Episodes
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Monday Oct 30, 2023
On this week's episode, I am talking with Kierstyn Zolfo from Bucks County Indivisible. Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is getting lazy this Halloween. He's dressing up as a "moderate" once again. Trick or treat? We'll let you be the judge.
We'll be talking about her new article in the Bucks County Beacon, “Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s Support for New House Speaker Mike Johnson Shows Voters Who He Really Is.” In that piece, Kierstyn writes about how Fitz was selling the new Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, to the so-called “moderate” Problem Solvers Caucus and big donors tied to No Labels. Fitzpatrick went to lengths to help rebrand Johnson as a 'Reagan Republican' and tried to lend some of his "moderate" vibes to Johnson, who we all know is a MAGA extremist
Kierstyn Zolfo is a resident of Bucks County and a volunteer organizer with Indivisible Bucks County. She also serves on the steering committee of Pennsylvania Indivisible as the Legislative Chair, and in that position edits and contributes to the Pennsylvania Member of Congress Tracking report, an effort that keeps an eye on the votes and quotes from the Commonwealth's 20 Members of Congress. Kierstyn is originally from New Jersey but moved to PA when she was an undergrad at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster and has stuck around the area ever since.
If we want a progressive future, we need progressive media. Support pull-no-punches, homegrown progressive media today by becoming a patron of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month. Simply go to Patreon.com/RCPress.
Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u
Monday Oct 23, 2023
Monday Oct 23, 2023
Pennridge parent, Darren Lausten, sued the Pennridge school board because he suspected they were banning books under the cover of lies and deceit. They didn't even follow their own book banning policy. Lausten won his lawsuit and tonight the school board meets for the first time since his victory. We'll tune in LIVE with you right here to catch some of the meeting. It promises to be a good one.
If we want a progressive future, we need progressive media. Support pull-no-punches, homegrown progressive media today by becoming a patron of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month. Simply go to Patreon.com/RCPress.
Help keep the media in the movement and the movement in the media. Become a patron for as little as $5/month by going to Patreon.com/RCPress.
Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u
Monday Oct 16, 2023
Monday Oct 16, 2023
Pretty laid back night tonight. Doing a casual little Out d'Coup LIVE tonight. What's on your mind tonight?
If we want a progressive future, we need progressive media. Support pull-no-punches, homegrown progressive media today by becoming a patron of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month. Simply go to Patreon.com/RCPress. Help keep the media in the movement and the movement in the media. Become a patron for as little as $5/month by going to Patreon.com/RCPress.
Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
On this week's Out d'Coup LIVE we bring you a pre-recorded interview with Joslyn Diffenbaugh. Joslyn is a 10th grade student at Kutztown Area High School. She is the founder of the Teen Banned Books club and an outspoken student advocate against book bans in her school district and school districts all around the region. This past spring, the Kutztown Area School District school board canceled a grant-funded, "One School, One Book," program that planned to read Alan Gratz's new book, Two Degrees. The reason? Because a few outspoken conservative parents didn't want students reading about climate change! We had Alan Gratz on this program to talk about the controversy and Joslyn had an opportunity to interview him at the Firefly Bookstore during his visit to Kutztown University for last year's Children's Literature Conference.
This interview was conducted on October 1, 2023 as a featured event during the PA Climate Convergence in Harrsiburg. Joslyn was supposed to interview Alan Gratz, but Alan unfortunately got COVID just a few days before the event. Karen Feridun from the PA Climate Convergence asked if I would be willing to step in and interview Joslyn. I was more than happy to step up.
If we want a progressive future, we need progressive media. Support pull-no-punches, homegrown progressive media today by becoming a patron of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month. Simply go to Patreon.com/RCPress. We’re here for the fight and we need you. Become a patron for the price of a good beer once a month. Help keep the media in the movement and the movement in the media. Become a patron for as little as $5/month by going to Patreon.com/RCPress.
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Out d’Coup LIVE | Reflections on PA Climate Convergence and what’s your mind
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Pretty laid back night tonight. I spent the day at the PA Climate Convergence yesterday for a great day of panels, music, discussion, and connection. What's on your mind tonight?
If we want a progressive future, we need progressive media. Support pull-no-punches, homegrown progressive media today by becoming a patron of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month. Simply go to Patreon.com/RCPress. Help keep the media in the movement and the movement in the media.
Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u
Monday Sep 18, 2023
Monday Sep 18, 2023
This week I welcome Cyril Mychalejko and Emily Smith to the show. Cyril is the Editor-in-Chief of the Bucks County Beacon and Emily is the Beacon’s Publisher. We’ll be talking about the role of independent, community-based media in deepening local democracy and organizing against the rise of extremism in our schools and communities. We’ll also be talking about their goals for their fall fund drive and plans for expanding the Beacon’s work in the months and years to come.
In addition to his lead role as Editor-in-Chief for the Beacon, Cyril Mychalejko has over two decades of journalistic experience. His work has appeared in The Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer, Upside Down World, Common Dreams, TruthOut, and other publications.
Emily Smith, the Beacon’s Publisher, is a seasoned design professional with nearly a decade of experience in strategic communications. Emily has spent nearly two decades working with startups and small businesses. Beyond her design chops, Emily is a creative problem solver, and business strategist. She has also owned her own graphic design firm since 2003, working with nearly every imaginable client including small businesses, giant corporations, non-profits, and community organizations.
Support the Beacon during their Fall fund drive: https://buckscountybeacon.com/support-the-beacon/
If we want a progressive future, we need progressive media. Support pull-no-punches, homegrown progressive media today by becoming a patron of Raging Chicken for as little as $5/month. Simply go to Patreon.com/RCPress.
Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u
Monday Aug 21, 2023
Monday Aug 21, 2023
Back from vacation and I've already got a pit in my stomach. We'll catch up and talk about the Christian nationalist/Moms for Liberty takeover of the Pennridge curriculum. Nuts. What's on your mind?
Don’t Let Paul Martino & Friends Buy Our Schools and push extremist politics in our community. Raging Chicken has teamed up with LevelField to launch a truly community-rooted PAC to invest in organizing, support local and state-wide progressive candidates, and unmask the toxic organizations injecting our communities with right-wing extremism. We’re putting small-dollar donations to work to beat back the power of Big Money. You can get more information and drop your donation at https://ragingchicken.levelfield.net/. J
Monday Aug 07, 2023
Monday Aug 07, 2023
On today’s show, it’s a Monday Politics Roundup. Yup. I had to take a tech day on Friday, so I thought we’d take a peek back at the week. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind tonight! We’re getting close to a critical election this fall and the 2024 presidential campaigns are heating up.
- Trump seeks narrow rules on what he can do with evidence his lawyers receive as part of his criminal case of election interference. In other words, he wants to be able to target and intimidate potential witnesses among other things.
- Biden’s student debt relief plan for students who were victims of fraud by for-profit colleges is blocked by a federal court.
- The Florida Department of Education has effectively banned an Advanced Placement course in psychology because of the state’s new law prohibiting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Right-wing think tanks and corporate lobbyists have already written their blueprint to undercut action on the climate crisis. It’s called Project 2025.
- Don’t be fooled by claims that a new law will keep kids safe online. KOSA - the Kids Online Safety Act is a bipartisan bill that purports to clamp down on Big Tech and protect kids. However, the bill could do a lot more than that.
- D&D community up in arms against Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast after finding out the some of the art for a new source book, Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants.
- There’s so much more - plus, I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Here we go!
You can support this show by becoming a patron for as little as $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/rcpress/.
Don’t Let Paul Martino, Moms for Liberty & Their Oligarch Friends Buy Our Schools and push extremist politics in our community. Raging Chicken has teamed up with LevelField to launch a truly community rooted PAC to invest in organizing, supporting local and state-wide progressive candidates, and unmasking the toxic organizations injecting our communities with right-wing extremism. We’re putting small-dollar donations to work to beat back the power of Big Money. You can get more information and drop your donation at https://ragingchicken.levelfield.net/.
Monday Jul 31, 2023
Monday Jul 31, 2023
This week I welcome Karen Feridun back to the show. Karen is the founder of Berks Gas Truth and co-founder of Better Path Coalition. The Better Path Coalition are the organizers for the PA Climate Convergence this coming fall. We'll be talking about a summer filled with record-breaking heat, flooding, and climate catastophie. We've seen ocean temperatures that have surprised scientists, heat that broke records by a significant margin, and flooding that has devastated communities around the world. All of this is shocking. And all of this is precisely what climate scientists have been warning us about for decades. And all of this is what world leaders - including our own government - have failed to act on in any significant way.
So, today we'll talk the summer that UN Secretary General has termed the beginning of the "era of global boiling." But we'll also focus on upcoming actions this week, later this summer, and in the fall that will demand decisive, immediate climate action. It's time to make plans to be in Harrisburg this October for PA Climate Convergence. The Convergence will bring advocates, activists, and concerned residents to Harrisburg to tell Gov. Shapiro, lawmakers, and regulators that they are having the wrong conversation on climate and need to change their stance. We’ll talk about why lawmakers are keeping PA from being part of the solution to the climate crisis and what all of us can do to change that.
In addition to founding Berks Gas Truth and co-founding the Better Path Coalition, for the past 11 years, Karen Feridun has worked with organizations in PA, NY, NJ, and DE to win the ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin that was imposed in February. She is currently part of an international coalition working to stop Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exports and a national coalition working with members of Congress to reform the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
LINKS:
- Berks Gas Truth: https://gastruth.org/
- PA Climate Convergence: https://www.pennsylvaniaclimateconvergence.org/
You can support this show by becoming a patron for as little as $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/rcpress.
Don’t Let Paul Martino & Friends Buy Our Schools and push extremist politics in our community. Raging Chicken has teamed up with LevelField to launch a truly community-rooted PAC to invest in organizing, support local and state-wide progressive candidates, and unmask the toxic organizations injecting our communities with right-wing extremism. We’re putting small-dollar donations to work to beat back the power of Big Money. You can get more information and drop your donation at https://ragingchicken.levelfield.net/.
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Monday Jul 24, 2023
Welcome to this week's Out d'Coup LIVE. This week I welcome Alexandra Bradbury to the show. Al is the editor of Labor Notes, the media and organizing project amplifying the work of union activists putting the movement back in the labor movement. We'll be talking about her new article, "UPS Teamsters 'Just Practicing," co-written with Luis Feliz Leon, about the impending UPS strike and the decades of organizing work by union activists to change the leadership of the Teamsters and bring the fight back to their union.
Al Bradbury joined the staff of Labor Notes in 2012, after working with hospital workers as a researcher and organizer for Service Employees Local 49 in Oregon. Al edits Labor Notes and covers postal workers and Teamsters. She's also an occasional singer-songwriter. She is based in Seattle.
LINKS:
- Alexandra Bradbury and Luis Feliz Leon, "UPS Teamsters 'Just Practicing," Labor Notes, 7/19/23 | https://labornotes.org/2023/07/ups-teamsters-just-practicing
- Follow Al on Twitter@al_bradbury | https://twitter.com/al_bradbury
- Labor Notes | https://www.labornotes.org/
- Upcoming Labor Notes events: https://labornotes.org/events
You can support this show by becoming a patron for as little as $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/rcpress.
Don’t Let Paul Martino & Friends Buy Our Schools and push extremist politics in our community. Raging Chicken has teamed up with LevelField to launch a truly community-rooted PAC to invest in organizing, support local and state-wide progressive candidates, and unmask the toxic organizations injecting our communities with right-wing extremism. We’re putting small-dollar donations to work to beat back the power of Big Money. You can get more information and drop your donation at https://ragingchicken.levelfield.net/.