Category: Environment

Sheriff’s Department To Fine People $1k For Bringing In Supplies To Standing Rock

standing-rock-barricadeBy Claire Bernish

In what could only be termed a potential gross violation of human rights, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department announced today it plans to block all supplies from entering Standing Rock camps — including deliveries of food.

Reuters reports: “Supplies, including food and building materials, will be blocked from entering the main camp following Governor Jack Dalrymple’s signing of an ‘emergency evacuation’ order on Monday, said Maxine Herr, a spokeswoman from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.”

Herr flatly stated, according to Reuters, “They have deliveries, retailers that are delivering to them – we will turn around any of those services.”

Although the governor’s order went into effect immediately, North Dakota Department of Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong noted no deliveries to the camps had yet been turned away as of Tuesday morning.

However, ‘The building materials intended for the site are a top priority because the camp is not zoned for permanent structures,’ Reuters reported she said. ‘Propane tanks also will be blocked because they have been used in attacks against law enforcement.’

The latter claim has been proven false by eyewitness video from the night of November 20-21, when law enforcement assaulted peaceful water protectors for over six hours in a non-stop barrage of rubber bullets, tear gas, impact and concussion grenades, and even weaponized water — in temperatures dropping into the low 20s Fahrenheit. Sophia Wilansky’s arm was nearly ripped from her body when an impact grenade exploded. But the sheriff denies police used any weapon that could have caused such damage, despite evidence collected from the scene and by surgeons working to repair her traumatic wound.

Shortly after issuing the notice it would block supplies, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department backed away somewhat, saying it would take a passive role to try to prevent supplies from reaching the camps, by issuing hefty $1,000 fines for vehicles attempting such deliveries — saying it had interpreted the evacuation order as a reason for a blockade.

Continue reading here.

Oregon Politicians, Community Leaders Join Protest at Standing Rock

Maggie Vespa, KGW

PORTLAND, Ore. – A growing number of Oregonians are making the trek to Standing Rock to protest the Dakota Access pipeline.

State Representative-elect for Oregon’s District 47, Diego Hernandez, arrived at Standing Rock on Thanksgiving.

“As somebody who represents a collective group of people in Oregon, I felt like it was my responsibility to make sure that I do my part in being a water protector,” he said.

With Hernandez was Joseph Santos-Lyons, who runs Apano, a local group that represents Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Portland. The pair traveled to Standing Rock to bring food, donations and raise awareness for the cause.

“They haven’t prioritized resources to ensure that there’s really good journalism and reporting happening,” Santos-Lyons said. “And that’s really disappointing. You know this encampment is committed for the long haul and the issues that they’re facing are really high stakes.”

Carina Miller, who sits on the tribal council in Warm Springs, made her second trip to Standing Rock. She said she hasn’t been there for any of the recent violent confrontations with police.

Continue reading here.

Hundreds of Veterans Heading to Standing Rock to Defend DAPL Protesters from Police

November 22, 2016   |   Carey Wedler

(ANTIMEDIA) As protesters continue to stand against the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, facing off against heavily militarized police and their water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas, and tasers, they have gained broad support. Celebrities and millions of social media users have raised awareness about the situation in North Dakota, and now, the “water protectors” have earned support from another group: veterans.

According to an article published by Business Insider that first appeared in Task and Purpose, a military-oriented news and culture site, two veterans are leading the charge in a show of dissent against the increasingly aggressive police. In the last several months, tensions have escalated as Natives and their allies have blocked the pipeline’s construction, citing fears surrounding water will be endangered and sacred burial sites will be destroyed (not to mention the fact their lands were forcibly stolen by the U.S. government over a century ago).

“This country is repressing our people,” says Michael A. Wood Jr., a Marine Corps veteran who recently retired from the Baltimore police force to work toward reforming law enforcement. “If we’re going to be heroes, if we’re really going to be those veterans that this country praises, well, then we need to do the things that we actually said we’re going to do when we took the oath to defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic,” he asserted about his plans to go to Standing Rock.

Continue reading “Hundreds of Veterans Heading to Standing Rock to Defend DAPL Protesters from Police”

Catalysts of Change ~ The Big Storm We Have Been Waiting For

Posted by ourshiftingperspective, 11/19/2016

Image result for change is happening image

My dear sister,

The world that we walk now is one of chaos.

Think of this as the big storm we have been waiting for; the one that will shake the foundations of the Earth free from the grips of the tyrants that once held the reins.

This is not their planet, it never has been. It is ours, all of ours.

They tried to steal Her from us and destroy Her beauty with corruption and lies. They tried to bury the feminine, our power, our knowing and our mystery.

They poisoned masculine against feminine turning them into enemies instead of allies.

They fear us, you know, our rebellious truth and wild hearts. 

They know we are connected to the forests, the stars and the streams so they try to cut our roots from the soil and take our spirits.

But we know the truth, it howls like the wolf-song in our veins.

They could never lay claim to something so sacred; they could never trap something so free.

My dear brother,

The old stories are crumbling, the pages not fit to write the tales that we will create in the wake of all that has gone before.

This new world will ask of us to leave behind the definitions and constraints of the past and pick up our crowns of authenticity.

This is not a time to stay in the shadows holding the strings and structure that once weighed us down and sucked the lifeblood from us.

This is a surrender to our own sovereignty; a release from the bondage of a world we could never be a part of because it was never made for us.

It was made for us to feel less than, when we were born to be the sky endlessly stretching towards the horizon.

We were never meant to be starving beggars in their world; we were meant to be Queens and Kings of a new world.

My dear tribe,

On this path of unfolding dreams, they will try to silence you, and pluck the truth from your bones.

They will attempt to take from you the very fabric of your soul and the golden threads of desire that are woven within you.

They fear your power, you know;

And the raging wild truth that flows within you.

They know of your power, this is why they try to trap you.

Imagine the force of your river if you poured freely?

We have become the catalysts of change for a new world,

The creators of a time when fear is discarded and we instead move from a place of love, authenticity and truth.

We are no longer trapped by the webs of lies and inferiority that once held us.

We are reclaiming our birth-rites as divine channels of art, music, dreams and desires

And oh, how the powers that be fear us

And the way we shake the foundations of the old world free from their once clutched fingers.

Source

Slovenia becomes first EU nation to enshrine human right to water in their constitution

by

While the United States faces a major environmental backslide under President-elect Donald Trump, a small central European nation has become the first to enshrine the right to drinking water in their constitution. The new amendment to Slovenia‘s constitution states that drinkable water is a human right. Largely to prevent the commercialization of the country’s water resources, the Slovenian parliament just voted in favor of the new law. Prime Minister Miro Cerar, in favor of the amendment, described water as “the 21st century’s liquid gold.”

Slovenia, Slovenia water, water, drinking water, right, human right, fundamental right, constitution, law, European Union, clean water, water issues

“Everyone has the right to drinkable water,” Slovenia’s constitution now says. “Water resources represent a public good that is managed by the state. Water resources are primary and durably used to supply citizens with potable water and households with water and, in this sense, are not a market commodity.”

The new law wasn’t without some controversy; the Slovenian Democratic party, which leans center-right according to The Guardian, felt the law wasn’t necessary, that it was put forward only to gain public approval, so they did not vote. There were 64 votes for and zero against the new law. There are 90 seats in Slovenia’s parliament.

Continue reading here.

More Police Violence at Standing Rock – Is This “Real” News or “Fake News”

Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times

Now that the establishment corporate and liberal media have declared open war on so-called ‘fake news,’ already rolling out plans to flag, censor, robotically restrict and demonetize the efforts of independent journalists, the world waits with bated breath to see exactly what form the control of information will take.

The 24/7 talking heads on cable news are already repeating ad nauseam the ‘fake news’ talking points, as they do whenever there is a top-down agenda to push onto our supposedly free society.

In this case: America is divided because of fake news, fake news is a dangerous threat to democracy, fake news looks just like real news and we need experts to tell us what’s what,  if we don’t stop fake news then people will be misled, fake news causes confusion and disrupts society, facts have no meaning when there’s fake news, fake news is information warfare and needs to be treated like terrorism.

You may be wondering, what, then, is real news?

Here’s an example, hot off the press.

At the ongoing Standing Rock civil disobedience action in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline, some 167 people were injured last night by militarized police forces who assaulted a bridge occupied by peaceful protestors including men, women, children and elderly persons. The temperature was well below freezing and for hours the police sprayed the crowd water cannons, fired many rounds of flash bang grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas, and used the LRAD acoustic weapon to disperse dissidents.

Here’s a video of the assault, from TYT.

During the assault, at least one elder was left in critical condition and it is reported that 13-year old girl suffered serious injuries when shot with a rubber bullet.

This is happening in America, to Americans, by American police, which makes it quite newsworthy to Americans.

We know without question, without even having to ask, that any crackdown on ‘fake news’ will not in any way apply to mainstream, corporate news sources such as the major newspapers and the major cable news networks.

A scan of ‘real news’ sources the morning after this major confrontation between police and resistors at Standing Rock reveals that stories like this, stories of resistance to corporate rule and government authoritarianism.

These Sources Did Not Report On This:

CNN.com – Although the homepage of CNN features around a hundred stories, as of the time of this post, there was no mention whatsoever about the Standing Rock confrontation last night.

MSNBC.com – No mention whatsoever of this event on this mainstream news site. The top 6 posts at the time this article was written were all about Donald Trump, his cabinet picks, and how his administration was going to be terrible.

CBS News – No coverage of this story on the CBS News homepage.

DrudgeReport.com – This story has not been aggregated on the Drudge Report.

These Sources Did Report on This:

FoxNews.com – The confrontation did make it the homepage of Fox, but not as a headline story. A short video was included, and the coverage was short and to the point.

ABC News – ABC did cover this story, under the headline, ‘Hundreds of Dakota Access Protestors Clash with Police,’ implying that demonstrators engaged law enforcement.

WashingtonPost.com – WP did cover this story, ‘Police, citing ‘ongoing riot,’ use water cannons on Dakota Access protesters in freezing weather.’

New York Times – This story is mentioned here, under the headline, ‘Dakota Pipeline Protestors Soaked by Police Water Cannons.’

Final Thoughts

While this story is featured on some of the typical mainstream corporate sites, the depth and extent of their coverage is nothing compared to the work of independent journalists such as Unicorn Riot. In the months long standoff over the Dakota Access pipeline, mainstream media has been almost completely absent.

In the information age, the media has become the narrator of our society and culture, setting priorities and defining the agenda of the day. It has the power to amplify issues and the power to hide issues. The power to fee us, and the power to keep us enslaved.

When the hammer of widespread internet censorship drops in America, who will decide which issues should be seen by the public? Will the attack on ‘fake news’ be used by corporate media to further control the public narrative by making it easier to omit the facts and stories that help to expose and disrupt the increasingly authoritarian overtures of corporations and government?

About the Author

Dylan Charles is a student and teacher of Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, a practitioner of Yoga and Taoist arts, and an activist and idealist passionately engaged in the struggle for a more sustainable and just world for future generations. He is the editor of WakingTimes.com, the proprietor of OffgridOutpost.com, a grateful father and a man who seeks to enlighten others with the power of inspiring information and action. He may be contacted at wakingtimes@gmail.com.

This article (More Police Violence at Standing Rock – Is This Real News or Fake News?) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Dylan Charles and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.