Author: Scottie

I am an older gay guy in a long-term wonderful relationship. My spouse and I are in our 36th year together. I love politics and news. I enjoy civil discussions and have no taboo subjects. My pronouns are he / him / his and my email is Scottiestoybox@gmail.com

McDonald’s is the latest company to roll back diversity goals

https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-diversity-dei-goals-845d94cd46511341a43e98e057b0fa8e

Please notice the part of the story that talks about Robby Starbuck, if you don’t know of him clicking on his blue highlighted name leads to another story of how he coerced John Deere.  McDonald’s claims they are doing this because of the SCOTUS actions on school admissions, but sorry they are not colleges or universities.   They are a private business and have the right to set their own no discrimination goals and policies.   By blaming the court ruling they are trying to divert attention from the real reason.   

Back to Robby Starbuck, This sub human pond scum is winning because he uses threats of hurting the profit of these companies.   Now maybe the shareholders are predetermined to be racist bigots.  But if we want this coercion to stop, we must be as loud, willing to band together, and use our money even when it hurts.  So far only one company has stood against him and Stephen Miller’s white power legal company.   We must rise up as we once did, make the haters ashamed again like we did over 1970s to 1990s.  We can retire meekly to our self-imposed prisons of our homes and acting straight or cis, but that will only encourage them.  This is how it went down in Russia and the Russian controlled influenced nations.    The maga cultist and fundamentalist Christian bigots are following the Putin playbook in lockstep.  We have to show them the playbook won’t work here.   And trust me it is easier to do now than in a future where they have removed all sign of the LGBTQ+ people from society.   Hugs

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A McDonald’s restaurant stands in Albany, Ore., April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

By  DEE-ANN DURBIN
Updated 6:55 PM EST, January 6, 2025
 

Four years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonald’s is ending some of its diversity practices, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions.

McDonald’s is the latest big company to shift its tactics in the wake of the 2023 ruling and a conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Walmart, John Deere, Harley-Davidson and others rolled back their DEI initiatives last year.

McDonald’s said Monday it will retire specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels. It also intends to end a program that encourages its suppliers to develop diversity training and to increase the number of minority group members represented within their own leadership ranks.

McDonald’s said it will also pause “external surveys.” The burger giant didn’t elaborate, but several other companies, including Lowe’s and Ford Motor Co., suspended their participation in an annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees.

McDonald’s, which has its headquarters in Chicago, rolled out a series of diversity initiatives in 2021 after a spate of sexual harassment lawsuits filed by employees and a lawsuit alleging discrimination brought by a group of Black former McDonald’s franchise owners

“As a world-leading brand that considers inclusion one of our core values, we will accept nothing less than real, measurable progress in our efforts to lead with empathy, treat people with dignity and respect, and seek out diverse points of view to drive better decision-making,” McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski wrote in a LinkedIn post at the time.

But McDonald’s said Monday that the “shifting legal landscape” after the Supreme Court decision and the actions of other corporations caused it to take a hard look at its own policies.

A shifting political landscape may also have played a role. President-elect Donald Trump is a vocal opponent of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump tapped Stephen Miller, a former adviser who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies,as his incoming deputy chief of policy.

Vice President-elect JD Vance introduced a bill in the Senate last summer to end such programs in the federal government.

Robby Starbuck, a conservative political commentator who has threatened consumer boycotts of prominent consumer brands that don’t retreat from their diversity programs, said Monday on X that he recently told McDonald’s he would be doing a story on its “woke policies.”

McDonald’s said it had been considering updates to its policies for several months and planned to time the announcement to the start of this year.

In an open letter to employees and franchisees, McDonald’s senior leadership team said it remains committed to inclusion and believes a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage. The company said 30% of its U.S. leaders are members of underrepresented groups, up from 29% in 2021. McDonald’s previously committed to reaching 35% by the end of this year.

McDonald’s said it has achieved one of the goals it announced in 2021: gender pay equity at all levels of the company. It also said it met three years early a goal of having 25% of total supplier spending go to diverse-owned businesses.

McDonald’s said it would continue to support efforts that ensure a diverse base of employees, suppliers and franchisees, but its diversity team will now be referred to as the Global Inclusion Team. The company said it would also continue to report its demographic information.

 

The McDonald’s Hispanic Owner-Operators Association said it had no comment on the policy change Monday. A message seeking comment was left with the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association.

 
DEE-ANN DURBIN
Durbin is an Associated Press business writer focusing on the food and beverage industry. She has also covered the auto industry and state and national politics in her nearly 30-year career with the AP.

Conservative Boycott of Small LGBTQ Business Backfires BADLY

A small conservative group in Lancaster, Ohio targeted local businesses and institutions that were LGBTQ+ friendly in response to an annual family-friendly pride event that held an outdoor drag show. When the group failed to get the city to penalize drag performers—and ban drag altogether—they then circulated a boycott list. Local business owners, however, were not harmed by the boycott. In fact, they saw a major influx in traffic after people drove from out of town to support the businesses after seeing them on the anti-LGBTQ+ boycott list.

J.K. Rowling Transvestigates ANOTHER African Cis Woman

Another cis woman from Africa has become the target of a transvestigation from Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling. This time it’s Barbra Banda, a Zambian soccer star who was voted BBC’s footballer of the year. J.K. Rowling insinuated that Banda was a trans woman and that her award was offensive to all women. This comes after she spearheaded a global cyberbullying campaign against Imane Khelif, an Algerian gold medalist who competed in the Paris Olympics. 

Happy New Year?? | Christopher Titus Armageddon Update

Only 2 days into 2025 & already multiple terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Backers Of Impeached South Korean President Wave “Stop The Steal” Signs And Beg Trump For His Support

Backers Of Impeached South Korean President Wave “Stop The Steal” Signs And Beg Trump For His Support

Seems the tRump / right wing cult playbook for domination and elimination of democracy is going worldwide.  This is of course pushed by the mega wealthy in their quest to return the world to where they were mini kings and the people were just desperate peasants taking any job at any risk.  Remember that Musk wanted people to work 80 hours a week with no pay.  He would find it shocking if someone wanted him to work for free with no income.  But he thinks it is fine to demand others do it.  Look at how Bezos of Amazon wrote about workers.  He wrote that upper management should push the workers as hard as possible until they were worn and broken, then fire the worker and hire new ones.   He called workers lazy and useless unless driven ever harder with no mercy.   Also according to the comments South Korea has a large fundamentalist Christian population who also want to force their religion into government the same way US Christian Nationalist do.    Hugs

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January 4, 2025 Politics, Trump cultists

 

Reuters reports:

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol are adopting “Stop the Steal” slogans popularized by President-elect Donald Trump supporters and said they hoped the incoming president would help their embattled leader.

As Yoon supporters gathered outside his residence in the pre-dawn hours of Friday in an effort to prevent his arrest, some carried signs in English saying “Stop the Steal,’ a slogan Trump supporters used to question the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which he lost.

Yoon avoided arrest on Friday after presidential guards and troops blocked efforts to carry out a warrant in a criminal insurrection investigation into his short-lived martial law on Dec. 3.

The Guardian reports:

While pro-Yoon groups criticize their opponents as being subservient to North Korea, they openly venerate the United States. Over recent years, these groups, which remain a fringe element of South Korean society, have increasingly adopted rhetoric from the American right, particularly around claims of election fraud.

The allegations have been amplified through a network of far-right YouTube channels, where conservative commentators livestream the rallies and promote a wide range of conspiracy theories.

These online echo chambers, which Yoon himself has been accused of relying on for information, have become key platforms for spreading unfounded claims and maintaining supporter morale.

The Trump disease is truly global. Watch the video report below in which supporters attempt a feeble rendition of the US national anthem.

Mike Johnson Recited Fake Christian Nationalist Prayer

Mike Johnson Recited Fake Christian Nationalist Prayer

What a Christian Lie?  A stanch hardcore Christian who pushes his religion on everyone else wouldn’t ever make stuff up … would they?   Hugs.  

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January 4, 2025 Christianists, Republicans

 

The Baptist-led site Word & Way reports:

Mike Johnson of Louisiana was reelected today (Jan. 3) to lead the U.S. House of Representatives. During his acceptance remarks a bit later, he read what he called a prayer from Thomas Jefferson. But Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation call it a “spurious quotation,” adding it’s unlikely Jefferson actually wrote or delivered it. Johnson has a history of using fake quotes to advance his belief that the U.S. should be a “Christian nation.”

“I offered one that is quite familiar to historians and probably many of us,” he said about the prayer, which he noted the program described as one Jefferson recited every day during his presidency and each day afterward until he died.

“I wanted to share it with you here at the end of my remarks not as a prayer per se right now but as really a reminder of what our third president and the primary author of the Declaration of Independence thought was so important that it should be a daily recitation,” Johnson added.

From the official historical Monticello site:

We have no evidence that this prayer was written or delivered by Thomas Jefferson. It appears in the 1928 United States Book of Common Prayer, and was first suggested for inclusion in a report published in 1919.

Interestingly, although we can find no evidence that this prayer has a presidential source, it was used by a subsequent president in a public speech. Several months after his 1930 Thanksgiving Day Address as Governor of New York, it was pointed out that Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech bore a striking resemblance to the very same prayer discussed above.

Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Jefferson would have composed or delivered a public prayer of this sort. He considered religion a private matter, and when asked to recommend a national day of fasting and prayer, replied, “I consider the government of the US. as interdicted by the constitution from intermedling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises.”

As usual, fake historian David Barton is behind this.

Right Wing Watch has relentlessly exposed Barton’s countless lies about about the Founding Fathers, perhaps most notably his claim that the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence are taken virtually verbatim from scripture.

https://twitter.com/creekthing21/status/1875319951734796573
thatotherjean 2 days ago

Sheeeeesh. Thomas Jefferson, whose “Jefferson Bible” removed all the supernatural happenings and “miracles,” from the text, made it clear that he did not believe in the divinity of Christ. He titled his work “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” and made a copy for himself, although he never published it. Mike Johnson, David Barton, and other Christians who try to impose Christian piety on Thomas Jefferson are very much mistaken, or simply lying. Jefferson was a Deist, not a Christian.

 

 

Joe Rogan GOES OFF After Falling For INSANE Hoax | Hasanabi reacts

This is for those who think Joe Rogan is the top of the right wing media thinkers.  Like Tim Pool, he doesn’t think about what he is to say or post.  Rogan decided that he needed to post about kids in schools demanding cat litter boxes in schools without ever looking into it claiming it was because of furry kids.  During the transphobia panic.   Not bothering to ask any school about it.  Yes some schools did have buckets of cat litter in the classrooms, not for kids who were furries but for kids who were in a mass shooting situation that had to pee.  I am tired of these sad right wing media lying assholes.     Hugs

Trigger Warnings. My feelings about Christmas what happened to me as a child.

Hello everyone.  This is a hard post but one I feel I must make for my own continued healing and to explain why this season hits me so hard.  Before I get to the abuse let me tell everyone that yesterday taking things out of the car I was standing sideways with my knee pressed hard against the seat of the car as I reached across needing just an inch or two to grab the package … and as I strained to grab the parcel my knee snapped, I heard a grinding sound and fell to the ground.  I fell to the ground seeing stars.  

Ron rushed to me as soon as he saw me on the ground, we got me into my room and realized that my knee cap had been pushed into the cartilage beneath the cap.  What ever happened to my knee caused me agony and lost me the ability to stand or use my leg.  The pain made moving my leg in any way mind-blowing excoriating pain.  Remember I take two kinds of morphine and other pain relievers.  Ron got my walker from the bedroom but even using that was not able to help me move around.  I went to bed.   During the night I was OK if I did not move.  The longer I stayed still the more the knee healed and the few times I had to get up to pee, well I had the walker and now understood how to hold my leg.  The more it healed, the better it got.  So this morning I was able to get up, and using the walker make my way to the kitchen and make my coffee.   Then on to the Pink Palace to start my day.  

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Now to the reason for my post.  I seriously warn for abuse trigger warnings.   Please.  The reason for this post, I am going to post something I wrote to a fellow survivor about why I get so withdrawn during this time.  I appreciate his care and concern, plus I want you to know that it was Randy my grand real brother who talked to me this morning and made it possible for me to deal with posting this time in my life.  I won’t include what he replied when I showed him the stuff I wanted to post but I assure you he was a comfort unparalleled in giving me the strength to do this.  When I look to the past, what happened in late 2013 and in 2014 forward I wonder if I would be here if not for the unflagging love and care of my grand brother Randy.

Below is what I wrote to a fellow survivor who was worried about me.  

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Christmas always brings depression and a desire to hide or withdraw from life for me.  Short story … it provided more time for abusers to use me and more of them around.  During the weeks leading up to Christmas day as presents were placed under the tree which I knew better than go near the hell spawn would mess with their presents to figure out what they were, then when it was discovered I was of coursed blamed and punished for it in front of everyone.   
 
But the worst was Christmas day, and despite what I knew had happened in the past and would happen that day I would get excited thinking of the gifts.  After the nighttime / early morning rapes / giving oral to both males and females, I would be told where to sit.  One of the hell spawns would pass the gifts out, one at a time.  When it was my turn I would carefully unwrap the present even though I was being told to speed up, then give the required thanks to the person it was from, then place it on the floor next to me.  
 
After all the gifts had been unwrapped while the adults gathered their gifts to stash in their room, the hell spawn gathered around me where I still sat.  They took what they wanted of what I was “given”, most of which would have been bought knowing they would be the ones to get it.  I was left with the clothing, socks, shirts, a pair of pants or two.   One Christmas I got a coloring book that they let me keep but they took the crayons.   I would take my gifts to my hallway mat until I was nearly 8 and got a bed of my own in the male hell spawns room as we moved and there was no longer a hallway for me to be made sleep in.  I knew better than to complain or make a fuss, it was just the way things were, my place there, my life.  To cry or complain would get me a public punishment and then a private worse punishment for ruining their Christmas.  The private one would be very humiliatingly to insure it stuck with me.  I learned not to complain, just shut down.  
 
Anyway you asked if I have gotten any help.  No.  Two of my doctors want me to get a therapist, along with a neurologist, and several other specialists for different symptoms I have.   I do not have the income for all the doctors, tests, and scans these doctors claim I need.  Maybe this year.   I get through Christmastime by withdrawing and shutting down, kept sane only by my husband and my best friend, and the little internet communications I feel well enough to doing.  Mostly during this time I watch videos, movies, not really seeing the screen, not even remembering what I watched, just existing for one more minute, one more hour, one more day.   
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Grand for me this year I got a true real Christmas gift.  One with no costs of my body for exchange as in my childhood if I wanted something.  When at my youngest even food came with me providing sexual favors.  

Yes this year I got a Christmas gift with no strings attached.  Yes Ron gives me those but this one was special.  My brother Randy gave me money to spend on me, not on the house, not on others, but just on me.   I have been working for years with a broken keyboard which the backlighting has given out, and my mouse now takes many clicks to make work.  Even Ron was frustrated by it during the times we sat together paying bills and wanted me to replace them.  

So remembering the spirit this gift was given, I used it to buy the following things.  It will make my life so much better.   I got them in white.  Thank you my grand brother.   Hugs

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/mx-master-3s.910-006558.html

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/mx-keys-s.920-011559.html

Ben Shapiro Gets HUMILIATED By His Own Idol In Live Interview | Hasanabi reacts

I like that in this video Ben Shapiro tries his uninformed anti-trans ideas on Neil deGrasse Tyson.  He learns the hard way between bullying a student and talking on a profession who understands and knows science.  Not only does Tyson turn Shapiro’s anti-trans people in sports completely around on him, he asks Shapiro why the issue even matters to him.  Trans people are no threat and are not in large numbers so why is Ben beating that fear drum.  It is wonderful.   Hugs