DC Flag Remix: #IntifadaDC

A parody of the Washington DC flag with sandwiches in place of the stripes, in honor of a guy who threw a sub at a CPB agent downtown a few weeks ago, has gone viral and a huge hit with folks in neighborhoods like Capitol Hill. All I could think of, though, was just how toothless and ineffectual my fellow Washingtonians have apparently been in the face of a hostile military occupation; basically, the only response we can muster is to throw sandwiches. No general strikes, student walkouts being proposed or organized anywhere around here? Any disobedience – civil or otherwise – being called around town? Any organizations forming anywhere around here working on plans to make this city ungovernable? Anything at all beyond throwing sandwiches, creating celebratory t-shirt art and posting stupid jokes about it on Facebook? Nope, not seeing anything.

Well, what the hell, then; while I wait for someone to drop an action call who isn’t a freshly minted Democratic Party front – like the “Free DC Project” or those “No Kings” dipshits – here’s something which might be at least a cut or two more provocative than tossing a foot-long for all my “flypasters” out there.

Letter-size “wheatpaster”, 8 x 10 inch high-res color jpg images:
1 of 3: “Intifada DC” | 2 of 3: “Free DC” | 3 of 3: No captions

Half-size stickers, 4 x 5 inch high-res color images 2-up on 2 letter-size pages in .pdf format, 2.6mb

 

Brain Freeze

  If you're old enough to recall Gropin' Joe's role in the Drug War, and him firing a bunch of White House staffers earlier this year for having once smoked marijuana, then you aren't the least bit surprised to see him screwing over DC by siding with fascists... oh, I'm sorry, the GOP... against the citizens of DC — who, I might remind you, voted 70% to legalize cannabis...

...which somehow brings us around to Gropin' Joe's love of ice cream — and his new favorite flavor, the "Brain Freeze"...  

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Hail To The Covids!

On top of all the uprising and rioting and pulling down statues and all that other great stuff, it looks as if Dan Snyder has finally gotten the message and is changing the name of the Washington, DC NFL franchise to something that isn't a horrid racial slur.

With a decision like this, of course, there also comes the usual flood of suggestions and proposals — and I'm certainly not one to shirk my creative duty.

I, for one, think the new name of the team should be the Washington Covids, because our policies and attitude have been like a plague around the world, and also because Americans are pretty much banned from entering any other country on Earth at this point.

And, as luck would have it, the July 8th Washington Post featured an article which basically details the moaning and wailing from NFL sponsors and TV advertisers if the pandemic precludes any chance of even actually playing a season this year. It's pretty obvious they don't really give a shit about the sport; they just need some guys playing football to put on TV so that all the corporations who flushed down all that marketing cash can show us their goddamn advertising.

So, basically, no NFL = capitalism takes a bath. Cry me a goddamn river.

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Visible From Orbit

So, as I suspected... Mayor Bowser doesn't really give a rat's ass about the MPDC terrorizing and murdering Black citizens of DC, or about protesters being tear-gassed and run off the street so Trump can do his foto op at St. John's Church, or our city being invaded by the goddamn 82nd Airborne — she just wanted to own Trump and nab some TV time.

Not even a week after painting "Black Lives Matter" in huge-ass letters taking up two blocks of 16th Street between K Street and Lafayette Park, she was browbeating the city council to "slow down" on police "reform" (clipping from Washington Post, June 11 2020).

New York City mayor De Blasio, not to be outdone, decided to name one street in each borough "Black Lives Matter Street" — after allowing the NYPD to also terrorize, beat, torture and murder New Yorkers for the better part of a week.

Still, there was no topping Bowser. All De Blasio did was put up a bunch of crummy street signs; Bowser's hypocrisy is visible from orbit.

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Home, Dank Home (Hands Off Homegrow, no.2)

Another for my gang at DCMJ, in support of retaining legal homegrow — one of the main provisions of Initiative 71 — in DC Mayor Bowser's Safe Cannabis Sales Act.

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A Snake in the "Grass"

"Liberty Cap" writes on Twitter on 06.09.19:

Home grow cannabis is the most important economic factor put upon any Government regulating cannabis and the industry to keep em honest and on their toes. Competition promotes excellence and reduces prices, that the American way. Limited access to market is capitalism gone wrong.

— Liberty Cap (@LibertyCap420) June 9, 2019

DC Council: Give US a "Fair Shot"!

Needless to say, we at DCMJ have some issues with the initial draft of DC Mayor Bowser's reforms to DC cannabis legislation – among them a prohibition on the free distribution of cannabis for advocacy purposes, restrictions on the cannabis "gifting economy" that's sprung up in DC in lieu of regulated legal sales, and the continued denial of access to the legal cannabis market for small-scale growers in DC.

Blast From Yer Past: "A16"

Oh, that good old Spirit Of Seattle. Turtles’n'Teamsters everywhere.




The mood and solidarity between different parts of The Movement — folks like old-skool unionists and environmentalists discovering common goals and realizing they were fighting the same fight against the same enemy — were electric and invigorating in the months following Seattle, and none quite like the personal charge I got when, just a couple of weeks afterwards, I saw the action call posted in alt.activism for the April IMF/World Bank Mobilization in Washington, DC, for April 16, 2000 — the now-legendary “A16".

Blast From Yer Past: "A16" IMF/WorldBank Mobilization, 04.16.00 from Mike Flugennock on Vimeo.

At last, no more watching for little shreds of TV coverage, of scouring another city’s IMC postings — the revolution circus was coming to my town, and I was going to actually be in it, and photographing and taping it, and telling the story of that week for everybody else out there… and, the wheatpasting. Oh, yeah, the wheatpasting...

Blast From Yer Past: "Days Of Our Pole"

"Days Of Our Pole", Washington DC, April 2015 from Mike Flugennock on Vimeo.

Come back with us now, to a simpler, sweeter, more innocent time -- before the last election. There was sunshine and laughter, puppies and kittens... People just seemed to smile more back then.

It was during those pure, innocent days -- April 2015 -- that the DCMJ Crew showed up, at 4:20 on the morning of April 15, to erect its first-ever Liberty Pole and begin the DC Democracy Vigil.

Photographed and edited by Mike Flugennock, TRT 12:14



Fotos after the jump...

Your Home Should Be A Safe Space!

Despite the personal possession and use of cannabis being legal in DC, residents of Federally-subsidized Section 8 public housing are prohibited from smoking in their homes. Because Congress prohibits DC from enacting Tax'n'Regulate and the DC government prohibits public consumption in bars and clubs, folks in Section 8 have the choice of risking immediate eviction and possible imprisonment by smoking in their homes, or smoking on the street and risking arrest for smoking in public, like this poor working-class slob.

It's no wonder Section 8 is often referred to as "prison you pay rent for".

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Section 8 Smoker

While it's been legal to possess and consume cannabis in DC, citizens here can still only do it in their private homes, which leaves many rental housing residents -- particularly tenants in Federally-subsidized Section 8 public housing -- in a rough spot.

US Capitol Police Harass DCMJ "Joint Session", Arrest At Least 6

US Capitol Cops Harass 4/20 "Joint Session", arrest several from Mike Flugennock on Vimeo.

Looks like we got more free publicity than we could handle today at DCMJ's "Joint Session" legal joint giveaway for US Capitol employees at 1st and Constitution Avenue NE, across the street from the Capitol.

Although they were set up on DC territory, on the sidewalk in front of the Reserve Officers' Association building, US Capitol Police chose to leave Federal land and come into DC to harass and arrest several volunteers involved in checking ID's and giving out joints.

It's Lit!

Hey, gang, back with another fun, fast one for DCMJ's upcoming April 24th Smoke-In at the U.S. Capitol. Keep up with organizing at the DCMJ on the Web and on Twitter.

Fans, BE THERE.



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DCMJ Says "Welcome to Washington, DC!"

DCMJ says "Welcome to Washington, 115th Congress", 01.03.17 from Mike Flugennock on Vimeo.

Yesterday, January 3, the DCMJ Welcoming Committee was on hand at Union Station to greet new and returning staffers to the incoming 115th Congress with leaflets and a little education on Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Trump's nominee for US Attorney General. This was followed by yet another jaunt up to Capitol Hill to Senators' offices to pass out a letter containing questions for Sessions' confirmation hearings, after which we adjourned to the DCMJ World Headquarters for a good old-fashioned rolling party in preparation for January 20.



Photographed and edited by Mike Flugennock,
TRT 06:36

Sorta-Sponsored Post

Back about a month ago, Capitol Hemp was inundated in the Great Bongwater Flood Of 2016. After about a week's worth of bailing, vacuuming and clean-up, the shop was back in business.

Soggy, Used Teabagger

So... when we last left DC, it was being bullied by the Federal Government in the person of one US Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, over DC's city council vote to decriminalize marijuana.

What I didn't find out until just last week is that Harris ran with the Tea Party and was elected as part of the big Teabagger Wave. And here he is, using Federal power to interfere with the affairs of State and local governments. So, how's that going down with the "base", Mr. Get The Feds Off Our Backs?

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Prop 71 Petition Drive Hits Capitol Hill

 

Total running time 03:52.

The petition drive for Washington, DC's cannabis leglization ballot question hits Capitol Hill on one of the first rare perfect spring days in DC.

Find out about the "Super Sunday Signature Gathering Blitz" at the DC Cannabis Campaign.

UPDATE: CORRECTION: Tommy Wells is, in fact, the Ward 6 City Councilman, not "at-large".

Out Of The Closet

This poster addresses a long-standing problem faced for many years by marijuana smokers, including myself: that of being demonized and ostracized by society at large, which has made it difficult to speak out on government policy and organize for legalization.

In many ways, the problem faced by marijuana smokers is similar to that faced by gays and lesbians prior to the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 -- being treated as if what we are doing is somehow evil or deviant.

This art is a call to action for DC voters to support the current Initiative 71 petition drives and seize the opportunity to "come out of the closet" by voting to legalize marijuana in DC.

Here's "What You Need To Know About Marijuana In DC". 

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Show Us Where It Hurts

When you're a K Street big shot, you like your local politicians to stay bought and keep their campaign promises, and that's why around the turn of the century, Anthony Williams would've been your man. Among his top priorities as Mayor was closing down DC General Hospital, the city's only public hospital and, in spite of constant alarmist rumors in the Washington Times, not a hell hole.



Among the other jewels of the Williams Legacy was his keeping of campaign promises to close homeless family shelters, to close and sell a fistful of public schools for redevelopment as condominiums or health clubs, and to run poor and working-class people out of DC and replace them with people who can afford to shop downtown and who are most likely to vote for Anthony Williams (or someone like him... like, say, Adrian Fenty).

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Anthony Williams' Greatest Hits

Sam Smith, author of the Progressive Review, also wrote and edited its "City Desk" column about news and issues local to Washington, DC until his retirement to Maine in early 2009. One of my favorite City Desk columns appeared around 2000, where he details Anthony Williams' numerous achievements during his first term as mayor of DC -- the closing of city shelters for homeless families, the closing of schools for redevelopment as condos, the deterioration of city services, the closing of DC General Hospital -- in a column entitled "Anthony Williams' Greatest Hits". As the run-up to the '02 mayoral election campaign was just getting started, I thought this series would be an excellent and easy-to-remember reminder to potential voters about what, exactly, Anthony Williams had given this city in the past three and a half years.

One happy accident here was, during the initial sketching, finding out how easily my rat could be made to look like Williams with some extra whiskers, a little shock of hair here and there, and a bowtie. I wish now that I'd saved that issue of the Washington Post Sunday Magazine with the cover story on Williams -- while he was running for re-election, I think -- and the photo the Post used was one of him when he was about three years old, wearing an outfit almost identical to the suits we saw him in while he was Control Board honcho and, later, mayor: that dull-assed gray thing with a plain white or light-blue shirt and that friggin' bowtie. So, apart from being a soulless Ivy League technocrat and servant of oligarchs, Anthony Williams really did look like his momma dressed him.

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