Standing Rock -- Appeals Court to Hear Excessive Force Lawsuit at Backwater Bridge Tuesday

Standing Rock -- Appeals Court to Hear Excessive Force Lawsuit at Backwater Bridge Tuesday

Update: Federal appeals court hears excessive force, class action lawsuit, for injured at Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/09/federal-appeals-court-heard-arguments.html

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Sept. 19, 2023

Three hundred water protectors were injured on the night of November 20, 2016, at Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock. Twenty-six were seriously injured and taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals. Guy Dull Knife III was one of them. On Tuesday, an excessive force lawsuit filed against Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier and others will be argued before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

"On the night of November 20-21, 2016, law enforcement shot unarmed, nonviolent water protectors with impact munitions, flash-bang explosives, and freezing blasts of water over the course of ten hours, seriously injuring Appellants and many others," states the federal class-action, civil rights lawsuit Dundon v Kirchmeier.

Wašté Win Young, Water Protector and former Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for Standing Rock, reflected on the significance of the case.

“I was born and raised on Standing Rock. It’s my home. The law enforcement that attacked us were our neighbors. It was surreal. Even now, when I cross that bridge I remember the people who got maimed, fell through ice, sprayed with water and chemicals, injured by those who are supposed to protect us. There are several images imprinted in my mind from November 20, 2016."

"I remember law enforcement indiscriminately aiming water canons at a group of Native American individuals who were praying on their knees, while other law enforcement personnel shot tear gas and projectiles into the crowd where I was standing."

"I nearly choked on the tear gas. It is my hope that the rule of law will prevail against the law enforcement who blatantly disregarded the constitutional and civil rights of hundreds of peaceful protestors," Waste Win Young said.

Photo by Rob Wilson

Mediocre Border Wall Report Minimizes U.S. Government Violence and Destruction

An image you will not see in the U.S. government's new border wall construction report: Wildlife halted during migrations by the border wall. Congressman Grijalva calls the border wall a racist stunt and  "symbolic message of  hate." (Image: Skye Islands video/screenshot Censored News)

Mediocre Border Wall Report Minimizes U.S. Government Violence and Destruction

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, September 8, 2023

A new U.S. report on the border wall construction minimizes the violence and destruction by the U.S. government. The U.S. blew up Tohono O'odham and Apache burial places with dynamite, killed saguaro cacti, destroyed migration paths of endangered species, violated precious water, destroyed sacred sites, and scraped the fragile Sonoran Desert and border ecosystems.

The border report attempts to excuse the United States' failed consultation with Tohono O'odham and Pascua Yaqui Nations, attempts to excuse the waiver and violation of all federal laws, and does not include the U.S. government's own agents' involvement with illegal drug and weapons running across the border.

The 72-page report, released on Thursday, by the Government Accountability Office assessed the destruction caused by building the border wall, from 2017 -- 2021. Although it is defined as an independent government office -- in reality, it is the government reporting on itself. Another fox in the henhouse.

The report states an emergency national security action was used to redirect U.S. military funding to build the border wall -- but it fails to point out that large numbers of U.S. Border Patrol and ICE agents have been arrested for drug running and spotting for the cartels. The report does not include the U.S. government's covert operations known as "gun-walking" across the border which supplies automatic weapons to the cartels in failed attempts to track automatic weapons to the cartels.

Surveillance Balloons Over Winnemucca, Navajo and Hopi Lands

Aerostar helium balloon photo by Aerostar

Surveillance Balloons Over Winnemucca, Navajo and Hopi Lands

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Monday, August 21, 2023

WINNEMUCCA, Nevada -- A surveillance balloon was over Winnemucca today at 1:30 a.m., the same day that Paiute Shoshone announced that they asked the Nevada court to dismiss charges filed by Lithium Americas against those defending the Paiute Massacre Site at Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass.

The surveillance balloon over Winnemucca shows no registered owner.

The balloon was in international waters northwest of Santa Barbara, California, lingering there, as shown on flight radar, before traveling over Winnemucca today.