THE MORNING RANT: End of Year Buck Shots (12/29/2023)

States are Fighting Back Against Woke Capital

Whatever may play out in the national GOP presidential horse race, there are some elected Republicans at the state level who are actively fighting the culture war against the Bond villains of woke capital. Be it Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, or West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore, these are warriors who don’t just spout platitudes, they are using the power of their offices to fight and inflict setbacks on the corporatist/communist alliance.

Add another one to this list – Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who is suing BlackRock on behalf of Tennesseans whose investment returns are being compromised by the investment giant’s commitment to Net Zero and ESG.

“Tennessee sues BlackRock in first-of-its-kind ESG lawsuit” [Fox News – 12/18/2023]

"Yet for years, BlackRock has misled consumers about the scope and effects of its widespread ESG activity," it adds. "BlackRock’s conduct concerning the marketing or sale of its investment products and services constitutes deceptive acts and practices under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act."

The lawsuit notes that BlackRock in recent years has joined activist organizations — namely the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative and Climate Action 100+ — which require member companies and groups to make certain climate commitments.

It cannot be stated enough that it is at the state and local level that conservatives have actual political power. Thanks to Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans, freedom is on the march in the Sunshine State, and the woke left has taken some serious hits there. As much as I’d like to see Ron DeSantis in the White House, I’d like to see 30 more Ron DeSantises in governors’ mansions across the USA. We need several dozen more Republican attorney generals like Paxton and Skrmetti, who will aggressively target woke corporations and oligopolies. We need Riley Moores in every Treasury office denying woke capital the funds they need to do their evil work.

Let’s keep fighting nationally, but let’s keep winning locally.

And, yes, we are winning, and the Bond villains are scared of the state-level pushback against them. BlackRock and its CEO Larry Fink have suddenly started blanketing the media in Tennessee with ads, including full-page newspaper ads, and also ads on social media, like this one on Twitter.

This ad campaign won’t help. People are fed up with the woke/ESG insanity and they are fed up with Black Rock. I fully expect Black Rock to have to change its toxic name at some point, like so many of the tobacco companies ended up doing.

Blue City Police Exodus

My suburban Tennessee town just hired a police officer with a couple of decades prior experience on the New York City Police Department. He is one of the police officers alluded to in this story:

“NYPD cops leave force in alarming rate — over 2,500 turned in badges so far in 2023” [NY Post – 11/25/2023]

This article mainly talks about the crushing workload on those officers who remain with the NYPD amid budget cuts and canceled police academy classes, but it must be incredibly demoralizing to try protect the citizenry from crime when the local district attorney is explicitly pro-crime, and the people whom the police are trying to protect vote overwhelmingly for pro-crime politicians.

One police officer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told The Post he plans to leave the job this summer when he hits 20 years. “I keep in contact with the guys that I was in the police academy with and we all have the same notion,” he said of his 2004 class of 2,400. “I think maybe 95% of us are planning on leaving.”

My little southern town has also just hired a former Los Angeles police officer, and I have a new neighbor who took early retirement from another large California police department to move to Tennessee and seek other employment.

The good news is that these blue state cops fleeing to red states are bringing us more red votes. They’re predominantly conservative refugees coming to safe ground, not colonizers bringing hostile values.

Dear Mega-Bank CEOs, I’m Sorry This is Happening to You

My pro-business, free-market, anti-regulation principles should lead me to care more about punitive regulations being imposed on Wall Street banks.

“Wall Street bank bosses warn lawmakers of economic toll from new rules” [Reuters – 12/06/2023]

The top bosses of JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other major banks warned on Wednesday that capital hikes and other new rules will hurt lending and the economy during a Senate hearing…

The industry has been waging a fierce campaign to kill the "Basel endgame" proposal, which overhauls how banks must calculate their loss-absorbing capital, and as regulators roll out fair lending and fee cap regulations, among other rules.

But I have another principle, which is that those who align with enemies of my freedom, and who use their power, money, and influence in an attempt to deny me liberty and economic freedom, will receive nothing from me but laughter when the vipers they snuggled up with turn on them.

Those CEOs warning of the danger of new government regulations on their industry include Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, and the CEO of Goldman Sachs.

But look at which CEOs have been out urging Congress and the government to regulate away my rights and freedoms.

“Why bank CEOs are speaking out on guns, DACA and global warming” [American Banker – 5/06/2018]

But times are changing. CEOs such as JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, Citigroup’s Michael Corbat and Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein are now taking stands on big, public-policy issues in part because key stakeholders expect them to.

These CEOs expect us conservatives to remain principled in protecting them on certain economic issues, while at the same time they align with communists in government to take away our guns and petroleum-based lifestyle.

I’ll offer up a compromise. I will lend my support to the regulatory agenda of JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs, if they will fire their CEOs for their role in pushing regulations that are contrary to my agenda. An apology for their role in pushing the communist agenda would also be warranted.

Soft Bigotry

An Irish entertainer named Keith Barry recently had a tweet of his go viral for reasons he didn’t intend. His efforts to praise the work ethic of immigrants left no doubt where he resides on the leftist caste system, and where he believes those hard-working servants immigrants belong. He wrote: ”Today I was served my lunch by an immigrant, my coffee by an immigrant, met a concierge in a hotel who was an immigrant and had 3 hard working immigrant lads in my house putting in wardrobes and a new kitchen. They are all amazing and lovely people as well as hard workers.”

Diversity Is Our Strength

Did you hear about the bigots down in Dixie who brutally assaulted a family member for converting from the family’s faith? Probably not.

“Tennessee Muslim family charged with assaulting son for converting to Christianity” [Fox News - 12/12/2023]

A Muslim family in Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested early Tuesday for allegedly assaulting their son for converting to Christianity, according to local reports.

Officers conducted a welfare check at the home after the victim’s employer called police with concerns.

Responding Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers were reported to have found the victim "trembling and wide-eyed" with "disheveled hair." The victim also appeared to have been "cut haphazardly" with lumps on his face.

#StopAntiChristianHate

Washington Post or Babylon Bee?

This is a real snapshot of the top of the fold on page 1 of the Washington Post from this past week. This is not a Babylon Bee parody. Here are the three headlines:

• “A brutal struggle for queer Russians”
• “On the hunt for climate disease”
• “Vaccine foes are gaining power”

Curt Mills is correct, how would a parody version of this look any different? The only thing missing is a “We got him this time” headline about Donald Trump, but it’s probably safe to assume it’s right there below the fold.

Something Lighter

Let’s wind down with a few smiles…

This struck a chord with me because there was a time back in my single days when I used a moving box as a “temporary” trash can in my bedroom…for several years. It lacked in appearance, but it did an excellent job, with much better capacity than your typical bedroom/bath trash can.

A Texas Longhorn Viking helmet is such a great idea.

If you had the head of hair to allow it, which ‘50s haircut are you going with? I still regret never going with a pompadour before my hairline started receding.

New Year’s Thank You

Thank you wonderful morons for another fun year here at Ace of Spades HQ. Sometimes politics and the state of the world is frightening and discouraging, but this place is a wonderful refuge.

Thanks also to Ace for generously allowing me to write here, and to the Cobs for all their support.

And of course, the wonderful Mrs. Throckmorton, who, before I hit “Publish,” is kind enough to help me clean up poor grammar, challenge poorly reasoned arguments, and get me out of fights with strawmen before I take them public.

Enjoy your New Year’s festivities. See you in 2024!

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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