Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Takeover of Florida water shuts out citizens

By Tom Swihart, special to the Times 

In Print: Wednesday, June 29, 2011


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Recent state power grabs have overturned four decades of making key water management decisions at the local and regional level in Florida. When the Florida Water Resources Act became law in 1972, the governor and Legislature didn't think that all water wisdom resided in Tallahassee.

Rather, the founders of Florida's modern water management system deliberately created a system of shared water power, somewhat akin to the balance in the U.S. Constitution between the states and the federal government. The governing boards of the regional water districts were given wide discretion to address the water problems of their region but always under the "general supervision" of the state.

With neither the state nor the water management districts having all of the power, the two levels of government sometimes disagreed on the best policy. But, like the relationship between the 50 states and the federal government, it is healthier to have many voices and open disagreement than having one central authority make all major decisions out of the public eye.

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature are breaking this long-standing Florida tradition of shared water management power. They are shifting all of the big water decisions to Tallahassee. These decisions will be made behind closed doors in the capital, unlike the decisions made in public meetings by the governing boards of the regional water districts after hearing from local residents.

See more at the link:

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/takeover-of-florida-water-shuts-out-citizens/1177709

Monday, June 27, 2011

Fukushima: It's much worse than you think

Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

State wants to add camping, RV sites at more state parks in Florida, including Honeymoon Island


By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, June 25, 2011

Les and Gail Jennings of Indiana soak up a moment of solitude earlier this year while visiting Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin.
Les and Gail Jennings of Indiana soak up a moment of solitude earlier this year while visiting Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin.


Visitors to Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin love picking up shells along the beach, catching fish from the gulf, hiking through the slash pines and spotting the birds soaring overhead. But when the sun goes down, everyone has to leave.
Now the state wants to change that. The Department of Environmental Protection has targeted Honeymoon Island as one of the first of 56 parks where state officials want to add new overnight camping sites — including space for recreational vehicles. Honeymoon Island could get up to 45 campsites on 17.5 acres east of the southern beach parking lot, under the DEP's plan.
Read more of the story here:
Proposed plans for HONEYMOON ISLAND in Dunedin, Florida:
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2010/PDFs/Honeymoon%20Island%20LMP%20Amendmemt%20AG%20Draft.pdf

Hands Across the Sand Reaches Gandy

http://southtampa.patch.com/articles/hands-across-the-sand-reaches-gandy#photo-6748718
SLIDESHOW AT LINK
Hands Across the Sand, a nationwide event meant to heighten awareness of off-shore drilling, made its way Saturday to the small beach near the Gandy Bridge. The turnout was small, but the passion for alternative forms of energy was quite large.

Opponents of coastal oil drilling join hands in solidarity

PICS AT LINK
Last year's BP oil spill has faded from the headlines, but that doesn't mean Nina Perino is ready to forgive and forget.
"It's going to be years down the road for those animals to recover," Perino, who lives in Palm Harbor, said as she anchored one end of a human chain on the Tampa Bay beach just west of the Gandy Boulevard bridge.
About two dozen people from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties joined Perino on the beach at noon, part of a international "Hands Across the Sand" protest of offshore oil drilling. More than 200 people, including former Gov. Charlie Crist, held a similar protest on St. Pete Beach. In all, protestors joined hands in seven locations in Pinellas County.
"Hands Across the Sand" began last summer in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil well spill that pumped millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil fouled wetlands in Louisiana and beaches in Alabama. It also washed ashore on a few Panhandle beaches – a small part of Florida's coastline, but enough to create a statewide economic mess.
MY COMMENTS POSTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STORY:
Every single one of our representatives have taken money from BIG OIL to fund their campaigns. This goes back decades and it makes no difference who is president and what political party is in power. Check it out on opensecretsdotorg.
Oil is a dinosaur. Coal is not clean, ever! People die from it! And we know all about nuke energy...not clean, green or safe...Frack-ing for Natural Gas in spite of the TV commercial hype is poisoning our people, our water and other resources and is ecocide and terracide.
Hands Across the Sand was created to bring awareness to many that there are alternatives available. Money just needs to be allocated to them as it is misappropriated now. If Germany can do it right with SOLAR and they have much less sunny days than what we have, then we can do it too.
Anita Stewart
Hillsborough County Soil and Water Conservation Board, Seat 5

TRISHA SPRINGSTEAD, RN and my friend Kimberly, sick from the Gulf Oil Gusher


TRUTH ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION AND SICKNESS IN THE GULF REGION


Oil in Alabama, OIL IN THE GULF with Kimberly interviewed by Trisha Springstead Part 1. BP is NOT CLEANING IT UP, BP is NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY, BP is HIDING THE OIL, HARMING YOUR HEALTH and MAKING PEOPLE SICK!

A Patricia Springstead Production - http://www.espbotanicals.com
Videography by http://www.workingseo.com

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Regarding the FINAL VOTE TO SAVE TAMPA BAY & RIVER FROM POLLUTION

PLEASE READ ALOUD AT THE TAMPA CITY COUNCIL MEETING (EMAILED TO TAMPA CITY COUNCIL): 

Our water is our area's most precious resource and it is not sustainable. As we know, nitrogen based fertilizers and other pollutants are now at such a serious level everywhere that this continuing damage and the resulting runoff has caused a dead zone in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico bigger than the state of New Jersey. Mother Earth does not create more water, we have to be responsible for what we have and we need to protect it! It goes without saying that this same kind of dead zone can happen right here in Tampa Bay and the surrounding areas. Our aquifer and watershed are under continual assault from pesticides, pollutants, industrial waste, saltwater immersion and other toxins every day. Let's start the stewardship with something that we know we can change, right here and right now! There are so many other choices that can be made regarding fertilizers, organic for instance, especially during the rainy season. We need to adopt an ordinance similar to the one that is already in use in Pinellas County. Let's ensure that our future here in Tampa includes clean, pure and fresh water for the next generations.

Meeting/Event Page on Facebook for 6/23/11:

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Letter from my friend to the Vice President RE: Health Issues in the Gulf Region

TO: The Honorable Vice President Joseph Biden

FROM:  Trisha Springstead, RN

DATE: March 28, 2011:  

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I am a registered nurse licensed in Florida. I trained in medicine at Loma Linda University, UCSB, and Riverside State College. I have over 36 years experience in the medical field in a myriad of specialties and have been clinical educator and administrator for two HMA Hospitals. My husband Richard W. Springstead is an MD and has seen a few of these patients with me.   He is an orthopaedic Surgeon with 35 years and a Graduated from Emory College of Medicine.   He has listened to me talk to these patients and is willing to help but in order to start up a clinic we need assistance for these patients.   Richard and I both have taken the Certification Courses from Metametrix Clinical Labs in Atlanta, Georgia.

Since the beginning of the Deepwater Horizon oil blowout disaster I have been working with patients from the Gulf States  that are demonstrating a wide variety of serious symptoms of toxic chemical exposure and poisoning.  I currently have over 200 families reporting to me. These families are terribly ill.  They have shortness of breath, horrific skin lesions, neurological impairments, and short term memory loss.  Their immune systems have been highly compromised, they are bleeding from every orifice, bruising is occurring spontaneously, their lung capacities are declining and their hearts are enlarging.  Most are financially so broke that they can not even begin to afford the necessary testing for VOC’s or PAHs, let alone treatment. This truly is a public health crisis that urgently needs to be addressed.

Metametrix Clinical Laboratory is the lab of choice for these people and we are begging for doctors and funding to be able to help these people.  Many of them are going to die quickly, and are dying from undiagnosed poisoning. I assume because there is no insurance coding for “chemical poisoning,” that this is one of the key reasons they are being misdiagnosed with the flu, or mycoplasmic pneumonia, delusional,  due to short term memory loss and confusion from elevated hexane levels, and Polyaromatic  Hydrocarbon levels (from exposure to water, air and the vicarious spraying of Corexit.) Without a defined insurance codes, the doctors can not bill the insurance companies and be reimbursed for their work.    

From the blood test results we have seen, the levels of Hexane in bloods samples is creeping up to the 95th percentiles in the population I’ve been seeing, indicating that the air quality in this area is contributing to the demise of the health of the local population. One of our dearest friends and friends, Lisa Nelson, was a lovely young woman in her 30’s.  She died two weeks ago.  All indications are that it was as a direct result of exposure to Corexit on the beach last September.  I personally know of approx 20 other people who have died or whose deaths are imminent. These people are scared, have families and children who are also becoming ill as the air becomes warmer.   

A large number of the people I am seeing were oil cleanup response workers for the Deepwater Horizon and they are now very ill.  Per my observations, they are consistently being misdiagnosed by ERs, medical clinics and hospitals.  In addition to the lack of the reimbursement insurance coding issue, few doctors and others in the medical profession are educated in Environmental Medicine and this is exacerbating the situation.

From numerous first-hand reports I have received, the spraying of the toxic chemical dispersant called Corexit goes on to this day on the beaches and open waters.  This is completely unacceptable and must be stopped.  I have been told by about over 1OO of the patients reporting to me, that they witnessed Corexit (being sprayed from a boat, a plane and I have my own first-hand experience of watching planes spraying at night in Applachacola and Panama City. I would be happy to meet with you in regard to the above statements and can provide more detailed information, if it is needed (within the legal framework of patient confidentiality laws).

Sincerely,

Trisha Springstead, RN MS

Monday, June 13, 2011

Editorial: A king's ransom--PUBLIC INFORMATION IS NO LONGER FREE IN FLORIDA!

Gov. Rick Scott

The Associated Press

Published: Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, June 10, 2011 at 4:28 p.m.

In the Sunshine State, it seems, government has figured out how to block the public's right to know: Just price public records out of the market.

Barbara Peterson, of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, said her organization recently made some public records requests to Gov. Rick Scott's office. Under the governor's new “cost recovery policy,” after months of delay, Peterson was told that getting copies of one week's worth of emails would cost $780.

By contrast, a similar request for public records made to the Attorney General's and Agriculture Commissioner's offices was granted for free and within two weeks.

Although the law allows government agencies to recover costs associated with finding and copying records, demanding excessive costs can also be an effective way to block public access to records.

Read more here:

Friday, June 10, 2011

New federal aquaculture policy paves way for Gulf of Mexico fish farms

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***THERE YOU HAVE IT, FOLKS! THE REASON THE FEDS WANT THE FISHERMEN OUT OF THE WATER! (KMH)
***AND WHY THE SHRIMP WAS ALLOWED TO COLLAPSE AS WELL. (AS)

Posted:   Friday, June 10, 2011 

HTTP://SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Times-Picayune] By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch - June 10, 2011 -
© 2010 New Orleans Net LLC.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's national aquaculture policy released Thursday paves the way for the Gulf of Mexico to be the first region in the country to develop open-ocean aquaculture in federal waters, potentially reaping another 64 million pounds of seafood from the ocean.

Within a year, businesses could begin applying for permits to establish red snapper, grouper and other finfish-farms in Gulf federal waters, which in Louisiana extend from three to 200 miles offshore.

In 2009, the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, a regional advisory body that sets fishing regulations in the Gulf for NOAA's Fisheries Service, established its Gulf fish-farming plan. But the plan has sat, officially in place but unusable, awaiting formal NOAA regulations.

The Gulf council's plan calls for 10-year offshore fish-farm permits with a total cap on farmed fish production at 64 million pounds. The council initially expected about five to 20 such operations to emerge within the first 10 years, but with start-up costs estimated in the $5 million to $10 million range, the level of interest largely is unknown.

The plan prohibits shrimp farming, and only allows the raising of native Gulf species.

Michael Rubino, the manager of NOAA's aquaculture program, said the Gulf council plan will go through a typical, multi-tiered review process that will culminate in a public comment period. He said that process likely would take about a year to complete and largely would only focus on implementation, with the nuts and bolts of the plan remaining untouched.

The federal government has promoted aquaculture over the past few years as a way to address the growing amount of imported seafood needed to keep pace with demand in the United States.

Approximately 84 percent of the seafood consumed in the United States is imported, with about half of that from aquaculture farms in other countries, according to U.S Department of Commerce.

In 2009, the same year the Gulf council plan was drafted, aquaculture crossed the threshold of providing more than half of all seafood consumed worldwide, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

That means more than half of the fish and shellfish consumed globally is now raised by humans and no longer caught in the wild. In 1970, farmed fish only accounted for about 6 percent of global seafood supply.

So far in U.S. federal waters, the aquaculture industry largely is limited to a few experimental and research facilities. Other countries have developed the industry on a wider scale, some using industrial-scale nets and submersible cages to raise and harvest fish for commercial sale.

Opponents have cited wide-ranging concerns about damage to the Gulf's environment, as well as the effect the industry could have on traditional fishing communities that have relied on catching and selling wild fish. But supporters say the industry could provide an alternative domestic supply to imported, farm-raised seafood.

Domestic aquaculture provides only about 5 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S, according to Larry Robinson, NOAA's assistant secretary of commerce for conservation and management. And about 80 percent of domestic marine aquaculture consists of shellfish, mainly oysters, clams and mussels, Rubino said.

Also as a part of NOAA's marine aquaculture policy, it has developed general guidelines to provide technical support and competitive grants for farming close to the shore and technologies on land, such as ponds or recirculating tanks to raise fish.

The NOAA policy also places a premium on increasing commercial production of shellfish, restoring shellfish populations and habitats, and improving water quality.

And Eric Schwaab, the head of NOAA's Fisheries Service, said on Thursday that the Gulf council plan and the effort to increase shellfish farming and restoration are the two initiatives 'that will grow immediately' out of the implementation of NOAA's new aquaculture policy.

'The Gulf is recovering from hurricanes and an oil spill and fresh water diversions down the Mississippi River, so rebuilding the Gulf will be a priority over the next several years,' Rubino said.


Ken Coons
1-781-861-1441

Is our water safe to drink?

Inthewave_new1
According to the city of St. Petersburg, it is. They have sent out their 2010 Water Quality Report for everyone to review and though they are patting themselves on the back, the information could give you goose bumps.
The report was rather sketchy in the beginning when it states, “The work begins with the Cosme Water Treatment Plant operators who monitor the incoming blend of water and treat it accordingly.” After reading the statement one is left to ask, where is this water coming from, what do they mean by blend of water, and what are they treating it for?
The Cosme Water Treatment Plant that maintains the water in St. Petersburg and several surrounding counties is located in Odessa, Florida. That plant has approximately forty-seven employees, and it is a private company categorized under Sewage Disposal Systems.
The contaminants posted were in some cases surprising. Strangely there is up to 20 percent of sodium. Then there were the findings of 5.06 percent of bromate, 14.6 percent of haloacetic acids, and 18 percent of trihalomethanes, which are the by-products of drinking water disinfectants used in our daily tap water. Yet, that isn’t nearly as alarming as the 2.8 percent of lead and 8 percent of cyanide content.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Is our water safe to drink? - Tampa Bay Holisitc Wellness | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/holisitc-wellness-in-tampa-bay/water-water-everywhere?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1OtQQzVq8

The Truth Is...by Kindra Arnesen

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Today no one knows what the total impact on the Gulf & any and all the Gulf supports, by the BP blow out will be. Corruption is a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY ( Obama's words). Fact is the entire time the disaster in the Gulf has unfolded, we have witnessed more corruption than we knew exisited in OUR government. I believe we have a human right to clean air, clean water, clean food, & to live with the security our tax dollars pay for. Before 4-20-10, I felt that our government was doing their job. We were busy working, rebuilding, & raising our family. I thought pay my taxes, raise productive members of society, and help those in my path, I was living the AMERCIAN DREAM. Them WAM BP!!!I thought if I went to their meetings voiced my concerns along side my fellow citizens that Washington would hear what was really going on & they would stand & do the job they were elected to do. I am a much different person today then I was before BP. Today I am well aware that our federal government is NOT OURS, they are bought & paid for reps of corporations, & banks, from all over the globe. The whole bunch of em are sell outs!!
       Last year when this all started I went to my local officals and begged them to evacuate the women elderly and children from Plaqumines Parish, they did not want to cause a state of panic, now we 3 in 5 are sick, most are children, I have brought this issue to everyone & have recieved only brush offs from those paid to look out for us & our communities. We have had no luck with doctors only many rounds of antibiotics has been the  BLANKET TREATMENT across the Gulf Coast with little to no sucess. Before doctors can be sufficent in treating patients along the Gulf they need proper training, but until our Federal Officals ADMITT THAT PEOPLE ARE SICK FROM THE CHEMICALS BP FOGGED US WITH this training will not take place, bottom line is people continue to suffer. Is this acceptable????
 Fineburg made a statement saying he recieved no health claims, we  in this area have no knowledge of a system set up within GCCF that takes health claims now if they in fact have a system set up to pay health claims that is news to me. The only things I am aware that GCCF has a system for is income claims & food claims for those who can't eat the seafood that everyone else can eat. Fineburg has done everything he can to paint the claimants as criminals fraudlent criminals. Trust that before we are made whole Fineburg will be retired,dead of old age or both. SO whats the point, we have no choice but to see this to court. Who knows maybe we will recover 13% a lil more then the Valdez survivors recovered ya thats right they recovered 12% of their losses and most of them are dead.
Fineburg is not our hope or our future my advice to everyone is hire an attorney.
  They say its BACK TO BUSSINESS IN THE GULF, that everything is fine.
When shrimp season opened in August everyone was hopeful, we learned quickly that their were very few small shrimp so future crops will see an impact, August season ended around the last week of Novemberfirst week of December. Then we waited in January dead dolphins, turtles, fish, starfish, seahorses, etc washed up all over the shoreline of the Northern Gulf coast this continued trough Febuary March and April, not sure how much of each or how much continues to wash up dead. May 16th  brown shrimp opened the fleet poored out into the bayou, soon we heard back small loads were coming in usually a small boat catches 3000 to 4000 lbs the first day this year they were coming in with 300, 500lbs no loads just dissapointment. Shark season opened back in March most of the fleet was tied up after the first week of going in the hole there wasn't enough sharks to pay the fuel. We don't know what as a fishing community holds.
 Now the fishermen are being blamed for the deaths of the turtles washing ashore. WOW!!! Everyone reffers to this BP mess as a year ago people seem to forget that the blow out wasn't shut off untill July 2010 only 5 1/2 months before the dead sealife started to wash ashore in record #s . NOAA put it out there that fishermen are breaaking the TED (Turtle Excluder Device) law, NOAA has charged, convicted, & hung the fishermen out to dry NOAA has painted our fishermen as comon criminals with no day in court  NOAA has slandered fishermen since NOAA's very begining. Kick them when their down. How is it that NOAA scientist can say that tissue samples are not back yet turn around and put the blame on fishermen. SHAME SHAME SHAME, NOAA, SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!
 Last but not least the others who have joined the ban wagan of NOAA & slandering our fishermen, SHAME SHAME SHAME, I feel sorry for those who set out everyday to take out the small guy because they do not have the backbone to face the real problem. SHAME SHAME SHAME!!! try growing a backbone and placing the blame where it should be. SHAME SHAME SHAME
 I mean what did our fishermen ever do to anyone to deserve the flow of crap that people send their way. Our fishermen provide a food source for our country and have for generations. And I am dam proud to be the wife of a commercial fisherman and always will  be he is not a criminal but a family man who woks hard to provide a good life for our family, He helps those in his path is a wonderful parent, & partner. O & he pays his taxes. So before jumping in and pointing the finger @ our fishermen I ask you this consider the truth for once instead of the crap our officals are feeding you. God bless you and yours. 
                                        Thank You, Kindra Arnesen

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

HANDS ACROSS THE SAND 6/25/11

Check out the site to find the event nearest to you. If there isn't one, it is not too late to organize one!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Gulf Coast Stories: Oil, Chemicals, and Illness Part 1


Former commercial bait fisherman Joey Yerkes discusses his experience working on BP's oil disaster clean up and the serious health impacts he has encountered. Additional discussions with Kindra Arnesen, Donny Mastler, and John Gooding. 
The interview with fisherman Joey Yerkes and former VOO worker John Gooding was filmed and edited by Bo Boudart of Beau Monde Images. Other footage was obtained through public domain via youtube. We would like to acknowledge Jerry Cope, PBS' Need To Know, and others whose footage appears. For more information please visit http://www.ChangingTheEndgame.org.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

MY LETTER REGARDING OCEANA'S "SPEAK OUT AGAINST SEAFOOD FRAUD" by Karen Mayer Hopkins

Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 11:24am

Dear Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the FDA, and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator,
 
Seafood was one of the most popular foods in the United States until the FDA allowed  GENETICALLY ALTERED, ANTI-BIOTIC RIDDEN, FECES FED POND RAISED FRANKENSHRIMP AND FRANKENFISH from third world countries to be dumped on our domestic market.  THIS IS NOT "SEAFOOD".  This is pond food.  This is poison.  Once we fought and won the battle to prove to the Gulf Coast Processors that we would not stand for that garbage to be translabled as domestic product, and began educating the American public about what they've been serving their families, our wild caught domestic market saw an upswing.  Now we have the pollution in the Gulf, thanks to BP, our government and other corporate interests.  The corruption, lies and propaganda must stop.  The truth must be told.  We who live along the Gulf Coast and make our livings on the water know what the truth is.  We know not to eat the seafood that comes from the Gulf.  We know not to get into the Gulf waters.  The American public is being lied to through BP's media blitz and the billions of dollars in compensation they've paid to the seafood marketing boards of each and every Gulf Coast state.  What I want is the TRUTH.  Can our politicians even distinguish truth from lies?  Do any of you remember the definition of morality?  Can you dredge up some sense of empathy for the people who are being poisoned by your silence and propaganda?  PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOUR JOBS ENTAIL "PUBLIC SERVICE" NOT "SELF SERVICE"!
 
Karen M. Hopkins
Grand Isle, La. 

Friday, June 3, 2011

Toxicologist Compiles the Science Behind Oil Spill Health Concerns

As we all know, people along the Gulf Coast are still suffering effects from the events of the oil spill of 2010. For over a year now, LEAN, along with many others, have been working to bring attention to this problem and ultimately find solutions. Perhaps the greatest problem we face in trying to resolve the health concerns of those effected is finding medical professionals willing and capable of diagnosing and affectively treating these conditions.
Dr. Mike Robicheaux has been addressing this health crisis almost single handedly since last year. He, along with LEAN, has been advocating for the need for more assistance to address the needs of suffering individuals. In an effort to help educate Gulf residents and physicians interested in learning more about the health effects of exposure to crude oil, toxicologist Dr. William Sawyer created the following two documents. These documents describe both the acute and long-term health effects of exposure to crude petroleum hydrocarbons. This information has been compiled from  peer-reviewed, scientific epidemiological studies. The findings of these studies lend credence to the unfortunate symptoms voiced by suffering individuals whom so far have received little relief.

Acute Symptoms

Click on the image to view full document
Download PDF - Short Term Health Effects
Read more and check out the LONG TERM EFFECTS at the link below or go to the pdf file by clicking on the picture above:

Thursday, June 2, 2011

US Starts Cyber Propaganda War (NEWSFLASH: Starting? It has already been going on!)

This video is not titled accurately! For those of you that think this is tin foil hat stuff and a conspiracy theory, this has already been happening online. It is just spreading out and being utilized more.