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THANK YOU CHI MEGWETCH!
The Numbers That Explain Why Your Grandchildren Will Be Fighting Wars Over Water (But With Robots)
Over
the next four years, they’re planning to build more than 12,000 data
centers in the United States. Currently there are 5,500. They’re going
to MORE THAN DOUBLE them in four years. Total investment: $5.2 trillion.
Protesters rally against STAMP data center plan during Hochul visit in Buffalo
The demonstration called for a moratorium on new data center development across the state.
Tommy Gallagher (WGRZ) May 22, 2026
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Environmental activists, local organizations, and
members of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation gathered outside the Buffalo
Irish Center to protest proposed data center development in New York
State.
Specifically, they targeted plans for the STAMP site in Genesee
County while Gov. Kathy Hochul attended a fundraiser inside on Thursday
evening.
The demonstration, organized by several local groups and
environmental advocates, called for a moratorium on new data center
development across the state. Protesters focused their concerns on the
proposed project at the Genesee County STAMP site.
Although Hochul did not directly address demonstrators outside the
event, she discussed the Genesee County STAMP plant earlier in the day,
saying New York has some long-term interest in data centers, but only
with certain standards.
Stream Data Centers, the company behind the proposed project, says
the development would create 125 permanent jobs at the STAMP site and
approximately 1,200 construction jobs during the buildout.
According to Honor the Earth, there are currently at least 106 proposed
data center projects near or on Native lands. In western New York, a
proposed $19.46 billion data center project would sit
adjacent to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s territory, threatening an old
forest that tribal citizens use for hunting, fishing, and gathering
traditional medicine.
STOP DATA SURVEILLANCE CENTERS
The Underground Blueprint to Destroy the Tech Bro Plan to Enslave the Planet With AI Data Centers by 🐺The Wise Wolf
OR: How a Broke Hobojournalist With No Car Weaponized a Zero-Budget Strategy to Kill the Coming AI Dystopia Before It Starts
Step one: Corporation identifies land it wants. (”That subdivision would make a great server farm!”)
Step
two: Corporation identifies local politicians who appear purchasable.
(This step is easier than you’d think. Most politicians advertise their
availability through campaign finance disclosures.)
Step three:
Campaign contributions flow. (Legally! It’s all very legal! Just
structured donations that definitely don’t constitute bribery because
we’ve defined bribery in a way that excludes all the ways rich people
buy politicians.)
Step four: Local politicians create or gain
control of a “development authority” or similar governmental body.
(Every state has slightly different names but they all do the same
thing: provide legal cover for theft.)
Step five: Corporate
executives or their proxies sit on that authority. (Just like how
Pfizer’s VP George Milne sat on New London’s development board. Totally
normal. No conflict of interest here. Just government officials who
happen to work for the corporation benefiting from the government
decisions they’re making.)
Step six: The authority declares the
project serves “economic development” and therefore provides “public
benefit.” (Jobs! Tax revenue! Economic growth! Never mind that a Costco
also provides all those things.)
Step seven: Eminent domain gets
deployed. (This is the part where armed government agents show up to
inform you that your family home of 30 years now belongs to people who
own more money than your town’s entire assessed property value.)
Step
eight: Properties get seized. (The government takes your house. You get
“fair market value” which is determined by the government. You cannot
negotiate. You cannot refuse. You leave or they arrest you.)
Step
nine: Land transfers to the corporation. (Usually for $1 or some other
nominal fee because why pay market rates when you’ve captured the
government.)
Step ten: Corporation gets massive tax exemptions for
10 to 20 years. (Because obviously a multi-billion-dollar data center
needs tax breaks. How else will the investors afford their fourth
vacation homes?)
Step eleven: The public pays for all the
infrastructure upgrades. (New roads to the facility? Public expense.
Upgraded power lines? Public expense. Water infrastructure? Public
expense. The corporation pays for none of this.)
Step twelve:
Corporation keeps all the profits. (Shocking twist: the economic
benefits that supposedly justified the taking don’t actually benefit the
public whose property and tax dollars funded everything.)
A still from the film "Stomping Freedom." It will premiere for the first time at the Little Art Theatre on May 27.
The American Indian-led arts nonprofit Caesar’s Ford Theatre
will premiere a new film called “Stomping Freedom” in Yellow Springs
this month, ahead of America’s 250th anniversary. The film examines who
was in Ohio at that time.
Caesar’s Ford Theatre is a performing
arts organization focused on telling American Indian historical dramas
with American Indian actors. Using the term “American Indian” is
deliberate as well, as this is the legal term used by the United States
government to identify citizens of federally-recognized tribal nations, which have specific legal rights.
“Stomping
Freedom” is a political thriller that recounts the tension between
Shawnee villagers and American settlers during the American Revolution
in 1778. The story begins at Caesar Creek, when an interpreter for the
Shawnee tribe Caesar receives a letter with news he’s charged with delivering to Shawnee war chief Weyapiersenwah, also known as Blue Jacket.
“This was the home of tribal nations that lived
here and could trace their culture and heritage back thousands and
thousands and thousand years to this area."
Kane Stratton, the director and screenwriter for the film said
Caesar's Ford Theatre wants the audience to understand Ohio wasn’t part
of the United States 250 years ago.
“This was the home of tribal
nations that lived here and could trace their culture and heritage back
thousands and thousands and thousand years to this area,” he said.
Jake Tiger (enrolled Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Red Lake Ojibwe and Sac and Fox of Oklahoma descent)
played Blue Jacket in the film. Although not Shawnee himself, he said
he worked with Shawnee language specialists when speaking Shawnee in the
film.
He said he tried to channel his own ancestor, the Seminole
warrior Osceola, who also fought for the sovereignty of his people
against the U.S. government, when portraying Blue Jacket.
“You
know, that kind of grit and tenacity and that steadfastness of that
lifestyle, and I tried to portray that in this dialog. So I took a lot
of inspiration from my own cultural background and tried to do the best I
could with due diligence and respectfully portray it as a Shawnee war
leader,” he said.
Tiger said he appreciated the level of
consultation that went into the screenplay, set design and attire to
ensure everything was historically accurate and culturally appropriate.
“It felt like a movement, more than just one person doing this on their own and kind of dictating the narrative,” Tiger said.
The
film was funded in part by the America 250-Ohio Commission to recognize
the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Yellow
Springs Community Foundation was also a major donor to this effort,
Stratton said.
The film premieres at the Little Art Theatre on May
27 at 7 p.m. A donation is required for admission. Tickets can be
reserved in advance.
The film includes mature language, so it may not be suitable to view for younger kids, Stratton said.
Following
the screening, production team members will reflect on the filmmaking
experience and share plans for Caesar’s Ford Theatre's future.
Stratton said if there’s enough interest from the first premier, there’s potential to put on more screenings.
2026 marks a milestone in America’s history – 250 years since the
signing of the Declaration of Independence. Our founding document put
forward aspirations that have shaped America and inspired the world. But
the Declaration may surprise you. It calls the Native peoples of
America “merciless Indian Savages.”
For generations, stories of Native America have been kept separate and apart from the American story.
Take
a fresh look at the history of our region — and hear today’s Indigenous
voices. It’s part of Still Here: Native American Resilience in New
England — a special series from Connecticut Public, featuring radio
storytelling, in-depth videos, digital stories, pictures and a community
conversation.
Chapter 1: An enduring spiritual connection to the land
Mark Mirko / Connecticut Public
In
the several hundred years since the arrival of Europeans to New
England, known as "Dawnland" to its original inhabitants, Native peoples
have been forced to live on a small fraction of their ancestral
homelands.
For more than 10,000 years before Europeans arrived, the Northeast
was home to many tribes with organized leadership and governance; it was
among the most prosperous parts of North America. A connection with the
land endures – and you care for it like it’s a member of the family.
Chapter 2: The hidden history of Indigenous slavery
Sir John Henry Lefroy / Cornell University Library
This
image — a portrait of Jacob Minors of St. David's Island — helped
reconnect Indigenous peoples in Bermuda and New England. Its caption
contained a clue: "Reputed to be of Indian descent, and probably
descended from one of the Pequod captives."
It's a surprising and overlooked story, a blind spot in the narrative
of early America: the hidden history of Indigenous slavery. As colonial
powers took over Native land, white settlers were enslaving Native
people. Some worked in New England. Others were kidnapped and shipped to
an isolated tropical island. For generations, a lost tribe in Bermuda
wondered about its past. Centuries later, they’ve reconnected with
family – in New England.
Chapter 3: ‘An unsung hero:’ A runner puts his tribe on the map
Courtesy of the Boston Public Library / Leslie Jones Collection
Ellison
"Tarzan" Brown's victory at the 1939 Boston Marathon is seen as a
turning point in the visibility and recognition of New England's Native
people.
In the 1930s, runner Tarzan Brown twice won the Boston Marathon – and
carried the Narragansett tribe’s name out of obscurity and onto a
global stage. “He was like an unsung hero for a long time,” his
granddaughter says. “It’s just good to see him get the recognition he
deserves.”
Chapter 4: A reverence for water, celebrated with music
Katie Lenhart / Dartmouth University
Jeremy Dutcher and Yo-Yo Ma greet the dawn with a song and music from We Are Water at the bank of Kwenitekw (the Connecticut River).
A Connecticut singer is taking Native art and culture to new places.
He invited Indigenous musicians – as well as one of the world’s most
famous cello players – to perform at sunrise on the banks of the
Connecticut River. The performance highlights Native peoples’ deep
connection to nature and water.
Visitors to the 2025
Schemitzun, one of the largest powwows in the Northeast and hosted by
the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
As Native communities face continued challenges to their overall
well-being, many find strength in cultural heritage and tradition.
Powwow gatherings are a chance to reconnect with family, culture and
values.
and Four days ago, yet another apology in Canada..
Unless an apology and the 60s Scoop history is on nightly news and broadcast where the entire country can hear it, it's pointless. Nothing changes... Native Adoptees in the US are still waiting for open records and repatriation... Trace
A provincial inquiry in 1985 deemed the practice, which came to be known as the '60s Scoop, as cultural genocide. Manitoba apologized for the
practice in 2015.
Viviane
Echaquan-Niquay was 12 years old when her sister Lauréanna died of
pneumonia at the Saint-Eusèbe Hospital in Joliette, Que., in 1973.
At least, that’s what she says her family was told by the health care officials in charge at the time.
“My
mother told me when she arrived in Joliette, she went to the funeral
home,” Echaquan-Niquay recalls, adding that, to facilitate her parents’
journey, she was tasked with caring for her younger siblings at their
home in Manawan, an Atikamekw First Nations community in Quebec’s
Lanaudière region.
She continues, “She says
she saw a baby in a styrofoam box. She said, ‘That baby is too big. They
look like they’re 10 or 11 months old. Are you sure that’s my baby?’”
Lauréanna was two-and-a-half months old.
Echaquan-Niquay
says the funeral director waved her mother’s concerns away, closed the
box and explained that Lauréanna would be buried in a nearby cornfield.
“My
mother and my father said, ‘Can we put a cross?’ They told them, ‘no,’”
Echaquan-Niquay tells CTV News. “‘A plaque, at least?’ ‘No, not if the
child isn’t baptized.’”
She insists her sister was baptized the August prior.
“When
my parents said they were going to get my sister, if it really was her,
they said, ‘we’ll bring her to the cemetery here in Manawan, and we’ll
put a cross for her,’” said Echaquan-Niquay.
Lauréanna’s body was never released to her family.
An empty tikinagan, a baby carrier. (Echaquan family)
Ghost babies
Lauréanna Echaquan was born on July 20, 1973.
To this day, Echaquan-Niquay says she still has “flashes” of her sister’s short existence.
“I
remember my sister was in a tikinagan, [baby carrier] and my mother was
doing the laundry,” she said, looking off into the distance. “We didn’t
have a laundry machine, so she was doing it by hand.”
Echaquan-Niquay repines she’s always felt disturbed about what happened to her family.
She
says she understands now that historically, Lauréanna is just one of
Quebec’s many “ghost babies,” Indigenous children who went missing or
died after being admitted to hospital to receive medical care, mostly
between the 1940s and 1980s.
In many cases,
parents were later informed that their child had died, but were never
given death certificates, access to their bodies or told the exact
location of where they would be buried.
Rumours have pervaded that some babies may have been swapped and later offered up for adoption or sent to residential schools.
The
Echaquan family in 2019, including Vivian Echaquan-Niquay and her
parents, Armand Echaquan and Madeleine Dubé. (Echaquan family)
Uncovering the truth
The
Echaquans are one of 130 families taking part in investigations to find
more than 220 children following the passing of Bill 79, An Act to
authorize the communication of personal information to the families of
Indigenous children who went missing or died after being admitted to an
institution.
The bill was introduced in
the National Assembly in 2021 by Ian Lafrenière, Quebec Minister of
Domestic Security and First Nations Relations.
“This
is a dark side of our Quebec history,” he tells CTV News. “We’re
talking about families who have been looking for their children for
years, some as much as 40, 50 years.”
The
government is working with Awacak, an Indigenous organization dedicated
to finding missing Indigenous children across the province.
Part of the search, Lafrenière explains, involves unlocking decades-old documentation.
As
such, the Echaquan family says they have been able to access
Lauréanna’s birth and death certificates, as well as some medical
records.
However, Echaquan-Niquay says she questions whether the records are a truthful recollection of what happened to her baby sister.
She explains that the registry in Manawan lists Lauréanna’s death as Oct. 27, but the provincial civil registry states Oct. 28.
Additionally, the autopsy report from the hospital has Lauréanna’s death on Oct. 30.
Some
families, like the Echaquans, Lafrenière adds, have told him that they
were unsure whether the bodies they were shown were of their children at
all.
“In some cases, kids were sent to
adoption without notifying the families, so you can imagine how hard it
is,” he said. “They have been living without knowing what exactly
happened.”
Since Bill 79’s passage, four exhumations have taken place in Quebec.
Lauréanna’s would be the fifth.
Awacak is an Indigenous organization dedicated to finding missing children. (Echaquan family)
Searching for Lauréanna
On May 1, Quebec’s Superior Court authorized the exhumation of Lauréanna’s presumed resting place.
Four sites were identified, including a soccer field near the Joliette cemetery, where a cornfield once stood.
“I felt light,” said Echaquan-Niquay of the court decision. “But I also felt pain because my parents weren’t there.”
Her
parents, Armand Echaquan and Madeleine Dubé, both died within weeks of
each other in the spring of 2021, never knowing what truly happened to
their baby girl.
“I have hope that we will
find my sister,” she said, adding that her wish is to bring her home to
Manawan and offer her a proper burial.
If the
exhumation process doesn’t lead to little Lauréanna’s body, buried in
her styrofoam box, Echaquan-Niquay insists that she will continue
looking - even if it takes forever.
The exhumation is set to begin on June 8 and last three weeks.
Snow Raven takes us on a mesmerizing journey into the heart of shamanism, the power of sound, and the sacred connection between humans and nature. Born in Yakutia, she shares her experiences growing up in the vast Arctic wilderness, where silence and the elements shape the spirit. She explores the deep-rooted traditions of her people, the significance of the drum as a portal between realms, and the transformative power of voice and rhythm.
From surviving -96°F winters to using sound to heal and communicate with unseen worlds, Snow Raven reveals ancient wisdom that modern society is only beginning to understand. With a mission to reconnect people to their primal essence, she teaches indigenous singing techniques and rituals that awaken hidden parts of the soul. A powerful storyteller, healer, and musician, Snow Raven bridges the gap between ancient and modern worlds, offering a path back to the wisdom we have forgotten.
Jaelyn
Jarrett and her aunt Leah Ford. Jarrett, a woman originally from Nain,
N.L., has Inuit and Guyanese roots. She's embarking on a journey to
trace the history of Black settlers in the North. (Submitted by Jaelyn Jarrett)
Jaelyn Jarrett remembers moving from Nain, N.L., to Ontario as an eight-year-old when she started being called a ‘Puatugi’.
“I
didn't really understand what that term meant at the time, but I knew
people would reference my hair, and so I figured that it meant black,”
she said.
After conversations with her grandmother, Jarrett
discovered that word meant Portuguese. She wondered why she — a
Black-Inuk woman with Guyanese roots — was being referred to as
Portuguese.
Thatmemory led the Carleton
University master’s student on a journey to trace the origin of the
word, where she came across Canadian historian Kenn Harper’s Names We Call Each Other.
The bookexplains
many of the whalers in the Arctic were Black men from Cape Verde —
islands located off the west coast of Africa once colonized by
Portugal.
Many Cape Verdeans emigrated to the United States
starting in the 1800s, particularly to coastal towns with thriving
whaling ports like New Bedford, Massachusetts. From there, some Cape
Verdean men joined whaling ships travelling to the Hudson’s Bay and
Cumberland Sound.
A
photo by Captain George Comer, estimated between 1897 and 1899, showing
the crew on deck of a whaling schooner. Brass Lopes is believed to be
in the far right of this photograph. (Mystic Seaport Museum)
Those
Black whalers were then referred to by Inuit as ‘Puatugi’, which was
adapted from the word Portuguese to flow better in Inuktitut.
While
Black whalers did head North for economic pursuits, Jarrett believes
those men had very different experiences than their white counterparts.
"They
were able to get opportunities to come to the North and make money, but
they were still under the confines of racism and colonialism," she
said.
She thinks many people don't realize that part of Nunavut’s
history, which she believes could offer answers to the racial divide
that exists to this day.
Plymouth
Select Board Chair David Golden, Jr. presented Herring Pond Wampanoag
Chairwoman Melissa Ferretti (R) with the key to the town of Plymouth
during the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe's state recognition ceremony on
Thursday. Rachael Devaney/Cape Cod Times
Mashpee
Wampanoag Tribe members attended the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe's
state recognition ceremony at Plymouth Town Hall, including the tribe's
Chairman Brian Weeden, left. Rachael Devaney/Cape Cod Times
Herring
Pond Wampanoag Tribe Vice Chair and tribal elder Hazel Currence
comforts Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation Chief Ken Perry Alves as
he spoke at Plymouth Town Hall about Wampanoag ancestors during the
Herring Pond state recognition ceremony on Thursday. Rachael Devaney/Cape Cod Times
Herring
Pond Wampanoag Tribe elder Hazel Currence speaks with her son and
Herring Pond Tribe Medicine man Troy Currence during the Herring Pond
Wampanoag Tribe state recognition ceremony on Thursday. Rachael Devaney/Cape Cod Times
The
Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe was given the key to the town of Plymouth
during the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe's state recognition ceremony on
Thursday, April 30. Rachael Devaney/Cape Cod Times
Narragansett
Indian Tribe of Rhode Island Elder Hiawatha Brown presented an eagle
feather to Herring Pond Wampanoag Chairwoman Melissa Ferretti, left, and
tribe Vice Chair Hazel Currence, right, during the tribe's state
recognition ceremony which was held at Plymouth Town Hall on Thursday.
Rachael Devaney
Herring
Pond Wampanoag Tribe Medicine Man Troy “Neesweekokotywak” Currence
became emotional as he led an opening prayer during the Herring Pond
Wampanoag Tribe's state recognition ceremony at Plymouth Town Hall on
Thursday. Rachael Devaney/Cape Cod Times
Plymouth
Select Board member Deb Iaquinto shakes the hand of Herring Pond
Wampanoag Tribe Elder Ronald Caleb "Salt" Harding, Sr. at the conclusion
of the tribe's state recognition ceremony at Plymouth Town Hall on
Thursday. Rachael Devaney/Cape Cod Times
The Seventh Fire: The Anishinaabe in the Upper Great Lakes
Narrated by Leora
Tadgerson, this gives a brief history of the Anishinaabe people before
European contact and their migration to the Upper Great Lakes. It
features the seven fires prophecy, which foretold of their migration,
colonization and rebirth.
This
is a bittersweet moment,” Walker said. “Mark’s passion helped start
this journey, and I only wish he were here to see it signed into law.”
APRIL 13, 2026
With the governor’s signature, adult adoptees in Virginia now have a legal path to obtain their original birth certificates. Virginia was one of 15 states considered a closed or sealed adoption
state, meaning adoption files are sealed by court order and are not
public record.
Facts About Adoption You Won’t Hear from Adoption Professionals Every November we post accuracy about the effects of adoption on the adopt...
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You are not alone
To Veronica Brown
Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.
Diane Tells His Name
click photo
Lost Birds on Al Jazeera Fault Lines
click to read and listen about Trace, Diane, Julie and Suzie
NO MORE STOLEN SISTERS
click image
We conclude this series & continue the conversation by naming that adoption is genocide. This naming refers to the process of genocide that breaks kinship ties through adoption & other forms of family separation & policing 🧵#NAAM2022#AdoptionIsTraumaAND#AdopteeTwitter#FFY 1/6 pic.twitter.com/46v0mWISZ1
As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.