With companies like Anheuser-Busch under intense fire for their woke marketing campaigns, many Americans are left wondering how any of this pro-LGBT virtue signaling benefits them. The truth is, many of these companies probably wouldn’t embark on these campaigns alone. Their shareholders are the ones that hold all the power.

Multi-national investing firm BlackRock is known for managing enormous shares of big companies. Just a handful of examples include Apple, Microsoft, Google, and even Tesla. With management power over these shares, Blackrock has an enormous amount of sway when it comes to standard operating procedures within these corporations.

A recently surfaced video from 2017 shows exactly what behaviors that BlackRock hopes to “force.” Twitter account @EndWokeness shared a clip from an interview with Larry Fink, who has served as the CEO of Blackrock since 1988.

Why has everything gone woke these days? ESG scores.

Here is BlackRock CEO Larry Fink along with the CEO of AmEx explaining his desire to “force behaviors” (2017): pic.twitter.com/wCoeoJBD8x

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 4, 2023

“Behaviors are going to have to change, and this is one thing we’re asking companies. You have to force behaviors. At BlackRock, we are forcing behaviors.”

What behavior is Fink referring to? In a letter to clients in 2022, he stated that problems in the workplace like “racial equity, childcare, and mental health” must be addressed by corporations worth investing in. He also dedicated significant portions of his letter to the “climate risk” that leftists have fearmongered about for years.

By setting these investment standards, BlackRock has huge sway over which companies its clients invest in. If corporations want to be successful, according to Fink, they must abide by an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) score. To put it plainly, the more woke a company is, the higher the ESG score. The higher the ESG score that a company receives, the more likely they are to get wealthy investors.

This is the agenda that the World Economic Forum is pushing. In fact, they heavily promote the usage of ESG scores on their website.

They come right out and say it, "Companies are expanding the metrics they use to define success well beyond profit and sales." Clearly, they wish to reward woke corporations more than profitable ones. 

As long as companies like BlackRock maintain significant shares in corporations, they will be fine with weathering boycotts over woke marketing campaigns. This multinational corporation is not going anywhere anytime soon. 

However, investors can always think twice before going to a giant firm like Blackrock. The more power that individuals put into their own portfolios, the less power that the woke leftists have. If you’re investing in the stock market, make smart decisions – and do not be afraid to call out the woke agenda. These companies listen to the loudest voices.

Last month, the Minnesota legislature passed their colossal transportation omnibus bill. With the included tax and spending increases was funding for the “Northern Lights Express” train line, which will soon take passengers from the Twin Cities up to Duluth.

The state government only needed to front 20% of the cost, while the federal government picks up the rest of the tab. With the allocated $194.7 million for the project, the Biden administration will put up as much as $800 million.

The line will operate off of existing rail owned by BNSF Railway and will be managed by Amtrack. Nevertheless, it is an expensive project that most Minnesotans will probably never use.

The sprawling Duluth/Superior area is not easy to navigate by foot. If visitors from the Twin Cities make their way up there, they will have limited options on what they’re able to do.

Lefist Democrat Senator Jen McEwen argues that “Some people can’t drive. Some people don’t own cars.” She also acknowledges that the trip time will be nearly the same as driving. For years, legislators like McEwen have made the same argument for the purposes of "equitable outcomes."

Credit: MN Department of Transportation

Another Senator (who represents a district just south of Duluth) argues that there is no demand from his constituents, further proving that this expensive rail will see little usage.

The total project is estimated to cost $592 million, though we know that government projects never stick to a budget. After renovations are done to existing tracks, improved traffic signals, and new stations, annual operating costs will be $19 million.

With an estimated 700,000 riders per year (it will likely be nowhere close to this), and about $12 million in ticket revenue - $30 per - the government will have paid $855 per rider in the first year. This number will slowly drop over the years, but the state government will still be on the hook for $6.9 million in operating costs.

For some perspective, a gallon of gas will get you an average of 25 mpg. With a trip from Minneapolis to Duluth being around 155 miles, and gas prices costing an average of $3.50 per gallon, it would only cost about $22 for a trip in the car. That's $8 cheaper than a ticket up north, and 15 minutes faster depending on the traffic (and that's for the few people who go at or under the speed limit). Plus, you'll have a car to drive around the city.

Needless to say, it makes more sense to drive.

This $200 million is being spent on just a handful of Minnesotans, instead of being part of the rebate checks that taxpayers deserve. The state government overtaxed Minnesotans by an incredible $21 billion this past year, which amounts to about $8,000 per taxpayer.

Instead of a full (or even significant partial) refund, some Minnesotans will receive $260 checks. This is because some politicians in St. Paul decided that an equitable train line to Duluth for a few people who cannot drive is more important than meaningful tax relief.

A far-left legal group with ties to State Senator Erin Maye Quade has won a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) which will result in nearly half a million in rewards for a transgender inmate. Additionally, the DOC will now be required to accommodate for transgender individuals, going as far as covering their costs for transition surgery.

The group Gender Justice celebrated their legal victory on Thursday, revealing that their client (a biological male) will now be housed in the women’s prison in Shakopee. The individual uses the name Christina Lusk, and has been in jail since 2018 for drug charges.

Now, taxpayers in Minnesota will fund treatments and housing for this individual according to the standards set by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH). Additionally, the state will have to pay for a contract with a WPATH-trained “physician.”

Leftists and genital mutilation experts look to WPATH for the latest guidance regarding surgery and transition processes. Just last year, this group removed the minimum age for surgeries and medications. They also now recommend that the state intervene if a parent obstructs a child’s transition procedure.

Thanks to Senator Maye Quade’s legal arm, this group will now be receiving taxpayer dollars from the state of Minnesota to experiment on inmates. This sets a scary precedent that could allow similarly globalist organizations to dictate policy in the state of Minnesota, and utilize taxpayer dollars for their evil deeds. 

The LGBTQ community has claimed the month of June to celebrate themselves. You’ve probably heard of “Pride Month,” because every major retailer and politician is sure to make their obligatory pro-LGBTQ statements and posts on social media. This year, however, this community appears to be going further off the deep-end.

In preparation for the barrage of pro-trans messaging, Conservative activist Lauren Witzke shared an image on Twitter, with the caption “Demons can seethe. Christians are DONE taking crap from the LGBTQ Mafia.” Transgender activists in particular were quick to embrace this imagery.

pic.twitter.com/IX0Sn0LKvx

— Lauren Witzke (@LaurenWitzkeDE) May 26, 2023

One Twitter user, known as @artbyveya, quickly took credit for the image shared by Witzke. Claiming that she(?) actually created it. This account uses fae/faer which will not be observed in this article.

Even more surprisingly, this account is now monetizing its newfound fame by selling t-shirts with the logo. 

This is not the first time that left-wing radicals have embraced satanic imagery. The artist behind Target’s pride collection, Erik Carnell, has also dabbled with evil in some of his previous projects. 

As noted by Carnell in a now infamous Instagram post, “Satan loves you and respects who you are; you’re important and valuable in this world and you deserve to treat yourself with love and respect. LGBT+ people are so often referred to as being a product of Satan or going against God’s will, so fine. We’ll hang with Satan instead.

Satanists don’t actually believe in Satan, he is merely used as a symbol of passion, pride, and liberty. He means to you what you need him to mean. So for me, Satan is hope, compassion, equality, and love.”

If the left wants to associate themselves with evil, there is nothing we can do to stop them. All they are doing is showing their true colors. There is no doubt that this public display will soon awaken our friends and neighbors who do not yet see the rising societal issues we are facing as a nation. 

If you would like to purchase one of the “priDEMONth” shirts from self-described trans activist @artbyveya, there is a fitting guide for all two genders on her(?) website. Those who do not fit into that “binary” should take it up with @artbyveya.

It was not long ago when Republicans across the nation were signing praises for Joe Lombardo, the former Sheriff-turned Governor of Nevada in the red ripple of 2022. Lombardo touted his pro-life credentials on the campaign trail, using pro-life voters to sail his way into the Governor’s mansion. On Tuesday, he betrayed those voters by signing an abortion bill nearly as bad as Minnesota’s.

Senate Bill 131 makes Nevada an “abortion sanctuary state,” meaning that women can run to Nevada to get their abortions, no matter the legality in their home state. Nevada will ignore any court orders or warrants and even protect doctors who perform these procedures. Minnesota passed a similar law this year with their far-left Democrat Trifecta.

Nevada already has liberal abortion laws, which only protect babies after 25 weeks in pregnancy (into the third trimester).

Not only will more babies be killed, but young women will also be trafficked into the state to have forced abortions.

As a candidate for Governor, Joe Lombardo was endorsed by National Right to Life, a pro-life group. He also used his Catholic faith as reasoning behind his seemingly pro-life campaign platform. All of this meant nothing, apparently.

This is exactly why politicians cannot be trusted – regardless of political party. If Nevada conservatives wanted a Democrat Governor, it is clear they should have stayed home last November. Both candidates on the ballot were liberals, anyway.

This past legislative session was an absolute mess. Not only did Democrats infringe upon your 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, but they also spent every dime of a record-shattering $21 billion budget surplus – then, raised taxes!

These Democrats went as far as spending your tax dollars on free college for students whose families make under $80k/year. When first passed under the Higher Education Omnibus Bill (HF 2073), it was understood that free tuition would only apply to citizen residents of Minnesota.

However, Axios has revealed that this will also apply to illegal aliens. Senator Omah Fateh (who was on the conference committee for HF 2073) told the publication that “We want to make sure that when we’re expanding opportunities for everybody, we’re doing it for all Minnesotans, regardless of background, regardless of their documentation status.”

The Senator could not provide an estimate for how many illegal aliens would apply. However, we do know that roughly 600 illegals applied for the Minnesota Dream Act last school year, which gives them in-state tuition prices.

The students who previously applied under the Dream Act are automatically enrolled for free college tuition. All are subsidized by the taxpayers.

While hard-working Minnesotans are getting a one-time check back for $260 (after initially being promised $1,000 and owed an astounding $8,000), non-citizens are getting an equivalent of $16k per year through Minnesota’s new tuition program.

Instead of getting our surplus tax dollars back, it is going directly to illegal aliens.

Axios goes on to state that Fateh plans to promote this program in high schools around the state, so do not be surprised if the cost for this program skyrockets.

The United States government continues to run as an anti-freedom, unconstitutional force of power over the people of this country. Now it's most questionable organization, the Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) Agency, is telling Minnesotans that its illegal to buy or possess a firearm if you smoke or consume legal marijuana products in Minnesota.

Yesterday, Minnesota became the newest state to legalize recreational marijuana. 

In a press release from the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Minnesota ATF Field Office, Agent Jeff Reed provides "clarification" on what federal officials plan to do to gun owners who are following state laws instead of unconstitutional federal laws.

The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits any person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance as defined by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition.

Regardless of the recent changes in Minnesota law related to the legalization of marijuana, an individual who is a current user of marijuana is still federally defined as an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance and therefore is prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition.

These people are completely nuts!!!

Can you imagine a federal agent arresting a person who owns a firearm just because at one point they light up a joint or use medicinal marijuana? The federal government has no legal authority to regulate marijuana OR infringe on the rights of people to keep and bear arms. But they have a federal agency tasked to do just that.

Here's the press release:

When the federal government violates the United States Constitution, it's the duty of the states to make those laws null and void in the states. 

The University of Minnesota is receiving well-deserved criticism for offering paid summer internships to only “non-white” students. The taxpayer-funded school was offering a $6,000 stipend to those who were accepted into the program.

According to New York Post, the intern application previously stated that the 10-week summer program "prepare[s] students of color and Native Americans for graduate school.”

As of writing, it appears the discriminatory language has been removed from their application website. This follows a complaint to the Department of Education from a Cornell Law Professor. Dr. Jacobson, who filed the complaint, told New York Post that “there is an increasing trend where people think it’s OK to discriminate on the basis of race as long as the discrimination is against whites or Asians or others, and we don’t accept that.”

The University of Minnesota is engaging in racist, anti-white discrimination with these kinds of programs. They only changed their tune because they were caught red-handed by the public. With successful boycotts of Bud Light and Target for similarly woke shenanigans, it is clear that pressure from the public works.

If conservatives want to see victories on the culture war front, they must be willing to turn up the heat. That includes encouraging our friends, neighbors, and children to stay far away from anything related to the University of Minnesota. This is the only way we change the culture and win.

The Legislative session has finally come to an end! While there is nothing to celebrate as far as legislation is concerned, we should all be very happy that the Legislature can no longer pass Socialist bills that destroy our state. The Dems and RINOs worked all session long to make our lives harder, more expensive, and less free.

Yesterday, on the final day of session, crony politicians were sure to push a socialist bonding bill that puts our state in debt to benefit the lobbyists and special interests that fund their campaigns. Two bills were discussed as it relates to bonding, one of them being an actual bonding bill (HF669) and the other being a cash only (HF670) (Surplus spending) bill. A bonding bill requires 3/5ths support from the House and Senate in order to pass while the cash bill only needed a majority.

We previously reported that the Senate GOP was withholding their support for the bonding bill in order to get tax cuts. Action 4 Liberty commended their efforts and suggested that they do not sign onto a bonding bill until three conditions are met:

1. Complete Return of the Surplus to taxpayers
2. No gun control passed in session
3. Tax cuts and elimination of Social Security tax

The vote was party line on the bonding bill back in March (with exception to Pappas who voted no just so she could reintroduce it). Then Pappas admitted the ‘Pay to Play’ scheme she was running and cried about it in committee! Since that point, the Democrats did not concede on a single issue and continued their tyrannical agenda. However, the Senate GOP caved!

Fiscal conservatism was nowhere to be found in the MN Capitol building this session and the backbones of the Senate GOP disappeared. In what could have been a sign of strength by Republicans on the very last day turned out to be a sign of their weakness. Our state is now subject to debt for projects that corrupt politicians snuck into a massive omnibus bill.

Below, you can see how your State Representative voted on the bonding bill in a vote of 97-35:

Below is the vote for the bonding bill in the State Senate with a vote of 56-11:

Politicians cannot be trusted with our money and they especially cannot be trusted with a massive Surplus of our overtaxed dollars. We need conservatives to stand up and fight the crony nature of our political system. Taxpayers across our state should not be responsible for the debt that comes from politicians’ pet projects!

Now that all of the Democrat's omnibus bills have been pushed through the legislature, voters get to know exactly how much politicians are raising their taxes. To nobody's surprise, Democrats have really outdone themselves this year. New taxes and fees will bring the state BILLIONS in new revenue. Here's a list of the Democrat's new policies passed in both the tax and transportation omnibus bills.

Rebate Checks

The budget surplus is about $21 Billion. This means that each taxpayer is owed up to $8,000 (if divided equally). Democrat's final agreement on how much they will give back of OUR money is an insulting $260 per tax filer, and $260 for dependent children up to 3 total dependents. So the most a family in Minnesota will see of their money is $1,300. The total rebate program accounts for $1.1 Billion or a mere 5% of the total money that they overtaxed us by. The rest will go to funding all the Democrat's radical agenda and paybacks to their Special Interests.

Household Delivery Tax

The delivery tax is now a reality. Minnesota Democrats will successfully charge you 50 cents per Amazon package. This will hit the poorest Minnesotans the hardest, who need every dime they can get. Remember, Democrats say they only want to tax "the wealthy." What a LIE!

Metro Sales Tax Increase

Democrats successfully passed their metro sales tax increase, which will tag on another .75% to the already high sales taxes of the 7 county metro area. Current tax rates range from 7.125% to 8.025%. 

This bill also allows many cities to increase their local sales taxes, which vary across the metro.

Gas Tax Increase

The gas tax, currently 28.5 cents/gallon, will now be tied to inflation. Experts estimate that this will add an additional 5 cents per gallon by 2027, though the official price will be put at the discretion of Walz’ Commissioner of Transportation. Senator Judy Seeberger, a swing-district Democrat, voted for this increase despite making explicit promises not to in 2022. 

Tab Fee Increase

In the past, the fee for license tab renewal has been $10 + 1.25% of the vehicle's value. Now, that fee will be increased to $10 + 1.915% for vehicle's purchased before November 2020, and 1.95% for vehicle's purchased afterwards. With skyrocketing vehicle prices, you'd better bet that this yearly fee will be expensive. As the pattern proves, this will also hit lower-income Minnesotans hard.

Social Security Tax Stays for Many

There will be a total tax elimination of social security income for Minnesotans who have a Federal Adjusted Gross Income of $100k or lower. Tax filers between $100k and $140k will have a reduction in taxes. And those above, will still pay taxes. Way to stick up for our seniors!

Again, this is another broken campaign promise by swing-district democrats like Judy Seeberger and Aric Putnam.