Connect with us

Published

on

Walmart is making a slate of changes to its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, becoming the latest in a growing list of major corporations to halt the so-called “woke” initiatives.

Anti-woke activist and filmmaker Robby Starbuck, who has been leading a campaign exposing major corporations’ woke policies, said on X on Monday that he warned Walmart executives last week that he would be doing a story on “wokeness” at the retail giant.

“Instead,” Starbuck shared, “we had productive conversations to find solutions.”

Starbuck outlined the changes Walmart agreed to make, including working to remove sexual and transgender products inappropriately marketed toward children, and reviewing grants to Pride events to avoid funding sexualized content targeting kids. 

Walmart clarified that these changes have been in the works for a few years and were not a result of the conversation with Starbuck.

Walmart confirmed to FOX Business that it plans to change how it monitors products within its marketplace and reviews the funding of grants. 

The company said some products that violated its policies have been removed, such as chest binders products designed to flatten the chest when marketed to children.

The company also confirmed it will review all grants, especially for community events, to ensure they promote an appropriate environment for children. However, Walmart will continue to support Pride celebrations.

The company has also decided not to extend the Racial Equity Center it launched in 2020 as a five-year initiative, and will ditch the terms “LatinX” and even “DEI” altogether in official communications. It will instead focus on the term “belonging” for all associates and customers.

Walmart also joined an array of companies in recent months  including Ford and John Deere to end participation in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which is an annual survey and report used to gauge “policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) employees.” 

Walmart confirmed it was notified about the Starbuck video last week. Walmart does not generally comment on politics.

In a statement to FOX Business, Walmart said it is “willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America.”

“Weve been on a journey and know we arent perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone,” the company said.

Starbuck is taking a victory lap over Walmart’s announced changes, telling FOX Business, “Walmart is the single largest employer in the United States. Removing wokeness from Walmart has both downstream effects on suppliers and sets the tone for corporate America.”

“Changing normal operating policy at a nearly $1 trillion company is a gargantuan feat that many have tried to achieve but no one until now has actually been able to get done,” he continued. “It speaks to the strength and scale of our movement to eliminate wokeness from society and how effective I’ve been as a megaphone for the concerns of your average consumer.”

Starbuck added, “I won’t stop until wokeness is a relic of the past.”

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Strictly Come Dancing star arrested on suspicion of rape

Published

on

By

Strictly Come Dancing star arrested on suspicion of rape

A Strictly Come Dancing star has been arrested on suspicion of rape.

The unnamed man, who is in his 30s, was also detained over a separate allegation of “non-consensual intimate image abuse”.

The Met Police said an arrest was made in east London on Friday in a joint investigation with Hertfordshire Constabulary, following a “third-party allegation of sexual and drug-related offences”.

It is understood the arrest is not related to the upcoming production of Strictly Come Dancing – the 23rd series, which is in the rehearsal stage and is due to launch in September.

“On Friday 22 August, officers arrested a man in his 30s in east London on suspicion of rape and non-consensual intimate image abuse,” a spokesperson for the Met said in a statement.

The investigation is in its early stages and inquiries are ongoing, the spokesperson added.

The man was released on bail on Saturday until a date in November, the force said, according to BBC News.

Hertfordshire Constabulary did not add anything further.

A spokesperson for the BBC said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation.”

Earlier this month, it was reported the broadcaster had called in lawyers to investigate following claims two of its stars had used cocaine.

Continue Reading

UK

Nigel Farage’s deportation plan relies on these conditions – legal expert explains if it could work

Published

on

By

Nigel Farage's deportation plan relies on these conditions - legal expert explains if it could work

Explaining how they plan to tackle what they described as illegal migration, Nigel Farage and his Reform UK colleague Zia Yusuf were happy to disclose some of the finer details – how much money migrants would be offered to leave and what punishments they would receive if they returned.

But the bigger picture was less clear.

How would Reform win a Commons majority, at least another 320 seats, in four years’ time – or sooner if, as Mr Farage implied, Labour was forced to call an early election?

How would his party win an election at all if, as its leader suggested, other parties began to adopt his policies?

Politics latest: Starmer ‘angry’ about Farage’s language on migrant hotels

Highly detailed legislation would be needed – what Mr Farage calls his Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill.

But Reform would not have a majority in the House of Lords and, given the responsibilities of the upper house to scrutinise legislation in detail, it could take a year or more from the date of an election for his bill to become law.

Reform’s four-page policy document says the legislation would have to disapply:

The United Nations refugee convention of 1951, extended in 1967, which says people who have a well-founded fear of persecution must not be sent back to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom

The United Nations convention against torture, whose signatories agree not expel, return or extradite anyone to a country where there are substantial grounds to believe the returned person would be in danger of being tortured

The Council of Europe anti-trafficking convention, which requires states to provide assistance for victims

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Farage sets out migration plan

According to the policy document, derogation from these treaties is “justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state necessity”.

That’s odd, because there’s no mention of necessity in the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties – and because member states can already “denounce” (leave) the three treaties by giving notice.

👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈

It would take up to a year – but so would the legislation. Only six months’ notice would be needed to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, another of Reform’s objectives.

Read more:
Women and children will be detained under Farage plans
Far right ’emboldened’ says MP as Starmer faces mounting pressure over immigration

Mr Farage acknowledged that other European states were having to cope with an influx of migrants. Why weren’t those countries trying to give up their international obligations?

His answer was to blame UK judges for applying the law. Once his legislation had been passed, Mr Farage promised, there would be nothing the courts could do to stop people being deported to countries that would take them. His British Bill of Rights would make that clear.

Courts will certainly give effect to the will of parliament as expressed in legislation. But the meaning of that legislation is for the judiciary to decide. Did parliament really intend to send migrants back to countries where they are likely to face torture or death, the judges may be asking themselves in the years to come.

They will answer questions such as that by examining the common law that Mr Farage so much admires – the wisdom expressed in past decisions that have not been superseded by legislation. He cannot be confident that the courts will see the problem in quite the same way that he does.

Continue Reading

UK

Six injured after Leicestershire dog attacks

Published

on

By

Six injured after Leicestershire dog attacks

Six people are believed to have been injured after dog attacks in Leicestershire, police have said.

Officers received two calls regarding dog attacks in the area of Beveridge Lane, Bardon Hill, on Thursday morning – one at 6.30am and the other at 7.44am.

Leicestershire Police said that in the first call to police, a person reported seeing a man being attacked by two dogs.

Upon arrival, no dogs were located, but a victim was identified.

Later, in the second call to the force, three people were reported to have been bitten in the same location.

Two dogs – confirmed to be Caucasian shepherds – were then discovered after firearms officers, a police dog and its handler were deployed.

The force added that both dogs were safely removed and are now being held in secure kennels.

In an update on Tuesday, officers said that two further people had come forward to report they were bitten by a dog in the same location at the time, bringing the total to six.

Read more from Sky News:
‘Headphone dodgers’ targeted by new TfL campaign
Epping migrant hotel resident appears in court

Women and children will be detained under Farage deportation plans

Two people, a girl aged 17 and a man aged 47, were arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog in a public place.

The man was also arrested for a further two offences under the Animal Welfare Act. Both have been released under investigation.

Leicestershire Police also said it made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct because of a prior report made about the dogs.

Continue Reading

Trending