Of course they’re biased. They sometimes blurt out the truth, with is damaging to the GOP.
5.
NotMax
Couple of under-reported stories which might be of interest.
A promising, but yet shaky and tenuous, item to put into the plus column for the Obama administration. One hopes it will not be prematurely smothered in its crib, as have so many similar attempts at imposing small steps of rationality, by bureaucratic inertia and lethargy.
…President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence issued a directive […] filled with bureaucratic gobbledygook that is difficult to translate into ordinary English but appears to be aimed at establishing new positions, rules and procedures to address the intelligence community’s long-standing problem acquiring and retaining analysts with advanced foreign language skills.
__
One hopeful sign is that ICD 630 recognizes there is a connection between foreign language capabilities and “cultural awareness and understanding.” The difficulty for the U.S. intelligence community is that acquiring cultural awareness requires time spent living and working in the culture you are trying to understand. Obtaining even a basic level of cultural awareness takes many years of day-to-day involvement in the target culture. Many potential U.S. intelligence analysts find it difficult if not impossible to spend the required time abroad.
__
Another more serious and difficult-to-resolve issue facing analysts is that the U.S. intelligence community’s interest in foreign cultures is rooted in the perceived threats to U.S. national security from the cultures analysts are attempting to understand. Intelligence officers who seem too friendly, understanding or respectful of a suspect culture or country are often accused of bias, or worse.
__
You could call it the Avatar syndrome. The more common and derisive sobriquet used within U.S. intelligence circles is “gone native.” Source
Coincidence is not causation, but the clustering sure is suspicious.
…health officials are […] keeping a check on the health of the 38,114 children from Fukushima Prefecture. In their recent scheduled checkup, around 13,460 children (35.3%) were found to have cysts or nodules of up to 5 mm (0.197 inches) on their thyroid glands.…
__
…The cause for the lumps is not yet ascertained and since these tests are early tests, the effects of radiation exposure will be more evident after four or five years.
__
…[A] separate second report issued by Japan’s Institute of Radiological Sciences claims that some children living close to the plant were exposed to “lifetime” doses of radiation to their thyroid glands. Source
6.
burnspbesq
The Obama Administration’s civil liberties record is a mixed bag, and this is a major fuck-up.
@amk: The end result will almost certainly be fewer fact checking stories in those local papers about GOP lying on major issues and more about Dems lying on minor issues. Reality maybe a bitch, but the rule of thumb that most people live by—that, when confronted with competing claims by two interested parties, the truth most likely lies in the middle—is what the GOP counts on to run their con.
Interesting. I’d like to see comparison studies with other children in Japan and perhaps ethnic Japanese children in other countries.
9.
burnspbesq
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Supporters like Duane Halstad, a 69-year-old who was sitting on a porch watching a parade here, said Bachmann is the “only one telling the truth about this thing.” He also said he believes President Barack Obama vacations on Martha’s Vineyard to observe the Islamic holiday of Ramadan.
In early July, Mr. Holmes ordered a Blackhawk Urban Assault Vest, a knife and two magazine holders from a Web site called Tactical Gear, according to an order slip provided by the company’s chief executive, Chad Weinman. … [Weinman added] that the company was “deeply saddened” its gear had apparently been used in a mass killing.
Yes, I’m sure they’re all broken up that their URBAN ASSAULT VEST was used in an urban assault.
13.
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: Except he specifically said he’s not going to the Vineyard this year.
14.
amk
@TG Chicago: The guy was supposedly unemployed. Where did he get all that money to buy all these nasty shit?
15.
bemused
Holmes shooter on tv looks like he is barely alert.
16.
bemused
Holmes shooter on tv looks like he is barely alert.
17.
fraught
A simple live feed from a Colorado courtroom? Can’t figure out how to do it. We’re totally a third world country now.
…President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence issued a directive […] filled with bureaucratic gobbledygook that is difficult to translate into ordinary English but appears to be aimed at establishing new positions, rules and procedures to address the intelligence community’s long-standing problem acquiring and retaining analysts with advanced foreign language skills.
This sort of move has been going on for several years. The security clearance system in the US is pretty xenophobic compared to other Western democracies. Thus, the geniuses at the upper levels of the intelligence community figured out a few years ago that almost anybody who had the cultural and language background to be a competent, say, Pashto translator or analyst was going to have trouble getting a high-level clearance due to foreign contacts and relationships. Um, duh. Thus mountains of untranslated intelligence and pretty superficial analysis.
And for the BJ twist here, therefore translators in the intell community have been seriously overrepresented by…Mormons! Yes! Foreign language skills (of varying levels; some of these guys are impressively fluent) and none of those inconvenient foreign relationships to adjudicate.
20.
Rome Again
Hey, did everyone already know about this and I missed it?
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Culture of Truth
Orange lobsters are one in 10 million. So did one restaurant get six in one shipment?
amk
goopers hold politifact’s
pantslegs on fire.Karma is such a sweet beeyotch. You kiss the rethugs feet and they kick you in your teeth.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, shortest thread EVAH!
So far…
Villago Delenda Est
@amk:
Of course they’re biased. They sometimes blurt out the truth, with is damaging to the GOP.
NotMax
Couple of under-reported stories which might be of interest.
A promising, but yet shaky and tenuous, item to put into the plus column for the Obama administration. One hopes it will not be prematurely smothered in its crib, as have so many similar attempts at imposing small steps of rationality, by bureaucratic inertia and lethargy.
Coincidence is not causation, but the clustering sure is suspicious.
burnspbesq
The Obama Administration’s civil liberties record is a mixed bag, and this is a major fuck-up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/opinion/a-spiteful-new-policy-at-guantanamo-bay.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Lawfare is all over this. Greenwald is AWOL.
jwb
@amk: The end result will almost certainly be fewer fact checking stories in those local papers about GOP lying on major issues and more about Dems lying on minor issues. Reality maybe a bitch, but the rule of thumb that most people live by—that, when confronted with competing claims by two interested parties, the truth most likely lies in the middle—is what the GOP counts on to run their con.
Linda Featheringill
@NotMax:
Japanese children:
Interesting. I’d like to see comparison studies with other children in Japan and perhaps ethnic Japanese children in other countries.
burnspbesq
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/23/bachmann.html
tamied
@burnspbesq: When are these people going to kick off?
the Conster
@burnspbesq:
Yeah, nothing says Ramadan like Martha’s Vineyard in July.
TG Chicago
From the NY Times:
Yes, I’m sure they’re all broken up that their URBAN ASSAULT VEST was used in an urban assault.
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: Except he specifically said he’s not going to the Vineyard this year.
amk
@TG Chicago: The guy was supposedly unemployed. Where did he get all that money to buy all these nasty shit?
bemused
Holmes shooter on tv looks like he is barely alert.
bemused
Holmes shooter on tv looks like he is barely alert.
fraught
A simple live feed from a Colorado courtroom? Can’t figure out how to do it. We’re totally a third world country now.
the Conster
@Gin & Tonic:
To wingnuts, that just proves that he’s going.
ericblair
@NotMax:
This sort of move has been going on for several years. The security clearance system in the US is pretty xenophobic compared to other Western democracies. Thus, the geniuses at the upper levels of the intelligence community figured out a few years ago that almost anybody who had the cultural and language background to be a competent, say, Pashto translator or analyst was going to have trouble getting a high-level clearance due to foreign contacts and relationships. Um, duh. Thus mountains of untranslated intelligence and pretty superficial analysis.
And for the BJ twist here, therefore translators in the intell community have been seriously overrepresented by…Mormons! Yes! Foreign language skills (of varying levels; some of these guys are impressively fluent) and none of those inconvenient foreign relationships to adjudicate.
Rome Again
Hey, did everyone already know about this and I missed it?