Introduction
ThreatNewsRadar.com provides an inventory of validated threats to humanity and the planet. The site and accompanying Facebook page report on threats as determined by big data and multiple disparate sources that agree on the facts. However, the Threat News Radar initiative does not track false positives or sensationalized news.
In the months ahead, there will be a lot of noise in the media and in public discourse about various threats to women, minorities, immigrants, the environment, civil liberties, and democracy. Make no mistake. The threats are real. The term ‘noise’ is used here because the collective outrage and shouting will be less like a chorus and more like an undistinguishable waterfall. Whether through government appointments, presidential proclamations, coverups, corruption, encroaching fascism, or independent hate crimes, there may be more problems than there are people and resources to respond.
Unfortunately, some of the alarming news we hear will be based on fake news, exaggerations, misinformation, false flag operations, domestic attempts to create disruption, foreign-based agitation campaigns, intentional distractions, or simply emotionally-driven unsubstantiated claims based on limited anecdotal data. Sadly, some of this will be done on the part of organizations to instill fear among their base for the purpose of generating more public engagement and appealing for donations. As a result, there’s a risk that money and resources will be misdirected and ineffectively spent, allowing the overall problems to get worse.
The following inventory is an attempt to begin listing and evaluating various concerns. The focus here is primarily on identifying the noise and distractions that should be perhaps ‘monitored’ but not keep us awake at night wringing our hands — at least for now. This is based on “An 11-Point Action Plan for Progressives” which in summary suggests we should be manifesting love and solutions to problems rather than protesting the problems.
This list will be added to and curated over time. If you know of something that should be added here, please contact us. Thanks!
Threat Inventory – Distractions
- David Duke. There’s been a lot of talk about David Duke and the support that white supremacists have given Donald Trump. Immediately after Donald Trump was elected president, David Duke posted on Twitter: “We did it! Congratulations Donald J. Trump President of the United States of America! What an amazing day, and to think -> this is just the beginning” followed by emojis of winking faces, Nazi salutes, and Pepe the frog who has become a disdainful racist meme. Some will read this and conclude that all the rumors have been true – the Trump administration represents the establishment of a Nazi White supremacist nationalistic militant fascist racist police state government in America. If we accept this premise, then any and all subsequent data will be viewed through that lens and used to prove this belief. However, it’s probably more accurate to conclude that Duke’s one-sided-bromance with Donald Trump is an effort to gain media attention, and it serve’s Trump’s interest of creating a very effective time consuming and energy draining distraction for Trump’s opponents. Regardless of what’s really going on, the best defense for racism and hatred is the opposite of those things. We don’t conquer hate with hate. People like David Duke thrive on attention. It legitimizes his movement and builds morale among his base. All the attention given to Donald Trump in the election didn’t stop him from becoming president. It just strengthened his movement. What one needs to focus on is not David Duke, but the leadership who are the opposite of David Duke. Talk about them and build them up. Obsess over them, not David Duke. For more on the topic of racism read, “Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Five Levels of Race Awareness in America.” If you believe that Donald Trump is only supported by racist white supremacists, refer to “Videos of Latinos, Muslims, Women, and African Americans who support Donald Trump.” The problem now is that Donald Trump’s supposed ties to White Nationalism has been made such an issue by many on the left that now White Nationalists must believe he really does support them. As a result, their movement has been given attention, normalized, and been brought into the mainstream.
- Donald Trump. Practically every day, using Twitter and other channels, Donald Trump will attempt to gain attention by doing something absurd, outrageous, socially unpopular, unconstitutional, or highly threatening to democracy. He will have several of these going on at one time. This is designed to create ‘noise’ in the media about him. It’s designed to create numerous decoys and distractions. It appears that his strategy of action draws from a variety of sources including boxing, golf, football, high-level mixed martial arts, chaos theory, poker playing strategy, showmanship, and books like The Art of War and 1984. So, interacting with him and his team will be like engaging in a kind of dance with a tornado-like mastermind. He focuses on outcomes and goals, where the means to achieve those goals appears to be chaos yet it’s all working to support the ends. As a result, one needs to figure out what his desired outcomes are and focus on those. Further reading: “Donald Trump, Chaos Theory, and Operational Strategy.” The title of a recent Yes! Magazine article is shown below, encouraging readers not to be “distracted by Donald Trump.” With that is an example of a distraction — the absurd move by Trump to censor the EPA from publishing any scientific about climate change. It created quite a dust storm in the media, but 24 hours later Trump said he wouldn’t be pursuing that. So, apparently another diversion. Here are some articles that illustrate this principle. These are listed in chronological order with the most recent at the top.
- “Amid distractions of his own creation, Trump moves swiftly to change the country dramatically,” by Dan Balz, Washington Post, 29 Jan 2017.
- “Trump’s Muslim ban is a dangerous distraction,” by S, writes Abdul Khabeer, Aljazeera, 29 Jan 2017.
- “Trump administration backs off plan to scrub climate pages from EPA website,” by By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, 25 Jan 2017. An article about what seemed to a crisis that 24 hours later vanished.
- “Don’t Let Trump Distract You: Public Comment on DAPL Is Now Open,” by Jake Tracy, Yes! Magazine, 25 Jan 2017.
- Russian Election Impact. Concerns about Russian hacking as well as ongoing attempts by other nations and groups to use cyber attacks against the U.S. are well founded. In recent years, millions of personnel files of our top government, military, and intelligence community leaders have been hacked and stolen. Over 1.5 billion accounts were compromised in Yahoo alone. It’s reasonable to think that many nations had the ability to influence the election. However, one of the top election analysts was able to predict the election outcome based on data that does not include anything potentially influenced by hackers. The question isn’t whether there is hacking. We know there is. The question is could it significantly impact the election. For more, watch “Professor who called Trump election now predicts impeachment.” Allan Lichtman has a system of predicting U.S. presidential election winners that accurately foresaw Donald Trump’s victory, and nearly every race since 1984. Whether the Russians impacted the election or not, a revitalized cold war with Russia doesn’t serve our interests. For more on this topic, read “Why Retaliation Against Russia is Counter Productive.”
- White House Website – Missing Critical Content. There’s been a lot of alarm among people who are concerned that minutes after Donald Trump was sworn in, all references to LGBT rights, healthcare, civil rights, and climate change were removed. According to SNOPES: “It’s inaccurate to say that these terms were specifically scrubbed from the site by Donald Trump. On 17 January 2017, WhiteHouse.gov issued an announcement explaining the digital transition that would take place on Inauguration Day.” If you visit ObamaWhiteHouse.gov you can find all the original content from the White House website. The new site will be built up in the days and months ahead. This is a perfect example of a story that will be reaching millions through social media and unnecessarily causing much alarm. There are people who, despite knowing the story is false and alarmist, will continue to spread it to simply build on the fear and hate of Trump.
- White Supremacists. See David Duke above.
Alternate Viewpoints
Here are some alternate viewpoints to the above points.
- “Donald Trump’s Ban on Transgender Troops Is Not a Distraction,” 26 July 2017, by Richard Kim. Excerpt: “In a well-intentioned and sympathetic but ultimately thin and frankly lazy post that reflected many a media reaction, New Yorker editor David Remnick described Trump’s tweets as a “tactical means” to “divert attention from his woes”—namely the calls to impeach him based on mounting evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere with the election, as well as Trump’s general incompetence and disgusting behavior. … Being at once anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT is not a diversion from some secret Trump/Republican agenda; neither is pitting us against each other. It’s what they do. It’s who they are. We should know this by now.”