Notices by My camera shoots fascists (mikal@sfba.social)

At this point, I think these Big National Day of Protest(tm) events are nearly pointless. They really need tactical evolution and to become more disruptive. Combine them with small affinity group blockades, set-ins, etc. Shut down a port or a freeway or mass-occupy federal buildings or sit in at collaborationist Democratic politicians' offices... anything but a repeat of the same thing with this month's stick-on label.

I'm very well aware of the many values of large, inclusive mass demonstrations. But if that is all you ever do, the movement will be a scheduled spectacle and never challenge power or be able to make change in any real way.

My nursery has weed plants you can buy and we're delivering to the East Bay if you want to grow your own and say fuck corporate weed. https://planthumboldt.com/delivery

#cannabis #GrowYourOwn

edit to add photo

Imagine running a business for 10 years that can be shut down at any point by any random bureaucratic inspector who decides they don't like something. That's the reality of the Dept. of Cannabis Control's "provisional license" system. Any time, for any reason, they can shut you down with no recourse. As of this year, no new provisional licenses can be issued and everyone has to transition to "annual" license status. But we can't do that until Humboldt County gets through their convoluted process and gives us our CEQA (CA Environmental Quality Act) clearance. They've only had 10 years to figure this out. WTF?

If that doesn't happen by July 2nd, when our provisional license expires. We'd have to shut down and then start the entire annual license application process over again. After 10 years.

I don't want to do that. But then I'm torn between what I want for my life and how all the employees here and our customers feel about this place continuing.

The CW was somewhat joking, but I generally like to keep my @PlantHumboldt promotional posts separate from my regular online life.

We have a mailing list that we send out to notify people about things like East Bay deliveries, sales and so on. I've taken to adding "editorials" this season. Mostly about the Brazil-the-movie-level bureaucratic insanity of trying to run a simple cannabis plant nursery in California. But yesterday's was about how much our customers and employees love this place.

It's true! We have so many people who come here year after year to get their plants and think it's the coolest place ever. (They're right!)

Many of them say things to me like they hope we can survive and stay in business. I'm guessing they sense the tiredness in me when I'm writing about what a stupid and tiresome mess California cannabis is for anyone without millions of dollars in investor money to burn.

@kellyromanych

I have never liked this MF. He hated homeless people when he was mayor of San Francisco. Always a grease ball.

Just stopped at my old friend the Niland mud spring. It hasn't changed very much since I wrote the story about it on my blog, but it did move far enough westward that they rebuilt the train track in its original location. The old section of Highway 111 is slowly being undermined, but the spring seems to have slowed its advance for a while.

Here the long story (with photos and memes!) if you want to read it. I had fun with it.
https://www.mikaljakubal.com/the-meandering-mud-pot/

#Niland #MudSpring #Geology #SaltonSink

This is my favorite Arizona rest area warning sign.

Also, every time I see it, my inner pedant is like "Um, actually…"

@paninid

Okay then, find their offices and then publicize this fact to the individual investors. Most things Wall Street are out of my wheelhouse, but I'm sure there are lots of people intimately familiar with how all that works who could suggest targeted actions. This is probably more of a propaganda campaign than street protest, but bring it!

I think that while the #TeslaTakedown protests should continue, where possible they should switch gears to target shareholders. I'm sure there are all kinds of funds holding Tesla stock without the knowledge of the people whose funds are invested.

Is this being done or talked about?

@evan

Hello from the US, where we have a hell of a moral debt to the world, as we close borders and likewise belittle and oppress people from countries whose wealth we've extracted for hundreds of years.

As a child, I watched G-rated, family-friendly movies where Nazis were bad actually and people who refused to cooperate with them were heroes.

I think the grownups of that time were trying to teach the kids something.

#MakeNazisAfraidAgain

A little while ago, inspired by this essay, which you should totally read https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-case-for-embracing-cringe/ by @Daojoan I decided to make some stickers because anything worth doing is worth putting on a sticker, amirite.

I had them printed at The Gloo Factory, a radical print shop in Tucson that you should totally support.

Send me an SASE and I'll send you one for free! I had 100 printed, so first come first served. SASE to: Mikal, P.O. Box 5, Redway CA 95560. I won't be back there for a week, but I'll get to them then. (small tips accepted, not at all required)

#cringe #BeTheCringe

"A Mountain" flag protest up close for scale.
I'll have more #TeslaTakedown pics from Tucson later.

After the #TeslaTakedown protest in Tucson today, a group went to the iconic "a mountain" and hung an upside down flag

Hanging upside down flags on local iconic landmarks should happen everywhere. After the one in Yosemite on El Capitan, the meaning is widely recognized. It is an easily reproducible meme-action.

#Tucson #Protest

#TeslaTakedown #Tucson #Protest

This is a large, busy intersection with people lining both sides of all four cross streets. Constant honks and waves from vehicles going by. I don't have an estimate on the number of people, but it was quite a respectable number and a very lively crowd.

@skinnylatte @sindarina

Facetiousness aside, the advantage to a lot of European (very broadly inclusive) countries are things we don't have like healthcare, efficient transit, less gun violence, and so on. If I had frictionless freedom to move, I could go to southern France or Italy and do the same migrant support work I do here, with a similar climate, but not have to worry about healthcare. So, you know, there's that.

@sindarina

You are ruining this American's fantasy version of Europe. I need to pretend there is someplace vaguely civilized in this world that I could run away to 😱

It should be pretty clear to any federal employees by now that they have virtually nothing to lose by taking direct action. "What are they gonna do, fire me? Lol."

Also, naming and shaming any supervisors who are Trump collaborators, and threatening to prosecute them later, might slow their zeal a bit.

General strike of ALL federal employees, with office occupations to prevent traitorous supervisors from accessing records, firing people and so on.

Injury to one is injury to all. If every office is occupied and every door is locked from the inside and all computers have had their passwords changed, that would shut down DOGE or at least create a massive amount of friction and give the public a rallying point to support federal workers and oppose Trump.

This is part of the problem. For most of us, there is no focal point for rage or protest. But an occupied federal office would be a great place for the public to surround, set up tents in front of and provide support to striking and occupying workers inside. And there are federal offices virtually everywhere.

There aren't enough National Guard troops to break up every occupation.

No one needs a union to start this. This is the perfect time for a wildcat strike. And for those who are doing directly life-saving work, others can go on wildcat sympathy strikes.

Damn, if Americans don't need to learn their labor history. No time like the present.