Hot Dog! How Deception Detection Experts Caught Rep. Weiner With His Pants Down.

I am often asked about detection of deception and the type of analysis applied to the written and spoken word to make determinations as to whether someone may be being economical with the truth. When this question has come it is often accompanied by a request for an example of the analysis, and so I have decided to post an analysis performed by friends and colleagues at QVerity, Don Tennant and Phil Houston. Don is both an excellent writer and analyst with extensive experience in the QVerity methodology and Phil is one of the designers of the methodology.

No Cause for Rapture

Harold Camping, an elderly preacher, Christian radio host and president of Family Radio from California predicted that the “rapture” would occur throughout the world on May 21st, 2011. He was wrong!

Even Politicians Lie: The "Shocking" Epidemic of Deceit

I have just finished reading an article about British politician Chris Huhne, whose estranged wife, having known for a while of one instance of infidelity during their marriage, has, through her lawyer, expressed her “shock” at the allegation that he may have had yet another lover!

This is the same Chris Huhne alleged to have had issues with his parliamentary expenses and who, his wife claimed, during their marriage asked people to take responsibility for motoring offenses he committed. So she knew he was a liar but is shocked that he lied. I am, well, shocked!

Meeting Murder or Overreacting?

“I met Murder on the way
He had a face like Castleraegh”

This was written in 1819 in a poem about the “Peterloo Massacre”, by the famous English poet Percy Shelley. He was referring to Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, commonly known as Lord Castleraegh (pronounced Castle-ray for those who missed the rhyme), who, at the time of the massacre, was the Foreign Secretary of Britain.

The lines of the poem are instructive to me because they remind me, although it was not their intended purpose, that many people believe that they can tell whether a person is capable of murder, or targeted violence, simply by looking at them or by hearing a single utterance. Those who have seen killing “up close” will quickly tell you that this belief reflects rank ignorance and leads to many people being falsely accused and others, who do pose a threat, being missed.

The Men Who Killed Bin-Laden: Time to Honor Our Heroes

On May 2nd, 2011, (May 1st in the USA) members of the elite SEAL Team 6, a highly trained and experienced counter-terrorism special operations group, with intelligence support from the CIA, executed a daring, and surgical operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that brought an end to the hypocritical, vulgar life of the psychotic thug Osama Bin Laden.

Abbottabad is a pleasant town, or hill station, named for a British Major James Abbott, that lies between the mountains and Rawalpindi, a garrison town for the Pakistani Army and, until 2003, the home of the infamous Khalid Sheik Muhammed.

The Tucson Blame Game: Time To Dial Back The Rhetoric

As people fall over themselves to assign blame for the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and murder of six others by Jared Lee Loughner, the only thing we can say for sure is that we do not yet know why he did what he did. It is time for people to comfort the grieving, aid the survivors and allow the authorities to do their jobs and investigate the motives behind this abhorrent act. While it is only right and dignified for people to call for greater civility in the public square, we must stop short, for now, of assigning blame to anyone but Loughner himself.

Why Potential Employee Screening is Vital!

From my friends at Sports Intelligence Analysts. An important case study: the recent publicity about the University of Pittsburgh surrounding the allegations against their head coach clearly demonstrates the need for effective screening of potential employees in any organization.