Free Republic

Is there anything more Soviet than a bank that lends money to companies making things no one wants to buy? That's the missing puzzle piece on why Silicon Valley Bank went belly up, and Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal has found it: the failure of the bank was premised on ESG, which descended into wokester lending priorities, creating the abnormal conditions that left the bank ripe for a meltdown. Strassel: Most of these companies weren’t filling some vital market need. Rather, as the Journal reported, SVB was beloved for its willingness to offer “banking services to startups that...

Leonard Leo, a leader of the right-wing Federalist Society, hopes to transform American culture the way he transformed the judiciary. As Donald Trump’s adviser on judicial nominations, he helped put Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court, making him central to the demise of Roe v. Wade. Now he wants to build a new organization helping reactionaries consolidate power in realms like Wall Street, Silicon Valley, journalism, Hollywood and academia. “I spent close to 30 years, if not more, helping to build the conservative legal movement,” Leo said in a video for the organization at...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed the National Hockey League (NHL) in a statement Friday afternoon after the league posted what the state deemed to be a “discriminatory” job posting. “The NHL is proud to announce its first-ever Pathway to Hockey Summit launching during our 2023 All Star festivities in South Florida!” the NHL said in the job posting on LinkedIn. “The Pathway to Hockey Summit is a career event for diverse job seekers who are pursuing careers in hockey. The day will be filled with guest speakers and panelists, networking opportunities, and more!” The event takes place on February 2...

U.S. — Male M&M's everywhere rejoiced after the announcement by Mars, Inc. that the female M&M's are getting their own bag. The male M&M's hope this change will finally give them some much sought-after peace and quiet. According to sources, the red, yellow, blue, and orange M&M's are hoping this means they can finally get a little rest and relaxation, lounge around all day, and just hang out with the bros without being nagged to death. "Yeah! Um, 'Empowered Women Empower Women' or whatever it is, right guys?!" said the Red M&M. "It's more important than ever to support women...

HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, announced Wednesday it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields as part of its updated climate strategy. Climate campaigners welcomed the moved saying HSBC provided a new baseline for other major banks but urged the bank to go further. The bank said it would still provide financing to existing fossil fuel projects “in line with current and future declining global oil and gas demand.” It would also continue to provide finance and advisory services to energy sector clients but will assess the companies’ plans to transition to clean energy. “It sets a new minimum...

Chevron Corp. turned out to be one of the top performing assets David Root included this year in the workplace retirement portfolios his firm manages for companies that offer employee 401k plans. And he makes no apologies for the investment. “If you didn’t have energy as part of your portfolio this year — which averaged 35% to 40% returns — you had no chance of outperforming the S&P 500,” said Mr. Root, CEO of DBR & Co., Downtown. Some fund managers guided by their environmental, social and governance values rather than pure financial considerations might have ruled out an investment...

The list is growing of historical figures or public personalities who views are considered by the woke brigade as unacceptable, backward, or bigoted. It raises not only the changing assessments of these figures, but also whether one can enjoy a work or activity which is regarded as unacceptable for present-day political or cultural reasons, or for being the product of an unenlightened era. A number of incidents in 2021 illustrate manifestation of bigotry and cancel culture. One concerns a German artist, Jess de Wahls, a textile artist born in East Berlin, whose work has been removed from the gift shop...