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<title>10 December, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump’s 2024 Campaign So Far Is an Epic Act of Self-Sabotage</strong> - But is this really the end of an error? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/trumps-2024-campaign-so-far-is-an-epic-act-of-self-sabotage">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Pedro Castillo’s Failed Coup Attempt Means for Peru</strong> - Can the country emerge intact from the world’s shortest-lived dictatorship? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-pedro-castillos-failed-coup-attempt-means-for-peru">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Respect for Marriage Act Is Also a Victory for Same-Sex-Marriage Opponents</strong> - It favors the rights of religious groups over those of gay couples—and, if Obergefell were to be overruled, it would create two classes of marriage. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-respect-for-marriage-act-is-also-a-victory-for-same-sex-marriage-opponents">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Happens When Jobs Are Guaranteed?</strong> - In a small Austrian village, an experimental program finds—or creates—work for the unemployed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/what-happens-when-jobs-are-guaranteed">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Brittney Griner’s Swap for the “Merchant of Death” Is Just the Latest Deal</strong> - The average number of Americans detained abroad has risen by nearly six hundred per cent during the past decade. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/brittney-griners-swap-for-the-merchant-of-death-is-just-the-latest-deal">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The weird Republican turn against corporate social responsibility</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="An illustration in a rusty orange color shows the outline of a businessman in suit and tie looking at a piece of paper; behind him are the letters “ESG.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rSdNRX2qYNY0DuUdoPPqJHkiGk4=/64x0:2731x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71733594/esg_.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Amanda Northrop/Vox
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Companies say they want to acknowledge environmental impacts. Republicans are mad about that.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hElud1">
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Republicans have found a new front in the culture war. For months, Republicans have been attacking ESG, the financial shorthand for how some companies consider all the ways the environment, social issues, and corporate governance impact their bottom line. One of the GOP’s recent targets is BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, which oversees some <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/blackrock-reports-fall-third-quarter-profit-2022-10-13/">$8 trillion in assets</a>, as a symbol of the financial community’s growing recognition that climate change is too big to ignore.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zWpemQ">
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Republican leaders call the business world’s recognition of climate science a symptom of “wokeism.” In a white paper released this week, the Republican minority on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs recently <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/the_new_emperors_responding_to_the_growing_influence_of_the_big_three_asset_managers.pdf">called out</a> the “big three” firms BlackRock, Vanguard, and States Street “as our new emperors,” taking issue with their involvement in a non-binding coalition that supports reaching a portfolio of net-zero emissions by 2050.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="If7Kec">
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“The conclusions are built on flawed premises and risk harming millions of everyday investors that rely on mutual funds and exchange-traded funds to help them retire with dignity,” BlackRock said in <a href="https://www.pionline.com/esg/republicans-propose-recommendations-curb-big-three-asset-managers-influence">response</a> to the GOP’s report.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bFlkQk">
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ESG may be the right’s new boogeyman, but it’s a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-02/many-big-esg-funds-are-just-glorified-market-trackers-green-insight">misunderstood concept</a> that has been around for a long time; in 2004, the UN secretary-general <a href="https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2021/11/15/esg-investing-why-here-why-now/">challenged</a> financial institutions to better account for environmental, social, and corporate governance issues. But ESG gained visibility in the past few years, especially after BlackRock CEO Larry Fink penned a <a href="https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/2021-larry-fink-ceo-letter">letter to CEOs</a> in 2021 urging ESG as the future.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GSa6Lf">
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ESG is not a regulation or a set of rules, and it does not require any real action from a corporation. It’s mostly used as a catch-all term for any investment that considers social and environmental responsibility. In fact, what counts as ESG is so ill-defined and malleable <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22714761/esg-investing-divestment-fossil-fuels-climate-401k">it has been criticized</a> as a way to “greenwash” corporate actions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2FfZgv">
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One of the defining ideas of ESG is that a company is better off accounting and reporting environmental and social risks to investors and clients, rather than being willfully blind to the world around it. This can include a broad swath of issues, such as a company’s reliance on oil, gas, and coal, or exposure to sea-level rise in coastal operations, human rights violations of the countries it operates in, and lack of board diversity and CEO transparency. A big part of the ESG movement, at least right now, is largely about disclosure of these potential bottom-line risks in the future, not necessarily doing anything differently in the present.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tt0QDa">
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But Republican officials in <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/west-virginia-fires-blackrock-over-asset-manager-s-climate-and-china-stance-68468375">West Virginia</a>, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/08/25/texas-bans-blackrock-ubs-esg-backlash">Texas</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/louisiana-remove-794-mln-blackrock-funds-over-esg-drive-2022-10-05/">Louisiana</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/missouri-pulls-500-mln-blackrock-over-asset-managers-esg-push-2022-10-18/">Missouri</a>, and now Florida have <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/florida-will-pull-2-billion-of-assets-from-blackrock-over-esg">withdrawn</a> billions of dollars from BlackRock’s management. Proponents are planning to introduce a slew of bills in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/01/republicans-sustainable-investing-midterms-00064326">at least 15 states</a> next year to divest pensions and boycott companies for considering sustainability as an aim. At the federal level, House GOP lawmakers are preparing antitrust investigations.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HGNHz2">
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To get to the bottom of what is driving this, I spoke to one of the state officials leading the attack on ESG, Riley Moore, state treasurer of West Virginia. The way he sees it, “banks are coercing capital away” from coal, gas, and oil industries. He explains he doesn’t want the coal- and gas-reliant state to contract its financial services with a company that is “trying to diminish those dollars. They want less coal mining, they want less fracking.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hs5nJK">
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This is getting much bigger than BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, companies that used to be solidly at the right of corporate America. There are real stakes for pensioners, red-state taxpayers, and the wider economy if the GOP succeeds in scaring off financial institutions from pursuing climate targets.
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</p>
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<h3 id="qiolVk">
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ESG isn’t woke, but it is evidence of the free market at work
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bVX2zZ">
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The backlash began early in 2021 when three events sent the signal that ESG was here to stay. The first was Larry Fink’s embrace of ESG, noting in <a href="https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/2021-larry-fink-ceo-letter">his 2021 letter</a> that “No issue ranks higher than climate change on our clients’ lists of priorities. They ask us about it nearly every day.” The second came in March, when the Biden administration <a href="https://www.vox.com/23058987/sec-climate-finance-disclosure">proposed a regulation</a> to require climate risk disclosure from publicly traded companies, parallel to <a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/investigation-fraud-and-risk/esg-gap-widens/">rules being</a> adopted by the European Union.<strong> </strong>The third and final was an unlikely coup staged at the annual Exxon shareholder board meeting.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HxjJop">
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Last year,<strong> </strong>Engine No. 1, a small hedge fund, earned enough votes to gain three Exxon board seats, despite the company’s recommendation against it. It wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Exxon’s three largest shareholders, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street voting, representing 20 percent of the voting share. The new board members’ mission was focused on understanding the risks climate change and regulation will pose to the company.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sGNBN6">
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The win was the clearest sign yet that there was a realignment happening in financial markets and that even the fossil fuel industry couldn’t ignore the effects of climate change. Investors, as the Engine No. 1 win showed, are already clamoring for this kind of information. The assets BlackRock handles far outnumber what Republicans could divest. For example, two-thirds of BlackRock’s largest clients in its strategic partner program, representing <a href="https://www.pionline.com/esg/under-fire-over-esg-blackrocks-latest-proxy-votes-reveal-nuanced-stance">assets over $3 trillion</a>, support the energy transition, according to BlackRock. ESG isn’t going away — by 2025, global ESG assets are expected to make up a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/esg-assets-may-hit-53-trillion-by-2025-a-third-of-global-aum/">third of all </a>projected assets under management — and it keeps growing. ESG funds are also now <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/want-esg-in-your-401k-plan-labor-regulators-left-you-options">packaged for retail use,</a> like for retirement savings.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AN1kMi">
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On the left, ESG has for years come under criticism as a form of greenwashing, and ESG disclosure isn’t the same thing as corporate behavior. As <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/08/esg-investing-isnt-designed-to-save-the-planet">Harvard Business Review</a> noted, the funding in ESG is “dedicated to assuring returns for shareholders, not delivering positive planetary impact.” Many environmentalists think ESG is a distraction from the main issue they’d like to see traction on: companies disclosing the impact their products and investments have on the world around them, and accounting for that in decisions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IWuN8i">
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ESG doesn’t go this far. In no way will disclosure be enough to save the planet from climate change. There are no binding requirements, either. But what Republican critics of ESG really fear is that the financial world will realign with climate science and no longer see new coal plants and offshore drilling as viable projects to finance.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dEPv3D">
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Many of the Republican attacks on ESG stem from a misrepresentation of what it actually means. It’s not always motivated by an altruistic climate or social<strong> </strong>agenda. ESG also helps banks and public companies meet their one goal by screening investments for various risks. “They’ve got a fiduciary duty to generate returns. So they’re not going to impose some agenda, whether it’s climate or social agenda, that’s going to get in the way of returns,” said University of Oxford business expert Robert Eccles.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6iuf10">
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As baseless as the attacks have been, the pressure could still work. Vanguard on Wednesday announced it is withdrawing from the Net Zero Asset Managers coalition, in which companies voluntarily committed to reaching net-zero emissions in their portfolios by 2050. In an apparent nod to the ongoing GOP’s investigations, <a href="https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/articles/update-on-nzam-engagement.html">Vanguard said</a> it withdrew “so that we can provide the clarity our investors desire about the role of index funds and about how we think about material risks, including climate-related risks — and to make clear that Vanguard speaks independently on matters of importance to our investors.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="r4TQRd">
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The right’s baffling one-year campaign against ESG
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="El2DYV">
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After Engine No. 1’s coup, the attacks started to crystallize from the right, spearheaded by conservative advocacy circles. There have been two groups at the center of these attacks, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/leonard-leo-courts-dark-money.html">both supported</a> by the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo, who led the right’s legal strategy to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/04/leonard-leo-federalist-society-conservative-abortion">overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em></a>. Those groups, <a href="https://consumersresearch.org/">Consumers Research</a> and State Financial Officers Foundation, are conservative nonprofits also funded by groups with anonymous funding.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1dfqPV">
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These groups’ involvement suggests a deep-pocketed campaign. “This is an artificially created conversation topic that’s not being led by financial stakeholders. It’s political stakeholders that are driving this forward,” said Jacey Bingler, senior communications campaigner of the climate finance advocacy group Sunrise Project.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="78OiHF">
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There have been four main prongs to the right’s strategy. Republicans plan to undertake antitrust investigations next year at the state and federal levels against<strong> </strong>these giant corporations. Just before the election, Senate Republicans <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/senate-republicans-warn-us-law-firms-over-esg-advice-2022-11-04/">sent a letter to top law firms</a> warning of investigations around ESG, claiming they suspect collusion. The second is what states like West Virginia and Florida have already done: pulling their state operating funds from BlackRock and other banks’ management.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="40wkNa">
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The final two prongs are considered potentially the most damaging to taxpayers and pensioners in red states. One is the <a href="https://alec.org/model-policy/state-government-employee-retirement-protection-act/#:~:text=Summary,pension%20plans%20across%20the%20country.">model bill</a> that is circulating in red states, called the State Government Employee Retirement Protection Act. It divests teachers, police officers, state-employed nurses, and other employees’ pensions from companies that are on a boycott list. Eventually, experts worry this ban could mean the pensions are overweighted in fossil fuels and less diverse, leaving the people depending on their retirement subject to more market volatility.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2RkWlC">
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The final tactic is a boycott list, where the state only seeks contracts with financing from companies that do not consider climate change in their calculations. Practically speaking, that means if a state wants to build a highway and needs financing, it could wind up being charged higher fees because there is less need for those banks to compete with better deals.
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</p>
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<h3 id="aetDU0">
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The ESG backlash is an extension of the right’s ideological schism on climate change
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rR0gJ2">
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It’s not clear what’s motivating this new front in the GOP’s culture wars. It’s not a winning political issue, given that most voters aren’t familiar with terms like ESG, nor is ESG a top priority of the climate movement.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l1I8HJ">
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There’s another theory, though. “It’s intended to delay climate action without having to admit that that’s what they’re attempting to do,” Sunrise’s Bingler said. “Republicans have essentially created a new installment in this culture war where they tend to pick relatively niche topics that don’t necessarily resonate with large parts of society without this artificial attempt to continue to fan the flames.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFLrtD">
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For over a decade, the main plank of the GOP has ignored climate science, cycling through <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/10/22/18007922/climate-change-republicans-denial-marco-rubio-trump">various excuses</a> not to take action on greenhouse gas emissions.<strong> </strong>Most of the electorate thinks <a href="https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-in-the-american-mind-april-2022/toc/2/">climate change is real </a>and is concerned to some degree about it, and rising extreme weather is making it more undeniable.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yiuKXK">
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But many Republican leaders don’t recognize that science. West Virginia’s treasurer, Moore, is one of them.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TmtMtj">
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“You’re talking about climate changing, you know, in 100 years,” he said. “I mean, these folks are hedging on what the climate might look like in 100 years. Tell me, exactly, for a pension beneficiary, who is going to retire in the next 10 years, how carbon emissions is going to affect the financial outcomes and vitality of a given publicly traded company.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wNDNwS">
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“So what you’re telling me is you’re going to have sea levels rise by X amount of centimeters in 100 years, and that somehow is going to affect the profitability of a company?” he continued. “Not sure I follow that.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WpBdYH">
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Climate activists — and even some investors — have said that the GOP pushback against ESG is a political issue, not primarily an economic one.<strong> </strong>There’s also no clear anti-ESG consensus among typical allies of Republicans; the Kentucky Bankers Association in November <a href="https://www.bankingdive.com/news/kentucky-banking-trade-group-sues-attorney-general-esg-policy/636842/">sued</a> the state attorney general for overstepping his authority by demanding documents related to ESG.<strong> </strong>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EfY5gg">
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So the issue’s salience in the next two years will depend entirely on how it resonates with voters and potentially factors into the presidential election. Many experts were skeptical it could ever gain political relevance, but still worry what the endgame is. Does this mean a future of “blue banks” and “red banks”? Will financial behemoths be frightened into weakening already-weak climate targets? It’s too early to say.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AboocV">
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But the right’s war on banks won’t necessarily drive a back-pedaling on climate goals. BlackRock has tempered its interest in climate publicly since the ESG attacks began, but other institutions have pushed ahead.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hzqcSs">
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“Market participants will continue to demand ESG data and incorporate it in risk models,” said Ivan Frishberg, chief sustainability officer of <a href="https://www.amalgamatedbank.com/who-we-are#:~:text=We%20are%20committed%20to%20environmental,a%20champion%20of%20workers'%20rights.">Amalgamated Bank</a>, a bank with a socially responsible mission. “That is capitalism doing what it does best: seeking more data for better client responsiveness and a more systemic view. The pushback on ESG is essentially a denial of capitalism. Ultimately, our clients are going to drive the products and approaches we take and guide how we respond as a firm.”
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>What the Twitter files don’t tell us</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/r0-yiUd2Pu_o_G85is7NVUbJ_24=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71732651/1441801365.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Former US President Donald Trump. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The documents are ammo for conservatives, even if they lack crucial context.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QESXip">
|
||
Conservatives have long accused Big Tech of being biased against them, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/technology/evidence-of-anti-conservative-bias-by-platforms-remains-anecdotal.html">without much evidence</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V2F5lH">
|
||
Now, the <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3768087-former-nyt-columnist-bari-weiss-releases-twitter-files-part-two/">“Twitter files,”</a> a trove of internal Twitter documents, is providing new ammo for these conservatives. Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, has released the files to journalists Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi, who, like him, are <a href="https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-wokest-news-stories-of-2020-59a">active critics</a> of <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/bari-weiss-ny-post/">liberal “woke” culture</a>,
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R4Gzzt">
|
||
This past week, journalists Weiss and Taibbi shared details of some of the documents and their own analysis in two long Twitter threads. The revelations are ongoing, with <a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1601353543390486528">plans to post more</a> in the coming days. Their central accusation so far is that Twitter has long silenced conservative or contrarian voices, and they reference internal emails, Slack messages, and content moderation systems to show how Twitter limited the reach of popular right-wing accounts like Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk, and Libs of TikTok.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XtLrxI">
|
||
But these claims and the internal documents lack crucial context.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TCusLH">
|
||
We don’t have a full explanation, for example, of why<em> </em>Twitter limited the reach of these accounts — i.e., whether they were violating the platform’s rules on hate speech, health misinformation, or violent content. Without this information, we don’t know whether these rules were applied fairly or not. Twitter has long acknowledged that it sometimes <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/enforcement-options">downranks content</a> that is violative of its rules instead of all-out banning it. It’s a strategy that Musk himself has advocated for by arguing that people should have <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1593673339826212864">“freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach”</a> on the platform.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DypXZY">
|
||
And while Weiss has surfaced specific examples of Twitter limiting the reach of conservative accounts known for spreading <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/02/lgbtq-threats-hospitals-libs-of-tiktok/">hateful content about the LGTBQ+ community </a>or sharing the “big lie” about the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/18/dan-bongino-election-fraud-messaging-437164">US presidential elections,</a> we don’t know if Twitter did the same for some far-left accounts that have also been known for pushing boundaries, such as some former <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/twitter-political-account-ban-us-mid-term-elections">Occupy movement leaders</a> who have complained about Twitter’s content moderation in the past.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QqHkna">
|
||
Musk, Weiss, and Taibbi are also assuming these decisions were made with explicit political motivation. Historically, most Twitter employees — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/10/31/18039528/tech-employees-politics-liberal-employers-candidates">like the rest of Big Tech — lean liberal</a>. Twitter’s conservative critics argue that this presents an inherent bias in the company’s content moderation decisions. Former Twitter employees Recode spoke with this week insisted that content moderation teams operate in good faith to execute on Twitter’s policy rules, regardless of personal politics. And research shows that Twitter’s recommendation algorithms <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/rml-politicalcontent">actually have an inherent bias in favor of right-wing</a> news. What’s been shared so far in the Twitter files doesn’t offer clear proof that anyone at Twitter made decisions about specific accounts or tweets because of their political affiliation. We need more context and information to clarify what’s really going on here.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PpKUw9">
|
||
But to right-wing politicians, influencers, and their supporters, none of this nuance ultimately matters. Former President Donald Trump has used the files’ release to call for <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html">terminating parts of the US Constitution</a>, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has said it’s proof that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nTU7qswsM8">liberals are censoring conservatives online</a>, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) warned that <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1601028525678821378">“Oversight is coming.”</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eJH309">
|
||
“We ALWAYS knew we were a target of the Twitter suppression machine. ALWAYS. Yet liberals insisted it was another ‘conspiracy theory,’” <a href="https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/1601016805304467456">Bongino, a popular conservative commentator</a> who Weiss’s reporting showed was seemingly barred from search results on Twitter at one point, tweeted on Thursday evening. “Tonight is vindication,” he wrote.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="es6TzT">
|
||
What the Twitter files do — and don’t — tell us
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5zGfXF">
|
||
The first installment of the Twitter files, written by Taibbi, dissected the controversial decision by <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/14/21516194/hunter-biden-new-york-post-facebook-twitter-removed">Twitter to block a New York Post story about Hunter Biden</a> before the 2020 US elections. Twitter’s rationale for blocking the story at the time was that it may have been based on hacked or fake materials — in the end, it was based on <a href="https://www.vox.com/22992772/hunter-biden-laptop">real information</a> seemingly from Hunter Biden’s laptop that he left in a repair shop — but the veracity of the materials and where they came from was unclear at the time Twitter was making its decision.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ebZhKz">
|
||
Taibbi’s breakdown of the internal debate at Twitter over whether or not to block the New York Post story was seen by some journalists as a <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-musk-twitter-files-1234640842/">“snoozefest”</a> because Twitter executives’ disagreement and regret about the decision, <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/25/dorsey-says-blocking-posts-hunter-biden-story-was-total-mistake/">including by then-CEO Jack Dorsey</a>, has already been reported. Nor do the new files reveal any clear intention of political preference — instead, the internal debate at Twitter at the time focused on whether or not the story <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/16/twitter-changes-its-hacked-materials-policy-in-wake-of-new-york-post-controversy/">violated Twitter’s policies</a> around hacked materials and publishing of “personal and private” information.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6oYhTP">
|
||
The <a href="https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/1601028920429539330">second installment of the Twitter files, by Weiss,</a> shared previously unreported details about Twitter enforcing what it calls “visibility filtering” on certain conservative figures’ accounts, meaning that fewer people saw their tweets because Twitter appeared to take actions like blocking their names in search, stopping their tweets from trending, or downranking their tweets in people’s feeds. In doing so, Weiss has accused Twitter of “shadow banning” these accounts, but there’s dispute about what that term means.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cMf56M">
|
||
Twitter defined shadow banning <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2018/Setting-the-record-straight-on-shadow-banning">in a company blog post in 2018</a> as “deliberately making someone’s content undiscoverable to everyone except the person who posted it, unbeknownst to the original poster.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GsGJpC">
|
||
One source who used to work in content moderation at Twitter told Recode that the examples Weiss reported on isn’t true shadow banning because those tweets were still visible to other people.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s305V3">
|
||
There’s a lot of confusion around the many ways that Twitter can demote people’s tweets without erasing them entirely. While Twitter denied that it ever shadow banned users, it has never fully explained what “visibility filtering” meant or which accounts it was applied to. It’s easy to see how that could cause confusion and accusations of political manipulation. Still, for some former Twitter employees, the decisions to demote accounts pushing hateful speech in itself isn’t controversial.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xkt5Ge">
|
||
“I don’t see the scandal,” said another former Twitter employee, who spoke with Recode on the condition of anonymity because of fear of professional repercussions. The employee said that Libs of TikTok, an account that Weiss revealed had its reach limited by Twitter, is a “harmful” user that forced the company to restrict its visibility. The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/02/lgbtq-threats-hospitals-libs-of-tiktok/">account has been blamed for harassment of children’s hospitals,</a> including bomb threats.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v9Kdlm">
|
||
“Why wouldn’t you want to restrict amplification of an account like that?” the former employee said. “No one has a right to be amplified.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ecvPhC">
|
||
But Twitter’s lack of transparency around why<em> </em>these accounts were limited opens the company to accusations that it overreached and showed political bias.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Yxzhjm">
|
||
How Elon Musk is reacting
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FCm5Oc">
|
||
Musk says that Twitter is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/tech/musk-twitter-shadowbanning/index.html">working on a feature that will</a> show users if they’ve been shadow banned, the reason why, and how to appeal.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S0xhv4">
|
||
Several sources Recode spoke with who currently or formerly work for major social media companies said that, historically, companies like Facebook or Twitter haven’t done this because it could make it easier for bad actors to game content moderation systems and evade rules.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DdWIaE">
|
||
But despite that risk, if Musk were to publicly reveal why users have been downranked, it may actually solve a bigger problem for Twitter: the perception that the company is secretly silencing conservative voices. What it might reveal instead is that in order to have a well-functioning platform, it’s necessary<em> </em>to downrank harmful content, even if it’s posted by prominent conservative figures.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HQpZHo">
|
||
And sometimes it’s important to kick off rule-breaking users — as Musk himself learned when Kanye West’s account was reinstated and then West repeatedly tweeted anti-Semitic comments. Musk <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/01/elon-musk-suspends-kanye-wests-account-for-breaking-twitter-rules/">suspended his account again in response</a> about a month later.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zEfV6f">
|
||
If we had more information about the full extent of accounts Twitter applies “visibility filtering” to and the rationale for why it does so, the Twitter files might provoke deeper conversations. If conservatives are the ones repeatedly breaking the rules around hateful content, does that mean they should be held to a different standard on the platform? Or should Twitter rewrite its rules around hate speech? So far, neither Musk nor his conservative supporters decrying the Twitter files seem to have an answer.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>How FIFA corruputed the World Cup</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/c36ADLadqakfhB58kiZ9NYEUWTQ=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71732494/VDC_ATL_666_THUMB_CLEAN.0.jpg"/>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And how Russia and Qatar took advantage of it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6jNe5B">
|
||
On December 2, 2010, FIFA announced the 2022 World Cup would take place in a surprising country, Qatar. At that same meeting, they also announced that the 2018 World Cup would take place in Russia. These selections set off a new chapter in FIFA’s history, one where the public would have a greater sense of how bribery and corruption play a huge role in who gets to host this international sporting event.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x4K1M4">
|
||
The last 14 World Cup locations were decided by a group of 24 powerful men within FIFA called the executive committee. Their votes meant a lot to bidding nations and allegations on bidders bribing members of the committee lingered for decades. These allegations reached a new level when criminal investigations were launched nearly five years after that FIFA announcement. The fallout of these investigations nearly broke FIFA and tainted the World Cup.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IrVrwI">
|
||
Watch the latest episode of Vox Atlas to understand how FIFA corrupted the World Cup host selection process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="u9cUoA">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lFiNQJ">
|
||
You can find this video and all of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXo7UDZvByw2ixzpQCufnA"><strong>Vox’s videos on YouTube</strong></a>.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Goldiva and Supernatural catch the eye</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Del Mar, My Vision, Musterion, Capri Girl and Devils Magic impress</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Injured Achinta withdraws from World weightlifting championships</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>P.T. Usha becomes first woman Indian Olympic Association president</strong> - P.T. Usha, fondly known as the ‘Payyoli Express’, is being seen as a candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which had nominated her as a Rajya Sabha member in July</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bangladesh vs India third ODI | Ishan Kishan’s fastest ODI double century takes India to mammoth total</strong> - Virat Kohli (113) also slammed his first ODI hundred since August 2019</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cyclone Mandous leaves Tirupati, Kadapa soaked</strong> - NRDF teams stationed at Naidupeta, Gudur</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cyclone Mandous brings gales and downpour to Chittoor</strong> - Officials deployed at all irrigation tanks vulnerable to breaches; district adminstration on alert</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Centre to develop Alappuzha marina-cum-cargo project under Sagarmala scheme</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New con in town: Beware of installing remote desktop applications on your mobile phone</strong> - Conmen are using remote desk apps to defraud people and withdraw money from accounts</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Manipuri filmmaker depicts a way of life that is fast fading away</strong> - Romi Meitei Mayanglambam, who has made 40 feature films and short films, was mostly into commercial cinema earlier. Now, he brings to screen issues close to his heart, such as the need to protect indigenous culture</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: US says Iran now Russia’s ‘top military backer’</strong> - Washington says it has seen reports that the countries are considering jointly producing drones.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The self-proclaimed kingdom that doesn’t recognise Germany</strong> - Money, ID cards, flags, and even their own king: meet the Germans who refuse to recognise the state.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Paul Whelan: US and Russia to explore more prisoner swaps</strong> - President Joe Biden’s administration tells Paul Whelan, convicted of espionage, to “keep the faith”.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The last of Albania’s ‘sworn virgins’</strong> - An ancient Balkan tradition where women take a celibacy oath and live as men is on the decline, with only a dozen remaining - as young women in Albania fight against everything the tradition stands for.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>England v France: Historic match with World Cup semi-final spot at stake</strong> - England and France are ready for their historic first knockout match in a men’s tournament as they meet in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Amid pathetic uptake, FDA green lights confusing COVID vaccine update for kids</strong> - Some kids can get boosters, some can get an updated series, some get nothing. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903512">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Musk brings back Twitter Blue with new features to prevent impersonation</strong> - Reuters reviewed an email to advertisers saying Twitter Blue is back Friday. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903477">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>RIP Passwords? Passkey support rolls out to Chrome stable</strong> - With a huge list of caveats, initial Google passkey support is here. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903387">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AI image generation tech can now create life-wrecking deepfakes with ease</strong> - AI tech makes it trivial to generate harmful fake photos from a few social media pictures. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1902427">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Schoolhouse Rock! tribute to honor the passing of its last surviving creator</strong> - George Newall, a former ad exec who co-created the influential series, has died at 88. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903226">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What type of doctor treats transgender men?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A guynowcologist.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ilikesidehugs"> /u/ilikesidehugs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zhfacz/what_type_of_doctor_treats_transgender_men/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zhfacz/what_type_of_doctor_treats_transgender_men/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I just got a new job at the zoo, circumcising the elephants!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The pay isn’t great, but the tips are huge!
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/B34TBOXX5"> /u/B34TBOXX5 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zgxnvh/i_just_got_a_new_job_at_the_zoo_circumcising_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zgxnvh/i_just_got_a_new_job_at_the_zoo_circumcising_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BREAKING: Due to inflation, Dollar Tree will be changing it’s name…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
…to Tree Dollar.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ombloshio"> /u/ombloshio </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zh0hg4/breaking_due_to_inflation_dollar_tree_will_be/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zh0hg4/breaking_due_to_inflation_dollar_tree_will_be/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Only one.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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But the light bulb has really got to want to change.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/EducatedNitWit"> /u/EducatedNitWit </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zhlfi9/how_many_psychiatrists_does_it_take_to_change_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zhlfi9/how_many_psychiatrists_does_it_take_to_change_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Took my son out for his first Pint today.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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I got him a Fosters, he didn’t like it, I drank it. Then I got him a Budweiser, he didn’t like that either, I drank it. It was the same with the Guinness and the Cider. By the time we got down to the Whisky,
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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I could hardly walk the fucking stroller.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zharfj/took_my_son_out_for_his_first_pint_today/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zharfj/took_my_son_out_for_his_first_pint_today/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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</ul>
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