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Activism, politics, and beer from PA-based Raging Chicken Press
Episodes
Friday Apr 21, 2017
Friday Apr 21, 2017
It’s Friday, April 21, 2017. Welcome to Raging Chicken’s Out d’Coup podcast. I am Kevin Mahoney, editor and founder of Raging Chicken Press. Each week I talk to our Capitol muckraker-in-chief, Sean Kitchen, about the good, the bad, and the ugly in state and national politics.
Spring has sprung. Last weekend saw more than 120,000 people take to the streets across the nation to demand Trump release his tax returns. Tomorrow is the March for Science, where tens of thousands of people will converge in Washington, DC and in sister marches across the county in defense and celebration of science. Next weekend will be the People’s Climate March followed two days later by what are shaping up to be huge May Day strikes. No hiding from #TheResistance during the April Recess as even Democratic politicians face the music of a renewed progressive, left movement.
Meanwhile, the Trump Organization plays “where’s the armada” and increases tensions in the Korean peninsula. Congratulations go out to Turkish President Erdogan for “winning” new dictatorial powers. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago visit with Chinese President begins to pay off - for Ivanka.
Fox and Friends goes all in with Freedom Fascism, getting all tingly watching bombs explode to Toby Keith's, "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue." Bill O’Reilly kicked to the curb - apparently even sexual harassment factories like Fox have their limits. Today is the National Day of Silence a student-led national event organized in thousands of schools, colleges, and universities to bring awareness to the silencing effects of anti-LGBTQ name-calling, bullying and harassment.
Sean Kitchen gains a nemesis after he calls out the role of dark money and charter schools lobbyists in heated Harrisburg school board fight. Digging in the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center Report. Republican State Senator Don White introduces bill to allow guns in schools. The PA Senate Education Committee vote 9-3 move the bill out of committee and ready it for a full vote. PA Republicans establish their own “Area 51” in the State Capitol. We’ll call it Area 461. Unemployment compensation bill passes - we’ve got a short-term fix. Bill McKibben speaks to crowd in the Lehigh Valley, issuing a call to action and some sobering news ahead of Earth Day.
More on the first protest in space and the Autonomous Space Agency Network. Recalling Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy - will space exploration simply be an extension of capitalist expansionism? Great new beer release from Free Will Brewing; new canning at Pizza Boy.
This week’s Rick Smith Show on Free Speech TV is preempted for Democracy Now’s special Earth Day coverage. It’s the perfect time to catch up on past episodes where you can check out Raging Chicken’s weekly weekly #Resistance Report. Check out all Rick’s archives right HERE.
We need you to help keep pull-no-punches, progressive media going strong. Become a member of Raging Chicken for as little at $2/month! Simply go to RagingChickenPress.org and look for the Support and Membership tab. Click “Become a member” and you’re on your way. Or, click “Be a Patron” to become a member on Patreon. Not ready to become a member? No problem. You can make a one-time donation by clicking “Donate.” We need you - the progressive community - to help us deepen pull-no-punches, progressive media that will hold power accountable.
- Become a member: https://goo.gl/OgYRW0
- Be a Patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rcpress
- Make a donation: https://www.paypal.me/rcpress
Friday Apr 14, 2017
Friday Apr 14, 2017
It’s Friday, April 14, 2017. Another not so good friday - at least if we’re talking about the future of democracy. I am Kevin Mahoney, editor and founder of Raging Chicken Press. Each week I talk to our Capitol muckraker-in-chief, Sean Kitchen, about the good, the bad, and the ugly in state and national politics.
This week in Trumplandia: Americans learn a new vocabulary word. Say it with me now: MOAB. Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb. But you call call it Mother. In order to avoid protesters so she can more effectively destroy public education, we are paying almost $8 million for federal marshals to protect Betsy DeVos. Safely past Women’s History Month, Trump signs bill (behind closed doors) that may leave as many as 4 million women without access to medical services. Another former Trump campaign staffer registering as foreign agent. Carter Page...really, Carter Page…is STILL in the news. Supreme Court now armed to repeal 20th Century. Gorsuch will cut his teeth on voting rights. And Jeff Sessions heads to the border to announce that he is weaponizing the Justice Department to take a stand against “the filth” - his words from his prepared remarks. Oh, and let’s not forget North Korea. Can you say….ah, shi-bal?
Closer to home, Anti-EPA Director of the EPA Scott Pruitt, heads to PA coal mine to announce his plans to remove environmental protections. The coal mine he chose to speak at was recently fined $3 million for dumping mine wastewater into tributaries of the Ohio River. And it seems like Pruit has a friend in PA as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sues two small rural towns for passing local laws banning underground disposal wells for fracking wastewater. You heard that right. The EPA is suing towns because they tried to protect the environment. According to a new report from PA Budget and Policy Center, PA taxpayers are footing the bill for teaching creationism in charter schools. PASSHE’s hired consultants visit campuses to determine how to give Chancellor Frank Brogan a green light to gut public higher education.
And what’s that? The first protest in space?
Tune in to the Rick Smith Show on Free Speech TV this and every Saturday at 7pm EST. I’ll be there giving the weekly #Resistance Report. You can stream the show live at Freespeech.org or you can tune in on Dish Network, Direct TV, and with the FSTV app on Roku. If you miss the show, go to the RickSmithShow.com and click on the FSTV icon in the sidebar.
We need you to help keep pull-no-punches, progressive media going strong. Become a member of Raging Chicken for as little at $2/month! Simply go to RagingChickenPress.org and look for the Support and Membership tab. Click “Become a member” and you’re on your way. Or, click “Be a Patron” to become a member on Patreon. Not ready to become a member? No problem. You can make a one-time donation by clicking “Donate.” We need you - the progressive community - to help us deepen pull-no-punches, progressive media that will hold power accountable.
- Become a member: https://goo.gl/OgYRW0
- Be a Patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rcpress
- Make a donation: https://www.paypal.me/rcpress
Friday Apr 07, 2017
Friday Apr 07, 2017
It’s Friday, April 7, 2017. I am Kevin Mahoney, editor and founder of Raging Chicken Press. Each week I talk to our Capitol muckraker-in-chief, Sean Kitchen, about the good, the bad, and the ugly in state and national politics.
This week in Trumplandia: The big news of the day, of course, is that last night the US military attacked a Syrian military base with 59 tomahawk missiles. The attack was a response to the Assad regime’s brutal chemical weapons attack in Kahn Shaykhun, a town between Damascus and Aleppo that is held by forces opposed to Assad. Trump has not hesitated to order the use of military force since he took office. Awed by the first pictures of the Tomahawk missles being launched from US Destroyers, MSNBC’s Brian Williams calls the pictures “beautiful.”
No doubt that the airstrikes will dominate the news, even as the Senate moves to approve Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court today [Gorsuch was confirmed right as we were finishing recording]. In order to break a Democratic Party filibuster, Senate Republicans changed Senate rules. The repeal of the 20th century is now on the menu.
Bannon v. Jared aka the Tramp v. the Cuck. Jared does Iraq. Dons flak jacket over his blue sport coat - digging that stuffed sausage look. Drama in the big house. Nunes out. You know, for the good of the whatever. Carter Page joyfully admits he was Russian agent. It was was very exciting.
Meanwhile, here in the Keystone state, many state Democrats join Republicans in the PA House to vote to bring back mandatory minimums. House GOP want to cut fire services in Harrisburg, apparently to speed their plans to burn down the government. No movement yet on so-called “right-to-work” package. PASSHE moves forward in plans to gut public higher education in the state. Philadelphia airport workers vote to unionize. PA Student Power ramping up their fight. Students at West Chester University join nationwide actions for Fight for 15 on Tuesday.
Tune in to the Rick Smith Show on Free Speech TV this and every Saturday at 7pm EST. Yours truly will be there giving the weekly #Resistance Report. You can stream the show live online at Freespeech.org. You can also tune in on the Dish Network, Direct TV, and with the FSTV app on Roku. If you miss the show, go to the RickSmithShow.com and click on the FSTV icon in the sidebar.
Remember folks, we need you to help keep pull-no-punches, progressive media going strong. Become a member of Raging Chicken for as little at $2/month! Simply go to RagingChickenPress.org and look for the Support and Membership tab. Click “Become a member” and you’re on your way. Or, click “Be a Patron” to become a member on Patreon. Not ready to become a member? No problem. You can make a one-time donation by clicking “Donate.”
- Become a member: https://goo.gl/OgYRW0
- Be a Patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rcpress
- Make a donation: https://www.paypal.me/rcpress