These shitballs should be asked to use their science guy to look for convergences between Trump/MAGA and Meloni/Brothers of Italy. (Which, of course, is why ICE goons went there during the Olympics.)
As a veteran of DHS and one-time intel analyst (there's an oxymoron if there ever was one) these charts and reports look and sound so familiar. People in my agency (and ICE) were so enamored of charts, particularly relationship diagrams which could become so complex as to be meaningless. Problem was these diagrams didn't explain the nature or context of these "relationships" (tho' we didn't have AI yet). If you took a handful of spaghetti in your hand and dropped it on the floor, you could create something that made as much sense as some of these charts. The "intel-speak" used in these reports, as demonstrated by NCRI, sound important, weighty, full of high-level meaning, but are, in fact, stupid-speak designed to impress superiors and make it appear you were doing "important work". When you are required to explain to higher-ups what you were accomplishing, the temptation to pad it with as much fluff as you could was just too great. These so-called "reports" could then have real-world consequences as people were stopped and examined at ports of entry (maybe even refused entry) based on rather tangential relationships. I'm not going to say all of these reports were such as I describe here, but why does Ken's article remind me back so much of my former job?
There are very real disinformation agents— we saw it in San Francisco where multiple right wing activists propagated dubious and disingenuous reports like this one, spread out as fact via local media’s opinion columnists, about our local socialist in office before the November 2024 election. To this day, the disinformation about that politician remains in the public ether. Ironically, some of the disinformation was spread by so-called disinformation experts at these bought-and-paid-for centers at schools like Stanford. The real threat of disinformation is the collapse of real journalism to vet stories before publishing them.
The media needs to become less gullible, fast. Nothing worse than standing on a soap box to protect the free press and have them copy and paste stuff without thinking. (Ken is a thinking and analytical journalist.)
The Democratic Party leadership -- and almost all of congress -- is in on this: yes or no? What is AOC, ostensibly a member of the DSA, going to do about it?
My takeaway from this is completely derogatory to US citizens as they couldn't possibly make decisions WITHOUT outside influence. Good god these people in Minneapolis and elsewhere have gone through hell, why would they support the US Government!
Just an insane use of data analytics. I use the cosine similarity score to match mass spec profiles to know chemicals. To use it for political purposes is just moronic. But all it has to do is convince morons. Look! Fancy graphs! Lots of commie red!!
Just like Iran (and Russia) where opposition figures are being charged with "coordinating with enemy propaganda, stoking political divisions ..." Demagogues use the same techniques no matter where they are.
I have come to really hate how “far left” and far right are always compared and assumed to be the same, even by liberals. DSA is hardly far left. They just want free buses and childcare, and not to bomb or deport innocent people anymore. Nick Fuentes is a neonazi white supremacist. It is not at all the same.
Also these charts are so dumb. Of course we should be blaming the US government for most of our problems. The fact that the NY Times doesn’t do that says more about where their bread is buttered than anything. Smh
Goodness forbid that the DSA be compared to European socialism. Can't have us getting any ideas of how good we could have things. There is only one option on the right or left here, authoritarianism of course.
The American public is very gullible. Not all of them, but many. The American public has a very short attention span. Which is why the Epstein files need to stay in the forefront of our minds, hearts and voices.
One min, going to up my monthly DSA donation!
These shitballs should be asked to use their science guy to look for convergences between Trump/MAGA and Meloni/Brothers of Italy. (Which, of course, is why ICE goons went there during the Olympics.)
As a veteran of DHS and one-time intel analyst (there's an oxymoron if there ever was one) these charts and reports look and sound so familiar. People in my agency (and ICE) were so enamored of charts, particularly relationship diagrams which could become so complex as to be meaningless. Problem was these diagrams didn't explain the nature or context of these "relationships" (tho' we didn't have AI yet). If you took a handful of spaghetti in your hand and dropped it on the floor, you could create something that made as much sense as some of these charts. The "intel-speak" used in these reports, as demonstrated by NCRI, sound important, weighty, full of high-level meaning, but are, in fact, stupid-speak designed to impress superiors and make it appear you were doing "important work". When you are required to explain to higher-ups what you were accomplishing, the temptation to pad it with as much fluff as you could was just too great. These so-called "reports" could then have real-world consequences as people were stopped and examined at ports of entry (maybe even refused entry) based on rather tangential relationships. I'm not going to say all of these reports were such as I describe here, but why does Ken's article remind me back so much of my former job?
Out of curiosity which agency did you work at — I&A ?
U.S. Customs & Border Protection. Really, I&A was a somewhat high-sounding title for a rather low-level job.
I’m amazed how big CBP’s Office of Intelligence is - it’s a huge org
There are very real disinformation agents— we saw it in San Francisco where multiple right wing activists propagated dubious and disingenuous reports like this one, spread out as fact via local media’s opinion columnists, about our local socialist in office before the November 2024 election. To this day, the disinformation about that politician remains in the public ether. Ironically, some of the disinformation was spread by so-called disinformation experts at these bought-and-paid-for centers at schools like Stanford. The real threat of disinformation is the collapse of real journalism to vet stories before publishing them.
The media needs to become less gullible, fast. Nothing worse than standing on a soap box to protect the free press and have them copy and paste stuff without thinking. (Ken is a thinking and analytical journalist.)
Totally agree.
Great! 😂
Translation - “We don’t want Muslims holding political office here in our America, and we will have them removed by any means necessary.”
Finklestein needs to focus on Hunter Biden’s threat vector. It's the greatest threat to Israel ever.
so true
The Democratic Party leadership -- and almost all of congress -- is in on this: yes or no? What is AOC, ostensibly a member of the DSA, going to do about it?
Thank you Ken.
My takeaway from this is completely derogatory to US citizens as they couldn't possibly make decisions WITHOUT outside influence. Good god these people in Minneapolis and elsewhere have gone through hell, why would they support the US Government!
Just an insane use of data analytics. I use the cosine similarity score to match mass spec profiles to know chemicals. To use it for political purposes is just moronic. But all it has to do is convince morons. Look! Fancy graphs! Lots of commie red!!
Just like Iran (and Russia) where opposition figures are being charged with "coordinating with enemy propaganda, stoking political divisions ..." Demagogues use the same techniques no matter where they are.
Ah yes, the Both Sides of American extremism: Zohran Mamdani and Nick Fuentes
TIL Norman Finkelstein has an evil twin
I have come to really hate how “far left” and far right are always compared and assumed to be the same, even by liberals. DSA is hardly far left. They just want free buses and childcare, and not to bomb or deport innocent people anymore. Nick Fuentes is a neonazi white supremacist. It is not at all the same.
Also these charts are so dumb. Of course we should be blaming the US government for most of our problems. The fact that the NY Times doesn’t do that says more about where their bread is buttered than anything. Smh
Didn’t the president just get a $400m plane from Qatar, the Eddie Haskell of all countries.
Goodness forbid that the DSA be compared to European socialism. Can't have us getting any ideas of how good we could have things. There is only one option on the right or left here, authoritarianism of course.
The American public is very gullible. Not all of them, but many. The American public has a very short attention span. Which is why the Epstein files need to stay in the forefront of our minds, hearts and voices.
Flooding the field seems to work. Think the ‘report’ format is just to keep the nattering nabobs nattering among themselves. Divide and conquer.