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Creating An LGBTQIA Safe Space In Rural America

January 7, 2017

Creating An LGBTQIA Safe Space In Rural America

In the heart of rural New England, two queer women built a space for art and community.

Amid the relatively conservative, rural surroundings of Manchester, New Hampshire, The Gal-lery is a sanctuary from judgment and oppression. Located deep inside the twisty hallways of a converted former mill, the space to showcase art isn’t marked by flashy signs or promoted with widespread advertising. It’s a place where LGBTQIA people, and others who are marginalized, can simply exist without having to justify their identities to others.

Catherine Graffam, an intersex, nonbinary transgender woman, cofounded The Gal-lery more than two years ago with Madeline Jones, a queer woman who also sometimes uses nonbinary pronouns, after the pair graduated from the New Hampshire Institute of Art. The two began hosting events in 2015 and have since built a successful community of regular visitors and friends. About 50 people attended the Nov. 3 opening of “Gals and Pals,” their first gallery show, which also featured nine visiting artists in addition to the works of Graffam and Jones.

How To Break Rules In 2017 (Gonzo Notes 03)

Police shut down a subway station to prevent anti-poverty activist Cheri Honkala from delivering baked beans to the Democratic National Convention. Philadelphia, July 27, 2016. (Kit O'Connell, CC)

December 24, 2016

Kit

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How To Break Rules In 2017 (Gonzo Notes 03)

Posted in Creative Commons, Gonzo Notes, and Journalism

Here in Austin, Texas, activists love to hold rallies at the state capitol building.

It’s a magnificent edifice of pink granite and the symbolic center of our state, so I can understand the impulse. Yet the grounds are so massive that all but the biggest crowds become visually lost among the monuments, and for about 18 months out of every 24 the building is empty (“a big pink tourist trap”).

I’m tired of attending protests outside an empty building. The bigger issue is that strongly worded speeches alone won’t solve the immense problems we face. Neither will petitions or angry letters.

2016 Goes To Pot: Colorado Cannabis Sales Top $1B & Oregon Sales Defy Expectations

A bud of the "Oregon Blues" cannabis strain. December 11, 2014.A bud of the "Oregon Blues" cannabis strain. December 11, 2014. (Flickr / Matt Dillon, CC NC ND)

December 23, 2016

Kit

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2016 Goes To Pot: Colorado Cannabis Sales Top $1B & Oregon Sales Defy Expectations

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Legal cannabis is booming, and with Colorado netting $1 billion in legal, regulated sales in the first 10 months of 2016, the industry’s growth isn’t showing any signs of slowing.

Sales of both recreational and medical cannabis hit $1.1 billion by October, according to analysis of sales data from the Colorado Department of Revenue. A boost in sales from the December holiday season is expected to push the total even higher.

“We think we’ll see $1.3 billion in sales revenue this year,” said Christian Sederberg, a partner at Vicente Sederberg and a leading cannabis industry lawyer, in a Dec. 12 interview with The Cannabist, a division of The Denver Post.

AT&T-Time Warner Merger: Another Media Consolidation That Puts Profits Over Consumers

The lit AT&T logo on a storefront at sunset. July 24, 2014. (Flickr / Mike Mozart)

November 2, 2016

Kit

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AT&T-Time Warner Merger: Another Media Consolidation That Puts Profits Over Consumers

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Media analysts warn that a proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner is more likely to enhance corporate bottom lines and pad the pockets of Wall Street investors than benefit consumers.

“Big mergers like this inevitably mean higher prices for real people, to pay down the money borrowed to finance these deals and compensate top executives,” said Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press, an NGO that protects net neutrality and online press freedom, in an Oct. 22 press release.

The media first reported that AT&T was in “informal” talks to merge with Time Warner on Oct. 20. By Oct. 24, AT&T announced that Time Warner had agreed to be bought out by the telecommunications giant for $85.4 billion.

Booz Allen Hamilton: NSA’s ‘Digital Blackwater’ A Sign Of Deep Ties Between US Gov’t & Private Spies

A stencil by Banksy on a wall opposite a surveillance camera reads, "What are you looking at?" (Flickr / nolifebeforecoffee) (Flickr / nolifebeforecoffee)

October 8, 2016

Kit

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Booz Allen Hamilton: NSA’s ‘Digital Blackwater’ A Sign Of Deep Ties Between US Gov’t & Private Spies

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Booz Allen Hamilton, a powerful government contractor at the heart of multiple leaks of classified material from the NSA, also spends big on D.C. lobbying, and its employees have given generously to presidential campaigns this election cycle.

In light of Booz Allen Hamilton’s role in two major leaks of government surveillance secrets, the corporation’s lobbying efforts and its employees’ campaign contributions reflect the deep ties between private corporations and the U.S. government and its national intelligence apparatus.

In August, the FBI quietly arrested Harold Thomas Martin, a Booz Allen Hamilton contractor, for stealing classified documents. News of his arrest finally surfaced last week. Martin may have been responsible for the leak of a suite of malware tools that the NSA uses to secretly access computers.

From Facebook To The DEA, Industrial Hemp Industry Growth Stumped By War on Drugs

A field of young hemp plants. June 16, 2016. (Flickr / Lesley L.)

October 5, 2016

Kit

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From Facebook To The DEA, Industrial Hemp Industry Growth Stumped By War on Drugs

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

America’s burgeoning hemp industry faces significant barriers that can only be torn down by the full legalization of this potentially lucrative crop.

Hemp was once one of America’s essential crops, grown by presidents and cash croppers alike, and wars were fought over access to this valuable commodity. It became illegal to grow hemp in the United States with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The federal law bans all forms of the cannabis plant, even though industrial hemp has very low levels of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis that’s grown for recreational or medicinal use.

The 2014 Farm Bill reopened the door to legal hemp cultivation by allowing states which had legalized industrial hemp to license farmers to grow the plant for research purposes, including market research. But many aspects of federal regulation and law surrounding hemp remain “opaque” and confusing, according to John Ryan, founder and director of Ananda Hemp. A subsidiary of the Australian hemp company EcoFibre Industries, Ananda Hemp is growing hundreds of acres of hemp in Kentucky and Tennessee.