Those who follow the banners of Reason are like the well-disciplined battalion, which, wearing a more sober uniform, and making a less dazzling show, than
My 1st couple of years in engineering school (1966-1967) were with a slip stick. A number of years followed spent in the military and civilian employment before I paused my hedonistic lifestyle to complete my degree in Civil Engineering in 1975. When I started back in 1973, slip sticks were gone in favor of calculators. I started off with a $240 (in 1973 dollars!) Bowmar, by current standards, the equivalent of a current $12 scientific calculator. But I quickly gravitated to an HP 45. I can’t remember who I had to kill to get the cash for the over $400 price of the HP 45. I was living and paying all of my bills and food and tuition and books from my $275/month GI Bill and my weekend job pumping beer, shelling oysters and making Reubens at Smokeys Bar for a couple of bucks an hour.
My transportation at the time was a Kawasaki 500 until I got so cold one winter that I paid $100 for a 1962 Valiant with a rusted out floorboard that I covered with a stolen real estate sign to keep my feet from falling through.
Sounds tough but that was the absolute best time of my life.
Donald Trump said he’d end affirmative action and he did. Below I’ve copied Donald Trump’s executive order for, “ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY”
This is amazing! This is what we’ve needed for generations since the nightmare of the Civil Rights legislation was rolled out in the 1960s.
And I expect the blue state judges and other progressives will fight this tooth and nail. And if Trump wants to secure his legacy in the eyes of his countrymen, he needs to fight back with every bit of power that the office of the presidency provides him. Because this is exactly the policy that will make this country powerful again. Companies hiring the smartest candidate. Police and military authorities requiring applicants for demanding assignments to pass grueling physical tests. No more 5’ 4,” 90 lb. women pretending to be firefighters who can go into a burning building and haul a 200 lb. man to safety.
No more surgeons or airline pilots selected to their positions based on their skin color or sex (or worse, their sexual deviancy). No more Navy Seals or Army Rangers who can’t do ten pull ups or carry an eighty-pound pack and a rifle. And best of all, no more government programs or agencies endlessly telling us that diversity is our strength. In fact, the executive order requires all of these agencies to strip away all of those buzz words; diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. All that jibber jabber has to go. For example, from the text below:
“(ii) Excise references to DEI and DEIA principles, under whatever name they may appear, from Federal acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance procedures to streamline those procedures, improve speed and efficiency, lower costs, and comply with civil-rights laws; and
(iii) Terminate all “diversity,” “equity,” “equitable decision-making,” “equitable deployment of financial and technical assistance,” “advancing equity,” and like mandates, requirements, programs, or activities, as appropriate.”
And this order has all sorts of clauses to allow the government to go after corporations that employ affirmative action in their hiring and advancement policies. Honestly there are goodies in here everywhere I look. For instance:
“Sec. 4. Encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI Discrimination and Preferences. (a) The heads of all agencies, with the assistance of the Attorney General, shall take all appropriate action with respect to the operations of their agencies to advance in the private sector the policy of individual initiative, excellence, and hard work identified in section 2 of this order.
………………
(b) To further inform and advise me so that my Administration may formulate appropriate and effective civil-rights policy, the Attorney General, within 120 days of this order, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies and in coordination with the Director of OMB, shall submit a report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy containing recommendations for enforcing Federal civil-rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI. The report shall contain a proposed strategic enforcement plan identifying:
…………………
(iii) A plan of specific steps or measures to deter DEI programs or principles (whether specifically denominated “DEI” or otherwise) that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences. As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars;”
Etc., etc., etc.
And just to make sure the colleges are held accountable:
Sec. 5. Other Actions. Within 120 days of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall jointly issue guidance to all State and local educational agencies that receive Federal funds, as well as all institutions of higher education that receive Federal grants or participate in the Federal student loan assistance program under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq., regarding the measures and practices required to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).
So, all in all, this is like some kind of dream come true for the Right. Now will all this become law without a fight? Hell no. There will be a knock down, drag out fight for every sentence and phrase. I expect screaming women to march around the White House for the next ten years on account of some angry identity group whose feelings have been hurt.
Federal judges in every blue jurisdiction will declare this order unconstitutional. But I predict the Supreme Court will come down on his side. And that is as it should be. Trump has taken the initiative and he has justice and sanity on his side. Let him continue to act in this spirit and he may end up on Mount Rushmore after all. Well done.
For your ease of access I’ve copied the executive action in its entirety below. I recommend going through the whole thing. It’s very well written. I find it very enjoyable just reading it. It’s a form of therapy. And even for that Donald Trump deserves my thanks.
Presidential Actions
ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND
RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY
January 21, 2025
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. Longstanding Federal civil-rights laws protect individual Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. These civil-rights protections serve as a bedrock supporting equality of opportunity for all Americans. As President, I have a solemn duty to ensure that these laws are enforced for the benefit of all Americans.
Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.
Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.
These illegal DEI and DEIA policies also threaten the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society, including all levels of government, and the medical, aviation, and law-enforcement communities. Yet in case after tragic case, the American people have witnessed first-hand the disastrous consequences of illegal, pernicious discrimination that has prioritized how people were born instead of what they were capable of doing.
The Federal Government is charged with enforcing our civil-rights laws. The purpose of this order is to ensure that it does so by ending illegal preferences and discrimination.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. I therefore order all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.
Sec. 3. Terminating Illegal Discrimination in the Federal Government. (a) The following executive actions are hereby revoked: (i) Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations); (ii) Executive Order 13583 of August 18, 2011 (Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce); (iii) Executive Order 13672 of July 21, 2014 (Further Amendments to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government, and Executive Order 11246, Equal Employment Opportunity); and (iv) The Presidential Memorandum of October 5, 2016 (Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the National Security Workforce). (b) The Federal contracting process shall be streamlined to enhance speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require Federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil-rights laws. Accordingly: (i) Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965 (Equal Employment Opportunity), is hereby revoked. For 90 days from the date of this order, Federal contractors may continue to comply with the regulatory scheme in effect on January 20, 2025. (ii) The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs within the Department of Labor shall immediately cease: (A) Promoting “diversity”; (B) Holding Federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking “affirmative action”; and (C) Allowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin. (iii) In accordance with Executive Order 13279 of December 12, 2002 (Equal Protection of the Laws for Faith-Based and Community Organizations), the employment, procurement, and contracting practices of Federal contractors and subcontractors shall not consider race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin in ways that violate the Nation’s civil rights laws. (iv) The head of each agency shall include in every contract or grant award: (A) A term requiring the contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that its compliance in all respects with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of title 31, United States Code; and (B) A term requiring such counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws. (c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), with the assistance of the Attorney General as requested, shall: (i) Review and revise, as appropriate, all Government-wide processes, directives, and guidance; (ii) Excise references to DEI and DEIA principles, under whatever name they may appear, from Federal acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance procedures to streamline those procedures, improve speed and efficiency, lower costs, and comply with civil-rights laws; and (iii) Terminate all “diversity,” “equity,” “equitable decision-making,” “equitable deployment of financial and technical assistance,” “advancing equity,” and like mandates, requirements, programs, or activities, as appropriate.
Sec. 4. Encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI Discrimination and Preferences. (a) The heads of all agencies, with the assistance of the Attorney General, shall take all appropriate action with respect to the operations of their agencies to advance in the private sector the policy of individual initiative, excellence, and hard work identified in section 2 of this order. (b) To further inform and advise me so that my Administration may formulate appropriate and effective civil-rights policy, the Attorney General, within 120 days of this order, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies and in coordination with the Director of OMB, shall submit a report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy containing recommendations for enforcing Federal civil-rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI. The report shall contain a proposed strategic enforcement plan identifying: (i) Key sectors of concern within each agency’s jurisdiction; (ii) The most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners in each sector of concern; (iii) A plan of specific steps or measures to deter DEI programs or principles (whether specifically denominated “DEI” or otherwise) that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences. As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars; (iv) Other strategies to encourage the private sector to end illegal DEI discrimination and preferences and comply with all Federal civil-rights laws; (v) Litigation that would be potentially appropriate for Federal lawsuits, intervention, or statements of interest; and (vi) Potential regulatory action and sub-regulatory guidance.
Sec. 5. Other Actions. Within 120 days of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall jointly issue guidance to all State and local educational agencies that receive Federal funds, as well as all institutions of higher education that receive Federal grants or participate in the Federal student loan assistance program under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq., regarding the measures and practices required to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).
Sec. 6. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 7. Scope. (a) This order does not apply to lawful Federal or private-sector employment and contracting preferences for veterans of the U.S. armed forces or persons protected by the Randolph-Sheppard Act, 20 U.S.C. 107 et seq. (b) This order does not prevent State or local governments, Federal contractors, or Federally-funded State and local educational agencies or institutions of higher education from engaging in First Amendment-protected speech. (c) This order does not prohibit persons teaching at a Federally funded institution of higher education as part of a larger course of academic instruction from advocating for, endorsing, or promoting the unlawful employment or contracting practices prohibited by this order.
Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to and does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. THE WHITE HOUSE, January 21, 2025.
If I can recommend something, here’s a piece that leaves me breathless by a brother and sister. Usually there’s another brother but this is a duet. Astonishing talent.
Sugarland is what I would call hippie country music. They’re doubtlessly godless communists. But they have produced some superb music. I think this is one of their best. The images and emotions it summons up are achingly beautiful. Well done you drug-addled hippies. Well done.
Thank you, Donald Trump. Watching your show on Monday and Tuesday was like a canteen of cold clean water to a man dying of thirst in the desert. I feel I’ve been paid back for any trouble I’ve taken on your behalf in the last four years. Hallelujah and amen.
Okay now it’s up to Trump and his merry band of madmen to fix Washington and fix the country and do that list of a million impossible things that he said he’s going to do. Have at it, boys. Give ‘em hell.
So, what’s for me to talk about tonight? Well, I’ve got to talk about what’s chasing around my head tonight. First off, I’m grumbling about how damn cold it is today. The heating system at the Compound is undersized. Or maybe the insulation should be the focus. When the outside temperature dips below zero Fahrenheit, it won’t hold a set point above seventy. And that’s too bad because I hate being cold inside my own home. Camera Girl holds me directly responsible because I never put the weatherstripping around two of the external doors. I explained to her that these small insulation problems are only a minor part of the problem and that I’m addressing the problem holistically by spending considerable time thinking deeply about all the ways that a solution can be reached. I’ve considered the thermodynamic aspects of the problem. The psychological ramifications of the fear of cold. The physiological mechanisms by which the human body adapts to hypothermia. The cultural involvement of cold in the human industries that are called clothing and shelter. The quantum meaning of absolute zero. And finally, the latest bill from the heating oil company. All these things I showed her and admonished her to have patience and faith in my stewardship of the Compound’s Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient (U). None of this registered with her at all. She made certain primitive Sicilian gestures with her face and hand that I won’t dignify with detail. Suffice it to say they were not helpful in the least. I’m going out tomorrow for other reasons. But I may also pick up some weatherstripping. Maybe.
I was recently in a discussion about General Relativity with a friend. The question of the curvature of space came up. I told him I’ve never been convinced of the idea that mass curves space-time. I stated that what is the difference if gravity bends the path of light and matter when it comes close to an object like the sun but space is unaffected? How would we know the difference? After all, how the hell can you bend something that isn’t even there? It’s empty space. Now sure, particles are always popping into existence because of quantum effects. But by definition those things aren’t empty space they’re matter. So how the hell can something that’s nothing bend? Anyway, after the argument got us nowhere, I got hold of a book on general relativity and started reading it. But my mathematical skills have degraded so I’ve had to break out a book on vector analysis to try and remember what tensor notation means. Oh, my aching head. I had an old advanced calculus test from my undergraduate days that would be very helpful on some points but then I remembered I threw it out (stupidly) about thirteen years ago when I moved. I was going to buy it used and was amazed how expensive text books have gotten. Yikes!
So anyway, I’m ensconced with the Kronecker delta, the curl and the Laplacian. And I think I’ve made a big mistake. I predict by the end I’ll have nothing but a murky idea of the meaning of the proofs of relativity but no explanation as to why we would think of space as being curved. I think the idea that space is curved is just a figure of speech. The reality is “space’ goes on endlessly in every direction. I don’t think it loops back around behind us or anything like that. It just keeps going. It’s the same as physicists saying that the beginning of the universe was the Big Bang. Well, what about five seconds before that?
So here I am with my cave man cosmogeny and cosmology trying to relearn Einstein’s equations (at my age!). Well, why not? Trump’s fixing the country. The least I can do is straighten out the theoretical physicists. Camera Girl! Where’s my slide rule?
We are in a state of bloodless civil war. No common principles, no respect for common institutions or traditions unite the various groups of politicians, who are struggling for power. To loot somebody or something is the common object under a thick varnish of pious phrases.
We got the promised four inches of snow last night so I had to clear it this morning. I didn’t get out there until ten-thirty so I was busy when Trump was sworn in. After a shower and lunch, I put on the video and listened.
Well, Donald Trump did his thing. He gave a half hour address and he surely went to town. I think he touched almost all the bases. He left out the J6 pardons which did surprise me. But other than that (and I guess Greenland) he went through the litany of actions and policies that he promised during the campaign. And I gotta tell ya, it was pretty great.
Now I have to be honest, I do get tired of all the pauses for applause. They’re not really necessary. But some of them were justified. When he said he was going to end government racial and sexual interference in people’s lives I’m pretty sure I gave off a whoop. And when he said that he was going to restore freedom of speech by putting a stop to all government interference with speech I smiled. And when he said that there are officially two genders (he meant sexes) recognized by the United States government I think I may have clapped.
He said the government would put an end to the sexual struggle sessions in the military. And he said he would be declaring a national emergency at the southern border. He said he will be reinstating the stay in Mexico policy for people seeking asylum. He said he’s taking the Panama Canal back and he said he’s declaring the cartels terrorist organizations. He said he’s ending the Green New Deal and the Electric Car subsidies. He said he’s going to “drill baby drill.” He said he’s going to restore impartial justice and end lawfare. And he said that God saved his life to give him the chance to restore America to greatness.
He said everything. He didn’t take a swing at Joe Biden but nobody’s perfect.
Alright, good. He got his say and all those applause lines and he criticized his opponents and their awful policies. Splendid.
But Inauguration Day is one day. Tomorrow, I want to hear what you’ve done for me lately. We all went to a lot of trouble to drag our butts down to the Middle School cafeteria to vote for you. We did that even though we believed there was a better than even chance that the Democrats would steal this election too. So, we’ve gone out on a limb to look like saps for you Mr. President, so it’s time for you to have your minions sweep up the confetti and busted balloons and roll up their sleeves and actually check off one or two items off of that list of promises you made today.
And how about starting with the J6 pardons? That’s the one that is most urgent. These people have been shut away for years for misdemeanors or for nothing in some cases. Setting them free is the right thing to do and it’s the smart thing to do too. He shouldn’t wait. He owes them that.
After that, shut down the FBI. That’s a no-brainer. After that just start putting the wheels in motion for all of the stuff that takes time to get moving. Call up the yahoos in the Senate and get your appointees confirmed and let’s get this show on the road. The time for speeches is over.
Update:
I saw last night that he did sign pardons for about 1,500 J6 prisoners. Good.
