Out d’Coup Podcast

Kentucky Governor’s mansion turns blue! Looks like Trump’s “Read the Transcripts” rally in Lexington on the eve of election day didn’t work out so well for the Republican incumbent. Before corporate Democrats join calls to “move to the center,” they would be wise to remember that the teacher strikes gave Democrats the Governor’s mansion, not some dishwater appeal to bipartisanship. 

Virginia goes Democrat from House to the Governor’s office. 

Gordon Sondland, Trump’s EU Ambassador, flips on his boss. The transcripts are scathing. And, Sondland wasn’t the only person that saw transcripts of their depositions released to the public. A giant “uh-oh” was heard coming from the general direction of the White House. 

Ayanna Presley endorses Elizabeth Warren for president. Is this a “split” in the Squad or evidence that progressives are beginning to deepen their roots in the Democratic Party? 

Nancy Pelosi goes to Bloomsberg News to say she’s not a fan of Medicare for All. That’s should be like a bat signal to all progressives that even if we win big in 2020, we’ll be in for a fight with the Democratic Party leadership.

Another billionaire prepares to enter the presidential race as a Democratic hopeful. Yes, Michael Bloomberg will demonstrate to the world - just like Tom Steyer - how much money you can burn through to stroke your ego.

Oh, yeah, and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, is jumping in the race to get his old Senate seat in Alabama. Looks like the biggest threat to his seat will be...Trump. Trump said jokingly he’d move to Alabama to run against Sessions himself.

Bill Fletcher, Jr. takes to the pages of In These Times to once again make the case for social justice unionism. In the wake of militant labor victories, business unionism still dominates the leadership of many small and large unions

Oh, yeah, and public impeachment hearings begin next Wednesday and House Democrats are looking to a vote on impeachment before Christmas! 

Philadelphia votes a candidate from the Working Families Party to City Council. It’s the first time a candidate not from one of the major parties wins a seat on the council. Congrats to Kendra Brooks. 

Over half of Pennsylvania’s population now live in counties that are controlled by Democrats.  Democrats swept every open seat in Delaware and Chester counties and then took control of Bucks, Lehigh and Monroe counties.  Will these victories lead to a PA Dem Trifecta in 2020?

Scranton gets its first-ever woman mayor! Paige Cognetti, who ran as a Berniecrat independent, won the special election for mayor last night. Her campaign slogan, “Paige Against the Machine,” will now bring progressive politics to NEPA.  She cut her teeth writing a scathing report of corruption in Scranton’s school district for PA Auditor General Eugene Depasquale. 

APSCUF leadership begins its PR push to persuade members to vote in favor of the new contract next week. Many questions remain as to what APSCUF leadership’s embrace of the new PASSHE Chancellor and “interest-based bargaining” will mean for the organizational gains achieved as part of the union’s 2016 strike. 

Raging Chicken still awaiting the results of our Right to Know request about legionella bacteria found in multiple buildings across Kutztown University’s campus.

Elon Musk makes the case that Space X’s new Starship could cost as little as $2 million per launch...way below the cost of even small rockets. Boeing trying to stay relevant in the race to get back to the moon. The Aerospace goliath presented NASA with a plan for a simplified “Human Lander System” (HLS) that will make use of the much delayed, still to be operational “Space Launch System.” 

The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Army Lt. General Robert Ashley, painted a dark picture of near-future real space wars as Russia and China are rapidly developing weapons to be deployed in space. He made the remarks as part of his keynote speech at CyberSat 2019.

Are we actually going to get a space hotel in the near future? The Gateway Foundation is making moves. 

Free Will releases: Available on draft and in cans this Saturday at both Perkasie and Peddler's Village locations. We’ll also have all of this week’s releases at the Wrightstown Farmers Market Saturday morning.

• Plum Cinnamon Mash - Sour Ale brewed with plum purée, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk sugar. 7.5% ABV. 
• Sweet Cherry Apricot Mash - Sour Ale brewed with sweet cherry purée, apricot purée, vanilla, and milk sugar. 7.5% ABV

A special Wednesday release, this past week for this year’s Special Cookie. Special Cookie is Free Will’s annual Imperial Spiced Brown Ale brewed with cardamom, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla. 12.5% ABV⁣. And if you’re lucky, you just might get your hands on a bottle of  Rum Barrel Aged Special Cookie from 2018.

Trump’s Justice Department prepares to eat itself. Turns out Bill Barr’s globetrotting was part of an agenda to prop up right-wing conspiracy theories about the origin of the Russia probe. Look out, Deep State. Looks like Matt Taibbi’s claim from a couple of weeks ago that we are in a “permanent coup,” does not sound so crazy right about now. 

Republicans pull media stunt to distract media attention from Tuesday’s closed-door testimony by the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Tayor. The House Intelligence Committee was preparing to depose Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary, Laura Cooper, about the expanding Ukraine scandal when over 40 House Republicans burst into the confidential hearing room and made a scene. 14 of those members already had access to the hearing room, making their claims about being excluded a bit rich. Scott Perry was one!

Bernie Sander’s gets a huge endorsement from AOC and Michael Moore. His Queens rally last Saturday saw crowds of around 30,000 people...the largest campaign rally of the political season. 

Then, Sanders tells Ryan Grim of The Intercept that if elected, he would revive criminal prosecutions of Corporate CEOs, using long-neglected provisions of the Sherman Act. 

Elizabeth Warren joined Chicago teachers on the picket lines this week. 

Biden’s fundraising atrophies as some in Democratic Party donor class start to beg for a Super PAC they can dump their money into. Biden was a bit distracted this week, though. He and his campaign forgot to buy the web address...and the social media accounts...for his Latinx outreach campaign. Todos con Biden. Now Trump owns it. Now if you go to TodosConBiden.com, it takes you to Latinos for Trump. 

And a surging Pete Buttigieg hires former Goldman Sachs Exec to run his policy shop. 

More wildfires erupt in California after a PG&E transmission line broke and set the Sonoma County fire ablaze. Over 50,000 residents have had to evacuate.

A judge holds Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, in contempt for forcing students scammed by Corinthian Colleges. The judge orders DeVos to pay a $100,000 fine. 

Mitch McConnell gets the cold shoulder from a pallbearer at Elijah Cummings’s memorial service. Trump all class once again as he decided to skip the memorial service...not that he was missed. 

Mack Trucks strike ends this morning. Details of the agreement have not been released, but it looks like workers held the line on keeping jobs in the U.S. 

It’s groundhogs day at the Charter Appeals Board!  The CAB’s dysfunction is so bad it has one charter school asking CAB members to deny their appeal so they can pack up, get out of the board’s purgatory and get their appeal into Commonwealth Court. 

Senator Mastriano and Representative Borowicz introduced the 6-week abortion ban this week in front of a packed media center.

Researchers at Google AI Quantum and researchers at UC Santa Barbara said they achieved a long-hoped-for milestone in quantum computing: “Quantum Supremacy.” Their newly published paper shows that their prototype quantum computer could perform a complex math problem that would take today’s supercomputers about 10,000 years to complete. 

This morning, NASA Chief Administrator, Jim Bridenstine, took to the LiveStream to talk about the Artemis Moon Mission slated for 2024. 

Free Will Brewing release news. 

• Last week’s release of their Cranberry Wheat was delayed after the brewmaster said he wanted to give it a little more time. Well, the wait should be worth it. Cranberry Wheat is now available at both locations. 
• Tomorrow will also see the release of the first big stout of the season. Sharing Size - Imperial Oatmeal Stout with chocolate, peanut butter, and milk sugar. A candy stout designed for an adult treat on Halloween. Shareable, or not. 10.4% ABV
• This Sunday is the October edition of Sour Sunday. They’ll be 12 sours on tap as well as debuting two new offerings in bottles (Carmen Bieranda and Biere'ded Phantom) and a vintage release of an all-time favorite (Blood and Guts). 

It was Democratic Debate night this past Tuesday. Sean and I will give you our hot takes from the night. Medhi Hasan of the Intercept says, there should only be two front runners right now: Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. No questions on climate change. Warren still stumbling with the question about paying for Medicare for All. Buttigieg makes a move for the Biden lane, abandoning any progressive pretenses. Biden sounds like a Trump lackey when talking about his son’s job in Ukraine. 

Big endorsements for Bernie from Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

Trump pulls the rug out from under the Kurds in Northeastern Syria. That led almost immediately to over 100,000 Kurdish fighters and families having to flee from advancing Turkish forces. Mike Pence then headed to Turkey to give Erdogan everything he wanted, signing off on the slaughter of the Kurds.  

Mick Mulvaney earns a new nickname “quid pro quo.”  Trump says fuck you, we’re going to Doral for the G7. 

And RIP to Elijah Cummings. Want to know how to go out like a Boss? How about signing two subpoenas getting documents related to the detention of immigrant children and refugees.  

Mark Sanford - yes, that Mark Sanford.  The former South Carolina governor most famous for telling everyone he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail while going on the lam to spent time with his Argentinian mistress kicked off his longshot primary campaign against Donald Trump in Philadelphia and Harrisburg on Wednesday.   

Thousands of Mack Trucks UAW workers went on strike in the Mid-Atlantic region this week and that includes hundreds of workers at the Macungie and Middletown assembly plants.

The Pennsylvania capital star reports on how the fix is in for Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold to replace Mike Folmer in the Pennsylvania Senate.  Sorry to Matt Brouillette. 

Chancellor Greenstein comes to Kutztown and says we’re bad kids. 

This morning, two women NASA astronauts made history.  Christina Koch and Jessica Meir ventured outside the International Space Station early this morning for the first all-female spacewalk. 

NASA unveils new spacesuits for the #Artemis era of space exploration. Yes, we get red, white, and blue suits for lunar surface and orange prison jumpers for spaceships. In particular, they unveiled the spacesuits that will be worn by the first woman on the moon. 

Not to be outdone, on Wednesday, Virgin Galactic unveiled their new spacesuits designed by UnderArmor that will be worn by passengers on Virgin’s edge of space flights.

Free Will Brewing has two new releases on Saturday, 10/19: 

• Cranberry Wheat - Free Will’s Wheat Ale Fermented with cranberries - 5% ABV.
• Universally United - another collaboration. This time, their first collaboration with DuClaw Brewing Co. and Is Beer a Carb. It’s a Hazy IPA with Pomegranate. Brewed with flaked oats and flaked corn, hopped with Experimental 06277, Idaho 7, and Amarillo, then fermented with pomegranate purée - 7.1% ABV⁣.

It's a Free-For-All Friday, folks! Life is crazy; our politics are crazier. Welcome to another week in 'Merica. 

On this day in PA, we will never forget the gift that kept on giving: Scott Wagner's failed campaign for Governor. 

 

Trump doubles-down on enlisting foreign countries to interfere in U.S. 2020 election. What else did you expect? 

The American Prospect releases their “Day One Agenda,” detailing all the actions that a progressive Democratic president could take without executive orders. That’s right, David Dayen and the crew over at the American Prospect did in a couple of months what the Democratic Party leadership should have been doing for years.

Bernie Sanders was briefly hospitalized due to chest pains after a campaign event on Tuesday. He had two stents inserted and seems to be recovering well. We wish him all the best. Elizabeth Warren’s response? Send dinner to his campaign staffers, because that’s what human beings do. 

Speaking of Warren, new polls find Warren surging ahead of Biden in the early primary states of New Hampshire, Iowa, and California. And for the first time, Warren has edged out Biden in several national polls. 

Polling is one thing, organization and fundraising are another. On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders’s campaign announced it had raised $25.3 million over the past three months, more than any other candidate in any other quarter. By contrast, Biden’s fundraising fell off a cliff, falling behind Bernie, Pete Buttigieg’s $19.1 million. That represents a 30% drop off for Biden. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has yet to announce their numbers. The big surprise was Andrew Yang whose fundraising jumped 257%, which translates into about $10 million for the third quarter. Yang called out MSNBC and CNN for excluding his campaign from their on-screen graphics while including Cory Booker who only raised $6 million. 

And, Eric Levitz was on the Majority Report this week talking about his article “The Bernie vs. Warren Debate We Need.” A key argument he makes is that policies on the left are what are both sensible and required at this moment in history. However, he also cautions that the left - in particular, the socialist left in America - can be heavy on superstructure, light on base. That is, as much influence the left has had, we need to be clear about the limits of our organizational base. 

Montana saw upwards of four feet of snow last weekend and Ireland is spared the worst of Hurricane Lorenzo, as the once-powerful Category 4 hurricane is downgraded to a post-tropical storm, still carrying winds of 80 mph. 

Pennsylvania bill would legalize marijuana and make the state the sole seller in the state. As you’ve heard Sean argue on this podcast before, House Bill 1899 would put the sale of pot under the umbrella of the PA Liquor Control Board. 

Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Dept. of Environmental Protection to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and implement a cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. That means PA will finally join 9 other Northeast states to take more aggressive climate action. 

SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania joined with the Shutdown Berks Coalition to call for the closure of the Berks County Immigration detention center. 

On this day in 1957, Sputnik 1 becomes the first human-made satellite to orbit the Earth. 

Free Will releases this week. Hop Nugz, Hop Blend 2 - No Boil IPA brewed in collaboration with our friends at Imprint Beer Company and Wolf Brewing Co. Several bottles in their flower series - like Lilac, Chamomile, and Honeysuckle. Free Will will also release their Paw Paw Saison on Saturday. If you’re lucky, they might have some of their first stout of the season left on tap as well. Hunter’s Brunch - Oatmeal Stout brewed with a marris otter malt base and oats.

Impeachment. Will the Democrats try really, really hard to drop the ball? Which way forward?

What’s up with AFT President, Randy Weingarten, backing away from Medicare for All.

CNBC reports that Democratic Wall Street donors may back Trump if Warren is nominated. 

UN Climate Report released to Monumental change already hear for the worlds oceans. Meanwhile, Trump addresses UN Assembly to say the future does not belong to the Globalists. And that’s after taking to Twitter to mock 16-year-old climate activist, Greta Thunberg. 

Thousands of janitors from SEIU 32BJ shut down Rittenhouse Square yesterday to let residents know that their contract is set to expire on October 15th and that they’re ready to strike. 

Solidarity event with UAW strikers in Langhorne. 

Gov. Tom Wolf getting behind legalizing pot. 

Climate crisis and the workplace. If we accept the urgency for action to combat climate change, how do we use collective power in our workplaces to demand action? Kind of like Green New Deal laboratories. In August, Jared Odessky of Data for Progress released a short report focusing on what unions can do - and are already doing - to win green contracts focusing on targeting their workplaces for climate action.

This week’s release from Free Will: Hello, From Somewhere is a Hefeweizen brewed with a near 50/50 split of wheat and local Deer Creek Malthouse pilsner malt. Sad closing of Down to Earth Cafe and Bread Box Bakery in Perkasie. 

Historic climate strikes around the world have put the issue of climate change front and center. More than 4 million people around the world took to the streets. While climate strikers filled the streets, GOP leadership was in private meetings with the fossil fuel industries. According to The Intercept, “On September 18 and 19, as Thunberg met with lawmakers, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., hosted fundraisers with oil and gas lobbyists to raise cash for the Scalise Leadership Fund, a political action committee used to dole out cash for battleground House races across the country.”

Today is the U.N. Climate Summit in New York City. International leaders are signaling they will make new “concrete” emissions reductions. The United States is not expected to join the rest of the world.

Texas drowning again under one of the wettest storms in U.S. history. Tropical storm Imelda dumped up to 42 inches of rain on Southeastern Texas and has caused at least 5 deaths. The University of California system announces it is ending all investments in fossil fuels. UC’s divestment is the largest fossil fuel divestment yet. According to Vox, “By the end of September, the UC’s $70 billion pension fund and $13.4 billion endowment will no longer hold any stakes in companies involved with extracting fossil fuels.”  And, California is suing the Trump administration over auto emission standards. 

The Trump administration ignored reports from officials from the Customs and Border Protection that climate change is one of the key factors driving record immigration from Central America.

AOC makes the case that Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to get behind impeachment is a bigger scandal then Trump’s lawlessness. 

New Mexico announces a plan to give all residents tuition-free college regardless of income. 

Weekly rant on left forgetting that power lies with the people, not political messiahs.

63% of Pennsylvania 10th congressional district voters believe in climate change, but Scott Perry recently signed off supporting resolutions attacking the Paris Accords. 

PA Senator Mike Fomer has resigned following being charged with possession of child pornography. 

Betsy DeVos was in Harrisburg on Thursday to visit Harrisburg Catholic Elementary School and promote school vouchers, but it was House Speaker Mike Turzai who sucked all of the air out of the building as he called a retired school teacher “special interest people” who don’t care about the children. 

Victory Media scams vets. 

APSCUF notifies its members that they have reached an “agreement in principle” on their expired contract. Now members will have to wait and see if the leadership can turn principles into contract language. Members have little idea about what principles have been agreed to. We shall see. Of the agreement, APSCUF President Ken Mash said:

“I believe that the agreement in principle represents a historic advance in the process of creating a shared vision of how our universities should operate to best serve our students.”  Looks like we’re in a new era of Silicon Valley win-win discourse - or, as Anand Giridharadas has dubbed it, “the elite charade of changing the world.”

 Free Will had some freaking awesome releases this past weekend. 

• Blackberry Raspberry Mash - Sour Ale brewed with blackberry and raspberry purée, vanilla, and milk sugar. 7.5% ABV
• Black Currant Chocolate Mash - Sour Ale brewed with black currant purée, cocoa nibs, vanilla, and milk sugar. 7.5% ABV

Fleabag scores big at the Emmy’s.

We'll be recording our full weekly episode on Monday, September 23. Today we'll be joining millions from around the world for the #ClimateStrike. Hope you are heading out into the streets too!

Presidential debate hot takes - Biden indignant word mashing; Bernie needed a cough drop; Warren feeling campaign momentum; Beto calls for mandatory buy-backs of assault weapons; Castro goes after Biden with the dementia card; Andrew Yang plays Oprah...You get a UBI! You get a UBI! 

Remember, people, no messiahs this time round. Put faith in our movements, not any political candidate. 

ORDER! UK goes off the rails as Parliament is suspended, Scottish court rules that the suspension is unlawful, as the clock ticks down to a no-deal Brexit. 

The Center for American Progress shuts down in a classic union-busting move. Center for American Progress...you can stick it where the sun don’t shine. 

California legislators pass a landmark bill that strikes at the heart of the gig economy. App-based employers like Uber and Lyft must now classify workers at employees, not independent contractors. 

Amazon workers at the company’s headquarters in Seattle planning to walk off the job due to climate inaction. 

Scott Perry officially unveiled part of his plan to reach out to voters in the Pennsylvania 10th Congressional District this week.  It included speaking to voters in a swanky upscale suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.  Yup, that’s correct. Congressman Perry doubled and tripled down on his support of Donald Trump in front of Tennessee voters at a local “coffee group” hosted by a local GOP official.  Perry shared the floor with Jim Demint, from the Heritage Foundation, and Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows’ wives.      

Reading Uninhabitable Earth, by David Wallace-Wells has got me looking forward to any new beer release I can get my hands on. 

Visit to Riverhorse Brewery in Ewing, NJ. Great Sour Triple Belgian.

U.S. Army joins up with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to test robotic, battlefield rocket launchers in Estonia. That’s going to end well. 

Free Will releases:

"Crowd Party - Hazy IPA brewed with flaked oats, vanilla, and milk sugar, hopped with Cashmere, Vic Secret, Loral, and Ekuanot. Notes of peach cobbler, blueberry freckle ice cream, strawberry cheesecake, and mango Dole Whip. 7% ABV⁣" * 

"Barrel Aged Saison de Rose - Farmhouse Ale aged in barrels with hibiscus, grapefruit, lemons, ginger, and peppercorns and aged for 9 months in wine barrels. Bottled conditioned for one year, this beer strikes a balance between delicate fruit, flowers, and lively determined spiciness. 6.9% ABV"

* descriptions from Free Will FB page. 

A poll last week from Monmouth University showed a three-way tie between Sanders, Warren, and Biden. Polls since then seem to show that poll as an outlier, but as the campaign season heats up, we’ll be watching this more closely.

Biden is annoying some Pennsylvania labor leaders. Biden has not committed to attending a Philadelphia AFL-CIO candidate forum on Sept. 17-18. President of Philly AFL-CIO Pat Eiding went on NPR to express his frustration.

Trump moves to rescind more environmental rules that will increase the pace of climate change. Trump now has worked to roll back a total of 84 environmental rules. 

Category 5 hurricane Dorian is battering the Bahamas. This is the most powerful storm to hit the Bahamas in recorded history. Trump said he never heard of a Category 5 hurricane. Meanwhile, some Christians gathered on Florida beach to pray the hurricane away. They have a good track record. 

Greta Thunberg arrived safely in NYC this week for the UN Climate summit and climate actions. Activists greeted her onshore chanting, “Sea levels are rising, and so are we!” And the right-wing responds as you would expect, criticizing her looks and her Aspergers. Thunberg responded on Twitter and Instagram saying, “When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you’re winning!” 

Star Wars is back on. Trump formally reestablished the U.S. Space Command at a White House ceremony this weekend.

Free Will had another double can release this past weekend: Village Fest - Their annual Märzen style Lager and Angel, Hop Blend 3 - No-Boil IPA brewed with local Deer Creek Malthouse Keystone Pale malt, flaked oats, and Castle Valley Mill Bloody Butcher corn.