Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, Which Disenrolled Members to SAVE MONEY, Hurting During Coronavirus Shutdown

I'll take KARMA IS A BITCH for $1,000 ALEX

Frank Cloutier, tribal spokesman and former chief of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in central Michigan, said gaming revenue accounts for three-quarters of the tribe’s budget.

With the tribe’s Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort near Mount Pleasant entering its seventh week closed, Cloutier said some government programs could be on the chopping block as the tribe looks to balance its budget with fewer casino receipts.

“Most people hear about tribal gaming and they think slot machines and blackjack tables,” Cloutier said. “I’m talking about education. I’m talking about lunch programs for our youth. I’m talking about elder care, I’m talking about housing infrastructure, tribal court, fire and police.”

FUCK YOU Saginaw Chippewa

You let my friend Aunt Dolly DIE without justice

Wuhan CORONAVIRUS: How it AFFECTS our Bodies

I am embedding this well done CDC video on the Wuhan #coronavirus spread to us from China and it's affects. Please watch and share with your families, your friends and even your in laws.

Coronavirus Changes: Should Tribal Casinos STILL Allow Smoking Inside?

Time to Social Distance smokers

No tribal casinos are NOT OPEN. Tribal Casinos still allow indoor smoking.  Employees and customers are subjected to the dangers of second hand smoke. Coronavirus attacks the LUNGS of those it infects.  It's now MORE dangerous to be around smoking.

Is it time for CA legislators to protect the health and welfare of tribal casino employees?  They practically have eliminated smoking OUTDOORS in many cities, yet their casino benefactors are exempt. (sovereignty, again) Most tribal government offices are smoke free, so any "tradition" argument seems moot.

Pechanga Descendant Conner Whitten and Team's Research Published in Nature.com

Conner Whitten
Pechanga Descendant

We are very proud of our cousin, Conner Whitten, who with his team of Univeristy of Tennessee researchers got their work on stress issues published. This work is important because it can give insight to different stress related psychopathologies like post traumatic stress disorder. 
Team Members are:  Brooke N. Dulka   Elena D. Bagatelas,  Kimberly S. Bress , J. Alex Grizzell1, Megan K. Cannon1, Conner J. Whitten  & Matthew A. Cooper

READ and Learn
 Chemogenetic activation

LETTER to Senate-House of Representatives Regarding Stimulus to Indian Country

Dear Senators, Congresspersons, and Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs,

 

Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico and Senator Martha McSally of Arizona fought hard to add provisions for funding of tribal health needs in President Trump's stimulus package signed Friday March 27th.  

While many Native Nations deserve and need funds, all tribes do not have the same or even similar needs. Populous tribes that do not have gaming revenue like the Hopi with over 15,000 citizens are not on the same footing with small tribes like the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation who share revenue from a successful casino with 36 citizens. Due to disparity in population and economic stature I am suggesting that not every tribe be considered equally.

As sovereign nations each tribe should be considered individually, and some tribes should not be considered at all, or moved to the bottom of the list.  Tribes such as the Pechanga Band of Lusiseño Indians in Temecula CA, Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of Coarsegold, CA, Nooksack Tribe of Deming, Washington, and Pala Band of Mission Indians in North San Diego County, CA, are among the most egregious violators of civil and human rights in Indian Country and should not be receiving federal funds that enable them to harm their own citizens.  

Tribes are semi-dependent sovereigns and their right to determine membership is inalienable. However, when tribes refuse to follow tribal law, or the Indian Civil Rights Act and deny tribal members the full rights of due process, they are wielding sovereignty as a club. Sharyl Lightfoot, PhD University of Minnesota wrote a decade ago on the role of sovereignty issues in tribal matters, specifically in the matter of the denial of treaty rights and disenrollment of the Cherokee Freedmen:

The REST of the Land O Lakes Indian Maiden Story From the Land of Sky Blue Waters

Knee Jerk Reactions.. we all do it. The outrage over the Indian maiden MIA on the Land o Lakes butter package? Yep, redrawn by a NATIVE AMERICAN, putting more natural items on the art...oh yeah, he also drew the HAMM's "From the land of sky blue water" Beer Bear....
Maybe the headlines should read: Land O Lakes destroys Native American Artist's work?

(Photo courtesy of Robert DesJarlait)

DesJarlait was employed by the advertising agency Campbell-Mithun in Minneapolis when he was given the assignment to market the farmer-owned cooperative. The original brand of “Mia” had been refurbished twice since its launch in 1928. DesJarlait was tapped to create a third version. He reimagined a more human character, adding detail to Mia’s face and floral motifs on her dress. Subtle changes that mattered.

That was the brand that stuck for seven decades.

Read the REST of the Story and INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY

Indian Civil Rights Act for Tribal Criminal Defenders and Civil Legal Aid Advocates

Let your attorneys know..

PALA CRIMEWATCH: SHOOTING a SNAPCHAT FRIEND on PALA RESERVATION

PALA BAND of MISSION INDIANS
Just over a week after Deputies were called to Pala on another matter that suspiciously made NO NEWS

On April 16, 2020, at approximately 10:22 PM, Valley Center Substation deputies were called to a hospital in Riverside County for a female juvenile gunshot victim.
Deputies quickly learned the incident occurred in the area of Sycamore Lane and Pala Temecula Road on the Pala Indian Reservation. The female victim was riding in a vehicle with her adult male boyfriend and his adult brother to a residence to meet a “Snapchat friend.” At some point, two male juveniles brandished firearms and began shooting at the victims in their car. The female sustained a gunshot wound to the chest. As the driver of the vehicle fled, both suspects continued shooting at the vehicle.

Deputies located a crime scene at the above location and completed a consent search of a residence nearby. Two loaded handguns were located inside the residence and seized. Both the driver of the vehicle and the gunshot victim positively identified two male juveniles as the shooters. Currently, the gunshot victim’s injuries are not life threatening.

Both juvenile suspects were booked into Juvenile Hall for PC 182 (A) (1)- Conspiracy to commit crime (Felony), PC 664/187 (A)- Attempted murder, PC 245 (A) (2)- Assault with a firearm on person, PC 186.22 (A)- Participate in a criminal street gang, PC 12091 -Posses firearm with altered identification and PC 32310(a) -Posses large capacity magazine.

Tribal Casino Crimewatch: St. Croix Chippewa

Former St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin Tribal Council Members Stuart Bearheart, Carmen Bugg, Elmer “Jay” Emery, Crystal Peterson, and Lewis Taylor, along with tribal employees Duane Emery, Leva “Dino” Oustigoff, Neil Oustigoff, Jeff Taylor, and Kate Wolfe Taylor, and former contractor Lawrence Larsen were individually charged in the St. Croix Tribal Court on March 26, 2020 with embezzlement and receipt of improper disbursements from the profits of the Tribe’s casinos.  

The charges relate to wrongdoing first uncovered in a Notice of Violation issued by the National Indian Gaming Commission in April 2019. The NIGC, the federal agency that regulates tribal gaming, alleged that nearly $1.5 million dollars of funds had been taken by individuals at the expense of tribal resources, in violation of the laws and regulations that restrict how casino revenues can be used.

Read the full story at the Burnett County SENTINEL

UPDATE 3 TRAGIC NEWS Pechanga Tribal Member STRICKEN with Coronavirus; PLEASE PRAY for Strength to Recover

The news is now....tragic

Sad news via FB pages. She's so young. Her relations harmed my family and others. But we cannot wish anything but strength from Creator to heal this young mother from this horrible virus unleashed upon us from China.

Prayer for Brandie

Creator

Sing her a song
that will heal her pain
Heal her heart and spirit
So her children will know
her love lasts forever
Creator
Help her nurses and doctors
find the cure through
healing medicines and care

INFORMATION From Yesterday on Brandie AND her husband:  At the present time, Brandie is in ICU for I think the 6th day. They lowered her O2 they were giving her from 85% to 80% and she held her oxygen level at 85%. Her lung X-ray declined a bit. She is being given Lasix. She is a fighter and definitely fighting this terrible disease. THANK YOU ALL for your continue prayers.  Pat, her husband  is home also fighting. He has been diagnosed with the disease but he is dong pretty well.

UPDATE 2:  From 4/11
Our local mom Brandie Greany who is the PTA President at Terra Cotta Middle School is still in ICU fighting Covid-19. Her husband Patrick said this morning that medical treatments are not helping and would like her lifted up in prayer.

UPDATE 3:   Sad to report that Brandie has lost her three week fight against the coronavirus. Prayers up for husband Pat and her two boys...


KEEP THE PRAYERS COMING For the family.....

Tribal Casino Shutdowns Cost tribes $4.4 Billion So Far. Diversification was Weak?

Alternate Headline, Tribes Losses total 4 times the losses suffered by Native Americans Disenrolled by them.  Over 1 billion has been stolen in per capita and benefits from disenrolled.  And that's from just over 11,000 people. So Per Capita, it's a lot different.

From Meistter Economic Consulting

economists at Meister Economic Consulting have estimated the following two-week impacts on the U.S. economy while tribal casinos have been closed:

​

• $4.4 billion in lost economic activity;
• 728,000 people out of work;
• $969 million in lost wages; and
• $631 million in lost taxes and revenue sharing received by federal, state, and local governments.

This includes the direct effect at tribal casinos, as well as the secondary effects on tribal governments, vendors, employees, and federal, state, and local governments.

 Hopefully, tribes have set aside funds that will help cover them through this Chinese Corona Virus...

 re estimated as follows:

​

Pechanga Members SHOULD PRAY for Forgiveness for Disenrollments and Moratorium?

Since it's the Easter Holiday Season, I'm reissuing  this post from early on at Original Pechanga blog.
 

It's interesting to think about what the remaining Pechanga members pray and think about when they go to church.

Do they pray that:

1. God won't remember what they have done to their family and ours?

2. Well, I really didn't believe in the 5th, 8th, 9th or 10th commandment anyway?

3. I can come here and people will see me and think it wasn't me that voted against stopping

disenrollments

Pechanga's Hack Thinks We Should Give Up The Fight For OUR Rights As Original Pechanga People

MORE on Pechanga HACK'S comments

EB, the resident Pechanga Hack made a comment in a previous post :

They may wish to consider instead their fortune as citizens of the greatest nation on Earth. They should orient themselves to basking in the sunshine. They will then enjoy their lives more. 

I believe that if Pechanga would have taken this advice, and not fought for 50 years to get the tribe's water rights, denied by law and courts, restored and clarified by Congress, the storage would be dry.   WHY DIDN'T the TRIBE QUIT?  In fact, on that issue, we didn't quit either, getting critical amendments to the bill that protected the water rights of Temecula Indian Reservaton allottees in 2010 and again in 2015 with Barbara Boxer's people, who admitted that Macarro's lobbyist wife wrote the bill.

Taken from a press release in 2017

Pala Tribal Members Will Enjoy 3 Months of Per Capita Payments: Robert Smith, Chairman has CONSISTENTLY told his Tribe

We posted earlier on the expectations of the wealthy tribal members being hurt by the loss of per capita due to Casino shutdowns...

As explained from Pala people, that won't be an issue:

The per cap we got paid for March wass from revenues earned in December. Remember that we are always three months behind on per cap. This was said at several meetings by both Robert Smith and Theresa Nieto. 

That is excellent news for those tribal members who remain after the disenrollment of 154 of their family members. 

With an upstanding leader like Robert Smith, what could go wrong?

Pechanga Tribal Hack Still Spewing LIES After 15 Years, They Are Still Lies

P E C H A N G A

Since the two disenrollments of large families from Pechanga in 2004 and 2006, one commenter on posts here and in other meetings come forth to spew the same tired lies about what went on.
Since we know who his is, we know he was not there for either disenrollment actions by council or committee.  Therefore he either pulls the comments out of his ass, or maybe his sister told him some lies.  I'll do a quick drive-by in bold

As a rule, the individuals who became disenrolled failed to meet the criteria for tribal membership. It's that simple.  OP: Wrong, all criteria were met

In addition, as a matter of history, others have noted that disenrollment resolved longstanding concerns about the membership of the disenrollees.  OP: Hearsay, including from an imprisoned child molestor, sworn testimony in Luieseno said different. People alive in our family's case

Disenrollment thus confined the tribal membership roll to individuals with verifiable facts and information for establishing their membership.   OP: With another family, the tribe wouldn't dispute the verified facts, but simply said a 5 year old made the decision to cut ties. (You don't let a 5 year old, cut their meat with a knife)

Joe Campinell, Who Lead L'Oreal to the Top of the Beauty Industry, Dies of Coronavirus Complications

Joe Campinell
photo from WWD

Occasionally, I step outside tribal issues to post of things that matter to me. THIS is one. My first known casualty of #coronavirus.

I've been touched by coronavirus. I worked for this incredible man while I was at L'Oreal. Joe Campinell was a VP of Marketing who rose to the top of our company. We passed Clairol in Haircolor sales, acquired Maybelline, brought Garnier to the US, Carson, Redken. He was a leader.

There were many moments of pride in our work, comic relief, and pride in how we kicked ass in the industry. HE made L'Oreal he #1 beauty brand as we brought CLASS to MASS.

Sad day. They say complications of the cornonavirus, but all deaths are being reported as coronavirus deaths, even if only a positive test.       Please read

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's Disestablishment is put on HOLD

Levi Rickert's NATIVE NEWS ONLINE HAS the full story



A government plan to disestablish the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s reservation has been put on a temporary hold after lawyers for the U.S. Dept. of Interior agreed it would refrain from taking the Tribe’s land out of trust for 45 days. 

A federal judge has agreed to temporarily halt the process in a ruling issued in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In court documents, Judge Paul L. Friedman said the Tribe’s request for a temporary restraining order would be temporarily suspended as long as the DOI refrains from taking the land out of trust.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on March 31 to keep the DOI from taking 321 acres of tribal land out of federal trust. The trust lands at issue include approximately 170 acres in the town of Mashpee, Mass. and approximately 151 acres in the town of Taunton, Mass.

The court filing states that the DOI agreed to “refrain from completing the ministerial tasks necessary to record transfer of the land out of trust, revoke the reservation proclamation, or annul the gaming eligibility described in the [DOI] March 27 memorandum for a periofd of 45 days from March 31, 2020 o and including May 15, 2020.”

The DOI was ordered to file its oppositions for the Tribe’s preliminary injunction on or before April 20, 2020.  The Tribe will file its reply on or before May 5.

Pinoleville Pomo Nation Gaming DENIED In RICO Dispute

We've been writing about the corruption of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation for over ten years.  They are trying to get out of a RICO lawsuit and here is the ruling.

Finally, the Tribal Defendants argue that JW Gaming cannot pursue punitive damages because an award of compensatory damages on the remaining claims would result in double recovery. Mot. 9.
But a jury’s finding of liability and an entitlement to compensatory damages could provide the basis for a punitive damages award even if JW Gaming does not in fact recover the compensatory damages. See Yates v. Nimeh, 486 F. Supp. 2d 1084, 1088 (N.D. Cal. 2007) (noting that a plaintiff could still recover punitive damages even though his compensatory damage claim had been offset); see also UTHE Tech. Corp. v. Aetrium, Inc., 808 F.3d 755, 761-62 (9th Cir. 2015) (holding that compensation pursuant to a judgment in a different tribunal did not prevent the plaintiff from seeking treble damages under RICO).