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These 6 companies are publicly traded and their largest shareholders are Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street, all WEF members and whose executives are DAVOS attendees.
Finally, Bruner discusses the 1970's Church Committee's conclusions which determined the CIA, FBI and Justice Department personnel had burrowed their way into feeding information to various news types and reporters and we know prior to the 2020 election 50 senior retired intelligence officials signed an open letter stating Hunter's Laptop information was all a "Russian disinformation" operation, which, of course, was a bald face lie. They knew that to be the case when they signed the letter.
Had that been known, the 2020 election probably would have swung in a different direction. Consequently, Trump has every reason to believe the election was stolen.
As the 2024 election rolls around there are those who, I am hearing, will dump Biden and replace him with Michelle Obama instead of Newsom, who has concluded this is not his time.
Whatever happens, I am cynical enough to believe the 2024 election will be manipulated because of its significance. If fraudulent, it could be the end our republic, a goal China, Russia, Iran and N Korea lust for and seek.
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California’s Nationwide EV Coercion
You may not live there, but you’ll soon be living under its auto rules. Why Stellantis buckled to Sacramento.
By The Editorial Board
Where are the antitrust cops when you need them? Stellantis and California this week struck a deal to protect the state’s electric-vehicle mandate from future political and legal challenges. Here’s another illustration of collusion between big government and big business that hurts Americans.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has banned the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. Unlike Biden Administration officials, progressives in Sacramento are honest about their plan to phase-out gas-powered cars. EV sales will have to ramp up fast over the next decade, making up 51% of sales by 2028 and 100% by 2035.
A Clean Air Act waiver from the Biden Environmental Protection Agency lets California impose its own greenhouse-gas emissions standards and other states to follow them. While California is waiting on the EPA to extend its waiver through 2035, its EV mandate is already creating headaches for car companies.
Stellantis dared to say publicly last year that it is being forced to deliver fewer gas-powered cars to California and the dozen or so states that have adopted its rules. It also said CARB had retaliated against it for supporting Donald Trump’s rollback of Barack Obama’s emissions standards and California’s EPA waiver.
Amid a legal battle with the Trump Administration, CARB struck peace deals with Ford, Honda, BMW, Volvo and Volkswagen that later put their competitors including Stellantis at a regulatory disadvantage. These auto makers committed to voluntarily follow California’s mandate and oppose participating in any trade-association legal challenges to it.
In return, CARB eased their EV quotas and penalties for noncompliance. Instead of paying steep fines, the auto makers could contribute to a state “trust account” to “promote electrification and reduce GHG emissions.” In other words, they could cut California a smaller check that the state could spend to advance its climate agenda.
Auto makers essentially hedged their regulatory risk, knowing Mr. Trump could lose re-election or that his Administration could lose its legal battle with California. Their hedge paid off when Mr. Biden won and restored California’s waiver. Other auto makers that didn’t cut deals with California now operate at a regulatory disadvantage.
Stellantis wanted to get in on the same deal that the other auto makers had, but CARB wouldn’t let it. In December Stellantis filed a petition with the state Office of Administrative Law that accused CARB of operating an “underground regulatory scheme” and violating its First Amendment rights.
Political peace—none dare call it conspiracy—broke out this week as California and Stellantis struck a deal, which they said was “in the interest of avoiding potentially costly litigation, among other reasons.” The 35-page legal contract binds Stellantis to follow California’s EV mandate even if it is blocked by a court or future Trump Administration. In return, Stellantis will get regulatory flexibility similar to the other auto makers.
“This partnership with Stellantis will help California achieve our ambitious goals,” Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares added: “Together, we have found a win-win solution.” Maybe for Stellantis and California, though that didn’t stop the company from announcing Friday that it is laying off 400 workers because of what it called “unprecedented uncertainties.” Could those uncertainties be related to the forced production of EVs that consumers aren’t buying?
In any case, the biggest losers of this “partnership” with California will be Americans across the country who will have fewer gas-powered options. California is imposing its EV mandate nationwide by using regulation to take auto makers hostage. Mr. Newsom may not be running for President in November, but he already acts as if he governs the country.
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Shutting Down the DEI RacketThe revelation this month that the University of Virginia has been spending $20 million a year on 235 employees who focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion was astonishing.
The revelation this month that the University of Virginia has been spending $20 million a year on 235 employees who focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion was astonishing.
Thanks to a new report by the government watchdog group Open the Books, we now know that some DEI executives at the university are raking in more than $500,000 a year, including benefits.
For example, the senior associate dean of the business school is also the global chief diversity officer. He is paid $587,340 including benefits. The vice president of DEI and community partnerships takes home an estimated $520,000 in salary and benefits. There is a whole slate of DEI executives – vice presidents, associate deans, directors, assistant directors, managers, etc. – who earn up to $400,000 in salary and benefits.
Open the Books Founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski told me this week on Newt’s World that it takes tuition from 1,000 UVA students just to cover the base salaries of UVA’s army of DEI-focused employees.
Keep in mind, the median household income in Virginia is roughly $87,000 a year, according to the latest U.S. Census data. In Loudoun County, the state’s wealthiest area, the median household income is $147,111. So, DEI executives at a state-run school are making nearly six times more than the median income households in the state – and nearly three-and-a-half times more than median income households in the wealthiest county.
And UVA is not alone. In January, the New York Post reported the University of Michigan is paying more than $30 million to 241 DEI-focused employees. State legislatures across the country are now scrambling to curb DEI spending in their states, particularly in higher education. But the truth is, the DEI racket has gone global. Worldwide, the DEI industry is soaking up roughly $9.3 billion, according to Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
The terrible irony for Virginia is this DEI scheme is fleecing a university founded by Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and famously penned the principle that “all men are created equal.” Since our founding – and through generations of intense civil discourse and serious effort – America has worked toward creating a society in which every American has equal opportunity and can succeed through hard work and determination.
To be clear: Diversity is good. America has been successful largely because it is a melting pot of people and cultures. I am also for making sure people are included and participate in our civil society.
However, I – and many other Americans – have serious concerns about the concept of placing equity over equality. Equity means guaranteeing people equal outcomes. DEI’s disciples will tell you equity is merely an effort to correct past discrimination and persecution. However, in practice, equity means treating people differently – or granting special accommodations – based on their ethnicity, sex, or other intrinsic traits. This flies in the face of everything we learned from the Civil Rights Movement and is the antithesis of the basic concept of equality.
Virginia Gov. Glen Youngkin has begun to investigate DEI programs at some of the largest colleges in the state. His administration is seeking to review curriculum at George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University. As the administration told the publication Higher Ed:
“The administration has heard concerns from members of the Board of Visitors, parents, and students across the Commonwealth regarding core curriculum mandates that are a thinly veiled attempt to incorporate the progressive left’s groupthink on Virginia’s students… Virginia’s public institutions should be teaching our students how to think, not what to think and not advancing ideological conformity.”
In a separate statement, Youngkin’s press secretary, Macaulay Porter, told reporters the governor, “will continue to advance equal opportunities — not equal outcomes — for all Virginians.”
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