Running for Cover
What to know: Many who once cheered on environmental, social and governance (ESG) rules are now running for cover.
The TPPF take: A company’s fiduciary duty is to investors, not to woke activists.
“Boycotting financial institutions that place ESG principles on a pedestal over fiduciary duty is the only way to remove political actors from the marketplace,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “ESG is a political tool to subvert the democratic process and force the political ideology of the globalist elites on the rest of us.”
For more on ESG, click here.
That Sounds Expensive
What to know: The city of Dallas—like some other cities—is using the word “equity” in its budgeting process; mostly, it means more money for selected programs.
The TPPF take: Texas city budgets are being filled with woke-speak, the dialect of the progressive intelligentsia.
Taking one word, ‘equity,’ and tracking it over time demonstrates just how much woke-speak has seeped into our language,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “And its liberal use in city budgets is matched only by growing city spending. Over the course of a decade, Texas city budgets’ use of the word equity has grown faster than the S&P 500 and Amazon stocks.”
For more on “equity” in budgeting, click here.
Deepfake
What to know: The FEC is moving toward regulating “deepfake” videos, which use artificial intelligence to create hyper-realistic video and audio of a person, in political ads.
The TPPF take: Deepfakes are becoming a real problem.
“In the 88th Legislature, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1361 which criminalizes the production and distribution of deepfake videos depicting a person engaging in sexual conduct,” says TPPF’s David Dunmoyer. “The importance of this bill cannot be overstated, as evinced by scores of tragic stories where young, innocent girls have been targeted by repulsive criminals who incorporate their faces into pornographic videos. Texas can and should go further next legislative session.”
For more on deepfakes, click here.