College of Constructive Hell-Raising

09/15/2026

"Over five brief web episodes, SLICK follows employees at a fictional creative agency as they look to cash in on briefs from the Big Oil companies seeking to distance themselves from responsibility for heating the planet, and downplay their role in hooking the global economy on fossil fuels.

In one episode, a lifestyle vlogger powers through skin rashes and dizzy spells to espouse the many benefits of crude oil’s use in in skincare and other products. In another, agency staffers are tasked with creating a presentation about carbon capture and storage (CCS) for their latest Big Oil client, only to find that none of them actually understand how the elusive technology works."

SLICK is a funny yet cutting satire of how the ad industry contributes to the climate crisis.

09/12/2026

You can download a book written by W.E.B. Du Bois about John Brown for FREE

John Brown by W. E. B. Du Bois. Free eBook digitized and proofread by volunteers.

09/08/2026

"The mass protests following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, and more recently against President Donald Trump’s authoritarianism, demonstrated extraordinary popular anger. But mass participation alone does not create durable power. Movements need the capacity to bring people into action — and then to keep organizing them after the cameras leave. They need structures through which people develop political agency, and organizations capable of surviving repression, disagreement, electoral cycles, and changes in public mood. We need movements that can mobilize. We also need movements that can organize."

What a history of the 1960s can teach us about cross-racial organizing in an authoritarian age.

09/08/2026

"The resurgence of the American labor movement is being led in no small part by a cohort of young, diverse, fired-up workers around the country. Union density remains embarrassingly low overall, but last month the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, released some genuinely inspiring numbers that suggest the perceived upswing in union activity is more than just a vibe."

Let’s talk about “salting.”

09/08/2026

Spooky stuff: "Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull people over who are not suspected of any specific crime, but which the government thinks may be worth searching"

404 Media is revealing the name of Border Patrol's predictive policing units, which analyze financial data and have local cops pull people over. The people are not suspected of any particular crime.

09/07/2026

FYI:

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day from an OG Organizer…."Older finally got the chance to talk with Jones, who met her “with curling tongs in hand,” as Older recounted. Older told Jones, “They say you must choose between leaving the state and going to jail.” Jones laid down her curling tongs and replied, “I choose jail now. I can raise just as much hell in jail as anywhere.”

09/06/2026

Former S-T reporter Tim Madigan is reprinting his series on Fort Worth’s white racist backlash to Black Civil Rights in the 1950’s and 60’s. This side of Cowtown’s past is not as well-know as Dallas’ but it mimics it - right down to the house bombings. Long but illuminating piece if you think Fort Worth residents and leadership in any way took the moral high ground during those years. And it goes w/o saying the current iteration of the S-T would never attempt this kind of ambitious reporting now or devote this many column inches to hometown racism.

What happened in 1956 when a Black family moved into a white neighborhood in Fort Worth

09/05/2026

Don’t be fooled! This woman is still a huge threat! At least according to the backlash taking place today. Word has it that the Dallas Morning News publisher is getting hate mail over the story they ran Saturday morning on the lifelong journey of Dallas Legend Mavis Belisle fighting one bad idea after another. Reporter Maria Ramos Pacheco takes the POV of someone who was very much in the thick of things during 1984’s GOP convention in anticipation of this next week’s event. Apparently it’s crapping on the Trumpers parade during their big week. Please consider taking just five minutes to write a short paragraph stating that you appreciate the DMN’s coverage of these kinds of local institutions and look forward to them doing more. Link to story: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas-local-government/article/dallas-protester-trump-gop-convention-22411177.php Address: [email protected] Please CC the DMN CEO and Publisher who’s getting this stuff too: [email protected] Thank you.

09/05/2026

Today - one of our own. The Organizing School’s board member Mavis Belisle is one of the most amazing organizers to ever have called Dallas home. Her life is testimony to how one can maintain a stubborn resistance to one bad idea after another while finding celebration of the community that forms when you do that. Thanks to Maria Ramos Pacheco of the DMN for finally doing her justice.

Forty-two years after protesting Reagan in Dallas, Mavis Belisle is returning to the streets with younger activist Jo Hargis to challenge Trump and a new generation of political grievances.