Judge Gives New Meaning to "Swiss Bank Account"

Feb. 6, 2020 Update from Leonard Higgins, Valve Turner: "Regretfully, the Skagit County Superior Court granted the Prosecution’s last-minute motion to delay fellow Valve Turner Ken Ward’s [climate necessity defense] trial (that was scheduled to begin on Monday) to sometime later this Spring. This delay comes at a huge financial cost to us, as we have already sunk thousands of dollars into trial preparations, and for the lodging and travel expenses of our expert witnesses."

I missed local English Bulldog Agility Trials because Suz said we needed to see the tax man. I'm sure I'll get over it in a few decades.

On a more serious note, it was great to read Jordan Davidson's Jan. 14, 2020 article at ecowatch.com, "Swiss Judge Clears Climate Crisis Protestors, Says Actions Were ‘Necessary and Proportional’." Davidson wrote "A Swiss court on Monday cleared a dozen activists of wrongdoing and a hefty fine [of '$22,200']  for a stunt they pulled in a Credit Suisse bank in November 2018. [par break] The protestors had occupied the bank and played tennis to demand an end to fossil fuel funding and to ask tennis star, Roger Federer, to end his endorsement deal with the bank, as the AP reported. [ . . . . ] The judge, Philippe Colelough, said the protestors who wore completely white tennis outfits and wigs were justified because of the imminent threat posed by the climate crisis, according to Deutsche Welle."

According to Davidson, Federer responded in a Reuters report, "I appreciate reminders of my responsibility as a private individual, as an athlete and as an entrepreneur, and I'm committed to using this privileged position to dialogue on important issues with my sponsors [ . . . . ] I take the impacts and threat of climate change very seriously, particularly as my family and I arrive in Australia amidst devastation from the bushfires."

This is timely because Valve Turner Ken Ward, tried a third time, will face a "climate necessity defense trial" February 10-14, 2020 in Skagit Superior Court, Mt Vernon, WA. Last year I showed a film about him, The Reluctant Radical, at my college, and posted a link to the trailer. My English 205 students ranked it as one of their favorite films in the course.  Climate Scientist Dr. James Hansen praised the film, "They told him he was crazy, but crazy is sitting idly by as disaster for young people is knowingly locked in." In a previous post I wrote "Professor James Hansen said in his COP25 Press Conference '450 [ppm of  CO₂] is a disaster if you leave it in the air for long because we would eventually lose all coastal cities. The safe level is something less than 350 ppm but we are already at 410 ppm.' [I added] that should be on the front page of each newspaper on Earth."

It was interesting last time Valve Turners received permission to use the "necessity defense," "a last-minute change of mind by [ . . . a Minnesota] trial judge" "acquitted [ . . . ] Emily Johnston and Annette Klapstein of all charges," according to Mark Hand Oct. 10, 2018, at thinkprogress.org.

It was reported Valve Turner Michael Foster, a family therapist, is on day 3 of a hunger strike at the start of a legislative session In Olympia, WA, to "fast each day until Gov Inslee calls for a Citizens' Assembly and Emergency Special Session for Climate. It is 2020. Washington emissions are higher than when Inslee took office. Our families won't survive another few years of tinkering around the edges. Cut pollution now or make Life pay forever." I recall Washington Governor Jay Inslee ran for President on a climate platform noted in my post that included "Radiohead - Idioteque" used with permission of Extinction Rebellion.