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Putting Their Bodies on the (Pipe)line |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=27281"><span class="small">Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, Democracy Now!</span></a>
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Saturday, 15 October 2016 13:51 |
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Excerpt: "Hurricane Matthew has come and gone, leaving devastation in its wake. So far, at least 1,000 people are reported to have died in Haiti, and at least 39 have died throughout the southeastern United States. In North Carolina, the rivers are still rising. In this election year, given the destruction, you would think climate change would be a major issue. In the presidential debates, which tens of millions watch, there has hardly been a mention. It is what is happening outside, at the grass roots around the country, that gives us hope."
Dozens of tribal members from several Native American nations taking to horseback to protest against the proposed construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota. (photo: Megan Mitchell/NBC)
Putting Their Bodies on the (Pipe)line
By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, Democracy Now!
15 October 16
 urricane Matthew has come and gone, leaving devastation in its wake. So far, at least 1,000 people are reported to have died in Haiti, and at least 39 have died throughout the southeastern United States. In North Carolina, the rivers are still rising. In this election year, given the destruction, you would think climate change would be a major issue. In the presidential debates, which tens of millions watch, there has hardly been a mention. It is what is happening outside, at the grass roots around the country, that gives us hope.
The movement to combat climate change is growing dynamically and unpredictably, and is facing increasing repression from the fossil-fuel industry and government authorities. There is perhaps no better example of this than the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The tribe has made treaties with the United States for more than a century and a half, and every one of them has been broken by the federal government. So it should come as no surprise that a panel of federal judges ruled against the Standing Rock Sioux, allowing construction of the controversial $3.8 billion oil pipeline to continue. To add insult to injury, the decision came, surprisingly, on a Sunday, on the eve of Columbus Day, which many indigenous people view as a day celebrating the start of the genocide against native peoples in the Western Hemisphere.
“The Standing Rock Sioux tribe is not backing down from this fight,” Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, said in a statement. “We are guided by prayer, and we will continue to fight for our people. We will not rest until our lands, people, waters and sacred places are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline.”
In a break with history, though, and despite the court’s order, the U.S. Army, along with the departments of Justice and the Interior, issued a statement as well, saying: “The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe. We repeat our request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe. We also look forward to a serious discussion during a series of consultations ... on whether there should be nationwide reform on the Tribal consultation process for these types of infrastructure projects.”
It is on that Army Corps of Engineers land that the main resistance camps have been set up, where thousands, mostly indigenous people from more than 200 tribes from across the U.S., Canada and Latin America, have gathered to protect land and water from the pipeline. This is Lakota-Dakota ancestral land, taken without tribal consent by the U.S. Army.
In August, these protectors — they don’t call themselves “protesters” — put out a call for international prayers and solidarity. Each day, creative acts of nonviolent direct action are happening, up and down the 1,200-mile length of the proposed pipeline. On Wednesday, in Keokuk, Iowa, 31-year-old Krissana Mara locked herself to an excavator at the site where the Dakota Access Pipeline is slated to cross the Mississippi River. The growing resistance there, called #MississippiStand, seeks to block the pipeline from traversing that river, as the Standing Rock actions are blocking the pipeline from going under the Missouri River.
Meanwhile, in a stunning coordinated action, nine climate activists were arrested Tuesday for attempting to shut down all tar-sands oil coming into the United States from Canada by manually turning off pipelines in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Washington state. One of the protesters, Leonard Higgins, said on a video later posted online from the pipeline site in Coal Banks, Montana: “We’re in a state of emergency to protect our loved ones and our families, our communities. We need to step up as citizens and take action where our leaders are not. That’s what I’m prepared to do when I close the valve.”
Also among the nine arrested was Ken Ward. In 2013, Ward and Jay O’Hara anchored a small lobster boat off the coast of Massachusetts, blocking a ship from delivering 40,000 tons of coal to the Brayton Point power plant, one of the region’s largest contributors to greenhouse gases. In a remarkable turn of events, their prosecutor, local District Attorney Samuel Sutter, dropped the criminal charges against the men, saying: “Climate change is one of the gravest crises our planet has ever faced. In my humble opinion, the political leadership on this issue has been gravely lacking.”
Perhaps leadership from the top has been lacking. But from a small boat bobbing in the ocean to the growing resistance camps in North Dakota, the climate movement is on the rise.
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Monsanto Goes on Trial for Ecocide |
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Saturday, 15 October 2016 13:35 |
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Excerpt: "'This symbolic trial, which will be live streamed on the tribunal website, will follow guidelines of the United Nations' international court of justice and will have no legal standing. Rather, its purpose is to gather legal counsel from the judges as well as legal grounds for future litigation.'"
Workers spraying crops. (photo: Getty Images)
Monsanto Goes on Trial for Ecocide
By MercoPress
15 October 16
  his symbolic trial, which will be live streamed from Oct. 15, 8:30 a.m. GMT+2 on the tribunal website, will follow guidelines of the United Nations' international court of justice and will have no legal standing. Rather, its purpose is to gather legal counsel from the judges as well as legal grounds for future litigation.
”The aim of the tribunal is to give a legal opinion on the environmental and health damage caused by the multinational Monsanto,“ the tribunal organizers state on their website. ”This will add to the international debate to include the crime of Ecocide into international criminal law. It will also give people all over the world a well documented legal file to be used in lawsuits against Monsanto and similar chemical companies.”
Monsanto, which is inching closer to a US$ 66bn takeover from German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer, has faced a never-ending slew of health and environmental controversies over its products since, well, the beginning of the twenty first century.
Monsanto's historical line-up of products includes banned and highly toxic chemicals such as 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (a dioxin-containing component of the defoliant Agent Orange); PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyl); and Lasso, a herbicide banned in Europe. Glyphosate, the controversial main ingredient in Monsanto's best-selling weed-killer RoundUp, is the most widely used pesticide in the world. Monsanto is also the world's largest genetically modified (GMO) seed maker, giving them a major hand over the world food supply
The trial, which will proceed on the same weekend as World Food Day, is organized by Organic Consumers Association, International Foundation for Organic Agriculture (IFOAM) Organics International, Navdanya, Regeneration International, Millions Against Monsanto as well as dozens of global food, farming and environmental justice groups.
Monsanto Corporate Engagement office has stated that “in growing our food, farmers face some tough challenges as the world’s population continues to grow. To address these ever increasing challenges collaboratively and advance our commitment to human rights, we welcome a genuine constructive conversation with diverse ideas and perspectives about food and agriculture production.
”This mock trial is not a real dialogue but a stunt staged by the International Foundation for Organic Agriculture (IFOAM), Organic Consumers Association and others who are fundamentally opposed to modern agriculture innovation, where anti-agriculture technology and anti-Monsanto critics play organizers, judge and jury, and where the outcome is pre-determined. Here is a link to our Open Letter regarding this mock trial.
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FOCUS: Ex-Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Deserves Jail - Not a Plush Retirement |
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Saturday, 15 October 2016 11:54 |
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Prins writes: "For former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, this will be his first weekend as a wealthy retiree. So it goes in a world where big banks can screw over customers and the public, and the CEO who presided over these practices can slink off into the sunset unencumbered by the kind of real retribution that plagues small-time drug users and petty thieves. They go free. We pay the price."
John Stumpf. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Ex-Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Deserves Jail - Not a Plush Retirement
By Nomi Prins, Guardian UK
15 October 16
If the Department of Justice lived up to its name, it would move forward with John Stumpf’s criminal investigation
 or former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, this will be his first weekend as a wealthy retiree. So it goes in a world where big banks can screw over customers and the public, and the CEO who presided over these practices can slink off into the sunset unencumbered by the kind of real retribution that plagues small-time drug users and petty thieves. They go free. We pay the price.
Two days before the bank’s quarterly earnings announcement, Stumpf announced his immediate resignation. That decision came about a month after the firm was slapped with a $185m settlement for a fee-stealing scam that resulted in the axing of 5,300 low-level employees. He did not resign after settlements for any of the prior wrongdoing that took place under his purview for which the firm paid about $10bn in fines.
Make no mistake. Stumpf was the captain and commander of this $1.9tn empire. Its culture, as in all Wall Street culture, was defined from the top down, not the other way around. For his penance, all Stumpf had to do was forfeit $41m in restricted stock awards (stock he didn’t even fully own yet).
The figure for Stump’s exit hoard is currently valued around $134m, a pretty plush parachute. That includes his vested stock and other retirement plans. But that figure can rise. The firm’s stock took a beating due to this latest scandal (it’s still down 11%). With Stumpf out and this “cross-selling” or “sales practice” scrubbed in the wake of his departure, rising share prices to pre-scandal levels could place his take closer to $160m or above. So Stump’s departure holds monetary value for him. In bankster terms, it’s a slam dunk trade.
Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and other senators have called for his resignation, a return of “every nickel” he made during the scam and a Department of Justice and US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. So far, Warren pointed out in a tweet, only one of those things has happened. He shouldn’t be afforded impunity (like other big bank CEOs) for running Wells during an effective crime spree.
Her request for DoJ criminal investigations into Stumpf’s role, in just this scandal, has not been honored. Even if it were to be, would it get very far? There have been zero criminal indictments for any mega-bank CEO, regardless of the breadth, depth and cost of the crimes committed by their institutions under their stewardships. Stumpf’s chances look pretty damn good.
Stumpf’s number two man, 29-year Wells veteran Timothy Sloan, is being touted as the anti-Stumpf; clean, not of the retail unit that swindled the bank’s average customers. Only it wasn’t just the retail unit implicated in settlements. Wells’s fines included $1.4bn for allegations of misleading investors in securities auctions, $5bn for loan services and foreclosure “abuses”, and $1.2bn for defrauding the US government regarding mortgages eligible for federal insurance.
Sloan’s roles spanned wholesale and commercial banking operations (areas implicated by these settlements.) Plus, as chief operating officer since November 2015, Sloan was responsible for ensuring good practices for that retail unit. Clean is relative. And meaningless.
The new board chairman, Stephen Sanger, said Stumpf “believes new leadership at this time is appropriate to guide Wells Fargo through its current challenges and take the Company forward.” Current challenges. That’s the kind of terminology that whitewashes the gravity of what he did. If the Department of Justice had the balls, it would move forward with Stumpf’s criminal investigation and minimally slap him with an indictment. So far, it has not shown such aptitude.
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FOCUS: Stop Blaming the Russians |
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Saturday, 15 October 2016 10:33 |
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Galindez writes: "Okay, maybe the Russians are leaking what you did to WikiLeaks. If your kid got caught stealing a candy bar, would you blame the person who turned them in? No. These emails are exposing things that happened, and the Russians didn't make you do it. As far as hacking and trying to influence elections, the CIA does it all the time. The only difference here is the Russians are embarrassing you and making it public."
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. (photo: ABC News)
Stop Blaming the Russians
By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News
15 October 16
 kay, maybe the Russians are leaking what you did to Wikileaks. If your kid got caught stealing a candy bar, would you blame the person who turned them in? No. These emails are exposing things that happened, and the Russians didn’t make you do it. As far as hacking and trying to influence elections, the CIA does it all the time. The only difference here is the Russians are embarrassing you and making it public.
Easy there, Trumpistas. There is no grand conspiracy to take down Donald Trump. He is doing a grand job of that all by himself. He molested women, and in this day and age you don’t get away with it. No, we are not going to make America a place where men can get away with that again. Bill Clinton will probably be the last candidate to get away with sexual harassment in the White House. Donald, you won’t see the inside of the White House again, unless you buy a night in the Lincoln Bedroom from a future president.
You will get by this time, DNC and Clinton campaign, but only because you are up against the worst candidate in the history of the union. Your opponent is crazier than Richard Nixon. Technology, however, is sending all politicians a message. Everything you do or say can come back to haunt you.
The Wikileaks revelations are doing a service to our country. They are exposing what has always been happening behind the scenes. Politics is an ugly profession that needs serious reforms. Trump supporters, your candidate is flawed, but you are right that the system is corrupt and needs reform. Only, Donald Trump is not the person to do it.
We need to scrap the two-party system and allow for more political parties to flourish so that everyone is represented, not just the corporate elite. Let’s face it, Bernie Sanders and Rahm Emanuel should not be in the same political party. I don’t blame Bernie for using the vehicle that is viable for a presidential run. The Green Party and other parties not called Democrat or Republican are not on the same playing field. They are not allowed in the same game.
If the Russians are feeding Wikileaks, we should thank them for exposing the corruption that has always been there. Instead of blaming the Russians, let’s clean up our mess.
We can start with Donna Brazile. Donna, Donna, Donna … we worked together on the Housing Now! mobilization. You say were being impartial, yet you were leaking CNN’s town hall questions to the Clinton campaign. You were even tipping them off about social media campaigns scheduled by Black People for Bernie, who trusted you as an unbiased journalist. You say you were advising all the Democrats who were running for the nomination. I have yet to find someone you helped out in the Sanders campaign with a leaked question or a tip on something the Clinton campaign was doing. Oh, and the Russians didn’t make you do it. After the election you should step down and allow someone who can play fair to lead the party.
But it really isn’t about reforming just the Democratic Party. Conservatives, liberals, moderates, we need to sit down and devise a system that allows us all to have a voice. We need a Green Party, we need a Conservative Party, a Workers’ Party, a Corporate Party … Let’s end the sham of the Republican and Democratic parties pretending to represent anyone but the establishment. As I have been saying for years, until the system is changed, progressives must focus on taking over the Democratic Party. As long as we have a two-party system, conceding the Democrats to the establishment is suicide. We must seek power in a strategic way.
Trumpistas, we have some common ground:
- The Democratic and Republican parties do NOT represent us.
- Our trade deals are designed to benefit the corporate elite and not American workers.
- The media has a stake in the establishment continuing to control the only political parties they deem viable.
- The elite, like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, get to play by a different set of rules.
There is more, and you may not agree with my characterization of Donald Trump right now. But if you really think about it, he is not a true reformer. He is using the need for reform to pander to you. Let’s face it, the fact that the best we could do was Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is an indictment of the two-party system. We should thank the Russians and the women who are exposing Trump for showing us how bad our political system has become. We need to come together across ideological lines and agree on a system that will allow for real Democracy again. The system is corrupt, and it’s not the Russians’ fault.
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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hat if the United States went to war and nobody here even noticed? The question is absurd, isn’t it? And yet, this almost perfectly describes what actually happened this past week.
