Kos: Inside the Mind of Markos Moulitsas
There are many dark and mysterious places on this planet. I assume they would also exist throughout the universe although I can’t be sure because when I bought my telescope as a kid, I assumed heavenly bodies meant those found in the house across the street. Anyway, many would find at least some of these [...]
Progressives Help Providence Economy
“Providence seems to be bucking the bad economy,” according to a recent editorial in the Providence Journal. The Projo bases this finding on the fact that June hotel occupancy in the Capital City was the highest its been since October of 2004. “An important barometer of economic activity, hotel-occupancy rates, topped 80 percent in the [...]
Solidarity, For Now? The Many Costs of Labor’s Decline
When I moved to RI in 2003 from Washington, I was rather stunned to hear many of my liberal friends repeat the media meme that organized labor was too powerful in the Ocean State [note: I will use the term 'liberal' rather than 'progressive,' because in my experience people on the left my age and [...]
Linc Chafee Was MIA at Netroots Conference
Oh man wasn’t Netroots Nation AWESOME? So EPIC! And what a great job our elected officials did, coming out to meet and greet all those folks in attendance! Not just at the conference itself, but also at the many fundraisers and after parties and happy hours, going all the way back to Wednesday. Let me [...]
Netroots Nation: A Review
Preparing for my Netroots panel discussion on revitalizing local political blogs, I was corrected by moderator Andrew Villeneuve of the Northwest Progressive Institute when I introduced myself as having come to the blogosphere from the mainstream media. “You mean the traditional media,” he interrupted. “We are the mainstream media.” While it’s a debatable claim, it [...]
Iran: the Progressive War?
Iran 2012: Iraq 2003 All Over Again? presented the neoliberal case for the imposition of economic sanctions on Iran. The panel was moderated by Karen Finney and consisted of Democratic strategist Bob Creamer, Alireza Nader from the Rand Corporation, National Security Network executive director Heather Hurlburt, and Rhode Island’s own Senator Jack Reed. Reed was [...]
NN Panel: No Such Thing as Progressive Security Policy
That’s my takeaway from the Netroots Nation panel Intervention, Isolation, and the Future of Progressive Security Policy (watch the full panel in that link), which was moderated by Adam Weinstein of Mother Jones; and featured Tom Perriello (fmr. U.S. Representative for VA-5 and now president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund), Dr. Kristin Lord (here on [...]
How Sports Shapes Our Politics and Why it Matters
Still think sports and politics exist only in exclusive hemispheres? On Thursday, June 7, the Smith Street entrance to the Rhode Island Statehouse was dominated by a two-story Green Monster-green banner congratulating the Boston Red Sox on the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. Inside, state officials were struggling to deal with the aftermath of that [...]
NN12: Local Blog Panel Today with Yours Truly
Want to know how to make your local progressive news website sustainable? Come to the panel I’ll be speaking at today at 3 pm called Revitalizing State and Local Blogging. I’ll be joined by moderator Andrew Villeneuve, of the Northwest Progressive Institute Phillip Martin of the Burnt Orange Report, Laura Packard and Angelica Rubio … and [...]
Senator Whitehouse Addresses Netroots
Rhode Island’s most progressive voice in Washington D.C., Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, was one of the opening speakers at Netroots Nation last night. Another was Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, one of the most progressive voices in-state. Here’s the video of Whitehouse’s speech … when we get some of Taveras, we will post that here too.
Progress Report: Budget Bill, 38 Studios, Netroots
It’s hard to imagine a more news-packed day than yesterday for Rhode Island: 38 Studios filed for bankruptcy and is now being investigated by state and federal authorities, the House passed the state budget plan after a marathon session that ended just after 3:30 this morning and, oh yeah, thousands of progressive activists were downtown [...]
Netroots Nation: Day One
About 8:00 AM, I got my media credentials (thanks to Bob Plain) and I headed upstairs to the Convention Center Rotunda to hear Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead and friends discuss the news that day. Mainly it was focused on Scott Walker’s victory in the recall election. And mainly, it was sort of the smarminess [...]
Occupy Goes Home: Making Me Love OWS at NN12
I hadn’t meant to attend this discussion, but I’m glad I did. Occupy Goes Home: The Occupy Movement and the Foreclosure Crisis was hands down the best thing I attended on Thursday, and blew the rest out of the water. Moderated by Sarah Jaffe (Labor Editor at AlterNet), it featured Matt Browner-Hamlin (from Occupy Our Homes), Nick Espinosa (of Occupy Homes Minnesota and the activist who famously glitter-bombed [...]
Netroots Asks: ‘What Does A New Economy Look Like?’
I stumbled across our editor Bob Plain at Beyond Occupy: What Does a New Economic System Look Like? which took place at 10:30 AM. Bob was unfortunately trying to coordinate with David Pepin on the budget live-blogging, leading to some furtive discussion on his cellphone that eventually attracted a few stares before Bob went outside. The panel discussion itself [...]
What Do We Do When We Win?
As we kick off Netroots Nation 2012, we have some progressive wins to celebrate: halting Keystone XL, defeating SOPA/PIPA and a nasty anti-union bill in Ohio, changing the economic conversation in the country and gaining advances on marriage equality, to name a few. But throughout the past year, we’ve also witnessed some aggressive and reckless [...]
Netroots Itinerary, Day 1
Of course everyone talks about the parties and the networking opportunities, but the real action at Netroots Nation is in the panels and speakers. Each day of the big progressive get together I’ll be posting a little bit about some of the panels and speakers I’m looking forward to sitting in on. Look for posts [...]
Netroots, Occupy Should Protest State Budget Bill
Sometimes the stars align for good things to happen. Here’s hoping such is the case with the seemingly-destined convergence of progressive events to play out in Providence Thursday afternoon. Netroots Nation will be in the middle of its first day inside the Convention Center. Occupy Providence will be protesting economic inequality outside on Sabin Street. [...]
Occupy Providence Picks the Wrong Target
In case you haven’t noticed, there will be two different types of occupations in Providence this week. Netroots Nation will be inside the convention center and Occupy Providence will be outside. David Segal has a piece on this site pointing out why that’s perfectly legal. And it’s good Providence has such a strong protection for [...]
Sheldon, Taveras, Cicilline Eagerly Await Netroots
With literally thousands of progressives from across the country descending on Providence for Netroots Nation, it’s important to recognize the local progressives who brought the annual conference of lefty activists and journalists to the Ocean State: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Mayor Angel Taveras. The three lobbied hard to host the 2011 event in Providence. But [...]
Three Local Authors, RI Futurists Present At Netroots
Three Rhode Island progressive authors will “battle it out” at Netroots Nation in what is being billed as “an idea free-for-all.” The meeting of the minds will take place at 2 p.m. on Thursday in the fifth floor Rotunda of the Convention Center. Not only are all three published by Light Publications – billed as [...]
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