Out d’Coup Podcast

Out d’Coup LIVE | MLK Day - reflecting on democracy and the future we want

Welcome to this week's Out d'Coup LIVE. It's MLK Day. We've got an open show tonight. Taking a look at the headlines, your thoughts, and more.

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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | Cyril Mychalejko, Editor-in-Chief of the Bucks County Beacon. Looking back on 2022 and ahead to 2023.

On this week's show, I welcome Cyril Mychalejko back to the show. Cyril is the Editor-in-Chief of the Bucks County Beacon - that independent publication that has been at the cutting edge of reporting on people-powered movements in the region. Cyril will join me to reflect on the year that was and look forward to the challenges and possibilities in 2023. 

LINKS:

• Bucks County Beacon | https://buckscountybeacon.com/
• Support the Beacon | https://buckscountybeacon.com/support-the-beacon/
• Follow Cyril on Twitter | https://twitter.com/cmychalejko
• Bucks County Beacon on Twitter | https://twitter.com/BucksCoBeacon

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Welcome to our new Mastodon community. Yes, as part of the Twitter exodus, Raging Chicken is now on Mastodon. You can find us on Mastodon @rcpress@union.place.

Don’t Let Paul Martino & His 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/.

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | Garen Meguerian, Civil Rights and Free Speech Lawyer, on Moore v. Harper

On this week's show, I welcome Garen Meguerian back to the show. We'll be digging into Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court case that could upend American democracy as we know it. In the Bucks County Beacon, Meguerian warned that the fringe constitutional argument at the heart of this case known as the independent state legislature theory paves the way for single-party rule and disenfranchisement of voters.

Meguerian is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey. He has represented clients in both state and federal courts. He is AV peer review rated from Martindale-Hubbell reflecting achievement at the height of professional excellence and integrity.

Meguerian received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1995, where he served as an Associate Editor of the American Criminal Law Review. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Honors Philosophy from Villanova University in 1992, where he was awarded the University's Valedictory Medallion.

Meguerian is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association, and the Chester County Bar Association.

LINKS:

• "The US Supreme Court Intends To Dismantle Democracy," Garen Meguerian. Bucks County Beacon https://bit.ly/3VWHzwo
• "Moore v. Harper, Explained," Eliza Sweren-Becker & Ethan Herenstein. The Brennan Center for Justice https://bit.ly/3Hm8JJi
• "Explaining Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Democracy," Ari Savitzky & Kristi Graunke. ACLU https://bit.ly/3VStRea

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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | Raelyn Roberson - Field Coordinator of Stopping Cyber Suppression at Common Cause

On this week's show, I welcome Raelyn Roberson to the show. Raelyn is the Field Coordinator of Stopping Cyber Suppression at Common Cause. On the eve of the Georgia Senate run-off, we'll be talking about the challenge of mis- and disinformation that has been infecting U.S. and global elections.  

Raelyn and her team work to fight back against the spread of online election disinformation and hold social media platforms accountable for their role in the spread of election lies. Raelyn provides trainings that encourage anyone and everyone to stop cyber suppression. During monitoring shifts, she leads volunteers in recognizing, searching for, and reporting bad actors who threaten democracy by spreading election lies.

If you want to read more about Raelyn and Common Cause’s work, check out Jenny Stephen’s article in the Bucks County Beacon, "Social Media Disinformation Is a Threat To Democracy, and You Can Help Fight It."  

LINKS:

• Raelyn Roberson on Twitter: @RaelynR3 - https://twitter.com/RaelynR3
• Common Cause: https://www.commoncause.org/
• Common Cause - Combating Cyber Suppression: https://bit.ly/3B8y71k
• Common Cause - Social Media Monitoring Training: https://bit.ly/3VTaf9U
• Public Disinformation Tipline: https://reportdisinfo.org/
• Article on Raelyn's work in Bucks County Beacon, "Social Media Disinformation Is A Threat To Democracy, And You Can Help Fight It," by Jenny Stephens: https://bit.ly/3Y0tIHA

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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | Sean Crampsie - Director of Government Relations, APSCUF - Midterm election postmortem. What’s it mean for PA & PA higher ed?

On this week's show, I welcome Sean Crampsie to the show. Sean is the director of Government Relations for APSCUF - the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University faculties. APSCUF represents the faculty and coaches of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education. We'll be taking a look at the results of last week's midterm elections and unpack what it means for PA and public higher education in the Commonwealth.

Sean Crampsie has been the director of Government Relations for APSCUF since 2017 where he advocates for the faculty, coaches, and students, Pennsylvania's state owned universities. Sean lobbies for state funding for public higher education, tuition affordability, and protection of workers’ rights. Prior to joining APSCUF, Sean spent four years with the PA School Boards Association working on K-12 education issues.

Sean is also serving his second term as a Councilman for the Borough of Carlisle. During his time on Council Sean has advocated for his community and has helped pass an anti-discrimination ordinance, approve affordable housing, and help pass a rental inspection ordinance.

Sean received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Bloomsburg University and lives in Carlisle, PA with his wife Brittany and son Carter.

LINKS: *

• APSCUF: https://www.apscuf.org/ Twitter at @APSCUF https://twitter.com/APSCUF
• Follow Sean on Twitter at @seancrampsie https://twitter.com/seancrampsie
• Follow APSCUF Government Relations @APSCUFGR https://twitter.com/APSCUFGR

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 & His 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, 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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | On the Eve of the Midterm Elections - We’re here for your thoughts, hopes, concerns, and plans of action.

It's Election Day Eve in one of the most consequential midterm elections in recent history. Democracy hangs in the balance, women's rights and autonomy are being attacked, white supremacy is on the ascent, and our schools are being turned into right-wing laboratories. Tomorrow, we get to see if we can turn back the extremists and reclaim our communities. How are you doing tonight? We're here for your thoughts, hopes, concerns, and plans of action.

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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

Out d’Coup LIVE | Sharon Ward, Senior Policy Advisor for the Education Law Center, on school boards, hostile environments, extremist threats to our schools, and the fight back

On this week's show, I welcome Sharon Ward to the show. Sharon is the Senior Policy Advisor for the Education Law Center, a statewide nonprofit legal services and advocacy organization that works to secure quality education for Pennsylvania children with an emphasis on students who are most underserved. She has worked for 30 years, inside and outside of government, to secure quality schools, affordable health care, and people-serving budget priorities and to empower advocates to work for economic and social justice.

We'll be talking about the ongoing attempts by school boards across the country to ban books, limit teachers' ability to provide welcoming environments to LGBTQ students, and enact extremist agendas in our schools. Last week the ACLU of PA filed a lawsuit against Central Bucks School District for creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ students and the Pennridge School District seems like it wants a lawsuit of its own as it bans books, limits expression, and demands schools be stripped of Pride flags. We'll talk with Sharon Ward about the work of the Education Law Center in defending the rights of ALL students and the legal hot water Bucks County Schools find themselves in.

Sharon served two terms on the Albany, NY City Council, directed Governor Tom Wolf’s Budget Office and led a government-wide transformation initiative to help state agencies use technology, data, collaboration, and social policy innovation to deliver better and quicker services to Pennsylvanians. She is the founding director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center; Pennsylvania’s premier progressive policy think tank and led the fight for an equitable state tax system. She has served as an advisor on state legislation, policy, and advocacy for the School District of Philadelphia, the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, the Impact Project, Education Voters of Pennsylvania, the Voter Project, and the Keystone Research Center.

LINKS:

• Education Law Center: https://www.elc-pa.org/
• ELC Back to School Guide 2022: https://www.elc-pa.org/back-to-school-guide-2022/
• ELC | Advocating for Inclusive Schools and Honest Education: https://bit.ly/3ToM9lU
• Advocates for Inclusive Education - Bucks County: https://advocatesforinclusiveeducation.org/
• Upcoming trainings: https://bit.ly/3S7rdib

REPORTING:

• "Central Bucks School District’s Cruelty Toward LGBTQ+ Students May Finally Get The Scrutiny It Deserves," Cyril Mychalejko, Bucks County Beacon: https://bit.ly/3yDWOkL
• "Book Bans And A New Era Of American Totalitarianism," Garen Meguerian, Bucks County Beacon, https://bit.ly/3MnvywF
• "In Pennridge School District Where They Banned Banned Books Week, I Read As A Form Of Protest," Robin Reid, Bucks County Beacon, https://bit.ly/3yBOu4Z
• "ACLU files federal complaint against Central Bucks School District, alleging discrimination against LGBTQ students," Emily Rizzo, WHYY: https://bit.ly/3Tj7YDE
• "A school where even Banned Book Week was banned," Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer: https://bit.ly/3rPgL4h

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/

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | Aly Shaw research analyst at LittleSis on Jeffrey Yass, the billionaire funding PA’s right-wing machine

On this week's show, I welcome Aly Shaw to the show. Aly is a Research  Analyst working on the state power mapping program at the grassroots watchdog group, LittleSis (you know, the opposite of Big Brother?). We'll be talking about her new report, "Jeffrey Yass: The Billionaire Behind Pennsylvania's Right-Wing Machine." Yes, we just keep digging around in the muck around here. No billionaire left unexposed. 

Based in Pittsburgh, Aly has led campaigns to prevent the privatization of Pittsburgh’s water system, to make drinking water safer and more affordable, and organized grocery store workers to win higher wages and safer working conditions during the COVID 19 pandemic. She received her BA in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and her Master’s in Public Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

LINKS: 

• Aly Shaw, "Jeffrey Yass: The Billionaire Behind Pennsylvania's Right-Wing Machine," Eyes on the Ties, Little Sis https://bit.ly/3dTIqxN
• LittleSis: https://littlesis.org/
• Aly Shaw on Twitter https://twitter.com/AlyMS77
• LittleSis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/twittlesis 
• Get involved with LittleSis. Join here to get more info on webinars & trainings: https://littlesis.org/join

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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | What’s going on? Seriously. Updates, thoughts, plans, and comments for 9/26/22

Tonight we’re digging into a couple articles and we're looking at you. What's on your mind and what's happening in your neck of the woods? We'd love to hear! Drop into chat and spill the beans. 

We might just talk about some articles I am reading for a class that I am teaching, so...here's the links to those articles: 

• "We're Not All in This Together: A Case for Advocacy, Factionalism, and Making the Political Personal," by Kevin Mahoney. From Unruly Rhetorics: Protest, Persuasion, and Publics | https://drive.google.com/file/d/19JzHrXyNVv97iS_Fb2de9qPI9-z8HqxM/view?usp=sharing
•  "What is 'Peak Indifference'?: A Theory and Plan for Change," Cory Doctorow | https://doctorow.medium.com/what-is-peak-indifference-b7ddb6d92ca5

We'll also probably talk about the new article in the Philly Inquirer on the Pennridge School District's upcoming vote (while this podcast will be live) on curbing student expression and faculty advocacy: 

• "The Pennridge school board is debating policies including 'teacher advocacy.' Here's where those guidelines stand," Oona Goodin-Smith in Philadelphia Inquirer.
  https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennridge-school-student-expression-teacher-advocacy-20220925.html

And thanks to a question from one of our Twitter warriors, Starry-Eyed, I'll probably talk about some of the choices being faced by unions - especially public sector and teachers' unions.

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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u

 

Out d’Coup LIVE | Alyssa Bowen from True North Research on Dark Money school groups trying to buy the midterms for the GOP

It’s Banned Books Week and have we got a show for you. Tonight I welcome Alyssa Bowen back to the show and the timing couldn't be better. Alyssa is a Senior Researcher and Managing Editor for the progressive watchdog group, True North Research. We'll be talking about their new report, "The Disinfo Playbook Targeting Our Public Schools & Elections" and Alyssa’s related article for TruthOut, "Dark Money Groups are Trying to Buy the Midterm Elections for the GOP." True North's new report is a "guide to the anti-public school front groups - like the Independent Women's Forum (IWF) adn Moms for Liberty - and their Dark Money-funded efforts to censor books, disrupt equality, and impede fact-based learning by kids."

Alyssa received her PhD in History from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2021 with an interest in fascism and antifascism, solidarity and social movements, immigration/exile and transnational history. She has bylines in the Nation and in Truthout, where she is a regular contributor. More of her public writing can be found on True North Research’s website and Substack. Follow Alyssa on Twitter @AlyssaAnnBowen.

LINKS:

• "The Disinfo Playbook Targeting Our Public Schools & Elections" | True North Research https://bit.ly/3UdVCxP
• "Dark Money Groups are Trying to Buy the Midterm Elections for the GOP" | Alyssa Bowen, TruthOut https://bit.ly/3LnWOuh

RESOURCES:

• True North Research: https://truenorthresearch.org/
• Documented: https://documented.net/
• Center for Media and Democracy: https://www.prwatch.org/
• Racial Justice Training Series with H.E.A.L. Together: https://bit.ly/3f3vBRG
• All H.E.A.L. Together trainings: https://www.raceforward.org/trainings

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/.

Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u