The biggest news from standing rock is that the protest is not over. There are still close to a thousand protestors encamped in Areas around Oceti camp which was shut down by the government. While many protestors are still in a state of shock after being removed from the land they had occupied for nearly a year, this is an incredibly tough breed of activist. The largest and most organized of the remaining camps is Sacred Stone, where I am now encamped. While many are leaving, new protestors are arriving daily. I spent Friday picking up trash and helping to erect tipis that had been salvaged from Oceti.

This April 4th will be 100 years since the U.S. Senate voted to declare war on Germany and 50 since Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against the war on Vietnam (49 since he was killed on that speech’s first anniversary).

The only section of the New York Times I consistently enjoy is “By the Book.” It is a quick read that offers a glimpse into the reading habits of writers, musicians, and other public figures. When I came to the latest edition with Chelsea Clinton I expected to read a vacuous interview that served no purpose other than to sell a few extra copies of her recent book. But that was not the case. It wasn’t an interview with a writer; it was with a politician.

The militarization of police forces in the U.S. has come under increasing scrutiny, including the effect it has on the psychology of police. Equipped with military-grade weapons and body armor, police have been conditioned to view citizens as enemies, instead of human beings whom they are bound to protect and serve.

Wearing face shields or gas masks has the psychological effect of deindividuation: a feeling of anonymity that curbs police officers’ sense of personal responsibility for their actions.

These effects played out in downtown Columbus on the evening of January 30 as a demonstration against President Trump was winding down. About 3,000 protesters were marching from the Franklin Country Courthouse back to the Ohio Statehouse, as police attempted to keep them off High Street by forcing them onto the sidewalk.

Approximately 30 activtists staged a demonstration Wednesday, February 22 outside Senator Rob Portman's office in downtown Columbus. Debbie Silverstein, Single Payer Action Network Ohio State Director, illustrated the devastation an illness without access to medical care can bring, told of breaking her leg* years ago -- she then just lay on the floor and cried and cried, desolate because she knew that she could not afford the needed medical treatment.  Advocating militancy, Silverstein said that we have learned our lesson -- compromising in the struggle over the legislation that resulted in the Affordable Health Care Act did not serve the movement well.  "Instead of retreating in the face of Administration threats to abolish the Affordable Care Act," she declared, "now we are demanding more -- Medicare for All!"