Free Republic

Top aides to Biden secretly hatched a plan this past fall to replace White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre by recruiting outside allies to nudge her out the door ... Jean-Pierre, who made history in May 2022 by becoming the first black and first openly gay person to hold the position, had developed the exasperating habit of reading canned answers directly from a binder to reporters at her regular briefings — offering what her superiors viewed as a less-than-compelling pitch for the 81-year-old Biden as he readied his re-election campaign. De facto White House communications chief Anita Dunn, 66, the...

Southwest Airlines issued a press statement Thursday declaring their intention to fire around 2,000 employees and cancel service to four airports following financial difficulties. “[W]e are implementing cost control initiatives, including limiting hiring and offering voluntary time off programs. We now expect to end 2024 with approximately 2,000 fewer Employees as compared with the end of 2023,” Bob Jordan, the president and CEO of Southwest Airlines ... Jordan also announced that the company was shutting down its service to three airports in the United States and one in Mexico. “[W]e have made the difficult decision to close our operations at...

Program will address ‘insidious problem’ with racism in medicine: nurses association Nursing students at the University of Illinois soon will receive “diversity, equity, and inclusion” training via virtual reality courtesy of a $20,000 grant to address racism. The American Nurses Association, which awarded the grant through its National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing, says the funds will address an “insidious problem” with racism in nursing. But other medical professionals and scholars say the project is a waste of money. The university’s College of Nursing plans to use the grant to hire a software engineer to create virtual reality training...

The new head of Boeing’s troubled commercial airplane unit said the planemaker faces a “pivotal moment” as it works to boost quality and address significant concerns from regulators and airline customers after a panel flew off a 737 MAX 9 jet in January. “This is a pivotal moment for us, and we have serious work ahead to build trust and improve our operations,” said Stephanie Pope, who was named president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes ... Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced he would leave by the end of the year, while the company’s long-time head of commercial airplanes, Stan...

The cost to afford a median-priced home has increased at twice the rate that the average household income has risen as inflation and high interest rates inflame housing expenses, according to Redfin. The median monthly home payment in February was $2,838, up 12% year-over-year, while the median household income was just $84,072, an increase of 6% over the last year, according to Redfin. Over the past decade, the income needed to afford a home has tracked closely with the median household income until around the start of 2022, when the amount of household income needed skyrocketed to its current median...

In a recent earnings call, Best Buy, a woke retail giant, announced the closure of 24 stores in 2024, with an additional 10-15 stores expected to shut down in the fiscal year 2025. While the specific locations of the impending closures have not been disclosed, this decision is part of Best Buy’s broader efforts to adapt its retail footprint to the changing consumer shopping habits in an increasingly digital marketplace. As of now, Best Buy operates over 1,000 stores across the United States. “In fiscal ’24, we closed 24 stores. And in fiscal ’25, we expect to close 10 to...

Legendary lingerie chain Victoria’s Secret said its sales took a nose dive after featuring woke soccer player Megan Rapinoe as a brand ambassador. Following the news of poor sales, the company has announced that they’re going back to basics and steering clear of ‘woke’ ad campaigns. The Washington Examiner reports: Lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret plans to withdraw its attempt at being more inclusive with its marketing , reverting to its original reputation in the wake of decreased sales. The brand, known for hiring beautiful models, has tried to diversify its models over the past few years, including plus-size and transgender...

During conversations with The Guardian, several former workers pointed to “incompetence” in the upper echelons of the company and lamented its decision to pull away from pushing a progressive agenda through its marketing. When Anheuser-Busch InBev, the multinational beer company, promoted Alissa Heinerscheid to vice-president of marketing for Bud Light in July 2022, she became the first female VP in the beer’s 40-year history. “It’s just old white men,” says one former employee of the company leadership. “That’s why we were excited to at least have Alissa in that role.” One former employee told the news outlet that when the...

Bud Light’s sales are still floundering months after its disastrous partnership with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney — and drinkers of America’s former top-selling beer are “just lost forever.” “You see Bud Light still just stubbornly down around 30% in volume compared to last year, which is where it’s been since May or June,” Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher told Fox News Digital Friday. “That tells me that this is quasi-permanent, meaning those consumers are just lost forever.” Schuhmacher’s remarks come less than a month after it was revealed the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned company had won back 15% of its...

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that "Bud Light sales might never fully regain the ground they have lost to competitors" as stores clear their shelves to make room for other brands... On Thursday, Anheuser-Busch InBev also announced that it would be laying off hundreds of workers. The Wall Street Journal noted that as Bud Light sales continue "cratering," the "biggest beneficiary of Bud Light’s woes" is rival company Molson Coors Beverage. "There are reasons to believe that Bud Light sales might be permanently impaired. Molson Coors Chief Executive Gavin Hattersley said on a conference call with analysts that retailers...

Bud Light critics are flocking to slam the beleaguered beer brand with abuse as it resumes regular posting following a hiatus amid the Dylan Mulvaney fallout. The beer label has been struggling since its April partnership with the 26-year-old transgender influencer sparked a decline in sales, costing its parent company Anheuser-Busch around $22 billion in market cap to date. Bud Light's social media teams retreated into the shadows in mid-April following the backlash and the beer giant disavowed the disastrous campaign. More than two months later - from June 22 - the brand cautiously resumed posting notably more politically neutral...

Retail chain Costco appears to have decided to stop selling Bud Light at its stores as the company has given the beer the dreaded “star of death,” suggesting an end to product sales. Images shared online show notices at Costco announcing the sale of Bud Light together with an asterisk sign, popularly known as the “star of death.” An item depicted with such a sign at Costco is an indication that the retail chain won’t restock the product or that the item has been discontinued. It’s unclear whether the “star of death” mark is applicable to all Costco stores or...

Shoppers at Costco have noticed an asterisk on the price tag for Bud Light beer across the beverage aisle. Experienced Kirkland members have seen the sign before and call it the “death star.” It could be an indication that one of the largest retailers in the country may be considering not restocking the troubled beer brand. Here’s a closer look. Casual shoppers would barely notice a small asterisk on a price display above a shelf. These days most of the attention is on the price. However, Kirkland members believe the asterisk has special significance for Costco’s supply chain decisions. The...

As Bud Light, once a beloved contender among the country's favorite beers, spirals down to the 14th spot, the repercussions resonate far beyond the brand itself. A recent YouGov survey reveals the decline in Bud Light's ranking, casting it below competitors like Pabst Bue Ribbon, Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Lite. This seismic shift in popularity jeopardizes the livelihoods of the 65,000 people whose economic well-being is intricately tied to Anheuser-Busch InBev's success. Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth has taken full responsibility for the controversial promotion involving transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that caused sales to plummet. In an interview with CBS,...

Target’s stock has lost a whopping $13.8 billion over the past two weeks, hitting its lowest levels in nearly three years as the “cheap chic” discount retailer continues to face backlash over LGBTQ-friendly kids clothing. Shares of the embattled chain sank 2.2% at $130.93 on Wednesday after dropping for eight straight sessions — the stock’s longest losing streak since November 2018 — giving the company a market capitalization of $60.4 billion. That’s off 19% from two weeks earlier on May 18, when the stock was trading at $160.96 on the eve of the crisis. It’s also the lowest levels Target...

Bud Light's parent company Anheuser-Busch has seen its market value plunge $15.7billion since the disastrous campaign with transgender-influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Since April 1, the company has consistently been dropping down the rankings, with experts saying it 'just keeps getting a little worse each week'. But their competitors have added $3.2billion in market value to their brands in the same time. Molson Coors, which owns Coors Lite, has seen an increase of $2.2billion market value, around 20 percent, while Heineken has a spike of $1billion – an increase of 1.7 percent. Sales of Bud Light are down more than 23 percent...

Senators introduce bill to create digital identity for all Americans.. U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema, an independent of Arizona, and Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, have introduced Senate Bill 884, also known as “the Improving Digital Identity Act of 2023.” The bill was introduced March 21 and ordered to proceed out of committee on March 29 without amendments and with a favorable recommendation. ... The bill’s text states: “The lack of an easy, affordable, reliable, and secure way for organizations, businesses, and government agencies to identify whether an individual is who they claim to be online creates an attack vector that...

Bed Bath & Beyond didn't pay severance to thousands of workers. The company laid off more than 1,000 workers in New Jersey days before a new severance law took effect. In early February, Diane Zaccagna learned that the Bed Bath & Beyond store in New Jersey where she had been working for 18 and a half years was closing and she would be laid off. "We knew Bed Bath was in trouble, but we thought we would have at least a couple more years," said Zaccagna, 50, who started out as a part-time employee and climbed her way to a...

“Get woke, go broke,” has become a rallying cry of the political right whenever they see a brand make the slightest effort to align itself with liberal or progressive values. It’s a meme that allows MAGA country to believe that there is ongoing, massive backlash to products that acknowledge and celebrate marginalized communities. But the supposed boycotts never seem to be reflected in the bottom line. Besides, by the time we would expect to notice any effect, conservatives have already moved on to the next outrage. Kid Rock and Travis Tritt declared war this week against brewer Anheuser-Busch for a...

Wellesley College, an all-women’s school that has long prided itself as a place for “women who will make a difference in the world,” has truly lost the plot. Currently, the school’s policy is that students who were “assigned female at birth who identify as men are not eligible for admission,” but students who were “assigned male at birth who identify as women are eligible for admission.” ... Wellesley hasn’t truly been an all-women’s college since 2015, when it last updated its policy to accept applications from biological males who identify as women. But even that policy allowing biological men to...