We received word recently of a petition. The petition sponsors are outraged that fossil fuel corporations are suing governments for billions to stop the progress toward renewable sources of energy. They are asking for signatures that will show support for governments to pull out of an obscure treaty called the Energy Charter Treaty. (See the [...]
The recent debate through a Community Rights lens. By Paul Cienfuegos I have been surprisingly foggy about how to parse this in my own mind for months now. The fog just lifted! From a Community Rights (CR) analysis/perspective, the problem is not that people are being allowed to get away with saying vile and hateful [...]
The ecological crisis demands we protect the Rights of Nature from being watered down. Published by Common Dreams on Jan 19, 2021 by Ben Price. On January 11, 2021, the Prince of Wales and maybe next king of England introduced a Terra Carta, "a charter that puts sustainability at the heart of the private sector." [...]
by Paul Cienfuegos In the 60 Minutes episode titled, “A protected right? Free speech and social media,” broadcast on 1/17/2021 there was this brief exchange: But claiming Big Tech is running afoul of the First Amendment by deplatforming those it deems harmful may be missing the larger point. Is kicking someone off any of these [...]
Z Magazine published this OpEd on August 20, 2020. Read it on ZNet. Community Rights US submitted the following OpEd to The Oregonian - Portland, Oregon's daily corporate newspaper - on August 16, 2020. Titled "A National Emergency Requires a Bold Local Response". Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, their Opinion Editor rejected our submission with this [...]
Director Paul Cienfuegos looks at a recent headline through a Community Rights lens: The headline: Victory! Federal Judge Rules Administration’s Bird-Killing Policy is Illegal Today’s ruling makes it clear that the administration must halt its attempt to rollback the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. https://www.audubon.org/news/victory-federal-judge-rules-administrations-bird-killing-policy-illegal Paul's commentary: Stories like this one are a continuing and painful [...]
We in the Community Rights movement are challenging legal doctrines that stand in the way of economic and environmental sustainability. Those legal doctrines make sustainability literally illegal in the United States. One of the legal doctrines that we are challenging is State Preemption. The doctrine that says states have governing authority over local governments (municipal, [...]
A current events quiz. Which of the following scenarios demonstrates a citizenry that exercises it’s sovereignty? A) United Airlines threatens to fire staff unless they get public money in light of coronavirus. The US government gives it public money, then the airline promptly lays off of 3,400 workers. B) The French government requires Air France to [...]
by Paul Cienfuegos Although we are absolutely thrilled that the “.org domain" on the Internet has been saved from becoming just another commodity to be bought and sold by large corporations, we hesitate to call this “a huge win” or a “victory," as the organization Open Media does in this article (You saved the .ORG [...]
So the Attorney General of the United States is now claiming that stay-at-home orders from governors "may go too far and interfere with interstate commerce”. In which case, presumably, the AG would claim he has the authority to overrule the governors and lift their quarantines. Is that overreach? Yep! But hey, "the economy" is suffering! [...]
