November 5, 2018

Big Red One – MEC – Identity Politics

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1st Infantry Division: The Big Red One

Tracing its heritage to the First World War, the 1st Infantry Division, also know as the ‘‘Big Red One,’’ became the most recognized U.S. Army formation of World War II. Early wartime training was conducted under Maj. Gen. Donald Cubbison, and Maj. Gen. Terry de la Mesa Allen led the division to England and Africa in 1942. Major General Clarence R. Huebner assumed command during the Sicilian operation in July 1943.

Returning to England in November, the division went ashore at Omaha Beach on 6 June as part of Major General L. T. Gerow’s V Corps. Throughout the war the 1st Infantry Division was composed of the Sixteenth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-sixth Infantry Regiments, plus the Fifth, Seventh, Thirty-second, and Thirty-third Field Artillery Battalions. For D-Day the division was reinforced with the 116th Infantry of the Twenty-ninth Division.

https://www.historyonthenet.com/1st-infantry-division/

MEC falls victim to a consumer attack on guns that is powerful but capricious

When it comes right down to it, which companies get hurt in a consumer boycott is to some extent arbitrary.

Ultimately, MEC announced it would bow to growing pressure and stop selling products from Vista Outdoor, a U.S. company that produces guns and ammunition.
Responding to pressure

MEC’s response, ending the sale of such non-lethal items as Bushnell binoculars and Jimmy Styks paddleboards, demonstrates the power of consumer boycott action. But it also reminds us about its capriciousness.
In a world full of wickedness, amid the companies we use regularly, MEC must be among the most benign.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/florida-shooting-banks-mec-1.4557194

Can liberal democracies survive identity politics?

Almost two decades ago Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the victory of liberal democracy. Today he’s seeing the system shattered in large part by identity politics—the subject of his latest book.

Identity politics describes when people adopt political positions based on their ethnicity, race, sexuality or religion rather than on broader policies. Though it started on the left, it has been more potent on the right: it fueled Donald Trump’s election and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/09/30/can-liberal-democracies-survive-identity-politics

Trudeau is an insult to feminism – and to seriousness

The past two weeks have not been kind to Justin Trudeau’s image. He decked his family out in colourful costumes, dragged them halfway across India, and wound up with the worst press of any Canadian PM on any foreign trip that anyone can remember. Canada-India relations are now in possibly their worst shape ever.

After that, he came home to introduce his relentlessly female-friendly budget (the one that made 358 references to “gender”). The best that can be said is that nobody minded it too much. Few of the females I know seemed particularly grateful for the extra-special treatment. Like the Indians, they just felt condescended to. “I’m sick of gender politics,” one friend groused to me. “What matters is that we can’t get anything in Asia right. ”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trudeau-is-an-insult-to-feminism-and-to-seriousness/

Trudeau, Ford and the identity politics at work in Canada

Some of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s international travels have attracted criticism, but a recent trip to New York deserves some praise. In his commencement speech to New York University’s Stern School of Business, Mr. Trudeau shared his views on leadership. He explained that tribalism is an easy way for leaders to galvanize people, but leaders should instead strive to unite. Importantly, Mr. Trudeau wisely pointed to identity politics as a problem leaders must confront.

Delivering these remarks in U.S. President Donald Trump’s hometown, Mr. Trudeau may have been speaking directly to Trump-style identity politics that is undeniably tribal in its anti-immigrant sentiments, rhetorical targeting of minority groups and defending of far-right extremists. But Mr. Trudeau’s comments also give Canadians a chance to think about what identity politics means to us right now, too.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trudeau-ford-and-the-identity-politics-at-work-in-canada/

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