#Seth Eisen
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Out of the Bars, Into the Streets: An Interview By Eye Zen Presents
For our second post in our Deep Dive series, director Seth Eisen and I (Jax Blaska, research & production assistant) sat down to talk about the rise of gay bar culture in the early 1960s and how that contributed to the burgeoning gay liberation movement. The transcript of our conversation is below, along with links for further reading and historical context for certain happenings. Italicized segments below are pop-out context/deeper info on the topics we touched on. Enjoy!
Jax Blaska: What feels most important to you, when we think about (gay) bar culture in this time? How was this a shift from what came before?
Seth Eisen: The first thing that comes to my mind is the words: Safe space. And the other thing that comes to my mind is Romeo’s Pizzeria.
Image courtesy of https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Black_Cat_Cafe
Romeo’s Pizzeria stood at 1605 Haight St., where Relic Vintage now lives. From 1964-1965, Romeo’s was the location of drag performer, activist, and eventual candidate for SF supervisor Jose Sarría’s operas. His performances’ typical location, the Black Cat Cafe on Montgomery St. in North Beach, closed that year after its owner had fought long and relentless legal battles in court for over 15 years.
I think it’s really interesting that that marked the transition in a way, because that year was really significant, in that the Black Cat closed after their long legal battle. Sol Stoumen, the proprietor, was a kind of incredible guy, I’m really fascinated by him. He was a Holocaust survivor, and a straight man, but his bar catered to all types of people — the Beats gathered there, older locals from the neighborhood, and of course, the gay crowd. There was so much police harassment going on, all about serving gay people. First of all, you could not be an out gay person as an owner of the bar, because if you’d ever been convicted of a crime against morality — which many people were, for soliciting or performing a lewd (homosexual) act — you were prohibited from running a bar. Women could not serve alcohol, (or even, in some places, legally enter a bar) so there was always a man working the bar. Even at Maud’s, the longest running lesbian bar up in Cole Valley, they had male bartenders, because that was the law. The ABC -- Alcohol Beverage Control board — had lots of control over how all these laws went, and then they were all tied together with Catholic, or Christian, politics and morality of the era, moving from the early 20th century into the mid 20th century. Mr. Stoumen took them to court a number of times, to the California Supreme Court, and he actually eventually won.
Landa Lakes performing as José Sarria outside Black Cat.OUT of Site.NorthBeach. Images courtesy of Chani Bockwinkle
But anyway, this is just to say, it’s an interesting thing that José’s stint at Romeo’s Pizzeria coincides with the closing of [the Black Cat]. Stoumen is such an important person, I think, in the fight for being able to serve queer people, and for queer people to be able to gather legally in a bar, because that was our safe space. And then there was this whole ring of police harassment and bribery — bribing the cops. So, regularly, a cop would come in, he’d give him the hundred bucks, or whatever it was, for that day, and then they would not bug them. And if not, there’s a whole bunch of arrests, and all that shit. This also brings in the beginnings of SIR, the Society for Individual Rights, and then also the Tavern Guild. They were one of the first gay activist organizations to gather power and the rights of queer bar owners and business managers to not be bugged.
JB: “The right to not be bugged,” I love that. And it’s interesting, because when we talk about queer liberation, and the birth of the more widespread gay liberation movement, often we talk about different uprisings that have happened in different bars. Obviously there’s Stonewall, but even before that, there’s Compton’s Cafeteria, in the Tenderloin. So it is really interesting to me that the bars and restaurants and clubs that served gay people become this rallying site from which to create a larger political movement. It starts as being just about — “just” about — “no, we have the right to gather and drink with our friends,” and then it becomes this larger fight for dignity.
SE: Yeah, the bars, that’s the first level of it. That’s a place where we could gather safety and power, because it wasn’t safe on the streets, being harassed, especially if you were non-binary or genderqueer in some way. And there was just so much blatant homophobia on the streets, and violence, and especially by the cops.
Which is what Stoumen was trying to fight. They basically forced him too close. Even though he went through years of legal battles. And won. But it wasn’t in time to save it. So then, moving forward, these bar owners band together, and José I think was pretty instrumental in developing the Tavern Guild. That was the first gay business association in the country, founded in 1962.
Yeah. Wow. It’s really telling — it’s not surprising, but it’s telling — that the first gay business association in the country is the Tavern Guild. That early solidarity is organized around equal access to bars. And it was based out of San Francisco.
Jose Sarría, nicknamed the Nightingale of Montgomery Street for his operatic performances at the Black Cat, was instrumental in developing the Tavern Guild, initially drawing together gay bar owners (and heterosexual owners of gay bars, like Sol Stoumen) to raise funds to pay for bail money and legal fees, like the ones Stoumen was facing for his long court battles. While it was too late to save the Black Cat, which closed in 1963 after its liquor license was revoked by the ABC and it could not survive by selling only food and soft drinks, the Tavern Guild did go on to become a crucial organizing arm of gay liberation in San Francisco. SIR and the Tavern Guild were closely intertwined allies: SIR would meet at alternating bars whose owners were members of the Tavern Guild, drawing business on typically slow nights, and Tavern Guild members would donate food and drink to SIR for its parties.
Image courtesy of https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Black_Cat_Cafe
Image courtesy of https://revolution.berkeley.edu/tavern-guilds-beaux-arts-ball/ via the Berkeley Tribe
The most major event that the Tavern Guild would sponsor was an enormous Halloween drag ball, the first of its scale in the Bay Area, first held in 1963 at the Jumpin’ Frog on Polk St. At the third annual of these Beaux Arts Balls in 1965, Jose Sarría was named Queen. Declaring that he was already, had always been, a Queen, he then named himself Empress, and the Imperial Court system was born.
One really interesting thing is that at a certain point, after all this police brutality that was happening with the bars — I’m really fascinated by this straight police officer who the commisioner assigned to the gay community, and this was a real turning point.
Wow.
Yeah. So the history is pretty massive: there was a New Year’s party that was planned at the California Hall, on Polk St., and it was organized by a bunch of priests, including Reverend Cecil Williams, from Glide Memorial Church, who was a major activist in the scene, and Ted McIlvenna, a minister who later was a key figure in the San Francisco Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. They planned this event so that this alliance between religious leaders and the gay community would prevent police from breaking it down, and assert that these people actually had the right to gather, and be there together. And then there was a huge raid, the cops did not do as they had promised, even one of the priests got arrested — anyway, that’s a whole other can of worms, but it’s an important moment because through that event, the failure of that event, came this desire and need for there to be a dialogue between the police department and the queer community. And it was, really interestingly, the priests that were leading this — who were also, you know, getting money from the government to help combat poverty at the time, so they were able to invest more into this.
I’m really fascinated by Elliot Blackstone, the police officer tasked as an intermediary between the gay community and the SF Police Deaprtment. He worked closely with the trans community, too, after a number of folks approached him about the brutality and violence they faced. He was an ally. He was like, “you can’t just go in and start arresting people randomly.” But of course, this is all tied to years and years of this police brutality. In all the neighborhoods that we were in — Polk Street, North Beach, the Haight, the Castro — the raids were just everywhere.
Image courtesy of https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/sf-pride-timeline/ via John Storey/The SF Chronicle
So all that stuff is really important to name. So then, once we move forward, going into the seven gay bars in the Haight, we can start to talk about the differences between them and the kind of individuality that was starting to happen. Maybe that was always the case, I don’t know, but like in North Beach, with the very early gay bars, there were always differences — lesbians went to one place, there was one place that was more touristy — but I think there was more nuance happening in terms of individuality in the gay community, and different kinds of queers. For example, we would note the gay hippie bars, the more activist lefty crowd, sometimes those mixed, and then the “clone” crowd.
The Seven Gay Bars of Haight Street:
Gus’s Pub. 1446 Haight St. Gus’s was frequented by motorcycle guys and leathermen. It served only beer and wine, no hard liquor, and its backyard was notorious for potsmoking, political discussions, and gay sex. Eye Zen friend/collaborator and filmmaker behind The Cockettes, David Weissman, told us in an interview that at first it didn’t occur to him that Gus’s was a gay bar because “I had never seen gay people that looked like that before” — that is, not effiminate or flamboyant, but masculine and tough. Lefties and hippies frequented as well. The wallpaper was a collaged collection of obscene comics and photos.
The Question Mark. 1437 Haight St. Now Trax, having changed its name in the early 80s. Directly across the street from Gus’s, The Question Mark brought a slightly higher-class, less politically-radical & leftist crowd. It was decorated with moose heads, and ironically, had a giant framed photo of Gus’s Pub displayed on the wall.
The I-Beam. 1748 Haight St. The I-Beam was the first big gay club in the Haight — filling a crucial niche, because prior to its opening, gay gathering places in the neighborhood were smaller and thus more secretive/private. But the I-Beam was big, and loud, featuring rock and punk bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Duran Duran and the Cult, as well as their packed Sunday afternoon Tea Dances, which provided an environment in which gay attendees were the majority. There was a $5 cover charge to get in, to which the hippies were initially opposed, as they felt it was an infiltration of “clone” gays from other parts of the city who were hopping on the bandwagon without being invested in the political and social ideals which gay hippies stood for. Nonetheless, the I-Beam was wildly popular, drawing up to 1000 people a night, and was a huge part of the “gay renaissance” of the Haight in the late 70s and 80s (the I-Beam opened in 1977). Its often drug-fueled dance parties, however, were the target of numerous sound complaints from neighboring businesses hoping to shut down this bastion of gay nightlife. The I-Beam closed in 1992, unable to remain competitive with the South of Market clubs which were permitted to go all night, as well as the devastation of the AIDS epidemic.
Bones. 1840 Haight St. Now, Milk Bar.
Cadillac. 1511 Haight St. A historical gay bar, then reopened as The Deluxe in 1978. Along with I-Beam, the Deluxe was one of the popular spots responsible for the “gay renaissance” of the neighborhood — it was a trendy spot to play pool and cruise.
Mauds. 937 Cole St. Owned by Rikki Streicher, Mauds was a familial gathering spot for San Francisco lesbians for over 20 years, until its close in 1989. Men were welcome — as bartenders, as California law prohibited women from pouring drinks. Streicher hosted holiday dinners for folks who didn't have family or homes to return to. For more, see the film Last Call at Mauds.
Bradley's Corner. 900 Cole St. Bradley’s Corner was a neighborhood piano bar for nearly 40 years, the last 20 of which were distinctly gay. Gays and lesbians gathered together there, along with military personnel from the Presidio — some of whom, no doubt, were included in the first categorization — and folks sang along to the piano and played pool. Around the corner from Mauds, Bradley’s also had a familial vibe: every Tuesday, spaghetti dinners were offered for 69 cents, while Wednesdays were "hat nights": "Wear a hat and pay 50 cents for bar drinks" reads an ad from the time.
Of these, only Trax (formerly The Question Mark) remains as a gay bar today.
So anyway, I think a key theme here is identity, post-Stonewall. Or, let’s just say, during the height of Gay Liberation. Because Stonewall is only one event. I love that — in the book we’ve been passing around [Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation, a compilation edited by Tommi Avicolli Mecca] it names three events, pre-Stonewall — if you think about it, there’s Cooper’s Donuts in LA (1959), there was Dewey’s in Philadelphia (1965), Compton’s Cafeteria here in San Francisco, in the Tenderloin (1966), and then of course there’s the Stonewall (1969). And all of them had uprisings. And out of that comes gay liberation. That’s one of the factors. Not tolerating the harassment anymore, and asserting our rights. And so — Gay Liberation Front, the Bay Area Gay Liberation Front, the Society for Individual Rights, the Tavern Guild — all of these organizations are basically playing off each other, and they are the next generation after the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis. I think that’s important to mention: there’s starting to become this new awareness of what our identity was, that our identity was nuanced, and that there could be different places for different people to be.
Right, and not just — my understanding of Mattachine and Daughters of Bilitis is that they were pretty straight-laced, like, “gay people, they’re just like you,” march in Washington holding signs and wearing suits and dresses. Assimilationist, because there wasn’t really another option. But later, to really be able to assert — you know, Compton’s was primarily Black trans women and drag queens who initially fought back. There was someone, we don’t know who she was, but she throws her coffee in a cop’s face, and that apparently is what starts the uprising. Beginning to assert ourselves as queer people as having lots and lots of nuance and different types of desires and wants for community and liberation. Feels like a really crucial turning point.
Yeah, it is a crucial turning point. So, in the early 60s, our rights are changing, and these different bars are opening, in the Haight. There’s more nuance and more individuality, distinguishing one bar from the next, different versions of “gay” you could be. And out of that a kind of a revolution is happening.
This idea of gathering in community is obviously huge. Cannot be overstated.
Yeah, the gathering. And in terms of gathering, we also have the Golden Cask, which David Weissman [interviewed for the oral histories we gathered] mentioned was a big gay hangout and a very good restaurant, at 1725 Haight, so it was up a little higher, closer to the park. And then there was Blue Front Deli, which is still around, and it was a gay-owned business, and then Mommy Fortuna’s Cafe, which is where the Cockettes hung out. So I think between those places, there was a lot of gay gathering spaces, to be out and be ourselves.
I think this is a great backbone to the story about how gay bars played a role in gay political awareness and liberation. I’m also interested in how these gathering places, combined with the spirit of sexual revolution in the 60s, impacted folks more personally, on an individual level, in their sex and romantic lives.
So should we talk about sex?
Let’s talk about sex. My next question is: what changed for queer people with the sexual revolution of the 60s? What didn’t?
In terms of sexuality, I think when you’re repressed for long enough, living under some other morality system that you don’t subscribe to, that, I would think, would make us want to express ourselves in the most free & open way. To be in private spaces where we could love ourselves; where we could feel both safe and comfortable to be able to express ourselves sexually. “Gay is good” was a slogan José [Sarria] coined — this belief that we could be together in the ways that we wanted to, it wasn’t shameful, and it could be less hidden. As opposed to the ten years before, at these gay and lesbian bars in North Beach, when as soon as a cop walked in, you go and you dance with a person of the opposite sex. There’d be a word, or a code, flickering the light off and on, and there’d be this switching that would happen.
It’s a pretty interesting example of solidarity between the two communities. “Okay, neither of us want to be caught in this situation, so let’s pretend — let’s be beards, while the cops are here.”
Yeah. So I think with those newer freedoms, then you add LSD into it, once the 60s come around, and people are like, slithering around, and just wanting to make love to everything in nature. There’s pot, and mushrooms, and other drugs, to kind of help us get more into our bodies and appreciate what we have, who we are, physically, as social, sexual, spiritual beings.
I love that a lot. I love this idea that in some ways the drugs that became super widespread in the 60s may have helped the culture in general but in particular queer people to feel a part of their bodies. And that was not something to be ashamed of, or to push away, but to really embrace.
Yeah. I mean, of course there’s also the opposite of that happening — rampant alcoholism and addiction, with people holding so much shame and internalized homophobia that it’s turning inwards on ourselves. As seen in movies like Boys in the Band, which was originally a 1960s play. So I think both of these things are happening simultaneously: drugs freeing us, and drugs taking a hold of us. And the different gay groups are going in different directions. Mattachine splinters off, as you were saying earlier, and the assimilationists are going further in that direction, into fitting in, versus Harry Hay and many others who were creating [Radical] Faerie circles, gathering together and seeing us as more whole, healthy, “normal” and unique in our own way.
That’s really interesting, this idea of uniqueness, because I wonder if that’s something that’s shifting for the culture as a whole, and not just within the gay liberation crowd. I wonder if it’s something to do with the 60s, and 70s, the hippie movement, anti-Vietnam war, this desire to not be seen as part of the machine of the nation, and everything it stands for, all of the norms that it upholds. I can just imagine, all of these kids who were born shortly after World War II, and raised in that shadow, beginning to split off, and say, “no, I want to be an individual, it is not the goal to blend in, have a white picket fence and a suburban home that looks identical to my neighbors’.”
Yeah. Even as [Eye Zen contributor, Out of Site interviewee, historian] Michael Sumner pointed out, really acutely, that going back even further, into the first and second World Wars, that San Francisco was a stopping off point, for people at sea, and for military personnel coming through town. A lot of people saw this as a place where they could be singular people. Straight people as well, but there was more opportunity for homosocial spaces. So SROs [Single Resident Occupancies] have long been vital to San Francisco, and they created more of these homosocial spaces, where men could be living all together, in single rooms, because they were itinerant workers, so they’d be going out to sea, wherever they were called to duty. And then, when people were coming back from the war, they were like, “am I gonna go back to this conservative village in Indiana, or am I gonna stay in San Francisco?” So that’s how a lot of people chose to remain here, as they came through here, and they saw the potential for freedom, even though there was still a lot of danger. It goes all the way back to those times, and the connection to military then. And Jose [Sarría] is really part of this generation, he served in the military, he was discharged… Gavin Arthur is another one. He also served in the military. So anyway, that’s a whole other story. But I love how those generations kind of intersect.
[Eye Zen contributor, interviewee, historian and friend] Joey [Cain]’s been talking to me too, about the first Faerie gatherings, the first Sissy Circles — they were really an outgrowth of Gay Liberation Front circles. They were events where political strategizing would happen more casually inside people’s homes, where they would get together and talk about politics. And places like Gus’s were hotbeds for that crowd. And then they were meeting, at Arthur Evans’ place, and there were a bunch of these houses, where people were getting together and going “no, we’re not gonna tolerate this, we’re gonna fight back.”
This connects to Atascadero, which was a mental hospital where gay people would be sent. They were giving lobotomies to gay people, they were doing electric shock treatments, they were doing aversion therapy treatment, where they would hook up nodes to their penis and shock them when they were thinking about gay men, or gay sex, or whatever. These people were tortured, and many never recovered, physically or mentally. Activist Don Jackson wrote an article titled “Dachau for Queers” that ran in the Gay Sunshine Press about his experiences visiting “patients” — inmates — there.
Wow. Oof. That is… strong imagery.
So that’s what we’re pushing up against. We’re seeing that, and we’re going “no.” Cause a lot of people don’t know this, but people have to know that. It’s really important.
Yeah. I mean, I didn’t know that. Or when I think about that [torture], I think about it in rural areas, conversion camps… I don’t think about it in the Bay Area.
Image courtesy of https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=BGJFHJH19730316.1.7&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1 via Los Angeles Free Press, “California runs a ‘Dachau for Queers,’” March 16-26, 1973
Ok, speaking of the Bay Area. What role did nature or public parks play in queer hippie life? Part of what I meant with this question is not just the free sex, cruising spots but also, how did proximity to nature impact the culture and the ways that people related to each other? Because that is something that is unique to San Francisco in terms of other major cities in America.
Well that’s interesting that you bring that up, because Sunday I was feeling obsessed, trying to find more stuff, and I was rereading the interview with Michael [Sumner], and that’s one of the major themes that he got into: that especially the Haight, nature was a really important thing. LSD played a part in that, acid being a drug that puts you in touch with your body and the environment, that you’re in this state of presence. And Michael also mentioned that there was a whole group of radical queers from the GLF who were regularly going to different spots in San Francisco. There are more areas of nature in San Francisco than there are in most urban environments — and also they were going up to Russian River. That was the big hangout spot. And as we moved into the ‘70s and ‘80s, that remained, and still remains, a really important haven for queers. During the AIDS pandemic, a lot of people were going there to die, and thought they were going to die there. It’s so hard to say “they,” because everyone’s story is unique, but I’ve heard many stories of people going there to die, and then the cocktails happened, and they survived, and they are still there. I know a handful of people, who I’ve visited there, people I’ve known over the years. And you know, there are events, and bars there, the whole scene. But yes, I think nature’s really important.
And then there was, of course, sex happening in Golden Gate Park, at the Windmills, down near the beach, which has historically been a well-known gay cruising spot. And then there are all these bathrooms, within the park. There’s one particularly, right near the buffalo, that I’ve heard was a big cruising spot. Cause like, where do you go? You have roommates, they don’t know you’re gay, where do you go to have sex? But Buena Vista Park was really developed. I mean, you can still walk through there, and see the pathways that were created in different places. More on the Eastern side, off the beaten path, you can still see these pathways where you can walk between bushes. It’s all been opened up now, they’ve cut back all the bushes so it would stop — because it was like, a gathering space, there’d be dozens and dozens and dozens of people there, you’d go there to cruise people, you’d bring people there, there was sex happening all over the place. And then there was, you know, Bobby’s Victorian.
Well, we have to talk about Bobby’s Victorian, because as you know, this is one of my favorite details of the entire project.
I mean, he’s a fascinating character, Bobby Kent — he played in Glide’s band, he performed with Sylvester, he was really there in the moment. More connected, it seems, than most, in an interesting and unusual way. Why are you fascinated by him?
For some of the similar reasons you mentioned. Multiple different people have mentioned him, to you, to us, being like, “Oh yeah, he was there. That was him also,” and I’m always fascinated by the types of characters who tend to find themselves amongst different communities. There’s also something about the physical history — the built environment of the neighborhood. The fact that he had this job restoring old Victorians — you know, I grew up in a Victorian house up in the Fillmore, and have a lot of nostalgia for those types of homes, a lot of appreciation for how specific and weird a lot of their quirks are. So the fact that one of his crafts — he was a musician, among other things as well — but one of his crafts was this very loving restoration of these homes, not because it was profitable, back then, but because otherwise they were going to be torn down, and because he thought that they were beautiful, and they shouldn’t be torn down. And then to go and be like, “okay, I’m going to take scraps from these job sites I’m working on and go build a Victorian treehouse in the biggest cruising area in the city, and make it, like, an orgy treehouse — ” I also love that. I wanna know — I mean, the cops burned it down one night? I want to know, were there people there, did they see? Was there a raid on the park in general and then the cops burned it down in protest, or was it kind of in secret, like, toss a lit cigarette in, and then boom? I mean, I don’t know. That’s just — one of the details I’ve latched onto in this project.
Yeah. I love talking about this shit with you, Jax. It’s been really fun.
I feel the same way!
*both laughing*
#Jax Blaska#Seth Eisen#Jose Sarría#Black Cat Cafe#Maud's#Stonewall Inn#Sol Stoumen#Cecil Williams#Ted McIlvenna#Gus’s Pub#Eye Zen#The Question Mark#The I-Beam#The Deluxe#Bradley’s Corner#Trax#Compton’s Cafeteria Riot#Cooper's Donuts Riot#Dewey’s Sit-in#Mattachine Society#Daughters of Bilitis#Gay Liberation Front#Queer#Revolution#Image#Interview#History#Frank Kameny#Boys in the Band movie#Film
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Wir haben hier den Dolch des Pharaos Tutanchamuns dieser wurde wahrscheinlich als Gastgeschenk einer Hochzeit dem Pharao übergeben. -Eine Klinge aus dem All Der Dolch des Tutanchamun war ein Meisterwerk früher Schmiedekunst. Und das, obwohl die Menschen damals noch nicht in der Lage waren, Eisen zu gewinnen. Ein wahrhaftes Mysterium also. Zudem war das Eisen in perfektem Zustand, als Howard Carter Tuts Grab im November 1922 öffnete, und nicht, wie so viele andere Waffen, verrostet. Der französische Geochemiker Albert Jambon will das Rätsel nun gelöst haben. Das Eisen für diesen Dolch stammt demnach von einem Meteoriten. Es lässt sich möglicherweise sogar einem konkreten Himmelsobjekt zuordnen, vermutet der Materialwissenschaftler von der Pierre und Marie-Curie-Universität in Paris. Erste Indizien hatte es bereits im Jahr 2016 gegeben, doch nun gibt es eine genaue Analyse. Lange war gerätselt worden, woher das ungewöhnliche Stück stammen könnte. Die altägyptischen Brennöfen konnten die Hitze für das Schmelzen von Eisenerz nicht liefern, sie schafften nur einige hundert Grad Celsius. Daher gab es viele Spekulationen, ob nicht doch irgendwo begnadete Erfinder einen Weg entdeckt hatten, Erz zu schmelzen. Der älteste bislang entdeckte Ofen, in dem man Eisenerz schmelzen konnte, stammt aus dem Ort Tell Hammeh in Jordanien und ist knapp 3000 Jahre alt. Dolche aus Meteoriteneisen haben einen höheren Nickelanteil als irdisches Eisen. Er liegt mindestens bei fünf Prozent, meist sogar höher. Die 3400 Jahre alte Klinge aus dem Grab besteht demnach zu elf Prozent aus Nickel und zu 0,6 Prozent aus Kobalt. Dies bestätigt Werte von italienischen Wissenschaftlern der Polytechnischen Universität Mailand und macht ein für alle Mal klar der Ursprung der Klinge entstamme von einem Meteoriten. Was ist eure Meinung? #ägypten #ägyptologie #forscher #wissenistmacht #killuminati #tutanchamun #pyramiden #goldmaske #antik #geschichte #lehrer #lernen #geschichtelernen #forschung #archäologie #dolch #präastronautik #isis #osiris #seth #talderkönige #pharaoh #hieroglyphics #history #antikebibliothek https://www.instagram.com/p/CcZJAp6K-nj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
#ägypten#ägyptologie#forscher#wissenistmacht#killuminati#tutanchamun#pyramiden#goldmaske#antik#geschichte#lehrer#lernen#geschichtelernen#forschung#archäologie#dolch#präastronautik#isis#osiris#seth#talderkönige#pharaoh#hieroglyphics#history#antikebibliothek
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Late Night with Seth Meyers
Season 8 - Episode 32: Michael Moore, Rich Eisen
AirDate: November 19th, 2020, 11:30 PM
#Late Night with Seth Meyers#NBC#Michael Moore#Rich Eisen#Season 8#Comedy#tv#television#show#episode#calendar
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I completely agree with all the posts you reblogged about OnlyFans but I also want to point out that the pressure by MasterCard/Visa probably played a very large roll in their decision. MC/Visa are super conservative & are know for this kind of shit. And if they ban your platform that means no company credit cards but also they can ban every executive from having credit cars, even privat ones. Not trying to make excuses for OF but there is a much larger problem that's gonna keep fucking everyone
I mean, maybe, but Mastercard has said they weren't involved in this.
Seth Eisen, a spokesman for Mastercard, told CNN Business it was not involved in OnlyFans' decision to restrict the content it would allow on the platform. "It's a decision they came to themselves," Eisen said. (Other payment processors didn't immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.)
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MOVIE STUDIOS
Disney, Alan Horn (Jew)
Warner Bros, Ann Sarnoff (Jew)
Directors Guild of America, Thomas Schlamme (Jew)
Producers Guild of America, Gail Berman (Jew)
Screen Actors Guild, Gabrielle Carteris (Jew)
Writers Guild of America West, David Goodman (Jew)
Creative Artists Agency, Richard Lovett (Jew)
United Talent Agency, Jim Berkus (Jew)
William Morris, Ari Emanuel (Jew)
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, John Bailey (Jew)
**
MUSIC INDUSTRY
Sony BMG, Doug Morris (Jew)
Universal Music Group, Lucian Grange (Jew)
Interscope Records, Jimmy Iovine (Jew)
**
SPORTS
Falcons, Arthur Blank (Jew)
Patriots, Robert Craft (Jew)
Raiders, Mark Davis (Jew)
Bucs, Malcolm Glazer (Jew)
Colts, Jim Irsay (Jew)
Eagles, Jeffrey Lurie (Jew)
Dolphins, Stephen Ross (Jew)
Washington FC, Daniel Snyder (Jew)
Giants, Steve Tisch (Jew)
Vikings, Zygi Wilf (Jew)
NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver (Jew)
Rockets, Leslie Alexander (Jew)
Heat, Micky Arison (Jew)
Clippers, Steve Ballmer (Jew)
Mavs, Mark Cuban (Jew)
Cavs, Dan Gilbert (Jew)
Warriors, Peter Gruber (Jew)
Sixers, Josh Harris (Jew)
Warriors, Joe Lacob (Jew)
Bucks, Marc Lasry (Jew)
Bulls, Jerry Reinsdorf (Jew)
Pacers, Herbert Simon (Jew)
Raptors, Larry Tanenbaum (Jew)
SF Giants, Larry Baer (Jew)
Athletics, John Fisher (Jew)
Rangers, Chuck Greenberg (Jew)
Dodgers, Peter Guber (Jew)
Nationals, Ted Lerner(Jew)
White Sox, Jerry Reinsdorf (Jew)
Rays, Stuart Sternberg (Jew)
Mets, Fred & Jeff Wilpon (Jew)
Biggest Boxing Promoter Bob Arum (Jew)
**
SPORTSCASTERS
Kenny Albert (Jew)
Marv Albert (Jew)
Chris Berman (Jew)
Linda Cohn (Jew)
Seth Davis (Jew)
Rich Eisen (Jew)
Hank Goldberg (Jew)
Doug Gottlieb (Jew)
Mike Greenberg (Jew)
Max Kellerman (Jew)
Suzy Kolber (Jew)
Andrea Kremer (Jew)
Steve Levy (Jew)
Al Michaels (Jew)
Karl Ravech (Jew)
Jim Rome (Jew)
Jeremy Schaap (Jew)
Adam Schefter (Jew)
Dick Stockton (Jew)
**
BUSINESS/TECH
Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (Jew)
Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin (Jew)
Oracle, Larry Ellison, Safra Catz (Jew)
Whatsapp, Jan Koum (Jew)
Dell, Michael Dell (Jew)
Michael Bloomberg (Jew)
Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson (Jew)
Bernie Madoff (Jew)
George Soros (Jew)
Starbucks, Howard Schultz (Jew)
Dreamworks, David Geffen (Jew)
YouTube, Lyon Cohen (Jew)
DJ Vlad (Jew)
Adam22 (Jew)
Peter Rosenberg (Jew)
Ebro (Jew)
**
CREEPS
Dan Snyder (Jew)
Jeffrey Epstein (Jew)
Ghislaine Maxwell (Jew)
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Mastercard has a new patent that could allow bitcoin transactions on credit cards
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Mastercard has a new patent that could allow bitcoin transactions on credit cards
Consumers might one day be able to charge their purchases on their credit cards using bitcoin as a currency. consumers who “value anonymity and security.” But there are disadvantages to using digital currency, the document noted, and there’s a need to improve the storage......
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Sibling photo!(sorry I couldn’t add all of them ^^“)
Eisen- @blue-kohina
Seth- @shadowcaos26 Somi- @thenerdartkid Sora- @kiira-draws Eri- @chocotan Mute- @solointentodibujar Willow- me Ship of rewrite @lunalight123/sorell @ivywolf777
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Stellt das Zahlungsunternehmen Mastercard ein Kryptowährungs-Team zusammen?
Mastercard scheint sich tiefer mit der Kryptowelt auseinandersetzen zu wollen. Zumindest lässt eine aktuelle Stellenausschreibung des Unternehmens darauf zurückschließen.
Je mehr die Krypto-Industrie wächst, desto weniger kann dieses Wachstum von größeren Unternehmen ignoriert werden. So scheint sich nun auch Mastercard dafür zu interessieren, da das Unternehmen ein Kryptowährungs-Team zusammenstellt.
Das Kreditkartenunternehmen Mastercard kündigte im Juni an, dass das Unternehmen sich Facebooks Libra Association anschließen wird. Genauere Details sind noch etwas unklar, klar ist allerdings, dass man tiefer in die Kryptowelt eintauchen möchte, da eine Kryptowährungs-Abteilung gegründet wird.
Mastercard veröffentlichte kurz eine Stellenanzeige, bei der das Unternehmen fragte:
Mastercard wird allerdings keine eigene Kryptowährung herausbringen. Man möchte bloß ein Expertenteam zusammenstellen, um der Branche besser folgen zu können. Vielleicht wird das Unternehmen selbst auch einige interessante Blockchain-Produkte starten. Derzeit, wie man sieht, befindet sich noch alles im Anfangsstadium.
Laut Senior Vice Präsident von Mastercard, Seth Eisen, sucht das Zahlungsunternehmen nach neuen Wegen, Werte zu schaffen. Blockchain und Kryptowährungen werden einen wesentlichen Teil dieser Aktivitäten darstellen. Darüber hinaus wird das Unternehmen einen Libra-Node betreiben, sollte Facebooks Kryptowährungen von den Behörden genehmigt werden. Nach diesem Launch wird Mastercard den ersten Fuß in die Kryptowelt gesetzt haben, der definitiv nicht der letzte sein wird. Es scheint, dass das Unternehmen ernsthafte langfristigen Blockchain-Pläne hat.
Quellenangaben:Beincrypto
Bildquelle: Pixabay
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Late Night with Seth Meyers
Season 5 - Episode 27: Jeremy Irons, Rich Eisen
AirDate: November 15th, 2017, 12:35 AM
#Late Night with Seth Meyers#NBC#Jeremy Irons#Rich Eisen#Season 5#Comedy#tv#television#show#episode#calendar
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Late Night with Seth Meyers : Tom Brady Offered to Train Rich Eisen for Run Rich Run
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MasterCard acquires a patent to bridge the gap between fiat and cryptocurrency
In a bid to dissolving existing bridge between fiat and cryptocurrency, MasterCard Inc., an American multinational financial services corporation acquired a patent which links cryptocurrency to fiat currency.
The patent, Method, and system for linkage of blockchain-based assets to fiat currency account, was filed on 21st May 2015.
Abstract of the patent acquired by MasterCard || Source: the United States Patent and Trademark Office
The invention provides a ‘method for managing fractional reserves of blockchain currency’. The managing fractional reserves would include:
Central Database
An account database
A receiving device
A processing device
Summary of the patent acquired by MasterCard || Source: the United States Patent and Trademark Office
The patent includes storing both fiat currency and blockchain currency in a central account. The central account database would have multiple account profiles. These profiles would store information of consumer including the fiat currency and cryptocurrency amount stored, an account identifier and an address.
According to the patent, the receiving device will receive a payment transaction message and the message would be formatted based on single or multiple standards. This would have multiple data elements including data element reserved for private use which would have the transaction amount and a specific address.
The processing device would configure the address included in a specific account profile stored in the database and matches the specific address included in the data element in the receiving transaction message.
Further, the patent states that it would:
“update the blockchain currency amount included in the identified specific account profile based on the transaction amount included in the data element in the received transaction message.”
Seth Eisen, Mastercard’s Senior Vice President for communications told CNBC:
“We’re consistently looking at ways to bring new thinking and new innovations to market to create value for us and our customers and cardholders. Patent applications are part of that process, taking steps to protect the company’s intellectual property, whether or not the idea ever comes to market.”
The post MasterCard acquires a patent to bridge the gap between fiat and cryptocurrency appeared first on AMBCrypto.
MasterCard acquires a patent to bridge the gap between fiat and cryptocurrency published first on https://medium.com/@smartoptions
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Mastercard Patents a Method to Manage Cryptocurrency “Fractional Reserves”
Mastercard has patented a method to manage cryptocurrency “fractional reserves”. The big idea behind it seems to be that users will be able to pay with fiat on credit cards partly backed by crypto assets using a centralized system offering faster transaction conformation speeds.
Also Read: IBM Backs the Development of Latest New Stablecoin, Stronghold USD
Cryptocurrency “Fractional Reserves”
Credit card giant Mastercard (NYSE: MA) was granted a patent for a “Method and system for linkage of blockchain-based assets to fiat currency accounts.” A disclosure from the US Patent and Trademark Office explains it relates specifically to the use of centralized accounts to manage fractional reserves of fiat and blockchain currency updated via transaction messages corresponding to fiat- and blockchain-based payment transactions.
Explaining the need for the patent, the document states that, “blockchain currencies have seen increased usage over traditional fiat currencies by consumers who value anonymity and security. Cryptocurrencies offer consumers a currency that is decentralized and relatively anonymous and secure in its use.” And, such transactions “may be highly desirable for consumers that wish to maintain their privacy, and may help reduce the likelihood of fraud due to theft of their information.”
However, “it often takes a significant amount of time, around ten minutes, for a blockchain-based transaction to be processed, due to the computer processing time and resources required to verify and update the blockchain.” In addition, “it can be difficult for consumers to adopt, or even understand, blockchain currencies,” and if a “wallet is lost, discarded, or stolen, the associated currency often cannot be recovered by the rightful owner.” Thus it concludes that, “there is a need to improve on the storage and processing of transactions that utilize blockchain currencies.”
Mastercard to Really Incorporate Crypto?
Mastercard has already acquired a lot of cryptocurrency-related patents before this. However, it does not seem to be planning to utilize the technology as no actual product or service have been developed. Asked about this, Mastercard senior vice president Seth Eisen explained to CNBC that, “We’re consistently looking at ways to bring new thinking and new innovations to market to create value for us and our customers and cardholders. Patent applications are part of that process, taking steps to protect the company’s intellectual property, whether or not the idea ever comes to market.”
In fact, reports from earlier this year indicated that the company would only agree to facilitate fully-regulated, central bank-issued, non-anonymous coins. “If governments look to create national digital currency we’d be very happy to look at those in a more favorable way,” Ari Sarker, co-president of Mastercard’s Asia-Pacific business, said back in March. “So long as it’s backed by a regulator and the value …it is not anonymous, it is meeting all the regulatory requirements, I think that would be of greater interest for us to explore.”
Is Mastercard really looking to become part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem or is it just hoarding patents for future legal battles? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com.
The post Mastercard Patents a Method to Manage Cryptocurrency “Fractional Reserves” appeared first on Bitcoin News.
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MasterCard Wins Patent to Increase Cryptocurrency Payment Speed
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted MasterCard a patent for a method of increasing the speed of cryptocurrency transactions.
The Need for Speed
Published July 17, the patent explains the serious need for increasing the speed of cryptocurrency transactions based on the growing demand for the same. The document reads:
In recent times, blockchain currencies have seen increased usage over traditional fiat currencies by consumers who value anonymity and security.
The patent also outlines a key issue associated with blockchain-based cryptocurrency transactions — namely, speed.
…it often takes a significant amount of time, around ten minutes, for a blockchain-based transaction to be processed, due to the computer processing time and resources required to verify and update the blockchain. Conversely, traditional fiat payment transactions that are processed using payment networks often have processing times that are measured in nanoseconds.
New Types of Accounts Could Potentially Come to Light
No products have been brought to the market according to MasterCard’s Senior Vice President for Communications, Seth Eisen, who spoke to CNBC. However, the abovementioned patent casts protection over a method which could supposedly speed up blockchain transactions, allowing cardholders to pay for goods with their digital currency.
In order to do this, the company would offer a new type of account which is capable of transacting in cryptocurrency through already existing systems for fiat. Said account would link a series of profiles which would be able to identify the amounts the user holds in fiat currency and cryptocurrency, as well as the account’s identifier and address. The transaction itself would be carried out using the rails of fiat currency while representing a cryptocurrency.
The news of the patent grant has been received positively by permabull Tom Lee, who said that “It’s really validating the idea that digital money, or blockchain-based money, is a valid form of transaction.”
It’s worth noting that this isn’t MasterCard’s first foray into blockchain-based technology. In May, the company filed another patent application for technology to speed-up blockchain node verification speed.
Do you think the new patent granted to MasterCard would help facilitate the adoption of cryptocurrency payments? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of the Shutterstock, Pixabay.
The post MasterCard Wins Patent to Increase Cryptocurrency Payment Speed appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
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Cuomo says it’s safe to collect voter signatures amid COVID-19
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They are gonna need a really long pen …
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants bar-goers to keep their distance and even eat a meal to curb the coronavirus pandemic — but he’s fine with candidates for elected office approaching voters to sign their nominating petitions to get on the ballot.
Two candidates seeking independent ballot status sued Cuomo and the state Board of Elections in Manhattan federal court, claiming it’s dangerous and life-threatening to require candidates and their volunteers to collect in-person signatures for their nomination petitions during the pandemic.
Josh Eisen is seeking to run on an independent ballot line in the 17th congressional district covering Westchester and Rockland counties, and child victims advocate Gary Greenberg wants to run on a third- party line for state Senate in the 46th district covering the Hudson Valley and Capital District.
The plaintiffs claim the petition requirements imposed by Cuomo’s emergency executive order violate their free speech and equal protection rights. They are calling on the court to force the state to eliminate the petition requirements, allow them to collect voter signatures online or reduce the signature requirements by 70 percent — as was done for Democratic and Republican Party candidates earlier this spring.
But in court papers, state Assistant Attorney General Seth Farber, who is defending Cuomo, challenged the assertion that in-person petitioning puts lives at risk.
“Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the period for the collection and submission of such signatures was delayed while New York State was at the peak of its infections and death,” said Farber, who urged the court to dismiss plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction of the governor’s order.
“Now thankfully, New York has been able to carefully re-open and the entirety of the 17th Congressional District has been in Phase Four for over two weeks. Petition signatures can now be obtained safely, subject to complying with public health and social distance guidelines,” he said.
Cuomo’s lawyer noted the governor’s recent order also slashes the number of voter signatures required for independent nominating petitions by 30 percent to earn ballot status in the general election — from 3,500 to 2,450 for Congress and 3,000 to 2,100 signatures for state Senate during a shortened petitioning period.
While the pandemic raged in the spring, Cuomo issued an executive order that slashed the number of voter signatures major party candidates were required to collect by 70 percent.
But Eisen told The Post that Cuomo’s legal defense is at odds with other strict public health measures he has imposed — from travel restrictions and quarantines for out-of-state visitors to barring bars and restaurants from serving alcoholic drinks without food, banning large gatherings and shutting down entertainment venues to rein in COVID-19.
“It’s hypocrisy. He’s taken this cautious approach. He’s steered a conservative approach toward saving human lives,” Eisen said. “He was all in — now he’s sending people out to spread the virus.”
Gov. Andrew CuomoJames Messerschmidt
Eisen’s suit says, “Gathering signatures during the COVID-19 outbreak endanger not only the health but also the lives of petition-circulators, potential signers, and the public at large.
“Even if it were feasible to safely gather signatures during the current public health emergency, it is unlikely that petition-circulators would be able to gather signatures in a safe and efficient way because there are fewer people congregating in public places and fewer people are likely to open their doors to strangers who come knocking.”
The governor’s lawyer said the petitioning process was in line with other activities allowed in Phase 4 of the COVID-19 recovery, such as the reopening of “most businesses and houses of worship … subject to appropriate social distancing guidelines, mask-wearing, and the like.”
“The State of New York is entitled to impose reasonable measures to determine whether a candidate has real support among members of the voting public …The EO [executive order] has reasonably balanced the interest of maintaining public safety and ensuring an orderly election, where independent candidates have shown sufficient public support to appear on the ballot,” Farber said.
Farber said the candidates’ claim of harm “ring hollow” and provide “no basis” for the court to exempt them from the petitioning requirements.
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When Prisons Are ‘Petri Dishes,’ Inmates Can’t Guard Against COVID-19, They Say
On April 6, an inmate named Dennis stayed up late at Indiana’s Plainfield Correctional Facility. He wrote to his wife, Lisa, and told her he was scared.
“I can tell you right now, with nearly 100% certainty, that I am going to get this virus,” he wrote. Lisa said Dennis suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which could cause complications if he contracts COVID-19. (KHN agreed to omit their last names because they fear retaliation from prison staff.)
“I just need you to know how sorry I am for not being there … during these scary uncertain times,” Dennis wrote to his wife. He was sent to prison a year ago for theft, driving on a suspended license and resisting arrest. His earliest possible release date is in June 2021.
“If I don’t getta come home, please always know that you are and always will be the love of my life,” he wrote.
Two days later, he told Lisa that for the first time, prison staff took the inmates’ temperatures. Some, including an inmate next to him, had fevers but were still kept in the dorm with dozens of other men.
“He is about 3 ft. from me right now,” Dennis wrote of the man with a fever. He wrote again that night after midnight to tell her the prisoners with fevers had finally been removed.
Plainfield Correctional Facility, an Indiana state prison southwest of Indianapolis, listed 89 cases of test-confirmed COVID-19 among inmates and four deaths from the illness, as of April 30.(Seth Tackett/WFIU/WTIU)
The Indiana Department of Correction said it is taking measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among the nearly 27,000 inmates housed in the state’s 18 adult and three juvenile facilities — including supplying hand sanitizer to inmates and isolating anyone who exhibits COVID symptoms.
But accounts from inmates and their relatives contradict the agency’s claims. Kaiser Health News and NPR have heard from dozens of people concerned about their family members in prison. We’ve read messages from inmates and heard recorded phone calls with their loved ones. They said prison staff members haven’t taken adequate precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
Many inmates who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms have been left in crowded quarters, according to these complaints. Inmates don’t have hand sanitizer and were only recently issued face masks.
“That’s illustrative of what’s happening across the country in county jails and departments of corrections,” said Lauren-Brooke Eisen of the Brennan Center for Justice in New York.
Thousands of incarcerated people have been infected — in one Ohio prison, 73% of inmates tested positive for the coronavirus — and many have died.
After about 1,300 inmates and guards at a Tennessee prison tested positive for the virus, officials in Tennessee said they will test inmates at correctional facilities across the state. Of those who tested positive in the privately run Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, about two dozen were guards. And 98% of the COVID-19-positive inmates and employees had no symptoms at the time of their test, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
“These are communal spaces, and they really are petri dishes for transmission of diseases such as COVID-19,” said Eisen.
As of April 30, Indiana had reported nine COVID-19 deaths and 346 inmate cases in correctional facilities. Indiana officials declined to be interviewed for this story and, so far, have not said how many prisoners have been tested. The Department of Correction now updates its COVID-19 statistics each business day.
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Symptoms And Fears Mount
In an April phone call, Dennis told Lisa he was sick. “I’m doing bad. I’m not doing good at all,” he said, according to a recording she made of the call. “My head is splitting.”
Dennis estimated that 15 prisoners had been removed from his dorm, which normally houses more than 80 people. He guessed about half of the remaining prisoners showed some sort of symptoms.
“It scares me so bad,” Lisa said to Dennis.
“It scares me, too,” Dennis replied. “Most of the guys in here are saying, “Well, we all got it. Just some of us have symptoms, some of us don’t.'”
“They brought us another bar of soap today,” Dennis said. “Everybody in here thinks, ‘Well, somebody must have died today.'”
The state announced the next day that a prisoner from the Westville Correctional Facility had died. He tested positive for COVID-19.
Prisoners Say They Can’t Protect Themselves
Other inmates and their family members tell similar stories about the conditions in Indiana prisons. Prisoners in their quarters exhibit symptoms, they said, but the staff isn’t checking on them unless they complain — in some cases, multiple times.
While the disease spreads, prisoners said, they aren’t able to take measures to protect themselves.
A second prisoner at the Plainfield facility told his wife in a recorded call that social distancing is impossible. “At this very moment, I can reach out and touch somebody,” he said. “We’ve got a reason to be scared for our lives,” said the man who was sentenced for a robbery. His earliest possible release date is in 2022.
His wife told KHN her husband tried to make a tent with blankets to protect himself, but a guard told him to take it down.
She said she told her husband: “Absolutely not. This is the only way that you have to even protect yourself.”
Two inmates, one at the Pendleton Correctional Facility and another at the Indiana State Prison, described incidents in which guards jokingly coughed in their direction.
“That’s nothing to play with. It’s my life,” the Pendleton inmate said in a recorded call. He has asthma, he said. Many guards only recently began wearing masks.
Guidance put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which the state said it follows, stresses the importance of hand sanitizer, social distancing and masks. The Indiana Department of Correction recently released a video indicating the agency regularly cleans its facilities, provides hand sanitizer to inmates and encourages social distancing.
Family members who saw the video said it made them angry.
Advocates Push For Limited Prisoner Release
“[Inmates] should not have less opportunity to keep themselves healthy than the general public,” said Martin Horn, the former head of the New York City Department of Correction and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 1976 decision in the case Estelle v. Gamble, that “deliberate indifference to serious medical needs” is unconstitutional.
“They should be making every effort to spread the inmates apart as much as possible to provide for social distancing,” said Horn, who now lectures at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
The ACLU of Indiana, the Brennan Center for Justice and other advocates have pushed the state to release certain inmates, such as the oldest or nonviolent offenders.
“It’s necessary to curb the spread of coronavirus behind bars in this country,” said Eisen of the Brennan Center. She pointed out that states such as Ohio, Kentucky and New York already have taken such steps in response to the pandemic.
So far, Indiana officials have resisted calls to do so.
“I do not believe in releasing those low-level offenders,” Gov. Eric Holcomb said at a news conference on April 13. “We have got our offenders in a safe place — we believe maybe even safer than just letting them out.”
A week later, three prisoners had died from COVID-19, and the confirmed case count had jumped from 27 to more than 200. Some family members of inmates said that if something happens to their loved ones, they’ll blame Holcomb.
Lisa laughed when she heard the quote from the governor.
“Wow. That’s a big lie,” she said. “They have them herded like cattle, all crammed together, where the virus can just jump from one to the other. There’s no protection.”
“Yes, they committed a crime and they were sentenced,” Lisa said. “But they weren’t sentenced to death.”
This story is part of a partnership that includes Side Effects Public Media, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
When Prisons Are ‘Petri Dishes,’ Inmates Can’t Guard Against COVID-19, They Say published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/
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