Episodes
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
Friday Sep 15, 2023
Friday Sep 15, 2023
Friday Aug 25, 2023
Friday Aug 25, 2023
Raging Chicken's Friday Politics Roundup for August 25, 2023. We're here to break down the good, the bad, and the ugly in state and national politics.
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, and 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, 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 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/.
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Friday Jul 28, 2023
New indictments against Trump announced. The ditch keeps getting deeper.
UPS Teamsters announced a “historic” contract win a week before what could have been one of the largest strikes in American history. The details of the contract will be the proof to that claim. Since the announcement some UPS Teamsters are saying the unions 180,000 part-time workers may not get as good of a deal as suggested.
In what could prove to be a sign that higher education faculty are willing to step up and fight to a greater degree, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) voted to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The alliance will be the largest union of higher education faculty - about 300,000 strong.
Following new scientific data from the World Meteorological Organization on this summer’s record heat, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, proclaimed that the era of global warming has ended and the “era of global boiling has arrived.”
It’s been so hot in Arizona that the state’s famous Saguaro cacti are literally collapsing.
Ocean temperatures of over 100 degrees in waters around Florida could be a global record.
Something else that climate change is giving us to worry about. More Americans are developing a rare meat allergy - Alpha-gal syndrome - which is linked to bites from the lone star tick. New data from the CDC find a steep increase in cases of alpha-gal. Alpha-gale can give you “stomach cramps, diarrhea, hives, and shortness of breath that could trigger fatal anaphylaxis,” according to the BBC.
GM and other major automakers announce they will build 30,000 electric vehicle chargers to help build out the electric vehicle charging network.
While Republican politicians and media personalities make is seem as though all parents are up in arms about their public schools, about 80% of parents responding to a new Gallup poll say they are somewhat or completely satisfied with their child’s school. That confirms what a string of other polls conducted during the pandemic have shown. There’s a gap between the political propaganda and real schools.
And Mitch McConnell suffers a medical incident in the middle of a press conference. The party line is that “he’s fine” but no information about what actually happened has been released.
Central Bucks school board votes to give their superintendent, Dr. Abram Lucabauh, an $86,000 raise and a new 5 year contract after he joined with the board's new right-wing board to enact book bans, anti-LGBTQ politics, and more. He will now be one of highest paid public school administrators in PA.
Pennridge School District board members are enraged over “secret” curriculum meetings between Vermillion Education’s Jordan Adams and select members of the board. Christening Batycki, a member of the curriculum committee, found out “by happenstance” that Jordan Blomgren and Megan Banis-Clemens were meeting secretly with Adams to discuss the direction of the curriculum.
Barbie breaks box office records as the right-wing loses it’s collective mind (again).
Sinéad O’Connor dies at age 56. Morrissey writes a passionate tribute to her and condemns the music industry for their treatment of her.
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/.
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Friday Jul 21, 2023
SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) continue their strikes as Hollywood and streaming services face a reckoning.
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin just introduced new legislation to attack the National Education Association’s charter in order to gut teacher union power.
Chad Connelly, a Christian nationalist operative and former “faith outreach director” for the Republican National Committee, runs a voter mobilization organization called Faith Wins. Connelly has organized dozens of secret meetings between top Republican presidential candidates and right-wing pastors, giving pastors the opportunity to grill the candidates on political issues and pray over them.
A train derailed in Whitemarsh Township in Montgomery County on Monday. We all got lucky. Turns out most of the cars were carrying Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and toxic chemicals. A bomb train that luckily did not go off.
And are you ready for the launch of a nationwide effort to destroy teachers’ unions? Let me introduce you to the first-annual “Teacher Freedom Summit.” It’s what all the right-wing education privateers and religious zealots have been drooling over.
Monday Jul 17, 2023
Monday Jul 17, 2023
This week I welcome Alyssa Bowen back to the show. Alyssa is a Senior Researcher and Managing Editor for the progressive watchdog group, True North Research.
Tonight we'll be talking about her recent article in TruthOut, "A Jan. 6 “Moms” Group Funded by Big Lie Donors Is Stoking Voter Suppression." And, we'll give you the spoiler right up front: It's NOT Moms for Liberty we'll be talking about. The right-wing extremist group “Moms for America” has been flying under the radar as it works to undermine our rights.
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.
LINKS:
- Alyssa Bowen: "A Jan. 6 “Moms” Group Funded by Big Lie Donors Is Stoking Voter Suppression," TruthOut | https://bit.ly/3rqMn3v
- Follow Alyssa on Twitter @AlyssaAnnBowen | https://twitter.com/AlyssaAnnBowen
- True North Research: https://truenorthresearch.org/
RESOURCES:
- 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/.