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Activism, politics, and beer from PA-based Raging Chicken Press
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Friday Mar 20, 2020
Friday Mar 20, 2020
Means testing will not get us where we need to be and it will help Trump win the election.
Italy’s coronavirus deaths pass China.
California Governor Gavin Newsom issues statewide order to stay at home, effective last night.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chair, Richard Burr new about the coming economic crash in early February and dumped between $628,000 and $1.7 million in stock. NPR released a secret audio recording of Burr telling a room of big money donors about the coming catastrophe on February 27th. He wasn’t alone. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, started selling off her and her husbands’ stock back on January 24th. That was, according to the Daily Beast, “the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on the coronavirus.”
Severe storms hitting the central U.S.
Gov. Wolf calls for all “non-life-sustaining” businesses to close down.
PA House Republicans and Mike Turzai go off the rails. The house speaker is pushing for the expansion of cyber education and cyber charter schools while questioning Governor Tom Wolf’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Eight Oaks Farm Distillery switches production from spirits to hand sanitizer. Eight Oaks is a Veteran-Owned, Family-Run, Farm-Grown distillery in New Tripoli, PA
Free Will sets up take out service. They say: “For the foreseeable future, we’ll be opening our Perkasie location seven days a week for take-out between 12:00 - 6:00. We are accepting walk-in orders but would like to encourage everyone to utilize our brand new online store to make any purchases.” https://www.freewillbrewing.com/store
Friday Mar 06, 2020
Friday Mar 06, 2020
Hey all,
This morning got a little chaotic both in Berks County and out in Harrisburg. As a result, we couldn't do our normal recording session. So, here's Kevin with a little preview of things to come.
We'll try to have a full episode out tonight or tomorrow. Talk to you soon!
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Tomorrow is the South Carolina Democratic Primary. Then three days later it’s Super Tuesday. This week things really heated up with disastrous debate and polling that is all over the map. Oh, yeah, and who was that booing in the audience? Going into South Carolina Biden is either ahead by 20 points, or 16 points, or 9 points or 4 points. Pick your poll and make a case.
Chris Matthews tries to redeem himself after equating Bernie Sanders’s victory in Nevada with the Nazi takeover of France. How do you ask? By interviewing Elizabeth Warren to grill about why anyone should believe a woman making harassment allegations against Billionaire Bloomsberg.
We’ll tell you what you can do with your convention rules, DNC. Adam Green goes to TV to tell the world that Elizabeth Warren’s path to the nomination does not rely on winning any states. Huh? Bernie Sanders plans to rally with Silicon tech workers at San Jose City’s City Hall on Sunday.
Bernie Sanders takes the lead in the latest Pennsylvania primary polling. Senator Sanders is also leading in the key battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan.
This past Wednesday Kutztown University faculty and students held the first Town Hall for the Healthy Campus Bill of Rights. It was powerful.
The ax is getting closer to dropping as not enough faculty want to take the sick pay buyout for early retirement.
PA man goes through the coronavirus quarantine process. It’s cringe-worthy.
The return of Seven of Nine on Star Trek’s Picard and she’s not playing.
What’s going on with that show Rising with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti?
This Sunday is Free Will’s “Spirit of Mardi Gras: Barrel-Aged Celebration” They’ll be breaking out 2015 Vintage Ralphius in bottles from John’s Secret Stash. Tomorrow we’ll get Kangaroo Dreams - Dry-Hopped Saison Aged in Wine Barrels.
Friday Feb 21, 2020
Friday Feb 21, 2020
Bloomberg takes a beating at his first Democratic Presidential Debate in Nevada. As Ryan Bort wrote in Rolling Stone, “The billionaire had his ass handed to him in his first showdown against his fellow candidates.” Elizabeth Warren led the charge right out of the gate. As Krystal Ball put it on her show, Rising, Warren “gutted him like a fish.”
The latest Nevada poll released early this morning has Bernie Sanders with a 13 point lead ahead of tomorrow’s caucuses. That puts Sanders at +14 in the Real Clear Politics average. Sanders continues to take on a frontrunner status in state and national polls. We shall see how things shake out after the debates and the results of tomorrow’s caucuses.
Roger Stone gets sentenced to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress. Trump opens the gates of Arkham Asylum, pardoning a crew of grifters and corrupt officials. Erik Prince, founder of the private military service company Blackwater (now called Xe Services) is under federal investigation for attempting to modify two crop-dusting planes into attack aircraft, according to new reporting in the Intercept.
The Keystone Progress Summit is coming up! It will be held on March 6 and March 7 in Philadelphia. You can find a link for your tickets in today’s show notes.
Democratic Politics in Allegheny County went nuclear this past weekend and the fallout of embarrassing media stories is still happening. The Allegheny County Democratic Committee voted to endorse trump loving Democrat Heather Kass over labor organizer and disability rights advocate Jessica Benham. The committee also snubbed Summer Lee for an oil and gas and building trades backed mouthpiece.
Sean explains the Lindy Li saga that unfolded over the past week and why he was featured in Chris Brennan’s Clout blog.
The tensions between pro-fossil fuel unions in the Building Trades and the climate crisis is coming to a head, especially in Western PA.
Leaders of APSCUF, the union representing faculty at the PA State System of Higher Education, were caught flat-footed as the Chancellor went public with warnings of major structural changes at state system schools. In a letter to University presidents, a blog post and media releases, Chancellor Greenstein seemed to say the ax is coming. Apparently, he forgot to tell his new friends in APSCUF what he was planning to do.
Next week, a group of faculty, staff, and students will be holding a town hall to build on the newly launched Healthy Campus Bill of Rights.
We did not get into LV Podcast Festival. :-(
As the Verge reported this week, a new deepfake video posted by TheFakening puts Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in the pilot episode of the original Star Trek, “The Cage” “In this particular AI-powered face swap, Bezos plays a Talosian alien with a huge bald head, while Musk plays Captain Christopher Pike (who is the captain of the USS Enterprise before James T. Kirk).” Loved it.
Speaking of Star Trek, Picard is still rocking it.
And speaking of Elon Musk, Tesla just got environmental waivers to cut down a forest outside Berlin, Germany to build a new Gigafactory producing batteries for Tesla cars.
Kutztown University launches a new eSports arena.
Free Will Brewing has some amazing releases coming out this weekend: Saturday - Coconut Chocolate Sharing Size - Imperial Oatmeal Stout with coconut, chocolate, and milk sugar. Chocolate Caramel Cookie Sharing Size - Imperial Oatmeal Stout with Chocolate, Caramel, Graham Cracker, and Milk Sugar. Sunday - Benjamin 1832 - Cream Ale brewed with flaked maize and hopped with Mandarina Bavaria.
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Friday Feb 14, 2020
Bernie Sanders wins New Hampshire primary...this time with no DNC funny business. And the predictable establishment Democrat freak out begins. Chris Matthews runs to a bunker in fear of getting assassinated by communists in Central Park. Sanders has a double-digit lead in the latest Morning Consult poll. Bernie 29%, Biden at 19%, and billionaire Michael Bloomberg showing up at 18%. Buttigieg 11%, Warren 10%, and Klobuchar at 5%.
The Nevada caucuses are happening next Saturday, February 22. Following the New Hampshire primary, Biden’s support in the Silver State has gone off a cliff. The latest polling numbers at FiveThirtyEight show Sanders in the lead with 24.8%, Biden with 16.0%, Warren at 10.8%, Buttigieg with 10.1%, and Bloomberg with 8.4%. However, with the powerful Culinary Union criticizing Medicare for All in a document released to their members, there is some concern in the Sanders camp. In a blow to Biden who was actively seeking their endorsement, the union said it will not endorse a candidate in the primary. It’s anybody’s guess how it will turn out. We’ll get another bite of the apple next Friday on Out d’Coup before voters weigh in.
New York City journalist Blake Zeff, lays out on Twitter the Bloomberg playbook for purchasing political power. That is followed up by reports in both the New York Times and The Intercept about the down-ballot impacts of Bloomsberg poaching all the best political campaign talent across the country. To add insult to industry, Bloomberg is hiring his own companies to service his campaign in a blatant case of self-dealing. And, if you were in Philly last week, maybe you were lucky enough to be one of the 1,000 people who got to feast on cheese states, hoagies and plats of honey-coated brie, fig jam, and gourmet flatbreads all on Bloomsberg’s tab.
The fallout from Trump’s firing of Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland raises serious questions about how much closer we have moved to an authoritarian state. Federal prosecutors quit following Trump tweets and Attorney General Bill Barr’s responds by undercutting prosecutors' sentencing guidelines in the case of Roger Stone. The sentencing hearing will take place next Thursday in DC.
The Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council based in Pittsburgh voted to go all-in against the reelection of African-American PA State Representative Summer Lee one of the two DSA-backed candidates who swept into office in 2018. Summer Lee is the first black woman elected to the State House from Western PA. Lee represents Braddock, PA - yes, the city where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman made his name as Mayor of Braddock - which is 66% black but had been represented by the white, centrist Democrat Paul Costa who held that seat for 20 years. According to reporting by Mike Elk, the fossil-fuel related unions that dominate that Central Labor Council are especially pissed about her strong support for a Green New Deal. Lee’s opponent is the white, pro-fracking, North Braddock councilman Chris Roland, has already raised over $77,000 - mostly from local unions.
Senate Pro-Tempore Joe Scarnati announces that he too will be retiring at the end of the session.
Sunoco Pipeline, the company building the Mariner East 2 Pipeline was issued another $2 million fine this month. That brings the total fines for the Mariner East 2 pipeline to more than $15 million. The latest fine is for a series of spills of lubricating drilling fluid under Raystown Lake in Huntingdon County in 2017. More than 208,000 gallons of the drilling fluid ended up in the lake.
In Delaware County this week, Delaware County Emergency Services Director Tim Boyce submitted written testimony to the state Public Utility Commission that a delayed ignitions event that led to a leak of toxic fluids from the Mariner East 2 pipeline could impact, “a large amount of people” in the county.
Good news for student voters at Kutztown University. The Berks County Elections Board officials unexpectedly moved the polling place from Keystone Hall on KU’s campus to the Maxatawny Township building more than 5 miles away. The Board made the move on the sketchy grounds of issues of “accessibility and safety.” No concrete evidence was ever provided. After several years of student activism and the continued fight of KU History professor Eric Johnson, the Board voted last week to move the polling place back to Keystone Hall.
This week Kutztown University students, faculty, and staff launched a campaign called the Healthy Campus Bill of Rights. The campaign calls for a healthy working and learning environment, a campus investment in the community’s financial health, and a campus infrastructure to match the climate crisis.
Free Will Brewing has two releases this week: Blueberry Mash - Sour Ale and Tukutuku - American Porter. And on March 1st, Free Will is celebrating the spirit of Mardi Gras with a barrel-aged bonanza.
Friday Feb 07, 2020
Friday Feb 07, 2020
WTF Iowa Democratic Party. Really? After Iowa’s Democratic caucus meltdown on Monday, we finally got the kinda, sorta, final results. As of last night, with 100% reporting, Pete Buttigieg is .1% ahead of Bernie Sanders in the “State Delegate Equivalent” tally. However, Sanders won the most number of votes in the first round and in the second “realignment” vote. Elizabeth Warren finished a strong third while Uncle Joe came in fourth, raising questions about the viability of his campaign. DNC Chair Tom Perez says there needs to be a recount.
Tonight is the New Hampshire Democratic debate, this time with only seven candidates making the cut: Sanders, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Yang, and yes, Tom Steyer.
On Tuesday, Trump gave a carnivalesque State of the Union address and Nancy Pelosi tore that shit up. Literally. As I wrote in the pages of Raging Chicken this week, Trump’s State of the Union address should put all Democrats on notice that he’s making a strong play for reelection.
Senate Republicans voted to ignore the evidence and acquit Trump. Now he’s free to really set fire to the nation.
Mitt Romney gives a pretty freaking great speech and becomes the only Senator in history to vote to convict a president of their own part on impeachment charges. Now the media is gushing over Romney the Statesman.
Governor Wolf’s budget: Wolf proposed a $36 billion budget. There would be no major major tax increases. Wolf proposes to boost funding for public education, expand full-day kindergarten to all students, borrow money to address environmental hazards in schools, raise the minimum wage, and make sweeping changes to how charter schools are funded.
Donald Trump took time out of his state of the union address to attack Governor Tom Wolf over Governor Wolf vetoing an unprecedented EITC / Charter school grift last summer. And you’d never guess where his talking points came from. Straight from the Commonwealth Foundation themselves.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch returned to Earth yesterday, setting a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. She spent 328 days on the International Space Station. Her scientific work on the ISS ranged from Koch frequently growing leafy greens to study the effects of microgravity on plant biology to studying how fire behaves in space to studying how kidney health is affected by microgravity and other factors of space travel, such as diet, water conservation, and recycling. Pretty cool stuff.
Space X is held a Starship career day yesterday to ramp up production of its interplanetary Starship project and speed the race to Mars. According to Elon Musk, the event was mainly "for staffing up 4 production shifts for 24/7 operations, but engineers, supervisors & support personnel are certainly needed too. A super hardcore work ethic, a talent for building things, common sense & trustworthiness are required, the rest we can train.” Musk is also hiring at Tesla and he Tweeted out that you don’t even need a high school diploma.
While the Space Force made it into Trump’s State of the Union address, Space Force planners are still struggling with what to call the new troops. They have consulted the language department of the Air Force Academy and the Defense Language Institute about possible designations. According to Lt. Gen. David Thompson, who is assigned as the vice commander of the Space Force, they are taking the matter very seriously. The one thing he could tell us at this point is that they have ruled out both “spacemen” and “space cadets.” And everything I just said is actually happening. Like, for real.
Two new Free Will Brewing releases tomorrow. First, the can with the best freaking label and name, the debut of their brand new collab with the folks Lost Tavern Brewing, it’s Snowmower - Cream Ale with Vanilla Bean. A super crushable “lawnmower” style ale... for the chillier times! 5.2% ABV.
Then there’s the debut of Eon Blue, Free Will’s brand new Barleywine. It’s an “English style Barleywine brewed with a base of halcyon pale malt which we patiently boiled for a lengthy 5 hours. As is tradition, this interpretation of the classic English style lets the malt character shine, with less bitter hop character found in many American iterations. The result is a beer filled with notes of vanilla, graham cracker, and nutty toffee.” 9% ABV
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Friday Jan 31, 2020
The Senate is expected to vote to reject calling witnesses in the Impeachment trial of Donald Trump. That is almost certain now that key GOP Senator Lamar Alexander says he will not vote to include new evidence in the Senate trial. That pretty allows always-pretending-to-be-moderate Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkoski a virtually cost-free way to vote for witnesses without placing Trump in any real difficulty.
Bernie Sanders is now on top in Iowa polls. The Real Clear Politics average shows Sanders 3.6 points above Biden, followed by Buttigieg in third and Warren falling to fourth. The Iowa Caucuses will be held on Monday. (Check out the full calendar)
Sanders is also at the top of the New Hampshire polls, 9.5 points above Biden’s second place. In other early voting states, Biden is up 5.7 points above Bernie in Nevada and 17.4 points in South Carolina. The biggest contest will be on Super Tuesday, March 3rd. The Pennsylvania primary isn’t until April 28th.
Looks like the Democratic Party establishment is getting really nervous as they unleash waves of attack ads against Bernie Sanders just a few days before the Iowa caucuses. The Democratic super PAC Democratic Majority for Israel was scheduled to run negative ads beginning Wednesday. In response, the Sanders campaign raised more than $1.3 million in one day. And true to that pattern, AOC has received over one million dollars in small contributions in the month since the DCCC attacked her for not paying her dues.
Biden’s out swinging at Bernie, pulling out the devastating critique that Sanders is not a Democrat. Oh. That hurts.
Another billionaire-backed anti-union front group is making its way into Pennsylvania. This time it’s the Freedom Foundation and, well, they gave away their playbook in a 5-minute press conference.
A new package of bills to reform the PA State System of Higher Education was unveiled last week by House Education Committee Chairman Curt Sonney (R-Erie) and Reps. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford/Franklin/Fulton) and Meghan Schroeder (R-Bucks). They were joined by Chancellor Daniel Greenstein and chair of the State System's Board of Governors Cynthia Shapira. They claimed the package of bills is “designed to equip the State System with the reforms necessary to meet its responsibility of providing a high-quality, affordable post-secondary educational pathway.” The bills are designed to alter Act 188 - the bill that gave birth to the State System.
Among the reforms is House Bill 2171 which would allow the Board of Governors to close individual universities. House Bill 2172 would grant PASSHE “sovereign immunity,” protecting the system from lawsuits from...closing universities maybe?
APSCUF’s President delivers remarks to the Board of Governors. Warns of people who may be “harboring resentments...waiting to pounce on failure.” We’ll unpack that a bit.
Kutztown University administration issues statement to faculty saying that there was a “misunderstanding” with the faculty union. KU President said that the administration is not going to cut 63 faculty members. Well...actually…they said they were not “contemplating retrenchment.” What they are doing is “rightsizing our workforce through attrition and by limiting hiring.” That was the official statement. According to union sources, the administration said they wanted to avoid retrenchment, but they would need the union’s help in cutting adjunct faculty or reducing their teaching load to part-time. Can you feel the warmth?
And Lock Haven University joins Kutztown University in the moldy building spotlight.
Space Force rips off Star Trek logo, laying the groundwork for the Terran Empire of Star Trek Discovery’s Mirror Universe to take hold right here in ‘Merica. George Takai took to the pages of the Washington Post to give voice to Star Trek fans everywhere who looked to the Star Trek university as a space of post-capitalist hope.
Big releases from Free Will this week: Chocolate Hazelnut C.O.B. - Coffee Oatmeal Brown Ale with Chocolate and Hazelnut. White Chocolate Cinnamon Latte C.O.B. - Coffee Oatmeal Brown Ale with White Chocolate, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Milk Sugar. And, Released this past Thursday, Scrambled Pron: Episode 2 - Hazy IPA brewed with flaked oats and barley, hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe, and Calypso then fermented with mango, red currant, and vanilla.
Friday Jan 24, 2020
Friday Jan 24, 2020
We are inching closer to Iowa and it’s getting nasty online.
Bernie tops the national polls for the first time, seems to be widening his lead in New Hampshire, and it’s a toss-up in Iowa between Bernie and Biden.
Hillary says she won’t commit to supporting Sanders if he wins the Democratic nomination. Then she walks her comments back a bit.
NYT makes an endorsement fail.
Jane McAleavy was on the Majority Report talking about organizing the workplace and forming unions for direct action and power (NOTE: My apologies for saying "Katie" McAleavy...I read "Katie" from the next line). Her new book, A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy.
Katie Halper on Michael Moore’s Rumble podcast. The quiet anti-semitism of the anti-Bernie media.
Impeachment continues.
Videos of former Lt Gov Mike Stack have been making the rounds. Turns out he moved California and started doing standup under the name Mikey Stacks
And Mike Turzai announced he’s not running for reelection in 2020.
Kutztown University looking at cutting up to 63 faculty members. That is based upon an analysis released to the faculty union last Friday while we were recording this podcast.
Star Trek’s Picard debuted on CBS All Access yesterday. Love it!. I Don’t care what Entertainment Weekly says.
I’ll be on the “Emmie Knows” show on Kutztown University Radio next Wednesday from 10-11:00.
Free Will Brewing has its first Sour Sunday of the new decade this Sunday from 11:30 - 8 pm at the brewery in Perkasie.
Free Will new release this week:
My Wild Love - Spontaneous Sour Ale ages in oak casks with Bluefre plums from Weiser Orchards. With 1.5 lbs. of whole fruit per gallon, this beer leads with aromas of juicy plums and muted oak, followed by notes of bright citrus, finishing soft and dry with notes of plum skins. Bottle conditioned now for over two years. 4.3% ABV
Peachy McPeachface - Mixed culture sour ale comprised of multiple vintages, up to three years, blended and aged in oak casks with fresh peaches. Juicy, ripe nectarous peach notes permeate the palate, finishing with a firm refreshing tartness. Bottle conditioned now for just over two years. 5.7% ABV
Kitchen’s Cabinet is bringing in the bank!
Friday Jan 17, 2020
Friday Jan 17, 2020
Impeachment begins. Lev Parnas takes us inside the Trump cult. We’ve now entered the era of mob reality TV. Parnas turns up the volume and sings like a canary.
It was the week that the Democratic Party establishment has been waiting for - the Great Bernie-Warren Fight. Joe Biden says he’d consider Kamala Harris as a running mate.
Kitchen’s Cabinet launches. Charter Appeals Board meets again. It’s all about the grift.
Kutztown University raises class sizes in order to keep adjunct faculty at part-time. So much for the lasting effects of interest-based bargaining. I’m sticking with my prediction that now that APSCUF and PASSHE have settled a long-term contract, the ax will begin to fall. PASSHE budget hearings will be held in the State Senate on February 20 and in the State House on March 3.
Back from Seattle. Huge shout out to the great folks at Seattle Beer Company.
Free Will has some new releases from their sour cellar. Erma Xtra - Foudre fermented farmhouse ale brewed in collaboration with our friends from all over Forest & Main Brewing Company, Right Proper Brewing Company, Sapwood Cellars Brewery, and Brotherton Brewing Company. 8.4% ABV. Available in 375ml bottles, 750ml bottles, and draft this Saturday at both Perkasie and Peddler's Village.
And some cool news for Free Will. Hop Culture named Juice Money, our collab with Imprint Beer Company, one of "The 5 Best Beers We Had This Week".
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
As Trump ramps up tensions in Iran, this latest archive episode of Out d'Coup podcast returns to the rise of Indivisible, the Women's March, and DSA as a reminder that the political culture has changed since the lead up to the last war. This time, the left is already organizing and is on cusp of nominating a transformational candidate for president.
Here's the original show notes from this archive edition of Out d'Coup podcast from January 17, 2017:
It’s Friday, January 27, 2017. I am Kevin Mahoney, editor and founder of Raging Chicken Press and Raging Chicken Media. 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.
One week out from the inauguration of the Trump Organization and the Doomsday Clock has moved 30 seconds closer to midnight according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Looking questionable if Democrats really have the spine to seriously resist. The Trump organization continues to crackdown on journalists as it gets ready to launch State Run Trump Media. Meanwhile people are not waiting around as millions of people take to the streets and STAY THERE in the days following the inauguration.
Meanwhile here in Pennsylvania, Republican lawmakers pushing a bill that would punish Sanctuary Cities and Counties. The Chancellor of the PA State System of Higher Education looking to deepen the austerity by closing or merging universities. Thousands take to the streets in Philadelphia to protest the GOP retreat. It’s been quite a week. All that and more on today’s show.
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We are digging in for 2017 and Trumplandia. We need you - the progressive community - to help us deepen pull-no-punches, progressive media that will hold power accountable.