I updated my popular Ministry of Hemp article on how CBD can help alleviate symptoms of anxiety with some new research from 2020.
Category: Journalism
I’m pleased to announce the upcoming publication of a new zine, “Beyond the Concrete Milkshake: Tactics for Dealing with Media Trolls & Grifters.”
At the beginning of the year, I announced on Patreon that one of my goals for 2020 was the creation of a zine. I’ve made great progress and intend to publish by late March or early April.
One side effect of the first few years of the Donald Trump administration, with all its associated increase in far-right activity, is a hijacking of Leftist tactics for use by fascist causes. One clear example is the banner drop. Once beloved primarily by far left activists, this technique now sees regular groups by nazi and hyper-nationalist fascist groups. So too it is with the media grifter.
Activism & Shared Social Media: How Can We Close The ‘Occupy Hole’?
Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street
I got quoted in an article about Micah White, the self-styled “Occupy Founder” that recently spent time hob-nobbing with the 1% at Davos. In passing, the article covered another issue: the problem of stolen shared social media accounts during the Occupy Wall Street movement.
During the national Occupy movement, it became routine to hear about camps with a stolen Facebook or Twitter account. One person would get into a disagreement with the rest of the social media working group and run off with the whole account.
When this happens with a commercial business, or a nonprofit or any undertaking that’s conventionally organized under capitalism, the owner can prove ownership of the account and get Twitter to give it back. With a leaderless movement like Occupy, you and your comrades are on your own.
As part of my goal to create more zines, I want to read more zines.
I really believe some of the most useful radical political thinking, and activist strategy, appears in the pages of these self-published pamphlets.
I’ve decided to curate a regular list of new, interesting, or notable zines. I’m aiming to share this list twice a year (or more often if I get really ambitious). It will be similar to the zine list I curated for the Antifascist Month of Unity in October.
Even as CBD’s popularity grows, so does confusion about its legal status and the Food and Drug Administration’s handling of CBD. In reality, the FDA currently does not regulate CBD.
In December, the FDA issued a “consumer update” about the safety CBD. The administration also sent 15 warning letters to CBD brands around the same time. This only added to the tension and confusion. Is CBD safe? Is it legal?
My article on the “felony ban” in the law that legalized hemp in the United States was published in issue 7 of Hemp Magazine.
The felony ban in the 2018 Farm Bill perpetuates the racism of the War On Drugs in the new legal hemp industry. Under the law, many people with drug felonies are banned from being a producer in the hemp industry. At least one state even bans people with drug misdemeanors.