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For Immediate Release
September, 04 2019, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, 323-972-5192, mark@boldnebraska.org
Collin Rees, Oil Change U.S., 308-293-3159, collin@priceofoil.org
Democratic Presidential Candidates Sign "NoKXL Pledge" to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline on Day One if Elected
As candidates gear up for CNN and MSNBC Climate Forums, activists push for clarity on fossil fuel infrastructure
Hastings, NE
After delivering a letter asking all of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates to sign the "NoKXL Pledge" on Aug. 13, so far ten of the candidates have signed onto the pledge -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Gov. Jay Inslee (no longer in the race), Sen. Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Sec. Julian Castro, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Kamala Harris -- making it clear that on Day One in office they will revoke the unprecedented, unilateral permit that President Trump issued for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
Over the years, Democratic candidates and elected officials have made it clear that there is a link between building new fossil fuel infrastructure and climate change. Before the Keystone XL fight, even the Democratic Party supported building more pipelines, without regard to how this infrastructure locks us into additional decades of fossil fuel dependence and worsens climate change.
The #NoKXL Pledge is backed by a coalition of farmers, ranchers, Tribal Nations and environmental groups that have been fighting the proposed Keystone XL tarsands export pipeline for 10 years.
The #NoKXL Pledge specifically urges the Democratic presidential candidates to pledge to:
- Immediately revoke the unilateral permits issued by President Trump for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines;
- Direct all federal agencies (State Department, FERC, Army Corps) to submit these two projects -- as well as all new energy infrastructure projects -- to a true climate test;
- Reject any project that will exacerbate our climate crisis; and
- Protect property rights from eminent domain abuse and honor U.S. treaties with sovereign Tribal Nations.
View letter to Democratic candidates urging them to take the 'NoKXL Pledge':
Online petition urging candidates to sign the NoKXL Pledge:
https://boldnebraska.org/nokxlpledge
"NoKXL Pledge" Coalition Co-Sponsors:
Bold Nebraska & Bold Alliance
Nebraska Easement Action Team
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Indigenous Environmental Network
350.org Action
Greenpeace USA
Oil Change U.S.
Friends of the Earth Action
Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund
Climate Hawks Vote
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Progressive Democrats of America
NYC Grassroots Alliance
Earth Action
Bucks Environmental Network
Greenbelt Climate Action Network
Anthropocene Alliance
New York Climate Action Group
Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline
Coalition Against the Pilgrim Pipeline
Seeding Sovereignty
MN 350
Bold Alliance is a non-profit organization fighting fossil fuel projects, protecting landowners against eminent domain abuse, and working for clean energy solutions while building an engaged base of citizens who care about the land, water and climate change.
LATEST NEWS
Trump Floats 'Charges for Treason' Against Media Outlets Over Iran War Coverage
US Sen. Ed Markey warned that the Trump administration is engaged in a "blatant attempt to muzzle the free press."
Mar 16, 2026
US President Donald Trump late Sunday floated "treason" charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount.
In a tirade posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that media outlets he accused of circulating "fake news" should "be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information." The maximum penalty for treason in the US is death.
Trump specifically called out the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal for reporting over the weekend that "five US Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia." Citing two unnamed US officials, the Journal noted that "the tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base," and that the planes were "damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired."
The US president called the story "false reporting" without substantively refuting its content. Trump wrote that four of the refueling planes are "in service" and one "will soon be flying the skies"—none of which is inconsistent with the Journal's reporting.
Trump, who regularly uses his social media platform to circulate AI-generated videos and photos, also complained about an AI video purportedly showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire. The president claimed the video was "distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets," without offering any examples. AFP published a fact-check of the video last week, deeming it "fabricated footage."
Trump's latest attack on the US media came after his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, threatened Saturday to pull the broadcasting licenses of media outlets he accused of "running hoaxes and news distortions." Carr did not provide specific examples.
The US president said Sunday that he was "thrilled to see" Carr's threat, railing against "Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic" news organizations.
Trump and other administration officials, including Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, have openly whined in recent days about what they've deemed negative coverage of the Iran assault, now in its third week with no end in sight.
Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump attacked a reporter as "a very obnoxious person" after she asked the president why he's sending 5,000 US Marines and sailors to the Middle East.
US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) warned in a letter to Carr on Sunday that the Trump administration is engaged in a "blatant attempt to muzzle the free press" if outlets don't align their coverage of the Iran war "with Trump's preferred narrative."
"Your Saturday post follows that same logic but extends it to the coverage of an active military conflict, where the chilling effect on journalists and the damage to the public’s right to know are most severe," Markey wrote to Carr.
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Pope Leo to Iran War Architects: 'Cease Fire'
"Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for,” the pope said during a prayer.
Mar 15, 2026
Pope Leo XIV called for a ceasefire in the Middle East on Sunday, in his most direct appeal for peace since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28.
While the pope did not mention either US President Donald Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name, he directly addressed those driving hostilities.
“On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict,” Leo said, according to The Associated Press. “Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for.”
The remarks came following his recital of the Angelus Prayer from the Vatican at 12:00 pm local time.
“Some claim to involve the name of God in these deadly decisions, but God cannot be enlisted by darkness."
"The people of the Middle East for two weeks have been suffering the atrocious violence of war," he began.
He continued: “Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and many others have been forced to abandon their homes. I renew my prayerful closeness to all those who have lost their loved ones in the attacks that have struck schools, hospitals, and residential areas."
According to AP, the mentioned school strike likely referred to the US bombing of an elementary school in Minab, Iran on the first day of the war, which killed at least 175 people, the majority of whom were children.
Pope Leo also repeated concerns about the situation in Lebanon, and called for "paths of dialogue that can support the country’s authorities in implementing lasting solutions to the serious crisis underway."
Israeli attacks on that country have forced about 1 million people to abandon their homes and killed more than 800, The Guardian reported.
The pope's remarks came two days after a Israeli strikes killed 12 healthcare workers at the primary healthcare facility in Burj Qalaouiyah, Lebanon, an attack that the country's health ministry said "violated all international humanitarian laws.”
Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement Saturday: "WHO condemns this tragic loss of life and emphasizes that health workers must always be protected. According to international humanitarian law, medical personnel and facilities should never be attacked or militarized."
He continued: "The intensification of conflict in Lebanon and the broader Middle East increases the likelihood of such tragedies. Urgent action is required to de-escalate the crisis and protect the health of people throughout the region."
In Iran, meanwhile, US and Israeli attacks on the city of Isfahan killed at least 15 people Sunday morning, and the total death toll for the country is around 1,400, according to Al Jazeera.
Following his remarks during the Angelus Prayer, Pope Leo also addressed the war while conducting a pastoral visit to a suburb of Rome.
“Currently, many of our brothers and sisters in the world are suffering from violent conflicts, caused by the absurd claim that problems and differences can be resolved through war,” he said, as Agence France-Presse reported.
He also criticized those who use religion to justify violence: “Some claim to involve the name of God in these deadly decisions, but God cannot be enlisted by darkness. It is peace that those who invoke him must seek.”
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Israeli Forces Kill Parents and 2 Children in West Bank, Beat Surviving Children
"Targeting an entire family in this savage manner reveals the true nature of the Israeli occupation and its policies based on killing and extermination, destruction and displacement," the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Mar 15, 2026
The Israeli Defense Forces killed a Palestinian couple and two of their children in the West Bank on Sunday, on one of the deadliest days for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank in weeks.
The soldiers opened fire on a car in the village of Tammun in which 37-year-old Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, his 35-year-old wife Waad, and their four sons Mohammad, Othman, Mustafa, and Khaled were traveling. Odeh, Waad, 5-year-old Mohammad, and 7-year-old Othman were shot in the head and died, leaving behind two injured children.
"We came under direct fire, we didn't know the source. Everyone in the car was martyred, except my brother Mustafa and me," one of the surviving children, 12-year-old Khaled, told Reuters from the hospital.
He said that after the shooting was over, the Israeli soldiers pulled him out of the car and began to beat him, telling him, "We killed dogs."
"These crimes occur within a systematic policy pursued by the occupation authorities using lethal force against Palestinian civilians."
The soldiers also beat his other surviving brother, according to Al Jazeera.
The Israeli military said that it had been operating in Tammun to make arrests on "terrorist" charges and that soldiers had fired on a vehicle when it accelerated toward them, according to Reuters. It said it was reviewing the incident.
Al Jazeera journalist Nida Ibrahim said that the family had been totally shocked by the shooting.
“The extended family says the father and the mother did not know that Israeli forces were there as they were in a Palestinian car,” she said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the killing on social media as a "terrifying arbitrary execution crime that targeted an entire Palestinian family inside their vehicle."
The Israeli soldiers also prevented Red Crescent workers from reaching the family, the ministry said, leading to the families' "deliberate and cold-blooded execution."
The ministry continued: "The Ministry affirms that targeting an entire family in this savage manner reveals the true nature of the Israeli occupation and its policies based on killing and extermination, destruction and displacement, amid a systematic impunity, and it further affirms that these crimes, concurrent with the escalation of settler crimes and their organized terrorism in the occupied West Bank, are not isolated incidents, but part of a comprehensive and systematic aggression aimed at exterminating the Palestinian people and displacing them, in clear exploitation of the escalation occurring in the region."
In a statement issued on social media, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) also blamed the deaths on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, which has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice.
"This escalation in these crimes comes as a direct result of the expansion of shooting instructions in the Israeli army, the rising violence of settlers amid the prevalence of an impunity policy, and the entrenchment of ethnic cleansing amid unprecedented international silence," PCHR said.
It continued: "While the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns the unjustified murder crimes committed by occupation forces and settlers, it affirms that these crimes occur within a systematic policy pursued by the occupation authorities using lethal force against Palestinian civilians, in flagrant violation of the principles of necessity and distinction that form fundamental pillars of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Moreover, they come as part of a pattern aimed at terrorizing citizens, intimidating them, and entrenching ethnic cleansing policies, and replicating acts of genocide, albeit in a less overt manner."
Also on Sunday, Israeli settlers killed a Palestinian man in Nablus Governorate, making him the sixth man killed by settlers since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Movement restrictions imposed due the war have emboldened setters to attack, knowing that ambulances will be delayed in reaching their victims, human rights advocates and healthcare workers told Reuters.
In total, Israeli settlers and soldiers have killed 25 Palestinians in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, PCHR said.
In Gaza, where Israeli strikes at first declined following the beginning of the Iran war, the death toll is rising again. On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed nine police officers in Zawayda and a pregnant woman, her husband, and son in Nuseirat.
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