 So, a group known as West Virginia Rising is planning what they're calling a cold-barren blockade around a very specific power plant that's really important to corrupt right-wing Senator Joe Manchin. Now, the goal of said blockade is to send a very loud and clear message to Joe Manchin. As Julia Connolly of Common Dreams explains, hundreds of people in West Virginia on Saturday plan to blockade a coal-waste power plant that directly benefits right-wing Democratic Senator Joe Manchin while contributing to the planetary emergency with dozens of activists planning to risk arrest. The blockade will target Grandtown Power Plant, which receives coal-waste from EnerSystems, a company run by Manchin Sun. The West Virginia Democrat earned $500,000 from EnerSystems last year. Participants will put their bodies on the line to highlight the harm from the Manchin family business, protest against the burning of coal-waste, and call for a different future for West Virginia, said West Virginia Rising, which is organizing the direct action. The blockade follows the senator's decision in the last several months to reject numerous climate action provisions in the Build Black Better Act, President Joe Manchin's signer domestic economic package, and comes days after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report on the planetary crisis. Now, I cannot tell you how much I love this idea. These activists are absolutely brilliant. They're brave. And what they're doing is so important because of how dire the situation is. So the article referenced this, but just this week, here's the headlines with regard to climate change. UN warns Earth firmly on track toward an unlivable world. It's now or never. We have three years to reverse course, major climate report finds, and it's gotten so bad that scientists, as apolitical as they are, they're even becoming activists as climate scientist Rose Abramoff chained themselves to the White House fence in order to demand that the Biden administration declare a climate emergency. I mean, what do you do in this situation? Time is running out and you have people like Joe Manchin who just don't care. He does not care. And it's evident that the heckling isn't working. People have confronted him in public, but he's been unmoved. And it's so bad that members of Congress who do actually care about climate change, they're practically begging Manchin to just come up with something. Any bill, you know, you can exempt your own power plan, be corrupt, just give us something that we can pass that makes a little bit of progress. But he refuses to do anything. And thus this type of action is necessary because if you don't want to budge because you profit from coal, well, then you've got to hit him where it hurts. And that's what these activists are doing. They're protesting at this coal power plant that specifically makes him hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Now, I want to share the Twitter of this group with you. You can find them at WV underscore rising. And I wanted to share a TikTok from one of the activists who is saying that about 400 people will attend this event. Take a look at what she has to say. Hey, are you having a good day because I'm about to ruin it? And then hopefully make it a little bit better. The IPCC report that dropped on Monday that barely got any attention says that we need to peak our emissions in the next three years. To avoid catastrophic effects of climate change, which include more than just natural disasters. Now that I got that out of the way, here is something to make you feel better. Coal, one of the worst fossil fuels, is dying. Beyond coal campaign has retired 60% of US coal power plants. And this is heavily done through resistance on the ground, which brings me to my next point. This Saturday, Joe Manchin's coal operation is going to be blockaded by over 400 people. Manchin makes millions off of coal while his community suffers. Resistance works. If you are from West Virginia or somewhere near West Virginia and you were inspired, please join them because they need more people for this to work. The people in power causing climate change want you to see this and curl up in a ball and just cry. But we cannot do that. Take action, resist and fight for the future that you want. Please join. Well said. Now, West Virginia Rising shared a different video, which details the extent of Joe Manchin's corruption. I think a lot of people acknowledge that he is profiting from coal. Hence, that's why he won't take action. But the corruption runs much deeper than that. His whole family is comparable to the Trump crime family. I mean, this family has a history of corruption and self-serving deals that harm their own constituents, harm West Virginians. So take a look at this video here. So how can you watch that and not be upset? That video makes me feel irate. You should especially be mad if you live in West Virginia. This senator, who's supposed to represent you, took money out of your pocket and put it into his pocket. And now he's one of two senators who's an obstacle to any change. He is not allowing your family, your children, your grandchildren to have a habitable planet. He's an obstacle to progress because of this coal power plant. So if you live in West Virginia, you should absolutely be irate and not support Joe Manchin. And if you have the opportunity to show up at this event and be part of the movement, I really respect what they're doing here. You know, it's not easy to put your body on the line and subject yourself to arrest. But that's what these activists are doing because they understand how dire the situation is. Time is running out and the window of opportunity to actually have legislation passed with the Democrats in control of both houses, you know, in Congress. It's it's almost over. So Joe Manchin stands between any action, even just milk toast reform with respect to climate change. And he's not even allowing us to get incremental changes. So it's unacceptable. You can't allow this to stand. So these activists, they can't primary him this year. So here's what they're doing. Protesting at this plant that makes him lots and lots of money. I absolutely respect it. And I look forward to seeing the videos from this event. I really hope that they they send him a lot of message and I hope that he gets it.