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U.S. deploying 3,000 troops to assist evacuate Kabul embassy employees as Taliban advance

U.S. deploying 3,000 troops to help evacuate Kabul embassy staff as Taliban advance

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration will deploy 3,000 troops to Afghanistan to facilitate downsizing at the U.S. embassy in Kabul as the Taliban advance rapidly into the Afghan capital.

The troops, which will consist of a total of three infantry battalions from the Marines and the Army, will be stationed at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul within 24 to 48 hours, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said during a press conference Thursday.

“This is a very tightly focused mission to ensure the orderly reduction of civilian personnel from Afghanistan,” said Kirby, adding that the Pentagon expects to increase its air transport capabilities in the region.

A Taliban fighter guarded the entrance to the police headquarters in Ghazni on August 12, 2021, when the Taliban moved closer to the Afghan capital after taking the city of Ghazni.

AFP | Getty Images

In addition, a US infantry brigade will be stationed in Kuwait if it is needed in Afghanistan to secure the airport.

In the meantime, a joint Army and Air Force unit of 1,000 men is being deployed to Qatar to help process special immigrant visas for Afghan nationals who supported US and NATO forces during the war.

Kirby said that despite the temporary influx of troops into Afghanistan, the US expects to fully withdraw all troops by August 31.

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The US embassy in Kabul on Thursday again urged Americans to leave Afghanistan immediately, warning that their ability to help citizens was “extremely limited” due to deteriorating security conditions and downsizing.

“In view of the evolving security situation, we assume that we will fall back on a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price on Thursday.

Price added that Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and NATO partners about the new troop movement earlier on Thursday.

Since President Joe Biden’s decision in April to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban have made staggering strides on the battlefield, with nearly two-thirds of the nation under their control.

The militants captured the strategically important city of Ghazni on Thursday and brought their front line within 95 miles of Kabul, an astonishing development that comes almost two weeks before US and NATO coalition forces exit.

The Taliban also claim to have captured Kandahar and Herat, Afghanistan’s second and third largest cities. Afghan officials confirmed Thursday night that the Taliban had captured Kandahar, the 12th district, according to a report by The Associated Press.

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Although the Afghan military was vastly outnumbered, the Taliban captured three Afghan provincial capitals and a local army headquarters in Kunduz on Wednesday, according to the AP.

Wednesday’s wins followed a dramatic blitz weekend in which the group captured five provincial capitals in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has previously said that the ongoing Taliban offensive in the war-torn country violates a commitment made by the group last year to open peace talks with the Afghan government.

“What we are seeing on the ground is that the Taliban are advancing and taking control of district and provincial centers, which clearly shows that they believe it is possible to get government through violence, brutality, violence and repression in great contradiction to their previously stated goal of actually participating in a negotiated political solution, “Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

Afghan security personnel are patrolling after regaining control of parts of the city of Herat after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces on the outskirts of Herat, 640 kilometers (397 miles) west of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, August 8, 2021.

Hamed Sarfarazi | AP

He added that while the Pentagon is concerned to see such advances by the Taliban, the Afghan military must now take advantage of nearly two decades of training from US and NATO coalition forces.

“They have the advantage in numbers, operational structure, air force and modern weapons, and it’s really about having the will and leadership to use those advantages for their own benefit,” said Kirby.

“The recipe cannot just be a permanent US presence in Afghanistan that never ends,” he added.

At the White House, Biden told reporters on Tuesday that he had no regrets about his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan, despite the Taliban’s shocking gains.

“Look, we’ve spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years, we’ve trained and equipped over 300,000 Afghan forces with modern equipment,” Biden said.

“Afghan leaders need to come together,” added the president. “You have to fight for yourself, fight for your nation.”

– CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report from New York.

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Politics

Schumer says Senate may vote to advance bipartisan invoice

Schumer says Senate could vote to advance bipartisan bill

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks after the Democratic policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2021.

Joshua Roberts | Reuters

The Senate could vote as soon as Wednesday to advance the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

“Senators continue to make good progress on both tracks of legislation,” the New York Democrat said, referencing both the physical infrastructure proposal and Democrats’ separate plan to invest $3.5 trillion in social programs.

Schumer’s comments signal progress toward a final agreement on infrastructure legislation after disputes over issues including transit funding prevented a deal for days. The wrangling threatened to derail a core piece of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

A spokesman for Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiating the deal, did not immediately respond to a request to comment on how close the lawmakers are to agreement.

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The plan is expected to invest $579 billion in new money in transportation, broadband and utilities.

Schumer failed last week to start debate on the bipartisan plan. The Republican senators working on the bill with Democrats and the White House voted against advancing it as they tried to iron out disagreements.

The Democratic leader aims to pass the bipartisan plan and a budget resolution that would kickstart his party’s legislation before the Senate leaves Washington for its recess next month. Using budget reconciliation, Democrats can pass their bill without a Republican vote.

The bipartisan plan would need 60 votes to pass. It means at least 10 Republicans would have to back it if all Democrats sign off, or one more GOP senator would have to vote for it for every Democratic defection.

The vote to advance the bill would start a heavy lift for Democratic congressional leaders. They have to keep disparate wings of their party on board with both plans while navigating efforts by some Republicans to sink them.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has stressed she will not take up either measure until the Senate passes both of them.

Democrats’ $3.5 trillion plan is expected to invest in child care, education, health care and efforts to curb climate change.

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World News

U.S. Airstrikes Attempt to Gradual Taliban Advance in Afghanistan

U.S. Airstrikes Try to Slow Taliban Advance in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. military aircraft struck a number of Taliban positions this week in support of faltering Afghan government forces, in one of the first significant American reactions to the insurgents’ blistering advance across Afghanistan as U.S. troops withdraw.

At least one of the strikes was against Taliban positions in the key southern city of Kandahar, slowing an advance that threatened to take over the city. Others were in the neighboring province of Helmand, according to a strongly worded Taliban statement.

The Taliban’s harsh language — it called the strikes “disobedience” to last year’s withdrawal agreement with the Americans, and it warned of unspecified “consequences” — was an indication that the airstrikes had an impact on the insurgent group.

The scale and pace of the Taliban advance has provoked alarm among top U.S. military and civilian officials in recent days. The Taliban now threaten most of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals and even Kabul, the national capital. The group has overrun more than half of the country’s 400-odd districts, in many cases seizing them without a fight, since it began its offensive in earnest in May.

This week’s airstrikes, which took place Wednesday and Thursday, appear to be an indication of that U.S. concern and of lingering American involvement in the country despite a nearly completed pullout of U.S. forces after almost 20 years of war. The United States and other major powers are pushing for a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government, but the Taliban believe they are winning the war, leaving little incentive to negotiate.

“We do have deep concerns about the actions the Taliban is taking, indicating that it may be trying to take the country by force,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said Friday on MSNBC. “But were that to happen, Afghanistan would be a pariah state.”

On Wednesday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, warned of the possibility of a “complete Taliban takeover,” saying the insurgents now had the “strategic momentum” in the fight against Afghan government forces.

Pentagon officials confirmed the recent American strikes but were tight-lipped about specifics. They have been similarly ambiguous for weeks about the scale and scope of continued American military involvement in Afghanistan’s war, though they indicated earlier this month that it could continue at least until the withdrawal was completed at the end of August.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said this week that American forces had equipped a base in Qatar “to be able to conduct over-the-horizon strikes” in Afghanistan.

As the U.S. pullout accelerated and Bagram Air Base was handed over to the Afghans, American officials suggested that U.S. air power would be employed against the Taliban in limited circumstances, at least through Aug. 31.

But they did not specify what those circumstances would be. This week’s strikes are a sign that the near-collapse of Afghan forces in the last month has caught the attention of official Washington.

The United States no longer has aircraft stationed in Afghanistan. The planes deployed this week would have been based in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East.

“In the last several days, we have acted through airstrikes to support the ANDSF but, I won’t get into tactical details of those strikes,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing Thursday, referring to the Afghan forces by their acronym.

He noted Mr. Austin’s statement about the ability to conduct such strikes, adding, “General McKenzie has those authorities,” referring to the head of the Pentagon’s Central Command, Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie.

A senior Afghan official in Kandahar, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the American strikes had “boosted the morale of our security forces.” He added that “we are hoping these airstrikes will help to push the Taliban away from the city of Kandahar.”

A B-52 long-range bomber was spotted over Kabul in recent days, for the first time in some years. The plane’s massive size and distinctive silhouette were likely intended as a show of force. The bombers have been moved to Qatar to cover the withdrawal of U.S. and international forces.

Several Pentagon officials confirmed that additional bombing raids around Kandahar are likely in coming days. “We’ve been doing it where and when feasible, and we’ll keep doing it where and when feasible,” one official said, speaking anonymously to describe operational planning.

Even as their military advance continues almost unchecked — though government forces claim to have taken back a handful of districts — the Taliban have become increasingly emboldened. They left top Afghan government officials empty-handed after a peace meeting in Doha, Qatar, last weekend, not even agreeing to the traditional cease-fire over the Eid holiday.

On Tuesday rockets were fired at the presidential palace in Kabul as officials were gathered for Eid prayers, though the attack was later claimed by a branch of Islamic State.

Adam Nossiter reported from Kabul, and Eric Schmitt from Washington, D.C. Taimoor Shah and Thomas Gibbons-Neff contributed reporting.

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Politics

After Marathon Hearings, Texas Republicans Advance Voting Measure

After Marathon Hearings, Texas Republicans Advance Voting Measure

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Republicans moved the state electoral overhaul legislation closer to enactment on Sunday, putting aside fierce opposition from the Democrats to gain approval from key House and Senate committees after hearings over the marathon weekend.

The committee’s votes, held just days after a 30-day special session, stick to Governor Greg Abbott’s schedule for swift action against legislation he has identified as a priority for his administration. The Senate, which consists of 31 members, is expected to vote on its bill on Tuesday. The 150-strong house is likely to take up its own version of the measure this week.

The Democrats on both committees united against the bills and prepared for further fighting on the Senate and House floors. Beverly Powell, a Senator from the Fort Worth suburbs who voted against the bill on committee, said Senate Democrats were planning “many” changes during the plenary debate and could try to propose an alternative bill.

It took the Senate State Affairs Committee about 45 minutes Sunday afternoon to approve the bill, known as SB1, in a 6-to-3 party election after modifying the bill slightly with nine Republican amendments. “We feel good about the bill,” said Bryan Hughes, chairman of the Republican committee.

Previously, the committee met for nearly 15 hours, ending at around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, and heard testimony from more than 200 witnesses, many of whom were against the law.

The House Committee hearings lasted even longer, ending around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday with a vote on the adoption of the bill after nearly 24 hours of debate and public comment. All nine Republicans on the committee supported the bill, while the five Democrats voted against.

Mr. Abbott, a Republican, has said that passing a new electoral law is one of his top priorities. He called the legislature into the special session that began Thursday after the Democrats blocked the law in late May with an 11-hour walkout from the Capitol denying Republicans the quorum.

Hundreds of Texans flocked to the Capitol over the weekend to watch the committee hearings on Republican-sponsored voting laws, part of a national effort by the party to place new restrictions on state electoral systems. Republicans say the restructuring is necessary to improve voter integrity, but opposition Democratic forces are fighting what they call an unprecedented campaign to suppress the vote.

“This is the largest coordinated attack on democracy in our lifetime, and perhaps in the lives of this country,” said Beto O’Rourke, a former US representative and presidential candidate who took and was a leading role for the Democrats in voting on the subject for the hearing in the Capitol.

But Mr. Hughes, the Republican chairman, opened the hearing on Saturday by stating that the law was intended to “create a better electoral process that is safe and accessible”.

House and Senate Democrats have vowed to do whatever it takes to kill the legislature a second time, but their options are limited. They have indicated that they are ready to take another bold step, such as another strike or possibly the more extreme step of fleeing the state.

Studies consistently place Texas at the top of the list of states making it harder to register and vote, which in part explains why the Democrats view the stakes as so high.

Voting laws would, among other things, prohibit 24-hour voting and drive-through polling sites, increase criminal penalties for election workers who violate regulations, limit support for voters, and expand the authority and autonomy of partisan election observers.

But two provisions from the previous session that the Democrats had vehemently opposed were removed: a restriction on the Sunday election and a proposal that would have made it easier to reject an election.

For the weekend hearings, Democrats and opposition to the bill had gathered witnesses from across the state to testify.

State Senator Borris Miles, a Houston Democrat, said two busloads of Witnesses and a caravan of 20 cars had traveled from his district. Both Mr. Miles and Lina Hidalgo, the executive director of Harris County, the state’s most populous district, told reporters that the Houston area’s bills would take a heavy toll by introducing electoral innovations like the 24-hour vote that was tabled , would be reduced in the 2020 election.

“We’re under attack,” said Mr. Miles.

After starting the poll late by spending hours on a bail revision bill, the House committee worked all night to hear many of the nearly 300 witnesses who had pledged to testify. Some who waited in the committee room after sunrise began to joke about the time, thanking Trent Ashby, chairman of the Republican House of Representatives, for not stopping his testimony.

“Good morning, Mr. Chair, thank you for staying,” said Hector Mendez, who represented the Texas College Democrats group. “Good luck at 6:30 am,” said another witness.

Although the Democrats were looking for more time to digest the bill, Ashby said he wanted to move on to a committee vote because of the “compressed nature” of the special session. Before voting on sending the measure to plenary, the committee also rejected eight Democratic amendments, including on party-level votes.

Texas follows several other Republican-controlled battlefield states that have radically revised their electoral laws and introduced new voting restrictions this year. Since January, at least 22 bills have been signed in 14 states that make voting difficult.

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Politics

Texas Voting Invoice Nears Passage as Republicans Advance It

Texas Voting Bill Nears Passage as Republicans Advance It

In a statement on Saturday, President Biden called the proposed bill, along with similar measures in Georgia and Florida, “an attack on democracy” that disproportionately targeted “black and brown Americans”. He called on lawmakers to resolve the problem by passing democratic voting laws pending in Congress.

“It’s wrong and un-American,” said Mr. Biden. “In the 21st century, we should make it easier, not harder, for everyone eligible to vote to vote.”

Republican lawmakers have often cited voter concerns about electoral fraud – fears fueled by Trump, other Republicans, and the conservative media – to justify new election restrictions, despite no evidence of widespread fraud in the recent American election.

And in their campaign, Republicans have overcome objections from Democrats, constituencies, and big corporations. Companies like American Airlines, Dell Technologies and Microsoft spoke out against Texan law soon after the law was passed, but the pressure has so far been largely ineffective.

The final 67-page bill, known as SB 7, turned out to be the amalgamation of two bulk votes that had worked their way through state legislation. It contained many of the provisions originally put in place by the Republicans, but lawmakers dropped some of the strictest, such as an ordinance on the allocation of voting machines that would have closed polling stations in color communities, and a measure that would have allowed partisan election observers to record the voting process on video.

However, the bill contains a provision that could make it easier to overthrow an election. Texas electoral law found that reversing election results due to fraud allegations required evidence that illegal votes had indeed resulted in an illegitimate victory. If the bill is passed, the number of fraudulent votes required to do so should simply be equal to the difference in the winning votes. It wouldn’t matter who the fraudulent votes were cast for.

Democrats and constituencies were quick to condemn the bill.

“SB 7 is a ruthless law,” said Sarah Labowitz, director of politics and advocacy for the American Civil Liberties Union in Texas. “It is aimed at color voters and voters with disabilities in a state that is already the most difficult voting place in the country.”

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Politics

Biden says not instructed upfront, Trump defends lawyer

Biden says not told in advance, Trump defends lawyer

New York police officers are investigating the building that houses former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the FBI issued a search warrant on Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment in New York City in April, USA, issued 28, 2021.

Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

President Joe Biden said he was not given advance notice of the FBI’s execution of search warrants on the home and office of Rudy Giuliani, one of former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers.

“I give you my word, I was not informed,” Biden previously told MSNBC’s Craig Melvin in an interview that aired Thursday.

“I found out about it last night when the rest of the world found out, my word about it,” Biden said of the raids early Wednesday in which FBI agents seized electronic equipment from the former New York City Mayor and former federal attorney.

“Little did I know this was on the way.”

Biden also underlined that he had not been briefed on the Giuliani probe – which focuses on their business in Ukraine – or any other criminal investigation by the Ministry of Justice. The department is known to be investigating the tax affairs of Biden’s son Hunter.

“I made a promise not to interfere, order, or attempt to stop the Justice Department’s investigation in any way,” Biden said

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, US President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, wipes his sweat during a press conference on the results of the 2020 US presidential election on November 19, 2020 at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Washington, USA from the face.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

“I’m not asking for information. This is the Justice Department’s independent judgment,” said the president.

Biden beat Trump for his efforts to get the Justice Department to investigate certain people and issues, and for his repeated criticism of the Department’s investigation against people connected to Trump, including his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, his former Campaign chairman Paul Manafort and GOP agent Roger Stein.

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“This last administration politicized the Justice Department so heavily, so many [prosecutors]”So many left because that’s not the role – that’s not the role of a president saying who should be prosecuted, when to prosecute, who should not be prosecuted,” Biden said.

“That is not the role of the president. The Justice Department is the advocate of the people, not the advocate of the president.”

For months after Biden’s loss to Trump in the 2020 election, Giuliani falsely claimed that Biden only won because of widespread electoral fraud. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, said there was no evidence of such extensive fraud that resulted in Trump’s loss.

During an interview with Fox Business on Thursday, Trump condemned the raid on Giuliani’s property, calling it “a very, very unfair situation.”

“He just loves this country. And they raid his apartment, it’s so unfair and so double – like a double standard, as if I’ve never seen anyone,” said Trump.

“Rudy is a patriot who loves this country and I don’t know what they’re looking for, what they’re doing.”

Craig Melvin interviews President Joe Biden TODAY.

Source: TODAY

The investigation of Giuliani by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York – a law firm he once ran – began when Trump was president and while his hand-picked attorneys general ran the Department of Justice, which oversees U.S. law firms.

Trump himself is facing a serious criminal investigation by the Manhattan prosecutor.

The New York Times reported in December that Giuliani had spoken to then-President Trump about a preventive pardon that would have protected the attorney from federal criminal prosecution. “Not true,” Giuliani told CNBC after the report was released.

Giuliani retweeted a tweet Thursday from John Cardillo, the so-called establishment Republicans who did not publicly defend Giuliani, blew up and called them “feckless cucks”.

On Wednesday, Giuliani’s attorney Robert Costello accused the so-called “Biden Justice Department” of “corrupt double standards” harshly treating its Republican clients while investigating the alleged “blatant crimes of senior Democrats like Biden, Hunter Biden and the former secretary ignored by state Hillary Clinton.

“You didn’t see Hunter Biden’s house being searched by the FBI,” said Costello, a former senior US attorney general at SDNY. Decades ago, Costello had overseen criminal cases there using search warrants and early morning raids by FBI agents.

“This Justice Department behavior, enabled by compliant media and challenging the constitutional rights of everyone involved in or defending former President Donald J. Trump, is becoming the rule rather than the exception.”

In 2019, Giuliani made efforts to gather harmful information about Hunter Biden’s business relationships in Ukraine as part of a strategy to harm Joe Biden’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.

Trump was indicted later that year after pressuring the President of Ukraine to announce an investigation into the Bidens. Trump was acquitted by the GOP-controlled Senate.

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Entertainment

‘Eurovision Music Contest’ and ‘Borat’ Advance to the Oscar Shortlist

‘Eurovision Song Contest’ and ‘Borat’ Advance to the Oscar Shortlist

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” got one step closer to Oscar nomination on Tuesday when the Academy of the Arts and Sciences for Feature Films announced their shortlists in nine categories.

“Wuhan Flu” from the sequel to “Borat” and “Husavik” from the Will Ferrell comedy about European competition were developed along with 13 other pieces in the original song category. 92 songs, including “Just Sing” from “Trolls World Tour”, didn’t make the cut.

Members of the various branches will vote on the final five candidates from March 5-9. Oscar nominations will be announced on March 15th.

In the documentary category, 238 controversial films were reduced to 15. Favorites that are still in the mix include Netflix’s “Dick Johnson Is Dead”, “Crip Camp” and “My Octopus Teacher”. Also controversial are Amazon’s “All In: The Fight for Democracy” and “MLK / FBI”. Neither Netflix’s popular “The Social Dilemma” nor Bryan Febel’s “The Dissident” about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi were on the list.

In the international feature film category, 93 countries have submitted the most films, but only 15 are left. Denmark’s “Another Round” was an early favorite and was put on a shortlist. Director Thomas Vinterberg’s film shows Mads Mikkelsen as a high school teacher in the midst of a midlife crisis. Also popular is the “Charlatan” submitted by the Czech Republic by the Polish director Agnieszka Holland.

Voters from all branches of the academy are eligible to vote on the international feature category, but must meet a minimum viewing requirement to do so. The group selected films from around the world, including Ivory Coast (“Night of the Kings”), Guatemala (“La Llorona”) and Tunisia (“The Man Who Sells His Skin”).

The Academy also published shortlists for the short film categories, hair and makeup, visual effects, and original score. For these competitors, go to oscars.org. Here are the shortlists for original songs, documentaries, and international features.

“Turntables” (from “All In: The Struggle for Democracy”)

“See what you did” (“Belly of the Beast”)

“Wuhan Flu” (“Borat Subsequent Movie Film”)

“Husavik” (“Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”)

“Never Break” (“give a vote”)

“Make It Work” (“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”)

“Fight for you” (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)

“Lo Sì (seen)” (“Life ahead”)

“Rain Song” (“Minari”)

“Show me your soul” (“Mr. Soul!”)

“Loyal Brave True” (“Mulan”)

“Free” (“The only Ivan”)

“Speak Now” (“One Night in Miami”)

“Green” (“Sound of Metal”)

“Hear my voice” (“The Trial of Chicago 7”)

“All In: The Fight for Democracy”

“Boys State”

“Collective”

“Crip Camp”

“Dick Johnson is dead”

“Gunda”

“MLK / FBI”

“The Mole Agent”

“My Octopus Teacher”

“Night”

“The painter and the thief”

“76 days”

“Time”

“The Truffle Hunters”

“Welcome to Chechnya”

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Quo Vadis, Aida?”

Chile, “The Mole Agent”

Czech Republic, “Charlatan”

Denmark, “another round”

France, “Two of Us”

Guatemala, “La Llorona”

Hong Kong, “Better Days”

Iran, “sun children”

Ivory Coast, “Night of the Kings”

Mexico, “I’m not here anymore”

Norway, “hope”

Romania, “collective”

Russia, “Dear Comrades!”

Taiwan, “One Sun”

Tunisia, “The Man Who Sells His Skin”

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Business

Walmart donates $14 million as a part of pledge to advance racial fairness

Walmart donates $14 million as part of pledge to advance racial equity

Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Following the George Floyd protests, Walmart pledged to empower diversity within its own ranks and to contribute $ 100 million over five years to combating systemic racism across the country.

On Monday, the company gave an update on these efforts. Walmart and its foundation will distribute the first $ 14.3 million to 16 nonprofits. The grants are given to groups that deal with racial inequalities in a variety of ways, such as: For example, to educate color communities about Covid-19 vaccines, lower debt for students at historically black colleges and universities, and provide remote internet access and technology to children attending school.

Walmart is one of many companies that have promised to use their money and weight to help eradicate racial differences after Floyd’s murder. However, as the country’s largest employer and retailer, its actions have an additional meaning. The company’s CEO, Doug McMillon, also leads the Business Roundtable, a strong corporate voice made up of many of the country’s best-known business leaders.

When the company first made its commitment in June, McMillon admitted that companies – including Walmart – need to do more than just write checks. He said the company would also do better within its four walls by recruiting and supporting diverse talent.

Black employees make up about 21% of the 1.5 million US Walmart workforce, according to the company’s latest Diversity and Inclusion report. That diversity, however, is dwindling in the top positions at Walmart. About 12% of the company’s managers and 7% of its senior executives are black.

Walmart hired longtime associate Kirstie Sims to lead the company’s Racial Justice Center, which will focus on inequalities in four key areas: finance, healthcare, education and criminal justice.

Kirstie Sims, Senior Director of the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity

Walmart

Originally from Arkansas, Sims started working at the big box retailer to pay back student loans and planned to move into the healthcare industry. At Walmart, however, she said she found she could build a career spanning over 20 years and move up to leadership positions – something she wants other employees, including other black women, to experience. Prior to her new position, she was Senior Director, Global Ethics and Compliance at Walmart.

Walmart has made other changes in the past few months to promote racial justice. It will publish a report on diversity and inclusion twice a year instead of annually. It will work with the largest historically black university in the country, North Carolina A&T State University, to increase the number of black college graduates entering high-demand areas. In November, two new Walmart Health locations opened in Chicago offering low-cost medical appointments. It has also joined the One Ten Coalition, a group of American companies committed to training, hiring, and promoting one million black Americans over the next decade.

According to Sims, Walmart is researching how its business practices can make a difference, too. For example, it can expand access to affordable medical care in communities in need by opening Walmart Health locations, promoting black-owned businesses through the use of more than suppliers, and giving applicants a second chance to get back into the criminal justice system after serving in the criminal justice system To enter society.

“Progress is slow at times, but with the work, strength and dedication behind it, we will make changes,” she said.

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World News

Sign Advance jumps one other 438% after Elon Musk fueled shopping for frenzy

Signal Advance jumps another 438% after Elon Musk fueled buying frenzy

BERLIN, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 2: Tesla boss Elon Musk comes to a retreat of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group of the German Christian Democrats on September 2, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. Musk is currently in Germany, where he met yesterday with vaccine maker CureVac, which Tesla is working with to build equipment to make RNA vaccines. Today it is also said to have the location of the new Gigafactory under construction near Berlin.

Maja Hitij | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Four days after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, urged Twitter followers to use “Signal,” a reference to the nonprofit funded Signal-encrypted messaging app, investors got the price from Signal Advance, a maker small components whose shares are traded over the counter, increased even further.

During Monday’s trading session, the stock rose 438% to hit a high of $ 70.85, after closing at 60 cents on Jan. 6, the day before Musk’s tweet. The share recorded its highest trading volume since going public in 2014 on Monday; More than 2 million shares changed hands while not a single share was traded on January 4th. Signal Advance, which had no revenue in 2015 and 2016, is now worth more than $ 3 billion.

Signal Advance stock chart

CNBC

The buying fever that set in shortly after Musk’s comment highlights an occasional problem in the public markets of people inadvertently investing in the wrong companies.

A similar case occurred in 2019 when some people bought shares in Zoom Technologies, whose ticker symbol was ZOOM, but not the trending video calling service Zoom Video Communications, which operates under the symbol ZM. Last year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission stopped trading Zoom Technologies, partly because of confusion over its association with Zoom Video.

Signal Advance’s only full-time employee, Chris Hymel, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

For many years, Musk’s online statements have attracted considerable attention. Last week, Musk’s profile reached new heights as he became the richest person in the world and Tesla’s market cap surpassed Facebook’s.

On Sunday, Musk said on Twitter that he would be giving money to support Signal.

CLOCK: Palihapitiya on Musk: The richest person in the world should be someone fighting climate change

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World News

Elon Musk boosts Sign app, Sign Advance inventory jumps 1100%

Elon Musk boosts Signal app, Signal Advance stock jumps 1100%

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stands on the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory. In Grünheide near Berlin, September 3, 2020.

Patrick Pleul | Image Alliance | Getty Images

When Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, asked his Twitter followers on Thursday to “use Signal”, he meant the encrypted messaging app. Some people seem to have got it wrong.

Shares of an obscure and independent company called Signal Advance, which trades over the counter, rose 527% Thursday and another 91% on Friday, from 60 cents to $ 7.19.

The signal Musk was referring to is operated by a non-profit organization and serves as an alternative to SMS apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Apple’s messaging service. That signal went to Twitter on Friday to clarify that it has nothing to do with Signal Advance.

“It’s understandable that people would want to invest in Signal’s record growth, but it’s not us,” Signal wrote. “We are an independent 501c3 and our only investment is in your privacy.”

It’s a known problem on Wall Street.

In April 2019, the day Zoom Video Communications made its much-anticipated market debut under the ticker symbol ZM, a Chinese company called Zoom Technologies rose more than 80% in two hours of trading. The stock gave up most of those gains that day, closing 10%.

Six years earlier, as investors waited for Twitter to go public, shares in Tweeter Home Entertainment Group rose more than 1,000%.

Signal Advance was founded in Texas in 1992 under the name Biodyne and provided services to medical and legal professionals. The company shifted its focus to the use of technology in healthcare and changed its name to Signal Advance. The thinly traded stock hit the market in 2014.

Signal Advance is so small it doesn’t file any financial information with the SEC. As of March 2019, there were no full-time employees other than CEO Chris Hymel who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Due to the swarm of unintended investor interest, the company now has a market cap of $ 660 million, down from $ 55 million two days ago. As of Thursday, the stock had traded below $ 1 since 2015.

The Signal Messaging app, supported by the Signal Technology Foundation, “runs on donations only,” said a New York article published in October.

The group had other concerns after Musk tweeted his 41-plus million followers. Signal said Thursday there were technical issues with reviews because “so many new people are trying to join”.

Both technical snafu and frantic trading in an unrelated stock underscore Musk’s growing influence. On Thursday, he became the richest person in the world thanks to Tesla’s nearly 800% increase in market cap last year. On Friday, Tesla became the fifth largest public company in the United States, surpassing Facebook.

CLOCK: Former Ford CEO Mark Fields on what Tesla needs to focus on in 2021