Tuesday, April 19, 2016
California Considers Ban on All Gun Dealers
On April 19, a bill that could literally ban all Federal Firearm License holders (FFLs) from doing business in the state of California goes before the State Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection.The bill–Assembly Bill 2459–is sponsored by Assembly Member Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento). If passed, it would shackle FFLs with four new requirements, the totality of which could simply force gun stores to close their doors.
The NRA-ILA reported the four proposed requirements:
- A prohibition on licensee business premises being on a residential property.
- A clear statement that localities may impose more restrictive requirements on licensees than those imposed by state law.
- A requirement that licensees...
The Christian-Oppressor Narrative of Islamic History Is Tired and Wrong
The swift advance of Islam across North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries virtually extinguished Christianity there, thus severing the Mediterranean region into two civilizational halves, with the “Middle Sea” a hard border between them rather than a unifying force. Since then, as the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset observed, “all European history has been a great emigration toward the North.”
That’s an interesting way to describe a terrifying jihad that swept aside Middle Eastern and North African Christianity and captured the Iberian Peninsula — as a “swift advance.” There was no mere “emigration” to the North. There was a flight to the North. Then there’s this:
Islam did much more than geographically define Europe, however. Denys Hay, a British historian, explained in a brilliant though obscure book published in 1957, Europe: The Emergence of an Idea, that European unity began with the concept (exemplified by the Song of Roland) of a Christendom in “inevitable opposition” to Islam—a concept that culminated in the Crusades. The scholar Edward Said took this point further, writing in his book Orientalism in 1978 that Islam had defined Europe culturally, by showing Europe what it was against. Europe’s very identity, in other words, was built in significant measure on a sense of superiority to the Muslim Arab world on its periphery. Imperialism proved the ultimate expression of this evolution: Early modern Europe, starting with Napoleon, conquered the Middle East, then dispatched scholars and diplomats to study Islamic civilization, classifying it as something beautiful, fascinating, and—most crucial—inferior.
So here’s Kaplan’s history of the conflict between Islam and Christian Europe — first there is a morally neutral Islamic “swift advance,” then came the Crusades and a Christian sense of superiority that culminated in colonialism. That fits neatly into a view of the world that sees Muslims as victims and the marauding West as...
Monday, April 18, 2016
The pain of training your replacement
At New York Life, IT employees are training overseas workers to do their jobs. It's a difficult task that takes an emotional toll, and there are odd rules and processes to follow.
The training starts with sessions over the Web with the offshore contractors. Eventually, the IT employees expect to train the contractors in-person.
One IT employee, who is training replacement contractors, said she has been told by management not to ask the contract workers any questions. Even simple queries, like, "Did you have a chance to read this document?" or, "Are you familiar with this technology?" to the contract workers, from India-based Tata Consultancy Services, are not allowed.
"We should have the understanding that [the offshore contractors] have all the skill sets," said this IT employee, whose name cannot be disclosed because of the risk to her job. Asking questions is "like insulting the process."
There's also a regular survey process that seems like a Catch 22 system. As the replacement training moves along, the IT workers have to rate the offshore contractors on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest. If the contractor receives the highest score, the thinking among the employees is it may accelerate their replacement. If the contractor gets a low score, the IT employee may be blamed for providing poor training, which may also accelerate job loss.
"The employees are playing this game, playing defense, trying to figure out what to do," she said.
The IT employees also must be pleasant on the calls with contractors, not just matter-of-fact, but pleasant. The process is anything but that. As this IT employee, a computer science graduate, grappled with the reality of it, she said, "I break down. It's so hurtful."
Meanwhile, the offshore contractor on the calls is beginning to use possessive pronouns, saying "our" or "my" to show he is taking ownership of her job. "It's bad for my heart when I hear that," she said.
There was a time when working in IT was a good job, she said. Back then, there was promise, and computer science was a worthwhile major.
"I've been telling high school students and college students that you should not major in computer science anymore," she said. IT work has "turned into a factory job."
Two female employees were interviewed at the company and both are training their replacements. The interviews were arranged by Sara Blackwell, a Florida attorney who is representing Disney IT workers who were also replaced by offshore workers.
What New York Life is doing is no different than...
Blogs With Rule 5 Links
These Blogs Provide Links To Rule 5 Sites:
The Pirate's Cove has:
Proof Positive has:
The Woodsterman has:
Rule 5 Woodsterman Style
The Right Way has:
Rule 5 Saturday LinkORama
American Power has:
Big Boob Friday
The Other McCain has:
The Right Way has:
Rule 5 Saturday LinkORama
American Power has:
Big Boob Friday
The Other McCain has:
Train? What Train?
More Amazing Animated Gifs:
Professional Educator: Grades, Showing Up On Time Are A Form Of White Supremacy
Heather Hackman operates Hackman Consulting Group and was formerly a professor of multicultural education at Minnesota’s St. Cloud State University, where she taught future teachers. On Friday, Hackman was given a platform at WPC to deliver a workshop with the lengthy title “No Freedom Unless We Call Out the Wizard Behind The Curtain: Critically Addressing the Corrosive Effects of Whiteness in Teacher Education and Professional Development.” The long title masked a simple thesis on Hackman’s part: Modern education is hopelessly tainted by white supremacy and the “white imperial gaze,” and the solution is to train prospective teachers in college to be activists as well as pedagogues.
In fact, Hackman argued teachers shouldn’t even bother teaching if they aren’t committed to promoting social justice in...
Gun Owners of America: Right To Carry Doesn’t Stop At State’s Border
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is renewing their push to secure national reciprocity for concealed carry, thereby guaranteeing that the right to carry does not stop at a given state’s border.Representative Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) and Senator Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) have introduced national reciprocity legislation–H.R. 923 and S. 498–and GOA is calling for other lawmakers in the GOP-controlled House and Senate to step and secure passage.
They are framing their push around the traumatic experience of Shaneen Allen, a Pennsylvania mother of two who was arrested during a 2015 traffic stop in New Jersey for possessing a handgun for which she had a concealed carry permit and proper registration. Allen had gotten the gun and carry permit after being robbed twice in the previous year.
Although the gun had been acquired legally and the paperwork was in order, Allen faced up to 10 years in prison because New Jersey does not recognize the Pennsylvania carry permit. She was ultimately pardoned by Governor Chris Chritie (R) and spared the agony of prison for carrying a gun to defend herself and her children, and GOA wants lawmakers to act now to be sure Allen’s plight is not faced by other law-abiding citizens.
According to GOA, “The Supreme Court (correctly) ruled in McDonald v. Chicago (2010) that the Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms from...
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