Free Republic

Shareholder activists say they shake up companies by bringing in new, better ideas. What they don't bring, it turns out, is women. Or people of color. Firms targeted by activists end up with more white men on their boards, often replacing women and minorities in the process, according to a study by proxy-voting firm ISS. The researchers looked at 380 board seats spread across 93 companies in the S&P 1500 index targeted by activists between 2011 and 2015. A separate Bloomberg News analysis of the same period found that five of the biggest U.S. activist funds sought 174 board positions...

Local entities involved in the proposed Interstate 15 Siphon Road interchange signed off this week on plans to start construction on a project expected to dramatically increase the Pocatello area’s population and greatly improve the local economy. Those behind the effort to build the interchange say that with its construction, the area north of Pocatello and Chubbuck will see massive development in the future, including a technology park employing thousands of people, shopping centers, dozens of new neighborhoods, parks, trails and even new concert venues. But before such unheralded growth can occur, the interchange needs to be built. While the...

Universities are now factories of conformism; only the brave and resilient will survive them In a few weeks, a new intake of students will arrive, all fresh-faced and excited, at universities around the country. They’ll be thrilled at the prospect of escaping the wagging finger of mum and dad, eager to absorb new ideas. But I’m afraid they are in for a rude awakening. Unless they’re very fortunate, they will soon find themselves enveloped in a world that’s more censorious than stimulating and taught not to question ideas but to learn by heart the progressive creed. It will take...

A few years ago, Cleveland-based MetroHealth noticed that although registration staffers were supposed to ask all patients their race, ethnicity and preferred language, it wasn't happening consistently enough. “We realized we needed to support our frontline staff with the right information and resources to consistently and appropriately ask for this information,” said Lourdes Negron-McDaniel, director of inclusion and diversity at MetroHealth. After all, knowing a patient's race, ethnicity and preferred language can help address the wide disparities that exist in healthcare. This personal information can offer insight into the differences in quality of care given to people of different cultural...

Bakery owners and a chef are pushing fairness, equity and hoping to change the status quo. Debates on racism are raging today. You’ve seen the images and read the stories of what’s happening around the country. Very close to home, in Providence, bakery owners and a chef are addressing difficult issues that are simmering in their businesses. The hospitality community, it seems, is hardly immune to many forms of racism. Last week, an argument between patrons at Seven Stars Bakery on Hope Street took on racial overtones that the store manager didn’t recognize and deal with. A woman of color...

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is calling for the National Park Service to revoke the permit for a Patriot Prayer event because she says it’s a “white supremacist rally” – even though the organizer and all but one speaker are not white. “The National Park Service’s decision to permit a white supremacist rally at Crissy Field raises grave and ongoing concerns about public safety,” House Minority Leader Pelosi declared in a statement calling for cancellation of the conservative event scheduled for Aug. 26 in San Francisco, California. In a further effort to villainize the event, Pelosi implied that the Trump Administration...

I work for a college which is very liberal these days, in your face banners and condescending "workshops" open to all frequently, with "diversity credit" (reference below). It's sickening enough. Including having Moochelle Uhbama here the other year. But since Trump was elected, now we get hand-wringing e-mails about "hatred" and that we need to beware of evil right-wing people who cause violence (LOL). Got another one today.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that the lack of diversity at the State Department is a “leadership” issue as he outlined the department’s efforts to recruit more African-American, Hispanic and female personnel. “It’s not just to achieve a mix of population that looks like the rest of our country,” Tillerson said during an address to students of the department’s internship and leadership programs in Washington, D.C. “It enriches our work; it enriches our work product.” Tillerson’s remarks come at a time of tension in Washington as President Trump weathers scrutiny for his response to the white nationalist rally...

While all sound-minded Americans await the start of college football season and the NFL, to tide us over, we are soon to have the awesome American pleasure of the Little League World Series (LLWS) to enjoy. The U.S. regionals—which determine the eight American teams (in addition to the eight international teams) in the LLWS—are complete. Today, August 17, the tournament to determine the 71st LLWS champion begins. Noticeably absent again this year: girls. Someone should write a memo. In 1974—of course, thanks to a ruling from a female judge—the Little League Federal Charter was amended to allow girls to play...

Program will ‘address the specific needs’ of black students The University of San Francisco this week is scheduled to host a segregated orientation dedicated to black students, a program that takes place in addition to its standard welcoming activities for all students. The Black Student Orientation is slated for Aug. 18, the day prior to the university’s New Student Orientation. The day-long event–billed as having been “designed by Black students, faculty, and staff to welcome new Black students to the USF Black Experience”–will “address the specific and particular needs of African American/Black students at USF,” according to the school’s website....

The “March on Google” scheduled for Saturday in Bakery Square has been postponed, Channel 11 Morning News has learned. The lead organizer said it was postponed because of credible “alt-left” terrorist threats against the events planned for locations across the country. The march was scheduled in reaction to the firing of a software engineer who wrote a controversial memo about women in technology. Organizers say the events had been falsely portrayed as "alt-right," which led to the threats. A comment on the event website says, "Mainstream media made malicious and false statements that our peaceful march was being organized by...

In a fresh onslaught on its former employer, James Damore, the engineer who was fired by Google over a memo criticising the company's diversity efforts, has said that the tech giant is discriminating in its hiring practices.

The riots and death in Charlottesville are the physical manifestation of the idea of separateness.  If the thought is the father of the deed, the children of hate, the offspring of "by any means necessary" and the scions of superiority so long in gestation, are finally being born. Donald Trump's plea for calm and his exhortation to remember "we are all Americans first" may find scant resonance among those for whom hyphens come first of all.  The war of the hyphens has broken out, and for its combatants there is only one thought: how do I get back at...

To: All Google Employees From: Unoi’m Carasee, Vice President of Mutually Exclusive Propositions Subject: The Recent Outrage Dear Google Employees: In light of the horrific assault on Google values recently made by a former employee, we feel it is necessary to add a few further propositions to the official Google List of Mandatory Beliefs. In order to retain their positions, all Google employees must assent to the following two Statements of Fact: 1) For the purposes of employee non-discrimination policy, there is no such thing as a male brain or a female brain. Any suggestion to the contrary is rank...

Google's firing of software engineer James Damore for daring to express politically incorrect ideas in an internal memo is the latest example of the political left's tyrannical propensity to suppress speech, thought and dissent. Almost as troubling as the left's policing is its apparent obliviousness toward its own hypocrisy and the danger it poses to the liberal exchange of ideas. While constitutional issues may not be involved in the Google case because no state action is involved, moral shaming has become a chilling cudgel in the hands of leftist-dominated institutions. In his memo, Damore notes that Google's political bias silences...

In 2005, the Los Angeles Times hired me as a columnist. That was great news (for me). But the best part was when Barbra Streisand canceled her subscription in protest. Her real complaint wasn't so much that the Times had hired me, but that it had dropped Robert Scheer, an old-style, left-wing writer, in the same editorial shakeup. "The greater Southern California community is one that not only proudly embraces its diversity, but demands it," Streisand wrote in an "open letter" to the newspaper. "Your decision to fire Robert Scheer is a great disservice to the spirit of our community."...

By now, most of us have heard about Google’s so-called “anti-diversity” manifesto and how James Damore, the engineer who wrote it, has been fired from his job. Titled Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber, Mr. Damore called out the current PC culture, saying the gender gap in Google’s diversity was not due to discrimination, but inherent differences in what men and women find interesting. Danielle Brown, Google’s newly appointed vice-president for diversity, integrity and governance, accused the memo of advancing “incorrect assumptions about gender,” and Mr. Damore confirmed last night he was fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” Despite how it’s been portrayed,...

Just a quick thought. What if everyone clicked on Google ads just to run up the bill for Google advertisers? In the short term Google would make some money, but their advertisers would have to pay it for no benefit. I wonder if enough angry people protest clicked their ads would advertisers leave or lower their ad bids? If someone clicked through they could tell the advertisers that it was protest click.

Google Cancels Meeting on Diversity, Citing Safety Concerns for Employees CEO had scheduled meeting after the firing of a Google engineer, which had set off a nationwide debate By Jack Nicas Updated Aug. 10, 2017 7:20 p.m. ET 122 COMMENTS Google canceled a companywide meeting about diversity just before it was set to begin Thursday, saying right-wing websites published the names of employees who had proposed questions, raising security concerns. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees that the company decided to cancel the highly anticipated meeting after employees expressed concerns “about their safety and worried...

Affirmative action is once again in the news. This time because of a leaked Justice Department memo indicating possible action regarding complaints from Asian-American groups that Harvard University is discriminating against Asian-Americans in its admissions policies. As this story was breaking, Harvard released news that, for the first time in history, the majority of its incoming freshman class will not be white. Per the story, 50.8 percent of Harvard's class of 2021 will not be white. Here's Harvard's spokesperson: "To become leaders in our diverse society, students must have the ability to work with people from different backgrounds, life experiences,...