May 2016

On the 16th of May, the Rubber Stamp Rebellion began with an 8AM blockade and noisefest outside the offices of FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This was followed by a PM rush hour "pipeline" blockade stopping all traffic out of FERC's driveway. That night, FERC Commissioner Tony Clark got home only to find protesters were there too. FERC is notorious for rubberstamping almost all permits for oil and gas fracking and pipelines. They are also the source of eminent domain authority for these projects.

Video highlights of the FERC blockades plus(last 38 sec) a cop trying to order the camera turned off (common problem at FERC)

On the 12th of May, a visit to GOP headquarters on Capitol Hill by Donald Trump drew immigrant protesters and Code Pink as well. The protest appeared to have been either spontaneous or organized on very short notice,as seemingly no information had been available anywhere the previous night. Despite this short notice opponents of Trump's gutter racism managed to drop a coffin right in front of GOP headquarters. Inside RNC headquarters, staffers were told to either support Donald Trump or leave.

Video of coffin delivery originally uploaded to Twitter by "Frank Thorpe V"

Verizon has still not signed a contract to end the strike by tens of thousands of Verizon and Verizon Wireless workers. Pickets are ongoing at Verizon Wireless stores all over DC. On Tuesday, May 10 one of these pickets was at the L st and Connecticut Ave stores.

Federal Protective Services officer Eulalio Tordil was arrested without being shot after shooting and killing three people, first killing his estranged wife, then showinfg up at two different shopping malls and opening fire. He was arrested "without incident" raising the question of whether his status as a police officer kept him from being shot himself.

On the 5th of May, striking Verizon workers backed by many other unions showed up to picket the Verizon Wireless store on F st, asking people NOT to shop there. Verizon workers have warned "no contract, no work" and are backing it up with this strike. One of the issues is Verizon wants to outsource their jobs. Another is that only a tiny raise (possibly less than inflation) is being offered while Verizon has made $1.5 Billion dollars a month each month this year. Verizon has decided not to expand FIOS fiber service nor employee wages, choosing instead to expand CEO pay. CEO Ivan G Seidenberg is being paid $36M a year with salary and bonuses. That's enough to buy a 2008 Gulfstream G-550 corporate jet listed on an aviation website for $23M with $13M left over. Meanwhile Verizon workers are offered only what strikers described as a net $200 a month raise

Video from the F st Verizon store picket