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Usually a moment of silence is held during removal of the casket. Via WISTV: A Savannah doctor was told not to sing the national anthem during a Delta flight that was carrying home the remains of a fallen Green Beret from Toombs County, Georgia. When Pamela Gaudry learned that former Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright was […]

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Denise Young Smith, Apple’s vice president of diversity and inclusion / Getty

BY: Katelyn Caralle Follow
@Katelyn_Caralle

October 16, 2017 1:04 pm

Tech giant Apple’s first-ever vice president of diversity and inclusion apologized over the weekend for suggesting at a recent panel discussion that white men can be diverse, too, not just minorities.

Denise Young Smith, who Quartz described as “Silicon Valley’s most powerful black woman,” said earlier this month at the One Young World Summit in Bogotá, Colombia that her focus on diversity goes beyond minorities.

“There can be 12 white, blue-eyed, blonde men in a room and they’re going to be diverse too because they’re going to bring a different life experience and life perspective to the conversation,” Young Smith said at the panel discussion moderated by Quartz.

The comment followed Young Smith’s broader response to a question about where she would focus her diversity efforts.

“I focus on everyone,” she said. “Diversity is the human experience. I get a little bit frustrated when diversity or the term diversity is tagged to the people of color, or the women, or the LGBT.”

Quartz noted that the audience applauded Young Smith’s answer, but she has since come out and apologized for her comments. On Saturday, Young Smith issued an apology to her Apple team members for “some comments” she made during the panel discussion.

TechCrunch obtained Young Smith’s email, in which she wrote, “I regret the choice of words I used to make this point,” and that she “understand[s] why some people took offense.”

Young Smith did not specify which remarks she regrets, but her comments about white men received the most backlash.

Here is Young Smith’s email to her Apple team members in full:

Colleagues,

I have always been proud to work for Apple in large part because of our steadfast commitment to creating an inclusive culture. We are also committed to having the most diverse workforce and our work in this area has never been more important. In fact, I have dedicated my twenty years at Apple to fostering and promoting opportunity and access for women, people of color, and the underserved and unheard.

Last week, while attending a summit in Bogota, I made some comments as part of a conversation on the many factors that contribute to diversity and inclusion.

I regret the choice of words I used to make this point. I understand why some people took offense. My comments were not representative of how I think about diversity or how Apple sees it. For that, I’m sorry.

More importantly, I want to assure you Apple’s view and our dedication to diversity has not changed.

Understanding that diversity includes women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and all underrepresented minorities is at the heart of our work to create an environment that is inclusive of everyone.

Our commitment at Apple to increasing racial and gender diversity is as strong as it’s ever been. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made, but there is much work to be done. I’m continually reminded of the importance of talking about these issues and learning from each other.

Best,
Denise

TechCrunch noted that nine percent of Apple’s total employees are black, 12 percent are Hispanic, 19 percent are Asian, and 56 percent are white.

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Politics

Congress Receives Bone-Chilling Warning About the Results of a North Korean EMP Attack

By Davis
on October 16, 2017 at 10:45am

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As tensions between the United States and North Korea have increased over the past several months, many experts have come forward to talk about the devastation that a nuclear war between the two nations would cause.

Speaking before the House Committee on Homeland Security, two members of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack, chairman Dr. William R. Graham and chief of staff Dr. Peter Vincent Pry painted a very dire warning about North Korea, The Daily Wire reported.

During their testimony, Graham and Pry emphasized to Congress that if North Korea were able to detonate an EMP over the United States, it could cause a nationwide blackout and kill millions.

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Put in the most basic terms, an EMP is a pulse that knocks out all electronics, from the power grid to your cell phone, rendering them completely useless. Almost all electronic devices subject to an EMP would need to be replaced — something that would take years.

Graham and Pry noted that Ambassador Henry Cooper, the former Director of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, had some shocking numbers for Congress about what an EMP could do to the United States.

“The result could be to shut down the U.S. electric power grid for an indefinite period, leading to the death within a year of up to 90 percent of all Americans,” Cooper wrote in September 2016.

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Just stop to consider that for a second — 90 percent of all Americans could die. That’s almost too horrifying to comprehend.

EMPs can come from both nuclear weapons, or from separate devices. The experts’ two testimonies noted that North Korea could launch such an attack using a conventional missile or from their satellites.

“A Super-EMP weapon could be relatively small and lightweight, and could fit inside North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong-3 (KMS-3) and Kwangmyongsong-4 (KMS-4) satellites. These two satellites presently orbit over the United States, and over every other nation on Earth — demonstrating, or posing, a potential EMP threat against the entire world,” the experts stated.

You can read their full testimony here.

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There are ways of hardening our electric grid to defend from an EMP burst — the only problem is that such measures would cost billions of dollars, and thus have not been seriously considered.

If you want a real world example of what it would be like to have no power, look no further than Puerto Rico. The island has been without power for almost a month, and it will likely be several more months before all power is restored.

Now just imagine that happening all across the United States — except with no FEMA to come to the rescue. There would be a complete breakdown of law and order. There would be no food, no running water and no medical services.

Millions would die, and this country as we know it would simply cease to exist. EMPs are a serious threat, and both President Donald Trump and Congress need to take them seriously.

H/T WZ

Share this article on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what you think the Trump administration should do about this threat.

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A Florida man who was upset about the NFL national anthem protests, particularly when it came to his home team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, took a drastic approach to convince others to join his NFL boycott.

What did he do?

Terry Smiley had the message “BE AMERICAN. BOYCOTT THE JAGS AND THE NFL” printed on a banner and hired a pilot to fly the giant banner over Everbank Field for two full hours on Sunday as the Jaguars played against the visiting Los Angeles Rams, who won the game 27-17.  Smiley said he was disgusted after several Jaguars players took a knee during the national anthem last month in London. The players did not kneel during the British national anthem.

“I am asking people to boycott the football games. I don’t watch it on TV,” Smiley told WJAX-TV.

“Do you believe in your country? Do you believe in ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’? If you don’t stand up for it now, you won’t have it in the future,” he added. “If you don’t like being in this country, get out of this country.”

To further advertise his cause, Smiley is also giving away free bumper stickers depicting Calvin from the comic book “Calvin and Hobbes” urinating on the words “NFL and the Jaguars.”

“If we boycott them, and we hit them in the pocketbook… Before long we’ll have them on both their knees,” he said.

Why does it matter?

The NFL has had a seemingly permanent spot in the headlines since the season began and players protested the national anthem in various ways, as the debate started by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick last season was reignited.

NFL owners will meet this week for the league’s fall meetings and plan to discuss a possible rule change requiring all players to stand for the national anthem or face fines.

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Canada’s largest school board decided last week to remove the word "chief" from job titles to avoid offending indigenous peoples.

The Toronto District School Board—which oversees all secular, English-speaking schools in the city—is following the recommendation of its Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to document past abuses of indigenous children in Canada’s former residential school system and to make recommendations to address and right any wrongs, the Canadian Press reported.

Accordingly, titles like "chief financial officer," "chief academic officer," and "chief communications officer" will be renamed, despite the use of the word "chief" in those instances not referring to indigenous Canadians.

"It may not have originated as an indigenous word, but the fact is that it is used as a slur in some cases, or in a negative way to describe indigenous people," Ryan Bird, a school board spokesman, said in an interview last Wednesday.

"With that in mind, as it has become a slur in some cases, that’s the decision the administration has made to be proactive on that," he added.

Damien Lee, an assistant professor of indigenous studies at the University of Saskatchewan, told the Toronto Star that the word carries "baggage."

"It has been used as a pejorative," he said. "Some people will use it in a kind of demeaning way."

Another academic said an alternative to "chief" should be found if the term is offensive, but noted that the word’s associations with First Nations, certain indigenous peoples of Canada, can be positive.

"If that usage is going to genuinely hurt a group of people, then I would say yes, by all means, let’s see if we can find an alternative," said Mark Morton, who works at the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Teaching Excellence and studies the origin of words. "On the other hand, the word originated outside of the context of First Nations cultures … and the First Nations associations that it has, I don’t think are negative."

The post Toronto Schools Remove ‘Chief’ From Job Titles to Avoid Offending Indigenous People appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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President Donald Trump took a swipe at Senate Republicans at a Cabinet meeting on Monday, blaming them for "not getting the job done" while exonerating himself.

Trump’s comment came in response to a reporter’s question on former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s "war on" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.).

Trump said that Bannon is "very committed" and "a friend of mine" before adding, "Despite what the press writes, I have great relationships with actually many senators, but in particular with most Republican senators."

Trump then said he is disappointed in the lack of legislative progress during his time in office, but excluded himself from any blame for it.

"But we’re not getting the job done, and I’m not going to blame myself," he said. "I’ll be honest. They are not getting the job done."

"We’ve had health care approved and then you had a surprise vote by [Sen.] John McCain [R., Ariz.]. We’ve had other things happen. And they’re not getting the job done," Trump continued.

The president then said he could "understand" where Bannon and others are coming from with their dissatisfaction with Republican leaders in Congress.

"I can understand where a lot of people are coming from, because I’m not happy about it and a lot of people aren’t happy about it," Trump said. "We need tax cuts. We need health care."

Trump then said that "we’re going to get the health care done," claiming that "Obamacare is finished; it’s dead, gone. You shouldn’t even mention it."

He suggested finding a short-term fix to the country’s health care system to prevent premiums from continuing to increase for many Americans.

The post Trump on GOP Senators: ‘We’re Not Getting the Job Done, and I’m Not Going to Blame Myself’ appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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Maryland’s diminutive and unassuming private citizen, Ann Corcoran, has been writing about refugee resettlement on her now-famous blog, Refugee Resettlement Watch, since 2007. Without her work it is highly doubtful we would know nearly as much about this dangerous and wildly out-of-control program.

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Pretty delicious irony here: If your job is “head of diversity,” you don’t have to design computers or software or anything like that. But you can fail at your job, and you would do that by acknowledging that there’s any concept of diversity apart from what the cultural orthodoxy says.

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