Episodes
Thursday Mar 29, 2018
Thursday Mar 29, 2018
On today’s Out d’Coup Xtra, Kevin Mahoney interviews Colleen Bradley and her lawyer, Dan Kearney, about her whistleblower case that is knocking on the door of the U.S. Supreme Court. Colleen Bradley was the former Director of Budget and Financial Planning at West Chester University who blew the whistle in 2014 about fraudulent budget practices at WCU and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. When she outed the fraud to the university community, she was fired. Bradley’s suit initially appeared to be a textbook case of an employer retaliating against an employee for blowing the whistle on corruption and financial malpractice. However, the U.S. Third Circuit Court denied Bradley First Amendment whistleblower protection in a manner that threatens to dramatically narrow whistleblower protections for every public employee in the nation. Bradley is in the process of filing a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court’s decision.
If the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to review the lower court’s decision, the rights of public employees - and all potential whistleblowers - will be gutted.
Raging Chicken Press reported on Colleen Bradley’s case when she filed her 62-page complaint against West Chester University and PASSHE in 2015. The documents Bradley filed confirmed Raging Chicken’s ongoing reporting on PASSHE’s dishonest and deceptive budgeting schemes (e.g. “Wall Street on the Susquehanna”; “PASSHE’s Austerity Magic”; and, “The Persistence of Crisis at KU”). Her case also provided concrete evidence in support of an independent audit commissioned by the faculty union APSCUF in late 2014, which raised concerned about PASSHE’s creative accounting practices. And yet, despite reams of evidence, the people responsible for the fraud at West Chester and other PASSHE universities have not been held accountable and, as the recently released “Bunsis Report” showed, the same deceptive practices continue.
And now, PASSHE’s decision to retaliate against Colleen Bradley for blowing the whistle on their deceptions has the additional consequence of putting all future whistleblowers at risk. Today’s Out d’Coup Xtra focuses on the legal issues at stake in her First Amendment whistleblower case. Raging Chicken is also conducting in-depth interviews with Bradley and her lawyers. We will be releasing those interviews in the coming days.
Monday Mar 26, 2018
Monday Mar 26, 2018
On March 24, 2018, millions of people across the country - and the globe - turned out for #MarchForOurLives to end the gun violence that infections our nation. Raging Chicken's Seth Goldstein was on the streets of Doylestown, PA talking to student organizers about why they are marching and the change they seek to bring about.
Wednesday Feb 07, 2018
Wednesday Feb 07, 2018
In this Out d'Coup Xtra, Raging Chicken's own Seth Goldstein checks in with some of the organizations who came out to this year's Keystone Progress Summitt to network and organize.
Seth talks with Jarrett Smith, Youth Director of NextGen Pennsylvania; Jeff Dempsey, Program Director for CeaseFire PA; Arno Vosk, Board Member and Retired ER Doctor from Healthcare for All PA; and John Heaps, Chair of the College Committee at Fair Districts PA.
Given it a listen! And don't forget to help support homegrown movement media by becoming a member of Raging Chicken Press for as little as $5/month.
Wednesday Feb 07, 2018
Wednesday Feb 07, 2018
Kevin Mahoney had a chance to sit down with Reid Stever from March on Harrisburg at this year's Keystone Progress Summit. March on Harrisburg has brought a creative mix of lobbying, education, and direct action to the fight against corruption in our State Capitol. What's next on the agenda? Take a listen and find out!
Monday Feb 05, 2018
Monday Feb 05, 2018
Sean Kitchen sat down with Elizabeth Fiedler, Sara Innamorato, and Summer Lee at this year's Keystone Progress Summit in Harrisburg, PA. Fieldler, Innamorato, and Lee are running primary campaigns against three moderate/conservative Democrats this election season.
Given this one a listen folks. We have a new breed of movement candidates for a progressive PA.
Friday Dec 22, 2017
Friday Dec 22, 2017
We have a special Out d'Coup Xtra for you as the New Year fast approaches. Today Sean and I are joined by Amanda Morris and Colleen Clemens from Inside 254 Podcast! It's our first-ever collaborative podcast and it's a good one! We talk about recent allegations of sexual misconduct in Pennsylvania state government and the need to hold the PA Democratic Party to account for its role in perpetuating a culture of repressive sexism. We also talk about why its necessary to start by believing the women who are speaking out against sexual misconduct and a toxic sexist culture. As more pressure is brought to bear on state and national legislators, we see hope in organizing efforts emerging in communities across the state.
Be sure to check out Inside 254 and consider becoming a patron or making a donation to support their awesome work.
You can also support all the work we do at Raging Chicken by becoming a member today!
Friday Nov 24, 2017
Out d'Coup Xtra | Noam Chomsky Interview from November 22, 2011
Friday Nov 24, 2017
Friday Nov 24, 2017
We didn’t want to leave you without a show this week, so we decided to give you a bit of a treat for Thanksgiving. Today you’re going to hear our first Raging Chicken interview from back in November 2011. Raging Chicken Press was just about four months old, but we were able to score an interview the day after he spoke at Kutztown University for World Philosophy Day.
We talked about the Occupy Movement - then in its second month of occupations around the country; social movements in the wake of the Tea Party victories and the Wisconsin Uprising; and the role of the university in social movements.
I’ll warn you ahead of time that the audio is less than stellar. Frankly, we were learning on the fly and our interview location was really noisy. But, still, it was a great talk that we wanted to share with you again as left political organizing is on the rise.
Tuesday Oct 31, 2017
Tuesday Oct 31, 2017
Campus Equity Week is the occasion for this Out d’Coup Xtra. Today Kevin Mahoney is talking with Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek, the State Chair of APSCUF’s Adjunct Faculty Committee. Lynch-Biniek’s forthcoming book, Contingency, Exploitation, and Solidarity: Labor & Action in English Composition is a co-edited anthology with Seth Kahn & Bill Lalicker that explores the ways and means of labor reform on college campuses. She has also recently published “The Ethos of Writing Program Administration” with Anne Shivers McNair in Forum: Issues about Part-Time & Contingent Faculty. She is the current editor of the aforementioned Forum, a peer-edited journal from the National Council of Teachers of English.
Lynch-Biniek’s, “Campus Equity Week: We Can Do Better,” was the featured post on APSCUF’s statewide blog this week, urging tenure-line faculty to deepen solidarity with adjunct faculty not only during contract negotiations, but in the “small challenges we choose to face everyday.” Mahoney spoke with Lynch-Biniek at a Campus Equity Week event at Kutztown University as part of statewide events supported by the faculty union, APSCUF.
Monday Sep 25, 2017
Monday Sep 25, 2017
Sean Kitchen makes his solo debut on Out d'Coup Xtras! Sean talks with Jamie Longazel, author of Undocumented Fears: Immigration and the Politics of Divide and Conquer in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Longazel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.
The focus today is on former Hazelton mayor and current U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district, Lou Barletta. Barletta recently threw his hat into the ring to challenge Bob Casey in the 2018 midterm elections. Barletta has been a strong supporter of Donald Trump and has his own sorted anti-immigration history.
Like what you hear? Want to support pull-no-punches, progressive media? Become a member of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month! Simply go to RagingChickenPress.org and look for the Support and Membership tab. Click “Become a member” and you’re on your way. Not ready to become a member? No problem. You can make a one-time donation by clicking “Donate.”
Back to school special! If you join now through October at the $10/month level, we’ll send you a copy of Mark Bray’s new book, Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook. Become a member today! Or, if you don’t want that book, we’ll send you an official Raging Chicken Press “Stay Woke” coffee mug instead.
Wednesday Aug 30, 2017
Wednesday Aug 30, 2017
Tonight, we’re bringing you the first ever Out d’Coup Extra interview by one of our contributing writers, Seth Goldstein. Seth is also our awesome tech guy that has more freaking energy than you can imagine and keeps Raging Chicken up and running.
Today, Seth will be interviewing Ben Yagoda, a writer and journalism professor at the University Delaware. Seth talks to Yagoda about his perspective on the Trump presidency and the role of journalism and the journalist during this “unpresidented” political era.
If you like this podcast and all the pull-no-punches, progressive media we do at Raging Chicken Press consider becoming a member of Raging Chicken for as little at $5/month! Simply go to RagingChickenPress.org and look for the Support and Membership tab. Click “Become a member” and you’re on your way. Not ready to become a member? No problem. You can make a one-time donation by clicking “Donate.” We need you - the progressive community - to help us deepen pull-no-punches, progressive media that will hold power accountable.
Right now we’re running our back to school special! Become a member of Raging Chicken at the $10/month level and we’ll send you your choice of Mark Bray’s just published book, Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook or our exclusive Raging Chicken “Stay Woke” coffee mug. If you join at the $20/month level we’ll send you both! Again, simply go to RagingChickenPress.org and look for the Support and Membership tab. Click “Become a member” and you’ll be supporting homegrown progressive media.
Just a reminder that Out d’Coup is moving back to Friday beginning this week. Sean and I will be back talking about the good, the bad, and the ugly in state and national politics.