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| President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain in a press conference, taking place on March 4, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
There were people who never expected to see me again. They were offended I was back in town.
Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Monday, October 06, 2014
A Political Immigration Detention
There were people who never expected to see me again. They were offended I was back in town.
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Romney: Breathtaking
This Facebook update by Brooke Ellison sums it up for me.
It must have felt like the final fight in Enter The Dragon to Barack Obama.
How do you fight a guy who is all smoke and mirrors? Tax cuts - huge ones - to millionaires and billionaires have been the centerpiece of Mitt Romney's grand plan. Last night he said that was not the case. He said he will do nothing to add to the deficit. So no tax cuts to the rich? But I thought that was kind of central to everything you have to say, Mitt.
Break the mirrors, Barack. That is how Bruce Lee did it.
The Art Of War, Bruce Lee
The First Debate
It must have felt like the final fight in Enter The Dragon to Barack Obama.
How do you fight a guy who is all smoke and mirrors? Tax cuts - huge ones - to millionaires and billionaires have been the centerpiece of Mitt Romney's grand plan. Last night he said that was not the case. He said he will do nothing to add to the deficit. So no tax cuts to the rich? But I thought that was kind of central to everything you have to say, Mitt.
Break the mirrors, Barack. That is how Bruce Lee did it.
The Art Of War, Bruce Lee
The First Debate
Friday, March 23, 2012
The Right To Peaceful Assembly In New York City
Occupy Wall Street protesters have taken over Zuccotti Park as a base of operations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)It blows my mind that Zuccotti Park is private. It absolutely blows my mind. While we are at it why don't we privatize Central Park as well? Maybe The Donald will buy it. What about Prospect Park? I mean. Isn't there a budget deficit or something? What are parks for? This city needs to buy back Zuccotti Park at the earliest, like this year. And give it to the Occupy people. The Occupy people put New York City on the world map last year like nobody and nothing else. That has to be honored. It is called saying thank you.
Ends up there is no right to peaceful assembly in New York City. There is a right to peaceful assembly in New York City just like there is a right to free speech in Syria. Assad was asked about free speech a few years back. He said, there is free speech in Syria. As long as people are respectful and decent in what they say. Otherwise you will have chaos, he said. Imagine that. Chaos.
There are people in this city who think the Occupy people doing their 24/7 thing in Zuccotti Park last year was chaos. Do they smell? They asked. It took a Time magazine to see the Occupier's worth, and people running this city still don't get it.
And this city is supposed to be the progressive capital of the world? I am not feeling it. I am not feeling the love.
10 million people joining a Facebook group could not have done what 200 people camping out 24/7 in Zuccotti Park did. It had to happen in person. It had to happen 24/7. It needed to happen in a public place.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Nicaragua, Ortega On The Radar
Image via WikipediaKick Ortega OutTime: Mideast Unrest Spreads to Nicaragua — Virtually: Under the banner "We Will Not Remain Quiet: No More Reelection," some 16,000 Nicaraguan youth activists joined forces Friday to protest the reelection bid by President Daniel Ortega. ...... "Down with Mubarak, Gaddafi, and Ortega!" ...... Ortega, who admitted to receiving personal financing from the Libyan leader before returning to office in 2007, has publicly offered Nicaragua's "total solidarity" to his longtime ally Muammar Gaddafi ..... Last year, Ortega was awarded the Muammar al-Gaddafi International Award for Human Rights. ..... Facebook demonstration ..... a society where social networking websites are becoming increasingly widespread and influential. ...... the virtual march was one of total rejection and repudiation of the candidacy of Daniel Ortega, which is illegal and illegitimate. ....... the only place young people feel they can demonstrate safely against Ortega is in cyberspace..... "Every time a protest march is organized, the Sandinistas call for a countermarch that ends in violence." ...... Baez started the initiative with invitations to 500 of his Facebook friends. It quickly went viral, growing to more than 100,000 invites ....... Nicaragua now has 3G technology in corners of the country that don't even have roads, electricity or running water
Image via Wikipedia
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Reshma Saujani Is Back
Image via WikipediaWell, she is. Last Friday I went to see the Facebook movie in Murray Hill. Before that I had made a firm decision to not go see the movie. (The Social Network: Before Seeing The Movie) I was going to express solidarity with Mark Zuckerberg. But I was to learn later the entire Facebook team went to see the movie around the same time I did. Fred Wilson and I call it mind meld. There have been three times so far when Fred Wilson and I have talked about the same thing the same day at our respective blogs independent of each other. (I Gave In: Facebook: The Movie, To Make Sense Of The Facebook Movie, Facebook Needs To Revamp Email Next, Facebook's Location Patent)
On my way back, at the train station, on the platform, as I lay sitting, waiting for the train, a Reshma 2010 staffer walked over to me, former Reshma 2010 staffer. Jay Ko. New York is a big city. It is rare to meet people you know when you are out and about town. Happens about once a year for me.
"She is resting," he said. Oh, okay. (ANTA Convention: Emotional Bath)
I never really turned that Google Alerts thing off. For days it was yet another publication breaking news that "the Indian American woman who ran for Congress lost." Okay, I got that. I was at the election returns watch party, and that was like two weeks ago. I snapped out of it within seconds. Or maybe minutes. Definitely by the following day. Carolyn Maloney is mediocre. That is my permanent impression.
Looks like Reshma Saujani's coming out event was some Punjabi dude running for City Council. At some level she never really woke up from the Obama 08 Democrat From Punjab episode. I took a personal hit when that happened. It just felt wrong. I was the only full timer Obama 08 volunteer in the city at the time. And I am Indian, watch out. (There Is An Albert Einstein On The Obama Campaign Staff) I sent out a missive and Barack Obama personally responded. He said that press release was "stupid" and the work of some lowly staffer.
Reshma has a Punjabi roommate.
The Prime Minister of India is a Punjabi. Barack shall soon meet.
I am in America because Nepal is not safe. America is safe, or so I thought. Bobby Kennedy was no longer campaigning in June. (Competing With Hillary Now)
Politics was not safe, I thought, and so I decided I was going to pour myself into tech entrepreneurship. 2009 was my tech year. (The Dumbfuck Immigration Laws) I was a regular at the Science House MeetUp, not to say the NY Tech MeetUp, which is where I met the Science House people in the first place. Late in 2009 the FBI started sniffing around the Science House. A few months later they were still sniffing around. And I lost it. I am thinking, not now, not when my guy is in the White House. (Obama's Got Momentum: He Could Defy History In November)
Tech was not safe either. What to do?
Only later I read somewhere that Carolyn Maloney's husband had died in Nepal late in 2009. And I am thinking, fuck.
Maloney has been of no interest to me in the five years I have been in the city; until Reshma 2010. She was a mere blip on the screen. She was mediocre. She filled a slot. She was part of the landscape. Hakeem Jeffries, on the other hand. (Hakeem Jeffries: Principled Compromise, Hakeem Jeffries Debate, New York Times: Hakeem Jeffries)
Nepal has a Shangrila image, and rightly so, it has been the most popular destination among Peace Corps volunteers for half a century, but that is only half the story. Nepal is also the poorest country outside of Africa. It only a few years back ended a decade long civil war. Nepal saw the rise of the number one ultra left group in the post Cold War era. Compared to the Maoists of Nepal, the Shining Path of Peru was not much. One of the drug routes goes through Nepal. High level people in the country's army get involved for the money.
I have walked in every part of New York City, and at all hours of day and night.
I am a nonviolent person, always have been. I am a political person, always have been. But nonviolent militancy is still nonviolent. (To: The Ayatollah, Newt Gingrich: Monkeyface)
I am too politically gifted to be wowed by a Barack Obama, even when it is my firm judgment he is going to go down in history as a great president. (I Touched Obama: Babel, Barack) I might not have felt the same intimacy if he had been a pastor or a pilot, but politics I know.
A few days back I read a piece where Osama Bin Laden was seeing a connection between global warming and the recent unusual floods in Pakistan. No politician in Pakistan saw that connection, not that I heard of. When random fires erupted all over Greece a few years back, they arrested all sorts of arsonists with records. They did not know to blame global warming. And I am thinking Bin Laden is a smart guy, just like I thought. He is that other butterfly effect dude on the planet.
And here you have two blog posts from Reshma Saujani. The question I have asked - before ever meeting - is what if she is too racist and too sexist by my extremely high standards? Internalized racism and sexism are still racism and sexism.
Reshma Saujani: Want to Break the Glass Ceiling? Give Young Women a Running Start: the outcome of the 2010 midterms could lead to the biggest reduction of female representation in Congress in over three decades...... Women make up 17 percent of the members of Congress, ranking the United States 68th internationally in women’s political representation ...... in the 20th century, twelve of the nineteen presidents were thirty-five years or younger when they were elected to their first office. ...... nurture and mentor young female candidates who lose their first local, state or federal race and empower them not to get discouraged and to continue to strive for elected office. ..... What progressives cannot do is let Sarah Palin’s Mama Grizzlies define what the female politician looks and sounds like in the 21st century. This country is hungry for female leadership, and as women continue to be the majority of voters, we must take the opportunity to paint our nation pink.Sarah Palin: Palin 2012: Rogue
Reshma Saujani: Bullhorn: Democrats Need to Fire Up the Fed-Up: we need more candidates running insurgent campaigns to engage communities who feel they do not have a voice. ..... the turnout of the South Asian community in the 14th district primary reached historic proportions. On election day, I saw crowds of Bangladeshi Americans come out and vote who have never participated in a primary election before. Young South Asian girls surrounded me holding my campaign materials, telling me that they too can run for higher office. ...... dropout factory schools ...... The ironic outcome of America electing the first black President is that it energized the right but not the left. ..... For many of us who were moved by President Obama’s historic campaign, we are fired up and ready to go – but the question is, where are we headed?Reshma Saujani: Blogger
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Protest Rally At The UN
I showed up at the Iran protest rally. Guess what, I got to catch a glimpse of Barack. Had not seen the dude in a while. I got to see him. He was being driven out of the UN. Traffic had been blocked. And of course they do it in a way that you can not guess which particular car he is in. But he waved. I saw.
I created a Facebook page right before I headed out for the event, and I collected a bunch of email addresses of activists while I was at the event.
It was a smallish event. But then so were the Nepal events back in 2005.
I came across some predictable attitudes. People are opposed to raising money for the cause. I am for raising big money, I am for a resource rich, sophisticated movement. People are opposed to creating an umbrella organization or two. There are so many disparate groups. There is much "sectarianism" among Iran democracy activists, as someone pointed out.
My role is going to be digital. And that can happen 24/7. But there is so much you miss out when you don't meet people in person, when you don't talk to people on the phone. You have to approach the movement from many different angles.
I learned the primary Iran diaspora action is in Europe, not the US.
September 23 Iran Democracy Protests NYC
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Selling 5% Of Nobel For 50K
@sethpriebatsch Read NYT piece on u. Buy 5% of my Nobel Peace Prize for 50K http://bit.ly/irandem (Tweet)
I must not have a knack for collecting many small dollar donations. Yet another proof that I am not exactly a politician. I am extremely political. But I am not a politician. For one, I don't seem to enjoy hanging out with the herds of them. I am more comfortable with people emailing back, tweeting back.
This guy calls himself Chief Ninja. I call myself a digital ninja/commando. (Claiming A Netroots/Grassroots Leadership Role With Iran Democracy Movement)
Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs: a hypomanic episode..... symptoms include grandiosity, an elevated and expansive mood, racing thoughts and little need for sleep.... He can work 96 hours in a row. .... a thin line separates the temperament of a promising entrepreneur from a person who could use, as they say in psychiatry, a little help. ..... just crazy enough .... “If you’re manic, you think you’re Jesus. If you’re hypomanic, you think you are God’s gift to technology investing.” ..... Instead of recklessness, the entrepreneur loves risk. Instead of delusions, the entrepreneur imagines a product that sounds so compelling that it inspires people to bet their careers, or a lot of money, on something that doesn’t exist and may never sell. ..... Next Zuckerberg Syndrome — the urge to find another Mark Zuckerberg before he starts another Facebook. ...... He does not socialize. He no longer reads books, nor does he watch TV or movies. He works from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m., seven days a week. ....... Jobs is also routinely described as a despot and control freak with a terrifying temper .... He is a gifted software engineer but a terrible driver. (“I hit things,” he says.) He’s perfectly at ease negotiating with V.C.’s, but has had just one girlfriend .... “I want to build the game layer on top of the world.”
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker
Iran Democracy
My new tag line on Twitter and Facebook: Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker.
My old intro both places: Tech Entrepreneur. Advocating Inventor. Third World Guy. Netizen. Global Citizen. New Yorker. Googleable. Global South Advocate. Overall Nice Guy. Bossmanperson. Subway Comrade. Inspiration. Visionary. Troublemaker.
I am not right now a tech entrepreneur, thanks to my immigration mess. I fear I might get sued if I keep calling myself a tech entrepreneur. I have enemies in town. I will revisit that in about a year. For now tech blogging is my tech thing to do.
But my primary push is for Iran democracy. My immediate push is to do some fundraising for the work.
I want to do the Iran democracy thing while I wait to have the option to do the tech entrepreneur thing. I am very much in mood to do the tech entrepreneur thing. Tech blogging is a prelude to that. Learn from Fred Wilson the value of having a daily updated blog for someone who wants to stay active in tech.
My Iran democracy work is going to be social media intensive. I am presenting myself as a digital ninja/commando. It is as much politics as it is tech. I like the intensity of revolutionary work.
This is the crowd I am targeting to raise 150K plus: Prominent Iranian Americans. 100K pays for my work for 12-15 months. 50K is bonus upon task completion. Task completion is regime change leading to an interim government mandated with holding elections to a constituent assembly. If I raise more than 150K, the extra money I spend on the same cause in ways I choose.
My new tag line on Twitter and Facebook: Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker.
My old intro both places: Tech Entrepreneur. Advocating Inventor. Third World Guy. Netizen. Global Citizen. New Yorker. Googleable. Global South Advocate. Overall Nice Guy. Bossmanperson. Subway Comrade. Inspiration. Visionary. Troublemaker.
I am not right now a tech entrepreneur, thanks to my immigration mess. I fear I might get sued if I keep calling myself a tech entrepreneur. I have enemies in town. I will revisit that in about a year. For now tech blogging is my tech thing to do.
But my primary push is for Iran democracy. My immediate push is to do some fundraising for the work.
I want to do the Iran democracy thing while I wait to have the option to do the tech entrepreneur thing. I am very much in mood to do the tech entrepreneur thing. Tech blogging is a prelude to that. Learn from Fred Wilson the value of having a daily updated blog for someone who wants to stay active in tech.
My Iran democracy work is going to be social media intensive. I am presenting myself as a digital ninja/commando. It is as much politics as it is tech. I like the intensity of revolutionary work.
This is the crowd I am targeting to raise 150K plus: Prominent Iranian Americans. 100K pays for my work for 12-15 months. 50K is bonus upon task completion. Task completion is regime change leading to an interim government mandated with holding elections to a constituent assembly. If I raise more than 150K, the extra money I spend on the same cause in ways I choose.
Reshma 2010: A Post Mortem
Image via CrunchBaseI very much stand by this blog post: Positivity, Excellence, Dark Matter.There are three departments - money, message, organization - and Reshma Saujani is excellent at all three. Reshma 2010 was an amazing operation. I marveled at all the details that Reshma 2010 worked on day in and day out. I marveled at the long hours the Reshma 2010 team put in and still stayed in good spirits. It was an amazing effort.
Maloney won because there is power in incumbency, there is power in raising three million dollars for a primary, there is power in getting endorsed by a former president and two sitting Senators. And a sitting president. And the entire congressional delegation in the state. Maloney is mediocre, not exactly headed for greatness, but she has consistently voted the party line. Party leaders like that. She has been reliable.
But I felt victory was possible. And getting 6,000 votes when you could have won at 16,000, I am calling it close.
Now that the race is over, I am in a small mood to do a slight post mortem. Could we have done a few things differently? I hope this does not come across as Monday morning quarterbacking, that is why I started with words of heartfelt praise.
Social Media, YouTube
I never understood why there was no prominent, direct link from the main Reshma2010.com page to the Reshma For Congress YouTube channel, and why the Reshma bio video was not prominently displayed on the front page itself. Perhaps on the sidebar. We did want TV debates and we were not too happy we got a radio debate, but we did not make enough use of YouTube in the same spirit. I put in a request. Give me YouTube versions of all of Reshma's HuffPo articles. I did not go anywhere with that request. We should have attempted to go viral on Facebook with those videos. Forget Maloney, we should have debated the voters.
Volunteers
Reshma 2010 stayed staff centric. It burned the midnight oil like a tech startup, but it also stayed staff centric like a tech startup. It might have hired perhaps two fewer people and had a much larger budget for volunteer barbecues.
The New Woman Push
Barack Obama did not talk much about race. Reshma Saujani did not talk much about gender. But perhaps she should have. There was a South Asian push, but there was not a similar New Woman push.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Facebook And Iran
Go where people are already gathered. Facebook is that place online. And so here I go. I posted a link to this blog post on the walls of each of these below. Four is a good enough number to start with. That is more than 10,000 people to begin with. And I also emailed to the people running the pages/group when I could harvest them.
democracy.wins@gmail.com, SecularDem@gmail.com
In the case of the group, I sent a Facebook email to the administrator. She looks like she is not even 20 yet.
Facebook Group
Democracy In Iran: Administrator: Jamie Scott
Facebook Pages
Secular Democracy For Iran SecularDem@gmail.com
Democracy And Freedom For Iran
We Want Democracy In Iran democracy.wins@gmail.com
Once you visit the Facebook pages/group, it feels like websites are so 1996! Facebook is where the action is now. That is where you would go to meet people.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Reshma Is Taking Over
Reshma took over my Gchat status.
Reshma took over my Gmail signature.
Reshma took over my Twitter page.
Reshma has partially taken over my Facebook page. When I share a link from Sree's page, you know I have ulterior motives. (Recruited 60 For Reshma 2010)
Reshma so decidedly took over my Barackface blog in July. She is about to push Obama himself as the most prominent politician at this blog. (Reshma On Track To Taking Over This Blog)
It can be argued she has also sucked some major oxygen from my tech blog Netizen. That was supposed to be my primary blog. Not any more. As my activity level at Barackface has gone up, my activity level at Netizen has gone down. (Digital Dumbo 18: The Dumbo Loft) I no longer show up at Fred Wilson's blog every day. Sorry Fred.
Reshma took over much of my Sunday yesterday. I was at the Reshma 2010 headquarters making phone calls all afternoon. I even wrote my first few letters yesterday. When was the last time I wrote a letter? Cursive writing feels good.
Reshma Saujani, among the top 10 women to watch in America, (Reshma Saujani: Top 10 Women To Watch In America) Reshma Saujani, top woman to watch in New York City, Reshma Saujani, the only woman to watch in District 14. (Maloney Is Too Ordinary To Be Representing District 14)
Reshma took over my Gmail signature.
Reshma took over my Twitter page.
Reshma has partially taken over my Facebook page. When I share a link from Sree's page, you know I have ulterior motives. (Recruited 60 For Reshma 2010)
Reshma so decidedly took over my Barackface blog in July. She is about to push Obama himself as the most prominent politician at this blog. (Reshma On Track To Taking Over This Blog)
It can be argued she has also sucked some major oxygen from my tech blog Netizen. That was supposed to be my primary blog. Not any more. As my activity level at Barackface has gone up, my activity level at Netizen has gone down. (Digital Dumbo 18: The Dumbo Loft) I no longer show up at Fred Wilson's blog every day. Sorry Fred.
Reshma took over much of my Sunday yesterday. I was at the Reshma 2010 headquarters making phone calls all afternoon. I even wrote my first few letters yesterday. When was the last time I wrote a letter? Cursive writing feels good.
Reshma Saujani, among the top 10 women to watch in America, (Reshma Saujani: Top 10 Women To Watch In America) Reshma Saujani, top woman to watch in New York City, Reshma Saujani, the only woman to watch in District 14. (Maloney Is Too Ordinary To Be Representing District 14)
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