One eye drop of blood
and pupils dilate
Looking at light becomes painful
We accept blindfolds
from executioners
Paint targets on sun [Read more…]
Voices from Stonewall, the Riot that Sparked the Gay Rights Movement | Video Worth Watching
In order to make a movie more palatable to the public, Hollywood often glosses over or contradicts key historical elements. In this short video The Real Queens and Kings of Stonewall, Matt Baume provides a reality check regarding the commercially released Hollywood version of the riots: Stonewall.
And here are some more voices of actual participants in the groundbreaking historic Stonewall riot: Stonewall Veterans Talk About the Night That Changed The World – Stonewall: Profiles of Pride. [Read more…]
Summertime | A Photographic Look
In 1958, before I knew about the classic, wonderful bluesy “Summertime” from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, “Summertime, Summertime” was the title of a bouncy one-hit wonder that I liked a lot back in the day. I’ve been using that word, instead of just ordinary Summer, ever since. And I often sing the song (usually just to myself.)
But, making a slideshow of summer pictures when you live in San Diego ain’t so simple. So many images that say “summer” in other places just say “ho-hum” in “Sun Diego.” Sunshine? Got it. Water? Well, yeah. Lazy summer days? All year ‘round. [Read more…]
Ex-SDPD Chief Zimmerman’s Fake News on Marijuana Takes on a Life of Its Own
By Jessica Sutherland / Daily Kos
Ever since the term “Fake News” entered the popular lexicon, almost everyone knows to check their news sources closely, and roll their eyes at Trump. But what’s a responsible citizen to do when “Fake News” and “alternative facts” originate with reliable, trusted sources?
Recently retired San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman should, in theory, have been one of those reliable, trusted sources, assuming you trust law enforcement. Unfortunately, a recent investigation by Voice of San Diego’s Jesse Marx reveals that the former chief manufactured crime statistics in an apparent effort to block expansion of the cannabis industry within America’s Finest City. Worse, her fake facts are now being used to justify and shape cannabis attitudes and policy in other municipalities.
This is how it begins. [Read more…]
Fitz and the Tantrums – A Place for Us | Video Worth Watching
Here’s the 2016 release from Fitz and the Tantrums – A Place for Us. Updated: found the YouTube video version.
From the YouTube website:
Help Us Share A Positive Message + Support A Great Cause With Every T-shirt Purchased at bit.ly/FitzPopUpShop
Film and send us your own answers to the questions in the video using #Place4us on all social platforms!
100% of the net proceeds from the month of sales through July, on these t-shirts are being donated to Together Rising for their fundraising efforts for legal council for migrant families and children seeking asylum that have been detained at our southern border.
(h/t to Lisa J.) [Read more…]
DJ Shub – Indomitable ft. Northern Cree Singers | Video Worth Watching
Here’s another sort of “national celebration”: people gathering to celebrate the customs and cultures of indigenous peoples. From the YouTube website:
Anchored by the drum and vocals of the seven-time Grammy nominated Northern Cree Singers, DJ Shub’s “Indomitable ft. Northern Cree Singers” re-introduces the world to the musical prowess of this award winning music producer and title earning competition DJ.
Shipwreck | Geo-Poetic Spaces
The ship has run aground
in coiled ropes of clouds
and unanchored waves
No sign of crew or cargo
just tears of rust
for a salty sea
[Read more…]
The Second Civil War Will Be Tweeted
In between shilling pills and elixirs like InfowarsLife Super Male Vitality tonic and fighting off lawsuits from his wife and Sandy Hook parents, MAGA groundhog Alex Jones saw his shadow and prognosticated a Second Civil War launched by Democrats on July 4. No, we aren’t linking to it— no clicks from us.
While we Dems prepare for the final assault on the Red Hats, the twitter hashtag #secondcivilwarletters , a send up of Ken Burn’s Civil War documentary, is today’s best fun read.
Happy Fourth of July, I Guess
Hoping you can enjoy the day a little.
I find myself completely out of the spirit.
I feel as though celebrating independence while on the brink of losing it is somewhat naive and out of touch, to say the least. Can’t help but think of the lives lost fighting for ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” only to arrive at this questionable point in history.
“When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross …” keeps running through my mind.
But then I think, “Hmm, am I being dramatic? Haven’t people throughout the course of American history felt we were on the verge of collapse?” Here’s to hoping this is just the latest in the phase of ever constant doom and gloom. [Read more…]
What to the Working Class is the Fourth of July?
On this day when we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, it’s important to remember Jefferson himself believed that each new generation needed to make the American creed their own. And everyone from slaves to women to working people did just that as we see in Frederick Douglass’s great speech “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?”, the early feminist manifesto “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls,” and the much lesser known “Working Men’s Declaration of Independence.”
This last is centrally important to remember because while Americans are largely aware that the battle for inclusion involved long and heroic abolition, civil rights, and women’s movements, struggles around issues of class have all-too-frequently been relinquished to the dustbin of history. Such is the case with the early Working Men’s Party that was railing about what Bernie Sanders calls “the billionaire class” well before the time when many historians mark the beginning rustlings of the American labor movement.
Indeed, what the early Working Men’s Party history shows is class rebellion is as American as apple pie and was seen as a fulfillment of the Jeffersonian project. How so? [Read more…]
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
“Had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” –Frederick Douglass
Editors Note: Back in the days before tweets and excerpts long-form oratory was considered a high art form. And the occasion of Independence Day was considered the ultimate forum for such speeches. In 1852 –on the day after all the patriotic celebrations– fugitive slave Frederick Douglass delivered the following speech to the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, N.Y. It’s ten thousand words long, a massive tome by today’s standards. I hope you’ll consider taking a few minutes out from your holiday to read what historian Andrew S. Bibby calls a “tribute to national independence, to political freedom, and to the coming into being of a nation.”
[Read more…]
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A. | More Video Worth Watching
A song for our nation’s birthday from an iconic U.S. citizen musician … [Read more…]
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