Saturday 08 Mar 2025 07:19:01 PM CST

Some years Chrysler used the slogan "There's no substitute for quality" prompting a pair of automotive pundits (and very good mechanics) to respond "They should know, they've tried everything else." It sometimes seems that everything other than competence is employed everywhere throughout business and government.

We expect it in government - competence is the last thing one expects. I should not be surprised - if they could manage it - that the DOGE could eliminate well over half the federal 'workforce' without degrading performance and as likely as not it would improve. Business is not much different - even before DEI incompetence pervaded all but privately owned businesses. Affirmative action, precursor to DEI, was the biggest cause.

I worked for a multibillion dollar private company still owned by the original mom and pop that started it. Some say that incompetence is the worst form of corruption and incompetence isn't weeded out mainly because the bigger the organization the easier it is for incompetent people to remain employed and even advance. Later I worked for a smaller mom-and-pop company and watched as it grew to the point that there were so many levels of delegation that incompetents wormed their way in and through. Probably the only large organizations that can keep incompetence to a manageable level are military forces.

Silexis@MyndCryme
I suspect that even the armed forces are not able to control at present but I also suspect that the Trump administration will be dealing with that. It seems there hasn't been much resistance to firing generals and removing mentally ill personnel and I had expected that latter to be more difficult that it has been thus far. Alex believes he should go further:
The SecDef should fire every four-star and for my money all the three-stars. Any O-7s and 0-8s that remain should be thoroughly vetted before being given their new assignments but they should have gotten the message by that time. Colonels who see which way the wind is blowing will plan their careers accordingly.

Alex@MyndCryme



So much happens in a week when events move at the speed of Trump it's hard to keep up. The last couple of kerfluffles have been the Zelenskyy - what do you call those? Zelenskyy is apparently not very bright so most seem to think that he was programmed as usual and the programmers miscalculated, or just don't yet get it. Ukraine was over in November, or January at the latest - it was just a matter of making it official. President Trump seemed to be - as usual - trying pleasant and accommodating but Zelenskyy wasn't having it. At any rate it seems likely that there could be a cease-fire in a month or so. That's a long time when people are dying but the alternative - another Democrat president here and another four years of people dying - was much worse. Lately it seems that there may be an attempt to remove Zelenskyy but whether the Ukrainian people are inclined to rebel - or capable of doing so - remains to be seen.

The President's address to Congress was impressive both in delivery and the public response. The Democrat behavior was as expected and the party seems to be like a neutron star collapsing on itself. Let's hope it continues - the two most likely to run for president in 2028 - Cuomo and Newsom - are clowns. Cuomo probably will be elected governor of New York and launch his campaign from there but being the governor of New York - with his other baggage - is hardly an asset. Newsom is trying to be Bill Clinton but he does it badly and will be over sixty in 2028. Clinton was only 46 and didn't have the train wreck that California is on his resume. If the Republicans manage to hold Congress and ideally increase their majorities it will be difficult to make things bad enough to reject likely candidate J. D. Vance.















































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It's easy to run to others. It's so hard to stand on one's own record. You can fake virtue for an audience. You can't fake it in your own eyes. Your ego is your strictest judge. They run from it. They spend their lives running. It's easier to donate a few thousand to charity and think oneself noble than to base self-respect on personal standards of personal achievement. It's simple to seek substitutes for competence--such easy substitutes: love, charm, kindness, charity. But there is no substitute for competence. -- Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
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A free man must not be told how to think, either by the government or by social activists. He may certainly be shown the right way, but he must not accept being forced into it. -- Jeff Cooper
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