Trump’s ESG scorecard, Cracker Barrel logo meltdown, and trees are bad for climate change

Story of the Week (DR):

1. End of summer anti-woke bro rage brigade MM

1. New Cracker Barrel Logo Sparks Right-Wing Backlash—From Trump Jr. And More

1. MAGA erupts over Cracker Barrel logo change, and stock plunges

2. Right-Winger, Others Call Out 'Woke' New Change To Cracker Barrel's Peg Game

1. The goal of the game is to whittle down the number of pegs on the board to one through a series of “jumping” pegs, not unlike checkers. Previously, directions on the game explained that people who have only one peg left on the board are geniuses, while people with two pegs left are “pretty smart.” However, if you leave three pegs, the game considers you “dumb,” while anyone who leaves four pegs is an “EG-NO-RA-MOOOSE.”

2. That was the old game. New peg games have removed the playful insults and instead say, “leave three or more ― no reason to be embarrassed. Try again.”

3. Sean Davis, the CEO of The Federalist: Cracker Barrel didn’t just destroy its logo and restaurant vibe. It also changed the peg game to make dumb people feel better when they do poorly.

1. Until October 2017, The Federalist had a "black crime" tag, which aggregated articles related to criminal activity by African Americans

3. Christian College’s Hot Take On Cracker Barrel Has People Saying, ‘Huh?’

1. Hillsdale College in Michigan: A post on its official account on X (formerly Twitter) likened the updated logo to a vandalized statue of President George Washington that was defaced during the 2020 protests over the police killing of George Floyd.

4. MAGA Rep Drags Jesus Christ Into ‘Woke’ Cracker Barrel Meltdown

1. Congressman Byron Donalds slammed the restaurant chain for daring to rebrand after he had a religious experience in one of its Florida parking lots: “In college, I worked at @CrackerBarrel in Tallahassee,” the Florida Republican wrote on X, “I even gave my life to Christ in their parking lot. Their logo was iconic and their unique restaurants were a fixture of American culture. No one asked for this woke rebrand.”

5. ‘Cracker barrel goes woke’: CEO under MAGA fire for changing logo first time in 48 years, removes ‘white guy’

6. Steak 'n Shake slams Cracker Barrel CEO for eliminating 'old-timer' from logo: 'We take pride in our history'

1. “This is what happens when you have a board that does not respect their historical customers or their brand.

2. At Steak n Shake, we have gone back to basics. Our tallow fries are waiting for you. Oh yeah, you can also now pay with Bitcoin!”

3. Entrepreneur Sardar Biglari owns Steak ‘n Shake

1. Owns 9.3% of Cracker barrel

2. took control of Steak 'n Shake in August 2008 after three years of declining same-store sales and losses of $100,000 per day.

3. Biglari controls the Steak 'n Shake Company, First Guard Insurance, Abraxas Petroleum, Maxim, Southern Oil of Louisiana, Southern Pioneer Insurance and the Western Sizzlin' corporation. Biglari was born in Iran in 1977

4. However the chain ran into more problems in 2016 and onward, with revenue declining sharply.

5. In 2021, Steak N' Shake made a strategic decision to transition away from casual dining and become a fast food restaurant. Steak 'n Shake replaced lunch counters with self-serve kiosks in 2021 to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Changing the service model allowed a significant reduction of store staff

6. In 2024, Biglari fought and lost a proxy contest with Cracker Barrel, trying to get himself and two buddies on the CB board.

1. This marks the sixth time since 2011 that Biglari has initiated a proxy contest seeking seats on the Board (the fourth time for Sardar Biglari personally), and the seventh contested solicitation overall during that span.

7. POP QUIZ:

1. Was that the original logo?

1. No. The Cracker Barrel chain opened first in 1969 and had a text-only logo. In 1977, the famous logo with a man and a barrel was introduced.

2. Is Cracker Barrel's new-ish CEO (11/23) a man or a woman?

1. Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino and the new logo controversy

1. Ms. Masino previously served as the President, International of Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) from January 2020 to June 2023. From January 2018 to December 2019, she served as President, North America of Taco Bell.

2. “Cracker Barrel’s new logo isn’t an accident — it’s CEO Julie Felss Masino’s project. She scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding.”

3. Benny Johnson said the logo change could cause the company to collapse in a similar way that Target and other stores that embraced DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) did.

2. ‘Go woke, you go broke:’ Ohio faith leaders urge Kroger to abandon LGBTQ+ policies

3. Trump calls on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign

1. Lisa DeNell Cook is an American economist who has served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since May 23, 2022. She is the first African American woman and first woman of color to sit on the Board

2. CEO-to-worker pay gap surges to 632 to 1 at US’s lowest-paying large firms, study shows: At 100 firms in S&P 500 with lowest median pay, executives’ comp increased by average of nearly 35% over five years

1. FTSE 100 CEO pay rises for third consecutive year, hitting record high

2. CEO pay at top US companies accelerates at fastest pace in four years

3. Starbucks CEO Tops List Of Sky-High Executive Pay Packages

1. Starbucks’ CEO is ditching a merit system and giving all salaried staff a flat 2% pay raise instead

3. Succession Theater: Target CEO Brian Cornell steps down after 11 years as sales continue to drop

1. Target’s Brian Cornell to hand CEO job to Michael Fiddelke in February

2. Target CEO Brian Cornell will step down from the struggling retailer in February and its COO will succeed him

3. Target CEO Brian Cornell will step down from the struggling retailer in February and its COO will succeed him

4. Alert: Target CEO Brian Cornell will step down from the struggling retailer in February and its COO will succeed him

5. When the C.E.O. Retires but Won’t Go Away

1. Target is the latest company to keep a replaced chief executive around as an “executive chairman.” Does having two top dogs make sense?

2. On August 15, 2025, following a comprehensive succession planning process, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Target Corporation (“Target”), appointed Michael J. Fiddelke, Target’s current Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, as Target’s next Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board, effective February 1, 2026. At that time, Brian C. Cornell will step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer and will continue to serve as Chair of the Board in an Executive Chair capacity.

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Companies with climate targets have more than tripled since 2023: SBTi

1. A total of 10,949 companies worldwide now either have near-term targets or near-term and net-zero targets, or have committed to set them, according to a report by the Science-Based Targets initiative.

2. DR: The juxtaposition of these two headlines:

1. Scientists Say They've Figured Out a Way to Turn Nuclear Waste Into a Powerful Fuel

2. Scientists Can’t Figure Out Why Just Walking In Nature Appears to Quickly Heal Your Brain Rot

3. MM: Why Shop? In Maine, the Library of Things Has It All (Almost)

1. You can take out an electric lawn mower at the library

4. MM: Lyft co-founders depart board, convert Class B shares - greatest de-dictatorship in modern history? From 30% voting power to 2% voting power as part of the conversion DR

1. Shares still worth a paltry $144m

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1.  Anti ESG is a joke

1. Legal definition of a fiduciary: 

1. The beneficiary has delegated authority to the fiduciary to act on its behalf;

2. The fiduciary has discretionary powers over the beneficiary’s assets or interests;

3. The fiduciary is in a position superior to that of the beneficiary due to specialized access, knowledge or ability; and

4. The beneficiary trusts that the fiduciary will act in the beneficiary’s best interest. (Ponet & Leib, 2011.)

2. From Florida 2023 HB3

1. An act relating to government and corporate activism…

2. The board of trustees, subject to the fiduciary standards … and the requirements in s. 112.662…

3. Which are… Notwithstanding any other law, when deciding whether to invest and when investing the assets of any retirement system or plan, only pecuniary factors may be considered and the interests of the participants and beneficiaries of the system or plan may not be subordinated to other objectives, including sacrificing investment return or undertaking additional investment risk to promote any nonpecuniary factor

4. Which includes… any social, political, or ideological interests

5. Which applies to…Obligations of the United States or obligations guaranteed as to principal and interest by the government of the United States

3. Which makes investing in Treasury securities illegal because…White House Reportedly Launches A Scorecard Rating 500+ Companies On Trump Loyalty

1. The rating system evaluates multiple factors, including social media activity, press releases, video testimonials, advertisements, participation in White House events, and other forms of engagement connected to the [One Big Beautiful Bill]

2. Determines who they’ll do business with

2. Free speech dictators

1. Meta spent $27 million protecting Mark Zuckerberg last year, more than any other CEO

2. Google to Pay $36 Million in Anti-Competition Fines

3. Coinbase CEO says he watched famous speeches to psych himself up before banning politics at the company

4. Trump May Further Redefine U.S. Capitalism With an Intel Move, ‘Come to America and lose $1B’: Trump drives new offshore wind losses

1. Fossil fuel “discrimination” laws prohibit discriminating against fossil fuels - there are no law to prevent “discrimination” against wind or solar

5. How Ownership Can Shape Outcomes

3. Hollowing out the corporate middle class MM

1. Starbucks Sets 2% Raises for Corporate Workers

1. Coffee giant is in the midst of a turnaround; ‘We need to carefully manage all of our other costs’

2. Starbucks earlier this year said it would lay off 1,100 corporate workers

3. In July, the company offered buyouts to corporate workers and said it would step up its in-office requirements later this year, to four days from three.

4. From May: Starbucks and unionized baristas locked in a wage standoff

5. National Legal Policy Center actually filed a resolution this year demanding Starbucks produce a report detailing the human rights risks and “loss of shareholder value” if Starbucks “capitulates” to the union - union killing by SHP?

2. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol awarded $96 million pay package after 4 months on the job

1. Use of Starbucks aircraft for travel between city of primary residence and Starbucks headquarters and up to $250,000 in personal non-commuting travel per year; additional use of Starbucks aircraft for travel pursuant to Mr. Niccol’s time sharing agreement

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: 10 Candidates Will Vie for 4 Open Seats on USA Swimming Board of Directors

2. DR: Walmart may have sold radioactive shrimp, FDA warns

3. MM: Silicon Valley talent keeps getting recycled, so this CEO uses a ‘moneyball’ approach for uncovering hidden AI geniuses in the new era

1. “There’s different biases and filters about people’s pedigree or where they came from. But if you could truly map all of that and just give credit for some people that maybe went through alternate pathways [then you can] truly stack rank,” Alex Bates, founder and CEO of AI executive recruiting platform HelloSky, told Fortune.

4. MM: Forests in Certain Areas of the World Can Add to Global Warming  I hate that headline

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: The term “Bro IPO.” Or is it “BroPo?”

2. MM: Damion.  And it’s BroPO.

Predictions

1. DR: Target accidentally announces one of Brian COrnell’s new board roles will be the Chairman of the We-Swear-It’s-Not-My-Idea Task Force

2. MM: An analytics company somewhere realizes you can take the “moneyball” concept and apply it to people at publicly traded companies, making millions of dollars by giving investors the ability to vote for their fiduciaries by using advanced data, not voting on the fact that John is kind of cute and Leslie is a nice name.