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In the latest episode of Working People, we go back to the picket line to get a critical update on the longest ongoing strike in the United States. In October 2022, over 100 workers represented by five labor unions—including production, distribution, advertising, and accounts receivable staff—walked off the job on an unfair labor practice strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PPG). The strike began after the newspaper's management, Block Communications, which is owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on Oct. 1 of that year. After more than 2.5 years on strike, with other unions reaching contracts or taking buyouts and dissolving their units, workers represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh are the last remaining strikers holding the line. We speak with a panel of union officers for the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh about how they've managed to stay on strike so long and about recent legal updates that have given them hope that an acceptable end to the strike may be on the horizon. Panelists include: Ed Blazina, striking transportation writer at the PPG and one of the Vice Presidents of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh; Erin Hebert, also one of the Vice Presidents of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and a striking copy-editor and page designer at PPG; Emily Matthews, photographer on strike and treasurer for the Post-Gazette Unit of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. Additional links/info: Pittsburgh Union Progress website, Facebook page, X page, and Instagram Donate to Support Striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Workers Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh website Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “TRNN wins 2025 Izzy Award for coverage of East Palestine, OH, trainwreck & chemical disaster” Bob Batz Jr., Pittsburgh Union Progress, “The strike is over for 3 Pittsburgh news production unions, but the journalists' strike continues” Ian Karbal, Pennsylvania Capital Star, “The strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is now the longest in the nation. And it's not over” Mel Buer, Working People / The Real News Network, “Two years into a strike, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers aren't ready to give up” Bob Batz Jr. & Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, “A start to the end of the strike? Feds file for temporary injunction to return Pittsburgh news unions to work” Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams / The Real News Network, “‘AI will not scab us': Post-Gazette newsroom decries use of artificial intelligence” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “(Livestream) After months of striking, media workers aren't backing down” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “(Livestream) Strikes at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, University of Michigan, and more” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's half-year strike” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
At this very moment, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have managed to survive Israel's scorched-earth siege and bombing are being deliberately starved to death as a result of Israel's 11-week blockade preventing food and aid from entering Gaza. As Jem Bartholemew writes at The Guardian, “The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC [Tuesday] morning that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time. Five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday but Fletcher described this as a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for the population's needs.” In response to this dire humanitarian crisis, students at multiple university campuses in the US have launched hunger strikes in solidarity with the starving people of Gaza. In this urgent episode, we speak with four hunger strikers at the University of Oregon (UO), including: Cole, Sadie, and Efron, three undergraduate students who are all members of Jewish Voice for Peace - UO and who just completed a 60-hour solidarity hunger strike; and Phia, a Palestinian-American undergraduate student who has organized with JVP-UO on the hunger strike and who currently remains on hunger strike herself.Additional links/info: UO Gaza Hunger Strike Instagram and TikTok UO Gaza Hunger Strike: Community Calls to Action! Press Release: University of Oregon Students, Faculty, and Staff Launch “UO Gaza Hunger Strike” Campaign Protesting Mass Starvation and Genocide Jewish Voice for Peace - UO Instagram Nathan Wilk, KLCC, “University of Oregon protesters begin hunger strike for Gaza” Michael Arria, Mondoweiss, “Students across the U.S. are going on hunger strike as Israeli-engineered famine takes hold in Gaza” Syma Mohammed, Middle East Eye, “US: UCLA student hospitalised during hunger strike for Gaza” Jem Bartholemew, The Guardian, “First Thing: UN says 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in next 48 hours under Israeli aid blockade” Ronen Bergman & Natan Odenheimer, The New York Times, “In private, some Israeli officers admit that Gaza is on the brink of starvation” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘The raids happened Wednesday, finals started Thursday': FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘A tremendous chilling effect': Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid Trump attacks” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘People are hiding in their apartments': Inside Trump's assault on universities” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘Worse' than McCarthyism: Trump's war on higher education, free speech, and political dissent” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
The city forces whoever runs Trump Towers to open its sidewalks to the public. Ben riffs. Miles Kampf-Lassin talks May Day protests and tariff madness--turns out there is no logic to MAGA's trade policy. And the great trade-off capitalism offers American workers: Lower wages for lower prices. Thanks to Trump there will be lower wages and higher prices. An ode to a four-day work week. Miles is a writer and editor for In These Times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
For some who had been following The Fall since 'Live At The Witch Trials' and 'Dragnet', 1988's 'The Frenz Experiment' with its more polished and slightly commercial sound might have seemed to be a bit of a sellout. Not so for this week's guest, Manchester record shop co-owner and bass player (The Suncharms) Richard Farnell. Catching them live at a record shop in-store appearance while playing hooky during a school trip into London may have sealed the deal for him, but he contends there's more to this era of The Fall than the unlikely chart success of their covers of 'Victoria' and 'There's A Ghost In My House' might attest. Songs discussed in this episode: There's A Ghost In My House - The Fall; Time Will Tell - The Suncharms; Mr Pharmacist, Totally Wired, Rebellious Jukebox, Fol De Rol, Frenz, Carry Bag Man, Get A Hotel - The Fall; Victoria - The Kinks; All Day and All of the Night - The Stranglers; Victoria - The Fall; Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight - Spinal Tap; Athlete Cured, In These Times, The Steak Place, Bremen Nacht, Guest Informant, Oswald Defence Lawyer - The Fall; Distant Lights - The Suncharms
While state officials and legislators have positioned Texas to be “the bitcoin mining capital of the world,” in small towns like Granbury, working-class residents living next to giant, loud, environmentally destructive data centers are the ones paying the price for Texas's crypto boom. “None of us are sleeping,” Cheryl Shadden, a Granbury resident who lives across the street from a 300-megawatt bitcoin mining data center owned by Marathon Digital, tells TRNN. “We can't get rid of this alien invasion in our homes…This is like being a prisoner of war. It's like being tortured with loud sounds and bright lights and being sleep deprived.”In this episode of Working People, we dive deeper into the reality of living next to crypto mining data centers like the one in Granbury, the unseen threats they pose to human and nonhuman life, and what residents in Granbury are doing to fight back. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with: Cheryl Shadden, a registered nurse anesthetist and resident of Granbury, who lives right next to the site of the Marathon bitcoin mining operation; Dr. Shannon Wolf, Precinct Chair in Hood County, who lives about 3 miles from the bitcoin mine; and Nannette Samuelson, County Commissioner for Precinct 2 in Hood County.Additional links/info: Protect Hood County website Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “A bitcoin mine in Texas is “killing us slowly,” local residents say” Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “‘We're living in a nightmare:' Inside the health crisis of a Texas bitcoin town” Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “Noisy neighbor: Bitcoin's hidden health cost” (Video Report) Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “TRNN wins 2025 Izzy Award for coverage of East Palestine, OH, trainwreck & chemical disaster” Keaton Peters, Inside Climate News, “Texas leaders worry that bitcoin mines threaten to crash the state power grid” NBC News, “Inside the Texas bitcoin mine reportedly making residents sick” James Pollard, The Texas Tribune, “Texas Republicans want to make the state the center of the cryptocurrency universe” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
The Trump administration continues to escalate its authoritarian assault on higher education, free speech, and political dissent—and university administrators and state government officials are willingly aiding that assault. On the morning of April 23, at the direction of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, raided the homes of multiple student organizers connected to Palestine solidarity protests at the University of Michigan. “According to the group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), agents seized the students' electronics and a number of personal items,” Michael Arria reports at Mondoweiss. “Four individuals were detained, but eventually released.” In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of graduate student workers from the University of Michigan and Columbia University about how they and their unions are fighting back against ICE abductions, FBI raids, and top-down political repression, all while trying to carry on with their day-to-day work. Panelists include: Lavinia, a PhD student at the University of Michigan School of Information and an officer in the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO); Ember McCoy, a PhD candidate in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan and a rank-and-file member of GEO and the TAHRIR Coalition; Jessie Rubin, a PhD student in the School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University and a rank-and-file member of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC); and Conlan Olson, a PhD student in Computer Science at Columbia and a member of the SWC bargaining committee. Additional links/info: Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), University of Michigan website, Instagram, Facebook page, and X page Student Workers of Columbia-UAW Local 2710 website, Instagram, Facebook page, and X page TAHRIR Coalition UMich X page Legal Fund of Michigan Students for Palestine GEO Worker Solidarity Fund GEO Press Release: FBI and police raid homes of pro-Palestine activists, including a GEO member Mahmoud Khalil statement from ICE detention: “My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner” Allie Wong, The Intercept, “This is not about antisemitism, Palestine, or Columbia. It's Trump dismantling the American dream“ Grant Miner, The Nation, “Columbia expelled me for my palestine activism, but I won't be silenced” Michael Arria, Mondoweiss, “FBI and police raid homes of Palestine activists in Michigan” Alvin Powell, The Harvard Gazette, “Harvard files lawsuit against Trump administration” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘Worse' than McCarthyism: Trump's war on higher education, free speech, and political dissent” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘A tremendous chilling effect': Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid Trump attacks” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘People are hiding in their apartments': Inside Trump's assault on universities” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
I would like to see Texas become the center of the universe for bitcoin and crypto,” US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in 2021. In 2024, Republican Governor Greg Abbott said Texas “wears the crown as the bitcoin mining capital of the world.” But in small towns like Granbury, TX, about an hour southwest of Fort Worth, residents are the ones paying the price for Texas' crypto boom. Granbury's 300-megawatt bitcoin mine, which is owned by Marathon Digital, a Florida-based cryptocurrency company, uses a mix of liquid immersion and industrial fans to prevent over 20,000 computers from overheating. Many residents say that it's the constant sound from those fans that has made life increasingly unbearable in their small town—and that their concerns are going ignored by the company and government officials. In this episode of Working People, we speak with four residents of Granbury living near the Marathon bitcoin mine: Danny Lakey, Karen Pearson, Nick Browning, and Virginia Browning. Additional links/info: Protect Hood County website Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “‘We're living in a nightmare:' Inside the health crisis of a Texas bitcoin town” Andrew R. Chow, TIME, “Noisy neighbor: Bitcoin's hidden health cost” (Video Report) Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “TRNN wins 2025 Izzy Award for coverage of East Palestine, OH, trainwreck & chemical disaster” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘I had to move away from everything that I ever had': Chemically exposed residents of East Palestine, OH, and Conyers, GA, have been left behind” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘This is murder!': Industrially poisoned South Baltimore residents march on state capitol, demand help from Gov. Moore” Maximillian Alvarez, Steve Mellon, & Mike Balonek, The Real News Network, “Trainwreck in ‘Trump Country': Partisan politics hasn't helped East Palestine, OH (DOCUMENTARY)” Keaton Peters, Inside Climate News, “Texas leaders worry that bitcoin mines threaten to crash the state power grid” NBC News, “Inside the Texas bitcoin mine reportedly making residents sick” James Pollard, The Texas Tribune, “Texas Republicans want to make the state the center of the cryptocurrency universe” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
One year ago, Columbia University became ground zero for the student-led Gaza solidarity encampment movement that spread to campuses across the country and around the world. Now, Columbia has become ground zero for the Trump administration's authoritarian assault on higher education, academic freedom, and the right to free speech and free assembly—all under the McCarthyist guise of rooting out “anti-semitism.” From Trump's threats to cancel $400 million in federal grants and contracts with Columbia to the abduction of international students like Mahmoud Khalil by ICE agents, to the university's firing and expulsion of Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers union president Grant Miner, “a tremendous chilling effect” has gripped Columbia's campus community. In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with: Caitlin Liss, a PhD candidate in history at Columbia University and a member of Student Workers of Columbia-UAW (SWC); and Allie Wong, a PhD student at the Columbia Journalism School and a SWC member who was arrested and beaten by police during the second raid on the Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia on April 30, 2024. Additional links/info: Student Workers of Columbia-UAW Local 2710 website April 17: Day of Action to Defend Higher Ed website Mahmoud Khalil statement from ICE detention: “My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner” Allie Wong, The Intercept, “This is not about antisemitism, Palestine, or Columbia. It's Trump dismantling the American dream“ Grant Miner, The Nation, “Columbia expelled me for my palestine activism, but I won't be silenced” Jonah E. Bromwich & Hamed Aleaziz, The New York Times, “Columbia student hunted by ICE sues to prevent deportation” AAUP letter to college and university legal offices: “Institutions Should Not Provide Student and Faculty Info To Enable Deportations” Alan Blinder, The New York Times, “Trump Has Targeted These Universities. Why?” Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, “‘Detention Alley': inside the Ice centres in the US south where foreign students and undocumented migrants languish” Alice Speri, The Guardian, “‘A huge cudgel': alarm as Trump's war on universities could target accreditors” Annie Ma, Makiya Seminera, & Christopher L. Keller, Associated Press, “Visa cancellations sow panic for international students, with hundreds fearing deportation” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘People are hiding in their apartments': Inside Trump's assault on universities” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘Kill these cuts before they kill us': Federally funded researchers warn DOGE cuts will be fatal” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
International students are being abducted and disappeared by ICE in broad daylight. Life-saving research projects across the academy are being halted or thrown into disarray by seismic cuts to federal grants. Dozens of universities are under federal investigation for their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, their allowance of trans athletes to compete in college sports, and their tolerance of constitutionally protected Palestine solidarity protests. In today's urgent episode of Working People, we get a harrowing, on-the-ground view of the Trump administration's all-out assault on institutions of higher education and the people who live, learn, and work there. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professors, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University, and co-director of the Media, Inequality and Change Center; and Chenjerai Kumanyika, Assistant Professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, AAUP Council Member, and Peabody-award winning host of Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD. Additional links/info: April 17: Day of Action to Defend Higher Ed website American Association of University Professors (AAUP) website Federal Unionists Network website AAUP letter to college and university legal offices: “Institutions Should Not Provide Student and Faculty Info To Enable Deportations” Alan Blinder, The New York Times, “Trump Has Targeted These Universities. Why?” Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, “‘Detention Alley': inside the Ice centres in the US south where foreign students and undocumented migrants languish” Alice Speri, The Guardian, “‘A huge cudgel': alarm as Trump's war on universities could target accreditors” Joy Connolly, Chronicle Review, “Colleges must stand together to resist Trump” Collin Binkley, Associated Press, “More than 50 universities face federal investigations as part of Trump's anti-DEI campaign” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘Kill these cuts before they kill us': Federally funded researchers warn DOGE cuts will be fatal” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
On Tuesday, April 8, unions, unionized federal workers, and their supporters around the country mobilized for a national “Kill the Cuts” day of action to protest the Trump administration's cuts to life-saving research, healthcare, and education programs. As organizers stated on the Kill The Cuts website, "By cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care, the Trump administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars. These cuts are dangerous to our health, and dangerous to our economy. On Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 workers across the country are standing up and demanding NO cuts to education and life-saving research." In this on-the-ground edition of Working People, we take you to the front lines of the Kill the Cuts rally that took place in Washington DC, and we speak with workers and union representatives whose lives and work have already been affected by these cuts.Speakers include: Margaret Cook, Vice President of the Public, Healthcare, and Education Workers sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA); Matt Brown, Recording Secretary of NIH Fellows United (United Auto Workers Local 2750); Rakshita Balaji, a post-baccalaureate researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and Amanda Dykema, shop steward for American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1072 at the University of Maryland, College Park.Additional links/info: Kill the Cuts website NIH Fellows United website Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “What's really behind Trump's war on federal unions?” Jocelyn Kaiser, Science, “NIH under orders to cancel $2.6 billion in contracts” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
The labor movement faces a critical moment that could impact generations to come. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss a piece titled “For Labor, Caution Is Fatal” by Stephen Lerner in In These Times, which highlights and analyzes the current moment the labor movement is in right now and the challenges that the new administration poses to its progress, as well as what unions and the labor movement can do to continue their fight, and what we learn and take away from this incredible piece in our continued learning and unlearning work and fight for collective liberation. Follow us on social media and visit our website! Patreon, Website, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, Threads, Facebook, YouTube, Leave us a voice message, Merch store
In our latest, Scott talks with journalist, and friend of G&R, Adam Federman (@adamfederman) about Trump's obsession to acquire Greenland. They discuss what's at stake, the region's Cold War history, how the local population views the U.S. and Trump, great power tensions around the Arctic Circle and the wealthy private interests trying to claim their stakes in Greenland. Bio//Adam Federman is a reporting fellow with Type Investigations who has written widely on environmental policy, public lands, and corporate and police spying on environmental activists. He has written for In These Times, Politico Magazine, The Washington Post, Wired, Slate, The Nation, and other publications. His first book, Fasting and Feasting: The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray, was a New York Times notable book of 2017 and a finalist for the LA Times Book prize in biography.--------------------------------------Outro- "Greenland Whale Fisheries (Why we Sail)" by Glen FinnanLinks//+ Adam Federman: https://adamfederman.com/ + Trump's Greenland Problem (https://bit.ly/42jBor6)+ The New Cold War in the Arctic (https://bit.ly/4lf2Grv)Follow Green and Red// +G&R Linktree: https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast +Our rad website: https://greenandredpodcast.org/ + Join our Discord community (https://discord.gg/3a6AX7Qy)+Follow us on Substack (https://greenandredpodcast.substack.com)+Follow us on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/podcastgreenred.bsky.social)Support the Green and Red Podcast// +Become a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast +Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR Our Networks// +We're part of the Labor Podcast Network: https://www.laborradionetwork.org/ +We're part of the Anti-Capitalist Podcast Network: linktr.ee/anticapitalistpodcastnetwork +Listen to us on WAMF (90.3 FM) in New Orleans (https://wamf.org/) This is a Green and Red Podcast (@PodcastGreenRed) production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). Edited by Isaac.
Last week, President Trump escalated his administration's war on the federal workforce and workers' rights when he signed an executive order to end collective bargaining with federal labor unions across the government. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 government employees, has sued the Trump administration over the executive order.In response to these intensifying assaults on federal workers, agencies, and critical programs like Social Security, unions, social justice and community organizations, veterans groups, and people of conscience will be participating in protest actions in locales across the US on Saturday, April 5. In this episode, we speak with James Jones, a maintenance mechanic with the National Park Service, a veteran, and a member of the Federal Unionists Network, to get a firsthand account of the Trump administration's attacks on federal workers, agencies, and the people who depend on their services.Additional links/info: Federal Unionists Network website Indivisible website “Hands Off!” National Day of Action (April 5) website Joe DeManuelle-Hall, Labor Notes, “Trump Goes Nuclear on the Federal Workforce” Tyler Pager, The New York Times, “Trump Moves to End Union Protections Across Broad Swath of Government” Daniel Weissner, Reuters, “Union Sues to Block Trump from Ending Collective Bargaining for Many federal workers” Anjeanette Damon, ProPublica, “Curious How Trump's Cost Cutting Could Affect Your National Park Visit? You Might Not Get a Straight Answer” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘It's not Elon versus government, it's Elon versus everyone': A dire warning from fired federal workers” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
On today's episode we discuss the book Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade with author Jeff Schuhrke. Blue-Collar Empire explores how the CIA used American unions to undermine workers at home and subvert democracy abroad through the shocking story of the AFL-CIO's global anticommunist crusade—and its devastating consequences for workers around the world.Unions have the power not only to secure pay raises and employee benefits but to bring economies to a screeching halt and overthrow governments. Recognizing this, in the late twentieth century, the US government sought to control labor movements abroad as part of the Cold War contest for worldwide supremacy. In this work, Washington found an enthusiastic partner in the AFL-CIO's anticommunist officials, who, in a shocking betrayal, for decades expended their energies to block revolutionary ideologies and militant class consciousness from taking hold in the workers' movements of Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.Jeff Schuhrke is a labor historian, journalist, union activist, and assistant professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University in New York City. He is a frequent contributor to In These Times and Jacobin, and his scholarship has been published at Diplomatic History and Labor: Studies in Working-Class History.Episode image: President Richard Nixon gestures toward labor leader George Meany during a speech at the 1971 AFL-CIO convention. (Wally McNamee / Corbis via Getty Images)
As we've mentioned many times before on the show, movements today are a part of a legacy of extraordinary actions taken by ordinary people. Tapping into our own labor history provides us with a blueprint for action in today's turbulent world. On March 25th, 1911, a fire began in the scrap bins under a cutter's table on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Within minutes, the entire floor was engulfed in flames, spreading to the ninth floor and 10th floors–where 200+ workers were just finishing up to go home for the night. By the time workers were alerted to the conflagration, options for escaping the fire were few. By the time the fire was brought under control, 146 workers were dead. New York City saw sweeping reforms in the aftermath of the fire, catapulting some pro-reform lobbyists like Francis Perkins all the way to the highest halls of government with the introduction of the New Deal 20 years later. Near the 114th anniversary of this tragedy, Mel sat down with labor historian Dr. Erik Loomis, professor at the University of Rhode Island and author of his forthcoming book, “Organizing America: Stories of Americans Who Fought for Justice” to talk about the struggle for better working conditions in the garment industry in New York City, the fire itself and the reforms enacted afterwards, and why it's important to learn from our own labor history in this current moment. Additional links/info: Cornell University - ILR School: Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory Fire Dr. Erik Loomis on Bluesky More information about Dr. Loomis's forthcoming book, “Organizing America” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Mel Buer Post-Production: Jules Taylor
BrownTown finally talks Trump 2.0, local collective resistance, the election blame game, and the half century of neoliberalism got us here. As the news cycles have been dominated by Trump, tariffs, Musk, and the MAGA mess, BrownTown speaks candidly on the the first few months of the new (yet old) administration, and how to not only resist the re-branded fascist takeover but unapologetically and collectively fight it and win (without relying on the same institutions that made it possible in the first place). BrownTown also reflects on where the podcast and SoapBox at-large was during Trump 1.0, comparing and contrasting both moments. Caullen and David unpack the Right's “shock and awe” strategy, Chicago ICE raids and the community response, Trumpism and weaponization of whiteness, and when the manniverse met the broligarchy. As we try to sift through poor analysis of this moment with even worse political actors, we're left with the words from comrade Asha Ransby-Sporn who proclaims that "we owe it to each other to resist attempts to disorient, divide, and distract us from the reality of government takeover by the billionaire Right […] The conditions of the moment demand that we are clear-eyed enough to meet the conjuncture and find openings for those new paths forward” (In These Times). Originally recorded February 21, 2025. Mentioned in or related to episode:Previous BnB episodes on Trump 1.0's first 100 days & Decoding TrumpismGovernor Pritzker's State of the State addressCaullen's Trumpism: A Brief History 2016 articleVoting Stats (1, 2, 3) CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Jasmine Crockett talking to a reporter; outro music tv off by Kendrick Lamar featuring Lefty Gunplay. Audio recorded by Kiera Battles and engineered by Kassandra Borah.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support
This week, we're taking a more national focus, and checking in with the National Association of Letter Carriers, who have been embroiled in a years-long contract negotiation with the US Postal Service. In our episode today, I'm sitting down with Melissa Rakestraw, member of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 825 in Chicago, IL, to discuss the state of negotiations with our nation's letter carriers, the unprecedented rejection of the recent Tentative Agreement and what happens next, and what would happen if the US Postal Service was privatized. As a short editorial note before we begin, the interest arbitration process between USPS and the Letter Carriers began on March 17th, with Dennis R. Nolan set as the neutral arbitrator. This episode was recorded at the end of February, before those dates had been set. Postal workers are also set to hit the streets this weekend–“Fight Like Hell!” rallies are scheduled for March 23 across the country to protest the proposed privatization of the US Postal Service. Additional links/info: March 13, 2025: NALC statement on DeJoy's agreement with DOGE “Fight like hell! Say ‘Hell No!' to a privatized USPS!” - Find a Rally Near You Joe Demanuelle-Hall: “Federal Workers Organize Against Billionaire Power Grab” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Mel Buer Post-Production: Jules Taylor
This week, we're staying in Southern California, where the workers of Touchstone Climbing Gym in Los Angeles have been negotiating their first contract with their employer. Touchstone Climbing, a regional climbing gym with over a dozen locations in California, experienced a wave of unionization in its Los Angeles locations early last year. The successful campaign with Workers United created a wall-to-wall union at each of the company's five locations in the Los Angeles area. Members of the LA-based gym are often themselves union members, and the response from the climbing community has been overwhelmingly positive. However, workers have been navigating a frustrating negotiation in order to reach an agreement on a first contract. Chief among workers' demands is better communications, higher safety standards, and better pay. With me today to discuss their unionization, and their negotiations are Ryan Barkauskas, PT desk staff at The Post in Pasadena and Jess Kim, Former Desk Staff at the Post in Pasadena, now FT Workers United organizer. Additional links/info: Touchstone Workers United Instagram Climbing Business Journal - “Touchstone Workers United Win Union Election - First Southern California Climbing Gyms to Unionize” Eaton Fire Gofundme for Sam, 10+ year Yoga Instructor Eaton Fire Gofundme for Martell, Front Desk Worker at The Post in Pasadena Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Mel Buer Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Americans have come to assume that heavy medical debt, unaffordable housing and lack of quality child care are normal features of life. Is there another way?Journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata traveled the world to find out how other countries are solving problems that plague the United States. From housing, climate change and public education, to addiction and health care, Hakimi Zapata found innovative and affordable approaches that do better. She reports on her globetrotting investigation in her new book, “Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe.”Natasha Hakimi Zapata is an award-winning journalist, university lecturer and translator. She is the former foreign editor of Truthdig, and her work has appeared in The Nation, Los Angeles Review of Books, In These Times and elsewhere.Hakimi Zapata said she “took a crib-to-crypt approach to policy,” including a look at universal healthcare in the UK, family friendly policies in Norway, "public-housing-for-all in Singapore, universal public education in Finland, drug decriminalization in Portugal, ...internet as a human right policies in Estonia, renewable energy transition in Uruguay, biodiversity protections in Costa Rica, and then finally, sort of the end of a lifetime, with universal non-contributory pensions in New Zealand.”Hakimi Zapata spoke about Portugal's decision in 2000 to decriminalize personal drug possession. “Not only did addiction rates fall — overdose deaths fell, HIV/AIDS rates fell, but so did drug use.”Portugal has demonstrated that “if you treat this as a public health issue … you allow people to reach out for help without the fear of incarceration.”Hakimi Zapata noted, “There's this myth at the core of American society that somehow places like Norway can afford these great policies because everyone pays more taxes. And the truth is they have a more progressive stepped tax system than we do. They do not have off ramps for the wealthiest Americans or corporations to pay less, or nothing, like we do in the US.”Hakimi Zapata insisted that progressive social policies often take root in difficult times. The National Health Service in the UK came “out of the ashes of World War II. You have Uruguay's renewable grid transition coming out of long periods of literal darkness in which they couldn't keep the lights on in their own country.”“At this moment, remember that things can change for the better nearly as quickly as they can change for the worse, and we can still make things better.”
In this urgent episode of Working People, we focus on the Trump-Musk administration's all-out assault on federal workers and its takeover and reordering of our entire system of government. “At least 20,000 federal workers have so far been fired by the Trump administration,” Ed Pilkington and Chris Stein report in The Guardian, “most of them recent hires on probationary periods who lack employment protections. In addition, the White House claims that more than 75,000 employees have accepted its offer of deferred resignations. The purge has prompted speculation that Trump is engaging in one of the biggest job cutting rounds in US history, which could have a powerful knock-on effect on the American economy.” In today's episode, we take you to the front lines of struggle and hear directly from three federal workers about what is happening inside the federal government, why it concerns all of us, and how federal workers and concerned citizens of all stripes are fighting back. Panelists include: Cat Farman, president of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Union, Local 335 of the National Treasury Employees Union; Jasmine McAllister, a rank-and-file CFPB Union member and data scientist who was illegally fired two weeks ago; and Will Munger, a rangeland scientist who works across the intermountain west and who, until this month, served as a postdoctoral researcher with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Additional links/info: CFPB Union website, Federal Unionists Network website, Bluesky page, and Instagram 5Calls.Org website Ed Pilkington & Chris Stein, The Guardian, “US personnel office walks back email ultimatum from Musk to workers” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Elon Musk is making technofascism a reality before our eyes” Democracy Now!, “‘Grand Theft Government': Federal workers send SOS over Musk's DOGE, mass firings & service cuts” Emily Anthes & Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times, “Mass federal firings may imperil crops, cattle and pets” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Good news for lefties—CM Punk dons a CTU sweatshirt. Ben riffs. Miles Kampf-Lassin explains how MAGA creates its own reality. And how the hate leftists but love leftist critiques. And how they hate unions but love unionized workers. Or so they say. And more. Miles is an editor and writer for In These Times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sarah Jaffe joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about allowing ourselves to be known on the page, learning how to pivot from journalism to the very personal, processing experiences through writing, being upended by grief, taking care of ourselves when writing about violence and terror, witnessing and giving voice to other people's hardships with integrity and respect, becoming undone on the page, how we are haunted by the losses we live through, sculpting material down during revision, and her new book From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire. Also mentioned in this episode: -documenting activism and organizing -climate change -the cognitive dissonance of social media Books mentioned in this episode: -Ghostly Matters by Avery Gordon -Love and Borders by Anna Lukas Miller -Who Cares by Emily Kenway Sarah Jaffe is the author of Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted and Alone, which Jane McAlevey called “a multiplex in still life; a stunning critique of capitalism, a collective conversation on the meaning of life and work, and a definite contribution to the we-won't-settle-for-less demands of the future society everyone deserves,” and of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt, both from Bold Type Books. She is a Type Media Center reporting fellow and an independent journalist covering the politics of power, from the workplace to the streets. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, the Guardian, the Washington Post, The New Republic, the Atlantic, and many other publications. She is the co-host, with Michelle Chen, of Dissent magazine's Belabored podcast, as well as a columnist at The Progressive and New Labor Forum. Sarah was formerly a staff writer at In These Times and the labor editor at AlterNet. She was a contributing editor on The 99%: How the Occupy Wall Street Movement is Changing America, from AlterNet books, as well as a contributor to the anthologies At the Tea Party and Tales of Two Cities, both from OR Books, and Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump's America, from Picador. She was also the web director at GRITtv with Laura Flanders. She was one of the first reporters to cover Occupy and the Fight for $15, has appeared on numerous radio and television programs to discuss topics ranging from electoral politics to Superstorm Sandy, from punk rock to public-sector unions. She has a master's degree in journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and a bachelor's degree in English from Loyola University New Orleans. Sarah was born and raised in Massachusetts and has also lived in South Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania. Connect with Sarah: Website: https://sarahljaffe.com/ X: https://x.com/sarahljaffe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahljaffe/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahjaffetrouble – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers
We kick off the new season of Working People with another crucial installment of our ongoing series where we speak with the people living, working, and fighting for justice in America's “sacrifice zones.” In this episode, cohost Maximillian Alvarez speaks with a panel of guests about the ongoing public health crises in East Palestine, OH, where a Norfolk Southern train derailment in Feb. 2023 changed residents' lives forever, and in Conyers, GA, where residents continue to deal with the toxic fallout of a chemical fire that broke out in Sept. 2024 at a facility owned by pool chemical company BioLab. Panelists include: Ashley McCollom, a displaced resident of East Palestine; Hannah Loyd, a displaced resident of Conyers; and Kristina Baehr, a community safety lawyer with Just Well Law. Additional links/info: Ashley's Facebook page Ashley's GoFundMe page Hannah's Facebook page Just Well Law website Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘Everytime we come back, we all get sick': GA residents affected by September BioLab fire are still going through hell” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “Trainwreck in ‘Trump Country': Partisan politics hasn't helped East Palestine, OH (DOCUMENTARY)” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “One year later, East Palestine residents want Norfolk-Southern held accountable” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, ““Let's unite!”: Poisoned residents of America's sacrifice zones are banding together” Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, “Vance visit on derailment's second anniversary leaves residents wondering, ‘Who has our backs?'” Grace Gibson, The Georgetown Environmental Law Review, “Hawaiʻi's Red Hill Water Crisis Isn't Over” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: David Hebden Post-Production: Jules Taylor
We must resist the government takeover by the billionaire Right and fascists at all costs. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “In the Face of Overwhelm” by Asha Ransby-Sporn in In These Times, which analyzes the ongoing government takeover by fascists and the billionaire Right and highlights what we can and must do to resist being overwhelmed and complacent in the face of it all, and what we learn and take away from this incredible piece in our continued learning and unlearning work and fight for collective liberation. Follow us on social media and visit our website! Patreon, Website, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, Threads, Facebook, YouTube, Leave us a voice message, Merch store
In this episode, Kris speaks with Wayne Madsen and Peter Grant about the current state of affairs regarding Donald Trump and the future of America. Wayne details out his thoughts on parallels to Germany in 1939, and what he thinks to be the very same blueprint. Peter Grant details connections between Trump and the KGB through a former father-in-law and gives a detailed history on KGB connections going back to the 1980s. Wayne Madsen is an investigative journalist and syndicated columnist whose articles have appeared in publications such as In These Times, The Miami Herald, and The Village Voice. He is the author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993–1999 and The Handbook of Personal Data Protection. A former U.S. naval officer and has worked for the NSA, he has appeared on 20/20, 60 Minutes, and Nightline. He is also the author of several TrineDay books like Jaded Tasks and Overthrow a Fascist Regime on $15 a DayPeter Grant is a writer and independent researcher specializing in open source intelligence with a special focus on history and politics in Russia and the former Soviet Union, global kleptocracy and corruption, Eurasian organized crime and the activities of Russia's intelligence services. In particular, I focus on the interplay between these issues and American politics. He is also the author of While We Slept: Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of American Democracy
There is still much work to be done regarding the future of the struggle to disrupt the distribution of United States weaponry and support to Israel in the ultimate hope to dismantle Zionism and imperialism. Listen as Aaron and Damien discuss the piece “Our Fight Doesn't End at Cease-Fire” by Nashwa Bawab in In These Times, which features parts of a panel conversation moderated by Bawab between several pro-Palestinian antiwar organizers analyzing and sharing their perspectives on the importance of organizing around logistics and weapons distribution during the genocide in Palestine, and what we learn and take away from this incredible piece in our continued learning and unlearning work and fight for collective liberation.Follow us on social media and visit our website! Patreon,Website,Instagram,Bluesky, TikTok,Threads, Facebook, YouTube, Leave us a voice message,Merch store
This week on Talk World Radio we are speaking with Natasha Hakimi Zapata, the author of the new book Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe. Natasha Hakimi Zapata, who is joining us from London, is an award-winning journalist, university lecturer, and literary translator. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Los Angeles Review of Books, In These Times, and elsewhere. She is former foreign editor of Truthdig.
We've got a solo episode today. Aaron revisits and reads Toni Morrison's 1995 essay Racism and Fascism. We explored and appreciated this essay in October 2024 thanks to In These Times decision to republish it. We felt a sense of truth-telling that continues to reverberate 30 years later. Follow us on social media and visit our website! Patreon, Website, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, Threads, Facebook, YouTube, Leave us a voice message, Merch store
Award-winning journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata joins us to discuss her new book, “Another World Is Possible: Lessons For America From Around The Globe”, published by The New Press. Her articles can be found be found in In These TImes, The Nation, and The New York Times. Purchase the book at this link: https://thenewpress.com/books/another-world-possible Natasha Hakimi Zapata's website: https://www.natashahakimizapata.com/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell
Researcher Kap Seol, a frequent contributor to the leftist magazine Jacobin, joins the podcast to discuss his recent article about how the deployment of DPRK troops to fight in Ukraine could lead South Korea to respond by escalating its own involvement. The self-described former socialist also talks about the similarities between Kim Il Sung and Romania's Nicolae Ceaușescu, while touching on historical topics like the life of a revolutionary Korean in 1930s China and the persistent allegations of North Korean involvement in the 1980 Gwangju Uprising Kap Seol is a Korean writer and researcher based in New York. His writings have appeared in Jacobin, Labor Notes, In These Times, Business Insider and other publications. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists. NK News subscribers can listen to this and other exclusive episodes from their preferred podcast player by accessing the private podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide at nknews.org/private-feed.
Gavin Newsom pulls a Trump on Trump. Ben riffs. Miles Kampf-Lassin urges America to follow the money. The Tech Bros are going to make big bucks for sucking up to Trump. Just when you thought wealth inequities couldn't get worse. Also, some advice for labor. Miles is a staff writer and editor for In These Times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Drummer, producer, and composer Makaya McCraven, whose work bridges improvisation, production, and cultural synthesis, on rhythm, time, and the balance of tradition and innovation, plus his creative journey, from his roots in Northampton, Massachusetts, to his innovative projects like In The Moment and In These Times. This hybrid episode spanning interviews from 2022 and 2025 offers a deep dive into the mind of a true beat scientist. www.third-story.com www.leosidran.substack.com https://www.wbgo.org/podcast/the-third-story Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with with my link: https://www.magicmind.com/LEOJAN #magicmind #mentalwealth #mentalperformance
In These Times magazine, The Forge News, Convergence Magazine, and The Real News Network have joined forces to produce “Left Out: The Missing Election Narratives.” This package, which is available online and in magazine form in the the latest printed edition of In These Times, brings together essays, reporting and conversations by and with organizers, writers and cultural workers across the country. What you are about to hear is an audiobook version of one of the featured articles in this collection: “Michigan's Muslims Take Matters Into Their Own Hands,” by Malak Silmi, read by Nashwa Bawab.For more than a year, community organizers, activists and students in Michigan tried to leverage their votes in a swing state in return for any serious commitment by the Democratic Party around a ceasefire or an arms embargo, but to no avail. Feelings of betrayal and helplessness cast a shadow as election day approached. Malak Silmi spoke with 10 Muslim voters from Metro Detroit, just before the election and in the weeks after, about how they came to their voting decisions and where they are focusing their organizing against genocide going forward.This article is a part of Left Out: The Missing Election narratives, a collection of unreported histories by publications inside of the Movement Media Alliance.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
On this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Joshua Frank and Erik Wallenberg talk with Kim Kelly and Hamilton Nolan about what to expect in the next four years of Trump and how to build labor power in a world dominated by billionaires. Kim Kelly is a writer and labor activist based in Philadelphia. She is the author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor. Hamilton Nolan is a labor journalist who writes regularly for In These Times magazine and The Guardian. His new book is The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor. More The post Kim Kelly and Hamilton Nolan: Labor in the Age of Trump appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
“I did not start out as a writer interested in organized labor,” Hamilton Nolan writes in The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor; “I started out as a writer interested in why America was so fucked up. Why did we have such gargantuan levels of inequality? Why were thousands of homeless people living in the streets of cities where billionaires frolicked in penthouses? Why was it that certain classes of people worked hard their entire lives and stayed poor, just as their parents had been, and just as their children seemed doomed to be? Even while labor unions had fallen almost completely out of the public mind, it turned out that they were central to all our most fundamental problems.” In this live episode of Working People, recorded at Red Emma's cooperative bookstore, cafe, and community events space in Baltimore on Dec. 6, 2024, Max speaks with Nolan about his new book, what the ongoing war on workers' rights and unions tells us about the “fucked up” society we're living in, and what lessons labor can teach us now about how to fight and win, even in the darkest of times. Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL–CIO, also makes a special guest appearance in the second half of the episode. Additional links/info below… Hamilton's website, Facebook page, and X page Hamilton Nolan, Hachette Books, The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor Red Emma's website, Facebook page, and Instagram David Dayen, In These Times, “Meet the militant flight attendant leader who threatened a strike—and helped stop Trump's shutdown” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
“I did not start out as a writer interested in organized labor,” Hamilton Nolan writes in The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor; “I started out as a writer interested in why America was so fucked up. Why did we have such gargantuan levels of inequality? Why were thousands of homeless people living in the streets of cities where billionaires frolicked in penthouses? Why was it that certain classes of people worked hard their entire lives and stayed poor, just as their parents had been, and just as their children seemed doomed to be? Even while labor unions had fallen almost completely out of the public mind, it turned out that they were central to all our most fundamental problems.” In this live episode of Working People, recorded at Red Emma's cooperative bookstore, cafe, and community events space in Baltimore on Dec. 6, 2024, Max speaks with Nolan about his new book, what the ongoing war on workers' rights and unions tells us about the “fucked up” society we're living in, and what lessons labor can teach us now about how to fight and win, even in the darkest of times. Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL–CIO, also makes a special guest appearance in the second half of the episode.Additional links/info below…Hamilton's website, Facebook page, and X pageHamilton Nolan, Hachette Books, The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of LaborRed Emma's website, Facebook page, and InstagramDavid Dayen, In These Times, “Meet the militant flight attendant leader who threatened a strike—and helped stop Trump's shutdown”Permanent links below…Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageIn These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageThe Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter pageFeatured Music…Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme SongStudio Production: Max AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
Miles Kamp-Lassin covers it all. The oligarchy of Musk. The kakistocracy of Trump. And the gerontocracy in the Democratic Party who launched a counter attack against Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, apparently cause she has the the audacity to want to win future elections and use government to help ordinary people. The Democrats seem determined to keep making the same old mistakes. Miles is an editor/writer for In These Times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
“In late September,” Timothy Pratt writes in Capital & Main, “a massive billow of smoke from a chemical fire spread over metro Atlanta, lingering for weeks and prompting national news coverage. The smoke has cleared, but the anger has not dissipated in Conyers, the city of 20,000 where the fire occurred, and in surrounding areas... Smoke from the blaze left some residents with breathing difficulties, headaches, dizziness and skin rashes in the days that followed, along with a deepening worry about their community's safety... The fire was pool-chemical company BioLab's fourth in the last two decades, a track record that has created what one observer described as “generational rage” among residents.” In this installment of our ongoing series Sacrificed—where we speak to people living, working, and fighting for justice in America's “sacrifice zones”—we speak with Hannah Loyd, Christina O'Connor, and Jeramie Julian: three residents who live near, and have been directly affected by, the September fire at the Conyers BioLab facility. Additional links/info below… Christina's Facebook page and TikTok Hannah's Facebook page Conyers, GA, Facebook group: Helping Our Health Timothy Pratt, Capital & Main, “Chemical fire at Atlanta-area plant sparks local movement against BioLab” Holly Yan, CNN, “Weeks after a chemical plant inferno, nearby residents say they're suffering prolonged illnesses and financial upheaval” Status Coup News, “POISONED Georgians DEMAND toxic chemical plant close after chlorine gas inferno” Joi Dukes, FOX 5 Atlanta, “EPA whistleblower on BioLab debris testing: 'You can't find what you don't look for'” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, ““Let's unite!”: Poisoned residents of America's sacrifice zones are banding together” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Trainwreck in ‘Trump Country': Partisan politics hasn't helped East Palestine, OH (DOCUMENTARY)” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘Towns are gone': In Helene-devastated Asheville, NC, volunteers battle misinformation and ‘apocalyptic' wreckage” Maximillian Alvarez, In These Times / The Real News Network, “Scenes from a sacrifice zone: South Baltimore residents fight back against industrial pollution” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song
“During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the US economy almost completely collapsed,” historian Dana Frank writes in her new book, What Can We Learn from the Great Depression? “By 1933 a third of all those who'd had jobs were unemployed; another third were scraping by with lesser work. Racism, far from collapsing, festered and metastasized as insecurity rippled through the country, pushing people of color even further downward... As we face our own crises today—a precarious economy, outrageous inequality and poverty, growing racism, climate change—and lie awake at night, facing our own fears, these stories from the Great Depression offer us new and often surprising insights into our own time, our own choices.” In this live episode of Working People, recorded at Red Emma's cooperative bookstore, cafe, and community events space in Baltimore, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Frank about her new book and what taking a fresh look at poor and working people's struggles in the dark 1930s can teach us about navigating our own perilous moment in history. Additional links/info below… Dana Frank, Beacon Press, What Can We Learn from the Great Depression?: Stories of Ordinary People & Collective Action in Hard Times Dana Frank website Red Emma's website, Facebook page, and Instagram Dana Frank, The Los Angeles Times, “Trump Says He'll Expel a Million Immigrants. Believe Him–It Happened Before” Dana Frank, History News Network, “Ohio's Little-Known Fascist Member of Congress” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Audio from our November 23rd event at Woodbine with Jamie Merchant about his new book Endgame: Economic Nationalism and Global Decline. He sketches the economic background of the rise of populist right internationally before we transition to questions about the current moment and WI2BD. Jamie Merchant is a Chicago-based writer, contributor to Brooklyn Rail, Baffler, and In These Times, and a member of the Chicago chapter of the Independent Labor Club (@ilcofchi).excerpt: https://brooklynrail.org/2022/03/field-notes/Endgame-Finance-and-the-Close-of-the-Market-System/For all bonus material and Discord access support the show at http://patreon.com/theantifadaSupport Woodbine: https://www.patreon.com/woodbineThanks to Mike, Peter, and Chris from ILC NYC for the recording!Song: Natalie Merchant - This House is on Fire
Longtime Working People listeners will be familiar with Max and Mel's extended work discussing the supply chain, the workers who keep that system running day in and day out, and the dangerous and exploitative working conditions that many workers labor under. Our global economy relies on these workers to stay running–and bosses around the world use this pressure as a cudgel against the workers. For today's episode of Working People, we're zooming out and taking a look at the global supply chain with Judy Gearhart, research professor with the Accountability Research Center at American University and host of the Labor Link Podcast, a podcast about “the brave individuals organizing the workers who make our stuff.” With decades of experience collaborating with organizers and rights advocates supporting worker struggles in the Global South, Judy is uniquely positioned to bring the stories of these workers forth to her listeners. Additional links/info below… Check out the Labor Link podcast here. Labor Link Podcast, “S2E4 - Hariyanto Suwarno (Indonesian Migrant Workers' Union) and Charli Fritzner (Greenpeace USA)” Mel Buer, “Corporate billionaires are wrecking the supply chain. Just look at the railroads.” Teddy Ostrow and Ruby Walsh, “UPS and the Logistics Revolution” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Mel Buer Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Alberto Toscano joins us to discuss his In These TImes piece, "Liberalism Will Cost Us the Earth - Trump's recoronation is another symptom of centrism's global bankruptcy.." Check out Alberto's article here: https://inthesetimes.com/article/liberalism-will-cost-us-the-earth?fbclid=IwY2xjawGzEB1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSSXdh3TbVJILW-Ke60gd7sHll2I-8Y0gu8Hpt8uILxKhva2d1OWrwLeYQ_aem_8ZjUNhGUyyNj4NkRN7PLnA Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell
For all his promises to deliver for US workers, Trump's political agenda poses an existential threat to organized labor. Project 2025's planned assault on the National Labor Relations Board, which governs collective bargaining in the private sector, for instance, could put a screeching halt to unionization efforts across the country. "A potential Republican trifecta, along with Project 2025, will be catastrophic for unions, including my own," Jimmy Williams, general president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), said in an official statement released after Trump's electoral victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. In this special installment of The Real News Network podcast, produced in collaboration with In These Times magazine, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Williams about the threat Trump's agenda poses to organized labor, and why now more than ever the Democratic party has to embrace working class positions.Studio Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast
On November 12, unionized nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore held a rally in front of the Marriott Hotel downtown, where the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was holding a meeting. St. Agnes nurses rallied with supporters from around the city, and they were even joined by fellow Ascension nurses who traveled from Wichita, Kansas, and Austin, Texas. According to a press release from National Nurses Organizing Committee / National Nurses United (NNOC-NNU), the purpose of the rally was to “highlight how Ascension has failed to follow USCCB directives to Catholic health care organizations to both serve and advocate for patients ‘at the margins of society' and ‘treat its employees respectfully and justly.'... Baltimore nurses have been in negotiations since Feb. 2024, following a successful union election in November 2023. Ascension has failed to bargain in good faith with Saint Agnes nurses on language that would improve safe staffing and protect patients from cuts to services, lawsuits for billing disputes, and surprise billing or excess charges.” In this on-the-ground episode, you'll hear speeches and chants from the Nov. 12 rally, and we speak with Gideon Eziama, a registered nurse with over 20 years of experience who has worked at Ascension St. Agnes for the last six years, and Lisa Watson, a registered nurse at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, who traveled to Baltimore to stand in solidarity with her coworkers at Ascension St. Agnes. Additional links/info below… National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and Instagram NNOC/NNU Press Release: “Ascension nurses call on US bishops to hold Catholic hospital chain accountable to church directives” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Baltimore nurses at largest Catholic health network in US fight on for first contract” Aleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service, “Ascension nurses receive tepid response from Catholic bishops after rally” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Sacrifice zones are areas where people have been left to live in conditions that threaten life itself, from toxic industrial pollution to the deadly, intensifying effects of man-made climate change. In a more just and less cruel society, the very concept of a “sacrifice zone” wouldn't exist. And yet, in America, after decades of deregulation and public disinvestment, more working-class communities are becoming sacrifice zones, and more of us are being set up for sacrifice at the altars of corporate greed and government abandonment. America's sacrifice zones are no longer extreme outliers; they are, in fact, a harrowing model of the future that lies in store for most of us if the corporate monsters, corporate politicians, and Wall Street vampires destroying our communities aren't stopped. And residents of different sacrifice zones across the country, fellow workers on the frontlines of all this reckless and preventable destruction, are connecting with each other, learning from one another, and working together to fight back. In this Working People liveshow, recorded on Oct. 19 at Red Emma's worker cooperative bookstore, cafe, and community events space in Baltimore, we speak with a special panel of residents from four different sacrifice zones in the US about how the situations they're facing in their own communities and their struggles for justice and accountability are connected. Panelists include: Hilary Flint, communications director of Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community and a former resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, a few miles from the site of the Feb 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio; Melanie Meade, a community organizer, educator, and life-long resident of Clairton, Pennsylvania, the site of US Steel's Clairton Coke Works, which was named the most toxic air polluter in Allegheny County in a 2021 report by PennEnvironment; Elise Keaton Wade, a real estate attorney by trade, longtime environmental justice activist, and a native of Southern West Virginia; Angela “Angie” Shaneyfelt, a resident of Curtis Bay in South Baltimore, who lives just blocks away from an open air coal terminal owned and operated by rail giant CSX Transportation, which has been polluting her community for generations. Special thanks to Dr. Nicole Fabricant and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust for organizing this live show. Additional links/info below… Coal-Free Curtis Bay Facebook page and Instagram South Baltimore Community Land Trust website, Twitter/X page, Facebook page, and Instagram Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community website, Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter/X page Hilary's Instagram Nicole Fabricant's Instagram Melanie's Facebook page Angela's Facebook page Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "South Baltimore residents on the toxic reality of living in a 'sacrifice zone'" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "East Palestine residents demand fully-funded healthcare" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “One year later, East Palestine residents want Norfolk-Southern held accountable” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘Towns are gone': In Helene-devastated Asheville, NC, volunteers battle misinformation and ‘apocalyptic' wreckage” Maximillian Alvarez, In These Times / The Real News Network, "Scenes from a sacrifice zone: South Baltimore residents fight back against industrial pollution" Maximillian Alvarez & Molly Crabapple, In These Times, “Wasteland warriors” Laura Gottesdiener, The Nation, “You can wipe out coal, but you can't bring the mountains back” Nicole Fabricant, University of California Press, Fighting to Breathe: Race, Toxicity, and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore Nicole Fabricant, The Real News Network, “Opinion | CSX explosion in Curtis Bay should alarm Baltimore City and accelerate real change” Adam Willis, The Baltimore Banner, "A state-backed report found coal dust across Curtis Bay. CSX isn't convinced" Melanie Meade, PublicSource, “Family history, loss and hopes for a bright future fuel my fight for clean air in Clairton” Daniel Shailer, PublicSource, “The Mon Valley holds its breath as the latest U.S. Steel settlement promises a fresh approach” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Studio Production: Max Alvarez Post-Production: Jules Taylor
First, John runs down some early election returns and races. Then he plays SXM Progress Zerlina Maxwell's interview with VP Kamala Harris. Next, he interviews New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera about politics in New York and the Puerto Rican vote. Then, John welcomes back Amanda Litman who is the co-founder and president of Run for Something, which recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot office. And lastly, he talks with John Nichols who is the National Affairs correspondent for the Nation, a contributing writer for the Progressive and In These Times, and the associate editor of Madison, Wisconsin's Capital Times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Two years ago, the US was on the cusp of seeing its first national rail strike in decades. Then, President Joe Biden, at the urging of the rail companies, and with the help of both parties in Congress, preemptively blocked railroad workers from striking in December of 2022. Workers were forced to accept a contract that did not address the vast majority of issues that have been putting them, our communities, and our supply chain at hazard. How has this all shaped railroad workers' attitudes and approaches to the upcoming elections? In this urgent panel discussion, we pose this question directly to three veteran railroaders, and we have an honest discussion about how working people should act strategically within and outside the electoral system to advance their interests. Panelists include: Hugh Sawyer, a veteran locomotive engineer with 36 years of experience, a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division 316, and a founding member and acting treasurer of Railroad Workers United; Mark Burrows, a retired locomotive engineer with 37 of experience, who has served as co-chair and organizer for Railroad Workers United, where he still edits RWU's quarterly newsletter “The Highball”; Ron Kaminkow, a recently retired former brakeman, conductor, and engineer who worked for many years in freight rail before working 20 years as a passenger engineer at Amtrak, a founding member of RWU and delegate in the Northern Nevada Central Labor Council. Additional links/info below… Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and Twitter/X page Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Railroad workers speak out after Congress and Biden block rail strike” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Why do railroad workers keep dying on the job?” Maximillian Alvarez & Mel Buer, The Real News Network, “Labor militancy can't be stopped: Palestine and Labor Notes 2024” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “US freight workers say it's time to nationalize the railroads” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "“This was preventable”: Railroad workers explain how Wall St caused the East Palestine derailment" Mel Buer, The Real News Network, “Corporate billionaires are wrecking the supply chain. Just look at the railroads” Adam Johnson, Nima Shirazi, Maximillian Alvarez, & Mel Buer, Citations Needed / The Real News Network, “Biden and Congressional Dems partner with GOP and corporate media to discipline railroad workers” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Railroad workers are being ground to dust. Who will help them?” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music... Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song
It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Hamilton Nolan, labor writer at In These Times and author of the How Things Work newsletter on SubStack, to discuss his recent book The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor. First, Emma runs through updates on Harris' recent sit-down on Fox, Lina Khan's role at the FTC under Biden, polling, Israel's ongoing offensives and genocide in Gaza, US aid to Israel, Biden's EPA, Georgia's election shenanigans, Jimmy Carter's age 100 ballot, DeSantis' war on Florida's abortion ballot measure, and a landmark settlement over the LA Catholic Church's systemic sexual abuse, before diving a little deeper into assessments of Harris' antagonistic interview on Fox. Hamilton Nolan then joins, diving right into the tight-knit and interdependent relationship between social movements and the institutions that cement the progress these movements seek, unpacking the central role labor unions have played as a ground zero for channeling the energy of social unrest into concrete political progress. After expanding on the disintegration of the state of labor in the US over the last 70 years, with even Biden – perhaps the most pro-union president over that time – overseeing a one-point drop in union rates, and the factors that drove that drop (namely staunch anti-union, anti-organizing, and pro-corporation legislation), Nolan steps back to explore how the environment that this dearth of union power has created makes it exceedingly difficult to push back against it, creating a completely asymmetrical battle between workers and corporations, and why the recent renaissance of labor consciousness – bolstered by folks like Sarah Nelson, Shawn Fian, and Felix Allen – must be capitalized on not just through legislation, by but widening and organizing the millions of Americans that still exist outside of these institutions, something essential to maintaining the progress that these unions can cement. Hamilton and Emma also touch on the major role labor is playing in pushing back against the anti-democratic (and anti-labor) urges of US imperialism, wrapping up the interview by exploring the changing image of the American worker (and the American union member), and why that must be embraced. Emma also touches on Trump's egotistic and anti-social musings about the state of immigration under Biden-Harris. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Matt Binder and Brandon Sutton as they talk with El Connipción from San Antonio about Ethan Klein and the conflation of Zionism and Judaism, watch Ezra Klein respond truly horrendously to Ta-Nehisi Coates challenging his inherent biases, and discuss the hypocrisy of White Supremacist rhetoric with Todd from Raleigh. Elon and Tucker bond over being complete and utter charlatans, while Krystal Ball does her best to unpack exactly Saager Enjeti is an idiot, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Hamilton's book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hamilton-nolan/the-hammer/9781668637517/?lens=hachette-books Check out Hamilton's writing at In These Times here: https://inthesetimes.com/authors/hamilton-nolan Check out the "How Things Work" newsletter here: https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Follow us on TikTok here!: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here!: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here!: https://rumble.com/user/majorityrep ort Check out our alt YouTube channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Join Sam on the Nation Magazine Cruise! 7 days in December 2024!!: https://nationcruise.com/mr/ Check out StrikeAid here!; https://strikeaid.com/ Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 20% off your purchase! Check out today's sponsors: Babbel: Here's a special holiday deal for our listeners. Right now, get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription - but only for our listeners - at https://Babbel.com/MAJORITY. Get up to 60% off at https://Babbel.com/MAJORITY. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (retired) joins us once again to give his unvarnished view of the now yearlong ethnic cleansing of Gaza, an assault that has now extended into Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. Plus, our resident constitutional expert, Bruce Fein stops by to give us a quick take on how U.S. material support of the Israeli aggression in Lebanon, an ally of ours, is a clear violation of The Neutrality Act.Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired U.S. Army colonel. Over his 31 years of service, Colonel Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2005, and Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Colonel Wilkerson also served as Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia, and for fifteen years he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum. The Jewish state in the Levant is finished. Now, if it wants to be a liberal democracy— if it wants to become a real democracy, it could possibly remain. But this Jewish state, especially in its current manifestation, which is the ultimate manifestation, has ended. It's through. The rest of the world, if nothing else, will terminate it just as it did the South African apartheid state. And it will happen—and it will happen despite the Empire's (The U.S.) protestations to the contrary. In fact, I predict ultimately when the Empire smells the tea leaves, it will probably join the crowd and tell them they have no choice but to be a liberal democracy—to invite what that means, which is ultimately a Palestinian Arab majority, and to even change their name to Israel-Palestine or Palestine-Israel or whatever. That's the future. The future is not Bibi Netanyahu.Col. Lawrence WilkersonNetanyahu talks about Joshua who moved on after Moses had given him instructions, and after the leadership had sort of fallen apart, and Joshua takes over. And they go in, and under God's instructions they are to kill everything in sight— leave no human being alive. And that's Netanyahu. Netanyahu thinks he's a latter-day Joshua, and that's what they're doing. They brought a thousand years of history's most rude, most bloodthirsty, most unbelievable procedures in waging war against another state or another people back into vogue again. And we're supporting it.Col. Lawrence WilkersonBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.The Neutrality Act of 1794 in substance prohibits anyone in the United States from directing or supplying arms or assistance— or otherwise engaging in war—that is against a country with which the United States is formally at peace. The United States at present is at peace with Iran. It's at peace with Lebanon. Indeed, Lebanon's an ally. We already know that President Biden had ordered Navy ships to use their Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense in collaboration with Israel to shoot down Iranian missiles—an act of war. And now they basically said we are combatants with Israel and probably planning covertly to join military forces on the next initiative that Israel takes against Iran. So it's a clear violation of the Neutrality Act.Bruce FeinListeners, you have your Senators and Representatives campaigning, as we speak, in your communities. You ask them to come to your town meetings where they can hear you out, and where you require them to respond. This is their moment of vulnerability before the election.Ralph NaderIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 10/9/241. In These Times reports “U.S. Jewish Institutions Are Purging Their Staffs of Anti-Zionists.” This piece, based on interviews with 18 Jewish professionals at 16 different Jewish organizations over several months, yielded descriptions of “being fired, quitting under pressure, or seeing their roles disappear since October 7 for issues surrounding criticism of Israel or support for a permanent cease-fire.” The magazine identifies this trend as part of “a radical rightward turn in mainstream Jewish organizational life over the past year...[where] Support for Israel and its government's assault on Gaza appear to have become a defining feature of employability.” Shaul Magid, who teaches modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School is quoted saying “More than an exercise in pro-Israel muscle, this is…an act of desperation. The liberal Zionist center is collapsing.”2. In a statement, the Hind Rajab Foundation – named for the five year-old girl killed by Israeli forces – has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing 1,000 Israeli soldiers of “war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.” The statement goes on to say “These individuals, all of whom have been identified by name, are accused of participating in systematic attacks against civilians during the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” examples of which include destruction of civilian infrastructure, illegal occupation and looting, and use of inhumane warfare tactics, among others. The Foundation alleges that this complaint is supported by over 8,000 pieces of verifiable evidence, including “videos, audio recordings, forensic reports, and social media documentation.”3. In a clash of the fast food titans, the Washington Post reports McDonald's has filed a lawsuit against Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS and National Beef Packing alleging that the meat packing giants engaged in a “conspiracy…to fix, raise, stabilize and/or maintain the price of beef…at supra-competitive levels — that is, prices artificially higher than beef prices would have been in the absence of their conspiracy.” In this complaint, McDonald's alleges that “the price per hundred pounds of cattle had historically stayed within $20 to $40 of the average price per hundred pounds of wholesale beef…. [but] By 2021, the difference had ballooned to $156.50.” The meatpackers have been under increasing scrutiny for the past several years. “In 2020, the Justice Department…sent subpoenas to the four meatpackers in an antitrust probe. A year later, nearly 30 members of Congress sent...a letter, suggesting it was time ‘to determine whether the stranglehold large meatpackers have over the beef processing market violate our antitrust laws and principles of fair competition,'” and in 2022, JBS agreed to a $52.5 million settlement with direct purchasers.4. In the final days before the 2024 election, Republicans are launching a full-scale assault on the regulatory state. The National Review reports House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer is opening an investigation into Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, accusing her of politicizing the agency by appearing at events with progressive lawmakers. These events have centered on policy – an event in Texas with Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar was focused on “corporate power and worker freedom,” while others have dealt with grocery prices, health care, and price gouging, per Punchbowl News – but Comer is alleging that these events were political in nature and thus prohibited by the Hatch Act. Meanwhile Mark Joseph Stern reports “Fourteen Republican attorneys general are suing to block a new [Federal Communications Commission] rule that would prohibit prisons from charging inmates extortionist rates for phone and video calls,” which can cost as much $54 each. It seems unlikely that these attacks on consumer protection rules will deliver political dividends for Republicans come November.5. In another bizarre GOP misstep, Indiana Senator Mike Braun recently said “the U.S. Supreme Court was wrong to legalize interracial marriage in…1967,” and that the decision should have “instead been left to individual states,” FOX59 Indianapolis reports. Braun then tied himself in knots saying that he condemned “racism in any form” but maintained that “We're better off having states manifest their points of view.” The Indiana Democratic Party condemned Braun's statements, calling his rhetoric “an endorsement of…dangerous white nationalist views.”6. Airline Geeks reports “Boeing has cut health care coverage for 33,000 of its workers and their families as [the] machinists union strikes continue to halt production in the Pacific Northwest.” International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers International President Brian Bryant responded to this clear attempt at strikebreaking by saying “Boeing executives cannot make up their mind…One day they say they want to win back the trust of their workforce. The next moment…Boeing executives are…tripping over dollars to get pennies by cutting a benefit that is essential to the lives of children and families, but is nothing compared to the cost of the larger problems Boeing executives have created …over the last ten years. Their missteps are costing not just the workers but our nation.” The Machinists have been on strike since September 13th, and Bryant said “Our members continue to be strong in their resolve and will not settle for anything but a fair contract that recognizes and rewards the critical and dedicated work they perform.”7. According to Documented NY, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has run a secretive program for years where ICE agents have trained hundreds of civilian volunteers on how to operate multiple types of firearms, conduct investigations and surveillance of immigrants, and use lethal force on human beings.” Documents from this quasi-fascist program, revealed via FOIA request on October 1st, include “detailed images showing where to strike with a baton or a weapon to cause differentiated harms on the body…presentations on how to shoot a gun, point at targets, and stand in positions to fire…[with] One presentation slide suggest[ing] yelling ‘drop the gun' as a potential cover when employing lethal force against someone.” Ian Head, Open Records project manager at the Center for Constitutional Rights, calls this “a violent and racist program, where people pretending to be violent ICE officers got to hold guns and fire them in role-play situations where agents pretended to be immigrants.”8. More fascist news comes to us from Canada, where the Ottawa Citizen reports “The Department of Canadian Heritage is being told that more than half of the 550 names on the Memorial to the Victims of Communism should be removed because of potential links to the Nazis or questions about affiliations with fascist groups, according to government records.” Documents show the department had already determined that 50 to 60 of the names or organizations were directly linked to the Nazis. As the article notes, “The memorial was supposed to be unveiled in November 2023 but…was put on hold after members of Parliament honoured Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian soldier with the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis. That incident became an international embarrassment for Canada.”9. In more positive news from our Southern neighbor, incoming Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced a new “Health at Home” program for seniors and persons with disabilities, per Latina Republic. The program, intended to reach 13.6 million people, “will bring healthcare personnel to the homes of all seniors across the country,” starting with a census to collect comprehensive health data to “establish a personalized care plan,” to be performed by over 20,000 new doctors and nurses. This ambitious program of preventative medicine is unimaginable in this country despite boasting a GDP almost 20 times the size of Mexico's.10. Finally, in Nebraska, a new poll from the Independent Center finds Independent Senate candidate Dan Osborne leading two-term incumbent Republican Deb Fischer by a remarkable 5 points. Currently the candidates stand at 42% for Fischer, 47% for Osborne, with 10% undecided. Voter registration in Nebraska totals 49% Republican, 26% Democrat, and 25% Independent, meaning Osborne has a path to victory via a Democratic-Independent coalition. If successful, Osborne could provide a model for victory in red states: run as a left-wing populist and jettison the toxic Democratic Party brand.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe
It's Hump Day! Sam speaks with Sarah Lazare, editor of Workday Magazine and contributing editor at In These Times, to discuss her recent reporting on the UAW fighting to restore a shuttered Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois. Then, they speak with Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer at Slate, to discuss the recent reporting in the New York Times regarding Chief Justice Roberts' influence on the Jan. 6th cases that were in front of the Supreme Court. First, Sam runs through updates on Israel's widespread and indiscriminate attacks across Lebanon, the UN's vote on ending Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, Fed cuts, polling, the GOP blocking another IVF protection attempt, Mike Johnson's desperate attempt to stop a Trump-backed push for a government shutdown, Express Scripts vs. the FTC, and growing labor action in the US, before watching Sen. Kennedy set quite the example at a hate crimes hearing. Sarah Lazare then joins, diving right into a history of Stellantis' plant in Belvidere, Illinois, from its opening in 1965 and through its peak in the late 2010s – when it employed nearly a third of the town's population – before the Corporation-formerly-known-as-Chrysler decided to idle the plant in 2023, essentially taking away thousands of jobs from the city. Continuing, Lazare then unpacks the plant's role in UAW negotiations with Stellantis in the wake of their overwhelmingly successful stand-up strike against the Big Three automakers (Stellantis, Ford, GM), with the reopening of the Belvedere plant one of many unprecedented wins for the union and emblematic of their emphasis on bringing workers into the manufacturing decisions that shape their lives. After briefly expanding on the details of the UAW's major wins from the stand-up strike, as well as some concessions, Sarah walks Sam through the devastating impact the idling of this plant has had on Belvidere, the incredible effort by other locals and the broader UAW to use their labor to demand the return of this plant, and the likelihood of the fight expanding into a broader strike, before wrapping up with a conversation on the ripple effect of labor rights and the importance of solidarity in building a better life for us all. Mark Joseph Stern and Sam then jump right into two major stories coming out of the recent SCOTUS leak, with Stern first outlining the revelations of Chief Justice John Roberts' complete MAGA-pilling over the last few years, including taking a commanding role on three major Supreme Court cases regarding Donald Trump, spearheading the entirety of the immunity decision and icing out the liberal judges, taking Alito off of the January 6th decision, and pushing for a landmark ruling on Trump's ballot access case. After expanding on the… “jurisprudence” behind Roberts' shift, Sam and Mark parse through the mystery of the leak, and what it tells us about the state of the Court. And in the Fun Half: Sam watches Mitch McConnell preemptively shirk blame for the GOP's upcoming government shutdown attempt, and Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying's brains expand beyond safe levels in real-time. He also dives deep into swing state and legislative poll numbers with John from San Antonio, unpacks the (im)moralities of social security with Dan Norton, and admires Henry Winkler's unabashed dissection of the absurdities of Bill Maher's Zionism. Dan Norton's biggest fan also calls in to explore the recent proliferation of anti-Haitian conspiracy and the United States' relationship to catholicism, plus, your calls and IMs! Follow Sarah on Twitter here: https://x.com/sarahlazare Check out Sarah's piece on the UAW here: https://inthesetimes.com/article/uaw-strike-stellantis-plant-fight Check out Workday Magazine here: https://workdaymagazine.org Follow Mark on Twitter here: https://x.com/mjs_DC Check out Mark's work at Slate here: https://slate.com/author/mark-joseph-stern TICKETS FOR MAJORITY REPORT ELECTION NIGHT LIVE SHOW HERE!: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-majority-report-with-sam-seder-election-night-coverage-live-show-tickets-1010883639177 Call your Senators at 202-224-3121 and urge them to tell Sen. Schumer NOT to bring Sen. bill 4127 to the floor! Go to https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and, in the space to contact the Vice President, voice support for FTC Chair Lina Khan and for Palestine! 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For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com/men and enter the promo code TMR. Find out why over 4,500 healthcare professionals and stylists recommend Nutrafol for healthier hair. https://Nutrafol.com/men promo code TMR. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/
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