Some of those breaking news stories you find on platforms like X aren’t. They are months old, sometimes years, and that’s without accounting for all the crap that isn’t real at all. It’s a hazard, not unlike the one you face every day in any human interaction, including with people you think you know.
It doesn’t take much to prejudice you against a thing, show, restaurant, idea, or event, and once you flip that switch, flipping it back can be nearly impossible. That’s why you see a trillion ads for things, and why the negative stuff sticks harder and deeper than the positive.
It’s a wiring problem, and it explains why the Dems do well when there’s no reason at all for any of that. They sell it better, but I’ve wandered off my own reservation. This started with a report about how Greenpeace may have to file for Bankruptcy after a verdict in a North Dakota Court.
What you may not know is the verdict isn’t new; the court case is over a year old, but the judge finalized it this week.
A North Dakota judge officially ordered Greenpeace to pay $345 million to the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline following a nearly yearlong tug-of-war over a Morton County jury’s verdict.
The jury in March 2025 originally ordered Greenpeace to pay Energy Transfer about $667 million, finding the environmental group at fault for harming the company during anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017 and for publishing false statements that harmed the company’s reputation. Greenpeace denies these allegations and says Energy Transfer’s lawsuit is a veiled attempt to punish the environmental group for supporting the demonstrations. …
The final judgment also orders Greenpeace to pay 11% interest on the sum, starting from March 19, the date the jury announced its verdict, until the full amount is paid.
The story isn’t exactly what most of the headlines suggest, but nothing about them is necessarily false.
The judge ordered payment with interest, and Greenpeace doesn’t appear to have that sort of money just lying around. Kind of like how the DNC had to put their headquarters up as collateral for all of them to pay for the midterms. If they lose, they’ll be working out of Joe Biden’s presidential library, which doesn’t exist either.
And while GP could prolly raise that money, but no one who donates to eco-terrorists is going to pay them to pay an energy company because GP broke a pile of laws and lost their case.
What about an appeal?
Well, yes, Green-not-so much-the-peace is considering asking the North Dakota State Supreme Court to review the order and fine, but here’s the thing.
“We are currently analyzing possible next steps that we may choose to take to make sure they are held fully accountable,” the company said.
In the aftermath of the jury’s verdict, Greenpeace asked Gion to completely eliminate or at least reduce the $667 million award, alleging it exceeded statutory caps on damages and that the verdict contained inconsistencies. Gion agreed with some of those claims when he cut the sum by roughly half.
Energy Transfer previously indicated that it would ask the North Dakota Supreme Court to reverse Gion’s reduction of the damages.
The original award was nearly double what the final judgment called for, so taking it up the ladder could not only backfire but result in them owing $667 million (plus interest).
