In reading John Donegan’s op-ed, I’m wondering who the chump is (“Trump’s chumps,” Feb. 13). Diversity is the condition of having or including people from different ethnicities or social backgrounds. Equity is the state or quality of being just and fair. Inclusion is the act of including or the state of being included. Why these terms are being described as evil is impossible to understand. On another point if “those who feed off the government may not be happy,” Elon should be very unhappy indeed.
Gregory B Ross
Arroyo Grande
This article appears in Feb 20 – Mar 2, 2025.
Great letter Gregory B Ross. It is sad though that some people ignore facts and truth so they can feed their unfounded anger and rage. Anger and rage are addictive, and it seem the maga are all anger and rage addicts.
Scott:
Try watching the steel mill your father and grandfather worked at and provide a nice living, get put in boxes and shipped overseas or closed and if you are lucky, be told at the unemployment office you can work at a warehouse for minimum wage. Yeah, you bet Trump supporters are enraged.
Id bet you are pretty comfortably or have never been for want. Must be nice to judge over half this country for voting for someone who offered more than transgender bathrooms or pronouns. Whether his his rhetoric will match his actions is yet to be seen.
This president had multiple assassination attempts on him, so ask yourself which side is more enraged and dangerous.
Fly, They are enraged because the believe all the russian propaganda on Fox “Defamation” RT TV, that keeps telling them lies that “those other people” “took all of your cookies.”
Yes many had families who lost jobs to outsourcing, and we can thank Ronald Reagan and his trickledown fraud. I understand the pain you and many other have faced.
to answer your question, I am not entitled, I have live as a hitchhiker and chose to live in a truck for a while in the 70s when you could do that.
I have lived most of my life paycheck to paycheck, and had times I thought I would be out on the street. I did and do have good negotiating skills which saved me.
Everything on Fox Trump/Musk State TV is devised to stoke anger and hate, which can turn good people into hateful fascist lemmings.
People need to research and educate themselves with truth and facts, not stupifying bs brought to us by Putin and his puppets. Critical thinking and civics are two courses all young people need to learn.
1. “Russian disinformation” is a joke, it’s all been a lie perpetuated by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party because Hillary was humiliated losing an election she thought she had in the bag. In psychological terms, it’s called “deflection.”
2. I remember the 70s well, we lived in a converted school bus in a forest in Oregon in the company of a bunch of filthy hippies, worst experience of my life.
3. “…which saved me ” So I’m guessing you did what a lot of people from your generation did, sell out just like the characters in “The Big Chill.” Any youthful ideals you had you sold out for a few pieces of silver and for which, the generations born after you are now paying for. Whether you voted for Reagan or Bill Clinton, you damned us all. The big question is whether you own a home or not. That is the class line between your generation and the rest of us.
4. I miss RT, honestly. They had some great programming. I liked Chris Hedges program particularly.
5. I’m a college graduate with a four year degree in history. Do you seriously think I am unable to rationally determine what accurate information is? People like you consider the MILLIONS of Americans who voted for Trump as just gullible fools. People are LAUGHING at dead-enders like you who insist everything is just “disinformation.”
6. I’m happy to duel with you or anyone else regarding 20th century politics and history. Have a nice day.
Fly, BS
2016 ELECTION
G.O.P.-Led Senate Panel Details Ties Between 2016 Trump Campaign and Russia
A nearly 1,000-page report confirmed the special counsels findings at a moment when President Trumps allies have sought to undermine that inquiry.
‘It provided a bipartisan Senate imprimatur for an extraordinary set of facts: The Russian government disrupted an American election to help Mr. Trump become president, Russian intelligence services viewed members of the Trump campaign as easily manipulated, and some of Mr. Trumps advisers were eager for the help from an American adversary.’
NYTIMES
2024 ELECTION
U.S. intelligence has accused both governments of spreading disinformation, including fake videos, news stories and social media posts, designed to manipulate voters and undermine trust in U.S. elections.
The governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns, Bradley T. Smith, Treasurys acting undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement.
PBS NEWS
This is how a Russian disinformation campaign starts.
A video of a whistleblower with an unbelievable story to tell.
The claims are wild. None of them are true.
https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/russian-d…
RT, LIKE FAUX ‘NEWS’ HAS SOME TRUTH, BUT IS IN GENERAL, LIES AND DISINFORMATION
Jon K:
So you’re saying other countries are guilty of the very activities the US has spent decades doing? That is to say assassinations, election interference, kidnappings, spying, bribery of elected officials, electronic eavesdropping, and psy-ops? Mon Dieu!
The NSA tapped the German Chancellery for decades including the very cellphone of Angela Merkel. The US gave Castro exploding cigars. Victoria Nuland is on record as having said “F- the EU” in regards to Ukranians demonstrating in the street and she also tried to hand pick any leader Ukranians voted to put in power. The list goes on and you, Jon, have selective memory.
“A cursory examination of the Steele Dossier should have convinced the CIA or the FBI that it was fake news. Any residual doubt would have vanished after learning that its author, Christopher Steele, was an opposition researcher paid by the Democrats to dig up dirt on Trump. That our most sophisticated government officials acted as if the Dossier were legitimate leads to only one conclusion. They were a knowing and willing part of the Democratic and media smear of a presidential contender, and then president, that paralyzed U.S. politics for three years.” https://www.hoover.org/research/why-was-st…
Is everything partisan to you??
Words are a curious thing, and often fairly subjective. As George Orwell illustrated, you can interpret a word to mean what the speaker wants it to mean, even if it is the exact opposite of how it is usually used. Take the term “equity” for example. Most people consider the principle of treating others as individuals, equal under the law, and entitled to be judged on their own merits, to be “equitable”. But when used in the context of DEI, that usage is flipped over so that it means to judge people by their group membership, and to afford them either benefits or burdens according to broader social objectives, and to adjust for earlier inequality either enjoyed or endured by other members of their group. Of course, the beneficiary of this treatment usually finds that interpretation both laudable and “equitable”, while the victim is more like to see it as “inequitable”.
“Diversity”? I find the lack of diversity on the average NFL and NBA team to be troubling. Where are all the short, fat 74 year old men? To be acceptably “diverse”, shouldn’t we be represented in the same proportions that we occupy in the broader society? And “inclusion”! My aspirations of athletic stardom demand that I be included!
John D:
The only “diversity” I find concerning is that of the white, male, oligarchs in the gallery behind Trump at his inauguration. There is no diversity with this group, these goulish figures are this era’s robber barons. The only thing they lack are top hats, spats, and monocles.
Our public institutions are being dismantled before our eyes. My grandparent’s generation would be rolling over in their graves at the thought.
These public institutions should be saved at all costs, concentrated wealth needs to be taxed immediately. These oligarchs know their only hope to stave off the inevitable taxation of their wealth is to simply eliminate all social spending.
These fascists aren’t even serious about cutting spending, as they fire federal workers, they propose to pass an insane budget with an increase in defense spending.
Who in God’s name are these people that just arrived in Washington??
How is Trump and his cabal serious about cutting spending or balancing our budget when:
“The House has proposed a $4.5 trillion, all-in-one bill that extends the tax cuts brokered during Trump’s first term in office. The Senate has proposed a fully offset $342 billion Senate bill that leaves the tax cuts for a later date. The House proposal would allow $2.8 trillion in deficit increases through 2034.”
Rather than repeal tax cuts for the rich, his administration is simply proposing shutting some of our most important institutions and permanently eliminating all social spending. All this does is ruin the lives of working families.
What is a country without a social safety net? Answer: A sweatshop and giant tenement. We’ve become lower Manhattan circa 1900. It’s time to become a cobbler, become a tailor, sell apples on a wooden cart on the side of the road, become a rag picker, or washer woman. Jobs of the future! Green shoots!
We might even see a revival of the Bowery Boys, The Little Rascals, and The Three Stooges movies. Running water and electrification was nice while it lasted. That’s where we’re headed, folks.
Fly. oh NOW it’s ok to try to swing a US election BECAUSE the US had done it? YOUR premise it was fake, made up by Hillary, was BS from the start
Glad to see you support Putin though
“Feb 17, 2024 — Since he came to power in 1999, more than 20 Putin critics have been killed or died mysteriously.”
Glad to see the GOP are so stupid on the Senate committee, they fel;l for Steele’s BS right? HINT it wasn’t just Steele (WASH FREE BEACON, SUPPORTING RUBIO, ORIGINALLY PAID FOR THE REPORTING)
Steele’s dossier was simply RAW DATA compiled, weird how GOP majority agreed, ALONG with the Mueller report
Senate Russia report proves Trump collusion was very real. But do voters care?
…Far from a hoax, as the president so often claimed, the report reveals how the Trump campaign willingly engaged with Russian operatives implementing the influence effort. For instance, the report exposes interactions and information exchanged between Russian intelligence officer Konstantin Kilimnik and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. According to the report, campaign figures “presented attractive targets for foreign influence, creating notable counterintelligence vulnerabilities.” (Manafort was later convicted of tax and bank fraud.)
NOW IF ONLY UKRAINE WOULD STOP WITH ALL THE WAR MONGERING WITH RUSSIA RIGHT?
Putin’s puppets!!!
DEI is simply allowing the qualified to get their foot in the door, after being excuded BECAUSE of race, gender (the largest beneficiaries) , religion or disability.
The hiring decision is usually being made on qualifications alone. It’s just the one who brings something extra to the business in the form of diversity.
If an organization/business is mostly made up of a particular demographic, and feels they would like to gain new insight into or business from another demographic…then suddenly a job candidate who’s a part of that group is much more attractive and valuable than one who isn’t.
And ideally…as is often the case…that extra value they can bring to the business is ON TOP of already being perfectly qualified for the job.
A DEI program that tries to get women to apply for blimp mechanic jobs doesn’t affect men’s ability to apply for blimp mechanic jobs. If there’s a job listing, literally everyone can apply for it.
Encouraging women to apply is not the same as discouraging men from applying.
Instead of using a hiring goal, like “make all blimp mechanics 20% women,” a DEI program creator would make a more realistic goal like, “increase applications from qualified female blimp mechanics by 20%.”
Inviting women is not the same as excluding men.
Jon K:
Opponents of DEI see it as a zero sum gain. They can’t accept that other people might actually be more qualified than they are and find DEI policies as the perfect scapegoat for their deficiencies.
If members of the old guard find the success of other people offensive, study harder, work harder. Or as they say, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” There are so many stories of the sons and daughters of immigrants becoming Harvard graduates or doctors that they should be held up as examples for all of us.
The days of one’s upward mobility being based on nothing more than the privilege and luck of being born with a particular skin tone are over. Having that particular skin tone myself and having done nothing remarkable with my life nor risen to the lofty heights of success, I don’t blame anyone but the superstructure we live in that promotes mediocrity and is based on ones membership in elite social networks going back to the founding of this country, rather than merit.
What critics of DEI are really crying about, in plain English, is the erosion of white privilege.
@Jon K: “Qualified”? You assume that all “qualified” candidates share the same level of skill, or that if all candidates are “qualified”, the variations in skill between them is of no importance, and that any will serve just fine. If you had to select a surgeon to perform complex and risky surgery on yourself or a family member, would merely “qualified” be sufficient, or would you want the best candidate available?
The reality is that there are immense differences in the levels of skill among the nominally qualified. Perhaps in government, where mediocrity seems to be prized, little concern is given to matters of the relative skills of the workers, but most private enterprise prefers to hire the best available. There are objective standards measuring skill. Use them, and let the cards fall as they may.
John D:
Board certified is board certified, right? Passing the Bar is passing the Bar, right? Aren’t these exams designed to weed out the incompetent? Isn’t that what continuing education requirements are for? How someone gets there is of little relevance.
For African-Americans, what is of relevance is righting the wrongs of 400 years of exploitation and injustice. What is of relevance is making the U.S. live up to the words of its Declaration of Independence when it states, “All men are created equal.” What is of relevance is giving those whom a system of discreet Apartheid denies, the material conditions needed to develope to their maximum potential. When, due to poverty, brothers and sisters are forced to live in squalor, die in bed from a stray bullet going through the wall, eat cheap, unhealthy food, go to crumbling schools, and lastly, see few roles models of the same skin color, they give up before even trying.
The US provides veterans preference points for veterans when applying for civil service positions, why not “slavery preference points?” It’s only fair, after all, the wealth of this country was built on the broken backs of African-American slaves and which, John, you currently enjoy in your dotage.
“Perhaps in government, where mediocrity seems to be prized, little concern is given to matters of the relative skills of the workers,…” Last time I checked, NASA astronauts were government workers, yet here they are, flying spacecraft. Last I checked, the inspectors examining this nation’s nuclear power plants were government workers. Last I checked, the biologists at the USDA were government workers.
You dare suggest the government is not concerned about their employee’s qualifications? If you resent their services so much, John, perhaps you should generate your own electricity, grow, inspect, and certify that the food you eat won’t kill you, and stop using your cellphone, after all, it relies on the GPS satellites.
“…but most private enterprise prefers to hire the best available” Lol. So, all these bankers that have ripped all of us off are “the best available?” All these pundits on legacy media are “the best available?” All private enterprise cares about is profit and dodging taxes. You’ve got it all backwards, John.