No DAPL: Drawing a Line in the Snow.
And because I was at the Oceti Sakowin camp last Thursday, this year’s Thankstealing:
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
No DAPL: Drawing a Line in the Snow.
And because I was at the Oceti Sakowin camp last Thursday, this year’s Thankstealing:
CREDIT: AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko.
It’s not a simple matter, cutting through the constant distortions and lies which characterize the new administration here in uStates. There’s a strong inclination to simply dismiss Trump as an irrelevant blowhard, but that’s not the smart thing to do, because whether or not Trump has the slightest idea of what he’s doing (not much, in my opinion), the people behind him, those appointed and who now have unprecedented power, they do know what they are doing. They also know what they want. There are certain similarities to the Bush Jr. regime, but there’s much more “baffle ’em with bullshit” and “give them a reality show!” going on here. With Bush, there was a deadly calculation put into the manipulation of the public at large. Fear was whipped up to a point that people were willingly signing their rights away. I’d like to think that isn’t going to happen again, but it’s already in process. Whatever rights we thought we had are being carved away in great swathes, there’s no subtle whittling away here. Too many people simply want a ‘good’ show to watch, and Trump is capable of that much. What’s shameful here is that so much of the public doesn’t seem to want much more than that. If they ever do wake up, it will be much too late.
If Bush and Rove constructed a fantasy world with a clear internal logic, Trump has built something more like an endless bad dream. In his political universe, facts are unstable and ephemeral; events follow one after the other with no clear causal linkage; and danger is everywhere, although its source seems to change at random. Whereas President Bush offered America the illusion of morality clarity, President-elect Trump offers an ever-shifting phantasmagoria of sense impressions and unreliable information, barely held together by a fog of anxiety and bewilderment. Think Kafka more than Lord of the Rings.
It is tempting to suppose Trump built this phantasmagoria by accident — that it is the byproduct of an erratic, undisciplined, borderline pathological approach to dishonesty. But the president-elect should not be underestimated. His victories in both the Republican primary and the general election were stunning upsets, and he is now set to alter the course of world history. If he does not fully understand what he is doing, his advisers certainly do.
Steve Bannon, former head of the white nationalist outlet Breitbart News, is Trump’s Karl Rove. He knows. In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Bannon suggested that the key elements in his strategy are dissimulation and “darkness.”
President-elect Donald Trump, left, gestures as he talks to the media as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looks on at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, in Bedminster, N.J. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster.
I remember talking with Rick about all the white nationalists and supremacists embracing Trump, and he said “but he disavowed them”, and I said “no, he didn’t”. People might think Trump did disavow all the racists and nazis worshiping at his feet, but he really didn’t, anymore than he disavowed and condemned all the acts of hate which started during the election process, and continue. A weak and muttered “Sad. Stop. Don’t do that.” doesn’t mean a thing, and all the white supremacists and every other brand of racist and bigot well know that. They also know his supposed disavowal doesn’t mean a thing. If you’re someone who did vote for Trump, and has been trying to salve your increasingly uneasy conscience, at least be as smart as all those racists you “didn’t vote for”, and understand that it’s not what Trump sort of says that matters, it’s what he does, and what he’s doing is appointing white supremacists and zealous racists. Think Progress has a very good article about that so-called disavowal.
Ricky Berry — WATE screenshot.
You go away for a few days, and there’s a rising tide of stupid everywhere. We’ll start with sliced cheese, which as everyone knows, is scary stuff. Maybe not quite this scary, though…
What began as a spontaneous trip to the store ended up being one of the most bizarre experiences of Ricky Berry’s life.
He and his roommate went to purchase cheese and ended up having the police called on them.
Berry and his roommate said they walked into the CVS in Carytown and asked an employee if they sold sliced cheese. The worker kindly replied that they did not.
A few minutes later, the employee — all of the store employees, in fact — were nowhere to be found. Berry and his roommate, Philip Blackwell, said they were in the store with another customer for more than 30 minutes alone before an officer with the Richmond Police Department showed up.
© C. Ford.
Everything was fine while we were at camp, the mood is somber, but determined. There’s a very large town made up of many villages now. People are close, and dependent on one another. There are also several communal sleep centers up now, with wood stoves, and yes, it’s that cold. This time also most likely saw the last peace at the camp, as the ACoE has delivered a December 5th eviction notice to everyone at the camp. The eviction has been set for December 5th, which happens to be the birthday of one George Custer. Nice, eh? If you want to read the filthy crap nDakota government is saying, you can go to Wapo. A whole lot of veterans will be arriving at the camp on December 3rd, and they aren’t overly impressed with this action, to say the least. ICTMN has also covered the eviction notice, full story here.
In spite of the line the governor and his henchpeople are taking, which is atrocious, to say the least, the actual reason for this is because the stand at Standing Rock has been, and is, successful. ETP has a deadline, January 1st, which they must meet before their shipper contracts expire. They have always played dirty, and continue to do so, emboldened by one of their investor’s recent jump in status to president-elect, and our current president’s reluctance to actually do anything concrete. Everyone they bought in nDakota is now lapping up vomited oil, and eager to put all those Indians and allies in their proper place. We’ll see how it goes, I guess, but no one at Standing Rock is willing to stand down, or give one inch.
Today is a holiday for some. Not for me, not for most Natives, we don’t care to celebrate genocide. Today, we’re on the way back to the Oceti Sakowin camp (this post was set up last night, we have to do that whole crack o’ dawn thing), and we’ll be back when we’re back. I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to take the computer and all that crap with me. If you see posts in the next couple of days, then I did. If not, I didn’t. Marcus has most generously offered to be our back up if we are arrested, so don’t worry about that. If we are, we’ll make it back out eventually. We’ll have the van, because we’ll be hauling building wood and fire wood once more, and the need for firewood is severe. More, more, and more is needed, as it gets colder, and all the kitchens need it to keep feeding people. There are ways you can help on that score, and I’ll be including them. We’ll be staying at the Oglala camp, as usual.
I’ve already written my scorn for all those people who just can’t whine enough about how tough and awful stuffing their faces with family is going to be, because they’ll have to keep quiet about politics, or hear about politics. If you are one of them, maybe you could yank your nose out of your navel long enough to think about what other people are going through, and how to help them. Are there terrified refugees around you? How about freezing, starving homeless people? LGBTQI people who are living in fear? People of Colour who haven’t yet figured out if they need to be scared of you too? All the people at Standing Rock who are in desperate need of everything? There’s a whole lot more. If all you’re managing to do today is stuffing your face, rolling your eyes at Auntie Jean or Uncle John, and stifling sighs as you park your ass on the couch to watch television, at the very least, you could stop whinging about it. No one else needs to hear that. Everyone else, have a happy whateveritistoyou.
If you can make it out to the camp, please come. We need all the people we can get, there’s always plenty to do. This evening, Jane Fonda and Mark Ruffalo are going to be helping to serve supper. Have a nice something or other everyone.
Some reading: Forget Plymouth Rock. Stand with Standing Rock.
The Wounded Knee Oglala Kitchen needs help. * The other kitchens at camp need help too, and medical supplies.
ICTMN has a long list of legitimate ways to donate and help out Standing Rock. Check there, if you are unsure. Don’t give individuals money unless you know them personally.
Want to stay current? #nodapl.
The Continental Congress declared a Thanksgiving celebration in 1777 in the midst of the American Revolution. George Washington reprised the idea in 1789 – his first year as president.
Many states continued the tradition, but interest faded in the 1800s until novelist and poet Sarah Josepha Hale – of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” fame – began campaigning for the idea. Thirty states had joined her cause by the start of the Civil War. Even the Lincoln family is reported to have had a November Thanksgiving celebration in 1860, before “The Man from Illinois” took office.
And, though not proven, it’s likely Hale’s September 1863 letter to Lincoln asking him to “appoint the last Thursday in November as the National Thanksgiving…” played a substantial role in the 16th President’s decision to start what’s now our standard Fall celebration.
Well, it’s a celebration for most of us. Many Native Americans actually don’t take part in the observance.
Not because of the day’s mythical misinformation. There was actually a 1621 gathering of the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag Nation who’d taught them how to plant crops and survive their first year in America. But according to Wampanoag tradition it came as the result of 90 warriors arriving at the colonists’ settlement after hearing the sounds of guns and cannon being fired.
Since both sides had entered into a treaty to support one another should either be attacked, the Wampanoag were expecting to encounter a military engagement.It turned out to be the equivalent of modern-day fireworks display marking the Pilgrims’ Fall harvest. A letter by colonist Edward Winslow states that a 3-day feast did then take place during which time the Wampanoag went out to hunt and gather food—deer, ducks, geese, and fish. But it wasn’t a matter of everyone sitting down at a long, white linen covered table to share a meal – or anything resembling that. And there’s no record of the Pilgrims giving thanks to God…or even to the Wampanoag.
It’s the second Pilgrim Thanksgiving, however, that irks many Native Americans to this day. That would be the 1637 feast held to “celebrate” the slaughter of 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Nation. The Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor then ordered an annual celebration for the next hundred years in remembrance of that mass slaying.
But the most striking Thanksgiving hypocrisy may be the fate of the Wampanoag. A breakdown in the peace established between the tribe and the colonists came as the result of continued land expansion by the Europeans. After losing a war to defend their territory, Wampanoag leader Metacom – “King Philip” – was arrested and killed. His severed hands were sent to the King of England and the governor of the colony had Metacom’s head placed in a public square for 20 years as a warning to other Native Americans who might question Western Europeans’ “right to rule” the land.
Of course, this is all ancient history and beyond the scope of understanding for most non-Natives when it comes to realizing and accepting the effects of historical trauma on a people.
From Jim Kent at Lakota Country Times.
We met Gilbert Kills early on at the camp, when he was planning his art piece. Our signatures are back there somewhere.
~~~~THE NO WATER CHALLENGE~~~
There have been many challenges on Facebook and in social media that have gone viral. This one doesn’t involve water. Being that so many politicians, corporations, and the average caucasian North Dakotan thinks that water is not important, here is the challenge. You can not have anything to do with water for 24 hours. This means no flushing a toilet, no washing your face, no drinking anything with water. No eating any portion that needed water to sustain it, no eating any crop that had anything to do with water. No drinking anything that needed water to make, being that everything has water in it including soda, about the only thing on this list is oil. No brushing your teeth, showering, or even going fishing. No going on a boat, no going swimming, no washing your clothes, no water in your life for 24 hours. I realize this is impossible for mostly everyone. Mostly everyone does not know that water is given up for 4 days and nights in the summer time during ceremony by the very same people who are fighting to protect their water. Not everyone participates in that ceremony but even those who don’t are in the prayers of those that do make the sacrifice. If you think you are ok without sacred water, then take this challenge. I realize not even the strongest man or woman can do this or even the richest, however, should you decide to take it, post it. Let us know truthfully how many minutes or hours you lasted. It is impossible. Let’s hear it North Dakotans, you think water is nothing, do it.
#NOWATERCHALLENGE #NODAPL #WATERISLIFE
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. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the cities and counties in North Dakota that sent officers as well as the 10 states that contributed, and where there was a news story about a particular force, we included a hyperlink. Where there was mention of the number of officers deployed, we noted that as a minimum — though more may have been deployed later.
Full story here. Donate to Standing Rock. Help veterans get to Standing Rock. Sacred Stone Camp Supply List.
Let's make sure @POTUS sees this. President Obama, you met Kendrick Eagle in 2014 & promised you'd have his back. Honor your word. #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/1OAR5JqOS5
— Our Revolution (@OurRevolution) November 23, 2016
The cowboys v. Indians narrative invariably demonizes Native Americans while glorifying white invaders, and the invasion continues. #NoDAPL
— Simon Moya-Smith (@SimonMoyaSmith) November 22, 2016
This is so scary. If you are indigenous and you live in Montana … PLEASE be safe! pic.twitter.com/Ss6KzeQv6J
— #NoDAPL – Kinz✊? (@iamlakotak) November 21, 2016
Native Americans: We're water protectors. Not protestors.
Media: Nah, you're protestors.
Neo Nazis: We prefer 'alt-right.'
Media: ??#NoDAPL— Simon Moya-Smith (@SimonMoyaSmith) November 23, 2016
Donate to Standing Rock. Help veterans get to Standing Rock. Sacred Stone Camp Supply List.
If you know who should be credited, please let me know.
I wrote a comment on another blog yesterday, because I just could not take one more supposedly reasonable person making excuses for those poor, misunderstood people who voted for Trump. It’s making me queasy sick, and possibly leading to a genuine head ‘splosion. I know what the fuck is wrong with all those Trumpoids, but those busy doing nothing but bleating excuses? I’d like an answer, what in the fuck is wrong with you? If you are making excuses, you need to shut the fuck up, stat. Or, you know, you could grow a fucking spine and stand up to all your Trumpoid families and friends. Go ahead, be brave. I’ll wait. Anyroad, here’s the comment:
Montana elector Dennis Scranton, center, poses with Rep. Ryan Zinke, left, Harrison Fagg and Sen. Steve Daines.
BILLINGS — A 92-year-old Miles City man, who will be casting one of Montana’s three electoral college votes, has come under fire for his Facebook comments against gay Montanans.
Dennis Scranton was outed Sunday by the online news site Last Best News for suggesting in a 2010 Facebook conversation that gay people should be hanged. The conversation about gay marriage was reported in The Billings Gazette seven years ago when it cost former Big Sky Tea Party Association leader Tim Ravndal his chairmanship.
Ravndal was commenting on a Billings Gazette article concerning an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit about same-sex couples. In the post, Ravendal wrote “marriage between a man and a woman period!”
Scranton responded to the Tea Party leader’s remark, saying, “I think fruits are decorative. Hang up where they can be seen and appreciated. Call Wyoming for display instructions.” The Wyoming mention was an apparent reference to Matthew Shepard, a gay university student who as beaten, bound to a fence post and left for dead outside Laramie in 1998.
[…]
But, Scranton didn’t back away from his opinion about gay Montanans.
“Don’t forget, I’m 93 years old. I come from a different era. I hadn’t heard of anyone being homosexual until I joined the Navy, and then I encountered them,” Scranton said. “We were raised with good morals.”
You can read the rest here. I’m going to go be sick.
Well, that didn’t help. Here are a couple more wonderful Trump fans:
Police confront protesters with a rubber bullet gun during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 20, 2016. Stephanie Keith/REUTERS.
The cops out at Standing Rock have now managed to blow apart most of a young woman’s arm. That’s just the grisliest of the very high list of injuries. Naturally, cops are denying responsibility, which won’t surprise anyone at all. They are doing what all cops do – lie.
Our veterans want to help, and to do that, they need some help from all of you. If you can help, please, do so. If you are unable to donate, please spread the word. What is happening here is damn wrong. It’s fucking wrong, and everyone knows that, and still, there’s nothing but silence. Please help. Lila wopila.
Credit: Shutterstock.
It looks like we can indeed kiss net neutrality goodbye. I posted about this earlier, but there’s more confirmation now. It’s been a long fight, and yes, mostly won, but no more.
President-elect Donald Trump has selected two anti-net neutrality advisers to shape the future administration’s telecom policy strategy at the Federal Communications Commission, Recode reported.
[…]
Trump has previously favored deregulation and criticized the FCC’s net neutrality rules, calling them a “Fairness Doctrine” and an “attack on the internet” that will “target conservative media.”
To help advance his agenda, Trump has brought on Jeff Eisenach, who worked on campaign telecom policy for the Reagan administration, and Mark Jamison, a former Sprint lobbyist.
Eisenach was part of former President Ronald Reagan’s Federal Trade Commission and FCC transition teams. The resulting FCC agency repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which required media to portray contrasting perspectives in news coverage of public issues. Jamison, who also teaches at the University of Florida, has staunchly opposed the FCC’s policies to improve internet access and options in low-income and rural areas.
Low income and rural, that’s me. I have to wonder how all those internet shitlords and proud deplorables are going to take this news, are they going to twist themselves into torturous positions in order to justify this one? Full story at Think Progress.
Willing to oppose Trump, some US Senate Republicans gain leverage. Source. I wouldn’t class this as solidly good news, because republicans and libertarians, but some of them appear to be developing a spine, which I’ll take as good news right now.
Indian-American congresswoman-elect plans to fight Trump on immigration. Source.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel struggles to find anyone in Silicon Valley to serve in Trump brain trust. Source. Trump and brain trust do not belong in the same sentence.
Argentine President Macri: Ivanka Trump sat in on my call with her father. Source.
Trump Foundation admits to violating ban on ‘self-dealing,’ new filing to IRS shows. Source.
Trump recommends Farage for UK ambassador to US. Source. This speaks so many volumes, it’s a set of encyclopedias.
White supremacist ‘Christian Identity’ pastor begs Trump to crack down on Jews. Source. “All those comparisons to nazis, they are over the top!” Yeah, right.
Speaking of, we all need to be vigilant about the ongoing normalisation, it’s happening everywhere, and not enough people are speaking out about it:
RealClearPolitics writer Rebecca Berg noted that this is absolutely an important conversation to be having, however, that this is just a small share of Trump’s support base. “That’s an important point to make,” she said.
“We haven’t expected Barack Obama to come out as president every time one of his supporters says something hateful and address that,” Berg continued. “I’m not sure we can expect that of President-Elect Trump every time a room of a few dozen people says something hateful like this.”
Gergen, angered by the matter added, “Listen, I respect what Rebecca said — most of what she said. But the fact is, that Mr. Bannon represents and has sent out a lot of signals to people, as someone you should be scared of, as someone who supports policies that are going to represent this administration.”
“When the alt-right is taken as seriously as it is, and we begin to normalize this conversation, to say, ‘it’s all right to do Neo-Nazi kind of rhetoric and we’re just going to accept it, it’s part of who we are as Americans.’ No, it is not all right to be Neo-Nazi in this country.”
Gergen cautioned, “If we’re going to raise those spectres, just remember when people didn’t rise up against the Nazis.”
P.S. Fuck every single one of you whiny, mealy-mouthed fuckers who just can’t stop whinging about how hard their “thanksgiving” is going to be: fuck your squeamish privilege, your entitlement, and your godsdamned arrogance.
Caveat: I am not talking about those who have already gone 100 rounds with family or friends; nor am I talking about those who are dependent on family, and have to make the tactical decision to be quiet in order to stay alive. I am talking about all the assholes who must defend all Trump voters because their family members or friends voted for him; I am talking about all the fucking assholes who have been whinging and wringing their hands over how awful their holiday is going to be, sitting at a table over laden with food, and having the unbearable task of stuffing their fucking faces and watching television.
We will be spending thankstealing at Standing Rock, with the other protectors, against an army of vicious thugs. A friend will celebrate unthanksgiving on Alcatraz. I know other people who will be busy helping others, the homeless, or refugees. If your only fucking problem is having to refrain from noisily sighing whilst dining with family, shut up and stop defending the indefensible.
* Why yes, I do know that Trump voters were not %100 percent white. Don’t even think of using that as an excuse. Don’t. The majority voters were white, and they drove that vote.