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St Louiss approach to public safety, housing, and other critical issues could undergo a significant overhaul if a new campaign to shift the balance of power in the citys Board of Alders is successful at the polls on Tuesday.

The Flip the Board campaign is challenging entrenched establishment candidates, including three incumbents, in favor of four first-time candidates: Shedrick Kelley, 40, facing two-term incumbent Jack Coatar in Ward 7; Bill Stephens, 27, seeking to unseat Ward 12s Vicky Grass, who is running for her first full four-year term; Anne Schweitzer, 33, whose Ward 13 opponent Beth Murphy is seeking a third term; and Tina Sweet-T Pihl, 50, who hopes to win in Ward 17 against fellow first-time candidate Michelle Sherod.

Alderperson Megan Green, a two-term progressive on the 29-member board, came up with the campaign after years of frustration with the policy priorities of those in power in city government. Green told The Appeal she wants to see more solutions that address the citys problems in a way that makes meaningful change for all residents.

Right now we have 11 solid progressive votes and oftentimes can get a couple of other people over to our side, said Green. So if we get these four people elected, I think that puts us squarely at 15, which is what we need to have a majority.

The four Flip the Board candidates are running on similar platforms of change, campaigning on public safety reform, sustainable economic development, and housing reform but bring with them different life experiences. Kelley, an emcee who goes by the stage name Nato Caliph, is a business analyst for Wells Fargo and a community activist. Pihl is an economic development and housing expert who has worked for local and national nonprofits. Schweitzer is a community organizer and publicist. Stephens is a St. Louis Public Library employee who celebrates being an openly gay man on his campaign site.

The thing about the four people is the diversity we have in terms of race, age, and gender, Pihl told The Appeal. I mean, its just amazing. If you look at our backgrounds, its quite rich in terms of that. I think its phenomenal.

St. Louis is still in the throes of a political upheaval that is rooted in the last decade of social and political change. Nearby Ferguson, where Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in 2014, was the catalyst for some of the most intense Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the Obama years. U.S. Representative Cori Bush, whose district includes St. Louis, was one of those protesters and organizers and is today a new member of the Squad of young Democrats pushing for change in Congress.

Although all members of St. Louiss current Board of Alders are Democrats, the municipal government can be hostile to policies that put working people first, such as allocating federal funding for the city and ensuring public safety is taken care of in an equitable manner, Green said. She cited the fight this year over police use of spy planes that roiled the boardit voted 15-14 to give preliminary approval to the dealas an example of how close the margins are. (The plan didnt move forward in part because of a failure to secure funding.) Green also said the resistance to the boards more left-leaning members agenda that centers city residents comes even as voters increasingly support federal candidates that back similar policies. That means the future is bright for ideas about city government that put people first, she told The Appeal.

Whether it is this election cycle or the next election cycle, I think that time is on our side as progressives, Green said.

The openness to debating spy planes, which would have allowed city police to keep an eye on residents for up to 18 hours a day, is just one example of what the slate hopes to change about the boards approach to governing St. Louis. Green, along with some fellow alderpeople, has fought multiple attempts to privatize the citys airport and advocated for closing the notorious Workhouse, the medium security detention facility in the city that mostly holds individuals awaiting trial. With more progressively minded members, she said, they could take more decisive action. To the Flip the Board slate, the citys prior approaches to issues like policing, public safety, and economic development are not workable.

Weve neglected to see real change or any type of progress in a lot of areas such as crime, child poverty, or housing insecurity, Stephens said. We cannot expect our city to grow if we dont address these fundamental issues first.

The four candidates are instead focusing on expansive reform.

We need to do some things differently, Schweitzer told The Appeal. We must end cash bail, which is justice only for people with home equity, and end the incarceration for offenders who arent threats to themselves or to others. We must address the root causes of crime and reinvest money into neighborhoods we have allowed to deteriorate. We must prioritize affordable housing, affordable healthcare, safe neighborhoods, good schools, jobs that pay well and a good way to get to them, and adopt a citywide tenants bill of rights.

Respecting the basic humanity of residents is essential for handling public safety, said Kelley, who describes the city as being at a serious crossroads in how local government works.

The city can no longer afford the indecisive and reactionary leadership that it has endured for far too long, Kelley said.

Key to reforming public safety, said Kelley, is closing the Workhouse. The jails conditions and upkeep have long been the subject of citywide criticism and anger. But despite the board last year unanimously passing legislation to close it before the end of 2020, the debate on how to do so drags on.

The city also needs to invest resources in its Civilian Oversight Board, said Kelley, and investigate police behavior. According to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight and the Marshall Project, St. Louis paid out more than $3.1 million between 2015 and 2019 in police misconduct settlements.

Studies (and real-life examples) from around the nation, and the world, have shown that policies that are smart on crime show much better results than ones that focus on being tough on crime,' said Kelley in an email to The Appeal. We cannot out-police our issues with crime, we instead need to reevaluate and reallocate funds away from a system that clearly isnt working, and try a new bold path forward.

Stephens told The Appeal that he sees addressing the underlying, systemic issues that lead to poverty and crime as essential to dealing with the citys issues.

We must give every person in this city the opportunity to succeed, said Stephens. We arent doing that right now and, without it, we wont be able to course-correct our current path.

When it comes to housing, Pihl said her time with the Anti-Displacement Working Group would allow her to teach the board about the best approach to the citys housing concerns.

We are looking at policies that can keep people in place in their homes, in the community, and that targets the same thing with evictions, with COVID-19 and everything else, Pihl said.

Those ideas, Pihl said, include helping fund home repairs and keeping property taxes low in neighborhoods with high displacement. With the loss of jobs and income during the pandemic, she said, those solutions are more important than ever.

St. Louis residents appear to want change, and the city government is in a moment of upheaval. Two major figuresMayor Lyda Krewson and Alderperson Joe Roddy, who represents Ward 17 and is the boards longest-serving memberdecided not to run for re-election. Board of Alders President Lewis Reed failed to carry a single ward in the mayoral primary, shutting him out of the citywide contest in April. No matter how the votes come in next month, the citys new leader will be a break from the status quo.

On March 2, St. Louis used for the first time approval voting, which allows voters to select more than one candidate; the two candidates in each contest with the highest number of votes are proceeding to Tuesdays general election. All of the Flip the Board slate advanced, and Schweitzer topped the Ward 13 incumbent Beth Murphy, 68.7 percent to 38.8 percent.

Schweitzer told The Appeal that relentless campaigning door to door paid electoral dividends.

When Ive been knocking on doors, people often tell me that Im the first person who has ever come by to talk about a campaign, and certainly the first candidate to have done so, Schweitzer said.

The rest of the slate still faces a fight. Kelley, in Ward 7, received 45.2 percent to incumbent Jack Coatars 58.9 percent; in Ward 12, Stephens had 36.1 percent to incumbent Vicky Grasss 48.6 percent; and in Ward 17, Pihl took 46.2 percent to Michelle Sherods 69.0 percent.

Though three Flip the Board candidates fell short of their opponents in the primary, Green believes theres a good shot to get voters on board for the general through superior organizing and spurring enthusiasm leading up to Tuesday. And once the public sees what the new group does in office, she believes, its more likely than not theyll stick with the progressive slate in future electionsGreen outpolled her opponent Jennifer Florida, a former alderperson, 74.3 percent to 30.7 percent in March.

Theres a lot of volunteer energy thats going into these three candidates campaigns at the moment, and thats whats going to carry them over, said Green. I know that they have people that are donating to them, not just in their wards, but from across the city, because they understand what having a progressive board will do for the entire city of St. Louis.

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These Progressive Candidates Could Flip The Balance Of Power In St. Louis City Government - The Appeal

White House chief of staff Ron Klain met privately with a number of progressive lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y. and Andy Levin, D-Mich., to discuss the filibuster and the minimum wage, signaling potential for a spirit of collaboration between the Biden administration and left-leaning Democrats.

According to Axios, Klain did not say whether Biden would move to support or oppose the filibuster, which has proven a significant roadblock for Democrats looking to approve gun bills in the Senate. Democrats have already passed two in the House, according to Insider, but it is extremely unlikely theyll see the support they need in the Senate.

There have been talks of removing the filibuster (i.e. the going nuclear) in order to skirt around an obstructionist GOP. It would take a simple majority in the Senate to eliminate the filibuster via cloture, a very doable maneuver with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking senatorial vote. Republicans have warned, however, that nuking the filibuster would end all hope for bipartisanship.

Biden has gradually inched toward a more progressive outlook on the filibuster, but also expressed hesitations about scrapping it entirely, stressing the need for incremental reform. Lets deal with the abuse first, he said in a press conference. If we have to, if theres complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then well have to go beyond what Im talking about.

Although no deal on the filibuster was struck, Klain did reaffirm President Bidens commitment to enacting a $15 national minimum wage. Currently, the federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 per hour, a mandate that has not changed since 2009. There was a progressive push to raise the minimum wage as part of the newest coronavirus relief package, as Salon reported last month. However, the Senate Parliamentarian parried the effort by ruling that it went against the rules of the budget reconciliation process, a legislative maneuver Democrats used to push the bill through despite significant Republican opposition.

Last week, Klain met with leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including the groups chair, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. During the meeting, the group pressed for Bidens commitment to progressive stances on a number of topics, including immigration, transportation, climate change, healthcare, child care, and paid leave, as Politico reported.

In the past, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has praised Klain. When he was appointed in November, she tweeted, Good news and an encouraging choice. According to the Daily Beast, Klain has an open channel of communication with Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Progressives are a big part of our party and making sure their voices are heard here at the White House is a big part of my job, Klain said in an interview.

As Axios notes, the existence of a backchannel between the White House and the Congressional Progressive Caucus might help the President push through another sweeping piece of legislation against GOP opposition: a $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package. According to The Washington Post, the bill is likely to contain provisions such as free community college, universal pre-kindergarten, a newly expanded child tax credit, and more.

The country has not had a real infrastructure bill since Dwight Eisenhower set up the highway system, said former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell. This could do more for American manufacturing and blue-collar jobs than anything else. Its crucial not just for Bidens legacy but for the legacy of the American government in the next decade. Its a seminal moment for the country.

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Progressive Lawmakers Met With the White House to Discuss Action on... - Truthout

Popularly known as the sad frog meme, Pepe The Frog has become a cultural milestone of the internet but not for positive reasons.

You dont have to search far online to find images of the green frog with his bulging eyes and wide grin. He was never meant to be a political figure, but over time hes morphed into an emblem of hateful meme culture and the darkest reaches of the internet.

By extension, the use of Pepe imagery has seeped deep into Twitch culture. The frog is unavoidable, but now Twitch streamers are taking a stance and banning Pepe emotes on their channel.

The 2020 documentary Feels Good, Man, named after the frogs catchphrase, has shed light on the history of the meme.

Created by cartoonist Matt Furie, the character was part of his Boys Club stoner humour comic about four chill anthropomorphised characters first published in 2006. Pepe was named as such because it reminded Furie of pee pee reflective of the artists silly, childlike sense of humour.

Its a world away from what Pepe came to symbolise.

The radicalisation of the image came a few years later. Pepe The Frog was increasingly used in memes, with images of the character used consistently across the messageboard site 4chan well into the 2010s.

In the documentary, the site is described as a Darwinian competition for attention that led to a culture of highly offensive and inflammatory posts. Pepe memes melt into this culture, symbolising hate and bigotry particularly against Black and Jewish people.

As the sad frog, Pepe represents the most anxious and isolated corners of the internet loners who found a home on 4chan. Over time, the site became a hotbed for the alt-right and, in the 2016 US election, Trump supporters as images of Trump and Pepe soon surfaced. Not only was the meme recognised by Hilary Clinton in her campaign, it was shared on Instagram by Donald Trump Jr.

Racist and bigoted memes of Pepe The Frog became so pervasive that leading anti-hate organisation the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) list the meme on their website, alongside hateful symbols like the swastika, the Confederate flag and the Ku Klux Klans burning cross.

With this less than stellar history, its inevitable that Pepe The Frog memes would crop up in gaming culture. Blizzard has banned Pepe emotes from the Overwatch League, with a spokesperson telling Dot Esports The Overwatch League discourages the use of symbols and imagery which are associated with or used by hate groups, including Pepe The Frog. Both fans and competitors are asked to comply.

Valve has also banned the emote from their Steam platform after a DMCA takedown notice from Furie. The artist has tried to remove or reclaim his character, but Pepe is entrenched so deeply into internet subcultures that it seems an impossible feat.

On Twitch, Pepe lives on as an emote. And just like the memes before, there are countless variations.

Emotes are popular on Twitch as a key form of interaction. As the text chat is the only way for viewers to respond to a stream, emotes are widely used as shorthand for reactions that bring their own in-jokes and subcultures.

Twitch partners are able to upload their own emotes for use by subscribers, further representing their stream brand. Twitch then takes a cut of that subscription fee.

Its important to note that Pepe is not an official emote on Twitch, which provides a basic set for all users. But Pepe persists through the wide use of third-party plugins like Better TTV that allow for a huge array of animated emotes only visible to those with the plugin. A quick look at the top emotes on the platform shows an abundance of Pepe The Frog, who crops up again and again across Twitch.

Twitch, arguably, should ban the emote from the platform. But at this point, is Pepe the Frog too ingrained in internet and gaming culture?

Steph FerociouslySteph Loehr, streamer and Twitch safety advisory council member, summarises the issue: The crux of the issue to me is that not everyone who uses Pepe is toxic, but every alt-right or intolerant space uses Pepe. This dynamic means that we cant judge people who use Pepe as bad or intolerant, but by banning Pepe from our spaces, we can make them a lot safer.

Thats why many streamers are choosing to ban Pepe emotes from their individual streams. At the least, streamers have a responsibility to protect and curate their own community.

I was honestly appalled when I first started using the platform as I had no idea that it wasnt just used by the alt-right, says elliejoypanic.

It makes me deeply uncomfortable to see streamers and teams creating their entire brands around the emotes, and genuinely sickens me when I load up BTTV and see so many in the top emotes.

As a creator, its my responsibility to keep my community safe and have a welcoming attitude, and Pepe goes against thatI honestly cant comprehend how an image of a frog can mean more than peoples genuine fear about their safety.

Says FrazleyS: I chose to ban it from my stream because I want to show we are inclusive. That we see its a hate symbol. That we dont stand for racism or white supremacy in my stream.

Perhaps most important is streamers ability to educate themselves and grow. Its easy to see a funny frog emote and think nothing of it, but understanding the context has led streamers to change their minds.

Regrettably I didnt do the proper research on how it was used as a symbol of hate, says ctrlaltquin.

Having an inclusive, safe community is extremely important to me especially as someone who is Black and is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Its not up for debate in my community: if something makes folks uncomfortable and has such a public history of hate why should we have it around?

When I got on the platform I noticed that a lot of people used them just as silly emotes and even added them to my channel, says heyselenatv, who has since removed the emotes from her stream after speaking with members of her community.

Ive been working hard to foster a safe environment, and learning to be a better ally to all marginalised groups and having a frog emote, as much as some of my community members may feel sad that its gone, is not worth the discomfort of new people coming to my community.

Pepe remains in abundance in some of the biggest streams on Twitch, with streamers more scared to alienate their audience than to educate them. Yet removing the emote is the simplest way that streamers can take a stance against hate on the platform.

Honestly, its a green frog. I feel no need to fight to take back Pepe. Its an emote. It can be replaced, says SkullKidNico.

And if youre thinking of using the emote in a Twitch chat, consider the potential impact both of others in that community and how you may be perceived.

Youre really trying to convince me that there is no other imagery or emojis out there whatsoever that can convey the message youre trying to make? says PleasantlyTwstd.

Its a dead meme, team. You gotta get over it.

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Alt-right Pepe The Frog emote banned by anti-racist streamers on Twitch - PinkNews

Image courtesy of Matt Furie from the full-page scan of Boys Club #2, a comic originally published in 2008

CHAIN/SAW NFT Gallerys inaugural exhibition, Iconography & The Internet, has added an extremely culturally-noteworthy NFT to its opening roster and forthcoming auction, the original Pepe the Frog, Feels Good Man panel from 2006 by Matt Furie, from which the viral meme was derived. Pepe is arguably the most ubiquitous meme of the internet age and his inclusion sits nicely alongside Michael Lavines images of Kurt Cobain, Ryder Ripps Oprah gifs and Michael Dotsons sketches for paintings of Disney sweethearts, all icons in their own right. The Iconography & The Internet auction begins on Friday, April 2nd at 8pm EST on CHAIN/SAW NFTs website: chainsaw.fun

Bringing notions of legacy, timelessness and transcendence into the conversations surrounding NFTs that are normally plagued by accelerated bro-talk and a quick cash-out, CHAIN/SAW NFT is more than a gallery, it is a platform for nuanced conversations. By engaging its accoladed artist roster in dialogue, CHAIN/SAW NFT seeks to provide personal guidance and context to them as the world collectively nurtures NFTs in their experimental infancy. These engagements live online as interviews that give artists an opportunity to demystify and humanize the digital art world. CHAIN/SAW NFT believes that artists should be the ones shaping the conversation as a new paradigm has emerged that yields alternative models for viewing, collecting, and experiencing art as we know it.

So, what does Matt Furie have to say about NFTs? Are they functional? Are they an opportunistic cash grab? Do they represent a sincere shift in appreciation of digital artwork? We hear from him below.

We just spent a lot of time on the computers these days, and were creating a lot of digital content or creating digital images and digital music and spending a lot of time with this digital stuff. So I think NFTs are a way to take that time and energy thats put into that and give it some value. And also give people some ownership of something that would otherwise just pop up on an image search. Its interesting, and conceptually, it feels pretty new. And different and controversial. So well see where it goes.

Iconography & The Internet presents a dissection of iconography, disemboweling notions of celebrity through appropriation while remixing our current definitions of pop culture with a sorely missed sense of humanity. The group exhibit features the works of modern visionaries including Matt Furie, Michael Lavine, Michael Dotson, Ryder Ripps, AKLO91 + Loyal Duce, Lisa Ramsey and ABSRDST, facilitating a new context for NFTs to coexist in that invites postulations of legacy, curation and timelessness into the fold.

The word icon has become a part of our quotidian vocabularies as we leave digital fingerprints on glass ceilings shattering the pixelated remains of creative ecosystems past. We arent just living in the future, were shaping it at every second as we build immaterial bridges between a skeletal experience economy and humanized algorithms for our digitized selves to cross. Identity is now an amalgamation of references, original and appropriated, speculatively collaged in the image of validation, thirsty for hyperstition and the iconography that now comes with the blue-checkmark of a verified account. Culture goes pop! and the art world itself has entered a discourse that is more fragmented than ever as its thoughts oscillate around populism, exploitation and ownership. NFTs have arisen as both the antithesis and the answer, shrouded in an air of accelerated bro-talk and restless optimism.

CHAIN/SAW NFT is a curated NFT gallery that provides artists with more personal guidance and context. Art has always had the power to shift the ways in which we experience and interact with the world. A new paradigm has emerged that provides alternative models for viewing, collecting, and experiencing digital media. This space has been quickly flooded with marketplaces and galleries, though, none seem to take a high quality, curated, artist-first approach. Chain/Saw recognizes that NFTs are the new paradigm and believes that artists should be the ones shaping it.

@chainsaw_nft, chainsaw.fun, twitter.com/chainsawnft

Mark Westall

Mark Westall is the Founder and Editor of FAD magazine Founder and co-publisher of Art of Conversation and founder of the platform @worldoffad

We managed to catch a virtual chat (arent they all nowadays) with one of the most important players in the digital /NFT world An Rong Director of Art & Cultural program at SuperRare ahead of their exhibition Invisible Cities which opens today April 2nd on SuperRare, Decentraland and Hook Art.

SuperRare present Invisible Cities, a groundbreaking exhibition of NFT art presented in a virtual gallery, curated by An Rong and Elisabeth Johs. Inspired by the pioneering text by Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities presents a digital exploration of the relationship between the visible and the invisible of our real and imagined cities from a distance and under close observation.

$69.3 million is a lot of money to spend on something you cannot touch, that does not occupy space and that cannot even be seen without flicking a switch. Now the dust has settled on Beeples epic auction debut, it is time to soberly consider whether it is worth it. Spoiler it probably is! We are, after all, living in the future.

According to a report in The Art Newspaper Damien Hirsts artwork, The Currency is to launch on a new NFT platform Palm.

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New NFT curated gallery CHAIN/SAW launches with original Pepe the Frog, Feels Good Man panel by Matt Furie - FAD magazine

Politico got it hands on a 16-page guide shared internally by the Pentagon in an effort to identify potential extremist infiltrators in the military. The guide tells employees to look out for extremist group iconology, like Proud Boys insignia and Pepe the Frog, the cartoon frog misappropriated on racist online message boards. There are members of the [Department of Defense] who belong to extremist groups or actively participate in efforts to further extremist ideologies, the document reads. Be aware of symbols of far right, far left, Islamist or single issue ideologies.

The document includes guidelines for differentiating religion and violent extremism. Christian extremism is often conflated with white supremacy for a joint ideology focused on racial and religious purity which they believe to be God's intention, one paragraph reads. Several military members were arrested for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and four Marines were recently booted for extremist behaviorbut the true number of potential infiltrators is unknown because many extremist groups liaise secretly.

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Pentagon's Extremist Handbook Tells Military to Be on Lookout for Pepe the Frog - The Daily Beast