Feds creating database to track hate speech on Twitter

The federal government is spending nearly $1 million to create an online database that will track “misinformation” and hate speech on Twitter. The National Science Foundation is financing the creation of a web service that will monitor “suspicious memes” and what it considers “false and misleading ideas,” with a major focus on political activity online. The “Truthy” database, created by researchers at Indiana University, is designed to “detect political smears, astroturfing, misinformation, and other social pollution.

DOD Transferred Over $4.3B in Military Equipment to Local Police

The Department of Defense transferred over $4.3 billion worth of surplus military equipment–including 345 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), 205 grenade launchers and over 12,000 bayonets–to more than 17,000 state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation since 1997. The transfers were made under the 1033 program of the National Defense Authorization Act and administered by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) entitled War Comes Home: