Protest in Michigan answers a lingering question from the 20th century, do ignorant white cosplayers do have enough sense to come in out of the rain?
One of the more popular images from protests at the Michagan State House seems to support the “storming” of the building by armed white folks.
Cosplayer in out of the rain.
The “storming” narrative is sweeping social media, driven by people who are soliciting your money, either now or soon. The problem is none, repeat none of the “storming” narratives is true. They are completely and utterly false! NBC captures what happened in a single paragraph:
As the protests moved indoors from the rainy steps of the Capitol, police took the temperatures of those entering the building using forehead thermometers, according to NBC affiliate WOOD of Grand Rapids.
Armed white cosplayers, came in out of the rain in Michigan, after having their temperatures checked by the police. Not my idea of “storming” a state capital. Yours?
PS: Yes, police have reacted with extreme violence against unarmed Black Children (Children’s Crusade, Birmingham, AL May 2-3, 1963) and peaceful Native Americans (Standing Rock, for example, 2016-2017), but not against these armed white people. Your point? Over 500 years, white settlers have practiced and refined racism into the warp and woof of North America. Shaming it for being the society they built, one injustice at a time isn’t a winning strategy.
Comments Off on Michigan: Cosplayers Come In Out Of Rain
Johnstone in full voice and possibly at her best! Her automatic condemnation of propaganda and manipulation does cause concern.
What if propaganda and manipulation could end the $5.2 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies? (direct and indirect) What if propaganda and manipulation could lead to a non-development economy? Or propaganda and manipulation moving us towards less sexism and racism? Any objectors?
I’ll go first. No objections. What about you?
Society being full of propaganda and manipulation isn’t a recent thing. The slaver “founding fathers” of the United States rather handily manipulated the public into the U.S. farce known as a “democracy.” It is a very long way from any sane definition of democracy. The senate, electoral college, supreme court, wage/wealth gaps, just to name a few of the departures from “democracy.”
Climate news grows worse with every report, while industry plots to use the same techniques that drive climate change to save us, for a price. Now is not the time to be picky about how we enlist others to save themselves and the planet.
Study Johnstone’s list to avoid being manipulated and to perfect your techniques for a worthy cause.
Comments Off on Thirty-Two Tips For…Propaganda And Manipulation
Rebecca Solnit’s When the Hero is the Problem, triggered an insight for me that is likely old news to you: social resistance succeeds only when it is we (a group) and not me (the hero). Solnit writes of ecological sabotage saying:
For an embodiment of the word singlehanded you might turn to the heroine of the recent movie Woman at War. It’s about an Icelandic eco-saboteur who blows up rural power lines and hides in scenic spots from helicopters hunting her and is pretty good with a bow and arrow. But the most famous and effective eco-sabotage in the island’s history was not singlehanded.
In a farming valley on the Laxa River in northern Iceland in August 25, 1970, community members blew up a dam to protect farmland from being flooded. After the dam was dynamited, more than a hundred farmers claimed credit (or responsibility). There were no arrests, and there was no dam, and there were some very positive consequences, including protection of the immediate region and new Icelandic environmental regulations and awareness. It’s almost the only story I know of environmental sabotage having a significant impact, and it may be because it expressed the will of the many, not the few.
Solnit’s essay set me to thinking of ways for ecological sabotage to be a collective but uncoordinated expression of opposition to an oil or gas pipeline. Unbidden the endless loop warning at the Dallas Forth Worth (DFW) airport, in a deep Texas accent, “Watch out! … for unattended luggage and packages” (paraphrase from memory) came to mind. From there I remembered stories of abandoned packages, backpacks, etc., each of while provoked disproportionate and costly police responses.
If unattended luggage attracts a DFW level of attention on pipeline routes, defense and offense against pipeline construction takes on an entirely different complexion. Pipeline projects must secure the entire length of the pipeline from the time the pipeline route is fixed and the pipeline is complete. If anyone breeches pipeline security, any resulting unattended luggage or other packages, would require law enforcement attention before the project could proceed.
Rather than a focused area for law enforcement attention, think Standing Rock, pipeline proponents have to divide their resources between hundreds of miles of pipeline route for years. That sounds expensive, yes? On the other hand, opponents of pipelines can contribute to the rising cost of pipelines without leadership, charismatic or otherwise.
To illustrate, instead of “defending” against the protesters at Standing Rock (the entire reservation is shown in orange), imagine defending the entire route marked in red:
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to unveil its all-new redesigned website, now live at https://dp.la. Created in collaboration with renowned design firm Postlight, DPLA’s new website is more user-centered than ever before, with a focus on the tools, resources, and information that matter most to DPLA researchers and learners of all kinds. In a shift from the former site structure, content that primarily serves DPLA’s network of partners and others interested in deeper involvement with DPLA can now be found on DPLA Pro.
…
You can boil the post down to two links: DPLA (DPLA Resources) and DPLA Pro (helping DPLA build and spread resources). What more needs to be said?
Oh, yeah, donate to support the DPLA!
Comments Off on Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Has New Website!
You get close enough from a “security minded” pipeline map and then drive until you see a long flat area with a pipeline sign. That doesn’t sound very hard to me. You?
Possible protest activity. Using the GPS on your phone, record locations where pipelines cross highways. Collaborate on production of GPS-based pipeline maps. Free to the public (including protesters).
We have the technology. Do we have the will to create our own maps of pipeline locations?
Comments Off on Pipeline Resistance – Pipeline Locations – Protest Activity (GPS Locations of Pipelines)
Media reports quote some of the statement but omit information such as:
This is our statement, we will be representing ourselves, as standby counsel and immediate contact is federal attorney, Bill Quigley, quigley77@gmail.com, 504-710-3074. Media contact, Amber Mae, 618-334-6035, amber@earthdefensecoalition.com; Melissa Fuller 515-490-5705.
…
Unlike many (most?, all?) of your elected representatives, Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya, are not seeking personal gain from their actions with regard to DAPL.
Participate and take such part as you deem appropriate.
Comments Off on #DAPL – Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya Press Release
Two Iowa activists with a history of arrests for political dissent are claiming responsibility for repeatedly damaging the Dakota Access Pipeline while the four-state, $3.8 billion project was under construction in Iowa.
Jessica Reznicek, 35, and Ruby Montoya, 27, both of Des Moines, held a news conference Monday outside the Iowa Utilities Board’s offices where they provided a detailed description of their deliberate efforts to stop the pipeline’s completion. They were taken into custody by state troopers immediately afterward when they abruptly began using a crowbar and a hammer to damage a sign on state property.
Both women are involved in Iowa’s Catholic Worker social justice movement and they described their pipeline sabotage as a “direct action” campaign that began on Election Day 2016. They said their first incident of destruction involved burning at least five pieces of heavy equipment on the pipeline route in northwest Iowa’s Buena Vista County.
…
The two women said they researched how to pierce the steel pipe used for the pipeline and in March they began using oxyacetylene cutting torches to damage exposed, empty pipeline valves. They said they started deliberately vandalizing the pipeline in southeast Iowa’s Mahaska County, delaying completion for weeks.

Jessica Reznicek (Photo: Special to the Register)
Reznicek and Montoya said they subsequently used torches to cause damage up and down the pipeline throughout Iowa and into part of South Dakota, moving from valve to valve until running out of supplies. They said their actions were rarely reported in the media. They also contended the federal government and Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline developer, withheld vital information from the public.
…
Two people out of a U.S. population of 326,474,013 delayed the Dakota Access Pipeline for weeks.
BTW, a representative of the “we collect money and talk about the environment,” the Sierra Club, quite naturally denounces effective action against the pipeline.
After all, if anyone actually stopped damage to the environment in any one case, donors would expect effective action in other cases. Leaving the Sierra Club high and dry.
As a reading test, you pick the heroes in Petroski’s report.
Comments Off on DAPL: Two Heroes, One Establishment Toady (Sierra Club)
Sheriff’s Capt. Jason Gearman adopted one of my suggestions from Protecting DAPL From Breaches (Maps and Hunting Safety) and has signaled DAPL opponents of increased law enforcement patrols in Buena Vista County, Iowa and Minnehaha County, South Dakota.
Express your appreciation to Capt. Jason Gearman for keeping DAPL opponents and sheriff’s deputies safely apart. Not all law enforcement personnel are pipeline stooges.
Filed under: #DAPL,Protests — Patrick Durusau @ 5:19 pm
Activists may have occasions to contact oil pipeline operators.
Failing to find a convenient directory of oil pipeline operators, I have created the Oil Pipeline Operator Directory (2015), with basic contact information. 2015 is the latest data.
OPERATOR_ID – Important because it’s the key to tracking an operator
COMPANY_NAME
STREET
CITY
STATE
ZIP
TITLE (PREPARER) Person preparing form 7000-1.1 (Rev. 06-2014).
NAME (PREPARER)
EMAIL (PREPARER)
PHONE (PREPARER)
FAX (PREPARER)
NAME (SIGNER) Person certifying the information on the form.
TITLE (SIGNER)
EMAIL (SIGNER)
PHONE (SIGNER)
I preserved the distinction between the person preparing Form 7000-1.1 and the person signing it for the operator.
I haven’t found a convenient mapping of operators to pipelines. The data exists, I have seen maps drawn using the Operator_ID to identify pipelines. But haven’t run it to ground, yet.
Organizing tactics to oppose pipeline construction along a continuum of success, requires identifying pipelines stopped by prayer. I want to add those to this map.
No disrespect intended for those who pray against pipelines but being a child of a culture that scars and exploits the earth itself, I measure tactics in more immediate results.
It’s true some day Dick Cheney will roast on a spit in Hell, but that’s little comfort to the victims of his preventable crimes against them.
I have mentioned DAPL becoming a $3.8 Billion non-operational pipeline warning to investors. Changing their culture, driving investments into renewable energy, making pipelines an investment to be feared, are some outcomes that can change pipeline culture in the US and elsewhere.
Data science, broadly conceived, can create persuasion campaigns, disfavor entities attempting to finance, build or operate pipelines, identify corrupt public officials, enable interference with unlawful pipelines, etc.
If you know of any pipelines permanently stopped by prayer, ping me patrick@durusau.net with the details.
If you are interested in using data science to advance your cause, same address.
Comments Off on Pipelines Stopped By Prayer [Research Question]
…
“Dakota Access estimates and targets that the pipeline will be complete and ready to flow oil anywhere between the week of March 6, 2017, and April 1, 2017,” company attorney William Scherman said in the documents filed in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
…
Opponents to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) have two choices, #Resist or #EffectiveResist.
The new moon for February, 2017, was February 26, 2017 (yesterday). (Bookmark that link to discover other new moons in the future.)
Given the reduced visibility on nights with a new moon, you can take up rock sculpting with a thermal lance.
This is a very portable rig, but requires the same eye protection (welding goggles, no substitutes) and protective clothing as other welding activities.
Notice in the next video, which demonstrates professional grade equipment, the heavy protective headgear and clothing. Thermal lances are very dangerous and safety is your first concern.
If you create a bar-b-que pit from large pipe, follow Zippy the Razor‘s advice, “Down the block, Not across the street” to create long cuts the length of your pipe.
Will DAPL be a lesson to investors on the risk of no return from oil pipeline investments? Pending court litigation may play a role in that lesson.
Journalists are bravely standing up to Trump’s attacks on the free press, as they should. Yet one way in which they’re expressing their solidarity and resistance shows how little most journalists know about political framing and messaging.
Case in point: Trump has labeled journalists as “enemies.” So, journalists have responded by labeling themselves “#NotTheEnemy.” This hashtag is currently trending on Twitter, which is unfortunate. Adopting this slogan is a big mistake that helps Trump.
Anyone who has read my books or taken my classes at Berkeley will immediately understand why. For those new to political framing and messaging, I’ll explain briefly here.
Quick: Don’t think of an elephant!
Now, what do you see? The bulkiness, the grayness, the trunkiness of an elephant. You can’t block the picture – the frame – from being accessed by your unconscious mind. As a professor in the cognitive and brain sciences, this is the first lesson in framing I have given my students for decades. It’s also the title of my book on the science of framing political debates.
The key lesson: when we negate a frame, we evoke the frame.
…
I don’t know current characters known to both children and parents, but what if instead of:
#NoDAPL
we said:
#SaveSmokeyTheBear
would that be a better framing?
Or even better:
#SaveBambi
What are some more current memes to swell support to stop the ecocide promised by Energy Transfer Partners?
Comments Off on #ProtectTheTruth [Reframing Opposition to Energy Transfer Partners]
Water Protectors have meticulously defended moral and ethical obligations on behalf of the greater good for years now. Today, we all watched and waited for what would be the symbolic #LastStand and collision between Militarized forces and Peaceful Protectors. Things are ending peacefully as many left the camps in anticipation of the forces that hovered but some remain and sing peacefully in the face of riot gear and weapons. They still remain, they continue to sing, they burn sage, they are women, they are men, their hearts are heavy, but they will continue to pray peacefully.
…
WE HAVE DEFUNDED $69 Million Dollars from Big Banks: just from the people alone. Seattle Divested over $3 BILLION Dollars from Wells Fargo! University of California Divested $250 Million and Santa Monica is in the process of Divesting as well. There is more that is coming and we are all uniting behind the battle cry #StandingRock #NoDAPL #WaterProtectors there is beauty where there is pain, there is glory in defeat, there can be a better tomorrow when we come together and commit to fight.
Defunding is the right note to strike with banks, but DAPL isn’t the only injury investors have planned for the Earth.
…
Using pipelines for the movement of crude oil, NGLs, refined products, and natural gas greatly benefits the United States economy. Direct capital investments for the construction of new pipelines will average approximately $55 billion between 2014 and 2025, with more being spent between 2016 and 2020. This estimate considers a conservative path of oil and gas production during that time period. If access to off limit areas of production, like the Atlantic, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, and Alaska, is granted, direct capital investments will increase and average around $65 billion between 2014 and 2025. Regardless of the amount of production, these direct investments will further elicit indirect investments from others in the supply chain, such as steel manufacturing and engineering companies. Wages provided to workers will also be used to purchase consumer goods and contribute even further to the economy. In the end, while the approximate direct investment value may be between $55 and $65 billion, more contributions to the economy are likely providing all the indirect factors that are a part of construction and maintenance of gas and liquid pipelines. (Investing In Pipelines February 23, 2017)
…
That didn’t scale down very well but as you can see, if DAPL wasn’t close enough for you to take action, a closer opportunity is at hand.
Why Invest In Pipelines?
…
There currently are about 40 major interstate pipelines connecting to about 100 minor interstate pipelines operating in a highly regulated environment. As I wrote above, the barriers to entry are quite high if you’re considering building a pipeline any time soon. Most of the grid is in place, with access to building new lines ever more difficult because of urbanization. Oil and gas pipelines are simply great fixed assets that offer excellent long-term prospects for income-oriented investors seeking stable cash flow, upside appreciation and tax benefits from the way they are structured for the capital markets.
Because they are capital-intensive businesses, pipeline operators choose a structure that allows them to aggressively depreciate the huge amounts of money that go into building out and maintaining their lines. In practice, master limited partnerships (MLPs) pay their investors through quarterly required distributions (QRDs), the amount of which is stated in the contract between the limited partners (the investors) and the general partner (the managers).
Because of the stringent provisions on MLPs and the nature of the QRD, the vast majority of MLPs are energy-related businesses, of which pipeline operators tend to earn very stable income from the transport of oil, gasoline or natural gas. Because MLPs are a partnership, they avoid the corporate income tax on both a state and federal basis. Additionally, the limited partner (investor) also may record a prorated share of the MLP’s depreciation on his or her own tax forms to reduce liability. This is the primary benefit of MLPs and allows MLPs to have relatively cheap funding costs.
The tax-free income component to oil-and-gas-pipeline MLPs is very attractive to me at a time when higher income taxes are a reality fueled by a debt-ridden government. My view is that income investors seeking tax-advantaged income will continue to own MLPs and other tax-free investments if the tax code remains as is or becomes even more burdensome. I don’t see any major overhaul in the tax code with next year’s election because neither party in Congress has the will to cut spending. (The Advantages Of Investing In Oil And Gas Pipelines, February 23, 2017)
…
Altering the tax code to impact investment in pipelines is a theoretical possibility, but not an effective one.
Consult a tax lawyer for the exact details but investors in a pipeline partnership make money two ways:
Pass through of depreciation for the pipeline and its maintenance
Pass through of income from operation of the pipeline
Assuming there is nothing to be done to alter #1 (changing the tax code), altering investor behavior depends solely upon #2.
Altering #2 means no oil or gas flowing through the pipeline.
Investor Uncertainty
One of the aspects of pipeline that make them attractive to investors, as mentioned above, is stable income. Whatever the prices of oil or gas, it’s not worth anything unless it can be brought to market, hence the constant demand for pipelines.
As I mentioned in Stopping DAPL – One Breach At A Time, a pipeline cannot deliver oil or gas if it has even one breach in it. A breach renders it just pipe in the ground and that doesn’t produce any income.
Breaches in pipelines do occur but as far as reported, only by accident, so investors see no uncertainly to the revenue they expect from pipelines.
What if that were to change?
What if the final 13% of DAPL becomes irrelevant because the completed 1,172 miles of pipe begins to resemble Swiss cheese?
DAPL False Flags
Because I mentioned thermite recently, someone asked about a video showing its capabilities:
Be forewarned this was created by a 9/11 conspiracy theorist but it is a good illustration of the power of a pound or so of thermite. Properly used, breaching even 1/2″ steel pipe is a matter of seconds.
Getting there:
could take a bit longer.
That plus a #NoDAPL flag:
made me think of a DAPL false flag operation.
Assuming someone is to foolish as to dig up a portion of DAPL and breach it with thermite, then cover it back up with dirt and plant a #noDAPL flag, how would you distinguish that from a freshly dug area, with a #noDAPL flag?
Or any number of freshly dug areas with #noDAPL flags?
Would you not dig on the hopes there wasn’t a breach of the pipe?
Gives the idea of a “false flag operation” more immediate currency. Yes?
PS: Tracking proposed oil pipelines requires monitoring all fifty (50) states. There is no centralized regulation of such pipelines.
Comments Off on Influencing Pipeline Investors (False DAPL Flags)
Before reporting on a spreadsheet about the 49 sheriffs and Bull Connor of the North, I have to share this urgent plea that arrived just moments ago:
URGENT.
My friends in Standing Rock just sent this to me & asked me to share it. They are surrounded by militarized police RIGHT NOW. pic.twitter.com/plR0Tfaagc
Reasoning that you may want to concentrate your monitoring of DAPL for breeches in areas of low population density. While you may stand out, there are fewer people to notice you in such places.
If anyone asks you to use explosives to interrupt the DAPL pipeline you should, of course, decline, but if, nevertheless, they persist, give them this advice:
Under no circumstances use explosives (commercial or homemade) so as to endanger law enforcement personnel, members of the public or even yourself. Many law enforcement officers are avid hunter and care as much for the environment as anyone. Don’t make yourself “special” by endangering or harming members of law enforcement or the public.
Always use commercial explosives. Homemade explosives as seen on the Internet are dangerous and a trap for the “independent” minded. Sure, you can waste your time, energy and endanger yourself by attempting to make homemade explosives but why? Yes, there restrictions on the sales of explosives but there are laws against human trafficking as well.
The Trafficking in Persons Report 2016 — Complete Report (PDF) reports that despite being illegal, human trafficking continues. I’ve seen it reported that 200 to 300 children are trafficked through the Atlanta airport, every month. Somehow I doubt the existence super effective enforcement efforts on explosives.
A longer post is coming but remember that investors, even investors in pipelines, are risk adverse. Should it come to pass that even a passing mention of DAPL creates waves of panic over the potential for entirely lost pipeline investments, the investment environment of and interest in pipeline investments will change.
After all, who wants to invest in 1,172 miles of sporadically broken, virgin pipe that has never carried a drop of oil? Yes?
PS: If you don’t know 1960’s civil rights history, the moniker Bull Connor of the North may escape you. Bull Connor used fire hoses and dogs against children marching for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama. He, like the Bull Connor of the North, is a stain on the history of law enforcement in the United States.
Comments Off on DAPL – 49 Sheriffs + Bull Connor of the North
One of the disadvantages Standing Rock faces is government sycophants who favor the pipeline can focus all their efforts at Standing Rock.
Consider this illustration of spreading their efforts over a wider area, say the 1,172 miles of the pipeline:
One or two breaches might be manageable and repairs would make economic sense. What about five major breaches? Or perhaps 10 major breaches? Each one in different sections and not too overlapping in time.
Interest, as you know, runs on loans 24 x 7 and repairs drive up the break even point for any endeavor.
Hemorrhaging cash at multiple locations isn’t sustainable, even for large foreign banks. Eventually, how long is unknown until figures come in for repairs, etc., the entire pipeline will be unprofitable and abandoned.
In the mean time, those points where cash is being lost by the barrel full (sorry), will capture the attention of investors.
Comments Off on Taking The Pressure Off Standing Rock
Local sheriffs, underfunded and short staffed, are charged with guarding DAPL’s 1,172 length, in addition to serving their communities.
Places to patrol include heavy equipment rental companies in Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Sheriff’s won’t have to pay overtime and these maps will help deputies reach their patrol areas every day:
Illinois heavy equipment rental
Iowa heavy equipment rental
North Dakota heavy equipment rental
South Dakota heavy equipment rental
Hunting/Police Safety
Hunters have long used pipelines as lines of sight, which could put deputies patrolling the pipeline in harms way. Sheriffs should advertise the patrol locations of deputies well in advance. Due to their professionalism, you won’t find any breaches being made in the pipeline in areas under active deputy patrols.
Observations
Some people may question the effectiveness of patrolling heavy equipment rental companies and announced deputy patrols of the pipeline. But sheriffs juggle competing demands for resources and the good of their local community everyday.
A community that sees higher restaurant, motel, employment figures as breaches are repaired.
If I were a sheriff, I would also bear in mind the local community votes in elections, not foreign banks.
Comments Off on Protecting DAPL From Breaches (Maps and Hunting Safety)
“Our hope is that the new administration in Washington will now provide North Dakota law enforcement the necessary resources to bring closure to the protests,” said Kyle Kirchmeier, the sheriff of the local Morton County Police, in a press release.
The last 1.5 mile (2.4 km) stretch of the pipeline is expected to be completed in less than 90 days.
…
Kyle “Bull Connor” Kirchmeier is the sheriff responsible for spraying Standing Rock protesters with water canon in sub-freezing weather. A real piece of work.
For speculation purposes, let’s assume the government does overwhelm the protesters at Standing Rock.
Aside from completion, what does the 1,172 miles of DAPL require to be used?
It must have no known holes.
That is to say that if the pipeline were breached and that breach was known to the operator (as well as members of the press), no oil would flow.
Yes?
What do we know about the DAPL pipeline?
First, since the pipeline can be approached from either side, there is 2,344 miles of land for staging actions against the integrity of the pipeline.
…
Construction of the new pipeline would require a typical construction right-of-way (ROW) width of 125 feet in uplands, 100 feet in non-forested wetlands, 85 feet in forested areas (wetlands and uplands), and up to 150 feet in agricultural areas. Following construction, a 50-foot wide permanent easement would be retained along the pipeline. … (page 12)
…
Which means staging areas for pipeline interference activities can be located less than 30 yards (for US football fans) from the DAPL pipeline on either side.
99.98% of the pipeline is installed on privately owned property in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. The Dakota Access Pipeline does not enter the Standing Rock Sioux reservation at any point.
Which of course means that you can lawfully, with the land owner’s permission, park a backhoe,
or, a bulldozer,
quite close to the location of the DAPL pipeline.
Backhoes, bulldozers and suitable heavy equipment come in a wide variety of makes and models so these images are illustrative only.
…
The Dakota Access Pipeline is an entirely underground pipeline. Only where there are pump stations or valves of testing stations is there any portion of the pipeline above ground. The pipeline is buried nearly 4 feet deep in most areas and in all agricultural lands, two feet deeper than required by law.
…
puts the DAPL pipeline within easy reach of one of these:
Of course, an ordinary shovel works just as well.
Anyone breaching or damaging the pipeline will be guilty of a variety of federal and state crimes and therefore should not do so.
If you discover a breach in the pipeline, however, you should document its location with a GPS phone and send the image to both local law enforcement and news organizations.
You will need maps to make sure you have discovered a breach in DAPL for reporting. I have some maps that will help. More on 17 February 2017.
Comments Off on Stopping DAPL – One Breach At A Time
Mr. James E. Staley, Chief Executive Officer, Director, Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Plc and Director of Barclays Plc
Mr. Tushar Morzaria, Group Finance Director and Executive Director
Mr. Jonathan Moulds, Group Chief Operating Officer
Ms. Maria D. C. D. N. C. Ramos C.A.I.B, B.Com (Hons), M.Sc., Chief Executive of Barclays Africa
Mr. Ashok V. Vaswani, Chief Executive Officer of Personal and Corporate Banking
I don’t have enough time left today to extract the people and photos from the Our People section of the Barclays site.
I will fix that tomorrow and that will bump the Barclays list into the dozens.
Just an observation for now, but this is the third entity financing Energy Transfer Equity that has no mention of it on its website.
Is it the case that Energy Transfer Equity is too small to register on their corporate dashboards?
If that is the case, then pestering banks directly maybe fun but pestering their customers, who are even more unaware of their banks commercial lending activities, maybe more effective.
Thoughts?
Comments Off on Tracking DAPL Enablers – Barclays Bank PLC
Executive Relations, Office of the CEO:
Matthew Task
813-805-4873
Corporate Office:
100 N Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28255
(emphasis in original)
Bank of American maintains a rogues gallery of people to contact about its business and lending practices. Complete with photos should you happen to recognize one of them while shopping or in a crosswalk.
Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation
Jack O. Bovender, Jr., Lead Independent Director, Bank of America Corporation; Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, HCA, Inc.
Sharon L. Allen Former Chairman, Deloitte LLP
Susan S. Bies Former Member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Frank P. Bramble, Sr. Former Executive Officer, MBNA Corporation
Pierre J. P. de Weck Former Chairman and Global Head of Private Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank AG
Arnold W. Donald President and Chief Executive Officer, Carnival Corporation & plc
Linda P. Hudson Chairman and CEO, The Cardea Group, and former President and CEO, BAE Systems Inc.
Monica C. Lozano Former Chairman, US Hispanic Media Inc.
Thomas J. May Chairman, Eversource Energy
Lionel L. Nowell, III Former Senior Vice President and Treasurer of PepsiCo, Inc.
Michael D. White Former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of DIRECTV
Thomas D. Woods Former Vice Chairman and SEVP, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
R. David Yost Former Chief Executive Officer, AmerisourceBergen Corporation
In addition, the governance page notes:
Persons seeking to communicate with the Board of Directors, any director, non-management members of the Board as a group or any committee of the Board should send a letter to the Corporate Secretary at Bank of America Corporation, 214 N. Tryon St., NC1-027-20-05, Charlotte, NC 28255. The letter should indicate to whom the communication is intended. The Corporate Secretary or the secretary of the designated committee may sort or summarize the communications as appropriate. Communications that are commercial solicitations, customer complaints, incoherent or obscene will not be communicated to the Board or any director or committee of the Board.
Searching the Bank of America website, I could find no mention of DAPL or Energy Transfer Equity, etc.
I have a dawning suspicion that the information wasn’t being hidden but that such crimes are so commonplace as to be unremarkable in the Bank of American worldview. More on that in a separate post.
Comments Off on Tracking DAPL Enablers – Bank of America Rogues Gallery
ABN Amro Capital USA LLC offers commercial banking services. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is based in New York, New York. ABN Amro Capital USA LLC operates as a subsidiary of ABN AMRO Group N.V.
100 Park Avenue
Floor 17
New York, NY 10017
United States
Founded in 2009
Phone: 212-649-5100
Fax: 917-284-6697
Key Executives For ABN Amro Capital USA LLC
ABN Amro Capital USA LLC does not have any Key Executives recorded.
January 28, 2017 1:42 PM ETBanks
Company Overview of ABN AMRO Group N.V.
Snapshot
Company Overview
ABN AMRO Group N.V. provides banking products and services for retail, private, and corporate banking customers in the Netherlands and internationally. […] ABN AMRO Group N.V. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Gustav Mahlerlaan 10
Amsterdam, 1082 PP
Netherlands
Founded in 2009
21,809 Employees
Phone: 31 09 000 024
www.abnamro.com
People:
Key Executives For ABN AMRO Group N.V.
Mr. Kees C. van Dijkhuizen
Chairman of the Managing Board and Chief Executive Officer
(…)
Mr. Johan van Hall
Vice Chairman of the Managing Board and Chief Operating Officer
(…)
Mr. Wietze Reehoorn
Chief Risk Officer and Member of the Managing Board
(…)
Ms. Caroline E. Princen
Executive Officer
(…)
Mr. Chris F. H. H. Vogelzang
Member of the Managing Board
(…)
In addition to the identity of the chief officers of this miscreant, we now know of some 21,089 (as of 2015) employees who may be more environmentally conscious than their masters. Enabling poisoning of water along a 1,172-mile-long pipeline is no small thing.
The present composition of either board isn’t entirely clear from records on the company website but current member or no, the individuals listed no doubt have useful information/insight to share about the company.
For general contact purposes, the company website offers:
If you have questions about ABN AMRO Group’s financials, business activities, capital, funding, credit ratings or related issues, please contact our Investor Relations team.
E-mail investorrelations@nl.abnamro.com
Phone: +31 20 628 22 82
Dies Donker
Head of Investor Relations
+31 (0)20 383 05 17
Ruud Jaegers
Deputy Head of Investor Relations
+31 (0)20 383 58 36
Niels Farragher
Investor Relations
+31 (0)20 343 49 82
Anton Groenevelt
Investor Relations
+31 (0)20 628 25 86
Annedien Heilbron
Investor Relations
+31 (0)20 383 72 44
Jan-Willem Stokhuyzen
Investor Relations Analyst
+31 (0)20 343 94 88
Geeta Ramkhelawan
Secretary
+31 (0)20 383 32 35
Suggestions improving upon this starting point:
First, the company website claims a presence in Asia, Australia, Europe, North American and South American so you should have little difficulty finding one or more of those 21,089 employees (as of 2015) who can impact ABN Amro’s participation in this environmental outrage.
Second, I have kept copies of the various corporate documents should the links to resumes fall prey to link rot or other mishaps. Those may be useful in identifying specific individuals.
Third, this surface examination of ABN Amro and those of the other listed enablers to follow, are a prelude to exploring the recursive question: Who owns the enablers?
Comments Off on Tracking DAPL Enablers – ABN Amro Capital USA LLC.
Emily points out some banks are dodging public comment on their investments.
Banks are toadies for their owners and if you can persuade their owners, the banks will dance another tune.
Discovering the owners of banks, human owners, isn’t a straight forward task.
Tables adapted from MorningStar provide a starting place, show the ownership of Wells Fargo (#1 on Emily’s list) by institutions and funds, as:
Institutions
Name
Shares Held
% Total Shares Held
Berkshire Hathaway Inc
479,704,270
9.55
Vanguard Group Inc
293,529,151
5.84
BlackRock Fund Advisors
159,579,472
3.18
State Street Corp
144,304,075
2.87
Fidelity Management and Research Company
114,390,616
2.28
Wellington Management Company LLP
105,287,458
2.10
Columbia Insurance Company
74,533,819
1.46
Capital World Investors
87,714,669
1.75
J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc
71,187,640
1.42
National Fire & Marine Insurance Co
55,776,330
1.10
Dodge & Cox
67,255,750
1.34
Northern Trust Investments N A
60,080,126
1.20
State Street Global Advisors (Aus) Ltd
50,252,360
1.00
State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins Co
55,039,014
1.10
MFS Investment Management KK
49,919,843
0.99
Geode Capital Management, LLC
39,689,832
0.79
Government Pension Fund of Norway – Global
38,048,678
0.72
Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC
37,011,768
0.74
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
31,739,499
0.63
TIAA-CREF Investment Management LLC
27,710,384
0.55
Funds
Name
Shares Held
% Total Shares Held
Vanguard Total Stock Mkt Idx
95,774,705
1.91
Vanguard 500 Index Inv
66,073,771
1.32
SPDR® S&P 500 ETF
50,880,290
1.01
Vanguard Institutional Index I
49,389,580
0.98
Fidelity® Contrafund®
48,971,538
0.98
Dodge & Cox Stock
43,253,341
0.86
Financial Select Sector SPDR® ETF
34,990,492
0.69
Vanguard Wellington™ Inv
34,242,007
0.68
VA CollegeAmerica WA Mutual 529B
26,217,100
0.52
MFS Value A
25,832,081
0.51
Fidelity Spartan® 500 Index Inv
25,067,450
0.50
VA CollegeAmerica Amercn Bal 529E
23,103,000
0.46
VA CollegeAmerica Inc Fund of Amer 529E
21,980,915
0.44
Vanguard Value Index Inv
21,264,834
0.42
Franklin Income A
20,000,000
0.40
CREF Stock R1
20,598,209
0.41
Vanguard Windsor™ II Inv
20,343,696
0.40
iShares Russell 1000 Value
14,316,510
0.28
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
13,351,361
0.27
Parnassus Core Equity Investor
13,218,831
0.26
If these ownership tables look like, appear to be, the sort of relationship information that can be captured by a graph, topic map, etc., you are right in one!
Moreover, the ownership information of other funding banks, such as SunTrust Banks Inc., shows a number of institutions and funds in common.
Meaning that if we pierce the corporate veil and get the names of people, as officers, board of directors, shareholders, etc. those will be valid for one or more of the other funding banks for DAPL as well.
A graph of human owners for a bank, will intersect and overlay other ownership graphs for other banks, enabling activists to focus on persuading the most influential human owners.
Discussion of identifiers for the owners you see listed in this post coming tomorrow!
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed executive actions to advance approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.
The decision to advance the pipelines cast aside efforts by President Barack Obama’s administration to block construction of the two pipelines, while making good on one of Trump’s campaign promises.
…
…
Sec. 2. Directives. (a) Pipeline Approval Review. The Secretary of the Army shall instruct the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), including the Commanding General and Chief of Engineers, to take all actions necessary and appropriate to:
(i) review and approve in an expedited manner, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, and with such conditions as are necessary or appropriate, requests for approvals to construct and operate the DAPL, including easements or rights-of-way to cross Federal areas under section 28 of the Mineral Leasing Act, as amended, 30 U.S.C. 185; permits or approvals under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1344; permits or approvals under section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, 33 U.S.C. 408; and such other Federal approvals as may be necessary;
(ii) consider, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, whether to rescind or modify the memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works dated December 4, 2016 (Proposed Dakota Access Pipeline Crossing at Lake Oahe, North Dakota), and whether to withdraw the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in Connection with Dakota Access, LLC’s Request for an Easement to Cross Lake Oahe, North Dakota, dated January 18, 2017, and published at 82 Fed. Reg. 5543;
(iii) consider, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, prior reviews and determinations, including the Environmental Assessment issued in July of 2016 for the DAPL, as satisfying all applicable requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., and any other provision of law that requires executive agency consultation or review (including the consultation or review required under section 7(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. 1536(a));
(iv) review and grant, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, requests for waivers of notice periods arising from or related to USACE real estate policies and regulations; and
(v) issue, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, any approved easements or rights-of-way immediately after notice is provided to the Congress pursuant to section 28(w) of the Mineral Leasing Act, as amended, 30 U.S.C. 185(w).
…
Do you see a
cast[ing] aside efforts by President Barack Obama’s administration to block construction of the two pipelines
?
That’s the President’s intent but read the discretionary language present:
…
(i) review and approve in an expedited manner, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, and with such conditions as are necessary or appropriate, … ;
(ii) consider, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, whether to rescind or modify the memorandum … ;
(iii) consider, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, prior reviews and determinations, including the Environmental Assessment issued in July of 2016 for the DAPL, … ;
(iv) review and grant, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, … ; and
(v) issue, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, ….
…
Setting aside Obama administration actions if after,
consider, to the extent permitted by law and as warranted, whether to rescind or modify the memorandum (Sec. 2, (ii))
That’s a long way from “…cast[ing] aside….”
Who Exercises That Discretion?
Three entities are named to exercise discretion over the DAPL permits:
Commanding General and Chief of Engineers (Although named in the Executive Order, a phone call today directed me to the Army Corps of Engineers site for DAPL details, saying they weren’t involved in DAPL? Just repeating what I was told, I have no idea if it is correct or not.)
but only the Army Corps of Engineers was named by CNN and then without a link for further details.
Beyond Hand Wringing Over The Executive Order On DAPL
To be fair, CNN also omitted contact details for supporters of DAPL as well: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D, North Dakota) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D, West Virginia).
To become a participant on this important issue, follow the Army Corps of Engineers page, contribute to and/or participate in organizations opposing DAPL, reason with supporters of DAPL, reason with shareholders of banks invested in DAPL, etc. All of which requires basic information to enable your participation.
Conclusion
New reports should enable readers to participate in the important issues of the day.
Even with the Executive Order, the game of review within government is still on. You can participate and/or support other organizations that are participating in that process.
Compare my account to that of CNN.
Which one do you think better enables your participation?
Comments Off on Superficial Reporting on Executive Orders and DAPL
A great article on contacting the banks funding the Dakota Access Pipeline, last updated November 30, 2016, which has this note:
The following bank information has been updated periodically, most recently Nov. 30, 2016. Some banks have disconnected phones and disabled email addresses since the start of the campaign. Contact us with adjustments.
(emphasis in original)
Isn’t that interesting? Banks apparently don’t appreciate public input into their decision making processes.
Management and shareholder lists are naturals for leaking from those 17 banks.
Yes?
Where would you advertise to alert potential leakers such lists are of interest?
Comments Off on Contacting the 17 Banks Funding the Dakota Access Pipeline [Leaking Anyone?]
I mentioned in Exploding the Dakota Access Pipeline Target List that while listing of the banks financing Dakota Access Pipeline is great, banks and other legal entities are owned, operated and act through people. People, who unlike abstract legal entities, are subject to the persuasion of other people.
Unfortunately, almost all discussions of #DAPL focus on the on-site brutality towards Native Americans and/or the corporations involved in the project.
The protesters deserve our support but resisting local pawns (read police) may change the route of the pipeline, but it won’t stop the pipeline.
In terms of #1, you have to strike through the corporate veil to reach the people who own and direct the affairs of the corporation.
“Piercing the corporate veil” is legal terminology but I mean it as in knowing the named and located individuals are making decisions for a corporation and the named and located individuals who are its owners.
A legal fiction, such as a corporation, cannot feel public pressure, distress, social ostracism, etc., all things that people are subject to suffering.
Even so, persuasion can only be brought to bear on named and located individuals.
News reports giving only corporate names and not individual owners/agents creates a boil of obfuscation.
A boil of obfuscation that needs lancing. Shall we?
To get us off on a common starting point, here are some resources I will be reviewing/using:
The Corporate Research Project assists community, environmental and labor organizations in researching companies and industries. Our focus is on identifying information that can be used to advance corporate accountability campaigns. [Sponsors Dirt Diggers Digest]
Coronel’s blog post has numerous resources and links.
She also points out that the United States is a top secrecy destination:
…
A top secrecy jurisdiction is the United States, which doesn’t collect the names of shareholders of private companies and is unsurprisingly one of the most favored nations for hiding illicit wealth. (See, for example, this Reuters report on shell companies in Wyoming.) As Senator Carl Levin says, “It takes more information to obtain a driver’s license or open a U.S. bank account than it does to form a U.S. corporation.” Levin has introduced a bill that would end the formation of companies for unidentified persons, but that is unlikely to pass Congress.
…
If we picked one of the non-U.S. sponsors of the #DAPL, we might get lucky and hit a transparent or semi-transparent jurisdiction.
Let’s start with a semi-tough case, a U.S. corporation but a publicly traded one, Wells Fargo.
Where would you go next?
Comments Off on Refining The Dakota Access Pipeline Target List
Both visualizations are great ways to see some of the culprits responsible for the Dakota Access Pipeline, but not all.
Tracking the funding from Bakken Dakota Access Pipeline back to, among others, Citibank, Credit Agricole, ING Bank, and Natixis, should be a clue as to the next step.
All of the sources of financing, Citibank, Credit Agricole, ING Bank, Natixis, etc., are owned, one way or another, by investors. Moreover, as abstract entities, they cannot act without the use of agents, both as staff and as contractors.
If you take the financing entities as nodes (the first visualization), those should explode into both investor/owners and staff/agents, who do their bidding.
Thinking Citibank, for example, is too large and diffuse a target for effective political, social or economic pressure, but the smaller the part, the greater chance there is to have influence.
It’s true some nation states might be able to call Citibank to heel and if you can whistle one up, give it a shot. But while waiting on you to make you move, the rest of us should be looking for targets more within our reach.
That lesson, the one of the financiers exploding into more manageable targets (don’t overlook their political allies and their extended target lists), the same is true for the staffs and agents of Sunoco Logistics, Energy Transfer Partner, Energy Equity Transfer (a sister partnership to Energy Transfer Pipeline), and Bakken Dakota Access Pipeline.
I have yet to see an abstract entity drive a bulldozer, move pipe, etc. Despite the popular fiction that a corporation is a person, it’s somebody on the ground violating the earth, poisoning the water, disturbing sacred ground, all for the benefit of some other natural person.
Corporations, being abstract entities, cannot feel pressure. Their staffs and contractors, on the other hand, don’t have that immunity.
It will be post-election in the US, but I’m interested in demonstrating and assisting in demonstrating, how to explode these target lists in both directions.
As always, your comments and suggestions are most welcome.
PS: One source for picking up names and entities would be: Bakken.com, which self-describes as:
Bakken.com is owned and operated by Energy Media Group which is based in Fargo North Dakota. Bakken.com was brought to life to fill a gap in the way that news was brought to the people on this specific energy niche. We wanted to have a place where people could come for all the news related to the Bakken Shale. Energy Media group owns several hundred websites, most of which surround shale formations all over the world.Our sister site Marcellus.com went live at the beginning of December and already has a huge following. In the coming months, Bakken.com will be a place not only for news, but for jobs and classifieds as well. Thank-you for visiting us today, and make sure to sign up for our news letter to get the latest updates and also Like us on Facebook.
North Dakota authorities have issued an arrest warrant accusing a pipeline protester on horseback of charging at a police officer.
Mason Redwing, of Fort Thompson, South Dakota, is wanted on felony charges of terrorizing and reckless endangerment in the Sept. 28 incident near St. Anthony. He’s also wanted on a previous warrant for criminal trespass.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Office says the officer shouted a warning and pointed a shotgun loaded with non-lethal beanbag rounds to defuse the situation.
…
I’m on a horse and you have a shotgun. Who is it that is being terrorized?
Yeah, it’s that kind of reporting.
Comments Off on Exploding the Dakota Access Pipeline Target List
