 I feel like it's pretty obvious as to why everyone should be opposed to Enbridge's line three pipeline. I mean, we have a limited window of opportunity to act to stop the worst of what climate change has to offer. And to construct a new pipeline that would emit the equivalent of 50 coal power plants of CO2, it's at this point, it's suicidal, right? It's further entrenching us in this system of fossil fuel reliance when we should be moving away from fossil fuels entirely. And as a society investing in clean, green and renewable technology, so the climate aspect, the tribal sovereignty that's violated to construct this pipeline, all of these are crucial in this story. But another element that was reported on by the Guardian's Hilary Beaumont is shocking. This is a bombshell and I haven't heard anyone speak about this yet. And I had to talk about this because it also speaks to the conflict of interest with police officers who were brutalizing protesters there. So here's what Beaumont writes, the Canadian company Enbridge has reimbursed U.S. police 2.4 million for arresting and surveilling hundreds of demonstrators who oppose construction of its line three pipeline, according to documents the Guardian obtained through a public records request. Enbridge has paid for officer training, police surveillance of demonstrators, officer wages, overtime, benefits, meals, hotels and equipment. Police have arrested more than 900 demonstrators opposing line three and its impact on climate and indigenous rights, according to the Pipeline Legal Action Network. It's common for protesters opposing pipeline construction to face private security as they did during demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline. But in Minnesota, a financial agreement with a foreign company has given public police forces an incentive to arrest demonstrators. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which regulates pipelines, decided rural police should not have to pay for increased strain from line three protests. As a condition of granting line three permits, the commission required Enbridge to set up an escrow account to reimburse police for responding to demonstrations. Enbridge told the Guardian an independent account manager allocates the funds and police decide when protesters are breaking the law. But records obtained by the Guardian show the company meets daily with police to discuss intelligence gathering and patrols. And when Enbridge wants protesters removed, it calls police or sends letters. Our police are beholden to a foreign company, Tara Hoska, founder of the indigenous frontline group Genua Collective, told the Guardian, they are working hand in hand with big oil. They are actively working for a company. Their duty is owed to the state of Minnesota and to the tribal citizens of Minnesota. It's a very clear violation of the public's trust, she added. So when you see these headlines about how police morale is lower than ever and public trust in police has deteriorated, this is why. Because it's evident they're not serving the people. These are public servants who are working for a private foreign company. That is truly insane. We have a private Canadian company paying public American servants to police and surveil protesters buying them cheeseburgers, putting them in hotels. It's truly dystopian. I don't know what the right word is, but there's a lot of adjectives that you can use to describe the situation, Orwellian, dystopian, draconian. It's insanity. But this is what you expect from a late-stage capitalist society, where police officers, they don't serve the public. They serve the interests of capital. And the Guardian looked over the records that they obtained and they've determined that there's a really close working relationship between Enbridge and Minnesota police. So this shouldn't happen. Minnesota police are supposed to serve the people of Minnesota, not Enbridge, but yet they were brutalizing these protesters at the behest of a company that was paying them. It's one thing, to set up an escrow account, to have the company bear the cost of the additional policing that will result from protests of the pipeline, which people shouldn't be policed for protesting something that shouldn't be happening in the first place. But then to see that they have this really close relationship, it's just, it's sickening. And I say all of this and you might sense this level of ambivalence in my voice, and it's because I'm not surprised by this at all. I am not surprised by this even a little bit. This is what we expect. The cops aren't looking out for citizens. They're not. I mean, think back to 2020 with the George Floyd protests. People who were in the streets marching, maybe you were one of them. If you've watched this, did you believe that the officers were there to protect you or protect property from getting damaged? I mean, it's just overall, we don't value life as a society. We just don't. We value capital. Everything else comes second. And this right here kind of proves it. So it's just one of the many reasons why this pipeline should be opposed. The process itself is inherently gross. I mean, the treatment of these protesters, that's a different story in and of itself, but the fact that the police were abusing these protesters who were exercising their First Amendment rights at the behest of a private company who's paying public police officers to treat them poorly, it's just, it's gross, but predictable.