LASSMAN: Financial Giants Are Suddenly Realizing The Left’s ESG Movement Has Serious Downsides
Daily Caller News | October 16, 2022 | Kent Lassman

Advocates for aggressive environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards have tried to achieve social and political objectives through anti-democratic and unrepresentative means.

That choice has now begun to catch up to them. What these advocates haven’t earned at the ballot box they have been trying to take through other, more coercive, means. More specifically, the decision to weaponize the financial industry to direct investment flows toward favored green and renewable projects has begun to backfire.

But there are costs for all of this fervor and for mixing political objectives with commercial goals. . . . Bloomberg News reported this week that “banks may not have originally understood the full litigation risks tied to signing net-zero commitments.”

DLA Piper is among the law firms saying any company making a net-zero claim without scientific underpinnings may be viewed as having misled consumers.”

In case there is any misunderstanding, in the banking and finance world terms like “full litigation risks” and “misled consumers” ring out like a five-alarm fire. BlackRock and others are living with the consequences of political advocacy. What started as a trickle has emerged as a wave of state governments recoiling from the perceived focus on anything other than returns.

During a September Congressional hearing, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was asked by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.-D) to pledge not to fund any more oil and gas projects.

His response, “Absolutely not and that would be the road to hell for America.”

. . . paved with Godot intentions.

BlackRock Stock Downgraded Over Investments in ESG
American Greatness | October 18, 2022 | Eric Lendrum

The asset management company BlackRock, which has been widely criticized for promoting multiple far-left concepts in the world of business, has seen its stock downgraded due to ongoing backlash.

According to The Daily Wire, UBS analyst Brennan Hawken downgraded the company last week due to its support for Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies. The target stock price was reduced from $700 to just $585, resulting in a one percent drop in BlackRock shares on Tuesday.

“We are downgrading BLK to Neutral based on environmental pressure to earnings and risk from the firm’s ESG positioning,” Hawken said in a statement, noting that the company could see a further loss of business and greater regulatory scrutiny if it does not change its course.

Report: Biden Regime Told El Paso Mayor to Not Declare State of Emergency Over City’s Migrant Crisis Ahead of Midterms
American Greatness | 18 Oct, 2022 | Debra Heine

The Biden White House reportedly directed the Democrat mayor of El Paso, Texas, to not declare a state of emergency over the massive influx of illegal immigrants overwhelming the city due to concerns it would make Democrats look bad ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

According to the New York Post, at least three of the El Paso City Council’s eight members have asked Mayor Oscar Leeser to issue an emergency declaration in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the thousands of migrants who have filled city’s shelters and hotels, but he has thus far resisted taking that step. Hundreds of migrants have reportedly been sleeping on the streets without access to toilets or showers, and residents have complained that the “smell of human waste is overwhelming in the area.”

“We’ve never seen anything like this. It’s a scene that you would see in a third-world country, not in the streets of El Paso,” said Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas), in a tweet last month.

Mayor Leeser admitted during a phone conversation in September that the Biden White House had urged him not to declare a state of emergency, Councilmember Claudia Rodriguez told the Post.

“He told me the White House asked him not to,” Rodriguez said, adding that Leeser had repeatedly assured her that he’d declare a state of emergency “if things got worse.” That could happen soon, as thousands of Venezuelans are currently headed to El Paso, according to Gonzales.

The surge of Venezuelans has come as a result of the Biden regime officially extending special protections for Venezuelan migrants, known as Temporary Protected Status, that shield some of them from deportation.

Biden also asked if it’s absolutely necessary for gas stations to advertise their prices.

I think I’ll stay away from that Old El Paso taco sauce, just to be safe.