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Activism, politics, and beer from PA-based Raging Chicken Press
Episodes
Monday Jul 05, 2021
Monday Jul 05, 2021
The very first interview we ever did at Raging Chicken was with Noam Chomsky. Yup. Chomsky was the featured speaker for World Philosophy Day at Kutztown University in the fall of 2011. Kevin Mahoney reached out to Chomsky to see if there would be a chance that he'd be willing to be interviewed by a brand new left/progressive media site based out of Kutztown at the time. As you can see, he said yes.
The fall of 2011 was dominated by the Occupy movement and growing radicalism about gaping economic inequalities in the U.S. We talked quite a bit about Occupy, organizing, and social movements.
Be warned, the sound is really not good. We had very little idea what we were doing, but in classic punk rock DIY spirit, we did it anyway.
Friday Jul 02, 2021
Friday Jul 02, 2021
On this week's Out d'Coup podcast, we've got something timely and special. We are on vacation this week, so we look through the archives for something that will be useful today. Given PASSHE's plans to consolidate 6 universities into 2 and the on-going deception by PASSHE administrators, we wanted to take you back to a documentary we did in 2018 with an amazing woman who blew the whistle on PASSHE's deceptive, if not fraudulent, budgeting practices: Colleen Bradley, former Vice President of Administration and Finance at West Chester University. Kevin gives some context in the intro. Here's the description from the original release in 2018:
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Colleen Bradley tells Raging Chicken Press editor, Kevin Mahoney, about the budget fraud she uncovered at West Chester University and other Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities. Bradley was hired as WCU's Director of Budget and Financial Planning in 2011. In less than a year, she uncovered deceitful budgeting practices that hid huge surpluses all the while promoting a "budget crisis" narrative to the public, to faculty, and to students. For exposing this deception, she was fired. Part 2 will focus on Bradley's decision to file a whistleblower case after she was fired in 2014. Bradley's lawyers, Dan Kearney and Ed Mazurek, thought her case was a "slam dunk." However, strange things began to happen as the case made its way into the Federal Court system. Despite solid, documented evidence of fraudulent practices and sworn depositions from her boss, a U.S. District Court is denying her whistleblower protection. Now Bradley and her legal team are making a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the U.S. Supreme Court allows the lower court's decision to stand, we will see a historic narrowing of whistleblower protections for all public employees at the very time that corruption is running rampant at the highest levels of power.
For a preview of the legal case, you can listen to Raging Chicken's podcast with Colleen Bradley and Dan Kearney from March 29, 2018 here:
http://bit.ly/ColleenBradleyPodcast1 Part 2 of the video will be released in the coming days.
Monday Jun 28, 2021
Monday Jun 28, 2021
On tonight’s show, I welcome Dana Morrison and Eleni Schirmer to the show to talk about that Other debt crisis in American colleges and universities. You’ve probably heard about the crisis in student debt that is crushing a whole generation of graduates from American colleges and universities. However, the crushing debt held by colleges and universities threatens to crush American higher education - especially American public higher education - across the county. As we’ll get into, that debt crisis stems from state legislature walking away from funding state universities on the one hand, and university presidents going on spending sprees to erect shiny luxury dorms, state-of-the-art gyms, and fancy amenities in a full-on, neoliberal approach to attracting students.
Dr. Dana Morrison, is an Assistant Professor at West Chester University’s Department of Educational Foundations & Policy Studies, and an active member of APSCUF (PASSHE faculty union) and the Public Higher Education Workers (PHEW) Network.
Eleni Schirmer is a faculty associate at UW-Madison in Educational Policy Studies, where she researches and teaches about labor movements, social movements and the political economy of education. She is writing a political biography of Wisconsin's largest teachers' union, and its unsteady path towards social justice unionism. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Boston Review and elsewhere.
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Friday Jun 25, 2021
India Walton, the socialist candidate for mayor of Buffalo, NY won the Democratic Party primary on Tuesday, all but securing her election in the fall, given that Buffalo is a deeply blue city. Walton will become Buffalo’s first female mayor and will with the first socialist to lead a major American city since sewer socialists ran Milwaukee, Wisconsin in early 20th century. She beat Mayor Byron Brown, a four-term incumbent and close ally of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and ran a campaign focused on returning power to working people in New York State's second largest city.
Biden signals he’ll back the new bi-partisan infrastructure bill as long as Congress sends him a second bill at the same time that includes investments in our social infrastructure cut from the bipartisan agreement. That second bill will most likely need to run through the reconciliation process. Already, Sen. Lindsay Graham is bolting.
The Pacific Northwest is expected to be hit by an extreme heatwave this weekend. The National Weather Service is forecasting temperatures as high as 109 degrees. The heatwave comes as the region is already experiencing a significant drought and high fire risk. One more argument for why climate changes needs to be front and center of the infrastructure bill - those very measures that were cut from the bipartisan agreement.
Joseph McCarthy...check that...I mean, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis has signed a bill into law that will cut university funds if it finds that critical race theory or any other intellectual pursuit that does not hum to the tune of a whitewashed version of American history. The bill encouraged students to record classes to rat on professors who deviate from GOP sanctioned speech.
Huge supreme court decision protecting free-speech in the cast of PA high school cheerleader Brandi Levy.
PA GOP continues its assault on voting rights.
One week left in public comment about PASSHE consolidation plans.
The International Space Station got some new solar panels this week.
Hope some of you caught last night’s Strawberry Super Moon.
DuckDuckGo, a Chester County-based search engine the claims not to share or collect any of your private information is making moves to launch a full-scale desktop browser.
Twitter was all a-buzz this week as Sam Seder - host of the Majority Report - surprised the horrible right-wing YouTuber, Steven Crowder on the H3 podcast with Ethan Klein. Crowder had been avoiding a debate with Seder for years. His public meltdown, I admit, was a joy to watch.
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
On today's show, we talk about Cyril's latest column, “Conversion therapy is a barbaric abuse of LGBTQ youth and it's legal in PA” and how important it is to support state legislators like Jessica Benham (D-Allegheny County) & Brian Sims (D-Philadelphia) who are working to ban conversion therapy. Their co-sponsored bill, House Bill 729 would, as Cyril puts is, "ban this medical quackery based on the disproven premise that being LGBTQ is some kind of disease or disorder."
Then we dig into Cyril's newsletter on Substack a bit. We take a look at his news round up, "White Supremacy Gains Popularity in Oregon, Conservatives Give Millions to White Nationalist Hate Group, Climate Defenders in the Crosshairs, and More!” Then we check in with his latest "Meet a Progressive" feature, "Activism You Can Dance to with Bonnie Chang, "founder of Bucks Voices, a voter engagement group based in Bucks County, PA, that “informs, engages and mobilizes” our community to realize the ideals of our democracy."
Cyril will be moving over into the driver's seat for the next two shows as Kevin takes a couple of weeks of vacation with his family. Some great shows heading your way!
You can support this podcast and all of the podcasts Raging Chicken's media network by becoming a patron for as little as $5/month: https://www.patreon.com/rcpress
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Monday Jun 21, 2021
On this episode of Out d'Coup LIVE, I am thrilled to welcome Erin Wallace to the program. We'll be talking about craft brewing's reckoning in the wake of the flood of stories about misogyny, racism, sexual harassment and assault in the craft brewing industry. The catalyst for the latest round of stories follows an Instagram post by Brienne Allen, a production manager and brewer at Notch Brewing in Salem, MA. Hundreds of women in the industry responded by telling their experiences of sexism and harassment. The attention has led to the resignation managers/owners at several well-known breweries, Tired Hands being perhaps the most noteworthy locally.
Erin Wallace is one of the Philadelphia region’s premier beer experts. The founder and longtime owner of the renowned beer-centric bar and restaurant, Devil’s Den, just south of Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, Wallace is a fixture on Philadelphia’s ever-growing beer scene. Wallace is a self-taught beer connoisseur and has an extensive knowledge of local and imported craft beers. Former long time board member of Philly Loves Beer and Philly Beer Week, Wallace is also the regional founder & co-leader of the Philadelphia chapter of the Pink Boots Society — a non-profit organization with international membership which supports women working in the brewing profession, especially in creating craft beer.
Erin attended Baltimore School for the Arts, and Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. Her love for beer developed from her time as a server and bartender in various bars and restaurants in Philadelphia. She opened the Devil’s Den in 2008. ‘The Den’ is known for its excellent and diverse array of craft beer, curated by Wallace, as well as a dynamic events schedule. She is noted as one of Philadelphia’s top craft beer bar owners. Devil’s Den has won accolades from multiple publications and has appeared in Philadelphia magazine and on Foobooz’s Top 50 Bars list multiple times.
Looking for resources?
- Pink Boots Society: https://www.pinkbootssociety.org/
- Philly Chapter of Pink Boots Society: https://my.pinkbootssociety.org/Chapter_Leader?Code=PA_PHILA
- Philly Pink Boots on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pinkbootsphilly
- Follow Philly Pink Boots on Twitter: @pinkbootsphilly
- Follow Pittsburgh Pink Boots on Twitter: @pinkbootspgh
Visit the Devil's Den in South Philly: https://www.facebook.com/Devilsdenphiladelphia
Friday Jun 18, 2021
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
On this episode I welcome Kadida Kenner to the program. Kadida is the Executive Director of The New Pennsylvania Project. The New Pennsylvania Project (NPP) was founded in May 2021 to expand Pennsylvania’s electorate so it reflects the Commonwealth’s demographically changing population. The NPP will engage and empower young residents and those living in underrepresented and often neglected communities of color and immigrant communities.
Kadida Kenner is the founding executive director of the New Pennsylvania Project. Kadida was previously a writer, producer, and director for college sports television programming in Charlotte, North Carolina, but energized by the 2016 elections, she decided to take a hiatus from TV production, and return to campaign and organizing work. In 2017 Kadida moved back to Pennsylvania to take on the role of director of campaigns for the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center including the We The People – PA and Why Courts Matter – PA campaigns.
Beginning in May of 2021 Kadida became the executive director of the New Pennsylvania Project, an organization modeled after the successful New Georgia Project and Fair Fight Georgia, both founded by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. The New Pennsylvania Project civically engages, registers, mobilizes and empowers often-ignored constituents, especially the youth, and communities of color in rural, urban, and suburban Pennsylvania in a year-round effort to change and expand the electorate in the Commonwealth.
Kadida is a tireless advocate for social and economic justice issues and is motivated to empower and excite the electorate to enthusiastically vote in every election, and all the way down the entire ballot. The Temple University graduate was born outside Pittsburgh and currently lives in Harrisburg, although she grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania, coincidentally the birthplace of her organizing hero, civil rights icon, Bayard Rustin.
- Check out The New Pennsylvania Project: https://www.newpaproject.org/
- Donate to The New Pennsylvania Project: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/the-new-pennsylvania-project-1
Join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/WMW98RQEYV
Chatting on #livechat during and after the show.
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
** NOTE: apologies for some of the tech issues in today's show. We had some internet connection problems. I've had to cut several minutes of the show where Cyril's connection dropped out. We hope be be able to get this rectified for future shows. - Kevin Mahoney **
On today's show, Cyril and Kevin will be talking about the on-going freak-out over Critical Race Theory. We'll also be taking a look at some of the news coming out of Latin America.
We hope you'll join us! Check out Cyril's newsletter here: 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 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 Jun 14, 2021
Monday Jun 14, 2021
On this week's show, I welcome Cory Doctorow to the program to talk about his book, How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism.
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. His latest book is Attack Surface, a standalone adult sequel to the young adult novels, Little Brother and Homeland. He is also the author of Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults; a young adult graphic novel called In Real Life. His first picture book for younger kids, Poesy the Monster Slayer, was released last summer. You can pick up all his books at the shop on his website.
He maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. He works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, is a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles.
You can get all of his books on his website at https://craphound.com/