While confident you have heard numerous accolades recognizing your extraordinary work and stellar contribution to the cruciality of the national political dialogue, I am compelled to join in all such sentiments accorded to you. Few can stand upon your shoulders!
As in any hollyweird horror flick, the monster will need to be killed three times. We’re only at the beginning of the end of this crap. And if we don’t win in November, we’re well and truly screwed.
Because many of the R voters who supported the other candidates will not support the winning R candidate at any cost. The question is will these voters vote for the D candidate or stay home. The answer to that question will decide the winner of the election IMO.
Maybe so but that's neither here nor there. I'm not advocating either one as neither are perfect. The R candidate will increase his opportunity to win if he sticks to the facts (inflation, border, out of control spending to name a few) and doesn't ostracize half of the US with bluster and ego.
The challenge is getting through to these people and helping them break past the pride and anger.
I despise the likely candidate, but I'm a realist, and at his worst, he can't do half the damage that the incumbent has already done, and unfettered by the need to run again, will be able to do even worse
Three times, huh? Here's your three swings: Civil RIghts Law of 1964, American with Disabilities Act of 1990 & various hate crime laws. That ought to kill this monster.
Leadership matters. Nice to see that former Senator Ben Sasse bringing some Nebraska common sense to Florida as the university president. Of course, he likely wouldn't have the backing without the state governor. It will be interesting to see if other university presidents would rather fight in court.
Sasse had nothing to do with it. It was ALL anti-DEI ideologue Chris Rufo developing the strategy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis authorizing its execution.
Whatever, um, floats your boat, but Florida (and Texas, also Rufo's handiwork along with Governor Abbott) is (mostly) done as far as rooting out state-supported institutional DEI. Going forward, it is essential to support Chris Rufo against the tremendous left-wing backlash he faces as well as to provide political cover for other federal, state, and city leaders open to joining the anti-DEI battle for the soul of this country.
I will trust your insider knowledge on this since I am no longer a resident of the state. Decades ago I was a faculty member at a state university in FL and a member of the union. Mr. Rufo is one of thirteen trustees at the New College of Florida. He is not a trustee at the University of Florida and he is not a member of the board of governors of the State University System of Florida, so it is difficult for me to see his direct hand in this particular action. He may have 8X10 color glossies with circles and arrows of key members in other institutions. What I do know is that the United Faculty of Flordia is calling for Sasse's head and not Rufo's. I've seen the union misfire before so that may not be surprising, but it is the data point I am extrapolating from.
I have no "insider knowledge" and rely soley on public sources of information available at no cost to anyone interested in these issues.
Chris Rufo, for example, runs a very informative Substack and also publishes many important articles on the Manhattan Institute's "City Journal" website. I'm familiar with the New College saga from beginning to end as public news sources have reported extensively on the controversy (from the left's perspective, natch) and the college posts videos of all its public Board Meetings on its YouTube channel. The various materials surrounding the battle between Disney and Governor DeSantis—again centered on Disney's vigorous support of DEI, wokeism, and leftist political action in stark opposition to the governor's policy initiatives—are freely available as hearing supplements and discovery documents in the lawsuits attending the matter.
If there's one thing that can STILL be said for this country, it is that documentary evidence of what actually goes on, especially in Florida with its public information "Sunshine Law," is readily and freely available to anyone with a computer connection to the internet (free at your public library) and the desire to learn about the people, purposes, and mechanisms working 24-7 to shape (and often limit) our aspirations and achievements.
The only way to be sure is to send in teams of door-kickers to root out the deeply burrowed. They might slink away absent an office and paycheck, but these folks are True Believers. Many will never give up.
Corporations respond immediately and decisively to incentives. Change the current incentives which place companies, executives, and board members in legal and financial jeopardy, and you'll kill DEI in 5 minutes flat.
As an older white male who grew up poor, neither parent having been to college, and married to a white woman who falls under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), of the programs that were (rightly?) chosen to be displayed in this article, there are about 3, maybe 4, that I hope were not actually eliminated. Yes, I will agree with eliminating the whole DEI (which I prefer to refer to as DIE, since it is so bad for our country), Affirmative Action, etc. nonsense, some of these appear to be targeted more for lower income people which could still today, I believe, encompass the entire range of colors. Kudos to FL, though, and the Gators, for taking a HUGE step in the right direction.
All oppressed minorities are not created equal. The DEI mantra wants to pick and choose which minorities to include in their programs. Asians and Jews are the obvious minorities no longer in favor by the DEI mafia.
Seconded. Take the money allocated for "underrepresented minorities" and use it to either pay your adjuncts a decent wage or pay for poor students to attend.
And the thing is, if you do that, "underrepresented minorities" will benefit to a greater degree than other groups, given how intertwined race and class are in America.
What's interesting to me is that Veteran's services at Husky Hockey State U were kind of grouped in with the whole DIE set under "Student Life". However, to ensure we didn't cause an incident, we kept ourselves separated from the students most supportive of those goals.
"Will soon come to the military?" Its already there! The DEI wokerati in DOD are laying waste to our services, from the five sided puzzle palace, to the service academies filled with communist instructors down to the deck plates of warships celebrating pride month.
I do hope that was just some PR pap and that resumes, work histories and deeds are screened for positive and provable signs of snake-bite & moonbattery. Call me mean-spirited if you will, but Dr. Flowers, my daughter, is a 1999 Gator Grad and to uphold the university's new credo I would be glad to review those applications, thank them and then wish them well. I say this now because I realize that we didn't actually win the Cold War. The SOB's went to ground. The oath is forever, duty calls.
I’m not a fan of the whole world being humped by a gator without even a reach around. To paraphrase.
Of course, it’s impossible to file a complaint because DEI (which is also EEO) no longer exists in UF.
See: Liberty University for how well that goes in a modern and more equitable society.
I know some want the world to STFU and take it, especially women or LGBTQ folks, but dammit. That toothpaste is out of the tube. Get on board with liberation for all or GTFO if the way.
So thinning (just a little) the vast ranks of government commissarettes (they are ALL women), is akin to sanctioning sexual abuse up to and including rape with no recourse for the victims? Of course, what ACTUALLY happened at Liberty University was a few Clery forms were not completely filled out, timely filed, and/or publicly distributed. That Liberty did not run anti-male kangaroo courts absent ANY due process, legal representation, or standards of evidence—the REAL crime for which they're paying nearly $16 million in penalties—is a credit to the university, not a cause for condemnation. Remarkable how the left and its statist allies are always able to ground down their political enemies between the millstones of government regulation and endless taxpayer funds with which to persecute the REAL victims. Good luck placing this vile system of patronage beyond the reach of the American people to smash it to pieces.
So you’re defending The Liberty Way (tm) of elevating offenders (as long as they’re men) over victims? You’re fine with the admin covering up (not alerting students) when gas was leaking?
I’m not a fan of red tape; I’ve spent a lifetime trying to cut through or rip it, but if they refuse (or can’t, as finding 1 stated) to follow the required process for receiving govt financial aid (that they really shouldnt want since they’re a private Religious institution & probably don’t even need since the Falwell empire is flush) they should stop accepting govt welfare & start paying taxes.
OR they can just treat everyone with dignity and respect and refuse to coverup wrongdoings by staff, athletes or students. It’s not that difficult. Unless they want to continue to enable the gutterdwellers & worst among us.
And what does it say about the institutions that only place women (or blacks, for that matter) in supposed “DEI Positions”? Why aren’t they on the Board or legal advisers or faculty chairs?
The problem is the implementation, not the ideal, of actively working to overcome unconscious biases, to broaden our understanding of the world in which we live by taking affirmative actions to reflect more than the filtered view that was dictated by the most powerful back in the powdered wig days.
You seem like a good sport, Deb. With all due respect, it's not a matter of lifestyle choices per se. It's the role that these lifestyles and accompanying beliefs play in the amalgamation of ideologies and perpetual grievances intended to degrade and disrupt American society. I think your collective chastisement is misplaced here. Most of us give a damn for all the right reasons, like say, the Constitution of the USA. I don't reference this for ideological reasons, it is simply a stone cold expectation and my birthright. Yours, as well. Marxist nonsense by any other name still smells just as bad.
I’m sort of missing your point, but that’s fine. I’m honest and not a crybaby, if that’s what “good sport” means.
I prefer to suck up my fear and believe that I’ll be OK even if people who disagree with me or live a different way are in the world. As long as they’re respecting my right to exist and be as comfy as they are, then I’ll respect theirs.
Any position that broadens the experience of any powerful public institution’s understanding and ensures equal protection & opportunity to all people, is absolutely in harmony with constitutional ideals.
The doc as it exists was only a beginning and was never supposed to be stagnant.
What is wrong with decreasing the gap of opportunities available based on zip code & parentage? In the USA, there is not supposed to be any inherited, ordained by God, birthright aristocracy.
It seems what some call constitutionalism is really code for keeping wealth & power with the few and that’s not right.
I mean, “liberty & justice for all” is the promise I made as a kid of a career marine from Texas who learned to leave his bigotry behind in many ways.
I decided long ago that “under god” can mean a lot of things & there is room enough for all of them until one set of true believers in their own version get enough power to put us back into a friggin caliphate.
Equality (to me) isn’t Marxist in the way I think you may mean, as in what is associated with Stalin’s centralized single party communism? Mao? Ho? The Stazi, KGB, etc.
A bill for FISA reform got pulled today. Again. I mean, friggin Rubio or Nunes (I forget which) spit out their coffee when their names were sort of connected to evidence related to that NRA Russian Honeypot check at a joint national security subcommittee hearing I was watching from a few years ago
(I know; I’m a nerd. Whatevs)
None of us know what we don’t know until we’re educated or exposed to someone else’s experience.
Are you saying the earth (in the sculpture) would be better off to just lie there patiently & learn to love the gator eventually? IDK
Perhaps necessary, but perhaps better not to encourage or even allow DIE workers to reapply. The kind of person working in that racket, ahem, industry, is apt to be future trouble wherever they may.
As someone in a technical field were real merit determines whether you will have have an internet connection to your home office after I leave the pushing of DEI is scary. We are in a complex technical society now were REAL skills and chosing the best matters. DEI is nothing less then a society ending ideology..
I'm in a field where picking from the bottom of the deck can cause you to crash airplanes. It makes me wonder if that's the problem Boeing is having these days.
The feds care nothing of the time and money involved in following TO THE LETTER its endless reams of technical and administrative requirements, procedures, test results, documentation, training, etc., etc., etc. The whole 737 MAX debacle was an attempt by Boeing to avoid triggering FAA's significant change detector which would lead to endless testing and then having to put all the airlines' (Boeing's customers) pilots through expensive and time-consuming re-certification process in order to fly the "new" jet. Same with the manufacturing and modification documentation "short cuts" that is Boeing's current issue. FAA rules and regs are SO onerous and wasteful of time and money, that the company will take almost ANY risk (to those of us who must fly on its planes) to keep its current fleet of planes flying and new features and models coming off the assembly line to compete effectively with Airbus for the commercial jet market.
When something is absolutely, positively FUBAR, the government is sure to be a, if not the, major factor.
While confident you have heard numerous accolades recognizing your extraordinary work and stellar contribution to the cruciality of the national political dialogue, I am compelled to join in all such sentiments accorded to you. Few can stand upon your shoulders!
Stephen Alexander
USNA Blue & Gold Officer (Retired)
Hear, hear.
As in any hollyweird horror flick, the monster will need to be killed three times. We’re only at the beginning of the end of this crap. And if we don’t win in November, we’re well and truly screwed.
Unfortunately the two candidates most likely to make that happen have now dropped out of the presidential race.
Just spitballin’ here, but if they couldn’t gather enough R votes to survive the primaries, how would they gather enough General votes to win in Nov?
Because many of the R voters who supported the other candidates will not support the winning R candidate at any cost. The question is will these voters vote for the D candidate or stay home. The answer to that question will decide the winner of the election IMO.
Anyone willing to vote for the drooling outlaw in the WH, or give him 1/2 vote by staying home, is both an idiot and an enemy of liberty.
Maybe so but that's neither here nor there. I'm not advocating either one as neither are perfect. The R candidate will increase his opportunity to win if he sticks to the facts (inflation, border, out of control spending to name a few) and doesn't ostracize half of the US with bluster and ego.
and vindictiveness
If it's a choice between the express train to Hell or the local, I will choose neither. You can play the game if you want, I choose not to.
And I have been called worse by better.
The challenge is getting through to these people and helping them break past the pride and anger.
I despise the likely candidate, but I'm a realist, and at his worst, he can't do half the damage that the incumbent has already done, and unfettered by the need to run again, will be able to do even worse
Three times, huh? Here's your three swings: Civil RIghts Law of 1964, American with Disabilities Act of 1990 & various hate crime laws. That ought to kill this monster.
Leadership matters. Nice to see that former Senator Ben Sasse bringing some Nebraska common sense to Florida as the university president. Of course, he likely wouldn't have the backing without the state governor. It will be interesting to see if other university presidents would rather fight in court.
Sasse had nothing to do with it. It was ALL anti-DEI ideologue Chris Rufo developing the strategy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis authorizing its execution.
If so, he didn't get in the way so he still deserves a BZ.
Whatever, um, floats your boat, but Florida (and Texas, also Rufo's handiwork along with Governor Abbott) is (mostly) done as far as rooting out state-supported institutional DEI. Going forward, it is essential to support Chris Rufo against the tremendous left-wing backlash he faces as well as to provide political cover for other federal, state, and city leaders open to joining the anti-DEI battle for the soul of this country.
He has my unwavering support.
I will trust your insider knowledge on this since I am no longer a resident of the state. Decades ago I was a faculty member at a state university in FL and a member of the union. Mr. Rufo is one of thirteen trustees at the New College of Florida. He is not a trustee at the University of Florida and he is not a member of the board of governors of the State University System of Florida, so it is difficult for me to see his direct hand in this particular action. He may have 8X10 color glossies with circles and arrows of key members in other institutions. What I do know is that the United Faculty of Flordia is calling for Sasse's head and not Rufo's. I've seen the union misfire before so that may not be surprising, but it is the data point I am extrapolating from.
I have no "insider knowledge" and rely soley on public sources of information available at no cost to anyone interested in these issues.
Chris Rufo, for example, runs a very informative Substack and also publishes many important articles on the Manhattan Institute's "City Journal" website. I'm familiar with the New College saga from beginning to end as public news sources have reported extensively on the controversy (from the left's perspective, natch) and the college posts videos of all its public Board Meetings on its YouTube channel. The various materials surrounding the battle between Disney and Governor DeSantis—again centered on Disney's vigorous support of DEI, wokeism, and leftist political action in stark opposition to the governor's policy initiatives—are freely available as hearing supplements and discovery documents in the lawsuits attending the matter.
If there's one thing that can STILL be said for this country, it is that documentary evidence of what actually goes on, especially in Florida with its public information "Sunshine Law," is readily and freely available to anyone with a computer connection to the internet (free at your public library) and the desire to learn about the people, purposes, and mechanisms working 24-7 to shape (and often limit) our aspirations and achievements.
Thanks for the word of encouragement Skipper. It’s what I needed today.❤️💯❤️
Next up, HR departments. That's where they go to hide and scheme, going from a support organization to a ideological implementation org.
nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure
The only way to be sure is to send in teams of door-kickers to root out the deeply burrowed. They might slink away absent an office and paycheck, but these folks are True Believers. Many will never give up.
Corporations respond immediately and decisively to incentives. Change the current incentives which place companies, executives, and board members in legal and financial jeopardy, and you'll kill DEI in 5 minutes flat.
Really good to be reading a DIVTHUR without wincing in pain. My native state doing what's right. Almost enough to make me move back. Almost.
As an older white male who grew up poor, neither parent having been to college, and married to a white woman who falls under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), of the programs that were (rightly?) chosen to be displayed in this article, there are about 3, maybe 4, that I hope were not actually eliminated. Yes, I will agree with eliminating the whole DEI (which I prefer to refer to as DIE, since it is so bad for our country), Affirmative Action, etc. nonsense, some of these appear to be targeted more for lower income people which could still today, I believe, encompass the entire range of colors. Kudos to FL, though, and the Gators, for taking a HUGE step in the right direction.
All oppressed minorities are not created equal. The DEI mantra wants to pick and choose which minorities to include in their programs. Asians and Jews are the obvious minorities no longer in favor by the DEI mafia.
Seconded. Take the money allocated for "underrepresented minorities" and use it to either pay your adjuncts a decent wage or pay for poor students to attend.
And the thing is, if you do that, "underrepresented minorities" will benefit to a greater degree than other groups, given how intertwined race and class are in America.
What's interesting to me is that Veteran's services at Husky Hockey State U were kind of grouped in with the whole DIE set under "Student Life". However, to ensure we didn't cause an incident, we kept ourselves separated from the students most supportive of those goals.
"Will soon come to the military?" Its already there! The DEI wokerati in DOD are laying waste to our services, from the five sided puzzle palace, to the service academies filled with communist instructors down to the deck plates of warships celebrating pride month.
Meh.
".....and are encouraged to apply before April 19 to other positions in the university."
Moved, driven underground, still infected.
I do hope that was just some PR pap and that resumes, work histories and deeds are screened for positive and provable signs of snake-bite & moonbattery. Call me mean-spirited if you will, but Dr. Flowers, my daughter, is a 1999 Gator Grad and to uphold the university's new credo I would be glad to review those applications, thank them and then wish them well. I say this now because I realize that we didn't actually win the Cold War. The SOB's went to ground. The oath is forever, duty calls.
They'll just hide it.
I’m not a fan of the whole world being humped by a gator without even a reach around. To paraphrase.
Of course, it’s impossible to file a complaint because DEI (which is also EEO) no longer exists in UF.
See: Liberty University for how well that goes in a modern and more equitable society.
I know some want the world to STFU and take it, especially women or LGBTQ folks, but dammit. That toothpaste is out of the tube. Get on board with liberation for all or GTFO if the way.
You're so cute when you're angry!
Da, comrade!
Power to the people!
Angry? Hmm-you would be too without the courtesy of a reach around.
Never had one, wouldn't know.
So thinning (just a little) the vast ranks of government commissarettes (they are ALL women), is akin to sanctioning sexual abuse up to and including rape with no recourse for the victims? Of course, what ACTUALLY happened at Liberty University was a few Clery forms were not completely filled out, timely filed, and/or publicly distributed. That Liberty did not run anti-male kangaroo courts absent ANY due process, legal representation, or standards of evidence—the REAL crime for which they're paying nearly $16 million in penalties—is a credit to the university, not a cause for condemnation. Remarkable how the left and its statist allies are always able to ground down their political enemies between the millstones of government regulation and endless taxpayer funds with which to persecute the REAL victims. Good luck placing this vile system of patronage beyond the reach of the American people to smash it to pieces.
How's that for scratching your itch?
So you’re defending The Liberty Way (tm) of elevating offenders (as long as they’re men) over victims? You’re fine with the admin covering up (not alerting students) when gas was leaking?
I’m not a fan of red tape; I’ve spent a lifetime trying to cut through or rip it, but if they refuse (or can’t, as finding 1 stated) to follow the required process for receiving govt financial aid (that they really shouldnt want since they’re a private Religious institution & probably don’t even need since the Falwell empire is flush) they should stop accepting govt welfare & start paying taxes.
OR they can just treat everyone with dignity and respect and refuse to coverup wrongdoings by staff, athletes or students. It’s not that difficult. Unless they want to continue to enable the gutterdwellers & worst among us.
And what does it say about the institutions that only place women (or blacks, for that matter) in supposed “DEI Positions”? Why aren’t they on the Board or legal advisers or faculty chairs?
The problem is the implementation, not the ideal, of actively working to overcome unconscious biases, to broaden our understanding of the world in which we live by taking affirmative actions to reflect more than the filtered view that was dictated by the most powerful back in the powdered wig days.
You seem like a good sport, Deb. With all due respect, it's not a matter of lifestyle choices per se. It's the role that these lifestyles and accompanying beliefs play in the amalgamation of ideologies and perpetual grievances intended to degrade and disrupt American society. I think your collective chastisement is misplaced here. Most of us give a damn for all the right reasons, like say, the Constitution of the USA. I don't reference this for ideological reasons, it is simply a stone cold expectation and my birthright. Yours, as well. Marxist nonsense by any other name still smells just as bad.
I’m sort of missing your point, but that’s fine. I’m honest and not a crybaby, if that’s what “good sport” means.
I prefer to suck up my fear and believe that I’ll be OK even if people who disagree with me or live a different way are in the world. As long as they’re respecting my right to exist and be as comfy as they are, then I’ll respect theirs.
Any position that broadens the experience of any powerful public institution’s understanding and ensures equal protection & opportunity to all people, is absolutely in harmony with constitutional ideals.
The doc as it exists was only a beginning and was never supposed to be stagnant.
What is wrong with decreasing the gap of opportunities available based on zip code & parentage? In the USA, there is not supposed to be any inherited, ordained by God, birthright aristocracy.
It seems what some call constitutionalism is really code for keeping wealth & power with the few and that’s not right.
I mean, “liberty & justice for all” is the promise I made as a kid of a career marine from Texas who learned to leave his bigotry behind in many ways.
I decided long ago that “under god” can mean a lot of things & there is room enough for all of them until one set of true believers in their own version get enough power to put us back into a friggin caliphate.
Equality (to me) isn’t Marxist in the way I think you may mean, as in what is associated with Stalin’s centralized single party communism? Mao? Ho? The Stazi, KGB, etc.
A bill for FISA reform got pulled today. Again. I mean, friggin Rubio or Nunes (I forget which) spit out their coffee when their names were sort of connected to evidence related to that NRA Russian Honeypot check at a joint national security subcommittee hearing I was watching from a few years ago
(I know; I’m a nerd. Whatevs)
None of us know what we don’t know until we’re educated or exposed to someone else’s experience.
Are you saying the earth (in the sculpture) would be better off to just lie there patiently & learn to love the gator eventually? IDK
IMO, ofc.
Perhaps necessary, but perhaps better not to encourage or even allow DIE workers to reapply. The kind of person working in that racket, ahem, industry, is apt to be future trouble wherever they may.
Sure, but other than count the number of minorities, what can those DEI klowns actually do?
That's a them problem. Learn to code? Learn to weld? Muck stalls? Poor horses but what can you do. I guess there's always welfare.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/07/exclusive-jim-banks-elise-stefanik-press-air-force-academy-trans-colonels-partisan-speech-recent-conference/
I would highly recommend this book to understand where a lot of this DEI nonsense is coming from and what its purpose is.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Handed-American-Elites-Helping-China/dp/B09R3DHPMS/ref=asc_df_B09R3DHPMS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=680232783798&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1444878784959494670&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029597&hvtargid=pla-2247101693965&psc=1&mcid=dde7757fc64333a09cae6e8592ac61a7&gad_source=1
As someone in a technical field were real merit determines whether you will have have an internet connection to your home office after I leave the pushing of DEI is scary. We are in a complex technical society now were REAL skills and chosing the best matters. DEI is nothing less then a society ending ideology..
I'm in a field where picking from the bottom of the deck can cause you to crash airplanes. It makes me wonder if that's the problem Boeing is having these days.
Boeing's "problem" is simple: the FAA.
The feds care nothing of the time and money involved in following TO THE LETTER its endless reams of technical and administrative requirements, procedures, test results, documentation, training, etc., etc., etc. The whole 737 MAX debacle was an attempt by Boeing to avoid triggering FAA's significant change detector which would lead to endless testing and then having to put all the airlines' (Boeing's customers) pilots through expensive and time-consuming re-certification process in order to fly the "new" jet. Same with the manufacturing and modification documentation "short cuts" that is Boeing's current issue. FAA rules and regs are SO onerous and wasteful of time and money, that the company will take almost ANY risk (to those of us who must fly on its planes) to keep its current fleet of planes flying and new features and models coming off the assembly line to compete effectively with Airbus for the commercial jet market.
When something is absolutely, positively FUBAR, the government is sure to be a, if not the, major factor.