Free Republic

Republican Sen. Keith Regier is proposing asking Congress to study alternatives to reservations... ...The draft resolution argues that reservations have “failed to positively enhance the lives and well-being” of Native Americans, led to substance abuse, domestic violence, welfare dependence, poverty and substandard education. It also argues tribal members who don’t own land have the highest poverty rate and lowest life expectancy of any ethnic group in America. It also argues reservations are “not in the best interests of either the Indians inside our borders or for our common Montana Citizens.”... ...Floyd Azure, chairman of the Fort Peck Tribe in northeastern...

A Supreme Court case about jurisdiction in an obscure murder has huge implications for tribes. On the morning of June 22, 1839, the Cherokee leader John Ridge was pulled from his bed, dragged into his front yard and stabbed 84 times while his family watched. He was assassinated for signing the Cherokee Nation’s removal treaty, a document that — in exchange for the tribe’s homelands — promised uninterrupted sovereignty over a third of the land in present-day Oklahoma. That promise was not kept. Sixty-seven years later, federal agents questioned John’s grandson, William D. Polson. They needed to add him to...

A tribal leader is threatening protests if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) begins construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. During a meeting of Native American tribal leaders, the Tohono O’odham Nation’s Vice Chairman Verlon Jose threatened protests similar to those known as ‘Standing Rock,’ where environmentalists protested the Dakota Access Pipeline, if Trump’s wall is built, according to AZ Central:

Loretta Lynch's DOJ looks to further federal control of elections in ways that benefit the Democrats. The Obama Justice Department has quietly launched an effort to erode traditional state powers over elections. In the first instance, Attorney General Loretta Lynch has drafted and sent a bill to Congress which would force state election officials to turn over power to tribal governments to determine the location and number of polling places on Indian reservations in state-run elections. In the second instance, the DOJ is seeking to erode the power of states to prohibit the mentally incompetent from voting, as long as...

Even if a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this spring makes same-sex marriage the law, it would leave pockets of the country where it isn't likely to be recognized any time soon: the reservations of a handful of sovereign Native American tribes, including the nation's two largest. Since 2011, as the number of states recognizing such unions spiked to 37, at least six smaller tribes have revisited and let stand laws that define marriage as being between a man and a woman, according to an Associated Press review of tribal records. In all, tribes with a total membership approaching 1 million...

These are the American Indian reservations the Department of Interior plans to focus on in the next phase of a $1.9 billion buyback program of fractionated land parcels to turn over to tribal governments. The program is part of a $3.4 billion settlement over mismanaged money held in trust by the U.S. government for individual Indian landowners. …

Where to begin? We met with staff members from seven DC Senate offices on Monday. We had come to talk about the Indian Child Welfare Act and how it infringes on the right of children and parents. But sitting next to this young woman, who comes from the same reservation as my husband… I realized there is so, so much more we all need to talk about. She told how she was abused and used sexually as a child. She said she was first given to a man at the age of ten. Her sisters were also given to men....

All around us there are signs in abundance that the Apostasy is spreading. Parishes are emptying, more and more Catholics who have remained are approving of same-sex "marriage" and other forms of dissent. Preparation for the Reign of Antichrist is in full swing. Does this trouble Archbishop Loris Capovilla? One would wonder. For instead of addressing the myriad evils of our time, the Archbishop has chosen to address something which does concern him: the Fatima apparition and Marian devotion in general. As noted here, Archbishop Capovilla has "reservations" about Fatima and what he refers to as "excessive focus on Marian...

Judge Napolitano in for Beck about Indian Reservation health care.

When Tracey Carter asked one of the hosts at West Hartford's new Cheesecake Factory restaurant how long the waits were on a Friday night, she couldn't believe her ears. Two hours. Three hours. Sometimes longer. "I was shocked. Three hours? I never dreamed someone would wait three hours," said Carter, a Hartford resident who recently dined at the crammed-to-the-rafters restaurant. "I could drive to New York and get a fish sandwich in that time." True, but anyone who'd decline to cool their heels would miss out on one of Greater Hartford's most popular new activities: the waiting game at Cheesecake...

Reactions to the latest measures that benefit the lower castes have been stormy as the population battles for coveted spots in universities The scenes from the streets of Bombay, Delhi, and other big Indian cities have shocked India. As medical students and young doctors peacefully protested a government initiative to reserve another share of seats in colleges and universities for members of lower castes, police set upon the marchers, beating many of them with truncheons. Even more shocking to many, officials later claimed that although a few students were hospitalized, the police had not used undue force. One politician even...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that states have the power to tax fuel sold on Indian reservations. In a 7-2 vote, the high court said Kansas can tax distributors who sell fuel at an Indian-owned and operated gas station near the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe's casino. Most of the Nation Station's fuel customers are patrons of the casino, which is 15 miles north of Topeka, Kan. Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong in ruling that the tax violated tribal sovereignty. "Kansas law makes clear that...

Hiding beneath the cloak of sovereign immunity federally recognized Indian tribes can ignore virtually any state law, many federal laws and violate the Constitutional rights of non-Indians with seeming impunity. While I am not a legal expert on tribal sovereignty, based upon my own first-hand experience as a Commander of a State Police unit monitoring tribal gaming on a Connecticut reservation, I do not believe this is the outcome or state of affairs that either Congress or the courts expected or anticipated. I have analyzed numerous state-tribe gaming compacts that allow tribes in most instances to create and apply their...

DINNER SEMINAR 6:00 PM Wednesday, September 21, 2005 Aquaturf Club, Mulberry Street Plantsville, CT.“THE ISLAMO-FASCIST THREAT TO WORLD PEACE AND NATIONAL SECURITY” The People’s Truth Forum (PTF) is hosting an educational seminar at the Aquaturf club in Plantsville, Connecticut, on September 21st. The organization’s primary objective is to heighten public awareness with respect to matters of national security. Warmly invited are those patriotic Americans who share PTF’s concerns for the future of our nation – especially those interested in learning more about Islamic terrorism and the threat it poses to future generations. Speakers include: Harvey Kushner, PhD., noted author, lecturer,...

Have you ever been issued a "guaranteed" reservation by a hotel? You know the drill: they take a credit card number and tell you that you will be charged for the room if you don't show up. But in return, you comfort yourself with the assumption that your access to an actual room at that particular hotel is "guaranteed" even if you show up at 4 AM. Maybe if you did this, you assumed that it meant that the hotel had already sold the room to you, and that, barring acts of God like a tornado, no matter how late...

Jobs on American Indian reservations have always come with their own set of work rules and regulations. The tribes are considered separate governments, entitled to establish their own labor standards unless specifically restricted by Congress. They are subject to no state labor laws and only limited federal labor rules. That's why a recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board is causing a stir among California's tribes and the estimated 44,000 people who work for them. The NLRB recently ruled that it has jurisdiction over union disputes at casinos operated by Indian tribes. The ruling reverses three decades of a...

<p>New Yorkers dodging heavy taxes on cigarettes by buying from Native American sellers on the Internet could be hearing soon from the taxman.</p> <p>Under a settlement in the federal appeals court, the Ojibwa Trading Post, a popular online cigarette vendor based in upstate New York, has agreed to report its sales and hand over customer names to authorities every two weeks, effective immediately.</p>

Indian gaming "benefits us all," say the industry's public relations flaks. An Indian gaming television advertisement running in California pictures a group of upstanding citizens in a barbershop enumerating its many civic blessings. Gambling lords are apparently the sturdiest pillars of a community. Pols from both parties are loathe to challenge this obvious scam, lest they appear "anti-Indian." The result is a racket of staggering proportions. Last year in California, where Indian tribes pay no state or local taxes on gaming, five new casinos opened, bringing the total to over 50. Indian gaming revenue is now in the ballpark of...

Road Map situation took a quick and sudden turn on Friday afternoon, in the form of a quick exchange of official statements between American and Israeli government officials. U.S. Secretary of State Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice announced on Friday morning the following: "The United States shares the view of the Government of Israel that [its 14-15 reservations on the Road Map] are real concerns, and will address them fully and seriously in the implementation of the roadmap to fulfill the President's vision of June 24, 2002." A scant few hours later, Prime Minister Sharon's Bureau released the...

Children to receive coats, supplies Some South Dakota children who need a pair of gloves or a new coat to protect them from the winter cold or even a new toy may easily turn to their parents. But on South Dakota Indian reservations the average annual family income hovers around $4,000, according to the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairman's Health Board. With such a low income, many Indian children don't receive winter clothing, blankets or even toys. But if it's up to Barbara Johnson, the wife of U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., life for these youths will change. She came to...