Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Cody_Russell]

159 now. The number keeps rising.
This Florida apartment incident is tragic….

[Mike]

Re woke military: Yeah, we’re totally fucked in the long run.

I just saw that big increase in the number of people missing in in the condo collapse. Hopefully they’ve accounted for everyone. That’s a horrifying event.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm not convinced it's political power advancing these ridiculous progressive social constructs. There seems to be some push back from conservatives in congress at both state and federal levels on bills that come before them that are leftist in content, e.g., replace police with mental health counselors, close prisons and that is just two of many examples of the foolishness being undertaken by policy makers.

In the small segment of local government I'm familiar with in S. FL, when stupid shit comes up at commission levels, if it comes up at all, it usually fails to advance. Policing also seems to be active and unaffected by calls to defund it. A good portion of that is due to Governor Desantis' stand on law enforcement and a political environment favorable to law enforcement and unfavorable to stupid shit that is going on in places like SF and Portland. I feel some relief at that.

But at the local level where idiots like the mayor of Atlanta, Lance Bottoms, a staunch advocate of anti-police actions, crime is rampant. I'm visiting DeKalb Co. as we speak. I'm learning that there are places that police will not go. Shootings on I85, the N/S bound roadway in and out of metro Atlanta are surging. Racing and speeding over 100 mph goes on regularly because there is no Georgia Highway Patrol presence - another subject altogether. Most of this lawlessness is connected to gang activity that is out of control because police either can't or won't engage with and apprehend law breakers. Officers know that arrests result in bad outcomes. Either they become victims or if an arrest is successful, lawbreakers bond out and never get held accountable for their unlawful actions. Felony crime is rampant in Buckhead. It isn't safe to go there and that is because thieves who will brazenly clean out a cell-phone store or rob residents on the street at gun point are never confronted or apprehended and if they are, they get let go by local police becasue it is a waste of their time to refer crimes to liberal prosecutors who won't prosecute them. The lack of law enforcement within a specific non-white ethnicity of criminals, just encourages more of it ....... I digress.

The bottom line for me is that we are entering an era of regional breakdowns in civil order. Ineffective policing, produced by progressive anti-policing governments is a huge part of this. So, to that extent, I'd agree with .... "it's all so laughably stupid yet, unfortunately, it's all so real with the Ds in power." But another contributor is the messaging or lack of it - failure to call it out - by a wide range of politicians and educators with what we'd call conservative values. Silencing these voices within venues where voices can be heard, including social media and classrooms with identification of these voices as racists, is the most dangerous threat to American democracy that I've witnessed in my life time. I never imagined I'd be battling those whose liberties I have previously defended.

[Ghengis Jon]

[....Inside the military, however, another criterion has taken central booking: diversity....]

That's an opinion piece that cherry picks references. Its not one of the the Hoover Institute's usual cold examinations. Huge difference. The author whines about women, "cross cultural barriers" and such, and then nit picks word definitions. He doesn't even look at a truly integrated force, such as the Israeli military - the mandatory service and all inclusion policy seems to work out pretty well for them.

During the years I served in the USAF, I found the enlisted breakdown to be about 60/40 white/minority and roughly 80/20 among the officers. 90/10 men to women. The last 3 years of your service Jeff, what did you see in the Corps? Racial/cultural diversity doesn't seem to be an issue in volunteer services.

The United States military is the most effective teacher of diversity there is. It isn't a bunch of yammering talk, it's walking the walk at full speed. You life depends upon the performance of the unit, who gives a fuck what color or gender they are. You won't find a more serious attitude adjuster than the military.

I get all the corporate bullshit on diversity, equality, and all that with sickening regularity. My closed team is comprised of 3 Germans, a Czech, 3 Indians, 2 Poles, a Romanian and 3 other Americans. 6 of the 14 are women. Obviously, I work for a multinational. I see diversity work well first hand and in practice. It happens naturally if cream is allowed to rise to the top with politics kept at bay.

Opinion pieces like that are red meat for a targeted audience, intended to inflame, not to provide information for consideration. Like the corporate drivel I am subjected to, it should be considered little more than white noise.

[iam416]

The bottom line for me is that we are entering an era of regional breakdowns in civil order. Ineffective policing, produced by progressive anti-policing governments is a huge part of this. So, to that extent, I'd agree with .... "it's all so laughably stupid yet, unfortunately, it's all so real with the Ds in power." But another contributor is the messaging or lack of it - failure to call it out - by a wide range of politicians and educators with what we'd call conservative values. Silencing these voices within venues where voices can be heard, including social media and classrooms with identification of these voices as racists, is the most dangerous threat to American democracy that I've witnessed in my life time. I never imagined I'd be battling those whose liberties I have previously defended.

We really need little "l" liberals to push back against the Progressives on "woke" bullshit. Those are the people who can stop it. Once the "woke" are being roundly mocked in, say, the late night comedy circuit then we'll know we're ok. If we see, e.g., an SNL sketch mocking the absurdity of a male weightlifter competing as a female in the Olympics, then we're there.

It's crystal clear that the "right" can't do it because they get tagged as racists or bigots and the discussion is shut off.

So, for now, it remains regional, as you mentioned. However, I think there's a real chance that 2022 is going to be a bit of wake-up call on issues like crime and some of the nonsense schools boards want to push through on a local and state (Illinois, e.g.,) level. Suburban moms hated DJT. I'm not sure they have much love for their kids being told they suck because they're white.

[iam416]

I get all the corporate bullshit on diversity, equality, and all that with sickening regularity. My closed team is comprised of 3 Germans, a Czech, 3 Indians, 2 Poles, a Romanian and 3 other Americans. 6 of the 14 are women. Obviously, I work for a multinational. I see diversity work well first hand and in practice. It happens naturally if cream is allowed to rise to the top with politics kept at bay.

We measure diversity the wrong way. We measure diversity by outward traits which have nothing to do with cognitive traits. Well, I assume they have nothing to do with them -- I can't imagine any sane argument that "blacks" or "latinos" or "trans" or "white" folks have different cognitive strengths and weaknesses due to their race..

We should measure diversity in terms of diversity of cognitive strengths. There was a Harvard study that grouped 3 different groups together. One was "diverse" in the sense we think about but all had the same cognitive strengths (they used professional fields -- so art or teaching or lawyer or science, etc as a proxy). This group, I think, were all from the same type of profession. They had one group that was entirely diverse cognitively speaking and one group that was in the middle. They tasked this group with solving a variety of problems. The cognitively diverse group's results crushed the other two.

Now, it may also be that you need less cognitive diversity at a specific corporation or job -- like, you know, being an engineer and trying to solve a heat dispersion issue in a manufacturing process. At that point, you just want your best damn engineers.

But, in any event, "outward" diversity ought to be allowed to happen naturally. It ought to be. As a matter of Constitutional law, you can argue that it's a legal position as well. But, we know that it doesn't in numerous places. We know that. And people need to push back on that (IMO), and if that requires using the military -- the one place where we really should want the best and brightest -- then so be it. Even if it's a red herring, getting people on the same page -- MERIT MATTERS -- is a good outcome. That's why the article is written. That's why Jeff cites it.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The last 3 years of your service Jeff, what did you see in the Corps? Racial/cultural diversity doesn't seem to be an issue in volunteer services.

A precipitous drop in readiness that started slowly under the leadership of then CNO Admiral Elmo Zumwalt (1970-1974) and increased through my entire 20 year career, most prominently in the late 80s. During his tenure as CNO, he set the stage for the woke liberalism that that crept into the Marine Corps, sacrificing readiness for questionable social goals. Because he promoted the ideals of inclusion of blacks and women in the Navy, we spent countless hours in class-rooms teaching human relations and DON EEO principals instead of maintaining aircraft..... a clear distraction from readiness. I spoke up against it and was told, not a hill I wanted to defend.

I think you missed the point, Jon. I used the article to make it. It's not so much criticizing diversity as it is about promoting leaders not on the basis of merit but rather on the basis of advancing the faces of color in the flag ranks. This is especially applicable to General Mattis' view that actions undertaken inside and among the ranks and outside in entities that affect the direction and capabilities of the military that doesn't improve the military's lethality is a distraction.

I feel confident in saying your diverse team that you work with - successful as it seems to be in your view - was not likely assembled because your company's leadership was seeking women, Indians, Poles, whatever the race, gender or ethnicity, as a guiding principal in assembling it. I would like to think it was assembled based on merit. At least I hope it was and if I'm wrong and they advanced these people to their present positions to make your group more diverse but potentially less effective, possibly incompetent, I'd certainly label your company woke.

[Ghengis Jon]

Its very much a meritocracy here [except for upper management :^) ]. My colleagues are all world class, you need that in a research environment. Its one of the things that has delayed my retirement - it's a blast to work with the best. Race, color, creed, religion, national origin makes no difference except one very important point - it pulls you out of your comfort zone and teaches you to think outside the box.

[froot loops]

In a corporation setting, what team you work with is fairly random. I'm sure there is some meritocracy, but a lot of it is who knows who and where you end up on the inevitable merry go round of reorgs. When the reorg or merger happens you are at the mercy of if you are in the predatory org or you are the prey.

[Ghengis Jon]

My research team was designed around specific skill sets. We are were hand selected for a sensitive project and then given autonomy to a designated goal. There was no randomization for this team. We update management once a week and then are left to ourselves. I have never experienced a better work environment in this late stage of my career.

I've worked for the same company for now more than 30 years, so I can't speak from experience about other corporations. Or even US corporations, other than Rockwell in my early days.

[lineygoblue]

"Best person for the job" is literally identified as a trait of "whiteness" by Progs. It's all so laughably stupid yet, unfortunately, it's all so real with the Ds in power.

This is where an evil (because of my skin color) white guy like me runs into a problem. If I agree that the premise of 'best person for the job' is a 'white' trait, what do I assume about a black owned business person? They do NOT want 'the best person for the job'? A black business owner just takes the first black skinned applicant, and runs with them? I don't think they do that, but then again, due to my skin color, I'm automatically a bigot and a racist, so I guess I'll never know what a black business owner considers important.

I'm beginning to miss the 90's. I thought we were all doing pretty well getting along until Barry Otero came along.

[froot loops]

My research team was designed around specific skill sets. We are were hand selected for a sensitive project and then given autonomy to a designated goal. There was no randomization for this team. We update management once a week and then are left to ourselves. I have never experienced a better work environment in this late stage of my career.

I've worked for the same company for now more than 30 years, so I can't speak from experience about other corporations. Or even US corporations, other than Rockwell in my early days.

That sounds like a good setup

[Dr. Strangelove]

Is the military really incapable of winning wars or is it that the public in general has absolutely no appetitie for the number of casualties it would actually take to win any of the so-called important wars we've fought post-Vietnam?

[froot loops]

That's what I don't quite understand, the problem with any of these incursions has been dealing with guerilla warfare and that certainly isn't caused by diversity initiatives. That's as old as time itself. The US was pretty lethal in running roughshod in Iraq and Afghanistan. Uness you flatten an opponent who depletes all their resources in a conventional war you are going to be dealing with rebels.

Our military forces are quite fucking lethal.

[Mike]

Is the military really incapable of winning wars or is it that the public in general has absolutely no appetitie for the number of casualties it would actually take to win any of the so-called important wars we've fought post-Vietnam?

It’s the latter. 100%.

This is a point I’d like to elaborate on when I have more time.