Blood Sport Politics is Bringing Us All Down
I’ve always had a thing about grouchy old men. Most of them happen to be conservative. It might be because of a few favorite uncles, and friends of my pop. Even in politics, I’ve been moved by more conservatives than liberals — you could attribute this to the vastly outnumbered progressives in our state, but I think there’s more to it. They are a challenge to charm and usually make for more interesting conversation. (Oh, there are exceptions. For example, the new chair for the Alaska for Trump campaign.) I recently met an antique stove savant. He knows more about…
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska National Hazards Center – Losing Place and Losing Hope THE ALASKA NATIVE TOWN of Newtok is expected to be under water by 2017, according to the Army Corps of Engineers (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2009). The town is hardly an exception; there are eleven other tribal communities in the Arctic Circle that are in the same predicament (GAO, 2009). However, it is unlikely that these towns will be able to move to higher ground any time soon without the creation of a federal framework that can assist, overlook, and fund their relocation. ADN.com – Fear of a Begich bid for…
Fevered Coverage of Trump in Hartford, CT
I just left the road for a bit. I almost made it the whole season. Driving into Hartford, Connecticut at one in the morning is like driving into any number of North East cities. Not much is happening, but somehow, thanks to continual construction, there is traffic. My fever, which has slammed me since the morning is in full force – I’m not sure this is what should be called safe driving. If I make it through the next day’s rally, I’m calling it quits for at least a week. Being locked in a steel cage with dozens of other…
Photos: Bill Clinton in Scranton, PA [Updating Live-ish]
The Clinton campaign comes to the Keystone State with an appearance from the former President himself, Bill Clinton. I’ll be updating the photos as I take them. So far there are a couple hundred people waiting for Bill at the Scranton High School gymnasium. There are a handful of opposing campaigns not so subtlely waiting to get in – a crew of bros supporting Donald Trump and a solo Bernie fan. Check back later for more photos – and possibly from video. UPDATE! The Trump kids didn’t end up doing anything other than raise their hats a couple times when…
Around the Lens – Episode 18
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/126783/Around%20the%20Lens%20-%20Episode%2018.mp3 This week we featured panelists David Bergman and Tess Freeman. We discussed the importance of publishing imagery from the Brussels bombings, the photo rights of a monkey and the best means to take notes while photographing. Our picks this week included new imagery from the Nikon D5 showing the low light capability, amazing underwater imagery, the image deconstructed and free Nik software. Please support the show and sign up for Dropbox.com through our referral code. Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or YouTube, or via our direct feed, follow us on Twitter and and like us on Facebook. To see our bonus topic support us…
[Video] Inside the Cancelled Trump Chicago Rally
Energizing is exactly the word I would use for the Chicago would-be Trump rally. After a petition gathering over 50,000 signatures failed to keep Trump from holding a rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the people of the city decided to take the matter in a new direction. A Facebook event RSVP’d over 11,000 people, with 20,000 more interested. There’s no love for Trump in Chicago, no question. Being such a liberal city, it couldn’t have surprised him when hundreds of protesters slipped into the stadium seats at UIC pavilion, with large concentrations in a few sections. The…
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska NYTimes – Nowhere to Go Amid Alaska’s Melting Ice Alaska’s Chukchi Sea was only just starting to freeze when Nima Taradji arrived at the Inupiat village of Shishmaref last December. Situated on a narrow barrier island, Shishmaref was founded over 400 years ago as a seasonal fishing settlement. Cold weather and natural ice barriers used to protect the shore, but now the municipal village, home to some 600 residents, faces the immediate threat of inundation. ADN.com – State faces tough questions in case over Native and federal land control in Alaska The state of Alaska got a rough reception from federal…
Shannyn Moore: Republicans Go From Clown Car to Carnival Freak Show
Reprinted from Alaska Dispatch News I need a serenity prayer to recite before these presidential candidate debates. “God grant me the serenity to accept that politics in my country is now about spray tans, small hands, penises, outspoken racism and how the will of the people can be thwarted come convention time.” (Apologies to Reinhold Niebuhr.) Yes, I’m talking about you, Republicans. The Democratic debates have been relatively boring, what with all that talk about economic and foreign policy, but you Republicans are awesome entertainment, better than a carnival freak show. Chris Christie, the bridge saboteur and failed presidential candidate, joined…
Around The Lens Podcast – Photography, News and more
It’s not often that you hear from the people that make the photos and video that go along with the news stories that you read. Photojournalists are a relatively silent group, usually loners (like me) who drop in take their shots and get out to file with their news organization as soon as possible. The few times you even read what we’re thinking come in the form of one or two sentence captions at the bottom of photos. We never get invited on talk shows to get asked how we feel, or what we saw… even though we’re usually the…
The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska ADN – ADN poll: Alaskans like Trump, Sanders for president An Alaska Dispatch News poll found registered voters in the state have their eyes on two candidates that would have been considered unlikely front-runners just a year ago: real estate billionaire and reality TV star Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist. The Guardian – The rise and fall of Sarah Palin: plucked away from Alaska, she lost her soul There was a time when Sarah Palin was normal by Alaska standards. Way back before the hoopla, and way before she endorsed Donald Trump, she…