Conventions // Current

UNCLE SAM : LIVE FROM THE DUMPSTER !

The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society By David DeGraw The Public Record Nov 19th,... more

WhiteNoise
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5 days ago
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Fred Hembeck improves Secret Wars for Mid-Ohio-Con

Mid-Ohio-Con has just released a preview image of Fred Hembeck’s exclusive... more

WesleySmith
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1 month ago
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1 comment

Looking for a Convention?

This handy little convention finder is just the thing for you if you are looking for a... more

booksellergirl
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2 months ago
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Reporting from Dragon*Con 2009

Lou Anders, author and editor, reports about his experience at Dragon*Con 2009. Sounds... more

booksellergirl
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3 months ago
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Geeks find love at Dragon*Con

The 27-year-old is waiting in a line at Dragon*Con, an annual science fiction costume... more

remanns
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3 months ago
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3 comments

Twilight sets sights on convention circuit in US, Canada, and UK (Includes interview and first-hand

Digital Journal continues to inform fans of exciting opportunities to get up close and... more

JayDavidMurphy
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3 months ago
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Crazy CosPlay Pics from FanimeCon 2009

FanimeCon is a Bay Area Anime Convention...and you know what people do at Anime... more

DeliaTheArtist
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6 months ago
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Current: At the Conventions

The Collective Journalism team was on site in Denver and St. Paul for the 2008... more

CJCollectiveWorks
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1 year ago
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Wordled DNC/RNC National Convention Speeches

I found this interesting. I'm not sure it reveals anything profound but it does... more

Path_o_Logic
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1 year ago
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It can't happen here? It already has/DNC & RNC suppression of liberty

As I write this, the precise authority under which members of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department participated in raids of houses and private buildings in St. Paul and Minneapolis this weekend is unclear to me. I have heard from a very harried friend at the National Lawyers Guild that the break-ins and arrests of RNC protestors took place under the auspices of the Secret Service and Justice Department apparently FBI members participated in the raids.

But under whatever authority and in the name of whatever statutes at this point, the cause for detentions in Minneapolis has been given as conspiracy to commit riot, as flimsy and ad hoc a rationale as the infinitely elastic Homeland Security Offense listed on a police report to justify the detention in Minneapolis of independent journalists earlier last week which resulted in the seizure of their equipment and personal belongings it should be obvious that concerns about this country turning into a police state, a corporation-friendly fascist nation like Singapore or the People's Republic of China, are greatly misplaced. There's no need to worry about this happening in the United States.

It already has.

It should also be clear that both the wish list of expanded powers to spy on, arrest, and detain suspects without charge that got dropped into the Patriot Act and the whole War on Terror have as their ultimate objective not to make life difficult for terrorists. No. Like the equally bogus War on Drugs, they are designed to make it easier for law enforcement personnel at every level as always the chief line-of-defense of the propertied classes to terrorize American citizens. Citizens who should perhaps henceforth more properly be referred to as American subjects.

The erosion of civil liberties and constitutionally guaranteed rights in this country an erosion that, it cannot be emphasized enough, did not begin with George W. Bush but has proceeded apace under a succession of Administrations, both Democratic and Republican makes all the eloquent calls we heard from Denver for unity and restoring the American Dream little more than hollow rhetoric. At the national level, both major parties are knee deep in creating and nurturing the military-industrial-congressional complex the genesis of the national security state that Eisenhower warned more than 50 years ago posed the gravest threat of all against democracy and the rule of law.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What we see unfolding in Minneapolis now is courtesy of both parties in our Congress. Those who voted for the Patriot Act and its reauthorization along with the Military Commissions Act, and those who recently voted to allow more spying on American citizens and immunity to those doing it. After eight years of protesting this regime, trying to hold Democrats to a higher standard, and spending countless hours standing up to the murdering traitors that subverted our White House, I feel empty looking at all of this. I feel as if my country is no more. What Democrats will now come out and decry the constitutional abuses going on during this RNC convention? Kudos to the American ctiizens standing up for our freedoms. They are the reason the coward Bush won't show up at the convention, but is speaking via satellite. He is afraid to come close to the American people because he knows he is a criminal who should be arrested, tried, and convicted for crimes and misdemeanors against the constitution and crimes against humanity. So, Nancy Pelosi, how do you like what you and your party have enabled?

cont.As I write this, the precise authority under which members of the Ramsey County... more

JanforGore
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1 year ago
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DNC: Protests

In the streets of Denver, riot police and protestors were out in force, and a clash... more

CJCollectiveWorks
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1 year ago
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28 comments

Tension over protests higher in St. Paul than in Denver

On the eve of the Republican National Convention, uncertainty is blowing through the host city at Category 5.
Not only are people wondering how Sen. John McCain and the GOP will have to alter the convention’s messages because of Hurricane Gustav and the painful reminders of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, but there now are big questions about how the expected street protests will play out.

Local and national media outlets have reported that there have been multiple raids on places where anti-war protesters are gearing up for a massive rally Monday, just before the convention’s opening.

The Hill newspaper, citing the National Lawyer Guild (NLG), reports that the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office, which leads the local law enforcement effort, has raided at least three homes and made several arrests.

Minnesota Public Radio reported that authorities had seized gallons of urine, wrist rockets and kerosene – just the sort of unconventional weapons that were feared, but never emerged, during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Protesters have vowed to go forward with a rally of tens of thousands of people on Monday, when President Bush had been scheduled to speak. (Bush's appearance reportedly is in doubt due to the response to the hurricane.)

The RNC Welcoming Committee, an “anarchist/anti-authoritarian” group planning to “crash the convention,” has been giving regular updates on the protests – including names of those it says have been detained -- through its web site, www.nornc.org,

The group’s web site promotes a whole host of protest activities planned for Sept. 1 to Sept. 4, saying: “the Republican Party is coming to Minnesota to celebrate their latest conquests in global domination and exploitation. We of the RNC Welcoming Committee want to make sure that this time the fear-mongers will be met with their own biggest fear: people mobilized, organized, and taking the future back into their own hands.”

Similar rhetoric was used by protest planners before the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where there were some high-profile confrontations between demonstrators and police but fewer arrests, conflicts and incidents than in past national party conventions.

Will higher tensions translate into more trouble during the RNC? Stay tuned
On the eve of the Republican National Convention, uncertainty is blowing through the... more