THE MORNING RANT: Buck Shots – January 17, 2025

Target Going to Court for Fiduciary Negligence with its Pride Campaign

The legal pushback against woke capital continues, as investors are finding judges receptive to allowing lawsuits against companies pursuing DEI and ESG at the expense of profit and investor return, thus engaging in fiduciary negligence. A few days ago I wrote about American Airlines being found in violation of federal law for prioritizing ESG in a manner that caused harm to its employees’ 401ks.

Target is also heading to the courtroom to try to defend its promotion of LGBTQ garments targeting minors, since the consumer backlash to that vulgarity was predictable and very costly in lost sales.

“Target must face shareholder lawsuit over Pride backlash, judge rules” [USA Today]

A lawsuit against Target over its controversial 2023 Pride Collection can move forward, a Florida judge has ruled.

"Target embraced a radical transgender agenda targeting children and families through the corporation’s infamous 2023 'Pride' campaign," conservative group America First Legal, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement, adding that the backlash "led to billions in losses."

Illegal Wind Farm Must be Removed for Violating Osage Mineral Rights

Back in 2010, some wind energy hustlers leased the surface rights to 8,400 acres in Oklahoma to develop a wind farm. 84 wind turbines were erected. However, the mineral rights to that land belonged to trust a for the benefit of the Osage Nation. The developer never received permission to excavate the Osage’s sub-surface land when installing the foundations for the turbines.

The Osage sued, and a federal court has now ruled that the wind farm must be removed.

“Federal judge orders removal of wind farm developed on Osage Nation's Mineral Estate” [Fox 23 Tulsa – 12/19/2024]

The excavation for 82 of the wind turbines involved explosives to create craters over 10 feet deep and 60 feet wide to install reinforced concrete foundations. "Significant amounts of Osage minerals were engineered and used as backfill for, and positioned around, the wind turbine foundations.”

The United States brought two declaratory judgement claims and additional claims for conversion, trespass, and continuing trespass of the [Osage Mineral Estate].

On Thursday, Judge Choe-Groves also ordered the defendants to remove the wind farm from the OME and return it to its pre-trespass condition on or before Dec. 1 of next year.

Maybe one reason Native Americans swung hard to the right in support of Donald Trump in the 2024 election is because they hate those giant bird-killing cuisinarts as much as Donald Trump does.

5,900 Years Ago the Earth Was Much Warmer than Today

More than 30 pine trees that have been buried in ice for more than 5,000 years were recently discovered in Wyoming in a patch of melting ice. A climate cultist might want to believe that this thawing terrain is proof of a warming climate. But the problem is that this piece of land is high above the timberline, in an area too cold for trees to grow. But it didn’t used to be. The climate was once warmer than it is now.

“Melting Ice Reveals Remains of 5,900-Year-Old Trees in Wyoming, Uncovering a Long-Lost Forest” [Smithsonian Magazine – 01/13/2025]

[Scientists] found the previously hidden stand of trees on the Beartooth Plateau in northwest Wyoming, which is part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The whitebark pines were lying flat but had been preserved in good condition, suggesting they were rapidly enveloped by ice. The trees were recently exposed when the ice patch began melting due to hotter temperatures related to human-caused climate change, reports New Scientist’s Taylor Mitchell Brown.

If “human caused climate change” caused the ice patch to melt, what caused the warming 6,000 years ago that allowed pine trees to grow there? Perhaps it was all the buffalo flatulence that caused warming in the mid-Holocene era.

This Smithsonian article does at least note that, This suggests the region’s climate was once warmer than it is today. Correct. We are actually living in an historically cool period for planet Earth.

Brown University’s $46 Million (and Growing) Deficit

Another Ivy League University is swirling the drain in a financial crisis of its own making. This time it’s Brown University. Predictably, Brown caused this crisis by hiring a bloated corps of administrators.

“Brown will restrict faculty, staff growth and reduce PhD admissions to address budget deficit’ {Brown Daily Herald – 12/17/2024]

In the last 20 years, faculty headcount has grown by over 20%, and the number of unrestricted staff — staff not funded by grants or gifts — has grown by 28%, according to the announcement. But during this time, undergraduate enrollment has grown by only 13%. This has placed “considerable pressure on the University’s tuition-dependent budget.”

Brown’s operating deficit could hit $90 million next year. It sounds like it’s time for Brown to start liquidating its $7 billion endowment since the school is still avoiding the obvious solution of terminating the administrative deadweight that it hired.

The Gulf of America

Once upon a time, I would have objected to renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” but that was before the America-hating left (e.g. Democrats) started trying to erase history by toppling statues and renaming iconic American landmarks.

With Fort Hood having been renamed Fort Cavazos, and Fort Bragg renamed Fort Liberty, and Mount McKinley renamed Denali, those of us who actually love our country need to start renaming things too.

I’ve spent more vacation time in my life on the Texas Gulf Coast than anywhere else, and I never once stepped foot into Mexican coastal waters. Why the heck should Mexico get the name. The Gulf of America it is!

At Texas A&M: Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever

Texas A&M is still actively engaging in racial discrimination, but its President thinks it’s all cool, because it’s the “good” kind of racial segregation that discriminates against Asians and whites.

Unfortunately for him, Christopher Rufo just exposed Texas A&M’s practice of restricting participants in certain conferences to those attendees identifying as members of preferred races.

Mr. Welsh III is a cowardly man who quickly bows to the latest pressure applied to him. He first bowed in obedience to the DEI brigade at Texas A&M. Then rather than defend his DEI-driven support for racial segregation, Mr. Welsh III pretended to acquiesce to Gov. Abbott so as not to lose his job. He canceled Texas A&M’s racially segregated participation in this specific event.

But if you read President Welsh’s letter of capitulation, he is still not acknowledging any wrongdoing. He wrote, ”While the proper process for reviewing and approving attendance at such events was followed, I don’t believe we fully considered the spirit of our state law in making the initial decision to participate.”

If Welsh believes the “proper process” allowed for overt racial discrimination, and if he believes “the spirit of our state law” also allows for overt racial discrimination, then this man is not fit to be the President of Texas A&M University. He’s not fit to show his face in polite company in the state of Texas.

Please, Governor Abbott, fire this man. Mark Welsh III has made it abundantly clear that he cannot serve another day as President of Texas A&M. If you have to fire university regents to get them to take action against Welsh, then do that. Mark Welsh III and his promotion of racial segregation cannot be tolerated in 21st Century Texas.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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