Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

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Friday, February 18. 2022

Friday morning links

 Dick Van Dyke, 96, dances in Valentine’s Day video with much-younger wife


 It Turns Out That Ethanol Is Worse For the Climate Than Gasoline


 Free, State-Run Preschool Worse for Poor Kids Than No Preschool, Study Finds. "If this study doesn't put the nail in the coffin of academic training to little children, it's hard to imagine what will," says psychologist Peter Gray.


 The Union Map of School Closings - States where teachers’ unions are strongest have been slowest to get back to in-person teaching and to lift Covid restrictions on students.


 "Revenge travel": As Omicron wanes, Americans eagerly book vacations


 How to Save Science From Covid Politics. Ten crucial lessons from Dr. Vinay Prasad.


 A 40% Fatherless Nation?



Amazon suspends Black Lives Matter from its charity platform


 A Student Sleuth Found Evidence that Our University Practices Reverse Racism. Here’s Why I Advised Him Not to Publish It


Durham scandal: The sheer dishonesty of the media is astounding


 11 implications of Durham probe threaten to undermine Biden. This story should reverberate far beyond the next election


 Hillary Clinton uses a Vanity Fair article as "a good debunking" of the Durham filing






Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:06 | Comments (53) | Trackbacks (0)

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Reality Honks Back

About those truckers…

QUOTE:
The thinking classes are fatally removed from the physical side of life… Their only relation to productive labor is that of consumers. They have no experience of making anything substantial or enduring. They live in a world of abstractions and images, a simulated world that consists of computerized models of reality – “hyperreality,” as it’s been called – as distinguished from the palatable, immediate, physical reality inhabited by ordinary men and women. Their belief in “social construction of reality” – the central dogma of postmodernist thought – reflects the experience of living in an artificial environment from which everything that resists human control (unavoidably, everything familiar and reassuring as well) has been rigorously excluded. Control has become their obsession. In their drive to insulate themselves against risk and contingency – against the unpredictable hazards that afflict human life – the thinking classes have seceded not just from the common world around them but from reality itself.

So let’s consider this using the protests as a lens, and vice versa.

https://theupheaval.substack.com/p/reality-honks-back?r=1ke0l&utm_source=url
#1 feeblemind on 2022-02-18 08:09 (Reply)
"Hyperreality"?

Should be called hyporeality.

Words matter.
#1.1 DrTorch (Link) on 2022-02-18 09:51 (Reply)
Here is an explanation of the term, DrTorch.

QUOTE:
Although there is some debate about the exact definition, hyperreality is generally defined as a condition in which what is real and what is fiction are blended together so that there is no clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins. It is a postmodern philosophy that deals in part with semiotics, or the study of the signs that surround people in everyday life and what they actually mean. French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard researched hyperreality to note how humans were starting to accept simulated versions of reality. As the line between what is real and what is an altered representation became blurred, he questioned if anything was truly real in the age of mass media.

https://www.thehealthboard.com/what-is-hyperreality.htm
#1.1.1 feeblemind on 2022-02-18 11:00 (Reply)
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.
#1.1.1.1 Aggie on 2022-02-18 11:07 (Reply)
Especially when it comes time to eat.
#1.1.1.1.1 feeblemind on 2022-02-18 12:59 (Reply)
A 40% Fatherless Nation?

And to add insult to injury, finding a car with standard transmission is quite difficult, so much so that few younger people can drive a stick shift.

We're becoming a nation of shiftless bastards.
#2 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2022-02-18 08:10 (Reply)
"Shiftless bastards" LOL

I have one, and Impreza, in my driveway, and no, you can't have it.

They even make Miatas with automatic transmissions today.
#2.1 bob sykes (Link) on 2022-02-18 08:45 (Reply)
A stick shift is a good anti-theft device, these days!
#2.2 Cleve Watson on 2022-02-18 18:43 (Reply)
Thanks for the Dick van Dyke clip.

There is a short video on YouTube of Dick's TV wife, Mary Tyler Moore, dancing. She not only was beautiful, she was a great dancers.

Dick had a long and distinguished career in movies and TV. Go to the link and see how many of his projects you watched:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Van_Dyke

I saw most of them.
#3 bob sykes (Link) on 2022-02-18 08:49 (Reply)
Today's stories (Except Dick Van Dyke; he's great.) center around a single theme. The bureaucracy has determined that instead of being the implementer of policy it should be the arbiter of policy. Any policy with which it disagrees should be ignored or actively resisted. Any democratically elected person who does not acquiesce to their demands must be removed, and the machine of state not only can, but must be mobilized to remove them.
It is not their duty to serve, but their right to rule.
#4 Another Guy named Dan on 2022-02-18 09:00 (Reply)
Yes! Almost like they are Marxist/fascists.
#4.1 OneGuy on 2022-02-18 09:44 (Reply)
There's an ethanol plant just outside my small town Southern Minnesota home town. I've known for years that ethanol motor fuel was one of the great ag hustles of our time. What happens when even "our betters" come to that realization, or fall victim to some new hustle. Ethanol plants, along with the thousands and thousands of trucks and railcars, and billions of dollars worth of manufacturing infrastructure will be idled. Wasted.

I was as right about this as I was about the effects of the Covidian Lockdowns being worse than the disease itself. "Our betters" really should start checking with me before they go off on these half-cocked escapades [smile].
#5 Phloda on 2022-02-18 09:22 (Reply)
Omicron is waning? Great! We can call the families of those 2-3,000/day who were still dying through yesterday that their relatives aren't really dead!

I have been repeatedly hopeful, and have even predicted - sometimes strongly, sometimes tentatively - that covid was coming to an end. Most recently, I was public about my optimism that we would see a decline after Feb 1. But we haven't. Maybe it is soon, sure, but it still has not happened.

People are saying it's over, not because it actually is, but because they are tired of hearing about it and doing anything about it. Well, I'm tired of winter, too, but that doesn't mean it's over. And Americans get tired of any war after three years, but that doesn't mean we have won or that we are finished. Being tired of something is very human, but that doesn't make it true.

The closest we get to reality among the "it's over" crowd is "well, this is going to be chronic and we will just have to learn to live with it." Yet even those don't acknowledge that learning to live with it may mean hundreds of thousands of extra deaths every year. If people would own what it is they are actually saying, and articulate what the real trade off is, then we could at least have a logical discussion. But they would rather point fingers at the government, with growing conspiracy belief without growing evidence, or at their fellow citizens, rather than at the disease and the Chinese labs. Oh yeah, the Chinese labs, sure, but...
#6 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-02-18 09:53 (Reply)
What is that that you want us, the living, to do? What do you expect from us?

In the past ten years I have lost my wife, my mother, my sister and my step-father to cancer. What should I do about that? Just last month my sister-in-law died from cancer. Good friends have been lost to cancer. What should I do? Should I cower in fear of cancer?

No one gets out of here alive. Jesus says to let the dead bury the dead. The living need to live. Be not afraid. Blessed are those that mourn for they will inherit the kingdom.

I mourn and I help how I can. That is my trade off. What else can I do?
#6.1 B. Hammer on 2022-02-18 12:31 (Reply)
You are absolutely right. The right thing to do was for our government to use the time in the buildup two year ago to expand our hospital services and provide some way to be able to treat all of the covid patients without interfering or limiting all other medical care. To give us honest advice not what was politically beneficial to them. And to test and approve medications that were effective EVEN if President Trump has praised them. Instead what we got was politicization, misleading and contradictory advice, shutdowns, masks and a stolen election. Our government should never have this power over us again. NEVER again should we endure lockdowns.

It is interesting that the deaths from covid yesterday was 2100 plus in the U.S. BUT the science has changed and we are ending the mandates and masks and lockdowns. Obviously because politicians polled the voters and realized that we are pissed over the screwing over they did to us. Without a thorough investigation and criminal charges AND a complete rewriting of the laws they misused and changes to the directives of our government agencies I don't think we can ever trust our government again.
#6.1.1 Anon on 2022-02-18 13:53 (Reply)
There are much bigger problems in the world than covid. And covid doesn't even come close to the worst problems humanity has faced in the past. At some point you will have to accept that it might get you or someone you know. And if it doesn't, then something else will. What do you expect people to do about?


I think you're wrong about people who want to get back to normal. I think most people acknowledge what it entails to just live with it. The government says that 900,000 Americans have died from it to date. So what? 300,000 people might die from it every year. So what? I know someone who died from it. So what? I got it and was sick for several weeks and lost my full sense of taste and smell, seemingly for life. So what? I can live with all of that. I can live with it and not change anything in my life. Is that owning it enough to satisfy you? Because I can care even less than I do right now, if that will make a difference.

The trade off is that we live our lives like we always have because if it's not one thing, it's another.

What do you think should be done about it?
#6.2 jack walter on 2022-02-18 13:57 (Reply)
I wanted to add two examples of how I'm done with it. My neighbor had Covid a few weeks ago. His kids were out playing with my kids the entire time. I figured if we get it, then we get it. Whatever.

Same with our tenant. She had covid while she also had a gas leak that needed to be solved. My wife was in her house to assist with the gas company employee. Whatever.

There is no reason to let covid virus alter the way you do things anymore. You will get it at some point no matter how cautious you are. You might die from it, but the odds are that it will be the same as, or easier than, the flu.
#6.2.1 jack walter on 2022-02-18 16:33 (Reply)
Omicron was first detected in South Africa in late November, and was spreading here by mid December. New Covid cases went from 37/100,000 per day in mid December, peaked at about 243/100,000 in mid-January, and have been dropping sharply since—the current figures are… about 36/100,000. The Omicron wave is, in fact, almost over. New deaths lag new cases by about 4 weeks; they peaked at 0.78/100,000 in the beginning of February, and are now down to 0.67/100,000, or about a 15% drop this month. They never reached 3,000/day, and they were down by roughly 25% from the 2020/2021 January peak.
Covid isn’t going away. Nobody can make it go away, nor can all of us together do it. This is just one of the new risks to the world. HIV and Hep C are new in my lifetime, and aren’t going away. Fentanyl and methamphetamines as street drugs are new in my lifetime too, and aren’t going away. I know people who have died from all of these things. But it would be foolish of me to think that all risks must always move in ways favorable to me.
#6.3 Janet on 2022-02-18 14:48 (Reply)
QUOTE:
If third parties or members of the media have overstated, understated or otherwise misinterpreted facts contained in the government’s motion, that does not in any way undermine the valid reasons for the government’s inclusion of this information.

John Durham
Special Counsel
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21234942-durham-response-to-sussmann-filing-21722

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested people should be executed based on an overstated reading of Durham's motion.
 
#7 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 10:04 (Reply)
Wrong. He stated, quite correctly, that in the past such actions would have been punishable by death in this country. He was, as people often do, using hyperbole to emphasize the seriousness of the matter. But you already know all that. You just want to score a point.

It's very odd that you don't realize that your reflexive denial of the criminal and unethical actions used by the Dems and the power structure (LE and IC) against someone you don't like is the reason people discount everything you say around here, including your occasionally correct posts on the Kung Flu.
#7.1 SK on 2022-02-18 10:33 (Reply)
SK: He stated, quite correctly, that in the past such actions would have been punishable by death in this country.

QUOTE:
In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death. In addition, reparations should be paid to those in our country who have been damaged by this.

Unless you think that he didn't mean "a stronger period of time in our country" in a positive sense, then it is correct that he was suggesting they should be executed. So, we've graduated from "Lock her up!" to "String her up!", presumably on the same gallows as Pence. Trump also asks for reparations.

SK: He was, as people often do, using hyperbole to emphasize the seriousness of the matter.

So, a former and possibly future president is hyperbolically suggesting that his political opponent should be executed. Got it.

SK: It's very odd that you don't realize that your reflexive denial of the criminal and unethical actions used by the Dems and the power structure

The Durham motion does not detail any such evidence.
#7.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 10:47 (Reply)
Really? 'Without evidence", you say?

https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-february-07-2022
#7.1.1.1 Aggie on 2022-02-18 11:10 (Reply)
Quibble-DickZ gotta quibble.
#7.1.1.1.1 Zachinoff on 2022-02-18 11:11 (Reply)
Aggie: Really? 'Without evidence", you say?

We posted that link yesterday in direct response to a comment of yours. It's not part of Durham's motion. What about it?
#7.1.1.1.2 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 11:17 (Reply)
You quoted it as 'evidence' when it is in fact without a scintilla, or even a reference to, actual evidence that can be independently verified. It's a list of assertions and a policy statement, nothing more.

Information from one source that cannot be verified is called 'advertising'. Information that has the means of checking via multiple avenues to assess / determine its accuracy and veracity is properly called 'evidence' - in journalism, anyway.

For instance, I could backtrack on this bulletin and determine, separately, that a news conference was held and that the bulletin was released for public consumption by the DHS. But it wouldn't ratify the assertions that are made in the bulletin as 'facts'.
#7.1.1.1.2.1 Aggie on 2022-02-18 11:33 (Reply)
Aggie: You quoted it as 'evidence' when it is in fact without a scintilla

So, really, your response belongs in the previous thread. Did the link have any relevance to the Durham motion and his defence?
#7.1.1.1.2.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 11:41 (Reply)
I was pointing out your inconsistency.
#7.1.1.1.2.1.1.1 Aggie on 2022-02-18 11:54 (Reply)
Aggie: I was pointing out your inconsistency.

Well, if you decide to you want to address the DHS link, just post your comments in the previous thread, so the information is in context.
#7.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 11:58 (Reply)
Just so. Yesterday, you presented a bulletin of DHS assertions of domestic terrorism and misinformation as 'evidence', when it contained nothing independently verifiable.

Today, on the Durham investigation, you characterize the motion as 'without evidence', and yet each point of the argument has citations that support its objective, all research-able, all independently verifiable - including what the defendant has said in past statements. By definition, the document is evidence, and it contains: evidence.

You're simply arguing your positions as a partisan, bending definitions to suit your arguments. The post belongs here.
#7.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1 Aggie on 2022-02-18 12:15 (Reply)
Aggie: Yesterday, you presented a bulletin of DHS assertions of domestic terrorism and misinformation as 'evidence', when it contained nothing independently verifiable.

That is incorrect. There are a number of specifics in the DHS bulletin.

Aggie: Today, on the Durham investigation, you characterize the motion as 'without evidence'

That is incorrect. We noted that the Durham motion does not detail evidence of "criminal and unethical actions used by the Dems" other than the specific allegation of lying against a single individual. Notably, the Special Counsel doesn't claim that the information Sussmann provided was inaccurate. So, your evidence about "Dems and the power structure (LE and IC)" is a single allegation against a single individual. You seemed to be making a more general statement.
#7.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 12:55 (Reply)
This is your main technique--deflection. I wasn't talking about the Durham indictment, and you know it.
#7.1.1.2 SK on 2022-02-18 11:23 (Reply)
SK: This is your main technique--deflection.

As the topic was Durham's motion and his defense of that motion, it is you who deflected. Overstatements of the Durham motion have been repeated throughout the right-wing echochamber, and Durham directly addressed such overstatements.

You refer to "criminal and unethical actions used by the Dems." We'd be happy to engage this issue, but perhaps you should be specific rather than just waving your hands in the general direction.
#7.1.1.2.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 11:31 (Reply)
This response encapsulates very well why very few people give you any credibility around here. Anyone who was on a middle-school debate team tires quickly of such.

But here we go. I didn't deflect from the discussion at hand because I wasn't addressing it at all. I was pointing out as an aside why people here don't give you any credibility. But (again) you know that's what I was doing and are simply...wait for it...deflecting.
#7.1.1.2.1.1 SK on 2022-02-18 11:43 (Reply)
SK: I didn't deflect from the discussion at hand because I wasn't addressing it at all.

Actually, you did deflect. There have been multiple links on this blog to Durham's motion. We established the sub-thread to bring everyone up to date on Durham's defense of the motion, including his comment on overstatements and understatements in the public sphere.

Z: You refer to "criminal and unethical actions used by the Dems." We'd be happy to engage this issue, but perhaps you should be specific rather than just waving your hands in the general direction.

You forgot the specifics.
#7.1.1.2.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 11:49 (Reply)
Quibble-DickZ gotta quibble today about yesterday's quibble-fest.
#7.1.1.2.1.1.1.1 Zachinoff on 2022-02-18 11:50 (Reply)
SK: SK: I didn't deflect from the discussion at hand because I wasn't addressing it at all.

To be clear, that would be deflection—by definition.
#7.1.1.2.1.1.1.2 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 12:09 (Reply)
To be perfectly clear, it's NOT deflection in the way you used the word. And, again, you know it.

Once again, your use of techniques like this is what undermines your credibility.
#7.1.1.2.1.1.1.2.1 SK on 2022-02-18 12:42 (Reply)
SK: To be perfectly clear, it's NOT deflection in the way you used the word.

Let us know if you decide to engage the topic.
#7.1.1.2.1.1.1.2.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 12:57 (Reply)
I did address the topic--your mischaracterizing Trump's statement. Then you go down the rabbit hole.

Stop changing the terms of the argument. Again, it's why you have zero credibility around here.
#7.1.1.2.1.1.1.2.1.1.1 SK on 2022-02-18 13:15 (Reply)
SK: I did address the topic--your mischaracterizing Trump's statement.

We addressed your remarks concerning Trump, saying, "Unless you think that Trump didn't mean "a stronger period of time in our country" in a positive sense, then it is correct that he was suggesting they should be executed. So, we've graduated from "Lock her up!" to "String her up!", presumably on the same gallows as Pence. Trump also asks for reparations."
#7.1.1.2.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 13:24 (Reply)
re It Turns Out That Ethanol Is Worse For the Climate Than Gasoline

There is nothing new here. This has all been known since the mid 70s when I was in college.

Ethanol is a political animal that takes more energy to produce than what is gained from the resulting product.

The emmisions, damage to engines etc, doesn't matter. There is too much money to made to have the industry shut down now.

The biggest threat to ethanol, other than the collapse of the Federal government and its subsidies, is the decree mandating electric vehicles. Should a way be found to end the production of the internal combustion engine, ethanol would be a product in search of a market that doesn't exist.
#8 feeblemind on 2022-02-18 10:54 (Reply)
Ethanol is not worse for the climate than gasoline because neither affect the climate. "Climate" is just one more leftie device to direct weak minds into doing their bidding. Real climate is temporarily affected by enourmous spews of volcanic ash but spits on made made immitations.
#8.1 james wilson (Link) on 2022-02-18 17:32 (Reply)
#7: Old Zack...there he goes again and again and again...


"Hillary Clinton uses a Vanity Fair article as "a good debunking" of the Durham filing": She lies...
#9 Sam L. on 2022-02-18 11:54 (Reply)
Sam L: "Hillary Clinton uses a Vanity Fair article as "a good debunking" of the Durham filing"

Good catch:

QUOTE:
Clinton tweets: Trump & Fox are desperately spinning up a fake scandal to distract from his real ones. So it's a day that ends in Y. The more his misdeeds are exposed, the more they lie. For those interested in reality, here's a good debunking of their latest nonsense.

So, Clinton is not saying "'a good debunking' of the Durham filing," but a good debunking of Trump and Fox News' overstatements concerning the filing. See Durham's defense of the motion above.
#9.1 Zachriel on 2022-02-18 12:07 (Reply)
Re State-run Preschool: It would be great if this (latest, additional, confirming) finding led to the end of the preschool/Headstart boondoggle, but as Ronald Reagan said, the closest thing we have to eternal life in this world is a Government program.
#10 Hairless Joe on 2022-02-18 12:41 (Reply)
Related to the Durham probe (or should be).

QUOTE:
On November 17, 2016, Rogers traveled to meet President-Elect Trump in Trump Tower, New York. Director Rogers did not inform his boss – Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.

On November 17, 2016, the Trump Transition Team announced they were moving all transition activity to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

On November 19, 2016, the Washington Post reported the following:

The heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed.


https://themarketswork.com/2018/04/05/the-uncovering-mike-rogers-investigation-section-702-fisa-abuse-the-fbi/
#11 Zachinoff on 2022-02-18 12:49 (Reply)
are you saying that Adm Rogers was a whistleblower, who traveled to warn Trump about the illegal surveillance upon him, who did so without the knowledge or approval of his superiors (who might have been part of the surveillance)?
Are not whistleblowers protected by law; are not "the heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community" criminally & civilly liable for what happened afterwards to Adm Rogers?
#11.1 nunnya bidnez jr on 2022-02-18 13:28 (Reply)
Read the article and all your questions will be answered.
Admiral Mike Rogers found some stuff that wasn't on the up and up which was his job to report.
Basically he warned President-elect Trump that his headquarters in the Trump Towers was compromised.
#11.1.1 Zachinoff on 2022-02-18 16:33 (Reply)
I think it was the Patriot Act that made this kind of spying possible. And the internal organization of the act made it possible for it to be weaponized by underhanded politicians and admin state characters. The ACT can NOT be reformed as there are far too many shifty lawyers in government that can reinterpret or simply ignore its meanings. The ACT must be rescinded and any of the admin state built around the ACT must be fired.
#11.2 indyjonesouthere on 2022-02-18 15:08 (Reply)
Today seems a good day to point out that two diametrically opposed philosophies can not share space.

Separation or Purge? Sharing a Society with the Political left is impossible, by Brandon Smith Can be found of survivalblog.com published today.
#12 indyjonesouthere on 2022-02-18 14:33 (Reply)
The Deep Sea

Scroll down to see what lives in the deep sea in this interactive page.

https://neal.fun/deep-sea/
#13 feeblemind on 2022-02-18 15:32 (Reply)
We're living all of those stories we heard about Pravda

"Covid data will not be published over concerns it's misrepresented by anti-vaxxers"

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19931641.covid-data-will-not-published-concerns-misrepresented-anti-vaxxers/
#14 DrTorch (Link) on 2022-02-18 16:04 (Reply)
Lawmakers Are Waking Up To BlackRock's Dual Loyalty, And Taking Action

Some good news. Republicans acually doing something to fight back.

QUOTE:
West Virginia Republican Treasurer Riley Moore axed his state’s relationship with BlackRock last month over the $10 trillion investment firm’s dual loyalty to Chinese interests and woke capitalism.

Now the colossal Wall Street firm is void of oversight for the state’s investment fund, a liquid account worth approximately $1.5 billion.

Beyond Moore’s efforts in West Virginia, lawmakers in Texas and Florida have also made moves to counteract BlackRock’s undue influence.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis recently moved to strip proxy vote power over state finances from companies that foster investment in China while managing taxpayer dollars. That would include BlackRock, which oversees billions from Florida’s pensions and investment funds.

Further west in Texas, the company hired a team of lobbyists in Austin to protect its more than $20 billion handled as legislators prepare to follow Moore’s lead in withdrawing state business from the New York firm.

It’s not just BlackRock beginning to feel the heat from proactive lawmakers moving to protect their constituents’ tax dollars from being used against them. All banks that spurn fossil fuels run the risk of alienating their relationships with state governments. In November, Moore led a coalition of 15 states pledging to park $600 billion in taxpayer assets in other institutions than those that bar investment in the industry.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/02/18/state-lawmakers-are-waking-up-to-blackrocks-dangers-to-americans-and-taking-action/
#15 feeblemind on 2022-02-18 16:08 (Reply)

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