The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

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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.”

Source.

No, Absolutely Fucking Not.

Two young Donald Trump fans wait to get inside the Trump rally in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 7, 2016 (Andrew Cline/Shutterstock).

Two young Donald Trump fans wait to get inside the Trump rally in Manchester, N.H., Nov. 7, 2016 (Andrew Cline/Shutterstock).

A week after Donald Trump won the presidency, many students on the University of Delaware campus were still devastated. Professors at the blue-state public school where Vice President Joe Biden is an alumnus canceled classes, helped organize marches, and held discussions so that students could process their feelings and fears.

But the UD students who voted for Trump were thrilled. It’s not just that their candidate won, but that the Democrats’ reliance on “identity politics” failed. Hillary Clinton’s campaign bet on the votes of women, minorities, the LGBT community, and other groups whose political positions are often shaped by the way they identify. But the Clinton campaign didn’t just fail to get out the vote — it also alienated white people who don’t like being told they’re bigots.

Trump didn’t win the election thanks to college graduates. The majority of them backed Clinton — except for white college-educated voters, who went for Trump by a narrow four-point margin. Nevertheless, Trump voters on campuses across the country view themselves as underground rebels fighting a corrosive epidemic of political correctness. Just don’t expect them to wear their “Make America Great Again” caps to the dining hall.

“It’s the new counterculture,” said Jared, an undergraduate who wore a suit and tie to a recent meeting of the UD College Republicans. “It’s the equivalent of being a hippie protesting at Kent State,” he said, apparently referring to the 1970 Vietnam War protest that ended with National Guard troops shooting four unarmed students to death.

“Or being grunge in the ’90s,” another student chimed in.

:Massive Facepalm: I was part of the counterculture. Bonafide hippie, right here. These ignorant twerps wouldn’t know a counterculture if it fucking bit their arses off. People died at Kent State, murdered, as they ran away. A silence swept the land when that happened, and then a wave of screaming took place, it was past time to make things change. These stupid, whiny, overprivileged, entitlement minded gits have absolutely no fucking business talking about Kent State, let alone comparing themselves to those who were there. Especially in light of the special idiot who compares Kent State to being grunge in the ’90s. Yeah, wow, talk about hard times, dude, that was just awful, wasn’t it? I’m stunned. Just stunned by the depth of this willfully ignorant entitlement. These idiots would run away from an actual protest, afraid they might mess up their hair, or possibly get those oh so cool conservativeculture clothes dirty. This is a good illustration of the dumbing down though, of the idiocy being embraced in this lost country, and newspeak is firmly entrenched. Counterculture? No. Concult, yes. These little asswipes aren’t counter anything. They are the boot stomp of conformative fascism.

In the 1960s, the University of California, Berkeley, was known for free-speech protests, said Andrew Lipman, a UD senior and the chairman of the Delaware Federation of College Republicans. Now, in Lipman’s view, the university is known for “silencing conservative speech, because it’s considered hateful.”

Gee, that would be because a great deal of conservative speech is hateful, you dumbfuck. It would be so nice if vacuum headed idiots like Lipman would bother to think about why so many people do not have the slightest interest in hearing “conservative speech”. Any minority person could tell him why, but I doubt Lipman and his dudebros much care to listen to minority people. Probably aren’t too keen on listening to women, either. At least not women who aren’t bound up in the conservativeculture.

Trump’s win is a boon for every college student frustrated by progressive campus activists’ concepts that have gone mainstream, such as “trigger warnings,” “safe spaces” and “microaggressions.” Lipman wasn’t a big Trump supporter, but he’s concerned by reports from UD students who say they don’t feel comfortable voicing pro-Trump sentiments in class, in their dorms, and around campus. He’s such an advocate for free speech that he helped bring Breitbart News writer and alt-right celebrity Milo Yiannopoulos’s “Dangerous Faggot” college tour to UD two weeks before the election.

Oh, they don’t feel safe expressing themselves. Why, persons of colour and women and queer folk wouldn’t know a fucking thing about that one, no. So, I guess, Mr. Lipman, what you want, is what Pres-elect Pussy Grabber wants, a safe space. Oops, how did you get yourself into that box?

There’s much more at BuzzFeed, but I’m ending this post now, it’s too early in the morning for me, it’s barely light out. I have always taken great care to avoid falling into the “oh, young people today…” garbage, because it is garbage. It’s really difficult to stay away from that right now, so I’ll go have tea.

Full article at BuzzFeed.

Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton.

Schuyler Sisters -- via Hamilton website.

Schuyler Sisters — via Hamilton website.

A performance of “Hamilton” was rudely interrupted in Chicago Saturday night when a theatergoer cursed the cast members on stage, reports Broadway World.

According to an audience member, a patron seated up in the balcony disrupted the play shouting, “We won! You Lost! Get over it! F*ck you!” during the musical number “Dear Theodosia,” startling the singers.

Reportedly the patron became enraged earlier by the well-known line from the musical: “Immigrants, we get the job done.” The man created a disturbance that lasted through two numbers, forcing nearby theatergoers to go in search of security. The man was taken into custody after a brief struggle and theater staff later told patrons the man was intoxicated.

[Read more…]

George Takei: We Can’t Go Back.

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My mother was born in Sacramento, the daughter of Japanese immigrants, and my father grew up in San Francisco. They met and married in Los Angeles, where I was born in 1937, and where we lived happily until December 7, 1941.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, life changed for our family and thousands of other families like us. Suddenly we were presumed to be the enemy. We were questioned, followed, suspected, and accused of being spies or saboteurs simply because of our ancestry. The government that was supposed to protect us against mob rule suddenly had become the mob. It is hard to describe a more gripping, more pervasive sense of terror.

Just a few weeks after my 5th birthday, the military forcibly removed us from our home. Two soldiers with bayonets marched upon our driveway on Garnet Street, pounded on the front door, and demanded we vacate immediately. We took only what we could carry. My younger brother and I both held a suitcase; my mother, tears streaming down her face, held my baby sister with one arm and a duffle bag with another. We lost our home, our car, my father’s book collection.

I will never forget that day.

George Takei’s full article is here, and it’s one everyone should take to heart.

Standing Rock Syllabus: Learn, Teach.

Credit: C. Ford.

Credit: C. Ford.

The New York City Stands with Standing Rock Collective then met again and we talked at length about the syllabus and how to curate emergent sections. We want our readers and future teachers to understand that we take Sioux notions of history seriously but came to impasses with certain materials that we wanted to include, but felt inadequate to interpret. So we direct educators and students to the crucial archives of Lakota Winter Counts. One of the founders of the resistance camps at Standing Rock, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, has devoted her life to the interpretation of these counts and any responsible curriculum will point to them and invite students to think about and with them. Recognizing then, our limitations, we volunteered to work with our strengths and to curate specific sections of the syllabus, to take charge of, so to speak, the content and the form. Matthew Chrisler managed the group and ordered the text with Jaskiran Dhillon, New School Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Anthropology who stepped in at certain points to read over entries. Along with Matthew Chrisler, Sheehan Moore, a doctoral student in anthropology at CUNY, organized all of the PDFs to attach to our website for syllabus readers to view and download. In this way, there were multiple eyes on each section as it took shape. We also asked curators to narrow their selections to book chapters and specific articles to further focus the syllabus and keep it accessible for people who would read and download it in short amounts of time. We wanted people to read the syllabus and teach the material, but also to have access to the readings for themselves and their students and/or community members.

Although a “work in progress,” the current #StandingRockSyllabus places what is happening now in a broader historical, political, economic, and social context going back over 500 years to the first expeditions of Columbus, the founding of the United States on institutionalized slavery, private property, and dispossession, and the rise of global carbon supply and demand. Indigenous peoples around the world have been on the frontlines of conflicts like Standing Rock for centuries. The syllabus foregrounds the work of Indigenous and allied activists and scholars: anthropologists, historians, environmental scientists, and legal scholars, all of whom contribute important insights into the conflicts between Indigenous sovereignty and resource extraction. It can be taught in its entirety, or in sections depending on the pedagogic needs. We hope that it will be used in K-12 school settings, community centers, social justice agencies training organizers, university classrooms, legal defense campaigns, social movement and political education workshops, and in the resistance camps at Standing Rock and other similar standoffs across the globe. As we move forward, we anticipate posting lesson plans on our website that will be derived from individuals and communities using the syllabus in their respective locales.

While our primary goal is to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, we recognize that Standing Rock is one frontline of many around the world. This syllabus can be a tool to access research usually kept behind paywalls, or a resource package for those unfamiliar with Indigenous histories and politics. Please share, add, and discuss using the hashtag #StandingRockSyllabus on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. Like those on the frontlines, we are here for as long as it takes.

The #StandingRockSyllabus and accompanying PDFs can be found here.

The full story on the syllabus is here.  #StandingRockSyllabus. As Peter D’Errico says:

True to the purpose of digging to the roots of events, “#StandingRockSyllabus places what is happening now in a broader historical, political, economic, and social context going back over 500 years to the first expeditions of Columbus, the founding of the United States on institutionalized slavery, private property, and dispossession, and the rise of global carbon supply and demand. Indigenous peoples around the world have been on the frontlines of conflicts like Standing Rock for centuries.”

Importantly, #StandingRockSyllabus aims for audiences beyond the standard academic world: The authors built it for use “in K-12 school settings, community centers, social justice agencies training organizers, university classrooms, legal defense campaigns, social movement and political education workshops, and in the resistance camps at Standing Rock and other similar standoffs across the globe.”

This is an invaluable opportunity for teachers, please take advantage of it. This is also an invaluable resource and opportunity for those who wish to understand. As this is supposedly Native American Heritage Month (more on that later), spreading this everywhere would be be a great gesture. Lila wopila to all who do. (Many Thanks).

Pence: “Who Cares?”

An Indian man reads news of Trump’s election. CREDIT: AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.

An Indian man reads news of Trump’s election. CREDIT: AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.

Donald Trump may not be taking his $400,000 presidential salary, but his business meeting this week with Indian real estate developers suggests his company will profit far more just because he’s the president. Asked about this unprecedented conflict of interest Sunday morning on Fox News Sunday, Vice President-Elect Mike Pence shrugged it off, quoting Trump, “Who cares?”

Pence insisted that there would be a “legal” separation between the presidency and the Trump business, but host Chris Wallace pressed that it was more than a legal question. There was no response regarding that conflict. “The President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, is completely focused on the people’s business,” Pence said, “and I promise you and I can assure the public that they’ll have the proper separation from their business enterprise.”

The exact opposite seems to be true. Trump’s meeting with three Indian executives to discuss their partnership with the Trump Organization had nothing to do with the transition. It was not about advancing the American people, but advancing Trump’s profits.

According to interviews some of those execs gave in Indian papers, it had to do with how much more the Trump name is worth now that he’s been elected president. Many of the buildings that bear Trump’s name internationally are not actually owned by his businesses. Generally, his name is licensed by others to inflate their property value. As president, his name is worth more, so Trump stands to make more money from these licensing deals.

[…]

The line between his business and his duties as president is further blurred by the prospect that foreign diplomats might stay at the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. They could brag to Trump that they stayed there and fed into his profits in an attempt to literally buy his favor and the ability to influence him.

There have been many promises that there will be a separation between Trump’s presidency and his business holdings, but it’s essentially too late for any such promises to be reassuring. He’s continuing to hold meetings related to his business, and his kids, who were supposedly going to run the business without his involvement, are already participating in meetings related to his administration. Given the people in these business meetings already know he’s about to be president, the conflict of interest is already playing out. Trump is leveraging his election to make his company money across the world, and his administration literally doesn’t care.

Full story at Think Progress.

The Trump Investigative Fund.

Resist.

Resist.

There are journalists who are determined to report facts and make a constant effort to disclose the truth. That’s very important right now. Think Progress has started a fund, and if you are able to drop a few pennies, this is a good place to do so.

[Read more…]

Double Plus Ungood News.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Alex Brandon.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Alex Brandon.

If you are young, you might not know what “double plus ungood” means. It’s Newspeak, from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. It means terrible; very bad. I first read Orwell’s novel when I was in my early teens (I think, it’s all a bit fuzzy these days), and by the time the actual 1984 rolled around, I was 26 years old, and everyone was having fun with jokes about Big Brother and all the rest. Magazine covers all did plays on the novel. People were still optimistic then, and relieved, I think, that Orwell’s novel hadn’t come true. It hadn’t come true in 1984, but it rather looks like we’re heading that way in 2016. Today, I’m 59 years old, and the gift I’d like the most is to have that optimism back.

Friday evening, the Washington Post reported that about 100 foreign diplomats gathered at President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, DC to “to sip Trump-branded champagne, dine on sliders and hear a sales pitch about the U.S. president-elect’s newest hotel.” The tour included a look at the hotel’s $20,000 a night “town house” suite. The Post also quoted some of the diplomats saying they intended to stay at the hotel in order to ingratiate themselves to the incoming president.

[…]

The incoming president, in other words, is actively soliciting business from agents of foreign governments. Many of these agents, in turn, said that they will accept the president-elect’s offer to do business because they want to win favor with the new leader of the United States.

In an exclusive exchange with ThinkProgress, Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who previously served as chief ethics counsel to President George W. Bush, says that Trump’s efforts to do business with these diplomats is at odds with a provision of the Constitution intended to prevent foreign states from effectively buying influence with federal officials.

The Constitution’s “Emoluments Clause,” provides that “no person holding any office of profit or trust under” the United States “shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”

The diplomats’ efforts in seek Trump’s favor by staying in his hotel “looks like a gift,” Painter told ThinkProgress in an email, and thus is the very kind of favor the Constitution seeks to prevent.

Emolument. There’s a new one for the vocabulary.

…Assuming that Trump does not divest from his hotel, however, it may prove difficult to enforce the Constitution against him. There are few court cases dealing with the Emoluments Clause. Typically, the country has relied on internal safeguards within the executive branch and fear of political embarrassment to prevent violations by the president. […] There is, however, at least one remedy under the Constitution for such a violation of the public trust by the president: impeachment.

I think we can rule out any fear of political embarrassment on the part of Trump or his appointees. They don’t seem to be capable of such a sense. The possibility of impeachment might get through to one of them, but whether or not it gets through to Trump is a different story, as right now it appears as though he doesn’t understand the slightest thing about politics or government. As I noted in a previous post, It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not plan to work as a president, or to treat the presidency as an actual political office. The full story is at Think Progress, well worth reading. Also see: Government watchdogs demand Trump put business holdings in ‘blind trust’.

[Read more…]

Sunday Facepalm.

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Bonus points to those people who, like me, saw Laughing Jesus in the original incarnation, Playboy Magazine, back in whatever it was, ’71? Oh the outrage, too.  Onto the facepalm. There’s nothing much to laugh about here, unfortunately.

Several places have started publishing their local write-ins, I only have heart enough for two. From Gwinnett county, Georgia:

Hundreds of voters in Gwinnett County chose not to cast their vote for the candidates on the ballot in last week’s presidential election.

A list from the county showed a wide range of candidates voters decided to write-in.  The list includes cartoon characters, former presidents, food and celebrities.

[…]
Nearly 100 people wrote in Jesus, while 25 went with God. One person wrote in Holy Spirit. Mickey Mouse got more than 20 write-in votes.

Harambe, the gorilla who was killed at the Cincinnati Zoo when a 3-year-old fell into his enclosure, got five write-in votes. Some voters went with their stomachs and cast write-in votes for pizza, a potato and “one whole grain Pop-Tart.”

You can peruse the full list here. There was also a write in for:

GIVE THIS LAND
BACK TO THE
NATIVE INDIGENOUS
TRIBES,
REPARATIONS TO
DESCENDANTS OF
AFRICANS, DESTROY
BABYLON, STOP
MILITARY AND
PRISON INDUSTRIAL
COMPLEX, STOP
RACE/GENDER/SEXU
ALITY/RELIGIOUS
DISCRIMINATION,
END POLICE STATE,
PROTECT THE
ENVIORNMENT

Now some of that is a lovely sentiment, and some admirable goals,*  to be sure, but what in the fuckety fuck did this person think this would accomplish? Outside of being on a very modestly viewed blog, not one damn thing. What would have made a difference? A vote for Clinton. The linked .pdf is 138 pages of write ins. One idiot took the time to write in “We Are Doomed”, but just couldn’t bring themselves to do the right thing, like all the other idiots. And yes, if you decided to go with a write-in, you’re an idiot. You’re an idiot because it was screamingly obvious this particular vote was binary. One of two choices. All these people showed up to vote, just so they could demonstrate not voting. Never has the failure mode of clever been more apparent.

NJ.com reports there were 1,695 write-ins in Gloucester County. That’s compared to 384 write-ins in 2012. I have no doubt there’s similar in every single county in every single state. We can thank all these decidedly not clever people for being on the sinking boat on a sea of fascism we now find ourselves in. I think that puts Jesus’s laughter on the hysterical side.

*Absolutely clueless on that Babylon thing.

The National White Male Registry.

Tumblr.

Tumblr.

All white men must be signed up by January 20th. Do your duty, White Dudes!

As you may or may not know, in America 57% of reported rapes1 and 64% of mass shootings2 were committed by white men. 45% of all serial killers are white men3. 1 in 3 women will experience some form of domestic violence during their lifetime4, and 97% of those domestic violence perpetrators were men5.

According to a Newsweek article from earlier this year, Right Wing Extremists pose a greater threat to National security than ISIS6, and in the past week alone The Southern Poverty Law Center has registered over 400 reports of hate crimes enacted in the name of the nationalist, racist, and sexist campaign rhetoric espoused by Donald J Trump7. Every day, as shocking staff appointments and Muslim registry plans start to emerge from the President-Elect’s transition team8,9, one thing has become increasingly clear: the safety of American citizens– all American citizens– is in danger.

Forget the nation of Islam, our most immediate threat to domestic security is and always has been white, straight men.

That is why I have decided to do my part as a Red Blooded Patriot by creating The White Male Registry. It is a simple google form complete with questions that will help identify just how much of a threat to American security any individual white male may pose to the general public.

Until January 20th all white men may voluntarily register themselves. Special consideration may or may not be granted to those who register before this date. After January 20th, however, I will be encouraging anyone and everyone to add to the list any non-registered white male they may personally perceive as a threat to their safety.

I will also be registering every white man in Washington one by one. I started with Donald J Trump himself and sent him a message this morning via his website:

———
Hi Mr President-Elect and your esteemed team of assistants,

I am writing to inform you that I’ll be adding your name to the National White Men Registry I have just created. I’m trying to keep America safe from the ethnic group that, statistically speaking, poses the largest threat to national safety: white, straight, CIS-gendered men.

I hope you’ll join me in asking other white men to register in the interest of national safety, for as you so wisely said, “We want to be very fair but too many bad things are happening and the percentage of true hatred is too great. People that are looking to destroy our country must be reported and turned in by the good people who love our country and want America to be great again.”

I couldn’t have said it better.

All the best to you and your transition team. I sincerely hope that we have the chance to meet in person one day so that I can grab you by your most esteemed man-pussy. But be forewarned: once I grab it I will never, ever, ever let go.
———–

To the White Men of America, I humbly ask that you do your part for National Security and American Freedom. We can not rest until @allwhitemen are present and accounted for.

In solidarity for All Americans. Be Well.

*Because there will be at least one person who doesn’t get it, see here, and please note use of the word satirical.

Have Fun, but Don’t Get Lost in Distraction.

1-xbhie71k8cn0qrodgh83dgLike most people, I’ve been having a bit of fun with Trump’s stupidity over Pence’s appearance at Hamilton, but it’s important to not get overwhelmed with this little distraction. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not plan to work as a president, or to treat the presidency as an actual political office. It would be more to point to change the name of this country to The Corporate Interests of the White One Percent, because that’s what is happening right under our collective nose. He plans to install his relatives into his “team” in spite of nepotism laws; he refuses to deal with his personal assets in the permitted ways; he’s more focused on the shoring up of his failing enterprises than anything else. Trump keeps handing key positions to very frightening people, who are more than willing to commit evil acts. So, sorry for the downer, but it’s important to keep up with what’s happening, rather than allow ourselves to be deluded by the idea that this presidency will just be a silly circus for the next four years. It may well be a silly circus, but it’s going to be a damn dangerous one, too.

Trump has decided on Sessions for Attorney General. Might as well change that to Inquisitor General, it’s much more suitable to Sessions’ inclinations and beliefs, which are frightening as all hells. Back when there was still some sanity in the republican party, they turned Sessions down for a federal judgeship as being too racist and extreme. That happened during the Reagan years. Yep. Starting to get an idea of what life might be like for everyone who is not pasty white? Combine Sessions being AG with Trump’s vow to reinstate stop and frisk. Do your homework on Sessions, because this news is every bit as bad as Bannon being appointed, perhaps worse. Sessions One. Sessions Two. Sessions Three. Sessions thinks anyone who smokes weed should not only be in prison, he thinks they shouldn’t get out. He’s also dead against the commutations of drug sentences President Obama recently signed.

Getting back to the President-elect for a bit, the kissing up is right on schedule, because you just don’t want to offend someone with all that money, right? We’re also marching straight into Kleptocracy, barely got to see Democracy leaving the building.

[Read more…]

Booed! Boo Hoo Hoo, says Trump. Also, Safe Space!

Apparently, what happened to Pence at Hamilton was harassment, so sayeth President-elect Pussy Grabber, an obvious expert on harassment. If you aren’t in the mood for right wing logic, I suggest staying clear of the tweet stream.

Uh oh…

Oh no, could President-elect Pussy Grabber possibly be talking about a safe space? Next thing you know, he’ll want content warnings. Tsk.

Oh, and people are having fun with #BoycottHamilton, too:

Another Standing Rock Waits in the Wings.

Tohono O’odham Elder, second to last on the right in gray shirt. Credit: C. Ford.

Tohono O’odham Elder, second to last on the left in gray shirt. Credit: C. Ford.

Some of you might remember this from one of the many camp posts:

The Tonoho O’odham elder spoke again, about the loss of much of their way of life when they lost the Gila River. He spoke of Roosevelt’s “offer” to move them to Oklahoma (translation: you walk there), and how the people refused, wanting to stay on their own land, and how so many of them died. He spoke of Sihasin, saguaro, who are guardians. He spoke about the insanity of imposed borders where he lives, and the rabid people trying to keep people out. He spoke of a time when there were no artificial borders, and of how often he crosses this border himself, to get water or medicine. He said he is always stopped, but he speaks to people in his language, which they do not understand, and they always let him go. Other people had also spoken of the imposed borders, in the attempt to keep primarily Mexicans out, and pleaded with all tribes to offer people sanctuary, as these borders are not ours.

The Tonoho O’odham elder who was the head of their runners, those of their nation who ran all the way from Arizona to the Oceti Sakowin camp in nDakota, often spoke about the imposed borders his people had to put up with. Their peoples’ land extends past the artificial borders, and they feel free to ignore such impositions, especially when they need to get certain plants, or visit sacred sites. As far as they are concerned, wašichu borders are stupid and meaningless. Now there’s Trump, who plans to build a big old fucking wall, to keep everyone in. Oh, I mean out. The Tonoho O’odham have a different idea.

President-elect Donald Trump says that he will build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It will stop undocumented immigrants from entering the country. It will stop drugs from entering the country. It will be 50 feet tall. It will be nearly a thousand miles long. And it will cut the traditional lands of the Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona in half.

The Tohono O’odham reservation is one of the largest in the nation, and occupies area that includes 76 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. However, the tribe’s traditional lands extend deep into Mexico, and tribal members live on both sides of the border: With tribal identification, they cross regularly to visit family, receive medical services, and participate in ceremonial or religious services.

The prospect of slicing their homelands in two? Not welcome.

“Over my dead body will a wall be built,” says Verlon Jose, vice chairperson of the Tohono O’odham Nation. “If he decides to build a wall, he’s going to need to come talk to us, unless he wants to see another Standing Rock.”

In other words, to build the wall, Mr. Trump will have to fight for every single mile of Tohono O’odham land—legally, and possibly even physically.

And they’re not the only tribal nation that would be impacted by the wall.

Robert Holden, deputy director of the National Congress of American Indians, points to the Ysleta Del Sur in Texas and tribes in California, such as the Kumeyaay, who have relatives in Mexico. “There’s significant tribal sovereignty at stake here,” Holden says.

[…]

This doesn’t mean things are peachy down on the Tohono O’odham reservation, though: Tribal members say they are routinely harassed by Border Patrol; cultural and religious items are frequently confiscated; and detentions and deportations of tribal citizens are not uncommon. In 2014, two tribal members were hospitalized after being shot by a Border Patrol agent. The situation has often been compared to a Berlin Wall-like scenario, but the tribe has fought for and maintained the ability to enjoy its traditional homelands—at least more than if a wall were running through the middle of it.

“Let me come into your home and build a wall directly in the middle of your house and tell me what impacts that would have on you?” says Jose. “This land is our grocery store; this land is our medical facility, where we get our medicinal remedies from; this land is our college and university. Our sacred sites are in Mexico; our ceremonies are in what is now Mexico. The border is an imaginary line to us.”

Full story is at YES! Magazine. Also of interest: Norway’s Largest Bank Divests From Dakota Access, Launches Own Investigation and What the Trump Victory Means for Standing Rock.