Trump Fires Black Joint Chiefs Chair Hegseth Accused of Promoting Diversity

THE GUARDIAN: US secretary of defense had questioned whether history-making air force general CQ Brown Jr got job because of race

Donald Trump abruptly fired the air force general CQ Brown Jr as chair of the joint chiefs of staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making Black fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign to purge the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.

The ouster of the second Black general to serve as chair of the joint chiefs comes three months after Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, outlined a plan for ridding the US military of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts during a podcast interview.

“First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs,” Hegseth said during a November interview on the Shawn Ryan Show. “Any general that was involved, general, admiral, or whatever, that was involved in any of that DEI woke shit has got to go.” » | Guardian staff and agencies | Saturday, February 22, 2025

Hegseth Uses His First Town Hall to Attack Diversity

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The defense secretary, speaking to the Pentagon work force, defended his “unconventional approaches” to an audience that included women and people of color.

A screenshot taken from this article in today’s New York Times. | I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength,’” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday. | Oliver Contreras/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave his first public address to the Pentagon work force on Friday, spending much of the session defending his efforts to dismantle diversity and inclusion policies.

Mr. Hegseth opened his remarks by saying “all glory to God,” and said that President Trump had asked him not to maintain “the status quo.”

“We’re going to take unconventional approaches,” he said.

Speaking to a room filled with African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and white Americans, both men and women, he offered a full-throated attack on the military’s decades-long efforts to diversify.

“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength,’” said Mr. Hegseth, who served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2001 to 2021 and is a former Fox News host. He later added that he dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the Pentagon because they “served a purpose of dividing the force as opposed to uniting the force.” » | John Ismay | Reporting from Washington | Friday, February 7, 2025

As Trump Attacks Diversity, a Racist Undercurrent Surfaces

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Trump has promised a “colorblind and merit-based” society, while also equating diversity with incompetence.

As Navy divers searched the Potomac River for bodies from the worst air crash in the United States in 20 years, President Trump zeroed in on what he saw as the cause: hiring programs that promote diversity.

The meaning behind his words was clear, that diversity equals incompetence. And for many historians, civil rights leaders, scholars and citizens, it was an unmistakable message of racism in plain sight at the highest levels of American government.

“His attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion aren’t about a particular program or some acronym — they’re just a sanitized substitute for the racist comments that can no longer be spoken openly,” Margaret Huang, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s president and chief executive, said during a call with civil rights leaders after Mr. Trump’s remarks. “But the message is the same, that women, Black and brown communities are inherently less capable, and if they hold positions of power or authority in government or business, it must be because the standards were lowered.”

In the weeks since he took office, Mr. Trump has made a point of purging the federal government of D.E.I. initiatives in order to usher in what he called a “colorblind and merit-based” society. He even said his executive order eliminating the programs was “the most important federal civil rights measure in decades.” » | Erica L. Green | Erica L. Green is a White House correspondent. She reported from Washington. | Monday, February 3, 2025

Trump Orders Immediate Closure of All US Federal Diversity Offices

THE GUARDIAN: Staff placed on paid administrative leave as president repeals executive orders promoting LGBTQ equality

US federal employees working in diversity offices must be put on paid leave by Wednesday evening as the new administration of Donald Trump has ordered the programmes to close, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has confirmed.

“Send a notification to all employees of DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs,” said a US office of personnel management memo posted on X.

The memo, confirmed by Leavitt, directed all department and agency heads to send workers notice by 5pm on Wednesday.

On Monday, the first day of his second term as president, Trump repealed numerous executive orders promoting LGBTQ+ equality, and issued new ones decreeing only two genders and ending government diversity programmes. » | Agence France-Presse in Washington | Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Trump doesn’t approve of gay love, but he himself loves getting lots and lots of pussy. Check this out. This short video clip gives us the measure of the man. To think that Americans have been so stupid as to re-elect this vulgar, uncouth man into the White House! America’s reputation in the world is about to nose-dive. – © Mark Alexander

Parliament after Next General Election Will Be Most Diverse Ever, Analysis Shows

THE OBSERVER: Record number of female and ethnic minority MPs expected to sit in Commons according to study of candidate selections

The next general election is set to herald the most diverse parliament ever, with record numbers of ethnic minority and female MPs, according to a detailed analysis of candidate selections in winnable seats.

The study, by the thinktank British Future, projects that the number of ethnic minority MPs is most likely to rise from 65 to as many as 83, with much of this rise expected whatever the actual outcome of the election.

If the number of ethnic minority MPs does reach 75 or more, it will have increased fivefold in a decade and a half, having been just 15 out of 650 in the 2005 to 2010 parliament. » | Toby Helm, Political editor | Sunday, January 7, 2024

Inside Story - Is Canada's Diversity in Danger?

'Donald Trump Is Rolling Back the Clock on Diversity in the Cabinet'

'Too Many White Christian Faces in Britain' Says David Cameron

The Prime Minister David Cameron says that there's "too many white faces in Britain" & he wants more "muslims in government & the British Army".

Greater Manchester Police Officer Sacked over 'Offensive and Racist' Comments about Muslims on Facebook

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS: GMP panel hears how colleague was 'disgusted' by rant, on Daily Mail story, which is ruled to have breached force's professional standards

A police officer who posted ‘offensive and racist’ comments about Muslims on Facebook has been dismissed from Greater Manchester Police force.

During only the second hearing of its kind ever to be heard in public, the officer admitted gross misconduct by breaching professional standards for equality and diversity and discreditable conduct.

A panel chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett heard how an officer, who remained anonymous throughout the hearing, had posted Facebook comments which had ‘disgusted’ a colleague.

Officer A made a comment below a Daily Mail article about the number of Muslim and Christian children in Birmingham.

He said: “That’s because we have allowed them to settle into their own communities and they have no desire to mix, they would rather take over areas and breed like rabbits.

"If you look at the way they take over certain areas it’s not unlike what the Germans did in Europe, they get a stronghold and then go for broke. We have already had 2 Muslim-related beheadings in this country in a year.”

The comment has since been deleted. » | Beth Abbit | Friday, June 05, 2015

Poor White Pupils Put Off School by Multicultural Timetable

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A study finds that working-class white children are being turned off school because lessons are too focused on celebrating other cultures while shunning British traditions

White working class children are being “marginalised” at school after being forced to follow a multicultural timetable that shuns British traditions, according to research.

Large numbers of schools follow a curriculum that celebrates a “diverse range of pupils” while sidelining those from poor British families, it was claimed.

Head teachers told how they ran numerous projects such as Black History Month and “cultural days” to raise awareness of countries such as Portugal, Poland and Jamaica.

But it was claimed that white British pupils from deprived homes often “cannot see themselves or their lives reflected in the curriculum”, turning them off school altogether. » | Graeme Paton, Education Editor | Friday, June 27, 2014

My comment:

Multiculturalism should be consigned to the dustbin of history. It is garbage – a failed experiment. Brits should once gain be allowed to celebrate Britishness. It was when Britishness was celebrated that Britain became great. We would never have had an empire with current thinking about political correctness and multiculturalism. Never!

Now I am not suggesting that we should desire an empire again; but what I am saying is this: We are destroying our culture in our determination to make everyone feel welcome, whilst at the same time alienating the indigenous population, from whatever class they come.

Only today, I read that Salafism is now growing in Wales. In Wales! Whoever would have thought, fifty years ago, that Salafism could grow in Wales? All I can say is this: Multiculturalism and diversity should not be celebrated; rather they should be pooh-poohed for the trashy and dangerous concepts they are. – © Mark

This comment appears here too.

One in Seven BBC Presenters and Actors to Be Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority under New Lord Hall Pledge

Lord Hall, the BBC's director-general, wants to extend the £145.50
annual fee in response to the growing popularity of the iPlayer 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: BBC pledge to improve diversity will see one in seven of its presenters and actors being black, Asian or from an ethnic minority

One in every seven BBC presenters and actors is to be black, Asian or minority ethnic within the next three years, it has been announced, as Lord Hall pledges to improve diversity.

Lord Hall, the director-general, has promised 15 per cent of on-air BBC staff will be black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) by 2017, along with one in ten managers.

Speaking at the BBC’s Elstree Studios, he announced a new action group to help advise on the changes, including comedian Lenny Henry, athlete Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, and broadcaster Baroness Floella Benjamin.

Lord Hall said: “The BBC gets much right on diversity, but the simple fact is that we need to do more. I am not content for the BBC to be merely good or above average.

“I want a new talent-led approach that will help set the pace in the media industry. I believe in this and want our record to be beyond reproach. » | Hannah Furness, Arts correspondent | Friday, June 20, 2014

The Most Diverse Street in America

Welcome to Devon Ave in Chicago, where immigrants come for cheap housing, acceptance and the comforts the old country.

Archbishop of Canterbury Condemns 'Unacceptable' Attacks on Muslims

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he does not want to live in a "monocultural" society and condemned "unacceptable" and "inexcusable" attacks on Muslims over recent weeks.

Speaking at Featherstone High School in Southall, west London, the Most Rev Justin Welby described attacks on mosques in the wake of the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby earlier this year as "evil actions".

"The attacks on minority ethnic groups across the country that there have been over the last few weeks are inexecusable [sic], unacceptable and a scandal to a tradition of hospitality in this country of which we should be deeply proud and which has contributed far more to us than it has taken from us," he said.

He added: "I want, as I have already done, to acknowledge the pressure that our Muslim friends and colleagues have faced over the last few weeks.

"There have been terrible attacks, I know that the vast majority of those in this country and especially people of faith would join me in condemning utterly any act of violence against anyone because of their faith.

"We want you to know that we stand with you, we will do so privately and publicly. We will do so persistently and I pray in the grace of God, persuasively.

"We will do all we can to support the security forces, the police, in bringing to justice those who seek to spread hate and cause division in our community."

Welby told his audience that diversity was a "gift not a threat" and he did not want to live in a "monocultural" society. He said he "rejoiced" in the example of inter[-]faith cooperation and community work he had witnessed in Southall.

"Diversity is a gift, not a threat, it is a hope, not a danger," he said. » | News agencies | Monday, July 22, 2013

Australia: Praise for Diversity on Eve of Controversial Visit
THE AGE: Multicultural organisations have sung praise for Victoria's cultural diversity on the eve of a controversial talk by anti-Islamic Dutch MP Geert Wilders.

Multicultural Affairs Minister Nicholas Kotsiras said Mr Wilders's views were wrong and misinformed.

"Mr Wilders is opposed to the religion of Islam, not so much to the people, and he believes Islam has no place in democratic society which I believe is wrong."

Mr Kotsiras said while he supported freedom of speech he did not support the incitement of violence.

"We don't support the incitement of violence, the incitement of hatred and we have legislation in place that covers that. But we are multicultural and we are proud of it, we have embraced it over many years and are a prime example of how it can work."

The Q Society is funding Mr Wilders's Australian speaking tour, which will involve a talk in Sydney and Melbourne. » | Henrietta Cook | Monday, February 18, 2013

Anti-muslim campaigner coming to Australia: Ahead of his visit to Australia, far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders talks to Tony Jones about his opposition to Muslim immigrants in his country. » | Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Broadcast: Wednesday, February 13, 2013


THE TELEGRAPH (AU): I'm no bigot, says anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders ahead of Australian speaking tour: CONTROVERSIAL Dutch MP Geert Wilders has delivered a message to Australia ahead of a series of speaking events across the nation: "I am not the devil." » | Charles Miranda in The Netherlands | News Limited Network | Saturday, February 16, 2013

'Patronising' Sensitivity Quiz for Olympic Volunteers
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: More than 70,000 Olympic volunteers will be given sensitivity training ahead of the London games, including how to give directions to toilets if they cannot tell the difference between a man and woman.

Members of the public will be taught how to properly describe minority ethnic athletes and how to cope when faced with remarks about a Muslim headscarf.

They will even be tested on what to do if faced with a male couple holding hands, and taught how to speak to disabled visitors.

The unusual questions are all part of a “diversity and inclusion” questionnaire given to volunteers, to find out how they would respond to “sensitive” issues. » | Hannah Furness | Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Pat Condell: The Intolerance of Diversity

Cultural Sensitivity, Forced Marriages, Honour Killings, & Murder
TIMES ONLINE: Tulay Goren’s death won’t be the last so long as misplaced cultural sensitivity stops us acting against forced marriages

Twice, in the weeks before she was murdered by her father, Tulay Goren told the police that she feared for her life. And twice she was ignored. Mehmet Goren, who was convicted of murder yesterday, killed his 15-year-old daughter because she had fallen in love with an “unsuitable” older man. To Mehmet, the affair made her a “worthless commodity” who could not be married off for a £5,000 dowry. The authorities did nothing to protect her, even though the police became involved when her father attacked her boyfriend, and even though Mehmet demanded in front of police officers that his daughter take a virginity test. Only a decade after her murder in 1999 has justice been done.

“Honour killings” in Britain? Impossible. To many people the case of Tulay Goren will come as a shock, but not to me. I know from personal experience, and from working with victims, that such “honour” crimes are a huge social problem in this country. The shame is not just that it is happening on such a large scale, but that it is so often covered up for fear of upsetting cultural sensibilities. Serious crimes are being treated as a matter for diversity officers rather than for the police and the courts.

There are measures in place to help potential victims of honour crimes, but they are not being used to anything like the extent that they should be. In 2007 Parliament passed the Forced Marriage Act, which enables magistrates to issue protection orders to stop women and girls being married against their will. If necessary, victims, a third of whom are under 16, can be taken into care. Passports can be confiscated, and parents can be forced to reveal the whereabouts of daughters who have gone missing from school, most likely because they have been taken abroad to be coerced into marriage. According to a recent Home Affairs Select Committee report, 2,500 British girls have gone missing from schools and are believed to be at risk. It is not part of anyone’s culture to be abused >>> Jasvinder Sanghera | Friday, December 18, 2010

TIMES ONLINE: Special protection orders save nine-year-olds from forced marriages >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Friday, January 08, 2010

New Councilman Hopes to Cultivate SLC Diversity
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: From small-town roots, Stan Penfold now pledges to be a progressive force.

All he really wanted to do was garden. Now, Stan Penfold is poised to sow the seeds of progressive policy in Salt Lake City.

It is quite a baptism for the city's newest councilman, a self-described unlikely politician, elected to lead the liberal Avenues and Capitol Hill areas.

But so too was growing up Mormon in Humboldt County, Calif., "the pot capital of the planet," Penfold smiles.

"I remember having to navigate that," he says, eating a fish platter at downtown's Oyster Bar. "I was this strait-laced kid around everybody that drank and smoked pot. The experience taught me it's sort of OK to be who you are."

That mantra has paid dividends throughout his life. It helped him comprehend the strange land of Utah when he moved here to practice landscape horticulture nearly 30 years ago.

And, as an openly gay man (thought to be the capital council's first), it helped him grow comfortable despite being immersed in the state's conservative culture.

"I discovered I kind of liked it here," says Penfold, the decade-long executive director of the Utah AIDS Foundation who travels the world and always expected one day to return to California. "Nobody was more surprised than I was."

Now, after three decades of building a life, career and penchant for a growing community, the erstwhile gardener is ready to dig in to city politics. He replaces Eric Jergensen, a moderate who stepped down after eight years. Rather than being a lightning rod for gay rights -- "the city has done a remarkable job on the social-issue stuff," he says -- Penfold will focus on the grass-roots stuff -- improving quality of life where residents live.

"I want Salt Lake City government to see a city of neighborhoods," he says. "People function well when they are recognized." >>> Derek P. Jensen | Saturday, January 02, 2010

ADVOCATE.COM: Gay Man Joins Salt Lake City Council >>> Advocate.com Editors | Sunday, January 03, 2010

How Much Is This ‘Enriching’ Diversity Actually Costing Us in Policing? At This Rate, We’ll Soon Be Bankrupt!
MAIL Online: A Muslim extremist who works as a baggage handler at Luton Airport had his security pass suspended today after it was revealed he took part in a protest hurling abuse at British troops.

Jalal Ahmed was among the 20-strong group of extremists protesting when the Royal Anglian Regiment returned home from Iraq earlier this week.

During their homecoming parade, he was spotted clutching a banner proclaiming: 'Anglian soldiers: Butchers of Basra'.
After he was revealed to be part of the hate-filled demonstration, his pass allowing him to go airside and work at the airport was revoked.

Ahmed, who is in his twenties and lives in Luton, works on a casual basis for Menzies Aviation, which provides baggage handling at the airport for easyJet and other airlines.

He is believed to have worked there during peak periods over the past two years and would have had access to secure areas of the site. Muslim Protester Who Works as Baggage Handler at Luton Airport Has Security Pass Suspended after Hurling Abuse at Troops >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Golliwog Row: Carol Thatcher 'Sacked Because She Wouldn't Apologise'
Carol Thatcher was sacked by the BBC because she refused to apologise for using the word "golliwog", Jay Hunt, the controller of BBC One, has said.

Ms Hunt defended the corporation's decision to fire Thatcher from her job as a roving reporter for The One Show, insisting her description of a French-Congolese tennis player had been "hugely offensive".

She said Thatcher had received a harsher punishment than Jonathan Ross, who was suspended after leaving lewd messages on the answering machine of the actor Andrew Sachs, because unlike him she had declined to say sorry.

"We have given Carol ample opportunity to offer a fulsome and unconditional apology for the offence that she caused ... and she's chosen not to do so," Ms Hunt said.

"Jonathan, as soon as he overstepped the mark, was completely clear that he needed to apologise, and he apologised publicly... He said immediately that he was sorry for the offence he caused."

"Regrettably ... Carol doesn't think she has anything to apologise for, and for that reason it is inappropriate for her to continue to work on a show that prides itself on its diversity."

Thatcher refused to apologise after being tipped off by the programme's executive producer that the remarks would be published in a newspaper report.

It is thought that after the comments became the centre of a public row, she privately said she was sorry for causing offence but insisted the comments had been meant in jest.

Ms Hunt said this was not true, saying: "We have ascertained subsequently from the people that were party to the conversation that by nobody's reckoning could it have been deemed to have been used in a jokey fashion."

She added that the excuse would have been insufficient anyway, adding: "Do we think it's appropriate in 2009 for somebody to explain away the use of a word that is deemed by a very substantial proportion of the public to be hugely offensive as a joke?" >>> By Jon Swaine | Thursday, February 5, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Carol Thatcher's Golliwog Comment Was Offensive and Racist, But How Many Heard It?

The BBC's reaction to Carol Thatcher's comment was hysterical, says George Pitcher.

First, let's get something that may be counter-intuitive for most readers out of the way. Carol Thatcher is not blameless in the "golliwog" scandal. I've never met her, but I'm more than willing to accept from those who know her that she is no kind of racist. But you don't have to be a racist to say racist things.

There is a casual, lazy racism of which we can all be guilty; I'm certain that, having also grown up with Robertson's jam, I could easily make the golliwog mistake. And if I did so and caused offence, I like to think I would apologise for it, as I understand Thatcher has tried to do. But her offence is utterly eclipsed by the fatuous, vindictive, officious and sanctimonious response to it from Planet BBC. It is almost beyond belief that a media organisation supposedly staffed by sentient adults could have moved so sententiously to break this butterfly on its wheel.

Yesterday morning, much of the nation sat open-mouthed and frozen over its breakfast, or struck dumb about our ablutions, as Jay Hunt, the controller of BBC One, attempted to justify her organisation's thought police in their Stasi-like pursuit of Thatcher. It is worth trying to deconstruct what she had to say in this extraordinary performance.

Under very respectable cross-examination from Today presenter Sarah Montague, Hunt claimed that Thatcher's remark was "hugely offensive", that the remark was made "in a public space" and that Thatcher had refused the BBC's demand to make a "fulsome and unconditional apology", so she had to go. >>> By George Pitcher | Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>