Bruce Melton :
Yosemite National Park: Climate Change is here, and it’s bad

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

We are documenting what no others are documenting.

Yosemite National Park, El Capitan, and bark beetle kill. Photo by Bruce Melton / The Rag Blog.

By Bruce Melton | The Rag Blog | July 31, 2019

Bruce Melton will discuss his recent environmental expedition to Yosemite National Park at Thorne Dreyer’s 74th Birthday Bash, a benefit for the New Journalism Project which takes place this Thursday, August 1, 6-9:30 p.m., at The High Road on Dawson. Bruce and his Climate Change Band will perform at the event, as will jazz singer Sarah Sharp.

As of 2017, 2.4 million trees have been killed by bark beetles in Yosemite National Park.

Some say it’s a natural occurrence, and it is. It happens every time our climate changes abruptly.

This story is a part of Climate Change Across America, an epic filmmaking effort to document the ongoing extreme impacts of climate change already happening across North America. This is our fifth year of production and we have driven 52,500 miles in our quest so far, from Brownsville to the North Slope of Alaska, short on money, camping almost always. (See Beach Report 2019, 2018 Photo Tour, 2018 Trip Log, 2018 Instagram, Permafrost 2018, Beach Report 2017, The Desert 2017, The Beetles 2016, and more at ClimateDiscovery.org.)
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Shepherd Bliss :
In praise of honeybees

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

We two-footeds can learn much from the winged honeybees.

“Life vs Monsanto,” gouache on paper. © Cecilia Colomé.

By Shepherd Bliss | The Rag Blog | July 30, 2019

SEBASTOPOL, California — I attended a honeybee gathering recently at a wild place in rural Sebastopol. During my nearly 30 years of organic farming here, I have usually had honeybee hives on my farm. The berries need their pollination.

We two-footeds can learn much from the winged honeybees, especially during this time of international crises. Such bees can help us at this time, which some describe as possibly the final days for humanity, as we move toward a possible exchange of nuclear weapons and the mounting climate change. Fortunately, people in Peru, Scotland, India, and elsewhere honor and pay tribute to honey bees.

“Bees are our family members,” one person at the gathering said. “We honor and pay tribute to this ancient ally of humans. They know the way,” bee whisper host Michael said. “Honeybees call us to awareness. If you are angry or aggressive, the bees feel it.” “How can we transform our anger?” Gary Pace, M.D. asked.
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Jonah Raskin :
Paul Krassner, 1932-2019: American satirist

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

Krassner, who edited ‘The Realist,’ took up where Lenny Bruce left off.

Paul Krassner at City Lights Bookstore, 2009. Photo by Heidi De Vries / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0.

By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | July 29, 2019

REMEMBERING PAUL KRASSNER

“He’s gone. Feel free to spread the word,” Michael Simmons said in an email that went out to a few dozen or so of the usual suspects, including Wavy Gravy, Judy Gumbo, Larry (Ratzo) Sloman, Jim Fouratt, Rex Weiner, Aron Kay, Kate Coleman, Jeffrey St. Clair, and Barbara Garson, some of whom had been Yippies, Zippies and their fellow travelers.

“He,” who was now gone at the age of 87, was Paul Krassner, who took up where Lenny Bruce left off, edited The Realist, helped found the Yippies, reinvigorated satire, defended free speech at every opportunity, and who lived at the end of his life in Desert Hot Springs, California, in part because of the climate and also because he could afford to live there.
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Anne Lewis :
STORY & VIDEO PODCAST | Asilo, terror, y el futuro #5: De militar a narcotroficante

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

Basado en casos documentados por Jennifer Harbury…

Asilio, Terror, y el Futuro #5 De militar a narcotroficante. Basado en historias de casos de Jennifer Harbury from Anne Lewis on Vimeo.

Por Anne Lewis | The Rag Blog | 28 de Julio, 2019

Cuando la gente dice que el huyo forzado y actual de trabajadores y familias, el uso de la fuerza militar, los campos de concentración, la denegación de entrada para los refugiados, el arrebatamiento de niños de los brazos de sus madres y padres son nuevos en la Administración de Trump, tienen poca comprensión de nuestra historia. Es fácil encontrar ejemplos de todo esto – basados en la creencia de que la América es racialmente blanca, ética y políticamente superior a otras naciones y pueblos, tanto dentro como fuera de nuestras fronteras nacionales.

Este podcast explora con Jennifer Harbury por qué tantos refugiados huyen de América Central a pesar de que conocen muy bien el peligro del viaje con secuestro, violación y tormento físico, y el potencial de tortura, encarcelamiento y deportación a través de nuestra frontera.
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Anne Lewis :
STORY & VIDEO PODCAST | Asylum, terror, and the future #5: From military officer to drug lord

Posted on July 27, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

Based on case stories by Jennifer Harbury…

Asylum, Terror, and the Future #5 from military officer to drug lord Based on case stories of Jennifer Harbury from Anne Lewis on Vimeo.

By Anne Lewis | The Rag Blog | July 27, 2019

When people say that the current removals of workers and families, use of military force, concentration camps, denial of entrance for refugees, snatching of children from the arms of their mothers and fathers are new under the Trump Administration, they have little understanding of our history. It’s easy to find examples of all of these — based in the pervasive belief that white America is racially, ethically, and politically superior to other nations and peoples, both within our national boundaries and without.

This podcast explores with Jennifer Harbury why it is that so many refugees flee from Central America even though they know full well the danger of the journey with kidnapping, rape, and physical torment, and the potential for torture, imprisonment, and deportation across our border.

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Ivan Koop Kuper :
A candid portrait of Daniel DeWitt
Thomas, Part 1

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

The making of the 13th Floor Elevators’ album, ‘Easter Everywhere.’

The Elevators’ Danny Thomas (below, on drums) and
Stacy Sutherland.

By Ivan Koop Kuper | The Rag Blog | July 24, 2019

HOUSTON — Danny Thomas, a former drummer-turned-author and a native son of North Carolina, celebrated his 71st birthday last January 15 in his hometown of Charlotte. Thomas, now semi-retired, is at that point in his life where he can stop and reflect back on the turbulent times of his youth and the happenstance chain of events that placed him on a fast-paced, roller coaster ride of both musical and chemical experimentation.

The direction of Thomas’ life would be one of transformation when he accepted the position as the replacement drummer of the Texas psych-rock band known as the 13th Floor Elevators.

Daniel DeWitt Thomas was born into a very old aristocratic East Coast family. His father’s “Pennsylvania Dutch” roots can not only be traced back to pre-Revolutionary War America, but his family was among the first settlers in the Carolinas. His mother’s family lineage equals that of her husband’s and can be linked to the original founding fathers of New Amsterdam, later to be renamed The City of New York by the British.
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The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | Thorne Dreyer’s Birthday Bash August 1 is NJP, ‘Rag Blog’ benefit

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

Event features jazz singer Sarah Sharp and Bruce Melton’s Climate Change Band.

Event: Thorne Dreyer’s 74th Birthday Bash
What: Benefit for New Journalism Project
When: Thursday, August 1, 2019, 6-9:30 p.m.
Where: The High Road on Dawson
Address: 700 Dawson Rd., Austin, TX 78704
Phone: 512-442-8535
Bands: Jazz vocalist Sarah Sharp; Climate Change Band
Admission: $10 Suggested Donation

AUSTIN — Thorne Dreyer’s 74th Birthday Bash is Thursday, August 1, 6-9:30 p.m., at the High Road on Dawson, 700 Dawson Road in Austin. Featured performers are jazz vocalist Sarah Sharp and Bruce Melton’s Climate Change Band.

The event benefits the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit. NJP publishes The Rag Blog, sponsors Rag Radio, and publishes NJP Books. The event is open to the public with a $10 suggested donation. Cash Bar, pizza, birthday cake, books, t-shirts, and Hawaiian shirts will be available.

Anne Lewis will give a brief report on the border situation, Bruce Melton will discuss his recent Yosemite Park environmental expedition, and Alice Embree will talk about the NJP book project, and there will be some poetry reading.

Thorne Dreyer, a pioneering ‘60s underground journalist and longtime Austin activist, is editor of The Rag Blog, host of Rag Radio, and an editor at NJP Publishing.

See the Facebook Event Page.

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Anne Lewis :
STORY & VIDEO PODCAST | Asilo, terror y el futuro #4: ‘Hieleras’

Posted on July 8, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

Basado en casos documentados por Jennifer Harbury…

Asilo, Terror y el Futuro # 4 Hieleras from Anne Lewis on Vimeo.

Por Anne Lewis | The Rag Blog | 8 de Julio, 2019

“La hielera estaba helada. Hacía tanto frío que los labios de mi hijo comenzaron a agrietarse. Sus labios estaban tan agrietados que se rompieron y sus labios estaban sangrando “.

“Me retuvieron con una mujer que tuvo un bebé de 8 días. El bebé gritaba y lloraba porque hacía mucho frío. El pequeño bebé se vio obligado a acostarse en el piso de cemento porque no había camas. Todas las mujeres le rogaron a CBP que hiciera algo para ayudar a este bebé: darle una manta, darle a la madre lactante comida adicional o dejar que la madre del bebé sea procesada primero para que el bebé pueda irse, pero CBP se negó.”

Informe Especial, Consejo Americano de Inmigración diciembre 2015

Un caso de acción colectiva presentado en junio de 2015 alega que “las celdas se congelaban, estaban sobre capacidad y estaban sucios, en violación de la Constitución de los Estados Unidos y las políticas de sus propias agencias.” Las fotografías no selladas en 2016 siguen siendo algunas de las pocas piezas de documentación visual.
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Joshua Brown :
POLITICAL CARTOON | Happy Fourth of July

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer
Previous installments are archived at
http://www.joshbrownnyc.com/ldw.htm

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Anne Lewis :
STORY & VIDEO PODCAST | Asylum, terror, and the future #4: ‘Hieleras’

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

Based on case stories by Jennifer Harbury…

Asylum, Terror, and the Future #4 Hieleras from Anne Lewis on Vimeo.

By Anne Lewis | The Rag Blog | July 3, 2019

“The hielera was freezing cold. It was so cold that my son’s lips began to chap. His lips were so chapped that they burst and his lips were bleeding.”

“I was held with a woman who had an 8-day-old baby. The baby was screaming and crying because it was so cold. The little baby was forced to lie on the cement floor because there were no beds. The women all begged CBP to do something to help this baby—to give it a blanket, give the nursing mother extra food, or let the baby’s mother be processed first so that the baby could leave, but CBP refused.”

— Special Report, American Immigration Council, December 2015

A class action case filed in June 2015 alleges “freezing, overcrowded, and filthy cells in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the agencies’ own policies.” Photographs unsealed in 2016 remain some of the few pieces of visual documentation.

This short video contains descriptions of conditions from Jennifer Harbury. We see refugees on the bridge in Matamoros, Mexico. They wear warm clothing in 90 degree heat, knowing that they are close to the head of the line and will be taken directly to hieleras. A refugee notices the sun and shares her umbrella with an aide.
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Steve Rossignol :
‘Operative 100’: The snitch who maimed Texas socialism

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

It was a conscious effort initialized and orchestrated by corporate interests.

Waco Times Herald, May 20, 1917.

By Steve Rossignol | The Rag Blog | July 3, 2019

It is no secret that throughout American history the labor movement has been infiltrated by government and corporations. This private spying business had its roots with the Pinkerton private detective agency, which after the Civil War earned the reputation as a paid strike breaker and union buster.

The Pinkerton business model soon led to a proliferation of private detective agencies dedicated to the same goal of destruction of the organized labor movement. American industrialists employed them in the quest for profit and at the expense of its workforce as the struggle between labor and capital intensified into sometimes bloody conflicts. And it should be noted that the information provided by those agencies and agents many times proved to be full of misinformation.
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Steve Russell :
In the aftermath of ‘The Photo’

Posted on June 27, 2019 by Thorne Dreyer

Is the United States becoming a rogue nation?

Rio Grande river. Creative Commons photo by Ryan Moehring /
USFWS / Flickr.

By Steve Russell | The Rag Blog | June 27, 2019

Unless you live under a rock, you saw the photo — the same one I saw, the one that set my stomach churning even worse than those of the filthy conditions in our kiddie jails, yours and mine. We also own that picture: Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his almost two year old daughter, Valeria, face down where their bodies washed up. In death, the baby’s arm was still around her father.

I would show you the photo if the copyright laws allowed it. It’s all over Fake News: CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times. You can bet it’s all over Europe as well, and the countries that mean us ill will keep it around to illustrate our president’s crazed tweets on immigration. Remember the “caravans” that required a military response the day before the election and evaporated as the votes were being counted?

Those who accept the task of apologizing for the photo will claim the fault lies with the dead man who fled El Salvador with his family and chose to die in the river between Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas. He died trying to break U.S. law.
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