Attention radical leftist types: That friend of yours who’s always trying to get you to act like an asshole is a cop.

RAWSTORY:

According to activists from Des Moines, Philadelphia, Miami, Sacramento, and other locations, a young woman named “Anna” allegedly infiltrated peace and justice rallies and anarchist meetings, and even attempted to join protests against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) ahead of the DNC’s national convention last year as a paid FBI confidential “informant.” Activists say that she has tried to provoke conflict at various advocacy events and violent incidents with police to get people arrested. In other words, Anna is not just an informant, she may be a provocateur.Although she is known among activist groups as either Anna Davies or Anna Davidson, others know her as Grai Damiani. She focuses her efforts largely on “anarchist” groups.

In January 2006, Eric McDavid, Lauren Weiner, and Zachary Jenson were arrested in California and charged with knowingly conspiring to use fire or explosives to damage property. Their arrest was the direct result of work by Anna, who was “deeply embedded within the subjects’ cell,” according to FBI documents.

McDavid’s attorney, Mark Reichel, states that Anna was always pushing McDavid to do something criminal, taught the three how to make the bombs, supervised their activities, and repeatedly threatened to leave them if they didn’t start doing “something.”

Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites

New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon’s National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks.

Full article here

A new antiwar documentary has been released in theatres. It’s called “Sir! No Sir!” It’s a discussion on antiwar sentiments amongst US troops int eh Vietnam era, particularly following the Tet Offensive in 1968. From Ebert’s review:

The film claims bombing was used toward the end of the war because the military leadership wondered, frankly, if some of their ground troops would obey orders to attack. It’s also said there were a few Air Force B-52 crews that refused to bomb North Vietnam. And in San Diego, sailors on an aircraft carrier tried to promote a local vote on whether their ship should be allowed to sail for Vietnam.

The movie discusses the glossed-over fact that at least 60,000 troops agreed with Jane Fonda’s protests, and shows video footage to prove it:

What cannot be denied is the newsreel footage of uniformed troops in anti-war protests, of Fonda’s uniformed audiences at “FTA” concerts, of headlines citing Pentagon concern about troop morale, the “fragging” of officers, the breakdown of discipline, and the unwillingness of increasing numbers of soldiers to fight a war they had started to believe was wrong.