My plan was to post mainly fun stuff until after the inauguration and then get back to at least sometimes posting more serious things from time to time, but I’m finding that I still have difficulty reading the political news. 

Still, I do need to keep up, and I at least skim the news so that I have some idea of what’s going on, and sometimes it’s not all bad.

For example, the latest Schadenfreude and Freudenfreude items at Electoral-Vote.com.

The Schadenfreude item brings to mind the line from a song, in a different context, of course, “When will they ever learn?” But at least it provides some fodder for laughter at the new administration.

In case you are like me and can’t recall the precise definition of “DEI”, here it is according to Wikipedia: “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are organizational frameworks which seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination on the basis of identity or disability.”

This Week in Schadenfreude: Leave The Door Open

Today, for this item, we have a very good example of malicious compliance. Actually, you might call it mass malicious
compliance.

Surely every reader of this site knows, by now, that Donald Trump and his underlings are doing everything they can to
take a sledgehammer to anything DEI, or DEI-adjacent, particularly in the federal government. If you would like to read
the executive order that ostensibly brings an end to all federal DEI programs, it’s
here.

There is a slight problem, however. It is entirely possible to pursue DEI-related goals even without using the name
“DEI.” So, as long as a DEI-inclined employee is clever enough not to wear a giant sign saying “DEI,” they might be able
to subvert the White House. To that end, the administration created an e-mail address by which federal staffers can rat
our their colleagues for DEI-related offenses.

Surely you see where this is headed. The e-mail address was quickly made public, and is now being flooded with
“reports” from helpful citizens. For example:

Subject: Suspicious hire

Hello, I would like to report multiple executive branch employees who were put in their positions solely because of
their race and/or gender despite the fact that they are wholly unqualified for their jobs and, in some cases, have
criminal records. Their names:

Donald Trump
J.D. Vance
Pete Hegseth
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Elon Musk
Stephen Miller

There are many more, but I figure that’s enough for now. Once you start pulling that string you will find all manner of
unqualified persons given government jobs solely because of their race and gender. Please drain the swamp!

We would guess that there aren’t too many federal employees interested in throwing their colleagues under the bus.
And now, tips from those folks who ARE interested in ratting out their colleagues are going to get lost in the sea of
smart-alecky reports.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the e-mail address—say, you have a friend who’d like to know—it is
DEIAtruth@opm.gov. (Z)

Just a suggestion, but if you feel like piling on (and why wouldn’t you?) why not do it from a secondary email address rather than your primary one? It’s easy to create an email address on gmail and use it in places where you don’t want to give out your “real” address. Just a suggestion.

The Freudenfreude item by contrast is for public spirited citizens of this country.

This Week in Freudenfreude: Rewrite The Stars

There are undoubtedly many people out there who are interested in being public-spirited citizens, and in being a part
of Team USA in some way, but who are disheartened by the current presidential administration, and who don’t particularly
want to be a part of anything directly related to Trump 47.

If you, or someone you know, fits that description, the clever folks at the National Archives have an opportunity
that might be of interest (and we thank reader A.S. in Renton, WA for bringing it to our attention). In short, there are lots of documents on file, mostly rendered in cursive handwriting, that need to be transcribed. And there are also lots of documents that need to be tagged (that is to say, given labels that describe their content, like “Civil War,” “Battles,” “Antietam” and “Casualties”). So, the Archives are now aggressively promoting their “Citizen Archivist” program.

For those who might like an interesting project to work on, this seems to offer a number of advantages:

1. Contributing meaningfully to the body of knowledge used by scholars and other researchers.
2. Interacting directly with historical documents, and learning about some of the nuances and subtleties that you don’t
   really get exposed to unless you roll up your sleeves and jump in. To take an example, do you know what it meant when a
   denizen of the 18th/19th centuries wrote “Monday prox.,” “Monday inst.,” or “Monday ult.”? We’ll tell you at the end of
   this item.

3. Doing both of these things while staying far removed from the Trump administration and, indeed, from modern
   political issues and discourse. The country had its issues 50, or 100, or 150 years ago, of course. But they definitely
   weren’t carping about DEI, CRT, who can or cannot play women’s sports, or the deep state.

So, we commend the Archives on their initiative, and we pass it along in case it’s of interest to some readers.

Oh, and “Monday prox.,” “Monday inst.,” or “Monday ult.” meant “last Monday,” “this Monday” and “next Monday.” That
usage was common in the 1700s and early 1800s, was “old-fashioned” by the time of the Civil War, and fell into near-total
disuse by the end of the 19th century.

Have a good weekend, all! (Z)