Category: Update

“Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is terminating major DEI programs, effective immediately — including for hiring, training and picking suppliers,” reports Axios. 

“Meta said it was changing course because the ‘legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,’ per a memo by Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources.”

And yes, changing is indeed what the legal landscape is: “Meta is not alone,” explains Techcrunch: “Microsoft and Zoom have also rolled back their DEI efforts. Lawsuits have emerged against programs that were targeted toward the Black and Latino communities.”

Behind all this is a landmark Supreme Court decision of June 29, 2023, Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard. That decision seemed to put the kibosh on what we used to call “reverse discrimination” at least in college acceptance policies regarding students of various races. The whole apparatus of student enrollment and fixation on race had been acceptable in the past to make up, for a time, for past discriminatory behavior based on animus against whites. But Justice Roberts saw no “going back to normal” in Harvard’s admissions policies: “Harvard concedes that its race-​based ad- missions program has no end point.… And it acknowledges that the way it thinks about the use of race in its admissions process ‘is the same now as it was’ nearly 50 years ago.… In short, there is no reason to believe that respondents will — even acting in good faith — comply with the Equal Protection Clause any time soon.” So the court ruled against Harvard.

Much more recently, however, is the big news relating to sex and/​or gender aspect of the DEI agenda: “A federal judge in Kentucky blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to redefine sex in Title IX as ‘gender identity,’ striking down the change nationwide,” according to Fox News’s Ryan Gaydos. “The U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky Northern Division made the ruling in Cardona v. Tennessee on Thursday.”

This cover’s the inclusive aspect of DEI, where men [biological human males] were to be required to be allowed in women’s restrooms and locker rooms if they said they were (or somehow dressed up o “identified as” women. “The court’s order is resounding victory for the protection of girls’ privacy in locker rooms and showers, and for the freedom to speak biologically-​accurate pronouns,” tweeted Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. “The court’s ruling is yet another repudiation of the Biden administration’s relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology through unconstitutional and illegal rulemaking.” 

And with the re-​election of President Donald Trump, the Democrats’ favored “minorities” and “marginalized” policy has hit upon hard times. So the major corporations are blowing with the wind.

Even MacDonald’s is moving against DEI.

Brett Weinstein fears that the “MAHA” movement (“Make America Healthy Again”) is undergoing a rift, a “fissure.” The case against the covidian regime, and especially against the mRNA “vaccine,” is now being apparently undermined by the case against the poisonous food industry … you know, the industry regulated (and subsidized) by the USDA and the FDA.

He suspects that while there is no good reason for any antagonism, certain personalities and strategies of emphasis have set the anti-​Agra activists against the anti-​Big Pharma activists.

Weinstein’s solution is one he thinks all elements of the MAGA/​MAFA movement should be able to get behind, including libertarians. The point is not to go on a ban binge, but, instead, apply current rules along with the principles of the Nuremberg trials, especially that of “informed consent.” 

Which means there must be no pressure to force people to eat or take anything.

He also argues that, “in light of complex systems,” all this stuff that MAHA folks oppose is experimental (additives; genetically modified foods; vaccines; gene therapies) thus the Nuremberg strictures against forced medication must apply. 

James Earl Carter, Jr., 39th president of the United States, died last weekend at a hundred years of age (October 1, 1924 – December 29, 2024). Though he served one term in office from 1977 to 1981, he is best known for his charitable work after leaving Washington. Though his post-​presidential projects were wide-​ranging, he is popularly remembered for building houses for the poor.

The memorials have of course been ubiquitous. Here is a handful of notices:

• Jimmy Carter, 39th US president and noted humanitarian, has died — Susan Page
• Jimmy Carter, Peacemaking President Amid Crises — Peter Baker and Roy Reed
• Jimmy Carter, ‘The Great Deregulator,’ 1924 – 2024 — Nick Gillespie
• RIP Jimmy Carter, the ‘Passionless’ President — Gene Healy
• Jimmy Carter’s Gift to Hollywood Was No Gift to Georgia Taxpayers — Joe Lancaster
• Jimmy Carter Supported Federal Pot Decriminalization for Half a Century. It Still Has Not Happened. — Jacob Sullum
• Sic Transit Gloria Jimmy — Timothy Virkkala
• Jimmy Carter Was the Most Successful Conservative President of the Last Five Decades — Paul Matzko

Senator Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) has published his annual “Festivus Report” on federal government spending, and it doesn’t look good. The federal debt is on a multi-​trillion-​dollar spree, yet politicians keep throwing money around:

• Ghost Towns on the Government’s Dime: The federal government spent $10 billion on maintaining, leasing, and furnishing almost entirely empty buildings
• A Pandemic Plunder: A Florida man stole $8 million in COVID-​19 Relief funds to buy an island and more
• Your Tax Dollars at Play: The Department of the Interior (DOI) spent $12 Million on a Las Vegas Pickleball Complex
• Taxpayers Fund a Disinformation Index: The Department of State (DOS) wasted $330,000 to fund censorship of non- liberal and conservative media
• Hold on to Your Steering Wheels: The Department of Energy (DOE) spent $15.5 billion to push Americans toward electric vehicles they don’t want
• The Influencer Effect Hits Foreign Policy: The Department of State (DOS) squandered $4,840,082 on influencers
• When Bailouts Go Bust: The United States Department of the Treasury (USDT) granted a failed trucking company a $700 million pandemic-​era loan
• Flocking Together! DEI Takes Flight: The National Science Foundation (NSF) spent $288,563 to ensure bird watching groups have safe spaces aka “Affinity Groups”
• Interest-​ingly Wasteful: Americans are paying $892 billion in fiscal year 2024 on the interest on Uncle Sam’s Credit Card
• Because Who Needs a Secure U.S. Border, Anyway? The Department of State (DOS) spent $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security

These are just a few highlights. Read the full report for more juicy boondoggles and drunken-​sailor prodigality. 

“This year, I am highlighting a whopping $1,008,313,329,626.12,” explains the senator. “That’s over $1 trillion in government waste, including things like ice-​skating drag queens, a $12 Million Las Vegas pickleball complex, $4,840,082 on Ukrainian influencers, and more! No matter how much money the government has wasted, politicians keep demanding even more.”

The United States federal government has been charged with protecting us from foreign enemies. But have those butcher’s‑and-baker’s dozen of intel agencies and the Pentagon and Homeland Security really done the job?

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official on Wednesday said at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign.

Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger offered new details about the breadth of the sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.

Neuberger divulged the scope of the hack a day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued guidance intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. White House officials cautioned that the number of telecommunication firms and countries impacted could still grow.

The U.S. believes that the hackers were able to gain access to communications of senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures through the hack, Neuberger said. 

Aamer Madhani, “White House says at least 8 US telecom firms, dozens of nations impacted by China hacking campaign,” Associated Press, December 4, 2024.

The report has not been all that widely discussed, oddly enough. How extensive were the cyber-​incursions? “The number of countries impacted by the hack is currently believed to be in the ‘low, couple dozen,’ according to a senior administration official.”

For more information on Chinese communist aggression, see StoptheChinazis​.org.

The Federal Aviation Administration has responded to the drone (UFO/​UAP) wave over New Jersey and New York by imposing a ban on citizen deployment of consumer drone technology.

“The FAA temporarily banned drone flights in 22 areas of New Jersey where critical infrastructure is located,” reports News Nation. “FAA officials said the flight restrictions were requested by federal security agencies and are effective through Jan. 17.”

While the “nothing to see here folks” caveats are all in place, with the usual reassurances that there has been “nothing so far to suggest that any drones have posed a national security or public safety threat,” it backs up its new, allegedly temporary, drone restrictions with alarming threats of force, warning “that ‘deadly force’ could be used against the drones if they pose an ‘imminent security threat,’ and that the government is using ‘drone busters’ to take down unauthorized flyers.”

News Nation’s Thursday report ends on the standard ambiguous note: “Speculation has raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents or clandestine operations by the U.S. government.

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said it’s unlikely the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. He reiterated this week that the drones being reported are not being operated by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Kellie Miller, “FAA bans drones in parts of New Jersey,” News Nation (December 19, 2024).

But of course this denial does not say anything about a corporate contractor running the mysterious drone swarms. In a just-​updated report also from News Nation, we learn that “Lue [Luis] Elizondo, who led Pentagon investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), aka UFOs, told NewsNation the public messaging surrounding the unexplained drones has been a ‘catastrophe.’” 

This is a point Paul Jacob made in his December 12th commentary.

In yet another News Nation report, “U.S. Rep. Chris Smith says he is ‘disturbed’ more isn’t being done by federal officials to bring down even one of the mysterious drones flying over that state in order to get answers.

Smith, a Republican serving New Jersey’s Fourth District, told NewsNation he has been disappointed by the lack of transparency and effort put forth by the Biden administration to quell concerns about who is behind the drone flap. 

“Why can’t they bring one of these down?” he asked. “Is our airspace so susceptible and so easily violated that we can’t go and say, ‘OK, here they are, let’s get at least one and find out … what’s the origin?”

Smith said many New Jersey residents have been “alarmed” by the flying objects, and all they want is answers and support to handle the air infestation. 

Safia Samee Ali, “NJ rep. says it’s alarming Feds can’t bring down one drone,” News Nation (Updated December 21, 2024).

Two obvious thoughts occur to anyone with a suspicious mind, however: Why would we think the Government would tell us if they had shot one down? and Why would the Government shoot down one of its own in-​dev military-​industrial-​complex devices?

Even more suspicious minds would no doubt go much further, wondering if the Drone Mystery is really just a new form of the near-​century-​old UFO Mystery — or even the Great Airship Mystery of 1896 – 97! Surely most suspicions do not go quite that far, though.