Clinton Emails

With regard to emails on her server that were are the highest level of classification, in a recent NPR interview, Hillary Clinton stated: “Well, first, let me say that this is the continuation of an interagency dispute that has been going on now for some months. As the State Department has confirmed, I never sent or received any material marked classified, and that hasn’t changed in all of these months.” Like many Clinton statements, parsing is required. Clinton’s attitude is the result of a long standing systemic distrust between DOS and DOD characterized not by cooperation, but by competition due to a number of factors not to mention that the DOS budget is a fraction of the DOD budget. If you are at DOS you consider yourself the incarnation of "soft power" while on the other hand, DOD is clearly the instrument of war. These cultural differences are made dramatically manifest due to this latest Clinton scandal where DOD security classifications were viewed by DOS as being intrinsically DOD/Intel, and revocable by DOS. By the way, this interagency dysfunction brings the unfortunate Benghazi incident into a clearer perspective. 

Could critics of personality tests have their own agenda?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is based on the theories of Carl Jung, in which the test-taker reveals himself to fit four dichotomies: introverted or extroverted, intuitive or sensing, judging or perceiving, and thinking or feeling and classifies respondents by the initials of the predominate dichotomies. Notwithstanding vocal critics, MBTI is the most widely used and trusted personality assessment tool which reinforces its validity, albeit non-scientifically. The reality is that MBTI is a user friendly tool providing insight into the human complexity by classifying respondents into easily digestible categories. Arguably, some of the recent criticism comes from zealots of political correctness and anti-profiling who regard any categorization of the human personality as an example of prejudice.

Don't drink the water in Naples

Living in Italy made for awareness about the callous and reckless dumping of toxic waste in the Naples environs, but it is only from time to time does this crisis come to the attention of a wider population. Last Sunday's WaPo did report that the Italian government confirmed higher-than-normal incidents of death and cancer among residents in and around Naples, thanks to decades of toxic waste dumping by a particularly treacherous element of the Mafia, the local Camorra.  The rates of babies in the provinces of Naples and Caserta hospitalized in the first year of life for tumors, especially brain tumors, was determined to be excessive.  The government blamed the excessive health issues to contaminants found at illegal hazardous waste dump sites which include high levels of lead, arsenic and assorted industrial solvents. In general, these dumps are the result of the Camorra's disposing of toxic waste from Italy's industrialized North for a fraction of the cost of legal disposal. In Italy where wire tapping is commonplace, a local mob boss was overheard when asked what he suggested doing about the toxic aquifers, "Drink bottled water!"