How screwed up is a species that allows the destruction of forests and water bodies for the creation of a tar sands pipeline? So screwed up they’ll also allow the destruction of the Boundary Waters for a nickel or copper mine? And so addicted to oil they will allow a CO2 pipeline, full of gas that can kill in minutes, to be built… only so ‘enhanced oil recovery’ can continue… thus further poisoning the atmosphere with carbon?
All this with no accountability for cleaning up our messes?
Interior’s analysis found there are more than 130,000 documented orphaned wells in the United States — far more than the 56,600 tallied in a report by the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission in 2019. Many more wells exist that were drilled before regulators began requiring documentation in the mid-1900s.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are more than 3 million total abandoned oil and gas wells. About 2 million of those are estimated to be very old and never properly plugged. The agency believes such wells are responsible for most of the methane emitted from abandoned wells.
When will enough be enough? When we obliterate the very sources of life itself? Clean land, air, and water? When the last fish has been eaten? The last tree culled?
This is how screwed up: Around the world, humans are struggling to survive raging wild fires, flooding, tornados, ice storms… and all these in unexpected places and/ot during atypical times.. Yet, as our systems are failing, we continue… business as usual.
But there is a better way.
The aquifer breach Enbridge created almost a year ago now, is a calamity that should never have happened. Had there been proper oversight by the state agencies, the many problems created in our lands during the building of Enbridge’s new Line 3 might never have occurred. (Enbridge named this new pipeline “Line 93”.)
If agencies had bothered listening to those of us warning of the dangers, especially of believing Enbridge lies, perhaps they would have denied this project and our trees would still be standing.
Or, if the DNR hadn’t given Enbridge the benefit of the doubt, trusted them to be forthcoming, trusted their “independent” environmental monitors (almost half of whom are previous Enbridge employees!?!?!) to be unbiased observers. If they’d visited the work sites more or even simply bothered to READ the reports on the project, we might have avoided these issues? Had they bothered to look at this land, and realize this is no place for a tar sands pipeline from the beginning, we would not have drilling mud embedded at so many rivers across Minnesota and ww could have avoided this year of dewatering at this aquifer breach in Clearwater County. So many failures of the DNR.
Perhaps their mission should have been a red flag? With its focus on “commercial use” of our land, air, and waters, perhaps they for the part that says, “in a way that creates a sustainable quality of life”? As we hear often, and seems more evident every day, it’s all about the Benjamins?
The mission of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is to work with Minnesotans to conserve and manage the state’s natural resources, to provide outdoor recreation opportunities, and to provide for commercial uses of natural resources in a way that creates a sustainable quality of life.
[This soooo reminds me of that question I asked DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen back in 2019 around what her department does besides simply keep an account of who is buying all our natural resources.]
As the DNR protocols to evaluate projects showed a failure to fact check the inputs by Enbridge, which might have saved so much, had it been done. DNR has not been cautious. They have seemingly colluded with Enbridge to allow continued construction… even when it was discovered Enbridge had completely violated their construction permit. And failed to report it for months!
So what can they do now? The DNR can come clean on why they allowed such egregious violations to go without repercussions to the applicant. They can open their processes to public scrutiny and engage with Native and scientific voices to assure our natural resources are protected, not just sold off to the most readily available bidders.
It’s time. If ever there was a time for action, it is now. As we are observing the exponential changes in weather, climate, and risks… all of which mean more losses and more costs with a business as usual approach.
Let’s change the systems that currently decide our future. The lawsuit filed by Mark Toso against the MPCA gives hope that some from our Agencies are courageous enough to challenge the current culture.
Let’s hold them accountable and assure this kind of atrocity NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
Kate Kahlert Supervising Attorney Minnesota Public Utilities Commission 121 7th Place E, Suite 350 St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-2147
RE: Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to Amend Rules Governing Certificates of Need and Site Permits for Large Electric Power Plans and High Voltage Transmission Line, and Notice Plan Filing Requirements
Dear Ms. Kahlert,
While I spoke at the ALJ Hearing, I am submitting my comments with additional concerns I witnessed during the Hearing. The irony of this Hearing being a microcosm of the failures we’ve experienced as “the public” with the PUC was not lost on me. And I am hopeful, after reading this, it will not be lost on you.
As a wheelchair user, I would hope that Judge Kimberly Middendorf would be better suited than most to understand the limitations that our systems create for some, and not others. Our systems are primarily designed for those who are white, housed, educated, and male… not those who are blind, deaf, or without good access to food, mobility, or medical care. Surely she sees more clearly than most, the changes happening? With more access being available today for those, not only in wheelchairs, but also those with other conditions of limitation in this system as it exists? Though injustice continues to abound.
What we need now is a focus on allowing those who are impacted to be able to speak to the things impacting them, which has been lacking for a plethora of reasons, notably, poor communications and practices by our State Agencies and Commissions, and a focused effort, it seems, on not including the voices of citizens.
Just as the State is providing more access to those who’ve been ignored in our day-to-day lives, we Climate Justice Advocates are seeking equal participation in the processes and policy-making as that given to Applicants and others, who find a much friendlier welcome by not only the Public Utilities Committee, but State Agencies across the board.
How many are surprised by the horrific results we’re seeing with water quality degradation, land-use favoring white and privileged places, and an inability to be prepared for the weather chaos – a result of the changes we’re making, often and usually, with regard to energy production?
In the ALJ Hearing, there were three objectives: • Does PUC have legal authority? • Has PUC fulfilled all relevant legal and procedural requirements? • Has NEED FOR and REASONABLENESS been assured?
I’d answer that they have usurped their legal authority by not including voices they are required to hear, namely the voices from the Tribes of Minnesota. Perhaps the laws are written for them to proceed in all other veins, but this one, they cannot pretend they have heeded legally. And with regard to Need, we might consider the health of the planet as a Reasonable thing to protect? You know, since our very lives depend upon it? Just a thought…
During the ALJ Hearing, Susan Gretz noted, “We had many commenters express concern about the rules not addressing Climate Change, Greenhouse gasses, and environmental justice. The Briefing Papers recommend to the Commissioners, and again, they are the decision-makers, that the rules explicitly require consideration of these factors in several different places. So that is Staff’s recommendation to the Commission.”
She continued, “We also received many comments that the rules do not properly reflect tribal sovereignty and the need to consult with Tribes on these projects. Staff is also recommending in the briefing papers that the Commission be required to maintain a separate list of the eleven federally recognized Tribes … the purpose of this list is to provide notice of applications and to require the Commission to engage with Tribal governments in accordance with its Tribal Engagement and Consultation Policy.”
I’d ask: If the Commissioners haven’t adhered to date… and they have been asked to do so, including in their own policies, then WHY SHOULD WE BELIEVE they will do it if asked again? If having a policy that requires it allows the Commission to IGNORE SAID POLICY, then why should the public have any trust that this quasi-judicial body will be ADHERING to any NEW policy moving forward?
I’d further ask if this is something the Commission is being advised to do NEXT TIME??? Or are they being asked to revisit this decision itself? Are they just going to run with their near decade of work on this and pretend to include some indication of where they felt they DID engage with the Tribes and simply MOVE FORWARD? Or will the process be STOPPED and RE-DONE to INCLUDE the Tribal voice – as required by law and policy?
I ask because this is something we’ve seen over and over in the Line 3 opposition. We ask for consideration and the MPCA, DNR, USACE all say some form of: ‘Ah, Thanks for letting us know you’re interested! Next Time We WILL Consult with you! Pinky Promise!!’
WHY SHOULD WE TRUST THAT ANYTHING WE SAY WILL HAVE ANY INFLUENCE?
Why should we trust that we will be given even an appearance of consideration?
Yet, still, I write to you today. Because what else can I do?
We’d like to see changes made with public engagement in our civic processes, a situation which has, via my experience in Minnesota, proven to be DIFFICULT, even in the best of circumstances.
Your own presentation of the Rulemaking Advisory Committee – a point of contention mentioned in many of the public comments shared at the December 6th Hearing – shows no Tribal representation and including mostly monied orgs and those hoping to profit from said rule changes:
Look who is MISSING on the Public Utilities Commission Rulemaking Advisory Committee… and who is included.
WHERE IS THE PUBLIC??? Where are Minnesota SCIENTISTS?
And most especially, where are the Tribes whose land upon which Minnesota was founded? They were Excluded from Participation. Never even notified?
The shame of our injustice toward Anishinaabeg continues to present day.
And this lack of public engagement was itself the focus on an audit process, for which we are still awaiting outcomes to provide remedy. I ask again: Is there any real interest in engaging us?
Or is this all simply a smokescreen to pretend our voices matter? Our only option remaining… to MAKE you SLOW DOWN and LISTEN by requesting a public hearing when the PUC wanted to rush these rules through without it? As my good friend from Fond du Lac keeps asking me, “How many times do we have to say ‘No’, huh?”
Bret Eknes, whose presentation was so garbled as to be unintelligible was again an example of how unimportant it appears to be to the PUC for the public to be informed, even during the actual process designed to bring better understanding, the ALJ Hearing.
Utter frustration filled me as I listened to this poorly done response to public concerns. An addition of 150+ pages of information… less than ONE BUSINESS DAY prior to this hearing??? We get a LARGE NEW ADDITION of data from Staff for consideration? {Note: Clearly stating in one instance that this information is “illustrative and not binding.” Well, of course! The PUC can do as it wishes, this seems to further indicate.}
Where were these recommendations during the development process? Why ONLY after dozens and dozens of citizens let the PUC know we’re watching… do we get any response? And perhaps this is just lip service, as this body seems want to do as it wishes… and continues to push the public from their processes, and seemingly from their consideration?
Save Matt perhaps, as one public speaker – Jaci, speaking for many of us – commented on Commissioner Schuerger’s courage to stand for the right decision on the Enbridge Line 3 project – the focus of my comments as it’s been the focus of my life for the last half dozen years. As is obvious in the graph below, Schuerger has been proven right, it seems, as the throughput on the Enbridge lines is on the decline as CJ Advocates suggested it would be. Throughput is not surpassing the capacity Enbridge had with OLD Line 3 in service… when all our forests and wetlands were intact across Northern Minnesota.
FERC Reported Data Q3-2021
So while I hadn’t planned to give comment, as I watched the time remaining in the hearing and knew we must give as much reason for our requests to STOP this rule change, ensure the voice of the Tribes and citizens was heard, and that the urgent factors of our rapidly changing world incorporated, I simply couldn’t NOT give testimony. This is what I shared:
Thank you for providing this venue for participation of the public voice in our state process. I recognize many of the voices speaking today as fellows who have struggled to get State Agencies to hear us, most especially the PUC, which for me has been over the last six years. The concern with the PUC’s seeming unwillingness historically to allow the public to participate in its decision-making was evident throughout the Line 3 hearings and the resulting OLA audit of their public engagement process as mentioned by others.
We all know that Applicants are going to present their projects in the best light and only provide as much information as demanded from them. In the case of the PUC on Line 3, we watched as Enbridge provided a SUPPLY forecast and the PUC inaccurately allowed that to meet their requirement to give Minnesota a DEMAND forecast for their product. As such, we now see a completed tar sands pipeline while we see no real increase in their use of the mainline system for more throughput than was already possible with the current system. So how many trees did Minnesota lose, how many more wetlands were degraded by the PUC’s illegal allowance of this project?
What we see now on the project corridor is a birthing of all the many concerns noted by the Tribes, Environmental Scientists, and Citizen Advocates like me. We now see Enbridge reducing the lifetime for their mainline system to a 2040 end date, notwithstanding their newest line – the Relocated and Expanded Line 3, which they note will have a 30-year lifetime.
So there might be consideration in the rule changes that eventually arise from this process to include some actions to hold Applicants accountable for their inaccurately or incompletely presented project details. This could give Minnesota more control over Applicants who are found to not have studied the environment in which they are looking to build… to a degree that would protect Minnesotans. In addition, it could include mitigation/amendments that might be considered as we face faster and faster changes to our climate with more and more extreme weather.
The comment by Kevin Pranis of LIUNA noted issues with “getting steel in the ground”. Yet, this is exactly the problem we had on the Line 3 project – where steel was pounded into the ground in violation of their construction permit, breaching an aquifer that continues to spill water into the environment threatening the biodiversity and the fen in Clearbrook.
Favoring the Applicant and their narrative IS NOT PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT. We know from the experience with Enbridge and the PUC that the Applicant was consistently, and to the detriment of the state, given priority consideration with few challenges made to the Applicant regarding the very real concerns put forward by both the Tribes and Environmental Justice Advocates.
We now see in our environment with both the frac-outs into the Mississippi River at BOTH crossings as well as the aquifer breach in Clearbrook. It is clear that the Tribal Representatives, Scientists and Environmental Advocates were right about the risks to our land, air and water, yet we were not heeded by the PUC, as documented in the OLA report of their org and public engagement.
I’d ask for a TRUE assessment of the climate impacts and with a full and early inclusion of the Native Peoples of this land as their voices are critical to protecting our land, air and water. Thank you for your consideration.
After I spoke and comments were getting close to closing, my friend from Fond du Lac was working to be heard. We were grateful that the PUC allowed her comment. However, as she was known to be the last comment, and we’d heard throughout the hearing of the Native voice going unheeded being against the rule of law (Article VI of the Constitution) and Treaty obligations, and we had TWO HOURS REMAINING for the Hearing… still we listened to her be rushed from the stage so the hearing could end early.
Again I ask, does our shame know no bounds?
The new Netlfix movie, Don’t Look Up speaks to the inability of humanity to heed the voice of truth… our inability to face our own demise. Perhaps the PUC is simply a microcosm of what we’re seeing in the larger world. It would be nice to see a turning point here in Minnesota, as we stop the madness inflicted upon us by the corporate and monied interests and instead listen to the planet on which we depend… for all. We’re just about to run out of hopium that the powers that be will make decisions that favor humankind over dollars, the safety of our home over a few pieces of gold.
Please prove me wrong.
Please give hope that we will see a re-do of these rules, incorporating the voices that spoke out during the ALJ Hearing.
Please give reason for us to maintain expectation that our Commissions and Agencies are beginning to comprehend the need to LISTEN to the PEOPLE, incorporate the voices and minds of Minnesotans who care, and find a way forward that works for all, not just Applicants and those hoping to profit financially.
Thank you for your consideration.
Jami Gaither
1/3/22 Update:
I had written to Kate Kahlert hoping to see where we could view all the public comments, and mostly to assure my comments were visible as a friend recently had her comments kept hidden from the public by an agency… Here’s Kate’s response.
Hi Jami, thank you for you reaching out. The Commission to decided to withdraw the proposed rule and to not go forward with the proposed rule changes. As a result, there are no open comment periods. If you want to see comments in the record, you can view them in the Commission’s electronic filing system using this link: https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/EFiling/edockets/searchDocuments.do?method=showeDocketsSearch&showEdocket=true I hope this is helpful, but please let me know if you need anything else. Thank you, Kate
1/3/22 Response on seeking to view public comments on this Rule Change Proposal (Link modified)
So, did we win? The PUC doesn’t say WHY they withdrew their proposal… though I’m guessing it’s because…
WE WERE WATCHING AND WE SPOKE UP!!
Miigwech.
Doesn’t say why… but they did pull them. Apparently before I sent my comments, though I got no notice?
1/4/22 Update: This from a friend:
In a 5-0 decision they voted to withdraw the rule completely and indicated that they do not intend to call for a rulemaking to fix the identified issues that the rulemaking was meant to correct (including the fact that the rules have been inconsistent with state statute since at least 2005) nor address any of the issues the commenters raised. This was in line with what PUC staff recommended in their briefing papers.
I’m not saying vaccines are 100% ineffective, I’m simply saying they aren’t 100% safe (at least not as we’re administering them here in the US)… and that they are not our only way forward.
I’m really saying, “It Didn’t Have To Be This Way.” [More on this at the bottom.]
While many would agree with me in saying the vaccines are not 100% effective, it seems that few will agree the vaccines are unsafe. But one thing most of them can agree on is this: Ivermectin Doesn’t Work and Is UNSAFE!
The question is… Why? And maybe more importantly, WHY is there so much disagreement about these ideas. And most importantly perhaps, WHY can we not DISCUSS these matters freely and without such vitriol?
I have really been heartbroken by those who have chosen to attack me for speaking my truth as I share what I feel are valid concerns that require some consideration.
Some simply want to label me “Anti-vaxxer”… and thus conveniently put me into a category of “Stupid” or “Trumpster” as they stand in righteous beliefs regarding their vaccines… and my lack of care.
I’ve been especially frightened by the harsh lashing out from those who have called me a friend.
If I cannot even talk openly with friendly relations about these ideas, then how on earth are we to find truth among the masses?
Nuance is hard for most of us and even harder as truth is becoming more difficult to determine.
All I can say is that I’m working as hard as anyone to understand the world. And I’m listening to what I’m learning and working to put all the pieces together.
Unfortunately, the more I work, the harder it is to find hope that we’re gonna find our way through all this mess.
The harder it is to know what is true, who I can trust, and what I ought do.
I told Dan this past week, if the Abortion Ban and Vaccine Mandates both manage to find a way forward and into our near-term future, then I suspect we’ll be at war by my birthday, just a few months hence. As I discussed with a friend this morning, there are legal ideas… and then there are ethics and logic. It’s seeming more often each day that the legal does not always rest well on logical, scientific, or moral ground.
I’m also concerned that these times are looking quite similar to those that preceded both WWI and WWII. We have economic uncertainty, communication breakdowns, global scapegoating, and system failures that do not bode well for our future being bright. And we wonder why our children are shooting each other in schools and overdosing on opioids? We can look at ourselves for these answers.
Yet, there doesn’t seem much impetus to find that middle ground in logic and ethics. Instead, greed seems the biggest motivator in the Vaccine/Covid Treatment game.
Greed motivates the vaccine manufacturers to not share their recipes.
Greed incents a focus on profits rather than outcomes for people.
Greed motivates Merck to downplay it’s own (VERY CHEAP) drug, Ivermectin, and its ability to bring relief from Covid, and instead we find them hawking another unknown off-the-shelf-for-quick-manufacture concoction as a ‘Covid Pill Cure’. All for only $700 a pop, eh? [Meanwhile, Ivermection costs less than a Big Mac. And actually does something. (I hear the new drug is not being found as effective as first touted on announcement, perhaps why it barely passed EUA approval? Time will tell.]
Greed assures the privileged are first (and often the only places) on the list for vaccine distribution.
Greed assures there are no ‘approved’ treatments (hence the ability to continue with EUAs that allow Big Pharma to rack up millions).
Yet the data from India, Japan, and Chiappas show that Ivermectin does work?
Last half 2021 Cases as of 12-5-21. Mexico, India, and Japan appear to be winning!
And the chatter about Ivermectin being a “horse-dewormer” and/or “dangerous” has been shown to be politically driven misinformation for this Nobel Prize Winning drug. [FFS, even the correction opener on this piece is an embarrassing attempt at misguiding the public – though with our poor education system, it has seemingly worked… as I have family members in medicine who poo-poo Ivermectin as HORRIBLY UNSAFE! (I would welcome anyone who has links to articles that DON’T mention Ivermectin… without disparaging it as ‘unhelpful’ for Covid.)]
Perhaps the best written summary can be found in the below quoted article*:
This was not something many people thought possible. But while the world was living the nightmare of the COVID-19 pandemic like a Michael Crichton sci-fi horror production where the planet is facing a plague apocalypse, millions die, and doctors can do nothing as brilliant pharmaceutical scientists race to develop vaccines to save the globe in the final scene, Paul Marik had a different movie in his head. He was startled and appalled that all the national and international public health agencies recommended that the most well-trained, well-equipped doctors in history stand down and wait on big pharma’s lab scientists while the worst pandemic in a century devastated the world. “It’s therapeutic nihilism to say that doctors can do nothing,” Marik said. “Supportive care is no care at all.”
What Marik did was assemble four of his closest friends, who also happen to be four of the top academic critical care doctors in the world. He challenged them to join him in an expert panel to continually review the literature while treating their COVID-19 patients and developing treatment protocols—lowcost generic therapies that countless black and brown and poor people all over the world would need, he saw from the beginning, or face a coming catastrophe without treatments or vaccines. …
ICUs were getting hammered by the new respiratory plague all around the world, but Marik had assembled a group of intensivists with nearly 2,000 peer-reviewed papers and books and over a century of bedside experience in treating multi-organ failure and severe pneumonia-type diseases. If anyone could arrest the coronavirus in a living patient, they could.
And they DID! The MATH+ and I-MASK protocols have saved many. Though the safety of Ivermectin is hard to argue against, we see that many have. And we continue to see no consideration of it by our prescribed Doctor, as he notes the organization’s protocols do not allow Ivermectin prescriptions to be written for Covid treatment, I am left to no other conclusion than this may well be a de-population plan.
We are told here in America that, until you have COVID symptoms that warrant hospitalization, there is no treatment for you. We are not given any guidance for boosting our own immune systems and are even discouraged from taking Vitamin D, or anything… save a jab of vaccine, to help ourselves. Meanwhile, our mortality for 2021 is HIGHER than that of 2020. Even with those highly touted EUA jabs in place? Hmmm.
Sadly, as I read the words of Dr. Pierre Kory, I feel the same of my own doctor, who continues to refuse to consider any medical information I present:
Kory never tires of reminding critics that the modern Hippocratic Oath, the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, makes it abundantly clear that all medical research is secondary to the doctor’s clinical judgement in the moment, whether the patient is dying of COVID-19 or giving birth. The doctor is morally compelled to use their best clinical judgement and the “best available evidence” in that instant, not tomorrow or next year when more data is published. As the WMA puts it: “The health of my patient will be my first consideration.” Clearly the medical establishment is now routinely violating that ancient oath, Kory says, and as a result he “feels estranged from most, but not all, of my colleagues.” …
In the new world of medicine, the COVID world, he says, “Only big randomized controlled trials by big pharma/big academic medical centers are accepted by big journals, while others are rejected,” while only studies in big journals are accepted by big public health agencies for drug recommendations, and only drugs recommended by big public health agencies “escape media/social media censorship.” “This leaves you with a system where the only thing that’s considered to have sufficient evidence or proven efficacy is essentially a big new pharmaceutical drug,” he adds. “If it doesn’t come from the mountaintop, it doesn’t exist,” Kory says. “The people on the ground, we cannot do any more science that’s considered credible. We’re discredited as controversial and as promoting unproven therapies and our Facebook groups are shut down, Twitter accounts are locked, YouTube videos are removed and demonetized. It’s really almost totalitarian what’s happening when we’re just well-meaning scientists trying to do the right thing by our patients.”
Perhaps this censorship is the true problem? Again, this goes back to the beginning where I ask:
Can we not OPENLY DISCUSS the facts and come to the TRUTH?
It seems in today’s regulatory-captured capitalism, we may be SOL for that plan.
Good luck to you all in finding your way.
I’d ask that you consider taking a moment after hearing something you find a bit hard to swallow – perhaps especially from those for whom you hold any love – to ask yourself, “What if they aren’t all wrong?”
Perhaps, if I have not convinced you then a couple last stories from Capuzzo’s piece will inspire?
Dr. Manny Espinoza was dying of COVID-19 in his Texas hospital when his wife, Dr. Erica Espinoza, asked the doctors to try Ivermectin as a last resort, and was refused. Erica hired a life-flight helicopter to take Manny to the Houston hospital of FLCCC co-founder Joseph Varon for the cheap little pill that in four days had her husband sitting up smiling and telling their children about the “miracle” that saved his life. “We see this every day,” Dr. Varon says. “They say it’s a miracle, I say it’s the science, but it’s the truth.” In Atlanta, Georgia, eighty-four-year-old Lou Gossett Jr., the Oscar-winning black star of An Officer and a Gentleman, gravely ill with COVID-19, checked out of a hospital and was three days from his lungs failing, doctors said, when his son connected him with an FLCCC doctor in Florida who gave him Ivermectin. Gossett quickly recovered and made a very short film for the FLCCC doctors that ends: “I’m very grateful to all of you for literally saving my life.” In Cushing, Oklahoma (pop. 7,826), Dr. Randy Grellner saw Kory’s testimony and started giving his patients Ivermectin, which he’d used safely for years for parasites, for COVID-19 because he was “tired of the heartache…tired of the misery…I’ve seen enough death and despair.” In a few weeks the overwhelmed clinic dropped from twenty-five new COVID-19 cases a day to two. “The first thing that surprised me was how fast was the recovery in seventy-five and eight-five-year-old people,” Dr. Grellner said. “I know there’s controversy. I have no political motivation. I don’t have any desire except to put husbands and wives back together. If you’re getting problems from an organization that you work for that says you can’t use it, I would question that organization. If we’re not doing what is best for the patient, then we need to find another occupation.”
…[And what about Judy, with whom all this began?] She was quite amazed to learn from her children that while she was lying unconscious and near death with COVID-19 she became a front-page story in The Buffalo News and a Joan of Arc figure in a new revolution, the grandmother who won the first legal fight in the battle of Ivermectin. It is an unprecedented civil rights uprising of doctors, nurses, scientists, Nobel-Prize winning biologists, billionaire health philanthropists, civil rights activists, and thousands of ordinary people across Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Canada, and the United States fighting a global, big-data-driven medical establishment. They’re fighting for the lost little things, the little data—the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship, the survival of the Hippocratic Oath, and the most important of civil rights, the right to life.
if you want some info on Omicron, I recommend Dr. John Campbell, who says things are looking good. Still… mask up to protect others? Or is that no longer a thing?
And here’s a long presentation from Heather and Bret on the details, the arguments, and – at about halfway through – information on many of the alternatives.
As I noted above… It didn’t have to be this way. 😞
At 1:22:00, I’m with Heather on her “my doctor” comment. More 😞…
Update later in the day of publish:
this latest from Darkhorse Podcast is truly horrifying. Though timely.
I’m wondering if you can answer some of my questions regarding the continued concerns we have along the Enbridge Corridor.
While I’ve been reaching out to the MPCA’s reported Tribal Liaison, I’ve had no response.
As an abutter to the project, who’s been working with my friends, including many Native women leaders, for years now… to stop this project through Indian country, I was hopeful that my that my questions would matter to the MPCA and would get response.
Perhaps you can tell me what, if anything, is being done to address the frac-out conditions that appear to be still rising in the Mississippi Headwaters River Valley here? The beavers have noted it and are working to mitigate.
11-10-21 Photo of Mizi-Ziibi with Miskwaabiimizh from Amik (Mississippi River with Red Willow from Beaver)
They, Amikwag, seem the only ones doing anything about our environmental concerns along Line 3, or Line 93, as Enbridge had dubbed their new project, as is evidence by the Red Willow (Miskwaabiimizh) being placed in the flow of Misi-ziibi just downstream of the pipeline crossing.
Let me know if you have any answers regarding the ongoing disturbances to our flora and fauna along this project, which continues to gain attention… especially as Enbridge continues to be ever present in our neighborhoods up here in Clearwater County.
Just yesterday we saw a large Precision Pipeline semi trundling past the house mid-afternoon.
Maybe you can tell me what is happening in the forests and wetlands near my home?
Thanks for your consideration. ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
While prior to construction the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources was given less attention than the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (as the agency responsible for the 401 Clean Water Permit), it seems the DNR and MPCA have now switched places with the DNR getting most of the attention and the MPCA getting little.
Not that paying attention to the DNR construction permits would have made a difference… because Enbridge willfully violated those permits in their actions that burst open the Aquifer at the Clearbrook terminal.
But the lack of oversight was clear from both Agencies.
Both Agencies failed to stop this project when, by all rights, they should have.
Problem is… no Minnesota State Agency appears to have wanted to stop the Project.
The story most telling of their unwillingness to stop the Project goes way back to February 5th of last year, almost 2 years ago now.
A group of Minnesota scientists – including retirees from both MDNR & MPCA as well as Healthcare Professionals for Healthy Climate (HP4HC) and Science for the People – Twin Cities (SftP), joined Indigenous Leaders from RISE Coalition and Honor the Earth, along with state non-profit groups (Sierra Club & MN350), along with legal and spiritual representation, to FINALLY meet with MPCA staff to discuss how they could work to deny the 401 permit for the tar sands pipeline project – opposed by all these groups.
The arrival at the MPCA that morning was different from other times we’d visited the MPCA for meetings. While many of the representatives had traveled hours from Northern Minnesota, hoping to, as usual, gather in the cafeteria for refreshment and review prior to our meeting, the desk staff refused us entry. The first members of our group were two young white men, one representing MN350 and one Honor the Earth. Others of us – still on the road – were contacted for help and we reached out to MPCA staff to determine what the problem might be. On arrival of my caravan, which included retired MPCA staff, two citizens who live along the Enbridge route, and a pastor (all white), and following some additional discussion, we were eventually led back to the cafeteria by an MPCA staffer.
To show the level of concern and fear of Minnesota Citizens in our Agencies, then-Commissioner Laura Bishop came personally to the cafeteria to explain, “they thought you might be protesters.”
She apologized and left us to our lunch. It was only in hindsight that we’d realize why they may have been so touchy… as they were readying a weapon that aimed to derail the public… and it was just about to launch.
On arrival to the MPCA conference room, we were welcomed and seated. And then came the moment of truth for me in this campaign, the moment that I realized how FUCKED we were when it came to the MPCA.
Commissioner Bishop came into the room as the meeting began and gleefully announced that, AS WE SPOKE [Oh, boy!], the MPCA had just issued a memo noting…
wait for it….
The MPCA had Issued a Draft APPROVAL for Enbridge’s draft 401 permit!
All I could think, as this bombshell exploded was: Why. THE. FUCK. Are WE even HERE? If the decision had already been made by the Agency?
Just another in the short list of “let’s pretend we’re gonna listen to the Water Protectors” meetings that were never intended to truly hear us. Instead, we were left to work on how to make the public hearings as ROBUST for Public Comment as possible. [Though it would later become clear, that testimony would also be largely ignored by the MPCA.]
Peter Tester, who became Commissioner temporarily when Laura resigned the following summer (on the cusp of being fired by the Senate, and likely to assure she could be placed AGAIN in a position of influence, which dismissal by the Senate would preclude) made a couple big promises that day, neither of which were fulfilled. 1) To review and consider any documentation we could provide to show why the permit should not be granted. 2) To be accountable to us.
Since that meeting, one of the VERY FEW given to Minnesota citizens hoping to Stop the unnecessary Enbridge pipeline project, all that we’ve seen from the MPCA and DNR has been failure.
1) Failure to WATCH Enbridge as they worked on one of the largest infrastructure projects to not benefit Minnesota that has ever crossed the state.
2) Failure to pull permits when Enbridge violations were discovered.
There are many places the states agencies failed us and a few of the most egregious during construction were:
Enbridge’s frac-out into the Mississippi River at the second crossing. 6000-9000 gallons of drilling mud frac-out into Misi-ziibi… DURING A PERIOD WHEN DRILLING WAS RESTRICTED FROM HAPPENING! [June 25th – violating the April 1- June 30 restriction period.] This was the first of frac-outs that occurring in Mississippi River. [MPCA FAILURE]
July frac-outs into Misi-ziibi Headwaters at the first crossing, where frac-out materials were left in the wetlands and, to this day, continue to show presence in the River Valley. [MPCA FAILURE]
Unbeknownst to citizens, until the mid-September notice, Enbridge willfully violated their construction permit, not informing the DNR of an aquifer breach for almost 5 months! Even though the DNR knew of the problems and it’s effects by early July, no notice was given to citizens for TWO MORE MONTHS… as Enbridge construction continued along the remainder of their corridor. [MDNR FAILURE]
I ask AGAIN: IF THESE PERMITS ARE NOT ALLOWING US TO STOP PROJECTS THAT VIOLATE THEM, WHAT IS THEIR PURPOSE?
And now we see: 1) A lack of work to remedy failures to the 401 permit on the frac-out concerns that remain.
2) Continued and apparently failing work by Enbridge to remedy the KNOWN Aquifer Breach in Clearbrook. TEN (10) full months since it happened now! LONGER THAN IT TOOK TO BUILD 337 MILES of Tar Sands Pipeline across our state… which was apparently the priority to remedying the aquifer breach threatening fragile calcareous fens. [FFS. If this doesn’t awaken people to the State’s priorities, will anything? (see more on that at the end of the blog…)]
3) No public transparency to the other two Breaches reportedly in existence per the DNR.
As we saw with COP26, our Agencies and “Leaders” are failing us. Not just here in Minnesota, but around the world, as they appear bound to helping their fossil fuel friends continue to destroy our planetary home.
Want to read more on the forest devastation being driven by our fossil fueled world? Check this out.
Want to read more on groups working to hold the Minnesota DNR accountable? Check out this recent blog post from Agate‘s Stephanie Hemphill.
Update: Received a response from Ms. Kuskie on 11/30/21 (after I re-requested a response):
Hi Jami,
Apologies for the delayed response, I was out of office last week. Though primary construction of the line is generally complete, the MPCA continues to review monitoring information and oversee ongoing work, and the independent environmental monitors are still active. HDD work, where pressurized drilling mud was in use, ended in early August, and the MPCA made available information on the “frac outs” reported to us around that time. I apologize for being unable to provide further detail at this time; Minn Stat 13.39 classifies as non-public data related to active investigations.
Thanks for reaching out last week and for sending me a nudge today.
-melissa
Response – or should I say Non-response… from Ms. Kuskie 11/30/21 13:26
Apparently, the public doesn’t need to know anything.
I’ve been pretty outspoken about my concerns about the recent Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Covid vaccines – which has earned me a few lost friends… and many attacks, which I try to walk through by having conversations… though most poo-poo my references… as apparently ANYTHING ONLINE is suspect… WTLiteralF???
Except the Daily CDC briefings? The Fauci Updates? The Statements from the White House? The Minnesota Department of Health data?
Is the TV a GOOD SOURCE for info? Like CNN, Maddow, and Tucker? (FFS)
I mean, as I said to someone recently, just because you have a YouTube channel, doesn’t mean you are no longer a Pathologist. Like Doc Martenson… who has been called some pretty interesting things in recent years as he’s reported on Coronavirus and the economic systems of the United States. He admits his errors when he realizes them, I find him an honest and thoughtful data synthesizer… as well as a good BS detector, though, not perfect. And who is? But some will dismiss ANYTHING someone like Chris has to say, if Chris has said something or done something the person perceives as out of alignment with their own beliefs. These are politically motivated concerns I’ve found, rather than anything based in disputing his data and analysis. Chris is a data guy, not a left-right guy.
And hey, am I not STILL AN ENGINEER and a Permaculture student? And does Dan not retains his degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision (which makes him super smart on understanding how PEOPLE WORK) AND his training in Permaculture by a few of the best (Peter Bane, Keith Johnson, and Rhonda Baird), so when we post stuff on our YouTube channel HARN Theory, does that mean all our ideas are now BUNK? FFS, people. Look at the data, eh? Quit dismissing the value of someone because you find some concern with their ideology. We’re all humans doing the best we can with the info we have.
Here’s a few dated FB exchanges which show some of the Corona conversations I have had…
Facebook Friend to Jami Gaither: Are you opposed to vaccination. Look what’s happening.
Jami Gaither to Friend: I’m not opposed to vaccination. I’ve been vaccinated many times in my life. I’m opposed to mandatory EUA Vaccines that are not fully tested being pushed as the only fix for the pandemic. Masks work. At least they have for me. With social distancing and hand sanitizer and keeping MY TERRAIN immune boosted. Things we really don’t hear much about anymore… and I’ve NEVER heard much about ppl taking Vitamin D, zinc, and other therapeutics that WORK ALL AROUND THE WORLD. One of the interesting things i noted in the CDC breakthru data last week is that they are now noting some of their dead reported aren’t Covid dead. Wtf? Seems to just be adding to confusion. When we hear SOOOO little about vaccine-related events like bleeding, clotting, and sometimes quick death… it makes me wonder if these now upticking deaths are related to Covid… or vaccine reactions. And I’m not alone in these ponderings.
Friend to Jami Gaither: Do you have any information or rumors about people having vaccine effects such as – pneumonia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, kidney problems? I’ve asked a couple of people but I would have to ask a skeptic. (I’m not getting a booster shot.)
Jami Gaither: In the data we’re getting, it’s mainly blood clotting issues – so heart attacks, aneurisms, strokes, extremity discoloration/numbness type things.Young men appear to be having myocarditis development – in their 20s.Women are showing menstruation issues – spotting, changes to their cycles, RESTARTING A PERIOD AFTER BEING IN MENOPAUSE (My main reason now, in case that isn’t clear… ) And we’re seeing these spike protein mRNA replicants gathering in the ovaries (sorry – that’s my layman’s way of saying it for all those ready to pounce on how I’m not using accurate medical terminology… I’m a metallurgist, not a geneticist).In general, the mRNA seems to be getting OUT of the arm muscle (where the public was promised it would stay) and into the blood system where it then can reek havoc, though, YES, is SEEMS to be in a ‘small’ percentage of the ppl… [There are some who claim it takes about 30 minutes to enter VAERS report… and their system is designed to time out and clear the fields at 2200 seconds – 36 minutes. Imagine busy docs and nurses trying to enter this – with all the crisis interruptions… so I imagine the problems are far larger than we’re seeing in VAERS.]Just my understandings…
Jami Gaither to Friend: what I’m truly interested in is a listing of deaths by county in the US compared to vaccination rates.
Friend to Jami Gaither: That would be interesting. I hear, by state, that deaths and hospitalizations are highest where vaccinations are lowest. (Maybe you could get counties in Minnesota? Lot of counties in the US)
Jami Gaither to Friend: That is the message they are spinning. I’m just seeing that they aren’t playing all the records… (for an old school reference)… as they continue the playset of Vaccines will Save us All. I wonder how many gay men are reminded of AZT days with Monster Fauci. As they hear stories of adverse vaccine events. And the “officials” say little about this except: Your chances are slim to have that happen! Take the jab!
Well, guess what!?! Someone has evaluated that data! The NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH!
As time rolls on and the months go by, more data is becoming available around the actual efficacy, safety and other attributes of the new experimental mRNA technologies which have been injected into billions of people. And that data is becoming less convincing and reassuring by the minute. …
Our public health “leaders” and their sole reliance on vaccines alone to mitigate the public health disaster of COVID-19 has proven a short sighted and flat-footed strategy for a complex problem requiring a multi-pronged and nuanced set of solutions.”
The above chart was from a study that noted: “Of the top 5 counties that have the highest percentage of population fully vaccinated (99.9–84.3%), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies 4 of them as “High” Transmission counties. Chattahoochee (Georgia), McKinley (New Mexico), and Arecibo (Puerto Rico) counties have above 90% of their population fully vaccinated with all three being classified as “High” transmission. Conversely, of the 57 counties that have been classified as “low” transmission counties by the CDC, 26.3% (15) have percentage of population fully vaccinated below 20%.” [From Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States] Hmmmm….
Also, did you note the recent UPTICK in data on Breakthrough Cases from the CDC? FUUUUUCCCCKKKK.
Weekly data presented by the CDC summarized. We regained the dead we lost going from the 10/4 report to the 10/11 report… (went from 968 dead to 951 dead that week… for some strange reason…) when, on 10/18/21, we re-added them and 1,331 MORE!
The authors found that although the vaccines did offer some protection against infection and onward transmission, Delta dampened that effect. A person who was fully vaccinated and then had a ‘breakthrough’ Delta infection was almost twice as likely to pass on the virus as someone who was infected with Alpha. And that was on top of the higher risk of having a breakthrough infection caused by Delta than one caused by Alpha.
Unfortunately, the vaccine’s beneficial effect on Delta transmission waned to almost negligible levels over time. In people infected 2 weeks after receiving the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, both in the UK, the chance that an unvaccinated close contact would test positive was 57%, but 3 months later, that chance rose to 67%. The latter figure is on par with the likelihood that an unvaccinated person will spread the virus.
A reduction was also observed in people vaccinated with the jab made by US company Pfizer and German firm BioNTech. The risk of spreading the Delta infection soon after vaccination with that jab was 42%, but increased to 58% with time.
And now we want to give them to kids… what could go wrong??? We apparently will see… as many follow Fauci still. {Note: In Minnesota, less than 0.05% of our dead have been kids under 15. That’s 4 of our over 8500 dead. The risks of them dying of covid are SOOOO LOW, and unknown are the risks of Emergency Use Authorization vaccines… Why oh why are we sacrificing our young to unknown risks? Reportedly as a method for saving the very old and infirmed. Hmmm…. I just cannot fathom a society that devalues its young people so callously… Oh, wait! Yep, same one that is not likely to be giving them much hope after the COP26 in Glasgow… as the measly offerings of the G20 indicate. What a joke our ‘leaders’ have become. So deluded…
Just in recent days, Dr. Martenson has been reporting on the economic impacts of Days of Corona… as the powers that be are destroying our middle class economy. If you don’t think this is gonna bite YOU in the ass… you’re not watching closely enough.
Federal Reserve Failing all but the RICH
Thanks, Taxpayers! We’ll take that $$$!
Completely Fabricated Economy…
As the U.S. Billionaires SUCK UP Taxpayer dollars!!! (All going according to plan…)
This is how the ‘Hammer’ of the Federal Reserve has taken TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars, pumped them into the “Market” for the Billionaires to get even richer… as the middle and lower classes suffer, lose their businesses and homes, and… die. Thanks, Chris.
And now… Fauci has been revealed for his cruel experiments on Beagles. [As Saagar notes, It’s Our Money… prompting my comment: It’s our money… but they spend it the way they want. Like pumping Trillions into the pockets of Fat Cats via dumping funding into the Stock Market. The puppies are a small part of the problem… though puppies are likely the place we MIGHT discover some will awaken to the lack of care for people by our so-called “leaders”? (see above video…)]
Cruel testing, on the apparent ‘dog of choice’ – Beagles. For what end exactly?
Who knows? But I’m not gonna be a beagle.
UPDATE: 11/7/21 EVEN MORE REASONS to NOT BE A BEAGLE…
“Since Jackson reported problems with Ventavia to the FDA in September 2020, Pfizer has hired Ventavia as a research subcontractor on four other vaccine clinical trials (covid-19 vaccine in childrenand young adults, pregnant women, and a booster dose, as well an RSV vaccine trial; NCT04816643, NCT04754594, NCT04955626, NCT05035212). The advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to discuss the covid-19 paediatric vaccine trial on 2 November.
“Two former Ventavia employees spoke to The BMJ anonymously for fear of reprisal and loss of job prospects in the tightly knit research community. Both confirmed broad aspects of Jackson’s complaint. One said that she had worked on over four dozen clinical trials in her career, including many large trials, but had never experienced such a “helter skelter” work environment as with Ventavia on Pfizer’s trial.
“I’ve never had to do what they were asking me to do, ever,” she told The BMJ. “It just seemed like something a little different from normal—the things that were allowed and expected.”
She added that during her time at Ventavia the company expected a federal audit but that this never came.
More on WHY OUR MEDICAL COMMUNITY IS SUCH A FKN MESS…
I’m finding the power of MSM to take people to a place where, instead of ingesting information for themselves and deciphering truth from it, people are emboldened to simply dismiss, without consideration, the input from those MSM has othered as “anti-vax” or “disinformation” mongers.
Instead of asking questions, ppl stand firmly in their silos of “TRUTH” which prop up the given narrative of the CDC, FDA, Biden Administration, Dr. Fauci… all of whom have been proven, time and again, to be ruthlessly ignoring facts, and worse, creating harm, rather than preventing it.
This is true whether the topic is the pandemic, Afghanistan, or climate change.
Here are the questions I continue to have about the ‘management’ of the pandemic in ‘Murica:
WHY are there no TREATMENTS for C0VlD-19 from the CDC? [When many are finding – AROUND THE GLOBE – that there ARE safe, effective, INEXPENSIVE treatments? 😔 Spoiler alert: If there are treatments, it negates their ability to enforce EUA vaccines – which require there being NO AVAILABLE TREATMENT.]
WHY are C0VlD+ people told to simply go home to wait and see what happens… when there are MANY GOOD SUGGESTIONS for surviving the virus? The medical community instead seemingly wants only to hospitalize (That’s the BIG $) people once they are REALLY SICK. [Though still, no real treatment… save – here in MN anyway – Remdesivier and ventilators (which other countries have found to hasten death).]
WHY are there no recommendations on immune boosting, Vitamins, sleep, diet? Instead managers and MSM promote ‘VACCINES’ as ‘OUR ONLY CURE!’ [As we see more and more breakthrough cases…]
WHY is there such a focus on the “unvaccinated infecting the vaccinated” – implying us deplorable folks – who still question the validity of mRNA vaccines as ‘fully-tested’ – are HARMING those who’ve been prudent in taking their prescribed EUA jabs? [The idea of vaccines as “safe, effective, and free” may be wrong on all three counts… as we know it is for sure on the last, as us taxpayers funded not only the development but the purchase of said jabs.]
WHY all the shaming of those – having been given no other option than vaccination – who try other means to protect themselves, be it immune system boosting, exercising, staying home, masking, and/or minimizing contacts? [Yet, even when MSM information is found to be false, like about all those horse dewormer victims filling hospitals in Oklahoma, it remains on the web. As ‘fact’.]
CDC Breakthrough data NEW disclaimer, now suggests their data includes also victims of other causes of death? This helps muddy the waters, eh? Just another in the ever-changing data reporting… that we’re all supposed to trust?
It feels to me the powers that be are truly getting scared of the information that is defying their idea that Vaccines are the ONLY WAY OUT of the pandemic. Is it perhaps their fear that Ivermectin could, in fact, replace MANY other patented and expensive Rx that are less effective? Are they seeing the simplicity of safe and well-known medications – used as off-label taking down their high-profit (and thus highly promoted) meds?
You know about off-label uses… like Viagra for hard-ons and Rogaine for baldness – FFS is it ONLY OK if it does something MEN want??? Fuck nurses and teachers who COULD be PROTECTED with prophylactic Ivermectin – like Argentina discovered? Or India?
Conclusion: Two-dose ivermectin prophylaxis at a dose of 300 μg/kg with a gap of 72 hours was associated with a 73% reduction of SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers for the following month. Chemoprophylaxis has relevance in the containment of pandemic.
Actually, there are lots of off-label uses… from Ativan to Beta-Blockers to Lorazapam, and MANY OTHERS that are used EVERY FUCKING DAY. Like 20% of all Rx are off-label… but suddenly, there’s an all out war to demonize Ivermection as a possible Covid treatment?
Did you hear that Merck poo-pood Ivermection – as it’s manufacturer!! What???? You don’t say??? [Whisper: they left out that they are… wait for it… No, Really, you’ll love this… They’re working on creating a new oral Covid treatment. SHHHH!!!! It’s gonna be patented and cost a TON of money because it will be so popular – a pill to prevent getting Covid, Oh, My! I mean… SHHHHH!!! Keep it under your hat]
“Merck said its new trial will study experimental drug molnupiravir for the prevention of COVID-19 among adults in the same household as someone diagnosed with symptomatic coronavirus infection.
I’m especially confused by those who can easily see the Regulatory Capture Enbridge has unleashed upon the state of Minnesota, but fail to see that Big Pharma has taken over what now seems… the entire US Government AND the control of all media.
I will continue to pursue truth. Regardless of those who lose faith in me. I’m not the first to be ostracized by those who once I thought were friend, trusted confidant, comrade.
If we get to the point of the government forcing us unvaccinated to wear a Big Yellow “A” on our chests, I sure hope none of my “friends” will go for the bounty of turning me in… as an enemy of the state.
The vaccination narratives are dangerously reminiscent of what I read about happening in Germany in the 30s… sweet potato hitler or no.
Today I’m wondering how many of those Germans back then cried all day long wondering why their fellow citizens would not awaken to the brainwashing of ‘Jew as Vermin’ from their “leaders”. 😥 At least I know they weren’t just Jews crying back then.
A few months ago, on about day 500 of quarantine, an official hippie declared us “Hippies”. It was quite a day, as I’ve long worked to be a hippie.
Early on in C0VlD days, on a phone call to a sister, bitching about how I felt about all of the bullshit going on with Line 3… and living in rural Minnesota and being ignored… and the white supremacy idiocy… and all of that. My Indigenous Sister laughed and said, “Oohhhh, yeah, now you know what it’s like to be Native!”
It was bittersweet, and though I’ll never really know what it’s truly like to be Native, I’m learning more every day. The up side is it drives me to continue to bring a new world… one where the ways of the Anishinaabeg are again revered and practiced more widely.
I was texting my son last week, as his company Deck Nine Games prepared to launch their newest offering, “Life Is Strange: True Colors“. I’m really proud of what he’s done and I think this game has a timeliness to it that’s almost magical.
A few days ago, he called to let us know how it was going… to give us an update on how he’s managing through the launch. And things were going pretty good.
Critically, True Colors’ story is well-rounded, with a satisfying and definitive ending for both its central mystery and for Alex’s personal journey (and as all good thrillers should offer, there is a resolution you can deduce for yourself if you are paying enough attention). It’s not a failing to me that True Colors tells a lean story which prioritises quality over quantity, feelings over finer details, and a sense the series, like Alex, has come back to its roots after a period of absence and change.
Whereas Life is Strange 2 acted to disrupt the original’s formula and engage in heavier themes, True Colors is a safer riff on Dontnod’s debut, but one whose quality allows it to stand on its own without feeling too much like a cover band. Deck Nine is a supremely talented studio, True Colors makes clear, and more than worthy of continuing the Life is Strange franchise.”
While I spoke with my son I shared about how I’m feeling right now, just pretty overwhelmed with being steamrolled by the pipeline project, aided and abetted by the Walz administration – and their lack of conscious, courage, compassion, cognizance, creativity, and common sense.
I spoke about how it feels hard to imagine that there’s any meaning in doing anything at all except just holing up in the woods and playing video games all day long… plugging into the electrons and pretending that the outside world doesn’t exist as it does. Feeling hopeless about how much time there is left for humanity. Feeling frustrated at the lack of any lack of any action – by the powers that be – that feels geared to serving the people.
I told him that I often think of how he shared with us, midway through our now 560-day quarantine, about the fact that he’s known most of his life that his generation would be the throwaway generation… that they would get nothing. I told him how horrible I felt about my inability to do anything about that.
The powers that be have trained us to oppress each other via division. We’ve seen too much of that in recent years. The result is that the status quo continues to support the elites, those with power and money, and those who cannot see the oppression of the majority, for whatever reason.
While the vaccine program, rushed and heavily promoted as the ONLY ANSWER, divides families and communities, it seems a failure similar to the ways that Racism and Climate Change have failed… where mostly white elites continue to find no way forward to a new way of life that supports all people and allows for egalitarian access and opportunity.
We see youth, angry and frustrated with the lack of recognition of the urgency with which we need to act.
We have watched as crowds have grown, standing in opposition to Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag. From Minnesota to India, half a world away, we see suppression of the voices of the people most connected to the land.
We see farmers in Minnesota who are left in the dust, literally, as Enbridge dewaters their landscape, draining shallow aquifers and removing water access for the people. [Unfortunately, with Republicans urging a firing of Commissioner Malcolm, a technique they’ve used repeatedly through the pandemic to combat the Walz administration, there may be no September session meaning farmers (and nurses, who were also on the agenda to be helped) may get no relief.]
We see farmers in India standing against the policies that are preventing them from earning a wage or even growing enough food for their own families.
And we know that the Arab Spring was started by a farmer in Tunisia, Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (Arabic: طارق الطيب محمد البوعزيزي), who set himself afire in the market as he realized he had no other options… “His self-immolation was in response to the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides.”
So what is to come? I fear the only response remaining is Revolution. People in the streets.
As we watch the eviction moratoriums expire, and we see today – HAPPY LABOR DAY! – the elimination of the unemployment supplement that has kept many hanging on during the pandemic, my guess is, the streets will have plenty of people with little to do except shout for justice.
“When we take to the frontlines, please remember why we are here. We are not here to fight the police. We are not here to intimidate workers. We are here for that water. We are here for each other. We are here for future generations.”
Seems people are getting less and less consideration by governments and corporations around the world. We are feeling more each day that we’re reaching a breaking point.
Robert F. Kennedy on including the cost of cleaning up after yourself… and how polluters pass this on to us. 28 minutes
RFK tells some great stories about the Hudson River… and by great… I mean horrible. My old employer, GE (though I was at Aircraft Engines), polluted and privatized the commons… not cleaning up their mess.
We see the ever-growing Sock-Puppet Agencies, the Compromising of the Press, the Local Sovereignty Elimination, and the End of Transparency. People are saying, “Enough is Enough!”
I mean, we’re supposedly working to stay below 1.5 degrees Celcius… and we’re already at 1.23?
Last week in Minnesota, we saw:
Standing with Indigenous groups, Physicians call on Biden to revoke Enbridge’s permit.
Enbridge has said the upgrade is needed for safety reasons, to reduce maintenance needs, and to “create fewer disruptions to landowners and the environment.” But opponents from the medical community disagree. According to Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, or HPHC — the advocacy group that organized Tuesday’s nationwide protests — the project poses both immediate and long-term threats to Minnesota communities and Indigenous peoples, whether from an oil spill or from the pipeline’s contribution to climate change.
Vishnu Laalitha Surapaneni, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota who helped organize the rally in St. Paul, told Grist she is particularly worried about the pipeline’s potential impact on water quality. “We’re in the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” she explained, using Minnesota’s unofficial nickname. “This is not something that is compatible with healthy water.”
The protests will start with a rally in Trafalgar Square on Monday morning, 23 August. This is the anniversary of the Haitian slave rebellion of 1791 and the international day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition. XR said its events were also intended to show solidarity with people in the global south who are worst affected by climate breakdown.
We are not powerless – you have more power than you think. We are the collective power to be the change that we need.”
Tim Crosland, of the pressure group Plan B, who was found in contempt of court for revealing early a supreme court ruling relating to Heathrow’s third runway plans, said: “We are targeting the City because these are the kind of people who are the real contributors to this crisis.”
He spoke out against recent claims by members of the Conservative party that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 – the government’s target, set out in law – would cost too much money. “It’s embarrassing to claim that it is too expensive to save young people and our country and our planet. This is extremist ideology from some parts of the Conservative party,” he said. “They believe science will have to give way to the market, but it is not going to work that way, it’s the other way round. The economy will have to adapt to the science.”
By the time this posts, we’ll likely be hearing news from Trafalgar.
And if YOU Want To F*ck The System That’s Been F*cking You? – WATCH THIS!
Protest, Protect, and Build! A coherent movement. Ends should be human well-being and means should be money, economy, industry. Instead, we have a consumption-based economy that cares little for human well-being. The means are Nature and Humans. Remaining individualistic, we continue to suffer.
In other words:
Slavery never went away. It just got better clothes.”
Dan… as we watched the video
We cannot have social justice without environmental justice… until we behave justly to the planet upon which we live, our host system… our Mother.”
Russell Brand 10:47
Individualism is rooted in Separation. Division must be overcome. Long live difference and diversity… [as we eliminate caste?] dancing together. … We Belong to Each Other!”
) And we’re seeing these spike protein mRNA replicants gathering in the ovaries (sorry – that’s my layman’s way of saying it for all those ready to pounce on how I’m not using accurate medical terminology… I’m a metallurgist, not a geneticist).In general, the mRNA seems to be getting OUT of the arm muscle (where the public was promised it would stay) and into the blood system where it then can reek havoc, though, YES, is SEEMS to be in a ‘small’ percentage of the ppl… [There are some who claim it takes about 30 minutes to enter VAERS report… and their system is designed to time out and clear the fields at 2200 seconds – 36 minutes. Imagine busy docs and nurses trying to enter this – with all the crisis interruptions… so I imagine the problems are far larger than we’re seeing in VAERS.]Just my understandings…
Retired at 45 