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Conservative investment funds take aim at ‘woke’ corporations

Fortune 500 corporate boardrooms increasingly have embraced a “woke” agenda — such as Gillette lecturing its shavers about toxic masculinity and Bank of America having guest speakers declare capitalism evil.

In response, some Wall Street players now are offering exchange traded funds (ETFs) that exclude left-wing companies, taking a page from the activist playbook that created investment programs to boycott enterprises deemed environmentally unfriendly.

A pair of investment programs that launched in the last year — the American Conservative Values ETF and the 2ndVote Advisers ETF — are led by directors who seek companies that have not launched ad campaigns or issued bulletins that they think prioritize liberal politics more than profits.

In the process, the ETFs seek to influence not only the behavior of investors but also of company directors.

“I sometimes say this real slow when talking to professional economists, but we believe the companies that focus on their profits will be better investments than those that focus on social justice,” said Andy Puzder, a director of 2ndVote Advisers.

On Friday, the American Conservative Values ETF said it had dumped shares in several companies that have recently embraced critical race theory in seminars and training, according to investigative reports by Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

“Recent actions by Bank of America Corp., Lowe’s Co. Inc., American Express Co. and Nasdaq Inc. have caused considerable concern and outrage among politically conservative investors,” the American Conservative Values said in a statement, adding that it would encourage investors to boycott those companies.

William Flaig, CEO of the American Conservative Values ETF, said reports of left-wing-mandated training at those companies required the fund to dump shares during one of its rebalancing periods.

“In light of news that these companies have instituted employee training based on critical race theory, which teaches that America is an inherently racist and evil country, we cannot in good faith continue investments into these with our investors’ money,” Mr. Flaig said.

Similarly focused investment vehicles have existed for some time, such as Ave Maria Mutual Funds, which seeks to direct investor money to companies that hold true to Roman Catholic values.

The new stock portfolios seek to combat not only what company directors may say or do but also what increasingly powerful asset managers may direct a company to do.

So far, the 2ndVote Advisers’ Life Fund and its ESG Neutral Fund are beating the S&P 500 year-to-date average, with the latter returning 27.1% in 2021, according to the fund. (ESG is shorthand invented by leftist investors for judging a company’s “environmental, social and corporate governance.”)

The American Conservative Values ETF, meanwhile, is “seeking to boycott ownership of companies that are most hostile to conservative values,” Mr. Flaig said.

Since its inception in November, the American Conservative Values ETF has seen returns of 38.57%, according to its prospectus.

At the moment, the heaviest weighted stocks in 2ndVote Advisers’ ESG Neutral Fund are Fortune 500 companies like agribusiness Mosaic Co., Brighthouse Financial annuities and travel tech firm Sabre.

Some Silicon Valley stocks also may be included, as their returns have been too soaring for investors to ignore, even if the conservative managers bristle at censorship by Twitter or Facebook.

“FAANG [Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google] can’t be ignored,” Mr. Flaig said.

There is no purity in the process of weeding out left-wing firms, the directors of the funds told The Washington Times, noting that companies are not all liberal or all conservative and fund managers have to maintain some flexibility.

“Recall that many of our holdings are liberal companies, there is only so much advocacy we can do and still confidently deliver predictable large-cap returns,” Mr. Flaig said.

Recent corporate activity seems to shrink the available pool of conservative investments. Stories of Verizon, Raytheon and others mandating critical race theory seminars for executives and staff reflect a commitment to a leftist outlook, the directors said.

“Coke, Delta, Disney, Nike, Blackrock,” said Mr. Flaig, rattling off a list of flagship American brands that have established left-wing policies in recent months. “You can see there a suppression of First Amendment rights and a hostility to conservative values.”

Dan Grant, CEO of 2ndVote Advisers, said it takes a kind of aggressive posturing against conservative ideas to land a company on the fund’s “no-buy” list.

2ndVote Advisers derives its name from the idea of what people do with their money represents their second choice after the one they make in voting, as well as expresses support for the Second Amendment.

The ETF weighs six factors to rank companies from 1 (most liberal) to 5 (most conservative). Not one company among the thousands tested has scored a 5 across the board, and the highest overall scores were a handful of 4s.

Nearly three-quarters of the companies in the S&P 1500 — 73% — graded out with a score of 1 or 2 and 27% earned a 3, according to Mr. Grant.

Ratings are subject to change, as the American Conservative Values ETF’s Friday announcement showed.

“We try to stay on top of the news cycle,” Mr. Flaig said.

However, he noted that the news cycle could be misleading. Statements from company executives do not automatically earn a disinvestment because often such statements amount to something of a PR stunt and a closer look at the company’s balance sheet and bottom line might reflect less political posturing, Mr. Flaig said.

Last week, U.S. authorities announced an investigation into Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm, which regulators in the Biden administration believe used ESG statements as publicity more than investment guidelines.

Even Tariq Fancy, who invented the ESG concept while running “sustainable investing” at the BlackRock investment management company, has acknowledged that actually running a company along “green” lines as opposed to just talking about doing so are two completely different things.

“In truth, sustainable investing boils down to little more than marketing hype, PR spin and disingenuous promises from the investment community,” Mr. Fancy wrote in a USA Today op-ed in March.

All that language has proved profitable for asset managers, however, as millions have poured into ESG funds, which doubled in 2020.

The divide between what a company says and what it does may strike ESG supporters and regulators examining Deutsche Bank as a drawback, but for the conservative funds managers it is a plus. Even Mr. Fancy noted that “to advance real change in the environment simply doesn’t yield the same return.”

Managers at 2ndVote Advisers and American Conservative Values say that investors like BlackRock have been able to boost liberal politics more than profits in some companies via the huge positions they have acquired in those firms.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink isn’t shy about this. In a recent letter to investors, he noted BlackRock’s commitment to having companies it backs “carbon neutral” by 2050, a goal he acknowledged would require a “transformation” of the U.S. economy as it is wrenched away from cheap, reliable energy sources.

“Transform the U.S. economy?” American Conservative Values’ Mr. Puzder said. “Larry Fink has a radical environmental agenda, but who the hell elected Larry Fink to transform the U.S. economy?”

Investors voting large blocs of shares have reshaped corporate boardrooms, but what the new conservative-based funds seek to do is reimpose balance, according to Mr. Grant.

“If you treat everybody fairly, you’ll score just fine,” he said of 2ndVote’s investing metrics. “The question we ask is, Is a company actively trying to restrict what the right is doing? What we don’t want is investment in companies that declare, ‘We’re not being neutral; we are opposed to half the country.’”

“If you’re fair, if you’re not prohibiting free speech, or only matching employee donations to liberally approved charities or retaliating against employees who exercise their rights, then there’s no problem,” Mr. Grant said. “If you treat everybody fairly, you’ll score just fine.”

‘Sleepy Joe’ Trends on Twitter as Biden Appears to Fall Asleep During Talks With Israel’s Bennett

‘Poor old man. Just wants a porch and a rocking chair.’

The US president met the Israeli prime minister on Friday, with their conversation focusing on the two countries’ “historic partnership”, COVID cooperation, and the supposed “threat” to Israel and the Middle East “posed by Iran”.

“Sleepy Joe” trended on Twitter in the United States over the past 24 hours over a video showing US President Joe Biden looking like he’s literally fallen asleep during a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet during the latter’s Friday visit to the White House.

The viral footage, captured by CSPAN and other media and shared countless times, features a masked, almost completely motionless, Biden clasping his hands and slumped over with his eyes shut for nearly 30 seconds as Bennett drones on about writing “another chapter in the beautiful story of the friendship between our two nations”.

Users on CSPAN’s YouTube channel fumed over the footage, with one suggesting that the president could be replaced “with a paper cutout and a cassette recorder”, which “would have more presence and energy than Biden himself”.

“You can tell he’s not taking any of this in. He’s up there concentrating on not doing anything stupid. He couldn’t handle that, so he fell asleep instead”, another user wrote.

“Turns out ‘Sleepy Joe’ was a very well chosen nickname by Trump”, a third chimed in, referring to the former president’s epithet for Biden on the campaign trail in 2020.

“My dad used to do this. ‘Rest his eyes’ when he wasn’t engaged, but not fully asleep. Poor old man. Just wants a porch and a rocking chair”, one sympathetic user added.

Biden’s blue check defenders on Twitter rushed to dismiss claims that the president was catching some Z’s during his meeting with Bennett, with Politico and Washington Post journalist Lois Romano tweeting that he “did not fall asleep” and CNN reporter Daniel Dale suggesting that “this ‘Biden asleep’ stuff is nonsense”.

Dale pointed out that Biden’s hands were moving throughout Bennett’s monologue, and noted that he replied immediately as soon as the Israeli prime minister had finished talking.

The debate quickly degenerated into back-and-forth partisan debate, between Democrats and Republicans in the US and between Bennett and Benjamin Netanyahu supporters in Israel.

Friday’s “Sleepgate” wasn’t the first time Biden has been accused of catnapping during public events, with detractors criticising him for it and others expressing compassion for him as a human being, while asking about his mental state and ability to run the country.

The Bennett-Biden meeting took place one day after the deadly bombing at Kabul Airport, in which over 180 people, including 13 US troops, were killed and hundreds of others were hurt. The bombings led the president to hold meetings with security staff over the next several days to determine the US response, which has included at least one drone strike against the Daesh-Khorasan* fighters who claimed responsibility.

Coroner Confirms COVID Vax at Fault for News Host’s Death

Forty-four-year-old BBC Radio Newcastle host Lisa Shaw trusted science enough to get her first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in late April.

Headaches started shortly afterward.

In late May, she was dead.

What was the cause of her death? Can we blame the vaccine?

According to BBC, Newcastle coroner Karen Dilks says we can.

“Lisa died due to complications of an AstraZeneca Covid vaccination,” Dilks said, according to the outlet.

Dilks described the cause as “clearly established.” However, she said the vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia that Shaw experienced — a condition that causes the brain to swell and bleed — is considered “very rare.”

BBC reported that Shaw was transported to the University Hospital of North Durham via ambulance on May 13 after presenting the news with a severe headache that had lasted for several days.

Dr. John Holmes, who treated Shaw upon her arrival, said she described these headaches as “shooting and stabbing” across her forehead and behind her eyes.

Tests conducted on Shaw revealed several blood clots in her brain, and the finding led doctors to move her to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary neurology specialist unit, the BBC reported.

There, Dr. Christopher Johnson administered treatment.

Johnson said Shaw remained conscious for several days while at the unit, but on May 16 her symptoms escalated.

Her headaches became more severe, and she began struggling with her speech.

Imaging indicated she had suffered a brain hemorrhage, and doctors attempted to relieve the mounting pressure on her head by removing part of her skull, the BBC reported.

It was too late, however, and Shaw passed away five days later, on May 21.

Are you still worried about getting vaccinated against COVID-19?

In light of stories such as Shaw’s, many Americans still are. And considering some of the serious side effects we’ve heard about — and even death — maybe there’s a good reason for the skepticism.

Medical professionals across the spectrum still maintain that such drastic side effects are “extremely rare.”

But from anaphylaxis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, thrombosis and myocarditis to reports of deaths following the jab(s), it’s naturally concerning — regardless of how “extremely rare” these reactions might be.

Are you willing to risk it?

I will never tell anyone whether to get vaccinated. Not only is that decision personal; I maintain it is never wise to accept advice from those who don’t have to live with the consequences of that advice.

I do say, however, that it’s important to make sure everyone is aware of the potential side effects of these vaccines — no matter how rare they might be.

After all, an educated patient is the best decision-maker.

Christians Must Speak Up for the Women of Afghanistan

Scripture is clear on the matter, as both groups find themselves endangered at the hands of the Taliban.

On Sunday, August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and quickly took control of the city. Haunting images and videos depict the desperation of the Afghans trying to flee as the Taliban returns to power. There is grave concern for what the Taliban’s swift takeover will mean for the future of religious and ethnic minorities and especially for a whole segment of the population rendered vulnerable by their takeover –– women and girls.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, said in a press conference from Kabul that “the group would honor women’s rights and an independent media, but within the ‘frameworks’ of Islamic law.” He went on to promise that “there will be no violence against women” and that “women would be allowed to work and study.” Despite this lip service, the older generation of Afghans remember the oppressive conditions for females when the Taliban took control in 1996.

At that time, Taliban leaders declared an Islamic emirate, imposing a harsh interpretation of the Koran and enforcing it with brutal public punishment. They pledged to put Islamic values first and to battle corruption. During the Taliban’s reign of terror, women’s basic freedoms “were severely restricted, other human rights were limited and executions were carried out in public,” according to a news report in Axios. Women were barred from attending school, from working outside the home, and from leaving the house without a male chaperone. Widows couldn’t work and begging was their only means of survival. Underground schools formed for girls, as older women quietly defied the Taliban’s brutal oppression of women.

Not only is Afghanistan a dangerous place to be a woman, it’s also an extraordinarily dangerous place for Christians. According to Open Doors USA’s annual World Watch List, the second-most dangerous place to be a Christian in the world is Afghanistan, only very slightly less oppressive than in North Korea. It’s nearly impossible to live freely as a Christian in Afghanistan, as Christian converts must either flee or risk facing “honor” killings at the hands of their Muslim family. Sadly, the intense persecution of Christians has not diminished over the past 20 years. While Afghans were able to enjoy other types of liberty, religious freedom was not upheld or protected.

US says drone kills IS bombers targeting Kabul airport

A U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate on Sunday before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport, American officials said.

The strike came just two days before the U.S. is set to conclude a massive airlift of tens of thousands of Afghan and foreign civilians and withdraw the last of its troops, ending America’s longest war with the Taliban back in power.

The U.S. State Department released a statement signed by around 100 countries, as well as NATO and the European Union, saying they had received “assurances” from the Taliban that people with travel documents would still be able to leave the country freely. The Taliban have said they will allow normal travel after the U.S. withdrawal is completed on Tuesday and they assume control of the airport.

At around the same time as the drone strike, Afghan police said a rocket hit a neighborhood near the airport, killing a child. Rashid, the Kabul police chief, who goes by one name, confirmed the rocket attack, and video obtained by The Associated Press showed smoke rising from a building around a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport.

The Taliban described the drone strike and the rocket attack as separate incidents, but residents of the Afghan capital heard only one large blast.

Two American military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, called the airstrike successful and said the vehicle carried multiple bombers.

U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a military spokesman, said the strike was carried out in “self-defense.” He said the military was investigating whether there were civilian casualties but that “we have no indications at this time.”

“We are confident we successfully hit the target,” Urban said. “Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.”

The strike came two days after an Islamic State suicide attack outside the airport killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. carried out a drone strike elsewhere in the country on Saturday that it said killed two IS members.

President Joe Biden had vowed to keep up the airstrikes, saying Saturday that another attack was “highly likely.” The State Department called the threat “specific” and “credible.”

The Sunni extremists of IS, with links to the group’s more well-known affiliate in Syria and Iraq, have carried out a series of attacks, mainly targeting Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority, including a 2020 assault on a maternity hospital in Kabul that killed women and newborns.

The Taliban have fought against the IS affiliate in the past and have pledged to not allow Afghanistan to become a base for terror attacks. The U.S.-led invasion in 2001 came in response to the 9/11 attacks, which al-Qaida planned and executed while being sheltered by the Taliban.

The Taliban increased security around the airport after Thursday’s attack, clearing away the large crowds that had gathered outside the gates hoping to join the airlift.

Britain ended its evacuation flights Saturday, and most U.S. allies concluded theirs earlier in the week. But U.S. military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport Sunday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all American troops.

In interviews with Sunday talk shows, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was working with other countries to ensure that the airport functions normally after the U.S. withdrawal and that the Taliban allow people to travel freely.

The Taliban have given similar assurances in recent days, even as they have urged Afghans to remain and help rebuild the war-ravaged country.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have sought to flee the country since the Taliban’s rapid takeover earlier this month, fearing a return to the harsh form of Islamic rule the group imposed on Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. Others fear revenge attacks or general instability.

The Taliban have pledged amnesty for all Afghans, even those who worked with the U.S. and its allies, and say they want to restore peace and security after decades of war. But many Afghans distrust the group, and there have been reports of summary executions and other human rights abuses in areas under Taliban control.

The shooting of a folk singer in a tense region north of Kabul was bound to contribute to such fears. Fawad Andarabi’s family said the Taliban shot him for no reason, just days after they had searched his home and drank tea with him.

“He was innocent, a singer who only was entertaining people,” his son, Jawad, said. “They shot him in the head on the farm.”

The shooting happened in the Andarabi Valley, for which the family is named, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Kabul, where the Taliban battled local fighters even after seizing the capital. The Taliban say they have retaken the region, which is near mountainous Panjshir, the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces not under Taliban control.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his group would investigate the shooting, without providing any further information. The Taliban banned music as un-Islamic when they last ruled the country.

Andarabi played the ghichak, a bowed lute, and sang traditional songs about his birthplace, his people and the country. A video online showed him at one performance, sitting on a rug with the mountains behind him.

“There is no country in the world like my homeland, a proud nation,” he sang. “Our beautiful valley, our great-grandparents’ homeland.”

Karima Bennoune, the United Nations special rapporteur on cultural rights, said she had “grave concern” over Andarabi’s killing. “We call on governments to demand the Taliban respect the #humanrights of #artists,” she tweeted.

Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, also decried the killing.

“There is mounting evidence that the Taliban of 2021 is the same as the intolerant, violent, repressive Taliban of 2001,” she tweeted. “Nothing has changed on that front.”

Christian Rock Band Skillet Won’t Play At Venues Requiring COVID Vaccinations

Christian rock band Skillet is embarking on a 23-city tour across the United States beginning September, but the band made it clear that they will not play at venues that force its performers or audiences to present proof of COVID vaccinations before allowing entry.

Skillet frontman and outspoken Christian podcaster John Cooper took to social media to share an update on the band’s decision to refuse playing at such venues.

“Because of the delta variant, a lot of venues are rethinking their policies and instituting new things. A lot of venues are instituting vaccine mandated shows where you have to have a vaccine or you can’t get into the concert,” Cooper said, as per Christian News Now. He added that playing at venues that mandate vaccines is something he and his band are “unwilling to do.”

The rest of his Skillet band members, Cooper’s wife and guitarist Korey, drummer Jen Ledger, and lead guitarist Seth Morrison are all united in the decision to refuse playing at venues requiring COVID vaccinations. Cooper said, “I know this is going to make some people happy [and] it’s going to make some people mad” but that for him, “it is a matter of conviction.”

The 46 year old Christian podcaster, author, and Skillet frontman added that the band will only be playing at concert venues that will allow non-vaccinated attendees to present a negative COVID test result to be allowed entry to the show. Cooper lamented, “I’m not going to lie to you guys. I don’t like this either. It is not ideal.”

“I know this is going to make people disappointed on all sides of the fence for all sorts of different reasons. That’s not my aim,” Cooper explained. “It’s just a really difficult time.”

The Skillet frontman said that while he wants to ensure that the fans get a great rock show, he has no intentions to disappoint people with their tour decision. He stressed that the decision will not change and that the band will not be able to please everyone.

As a Christian, Cooper has long been vocal about vaccine and mask mandates. Earlier this month, the podcaster challenged mask mandates by answering the question of whether “Jesus would wear masks” in the name of neighborly love, deflecting to say that there is so much more to be worried about than just COVID, which has killed millions all over the world. He said that totalitarianism and tyranny must not go unchecked or else it will destroy countries and civilizations.

Cooper, who has been vocal about his faith, recently talked to Loudwire about Skillet’s upcoming album, which he described as “really aggressive, it is really in your face, and I think that probably is born out of the year that we’ve had.”

The singer added that he hopes that the upcoming album would be “an encouragement to people to not be ashamed of Christ, to live your faith, live out the word of God.”

Apple CEO Receives $750 Million Payout, Begins To Dump Stock

Apple CEO Tim Cook will collect the 10th and final installment of a pay deal he received a decade ago in August 2011 when he took the reins former CEO and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011.

The latest tranche consists of 5 million shares worth $750 million, according to calculations by Bloomberg. The payout was contingent on Apple’s stock returns over the last three years, which jumped nearly 200%. 

During the decade of Cook, revenue has doubled, and the share price has increased by 1,200%. The company behind the iPhone, Macbook, and iPad has a market cap of $2.4 trillion. 

Last year, Cook accepted a new pay package that lasts through 2026. 

But some of the gains in the stock that have made Cook eligible for billions of dollars in payouts has been due to the company’s massive stock buyback program. Apple repurchased $19 billion of stock in the 1Q21, bringing the total for the past year to $77 billion. The company recently added  $90 billion to its repurchase authorization.

Meanwhile, Cook has dumped over two million shares in the last week. 

Cook is dumping stock around the $148 level. 

Ultra-loose monetary policy has made it possible for Apple to continue leveraging debt to buy equity which artificially raises the stock price and allows Cook to meet his target to collect his payouts. 
Thanks, Powell, for enriching billionaires while wealth inequality remains at record-highs.  

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