Senate Report on Hasan Murders

In November 2009, Maj Nidal Hasan gunned down 13 innocent victims in an attack that was the result of his conversion to a brand of Muslim extremism. At the time, I laid part of the blame at the feet of political correctness in the U.S. Military, Political Correctness Runs Amok - 13 Dead. Yesterday a Senate report of the investigation was finally released, page 4 news of course, that confirmed what I had said.

It charges that evidence of Hasan’s radicalization was “on full display” to his superiors, and that an instructor and colleague “each referred to Hasan as a ‘ticking time bomb,’” but no action was taken to discharge him and his evaluations were sanitized.
. . .
Military supervisors, the report said, had the authority to discipline or discharge Hasan. But it concluded that the Defense Department did not inform or train commanders about how to recognize someone radicalized to Islamic extremism or how to distinguish that from the peaceful practice of Islam.

To repeat myself: From my experience as a veteran officer of 22 years, I know that problems like this are frequently tougher for commander's to deal with than the life or death decisions of war fighting. That is because making the wrong move can wreck your career in a case like this. Tough. Everyday you come to work, your career could be wrecked, it comes with the territory, do the right thing.

Why We Don't Let Kids be Kids

Longtime San Diego residents may recognize this piece of playground equipment.

Waynok, our official artist and videographer, has some interesting observations about the end of the playground as we knew it. He relates the safety craze to the generally rampant political correctness in society in general. It seems part of the liberal mind set that no one should ever feel any pain, or have to struggle, or feel discomfort. The latest outrage in this vain, (H/T Weaselzippers)is a soccer league in Ottawa, Canada that will penalize any team with a forfeit for winning by more than five goals.

In yet another nod to the protection of fledgling self-esteem, an Ottawa children’s soccer league has introduced a rule that says any team that wins a game by more than five points will lose by default.

The Gloucester Dragons Recreational Soccer league’s newly implemented edict is intended to dissuade a runaway game in favour of sportsmanship. The rule replaces its five-point mercy regulation, whereby any points scored beyond a five-point differential would not be registered.

It's as if the Discomfort Doctrine has become universal. I like Waynok's closing comments on the issue:

What is it accomplishing? Why is becoming super sensitive going to make everything better? Why can’t we just be a little thicker-skinned? This trend saddens my heart. I just hope it doesn’t keep getting worse because I don’t know how much of it I can take.

[Ed. note: Waynok is my 21 year old son.]

Political Correctness Run Amok

I heard that Rahm Emmanuel unleashed expletives at liberal senators last fall saying they were "f***ing retards" for threatening to run ads against fellow Dems who were holding up their vision of a government take over of health care. So what, this is news? He was right, get over it. If conservatives are going to argue that political correctness has run amok, which I assert repeatedly in this space, then we should just let this go. Is there hypocrisy on the left with regards to PC? Sure, but is that news either?

Update on Political Correctness Killing 13 Americans

H/T Hotair. I feel vindicated in my assessment about political correctness being at least partially responsible for the 13 dead at Fort Hood. Army Major Shawn Keller writes in today's RealClearPolitics:

But as angry as I am at what happened, I'm even angrier that it was allowed to happen. Apparently, there was no shortage of warning signs that Hasan identified more with Islamic Jihadists than he did with the US Army. From speeches, writings, conversations, affiliations and postings on Jihadist websites, there were more than enough dots to connect that should have exposed Hasan as someone inclined to attack innocent people in the furtherance of a political, religious and ideological agenda. There were more than enough red flags raised that, at a minimum, should have gotten Hasan kicked out of the Army.

My point exactly. The good major confirms my other suspicion:

The Army as an institution has been neutered by decades of political correctness and the leaders in Hasan's chain-of-command failed to act accordingly out of fear of being labeled anti-Muslim and receiving a negative evaluation report.

I feel bad for the major, because he can probably bend over and kiss his career good bye. We'll see how the Army responds to this kind of truth telling.

P.S. I have to quote the major's closing remarks:

Hasan's radical ideology grew to the point that he committed mass murder because too many leaders were too afraid to lead out of fear of harming their career or the image of the Army. If those leaders don't have the intestinal fortitude, moral conviction or personal courage to stand up, speak up and protect soldiers, then retire, resign or get out of the way and let somebody else do it for you.