Episodes
Friday Sep 04, 2020
Friday Sep 04, 2020
Are we heading toward herd immunity? That’s what Trump’s new COVID-19 “medical advisor” is pushing. Fox News commentator, Radiologist Scott Atlas, has been long pushing herd immunity as a strategy. According to an analysis by The Washington Post, that would mean that about 65% of Americans would need to contract the virus. Assuming a fatality rate of 1%, that would mean over 2 million people in the U.S. will die.
Good thing Trump’s CDC just told the states to get ready to distribute a coronavirus vaccine by November 1.
Trump visits Kenosha, Wisconsin in order to stir the pot and fan the flames of racism and hate.
Trump tells crowds in North Carolina to vote twice. When pressed on it, he doubled down. Then he heading to Latrobe, PA to say the same thing.
Biden’s lead in new Monmouth University poll tightens to only 4 points, 49-45. The previous version of the poll released in July had Biden with a 13 point lead, 53-40.
Hey, did you see the new Biden speech? Law and Order? Really?
Close to 1.8 million Pennsylvanians are at risk of eviction since Governor Wolf refused to extend the moratorium and since Republicans haven’t done a thing to protect renters during this time.
Pennsylvania House and Senate Republicans came back early this week to push Donald Trump’s Voter Suppression agenda through the Assembly. House Bill 2626 seeks to “reform” the recently passed Act 77 by removing county drop boxes and allow out of county white nationalists to “watch over the polls” and intimidate black and brown voters.
If suppressing the vote isn’t your thing, well, then, maybe racism is. This week Cumberland County District Attorney Skip Ebert made some pretty racist comments on a thread about Jacob Blake being shot in the back 7 times AND Congressman Scott Perry took the time to explain that “systemic racism” isn’t really a thing.
The fallout from these racist incidents went far and wide. The Cumberland County Republicans, the York County Republicans, Skip Ebert, and Scott Perry all doubled-down on their racism.
But there is one shining light. The former chair of the York Republican Party posted on Facebook that he and his wife made max contributions to Eugene DePasquale over Scott Perry’s racism. The former county chair explained that he is in a biracial marriage and this was the first time he has ever donated to a Democrat. Naturally, the current York Republican chair - and disgraced former State Senator - Jeff Piccolla called the old party chair “a traitor.”
Outlier PASSHE universities are seeing spikes in cases and are being forced to curb their bravado. Bloomsburg University shuts down in-person classes after cases of COVID-19 explode. Lock Haven University hit the pause button on in-person classes for at least two weeks after a spike in cases. And, Kutztown University, ah, yes, Kutztown University, has seen cases at least triple this week.
Temple University also hit the two-week pause button on in-person classes after at least 103 new cases were reported over the weekend. On Tuesday, Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley told Temple students, "You should assume that anyone around you is infected," Farley said Tuesday, addressing Temple students. "Stay in your room or stay in your apartment unless you have to go out for essential errands. Wear a mask when you're around anyone else. Otherwise, this outbreak could grow quickly, and it could threaten the rest of the campus and the rest of the city." Just as student activists with the Student Coalition for Change have been warning, city officials are now concerns that Temple will be ground zero for a community outbreak.
ESU Food Service workers win their union election. (student solidarity committee, Kyle)
Sean cooks butt and gets a new kitchen cart. Kevin has near Internet breakdown. Beer recs for Free Will Brewing and Levante.
Friday Aug 28, 2020
Friday Aug 28, 2020
Need more evidence to defund the police? Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, is shot in the back seven times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer. Amazingly, survived the initial shooting. Then get this...Blake gets taken to the hospital where he is handcuffed to his hospital bed, even though he is paralyzed because one of the shots severed his spinal cord. You heard his sister, Letetra Wideman, in today’s intro.
And do you need more evidence that white supremacists are the biggest domestic terrorist group in the U.S. aided and abetted by the police? Late Tuesday night a 17-year-old MAGA-loving, a white nationalist from Illinois drove to Wisconsin with a long gun and ended up killing two people, injuring several more. New court documents show that the little fascist killed the first protester because the protester threw a plastic bag at him.
Earlier that day, Kenosha police thanked the white nationalist militia members for their service and handed out water bottles to them.
Nancy Pelosi says the Democrats will release Trump’s tax return...only if and when Biden wins the election. What?
Republicans did their best to gaslight the nation this week. Yup, it was their convention.
Chris Brennan from the Inquirer published an expose this week on the Commonwealth Leaders Fund and their connections to the Commonwealth Foundation and the charter school movement. It’s a preview of what’s to come in 2020.
The grand experience continues. After a week and a half of classes, Bloomsburg University reverses course and goes all online. Why? Well, because cases of COVID-19 on campus started to double every two days. At the beginning of the week, the university had almost 50 cases. By Wednesday, that number jumped to at least 90.
Kutztown University announces its first case. Wonder what will happen now?
Speaking of Kutztown, Lehigh Valley Live reports that a professor told students to go out and get infected with the virus.“I think the sooner you guys get it, the better. Because none of you are gonna die from this and we need to have, you know, everybody be immune. And so the sooner that people are immune the better. And so you all should be going to Shorty’s every night, you know, interacting, getting this thing, get it over with.”
Free Will Brewing recs for the week.
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Monday Aug 24, 2020
[TFW you've got the wrong mic selected. Sorry about that]
On tonight’s show, we’ll be talking with three students who are organizing because of and in spite of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Nick Thatcher is a political science and philosophy major at Kutztown University. Nick is one of the founding student organizers with the Healthy Campus Bill of Rights at Kutztown University. Nick was also the student leader of Kutztown’s chapter of Students for Bernie where he cut his teeth in organizing, phone-backing, and political action. Kutztown faculty and students held a protest against KU’s reopening plans in which students and faculty donned plague doctor masks.
Kyle Nelson is organizing with East Stroudsburg's Student Solidarity Committee. Kyle is a senior at ESU from Philadelphia. He is the Events Chair for the African Student Association and the Public Relations Chair of the Political Science Club. Kyle is double majoring in political science and philosophy with the hopes of going to law school. He plans on continuing his advocacy through civil rights law, criminal defense law, and human rights law. The Student Solidarity Committee is organizing in solidarity with food service workers on campus who are in the middle of an organizing drive. The solidarity committee released what they are calling the SWORD Plan (Students and Workers Organizing for Real Defenses) which is a model for how we should be building solidarity in the wake of the pandemic. - JUST GOT CARD CHECK NEUTRALITY!!!
And, Jack Fletcher is the co-founder of the Student Coalition for Change at Temple University. Kyle is a junior pre-law major at Temple and the co-founder of the Temple Coalition for Change. If you’ve been following the news, you know that students and faculty at Temple have been on fire with their organizing against the administration’s decision to return to face-to-face classes this fall. Last week, students, faculty, parents, staff, and community members held a car caravan, urging the university’s administration to cancel their plans to return to face-to-face classes. Protests are now a pretty standard feature on campus.
Friday Aug 21, 2020
Friday Aug 21, 2020
It’s official. The ticket is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The task now is to get rid of the acute condition of Trump, so we get rid of the chronic conditions of market fundamentalism, white supremacy, and sexism.
The Democratic Party Convention has come and gone. Looks like the Lincoln Project’s efforts to convince establishment Democrats to lean to the right have had an impact. I’m not sure the Republican Convention will have as many Republicans as the Democrats did.
The DNC quietly dropped the demand to end fossil fuel subsidies from its platform. And they did that as California is being overrun by climate change-induced wildfires for the second year in a row, as a new report shows record glacial melting in Greenland, and as Iowa farmers are just digging out after being ravaged by a devastating Derecho storm.
QAnon candidates like Marjorie Taylor Green in Georgia are winning. Let the insanity begin.
Steve Bannon is arrested for allegedly defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors through his “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign. Bannon, along with three others raised more than $25 million, about a million dollars went right into Bannon’s pockets. Perhaps the best part of this story is that he was arrested with the help of the US Postal Service Inspection Service. Stamp that shit.
Not only is Trump trying to throw a wrench in the work of the US Postal Service, but a review by David Sirota’s newsletter, TMI, shows that Trump’s political appointments to the USPS have been steering contracts to big dollar Trump donors, like Wayne Hoovestol who owns the anti-union Eagle Express Lines.
That was Jim Cox, head of the House Labor and Industry Committee, that you heard at the top of the podcast. He, like the House Republicans, don’t think it’s government’s responsibility to take care of their citizens during a pandemic
As some public schools, colleges, and universities spit in the face of science and open up for face-to-face classes, we are already seeing spikes in coronavirus cases.
- North Carolina State does an about-face and sends students back home after a cluster of cases.
- That follows UNC-Chapel Hill’s abrupt shift to all online classes after an almost immediate outbreak as students arrived on campus. Over 130 students tested positive during the first week on campus and students are still struggling to leave.
- Notre Dame has more than 300 cases with several members of the football team testing positive. Now the university shifted to all online classes until at least September 2.
- Michigan State put the kibosh on its hybrid learning plans after seeing the outbreaks at universities across the country.
- The University of Connecticut evicted multiple students from dorms after they held a large dorm party with no masks or social distancing. So far, UConn has placed 25 students in quarantine after they came in contact with several students who tested positive for COVID-19.
We could go on and on. The New York Times is trying to keep track of the total number of cases at higher ed institutions as it looks like they are becoming COVID-19 hotspots.
Kutztown University faculty members and students don plague doctor masks to protest the administration’s reopening plans. The silent protest took place in front of KU President Kenneth Hawkinson’s taxpayer-funded house as students began to move into their dorms. As next week’s start of classes draws near, the university administration has to dramatically rework its “plan” as reality has shown their original plans as a bunch of happy talk and smoke and mirrors. But no worries. KU’s Provost sent out a one-sentence update yesterday saying simply, “Kindness can change someone’s day.” See, everything is fine.
Syracuse and UConn blame students. KU’s University Senate President plays class politics and gives the administration a pass.
What’s happening at Free Will Brewing.
Raging Chicken studio gets an upgrade.
Monday Aug 17, 2020
Monday Aug 17, 2020
On tonight’s show, I’m joined by two organizers from the Racial Justice Organizing Committee in Philadelphia: Tamara Anderson and Dana Carter. Tamara Anderson is an advocate for children and teens, a professional artist, singer, director, editor, freelance writer, and blogger with over 20 years of experience as an educator. Click on the link in the show notes for her long list of credits...I know I saw her on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Just sayin.’ She is one of the founding steering committee members of the National Black Lives Matter Week of Action at Schools.
Dana Carter is a Racial and Social Justice Advocate for urban learners and a PA Level II Elementary Education K-6 certified teacher. In addition to organizing with the Racial Justice Organizing Committee, Dana is an Education Policy Advisor with the Melanated Educators Collective. She’s been involved with Philly education as a K-12 teacher, an adjunct faculty member, and as an educational activist since the turn of the 21st century...I love to be able to say that.
I think it’s worthwhile to read the Mission Statement of the Racial Justice Organizing Committee and their 10 demands for Radial Education Transformation to help set the tone for tonight’s conversation.
Mission: The Racial Justice Organizing Committee exists as a space for educators and allies to engage in collective learning and action for racial justice to make our schools and as a result the city, places that allow for Black and brown students, educators, and families to thrive.
Check out the 10 Demands of the Racial Justice Organizing Committee and their excellent Resource Guide for Educators Responding to Nationwide Uprisings.
For some of the history of the Racial Justice Organizing Committee, see Tamara Anderson and Shira Cohen, “How Black Lives Matter Came to Philadelphia’s Schools” in Labor Notes.
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Welcome to this week's Out d'Coup LLIVE podcast. On this week's show we're talking about sending K-12 students into the COVID-19 laboratory. Yes, back-to-school in the pandemic.
My guest tonight is a public school teacher and activist, Steven Singer. Steven is an 8th grade Language Arts teacher in western Pennsylvania. He is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and has an MAT from the University of Pittsburgh. He is Director of the Research and Blogging Committee for the Badass Teachers Association. He is co-founder of the Pennsylvania-based education budget advocacy group T.E.A.C.H. (Tell Everyone All Cuts Hurt). He ran a successful campaign through Moveon.org against the since repealed Voter ID law in the Keystone State.
Steven's writing on education and civil rights issues has appeared in the Washington Post, Education Week, the LA Progressive, Commondreams.org, Portside Navigator and has been featured on Diane Ravitch’s Education Blog Site. He blogs regularly at gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com and is the author of "Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform."
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Friday Aug 07, 2020
On this week's show:
The U.S. Senate fails to come to an agreement on the next COVID-19 relief package. That means that there will be no help on unemployment benefits and no protection from eviction for millions of Americans.
Cori Bush won a historic victory in Missouri’s first district primary win against long-time Democratic machine politician, William Lacy Clay. As she said in her victory speech, “we decided that we the people have the answers, and we will lead from the frontlines.” Bush first emerged as a leader during the Ferguson uprising following the police killing of Michael Brown. She was the first candidate to be endorsed by Justice Democrats. Bernie Sanders joined the chorus of progressives on Tuesday night saying, “She is a true progressive who stands with working people and will take on the corporate elite of this country when she gets to Congress.” Looks like the squad is getting bigger and bolder heading into the 2020 elections.
Trump issues orders banning TikTok and WeChat from operating in the U.S.
Picture of Georgia High school reopening goes viral...gives us a picture of what things will look like in schools across the country in a couple of weeks.
Three legislators who spent the spring pushing Pennsylvania to “reopen” - State Representatives Barb Gleim and Andy Lewis and State Senator John DiSanto - received PPP loans for businesses they or their family members own. State Rep Andy Lewis got a $150,000 - $300,000 loan for his construction company & Rep Bard Gleim and Senator John DiSanto have family associated companies that got a million to two million dollar loan.
Kutztown University President, Kenneth Hawkinson double-down on back to campus in the pandemic.
An Open Letter to Kenneth Hawkinson started by faculty now has more than 1,440 signatures from faculty, students, staff, parents, and community members calling on KU to pull back from its reckless reopening plans.
https://open-letter.neocities.org/
In a private, invite-only event for VIPs and donors on Tuesday evening, President Hawkinson reportedly told attendees that he would not move to mostly online classes even if there was a coronavirus outbreak on the campus. The only way he’ll shut down face-to-face classes is if the governor makes him.
Healthy Campus Bill of Rights gets a big turn out for its town Hall on Wednesday. Over 75 people showed up to plan actions and express their concerns.
The KU community is going to need some assistance, as will Kenneth Hawkinson. So, we’ve got an idea. Let's send President Hawkinson some grits, shall we?
You could send him some Poultry Grit, or some Quaker Oats 5-minute grits to bolster your morning fortitude, or maybe some Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Grits to keep olde tyme traditions afloat. Just send your gift of grit to:
- President Kenneth Hawkinson
- 303B Stratton Administration Center
- Kutztown University
- Kutztown, PA 19530
In today's last call, we'll have some beer recs from Free Will, New Trail, and Levante.
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Out d'Coup LIVE | Higher Ed Organizing During the Pandemic
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Monday Aug 03, 2020
On tonight’s Out d’Coup LIVE, we’re talking higher education organizing during the coronavirus pandemic. As the beginning of the school year draws ever closer colleges, and universities have been struggling with how to go back-to-school and keep students, teachers, staff, and community members safe. I feel for the people who have to make these decisions at a time when the Federal government is almost completely devoid of help for colleges and universities - in terms of clear, transparent, and evidence-based guidelines on the one hand and financial assistance to enact necessary safety measures. To make matters worse, some university administrations have their heads in the sand, relying upon magical and wishful thinking. As you’ve heard me say before, my university, Kutztown University, is occupied by just such an administration.
The pandemic shutdown has also posed challenges for activists and organizers who have had to shift strategies and tactics as well. As regular listeners to Out d’Coup podcast know, last spring I began working with a group of students, faculty, staff, and community members on a project called the Healthy Campus Bill of Rights. The initial project set out to demand 1. A Healthy Working and Learning Environment; 2. Campus Investment in the Financial Health of Our Community; and, 3. Campus Infrastructure Changes to Meet the Challenges of the Climate Crisis. Now, the Healthy Campus Bill of Rights has shifted to deal with the most pressing issue before us: Kutztown University’s insistence on returning to face-to-face classes in the fall, despite rising coronavirus cases and the fact that 9 out of 14 PASSHE universities have gone to mostly online classes in the fall.
On tonight’s show, we’re talking to guests who are organizing in higher education in the middle of this pandemic. You are invited to join the conversation by calling in through the Podbean app. You can also comment through the app or on our live YouTube stream.
My guests tonight are:
Tabetha Bernstein-Danis: Tabetha is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Kutztown University. She is a delegate to APSCUF’s Legislative Assembly and the KU and state APSCUF Social Justice Committee Chair.
Dana Morrison: Dana is an Assistant Professor at the West Chester University of PA. She is the co-chair of APSCUF Social Justice committee at West Chester. And, she is a member of Public Higher Education Workers aka (PHEW). Public Higher Education Workers (PHEW) is a network of faculty, students, and staff working to organize for fully funded, free, liberatory public higher education.
Madeline Ochabilla: Madeline is a student at Villanova University and a regional organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops, USAS. She has worked on international solidarity campaigns, particularly campaigns that have aimed to hold big sports brands like Nike accountable to their factory workers who make collegiate apparel.
USAS is having a virtual summer conference on the weekend of August 22nd and August 23. It will be an opportunity for students to learn from different organizing workshops and will have the opportunity to connect with many other student organizers across the country. This conference is open to all students, not just USAS members. You can register at the USAS website: usas.org
Intro/Outro Music:
- "There are No People in the Future," by Jonathan Mann. Follow all his awesome work at https://www.jonathanmann.net/. Follow him on Twitter at @songadaymann.
Links:
- Healthy Campus Bill of Rights Town Hall: https://www.facebook.com/events/290861372246985/
- The Acceptable Number of Deaths is Zero: An Open Letter to KU Administration on COVID-19 and Safely Reopening: https://open-letter.neocities.org/
- Working Educators: https://www.workingeducators.org/
- Our City Our Schools Philly: https://www.facebook.com/OurCityOurSchoolsPhilly/
- Racial Justice Organizing: https://sites.google.com/view/racialjusticeorganizing/about
- United Students Against Sweatshops: https://usas.org/
- USAS Virtual Summer Conference: https://usas.org/2020/07/15/virtual-summer-conference-2020/
Friday Jul 31, 2020
Friday Jul 31, 2020
** Apologies in advance for the bad sound at the beginning. Looks like my new soundboard set up is not going to cut it **
Republican Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell has held up an agreement on a new COVID-19 relief package saying that he will not pass a bill without a “liability shield” for employers. However, Republicans can’t agree with themselves and have failed to reach an agreement as expanded unemployment benefits expire today and the moratorium on evictions expired last weekend.
The Democratic National Committee passed a platform this week that they are touting as the “boldest Democratic platform in American history.” Scratch the surface of that talking point, though, and you learn that they refused to back Medicare for All; would not back marijuana legalization; refused to call for the end of qualified immunity for police officers; poo-pooed a federal jobs guarantee; passed on a comprehensive plant for implementing a Green New Deal; and, scoffed at placing conditions on aid to Israel.
Following Attorney General Barr’s House testimony, Federal troops are being withdrawn from Portland after they brutally suppressed protests since the beginning of July.The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Department of Homeland Security compiled “intelligence reports” on American journalists covering the Portland protests.
Frustrated? Want to get back to “normal” news stories? Ok, try these on for size:
Baghdad Iraq hit a record-shattering 125 degrees on Tuesday. On Monday the temperature was 123 and on Wednesday it was 124. The electricity grid began to fail and two protesters were shot dead by security forces during protests over a lack of electricity and basic municipal services.
Can’t stand the heat? Well, about a quarter of Bangladesh is flooded after torrential rains have wreaked havoc on the nation that was pummeled by a cyclone just two months ago. More than a million homes are underwater, 4.7 million people are affected, and at least 54 people - mostly children - lost their lives.
One more? According to a new study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, up to 171 million people today face the risk of coastal flooding from extreme high tides and storm surges.
Pennsylvania saw an additional 860 new positive coronavirus cases, bringing the slow, but steady increase in cases to 111,078. The PA Department of Health reports a significant increase in cases among younger people, especially those between 19 and 24.
Pro-COVID-19 Republican state legislator, Russ Diamond shows his colors again by mocking Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine’s call for tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ people. Levine spoke out after dealing with escalating and harassment by Pro-COVID-19 brown shirts. Governor Wolf calls on the state legislature to censure Diamond.
Half of the universities that make up the PA State System of Higher education have reversed course, moving most classes online. Kutztown University is one of the holdouts. Students, faculty, and staff working under the banner of the Healthy Campus Bill of Rights, will be holding a town hall on Wednesday, August 5th.
In related news, KU’s president Hawkinson is planning a town hall of his own next Tuesday. It is an invite-only to select VIPs, donors, and alumni. The event is being billed as “a unique opportunity to learn about KU’s vision for the fall 2020 semester directly from university leadership,” and is being sponsored by the KU Foundation.
Now is a perfect time to request your Vote by Mail ballot. If you are PA voter go to https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/ and click “Mail-in Ballot Application” to get the process moving.
Mike Pence was in Western, PA campaigning for Trump yesterday. His campaign bus crashed into a dump truck. There’s a joke in there somewhere. Maybe...something with #dumptrump?
It was a big week in space news...like really big. NASA successfully launched the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover Thursday morning.
Perseverance will also land with a little friend. For the first time NASA will attempt to fly Ingenuity, a four pound helicopter built for the Martian atmosphere.
The two astronauts who flew the first successful Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station are expected to return to Earth on Sunday..
On Tuesday, NASA announced the crew for SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission to the ISS in Spring 2021.
And, finally, Virgin Galactic unveiled the cabin for its SpaceShipTwo, a swanky space liner that is designed to carry six space tourists to suborbital heights for the cost of a $250,000 ticket. About 600 people have already booked a seat.
Free Will Brewing releases (this and this); awesome collaboration from Levante Brewing; and, a back-to-campus in the pandemic pic from New Trail Brewing.
Monday Jul 27, 2020
Monday Jul 27, 2020
On this week's Out d'Coup Live, we’re talking to Sam Weymouth of 717 Restaurant Workers United and Danny Martin from Harrisburg DSA. 717 Restaurant Workers United is a labor union dedicated to the protection and representation of restaurant workers in the Central Pennsylvania area. They are in the middle of an organizing campaign with restaurant workers Cork and Fork, a restaurant with locations in downtown Harrisburg and Camp Hill.
Last Monday, 717 Restaurant Workers United and members of Harrisburg DSA held a "Take-Out Takeover" at both restaurant locations. Organizers urged supporters to order food and let the management know that they stand with Cork & Fork employees. They also encouraged supporters to spread the word on social media with the hashtag #Istandwithcorkandforkworkers' The event was an overwhelming success, according to Tiffany Ramsey, Executive Director of 717 Restaurant Workers United. Workers are waiting to find out the date for their union election.
You can become show your support for Cork and Fork workers by joining the 717 Restaurant Workers United's Street Team and spreading the work. Just go to their TAKE ACTION link.