Episodes
Friday Dec 18, 2020
Friday Dec 18, 2020
Vaccines finally roll out across the U.S. But, when you’ve got an incompetent federal government its never going to go smoothly. Good thing that Moderna’s vaccine just got approval too. That can’t come soon enough as COVID-19 is now killing more than 3,000 people a day.
Sorry kids “you’re not going to get your Christmas presents” in time for the holidays as USPS sorting facilities are stuffed to the brink with packages waiting to go out. Who could have thought that the systematic destruction of the USPS in order to rig the 2020 election would ruin the holidays? It’s a GOP war on Christmas.
Lawmakers are inching closer to an agreement for a new COVID relief/stimulus bill. However, negotiations hit a roadblock after PA’s own Senator Pat Toomey “argued for an extra condition to be added to the package, limiting the ability of the Federal Reserve to lend money via emergency programs,” according to Business Insider. McConnell said that negotiations are likely to continue into the weekend as a government shutdown looms. Today is the deadline to avert a government shutdown unless the deadline is extended again. The latest version of the stimulus bill reportedly contains $300 extra in weekly unemployment and $600 direct checks to workers.
AOC told The Intercept that Pelosi and Schumer need to go, but progressives have no real plan at this point for a replacement.
Joe Biden tapped Deb Haaland to head the Department of the Interior. She’ll be the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history. The appointment is especially meaningful because the Department of the Interior has had a fraught relationship with indigenous tribes since the founding of the country. Biden also appointed Michael Regan to be the first African-American to head the EPA.
Apparent Russian hack has penetrated more U.S. government and corporate systems that you can imagine. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) say that the hack began in March and that the hack “poses a grave risk to the federal government” just ahead of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris taking office. The hack came to light only after the cybersecurity firm FireEye asid it had been hacked and its clients, including the U.S. government was at risk.
Betsy DeVos urged Department of Education career staffers to “be the resistance” against the Biden administration. According to POLITICO, Devos told them “Let me leave you with this plea: Resist...Be the resistance against forces that will derail you from doing what’s right for students. In everything you do, please put students first — always.” Dept. of Ed staffers and teachers across the country reportedly spit coffee out their noses and fell off chairs in the hilarity of the remarks.
Proudboys descended on DC last weekend. Four people got stabbed and the little fascists tore down Black Lives Matter banners from Black churches.
“Defund the Police” you say? This isn’t a laughing matter as the coronavirus is beginning to decimate police departments across the Commonwealth. Over 500 Philadelphia Police officers have called out sick because of the virus in the last week.
Philly 911 dispatchers, and union workers, put the Philadelphia Police Department on blast for their unsafe working conditions during the pandemic. Over 30 dispatchers have contracted the virus, and according to Billy Penn, many of those cases have happened within the past month. The Police department is using “makeshift cardboard barriers” and “some plastic barriers” to keep workers separated during the latest outbreak.
And at least four Philadelphia police officers have died of the virus.
While this is happening in Philadelphia, there are rumors swirling around the midstate that a handful of police departments in Cumberland County are non-operational due to the virus’ outbreak.
Monday, December 21 - the Winter Solstice - will be the great conjunction. In the early evening, you will be able to see Jupiter and Saturn come together in the sky. The two planets have appeared closer together each night in the lead up to the conjunction. The last time the planets appeared this close in the sky it was 1623. Tips for viewing.
Japan successfully retrieved the first samples from an asteroid from a capsule from the Hayabusa2 probe. The probe visited the asteroid known as Ryugu on December 6. The Japanese space agency released pictures of the dark granular sample on the Hayabusa2 twitter account.
SpaceNews announced its award winners this week: Of the winners, the MARS2020 program won for Government Mission of the Year and SpaceX Demo2 won for Commercial Mission of the year.
New season of The Expanse is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Free Will has new releases. They’re going back to their Saturday release dates. Judo Refinancing - Hazy IPA with Key Limes and Milk Suga; Corvus Idaeus - Imperial Stout with Raspberry, Chocolate, and Milk Sugar; and, not a new release, but one of my favorite beers of the season, Black Currant Chocolate Mash - Sour Ale brewed black currant purée, chocolate, and milk sugar. Order for pick up or delivery to any PA address at https://freewillbrewing.store/.
Monday Dec 14, 2020
Monday Dec 14, 2020
On this week's show I'm joined by Paris Marx, creator and host of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast. Paris is a socialist writer whose critical perspectives on technology have been published by NBC News, Jacobin, Tribune, In These Times, OneZero, Recode, Citymetric, Salon, and more. Paris is a PhD student at the University of Auckland researching tech futures, and completed a Master’s in urban geography from McGill University. They are also writing a book about transportation and technology for Verso Books.
The podcast Tech Won’t Save Us challenges the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that separating tech from politics has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable. The show isn't simply about tearing down tech. It also presents radical ideas for a better world and better technology.
Recent shows have included
- Emma Kinema a former tech and games worker who is a Campaign Lead with the Communications Workers of America on the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees. She also co-founded Game Workers Unite
- Freelance writer and critic, Liz Pelly, discusses how the Spotify model of streaming music continues a long trend of exploitation in the music industry and why musicians need to organize around a vision for a different world of music.
- And, Will Evans, a reporter at Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting discussing his investigative reporting on how excessive productivity targets are causing high rates of injury at Amazon warehouses, how executives have misled the public about the problem, and what that suggests about the impacts of the company’s “customer obsession.”
- You can check out the show at https://techwontsave.us/ and you can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.
On today’s show we’ll be talking about the need to take on the tech utopianism of Silicon Valley from a Left perspective. We'll also get into the push by the billionaire class for the kind of free-market, galactic capitalism we've discussed on the podcast.
You can follow Paris on Twitter @parismarx. Follow Tech Won't Save us: @techwontsaveus. You can support his podcast, too: https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus/
Friday Dec 11, 2020
Friday Dec 11, 2020
It’s official. More people died from COVID-19 yesterday than died in the 9/11 attacks. 3,067 died yesterday. Daily deaths are now higher than any time during the pandemic.
The FDA is set to approve the Pfizer vaccine today after an independent panel gave it the thumbs up yesterday.
Turns out the Trump administration under ordered the Pfizer vaccine.
A relief package is nowhere to be found as Mitch McConnell demands that corporations be freed from all liability for putting employees and consumers at risk during the pandemic. The AP reports that “an emerging $900 billion COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers all but collapsed Thursday after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal.” Apparently, McConnell plans to hold Americans hostage until gets his top priority corporate liability shield.
Ryan Grim of The Intercept published audio of a contentious and at times cringe-worthy meeting between Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Civil Rights leaders from the NAACP. Biden recycled unsubstantiated claims that “defund the police” caused Democrats to lose House seats, scolded attendees for suggesting he take bold administrative action, and shouted that he was the only one who ran on healing the soul of America.
In our continued decent into the the world of Mad Max, water futures will soon be traded on Wall Street for the first time just like oil and gold. The marketization of water scarcity is made possible by the 2-year-old Nasdaq Veles California Water Index. What could go wrong?
Denmark announces an end to oil exploration as it turns away from fossil fuels.
The Texas attorney general and 18 other attorneys general are appealing the the Supreme Court to throw out the votes from the swing states that voted for Biden. A brief filed by Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the lawsuit a “seditious abuse of the judicial process” and urged the justices to “send a clear and unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated.” Trump wants Ted Cruz to argue the case.
And for the first time, Newsmax got higher ratings than Fox News. And it is reported that Newsmax is trying to poach Fox news employees with higher salaries and benefits.
Governor Wolf announces new COVID restrictions one day after he announced that he tested positive for the virus.
The National Guard is called it to assist in Mount Saint Macrina Manor nursing home in Uniontown, PA nursing home as cases spike.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is feeling bad for the simps.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward told the New York Times that “her house would be bombed” if she didn’t put her name on that letter asking Congress to overturn the Pennsylvania election.
Who are you going to call when stealing an election? GHOSTBUSTERS! That’s right. It turns out one of Rudy Giuliani’s star witnesses happened to be a ghost hunter and it gets worse from there. Jesse Richard Morgan was the self proclaimed ghost hunter Rudy named in his lawsuit and it turns out that Morgan has a long criminal record that includes trying to poison his girlfriend while she was eating pizza. Gotta exercise those demons somehow.
Bethlehem brewery owner says he’ll stay open in the face of new COVID restrictions. Seven Siren’s Brewing Company co-owner Joshua Drivers told LehighValleyLive “We’re just not shutting our doors.” Having just opened in 2020 - just 28 days before the pandemic hit, the brewery did not qualify for any local, state, or federal aid. “Put it this way,” Drivers said, “if we close down for three weeks, we lose everything. We don’t close down for three weeks, we can lose everything.” These are the kind of choices small businesses across the country are being forced to make in the face of an incompetent federal gov’t response to the pandemic.
Former owner of the Central Penn Business Journal - Dave Schankweiler - is gearing up to run for mayor of Harrisburg. The out-of-town Republican turned Democrat hired a conservaitve firm to handle messaging and media & the design of his logo, which strikingly resembles the pornhub logo.
NASA announces the 18 astronauts tapped for the Artemis mission to the moon. The team of nine men and nine women is also one of the most diverse groups of astronauts ever assembled.
SpaceX’s Starship SN8 test was explosive. Literally.
Do alien’s exist? Former director of the Isreali space program thinks so!
Free Will has got some awesome stuff available for the holidays. I just picked up four packs of their Black Current Chocolate Mash, Pumpkin Pie Mash, Special Cookie, and Under Dawn’s Red Sun. I’ll tell you all about them in today’s Last Call.
Monday Dec 07, 2020
Out d'Coup LIVE | Shanna Danielson and Tara Shakespeare | December 7, 2020
Monday Dec 07, 2020
Monday Dec 07, 2020
On today's show, I am joined by Shanna Danielson and Tara Shakespeare. Danielson was a candidate for PA State Senate in SD-31 and Shakespeare was a candidate for PA State Representative in the 88th district. Both of these districts are in PA’s Capital region - a region that has been all but written off the mainstream Democrats in recent years. But thanks to the grassroots, power-building campaigns by Danielson and Shakespeare and a number of other progressive women in the Capital region, Republicans and conservatives are not feeling so comfortable in that area. While Danielson and Shakespeare did not win the election this cycle, the region they ran in saw some of the largest shifts toward Democrats in the entire state.
We'll be talking about running unapologetically progressive, grassroots campaigns in areas of the state considered out of reach for Democrats All that is changing as a wave of progressive women dug in and built powerful campaigns in 2020.
A special shout out to Jonathan Mann who wrote our intro song, “There Are No People in the Future.” Check out all is great stuff on his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter @songadaymann
Friday Dec 04, 2020
Friday Dec 04, 2020
The U.S. is breaking COVID-19 records once again. According to the COVID Tracking Project, for the first time, over 100,000 people are currently hospitalized. That’s 65% higher than any time since the beginning of the pandemic. Yesterday, 2,706 Americans died as a result of COVID. And, for the first time, more than 210,000 new cases were reported in a single day. Not good.
On Wednesday, the U.N. State of the Climate report was released and it was not encouraging. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres put it bluntly: “To put it simply, the state of the planet is broken.” 2020 will be one of the three hottest years on record, marine heatwaves warmed 80 percent of the world’s oceans, and triple-digit heat waves hit...are your ready for this?....triple-digit heat waves hit Siberia. In a speech at Columbia University summarizing the report’s findings, Guterres said, “Dear friends, humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal,” Guterres said. “Nature always strikes back, and it is already doing so with growing force and fury.”
Former presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton are all planning on getting the COVID-19 vaccine publicly as part of a campaign to build confidence. President-elect Joe Biden said he will join them.
Pfizer announced yesterday that they will have to cut in half the number of vaccines available in the first batch after they identified a problem in the supply lines.
Republicans are finally having to deal with their Frankenstein monsters. Have you been following what’s happening in Georgia? Rabid Trumpers are calling on supporters not to vote for the Republican candidates in January’s senate run-off elections. In an off the rails rally featuring self-appointed Trump defender Sydney Powell and L. Lin Wood were more interested in locking up the Republican Governor and Secretary of State than supporting Republican Senate candidates.
What do you think of the folks that Joe Biden is nominating for his cabinet and administration? We’ll give you some of our thoughts.
Rudy Giuliani's traveling circus came to the Wyndham...in Gettysburg...off Route 15 last week & and it was just as big as a shit show as you expected it to be. Senator Mastriano hosted the superspreader PA Senate GOP Policy Committee to spread conspiracies and COVID. After the show hearing, Mastriano and his two sons were pulled from a coup-plotting meeting in the White House after they tested positive for COVID.
The response from the Senate GOP was crickets. Yes, actual crickets. Senator Judy Ward came down with COVID after the meeting. It took Senator Jake Corman a week to respond to the press saying “mistakes were made” and Senators Aument and Martin - who did not attend the hearing - published an oped blasting disinformation coming from their own party. That response would have helped three weeks ago, but welcome to the party!
In response to the election, Harrisburg Republicans are getting ready to disenfranchise voters attacking vote-by-mail, signature tests, limiting how counties can cure ballots, and much more!
The York Dispatch editorial board comes out with a scathing editorial about PA State Senator, and wannabe Governor, Doug Mastriano. Mastriano’s COVID-positive Trump event and appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast calling for a resolution to overturn the PA election results and hand state electors to Trump was a bridge too far. The editorial made it plain, “Mastriano's shocking call for tyranny — rooted solely on the fact his side lost — was merely the conclusion of a week where, through his own actions, the senator was exposed for the craven oligarch he really is.” Here, here.
His Dark Materials. Musk says he still wants to get Moon by 2024. Scientists are saying that underground brine on Mars could be a good source of oxygen on the red planet.
Free Will Brewing releases as we head into the Winter months.
Friday Nov 20, 2020
Friday Nov 20, 2020
Trump continues to wage a battle to overturn the election. Republican leaders from Michigan’s two legislative chambers are scheduled to meet with Trump today to strategize about how to overturn the election. Guiliani started melting during an off the rails press conference. Trump has lost 32 out of 33 lawsuits so far. But that’s not stopping him. Lindsay Graham potentially commits felony election crime by attempting to lean on Georgia’s Secretary of State to throw out all the mail ballots from counties with a high rate of signature mismatch.
Erin Brockovich, the environmental activist who most Americans came to know through the Julia Roberts film based on her life, wrote a piece in the Guardian asking the question on most progressives minds: “Joe Biden: Are You Kidding Me?” Brockovich focused on Biden’s decision to choose Michael McCabe to head the EPA. McCabe is a former communications consultant for the chemical giant DuPont.
It wasn’t just the EPA, though. Biden’s pick to head the Office of Public Engagement, Louisiana congressman Cedric Richmond, also raised red flags for progressives. Richmond is among the top Democratic recipients of fossil fuel money in the House.
After a year-long scientific mission in the Arctic, scientists warn that if bold, expansive action is not taken to address the climate crisis immediately, we face a very grim future.
Some Democratic Party leaders are being COVID hypocrites. This week Senator Diane Feinstein was filmed in the Capitol without a mask talking to a group of people; Gavin Newsom was caught maskless on video at an indoor birthday party for a lobbyist held at the exclusive Napa Valley restaurant, French Laundry.
Nancy Pelosi was re-elected, despite previous promises that she would step down.
Black Lives Matter activists want to see conservative Democrats’ receipts for their claims that “defund the police” messaging was responsible for down-ballot losses. Still waiting. As the national director of the Working Families Party, Maurice Mitchell told Politico, “This is the tip of the spear. They are using this ‘defund’ fight as a proxy for a broader ideological fight.”
Marco Rubio lays out GOP plans for the Biden administration: they plan on blocking all Biden’s cabinet appointments because Democrats mean.
The Rockefeller Christmas Tree was set in place last Saturday. The Charlie Brown Christmas tree was set in place last Saturday and to nobody’s surprise, it was as scraggly as 2020. And, they found a baby owl trapped inside. Maybe 2020 will end like the Charlie Brown Christmas special after all.
China just set up the world’s largest trading bloc.
And speaking of the Charlie Brown Christmas special, after loads of public pressure, Apple TV - who bought the exclusive rights to the Charlie Brown specials - gave in and will allow the show to air on PBS alongside Apple TV. It will air on December 13. Oh, by the way, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas will air on NBC on Friday, November 27th. Perfect for closing out the war on Thanksgiving and preparing our assault on the war on Christmas.
A couple of big wins in PA Democratic Party leadership. Two outspoken progressives, just won leadership roles in the PA Senate Democratic leadership fight. Katie Muth will take over the reigns from Lisa Boscola as Senate Dems policy chair. And, Maria Collett replaced outgoing Senator Larry Farnese to take over as caucus secretary.
Refinery 29 published a profile on some of Pennsylvania’s women of color organizers who have spent the past four years organizing throughout the commonwealth and how their organizations were able to put together the Count Every Vote rallies.
Former Pennsylvania Lt Governor Mikey Stacks made a surprise acting appearance once again. This time he was moonlighting for a campaign to Save Stonehenge and prevent the construction of a tunnel that may destroy the world heritage site.
Pennsylvania, like many other states, is exploding with COVID cases.
Yesterday afternoon, Dr. Rachel Levine, PA’s Health Secretary, laid out the state’s vaccination plans, assuming the continued success on the vaccine front. Levine reminded people that while a vaccine may be available by the end of next month, the supply will be limited. In the meantime, Mask Up Til March would be a good slogan.
Several PASSHE University presidents pack their bags and get out of Dodge in the wake of planned university mergers and layoffs. At a short Board of Governors’ meeting on Wednesday, Chancellor Greenstein praised the “breadth and audacity” of the mergers, mass layoffs, program eliminations, and deep cuts, calling them “ambitious and audacious goals.”
SpaceX officially launches the first crewed mission to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Station. Baby Yoda was on board.
Astronomers are proposing a huge telescope on the Moon to further research about the Big Bang. According to The Hill, “ University of Texas astronomer Anna Schauer nicknamed the proposed telescope the ‘Ultimately Large Telescope,’ adding that it would have a liquid mirror over 300 feet in diameter.”
Free Will Brewing has got some great releases for your quarantine Turkey Day. And, the 2020 Ralphius bottle variants are announced and will be available on Free Will’s online store at 9 am on Saturday, 11/21 for presale pick up on Black Friday, 11/27.
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Monday Nov 16, 2020
On today's Out d'Coup LIVE, we talk to Lev Hirschhorn, the Deputy Organizing Director at PA Stands Up about the road forward following the election. PA Stands Up backed progressive candidates from across the Commonwealth and has built a powerful model for grassroots political organizing.
Find out more about PA Stands Up and become a member: https://pastandsup.org/
A special shout out to Jonathan Mann who wrote our intro song, “There Are No People in the Future.” Check out all is great stuff on his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter @songadaymann
Friday Nov 13, 2020
Friday Nov 13, 2020
It’s rather old news by now...but Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are now officially president and vice-president-elect! Woot! And the celebrations exploded.
It was another record-setting week of COVID-19 cases across the nation. The U.S. has more than 10.5 million cases and 240,00 deaths as of last night. The CDC is projecting there will be upwards of 282,000 COVID deaths by December 5.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced that in initial trials, they have a COVID vaccine that is 90% effective. We’re still months away from the vaccine being widely available, but the Pharma giant is asking for emergency approval from the FDA to speed up production.
Trump’s lawyers got bupkis.
Georgia’s presidential elections results are going to a hand recount as Democrats and Republicans gear up for high stakes Senate run-off elections in January.
Conservative and corporate Democrats lose their shit on progressives on an election post-mortem conference call. Maybe it’s because they are feeling the impending sunset on their neoliberal paradigm? AOC, having none of it, gives an interview to the New York Times, diagnosing the Dems organizational malpractice. Despite centrists’ attempts to blame black activists and socialism, even Doug Jones and Beto O’Rourke are making the same case.
New scientific research published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests that we may already be beyond the much-feared “point of no return” when it comes to climate change. According to the study, even if we were to stop emitting all greenhouse gasses by the end of 2020, we are still on-track for warming of 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2500. The only hope, according to the report, is a massive investment in carbon capture technology, in addition to getting off fossil fuels.
2020 officially set the record for the most hurricanes in the Atlantic - because of course, it did. New research shows that because of hotter sea surface temperatures, hurricanes and tropical storms take much longer to weaken over land, causing much more damage than storms 50 years ago.
Russian Researchers find large areas of methane gas being released from melting subsea permafrost from the sea bed on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. Yeah, I know, buzzkill. Just needed to be really clear that a Green New Deal is not just a progressive slogan; it’s imperative for a livable future.
That so-called “whistleblower” from the Postal Service from Erie, PA that Republican operatives were hanging their hats on in their “voter fraud” cases, tells Federal Agents that Project Veritas actually wrote his affidavit. You remember them, right? You know, the little pranksters that took down ACORN through deceptive video footage?
Lawn and Order. Make America Rake Again. In Sod We Trust. Yes, these are just a few of the hot t-shirts you can get from Four Seasons Total Landscaping, the spot that Rudy Juliani and Co. booked to host a press conference in Philly. It was rumored that he stopped off at the adult toy store next door before moseying on over to the crematorium to check out their offerings. That song drop in our intro today is from UK-based comedian, Michael Spicer. You can follow him on Twitter at @MrMichaelSpicer
Pennsylvania Republicans are gearing up for show hearings next week in the House and Senate. They will poke and prod the election results to create their own baseless narrative about the 2020 election and use that to curtail voting rights in Pennsylvania for years to come.
COVID cases are exploding in Pennsylvania just like the rest of the country. On Wednesday, PSEA called for a shift to remote learning for 38 counties that meet guidelines set by the state departments of Health and Education.
The Proud Boys are having a little post-election schism. Yup, white nationalist Kyle Chapman says he’s sick of pretending not to be a Nazi. Apparently, the Proud Boys are too soft for his liking.
Some very sad news from Kutztown University. A student was found dead in Dixon Hall, a campus dorm.
Four astronauts are scheduled to launch tomorrow from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX crew capsule as part of the NASA and SpaceX Crew-1 Mission to the International Space Station.
NASA administrator, Jim Bridenstine says he plans on leaving the agency when Biden takes office. Biden has already announced his NASA transition team, led by Ellen Stofan, the current head of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum and former NASA chief scientist from 2013-2016. Looks like NASA will re-prioritize climate research and push back the Artemis Moon mission until 2028, a timeline more consistent with the House Science Committee’s proposed bill.
Sean took some awesome photos this week and Sean is now having to quarantine.
Free Will new releases: Another Roadblock - Helles Bock Lager. Brewed in collaboration with Annihilated Homebrew Club out of Lambertville, NJ; Special Cookie - Imperial Spiced Brown Ale with Vanilla, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, Cardamom, Ginger, and Milk Sugar; Free Will’s version of Black is Beautiful, a Robust Coffee Porter, is a collaboration with Harris Family Brewery and First Sip Brew Box will be released this Saturday; and, the 2020 Ralphius bottle variants are announced and will be available on Free Will’s online store at 9 am on 11/21 for presale pick up on Black Friday, 11/27.
Monday Nov 02, 2020
Monday Nov 02, 2020
It’s been a harrowing several months...well, OK, several years. But this election season has been run through with racial violence, mass uprisings, unprecedented climate-driven disasters, and a freaking pandemic. And that’s all on top of the Trump administration’s active measures to suppress the vote. Oh, yeah, there’s that steady march toward fascism too. Pretty heavy stuff.
At the same time, we are seeing unprecedented organing - the likes of which I have never seen in our lifetime. For every challenge it seems there has been a corresponding, progressive/left, grassroots movement to meet it. Think about it. From the day that Trump was inaugurated, there have been people in the streets, building power. In 2018, we had huge progressive/left electoral wins at the national level, most notably with AOC, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. Right here in PA, there were also huge victories by the left with the election of Summer Lee, Elizabeth Fiedler, and Sarah Innamorato. And, it looks like we could double...maybe even triple the numbers of progressives heading to Harrisburg after tomorrow’s elections. Beyond elections, we’ve seen organizations like DSA and the Sunrise Movement lead the way showing the world how movements can build power and change the horizon of our politics.
I wanted to change up our format a bit, today. I wanted to bring in a panel of great folks to give us their take on what we can expect when the polls close tomorrow. But, more importantly, I wanted to look ahead to the organizing that will need to happen as soon as those polls close. We will no doubt see people in the streets this week. On Out d’Coup, Sean and I have talked about preparations being made to defend democracy if Republicans try to steal this election. But we can look ahead to a longer horizon too. We will need strategies for a Trump win, for sure. But, perhaps even more so, we need strategies for a Biden administration.
So, today we’ll have a little pre-election roundtable to unpack some of this and to just have a sane conversation in the midst of all the chaos. To help me with this, I welcome:
- Sean Kitchen, Out d'Coup co-host. Sean is also doing awesome work with PA Spotlight and is a fantastic freelance photographer
- Shana Rose, creator and host of Sustaining with Shana podcast, sustainability professional, and a member of PASSHE's new Sustainability Development Task Force
- Leo Atkinson, Co-Chair of Lehigh Valley DSA, long-time Lehigh Valley resident, and former Fountain Hill council member. co-chair of Lehigh Valley DSA.
We'll give our final takes on Election Day and the kind of organizing that will be necessary as soon as the polls close.
Special shout out to Jonathan Mann, who wrote our theme song, "There Are No People in the Future." Check out all his great work and follow him on Twitter at @songadaymann.
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Friday Oct 30, 2020
You are out of time to mail in your ballot. The Trump administration’s efforts to slow down the mail are having an impact, especially in key Democratic areas in swing states. On Tuesday, David Becker, the executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, told the Washington Post, “If you haven’t requested a mail ballot yet, it’s too late.” Ari Berman, the senior writer at Mother Jones, and author of Give Us the Ballot, went even further, telling Democracy Now, “my message to voters in these states and other states is to drop your ballot off. It’s too late to mail your ballots back in states like Wisconsin that have Election Day deadlines, and 30 states have a deadline of Election Day for when your ballot has to be received. But even if you live in a state like Pennsylvania and North Carolina, don’t leave it to chance that your vote can be thrown out.”
Berman's advice is critical as more than 42 million out of the 92 million mail-in ballots have not been returned as of Wednesday, according to the Washington Post. 11 million are Democratic; 8 million Republican; and, 10 million unaffiliated.
Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion in this week’s Supreme Court decision regarding the counting of mail-in ballots in Wisconsin seems to be setting the stage for a repeat of the Supreme Court’s intervention in Bush v. Gore.
This week saw an unprecedented number of legal actions by Republicans in states across the country to suppress voting. From Wisconsin to Iowa to North Carolina and, yes, to right here in PA, the GOP is looking to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters.
Meanwhile, Republicans are narrowing the early voting gap in several key states, including Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, and Nevada according to CNN.
According to a story on NPR this week, polling places in Iowa and some other states have been closed due to COVID-19, at least that’s the official explanation. In Iowa, about 30% of the state’s registered voters are affected by the closures - about 670,000 voters. The CDC has recommended keeping or increasing the existing number of polling locations because of the pandemic. Seems like election officials are doing the opposite in some states.
According to Politico, hackers stole about $2.3 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party account devoted to re-electing Trump.
Another round of tapes are released by Bob Woodward, this time featuring Jared Kushner praising Trump’s move to take the coronavirus response away from the doctors and being a cheerleader for opening up. Jared also cites as one of Trump’s greatest achievements as getting rid of the “over-confident idiots” and replacing them with “people who kind of know their place.”
And let’s not forget the latest warning from the White House coronavirus task force this week. Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNBC this week, “If things do not change, if they continue on the course we’re on, there’s going to be a whole lot of pain in this country with regard to additional cases and hospitalizations, and deaths.”
Rep. Scott Perry rips off Sean Kitchen’s photo to use in an attack ad against Eugene DePasquale in the 10th congressional district. The theft of intellectual property is one hell of a way to close out the campaign.
Rep. Jordan Harris remains in the hot seat as Philly Power Research releases an infographic showing the tidal wave of cash - $600,000 - that Harris took from Jeffrey Yass, the libertarian billionaire who funds school privatization efforts. And this, year, Yass and his major charter school PAC, Students First, is looking to take out Democrats in close races across the state. The infographic re-presents Stephen Caruso’s reporting in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star about Harris’s cozy relationship with charter schools.
More uprisings break out in Philadelphia after Philadelphia police murder Walter Wallace Jr during a mental health crisis. In response to the uprisings, fascist US Attorney General Bill McSwain charged a prominent Black Lives Matter activist - who is now sitting in Allenwood Federal Penitentiary - with federal arson charges. And, yes, Gov. Wolf called out the National Guard.
On Thursday a movement of Republican-controlled counties announced that they will not begin to canvas or count votes until Wednesday, November 4th. With multiple supreme court justices thinking that vote counting should stop on election night, who knows what is going to happen.
Nikil Saval had an awesome article published in the New Republic this week: “The Future of the Democratic Party is in Pennsylvania” “Why a new liberal-left coalition could be the key to unlocking America’s rural conservative vote.
The Hubble telescope has given researchers exceptional images of the asteroid 16 Psyche, which will be the destination of an unmanned NASA spacecraft to launch in 2022. The asteroid is of special interest because it seems to largely made of metal, suggesting it could be a former planetary core. While the scientific mission seeks to uncover more knowledge of planetary formation, I am sure our Galactic Capitalists are more interested in the metals - their estimated worth is in the range of $10,000 quadrillion. That’s a 1 followed by 19 zeros.
New studies show that water is more common on the Moon than was previously thought. Turns out, it’s not just confined to the shadows of craters in the southern polar region. Researchers have now detected water at one of the largest craters in the sunlit region of the Moon.
Free Will Brewing: DDH Love Letter from the 90s; Garcia’s Forest; and, Perish, brand new Hazy IPA. https://freewillbrewing.store/
Outro music: Jonathan Mann, “There are no people in the future.” @songadaymann.