Trump Vetoes 2 Bills, Drawing Accusations of Retaliation

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/us/politics/trump-vetoes-retribution.html

Pagan Community Notes for July 17, 2025:

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: Mystic South sets a new attendance record; the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida takes legal action to stop the controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center; Indigenous leader Betty Osceola calls for prayers—which local Pagans answer; and more.

https://wildhunt.org/2025/07/pagan-community-notes-week-of-july-17-2025.html

#pagan #wicca #witchcraft #mysticsouth #mysticsouth2025 #AlligatorAlcatraz #bettyosceola #miccosukeetribe #covenantofthegoddess #wsts #tarot

#NativeAmerican leaders blast construction of #Florida’s ‘#AlligatorAlcatraz’ on land they call sacred

By KATE PAYNE
Updated 5:57 PM EDT, June 26, 2025

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — "Florida Republican Gov. #RonDeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred #AncestralHomelands.

"A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on Thursday, according to #activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the Miami Dade County-owned airfield located in the #BigCypressNationalPreserve, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami.

"A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

"State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold #migrants saying there’s 'not much' there other than pythons and alligators.

"#Indigenous leaders dispute that and are condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' on their homelands. #NativeAmericans can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years.

"For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the #MiccosukeeTribe of Indians of Florida and the #SeminoleTribe of Florida, as well as the #SeminoleNation of Oklahoma.

" 'Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the #Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,' Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.

"There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and #Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.

" 'We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,' he said.
The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.'

"Garrett Stuart, who lives about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the site, described the crystal clear waters, open prairies and lush tree islands of Big Cypress as teeming with life.

" 'Hearing the arguments of the frogs in the water, you know? And listen to the grunt of the alligator. You’re hearing the call of that osprey flying by and listening to the crows chatting,' he said. 'It’s all just incredible.'

"Critics have condemned the #detention facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s #ImmigrationCrackdown.

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/florida-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-detention-desantis-trump-8856c0e2b9ecb8c0fb960f6e3e72a5ae

#ImmigrationRaids #ICEKidnapping #ProtectTheGlades #NoAlligatorAlcatraz
#ICEDetentionCenter #ProtectTheSacred #BigCypressNationalPreserve
#StopAlligatorAlcatraz
#ICEACAB #StopDetentionCentersEverywhere

I know this area well, having spent some time with the #Seminole peoples when I was a youngster. It is beautiful, deadly, and environmentally sensitive!

#Protesters line highway in #FloridaEverglades to oppose ‘#AlligatorAlcatraz’

By MAKIYA SEMINERA
Updated 8:40 PM EDT, June 28, 2025

"A coalition of groups, ranging from #EnvironmentalActivists to #NativeAmericans advocating for their ancestral homelands, converged outside an airstrip in the Florida #Everglades Saturday to protest the imminent construction of an immigrant detention center.

"Hundreds of protesters lined part of U.S. #Highway41 that slices through the marshy Everglades — also known as #TamiamiTrail — as dump trucks hauling materials lumbered into the airfield. Cars passing by honked in support as protesters waved signs calling for the protection of the expansive preserve that is home to a few Native tribes and several #EndangeredAnimal species.

"Christopher McVoy, an ecologist, said he saw a steady stream of trucks entering the site while he protested for hours. #EnvironmentalDegradation was a big reason why he came out Saturday. But as a South Florida city commissioner, he said concerns over #ImmigrationRaids in his city also fueled his opposition."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/alligator-alcatraz-florida-everglades-protest-db34866aae64a3ff6880310403be40fd

#ProtectTheGlades #NoAlligatorAlcatraz #ICEDetentionCenter #SeminoleTribe #ProtectTheSacred #MiccosukeeTribe #BigCypressNationalPreserve #StopAlligatorAlcatraz #ICEACAB #StopDetentionCentersEverywhere

#Composting program to provide #Everglades with soil for #CommunityGarden

by Martin Vassolo, March 12, 2025

"Your food scraps could be used to help support the Everglades through a new partnership between the village of #PinecrestFL and the #MiccosukeeTribe.

"Instead of dumping #FoodWaste into crowded #landfills, which produce #methane emissions, the #EvergladesEarthCycleProject will expand Pinecrest's residential composting program and deliver nutrient-rich soil to the #Miccosukee Tribe.

"Driving the news: The project, funded with a $400,000 federal grant and other contributions, calls for installing four new #CompostingBins in Pinecrest and three around #MiamiDade County District 7.

"The initial phase of the program will supply compost to the #SwampyMeadows #CommunityGarden, which grows vegetables just outside the Miccosukee Indian School.

"Another proposal that's been floated is adding new soil to the Everglades' tree islands, though that would need tribal approval, says the Rev. Houston R. Cypress of the #LoveTheEverglades Movement, a partner in the program.

"Cypress told reporters on an airboat ride through the Everglades last week that the tribe teaches 'the essence of being in harmony with nature is giving back to it.'

"'With the Everglades Earth Cycle Project, we're giving back clean and healthy soil; we're giving products that might eventually improve the water quality out here, but we're also giving directly back to local indigenous communities here,' he said.

"Pinecrest already has two free public composting bins, one at the Pinecrest Public Library and another between the Community Center and Pinecrest Gardens."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/composting-program-to-provide-everglades-with-soil-for-community-garden/ar-AA1AKQrp
#Composting #CommunityGardening #FoodSecurity #ReducingFoodWaste #SolarPunkSunday

#SeminoleTribe gets federal disaster declaration for #HurricaneMilton

October 11, 2024
Story by Dianna Hunt, Indian Country Today (ICT)

"President Joe Biden has issued an emergency disaster declaration for the Seminole Tribe of Florida for recovery and relief efforts from damage wrought by #HurricaneMilton, which brought #rain, #tornadoes, #flooding and high winds as it moved across Central Florida after making landfall late Wednesday.

"The declaration, released Tuesday, Oct. 8, will allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency [#FEMA] to coordinate disaster relief efforts with the tribe and will provide funding to help with recovery, according to the declaration.

"It is the fourth emergency declaration for the Seminole Tribe in the last four years, including declarations for hurricanes Nicole and Ian in 2022 and for the pandemic from 2020-2023.

"A statement from the White House said that Biden administration officials had also been in touch with the #MiccosukeeTribe of Indians of Florida, the only other federally recognized tribe in the state. The tribe had not received a disaster declaration as of Thursday, though the tribe did receive a declaration in 2022 for Hurricane Nicole.

"Both Seminole and Miccosukee lands were in the path of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall from the Gulf of Mexico south of Tampa, Florida, and quickly moved across the center of the state before exiting into the Atlantic Ocean.

"The extent of the damage to the tribal areas has not been clear, though news reports indicated a tornado was spotted near the Miccosukee Service Plaza, a popular stop for food, bathrooms, and gas on the highway that stretches from Miami to Naples." [I've been there a few times as a youngster...]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/seminole-tribe-gets-federal-disaster-declaration-for-hurricane-milton/ar-AA1s3zcG

#Seminole #DisasterAssistance #ClimateCrisis #Florida