Some people might genuinely be selected for jobs because of their gender or race, which shouldn’t happen.
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I do recall some PR statement by the FAA about recruiting ATC operators with diversity and neurodivergence in mind. That got memory-holed awful quick.
There was a spate of article in Jan of this year. Here’s Drum
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The ATC shortage started a long time ago when Reagan wanted to break the union and fired 12000 controllers. It took many years to recover and that group was coming of age when Covid hit. Many would have likely kept working but chose to retire at a lower retirement rather than risk Covid and also to get away with the stress of dealing with systems that should have been upgraded years ago. To replace these folks take time, you don’t just graduate from training and starting directing planes full of hundred of people around. It will be years before there is a recovery. There have been increasing close calls recently on the ground so I hope no one is rushing things. The hiring process needs to be streamlined and training facilities expanded and upgraded but DEI is not even a blip on the radar of the problem.
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DEI is a slogan, shorthand for just another thing to blame, to fear, to hate and to turn into votes. IMO 95 % of the those with the most emotional reaction to the letters “DEI” have less than 5 % knowlege what in reality, in practice, it actully is
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I think you’re right but I don’t even understand “woke” where did that originate? I suspect from people that wanted to keep stirring hate, clicks and views. Life is simpler if one turns off Fox, MSNBC, Twitter and other opinion sources. Read the headlines on AP, Reuters and consider yourself informed. As George Carlin said years ago and I summarize, There used to be only one hour of news on TV. 30 minutes for local and 30 minutes for national. Why? Because that’s all the news there is. Anything beyond that is opinion and bullshit.
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“Clichés, stock phrases, adherence to conventional, standardized codes of expression and conduct have the socially recognized function of protecting us against reality, that is, against the claim on our thinking attention that all events and facts make by virtue of their existence.”
― Hannah Arendt, [The Life of the Mind]
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At least one is taken care of. Until his next nomination.
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Ambassador to the Philippines ??
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“Woke”… I first heard the term on a date just after the ‘16 election. I was just returning to the cess pool of advanced middle-age dating (oh, the interesting people I met) and was having, what I thought, was an enjoyable evening of dinner and conversation. The creme brule’ arrives and she looks at me and asks, “So, this is really fun, but before I decide if it is going further, are you woke?”
Errr, what? I am a 48 yr old guy that drives boats, chases trout in the spring/summer, and sits in a marsh in snow storms in the fall…what the heck is woke? I asked what that meant and she launched into a 15 minute lecture on white men, systemic oppression of everyone, and the general shit-show (her words) of modern America. It was also the first time I heard the term cis-gender.
Check please.
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Sh*t, he didn’t listen to either of us:
But it looks like my choice will be put in another (and more suitable?) position:
Source: The Economist. The US in Brief (Subscribers only)
I believe that we can become habituated to our experience, losing recognition that our career choice isolates us from the wider experiences of others.
I am not singling you out here or supposing that you are one of these people, I have no idea who you are when you’re at home, but your post was a convenient onramp to make my point.
I don’t experience any sort of DEI issues as a mariner, and am grateful for it. Have I? Oh yes, I took the civil service exam in MA 35 years ago and didn’t get the +10 points because of my skin color. Despite having a 200ton at the time and being an EMT, I missed out on a job for the Boston FD’s marine unit so that a quasiliterate felon who could pass the reverse paper bag test could have a job. By the time he was fired for cause (choking a peer and catching an ADW charge), I was already in SIU, so it all worked out, thankfully. I am grateful for not bring hired, now.
We can get hung up on labels and jargon, but the tenets that DEI is based on have been present for a while; the protected classes have been expanded, the practice of adding new discriminatory hurdles has been rebranded, washed, folded snd spindled… My own experience is that I have come in contact with multiple people in my off-time orbit, in the legal field and civil service labor pool, who have experienced DEI firsthand… Anyone who thinks that this has not increased in scope and frequency may need to spend more time talking to people who are not retired/at the end of their career, and who don’t live in voluntary isolation for shits n’ gigs half the time.
Just a thought, bearing in mind that I too can’t say that my experience is definitive either.
That’s not DEI.
You don’t appear to understand what these are at all because nothing you’ve mentioned yet has anything to do with DEI.
Out of curiosity, have you taken the computer based MARAD SASH training in order to work on a ship?
Somebody is cashing in on the win in 2024.Here is one of them:
South African Elon Musk sets a new wealth record. Photo: Rachel Wisniewski / Reuters
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I would imagine that Elon has US citizenship. He has probably got enough Benjamin’s to buy everyone in Norway or NZ a US passport. They say green and lots of it is the best passport to have.
Elon is a genius and a visionary. That does not usually result in wealth. Elon Is extremely exceptional.
I’m really glad that he can afford to help the USA. I only hope that Trump keeps listening to Elon.
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If by visionary you mean he envisioned upping his wealth at the cost of American jobs, you’re correct. He envisioned that cutting costs at Xitter would make it more efficient than ever, yet the opposite occurred.
It’s not that he can afford to help the USA, it’s that he could afford to bankroll Trump into giving him a position in our government to further his own interests. Owner of a space company is now in charge of gutting resources to NASA and NOAA, definitely don’t see any collusion there.
He’s pushes against subsidized projects which is hilarious given how much money the government has put towards his own companies. He’s vehemently against organized labor which is hilarious given the amount of union members who support him.
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