[Dallas Morning News] Most University of Texas System employees terminated due to Texas’ DEI ban were women and people of color, new documents show. The employees worked for diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public colleges and universities across the state but lost their jobs after such programs were banned by a new law that went into effect in January.
The demographics of the staffers impacted most is not too surprising given those called to such work, experts say. A 2023 survey by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education found that 51% of chief diversity officers are Black, while 11% are Hispanic, 7% are Asian and 8% are white LGBTCXYZ.
"It’s not unusual for individuals from historically marginalized groups to have interest, passion and skill sets that would respond to issues around race or achieving greater equity," said Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the association.
Several of the state’s public universities reported that no staff were let go because of the ban. In many cases, those schools saw employees quit after they were given the choice to take new jobs or apply for other positions, according to documents shared with state senators.
For instance, at the University of North Texas System, the DEI ban affected 30 employees. One senior DEI employee retired and three employees resigned after their positions were cut. The rest were reassigned.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2024 10:52 ||
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Jobs Lost After Texas DEI Ban were Women or People of Color
[Field Ethos] In March of 1943, the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, received an order for a watch.
The customer requested a Rolex Model 3525—a popular model with both American and British pilots. The watch was made with a black face, round stainless-steel case, included a chronograph and, of course, it ran like a Swiss watch. For five years, Royal Air Force pilots were eager to ditch their issued watches and save their money for a Rolex, and Rolex filled orders as fast as possible. Hans Wilsdorf didn’t usually read every order that came in, he had teams to do that. But this order’s return address caught his eye.
Stalag Luft III. Occupied Poland. A POW camp for Allied pilots.
By 1943, Stalag Luft III was home to over 10,000 prisoners of war. Most of the soldiers being captured at this point were pilots and air crew, and with the amount of flak being launched from the ground, it was a matter of time before the Germans would be throwing up No Vacancy signs. Lucky for those captured, the camp was run by the Luftwaffe, and not the Gestapo, who had a tendency to rip out fingernails as a way to get to better know their captives. The Luftwaffe aimed to keep prisoners in, and to not let hands go idle. They installed libraries, allowed PT, distributed Red Cross rations, even allowed a beer now and then. And for the most part, looked to Allied officers to keep their fellow prisoners busy.
So one day, British army Corporal and POW C.J. Nutting decided to use his time wisely and wrote a letter to Rolex requesting a new watch similar to what the senior airmen had. He explained the situation, and promised to send payment as soon as possible, as he had been working as Stalag Luft III’s cobbler. Hans Wilsdorf sent a letter back saying they received his order, but to not worry about the payment of 250 Swiss Francs ($2500 USD in present day), he could pay after the war was over and he was free.
By August of 1943, Nutting received the watch, just in time to begin planning a major operation to escape the camp via tunnel systems. The plan called for 3 tunnels—nicknamed Tom, Dick, and Harry—to be dug, all leading under the camp. Tom was started under a barracks’ living space, concealed by a wood stove, heading directly west into the tree line. Dick was to serve as a storage tunnel for all dirt and debris from Tom and Harry. Harry was to reach past the tree line directly north. Tom was discovered early on and filled in, leaving Harry to bear the load.
Harry was 30’ below the surface, 2’ wide, and 338’ long. It contained an air pump for circulation, a rope and cart system, and a staging room at the exit.
Nutting found his Rolex had a place in this operation. Nazis were absolute fools for tight schedules, consistent routines, and unwavering order. Using his chronometer, Nutting watched the rotations of guards around the camp each day and began memorizing their movements.
By March of 1944, three months shy of D-Day, Harry was finished. Using Nutting’s recordings, the plan was to send two teams of 100 men through the tunnel and out to the forest, one every minute. Papers had been supplied by German resistance, allowing prisoners to travel unhindered. Using just watches, men would be given their cue to get out and sprint.
When they discovered the tunnel’s end was just short of the tree line, and with a layer of snow on the ground, the decision was made to limit escapees to one every six minutes. The 2nd team of 100 men were told they weren’t leaving tonight. By 5 A.M., 76 POW’s had made it out, the 77th one being caught by guards and surrendered. The tunnel was discovered and destroyed. Nutting was left to look on as his hope of escape was crushed.
In the end, 73 of the 76 escapees were caught. 17 were sent back to Stalag Luft III. Six were sent to other camps. 50 were lined up and shot, orders directly from Hitler himself.
Nutting ultimately was freed just a few months before the war’s end, his Rolex 3525 still on his wrist. It wasn’t until 1948 that he received a bill from Hans Wilsdorf. Hollywood eventually called and asked him to share his story of the breakout from Stalag Luft III. They turned his story into the highly-acclaimed film, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.
#1
Just less than 100 years ago people were very different as their interactions with the common man. I am surprised he got his watch under those conditions and surprised he kept his watch under those conditions.
That's the newspaper's title, not the scientists'.
[ASBMBTODAY, h/t to the Dallas Morning Snooze] In early February, dairy farmers in the Texas Panhandle began to notice sick cattle. The buzz soon reached Darren Turley, executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen: "They said there is something moving from herd to herd."
An early indication that something had gone awry on farms in northwestern Texas came from devices hitched to collars on dairy cows. What farmers saw when they downloaded the data in February stopped them in their tracks. One moment a cow seemed perfectly fine, and then four hours later, rumination had halted. "Shortly after the stomach stops, you’d see a huge falloff in milk," Turley said. "That is not normal."
In hindsight, Turley wished he had made more of the migrating geese that congregate in the panhandle each winter and spring. Geese and other waterfowl have carried H5N1 around the globe. They withstand enormous loads of the virus without getting sick, passing it on to local species, like blackbirds, cowbirds, and grackles, that mix with migrating flocks.
On March 7, Turley called the Texas Animal Health Commission. They convened a One Health group with experts in animal health, human health, and agriculture to ponder what they called the "mystery syndrome." State veterinarians probed cow tissue for parasites, examined the animals’ blood, and tested for viruses and bacteria. But nothing explained the sickness.
They didn’t probe for H5N1. While it has jumped into mammals dozens of times, it rarely has spread between species. Most cases have been in carnivores, which likely ate infected birds. Cows are mainly vegetarian. "If someone told me about a milk drop in cows, I wouldn’t think to test for H5N1 because, no, cattle don’t get that," said Thomas Peacock, a virologist at the Pirbright Institute of England who studies avian influenza.
What finally tipped off veterinarians? A few farm cats died suddenly and tested positive for H5N1. Swinford’s group — collaborating with veterinary labs at Iowa State and Cornell universities — searched for the virus in samples drawn from sick cows. "On a Friday night at 9 p.m., March 22, I got a call from Iowa State," Swinford said. Researchers had discovered antibodies against H5N1 in a slice of a mammary gland. By Monday, her team and Cornell researchers identified genetic fragments of the virus. They alerted authorities. With that, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that H5N1 had hit dairy cattle.
Sometime in March, viruses appear to have hitched a ride to other states as cows were moved between farms. The limited genomic data available links the outbreak in Texas directly to others in New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, and South Dakota. However, the routes are imprecise because the USDA hasn’t attached dates and locations to data it releases.
Researchers don’t want to be caught off guard again by the shape-shifting H5N1 virus, and that will require keeping tabs on humans. Most, if not all, of about 900 people diagnosed with H5N1 infections worldwide since 2003 acquired it from animals, rather than from humans, Farrar said. About half of those people died.
Occasional tests of sick farmworkers aren’t sufficient, he said. Ideally, a system is set up to encourage farmworkers, their communities, and health care workers to be tested whenever the virus hits farms nearby.
"Health care worker infections are always a sign of human-to-human transmission," Farrar said. "That’s the approach you want to take — I am not saying it’s easy."
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2024 10:21 ||
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How...?
Why, planning for the next pandemic, that's how.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Australia's Attorney-General will now decide if an ex-fighter pilot from the US will be extradited back to his home country for his alleged role in helping train the Chinese military after a Sydney court ruling.
Former top gun Daniel Duggan, 55, can be shipped back to the US to stand trial, Magistrate Daniel Reiss ruled at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
Mr Duggan's barrister, Bret Walker SC, told the court that his client could not legally mount a defence and would not contest the ruling, 9News reports.
The former pilot has spent 19 months in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison and will now await extradition under a temporary surrender warrant.
His wife, Saffrine, was joined by their children and other supporters outside the court to advocate for Mr Duggan's immediate release.
Mrs Duggan said that her house has been commandeered by officials and her requests for Legal Aid rejected while her husband has been preparing his defence.
'This deliberate torture has to stop today,' Mrs Duggan said outside court.
'They have done everything in their power to make this difficult for my family, to try and break Dan and to break us, but we will fight no matter what.
'We respectfully ask the attorney-general to take another look... and to bring my husband home.'
Mr Duggan was arrested in Australia at the request of the US after he was accused of breaching arms trafficking laws by providing military training to Chinese pilots.
Mr Duggan allegedly provided his services in South Africa from 2010 through to 2012 and received $100,000 for doing so.
He has 15 days to apply for a review in the Federal Court, otherwise it falls to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to determine whether he should be surrendered to the US.
Asked by Magistrate Reiss if Friday's hearing would be contested, Mr Walker told the court: 'Not really, no.'
Mr Reiss noted the position from Duggan's lawyers had 'streamlined the considerations significantly'.
The Magistrate reminded those in the attendance on Friday about contempt of court as one man likened the proceedings to a 'kangaroo court'.
Mr Duggan's family has argued that his charges are trumped up and politically motivated.
Outside court, Mr Collaery described the court's decision as an administrative step that would be followed by a lengthy submission to Mr Dreyfus.
'This was not an examination of the evidence, this was not a mini-trial of matters that are to be decided elsewhere,' he said.
In April Mr Duggan unsuccessfully tried to postpone the hearings after claiming to have spent $800,000 in legal bills.
While in prison he wrote a letter stating to have never broken the law since the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and US Naval Central Intelligence Service both knew what he was doing at the time.
More than 25,000 people have signed a petition calling on Mr Dreyfus to release Mr Duggan from prison and end his extradition.
Greens senator David Shoebridge offered to table the petition in parliament.
Mr Shoebridge said the country needs to 'show some guts' and 'make it clear that being an Australian citizen matters'.
A spokesman for the attorney-general said the government did not comment on extradition matters.
[ZH] The House Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment in the annual defense policy bill on May 22 that, if cleared through Congress, would force the Pentagon to rehire U.S. troops who were fired for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine.
But will the Democrat-controlled Senate agree?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2024 00:00 ||
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[ET via ZERO] Following her announcement that she would be voting for former President Donald Trump after challenging him in the Republican primaries this year, President Trump said he was sure that former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley would be joining his team in some capacity.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] New images show America's highly secret, $745-million stealth nuclear bomber taking to the air for what is apparently its first, publicly acknowledged, flight test.
The B-21 Raider was unveiled in December 2022, but the US government has so far been discreet about showing off this cutting-edge, radar-evading aircraft.
The sleek bomber was shown flying for the first time as it undergoes flight testing, in pictures released Wednesday, one crucial step before a minimum first order of 100 of these stealth craft can be approved for manufacture.
The B-21 has been described as a 'dual-capable bomber' — able to launch both conventional and nuclear ordinance.
#1
...The project is doing amazingly well, and is absolutely on track. Now, that's not to say that something can't go wrong, but the chances are dropping fast.
My concern at this point is that the total number of airframes - right now at about 120 - is going to get cut. The infrastructure and personnel requirements are going to end up costing almost as much as the airframes, so if USAF wants to insure congressional support they need to start announcing basing (Ellsworth AFB is the only one locked in right now) soon.
#3
^ Not really. While nuclear and conventional gravity bombs will be deliverable by the B-21, the LRSO and LRASM will be the stars of the show, and those are cruise missiles.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/25/2024 11:43 Comments ||
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#4
Nuclear Arc Light = The best Arc Light?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2024 11:44 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The demographics of the staffers impacted most is not too surprising given those called to such work, experts say. A 2023 survey by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education found that 51% of chief diversity officers are Black, while 11% are Hispanic, 7% are Asian and 8% are white 
Researchers don’t want to be caught off guard again by the shape-shifting H5N1 virus, and that will require keeping tabs on humans. Most, if not all, of about 900 people diagnosed with H5N1 infections worldwide since 2003 acquired it from animals, rather than from humans, Farrar said. About half of those people died.
