The Rag Blog | The Latest in News and Views from the Progressive Front

Alan Waldman :
TELEVISION | ‘Wentworth’ is a dark, dramatic Australian TV series set in a women’s prison

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

An excellent cast, clever, and gripping story lines, and an oppressive milieu make this a top-notch, thinking person’s entertainment.

Wentworth is a compelling, edge-of-your-seat drama.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | July 27, 2015

[In his Rag Blog column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. Most are available on DVD, Netflix and/or Netflix Instant Streaming, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

At a time when Orange is the New Black is delighting U.S. audiences and media, while drawing attention to the shocking plight of women behind bars — much as Bad Girls did in Britain — Australia’s Wentworth (in some countries titled Wentworth Prison and in Poland called Wiezienie dla kobiet) is a compelling, edge-of-your-seat drama down under.

Currently, Netflix is streaming two seasons (22 episodes; 2013-2014) of this series. A third 12-episode season is airing in Australia now, and a fourth has been ordered.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Alan Waldman, Australian Television, Criticism, Prison Drama, Rag Bloggers, Wentworth, Women's Prisons | Leave a comment

Bill Freeland :
Donald Trump: From here to obscurity

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Trump may imagine himself as president, but what he can’t imagine is the perception of himself as a loser.

Graphic by Bill Freeland / The Rag Blog.

By Bill Freeland | The Rag Blog | July 27, 2015

Here’s a first: the entire U.S. media, from the most marginal blogger to the giant TV titans, is united on a single proposition: Donald J. Trump is a man of his word.

Trump says he’s running for president. Which means, according to these clear-eyed commentators, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

“I’ll spend whatever it takes to win,” he has declared.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 2016 Elections, Bill Freeland, Donald Trump, Presidential Campaign, Rag Bloggers, Republican Primary | Leave a comment

The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | Dr. Rania Masri headlines ‘Gaza One Year Later’ fundraiser in Austin

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Event: “Gaza One Year Later”
What: Fundraiser for Gaza featuring Rania Masri
Date: Thursday, July 31, 2015
Time: Reception at 6:30 p.m., Program at 7
Where: Asian-American Resource Center
Address: 8401 Cameron Road, Austin, Texas 78754
Tickets & Donations: $20 advance; $30 at door
Sponsor: Interfaith Community for Palestinian Rights

AUSTIN — One year after the Israeli war on Gaza, where are we now? What has happened in Gaza since? What has happened throughout Palestine? And how can we, as individuals and as a movement committed to justice, organize and respond?

Dr. Rania Masri, an Associate Director at the American University of Beirut, will address these questions and more at “Gaza One Year Later,” a fundraiser for Gaza being held at the Asian-American Resource Center, on July 3, 2015, beginning with a reception at 6:30 p.m.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Gaza War, Metro, Palestine, Rania Masri | Leave a comment

The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | Tribes gather in Houston for Thorne Dreyer’s 70th Birthday Bash and
Rag Blog Benefit!

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Event: Gathering of the Tribes in Houston
What: Rag Blog Editor Thorne Dreyer’s 70th Birthday Bash & Rag Blog Benefit
When: Sunday, August 2, 2015, 5-8 p.m.
Where: Jasmine Room, Baba Yega Cafe
Address: 2607 Grant St., Houston, Texas 77006
Food & Drink: Buffet and Cash Bar
Cost: Free; Donations benefit New Journalism Project

HOUSTON — Road trip! The tribes are gathering in Houston!

The occasion is Thorne Dreyer’s 70th Birthday Bash and Rag Blog Benefit. It’s all happening Sunday, August 2, 2015, from 5-8 p.m., at Baba Yega Cafe, located at 2607 Grant St. in Houston’s legendary Montrose neighborhood.

And everybody’s welcome!
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Baba Yega, Dreyer Birthday, Gathering of the Tribes, Houston, Metro, Rag Blog Benefit, Thorne Dreyer | Leave a comment

Michael James :
Loving the bums, another march on Washington, bonding with my kids, and the White Sox lose to the Orioles, 1983

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

The season was done and I was a sad boy, one ‘mizzable bastard,’ to use my dad’s expression. But I jumped into the cooling waves and was rejuvenated.

Crowd gathers at Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, 1983. Photos by Michael James from his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.

By Michael James | The Rag Blog | July 22, 2015

[In this series, Michael James is sharing images from his rich past, accompanied by reflections about — and inspired by — those images. These photos will be included in his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures
from the Long Haul.]

Horses were my first love, followed by cowboys and Indians. Then came the Brooklyn Dodgers aka “the Bums,” and that was deep love. I loved all the Dodgers. Jackie Robinson was my hero. I attended my first Dodgers game in the late 1940’s, along with my dad and his advertising client, Barney Karlin of Castro Convertible Sofas. We sat close to third base; at the seventh inning stretch a woman in a babushka held up a Schaefer Beer sign and rang a bell. I ate many hot dogs and loved my first sauerkraut.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Civil Rights Movement, March on Washington, Memoir, Michael James, Pictures from the Long Haul, Rag Bloggers, Travel | 1 Comment

Elaine J. Cohen :
METRO EVENT | Jewish peace group holds remembrance for Gaza War victims

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Gaza War, summer of 2014. Photo from Austin Jewish Voice for Peace.

Event: Memorial for Victims of Last Summer’s Gaza War
When: Thursday, July 23, 2015, 7-9 p.m.
Where: Friends Meeting of Austin
Address: 3701 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Austin, Texas 78721
Sponsors: Austin Jewish Voice for Peace and Interfaith Community for Palestinian Rights

AUSTIN — Austin Jewish Voice for Peace is holding a memorial service for the victims of the Israeli assault on the people of Gaza one year ago. Co-sponsored by the Interfaith Community for Palestinian Rights, the service will be held at the Friends Meeting House, 3701 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 7-9 p.m., Thursday, July 23, 2015.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Austin Jewish Voice for Peace, Gaza War, Metro | Leave a comment

Dick J. Reavis :
We are the New Union Army!

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

It’s time to wear our colors as we work to
help finish the Civil War.

Drawing of kepi cap by Miriam Lizcano / The Rag Blog.

By Dick J. Reavis | The Rag Blog | July 12, 2015

In a recent book about the Southern Civil Rights Movement, professor, SNCC veteran, and author Charles E. Cobb tells a story that is useful to us today.

Among the people who turned out for the fourth day of the 1960 sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C., were the members of the football team at the historically-black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. When the team got to the downtown Woolworth’s store, the site of the sit-ins, it found that a mob of whites had formed a cordon around the place. So the team formed a flying wedge and as its members broke through, one of the jostled whites hollered “Who do you think you are?” “We’re the Union Army!” a footballer hollered back.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Civil Rights, Civil Rights Movement, Civil War, Confederate Flag, Confederate Symbols, Dick J. Reavis, Rag Bloggers, Southern History | 2 Comments

Alice Embree :
METRO | Jefferson Davis has no place on
UT’s Main Mall

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Alice Embree

Students and the public are making their voices heard at forums on the UT campus.

Jefferson Davis looks over the UT-Austin campus. Image from KXAN-TV.

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | July 7, 2015

What: University of Texas at Austin Public Forum
Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Time: 3-5 p.m.; Sign up to speak 2:30-3 p.m.
Where: San Jacinto Residence Hall, Room 207
Address: 309 East 21st Street

AUSTIN – – Under pressure to remove Confederate statues from the University of Texas at Austin Main Mall, UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves has appointed a panel to gather input and deliver recommendations by August 1, 2015.

Public input can be given in person at the next public forum on Wednesday, July 15. Speakers must sign up between 2-3 p.m. before the hearing. Comments can be provided online here, or by calling 512-471-3183. The last day for public testimony is July 15.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Alice Embree, Confederate Symbols, Jefferson Davis, Metro, Rag Bloggers, UT-Austin | 1 Comment

Jay D. Jurie :
Community between the anvil and the hammer

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Police violence against African-American communities continues to be a commonplace feature of national life and must be seriously addressed.

Image from Hands Up United.

By Jay D. Jurie | The Rag Blog | July 7, 2015

The Black Panthers: Early proponents of Black Lives Matter

Matthew Johnson, an unarmed 16-year old African-American with his hands in the air, was shot in the back and killed by a police officer in the Hunter’s Point district of San Francisco on September 27, 1966. In response, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and several others formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense the following month.

Denzil Dowell, an unarmed 22-year old African-American, was shot and killed by police in North Richmond, California, on April 1, 1967. Police claimed Dowell was attempting to burglarize a liquor store and was killed by “a single shotgun blast” after he refused an order to halt. A coroner’s report found six bullet holes in Dowell’s body and evidence that he had been shot with his hands up and in the process of surrendering. Nonetheless, an all-white jury found this a case of “justifiable homicide.”
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American History, Black Lives Matter, Black Panthers, Civilian Review Boards, Community Policing, Copwatch, Jay D. Jurie, Militarized Police, Police Tactics, Racial Violence, Racism, Rag Bloggers | Leave a comment

Vikki Bynum :
Racial violence, history, and the debate over
the Confederate flag

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

The Confederate flag symbolizes a sanitized and historically inaccurate version of the Civil War.

Dylann Roof: The Confederate flag was a favored symbol of racial hatred.

By Vikki Bynum | The Rag Blog | July 6, 2015

Listen to Thorne Dreyer’s July 3, 2015, Rag Radio interview with Victoria Bynum about issues raised in this essay, here:

As a historian, I have long regretted the widespread popularity of a flag that represents the cause of Southern secession during the American Civil War, and which was flown in defense of racial segregation during the Civil Rights Era.

In the wake of Dylann Roof’s massacre of nine African-American men and women while they worshiped in the historic Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, we have learned that the Confederate flag was a favored symbol of the racial hatred that burns within Roof’s heart. His horrifying crime, in turn, quickly reinvigorated the long debate over whether that flag should continue to fly over state buildings in South Carolina and other southern states.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Civil War, Confederate Flag, Dylann Roof, Racial Violence, Racism, Rag Bloggers, Slavery, Southern History, Victoria Bynum, Vikki Bynum | 2 Comments

Thorne Dreyer :
RAG RADIO PODCASTS | Interviews with Victoria Bynum, Richard Pells, Maria Svart, Patricia Vonne, and Ray Hill

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

We discuss little-known Southern history (& the Confederate flag); the ‘War Babies’ generation; Democratic Socialism; pioneering gay activism in Houston — and we listen to way cool live music!

Rocker and actress Patricia Vonne, from left, with musicians Robert La Roche and Rick Del Castillo, on Rag Radio, Friday, June 12, 2015. Photo by
Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interviews by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | July 6, 2014

The following podcasts are from recent Rag Radio shows. The syndicated Rag Radio, produced in the studios of Austin’s cooperatively-run KOOP-FM, has an international audience and has become an influential platform for interviews with leading figures in politics, current events, literature, and cutting-edge culture.

∗ Historian Victoria Bynum on Southern History, Racial Violence & the Confederate Flag

Read the show description and download the podcast of our July 3, 2015 Rag Radio show with Vikki Bynum here — or listen to it here:

∗ Richard Pells, Author of ‘War Babies: The Generation That Changed America’

Read the show description and download the podcast of our June 26, 2015 Rag Radio interview with Richard Pells here — or listen to it here:

Continue reading →

Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Interviews, KOOP Radio, Maria Svart, Patricia Vonne, Podcasts, Rag Bloggers, Rag Radio, Ray Hill, Richard Pells, Thorne Dreyer, Tracey Schulz, Victoria Bynum | Leave a comment