Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Creative Commons, Gonzo Notes, and Occupy Wall Street
September 17, 2012: the financial district was in chaos.
On the morning of the one year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, marking the day that tents first went up in Zuccotti Park, activists flooded Wall Street for hours.
Some held birthday parties in bank lobbies until the police came. Others took the furniture out of buildings and threw it in the street. One group I knew blocked traffic with a makeshift donut stand, offering dumpster-dived pastries and coffee to the NYPD.
Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp
“It’s mold resistant, it’s pest resistant, it’s fire resistant.”
Leigh Humphries, from Wilmington, North Carolina, is passionate about hempcrete, the sustainable building material she used to build a unique doghouse.
Humphries recently graduated with a degree in Sustainability Technologies from Cape Fear Community College, and the doghouse was her “capstone” project in the vocational program.
While you won’t yet find hempcrete doghouses shading Fido from the sun in many back yards, it’s a building material with proven benefits and a growing appeal. Hempcrete homes are popping up from Kentucky to Alaska and beyond.
We love hemp, but we’re sick of lies and inflated promises about it.
At Ministry of Hemp, we’re dedicated to spreading knowledge about hemp and hemp-based products like CBD oil. But some sites are more concerned with sales than sharing honest, scientific information about hemp.
While thousands of people have experienced the benefits of CBD, it’s not a miracle cure for every disease despite the ridiculous claims some websites make. In other cases, dishonest vendors rely on misleading labelling and inflated pricing to make their products seem more powerful than they really are.
Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Journalism
Summer 2016 – present: Emboldened by the increasing success of Donald Trump and the “alt-right” fascist agenda, white supremacist groups step up recruiting and propaganda efforts on college campuses. Racist posters & graffiti tied to white supremacist groups like Vanguard America and Identity Evropa routinely appear on and around UT Austin.
November 19, 2016: The hate group “White Lives Matter” stages a protest outside the Texas Capitol to coincide with the unveiling of the African American History Memorial. The white supremacists are met by an overwhelming force of counter protesters, but are defended by Austin Police Department horse cops and Texas DPS State Troopers in armored riot gear. A handful of arrests are made but the fascist event is effectively surrounded and shut down.
March 4, 2017: The far right rallies at Woolridge Square park as part of a national “March 4 Trump” day of action on “Confederate Flag Day.” Local organizers include known fascist Jennifer Drabbant. Trump supporters happily march and rally side by side with neo-nazis and fascist 4chan trolls. A small counter-protest is surrounded by violent fascists, including Gregorio Rendon who assaults activist and gonzo journalist Kit O’Connell by slamming him head-first into a lamp post. Kit is arrested by Austin Police Department and charged with misdemeanor assault, while Gregorio is briefly held in cuffs than released without charges. Kit is admitted to the hospital with injuries to his head, arm and leg.
Posted in Audio, Journalism, LGBTQIA, and Traitor Radio
Increased visibility has become a double-edged sword for transgender, intersex and non-binary Americans, who are increasingly targeted by religious conservatives and Republican lawmakers. You’ve probably heard of “bathroom bills” like HB 2 in North Carolina, which force people to use public restrooms according to the gender they were assigned at birth. But in addition to playing bathroom police, politicians are also championing “religious liberty” legislation — bills that are, in actuality, just about letting people discriminate against trans, intersex, non-binary and other queer folk if they claim Jesus told them to.
We’re at a pivotal political moment, and allies must support trans, intersex, non-binary and queer activists in their fight for freedom. On this episode of Traitor Radio, we talk about how.
Posted in Act Out!, Creative Commons, Journalism, and Video
We’ve got a hot summer ahead, and I don’t just mean record-breaking temperatures thanks to climate change.
Assuming the fuck-ups in the GOP clown car, currently careening out of control across our nation, can get their act together, we’re poised to see devastating legislation targeting some of the most vulnerable people in America. People are angry, and ready to active against the system, in a way we haven’t seen in years.
And huddling in corner number two — are the Democrats. And despite their feeble attempts at both resistance and distinct alternatives, their proposed “Resistance Summer” is designed to attract new activists and bring a flood of new liberal voters to the polls in upcoming elections.
Despite the catchy, chic, goes-with-a-beach-tote name, we’ve seen this sort of thing before from the Democrats. Indeed, while the party claims to support progressive causes, Democrats have a long history of sucking the life out of grassroots movements, taking their momentum for revolutionary change and directing the energy back into the American status quo at the ballot box.
