"I had a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler's Germany" – Rockefeller delegate Jackie Robinson watching the hard-right psychos take over the party at the 1964 RNC.
Murphy the Trickster God is notoriously *not* a subtle scripter, but the thing is: Lauding Jackie Robinson, ‘one of the good ones’, has been a snark subject for as far back as I can remember, growing up in a less-than-genteel very white working class Bronx neighborhood back in the 1960s. Approving one of America’s greatest sports icons and civil rights leaders: Low Bar achieved, have a cookie, Truth Speaker! Archie Bunker gradually coming to appreciate Robinson’s talents was part of the ongoing evolution of one of the 1970’s most popular TV shows, back in the days when ‘popular television’ had an actual sociological impact. I honestly think this had to be a ‘dumb bot in the hands of idiots’ issue — even Elon’s script kiddies can’t have been this deliberately clueless…
Per ABC News, “DOD says it ‘mistakenly removed’ Jackie Robinson, other content from website amid DEI purge”:
The Pentagon said Wednesday that in “rare cases” it may have deliberately or mistakenly removed some webpages in efforts to remove diversity, equity and inclusion content after a tribute to Jackie Robinson’s Army service was suddenly scrubbed from a Department of Defense’s website.
A DOD official told ABC News that the Robinson webpage, among other content recently removed from Pentagon websites, was “mistakenly removed” due to the search terms used to scrub DEI terms from platforms.
The official said Robinson’s page and others that were unpublished, including content honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, the Enola Gay, the Navajo Code Talkers, history-making female fighter pilots and the Marines at Iwo Jima, would be republished.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the webpage for Robinson, which was headlined “Sports Heroes Who Served: Baseball Great Jackie Robinson Was WWII Soldier,” had been restored and seemed to be identical to its original version, which included language noting the “racial abuse” he faced and that he was “the first Black person to serve as a vice president of a major U.S. corporation.”…
According to an online archive of the story, which was a part of a series on “Sports Heroes Who Served,” Robinson was “assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas,” after being drafted in 1942.
It recounted Robinson’s arrest in 1944 after an Army bus driver ordered Robinson “to move to the back of the bus, but Robinson refused.”
The story, which the Pentagon said would be restored, noted that Robinson in his baseball career “did experience a lot of hatred from fans and other baseball players who felt that Black players should not be allowed in Major League Baseball.”
Still, in a statement given to ABC News, Ullyot defended the removal of DEI from the DOD, saying it is “a form of Woke cultural Marxism.”…
This is actually a very good clip:
I hope this statement is read on every MLB broadcast. Everyone needs to know how stupid & deranged & racist they are.
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 2:56 PM
“Jackie Robinson incessantly raises questions to sear America's consciousness. There are those, black and white, who have challenged the right of Jackie Robinson to ask those questions. He has the right. He has the right because he is a citizen.”
Martin Luther King Jr— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 3:06 PM
“…back in the days when integration wasn't as fashionable, he underwent the trauma and the humiliation and the loneliness which comes with being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways toward the high road of freedom. He was a sit-inner before the sit-ins, a freedom rider before the freedom rides."
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 19, 2025 at 3:09 PM
To erase the fact that the Tuskegee Airmen and 442nd Regiment fought in segregated units IS to downplay their patriotism and dedication. They fought for a country that hated them in a more real and visceral way than every aggrieved white MAGA vetbro Vance/Hegseth type can ever claim for themselves.
Steve LaBonne
White identity is a very serious personality disorder.
Soapdish
Jesus Christ these fucking people.
The Audacity of Krope
If you think diversity, equity, and inclusion divide people and promote conflict; there is no dealing with you. You’re speaking a language that takes the form and structure of English but is fundamentally different and explicitly reversed in politically sensitive places.
Also, to a discussion people were having earlier. Neither video games nor easy access to porn are barriers to getting laid. I can say this with absolute authority.
SpaceUnit
Peckerwood as a verb.
The Audacity of Krope
I’m Lithuanian, Irish, Italian, and French. I don’t recognize this white culture you refer to and I was nominally born into.
There is no white language, food, nation…there are white traditions, but those are best left behind.
NotMax
True life cancel culture, innit?
Going for the “how many buzzwords can I fit in a single sentence” award?
The Audacity of Krope
So she’s trans? Wouldn’t be the first time…
bbleh
Hmm, ya think maybe the decades-long brewing tantrum that is MAGA, of which racial (and other) bigotry is a MAJOR part, might not moderate itself based on things like, I dunno, facts or history?
They’ll put a FEW webpages back up, they’ll seethe about feeling like they had to, they’ll redouble their efforts, and they will learn nothing from the process except to be even angrier about all the Wokes.
NotMax
@The Audacity of Krope
I look forward to your TED talk.
:)
Wapiti
I do love the lack of responsibility.
Like, tell us who made the decision to accept all of the changes that AI recommended, and how their supervisor has changed procedures so that it doesn’t happen again.
Steve in the ATL
To be fair to these idiots and their obsession with Marxism, they are classless….
bbleh
@Wapiti: the vigorous eradication of Woke Cultural Marxism may occasionally involve a few over-enthusiastic actions, but these — if they occur — will be duly corrected, under the direction of the appropriate authorities.
Jay
Jackie Robinson and his wife, Robin were loved in Canada, as part of the Montreal Royals, and in turn, they loved Canada.
The Audacity of Krope
@NotMax: I’m still petitioning for a TED After Dark series. They say it would dilute the brand and make it less friendly for educators.
Whatever…
Jay
@bbleh:
If only the Tsar knew what his Cossacks are doing,………………..
sab
@Steve LaBonne: Yeah, if whites are so great then why do we have to erase everyone else’s accomplishments. As Adam Silverman would say “it’s a puzzle.”
The Audacity of Krope
Also embrace the accomplishments of any European as though they were our own, whether we share their heritage or not.
It’s all Western Cultural Heritage to the white supremacists. No need to distinguish.
Time travelin
@NotMax: maga madlibs
The Audacity of Krope
It’s only cancel culture when the left is complaining impotently on Twitter.
When the right is using actual government power to silence critics and erase actual historical accounts, the term for that is “common sense.”
Nukular Biskits
@Steve LaBonne:
I’m gonna steal that to troll our state auditor.
tsquared2001
@The Audacity of Krope: One of those white traditions is turning Lithuanians, Irish, Italian, and French people into White people after doing they do their penance in America being called swarthy hordes, unworthy of being called real White people.
They got to put in the work first and lutifisk is the epitome of White food.
Steve LaBonne
@The Audacity of Krope: 🎯
frosty
@sab: So close! Adam would say “Eez a puzzlement!”
The Audacity of Krope
Mercifully, whiteness has separated me enough from my heritage enough to not know what that is.
Old School
All in the Family
Steve LaBonne
@Nukular Biskits: I once lived in your state and it’s even much worse now. I shudder to imagine what kind of piece of shit your auditor must be and I am going to attempt to preserve my sanity by not seeking information.
Steve LaBonne
@The Audacity of Krope: .My heritages are soda bread and poutine, thank goodness. You really don’t want to know anything about lutefisk.
bbleh
@The Audacity of Krope: oh it’s more than “common sense.” It is a righteous cleansing that gets even for the unfair advantages that the Wokes have been giving all the takers at the expense of the people who made America great!
Which is to say, yes there are some who will nod along with what the MAGAts are doing, out of vague understanding and hazy sympathy based on minimal attention and understanding, but the active sympathizers are motivated much more by anger based on long-nurtured grievances.
It ain’t “that makes sense”; it’s “you’re goddam fkin right!!“
oldster
The official objection to DEI is that it promotes mediocrities on the basis of their race or gender, instead of promoting people on the basis of their talents and accomplishments. That’s the official MAGA line.
The truth is that they are happy to promote mediocrities like Hegseth merely because he is a white male, despite his lack of talents or accomplishments.
And what they really hate about the Jackie Robinsons and Jesse Owens of the world is not that they are mediocre, but that they were actually excellent. Indeed, they were better in their sports than all the white guys. And that is unforgivable.
satby
They all just look so stupid.
OT, my rescue group had a sweet outdoor cat at a feeding station who was walking funny. Captured and at the vet we discovered she had a broken hip. We caught it early enough for the vet to save her leg, and a very generous donor has covered a lot of the cost, but we could use a bit more help. Thanks in advance to those who can.
JMG
They fucked with baseball and paid the price in short order. ESPN, under Disney orders to be “less political” was all over this all day. Made all the network news (still big audiences among us olds), broadcasts, too. Dark Helmet had it backwards. It’s evil that is dumb.
The Audacity of Krope
From the people who brought you the notion that other countries are exploiting America…
…🤔
different-church-lady
@sab:
You can’t have White Supremacy if you ain’t hurting all the others.
Steve in the ATL
@tsquared2001: I dissent. That is most definitely not food
@The Audacity of Krope: you really, really don’t want to know!
The Audacity of Krope
@Steve in the ATL: @Steve LaBonne: I really, really believe you both. It even sounds unpleasant. And stinky.
A Ghost to Most
The christian fascist elephant presents many sides: racism, misogyny, gender bias, and non-christian bigotry, among others.
Steve LaBonne
@The Audacity of Krope: You definitely get the idea.
Jay
@The Audacity of Krope:
Air dried whitefish, (white fish, cod, ling cod, burbot), cured in lye, that when prepared is basically a fish pudding or jello with faint hints of laundry soap and industrial effluence.
Tenar Arha
Yeah, I’ve reached the point where I don’t even bring up DEI, it’s been too Rufo’ed. They are all awful bigots, and we might as well name them what they’re trying to do: they’re trying to kill all our Civil Rights, and/or they’re segregationists
different-church-lady
@Tenar Arha: Racists.
bbleh
@A Ghost to Most: “Christianist,” like “Islamist” terrorists. All form, no substance
Matt. 6:5 MFers.
The Audacity of Krope
So like Trump? Or is that some kind of mineral?
Trump it is…
JeanneT
And I was already simmering in fury from Monday’s reports about the erasure of the Code Talkers (which I just read is being reversed). I HATE what Hegseth doing (I suppose that goes without saying).
Tenar Arha
@different-church-lady: Yeah. That too. They’ll be “just joking” about their wish to wear white hoods like frickin’ Gut-guy did about Nazis soon. 😤
The Audacity of Krope
@Tenar Arha: Look what you made us do…
dc
What a bunch of childish assholes, with apologies to both children and assholes, damn! 4 Chan incels run the Defense Dept. now.
danielx
@The Audacity of Krope:
Correct on both counts.
mrmoshpotato
@Tenar Arha:
Gonna go with they’re both.
Nukular Biskits
@Steve LaBonne:
Oh, he is. And he’s desperately trying to get the attention of both Musk and Trump to aid him in his eventual gubernatorial run.
NotMax
@Jay
Now do balut.
;)
Jay
@NotMax:
Not quite yet Duck?
Almost Duck?
Can’t believe it’s not Duck?
Jay
@The Audacity of Krope:
Lye is a hydroxide, derived from wood ash, (traditionally) used to make soaps, or clean grease build up from drains and sewers. It can also be used to dissolve metals or bodies.
The Audacity of Krope
@Jay: Sounds like the ideal ingredient in any food.
NotMax
@Jay
“Let’s get Mikey. He’ll eat anything.”
:)
Gvg
I suppose this is really accidental? I mean, the underlings I have heard mentioned so far, not to leave out Musk, have been recent American immigrants who might be “white” but could possibly not know about ordinary older American legends like the code talkers or Robinson….but could someone on the inside be helping them screw up? I mean these aren’t exactly obscure erasures.
On the other hand, they are trying to do big big rewrites of history. That just is not possible with all the sources to compare to that we have now. I know the soviets did rewrites when individuals fell out of grace, but that was 1 person at a time and I think people knew not to comment.
Stupid people make stupid plans.
NotMax
@Jay
Used a lye solution* to clean the commercial deep fat fryer at the summer camp where I worked.
Flushed it our with fresh boiling water no less than four times after cleaning.
*Not in the habit of wasting stuff, would drain the heated lye solution into buckets and pour them over any patches of poison ivy in or near the woods. Worked great.
Jay
@Gvg:
They are using keyword searches to delete and automated programs.
Thus the colour scheme for night fighters during WWII was also DEIA’d from the DOD records, because they were painted “black”.
Steve in the ATL
@The Audacity of Krope: yeah, he left out a key step: after you soak it in lye, you bury it for a few months to “cure”. Because that will totally fix what’s already been done to the poor fish.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: this is brilliant.
I replied to you, late, on an earlier thread, btw. Similar topic. Brief. Plus a longer comment to no one in particular..
Redshift
The individuals who did it may have just been running a script, but the people who wrote the script obviously intended it to take out anything that prominently mentioned any race, ethnicity, gender, etc. The fact that they undid the changes that got blowback isn’t much comfort, what’s needed is blowback about the entire concept.
When there was the Enola Gay controversy last week, the top page of a report about it that was visible on Maddow, and you could see it was deleting pages about women Marines and various other ones about anything other than white men. No discretion or subtlety.
Bill Arnold
@Tenar Arha:
Servicable opposites of
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
are
Racism, Prejudice, Segregation
These might be more literal antonyms, but are not so punchy:
Homogeneity, Inequity, Exclusion
Jay
@Steve in the ATL:
Like with explosives, or with kæstur hákarl there are steps you leave out so people will not try this at home.
Jay
@Redshift:
There are published long lists of banned DEIA words.
newrepublic.com/article/192631/trump-speech-code-deleted-words
frosty
@Jay: I really, really didn’t want to know either!!
frosty
@Jay: What???? No P-61 Black Widows in the records any more? Sacrilege!!
RevRick
@oldster: You hit the nail on the head here. The attacks on DEI should really be identified for what they are: the mediocre white guys elevation act. But there’s more to it than that. Hegseth has no clue as to what an actual modern military looks like. He imagines it to look like Greek Hoplites or Roman legions with lots of hand-to-hand combat. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A modern military has a huge tail of logistics and repair. And even on the frontlines, most of the damage is done by artillery and, nowadays, drones.
What matters in all this is not the sort of manliness that dwells in Hegseth’s shriveled brain, but the ability to work well with others, the ability to support a mutual endeavor, skills many young men often sorely lack (cp. all the whining about men can’t get dates or declining marriage rates).
Couple that with the fact that for many black families the military has long been the one domain where they can rise in the ranks on their merit, and you have a lot of black NCOs with a lot of experience and knowledge of the systems that make the military run. It’s the NCOs who are the critical link in the system. One of the reasons why the Russians have taken such huge losses in their attempt to conquer Ukraine is that they don’t have NCOs, who shape and train units.
Prestupidity, the military’s DEI programs were designed to support unit cohesion by affirming the invaluable contributions made by the diverse community who have volunteered. It wasn’t some mushy-brained, feel-good , roll-your-eyeballs initiative. It was a clear-eyed, hard-nosed recognition of the reality of how actual military forces have to run.
u
I am an old geezer of age 69, and as time goes on I find it harder and harder to understand the level of stupidity of the “average American”. But surely even the stupidest Americans know who Jackie Robinson was and what he did. Right??? Right???
coin operated
@RevRick:
That is seriously one of the best comments I’ve read on this blog.
RevRick
@coin operated: Thank you for the high praise.
Wilson Heath
What’s that adage about not giving an order that makes you look stupid if obeyed?
I would like to attribute it to malicious compliance but it’s hard to wrap your mind around how amazingly stupid these people are, so the modal rule applies.
prostratedragon
Me too. How the hell do they this?
Regarding this from Don Moynihan
scav
@Jay: I once found a national database — as in, the file that puts allllll those symbols on digital navigation maps — from a top tier company that had every single Subway sandwich shop classified into the railroad and light-rail station symbol class. Purely tech boys can be stunningly short on basic logic.
prostratedragon
Seth Rockman:
The schools are Clemson, High Point, Purdue, McNeese State, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska-Omaha, and St. John. Midway through,
kindness
Te DOGE boys aren’t dumb. The DOGE boys are out and out racists.
YY_Sima Qian
@prostratedragon: We live in an upside down timeline.
Chorzempa has been an up & comer among China analysts w/ a focus on China’s software/platform tech scene. He had originally skeptical of the advisability of the Trump-Biden tech war against the PRC, but has recently been advocating for greater export restrictions & tougher enforcement since Trump’s election, even as evidence mount that the tech war is failing its objectives (as one might expect). I suspect it’s because he works for a DC think tank, which can sense which way the political storm is trending.
One would expect he would be on the CPC regime’s persona non grata list, but he & many like him (or even more vocal/hawkish critics of the CPC regime), are not.
YY_Sima Qian
Draw the parallels to the current US:
However, it is easier to be the last group in the PRC because even the CPC regime under Xi is still still highly developmentally focused, has a healthy fear of popular backlash/revolt, & is firmly planted in reality, even though the regime is instrumentalist, cynical, amoral & sometimes malevolent. Much tougher under the MAGA regime, which is far more malevolent than “merely” amorally instrumentalist, & completely detached from reality, & apparently does not fear a popular backlash.
sab
@YY_Sima Qian: Your comment is so interesting, especially about the last group.
In America now we really have no sense of what the parameters are any more. Just the sense that we aren’t in the same political world as we were in a couple of uears ago.
I had always thought our governments were stodgy and difficult to change. I had no idea that the stodginess was only for leftward movement, and that we could switch to full Jim Crow in a heartbeat with just one electoral loss.
JeffH
@Jay: Rachel Robinson, not Robin. She is amazingly still with us at age 102. As far as I’m concerned, she’s every bit the hero that Jackie was. (Which, to be clear, is not to downplay him, but to point out how remarkable she was and continues to be.)
sab
@kindness: They can be both, or not dumb but extremely ignorant and also racist. I think that is them. I remember me at their age, naive beyond belief. But I wasn’t extremely racist on top of my ignorance.
YY_Sima Qian
@sab: The rot has already gotten very deep in the U.S. Just look at how the CBP/ICE/DHS have turned overnight from problematic organizations capable of bad abuse under Biden, to full blown advance elements of Fascism, on a dime on Jan. 20. The doesn’t happen unless the entire bureaucracy has been corrupted & compromised, the not fully committed intimidated into line.
Professor Bigfoot
@mrmoshpotato: I have said it before and I repeat: the entire conservative movement is nothing more than the defense of straight white Christian male supremacy and domination of all aspects of American society and culture.
Conservatives are racist misogynists, and please don’t try to “no true Scotsman” them.
White supremacy is the root of “conservatism.”
Barry
@Redshift: Seconding this. These guys might be dumb and careless, but above all else they are evil. And writing a script would simply be automated evil.
These are people who have records, and the record is that ‘benefit of the doubt’ should be to doubt them, not to spare them.