March, 03 2020, 11:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Ryan Schleeter, Senior Communications Specialist, Greenpeace USA: +1 (415) 342-2386, rschleet@greenpeace.org
Grand Jury Refuses Felonies for Greenpeace Activists and Others Charged in Houston Oil Industry Protest
Today, a grand jury refused to issue felony indictments against the Greenpeace USA activists and others charged following the peaceful protest on September 12, 2019 at the Houston Ship Channel [1]. Thirty-one people had been charged with a felony by the Harris County District Attorney's Office under Texas' controversial new anti-protest law, but none were indicted on this charge by a Harris County grand jury.
Houston, Texas,
Today, a grand jury refused to issue felony indictments against the Greenpeace USA activists and others charged following the peaceful protest on September 12, 2019 at the Houston Ship Channel [1]. Thirty-one people had been charged with a felony by the Harris County District Attorney's Office under Texas' controversial new anti-protest law, but none were indicted on this charge by a Harris County grand jury.
Instead, 25 misdemeanor indictments were issued for obstructing a highway or other passageway. Six cases were dismissed completely before submission to the grand jury. Twenty-two people still face a separate federal misdemeanor charge for blocking a navigable waterway.
Greenpeace USA General Counsel Tom Wetterer said:
"We are grateful that the Harris County grand jury carefully considered the relevant facts and law in making the right decision not to issue indictments on the egregious felony charge. First and foremost, no one violated Texas' critical infrastructure statute. But importantly, this law and those like it around the country unconstitutionally criminalize peaceful protest and violate First Amendment rights to free speech. They also disproportionately affect Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities who are fighting for their lives as they try to stay above water in this climate crisis. It is vital for our democracy and for justice that we protect the right to peaceful dissent. As for the new misdemeanor charge, we will continue to mount the best possible defense for our activists."
Secretive lobbying groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and oil companies like Koch Industries and Marathon Petroleum have been instrumental in the spread of anti-protest legislation across the country [2]. Such laws restrict the right to peaceful demonstration and disproportionately affect Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working class communities who bear the burden of climate impacts and fossil fuel pollution. Over 100 bills like this that have been introduced around the country, all but 17 have been defeated.
Activist Rico Sisney, who participated in the protest and was cleared of the felony charge today, said:
"This felony charge is now behind me, and while my family and I are feeling a tremendous sense of relief, Black, Brown and Indigenous people on the frontlines have had no relief from polluted air and water and climate-fueled disasters. Fossil fuel companies have made trillions of dollars while endangering billions of people and gotten away with it -- just like corporations and politicians get away with dehumanizing migrant, disabled, low-income, and other marginalized people. If we truly prioritize the well-being of the most vulnerable over the profits of the most powerful, we must continue to use our gifts and raise our voices for a just transition and renewable energy for all."
While these activists have been cleared of felony charges, they are not the only ones facing consequences under the new wave of ALEC-backed anti-protest legislation. Activists and water protectors from the L'eau Est La Vie (Water Is Life) Camp in Atakapa and Ishak Territory are mounting a constitutional challenge to Louisiana's anti-protest law.
Cherri Foytlin, one of the L'eau Est La Vie activists, said:
"I'm glad to see punitive felony charges dropped against my allies from Greenpeace, but the fight against unconstitutional anti-protest laws in this country is far from over. The legal battle in front of my fellow activists and I will take years to resolve, with each passing day sucking up more of our resources. The consequences could stay with us for the rest of our lives. This is exactly what the oil industry wants, to keep us tied up in court and out of the streets fighting for climate justice. But the risks of inaction are too great to stay silent. I know our movement won't rest until the air we breathe and the water we drink come before oil company profits."
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
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House Progressives Rip GOP for Siding With Credit Card Giants on Junk Fees
"It is critical that the American people understand the House Republican Conference's firm and dedicated commitment to protecting the business model of unfettered, predatory fines."
Jul 17, 2024
Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Wednesday slammed their House Republican colleagues for siding with credit card giants over U.S. consumers by attempting to roll back a Biden administration rule banning excessive late fees—a major profit source for card issuers.
The House's Republican majority is expected in the near future to schedule a floor vote on a GOP-authored resolution that would use the Congressional Review Act to undo the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) rule lowering the typical credit card late fee from $32 to $8.
The CFPB is currently
fighting a Trump-appointed judge's injunction against the rule, which the agency estimates would save Americans more than $14 billion a year in fees.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—the chair of the CPC—and more than 50 fellow caucus members welcomed the "opportunity to highlight the Republican majority's enthusiastic support for junk fees, including exorbitant credit card fees."
The letter continues:
We think it is critical that the American people understand the House Republican Conference's firm and dedicated commitment to protecting the business model of unfettered, predatory fines imposed by large corporate banks against ordinary Americans. Thanks to the leadership of the Biden Administration and the CFPB, Americans will collectively receive $10 billion in annual relief from this rule, curbing junk fees levied by profitable credit card giants on consumers.
We look forward to a promptly scheduled vote that allows every House Republican to go on the record opposing an initiative that will rein in a loophole exploited by corporate giants to boost their profits at the expense of American households and create an average savings of $220 per year for more than 45 million people who are charged late fees by large credit card companies.
"We are unsurprised that House Republicans uniformly insist on defending large corporate banks’ current practice of overcharging Americans with credit card late fees," the progressive lawmakers added, "and welcome the opportunity to highlight the contrast in our priorities on the House floor this summer."
A new @POTUS + @CFPB rule means big banks won’t be able to charge over $8 in late fees for credit card payments.
Surprising no one, @HouseGOP is trying to block it 🫠@SpeakerJohnson: bring this bill to a vote & make your members' support for predatory junk fees official. pic.twitter.com/JuzHU921ur
— Progressive Caucus (@USProgressives) July 17, 2024
The House GOP's defense of junk fees undercuts the election-year narrative of ascendant pro-worker populism within the Republican Party, which is working aggressively to overturn labor protections enacted by the Biden administration.
In April, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee voted unanimously to advance Rep. Andy Barr's (R-Ky.) resolution to undo the CFPB's rule on late fees. Every Democrat on the panel voted no.
The House Republicans who backed Barr's resolution have received millions of dollars in donations from leading credit card issuers and industry groups fighting the CFPB rule, according to the progressive watchdog group Accountable.US.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a vocal supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, is leading the Senate effort to roll back the CFPB rule and has criticized the Biden administration for characterizing credit card late-payment penalties as "junk fees."
According to OpenSecrets, Goldman Sachs employees, executives, and PACs have been Scott's largest campaign contributors over the course of his Senate career.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing last month that Republicans are "falling all over themselves to defend these junk fees."
"If you're wondering why Republicans are introducing legislation to protect junk fees and working overtime to come up with fantastical legal theories to kill the CFPB, I think the answer is pretty clear," said Warren. "Republicans are in bed with big business to rip off families and to protect corporate bottom lines."
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"Why do they target us when we are innocent people?" said a Palestinian woman sheltering at a school attacked Tuesday. "We do not carry weapons but are just sitting and trying to find safety for ourselves and our children."
Jul 17, 2024
Israeli attacks have killed 81 Palestinians over roughly the last 24 hours, including an attack on a United Nations-run school shelter in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to data released by the Gaza health ministry on Wednesday.
The Nuseirat strike, which killed 23 Palestinians on Tuesday, was at least the eighth Israeli attack on a school shelter in the last ten days. Six of the schools had been run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
"Why do they target us when we are innocent people?" Umm Mohammed al-Hasanat, a woman who was sheltering at the Nuseirat school, askedAl Jazeera.
"We do not carry weapons but are just sitting and trying to find safety for ourselves and our children," she said.
A Palestinian mother struggles to bid farewell to her son, killed by the israelis in an air strike that targeted the Razi UNRWA school in Nuseirat pic.twitter.com/LbRsw6INhg
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) July 16, 2024
Palestinians inspect the Abdullah Azzam Mosque and its surroundings after the Israeli occupation bombed the area in Nuseirat camp, leaving massive piles of rubble behind. pic.twitter.com/rMEfRK1p5G
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) July 17, 2024
The Nuseirat attack was one of many in the last two days across the Gaza Strip.
A strike near Cairo School in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday killed at least nine, including three children. An overnight strike on a house in Al-Zawyda in central Gaza killed eight, while an attack on a house Wednesday in the Khan Younis area killed five. An Israeli bombing also killed two in the al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah on Wednesday. Israeli tanks also advanced into northern Rafah, Reutersreported.
The latest string of attacks included another on Tuesday in which Israeli forces killed about 17 in a strike on a "safe" zone in al-Mawasi, a coastal area west of Khan Younis where refugees have gathered.
Even before Tuesday, Gazans were facing one of the deadliest weeks since the war began. Israel bombarded the al-Mawasi camp on Saturday, killing more than 90 Palestinians. Israeli forces also killed at least 17 people on Sunday in an attack on the UNRWA-run Abu Oreiban school in Nuseirat, which was housing thousands of displaced people; most of the dead were women and children, according toAl Jazeera.
UNRWA announced last week that Israeli forces have targeted two-thirds of the schools it administers in Gaza and attacked its facilities 453 times overall since the start of the war. Nearly 200 UNRWA staff members have been killed, the U.N. agency said.
The agency reiterated its call for a stop to Israeli targeting of its facilities in a social media message on Tuesday: "Nowhere is safe. The blatant disregard for U.N. premises and humanitarian law must stop."
Nearly 70% of @UNRWA schools in #Gaza have been hit since the war began.
Over 95% of these schools were used as shelters when hit. 539 people sheltering in UNRWA facilities have been killed.
Nowhere is safe. The blatant disregard for @UN premises and humanitarian law must stop. pic.twitter.com/EKiSiOm2kc
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 16, 2024
News of the atrocities in Gaza came as Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday issued a 236-page report on the atrocities of October 7, in which Hamas-led armed groups killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 250. The report's authors found that the groups had committed "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes" in their attack in southern Israel.
"Human Rights Watch research found that the Hamas-led assault on October 7 was designed to kill civilians and take as many people as possible hostage," Ida Sawyer, HRW's crisis and conflict director, said in a statement accompanying the report's release. "The October 7 atrocities should spur a global call to action for an end to all abuses against civilians in Israel and Palestine."
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"Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have a dark and dystopian vision for America's future, in which women are hunted across state lines for accessing basic healthcare," said one Democratic lawmaker.
Jul 17, 2024
As Republicans feted U.S. Sen. JD Vance Tuesday night at the GOP's national convention, welcoming the author and venture capitalist as presidential nominee Donald Trump's running mate, one of Vance's proposals for the future of abortion rights in the U.S. made national news.
Citing reporting from The Lever, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow warned viewers about Vance's endorsement of a request by at least 19 Republican attorneys general who asked the Biden administration to allow them access to the medical records of people who travel across state lines, including to states that allow abortion care.
"They want the right to follow women from their states all over the country to see if they might be getting an abortion somewhere. or might be getting any other kind of reproductive care anywhere that they want to bring criminal charges about, so they can use those records for prosecutions," said Maddow.
Last year, she added, Vance joined other GOP lawmakers in pressuring the Biden administration to withdraw a rule it introduced after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The rule prevents state and local police in states that ban abortion from using medical records to prosecute people who have obtained abortion care elsewhere.
"If Donald Trump and JD Vance are elected in November, they will have the power to withdraw the Biden administration's privacy rule on this issue," said Maddow.
Maddow's warning is "not overstated," said David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever.
As Common Dreamsreported Tuesday, despite recent attempts by the Republican Party and Trump to suggest their ultimate goal is not to prohibit abortion care nationwide, Trump's selection of Vance as his vice presidential nominee elevated a lawmaker who has endorsed a 15-week nationwide ban and has opposed any exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
Vance's support for rescinding President Joe Biden's medical privacy rule exemplifies the "dark and dystopian vision for America's future" that the senator and former president have, said New York state Sen. Liz Krueger (D-28).
"This aspect of the post-Dobbs world is often treated as hyperbole in mainstream news coverage, something that might be theoretically possible but not something that's actually going to happen," wrote Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo of the attack on medical privacy. "But Vance was one of only eight senators who thought [the Biden rule]... endangered 'valid state laws protecting life' and would 'limit cooperation with law enforcement.'"
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