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Activism, politics, and beer from PA-based Raging Chicken Press
Episodes
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, made it clear this week that the Biden administration does not see canceling student loan debt as a priority. Instead, the Dems in power are turning to their old game of means-testing and “targeted” loan relief. In his speech on Thursday, he didn’t even mention Biden’s promise to forgive $10,000 for every student carrying federal student debt.
The book-banning continues. This week, McMinn County school board in Tennessee banned the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel, Maus, from its schools. Board members said the book contained “inappropriate language” and depictions of a nude mouse in a concentration camp. Maus creator, Art Spiegelman, called the decision “Orwellian.”
A new peer-reviewed study, scientists believe they finally figured out the large methane releases in cities. As it turns out, gas stoves release a significant amount of methane - even when they are off. Scientists found that nearly three-quarters of the methane leaking from stoves came from when they were not running. The study projected that methane emissions from stoves are about the same as the CO2 released by 500,000 gas powered cars in a year.
Spotify is standing in Joe Rogan’s corner after Neil Young said that he would pull his music from the site if they continued to platform the coronavirus misinformation podcaster. Young issued the ultimatum after more than 1,000 doctors signed a petition calling on Spotify to crack down on COVID misinformation being spread on its site. By mid-week, Niel Young pulled his music. Young said he and his partners are losing 60% of their streaming income, but it was worth the hit to preserve “our integrity and our beliefs. Misinformation about COVID is over the line.”
This morning, a few hours before Biden is scheduled to speak in Pittsburgh about infrastructure, a bridge collapsed in the Point Breeze neighborhood of the Steel City. People in the area Tweeted pictures three years ago of the bridge’s completely rusted through beam supports. No one was killed but several people were injured as several cars and a bus were on the bridge when it went down. Will Joe Manchin still refuse to support Build Back Better?
Map Wars continue. Looks like the Commonwealth Court will end up picking a map from several maps submitted by a variety of groups. That will set up the second time in a row the PA Supreme Court likely will be picking the maps again.
The Commonwealth Court struck down Act 77 and no-excuse mail-in voting. Governor Wolf is expected to file an immediate appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which will put a stay on the decision. This is just another example of how the conservative led court is hostile to voting rights.
A new report says that Pennsylvania is the Cyber Charter Capital of the nation.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania is the “cyber charter capital of the nation,” the report released Thursday by the PA Charter Performance Center said. It describes Pennsylvania as standing apart not just for its large number of students attending its 14 cyber charters — 61,000 in 2020-21, up from 38,000 the year before — but also for insufficient oversight and funding provisions that haven’t been updated since the virtual schools were first permitted in 2002.”
Monarchists were successful in getting a Harrisburg woman fired from her job because she has been talking about the royal family’s racism. You can help on Amanda recover from the monarchists’ assault. Throw her a few bucks on her newly launched GoFundMe site: Help @matta_of_fact cover living expenses
A SpaceX rocket booster launched in 2015 is on a collision course with the Moon after 7 years in a chaotic orbit. The 4.4 ton spent booster is expected to crash into the far side of the Moon some time on March 4th. The Falcon 9 booster carried a climate observation satellite 930,000 miles from Earth.
The new season of Ozark is out. I’m almost through Foundation.
Here in SE PA I’m just waiting to see how much snow we get from this nice little Nor’easter heading our way.
Monday Jan 24, 2022
Monday Jan 24, 2022
Welcome to this week's episode of Out d'Coup LIVE. What's on YOUR mind? I received quite a few tips and articles from listeners over the past few days. We'll take a look what was in the mailbag!
Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/WMW98RQEYV
Friday Jan 21, 2022
Friday Jan 21, 2022
Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of Biden’s inauguration. So, how things going, dog?
As expected, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, sided with Republicans and voted against changing Senate filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation, despite claiming to support the legislation. That means, of course, that voting rights legislation was blocked by a minority of Senators. The vote shined a bright light on the fact that any major legislation favored by Democrats or progressives is dead in the water if the composition of the Senate remains the same.
Biden and Democratic Party leaders now say they will try to break up and scale down Biden’s signature Build Back Better bill in an attempt to get some of it passed. However, it is unclear how that would happen. Even if some of it did, this means that the U.S. government will not pass critical legislation necessary to address multiple crises heading straight for us. Don’t Look Up, folks.
Biden’s approval ratings hit a new low with a majority of Americans disapproving over his handling of his job as president, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Perhaps even more troubling for Biden, only 28% of respondents said they wanted Biden to run for reelection in 2024 - that includes only 48% of Democrats.
Maybe time for a war? Well, that looks like a distinct possibility as Russia threatens to invade Ukraine. Biden didn’t help matters this week when he seemed to indicate that the U.S. and NATO allies might not respond if Russia made a “minor incursion” into Ukraine. That, as you can imagine, didn’t go over well with Ukraine leaders. U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken has hardened the U.S. stance, now telling Ukraine leaders the U.S. is committed to a "united, swift and severe response" if Moscow commits further aggression against Ukraine.
The aftermath of the volcanic explosion near Tonga, the devastation is only now becoming clear.
Malcolm Kenyatta and Conor Lamb scored important endorsements for the US Senate race. Kenyatta picked up the endorsements of SEIU Healthcare PA, 32 BJ, 668 and the state council while Conor Lamb picked up Mayor Jim Kenney, a couple of city council members and the building trades. Rumor has it that Lamb is also seeking the endorsement of the Philadelphia Park Authority.
Josh Shapiro seems to have missed the past couple of years in Democratic politics, leaning into the “ReFund” the police and “more cops” messaging from the 1990s.
Philadelphia council member Bobby Henon, resigned from City Council after a federal jury convicted Henon along with Johnny “Doc” Dougherty on corruption charges. Henon was convicted of selling his seat out to serve Johnny Doc’s personal and political interests. Henon said he would not step down, but just a month ahead of his sentencing hearing, he seems to have changed his mind.
A middle school student in Kutztown formed the “Team Banned Book Club” after local and national extremism leading to banning books and raucous school board meetings screaming about critical race theory. Joslyn Diffenbaugh, an 8th grade student in Kutztown, formed the group because she “wanted to make sure teens have access to books that they can personally relate to or have interest in and not let groups in our community dictate what we can and cannot read.”
And as the Pennridge School District continues to ban and remove books that mention gender identity or engage racism, a group calling itself the Pennridge Improvement Project is working to make those books accessible by stocking “Little Libraries” around the district with school board banned books. And a Pennridge student group, Pennridge Rise Up, is petitioning against the book banning and favor of DEI initiatives.
Doylestown Health calls on Central Bucks School District to change their COVID plan because the hospital is overwhelmed with cases. You’ll recall that last week the Central Bucks school board passed a health and safety plan that they knew did not follow CDC guidelines, despite stating that they were.
The James Webb telescope successfully deployed all of its 18 hexagonal mirrors ahead of schedule and is on its way to its permanent orbit around L2 - the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point - about a million miles from Earth. It should enter that orbit on Sunday, January 23. We should start getting images from Webb in about three months!
Meatloaf died after becoming seriously ill with COVID. His period of “waiting for the end of time” has arrived. It was unclear if he was vaccinated.
Tom Cruise space movie producers sign a deal with Axiom to build studio in orbit attached to the International Space Station.
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Bucks County continues to be at the center of some disturbing politics. School board races in Central Bucks , Pennridge, Palisades, and Pennsbury made national news for right-wing, extremism rallying against sensible COVID mitigating strategies, diversity in our curricula, and inclusivensss in our classrooms. Organizers across Bucks County did amazing work on school board and municipal campaigns. But as we enter the 2022 election cycle, organizers are continuing the work of building power.
Tonight I welcome three Bucks County activists Amy Knecht, Emily French, and Ross McLennan. All three of them were active in this past fall’s school board elections. They are also active members of our Raging Chicken community. Amy, Emily, and Ross join me for a roundtable discussion about "what's up with Bucks?" We'll reflect on this past year's election and look forward to the organizing ahead.
Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/WMW98RQEYV
Friday Jan 14, 2022
Friday Jan 14, 2022
Kyrsten Sinema announces that she is willing to kill voting rights legislation because of her love of the filibuster. Her teary-eyed performance on the Senate floor all but sinks hopes to pass voting legislation this year. Schumer says they will begin debate on Tuesday and force the issue.
The U.S. Supreme Court shoots down Biden’s vaccine and testing mandate for private business.
The leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, is indicted on charges of seditious conspiracy.
Republicans from at least 5 states forged official elector certificates and sent them into the National Archives and the U.S. Senate ahead of the January 6 insurrection.
The Republican Party is changing its rules to prevent any GOP presidential candidates from taking part in debates hosted by the Commission for Presidential Debates.
And the Omicron variant of COVID is predictably swamping the U.S. and the federal government is just getting around to thinking about helping with masks and testing. The should get up and running sometime after the crisis has hit. What do you think? Summer?
Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler admitted earlier this week that he was in contact with the Jan 6th Commission. Makes you wonder who Jim Jordan and Scott Perry were meeting with in Harrisburg while they were attending the Stop the Steal rallies.
Gubernatorial Candidates Lou Barletta and Charlie Gerow, and Charlie Gerow’s co-worker, Kevin Harley, all signed their names presenting themselves as “electors” on forged documents that were submitted to the Dept of State and the US Library of Congress
Full-time and adjunct faculty members at Harrisburg Area Community College will have their union election from Feb 24 to April 7. Faculty members at HACC have faced years of anti-union tactics from the administration to delay a union vote. The school was caught padding their faculty lists with professors who didn’t teach in order to stop the card signing process.
Central Bucks School District votes to lie that its health and safety play is following CDC guidelines.
Pennridge School District just ignores all guidelines and says everyone back to school after three days, no masks needed.
Pat Poprik, Chair of Bucks County Republican Party, was one of the signers of PA’s false slate of electors.
And in other news Former House Speaker Mike Turzai is running for Governor.
Hey, Don’t Look Up. Station Eleven Rocks. Just started Foundation on Apple TV+
Friday Jan 07, 2022
Friday Jan 07, 2022
Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. While a lot of words were said, it remains to be seen whether the political will exists to defend democracy. Will we keep anti-majoritarian rules like the filibuster in place? Will we continue to support a Senate that grants disproportionate power to white, rural states and districts? What will this year’s elections bring?
COVID rages and it appears our institutions are pretty much throwing in the towel.
In a what-the-what news…lightning increased dramatically around the North Pole. According to CNN, “Vaisala, an environmental monitoring company that tracks lightning around the world, reported 7,278 lightning strokes occurred last year north of 80 degrees latitude, nearly twice as many as the previous nine years combined.”
The Pennsylvania Farm Show is this weekend! Don’t want covid? Do go. It’s that simple because masks and vaccination cards won't be required as Omicron is ripping the lands.
Doug Mastriano is launching his campaign for Governor tomorrow. Get ready everybody.
The Pennridge School District makes more moves to discriminate and whitewash history now that the extremists have full control of the board. The board ordered the removal of the book, Heather Has Two Mommies, due to its radical message that “it doesn’t matter how many mommies or how many daddies your family has … the most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other.” Check out Cyril’s interview with the book’s author, Lesléa Newman, in his latest column. And then there’s moves to prevent critical discussion on the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. Teachers were sent a note instructing them to “not wade into” discussion of January 6. Instead, they should stick to “business as usual.” We should recall that Bucks County had more people attend the insurrection than any other county - and the Pennridge School Board president, Joan Cullen, was one of them.
Looks like the Executive Director of Upper Bucks County Technical School. Jeffrey Sweda, is being given the boot after the board overseeing the school’s Joint Operating Committee charges him with “persistent negligence in the performance of his duties, willful neglect of duties, and/or willful failure to comply with school laws and directives.” The charges include buying a $999 log splitter for his personal use, stealing pavers from the school, cutting security cameras to the loading dock, abusing co-workers, and more.
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
On this week’s show, we’ll catch up with Cyril to see how his New Year is going so far and check in on the state of our democracy one-year out from the violent insurrection on the Capitol Building in DC.
We also have COVID cases skyrocketing as kids head back to school following the holiday break. And, the 2022 election season starts to heat up while Bucks County school boards show no signs of moderating.
And there’s the breaking scandal at the Upper Bucks Technical School as the board seeks to fire the Executive Director, Jeffrey Sweda, for “incompetency, intemperance, persistent negligence in the performance of duties, willful neglect of duties, and/or willful failure to comply with laws and directives.”
We’ll also check in with Cyril to find out what he’s got cooking for upcoming columns.
You should also sign up for Cyril’s newsletter on Substack: https://cyrilmychalejko.substack.com/
Some of Cyril's latest:
- Meet a Progressive: Fighting for the Working Class with Rick Smith
- Column: "El Salvador offers a dark glimpse into our post-Roe future"
You can help support this show by becoming a patron for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/rcpress. Your support has helped make today’s show possible.
You can also help out the show by heading over to our YouTube channel - if you are not there already - and smash that subscribe button, like the stream for this show, and hit that notification bell so you’ll know everytime we go live.
And make sure to join our Discord Server to continue the conversation all week long. Just click on the link in today’s show notes: https://discord.gg/WMW98RQEYV
Monday Jan 03, 2022
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Monday Dec 20, 2021
On today’s show, just in time for Christmas week, I welcome Dr. Christopher Rodkey to the program. Chris is the Pastor of St. Paul's UCC in Dallastown, PA, and a public theologian who engages in three publics: the church, the academy, and society. He also just announced his candidacy for State Representative in PA's 93rd District, the seat currently held by Republican Mike Jones. We'll be talking about religion, politics, and the struggle for justice.
Chris Rodkey is originally from Columbia in York County and attended St. Vincent College in Westmoreland County. After earning a master's degree at the University of Chicago, he went on to earn his Ph.D. in philosophy and religion at Drew University. Prior to his current position at St. Paul's UCC, he pastored a church in Lebanon County, after moving back to PA. He is the author or editor of nine books including Too Good to Be True: Radical Christian Preaching, Year A and The World is Crucifixion: Radical Christian Preaching, Year C. He also owns a small publishing business, Barber's Son Press, is an outspoken activist in the area, especially for religious tolerance, and is a judge of elections for his district. For the past 10 years, he has been an adjunct professor of Philosophy at Penn State York. He is married and has four children in public schools.
Chris Rodkey will be holding a press event for his candidacy in the PA-93 on January 16h in Jacobus, PA.
- Follow Chris Rodkey and his campaign on Twitter: @rev_ChrisRodkey
- Follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RodkeyChris/
- Hit up his campaign website: https://bit.ly/30t4WGT
Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/WMW98RQEYV
Friday Dec 17, 2021
Friday Dec 17, 2021
The FDA has permanently lifted a restriction on access to abortion pills. This will allow patients to receive the medication by mail instead of requiring them to schedule an in-person appointment with specially certified health care providers. The decision will not change state laws that ban the pills, but it’s one piece of positive news in an otherwise dark future for abortion rights.
President Biden indicates that the Build Back Better bill will not be passed before the Christmas break, despite Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer’s assurances that it would. The Senate had no problem, however, of passing a $768 billion, one-year defense spending bill on a vote of 88-11. So, we won’t get critical climate action, paid family leave, universal preschool, or hearing aid coverage, but we will get more, shiny nuclear weapons this holiday season.
Did
1,400 Union workers at Kellogg’s may have an agreement that would end their 10-week strike. But don’t celebrate yet. While negotiators said they have an agreement, workers still need to vote on the agreement. Workers voted down the last tentative agreement after workers refused a two-tiered workforce that would have sold out newer workers.
Schools in Pennsylvania and several other states have increased police presence around schools today in response to national TikTok trend to threaten school shootings and bombings. Generally, officials are saying the threats are not credible, but are taking no chances.
bell hooks, one of the most important black feminist writers, scholars, and activists has died at the age of 69. She began writing her ground-breaking book, Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, when she was a 19-year-old undergraduate. Her long collaboration with Cornell West provided some of the most important dialogic books for a generation of public intellectuals and activists.
Democracy in Pennsylvania is not ok. Pennsylvania House Democrats stood up to the GOP’s attacks on voting rights and the democratic institutions protecting those rights this week. Progressives, led by Emily Kinkead and Chris Rabb, held a press conference Wednesday morning bringing attention to the GOP’s efforts to undermine democracy and weaponizing constitutional amendments aimed at those institutions while leadership used the House Floor to air their concerns.
Republicans are pushing constitutional amendments that would immediately dissolve and gerrymander Pennsylvania’s supreme court, change the court’s 10 year term limits to 2 years, change the Secretary of State’s appointed position to an elected position, allow fraudits and give the legislature more control in overseeing elections.
The Legislative Reapportionment Committee released their preliminary house and senate maps yesterday and Republicans are upset at the House maps calling them a Democratic Gerrymander.
Water is wet and the New York Times recently reported that Scott Perry and other friends from the Freedom Caucus attended key meetings with Trump to overturn the 2020 election.
Philadelphia Developer Ori Feibush uses scab labor and someone died at his worksite. The worker, Siarhei Marhunou, was employed by a company called DBCI LLC. DBCI had been subcontracted to work on the project by the Huntingdon Valley-based construction company Hammers Contractors. Hammers had, in turn, been contracted by the Fitler Construction Group, which was managing construction for OCF, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Three more Proud Boys from Philly were arrested Friday and charged in connection with the January 6 insurrection. Isaiah Giddens, Brian Healion, and Freedom Vy decided taking pictures of themselves flashing the white supremacist “OK” sign inside Senator Jeff Ferkley’s offices was a good idea at the time. Time to pay the piper.
NASA’s James Webb telescope is set to launch as early as Christmas Eve, December 24, according to Space.com. The James Web telescope is NASA's next "Great Observatory" and is set to launch from Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
SpaceX is looking at sexual harassment allegations from five former employees.
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter crossed the 30 minutes of flight time threshold.