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NEWSLETTER
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NOVEMBER 2016 HEADLINES

LAST UPDATED 30 NOVEMBER 2016

SENAA International  
STANDS WITH STANDING ROCK
NO DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE (DAPL)


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Standing Rock #NoDAPL: September - October 2016
Governor Clarifies Evacuation Order
by Nick Smith, Bismarck Tribune  -  30 NOV 2016
    Gov. Jack Dalrymple sought Wednesday to clarify the mandatory evacuation order he issued earlier this week by saying he doesn’t aim to block supplies such as food and clothing from being provided to protesters camping in southern Morton County.
    “There was a misunderstanding on how we are going to use this executive order. We are not going to be stopping people,” Dalrymple said. “It would be a huge mistake from a humanitarian standpoint.”
    He said the intent of the order is public safety.
    Dalrymple spoke to reporters at the Capitol along with Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley, Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann of the North Dakota National Guard, and North Dakota Highway Patrol Col. Michael Gerhart.
    “Obviously, we could’ve done a better job,” Dohrmann said of communicating the meaning of the order.
    Dalrymple said the order is similar to several others that have been issued in recent years during flooding emergencies.
    “An emergency order means, quite simply, you are in a danger zone,” Dalrymple said. “The essence is to put people on notice.”...  
U.S. Veterans to Form Human Shield at Dakota Pipeline Protest
by Terray Sylvester, Reuters  -  30 NOV 2016
    More than 2,000 U.S. military veterans plan to form a human shield to protect protesters of a pipeline project near a Native American reservation in North Dakota, organizers said, just ahead of a federal deadline for activists to leave the camp they have been occupying.
    It comes as North Dakota law enforcement backed away from a previous plan to cut off supplies to the camp – an idea quickly abandoned after an outcry and with law enforcement’s treatment of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters increasingly under the microscope.
    The protesters have spent months rallying against plans to route the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, saying it poses a threat to water resources and sacred Native American sites.
    Protesters include various Native American tribes as well as environmentalists and even actors including Shailene Woodley....
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Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Issues Proclamation in Support of Oceti Sakowin Camp Safety
Sacred Stone Camp  -  30 NOV 2016
    Cannon Ball, N.D.—Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II today issued a proclamation in support of water protectors who face continued civil rights abuses and excessive use of force by law enforcement.
    “This week is the anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. It’s time for the United States to end its legacy of abuses against Native Americans. We call on the United Nations and President Barack Obama to take immediate action to prohibit North Dakota from engaging in its retaliatory actions and practices,” Archambault said. “As a tribal nation, we call on the President to take all the appropriate steps to ensure water protectors are safe and that their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly are protected. Gov. Darlymple had a chance today to condemn the violence and unlawful acts of state and local governments, but failed to do so.”

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Proclamation 2016
Emergency Proclamation to Safeguard Peaceful Protests on Treaty Territory
    Whereas, Water Protectors are currently engaged in peaceful and prayerful activities within the Oceti Sakowin Camp located on land managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers;
    Whereas, ...
Audio: Tribe Objected to Pipeline Nearly 2 Years before Lawsuit
by Amy Dalrymple, Forum News Service, Bismarck Tribune  -  30 NOV 2016
    CANNON BALL – Audio released by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe from a September 2014 meeting with Dakota Access Pipeline representatives contradicts recent claims made by a pipeline company executive.
    Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access LLC, told The Wall Street Journal the pipeline route that crosses just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation could have been changed if the tribe had engaged in discussions sooner.
    “I really wish for the Standing Rock Sioux that they had engaged in discussions way before they did. I don’t think we would have been having this discussion if they did,” Warren said in a Wall Street Journal interview published Nov. 16. “We could have changed the route. It could have been done, but it’s too late.”
    However, the recording provides audio from a Sept. 30, 2014, meeting in which Standing Rock officials expressed their opposition to the pipeline and raised concerns about its potential impact to sacred sites and their water supply — nearly two years before they raised similar objections in a federal lawsuit.
    Phyllis Young, a former tribal council member, was among those who strongly objected to the project, saying she would never submit to any pipeline going through her homeland and adding the tribe would do “whatever it takes” to stop it....  
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#NODAPL Supporters Face Harassment in Bismarck/Mandan Area
Comfort Inn in Bismarck, North Dakota Refuses to Serve American Indians Involved with #NODAPL

by Darren Thompson, Native News Online  -  29 NOV 2016
    BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA — #NODAPL supporters voiced through social media that they were being targeted and harassed by law enforcement and local businesses throughout the Bismarck and Mandan areas.
    Early Tuesday morning, the State of North Dakota issued a statement saying that it will stop any vehicle that appears to be heading towards camp with supplies and food, stating that Governor Dalrymple signed of an “emergency evacuation” order on Monday due to inclement weather. Officers will warn them that they are violating the governor’s order and can be fined up to $1,000.
    Anyone driving a vehicle that looks like it may be heading towards camp, perhaps with a #nodapl bumper sticker, is subject to being stopped and questioned by police....
    Another group of #NODAPL supporters of taking a break from camp were staying at a Comfort Inn in Bismarck and decided to stay another night due to weather conditions only to find out their reservations for an additional night were cancelled due to questioning by employees of whether or not they supported or opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline.
    “We decided to go to Bismarck to get a break from camp and to find a nice warm place to stay,” said Kanti Devi. “And with the weather prohibiting safe travel we decided to stay another night. It was then that one of the employees called our room asked if there was any way we were involved with the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.”
    “I’m not one to lie,” continued Devi. “And when I told him that we were involved, it was then that he expressed they will refuse us service and canceled our reservation.”...  
Medical Fund for Sophia Wilansky
GoFundMe
    Sophia Wilansky is a water protector from New York. She left New York City several weeks ago to help with the struggle at Standing Rock. She been an active participate and family to the activist groups NYC Shut It Down and Hoods4Justice. Sophia has always been committed to confronting injustice through vigilance and resistance.
    Sophia was giving out bottles of water to protectors holding down the space when she was shot with a concussion grenade. This was the response of police and DAPL mercenaries as she and other brave protectors attempted to hold the line against the black snake in service of protecting our water. As of last night, we found out she was air lifted to County Medical Center in Minneapolis were she’s currently undergoing extensive, hours-long surgery from injuries sustained from the blast.
    Please consider donating to help pay for her treatment. We must to support our comrades when they need us the most. She needs all of us right now. After all she is our family. #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife
    Help spread the word!
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Medical Fund for Vanessa (Sioux Z) Dundun
GoFundMe
    Vanessa has been on the front lines fighting DAPL and working security for Oceti Sakowin since September 11. During the action on November 20 at the Backwater bridge, she was shot in the eye with a tear gas canister 6 feet away. It was aimed directly at her face by a Morton County officer. She was seen at Bismark Sanford hospital and released because she had no insurance. She has a detached retina and needs surgery to ensure her vision. She is now seeking medical attention in Fargo. Donations will be used for the cost of the 2 ER visits, surgery, medications, and recovery.  
Delivering Supplies to Protest Camp Could Warrant $1,000 Fine
by Caroline Grueskin, Bismarck Tribune - 29 NOV 2016
    Anyone delivering supplies to the main protest camp in Morton County could be subject to a $1,000 fine for violating the emergency evacuation order, but a local minister said this will not deter her church from providing support.
    "It's cold out, really cold, and people need our help. Solidarity doesn't stop when the warm weather stops," minister Karen Van Fossen, of the Bismarck-Mandan Unitarian Universalist Congregation, wrote in an email Tuesday.
    "As people of faith and conviction, we are committed to peaceful, prayerful solidarity with Standing Rock. If supplies are needed to survive the long winter, we will do our best to provide them," she said.
    Van Fossen has delivered supplies to the Oceti Sakowin camp and hosted prayers and informational sessions over the past several months. The church is raising funds to put a winterized yurt there, according to an online fundraiser.
    "We have been a Bismarck-Mandan drop off site for supplies for many months. Local folks have donated everything from diapers to sleeping bags to winterized tents to snack crackers. It has been our honor to carry these items to Standing Rock," she said.
    Maxine Herr, spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriff's Department, said law enforcement is "being observant" of vehicles heading down county roads near the camp and could potentially pull over vehicles suspected of delivering supplies to the camp, which Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordered to be evacuated on Monday. Herr said officers will warn people carrying goods to camp that they could be subject to an infraction with a maximum penalty of $1,000.
    "The spirit of it is public safety," Herr said. "It's not safe for them to be down there in those conditions."
    A spokesman for the governor said the evacuation order was made with "no intention to block supplies going to the camp."
    "The governor signed this evacuation order out of concern for the safety of those that are down there at that camp," said Jeff Zent, spokesman for Dalrymple. "(He) had no intention to create some sort of supply blockade."...  
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Cherokee Nation Seeks Justice For Broken Treaties
   November 28th, 2016, marks the 231st anniversary of the Cherokee Nation’s first treaty with the United States. It’s called the Treaty of Hopewell and it’s the first of more than 40 treaties and official agreements the United States government broke over the last two centuries. In this video, learn how those broken treaties impacted the Cherokee Nation and why the tribe is suing the United States....
Congress Finally Begins to Notice the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests at Standing Rock
Sen. Cory Booker has called for a DOJ investigation, while Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Plans to Join the Protest

by Sophia Tesfaye, SALON  -  29 NOV 2016
    With the presidential election fading in the rearview mirror, some mainstream media attention has finally been diverted away from the Donald Trump circus to other notable but neglected news stories — leading to much needed, and in some cases unwanted, national attention.
    Just as the Army Corps of Engineers has ordered the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to vacate the federal land they’ve occupied in North Dakota within days, the protests to protect tribal land and a vital water resource has garnered the attention of several high-profile Democratic members of Congress.
    In a letter sent to Attorney General Loretta Lynch late last week, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called on the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the tactics used by police against peaceful protesters (who have designated themselves “water protectors”) and to deploy federal monitors to Standing Rock as reports emerge of violence against protesters....
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Interview with LaDonna Brave Bull Allard
Kenny Frost on Facebook  -  28 NOV 2016
One would do well to listen closely to this woman and take her words to heart.
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Press Release: Governor Dalrymple's Order to Evacuate People at the Oceti Sakowin Camp Is Out of His Jurisdiction
Indigenous Environmental Network  -  28 NOV 2016
    Cannon Ball, ND - Tonight the Governor of North Dakota released an executive order stating that all persons located at the Oceti Sakowin Water Protector camp along Highway 1806 in Cannonball, ND must evacuate. This order comes three days after the Army Corps of Engineers announced plans to evict the general public from the camp on December 5th.
    Governor Dalrymple is stepping outside of his jurisdiction and is putting thousands of Americans at danger as a winter storm warning is currently placed over the area where the camp exists.
    The following are statements from the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN):...
Governor's Illegal Executive Order: https://www.governor.nd.gov/files/executive-order/Executive Order 2016-08.pdf   
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The Latest: Crowd Fills Library for Public Forum on Pipeline
Bismarck Tribune  -  29 NOV 2016
   BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Latest on the protest against the Dakota Access oil pipeline (all times local):

10:30 p.m.
    A standing-room only crowd has filled a library in Bismarck, North Dakota, during a public forum about tribal opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline.
    The Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/2gQD8E0) reports that Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault joined tribal youth during the meeting sponsored by the Dakota Resource Council.
    He said officials didn't listen to tribal concerns about a plan to drill under the Missouri River near the reservation boundary for a section of the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline. Archambault called it "history repeating itself," a reference to other clashes between the federal government and tribes involving various treaties.
    Dakota Resource Council Executive Director Don Morrison said the speakers at the meeting represent "critically important voices that aren't being heard."
_

6 p.m.
    Authorities say no action will be taken to enforce North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple's emergency evacuation order for protesters of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
    Dalrymple signed the order Monday for protesters who are camping on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land. Dalrymple cited "harsh winter conditions," and his order said the unpermitted camp sites are not zoned for suitable housing.
    Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong told The Associated Press that authorities will not be using law enforcement or the National Guard to enforce the governor's order....  
Orders Could Have Little Effect on Pipeline Protest Camp
by James MacPherson, AP, Bismarck Tribune - 29 NOV 2016
    BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Government orders for protesters of the Dakota Access pipeline to leave federal land could have little immediate effect on the encampment where scores of people have been gathered for months to oppose the $3.8 billion project.
    A North Dakota sheriff on Monday dismissed a deadline from the Army Corps of Engineers as a meaningless move aimed only at reducing the government's legal responsibility for hundreds of demonstrators.
    The Corps "is basically kicking the can down the road, and all it is doing is taking the liability from the Corps and putting it on" the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said.
    The Corps said last week in a letter that all federal lands north of the Cannonball River will be closed to the public for "safety concerns" starting Dec. 5. The order includes the encampment called Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires camp.
    The agency cited North Dakota's oncoming winter and increasingly contentious clashes between protesters and police.
    But in a statement issued late Sunday, the Corps said it "has no plans for forcible removal." Anyone on land north of the river, including the main protest camp, after the deadline may be prosecuted for trespassing.
    Gov. Jack Dalrymple called the Corps' position "very puzzling."
    "When you put out a pronouncement that people must leave your land by a certain date, I think you take on a responsibility to somehow bring that about," Dalrymple said. "Clearly the responsibility of clearing that land now lies primarily with the Corps."
    But later on Monday, Dalrymple issued his own "mandatory evacuation" for the camp "to safeguard against harsh winter conditions." But the order didn't specify any action to be taken against protesters who don't comply, and state Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong later said no action would be taken to enforce it.
    In a statement released Monday night, Standing Rock Sioux tribal leader Dave Archambault called Dalrymple's order "a menacing action meant to cause fear, and is a blatant attempt by the state and local officials to usurp and circumvent federal authority."...
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Governor Calls for Federal Help in Eviction of Camped Protesters
Bismarck Tribune  -  26 NOV 2016
    In the wake of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers setting a Dec. 5 deadline to pipeline protesters to leave its northern-most overflow camp, which is estimated to have at least 3,000 people, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said Saturday the federal government must take the lead in any such eviction.
    However, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault said he does not expect the inhabitants of the protest camp will be forcibly removed.
    "The corps wants to reduce their liability," he said. "If they want public safety, the best thing for the federal government to do is to deny the easement."
    Corps officials announced late Friday they will close to public use and access corps-managed federal property north of the Cannonball River. The corps’ Omaha District Commander, Col. John Henderson, notified Archambault on Friday that anyone found to be on corps property north of the Cannonball River after Dec. 5 will be considered trespassing and may be subject to prosecution.
    Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, urged opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline to stand strong in defending territorial treaty rights.
    "This is a disgusting continuation of 500 years of colonialization," he said. "That is the state of affairs that we are in."
    Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, was among the members of the state's congressional delegation in support of the action....
Kirchmeier, Morton County Sued for Excessive Force in Protests
by Lauren Donovan, Bismarck Tribune  -  28 NOV 2016
    A National Lawyers Guild group has filed a class action lawsuit against Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, Morton County and other law enforcement agencies for bringing excessive force against Dakota Access Pipeline protesters earlier this month.
    The Water Protector Legal Collective filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Bismarck seeking an immediate injunction to prevent Kirchmeier and other agencies from using impact munitions, such as rubber bullets, lead-filled beanbags, water and sound cannons, directed energy devices, water hoses, explosive tear gas grenades and other chemical agents against the protesters.
    The group wants the injunction while the court decides whether to issue a temporary restraining order against police, arguing the police actions and munitions fall outside legal parameters....
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For Immediate Release on Behalf of the Standing Rock Medic Healer's Council (SRM&HC)
SRM&HC at Standing Rock  -  28 NOV 2016
    RE:Urgent request for Lieutenant General Todd Semonite (US Army Corps of Engineers), Secretary Robert A McDonald (US Department of Veteran Affairs), Sylvia Matthews Burwell (US Department of Health and Human Services) to immediately rescind the December 5th, 2016 eviction notice given to the Oceti Sakowin Camp by the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as a removal of the blockade on Highway 1806 in order to prevent unnecessary further morbidity and mortality...  
Governor Issues Evacuation Order to Dakota Access Protesters
by Nick Smith, Bismarck Tribune  -  28 NOV 2016
    Gov. Jack Dalrymple issued a mandatory emergency evacuation order Monday directed at the hundreds of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters camping on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land. The edict was issued as a winter storm has dumped at least a half foot of snow throughout the central part of the state.
    No law enforcement resources have yet been dedicated to enforcement of the order.
    Dalrymple’s order said that the corps land is not safe for the arrangement of tents and teepees erected by protesters in Morton County. He also referenced last Friday’s order by the corps to vacate the land by Dec. 5.
    The order, issued late Monday afternoon, is effective immediately and will remain until the governor rescinds it.
    Tribal leaders and others at the camp have indicated they won’t leave by the corps deadline.
    “The general public is hereby notified that emergency services probably will not be available under current winter conditions,” Dalrymple said in his order. “Any person who chooses to enter, re-enter or stay in the evacuation does so at their own risk and assumes any and all corresponding liabilities for their unlawful presence and occupation of the evacuation area.”
    A winter storm moved into the region Sunday night and is expected to last into Wednesday....
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North Dakota Governor Dalrymple Issues Executive Order to Illegally Remove Oceti Sakowin Residents from Federal Land
SENAA International  -  28 NOV 2016
    On the heels of the eviction notice issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple issued an "Evacuation Order" for the area currently occupied by the Oceti Sakowin Camp of Water Protectors.
    In the Executive Order, Dalrymple states that those who do not comply will be arrested. What Dalrymple apparently failed to take into account is that the land on which the Oceti Sakowin Camp is located is federal land under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, and is also land legally owned by the Great Sioux Nation under the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty and subsequent treaties.
    The fact that it is federal land, in and of itself, puts the land outside the jurisdiction of the state. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the only entity with the authority or jurisdiction to evict the residents of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, and the Corps of Engineers has stated that it will not forcibly remove the Oceti Sakowin Camp or its residents. Dalrymple's Executive Order, then, is illegal and is not legally binding or enforceable. Add to that the fact that the land, by treaty, still belongs to the Great Sioux Nation, which is a sovereign nation; and the Governor has no legal say in the matter whatsoever.
    The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe an the Great Sioux Nation will be initiating litigation in federal court against the U.S. government to regain possession of the land that Dalrymple has illegally ordered to be evacuated.
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Senator Reid, on Standing Rock
C-SPAN  -  28 NOV 2016
    Hosted by the U.S. Senate
    Leader: Mr. Reid: "This month is Native American Heritage month. During this month, we honor the contribution of American Indians; also, of course, Alaska Natives and Hawaiians. But we don't have to look very far, Madam President, to see how Native Americans continue fighting for their heritage, and they really must fight for their heritage. Pick up a newspaper, turn the news on any channel you want, and you'll see what's happening at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.
    "The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is opposed to the construction of a portion of the North Dakota Access Pipeline that passes near their reservation where it crosses the Missouri River. They're concerned that the construction of a pipeline could not only destroy ancestral burial grounds but also contaminate the water supply for the tribe as well as millions of others who depend on water from the Missouri River. Standing Rock Sioux are fighting for their land, the right to clean water, clean air and their history. They're not alone. The Standing Rock Sioux have been joined by thousands of others, including members of hundreds of tribes throughout the United States. Last month while I was in Nevada, members of the 27 Native American tribes we have in Nevada made it clear to me they stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux, but I do, too, Madam President, and here's why."...  
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Dallas Goldtooth Dispels Rumors: No planned Raids on the Oceti Sakowin Camp, Planes Are Not Dropping Chemicals Chemicals onto Water Protector Camps
Dallas Goldtooth on Facebook  -  28 NOV 2016
Army Corps Says No Forced Removal of Standing Rock Water Protectors
by Brenda Norrell, Censored News  -  27 NOV 2016
    The US Army Corps said today, Sunday, that it has no plans to forcibly remove Standing Rock water protectors camped on Treaty land at the Oceti Sakowin Camp on the banks of the Cannon Ball River. The Army Corps said it will issue citations.
    However, there is no guarantee that the Morton County Sheriff, Dakota Access Pipeline's hired mercenaries, and militarized police will not attack, as they have done repeatedly, if these out-of-control police come into Oceti Sakowin Camp to issue citations.
    After the Army Corps of Engineers announced it would shut the camp down on Dec. 5, Native American women warriors, including Dine', Lakota and Paiute women warriors, began acquiring bulletproof vests, gas masks, goggles and body armor.
    A Lakota youth now faces possibly losing her eye after being hit by a police projectile by police. Doctors are trying to save the arm of a young woman in New York, after her arm was shattered by a police projectile during the prayerful blockade....
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How Pick Sloan May Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline
by LaRae Meadows, Native News Online  -  25 NOV 2016
    A Pick-Sloan Winters
    The Bakken Dakota Access Pipeline is slithering down the North Dakota hills, poised to stick its head directly under the Missouri River. Thousands of Water Protectors, people from all over the world, have gathered in and around the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to stop its descent, and terminate the Black Snake. The Black Snake killer may come in the most unexpected forms, an obscure court ruling, legislation which ruined much of the ecology of the Standing Rock Reservation, and the agency responsible for enacting it – the Army Corps of Engineers.
    The Missouri River ravaged Omaha, laying waste to the city with frightening efficiency in 1943. In response, Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1944, commonly known now as Pick-Sloan. The Army Corps of Engineers and Board of Reclamation were assigned responsibility to enact Pick-Sloan and took control of the river.
    Even for those living right on the Missouri River, the name Pick-Sloan is obscure but no legislation changed the nature of the Missouri more. By the time the entire Pick-Sloan plan was enacted, only 1/3 of the river was in a natural state....  
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Dakota Access Pipeline FAQs
USACE  -  26 NOV 2016
    Q: What are the specific actions Dakota Access has requested of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?...
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State Sen. Connie Triplett: Burgum Can and Should Resolve DAPL Stand-off
by Connie Triplett, Grand Forks Herald  -  26 NOV 2016
    GRAND FORKS—In Wednesday's Herald, Lloyd Omdahl provided a valuable lesson in federalism to outgoing Gov. Jack Dalrymple. Too late, Lloyd. The current administration has already militarized the pipeline protest beyond reason and set state-tribal relations back a generation.
    That was before House Majority Leader Al Carlson destroyed a proud state tradition by "un-inviting" the tribal government address to the Legislature.
    Our only hope for sensible resolution lies with the next administration.
    Gov.-elect Doug Burgum: You are undoubtedly being briefed daily by the current administration. I believe you are sufficiently open-minded to listen to other voices as well.
    As your first act as governor, please indicate that you understand the concept of federally recognized tribal governments as "dependent sovereign nations," beholden to the power of Congress, but with a legal right to expect special treatment from federal agencies and state governments—not based on race, but on treaties approved by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
    Second, armed with that understanding, please refrain from pressuring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to grant the river crossing easement immediately. The Corps has acknowledged, under pressure from its sister agencies (Interior and Justice), that it failed in its obligations to the tribe and it has committed to make matters right, at least by engaging in real, meaningful consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux tribal government. Let that happen....  
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reacts to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Eviction Notice: Your Letter Makes a Grave & Dangerous Mistake
by Levi Rickert, ICT  -  26 NOV 2016
    EAGLE BUTTE, SOUTH DAKOTA – Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier was quick to respond to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers’ letter, dated November 25, 2016, that will evict the water protectors who are camping at Oceti Sakowin camp. The 10-day eviction notice came one day after Thanksgiving where thousands have come to show solidarity with the water protectors who oppose the Dakota Access pipeline....  
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Documents Show Details of Wisconsin EMAC Assistance to Morton County Sheriff
Unicorn Riot  -  26 NOV 2016
    Morton County, ND – In August, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple declared a State of Emergency in reaction to ongoing direct actions and demonstrations against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in Morton County, near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal reservation.
    Dalrymple’s State of Emergency enabled North Dakota law enforcement, specifically the Morton County Sheriff’s Department assisted by the state’s Department of Emergency Services, to take advantage of a program passed 20 years ago under the Bill Clinton presidency, the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (each participating state has a corresponding implementation statute).... 
Standing Rock Responds To Army Corps December 5th Eviction Notice
Uprising TV on Facebook  -  26 NOV 2016
Credit: TYT (The Young Turks)  
Press Conference from Camp, 26 November 2016
Prolific TheRapper on Facebook  -  26 NOV 2016
    Chairman David Archambault II, Kandi Mossett, Eryn Wise, Dallas Goldtooth speak about Army Corps of Engineers eviction notice and what it means to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, the Youth Council, the movement, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Great Sioux Nation, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous supporters...
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Yellowstone Oil Spills Expose Threat to Pipelines Under Rivers Nationwide
At the time the Poplar pipeline ruptured, about 110 feet of it was completely uncovered along the bottom of the Yellowstone River, exposing it to damage.
by Elizabeth Douglass, Inside Climate News  -  Originally published 06 FEB 2015; posted here 26 NOV 2016
    Bridger Pipeline LLC was so sure its Poplar oil line was safely buried below the Yellowstone River that it planned to wait five years to recheck it. But last month, 3.5 years later, the Poplar wasn't eight feet under the river anymore. It was substantially exposed on the river bottom—and leaking more than 30,000 gallons of oil upstream from Glendive, Montana.
    An ExxonMobil pipeline wasn't buried deeply enough for the Yellowstone River, either. High floodwaters in 2011 uncovered the Silvertip pipe, leaving it defenseless against the fast-moving current and traveling debris. It broke apart in July, and sent 63,000 gallons of oil into the river near Laurel, Montana.
    Both companies underestimated the river's power and its penchant for scouring away the earth that's covering and protecting their pipelines. That miscalculation led to the Exxon Silvertip spill and it's likely to be declared a significant factor, at a minimum, in the Poplar spill....  
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November 24, 2016 Water Ceremony with DAPL Security, Morton County Sheriff's Department and National Guard
Digital Smoke Signals on YouTube  -  24 NOV 2016
    Water Ceromony with violence and desecration of sacred burial sites by Morton county police and DAPL security., Nov 24 2016
Standing Rock Special: Dallas Goldtooth on Police Violence & Repression of Movement Against DAPL
Democracy Now!  -  24 NOV 2016
    We continue our look back at Democracy Now!'s coverage of the ongoing standoff at Standing Rock in North Dakota, where thousands of Native American water defenders are resisting the construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. In recent months, the repression against the water protectors—and journalists covering the movement—has continued to intensify. The state of North Dakota has approved $10 million to police the ongoing protest, and Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has called in hundreds of deputies from neighboring states. North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple has also activated the National Guard. Riot police with military-grade equipment have attacked the Native American protectors with pepper spray, tear gas, bean bag rounds, rubber bullets and sound cannons called LRADs—that's a long-range acoustic device. Water protectors also report near-constant surveillance from police planes and helicopters. Over 400 people have been arrested during the ongoing protests, and many report being subjected to strip searches while in the Morton County jail in North Dakota. On October 31, we spoke with Dakota and Dine activist Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network about a violent police raid on a frontline camp established at the site of the same sacred tribal burial ground where unlicensed Dakota Access security guards attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray on September 3.
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Standing Rock Protector's Arm Mangled By Oil Police
The Young Turks, TYT Politics  -  22 NOV 2016
    Sophia Wilansky's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/30aezxs
    Donate to medics: https://medichealercouncil.com/

Energy Transfer Partners: (214) 981-0700
U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers: (202) 761-0010; (202) 761-0014
Department of Justice: (202)-353-1555; (202)-514-2000
White House: (202)-456-1414; (202)-456-1111

TO DONATE:
http://www.ocetisakowincamp.org
https://www.paypal.me/OcetiSakowinCamp
http://standingrock.org

#NoDAPL Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list

TYT Politics Reporter Jordan Chariton (https://twitter.com/JordanChariton) did a Facebook Live report on his way to Standing Rock, where news has just broken that a water protector is facing a potential amputation because of the brutality of the police protecting the oil company in North Dakota.
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich Calls on President Obama to Reroute Dakota Access Pipeline
by Native News Online Staff - 24 NOV 2016
    WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement on the Dakota Access pipeline on Thanksgiving:
    “Today is Thanksgiving and I cannot help but reflect on our history in these United States and how often it has not lived up to the rosy picture of Pilgrims and Indians sharing a meal in friendly company that I saw in textbooks as a child. The issues facing Indian Country are many and they are complex, but that should not stop those of us in positions of elected leadership from seeking to make a difference wherever and whenever we can.
    “The recent escalation of violence against members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and those standing in solidarity with them is fundamentally wrong and must be condemned. Back in September, days after these protests began, I spoke out against these aggressive tactics and called on President Obama to intervene....
Thanksgiving Day Prayer Circle at a Burial Site Being Desecrated
by Police, State Military, and DAPL

Prolific the Rapper on Facebook  -  24 NOV 2016
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Myron Dewey and Prolific the Rapper Using Myron's Video Drone to Document Prayer Circle and Desecration of Burial Sites by Police, State Militia, and DAPL
Prolific the Rapper on Facebook  -  24 NOV 2016  
Thanksgiving Day, 24 November 2016, Prayer Circle by Water Protectors,
Inviting Police to Join Them In Prayers

Prolific the Rapper on Facebook  -  24 NOV 2016
Trump Ooffloaded Investment in Dallas Company Building Controversial Pipeline, Ethics Questions Mount
by Jon Prior, Staff Writer, Dallas Business Journal  -  Nov 23, 2016
    President-elect Donald Trump sold off his stake this summer in Energy Transfer Partners, the Dallas oil and gas company building a controversial pipeline in North Dakota, a spokeswoman for the new administration’s transition office Hope Hicks told the Dallas Business Journal.
    The shares, valued between $15,001 and $50,000, according to Trump’s latest financial disclosure in May, were sold in July, Hicks said in an email.
    The disclosure comes as worries have mounted about whether Trump would tilt policy decisions to favor his investments and business dealings. Trump told The New York Times that he would like to create a separation between him and his businesses but has not given any details.
    Ethics groups have called on Trump to divest his holdings, but no law requires him to do so.
    "We think it's high time for them to revisit conflict of interest law," said Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. (Click on the slideshow to view holdings Trump has in other Dallas-based companies. Hicks did not immediately say if Trump has divested from any of them.)
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Butte Men Witness Injury at Standing Rock, Dispute Official Account
by Suzanne Stefanac for the Montana Standard  -  23 NOV 2016
    Editor's note: Butte writer Suzanne Stefanac, photographer Dark Sevier and KBMF radio station manager Clark Grant went to Standing Rock late last week. Traveling with them were two Native American men from Butte, Alonzo Willis and Isaiah Other Bull.

    For Alonzo Willis of Butte, being sprayed by a water cannon in subfreezing temperatures wasn't the worst part of a Sunday night confrontation at Standing Rock.
    It was seeing a woman severely injured.
    He said he and Butte friend Isaiah Other Bull were close to protester Sophia Wilansky when she was injured in a confrontation with police.
    After the water-spraying, the crowd had thinned out to fewer than a dozen people. Two of them — including Wilansky — were near a barricade on the highway.
    "They weren't past the barricade--not past the barbed wire or anything," Willis said. "They were just standing there."
    "One of the guys got hit with a rubber bullet. The girl (Wilansky) got hit by a rubber bullet and she fell," said Willis, 23. "And then they shot a percussion grenade and it got her in the arm."...

Sheriffs Refuse to Send Troops to Standing Rock as Public Outrage and Costs Mount
North Dakota is stretched thin in its battle to protect the Dakota Access pipeline construction: Costs are nearing $15 million, and police reinforcements are diminishing.

by Jenni Monet, Yes! Magazine  -  23 NOV 2016
    Agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be the latest agency assisting Morton County Sheriff Department deputies to guard Dakota Access pipeline construction as it prepares to drill under the Missouri River. But as tensions mount, along with costs to keep up with militarized attacks on water protectors, there are signs that North Dakota’s resources are stretching thin.
    Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier announced the aid of CBP officers Monday following the most violent confrontation yet near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Dozens of activists were hospitalized after Sunday night’s standoff when police sprayed water on hundreds of people in 26-degree temperatures and fired what has been described as concussion grenades. One activist, Sophia Wilansky, 21, may face the amputation of her arm.
    Even before Sunday’s subfreezing assault on the Backwater Bridge, the escalating violence, the toll of mass arrests—528 as of Monday—and the routine response to demonstrations were taking their toll on local agencies. The policing costs have reached nearly $15 million. The courts are taxed. The jail is burdened. The 34 local law enforcement officers are stressed.
    All this comes amid an increasingly loud public outcry against the militarized policing.
    Organized campaigns to contact the people and agencies responsible for sending officers and equipment to aid Morton County in the assaults on water protectors have in some cases been effective. YES! Magazine published that contact information Oct. 31, and in less than a month, the Facebook posts had reached more than half a million people, with commenters trading stories about their experiences and  making complaints.
    It was intense public response that led Montana’s Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin to literally turn his detail around. He and his deputies were en route to Morton County when Gov. Steve Bullock raised concerns about the potential misuse of the interstate statute. The Emergency Management Assistance Compact obligates law enforcement around the country to fulfill requests for aid under any form of emergency or disaster.
    “I got messages from England, Poland, New Zealand, Australia,” Gootkin recalled. And he received phone calls and hundreds of emails from his constituents, too — people that may have elected him sheriff. They were concerned about the use of force on protesters, Oct. 27, he said, and also had been affected by the public outrage from Minneapolis’ Hennepin County....
    Sheriff Dave Mahoney from Wisconsin’s Dane County was also empathetic to those decrying deployment of his officers. “All share the opinion that our deputies should not be involved in this situation,” Mahoney told the Bismarck Tribune. He and his unit stood by Morton County officers for one week before pulling out and refusing to return....
    This week, the ACLU released the most comprehensive list of law enforcement participating in the conflict at Standing Rock, 75 agencies total, all believed to be operating under the EMAC agreement. The ACLU’s current list of agency support to Morton County can be found here (https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/how-many-law-enforcement-agencies-does-it-take-subdue-peaceful-protest)....
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Father of Activist Injured at Standing Rock Calls on Obama to Stop Dakota Access Pipeline Drilling
Democracy Now!  -  23 NOV 2016
    We get an update from Wayne Wilansky, the father of 21-year-old activist Sophia Wilansky, who was injured during the standoff at Standing Rock in North Dakota. Sophia has been undergoing a series of surgeries after reportedly being hit by a concussion grenade during the police attack against water protectors protesting the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota Sunday night.
    The Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council says 300 people were hurt in the attack, with injuries including hypothermia from being sprayed by water cannons in subfreezing temperatures, seizures, loss of consciousness, and impaired vision as a result of being shot by a rubber bullet in the face.
    "President Obama has to step in there and stop this," says Wayne Wilansky. "They’re drilling now, even though they don’t have a permit."...  
Shailene Woodley Talking about How Native Americans Care for the Environment and the Earth
RYOT  -  23 NOV 2016
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Remembering U.S. Soldiers Who Refused to Kill Native Americans at Sand Creek
by Billy J. Stratton, U.S. News and World Report  -  22 NOV 2016
    Every Thanksgiving weekend for the past 17 years, Arapaho and Cheyenne youth lead a 180-mile relay from the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site to Denver.
    The annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run opens at the site of the Sand Creek Massacre near Eads, Colorado, with a sunrise ceremony honoring some 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people who lost their lives in the infamous massacre. This brutal assault was carried out by Colonel John Chivington on Nov. 29, 1864.
    While the Sand Creek massacre has been the subject of numerous books, much less attention has been given to two heroes of this horrific event: U.S. soldiers Captain Silas Soule and Lt. Joseph Cramer...
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'People Are Going to Die': Father of Wounded DAPL Activist Sophia Wilansky Speaks Out
by Nika Knight, Censored News  -  23 NOV 2016
    Sunday's brutal police assault against peaceful Dakota Access Pipeline activists left one water protector, Sophia Wilansky, at risk of losing an arm, and her distraught father spoke out Tuesday and Wednesday against the shocking show of force and demanded government action.
    Wayne Wilansky, a 61-year-old lawyer and yoga teacher from New York City, spoke to a reporter in a Facebook live feed about his daughter's devastating injury, allegedly caused by a concussion grenade.
    "This is the wound of someone who's a warrior, who was sent to fight in a war," Wayne said. "It's not supposed to be a war. She's peacefully trying to get people to not destroy the water supply. And they're trying to kill her."
    Most of the muscle tissue between Sophia's left elbow and wrist as well as two major arteries were completely destroyed, Wayne said, and doctors pulled shrapnel out of the wound.
    The Morton County Sheriff's Department has denied using concussion grenades or any equipment that could cause an injury like Sophia's, despite witness accounts and the shrapnel recovered by surgeons in Sophia's arm.
    The police in Morton County, North Dakota are acting with such brutality, Wayne warned, that eventually "people are going to die."...  
Anonymous Takes Down Munitions Vendor Safariland After Sheriffs Attack #NoDAPL
Unicorn Riot - 22 NOV 2016
    Oecti Sakowin, ND – On the night of Sunday November 20, the Morton County Sheriff deployed large amounts of tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and other ‘less-lethal’ ammunition, including a water cannon, upon #NoDAPL water protectors. This happened north of the Backwater Bridge on Highway 1806 after the water protectors had tried to remove two burnt military trucks that were blocking the roadway.
    Over 160 people were injured as a result of the Sheriff’s use of less-lethal weaponry on the crowd. Several people were hospitalized, including one in critical condition. 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky from New York has undergone surgery for a terrible arm injury suffered by a grenade attack from police.
    Several remains of less-lethal munitions shells were recovered by Unicorn Riot reporters at the scene on Highway 1806 that night. All appeared to be products manufactured by Defense Technology, a brand operated by law enforcement vendor Safariland Group.
    "Riot Control CS" grenade, made by @SafarilandGroup, shot at #NoDAPL water protectors on Highway 1806 last night https://t.co/EYzrYUOabn pic.twitter.com/P0OZWCh5y8

    — Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) November 22, 2016
    Early Tuesday afternoon, shortly after a press conference held outside a hospital in Minneapolis about Sophia Wilansky’s injuries, Safariland Group’s website, Safariland.com was taken offline in an apparent Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.
    Twitter user @AzureDeadSec who identified themselves as “working with Anonymous” as part of the group #DeadSec, took credit for taking down Safariland.com....  
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Standing Rock Rising: Inside the Movement to Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline
Vogue Magazine - 22 NOV 2016
    Snow still covered the plains when the first tepees and tents were staked in the ground near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation by a confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers. It was April 1, 2016, a Friday. This small encampment would grow into an unprecedented gathering of native North American tribes and nations united in an effort to protect water and land. Together they would build a resistance movement rooted in nonviolence and community that, nearly eight months later, shows no signs of backing down, even in the face of mounting violence against them.
    The Dakota Access pipeline, funded by the Energy Transfer Partners corporation, would transport up to 570,000 tons of crude oil per day along a 1,172-mile route from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. If completed, its path would cut through grounds sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. It would travel twice underneath the Missouri River, which the Lakota and Dakota people of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation depend on for drinking water, along with 17 million other people throughout the country.
    None in the core group imagined they would stay long. Among them that day were LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, tribal historian of the Standing Rock Sioux, who had invited the camp to stand on her private land, where her son is buried. Prairie McLaughlin, Allard’s daughter, brought her kids. Joye Braun, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, came from the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in South Dakota, as did Joseph White Eyes and Jasilyn Charger, veterans of the fight to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. They brought water, chips—enough to tide them over for a few days. They did not think to bring firewood.
    But pipeline construction began in mid-May, and the campers, about 30 people by then, stayed on. “It was more personal,” Charger, who is 20, told me recently of these early days. The Camp of the Sacred Stone was named after the spherical sandstone formations the Cannonball River produced until the 1950s, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the Oahe Dam, wiping out acres of Standing Rock Sioux land and changing the river’s flow. That past was on everyone’s minds when, in July, the CoE issued a fast-track permit for the pipeline’s construction....  
Protester’s Arm Nearly ‘Blown Off’ in Explosion at Dakota Access Pipeline Site
Protesters say police threw a concussion grenade at the woman, which police deny

by Melissa Chan, TIME Magazine  -  22 NOV 2016
    A New York woman who was among several hundred people protesting the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota early Monday had her left arm nearly “blown off” during an explosion at the protest site, her father said.
    Sophia Wilansky, 21, has been undergoing multiple surgeries to try to save her arm after chaos erupted at Standing Rock about 4:30 a.m. on Monday. Her father, Wayne Wilansky, said his daughter was handing out bottles of water to fellow protesters when police lobbed a concussion grenade, which exploded when it hit her left forearm.
    “I died a thousand deaths today and will continue to do so for quite some time,” Wayne Wilansky said in a statement. “I am left without the right words to describe the anguish of watching her look at her now alien arm and hand.”...  
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Don't Be Passive Observers of Sunday Night's Terrorization in Standing Rock: Here's What You Can Do
by Kelly Hayes, Transformative Spaces, Truthout  -  21 NOV 2016
    This afternoon, hundreds of water protectors, many of whom were injured by law enforcement last night, are peacefully assembling in downtown Bismarck to protest the egregious colonial violence inflicted upon Water Protectors on Highway 1806 last night. When gathering in Bismarck, which is 90 percent white, Protectors are frequently met with calls to "go back" where they belong -- the irony of which is apparently lost on the white residents of Bismarck.
    Last night, as the temperature in Standing Rock plunged below 30 degrees, hundreds of people were blasted with water cannons near the Oceti Sakowin camp. Water Protectors on 1806 were also hit with concussion grenades, sprayed with mace, hit with rubber bullets and tear gas, and otherwise abused by the law enforcement. For nearly a month, Water Protectors have been prevented from removing a barricade on the Backwater Bridge on 1806. The Protectors created the barricade on October 28, to protect the Oceti Sakowin, Sacred Stone, and Rosebud camps during a police assault that resulted in the violent eviction of the North Camp. The police have since used the barrio put added distance between DAPL construction and the protectors, and to disrupt community traffic. Yesterday, people attempted to peacefully remove the barricade and were immediately attacked by law enforcement....
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Veterans Are Planning a 'Deployment' to Standing Rock to Protest the Dakota Access Pipeline
Adam Linehan, Task & Purpose, Business Insider - 21 NOV 2016
    “Most civilians who’ve never served in a uniform are gutless worms who’ve never been in a fight in their life,” Wes Clark Jr. declares. “So if we don’t stop it, who will?”
    Clark Jr. is one of the most vociferous opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a controversial 1,170-mile project that, if and when it is completed, will shuttle an estimated 470,000 barrels of crude oil every day from North Dakota to Illinois. “It’s immoral, and wrong, and dangerous to us all,” Clark Jr. adds.
    He doesn’t fit the traditional tree-hugger mold. He’s not a hippie. Nor is he a member of the Lakota or Dakota tribes, the two Native American group known collectively as the Sioux. He’s a former Army officer and the organizer of an upcoming three-day deployment of U.S. military veterans to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in southern North Dakota, the site of an escalating months-long standoff between law enforcement-backed security contractors and activists that has so far resulted in multiple injuries, more than 500 arrests, and a United Nations investigation of potential human rights abuses.
    According to an “operations order” for the planned engagement, posted to social media in mid-November, “First Americans have served in the Unites States Military, defending the soil of our homelands, at a greater percentage than any other group of Americans. There is no other people more deserving of veteran support.”...
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Going to Standing Rock?
Standing Rock Solidarity Network  -  23 NOV 2016
    First Step: Read these documents from the Resource Packet....   
Dakota Access Opponents Deliver 29,000 Signatures Calling for Nebraska Troopers' Return
by Zach Pluhacek, Lincoln Journal Star - 22 NOV 2016
    Nebraskans who don't want this state's troopers responding to anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota slid a wad of petition signatures through the Governor's Mansion gates Monday.
    The two petitions contained names of more than 29,000 people calling for Gov. Pete Ricketts to bring the troopers home, said organizer Joseph Hams, a 21-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student.
    "At the very least, I hope he recycles them," Hams said of the petitions, joking. He added, "I hope that he's moved by how many people were offended by his actions."...
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Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Calls on President Obama to Stop DAPL & Violence
by Native News Online Staff  -  23 NOV 2016
  
    STANDING ROCK — Standing Rock Sioux Tribe released the following statement on Tuesday, November 22, 2016:
  
    “Our deepest gratitude, thoughts and prayers are with water protector Sophia Wilansky and her family right now. She sustained severe injuries to her arm when a concussion grenade blew part of her arm away. Doctors are working to save her arm.
    An estimated 300 water protectors were treated for injuries from Sunday’s nighttime attacks. These injuries were the direct result of excessive force by police over the course of 10 hours. At least 26 seriously injured people were evacuated by ambulance to three area hospitals, our medical teams on the ground verified.
    Once again, we call on President Obama to stop this pipeline and the violence resulting from it, and to deny the easement....
How Many Law Enforcement Agencies Does It Take to Subdue a Peaceful Protest?
by Thomas Dresslar, Media Relations Associate, ACLU  -  22 NOV 2016
    Earlier this month, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department briefed the public via Facebook on the scope of law enforcement presence that was helping confront protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock.
    The help was made possible by a bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton about 20 years ago, which created an interstate agreement for emergency management. The agreement helped bring law enforcement agents to North Dakota to the site of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The protests at Standing Rock, and the Black Lives Matter protests in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, represent some of the only times the compact has been invoked outside of a natural disaster.
    The ACLU assembled the names of law enforcement agencies below from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and from media accounts....  
AIM West Live Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016
by Brenda Norrell, Censored News - 22 NOV 2016
    SAN FRANCISCO -- The American Indian Movement's West Coast Conference on Tuesday focused on attacks of Indigenous in Central America and the racist attack on Native Americans marching against Columbus Day in Reno, Nevada.
Webster Arthur, Nez Perce who makes his home in Nevada, told the AIM West gathering, “It makes me feel darn good to be here.”
    Arthur spoke of the genocide and how the invaders have attempted to steal and poison the water in their attempts to kill off Indian people. He said he and his daughter are leaving soon for Standing Rock to support the water protectors.
    Arthur’s daughter, Rachel Arthur, Blackfeet, Nez Perce and Paiute, said she organized the event to protest Columbus Day in Reno to bring awareness of hate.
    “There is a need to speak truth. Without truth, you can not have healing.”
    Rachel described the historical trauma of growing up in this country and its schools.
    “It’s all about the children, and those yet to be born.”
    Rachel described how a pickup truck drove through Native American marchers on Oct. 10 in Reno. The driver was charged with only a misdemeanor, even though a grandmother is now in a wheelchair and spent a month in the hospital....
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Talking to Wayne Wilansky, Father of Sophia Wilansky Who
Was Injured by Morton County Sheriff's Department on 20 November 2016

Paul Blume, KMSP  -  22 NOV 2016
Press Conference for Sophia Wilansky and other Victims of Police Violence During North Dakota Pipeline Fight
Unicorn Riot  -  22 NOV 2016
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Medical Fund for Sophia Wilansky
GoFundMe - 21 NOV 2016
    Sophia Wilansky is a water protector from New York. She left New York City several weeks ago to help with the struggle at Standing Rock. She been an active participate and family to the activist groups NYC Shut It Down and Hoods4Justice. Sophia has always been committed to confronting injustice through vigilance and resistance.
    Sophia was giving out bottles of water to protectors holding down the space when she was shot with a concussion grenade. This was the response of police and DAPL mercenaries as she and other brave protectors attempted to hold the line against the black snake in service of protecting our water. As of last night, we found out she was air lifted to County Medical Center in Minneapolis were she’s currently undergoing extensive, hours-long surgery from injuries sustained from the blast.
    Please consider donating to help pay for her treatment. We must to support our comrades when they need us the most. She needs all of us right now. After all she is our family. #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife
    Help spread the word!
Kevin Gilbertt Speaks About Sophia Wilansky's Injuries
Kevin Gilbertt on Facebook  -  21 NOV 2016
    Kevin Gilbertt is a photojournalist and a non-Indigenous water protector with impeccable credibility.  
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Shailene Woodley and Friends Speaking from Standing Rock About Night Attack on Water Protectors
Sacred Stone Camp  -  20 NOV 2016  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Standing Rock: Critical Injuries After Police Attack with Water Cannons, Rubber Bullets in Freezing Temps

Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council at Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance Camps
20 NOV 2016
    Press release from Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council at Standing Rock Water Protectors Camps concerning mass injuries of approximately 300 Water Protectors that occurred at the hands of Morton County Sheriff's Department deputies and hired mercenaries who attacked water protectors with rubber bullets, pepper spray, teargas, and water cannons in subfreezing temperatures and sustained the attack for approximately nine hours.
    One woman water protector, identified as Sophia, sustained tissue damage so severe from an exploding concussion grenade that doctors fear that she will lose one arm and hand. Surgery is ongoing, with hopes of saving her arm and hand....
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Minn. Sen. Franken Urges Justice Dept. to Protect Water Protectors
Franken Calls Alleged Use of Water Cannons for Crowd Control in Sub-Freezing Temperatures Excessive, Unnecessary, and Extremely Dangerous; Urges Attorney General to Investigate & Take Action

Censored News  -  21 NOV 2016
    Senator Al Franken urged the Department of Justice to take action to protect the safety and First Amendment rights of Dakota Access Pipeline protestors following reports that law enforcement used water cannons for crowd control in sub-freezing temperatures.
    In a letter sent today to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sen. Franken said that he is extremely concerned after hearing reports of dangerous clashes between police and individuals protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline project near Cannon Ball, ND, and said the use of water cannons for crowd control in sub-freezing temperatures is excessive, unnecessary, and extremely dangerous....
Dakota Access Is In Financial Jeopardy!
Honor the Earth  -  17 NOV 2016
    On Wednesday, November 16, 2016, just hours after the arrival of the drill at Standing Rock, Dakota Access LLC filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for delaying its decision on the last required easement. Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault said in response, “They are wrong and the lawsuit will not succeed. We are looking forward to discussing the easement with the Administration and explaining why it must be denied." In their court documents, the company said that delays have already cost nearly $100 million and that "further delay in the consideration of this case would add millions of dollars more each month in costs which cannot be recovered."
    This desperation comes from the company’s January 1, 2017 deadline for completing the project. Dakota Access has previously told the District Court that if they are not delivering oil by January 1, their shipper contracts will expire and the project will be in jeopardy. A new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, and issued just as the company’s lawsuit was being filed on Wednesday, confirmed these weaknesses in the financing of the project and questioned its entire economic rationale....
    The report, “The High-Risk Financing Behind the Dakota Access Pipeline: A Potential Stranded Asset in the Bakken Region of North Dakota,” describes why Dakota Access is pushing so hard to meet its January 1 deadline. If it does not, producers and shippers who signed contracts two years ago committing to use the pipeline will then have the option to renegotiate the terms of those contracts, or even terminate them...
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Who Is Being Violent?
Remember this when you hear mainstream media outlets say: "the protest turned violent"

Oceti Sakowin Camp  -  21 NOV 2016
    They started spraying the pepper spray/water mix at the crowd in the early evening, some time close to 5:30 pm 11/20. They didn't stop spraying at the crowd until around 1:30 am 11/21 — 9 hours. The temperature dropped to 23 degrees last night, the weather report says it "felt like 14 degrees" because it was 94% humidity with 8mph winds.
    The Protectors held that line, stubborn, calm, resolved. Drumming rang through the river valley, whisps of sage smoke moved through the crowds, shared among us going towards the scene and departing from it in soaked waves. Some said they felt "spicy" in reference to being drenched, with the pepper spray mix soaking into their clothes, saturating their hair.
    Discussions were had, blankets, jackets and hand-warmers were brought to the front line by supporters. A couple of small fires were started in a controlled way, strictly for the purpose of keeping people warm. People flowed across the bridge and onto the frozen shoreline to the East and the West. People danced in front of the concertina wire...  
Emails Indicating That "Oil People" (DAPL) Are Paying for Sheriff's Brutality Toward Water Protectors
Unicorn Riot  -  17 NOV 2016
    "NEW: Emails obtained by Unicorn Riot via a public records request show an employee of the North Dakota Department of Corrections wrote "I'll ultimately be paid by the oil people dealing with the protests..." after being asked to submit his hours for a deployment to a #NoDAPL demonstration.  
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Statement Regarding DAPL's Continuing Work On the Pipeline and Setting up a Winter Camp for Water Protectors
Unicorn Riot  -  20 NOV 2016
    #NoDAPL UPDATE: Army Corps of Engineers issues new statement, confirms DAPL kept constructing when asked to stop.
    Read more: http://www.unicornriot.ninja/?p=10713
    To support our work: http://www.unicornriot.ninja/?page_id=211
    LIKE Unicorn Riot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unicornriot.ninja/?fref=ts
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Hundreds of Water Protectors Injured as Police Fire Water Cannons in Freezing Temperatures
by Camp of the Sacred Stones, Censored News  -  21 NOV 2016
    Cannon Ball, ND-- Hundreds of water protectors were injured at the Standing Rock encampments when law enforcement blasted them with water cannons in freezing temperatures Sunday evening. The attacks came as water protectors used a semi-truck to remove burnt military vehicles that police had chained to concrete barriers weeks ago, blocking traffic on Highway 1806. Water protectors’ efforts to clear the road and improve access to the camp for emergency services were met with tear gas, an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device), stinger grenades, rubber bullets, and indiscriminate use of a water cannon with an air temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Some flares shot by law enforcement started grass fires which were ignored by the water cannons and had to be extinguished by water protectors. Law enforcement also shot down three media drones and targeted journalists with less lethal rounds.
    National Lawyers Guild legal observers on the frontlines have confirmed that multiple people were unconscious and bleeding after being shot in the head with rubber bullets. One elder went into cardiac arrest at the frontlines but medics administered CPR and were able to resuscitate him. The camp’s medical staff and facilities are overwhelmed and the local community of Cannonball has opened their school gymnasium for emergency relief....
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PART 9 of 9: #NoDAPL Highway 1806 Standoff
Continuing Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016
    Morton County Sheriff spokesman Rob Keller told NBC that no water cannons were used Sunday night and water was only deployed to put out fires set by #NoDAPL crowd.  
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PART 8 of 9: #NoDAPL Highway 1806 Standoff
Continuing Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016  

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016  
PART 7 of 9: #NoDAPL Highway 1806 Standoff
Continuing Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016  
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PART 6 of 9: #NoDAPL
Continuing Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016  
PART 5 of 9: #NoDAPL
Continuing Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016  
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PART 4 of 9: Police Teargas Water Protectors 11/20/16
Continuing Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016
    Video and audio are choppy, but the narrator shares important information worth hearing, including evidence that strongly suggests that the Morton County Sheriff's Department is on the Energy Transfer Partners' payroll..
    Morton County's Sheriff is saying on their Facebook page that the Water Protectors started "a dozen fires", but the only fires they started were warming fires to warm themselves against subfreezing temperatures (23°F; -5°C.). 
    As videos reveal, random fires were started by the teargas grenades launched by the Morton County Sheriff's Department, which were extinguished by the Water Protectors, not the MCSD.
PART 3 of 9: #NoDAPL Highway 1806 Standoff
Continuing Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016
    Police Teargast Water Protectors 20 NOV 2016  
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PART 2 of 9: Politic Teargas #NoDAPL Water Protectors 11/20/16
Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and
Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016
    The temperature in the area at the time of this video was 23°F (-5°C.)
    Some Water Protectors were treated by Indigenous medics for respiratory problems due to the teargas and pepper spray.
    Other Water Protectors were treated for hypothermia after being drenched by the sheriff's department's water cannons.  
PART 1 of 9: Water Protectors Try to Clear 1806 Bridge
with Live Stream of Night Attack by Morton County Sheriff's Department and
Its Imported Mercenaries Against Water Protectors, 20 November 2016

Unicorn Riot on Facebook  -  20 NOV 2016
    Cannon Ball, ND – Water protectors attempting to clear two damaged military trucks from Highway 1806 were met with a militarized response by law enforcement working to ensure the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Police used tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and more crowd control munitions.
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Standing Rock Water Protectors under Police Attack Sunday, 20 NOV 2016
The Most Violent and Shameful Attack by Police Yet

Censored News  -  20 NOV 2016
    UPDATE FROM HEAD MEDIC OF THE OCETI SAKOWIN CAMP 11:11PM
    167 Water Protectors have been injured. 3 of those people are elders.
    7 people have been hospitalized for severe head injuries.
    The police are targeting the heads and legs of Water Protectors.
    There are no fatalities.
    Standing Rock EMT is still on site....
Wells Fargo Customer Account Openings Plunge 44%
by Matt Egan, CNN - 17 NOV 2016
    Wells Fargo experienced a dramatic customer backlash following the fake account scandal.
    New account openings at Wells Fargo (WFC)plummeted 44% in October compared with last year, the bank said on Thursday. Things also worsened since September, when the number of accounts opened by customers fell by 27%.
    Wells Fargo said October applications for credit cards plunged 50% last month, worse than the 35% drop in September.
    It was the first full month after Wells Fargo's shocking September 8 settlement with regulators over the creation of as many as 2 million unauthorized accounts.
    Wells Fargo attributed the plunge in new account openings to "a full month of impact of customer reaction to the sales practices settlement." The bank also cited a decline in its marketing activities, which paused before Wells Fargo's new TV and print ad campaign that launched recently highlighting its efforts to restore trust with customers...
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WARNING TO STANDING ROCK SUPPORTERS WHO ARE FACEBOOK USERS
by Al Swilling, in collaboration with Sara Hayes; SENAA International, Facebook  -  18 NOV 2016
VIDEO: Water Protector Beaten Bloody by Bismarck Police
by Brenda Norrell, Censored News  -  18 NOV 2016
    Videos expose Bismarck, North Dakota police beating a Standing Rock water protector bloody, then hooding him, for picking a flower, in front of Wells Fargo Bank on Thursday. He has been tentatively identified as Charles Jordan, a military veteran. He says his shoulders were dislocated.
    The Sacred Stones Camp said, "Blood drawn by Law Enforcement yet again! Riot Police in downtown Bismarck viciously take down and beat a veteran after he picked a flower—eventually placing a hood over his head across the street from the Wells Fargo Bank.
    "Make sure you're not funding these atrocities: pull your money out of banks funding the Dakota Access Pipeline!"...
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Navajo Youth Travel to San Francisco to Protest Coal Plant
ABC News  -  18 NOV 2016
    Nineteen-year-old Sheldon Natoni worries about the haze hanging over his tribe's sacred mountains in Arizona and the impact it is having on the health of others in the Navajo Nation.
    His friend Sebale Tsosie, 21, has the same concerns, saying it's unfair that the massive coal-fired power plant blamed for the pollution won't have to drastically cut back emissions until a generation from now.
    Federal rules exempt the Navajo Generating Station in Page, Arizona, from drastically reducing haze-causing nitrogen oxide emissions for several decades — a decision that's being challenged by Navajo environmental groups in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
    On Friday, the two young men and dozens of other Navajo Nation youth, including some who organizers say suffer from asthma, plan to fill rows of a federal courtroom in San Francisco to hear oral arguments in the case. Some also plan to protest outside the courthouse during the hearing.
    "The whole point for me being here is to show my face and show that us young people care about our land and about everything we had — or have," Tsosie said while en route to San Francisco.
    The youth who range from middle school to college age travelled nearly 1,000 miles for the hearing, piling into vans for the trip....  
Navajo Youth Travel 1,000 miles to Protest Power Plant Haze
by Mary Hudetz, AP; Merced Sun-Star  -  18 NOV 2016
    Nineteen-year-old Sheldon Natoni worries about the haze hanging over his tribe's sacred mountains in Arizona and the effect it is having on the health of others in the Navajo Nation.
    His friend Sebale Tsosie, 21, has the same concerns, saying it's unfair that a massive coal-fired power plant blamed for the pollution will not have to drastically cut back emissions until a generation from now.
    Federal rules exempt the Navajo Generating Station in Page, Arizona, from drastically reducing haze-causing nitrogen oxide emissions for several decades—a decision being challenged by Navajo environmental groups at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals....
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Did an Industry Front Group Create Fake Twitter Accounts to Promote the Dakota Pipeline?
by Steve Horn, Counterpunch  -  18 NOV 2016 (originally published 16 SEP 2016)
    A DeSmog investigation has revealed the possibility that a front group supporting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)—the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN)—may have created fake Twitter profiles, known by some as “sock puppets,” to convey a pro-pipeline message over social media. And MAIN may be employing the PR services of the firm DCI Group, which has connections to the Republican Party, in order to do so.
    DeSmog tracked down at least 16 different questionable Twitter accounts which used the #NoDAPL hashtag employed by protesters, in order to claim that opposition to the pipeline kills jobs, that those protesting the pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s encampment use violence, and that the pipeline does not pose a risk to water sources or cross over tribal land.
    On September 13, people began to suspect these accounts were fake, calling them out on Twitter, and by September 14, most of the accounts no longer existed....
USMC Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CWO3) Expresses Solidarity with Standing Rock Water Protectors
Labor for Standing Rock  -  17 NOV 2016
CWO3 Nathan B. Hill, USMC and Law Enforcement Officer
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: "NoDAPL Is About Battle Between the Old Energy Economy and the New"
The Ring of Fire Network  -  17 NOV 2016
    Though coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the protests being held against it have been widespread in recent months, one thing that has not been widely discussed is the deeper implications of this battle.
    Speaking to Collective Evolution on Tuesday, Ring of Fire’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. laid out the true stakes in the ongoing battle against the pipeline, explaining that at its heart, this battle is one between the old energy economy and the new.
    Said Kennedy:
    “This is kind of the spear-tip of the frontline in the battle over the transition from an old energy economy to a new energy economy. And we know that we have to do that and we know that if we really had true free market capitalism, it would have happened because today wind and solar are much cheaper than traditional, old energy fuels.”...
DNB Dumps Dakota Access Pipeline
by Brenda Norrell, Censored News  -  17 NOV 2016
    WASHINGTON, DC -- The largest bank in Norway, DNB, has sold its assets in Dakota Access Pipeline. Indigenous Sami worked together with the Water Protectors Legal Collective in Standing Rock Camp to document the human rights abuses by militarized police and the threat of the underground crude oil pipeline to the Missouri River water.http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/11/sami-people-and-standing-rock-camp.html
    Greenpeace said Thursday this decision was the result of 120,000 signatures from Greenpeace Norway and others to DNB, urging the bank and other financial institutions to pull finances from the project....
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Suddenly Time—And the Oil Market—Are On the Side of the Standing Rock Sioux
This week’s new Army Corps decision and a fresh lawsuit could delay the Dakota Access pipleline more than makes economic sense.

by Mark Trahant, Yes! Magazine  -  17 NOV 2016
    A week ago, I was pessimistic about the Dakota Access pipeline and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s attempt to block its construction on treaty lands near the reservation.
    Donald Trump had just been elected. And if that weren’t enough to make the pipeline so, then the next group of government regulators will rise from the oil and infrastructure industry and soon take over leadership of the departments of Interior, Energy, Justice, and the Army Corps of Engineers.
    My heart sunk because I thought — and still fear — that the police and military power of government — the state of North Dakota and soon Washington, D.C. — would use even greater force to attack Native people and the allies who are opposed to the project.
    But then a couple of things happened....  
Judge Throws out Felony Charges against North Camp Protesters
by Caroline Grueskin, Bismarck Tribune  -  17 NOV 2016
    A judge has thrown out felony charges against some of the Dakota Access Pipeline protesters arrested during a raid of the northern camp in October.
    After the demonstration, 139 people were charged with one felony count of conspiracy to endanger by fire or explosion and two misdemeanor counts. The prosecutors filed a single complaint and supporting affidavit against all of them on Nov. 10.
    The affidavit alleges protesters at least implicitly agreed to set multiple fires throughout the day, thereby endangering law enforcement, firefighters and nearby pastureland.
    But South Central District Judge Cynthia Feland was not convinced the prosecutors had made a case against each person. She notes that the prosecutor failed to specifically name who committed the crime, how and when they committed it or how they agreed to commit the crime together....  
Sept 30, 2014 DAPL Meeting with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe  -  Posted 17 NOV 2016
    Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcey Warren stated November 11-16-16. “I really wish for the Standing Rock Sioux that they had engaged in discussions way before they did,” he said. “I don’t think we would have been having this discussion if they did. “We could have changed the route,” Mr. Warren added. “It could have been done, but it’s too late.”
    The audio file below is from a Standing Rock Tribal Council meeting with ETP/DAPL representatives that occurred September 30th 2014. A meeting that occurred before permits were submitted and more than a year before the Draft Environmental Assessment was released. A document prepared by DAPL that never mentions any of the concerns stated in this meeting, nor does it mention Standing Rock. Energy Transfer Partners assertion that they "didn't know" of our concerns is false.
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CEO Behind Dakota Access to Protesters: 'We're Building the Pipeline'
PBS  -  16 NOV 2016
    The struggle over the Dakota Access Pipeline has intensified, as more protesters have joined the standoff and the company building the pipeline filed suit to get its last permit issued. Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, joins William Brangham to defend the project and insist it’s going forward.
    HARI SREENIVASAN: The struggle over the Dakota Access oil pipeline intensified this week, with protesters in a number of cities joining the Native tribes who are opposed to the project.
    Meanwhile, the company building the pipeline is pushing back, filing suit in federal court yesterday to get its last permit issued.
    William Brangham continues his reporting on this legal and environmental standoff.
    WILLIAM BRANGHAM: From New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline have spread nationwide this week. Opponents say the last remaining section of the pipeline would threaten the drinking water and cultural lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota....
Standing Rock Rising Video to President Obama
Standing Rock Rising, Facebook - 15 NOV 2016
    Oh, really, Mr. President?  
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to Visit Standing Rock Reservaton in Support of Water Protectors
by Levi Rickert, Native News Online  -  14 NOV 2016
    STANDING ROCK INDIAN RESERVATION – Robert Kennedy, Jr. president of Waterkeeper Alliance, will visit and speak at Standing Rock Indian Reservation on Tuesday, November 15, 2016.
    Kennedy, the son of the late U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy who was a champion of American Indians, will visit Standing Rock “to prevent one of the nation’s biggest environmental injustices,” according to Waterkeeper Alliance.
    What: Across the nation, communities face environmental and public health threats at the hands of corporate interest. To prevent one of the nation’s biggest environmental injustices, Waterkeeper Alliance President Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will join the fight at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in protest of Dakota Access Pipeline and call on President Obama for immediate action....  
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Water Protectors and Supporters at the Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Sacred Stone Camp, Facebook  -  15 NOV 2016 
    We are sitting in at the Army Corps HQ in DC to demand they revoke Dakota Access permits - led by Ladonna Brave Bull Allard of Sacred Stone Camp and Eryn Wise of the International Indigenous Youth Council....  
Bringing Standing Rock Home to San Francisco
San Francisco Examiner  -  09 NOV 2016
    Although the election has dominated the news, glimpses of an increasingly violent protest at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota have emerged. San Franciscans of indigenous and nonindigenous decent have joined the Sioux and others to challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline. Construction has destroyed burial sites and threatens the Missouri River, a water source for millions. The attack dogs, tear gas, rubberized bullets and arrests protesters have suffered for clean water is an ugly example of the brutality associated with oil.

    But these “Water Protectors” at Standing Rock are also creating something beautiful. They have united an unprecedented number of Native American nations, Canadian First Nations and people around the world. Standing Rock has reminded us of a truth: Healthy people need a healthy environment.

    “As human beings, we have a connection to the environment,” April McGill, a Mission resident of Wailaki, Yuki, Little Lake Pomo and Wappo decent, told me. She and her 9-year-old son went to Standing Rock. “It’s like a memory. All of a sudden, something triggers it.”...
U.N. Officials Denounce ‘Inhuman’ Treatment of Native American Pipeline Protesters
The Washington Post  -  15 NOV 2016
    The United Nations' special rapporteur on the rights of freedom of association and peaceful assembly released a forceful statement Tuesday, calling out U.S. security forces for using violence against protesters peacefully opposing the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, as well as what he called “the inhuman and degrading conditions” those arrested faced in detention.
    The official, Maini Kiai, is a reputed human rights lawyer from Kenya who also traveled to the United States this summer to survey mounting racial tensions in the lead-up to last week's presidential election. His statement on the protests in North Dakota, which are largely being carried out by Native Americans, was endorsed by a slew of other high-ranking U.N. officials, including special rapporteurs on drinking water, the environment, free speech, cultural rights and the rights of indigenous peoples....
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Tohono O'odham Nation Tribal Leaders Say Wall With Mexico Will Not Be Built On Their Land
by Carrie Jung, KJZZ News  -  14 NOV 2016
    Tribal leadership of Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona said they won't support a border wall project on their land. Part of their reservation extends into Mexico and covers 75 miles of the international border.
    The tribe’s chairman and vice chair said the plan was always to try to work with whoever holds the office of the United States President. But, they added, it’s still too early to tell exactly how Donald Trump’s administration will impact the tribe.
    Vice Chairman Verlon Jose explained tribal members have traversed their ancestral land since time immemorial, and a wall of any sort would not be supported by the community.
    "Over my dead body will a wall be built," Jose said, describing some community members' sentiments. "I don’t wish to die but I do wish to work together with people so we can truly protect the homeland of this place they call the United States of America. Not only for our people but for the American people."
    Jose said he invites president elect Trump to come down to the reservation to see why a physical wall, in his opinion, would not be a good idea for the tribe or the country....
DAPL Construction on Hold Pending Further Review and Tribal Consultation
ICTMN Staff  -  14 NOV 2016
    Citing historical injustices, environmental uncertainties and other factors, the U.S. Department of the Army is holding off on easements under the Missouri River for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and halting construction pending further review.
    “The Army has determined that additional discussion and analysis are warranted in light of the history of the Great Sioux Nation’s dispossessions of lands, the importance of Lake Oahe to the Tribe, our government-to-government relationship, and the statute governing easements through government property,” the Army said in a joint statement with the U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday November 14. “While these discussions are ongoing, construction on or under Corps land bordering Lake Oahe cannot occur because the Army has not made a final decision on whether to grant an easement. The Army will work with the Tribe on a timeline that allows for robust discussion and analysis to be completed expeditiously.”
    Energy Transfer Partners has been pushing ahead hard on construction and using heavily armed North Dakota state authorities as well as private security to keep hundreds of water protectors at bay and make its self-imposed January 1, 2017, deadline for operation. It has excavated and laid pipeline almost right up to the edge of Lake Oahe, the dammed-off portion of the Missouri River that was flooded more than half a century ago for the construction. The company has even constructed a drill pad in anticipation of receiving the easements to complete the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile-long pipeline from the Bakken oil fields to central Iowa.
    Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II reacted with acceptance and gratitude to the Army Corps’ announcement, and the tribe called it a sign that President Barack Obama “is listening.”...  
Armed Assailant Tries to Run over Prayer Group, Fires Eight Lethal Rounds From Handgun, Implies That Water Protectors Fired the Shots--Video Shows Otherwise
VDW, Facebook  -  12 NOV 2016
DAPL Worker Fires on Water Protectors Prayer Walk with Handgun Loaded with Live, Lethal Ammunition  
Kevin Gilbertt, Facebook  -  12 NOV 2016
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US Must Return ALL Stolen Land To Native Tribes In Order To End Police Brutality and Racism
Counter Current  -  12 NOV 2016
    The United Nations has made a statement that is shocking to many, but comes as no surprise to those who know their history. An investigator probing discrimination against Native Americans has said that the United States government has an obligation to return much of the land stolen from Native American tribes, if they want to combat systemic racism and discrimination in the United States.
    As of 2011, there were 5.1 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S. but the rate of Native Americans being killed by law enforcement far outpaces the rates of any other group, with African Americans coming in second.
    From 1999 to 2013, Native Americans have been killed by police at nearly identical rates as black Americans, but at a slightly higher rate in recent years. The big difference with Native lives, however, is that the media is virtually silent on these killings and the “Native Lives Matter” movement....
White Water Protectors Protecting Indigenous Protectors During Prayer Walk
AJ+ in Mandan, ND  -  12 NOV 2016
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At 102, Navajo Family Matriarch Continues to be a Proud Veteran
White Wolf Pack  -  09 NOV 2016
    At the age of 102, Sophie Yazzie continues to do things she feels are important, which is why she was in Sacaton, Ariz. over the weekend helping to commemorate the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima during World War II.
    It was Ira Hayes Day on the Gila River Indian Community but Yazzie made an impression to many in attendance by her participation as the oldest living veteran of World War II to attend the event.
    World War II veteran Sgt. Sophie Yazzie, who is now 102, is showed here in 1945 in uniform.
    She also had that same honor the year before when she attended the event.
    A member of the Woman’s Army Air Force Corp, Yazzie has shown over the past several decades that the two things she most cares about – her family and her pride in being a veteran – are something that she will go out of her way to celebrate.
    When she had her 100th birthday, it was celebrated at the Wheatfields Chapter House to accommodate her four children, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren as well as the more than 140 friends and community members who wanted to be on hand to celebrate this occasion....
Administration Denies Green Light Coming for Dakota Access
by Elana Schor, POLITICO  -  11 NOV 2016
    The Obama administration said Friday that no decision has been made on the disputed easement for the Dakota Access pipeline, tamping down expectations that the project could see a green light as soon as Monday.
    "The process is ongoing and no decisions have been made," an administration official said. Sources familiar with the process said earlier Friday that a go-ahead for the $3.7 billion project was expected as soon as Monday, raising concerns about nationwide protests planned against the project on Tuesday.
    An Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman said late Thursday that "an announcement will come in the next few days" on the project, which the administration first put on hold in September following protests by tribal and green groups. It remains unclear whether any announcement would technically clear the way for completion of Dakota Access ahead of the arrival in office of pro-pipeline President-elect Donald Trump.
    Trump's upset victory this week likely sets the stage for the $3.7 billion oil pipeline's eventual approval, no matter what the outgoing administration decides....
Obama Set to Green-light Disputed Dakota Access Pipeline
NOTICE: THE CONTENTS OF THIS ARTICLE IS DISINFORMATION! IT IS AN ATTEMPT BY DAPL
TO DISSEMINATE FALSE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF INCITING PEACEFUL WATER PROTECTORS TO VIOLENT ACTION OR TO QUASH OPPOSITION TO THE PIPELINE.
by Elana Schor, POLITICO - 11 NOV 2016

    The Obama administration is expected to approve the disputed easement for the Dakota Access pipeline as soon as Monday, according to two sources familiar with the timing — dealing a major blow to climate activists even before Donald Trump takes office.
    The decision would let the pipeline be built across the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux's reservation in North Dakota, where protesters have been camped out for months in one of the largest ongoing environmental standoffs of recent years.
    The expected move is not surprising given that Donald Trump's upset victory sets the stage for the $3.7 billion oil pipeline's eventual approval no matter what the outgoing administration decides.
    But Dakota Access opponents continue to press the administration to keep delaying the project, and the prospect of a Monday announcement is raising concerns that nationwide protests planned for Tuesday could turn uncivil....
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Dakota Access Pipeline Work Stopped As Water Protectors Storm Site; 30+ Arrested
Unicorn Riot  -  11 NOV 2016
    Morton County, ND – Early Friday morning, a group of water protectors left the main Oceti Sakowin encampment and drove in a caravan to a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site on Highway 6 south of Mandan.
    This site was the location of a previous lockdown action which stopped pipeline work for six hours on August 31. Construction was thought to have been completed at this site, as no machines had been active in the area for weeks. However, the morning of November 11, DAPL crews were again working at the site, which was quickly noticed by water protectors who arrived to stop them.
    Some DAPL private security and a few Sheriff’s vehicles were present early on, observing the demonstration and talking amongst themselves.
    A low flying helicopter continually circled over the construction site.
    With the majority of North Dakota military and police forces deployed in the militarized zone around the former Oceti Sakowin 1851 treaty camp, law enforcement did not arrive in numbers until about an hour later. Unicorn Riot reporters witnessed two arrests as police pushed people to clear the area next to Highway 6.
    As the police pushed the crowd south on Highway 6, it became apparent that the air had been let out of the tires on several sheriff and police vehicles.
    Later in the afternoon, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department posted on Facebook that 33 people had been arrested. They also posted an image that suggests construction equipment had been damaged during the day’s events.
    As these events were unfolding on the ground in North Dakota, news emerged that inside sources had tipped off reporters at Politico that the Obama administration will likely approve the final remaining easement permits for DAPL to drill under the Missouri River within the next few days, possibly as early as Monday. The Obama administration denied these claims, saying “the process is ongoing and no decisions have been made.”...
STANDING ROCK Warriors take on Pipeline Friday, Nov. 11, 2016
Censored News  -  11 NOV 2016
    Video clips and photos of 11 Nov 2016 actions.
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November 11 Action Recorded by Indigenous Environmental Network
Kandi Mossett, Indigenous Environmental Network  -  11 NOV 2016
    Listen to all of the video for insights into the treatment of water protectors that are not shared on other videos.  
NYC TWU Local 100 Member John McCarthy
Labor For Standing Rock  -  10 NOV 2016
    NYC TWU Local 100 member John McCarthy: Why I Am With Labor for Standing Rock "The labor movement should be supportive of black, brown, and red people. If they want to build pipelines...build that water pipeline for Flint, Michigan."...  
Powerful Interview Truth at Standing Rock for Past Month, Documenting the Protests. #NoDAPL
411 TRUTH  -  08 NOV 2016
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Dakota Access Pipeline. - World Court Conference #NODAPL
AnonymousXenc, YouTube - 04 NOV 2016
Indigenous Australians' Support for Standing Rock
by George Bear Claw, Nipmuc Connections - 09 NOV 2016
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Canadian Border Guards Brutalize Family, Standing Rock Supporters
by Brenda Norrell, Censored News  -  10 NOV 2016
    Canadian border guards brutalized a family who traveled to Standing Rock to support the water protectors of the Missouri River, and burial places, from Dakota Access Pipeline. As they were returning home, they were brutalized by Canadian border guards. The family now faces charges after being pepper sprayed and kicked by violent Canadian border guards.
    "As the family made their way back across the Canada-US border, they were stopped by border security on the Canadian side. The group of guards were unusually aggressive and hostile. They started barking contradictory orders to the occupants of the van. Shortly into the encounter, the guards pulled out pepper-spray and fired into the van in close proximity to a passenger (barely an inch away from his face!) Not only was he hit, but a mother and child were struck by the spray as well!" writes Jacquie Robertshaw Jac in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
    "Another passenger was pulled out of the vehicle and hit and kicked by several guards....  
Sámi people and Standing Rock Camp Attorneys work together to get Norway's DNB to divest from DAPL
by Beaska Niillas, et al, Censored News  -  10 NOV 2016
    The Norwegian Sámi Association is standing with Standing Rock, and works together with Standing Rock Camp Attorneys, Red Owl Legal Collective, to make DNB and Norway divest from Dakota Access pipeline.
    The Camp Attorneys have provided information of all the violations of indigenous peoples and human rights. This information will be provided to DNB and the Norwegian Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund Global, the ethical committee of the Norwegian national investment fund, on November 9.
    DNB and Norway, through the Government Pension Fund Global (NGPFG), have invested in and provided financial backing through loans to the companies behind DAPL. The NGPFG has invested approximately 10.322 billion NOK and DNB approximately 2.8 billion NOK, making Norway a sizable contributor to the Dakota Access Pipeline Project....  
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Dakota Access Announces Plan to Drill Under Missouri River Within Weeks
Unicorn Riot - 08 NOV 2016
    Oceti Sakowin, ND – As water protectors dig in for the winter near construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), many rumors have been circulating about whether DAPL was in fact going to halt construction, as had been requested by the Department of Justice and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in September.
    Many claims have been made that the Army Corps of Engineers, in negotiations with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, had ordered a 30-day pause on DAPL construction. As we reported on Sunday, the Army Corps has in fact clarified that the 30-day halt was “only a proposal” and no work stoppage has been implemented.
    On Monday, November 7th, Unicorn Riot documented active DAPL construction that could be seen from the main Oceti Sakowin encampment.
    The afternoon of November 8th, 2016, as the US Presidential election was well underway, Dakota Access, LLC released a statement denying recent claims from the Army Corps of Engineers that they had agreed to a slowdown in pipeline construction.
    Dakota Access also claims a public statement made by the Army Corps was “a mistake and the Army Corps intends to rescind it.”
    Dakota Access, LLC had previously made a statement announcing that eviction would take place of the Oceti Sakowin 1851 treaty camp which had been set up directly in the path of the pipeline.
    The appearance of Dakota Access making public statements which accurately predicted police actions was denounced in an article by Sarah Lazare at Alternet as “clear evidence” of “outrageous militarized police collusion with Big Oil.”...  
Hampshire College Students Protest North Dakota Pipeline
by Larry Hoffman, Cosumnes Connection  -  09 NOV 2016
    A self-described "citizen" journalist covering the increasingly high-tensioned Standing Rock demonstrations in North Dakota was shot in the back with a rubber bullet while on-camera interviewing a protester Wednesday.
    The Facebook event is encouraging supporters to head to Stuart Park from 2 to 4 p.m.to stand with those protesting the Dakota Access pipeline.
    Images and video that emerged in October from a crackdown on protesters being arrested after blocking a proposed oil pipeline in North Dakota resonated deeply for two American Indian Minnesota legislators who said it rekindled painful historical moments.
    Standing Rock has waged a protest for months against the almost 1,200-mile pipeline being developed across four states by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners.
    The U.S. Departments of Justice, the Army and the Interior issued an order temporarily halting pipeline construction in the Lake Oahe area, the place at the center of the tribe's concerns, earlier this year.
    The news came after Tamara Francis-Fourkiller, a tribal leader from the Caddo Nation tribe in Caddo County, Oklahoma, was arrested at Standing Rock. Last week, police arrested more than 100 people as officers evicted demonstrators from land owned by the pipeline company.
    "We talk about historical trauma and what that means", said Allen, who is Lakota, Dakota and Anishinabe.
    The 1,170-mile pipeline would transport as much as 450,000 barrels of crude oil daily from the Bakken production area of North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill.
    Confusion remains over whether the protests have succeeded in forcing the pipeline to be rerouted. The tribe says the $3.8 billion four-state pipeline threatens its drinking water and cultural sites....  
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Final Phase of Dakota Access Construction to Begin
Published by Anna Nicklin, Editorial Assistant, World Pipelines  -  09 NOV 2016
    With work completed on each side of Lake Oahe, on 8 November, Energy Transfer Partners chose the day of the US presidential election to announce that the final phase of its most controversial and contested construction project will begin in two weeks.
    Although federal regulators have not given a go-ahead signal that the line will be able to proceed, the company has stated that it will not slow down construction of the pipeline that is contested by environmentalists and Native Americans groups. The company has begun moving the equipment that is required in order to prepare for tunneling under Lake Oahe.
    Construction of this part of the US$3.7 billion pipeline was halted in September due to protests from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who claimed that the route would desecrate sacred grounds. They also noted that a spill could contaminate local drinking water.
    Thomas O'Hara, an Army Corps spokesman, is reported to have told Bloomberg News that the company had agreed to slow down construction, something that Energy Transfer has refuted.
    "The statement released last night by the Army Corps was a mistake and the Army Corps intends to rescind it. To be clear, Dakota Access pipeline has not voluntarily agreed to halt construction of the pipeline in North Dakota."
    The continuation of construction comes amidst mounting pressure from activists on those financing the pipeline to pull their support. On Tuesday, Citigroup Inc said that it had discussed its concerns with Energy Transfer Partners and urged it to reach a resolution with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Similarly, DNB said that it would reconsider its financing of the pipeline if the concerns raised by Native American tribes are not addressed.
    Energy Transfer said it expects no significant delays in its plans to drill under the lake.
    “I’m in shock. I’m speechless,” said Cheryl Angel, a Sicangu Lakota tribe member who has been at the Standing Rock camps since the spring. “It’s unconscionable and devastating. It’s almost as though they have no soul.”
    The announcement presents the final phase of construction as a done deal in defiance of Barack Obama and the thousands of demonstrators who have contributed to and are camped out at Standing Rock to fight the project.
    The timing of the announcement has raised suspicion and anger. Activists are frustrated with the US presidential race, since noting Hillary Clinton has refused to take a position on the conflict and Donald Trump has close financial ties to the pipeline.
    “With the election being so big and North Dakota being so small, they think they can just sweep this under the rug,” said Danny Grassrope, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. “I’m not really surprised. Snakes are sneaky and this is a black snake. It blindsides everyone.”
North Dakota: Pipeline Company Says It Will Soon Begin Drilling Despite Lack of Permit
Democracy Now!  -  09 NOV 2016
    In North Dakota, the company building the Dakota Access pipeline says it is preparing to drill beneath Lake Oahe on the Missouri River within two weeks, even though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not granted a permit. The announcement shocked and infuriated opponents of the $3.8 billion pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe along with representatives of over 200 other indigenous tribes and non-Native allies. Opponents, who call themselves "water protectors," say they were promised by an Army Corps of Engineers official that the Dakota Access pipeline would be delayed by at least 30 days, should the Obama administration agree to a permit. But pipeline builder Energy Transfer Partners said Tuesday the Army Corps was mistaken when it said the company had agreed to slow construction. The announcement came one week after President Obama said the Army Corps was looking at a possible "reroute" of the pipeline....  
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Corps Requests Dakota Access to Stand Down for 30 Days
by Lauren Donovan, Bismarck Tribune - 10 NOV 2016
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a strongly worded rebuke to Dakota Access Pipeline, asking for the second time in a week for the company to stand down operations for 30 days to de-escalate tensions between pipeline demonstrators and police.
    Col. John Henderson, commander of the corps’ Omaha District, said Dakota Access refused the first request by the administration for a voluntary shut down on Nov. 4 and he reiterated it again in a statement issued Wednesday night.
    “We again ask DAPL to voluntarily cease operations in this area as their absence will help reduce these tensions,” Henderson said.
    On Tuesday, the company said it is moving drill bore equipment toward the Missouri River/Lake Oahe, near where hundreds of anti-pipeline protesters are encamped on corps land and on the nearby Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The company does not yet have an easement from the corps to drill the pipeline under the water.
    The company said Thursday it has not changed its position in the face of the second request....  
It’s Not Just Standing Rock. Native American Tribes Are Fighting Environmental Battles All Along the Columbia River
Oregon’s tribes are engaged in multiple fights over treaties, land and water.

by Rachel Monahan, Willamette Week  -  09 NOV 2016
     For two months, the Dakota plains of Standing Rock Reservation have become a national flashpoint over the rights of Native Americans to protect their land.
    The Sioux tribes of Standing Rock object to a nearly 1,200-mile pipeline designed to transport Bakken crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. They say the pipeline, which runs near their reservation, could leak into their water supplies, endanger their ancestral lands, and violate a treaty the tribes made with the U.S. government in 1851.
    As many as 7,000 people have joined the protest, aimed at blocking construction of the pipeline. Law enforcement has responded with rubber bullets and mass arrests.
    The protest has gathered support from across the country, ranging from empty Facebook gestures to Portland activists turning a school bus into a mobile medical refuge and clinic.
    But Standing Rock isn't the only place where tribes are defending their lands from environmental threats.
    Treaty rights dating from the 1850s grant tribes in Oregon and Washington the right to their customary fishing and hunting grounds and have been used in some cases to challenge industrial and environmental projects across the Northwest.
    Along the Columbia River, Native tribes are also engaged in multiple fights over land and water....  
For Two American Indian Legislators, Images from Standing Rock Hard to See
Cosumnes Connection  -  09 NOV 2016
    "There are moments in a life of faith where we have to stand with a larger community in solidarity with people who are being marginalized", Evans said, "and this is one of those moments". "Security forces and police have been violently attacking Native American water protectors on their own land, and we in Knoxville want to do our part to end these atrocities".
    Protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota are moving to the State Capitol building.
    Fusion, a website that Schrode has written for, notes that the activist/journalist was interviewing a Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrator when she suddenly got hit, let out a cry and dropped to the ground with her camera.
    A member of the clergy walks past a burnt out vehicle during a protest of the Dakota Access pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota Nov. 3, 2016.
    In a statement posted to her social media accounts, Erin Schrode said she was shot by militarized police while conducting an interview with a peaceful protester....
There's a Reason Few Even Knew the Dakota Access Pipeline Was Being Built
by William Yardley, LA Times  -  09 NOV 2016
    The bitter fight over the Dakota Access pipeline seemed to erupt out of nowhere this summer, and there is a good explanation for that: Relatively few people knew the pipeline was being built.
    In the summer of 2014, the pipeline was merely a concept, a major crude oil transport project whose developers had not yet sought permits. Barely 18 months later, it was under construction.
    That might seem like a quick turnaround for a 1,170-mile pipeline that would transport half a million barrels of crude oil a day, span four states, cross water and wetlands hundreds of times, veer near historic Native American sites, cut through farms and take private land by eminent domain.
    But there is a reason things moved quickly, and critics say it highlights a serious but little understood flaw in the way big oil pipelines get built.
    Unlike many other major energy projects — drill rigs off the coast of Alaska, large wind farms in the West, natural gas pipelines — domestic oil pipelines built largely on private land often do not require an overarching permit from the federal government, even those as sprawling and ambitious as the Dakota Access.
    This is what happens instead: The Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that issues permits for construction on and near waterways, often does not assess major pipeline projects as major pipeline projects at all.
    Rather than broadly examining the impact a major pipeline could have across its length, looking at cumulative effects on water, air quality, land and animal species or the climate-changing emissions a pipeline might enable, the Corps typically assesses big pipelines as a series of much smaller ones, sometimes hundreds of smaller ones — breaking them up into segments to be reviewed at specific water and wetland locations.
    This piecemeal approach falls under a process called Nationwide Permit 12....  
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Photo by Rob Wilson
RED OWL LEGAL: Standing Rock Cars Ransacked, Sacred Items Destroyed by Police
Censored News  -  04 NOV 2016
Contact: Angela Bibens, Ground Coordinator, Red Owl Legal Collective
    CANNON BALL, North Dakota – Members of the Red Owl Legal Collective (ROLC), a group providing pro bono legal support to the thousands of people encamped near the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, are condemning increasing incidents of disturbing overreach by local and state law enforcement.
    Since August 2016, Indigenous people and allies have been encamped on the shores of the Cannon Ball and Missouri Rivers in North Dakota to protect ancestral land and waters from the Dakota Access Pipeline. Their numbers have since swelled into the thousands.
    On October 27, law enforcement launched a violent raid on a new frontline camp. Over 100 armed officers, accompanied by a sound cannon, armored vehicles, and a bulldozer deployed tear gas, mace, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades against Indigenous protectors and horses. But what happened after and since the raid has not been so visible, report Red Owl Legal Collective members.
    As part of the raid, law enforcement created a blockade between protectors and their vehicles, then impounded over 60 of those vehicles after mass-arresting protectors; because many vehicles belonged to protectors who were arrested, dozens were released only to find themselves stranded in Bismarck or Mandan, over an hour’s drive from camp. And when owners finally regained possession, it got worse.
    “Most of the vehicles had been totally ransacked,” said Red Owl Legal Collective’s Angela Bibens. “We saw items removed from cars with no explanation, medicines emptied and scattered around, property destroyed, damage to steering columns, and evidence of attempts to open locked luggage.” One protector discovered an airjack – a device used to force open car doors – in their passenger seat.
    The property damage didn’t stop with cars....
Police Departments Refuse Participation In Dakota Access Pipeline Crackdown
In addition to the general retreat of departments, two officers have already turned in their badges in support of the protesters.
by Isiah Holmes, The Fifth Column, Mint Press News  -  08 NOV 2016
    Standing Rock, North Dakota — Widespread outrage over both the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and violent police crackdowns rages on. That outrage is spreading even to police agencies now returning from deployment to the reservation. Two departments have already refused to return, citing personal and public objections. As if that wasn’t enough, an army of sympathizers is re-purposing social media to combat police efforts in Standing Rock.
    Minnesota’s Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department is among that group. Lawmakers, according to MPR News, found police activities in Standing Rock “inappropriate”. It’s to the point where they’re considering rewriting legislation to avoid future deployments to incidents like the pipeline resistance.
    Police officials, of course, declined to comment on their return from North Dakota or their feelings on what’s happening there. It’s also made the task of rebuilding trust with the community an even loftier uphill battle. “I do not support Sheriff Stanek’s decision to send his deputies to North Dakota”, says LT. Governor Tina Smith, “nor did we approve his decision to begin with. I do not have any control over the Sheriff’s actions, which I think were wrong, and I believe he should bring his deputies home if he hasn’t already.”...
STATEMENT: The Time to Listen to North Dakotans Is Now, Governor-Elect
by DRC - Dakota Resource Council  -  09 NOV 2016
    Now that the elections are over, our state can begin the process of moving ahead in a productive way with the Standing Rock Nation and Dakota Access Pipeline. Feeling dismissed and ignored by our elected officials isn’t a new feeling to people across North Dakota, who have experienced devastating impacts because of oil and gas development. Every day, citizens of this state live out parallel narratives of state government catering to the oil industry at the expense of public health, other livelihoods, and the legacy North Dakotans will leave to future generations.
    “For 40 years, DRC members have worked together to bring the voice of people who live and work here into decisions on farm, rural community, and energy issues,” said Don Morrison, Executive Director of DRC. “We’ve never seen state officials cater more to oil company executives and ignore the consequences to the rest of us. Today, they just do not listen.”
    The ongoing reality of being ignored by state government resonates with oil-impacted communities and landowners across North Dakota, who are dealing with chronic public health issues like oil spills, frack water spills, illegally dumped radioactive waste, and unending natural gas flares. DRC members have experienced firsthand dealing with the decision-making process of oil industry regulation – it’s currently designed to keep most people out. The people of North Dakota deserve to be respected by the people elected to serve our state.
    Dakota Resource Council, a membership-driven nonprofit working to protect North Dakota’s natural resources, is calling on the Governor-elect to remove the barriers to resolving this situation. The Standing Rock Sioux Nation wants the pipeline rerouted. DRC supports this request, especially because a full environmental impact study was never completed. Projects like Dakota Access and the companies that bankroll them should never be allowed to take advantage of Nationwide permits that aren’t intended for such expansive infrastructure projects and don’t take into account potential cumulative impact....
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Dakota Access Pipeline Plans to Drill Beneath River in Two Weeks
by Brenda Norrell, Censored News  -  8 NOV 2016
    The Guardian reported that Dakota Access pipeline said it would defy Obama and push forward with final phase of drilling.
    The Dakota Access pipeline operator chose the day of the US presidential election to announce that the final phase will begin in two weeks – marking a bold escalation in its response to the Native American protests, The Guardian said.
    "Energy Transfer Partners, the company overseeing the North Dakota oil pipeline, has already completed construction up to the river that provides water to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and announced on Tuesday it would soon begin drilling at the site," The Guardian reported.
    Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II said DAPL has no legal easement to drill under Lake Oahe.
    “Energy Transfer Partners, the company financing and driving DAPL, is releasing its third quarter earnings report on Nov. 9. It’s in their interest to create a perception of momentum on the project despite having ZERO legal easement to drill under Lake Oahe,” Archambault said in a statement released late Tuesday....
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Sacred Stone Camp -- 'Riot Police Injure More Than 100 People Defending Standing Rock Burial Grounds' Nov. 2, 2016
by Camp of the Sacred Stones, Censored News  -  03 NOV 2016
    CANNON BALL, North Dakota -- On Wednesday, November 2, law enforcement desecrated the burial grounds of Alma Parkin and Matilda Galpin, the indigenous women who once owned the Cannonball Ranch. As water protectors held a water ceremony, snipers shot at them from armored vehicles parked around the tree marking the graves....
Mapping 7 Million Gallons of Crude Oil Spills
A thousand pipeline ruptures or spills reported nationwide in the past five years
Does not include the spills and leaks that have occurred just this year (2016)

by Jonathan Thompson, High Country News  -  15 June 2015; updated 09 NOV 2016
    On 19 May 2015, a pipeline owned by Plains All American burst near Santa Barbara, California, ultimately spilling more than 100,000 gallons, or some 2,400 barrels, of oil. Tens of thousands of gallons of the oil slid into a storm drain and flowed into the Pacific Ocean.
    The spill garnered national coverage for good reason: It killed or injured hundreds of birds, sea lions and other wildlife, sullied a long stretch of beautiful coastline and happened near where the notorious 1969 spill that inflamed a burgeoning environmental movement occurred. But the spill was anything but unique. Over the past five years, there have been over 1,000 crude oil pipeline leaks and ruptures reported to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
    Using data from the PHMSA, High Country News put together a map of every one of those spills in the U.S., from January 2010 to May of this year....
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Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Eldest Tribal Member Celebrates 100 Years
by Darren Thompson, Native News Online  -  08 NOV 2016
    STANDING ROCK – On Sunday, November 6 the Standing Rock community gathered for food, song, gifts, speeches and prayer to give Therese a party a lifetime in the making. Therese Martin is the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s oldest living member and celebrated 100 years of life on November 3, 2016.
    A life-long Lakota woman of faith received good words, countless cards and gifts, a custom hand-sewn Star quilt from the Sitting Bull College, stirring speeches by many people of various walks of life, songs presented in the Lakota language, a performance by a Native American flute player, and even a birthday commemoration from His Holiness Pope Francis.
    She has lived through every foreign war the United States has participated in, the Great Depression and more than 15 Presidents. She has witnessed some of this country’s most historical pieces of legislation including the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978....
These Maps Help Fill the Gaps on the Dakota Access Pipeline
Meet the researcher mapping the threats to water security.

by Lyndsey Gilpin, High Country News  -  05 NOV 2016
    As protests escalated in North Dakota, Jennifer Veilleux sat in her office at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, reading an environmental assessment of the Dakota Access Pipeline over and over again. The report, prepared by the company developing the pipeline, raised red flags. An international water security and transboundary river post-doctoral researcher, Veilleux was used to vetting assessments. The one in front of her didn’t have information about appropriate methods for monitoring what people, waterways, and ecosystems leaks in the pipeline could affect.
    She scoured the internet, searching for the major waterways the pipeline would impact, and where Indigenous people lived in relation to those – basic information she couldn’t find anywhere.
    So she decided to map it herself.
    What resulted were two detailed socio-ecological maps of the Missouri River Basin, created by Veilleux and the team she assembled, in total 16 geographers, cartographers, lawyers, and researchers who are all collaborating voluntarily. One outlines major waterways the pipeline would intersect and possibly leak into and the nearby tribal lands. The other shows the percentage of Indigenous people by county living near waterways that could be affected by the pipeline, which crosses four Western states....
$15K Fine Proposed for Dakota Access Pipeline
by Amy Dalrymple, Grand Forks Herald  -  08 NOV 2016
    BISMARCK — Staff from the North Dakota Public Service Commission have proposed a $15,000 fine for Dakota Access LLC for potential permit violations after the company failed to notify the commission about cultural artifacts discovered in the pipeline route.
    Pipeline construction is complete on both sides of the Lake Oahe crossing, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not yet authorized, Dakota Access said Tuesday, Nov. 8.
    The Public Service Commission voted Tuesday to issue a formal complaint to Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, that alleges the company violated conditions of the permit, including rerouting the pipeline without clearance from the commission.
    Dakota Access discovered four stone cairns and other artifacts in the pipeline route in Morton County on Oct. 17 and notified the State Historic Preservation Office, which evaluated the site and concurred with the reroute to protect the sites....
The Indigo Girls Launch #NoDAPL Boycott of Pipeline Owner's Major Folk Music Festival
Democracy Now! on YouTube  -  03 NOV 2016
    Many musicians, including Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, better known as the folk duo the Indigo Girls, are now banding together to confront Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren and help stop the pipeline. In addition to owning the pipeline, Warren owns a small music label and is the founder and driving force behind the Cherokee Creek Music Festival in Texas. In addition to raising awareness and funds for the land and water protectors at Standing Rock, the Indigo Girls are organizing musicians to challenge Kelcy Warren directly. Emily Saliers and Amy Ray penned a letter to Warren, which was co-signed by noted artists Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, Joan Osborne, Keb’ Mo’ and others. It reads, in part, "We realize the bucolic setting of your festival and the image it projects is in direct conflict with the Dakota Access Pipeline ... this pipeline violates the Standing Rock Sioux Nations’ treaty rights, endangers the vital Missouri River, and continues the trajectory of genocide against Native Peoples." The letter concludes, "In order to stay true to our music and respect the Native Nations that are united against the Dakota Access Pipeline, we will no longer play your festival or participate in Music Road Records recordings." We speak to Emily Saliers and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls.
    Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: http://democracynow.org  ...
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Lansing, Michigan, #NoDAPL Solidarity Rally - 05 NOV 2016
Nipmuc Connections  -  05 NOV 2016
    Videos Related to This Story:
    Grand Entrance Dance, Lansing, MI
    Hundreds of People Participate in Round Dance at Lansing #NoDAPL Solidarity Rally
    Native Women Singing at Lansing, MI #NoDAPL Solidarity Rally  -  05 NOV 2016
3000+ March in Toronto, Canada Against DAPL!!
Nipmuc Connections  -  06 NOV 2016  
Stand with Standing Rock #NoDAPL Brattleboro, Vermont 11/6/16
Nipmuc Connections  -  06 NOV 2016  
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Standing Rock Camp Attorneys Urge DNB Bank of Norway to Divest in Dakota Access Pipeline
by Brenda Norrell, Censored News - 08 NOV 2016
    CANNON BALL, North Dakota -- The Red Owl Legal Collective in Standing Rock Camp urges DNB, Bank of Norway, to divest from Dakota Access Pipeline. The attorneys, who are present in the camp of the water protectors at Standing Rock, state that the pipeline is in violation of international laws and Treaties, and responsible for massive human rights abuses being carried out by militarized police.
    "DNB must immediately consider the consequences and ramifications of continuing to support the ‘wrong team’, in what is now known and will be remembered as one of the most profound violations of Native American sovereignty to occur in the United States," said Red Owl Legal Collective/National Lawyers Guild.
    "The Dakota Access Pipeline presents an unfolding disaster with respect to the rights of indigenous peoples and basic international human rights standards. The heavily-militarized reaction by North Dakota police, supported by officers from surrounding states, as well as by private security contractors working for Dakota Access, has crossed the line with respect to international human rights standards we expect nations and corporations to adhere to," the attorneys said in a statement today....
‘The Whole World Is Watching’: The Political Crossfire of DAPL
by Steve Russell, ICT  -  03 NOV 2016
    The struggle over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has many levels. The people most immediately affected, the people being told they are in the way, are the Standing Rock Sioux in particular, and the Great Sioux Nation in general. They are backed by tribal nations coast to coast that see their interests rising or falling with Standing Rock’s.
    If the Black Snake pipeline prevails over the indigenous people of the Dakotas, there are circles of concern that take in Bismarck, North Dakota, the U.S. and Canada. It’s no exaggeration to say the fight to kill the Black Snake lends a whole new meaning to a chant from the days of the mainstream Civil Rights Movement: “The whole world is watching!”
    Treaties and tribal sovereignty for the Great Sioux Nation are at the core of this movement, but Standing Rock has attracted allies who know nothing of that history and are protecting their own interests.
    The history is as complicated as any attempt to describe the Great Sioux Nation to persons who come to it cold. As simply as can be stated, that great nation normally refers in the U.S. to the constituents of the Seven Fires Council, principally the Lakota and Dakota. The Nakota or Assiniboine people are linguistic relatives but live mostly in Canada in political confederacy with the Cree.
    Another way to understand the Great Sioux Nation is through geography rather than linguistics, encompassing the totality of the Indian reservations in the Northern Great Plains region of the U.S. and consisting of lands called by the colonists the Dakotas, Wyoming, Nebraska and Montana....
'This Is Stolen Land': 38 Water Protectors Arraigned in North Dakota
by Chelsey Luger, Indian Country Today  -  07 NOV 2016
    On Monday afternoon, November 7, in Mandan, North Dakota, 51 water protectors* were scheduled to appear before Judge Gail Hagerty at Morton County District Court to be arraigned on charges related to arrests that took place on October 22 near the Dakota Access Pipeline construction site just north of the Standing Rock Reservation in Morton County. Of the 51 scheduled to appear, 38 water protectors were present to enter their pleas.
    Of those who were not present, most had arraigned in advance to schedule later court dates. Morton County charged all 38 present defendants with Criminal Trespass. Thirty-six of them were additionally charged with Engaging in a Riot. Both Criminal Trespass and Engaging in a Riot are Class B Misdemeanors in North Dakota with maximum penalties of up to 30 days in jail and maximum fines of copy,500 if found guilty. All defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges.
    The tiny courtroom on the third floor of the Morton County District Courthouse was packed to the brim with water protectors, a few attorneys, and six fully armed Morton County Sheriff’s Department officers around the perimeter of the room. Outside the building and throughout the hallways, supporters of the defendants gathered and waited, as none were allowed in the courtroom due to lack of space.
    Hagerty went down the list and called each defendant to the bench one by one, making her way through each arraignment at a rate of about four minutes per person. The judge fully read through the rights, charges and instructions on how to apply for court-appointed attorneys for the first five individuals or so. As the proceedings continued, she began to abbreviate the process by asking each following defendant whether they had already heard and understood the nature of their rights and charges based on her reading to other defendants in the room. This expedited the process but frustrated several defendants who requested that she fully read their rights, attorney options, and describe the penalties and charges, even if they had already heard them. The judge complied.
    The court proceedings went on quietly and without disruption, but several water protectors took time to question Hagerty or make comments about the situation at hand while on the bench.
    “I object to the use of the overwhelming force of six Morton County Sheriffs as bailiffs in court,” said one woman after entering her not-guilty plea, “and I hope that there won’t be any more than the already-too-much 31 billion gallons of fracked water in North Dakota, Your Honor.”
    Hagerty replied, “Your objection is noted.”
    On the wall behind the judge, a large painted portrait of a Plains chief in headdress hung on the wall. The details of the painting were not visible to those in the public seating area of the courtroom, so several defendants utilized their speaking opportunities to question the judge about the painting.
    “May I ask which Native American is on that wall right there?” one defendant asked.
    Hagerty replied, “I have no idea, and that’s something you can figure out at another time. We have a lot of people to get through.”
    Later on, another defendant brought up the painting again.
    “I don’t think this court respects Native people, and so you should take that picture down. All this violence against Native people is really disgusting and disrespectful,” he said....
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Environmentalists Target Bankers Behind Pipeline
NY Times  -  07 NOV 2016
    In early August, just as protesters from across the country descended on North Dakota to rally against an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, some of the world’s biggest banks signed off on a $2.5 billion loan to help complete the sprawling project.
    Now, those banks — which include Citigroup and Wells Fargo of the United States, TD Bank of Canada and Mizuho of Japan — have come under fire for their role in bankrolling the pipeline. In an open letter on Monday, 26 environmental groups urged those banks to halt further loan payments to the project, which the Sioux say threatens their sacred lands and water supply.
    In campaigning to reduce the world’s carbon emissions, environmentalists have increasingly focused on the financiers behind the fossil fuel industry — highlighting their role in financing coal, oil and gas projects. It is an expansion of traditional protest efforts, and it has met with some early success....
Michelle Cook -- Navajo Human Rights Commission Urged to Investigate
Human Rights Violations in North Dakota

by Michelle Cook, Censored News  -  06 NOV 2016

Dear Human Rights Commission, Navajo Nation Representatives, and Navajo People,
    I hope this message finds you well and strong in body and spirit. My name is Michelle Cook born of the Honághááhnii Clan, a Commissioner of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, and a founding member of the Red Owl Legal Collective the onsite legal defense team in Standing Rock North Dakota.
The Navajo Human Rights Commission’s mandate is to investigate human rights violations concerning Navajo people with the hopes of pursuing and filing those claims before the Organization of American States (OAS) within the Inter-American Commission and other relevant UN bodies.
    As a Commissioner I am deeply concerned and outraged as the human rights violations against the Standing Rock Sioux Nation continue to escalate resulting from the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline....

Quake Near Oklahoma Oil Hub Prompts Infrastructure Concerns
by Justin Juozapavicius, AP; WRCB-TV, Chattanooga, TN  -  07 NOV 2016
    CUSHING, Okla. (AP) - A magnitude 5.0 earthquake centered near one of the world's key oil hubs brought down building facades and shattered windows in a central Oklahoma city, rendering century-old buildings unsafe and raising concerns about key infrastructure.
    Cushing Assistant City Manager Jeremy Frazier told a news conference late Sunday that a few minor injuries were reported. He said the damage appeared to be contained to downtown, where piles of debris sat at the base of some commercial buildings.
    Oklahoma has had thousands of earthquakes in recent years, with nearly all traced to the underground injection of wastewater left over from oil and gas production. Sunday's quake was centered one mile west of Cushing and about 25 miles south of where a magnitude 4.3 quake forced a shutdown of several wells last week....
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Brave Environmental Lawyer Explains Standing Rock Legal Issues
TYT - 27 OCT 2016
This is an older video, but it explains some of the legalese of the militarization of the Morton County Sheriff's Department and their violation of Constitutional, civil, and human rights of the Water Protectors.
This is What a Police State Looks Like #NoDAPL
The Conscious Resistance, YouTube - 02 NOV 2016
U.S. Flag Hoisted Upside Down in Dakota Access Protest
Symbol of Distress for Water Protectors
TYT Politics, YouTube  -  04 NOV 2016
THE UNITED STATES FLAG CODE
Title 4, Chapter 1
§ 8(a)The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
  
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Water Ceromony Met With Violence by DAPL Security and Morton County Sheriff's Department
No Audio - Aerial Video Drone Footage Only
Myron Dewey, YouTube - 03 NOV 2016
    Water Ceromony met with violence and desecration of sacred burial sites by Morton county police and DAPL security., Nov 2 2016.
KAHNAWAKE “PEOPLE’S FIRE” TO BLOCK TRAINS
Censored News  -  03 NOV 2016
    NOTICE FROM “PEOPLES FIRE”.
    wa’tkwanonweráh:ton [we give you greeting]; Today, the Kanien’ke:haka are blocking the CP train tracks at 9 PM at Adirondack Junction, to stand with our Lakota relatives at Standing Rock in North Dakota who continue to defend our Mother. The women have given consent to the rotiskarekethe to stand on the front lines to protect our sacred water for millions of people....
The Sacred Land at the Center of the Dakota Pipeline Dispute
CNN  -  01 NOV 2016
    Outside Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, North Dakota (CNN) -- A prophecy warned that this time would come. A black snake would arrive to destroy the Earth. It is now slithering across this land, disturbing what's sacred and gearing up to poison the water.
    For the Native Americans who gather in camps near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, this snake has a name.
    They call it the Dakota Access Pipeline.
    In solidarity with allies who've come from all different places and backgrounds, they are determined to stop this $3.7 billion project that would transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day through four states.
Corporate greed and the potential for an environmental disaster -- should the pipeline leak or break -- are two arguments against it. But the more complicated issue challenging Western sensibilities is about threats to sacred land.
    What's at stake, and what does it even mean to be sacred?...  
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Cheyenne River Sioux Letter to  Headquarters, Army Corps of Engineers
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Facebook  -    02 NOV 2013
FCC Investigates Stingray Spies While DAPL Works in Secret at Standing Rock
The Huffington Post  -  02 NOV 2016
  
  “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”  - Fourth Amendment, Constitution of the United States

Breaking News: The Honor System Does Not Work

    Remember the September day when the DOJ “stopped” construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Federal Lands, but asked for a “voluntary pause” on construction on private lands? DAPL has ignored that request from the DOJ and is likely actively working with Morton County authorities to invade the cellular network and personal information of peaceful protestors on sovereign land. Mass arrests have been a diversion from secret completion of the pipeline.
    In fact the DOJ request to voluntarily stop construction on private land has been met with a project that is almost completed, just waiting for President Obama to give the final OK. A ban on drones in the airspace was lifted yesterday, and this is the resulting footage. Obama’s suggestion yesterday that everyone just “wait it out” has been received as a slap in the face by Water Protectors.
    The First Amendment is already under attack. Just ask Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, who had a warrant issued for her arrest because she was reporting from the DAPL construction site. They came for Goodman, now they are coming for everyone else, with no regard for the Fourth Amendment.
    Now, it appears that DAPL and Morton County have not only trashed the Fourth Amendment, but they may have their pipeline as a result.
    Spying on the Water Protectors
    Is Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure under attack at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation? Apparently more than water protectors, allies, and journalists who are on site at the junction of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers share the suspicion that cellphones are monitored.
    On October 20, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) submitted FOIA and Open Records Requests to investigate the possible use of unconstitutional surveillance at Standing Rock. In a press release the NLG and ACLU noted the obvious, that “Water Protectors and allies have been continuously surveilled by low-flying planes, helicopters, and drones, and have had local cell phone communications jammed and possibly recorded.”...
Stand with Standing Rock, Pray with Standing Rock on November 3, 2016
KAIROS Canada  -  02 NOV 2016
    Many eyes are fixed on Standing Rock, North Dakota and the proposed construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, an oil pipeline that would run beside the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and cross the Missouri River, the main source of drinking water for the community and for other communities downstream. Since April of 2016, Indigenous rights defenders from the Standing Rock Sioux Nation have been camped near the pipeline construction site on Standing Rock Reservation land, with a more recent and growing camp of supporters building across the river.
    Recently the local Episcopal (Anglican) priest issued an invitation to clergy and faith leaders to come to Standing Rock November 2nd to 4th, 2016 and gather on the banks of the Missouri River “to stand witness to water protector’s acts of compassion for God’s creation, and to the transformative power of God’s love to make a way out of no way.” Many are responding including a high level delegation from the United Church of Christ. Among those present from Canada will be Bishop Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop.
    On November 3, “a day of protective witness in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and with the water protectors,” KAIROS invites you to show your presence and support in two ways: ...
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Musician Dave Matthews to lead a concert in Washington to raise money for supplies and legal assistance for the protesters at Standing Rock, North Dakota (AFP Photo/Jason Connolly)
Dave Matthews Leads Concert to Back Pipeline Protests
Yahoo! News - 01 NOV 2016
    Washington (AFP) - Rocker Dave Matthews on Tuesday announced a concert to support Native Americans opposed to an oil pipeline after police forcibly dispersed protesters.
    The Standing Rock Sioux have led efforts to block construction of the pipeline that would start in North Dakota, saying it would endanger the tribe's water supply and destroy its sacred sites.
    Matthews said he would lead a concert on November 27 in Washington to raise money for supplies and legal assistance for the protesters.
    The rocker said that more acts would be announced for the show at the historic DAR Constitution Hall, to be followed a day later by anti-pipeline activism around the US capital.
    "How can we continue to allow oil money to dictate our environmental and social policies? The people of Standing Rock, and those who are supporting them, are standing up for their children and all of our children," Matthews said in a statement.
    "We are letting the Dakota pipeline silence their voices. Not only are they desecrating sacred lands, but they also threaten to poison the Missouri River."...
Cultural Site Discovered along DAPL Route, Pipeline Rerouted
DAPL In Violation of Federal Law

KFYR-TV  -  02 NOV 2016
    BISMARCK, N.D. - As the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy has played out over the past few months, there have been cases where one side accuses the other of not telling the truth about what's going on.
    Members of the Public Service Commission say Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access Pipeline, hasn't been transparent in their communications. It turns out a site of cultural significance was found along the pipeline route, but the PSC says Energy Transfer Partners waited 10 days to say anything about it.
    The site, which contained rock cairns, was successfully preserved by a route adjustment to the pipeline, but the Public Service Commission isn't satisfied with the way the company handled it.
    Members of the agency who approved the permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline aren't happy with the company building it.
    "I was really extremely disappointed that the company failed to notify us about this when it happened," says Julie Fedorchak, PSC....
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Dakota Public Service Commission, PROVIDED - A tape measure helps show four stone cairns, including the one pictured above, and other artifacts were discovered on the Dakota Access Pipeline route on Oct. 17 in southern Morton County.   
Company Showed ‘Lack of Transparency’ in Reporting Artifacts Discovery in Days Leading up to Pipeline Conflict
Amy Dalrymple and Mike Nowatzki Forum News Service, Bismarck Tribune  -  01 NOV 2016
    The company building a controversial oil pipeline north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation failed to immediately notify state regulators after finding four stone cairns and other artifacts during construction in Morton County as tensions grew among pipeline opponents, documents show.
    Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, waited at least 10 days to notify the Public Service Commission about an unanticipated discovery found in mid-October, a potential violation of the state permit that authorizes pipeline construction.
    The company formally notified the PSC on Thursday, making the unanticipated discovery report a public record for the first time, the same day hundreds of law enforcement officers evicted protesters blocking the pipeline’s construction route on private land, leading to 141 arrests.
    Commission Chairwoman Julie Fedorchak said she’s disappointed the company didn’t notify the PSC at the same time as the State Historic Preservation Office.
    “I was very upset when I found out about it and asked for immediate information,” she said.
    Fedorchak said the three-member commission plans to discuss the matter and the possibility of fining Dakota Access during its meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the State Capitol.
    The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has repeatedly disputed the state archaeologist’s findings that the pipeline route won’t affect cultural resources, was not involved in evaluating the find.
    Jon Eagle Sr., tribal historic preservation officer for the tribe, said normally he would have been notified about such a discovery, but he didn’t know about it until contacted Tuesday by Forum News Service.
    “North Dakota State Historic Preservation Office has closed their doors to the tribe,” Eagle said. “They don’t return my phone calls, they didn’t respond to my letter. There’s no open communication.”...
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Obama Says Army Corps Examining Dakota Access Pipeline Route
by JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press, Bismarck Tribune  -  02 NOV 2016
    BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — President Barack Obama has called for "peace" and "restraint" on the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, and says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is examining whether the four-state project can be rerouted in southern North Dakota to alleviate the concerns of American Indians.
    Obama told the online news outlet NowThis that his administration is monitoring the situation closely but will "let it play out for several more weeks."
    "As a general rule, my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans, and I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline," Obama said an interview Tuesday.
Activists demonstrate near a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign fundraiser with President Barack Obama to call for a halt to the Dakota Access Pipeline project on Oct. 24, 2016 in Beverly Hills.
(Credit: David McNew/AFP/Getty Images)
Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Shut Down New York’s Grand Central Station
KTLA News  -  01 NOV 2016
    Dozens of demonstrators aiming to raise awareness of the ongoing pipeline protest in North Dakota disrupted the morning commute at New York’s Grand Central Terminal on Tuesday before marching on the offices of major U.S. banks to question their decision to fund the pipeline.
    The protesters, who oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline, gathered in the station’s lobby floor at 8 a.m. to express solidarity with the demonstrations at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, they said. They then marched from Grand Central to the offices of Bank of America and JP Morgan to protest the big banks’ funding of the project.
    Some chanted, “It is always a political fight.” Others waved signs that read, “Water is life” and, “Respect the Earth.” One large banner read, “Indigenous sovereignty protects the land and water.”...
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President Obama on MSNBC Addresses Standing Rock:
Re-routing DAPL an Option

by Levi Rickert, Native News Online  -  01 NOV 2016
    Breaking News

    President Obama: “We’re going to let it play out for several more weeks.”


    WASHINGTON – In an exclusive interview played within on Wednesday night on MSNBC’s “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” said his White House is monitoring closely the current tense situation happening near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation where over 1,200 American Indians and supporters are there to protect the water and land from the proposed Dakota Access pipeline.
    The President said re-routing the pipeline is a possibility.
    With President Obama leaving office on January 20, 2017, time is running out for his administration to act. Yet, he suggested there will no decision for several weeks his administration to monitor the situation and “let it play our for several more weeks.”...
BREAKING: Dakota Access Pipeline Nearly Complete
Flyover Showing Progress of Dakota Access Pipeline Proximity to the Missouri River
TYT Politics, YouTube  -  01 NOV 2016
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cannot Legally Issue the Final DAPL Permit!
by Thane Maxwell, Honor the Earth  -  21 OCT 2016 reposted 01 NOV 2016
    On October 10, 2016, Honor the Earth, the Sierra Club and the Indigenous Environmental Network submitted a 30-page letter to the US Army Corps of Engineers. The letter explains why the USACE is prohibited by federal law from issuing DAPL any more permits, including the final outstanding easement for the Missouri River crossing at Standing Rock, and why they are required by federal law to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement on the Dakota Access pipeline.
    A clause in Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act states that if a company is caught intentionally destroying archaeological or cultural sites in the path of the project, the US government cannot legally give them any more permits. This is exactly what DAPL did on September 3. On Friday, September 2, the day before Labor Day weekend, Standing Rock submitted to the court detailed findings of rare cultural sites, which include 27 graves, stone prayer rings, and other sacred artifacts directly in the path of the proposed pipeline. Early the next morning, a Saturday, DAPL brought in construction crews and bulldozed the specific areas described by Standing Rock in their filing. When protectors of the site entered the construction area, private security guards attacked them with dogs and pepper spray.
    Also, the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) requires the US Army Corps to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement on this project. In order to avoid doing a full EIS with public participation, the Corps...
Did #DAPL Security Worker Wielding an AR-15 Rifle Try to Infiltrate Native Water Protectors?
Democracy Now!  -  31 OCT 2016
    On Friday, Amnesty International dispatched human rights observers to North Dakota to monitor the ongoing repression of the thousands of Native Americans resisting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Amnesty’s move came one day after hundreds of police with military equipment arrested over 140 people, after attacking them with pepper spray, Tasers, sound cannons, bean bag rounds and rubber bullets. More details are emerging from Thursday, including video footage of a man who appears to be a Dakota Access security contractor holding a rifle, with his face covered by a bandana, apparently attempting to infiltrate a group of water protectors. A Standing Rock Sioux tribal member says he saw the man driving down Highway 1806 toward the main resistance camp with an AR-15 rifle on the passenger side of his truck. Protectors chased down his truck and then pursued him on foot in efforts to disarm him. In the video, the man can be seen pointing the rifle at the protectors as he attempts to flee into the water.
    He was ultimately arrested by Bureau of Indian Affairs police. Protectors say inside the man’s truck they found a DAPL security ID card and insurance papers listing his vehicle as insured by DAPL. For more, we speak with Dallas Goldtooth, organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network....
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Quote of the Day - The Last Word - MSNBC  
 31 OCT 2016 
Quote of the Day - MSNBC's "The Last Word"
ShaileneWoodley
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Download the entire North Dakota Peace Officer Standards and Training Board Law
NDPeaceOfficerStandardsAndTrainingBoard.pdf
(requires Adobe Reader or other PDF file viewer)

    
NORTH DAKOTA'S PEACE OFFICER CODE OF CONDUCT AND OATH
by Al Swilling, SENAA International  -  24 OCT 2016
    North Dakota Law Contains a Detailed Code of Conduct and Oath of Office That Its Peace Officers Must Vow to Uphold--That Applies to the Morton County, ND, Sheriff, His Deputies, and Reinforcements from Other Sheriff's Departments Who Are Working Temporarily for the Morton County Sheriff, or for any other Law Enforcement entity in the state of North Dakota....
Chief Arvol Looking Horse: The Dark Spirit and Disease of the Mind
by Arvol Looking Horse, Censored News - 22 OCT 2016
    Protecting the Sacred
    Mitakuyape (are now up against dangerous decisions that are coming from the disease of the mind. We are dealing with minds that hold no values of respect and honor toward another Nation’s Burials and Sacred Sites. Money has contaminated their minds to want the power to desecrate the sacredness of Mother Earth and allow my People’s burial places to be destroyed in order to continue to erase our culture.
    As Keeper of this Spirit Bundle of my People, we as the Buffalo People - Pte Oyate, have been able to keep our ceremonies and way of life for 19 generations in tact, which every generation is 100 years. This Bundle has been with us for over 2000 years, which has guided us through massacres and hard times, even when it was hidden until the 1978 Freedom of Religion Act.
    Tim Mentz –Tatanka Duta (Red Bull) and his family lineal knowledge are bound by this same woope – Creator’s Law....
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Go Here to Connect with Other Past Articles Regarding
Standing Rock #NoDAPL: September - October 2016
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A Word About Brenda Norrell and Censored News
Al Swilling, SENAA International - 14 FEB 2015
   For those wondering why the vast majority of shared posts on SENAA International's Web site and Facebook page are from Brenda Norrell's Censored News, it's very simple—and very complex. For many years, Brenda Norrell was a major journalist for (forgive me, Brenda) Indian Country Today (ICT) until they censored Brenda's articles and terminated her without cause. After leaving Indian Country Today, Brenda created the appropriately named Censored News.
   While at ICT, Brenda was a voice for the Dineh (Navajo) people at Black Mesa, Arizona, where bed partners  Peabody  Coal  and  the  BIA  were trying to forcibly remove Dineh residents from their ancestral homes in order to strip mine the land of its coal. That greed took the form of a contrived, fictional "land dispute" between Dineh' and Hopi....
Censored News by Journalist & Publisher Brenda Norrell
Censored News - 12 FEB 2015
   Censored News was created in 2006 after staff reporter Brenda Norrell was censored repeatedly, then terminated by Indian Country Today. Now in its 9th year, with 3.7 million page views around the world, Censored News is published with no advertising, grants or sponsors.
   Today, Censored News maintains a boycott of Indian Country Today, whose reporters have relied on plagiarism of others' hard work for years, instead of being present to cover news stories. Now, with a collective of writers, Censored News focuses on Indigenous Peoples and human rights. www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

   Please Donate to and Support this important voice for Indigenous people and human rights. --Al Swilling, Founder, SENAA International
  
Worldwide Prayer Gatherings Will Resume Weekly
by SENAA International  -  28 OCT 2014
   
What Is a Worldwide Prayer Gathering?
   Though the specific details may vary from one support group to another, and from one geographical location to another, the essential concept remains the same.

A Worldwide Prayer Gathering is not so much a physical gathering into one physical location as it is the spiritual gathering of individuals and groups from around the world who are of one mind and one accord into one spiritual place for a common purpose, which is to ask for the Creator's help to bring about the circumstances that will accomplish our common goal according to His promise.
TECH NEWS
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TUTORIAL
LSO MANAGEMENT: What They Are
and What to Do About Them

SENAA International  -  16 FEB 2010
  
Introduction
  
The computing public is becoming increasingly aware of the existence of Local Shared Objects (LSOs), also called "Flash cookies" or "Persistent Identification Elements" (PIEs), the dangers they pose, and the unethical ways that they are placed on our machines. LSOs are the busybodies of  the   Internet,   sticking  their  noses  in   your   personal business  at every opportunity  without  your  knowledge  or consent; and like most busybodies, they're being found out.
   With growing public awareness of LSOs comes a growing demand for effective, real time control of them. Most LSO management solutions offer management or deletion of LSOs after potentially malicious ones have had time to do their damage. Stand-alone LSO management utilities do not offer real time protection, either. This tutorial provides real-time management of LSOs....
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KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
INDIGENOUS, HUMAN, CIVIL, CONSTITUTIONAL

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Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights and Other Amendments
SENAA International  -  28 JULY 2013

   IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, LEARN THEM! READ THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS!   
   Transcripts of the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights (1st 10 amendments), and other Constitutional Amendments for your perusal. A public service endeavor of SENAA International.
  

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U.S. Declaration of Independence
SENAA International  -  28 JULY 2013

Transcript of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.  A public service endeavor of SENAA International.
   

Social and Human Rights Questions Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Information concerning indigenous issues requested by Economic and Social Council, Report of the Secretary-General, UN Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights.
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
In English and more than 300 Other Languages
NAVAJO NATION BILL OF RIGHTS

  

THIS SITE AND ITS CONTENTS, PAGE DESIGN, GRAPHICS, LOGOS, AND WRITTEN WORKS ARE THE PROPERTY OF SENAA INTERNATIONAL, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED
© 1995 BY SOUTHEASTERN NATIVE AMERICAN ALLIANCE (SENAA)
CLEVELAND, TENNESSEE 37311
© 2016 BY SENAA INTERNATIONAL, HIXSON, TENNESSEE 37343

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 

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Medical Fund for
Sophia Wilansky

GoFundMe - 21 NOV 2016
    Sophia Wilansky is a water protector from New York. She left New York City several weeks ago to help with the struggle at Standing Rock. She been an active participate and family to the activist groups NYC Shut It Down and Hoods4Justice. Sophia has always been committed to confronting injustice through vigilance and resistance.
    Sophia was giving out bottles of water to protectors holding down the space when she was shot with a concussion grenade. The explosion blew away most of the muscles, femural and ulnal arteries were destroyed, and one of her forearm bones was shattered. She was air lifted to County Medical Center in Minneapolis were she’s currently undergoing a series of extensive, hours-long surgeries from the injuries sustained from the blast.
    We must to support our comrades when they need us the most. She needs all of us right now. After all she is our family.
    Please consider donating to help pay for her treatment.

 Help spread the word!

Medical Fund for Vanessa (Sioux Z)
GoFundMe - 27 NOV 2016

    Vanessa has been on the front lines fighting DAPL and working security for Oceti Sakowin since September 11. During the action on November 20 at the Backwater bridge, she was intentionally shot in the eye with a tear gas canister from 6 feet away. It was aimed directly at her face by a Morton County officer. She was seen at Bismarck Sanford hospital and released because she had no insurance. She has a detached retina and needs surgery to ensure her vision. She is now seeking medical attention in Fargo. Donations will be used for the cost of the 2 ER visits, surgery, medications, and recovery.

Worldwide Prayer Gathering for Standing Rock and Oceti Sakowin Camp
SENAA International  -  27 NOV 2016
    SENAA International will be hosting a Worldwide Prayer Gathering from 02 December through 05 December 2016 to pray for protection for residents of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, against which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued an eviction notice. The Oceti Sakowin Camp is located on land that, according to the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, belongs to the Great Sioux Nation. However, the Army Corps of Engineers refuses to acknowledge or honor the treaty. Prayers for protection will also include the more than 1,000 U.S. Veterans, committed to standing between out of control county law enforcement officers and the Indigenous Water Protectors, who will be converging at Standing Rock on 04 December, just one day before the Army Corps of Engineers' eviction deadline.

Prayers will also include prayers for proper care and quick healing and recovery of Vanessa "Sioux-Z" and Sophia Wilansky....

SENAA International is
ALL NATURAL and
Just Say "NO!" to GMO!






The PATRIOT Act's Impact on Your Rights - ACLU
   The ACLU’s National Security Project is dedicated to ensuring that U.S. national security policies and practices are consistent with the Constitution, civil liberties, and human rights.