What Else Can I Say

… So I said, “As you pull bodies from the Potomac, inject them with disinfectant it’ll bring them back to life. Just don’t let any diversity hires do it cause then it’s sure to be a disaster, and they’ll remain dead.”

“And what evidence do you have of this, ma’am?”

“It’s common sense.”

Look! Everybody’s a white guy (assuming). Perfect!

Oh, Trumpy. Taking your logic at face value assumes companies hire people of colour but then fail to train them properly, and this exposes a few key issues with your assertion because it:

Assumes Diversity = Incompetence
- The underlying claim is that hiring for diversity leads to unqualified people being placed in critical roles. It ignores that qualification and diversity are not mutually exclusive—competence should always be the standard, regardless of background.
- Diversity initiatives aim to widen the pool of talent by removing biases that have historically excluded qualified people from certain groups, you … sexy thing you!
Overlooks Who’s Responsible for Training
- If employees (of any background) fail due to poor training, that’s a management issue, not a diversity issue. It implies the company either neglected proper training or set them up to fail.
Ignores the Reality of Systemic Bias
- Studies show people of colour often have to work harder to get the same opportunities. If anything, underrepresentation in leadership and mentorship may contribute to struggles, but that’s a structural problem—not an individual failure.
  - Some recent studies highlight the challenges people of colour face in the labour market:
    - Perceived Workplace Challenges: A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 51% of black workers believe that being black makes it harder to succeed in their workplace. This perception underscores the ongoing challenges related to racial bias and discrimination in professional settings. pewresearch.org
    - Systemic Obstacles to Quality Employment: A report from the Center for American Progress indicates that African Americans continue to face higher unemployment rates and have less access to quality jobs compared to their white counterparts. These disparities persist despite overall labour market expansions, suggesting systemic issues in employment opportunities. americanprogress.org
    - Workplace Environment Disparities: Research from Harvard Business School reveals that black employees not only earn less but also are less likely to have supportive bosses and positive work cultures. This combination of lower compensation and less favourable work environments contributes to broader disparities in job satisfaction and career advancement. library.hbs.edu
    - Discrimination in STEM Fields: A 2018 Pew Research Center study found that 72% of black STEM employees believe that discrimination in recruitment, hiring, and promotions is a major reason for the underrepresentation of blacks and Hispanics in STEM jobs. This highlights the perceived barriers in fields that are critical to technological and scientific advancement. pewresearch.org
Conveniently Dismisses Actual Failures by Non-Diverse Teams
- Historically, the biggest corporate, government, and infrastructure disasters (um, do you remember Enron, the 2008 financial crisis, and Boeing’s safety failures) were not caused by “diversity hires.” So why is diversity blamed when things go wrong but never credited when things go right, you fuckin’ …? (ugh, I cannot think of a profound insult at the moment).

Ooh. All black women (assuming). That’s not good either.

OMG! I’m gonna get erased by the Ministry of Truth Social.
Trump is dangerously entertaining, but I enjoy listening to him
because I get to expand my knowledge base.
For example, I did some research on diversity and air traffic control.

Cool right!
sam

As always, the TTC is a fuckin’ nightmare. Are you tired of my rocket rants? Somebody’s always getting sick and requiring medical assistance and fuckin’ shutting shit down. On Tuesday, it was that, and they told us the tracks were icy, so they had to go slower than usual. Why you no have track anti-icing shit, TTC? You didn’t know winter was coming?

Then, because somebody needed medical assistance AGAIN on Wednesday (eye roll – it better not be the same person as yesterday, I thought.), officials turned back trains, but we remained stuck in a tunnel for a while. Sometimes, they make trains pass on the opposite platform, which would make more sense than inconveniencing commuters.

If I ran the TTC, I’d implement a thing that checks to see how healthy you are mentally, emotionally and physiologically when you walk through the door, and if you’re not “ok”, the payment gates won’t open but will flash a message that you need a doctor or therapist or both. (I need to think on what the thing would look like and how it’d track you from door to payment gate.)

DALLE can’t spell therapist 🙁 but thanks anyway

And if I’m ever on a train where someone needs medical assistance, I’m gonna punt them to the platform, get in the cockpit, choke out the conductor, and then drive the train nonstop to my destination. Fuck everybody. I’ll be known as the train-stealing bandit. I might only be able to do it once, though.

Time to Learn Some Traffic Control Shit

After Trump’s comments, in addition to the diversity stuff above, I got to wondering on how traffic control works—whether on roads, in the air, etc. I are sharing my findings with you. Traffic control, where a mix of humans, machines, and chaos management, keeps things moving.

1. Road Traffic 🚗

Traffic lights, signs, and some poor construction worker waving a stop sign while cars back up for miles. Road traffic control relies on:

Traffic Signals: Timed lights based on vehicle flow data. Smart systems adjust in real time.
Signs & Markings: Stop signs, speed limits, lane divisions—telling people what to do, which they may or may not obey.
Human Controllers: Cops, construction flaggers, and intersection managers keep people from making bad decisions.

2. Air Traffic Control (ATC) ✈️

The high-stakes chess game of guiding planes through crowded skies and onto runways safely. (game is a poor word choice, but I can’t think of anything else). It includes:

Tower Controllers: Direct planes during takeoff, landing, and taxiing. (Taxiing refers to the movement of an aircraft on the ground under its own power, typically between a runway and a terminal, gate, or hangar. It happens before takeoff and after landing and is controlled by (ATC) too. I figured once you’re on the ground, you’re safe to move about, but it doesn’t work that way.
Approach & Departure Control: Guides planes through airspace near airports, preventing midair collisions.
En Route Control: Manages flights between cities, tracking them on radar to prevent, you know, falling out of the sky.

3. Rail & Subway Traffic Control 🚇

Public transit needs its own set of traffic rules to avoid delays, crashes, and that moment when you’re stuck underground for no reason.

Signalling Systems: Determines when a train can move forward safely (green = go, red = stop, yellow = prepare for frustration).
Centralized Control Centers: Operators monitor all trains, controlling speed, track switches, and emergency stops.
Track Maintenance & Delays: Weather, medical emergencies, and breakdowns can cause everything to grind to a halt. Of which I am very familiar with.

4. Maritime & Shipping Control 🚢

And on the open OceanSeas, ships have lots of space to fool around (at least, in theory).

Harbor Traffic Control: Works like air traffic control, guiding ships into ports.
Shipping Lanes: Designated routes to avoid collisions.
AIS (Automatic Identification System): Tracks ship locations for navigation and security.

Traffic control is the invisible referee keeping everything from turning into a demolition derby. (that just gave me some story ideas). When it works, nobody notices. When it fails, you’re stuck underground, listening to honking for hours, in a holding pattern at an airport, or floating in the Potomac. (Is it too early for jokes? Am I going to hell?)

Life Updates

Yesterday, I dreamed I ate half a donut, then woke up and realized I ate the whole thing. FML-SMH.

Dre has me doing a five-minute HIIT workout every day – He only counts when I’m moving, so it ends up being a 15-minute workout by the time it’s over—box jumps, jump rope, pull-ups, jump squats, Rogue bike shit, hex bar shit, etc. My heart rate can get into the 160s. I have a makeshift sled, which is cool for pushing/pulling up and down the hallway. It’s a bunch of big stacked Rubbermaid containers, but it does the job and doesn’t scratch the floor.

Bossman recommended I revisit The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Since rereading Orwell, I now have First Read and Second Read lists.

Earlier this week, I came across a short story by Ray Bradbury, Way in the Middle of the Air. It’s from his 1950 book The Martian Chronicles. Set in the American South, it follows a group of white men who are shocked to learn that all the black people in their town—and across the country—are leaving Earth to settle on Mars. The story explores themes of racism, freedom, and the consequences of systemic oppression, by imagining a world where black Americans choose to leave rather than continue suffering.

Interestingly, Way in the Middle of the Air was left out of later editions of The Martian Chronicles, I wonder why? Could it possibly be due to its blunt portrayal of racism? Orwell’s Ministry of Truth at work, yes.

Now, I plan to read Fahrenheit 451. It appears I am into dystopian stories. I feel like there was a TV show of his short stories, but maybe I am thinking of Hitchcock.

I was watching the trailer for 28 Years Later, and I really liked the song – Dre. I found out it was a poem named Boots by Rudyard Kipling, and the song is on Spotify. There are lots of fantastic shits out there to find.

I hope you had a good week. Wishing you an even better weekend.

What’s in your reading wallet?