‘Woke’ Banks Fight Back–And Win. The good news?: Even in conservative states, the proposals went down. The bad news?: It’s because the banks did the fighting back:
Conservatives have long held that the government should avoid interfering with private business decisions. But over the last two years, Republican state treasurers and attorneys general in Texas, Florida and other states have sought to blacklist banks that factor climate risks and social concerns into their investment decisions.
In Republican strongholds such as North Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi and Kentucky, state lawmakers have recentlydefeated proposals that would prohibit state governments or pension funds from doing business with the big financial institutions that have adopted ESG — environmental, social and governance — goals and policies.
In North Dakota a pair of proposed laws went to crushing defeats with one losing by a 90-3 margin on Feb. 1. They were shot down, in part, by arguments that these proposals contradicted conservative principles.
Conservative groups have sought to use public pension plans and state and local bond offerings to freeze out selected financial institutions. Those groups say they are simply trying to counter the injection of “woke” values into Wall Street investment decisions.
But big banks and asset managers supportive of ESG — including BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and State Street — say their strategies are being mischaracterized amid the larger culture wars of the day. They say it makes financial sense to factor climate risks and other societal concerns into investment strategies.
Starbucks–Blatant Union-Buster:
Starbucks’ efforts to stop unionization were “egregious and widespread” violations of federal law, a judge ruled Wednesday in a major win for labor groups.
Michael Rosas, an administrative law judge at the National Labor Relations Board, handed down the decision after a yearlong investigation into claims Starbucks aggressively engaged in unfair labor practices. He found that Starbucks had illegally monitored and disciplined employees who engaged in the union drive and committed various violations meant to weaken support for a union at several coffee shops in the Buffalo, New York, area.
Rosas said Starbucks showed a “general disregard for employees’ fundamental rights” amid 32 unfair labor charges made by employees in New York.
The ruling requires Starbucks to reopen coffee shops it had closed after the union drive began, reinstate seven workers in the Buffalo area and pay backpay and damages to dozens of workers the judge said were subject to retaliation that affected their wages. Starbucks must also bargain with the union at a location in Buffalo that lost a union election in late 2021.
We have much better alternatives in Delaware, with better coffee. If you’re still going to Starbucks, why?
Virulent Catholic Legal Group Fights–Everything Good. The Thomas More Society:
More recently, the Chicago-based organization has embraced a far different but equally divisive undertaking — relentlessly questioning the integrity of elections. Leaping into the 2020 “Stop the Steal” frenzy, which was consistently discredited, the Thomas More Society aggressively pursued scores of lawsuits and complaints across the country.
Yet for all the scrutiny given to election denialism and its champions — including Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn and Sidney Powell, former advisers to President Donald Trump — the significant role played by the Thomas More Society has received little attention.
One of its strategists, Phill Kline, tried to convince state legislatures in swing states to hold off on certifying Joe Biden’s electors, a maneuver that drew the notice of the House Jan. 6 committee. Kline is the former attorney general of Kansas whose law license was suspended indefinitely a decade ago by the state Supreme Court over ethical violations. Interviews and records examined by ProPublica show how closely aligned Kline has been with the Thomas More Society.
Lawyers for the society, in recent years, also have brought legal action opposing vaccine mandates, gay marriage and transgender rights. Then came Trump and an obsession among his followers with proving that he lost due to election fraud, and a new mission emerged.
OSHA Takes On Amazon Safety Practices. Seriously, the Delaware General Assembly needs to enact legislation forbidding Delaware’s quasi-public ‘business development’ organization from giving funds to any company under investigation for safety violations. In fact, I think I’ll call my state rep today.
Speaking Of Unsafe Delaware Companies…: The Delaware City Refinery is a serial polluter. It can afford to be–DNREC only gives them slaps on the wrist. I’m sorry, I know, jobsjobsjobs. But this place either needs to be shut down, or shut down until/unless their massive safety/public health issues are addressed:
The latest violation, which was reported on Monday, involved the “unpermitted release” of 617 pounds of sulfur dioxide on Dec. 24, 2022, during a flare, where excess gas is vented and burned. Sulfur dioxide, which is toxic in large quantities, is released naturally during volcanic eruptions and is often a byproduct of fossil fuel burning.
It’s the refinery’s third violation reported by DNREC in 2023, during which only seven total have been recorded statewide.
In another violation reported by DNREC on Feb. 1, the refinery released 31,900 pounds of carbon monoxide, 280 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 160 pounds of ammonia and 20 pounds of hydrogen cyanide over the course of about 50 minutes.
Delaware City Refining Co. also ranks high among oil refineries nationwide. In 2021, the company was the second-highest producer of nitrogen emissions out of all refineries in the U.S., releasing 1,198,371 pounds in a year – or about 3,283 pounds per day, according to the EPA.
While there is a general set of regulations for pollution set forth by the government, Shah said there are no laws specifically about refineries. (Why?) Instead, they are beholden to the same reporting standards as other companies permitted to have major emissions in both Delaware and across the country.
Jeez, you’d think that Our Pal Val and Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore would want the Underground City At Ft. DuPont to operate in a more pristine environment. At least Deb Heffernan, after pocketing Delaware City Refinery $$’s for the entirety of her legislative career, has said she will no longer accept their filthy lucre. Which doesn’t mean that she’ll do the job of helping to clean up Delaware City.
What do you want to talk about?