XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics, alt.politics.usa.republican   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/3463405-message-to-woke-   
   corporate-america-butt-out-of-politics/?rl=1   
      
   Woke corporate America is finally getting some push-back. It’s about time.   
      
   Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has punished the Walt Disney Company for   
   interfering in his state’s politics, signing a bill that strips the Mouse   
   House of special tax status in Florida. The issue? Disney defaming   
   DeSantis’s much maligned “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which, ironically, says   
   nothing of the kind.   
      
   The consequences are severe: Disney will no longer have jurisdiction over   
   the development and management of an area encompassing tens of thousands   
   of acres that has been under their total control since 1968. The carve out   
   of, especially, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, meant that Disney   
   could build and expand without jumping environmental speedbumps and could   
   enact their own tax policies.   
      
   It was a sweet deal for Disney, which they have now relinquished, all   
   because some woke employees convinced management to speak out against the   
   Parental Rights in Education Bill that was widely popular in Florida, even   
   among Democrats, before it was slammed by the liberal press.   
      
   An early poll that asked about the bill’s restrictions on sex and gender   
   teaching to little kids found support from 61 percent of respondents and   
   67 percent of parents; even 55 percent of Democrats agreed with the   
   legislation.   
      
   Of course they did. What parent wants a kindergarten teacher telling their   
   five-year-old that gender is a matter of choice? (If you want a horrifying   
   introduction to what goes on in some of today’s classrooms, tune into Libs   
   of Tik Tok, which has ripped the lid off, showing teachers telling kids   
   that God is queer, nonbinary and autistic, identifying themselves as   
   “nonbinary witches” and other lunacy.)   
      
   Demanding that Disney denounce the bill were employees such as Ben Siemon,   
   who describes himself as an LGBT animation writer and who in a video   
   credits a middle school teacher for making him feel ok about being gay. He   
   says that if DeSantis’s law had been in place, he “would’ve been left   
   alone and scared.”   
      
   Actually, since the bill only impacts classroom discussions through third   
   grade, Siemon would have been just fine. I wonder if he actually read the   
   law.   
      
   Siemon and others led a loud, liberal mob demanding that an American   
   company take sides in the culture wars. Disney’s management had been   
   reluctant to do so but did a U-turn as the activist heat rose. CEO Bob   
   Chapek addressed his annual stockholders’ meeting, saying the company is   
   “reassessing our approach to advocacy — including political giving in   
   Florida and beyond.”   
      
   In effect, Chapek threatened to withhold campaign donations from state   
   legislators who voted for the bill. That is not the high road.   
      
   Meanwhile, as management appeases the Left, Disney’s stock hit a 52- week   
   low the day DeSantis signed the bill, down 37 percent from the high   
   reached last September, and off 24 percent so far this year. That compares   
   with a 5 percent decline in the S&P 500 Index from the same date last fall   
   and a 10 percent drop year-to-date in the S&P 500 Index. Maybe Disney’s   
   management should focus on their business.   
      
   Maybe this will remind corporate America that their responsibility is to   
   shareholders, not to social activists. And that throwing your corporate   
   heft into divisive issues can be costly.   
      
   Disney is not alone.   
      
   For over two decades, Gallup has asked Americans their feelings about Big   
   Business. In 2002, 50 percent of the nation said they were “satisfied”   
   with the “size and influence of major corporations”; last year, only 26   
   percent were satisfied with Big  Business’ role in our country.   
      
   Worse, for the first time since at least 2010, a majority of Americans   
   have a negative view of Big Business, even as 84 percent hold a positive   
   view of free enterprise and 97 percent applaud small business. In other   
   words, it is not capitalism or business per se that people are objecting   
   to; it is corporate America’s behavior.   
      
   Sure, Sens. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.)   
   constant inveighing against the greed of corporations who don’t “pay their   
   fair share” has taken a toll. But Americans are also fed up with Big   
   Business sticking its nose in our culture battles.   
      
   At the end of last year, a survey showed 63 percent of executives think   
   they should speak out on social issues; only 36 percent of the public   
   agrees.   
      
   Are the C-suites tuning in?   
      
   Just recently Exxon announced that it would no longer allow flags   
   demonstrating support for political causes, like the gay rainbow or Black   
   Lives Matter banners, to fly from company flagpoles. The new edict permits   
   only government or company flags to fly from high, though the firm will   
   allow interest groups to display their banners on lawns or virtually.   
      
   Needless to say, this modest effort to control how Exxon signals the world   
   was met with outrage. The Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for LGBT   
   rights, tweeted, “There’s no such thing as ‘neutrality’ when it comes to   
   our rights. Our flag isn’t just a visual representation of our identities.   
   It is also a staple of allyship.”   
      
   The blow-back will undoubtedly get worse. But the left has a problem   
   bullying Exxon; no matter how woke the oil giant becomes, it will never   
   win plaudits from a population who largely hates what they do. Climate   
   activists have pushed the world’s second-largest oil and gas firm to   
   abandon their core business; management is already under the gun.   
      
   Exxon management may realize that their best choice is indeed neutrality,   
   that the “silence is violence” theme is nonsense and that they are better   
   off exploring for oil.   
      
   Former McDonald’s CEO Ed Rensi, fed up with woke corporate activism, has   
   launched The Boardroom Initiative. He encourages companies to butt out of   
   politics, saying, “Corporations have no business being on the right or the   
   left because…their sole job is to build equity for the investors.”   
      
   Amen to that. Let’s hope corporate America is listening.   
      
   Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim &   
   Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.   
      
      
      
   --   
   "LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering.  95% of COVID infections   
   recover with no after effects.   
      
   No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.   
   Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.   
      
   Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"   
   ballots.  Report voter fraud: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden   
   fiasco, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)