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Tag: American politics

Laughing Ourselves To Hell: Trolling As A Lifestyle (Gonzo Notes)
A man holds a sign with Pepe The Frog on it, along with the words "Deplorables And Alt Right Unite." At the "March 4 Trump" rally in St Paul, Minnesota on March 4, 2017. (Flickr / Fibonacci Blue, CC license)
May 15, 2017
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Laughing Ourselves To Hell: Trolling As A Lifestyle (Gonzo Notes)

Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Gonzo Notes

I was a teenage (and young adult) troll.

In my early 20s especially, I hung out on SomethingAwful, a website with a lively associated forum that would often target groups we perceived to be low hanging fruit (furries, goths, and so on) for online attacks.

Our viciousness never rose to the level of today’s super-trolls, who send SWAT teams to their enemies’ houses or wage ongoing campaigns that drive vulnerable people to suicide, but I can see how I took part in the early days of this trend, and I’m not proud of it.

Part of maturing for me has been recognizing that I can’t eradicate this prankster side of myself, so I’ve instead learned to direct it against the corrupt systems that promote inequality and the powerful people who profit off modern day, extractive capitalism.

Pranking up, not punching down.

Read moreLaughing Ourselves To Hell: Trolling As A Lifestyle (Gonzo Notes)
Racist Attacks On Voting Rights & Endless War For Profit (Black Tower Radio Interview)
A B-52 Stratofortress flies a military support mission over Afghanistan. 2006. (Flickr / U.S. Air Force / Master Sgt. Lance Cheung, public domain)
May 3, 2017
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Racist Attacks On Voting Rights & Endless War For Profit (Black Tower Radio Interview)

Posted in Act Out!, Audio, Journalism, and Lee Camp

Gerrymandering, Voter ID laws, and the Interstate Crosscheck system are three examples of the racist attacks on voting rights in the USA in recent years. We can’t hope to reclaim government from far-right nationalists when millions of POC and other minority voters are turned away.

Also, did dropping bombs make Donald Trump presidential? The truth is that war is always waged for profit, no matter which party holds the Oval Office.

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Life On The Precipice (Gonzo Notes)
The camera looks down a rocky precipice onto watery rapids far below. Sydney, Australia. February 27, 2002. (Flickr / AWiggert, CC NC ND license)
April 29, 2017
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Life On The Precipice (Gonzo Notes)

Posted in Creative Commons, and Gonzo Notes

Here I am, writing to you from the edge. From many edges, really.

By the time you read this, I’ll have turned 39 years old. I’m on the edge of 40, on the edge, I guess, of middle age.

I recently found out that I have glaucoma in my right eye, meaning that I’ll spend the rest of my life on the verge of losing my vision, as long as the eyedrops keep working.

Right now, it also feels like the country and the world are on the precipice, too. The Oval Office is occupied by a giant crybaby seemingly intent on baiting foreign powers into nuclear war via Twitter.

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We Will Never Have A Legit Democracy Until We Change These 3 Things
The US Capital building at sunset, with the Ulysses Grant memorial in front. February 19, 2017. (Flickr / Craig Fildes CC NC ND license)
April 28, 2017
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We Will Never Have A Legit Democracy Until We Change These 3 Things

Posted in Journalism, and Lee Camp

Decades of racist attacks on voting rights have given the far right a virtual stranglehold on American politics. (And this doesn’t mean the neoliberal left is blameless.)

Republicans control Congress, the Presidency, the majority of state legislatures, and the majority of state legislatures. You combine that with the fact that most Democrats only defend their corporate sugar daddies and the result is a heavily right-wing agenda sweeping America. Many are now looking to the mid-term elections in 2018 as an opportunity to turn things around.

Efforts such as Bernie Sanders’ “Unity Tour” are meant to lure voters back into the Democratic fold and also to the polls. They also hope to encourage new candidates to run for office. Unfortunately, they’re likely to fall far short of their goal, thanks to voter ID laws, gerrymandering of districts, and a system called Interstate Crosscheck, all blatantly racist moves by the GOP which purged millions of mostly minority voters from the rolls or otherwise kept them home on election day.

Read moreWe Will Never Have A Legit Democracy Until We Change These 3 Things
Who Would Jesus Arrest? Conservative Alabama Megachurch Could Get Its Own Police
Oakland Police on January 28. Photo by J. Paul Zoccali.
April 19, 2017
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Who Would Jesus Arrest? Conservative Alabama Megachurch Could Get Its Own Police

Posted in Journalism, and Lee Camp

A megachurch in Alabama could soon begin hiring its own cops.

Approved by the Alabama Senate on April 11, civil liberties experts are warning that the move will mark a major escalation in the growth of the American police state if, as expected, it’s also approved by the House and Governor Kay Ivey.

Briarwood Presbyterian Church, located near Birmingham, isn’t just one of those oversized churches with a bunch of giant flat screen TVs and its own coffee shop. With 4,100 members, and 2,000 students in its own K-12 school, church officials claim neither deputies from two nearby communities nor private security are enough to keep their religious community safe.

Read moreWho Would Jesus Arrest? Conservative Alabama Megachurch Could Get Its Own Police
Fascism & The Harsh Lessons Of Failure (Gonzo Notes)
A protester dressed in a yellow raincoat holds a sign reading "Fascism is so 1930s." Protest against Trump travel ban, American embassy in London, February 4, 2017. (Flickr / Alisdare Hickson, CC SA license)
April 10, 2017
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Fascism & The Harsh Lessons Of Failure (Gonzo Notes)

Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Gonzo Notes

I’m in a strange position this month as a gonzo journalist, because I can’t really write about the major action I attended last month.

The short version is that I attended a counterprotest against the Austin version of the national “March 4 Trump.” We were badly outnumbered, surrounded and attacked by fascist Trump supporters. I survived a serious assault and was hospitalized overnight. I now face a misdemeanor assault charge even though I was the victim, along with hospital bills, and this charge prevents me from writing much more.

Still, here’s the main lesson I learned — at least the one that’s safe to share:

We are not ready.

Read moreFascism & The Harsh Lessons Of Failure (Gonzo Notes)