Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee Sue SEC to Stop New Climate Rule

Dave Yost

Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee sued the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission to stop a rule that requires publicly traded companies to report climate-related information.

The suit, filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati to stop the SEC from “overstepping its authority by meddling in environmental policy,” according to a news release.

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Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee Tightens Qualifications for Candidate Eligibility in GOP Primaries

The Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee voted in a specially called meeting on Saturday to tighten the standards for candidate eligibility in GOP primaries in the state, effective immediately.

Article IX, Section 1, Paragraph B of the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) bylaws had been previously amended in a September 7, 2023 meeting of the SEC  to state that “Beginning in 2026, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Article IX, Section 1A, an individual who has voted in any of the most recent four (4) statewide primary elections held by a party other than the applicable Republican Party will be ineligible to seek the Republican nomination for any public office in Tennessee.” (emphasis added)

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Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance Demands Answers After SEC X Account ‘Compromised,’ Announces Premature Approval of of Spot-Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds

Vance Tillis

U.S. Senators JD Vance (R-OH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) have sent a letter to Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), demanding answers after the commission’s X account tweeted false information leading to “drastic swings in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”

On Tuesday, the SEC’s X account published a post announcing that it had approved Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be listed on all registered U.S. securities exchanges.

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Supreme Court to Consider Whether Agency’s In-House Trials Violate the Constitution

The Supreme Court will consider next week whether the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) use of in-house judges violates the right to a jury trial guaranteed in the Seventh Amendment.

Congress empowered the SEC to use its own in-house administrative law judges (ALJs) to try cases brought by agency enforcement when it passed the Dodd-Frank Act following the 2008 financial crisis. George R. Jarkesy, who has been caught in the SEC’s administrative proceedings since the agency charged him with fraud relating to his investment activities in 2013, challenged that grant of power as unconstitutional.

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Commentary: Mounting Evidence That ‘Net-Zero’ Carbon Emissions Isn’t Achievable

Power Plant

Arizona State University President Michael Crow believes we are in such danger that we should amend the U.S. Constitution to empower the government to deal more expansively with climate change. Crow’s view that constitutional protections of our liberties should be eliminated when they become inconvenient wouldn’t square with the founders, but his estimate of the dangers and required remedies for our changing climate are quite mainstream in our society.

“Net zero by 2050” has become an article of faith among our corporate and academic elites, no longer requiring proof or intellectual defense. The notion that we must eliminate or “offset” all carbon emissions by mid-century if we want to save the planet is the organizing principle for ESG investing. ESG is the consideration of environmental issues, social issues, and corporate governance issues when deciding what companies to invest in. In 2022, it was mentioned more than 6000 times in corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Proposed SEC Climate Disclosure Rule Will Add Costs That Consumers Will Bear, Critics Warn

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) has been slammed with comments from supporters and critics of its proposed climate disclosure rule.

The release of the final rule has been continually delayed, but its publication is anticipated in the next few months. Congressional Democrats are urging for it to be done sooner rather than later.

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Appeals Court Shoots Down Challenges to Nasdaq Rule Requiring Companies to Have at Least Two ‘Diverse’ Board Members

A federal appeals court rejected challenges Wednesday to a Nasdaq rule mandating that companies listed on the exchange have a female and an underrepresented minority on their board, or explain why they cannot meet the requirement.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals shot down lawsuits filed by the National Center for Public Policy Research and the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approving the rule in August 2021. The rule requires Nasdaq-listed companies to provide information on gender, racial and LGBTQ+ status of their board of directors, mandating that at least two board members fall into one of those “diverse” categories.

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For Years, Feds Received Waves of Warnings About Hunter Biden but Delivered No Consequences

From 2015 until present, several federal agencies were alerted to suspicious activity and potential criminal activities by Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son. Each time, the allegations did not result in any consequences for the first son.

The pattern – over eight years and three separate presidential administrations – has some in Congress now seeing a protection racket.

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Early Warning: Feds Alerted to Whistleblower Concern over Hunter Biden Business Deals in 2015

Banking whistleblowers first began raising alarms about Hunter Biden’s business deals as long ago as Spring 2015 while his father was still serving as vice president, flagging what they feared were “suspicious” transactions and “fraudulent” schemes. One of the bankers became so concerned he eventually escalated his concerns to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) only a few days before Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, according to documents provided to Congress and obtained by Just the News.

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Tennessee AG Sends Letter to SEC Concerning the World’s Biggest Fashion Retailer’s Business Practices

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined a coalition of 15 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler regarding business practices reported by the China-founded, fast-fashion retailer SHEIN.

SHEIN was founded in Nanjing, China in 2008 has become the world’s largest fashion retailer with an estimated value of $64 billion. The company’s mobile app is currently the fourth most downloaded app in the United States. In addition, the company is one of TikTok’s largest advertisers and pays thousands of social media “influencers” to market its wares to consumers via videos on the platform.

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Consumer Goods Giant 3M Fined More than $6.5 Million for Wooing Chinese Government Officials with Overseas Trips

The consumer goods company 3M agreed to pay more than $6.5 million to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after its China-based subsidiary took Chinese government officials on overseas trips in an attempt to convince them to purchase 3M products, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.

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Ohio Congressman Legislates Against Use of SEC for Social Policy

U.S. Representative Dave Joyce (R-OH-14) is encouraging fellow congresspersons to get behind a resolution he introduced to shield American industry from new disclosure requirements meant to advance leftist environmental policy. 

Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed requirements for publicly traded companies to disclose information about the “climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition….” 

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SEC Charges Eight ‘Social Media Influencers’ with Securities Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced charges against eight “social media influencers” in what the agency said was a coordinated effort to manipulate stocks via multiple Internet platforms. 

The agency said in a press release those charged where involved in a $100 million securities fraud scheme in which they used the social media platforms Twitter and Discord to “manipulate exchange-traded stocks.”

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Wisconsin Senator Johnson and Colleagues Urge White House to Reverse Major Climate Policies

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson wrote jointly with several colleagues to President Joe Biden this week urging him to reverse major elements of his anti-fossil-fuel agenda. 

The letter from the senators takes issue with several actions the White House has taken to hinder investment in and use of oil, natural gas and coal in an effort the administration insists is important to lessening global warming. 

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State Executive Committee Candidate Lulu Elam Calls for Elimination of Vouching Option in Tennessee Republican Party Bylaws

Lulu Elam, a candidate for Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) State Executive Committee in Davidson County, expressed her concern on Tuesday over her opponent’s reluctance to support the elimination of “vouching” as an option for candidates in Tennessee seeking to qualify as a bona fide Republican.

Current TRP bylaws require prospective candidates to vote in three of four successive statewide primary elections prior to becoming a Republican candidate.

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Rep. Rose Slams Corporate ESG Policies in Congressional Testimony

A U.S. Congressman from Tennessee testified in front of the House Rules Committee, where he spoke against proposed government regulations regarding Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards that he says will negatively impact farmers.

“I’d like to support by urging support for my bipartisan amendment, number 631, cosponsored by the gentlelady from Michigan, Representative Alyssa Slotkin, to prohibit the Securities and Exchange Commission from enforcing any provision on its rule making on enhanced standardization of climate-related disclosures for investors that would directly or indirectly require farmers to submit climate-related information to public companies or the SEC,” said Rep. John Rose (R-TN-06).

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TN-5 Candidate Andy Ogles Condemns Draft SEC Rule That Threatens Farmers and Others

Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles, a Republican candidate in the August 4 primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, announced Tuesday that he is joining U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-6) in criticizing proposed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations that impose requirements on public companies regarding their non-financial activities. 

“The proposed enhanced reporting requirements that will pressure public companies to pursue liberal political objectives regarding their environmental, social impact, and governance (ESG) policies rather than sound profit and business objectives is quite simply an assault on capitalistic and free-market principles,” Ogles said.

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Senator Hagerty Promotes Participation in Letter Telling SEC to Back Off ESG Regulation Affecting Farmers

Tennessee U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty touted his participation on Saturday in a letter signed by more than 30 senators to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler  pushing back against a proposed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation that would harm America’s farmers.

The proposed rule is entitled, “Enhanced and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.”

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Leads 24 States Objecting to SEC Requiring Climate Change Disclosures by Businesses

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is leading a coalition of 24 states objecting to proposed rule changes by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that would require publicly-traded businesses to disclose information about their greenhouse gas emissions and discuss climate risks. The coalition filed formal comments indicating the 500-page rule titled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” goes beyond the jurisdiction of the SEC and into environmental regulation. 

In a 44-page letter addressed to the SEC, Brnovich and the others stated that the Biden “administration has tried and failed to impose regulation directly, and it now appears content to use back-door financial regulatory actions to implement its political will.” The coalition warned, “profit will become secondary to political interests, and capitalism will fall by the wayside.” The proposed rule “seeks to make ‘decisions of vast economic and political significance.’” They accused the SEC of “taking on major policy decisions that belong to Congress.” 

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Rep. John Rose Leads Bipartisan Letter Defending Farmers Against New Environmental, Social, and Governance Investment Regulations

U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) led a bi-partisan letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair (SEC) Gary Gensler defending America’s farmers against a proposed new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation.

In March, the SEC proposed a new ESG rule that would require public companies to include “climate-related” disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports.

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Commentary: Expect Big Pivot from SEC to Require Climate, ESG Disclosures in Investor Filings

The biggest decision the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is likely to make this year will be on mandated disclosure of information related to climate change and corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. The Commission has been working on the issue since early last year, and a new proposed rule is now scheduled to be released on March 21st. The contents of that rule will likely determine the future direction of “responsible” investing in the United States.

In March of last year, then-Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee issued a request for information on the matter, consisting of 15 questions and described as a response to the “demand for climate change information and questions about whether current disclosures adequately inform investors.” The questions covered a wide range of topics, from how to measure greenhouse gas emissions to how climate disclosures “would complement a broader ESG disclosure standard.”

When the SEC first issued guidance on climate change-related disclosures for public companies in 2010, the standards were fairly general and advisory, but the questions from last year’s request-for-information suggests that the agency’s leadership is considering a more aggressive and prescriptive framework.

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Securities and Exchange Commission to Crack Down on Private Companies, Heighten Disclosure Requirements

Securities and Exchange Commission building

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to crack down on private companies, forcing them to disclose financial and operation statements more frequently, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Regulators have grown more concerned over the lack of oversight regarding private fundraising for companies, the WSJ reported. The private investment market has become a popular way for companies to raise money without undergoing the regulatory scrutiny required for public trading.

“When they’re big firms, they can have a huge impact on thousands of people’s lives with absolutely no visibility for investors, employees and their unions, regulators, or the public,” SEC Commissioner Allison Lee told the WSJ. “I’m not interested in forcing medium- and small-sized companies into the reporting regime.”

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Facebook Employees Actively Censored Conservative Websites, Even in Defiance of Managers

Facebook logo with smartphone showing lock in front

A series of new leaks from Big Tech giant Facebook has revealed even more bias against conservatives from the company’s employees, even to the point of causing internal debates between employees and upper management, according to the New York Post.

The latest leaks come from message board conversations reviewed by the Post, which showed back-and-forth discussions within Facebook about how to deal with conservative news outlets during last year’s race riots by far-left domestic terrorist organizations such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa.

Some employees expressed their desire to completely remove sites such as Breitbart from Facebook’s “News Tab” feature. When one such employee asked a manager about doing so, the manager responded by pointing out that “we saw drops in trust in CNN 2 years ago,” before rhetorically asking “would we take the same approach for them too?”

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Another Whistleblower Files SEC Complaint Alleging Facebook Didn’t Do Enough About ‘Hate Speech’, ‘Misinformation’

Person looking on Facebook with trending topics

Another former Facebook employee filed a whistleblower complaint Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the tech giant misled its investors by failing to combat the spread of hate and misinformation on its platform, The Washington Post reported.

The former employee, whose name is not yet public, alleged that Facebook executives chose not to pursue adequate content moderation policies related to hate speech and misinformation for the sake of maximizing profits. The complaint also alleges that Facebook did not do enough about alleged Russian misinformation on the platform for fear of upsetting former President Donald Trump.

In particular, the complaint alleges that Trump and his associates received preferential treatment, according to the Post.

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Report: Energy Company at Center of FBI Case Funneled $1 Million to DeWine Election Efforts

It’s been over seven months since the FBI announced a criminal complaint stemming from Ohio House Bill 6 (HB6). Arrests were made for what feds call a bribery and racketeering plan bankrolled by First Energy Solutions to elect state representatives and a House Speaker that would ensure the bill passed (and stopped efforts to repeal it) – giving a $1.3 billion bailout to two Ohio nuclear energy plants.
A new report lays out the $1M relationship between First Energy companies and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s campaign.

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ACC, SEC and Big 12 Plan to Play College Football This Fall While Big Ten and Pac 12 Sit on Bench

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), along with the Southeastern (SEC) and Big-12 conferences, is sticking with its plan to play football in the fall.

After the Big Ten and Pac 12 conferences postponed its football seasons on Tuesday, the ACC released a statement online that emphasized an established plan of listening to advice from authorities and medical experts as well as making adjustments in necessary.

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Loeffler Turns Over Documents to SEC, DOJ Over Stock-Trading

Republican Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has turned over documents related to controversy over her stock-trading to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and the Senate Ethics Committee, according to Politico.

The documents she submitted show that both she and her husband Jeffry Sprecher “acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and the spirit of the law,” a spokeswoman for Loeffler said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Tennessee GOP Votes To Close Primaries

FRANKLIN, Tennessee – The State Executive Committee (SEC) of the Tennessee Republican Party voted overwhelmingly at its organizational meeting to require party registration in order to vote in a party’s primary election, more commonly known as closing the primaries. The SEC has a potential of 66 seats consisting of one committeeman and one committeewoman for each of Tennessee’s 33 Senate districts. In a roll call vote, there were 45 votes in favor of closing the primaries, 14 for the primaries to remain open and one abstention. Two SEC members were absent with no proxy present, and four seats are currently vacant. The resolution will be provided to the Tennessee General Assembly with the expectation of getting a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Senate and House to address voter registration during the upcoming legislative session which will begin in January, thereby putting an end to the perceived finger-pointing as to whether it is the SEC or legislature that must close the primaries. A press release issued shortly after the vote and meeting adjournment on Saturday titled “TNGOP Passes Election Resolutions,” stated that the Tennessee Republican Party’s State Executive Committee voted to approve a resolution that asks the 111th General Assembly “to…

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Elon Musk Takes the Deal – Agrees To Step Down From Tesla As Chairman In SEC Settlement

Elon Musk

by Chris White   Billionaire tech guru Elon Musk agreed to step down as the chairman of Tesla after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the electric vehicle company for fraud, according to court documents published Saturday. Musk, who owns roughly 20 percent of the company, also agreed to pay a $20 million fine in connection with a tweet he wrote in August telling followers that he had enough funding to take Tesla private, the documents note. He neither admitted nor denied the allegations the SEC leveled against him. The SEC has spent months probing whether Musk’s promise was designed to hurt short-sellers at the expense of new investors. Musk gets to retain his position as CEO, but the move could drastically affect the company’s structure. He told his Twitter followers in an Aug. 7 post that he had sufficient funding to take the company out of the public domain. Reports about Musk’s tweet came shortly after a source told The Financial Times that the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought share of Tesla. The PIF’s position is worth between $1.7 billion and $2.9 billion at Tesla’s current share price. The stake makes the fund one of Tesla’s eight biggest shareholders. Musk used recent discussions with…

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SEC Transaction Fee Pilot Program Could Save Big Money for Small Investors, Pensioners

SEC building

By Robert Romano   In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new transaction fee pilot that would “subject stock exchange transaction fee pricing, including ‘maker-taker’ fee-and-rebate pricing models, to new temporary pricing restrictions across three test groups, and require the exchanges to prepare and publicly post data,” according to the agency’s website. The idea is to see what distortions these fees and rebates have on “best execution” of orders to buy and sell stocks. For example, an excess of rebates might lead to investors’ orders waiting on longer lines for execution, allowing high frequency traders to game the system, see those orders incoming and beat them to the punch. In 2014, 60 Minutes interviewed “Flash Boys” author Michael Lewis, who described this type of “front-running” of investors, saying, “Means they’re able to identify your desire to, to buy shares in Microsoft and buy ’em in front of you and sell ’em back to you at a higher price. It all happens in infinitesimally small periods of time. There’s speed advantage that the faster traders have is milliseconds, some of it is fractions of milliseconds. But it’s enough for them to identify what you’re gonna do and do it before you do…

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Frank Ragnow, All-SEC First Teamer and Potential NFL Draft First Rounder, Lost for the Year Due to Injury

Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema announced on Monday that first-team All-SEC offensive lineman Frank Ragnow will miss the rest of the season. He suffered a high ankle sprain in Saturday’s 52-20 loss to Auburn. Ragnow had started 33 consecutive games including that game with 18 coming at center and 15 coming at right guard. The 6-foot-5,…

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Flashback: CFA Statement on ‘FBI and SEC Investigation of Sen. Bob Corker’ in May 2016 May Suddenly Be Relevant Again

    When President Trump punched back Friday on Twitter at Senator Bob Corker’s (R-TN) relentless criticisms as “outrageous,” it electrified the conservative base among Tennessee Republican primary voters who continue to be very supportive of the president. State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) are among those who may now be considering a challenge to Corker in the August 2018 primary. A Tennessee Star Poll conducted in June among likely Tennessee Republican primary voters showed that Corker was vulnerable. In a hypothetical one-on-one primary matchup with Blackburn, the two were in a statistical tie. The negative press Corker has received in Tennessee for his criticisms of President Trump may soon get worse. The SEC investigation of Sen. Corker and CBL, “A real-estate firm that has been a favored investment of Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker,” first reported by the Wall Street Journal in May 2016,  may soon come to a conclusion. No one knows what that investigation may conclude, but when news of the investigation was made public, it caused quite a stir. In fact, Ann Weiman, executive director of the Camapign for Accountability (CfA), a non profit watchdog organization that had called for the SEC investigation…

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