I'm hugely enjoying how a mistake has backfired on the person who made it.
A "woke" bureaucrat at the Veterans Administration decided, apparently on her own initiative and without consultation, to get rid of a famous photograph titled "VJ Day in Times Square", an icon of American victory in World War II. (Click any image below for a larger view.)
Military Times reports:
The ban was announced internally at VA medical facilities late last month in a memo from RimaAnn Nelson, the Veterans Health Administration’s top operations official. Employees were instructed to “promptly” remove any depictions of the famous photo and replace it with imagery deemed more appropriate.
“The photograph, which depicts a non-consensual act, is inconsistent with the VA’s no-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and assault,” the memo stated.
“To foster a more trauma-informed environment that promotes the psychological safety of our employees and the veterans we serve, photographs depicting the ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ should be removed from all Veterans Health Administration facilities.”
There's more at the link.
When the news broke yesterday, it took only a matter of minutes for the head honcho of the Veterans Administration to reverse his underling's decision. I'm sure he recognized the storm of anger and disgust from outraged veterans that was about to break over his head, and wanted to stop it before it started.
The tweet that broke the story was time-stamped 7.24 AM yesterday. Mr. McDonough's reply, above, was time-stamped 9:03 AM. That must be some sort of bureaucratic record, to squash an out-of-line deputy so publicly and so bluntly in so short a time. I think the VA brass were scrambling on this one, to try to salvage their public image.
No word yet on Ms. Nelson's future career prospects with the VA, but if I were in her shoes, as soon as I saw my boss's response, I'd have been sending out my resumé far and wide - and praying that someplace more "woke" than the VA would have a slot for me.
I'm sure not many of my readers wish her well in her job search. Her decision was one of the most stupid and ill-advised I can ever remember hearing about from a senior administrator. Fortunately for the VA, her boss wasn't as stupid.
Peter
12 comments:
Just yesterday was reading about a VA manager that wrecked the Saint Louis hospital she was working at, so she was sent to Manila to manage the only VA hospital in foreign lands.
The name of the manager is Rima Nelson, and it seems she is the same woman that stars in this story.
https://dailycaller.com/2016/02/24/failed-st-louis-va-chief-got-plush-job-free-house-in-philippines/
She's a Federal employee. Firing her is nearly impossible, especially if she is a diversity hire
+1
Surprising, coming from McDonough, the head honcho of the VA, who is not even a veteran, and to my knowledge, has never even worn a Boy Scout uniform.
And how did she know the kiss was "non-consensual"? Did she ask the nurse in question?
The Community Notes on Twitter was all 'it was a real memo but it got reversed so nothing to see here!', forgetting that if it hadn't gone viral it would still be in effect.
Maybe she can get a job that is more in line with her abilities...
Can you imagine living a life where this picture has a negative effect on you? I’d rather be in hell with my back broke. The struggle is real
I fired 2 and caused a 3rd to quit in my career. It can be done, but a supervisor has to keep good records of communication and behavior. Many civil service supervisors can't be bothered with that.
I looked up the female in question. Her photograph was all the explanation I needed.
I think that has more to do with incompetent federal managers and HR than anything else. I've heard stories of managers assaulting random people and keeping their job. Or a manager assaulting a union steward doing union steward things for doing union steward things. I've also heard of managers who did not terminate a probationary employee who didn't pay his bills and had a car repossessed at work and collection agencies calling his workplace. Now he's been caught stealing money.
IOW's, she couldn't get f*cked in San Quentin with a truckload of pardons...
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