Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Defends ‘Frank and Positive’ Trump Meeting

On its face, Monday’s summit at Trump Towers between President-elect Donald Trump and Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard makes little sense.

Hawaii was Donald Trump’s single worst state (he got only 29 percent of the vote) and it’s by far the country’s most racially diverse, with whites making up about only one-quarter of the population.

But in a statement after the meeting, Gabbard, who has often challenged President Barack Obama on national security, said she held a “frank and positive” conversation with the President-elect, discussing Syria and other foreign policy issues.

Gabbard, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also said she and Trump discussed legislation that she is pushing that would end what she described as “our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government.”

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While Gabbard acknowledged that the rules of “political expediency” dictate that she should have refused the meeting, she accepted over concern that a wing of the Republican Party known as the neocons will grow in influence once Trump takes office in January. She said that could push the U.S. more deeply into Syria, where the war now in its sixth year has killed as many as a half-million people.

“While the rules of political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives,” Gabbard continued. “Where I disagree with President-elect Trump on issues, I will not hesitate to express that disagreement.”

“I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government,” wrote Gabbard, who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.

Bernie Sanders Rails Against Donald Trump’s Infrastructure ‘Scam’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called out President-elect Donald Trump’s plan on infrastructure, labeling it a “scam” and “corporate welfare.”

In an article posted to Medium on Monday, the senator said Trump rightfully promised to improve America’s infrastructure while on the campaign trail, but the president-elect’s plan has fallen short on that promise.

“Trump would allow corporations that have stashed their profits overseas to pay just a fraction of what the companies owe in federal taxes. And then he would allow the companies to ‘invest’ in infrastructure projects in exchange for even more tax breaks,” Sanders wrote. “Trump’s plan is corporate welfare coming and going.”

Sanders added that he planned to reintroduce in January his policy calling for a $1 trillion investment over five years to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, water systems, railways, airports, levees and dams, which he unveiled last year.

“Unlike Trump’s plan, which creates new tax loopholes and is a corporate giveaway, my Rebuild America Act would be paid for by eliminating tax loopholes that allow hugely profitable multinational corporations to stash their profits in offshore tax havens around the world,” he wrote.

Why Is Bernie Sanders The Only Politician Speaking Out About Standing Rock?

The updates coming from the months-long standoff between activists and police at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota are often heartbreaking and frustrating. Despite their claims that they have protested peacefully, activists have been arrested, allegedly held in cages, and have reportedly been on the receiving end of police water cannons, pepper spray and rubber bullets. A resolution to the conflict is clearly desperately needed, and yet, with the exception of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has denounced the Dakota Access Pipeline, few politicians seem willing to push for intervention in the matter. But given that President-elect Donald Trump is almost certainly poised to support Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the pipeline, once he takes office, why is Bernie Sanders the only politician speaking out about Standing Rock?

Echoes of Sanders in District 6

For Rick Treviño, the road to the City Council would lead straight through Sen. Bernie Sanders.

After Sanders lost the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton, a loss that now feels all the more ruinous with the ascendance of President-elect Donald Trump, the populist senator released a back-to-basics statement urging supporters to “start engaging at the local and state level in an unprecedented way …

“Now we need many of them to start running for school boards, city councils, county commissions, state legislatures and governorships,” Sanders said. “State and local governments make enormously important decisions, and we cannot allow right-wing Republicans to increasingly control them.”

After traveling to Philadelphia as a national delegate for Sanders, only to watch the party crown Clinton its nominee, Treviño has heeded the senator’s call to continue the “political revolution”: He’s running for an open seat in District 6.

“This is a continuation of that,” Treviño said. “I am primarily interested in representing the needs of the poor and the working people of District 6.”

How the Democratic Party can become a labor party again

For all her generally terrible electoral performance, Hillary Clinton did do well in some unusual places. Broadly speaking, these were rich areas — like Orange County, California, which went Democratic for the first time since 1936, and the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which is chock-a-block with financiers. Of course, it didn’t compensate for Clinton falling far behind Barack Obama’s margins with the working class, both black and white.

But one place where Clinton managed to hold on was Nevada, where tremendous effort from unusually strong local unions managed to win her the state — and preserve a Senate seat for the Democrats as well. As Democrats think about how to rebuild their shattered party, there is no way around labor unions.

For decades now, America’s few remaining strong unions have been locked in something of a codependent relationship with the Democratic Party. As union density has eroded from a third of all workers down to about a 10th, and a mere 7 percent in the private sector, unions have spent tons and tons of money trying to elect Democrats. As of late October, unions had spent well over $100 million on the 2016 election — an increase of nearly 40 percent compared to 2012.

Unions do this out of fear of Republicans, who loathe unions and smash them whenever possible, and out of a desire to remain influential in the Democratic Party. This latter strategy was particularly noteworthy in the Democratic primary, where most of the big, left-leaning unions lined up behind Hillary Clinton despite the undeniable fact that Bernie Sanders was the more pro-labor candidate. (Just examine who was on the picket lines.) The union leadership judged that Clinton was going to win, and got in line so as to preserve their status among the party elite, particularly the notoriously grudge-prone Clintons.

Bernie Sanders promotes book in South Portland

Former Democratic Presidential Candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders stopped in Maine today to promote his new book.

Fans greeted him with cheers at Books-A-Million in South Portland, while he spoke about his new book, “Our Revolution.”

While in Maine, Sanders also spoke about several issues he stood by during his campaign, as well, as speaking out against prejudice.

“We have got to stand together and not accept any president who is going to propose bigotry in this country. We have come too far as a nation to go back. We are going forward,” says Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Democratic presidential electors revolt against Trump

At least a half-dozen Democratic electors have signed onto an attempt to block Donald Trump from winning an Electoral College majority, an effort designed not only to deny Trump the presidency but also to undermine the legitimacy of the institution.

The presidential electors, mostly former Bernie Sanders supporters who hail from Washington state and Colorado, are now lobbying their Republican counterparts in other states to reject their oaths — and in some cases, state law — to vote against Trump when the Electoral College meets on Dec. 19.

North Carolina governor alleges voter fraud in bid to hang on

North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed a 2013 voter-ID law which a federal court rolled back this year for illegally suppressing African-American votes, is now claiming that massive voter fraud in his state swung the 2016 election against him, as McCrory’s campaign continues to challenge Democrat Roy Cooper’s thin lead two weeks after Election Day.

The contentious, bitter race between McCrory and Cooper, the state attorney general, is the closest governor’s race in the country in a dozen years — and it’s not officially over. Cooper, the state attorney general, has extended his lead to 7,902 votes during an ongoing canvass of absentee and provisional ballots, his campaign says. (The State Board of Elections, which updates less frequently, shows Cooper leading by 6,703 votes.) And on Monday, Cooper announced a transition team to prepare to take the reins of state government despite McCrory’s intense push to dispute the results.

But McCrory still hasn’t conceded, alleging voter fraud in 50 of North Carolina’s 100 counties and contesting individual votes before dozens of local election boards, claiming that dead people, felons and people who voted in other states cast ballots in the race. On Sunday, the McCrory campaign emailed supporters, saying the “election is still in overtime,” and soliciting contributions for its legal fund.

Broken Promises: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Cites History of Government Betrayal in Pipeline Fight

For the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline perpetuates a long history of broken promises made by the U.S. government.

“We live with so many broken promises, there’s no reason for it,” Dave Archambault II, the chairman of the tribe, told ABC News.

“We understand what lands we own, and what lands were illegally taken from us,” he added.

The nearly 1,200-mile-long, $3.7-billion Dakota Access pipeline plans to cross the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Reservation, prompting concerns for the safety of the tribe’s drinking water and preservation of its sacred sites.

For months, the Standing Rock Sioux and their supporters have camped out along the banks of the Missouri River in an effort to stop the controversial project. Hundreds of protesters, or water protectors, as they prefer to be called, have been arrested since the protests began, many charged with criminal trespassing. But the protesters say they aren’t trespassing; in fact, they say they are the victims, citing the broken treaties their ancestors made with the U.S. government.

Medics Describe How Police Sprayed Standing Rock Demonstrators With Tear Gas and Water Cannons

As police unleashed streams of icy water Sunday night against Dakota Access pipeline demonstrators, Linda Black Elk, a member of the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council, was helping care for injured demonstrators. The council estimated that 300 people were treated for injuries, including 26 who were taken to area hospitals.

“What it was like was people walking through the dark of a winter North Dakota night, some of them so cold, and sprayed with water for so long, that their clothes were frozen to their body and crunching as they walked. So you could hear this crunching sound and this pop-pop-pop, and people yelling [to the police], ‘We’ll pray for you! We love you!” Black Elk said, describing the scene as police sprayed protesters with water and fired tear gas and rubber bullets during the more than six-hour standoff.

“All of a sudden there were these bright, blinding spotlights, so you could see each other, but you couldn’t see [the police],” she said. “Every once in awhile you could hear someone scream who had been hit by a rubber bullet.”

In the midst of the clash, the Medic and Healer Council, which was set up to provide health support to those fighting the pipeline, released a statement pleading with police to halt the use of water cannons. “As medical professionals, we are concerned for the real risk of loss of life due to severe hypothermia under these conditions,” the statement said.

Standing Rock Police Attack Protesters Again: ‘He Just Smiled and Shot Both My Kneecaps’

Though the night would soon be marked by tear gas and water cannons shooting through barbed wire and concrete barriers, at the beginning of the gathering held on Sunday evening under the floodlights of the Dakota Access Pipeline construction site, the air was permeated by the sound of prayer and the unmistakeable scent of the sage smoke billowing above the road.

To the Standing Rock “water defenders,” an unflagging devotion to prayer has been the continuous thread in the tumultuous, months long stand-off between the authorities supporting Energy Transfer Partners, the company in charge of constructing the pipeline, and the Lakota of the Standing Rock Reservation and their allies. While those opposing DAPL are certainly determined to prevent the construction of the pipeline underneath the Missouri River less than a mile from the reservation, throughout the main camp of Oceti Sakowin the signs strictly prohibiting the use of any weapons (or anything which can be perceived as such) demonstrate an equal commitment to nonviolence.

This did little to prevent a rapid escalation on the part of the authorities. Though the spiritual ceremonies continued throughout the night around a small fire lit to warm the natives and their allies as temperatures dropped well below freezing, the sound of screams quickly drowned out the prayers. Although authorities claimed water cannons were only used to put out fires set by protestors, the one small fire on the road was well out of the way of the barricade, and the other, where medics treated the residents of Oceti Sakowin who had no access to hot running water or medical facilities, was separated from the melee by a valley running along the road.

Dakota Access pipeline protester seriously hurt during police standoff

A 21-year-old woman was severely injured and may lose her arm after being hit by a projectile when North Dakota law enforcement officers turned water cannon on Dakota Access pipeline protesters and threw “less-than-lethal” weapons.

Sophia Wilansky was one of several hundred protesters injured during the standoff with police on Sunday on a bridge near the site where the pipeline is planned to cross under the Missouri river.

Graphic photographs of her injured arm with broken bones visible were circulated on social media.

“The best-case scenario is no pain and 10-20% functionality,” said Wayne Wilansky, Sophia’s father, who travelled to Minneapolis where his daughter underwent eight hours of surgery on Monday. He said his daughter had been hit by a concussion grenade thrown by a police officer and that the arteries, medial nerve, muscle and bone in her left arm had been “blown away”.

Sophia will require additional surgery in the next few days and her arm may still have to be amputated, he added. “She’s devastated. She looks at her arm and she cries,” he said.

Please help this water protector who's having her arm amputated after being hit by a concussion grenade at #standingrock last night#NoDAPL https://t.co/Z1eVCXX3s9

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) November 22, 2016

Standing Rock Rising Inside the Movement to Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline

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.

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

Sunoco Logistics to Buy Energy Transfer Partners

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP will buy Energy Transfer Partners LP in a $21 billion all-stock deal that will combine and simplify a network of giant pipeline firms controlled by Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren.

Analysts and investors have pushed Mr. Warren to reduce the complexity in his empire.

Energy Transfer Partners struggled to grow after a failed merger and extended delays in the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, which has triggered local protests. Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics both own stakes in the proposed pipeline.

Locals Head To Standing Rock To Join Protestors

Brandon Bond is one of several dozen people travelling from the Ozarks to Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota this Thanksgiving.

The tension between protestors and police near the reservation in recent months has resulted in more than 400 arrests, as protestors fight the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Bond told KOLR10 News in an interview Monday he intends to be a peaceful voice as he plans to join the protest camps on Wednesday.

The injustice Bond said he sees on the windswept plains of North Dakota has captivated him enough to make him forgo his time with friends and family in the Ozarks this Thanksgiving.

“Like a lot of people, I have been following this story online, and with each passing day as it gets further and further along, I get more and more upset about what’s happening,” Bond said.

Bond said Thanksgiving is all the more a reason to head north. He will not put himself on the front lines of protests. Instead he will haul firewood, sort donations — do anything to help the native people prepare for another harsh winter.

“This is the time when we tell all of the children the story about how the Native Americans saved our ancestors on the first Thanksgiving,” Bond said. “Meanwhile, their descendants in the year 2016 are still being treated in such a degrading and horrible way.”

Bond said he has no illusions he will be able to change a corporation’s mind or the will of government officials. He simply hopes to help protestors continue to make a stand against a project he believes threatens drinking water and the natives’ way of life.

Inside the Dakota Access pipeline protesters’ campground: Burning Man-style photographs capture everyday life for the hundreds of activists fighting to save Standing Rock Reservation

Winnipegger at Standing Rock recalls people getting hosed and hit with tear gas

When Crystal Green walked towards a long-blocked bridge she couldn’t believe what she was seeing — rubber bullets, water cannons and canisters of what she thinks was tear gas.

The Winnipegger has been taking part in the Dakota Access pipeline protests since Sept. 13 and was aghast at Sunday’s violence.

“I saw people getting hosed down by cold water in sub-zero temperatures. People were suffering from hypothermia,” she said.

“One of my friends got hit by some kind of canister. We are not sure if it was tear gas or something.”

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Green says she saw the protesters, who call themselves water protectors, being at the end of the force, not inflicting it.

“It was a cold night so a lot of people as they were getting injured … there were more water protectors coming to the bridge to replace them. This went on for many hours,” she said.

The standoff made Green resolved to stay with the camp and continue to support the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, where hundreds opposed to the pipeline are preparing their camp for a long fight and a cold winter.

Hundreds Injured, Some Seriously, in Dakota Access Pipeline Protest

Tensions remain high after protests on Sunday night against the Dakota Access Pipeline left hundreds injured and led to the arrests of 16 activists. Police dramatically escalated their response to demonstrators who have been in the area for months, shooting them with pepper spray and rubber bullets, throwing concussion grenades, and soaking them with water cannons in below-freezing temperatures.

While activists paint the confrontation as a case of police using violence against peaceful protestors, police say the protest devolved into a riot, with activists behaving violently toward officers and lighting fires.

“Some of the water was used to repel some of the protest activities that were occurring, and it was used at a time where they were aggressive towards the officers,”said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.

Police also claim that protesters were throwing rocks and logs at them, and one officer was struck in the head. But medics from the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council working at the site are describing Sunday night as a “mass casualty incident” and say that more than 300 activists were injured, many from rubber bullets and shrapnel from concussion grenades, and that 26 had to be hospitalized with head injuries. Other protesters showed signs of hypothermia, and one even had a heart attack and had to be revived by medical personnel.

Dallas Goldtooth, a spokesman for the Indigenous Environmental Network, said that the sheriff’s department’s use of water cannons was “ripe with irony” as protesters had been told by the same sheriff to leave their camps because the weather in North Dakota can become dangerously cold.

Sanders, Warren face tough decision on Trump

Leading liberal Democrats such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are facing the difficult question of how to deal with President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign appalled the left, and his appointments since winning the White House have only compounded liberal anxiety.

Yet the incoming president has also made promises to struggling, blue-collar Americans that echo the priorities of progressive Democrats.

The Republican has lashed out at free trade deals and outsourcing, while railing against an economy that he says is rigged for the “elites.” He has called for new spending on infrastructure and reiterated his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership in a video released late Monday afternoon.

“I think it’s smart for progressives to make as much progress as they can with Trump in power,” said Tad Devine, who served as a senior advisor to Sanders during his primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Devine emphasized he was speaking in a personal capacity, not on behalf of Sanders.

GOP rep calls out Trump for business ties to foreign countries

A Republican congressman is criticizing Donald Trump over apparent conflicts of interest stemming from the president-elect’s business empire, likening them to accusations made against Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

“You rightly criticized Hillary for Clinton Foundation,” wrote Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Twitter Monday night. “If you have contracts w/foreign govts, it’s certainly a big deal, too.”

Amash included a hashtag that said “drain the swamp,” Trump’s campaign pledge to rid Washington of corruption.

The message was in response to a tweet from Trump complaining about coverage of his business ties in foreign countries and how they could present a conflict of interest while he’s in office.

“Prior to the election it was well known that I have interests in properties all over the world,” Trump tweeted. “Only the crooked media makes this a big deal!”

Young, restive Dems want change in House

Rep. Tim Ryan’s (D-Ohio) long-shot challenge to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has shone a rare public spotlight on rank-and-file frustrations that have simmered, largely in whispers, for more than half a decade.

Those restive voices agree that the Democrats need a hefty shakeup to get back on a winning track. But there’s lingering dissent about the roots of the party’s problems, what changes would best address them and whether Pelosi and the current leadership team are best suited for righting the listing ship.

The debate –– and Pelosi’s reluctant decision to delay leadership elections until Nov. 30 to accommodate longer discussion –– have highlighted the inner turmoil among Democrats seeking a new strategy to correct problems many say transcend one disastrous election cycle.

“It’s not just about messaging,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.). It’s about “who the hell we are [and] where we’re going.”

In the view of Ryan and some other newer lawmakers, regional diversity is key, and the only way to reverse the party’s misfortunes is through a changing of the guard at the very top.

Second House Dem publicly backs Pelosi’s challenger

For the second time in as many days, a House Democrat announced support for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s challenger, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio).

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) told The Denver Post on Monday that he thinks it’s time for a change after Democrats’ disappointing showing in this month’s elections.

“Let’s not go back to the status quo here,” Perlmutter said. “That’s not taking anything away from Nancy Pelosi or Steny Hoyer or Jim Clyburn. They’re my friends, they’ve assisted me. They’ve been supportive of me. But as a general proposition, we need a change.”

Media Stars Agree to Off-The-Record Meeting with Trump, Break Agreement, Whine About Mistreatment

A glittering array of media stars and network executives made pilgrimage on Monday to the 25th floor of Trump Tower to meet with the president-elect. They all agreed that the discussions would be “off-the-record”: meaning they would conceal from their viewers what they discussed. Shortly after the meeting ended, several of the stars violated the agreement they made, running to The New York Post and David Remnick of the New Yorker to whine about Trump’s mean behavior. “The participants all shook Trump’s hand at the start of the session and congratulated him,” Remnick reported, “but things went south from there.” It’s difficult to identify the shabbiest and sorriest aspect of this spectacle, but let’s nonetheless try, as it sheds important light on our nation’s beloved media corps and their posture heading into a Trump presidency.

To begin with, why would journalistic organizations agree to keep their meeting with Donald Trump off-the-record? If you’re a journalist, what is the point of speaking with a powerful politician if you agree in advance that it’s all going to be kept secret? Do they not care what appearance this creates: the most powerful media organizations meeting high atop Trump Tower with the country’s most powerful political official, with everyone agreeing to keep it all a big secret from the public? Whether or not it actually is collusion, whether or not it actually is subservient ring-kissing in exchange for access, it certainly appears to be that. As the Huffington Post’s Michael Calderone put it: “By agreeing to such conditions, journalists expected to deliver the news to the public must withhold details of a newsworthy meeting with the president-elect.”

What Standing Rock Needs Obama to Do Quickly—Before Trump Takes Over

With Donald Trump’s presidency on the horizon, it is now more important than ever for President Obama to stop the $3.7 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which is slated to carry 470,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil per day, with a growth potential of up to 570,000 barrels. It is the only solution that truly respects the treaty rights of the Standing Rock Sioux, protects the tribe’s sacred areas, defends the water of life, and takes into account the pipeline’s devastating climate impacts.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump poses an urgent threat to our climate, to our environment, and to the integrity of Mother Earth. He will try to fast-track fossil fuel projects across the country, including the Dakota Access pipeline and other transport infrastructure. That makes the final months of President Obama’s term more important than ever. President Obama’s legacy must include sending a resounding message to the world that we will not stand for fossil fuel pipelines that threaten the rights of indigenous peoples and our very existence. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, it is absolutely imperative to keep the world’s remaining fossil fuels in the ground.

The First 100 Day Resistance Agenda by Robert Reich

Trump’s First 100 Day agenda includes repealing environmental regulations, Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the rich a huge tax cut, and much worse. Here’s the First 100 Day resistance agenda [with thanks to Alan Webber]:

1. Get Democrats in the Congress and across the country to pledge to oppose Trump’s agenda. Prolong the process of approving choices, draw out hearings, stand up as sanctuary cities and states. Take a stand. Call your senator and your representative (phone calls are always better than writing). Your senator’s number here. Your representative’s number here.

2. March and demonstrate—in a coordinated, well-managed way. The “1 Million Women March” is already scheduled for the Inauguration —and will be executed with real skill. See here. There will be “sister” marches around the country—in LA and elsewhere. They need to be coordinated and orchestrated. And then? 1 Million Muslims? 1 Million Latinos? What would keep the momentum alive and keep the message going?

For Many Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters, The Fight Is Personal NPR w/ Audio

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

In North Dakota yesterday, a frosty day, police officers sprayed water on demonstrators who tried to pass a police barricade on a bridge. And this confrontation and the many before it are over construction of the Dakota Access pipeline near a Native American reservation.

Crews are still working on the pipeline even as the Obama administration considers whether to reroute the project. The demonstrations have attracted Native American activists from around the world. They’re all opposed to the pipeline. But as NPR’s Jeff Brady reports, many have personal reasons for being there.

Amnesty International steps into Dakota Access pipeline row

Rights group Amnesty International became the latest to wade into the controversy over the Dakota Access pipeline, alleging excessive force by area police.

The sheriff’s department in Morton County, N.D., is facing questions over its decision to use water cannons and other non-lethal means to disperse activists protesting against the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

In a letter to the Morton Country Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, Amnesty International said law enforcement personnel may have stepped out of line during weekend efforts to quell the demonstrations.

“Where a small minority tries to turn a peaceful assembly into a violent one, law enforcement officials should protect the peaceful protesters and not use the violent acts of a few as a pretext to restrict or impede the exercise of the rights of a majority,” the letter read.

The United Nations in the past has expressed similar concerns about human rights issues in North Dakota. Regional law enforcement officials defended their actions, saying some protesters were using aggression against police officers trying to keep the peace.

 Cops Are Watching Your Facebook Feed

O n November 8, more than 130 million Americans turned out to cast their ballots in the presidential election. While a presidential election is a critical moment in a democracy, democracy is a year-round endeavor, not just a quadrennial experiment. And a well-functioning democracy requires transparency about the government’s operations, especially law enforcement. That increasingly means transparency around the use of social media.

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Last week, the Brennan Center for Justice released a map showing that 151 police departments, cities, and counties across the country have collectively spent millions of dollars on software enabling them to monitor activity on social media—a number that almost certainly understates both the number of jurisdictions and the amounts expended. These tools allow agencies to mine social media posts for individuals’ location and other data; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram even supplied special data feeds to companies that allowed law enforcement to track protests in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri.

According to the Brennan Center’s research, big spenders include the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which spent nearly $200,000 over two and a half years; the County of Los Angeles, which also spent close to $200,000 over three years; and Harris County, Texas, which spent over $150,000 in the same number of years. Only a small fraction of the jurisdictions surveyed have publicly-available policies on how to use social media to monitor civilians.

The new revelations are not surprising. In a recent survey conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, over half of the responding law enforcement agencies reported that they used social media for “listening/monitoring,” and three-quarters for “intelligence.” On the federal side, the Department of Homeland Security, which already monitors social media domestically, recently floated a vague and ill–conceived proposal to request “social media identifiers” from twenty million travelers per year.

 Rand Paul Will ‘Do Whatever It Takes’ to Block Donald Trump’s Hawkish Secretary of State Picks

T he steadiest critique of President-elect Donald Trump’s most unsettling prospects for secretary of state is coming from a Republican: Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

Paul is objecting—in interviews, statements, and opinion pieces—for the right reasons. The senator says he is afraid that several of the candidates for the position are “unrepentant” advocates for unthinking regime change and unnecessary war.

Asked about reports that Trump is considering John Bolton, who served as George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations, and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani for the secretary of state position, Paul says, “Giuliani and Bolton are out there on the extreme. I don’t think they’re very diplomatic. And I think you want the chief diplomat to be diplomatic.”

 Appearing Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, Paul argued that “Bolton might be better as a secretary of war, but he is certainly not a diplomat or someone who acts in a diplomatic way or thinks that diplomacy might be an alternative to war

Injustice At Standing Rock

A historical and unprecedented gathering of many tribes to protect the water started in April 2016 at the Standing Rock Indian reservation in North Dakota, but the mainstream media has failed in covering it.

Last night as I watched Facebook live feeds of water protectors enduring water cannon blasts in sub-degree temperatures, LRAD sound cannons, rubber bullets, pepper spray, mace, tear gas canisters and bean bag blasts. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t making headline news. After several hours national reports finally started appearing, but they were incorrect and one-sided.

Morton County Sheriff spokesman Rob Keller told NBC that no water cannons were used and water was only deployed to put out fires set by water protectors. At the same time, I was watching it happen live. Where’s the responsible reporting? Where’s the responsible investigating? Where are the live video feeds showing the violence?

And when the story does get reported in national media, it is unbelievably one-sided. Even this morning, NBC and CBS news shared short snippets of Morton County Sheriff’s department press release that stated, “They were using water cannons to put out fires that protestors started…” At the same time, the two stations were showing a short video of the water protectors being doused by a water cannon in sub-degree temperatures. Really? And there was no mention of the police brutality, no quotes or press releases from the water protectors.

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So what’s historical about this event? Well, imagine the Democrats, Republicans, independents and liberals, putting their differences aside and standing unified in this decade for one cause? Probably not, right? But such solidarity is happening in Standing Rock.

Thousands of Native Americans from different tribes have united in opposition of the pipeline. They are Navajo, Hopi, Apache, Lakota, Dakota, Comanche, Cherokee, Crow, Cree, Oglala Sioux, and Tlingit, just to name a few. They all have different cultures, beliefs, and religions. In fact, many of these tribes historically have been enemies for years.

Wisconsin rules GOP gerrymandering violates Democrats’ rights

District judges have struck a blow against the practice of gerrymandering – the deliberate manipulation of voting boundaries to favour one party over another – in a ruling that could reverberate across the US.

A court in Wisconsin said on Monday that state assembly voting districts drawn up by Republicans five years ago are unconstitutional and violate the rights of Democrats.

The ruling has no bearing on the 2016 presidential election, in which Donald Trump scored a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin, taking its 10 electoral college votes, but could lead to a precedent that will affect future races for the US House of Representatives.

I feel enormous excitement about what this potentially might mean for American democracy,” said Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a professor at the University of Chicago law school, who argued the case in court. “One of the worst aspects of our democracy has been the presence of partisan gerrymandering.”

This is the first time in 30 years that a court has taken a stand against it, Stephanopoulos added. “If the supreme court upholds this decision, there could be very positive and dramatic consequences in states all over the country where gerrymandering has happened