Apaches Take A Stand on Sacred Lands Against Claims by Resolution Copper

2 recent reports:

1 The Guardian on Nov 24 

This land is your land

Arizona

Revealed: Trump officials rush to mine desert haven native tribes consider holy

Administration seeks to transfer ownership of Arizona area to mining company with ties to the destruction of an Aboriginal site

Revealed: Trump officials rush to mine desert haven native tribes consider holy

Annette McGivney

the Guardian | Tue 24 Nov 2020 04.23 EST Last modified on Thu 26 Nov 2020 13.09 EST

Since January, San Carlos Apache tribal member Wendsler Nosie Sr has been sleeping in a teepee at a campground insouth-eastern Arizona’s Oak Flat, a sprawling high desert oasis filled with groves of ancient oaks and towering rock spires.

It is a protest in defense of “holy ground” where the Apache have prayed and performed ceremonies for centuries.

A dozen south-western Native American tribes have strong cultural ties to Oak Flat. But the Trump administration, in its waning days, has embarked on a rushed effort to transfer ownership of the area to a mining company with ties to the destruction of an Aboriginal site in Australia, the Guardian has learned.

“We were in the fourth quarter with two minutes left in the game. And then Trump cheated so now we only have one minute left,” said Nosie, who was a football quarterback in high school. “Everybody has to mobilize now to fight this.”

 

2 Vice News on

Trump Is About to Hand Over Sacred Apache Land to a Mining Company

Geoff Dembicki

vice.com |

Trump officials are rushing to hand over Oak Flat in Arizona to Resolution Copper by next month, a full year ahead of schedule—while they still can.

The desertous and otherworldly Oak Flat in Arizona has been a highly contested area for more than two decades. Photo courtesy of Russ McSpadden/Center for Biological Diversity

Tipping Point covers environmental justice stories about and, where possible, written by people in the communities experiencing the stark reality of our changing planet.

President Donald Trump’s administration has sped up a process that will hand over the rights to a sacred Apache Indigenous area outside of Phoenix, Arizona, to a mining company by next month—a full year ahead of schedule.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to release its official environmental impact statement that will give the go-ahead to transfer Oak Flat in the Tonto National Forest to the mining company Resolution Copper, a joint venture by mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP, a year before its planned December 2021 date. 

The announcement came just days after the Trump administration issued an executive order that declared the U.S. dependence on China for “critical minerals” a national emergency and vowed to “cut down on unnecessary delays in permitting actions.” 

Some see the expedited process to mine the Oak Flat as part of a final push to weaken environmental regulations and fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to bring back mining jobs from abroad.

More Phony Happy Talk All About A Dramatic Unique Shade Structure

Here's East Valley Tribune staff writer Jim Walsh at it again - and it only took him 9 days after the fact (what happened on one item at a Mesa City Council Study Session on November 16,2020) - to get this story out. . . He just does what he's told to to write

City Council approved spending $481,000 to build this unique shade structure over the Mesa City Plaza downtown.

Special to the Tribune

• SMS
A dramatic, artistic shade structure over the new Mesa City Plaza won rave reviews despite adding $481,000 to the facility’s $6.7 million cost.

Mayor John Giles and Councilwoman Jen Duff said the artistic shade structure, which will cover a concrete area used for an ice-skating rink in the winter, is worth the money and will become a symbol for the new downtown Mesa.

“It’s a brilliant addition to this proposal,’’ Giles said. “This will become the postcard photograph of downtown Mesa.’’

Giles described how he was captivated when he watched a contractor demonstrate how a massive, 30x70 high-resolution video screen on the front of the ASU building will work.

"This park is going to be a loved asset by our community,’’ he said. “We have a cool downtown. This is going to really elevate that.’’

Duff said that shade will allow the concrete pad used for the annual Merry Main Street skating rink each winter to be converted into year-round recreational uses even during the summer

“I do love the design of the shade structure. I think really that it makes a wow statement,’’ Duff said. “The shade structure, creating an artistic element especially at night, is an attraction.’’

The “signature shade element’’ is a canopy draped over the skating rink with suspended wires, made out of tensile material – similar to what was used to cover a splash pad at Pioneer Park

Duff, a Mesa native, said downtown was the place to hang out when she was growing up and that the plaza will draw people back for the first time in decades.

“This park is truly a gathering space where we can all be together,’’ she said, without entering a building. “I think it will be well received.’’

Mesa officials are developing a series of new rules to address the homeless problem in parks and cameras have been installed to monitor the issue.

City Manager Chris Brady said a police officer is assigned to the Mesa City Plaza area and that security will be beefed up when the new plaza and ASU building open.

Modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act: An Overview of the Federal Reserve Proposal | Join us 12/16

Every community deserves the opportunity to thrive. Our economy depends on it. Modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is an opportunity to address systemic barriers to credit and financial services that continue to hold many communities back.   Join us on 12/16 at 10:00 a.m. PT to learn about the Fed’s proposed changes and how you can use your voice to shape the future of the CRA.   During this virtual event, bank examiners from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco will provide an overview of the Federal Reserve’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on CRA regulations, explain how to submit public comments before the February 16 deadline, and answer questions. Modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act An Overview of the Federal Reserve Proposal Wednesday, December 16, 2020 10:00-11:00 a.m. PT Register today and submit your questions.   For background, read Help Shape the Future of the Community Reinvestment Act.

Solar Awakening, Electric Atmosphere, Galaxy Surprise | S0 News Nov.28.2020

O YEAH > A GALAXY SURPRISE !

DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE PARANORMAL? - THE U.S. ARMY IS PREPARING TELEPATHI...

Counting The Numbers > Fast-Tracking The 2020 Census: Trump's Final Supreme Court Showdown on Immigration Policies

The 80-minute session Monday is Trump’s biggest remaining Supreme Court argument in a presidency defined by polarizing legal battles over immigration.The court has put the latest census case on a fast track, making a ruling possible by the end of the year. But the challenge is just one of several hurdles Trump will have to overcome to accomplish his goal.

The case is Trump v. New York, 20-366.

In the case directly before the justices, a three-judge panel in New York said the plan runs afoul of the U.S. Census Act, which requires the Commerce secretary to show the “tabulation of total population by states” and says the president must give Congress “the whole numbers of persons in each state.”

Critics of the Trump push say those words leave no room for interpretation. That’s an argument that could resonate with Trump’s three Supreme Court appointees -- Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- all of whom advocate interpreting laws strictly according to their text.

Census Gives Trump a Final Supreme Court Showdown on Immigration

By Greg Stohr

Bloomberg.com |

November 27, 2020, 2:00 AM EST

President Donald Trump’s administration has one last blockbuster showdown at the Supreme Court over his divisive immigration policies, and this one goes to the heart of how U.S. political power is allocated.

In an argument set for Monday, the administration will seek the right to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count used to divvy up congressional seats and federal funds. The move would change more than two centuries of practice in a nation that has always counted non-citizen residents, . .

Presidential Discretion

The Trump administration contends the laws leave room for the president to exclude people who are in the country illegally. The administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, argued in court papers that the phrase “persons in each state” means “inhabitants,” a term whose application requires the use of judgment.

“The president need not treat all illegal aliens as ‘inhabitants’ of the states and thereby allow their defiance of federal law to distort the allocation of the people’s representatives,” Wall argued.

Supporters of the president’s effort say his approach is long overdue.

“What’s at stake is whether the American people are represented in Congress or whether others who are not part of the American people are also represented in Congress,” said Christopher Hajec, director of litigation at the Immigration Reform Law Institute.

The administration must also defend against contentions that the plan is unconstitutional. In a separate case in California, a court said Trump was violating a constitutional provision that requires congressional seats to be apportioned according to the “whole number of persons in each state. . ."

JONATHAN PIE vs Anti Mask Turkeys