I had a lot of fun at Standing Rock. The spontaneous resistance in Cannonball, ND, and the environmental movement it spearheaded, was for me the most inspiring uprising of 2016. My favorite memories were watching the ever increasing flow of distant tribal delegations make their formal running entrances into the main camp. Indigenous peoples came from across the world to join the largest NDN resistance gathering since the Little Big Horn. I was encouraged to see the keen interest of the international press and documentary filmmakers even though local and national media stayed clear. Standing Rock was also not all that it was billed to be. It wasn't going to be DAPL's Last Stand. The scene was dominated by patriarchal religious elders who stymied initiative, unity, and best practice at every turn. If it wasn't for the actions led by the Red Warrior Camp, maligned and disowned by tribal leadership, the gathered "Water Protectors" would not have protected or resisted a thing. Every media victory, every provoked outrage, and every setback for the DAPL was orchestrated against the orders of the official organizers, whose sabotage was abetted by the usual passivist NGO allies and their PC scolds. Reservation chairman Dave Archambault II turned out to be made of straw. When protest momentum threatened to become unstoppable, his agency-indian cronies capitulated to the USG. "DAPL Dave" as he came to be called, evicted the camp himself. (That's not Archambault above. That's FBI-informant Heath Harmon, who set up Denver activist Red Fawn. More on that below.) DAPL-Dave's true colors were known to Occupy Denver visitors to Standing Rock. Early on we stumbled into a secret meeting at the casino which Dave and his cronies held with the National Guard, the BIA, and state troopers. The forward North Camp, the only encampment which actually blocked the pipeline, was already being surrendered. Yes, back in September! We were ejected under the pretext of being non-native. Meanwhile real Native American activists were furiously searching the halls to attend or disrupt a falsely rumored press conference. Outside the secret meetings, the same cronies pretended to be the camp's champions and wielded all the authority. The counterproductive leadership edicts were laughable: No photos. Wait, what?! No 'isms. Yes let's throw education out with the bathwater. No activists affiliated with "Anonymous". Um, why? Women must wear skirts at the sacred fire. Hahaha in subzero weather! Camp needs: meat, wood. Unpalatable for environmentalists, also not sustainable. Another self-defeating hierarchy was the legal branch. At face value it was great to see lawyers stepping forward to offer their services. Their pitch was standard: you're on your own, use public defenders, but we'll provide coordination and advice. In practice they've proven to be a fiasco. The difficulties are being blamed on the ferocity of federal prosecutors and the hostility of racist North Dakota juries. Yeah, no. So basically, the narrative is still being written by defeatists. The hundreds of water protectors who face charges have had mixed results in