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Category: Creative Commons

We’re Not Ready: Protecting Events From Fascists & Media Trolls

Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Journalism

One thing that keeps me up at night is the thought of how unprepared the Left is to defend itself. I worry we’re simply not ready for what’s coming.

What I want to focus on in this short article is the idea that groups, from smaller collectives to larger nonprofits, need to be prepared for disruptive, even violent attacks from right-wing operatives. The actors can vary … white supremacists like Patriot Front or street brawling brownshirts like the Proud Boys, even media trolls like Infowars reporters.

At a recent rally for the rights of trans kids in downtown Austin, I watched as right wing trolls (yelling horrid things about pedophilia, groomers and imaginary surgery involving childrens’ genitals) attempted to storm the makeshift stage area where a series of speakers were holding space. The crowd were mostly queer-friendly Austin residents including many families. The organizers looked stunned. State Troopers eventually intervened, but only after regular, everyday people put their bodies in between the fascist trolls and the speakers. And it could have gone much worse. We’re just not ready.

Trans Refugees: Leaving Texas To Protect A Trans Kid

Posted in Austin Chronicle, Creative Commons, Journalism, and LGBTQIA

“It’s heartbreaking to look back and see that the investigations of gender-affirming families have started, that the nightmare I had of someone knocking on my door and threatening to take away my kid is actually coming true for some people,” Camille Ray told me.

Ray’s family are like a growing number of families: they’ve left or plan to leave the state of Texas to protect a trans or queer child. She moved from the Austin-area to Maryland in August 2021, in order to protect her transgender son Leon. We spoke on the phone as she walked her dog on a hiking trail near her home, as research for my recent Austin Chronicle article on the fear and anxiety faced by trans people and their families.

Though the interview didn’t make it into the article, I wanted to share a little of it here since I know her experience mirrors that of so many other residents of Texas, and other states attacking their LGBTQIA+ young folks. People who make the painful choice to leave, essentially becoming political refugees from a state that hates their trans or queer children.

Elizabeth Holmes & The Meat-Grinder Of Capitalism

Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism

Elizabeth Holmes’ guilty verdict chilled me in a way I didn’t expect until it happened.

The popular media suggested a guilty verdict might put the brakes on some of the worst behavior of the tech giants. And the jury found Holmes guilty earlier this month … of some of the accusations against her.

Out of the 11 counts against Holmes, the jury could only agree to a guilty verdict on 4 — all of them involving defrauding investors. On the rest, the jury either deadlocked or acquitted. That includes all the charges involving misleading doctors and patients with false testing results.

Fact-checking Fascism: Axios Platforms Violent Biker Gang Over Veterans Day

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

Over 5 years since the election of Donald Trump and the rise of the powerful white supremacist movement he empowered, the mainstream media still struggles to fact-check fascists.

It always interests me which organizations get the benefit of the doubt from the mainstream media.

I (and many others) have written about how the mainstream media tends to take the words of police at face value. Reporters often use whatever language makes police seem blameless after violent interactions.

Just like cops, right-wing fascists frequently get platformed by reporters who fail to ask vital questions.

Which brings us to an article by Asher Price, an Austin reporter for Axios.