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The civil rights activist talks about holding ground under renewed threats to minority communities and police oversight

On Jan. 19, the eve of the Presidential inauguration, the Rev. Al Sharpton stood outside Trump International Hotel in New York City with Mayor Bill De Blasio, filmmaker Michael Moore, actor Alec Baldwin and thousands of protesters to kick off their 100 days of resistance to the president-elects agenda.

We are sending you a message from your hometown. You can try to turn back the clock, but you wont turn back time, Sharpton said to the cheering crowd. We are not going backwards.

Since then, Sharpton has led protesters in Washington, D.C.; hasspoken out on Twitter; and has personally expressed his concerns to Attorney General Jeff Sessions about voting rights, investigations into the deaths of Eric Garner and Walter Scott, and the auditing of police departments. This April, Sharpton said, they will begin gearing up for a spring offensive to maintain the movements momentum going into the midterm elections.

The opponents, the adversaries of what we believe in and stand for, are counting on us becoming distracted, or becoming one that just give up or gives out, Sharpton said.

I think that the only way movements succeed is if there is a sustained indignation, Sharpton said.

The controversial and sometimes polarizing Sharpton has grabbed his share of the headlines during his lifetime. He was often an adviser to President Barack Obama, and now he brings a New York-savvy read on the 45th president. He has known Trump for 30 years, and he called the president a salesman, a promoter, a P.T. Barnum guy whose currency has always been hyperbole and overstatement. This was evident during his campaign when he said that black communities were absolutely in the worst shape theyve ever been in before, a falsehood Politifact rated pants on fire. Despite Trumps claim that he has a great relationship with the blacks, Sharpton said hes never seen him in any of New Yorks Citys minority neighborhoods

Ive never seen him in Harlem, or Bed-Stuy, Sharpton said. Not one time. I cant think of one event that Ive seen him.

Alhough its still early in Trumps presidency, Sharpton said hes already been discouraged by Trumps actions towardminority communities.

On Feb. 28, one day after the fifth anniversary of the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Sessions indicated that his office would no longer conduct audits of troubled police departments.

Heres him saying that hes going to in effect reverse whatever advancement weve made there, Sharpton said. And (he) has no fear that anyones going to say anything about it."

Sharpton noted that the decision is made at a time when a police officer is under indictment for the death of Walter Scott, when there has been no conclusion to the federal investigation into the death of Eric Garner, and after the city of Baltimore and the Department of Justice agreed on a consent decree after the death of Freddie Gray.

And you want to stop all of this? Sharpton said. And its almost like, no news. No ones upset about it. No ones talking about it.

Its very terrifying, Sharpton said.

Sharpton said the timing either showed the administration is either tone deaf, or they want to send signal that they want people to understand that that day is over.

I dont know which it is, Sharpton said.

The decision to stop auditing police departments wasnt the only incident that Sharpton said bothered him.

In late January Trump marked the beginning of Black History Month by holding a listening session with about a dozen African-Americans, who were mostly campaign supporters, according to the Guardian. At the time, Sharpton said the event was tantamount to an insult and that past presidents did a lot more to celebrate black culture.

Trump came under criticism when he said that Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more. Many, including Sharpton, thought it sounded as though Trump believed Douglass was still alive.

Its a very dire situation, Sharpton said. You couldnt make it up; let me put it that way.

Though the situation may be dire, Sharpton said Trumps administration has reached out to him and other civil rights leaders.

In February, Sharpton said he got a phone call from Sessions asking if they could meet and discuss issues over coffee. Similar overtures were made to Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and Cornell Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP, Sharpton said.

I said, I dont want a cup of coffee. You can meet with all of us and we can deal with these issues as we have any other attorney general, Sharpton said he told Sessions. His office has said that they were going to set it up; were waiting to see. But it was supposed to have happened by now.

Sharpton said that if the meeting does happen, he wont go alone.

Ill only meet with him or Trump if theres other civil rights leaders (there), Sharpton said.

In the meantime, Sharpton said hes worried Trumps agenda will reverse, and in many ways realign, where our country is going in terms of social justice, health care, (and) voting rights.

The black community is particularly vulnerable, Sharpton said, with much to lose in the new administration.

They have the right to vote to lose. They have the right to public education being a priority in this country, which educates the overwhelming majority of our young people, Sharpton said. They have the right of police accountability to lose the right of police being prosecuted if they break the law they have that to lose. They have their health care that disproportionally helped us to lose, and they have our economic standing to lose.

Black unemployment was cut in half under Barack Obama, Sharpton said. Were hearing about a trillion dollars in infrastructure, none of that said to be going in our communities. If he does bridges and tunnels that are not in inner cities, thats not jobs for us. That dont impact us.

We have a lot to lose, Sharpton said.

Sharpton said hed like to see the media do a better job focusing on the issues like repealing Obamacare, like new tax codes instead of chasing the distractions that Trump keeps feeding them.

I think he throws so much at us, Sharpton said.

So far, Trumps strategy has worked, Sharpton said.

I think the media has become completely predictable and gullible to whatever he does, Sharpton said. In the interim, immigrants living under terror, people that are afraid theyre going to lose their health care, all of that is pushed (to the side) and marginalized.

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Al Sharpton: 'We are not going backwards' - Street Roots News

Have you ever looked at popular internet meme Pepe the Frog and thought Hmm, I'm not sure I can totally agree with the views he represents, but I sure do wonder what he would look like in the style of Van Gogh? Us too. Thankfully, St Petersburg-based painter Olga Vishnevsky had just the same thought.

Enter Pipelangelo, the Etsy page where Vishnevsky sells her extraordinary oil paintings, bringing the internet meme to canvas. Here Pepe takes on the role of such iconic figures as the Mona Lisa(1503,Leonardo da Vinci), Henry VIII(15361537,Hans Holbein the Younger)and the Girl with a Pearl Earring(1665,Johannes Vermeer).

Stay tunedfor more paintings in the works soon Pepe will appear in an interpretation of Petrov-Vodkin's Bathing of a Red Horse (1912). But will Pepe be riding the horse or the horse itself? Only time will tell.

If any of these sound to your liking but you dont have a few hundred dollars spare, you can catch Pepe on Instagram here.

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Russian artist paints Pepe the Frog like you've never seen him before - The Calvert Journal

Despite the widespread belief that meme-warriors won the election through tactical shitposting of photoshopped Pepe the Frogs in Nazi arm-bands, the reality is a lot more complicated.

A trio of troll scholars, including the oft-cited-here Gabriella Coleman (previously), who literally wrote the book on Anonymous, take on the narrative of memetic superiority of the Trump camp, laying out a powerful case that even calling the alt-right's self-described meme-warriors as "trolls" does a disservice to trolling.

It is certainly true that the alt-right's pro-Trump "shitposting"the act of flooding social media with memes and commentary designed to bolster their "God Emperor" Trumpraised the public visibility of the alt-right and its memetic handiwork. And it is also true that this uptick in public visibility forced people to focus on Trump more than they would have otherwise. The shitpost connection reached critical mass in August 2016, when Hillary Clinton held a press conference (precipitated, in part, by Pepe the Frog) denouncing Trump's ties to the white nationalist groupmuch to the delight of precisely those white nationalists. Without a doubt, this speech and all the alt-right activity that preceded and followed it contributed to the overall momentum of Trump's campaign.

But that activity didn't happen in a vacuum, and wasn't self-propelling. "Trolls" and the alt-right may have played a prominent role in the 2016 election, but that fact is dependent upon and cannot be untangled from journalistic coverage that amplified their messagingshitpost memes very much included. Phillips describes how media coverageeven coverage condemning alt-right antagonismshelped conjure this monster, and how that conjuring, in turn, helped amplify Trump's overall platform (which itself was a series of memes).

The fact that alt-right participants received so much coverage speaks to an even deeper issue, perhaps the weightiest issue, influencing Donald Trump's rise. More than fake news, more than filter bubbles, more than insane conspiracy theories about child sex rings operating out of the backs of Washington DC pizza shops, the biggest media story to emerge from the 2016 election was the degree to which far-right media were able to set the narrative agenda for mainstream media outlets. (This point is ably argued by internet scholars Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, Hal Roberts, and Ethan Zuckerman).

Trolling Scholars Debunk the Idea That the Alt-Rights Shitposters Have Magic Powers [Whitney Phillips, Jessica Beyer and Gabriella Coleman/Motherboard]

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Economist Tim Harford (previously) traces the history of denialism and fake news back to Big Tobaccos cancer denial playbook, which invented the tactics used by both the Brexit and Trump campaigns to ride to victory a playbook that dismisses individual harms as anaecdotal and wide-ranging evidence as statistical, and works in concert with peoples []

A ruling about a DC university held that posting course videos to the open web without subtitling them violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (while keeping them private to students did not) (I know: weird), and this prompted UC Berkeley to announce the impending removal of 20,000 open courseware videos from Youtube.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has done outstanding work packing a fully capable desktop computer into a package the size of a deck cardsespecially one that only costs $35. But if you already have a working laptop, why should you care? Oh, how much you have to learn. Besidesoperating well as a compact digital media hub, []

Custom coffee vessels are the perfect piece of office flair, but its just a matter of time before your VOTE FOR PEDRO mug will start to lose its relevant wit. Why not have a new one every day, with whatever silly nonsense you want sticking off the sides? You can save big on your novelty []

The Lightning port has thus far resisted the cruel fate that befell the headphone jack, and despite rumors that it may be disappearing come iPhone 8, for the present and foreseeable future, Lightning cables are a hot commodity for iPhone users. As such, we must make do in this strange time in which long, glorified []

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No, the meme-slinging alt-right Pepe worshippers didn't win the ... - Boing Boing

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Venezuelas economy is so awful, its citizens are increasingly turning alternative currencies, including Bitcoin and even internet memes.

Software developers use Bitcoin and Rare Pepe trading cards to mask their transactions. Such crypto-currencies grant anonymity, meaning its harder for Venezuelas socialist government to control the tech industry. Others have noticed and started using digital money in place of paper money.

Were based in Venezuela, and our business has been saved by bitcoin many times,a Venezuelan developer, who wished to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation,told Crypto Insider Wednesday. In that timeframe, thanks to bitcoin related business, weve grown our employee base from just 5 to 10. Weve air-conditioned our office. Year-over-year weve been improving, so were banking big on bitcoin and now over Counterparty assets.

Tech companies can issue Rare Pepe trading cards, based on the popular internet meme of a green frog, on the Bitcoin-linked Counterparty platform. The system began as a joke, but now Pepe cards are exchanged for the equivalent of thousands of dollars. Each Rare Pepe is linked to the value of a bitcoin, creating scarcity thats lacking in paper money.

The unnamed developer told Crypto Insider their success stood in sharp contrast to the roughly 80 percent of nearby offices forced to shut down over the past year. His company plans to release 60 new Rare Pepes and create a new video game based on the cards, similar to Pokemon.

Venezuelans inflation rate is expected to top 1,640 percent in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Venezuelans are living with the consequences of decades of socialist economic policies. Price controls, for example, forced businesses to sell food at low prices, encouraging farmers to sell on the black market or outside the country.

Venezuela has some of the worlds largest petroleum reserves, but the collapse in crude oil prices is cutting into state coffers. The country cant afford to pump oil at current prices, and as recently as February was forced to accept shipments of U.S. crude oil. The country suffers from rolling blackouts that can last for days.

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Venezuelan Currency Slowly Getting Replaced By 'Pepe' Memes ... - Daily Caller

Ashley Smith, Special to the Democrat 3:19 p.m. ET March 25, 2017

Merry Ann Frisby became the first female sworn officer in the Leon County Sheriff's Office in 1977.(Photo: Merry Ann Frisby)

A Florida State Universityalumna, Merry Ann Frisby studied for her masters in physical anthropology, the study of present and past human biology and evolution. She began her law enforcement career in crime scene investigation.

More than 40 years ago, there were few women in law enforcement at the time outside of those working in clerical positions. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, women made up less than two percent of all sworn officers in the 1970s nationally. That did not stop Frisby.

A newly elected sheriff was open to diversifying the force. Frisby qualified and became acertified law enforcement officer. She was warned that she would not land a job due to being a woman.

In 1977, Frisby became the first female sworn officer in the Leon County Sheriffs Office.

People expect me to say I received a lot of opposition from the force. I didnt. It was thephysical challenges that were my biggest obstacles, said Frisby.

The only concern she knew her colleagues had at the time was whether she was able and willing to protect and serve her fellow officers when the time came. Her commitment in that regard was unwavering.

Surrounding counties started to use Frisby to help at crime scenes to speak with female victims. After beginning her career in crime scene investigation, Frisby later moved to the detective division covering crimes against people.

Oasis logo(Photo: Logo)

Frisby recalls a defining moment early in her law enforcement career. She was called to an investigation where she fell into a mud-drenched ditch attempting to photograph a body. Her male counterparts stood at the top of the ditch waiting for her to finish reviewing the body, which was crime scene protocol. Then she struggled to get out of the slippery ditch.

For one instance I thought Im a girl, is someone going to help me! recalled Frisby. Then I caught myself and thought No...Im a detective.

Once finished she began to climb out of the ditch, falling back down and climbing back up several times. The men stood around and watched.

I got to the top of the ditch and put my hand up feeling for the ground, one of them grabbed my hand and pulled me up, they realized that I could and was determined to do my job. In that moment they accepted me not as woman, but an officer, said Frisby.

After her time serving as a law enforcement officer, Frisby went on to continue to serve the public as an investigator with the Public Defenders Office.

When asked about shattering a glass ceiling locally she said, I didn't crack it alone. I cracked it with the group of women who were there day by day, said the grandmother of 12. We showed that women are equally qualified and capable as officers.

Still, women remain dramatically underrepresented as sworn officers in law enforcement making up only 13 percent of the force nationwide, according to the U.S. DOJ.

Each year in March, as part of Women's History Month, The Oasis Center for Women & Girls recognizes local women who have rewritten history by blazing trails. Trailblazers are honored for the barriers they have crossed and glass ceilings they have shattered. Frisby is being recognized for her work which paved the way for other women in law enforcement careers locally.

Since her retirement from the field, Frisby has continued to contribute to the community through her writing on a range of topics including law enforcement, medical marijuana use, politics, and more. Her writing is often featured in the Tallahassee Democrat and the Monticello News where she contributes as a guest columnist and she touches on her experience in law enforcement throughout her articles.

The mother of a daughter with epilepsy, Frisby also spends time advocating for those living with the neurological disorder, serving on the board of Epilepsy Association of the Big Bend.

Written by Ashley E. Smith for The Oasis Center for Women & Girls, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to "improve the lives of women and girls through celebration and support." Smith is a communications volunteer and a freelance public relations practitioner. Contact Executive Director, Haley Cutler-Seeber at 850-222-2747 or email at haley.cutler@theoasiscenter.net. For more information on The Oasis Center, visit http://www.theoasiscenter.net.

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Trailblazer: Frisby paved way for women in law enforcement - Tallahassee.com