No charges have been filed. No judge or jury has weighed the evidence to determine if the charges carry any validity. The wheels of justice have barely budged, much less rendered a verdict on the allegations of sexual assault leveled against British actor and comedian Russell Brand. None of that matters in the court of social media, however, so the executioners at Google’s YouTube have already convicted and sentenced the repulsive lothario to online death.

Tuesday, Google announced that it was “demonetizing” Mr. Brand’s highly successful YouTube channel, preventing him from making any advertising revenue from his more than 6.6 million subscribers. The outlet said he violated its “creator responsibility” policy. “If a creator’s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community,” a spokeswoman said.

And that’s not all. His talent management agency has dropped him, his book publisher has “paused” any projects with him in the pipeline, the BBC has yanked much of the programming it made with him, and his standup tour has been postponed. Meanwhile, a channel featuring rapper R. Kelly, who is doing 30 years for sex trafficking, is alive and well on YouTube. 

Treasury Leans on Big Banking To Fall in Line on Climate Change Agenda

The Treasury Department, veering out of its finance and banking lane once again, on Tuesday, published what it calls its “Principals for Net Zero Financing and Investment” to guide banks and other financial institutions that have committed to considering climate change when they make financing and investment decisions.

In a lecture to bankers at a roundtable at New York, Secretary Yellen said following the principles is — “of course,” she said — voluntary. “But many of those in this room are taking or have already taken actions consistent with some of the best practices they highlight,” she said of the principles. “And for those that haven’t, we think they can be useful in clarifying what to consider.”

Top regulators “clarifying” something for those it regulates sends a pretty clear message.

$33 Trillion and Counting

America’s national debt surpassed $33 trillion for the first time Monday and now amounts to more than a quarter million dollars for every living taxpayer in the country. More than $1 trillion of that debt was added in the last three months alone.

Also Noteworthy:

• Prime Minister Sunak of the United Kingdom is the latest European politician to pull back from the economically crippling green agenda.
• President Biden is not done wreaking havoc on the nation’s student loan programs. 
• After a successful run during the most recent Supreme Court term, Students for Fair Admissions is now suing the United States Military Academy at West Point for considering race in its admissions decisions.
• Book bans are far rarer, and often more reasonable, than one would think given all the noise on the topic.
• A New York City Council committee is considering a measure that could force the removal of statues of George Washington and Christopher Columbus.
• The American Psychological Association says the use of the word “pipeline” triggers Native Americans because of “oil companies transporting crude oil through the sacred lands of American Indians or Native Alaskans living in the United States, contaminating their water supply.”