Stop pretending Star Wars hates Black People

I watched the first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi last night, and I’d say it was pretty good. I’ve been warned by a few people its a “bait and switch” and we’ll get less Obi-Wan and more Sith Inquisitor Reva, but that remains to be seen. Her character so far is decent: dark, conniving, and ruthless, if a bit hot-headed, but certainly not dumb.

What is dumb is this article about LucasFilm prepping Moses Ingram (who plays Reva) for the coming racist backlash about her character. Two quotes stand out:

In her interview with the Independent, the “Obi-Wan” actress tackles diversity issues in the franchise. “To me, it’s long overdue. If you’ve got talking droids and aliens, but no people of colour, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s 2022, you know. So we’re just at the beginning of that change. But I think to start that change is better than never having started it.”
The Post Millenial.com

No people of colour?

So this guy is white?

And this guy?

And this guy?

(No, seriously, Jar Jar was played by Ahmed Best)

And who can forget this guy, the MOST iconic voice in Star Wars?

Star Wars has always had people of all races. It’s Science Fiction, which gives you the license to bring in darn near anyone with any background. Almost all of the portrayals have been good, and when they aren’t, its normally the studios fault. Lando Calrissian plays an awesome character in The Empire Strikes Back, and fans love him. James Earl Jones will never be forgotten for voicing Darth Vader.

Finn would have been a cool character had Rian Johnson not gutted his backstory to prop up Rey. I and many fans thought it was cool to see the man behind the stormtrooper helmet, but then Rian Johnson sacrificed him to become the butt of jokes in The Last Jedi. Remember when he uncovered that the Resistance was buying weapons on the black market illegally while on Canto Bight? That cool side story lasted for all of 30 seconds, so you could be forgiven for missing it. Wouldn’t it have been cool if Finn spent the films coming to grips with the Resistance using similar methods to the First Order? What if he had come from a crappy backwater planet that the First Order had rescued? The fact that Finn was a mediocre character had nothing to do with fans and everything to do with crappy directing, crappy plots and a box-ticking thinking when it comes to putting diversity on screen.

But the article doesn’t stop, because it has this gem:

John Boyega of the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy has said that their experience with the franchise has included a racial component to it. In order to comply with Chinese authorities, Disney shrunk Boyega’s character on the “The Force Awakens” poster in December 2015.
The Post Millenial

So where’s the outrage over this? Please actors and actresses, jump all over this one like you do with every single social issue here in the United States. But we know you won’t, because that sweet, sweet cash will keep your mouth shut.

To recap: there have always been people of color in Star Wars. Always. Some get great characters, some don’t. When the character is well acted and well developed, people love it. When that doesn’t happen, fans don’t like it. That goes for every character in Star Wars. Americans love good Star Wars characters, but the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t like black people.

Now, I’m sure some dumbass on Reddit will claim to be a Star Wars fan and make a bunch of racists remarks on black characters. To which I say…so what? I’m sure some racist loser wishes Lando Calrissian was white. Nobody takes that guy or gal seriously. Heck, one could say that when fans fall in love with good, well developed characters that are portrayed by black people, it helps breakdown any racist tendencies they might have had.

I hope Disney gives us some good characters in the Obi-Wan series, and I hope they make Reva an intriguing, cool antagonist. Because perhaps what we need is a new hope.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. If you liked this article, why not buy one of the authors books? You can even get the audible version to distract you on your drive to work about the high cost of fuel these days.

Walmart vs. The Navy

One of the great things about being in the Navy is the chance to interact with people from all over the United States, and even the world. It’s diversity in its truest form. I’ve met someone from every single state, almost every territory and plenty of immigrants from countries in every continent and heck, I’ve even met people that traveled to Antarctica.

I’m quite proud that I never wasted these opportunities to learn about the background of the Sailors around me. It’s how I learned about the real difficulties my African-American Sailors faced growing up, or the difficulties for Sailors from the backwoods portions of America. I particularly remember one Sailor’s response to my question “Why did you join the Navy?”

“Well Sir, it was either that or working at a gas station my whole life.”

For many people, the Navy is there chance to get out of a bad circumstance. Compared to most companies, the Navy is happy to pay big money to train someone with nothing but a high school degree and give them a decent paying job with good benefits. In fact, I’d say it was one of the only places that did this.

But that has changed.

Walmart is now paying truck drivers over $100K a year.

Lowes and Home Depot are paying for employees to be upskilled, without debt.

These companies and others have always had a path for people to excel. A friend of mine works in McDonalds Corporate Headquarters, but he got started as a teenager flipping burgers. The problem was not that there isn’t much opportunity, but that it wasn’t advertised all that well. Now that it is, that’s a good thing, because the more skilled our labor force, the better it is for everyone.

Except the Armed Services.

The military depends on a constant flow of young, somewhat educated young people (mostly men) to fill its ranks every year and replace the older, burned out service members that leave. The choice between the service or a life of gas station work is a real choice many Americans face every day. But if you can drive trucks for Walmart at $95K your first year, you’re making more then any non-nuclear Petty Officers in the Navy. Combined with not getting shot at in a war zone or deploying on a ship in such conditions it might make you turn to suicide, and it looks like a pretty good deal.

Even Business Insider is reporting on it now.

In the quest for manpower, my money is on Walmart, not the military.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency, because they’ll tell you everything is great while I tell you the truth. If you enjoyed this post, check out some of my books on Amazon, they make great gifts for your friends.

Firewood and Breast Milk

If it was a real person, you’d accuse me of clickbait!

I sell firewood at my house. I cut down trees on my property (or cut up trees blown over by a storm), saw them into 16 inch pieces, split them with a hydraulic log splitter, and then dry them on a rack in the sun for almost a year. After that, I put them out in a nice, lighted stand at the end of my driveway. Most people pay me with cash, although quite a few are now paying me with Zelle. I give them more firewood then the 7-11 does for the same price, and everyone walks away happy.

Recently on the NextDoor App, some lady made the mistake of complaining that she couldn’t find any nice, split firewood for free. I and many others reminded her that properly split and dried firewood takes time and effort, and as such people like to be compensated for that time and effort. She scoffed at that notion.

I was going to ask if she stayed warm at night under a blanket in the form of the flag of the People’s Republic of China…but I decided against that.

Plenty of people want something for free. Americans are generous people, and while the pandemic drove down charitable donations, a majority of Americans still donate in some way. But donations are gifts, and you shouldn’t fault people for wanting compensation for their time and talent.

That brings us to breast milk. The expectation from quite a few people is that breast milk should be donated to a breast milk bank. That’s all well and good, but as I noted in my book (which you should absolutely read!), when my wife attempted to donate to our local bank, the number of rules and restrictions were outrageous. For example, if you take any supplement outside of prenatal vitamins, it precludes you from donating. I find it absurd that taking glucosamine sulfate means that you should dump perfectly good breast milk down the drain because the milk bank won’t take it.

Then there is the fact that breast milk donations get sold. At non-profit milk banks, this is touted as a way to cover freezers, employee pay and other expenses. Most milk banks sell breast milk at around five dollars an ounce.

To help defray the costs of screening donors and managing donated breast milk, nonprofit milk banks typically charge recipients a fee of about $5 per ounce of milk. “Although the milk is donated, there are expenses, such as milk processing, milk distribution, and buying of pasteurizers, freezers, and bottles,” Noble said
Healthline.com

Insurance coverage is hit or miss, and you’re stuck with the bill if your insurance says no.

Now, you can always buy formula…oh wait, not right now. Hence the increased interest in breast milk banks. And, hence the increased interest in purchasing breast milk through websites like Only The Breast (yup, that’s a real, non-pornographic website). Which has sparked lots of debate on whether people are justified to sell their breast milk.

To which I say, if you want to sell it, you’re 100% justified in doing so.

It is a pain to hook up to a breast pump, put everthing in a nice bag, freeze the milk and then store it. To make substantial milk, you’re eating more calories then normal, which costs more money. All this work, and yet some people think its unethical to pay people for their time and effort. The fake science studies people have even “questioned” the safety of purchasing breast milk, but can’t point to any significant cases where someone sold dangerous breast milk. While, on the contrary, there are plenty of cases of bad formula, but that hasn’t stopped hospitals from pushing it on mothers.

If I was a conspiracy theorist, linking this push of formula on mothers, and then a shortage of formula spiking the price which brings more money to formula companies, would be pretty easy. Did we create this crisis to further some other agenda? It doesn’t look good.

Selling breast milk undercuts milk banks and makes it easier to get milk locally. It compensates women for their time, effort and calories, and it encourages money to stay locally instead of fueling some big corporations that have every incentive to profit from formula shortages and breast milk donations that they can markup on their own.

Which is exactly why many interested people want you to believe its unethical. People that, just like my firewood example, don’t place any value on your time or effort.

Moms, if you’ve got extra milk, check out OnlyTheBreast, or talk in your mom groups about selling or donating your milk on your own terms. Don’t feel bad asking for some compensation, if nothing else for the time it took you to bag everything and stay hooked up to an uncomfortable machine. You could help solve the formula crisis, since its not like the US government is going to anytime soon.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. While you’re getting ready for Memorial Day, why don‘t you buy one of my books on Amazon and help me out?

Some New Rules for The 1970 Season: Waivers Week 3, Emergency Waivers, Draft Picks up to Round 7 Tradable, Conditional Draft Picks

I’d like to announce four changes to league rules that will that effect this season. Two are changes to existing rules. One is to handle a problem that wasn’t addressed last season and one is a brand new rule that I’m implementing due to odd circumstances for this season.

Wavers Begin After Week 3

Last season to speed up the draft we allowed people to drop out after they hit 30 players and go into waivers early. Because of the limited amount of players by comparison with 18 teams this was changed to drafting to a max of 30 players. However the nature of the Dynasty game clearly shows that 30 players might not be enough due to injuries and suspensions.

So instead Waivers will begin for everyone starting week three under the following rules:

After week three (series 6) teams will be able to make waivers claims
Waivers Claims may be made at Saturday Mornings beginning at 12:01 AM EST and ending on the following Monday 2:00 PM EST
To make a waivers claim a team announces either via the chat room or via a blast in the System that they are claiming a player who is not currently on a roster off of waivers.
If no valid counterclaim is made by a team with a worse record that waivers claim will be upheld and the player shall be placed on the roster at 1 AM EST on the Tuesday after that week.
If the added player brings any roster above 35 active players (that is players on the major or minor league roster not counting the DL) the claiming team shall release a player who will be available in waivers the following week if he has a card or available in the draft the following season if he does not.
1. Example Boston makes a waivers pick which brings their roster to 36. They choose to release John Mayberry to make room. The following week Mayberry can be claimed off waiver by any team that wishes (including Boston) that either has room or can make room for him
2. Example Rico Carty missed the entire 1971 season due to injury. Boston chooses to protect him and retain the rights to him during the 1971 season. If at any time that season they make a waivers pick that brings them over 35 they can release their rights to Rico Carty. Because he doesn’t have a card in the 1971 season he can not be picked up in waivers but CAN be drafted the following year.
3. Example: Atlanta has Tom Burgmeier on the DL which reduces his total of available players (majors and minors) to 34. They pick up a player in waivers. No player has to be released as long as the active roster remains at 35. As soon as Burgmeier is eligible if Boston wishes to activate him they must either add an already injured player to the DL or release a player to get the roster back to 35.
A team may only make one waivers claim per week with TWO exceptions
1. If two teams both make a claim for the same player the claim that came with the earliest timestamp either in waivers or the message system of dynasty shall be considered to have made the waivers claim. In that case the player with the later time may either make a different waivers claim or , if eligible put in a COUNTERCLAIM for said player
2. A team may make a 2nd waivers pick if they are making a claim under the EMERGENCY WAIVERS rule (see below)
COUNTERCLAIMS: When a team makes a waivers claim on a player. Said claim is subject to a Counterclaim.
A counterclaim may be made by any team with a worse record than the team making the claim provided that said team does not already have an active waiver claim in progress.
If an eligible team makes a counter claim the initial waivers claim the initial waivers claim is forfeited and the team making the counterclaim shall be considered the player making a waivers claim on said player subject to the rules above and subject to a counter claim by a team with an even worse record.
If two teams with identical records make a counterclaim for the same player the team that had the worse record in the draft shall have precedence.

Emergency Wavers

While rare there are cases when due to injury, rest rules or suspensions, a team does not have a legal available pitcher to start a game either on the major league roster or in the minors to call up. An even rarer situation is that a team may not have a person available to play a legal player to start at a non-pitching position. In such a case a team my request EMERGENCY WAIVERS from the commissioner.

If it is granted in such a situation the player may before the game is played make a pick from the waivers pool. The pick MUST be a player who fills the emergency role either a starting pitcher if there is nobody who can start a game or a batter who plays the vacant position at any skill level.

Standard roster rules apply to EMERGENCY WAIVERS picks meaning a team making an emergency pick must make room for said player if the emergency pick brings his roster above 35. The player released will be placed in the waivers pool.

EMERGENCY WAIVERS picks are not subject to counterclaims.

Draft Picks Up to Round Seven Now Tradable

When trading begins after week five (series 10) instead of picks up to round 5 being tradable picks up to round 7 may be traded.

Previous trade rules apply.

Reminder no franchise that has announced either publicly to the league or privately to me that they will not be playing next season may trade draft picks. Players who are considering giving next season a miss are encouraged not to trade draft picks so as not to hamper whoever takes over the franchise.

Conditional Draft Picks In Trades

A situation came up last season where shortly after a trade was made for Dick Allen Dynasty announced they were not only going to release the 1968 season online but would be releasing 1971 & 1972 not to long afterwards, The team trading away Allen object as they said they would not have traded him if they had known those season might be available as won the MVP in 1972 and had a pretty good year in 71 as well. So the option to reverse the trade was given to Cincinnati and they accepted that option.

Since we don’t know for sure if next season will be 1973 (the current situation) or either 1971 or 72 (if released by the time of the draft) we shall allow the use of a Conditional Draft Pick Clause in trades this season.

When making a trade this season involving draft picks a clause may be placed in the deal to allow additional or different draft picks to change hands dependent on us playing the 1971 or 1972 season next time around.

Example: Boston falls out of the race early due to injuries and Minnesota wanting to shore up it’s offensive attack wants to make a deal for Rico Carty. Boston wants a 1st & 2nd round pick for Carty but because Carty does not have a card for 1971 due to injury the Twins balk. The two teams may agree to include a Conditional draft clause saying that if we end up playing the 1971 season next Boston will get a 3rd and 7th round pick rather than the 1st and 2nd round pick.
Example Cincinnati again having a bad year offers to trade Dick Allen to the Pirates who are making a run. The Pirates offer 1st & 3rd round pick but because Allen’s MVP season might suddenly come into play the Reds insist that if we play 71 or 72 next season the he also get a 5th round pick. Pittsburgh agrees. so If at any time before next season’s draft 71 or 72 are released the Reds get that extra pick

No draft pick that is included as a conditional pick in one deal may be traded to another team.

Example: Boston & Minnesota has made the deal above for Rico Carty. After the trade Boston has a big turnaround and approaches California about Tommy John. Boston may NOT offer the picks they acquired from Minnesota to the Angels in any trade because there is a chance that he may not possess said picks. However if before the trade deadline Dynasty releases the 1971 season the picks may be traded.
Example: Minnesota having made the above trade with the conditional pick clause still looking to trade approaches California for Tommy John. He may NOT include his 3rd and 7th round pick in any offer to the Angels because those pick may not be available to him. However if the 1971 or 72 season is released before the trade deadline he can
Example: The reds want C Dwayne Josephson Pagan from the Phillies. Mike Kennedy being Mike Kennedy wants draft picks. The reds may NOT offer Pittsburgh’s 5th round pick unless Dynasty announces the release of the 1972 season before the trade deadline but the CAN offer Pittsburgh’s 3rd round pick because that part of their trade with Pittsburgh is not conditional.

If at any time during the season Dynasty releases the 1971 season then all conditional picks from trades are considered made and no more conditional picks may be included in trades.

If at any time during the season Dynasty releases the 1972 season but NOT the 1971 season any picks conditional on the 1972 season area considered made and can be traded.

If after the season BUT before the draft Dynasty releases either the 1971 or 72 season any conditional trade clauses from the current season become active

REMINDER! You may only trade draft picks for the following year.

Starry perks and suicide

Easy to miss in the midst of the Ukraine Conflict and Supreme Court leaks is the fact that the Navy is dealing, poorly, with a suicide epidemic (at the time of this article we’re up to 7 Sailors) onboard the USS George Washington (CVN-73). Now, you might think “Is the George Washington underway on another long, stressful deployment?” That would be an intelligent question to ask, and sadly the answer is “no.” George Washington is in the shipyard in Newport News, VA.

Now, why would Navy Sailors be so stressed out that they would end their lives if they are home and not deployed underway? Well, because shipyard life is pretty tough, according to the dad of one of the Sailors:

“He loved his job. He did his 12-hour shifts. And how do you sleep on an aircraft carrier with jackhammering and smoke and smells during the day? So, he would sleep in his car,” John Sandor said about his son, who was 19. “It is just awful. No sailor should even have been living on that ship in those conditions.”
-John Sandor

You might be wondering if these poor conditions are something new, to which I will sadly tell you…nope. I had the same issues at the same shipyard 16 years ago. The 45 minute walks to get to work…that’s a thing, because the Navy never built enough parking or bus options. The article didn’t mention many other stressors, such as the rampant car break-ins, since most of the parking lots are located off the secure facility and aren’t patrolled. For female Sailors, I’ve had more than a few tell me shipyard workers regularly get away with overt catcalling during the day.

Shipyard life, with its long days and crappy working conditions, sucks.

Instead of trying to fix the housing situation, or the driving situation, or the working conditions, Big Navy’s response is…suck it up!

“What you’re not doing is sleeping in a foxhole like a Marine might be doing,” he said, adding that much of the crew goes home each night, something that can’t be said for a deployed carrier.
-Master Chief Russell Smith

I can’t make that up, go listen to the audio at the link. I give Master Chief credit, he’s not yelling at the crew, but as a senior leader, you have to know that trying to minimize the issue isn’t ever going to look good.

The Commanding Officer seems to have taken matters into his own hands, and moved 200 Sailors off the ship. Keep in mind, there are still 2,700 Sailors onboard, and if you move off, you still have the long walk and long drive to get to work. So its a catch-22: move off the ship and you add a long drive and walk to work, stay on and your sleep and off-time is horrible.

It’s also not the Commanding Officer’s job to build sufficient rooms at the shipyard. A better advocate for that would be the admiral in charge of Naval Aviation, in this case Vice Admiral Kenneth Whitesell. So where has he been?

Watching Top Gun.

Yup, can’t make that up either. While the George Washington is suffering, VADM Whitesell spent this weekend watching the premiere of the new Top Gun movie with Tom Cruise. Now, I’m not knocking on Tom Cruise, because he spent part of the time talking with Sailors onboard the carrier Carl Vinson. But for VADM Whitesell, its not the best look.

OK, so the immediate response doesn’t look very good, but maybe Big Navy put together a more comprehensive response?

The Navy plans to host a day of team-building activities and has asked each department to submit ideas for how crew members could interact off the ship, according to Lt. Cmdr. Robert Myers, a Navy spokesman. “It could be anything,” Myers said. A Super Smash Bros. video game competition and a soccer tournament are some of the suggestions that have been floated, according to one George Washington sailor, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
– NBC News

Super Smash Brothers! That’ll cheer them up! They’ll stop killing themselves if they just get to play video games!

However, that sailor doubted whether such events would fix what appears to be a mental health crisis on the ship. The sailors spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press and feared retaliation.
– NBC News

Ya think?

This whole thing makes me cry. We have Sailors in the United States that should be working in decent conditions and building themselves into warriors, and instead the conditions are so bad that they are taking their own lives. Then we have leaders that care more about the perks they get with the stars on their shoulders than about the young men and women entrusted in their care. But to top it all off, we have a Navy bureaucracy that is focused on running some morale events to patch the problem.

Nobody in this entire situation is giving us answers on how to build more housing, build a better transit service or fix the onboard sleeping conditions.

Since you’ve made it this far, do me a favor and email your Congressman. Tell him or her that if Congress can make millions of dollars go to Ukraine, it could spend a bit of money to fix glaring errors at our nations shipyards.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency, because those agencies would have you believe video games and soccer tournaments will suddenly fix years of neglect to our Sailors and the infrastructure they work on. If you enjoyed this article, please consider purchasing a book by the author or donating to this blog.

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