Sen. Shaheen: U.S. troops should stay in Syria to prevent the resurgence of ISISIvana Bacik had separate meetings with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris on Tuesday afternoon. Fianna Fail, which won 48 seats in last month’s general election, and Fine Gael, which secured 38 seats, headed up the last coalition in Dublin and are expected to continue that partnership into the next mandate. However, with a combined 86 seats, they are just short of the 88 required for a majority in the Dail parliament. If they wish to return to government together, they would need one smaller party as a junior partner, or a handful of independents. Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have ruled out doing business with Sinn Fein, which won 39 seats. The centre-left Social Democrats and Irish Labour Party, both of which won 11 seats in the election, are seen as the only two realistic options if Fianna Fail and Fine Gael seek to convince a smaller party to join the coalition. In a statement, the Labour Party said Ms Bacik outlined key policy priorities in her meetings with Taoiseach Mr Harris and Tanaiste Mr Martin. “There was discussion in both meetings on policies and manifesto commitments on housing, health, climate, workers’ rights and disability services among other issues,” said the statement. “The parliamentary party will meet at 1pm on Friday where the party leader will provide an assessment of engagement to date and consider the outcome of these meetings.” A spokesman for Mr Harris said there had been a “constructive engagement” with Ms Bacik. “The Taoiseach is grateful for the time and engagement on a range of substantial policy issues,” he said. The spokesman said Mr Harris had also met independent TDs who are aligned together in what is called the regional group. “These meetings have been productive,” he added. Mr Harris and party colleagues are due to meet the Social Democrats on Wednesday. Fianna Fail deputy leader Jack Chambers and Fine Gael deputy leader Helen McEntee met on Tuesday evening for discussions on government formation, with the parties’ full negotiating teams set to meet on Wednesday. Fine Gael said the meeting between Ms McEntee and Mr Chambers was “positive” and focused on the “structure and format” of the substantive negotiations going forward. When the two parties entered coalition for the first time after the last general election in 2020, there was only a three-seat difference in their relative strength. That resulted in an equal partnership at the head of the coalition, with the Green Party as the junior partner. The two main parties swapped the role of taoiseach halfway through the term. With Fianna Fail’s lead over Fine Gael having grown to 10 seats following this election, focus has turned to the future of the rotating taoiseach arrangement and whether it will operate again in the next mandate and, if so, on what basis. There are similar questions around the distribution of ministries and other roles. While Mr Martin has so far refused to be drawn on the specifics, he has suggested that he expects Fianna Fail’s greater strength of numbers to be reflected in the new administration. However, Mr Harris has insisted that Fine Gael’s mandate cannot be taken for granted when it comes to government formation. Richard Boyd Barrett from People Before Profit-Solidarity, which won three seats, urged Labour not to “prop up” up a Fianna Fail/Fine Gael administration. “We think that’s a huge mistake,” he told reporters in Dublin. “They shouldn’t do it. They should learn the lessons of the past and actually work with other parties of the left to form a decent left opposition to Fianna Fail and Fine Gael and campaign on the issues that matter.” His party colleague Paul Murphy pointed to the experience of the Green Party, which lost all but one of its 12 seats in the election. “In reality, what is going to happen is a changing of the mudguard for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael,” he said. “And for those who are now auditioning to be a new mudguard for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, there is a very, very sharp and stark lesson in what happened to the Green Party – obviously almost entirely wiped out. “We think it is a very major mistake for anyone who has the perception of being left, with the votes of people who are looking left, to seek to go into coalition with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.”
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Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I know every family has at least one legendary Thanksgiving Drama Debacle. So, I decided to ask members of the BuzzFeed Community what happened at their family's Infamous Thanksgiving Incident. Here are their best answers: 1. "My aunt and uncle who don't believe COVID exists tried to have everyone over for Thanksgiving in 2020 after their trip to Boca Raton. No one wanted to go because they are pretty rude in general and it was 2020 and they'd just been to Boca Raton." "Long story short, they started a fight with my parents (and my other uncle) about politics and it turns out they have a whoooooole HOST of crazy opinions! We did not go to Thanksgiving at their house that year (or any of the last four years), but Grandma did. And guess what? She caught COVID, because they had just caught it in Boca Raton." —Anonymous 2. "The FBI came to my door as we were having sushi. ([Yes, sushi] on Thanksgiving, I have no idea why.)" — sbuzzfeed7 3. "The stomach bug started to hit the children first, and two of them vomited on the Thanksgiving dinner table minutes apart. Half of the family was puking by the next morning." — lizney 4. "So my aunt and uncle are swingers, and apparently, I was the only one who didn’t know." "So it’s the day before Thanksgiving and I’m sitting next to my grandma and my cousin's at-the-time girlfriend... We always had a huge feast the night before, with snow crab legs and blue crabs from the East Coast. I remember sitting there helping the new girlfriend out with the crab (she was very inexperienced compared to everyone else). My uncle was at the head of the table far away from me. We were all talking and playing 'games,' some stupid word game that my cousins had made up. Somehow it became a question about favorites, like 'What’s your favorite book?' So here I am, youngest at the table, across from my dad and stepmom, and right next to my grandma. My uncle looks dead at me and says to everyone, 'What’s your favorite sexual position?" Mind you the other adults there are his kids, his mom, his wife, my dad and stepmom, his son’s very serious girlfriend, and myself. Deadass eye contact with me and no one knew what to say. I don’t remember how I got saved from answering that one." — edgywalrus305 5. "The week before Thanksgiving, my mother overdosed on pills and alcohol. They almost didn't save her in time. She was released a few days before turkey day." "My sister and her new husband were visiting from Atlanta, I was on a break from California, and my baby brother was home from college. We were so stressed; at that time, Mom's drug addiction and mental illness were coming through hardcore. Sis stuck close to her husband, but bro and I decided that we should remove all the alcohol from the house and the opiates from her purse. HOO boy – when she found out what we did, she screamed, 'That's MY property and you have NO RIGHT!' Dad is her evil-minded enabler, so he was of no help. Suddenly, quiet sister pipes up and yells, 'F— YOU, MOM." We were so proud of her—even thankful—and that, my friends, became known as 'F-Bomb Thanksgiving 2004.'" — clumsybunny8556 6. "My family decided to be fancy and use Sterno-powered chafing dishes to keep everything warm...in another room, unattended. We almost burned the house down and had no leftovers that year." — lobster_lemon_lime 7. "My mother’s birthday is on or around Thanksgiving, and every year I purchase or make a cake to honor her memory. A few years ago, my sister hosted dinner at her house, and the night before, we set up tableware and desserts plus other things buffet style." "I crashed on the couch and during the night, I heard her dogs moving around and playing with something. I went back to sleep and later ran a few errands only to come back and find out the dogs had helped themselves to a thing or two on the table (bread, crackers, etc). After dinner, I asked my sister to bring out the cake and she said we'd eaten it the night before. Our other sister agreed with her and insisted we ate it. Turns out the dogs had eaten the cake and they did a terrible job lying about it." —Anonymous 8. "I almost killed my entire family, quite literally." "We'd had a heavy snow, and trees were falling, taking out power lines. We had no power, and the home heater was electric as well. I fired up the portable generator in our basement and carefully ran the end of the exhaust pipe outside. We enjoyed a nice dinner in a house with lights and heat. After dinner, the kids complained of having headaches. I found their complaints to be mildly irritating but went about the business of cleaning up after dinner. While doing so, for no reason whatsoever, I simply fell down... I hit the floor." "Somehow, I still had enough sense to realize that something had gone wrong with the generator, and we were getting poisoned with carbon monoxide." "Everyone in the house—all eight of us—were groggy by this time, but I summoned my brother to assist me. It was a struggle to walk, but we made our way to the basement and shut off the generator. It turned out to be that the exhaust hose had fallen off of the generator, and the machine had filled the house with the deadly gas. We opened the doors and windows for the next several hours and cleared the house in spite of the 25-degree temperature. Phones were down, so we could not even summon emergency help. For the next several weeks, most of those present had headaches, body aches, and great difficulty thinking and performing even simple tasks. What I have read since then about carbon monoxide poisoning is that we had experienced a very severe case of it, and had only very narrowly escaped death. That was the Thanksgiving that I ALMOST killed my entire family." —Anonymous 9. "I came out as a lesbian and my homophobic little sister smacked me in the face. :)" "She was like 13 and she has grown since then. Now she's my biggest supporter. I don't ever bring it up but I still laugh to myself about it whenever we go over to my grandparents' for holiday dinners." —Anonymous 10. "One year my brother wanted to roast a suckling pig to go with my turkey, but he couldn't use my kitchen... I had a whole day of cooking ahead of me, especially in the oven! Everyone was coming from out of town, so ours was the only kitchen." "[On Wednesday evening my dad, husband, and brother constructed an outdoor oven. They started the cooking process early Thursday morning and were in and out checking the pig every 10 to15 minutes. Please note: It was VERY WINDY that Thanksgiving. About two hours into the process, several grandkids and the outside chefs ran through the kitchen and out the back door. All I heard was, 'The pig's on fire!' I flew outside to find smoke billowing from their 'outdoor oven...' a 3'x3'x3' cinderblock cube in which a groove was chiseled to allow a spit to rest that held the pig. The inside was lined with foil and a foil-covered piece of plywood served as the lid. So... yes, they had created a KILN. With the wind continuously blowing through the little spit holes, that poor charred, black, raw, baby pig never stood a chance." —Anonymous 11. "My brother decided I was too stressed cooking dinner so he insisted I have a marijuana gummy. Not something I normally do, but something he regularly does. I eat a whole delicious fruit punch gummy bear and go on cooking." "During dinner, I start feeling off. I think, 'it’s clearly kicking in,' and continue eating, thinking let the fun begin! God, was I wrong. I look across the table and my twin uncles start merging together. Starting to panic, I think, 'I’ll go to the bathroom, splash some water on my face, and be fine.' Spoiler: I was not fine. My husband had to carry me to a bedroom to lie down. I start hallucinating some seriously crazy stuff. My husband decides he’ll sober me up with a shower, but has to carry me to the shower because I can’t walk on my own and proceed to violently throw up in the shower. My mom, brother, and husband have to help me clean up and get dressed. The rest of the family is oblivious to what’s going on and thinks dinner simply did not sit well. I keep throwing up while my aunt assures me that dinner was great! My parents finally put everything together and yell at my brother for getting me too high and ruining the evening. If anyone even mentions Thanksgiving my family tells this story and laughs uncontrollably. Apparently, I cannot handle my gummies and haven’t had one since. My daughter has no idea any of this happened and likes to tell me how great gummy bears are and that I’m missing out!" —Anonymous 12. "Unbeknownst to me, my family invited the uncle who molested me. Before he could even sit down my brother went and beat him to shit with a baseball bat." —Anonymous 13. "We learned that my brother was having an affair with a married man. We hadn't known he was gay, but we'd suspected. (Yes, the affair guy was married to another man.)" "My sister tried to announce to the family that she had an unhealthy dependence on alcohol and wanted to be sober by Christmas, but this was upstaged by the gay brother affair. By the end of the night she, my aunt, and I were the last stragglers in the gleaming kitchen splitting a bottle of wine." —Anonymous 14. "My grandma decided we were all on a diet and tried not to use any butter. For anything. That would've just been kind of a fail, except it started a fight between my mom and my uncle about diet culture that they still haven't stopped beefing about. It's been two years." —Anonymous 15. "My sister's abusive piece of shit husband got shot while dealing drugs on Thanksgiving morning." "He was admitted to the hospital at like 5 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and my sister didn't tell us until she came over for dinner without him and we were like, 'Where's Jeff?' Turns out he had been dealing drugs to teenagers! Now we don't have to worry about him because he is in jail. I always hated him. Now I am free ❤️" —Anonymous 16. And finally: "When I was in eighth grade my parents (who I thought were in a very loving relationship!) decided to announce to our very large, very Catholic extended family that they were getting a 🎵Divoooorce!🎶 😃" "My grandma cried. My other grandma (dad's mom) was there too, and she and my crying grandma put on a rare united front to yell at my parents. My two aunts and my uncle were texting each other under the table. My parents honestly had each other's backs in this one instance and were NOT gonna be pressured out of a divorce. Turns out my dad had been lowkey cheating (talking to a woman from CHURCH! but no actual sex), and when we found that out, my aunt (his sister) smacked him with a full glass of wine in her hand and it broke against his face. Screaming ensued and my cousins and I went upstairs to play Mario Kart. I slept at my aunt's that night." —Anonymous So, what do you think? Let me know in the comments down below. Hopefully, our Thanksgivings are not as eventful as some of these.NIA calls for stronger rules of conduct for politicians after MPs' racial remarksLearn from Pilibhit incident, ensure terrorists can’t target Mahakumbh: Yogi
NFL Thanksgiving: Picks for Dolphins-Packers, Bears-Lions, Giants-Cowboys. Will Miami be the big upset?Re: Liberals to offer GST break What a joke! Throw the dog a few table scraps! We are sick and tired of your phoney tricks and latest shell game — corruption, scams and scandals ongoing for the past nine years! Jagmeet, do the honourable thing. Put the people ahead of you pension. You are a flip flopping hypocrite. Quit selling Canadians out. We want an election now. Let the Canadian people decide. Greg Snider, Creston,
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has assembled a team of medical contrarians and health care critics to fulfill an agenda aimed at remaking how the federal government oversees medicines, health programs and nutrition. On Tuesday night, Trump nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health, tapping an opponent of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates to lead the nation's top medical research agency. He is the latest in a string of Trump nominees who were critics of COVID-19 health measures. Bhattacharya and the other nominees are expected to play pivotal roles in implementing Robert F. Kennedy Jr's sprawling “Make America Healthy Again,” agenda , which calls for removing thousands of additives from U.S. foods, rooting out conflicts of interest at agencies and incentivizing healthier foods in school lunches and other nutrition programs. Trump nominated Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services , which oversees NIH and other federal health agencies. The new health priorities bear little resemblance to those of Trump’s first term, which focused on cutting regulations for food, drug and agriculture companies. “You’re hearing a very different tune as we head into this new Trump administration,” said Gabby Headrick, a nutrition researcher at George Washington University’s school of public health. “It’s important that we all proceed with caution and remember some of the public health losses we saw the first time.” Trump's nominees don't have experience running large bureaucratic agencies, but they know how to talk about health on TV . Centers for Medicare and Medicaid pick Dr. Mehmet Oz hosted a talk show for 13 years and is a well-known wellness and lifestyle influencer. The pick for the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, and for surgeon general, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, had been frequent Fox News contributors. Some of them have ties to Florida like many of Trump's other Cabinet nominees: Dave Weldon , the pick for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, represented the state in Congress for 14 years. Here's a look at how the nominees may carry out Kennedy's plans to “reorganize” agencies, which have an overall $1.7 trillion budget, employ 80,000 scientists, researchers, doctors and other officials: The National Institutes of Health, with a $48 billion budget, funds medical research through grants to scientists across the nation and conducts its own research. Bhattacharya, a health economist and physician at Stanford University, was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that lockdowns were causing irreparable harm. The document — which came before the availability of COVID-19 vaccines — promoted “herd immunity,” the idea that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. Protection should focus instead on people at higher risk, the document said. “I think the lockdowns were the single biggest public health mistake,” Bhattacharya said in March 2021 during a panel discussion convened by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Great Barrington Declaration was embraced by some in the first Trump administration, even as it was widely denounced by disease experts. Then- NIH director Dr. Francis Collins called it dangerous and “not mainstream science.” His nomination would need to be approved by the Senate. Kennedy has said he would pause NIH's drug development and infectious disease research and shift its focus to chronic diseases. He also would like to keep NIH funding from researchers with conflicts of interest. In 2017, he said the agency wasn't doing enough research into the role of vaccines in autism — an idea that has long been debunked . The Atlanta-based CDC, with a $9.2 billion core budget, is charged with protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats. Kennedy has long attacked vaccines and criticized the CDC, repeatedly alleging corruption at the agency. He said on a 2023 podcast that there is "no vaccine that is safe and effective,” and urged people to resist the CDC's guidelines about if and when kids should get vaccinated . The World Health Organization estimates that vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past 50 years, and that 100 million of them were infants. Decades ago, Kennedy found common ground with Weldon , who served in the Army and worked as an internal medicine doctor before he represented a central Florida congressional district from 1995 to 2009. Starting in the early 2000s, Weldon had a prominent part in a debate about whether there was a relationship between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism. He was a founding member of the Congressional Autism Caucus and tried to ban thimerosal from all vaccines. Since 2001, all vaccines manufactured for the U.S. market and routinely recommended for children 6 years or younger have contained no thimerosal or only trace amounts, with the exception of inactivated flu vaccine. Meanwhile, study after study found no evidence that thimerosal caused autism. Weldon's congressional voting record suggests he may go along with Republican efforts to downsize the CDC, including to eliminate the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which works on topics like drownings, drug overdoses and shooting deaths. Kennedy has been extremely critical of the FDA, which has 18,000 employees and is responsible for the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs, vaccines and other medical products, as well as overseeing cosmetics, electronic cigarettes and most foods. Makary, Trump’s pick to run the FDA, is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, a trained surgeon and a cancer specialist. He is closely aligned with Kennedy on several topics . Makary has decried the overprescribing of drugs, the use of pesticides on foods and the influence of pharmaceutical and insurance companies over doctors and government regulators. Kennedy has suggested he'll clear out “entire” FDA departments and also recently threatened to fire FDA employees for “aggressive suppression” of a host of unsubstantiated products and therapies, including stem cells, raw milk , psychedelics and discredited COVID-era treatments like hydroxychloroquine. Makary's contrarian views during COVID-19 included questioning the need for COVID-19 vaccine boosters in young kids. The agency provides health care coverage for more than 160 million people through Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, and also sets Medicare payment rates for hospitals, doctors and other providers. With a $1.1 trillion budget and more than 6,000 employees, Oz has a massive agency to run if confirmed — and an agency that Kennedy hasn't talked about much. While Trump tried to scrap the Affordable Care Act in his first term, Kennedy has not taken aim at it yet. The Biden administration on Tuesday revealed a new plan to force Medicare and Medicaid to cover weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound for many Americans who are obese. Kennedy has opposed the idea , saying government-sponsored insurance programs should instead expand coverage of healthier foods and gym memberships. Trump said during his campaign that he would protect Medicare, which provides insurance for older Americans. Oz has endorsed expanding Medicare Advantage — a privately run version of Medicare that is popular but also a source of widespread fraud . Kennedy doesn't appear to have said much publicly about what he'd like to see from the surgeon general. The nation's top doctor has little administrative power but can influence what counts as a public health danger and what to do about it — suggesting things like warning labels for products and issuing advisories. The current surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, declared gun violence as a public health crisis in June. Trump's pick, Nesheiwat, is employed as a New York City medical director with CityMD, a group of urgent care facilities. She also has appeared on Fox News and other TV shows, authored a book on the “transformative power of prayer” in her medical career and endorses a brand of vitamin supplements. Associated Press writers Mike Stobbe, Amanda Seitz, Carla K. Johnson, Matthew Perrone and Erica Hunzinger contributed to this report. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.The Nordstrom family is taking back control of its store in a $6.25 billion dealAutos of Dallas now offers valuable, time-saving research on the pre-owned Mercedes-Benz GLC series – a market-leading, luxurious, small SUV. DALLAS , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Autos of Dallas , a trusted name in pre-owned luxury vehicles, is excited to unveil its latest research on the used Mercedes-Benz GLC for sale near Dallas . This sophisticated SUV series blends performance, style, and technology, making it a favorite among luxury enthusiasts. "We're excited to share our research on used Mercedes-Benz GLC SUVs near Dallas . 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SOURCE Autos of DallasNEW YORK (AP) — Walmart’s sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump’s incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches — the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President — are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI,” Glasgow said. “The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America’s top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart’s announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart’s need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer’s ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart.” Walmart’s announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including , Harley-Davidson, and . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.
Autos of Dallas now offers valuable, time-saving research on the pre-owned Mercedes-Benz GLC series – a market-leading, luxurious, small SUV. DALLAS , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Autos of Dallas , a trusted name in pre-owned luxury vehicles, is excited to unveil its latest research on the used Mercedes-Benz GLC for sale near Dallas . This sophisticated SUV series blends performance, style, and technology, making it a favorite among luxury enthusiasts. "We're excited to share our research on used Mercedes-Benz GLC SUVs near Dallas . We found great deals on this popular luxury SUV, letting buyers get a premium vehicle at a lower price. This research helps our customers buy with confidence." —Autos of Dallas -Explore the Elegance of the Mercedes GLC Series The Mercedes GLC lineup offers unparalleled versatility, appealing to families, professionals, and adventurers alike. Its refined exterior features bold grille designs, sleek LED headlights, and a sculpted silhouette that exudes modern luxury. Inside, the Mercedes GLC 300 raises the bar for comfort with premium materials, advanced infotainment, and an intuitive touchpad controller. The series also includes the sporty Mercedes GLC Coupe , which pairs aerodynamic design with coupe-like aesthetics for an extra touch of sophistication. Additionally, Autos of Dallas highlights the popular Mercedes GLC 300 Coupe for sale in their inventory. It offers drivers a thrilling mix of turbocharged power and dynamic handling, perfect for Dallas roads and highways. -Affordability Meets Luxury with a Used Mercedes-Benz GLC Buying pre-owned offers a smart, cost-effective way to experience the luxury of a Mercedes SUV. Autos of Dallas ensures their inventory of Mercedes GLC for sale meets high standards for quality and reliability. Starting at a fraction of the price of new models, these pre-owned vehicles provide exceptional value. Each model also undergoes rigorous inspections to ensure it delivers top performance. The dealership's extensive selection means you're sure to find the ideal Mercedes GLC near Dallas for your needs. -Shop Luxury with Confidence at Autos of Dallas Whether you're looking for a Mercedes GLC Coupe or the family-friendly GLC 300, Autos of Dallas has options to suit your lifestyle. Visit their current inventory or learn more about the GLC's standout features in a detailed blog entry. To discover why the used Mercedes-Benz GLC for sale near Dallas is a standout choice, visit Autos of Dallas today. Their knowledgeable team is ready to help you find the luxury SUV that fits your needs and budget. - About Autos of Dallas Autos of Dallas is a renowned pre-owned luxury dealership in Dallas, Texas , committed to delivering top-quality vehicles and exceptional customer service. With a passion for excellence and an extensive selection of luxury brands, we strive to provide an unparalleled automotive experience. Trust Autos of Dallas to fulfill your automotive desires. Luxury vehicle owners looking for high-quality pre-owned vehicles are welcome to visit Autos of Dallas . The dealership has a large selection of many kinds of luxury makes and models. Interested parties can contact the dealership by dialing 972-484-9200 for further information. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dallas-mercedes-benz-glc-autos-of-dallas-research-saves-you-time--money-302338590.html SOURCE Autos of Dallas