XN: WINNING

Published on: September 24th, 2020 | Written by: Bad Guy Joe

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WINNING.
I decided this newsletter needs a bit fewer news media updates and more about what we’re seeing going down in the exploring world (and it’s varied artsy creative neighbors). So let’s focus on explorers doing awesome shit. Here are this week’s winners.

@Driftershoots posted photos last week of his absolutely epic bridge climb of the Ambassador bridge, which runs between Canada and Detroit. He did an interview with Fox News, which to me sounds more dangerous than actually climbing the bridge. You can even buy some prints in his online store.

And hey no story like this could be complete without at least one media outlet crying tHis RaIsEs QuEsTiOns aBouT OuR SecUritTy TheAter! (How the fuck does anyone still believe anything is ‘secure’?)

If you’re seriously into NYC and Art, friend-of-the-squad Lori Zimmer has a new book out covering this subject in depth.

I only recently found about @photodom and holy shit—dude just opened the first black owned photo store, right here in Brooklyn (and Online!). I used to get my film processing done in Greenpoint (many of you know where, with the angry polish guy that is personally insulted by Lomo film) but I’m sending a batch to Dom, and buying a bit of his swag too in support of more Black owned businesses. Go Dom Go.

ASS: Assorted Subway Shenanigans
WOW I AM SO SURPRISED that the MTA is not losing $300M a year to fare hoppers. Who ever would have thought that their methodology for arriving at this number was both bad science AND possible Copaganda? (The hiring of more officers to arrest poor people for fare evasion continues, all the while they are still 100% unable to track down the 7 line window smasher).

The Cuomo-MTA will shut down the F line tube under the east river on weekends to facilitate Hurricane Sandy repairs. You know, seven years later. As if that shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

An A train was derailed Sunday morning by some sociopath and maybe he can share a cell with *ak*rm*n?

That New Tunnel Smell
A freight tunnel up in Middlebury, VT was rebuilt and replaced this summer.

ACAB & Co.
Cops in Brooklyn believe that Rap Music and TikTok are causing crime, because it wouldn’t be 2020 unless a grotesque rehash of Tipper Gore and the PMRC wasn’t on the fucken docket. Seriously though: How stupid are these cops? Yeah I’m big afraid of some influencer twerking in the street trying to get all those TikTok followers. SO SCARY!

NYPD prevented Covid-19 mourners from continuing a peaceful vigil march because LAW AND ORDER. How dare you mourn your dead.

Shorty’s Short Shorts
Southside Chicago residents are pushing for cleanup off the the wasteland formerly known as the Acme Steel factory. The cleanup will be pretty massive in scale: “Two chemicals found on the site, benzo(a)pyrene and benzidine, pose cancer risks, and soil and groundwater also were contaminated with arsenic, lead, manganese, mercury and cyanide.” Mmmmm Tasty!

Sounding more and more like those abandoned Gary (Indiana) schools are not long for this world.

A dead body was found in an abandoned Milford, CT strip mall and I’m over here thinking Damn isn’t that the shithole I stopped in one day years ago for a quick B&E?

A huge ‘bando in Cleveland is set to become ‘affordable housing’, whatever that means.

The bones of an apparent murder victim were found by construction workers in Queens last weekend and seriously I’m not surprised this was in Glendale.

Salt Lake City is trying to find a way to manage it’s stock of at least 84 abandoned buildings, by streamlining a process for owners to get them demolished. Local “Karen” Amy Hawkins stated “the problems include daily crime and sex work at an abandoned house next to the homeless shelter.” So this isn’t about buildings at all: it’s about poverty and slut shaming. Got it.

Need a roundup of all the crazy ass places people got stuck in Quarantine? Yes, you do! And my homie Hannah has you covered!

Bando BBQ
The abandoned racetrack up in Vermont was beat up a bit more by a fire last week.

International Update
This is cool as shit. A homeowner in Vietnam has opened up a tunnel under his house used during the war. Read it and tag yourself. I’m definitely the termite vent decoy mound LOL. (For anyone unaware, the Vietnamese built extensive tunnels during the war years as a means of stashing weapons and avoiding enemies).

Albania has also reused some old war bunkers, turning them into a tourist attraction.

LOL Blanksy, I mean Banksy, tried to copyright some of their work but it was rejected because they would have to reveal one of their members real names to do so (for those who don’t know, Banksy is a collective, not just one artist). Who TF did he hire for a lawyer? R*ch*rd LIE-b*w*tz?

And that’s a Wrap:
The final three months of 2020 are going to make the first nine seem like a cake walk. If Trump wins, we’ll dive head first into a bizarre world of Trump trying to rul via executive order/dictatorship. If he loses, we’re going to have to deal with his MAGA/Q-Anon white nationalist terrorists.

However, the long term prospects might be better: The Squad is nearly tripling in size. The senate is looking very close to flipping. The potential for a democrat super-majority is real. Packing the court isn’t seeming so outrageous anymore. Statehood for Washington DC and Puerto Rico would add even more blue senate seats to represent the actual majority of this country. And then the real work, of dragging corporate scumbag democrats kicking and screaming into an actual progressive future begins.

So never mind voting: who are you volunteering for? Who are you donating to? How many awkward conversations do you intent to have with your less educated relatives? This is the time.

Get this news earlier!
You really want to sign up for the newsletter version of these updates. It comes out Mondays or Tuesdays, while we post this web version online on Thursdays or Fridays. This week I’m making a rare exception, considering how absolutely fast news is breaking.

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