South Dakota Is Dropping Its Draconian “Riot Boosting” Law Targeting Pipeline Protests
A crowd gathers at Standing Rock in December 2016, after an easement was denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline. President Trump later granted the easement.David Goldman/AP In a major victory for Indigenous groups, local environmentalists, and free speech advocates, the Governor and Attorney General of South Dakota on Thursday submitted a settlement agreement that would stop…
Inside the US Marshals’ Secretive, Deadly Detention Empire
A large rectangle of red dirt on the flat expanse of West Texas’ Permian Basin reminds Sadrac Garcia every day of what his family has lost. A few months ago, he could stand on the small porch of his brother Juan’s double-wide and peer into the window of their parents’ trailer a few meters away.…
A Judge Just Blocked South Dakota’s “Riot-Boosting” Law, But Anti-Protest Measures Keep Spreading
Greenpeace activists hang from a bridge to block oil traffic in Houston. The protesters were the first to be charged under Texas’ new “critical infrastructure” law.Greenpeace A judge on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of South Dakota’s new “riot-boosting” law, which passed earlier this year to deter pipeline protests. The law threatens…
Some North Carolina Sheriffs Refuse to Comply With ICE. Republicans Have a Plan to Thwart Them.
YouTube / Garry Mcfadden 4Sherrif On the day his office stopped complying with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, newly elected Sheriff Garry McFadden of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, invited immigrant activists to his offices to celebrate. Grinning, he cut into a white sheet cake that featured “287(g)” in black print at its center, slashed through with…
The Government Can Make You Legally “Dead,” Even When You’re Very Much Alive
Mother Jones illustration; Getty In 2010, Dana Gallop, a Boston gang member accused of murder, was waiting for his trial in a Rhode Island prison when a fellow inmate assaulted him with a razor. The attack left scars across Gallop’s face. He tried to sue, alleging that the inmate had warned a correctional officer about…
“Love It or Leave It” Has a Racist History. A Lot of America’s Language Does.
Dominick Sarazen / AP In 1970, country singer Ernest Tubb was pissed off. “Well, I’m getting mighty tired of seeing hippies run wild and burning down the schools and stepping on the flag,” he sorta-sings, mostly-rants. Tubb’s song crescendoes with the chorus: “It’s America—love it or leave it.” By then, Tubb’s song was an echo of a long-time…