Good Morning!
1. Diversity at Fox News! There was a brunette co-anchor sitting with Bill Hemmer this morning. I almost spit out my coffee, Now if the network would only hire a female newsreader who wouldn’t be a credible contestant in a beauty pageant, the culture might advance a bit…
2. Can an employer refuse to hire an asshole? The NFL Players Association has filed a grievance on behalf of free-agent safety Eric Reid, alleging collusion that has denied him a job for the upcoming 2018 season, and arguing that no NFL rule mandates players stand during the playing of the national anthem, that the league has indicated it respects “the rights of players to demonstrate,” and the collective bargaining agreement states “league rules supersede club rules.”
The grievance loses, or the NFL is in big trouble. Well, it is already in trouble, but more trouble. Demonstrating players annoys fans and hurts business. The NFL may force teams to allow jerks like Reid and ex-player Colin Kaepernick to interfere with Sunday head-bashing frolic by imposing their half-baked politics on the proceedings, but team can certainly choose to pay million dollar contracts to players who have better judgment, and are thus more trustworthy employees.
3. At George Washington University, it’s The Political Correctness Morons vs. The Conflict-Averse Spineless! I can’t believe I’m writing this. No, of course I can: I’ve predicted it.
The following on-line petition has garnered the requisite number of signatures among George Washington University students, and now will get an official response:
“We, as students of the George Washington University, believe it is of great exigence that the University changes its official mascot. The use of “Colonials,” no matter how innocent the intention, is received as extremely offensive by not only students of the University, but the nation and world at large. The historically, negatively-charged figure of Colonials has too deep a connection to colonization and glorifies the act of systemic oppression. Alternative nickname recommendations are “Hippos,” “Revolutionaries”, or “Riverhorses.”
They apparently don’t teach American history at GW. The nickname for the athletic teams is “The Colonials” because the United States, prior to its liberation, were called “the Colonies,” because they were colonies. Colonials are those who have been colonized, not those who do the colonizing. The mascot, meanwhile, is called “George,” because he is a caricature of George Washington, who led the Colonials to victory over Great Britain, and anyone who can’t puzzle that out shouldn’t be in college.
The petition represents the mutant offspring of a one night stand between The Confederate Statuary Ethics Train Wreck and The Niggardly Principles.
Who will win? Oh, the Morons, probably. On campuses the Morons almost always defeat the spineless administrators, as well as common sense and rationality. [Pointer: Res Ipsa Loquitur]
Oh…here’s George:
4. Speaking of spineless…The cheerleading coaches at Hanover Park High School in New Jersey decided that there would be no more try-outs for the squad. The school’s athletic director said that after a single mother complained about her daughter not making the cut, the policy would be changed in favor of “inclusion.” The school board released a statement saying:
“In order to facilitate a more inclusive program, the alignment between the various cheerleading squads would be modified to allow all interested students to be able to participate. This decision was made in the best interest of all students and was made to be as inclusive as possible.”
This was the kind of thing we used to mock when we heard about Mao’s efforts to banish competition from Red Chinese culture. I guess any student who wants to be on the math team also gets a pass, even if he or she can’t count to 10. The wrestling team! The track team! And elections are hurtful: anyone who wants to be on the student council should be allowed to serve!
I’ll file this unethical, un-American lunacy under “This Helps Explain Why Trump Is President.”
5. What? An unethical Trump Cabinet member? Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (who is married to Mitch McConnell) has appeared in a dozen interviews with Chinese and Chinese-American media outlets beside her shipping magnate dad, whose company carries goods between the United States and Asia, He has also given Chao and Mitch about $5 million over the last decade. In one interview with New China Press, daughter and father are seen sitting in the Department of Transportation, with DOT flags in view. James Chao talks about his life, in Chinese, with a copy of his biography on the screen. Then Elaine Chao praises her father’s success story as “lifting the status of Asian-Americans in America.”
Federal officials are not supposed to use their position for personal gain or for the benefit of family members. Politico weasels, “The appearances raise ethical concerns, experts say, because public officials are legally banned from using their office for any form of private gain for themselves or others.” Well, I’m an expert, and the appearances don’t raise concerns: they are unethical as well as illegal. At very least, this is a screaming appearance of impropriety. [Disclosure: I detest the woman. Long ago, when she was in the Reagan administration, a contact set up a meeting for me with Chao when I was in a protracted job hunt. She treated me like something bad on the sole of her shoe, and hustled me out the door. But if she wants to come to my funeral, she’s welcome.]
Her office’s explanation is dishonest and pathetic:
“She and her family are the focus of [Asian-American] human interest pieces in print and broadcast media. These articles touch upon their immigrant journey and their success assimilating in the United States, their philanthropic activities and their success in business and government. The articles are motivational and not promotional in any form.” There is nothing inappropriate with a Cabinet member appearing with her father or other family members. The secretary’s appearances are intended to share an inspirational story about immigrants from a minority community who have become successful in our country.”
Riiiight.
Except that she’s using her position promoting her family’s business, and she is a frequent beneficiary of it.
6. Finally...the eternal battle between Good and Evil resumes in Yankee Stadium tonight, as the vile Yankees, winners of 15 out of 16 games, try to vanquish the Boston Red Sox, owners of the best record in the American League. Humanity’s fate lies in the balance…
Ethics Alarms 
The worst thing on earth, according to the left, is to win….anything. If you’ve succeeded or won you are, by definition, an oppressor.
Anyone who doesn’t know native tribes spent centuries (perhaps longer) enslaving and killing each other for hunting and fishing real estate long before whitey showed up is delusional.
“The worst thing on earth, according to the left, is to win….anything. If you’ve succeeded or won you are, by definition, an oppressor.”
And yet, when the left wins ELECTIONS…”Elections have consequences.” All power to the (left) people is AOK; ANY power to the (right) people is “a threat to democracy.”
I stand corrected. You are, of course, right about leftists winning elections.
6. Oh no, America’s Team the NY Yankees will vanquish the wanna be Red Sox! 28 World Series championships & counting?
The Yankees are the Donald Trumps of baseball.
Actually, many of the Yankee owners have been a lot like DT: Col Rupert, Del Webb, Dan Topping, the Steinbrenners….
The dastardly Yankees have always had the best team money could buy
1. Jack, you are way too hard on Fox News for hiring good-looking women. Haven’t you conceded that…who is that…Robin Meade, on CNN, is a pretty face to wake up to watch? You know, not every news-reader, or genuine newscaster, or even propcaster has to look like a Rachel Maddow cross with Margaret Hamilton as Wicked Witch of the West in order for the employer to be ethical in hiring. More people watch good-looking people. So what?
2. Oh, it’s football. I’m out. Not watching. Not paying attention.
3. I agree with your prediction, Jack. I am disappointed that the righteous furies didn’t petition to change the name of the university first.
4. The pretty girls will still be most popular, even if they aren’t cheerleaders.
5. I don’t like Elaine Chao either. I have a bit of my own history with her, so I’ll just leave it right there.
6. I can’t wait for this 3-game series! I do hope they’ll keep the rioting on the field to a minimum, though.
#3 & #4
The tentacles of this lunacy is touching more and more of society. I’m completely convinced that if society sits by and ignores these young and ignorant loud-mouthed social justice warrior fools in the current crop of upcoming generations and continues to allow them to push their communistic ideological views of the world upon the public, the United States will be finished. It “might” not be finished in the next 10-20 years but it’s doomed after these ideological young wing-nuts get to be the leaders in the United States, and make no mistake about it, these loud-mouth social justice warriors WILL be the next generations of leaders.
The apathy of logically thinking free people will allow the United States to be destroyed.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and loose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln.
Who was it that said something like Democracy is only one of the stages in the course of development from feudalism to capitalism, and from capitalism to Communism? I believe a segment of our society is actively trying to transition our society from what the founding fathers built into communist society. Where do you start the process of major societal change, with the young and the ignorant.
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.” MARTIN NIEMÖLLER
Soon there will be no one left to speak for you.
Think about it.
The Saul David Alinsky devotees, now known as the majority of the Democrat Party and leftward, have been cultivated and indoctrinated under our very noses. Their goal? Destroying American capitalism and Constitutionalism. They lie long and loud about how evil we are as their ideology actually exterminated tens or, perhaps, hundreds of millions.
We assumed no one in their right mind would believe their crap. We were right, but the new proletariat is not in their right minds.
Apparently Alinsky used to host “fart-ins” by getting groups of blacks to eat copious amounts of baked beans before going to symphonies supported by Eastman Kodak.
Maybe this tactic will ‘rise’ to the occasion by progressives for Trump’s 2nd election.
I’m really starting to wonder more and more if we are seeing the fruits of the conspiracy theories that were presented by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt in her book The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America coming to life.
Yes, many Democrats are Communists and the rest seem to be Fascists. What is the difference between Communism and Fascism? In the simplest sense, Communism is totalitarian dictatorship that reduces all the people to slavery, while fascism is totalitarian democracy that strips individual liberties to promote the greater good of society.
There is no real difference, when each plays out to a static state. Both end up like the old USSR: the Elite have power, wealth, and excess, while the common people stand in line for bread… if they are lucky.
So the GWU petition has enough signatures to mandate a response. If the response is anything other than “Ummmm… No.”, the GWU administrators involved should all be sacked immediately.
Also, is there some significance at GWU for hippopotamuses? Or is that just some crazy-ass non-sequitur they threw in to make their idiotic petition just a touch more perplexing?
Jonathan Turley said that “the hippos” would signify “hypocrites.”
So very clever. Good thing that college kids don’t read anything by dead white guys, or they might run across Oscar Wilde; God knows what that would do to their self-esteem.
Of course they should be sacked immediately. The question is, will they be? And the answer; “Umm…no”.
The only think I could think of that would tie in with hippopotamus/river horse would be George Washington’s dentures. It’s a bit of a weak tie, though.
The campus is near the Potomac River, so there’s that.
I thought of that, but the “potamus” part of “hippopotamus” already means “river” (“hippo” means horse), so instead of a pun on the indigenous-based name of the Potomac, it just comes off as redundant, since you could link “hippopotamus” with any river anyway. If that’s the only reason they’re suggesting “hippopotamus”, then their symbolism and wordplay games are far too weak for me to take seriously.
Then again, these are people who think that the idea of a colonial (as in, someone who inhabits a colony created by a source country) can’t be a symbol of a sports team because it needs to be warm and fuzzy. I shouldn’t expect them to be erudite enough to know about the alternatives they’re suggesting.
If I’m lucky, they’re making a Discworld reference (the hippopotamus is a symbol of the city of Ankh-Morpork). More likely, someone will start asking, “hey, why do we think we’re entitled to use all these animals from around the world? Only Africans can use hippopotamuses!” Anyone calling themselves “the Fighting Conquistadors” had already better watch out.
So you’re saying that competitions should only be for the best or fastest. At a recent cross-country competition the athletics club I belong to sent 13 junior teams. Should they only have sent the top team? The parents pay the same club fees for their children whether they are fast or slow so all who want to run can. The club tries to pick the fastest runners for the top team and all the other runners try to be in as quick a team as possible. As for me a 62 year old who is new to running I have no chance of getting into the top masters team (aged over 35) but I enjoyed my run anyway.
Also for our Tuesday night quizzes in the 17 weeks so far this year my team has won 11 times, another team 4 times, and a third team twice. Should the other teams give up coming because they never win?
People should be able to compete whether they are the best or are just along for the enjoyment.
I went 0 for my lifetime in hardball. So what. Didn’t kill me nor did it scar me. I think learning to deal with failure is a valuable thing. I’ve failed at more things than I’ve succeeded at but I’ve also tried a lot of things. I wonder what’ happened to Nike’s “Just do it” campaign?
An interesting take on free speech from a college student:
http://cornellsun.com/2018/05/06/student-presents-thesis-in-underwear-after-professor-questions-choice-of-clothing/
Most of the comments seem to be sensible, at least. I remember finally making compromise with the idea of dress codes when I fully understood the implications of background mindset. I’ll have to post the whole train of thought here later this week when I have time.
“I am not responsible for anyone’s attention because we are capable of thinking for ourselves and we have agency,” Chai said.
Chai is the speaker and yes Chai is responsible for gaining and maintaining the attention of her audience. The question becomes does she want the attention of the audience to be focused on the pubic hair protruding from her panties (or the lack thereof) or the content of her speech.
Chai is an ignorant fool. The professor did what a real world teaching professor should do during a trial run by making every single detail of what she presented including her wardrobe part of the presentation, this is what happens in the real world and the self-absorbed little twit of a student did what all idiotic snowflakes do, take offense and go completely off the rails.
Jack, off-topic: Is that photo an un-doctored image?
Is there really a way for the rising sun to shine all the way through that house, just like it appears? If so, WHERE IS THAT? I mean, it looks a little like Mount Vernon, but…that just can’t be.
If you look at the photos of both sides of the house at Mt. Vernon, there is actually a window on the back of the house that is inline with that window on the front. So it is entirely possible for the sun to shine directly through the house. I’ve never been on the 3rd floor of Mt. Vernon to see if there is anything blocking it although if you look at how many of the big houses were designed in that period of time the center sections were very open from front to rear.
It’s Mt. Vernon.
Thank you both. I recall a “dormer” window on the “Potomac front” that is horizontally about in-line with that round window. But, in my memory, it did not seem vertically in-line (being close to, but not identical to, the same height off the ground). But of course it is not hard to imagine that a rising sun could cast light through both windows at the same time, even if the windows are not at the same height. It’s just been too long since I visited there – love the place, and the neighboring areas – have friends and business associates who live in the vicinity. I vow: “I shall return…”
Primary results are in, I’ll say this for Mitch McConnell, he’s such a gracious winner.
Bit more complicated than meets the eye there. That is a meme created from the Narcos series title frame, wherein the Escobar character is in a cocaine blizzard. This meme, by McConnell, is in response to multiple references and allegations about his involvement in cocaine smuggling which were made by Don Blankenship during the course of the GOP primary in W. Virginia. Blankenship was running against “the swamp” and McConnell was a useful, and nearby, example. McConnell’s team created a pretty funny meme, (it’s accurate down to the shirt), and expressed their pleasure at Blankenship’s loss. It’s politics, and fairly well done, as “fuck-yous” go. As to McConnell’s graciousness, how kind of you to notice.
I got the joke.
But may I ask, is what we do?
It’s a serious question. In November there’s 435 house races, 35, I think senate races and a bunch of governors and attorneys general. Should I be prepping 250-300 Fuck-Yous to use? I mean, even in a bad year for someone’s political leaning they’ll still have 200 or so that go their way right? That’s a lot of Fuck Yous and I’m going to have to start working right now to be ready with them.
valkygrrl wrote, “It’s a serious question. In November there’s 435 house races, 35, I think senate races and a bunch of governors and attorneys general. Should I be prepping 250-300 Fuck-Yous to use? I mean, even in a bad year for someone’s political leaning they’ll still have 200 or so that go their way right? That’s a lot of Fuck Yous and I’m going to have to start working right now to be ready with them.”
Here’s a “serious” answer.
You might as well use the (#7) “Tit for Tat” because (#2) “They’re Just as Bad”, heck valkygrrl (#1) “Everybody does it” and since we know that (#4) “If it isn’t illegal, it’s ethical” might as well do it everyone knows that (#2A) “They had it coming” anyway, right?
That really is quite an argument to present on Ethics Alarms. 😉
I got the joke.-
What is your comment about? You wanted to share the joke? Has McConnell has abrogated southern courtesy? Twitter decorum was not upheld? He’s a comic genius? Political jabs aren’t nice? You’re a disappointed Blankenship supporter? Why is he a gracious winner, when it wasn’t his primary? Elaine Chao is married to an asshole? A meme master? You are doing stream-of-consciousness, comment-posting performance art?
Er, wrong. I write from Australia, so I know from exposure to local background information. See for, instance, The Wild Colonial Boy – which is not about a colonised aborigine, or even (in the original) about someone who even started in the colonies.
“There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can’t.”
A similar thing happened last year in Vermont. The South Burlington, VT high school sports teams are ‘The Rebels”. In the news article, it states that the logo used to feature a figure that looked “like a Confederate soldier”. People are protesting to have this ‘racism’ removed. No one in the entire town or school seems to realize that this is probably is Revolutionary War soldier, that ‘the Rebels’ refer to the colonial forces, and that Vermont was not part of the Confederacy. Such is the instruction by our highly trained professional union ‘educators’.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/05/14/school-nickname-change-divides-vermont-community
#4 reminds me of a video I saw the other day of Brett Weinstein talking about 8 bad assumptions made by SJWs. One of the assumptions was that meritocracy is a white supremacist trick, followed by the belief that you can simply swap people and have the same results. Seems like another example of both.