Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 2/26

[SVPete]

b]Judge orders Greenpeace to pay $345m over Dakota Access pipeline protest[/b]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/25/greenpeace-dakota-access-pipeline-protest

A North Dakota judge has said he will order Greenpeace to pay damages expected to total $345m in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline from nearly a decade ago, a figure the environmental group contends it cannot pay.

In court papers filed Tuesday, Judge James Gion said he would sign an order requiring several Greenpeace entities to pay the judgment to pipeline company Energy Transfer. He set that amount at $345m last year in a decision that reduced a jury’s damages by about half, but his latest filing did not specify a final amount.

The long-awaited order is expected to launch an appeal process in the North Dakota supreme court from both sides.

Last year, a nine-person jury found Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc liable for defamation and other claims brought by Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access.

It is LONG overdue for Enviro-Activists to have to pay for their tortious crap!

[SVPete]

Dems Score Another Epstein Scalp: Davos Summit CEO

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/02/26/dems-score-another-epstein-scalp-davos-summit-ceo-n3812306

Democrats pushed hard to expose all of the investigatory documentation in the Jeffrey Epstein case. They were convinced that the files would expose speculative links to Donald Trump and other members of the conservative establishment. Instead, the files keep forcing leaders in progressive-elite circles to run for the shadows. This morning, the CEO of the World Economic Forum and organizer of the annual global-elite Davos Summit resigned after his connections to Epstein emerged from the files:

The president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, said he was stepping down on Thursday, a few weeks after the forum launched an independent investigation into his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Brende, who ‌became president of the WEF in 2017, announced his decision in a ⁠statement following disclosures from the US Justice Department that showed the Norwegian had three business dinners with Epstein and had also communicated with the disgraced ‌financier via email and text message.

I wonder whether Brende partook of Epstein's perversion, gave him insider investment info, or "just" displayed the bad judgment of hobnobbing with a convicted pervert.

Taking the info here, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr5lq9ll15jo , at face value (it's from the BBC, so a sizable block of salt is advisable), it looks like Brende is "guilty" of the poor judgment of not learning what Epstein was before hobnobbing with him.

[SVPete]

The Wages of Progressive Hate: The First Antisemitism Lawsuit Filed Against a State

https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2026/02/26/the-wages-of-progressive-hate-the-first-antisemitism-lawsuit-filed-against-a-state-n4949979

Parents of some Jewish schoolchildren in California along with civil rights organizations have filed a lawsuit against the state of California, the state Board of Education, the California Department of Education, and several individuals, in a landmark case charging the state with failing to protect children "from antisemitic harassment, violence, and propaganda in the state’s public schools," according to an exclusive to The Free Press.

The suit was filed in federal court by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Israel-advocacy group StandWithUs on behalf of several Jewish families. What their children were forced to endure, and the abject failure of the state to lift a finger to correct the antisemitic atmosphere in many schools, is almost beyond belief.

The October 7, 2023, attack on Israelis by Palestinian terrorists precipitated a wave of antisemitic incidents and attacks across the country. In 2024, there was a record number of attacks on Jews in the U.S., rising 21% compared to the previous year.

The lawsuit is based on the free exercise of religion protections guaranteed under the California Constitution. The suit argues "that persuasive antisemitism in California’s public schools has 'deprived [Jewish students] of equal access to educational benefits and opportunities.'"

I wonder whether "persuasive" in the last quoted paragraph is a malaprop or auto-correct-fart and the word should be "pervasive".

The burden of proof for the plaintiffs could be challenging. They will need to prove that the state knew there was a threat, knew the "antisemitic harassment, violence, and propaganda" was actually happening, and did nothing meaningful to prepare for or counteract what was happening.