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Black Rock latest to leave Net Zero Alliance

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From The Center Square

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US House committee investigating 60 companies over ESG policies

Blackrock Inc. is the latest to announce it has left a United Nations-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), among several within one month and not soon after Donald Trump was elected president. It did so as it and roughly 60 companies are being investigated by Congress for allegedly colluding as a ā€œwoke ESG cartelā€ to ā€œimpose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.ā€

Last month, Goldman Sachs was the first to withdraw from the alliance, followed by Wells Fargo, The Center SquareĀ reported. Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorganĀ next announced their departure.

According toĀ the “bank-led and UN-convened” alliance, global banks joined, pledging to align their lending, investment and capital markets activities with a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.

Major U.S. banks began leaving the alliance after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to increase domestic oil and natural gas production and pledged to go after ā€œwokeā€ companies.

They also announced their departure two years after 19 state attorneys general launched an investigation into them for alleged deceptive trade practices connected to ESG.

While the companies havenā€™t appeared to seem daunted by state investigations, Trump’s reelection appears to be a different matter.

ā€œBlackRock has hung in there as long as it could, but the pressure has become too great, and the reputational and legal risks too high, just before Trump takes office. It wonā€™t be the last financial organization to quit a net zero initiative,ā€ Hortense Bioy, Morningstar Analytics director of sustainable investing research,Ā told Bloomberg News.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has expressed skepticism about companies claiming to withdraw from ESG commitments, noting there is often doublespeak in announcements, The Center SquareĀ reported. This includesĀ statementsĀ made by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Blackrock.

Blackrock claims its ā€œparticipation in NZAMi didnā€™t impact the way we managed client portfolios. Therefore, our departure doesnā€™t change the way we develop products and solutions for clients or how we manage their portfolios. ā€¦ Our commitment to helping our clients achieve their investment goals remains unwavering,ā€ Bloomberg reported.

Last month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced it was investigating more than 60 US-based asset managers’ involvement in the alliance, including BlackRock, Inc., JP Morgan Asset Management, Rockefeller Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors, among others.

The committee also issued aĀ report, “Climate Control: Exposing the Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing,” saying it found ā€œdirect evidence of a ā€˜climate cartelā€™ consisting of left-wing activists and major financial institutions that collude to impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.ā€

Under the Trump administration, the committee will continue to investigate if ā€œexisting civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry.ā€ It also maintains that the companies ā€œmust answer for their involvement in prioritizing woke investments over their own fiduciary duties.ā€

The committee sent letters to dozens of entities in 12 states and the District of Columbia requesting them to provide information by Jan. 10. The majority are located in New York, Massachusetts and California.

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U.S. Seizes Fentanyl Shipment From Canada In Seattle, As Washington Pressures Ottawa on Crime Networks

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Sam Cooper

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have intercepted a shipment containing more than one pound of fentanyl from Canada, marking the latest sign of an accelerating crisis along the BC-Washington border. The fentanyl, concealed within a package believed to have originated in British Columbia, was discovered during a targeted enforcement operation at a Seattle shipping facility on February 6.

The package contained a brown, rock-like substance wrapped in plastic bags. Subsequent testing confirmed it was fentanyl, the synthetic opioid driving tens of thousands of overdose deaths in North America each year.

Area Port Director Rene Ortega, speaking about the seizure, underscored its broader implications. ā€œFentanyl is an extremely dangerous synthetic drug that continues to devastate communities across the United States,ā€ Ortega said. ā€œCBP remains committed to using every available tool to stop these lethal substances before they reach our streets.ā€

The latest seizure is part of an escalating pattern that has prompted increasingly aggressive responses from Washington. President Donald Trump has warned of sweeping tariffs in the coming weeks unless Ottawa delivers a credible, actionable plan to crack down on transnational crime networks driving fentanyl production. These networksā€”operating primarily out of British Columbiaā€”are deeply entrenched with organized crime groups from China and Mexico.

The BureauĀ has reported extensively on Washingtonā€™s mounting frustration with Canadaā€™s handling of the fentanyl crisis. BC Mayor Brad West, who has been in direct communication with senior U.S. officials, has described an urgent shift in tone from American law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In a high-level 2023 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, West was briefed on just how seriously Washington views Canadaā€™s role in the illicit drug trade.

ā€œThis is no longer just a Canadian domestic issue,ā€ West toldĀ The Bureau. ā€œSecretary Blinken made it clear that the Biden administration sees fentanyl as an existential threat. Theyā€™re building a global coalition and need Canada fully on board. If we donā€™t show real progress, the U.S. will protect itself by any meansā€”tariffs or otherwise.ā€

Concerns extend beyond law enforcement. According to multiple sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence assessments, American agencies have begun withholding key evidence from their Canadian counterparts, citing a lack of confidence that Ottawa will act on it. West confirmed that in his ongoing discussions with senior U.S. officials, they have voiced alarm over the level of access major figures in Asian organized crime appear to have within Canadaā€™s political class.

ā€œTheyā€™re basically asking, ā€˜Whatā€™s going on in Canada?ā€™ā€ West said.

The frustration is not new. For years, U.S. and international law enforcement agencies have sought to curb the transnational reach of organizations like Sam Gor, the powerful Asian organized crime syndicate that dominates much of the fentanyl precursor supply chain. But Canadaā€™s response has been widely seen as inadequate. Critics argue that political sensitivities and reluctance to confront entrenched criminal networks have left Canadian law enforcement hamstrung.

The question now is whether Ottawa will take decisive action. Bringing forward measures as sweeping as a RICO-style anti-mafia statute or invoking the notwithstanding clause to bypass legal obstacles to tougher enforcement would represent a sharp departure from the status quo. Both approaches would require confronting entrenched political, legal and economic interests, as well as explaining why existing laws have failed to secure convictions against the most powerful actors in organized crime.

West believes the shifting geopolitical landscape may force Ottawaā€™s hand. Washingtonā€™s patience, he warns, ran thin years agoā€”and the U.S. is now signaling it will no longer wait.

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USAID funnelled $472 million into Soros-backed media censorship group: report

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From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

The controversial U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) directed more than $472 million to an international media non-profit that promotes left-wing narratives and endorses censorship of so-called ā€œdisinformation,ā€ according to a recent Wikileaks report.

The Internews NetworkĀ describes its mission as providing everyone with ā€œtrustworthy news and information to make informed decisions,ā€ by ā€œtrain[ing] journalists and digital rights activists, advanc[ing] internet freedom, and offer[ing] business expertise to help media companies become financially sustainable.ā€ It boasts offices in 30 nations and support for ā€œindependentā€ media in more than 100.

In 2014, NewsBustersĀ reportedĀ that Internews was ā€œwas founded by a self-described Marxist anti-war protesterā€ and had gotten the vast majority of its revenue from government grants through programs such as USAID, although leftist financier George Soros also donated millions to it.

On February 7, WikileaksĀ reportedĀ that Internews had received $472.6 million from USAID alone as of 2023, that year producing ā€œ4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million peopleā€ through 4,291 different media outlets, as well as training more than 9,000 journalists.

During a 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) panel in Davos, Switzerland, Internews President and CEO Jeanne BourgaultĀ declaredĀ that ā€œgendered disinformationā€ was ā€œone of the most terrifyingā€ types of online ā€œmisinformation,ā€ which platforms had a responsibility to police through ā€œcontent moderation,ā€ and advertisers had an obligation to pressure platforms to restrict in thee name of ā€œhelp[ing] democracy.ā€

BourgaultĀ expressedĀ similar sentiments at Davos the following year, arguing that ā€œdisinformation makes money and we need to follow that money and we need to work with, in particular, the global advertising industry.ā€ She advocated ā€œexclusion lists or inclusion lists just to really try to ā€¦ focus their ad dollars towardā€ what she called the ā€œgood news and information.ā€

ā€œAnd those are U.S. news sites that operate on social media. And those are U.S. news sites. This is the basis of lawsuits here in the U.S. like Daily Wire and the Federalist suing the State Department because U.S. news sites are in these advertiser blacklists,ā€ cybersecurity expert and Foundation For Freedom Online Executive Director Mike BenzĀ toldĀ podcaster Joe Rogan this week. ā€œThis is top-down U.S. government policy from the White House and Iā€™ll show you the documents on that to the White House executive branch agencies like USAID and State.ā€

The Trump State Department recentlyĀ issuedĀ a 90-day freeze on foreign aid disbursed through USAID,Ā citing millionsĀ in waste and ideologically-biased programs. With exceptions for certain food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt, the pause is meant to give the administration time to conduct a more thorough review of foreign aid to determine what permanent cuts should be made.

While presented in the media as simply a source of basic care for the poor and sick, USAIDĀ has long funneled millionsĀ to waste, frivolity, LGBT activism, abortion promotion, and even groups tied to terrorism.

The pause is part of a broader review of federal executive-branch spending currently being spearheaded by Elon Muskā€™s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory project. Last weekend, a federal judgeĀ temporarily blocked the administration from putting USAID employees on paid leave, in what critics are calling a particularly extreme case of judicial overreach.

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