The Continent-Spanning Death Funnel Just Hit a New Snag
(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog's Favourite Living Canadian)
Our old friend, the Keystone XL pipeline, a continent-spanning death funnel and perpetual conservative fetish object, took another shot below the waterline on Friday. From the AP:
TransCanada had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to put the ruling from U.S. District Judge Brian Morris on hold while its appeal is pending, and allow the Calgary-based company to begin building the pipeline. In a Friday ruling, a two-judge panel said Morris carefully considered all factors in his decision to prevent the company from working on the proposed 1,184-mile pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska. TransCanada attorneys had said an injunction issued by Morris in November could cause it to miss the 2019 construction season. Morris allowed TransCanada to perform some activities outside the pipeline's right-of-way, including the construction of pipe storage yards.
In February, TransCanada said this delay would cost the company nearly a billion dollars. Meanwhile, as the court was considering TransCanada's appeal, Nebraska, through which the pipeline is supposed to run, was dealing with the worst flooding in half a century. I'm sure TransCanada is taking things like that into account.
In South Dakota, the state legislature rushed through a package of bills nakedly in violation of the First Amendment aimed at dousing protests in that state. From the Rapid City Journal:
Senate Bill 189 establishes civil penalties for "riot boosting," or contributing money to or encouraging violent pipeline protesters. Senate Bill 190 creates a funding source for extraordinary costs attributed to pipeline protests, sourced from local, state and federal dollars, as well as contributions from the pipeline company.
Noem said she consulted lawmakers, law enforcement and TransCanada in her development of Senate bills 189 and 190. Tribal leaders said they were not consulted. "I’m well aware that some of our (tribal) leaders are not in favor of the pipeline, although we should all be in favor of it being peaceful," Noem said when she introduced the package.
Life in a petro-state is very weird.
In 1972, elements of the British Army opened fire on civil-rights marchers in Derry in the north of Ireland. It was called "Bloody Sunday," not to be confused with the other Bloody Sunday in which British soldiers and auxiliaries opened up on the stands at Croke Park in reprisal for Michael Collins's men having that morning decapitated the British intelligence service in Dublin. For decades, the British government lied, stonewalled, and fudged the truth about how 13 people were shot down in the street.
This week, it was determined that one soldier-known only as Soldier F-would be tried for murdering two men and attempting to murder several others. Even this spooned-out justice was too much for some former British army veterans. From the Belfast Telegraph:
The Justice for Northern Ireland Veterans group is asking former soldiers to join them as they "descend en masse on Londonderry" to protest at the decision to charge a former paratrooper with murder. The Public Prosecution Service yesterday said it believed there was enough evidence to prosecute 'Soldier F' for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney. He also faces four counts of attempted murder. Alan Barry, founder of the group, said he would talk to ferry companies and coach operators to allow former soldiers "to come and march on Londonderry to show people we will not tolerate one of our own being prosecuted" He said: "We are not happy. One paratrooper prosecuted is one paratrooper too many. It should have been none.
"We are putting out a call to as many veterans who served in Northern Ireland and want to travel over and descend on Londonderry and march through the streets. "We will show people that we will not tolerate one of ours being prosecuted when 300 convicted killers were released from jail and 150 'on the run' letters were handed out to those who weren't apprehended." He added: "You cannot absolve the republican movement of their crimes against humanity and then decide it's acceptable to come after an elderly veteran. It's totally disproportionate.
So former British paratroopers are going to march in protest through Derry in support of one of their own who is being tried for murder. What can possibly go wrong there?
WWOZ Pick To Click: "The Poachers Pocket" (The Bonnevilles): Yeah, I pretty much still love New Orleans.
Weekly Visit To The Pathe Archives: Here are some New Zealand-and Australian-soldiers returning from Churchill's bloody fiasco at Gallipoli in 1917. It was scenes like this that inspired one of the greatest antiwar songs of all time, Eric Bogle's "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda." History is so cool.
Is it a good day for dinosaur news, USA Today? It's always a good day for dinosaur news!
The Galleonosaurus dorisae is the first dinosaur of its kind to be identified from the Gippsland region southeast of Melbourne in over a decade, according to a report published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Paleontology on Monday. The small dinosaurs were considered "agile runners" that stood a little over two feet tall, said Matthew Herne, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New England. Herne told USA TODAY while the dinosaurs would be similar in size to a wallaby, they didn't bear much other resemblance to the furry animals. "Galleonosaurus would have had an horizontal body, a long tail, with powerful hind legs with three functional toes, short arms and a rather small head, with large eyes," Herne said. It's unsure if the Galleonosaurus was a feathered or scaled creature, but Herne said scales are most likely based on its other ornithopod, plant-eating relatives.
So, tie me dorisae down, sport. Tie me dorisae down. C'mon, sing along! Dinosaurs, after all, lived then to make us happy now.
The Committee was unanimous in thanking Top Commenter Edward Jackson for his service to the regulars in the shebeen regarding other establishments which are not as welcoming as this one. To wit:
This is completely off topic, but to all you good people who have become my friends on "Join the Conversation":
If you happen to have "liked" Esquire Magazine on your facebook, and you see Mr. Pierce's pieces there, as he would say: "watch where you step" on posting comments. You will not be among friends. It is a piranha tank of vicious ignorant trolls. I found this out when I was trolled and responded, and a second troll crossed the line and threatened me. NBD, I reported it. Here's an example: One recently said "C.P. is the worst writer in America!" He had a number of supportive replies, but one reply was "And yet you're reading him." My question exactly. I don't This has been a Public Service Announcement by the Ed Jackson Corp.
All here thank you for this, Ed, and these 76.44 Beckhams are only part of what we owe you for your good service.
I'll be back on Monday with news about whoever it is that's being indicted then. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line, and be careful where you step. The Great Grimpen Mire is no place for the unwary.
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