Jessica Harper Uncanceled

Welcome to the second instalment of Woke Watch, where I round up all the latest nonsense that’s been concocted by the pleasers and appeasers this week.

There’s so much wokery around these days that it’s hard to report it all but let’s do our best. 

First on to the executioner’s block is Starbucks, which triumphed this week when a federal court dismissed a conservative investor’s lawsuit against its executives and directors over “frivolous” diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

The National Center for Public Policy Research had sued Starbucks’ board, alleging that the coffee giant’s goals for hiring black people and “other people of color” were discriminatory against whites.

But Chief US District Judge Stanley Bastian rejected the allegations on Monday, saying the lawsuit centered on public policy questions that are for lawmakers and corporations, not courts, to decide.

Incidentally, after the killing of “Gentleman” George Floyd, Starbucks shelled out for “civil rights assessments” by top DC law firm Covington & Burling.

“Critics say the assessments have exposed clients to the very risks they’re meant to alleviate,” reports Aaron Sibarium in The Washington Free Beacon. “Covington’s audits alone endorse a plethora of programs many lawyers say are illegal, from a minorities-only scholarship at BlackRock to a bonus scheme linking executive pay to diversity targets at Verizon.”

Some conservative groups are fighting back, reports Sibarium. “In April the law firm America First Legal filed a complaint against BlackRock with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws, alleging that its race-based scholarship violated the Civil Rights Act.”

More reverse discrimination fun was exposed this week by O’Keefe Media, which shed light on Best Buy’s collaboration with McKinsey & Company to offer a three-month Leadership Essentials program. 

Those who wished to apply to the program had to meet the following criteria: must be a salaried Best Buy employee, must have work experience of more than one year in their current Best But role, and also: “Identify as Black, Latino, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander”.

Best Buy was allegedly not allowing Caucasian employees to participate in the program. Luckily I identify as all of them and will be applying. Anyway, is this corporate virtue signalling or a reasonable policy to help those who might not get the same opportunities as white people? Let me know in the comments.

While we’re on the subject of one rule for one group, a different rule for another, a federal appeals court has ruled that DC disproportionately penalized pro-life advocates and showed leniency toward Black Lives Matter protesters for defacement offenses, as reported by the National Review and others.

“In the summer of 2020, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the district to proclaim ‘Black Lives Matter,’” the court wrote in its decision. “Over several weeks, the protesters covered streets, sidewalks, and storefronts with paint and chalk. The markings were ubiquitous and in open violation of the district’s defacement ordinance, yet none of the protesters were arrested.”

“During the same summer, district police officers arrested two pro-life advocates in a smaller protest for chalking ‘Black Pre-Born Lives Matter’ on a public sidewalk. The organizers of the smaller protest, the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America (collectively ‘the Foundation’), sued,” the opinion said.

The federal appeals court reversed a lower district’s court rejection of the lawsuit, agreeing with the plaintiffs that they were treated unfairly by local police in their enforcement of defacement laws.

Everybody must get stoned

Good news in the UK, where Stonewall has purged all government departments from its list of top 100 employers after women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch told officials to stop employing the charity. Hurrah. I love Kemi.

In 2020 there were three UK ministries, including the Home Office, which were included on the annual chart. But in the charity’s recently published list for 2023, there are none.

Stonewall’s controversial diversity champions scheme has been accused of spreading the idea that people can self-identify their gender.

Talking of joyous dismissals, The New York Times reports that a teacher in an Atlanta suburb has been fired for reading a book to fifth-grade students that explores gender roles and identity through the eyes of a child who describes their shadow as purple.

The Cobb County Board of Education voted 4-3 on Thursday to approve the recommendation by the superintendent, Chris Ragsdale, to terminate the contract of the teacher, Katherine Rinderle, according to a recording of the meeting.

“The district is pleased that this difficult issue has concluded; we are very serious about keeping our classrooms focused on teaching, learning, and opportunities for success for students,” the Cobb County School District said in a statement on Friday.

Do these people really have nothing else to think about?

Also being kicked out this week was the US soccer team, of course, after pink-haired misery bucket Megan Rapinoe missed a penalty against Sweden. 

“Conservatives have celebrated the U.S. women’s national team’s exit from the World Cup after a defeat by Sweden in a tense penalty shootout, with star forward Megan Rapinoe the main target of online abuse,” reported Newsweek.

Rapinoe, 38, whose off-field activism and support for transgender people has enraged conservatives, missed her penalty kick, giving Sweden a lifeline.

A close shave for Harry’s

My favourite video this week was from Jeremy at The Quartering (great YouTube channel) who took a bloody swipe at Harry’s Razors. 

Jeremy says: “Can guys just buy a freaking razor? Remember Gillette and their full-blown ad campaign against men? You know where they went? Harry’s Razors, and you know what Harry’s is? The exact same garbo that Gillette is. They’re getting the full Bud Light treatment. Stop buying stuff from people who hate you.”

The subject of his ire is some (old) video of Harry’s founders talking about “birthing parents” (that’s moms, to you and me) and “non-birthing parents” (yep, dads). These are phrases invented by the woke to appease the 0.03% of trans people, he says. “So every woman under the sun had to be denigrated by being called a birthing person instead of a mother.”

And finally, no Woke Watch would be complete without a mention for Disney. Their Snow White remake continues to blaze in the headlines, with branding experts warning that star Rachel Zegler’s comments about the movie could have “a huge impact on ticket sales”.

The 22-year-old actress has received plenty of backlash after she admitted that she ‘hated’ the original 1937 movie and branded the storyline ‘weird,’ while referring to the Prince character as a ‘stalker.’

The son of the animator who directed the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has condemned the remake, saying it is “insulting” to the original work.

David Hand, whose father, also called David Hand, worked with Walt Disney to create the much-loved 1937 hit, said the pair would be “turning in their grave” as studio bosses “destroy” their creation.

Until next time,

Stay awake to the woke.