foxbat

What I'm saying is that the assumption that everything isn't hunky dory because someone chooses themselves not to see race. Being a colorblind individual does not preclude the potential or even probability that the process and/or outcomes are flawed. Also, if the presumption is that there's no need to look at race and people who are pointing out the flaws in the system are somehow focusing on somethings that isn't really a problem, then there should be, across such a large population pool, relatively proportionate representation by something so insignificant as race. If what you are proposing, in a roundabout way, is that it's not the fault of the system, would it not then be a situation of proportional representation. In other words, if the difference between in proportion that makes Blacks only likely to see officer rates at a rate of roughly 35% compared to their enlisted proportion while Whites see that same ratio at 125% compared to their enlisted proportion, are you suggesting that that huge gap is tied to the inherent abilities of Blacks to be/make/desire officer rank and not something tied to the system as a whole? Yes, I'm very aware of the academies' process having relatives who have been admitted both to West Point and the Air Force Academy as well as several students and friends of the family who have applied and been admitted and served as a mentor in the process. As for the question about percentages, again, see the above consideration of the numbers. Again, if the argument is "all things are equal" the the numbers don't support that. And if they aren't then what is causing it? Again, I put it to you and others to address, if it's not the system, then are you saying that there's something that's inherently flawed in Blacks and their own make up, that makes them less likely to attain officer status ... or Black women? In defense of my position , I've heard that line of reasoning before ... it was used to not have wholesale Black officers representation in Union regiments all the way into WWII even amongst all-Black units. It was used to preclude Blacks from serving wholesale in military combat in WWI and WWII . It was used to keep Blacks from serving as pilots and required First Lady intervention to get things anywhere close to off the ground despite the success rates of groups lie the 332nd. And no, I'm not calling you a racist. What I'm saying is that, even within populations, the numbers don't support the idea that everything is equal in consideration and to lay it off that somehow or another it's rabble-rousing to point out that the emperor has no clothes when he indeed is naked or running around in his underwear isn't a fair approach to looking at the issue. I pointed out the numbers and I'm more than open to seeing your numbers and your analysis as to why there isn't a proportional representation if everything is indeed as equal as conjectured.

Not sure where you got this idea from in my post. As for the physicians, you know where YOUR physicians stand on the issue.

At the same time, do we not almost all grieve and clutch at the dead bodies of relatives, lingering at the grave sites, etc., when if one truly believes in the idea of the afterlife and the eternity of the soul, there is an odd adherence to the empty husk as there is no soul there. We are emotional beings that, even in the adherent faith that we may have, we do things completely contrary to that faith while claiming to fully believe. The fact that a doctor calls it a baby, may be as much bedside manner or not rocking the boat or conventional conversation as the funeral director referring to the corpse as "your loved one" when that loved one isn't actually there.

That's all well and good, but if that were actually likely happening, then the numbers should, for the most part, map out against the population unless there's something inherently different about Black women being cadets at West Point. If, as you say, there's "nothing to see here" that would likely be born out in the data, which it isn't. In the Army, there are roughly equal numbers of Black women enlisted as there are White women. In the US military, Blacks make up a larger percentage of personnel than they do in the population ... 17% in the military vs. roughly 13% in the civilian population. As such, the lack of Black officers can't be pawned off as "there just aren't a lot of them signing up to be soldiers." Despite being 17% of the US military, Blacks make up roughly 6% of the active duty officer corps. Assuming, if "everyone is equal" then what accounts for the vast difference in representation of officer vs. enlisted between the races? By contrast, Whites make up roughly 60% of the active duty enlisted, but have over 75% representation in the active duty officer corps. People are putting out separate classes and "parading it around" because there are plenty of people who like to say that race doesn't matter and we should all just move forward when there are still data points that show that there's still an issue to contend with. It's admirable that people are colorblind and accept all people the way that they are, but that doesn't change the fact that we still have a ways to go in making sure that bears out in many other areas where it is just as important and much less one-to-one, like housing, hiring, progression, etc. MLK said, "I dream of a day ..." and while we've made great strides toward getting toward that dream, we still have, as Frost alluded to, "miles to go before I [we] sleep." I already acknowledged the positive strides, but I'm not yet content that we've gotten where we need to get .

West Point set to graduate its largest Black female and Hispanic female classes ever. While a nice accomplishment, it still has a ways to go. Black women make up almost 7% of the population, but this largest graduating class only represents just under 3.6% of the cadet class. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/15/us/west-point-largest-graduating-class-of-black-women-trnd/index.html

I might qualify as Patient Zero.

Black Mirror Season 5 is coming ... due out June 5 https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/black-mirror-season-5-see-150945919.html Three episode installment featuring the likes of Miley Cyrus, Mackie, Topher Grace, and Andrew Scott.

Speaking of red hat modifications, this was in the news a few days ago. Guess it was missed by the "millinophiles"/"capellophiles." https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/445548-artist-banned-from-facebook-for-turning-maga-hats-into-symbols FTA: An artist who redesigns President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hats into recognizable symbols of hate speech says she was banned from Facebook for violating the platform's standards. Kate Kretz of Mount Rainier, Md., rips apart the iconic red campaign hat and resews it to look like other symbols, such as a Nazi armband or a Ku Klux Klan hood, WUSA 9 reported. "The arm band is actually titled, 'Only the Terrorized Own the Right to Name Symbols of Terror,' and so if people are afraid of people that are walking around with MAGA hats, because they’re afraid of violence," Kretz said. "It’s not really up to the wearer to say 'oh you shouldn’t feel afraid of me.'" The artist said Facebook took down an image of the reimagined Nazi paraphernalia for "violating community standards." She appealed the decision and labeled another image with text clarifying that the photo was of a piece of art, but her entire account was later disabled.

And another one today ... showing up in my news feed since I'm in Ireland. https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2019/0524/1051500-everest-nepal/ Apparently there's another Irishman, not GID's @Irishman, who had fallen earlier after reaching the summit last week and they just called off the search for him today. Certainly not an activity for the faint-of-heart or the risk-averse.

Wasn't referring to Trump, but interesting that you went there. I was talking about Manafort and Cohen to start with. As for the numbers, I don't think I'm off. Again, going with what the investigation has done so far ... as of December 2018's accounting: http://fortune.com/2018/12/14/mueller-investigation-cost-tax-cheats/ FTA: Though the investigation comes with a hefty price tag, it may have actually paid for its own investigation, with its probe leading to monetary estimated gains of up to $48 million for the government through the tax evasion the investigation has revealed. Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was sentenced for conspiracy and obstruction of justice in September. As part of his plea deal, Manafort agreed to forfeit assets that amount to between $42 million and $46 million, including about $22 million in property, CNBC reports. The case revealed how Manafort avoided paying more than $15 million in taxes by laundering $60 million from pro-Russian Ukrainians, CNN reports. Manafort reportedly violated the conditions of his plea deal, and last month prosecutors said that he could face more charges. Earlier this week, Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to financial crimes including paying hush money to a porn star and Playboy model. As part of his deal, Cohen agreed to pay $1.4 million in unpaid taxes and hand over $500,000 in assets as well as pay $100,000 in fines.

And it's still an extremely dangerous climb to make, even when successful. Two climbers died Wednesday ... one from India in descent and one, an American, just after reaching the summit. https://www.yahoo.com/gma/utah-man-donald-lynn-cash-reached-seven-summits-172600555--abc-news-topstories.html

And it appears that it's going to get some $45 million+ in gains for the government for tax evasion that it revealed ... so far. That means it actually made money. The question is whether it will be Trump's own folks or someone else doing the leaking. Want to find leakers? Look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-declares-tillerson-secretary-of-state-totally-ill-prepared-and-ill-equipped-for-the-job-133422542.html FTA: President Trump on Thursday lashed out at Rex Tillerson after the former secretary of state reportedly told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin out-prepared Trump for their first meeting in Germany. Trump responded by calling Tillerson incompetent. “Rex Tillerson, a man who is ‘dumb as a rock’ and totally ill prepared and ill equipped to be Secretary of State, made up a story (he got fired) that I was out-prepared by Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Hamburg, Germany,” he tweeted. “I don’t think Putin would agree. Look how the U.S. is doing!” If Tillerson was “totally ill prepared and ill equipped” to be the nation’s top diplomat, Trump himself would be to blame: He appointed the former ExxonMobil CEO to be secretary of state shortly after his inauguration after interviewing multiple candidates, including now-Sen. Mitt Romney. Tillerson was confirmed by the Senate eight days later. Those "best people" that were hired, including those fired, jumped ship, indicted, convicted, "transferred," etc. continues to grow. A CEO making these types of decisions would have been removed by the Board of Directors or investors fairly quickly. A CEO as president, not so much. Seriously, if Tillerson is "dumb as a rock" as Trump puts it, why on God's green Earth would Trump have ever even considered him for such a position? And by the way, whether you are a Trump fan or not, it is dangerous as all-get-out to somehow or another believe that Putin went into any meeting with any foreign leader and wasn't heavily-prepared. Fault him for his authoritarianism, his ruthlessness, his arrogance, etc., as a former KGB member, one thing that Putin has to be given credit for is his prep work and understanding of adversaries.

One of the origins of Sesame Street ... https://www.thedailybeast.com/chester-pierce-the-forgotten-tale-of-how-a-black-psychiatrist-helped-make-sesame-street Interesting article concerning the role of Dr. Chester Pierce and the Black Psychiatrists of America to utilize the influence of the growing media of TV to address institutional racism.

I often come across items, somewhat like the "Something Uplifting" items that catch my attention as interesting, but probably don't warrant starting an entire thread just to share the interest. With that in mind, I'm creating a new thread for one-off items that folks would like to share with others.

Yeah, I post Family Guy videos too, but it doesn't mean that I support Stewie enslaving the world and dogs dating women.

How do you come up with support? I merely pointed out that the quoted meme sounded an awful lot like Ryan's screed ... and Bioshock fans know how well that turned out. As for the entire quote, sounds a lot like a politician trying to convince folks that the other folks are evil, or perhaps more civilly, misguided. In the end, it tends to be much more about the implementation than the rhetoric.

Very simply answered by Ryan.

Found this item of interest in reduction ... Want to Limit the Number of Abortions? Make Men Pay Child Support. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/want-limit-number-abortions-men-215224363.html

It's not a question of post-Roe ... with some of the actions of some of the states, for example, Texas, that's a reality that's already here. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/the-rise-of-the-diy-abortion-in-texas/373240/ https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2014/03/state-sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights-state-texas-cautionary-tale

Appears that neither of Indiana's overturned abortion-related laws was taken up for action by the Supreme Court yesterday. https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-supreme-court-takes-no-action-indiana-abortion-154955308.html FTA: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday took no action on appeals seeking to revive two restrictive Republican-backed abortion laws from Indiana, even as debate rages over a new measure in Alabama that would prohibit the procedure almost entirely. Neither Indiana case was on the list of appeals on which the court acted on Monday morning. The court could next announce whether or not it will hear the cases on May 28. If the nine-justice court takes up either case, it would give the conservative majority an opportunity to chip away at the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide and recognized a right under the U.S. Constitution for women to terminate pregnancies. One of the Indiana laws requires fetal remains to be buried or cremated and bans abortions performed because of fetal disability or the sex or race of the fetus. The other law requires women to undergo an ultrasound examination at least 18 hours before they undergo an abortion. Both Indiana measures were signed into law in 2016 by Vice President Mike Pence when he was Indiana's governor and were struck down by federal judges the following year. The state of Indiana is appealing to the Supreme Court.

This seems like a failure of the hospital's general admittance policy. If that info is given to someone in the employee of the hospital as part of the admittance/triage then all subsequent folks are responsible for that info and it should be noted in the file. I would hope that assumptions are the last thing a hospital would be doing.

And in other news: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/republican-congressman-destroys-arguments-trump-210644955.html FTA: Amash wrote that the president “engaged in impeachable conduct,” and that Attorney General William Barr deliberately misrepresented the contents of the report filed last month by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “Mueller’s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence,” Amash wrote.