❧ In a piece of truly disastrous news, a North Dakota jury has sided with Big Oil in its SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace. For its role in supporting protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017, the environmental organization will be forced to pay Energy Transfer at least $660 million—an amount so large that it could bankrupt their U.S. operation. Greenpeace has said it will fight to appeal the case, saying it was aimed at “destroying the right to peaceful protest.” They have good reason to believe this was not a fair trial: more than half the jurors had direct ties to the fossil fuel industry, and nearly all of them came in with negative views about anti-pipeline protesters. (The Guardian)
❧ FIGHTING BACK: Postal workers around the country rallied Thursday to challenge the Trump administration’s plans to privatize the United States Postal Service. As part of the American Postal Workers Union’s “Day of Action,” members and other supporters gathered outside of post offices across American cities for demonstrations:
Video: Fox San Antonio
❧ And in lighter, fluffier news, the founder of the Pirate’s Booty snack company tried to orchestrate a coup (err, mutiny?) in a small Long Island town. According to a statement from the town of Sea Cliff, the popcorn baron, Robert Ehrlich, strode into the Village Hall with lackeys in tow and “presented a statement falsely asserting his authority as mayor, demanding access to office space, and declaring that the entire Village staff was fired effective immediately but could reapply for their jobs.” After yelling at everyone for about an hour, Ehrlich and his scurvy band of supporters were kicked out and peace was restored. Ehrlich then threw his captain’s hat into the ring to try to unseat the incumbent mayor democratically. But the public responded with roughly the same indifference that children have for the flavored packing peanuts Ehrlich sells: He received a grand total of 62 votes compared to the mayor’s 1,064. (NBC News)
A popcorn baron going rogue and attempting his own, very low-stakes municipal January 6th wasn’t on our bingo cards either, but these are strange times.
AROUND THE WORLD
❧ Last weekend, the Trump administration deported more than 200 Venezuelans, who it claimed to be “gang members,” to a prison in El Salvador. It turns out that one of them was actually a former professional soccer player and children’s coach. The man, 36-year-old Jerce Reyes Barrios, entered the United States legally, coming to the U.S. as an asylum seeker after being politically persecuted in Venezuela, where he’d been jailed and tortured for opposing its authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro. Now he finds himself in a prison in El Salvador known for similar conditions—including torture and forced labor. According to Barrios’ lawyer, Barrios has no criminal record and ICE arrested him on the mistaken belief that he had a tattoo affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. But his lawyers say it was actually a tattoo of a “crown sitting atop a soccer ball with a rosary and the word ‘Dios’,” similar to the logo of his favorite soccer team, Real Madrid.
ICE officials have acknowledged that “many” of the people they rounded up and deported had no criminal records at all. Lawyers and relatives of several other detained men have signed sworn affidavits testifying that they were swooped up by ICE because of their tattoos alone. Because of the Trump administration’s secrecy and refusal to allow for the due process of law, we have no way to know how many of the people they just disappeared were totally innocent. Until they are actually given a fair trial, we should assume they all are, as we would for any other accused criminal. (El País)
SONG OF THE WEEK
“Deportee” by Woody Guthrie
Guthrie wrote this haunting song in 1948 upon hearing a radio report about a plane crash that killed four Americans and 28 migrant workers who were being deported back to Mexico. Guthrie was struck by how the radio report did not use any of their names, instead referring to them merely as “deportees.” Today, as the Trump administration brings contempt and injustice toward immigrants to new heights, it’s all the more poignant.
❧ Israel has resumed its full-scale assault on Gaza with attacks this week that have killed nearly 600 Palestinians, including 200 children. The Israeli paper Haaretzdescribes it as “the largest child massacre in [Israel’s] history.” It comes as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has made what can only be described as the most open statement of genocidal intent of the entire war, calling it a “final warning.” He promised to unleash “total devastation” upon “the people of Gaza” unless they “take the US president’s advice” to overthrow Hamas and free all the remaining Israeli hostages. There is no longer any pretense that Israel is attempting to avoid harming civilians. They have made it explicit that collectively punishing the people of Gaza for the actions of Hamas is their goal. If Israel’s leaders are ever held responsible for their war crimes, this should be exhibit A in the trial against them. (Times of Israel)
❧ And in a bit of good news, Mexico City’s congress has voted to ban the practice of violent bullfighting and replace the sport with a bloodless alternative. Traditional bullfighting is quite barbaric, allowing matadors to use lances, spears, and a small sword to attack the animals. The new version will only allow them to use capes to bait the bulls into charging, while the bulls’ horns will also be covered to prevent fighters from being gored themselves. It’s a great accomplishment for animal rights advocates in Mexico—though their hope was to ban bullfighting entirely, since even without violence, it’s still quite an upsetting experience for the bulls. But they are hoping that bullfights with no blood will be boring enough that people will stop attending the sport entirely. (The Guardian)
CROOKS vs. SICKOS (Or, “What are our politicians and oligarchs up to?”)
❧ Trump has signed an executive order to “shut down” the Department of Education. He can’t actually get rid of the department on his own, but says he plans to significantly downsize it while waiting on Congress to potentially abolish it entirely. Though it only provides 13 percent of public K-12 education funding, the Department of Education’s responsibilities are still vast, including overseeing federal student loans and aid, civil rights enforcement, and special education. While we don’t know exactly how the administration will reorganize the Department’s functions, we know that it intends to make huge cuts, ones that will “hurt students with disabilities, English learners and poor districts the most,” according to Kalena Thomhave in the American Prospect.
Elon Musk’s tweet celebrating the death of the “Departmen of Education” reminds us why
we need a Department of Education in the first place.
❧ In case Andrew Cuomo’s awfulness was not self-evident from his positions on police and pro-Palestine protesters and his lengthy history of sexual harassment, Gothamisthas revealed that the treasurer for his New York mayoral campaign, Kristofer Graham, previously worked for a viciously anti-transgender and anti-abortion group. The group, known as the Coalition to Protect Kids, was dedicated to defeating New York’s Proposition 1, a ballot measure which passed last year and enshrined an “Equal Rights Amendment” in the state Constitution. The measure’s main purpose was to strengthen abortion rights, but the Coalition attacked it on the grounds that it would supposedly “end girls-only sports in this state” by allowing transgender students to play. For Cuomo to have somebody like this in his orbit is appalling, but sadly not surprising.
❧ As Bernie Sanders continues to barnstorm the country on his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, he is encouraging emerging left-wing leaders to make a long-needed break from the flailing Democratic Party. “One of the aspects of this tour is to try to rally people to get engaged in the political process and run as independents outside of the Democratic Party,” Sanders told the New York Times. “There’s a lot of great leadership all over this country at the grass-roots level. We’ve got to bring that forward. And if we do that, we can defeat Trumpism and we can transform the political situation in America.” It’s a notable break for someone like Sanders, who spent the Biden years as a dutiful team player only for it to yield little or nothing in terms of policy. We’re glad he finally seems to realize that the Democratic Party is a totally feckless institution with no real vision. Shame he didn’t reach that epiphany sooner!
SEAL FACT OF THE WEEK
Saturday, March 22, is International Seal Day!
There are many ways to honor and adore these delightful lumbering sea beasts, including going to visit some at your local zoo or aquarium or donating to a group like the Seal Conservation Society that helps protect them. But we’ll do what we do best and teach you something about seals that you may not have known:
The range of sizes for seals is quite astonishing. The smallest species of seal, the Baikal seal, is native to a singular lake in Russia, Lake Baikal—it only grows to about three and a half feet and around 220 pounds on average. On the other end of the spectrum (and native to the other end of the globe) is Antarctica’s elephant seal, which can grow as large as 20 feet long and weigh almost 9,000 lbs, eclipsing even the size of the mighty walrus (which is also technically a kind of seal!)
Falling between these two are more than 30 other unique species of seal, including some that are extremely weird, like the ribbon seal, which looks like a Double-Stuffed Oreo:
And then there’s the hooded seal, which blows a giant red “nose balloon” as a show of sexual prowess:
If there is a seal in your life, be sure to tell them
how important they ar-ar-are to you.
Writing and research by Stephen Prager and Alex Skopic. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Lily Sánchez. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.
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