Townhall Review | Commentaries

Vanguard—one of the two largest money management companies in America—shocked the industry recently when they announced its withdrawal from an anti-fossil fuels industry alliance. 

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, CEO Tim Buckley not only defended that move, but went on to say that Vanguard’s research shows no benefit to ESG investing and investment firms should basically stay out of politics—and let boards of directors govern in the interest of shareholders, not hot button political issues.

This is big. 

It's been a terrible year for ESG and politicized capital. Blackrock's been getting fired by red state pension managers, left-wing proposals are getting voted down and now one of the most prestigious names in finance is shifting in rhetoric. 

Will they walk the talk? 

We'll see, but the shift in rhetoric alone is a big win for advocates of the separation of investment and politics. 

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The Supreme Court has an opportunity to save us from runaway regulation. If the court can summon the courage this year, it can deal the bureaucrats a body blow and free millions of Americans from diktats from on high, each one of which makes their lives more difficult, more expensive and decidedly less free.

The case is Loper Bright Enterprises v. the Secretary of Commerce — but the real plaintiffs include every citizen hard-pressed by federal overreach. 

The immediate issue is whether or not New England herring fishermen must pay the salaries of the government monitors they are required to host on their boats. 

Ideally, the justices will use the narrow question to overrule what’s known as the “Chevron standard,” which includes “Chevron deference,” and do so entirely.

“Chevron deference” comes from a 1984 decision which obligated judicial deference to administrative agencies’ interpretations of the federal law governing them.

“Chevron deference” has come to mean government by bureaucrats.

The Constitution is clear: Laws are made by Congress. 

I’m hopeful the high court will set us on a course correction, and soon.

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Kevin McCarthy recently gave Tucker Carlson the surveillance video of January 6.

Until now, only selected clips were released by the January 6 committee. Based on them, the left and the media built the narrative of a violent insurrection.

But the new excerpts Carlson played raise valid questions about whether the events of that terrible day have been presented fairly to the American people.

Many of the “violent insurrectionists” are shown behaving more like awe-struck tourists.

The Capitol Police officer supposedly murdered by Trump supporters is shown unharmed — after the time of his alleged killing. And the QAnon shaman, the “face” of the violent insurrection, is shown being escorted peacefully through the Capitol.

Reasonable people can differ on their conclusions about the sad events of January 6. But one thing’s clear: We still don’t have the full story. A full, fair — and prompt — investigation can’t come soon enough.

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The failure of Silicon Valley Bank sums up, in one ongoing crisis, the failure of our ruling class. 

Inflationist monetary policy created a bubble and bust cycle, and SVB was unusually dependent on both the bond bubble and the tech bubble. 

Silicon Valley’s economy in general was subsidized by easy money and Covid shutdowns which pushed Americans out of malls and theatres and onto e-commerce and streaming services. 

SVB recklessly expanded as if the bubble would never pop, all the while its chief risk officer whose bio leads with “queer person of color” ignored risk management for months on end to focus on diversity and sexual identity politics. 

Now legacy media is pushing for investigations, not into the incompetence of the ruling class, but to the few investors who saw the risk and warned others about it. 

We need better rulers…or better yet, true self-rule

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Transgender activists are wielding a powerful weapon in the battle over sex and identity: the English language.

They seem to think that by changing the language, they can change reality.

The consequences are not just a matter of semantics. Their linguistic maneuvers are doing terrible harm.

The first casualty is truth. The fact of our biological sex—whether we are a man or a woman—literally goes down to our bones, to our DNA.

Also destroyed are the very people that transitioning supposedly helps. A Swedish study found that people who underwent sex-reassignment surgery had a suicide rate 19 times higher than their peers. 

We can show compassion without slaying truth, and without damaging vulnerable individuals and society at large.

Language matters, but reality matters more.

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The Merrick Garland Justice Department is at it again. They’re insisting President Trump can’t use legal immunity as a shield against civil lawsuits by two Capitol Police and 11 Democratic congressmen. The suits seek to hold Trump personably liable for the Capitol riots because of his statements on January 6.

Trump has claimed immunity on the grounds he was speaking to the people on matters of public concern, a traditional presidential function. But the government lawyers insist that doesn’t include “incitement of imminent private violence.”

Reasonable people can reach different conclusions about the nature of Trump’s statements on January 6.

But haters have long been breaking established norms to “get Trump.” Allowing presidents to be sued personally for speech falling even arguably in the sphere of public concern sets a dangerous precedent—potentially deterring future presidents from speaking in unpredictable times, when the people might need to hear from them most.

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The Congressional Budget Office just updated its forecast—and the bottom line is that our fiscal position is deteriorating.

The last report increased its debt forecast by 1.4 trillion and this one just added another increase…3.1 trillion. CBO is forecasting average annual deficits of $2 trillion dollars.

What they are not forecasting is a recession, which if it does occur would certainly worsen the debt picture.

Biden’s fiscal policies are a direct assault on the young.

Every time you read about a new spending initiative out of Washington, imagine the political class pointing at millennials and Gen Z and saying, “Put in on their tab.”

America is highly resilient, but we are not utterly immune to the sort of debt crises we saw hitting Europe ten years ago or emerging markets in the 1990s. We like to think debt doesn't matter, right up until the moment when it is the only thing which matters.

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And they said it couldn’t be done. Last week, a welcome outbreak of bipartisanship actually erupted on Capitol Hill, in the new Select Committee on China.

That was the good news. Unfortunately, the topic couldn’t be more serious. At last, America’s leadership class is openly confronting the economic, military, and technological threat we are facing from the Chinese Communist Party.

As Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher noted, nothing less is at stake than which power will control the world in the 21st century.  Given the menace China poses to fundamental freedoms, it’s a matter of existential importance that the US prevail.

A fractured, fractious US—distracted by woke nonsense and petty grievances—is a sitting duck. But a united America, mindful of the values at stake, remains a formidable power to be reckoned with.

Last week’s meeting was an important reminder. Our times require national unity and focus.

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Senator John Fetterman of my native Pennsylvania has been hospitalized once again. 

First, during the campaign, he suffered a stroke. The campaign played it down and media ran interference for him, but it became obvious just how serious the damage was when he debated Dr. Oz. 

Unfortunately, the debate happened late in the season after a large number of mail-in votes had already been cast. Those of us who could see that the man was obviously seriously impaired were subjected to condescending lectures. 

Fetterman won, with a clear assist from the media. Then he was hospitalized again for unclear reasons, then released and recently hospitalized yet again for clinical depression. 
People of goodwill ought to pray and trust for his recovery.

But there ought to be a reckoning for all the media propagandists who shamed people into silence about Fetterman’s health, starting with an apology to the voters of Pennsylvania.

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In the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, some on the pro-choice side have become increasingly open about what they really believe. It’s always instructive – and often chilling.

During a recent city council meeting in Framingham, Massachusetts the chairman of the Democratic committee questioned whether crisis pregnancy centers misdiagnose pregnant women. He went on to suggest that disabled children place an inordinate burden on taxpayers if their parents don’t abort them. The comments were made as the city council considered a proclamation supporting for “reproductive rights.”

We’ve certainly come a long way from “safe, legal, and rare.” It seems, we’re all the way back to the eugenics of Margaret Sanger—where human life only has value if you’re a healthy human specimen. 

By their calculus, human life has no intrinsic value or dignity in and of itself, because it’s created by God.

I don’t recognize this post-Christian pro-choice world … and I want no part of enabling it.

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