48 Hills publisher Marke B. was a guest on this week’s episode of lively Sacramento-based podcast The Drain, riffing with its amiable hosts—journalist Dave Kempa (founding editor of VOICES: River City) and Max (a.k.a. Sweet Palma, producer of Seeking Derangements podcast)—about the political situation in San Francisco. And boy, do things look strange (and strangely familiar) from up north.
Subjects included: Garry Tan’s Twitter meltdowns, Ricci Wynne’s epic fall, the history of the Internet in San Francisco, the post-millennial phenomenon of re-urbanization, and that tech guy who thought he was being shot at with a Glock when it was really just some fireworks down the street. Listen here:
About the Drain: The Drain is a podcast covering California news and culture. We discuss the liberal California hegemony through a leftist lens, just steps from the state Capitol. Free episodes (The Drain) every Tuesday. Premium episodes (The Plug) every Friday on the Drain Patreon, which you should subscribe too. Follow The Drain on Bluesky here.
About the episode: Today we’re joined by Marke B, cofounder and arts editor at 48 Hills, co-owner of The Stud, DJ, and author of Queer: the Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens, and Into the Streets: a Young Person’s Visual Guide to the History of Protest in the US.
Marke is a San Franciscan with a deep history in the culture, starting at Citysearch and Gay.com, and then getting a front-row seat to the corporate takeover of SF tech and the boom/bust/web 2.0 mess (before he fled back into print for his sanity).
He pops in today to discuss the phenomenon of “poverty porn” peddlers who gain clout by sharing videos on social media of unhoused people in crisis, folks experiencing mental health breaks, and addicts in the throes of their disease. We examine how these “peddlers” are connected to billionaires trying to take over the San Francisco political scene, as well as why rich guy Garry Tan has blocked everyone on our panel.
Some links to the stories we’re discussing:
San Francisco’s Right-Wing Tech Bros Go National
Techie mistakes fireworks for gun shots, cries to Garry Tan
Poverty porn peddler Ricci Wynne is in pretty big trouble
JJ Smith and the astroturf network
The tech plutocrats dreaming of a rightwing San Francisco
Right-wing SF tech rears its head at Heritage Foundation’s Reboot
