Re-live #occupywallst overnight raid: acoustic weapons, police wagons and more

Photo uploaded by Rebecca Trent to Facebook

For three hours (0120 to 0420), I remotely covered the middle-of-the-night police action against the peaceably assembled at Zuccotti Park in New York. My sources were location-based twitter search, citizen and reporter tweets, live web feeds, the NYPD police scanner and traffic cams. Here is everything I tweeted in a pretty Storify slideshow. (you can see the flat version here) 

If we're experiencing "class warfare," the rich have vanquished everyone else

via Mother Jones

With the top 10% of income earners controlling 2/3rds of the nation's wealth, with payroll taxes covering an increasing share of government revenue, with CEO pay off the charts as a multiple of the average worker pay and with half the members of congress being millionaires, it's abundantly clear that if we're experiencing "class warfare," the rich have vanquished everyone else.

"Warfare" requires both sides to be fighting. This is a slaughter.

I can't imagine a better time to throw my weight behind Tim Pawlenty for president

This may come as a shock to many of you, but I've been really torn during these past few months about who I should support in the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign. Obviously, I supported Barack Obama in 2008, but in 2012 I simply cannot put my weight behind a Kenyan. I'm sure it's a lovely place, but this is America, and I want to support an American this time, so I had to look to the Republican party.

On the weekend of May 20th, I decided to put my full weight behind Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. I figured, "Indiana never bothered anybody and seems like it's got a bunch of nice people," but then Daniels hit himself in the face with a door and got 16 stitches. If a man can't lead his face safely through a doorway, how can he lead America? One day later, he dropped out. This left me in a bit of a lurch.

These past few months have been tough without a candidate of my own. I've looked at the GOP field carefully, but no one was the obvious choice. Ron Paul is interesting, but sometimes he uses the name Rand, and I don't like when a man lies about his name. Herman Cain? No way. We already have a black president! Let's get some diversity in the White House, thank you. 

But late last night I awoke with a sudden clarity of mind. I thought, "America needs results, not rhetoric!!" Genius, right? I immediately typed this prophetic phrase into Google to see if I could trademark it. That's when it became obvious that Tim Pawlenty would get my vote and my support.

So a few moments ago, I visited T-Paw's real-time, up-to-date, super American website. It's beautiful!

I read every news update, watched every video and even joined his Pawlenty Action center! I filled out my profile, and told my Facebook friends about this great, results-driven man. I pledged to volunteer 3,000 hours for his campaign and unlocked the Workhorse badge! So far I've accumulated 204 points, 4 badges and sit in the top 7th percentile of all members, all in a few minutes. My only regret is in having missed the popular American Christian worship band SONICFLOOd at T-Paw's BBQ in Ames, Iowa yesterday.

But overall, I'm relieved, and the timing couldn't be better. It's great to know that I've just today discovered how I'm going to spend my next 3,000 hours. I urge all of you to join me and T-Paw. It's time for truth. Absolutely nothing can stop us now, T-Paw!! Nothing.

What will happen to lemonade stand prices in America?

Video by the NYC-based sketch group Political Subversities. 

Announcing The #BaconWhiskeyFreedom Party & free tickets for Laughing Liberally tonight in NYC

 The Bacon Whiskey Freedom Party (by Baratunde) by baratunde

I am tired of all this U.S. debt ceiling talk. Let's just default already and start a #NewAmerica somewhere else. We'll need bacon. And whisk(e)y. And freedom. I recently asked Twitter about the pros and cons of forming a #BaconWhiskeyFreedom party.

All pros. So let's start building it.

Tonight I'm performing in the final Laughing Liberally show of the summer in NYC. The first 50 people to email laughingliberallynyc-AT-gmail.com (and get a confirmation) will get in for free. Either way, you should come. I'll talk about bacon and whiskey and freedom. 

We can heal America guys.

A worthy #Kickstarter project, Laughter Against The Machine brings progressive comedy to America

Laughter Against The Machine is a tour-doc following comics W. Kamau Bell, Nato Green, & Janine Brito to the nation's political

Fear Of A Muslim Planet? “You can take your religion and shove it!"

cross-posted to jack and jill politics

This beautiful three minute film juxtaposes the blanket anti-Muslim hate gripping much of America with the reality that Muslim Americans are just that, Americans. It's part of the My Fellow Americans project which "calls upon concerned Americans to pledge and spread a message that Muslims are our fellow Americans. It asks people of other backgrounds to pledge, and share a real life story about a Muslim friend, neighbor, or colleague that they admire. Using the power of social media, My Fellow American seeks to change the narrative – from Muslims as the other, to Muslims as our fellow Americans."

If "Muslims are the new black" then we, as the original blacks, fully understand the position many of our fellow Americans are being put in. We have and continue to suffer the slings and arrows of exclusion, otherness and doubts about our status as full members of this nation. The idea that our black president is a Muslim conveniently combines two forms of ignorance into one low-priced fear. So let's lend our credible voices to this worthy cause.

It's not enough to avoid doing harm. We should actively do good, and this seems to me to be a very good thing. This week, I'm finishing the manuscript for my forthcoming book, How To Be Black. In the process I interviewed several people, including comedian W. Kamau Bell. He had a perfect, modest proposal relevant to this post which I have to share:

I think that all people who are fighting for oppressed people should only be allowed to work for the group that's one over from them. Black people should only be allowed to work for the Mexican immigrants' struggle in America. Mexican immigrants should only be allowed to work for gay marriage. Gay marriage should only be allowed to work for black people, etc. I feel like if we all just stepped one group over, I think we would get things done a lot quicker.

So step one group over, and take the pledge:

Muslims are our fellow Americans. They are part of the national fabric that holds our country together. They contribute to America in many ways, and deserve the same respect as any of us. I pledge to spread this message, and affirm our country’s principles of liberty and justice for all.

And spread the word.

My coverage of Glenn Beck's last Fox show and why it's not a massive victory for the left

I used Storify to capture my tweets and add commentary.

So I'll put the punchline up high:

In conclusion, I don't think Glenn Beck leaving Fox is a massive victory for the left, though pressuring his advertisers to stop backing super ridiculous and damaging hate speech is a victory of sorts.

Like a mutant Japanese monster, though, Beck may simply become stronger. His GBTV positions him as a sort of digital Oprah, with his own virtual network and shows, not all hosted by him.

The clothing is weird, but so is Newman's salad dressing. The inspiration behind it is interesting. Beck has built not just a loyal following but a business empire, freeing him to do even more of what he wants than a cable network might allow.

I don't agree with the man. I've seen him try and partially succeed to destroy the life of a friend. But there are lessons to learn from his strategy. Beck talks up to his audiences. He broke many rules of television, selling complicated ideas in long form. He got people away from their televisions and into the streets, and now he's setting up his own platform with digital and physical monetization which will free him even more to realize his dream.

I only wish his dream were more along the lines of a rocket ship and less about half-plagiarized conspiracy theories seeking to explain why "they" want to take "your America" away.

(to make more sense of this, re-live the coverage below)

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With President Obama's Birth Certificate, Klansman Trump Reminds Blacks They Will Never Be American

As I walked to work this morning, I got a text message from the @jjpolitics account on Twitter announcing that President Obama would release his long form birth certificate. I stopped in my tracks as my immediate thought became, "It's happening again. This White House is caving in to extremism." (I recalled how Green Jobs Czar Van Jones was dismissed, essentiall at the behest of conspiracy theorist, plagiarist and fear-monger Glenn Beck). Along with my surprise, however, I felt a deep sadness, especially once I read the coverage of the President's remarks and most especially when I saw this disgusting video of Donald Trump.

It was during my viewing of this video that I began to cry. I thought of my ancestors, both direct and collective, who had fought and died so that I might be treated as an American. I then thought of this fetid, smug, hate-filled, wealthy white man taking credit for the release and yet still not being satisfied. It does not matter how long we've been in these United States. We will never be American.

So, tears in my eyes, pain in my heart and rage in my soul, I composed this video message. More than written text, it comes close to expressing my full pain at witnessing a white man who was handed everything call the President of the United States (and me) a nigger.

My segment on Keith Olbermann last night: Texas as a Tea Party State

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yesterday afternoon, I made my debut on Keith Olbermann for his top story: the recent flipping of two Democratic state reps in Texas has given that state's extreme right wing Republican Party a supermajority in the legislature; that's 101 of 150 seats. Olbermann's point was that this development makes Texas the first "Tea Party State," and I was invited on to help him imagine, comedically and legitimately, what that might look like.

Many of you may not know or remember, but I was a precinct captain for the Obama campaign in Dallas. Here are some of my posts from that era. Thanks to Team Olbermann for having me on

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