From The Center Square

By Brett Rowland

As Tesla boss Elon Musk leads federal cost-cutting efforts, his auto company has drawn the ire of frustrated Americans who have taken things out on his cars, buildings, electric vehicle chargers and everything else that carries a Tesla logo.

President Donald Trump has gone to lengths to protect Musk as the Department of Government Efficiency works to reshape the federal workforce to Trump’s specifications.

This week, the nation’s top prosecutor put vandals and others on notice. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the Justice Department will investigate the spate of recent attacks on Tesla property. She called the attacks on Tesla “domestic terrorism.”

“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism,” she said. “The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences.”

Bondi also hinted at organizers behind the attacks.

“We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes,” she said.

Since Musk took up the top cost-cutting position in Trump’s government, his Tesla electric vehicles have become a target for vandals of all stripes. Some have graffitied their feelings about Musk on Tesla vehicle chargers. Other have gone after the cars with keys or other forms of vandalism. The same goes for dealerships, car lots and showrooms. No injuries have been reported during the attacks.

Trump is keenly aware of the problem. He recently invited a parade of Tesla vehicles to the White House for some personal car shopping. The president even invited reporters along for the spectacle.

The violence and vandalism come as Trump looks to reduce the footprint of the federal government. Trump, with help from Musk and his team, has virtually shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development. Trump has also taken steps to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and other agencies that don’t align with his spending plans.

DOGE, with help from Trump’s cabinet, has directed cuts at agencies across the federal government.

Trump has promised to cut “hundreds of billions” in federal spending in 2025 through the reconciliation process. Musk initially suggested DOGE could cut $2 trillion in spending. Musk more recently said the group will aim for $2 trillion, but likely come up with half that amount.

Congress has run a deficit every year since 2001. In the past 50 years, the federal government has ended with a fiscal year-end budget surplus four times, most recently in 2001.

The scene outside the county courthouse in Mandan, North Dakota, where a jury held Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over its support of sometimes violent protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

From The Center Square

By Morgan Sweeney

A North Dakota jury on Wednesday found environmental activist group Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for its activities related to protests of construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace over the sometimes violent protests that delayed construction of the pipeline by five months, costing the company lost profits and shareholder value.

A trial over the civil lawsuit began in February and concluded Wednesday, on the second day of deliberations.

Energy Transfer subsidiary Dakota Access LLC installed the roughly 1,200-mile pipeline running from North Dakota to Illinois in 2016 and 2017. In April 2016, a small group of Sioux set up Sacred Stone Camp, a camp to protest the installation of the pipeline under the river on unceded treaty land for fear that the pipeline could leak and contaminate the river and water supply. They also said the pipeline would disrupt sacred burial grounds and other culturally relevant sites.

With funding and other support from environmental activist group Greenpeace and others, the protest grew and eventually attracted international media attention, especially when clashes with law enforcement became violent. Over 100,000 people descended on rural North Dakota in less than a year, many from other states and possibly some from abroad, according to local residents.

Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace, blaming it for the escalation of the protests that delayed completion of the project by five months. The company says the delay cost them lost profits and shareholder value. It sued Greenpeace for $300 million.

Greenpeace maintained its primary involvement in the protests was sending indigenous nonviolent direct action trainers, camping supplies and a biodiesel-powered solar truck to the site and that the lawsuit against it was an attack on First Amendment rights.

This is a developing story.