If you've been following right-wing websites, you may have heard about this one. The Dept. of Homeland Security has stockpiled 2 billion rounds of hollow point ammo to kill us all.

One a my peeps tried to track that story down by following links from one story to the one before it. Here's what he found:

We start with an Alex Jones's InfoWars.com story. It says:

Atlantic Wire responded by claiming Palin had obtained her rhetoric from a “debunked email” concerning the Social Security Administration’s purchase of 174,000 bullets last year, completely omitting the admitted DHS purchase of 2 billion bullets like it didn’t exist.

That link is to breitbart.com. It says:

Something strange is going on. Federal non-military agencies have bought two billion rounds of ammunition in the last 10 months. The Obama Administration says that federal law enforcement agents need the ammunition for “mandatory quarterly firearms qualifications and other training sessions.

That link is to a story in WorldNetDaily. They quoted radio host Mark Levin:

Federal, non-military agencies, noted radio host Mark Levin last week, have purchased enough ammunition recently to not only shoot every American five times, but also engage in a prolonged, domestic war.

The numbers are based on recent reports that put the total federal ammunition buy in the last 10 months at approaching two billion rounds.

“To provide some perspective,” Levin noted, “experts estimate that at the peak of the Iraq war American troops were firing around 5.5 million rounds per month. At that rate, the [Department of Homeland Security] is armed now for a 24-year Iraq war. A 24-year Iraq war!”

But that link shows that "recent reports" say no such thing. The link is to a story from Investor's Business Daily that only says:

But DHS has been silent about its need for numerous orders of bullets in the multiple millions. Indeed, Examiner writer Ryan Keller points out Janet Napolitano's agency illegally redacted information from some ammunition solicitation forms following media inquiries.

According to one estimate, just since last spring DHS has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm. That's sufficient firepower to shoot every American about five times. Including illegal immigrants.

And who made the "one estimate"?

Nobody knows. If you're not familiar with the Examiner, it makes WingNutDaily seem credible. Note that this "one estimate" doesn't say "hollow point rounds" like all the RWNJ sites now claim.

My peep who tracked all this down summarizes:

Which means Alex Jones had no f'ing evidence besides a "Chinese whispers" line of f'ing stupid. And one that's impossible to follow to the source unless you dig through his mess of text to find the link that actually relates to the headline, then follow through 3 other lying ass websites and find the right link on THOSE websites. It's like going through a goddamned maze. And at the end its relying ON ONE ESTIMATE that the source does not even f'ing link to. But its probably based on an Examiner writer's estimate, and you will forgive me if I didn't try and follow the trail of stupid any further. OK, I did look at it. The only source that guy links to is another blog and WorldNetDaily ...

The great thing about this whole thing is, now MEMBERS OF CONGRESS are demanding that DHS explain why they bought 2 billion hollow point rounds so that they can kill every man, woman and child in the United States five times over and depopulate the entire nation. And the story has further morphed to include 2,600 TANKS, which are really tanks being refurbished and repaired for the military, but don't tell anybody.

This is where we are in the "Age of Information". It would be laughable if it wasn't so scary.