Tag Archives: 9/11

Working way too hard on a post about Fort Pulaski that no one will care about

By Mark | July 25, 2013

As I mentioned a few days ago, in my “9 Lessons Learned in Savannah” post, I spent some time earlier this month exploring the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia… chasing dolphins, swatting mosquitos, and soaking up gin and history. In that post, as I recall, I noted that I visited Fort Pulaski – […]

Posted in History, Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged Abraham Lincoln, cannons, Charles H. Olmstead, Civil War, Cockspur Island, David Hunter, Emancipation Proclamation, fear, Fort Pulaski, General Order Number Eleven, Georgia, history repeats itself, James Madison, Joseph E. Brown, Joseph Gilbert Totten, Kazimierz Pułaski, military strategy, Quincy A. Gillmore, Revolutionary War, Robert E. Lee, Savannah, Siege of Savannah, slavery, South Carolina, underground railroad, War of 1812, West Point | 14 Comments

Guilty until proven innocent in the age of ubiquitous electronic surveillance

By Mark | June 6, 2013

Upon taking office, President Obama issued a memorandum on the subject of transparency: “My Administration,” he said, “is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged 9/11 changed everything, Al Gore, AOL, Apple, Bernie Sanders, Bradley Manning, Bush, Constitution, Dianne Feinstein, domestic spying, EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Facebook, FBI, FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Glenn Greenwald, Google, Microsoft, national security, National Security Agency, NSA, Obama, PalTalk, Patriot Act, PRISM, privacy, Protect America Act, Russ Feingold, Russell Tice, Skype, surveillance, surveillance culture, Surveillance State, telecommunications, threats to Democracy, Verizon, war on drugs, War on Terror, whistle blower, Yahoo, YouTube | 35 Comments

Boots Riley of The Coup… on Communism, Corporatism, hip-hop, and the need to beat down scabs

By Mark | November 28, 2012

Last night, I had the occasion to speak with world-renowned hip-hop provocateur Boots Riley on a wide range of subjects spanning from his childhood in Detroit, spent in a household of Communist organizers, to his current work, organizing people in his neighborhood as a member Occupy Oakland. And, of course, we touched on his equally […]

Posted in Art and Culture, Civil Liberties, Corporate Crime, Detroit, Economics, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 21 Grams, advertising, Alex Rivera, American Splendor, anti-capitalist, at-risk youth, Barbara Ransby, Bill Maher, Boots Riley, California, Capitalism, civil rights, class, College of Ethnic Studies, Communism, Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, Danny Goldberg, dark comedy, fast food workers union, Five Million Ways to Kill a CEO, foreclosure defense, fundraisers, Greensboro, guillotine building workshop, Happiness, hip hop, ILWU, independent film, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, interviews, Japanther, Jeff Clark, K-Mart, Kev Choice, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, La Peña Cultural Center, labor history, labor movement, Led Zeppelin, Levi's, longshoremen, lunch counter sit-ins, Magic Clap, Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada Last Night, militancy, NAACP, Nirvana, North Carolina, Oakland, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Sandy, Ohio Players, Oscar Grant, Ozone House, picket lines, police brutality, political hip hop, political organizing, Politically Incorrect, Port of Oakland, Progressive Labor Party, Prop 21, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, rap, revolution, rhetoric of violent revolution, San Francisco, San Francisco State, San Francisco State strike, scabs, SDS, sit-down strikes, Sleep Dealer, social justice, Sorry to Bother You, speaking truth to power, Street Sweeper Social Club, Students for a Democratic Society, sympathy strikes, Taft–Hartley Act, Ted Hope, The Coup, The Guillotine, The Ice Storm, threat of violence, unions, United Steelworkers, USW, Walmart, Walter Riley, Washtenaw Eviction and Foreclosure Defense, we need a revolution, WEFD, Woodruff's, work stoppage, World Trade Center | 32 Comments

The manufactured Republican outrage over the attack of our consulate in Benghazi is not only disingenuous but morally reprehensible

By Mark | November 16, 2012

As I mentioned yesterday, the Republicans, in the wake of last week’s crushing defeat at the polls, are desperately looking for something to cling to. They’re looking for an opportunity to delay introspection, come across to the American people once again as forceful, and, most importantly, weaken the President as he attempts to make the […]

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged American embassies, Barbara Doherty, Benghazi, Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Glen Doherty, hypocrisy, hypocrisy watch, Innocence of Muslims, John McCain, Libya, national security, Soledad O'Brien, Susan Rice, terrorism | 43 Comments

Here we go again… the Swiftboating of Obama has begun

By Mark | August 15, 2012

A few nights ago, I told you about a family member of mine who had shared a purposefully misleading political graphic on Facebook, and how I responded. The piece, which incorrectly attributed $5 billion of the nation’s debt to the “Democratic majority,” was produced by an organization called Right Change, a fake grassroots entity bankrolled […]