Paul Ryan Is Very Angry With The Army Corps Of Engineers

Some good news, everyone! The Army Corps of Engineers decided not to grant the easement necessary to build the 1,170 mile pipeline in Standing Rock, North Dakota. The pipeline would not only have to go through tribal lands, but under the Missouri River, and the decision was to do this was nixed. President Obama also weighed in on the decision. That may be why Energy Transfer Partners released a statement explaining that when Trump is sworn in, they will go ahead and build their pipeline under Lake Oahe, and under the Missouri River. The problem is......Donald Trump is actually vested in Energy Transfer Partners. Trump has a conflict of interest in this matter.

Paul Ryan is very, very whiny and upset about this. He feels that saying "no" to poisoning the environment is "big government decision making at its worst". It appears that he thinks that a president with a clear conflict of interest, making decisions for his own personal profit, is much better decision making by "big government". Perhaps he is right; impeachment may be a real possibility because of this, if Trump continues to behave foolishly.

Is It Now Legal To Impede Law Enforcement?

Interesting.The Bundy Brothers and their entourage have been acquitted of any wrongdoing in the charges against them, stemming from their standoff with federal officers earlier this year, in Multnomah County, Oregon. For just under six weeks, Ammon Bundy and some of his family and friends engaged in a standoff with the federal government over the right to use land at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge for ranching. The Bundys thought ranching and all of the farm waste and trampling of plant life by cattle was in order for the wildlife refuge, and government officials told them to ranch elsewhere, preferably on their own property. They chose, instead, to threaten police with guns and stay there, making a giant mess, for over a month. Now they have been acquitted.

There are two reasons why this is outrageous. First; most people who threaten cops with guns end up either dead or serving prison sentences. Why is this group different, and why did a jury think threatening a cops with guns is okay? Second; Bundy and Company made a terrible mess. Below is a picture of part of the mess they left behind, when they were arrested in February of 2016.

Another question some people might ask is whether or not it is now legal to question authority in the ongoing conflict involving the Dakota Access Pipeline. On Thursday, police arrested 141 people, Native Americans and environmentalists, who protested in North Dakota because the crude oil pipeline will go through water supplies and burial sites. Police have been brutal toward protesters, regardless of whose land is involved. Why do the Bundy Brothers get to stage a standoff, while others cannot even exercise their first amendment rights?