We are a podcast and we don't like capitalism and we hope you'll be our friend. Made in Troy, NY
Episodes
Wednesday May 27, 2020
Wednesday May 27, 2020
We’re #blessed with a guest this episode, Mike Pearl, the author of a recent book titled “The Day It Finally Happens” which looks into a long series of interesting and plausible scenarios we may experience in the near future. We discuss anxiety, the future, and how to come to terms with reality. For our wildflower, we discuss how coal may finally be dying as an energy source! Enjoy Chapter 15 of The Conquest of Bread: The Division of Labor.
Follow Mike on Twitter! https://twitter.com/mikeleepearl
Buy the book! https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Day-It-Finally-Happens/Mike-Pearl/9781501194139
Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
Youtube decides Chris is a crank and starts advertising to him accordingly. The City of Troy moves to eliminate its entire reading department due to a budget shortfall. We discuss the tragic murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the new evidence that local police may have facilitated his killing. We also talk about calls to reopen the states, how Elon Musk defied Alameda County’s Coronavirus restrictions, and how a California city declares itself a “Sanctuary City for Work.” For our wildflower, an adorable baby pygmy hippo. Enjoy Chapter 14 of The Conquest of Bread!
Sign the petition to save Troy’s reading program! https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-the-troy-city-schools-reading-department
People Will Die. People Do Die.' Wall Street Has Had Enough of the Lockdown: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/wall-street-has-had-enough-of-the-lockdown
Police officer told homeowner he could contact Ahmaud Arbery shooting suspect for help with potential trespassers: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/16/us/ahmaud-arbery-text-message/index.html
Central California town declares itself 'sanctuary city' for business: https://abc7news.com/6186358/
An endangered pygmy hippo was born at the San Diego Zoo: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/16/us/pygmy-hippo-san-diego-zoo-trnd/index.html
Monday May 11, 2020
Monday May 11, 2020
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
Monday May 04, 2020
Monday May 04, 2020
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
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
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!
Tuesday Apr 21, 2020
Tuesday Apr 21, 2020
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
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
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
Monday Apr 06, 2020
Monday Apr 06, 2020
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)
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
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
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
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)