Earlier, we talked about how Late-Night talk shows are archaic and unnecessary.  The hosts are dinosaurs, lumbering across the entertainment landscape, completely unaware that the asteroid which will eventually wipe them out hit back in the 90’s. Like the Clintons, these shows serve no purpose but continue to be a staple of American life – even though everyone has moved on.

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Speaking to USA Today, Puerto Rico’s delegate to the United States Congress, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, challenged claims that President Donald Trump has forgotten the island, and bungled emergency response in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

“I will tell you that everything that the president said that he was going to send to the island, it’s getting there. The resources are there. The help is there,” Colon told the outlet. He instructed all his cabinet members to treat Puerto Rico as a state, in terms of this hurricane. I mean, that kind of instruction is important to have access to all those programs.”

WATCH:

Gonzalez-Colon also said she was impressed with Trump’s knowledge of the situation on the ground in Puerto Rico, and mentioned that the President spoke to Puerto Rico’s governor at least once every day, during and after the hurricane.

She said that while she might not “praise all the ways that he managed the issue” — she definitely criticized the President for his off-the-cuff remarks and his unwillingness to “follow the script” that kept him on subject during the first few days of emergency response — everything Trump promised to send has arrived, and help is now getting to the far corners of the island.

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Mississippi’s Biloxi School District received complaints about the language in “To Kill A Mockingbird” — a classic novel dealing with racism in the American south — and then pulled the book from its 8th-grade English Language Arts curriculum last week, the Sun Herald reported.

What were the complaints about “To Kill a Mockingbird”?

• “There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable, and we can teach the same lesson with other books,” Kenny Holloway, vice president of the Biloxi School Board, told the paper. “It’s still in our library. But they’re going to use another book in the 8th-grade course.”
• The Sun Herald reported that it got an email from a concerned reader who said the ruling happened “mid-lesson plan, the students will not be allowed to finish the reading of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ …. due to the use of the ‘N’ word.”

What else did the concerned reader say?

• “I think it is one of the most disturbing examples of censorship I have ever heard, in that the themes in the story humanize all people regardless of their social status, education level, intellect, and of course, race,” the reader said to the paper. “It would be difficult to find a time when it was more relevant than in days like these.”

What is “To Kill a Mockingbird” about?

• The 1960 novel by Harper Lee — which won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction the following year and was turned into an Oscar-winning movie in 1962 — is about a southern lawyer who defends a black man against a trumped-up rape charge and teaches his children about racial prejudice.

Who made the decision to pull the novel?

• The school board told the Sun Herald it was an administrative and department decision, and the board didn’t vote on it.
• Superintendent Arthur McMillan told the paper in a statement that “there are many resources and materials that are available to teach state academic standards to our students. These resources may change periodically. We always strive to do what is best for our students and staff to continue to perform at the highest level.”

What does Common Core have to say about “To Kill a Mockingbird”?

• It’s listed on the curriculum as a core text for 8th grade ELA, the Common Core state standards for English Language Arts, the Sun Herald said.

What does the American Library Association have to say about the novel?

• The organization lists “To Kill A Mockingbird” as among the most banned or challenged books.

Former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain — an outspoken conservative as well as a critic of the left’s hold on public education — weighed in on the issue on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends”:

This writer’s perspective

It’s ironic that the Biloxi School District pulled “To Kill a Mockingbird” over concerns that it “makes people uncomfortable.” The subject is supposed to make one feel uncomfortable — and the acts of reading and discussing the novel can, in fact, help do away with racism.

Instead, students will be protected from eyeballing language they’ve no doubt heard or read already and subsequently miss the opportunity to become conversant not only with a classic of American literature but more importantly about the subjects of race and racism for the betterment of society.

To what extent will the perpetually offended hold sway in this area? What other language will be sanitized so that deeper meanings are rendered invisible? This circumstance is not dissimilar from college students and professors pushing to do away with free speech and expression that doesn’t align with their far-left viewpoints.

Such cowering political correctness and censorship must end — and Atticus Finch would no doubt argue that point.

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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

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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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