America --home of the brave victim?

 https://www.city-journal.org/article/small-business-administration-federal-contracts-race-discrimination-essays?

"The Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision ruled that racial preferences in university admissions are unconstitutional. Since that decision, universities have used applicants’ personal essays about discrimination as a backdoor way to continue racial favoritism."

How to turn the application process into a fiction writing class.

What is Woke?

Richard Hanania is an American writer and political science researcher. He has written for such publications as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Quillette. He is the author of ‘The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics’

Where Woke REALLY Comes From - Richard Hanania (youtube.com)

00:00 Introduction00:32 The Definition of Woke 04:33 Are Conspiring or Well-Meaning People at It’s Roots? 08:02 How is Wokeness Affecting Law in America? 11:20 The Impact of Social Media on the Woke Movement 17:12 How Can Legal Quotas Be Filled in Certain Sectors? 19:30 Does Disparity Equal Discrimination? 23:17 Can Reparation Ever Be Made for Historical Guilt? 27:45 Fixing the Civil Rights Laws 31:53 Why Haven't Past Republican Presidents Tackled These Issues? 35:52 Have We Reached Peak Woke? 41:49 Richard's Past Writings and Views 47:05 Is the Backlash Worse than the Woke People? 52:38 Richard's Take on the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict 1:00:12 What's the One Thing We're Not Talking About?

Who will be left?

Michelle Wu, daughter of Taiwanese American immigrants, is the racist mayor of Boston. She decided company (i.e. city) holiday parties based on ethnicity, color, sexual preferences and disability could add some festive cheer to equity and diversity. Does she know nothing of the roots of what is now called Wokeism, but the rest of us know as Marxism? Did her parents never tell her about Chairman Mao? Once you successfully get people separated by political cause, skin color, disability, LGBTQxyz and gender confusion, and the people you insult just go along with it, then further division is required. Lesbians and gays have little in common, so they'll be in separate party rooms; then blacks by shades of white privilege; then immigrants from Mexico from Cuban immigrants; then Jamaicans from Haitians; then quadriplegics from amputees; and then short, fat transmen from tall, muscular transwomen, and of course the Taiwanese speakers from the Mandarin speakers. The guest list and room arrangements could get messy, not to mention tacky.

I wonder if Mayor Wu would be in office if no whites had voted for her.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/boston-mayor-takes-heat-electeds-color-holiday-party-george-wallace-would-approve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj9L871jQtk  The non-apology apology "we add to traditions"

https://www.legit.ng/ask-legit/biographies/1528958-who-conor-pewarski-mayor-michelle-wus-husband/

Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College

Democrats are not getting the memo. They are rubbing their hands with glee even though the majority of Americans agree they shouldn't be discriminating against Asian Americans, who [shock and awe] are not "one" group. Harvard has always had quotas for certain groups and it always will. It's been women, or Jews, or Asians. They look for work arounds, like the word "diversity" in Powell's opinion in the Bakke decision 45 years ago. That one word which now means the opposite of what it meant opened the door to sneak in DEI at every level from kindergarten to grad school as a "positive." They claimed to end quotas and affirmative action with "diversity." Then among themselves they agreed to not look at cello or violin accomplishments or nerdy computer hobbies so they could eliminate students with immigrant parents who work for Google in favor of one who produced hip hop videos with a millionaire dad.

 
I'd give you a good link, except this crazy AI Chat-gpt keeps trying to write my argument. So this will remain an opinion, mine and thousands of others.

Tip:  Save anything you have in print.  It is lost forever on the internet, especially with the AI and as we librarians say, To the victor belong the archives.

Obesity and discrimination

Someone sent me a link about obesity by Theodore Dalrymple. There was a paywall, so I didn't read it, but wondered--was she telling me something? Bob and I are both 30 pounds heavier than when we met in 1959.

So I did a search, "Dalrymple obesity" and see there are over a decade of articles by him, each just as alarming as the previous. It seems one is no longer "obese" but "has obesity." That's an important language change. It's a disease in the new medical speak, he says (he doesn't seem to agree with that language). Now it's a pandemic larger than the one we're in right now and accounts for a high death rate. And over 2 billion (in 2014) globally have this disease. It used to be a disease of the rich, but now it's a disease of the poor.

 
Dalrymple, a physician, admits he's prejudiced toward personal responsibility. He's balanced enough to point out evidence going a different direction, like a study on antibiotics which is so much more common in the last 50 years, particularly given to children. Something similar has often occurred to me--we consume an alarming amount of medicines, supplements, toxins, and chemicals that produce a stew that probably isn't fit for human consumption--the fluoride in water for tooth decay to zinc oxide for skin protection to antibiotics in the meat. And there must be hundreds of examples. I take 2 prescriptions for my heart and one for my bones, then I toss down non-prescription fish oil for my bursitis (it works), calcium for my bones, and Vit. B complex for my brain health (not sure that's working). Your mileage will vary.

However, whether obesity is a "have" or an "is", overweight people of every ethnic group, sex, age, and race face serious discrimination and bullying everyday. I believe it is far worse than racial discrimination and because it affects both health and careers, existing or new laws and regulations don't stop it. There have been advocates, support groups and ad campaigns, urging the non-obese who are now the minority to just be kind, nice, and non-prejudiced, but so far I don't see it working.

 
So while the jury is out on the cause of 73.6% of Americans being either overweight or obese, it's everyone's responsibility to be kinder and stop the discrimination. No rioting or culture cancelling necessary.

How is deplatforming different than any other discrimination?

Our internet was out this morning so I was watching via antenna a Detroit station which featured a story about a local civil rights legend. There was film of her (now deceased) retelling her story of being denied service at a recreation park (or something public) because of her skin color. It reminded me of Big Tech denying President Trump service any Democrat, anarchist or Palestinian terrorist can have because he exposes the swamp and collusion with oligarchs which threatens them.

Wall Street Journal: "Facebook Inc. said it is suspending Donald Trump’s accounts for two years, formalizing a long-term penalty for the former U.S. president after its independent Oversight Board said the company was wrong to keep the ban open-ended. 

Facebook said it would revisit the suspension two years from the date of its initial move to suspend him on Jan. 7, the day after the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Assuming he is then reinstated, Mr. Trump will face a “strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions” if he commits further violations, including permanent removal of his pages and accounts, the company said. 

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously expressed a desire to run an open platform enabling free speech. So much for that. This latest decision to attempt to edit U.S. political speech means many more editing decisions await. The Journal reporters note:
In responding to the board’s criticism, Facebook also opens the door for more, as the company will now be required to make more subjective decisions on whether posts from political figures violate its rules surrounding misinformation, hate speech and other issues that are hotly debated. Those judgment calls are likely to escalate partisan complaints around whether the company is being fair in how it applies the rules.

Will Facebook now ban Dr. Anthony Fauci and other scientists who dismissed the idea of a laboratory origin for Covid-19 in 2020?"

There are protected classes at Ohio State

Although Ohio State University claims “The university recruits and selects the most qualified individuals for open positions” when you read who is “protected” by the policies of affirmative action and equal opportunity, you see that isn’t true.

“Ohio State does not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, HIV/AIDS status, military status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or protected veteran status, or any other bases under the law, in its education program or activity, which includes employment.

In addition, the university complies with Executive Order 2019-05D, which prohibits any Ohio State employee from discriminating against any other employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin (ancestry), military status (past, present or future), disability, age (40 years or older), status as a parent during pregnancy and immediately after the birth of a child, status as a parent of a young child, status as a foster parent, genetic information, or sexual orientation, as those terms are defined in Ohio law, federal law, and previous Executive Orders, in making any of the following employment-related decisions:

a. Hiring b. Layoff c. Termination d. Transfer e. Promotion f. Demotion g. Rate of Compensation h. Eligibility for In-Service Training Programs

Then we get into a long list of definitions which includes:

Discrimination (disparate treatment and disparate impact) occurs when an adverse action is taken under university authority against a university community member in an educational program or activity and the action is based upon one’s s protected class status. Disparate treatment occurs when one suffers less favorable treatment than others because of their protected class status. Disparate impact occurs when a university policy or practice, although neutral on its face, adversely impacts persons in a protected class.

There is no recourse under university rules if a healthy, white male is not selected for the job even if he is the most qualified, or if he is on the job and experiencing harassment, bullying, unequal assignments, hate speech, unwanted sexual advancements, cyber threats, political discrimination, etc. He’s not protected. But a transfemale lesbian with Asian heritage could file for discrimination for exactly the same workplace experiences.  Actually, the rules are not for the workplace—they include off campus and virtual spaces.

And yes, the pregnancy policy uses the words, “status as a parent during pregnancy” rather than “pregnant woman,” because we all know that in the 21st century men can be mothers too.

This hiring/enrollment policy is not new, but it is regularly revised (I’m quoting from a draft revision) to keep up with evolving identity politics and social injustices.  When I was responsible for hiring a paraprofessional assistant back in the early 1990s, I was first required to interview candidates which common sense would disqualify in the “real” world of business.  I remember the ex-convict who wanted a grounds keeping, outdoor job, but had worked as a student staff in one of the libraries 20 years before so he was sent by personnel and I had to interview him.  Or a candidate who was in a wheelchair and would not be able to shelve books higher than her head or get her wheelchair through the of book shelves aisles.

Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-Discrimination/Harassment policy (osu.edu)

The No-Fear Act

Today when I was looking up some COVID19 statistics at the CDC site, I noticed something at the bottom of the page called the "No-FEAR" Act. Have you heard of that? Trust me, President Trump hasn't removed all the ridiculous red tape and piles of useless paperwork in DC. "The Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that seeks to discourage federal managers and supervisors from engaging in unlawful discrimination and retaliation. It is popularly called the No-FEAR Act, and is also known as Public Law 107–174."

I'm not sure where the final total of these discrimination and retaliation reports goes, but every government department and agency seems to be required to fill them out. . . quarterly. Then annually, then compare them to the last 4 years (at least that's all I found so I was looking at annual totals from Obama years also). I didn't investigate in depth--only about 10 minutes. What I found out from the agencies I looked at is that it takes about 200 days to investigate a complaint (race, color, religion, reprisal, sex, PDA, national origin, equity pay, age, genetics (?), awards ). The biggest complaints seemed to be performance evaluations and non-sexual harassment. There were miniscule number of filings considering the size of some of the agencies, and in most cases there were zero findings of discrimination and retaliation. Maybe if you complain about your boss, the investigation and findings would be to get demoted to this awful job.

https://www.opm.gov/equal-employment-opportunity/no-fear-act/

https://www.cdc.gov/eeo/nofearact/index.htm

https://www.fema.gov/about/offices/equal-rights/no-fear-act

https://home.treasury.gov/footer/no-fear-act

The most detailed report was the Bureau of Consumer Financial  Protection which is awash in helpful and eye opening acronyms  https://home.treasury.gov/footer/no-fear-act

Is there womb discrimination?

Democrats are OK with discrimination because of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, or disability as long as it results in the death of an inconvenient baby in the womb. Democrats have been brutal to Justice Clarence Thomas as long as I can remember, but it has only made him stronger.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/06/05/clarence-thomas-shows-lefts-hypocrisy-on-discrimination/

The No-Fear Act

I had never heard of the No FEAR act until I came across it in a government document. "On May 15, 2002, Congress enacted the ‘‘Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002,’’ which is now known as the No FEAR Act. One purpose of the No FEAR Act is to ‘‘require that Federal agencies be accountable for violations of antidiscrimination and whistleblower protection laws.’’ Pub. L. 107–174, Summary. In support of this purpose, Congress found that ‘‘agencies cannot be run effectively if those agencies practice or tolerate discrimination.’’ Pub. L. 107– 74, Title I, General Provisions, section 101(1)." So I looked at the 2019 report to see what was going on in violations of the various protection laws, and see that since 2016 the complaints have dropped about 1/3. Didn't see that any resulted in a finding of discrimination after a lengthy investigation and hearing. https://www.cdc.gov/eeo/docs/2019-No-Fear-Tables-2nd-Qtr-04-9-2019.pdf

Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans

Harvard violates the law by discriminating against Asian Americans.  If unbiased standards were followed their Asian American incoming class would be about 43% instead of 19%.  The Left's desire to balance everything by race doesn't seem to apply to basketball and football, does it.

https://www.prageru.com/video/is-harvard-racist/

Intersectionality, multiculturalism, inclusion, and diversity--all except white men

Before the Jews were rounded up and killed, there was first a campaign to demonize them--to depict them as less than human. Is the same thing happening to white men? Not that they will go to the gas chambers--they just won't be able to get a job.

The so-called pay gap

“Feminists, and leading politicians, make much of the so-called gender pay gap which ostensibly favours men. But actually women under 35 years old and working full time have a higher median hourly pay rate than men of the same age. In view of the greater number of women graduates, this disparity in favour of young women is set to increase. Any pay gap in favour of men sets in only once a woman has children. This is due to the woman’s diminished commitment to work due to preferring to prioritise child care instead (and the new father’s increased commitment to work in order to earn more to support the family). The so-called pay gap is actually a parenting gap. That the much vaunted pay gap is not valid is now admitted even by some feminists, e.g., Hannah Rosin who has used the observation of women’s higher pay to support her triumphalist cry of “The End of Men” (book title). When women earned less it was discrimination, now that men earn less it is because men are useless has-beens. Nice.” Introduction to the Disadvantages faced by Men and Boys

http://empathygap.uk/?page_id=22

Women in technology fields

I'm not the least bit concerned about the underrepresentation of women in the tech industry. Those companies hire those who can make them a profit, including a disproportionate number of foreign workers. They all lean heavily to the Left, so take it up with the protestors. Women also don't choose the same career track in college, and when they do get into tech/computer work, many don't like the culture, nerdy, male and strange. No one worried that in my career field (library science) women outnumber the men at all levels. Women outnumber men in almost all the professional colleges--law, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, and Dartmouth has reported finally women outnumber men in engineering. In many cities, women in similar age groups and education level earn more than similarly qualified men. Where are the protests? A capitalist will look at the bottom line, and if that bottom is on a woman, she gets the job.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/10/women-are-more-concerned-than-men-about-gender-discrimination-in-tech-industry/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2016/04/04/u-s-cities-where-women-earn-more-than-men/#5645bc4c4544

Discrimination against Trump voters

Many Hispanics, blacks, Muslims and women voted for Donald Trump.  Therefore, I'm surprised by the posts and articles I see on the internet recommending discrimination against Republicans or Trump supporters on the basis of their politics or party affiliation, based on the "values" of the company or CEO. One in New Mexico has claimed he will no longer accept Republicans as customers. Democrats/progressives are still lying about the basket of deplorables.  Donald Trump's edge with white voters was barely above Romney's in 2012 and his advantage over Clinton was luring minorities and women off the diversity plantation to escape to freedom of thought. In Wisconsin it was a swing of about 8% moving from Obama voters to Trump voters. And this was the case in several "blue wall" states.  During the last 8 years they were ignored except when brought out as trophies. At  this moment we have on-going riots, property destruction and an uptick in violence against police, who are over 1/3 minority.  Maybe it will be the same with Trump, but what have they got to lose?

Corporate America and liberal cronyism

"For far too many years, corporate America has been lending its voice, money and power to liberal politicians, causes and organizations. From ObamaCare to gay marriage to federal energy policy, the past seven years of the Obama Administration has coincided with an expansive growth of corporate statism and corporate liberalism," said National Center Free Enterprise Project Director Justin Danhof, Esq. "While the exponential growth of cronyism has coincided with President Obama's time in office, it isn't coincidental. The National Center's Free Enterprise Project will bring the fight for liberty to corporate America in earnest this year. The battle starts this week."

. . . "[John] Deere has often taken actions that run counter to its duties as a for-profit, publicly-held company," said Danhof. "For example, when liberal politicians in Washington, D.C. needed corporate support for their repeated attempts to shackle the economy with cap-and-trade schemes on carbon emissions, John Deere happily obliged."

. . . "Last spring, Apple CEO Tim Cook joined with many corporate executives and much of the liberal media in attacking Americans of faith. Writing in the Washington Post, Cook falsely claimed that attempts to enact religious freedom laws in Arkansas and Indiana "would allow people to discriminate against their neighbors."(Press Release)

"Apple operates in 17 nations in which homosexual activity is illegal. In four of those, it is punishable by death. Women have almost no rights in numerous countries in which Apple does business. A female could not even drive a shipment of iPhones to Apple’s sales location in Saudi Arabia, or work there without a male’s permission." (Press Release)

Proxy Statement

Apple's response the the human rights violations in countries where it has business operations was to recommend against #7 because it has products loved in all countries.  That is simplifying it, but that's what it sounded like to me.

Black Professor reports on discrimination and bullying

“I can confidently say that when I was in graduate school, my identity as a Christian was far more under attack than my identity as a black,”

“I was repeatedly informed, ” [George] Yancey continued, “that Christians like me were the source of most of the problems in our society, and challenged to leave my Christian identity behind. Like many Christians today, I did not feel safe.”

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442224070/So-Many-Christians-So-Few-Lions-Is-There-Christianophobia-in-the-United-States

Usually those who do not like blacks or Muslims admit that they are intolerant but simply try to justify their intolerance. Those with Christianophobia tend to deny that they are intolerant but rather that they are fairly interpreting social reality.

Envisioning themselves as fair and free of intolerance allows them to blame those they detest rather than recognize how their emotions have distorted their intellectual judgments.

By documenting just how hateful some of the attitudes are toward Christians, and who tends to have such hateful attitudes, I hope to bring Christianophobia into the light so that we, as a society, can discuss this social problem and how we might address bigotry in all of its myriad forms.

http://freethinker.co.uk/2015/01/29/so-many-christians-so-few-lions/

Note: “So many Christians so few lions” is an anti-Christian  bumper sticker/slogan, which I assume is the reason for the title of the book.

http://heterodoxacademy.org/2015/11/24/i-should-not-write-this-op-ed-confessions-of-a-non-leftist-professor/

The No Fear Act

I had never heard of the "No Fear Act," which is victim program (discrimination and whistleblower) instituted in 2002 (Bush). Much of the Bush years were scrubbed when Obama came into office, so what I saw begins with the current administration with 2010 report. Scrolling down 9 pages of figures for USDA 2014 (including repeat filers) I see most complaint findings were usually zero--no one disciplined, or fired, or promoted or demoted. Must be somewhat sluggish, too, as many complaints were carried over year to year, or were pending. But it's one of the few government reports I've seen that is current--filed quarterly. “Retaliation” is the most frequently alleged basis in formal EEO complaints at USDA, then race, sex and age. http://www.usda.gov/nofear/index.html

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program."

Some of the filers used multiple categories. The bookkeeping alone must eat up millions of dollars considering all the agencies that must comply. But worst of all, it pigeon holes employees by differences.

How universities remain biased and political

No one else can get on the faculty. Conservatives. Christians. Pro-Life. Creationists.  NIMBY. You have a better chance of being hired by a major university if you are a shoe bomber than a conservative pro-lifer. Even if hired to avoid discrimination charges, you’d have to face your political enemies at promotion and tenure review.

“The University of Iowa's law-school faculty, like most law-school faculties, is overwhelmingly liberal. When Ms. Wagner was considered for the job, the law school had only one Republican on its 50-member faculty, according to party registration records obtained from the Iowa Secretary of State, and he had joined the faculty 25 years earlier. . .

Hiring decisions should be based on candidates' merits, including their ability to vigorously present in the classroom and criticize conservative as well as progressive views. If the Eighth Circuit protects Teresa Wagner's constitutional rights, the court will also bolster legal education in America by promoting its depoliticization.”

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304691904579346401360317462?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304691904579346401360317462.html

Isn't this what the diversity czar recommends?

B. Joseph White, University of Illinois president, resigned amid reports the school admitted politically connected applicants over more qualified at the Urbana campus (my alma mater). Sounds like today's news stories about Mark Lloyd. And what a throw back to the 50s. When I went to school, there was a terrific dating ratio created by the school's policy on women. We were a rather select minority because standards were higher for women applicants--I think you had to be in the upper 10% of your graduating class, but for men it was probably upper third. Maybe that's an urban legend, but that's what I was told when I asked why it was 4:1, men to women. Really, if you couldn't get a date for Friday night. . . I'm just saying.

Anyway, back to my point. We now have within the Obama administration a "diversity czar," Mark Lloyd, who believes in order to move minorities (apparently don't have to be poor or disadvantaged--just have to have the right skin color) to positions of power, some in the majority group (i.e., people of European roots who haven't co-mingled their genes) will have to voluntarily (or not) step down. Nothing about qualifications, skills, merit, intelligence. Just ethnicity. Just color. Hmmm. Call me crazy but I think America went that route and decided it wasn't right. This should make some of Obama's closest associates a little nervous, like Buffy and Toes and Dr. Death. I'm not sure being a Jew gets you any points with Mr. Lloyd, or even being a white, female union activist. Unless Buffy is a lesbian, then she's safe. Being a well connected to radicals and communists, wealthy black Chicagoan will "move you on up to the East side."

I'm really not familiar with White or the allegations, but when Blago and Rezko's names come up, the crumbs always seems to lead to Obama, so I'm sure it's best for all if he just fades to gray.