The Trump, Dakota Access Pipeline, Branstad Connection

Donald Trump is heavily invested in the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) owned by Energy Transfer Partners, and Kelcy Warren, chief executive of Energy Transfer Partners, donated $103,000 to Donald Trump and continued giving from then on, according to the Guardian. Trump has invested $500,000 to $1 million in the Dakota Access Pipeline and in similar amounts to Phillips 66, which will end up having a 25% stake in the Dakota Access Pipeline when it's completed.

To top it off, Eric Branstad, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s son, is Trump’s Iowa campaign manager. No wonder Gov. Branstad packed the Iowa Utilities Board with Dakota Access pipeline supporters.

Federal and state laws have been violated in the process of excavating and burying the oil pipeline. DAPL has also violated the agreement it made with farmers after claiming eminent domain to seize the farmers' land for "the public good," which is the only reason private land can be seized. Only in the minds of a corporation can a Texas-based oil company thread an oil pipeline under the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and through several states, including North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, seize private land under eminent domain for the project and call it a "public good." Iowa farmers are suing DAPL for their seizure of private land and questioning whether it is for private gain or the public good.

The agreement DAPL signed with farmers said DAPL wouldn't dig in farmers' land when the land was wet. They've dug in the land when it was sopping wet, in violation of the agreement. They've not left the land as they found it. They started digging and cutting down trees before they had permits to do so.

Peaceful protesters have been arrested for trespassing while standing on private land that they have permission from the landowner to stand on. In North Dakota and Illinois, journalists like Cameron Kennedy and James McBride have been arrested for covering peaceful protests of the pipeline, even after showing their press credentials.

Do we live in a republic with constitutional protections of our rights such as the First Amendment, including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, or do we live in a corporate oligarchy?

In the U.S. Bill of Rights, Amendment One reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Has the freedom of the press been abridged? Yes. Journalists with press credentials have been arrested in North Dakota and Illinois. Has the right of the people to peaceably assemble been abridged? Yes. Peaceful protesters have been arrested.