Diversity Thursday

It is helpful to know that the issues we raise on DivThu are not just a problem with the military or government, it is all through our culture. 

That is why I like to look around in the larger culture now and then so everyone gets a chance to see those perpetually offended in the Diversity Industry for what they are; a fetid stew of rent-seeking grievance mongers, agenda driven Social Marxists, social justice fetishists, clueless frumps stuck in a 1970s intellectual temporal trap, useful idiots, self-loathing auto-masochists, and occasionally the rabidly sectarian hate-pimps using polite words with foam flecks at the corner of their mouths - all squatting athwart our culture for their own sense of self-entitlement.

Of course, we should only attack their idea, not the actual persons - right? Wrong.

These sick narcissists make a living destroying not just institutions, but individual people - all for their own monetary gain and starving egos. They feast on others, so, no - in this case I have no problem getting personal.

In 2014, more and more of what you see are those who are trying to bully-boy others in to shutting up, soak up the guilt they are throwing about, and as a result expect someone to cough up a paycheck for them just to make them go away and try to destroy someone else.

One sub-genre perpetually offended rent-seekers are the professional feminists, some of the most destructive people preventing women from being on a true level with men. As some of you know my personal story, Mama Salamander was a trailblazer and never had need or want for any of them for her success. 

Anyway, professional feminists are not out there for other women to succeed - if so they would be leading marches against ISIS, no, that isn't their priority. There is serious money in that job, if you can pull it off.

For the young pups in this line of work, the sad thing is that after a few decades, a lot of the fertile and easily plowed fields of man-hate is already occupied by some rather stout and stubborn 1st and 2nd generation professional feminists. So, like the second son or the yearling buck (yes, I am trying to find as many XY references I can), they have to wander far and wide to find their place.

The last really fertile holdout territories whose walls finally fell like Constantinople, was taken out by the 2nd generation, Naval Aviation at Tailhook. As a result, this new generation has had to subsist on the outer fringes of that sad battle, and generally making crap up they can't scratch out of academia. That gleaning has run out and is no longer productive. Slash and burn has run its course for that spot ... time to look anew.

Looking for other male dominated areas that may have weak-spined and easily cowed leadership, some of the young buck feminists have gone after that wonderfully "unique" male dominated area - gamers?

As such we have gamergate. If you are not up to speed, let's just go to wikipedia;

Gamergate (sometimes referred to as GamerGate or as a hashtag #gamergate) is a controversy in video game culture which began in August 2014. It concerns ingrained issues of sexism and misogyny in the gaming community, as well as journalistic ethics in the online gaming press, particularly conflicts of interest between video game journalists and developers.

I have to give credit to the uber-nerds of gamedom - they are fighting harder and defending their culture more than the wall of shame that was TACAIR leadership almost a quarter century ago.

One side-show to gamergate that I find particularly delicious is that of Anita Sarkeesian. A perfect specimine of the present generation of professional feminist, full of piss, vinegar, bile, and foam ... with a fair bit of agitprop, misdirection, and what looks like lies. Follow they money, they are;

In 2012, Sarkeesian started a Kickstarter campaign, to raise $6,000 so that she could pay for video games and fund production for a set of videos that would criticize gender tropes in video games. Within a day, Sarkeesian hit her initial goal. She went on to raise $150,000.

Sarkeesian missed her first deadline with no concrete explanation. While I was mildly skeptical when I found this out, I was absolutely stunned after watching a few of her videos.

Sarkeesian’s in-game footage is almost exclusively stolen from several YouTubers’ “Let’s Play” tutorial videos. Sarkeesian gave no credit or notice to the video creators. When several commenters began to accuse her of plagiarism, Sarkeesian disabled the comments and like/dislike options on her videos.

Some other critics accused Sarkeesian of exploiting Kickstarter. Sarkeesian, who admitted in a 2010 interview that she doesn’t even play video games, could not have possibly spent $150,000 on buying games and “production” when she simply took clips from other people’s videos.

When implored by critics and supporters alike to produce just one piece of documentation explaining how she spent the money, Sarkeesian refused.

She has a history in the bit of territory she is farming. Quite a bit of history.

She also seems to have a habit of creating drama when there isn't any naturally occurring;

Canadian-American author, blogger and feminist Anita Sarkeesian has canceled her scheduled Wednesday speech at Utah State University after learning the school would allow concealed firearms at the event despite an anonymous terror threat promising “the deadliest school shooting in American history.”

Utah State confirmed Sarkeesian’s decision to cancel in a tweet sent out shortly after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

I guess she was feeling unsatisfied with the gamers, she decided she needed to rub up against the gun folks too.

Well, I'm tired to toying with her around the edges. I'll roll her over to the gamers and let them play around a bit. This guy does it so much better anyway.



So, there you go. Stand up to these bullies, if the gamers can - why can't those in the military who break real things and kill real people for a living? 

I wish more women were like Mama Salamander and went after these rent-seekers, but hey ... if it takes a man to do a woman's job, so be it.

These professional outrage generators like Anita do no good for, in this case at least, the great professional women in our line of work who get it done day in and day out, and handle jerks like everyone else. We and they don't need to support people like Anita's invented career path with their time and tax money. 

We need to stop going to their award ceremonies. Stop going to their conferences, and unquestionably stop paying them to have any association with the DOD/DON.

As a side note, being that Anita seems to not like the song - with standard Kristen warning - here you go; bask in it.

Diversity Thursday

For those who haven't had someone graduate from college in the last couple of decades, you've missed the increasing politization of everything. It was bad enough in the 80s - and the reports I get from the eldest Wee Salamander, it is even worse now.

When I read Brian Grasso's bit about what he had thrown in his face at Duke this summer, I thought about a few of the pods being shipped to Annapolis over the last year.

Fun. Harmless fun. Good people just trying to be helpful.

Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2015 [redacted]
From: [redacted]@USNA.EDU
Subject: Are You Leaning In?
To: [redacted]@LISTS.USNA.EDU

USNA Officers,

Last spring I sent an email to the Brigade inviting the Midshipmen to participate in a Lean In circle starting this upcoming semester. 165 Midshipmen have signed up, and I anticipate the list growing as the brigade returns.

This past Academic year, we piloted 8 Lean In circles, 4 all-female circles and 4 co-ed circles, to include 80 midshipmen. By all accounts, the circles have been a resounding success.

Please consider moderating a Lean In circle this year. Circles meet a minimum of once every marking period and consist of 8-10 Midshipmen. You will not be required to be at every meeting as the Midshipmen are eager to participate in the moderating process. Meetings can be held at a mutually agreeable time for your circle (over the lunch hour with an excusal, between sports period and study hour, etc.). We will hold an information session and training the week before classes start (date TBD) and circles will commence NLT early September.

I promise this will be a rich experience for you as you motivate midshipmen to start talking about how gender plays a role in the way we lead our young sailors and marines and in the way we live our own lives.

If you are interested, please fill out the google form below, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call/email me.

http://goo.gl/forms/[redacted]

Thank you for your consideration.

V/r,

CDR Deborah [redacted]
Sampson [redacted]
[redacted] Department [redacted]
U.S. Naval Academy
[redacted]@usna.edu
(410) [redacted]

OK folks, you know how this goes. Now for the rest of the story.

What is a "Lean In Circle?" Well, you can trace it back to neo-femist icon Sheryl Sandberg's book, Dianetics, errr ... Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.

Poke around their website for a bit, that is where you can also look at who they partner with;

We offer a growing library of free online lectures on topics including leadership and communication. Produced in partnership with the Clayman Institute for Gender Studies at Stanford University

Ahhh, yes. Indoctronation. Feminist politcal theory. Wonderful. Very Maoist Self-Criticism with Hugish. Just what the world's greatest warfighting navy needs.

Please follow the link to the Clayman Institute. We don't have time for a full Fisking here, so let's just look at their fellowships;

All fellowship and prize recipients will contribute to the Clayman Institutes thematic focus, "Beyond the Stalled Revolution: Reinvigorating Gender Equality in the Twenty-first Century."

Beyond the Stalled Revolution: Description

Twenty years ago, Arlie Hochschild described the gender revolution as stalled, ...

Oh, it gets better. That is just a random taste, but makes the point. All "Lean In" is, well, is repackaged feminist indoctronization packaged as a self-help platform with Education Kits for Moderators and everything.

At least as an organization, they are inclusive - they even have areas for the Beta-Males to hang out.

Another way of looking at "Lean In" et al, is what some of the better critiques have outlined it to be - just another brand of feminism. What is also is - with all the self-help books, checklists, worksheets, and assorted organizational paperwork - is a feminist version of that creature of the 90s, T.Q.L. - Total Quality Leadership.

As Christina Hoff Somers puts over at The Atlantic;

But this otherwise likeable and inspirational self-help book has a serious flaw: It is mired in 1970s-style feminism. Nation magazine columnist Katha Pollitt compares Sandberg to "someone who's just taken Women's Studies 101 and wants to share it with her friends." What Pollitt intends as a compliment goes to the heart of what is wrong with Lean In.

Yes, a trendy new personality based fad - one that combines shop-worn 1970s feminism with 1990s Demingism - with networking sprinkles for that extra visual jazz.

One of the better critiques of Sandbergism is by Rosa Brooks over at WaPo. It made me laugh because Brooks make it sound like the Sandberg was a SWO;

Because, of course, I was miserable. I never saw my friends, because I was too busy building my network. I was too tired to do any creative, outside-the-box thinking. I was boxed in. I wondered if foreign-policy punditry was just too much for me. I wondered if I should move to Santa Fe and open a small gallery specializing in handicrafts made from recycled tires. I wondered if my husband and kids would want to go with me.

But then — after my I-hate-Sheryl epiphany — I came to a bold new conclusion.

Ladies, if we want to rule the world — or even just gain an equitable share of leadership positions — we need to stop leaning in. It’s killing us.
...
I leaned in some more. I ate protein bars and made important telephone calls during my morning commute. I stopped reading novels so I could write more articles and memos and make more handicrafts to contribute to the school auction. I put in extra hours at work. When I came home, I did radio interviews over Skype from my living room while supervising the children’s math homework.

And I realized that I hated Sheryl Sandberg.
...
It’s hard enough managing one 24/7 job. No one can survive two of them. And as long as women are the ones doing more of the housework and childcare, women will be disproportionately hurt when both workplace expectations and parenting expectations require ubiquity. They’ll continue to do what too many talented women already do: Just as they’re on the verge of achieving workplace leadership positions, they’ll start dropping out.
...
If we truly want gender equality, we need to challenge the assumption that more is always better, and the assumption that men don’t suffer as much as women when they’re exhausted and have no time for family or fun. And we need to challenge those assumptions wherever we find them, both in the workplace and in the family. Whether it’s one more meeting, one more memo, one more conference, one more play date, one more soccer game or one more flute lesson for the kids, sometimes we need to say, “Enough!”

Kate Losse's is good too;

Lean In posits that some women can be players, and its instructions will be valuable to those who perform the endless work and self-monitoring that Sandberg advises. I was one of those women, and after several years of nonstop work, unused vacation time, and shrewd self-positioning, I made it from the back of the rocket ship all the way to the front, where I sat next to Sandberg and Zuckerberg at the privileged center of Facebook’s operations. I was invited to Sandberg’s “Women of Silicon Valley” dinners, where high-powered women ate hors d’oeuvres and networked. These women were “in,” and Lean In suggests that if you work hard enough, you can be too. 

I decided to leave Facebook because I saw ahead of me, by Zuckerberg’s and Sandberg’s own hands, an unending race of pure ambition, where no amount of money or power is enough and work is forever. While I am not unambitious, this wasn’t my ambition. But Sandberg is betting that for some women, as for herself, the pursuit of corporate power is desirable, and that many women will ramp up their labor ever further in hopes that one day they, too, will be “in.” And whether or not those women make it, the companies they work for will profit by their unceasing labor. 

Will the the workplace be fairer as a result of some women being “in”? For all of its sincere encouragement of individual women, Sandberg’s book does not indicate that her leadership has created deep changes at Facebook, or how deep changes might occur at the companies that she hopes women will run. Since, like any boss, she focuses on pushing women to work harder, it’s hard to see why she would use her position to effect systemic change. 

And so, in the end, Lean In may be a book not about a social movement, but about Sandberg’s own movement from Harvard to Google to Facebook, and now into her self-appointed role as leader of Lean In. The book advocates “lean in” circles for women in corporate environments. The circles are now being advocated by the book’s corporate partners like American Express, Amazon, and Bain, with her book as their guide. As memoir, it is instructive regarding Sandberg’s successful career trajectory, and provides some helpful advice for young women in how to follow her. But as a manual for navigating the workplace, it teaches women more about how to serve their companies than it teaches companies about how to be fairer places for women to work.

If a bunch of female MIDN want to gather in little circles to ... well, yammer on about recycled feminist theory flavored with workaholicism, knock yourselves out. If some male MIDN who understands social game theory want to play around on the co-ed groups in order to find some place with a critical mass of females - then why not. That was a very successful ploy by a Reagan-voting TKE I knew in school who joined College Democrats, so maybe it will work here. Just know what you are supporting.

For everyone else, as you read about the political indoctrinization of a captive audiance at universities, don't think that it doesn't happen at Annapolis. And just as college professors use their influence over their charges to push their agenda, don't underestimate the power of a Commander offering, "Please consider ... " to a Lieutenant to support a political movement.

Oh, one last note - simply because I cannot help myself;

Vonetta Young, meanwhile, thinks about her marriage differently since reading Lean In. Young, 29, is an investment associate in New York City who works in private equity. Her husband is an attorney.

"I had this assumption that his career is going to be more important than mine," she says. "Reading the book helped me see that obviously you have to make certain compromises in marriage, but the onus of that doesn't always have to fall to the woman."

Young has talked about her shift in mindset with her husband, who is supportive and plans to read the book himself.

So ... Vonetta ... you're 29 eh? (Usual Kristen warning)

Wendy Wasserstein's cautionary tale

Yes, Phibian Salamander is going to talk about the death of one of the best feminist/post-feminist, BabyBoomer playright. No, I didn't have a stroke - and no I didn't take my medication.

Ms. Wasserstein's best-known plays, "The Heidi Chronicles" (a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner), "The Sisters Rosensweig" (a Tony nominee) and "An American Daughter" all played on Broadway and around the U.S. ... (she gained) considerable popularity (as a) writing comic yet pointed plays and essays about the nagging choices and disappointments that many Baby Boom women encountered on the path to "having it all,"...

She came from a great first generation success story.

Ms. Wasserstein was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 18, 1950, the youngest of five siblings. Her father was a textile manufacturer, her mother an amateur dancer. In addition to her daughter, Ms. Wasserstein is survived by her mother, Lola Wasserstein; her brothers, Abner and Bruce, the chairman of the investment banking giant Lazard and the owner of New York magazine; and her sister Georgette Levis of Vermont. The family moved to Manhattan when Ms. Wasserstein was 12. After earning her undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1971, she studied creative writing at City College with Joseph Heller and Israel Horovitz. Her first play, "Any Woman Can't," found its way to Playwrights Horizons, then a small Off Broadway company, and was produced in 1973, shortly before she began to study playwriting in earnest at the Yale University School of Drama. ("My parents only let me go to drama school because it was Yale," she said in an interview for the magazine Bomb. "They thought I'd marry a lawyer.")

She had other plans though.

Her career took off in 1977 with "Uncommon Women and Others," begun while she was earning her 1976 master's degree at the Yale School of Drama. It assessed the glowing yet uncertain hopes of a group of friends during and after college at Mount Holyoke, the elite women's school where Wasserstein, the youngest of four children in a wealthy, high-achieving New York family, earned her bachelor's degree in 1971.

"When we're 25, we're going to be pretty … incredible," says Rita, one of the play's brainy and attractive collegiate clique. "All right, I'll give us an extra five years for emotional and career development. When we're 30, we're going to be pretty … amazing." By play's end, six years after graduation, the former dorm mates have gotten an inkling that the path to fulfilling careers and relationships may not be quite so easy, and the timetable for an incredible life has been pushed back to 40 or 45.

She fought hard for what she believed to be true.

"The women's movement, the movement that said, 'Your voice is worthwhile,' is the only reason I feel like a person," Wasserstein told People magazine in 1990. "But what still needs to change is that women shouldn't beat themselves up for their choices — for being a mother or a single mother, or being a playwright, or being beautiful or not being beautiful. It's important that there isn't one … slot."

But reality, is reality, and it started to be reflected no only in The Heidi Chronicles, but in other of her works.

"Isn't It Romantic," an off-Broadway hit in 1983, grew out of her parents' pushy desire to see her married to a good, solid, Jewish doctor or lawyer. Instead, Wasserstein remained single all her life, writing comic essays about her romantic setbacks and jokingly referring to a series of close, long-term male friends as her "husbands."

Time is a funny thing. It doesn't wait for anyone - and no one is special. What you won't find easily on a quick search for information about Wendy, is that in the end, (unlike the character in Heidi who adopts, "..she longed to love a child of her own." said the LATimes in a now unavailable obit. She underwent several in-vitro fertilization treatments (unmarried) and finally gave birth at 48 to a daughter.

Wendy Wasserstein, who won a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award and considerable popularity writing comic yet pointed plays and essays about the nagging choices and disappointments that many Baby Boom women encountered on the path to "having it all," died Monday. She was 55.

Wasserstein died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, according to Andre Bishop, artistic director of the Lincoln Center Theater. The cause of death was lymphoma.

Cancer too her. 55-48=7. She left a daughter and orphan. There is a finite window to have a child, to have a career, to try to have a marriage, to try to have a life. We don't pick our time - we never have more than we need. A very talented women, and 55 is young today. A loss for all; a tragedy for friends, family, and a very sad 7 year old girl. Carpe Diem.

Naomi Wolf finds Jesus

Naomi Wolf, one of America’s foremost feminist thinkers, has found a spiritual awakening in God after experiencing a “mystical encounter” with Jesus.

Wolf, best known as the author of the Beauty Myth, a groundbreaking 1991 polemic against the cosmetics industry that radicalised a generation of young women, revealed the cause of a hitherto unexplained mid-life crisis that set her on a “spiritual path”.
...

Congrats Naomi, and good luck. Ignore those who are smug, think you had a stroke, or generally give you grief. I didn't accept the invite until I was 35; am still walking, and still trying to figure it all out.

Wolf admitted that, during a therapy session to treat writer’s block, she encountered what she described as a holographic image of Jesus.

“I actually had this vision of Jesus, and I’m sure it was Jesus,” said Wolf. “But it wasn’t this crazy theological thing; it was just this figure who was the most perfected human being that there could be – full of light and full of love.”

More bizarrely, she experienced this as a teenage boy. “I was a 13-year-old boy sitting next to him and feeling feelings I’d never felt in my lifetime,” said Wolf. “[Feelings] of a boy being with an older male who he really loves and admires and loves to be in the presence of. It was probably the most profound experience of my life. I haven’t talked about it publicly.”

Wolf emphasised that her spiritual renewal strengthened her commitment to feminism as her life mission. “I believe that each of us is here to help repair the world,” she said. “My particular mission seems to be about helping women remember what’s sacred about them or what’s sacred about femininity .”

Jesus comes to us in the way that is best for us, at the right time, in a way we will understand - when we are ready to walk through the door that has always been opened. He came to me through a big Texas Pastor and a 5 yr old girl.

Well, that is my take. We all have a mission, and a spiritual gift or two. Naomi, if that is yours, run with it. Mine is different, but that is ok. Others will say you are wrong, but remember; they are just as imperfect as you are...and I am.

She also expressed apprehension that her faith would be hijacked by religious groups. “I don’t want to be co-opted as the poster child for any religion or any agenda,” said Wolf, who was brought up in a liberal Jewish household. “There are a lot of people out there just waiting for some little Jewish feminist to cross over. I don’t claim to get where this being fits into the scheme of things but I absolutely believe in divine providence now, absolutely believe God totally cares about every single one of us intimately.”

Join the party Naomi. I don't hang my tag by any one group either - don't like the concept. It is right for some, just not me. Sure, I joke about being a little to the left of snake handlers, and freely call myself an Evangelical - simply because that is the best way to describe me. Read the primary source, and use your gifted mind as much as you can.

PS: Don't worry about being perfect. You have good days, and back sliding days. It is the direction that matters.....IMAO.

Hat tip The Corner.

Nifonged and Rempt-raped

It is never a good thing when your name becomes a verb. In this weekends WashTimes, Gerald L. Atkinson, CDR USN (ret.) just comes off the top rope against the USNA Superintendent, VADM Rempt.

The military judge at the pretrial hearing reprimanded Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt for attempting to bias the proceeding against the defendant. The judge concluded there was an "appearance of unlawful command influence" in the case. The judge declared, "This is almost trial by public policy, trial by press release."

Thus, the Naval Academy rape case from its start resembles the Duke Lacrosse rape case, where three innocent team members were publicly "nifonged" by the Durham District Attorney. Lamar Owens was "Rempt-raped" by the superintendent. One is Rempt-Raped when one's name, honor, character and future have been maliciously destroyed by a male or female agent of the radical feminist matriarchy -- a superior officer whose position and power is used to further his or her career at the expense of justice in a case of a false sexual accusation by a female.

The sharpest cut comes at the end.

The answer rests at the "political" source of power in each case. In North Carolina, it is at a very low level of governance. At the Naval Academy, it has its origin in the Congress and executive branch of the U.S. government. And the latter are driven solely by politicians doing the bidding of the radical feminists.

Why is there no outcry for the public censure of Vice Adm. Rempt for his Rempt-rape of Midshipman Owens? He is furtively fighting for his reputation by delaying the decision on Midshipmen Owens until soon before his expected retirement this coming summer, while Midshipman Owens languishes at the Naval Shipyard, awaiting punishment. Michael Nifong -- meet Rodney Remp.

Not a stranger to issues of feminism and the culture-wars, the author may be a little over the top in a clause or two (I am guilty of that on an almost daily basis), but it is calm compared to what I hear in the Fleet.

Hat tip CoRev.

McWherter, broken on the wheel in a shitstorm rife with petulant pouty pettines

Like the old saying goes, a Grand Jury can indict a ham sandwich. Likewise, if I take isolated incidents, assume that only one side's version is the truth, thrown in some time compression and excessively broad definitions, then I think no Commanding Officer in 2014 can survive any type of investigation.

If the person with an axe to grind happens to be of a protected class, even more so.

In a way, I'm at a loss of words, so I've attached the Command Investigation in to the allegations that destroyed the career and reputation of Captain Gregory McWherter, USN - former CO (twice) of the Blue Angels.

Is this inquisitional? Salemesque hysteria? I'm having trouble finding the right word, but mostly I come to this one; sad.

There is a lot going on here, and much of it is tainted with the worst agiprop social theory and Cultural Marxism of the far left in academia.

You know I like words. Searching the document about poor performance of a Blue Angels CO and we have homosexual mentioned 18 times, gay 4 times, and the first clue, support officer 13 times. Safety 8 times.

He's been smeared as a sexist homophobe ... all they left out was racist, but maybe I missed that.

In some ways, this is just another way to destroy the male oriented, warfighter, TACAIR culture. Tailhook was only the start - this has a similar genesis and is going to be used for the same agenda.

Ironically, the people who will be hurt most will be our female Shipmates - our fellow warfighters of all designators who know what the core of our business is, have a sense of humor, are secure in their womanhood, and as officers, are not going to break in to tears because they miss the drama of Middle School. 

It doesn't take long to figure out that this huge frag pattern that, like Tailhook, will destroy the careers of many good people and was started by a female support officer. Which one? Hard to tell ... but with googlefu, you can narrow it down to a few possibilities.

Not really important who though - complaining, weak, and entitled administrative burdens have always been with us. It is what the institution does with it that is important.

Is this proportional? Look it over and tell me.

The primary but unintended effect, again, of this will be to marginalize women in the eyes of their coworkers. I served with female F-18 pilots, ones who would cuss and make sexual innuendo enough to make, well, a Sailor blush. Do we reach back and do a CI on them now? If I am a young TACAIR pilot, do I even want to be seen near or talking to one? I'd think twice about it.

I'm only going to cover a small portion of this - but out of the gate - who authored the findings of facts? What amateur with less Fleet experience than my 13-yr old would use "CMC" instead of CMDCM? Yes, that is what we are looking at.

What kind of person thinks this is a bad thing?

"Newbies" are discouraged from "rocking the boat" and speaking their minds when arriving at the Blue Angels, potentially chilling those Sailors who wish to voice concerns. Rank structure and fleet experience are secondary to the amount of time spent on the team. The opinions of entrenched and established Blue Angels weigh more heavily than the opinions of newly reported personnel. In reality, enlisted members do not enjoy equal footing with their peers until after their first airshow season. Officers do not enjoy equal footing until they wear the blue flight suit, normally about two months after reporting. This is contrary to the chain of command's belief that the Blue Angels organization is so close and family-oriented that any member would feel comfortable bringing up a concern. The "Newbie" experience has induced the opposite effect.

OK, maybe I should end my support of Liberal Arts education for officers. Someone took too many Sociology electives with a lesbian, Cultural-Marxist feminist dogma and swallowed it whole;

Through an exclusive and elitist “boys club” mentality,

Ummmm ... I hope the Blue Angles are "exclusive and elitist." As for "Boys Club" in the pejorative way it is used - plenty of outstanding female officers who have served there disagree. 

Good googly moogly, is this what we have become - a Soviet style Navy where we denounce others and live in constant fear of the Commissariat?

It is hard to believe, but we are destroying good people's names - seriously you need to read the whole thing to see all the emotional and personal attacks on CAPT McWherter - to protect the feelings on the professionally insecure and perpetually butthurt?

The Ready Room was viewed as hierarchical, with the demonstration pilots taking precedence over all others, even though everyone had a vote. CAPT McWherter’s lack of action on things that appeared blatantly inappropriate as well as his reliance on a majority vote for most issues further instilled the mindset that voicing concerns was futile if you were not part of the “8 man.” Although not all aviators from the 2011
-2012 airshow seasons share culpability, there was a distinct difference in the way the aviators perceived the Ready Room vice the perception of the support officers. The demonstration pilots largely felt comfortable addressing personal and command concerns in the Ready Room and assumed that sense of comfort was shared among the other officers. However, the support officers did not feel comfortable addressing concerns without amassing a certain number of allies to help them persuade the group.
...
CAPT McWherter’s reaction further underscored the support officers’ discomfort with voicing theiropinions within the Blue Angels’ Ready Room.
...
During 2013 and before, several officers in the Ready Room believed others had “an axe to grind;” witnesses commonly identified [redacted] and , as those with such problems. These three individuals were support officers and not part of the “8-man.” These persons were also cited as examples of persons who were perceived to put their problems above loyalty to the team.

Ummmmm, Skippy - help me out here.

Sex, or topics related to sex, were frequently the subject of conversation at the performers’ table in the Ready Room during the 2011 – and particularly 2012 – Blue Angels airshow season. CAPT McWherter participated in these conversations actively and inactively (listening, laughing, nodding, etc.) in almost every case. Sharing pictures of various women, sexual humor, and engaging in conversations about women and their appearance served as a common ground between CAPT McWherter and his performers at the table. Rather than focus on professional matters or lead his team through productive, officer-worthy conversation pieces, he elected to find common ground in objectifying and demeaning behavior.

Is this really what we are telling a group of some of the best officers in any military in the world? That we question their honor, integrity, morality, or intelligence? That their opinion means nothing in the face of the "right" person making the "right" charges?

Officers of the Blue Angels during the 2011 and 2012 airshow seasons who hold the opinion that "there was nothing inappropriate or sexually offensive in the Ready Room" (or words to that effect) were either blind to the standard of what constitutes sexual harassment, oblivious to the things around them at the time, or otherwise biased towards support of CAPT McWherter at all costs. Their inability to understand and act according to the appropriate standard does not diminish or refute the reality that such conditions did in fact exist.

If I were CDR Frosch, I would be embarrassed in the extreme. Very bad form;

CDR Frosch has made strides to correct the hostile command climate while leading the Blue Angels through uncertainty during the sequestration in 2013 and a new airshow season this year.

Beyond. The. Pale.

84. While in the Ready Room, CAPT McWherter called to the side to privately discuss post. CDR Frosch was not present at the time, but other officers were. CAPT McWherter told that she should have addressed objection with him rather than making the post on GroupMe. He also indicated that he would direct the persons who made the posts to apologize to [redacted]. [redacted] began to cry during this conversation.

85. After discussion with CAPT McWherter, CDR Frosch saw [redacted] crying. He pulled to the side and told not to worry, this was not how he was going to do business, and for to “hang in there a couple of more weeks.”

What in the name of Crom is going on in our Navy?

No one, it seems, has spent much time around 1310/20s. Come on people, put down your smelling salts.

Homophobic Humor

120. There were frequent jokes and banter between the diamond pilots (#s 1 through 4) and the solo pilots (#s 5 and 6). The banter included overt homophobic references and derogatory tones toward homosexuals. [Encls: (5), (8), (11), (12), (15), (28), (32), (37), (39), (59)]

121. The homophobic banter was motivated largely by competition between the two groups (diamond pilots vs. solo pilots) and has reportedly been a fixture in the diamond-solo relationship dating back many years. [Encls: (5), (6), (9), (19), (41), (47)]

122. The diamond pilots, including CAPT McWherter, frequently called the solo pilots “gay” and vice-versa. [Encls: (5), (28), (39)]

123. The banter was not confined between the solo and diamond pilots; other members in the Ready Room also participated. The banter existed in person, in GroupMe texts, in homophobic decorations and pictures on the walls, and in maps and itineraries. [Encls: (8), (35), (47), (52), (59)]

124. CAPT McWherter acknowledges the prevalence of gay jokes in the Ready Room. [Encl: (5)]

125. Training addressing homosexual discrimination and harassment took place concurrent with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. [Encls: (8), (13), (28), (29), (53)]
...
129. would frequently use his phone to show pictures of his girlfriends to other officers in the Ready Room. CAPT McWherter would actively participate in these conversations, would view the pictures, and when would go for a period without offering up the pictures, CAPT McWherter would request them out loud in front of everyone. [Encls: (5), (6), (8), (11), (12), (28), (32), (37)]

130. Some witnesses indicated that the photos shown by included nudity. [Encls: (4), (5), (41)]

131. Joking or banter about the women in the pictures would occur after the photo was shown. [Encls: (6), (11), (54)]
...
139. Although not readily apparent to those not in the vehicle, binoculars were provided to pilots for the purpose of scanning the crowd during their ride from the hangar to the jets during shows; circumstantially and based on the comments heard, most of the scanning involved the pilots searching for attractive women.
[Encls: (34), (63)]

By all means, increase Admin Overhead;

Add Opinion 41: “This investigation highlights the challenges that geographic distance may present to Chief of Naval Air Training as the Blue Angels’ immediate superior in command. To effectively manage this issue, Chief of Naval Air Training must vigilantly execute its oversight and command and control responsibilities regarding the Blue Angels.
...
4. The following action should be taken within six months of the first endorsement of this investigation.
a. Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, forward this investigation to Command Leadership School, Newport, RI, for inclusion in its curriculum.
b. Commander, Naval Air Forces Pacific, conduct an assist visit for formal review of the Blue Angels Cresting Process.
c. Chief of Naval Air Training, review and implement, as necessary, a standardized inspection cycle to include administrative, maintenance, and training programs at the Blue Angels. Additionally, review the oversight plan to cover the team while they are on travel to El Centro and during the airshow season. Consider unannounced spot checks and an ethics standdown in the plan.

Look at 4.a again. Fairly high opinion of his work.

As a side-note - and I say this with the greatest respect to the individuals involved; in the warfighter community, what would be the polar opposite from an F-18 pilot? If you guessed a nuke submariner with a large portion of his career in the SSBN community, you would be right. No way he understands the nuance of the Ready Room culture. Look at the signature page.

In the end analysis - a guy returned to fix a broken Blue Angels. He fixed them. He moved on. He was destroyed for iffy reasons, at best for his troubles.

Thank you for your service, indeed.

As for me an mine; CAPT McWherter, I'd love to hear your side of the story. Even if 100% of what the butthurt said is true, which is clearly in question, you don't deserve this kind of treatment.

If time proves me wrong, I'm OK with that. I'm willing to roll the dice on that benefit of the doubt.

Read it all below, I think you will too.

Blue Angels by CDR Salamander

---

UPDATE: Skipper has 27 questions on this that are well worth your time to review.

The American Woman's burden

Consider it a form of Force Protection. For expat American females, there is a huge pressure to blend in when living in Europe. The reason is obvious to any American male having a beer in Paris, Rome, Seville or Madrid. The local women are drop dead easy on the eyes - and American women stand out like a sore thumb, and are about as attractive in comparison. Dale Fuchs gets it about right.

In Spain, I am a rebel. I go to the supermarket without makeup and have been spotted, repeatedly, wearing gray sweat pants and sneakers on a Madrid city bus.

But I wasn't always this daring. When I moved here eight years ago, at age 31, I tried to get with the Mediterranean program. The Spanish women looked so chic and feminine in their tight skirts and lipstick, dolled up to buy a head of lettuce. Why not shed my New York cynicism along with those shapeless hippie dresses and reach out to my inner Barbie?

The cute high-heeled mules lasted a month. They hit the back of the closet after a near spill on the cobblestones. The low-slung trousers became a lost cause, too. I grew tired of squeezing my hips into sizes that seemed cut for a child.

Barbie slipped away, the Birkenstocks returned, and I joined the ranks of expatriate women from sensible- shoe cultures who struggle to maintain their morale - or recognize themselves in the mirror - in a southern European world of ever-matching leather belts and bags.

Baggy sweat pants, messy pony-tail, and, ahem, a bit too "easy" with the locals. Yep, I can spot an American in Florence faster than I can smell their summer boyfriend.

Jennifer Marsella, a 32-year-old teacher from Rhode Island, lived in Rome and Siena, Italy, in her 20s, and she was so overwhelmed by the stylish women that she made a few uncharacteristic purchases: a pair of black satin Versace trousers, one size too small, and big black-and-gold Versace sunglasses.

She blames the costly shopping spree on the passeggiata, or traditional evening stroll, when Italian women show off their expertly knotted scarves and strappy gold sandals, making the rest of us feel scruffy.

"One day I was walking down the street with the paint-on pants and high heels," she said, "and I said to myself, 'Who am I kidding? This is so not me.'"

Yea, but it looks so good. The best way to tell an American from especially a French woman is one, simple, thing. The knot.

"I don't think American women ever get over the feeling of being less-than," Miller said, "but they resolve themselves that 'I will never be French, I will never be thin like that, I will never learn to tie a scarf like that.'"

I do ping on my European friends, but I will give credit where credit is due. This point is just about right.

"For some people, it feels like it's selling out to wear a miniskirt to work or high heels," she said. "They say, 'Isn't this what our mothers fought for?' - as though they were betraying the feminist movement."

Jasinski, an athletic 1.78 meters, 5 feet 8 inches, tall, has trouble fitting in herself.

She said stores carried such small sizes that she had to buy her clothes at a "big woman's shop." She was delighted by a recent government decision to keep anorexic-looking models off the Madrid catwalk during the town's fashion week.

But what is the alternative to the parade of wispy women in impossible shoes? A South Florida restaurant filled with overweight retirees in shiny pink warm-up suits, perhaps?

Lorraine Wise, a New Yorker who has lived in Madrid for 28 years, prefers chain-smoking Spaniards in high- heeled espadrilles to that.

"People really dress atrociously in the U.S.," she said. "Knit Bermuda shorts with a belly sticking out is not acceptable here, and maybe it's for the best."

I won a bet in Seville in the early 90s. Told a Shipmate I would give him $10 if he could spot an unattractive woman under 40 in the next 10 minutes. I know we were into hour 2 of drinking 6% beer - but still.

It's good to be a man. All you have to do is have a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, button up shirt, or crew neck sweater - throw a leather coat or sports coat on top - and you are a local. Oh, just no tennis shoes. Wear tennis or any athletic shoes over here and you have "Norte Americano" written all over you. That and your chubby mate will give you away every time.

(as Phibian sets Condition ZEBRA and runs for his hidey-hole)