Unicorn Riot

10/07/2026

Canadian Oil Giant Enbridge Builds Unauthorized Pipeline Bypass Following 1.3 Million Gallon Spill

The Wisconsin's DNR repeatedly requested Enbridge keep its Line 5 pipeline shut down following the largest oil and gas spill in state history on Aug. 25. Enbridge defied the requests. Without receiving the required permits, it built a new pipeline to bypass the rupture and restarted Line 5’s operations.

Enbridge’s actions raise serious questions about the state’s ability to regulate large, multinational corporations and its willingness to enforce its permits.

Bad River Tribal Chair Liz Arbuckle asked DNR officials if the permits meant anything at all: “What are the consequences if they are violated?”

Arbuckle said the DNR representatives gave evasive responses. They told tribal leaders they are continuing to work with Enbridge in the permitting process. The DNR would not answer whether they would issue Enbridge retroactive permits for the bypass work.

DNR Sec. Karen Hyun and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers have criticized Enbridge’s conduct, but so far they have stopped short of meaningful enforcement action, such as revoking permits or taking legal action.

In a Sept. 9 letter to Enbridge, Hyun said that Enbridge has a growing list of environmental harms and permit violations, “demonstrating disregard for the environment, human health, and the statutory authority of the department.” Hyun said Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute permit violations have caused “continued frustration and profound unease” for state officials and the people of Wisconsin.

People living near the pipeline have been unsatisfied with the DNR’s construction oversight. Bad River Tribal Member Joe Bates and others have taken it upon themselves to keep an eye on things and make sure that spills and violations are promptly reported. It is worth noting that Bates’ drone footage of the spill made international headlines.

Enbridge’s spill site bypass required state permits to cross streams and wetlands. The DNR did not approve the work. Enbridge blocked state officials from accessing the rupture site for weeks, citing safety concerns. When the DNR got access to the site, the bypass was under construction.

Link to full article and video in comments.

10/06/2026

NEW: Historic Trees Demolished, Land Defenders Arrested and New Treesit at US-Mexico Border

In the early hours of October 5, Border Patrol agents raided the anti-border camp called “Tierra Libre” on the U.S.-Mexico Border near Lochiel, Arizona. An estimated 200 Border Patrol Agents invaded camp, entering the tracts of private property along the border that had long shielded land defenders from the authority of the federal agents, and cutting down the ancient Grandmother tree campers had attempted to protect. Less than 24 hours later, land defenders established a new treesit in the immediate path of construction, this time on the Mexican side of the border.

Although Border Patrol agents were parked along the easement throughout the night, a masked land defender snuck past them and scrambled up into the 50-foot-tall Grandmother tree and into the platform already built there. “This brave warrior climbed right up there,” said Pablo, a land defender who was at camp Tuesday morning. “The new treesit is very much blocking construction, as long as someone is in that tree they will not be able to build their wall.”

Shortly after the treesit was reoccupied Tuesday morning, Border Patrol responded in force, confronting land defenders and attempting to push them back off the easement road that runs along the border. In the midst of that confrontation, at least five protesters were arrested and taken into custody and five more were charged and released. The situation is actively developing.

“We stand strong and will not be deterred by state violence or intimidation,” said an unnamed spokesperson for Tierra Libre in a press release emailed to media. “We call on all people of ceremony, all people of conscience, to come join us now in La Noria and Lochiel, to protect the land, to protect the sacred.”

[Full article in link]

In the early hours of October 5, Border Patrol agents raided the anti-border camp on the U.S.-Mexico Border, arrested land defenders and cut down historic trees before a treesit was re-established the next day.

10/06/2026

In the aftermath of the recent conflict between Cambodia and Thailand, a wave of militaristic nationalism has swept across both nations. Unicorn Riot spoke to anti-war activists on both sides who are working to curb this and prevent another future war.

The fog of war has not fully dissipated from the mountains and dense forests of Cambodia and Thailand’s borderlands, well over a year after the two nations became ensnared in deadly clashes. It is still unclear who fired the first shot, although both governments blame the other side for starting t...

10/06/2026

The White Supremacist Pastor in Jake Lang’s Shadow

Of the men who accompanied "Jake" Lang on his racial slur-themed event in Minneapolis, Joel Tenney has one of the largest national profiles. Like Lang, the Armenia-obsessed MAGA pastor from Iowa is an unabashed white supremacist – a term Tenney cloaks with euphemisms – and dedicates much of his public activism to transforming the United States into a Christian theocracy.

Tenney, who runs Alpha Pneuma Ministries, was not among the seven people arrested by police later in the day, apparently not accompanying Lang and the others as they fled the scene.

In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, in December 2023, Tenney led an Iowa Trump rally in prayer as an official speaker. Before praying over the ravenous multitude, he made the case that re-electing “President Trump for the third time” would result in punishment for people who promote “evil” in the country.

“This election is part of a spiritual battle,” Tenney said. “There are demonic forces at play. But judgement is coming.”

This is not such an extreme jump for Tenney, who has directly compared Trump to Jesus Christ in the past by referring to the president as “God’s anointed man.”

Tenney appeared on a small podcast in July, where the hosts thanked him for connecting them with Lang for an episode that appears to be missing from their uploads.

“I’ve known Jake for a while,” Tenney said. “I’ve done some different activities with him. First in Frisco, Texas, I believe. And then we went to Tennessee, and then after that I think we came to California for the Black Entertainment Television awards.”

The podcast was ultimately an occasion for Tenney to outline his white nationalist worldview, such as the genetic superiority of white people and not wanting to live next to or raise his children around non-white people.

“I’m not a racist,” Tenney said. “I’m a white preservationist, a white continuationist, and I love white pride.”

Read the full report published Sept. 5 and see our reporting on Lang's August hate rally in Minneapolis -- links in comments.

10/05/2026

Last Friday was Wrongful Conviction Day.

With anti-Blackness built into the fabric of everyday life in the U.S., Black Americans are the most likely to be wrongfully convicted of a crime and represent up to 60% of all exonerations in the country despite making up less than 14% of the total population.

In Minnesota, prisoner advocates estimate the number inmates serving time on wrongful convictions -- crimes they did not do -- to be at least 200.

Wrongful convictions have also been a focal point of political campaigns in Minnesota.

Before she was a state rep, Amy Klobuchar was a prosecutor.

From 1999-2007, Klobuchar oversaw a 600% increase of Black men being sent to prison, including wrongfully convicted Myon Burrell.

The state's Conviction Review Unit, designed to “identify, remedy, and prevent wrongful convictions,” was closed in July with 160 cases still under investigation. Klobuchar is running for Governor this year.

Minnesota's Attorney General Keith Ellison has decided to "eliminate" the state's Conviction Review Unit (CRU) less than six years after he created it. The closure is a devastating blow to around 160 CRU applicants in Minnesota prisons whose cases were pending final investigation into their claims o...

10/04/2026

China as the world’s largest producer and processor of rare earth elements has closed and restricted some mining operations in response to pollution concerns. In Myanmar and neighboring Thailand however people living near mining sites and the heavily contaminated Kok river have been left without meaningful environmental protection.

As demand for rare earth minerals grows worldwide, residents along the Kok River say they are paying the price.

10/03/2026

At least 66 Palestinians in Gaza were killed by Israeli forces between Aug. 23 and Sept. 6, 2026. Over 1,400 have been killed since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire signed in Oct. 2025.

This video from the frontlines in Gaza City features four instances of unprovoked Israeli attacks on Palestinians during the two-weeks noted.

August 24, 2026 - Water Desalination Plant Bombed by Israel (See full video on this in past IG post on Sept. 29)

August 27, 2026 - Israel Drone Targets Bicycle, Kills One

August 31, 2026 - Israeli Airstrike Targets Crowd

Sept. 6, 2026 - Israeli Airstrike Kills Father and Daughter in Vehicle

These are only four of the numerous daily attacks on Palestinians in Gaza City as Israel now controls over 70% of Gaza and is continuing actions in the Strip and the occupied West Bank that amount to genocide and ethnic cleansing.

More from Palestine at our website - link in bio and comments.

10/02/2026

Wisconsin's DNR repeatedly requested Enbridge keep its Line 5 pipeline shut down following them causing the largest oil and gas spill in state history on Aug. 25. Enbridge defied the requests. Without receiving the required permits, it built a new pipeline to bypass the rupture and restarted Line 5’s operations.

Enbridge’s actions raise serious questions about the state’s ability to regulate large, multinational corporations and its willingness to enforce its permits.

Link to full article in comments.

10/01/2026

NEW: Testing Greece’s controversial terrorism law, Greek anarchist Nikos Romanos was acquitted of terrorism charges after serving 17 months in pretrial detention in what he described as "political revenge" over a partial fingerprint found in an apartment after an accidental bomb explosion in Oct. 2024.

Testing Greece’s controversial terrorism law, Greek anarchist Nikos Romanos, alongside Argyrios K. and Dimitris P., was acquitted of terrorism charges earlier this year in connection with an explosion in an apartment in Athens in 2024.

10/01/2026

NEW: Gabriel Van De Water spoke to Unicorn Riot about being one of the 15 Minnesotans who were federally charged with conspiracy over their organizing against the deadly federal Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. The MN15 were investigated using Trump's NSPM-7 which labels anti-fascists as terrorists.

More on the MN15 and NSPM-7 at our website - link in bio and comments.