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DNC Salute to Vets Featured Backdrop Of Russian Warships

An anonymous reader writes "Our politicians, and their henchmen, at their finest! In an apparent error, the Democratic National Convention's primary backdrop for its salute to veterans, by a 4-star admiral, featured a composite warship backdrop, in parade review, as a sign of U.S. strength and force projection; unfortunately, all of the naval ships in the image were Russian warships."

19 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. This happened a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The rest of the media already picked this apart weeks ago, and has since processed the DNC's effusive apologies for somebody's error in Photoshop.

    Seriously?

    1. Re:This happened a long time ago by Ronin+Developer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Oh...what a crock of shit. This error was caused by a staffer who prepared the presentation and didnt know better or someone either playing a practical joke or trying to embarass Obama.

      Those ships were Soviet era warships. Someone in the navy, as i was during that era, would know that. Most civilians wouldn't know the difference.

      And, why is this being posted weeks AFTER it occurred and has already hit the mainstream?

      By the way, who is going to help Romney add roll-down windows to the airliners? You?

    2. Re:This happened a long time ago by EdIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Christ this is fucking pitiful. You get a +5 insightful for an impossibly stupid argument that the mistake is indicative of how a political party will govern.

      Really?

      Slashdot actually runs the article here.... and has a fucking icon to represent Democrats. I know there are a ton of people here frothing at the mouth about Democrats, and Republicans (only to be drowned out by people who hate government period), but how more more ridiculous can this get?

      This was on Slashdot? Some staffer who could not identify Russian warships in a presentation he was putting together becomes news worthy? Really?

      This was simply some poor fool who did a Google image search and did not get "lucky" . People do stupid shit like this every 60 seconds in Corporate America.

      Not News for Nerds. Not Stuff That Matters.

    3. Re:This happened a long time ago by Tommy+Bologna · · Score: 5, Informative

      I used to be a staffer who prepared graphics for high level government presentations. I was hired because I knew what I was doing, and I'd have been fired if I made a mistake like this. Let me correct that -- I'd have been fired, my boss would have been fired, and the company for which I worked would have lost a multi-million dollar contract which would in turn place scores of other peoples continued employment in jeopardy.

      To write this off as just some staffer's oversight displays a certain ignorance about how important presentations come together, how they're vetted, and the competency of people involved in creating those presentations.

    4. Re:This happened a long time ago by thesandtiger · · Score: 5, Funny

      True story about bad Google image search results:

      My best friend started working for a Catholic hospital and during the orientation the person giving the talk put up a series of what she felt wee inspirational slides.

      One of them, she said, was God's hands parting a cloud so that the sun could shine through. It was a picture that had been made by Something Awful forum members that were putting goatse imagery into random scenes.

      My friend just bout died trying to contain her laughter.

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
  2. Old news by Dave+Emami · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I found this funny at the time, but it happened almost three weeks ago.

    --

    "The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
    1. Re:Old news by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is what happens when you don't have much ex-military in leadership.

      It's not just a case of no 'ex-military'. Some years ago, I had to correct a USAF Lt (computer dude, not a flyboy) who was preparing a Powerpoint slide deck. About 1/3 of the way through, there was an image of some fighter jets. Navy F-18 fighter jets.

      Dude...you need to change that picture.
      Why? It's jets. I'm trying to conjure up the concept of speed
      When your *Air Force* audience sees that picture of Navy jets, they will discount everything else you have said. Cluelessness does not work. Do your homework. It's not like we have a shortage of jets around here. Go 1/2 mile down the street, and you can see about 75 of our jets. Use some of those.

      Bottom line, just grabbing an dramatic pic does not work. Do your homework and grab a relevant dramatic pic. Hell...that is a line item in the "Action Officers Handbook", under 'How not to fuck up'.

  3. In Soviet Russia... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... the Democratic National Convention ... um ... Wait, what?

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  4. Well, this confirms it... by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 3, Funny

    Democrats are commies

    (I kid)

    --
    Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
  5. Slashdot... news for ... WHO GIVES A SHIT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Story is -1 offtopic

  6. Perhaps they're hinting at future budget cuts. by Type44Q · · Score: 3, Funny

    After all, Americans fly into space with the help of aging Soviet technology; perhaps we'll be taking to the seas in mothballed Russian naval vessels - at least those ships won't be vulnerable to the Blue Screen of Death! :p

    1. Re:Perhaps they're hinting at future budget cuts. by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Funny

      For national security reasons, the DNC decided to not use actual US craft in the photo. They did it to protect us all.

  7. Asleep At The Wheel by Baby+Duck · · Score: 3, Funny

    Slashdot. OLD ASS NEWS for Nerds.

    --

    "Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins

  8. Old news by rickb928 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And it's merely a symptom anyways. Big woop.

    This is what happens when you don't have much ex-military in leadership. If they had, one of the old barnacles would have said 'let's put up a picture of BB 61, that'l scare the hell out of 'em!'. Unmistakeable US naval power, surpassed only by the CVNs. Hey, how about a picture of CVN 77?

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  9. Why is this here? by DAldredge · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why is this on /.?

  10. Typical PR folks by SplashMyBandit · · Score: 5, Informative

    PR folks usually have a pretty tenuous grasp on the subject matter. Hence, to appeal to those concerned about defence they probably just used Google Image to find "warships", look for some cool looking ones (with lots of sticky-out bits) and slapped 'em in their Powerpoint presentation. Note: US warships look less menacing these days, their radars are the slab sided SPY-1 for the Aegis and the missile launches are build into the deck as the rapid-fire Mk 41 Vertical Launch System and similar. So they look less mean, but they are actually more effective that way.

    If only this basic incompetence and lack of fact checking was limited to PR people. The bulk of journalists these days are also woeful in their fact checking. For example, in Syria they keep talking about "MiG fighters bombing the rebels" all the while showing videos of the L-39 Albatross trainer (nb: not a MiG). A small detail, but lets get the facts we know straight, yeah? What really worries me about modern reporters is that they get the facts I know about so wrong, so I figure that they are probably getting a lot of the other stuff wrong too.

    The City News Bureau of Chicago was famous for their high standards of making the journalists check their facts. They had classic watchwords, like, "If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out with two independent sources.". It is a shame that proper journalism isn't practiced, is probably not that profitable, and doesn't really interest the general public (who'd rather follow a nude prince's private romp in Vegas, and the Duchess of Windor's poolside habits than any of the other things happening on the planet, both good and ill).

    However, these people are not alone in their bad habits. For example, both climate change advocates and climate change deniers seem to cling to dogma rather than continuously checking their assumptions against old and new data. It's always ok to be wrong, you just have to be prepared to change your mind in the face of better information.

    ps. I won't even start a rant on how badly informed most politicians appear to be. Clearly the skills required to enter office are not the same as those required to make informed and sensible decisions once you are there.

  11. Re:Republican Shills by wierd_w · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...(looks in way-back machine to "election 2008")...

    "You're just saying Obama isn't a good candidate because he's black, and you are a racist!"

    "No, I think he's a bad candidate because his official policy statements cannot possibly be met, and because his plans to get us out of this recession slump resemble FDR's new deal, which historicallu tripled unemployment!"

    "RACIST!" ......(steps out of the wayback mchine)....

    "And the only reason you hate Obama is because he's black. If Obama was a white man you'd be praising the Democratic party for the work that's been accomplished under this administration. Instead you'll stand by and let the Republican wreck the country further because you're a racist."

    "No, the reason I don't like Obama is because he bailed out the people who flushed the economy down the toilet, continues to support printing money as economic stimulous which drives up inflation, enacted policies which tripled deficit spending, FAILED to close GITMO, EXPANDED govt wiretapping programs, and did exactly what I said he would do concerning unemployment."

    Let me guess. "Racist!" Right?

  12. What media? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The real media ever touched this story. Wouldn't want to make any Democrat appear to ever have flaws.

    If there's no other reason to vote non-Democrat, it's simply so that the media will pay attention when mistakes are made. Just look at how the media refused to ask questions of Obama when they were still claiming the embassy hit was random instead of a terrorist attack.

    Voting for Obama is voting for four more years of media/government coverups. Only now with nothing to lose.

    1. Re:What media? by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      voting with the R's will simply be worst.

      I'm not any cheerleader for the D's but I can certainly tell the diff between 'not getting enough done' (due to R's blockage, basically) and the true evil that the R's (these days) stand for.

      I refuse to have religion enter the stage of poltics any more than it has. R's are all about religion. I find this as distasteful as racism. I won't stand for it.

      the 'part of the rich' is not really what america needs right now. we can't afford more wealth transfer to the superpowerful. in fact, we need course reversal. the D's are closer to this than the R's are.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."