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On the 24th of August, the US District Court will hear the lawsuit by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the US Army Corps of Engineers over the Dakota Access Pipeline in N Dakota. The hearing runs 1PM-5PM August 24 at 333 Constitution Ave.. There will be a rally outside and presumably observers inside as well. Construction has been stopped pending this hearing because protesters at the Sacred Stone Camp have occupied and shut down the site. If the lawsuit is sucessful and the permit is blocked, the Dakota Access Pipeline will be defeated. Otherwise a situation that has been made dangerous by government officials and their "state of emergency" will continue to escalate. Things are getting very ugly in N Dakota.

On the 16th of August, reports surfaced on Twitter of multiple instances of police harassment of Black Lives Matter activists in DC over the past year. An activist using the handle @agoggans has been repeatedly harassed by police, including at her home when police harassed a Black Joy Sunday event at her home last year. On August 16th she was harassed again, officers with badge numbers 3344 and 2520 were both involved and are reported to be harassing her every chance they get.Overt surveillance is also being reported and the overall situation should be considered a dangerous threat.

On the 14th of August, Virginia residents gathered in Riverbend Park upstream of Great Falls for a rally opposing several major fracked gas pipelines in their state.

Video from Hands Across Our Land Featuring a speaker from Beyond Extreme Energy on what's going on at FERC

Civil Rights Group Challenges Buffer Zone that Restricts Free Speech at New Trump International Hotel

A section of Pennsylvania Avenue, a National Historic Site that runs from the White House to the Capitol, will be turned over for the use of the Trump Organization along with the large (7,000 square foot) previously public plaza that features an 1889 Benjamin Franklin statue and that abuts the soon-to-open Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, as well as a portion of the sidewalk space abutting the Avenue.

The turnover of these spaces creates a “buffer zone” that appears to suppress or extinguish free speech in proximity to the building leased by Trump, restricting access to priority or exclusive use of the Trump Organization.

On the 6th of August, residents of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation showed up in front of the White House backed by other Native American and pro-Earth activists. The Dakota Access pipeline would pass under Native American burial grounds and when it breaks and spills will contaminate water the tanding Rock Sioux Reservation's residents depend on to stay alive. Digging has already begun for this pipeline even though permits have NOT been issued.

Video from the No Dakota Access protest

The 5th of August, DC area antiwar activists held their annual vigil on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. One of the speakers was a Hiroshima survivor who was 3 years old at the time of the bombing.

A surviver from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (he was three at the time) speaks at the annual August 5 remembrance vigil in DC.

Protests against Hillery's bought and paid for Democratic National Convention began as news broke that DNC chair Wasserman Schultz had resigned over hacker-released emails snowing systematic DNC efforts to favor Hillery over Sanders in the primaries. First up on Sunday, July 24 was the March for a Clean Energy Revolution. The lead contingent was Native Americans warning that no oil or gas pipelines would be permitted to cross their land and poison their water. Further back was a contingent opposing the TPP trade deal Hillery claims to oppose but is suspected of lying about that opposition. Later in the day a march of Bernie Sanders supporters marched all the way to the gates of the heavily fortified convention site.

7-24:Video from the March for a Clean Energy Revolution

7-24:Video from the "Bernie or Bust" march on the DNC

7-26 Black Lives Matter, 7-27 Sanders supporters walk out, 7-28 coffin pushed over fortified fence,and more videos in full article.

On the 21st of July, six members of Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) locked down across the doors of Democratic Party headquarters in DC, holding the space for hours. The Democrats sent out two people to "negotiate," but they said they had no authority to speak for anyone. Negotiations went nowhere, so the blockade went on for hours. The Dems were outraged that Green Party activists participated in the blockade but were warned that their pro-corporate, pro-fracking, pro-TPP politics were driving away their base.

Video from the lockdown at Democratic Party headquarters

On the 16th of July, activists under the name Afromation blockaded Baltimore's I-83 freeway after marching through the "Artscape" festival. Police used a false report of an ambulance to get protesters to move, then kettled as much of the crowd as they could, arresting 65 people. The "ambulance" turned out to be two police wagons Some of the arrestees were reported to be bystanders who had followed the march from Artscape out of curiosity to watch and were not protesters at all.

Video of the I-83 blockade originally posted to Twitter by Action.Brotha.Jedi