Ironweeds

45 - Red State Blue State

This week the gang catches up after taking a much needed break for work and play! We discuss how Kerala, India is absolutely dominating coronavirus with one simple trick: communism! Governor Amazon Cuomo is using the pandemic in classic shock-doctrine fashion to sell us all to Google and Microsoft. NY State legislature is working on a bill that would prohibit law enforcement from gathering information on civilians’ documentation status, and the Mayor of Flavortown is using his big flaming heart to help out hospitality workers. Enjoy Chapter 13 of The Conquest of Bread!

 

“How India’s Red State Got on Top of Coronavirus”: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/04/physical-distance-social-unity-how-indias-red-state-got-on-top-of-coronavirus

 

“Screen New Deal”: https://theintercept.com/2020/05/08/andrew-cuomo-eric-schmidt-coronavirus-tech-shock-doctrine/

 

Assembly Bill A9586: https://www.nysenate.gov//legislation/bills/2019/A9586

 

“Guy Fieri Raises More Than $20 Million for Restaurant Workers Affected by Coronavirus”: https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/guy-fieri-raises-more-than-20-million-for-restaurant-workers-affected-by-coronavirus-1234602930/

Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/ironweeds

44 - UNLOCKED: Collar Laundry Union

We've unlocked our bonus episode on the Collar Laundry Union, in which we do a deep dive into the unionizing efforts of Troy, NY’s laundresses, and the role of Kate Mullany in leading the country’s first sustained women’s union. We detail the conditions of the laundries, the women’s first successes agitating for better pay and working conditions, their eventual dissolution, and the legacy they left for women workers. 

Kate Mullany in the National Women’s Hall of Fame: https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/kate-mullany/

The Times Union on Mullany’s induction into the Labor Hall of Fame: https://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-features/article/Troy-s-Kate-Mullany-Irish-immigrant-who-7468417.php

Historian Suzanne Spellen’s essays on Kate Mullany: https://www.brownstoner.com/history/walkabout-kate-mullany-a-troy-story-part-1/

Also cited: Women and the American Labor Movement by Philip S. Foner

43 - Rumor Has It: Rent Is Cancelled

The gang discusses Trump’s literally toxic home remedy suggestions for COVID, debt and the reality of 10’s of millions of people suddenly unable to pay the bills, and the political and economic outlook for workers in the US post the Sanders presidential campaigns. For our wildflower this week, it seems like a de-facto and increasingly explicit and unapologetic rent strike is on! And enjoy the first part of Chapter 13 of The Conquest of Bread!

42 - Balkanized Babushkas ft. Yasha Levine

This week we’re joined by Yasha Levine, author of Surveillance Valley and the investigative series Immigrants as a Weapon. We discuss how government and corporate development of digital technologies work to further American empire, how middle-class notions of privacy and our myopic focus on surveillance stunt other projects and political imaginations, and the history of Soviet Jews and their utility to the American neoliberal project. We close with a discussion of the importance of the USPS and Chapter 12 of The Conquest of Bread, Objections. 

Subscribe to Yasha’s Substack: https://yasha.substack.com

Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet: https://surveillancevalley.com

Public outcry over threats to the USPS: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lamvo/save-us-postal-service-coronavirus-twitter

41 - No Mo' Cuomo feat. Lyta Gold

This week we talk with writer and editor at Current Affairs Lyta Gold on Tara Reade’s accusations against Joe Biden, the failure of national news outlets to fairly cover the story, and the importance of supporting independent journalism. We also discuss the coronation of Andrew Cuomo as President of the Coronavirus, while in reality he is a fake progressive who steals gay valor and fetishizes his scumbag dad. Our wildflower covers promising preliminary research on using magnetic fields to treat depression.

 

Lyta’s piece on Governor Cuomo: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/03/stop-trying-to-make-andrew-cuomo-happen

 

NY construction workers forced to continue work: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/new-york-city-coronavirus-construction-workers

 

Subscribe to Current Affairs!

https://www.currentaffairs.org/subscribe

https://www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs

 

Stanford researchers devise treatment that relieved depression in 90% of participants in small study

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/04/stanford-researchers-devise-treatment-that-relieved-depression-i.html

40 - Demand More

Coronavirus reveals the inability of global capitalist systems to prioritize human dignity and well being, even for a short time. While this pandemic is warping horseshoe politics into an indistinguishable shape, the DNC establishment has chosen to nominate a dementia-ridden racist rapist in order to stop a nice Jewish man from doing anything to help the poor and working classes. Liz Warren once again betrays her supposed principles, praising Biden’s “leadership” and “decency.” Even our most progressive leaders are failing to call for radical resistance and a general strike - do better! Emily joins us to describe Regeneron’s efforts to provide New York State with some much needed COVID19 testing kits, and for our wildflower, we bring good news from Wuhan, China, where the crisis is finally abating and life is beginning to return to normal.

After the ep, Britney brings us more Kropotkin this week with Chapter 10: Agreeable Work, from The Conquest of Bread. 

Liz Warren sucks up to Biden: (https://www.siriusxm.com/clips/clip/0599fdfc-88f5-6fdc-bb03-580b27af0c14/fafe6b82-23c9-48b8-a59d-d2b2714cd35a)

Jimmy Dore spitting fire on the failures of progressive leadership: (https://twitter.com/Tav_assoli/status/1245496901354639360?s=20)

Wuhan reopens after two-month Lockdown: (https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1888260/wuhan-reopens-after-two-month-lockdown)

39 - A Tyrant You Can Trust

This week we are #blessed to talk with presidential candidate and current front-runner in the race for the Libertarian Party Primary Vermin Supreme! We discuss his history of satirical runs for the president, his pivot to a more serious run for the LP nomination, and how his beliefs as a left-leaning anarchist jive with the Libertarian Party. Vermin makes the case for anarchy as a practice that we engage in every day and tells us about his experiences with temporary autonomous collective efforts, and how wearing a boot on his head has allowed him to disrupt the political duopoly in creative ways. He also describes alternatives to a state-run healthcare system and other state-based interventions. 

Learn more about Vermin’s campaign at (https://verminsupreme2020.com)

Follow him on Twitter at @VerminSupreme

38 - Dual Wielding Powers

We practice safe socializing and ask the tough questions like where is Joe Biden? Is he in cool-down after boofing nootropics for the town hall debate? We discuss the Democrats and the politics of defeat, and their current unwillingness to corner the political market of meaningful social assistance, instead pushing for means-tested garbage that’s gonna piss everyone off and slow things down. We discuss the possibilities of cybernetic socialism and scalability of mutual aid networks. Also, the DOJ wants to suspend civil rights during a national emergency.

We tease our bonus for the week - Kate Mullany and women's labor organizing in Troy in the 1860’s before our wildflower for the week - when we chill out, nature heals.

And to finish this episode, please enjoy Brit's rendition of Kropotkin’s Conquest of Bread: Chapter 9: On the need for Luxury!

Well, actually… Swan’s never left Venice: (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/03/coronavirus-pandemic-fake-animal-viral-social-media-posts)

David’s Educational Twitch Stream: (https://twitch.tv/dabanks)

More Trees Arborist Cooperative in Troy, NY: (http://www.moretrees.coop/)

DOJ Coronavirus Emergency Powers: (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/21/doj-coronavirus-emergency-powers-140023)

Coronavirus: Air pollution and CO2 fall rapidly as virus spreads: 

(https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51944780)

(https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/22/climate/coronavirus-usa-traffic.html)

37 - Curve-Stomping COVID19 ft. Karma

We’re blessed with a special guest this week, Karma, a masters student at Albany Med and microbiologist who is writing her thesis on pneumonic plague epidemics. We get into what we know so far about COVID19, our response to it, and what we might expect going forward. We also discuss the upsides and downsides of the digishitification of education through free online distribution of video lectures and course materials. For our wildflower, we bring you two signs of good fortune: Canada’s working on a vaccine, and an emergency hospital just closed in Wuhan.

 

Price Gouging Hand Sanitizer: 

(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html) 

 

Canadian Covid-19 Vaccine Candidate:

(https://globalnews.ca/news/6671901/coronavirus-canadian-company-covid-19-vaccine-candidate/)

 

Wuhan Medical Workers Celebrate Closing Emergency Hospital: (https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-medical-workers-remove-masks-after-last-temporary-hospital-closes-2020-3)

36 - Coughing is Literal Violence

Big Structural Self Discreditation may not be good sloganeering, but it seems an accurate depiction of the new turn in Liz’ political career. We set a time to discuss the electoral horse race for a maximum of 15 minutes, and then move on to discuss PILOT programs and how they are a factor in gentrification, with a case study of our beloved city of Troy. Then, we discuss how the Department of Defense has contracted illegally with local incineration facilities including the Norlite facility in Cohoes, NY to burn some seriously heinous chemicals. We talk COVID19 with the new declaration of a State of Emergency in New York, and for our wildflower we stan the Wuhan Gang of quarantined middle school kids who 1-star reviewed their homework app into oblivion. 

We leave you with a few early tracks from Chris’ band Zombie Giuliani’s first album, and Brit’s narration of Kropotkin’s Conquest of Bread, Chapter 7, Ways and Means.

Wuhan Gang Aint Nothin To Fuck With: (https://mashable.com/article/wuhan-kids-app-coronavirus.amp)

Zombie Giuliani First Show Poster: (https://66.media.tumblr.com/b0ae21f10bd587bdca13564243f9eadf/tumblr_inline_q5xjduAlGG1qc4i57_500.png)

Details: Mar 19, 9:30 PM, Desperate Annies, 12 Caroline St. Saratoga, NY

Zombie Giuliani Album: (https://zombiegiuliani.bandcamp.com/releases)