Econ Expert on the GOP’s Debt Ceiling Hand: ‘We’re Holding Four Aces’

When members of Congress started boarding their flights home Thursday, not one of them knew how long they’d be gone. The possibility of a shorter-than-usual Memorial Day recess looms large as negotiators desperately try to hammer out a deal on the debt ceiling before June 1. “Every hour matters,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told ABC. “That’s why the White House has to become very serious about this.” To the average observer, it sounds ominous. But as Americans prep for the long weekend, plenty are wondering, how does any of this affect me?

Former congressman Dave Brat, who has a Ph.D. in economics, gets that question a lot. But first, he told “Washington Watch” guest host Jody Hice, it’s important to understand one thing: “It’s impossible to default.” You’ll never hear that in the mainstream media, he explained, but “we have way more money [available]. A default means you default on the U.S. Treasury Bond. If we ever defaulted on the U.S. Treasury, we’d all be fishing under a bridge with Frodo,” the dean of Liberty University’s School of Business joked. “It would be the end of Western civilization. So that’s not even in play.”

All of this hysteria, Brat says, stems from the “word games” the Left and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are playing. “What she’s talking about is paying all the bills for all Democratic spending. That may not happen, and that’s not a big deal. You just prioritize your spending in order. But we have plenty of money to pay off any interest on the debt in treasuries. And so, the American treasury holder doesn’t need to be worried about that.”

That doesn’t mean this isn’t a critical moment for our country, Brat explained. Right now, the Democratic-run Senate doesn’t have a budget plan. House Republicans do. “So all the leverage is on the Republican side right now.” And what does the GOP want? To cut spending. President Joe Biden and his party have, so far, flatly refused. But we’re on the verge of having $50 trillion dollars in debt to “hand off to the kids in 10 years,” Brat warns. With an interest rate of 5%, taxpayers are looking at $2.5 trillion a year just in interest payments. “That’s three times the U.S. military budget right now,” he emphasized, and none of it pays down the actual debt.

In other words, “there are $2 trillion deficits for the next 10 years around the necks of the kids. Everybody knows this, but the mainstream press will not cover any of [it],” Brat shook his head. To deal with that, “our friends [in the House] Freedom Caucus, who are being called every nasty word there is — ‘MAGA Republicans,’ ‘Republican extremists’ — they want to trim $4 trillion off of the $50 trillion in debt.” We’re not talking about a radical amount, he insisted. America would still be $46 trillion in debt in a decade. So it should be “an easy case to make to the American people” that we need to start trimming back.

As Hice pointed out, “We’re talking numbers that are astronomical that no one can even imagine [them].” And that’s part of the problem, Brat agreed. Another problem is that most people are too comfortable borrowing themselves. “The American consumer right now is $17 trillion in debt. Consumers have $1 trillion in credit card debt, $1.5 trillion in college loan debt. We’re in debt up to our eyeballs. And we’ve got a recession coming up, another financial crisis caused by the Federal Reserve for their mismanagement.”

By keeping the interest rate at 0% for a decade, the Fed has done the country a major disservice. [They’re] in a tough bind,” he explained, “[because] they basically want inflation, so they can pay the debt back with cheaper dollars. And so that’s where we stand.”

But this idea that we’re going to default on the total spending package, on $50 trillion, is baloney. “There’s no way,” Brat insisted. Even so, both sides need to come together on the debt ceiling, and Republicans “have the moral high ground for a change.” All they have to do is “tell the American people the basic facts, and you win.”

Changing America’s spending habits is “a hard, hard fight,” Brat agreed. “So you better fight now while we’ve got the leverage.” Remember, he went on, “Our team passed a bill. The Senate has not. Everything is on our side. Biden said. ‘I’m not going to negotiate. I don’t care’ and thumbed his nose at the whole thing. … But we need to hold strong. It’s time to take care of the American people and the kids. The liberals say they care about the kids. Fifty trillion dollars in debt means otherwise. They do not care about the kids.”

At least GOP leaders seem to understand the stakes, Hice said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a time where the Republicans [have appeared so] unified. … Literally in the hands of Republicans right now is the tool to roll back out-of-control spending.” But will Republicans hold together?

“Yeah,” Brat replied. “If they do not, they will cease to be a party,” he warned. “We’re holding four aces.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

THE NORTH FACE Becomes Latest Brand to Promote the Grooming of Kids

‘Out in Nature’ campaign targets kids as young as 2-years old.


DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) – Another popular clothing brand is promoting the homosexual grooming of children and transgender ideology just in time for so-called Pride Month.

On Wednesday, the apparel brand The North Face released a new ad featuring a gay drag queen named Pattie Gonia, who invites listeners to “come out.”

Conservative political activist Robby Starbuck tweeted, “Can anyone explain how the heck this ad helps @thenorthface sell outdoor clothes? They’re screaming at you to not buy their products if this violates your values. Accept their challenge.”

The video aims to promote the company’s “Out in Nature” campaign, which suggests, “Each one of us is a reflection of the glittery, messy, beautiful diversity that is Mother Earth. This Pride, we celebrate the transformational power of finding our runway in the outdoors together.”

“We are nature. Our connection to the outdoors is cyclical and reciprocal. We are colorful auras of light. Alive like a stream of water or a breath of mountain air,” states the Out In Nature webpage. “Mother Nature guides us to where we need to be — and we dress up to honor her.”

The company’s Pride Collection features designs modeled by young people and children and is intended for toddlers as young as 2 years old.

Along with clothing, there are two so-called Summer of Pride Tour events open for registration: one in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the other in Atlanta, Georgia. The one-day events feature “hikes, speakers, community, drag and so much more.”

This is the second year in a row the company has partnered with Pattie Gonia for its Summer of Pride.

Conservatives are outraged by the video, which they argue serves no purpose other than pushing what they consider to be a degenerate ideology.

One commenter posted: “This is the new normal. Every company will push this and will accept the conservative backlash until we do something. Bud Light was only the beginning of how bad it’s going to get.”

Bad Business Abounds

The North Face joins Bud Light and Target as companies conservatives are calling out and attempting to pressure through boycotts.

Bud Light has still been unable to stop the negative impact of its failed ad campaign featuring trans activist Dylan Mulvaney. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The brewer recently told its wholesalers that it would buy back unsold cases of beer that have gone past their expiration date.”

Target has recently faced criticism for its pride displays, which included products targeting children and so-called tuck-friendly swimwear for men masquerading as women.

The company reportedly held an emergency meeting last Friday to address the backlash. Some stores were instructed to change their displays, particularly in the South.

An insider told Fox, “We were given 36 hours, told to take all of our Pride stuff, the entire section, and move it into a section that’s a third the size. From the front of the store to the back of the store, you can’t have anything on mannequins and no large signage.”

Wednesday, Target released this statement:

For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month. Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.

Target has reportedly lost $9 billion in the past week due to the boycott.

CEO Brian Cornell doubled down on the pro-gay decisions declaring, “The things we’ve done from a DE&I [diversity, equity, and inclusion] standpoint, it’s adding value.”

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh asserted, “I think this Target boycott has real staying power. Target has now branded itself as a far left organization, to the point where it’s embarrassing to shop there. This is the branding that makes the boycott stick. It happened to Bud Light. I think it’s happening to Target.”

Not the First Time

It’s not the first time Target has faced financial losses after embracing immoral ideology.

The big-box store took a substantial financial hit, losing billions of dollars, over its 2016 trans bathroom policy.

“In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity,” the company boasted in 2016.

As Church Militant reported in 2017, “The implementation of Target’s transgender bathroom policy in 2016 ushered in an onslaught of sex offender incidents in Target store bathrooms in DallasIdahoTorontoCaliforniaSeattle and Oregon involving men accessing women’s restrooms and changing rooms.”

RELATED ARTICLE: Disney Cancels $1 Billion Expansion in Florida after Spat with DeSantis

EDITORS NOTE: This Church Militant column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

HITS BOTTOM, KEEPS DIGGING: Bud Light To Sponsor Pride Parades Despite Ongoing Boycott

Anheuser-Busch Joining Children’s Hospital Which Sexually Mutilates Children.


This is textbook business school case study stuff. Lose touch with your audience, go down in flames.

America’s woke companies have lost their way. Make your products. Sell your products. And STFU.

Bud Light To Sponsor Pride Parades Despite Ongoing Boycott

By Spencer Lindquist, Daily Wire • May 25, 2023:

Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch are sponsoring at least three different upcoming Pride events despite backlash over the partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a social media influencer who identifies as transgender.

Bud Light is listed as a sponsor on the Cincinnati Pride Parade website. Planned Parenthood and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, which medically transitions minors, are both also listed.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Missouri, where Anheuser-Busch is headquartered, the company is listed as the presenting sponsor of the St. Louis Pride Parade. A sponsorship packet explains that there are only four “presenting sponsor” slots available. The “Rainbow” sponsorship tier, located below the “presenting sponsor” tier, requires entities to pay $25,000.

Bud Light is also listed as a “Diamond Sponsor” of Stonewall Columbus, which organizes and hosts the annual Columbus, Ohio, Pride Parade. The “diamond” sponsorship tier requires companies to donate $20,000, a document from the organization specifies. The document also adds, “All Stonewall Columbus sponsors must affirm Stonewall’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies AND agree to donate no less than 8 hours of volunteer time during a calendar year.”

Anheuser-Busch was also listed as a premier sponsor for the San Francisco Pride Parade in 2022. The 2023 sponsors of the San Francisco Pride Parade have not yet been released.

Keep reading.

Here’s what they are sponsoring:

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Target Shares Plummet Following Trans Push To Children, Posts $9 Billion Loss

The mamas ain’t havin’ it. The men pushed back at Bud Light. Now it’s our turn.

Disney, Bid, Noe, Target. Keep it up.

Target Shares Fall Following ‘Pride’ Push

Customers have started reacting strongly to corporate ideological pandering

By Naveen Athrappully, The Epoch Times, May 25, 2023Updated: May 25, 2023

Shares of Target have recently declined after the company launched LGBTQ products, including items aimed at children, triggering a backlash from Americans against the retailer’s transgender push.

Target rolled out its Pride collection at the beginning of the month, offering over 2,000 products, including clothing, books, home furnishings, and calendars, among others. Some of the items were targeted at children. For example, books for kids aged 2–8 had titles like “Pride 1,2,3,” “Bye Bye, Binary,” and “I’m Not a Girl.” Target also suggested “The Pronoun Book” to kids aged 0–3. In home décor, Target offered mugs labeled “Gender Fluid.” It also offered transgender swimsuits for adults with a “tuck-friendly” feature.

The company’s actions attracted a lot of negative reactions online, with the hashtag “BoycottTarget” trending across social media.

Amid the backlash, Target’s shares have declined by 11 percent as of 11:00 a.m. EST on May 25. Between May 1 and May 24, the company’s market capitalization fell from $72.52 billion to $66.05 billion, a decline of $6.47 billion.

In a May 24 press release, the company announced removing some of the controversial items. “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work.

“Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”

Liz Wheeler, who hosts “The Liz Wheeler Show” video podcast, called out Target for not apologizing for promoting “pride” agenda.

“Target executives are freaking out & moving ‘pride’ displays to the back of the store. But DO NOT CAVE. They’re not apologizing. They’re blaming YOU, claiming conservatives who oppose a Satanist designing queer merchandise for kids are a ‘threat,’” she said in a May 24 tweet.

Satanist Products

Some of the items in Target’s Pride collection were designed by UK-based designer Abprallen, who identifies as a transgender gay man and is a proclaimed Satanist.

There were two items from Abprallen in the Pride collection. However, the products are now not available in Target’s online store following the backlash, according to Breitbart.

An outspoken Satanist, Abprallen is known for pushing messages like “Satan respects pronouns” on apparel and “burn down the cis-tem.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) slammed Target for its ties with a Satanist. “Even by the standards of woke corporations, @Target’s partnership with a Satanist to push the trans agenda on children is remarkable. The next time @Target comes begging for help, Republicans should respond, ‘best of luck,’” he said in a May 23 tweet.

Protecting Children

The Democrat governor of California, Gavin Newsom, hit out at Target for pulling out items from the Pride collection, calling the move “selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists.”

Read more.

AUTHOR

RELATED VIDEO: Target under scrutiny over LGBTQ Pride merch

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Latest Update On The Bud Light Boycott: It’s A Bloodbath

Bud Light sales are continuing to plummet as the beer brand faces its third month of boycotts over its decision to choose transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney as a brand ambassador.

Bud Light sales for the week of May 6-13 have sunk 28.4%, following a 27.7% decrease the week before, according to Beer Business Daily.

“Most people don’t care about this issue and don’t want to get roped into a conversation,” Beer Business Daily editor and publisher Harry Schuhmacher said. “Therefore they’re not going to buy the beer.”

Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, sent a can to transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney celebrating his “365 Days of Girlhood.” Mulvaney also posted several videos promoting the beer brand. Mulvaney is known for his TikTok videos documenting his “Days of Girlhood,” which critics accuse of promoting a demeaning depiction of womanhood.

“It just seems like an unlucky draw,” Schuhmacher continued. “The timing and the zeitgeist and the divided environment all combined to create this unbelievable boycott that nobody could have anticipated.”

Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch is reportedly giving distributors free beer to apologize for their plummeting sales. The company is even reportedly producing camouflage bottles and bottle with images of the “Folds of Honor” program to woo back their conservative customer base.

Bud Light’s in-store sales plummeted during the week of April 17-22, according to a report by Bump Williams Consulting. Sales dropped by 21%, and 11% in the two weeks preceding. Pours in bars and restaurants across the country have also decreased, with servers pouring 6% less Bud Lights from April 2 to April 15.

“Nobody imagined it would go on this long,” Schuhmacher said. He continued: “It seems random — it struck a nerve. I’ve never seen anything to compare it to, in all of the [consumer packaged goods] industry. It’s a real shock.”

AUTHOR

SARAH WEAVER

Social issues reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Woke Bud Light Can’t Give Their Beer Away – Literally, Now Forced to Buy It Back

Death spiral. The voiceless, the silent majority, have spoken.

Bud Light Essentially Giving Beer Away During Memorial Day Weekend Amid Boycott

Bud Light’s marketing team has unveiled a new effort to bolster sales in the midst of ongoing boycott by essentially giving away a 15-pack of beer for free for Memorial Day.

Until May 31, consumers can get up to a $15 rebate on the purchase of Bud Light, Budweiser, Budweiser Select, and Budweiser Select 55 in a 15-pack or larger. The rebate comes in the form of a digital prepaid credit card that will be equivalent to up to $15.

It comes as Bud Light sales have dropped for another consecutive week since a transgender influencer shared a post of a custom Bud Light can that was sent to celebrate “365 Days of Girlhood” in early April. The influencer and activist, a biological male, also posted “#BudLightPartner” in one of the social media posts that included the can.

Sales of the light beer were down 24.6 percent for the week that ended May 13 compared to a year ago, worse than the 23.6 percent drop the brand suffered a week prior, according to data released by Bump Williams Consulting and Nielson IQ research. Rival light beers made by Miller and Coors have seen sales increases during the same timeframe, the data has shown.

Keep reading.

Anheuser-Busch Offers To Buy Back Expiring Cases Of Bud Light After Dylan Mulvaney Fiasco

By  Virginia Kruta •  •  DailyWire.com

Anheuser-Busch is offering to buy unsold cases of Bud Light back from retailers as sales continue to crater in the aftermath of a brief but disastrous partnership with trans-identifying influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The offer, reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as boycotts continue to dog the brand in the wake of the controversial deal. Mulvaney raved in a TikTok video about a gift from Bud Light — a can featuring the trans-influencer’s face — and the partnership, which reportedly consisted of just the one can, sparked a boycott that caused sales of the beverage to plummet nearly overnight.

By mid-May, Bud Light sales were down 28% in comparison with 2022 sales numbers for the same time period — according to a Bump Williams analysis of Nielsen data — and several high-profile celebrities had thrown their weight behind a total boycott of the brand.

Musician Kid Rock shared a video of himself firing a gun at several cases of Bud Light, saying, “Grandpa’s feeling a little frisky today. Let me say something to all of you and be as clear and concise as possible. F*** Bud Light. And f*** Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.”

Nashville bar owner and country music star John Rich revealed that customers had simply stopped buying Bud Light when they came into his establishment.

“I think the customers decide,” Rich said. “Customers are king. Our number one selling beer up until a few days ago was, guess what? Bud Light. That was the number one beer. We’ve got cases and cases and cases of it sitting back there.”Read more.

AUTHOR

RELATED ARTICLE: Bud Light Essentially Giving Beer Away During Memorial Day Weekend Amid Boycott

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Woke Ford’s ‘Very Gay Raptor’ Endorses Trans Lifestyle. Take action, tell them to stop it!

Very Gay Raptor woke promotion is still alive on Ford website after June 2021 and June 2022 releases.


Click here to send your email to complain to Ford Motor Company about its woke “Very Gay Raptor” promotion which is still on its website.


Conservatives have called out Ford’s “Very Gay Raptor” promotion even though it was produced in 2021 and relaunched during Gay Pride Month in June 2022.

Ford and other critics claim the promotion was for 2022 not 2023.

However, these critics fail to mention that the “Very Gay Raptor” promotion was produced in 2021.  It was rereleased in 2022.  What’s to say Ford won’t continue the promotion again in June 2023 during this year’s gay pride month?

Additionally, if Ford was done with this promotion in 2022 why does the auto maker continue the “Very Gay Raptor’ promotion on its website?  The Ford website headline reads:  Ford’s ‘Very Gay Raptor’ Set to Redefine ‘Tough’ at Goodwood.  The promotion states in part:

“Very Gay Raptor”’ (VGR) and Next-Gen Ranger Raptor to appear at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, reaffirming Ford’s long-term commitment to LGBTQ+ allyship.

Ford’s current continuation of the “Very Gay Raptor” promotion on its website makes it fair game for consumers to complain about the automaker’s wokeness.  Sadly, the words “Redefine ‘Tough”” can easily be interpreted that Ford is endorsing the destructive transgender lifestyle.

Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to send to complain to Ford Motor Company about it’s woke “Very Gay Raptor” promotion which is still on its website.

To send your email, please click the following link, enter your name and email address then click the “Send Your Message” button. You may also edit the subject or message text if you wish.


Click here to send your email to complain to Ford Motor Company about its woke “Very Gay Raptor” promotion which is still on its website.


Contact information:

Jim Farley, CEO
Ford Investor Relations
One American Road, Suite 1026
Dearborn, MI 48126-2798

Phone 313-322-3000 Ext 0 ask for Jim Farley’s office.

Jim Farley, President and CEO
jim.farley@ford.com

John Lawler, CFO
john.lawler@ford.com

Kumar Galhotra, President
kumar.galhotra@ford.com

Investor Relations
fordIR@ford.com

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EDITORS NOTE: This Florida Family Association column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Bolting Blue Cities: Major Firms Vow To LEAVE Chicago Amid WOKE Policies, High Crime, Higher Taxes

Chicago’s new woke mayor is signed in and vows to tax the rich and big business to pay for progressive agenda – as major firms vow to PULL OUT of city (Daily Mail)

  • Mayor Brandon Johnson beat out more moderate Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas this month to earn the spot
  • On a podcast, the CEO of the country’s foremost financial derivatives exchange voiced distaste over taxes planned by the 47-year-old former union organizer
  • Speaking roughly 24 hours before a ceremony that will see Johnson succeed his similarly aligned predecessor, Terry Duffy said CME Inc. is set to leave the city

Companies are already vowing to leave Chicago over additional taxes promised by its new mayor – a progressive newcomer tasked with addressing the city’s dwindling image under predecessor Lori Lightfoot.

Sworn in early Monday, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson beat out more moderate Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas earlier this month to earn the hallowed spot – something business leaders like CME Group Inc are already peeved about.

CME CEO Duffy Says Firm Is Prepared to Leave Chicago ‘If We Had To’

‘Ill-conceived policy’ could see the exchange’s leases voided.

CME Group Inc. is prepared to leave Chicago if the city and state take steps that are perceived as “ill-conceived,” Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy said in an interview.

Duffy’s remarks, made in an episode of the Odd Lots podcast, come as Mayor Brandon Johnson is being sworn into office after proposing additional taxes, including one on financial transactions, to help boost the city’s revenue. That plan was fiercely opposed by Chicago’s exchanges and investment firms. A higher levy would also require state approval to pass.

“Mr. Johnson has no legal authority to impose a transaction tax on my business,” said Duffy, adding that fighting crime should be a bigger focus for the new mayor. He also shouldn’t “get too bogged down on how he’s going to short-term think he’s go……

Keep reading.

AUTHOR

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

New Biden Admin Mandate Will Raise Costs On Mobile Homeowners For ‘Zero’ Climate Benefit, Experts Say

The Biden administration’s upcoming rules requiring stricter energy efficiency standards for mobile homes will raise costs for low-income homebuyers while failing to meaningfully limit emissions, industry experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) rules — set to go into effect May 31, one year after they were finalized — update insulation and sealing requirements among other efficiency standards for mobile homes, formally known as manufactured homes, which the agency estimates could save the average consumer between $177 to $475 per year on utilities while boosting average manufactured home prices by $4,100 to $4,500. The rule will have an “adverse” impact on low-income homebuyers via increased prices — the median household income for manufactured homeowners is $35,000, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute —  but will likely have a “negligible” effect on carbon emissions, Jonathan Lesser of the Manhattan Institute told the DCNF.

“According to the DOE’s own estimates, over a 30-year period, the new rule will reduce CO2 emissions by 80.4 million metric tons,” Lesser noted, citing the DOE’s regulatory analysis. “By comparison, according to the 2022 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, US energy-related CO2 emissions were 4.7 billion metric tons. So, over a 30-year period, the new rule will reduce CO2 emissions by the equivalent of 150 hours of US emissions in 2022.  …  Obviously, this rule will have zero impact on climate.”

At the same time, the elevated prices will further hinder homeownership affordability that “is already near a record low,” Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni told the DCNF. While home prices did fall for the first time in over a decade in March, prices are still much higher than historical averages and, combined with elevated mortgage rates, are a major factor in declining home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“Not only does [the DOE rule] increase the upfront cost of buying a home for lower-income families, but by the time these additional costs pay themselves off, a new generation of heating and cooling equipment will likely be available, which will use less energy,” Antoni told the DCNF. “That means the energy savings over the life of the home will not be as high as projected.”

Lesser characterized the rule as seemingly having been “designed to force more low-income consumers into rentals, rather than being able to own their own homes.”

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm argued in the agency’s press release finalizing the rule that it would help homeowners save money on utilities while benefiting the environment.

“The rules will hold manufacturers of these U.S. homes to cost-saving efficiency standards, giving residents more comfortable living environments and a much-needed break on their annual utility costs, while delivering cleaner air for their communities,” said Granholm.

The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and Texas Manufactured Housing Association (THMA) filed a lawsuit in February, alleging that the one-year compliance date was “arbitrary, capricious, and impracticable.” The organizations also alleged that the the agency failed to consult with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and failed to balance the affordability of manufactured homes and energy efficiency.

The MHI directed the DCNF to its press release announcing the lawsuit, while the THMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“As we have consistently demonstrated, the industry very much wants to work with DOE and HUD to find a workable and affordable solution but under the current status, we are being forced to possibly halt construction of homes in many regions or manufacture homes that cannot comply with the new DOE standards,” MHI CEO Lesli Gooch said in the statement. “With the deadline approximately 100 days away, and continued lack of clarity from DOE, legal action was the only option available.”

The rule could also have the side effect of encouraging people to stay in older, cheaper homes that are lacking in other modern safety and efficiency features, Jason Sorens, an economist who studies housing at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the DCNF. Housing has increased in quality “significantly” in recent decades and the government “shouldn’t be discouraging that transition,” Sorens said.

“Moderate-income households who would otherwise buy new manufactured homes will be pushed into buying used homes, renting, or tightening their belts to afford a new home that meets the rule,” Sorens told the DCNF. “In general, command-and-control environmental rules like this one that mandate a specific technology are out of favor with economists. It’s far better to price energy appropriately and let consumers make up their own minds how they want to be more efficient.”

The DOE did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

AUTHOR

JOHN HUGH DEMASTRI

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

AWED MEDIA BALANCED NEWS: We cover COVID to Climate, as well as Energy to Elections.

Welcome! We cover COVID to Climate, as well as Energy to Elections.

Here is the link for this issue, so please share it on social media.

Bookmark or make Favorite the 2023, 2022, 2021 & 2020 Newsletter Archives.

Particularly note the ***asterisked*** items below…

— This Newsletter’s Articles, by Topic —

If You Only Have Time to Read a Few Select Articles:

*** Durham finds DOJ, FBI ‘failed to uphold’ mission of ‘strict fidelity to the law’ in Trump-Russia probe

*** Why the Durham Report Matters to Democracy

*** Tucker Carlson Announces New Show on Twitter

*** AI will be the Left’s greatest weapon against religious faith and truth

*** Google Unveils Plan to Demolish the Journalism Industry Using AI

*** Post Covid: Twelve Challenges for a Shattered World

*** Duke Health’s Antiracist “Pledge” Is Not Guided by Science

*** Supreme Court Case about “Home Equity Theft”?

*** Major New Book: The Marxification of Education

*** Wisconsin Asserts that Catholic Charity is Not ‘Primarily’ Religious

*** Using science to further government objectives

*** Study reveals scale of ‘science scam’ in academic publishing

*** An easy guide to rational energy policies

*** New Study: Nuclear Power Is Humanity’s Greenest Energy Option

*** Nuclear Power Everywhere All at Once

*** EPA v. The Grid

*** NY Senator Introduces Legislation to Prohibit Use of Fossil Fuels in Manufacturing of Renewable Energy Equipment

*** Senator Ron Johnson Asks Witnesses Blunt Questions About Climate Change

*** The Great Reset

*** The Left claims offshore wind costs are “benefits”

*** Electric Vehicle Illusions

Higher Education Related:

*** The Strategy Behind the Campaign to Abolish DEI Bureaucracies in Universities

Secondary Education Related:

*** Report: The Key to Fixing the US Education System

*** Are Our Children Being Propagandized in School?

*** Major New Book: The Marxification of Education

Review of The Marxification of Education

Activists threatened to ‘curb stomp’ them for speaking out against school curriculum

‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage

Ever More Absurd New York City Education Spending

Oklahoma’s top education official wages war against teachers unions

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL):

*** Study Finds Multiple Problems with Push for Social-Emotional Learning in K-12 Education

*** Report: Social Emotional Learning — Don’t Be Fooled By The Title

*** Video: Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) | James Lindsay

*** The Trouble with Social Emotional Learning

*** Learning and Happiness: The Problem with Social-Emotional Learning

Social Emotional Learning: What could go wrong?

How social-emotional learning became a frontline in the battle against CRT

Greed Energy Economics:

Battle Looms Among NY Democrats Over High Cost of Green Energy Plans

Renewable Energy Health and Ecosystem Consequences:

Three bat species at risk of becoming endangered as wind turbines take heavy toll on wildlife

New Study: Bat Mortality in Wind Facilities of Southern Europe: Temporal Patterns and Implications in the Current Context of Climate Change

Renewables (General):

*** EPA v. The Grid

*** The wind and solar power myth has finally been exposed

*** Causal Effects

*** Wind and Solar Aren’t Nearly Enough: Why Biden Is Suddenly Supporting Fossil Fuels

There Is No Green “Energy Transition”

Oxford University’s Our World in Data falls for renewables industry spin

Wind Energy — Offshore:

*** The Left claims offshore wind costs are “benefits”

*** US Lawsuits filed against Offshore Wind Projects

R.I. fishermen file lawsuit notice over South Fork Wind Farm

Take’ authorizations prove NOAA is lying about whale deaths

Natural Resources Defense Council Announces STATE OF EMERGENCY for Atlantic Whales

CFACT’s Rucker testifies to NJ Senate GOP hearing on whale deaths

30th Dolphin Strands itself on a New Jersey beach

Wind Energy — Other:

*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)

*** How much wind killing do we want?

*** New Study: Wind Turbines Dry Out  Regional Soils

Studies Suggest That Wind Parks Cause Climate Change, Even Regional Drought

Study: The transmission of seismic vibrations from wind turbines

Nuclear Energy:

*** New Study: Nuclear Power Is Humanity’s Greenest Energy Option

*** Nuclear Power Everywhere All at Once

The Power of Fusion: Making America Energy Independent!

Fossil Fuel Energy:

*** NY Senator Introduces Legislation to Prohibit Use of Fossil Fuels in Manufacturing of Renewable Energy Equipment

*** An easy guide to rational energy policies

*** The Truth About Ozone

The Myth of Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Electric Vehicles (EVs):

*** Electric Vehicle Illusions

EPA’s almost bare-naked electric car mandate

California Will Be Exploiting Developing Countries to Achieve 1.8 Million EV Trucks

SUV emissions could wipe out EV gains

If the battery is the key to an EV future, China’s got a lock on it

Dominating EVs globally: How China is crushing the US car industry

Misc Energy:

*** The EPA Threatens to Turn Out the Lights

*** Paths to Net Zero: Identified, but not Demonstrated

Wheels Up

FERC commissioners tell senators of major grid reliability challenges, with some blaming markets

Biden Wages Terrifying, Suicidal War on Energy Security

Manmade Global Warming — Some Deceptions:

*** The Frozen Climate Views of the IPCC: An analysis of AR6

*** Actual science is discrediting the apocalyptic fantasies of ‘climate change’ cultists

*** Climate & Fairy Tales

What I Learned about What Exxon “Knew” re Climate Change

The Political Agenda of the IPCC

Manmade Global Warming — Misc:

*** Senator Ron Johnson Asks Witnesses Blunt Questions About Climate Change

*** The Obliging Presstitutes of Climate ‘Journalism’

*** 3 Damning Equations to Defeat Global Warming Zealots

*** CO2 Coalition Announces Election of Nobel Laureate Dr. John Clauser to its Board of Directors

*** Princeton University: Why Climate Change Is NOT an Emergency

Spoof: EIS Approval for Dummies

Canada’s green extremism is leading to disaster for its economy

US Election:

Election-Integrity.info (10 major election reports by our team of experts, plus much more!)

***  After Reviewing the Evidence, Sec. of State Says 2020 Election Was Stolen

*** WV SOS powerful statement to House regarding the 2020 presidential election

*** Our Interview with Secretary Warner

Democrats’ Far-Reaching ‘Reforms’ are the Real Threat to Election Security, Not Violent Conservatives

RNC Launches New Year-Round Election Integrity Department

Dominion CEO Predicts ‘Business Ultimately Goes to Zero’

US Election — State Issues:

*** New NC Supreme Court Majority Overturns Prior Majority’s Unconstitutional Interference in Redistricting

*** Virginia joins states pulling out of multi-state voter list program ERIC

The Voter Registration Machine Flipping the States Blue

Ranked Choice Voting Explained: Confusing, Chaotic

Alternate Voting Methods: The Left’s Radical Models For Political Control

Maryland Election Technology Not Certified, Requiring Immediate Decertification Of Machines

Governor Hobbs Thumbs Nose at Election Integrity and American Manufacturing

The Durham Report:

*** Durham finds DOJ, FBI ‘failed to uphold’ mission of ‘strict fidelity to the law’ in Trump-Russia probe

*** Why the Durham Report Matters to Democracy

Americans have lost their trust in government and Durham report shows why

Failed Justice Demands Accountability

RFK, Jr.:

Why RFK’s Candidacy Matters to the Conservative Cause

RFK Jr on Covid, Ukraine, Border, Nuclear Power and More

Misc US Politics:

*** 65-page Hunter Biden exposé produced by the House Judiciary Committee

*** Corruption of President Biden, and of the Justice Department, and of the Media

*** Trump’s CNN Town Hall Was a Dumpster Fire

White House to Crack Down on AI, Appoints VP Kamala Harris to Lead Task Force

Israel under Fire and The West’s Pusillanimous Response

What Happened to the Left?

The Blackout on Biden Corruption is Truly “Pulitzer-Level Stuff”

An Ulterior Media

Tucker Carlson:

*** Tucker Carlson Announces New Show on Twitter

Dominion settlement with Fox News had an unwritten agreement to fire Carlson

PAC to draft Tucker Carlson for president launches

Societally US:

*** Post Covid: Twelve Challenges for a Shattered World

*** Duke Health’s Antiracist “Pledge” Is Not Guided by Science

*** Supreme Court Case about “Home Equity Theft”?

*** Critically Thinking about Reparations

Manufacturing Mental Illness

Elites Manufacture Fake “Hate” Crisis as Pretext for Mass Spying, Blacklists, and Censorship

I identify as infallible, and I expect you to agree

US Politics and Socialism:

*** Rampage On America

*** Victor Hanson: The New Ugly Americans

U.S. financial system: 722 banks under threat of bankruptcy

Globalism:

*** The Great Reset

Timcast IRL – Elon Musk Names WEF Chair As Twitter CEO

Religion Related:

*** AI will be the Left’s greatest weapon against religious faith and truth

*** Wisconsin Asserts that Catholic Charity is Not ‘Primarily’ Religious

Catholic hospitals’ attorney reacts to win against Biden admin’s ‘shocking’ threats to force closures

Survey: Is Climate Change a False Religion?

VICTORY: North Carolina Establishes Law Protecting 3,000+ Lives Annually

Washington Elementary School District Settles With ACU After Discriminating Against Christians

Science:

*** Using science to further government objectives

*** Study reveals scale of ‘science scam’ in academic publishing

A Third of Scientific Papers May Be Fraudulent

Scientific Survey Shows Voters Across the Political Spectrum Are Ideologically Deluded

How Biden-Era Funding Is Skewing Scientific Research Ever-Wokeward

The Alarming Ideological Capture of Our Scientific Institutions

Plastic in the ocean is un-American; China is the big offender

Artificial Intelligence:

*** Google Unveils Plan to Demolish the Journalism Industry Using AI

AI Here, AI There, AI Everywhere

Artificial intelligence harsher than humans when people break the rules

AI Is Revolutionizing An Already Hi-Tech Oil & Gas Industry

Will AI Be Used To Skew The 2024 Election Results?

Five Reasons Why ChatGPT Flaunts Privacy

Ukraine:

*** Pray for the safety of the Ukrainian people

*** A well-rated source to make a Ukraine donation

*** Latest Developments in Ukraine: May 20th

COVID-19 — Injections:

*** Profiles in Courage: Prof. Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi

The COVID vaccines have an estimated death rate >1,000 higher than the acceptable safe limit

COVID-19 — Masks:

Masking Dissent

COVID-19 — Misc:

The Most Important COVID Test You’ve Never Heard Of

Long COVID scientists try to unravel blood clot mystery

COVID-19 — Repeated Important Information:

My webpage (C19Science.info) with dozens of Science-based COVID-19 reports

*** World Council of Health: Early COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

*** FLCCC Long COVID Treatment Protocol

*** COVID-19: What You Need To Know (Physicians for Informed Consent)

*** If you have received a COVID-19 injection, here’s how to Detox

*** Place Your US Order for Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests


Please use social media, etc. to pass on this Newsletter to other open-minded citizens…If you’d like to be added to (or unsubscribe from) the distribution of our popular, free, worldwide Media Balance Newsletter, simply send me an email saying that.


Note 1: We recommend reading the Newsletter on your computer, not your phone, as some documents (e.g., PDFs) are much easier to read on a large computer screen… We’ve tried to use common fonts, etc. to minimize display issues.

Note 2: For past Newsletter issues see the archives from: 2020 & 2021 & 2022 & 2023. To accommodate numerous requests received about prior articles over all thirteen plus years of the Newsletter, we’ve put this together — where you can search ALL prior issues, by year. For a background about how the Newsletter is put together, etc., please read this.

Note 3: See this extensive list of reasonable books on climate change. As a parallel effort, we have also put together a list of some good books related to industrial wind energy. Both topics are also extensively covered on my website: WiseEnergy.org.

Note 4: I am not an attorney or a physician, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or any of my websites) should be construed as giving legal or medical advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent, licensed attorney when you are involved with legal issues, and consult a competent physician regarding medical matters.

Copyright © 2023; Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (see WiseEnergy.org).

U.S. activist charges Twitter with being ‘participant tool’ in Saudi oppression

Money talks: “Saudi Arabia is Twitter’s second-largest investor.”

It is noteworthy that the nefarious alliance between Saudi Arabia and Twitter that the Guardian highlights here began prior to Elon Musk taking over Twitter in 2022. Last year, Jihad Watch published this story: Something more than ‘reform’ is going on in Saudi Arabia: Twitter employee spied on users for Saudi government.

In November of last year, the Guardian also published an article warning about “possible access to users’ data could pose national security risk and could be used to target kingdom’s dissidents.” A little late.

In a scenario that is reminiscent of Shia Iran, Sunni Saudi Arabia also rounds up dissidents and tortures and/or imprisons them.

This ongoing and mysterious case sheds light upon the plight of dissidents in Saudi Arabia and the role that Twitter has played. It’s mysterious because in 2021, the United States State Department “issued a statement saying it was concerned about the sentencing of a Saudi Arabian citizen known to be an ISIS sympathizer, referring to him as an ‘aid worker.’” That citizen was the same Abdulrahman al-Sadhan.

The issues involved here, however, go beyond al-Sadhan. They include the plight of dissidents in Saudi Arabia and the past wrongdoings of Twitter. These issues need elucidation regardless of who or what Abdulrahman al-Sadhan turns out to be.

Twitter and Saudi officials face racketeering lawsuit over jailed satirist

by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Guardian, May 16, 2023:

A US activist has filed a racketeering lawsuit against Twitter and senior Saudi officials on behalf of her brother, a Saudi aid worker who was forcibly disappeared – and then later sentenced to 20 years in jail – for using a satirical and anonymous Twitter account to mock the Riyadh government.

The lawsuit by Areej al-Sadhan alleges that Twitter has become a “participant tool” in a campaign of transnational repression by Saudi authorities as part of the company’s effort to monetise its relationship with the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is Twitter’s second-largest investor, after Elon Musk.

At the heart of the case lies the story of Areej’s brother, Abdulrahman, a former aid worker with the Red Crescent who has not been seen or heard from since 2021, when a Saudi court sentenced him to 20 years in prison and a 20-year travel ban for his use of Twitter.

The lawsuit, which was filed at the US district court in the northern district of California on Tuesday, contains critical new details about Abdulrahman’s story, including that the former aid worker created his anonymous Twitter account while living in the US.

He did so, the complaint alleges, “in order to call out hypocrisy” in the kingdom’s ruling family. He then returned to Saudi in 2014, before being “kidnapped” by the kingdom’s “secret police” in March 2018.

The lawsuit accuses Twitter of turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s systematic and documented repression of critics even though reports began to circulate about the kingdom’s “malign activities” using Twitter as early as 2018.

US prosecutors have separately established that Saudi authorities illegally obtained confidential data about Twitter users between 2014 and 2015 from two covert Saudi government agents who were working for the company. The so-called Twitter spies targeted individuals like Abdulrahman, the suit alleges, who were posted critical or embarrassing information about Saudi Arabia and its royal family….

Read more.

AUTHOR

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RELATED VIDEO: Frank Gaffney and Robert Spencer analyze the current political discourse within the US

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Adidas Uses Men to Model Female Swimsuits

A world without women. This male dominated, misogynist far-left movement is erasing women. And the feminists lay down for it like dogs.

For all these many years I have been writing, exposing the feminist movement as a big lie. It is a misogynist movement rooted in Lenin-Marxist dogma. And now the feminist silence and sanction of the trans males in women’s sports is irrefutable proof.

Adidas ripped for male modeling women’s swimsuit as sportswear goes woke

First Nike teamed up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote its sports bras, and now Adidas is using an intact male model to hawk its women’s swimwear.

The German-based sportswear giant was accused of seeking to mock, belittle and “erase” women by using an obviously male model to display its women’s one-piece Pride Swimsuit, part of its newly unveiled Pride 2023 collection.

Former NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines said that companies like Adidas “want you to know that they think men make the best women.”

“It’s disgusting,” she told Outkick podcast host Dan Dakich. “You would think they would see the public response to the Nike sponsorship, where Dylan Mulvaney was sporting this sports bra, which is of course intended for only women.”

She pointed out that the shots of Dylan Mulvaney modeling Nike sports bras and women’s workout gear last month spurred boycott calls, and “Adidas saw this, yet still thought it was a good idea to implement this themselves.”

“To even remotely put this out there is belittling, it’s offensive, it’s demeaning to what it is to be a woman,” said Ms. Gaines, “because I promise you, if you have XX chromosomes, you do not look like that in a swimsuit.”

Indeed, many commentators noted that the model has chest hair and other physical attributes more commonly associated with men.

“Hey @adidas, does the $70 price of this women’s swimsuit include the cost of the sock to stuff down my crotch because, unlike your model, I don’t seem to have a penis to fill out that bulge,” tweeted British radio host Julie Hartley-Brewer. “And do I have to order the chest hair separately? Please let me know. Thanks.”

The Independent Women’s Network asked: “Why is @adidas advertising male bulges in their WOMEN’S swimwear line!?”

Read more.

AUTHOR

RELATED VIDEO: OFF TARGET: Backlash Builds Over Retail Giant’s Trans Kid Clothing Designed by Satanist

RELATED TWEET:

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Dignity Defense Award: Imgur Bans and Removes All Pornography

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation is pleased to present the Dignity Defense Award to Imgur, a popular image sharing website, for banning and removing all sexually explicit content and pornography from their platform.

In a blog post detailing this decision, the company states, “Explicit and illegal content have historically posed a risk to Imgur’s community and its business, disallowing explicit content will allow Imgur to address these risks and protect the future of the Imgur community.”

While they do not go into detail about what these risks are, Imgur’s high volume of pornographic content made it a breeding ground for image-based sexual abuse and child sexual abuse material. If well-enforced, Imgur’s ban of sexually explicit content will undoubtedly greatly curb the proliferation of abuse material, as well as minimize the number of children being exposed to pornography.

What is Imgur?

Imgur was initially created in 2009 by an avid Redditor, Alan Schaaf. Frustrated with the inability to upload and share images on Reddit, he created Imgur as a solution. Imgur remained the primary host for images on Reddit for almost a decade, until Reddit rolled out an in-house image-uploading tool in 2016.

While Imgur may have started as solely an image sharing service, it quickly grew into a community of its own that thrived on and off Reddit’s interface. By 2021, Imgur was reported to have 300 million monthly active users, a daily image upload cadence of 1.5 million images, and more than 84 billion monthly image views. Having outgrown its humble Ohio dorm room beginnings, in September 2021 the platform was purchased by MediaLab AI – the parent company of notoriously problematic apps like Kik and Whisper.

NCOSE Commends Imgur’s Recent Safety Improvement, While Still Calling Out the Parent Company for Highly Dangerous Apps 

Kik, a messaging platform which a convicted child sex offender called “a predator’s paradise,” has been the face of intense scrutiny from NCOSE and other industry experts for facilitating child sexual exploitation, child sexual abuse material, sexual grooming, and image-based sexual abuse. As a repeat offender on NCOSE’s annual Dirty Dozen List, Kik’s failure to take any action in combatting the slew of issues that fester on its platform is widely known. Despite the connection in ownership, NCOSE awards credit where credit is due, and Imgur’s most recent actions are no exception. We commend Imgur’s recent safety move, while still firmly condemning the parent company for its egregious failure to prioritize safety across all its apps.

Reddit’s Response to Imgur’s Decision Once Again Proves It a Top Offender 

Imgur’s decision comes at the heels of NCOSE’s international campaign against Reddit for facilitating image-based sexual abuse, including a letter signed by NCOSE and 319 other international anti-sexual exploitation and violence experts from 31 countries demanding Reddit to ban all sexually explicit content and pornography from their platform.

Imgur has long been hailed as the “main place for NSFW Reddit image uploads,” with statistics estimating that in 2021, Reddit generated 56% of Imgur’s traffic. Yet sadly, Imgur’s ban on sexually explicit content will not solve the problems on Reddit. Because Reddit is all too happy to step in to fill the “gap” created by Imgur’s safety change.

In quintessential Reddit fashion, four days prior to the implementation of Imgur’s new policy, Reddit announced that users in “NSFW” communities would be allowed to upload sexually explicit content and pornography from their desktop, a function previously only accessible through the mobile app. Reddit currently has no age or consent verification process, meaning that any of the sexually explicit content uploaded could be image-based sexual abuse.

Learn more about the problems on Reddit and call on them to change here.

NCOSE Warmly Commends Imgur’s Decision, Despite Public Backlash

In a society that is increasingly celebratory of pornography, Imgur’s decision has sadly been met with much negativity. In a May 2023 Vice article, Imgur’s decision was referred to as “Porn Deletion Apocalypse.” One Twitter user even went so far as to equate Imgur’s actions to the burning of the “Library of Alexandria.”

Yet Imgur’s unexpected and unprompted actions were a demonstration of their “continued efforts to remain a safe and fun space on the internet,” especially in a time in which technological progress almost always supersedes the well-being of its digital citizens. And for that, NCOSE applauds Imgur.

NCOSE will continue to vigilantly watch Imgur and MediaLab AI throughout the year to ensure these policies remain enforced. NCOSE commends Imgur for going against the curve and proactively combatting online sexual violence and exploitation and setting a positive example for other social media sites to follow in its footsteps.

NCOSE’s Dignity Defense Award (formerly Dignity Defense Alert) is a campaign recognizing the people, companies, and nonprofits who are taking action to defend human dignity from any form of sexual abuse or exploitation. Read more here.

RELATED TWEET:

EDITORS NOTE: This NCOSE column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

REPORT: Prevalence of GSE Appraisal Waivers—March 2023

This report tracks trends for GSE appraisal waivers monthly and provides data on the risk characteristics of these loans.

To download the most recent data, please click here.

To read our comment letter to FHFA on appraisal-related policies, practices, and processes, please click here.

PDF to most recent report

Slide deck on GSE Appraisal Waiver Report

AUTHORS

Edward J. Pinto

Senior Fellow and Director, AEI Housing Center.

Tobias Peter

Research Fellow and Assistant Director, AEI Housing Center

EDITORS NOTE: This AEI report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Previous Reports

Origination Month Analyzed
March 2023
February 2023
December 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
June 2022
May 2022
March 2022
February 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
May 2020

4 More Companies Go ‘Full Bud Light,’ Daring Consumers to Boycott

While major banks downgrade Anheuser-Busch’s stock and Bud Light becomes a corporate punch line, a quartet of CEOs seem all too happy to join them. As the beer company implodes under the weight of a national boycott, their cautionary tale seems lost on four companies, who’ve decided to follow transgender advocacy straight to financial insolvency. Who are the brands foolish enough to ride Bud Light’s tattered coattails?

1. Target

One of the first companies to stick out their necks for the LGBT agenda, Target was woke before woke was a word. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the chain who introduced a controversial line of “Love Is Love” shirts way back in 2012 was ready to board the transgender train. Back then, retail analyst Britt Beemer warned that the Target strategy isn’t “very smart,” especially in conservative states, where it does the biggest business. “Anytime a retailer gets away from doing what they should be doing by being involved in a social cause, [they lose].”

Target got a taste of that last year, when the mega-retailer — who helped launch the war on gender six years ago with its mixed-gender bathrooms and fitting rooms — decided to fill its racks with merchandise to help young people reject the biological sex God gave them. From chest binders that strap down breasts to compression underwear to hide bulges for boys, Target is taking direct aim at America’s children.

Now, the soulless company is inviting new outrage with a trans line of clothes and books. With colorful messages like “Trans people will always exist!” “Queer! Queer! Queer! Queer!” “Cure transphobia, not trans people,” and “Ask me about my pronouns,” Target is putting itself in the bullseye. There are baby bodysuits, rompers, mugs, and a collection of books that would put most moms on the warpath. “My Sister Daisy,” which is about a boy learning to how to treat his younger brother’s “gender [transition] with compassion,” is recommended for 5 to 7-year-olds, while “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish” clocks in even younger (4-8).

The activist group Gays Against Groomers didn’t hold back their fury. “We hope there are enough parents out there that understand how wrong this is and show them that this garbage will not sell,” they urged their hundreds of thousands of followers. “The only thing these people understand is money. Target deserves the Bud Light treatment. We will work to put the pressure on them.”

2. Levi Strauss

Last fall, Jennifer Sey, a longtime Levi’s executive, wrote a blockbuster book about the radical undercurrent at America’s oldest jeans company called, “Levi’s Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job But Gave Me My Voice.” Sey’s candid, behind-the-scenes tell-all made quite a splash, especially her frank assessment of upper management’s radical politics.

“Today’s executives reared these kids with an ‘I’m not your Dad, I’m your friend’ parenting philosophy, and they chase their children’s approval,” she writes. “They want to impress their woke kids with their own progressive bona fides.”

Their latest idea? A gender-neutral clothing line. CEO Chip Bergh announced the idea this month, dismissing any fears about “a Bud Light-type backlash” against the 170-year-old company. Unisex clothing, he argued, is the wave of the future in a supposedly trans-accepting society.

“We are building out slowly,” he explained to Axios. “It started with a small collection of gender-neutral or gender-fluid line, and there’s definitely consumer appetite for that,” Bergh claimed. “And we are here for that.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Levi’s has rolled the dice on sexual politics. Its first foray into the trans market was 2017 with a collection called Line 8. Since then, they’ve only leaned harder into the fad, posting a guide to unisex shopping in 2019. (Like every other company on this list, their extremism also extends to abortion politics.)

As Sey warned, the tentacles of radicalism run deep at Levi’s — thanks in part to the younger generation of workers there, who she calls “ideological terrorists” who are “policing their peers and elders relentlessly.” Company leaders, she insists, “are unwilling to stand up to them.” “Most CEOs lack the moral courage to hold their ground,” Sey wrote. “Because they know, deep down, that they aren’t do-gooders, and they don’t want that curtain lifted.”

3. Starbucks

Anyone who’s ordered a cup from the iconic green mermaid has been fueling more than their caffeine fix — they’ve been financing the movement to trans our sons and daughters. After a divisive pronoun campaign in 2019 called #WhatsYourName, the mega-retailer one-upped America’s other woke CEOs last year by offering to ship employees’ children out of state to change their sex.

A statement from the company’s Sara Kelly announced that Starbucks is committed to the most outrageous forms of corporate activism — including paid travel for transgender surgery. “Regardless of where you live or what you believe, partners enrolled in Starbucks healthcare will now be offered reimbursement for eligible travel expenses when accessing abortion or gender-affirming procedures when those services are not available within 100 miles of a partner’s home.”

Now, a year later, Starbucks, whose philanthropic partners include an advocate for child sex-changes, is taking its campaign to mutilate children to the world.

On May 9, Starbucks India ignited a global firestorm after releasing an ad openly celebrating gender reassignment surgery. In the commercial, which has more than a million views, a mom and dad meet with their son, who now identifies as a girl, at the coffee shop. They all listen as the barista calls out a drink for “Arpita,” their son’s new name — meant to be a sign that his parents, who placed the order, accept his new female identity. “For me, you are still my kid,” the father says. “Only a letter has been added to your name,” he said, reaching out for his son’s hand.

Underneath, the Indian caption reads, “Your name defines who you are — whether it’s Arpit or Arpita. At Starbucks, we love and accept you for who you are. Because being yourself means everything to us. #ItStartsWithYourName.”

An Australian-based pundit, who’s watched Bud Light’s fall from grace, couldn’t believe Starbucks would be crazy enough to jump on the burning bandwagon. They’re going “full Bud Light,” he warned. “If saturating the market with a mediocre U.S. coffee brand wasn’t bad enough,” Rukshan Fernando tweeted, “now they are bringing their woke corporate culture to the Sub-Continent.”

Others pointed out the coffee company’s hypocrisy, since “Starbucks in Saudi [Arabia], UAE, and Qatar have been around much longer than India. Yet you will never see them place such ads there.” Then there was Indian celebrity Nuance Bro, who urged locals to walk away. “Alright India here’s your chance to resist properly. … Do not let this programming gain a foothold.”

But it’s not as if Starbucks’ agenda is a surprise. The liberal business has never truly cared about kids — not after spending thousands of dollars helping Planned Parenthood abort them — or working to deprive them of a married mom and dad. Still, if the wave of opposition to the trans agenda on both sides is any indication, something’s brewing at Starbucks — and that’s trouble.

4. Sports Illustrated

Men who pick up a copy of the 2023 swimsuit edition hoping to see actual women at the beach are in for quite a surprise with this year’s edition. Instead of a biological female on the cover, the woke magazine opted for Kim Petras, a busty man who underwent gender-transition surgery at age 16.

“I was so excited when I got the call to be in Sports Illustrated,” Petras, a German-born singer, told SI. “It’s very iconic, and a lot of very iconic people have done it before, so [it was a] big dream come true for me.” Asked about the pushback he might get, 30-year-old Petras replied, “It’s definitely a scary time to be transgender in America, but there’s also so much more representation than there’s ever been, and there’s so many things on the bright side.”

Back in 2006, the singer was considered “the world’s youngest transsexual” after he appeared on a television show describing his transition, which started with hormones at just 12 years old.

For Sports Illustrated, who’s no stranger to controversy, this isn’t the first time the magazine has pushed the envelope with a trans model. Leyna Bloom landed the cover job in 2021. Readers were irate — but the criticism obviously fell on deaf ears. “There is no theme [to this year’s issue],” Editor-in-Chief MJ Day explained this time around, “rather, there is a vision, a sentiment, a hope that women can live in a world where they feel no limitations, internally or externally.” These women share “certain common traits,” she insisted. “They’re constantly evolving.”

Evolving is one way to put it, critics lashed out. Is no space that’s historically been reserved for women — no traditions, jobs, sports, or products — sacred anymore? “The 2023 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover model is a biological man with fake boobs,” Wisconsin activist Scarlett Johnson posted. “I really hope men are #Done with Sports Illustrated.” Over at Rebel News, Ezra Levant joked, “I guess the Bud Light ad wizards had to land somewhere.”

Meanwhile, consumers can’t help but wonder: who in their right mind would follow Bud Light down this fatal road? A single can with the wrong partner sent Anheuser-Busch into a nationwide tailspin — with no relief in sight. As other brands watch that five-alarm fire destroy the brand’s reputation, others are reaching for the same hot stove.

Why? Family Research Council’s Joseph Backholm believes it’s because “progressives are true believers.” “They don’t just say the key to happiness is a world in which truth is personal and everyone gets to be who they want to be. They really believe it,” he told The Washington Stand. “They believe it so strongly they’re even willing to temporarily lose money along the way.”

“There’s actually a lot for Christians to learn here,” he insisted. “Do we believe the truth as much as they believe lies?”

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AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Bud Light Fiasco Proved Conservatives Already Have The Secret Weapon To Win

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.