Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
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.
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.
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.
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.
Posted in Journalism, and Lee Camp
Republicans just voted to roll back FCC privacy protections that would have prevented your internet service provider from selling your private browsing history.
After passing the Senate earlier in the week, the House approved a measure on Tuesday which would allow broadband providers like AT&T, Spectrum or Comcast to sell your online data to marketers (as well as corporate and government spies).
The vote in both chambers was split along party lines, with the GOP voting in favor of selling your porn habits to just about anyone who cares to pay for them, including maybe future employers. Naturally, many of these legislators were also the recipient of large donations from the telecommunications industry.
