black badger report
<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">off bs</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Welcome to the Black Badger Report. We are a worldwide group of writers, journalists, and regular people that are tired of fake news, over blown rhetoric, and general idiocy and lack of integrity in media, politics, and the world in general.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We have formed the Black Badger Report as a way of expressing our thoughts and getting the truth out there, without interference from the big media and news ventures we work for (well, some of us).<b> Yes, we are all using pseudonyms, but that is to protect our names, reputations, and in some cases our safety.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You are welcome to share what we write, and you are also welcome to ignore us completely. But before you do, try thinking about what we write and consider it thoughtfully before you dismiss us. If we enlighten just one individual and reveal the truth of the matter to them, we will be fulfilled and our purpose met.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Each article, post, and comment is solely the opinion of its author, and does not represent the greater community of Black Badger Report writers, or any organizations we are affiliated with as individuals. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Don’t be surprised if you see conflicting work and writers with different opinions on here. We all seek the truth, but sometimes we perceive it differently. Great for discussion around the water cooler.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Enjoy!</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">404 , suspended, but</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170710220336/https://www.blackbadgerreport.com/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://web.archive.org/web/20170710220336/https://www.blackbadgerreport.com/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">D<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170710220336/https://www.blackbadgerreport.com/2017/07/10/dapl-whistleblowers-agenda-exposed/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px; font-weight: 700; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; opacity: 0.5;">APL WHISTLEBLOWER’S AGENDA EXPOSED</a></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kourtni Dockter, a temporary part time security guard for Dakota Access Pipeline (dismissed after failing a criminal background check)…</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ECOWARS, FEATURED, REPORT</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">SUSPENDED NON-PROFIT VETERANS GROUP SCAMS MORE MONEY IN ANTI-PIPELINE FIGHT</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Are we already seeing a new fundraising scam using Native American pipeline protests? Perhaps.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></font></font></p><div class="post-header" style="margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 4px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Louisiana’s Energy Industry Threatened By Out Of State Protest Group. Here’s What We Know.</font></font></font></h1><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="date" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">July 10, 2017</span></div></span></font></font></div><div class="post-header" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 27px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">by Yancy Bienvenu, </span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Louisiana First!</span></font></font></font></div><div class="post-entry" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the biggest and most important oil lines in the state’s history is about to begin construction, and there’s a new protest group forming that’s trying to stop it’s construction – and in the process, slow the progress of Louisiana.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group is led by a woman from Rayne, LA named Cherri Foytlin (pictured above). She’s a very poor woman whose husband worked in the oil industry. So, she understands just how important oil jobs are to the Bayou State. But, she’s still trying to stop oil here once and for all. That’s nuts!</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Besides Foytlin, there are actually a large number of other ‘non-profit’ organizations, as well as quite a large number of ‘grassroots’ organizers beginning to mobilize against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Here’s the catch – all of the pipeline proponents are being paid by large liberal umbrella organizations to protest the pipeline.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We have to ask – are these people motivated to stop oil because they truly feel oil is bad for the state, or are they shills for left-leaning, billion dollar organizations who are funded by people who don’t even live in Louisiana? These organizations have to protest oil projects in order to justify their paychecks. And now, we’re the target.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Is that fair? Is that progress?</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to many people who know her, Cherri Foytlin is mad that the oil industry laid her husband off from his oil job, and claims pipeline construction is the reason her home was flooded by rain last summer. So now she’s rallying folks like the Gulf Restoration Network and the Sierra Club to help her stop oil once and for all in our fine state.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Is that even realistic? No one in Louisiana wants oil production to stop. As far as we’re concerned, she and her hippie friends can move to California. And, let’s pray to God those same protesters who destroyed North Dakota while protesting at Standing Rock don’t come here to join her cause.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We all know how vitally important energy is to the state’s budget. A ton of people in Louisiana earn a living from oil and gas production.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Louisiana can be one of the best states in the south. We have more culture and hard working people than any of our southern neighbors. While tourism, entertainment and agriculture are a step in helping our state grow, we need a solid financial base as we progress toward a new Louisiana. Frankly, we need energy production to survive.</font></span></font></font></p></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; line-height: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/environment/energy-transfer-partners-company-behind-dakota-access-pipeline-strong-armed-landowners" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/environment/energy-transfer-partners-company-behind-dakota-access-pipeline-strong-armed-landowners</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Four Pennsylvania residents filed <a href="https://www.facingsouth.org/sites/default/files/Complaint_Gerhart_Et_Al.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">a federal lawsuit</a> this week against Texas-based pipeline company <a href="https://www.energytransfer.com/default.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Energy Transfer Partners</a> (ETP), claiming the <a href="https://fortune.com/fortune500/energy-transfer-equity/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Fortune 500 company</a> and its subsidiarie<b>s violated their constitutional rights by engaging in illegal surveillance and harassment against landowners</b> and <b>pipeline protesters </b>and caused emotional distress and other harm.</font></font></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The suit, which seeks compensatory damages, also names ETP's private security provider, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">North Carolina-based <a href="https://www.tigerswan.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">TigerSwan</a>, as well as local law enforcement officers who arrested pipeline opponents on charges that ultimately were not prosecuted. It claims that energy companies like ETP are increasingly relying on de facto public-private partnerships with government to "strong-arm" opponents into silence with false arrests and malicious prosecution.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Since May of 2015, every day of my life has been affected by the plans to build this pipeline, and the lengths that Energy Transfer Partners will go to in the pursuit of profit," <a href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1866165730378923&id=100009565423522" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">said</a> plaintiff Elise Gerhart, who lives on property that will be crossed by the pipeline. "We've been needlessly harassed by agencies and violently threatened by individuals who've been intentionally incited and mobilized."</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The lawsuit centers on ETP's <a href="https://marinerpipelinefacts.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Mariner East 2 pipeline project</a> that would carry fracked gas from the <b>Marcellus</b> and Utica shale regions of West Virginia, Ohio and western Pennsylvania to refineries near Philadelphia, with much of the product to be exported overseas for making plastics. ETP is also behind several other controversial petro pipeline projects including the <a href="https://bayoubridge.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Bayou Bridge</a> pipeline in Louisiana, the <a href="https://transpecospipelinefacts.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Trans-Pecos</a> in Texas and the <a href="https://daplpipelinefacts.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Dakota Access</a> in North Dakota, </span>the target of massive demonstrations last year in which Native American protesters and their supporters faced <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/dakota-pipeline-protests/dakota-pipeline-protesters-authorities-clash-temperatures-drop-n686581" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">attack dogs, rubber bullets, mace and water cannons</a>. Pipelines are a growing concern across the South: Of the 56 <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/industries/gas/indus-act/pipelines/pending-projects.asp" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">interstate pipeline projects that have sought permits</a> from federal regulators since 2013, 31 run at least partly through Southern states.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elise Gerhart's mother, Ellen Gerhart, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, has owned a 27-acre property in central Pennsylvania's <a href="https://www.rural.palegislature.us/rural_urban.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">rural Huntingdon County</a> with her husband, Stephen, since 1983 and has cared for it according to the principles of the state's<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/centers/private-forests/outreach/pennsylvania-forest-stewards/program-information" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">forest stewardship program</a></span>, which encourages private landowners "to implement sound forest management practices."<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In 2015, Sunoco, which has since <a href="https://ir.energytransfer.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=106094&p=irol-about" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">merged with ETP</a>, filed a declaration of taking in county court in order to gain access to a wooded part of the property to begin clearing trees for the planned pipeline</span>.<b> The court granted the company's request in March 2016,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">establishing an easement on the property and barring the Gerharts from interfering with access.</span> There's currently a lawsuit working its way through the state courts over whether the taking was legal; it comes at a time of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/06/07/the-growing-battle-over-the-use-of-eminent-domain-to-take-property-for-pipelines/?utm_term=.fd53c2912791" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">growing controversy</a> over how pipeline companies are gaining access to private lands.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time the court granted Sunoco/ETP access rights to the Gerhart property, the Mariner East 2 project had neither the necessary state permits for construction nor what's known as "possessory interest" in the easement, which wasn't granted by the county court until April 2017. The lawsuit claims that, without possessory interest, the company had no legal right to exclude anyone from the easement — but that's not what happened.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arrest to silence?</font></strong></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In late March 2016, shortly after the court granted the easement, the Philadelphia-based environmental advocacy group Clean Air Council posted a public event to Facebook encouraging people to oppose the tree-cutting planned for the Gerhart property. On March 29, 2016, dozens of protesters arrived and set up an <b>encampment,</b>with some sitting in trees to block their removal.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Agents of ETP/Sunoco bearing chainsaws also arrived on the land, escorted by state police and officers from the local sheriff's department. They were eager to begin work as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulations prohibit cutting trees on the Gerhart property after March 31 to protect migratory birds and an endangered bat.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Three of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were arrested that day:</font></font></font></p><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protester <strong>Alex Lotorto</strong> of Milford, Pennsylvania, claims he was using a walkie-talkie to let other protesters know where the tree cutters were but law enforcement officers accused him of using it to disrupt work at the site. Arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal contempt, he was held on a $200,000 bond he could not afford to pay and stayed in jail for three days. Once the tree-cutting stopped on April 1, his bond was reduced to $5,000 unsecured and he was released.</font></font></font></li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protester <strong>Elizabeth Glunt</strong> of Altoona, Pennsylvania, entered the easement only briefly to warn tree cutters that they were getting too close to tree-sitting protesters, according to the lawsuit. She was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal contempt. Held in jail until her family raised the money to pay her $100,000 bond, Glunt was strip-searched and claims she suffered emotional distress as a result.</font></font></font></li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The lawsuit states that <strong>Ellen Gerhart</strong> approached but did not enter the easement area to warn tree cutters that they were too close to tree sitters. She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and indirect criminal contempt and released on a $5,000 unsecured bond.</font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Just over a week later, on April 7, 2016, Ellen Gerhart was arrested again on the same charges when tree cutters returned to her property unannounced and she approached them to warn that they were violating federal wildlife regulations. Elise Gerhart was also arrested for climbing a tree and charged with disorderly conduct.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Smears of Russian ties</font></strong></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>All of the charges against the plaintiffs were ultimately dismissed. </b>The lawsuit says that's because the arrests weren't part of a legitimate pursuit of justice but rather an effort to "arbitrarily and maliciously send a message to the Gerhart family and their supporters to discourage their opposition to the pipeline and its construction and thereby chill their First Amendment rights."</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawsuit also takes aim at TigerSwan, ETP's private security provider, based in the town of Apex near Raleigh, North Carolina. The company was founded in 2008 by retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Delta Force operator James Reese.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to company documents obtained by The Intercept, an investigative news outlet whose reporting is cited in the lawsuit, TigerSwan's tactics against pipeline protesters in five states — North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Texas — included <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/05/27/leaked-documents-reveal-security-firms-counterterrorism-tactics-at-standing-rock-to-defeat-pipeline-insurgencies/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">military-style counterterrorism measures</a> such as aerial surveillance, radio eavesdropping, and infiltration of camps and activist circles.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The plaintiffs in the lawsuit say similar tactics are being deployed against Mariner pipeline opponents, who cite helicopters and drones flying low over the Gerhart property outside of the easement, and unmarked vehicles parking nearby and shining high-beam lights onto the land. TigerSwan has been operating in Pennsylvania at least since April 2017.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The suit further charges that ETP and TigerSwan have repeatedly sent an agent to the Gerhart property to attempt to infiltrate the protest encampment. </span>While there, the lawsuit says, the agent took photos that were later posted to the Facebook page of a shadowy group called PA Progress to identify Ellen and Elise Gerhart. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Other PA Progress posts called Elise Gerhart an "anarchist" and falsely accused her of sabotage. The lawsuit suggests that the page, which has since been taken down, was connected to TigerSwan.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The campaign against the protesters also deployed misleading propaganda in other ways. For example, the <a href="https://www.tigerswan.com/meet-team/board-advisors/james-spider-marks/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">chair of TigerSwan's advisory board</a>, retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks, had <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/05/heres_why_pa_should_be_wary_of.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">an op-ed</a> published on the news website <a href="https://pennlive.com/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">PennLive.com</a> in May warning that Mariner pipeline opponents would engage in violence and cause environmental damage.</span> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">However, he did not identify his connection to TigerSwan and its interest in the pipeline project. The website has since added a note to the op-ed disclosing his position and stating that Marks' work will not appear there again.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The lawsuit further claims that the Gerharts were the targets of misinformation spread online, which it also connects to TigerSwan. For example, it points to posts at<a href="https://www.blackbadgerreport.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"> Black Badger Report</a> — a pseudonymously written website that <a href="https://www.blackbadgerreport.com/about/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">claims</a> to be concerned about the proliferation of "fake news" but whose front page features just six stories since June, all of them critical of pipeline protesters except for <a href="https://www.blackbadgerreport.com/2017/08/25/intercept-news-organizations-connected-communist-groups/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">one condemning The Intercept</a> of Communist ties — falsely accused Elise Gerhart and other protesters of being fronts for Russian government attempts to disrupt U.S. energy markets. The lawsuit ties the online attacks to TigerSwan through a web of internet connections involving TigerSwan Vice President Derek Borror.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The inaccurate posts not only caused "reputational harm," the lawsuit says, but "have incited commenters to threaten to injure or kill Elise Gerhart and her supporters," which in turn have caused her "mental anguish and emotional distress."</font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The plaintiffs are asking for a jury trial. Neither ETP nor TigerSwan responded to a request for comment.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Sue Sturgis</font></font></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">wayback no pix vid lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""> </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.blackbadgerreport.com/2017/08/25/intercept-news-organizations-connected-communist-groups/</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Black Badger Report</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The Intercept Is Connected To Communist Groups</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">August 25, 2017</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">America has seen a rise in destructive activity focused on icons of capitalism such as banks, historical sculptures, private property and anything related to the environment.</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Along with the rise in violence has been a surge in <b>communism, or so called anti-fascist groups</b>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Suddenly, it’s ‘hip’ to be anti-American and destructive. Just look at the rise of people carrying </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">big red “IWW” flags</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> to protests that have nothing to do with worker’s rights. (IWW stands for Industrial Workers of the World.)</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">These surges are coincided with an increase in sympathetic and supportive media coverage, as well as non-stop social media presence.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The spread of violent communist groups range from Antifa to environmental rights extremists (ERE’s),</b> the latter of which has admitted to oil pipeline sabotage to stop the progress of energy infrastructure. One such group that harbored pipeline sabotage groups is the Catholic Workers of Des Moines, which supported known environmental activists Ruby Montoya and Jessica Reznicek.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">You could consider the Catholic Workers a pro-communist organization that has supported violent acts of sabotage</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The FBI raided its Des Moines location (called the Berrigan House) in early August, 2017 in order to collect evidence against them for a pending case.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But it’s not just a rise in violent, pro-communism protests that are happening; there’s a similar rise in journalists covering this movement. What troubles many the most are those outlets providing positive publicity of pro-communism events without disclosing their affiliations and connections to these groups.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>One such example is The Intercept, a news gathering organization that’s co-founded by Jeremy Scahill. Of note: Scahill has given very positive coverage of anti-pipeline and anti-fascist movements.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Scahill has never publicly divulged that his father was a friend of Phil Berrigan</b>, for whom the sabotage-harboring house in Des Moines was named, nor has Scahill put in his bio that he lived in a Catholic Worker Community and spoken at several Catholic Worker groups. Scahill has admitted that Phil Berrigan had a tremendous impact on his life.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wouldn’t it be responsible for journalists like Scahill to provide a full disclosure about conflicts of interest when covering a story? If you think about it, The Intercept harbors and protects anarchists.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the above screenshot, we see Scahill getting talking notes handed to him at a major speech where Scahill talks about his life journey. During that talk, we hear Scahill talk about how he wouldn’t be a journalist if it weren’t for the Catholic Workers:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We’ll bet you haven’t heard any of this mentioned on The Intercept. Why is that? You’ll hear a lot of extreme activists talk about being ‘woke’ to what is really happening in the world. Maybe it’s time we, as consumers of the media become ‘woke’ ourselves, and look at coverage of these violent events with a keen eye, taking into account the background of the organizations covering them.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Nate Clay</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">You Might Also Like</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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