County’s Lawsuit Suing Energy Companies For ‘Climate Change’ Teed Up For Supreme Court

The Supreme Court may be getting ready to take up a county’s lawsuit alleging oil companies are responsible for environmental damages caused by climate change, the latest development in a campaign by local left-wing officials to influence national climate policy.

The case, brought by Boulder County, Colorado against Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil, seeks monetary relief for the companies’ decision to burn fossil fuels and allegedly “conceal” the associated dangers, which the county argues “caused, accelerated, an[d] exacerbated the impacts of climate change.” While the companies have appealed the case to the Supreme Court, it still has to decide on the question of jurisdiction, and whether or not the case should be heard in state or federal court.

Boulder isn’t the only local government suing oil companies: local-level climate lawsuits have been occurring for years, and there are similar pending cases in cities across the country, from California to Rhode Island.

These climate lawsuits often cite public nuisance laws — which have historically been used for small-scale land issues, like blocking a public road — as their justification. But, as the Second Circuit recognized when it dismissed New York City’s climate damages lawsuit against Chevron in 2021, the global issue of climate change presents a “uniquely international problem” that is “not well-suited to the application of state law.”

“The goal of a lot of these cases is to actually fundamentally change what companies are doing to accomplish left-wing priorities without passing any laws,” O.H. Skinner, Executive Director of Alliance For Consumers, a nonprofit that defends consumer interests, told the DCNF. With big enough penalties, cities can force companies to capitulate and simply “stop selling gas in certain states, stop pumping oil, stop selling products,” he said.

At the invitation of the Supreme Court, the Biden administration weighed in on the jurisdiction question last week, advising the Court to leave the matter in state courts.

Energy companies prefer the matter be resolved in federal court, in part because of the luck they’ve had there in previous rulings, Skinner told the DCNF. Cities and the Biden administration, however, prefer the matter to play out in state courts, where judges appointed by Democratic governors are friendlier to their cause.

“Cities and trial lawyers have read the room,” Skinner told the DCNF, seeking out states where judges will “want to solve those problems in the courtroom.” Trial lawyers, he noted, are also some of the biggest donors to judicial election campaigns in left-wing states.

One pending climate case was brought by Honolulu, Hawaii. There, hearing the case at the state level would mean putting it before a Hawaii Supreme Court that ruled just last week that its citizens have a right to a “life-sustaining” climate.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/21/cities-climate-policy-oil-company/

JUST IN: Amtrak Train With Dozens Of Passengers Derails Near Port Costa, California; Crews Responding

PORT COSTA, Calif. – Fire officials reported that an Amtrak train derailed on Tuesday afternoon near Martinez after colliding with a fallen tree. The incident occurred about half a mile east of Port Costa, and emergency crews were dispatched to the scene around 3 p.m.

Amtrak authorities confirmed that none of the 55 passengers or crew members on board were injured in the accident, and that the train remained in an upright position with all systems functioning properly, ABC 7 reported.

Officials also stated that an alternate track is available, and service will be temporarily limited to a single track through the affected area.

https://breaking911.com/breaking-amtrak-train-with-dozens-of-passengers-derails-near-port-costa-california/

>>18556572

Why don't you just post all your evidence on Qresearch and let the Anon's distribute it worldwide in a matter of hours?

Decentralize the evidence

Strong earthquake strikes Afghanistan

The Badakhshan tremor was felt in Pakistan and India as well

An earthquake in northeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday evening was felt all the way to New Delhi, with city residents in some parts of India and Pakistan fleeing their buildings in fear they might collapse. Initially reported as 7.7 in magnitude, the quake was later confirmed to be a 6.5, deep under the Badakhshan province.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) pinpointed the quake’s epicenter as 187 kilometers (116 miles) under the surface, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south-southeast of Jurm in Afghanistan.

The shaking reportedly went on for at least 30 seconds, and “earthquake” quickly began trending on all social networks.

In Rawalpindi, Pakistan, “people ran out of their houses and were reciting the Koran,” said an AFP correspondent. The tremor was also felt in Islamabad, Peshawar, and Lahore. At least two people died and hundreds were injured in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, along the border with Afghanistan, according to the local media. One of the dead was a 13-year-old girl buried under the wall of her home.

In India, the quake prompted the National Disaster Management Authority to tweet out safety tips, and the New Delhi police to check in on the capital’s residents.

Tuesday evening’s earthquake was stronger than the 5.9 magnitude tremor that struck Afghanistan’s Paktika province last June. That quake was one of the worst in decades, killing more than 1,000 people and displacing tens of thousands.

Last month, a series of powerful earthquakes struck the Turkish-Syrian border region, killing more than 51,000 people in Türkiye alone. The strongest of the quakes was 7.8 in magnitude. Ankara has estimated the damages to exceed $104 billion.

https://www.rt.com/news/573395-afghanistan-pakistan-india-quake/

Just as radical Dems are indicting Trump & destroying the fabric of our nation with their Police State tactics, DeSantis pathetically runs to the liberal media on orders from his RINO establishment owners to attack my father.

He's exposing himself as 100% Controlled Opposition!

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1638294923224006656

'Absolutely damning' NPR report accuses Rolling Stone of covering up child porn charges in article on FBI raid of star journalist's home

An NPR report documented how the Rolling Stone misled readers on a story about an FBI raid on a prominent journalist's house by hiding accusations of child sex abuse against the reporter.

The Rolling Stone report implied that the April 2 raid on the home of ABC News national security producer James Gordon Meek might be a case of the government going after journalists out of political motivation.

The report from October lionized Meek, who had worked for ABC News since 2013 but left the organization after the raid and had a book deal cancelled.

Almost a year later, it was revealed that Meek was being investigated for child sex abuse, and NPR says the Rolling Stone covered up the information.

"Why did Rolling Stone suggest Meek was targeted for his coverage of national security, rather than something unrelated to his journalism?" asked NPR reporter David Folkenflik.

Folkenflik documented from many sources that Rolling Stone editor in chief Noah Shachtman appeared to influence the framing of the story to mislead readers.

The report said that Shachtman even requested that they not use a photograph of Meek for the article but instead use something focusing on the FBI instead.

When the writer of the report was pulled away to care for her dying mother, Shachtman stepped in and edited the report so that it appeared that Meek was raided as a result of his reporting.

In February, the Department of Justice released details about the charges against Meek including the accusation that he had shared a video of the rape of an infant. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The affidavit has shocking details about the evidence the FBI captured in which Meek allegedly had disturbing conversations under the screen name "Pawny4."

"The iPhone 8 contained three chat conversations in which the username 'Pawny4' was engaging in sexually explicit conversations where the participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children. In two of those conversations, Pawny4 received and distributed child pornography image and video files through Kik, an internet-based messaging platform," the affidavit read.

"Have you ever raped a toddler girl? It’s amazing," Pawny4 allegedly asked a 25-year-old male.

NPR reported that the writer of the Rolling Stone article was furious when she found out it had been published with the additional edits by Shachtman.

Critics pummeled the Rolling Stone over the report, calling it "absolutely damning."

"[T]his is utterly appalling. i’ve written for rolling stone, and i have no problem saying it. journalistic malpractice of the highest form," replied Marisa Kabas.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/rolling-stone-child-porn-coverup

https://twitter.com/realstewpeters/status/1638015136899256328

>>18556754

i was conversing with Brendan O"Connell for a couple of years.

He hates this place but doesn't understand what it is!

Bruce Springsteen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus among those honoured as Joe Biden presents arts, humanities medals

US President Joe Biden has welcomed a collection of singers, authors, artists and humanitarians to the White House to present them with medals — before stealing the show with a quip about seeking re-election.

Key points:

US President Joe Biden honoured 22 people and organisations

The medal recipients' work includes dance, art, design, history as well as music, writing and philanthropy

The awards were the president's first batch for arts and humanities

Rocker Bruce Springsteen, Actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus, comedian Mindy Kaling and singer-songwriter Gladys Knight were among the 22 people and organisations honoured.

When author Colson Whitehead's award was announced, Mr Biden noted that the author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys had already won back-to-back Pulitzer Prizes, and made a quip about seeking re-election.

"Pretty good, man," he told Whitehead. "I'm kind of looking for a back to back myself."

It was a feel-good event in the East Room, as the medal recipients stepped forward to accept their awards one by one.

Louis-Dreyfus, who channelled Mr Biden's resume when she starred in Veep, jokingly sagged under the weight when the president placed the medal for the arts around her neck. "Wow!" she said.

Springsteen was lauded for "his extraordinary contributions to the American songbook, and for being The Boss".

Knight, known as the "empress of soul", gave the president a giant hug when he put the medal around her neck.

Jaclyn Sallee, who received the medal on behalf of Native America Calling, a podcast and radio show, beamed with pride.

So did social historian Earl Lewis, who, according to the president, chronicles African American history and "explores how diversity strengthens our nation".

Mr Biden joked that he opened his closet to find one recipient, designer Vera Wang, inside — her clothes, anyway — then said: "Your dresses always look beautiful on my wife."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-22/joe-biden-presents-arts-and-humanities-medals/102129066

Ukraine issues update on mooted Xi-Zelensky talks

Kiev is still waiting for Beijing to confirm top-level virtual discussions, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister says

Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have a lot to discuss, but it’s currently unclear if their conversation will actually take place, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk has said.

A phone call being considered between the two heads of state “would be an important move. They have things to say to each other,” Vereshchuk told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday.

But when asked if this conversation will happen “for sure,” she replied: “I don't know. We're waiting for confirmation.”

Xi hasn’t spoken with Zelensky since the conflict between Moscow and Kiev began more than a year ago. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that the leaders of China and Ukraine may hold a “virtual meeting” after Xi returns from his visit to Russia.

The Chinese leader landed in Moscow on Monday and held five-hour-long, one-to-one talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He met with Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Tuesday, with high-level delegations from the two countries, headed by Putin and Xi, to continue negotiations later in the day.

Beijing’s views on the conflict in Ukraine were summarized by Xi in an article he wrote that was published in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper ahead of his visit. China maintains “an objective and impartial position” regarding the crisis, while making “active efforts to promote reconciliation and peaceful negotiations,” he wrote.

The Chinese leader pointed out that the settlement of the conflict should be based on the principles laid out in the UN Charter, which “respect the reasonable concern of all states in the field of security” and ensure the stability of global production and supply chains.

However, Vereshchuk said that Kiev expected Beijing to stand with the side seeking what she called “truth and justice” by supporting Zelensky’s ten-point “peace plan,” which, among other things, calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces to borders claimed by Ukraine, for the payment of reparations and for submission to war-crime tribunals. “The Chinese should understand that the idea of a ceasefire is impossible if it’s not preceded by a Russian pullout from the territory of Ukraine,” she explained.

Russia instantly rejected Zelensky’s proposal as “unacceptable,” insisting that it actually proved Kiev’s unwillingness to look for a diplomatic solution.

https://www.rt.com/news/573362-xi-zelensky-china-ukraine/

>>18556962

Nice

Mark Zuckerberg demanded Facebook employee ‘please resign’ over media leak

The tech billionaire’s dictatorial management style has resurfaced in the form of a brutal email asking staff to “Please Resign”.

Mark Zuckerberg’s alleged dictatorial management style resurfaced in an email the Facebook founder sent more than a decade ago with the subject line, “Please Resign” after one of his workers leaked information to the media.

The 2010 email from Zuckerberg to Facebook staff – posted over the weekend by the Twitter account known as “Internal Tech Emails” – blasted the leak from an internal meeting about the social network’s future plans as an act of “betrayal”.

“Confidential – Do Not Share,” began the message, which has received more than 3 million views since being posted on Internal Tech Emails’ Twitter account on Sunday, the New York Post reports.

“Lots of you saw the TechCrunch story … claiming that we’re building a mobile phone. “We’re not building a phone and I spoke at length … about what we’re actually doing – building ways to make all phones and apps more social.”

“This was an act of betrayal,” Zuckerberg raged.

“So I’m asking whoever leaked this to resign immediately,” he continued. “If you believe that it’s ever appropriate to leak internal information, you should leave.”

The tech wunderkind, who was 25 at the time, then issued a threat to the leaker.

“If you don’t resign, we will almost certainly find out who you are anyway.”

Zuckerberg, who recently laid off thousands of employees at Meta as part of a restructuring and cost-cutting spree, brooded over his employees leaking information to the press in the 2010 email.

“It is frustrating and destructive that anyone here thought is [sic] was okay to say this to anyone outside the company,” he wrote. “The fact that the story was inaccurate doesn’t make it any better.”

The Post has sought comment from former journalist Michael Arrington, who wrote the TechCrunch story that Zuckerberg denied.

Arrington, a co-founder of TechCrunch, has since moved on to head Arrington Capital, a Web3-centric venture capital firm.

Zuckerberg’s 2010 email went on to lament the fallout from the leak.

“I’ve had to personally spend a lot of time over the last few days … cleaning up the damage from this mess,” he wrote. “Even now, we’re in a more precarious position with companies in the mobile space who should be our partners because they now think we’re competitors.”

While pledging to crack down on leaks to the press, Zuckerberg wrote in the next sentence: “We are a company that promotes openness and transparency, both in the world at large and here internally at Facebook.

“But the cost of an open culture is that we all have to protect the confidential information we share internally,” he wrote.

“If we don’t, we screw over everyone working their asses off to change the world.”

The Post has sought comment from Facebook’s parent company, Meta.

In 2016, a former Facebook employee who was fired from his account executive position wrote a book alleging that Zuckerberg ruled the company with an iron fist.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/mark-zuckerberg-demanded-facebook-employee-please-resign-over-media-leak/news-story/661fcb09231de22b1472d19ef379af6f

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta turned blind eye to sex trafficking evidence, suit says

A new lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms executives and directors of failing to do enough to stop sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram.

The complaint made public late Monday by several pension and investment funds that own Meta stock said Meta’s leadership and board have failed to protect the company’s and shareholders’ interests by turning a blind eye to “systemic evidence” of criminal activity.

Given the board’s failure to explain how it tries to root out the problem, “the only logical inference is that the board has consciously decided to permit Meta’s platforms to promote and facilitate sex/human trafficking,” the complaint said.

Meta rejected the basis for the lawsuit, which was filed in Delaware Chancery Court.

“We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms,” it said in a statement on Tuesday. “The claims in this lawsuit mischaracterize our efforts to combat this type of activity. Our goal is to prevent people who seek to exploit others from using our platform.”

Zuckerberg, Meta’s billionaire co-founder and chief executive, told Congress in 2019 that child exploitation was “one of the most serious threats that we focus on.”

Meta, based in Menlo Park, Calif., has long faced accusations that its platforms are a haven for sexual misconduct.

In June 2021, the Texas Supreme Court allowed three people who became entangled with their abusers through Facebook to sue, saying Facebook was not a “lawless no-man’s-land” immune from liability for human trafficking.

Meta separately faces hundreds of lawsuits from families of teenagers and younger children who claimed to suffer mental health problems by becoming addicted to Facebook and Instagram. Some school districts have also filed lawsuits over the problem.

Monday’s lawsuit is a derivative case, where shareholders sue officers and directors who allegedly breached their duties.

Damages are paid to the company, often by the officers’ and directors’ insurers, instead of to shareholders.

The case is Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Rhode Island et al v Zuckerberg et al, Delaware Chancery Court, No. 2023-0304.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/21/mark-zuckerberg-meta-ignored-facebook-sex-trafficking-suit/