Monday, May 23, 2016

The Joys of Mandatory Workplace Diversity Training, a Guided Tour


NRO

  . . . "Just a few clicks into the sterile legalese, I was quickly reminded why I’d developed such an instinctive resentment of the task. Diversity-and-inclusion training is a modern necessity for any substantial employer, and I do not doubt that a diverse and inclusive workforce drives innovation and engagement, thereby enhancing the bottom line. 



But it cannot be ignored that the reason diversity training exists as a mandate rather than an option is that trial lawyers have scared corporations into a defensive pose. Because large companies cannot trust that management in multiple locations will navigate the myriad legal tar pits that may result in a lawsuit, they are driven to establish that they’ve done their utmost to prevent a lapse. In other words, the whole thing has become a check-the-box activity: You certify that you’ve received the training, and we’ll produce that document in a court of law should an applicable suit be filed against us." . . .


. . . "People don’t like being treated like dull children, no matter how much effort you put into crafting diversity scenarios or uploading cheerful stock photography. And people don’t like operating under an ever-expanding list of unwitting micro-aggressions. And seemingly out of resourceful paths to take, they’ve turned to Trump as a sort of collective middle finger to the grievance culture ceaselessly holding them accountable for some new misdeed." 



Thanks, Bernie!

Thomas Lifson  "Bernie Sanders has just contributed a sound bite to the Trump campaign that will be played over and over again as the election approaches.  Speaking with John Dickerson on CBS’s Face the Nation yesterday, Sanders confirmed Donald Trump’s critique of the corrupt political system that includes both parties.
"With the release of the movie Clinton Cash, documenting the obscene amounts of money collected by both Clintons from wealthy interests with business before the federal government, the pattern of corruption that would return to the White House with the Clintons is certain to be the major issue of the Trump campaign.
Particularly in outreach to Sanders supporters, his words yesterday will be particularly useful:
Frankly, what the Democratic Party is about is people running around to rich people’s homes and raising obscene sums of money from wealthy people.
"Watch it here:

Any Way The Wind Blows

HopeNChange


. . . "Obama hosted his final White House Science Fair (from which the priceless picture above was taken) and used the opportunity to form a Kids Advisory Science Committee to help him come up with ways to curtail climate change and cure cancer. A funny idea, right? Right...?

"Only we couldn't bring ourselves to joke about it (although we were itching to drag out our old "Ahmed the Clockmaker" material). Because unlike Obama's legacy, which will bring nothing but grief, these math and science-oriented kids really will be the ones working to invent solutions for the world's many challenges.  And despite Hope n' Change's usually cynical attitude, that's something we actually believe is worth celebrating.

"Plus, it's refreshing to see the president turning his interest to what goes on in school classrooms rather than school bathrooms. Too bad it's taken 8 years for him to do so."

Scopes

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Japan's unease with US military presence deepens as former marine admits murdering woman in Okinawa

UK Telegraph  
Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration in Naha, Okinawa island, southern Japan. More than 2,500 participants gathered in Naha Omoro town park to protest against the construction of a US Marine Corps air base in Nago's Henoko district, the day of the 44th anniversary of the island's reversion from the US. 


"An American military base worker has admitted strangling a young woman found dead near a roadside in Japan’s southern Okinawa region, according to local media reports.
"Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 32, was arrested by police on suspicion of abandoning the body of Rina Shimabukuro, a 20-year-old office worker, who disappeared last month.
"The arrest comes at a particularly sensitive time in US-Japan relations, with Barack Obama, the US president, due to arrive in Japan next week for the Group of Seven summit in Mie Prefecture.
"Mr Obama will be hoping that tensions surrounding the arrest and protests in relation to the presence of American military in Okinawa will not overshadow his visit, during which he plans to become the first acting US president to visit nuclear-hit Hiroshima city.

Will it be wise to bring Bill Clinton's womanizing into this debate?

Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel

Maybe it's time for NBC to fire Andrea Mitchell    . . . "Recently, Andrea Mitchell of NBC, in response to Donald Trump's reminding Sean Hannity's viewers of Bill Clinton's assault of Juanita Broaddrick, claimed that Ms. Broaddrick's assertion of rape has been "discredited."  I have closely followed Bill Clinton's marital meanderings for over 20 years, with particular regard to Ms. Broaddrick's very serious charge, and I am completely unaware of any authoritative assertion of such a discrediting event.  Perhaps Ms. Mitchell would be kind enough to provide a scintilla of evidence for her charge." . . .

Hillary said Bill's accusers will have a lot to answer for.  . . . "Less than two weeks later, on February 8, former high level Clinton White House operative George Stephanopoulos said on the ABC News Sunday morning talk show This Week that the Clinton administration was threatening to go scorched earth on Clinton’s accusers and investigators by employing the ‘Ellen Rometsch strategy’ should they not back down.

"The ‘Ellen Rometsch strategy’ involved blackmailing into silence Clinton accusers, investigators and political opponents by threatening to expose their backgrounds if they did not back off." . . .

Trump might be on shaky ground by attacking Bill  . . . "Anyone who lived through the 1990s remembers that whenever Republicans bring up Clinton's sex life, it is usually the Republicans who lose. And Bill isn't the candidate this time around. His wife is." . . .
. . . "What Trump appears to be trying to do is make that story less one-sided. There are accusations against Trump, but also against Bill Clinton. And in he-said-she-said disputes between Bill Clinton and women, Hillary did not always take the women's sides." . . .

Lucianne Goldberg: ‘This Is Going To Be A Highly Sexed Campaign… I Believed Every One Of These Women’

2016 : THE RACE

Bill-Clinton-cigar

. . . "Goldberg entered history when she famously advised former White House staffer Linda Tripp to record hours of personal conversations with Lewinsky during which the White House intern discussed her affair with Clinton at length.
"Tripp’s recordings were pivotal in breaking the Lewinsky story, which became public after the up-and-coming Matt Drudge reported on his newly minted website,Drudgereport.com, that editors at Newsweek had nixed a story on the subject.
"Goldberg is the founder and proprietor of the popular news forum website Lucianne.com. (Ed. She is also the mother of conservative writer Jonah Goldberg , a contributor to National Review )
“ 'I’ve talked to most of the women,” Goldberg stated. “You can’t talk to them all, life’s not long enough. But the women that became public reached out to me because of my involvement with the Lewinsky affair.”
"I asked whether she found Clinton’s accusers and mistresses to be credible.
"She replied:" . . .

The “Socialism” Monopoly Game

Patterico's Pontifications  . . . "I plan to post more memes and videos like this, and encourage everyone to share them on social media or wherever you do your Internet stuff. One of my main hobby horses these days is to find ways to counter those ridiculous pro-socialism memes we see from the BernieBots. There are different levels of complexity to the arguments that can be made. But sometimes the best argument is a very simple and amusing visual that makes the point that your Free Stuff comes at the expense of overwhelming and constant taxation." . . .

Screen Shot 2016-05-19 at 7.05.27 PM


Saturday, May 21, 2016

The Constitution Is My Speech Permit


"My former attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) recently filed a lawsuit they never should have had to file. In the suit, they are representing a Christian student group at North Carolina State University (NCSU). At issue is an NCSU policy requiring a permit for any kind of student speech or communication anywhere on campus. This policy is a direct affront to the First Amendment, which is the only permit needed to speak on a public university campus.

"The policy itself is outrageous. To make matters worse, NCSU only selectively enforces the policy as they did against the plaintiffs, Grace Christian Life, which is a registered student organization. Elevating audacity to a Zen art form, petty university officials told these Christians that they needed a permit to speak with other students in, of all places, the student union.

"The controversy began in September of 2015 when NCSU officials demanded members of Grace Christian Life stop approaching other students in the Talley Student Union to engage in religious discussions or even to simply invite them to attend Grace Christian Life events. So the group cooperated and obtained a permit to set up a table in the student union in January." . . .

68 Years Ago Pres. Truman Recognized Israel Over State Dept. Objections (Would Obama Have Done Same Thing?)

The Lid

The Lid
68 Years Ago Pres. Truman Recognized Israel Over State Dept. Objections (Would Obama Have Done Same Thing?)

"Sixty-eight years ago tonight (by the Hebrew calendar) the world saw a real miracle from God. After a wait of almost 2,000 years, there Jewish people once again had a nation-state, as Israel declaring her independence.
"The Jewish State’s existence would have been very short lived were it not for the strong will of President Harry S Truman, who became the new State’s first international supporter over the objections of his very popular and powerful Secretary of State George Marshall.  The president didn’t make his decision because of politics but like so much of what Truman did he supported Israel because he thought it was the right thing to do. Of course some attributed Truman’s stance to somethingisrael_beginselse. When Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Isaac Herzog, visited the White House after Israel declared her independence he told Truman, “God put you in your mother’s womb so that you would be the instrument to bring the rebirth of Israel after 2000 years.”
"Based on the past seven years it is reasonable to believe that if Barack Obama was president 68 years ago, Israel may very well have been cast aside in deference to the King of Saudi Arabia and the Arab League. He most probably would have tried to negate the UN Partition Plan, as most in the State Department recommended in 1948, because President Obama and the Democratic Party are reluctant supporters of Israel who believe the United States should lead from behind. That wasn’t Harry Truman’s style.

“What I am trying to do is make the whole world safe for Jews,” Harry Truman wrote as he agonized over his decision to recognize a Jewish state in Palestine." . . .
 TrumanRecognizesIsrael_PPPA (1)

Alan Colmes: Jesus Was The First Transgender Man

Via Alan.com

Screen Shot 2016-05-21 at 12.59.36 PM

"Alan is a blithering idiot. And he leaves out any transgender people born before Jesus was. Obviously showing transgender-phobia…
Alan Colmes: "Suzanne DeWitt Hall explains:""
Suzanne DeWitt Hall explains:
Eve is a fascinating creature for many reasons. The Bible tells us she is the first example of human cloning…But the fun doesn’t stop there. If we take the Genesis account in it’s literal meaning, as conservative Christians demand that we do, she is also the first case of a transgender woman. God reached into Adam, pulled out a bit of rib bone, and grew Eve from that XY DNA into Adam’s companion. She was created genetically male, and yet trans-formed into woman.
Then along comes Jesus and the whole pattern is both repeated and reversed. The first couple’s refusal to cooperate is turned around by Mary’s yes, and the second act of cloning occurs. The Holy Spirit comes upon the second Eve, and the child takes flesh from her and is born. Born of her flesh. Born with XX chromosome pairing. Born genetically female, and yet trans-formed into man.

Target CEO Blames Global Warming, Not Bathroom Policy, for Hurting Sales…

Mooch Target

"He got his information from the secret Target shopper.
"Via Breitbart:
"As retailer Target sees its stock plummeting and sales dropping in the midst of a boycott over its recently announced pro-transgender bathroom policy, the company’s CEO is insisting the weather is the cause of falling sales, not the company’s bathroom policy.
In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Target CEO Brian Cornell pegged the downturn in the company’s fortunes to the cold weather as opposed to anything the company itself is doing or not doing.
“It’s been a very wet and cold start to the year and it’s reflected in our sales,” Cornell told the paper. “We haven’t seen anything from a structural standpoint that gives us pause.”
In other words, the weather is responsible for the downturn, not Target’s “structural” transgender bathroom policy
.

Does Obama's Troubled Childhood Explain His Bathroom Weirdness?

I was not sure about posting this as it seemed a bit National Enquirer-ish. This same author wrote a companion article, "Obama’s great bathroom edict" , which we have published below this one.

American Thinker . . . "All this should be irrelevant, but it is not – certainly not when the president of the United States issues decrees to our school systems that directly affect the psychological development of children.  The Western world has seen major "revolutionary" movements based on assumed or real sexual desires and behavior.  Sexuality and sexual identity (two different things) have become deliberately politicized.  One major lethal epidemic has already killed hundreds of thousands of (mostly) young men.  Our culture has become so sexualized that we cannot visit a web page without being swamped by soft porn images.

"Obama's "Bathroom Edict" is an obvious abuse of presidential power.  It should not be obeyed, even if parents and teachers have to mount a major resistance campaign.  The fact that it hasn't already stirred enormous public outrage shows how desensitized we have become."
By James Lewis, as is this next article:

Obama’s great bathroom edict   The Obama administration is full of oddities – all ignored by the media. 
 . . . 
"And now we have Obama’s Bathroom Gender Edict, telling local school districts to let boys and girls from six to sixteen decide whichever bathroom they “really” identify with, regardless of the rights of others.  The president of the United States is coming to rescue you from gender-assignment tyranny, children!
"Somehow the Founders forgot to include that as one of the enumerated powers of the president.
"Troubling?  Weird?  Yes, you might think so.
"The delicate growth of gender identity is one of the most emotionally sensitive threads in human life.  Our commissars of P.C. have no right to meddle in anyone’s sexuality or personal identity.  Privacy protection is even more important to the most vulnerable among us. 
"Obama’s bathroom meddling is therefore unbelievably arrogant and potentially destructive.  Adults have a duty to protect children from exactly that kind of invasive, ruthless arrogance.  Children need privacy and autonomy just as the rest of us do. 
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
"Stay out of it, Mr. President, and leave those matters to parents and children themselves."
legalinsurrection