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Big Oil’s Revenge: the Lawsuit That Could Crush Climate Activism
Energy Transfer’s case against Greenpeace could redefine First Amendment rights for everyone in the U.S. It must be exposed for the grave threat it is.
Mar 17, 2025
The strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP, lawsuit by Energy Transfer Partners against Greenpeace is a blatant attack on free speech, enabled by a biased legal system stacked with unqualified, partisan judges. It exemplifies how corporate power, run amok, threatens one of the most fundamental American rights—the right to dissent.
In late February, we watched this unfold in a small courtroom in Mandan, North Dakota—a town just across the Missouri River from Bismarck, now the site of a legal mugging. The victims? The entire climate and environmental movement, represented by Greenpeace. The assailants? Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), Dakota Access Pipeline, and their legal enforcers at the infamous fossil fuel law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher.
In President Donald Trump’s dystopian America, stacked juries and sham trials may soon become the new normal.
ETP’s CEO, Kelcy Warren, isn’t even pretending otherwise. He admitted the lawsuit’s purpose is “to send a message.” When asked if he wanted to cut off funding for groups like Greenpeace, he answered, “Absolutely.” He has even suggested that environmental activists should be “removed from the gene pool.” Now Warren has commandeered a public court and stolen public resources and citizens’ time, all to wage his revenge attack and get his “pound of flesh.” He’s just picked out the biggest environmental justice name he could think of—Greenpeace—as his victim.
In truth, this case is about silencing dissent. It continues the long-standing erasure of Native American rights, sidelining the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe—the true leaders of the DAPL protest movement—while targeting anyone who dares challenge corporate billionaires and fossil fuels.
We've seen this playbook before. When Chevron lost a $9.5 billion judgment in Ecuador for its deliberate dumping of billions of gallons of cancer-causing oil waste as Texaco. It decimated Indigenous communities and is a big reason why Native Americans should be worried fossil fuels will poison their water—Chevron did it intentionally. Then, to escape justice in Ecuador, it weaponized the U.S. legal system to wage SLAPP attacks and denied access to justice for Indigenous peoples, which culminated in the unprecedented imprisonment of a U.S. lawyer for a misdemeanor contempt charge—via a private corporate prosecution.
Gibson Dunn, central to both cases, is a prime example of how unethical lawyers manipulate the courts to crush free speech. In the Greenpeace case, they claim “tortious interference” over statements Greenpeace repeated from news reports—statements that were true. More chillingly, ETP argues that Greenpeace is liable for any alleged crimes at Standing Rock because it trained activists in deescalation, nonviolence, and safety. If the same logic applied, those who trained January 6 insurrectionists in political activism would be held liable for the Capitol riot—an irony that exposes the selective use of accountability.
The world saw the footage from Standing Rock: brutal police crackdowns, mass arrests, and unchecked violence against Indigenous and allied protesters. Yet no security personnel faced consequences—only demonstrators. Now, ETP seeks to gaslight the public in a courtroom where nearly every juror has admitted bias against Native Americans and environmental activists, with direct ties to the fossil fuel industry. In President Donald Trump’s dystopian America, stacked juries and sham trials may soon become the new normal.
This case could redefine First Amendment rights for everyone in the U.S. It must be exposed for the grave threat it is. Bipartisan efforts are underway to bring a federal anti-SLAPP law into effect to help protect the right to free speech. This case should light a fire under those efforts because, for many, the ability to peacefully protest and organize is all we have left.
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What Americans Need to Know About St. Patrick's Day
It's not about shamrocks and beer.
Mar 17, 2025
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by millions of Americans every year.
It's a recognition of the shared heritage of two great countries.
But the meaning of St. Patrick is something most Americans get exactly wrong.
This misunderstanding reveals why these two nations—once so similar—are now worlds apart.
Here's what Americans need to know.
***
[Sound of a bullet chambered, waves breaking in indifference.]
Venice Beach, twilight.
I'm minding my own business when—
[Flash]
A gun is pointed at my face.
Random violence. Pointless. American.
But this isn't just about crime. It's deeper.
In America, violence isn't a national crisis—it's a block-by-block lottery. You're safe until you're suddenly not.
I grew up in Ireland, and we simply don't live this way.
Why?
Because violence isn't just about guns—it's about trust.
The Real Heist
[Cut to marble floors, quiet handshakes, silent theft.]
While Americans are busy fighting each other—left vs. right, immigrants, tariffs—the real robbery happens quietly:
- Trust gutted—institutions hollowed until safety nets snap.
- Inequality weaponized—the rich feast; everyone else fights each other over crumbs.
- Desperation manufactured—crime, addiction, despair—all intentional side-effects of profit-driven division.
Ireland is no saint. But this desperation doesn't dominate, because trust—even when imperfect—remains intact. Arguments rarely become instant death sentences. Less inequality means fewer people forced into despair. Institutions still hold, even when they falter.
The difference? People in Ireland still expect their institutions to function. Americans expect them to fail.
Trust itself is being deliberately dismantled, turning neighbors into threats instead of allies.
And when trust collapses, what and who fills the void?
Manufactured Chaos
[Cut to your uncle, veins bulging, shouting about "libtards!"]
Left vs. Right: the puppet show you can't stop watching.
- Two-party spectacle: a staged distraction from real theft.
- Media outrage: addictive scrolling keeping you blind to what's really happening.
- Global chaos: Siding with dictators, up is down, bad is good.
Your neighbor isn't robbing you.
They are. Slashing the federal government, agencies, medicaid, SNAP under the guise of efficiency and long-term good to turn billionaires into trillionaires while consolidating power. All the while…
Pulling your strings.
Carjacking your anger.
They aren't just feeding your fear—they're refining it into a weapon.
St. Patrick's Fire: A Moral Inferno
[Cut to 433 AD. Hilltop. A forbidden flame.]
The Irish High King had one rule: No fire before mine.
Then Patrick lit his fire—a flame of open defiance.
The Druids warned: "If that fire isn't put out, it'll never be extinguished."
They were right. It burned through an empire for 800 years.
So, what's America's fire?
- It's not partisan warfare.
- It's not scapegoating migrants.
- It's a moral stand against those profiting from fear—against those robbing your fundamental right to live without fear.
Who Are the Real Snakes?
Patrick banished snakes from Ireland—but there were no snakes. They were poisoners of trust, hope, and community.
America's snakes?
- Social media owners who profit from, and shape, fear.
- Politicians who weaponize division.
- Corporate interests dismantling your safety to line their pockets.
President Donald Trump isn't fighting snakes—he is the snake. But he's not alone. They're everywhere, wearing different skins, exploiting the fear they manufacture.
The Only Question That Matters This St. Patrick's Day
Forget distractions. Forget the puppet show.
Ask yourself this:
Do I feel safe?
Not just from violence—
- Safe from losing healthcare overnight?
- Safe from sudden joblessness?
- Safe enough to trust your community, your future?
America doesn't have to be this way.
They built it like this.
Which means you can unbuild it. And trust can be rebuilt.
But you must see the snakes. If you don't, you'll never fight the right battle—you'll fight each other while they watch and profit.
***
St. Patrick was a slave. He defied a corrupt king. He lit a fire.
That fire was truth—a moral truth against injustice. And it can't be put out.
It burned through 800 years of oppression, famine, and war.
He didn't just bring religion—he brought something far more powerful.
St. Patrick's Day isn't about shamrocks or beer.
It's about your resistance.
This year, don't just celebrate.
Act.
Light. Your. Fire.
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Senators Want to Know Why RFK Jr. Dined With Pharma Execs at Trump's Private Club
"You owe the American public an explanation for why you took part in PhRMA's influence-peddling events with President Trump," wrote Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, and Bernie Sanders.
Mar 11, 2025
A group of progressive U.S. senators on Monday pushed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, to disclose what he and President Donald Trump discussed with pharmaceutical executives at recent private dinners as the industry pressures the new administration to end Medicare drug price negotiations.
In a letter to Kennedy, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pointed to Wall Street Journalreporting from last month on the millions of dollars that healthcare industry executives spent to dine with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida ahead of his inauguration.
Kennedy, according to the Journal, "attended several of the dinners, but largely stayed quiet as Trump and others talked."
Warren, Wyden, and Sanders wrote to Kennedy that "the dinners may have served as an opportunity for Big Pharma to gain insider access to both you and President Trump" and asked the HHS chief to reveal information about the meetings with industry executives, including how many there have been since the November election and whether Medicare drug price negotiations or other critical matters were discussed.
"Big Pharma stands to profit immensely from a second Trump administration, especially if they can convince you and President Trump to abandon policies like Medicare drug price negotiations and patent reform that would save Americans hundreds of billions of dollars on lifesaving drugs," the senators wrote. "Indeed, the executives that attended these dinners have called on him to 'pause drug negotiations'—negotiations that are expected to save taxpayers $100 billion by 2032."
"You owe the American public an explanation for why you took part in PhRMA's influence-peddling events with President Trump, what happened at these meetings, and whether they will affect your commitment to ensuring that Americans receive the relief they deserve from high drug prices," the senators added.
RFK Jr. said he'd "clean up corruption" as HHS Secretary. So why'd he have dinner with Big Pharma executives at Mar-a-Lago with Trump? The American people deserve to know what kind of deals might have been made at those "million-dollar" dinners.
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— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) March 10, 2025 at 7:29 PM
The Journal reported that the CEO of Pfizer, which pumped $1 million into Trump's inaugural committee, was among the executives who attended the private Mar-a-Lago dinners. Eli Lilly's chief executive also joined at least one of the dinners.
Though Kennedy, an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, has vocally criticized Big Pharma and its political influence, the industry did not lobby against his nomination to lead HHS, which oversees the Medicare drug price negotiations that began during the Biden administration.
Last month, the head of the pharmaceutical industry's biggest lobbying group and several pharma CEOs met with Trump as part of a campaign to weaken the price negotiations, which threaten drugmakers' ability to jack up prices at will.
The negotiations have yielded significant results, but Trump's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—an agency within HHS—has signaled it is open to altering the program.
"The Trump administration's statement is far from an embrace of drug price negotiation," Wyden and other senators warned earlier this year, "and appears to be opening the door to changes that could undermine Medicare's ability to get the best price possible on drugs."
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