Publisher’s Note:  Sybele Capezzutti is not one to pull any punches and she is righteously upset.  In a few short paragraphs she says what so many are thinking, and I could not agree more.  Enough is enough.

Sybele Capezzutti:  To all the people outraged that Trump blocked the entry of people from terrorist infested areas saying it's unconstitutional....it isn't.

You know what is unconstitutional?  For the Federal government to fail to protect its Citizens.  You know what else was unconstitutional?  The health care mandate.

Yet I had to hear over and over that people voted for it, so whether I liked it or not I had no choice but to accept it and pay more for my insurance.

You will find no sympathy from me now!  We voted to keep terrorists from coming into the country mixed with the refugees. Your intimidation tactics via protests and anarchy only makes me want to stand my ground even firmer.

All of you thinking you are so much better than everyone else because you want anyone to come to this country without proper vetting are not only detached from reality, you are removing my right to expect my government to keep me and my family safe..!

This is MY country too..!  I want it to be safe, I want it to be prosperous, and I want a better future for my son..!

You want to show that you care about everyone all over the world then quit your job, join a charity, go to the Middle East and do it there..!

Your candidate lost, your turn to accept what you don't like.  I've spent the last 8 years having your Marxist ideology shoved down my throat...NO MORE!

I'm tired of this BS!

Publisher's Note:  The other day, Sybele Capezzutti explained what might cause oil pipelines to leak.  In today's second of two articles, she explains the bigger problem of why the Keystone and Dakota Pipelines are being thwarted every step of the way.  

Sybele Capezzutti:  Winston Churchill famously said “He who controls oil will win the next war”.

The black gold doesn’t only keep vehicles running and jets flying, it is also the raw material for paints, roof shingles, plastic products, nylon fabric, synthetic rubber (your Nikes), PVC pipes, artificial limbs, solid surface countertops, asphalt tar,  frames for glasses, basically anything plastic like your phone case, computer keyboard, etc. 

It is no wonder this thick gooey smelly product has become the reason for wars, toppling leaders of Nations and the rise of the environmental conscience, all funded by the ones who seek to control it.

Yes, I am putting environmentalists in the same category with heads of State who start wars!

If I wanted to control something as important as oil I wouldn’t try to do so by promoting wars, I would recruit an army of volunteers to fight against my enemies by infiltrating a few paid generals in the crowd to convince people that they are fighting for justice.  Nothing is more convincing as a good cause.  We humans tend to sacrifice it all to save what we consider to be defenseless, and what is more defenseless than the earth we live on?

Now, I am not in any way someone who doesn’t care about the environment.  I do care, and I do want clean water and clean air. But I am also very well aware of how easy it is to take something good and use it to benefit the greed of a few…think about how some charities exploit our sensitivity to collect money that never benefits the cause they promote.

Once the group thinking is established, all you have to do is pick the target and say go! The environment can be used as the background for almost anything one wants to keep from happening or promote.

The United States has the largest network of energy pipelines in the world, with more than 2.4 million miles of pipe. The network of crude oil pipelines in the U.S. is extensive. There are approximately 72,000 miles of crude oil lines in the U.S. that connect regional markets.  Clearly, oil spills are not a regular occurrence or we would be bathing in oil by now.

The XL pipeline will have 1,179 miles and the Dakota pipeline 1,134 miles.  Considering the 2.4 million already in use, it is baffling that anyone has a problem with these two projects.  So, common sense led me to believe that the environment was just a clever cover to fight for the interests of the elite seeking control.

Putin-allied Russian oil billionaires laundered $23 million through the Bermuda-based Wakefield Quin law firm to the Sea Change Foundation and then to anti-fracking and anti-Keystone groups, the Environmental Policy Alliance fund (which later became Bold Alliance).

Bold Alliance is an umbrella group which began by protesting the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska. It now has chapters in a total of four states–Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Louisiana–and is a supporter of the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota.  It claims to be a grassroots group fighting for the environment by opposing gas and oil pipelines.

Other groups created with the sole purpose to fight against oil and gas pipelines were “Honor the Earth”, and the “Indigenous Environmental Network”, both funded by Tides Foundation.

Tides is a donor advised fund that directs money to politically liberal causes, its combined cash flows exceed $200 million a year.

Paul Driessen, the author of Echo-Imperialism: Green – Black Death, explains in his book how backing makes the $13-billion-per-year U.S. environmentalist movement a power to be reckoned with.  These tax-exempt foundations do not simply give money to pressure groups. They serve as puppeteers, telling protesters what campaigns to conduct, what tactics to use. Meanwhile, donors enjoy deductions for “charitable giving” to “education, conservation and other social change” programs.

One of Tides’ biggest donors is Warren Buffett who funneled 30.5 million through his family’s NoVo to Tides foundation and applied enough pressure in Washington to stall the Keystone Pipeline while Buffett bought the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and Union Tank Car manufacturing company.  When Keystone was blocked, more oil was shipped by rail – much of it via Buffett companies. In fact, oil-by-rail skyrocketed from 9,500 carloads in 2009 to 450,000 carloads in 2014.  After a derailment in Lac Megantic  (Quebec) that caused a spill which destroyed most of the town and killed 47 people, Buffett criticized Obama for blocking the pipeline.  One would almost think Buffett is a politician! 

Then there were the Dakota pipeline protests! Who could forget that?

Even I, a skeptic, was moved by all the Native Americans fighting for their sacred land! 

It was not until a friend who lives in the area told me we were all being fooled that I felt the need to look into it further, like millions of Americans my heart was hurting for our already marginalized Indigenous people.

To my surprise, most of the protestors were not even Native Americans.  According to a CNN online report by Jessica Ravitz, protestors at Standing Rock were from all over the World including Japan, Germany, Serbia and Russia.   She interviewed Fool Bear Sr., chairman of Cannon Ball who said he just wanted everyone to go away. Fool Bear said “if they could come from other planets I think they would”.  Isn’t that strange? Why would foreigners take such interest in protesting a pipeline in the US? Remember who the first donors to the foundation that started it all were? 

And why are Indigenous people protesting a pipeline that is not even going to cross sacred land? Yes, that’s right, the pipeline doesn’t cross Sioux land, even less sacred land.  Fool Bear also said that more than two years ago, when members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe could have attended hearings to make their concerns known, they didn't care.

Protesters claim that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to consult tribal leaders as required by federal law. The record shows that the corps held 389 meetings with 55 tribes. Tribal leaders for Standing Rock Sioux ignored request for comments and cancelled meetings multiple times, but were the ones to initiate the law suit and protests.

Many alterations were made to the route to avoid environmentally or culturally sensitive areas. In North Dakota alone, 140 route adjustments were made to the pipeline during the planning process, including seventeen route adjustments to address concerns from involved parties.

The Dakota Access Pipeline does not cross any land belonging to the Standing Rock Sioux. The remaining area of construction, at Lake Oahe, is home to eight pipelines, including existing non-DAPL owned dual 42-inch pipelines which have been operating immediately parallel to the new route for over 30 years. The water inlet for the Standing Rock Sioux will be over 70 miles away from the location of the pipeline by  early 2017. The pipeline will be buried 92 feet below the riverbed.

The conclusion on both pipelines, Keystone and Dakota, is that all precautions have been taken to cause the least environmental and human disturbance and the only tribe in Dakota upset with its construction is also the one who chose to not even participate on the permitting process.

What could have caused their sudden interest?  Money perhaps…?!  You decide.

Learning About Pipeline Leaks, (Part one of two in a series) 

With the recent news about President Trump’s executive orders to move forward with two very disputed pipelines and foreseeing the inevitable upcoming protests from environmentalists, I've decided to find out what causes pipeline leaks. 

I've worked in the construction industry for many years, so I'm a little familiar with regular plumbing and possible leak causes. Thus, I imagined that it couldn't be much different in the case of pipelines because it serves the same purpose although it carries a different substance.  Sure enough, the three main causes for leaks are corrosion, material/weld failures, and excavation damage. 

One would think that all three are preventable to some extent.  If an adequate blueprint of the existing pipeline is available, excavation damage can only be the result of poor management in preparing areas for excavation. As homeowners, we all know to "call 811 before you dig," so we don't end up with a broken water line while planting a tree. That's because the city will come and mark where not to dig.  If they can do that, then surely someone can figure out where not to dig and break an oil pipeline pipe. 

Corrosion - that is simple maintenance..!  Pipes will corrode over time.  But, the origin of the pipes and quality of the manufacturing can greatly reduce corrosion. 

Material/weld failure - Another preventable problem if the right material is used and the correct weld is applied by a skilled welder. At this point I was curious about what type of material we have been using and who was manufacturing it. Could it be that some of the leaks could have been avoided the same way that we could have avoided thousands of homeowners with leaky copper pipes imported from China? Maybe. 

So where do we get the materials to build these pipelines?  It seems that Sen. Jim Brewster from Pennsylvania (Democrat) found himself asking the same question, and also found the answer for me.  In 2015, concerned with the closing of a steel plant in his state, Sen. Brewster decided to find out why the plant was forced out of business.  What he discovered was that there was no requirement that drillers use domestic steel, so the oil companies were buying their pipes mostly from Canada, Austria, South Korea, Turkey, Russia and China. 

Here's where this gets complicated.  Pipelines require different types of pipes, different diameters, thickness, joints, etc., and the standards are different in each country.  If an oil company needs let's say five different types of pipes and has to buy them from three different countries and then put them all together, they are then assembling three different types of products that were manufactured slightly different from one another.  I'm not an expert on the subject, but it is pretty obvious to me that for maximum safety one would have a stronger joint if the materials being welded together shared exactly the same properties. 

Another area to be considered is the quality. My friends in the construction business can verify that materials from China are not only inferior, but have cost builders thousands of dollars in losses and homeowners to even lose their homes. It seems to me that the solution to avoiding future pipeline leaks is not to deprive ourselves of the incredible economic growth that new pipelines could bring, but double down on that growth by having American steel companies produce the high quality materials necessary for the oil companies.  Which explains why President Trump signed an executive order to move forward with the XL and Dakota pipelines, but required that American companies produced the pipes. 

He might be orange, he might have goofy hair, but there is a lot of knowledge behind everything he does!

The "Women's March" taking place today is being sponsored by Planned Parenthood and NARAL, both which claim to protect women's reproductive rights, which is a scrubbed term to make abortion sound like something positive.

I'm not known for being completely against abortion, there are cases where I do believe (with a heavy heart) that it should be accessible legally.  I am though, 100% against it being government funded.

It is not anyone's responsibility but your own to pay for your decision to terminate an unwanted pregnancy when there are several birth control methods that would have avoided killing an unborn baby! And while we are at it....what about the fathers?  Why do we make them responsible for a child's financial burden in case of a divorce but completely ignore their participation in producing that child in the case of an abortion?

None of the abortions performed by Planned Parenthood is the result of a situation where the life of the mother is at risk, so I ask you...if PP is so concerned with women's health, why aren't they spending their money on preventing instead of terminating pregnancies? Do they even bother to teach women the health consequences of an abortion? Of course they don't, abortion is a very profitable business.

When a pregnancy must be terminated due to health by doctor's recommendation, it becomes a medical procedure like any other and covered by one's health plan.  The difference between an abortion that is covered and one that isn't is the same of breast implants which are covered after a mastectomy and not covered for aesthetic reasons.

It breaks my heart to see so many women completely misled by these money hungry organizations who cleverly coined the term "reproductive rights" in order to recruit an army of volunteer soldiers to march in their behalf so they can keep profiting from procedures that not only are not a right but also damages their reproductive system, sometimes irreversibly.  

They talk about "abortion on demand" like if it was a movie that you select on pay per view and they want the tax payers to fund it!  And to the politicians on the pro-life side...you are not helping either!

What about some legislation to make adoption a better alternative?  What about making birth control pills available over the counter like in other countries and at a low cost?  Making something illegal never kept people who are determined to carry on with their actions stop from going forward, but education and options do work.

The bottom line is that there is no excuse for grown women who are educated to even find themselves in the situation of having to terminate a pregnancy other than in the case of rape or health.

The fact that over 3,000 abortions are performed every day in this Country due to pure negligence is a reflection of how ineffective pro-life groups have been against the money behind powerful organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL.

You will never hear me trying to make a point on this subject based on religion, I do not believe in imposing my religious beliefs on anyone.  But I will continue to stand firm on three basic principles when it comes to abortion:

1. It is NOT a reproductive right, your reproductive right is to choose not to get pregnant and have ways     to prevent it.

2. It is NOT a women's health issue, pregnancy is not a disease.

3. It is NOT anyone's financial responsibility but your own; you chose to have sex and of of the consequences is pregnancy.

I don't want to pay for your bad choices.