March 18, 2014

Law Students At Chris Coons' Alma Mater Slam His Vote Against DOJ Civil Rights Nominee

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/chris-coons-civil-rights_n_4980825.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) should know better.

That's the argument of a group of over 200 students, faculty and alumni of Yale Law School and Yale Divinity School, who wrote a letter to Coons on Monday asking him to change his surprising vote against Debo Adegbile, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. Coons got his J.D. from Yale Law and an M.A.R. from Yale Divinity School in 1992.

Coons voted against Adegbile because Adegbile's former organization helped with an appellate case involving Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer over 30 years ago. Because of constitutional issues with jury instructions, Abu-Jamal's death sentence was downgraded to life in prison.

"As students, professors and practitioners, your vote alarmed us," the group wrote to Coons. "It signaled a lack of respect for the fundamental American legal principle that all parties have a right to zealous representation, and sent a message that young people considering public service careers should avoid work on behalf of unpopular or marginalized communities and clients."

March 2, 2014

Hundreds Arrested In Protest Of Keystone XL Pipeline

Source: ThinkProgress

Youth activists held a rally on Sunday outside of the White House demanding President Obama stop construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry tar sands south across the country from Alberta, Canada to Texas.

About 1,000 were expect to turn out for the protest, many of them university students. An estimated 300 people locked themselves to the White House fence before being arrested by security. The protest comes just days after a report from the State Department’s Inspector General found that there was no conflict of interest in the fact that the contractor hired to write a Environmental Impact Statement on the pipeline also worked for major oil companies involved in its construction.

just updated
Rally organizers peg the number arrested at around 400. Buses were brought in to cart away those who’d been arrested:
https://twitter.com/Agent350/status/440250574865715200
Here’s a look at some photos from the protest:

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/02/3350081/photos-keystone-protest-arrests/

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Keystone XL Pipeline Protestors Create ‘Human Oil Spill’




http://news.yahoo.com/photos/several-hundred-students-youth-marched-georgetown-university-white-photo-200501382.html

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/several-hundred-students-youth-marched-georgetown-university-white-photo-202353119.html
Associated Press Susan Walsh


Read more: Keystone XL Pipeline Protestors Create ‘Human Oil Spill’
http://swampland.time.com/2014/03/02/keystone-xl-pipeline-protestors-create-human-oil-spill/


Today more than 1,000 youth from across the country marched to the White House from Georgetown University—where President Obama laid out his “climate test”—to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Once at the White House, hundreds of youth were arrested while participating in a nonviolent civil disobedience sit-in. This protest was the largest youth act of civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/02/hundreds-arrested-protesting-keystone-xl/

Co-founder and Communications Director, 350.org
http://350.org/
I just came back from the White House, where the police are still arresting the hundreds of students who are taking part in what will likely be the largest act of youth civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.

This is XL Dissent: a massive surge of protest against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and a powerful show of solidarity with all communities who are fighting the fossil fuel industry and confronting the impacts of the climate crisis.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-henn/keystone-xl-protest_b_4886208.html


Another update
Breaking: 400+ Youth Arrested at White House Protesting Keystone XL Pipeline
Today more than 1,200 youth from across the country marched to the White House from Georgetown University—where President Obama laid out his “climate test”—to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Once at the White House, more than 400 youth were arrested while participating in a nonviolent civil disobedience sit-in. This protest was the largest youth act of civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.
http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/02/hundreds-arrested-protesting-keystone-xl/