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For Immediate Release
October, 15 2012, 11:19am EDT
Contact:
Ron Seifert, 843-814-2796, ronseif@gmail.com
Ramsey Sprague, 682-556-0553, profe.ramsey@gmail.com
Over 50 Enter Tar Sands Blockade Tree Village in Defiance of Police and Legal Repression to Defend Tree-Sitters
Risking arrest, lawsuits protesters rally for massive tree blockade after expansion of TransCanada's overreaching SLAPP suit
WINNSBORO, TEXAS
Following a weekend of nonviolent civil disobedience training in North Texas by Tar Sands Blockade, many dozens of protesters and supporters are rallying today at the site of the largest and longest tree sit in Texas history to stage the largest walk-on site protest and civil disobedience in the history of Keystone XL pipeline construction. Several individuals are defending the tree sitters and the trees by locking themselves to construction equipment being used in proximity to the forest blockade. Solidarity actions are also taking place in Washington DC, Boston, Austin and New York City.
Altogether more than 50 blockaders are risking arrest to stop Keystone XL construction and bring attention to TransCanada's repression of journalists attempting to cover the blockaders' side of the story. They are joined by dozens of supporters who are rallying on public property with colorful banners and signs alongside the easement's closest highway crossing. A massive media team is in tow to document the day of action and any possible police repression.
As the Winnsboro tree blockade enters its fourth week, the blockaders are resupplying their friends in the trees with fresh food, water, and cameras to further document their protest despite the threat of a newly-expanded Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) by TransCanada and egregious criminal overcharges by local law enforcement. Due to the SLAPP suits' outrageous claims, the tree sitters have by-and-large felt too threatened to safely reveal their identities, despite their protest being nonviolent. That the defiant walk-on protest is the largest yet attempted in the history of protests surrounding Keystone XL construction sends a clear signal that the blockaders will not be deterred by SLAPP suits and other legal threats to limit their civil liberties.
"Three weeks is a long time to be sitting in a tree. The training I got this weekend has me ready to rise up and join the sitters in defending Texas homes from the toxic tar sands," shared Glenn Hobbit, 28. "They're saying we might get sued or worse, but stopping this pipeline is too important."
Last week, the multinational corporation opened a civil suit in which it named 19 individual defendants, 3 organizations, and 6 anonymous tree sitters for a total of 28 defendants seeking an injunction, declaratory relief, and damages. All the named defendants are former arrestees of Tar Sands Blockade actions with the exception of media spokesperson Ron Seifert, who has yet been arrested in connection with a protest, and area landowner Eleanor Fairchild, who acted independently with activist and actor Daryl Hannah. Hannah was not named in the suit.
Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of Texas and Oklahoma landowners and climate justice organizers using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop the construction of TransCanada's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
"In reality, Tar Sands Blockade is not trespassing on TransCanada's property. Many of TransCanada's easement contracts were brokered through fraud and intimidation, and their entire legal foundation is being challenged in the courts for those reasons," explained Ron Seifert, Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson. "If anything TransCanada is trespassing on the property of landowners who never wanted anything to do with their dangerous tar sands pipeline."
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Paraguayan Senator Refuses to Apologize as Government Condemns Racist Attack on France's Mbappé
"I will not apologize," said 62-year-old Sen. Celeste Amarilla. "I come from a generation when gays were beaten up and calling someone a little Black shit was common."
Jul 07, 2026
A Paraguayan senator on Tuesday partially retracted her racist rant against French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappé but refused to apologize as French prosecutors weigh hate crime charges and officials in both countries condemned her remarks.
Prosecutors in Paris are considering charges of incitement to hatred or violence, or aggravated public insult, against right-wing Paraguayan opposition Sen. Celeste Amarilla, after the French Football Federation filed a complaint calling the "racist remarks" of the lawmaker "totally abject and unacceptable."
France eliminated Paraguay from the FIFA World Cup on Saturday, beating the South American side 1-0 in the Round of 16 match in Philadelphia, with Mbappé scoring a game-winning penalty kick in the 70th minute.
Following the unusually physical match—some observers accused Paraguay of being sore losers and playing dirty—Mbappé refused to shake Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill's hand.
An incensed Amarilla then took to X to call Mbappé a "colonized Cameroonian, pretending hard to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant, and ugly."
In a second post, the senator said Mbappé "didn't even learn to write; instead of mother's milk, he suckled on coconuts, and the most educated things he heard were the chimpanzees."
Mbappé was born in Paris and grew up just outside the French capital in Bondy.
Amarilla also cheered racist posts by other X users and asked "permission" to use one comment asking, "What kind of 'dark' thing can you ask someone who ran from lions so as not to be eaten?"
While many Paraguayans rushed to Amarilla's defense in the name of their national, sporting, and even racial honor, the country's Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the nation's government "deplores and rejects" her remarks, which it said are "contrary to the values and principles that inspire peaceful coexistence and respect for the human dignity that our country promotes."
Paraguayan Vice President Pedro Alliana also weighed in, asserting Monday that "football is an expression of fraternity" that "should unite people," and "there is no room for any type of discrimination" in the sport.
Mbappé responded directly to Amarilla on social media, saying, "You are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position."
"You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honor throughout the competition," the French captain and Real Madrid superstar wrote. "Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country."
French President Emmanuel Macron posted on social media: "Another goal for Kylian Mbappé. Against racism this time. All my support. When words defile, our values respond—dignity, respect, fraternity."
Amarilla subsequently posted a screed attacking what she called Mbappé's "arrogance" and "contempt."
"My posts were written in the heat of the moment," she claimed. "That mixed-race blood—a beautiful blend of Indigenous and Spanish blood flowing through my veins—was boiling while you mocked those great Paraguayan players who fought as equals until the very end of the match, and that's why I wrote those messages."
During Amarilla's youth, Paraguay committed genocide against the Aché, Ayoreo, Guaraní, and other Indigenous peoples under the US-backed dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner.
"Soon afterward, however, I regretted responding with the same insults that I myself receive," Amarilla continued in a conciliatory twist. "I, too am looked down upon for being brown-skinned and Latina; they call us 'sudacas.' I regretted it and deleted the post. I realized I was repeating patterns that I hate. I understand that it may have hurt you, because it is humiliating."
"Now I demand that you also retract your words and apologize to me," she added.
Speaking at a Tuesday morning press conference, Amarilla again defended her actions, which she said were rooted in her Generation X upbringing, declaring, "I will not apologize."
🗣️ Celeste Amarilla: “I come from a generation where calling someone a “little Black sh*t” was common.
Watch out for Paraguayans. We put Dinho behind bars for corruption.
Don't underestimate me, I can file charges against you.”
She’s disgusting, bro. 🤮 pic.twitter.com/yAw55G0hSP
— 10 (@Kylian) July 7, 2026
"I'm nearly 62 years old and grew up in a society where gays were beaten and where calling someone a little Black shit was the most common thing," the senator said. "I come from that generation, so now I'm trying to build a different Celeste Amarilla, that's capable of co-existing with others."
"Have patience," she added. "I'm trying."
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Bernie Sanders Advises Graham Platner to 'Step Aside'
The senator said he spoke with the Democratic candidate "about the best path forward for Maine" and recommended that he leave the race.
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US Sen. Bernie Sanders, among the earliest and most prominent congressional backers of Graham Platner's campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, has joined growing calls for the Maine Democrat to exit the race following sexual assault allegations.
"I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a Tuesday statement. "In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside."
Jenny Racicot initially told The New York Times that Platner's behavior was "reckless" and "unsettling" during their on-and-off relationship in 2019-21, and that she cut off contact after he came to her Maine home drunk despite being told not to around five years ago. Politico reported Monday afternoon that the 41-year-old said he sexually assaulted her that night. Later Monday, Racicot appeared on CNN and said he "absolutely" raped her.
Platner, in a Monday video, denied "any accusation of nonconsensual behavior," but also said that his campaign was "taking the time to reflect on the best path forward" given "the political reality" resulting from the reporting—which followed other controversies, including offensive Reddit posts, a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, and his past relationships, including allegations of physical aggression that he also denied.
After months of campaigning on progressive policies, the oyster farmer and combat veteran won last month's primary by over 50 points, beating Gov. Janet Mills, who remained on the ballot despite suspending her campaign in April. After Racicot's assault allegations broke, numerous groups and individuals—including other members of Congress who had endorsed Platner—called on him to immediately withdraw.
Racicot told CNN and Politico that she didn't publicly accuse Platner of rape earlier in part because she agrees with his politics—and some progressives who previously supported the candidate have warned the Democratic establishment that "this is not your opening," as Our Revolution executive director Joseph Geevarghese said in a Monday statement calling for his withdrawal.
If Platner withdraws by July 13, he can be replaced on the ballot, and the Maine Democratic Party would have until July 27 to come up with a name. Already, Democrat Troy Jackson, a former Maine Senate president who campaigned for governor this cycle with Platner and Sanders, has filed paperwork.
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95% of Americans Say Country Faces Cost-of-Living Crisis as Half Struggle to Afford Essentials
"Meanwhile, Trump wants to hike military spending to $1.5 trillion a year," said one observer.
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Days after President Donald Trump made his latest dismissive remark about the cost of living and Americans' struggles to afford housing, new polling released Tuesday finds that nearly the entire voting public views the US as facing an affordability crisis and are increasingly pessimistic that the economy—and working people—will recover.
The Harris Poll, conducted on behalf of The Guardian newspaper, found that 57% of respondents believe the economy is still getting worse for Americans even after the US and Iran signed a peace deal last month to end the conflict started in February by the Trump administration and Israel—a war that sent oil prices soaring.
The average price of gas in the US is still $3.79 per gallon, despite the fact that Brent crude prices have fallen sharply.
Across party lines, about half of respondents said they are struggling to afford basic items like gas and groceries, and two-thirds of Americans, including nearly half of Republican voters, said they do not believe the Trump administration will improve the affordability crisis.
The poll was taken nearly a week after Trump, who ran on lowering costs for Americans, refused to sign affordable housing legislation, calling the bipartisan bill "a big yawn."
In May, as the administration was negotiating an end to the Iran War, Trump said that he did not “think about Americans’ financial situation,” even as the Middle East conflict he and Israel started hit family budgets hard.
A month earlier, he said the federal government "can’t take care of daycare" and healthcare programs for Americans, because it was focused on one thing and one thing only: "military protection."
According to the new survey, gas is at the top of the list of expenses that Americans are struggling to afford, with 52% saying they are having trouble keeping up with the cost. More than half of respondents also reported having trouble affording groceries, and 46% said they are struggling to make their loan payments and pay for utilities.
Trump ended the Biden administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program, terminating the income-based student loan repayment plan for millions of borrowers. A report by Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee in March also found that the average utility bill was up by $110, or 6.4%, over last year, following the Republican Party's elimination of tax credits for solar and wind power and as Trump pushed for the unregulated expansion of energy-sucking artificial intelligence data centers, despite warnings that they would drive up household utility bills.
The president's tariffs and his refusal to take on corporate consolidation in the meatpacking industry have also contributed to high grocery prices, recent analyses have found.
The Harris Poll found that 57% of Americans believe the economy is steadily getting worse, compared with 46% who said so in February. Just 16% said the economy is getting stronger, and only 27% of Republicans said the same. In February, 49% of Republican voters reported a positive outlook on the economy.
The survey also found that 54% of respondents said neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party has a solution to the growing affordability crisis.
However, the poll was taken on the heels of several electoral victories by progressive and democratic socialist candidates who have centered the needs of working families, demanded that billionaires pay their fair share in taxes, and called for Medicare for All and universal childcare—programs that would be similar to ones that are commonplace in other wealthy countries.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has made strides toward a universal childcare program, a wealth tax, and a rent freeze for rent-stabilized housing units to address the economic inequality and cost-of-living crises.
On Monday, Trump claimed that "a social Democrat is a communist," in an apparent reference to democratic socialists like Mamdani and US House candidates Melat Kiros in Colorado's 1st District, Claire Valdez in New York's 7th District, and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York's 13th District.
"If you look at the people that are running, it's crazy what they're doing," said Trump. "But we'll never let that happen to this country... There's no appetite for it."
But in The New York Times on Tuesday, Lindsay Owens of the progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative suggested the recent elections prove there is, in fact, an "appetite" for candidates who recognize the affordability crisis, and prioritize solutions.
“The economic populist moment is here," she said.
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