Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
As reports of police abuse at Dakota Access Pipeline protests accumulate, a civil liberties NGO warns that activists’ constitutional rights are under attack.
“In Standing Rock, the cops are out of control,” warned Cooper Brinson, staff attorney at Civil Liberties Defense Center, in a report published on Thursday.
Citing reports of humiliation, beatings by police, and unnecessary strip-searches of arrestees, Brinson wrote:
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
Charlo Greene, the local news anchor from Alaska who became a viral sensation for quitting her job while voicing her support for cannabis legalization during a live broadcast, now faces decades in prison on a growing list of drug-related charges.
“Fuck it, I quit,” Greene famously declared live on KTVA on Sept. 22, 2014 at the end of a report on the Alaska Cannabis Club. In addition to revealing that she was actually the owner of the club, she said she was leaving the station to work on the business and push for cannabis law reform full-time.
In the November 2014 election, Alaska became the third state to legalize recreational cannabis, but Greene stands accused of illegally selling the drug in the time between when the vote to legalize took place and the state fully implemented the law. Alaskan police conducted multiple raids and undercover investigations of the club.
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
Amid near continuous harassment and frequent arrests by police, members of over 300 Native American tribes gathered on native land in North Dakota continue to block construction on the Dakota Access pipeline.
“It’s a matter of minutes from when they’re called that they show up and you see constant harassment of people going back and forth to camp,” said Remy, a Diné artist and organizer at the encampment on Standing Rock Sioux territory, known as Oceti Sakowin Camp.
“It shows how close the ties are between the Dakota Access pipeline and law enforcement.”
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
High summer temperatures have claimed the lives of 16 police dogs this year, most of which died as a result of being left unattended in sweltering vehicles, according to figures reported by an animal rights organization and a group that tracks canine law enforcement deaths.
Police dog deaths increased from last summer, when 12 dogs died of heat exhaustion.
This year is edging out 2015 as a more dangerous year for police dogs overall. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks both human and canine law enforcement deaths in the United States, 28 police dogs have died so far this year. Last year, the group reported the deaths of 27 police dogs.
Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News
I covered the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia for MintPress News, where I was disturbed to discover that journalists’ cell-phone signals were routinely jammed at protests near the convention’s security fence. The jamming, which was experienced by both mainstream and independent journalists, was especially clear on the night Pres. Barack Obama spoke.
Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street
I just got back from Philadelphia, where I was covering protests at the Democratic National Convention for MintPress News, so I spent a lot of time observing the activists taking the streets in America.
I’m impressed by the passion and righteous anger so many people are feeling right now, especially those of you who feel betrayed by the Democratic Party. Many of you may be taking the streets, attending nonviolent direct action trainings, and feeling the joy of holding a public space for a cause for the first time in your lives.
I don’t want the post that follows to sound like an “old man yelling at clouds,” but I’ve been an activist for a while now. I don’t claim to be the world’s greatest expert in street protest tactics, but I saw a few things that concerned me in Philly.
