Operating Base). Term usually used for grunts when talking about the annoying admin guy.

“Did you see LCpl Joyce telling war stories to the new guys... He is such a annoying little FOBbit.”

Eight Ways to Share Your Military Story

Milblogging.com — Sat, 11 May 2013 23:12:22 GMT

Eight Ways to Share Your Military Story, Part I. The word “blog” is a contraction: “web” plus “log” equals “blog.” It’s an overly limited term, and, in an age of other forms, formats, and technologies, may have outlived some of its original vitality and utility. Another way to describe the activity is “online journaling.” Writers have used journals and notebooks to explore ideas since long before there was an Internet, and they’ll continue to do so long after current forms of “blogs” have been replaced. Today’s technologies allow writers to share their thoughts, ideas, and words more widely; to engage with others in discussions and dialogues; and to build more awareness of their works...
(Red Bull Rising)

Eight Ways to Share Your Military Story, Part II. Literary magazines and journals are periodicals, and are often published by academic and arts programs. Depending on mission, they may publish fiction, non-fiction, essays, poetry, and visual art. While general-interest journals may devote a single issue to military themes (recent issues of Epiphany, The Iowa Review, and So It Goes, for example), there seems to be a growing number of journals specifically targeted toward such topics...
(Red Bull Rising)

Details Emerge About Syrian Electronic Army’s Recent Exploits. At The Onion it’s all fun and games, except when the company’s Twitter account gets hacked. This week, after the parody site became the latest publication to have its Twitter account hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, The Onion took a more serious note, explaining in a detailed blog post how the company’s account was hacked, and warning others how to avoid the exploit...
(The New York Times)

'Talk of Iowa' Radio Explores Veterans and Writing. I participated in a "Talk of Iowa" program on Iowa Public Radio yesterday, Thurs., May 13, regarding how veterans and families can communicate their military experiences through writing and music. Also participating were host Charity Nebbe, Iraq War veteran and poet Hugh Martin, and Vietnam and Gulf War veteran Lem Genovese. Martin is the recent winner of The Iowa Review's Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans. He's also author of the recent poetry collection "The Stick Soldiers."
(Red Bull Rising)

According to a new report, Twitter is a breeding ground for terrorism and hate speech. Regular Twitter users can attest to the fact that a short and simple hateful comment can escalate and cause mass hysteria – just ask the public figures who’ve had to issue apologies to their hordes of followers for poorly thought out tweets. There are also those who are not sorry at all. This all supports what a recent report by The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) – a human rights organization – says on the issue of online hate: Out of the many social media platforms available on the Internet today, it’s easiest to propagate hate and terror on Twitter...
(Digital Trends)

Benghazi E-Mails Put White House on the Defensive. A long-simmering dispute over the White House’s account of the deadly assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, flared up on Friday, with a disclosure of e-mails that show the White House was more deeply involved in revising talking points about the attack than officials have previously acknowledged...
(The New York Times)

Special Report: U.S. cyberwar strategy stokes fear of blowback. Even as the U.S. government confronts rival powers over widespread Internet espionage, it has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers...
(Reuters)

Facebook page demeaned women in the Corps

Milblogging.com — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:51:55 GMT

There are a whole bunch of people getting ready to get in some trouble over this mess.

According to a story earlier this week by SFGate and a number of news sites, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, released portions of a Facebook page, “F’N Wook,” denigrating women in the Marine Corps. The letter was sent to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Marine Corps Commandant James Amos and deputy inspector general Lynne Halbrooks.

Here’s a link to the letter, which as SFGate points out, contains photos too obscene to print.

For your job’s sake, I wouldn’t view the PDF at work.

The Facebook page reportedly had over 10,000 likes on Facebook and hundreds of comments. And it’s not the only Facebook page of its kind. There are others too - “Just the Tip, of the Spear,” “U Suckers Missed Christmas -USMC,” and “POG Boot F..ks.”

Unfortunately, there is evidence that active-duty and reserve Marines were involved in posting on the pages, according to a story in Stripes. Not necessarily a smart career move.

It's no secret there are all sorts of terrible pages on Facebook and other social media sites.

The good news, the page “F’N Wook” has since been taken down by Facebook. Yes, Facebook.

Now, normally, I don't like to give kudos to Facebook, but it's good to see them doing the right thing.

Why does Twitter never do anything like this?

Let's be honest, Twitter suspends accounts of users who excessively use the Follow button (you know, serious offenses), but allows really abusive accounts to remain online. I mean, why take down accounts that promote terror???

Pffff, that's just crazy talk.

There’s more on the story here at Stripes, SFGate and USA Today.

News: Iraq war photojournalists in new book

Milblogging.com — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:14:40 GMT

Iraq war: Photojournalists tell 'untold story'. Already being described by some as the "forgotten war", America's fraught military expedition into Iraq now rarely captures news headlines. But a new book - Photojournalists on War: The Untold Story from Iraq - might, at the very least, spark more reflection. One critic has already described the book, which contains some never-before-published pictures, as being among the "essential documents" to come out of the Iraq war...
(BBC)

Richard Engel Returns To Syria For First Time Since Kidnapping. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is back quickly and safely from his first trip to Syria since he and his team were kidnapped and held captive there last December. Engel interviewed rebel fighters who allege the Syrian government used chemical weapons in an attack last month. His reports were airing Wednesday on the "Today" show and "NBC Nightly News."
(Huffington Post)

How Not To Look Stupid On Twitter. When the AP Twitter stream was hacked a few weeks ago leading to a massive drop in the equities market, I went off. I found the fact that the AP – a news organization staffed by intelligent people and with a long history of adapting to new media – could be hacked through a phishing attack was unconscionable. It would be like Bank of America being hacked by a group of script kiddies...
(TechCrunch)

Internet in Syria has been restored after being disconnected for over 19 hours. Internet in Syria has been restored on Wednesday at 14:13 UTC. The country went offline on Tuesday at around 18:45 UTC as Internet connectivity was completely cut across the nation. Renesys was the first to report that Internet access was being re-established in Syria...
(The Next Web)

Chili Man Accused of Making Terrorist Threat Toward NYC Firefighters. A Chili man is under arrest after being accused of making a terrorist threats against New York City firefighters. According to State Police, Gary Battista, 36, unlawfully obtained another person's Facebook user name and password. They say Battista used that user's Facebook account to make terrorist threats towards New York City firefighters...
(YNN)

Super Junior's Yesung Posts Handwritten Letter, Group Photo From Boot Camp Online: 'I Will Be Missing You Guys For 2 Years' He Writes [PHOTOS].Super Junior singer Yesung posted a handwritten letter to his fans on Facebook Wednesday, from the military training facility where he began his two-year enlistment in the South Korean military...
(KpopStarz)

WW2 soldiers radicalised by their diaries, finds study. A historian studying World War Two soldiers responsible for violent atrocities in the Far East, says they were partly radicalised by their own dairies. Dr Aaron William Moore, from The University of Manchester, has been studying the private diaries of 200 American, Chinese and Japanese soldiers over the past ten years for a new book out next month...
(Phys)

Opening the mystery of 250 WWII letters found in old hat box. Purchased for just $1 at an Oklahoma estate sale 15 years ago, an old hatbox contained a mystery decades in the making: an estimated 250 letters from two brothers during their time as soldiers in WWII. Pamela Gilliland, who was unaware of the letters when she first bought the hatbox, just last week enlisted the help of a history buff, Doug Eaton, to find out more about them...
(NBC News)

Stars & Stripes covers military memes

Milblogging.com — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:51:10 GMT

Stripes had a military meme roundup posted today.

Meredith Tibbetts writes, "Military memes may not be as prevalent as celebrity memes (or the popular McKayla is not impressed meme), but the military-themed jokes tend to be more pointed and created by people who live and breathe the military - and "get it.”

I gotta agree with Stripes about the difference between military memes and other categories.

Seriously? A photo of a cat hanging from a tree branch with the caption “Hang in there”. That’s pretty funny I guess, but compared to a photo of a PT belt on pretty much any person or object... Now that’s internet gold.

Full story here.

Report: Twitter spurred growth in terror forums

Milblogging.com — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:43:57 GMT

According to a story over BusinessWeek, Simon Wiesenthal Center has released a report claiming that Twitter helped spur a 30 percent growth in online forums for hate and terror over the past year.

One of the big arguments is that Twitter doesn’t really do anything to limit abusive content, while other social networking sites like YouTube and Facebook do have some measures in place.

Via BusinessWeek:

YouTube bars users from posting material that may incite violence, train terrorists or contain hate speech, and relies on its members to flag questionable content, the company said in an e-mailed statement.

“We review flagged videos around the clock, routinely removing material that violates our guidelines,” YouTube said.

Facebook also enforces its own rules against speech promoting hate or terrorism on its site and relies on team of professional investigators to identify and remove such material, said Fred Wolens, associate manager of public policy at the company.

Most of you who read this blog, know that I’m not a big fan of Twitter not enforcing its own rules, particularly when it comes to allowing terror groups to spew hate and death threats on its microblogging site, but I do think it’s important to read the facts laid out by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Unfortunately, there was no link to the report in the news story and after searching online for it, I gave up after two minutes and ended up making myself a sandwich.

God forbid BusinessWeek links to the report...

Full story here.

News: Internet traffic from Syria drops

Milblogging.com — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:32:12 GMT

Breaking news: Traffic from Syria Disappears from Internet. At around 18:45 UTC OpenDNS resolvers saw a significant drop in traffic from Syria. On closer inspection it seems Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet. The graph below shows DNS traffic from and to Syria. Although Twitter remains relatively silent, the drop in both inbound and outbound traffic from Syria is clearly visible. The small amount of outbound traffic depicted by the chart indicates our DNS servers trying to reach DNS servers in Syria...
(Umbrella Security Labs)

9 Lives Of World War II Vet: Shares Story Of New Threat Survived (VIDEO & PHOTOS). Have you ever felt like you've had the help of a guardian angel? One World War II veteran, who lived through scary moments overseas, now can share stories about surviving a more recent brush with death...
(Indiana's NewsCenter)

Newly Declassified Memo Shows CIA Shaped Zero Dark Thirty's Narrative. Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden revenge-porn flick Zero Dark Thirty was the biggest publicity coup for the CIA this century outside of the actual killing of Osama bin Laden. But the extent to which the CIA shaped the film has remained unclear. Now, a memo obtained by Gawker shows that the CIA actively, and apparently successfully, pressured Mark Boal to remove scenes that made them look bad from the Zero Dark Thirty script...
(Gawker)

White House picks Twitter lawyer as Internet privacy officer. President Obama has picked Nicole Wong, Twitter's legal director, to be the White House's first chief privacy officer, CNET has learned. Wong previously was a vice president and deputy general counsel at Google at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, where she managed a team of lawyers that worked with the company's engineers to review products before they launched. The reviews included privacy, copyright, and removal requests, which earned her a nickname of "The Decider" -- as recounted in a 2008 New York Times Magazine article...
(CNET)

Bradley Manning Pretrial Hearing Reaching New Level Of Secrecy. Government secrecy reaches a new level this week in the court-martial of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst who sent 700,000 classified U.S. documents to the WikiLeaks website. A military judge, Col. Denise Lind, has ordered what prosecutors say is an unprecedented closed hearing Wednesday at Fort Meade to help her decide how much of Manning's upcoming trial should be closed to protect national security...
(Huffington Post)

Air Force Brochure Tells Sexual Assault Victims to ‘Submit’. An Air Force brochure on sexual assault advises potential victims not to fight off their attackers. “It may be advisable to submit [rather] than resist,” reads the brochure (.pdf), issued to airmen at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, where nearly 10,000 military and civilian personnel are assigned. “You have to make this decision based on circumstances. Be especially careful if the attacker has a weapon.”
(Wired)

With G.I. Film Festival and vintage war films, May is military movie month. As we inch closer to Memorial Day, it’s worth remembering that the holiday marks more than the unofficial start of beach and pool season. Two military-themed film programs aim to do just that. The seventh annual G.I. Film Festival runs through May 12 at various venues around town. Somewhat further out, the Library of Congress’s Culpeper-based Packard Campus Theater is also offering a free month-long series of vintage war films...
(Washington Post)

Syrian Electronic Army hacks The Onion

Milblogging.com — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:04:37 GMT

Despite being a satirical news site, The Onion is making it clear that recent pro-Syria tweets posted to its Twitter account were done by hackers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

The Onion has been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, a cabal of computer hackers sympathetic to President Bashar al-Assad.

The satirical news organization's Twitter feed featured multiple pro-Syria tweets on Monday, several of which targeted Israel for carrying out a series of air strikes during the weekend along the wartorn country's northern border.

"Israel denies forging new alliance with Al Qaeda: 'We were friends all along, so it can't be new' - IDF Spokesperson," reads one tweet. Another reads: "UN's [Secretary General] Ban Ki Moon condemns Syria for being struck by Israel: 'It was in the way of Jewish missiles.'"

Of course, in The Onion-fashion, the website followed up the Twitter hack with two stories:

Onion Twitter Password Changed To OnionMan77

and

Syrian Electronic Army Has A Little Fun Before Inevitable Upcoming Deaths At Hands Of Rebels.

Well played.

More at The Hollywood Reporter.

News: Viral war content

Milblogging.com — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:08:38 GMT

Searching for War on Youtube. Viral content has essentially drowned within itself. It used to signify a particular image or video that represented a particular cultural marker. It was impossible to imitate. Part of the phenomenon’s allure came from the fact that no knew why exactly it was a phenomenon. Then, over time, more content started to become viral. Sites like Reddit provided an easy medium to view all of the available viral content at any given time. Soon memes allowed for the personalization of viral content. And then came Buzzfeed, which turned viral content into an incredibly successful business model...
(The Harvard Crimson)

War stories worth telling and retelling. Filomeno “Dodong” Avanceña Bautista Jr. had hoped somebody would tell the World War II stories about what happened in Mindanao. He noted that very little had been said about the situation in the south. “We have good stories but they have not been documented,” the 86-year-old war survivor said. The tales were as rich as others and were worth keeping for posterity...
(Inquirer News)

Meet The 'Liberator': Test-Firing The World's First Fully 3D-Printed Gun. “Alright. One…two…Before “three” arrives, a shot reverberates across the overcast central Texas landscape. A tall, sandy blond engineer named John has just pulled a twenty-foot length of yellow string tied to a trigger, which has successfully fired the world’s first entirely 3D-printed gun for the very first time, rocketing a .380 caliber bullet into a berm of dirt and prairie brush...
(Forbes)

Journalists Get Beat Up And Threatened After Going To A Kentucky Town To Report On Guns. Reporters covering a horrific gun death in the small town of Burkesville, Ky., were rejected by the town's residents, some of whom threatened reporters with violence and ended up carrying out those threats...
(Business Insider)

Old soldier's diary relives horror of war 100 years on. With next year marking the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, an Oakworth resident has once again returned to the diary of his grandfather, who fought in some of the war’s most horrific battles...
(Telegraph and Argus)

Global Times blasts social media's 'excessive' supervision of luxury military vehicles. After China’s online community posted startling photos of luxury cars bearing military licence plates - flouting new restrictions that came into effect on Wednesday, China’s nationalist tabloid newspaper The Global Times promptly fired back against what it called “excessive” supervision...
(South China Morning Post)

Author soldiers on to get story of WWII's Monuments Men. When Robert Edsel was 42 — having sold his Texas oil- and gas-exploration business for $37 million — he, his wife and their 3-year-old son moved to Florence, Italy, in search of "something different." Now 56, Edsel recalls thinking, "There's got to be more to life than just more — more money, more work. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to get off the merry-go-round after 23 years of putting 110% of myself into my business."
(USA Today)

Jokes about peen-shaped Chinese HQ censored

Milblogging.com — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:12:46 GMT

Seen here is the The People's Daily new Beijing headquarters.

The Altantic Wire (which has a good roundup on related stories) reports:

“The building is massive, imposing, and, uh, currently shaped like a colossal penis. Now, as construction workers try to finish the engineering, the country's censors are working overtime to stop Chinese people on social media from laughing at the expense of the very paper in charge of controlling the country's message. According to The International Business Times, the nearly 500-foot tower won't be finished until this time next year, but the war on mocking it has already begun.”

Seriously, I didn't plan on blogging about this subject again in matter of days but who could've guessed peens would be so popular on social media.

More at The Atlantic Wire.

News: Syrian Electronic Army hacks E!

Milblogging.com — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:13:29 GMT

Syrian Electronic Army takes over E! Online’s Twitter Account. The Syrian Electronic Army strikes again, and this time, their target was both E! Online and Justin Bieber. In a series of tweets, the SEA stated that Justin Bieber was coming out of the closet and admitting to his homosexuality in an E! Online exclusive. The group provided links following those tweets, presumably to malware infested sites. The SEA finished up their practical joke with the tweet, “The Syrian Electronic Army was here! Fans of @justinbieber, you have been trolled.”
(SlashGear)

Al-Qa'ida videos on Aussie's Facebook site. DOZENS of al-Qa'ida-produced videos, including step-by-step instructions on how to make bombs, were uploaded on to the Facebook profile of an Australian man accused by Saudi authorities of planning to travel to Afghanistan to fight in the conflict. The page of Shayden Jamil Thorne, who also goes by the name Jamil Abu Slieman, also features "notes" in Arabic, purportedly written by the 25-year-old former Perth man in which he asked Allah to make "our brothers the mujaheddin victorious for your sake everywhere".
(The Australian)

Houston airport shooter ‘liked’ terrorist who tried to kill Nixon by hijacking a plane. Carnell Marcus Moore, the man who fired two shots with a gun before killing himself at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston Thursday, indicated on Facebook that he was a fan of Samuel Byck, the would-be terrorist who shot himself to death in an airport during a standoff with police while trying to assassinate President Richard Nixon in 1974...
(The Daily Caller)

Rap takes over at Afghan music festival . Kabul rock festival shows a different side of Afghanistan, where music was banned by the Taliban until the end of 2001...
(AFP)

Myanmar Embassy Bomb Plotter Used Facebook to Recruit Followers: Police. One of the terrorist suspects who allegedly planned to bomb the Myanmar Embassy on Thursday is believed to have used Facebook to recruit fellow bombers. “We have been able to track down some names because of their activities on Facebook,” an official with the National Police’s anti-terror detachment, Densus 88, who wished to remain anonymous told the Jakarta Globe on Saturday...
(The Jakarta Globe)

'Palestine' tagline appears on Google to Israel’s disapproval. Google has changed the tagline on its Palestinian edition from ‘Palestinian territories’ to ‘Palestine,’ thereby acknowledging the UN’s decision to award the region non-member observer status. Israel has already expressed displeasure with the move. The search engine’s Palestine site, google.ps, now displays the word “Palestine” in Arabic and English underneath Google’s logo...
(RT News)

Missing journalist likely held by Syrian forces

Milblogging.com — Sat, 04 May 2013 23:57:11 GMT

GlobalPost and the family of journalist James Foley, who went missing in November in Syria, believe he is being held by Syrian forces.

Via GlobalPost:

“With a very high degree of confidence, we now believe that Jim was most likely abducted by a pro-regime militia group and subsequently turned over to Syrian government forces,” GlobalPost CEO and President Philip Balboni said during a speech marking World Press Freedom Day.

“We have obtained multiple independent reports from very credible confidential sources who have both indirect and direct access that confirm our assessment that Jim is now being held by the Syrian government in a prison or detention facility in the Damascus area. We further believe that this facility is under the control of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence service. Based on what we have learned, it is likely Jim is being held with one or more Western journalists, including most likely at least one other American.”

Full story here.

Teen charged with terror threats on Facebook

Milblogging.com — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:01:32 GMT

Photo via Facebook

Apparently teenager Cameron D'Ambrosio was arrested for allegedly posting terrorist threats on social media sites like Facebook and YouTube.

His posts included things like, "“F*ck politics, F*ck Obama and F*ck the government!!”

According to The Valley Patriot, D’Ambrosio faces up to 20 years for felony charges of communicating terrorist threats under MGL. Ch. 269, Section 14. Bail has been set at $1MIL.

“I do want to make clear he did not make a specific threat against the school or any particular individuals but he did threaten to kill a bunch of people and specifically mentioned the Boston Marathon and the White House. The threat was disturbing enough for us to act and I think our officers did the right thing.”

Not sure what the kid's deal is, but it's not quite the way I'd go about trying to get attention. But that's just me.

Pictured above is one of D'Ambrosio's Facebook photos. He is Sooo NOT number one.

More here.

News: Soldier tried luring schoolgirl on Facebook

Milblogging.com — Fri, 03 May 2013 05:53:37 GMT

Former bomb disposal hero caught grooming a 12-year-old from the FRONT LINE in Afghanistan on Facebook by her mother. A soldier who groomed a 12-year-old girl on Facebook while he was serving in Afghanistan has been jailed. Wayne Redman, a former bomb disposal expert for the Army, told the schoolgirl he was in love with her and would kill himself if they could not be together. He sent her thousands of messages, even continuing his online advances while he was on a tour of duty defusing explosives...
(Daily Mail)

Vets Angry Over Film About Fraudster Posing as Fallen Soldier. Sgt. 1st Class John H. Robertson was aboard a Vietnamese Air Force H-34 helicopter on a special operations mission over Laos when it was shot down by enemy ground fire and exploded on May 20, 1968. U.S. servicemen who witnessed the crash say there were no survivors, and his body was never recovered. In 1976, a military review board changed Robertson's status from "missing in action" to officially deceased; his wife, who later remarried, and two young daughters moved on...
(ABC News)

Syria: A dangerous assignment for journalists. Covering the war ravaging Syria for more than two years has become one of the world’s most dangerous jobs, with reporters not only facing injury or death during fighting but also the rising risk of kidnapping. As the United Nations marks International Press Freedom day on Friday, at least seven journalists are missing inside Syria, including American journalist James Foley, a video contributor to AFP who has not been heard from since last November. The last journalist reported missing is Domenico Quirico of the Italian daily La Stampa, who entered Syria secretly and was declared missing by his employer after failing to make contact for five days...
(Al Arabiya)

After bombings, I believed social media. Anyone who has turned on a television, radio or computer in the past couple of weeks is aware of the monsoon of misinformation surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing. But it was social media that led me astray. The early days after the attack were chaotic: Innocent people were misidentified as suspects by citizen vigilantes on Reddit. Chechnya was widely confused with the Czech Republic as the origin of the bombers. And the New York Post got so many things wrong I’m starting to wonder if the publication thinks of inaccuracy as its signature feature, like the gap in Madonna’s front teeth...
(Washington Post)

Va.'s Civil War history lesson on wheels to encamp for 3 days at Chancellorsville's 150th. The state's Civil War history lesson on wheels is rolling into Spotsylvania for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Civil War 150 HistoryMobile will begin its three-day visit on Friday. The 53-foot tractor-trailer uses interactive exhibits to bring alive stories of the Civil War and Emancipation from the viewpoints of those who experienced it — soldiers, slaves and civilians...
(The Republic)

War Stories performance a winner. THE Tin Shed Theatre at the Arts Centre was transformed on Anzac Day with musician and performer Darren Coggan taking locals on a journey with his ‘War Stories’ performance. About 90 people packed into the theatre and were taken on an insightful journey into the lives of the Australians behind the lines. Mr Coggan covered the breadth and scope of war experiences, reminiscing about the generation of women who stayed at home and kept the country running, celebrating the mateship, humour and courage in the Gallipoli trenches and honouring Indigenous diggers in a story rarely told...
(Cootamundra Herald)

Latest report from Red Bulling Rising milblog

Milblogging.com — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:27:18 GMT

Charlie Sherpa over at Red Bull Rising always has good material, especially for military writers. Here are some of the latest stories.

Recent Tales of Two War Poets' Successes
"Red Fields," a poetry collection by Iraq War veteran and teacher Jason Poudrier, was recently recognized as a recipient of the Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal. The award recognizes excellence in independently published works, and recognizes books that "either illuminate, progress, or redirect thought." The book, published by Mongrel Empire Press, Norman, Okla., was also a finalist in the Hoffer organization's First Horizon Awards. Poudrier was profiled on the Red Bull Rising blog in October 2012.
More here

Book Review: 'DEROS Vietnam: Dispatches from the Air-Conditioned Jungle'
The word "DEROS" is an acronym, and something of a shibolleth—a word that only members of a given tribe will know. Recent U.S. veterans may not recognize it at all. Veterans of the Vietnam War, however, will likely recall it as "Date Eligible for Return from Overseas," the magical date upon which one would first be eligible to rotate back to the states, getting aboard a government-contracted "freedom bird," and shipping out after 12 months or so of deployment.
More here

Spring 2013 Iowa Review Features Military Writing
When the family of Vietnam War veteran, anti-war activist, and writer Jeff Sharlet approached The Iowa Review about conducting a commemorative writing contest for veterans and military service members, the editors were uncertain whether they would be able to solicit much response from writers. The editors eventually received some 268 entries—fiction, non-fiction, and poetry—a virtual wave of papers that nearly overwhelmed the staff during the blistering summer of 2012.
More here

The Sherpatudes: Words to Live and Write By
Last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Tom Ricks graciously featured "The Sherpatudes" on his "Best Defense" blog at Foreign Policy magazine. I had written those 26 fortune-cookie-sized lessons in March 2012, in an attempt to distill my advice for working in a Tactical Operations Center ("TOC"). Even though it's one of the least sexy jobs in uniform, working the radios and computers in the TOC was always one of my favorite duties.
More here

News: Twitter looking for head of news

Milblogging.com — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:45:28 GMT

Twitter Wants To Get More Journalists On Twitter. Although many journalists are on Twitter and use the social network on an almost obsessive basis, they want to take it official. To use the parlance of another social network, they want to go from “It’s Complicated” to “In a Relationship.” And how better to do that than to create a position? Today, Twitter posted a link to a new job description: “Head of News and Journalism.”
(Observer)

Bubba from 'Forrest Gump' heading to GI Film Festival. This year, Lt. Dan actor Gary Sinise won't be able to make the annual GI Film Festival. But, no matter. He's sending in a perfectly acceptable replacement -- actor Mykelti Williamson, probably best known for playing Bubba in that same famous movie, the 1994 hit "Forrest Gump."
(Washington Examiner)

Veterans Share Stories and Memories with U.S. Coast Guard in Kennewick. A pair of World War II veterans visited with The U.S. Coast Guard Tuesday in Kennewick. They shared stories and memories of their service as well as a few laughs with the men and women who currently guard our coasts. Don Worden and his friend Wayne Van Gorder both served in the second world war. Tuesday they shared their stories and experiences with active members of the coast guard in Kennewick...
(KNDO)

Swedish police social media sites not prepared for terrorism. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter played important roles in finding and capturing the Boston Marathon bombers last week, but a recent study says Swedish police lack the proper preparations should a similar terrorist threat happen in their own country. In the study, Swedish police said they believed using social media would help them have better communication with young people...
(IceNews)

As Power of Media Rises, the Deadliest Year for Journalists. May 3rd marks World Press Freedom Day. While we pause to honor those journalists who have been killed or imprisoned, it is important to realize the growing role media play in global politics and the changes that are redefining what it means to be a journalist...
(Huffington Post)

The deadly job of being a journalist in Somalia. When journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh was shot by unknown assailants on 22 April, his name was added to a list of four journalists who have been killed in this Horn of Africa nation since January. Rageh, who worked for state broadcasters Radio Mogadishu and Somalia National Television, was shot several times as he stood at the gate of his home in Dharkenley district, western Mogadishu. He died immediately, in front of his family. There have been no arrests...
(Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

Military blogs added to Milblogging (Apr' 13)

Milblogging.com — Wed, 01 May 2013 02:45:15 GMT

So these are the latest military blogs added to the Milblogging database.

Stars, Stripes, and a Military Life, Morgan, United States, Hi y'all. I'm Morgan. God always comes first. ..., 30 Apr 2013

Life in a Seabag, Kumi, United States, I am a midwest born, island raised 26 year old who..., 30 Apr 2013

I, Spouse, Krystal Justice, United Kingdom, What does it mean to be "free", or "secure"? What ..., 30 Apr 2013

The chronicles of my panic disorder and being a navy wife, Terri fuller, United States, the chronicles of my panic disorder and being a na..., 27 Apr 2013

Janelle and Dan, Janelle, United States, We met in 2008 at a rush event for our fraternity,..., 27 Apr 2013

It's an allie day, Allie, United States, A day in the life blog about an Army wife statione..., 25 Apr 2013,

The Army Chap's Wife, Lisa Walters, United States, My hope is that as I write, with openness and humo..., 24 Apr 2013

Military Special Needs Network, Kelly Hafer, United States, Founded to respond to the family support needs of ..., 24 Apr 2013

Guns, Bandaids, & Whiskey, Medic, United States, The blog of an Army medic, transitioning to a care..., 23 Apr 2013

Marine Corps Web Log, Cpl. Beddoe, United States, An archive of USMC stories, video, humor, news, ev..., 20 Apr 2013

A Boy, A Girl, and the Marine Corps, A Girl, United States, A Girl is a 20 something, self proclaimed semi-pro..., 19 Apr 2013

World Traveling Military Family, Mrs. B, United States, Proud military Air Force wife to my amazing husban..., 19 Apr 2013

Reality Strikes Mommy, Labrijoy, United States, Hi there! I'm Labrijoy, an Army wife and a mommy t..., 15 Apr 2013

The Not Quite Military Wife, Sarah, United States, Hey Everyone! I’m Sarah, a twenty-something mi..., 15 Apr 2013

The Spirituality of War, Mike Liguori, United States, Series covers war, faith and the power of the huma..., 11 Apr 2013

Army By Birth, Army By Birth, United States, Proudly Serving my Country as an Army Wife and Bra..., 10 Apr 2013

No Model Lady, No Model Lady, United States, I started my blog to cope with my husband's deploy..., 09 Apr 2013

Blog Bites | MilitaryOneClick, Guest Bloggers, United States, MilitaryOneClick provides the most comprehensive c..., 08 Apr 2013

Living In The Moment, Brittney, United States, Welcome to my Blog! I'm Brittney, a 25 year old Ca..., 05 Apr 2013

An Air Force Life Like Ours, Emmscm4, United States, Loving Wife to my amazing husband Sam. Soon to be ..., 05 Apr 2013

A Filipina and her Airman, Melissa, United States, Hi Ladies & Gents ..... wanted to introduce myself..., 05 Apr 2013

Life, Love and All That Army Stuff, Alyssa James, United States, I am a Florida born and bred mommy, wife and Gator..., 04 Apr 2013

Crossing into the Blue, Rachel T, United States, Air Force wife, Virginia Tech Hokie, Dreadhead, ..., 04 Apr 2013

Battling the Homefront, Jessica, South Korea, I am and Army wife and toddler mom Battling the Ho..., 04 Apr 2013

Phil's Epic Ride, Phil, United States, Welcome to my blog page that will document my jour..., 04 Apr 2013

Mr. & Mrs. Foster, Katie Foster, United States, My favorite part of how Carl and I met is that a s..., 03 Apr 2013

Confessions of an Air Force Wife, Sarah, United States, I am 17 and I am happily married to a SSgt in the ..., 03 Apr 2013

Be - YOU - tiful, Jess, United States, A bride-to-be to a U.S. Air Force Airman! Welcome ..., 03 Apr 2013,

Simply Ayala, Ashley, United States, I'm Ashley, He's Mike. I am a graduate of the Univ..., 03 Apr 2013

Indian officers terminated for Facebook posts

Milblogging.com — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:49:34 GMT

Three Indian Naval officers are being terminated for sharing restricted information on the social networking site Facebook.

According to Deccan Herald, "The Navy has recommended termination of the trio after a Board of Inquiry found them guilty in August 2012. The official order will, however, come from the Defence Ministry, which will act on the basis of recommendations from Navy."

The Indian Navy has apparently put in strict rules going back to 2005 after another leak.

Deccan Herald reports, "There are guidelines on what officers are permitted to do in a social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut."

Wait, whaaaaa?

Orkut is still a social networking site?

More here.

News: Terror suspect "liked" Chechen warlord

Milblogging.com — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:34:13 GMT

Younger Boston terror suspect 'liked' Chechen warlord on deleted Instagram account. A deleted Instagram account belonging to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's shows the 19-year-old bombing suspect 'liked' a picture of a Chechen terrorist. Mystery surrounds the deleted account of the imprisoned terror suspect on the picture sharing website. Cached versions of his account, believed to be under the username jmaister1, show he supported a picture of Shamil Basayev, according to CNN...
(Daily Mail)

Korean War vet shares WWII stories. Eighteen months ago, Bill Williams lost his wife of 56 years and while he still grieves, he has been re-energized trying to share some of his war experiences and memories with the younger generation. “You reach a stage in life where you can give up and be doom and gloom,” said Mr. Williams, 83, of Perrysburg. “Or you can still do good things in life, have a little more faith, cope with others, and know there is a reason you’re here.”
(Toledo Blade)

Oi, journos. Try NOT to get hacked again. Lots of love, Twitter. Twitter has warned news agencies that hackers could strike again unless journalists take basic precautions - like using a decent password. The micro-blogging site wrote to a number of news outlets warning that hackers consider them "high value" targets...
(The Register)

Filmmaker tracks down forgotten vet left in Vietnam 44 years ago. He's a hunched 76-year-old man who speaks only Vietnamese and appears to have dementia, but he also claims to be a U.S. soldier who was left behind in Vietnam 44 years ago. Special Forces Green Beret Master Sgt. John Hartley Robertson was reportedly captured after a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War and later married the woman who nursed him back to health. When Vietnam vet Tom Faunce heard about Robertson, he knew this was his "Army brother" who had been listed as killed in action...
(MSN)

Hoax emergency message sends police to Wolf Blitzer’s house in Bethesda. Montgomery County police received an urgent message at about 6:25 p.m. Saturday saying someone had been shot at Wolf Blitzer’s home in Bethesda. Officers streamed toward the CNN host’s residence near Congressional Country Club. They set up a perimeter. But a dispatch supervisor was immediately skeptical, and a call to CNN confirmed it: The message was a fraud. Blitzer was fine — was, in fact, out of town. The authorities were dealing with another case of “SWATing,” in which someone jolts police into action with a fake distress call and technological trickery...
(Washington Post)

World War Two veterans asked to share their stories. A FORMER Royal Navy Chief Gunner is appealing to World War Two veterans to immortalise their stories in a new book. Steve Lewis, who is also chairman of the Torpoint Royal British Legion branch, is compiling a book telling the heroic tales of South West war veterans. The book will be sold to raise money for the Poppy Appeal but one of the primary aims is to get the accounts of the few remaining survivors – many of whom are now in their 90s. Some of those to recount their memoirs include Bomber Command veterans...
(This is Plymouth)

Twitter, Account Hacks and All, Still the News Source of Choice for Many. "Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured." This tweet, sent from the official Associated Press Twitter last week, shocked a nation still reeling from the "tough week," as described by President Obama and others, during which bombings killed three and injured hundreds at the Boston Marathon, a deadly explosion occurred in West, Texas, and a police officer was murdered in the manhunt for the Boston bombing suspects. Thankfully, however, this tweet about the White House bombings turned out to be false...
(Huffington Post)

Video: Amateur singer’s heartbreaking song for Syria sweeps the Arab world. In mid-April, a Beirut-based TV program called “Arab Idol” (modeled on the British hit show “Pop Idol,” which had also spawned “American Idol”) featured a young Syrian man named Abdul Karim Hamdan. He is from Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and an economic and cultural hub until it became a battleground for civil war, fewer than 200 miles but, right now, a world removed from the glitzy Beirut TV studio...
(Washington Post)

Video: Bostonian confronts InfoWars reporter

Milblogging.com — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:15:37 GMT

Image via YouTube

Just so I’m clear up front, there is some strong language in this article.

I'd never usually post anything about the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (of InfoWars), but there is a great video making headlines of a Boston resident confronting InfoWars reporter Dan Bidondi in Boston.

If you’re not aware, Alex Jones has claimed the Boston bombings are a "false flag" operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mediaite reports:

An InfoWars.com reporter found himself the subject of verbal scorn last week when he appeared in Boston with press badge and camera in tow. An irate Boston resident confronted him on the street, in front of dozens of onlookers, with a profanity-laced tirade against the reporter’s boss Alex Jones and their website’s perpetuation of the conspiracy theory that the Federal Bureau of Investigations executed the Boston Marathon bombings as a “false flag” operation.

The Boston resident lays into the InfoWars reporter calling him an "as*hole" and a "sh*theel" among other words.

And seriously, who can blame the Boston resident for being so upset?

I couldn't decide if my favorite part was when the Boston resident calls Bidondi an "a**hat" or when he tells him to "drink a d*ck".

It’s like being knee deep in Shakespeare.

You can watch the video here on YouTube.

NOTE: The audio portion is not-safe-for-work-or-for-kids-or-for-anyone-offended-by-strong-language. In other words, it rocks.

Soldiers insult the President on social media?

Milblogging.com — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:25:49 GMT

Not exactly a mind-blowing revelation, but an article over at Law.com points out that some military members insult the President of the United States on social media sites like Twitter, even though the UCMJ criminalizes the behavior.

When Soldiers Go Social On Politics. In recent years, it has become common to see current members of the U.S. military using Facebook, Twitter and other social media as a platform for airing online treachery about President Obama and his policies.
(Law.com)

How terror can breed through social media. The days of would-be terrorists needing to travel to far-off camps to make contacts and learn how to build bombs is rapidly receding. Social media forums like Twitter and Facebook provide a ready made Rolodex of sources -- dig further online, mine those contacts further, gain admission to private chat forums and eventually you will find instructions for bomb making.
(CNN)

In our opinion: Twitter's wake-up call. As the nation continues to reel from the terrorist attacks in Boston, Twitter has demonstrated America's vulnerability on an entirely different front. Hackers were able to send out a tweet from the account of the Associated Press this week announcing a bogus story about explosions at the White House. Within seconds, a massive sell-off on Wall Street instantly erased $134 billion in stock values.
(Deseret News)

Terrorists are using social media to broaden network. In the aftermath of the Boston bombings, a debate about the use of social media by terrorists has started. Social media experts say that a number of terrorist outfits can easily be spotted on Facebook and Twitter with their official accounts, using which they can and easily interact with tens of thousands of people and recruit many.
(AllVoices)

Guardian Twitter accounts hacked by Syrian Electronic Army. A number of Twitter feeds associated with The Guardian have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). Accounts including Guardian Music, Guardian Film and Guardian Books were taken over by the activists on Sunday evening (April 28). They vowed to keep causing "problems" for Twitter, alleging that the social media service keeps suspending its own access.
(Digital Spy)

Al-Jazeera banned by Iraq over 'sectarian bias' in coverage. The Iraqi authorities announced on Sunday that they had revoked the operating licences of the broadcaster al-Jazeera and nine other satellite TV channels, alleging that they are promoting a sectarian agenda, as the country grapples with a wave of violence. The move, effective immediately, comes as Baghdad tries to quell rising unrest in the country after clashes at a protest camp last week.
(Guardian)

Pew pew! American jihadi tweets of being shot

Milblogging.com — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 06:32:01 GMT

One of the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists Omar Hammami tweeted he was shot in the neck while sitting in a tea shop in Somalia.

“just been shot in neck by shabab assassin. not critical yet,” Hammami tweeted on April 25.

Hammami even posted some pics.

Hammami claims al-Shabab attempted to assassinate him.

According to the National Post, “…Hammami had a falling out with al-Shabab and has engaged in a public fight with the group over the last year amid signs of increasing tension between Somalis and foreign fighters in the group. He first expressed fear for his life in an extraordinary web video in March 2012 that publicized his rift with al-Shabab. He said he received another death threat earlier this year that was not carried out.”

It's up for debate on Twitter by some commenters if Hammami was really “shot” considering the extent of his wound and the very little so-called blood.

Seriously, based on the photos I saw, I’m just going to assume it’s ketchup.

Here’s some information on Hammami from the FBI website:

Mr. Hammami is wanted in connection with terrorism violations to include providing material support to terrorists.

It is alleged that Omar Shafik Hammami, a U.S. citizen and former resident of Daphne, Alabama, also known as Abu Mansour al-Amriki, provided material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization known as al Shabaab. On February 26, 2008, al Shabaab was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary of State.

Hammami allegedly traveled to Somalia during 2006 and eventually joined al Shabaab’s military wing. In 2007, after Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia, Hammami joined the front lines as a fighter and eventually became a leader with al Shabaab. On November 27, 2007, an indictment was returned in the United States Southern District of Alabama charging Hammami with 18 U.S.C. 2339A, providing material support to terrorists. On September 24, 2009, a superseding indictment charged Hammami with 18 U.S.C. 2339B, providing material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The Southern District of Alabama has issued an active warrant against Hammami for his arrest.

More at the FBI and National Post.

News: Syria's YouTube users face danger

Milblogging.com — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:56:13 GMT

The Digital Front Line: Syria's YouTube Users Face Threats for Exposing Footage. Last December, a U.S. official requesting anonymity described to U.S. News one of the reasons why the American government supplies Syrian rebel fighters with electronic equipment: So they can shoot videos and upload them to YouTube. This affirmation from a federal agency represents how the video sharing website, which just turned 8, has graduated from simply a repository for double rainbows and preparing for the weekend. Now it helps fuel a revolution that will likely forever change Syria's history...
(US News and World Report)

Boston Police Twitter: How Cop Team Tweets Led City From Terror To Joy. The police department’s stream of tweets ended up being the best defense against misinformation and Bostonians’ lifeline for communication about the men terrorizing their city. This single Twitter account, perhaps more than anything else on the Internet, memorialized the horror of the bombs and the joy of the capture in real time...
(Huffington Post)

White House launches official Tumblr page, promises 'there will be GIFs'. President Obama and his administration are no strangers to social media — there have been numerous presidential tweets, Google+ hangouts, and Reddit sessions in the past few years. Now, the president and his team are putting their mark on yet another platform: Tumblr. The White House Twitter feed just announced its official Tumblr page with a promise that "there will be GIFs," certainly a relief for veterans of the social network...
(The Verge)

New documentary claims to have found Vietnam Vet alive who is officially listed as K.I.A. (VIDEO). Unclaimed is a new documentary premiering this upcoming week in Canada and later in May at the G.I. Film Festival in Washington, D.C. The documentary claims to have found Army Sergeant John Robertson, who was lost in Vietnam in 1968 and officially listed as killed in action...
(Guns.com)

Southern Baptist website blocked by military software. Some military chaplains trying to access the Southern Baptist Convention website this week were surprised to find it blocked with a message that it contained "hostile content." The problem left military officials having to explain to leaders of the nation's largest Protestant denomination that it was an unintentional software glitch...
(fayobserver.com)

Military Grooms New Officers for War in Cyberspace. The U.S. service academies are ramping up efforts to groom a new breed of cyberspace warriors to confront increasing threats to the nation's military and civilian computer networks that control everything from electrical power grids to the banking system...
(ABC News)

Surprise! Psycho Mother of Boston Bombers Also on Terror Watch List. Anyone watching the performances of this media darling can only come to a couple of conclusions: She’s been lying through her teeth that her “good kids” had nothing to do with the Boston terror attack and it’s probably a safe bet she put the elder son up to it. We had seen stories where she was the domineering influence in the family (Uncle Ruslan said as much), and she sure is well-versed in the art of deception...
(Jammie Wearing Fools)

Rapist beat into submission by female sailor (UPDATED)

Milblogging.com — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:31:20 GMT

Apparently, a Dubai bus driver pulled out a knife and tried to rape an off-duty United States sailor. Except, SURPRISE, she broke the knife in two, got the evil bastard to the ground, and locked him between her thighs.

Via the Washington Times:

An off-duty U.S. navy sailor wrestled a Dubai bus driver to the ground and beat him into submission after he tried to rape her at knifepoint on Jan. 19, a courtroom heard Wednesday.

The woman, 28, was on 24-hour shore leave in Dubai when she was attacked by a bus driver after he picked her up from the Mall of the Emirates shopping center.

The driver was arrested.

This story has been getting lots of press the past couple days. More here.

UPDATE: Turns out part of this story being widely reported, could be bogus. More at NavyTimes.

Viral: NASA's rovers draw image of frank and beans

Milblogging.com — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:15:27 GMT

Image via NASA

If the first thought that pops into your head when you look at the picture above is super-sized “peen” then you’d be exactly right.

Despite looking like something my cat would draw during a game of Pictionary, it’s gone viral.

If you didn’t already know, the image above is the track-pattern left by NASA’s rovers on Mars.

Who knew? Turns out they’re quite the artists...

According to Huffington Post:

“Nasa's $800m Mars Exploration Rovers have accidentally drawn a penis.

The twin exploration vehicles Spirit and Opportunity were launched nine years ago, in an effort to search the surface of Mars for signs of water erosion and possibly even life.

According to Nasa, since then the rovers have driven over more than 10km of Martian land, directed by teams back on Earth combined with autonomous cameras designed to avoid potential problems with the terrain.

It appears that part of the robots' programming involves spinning in tight circles to test nearby terrain and find new routes.

Humorously, depending on your age perhaps, that has the unfortunate consequence of drawing a certain shape on the surface, which when discovered by Reddit essentially crashed Nasa's website.”

More here and here.

News: Boston conspiracy theorists are dumb-dumbs

Milblogging.com — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:05:54 GMT

This is just one of those times when you have to wonder about what people are thinking.

Conspiracy theorists use social media to offer 'proof' that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is not behind the Boston Marathon bombings. The "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent" trend is sweeping social media. Despite the evidence, conspiracy theorists have taken to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to show "proof" that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was not behind the explosions, which killed three and injured almost 200...
(NY Daily News)

Twitter Battles Syrian Hackers. The hackers Syrian Electronic Army Saturday seized control of multiple CBS Twitter accounts, posting messages that redirected to malicious websites that launched drive-by attacks at browsers. Twitter responded by suspending the affected accounts and returning them to their rightful operators. Then it suspended the hacking group's own Twitter feed...
(Information Week)

Protect yourself from Syrian hackers on Twitter. On Tuesday, hackers demonstrated how easy it is to take over a key Twitter account when they took over an Associated Press feed and tweeted that President Obama had been injured in an explosion. The group claiming credit for the attack, as well as other recent hacks, identifies itself as the Syrian Electronic Army, which supports the Syrian government...
(The Washington Post)

Facebook Page Documents Foreigners Who Come To Syria From Western Countries To Fight The Regime. There are currently many foreigners fighting in Syria, which is a source of concern for Western countries. While the Western and Arab media often mention the presence of numerous foreign fighters in Syria, there are few reports that give details about the fighters themselves, even on the jihadi websites and social networks.[1] A source that does, however, provide some information is a Facebook page called "The Foreigners in the Syrian Revolution," which is devoted to documenting these fighters, especially those who have been "martyred," and which sheds light on the identities and motives of foreigners who come to fight in Syria...
(Right Side News)

War-time photos may belong to Riverina family. A young boy stands tall as he salutes for the camera – but who is he? It’s a mystery that Wagga history buffs Margaret and John Jones are eager to solve. The image of the bare-footed youngster, proudly wearing a soldier’s hat, was produced from one of 15 glass negatives unearthed at a garage sale in Central Wagga last year. While his identity and those of the soldiers depicted in the other images are unknown, the Joneses believe they were possibly taken at a family gathering before World War I...
(The Daily Advertiser)

Stunning war images and soldier's diary uncovered. A TREASURE trove of stunning images and a soldier's diary all dating back nearly a century have come into the possession of Maroochydore RSL sub-branch. But while it is anxious to unlock the stories behind the photographs of soldiers at war in Gallipoli, sub branch president Michael Liddelow said its first responsibility was to locate the owner and offer them back...
(Sunshine Coast Daily)

As Its Influence Grows, Twitter Becomes A Hacking Target. In recent weeks, the Associated Press, NPR and the BBC have all had their Twitter accounts hijacked. Hacks of high-profile accounts have real-world consequences, and the security at Twitter is coming under increased scrutiny...
(NPR)

Sergeant Major of the @USMC is on Twitter

Milblogging.com — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:11:20 GMT

These are exciting times on Twitter and things are getting more interesting for the United States Marine Corps.

The 17th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Micheal P. Barrett has joined Twitter.

Earlier today, the official Twitter account of the USMC tweeted out a message saying, "#Marines, your top enlisted leader is now on Twitter. Follow @SMMC17 to keep up to date with the Sgt. Maj. of the Corps."

SgtMaj Barrett tweeted twice today so far. Barrett's most recent message talked about hosting World War II vets from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma and included a link to photos, as well as shout outs to The Muscogee Nation News (@The_MNN) and Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood), who is an enrolled tribal member of the Muscogee (Creek) Indian nation.

So far, SgtMaj Barrett has racked up nearly 1,000 followers and is currently following 16 others on Twitter, including @Dakota_Meyer, @DeptVetAffairs, @the_USO, and several other military related feeds.

The Marine Corps Times even wrote a story about SgtMaj Barrett's entry to Twitter. However, Barrett's spokesman declined to tell the paper whether Barrett will type and send his own tweets...

Okay now, before you go running off to Twitter and ranting that you can’t believe that Barrett may not type his own tweets, I’ll admit, I’ve had my wife help me out in the past. The only problem was, she’d tweet about shopping at Joanns or if she was feeling especially literary she’d tweet that I was cross stitching.

Surprisingly, nothing went viral.

News: AP Twitter loses a ton of followers

Milblogging.com — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:21:12 GMT

From the AP Twitter hack to the Boston attack, social media is dominating the news in the past week. Here’s a brief roundup of the news concerned with social media, the military and much more.

AP Twitter feed returns, minus many followers, after hacking. After spending the better part of a day offline -- following a hacking and fake tweet incident that caused a violent hiccup in the stock market -- the AP Twitter is back up and tweeting -- albeit, to far fewer followers. The main Associated Press Twitter feed had almost 2 million followers Tuesday morning. That was before the Syrian Electronic Army apparently got hold of the account and tweeted the "breaking news" that a bomb had gone off in the White House, injuring President Obama.
(CNET News)

Struggling Al Qaeda offshoot using Twitter to spread message. Battered by a French-led military campaign in Mali, Al Qaeda's North African arm is trying something new to stay relevant: Twitter. The PR campaign by the terror network seeks to tap into social grievances and champion mainstream causes such as unemployment, all in bid to reverse decline and win new followers.
(Fox News)

Facebook Post Pondering Drone Strike On Watertown Goes Viral In Pakistan. A Facebook post related to the Boston Marathon bombing surprised its American author by going viral in Pakistan this weekend. On Saturday, Micah Daigle, who grew up in Rhode Island and now lives in San Francisco, composed and posted an alternative narrative of the final moments of the hunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
(Huffington Post)

Syria doctor's Facebook video proof that Assad used chemicals in Aleppo. Syria's regime dropped chemical weapons from a plane on a district of Aleppo earlier this month, killing two infants and a woman, experts said after a doctor in Aleppo posted a video of apparent victims to his Facebook page.
(Telegraph.co.uk)

Jihadists reveal social media’s dark side. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s suspected YouTube channel shows he organized videos into categories for “Islam” and “terrorism.” Scant study has been done on the impact of Web 2.0 networks — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. — on terrorist recruiting. But one thing seems increasingly clear: No longer do wannabe terrorists have to travel to training camps in Yemen and elsewhere to become inspired by the jihadi movement.
(Boston Herald)

Students touched by war stories. THE experience of war united the generations across the decades when Menai High School students launched their book War Stories earlier this month. The book is a record of interviews by the students with senior residents from the Menai and Engadine areas who spoke about their experiences as children and young adults surviving World War II.
(St George & Sutherland Shire Leader)

Limping al-Qaida offshoot rearms with Twitter. Battered by a French-led military campaign in Mali, al-Qaida's North African arm is trying something new to stay relevant: Twitter. The PR campaign by the terror network seeks to tap into social grievances and champion mainstream causes such as unemployment, all in bid to reverse decline and win new followers.
(US News and World Report)

Does this video prove Assad used chemical weapons in Syria? Aleppo victims 'treated for breathing difficulties and foaming at the mouth' A video posted on the Facebook page of a British-trained doctor appears to show victims of a Syrian regime assault on Aleppo foaming at the mouth and showing symptoms consistent with a chemical weapons attack. Experts believe that chemical weapons may have been dropped on Kurdish residents of Aleppo's Sheikh Massoud region during an attack which saw two babies and a woman killed earlier this month.
(Daily Mail)

Limping al-Qaida offshoot rearms with Twitter. Battered by a French-led military campaign in Mali, al-Qaida’s North African arm is trying something new to stay relevant: Twitter. The PR campaign by the terror network seeks to tap into social grievances and champion mainstream causes such as unemployment, all in bid to reverse decline and win new followers.
(Army Times)

The Associated Press gets hacked on Twitter

Milblogging.com — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:41:31 GMT

Just how influential is Twitter?

Well, take a look at what happened when the Twitter account of The Associated Press was hacked and a tweet was sent out about explosions at the White House.

Via The New York Times:

“The Twitter account of The Associated Press was hacked on Tuesday and erroneously sent out a message saying there had been explosions at the White House, injuring President Obama.

Within a few minutes, Twitter suspended the account, and Julie Pace, the chief White House correspondent for The A.P., announced at a White House briefing that the account had been hacked.

Jay Carney, Mr. Obama’s press secretary, confirmed that the president was unharmed.

Editors at The A.P. soon followed with a statement saying that “The @AP twitter account has been hacked. The tweet about an attack at the White House is false. We will advise more as soon as possible.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 150 points when the news broke on Twitter — an indicator of traders’ presence on the social media platform — before immediately recouping the losses after it became clear that there had been no attack at the White House.”

Full story here.

15 journalists killed in 2013

Milblogging.com — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:25:27 GMT

According to the latest report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 15 journalists have been killed in 2013 where the motive has been confirmed.

What does "Motive Confirmed" mean?

Here's the definition of "Motive Confirmed":

Motive confirmed: CPJ investigates the death of every journalist to determine whether it is work-related.” We consider a case “confirmed” only if we are reasonably certain that a journalist was murdered in direct reprisal for his or her work; was killed in crossfire during combat situations; or was killed while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as coverage of a street protest. Our database does not include journalists killed in accidents such as car or plane crashes.

Mohamed Ibrahim Raage, a reporter for Somali National Television was the latest victim, gunned down on April 21.

Raage was gunned down just outside his home in the Dharkenley district of the capital.

Learn more at CPJ.

News: Citizen Journalism out of control

Milblogging.com — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:07:31 GMT

Citizen ‘journalism’ ran amok in Boston crisis. With an entire city on lockdown and the whole world watching, crowd reporting on the drama in Boston last week reached critical mass. Now, we are facing a critical mess. Armed with iPhones, empowered by Twitter and amplified by the high-tech witch hunt known as Reddit, perhaps more self-appointed citizen “journalists” than ever broadcast whatever came to mind in an instant, unencumbered by such quaint considerations as accuracy, fairness and balance – or concern for the damage that erroneous accusations can inflict...
(Reflections of a Newsosaur)

Boston Police Schooled Us All on Social Media. Those of us who spent the weekend simultaneously glued to televisions, police scanners and Twitter as the search for “Suspect #2” unfolded will walk away with some lessons in how information moves these days. Disappointment in national media has become something of an Internet joke. But a serious consequence is the void in information that is both timely and reliable. Into that void jumps the Internet public, hungry to consume and create information...
(Mashable)

Postcards to WA tell story of war. "All the nice girls love a soldier" - or so claims one of many postcards sent to one young lady in the West Australian Goldfields from men on the frontline during World War One. A unique collection of postcards from six young soldiers to a woman who lived in Boulder during the war is set to go on display on Monday to commemorate Anzac Day. Six soldiers serving in the Australian Imperial Force during WWI sent more than one hundred postcards to home-nurse Eliza 'Lida' Jane Downey while training or on active duty overseas...
(Bunbury Mail)

Documentary follows story of Honor Flight trip. A documentary about four living World War II veterans and the Midwest community that came together for them will be shown May 26 in Rochester. "Honor Flight, One Last Mission" follows the story of the men and the town, which gave them the trip of a lifetime to Washington, D.C., to see the memorial constructed for them in 2005, nearly 60 years after the war...
(PostBulletin.com)

Ex-CNN anchor: Twitter is merciless when media lag, ruthless when they’re wrong. For a time, Gabrielle Giffords was dead. So was Newtown, Connecticut, shooter Adam Lanza’s father. Or maybe it was his brother in Hoboken, New Jersey. All three, as we now know, are alive. Two of them weren’t even shot. On the other hand, the alleged Boston Marathon bomber is, actually, under arrest. Then he wasn’t. Then he was. How does the news get it so wrong?
(Quartz)

42 Million People Watched Last Hour Of Manhunt For Accused Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. In 1993, 42.4 million households tuned in to the series finale of Cheers. Last Friday, almost 42 million people tuned in ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel or MSNBC to watch the last hour of the manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old who today was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death in the bombings a week ago of the Boston Marathon. There’s no question that a national news event, particularly one centered on a spectacular and seemingly inexplicable crime, would draw an enormous audience...
(ThinkProgress)

Fake Facebook profiles for bombing suspect get the ax. One week after the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and injured dozens, the manhunt for the suspects is over, but bystanders continue trying to insert themselves into the story via social media. Following Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's arrest on Friday, Facebook pages and fake profiles using his name, or variations of his name, are popping up on the social network. And, not quite as quickly, Facebook is knocking them down...
(NBC News)

Wall Street Journal covers the Duffel Blog

Milblogging.com — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:31:14 GMT

The Duffel Blog is one of the hottest military blogs out there right now, enjoying coverage from a number of news sites and blogs, not to mention a Facebook army of more than 45,000 fans and half a million readers visiting the site each month.

The Wall Street Journal is the latest news publication to recognize the Duffel Blog in a story called, Prank and File: These Military Reports Are Out of Line.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

“The year-old Duffel Blog is the creation of Paul Szoldra, a 29-year-old Marine Corps veteran who started the website as a way to drive traffic to a serious site he had set up to help military veterans adjust to civilian life.

The first piece of satire profiled an Air Force officer who was so sick of being teased about serving in the "Chair Force" that he banned all chairs from his military base.

Mr. Szoldra's humor caught on. His serious website fell apart. And the Duffel Blog took on a life of its own. The site's Facebook FB +0.16% page now has more than 46,000 followers, and Mr. Szoldra says a half-million people check out the Duffel Blog each month.

"The lads have a well-tuned sense of humor and convincingly imaginative 'reporting' that bode well for a country that could use some laughs," said Marine Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis, who just retired as head of U.S. Central Command. "I think the writers know that we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously."

Over the past year, Mr. Szoldra has enlisted help from a growing number of anonymous writers, including active duty military officers, who feed the Duffel Blog with a daily stream of fake news.”

Full story here.