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Activism, politics, and beer from PA-based Raging Chicken Press
Episodes
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Friday Jul 30, 2021
The Portman-Sinema infrastructure bill passed the Senate, 67-32. The bill will not deal with the necessary investments for the challenges of climate change, but we’re going to see some decent investment. However, given Senator Krysten Sinema’s statement that she is not ready to support the reconciliation bill that is “part two” of Biden’s infrastructure plan, there is no guarantee that it will be supported in the House.
Now the fight will be inside the Democratic Party - and it will be a battle over the future, the climate crisis, massive inequality, and perhaps a critical test as to whether our government is capable of doing anything for the vast majority of Americans.
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection held their first hearings this week. Capitol police officers retold their horrifying experiences of that day and urged lawmakers to leave no stone unturned when it comes to investigating who was behind the attacks. That includes investigating what happened in the White House and if any representatives were in on the planning.
According to new reporting in The Washington Post, the Delta variant of the coronavirus “appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variants and spreads as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal federal health document.”
As we’re seeing outbreaks of the Delta variant of COVID, we’re seeing a rekindling of the anti-masking protests as the right-wing looks to capitalize on whatever that can weaponize for their culture war.
As the Delta variant burns through the unvaccinated and numbers of breakthrough cases are on the rise, Americans are also facing eviction. The national moratorium on evictions expires on Saturday - tomorrow - which will allow landlords to begin eviction proceedings against people who have fallen behind on rent during the pandemic. It is estimated that more than six million families have fallen behind on their rent and could face eviction.
A new poll from George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs found that 47% of Republican voters say that “a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands.” The same poll also found that 55% of Republicans said that “the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast we may have to use force to save it.”
And Nancy Pelosi turns to libertarian talking points in arguing against wiping out student debt.
In a meeting with President Biden during his recent trip to Pennsylvania, the director of Make the Road Pennsylvania, Maegan Llerena, delivered a letter signed by 52 elected leaders from the Commonwealth to shut down the Berks County Detention Center once and for all.
Get ready Pennsylvania! Fraudit-Polooza is getting ready to swing through the state next week as Doug Mastriano’s July 31st deadline approaches. Mastriano has threatened to issue subpoenas to Tioga, York and Philadelphia Counties if they do not comply with his scam.
If you’re not familiar with Republican candidate for Senate Kathy Barnette, now might be a good time to check out the recent article on her in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Barnette is a right-wing, African-American woman who is making a name for herself in the MAGA media world. And the kicker is that she has raised more money than any of the other GOP hopefuls. She just pulled in an endorsement from Michael Flynn.
York County officials have called in police after numerous reports of people claiming to be members of an “election integrity committee” going home to home asking residents about their voting in the 2020 election.
Bucks County school board meetings are becoming hotspots of QAnon conspiracies, anti-masking protests, and educational white-washing as we have been following on this show and on The Wednesday Show with Cyril Mychalejko. On Tuesday, tensions came to a head outside a Central Bucks School Board meeting during a press conference held by parents and medical professionals urging the Board continue to make masks mandatory for the upcoming school year. During the press conference hecklers yelled “lies,” “child abuse,” “my kids can’t breathe,” and “murderer” as parents and medical professionals tried to express their concerns for their children and the community. The Board voted later that evening to make masks optional, despite new CDC guidance and a letter signed by over 100 medical professionals urging the Board to keep the mask mandate in place.
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
On this week’s show, we’ll be talking about Cyril’s freshly minted column, “Join the Civil Rights movement of 2021 and beyond,” published today in the Bucks County Courier Times. Cyril had the opportunity to talk to Kadida Kenner of the New Pennsylvania Project about the critical need to protect and extend voting rights in PA at a moment when echoes of Jim Crow are heard in our media, school board meetings, and legislative sessions. I also hope to get his take on the decision by the Central Bucks School Board to NOT require masks for the upcoming school year despite new guidance from the CDC. And, if we have time, we might dip into Kathy Barnette’s bid for the Republican nomination for the PA Senate.
You should also sign up for Cyril’s newsletter on Substack: https://cyrilmychalejko.substack.com/
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 every time 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
A special shout out to Jonathan Mann who wrote our intro song, “There Are No People in the Future.” Check out all is great stuff on his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter @songadaymann.
Monday Jul 26, 2021
Monday Jul 26, 2021
So much is going on right now and it's pulling us in so many different directions. School board races are heating up as Republican's go all in on white supremacy & culture wars; Democrats are fumbling on offense when it comes to winning the battle for voting rights; and, of course, we've been "treated" to two more billionaire visions for space. We've got some things to say and will be taking your calls on Riverside.fm and your comments on our YouTube stream.
Help support this show and all Raging Chicken podcasts. Become a patron for as little as $5/month: https://www.patreon.com/rcpress.
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
Wednesday Jul 21, 2021
On today’s show, we’re going to be talking about Cyril’s latest column, “Anti-Critical Race Theory hysteria revives McCarthyism, Klan politics” and his conversation with Jason Stanley, author of “How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them.” We’ll also check in with what’s happening over in his newsletter about the State of the Nation and get his thoughts on Gov. Wolf’s about-face on resistance to GOP attempts to suppress the vote with Voter ID.
You should also sign up for Cyril’s newsletter on Substack: https://cyrilmychalejko.substack.com/
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. And, if you are listening on the Podbean app, you can hit that Patron button to support this show as well.
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
On tonight’s show, I welcome student activists, Paul Berlet and Monica Zheng to the show. We'll be talking about last weeks PASSHE Board of Governors vote to approve the mergers of 6 state universities into two and growing discontent among students, faculty, and the public.
Paul Berlet is a senior at Kutztown university studying secondary English education. He is a member of the Kutztown student group KU activists as well as PASSHE Defenders.
Monica Zheng is an undergrad at West Chester University. She is a member of PASSHE defenders and a member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation.
Nick Marcil co-founder of PASSHE Defenders.
These students are committed to the power of popular organizing and direct action to better the situation for working-class people, especially students and those working in education.
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Out d'Coup podcast for July 16, 2021. It's our weekly politics round-up! We're back from vacation for a free-wheeling show! Today we catch up on our post-vacation reflections; discuss the pressing crises of our democracy; take a peek at dark money groups funding anti-CRT orgs and candidates in PA; check-in with the ever-green extremism of Doug Mastriano; reflect on PASSHE consolidations; and, close out with a little beer industry and a special unboxing of Sean's newest package.
Join our Discord to live chat during the show: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
On this week’s show...we attempt to get our feet firmly planted in this timestream with a themed show: “This playing nice shit ain’t cutting it.” That little ditty comes by the way of a striking miner in Alabama and it’s a phrase we could all do well to get used to integrating in our political organizing. Today we talk about Texas Dems leaving their state en masse to prevent new voter suppression legislation; Biden’s Philadelphia speech on voting rights; PASSHE Board of Governors voting to move forward with meeting 6 universities into 2; the coal miners’ strike in Alabama; and, we get to hear a little bit about Cyril’s new column (now released) on critical race theory. It’s a show not to be missed!
- Cyril’s latest column: “Anti-Critical Race Theory hysteria revives McCarthyism, Klan politics.”
- Subscribe to Cyril’s newsletter on substack: https://cyrilmychalejko.substack.com/
- Support striking mine workers. Contribute to their strike fund HERE.
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
We're back from vacation and so much is going on. The vote on PASSHE consolidation is looming. Haiti's president just got whacked. Teachers are getting fired for teaching diversity. Sir Richard Branson launches into space with civilian passengers. Summer reading. So, much. We're opening up our phones through Riverside.fm (details below). We'd love to hear what's going on on your end of things!
During the live show, I'll announce when we'll be taking calls. If you want to call into the show, you should join the show on Riverside.fm and turn the volume off on YouTube, otherwise you'll get a delay and feedback.
You can join the show, Monday 7/12/21 @ 7pm using this link: https://riverside.fm/studio/out-dcoup-live
Here's info for how it works from Riverside.fm: https://support.riverside.fm/en/articles/4666206-live-call-in
Friday Jul 09, 2021
Friday Jul 09, 2021
This is a special rebroadcast of our interview with whistleblower Colleen Bradley - former Vice President of Administration & Finance at West Chester University - and her lawyer, Dan Kearney. This is a follow up from last week's show from Raging Chicken's documentary about her case. Here's the description from the original podcast on March 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.
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
This week Cyril is flying solo! Today, Cyril talks to locally grown Progressive from Bucks County Rotimi Adeoye. He worked in Congress as a Staff Assistant to Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), and Press Secretary to Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05). He is currently working on a campaign to defend and expand voting rights and democracy.
Resources:
- Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Voting Restrictions
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/us/politics/supreme-court-arizona-voting-restrictions.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage - The Supreme Court Vs. Democracy
https://steady.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-vs-democracy - Freedom Riders Ride Again for Voting Rights: A caravan led by UNITE HERE is part re-creation, part addressing a new wave of voter suppression.
https://progressive.org/latest/freedom-riders-voting-rights-feliz-leon-210706/ - Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf vetoes GOP-backed election overhaul bill
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/30/politics/pennsylvania-tom-wolf-vetoes-gop-election-overhaul-bill/index.html - The Brennan Center
https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote - ACLU: Voting Rights
https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights