Monthly Archives: April 2024

Current Events, Recent Posts

Back to Chinese Checkers

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LOL,  Can you name the above group?  LOL Another barn burner from Mustang. I just love this one! Read and enjoy, and if you like it go to his website and say so. He has a great website, well researched, thought out, and usually with a tad of humor, such as this one.

Back to Chinese Checkers

by Mustang

April 13, 2021 — bunkerville

A few interesting developments among the so-called China watchers.  There is nothing for you to do about this, of course, but I thought it would provide at least some amusement.  So, there is this fellow named Sandeep Dhawan who writes advice to the US State Department suggesting what they ought to do about China.  I’m sure the State Department appreciates this advice — the Lord knows if anyone needed advice, it’s the US State Department.  Sandeep’s bona fides include the fact that he’s a former commander in the Indian navy.  I found this curious, so I did a few minutes of G-searching and could not find one single incident where the Indian Navy ever distinguished itself in a combat role at sea.  Well, it may not matter.

Russia, India, and China

Sandeep is concerned because, as the United States withdraws from its foreign outposts, China is moving in to “fill up the vacuum.”  Moreover, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s latest visit to the Middle East seems to indicate (to Sandeep) that China is definitely “moving in.”  Now, maybe it’s just me, but … so what?  Yi’s vow to “work with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, UAE, Bahrain, and Oman to “help protect their core interests against foreign interference” doesn’t bother me in the least.  More to the point, if Iran invaded Saudi Arabia tonight at midnight, I couldn’t care less.  Remember, I have long advocated that the solution to the petty tyrants in the Middle East is to convince the Saudis that the Iranians are good to eat.  Sorry, my friends, but I don’t care if China spends all of its silver taels on Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Eritrea, or on Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  In fact, I think China should spend all their money in the Middle East.  We American taxpayers need a break.

Note:  I wonder if China realizes that all those countries hate each other almost as much as they hate us?

What does concern me, however, is that given America’s hunger for Chinese-made plastic bowls, it will be OUR spending at Wal-Mart that will actually fund China’s mischief in the Middle East.  Painfully, we all know that the average female shopper at Wal-Mart would trade in her first born son for a set of eight plastic storage bowls if they come in multiple colors.  Yeah, patriotism is important, so long as it doesn’t interfere in plastic storage ware.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi are forming a mutual support arrangement.  They didn’t do this when Trump was president, of course … they know what a war hungry maniac Trump was.  But now that Joe Biden’s in the White House … well, off come the gloves.  Truly, this IS the danger of electing a nitwit to the presidency, and a former prostitute as his Vice … do you think anyone in the old country will respect America’s leadership, or will they take advantage of the opportunities handed to them by the American voter?

Note:  I don’t know for a fact that Kamala Harris ever was a prostitute, but that’s what Peter, who comments here, said — and it may all boil down to how one defines prostitution, but for the record I trust Peter, and this should go a long way toward reducing what I owe him.

But let’s be optimistic … even assuming that China and Russia “divide the world” among them, so what?  At some point in the future, the American dim-bulbs who voted for Biden will be called away and we’ll end up with a president with cajones.  After this new president nukes everyone one who is friends with China or Russia, the world will belong to us.  Then we can start fighting among ourselves, which is what we like to do almost better than anything (except Wal-Mart shopping).

LOL, What a great post for today, Thank you Mustang!!!

Originally posted 2021-04-13 14:39:04.

Recent Posts

Go Army!

3 Comments

Marines, you simply MUST read this unbelievable article on state of the US Army’s physical fitness. Lord we’d better not get into a fray with someone like China; they’d clean our clock. Long article, but worth the read if you really want to know the status of our “Army of One.”

Army Combat Fitness Disaster: Units Refusing to Take Test, Medics Bailing

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The U.S. Army has a readiness problem the likes of which it has not seen since the draft, and one which threatens to undermine the entire institution. This problem is called the Army Combat Fitness Test. The ACFT was designed to improve the physical fitness levels of soldiers. Because it was so poorly planned, however, 84% of women failed it straightaway, and data is scarce as to whether things have improved. This is a big problem because failure of a graded physical fitness evaluation renders a soldier ineligible for promotion, locked out of specialized training that might otherwise improve a soldier’s acumen or skillset, and ultimately, risks seeing them kicked out of the Army entirely.

Meanwhile, military medical staff—surgeons, nurses, dentists, optometrists, general physicians—are, sources tell me, eyeing ACFT standards skeptically and planning to exit the Army as soon as possible. (Congress certainly seems to fear this possibility, according to language in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, signed into law earlier this year.) A surgeon can make a lot more money in the private sector than in a uniform. This has obvious, serious implications for military readiness, as an Army without skilled doctors is an Army in serious trouble should a new war suddenly break out.

But it gets worse, as a timeline of events will demonstrate.

In October 2019, at the start of the fiscal year, most units in the active-duty Army, National Guard, and reserve component took the old Army Physical Fitness Test. Five months later, the Army suspended all “for-record” physical fitness tests because of COVID-19. In June 2020, the Sergeant Major of the Army announced that scores from the new ACFT would not count until March 2022. Then, in October 2020, the old Army Physical Fitness Test was discontinued.

In other words, by March 2022, when the ACFT is formally and officially implemented, for many soldiers, two-and-a-half years will have elapsed between physical fitness tests! Again, what was supposed to have improved readiness has instead impaired it. Because some soldiers are eligible for two-year hitches, that means there are some soldiers in the U.S. Army who will graduate from basic training and then complete an entire enlistment without ever having to take another for-record physical fitness assessment.

Because of retention fears and massive failure rates of women, Congress ordered last year that the test be halted until the Army could demonstrate that it did not discriminate based on gender. More on that in a moment.

WHAT IS THE ACFT?

In short, the Army Combat Fitness Test consists of six events:

  • Strength Dead-Lift (140-340 pounds)
  • Standing Power Throw (10-pound medicine ball)
  • Hand-Release Push-Ups
  • Sprint-Drag-Carry (sprint, drag a 90 pound sled, and then lateral shuffle then carry two 40-pound kettlebells)
  • Leg Tuck (hanging from a pull-up bar, pull yourself up and bring your knees or thighs to your elbows) or planks (2:09 to 4:20 minutes)
  • 2-Mile Run (minimum: 13:30 minutes, to maximum: 21:00 minutes)

(Just for the record, I called the ACFT a looming disaster in 2018. Sometimes I hate being right.)

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Every so often, the Defense Department decides with utter conviction who the new enemy will be, and prepares for war against them, and then the actual enemies come along and sucker punch the United States. In 1990, the U.S. had the best army on Earth for fighting the Soviet Union, and then Saddam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait. Months before 9/11, the Pentagon was planning for space warfare, and then terrorists used boxcutters to bring down airliners on U.S. soil. When Special Forces arrived in Afghanistan, they didn’t need intercontinental ballistic missile shields; they needed horses, and used cavalry tactics not seen since the Spanish American War. Now we are preparing to fight a nice, big, old fashioned land war in China, or even on U.S. soil. Consequently, I expect we will be invading an island country in the Atlantic or slogging it out in Antarctica any day now.

But from this new defense posture was borne the need for a new physical fitness test to test for the sorts of war-fighting events a soldier might expect to perform when life imitated Red Dawn. Even in garrison, Ft. Lewis to Ft. Devens, sea to shining sea, soldiers needed to be ready. People’s Liberation Army paratroopers could fill the skies over the Statue of Liberty at a moment’s notice.

Thus the abandonment of the allegedly inferior Army Physical Fitness Test in favor of the newly-dubbed Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), whose new name is much more in fitting with an Army rebranding that began in 2001 with the black beret, led to the ill-fitting black (and quickly discontinued) Army Service Uniform, and has since yielded (sigh) “Warrior Restaurants.” (At this point I have to believe that the Marines have secretly taken control of the Army and are doing everything they can to annihilate the dignity of soldiers and drive high school grads into the loving arms of Marine Corps recruiters.) Ooh-Rah!

What the heck is a “Warrior Restaurant? Is that what the Army calls their chow halls? Oh Lord, give me a break

THE ARMY COMBAT FITNESS TEST IS EXPENSIVE

You might have noticed in the above list that an awful lot of hardware is necessary for this test. (Much more is needed than that, in fact, so that multiple soldiers might take the test simultaneously.) Just so that we have some perspective on things: To do the old Army Physical Fitness Test, all a company needed was a clipboard, a pencil, and a stopwatch. Each of those items could be purchased new at the dollar store, total price: $3. (Let’s round it up to $10, though, to include the mileage on someone’s POV.) Two hours later, you would have a complete evaluation of your unit’s physical fitness levels.

I remind you of this because the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command took a good hard look at the APFT, its three-dollar price tag and the generation of hardened infantry soldiers, special operations forces, and others, and said, no. No no no this won’t do at all. What we really need (and I cannot believe I am about to type these words) to evaluate the physical fitness of soldiers is $68 million worth of equipment and a mandatory testing ground whose conditions are rarely found outside of Biosphere 2.

CHANGE FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE

To be clear: I have never once in my life seen a soldier max the old Army Physical Fitness Test and not be in superb shape. You show me a soldier with a 300 on his or her score sheet, and I’ll show you someone who is lean and mean and fit to fight.

But to be generous, perhaps TRADOC looked at soldier fitness and believed that the Army just wasn’t where it needed to be. They are probably right! But rather than cripple Army readiness with an absurd Homer-mobile of a “combat fitness” test, they could have simply raised the minimum scores of the already demonstrably effective Army Physical Fitness Test. What once was a minimum 60 in an event could have been elevated to a 70 or higher. That meeting would have looked something like this: “Hmm, this 25-year-old male only has to do forty pushups to demonstrate upper body strength. That seems low, and he is ill-equipped for the rigors of modern warfare and the gear a soldier must carry. Let’s raise the minimum to sixty-five pushups.” Total price to roll out the new test: Whatever an email message costs in electricity. Three cents?

No. Instead, the Army said that we definitely need hexagonal trap bars, pulling sleds, medicine balls, kettlebells, and 550 pounds of plates. It just makes sense! I’m surprised they didn’t mandate that soldiers flip and roll those giant tires that CrossFit gyms love so much. Scratch that—I’m not surprised at all. That would actually be a useful battlefield skill, and something that any soldier, his or her entire post under attack in sudden, full scale war, might actually need to do. LMTV tires are no joke.

This is where it gets worse. If you are in the Army Reserve or National Guard—i.e., the majority of the Army—you are just out of luck in the new physical fitness regime. You only have access to the training equipment two days per month, during drill, and Planet Fitness doesn’t stock sleds. But don’t worry, 17-year-old E-2 who makes minimum wage in your civilian job! You can purchase a complete ACFT equipment kit for $2,350. When those enemy tanks roll across Kansas corn fields, you want to be ready, don’t you?

SOLVING THE ACFT LEG TUCK

I don’t even know how to explain this without a flowchart, but I am a professional and will give it a go. Previously, the ACFT mandated a testing event called a leg tuck to determine the core strength of a soldier. The problem: 72% of women were failing it. The solution TRADOC has provided: Soldiers can perform a plank as an alternative to the leg tuck. That seems fair, but…

According to a letter sent out by the Sergeant Major of the Army: “Each Soldier will indicate which core strength test event they will do before the test begins. The reason we are keeping the Leg Tuck, and adding the Plank, is that the Leg Tuck is a better correlation to fitness requirements for Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills (WTBDs) and Soldier common tasks.  By making the Plank a fully graded, alternate assessment, we are working to give Soldiers who are currently struggling with the Leg Tuck, a chance to succeed on the ACFT, while adapting their physical readiness training to the Army’s changing culture of fitness.” Oh, that’s a good move. LOL

So which is it? Are we designing a test to give absolute, rock solid evidence of a soldier’s fitness for modern warfare, or are we just… making things up? Because it’s a binary situation. If WTBD proficiency—things like movement under fire, evacuating casualties, and so on—is a necessary prerequisite for modern warfare (and I agree it is), then why are you yielding on leg tucks?

It’s almost like the leg tuck event is just made up, a metric and not the metric. Perhaps—it sure seems that way—that the entire ACFT is a collection of expensive, invented tests that might, yes, improve the fitness of some, but at the expense of the whole. Because while it would be nice if cooks, helicopter mechanics, paralegals, and linguists could, at a moment’s notice, graduate Ranger school, maybe—just maybe—retention with a basic level of physical fitness is more important than the ability to achieve the fetal position while hanging from a pull-up bar. The Army is losing medical doctors to this thing. I have profound respect for Cav scouts, but I don’t want one performing surgery on me.

As one insider who spoke under the condition of anonymity told me last year: “This test was made up out of thin air. There is no ‘raising’ or ‘lowering’ of standards because this test is not a standard. It is a made up, make-believe set of criteria that never been used before to determine the combat fitness of any soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine. It’s totally made up. And so we don’t know if this truly measures combat fitness. What we do know is the Army Physical Fitness Test has been used for the last 30 years, and we have put hundreds of thousands of people into combat successfully based on it. The [new] ACFT is a made-up set of exercises and repetitions that has absolutely no basis in a real-life combat experience because it’s never been required before.”

CONGRESS GETS INVOLVED

Last year, Congress issued an edict to the U.S. Army to get to the bottom of the ACFT fiasco. Among other things, representatives wanted to know “the extent, if any, to which the test would adversely impact members of the Army stationed or deployed to climates or areas with conditions that make prohibitive the conduct of outdoor physical training on a frequent or sustained basis,” and “the extent, if any, to which the test would affect recruitment and retention in critical support military occupational specialties of the Army, such as medical personnel.”

Officials tasked the RAND Corporation, an independent, non-profit think tank in Washington D.C., with this endeavor. But I was curious how RAND’s experts would do this. Would they send observers to take notes from the field, or would they run statistical analyses on ACFT results thus far, or would they build their own group of non-Army test-takers, or perhaps do some combination of all this?

So I reached out to the RAND Corporation, and a spokesperson could confirm only that they are, in fact, conducting research on the Army Combat Fitness Test, but that said research was in the very early stages, and in any event, they can’t talk about it until their work is complete. Next, I reached out to the Army, who has yet to respond to my request, aside from acknowledging its receipt. (If and when they respond, I will update this story.)

There is a problem with all this. Because the ACFT is not presently mandatory per Congress, units are not taking it. But the Army is desperate for more data points to prove that the ACFT is good. (I mean they’ve got no place to go but up!) In the same letter from the Sergeant Major of the Army, he practically begged units to get with the program—to jump on the team and come on in for the big win:

“The refinements will be data driven and it’s critical we make training for, and taking the ACFT, one of our highest priorities. As of last week, only 25% of the Army had taken the test. We cannot, and should not, make final policy decisions based this limited data set..”  I assume “data driven” means if enough percentage don’t score well or even pass, we will lower the standards.

Congress is waiting, and the RAND study looms. The ACFT stumbles onward, while the waistlines of some soldiers expand, surgeons plan their exits, and readiness reaches a nadir: all problems invented by a test, which then claimed it could solve them.

UPDATE: Army spokesperson Matthew Leonard says, regarding the RAND study of the ACFT: “The Army asked the RAND Arroyo Center to independently review the Army’s development of the ACFT and contribute to ongoing discussions regarding its implementation. RAND began conducting the ACFT implementation study in first quarter FY21. The Army is providing all applicable training data through the Digital Training Management System (DTMS), which is the Army’s system for recording planned and completed training. All Army units will continue to train and test the ACFT and enter scoring data into DTMS. During the study period only RAND and select Army research elements will have access to DTMS data.”

Oh well, otherwise all’s well in the Woke Army Swamp today.

Originally posted 2021-04-10 14:36:26.

Current Events

All-Star Strikeout

4 Comments

Greg hits another Home Run!

By: G. Maresca

As Major League Baseball (MLB) opened its season to sunny skies with every team playing on the same day since 1937, the game’s executives seem intent on beheading the golden goose with the woke ax of the Cancel Culture.

Given the issues with two recent Georgian elections, the state’s legislature passed a bill that would strengthen the integrity and fairness of their voting laws.  The MLB suits and their Democrat allies including President Biden disagreed labeling the legislation “an atrocity” and “Jim Crow.”  As a result, MLB’s midseason summer classic – its annual All-Star game and amateur draft that were to take place in Atlanta – will be relocated to Colorado that has similar voting laws.

The president’s distortion of the Georgia law is intentionally divisive since he promised to unite the nation at his inauguration.  Even the left leaning Washington Post awarded Biden four Pinocchio’s.

MLB’s certitude is business as usual.  During last year’s abbreviated season, MLB stenciled a Marxist organization’s initials on pitching mounds leaguewide.  Despite their All-Star boycott of Georgia, MLB announced an expanded television deal with China.  MLB must not realize that in China they eat their bats rather than swing them.

MLB should showcase their All-Star game in Wuhan.  Surely, the Uighurs in their Xinjiang province “re-education” camps would tune in. Even Secretary of State Antony Binken said China is committing genocide against the Uighurs.

The media needs to question Biden on how a law committed to voter integrity in a state that he won warrants a boycott, while communist China gets a pass.

The Georgia law will require absentee voters to provide identification when requesting and mailing in their ballot.  Likewise, ballot drop boxes that were temporary during the pandemic will continue but be reduced.  There were no drop boxes prior to COVID, ever.

What will MLB do when other states pass similar voter integrity laws? Stop playing games in those states?  Why are any of the 81 regular season games being played in Atlanta if this law is so egregious?

Politics injecting itself into professional sports is vogue.  In July 2016, the NBA pulled its All-Star Game from Charlotte, N.C. because a state law mandated that transgenders use bathrooms according to their birth gender. After the law was repealed, the NBA rewarded Charlotte their 2019 All-Star game.

Political division is nothing new, but the ridiculous and despotic reactions are.  Perhaps MLB is auditioning for their future masters – the Chinese Communist Party?  No need to concern yourself with voter suppression when there are no elections.

Georgia is in no way suppressing legitimate voters, but their law does make it harder for illegitimate voters – and that is the crux – for Democrats.  MLB has smeared Georgia’s elected majority as racist and anti-democratic.

State officials should sue for defamation.

Here is MLB lecturing on election integrity when nothing is more fraudulent than an MLB All-Star ballot, where voting early and often is creed.

Drive to the park, buy a beer at the game and you will need identification.  Producing identification is not voter suppression; it is voter certification.  And you better have your immunization card updated to enter because that is next.

Sports should be apolitical, but it is the weak and craven who fail to step up to the plate and make it so.  Georgia showed uncharacteristic courage for politicians something MLB and the crony and woke CEOs at Atlanta based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola severely lack.

If other legislatures and organizations would exhibit such resolve perhaps, a real examination, without the name calling about why one group has lagged behind in most metrics despite decades of unconstitutional subsidies and preferences.  Then we could address some real causes: 70% children born out of wedlock, 52% of murders, 37% of abortions among a culture that is only 13% of the population where entitlement and victimization handcuff advancement while atrophying young minds.

Bureaucratic elites are in lockstep with the anti-liberty, totalitarian, Constitution-hating zealots who occupy Washington.  This decision by MLB is just the latest example.

Sports is entertainment, not a political movement.

Until conservatives can boycott as effectively as leftists, expect more of the same.

Conservatives need to take a final homerun trot around the MLB bases of going, going… gone.

Good luck with your new friends, MLB.

 

Originally posted 2021-04-09 11:02:17.

Current Events, Recent Posts

Coke CEO

4 Comments

Shut up and run your company

I find it remarkable that of all the corporations and organizations who have come out condemning Georgia’s latest legislation concerning voter requirements, nary a one has explained how the law disenfranchises minority voters. Amazing. I recently read where even CNN said it does nothing to harm minority voting. Have any of these woke companies/organizations even read the law? I seriously doubt it.  Someone, anyone, please explain to me how requiring an ID to vote in the United  States infringes upon a minority’s right to vote. Maybe I’m just out of touch with today’s world, but I don’t think so since the chart below shows an awful lot of “things” that require an ID. How does one exist in today’s world without an ID?? You all know from past posts I consider myself an Economist by education and hobby. I know for a fact that we, as consumers have more power than many of you think. Oftentimes, commenters have asked what we can do to help society get back on track. Well, let me tell you it’s plain and  simple. Spend your hard earned money wisely, that is, do not buy from producers who pay more attention to social media than running their business. Corporations like Coke rely on us for their existence. They should shut their woke mouths and concentrate on running Coke for the benefit of the owners, who are , of course, shareholders! Can you imagine if you forwarded this post to everyone in your address book, and they did likewise, we could really hurt Coke, and perhaps teach that idiot woke CEO, James Quincey, a lesson in Economics!

I recently switched razors to Harry’s, and was about to order some more blades. It’s going in the trash today. We should be together on this Gang. If you read about some company/organization  condemning Georgia for their new ID law, make a comment about on here. Let’s start a list so we all know who to stop buying from or supporting.

 

 

 

 

 

I know switching from favorites can be tough e.g., Tide is but one product of Proctor & Gamble. However, we have to do something rather than sitting round bitching about things. Please join me!

What I Wouldn’t Give for a Shave That Isn’t Woke

From my closet to my bathroom, my house is full of leftist brands. It’s time to do something about it.

From the WSJ

By Dave Seminara

April 4, 2021 4:16 pm ET

Maybe I was wrong to think conservatives should refrain from adopting the bullying, boycotting tactics of the left. I made the case against emulating progressives in these pages last summer as I lamented the rise of the woke corporation, documenting how many of my favorite companies embrace values antithetical to my own. But it’s increasingly clear that the sharp increase in corporate virtue signaling after George Floyd’s death wasn’t a passing trend but a sea change. Perhaps it’s time for conservatives to boycott companies that hate us.

Coca-Cola and Delta, a pair of Atlanta-based companies I’ve patronized for many years, became progressive boycott targets this month for allegedly not doing enough to stop Republicans in the state from passing an election-security law that’s been recast absurdly as a civil-rights violation. The companies haven’t withstood it well.

In an interview Wednesday with CNBC, James Quincey, Coca-Cola’s CEO and virtue signaler in chief, called the law “unacceptable” and “a step backwards,” but didn’t explain why. CNBC host Sara Eisen never asked if he feared a conservative backlash. Instead she pressed him on why Coca-Cola didn’t “publicly oppose this before.”

Mr. Quincey’s comments didn’t placate the woke mob on Twitter, with some insisting that Coke hadn’t condemned the legislation soon enough or forcefully enough. Delta CEO Ed Bastian appeared to be reading from the Coca-Cola script later the same day. His company released a statement condemning the law, and Mr. Bastian said in a memo to employees that the reform was “unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values.”

Opinion: Morning Editorial Report

As the Journal’s editorial board has pointed out, the legislation is in no way a return to Jim Crow, but rather an honest effort to improve election integrity.

Coca-Cola, Delta, Microsoft and other companies my family supports all but called the legislation racist, implying that those, like me, who support it are bigots. As distasteful as this is, I can’t say I’m surprised. When I look around my house, I see many products from woke companies that want me to know how strongly they disagree with me on pretty much every issue of the day.

Start with Patagonia, one of my favorite clothing-and-gear outfitters. The top of its website exhorts visitors to “act now” to stop climate change, warning that “extinction looms for more than one million species of plants and animals.” Maybe so, but what about shoppers who are there just to pick up a $35 “live simply” T-shirt? The homepage tab next to “shop” is “activism.” Click if you dare, because you’re in for a world of lefty indoctrination. Patagonia even endorses political candidates. You won’t be surprised to learn that none of them in 2020 had an “R” after their names.

Moving to the bathroom, I encounter my progressive razors. No, not Gillette. I ditched those in 2019 after the company released a ludicrously woke ad decrying toxic masculinity. But last month I learned that the new brand I’d chosen, Harry’s, had pulled its advertising from the Daily Wire, a conservative website I like. The razor company fled after a Twitter user with 29 followers complained that one of the Daily Wire’s podcasts “is spreading homophobic and transphobic content.” You might think it’d be easier to find a politically neutral shave, given that a majority of men are Republicans and companies generally play to their customer base. But this reality is apparently lost on Harry’s—and Gillette, or rather its parent company, Procter & Gamble.

Another P&G brand my family uses—Pantene shampoo—recently released a commercial about the life of a young transgender girl and her lesbian moms. “She has always been super gender creative, and hair has been a big part of her transition,” says one of the moms. At the end of the commercial, a banner reads, “PANTENE Family is #BEAUTIFULGBTQ—Proud to Support Transgender Visibility.” The ad has about six times as many dislikes as likes on YouTube, but that hasn’t given the company pause. It tweeted that “transphobia has no place in our world or in our feed.”

Maybe Pantene believes that’ll be the extent of the blowback. Many companies take Republican customers for granted. Perhaps they’re right. I still have subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu and Disney+, even though many of their offerings, particularly documentaries, advance left-wing agendas.

But there’s money to be made on standing up to cancel culture. Last summer, after I complained that my preferred coffee company had gone too far left, readers suggested I buy from Black Rifle Coffee Co. “They support Veterans and the coffee is very good,” one reader wrote me. He was right and word is spreading. The company’s revenue nearly doubled in 2020—a year when every other business seemed to be going woke.

Unlike many on the left, I’m fine with companies not taking sides, and I don’t expect every company I patronize to embrace my views. But if Pantene can stand firm on behalf of transgender visibility, perhaps it’s time for conservatives to stiffen their spines, too. It doesn’t seem like too much to ask that the businesses I patronize refrain from actively and loudly despising me.

Mr. Seminara is a former diplomat and author of “Footsteps of Federer: A Fan’s Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts.”

Originally posted 2021-04-05 14:55:57.