June, 01 2015, 01:15pm EDT
Media Advisory: National Environmental and Tribal Leaders Discuss Upcoming Tar Sands Resistance March
WASHINGTON
In the lead-up to what is expected to be the largest anti-tar sands event ever to take place in the Midwest in St. Paul on June 6, advocates will host a national telephonic press conference tomorrow to discuss the serious threat posed to the Great Lakes region by dirty tar sands projects like the Alberta Clipper pipeline expansion, and the growing region-wide movement to stop them.
WHAT: National press call to discuss the upcoming Tar Sands Resistance March
WHO:
Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club
Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network
Andy Pearson, Midwest Tar Sands Coordinator with MN350
Doug Hayes, Staff Attorney with the Sierra Club, will also be available to answer any legal questions about the pending lawsuit regarding Alberta Clipper
WHEN: Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 2 at 12:00 pm EST
DIAL: 888-632-3384
PASS CODE: GREAT LAKES
In addition to Saturday's massive march and rally, environmental and tribal activists plan to conduct events throughout this week to highlight the threats of the proposed Sandpiper pipeline and the lack of tribal consultation that has taken place throughout the approval process:
On Wednesday, June 3, activists with Honor the Earth plan to rally outside the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission office. The PUC will be meeting to hear oral arguments about the proposed Sandpiper pipeline, which would open a new corridor for transporting dirty fuels across Minnesota's lake country. The rally will take place at 9:30 AM in downtown St. Paul, 121 7th Place E, Suite 350.
On Thursday, June 4, the White Earth Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will hold the first pipeline hearing to be held on reservation to discuss how the proposed Sandpiper and Line 3 pipelines would impact tribal lands and people. The hearing will be at the Rice Lake Community Center (26209 Water Tower Loop) from 5:00pm to 8:00pm.
On Friday, June 5, the Mille Lacs Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is holding a second pipeline hearing at 10:00 morning, Friday June 5, at the East Lake Community Center, 20650 363rd Lane.
Also on June 5, the Minnesota PUC will hold their internal deliberations about the Sandpiper Certificate of Need and vote on the pipeline.
The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our 3.8 million members and supporters to defend everyone's right to a healthy world.
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Jayapal, Sanders Offer Answer to Elon Musk's Healthcare Cost Question
"The most efficiently run healthcare systems in the world," said National Nurses United, "have been proven time and time again to be single-payer systems."
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A social media post by Musk drew the attention of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who reintroduced legislation to expand Medicare coverage to every American last year and have long called for the for-profit healthcare system to be replaced by a government-run program, or single-payer system, like those in every other wealthy country in the world.
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Jayapal added that she has "a solution" to exorbitant healthcare costs in the U.S.: "It's called Medicare for All."
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But Sanders has sharply criticized the economic system and business practices that have helped make Musk the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $343.8 billion.
Another progressive, David Sirota of The Lever, suggested last month that DOGE could be used to eliminate the nation's vast health insurance bureaucracy and replace it with Medicare for All, pointing to a 2020 report from the Republican-controlled Congressional Budget Office that showed that a government-run healthcare program would save the country an estimated $650 billion each year.
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"We disagree with the conclusions of such a report," spokesperson Vedant Patel said a day after the human rights group released the document. "We have said previously and continue to find that the allegations of genocide are unfounded."
The Israeli government has vehemently rejected the findings in the report.
"The deplorable and fanatical organization Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies. The genocidal massacre on October 7, 2023, was carried out by the Hamas terrorist organization against Israeli citizens. Since then, Israeli citizens have been subjected to daily attacks from seven different fronts. Israel is defending itself against these attacks acting fully in accordance with international law," wrote the Israel Foreign Ministry in a post on X.
Amnesty Israel also does not accept the findings of Amnesty International's report, according to The Times of Israel.
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In the 296-page report released Wednesday—titled, "You Feel Like You Are Subhuman": Israel's Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza—Amnesty International found through its research and legal analysis "sufficient basis to conclude that Israel committed, during the nine-month period under review, prohibited acts under Articles II (a), (b), and (c) of the Genocide Convention, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part."
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Patel responded, "That's an opinion, and you're certainly welcome and you are entitled to it, as are all the organizations."
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