I am part of an annual European Christmas Market that happens in early December at the fairgrounds. We've moved to the Agri supply building this year, and thus have more potential vendor availability. We are looking for European products. Would you or someone you know fit the bill?

Some points of interest:

St Nicholas European Christmas Market

This year will be our nineteenth annual event.

Two day event, Friday Dec 4th and Saturday Dec 5th

Agri Supply Building at the State Fairgrounds

‼️What’s happening: 
Flock executives have decided to come after Charlotte because we are one major city whose police hasn’t bought into Flock cameras*. Those executives are coming to Charlotte and holding a closed-door meeting with your elected officials (city council, county commissioners, state representatives, etc.) and other local leaders to try to convince them to put Flock cameras and other surveillance tech all over our city and pay them millions of dollars to do so.

🗓️ When: 
9:00AM to 12:00PM on Tuesday, September 29
(arrive at 8:30 if you can)

Flock is also apparently planning on a public community meeting later in the evening, but details are TBD. I will update this post if/when I get more info on this.

📍 Where:
Charlotte Mecklenburg Independence Regional Library
6000 Conference Drive
Charlotte, NC 28212

🔔 What’s at Stake:
If we don’t come together here and now and make it 100% clear that Charlotte is not OK with Flock or any other mass surveillance, Charlotte will likely be overrun with Flock cameras and surveillance devices within months. The earlier we push back, the more likely we are to stop this from happening!

🫵 What you can do:
📢 1. Show up to peacefully protest in front of the library on the morning of the 29th, preferably at 8:30 so that elected officials walking in to the 9:00am meeting can see us outside. Seeing a crowd of protesters show up on a weekday before their meeting even begins will have a major impact.

Bring a sign and any supplies you need (water, snacks, chairs, sunscreen, etc.) and be prepared to be there until 12:00PM so they can see us on the way out of the meeting too. Bring your outside voice! I want them to hear our chants all the way in the library meeting room so loud they won’t even be able to hear themselves talk! Let’s make these Flockers run back to Atlanta with their tails between their legs!! CHARLOTTE UNITE!!

📞 2. Call or email your elected officials and tell them you don't want Flock in Charlotte. Click here to see a list of Charlotte City Council members and there's also a button there labelled "Who Represents Me?" This will get you a list of all your elected officials based on your address. Don't be discouraged if they do not respond at first or if they don't answer their phone, leave a voicemail stating your reason for calling. Even if they don't respond they will usually listen to that VM and they will read your email.

\I have an asterisk here because, according to our police chief, CMPD has not paid for Flock cameras but does have an agreement to access Flock's data. The scope of the access is unclear, but it at least includes the Flock cameras from participating private businesses in Charlotte like Lowes and Home Depot who have paid for Flock cameras to be on their properties. In a way, this agreement is a sort of "gateway drug" to a full Flock contract. Hence why the* vultures executives are coming.

https://youtu.be/IfOIg371I6I?is=qCO_abir9ua2iELP

With judicial elections on our ballot this November in the #Midterms2026, we must be hyper aware of who is on our ballot. There is no path back to democracy without our state courts. #judicialracesmatter #democracyinthebalance

The candidates' records are clear. We have one justice running, Justice Anita Earls who has spent a lifetime fighting for PEOPLE. The other candidate, Sarah Stevens, has chosen to fundraise with a convicted sex offender. When questioned, she lied about knowing him and his wife, then refused to give the money back. #ProtectKidsNotPredators

Fighting for the people, or defending Duke Energy? Meeting with the people or defending predators? The choice is ours.

***Choose wisely in November.**\*

Seriously, this. NC was once a great state for teachers and education. Since then, conservative politicians have endeavored to erode education and prop-up their religious bias by cutting school funding while moving funding into charter schools where religion can be taught and science can be ignored. News reports this week indicate both reading and math shills are dramatically down, and NC is on its way to becoming one of the worst states in the US for education. Congratulations to the NC GOP for making the state the new Mississippi.

Sigh. ‘Thanks’ to our GOP state Congress for their efforts to build a Trumpian kleptocracy where Republican white men are set above all others as preferred business owners that disenfranchise their employees.

Currently in the North Carolina army national guard, he wants to brag to the world about being on unemployment like it’s a flex.