Fly me to Scotland

Hi everyone, I'm Will McLeod, an independent journalist in Washington DC. I've covered a number of stories over the years, including reporting from Zucotti Park during the Occupy movement.

My monday morning Netroots Radio spot went viral in Scotland.

You can download the full podcast here:
http://nrtalkradio.libsyn.com/the-after-show-09012014

You can see the viral clip on youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H_psPVLk-8&feature=youtu.be

And you can read the full, in-depth article here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/01/1326304/-Scottish-Independence-can-actually-happen

A number of people on Twitter have asked why I'm not reporting from Scotland.

The honest answer is that I'm unemployed. I like to call it self-employed or jobless because it makes me feel better, but the honest truth is that I'm unemployed. I'm okay though, this isn't a sob story. I have a roof over my head and I won't starve.

What this does mean is that while I'm independent media and do a lot of hard work, I don't have the funds to fly myself to Scotland, or get the expidited passport necessary to GO to Scotland, or get the mobile equipment that I'll need to report from Scotland. 

$5000 should cover the price of Airfare ($900-1200), an expedited passport ($200-$250), an inexpensive laptop, because I can't exactly carry my desktop with me, ($400) food and transportation in Scotland, and other potential incidentals, like a pay-as-you-go phone in Scotland, or potentially a mobile hotspot to do live-streaming of events around Scotland, like we did in New York City during the occupy movement.

Now, if this doesn't come together, If for some reason my passport doesn't go through, or Bardarbunga closes down Air Travel between the US and Europe, or some other unforseen disaster, I'll be donating the balance to charity, as I wouldn't feel right profiting from this without doing the work people want me to do.