Solidarity Sings Along.

The Chief Big Foot Riders arriving in camp to support their Hunkpapa relatives. The riders honor the memory Mniconjou Lakota Chief Bigfoot and his band of 400 people who were massacred at Wounded Knee Creek by the U.S. Army 7th Calvary. In December 1990, they began a four-year commemoration on horseback over the same trail that Chief Big Foot's band followed in 1890, paying tribute and mourning those that died 100 years ago. Credit: Thosh Collins.

The Chief Big Foot Riders arriving in camp to support their Hunkpapa relatives. The riders honor the memory Mniconjou Lakota Chief Bigfoot and his band of 400 people who were massacred at Wounded Knee Creek by the U.S. Army 7th Calvary. In December 1990, they began a four-year commemoration on horseback over the same trail that Chief Big Foot’s band followed in 1890, paying tribute and mourning those that died 100 years ago. Credit: Thosh Collins.

In Iowa, residents are also suing the government, saying that Dakota Access LLC illegally wielded eminent domain to obtain rights of way on their land. That right rests solely with utility companies, they have argued in court. A ruling is pending on that as well, according to The DesMoines Register. Construction has begun in all four states.

Dakota Access Pipeline Standoff. – Feds Grant TRO Against Standing Rock Members. – Dakota Access Protest: We’re being sued – help us fight it! – Dakota Access Standoff Calls on Obama. – Among Those Arrested… – Sacred Stone Camp: Calling Water Warriors! – Dakota Access: About That Oil… – Dakota Access Purchaser Looking Like Enron. – Standing Rock and IITC File Urgent Communication to UN. – Sacred Stone Camp. – North Dakota: State of Emergency Declared. – Solidarity Sings! – Settling into Camp – Washington DC: Action Alert – Solidarity Sings Along. –

Via ICTMN and #LastRealIndians and Simon Moya-Smith.

Lesbian and Transgender Hillbillies are Coming to Get You.

A lesbian couple sitting in a sunny field (Shutterstock.com)

A lesbian couple sitting in a sunny field (Shutterstock.com)

Well, the right wing has found something new to froth about, there are LGBT people in rural areas! Really, who knew. After all, everyone knows all LGBT people are in urban areas, struggling to get their glitter just right or something. There couldn’t possibly be native rural or Southern LGBT people, and farming? Forget about it. Of course, the truth is that there are lots of LGBT people all over the place, and queer folk in rural areas, the South in particular, have more difficulties in getting together with other queer folk, and don’t have near the resources of other rural people, especially farmers. The 15th annual Nationwide LGBT Rural Summit was held at Drake University in Des Moines, IA on Aug. 18. That would be the fifteenth one, but of course, right wing asses seemed to just now find out about it, and are joyful in the hissiness on display over yet another sign that the sky, it be falling, as all us queers are the 5th column intent on destroying the good ol’ conservative heart of Amerikka. Oh yes.

The right-wing freakout over the summit began at conservative website The College Fix, which mocked the summit, complained that it was a waste of tax money and denied that LGBT people living in rural areas might face any special hurdles.

By August 16, the Washington Free Beacon picked up the story, wailing that the summit will enable “lesbian and transgender hillbillies how to get subsidies from the government.”

“The all-day summit will teach lesbian and transgender hillbillies how to get subsidies from the government like rural housing loans and ‘community facility grants.’ Bullying will also be discussed,” said the Beacon.

Then, none other than Rush Limbaugh picked up on the story.

“Have you heard the latest Democrat scam?” Limaugh asked on his program. “Have you heard about the Agriculture Department’s financial grants to lesbian farmers? You think I’m making this up? See, this is how they do it.”

“(W)hat the point of this is, folks, it’s not about lesbian farmers. What they’re trying to do is convince lesbians to become farmers,” he insisted.

“I’m like you; I never before in my life knew that lesbians wanted to be farmers. I never knew that lesbians wanted to get behind the horse and the plow and start burrowing. I never knew it. But apparently enough money can make make it happen, and the objective here is to attack — they’re already attacking suburbs, and that has been made perfectly clear by what happened in Milwaukee. And they’re going after every geographic region that is known to be largely conservative. They never stop, folks. They are constantly on the march,” said Limbaugh, whipping the story up into another Obama conspiracy.

World Net Daily joined in the panic and ousted Breitbart.com editor Ben Shapiro’s blog The Daily Wire called it “dumbest thing Feds have EVER Spent your tax dollars on.”

Lesbian farmers don’t exist, said the Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo.

“I mean, if I don’t know that the chocolate milk I’m drinking was originally obtained from a lesbian milking a cow, things could really breakdown [sic],” she wrote.

Oh yes, we are seriously contagious there, alt right folks, so perhaps you should all get out of the rural areas, and don’t eat or drink anything you haven’t produced yourself. It’s the only way to be certain. We’re coming for you, yes we are. Yep.

Via Raw Story and Media Matters.

Washington DC: Action Alert.

To drive this home a bit, these are all the water ways at risk:

If you can be there, please, stand with us. Stand for all people. Stand for our right to say no. Stand for our right to clean air, clean, healthy water, healthy land. We should not have to fight for these things, these are necessary for all life. Water is life. We must care, because corporations do not. We must insist on responsibility and accountability. We must not be resigned. We must fight. Join us.

#LastRealIndians. #NoDAPL. #IndigenousRising.

Dakota Access Pipeline Standoff. – Feds Grant TRO Against Standing Rock Members. – Dakota Access Protest: We’re being sued – help us fight it! – Dakota Access Standoff Calls on Obama. – Among Those Arrested… – Sacred Stone Camp: Calling Water Warriors! – Dakota Access: About That Oil… – Dakota Access Purchaser Looking Like Enron. – Standing Rock and IITC File Urgent Communication to UN. – Sacred Stone Camp. – North Dakota: State of Emergency Declared. – Solidarity Sings! – Settling into Camp – Washington DC: Action Alert –

Solidarity Sings!

Via #LastRealIndians and #IndigenousRising. Seeing such an outpouring of love, prayers, support, donations, and supplies from our allies around the world at Sacred Stone Camp. There are two camps now, so we can use all the help we can get. Thank you all, so very much. Keep standing. Join hands. Join us. Together, we are strong. Together, we can say no. Together, we can protect our land and water. Together, we can make sure we have a good legacy for our children and grandchildren.

North Dakota: State of Emergency Declared.

Sheriff's deputies from Cass County man a northbound checkpoint south of Fort Lincoln State Park on Thursday. Cars traveling south on Highway 1806 are diverted to Highway 6. Cars traveling north on Highway 1806 must go through the checkpoint. Officers were recording license plates of cars traveling north. Credit: Will Kincaid.

Sheriff’s deputies from Cass County man a northbound checkpoint south of Fort Lincoln State Park on Thursday. Cars traveling south on Highway 1806 are diverted to Highway 6. Cars traveling north on Highway 1806 must go through the checkpoint. Officers were recording license plates of cars traveling north. Credit: Will Kincaid.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple issued an emergency declaration for southwest and south central North Dakota in response to protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Cannon Ball.

The declaration starts a process by which state agencies can get additional funding, said Greg Wilz, director of the Homeland Security Division of the state Department of Emergency Services.

Dalrymple said in the declaration that the state is committed to protecting the right to lawful protests, but recent events have created a “significant public safety concern.”

The protests have grown substantially over the past week as about 1,500 people have gathered to demonstrate against the pipeline being drilled under the Missouri River. Large campsites have been established for the protesters. Twenty-nine people have been arrested during the demonstrations.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been the central law enforcement agency involved in monitoring the protests, but several state agencies have gotten involved.

North Dakota Highway Patrol has sent officers to the protest site, Wilz said. The health department has provided portable water trailers and a medical trailer at the protest camp. The transportation department has assisted with the road detour on Highway 1806 and put up barriers and signage.

Wilz said he will be looking at funding requests from the agencies, make an estimate and ask the emergency commission for an appropriation. The commission can authorize emergency services to get a loan from the Bank of North Dakota.

He estimated the additional resources could cost from $750,000 to $1 million, if the protests continue for the next few weeks.

[…]

Morton County declared its own state of emergency on Monday, for the purpose of tapping into its emergency fund and creating public awareness, said Cody Schulz, chairman of the county commission.

Schulz said the biggest expense for the county has been law enforcement, including overtime for the sheriff’s deputies and assistance from other agencies, including the Mandan Police and the Cass and Mercer County Sheriffs.

The governor’s emergency order does not include activation of the National Guard.

The governor is so damn deep in big oil’s pockets he couldn’t tunnel himself out, so naturally, he’s going to start spending money the state doesn’t have to corral all of us evil Indians and allies, and point the finger of blame at us. Thanks, gov.

Via Bismarck Trib.

Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II has responded…

[Read more…]

Dakota Access Purchaser Looking Like Enron.

The standoff continues, at Sacred Stone Camp and in Bismarck. Winona LaDuke ( Anishinaabe) has an interesting column up at ICTMN, as further information comes to light.

The recent announcement of Enbridge’s purchase of the Dakota Access Pipeline came as a surprise to most of us. For the past four years, Enbridge has told the people of Minnesota that the proposed Sandpiper route (Clearbrook to Superior) was essential. It turns out that was not true. Let me try to translate what I think happened.

[Read more…]

‘Black Lives Matter’: They Should Be Ashamed of Themselves.

kkk-1471380951-6956Oh, the KKK. Gad, they are a whiny bunch of assholes. Seems they are planning to, um, attend a Black Lives Matter Rally on Long Island this Sunday. I’m just going to include the choicer whiny bits here, and boy, are there a lot of them. Click over for the full article, including rally organizer Vanessa Vascez-Corleone’s priceless response, which includes an open invitation, as it seems the Klan’s idea of attending is to lurk in a ‘secret place’.

The Ku Klux Klan, the oldest American hate group in existence, has a message for those organizing Black Lives Matter rallies on the East End: “They should be ashamed of themselves.”

And now the KKK, with its long history of murder and violence, plans to bring members to a Black Lives Matter rally scheduled for Sunday in Westhampton Beach, according to a man identifying himself as a high-ranking KKK member. That rally is slated to begin at noon at the traffic circle near Village Hall.

Speaking Tuesday with Patch, Gary Monker, who said he is the Exalted Cyclops, or chief officer, in New York of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, said many people have misconceptions about the organization.

“We’re the only organization right now standing up for whites, upholding the second amendment of the Constitution,” he said. “We are not a hate group. We are Christian and we’re trying to restore America back to what it used to be.”

This incredible litany of whine is rich with opportunities for mockery, so everyone, please, mock away, on every possible platform, and show these buffoons up for what they truly are: vile bigots crying crocodile tears over their inability to openly terrorize and murder at will. There’s plenty of material coming up.

[Read more…]

We Won’t Be Able to Pee Anywhere, Oh No!

Sandy Rios.

Sandy Rios.

Whip out those hankies and you’ll be able to catch crocodile tears!

Christian activists’ boycott of Target hasn’t exactly been a rousing success so far, as the company this week announced that it’s spending $20 million to expand its available restroom options while at the same time remaining inclusive toward transgender people.

Right Wing Watch notices that Christian activist Sandy Rios is so scared that the boycott of Target will be a flop that she fears she’ll never be able to use a public restroom again.

“If we do not keep the pressure on Target, this will quickly — we know how major corporations are, they are scared to death of anything that isn’t politically correct — this will spread like wildfire, we will not be able to go to the bathroom anywhere,” she told Breitbart’s Alex Marlow. “What’s at stake is all the other companies around this country that will just cave, they just will.”

Oh my, it would be nice if you could figure out that this is the way the rest of us already feel. We’ve been living fear of a public lav because of people like you, Ms. Rios. If you really want to settle this, just self ban yourselves from public lavs. Unfortunately, since Breitbart’s nastiest, slimiest, sleaziest, most unethical asshole, Stephen Bannon, has hired onto the Trump campaign, Breitbart is busy whipping this all up again, into a massive frenzy of bigotry and hate.

Full story here.

Dakota Access: About That Oil…

DAS

Brandon Ecoffey at The Lakota Country Times has a good article up about the current fight against Dakota Access pipeline.

For many Americans the fact that the poorest people in the United States have promised to lay their lives down to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline is a bewildering experience. The shock that comes along with the realization that the Oceti Sakowin have come together once again as a united front against one of this country’s most powerful lobbies should come as no surprise for we have been fighting big industry since the arrival of colonial powers in the western hemisphere.

Native people of this country have both experienced and resisted the will of corporations for the entirety of our shared history. We saw the devastation that came with the early fur trade that began with beaver pelts that were eventually replaced by buffalo robes. We witnessed the atrocities that accompanied the powerful cotton lobby and their thirst for slave labor and cheap lands. We foresaw the arrival of settlers in the heart of Lakota Country, who came to take gold from our most sacred lands. Today, the “Horse Nations” are prepared for yet another battle against corporate powers and their allies in the United States Congress.

Most Americans have been taught to believe that the federal government and our elected officials have been put in place to protect our freedoms and way of life. For Native people the truth is the opposite. Since the inception of this republic the policies drafted regarding us have been crafted to take from us our culture or the resources we live on. For these reasons we are conditioned to question all that is offered us by both the government and big oil.

There are two promises that have been made by the oil industry that have proven to be categorically false.

[Read more…]

Sacred Stone Camp: Calling Water Warriors!

SSCww

Oh, so sorry to be late with this, it’s been difficult to keep up.

AHO! Sacred Stone Camp is calling on all water warriors, canoeists, kayakers, paddlers, all water warriors, bring your boats, and join us on the Missouri River, Saturday, August 20th. People are coming from all four directions to stand with us, to defend our right to say no, to defend healthy land, healthy water, healthy people, healthy animals. If you can stand for all Turtle Island, please stand with us.

Bring boats, paddles, life jackets, and banners.

Lawsuits are pending, brought by the Oceti Sakowin, but Dakota Access is aggressively pushing the pipeline anyway, not waiting for the hearings next week.

Sacred Stone Camp. Sacred Stone Camp Po. Box 1011 Ft. Yates, ND 58538 A good drop-off for supplies would be the actual camp located on the banks of the Cannonball and Missouri, north of the community of Cannon Ball. Follow the Facebook page for the most frequent updates: https://www.facebook.com/CampoftheSacredStone/

Show up, donate, signal boost, please help! Pilamayaye.

SSCneed

The city of Bismarck has closed off streets for a round dance.

We’ve been given the road so a round dance is starting. Thank you so much, Bismarck! This support is so beautiful to witness.

A video posted by Sacred Stone Camp (@sacredstonecamp) on

I should add that cops have set up concrete roadblocks, and are checking license plates of all those heading into the camp, saying they are only allowing Standing Rock rez people in, but you can still get by. Be persistent, but no confrontations, and no violence – the cops are busy making up lies as it is. You can keep up with that at https://twitter.com/sacredstonecamp – so go if you can, but put your stealth on! You water warriors already have your way in, and past cops.

Trump Will Make Jesus Come Back.

Frank Amedia.

Frank Amedia.

Frank Amedia, a pastor who says he is serving in a volunteer capacity as Donald Trump’s “Christian policy” liaison, said last month that God told him last year that Trump would win the GOP nomination and that he believes Trump has been “raised up” to help pave the way for the Second Coming.

Amedia spoke with Steve Strang, the founder of the Pentecostal magazine Charisma, on Strang’s podcast on the day Donald Trump effectively won the Republican presidential nomination; the podcast was posted online last week.

[…]

“In this instance, it’s not because Donald Trump has heralded his faith or the name of God, but the Lord has put His favor upon him, and how amazing it is that the favor of God can overcome so many mistakes, so many bumbles, so many things that otherwise we would think would destroy somebody in business, destroy them in politics, destroy them in relationships. But yet it’s very evident it was the will of the Lord to do this and here we sit now.”

Amedia then told Strang that he believes there is “a skirmish going on” in the “heavenlies” right now that “is the beginnings of the preparation of the way of the coming of the Lord.”

As part of this preparation for the Second Coming, he said, a “breaker anointing” has taken place, giving Trump the power to break up “established norms” that have not served the “Kingdom of God.” (This is a reference to a passage in the Old Testament Book of Micah about the end of days.)

Breaking up the established norms. Hmm, okay, I think that can be translated as “only white, straight christians who are politically incorrect are okay, yessir!”

“And this breaker anointing is manifesting in so many different facets on earth today,” he said. “One of them is the political realm, one of them is right here in the United States, and I perceive that Donald Trump has been raised up with that breaker anointing to just begin to crush all of the strangleholds that have been placed upon this country. And, let’s face it, this country influences the world. And the positions that he’s taken, albeit in not quite the personality that you and I would walk out into, is accomplishing in establishing a lot of what were established norms and are established norms that haven’t been very effective at all on serving the principles of the Kingdom of God.”

Um, Frank, I hate to break this to you, but just up there ^, you were yakking about Jesus coming back, raining down destruction and all that; now you’re yakking about how Trump is gonna make this a god huggin’ power to be feared country again, dominating the world, and taking its rightful place as bestest country ever. I think you need to pick here. Hmmm. Jesus or power. Power or Jesus. Power…or what now?

Via Right Wing Watch.

Cop Union: Accountability? Uh uh, Give Us Money.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus can’t meaningfully discipline his officers under current contract rules. CREDIT: AP Photo/Eric Gay

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus can’t meaningfully discipline his officers under current contract rules. CREDIT: AP Photo/Eric Gay.

City leaders in San Antonio will soon vote on a new union contract for police officers that contains no reforms to accountability processes for cops, because the officers’ union wanted more money before agreeing to higher standards.

Mayor Ivy Taylor brought a seven-point list of reforms to union negotiators this spring, the San Antonio Express-News reports, but none made it into the contract. If the City Council ratifies the deal on September 1, the city will continue to face tight limits on how it can discipline officers.

Any misconduct records older than two years cannot be used to justify punishment for new incidents. Short suspensions that officers do not appeal get erased and converted into simple reprimands on their records after two years.

Taylor’s seven-point wishlist would have ended each of those rules, giving the Chief of Police greater ability to punish repeat offenders and examine patterns of behavior across an officer’s full career when deciding to suspend, demote, or fire a cop.

“The (police) chief (William McManus) and I feel that it is important, but the union was not willing to consider that and they wanted to be paid for any changes in the disciplinary process,” city manager Sheryl Sculley told the Express-News.

The contract already includes a 14 percent raise over four years. The raises union officials reportedly sought in exchange for reform would have been over and above those pay bumps — something that one activist called “essentially extortion.”

[Read more…]

Among Those Arrested…

Scatter Their Own Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford and Scotti Clifford get arrested during the Dakota Access Pipeline confrontation. Photo courtesy of Arlo Iron Cloud.

Scatter Their Own Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford and Scotti Clifford get arrested during the Dakota Access Pipeline confrontation. Photo courtesy of Arlo Iron Cloud.

Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford and her husband, Scotti Clifford, were among the arrested on Monday at the Sacred Stone Camp.

“This is about water and land,” said Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford who along with her husband Scotti Clifford, both from the band Scatter Their Own, were arrested. “We have to take a stand to protect the water and land for generations to come.”

Via Lakota Country Times.

ETA: The latest update from Sacred Stone Camp:

Aho ma relatives wopida dida tanka for all your support as you know many of our defenders have been arrested and the camp has grown considerably in size we are struggling to feed everyone and to get our defenders bailed out things we could not do without your support.. pls contribute in any way that you are able. prayers and donations we are very grateful for everyones help.. water is life the most sacred elder of creation without her all life stops..

If you can help, with money, signal boosting, your presence, supplies, please do.

I featured their music some time ago, and here it is again.

Scatter Their Own, Scotti Clifford and Juliana Brown Eyes-Clifford (Oglala Lakota). Scatter Their Own website.

Scatter Their Own, Taste The Time.

Scatter Their Own, Don’t Fear to Tread.

Scatter Their Own, Earth & Sky.

You can read more about Scatter Their Own here.