Army Gen. Mark Milley is getting kudos from the media for telling Congress that the military hasn’t become “woke,” even as its leadership urges soldiers and sailors to absorb woke ideas. The brass is trying to have it both ways on this issue, and that may ultimately undermine its core mission.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that he “personally” found it “offensive” that Republicans have accused general officers of being “woke.” A pair of Florida Congressmen had been criticizing Gen. Milley over seminars at West Point about “white rage.”
The Chief of Naval Operations has recommended “How to Be an Antiracist,” a book that proposes “future discrimination,” ostensibly against white people, on his professional reading list for sailors.
Gen. Milley has to be sensitive to the political realities in the White House, but he was clearly exercised about the criticism, saying it’s “important actually for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read.”
He later added: “I’ve read Mao Zedong. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist.” So, he asked, “what is wrong” with “having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?”
Of course sailors and Marines should read widely. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday said similarly last week that he was merely exposing sailors to new ideas.
But one can still wonder why “How to Be an Antiracist,” a book promoting sectarian racism, is on the reading list as “foundational” material on par with Jim Hornfischer’s classic naval histories. READ MORE
According to the most recent census data, the percentage of whites in the US population is 60% whereas the percentage of blacks in the US population is 12%... In other words, there are FIVE times more whites in America than there are blacks.
What does that mean?
ONE out of every FIVE Americans are black... and yet, minority group wants to control everything that is going on in this county from law enforcement to politics to Hollywood to Professional Athletics to Musicians and Artists to those CEO's who are managing our companies.
Blacks want to receive preferential treatment because they were brought to this country in 1619 against their will... that is over 400 years ago... and 157 years before we gained our independence from Great Britain; however, just because the whites gained their independence does not mean that the blacks actually gained their independence as well... NO... it took another 87 years for the blacks to actually receive their independence.
WHY... did it take so long?
OUR FOUNDING FATHERS (All of them) WERE RACISTS... there is no doubts about that fact... now, here is the interesting question:
DID PRESIDENT LINCOLN FREE THE SLAVES TO INCREASE THE SIZE OF HIS ARMY AGAINST THE SOUTH OR DID HE FREE THE SLAVES BECAUSE HE WAS AGAINST SLAVERY?
Lincoln's wife owned slaves...
We, that is to say Americans, treated the Native Americans almost as bad as we treated the blacks... and, to compensate them for our bad treatment, we allowed them to operate GAMBLING CASINOS on their territory only... but, they get all the revenues.
That was really white of us to do that.
Interestingly, the US Constitution that governs our country was actually written for the WHITES not the BLACKS even though they were included by an amendment... but, in the minds of most blacks that did not correct the injustice; however, what will correct the injustice will be that REALITY where ALL WHITENESS is removed from the way Americans live... that is to say that the 60% should bend over backwards to pacify the 12% as a form of compensation.
What does that mean exactly?
That means BLACKS no longer want WHITES to be White... because if WHITES continue to be White, then that is racism and racism negatively impacts 12% of all Americans.
It means that laws should be rewritten to favor blacks over whites in the courts of law.
It means that Blacks should get preferential treatment at college and university over the WHITES.
It means that Blacks should be hired before Whites are hired even if they are less qualified because it was the Whites that manipulated the system that forced them to be less qualified in the first place.
However, I don't think Blacks want to be first in line in the MILITARY since being first there might result in a loss of life... but that is just a personal opinion and not based upon any solid evidence or facts.
I am also not sure how this relates to selling illegal drugs either because most of the dope dealers are black and most of the dope users are white... and, I doubt very seriously if they really want to change places.
Because blacks were slaves they should be given every thing they want or they will revolt in the streets, burn, and loot to show their disappointment. And... since the law enforcement is systemically racist, then we should do away with the police force... or at least have NO WHITE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS so if blacks are killed by police, they will have been killed by black police.
IT IS TIME THAT WHITES LISTEN AND STOP BEING WHITE ONCE AND FOR ALL... white should not even be a color or for that matter a word in the dictionary.
The average life expectancy of a non-instrument trained pilot in instrument conditions is 178 seconds — or so says a 1954 study that pilots have referenced ever since. The point made by the aphorism is that once a pilot enters the clouds, instinct is of very little help in keeping the airplane upright. Learning to use the instruments when you can’t see outside is crucial to flying safely in the weather. But pilots learn not just to interpret the information displayed on the instruments but also to trust that information.
Every instrument-rated pilot is familiar with the phenomenon: I pass from blue sky into the clouds and transition from using the horizon to determine my aircraft’s orientation to looking at the instruments in the cockpit. The vestibular system in my ear sends my brain compelling signals suggesting that I’m in a bank turn to the right. My natural inclination is to roll left to level the wings. But my training has taught me differently. I instead look to the attitude indicator. If it tells me that my wings are, in fact, level, then I trust the attitude indicator and fight the urge to bank the airplane. To do otherwise is literally to take my life into my hands while flying blind.
The rapid development of AI technology, and its employment within the military, raises questions about trust and technology like the ones pilots have wrestled with for decades. Though the questions are new, they do have some similarities with those raised when flying by instruments became possible nearly a century ago. And at that time, the educational resources that could help pilots with those questions were available to the U.S. Army Air Corps, but it did not avail itself of them.
Similarly, today, the resources for providing operators with a baseline education in AI, which would help address these questions about trust, even if it wouldn’t solve them completely, are already available in industry. Though developing organic educational content tailored to national defense is important, it will also take time. In the short term, the Department of Defense should buy licenses for open-source, online, modular curricula to bring its workforce into the age of AI. TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, Click H
Music of the 1960's and 1970's plays in my ears as I contemplate what it is like to again be out on my back porch enjoying the warming weather while listening to the Cream and Hendrix softly whispering into my imagination and memories of what it was like to be a teenager again... for me, it was not like what others endured because I was white and theoretically was being raised on white privilege... curiously, my parent's house was smaller than the house my wife and I live in 60 years later.
We had one bathroom with a shower for 5 of us to use and our outside yard could be mowed in about 30 minutes. We lived in a community that was considered to be in the country... 4 miles south of Alexandria and 8 miles south of Washington, DC. My father walked two blocks to catch the bus into Washington where he worked. My mother did not work and we had 1 car that did not have a heater or an air conditioner because those features increased the base price. We wore coats and sweaters in the car in the winter and rolled the windows down in the summer.
However, my parents lived better with children than they had lived in North Carolina as children with their parents... BUT, according to the critics, both my parents and I were raised on white privilege.
WHERE PRIVILEGE ENTERED THE PICTURE was when I attended high school in Cairo, Egypt and attended classes with students of all colors from countries all over the world. Our 1966 graduating class was 28 in number with 15 different nationalities; in fact, the VALEDICTORIAN of our senior class was a HUNGARIAN COMMUNIST who was flown to Russia after he graduated. Whites, Blacks, Browns, Asians, Africans, Canadians, Europeans, Chinese, Japanese shared life together, never realizing we were different in color or different in our religious beliefs, or different in our political ideologies.
In the summers and since we could not work, groups of us 10-15 would travel through Europe for 30-60 days. At that time, we could travel through Europe between $3-$5/day. We oftentimes purchased a EURAIL PASS that gave us UNLIMITED mileage for 30 days for about $100. So, the total cost of traveling throughout Europe was about $500. And... the education we received was invaluable and had nothing to do with white privilege... as color was present all around us... if your parents worked for the US EMBASSY, then you were privileged... there were just as many blacks as there were whites...
After graduating from high school whatever privileged I had previous enjoyed VANISHED into the thin air of LIFE. I worked while I attended college because I no longer wanted my parents to control me and require that certain grades be achieved. I dropped out of college and ENLISTED into the US NAVY and there is no privilege associated with being an enlisted man in the military.
After two years, I was honorably discharged from the active duty military but had to continue 4 more years as a RESERVIST. Using the GI BILL, I finished my undergraduate degree and also had enough money to complete an MBA. There was no white privilege there either as I earned the right to have the government pay for my education, especially since we were engaged in the Vietnam War at the time.
Throughout my 45 year career, I was FIRED because I challenged the incompetence of management and refused to kiss the ass of management or violate my integrity. My behavior was not an example of white privilege... in fact, it was an example of having no privilege at all.
At the age of 60 I experienced a serious heart attack and my Cardiologist recommended a triple bypass... My brother was on the Board of Directors of NY Presbyterian Hospital and opened the door for me to fly to NYC and have my arteries cleaned out and five stents inserted over a period of 3 operations. THIS WAS CLEARLY AN EXAMPLE OF PRIVILEGE and to be quite honest I am glad that MY BROTHER had been in a position to have forced this to happen. And... 13 years later, my heart is responding perfectly for a man of my age.
On my back porch, I reflect and remember a not so glamorous past and I wonder if I would have changed anything if given a second change since this is what actually happened and since this is what actually happened why would I ever want to change it?
Similarly... what's happening now is what is happening... and, when it is done, why would we ever wish for it not to have happened? Life happens because it is supposed to happen... and, there is a reason for it to happen whether or not we understand it at the time. If we loose our freedoms, we were meant to loose our freedoms.
IN 0.63 SECONDS, I RECEIVED 4,480,000,000 RESULTS ON GOOGLE AFTER TYPING IN "On Being White."
Most of the results through which I quickly browsed were all directed against the WHITE MAN because ALL WHITE PEOPLE were born into a white world of PRIVILEGE... or, so it is assumed.
I had WHITE PARENTS who were educated and who raised me to treat all people equally as long as their behavior suggested it... and, that is exactly how I lived my life.
My father accepted a DIPLOMATIC post overseas at an American Embassy and to tell you the truth, I have no idea if his bosses even considered a black man for the job... but, if there were no black men available, then it would have been difficult to hire a black man for the job.
Going to high school in Cairo, Egypt, I experienced NO RACISM or PREDJUDICE at all among the students with whom I attended this school... and yes, there were many people of color attending that school.
When I attended college in NC in 1966, that was the first time that I experienced racism and witnessed white people treating black people differently... including professors. However, once I enlisted into the US Navy, there was no racism expressed at all and I remember that my Communications Officer was a black man and I showed him the same respect that I showed all officers in the military.
After college, I had several jobs and I have no idea nor did I ask the person doing the hiring if I was competing with any black people. However, when I was Dean of a proprietary school, I hired both black and white instructors as long as they had the appropriate credentials and/or qualifications... and, in my experience, I was never put in a position where there was a white and a black equally qualified and I had to chose one over the other.
Whenever I was promoted inside the ranks of education from instructor to Assistant Dean and then to Dean, there WAS NEVER ANY COMPETITION for the position from either other whites or any blacks that were employed.
NOW...
I am being confronted with WHITE PRIVILEGE and how the WHITE MAN/WOMAN has always had the advantage over BLACKS...
I just don't see it... making it difficult for me to believe it exists... and yet, logically, I know it exists... but, NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE have had a life of privilege... and, it is that distinction that pisses me off the most about blacks thinking I have had it easy simply because I am WHITE.
I had NO CHOICE in my BIRTH...
and I damn sure had no choice in my birth parents...
NO ONE DOES... unless they have a direct line to GOD... and believe that they can influence HIM.
We refer to our country as AMERICA and to its citizens as AMERICANS and while that is partially true, it is also wrong because being an AMERICAN refers to both the North, Central and South America continents... North America is the United States and Canada. Then we have Central America, and last but not least is South America all of whom are technically considered to be AMERICANS...
Is it not a tad ARROGANT to think of US citizens as the only AMERICANS or is it because we are a tad ignorant and don't know our history as well as we thought we did when graduating from high school?
AND... now we are at the day before Thanksgiving and we are going to over eat and over indulge in alcohol and in those states where marijuana is legal we are going to over indulge in that as well, without the slightest consideration for the history of the holiday for the most part.
US American citizens care more about what their country can do for them rather than caring about what they can do for their country... The more we have social programs the less that our citizens do for their country and the more we expect the wealthy to pay for our THANKSGIVING DINNERS.... which is actually a metaphorical statement as to what is happening in the US of A.
AND... as a senior citizen... one could say that I don't much care because of what is going to happen to you alone because by then I will be dead... but, the more we expect our country through the wealthy to do for us, the WEAKER we as a people become. Not weaker in terms of money or technology or healthcare but weaker MENTALLY and that MENTAL WEAKNESS will start to erode and lessen our LOYALTY to the country that gave us all we have.
ALL IS NOT WELL IN THE US of A not because we do not have the natural resources, the technology, the innovations, the freedoms, and the WEALTH but because we are losing sight of our EDUCATION and KNOWLEDGE and will soon lose our freedoms because of our bliss and military weaknesses.
CHINA has the largest military in the world today... the USA is second...
INDIA has the next largest military and then there is
NORTH KOREA...
RUSSIA is in there somewhere but because it is no longer the USSR it is much smaller and then there is the
MIDDLE EAST and all the rag heads in that area as US American military personnel calls them
AND... while we think our economy is the largest in the land, we have been fooled again but our insightful leaders and the media they control because in terms of PURCHASING POWER PARITY, the largest economy in the land is now CHINA...
Please pass me another joint to have with my beer or wine or alcohol as the combination is mind blowing... as I have been told... and, after we finish our Thanksgiving Meal, lets ride to a fast food and get us a burger... or, maybe some ice cream...
AND...if that isn't enough... check our where the USA ranks globally in terms of education K-12 and it will surprise you that we are number 15th.
AND... if you really want another surprise and cannot wait for CHRISTMAS do a google search my friends on the FREEST COUNTRIES in the world and you will see that the USA is no longer at the top... and yet, we are supposedly the ones who have all these freedoms... well... guess again... your liberal government has gradually taken them away from you... but go ahead and enjoy your thanksgiving...
Check out the CATO INSTITUTE and the PEW RESEARCH CENTER and articles that have been published in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and USA TODAY and US NEWS and WORLD REPORT if you think my words are deceiving... and, find out for yourself... the state our States are in while we over eat, over drink, and get chilled out on marijuana... the more we give US citizens in the way of social programs, the more the lull them to sleep in beds of ignorance.
From NATIONAL DEFENSE, NDIA'S Business and Technology Magazine
The United States has been the world’s leading maritime power for decades. However, the U.S. Navy could find itself in China’s wake if current trends continue, analysts say.
Washington and Beijing are now locked in great power competition.
“The biggest challenge for U.S. national security leaders over the next 30 years is the speed and sustainability of the [People’s Republic of China] national effort to deploy a global navy,” said retired Capt. James Fanell, who previously served as head of intelligence for the Pacific Fleet.
The modernization of the Chinese navy, also known as the PLA Navy, has been underway since the 1990s, and its fleet has greatly expanded.
In its annual report on China published last year, the Defense Department stated that its Asian rival has more than 300 surface combatants, submarines, amphibious ships, patrol craft and other specialized vessels.
In 2019, China had a 335-ship fleet, about 55 percent larger than in 2005, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report titled, “China’s Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities — Background and Issues for Congress.”
“There is no doubt that they’ve been investing hugely in this,” said Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. “In recent years, they’ve been outbuilding everybody.”
To put it in perspective, during a recent four-year period the naval vessels that Chinese shipyards produced were roughly equivalent in tonnage to the entire U.K. Royal Navy or the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, according to Childs.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has 293 ships in its battle force, just two more than it had 15 years ago. Its leaders aim to increase the fleet to 355 vessels, but analysts say that isn’t feasible unless there is a massive increase in the shipbuilding budget or a change in the mix of the fleet architecture toward less expensive platforms such as unmanned systems.
“Given the past 20-year trajectory of PRC naval ship construction, the PRC’s expressed desire and ability to continue to increase its spending on naval shipbuilding, the cost advantages its shipbuilding industry enjoy compared to foreign naval shipyards and Chinese shipbuilders’ continued trend of indigenous technical mastery of complex designs and systems integration, I expect the PLA navy will continue to surpass the U.S. Navy in the number of warships built for the foreseeable future,” Fanell said during remarks at the Hudson Institute last year.
Fanell estimated that by 2030, the Chinese fleet will have a surface force of over 450 ships and a submarine force of about 110 boats. However, predicting its future size and structure is challenging because the government is opaque about its ambitions, other analysts say.
“The planned ultimate size and composition of China’s navy is not publicly known,” O’Rourke said. “In contrast to the U.S. Navy … China does not release a navy force-level goal or detailed information about planned ship procurement rates, planned total ship procurement quantities, planned ship retirements and resulting projected force levels.”
But it’s clear to experts that the nation’s maritime capabilities are improving. China is rapidly retiring older, single-mission warships in favor of larger, multi-mission vessels equipped with advanced anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine systems, sensors and command-and-control networks, according to a 2019 Defense Intelligence Agency report titled, “China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win.”
In his CRS report, Naval Specialist Ronald O’Rourke said Chinese ships, aircraft and weapons are now comparable in many respects to those of Western navies.
However, when it comes to aircraft carriers, the United States is still dominant, analysts say.
China currently has only two carriers. The Liaoning entered service in 2012. The nation’s first fully indigenously built carrier, the Shandong, entered service in December.
The former is conventionally powered, has an estimated full-load displacement of 60,000 to 66,000 tons, and reportedly can accommodate an air wing of 30 or more fixed-wing platforms, according to O’Rourke. The Shandong features some design improvements and may be able to operate a larger air wing of 40 aircraft.
The vessels, lacking catapults, launch fixed-wing planes using an inclined “ski ramp,” he noted.
“By comparison, U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are nuclear powered — giving them greater cruising endurance than a conventionally powered ship — have a full-load displacement of about 100,000 tons, can accommodate air wings of 60 or more aircraft … and launch their fixed-wing aircraft … using catapults, which can give those aircraft a range/payload capability greater than that of aircraft launched with a ski ramp.”
A third Chinese carrier is under construction, and a fourth may begin construction as early as 2021. These future vessels may have a displacement of 80,000 tons to 85,000 tons and be equipped with electromagnetic catapults rather than a ski ramp, which will improve the range and payload capability of the fixed-wing aircraft. TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...
The USA is losing its influence over the rest of the world as countries like China, Russia, North Korea, and several countries in the Middle East begin to flex their muscles AGAINST US... Individually, they are no match for the USA but collectively they pose a HUGE ECONOMIC AND MILITARY THREAT...
Since we, the USA, have our hands full dealing with this Pandemic, these COMMUNIST COUNTRIES are taking advantage of our absence.
Is America tired of fighting wars all over to world to maintain our dominance... and keep Communism from creeping into some of the weaker countries and taking control...
IN MOST COUNTRIES... the freedoms that Americans take-for-granted do not exist in other countries... and for that, we should consider ourselves lucky... but, therein lies the problem because most Americans make no considerations at all in this regard; instead, they are controlled and ultimately influenced by those who have POWER and/or WEALTH.
20% of Americans are wealthy
60% of Americans are average
20% of Americans are poor
Then we have,
1% of the whole are extremely wealthy while
1% of the whole are extremely poor
STATISTICALLY, we have a perfect bell-shaped curve...
On the far left-hand side of our diagram are the 1% wealthy whereas the 1% poor are on the far right-hand side. On either side of the middle "-2 to +2" we will find the 60%. From the center to the right, wealth gradually increases and to the right, wealth gradually decreases.
From the model, we can also conclude that WEALTH, POWER, INFLUENCE gradually increase from the center out to the left and gradually decrease from the center out to the right.
ALL AMERICANS BELIEVE VERY STRONGLY... that they have free will and make their own choices... but, that is simply not true... If you don't have wealth and power, then your free will and choices are influenced and controlled by those who do have wealth and power.
However... and, this is your right, you may not believe this to be true, especially since everyone makes choices all the time some of which influence one's life and one's life direction substantially; but, those choices are still influenced indirectly by wealth and power whether you realize it or not.
You drive the speed limit when there is a cop in sight... that is power
You pay your taxes each year... that is power
You receive a salary from your employer... that is wealth and power
You are regulated by medicine... that is wealth and power
You do what your supervisor tells you to do... that is power
You obey the lifeguard at the beach... that is power
You are quiet in Church... that is power
You make monthly debt payments... that is wealth and power
You control the choices your children make... that is power
