Tag Archives: pipelines

Water Protector & Pipeline News – Religious Leaders Oppose Enbridge Pipeline & Anti-Terrorism Agencies Monitoring Mountain Valley Protesters & More

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Mountain Valley Pipeline protesters lock themselves to drilling equipment Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline tried a new tactic Monday: chaining themselves to construction equipment. West Virginia state police arrested three people who were trying to slow down workers in Lindside, a community in Monroe County, West Virginia. They delayed construction for a few hours on Route 219. Police cut them out around 10 a.m., about two hours after they received a call. Police said Maxwell Shaw, 24, Evin Ugur, 21, and Sydney White, 18, are all from Massachusetts and are out on bond. Court documents showed they’re each facing … Continue reading →

Water Protector & Pipeline News – Federal Court Halts Atlantic Coast Pipeline Work, Raw Crude Oil Spews in Oklahoma City & More

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Federal appeals court orders halt to work on Atlantic Coast Pipeline A federal appeals court has ordered a halt to construction of Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, finding that restrictions against harming wildlife are inadequate for the controversial 600-mile natural gas project. Three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said in a ruling issued late Tuesday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had failed to set clear limits for impact on threatened or endangered species. The judges said that “the limits set by the agency are so indeterminate that they undermine . . . the enforcement … Continue reading →

3/28 News Roundup – Pipeline Protestors ‘Not Guilty’ After Claiming ‘Legal Necessity”; Support For Medicare-For-All Surges & More

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Anti-pipeline campaigners found not guilty by judge because ‘protest against climate change crisis’ was legal ‘necessity’

More than a dozen protesters who clambered into holes dug for a high pressure gas pipeline said they had been found not responsible by a judge after hearing them argue their actions to try and stop climate change were a legal “necessity”.

Karenna Gore, the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, was among more than 198 people who were arrested because of their 2015 actions protesting the pipeline in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Thirteen people were to go on trial this week, though prosecutors downgraded their original criminal charges to one of civil infraction.

On Tuesday, Judge Mary Ann Driscoll of West Roxbury District Court, found all 13 defendants not responsible, the equivalent of not guilty in a criminal case. She did so after each of the defendants addressed the judge and explained why they were driven to try and halt the pipeline’s construction.

Speaking outside the court afterwards, Ms Gore, 44, Director of the Centre for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York, said the court’s decision was historic. “What happened today was really important,” she said.

“The people….were found not responsible by reason of necessity. The irony is that we are making ourselves responsible. We’re part of the the movement that is standing up and saying we won’t let this go by on our watch. We won’t act like nothing’s wrong.”

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The environmentalist and academic Bill McKibben, who was to appear as a defence witness for the defendants, said on Twitter: “Good golly! A few minutes ago a Boston judge acquitted 13 pipeline protesters on the grounds that the climate crisis made it necessary for them to commit civil disobedience. This may be a first in America.”

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.

3/21 News Roudup – 55 Senators Vote To Allow U.S. Role In Yemen War To Continue, Why Teens Love Sanders So Much & More

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‘Blood of Thousands on Their Hands’: 55 Senators Vote To Continue US-Backed Carnage in Yemen

While 44 U.S. Senators on Tuesday were applauded by peace groups for voting in favor of a resolution that would have allowed Congress to begin reclaiming its war-making authority and ended the U.S. military’s backing of Saudi Arabia’s assault on Yemen, it was ultimately not enough to overcome entrenched opposition from the 45 Republicans and 10 Democrats who voted against it.

Introduced by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah), the resolution (SJ Res. 54) would have ended the tacit military support—including targeting assistance, refueling, and intelligence sharing—of the Saudi’s campaign to wage war on Yemen, a nation currently embroiled in a civil war and experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet.

The final tally was 55-44 against the resolution, with only Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) not casting a vote. While five Republicans voted for the measure, the 10 Democrats senators who joined with the Republican majority to block it were: Coons (D-DE); Cortez Masto (D-NV); Donnelly (D-IN); Heitkamp (D-ND); Jones (D-AL); Manchin (D-WV); Menendez (D-NJ); Nelson (D-FL); Reed (D-RI); and Whitehouse (D-RI).

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Anti-war groups, while disappointed with the outcome, celebrated the vote and heralded it as an important step in terms of getting congressional lawmakers to final assert themselves against an executive branch that has been allowed to wage war with nearly no restraint over the last 17 years.

“Because of the leadership put forth by Sens. Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee, and Chris Murphy — and the tireless advocacy of hundreds of thousands of Americans — the U.S. Senate was today finally forced to confront America’s unauthorized role in Yemen’s deadly civil war,” Kate Kizer, policy director for Win Without War, in a statement.

“We commend the 44 Senators who agreed that U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition is unconstitutional, counterproductive, and doesn’t serve U.S. national security interests,” she added. “Today’s vote should serve as a sober reminder to Saudi Arabia that it must immediately move to resolve this conflict diplomatically, and that American support for its war in Yemen is not unlimited.”

Prior to the vote Bernie Sanders spoke on the chamber floor to outline his position and to note the 15th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War:

Afterwards he tweeted his disappointment with the final tally:

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.

3/19 News Roundup – Sanders Is Telling The Story Corporate Media Fails To; Indigenous Leaders Begin A Week Of Civil Disobedience & More

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Bernie Sanders Wants to Tell the Story That Corporate Media Fails To Tell

For decades, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has objected to the failure of major media outlets to cover the growth of economic inequality in America. As a presidential contender in 2016, he used every opportunity that was afforded him in the media to address poverty, plutocracy and the consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of “the billionaire class.”

Now, he’s doing something to tip the balance of the popular discourse away from the agendas of the super rich and toward the real life concerns of working-class Americans. Something big. On Monday, from 7 to 8:30 pm ET, he will host a livestreamed town hall meeting on “Inequality in America: The Rise of Oligarchy and Collapse of the Middle Class.” With Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, filmmaker Michael Moore, economist Darrick Hamilton and others, Sanders will lead a discussion about the “growing power of corporate interests and how we can build economy that works for all Americans.” Livestreamed on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by Sanders, Warren, Moore, The Guardian, NowThis, The Young Turks and Act.tv, the initiative will reach social media sites with a combined following of close to 50 million Americans.

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The Nation: You say there are two fundamental issues with inequality. What’s the first?

Sanders: The first one is that this country is moving into oligarchy. The three wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of American society. The top one-tenth of one percent now owns as much wealth as the bottom ninety percent. And then, politically, what we have seen since the Citizens United decision (by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010) is billionaires like the Koch brothers and a few of their friends pouring hundreds and millions of dollars into the political process to elect candidates who represent the wealthy and the powerful. That is an issue of huge consequence to the future of America – in terms of the economic life of this country and the collapse of the middle class, and a political system which is being corrupted by big money and Citizens United.

And the second issue has to do with how the first is covered?

The second issue deals with the fact that we have a corporate media, which is not as Donald Trump defines it “fake news.” That’s not the issue. It’s not that you have people on CNN, or writing for The New York Times, who are deliberately lying or trying to destroy politicians – that’s not the case. Everyday there are very good and important articles that appear in The Washington Post and The New York Times, on CBS News and everywhere else.

The problem is that, to a very significant degree, corporate media ignores, or pays very little attention, to the most important issues facing working people. That is the problem with corporate media today.

If you look at just the issue I described to you – the movement in this country toward oligarchy – you will find very, very little discussion about that. Stormy Daniels will get ten times more print and video coverage than will the movement toward oligarchy in this country. You will see very little discussion about poverty in this country. “Poverty” is just not a word that is used on television very often.

Bernie also spoke to Ana Kasparian of TYT about inequality and his upcoming national town hall:

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.

2/19 News Roundup – Students to Take to Streets of Washington, Infrastructure Plan Will Make It Harder to Fight Pipelines & More

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“The Time Is Now”: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Students to Take to Streets of Washington

Among growing calls for gun control legislation, students who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School continue to deliver some of the most powerful statements in the wake of the tragedy, and on Sunday a group of them declared that “now is the time for us to stand up” and announced plans for a march in Washington, D.C.

The students, Jaclyn Corin, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, and Alex Wind, made the statements to NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Gonzalez, who on Saturday gave a moving speech that went viral, told NBC, “This is our opportunity to talk to President Trump, Gov. Rick Scott, and state [sic] Senator Marco Rubio to make sure that they know we are talking directly to them and all other members of the United States government that are being funded by the NRA to tell them now is the time to get on the right side of this.”

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A call to action for the March 24 event, March For Our Lives, declares, “It doesn’t have to be this way…Refuse to allow one more needless death.”

“March For Our Lives,” its mission statement explains, “is created by, inspired by, and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that has become all too familiar. In the tragic wake of the seventeen lives brutally cut short in Florida, politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns. March For Our Lives believes the time is now.”

“The mission and focus of March For Our Lives,” it adds, “is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.”

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.

12/20 News Roundup – Sanders: “Tax Bill A Victory For Corporate Campaign Donors” & More

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Sanders: Passage of GOP tax bill a ‘victory’ for Koch brothers, campaign donors, corporations

Sen. Bernie SandersBernard (Bernie) SandersSchumer: Franken should resignFranken resignation could upend Minnesota racesAvalanche of Democratic senators say Franken should resignMORE (I-Vt.), on Tuesday, blasted the GOP tax overhaul bill, arguing that its expected passage is a “victory” for the Koch brothers, Republican campaign donors, large corporations and even some lawmakers.

“Today marks a great day for the Koch brothers and other billionaire, Republican campaign contributors who will see huge tax breaks for themselves while driving up the deficit by almost $1.5 trillion,” Sanders said in a video posted on Twitter.

“Today is also a victory for the largest and most-profitable corporations in this country like Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer and General Electric, who, despite record-breaking profits, will now see hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks,” he added.

Sanders also indicated that some of his own colleagues had a personal financial interest in passing the bill, pointing to lawmakers who have real estate investments and will benefit under the new plan.

“Today is also a victory for a number of members of the United States Congress who have significant investments in real estate who, with this vote, will substantially lower the taxes that they pay and will further enrich themselves,” he said.

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.

12/11 News Roundup – Bernie Sanders On “Meet The Press”, Leading Economists Demand End to All Fossil Fuel Investments & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Starting off the News Roundup today with Bernie talking taxes, impeachment & resignations on ‘Meet The Press’:

https://youtu.be/Z5lWSEyWWIw

In wake of Al Franken’s resignation, 3 senators — including Bernie Sanders — call on Trump to step down

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and two of his Democratic colleagues have suggested that President Donald Trump should consider resigning, after a run of sexual harassment scandals that has driven out some members of Congress.

Sen. Al Franken “felt it proper for him to resign,” Sanders said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, referring to the Democrat from Minnesota. “Here you have a president who has been accused by many women of assault, who says on a tape that he assaulted women. He might want to think about doing the same.”

Sanders’ comment, which built on a tweet he’d sent last week, came after Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley, Ore., and Cory Booker, N.J., suggested that the “#MeToo moment” should prompt another look at the women who accused Trump of sexual harassment during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“The president should resign because he certainly has a track record with more than 17 women of horrific conduct,” Merkley said last week in an interview for the weekday version of “Meet the Press.”

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:

*Nuclear annihilation ‘one tantrum away’, Nobel peace prize winner warns
*FCC Commissioner Urges Fraud Investigation Ahead of Net Neutrality Vote
*Battle for Democratic Party: After the Unity Reform Commission
*Report Shows Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Death Toll Likely In Thousands, Far Higher Than Official Count
*Pipeline news, Water Protector Updates & more

12/4 News Roundup – Sanders Rallies In Reading, Protesters Balk At Pipeline Company’s Payments To Police & More

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Bernie Sanders rallies against GOP tax plan in Reading

Following an early Saturday morning vote on a new tax plan, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders continues taking his message across the country.

He arrived at the Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading on Sunday to speak to more than 1,000 supporters.

Sanders touched on various topics including health care and President Donald Trump, but the most often talked about topic was that of the new tax plan approved by the Senate this weekend. Sanders is one of the plan’s most vocal opponents.

“Trickle down economics is a trick,” Sanders bellowed from the stage.

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Despite the seated, intimate atmosphere of the Santander Performing Arts Center, there were times when the gathering took on the look, feel and sound of a rowdy rally. But the overall message among the thousand plus in attendance was clear.

“I think his message is to stay relentless,” said Eileen Kerrigan of Philadelphia. “And continue to resist what’s being forced on us.”

The full Reading Rally as well as other news/videos/tweets/etc. will be in the comments, including:

*Bernie Sanders: “I have a challenge for you Mr. President”
*Jones trying to boost black turnout in Alabama Senate race
*Orrin Hatch comments on Chip health program at heart of social media storm
*The Working Families Party is Transforming Southern Politics
*Big Ag + Big Pharma = Big Problems
*Pipeline news, Water Protector updates & more.

10/10 News Roundup – How To Watch Bernie’s ‘Free Public Tuition’ Townhall, The Atlantic Coast Pipeline Is Rejected & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Happy Tuesday friends! There’s a lot of news to be covered and I’ll do my best in sharing what I find important/interesting, and hope you will do the same.

Starting off with Sen. Bernie Sanders to hold town hall to push for free public college tuition:

The Vermont Independent, who introduced legislation on the issue earlier this year, will speak about the topic at Castleton University in Vermont at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday. The speech and a Q&A will be livestreamed on Facebook. Student groups at hundreds of colleges across the country plan to hold watch parties, according to the senator’s office.

Sanders introduced legislation in April to make public colleges and universities across the U.S. tuition-free for working families and to significantly reduce student debt. The legislation would eliminate tuition and fees at four-year and two-year public colleges and universities for families making up to $125,000 – about 80% of the population – and make community college tuition- and fee-free for all, according to a news release announcing the legislation attempt.

The College for All act would also reduce student loan debt for students and parents which now exceed Americans’ credit card debt. The bill would cut all student loan interest rates for new borrowers in half, which also enables existing borrowers to refinance their loans based on the interest rates available to new borrowers.

It has an estimated cost of $600 billion and would be paid for by a separate bill to tax Wall Street speculation.

A version of the legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.

The rest of what I’m reading/watching will be in the comments. See you there!

Also in this post:

*Single Payer Opponents Say The Transition Process Would Be Too Difficult. But 10,000 People Do It Every Day.
*FBI Report Targets Black Activists
*Jeremy Corbyn’s Rise: It’s The Economy, Stupid!
*Even at $15 an Hour, Need Is Close By
*The Growth of Indigenous People’s Day
* 2018 Candidate Updates
& More

9/21 News Roundup – Bernie Heads To California, Medicare For All’s Strong Support & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Good morning friends. I’ve been pretty much out of commission since yesterday but wanted to at least put some content up gradually through the day as I am able. There is plenty of Bernie news, single payer articles, a pretty good selection of youtube vids (if I had to say so myself), and of course the latest water protector/pipeline actions.

Starting the day off though with something a little different. Well if you think about it, its not too very different at all. As the pattern goes: ARTICLE CLAIMS RUSSIA HACKED U.S. > MAJOR MEDIA COVERAGE > Story slowly dies > Turns out Russia didnt do anything > no/to few corrections issued. MOA actually wrote about this not too very long ago in a post titled The Undeniable Pattern Of Russian Hacking>The Undeniable Pattern of Russian Hacking.

Russian hack attempt on Dallas County computers never happened.

Earlier this summer, Dallas gained national attention when county officials claimed Russians tried to hack their voter registration rolls.

Tried but failed.

It was national news when the story broke last June. It was news again when the story re-surfaced on a network newscast just days ago. But emails obtained by WFAA indicate that the information coming from Dallas County officials and circulating around the country was wrong.

The headlines stem from an FBI visit to Dallas County officials in the fall of 2016, prior to the November presidential election.

Agents armed with a list of suspected Russian hackers that may have tried to penetrate Dallas County voter rolls.

For months, there was no word from county officials as to what became of that information, until this past June.

Then, suddenly, the story of a Russian hack attempt was confirmed to the entire North Texas media.

The confirmation was coming from Dallas County elections administrator Toni-Pippins Poole. Pippins-Poole told the news media that her IT department confirmed 17 attempts by Russians to hack into the Dallas County voter rolls.

It quickly became national news then and again just days ago on MSNBC.

But WFAA has obtained internal Dallas County emails indicating the Russian hack attempt likely never happened.

Now everything else will be in the comments. Would love to hear your opinions on this story though. First person to find a MSNBC retraction wins bonus mojo!

Also in this post:

*Where do Texas Democrats Stand on Single-Payer Health Care?
*Bernie Sanders Sets His Sights On The Foreign Policy Establishment
*How Bernie Sanders is cultivating California for 2020
*As Warren and Sanders Jockey for Support, One Takes a Road More Traveled
*Gun Stocks Surge as Trump Pushes to Ease Export Regulations for Assault Weapons
*Ohio increases fines to $2.3M against pipeline developer
*More

9/14 News Roundup – Corporate Media Called Out Over Climate Change, Grassroots Activists Protest Pipelines & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Hello friends! As you can see there are already a couple posts below for your reading pleasure. This thread will contain candidate updates, climate change discussion, water protector news and most anything else I (and hopefully you) stumble across that may be of interest.

Starting off with some great local coverage about some awesome grassroots activism:

7/5 News Roundup & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Hello friends! Hope you all had a great 4th and are recovering well enough. As I catch up on the news this morning I’ll post the better findings in the comments and encourage you to do the same (as well as to write your own posts)! Until I figure out whats slowing us down I’ll skip the video of the day in the main-post to see if that helps a bit. Any issues can be reported in the comments, TPW-Mail, or tpwhelpdesk@[google].

Starting off with:

Local boy petitions Senator Ron Johnson for lifesaving health care

While the Republican bill in the United States Senate continues to suffer from recent setbacks, residents of Wisconsin have remained committed to stop the Ryan-Trump Health Care Plan. At stake is the loss of health coverage for 22 million Americans, with a direct impact to Milwaukee’s underserved population.

One of the challengers for Paul Ryan’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic congressional candidate Cathy Myers, launched a petition drive to stop the roll back of vital ACA protections. The 1,600 signatures were collected to urge a No vote by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.

“The Ryan-Trump Health Care Bill stacks the deck against working people, middle-class families, and anyone who has a pre-existing condition. Whether your health care covers patients with genetic disorders as rare as Jack’s or people who have undergone routine C-sections like myself. The bottom line is that this bill touches all of our lives, and so many stand to lose.”

Among those supporters delivering the petition was a 9-year-old boy named Jack, who Myers met on a motorcycle trip through Wisconsin in early June. Jack suffers from a rare genetic disease, and his situation highlights the dangers proposed by the pending bill, which would end his medical treatments.

“I was born with this pre-existing condition that makes me have no antibodies. It’s called Bruton’s X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia, or XLA,” said Jack. When asked what would happen if he lost his health care, he added, “Basically, I dіе.”

Cathy for Congress

6/29 News Roundup – Bayou Bridge & Keystone XL Pipeline Resistance, Turner Takes Over As Our Revolution president & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Resistance Grows Against Bayou Bridge Pipeline

Native communities and environmental justice advocates in Louisiana opened a new resistance camp Saturday to oppose the proposed Bayou Bridge Pipeline project. Called L’eau Est La Vie, or Water is Life, the camp will consist of floating indigenous art structures on rafts and constant prayer ceremonies during its first two weeks.

The Bayou Bridge project, owned in part by Dakota Access Pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), would transport crude oil over 163 miles of natural heritage swampland to a terminal in St. James Parish in Louisiana. St. James residents and environmental advocates recently filed suit to overturn the pipeline’s permit, claiming that the state did not adequately address impacts of a potential spill on the community or surrounding wetlands.

“Once again Indigenous communities are being put in harm’s way and over 700 bodies of water will be threatened by one of the worst environmental offenders known to date,” said the Indigenous Environmental Network in a statement. “We stand with the Water Protectors here in southern Louisiana to protect these critical wetlands that serve as protection for the people of this region from floods and storms.”

The Indigenous Environmental Network announced the opening of the camp with the video above explaining why completion of the Bayou Bridge pipeline must be stopped.

Meanwhile In Nebraska:

Hundreds again pack meeting room, again disagree on Keystone XL

Nebraska residents again pack a room and Nebraska residents again offer drastically different views of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Hundreds attended the third public meeting held by the Nebraska Public Service Commission on TransCanada’s application to cross the state and complete the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline. This time the setting was the Divots Conference Center in Norfolk.

Becky Van Housen, who farms in York and Polk Counties, told commissioners she worries about the impact on the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies ten wells on her farm.

“This proposed Keystone XL pipeline cannot be allowed to cross the Ogallala Aquifer,” Van Housen stated. “A spill to the Ogallala Aquifer would not only threaten the drinking water of millions of Americans, but threaten the livelihood of hundreds and thousands of farmers and ranchers.”

More news/video/etc. in the comments, see you there!