Our Revolution Arlington

"Police have arrested more than 900 demonstrators opposing Line 3 and its impact on climate and Indigenous rights, according to the Pipeline Legal Action Network.

It’s common for protesters opposing pipeline construction to face private security hired by companies, as they did during demonstrations against the Dakota Access pipeline. But in Minnesota, a financial agreement with a foreign company has given public police forces an incentive to arrest demonstrators.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which regulates pipelines, decided rural police should not have to pay for increased strain from Line 3 protests. As a condition of granting Line 3 permits, the commission required Enbridge to set up an escrow account to reimburse police for responding to demonstrations.

Enbridge told the Guardian an independent account manager allocates the funds, and police decide when protesters are breaking the law. But records obtained by the Guardian show the company meets daily with police to discuss intelligence gathering and patrols. And when Enbridge wants protesters removed, it calls police or sends letters.

'Our police are beholden to a foreign company,' Tara Houska, founder of the Indigenous frontline group Giniw Collective, told the Guardian. 'They are working hand in hand with big oil. They are actively working for a company. Their duty is owed to the state of Minnesota and to the tribal citizens of Minnesota.'"

Revealed: pipeline company paid Minnesota police for arresting and surveilling protesters Enbridge picked up the tab for police wages, training and equipment – and let county police know when it wanted demonstrators arrested

We now have yet more evidence that cutting unemployment benefits does nothing to boost job growth. Coercing people to work is not only wrong, but ineffective: "States that ended federal unemployment benefits earlier this summer saw August job growth at less than half the rate of states that retained the benefits, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

States that ended COVID unemployment benefits early see no boost in job growth Leaders in the largely GOP-led states had insisted that the benefits were discouraging people from work.

Mr. Pilkington is absolutely right. Non-citizen residents of our communities are just as impacted by the decisions our politicians make as anyone else and should have a say in what those decisions are. Great to see this in ArlNow!

Making Room: The Next Frontier of Democracy is Voting Rights for Non-Citizens According to the most recent census bureau data, Arlington County is home to nearly 230,000 residents. Over 10 percent of these residents are disenfranchised from participating in deciding how our community should be governed.

The current data on this is admittedly very limited, but it's still noteworthy that we're now getting evidence of what many have argued: unemployment benefits aren't the reason people are refusing to return to work, low wages and concerns about COVID are.

States cutting unemployment benefits didn't get people back to work, study finds People who lost federal unemployment benefits didn't rush to accept jobs in the weeks after state cuts, according to a new analysis.

Write to [email protected] to tell them you oppose this horrific proposal! https://twitter.com/Defund_MPD/status/1416020270092009478

A constituent of Gerry Connolly's district is about to be deported to a country that didn't even exist when his family moved to America as refugees when he was five. Please take a few minutes to call, e-mail, and Tweet Connolly's office and ICE to demand that Kon Kuac be freed! Read his testimony here: https://medium.com/free-them.../kons-testimony-f40e25a79442

Action toolkit with relevant contact info here: bit.ly/FreeThemAllVA

Kon’s testimony Kon Kuac is currently being detained at Caroline detention center in Virginia. He is set to be deported to South Sudan soon, a country…