After National Guard troops and other mercenaries brutalized many of the thousands of demonstrators camped on federal land near Cannon Ball, North Dakota over 800 people were arrested or charged between early August, 2016 and late February, 2017. Trump apparatchiks even referred to the Indigenous Americans and their compatriots as jihadists or insurgents.
But today, electronic waste containing copper, gold and platinum is valued at nearly $100 billion but only 4% is repurposed while new mines are currently being permitted in Montana and Arizona. At Harshaw, Arizona, Australian company South32 Ltd. is ripping into Sobaipuri O’odham and Hohokam ancestral lands at the old Hermosa Mine for manganese and nickel.
Aluminum Corporation of China, or Chinalco, has the largest share in Rio Tinto at 15% and with just two functioning smelters in the US mines have been shipping crushed ore to China for processing for years. Rio Tinto had a previous interest at the Richmond Hill site in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
With a deadline looming for the ownership transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week granted an emergency injunction that temporarily halted the transfer. But here’s the truth: Resolution Copper, the company poised to benefit from this land transfer, is not American-owned. It’s a joint venture between two of the world’s largest mining conglomerates — Rio Tinto of Australia and BHP of the United Kingdom. Adding to the irony, China is also the world’s largest customer for copper, meaning this U.S. land transfer could ultimately enrich a Chinese state-owned firm and feed China’s supply chains. Trump is defending the transfer of sacred Native land to foreign companies — not for the good of the American people, but for the benefit of corporate shareholders overseas. And yet, he dares to call the Apache Tribe, Apache Stronghold and other Native defenders of Oak Flat “anti-American.” The hypocrisy is staggering. That’s not just poor policy — it’s deeply dishonest politics. [Opposing the Transfer of Native Sacred Land Isn’t ‘Anti-American’]
"No Labels Party renamed Arizona Independent Party"
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