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Re:DNA from cigarette leads to Dakota Access arrest warrant ... by droithomme on Saturday September 07, 2019 @08:19PM (#20907646)
I disagree this evidence shows this crime was committed by this person. This wasn't one of the sites where a small organized crew of environmentalist hipsters vandalized a pipeline valve. It was the site of a large, legal, peaceful protest attended by tens of thousands of people. What evidence is there the person that smoked this cigarette committed the crime of "rioting"? There is none.

Civil disobedience wasn't a major factor in the protests.

The pipeline itself wasn't legal. It didn't properly comply with the permitting process. They "smurfed" the applications by dividing the pipeline into a series of tiny unrelated projects in order to avoid the required environmental reviews. Smurfing to avoid regulatory requirements is explicitly prohibited under federal law.

So yes, federal crimes were committed there. No evidence by this guy.

And were there crimes by any protestors? Yes! One woman, a convicted felon, fired a gun while being apprehended by police. It later turned out the gun was planted on her by an FBI informant who had sexually assaulted her, but legally she was in violation of federal law because she possessed a firearm. So that was illegal to be sure. A bit reminiscent of similar FBI operations where mentally deficient and gullible persons are recruited by FBI agents and coerced into plotting terrorists acts that are entirely designed and organized by the FBI.

The main protest acquired permission from relevant federal authorities and movement leaders clearly communicated to protestors that violence, weapons, and drugs were all unacceptable. This was a legitimate protest, not civil disobedience. Though obviously many like to argue it was illegal, and King's Birmingham march as well, and the dogs sicced on protestors and firehoses in Alabama by law enforcement were every bit as legal and justified as the dogs and firehoses deployed against protestors in the Dakotas during this decade.

Re:DNA from cigarette leads to Dakota Access arrest warrant ... by anigbrowl on Sunday September 08, 2019 @02:43PM (#20912471)
This is a really excellent breakdown and added several details (like smurfing) that I was previously unaware of, not having had any involvement in these protests. Thanks.
Re:DNA from cigarette leads to Dakota Access arrest warrant ... by droithomme on Sunday September 08, 2019 @10:12PM (#20914675)
I appreciate your comment. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the lawyer that really figured out a lot about the smurfing. He talked to us one evening about the legal problems when people had gone to the casino one night because weather conditions were so bad and the casino opened the doors to let people crash on the floor.