Greenpeace Slapped With $660 Million Fine Verdict Over Criminal Pipeline Protest

If you can’t pay the fine don’t do the crime

Greenpeace must pay over $660M in case over Dakota Access protest activities, jury finds

Environmental group Greenpeace must pay more than $660 million in damages for defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline’s construction in North Dakota, a jury found Wednesday.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access had accused Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts. Greenpeace USA was found liable for all counts, while the others were found liable for some. The damages owed will be spread out in different amounts over the three entities.

Greenpeace said earlier that a large award to the pipeline company would threaten to bankrupt the organization. Following the nine-person jury’s verdict, Greenpeace’s senior legal adviser said the group’s work “is never going to stop.” (snip)

Energy Transfer called Wednesday’s verdict a “win” for “Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law.”

“While we are pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us, this win is really for the people of Mandan and throughout North Dakota who had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace,” the company said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Obviously, Greenpeace is going to appeal, and say they will keep fighting to stop Big Oil (hey, how’d all the protesters get to the protests?). But, this was such an easy verdict for the jury shows that appeals might be difficult, even if they find a friendly judge.

Cox had said Greenpeace carried out a scheme to stop the pipeline’s construction. During opening statements, he alleged Greenpeace paid outsiders to come into the area and protest, sent blockade supplies, organized or led protester trainings, and made untrue statements about the project to stop it.

Attorneys for the Greenpeace entities had said there was no evidence to the claims and that Greenpeace employees had little or no involvement in the protests and the organizations had nothing to do with Energy Transfer’s delays in construction or refinancing.

The jury felt they did. Oh, well. Greenpeace long ago lost the thread of protecting the environment. They were always a bit militant, but, then they just went wackadoodle in trying to push climate cult stuff.

Read: Greenpeace Slapped With $660 Million Fine Verdict Over Criminal Pipeline Protest »

Washington Post Very Concerned Trump Is Sending “Chilling Message” To Illegal Aliens

Seriously, the Washington Post and excitable writers Marianne LeVine and Adriana Usero don’t seem to get that sending chilling messages to illegals already here and ones who are thinking of coming is exactly the point

As Trump aides celebrate deportations, chilling message sent to migrants

As the Trump administration battled with a federal judge over the use of wartime powers to deport alleged gang members to El Salvador, the White House X account on Monday posted a video of migrants being handcuffed and sent away, to the soundtrack of the 1998 Semisonic hit “Closing Time,” a song that’s often associated with the end of a party.

“You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here @CBP,” the White House posted, with musical note emojis — a reference to the song lyrics. The video was also posted on Team Trump’s TikTok and reposted by the official account for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with the caption: “It’s closing time. We are making America safe again.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the video “sums up our immigration policy pretty well” and that the White House is “encouraging illegal immigrants to actively self-deport, to maybe save themselves from being in one of these fun videos.”

Obviously, this makes the unhinged illegal aliens supporters Upset, yet, you do not see them offering to house the illegals, do you?

Immigration experts, academics and political strategists see a communications approach that’s aimed at the administration’s core supporters and leans into a policy area where President Donald Trump polls more favorably compared with the economy or his overall job performance. During his presidential campaign, Trump said repeatedly that he viewed immigration and the border as the top issue for Americans over the economy.

But some immigration experts also described the use of humor as dehumanizing by minimizing the impact and repercussions of the government’s aggressive actions. They added that images of migrants in shackles boarding deportation flights contribute to Trump’s broad portrayal of undocumented immigrants as criminals, even though there’s little evidence that they commit crimes at a higher rate than U.S. citizens.

Are those experts, academics, and strategists housing illegals? Everything the Trump admin is doing is to disincentivize illegal immigration, as well as fake asylum seekers. And then massive drop in people showing up at the border from the Biden-Harris numbers is indicative that it is all working.

“The sense of humor really signals that the person consuming this message is in the in-group, they’re in on the joke,” said Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, deputy director of the international program at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “It amplifies the sense of accomplishment that is not readily apparent in the data. … In so doing, they’ve made a real choice to use dehumanizing and what I would say is a cruel juxtaposition of humor and suffering that is read by the other side.”

It’s like these wackos are denying one of the reasons Trump beat Kamala. Seriously, this is the kind of article that should appear in Media Matters, Salon, and other wacko lefty sites, not a major national newspaper. Shameful. And then they wonder why no one trusts them.

Read: Washington Post Very Concerned Trump Is Sending “Chilling Message” To Illegal Aliens »

Leftist Judge Stops EPA From Clawing Back Taxpayer Money

At least for the moment. But, there is one big caveat

US judge blocks Trump’s EPA from clawing back climate grants

A U.S. judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from recovering grant funds issued as part of a $20 billion climate funding program that President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to terminate.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington issued a temporary restraining order, opens new tab halting the EPA’s termination of three environmental nonprofit groups’ grant agreements and barring Citibank from dispersing grant funding held at the bank in their accounts.

Those grants were terminated as part of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s campaign to claw back money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which Congress authorized in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act during then President Joe Biden’s tenure in 2022 to kick-start projects aimed at curbing pollution.

Absent a court order preserving the status quo as the litigation proceeds, Chutkan said those groups would face imminent harm if Citibank transferred money the groups use to pay employees, pay rent and fund projects out of those accounts.

Um, they are not federal employees. They are not federal agencies. Them paying their employees for future projects is not the responsibility of the US taxpayers.

(People’s (commie) World) Climate United and two other groups, the Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities, said the freeze not only prevented them from financing new projects, but might force them to lay off staff. They said the allegations they were mishandling funds were utterly meritless.

That’s their problem. All three of the groups were created post-passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. So, it’s not like they are long standing business. They were created to get the money from IRA. And they are all essentially shell groups, doling the money out to other companies which have been around for a while, such as Habitat For Humanity.

The nonprofits also wanted Judge Chutkan to order Citibank to unfreeze the account. She declined to do so. The order simply preserves the status quo while the case proceeds.

Funny, the Socialist People’s World is giving more information, and more balance, than Reuters and most other articles. So, really, the money is not available for the “companies” right now, either.

Zeldin has characterized the grants as a “gold bar” scheme marred by conflicts of interest and potential fraud.

“Twenty billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution, in a deliberate effort to limit government oversight — doling out your money through just eight pass-through, politically connected, unqualified and in some cases brand-new” nonprofit organizations, Zeldin said in a video previously posted online.

What are they doing with the money? Perhaps the companies should provide a detailed action plan and show where it is going and how it will be spent. And how any already received has been spent.

Read: Leftist Judge Stops EPA From Clawing Back Taxpayer Money »

If All You See…

…are leaves falling from trees killed by carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Jo Nova, with a post on the UK’s Net Zero plan bankrupting the nation.

Read: If All You See… »

Leftist Judge Says Musk Dismantling USAID Might Possibly Have Violated Constitution

This is a weird ruling, because it sounds more like a judge who is making a ruling without actually knowing what he’s talking about

Musk effort to dismantle USAID likely violated Constitution, judge rules

A federal judge has rebuked Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency for their efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, declaring that Musk’s effort to erase the agency likely violated the Constitution in “multiple ways.”

But the ruling Tuesday from U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang appears to permit the Trump administration to ratify and maintain the draconian cuts — as long as they are ordered by USAID’s official leadership, rather than by Musk or his allies at DOGE.

Musk and DOGE “shall not take any action, or engage in any work, relating to the shutdown of USAID,” Chuang wrote in an injunction against the billionaire and his controversial cost-cutting initiative.

Chuang, an appointee of President Barack Obama, also ordered Musk and DOGE personnel to restore access to official computer systems for USAID employees, including those on administrative leave. The judge said Musk and DOGE can have no involvement in further staff reductions or contract cancellations.

So, he’s ordering all this on a “likely violated”? Where were judges like Chuang when all those Biden “czars”, such as John Kerry, were doing all sorts of things, like negotiating with other countries to give away US money. Of course, Trump, as the Final Boss of USAID, could simply order the executive order created agency ended….actually, he kind of did, because there is already an EO giving DOGE the power. Or Rubio could do it

The ultimate impact of the judge’s order remains unclear because it was directed solely at Musk and DOGE personnel, so it’s possible other Trump administration officials could simply reissue any orders initially given by DOGE members. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is currently acting as the head of USAID.

The lawfare from all these federal judges, all hardcore leftist appointed by Obama or Biden, is amazing

The effort was likely illegal for two reasons, the judge wrote. First, it appeared to violate the Constitution’s “appointments clause,” which says that government officials wielding significant power must be appointed by the president — and confirmed by the Senate — to offices established by Congress. Musk has not gone through that process. Second, the judge wrote, DOGE’s bid to effectively eliminate USAID appeared to violate laws passed by Congress that dictate the agency’s functions.

But, wait, Congress did not establish USAID. JFK did with an EO. Trump should simply end it with an EO. And then there’s this

Judge blocks Trump’s transgender military ban

A federal judge Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from enlisting or serving in the military.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C., ruled that the ban violates the equal protection clause because it discriminates based on transgender status and sex.

Reyes said the ban “is soaked in animus.”

“Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact,” she wrote.

That’s a legal ruling from a federal judge? Sounds more like something from Media Matters or MSNBC. Trump should do like Biden, and just ignore the court. Or, simply take any and all trans in the military and assign them to scut work at a facility in the middle of nowhere. They would get no “affirming care”, no surgeries. Nothing. They won’t be around military grade weapons.

Read: Leftist Judge Says Musk Dismantling USAID Might Possibly Have Violated Constitution »

Doom! Last 10 Years Were The Hottest Ever!

That is, if we go by the hyperventilating, doomsaying NY Times headline

Earth’s 10 Hottest Years Have Been the Last 10

How many Warmists will read that and say “see! I knew it! Doom!”? Heck, it’s really more to influence the casual anthropogenic climate change believer into getting more hardcore. Because so many will never get by the headline. Anyhow, let’s hit the article for the second problem

With the addition of 2024, yet another record-hot year, the past 10 years have been the 10 hottest in nearly 200 years of record-keeping, the World Meteorological Organization reports.

“That’s never happened before,” said Chris Hewitt, the director of the W.M.O.’s climate services division. It marks the first time since record keeping began that all of the 10 hottest years have fallen within the most recent decade.

200 years, eh? There are very few records truly going back that far, and what records there are are limited to specific areas. How much of the US were populated in 1825? Even so, 1825 was in the Little Ice Age, which ended around 1850. So, it should be no surprise that the world slowly got warmer, about 1.6F since 1850.

Really, the rest is just boilerplate doom and gloom, we’ve seen it again and again and again.

Read: Doom! Last 10 Years Were The Hottest Ever! »

Bummer: Illegal Alien Named To Time’s 100 Most Influential List Detained By ICE

Good thing the illegal alien wasn’t well known

From CNNlol

An undocumented mother and immigration reform activist who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement feared she was being surveyed in recent days, her daughter told CNN.

Jeanette Vizguerra gained international attention in 2017 when she took sanctuary in a Denver church for three years to avoid deportation during President Donald Trump’s

first term. That same year, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

She is now being held at a detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, her attorney Laura Lichter told CNN.

Vizguerra was taken into custody by ICE officers Monday outside the Target store where she works as a cashier, family friend Judith Marquez told CNN.

Being a visible activist and having “international attention” is not a good idea when you are unlawfully present in the United States. Heck, if she were an American citizen and was doing this in Mexico they would have thrown her in jail for a bit then deported her.

Oh, hey, when does the DOJ have an uncomfortable talk with the people who run the Target and their corporate office over knowingly employing an illegal alien.

Denver’s Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston denounced Vizguerra’s arrest and described the mother as a hard-working member of the community.

“People should know what this is. This is not immigration enforcement. This is Soviet-style political persecution of political dissidents under the guise of immigration enforcement,” Johnston said in a video posted on Facebook Tuesday.

Enforcing the law is now Soviet-style. She’s also been busted a few times for low level stuff and

She was also charged in connection with using a made-up Social Security number on a job application, her then-attorney said. She pleaded guilty to “attempted possession of a forged instrument.”

Yeah, any of that would lead to anyone on a visa/green card being deported. If they had paid all that money and gone through all the steps to get citizenship it would be revoked.

John Fabbricatore, former field office director for ICE’s Denver office, said in a post on X the Biden administration prevented him from deporting Vizguerra four years ago, and called her an “open-borders, abolish-ICE advocate.”

Being unlawfully present in the US and trying to dictate our laws is a bad mix.

Read: Bummer: Illegal Alien Named To Time’s 100 Most Influential List Detained By ICE »

Bummer: Trump Admin Looking To Eliminate EPA Scam Science Research Arm

Well, maybe they should have been doing good research, instead of climate scam and wasteful stuff

Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate E.P.A.’s Scientific Research Arm

climate change joke

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

The strategy is part of large-scale layoffs, known as a “reduction in force,” being planned by the Trump administration, which is intent on shrinking the federal work force. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the E.P.A., has said he wants to eliminate 65 percent of the agency’s budget. That would be a drastic reduction — one that experts said could hamper clean water and wastewater improvements, air quality monitoring, the cleanup of toxic industrial sites, and other parts of the agency’s mission.

The E.P.A.’s plan, which was presented to White House officials on Friday for review, calls for dissolving the agency’s largest department, the Office of Research and Development, and purging up to 75 percent of the people who work there.

Well, then the people still on the EPA payroll can do the actual job, rather than being scam cultists. They can stop trying to force an agenda on American citizens, knowing that the they, the employees, will not be held accountable. Here’s from Steve Milloy on the NY Times article

My comment: In March 1992, the a blue ribbon panel of EPA’s Science Advisory Board told EPA in a report called “Safeguarding the Future: Credible Science, Credible Decisions” that “Science should never be adjusted to fit policy.” But EPA staff has continued to do the exact opposite. EPA has proven itself incapable of doing honest science so scientific research should be separated from the agency. A copy of “Safeguarding the Future” is available here: junkscience.com/wp-content/upl

It’s not even so much that so many EPA employees are making the science fit policy: they are simply doing the work of a doomsday cult, and trying to make their own policy.

The remaining employees can do what the EPA is supposed to do, like clean water, clean air, clean land. They won’t have time to enact their own personal agendas.

Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, the top Democrat on the science committee, said that without the Office of Research and Development, the E.P.A. would not be able to meet its legal obligation to use the “best available science” when writing regulations and considering policy. She also said that the office was created by congressional statute and that dissolving it would be illegal.

Perhaps they need to stop writing regulations and such, because anything actually needs to come from Congress. The EPA, like most agencies, just decides to do whatever the hell they want to do to support their beliefs, rather than what the agency is tasked with.

Read: Bummer: Trump Admin Looking To Eliminate EPA Scam Science Research Arm »

If All You See…

…is a wonderful low carbon train which Everyone Else should be forced to ride, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Green Jihad, with a post on mostly peaceful protests at Tesla dealerships.

Read: If All You See… »

DOJ/FBI Task Force To Investigate Hamas And Hamas Supporters

Oh, this is going to make Democratic Party voters very, very unhinged. How dare Der Fuhrer Trump allow the Stasi to go after people supporting Hamas! Maybe they should have considered the ability of the DOJ to investigate support of Hamas, threatening and harassing Jews, and threatening Israel, taking over buildings violently which receive federal money, when they supported the DOJ to use every resource to find grandmas who peacefully walked through the halls of Congress on J6

The Justice Department and FBI announce a new task force to target Hamas over Oct. 7 attack

The Justice Department on Monday announced the creation of a task force to investigate Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as well as potential civil rights violations and acts of antisemitism by anyone supporting the militant group.

Agents and prosecutors participating in Joint Task Force October 7, or JTF 10-7, will investigate and look to bring charges against Hamas militants directly responsible for the rampage in southern Israel, the department said.

“The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win — and there will be consequences,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement announcing the task force.

The Biden administration’s Justice Department unsealed charges last September against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior militants in connection with the attack on Israel. The impact of the case is mostly symbolic given that Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces weeks later and several other defendants are believed now to be dead.

Well, there’s not all that much they can do about the Hamas members in Gaza, but, what of those who finance it and direct it in other countries? And

Monday’s announcement said the task force, made up of prosecutors and FBI officials, also will investigate civil rights violations and potential acts of terrorism by anyone providing support or financing to Hamas.

It did not define what sort of support would be illegal, though federal law makes it a crime to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas.

It didn’t need to. There are laws on the books which say what support would be illegal. I would bet that they won’t be picking up American citizens, but, will be looking for foreigners on some sort of legalized status. Will they go as far as looking at those who were gifted citizenship, which can be revoked? I doubt they will prosecute, but, they might name. I would also bet that the announcement is meant to be a warning to those here on some sort of legalized status to get out now before they get picked up, to “self deport”, much like how the Trump admin has done it with illegal aliens.

Democrats have zero room to complain after their Stasi-like J6 investigation, the way they scooped people up and put them in solitary confinement with no bail for minor charges.

Read: DOJ/FBI Task Force To Investigate Hamas And Hamas Supporters »

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