Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t CFACT – Bonner Cohen (CFACT) writing for The Hill notes that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are responding vigorously to threats from eco-terrorists – so vigorously the eco-terrorists are complaining.
Eco-terrorist attacks on energy infrastructure on tap for 2018
December 29, 2017 by Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.
Determined to disrupt the interstate transport of oil and natural gas throughout the United States, a network of environmental activists is openly threatening to resort to sabotage to achieve their ends. And having let their intentions be known, they are crying foul now that law enforcement officials are taking their threats seriously.
Indeed, the recent past foreshadows what is to come. In October 2016, a group of five demonstrators cut through padlocks and chains to enter the flow stations of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Dubbed Valve Turners, they shut off the pipeline’s valves, temporarily stopping the flow of oil through the pipeline. Local law enforcement officials in North Dakota apprehended the group. A court found two of the protestors guilty of felony charges, two more are awaiting trial, and a fifth was found guilty of second-degree burglary.
The Valve Turners were hardly the only protestors to turn to sabotage in the name of combating climate change. Anti-pipeline activists set fires and caused $2 million in damages near Standing Rock in North Dakota. Elsewhere, two women from a social justice charity proudly told the Des Moines Register how they had used oxyacetylene cutting torches to attack another stretch of the pipeline in Iowa’s Mahaska County. In another incident, damages to pipeline construction equipment in Iowa reached $2 million.
…
Alarmed that acts of vandalism against public and private installations will not go unpunished, groups that can best be described as “Green Antifa” are conjuring up visions of noble activists facing police-state tactics.
“This crackdown is happening, because activists have been successful, and because industry realizes that protest is a threat,” Kelsey Skaggs, executive director of the Climate Defense Project, recently told ThinkProgress.
On the contrary, officials and lawmakers are rightly concerned that acts of sabotage pose a threat to public safety. Anti-pipeline protesters have the right to free speech and free assembly; they do not have the right commit acts of sabotage, arson or trespassing.
…
Think Progress sees the legal crackdown differently. From 20th December;
The criminalization of environmental protest in Trump’s America
Environmental protesters had a successful 2016. Then came the crackdown.
NATASHA GEILING
DEC 20, 2017, 10:29 AM
In October of 2016, a group of five climate activists across four states cut through padlocks and chains to enter flow stations for the Kinder Morgan pipeline, which runs from Canada to the United States. In an orchestrated action, the activists shut off the valves for the pipeline, effectively bringing the transport of millions of barrels of tar sands oil to a halt in an attempt to shine a light on the global climate crisis.
Legal retribution against the group, dubbed “Valve Turners,” was swift and severe. The activists were charged with a litany of crimes, including, most notably, criminal sabotage and criminal mischief — both felonies that can carry sentences of 10 years in prison. Two of those activists have already been found guilty of felony charges, while two others are still awaiting trial. The fifth activist’s case initially ended in a mistrial, with a jury finding him guilty of just one charge, second-degree burglary, during the second trial.
…
“This crackdown is happening because activists have been successful, and because industry realizes that protest is a threat,” Kelsey Skaggs, executive director of the Climate Defense Project, told ThinkProgress. “We’ve seen it begin, and now we’ve seen it worsen.”
…
“The conditions now are perfect for an increased crackdown, because the Trump administration is so friendly in terms of pro-policing, pro-business attitudes, and because a lot of state legislatures are controlled by Republicans,” Skagg said.
…
“This suit is part of a rising tendency on the part of government and industry to demonize activists and to criminalize free speech activity,” Ted Hamilton, co-founder of the Climate Defense Project, told ThinkProgress in August when Energy Transfer Partners first filed their lawsuit. “Fossil fuel companies know that they’re losing public support for their poisonous activities — and so label their opponents ‘terrorists’ and seek gag orders in court.”
…
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/criminalization-of-environmental-protest-f3a4c5eb29c3/
What did you expect Ted? A mass uprising of people demanding liberty for your followers, an end to fossil fuel heating for their homes, and an end to fuel for their vehicles?
The US constitution protects free speech. It does not protect “free speech activity”, which you seem to define as dangerous interference with or destruction of property owned by other people.
I and I’m sure many other people would love to be able to live without fossil fuels. I would love to buy an affordable car which never needs gasoline, yet still offers me the convenience of rapid long distance travel. I would love to go off grid, without the inconvenience of having to gather and burn large quantities of firewood, or truck in and burn large quantities of fossil fuel to power my home.
Sadly nobody wants to sell me a couple of miniaturised nuclear reactors.
Eco-terrorists who commit crimes against property or people are being treated as they deserve; as dangerous criminals pursuing a pointless vendetta against the lifeblood of our society.
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Damage someone else property go to jail. Simple and easy
As a famous actor’s crime show theme song intoned
Don’t do the Crime if you can’t do the time
Yeah
Don’t do it!
The law enforcement should go after their leaders and funders, too.
Gitmo is being prepared for an influx of “high value” guests. Arizona National Guard provos have been sent on an 8 month deployment so some of these funders may have their assets frozen and their liberty curtailed.
….and all this time I thought breaking and entering….destruction of property…..with dangerous consequences
was a crime
you know…..charge these fools with terrorism and every crime you can think of
Liberals consider themselves to be above the law.
but our government tells us that radical right wing groups are the biggest threat
Why do we keep labeling them Liberals? They aren’t liberal.
“Liberals consider themselves to be above the law.” I wonder where they got that idea? Possibly from “Elected Elites”?
Most of the elected elites are liberals/leftists.
But they mean well and are pure of heart, so it’s OK.
Latitude
As we all know, right wing is the peaceful pursuit of personal freedom, small governments and profitable enterprise.
Left wing is the imposition of state control, suppressed speech and the eradication of free enterprise.
Left wing values have been proven a failure throughout history. Capitalism has provided us with everything we have today, including Al Gore and Elon Musk; they are the crosses we Capitalists must bear.
Under either regime, there will be rich and poor, the difference is, under capitalism, we all have the opportunity to become rich. Whether we take that opportunity or not is entirely up to us. Nor do I confine rich to monetary wealth, communism was very good at suppressing spiritual wealth.
And yet the liberal/socialist elite continue to beat the drum of distributed wealth, but not at their expense.
How effing surprising.
It could be the most abused term in the history of the English language. It is one of those terms that can be taken to mean both a thing and its opposite. (Such a word is called a contranym.)
I was going to compare liberal (left wing) with neoliberal (right wing). But no … a quick google shows that both words are contranyms.
@PiperPaul.
“But they mean well and are pure of heart, so it’s OK.”
That is exactly the point. Just like Torquemada. As Grand Inquisitor he genuinely believed he was doing good as he gruesomely burned innocents at the stake. He probably even whispered “this is for your salvation” as the exquisitely painful flames licked.
It’s why these people are very very dangerous.
Where I live, the gas meter shut-off is not locked-out, to allow for quick turn off in case of need (for safety reasons). Would it be OK to go around to peoples houses and shut off their gas supply in the name of free speech and protest? If I did it to Al Gore’s house would I be seen as a environmental savior? If I cut power lines to his house to take him off-grid, would this be justified in the name of Gaia?
Liberals are only above the law when they are in control of it
They think the end justifies the means.
Of course these same people throw a fit if pro-lifers block the entrance to an abortion shop. (I am not in favor of civil disobedience of any side.)
Duncan Smith wonders if cutting off power to Big Al’s would be a crime I was wondering if felling a couple of windmills to save birds and bats would be seen by the team as terrorism or eco warrioring?
James Bull
“Why do we keep labeling them Liberals?”
Elements of our society are very good at forming subversive groups with names that make them sound reasonable. For instance, think of ANTIFA. The name comes from anti-fascist but they are the nearest thing to Mussolini’s Black Shirts that you can find. Black Lives Matter is another. We all know they do but the organisation seems to be against white lives. Same with feminism. Equality is what we all strive for but the organisation has become man-hating instead.
The Skeptical Science website is a classic. Neither epithet really applies.
These folks go way beyond “liberal”. Incidentally, in the USA, liberal has actually come to mean illiberal. The classical liberal position (what many in European liberal parties still prefer) is called libertarianism in the USA. Green leftists is more appropriate. Or what some call watermelons, which I have always found amusing but accurate.
Liberals! These hoodoo wannabes are not liberals! They are anarchists.
I don’t think that Liberals are Anarchists any more than Conservatives are White Supremacists. The problem is that Anarchists have adopted the liberal agenda and White Supremacists have adopted the Conservative agenda. Then these two groups get the majority of the media coverage and are pushed into the forefront as the vocal majority of either group
“This suit is part of a rising tendency on the part of government and industry to demonize activists and to criminalize free speech activity”
That’s pure projection.
It is the totalitarian Left that actually “criminalizes free speech” and “demonizes” their opponents.
Being shot on the spot would bring the point home more forcibly. In the old West, horse thieves were quickly hung. Destroying our economic infrastructure at the cost of millions should bring a similar result.
Save a lot of time and money. too!
Oil, one of the basic ecological nutrients. Of course, in moderation, as with all things.
That said, memo to envirofascists: you didn’t build that.
About time.
You don’t hear about such sabotage in Russia or China. Perhaps the locking up of the saboteurs in a unheated cell in Murmansk after the Greenpeace raid on an oil rig has something to do with it.
Attacks on vital infrastructure is an act of subversion and the perpetrators should be prosecuted as such.
It’s true. On the other hand, the punishment should fit the crime. Sending folks to the gulag for mere thought crimes is evil. What should be the punishment for cutting a lock, trespassing, and hanging a banner? What should be the punishment for turning a valve and endangering people’s lives?
I used to know a tree hugger. She had been arrested and hauled into court. I’m not sure of the penalty but it was serious enough that she had to deal with it before she could cross borders. After decades, the details are hazy but she was able to deal with the problem and thereby continue to attend academic conferences in foreign lands.
The tree hugger, to her credit, was willing to face the consequences of her acts.
I have a certain respect for those who protest by breaking the law and are willing to face the punishment. I have zero respect for those who think their supposed moral superiority should let them do anything, no matter heinous, without punishment.
I think many people have seen too many TV shows where they “stick it to the man” and then the credits roll, without thinking of the consequences.
However, you are thinking too much. The punishment for trespassing is hanging a banner is trespassing. Maybe petty vandalism. Burglary seems a bit harsh.
However, the punishment for sabotage can and should include charges of reckless endangerment of human life.
Greenpeace have not dared mess with the Russians since thé imprisonment of their activists.
Actually in China, people punch holes in pipelines to steal the oil for their own consumption. They are much more pragmatic about the need for fuel than our greenies….
I am getting so tired of these self-centered snots trying to clog up civilization. I get that they don’t like civilization, but they don’t have the right to expect anyone else to fall in line behind them.
If they want to live in a world without heat, food or clean water, that’s their choice. It is NOT MINE, or any other sensible person’s. If the only want to stop them is to jail them, fine by me.
Perhaps a more fitting punishment would be to cut off the heat to their cells and see just how much they like it. (Sorry if that’s too mean, but they REALLY annoy me.)
If they want to live in a world without heat, food or clean water, that’s their choice.”
Have you heard about the new ‘Raw Water’ fad the nutcases are promoting?
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/raw-water-heath-drink-cost-san-francisco-los-angeles-california-live-water-world-health-orgnisation-a8138231.html
Yes. I’m waiting for some idiot to tout the climate benefits of “raw water”.
My family used to collect “raw water” from Hepburn Springs when I was a kid, but we always drank it pretty quickly back home, and the water from those springs was very mineralised – so much so, drink more than a couple of glasses and you spent the rest of the day in the toilet.
Natural selection on full display. Even us hillbillies know better.
We have “raw water” on our small patch of Earth.
Among other things, at times it carries Giardia and this can cause infection (giardiasis). You don’t have to drink it — but that is one way of getting enough of the cysts to make you think you are dying.
It is not fun, and ill effects can continue after the little buggers are gone.
Rapid weight loss is a result. Rapid weight loss can increase the chance of weakening tissue of the body wall near the Sigmoid colon and result in a hernia.
Where I live, everyone has a raw water well, because there is no city water.
And, by law, every home must have a reverse osmosis filter under the kitchen sink for the dwelling to be considered fit for human habitation.
Interesting that some of the “raw water” pushers advocate charcoal filters. Do they not know that charcoal is C7H4O and that the C means CARBON?
Like the infamous case of the Reverend on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land who drank from the Jordan River, came down with IIRC typhoid and dies within a couple of weeks.
I drink “raw water” all the time, no treatment at all . . since there are several very deep wells that supply it for the town I live in. it’s great stuff ; )
dies within a couple of weeks
===========
as a reward for his pilgramage. the reverend was fast-tracked to heaven. the lord works in mysterious ways.
Maybe we could just turn the heat down to 45 degrees F or so. It wouldn’t seem so mean that way!
Quite frankly, since I know that there are Mongolian tribes who follow their herds and live in what is vaguely termed a ‘natural lifestyle’ (meaning none of what we take for granted), and who choose freely to live that way, I do not think that any of these self-important saboteurs could survive that for more than a half day, IF that.
The difference is that those tribes choose to live that way. It is not inflicted on them. The communist government of North Vietnam tried to exterminate the Hmong tribes because they preferred to live a more natural way. I don’t know how successful they were, but I do know that there are still Hmong tribes in the mountains of Vietnam.
There are such population pockets everywhere, but they choose their more traditional lives, instead of being dependent on external sources for everything.
As much as I love to garden, I’m not at all sure that I’d want to become part of a Mennonite or Amish community at this point in my life.
That is what the difference is, between us and these criminals. I think there is no better name for them. Since the temperature outside right now (at 6:55PM local) is 4F w/a windchilll of -20F, and a forecast of more snow by Thursday, they could stay in my garden shed (no heat, no electricity, no insulation, nothing) and I’ll stay in my cozy little house heated with natural gas.
They need a harsh lesson in the reality of my world. I don’t think anything else will stop them.
“The communist government of North Vietnam tried to exterminate the Hmong tribes because they preferred to live a more natural way. ”
—————
Not exactly. The Hmongs sided with Americans during the war, that’s why they are persecuted (not “exterminated”) by the communists. Vietnam under communist rules is dirt poor so it mostly lived in as much “natural way” as the Hmongs (did I mention the incontrovertible fact that the surest way to live a natural way is to be poor and miserable ?).
Frederic – Ho Chi Minh’s people were seeking Hmong villages and torturing and slaughtering the inhabitants before Americans got to Vietnam. The Hmong and Montagnards cooperated with Americans because they hated Uncle Ho’s communist government.
They live in a fantasy world nourished by their own myths. Primarily reading books and articles by like-minded people, which say that renewables provide “free energy” but capitalism forces us to use fossil fuels “subsidized by government”. Their fantasies are so out-of-touch that we should probably, regard them are functionally insane.
There is an excellent book by Iain McGilchrist called The Master and His Emissary. He discusses the role played by the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The left is responsible for language and logic. The right is responsible for context. It is the BS filter.
The book discusses what happens to people with brain damage. Folks with right hemisphere damage become removed from reality. They will believe anything as long as it is logically self-consistent.
Our education system over-trains the left hemisphere. People are taught to analyze things based on paltry evidence. The teaching of mere facts is denigrated. The result is ‘educated’ people with no functioning BS filters.
To your point … left brain dominant people become detached from reality in a manner that mimics schizophrenia.
IMHO, that describes postmodern academics and eco-nutters to a T.
Mark,
“They live in a fantasy world nourished by their own myths.”
Not really, it seems to me . . nourished by the mass media, for many years, including schools. Many have been told by “authorities” since they can remember that CAGW is a sure thing if we don’t stop burning fossil fuels copiously. That some believe it and act as if it is simply so, is a natural consequence of being propagandized at every turn to believe it.
We are under attack, and have been for decades, I believe. Actual assault, with the intent to destroy the “Western” form of civilization/society, because it is seen by a great many “elitists” all over the world as an impediment/threat to their rule rightful over the teaming masses et al ; )
We tend to forget that until the American Revolution that was just the way things were . . and the idea that the masses could be better at running/deciding things than the highly educated/intelligent “elite” was considered ridiculous among those “elite”.
Turns out it’s actually pretty easy to sell elitism to highly educated/intelligent folks . . they’re only human after all ; )
Civilization is a difficult thing to achieve and an easy thing to destroy. Look at Somalia or Venezuela. A nice controlled experiment is the development of E vs W Germany or N. vs S Korea. I heard Venezuela has just run out of gasoline–maybe these econuts should move their since no gas is their goal.
Wow, talk about the skewed world view the activists have. But then again, they’re leftists so I’m not sure what else you can expect from them. Noble cause corruption in action.
Eco-Terrorists have no lives of their own and therefore create one where they may also get their 10-minutes of fame. It has nothing to do with thinking to the next logical consequence or beyond their frickin’ noses.
The whole alarmist movement on the other hand will be the sleeper force to be dealt with come election 2018 and beyond unless it is quashed once a for all by real science backed by unstoppable messaging under a real marketing plan. The alarmist are well-organized and pumped up like never before.
What they are engaging in is civil disobedience. The thing with civil disobedience is you have to be willing to go to jail if you’re caught. Otherwise, you’re just a felon like the guy that breaks the front window of 7-11. If you aren’t willing to go to jail, you don’t believe in what you are doing nearly enough to be out there attacking a pipeline.
As far as living off grid, if you go with wind and/or solar, there’s the storage batteries, inverters, panels and turbines, all of which break, freeze, get damage by weather, etc. Off-grid living is labor intensive and actually quite expensive. I’m keeping my line out to the grid. It’s a proven method. Plus, I can call the power company at 3 am and they’ll come fix the problem.
Civil disobedience??? Uncivil disobedience, more like. Civil disobedience is passive, these people went for active damage. Funnily enough, I understand their frustration – they feel like no-one is listening so they hit out. Well, they should try being a “climate sceptic” and see what it feels like. You just have to keep your cool, keep arguing the case, keep checking that the evidence really does support your case, be prepared to change your mind if it doesn’t, vote for however many election cycles it takes, and somehow remain civil.
The perpetrators of this climate nonsense have a lot to answer for. Hopefully the last US election will turn out to be the moment that the tide .turned ….
Damaging property and endangering others IS NOT civil disobedience!
I’d have to agree with the ‘not civil disobedience’ response, because breaking and entering, property damage, creating a public threat to the general population, and all those other things the eco-terror bunnies are engaging in are criminal activities, mostly felonies.
You can protest nuclear plants all you want to, but if they supply electricity to a large population and you shut that off by somehow damaging the plant, you’re a criminal. If you damage the gas lines to the houses in my neighborhood, you’re on private property and you’ve committed a felony that endangers lives and property.
Your “Freedom of Speech” ends when you punch me in the mouth for what I said.
You are then free to say whatever you want from behind bars.
(“Freedom of Speech” is supposed to work both ways.)
Forget about waiting for the legal system to put them in jail. Self-defense comes in to play when people start swinging.
Many Americans misunderstand the principle of free speech and the responsibilities therein. Often this has been exacerbated by Supreme Court decisions upholding certain actions as extensions of speech. Civil disobedience, sedition and incitement to violence are not protected, nor is damage to another’s personal property.
Mostly these fools are anarchists, but are unaware of that. They cannot create so they destroy.
I think you just got the ‘Bingo’ bell, rocketscientist.
Thinkprogress (not!) displays exactly what they intend for average Americans.
Exalt the terrorists.
Exalt piracy committed for eco-whatever.
Thinkprogress clearly intends that ordinary Americans should:
starve,
freeze in winter,
suffer in summer,
walk everywhere,
wear, use and eat solely vegetative products and wastes,
etc.
So much for claiming science based or neutral bias…
Donotthink and antiprogress.
Thunkregress
They should just use the insanity defense if they ever get caught (’cause it’s obvious that these loons are crazy)…
Criminalizing law breaking.
Will the insanity never end?
Come on!
They mean well.
They know that they are saving the planet.
Perhaps the planet will stop making fossil fuels to please them.
The planet just needs plastic, as it can not make it for its self…
;-).
… plastic, and the Big Electron.
“To do evil, a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Same story was posted on thehill.com. You should read some of those comments if you want to know what these morons really think. Terrifying.
Link?
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/366713-more-eco-terrorist-attacks-on-energy-infrastructure-on-tap-for
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/366713-more-eco-terrorist-attacks-on-energy-infrastructure-on-tap-for
Does “think” really describe their mental processes?
Touche. I apologize for my sloppiness with the language 🙂
The greeniac rage was inflamed by OlBlame-0 – they think they are good guys – on the right side of history – scientifically astute and etc Bovine Scat. It is an artifact of the hippie anarchy of the 1960s.
The problem seems that some people have deemed it OK to ignore the Rule of Law without considering the consequences. Or maybe they have and know exactly where they are headed. That journey is rationalized or “Justified” because they somehow have received the magic key which unlocks the all saving grace of redemption just because they are right and others are not right. Quite simple really. A very tired story of the ends justify the means. And we know how that works out…
We know how it ends, they have convinced themselves that they have evolved beyond consequences.
Looney Toons logic in action. Running modern society off a cliff is a non-problem. As long as we don’t look down, we will not fall.
Day in the life of an eco-terrorist:
* Arise at 4 AM from a comfortable bed forged and assembled at factories powered by fossil fuel.
* Shower in warm, comfortable water, through fixtures forged at factories powered by fossil fuel, heated by technology forged and powered by fossil fuel.
* Switch on the Teli, powered by current — you got it, thanks to fossil fuel — to check out the latest news.
* Drive to agreed upon meeting place to join comrades, in fossil-fueled cars, or, if electric, powered by electricity produced by, you guessed it again — fossil fuel.
* Prepare blow torches, bolt cutters, bombs, and other equipment, all forged, transported, stored, and sold because of fossil fuel.
* Get to work on the day’s agenda, destroying anything associated with fossil fuel.
So admirable !
An addition to your list Robert Kernodle:
* Check iphone for wages deposit from local eco-terrorist NGO
Acetylene C2H2 is also a carbon based fuel source and oxidizing it produces CO2
Excellent satire!
Can reality be satire.? . 🙂
is the whole life of the average anti-fossil fuel activist, just one big satire.
We have the same clowns in New Zealand .Russel Norman who stood down as the leader of the Green Party ( who make up part of our coalition government was arrested over 50 kilometers off the coast trying to stop a oil exploration ship going about its business .
For some reason he could not see the irony of driving a motor boat all that way to jump in the sea .
He might have made a point if he had rowed out or taken a sail boat but the nerve of the guy protesting about prospecting for oil in a MOTOR BOAT.
The case has not yet come before the court but you can rest assured his political mates will be pulling strings especially James Shaw the leader of the Greens and our minister in charge of Climate Change .
What shower?
It’s what happens when you inject the false narrative that they are “saving the world” from climate change. Soon enough, there are factions that believe the ends justify whatever means.
I ran across one young leftist who declared that just as anyone who kill someone who was trying to rape his/her mother, he felt justified in killing anyone who was attempting rape mother Earth.
Might be hard to prove in court. Coming to the defense of the earth is not really a viable defense, so far as I know. I think they tried that in North Dakota with the pipeline protest.
Such a person should be institutionalized as they are clearly insane.
By their own logic, he himself should be killed for preventing the fossil-to-atmosphere resuscitation of the Earth and the biosphere, which is dying of CO2 starvation, and being brought back from the brink of death by liberating CO2 from its millions-of-years-long imprisonment under the ground.
Pol Pot and his henchmen (who killed each other to rise to the top under Pot) then killed ‘neighbours’ with glee.
Left wing psychopathy now detectable in USA liberal on the fringe.
Unchecked left wing politicians and activists would, in a more sinister society, have no compunction about killing for their ideology.
Left-wing politicians in many countries in recent decades have used ‘hit men’ to rid themselves of perceived mortal threats. We have examples in Australia; unfortunately none prosecuted.
One public example you may know about (due to the amateurish execution) is Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie who murdered many an opponent (good people; many saints indeed ) for Nelson and her own agenda.
These eco-crims are just bellwhethers of a dark left-wing underbelly emerging in the USA.
Good luck there . . . perhaps Trump can help but if he doesn’t then there’ll be a hard-line right-wing President elected inside a decade IMHO.
In America the left wing psychopaths wouldn’t stand a chance against the right wing NRA, Bible clinging, Deplorables. Thanks to Obamanation the right wingers stocked up on more guns and ammo than has ever been assembled in human history.
The “dark left-wing underbelly” better hope that they don’t start a war. Lots of Americans can’t wait for that day and the “dark left-wingers” won’t know what hit them.
zzy, not all of us Deplorables cling to bibles Some of us cling to the US Constitution, which is sufficient for our needs. And not all of us use guns. Some of us use crossbows and other hunting equipment. Want to see how well an atl-atl (spear chukker) works?
“Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” C.S. Lewis
I’m always amazed at people who promote what they call civil disobedience (even when it involves destruction of property), but are aghast when authorities actually hold them accountable for the crimes they committed.
I was always taught that it’s fine to disobey the law if you think the law is unjust, but that won’t get you a pass on prosecution. It’s still a crime, so you’d better be prepared to do the time.
MLK Jr’s “Letter from a Montgomery Jail” comes to mind.
Um, if I am remembering correctly, that was the “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”, which I will check. Yep see here: https://fee.org/articles/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjPD_0LK82AIV1IWzCh3HWgl4EAAYASAAEgLtgPD_BwE.
If I had the opportunity to do so, I would at least attempt to make these individuals understand that they are doing things bass ackwards. Fossil fuels are still around and powering human civilization today because the technological advances in energy generation that would otherwise allow us to leave fossil fuels behind us are not yet there—with the exception of nuclear power. Scientific and engineering analyses tell us that wind and solar simply don’t cut it as alternatives—at least not yet.
Unfortunately for these individuals, understanding this is no doubt impossible due to the muddying of their thought processes by a combination of propaganda, emotionalism and scientific illiteracy. History shows us that humanity enters new technological eras only with sufficient advances in technology that enable us to do so.
Getting a brick wall to understand this would probably be easier.
“…wind and solar simply don’t cut it as alternatives—at least not yet.”
I wonder if they ever stop to consider that wind and solar contribute to the “climate change” they also worry about?
Yes, but demand that they give up their electronic toys first. No phones, no tablets, no internet electronic communications allowed. Nothing, nada, rien.
” Scientific and engineering analyses tell us that wind and solar simply don’t cut it as alternatives—at least not yet.”
You can delete “- at least not yet” from that sentence if you want it to be realistic. Wind and solar lack the energy density and reliability/dispatachability to be remotely able to provide alternatives to fossil fuels. They WILL NEVER REPLACE fossil fuels. There I said it, and you can remind me of my prediction if it turns out to be wrong.
But it won’t be.
“This crackdown is happening because activists have been successful, and because industry realizes that protest is a threat.” -Kelsey Skaggs
Well if protest is a threat and activism has been successful, why is there a need for criminal actions?
Deep thinking was never their strong suit.
Double Think, on the other hand….
I am sure all of these protestors, activists, and criminals biked or walked to their respective locations and didn’t rely on fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
This is how to do it…….
Locking them up would be performance art.
Much of performance art is disgusting, and since locking them up would be refreshing, then this would not count as performance art. Instead, dip them naked in crude oil, using fossil-fuel powered cranes with special hooks, and then swab their whole bodies across a specially built, very large canvas to create a monolithic, Pollock-like abstract expressionist, environmental installation painting. Now THAT would be performance art.
Up, that would be refreshing too — NOT disgusting enough. So, let me try again:
Sanction them by requiring that they drink a pint of crude oil, which, when pissed out, would be focused onto the specially built canvas, to create the monolithic, Pollock-like abstract … . They could crap on it too, to symbolize their revolting posture towards fossil fuel — VERY symbolic — now I’m getting somewhere.
Disgusting, symbolic, abstract — definitely performance art now. Hey, write a grant to the National Endowment for the Arts to fund it. Now it’s REALLY got some clout.
Recidivism.
These are too frequently not children or teenagers who have never been told that the law says that violence is not an acceptable manner of achieving political goals. They are often much older adults who have been in front of a judge before. A judge that was lenient.
The animal rights activists followed a similar path in the UK. It was only when they started digging up the graves of relatives of people they targeted that law enforcement started to take them seriously.
If these activists are dissatisfied with modern life they can all go and live in a cave in the woods and be without heat, food and clean water. Thinking is not their forte.
North Korea would be especially nice for them this time of year.
” because a lot of state legislatures are controlled by Republicans,” Skagg said.”
The way to change the control of those legislatures is through he ballot box. But as per usual, left wingers only acknowledge election outcomes when they go their way.
From the article: “And having let their intentions be known, they are crying foul now that law enforcement officials are taking their threats seriously.”
That’s funny.
It’s as if these people leapt from the pages of “Animal Farm”.
The more romantic a view of Nature a person has, the more likely they are to live in a town or a city,….
Exactly. Urban folk get all or most of their ‘experience’ with nature on TV. This is well understood by the Eco-Crisis Industry and explains why TV nature ‘documentaries’ are now all propaganda.
The real problem is that there are huge numbers of them and they get to vote on things outside of cities.
“This crackdown is happening because activists have been successful, and because industry realizes that protest is a threat.”
The crackdown is happening for two simple reasons: lawless Obama is no longer president and lawful Trump is.
Reckless endangerment. Felony. Not that many years ago, it would be considered treason and dealt with accordingly. And anyone who encourages others to engage in such activity should be dealt with harshly.
Throw them in jail and throw away the keys!
These clowns are just a green-ized version of ANTIFA. What a bunch of losers.
I think my email was wrong, if not double posted…..
Lock these guys up just the way any other criminals that damage property are dealt with because I don’t need my heating/electricity supplies cut off during long periods of below-freezing temperatures What needs to happen a few times is that a gas/oil pipeline needs to blow up in their faces as they attempt to damage it. No doubt after a few are killed or maimed, their buddies will try to bring changes against the owners for not securing their possessions properly.
This is beyond civil disobedience. Or everyday garden variety victimless crime. It is Domestic Terrorism. There should be a classification of such, similar to Terrorism, and if you cross that line from free speech to Domestic Terrorism, then the law comes down on you like a million tons of bricks. And you are going to Jail with no chance of bail, until dealt with in a judicial court of law where sentencing is known in advance, so that those who commit these acts of Domestic Terrorism know why they are going to jail for a very long time.
If the Gov’t clearly identified what was considered Domestic Terrorism, including those who fund, organize and aid/abet, there wouldn’t be many people who would participate in such activities within a few weeks.
Can’t find my copies actually executive summaries. There is annual national threat assessment all administrations are required to present to Congress each year. Prior to 9-11-2001 at the top of the list were not right wing militias or Islamic terrorists but ecoterrorists. At the time they had committed more acts of terror than either militias or Islamists. Even after 9-11-2001 the ecoterrorists were in the top two as overall groups that were a danger to the American people. Under Obama even though ecoterrorists were still on the list, though moved down, the federal government did little to combat them. Just like PETA was diverting funds to radical animal rights terrorists, some environmental organization divert funds to radical activist groups. We have the expertise to track such money today. The techniques were developed during George H W Bush’s administration while fighting drug lords and then used again against al Qaeda. Not used as we have found out with Hezbollah by Obama. Cut off their funding and at least investigating and make public the names of those funding them and I will bet it would cut down dramatically on their activities. I had several wealthy friends that once wrote checks to Green Peace until I reminded them how and why Green Peace started way back when.
As a former pipeline worker i can honestly say that as these Eco-terrorists ramp up their actions so do the pipelines in their surveillance and prosecutions of the perpetrators. One of our offices was fire bombed by an Eco-terrorist to protesting the construction of an LNG plant we were supporting. The dummies could not even get the use of a [Molotov] cocktail right. Too much Hollywood I guess. These brain trusts took a bottle of gasoline inserted the rag, lit the rag and found out how fast it burns almost instantaneously. “OH MY GAWD. Throw it the one said”. When the idiot threw it at the plate glass of our field office it bounced off and smashed on the sidewalk causing the flames to spread and a small explosion of fire. Two of the “HERO’s” ended up going to hospital for burns and were arrested later. A camera inside the office caught all the action and as it was the suspects were known to police as demonstrators. Not too bright and the irony of it was the use of fossil fuels to fuel the bomb.
Molotov cocktail. Named after a Russian if I’m not mistaken.
See, if they’d watched Beakman’s World like I did as a kid and not Bill Nye, they might’ve learned how an internal-combustion-engine works and realized that it’s the gasoline vapor that ignites, not the liquid. Liquid gasoline at perfect rest will put out a lit match just like water, because there’s not enough oxygen mixed in to start a reaction (needless to say, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME).
Slosh it around in a beer bottle and you have gasoline vapor hanging in the air all around it. Instead of the rag slow-burning like expected, you get a flash ignition and a fireball, as these fellows ineptly demonstrated. This is why you don’t prepare molotovs on site. You make them in advance and let them sit a few days to stabilize (needless to say, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME).
Got a question…did the convicted raise the necessity defence? They had to do it to save the planet and humanity, right? If so, did the judge disallow it or what? Will they appeal on that issue?
Necessity defense has been correctly disallowed in all past climate vandalism trials. It will be admitted in the one upcoming in Minnesota (of course). When one works through that legal history, one immediately realizes it will fail as a matter of law (common). If not at stupid trial judge level, then surely on appeal. Is BS.
I believe a not guilty verdict can’t be appealed.
“… did the judge disallow it or what?”
No.
They failed to produce either a crystal ball or a time machine, in order to prove they are not just making that nonsense up.
By that logic, infanticide might as well be defended as “necessary to “save the planet”.
Oh, wait…”In a statement sent to HuffPost, Steve Kent, a spokesman for Climate Direct Action, explained that Higgins had hoped to present a “necessity defense,” which would have allowed him to argue before the jury that “his action was necessary in order to prevent climate harms much more severe than the consequences of trespassing and turning the pipeline emergency valve.”
However, Judge Daniel Boucher denied this motion without a hearing, saying that “the energy policy of the United States is not on trial.” That meant Higgins could not discuss or provide evidence of climate change in court. “
Another clear example of The Rule of Law ‘winning’ through uniform enforcement!
Warms the very cockles of my heart, it does!
So, we don’t like it when others call us “deniers” and denialists,” but it’s OK for our friends to sling the word “ecoterorists” with impunity?
That’s a good one Michael.
Why am I pretty sure you do not have many friends in the “den!er” camp?
Impunity?
Do you know what that word means?
“exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action”
So, you are of the opinion that, when people are engaging in terrorism, to call them what they are, terrorists, ought to be punished, that those naming them for what they are should suffer some injurious consequence for using the term?
Your choice of language is all one needs to see where your heart lies.
People are “called” “den!ers”, and some people “don’t like it”.
But the word “ecoterrorism” is “slung”, and ought to have grave consequences for anyone who uses the word to describe the criminal actions of these maniacs?
Michael A. Lewis, you have a valid point, except for the fact that “deniers” don’t go out and destroy infrastructure to make a point.
Wikipedia says this about the label:
Eco-terrorism refers to acts of violence committed in support of ecological or environmental causes, against persons or their property.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation defines eco-terrorism as “…the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally-oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.” The FBI credited eco-terrorists with US$200 million in property damage between 2003 and 2008. A majority of states in the US have introduced laws aimed at eco-terrorism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-terrorism
Absolutely…EcoTerrorism is an action taken against property while Denier is used as a negative label similar to N….. or Q…. by an equally bigoted person
Michael A. Lewis as Anthony has pointed out there is a legal definition
https://definitions.uslegal.com/e/eco-terrorism/
Sigh … blockquote fail
Why do you object to accurate labeling?
Like I’ve said for a long time, they need to shut down these treehugger eco terrorists outfits, and the big foundations that launder money for big donors, and then use it to fund the eco terrorist outfits.
Pol Pot and his henchmen (who killed each other to rise to the top under Pot) then killed ‘neighbours’ with glee.
Left wing psychopathy now detectable in USA liberal on the fringe.
Unchecked left wing politicians and activists would, in a more sinister society, have no compunction about killing for their ideology.
Left-wing politicians in many countries in recent decades have used ‘hit men’ to rid themselves of perceived mortal threats. We have examples in Australia; unfortunately none prosecuted.
One public example you may know about (due to the amateurish execution) is Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie who murdered many an opponent (good people; many saints indeed ) for Nelson and her own agenda.
These eco-crims are just bellwhethers of a dark left-wing underbelly emerging in the USA.
Good luck there . . . perhaps Trump can help but if he doesn’t then there’ll be a hard-line right-wing President elected inside a decade IMHO.
” Elsewhere, two women from a social justice charity proudly told the Des Moines Register how they had used oxyacetylene cutting torches to attack another stretch of the pipeline in Iowa’s Mahaska County.”
Clearly these two were at the back of the queue when brains were being handed out. These people are extremely dangerous taking a gas axe to an oil pipeline? They must have not got the gas mixture correct to cut through the steel as they are still alive.
Crude oil makes a big mess but for the most part it’s chemically stable and not easy to ignite. Even if ignited it would only burn at the breach, because that’s where the oxygen is. Refined hydrocarbons mixed with oxygen like oxyacetylene on the other hand…
True, but also depends what the pipeline was/is carrying. I don’t know if that pipeline was transporting crude or not.
Seems a recent attack;
http://www.oskaloosa.com/news/local_news/oil-pipeline-sabotaged-in-mahaska-county/article_524982d0-102c-11e7-9812-0b761305dfb5.html
Fortunately was not carrying oil at the time.
Someone equated Elon Musk to an Al Gore. I must disagree. Al Gore couldn’t run a canteen stand and make a profit. Elon Musk is putting us into electric cars and will fly us to the moon and Mars.
And who says there is no comedy here at WUWT?
Now I just have to check to see if Al and Elon have ever been seen together ( if you know what I mean).
Why not? The progressives ignore drug laws, anti-discrimination laws, and immigration laws. The govt engages in all manner of illegal behavior and nobody goes to jail. What is the big difference? Having to obey laws you and your friends and your professors don’t like is racist. And, if you are saving the world, you are above the law anyway.
It’s too bad that these eco-thugs will end up in the clink with three hots and a cot (+ heat, AC, hot water, etc). A much more fitting punishment (and one that might actually teach them something) would be to exile them to some far away place where they would have to live out their sentences in a pre-industrial lifestyle. The only technology they would be permitted would be that which was available before the industrial revolution. Then perhaps they might see how horrible the world would be without the very things they hate so much.
Touché.
The climate cult is super serial.
Hopefully the companies and state file civil suits as well.
I know someone convicted of rioting can get 10 years in the slammer and a $25,000 fine. The long arm of the law can be very persuasive sometimes!
When the DAPL protests were at its height, guess who was buying stock in a rival pipeline? Who else but our old buddy Soros. Did the activists take Soros’ money and not realize they were being used to take out his competition?
I just want to point out for the record that, were it not for this blog, I would have never even been in any way even faintly aware of these terrorists nor of their criminal actions.
The story has been completely ignored by the national media.
You have President Donald Trump now, fools. I doubt he suffers fools gladly. Can’t they be shot while committing a crime? Martyrs you say? The one common feature of martyrs is they are dead.
They’re no different than pirates on the open seas and the US Navy has used deadly force to repel such terrorists.
The US Navy currently polices most international sea lanes, for free. Maybe Trump should start charging benefactor nations a fee? 😉
Climate Defense Project — another 501(c)(3r job creation scheme for lefties, in this case three Harvard law graduates. I can never understand these people are not in breach of Article IV b of their application.
ARTICLE IV
RESTRICTIONS
A. This corporation is organized and operated exclusively for the purposes set forth in Article III
hereof within the meaning of Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3).
B. No substantial part of the activities of this corporation shall consist of carrying on
propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and this corporation shall not
participate or intervene in any political campaign (including the publishing or distribution of
statements) on behalf of any candidate for public office.
Also from their application, 2017 expenses included
Flights ($500/trip: 6 trips x 3
attorneys)
$9,000.00
Lodging ($400/trip: 6 trips x 3
attorneys)
$7,200.00
It’s a tough life being a fossil fuel ecshewing whiny eco- warrior.
In the UK some ecoterrorists broke into Kingsnorth Power Station which was due to be upgraded to a more efficient coal burning process. James Hansen was brought over to their trial to give evidence that their activity was justified to save the planet. The jury let them off.
Terrifying!
James Hansen *and political pressure, I guarantee you
Well, such juries should be punished by having them live on the planet such eco-terrorists would give them. Of course, that doesn’t me jurists would be any smarter for the experience but one could hope.
Must disagree. I believe it has been hundreds of years since juries were punished for the “wrong” decision in England. To my knowledge it has never happened in the US of A. English common law does not allow such a thing. The jury can do whatever they can agree upon. They can ignore the law, the facts, the arguments, the judge’s instructions, precedent. They can over rule congress that passed the law, the president that signed it, the police and DA that attempt to enforce it and the judge that conducts the trial. All of those officials prefer the jury remain ignorant of their total power as a final check on governmental power. They call it “jury nullification” and deny it exists. I call it the people having the final say and it’s real.
If you are not careful at these sites, you can go in with a leather jacket, commit your act of vandalism and come out with a blazer.
Skagg is obviously insane. Conflates protest with sabotage. These people are unhinged. If it was not CC they would find some other cause to do the exact same things, they are bat&^$^ crazy
I’d like to see these people living with no resources the way they want the rest of us to live, but what planet would you propose to use as the gulag?
The closest you can get to that is parts of Siberia, or maybe places in Montana and Idaho where, as a friend of mine told me, no one ever goes, at all. There’s no access to anything, unless you count deadwood for fuel, and even that is scarce.
Seems to me if the aboriginal tribes who migrated to this continent over the ice sheets from Siberia and (possibly) from western Europe could survive by hunter-gatherer means and eventually took up farming, these eco-twit terrorists should give it a try, except they aren’t allowed ANY kind of fuel sources to cook their food. I’m not sure that a solar oven will do much in the winter to cook anything, but they could have that.
They want to live without anything connected to fossil fuels. Fine. Gather them together and give them their “ideal” environment. But they’re to be there for life, and ZERO population growth. We can’t afford to support them. /sarc.
Thanks for bringing up this eye-opening article. I had no idea this insanity level was quite so high. They really do need a good dose of their own medicine.
‘criminalise free speech activity”, in other words: criminalize the right for people to commit criminal acts.
Well if they want to go to jail for being just plain stupid, won’t be the first time.
Only a leftists would consider destroying other people’s property and putting lives in danger to be “speech”.
That’s why they always attach ‘by any means necessary’ to all their promotional speeches – that high moral-ground they assign themselves is designed specifically to allow all and any methods on their part, while vilifying ANY effort to block them, polite, legal, peaceful, or otherwise.
All accompanied with the one-way blindness to prevent them from having to acknowledge the inherent, and near total hypocrisy.
Send them on work release to work on the pipeline projects in Siberia. That would be fitting.
Too many opportunities for sabotage.
We have to find Ned Ludd’s horcruxes, and destroy them. Otherwise, he’ll keep coming back to life.
So many personality traits that have to be in place before you can be a warmist – ‘entitlement’ and ‘above the law’ moral elitism are a couple of staples.
Believe in unicorns is very helpful
Let us not forget the unicorns.
Easy = declare them terrorists and lock them in a cage at Gitmo.
it is the logic of political correctness:
1. words cause pain thus words are violence.
2. violence is therefore words.
3. words are protected free speech.
4. thus violence is protected free speech.
quite frankly we are all at fault by not denouncing political correctness for what it is. it is “white lies” in the name of equality.
however, there was a time when we knew white lies were lies. political correctness insists we actually believe white lies to be true. lies told for a good reason are no longer lies. they are truths. and as Bertrand Russell showed, when a single lie is held to be true you can prove all lies to be true.
“Fossil fuel companies know that they’re losing public support for their poisonous activities…”
Really? Canada sold a record number of new vehicles last year, over 2 million in a country over around 35 million people. Fossil fuels to be sold here for a while yet.