Its Official! Murals Now Legal in LA

Its been a long time coming . . . years actually . . . but it is finally official . . . . Murals are now legal in Los Angeles!

Yesterday, the LA City Council voted 12-3 to allow art murals again in the city of angels.

There are restrictions on the new murals.  There will be a process for registering the murals, fees starting at $60, and restrictions on the size and location of the artwork.  Murals are still not permitted on private homes.

There is a lot of talk about LA reclaiming its status as 'mural capitol of the world'.  Indeed.  It will be great to get more art on the streets, but even with the regulations, LA has already defined itself as one of the premier public art destinations in the world.

But congrats to LA's City Council for taking a big step forward to bring even more art to Los Angeles.

Stay up!

Are LA's Murals Endangered Species? (Don't Believe the Hype!)

A lot of people in the art community keep talking about LA's proposed end to its self-imposed mural moratorium, and they talk about the lifting of the ban as if the move will save LA's art community.

Don't believe the hype.

As M&F has pointed out before, even though murals have been illegal, this city has still made a name as one of the top destinations in the world for street art and graffiti--in all shapes and forms.  The rules have never stopped the art in LA.  And the idea that bringing in the city as a mural referee is somehow going to save the art in Los Angeles, well, M&F does not predict that will be the case.

To be clear, it is great that the city is moving to embrace more art.  All art is awesome, and this is a step in the right direction.  But there is a difference between 'street art' and 'public art'.   The City Council's decision on murals will affect public art a lot, but it will probably not affect the current state of street art and graffiti very much.  After all, how many graffiti artists ask for the city's permission before a painting trip?  The good news is that it will give art lovers a leg to stand on when a property owner wants art, where before there was none.  And that is great news.

This mural riding in Venice is entitled 'Endangered Species', and this is an example of a public art legal mural painted with the permission from the city of LA.  Even though it was painted in 1990 and therefore grandfathered into the the mural regulations, it still brings up some still valid points about endangered species.  And this world is still struggling to come to terms with things like self worth, the destruction of the environment, and loss of native habitat and cultures.

The art is beautiful and we dig the message.  However, it is still safe.  This is a great example of 'public art' and the type of aesthetic M&F expects will flourish once LA's mural regulations are relaxed.  And the city will look better for it.  But for street art and graffiti, its business as usual.

You Can Wash It Away, But the Blood Stain Remains

The government seems to be doing what it can to stifle the dissent from the community concerning the Trayvon Martin murder.

Like here.  This spot on Melrose had a piece of street art from Plastic Jesus showing bloody Skittles--the candy that the 14 year old was buying before getting gunned down by George Zimmerman.

It is worth mentioning that different pasters, even one with a penis on it, have ridden for weeks if not months.  Perhaps it was the bad random luck, but since the Trayvon Skittles got buffed literally days after going up, it does seem like the city is trying to stifle any obvious Trayvon fueled dissent.

Funny how even though the bag of Skittles got buffed, still the blood stain remains.

America has not forgotten and will not forget.  Repeal Stand Your Ground laws so that Trayvon's murder can lead to making this world better.

LA's Mural Code Moves Forward

A new mural ordinance, one that would change the current mural moratorium status in Los Angeles just cleared a major hurdle in moving forward.  This does not mean that the mural law is changing now, it just means that it is another step closer to being implemented.

It is interesting to note that there are 2 versions of the ordinance moving forward--one which allows art murals on private single family homes, and the other which doesn't.  It would be rad if individual home owners maintained control over the aesthetics of their own home.  Guaruntee this city would become more colorful.

Check out the news release below:


   LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The City Council's Planning and Land Use Management
Committee advanced a mural ordinance to the full council today, bringing the
city a step closer to lifting a ban on murals on private property.
   The full council is scheduled to hash out the long-debated mural
ordinance at an Aug. 20 meeting. The proposed ordinance defines murals as non-
commercial works of art, distinguishing them from signs -- advertising goods
and services -- that are subject to different rules.
   City attorneys presented the committee with two versions of the
ordinance -- one that would allow and one that would prohibit murals on single-
family homes. The committee did not arrive at any recommendations on the issue,
forwarding reports from the city attorney, planning commission and Cultural
Affairs Commission to the City Council for further discussion.
   City officials will also report back on a process for allowing
individual communities to decide whether it wants to legalize murals for single-
family homes.
   Councilman Jose Huizar, who chairs the PLUM Committee, said the final
ordinance would help restore Los Angeles' reputation as the ``mural capital of the world"




***Thanks to LOUDLABS for sending the press release over!***

Trayvon Martin Protestors - They Can't Stop ALL the People ALL the Time!

It is said that in other countries, the government fears the people.  But America is unique because the people fear the government.  Perhaps things are starting to change . . .

The US is in an uproar over the juror's decision to free confessed killer George Zimmerman for his murder of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who Zimmerman picked an altercation with, and then killed with a gun.  There is no question as to whether Zimmerman killed Martin, however Florida's gun friendly 'Stand Your Ground' laws permitted Zimmerman to be acquitted.

It is unfortunate whenever a tragedy like this happens, and it seems like an even greater insult to that tragedy when justice is not reached in the courtroom.

However, there may be a silver lining to this verdict.  The silver lining is that people are angry.  If Zimmerman had been found guilty, he would have gone to jail and people would have forgotten about Martin's case.  But because Zimmerman was found innocent, Trayvon Martin has become a martyr.  The people are angry, and in a show of this discontent, protestors took to the streets all across America.

Perhaps the most brazen of those protests took place here in LA, where 200 Tryvon Martin supporters marched out onto the freeway, effectively shutting it down.  As they tend to do, the police showed up in riot gear, intimidated the citizens they were sworn to protect, before finally opening fire on the crowd (which included senior citizens, women and children--as seen in the photos below) with rubber bullets.

M&F thought this was so empowering because it shows how a small group of peaceful protestors--only 200 people, can effectively shut down one of the city's most major veins of transportation.  And this is a great example of how a small group of people will be the ones who change America.  Sure, the police can shut down this protest, and another, and possibly a few more.  But what if there were more?  If 200 angry citizens can shut down the 10 freeway, imagine what would happen if all 4 million residents of Los Angeles stood up to take a stand for what is right.

The fact remains, the police can't stop ALL the people ALL the time.  Every single system in America, every institution from the government to the very police department itself, all of these are dependent on the people.  When we say no, they've got to go!

Its time to stand of for the values that made America great, and hopefully the Trayvon Martin case will lead as an example to end America's ever-growing police state.

California Man Faces 13 Years in Prison for Writing on Sidewalks with Chalk

M&F has written a couple recent articles about the way the United States government continues trampling on the rights of citizens and the media.  While theorists surmise that his car was chipped, not matter what the explanation, it sure seems strange the circumstances surrounding how Michael Hastings died with the car engine ending 50 feet from the crash site?

But what does this have to do with street art?  Everything.

When the rights of Americans begin to get abused by the government itself, we are in grave danger of becoming the police-driven totalitarian state.  And when that happens, the punishments for street art get ramped up to ridiculous levels.

Like right now in California.  Yesterday, Jeff Olson was formally charged with 13 counts of vandalism for writing in front of San Diego area Bank of America branches with water soluble children's sidewalk chalk.  Olson faces 13 years in prison if convicted, which might seem like a real possibility since the judge granted an unprecedented ruling which forbids Olson from "mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial".  

What.  The.  Fuck?

The judge claims that his action to deny freedom of speech is acceptable since 'The State's Vandalism Statute does not mention First Amendment rights.'   Hmmm.

If there is a silver lining, it might be that even if convicted, Olson will set a new precedent for the Vandalism Statue in California.  Since a judge can not throw out a fundamental Amendment to the Constitution, it is likely that Olson's conviction would get overturned.  And that, would hopefully, set a new precedent where Freedom of Speech is assured, even in cases of vandalism.

This is why the Amendments were added to the Constitution, to prevent against abuses of power exactly like these.  But if we don't be careful, and if Americans don't demand accountability from our leaders, we might soon find ourselves pitted against a government without these fundamental protections.

Stay up, Jeff Olson.  Keep your head up, and just stay up!~


***The above pic is of some political chalk drawing in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement from Toolz***

Where Government Fails, Citizens Must Act

New pasters on Melrose.  NRC is getting poled up front, and in the background, there is a paster from Akomplice that says 'Where Government Fails, Citizens Must Act'.

Dig the sentiment.  Even if Akomplice appears to be a clothing brand and not street art.  Guess when citizens also fail, clothing brands must step up.

Stay up!

1984

Here is the street art tie in to big government.

A custom 10 dollar bill in downtown Los Angeles, warning that society is becoming like George Orwell's book, 1984.

Big brother is watching!

The Government is Watching - EVERYTHING!

A major news bomb was dropped yesterday when it was revealed that the US Governement is monitoring and recording literarily every single bit of information that is uploaded onto the internet.

Every email, document, audio file, video file, photograph, phone call and any other activity that is done online is being recorded--and kept, by the United States Government.

This type of data mining is illegal on many levels and demonstrates a blatant disregard for citizen's constitutional right to privacy.

As Julian Assange pointed out earlier this week, these government abuses are happening because the media has allowed it to happen.  The mainstream press has failed to check the political realm appropriately, the political realm has run rampant over civil liberties, and now the check and balances balance has fallen out of whack.

This is yet another knock at Obama's administration, which most voters voted into office as alternative to the destructive polices of George W. Bush.  However, now in office, Obama has failed the progressive voice time and again, and his big-brother policies have now earned him the new nickmame, and phototshopped photo above--George W. Obama.

And as the Atlantic points out, we have created an incredibly scary environment in America where there is now:

• A precedent that allows the president to kill citizens in secret without prior judicial or legislative review

• The power to detain prisoners indefinitely without charges or trial

• Ongoing warrantless surveillance on millions of Americans accused of no wrongdoing, converted into a permanent database so that data of innocents spied upon in 2007 can be accessed in 2027

• Using ethnic profiling to choose the targets of secret spying, as the NYPD did with John Brennan's blessing

• Normalizing situations in which the law itself is secret -- and whatever mischief is hiding in those secret interpretations

• The permissibility of droning to death people whose identities are not even known to those doing the killing

• The ability to collect DNA swabs of people who have been arrested even if they haven't been convicted of anything

• A torture program that could be restarted with an executive order

So no, this isn't directly related to street art, but it is such an important social issue affecting each and every one of us online, that as an alternative news source trying to keep the balances in check, M&F felt obligated to bring it up.

Knowledge is power, and big government is watching everything you put online.  Know this and watch out!

ANOTHER Boston Bombing Suspect Killed By Police

M&F has already posted a featured on how the Boston Marathon Bombing appears to be a false flag attack by the US Government.  In that story, we mentioned how frightening it is that the two brothers who were taken into custody were alive when brought in, however next time they were seen, one brother was dead and his body had been ripped apart, and the other brother had been shot at close range through the back of throat.

Well, the US Government has now killed another suspect.  Major news networks are reporting that Ibragim Todashev was shot and killed by the FBI while being interrogated.   So the police have now killed two of the Boston Bombing suspects and shot a third through the throat.

What is going on here?!

If the suspects are guilty, quit killing them and put them on trial.  Otherwise, it seems like the government is trying to kill the story, instead of get to the bottom of it.

America used to pride itself as being a country of law with a system that elevated itself from the savage practices of anger retribution and there were checks and balances were helped protect against abusive government actions.

Even though the Boston Bombing has nothing to do with street art, as an alternative news source M&F felt compelled to put the relevant information out there and we called out the mainstream media for failing to do its job and check into the government stories, not just report them verbatim.  But since that time, the DOJ has become mired in a major scandal where the US Governement has got busted for spying on its own press.  The NY Times is saying that Obama is 'threatening the fundamental freedoms of the press' . Perhaps this, the Paypal 14, Aaron Swartz, and the crackdown on whistleblower leaks, is why major news networks are terrified to report the truth.

Watch out, America. We are in danger of becoming one of those authoritarian police states we used to warn against where the government abuses run rampant, and there is no free press to help the people.

Wake up America.  This is our country, and the government injustices won't keep happening if we don't stand for it.

The Boston Bombing is a False Flag by the US Government

M&F hates to get all conspiracy theory.  In fact, we hate that term because the word 'conspiracy' makes it sound like a bunch of aluminum cap wearing fanatics criticizing the government.  But when the available evidence is more compelling than the official public record, then good citizens should and must question what is happening, and make our own conclusions based on the best evidence available.  Searching for fact is not conspiracy, and in the case of the Boston Marathon Bombing, the biggest conspiracy seems to be the the way that the mainstream press has swallowed the questionable official explanation hook, line and sinker.  The amount of evidence stacked up clearly implies that the Boston Bombing not an example of random terrorism, rather a coordinated false flag attack by the US Government on its own people.

A 'false flag attack' describes covert military of paramilitary operations designed to decieve in such a way that the operations appear as if they are being carried out by other entities than actually planned them.  Here are some of the red flags that have been raised around the false flag Boston attack.

Before getting started, it is not conspiracy to look at the available facts.  It is conspiracy if someone forms a hard opinion--no matter what that opinion is--without looking at the facts.  So, before folks get crazy, just check out the ideas raised, and make your own conclusions about what makes more sense.

First of all, as the official FBI picture clearly demonstrates, the backback detonated in the bombing is different from the backbacks either of the two suspects are shown to be wearing.  The logo does match, however, the bag a paramilitary looking dude at the site was holding at the time.  That is pretty basic stuff, and pretty elementary.  The difference should be clear to everyone.  Look at the pictures above and below for yourself.

And the questionable issues just continue.  The 'hero' who reportedly had both legs blown off in the blast is identified as Jeff Bauman, but Jeff looks exactly like Nick Vogt, a former US Army Officer who had lost both legs previously in war.  Check out the pics below, because it sure does look like the same dude.  Futhermore, 'Donna' who was one of the witnesses to the bomb, is actually Dawn  Hochsprung who months before was reported as being the principal at Sandy Hook and died there.  Seriously.  Check out the pic below, but you can't make this shit up.  The craziest thing is that the mainstream media will broadcast the misinformation, but doesn't question it.

Furthermore, there are some websites set up showing a rather convincing frame-by-frame accounting of the immediate blast scene.  It does look like there is some coordinated behavior, and why is there no blood where limbs are missing?

If only it stopped there.  But also notice how both suspect brothers were taken into custody in relatively good health--both walked on their own towards the government enforcement entities.  However, once the brothers are seen again, the body of the first one is completely ripped apart (wtf!?), and the younger one had a 'suicide' shot through the back of his neck--which, even if it didn't kill him also makes it so the guy can't talk.  At first the government reported the second brother shot himself.  A few days later they admitted no weapon was found with the second suspect.  No explanation for a bullet hole through the back of the dude's throat has been given.

Not to get all conspiracy, but it seems like the conspiracy is what the government says happened.

As far as media goes, it makes one wonder if this is another final nail in the coffin for mainstream media. Mainstream media is scared to tell any story away from the official talking points, which forces people to look elsewhere for truth, or at least a story line that isn't complete bullshit.  Even though the Boston Bombings have nothing to do with traditional street art, because the main news sources are failing to provide the full story, as an alternative news source, M&F felt this was something important that needed to be shared.

It is extremely frightening what happened in Boston.  People are outraged, as they should be.  But shouldn't we make sure our outrage is aimed at the right place?   Don't these strange and suspicious circumstances require that we take a closer look at the Boston Bombings and try to find out what really happened?

Finally! -A Break From the Rain!!

The rain FINALLY let up today, and the skies looked like this.

Slaps just off Melrose saying 'Oink - Stay in Line' from Not My Government (NMG), and little Bankrupt Slut brain washer.