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Water protectors hug next to barbed wire and a militarized police vehicle after the activists were doused with water cannons. (Photo: Erin Schrode/Twitter)
Water protectors battling the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline are grappling with terrible injuries and even more arrests in the wake of Sunday's police onslaught, in which law enforcement bombarded the peaceful activists with concussion grenades, rubber bullets, mace, and water cannons in sub-zero temperatures.
One woman is even facing the potential amputation of an arm, after it was allegedly torn apart by a concussion grenade. Supporters shared shocking images of her extensive injuries and a link to a fundraiser for her hospital costs:
None— Actors Advantage (@Actors Advantage) 1479784920
The attack from the Morton County Sheriff's Department and its aftermath has prompted supporters and politicians to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to send observers to the scene, to defend the activists' First Amendment right to safely protest:
\u201cWoman hit by concussion grenade may lose her arm. Way past time for federal observers at Standing Rock #NoDAPL\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1479774718
\u201cI urge @TheJusticeDept to send observers to defend the water protectors' right to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. https://t.co/YDCGofUIlL\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1479779952
Amnesty International echoed such calls in a letter sent Monday to the Morton County Sheriff's Department. "[T]he use of those water cannons against the protesters themselves risks potential injury and hypothermia for the protesters who were sprayed with water in below freezing temperatures," wrote Amnesty International USA executive director Margaret Huang
, according to Indian Country Today. "Also alarming are videos of the use of tear gas, and reports of rubber bullets used to disperse the crowd of protesters."
The violence Sunday came in response to Indigenous activists' efforts to clear the public road that leads to their protest camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. And the standoff lasted for six hours, despite medics' pleas that the police stop endangering activists' lives. As the Intercept reported:
Linda Black Elk, a member of the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council, was helping care for injured demonstrators [during the attack]. 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.
[...] 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.
But the oversized police response didn't end there: the New York Times reports that law enforcement returned on Monday to arrest 16 water protectors.
Video footage, testimony, and photos of the violence are galvanizing global support for the activists, even as the battle against the pipeline feels more dire than ever in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's victory. Indeed, a group of U.S. military veterans is planning a "deployment" to the Oceti Sakowin protest camp to support the water protectors' fight in early December.
"This country is repressing our people," said Michael A. Wood Jr., a Marine Corps veteran and "former Baltimore police officer who retired his badge in 2014 to become an advocate for national police reform," according to the veterans outlet Task & Purpose.
"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," Wood Jr. added.
And members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are also issuing urgent pleas to President Barack Obama, seeking decisive action to protect their drinking water and sacred sites before the president leaves office.
"Help us stop this pipeline. Stay true to your words, because you said you had our backs," said tribal member Kendrick Eagle, who met President Obama in 2014. "I believe that you can make this happen."
Watch Eagle's full statement here:
\u201cPls share this. Kendrick Eagle from Standing Rock directly addressing @POTUS, who must stop the brutality. https://t.co/ZRkD9LdtH6 #NoDAPL\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1479821300
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
Water protectors battling the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline are grappling with terrible injuries and even more arrests in the wake of Sunday's police onslaught, in which law enforcement bombarded the peaceful activists with concussion grenades, rubber bullets, mace, and water cannons in sub-zero temperatures.
One woman is even facing the potential amputation of an arm, after it was allegedly torn apart by a concussion grenade. Supporters shared shocking images of her extensive injuries and a link to a fundraiser for her hospital costs:
None— Actors Advantage (@Actors Advantage) 1479784920
The attack from the Morton County Sheriff's Department and its aftermath has prompted supporters and politicians to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to send observers to the scene, to defend the activists' First Amendment right to safely protest:
\u201cWoman hit by concussion grenade may lose her arm. Way past time for federal observers at Standing Rock #NoDAPL\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1479774718
\u201cI urge @TheJusticeDept to send observers to defend the water protectors' right to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. https://t.co/YDCGofUIlL\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1479779952
Amnesty International echoed such calls in a letter sent Monday to the Morton County Sheriff's Department. "[T]he use of those water cannons against the protesters themselves risks potential injury and hypothermia for the protesters who were sprayed with water in below freezing temperatures," wrote Amnesty International USA executive director Margaret Huang
, according to Indian Country Today. "Also alarming are videos of the use of tear gas, and reports of rubber bullets used to disperse the crowd of protesters."
The violence Sunday came in response to Indigenous activists' efforts to clear the public road that leads to their protest camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. And the standoff lasted for six hours, despite medics' pleas that the police stop endangering activists' lives. As the Intercept reported:
Linda Black Elk, a member of the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council, was helping care for injured demonstrators [during the attack]. 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.
[...] 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.
But the oversized police response didn't end there: the New York Times reports that law enforcement returned on Monday to arrest 16 water protectors.
Video footage, testimony, and photos of the violence are galvanizing global support for the activists, even as the battle against the pipeline feels more dire than ever in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's victory. Indeed, a group of U.S. military veterans is planning a "deployment" to the Oceti Sakowin protest camp to support the water protectors' fight in early December.
"This country is repressing our people," said Michael A. Wood Jr., a Marine Corps veteran and "former Baltimore police officer who retired his badge in 2014 to become an advocate for national police reform," according to the veterans outlet Task & Purpose.
"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," Wood Jr. added.
And members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are also issuing urgent pleas to President Barack Obama, seeking decisive action to protect their drinking water and sacred sites before the president leaves office.
"Help us stop this pipeline. Stay true to your words, because you said you had our backs," said tribal member Kendrick Eagle, who met President Obama in 2014. "I believe that you can make this happen."
Watch Eagle's full statement here:
\u201cPls share this. Kendrick Eagle from Standing Rock directly addressing @POTUS, who must stop the brutality. https://t.co/ZRkD9LdtH6 #NoDAPL\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1479821300
Water protectors battling the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline are grappling with terrible injuries and even more arrests in the wake of Sunday's police onslaught, in which law enforcement bombarded the peaceful activists with concussion grenades, rubber bullets, mace, and water cannons in sub-zero temperatures.
One woman is even facing the potential amputation of an arm, after it was allegedly torn apart by a concussion grenade. Supporters shared shocking images of her extensive injuries and a link to a fundraiser for her hospital costs:
None— Actors Advantage (@Actors Advantage) 1479784920
The attack from the Morton County Sheriff's Department and its aftermath has prompted supporters and politicians to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to send observers to the scene, to defend the activists' First Amendment right to safely protest:
\u201cWoman hit by concussion grenade may lose her arm. Way past time for federal observers at Standing Rock #NoDAPL\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1479774718
\u201cI urge @TheJusticeDept to send observers to defend the water protectors' right to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. https://t.co/YDCGofUIlL\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1479779952
Amnesty International echoed such calls in a letter sent Monday to the Morton County Sheriff's Department. "[T]he use of those water cannons against the protesters themselves risks potential injury and hypothermia for the protesters who were sprayed with water in below freezing temperatures," wrote Amnesty International USA executive director Margaret Huang
, according to Indian Country Today. "Also alarming are videos of the use of tear gas, and reports of rubber bullets used to disperse the crowd of protesters."
The violence Sunday came in response to Indigenous activists' efforts to clear the public road that leads to their protest camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. And the standoff lasted for six hours, despite medics' pleas that the police stop endangering activists' lives. As the Intercept reported:
Linda Black Elk, a member of the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council, was helping care for injured demonstrators [during the attack]. 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.
[...] 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.
But the oversized police response didn't end there: the New York Times reports that law enforcement returned on Monday to arrest 16 water protectors.
Video footage, testimony, and photos of the violence are galvanizing global support for the activists, even as the battle against the pipeline feels more dire than ever in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's victory. Indeed, a group of U.S. military veterans is planning a "deployment" to the Oceti Sakowin protest camp to support the water protectors' fight in early December.
"This country is repressing our people," said Michael A. Wood Jr., a Marine Corps veteran and "former Baltimore police officer who retired his badge in 2014 to become an advocate for national police reform," according to the veterans outlet Task & Purpose.
"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," Wood Jr. added.
And members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are also issuing urgent pleas to President Barack Obama, seeking decisive action to protect their drinking water and sacred sites before the president leaves office.
"Help us stop this pipeline. Stay true to your words, because you said you had our backs," said tribal member Kendrick Eagle, who met President Obama in 2014. "I believe that you can make this happen."
Watch Eagle's full statement here:
\u201cPls share this. Kendrick Eagle from Standing Rock directly addressing @POTUS, who must stop the brutality. https://t.co/ZRkD9LdtH6 #NoDAPL\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1479821300
"What AOC is doing is leadership—and people see that," said one observer.
A poll released Friday from the progressive think tank Data for Progress has Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez besting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also a Democrat, by 19 points in a hypothetical matchup in the 2028 New York primary for a U.S. Senate seat.
According to the poll, which was was first shared exclusively with Politico, 55% of voters said they would cast a ballot for Ocasio-Cortez or leaned toward supporting her, and 36% said they would support Schumer or leaned toward supporting him, with 9% undecided.
The only subgroup that supported Schumer over Ocasio-Cortez were moderates, who favored Schumer 50%-35%, with 15% undecided. Ocasio-Cortez carried all other subgroups with an outright majority, except for voters over the age of 45, 49% of whom said they would support her or leaned toward supporting her.
The poll—while several years out from the actual race—comes in the wake of Schumer's decision to throw his support behind a Republican-backed spending bill in early March, a move that roiled his own party and prompted calls for him to step aside from his leadership position in the Senate.
The episode also sparked murmurs among some Democrats that Ocasio-Cortez should consider a primary bid against Schumer in 2028.
The poll was conducted March 26-31 and surveyed 767 likely Democratic primary voters in New York state. According to Data for Progress, the polling indicated that the hypothetical matchup between Ocasio-Cortez and Schumer is "relatively static" and does not shift when voters are offered more information about the respective candidates.
Ocasio-Cortez recently declined to speak about a potential run for Senate in 2028, according to Politico.
"Replacing Chuck Schumer with AOC would be an incredible upgrade. I guess we'll have to wait four more years…," wrote Bhaskar Sunkara, president of The Nation.
Zephyr Teachout, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law, shared Politico's reporting on the poll and wrote: "Good morning to leadership and fighting oligarchy!"
"What I mean is that what AOC is doing is leadership—and people see that," added Teachout, who also highlighted that the poll found that an overwhelming majority of respondents, 84%, want their leaders to do more to resist the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Another observer, market researcher Adam Carlson, highlighted that despite Schumer's loss in the hypothetical race, most respondent subgroups still view him favorably, according to the poll. Besides "very liberal" voters and those between ages 18-44, Schumer stands at over 50% "favorable" among all other subgroups surveyed.
"People just want a changing of the guard," said Carlson.
"Trade and tariff wars have no winners," said China's foreign ministry. "We urge the U.S. to stop doing the wrong thing."
The Chinese government on Friday responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs with 34% import duties on all American goods beginning next week, intensifying global blowback against the White House and accelerating a worldwide financial market tailspin.
China's tariffs on U.S. imports, which match the tariffs the Trump administration moved this week to impose on Chinese goods, are set to take effect on April 10. Trump's 34% tariffs on Chinese imports come on top of the 20% tariffs the U.S. president imposed earlier this year.
"The U.S. approach does not conform to international trade rules, seriously damages China's legitimate rights and interests, and is a typical unilateral bullying practice," China's Ministry of Finance said in a Friday statement.
Additionally, China's Commerce Ministry announced immediate export restrictions on rare earth materials and "added 16 entities from the U.S., including High Point Aerotechnologies and Universal Logistics Holdings Inc., to its export control list," according to the state-run China Daily.
"Under the new rule," the outlet reported, "Chinese companies are prohibited from exporting dual-use items to these 16 U.S. entities. Any ongoing related export activities should be immediately halted, said the Ministry of Commerce."
Retaliatory tariffs from the world's second-largest economy mark the latest step in a global trade war launched by the Trump White House, which—despite warnings of disastrous impacts for working-class U.S. households and the broader economy—plowed ahead this week with a 10% universal tariff on imports and larger tariffs on a number of trading partners, including China.
Following Trump's official tariff announcement, Beijing condemned the duties as "unacceptable" and vowed to "take measures as necessary to firmly defend [China's] legitimate interests."
"Trade and tariff wars have no winners. Protectionism leads nowhere," said the spokesperson for China's foreign ministry on Thursday. "We urge the U.S. to stop doing the wrong thing, and resolve trade differences with China and other countries through consultation with equality, respect, and mutual benefit."
Other nations hit by Trump's tariffs are expected to respond in the coming days.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters Thursday that the E.U. was "already finalizing the first package of countermeasures in response to tariffs on steel, and we are now preparing for further countermeasures to protect our interests and our businesses if negotiations fail."
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed that "we are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures."
"In a crisis, it's important to come together and it's essential to act with purpose and with force," Carney added. "And that's what we will do."
"What Republicans are trying to jam through Congress right now is a level of economic recklessness we’ve never seen before," said a group of Democratic lawmakers.
A new analysis indicates Republicans' plan to extend soon-to-expire provisions of their party's 2017 tax law, as well as their push to tack on additional tax breaks largely benefiting the rich and big corporations, would cost $7 trillion over the next decade, a figure that a group of congressional Democrats called "staggering."
The analysis from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), published on Thursday, updates previous estimates that suggested the GOP effort to extend expiring provisions of the 2017 law would cost $4.6 trillion over a 10-year period. The new assessment shows that extending the law's temporary provisions—which disproportionately favored the wealthy—would cost $5.5 trillion over the next decade.
The projected cost of the GOP agenda balloons to $7 trillion after adding Senate Republicans' call for $1.5 trillion in additional tax cuts in the budget resolution they advanced in a party-line vote on Thursday. The GOP has come under fire for using an accounting trick to claim their proposed tax cuts would have no budgetary impact.
"The Republican handouts to billionaires and corporations will come at a staggering cost, and it's unconscionable that their plan to pay for those handouts includes kicking millions of Americans off their health insurance, hiking the cost of living with tariffs, and driving up child hunger," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said in a joint statement issued in response to the JCT figures.
"Even after making painful cuts that will inflict hardship on typical American families, Republicans will still risk sending us into a catastrophic debt spiral that does permanent harm to our economy," the Democrats added. "What Republicans are trying to jam through Congress right now is a level of economic recklessness we've never seen before."
The JCT's updated cost analysis came as President Donald Trump plowed ahead with what's been characterized as the biggest tax hike in U.S. history, one that will hit working-class Americans in the form of price increases on household staples and other goods.
Trump administration officials, not known for providing reliable numbers, have claimed the president's sweeping new tariffs could produce roughly $6 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade. The Trump tariffs have sent financial markets into a tailspin, heightened recession fears, and prompted swift retaliation from targeted nations, including China.
In an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Boyle—the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee—said Trump's tariffs represent "the single largest tax increase in American history."
"It's a tax that everyone will pay in this country, based on the goods that they buy," said Boyle. "However, it's also a tax that is highly regressive—the poorest amongst us will end up paying a higher percentage of their income."
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the analysis was conducted by the Congressional Budget Office. It was conducted by the Joint Committee on Taxation.