Is this story about climate activist Tim DeChristopher an Onion parody or for real?
After serving 15 months in federal prison, DeChristopher is now living in a halfway house. (He's eligible for parole in April.) He's also allowed to work and intended to take a job with the social justice program at the local First Unitarian Church. But the feds intervened, the Deseret News reports:
..."The Bureau of Prisons official who interviewed Tim indicated he would not be allowed to work at the Unitarian church because it involved social justice and that was what part of what his crime was," [DeChristopher's attorney Patrick] Shea said."
Yes, that's right—DeChristopher is barred from doing anything that might be construed as acting against injustice, because that's the whole reason they put him in jail in the first place.
So, let's get this straight. DeChristopher "bid $1.79 million on more than 22,000 acres that he had no intention of actually buying" in order to try and protect the land from oil and gas development. DeChristopher was sent to prison for doing so, served his time, and now is being prevented from working for the Unitarian Church because it's considered "social justice," just like fighting back against the oil and gas industry. Got that? And apparently "social justice" is considered to be a bad thing by some people, while oil and gas drilling on public lands is considered a good thing. Does this make any sense to you? Perhaps we should check with George Orwell on this one.
