Free Republic

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a gender gingerbread person. NASA says beware of micro-inequities. And if U.S. Army servicewomen express “discomfort showering with a female who has male genitalia,” what’s the brass’s reply? Talk to your commanding officer, but toughen up. These are details from hundreds of pages of diversity and inclusion training materials used by the federal government in 2021 and obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Everyone in corporate life knows such training, lampooned in the second episode of the TV show “The Office.” Yet taxpayers might be curious how their money is being spent...

The United States plans to expand its training of Ukrainian troops in Europe as Russia continues to bombard the country with missile strikes, the Pentagon announced. “We will expand U.S.-led training for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to include joint maneuver and combined arms operations training, while building upon the specialized equipment training that we’re already providing to the Ukrainians,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday.

It was releveled during an executive session that an active shooter training was not completed by the Uvalde County Sheriff’s office prior to the May 24th shooting. On Monday, the Uvalde County Commissioners announced that at the time of the mass murder, only 20% of the officers in the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office had received training on how to deal with an active shooter situation. […] According to reports, county or state rules do not apply to individuals who are not school-based law enforcement officers, to receive active shooter training. To further note, Texas law of law enforcement agencies do...

After attracting everyone's attention with a $44 billion Twitter deal and a dramatic entrance with a sink in the offices of the micro blogging platform, Elon Musk has again stirred a new conversation with a screenshot of an e-mail asking him to take a course to manage Twitter

Malik Fard Muhammad, 25, and his girlfriend Kristin McGuire traveled from Indianapolis, Ind., to Portland, Ore., to fight with cops. Muhammad will be extending his stay for an extra ten years, compliments of the feds. Muhammad is alleged to have traveled to Portland with his girlfriend from their home in Indianapolis for the specific purpose of violently engaging in civil disorder during recent area riots. On September 5, 2020, during a large civil disturbance in east Portland, demonstrators threw dangerous objects at police, including commercial grade fireworks, Molotov cocktails, and bottles. At least one demonstrator was seriously burned by a...

FORT IRWIN, Calif. -- In the dusty California desert, U.S. Army trainers are already using lessons learned from Russia's war against Ukraine as they prepare soldiers for future fights against a major adversary such as Russia or China. The role-players in this month's exercise at the National Training Center speak Russian. The enemy force that controls the fictional town of Ujen is using a steady stream of social media posts to make false accusations against the American brigade preparing to attack. In the coming weeks, the planned training scenario for the next brigade coming in will focus on how to...

Showing once again why he didn’t fit in with the progressive orthodoxy at Vox, Matt Yglesias has a piece up on his Substack today arguing that diversity training might be doing more harm than good. The whole piece covers a lot of territory but he starts by arguing that there’s not a lot of certainty about what works in terms of anti-racist training, but there is some evidence about what doesn’t work. …as best I can tell, none of the literature seems to support the idea that in-your-face calling-out tactics are effective. What seems to work best are fairly gentle...

Alec Baldwin’s wife Hilaria has shared a quote encouraging people to stop being negative towards other people when they are ‘enjoying something that isn’t hurting anyone’. The tweet, which also suggested people instead ‘train themselves’ to be pleased for others’ happiness and ‘carry on with your life’, was shared by the mum of six to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday. It read: ‘The next time you see someone enjoying something, that isn’t hurting anyone, that’s not your cup of tea instead of saying something negative train yourself to think to yourself “I’m glad they are happy” and carry on with...

The battle was a training exercising but the ramifications of the loss, which reveals the damage progressives have inflicted on the military, are extremely serious. For many Americans, the Marines occupy an almost mythic place in their minds as an invincible force that runs to the guns and fights no matter what. That’s why it was so shocking to learn that, during a joint training exercise in the Mojave Desert, Britain’s Royal Marines inflicted such a shellacking on the Americans that the latter had to surrender halfway through the exercise. This is a direct result of the Pentagon having gone...

AT&T offers employees training that calls racism a “uniquely white trait” — and tells white employees that they “are the problem,” according to a report based on leaked documents. The telecommunications giant’s “Listen. Understand. Act” training is based on core principles of critical race theory, including “systemic racism,” “white privilege” and “white fragility,” according to City Journal’s Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Employees are encouraged to study resources, including one that asks, “White America, if you want to know who’s responsible for racism, look in the mirror,” Rufo said. “White people, you are the problem,” the...

The battle rages on between point shooters and those who rely on sighted fire. Is there a true winner in that contest? What are the pros and cons of each and which parts of each, if any, are utilized by professional lead slingers who carry a gun for food? ... Rather than spend valuable time arguing one side or the other, I'll ask a different question: How can we take the best that both sides have to offer and use it to become a better shooter? ... Instead of looking at it as two sides of a separate argument, what...

Greg Lalevee is standing in the midst of a truly epic collection of construction equipment at his union’s training center, just off the New Jersey Turnpike. This former sand mine, which his union uses to train workers in construction equipment, is bristling with cranes, pile drivers and dozens of other pieces of heavy machinery. But before showing off a construction arsenal vast enough to raise a skyscraper on the spot, Lalevee is enthusing about his union’s good fortune as Congress finally pays attention to infrastructure. “When President Biden announced his plans, for us to hear that — it was nirvana,”...

One of the IAs was Tim Patterson, a Navy lieutenant who had finished a tour on a nuclear-powered attack submarine in Groton, Connecticut. After a brief stint of Army training, he landed in Jalalabad in May 2009 to mentor Afghan police officers in the rural areas near the city. The Afghan police stations he visited lacked working sewage systems, and even basic supplies like sandbags to protect officers from attack. At the Jalalabad police headquarters, Afghan police officers were growing marijuana in front of their counternarcotics office, he said. Once a month Patterson traveled to the American base to meet...

The Chinese Communist Party is sending paramilitary trainers to Cuba. ADN Cuba, a Spanish media platform focusing on Cuba, obtained exclusive photos showing a Chinese military officer training Cuba’s black berets unit. The unit, formally known as the National Special Brigade, has videos and photos showing them attacking protestors during the recent Cuban protest.

I got an email today at work from my HR department saying that employees are "required" to take what they call "training on DEI&B". This evidently stands for "Diversity, Equity & Inclusion". I don't know what the "B" is for. Bull? This has left me with a sick and uneasy feeling. I haven't taken this "training" yet so I don't know what it specifically entails. But I can make reasonable assumptions. I don't see a scenario where I take this thing and I don't come across statements or material that I find objectionable and false in its premises. Retirement for...

U.S. Capitol Police @CapitolPolice · Jun 5 EXERCISE: Monday morning, June 7, we will be working with our federal, state, and local partners on a routine training exercise on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. Please do not be alarmed if you see emergency vehicles and low flying helicopters.

Since the US troops began leaving Afghanistan since early May, there has been a wave of Afghan military surrendering to the Taliban in rural areas. Taliban has besieged seven rural Afghan military outposts across the wheat fields and onion patches of the Laghman province, in eastern Afghanistan, reported The Frontier Post. Ammunition was depleted inside the bedraggled outposts in Laghman province. Food was scarce. Some police officers hadn't been paid in five months. By mid-month, security forces had surrendered all seven outposts after extended negotiations, according to village elders. At least 120 soldiers and police were given safe passage to...

Kiran Ahuja, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Personnel Management, has said her goal is to free "black queer and trans people" from the "daily trials of white supremacy." If confirmed, Ahuja would help set hiring standards and coordinate diversity training across the entire federal government. Until her February nomination, Ahuja was the CEO of Philanthropy Northwest, a nonprofit that offers "diversity, equity, and inclusion-focused programs" to philanthropic foundations. In a blog post written last year on Philanthropy Northwest's website, Ahuja pledged to play a "vocal role in our country’s eternal battle for racial equality." The post...

Editor’s Note: In the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, the Biden administration ordered the U.S. Navy to stand down its global operations and subject all members to what it characterizes as training to recognize and combat”extremism.” The piece below was written by an active duty military member who has about 20 years of service. This member has been deployed overseas in the war on terrorism multiple times. The piece describes the Navy’s “extremism stand-down,” what it includes, and what it leaves out. Ted Mahan is not the member’s real name. Recently, my Navy unit held an “extremism stand-down”...

A pet husky proved what a useless guard dog he was – sleeping through an armed robbery training session at a jewelry store. Hilarious CCTV footage shows the chubby pooch ignoring the thief wielding a fake gun during the simulation in Chiang Ma, Thailand, on February 16. During the alarm training day, a man approached the store counter and pointed a replica at the shop owner. Worawut Lomwanawong, who owned the shop, waited for the pooch named Lucky to spring into life and snarl at the man, who was demanding money at gunpoint. He kept glancing to his side and...