3033 - "The Alphabet Boys"; Chicago Mayoral Race w/ Trevor Aaronson & Zachary Siegel

Emma speaks with Trevor Aaronson, contributing writer at The Intercept, to discuss his recent podcast Alphabet Boys. Then, she's joined by freelance journalist Zachary A. Siegel, to discuss his recent coverage in Bolts Magazine of the Chicago mayoral race. First, Emma runs through updates on decreasing unemployment filings, Trump’s visit to East Palestine – beating out both Biden and Buttigieg – Norfolk Southern coming to an agreement with their unions, the ADL study on all of last years extremist killing coming from the Right wing, Israel’s bombing of the Gaza strip, early polling for Feinstein’s vacated CA Senate seat, and more, before diving into the Democrats’ failure to respond (in any capacity) to the disaster in East Palestine and the revelation of child labor abuses at Packers Sanitation Services Inc. Trevor Aaronson then joins as he dives right into the history of the FBI’s infiltration of left-wing political and civil rights movements, a tactic foundational to the Bureau’s Hooverian ideology, beginning with the Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) of the 1950s that ran through the ‘70s, serving to undermine and endanger groups like the Black Panther Party and American Indian Movement and those that served as community leaders, and moving through Senator Frank Church’s investigation into and disbandment of this program and its horrendous abuses. Next, Aaronson walks through the post-Church Committee development of the FBI, as they somewhat took on a reserved role until the birth of the War on Terror, and a mass influx of funding for domestic political infiltration coming after the 9/11 terror attacks, and creating a renaissance of the FBI’s right to surveil and infiltrate without a criminal predicate. Trevor then looks to the protests of summer 2020 as he takes Emma through the story of Mickey Windecker, a self-proclaimed mercenary recruited by the FBI to infiltrate and inform on left-wing activists groups planning protests in Denver in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, employing violence, intimidation, and intra-community conspiracy to undermine and entrap Black anti-racist activists into illegal acts, resulting of the arrest of one protestor for the FBI-funded purchasing of weapons for the FBI informant, who would then give said weapon back to the FBI. After briefly touching on Jim Jordan and the GOP’s “Church Committee 2.0” and why we must push back against the revisionist narrative that the FBI only (or even primarily) targets the right wing, Emma and Trevor wrap up the interview by tackling the likelihood that these tactics were also prevalent outside of Denver, and the future of his reporting with “Alphabet Boys.”

And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Matt Binder and Brandon Sutton as they discuss Donald Trump’s visit to an East Palestine McDonalds, the Democrats’ obsession with evacuating from any areas where things go a little wrong for them, and why DeSantis’ crime tour won’t do much for his fight against Trump. Ben from Texas dives into his experiences in the struggling local news world, the crew covers pro-life Alaska State Rep. David Eastman’s statements on why child abuse ending in murder is good for society, actually, and why that’s not super abnormal for US politics. Bill Maher hosts Andrew Sullivan to discuss why trans rights are actually about forcing you to eat pussy and suck dick no matter what you want to do, Jordan Peterson explores why trans people are an affront to his god, and Mike from CA takes on the relationship between child labor and dangerous working conditions, plus, your calls and IMs!

Check out Alphabet Boys here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alphabet-boys/id1668980612

Check out Zachary's coverage here: https://boltsmag.org/in-chicago-mayor-race-policing-dominates-over-violence-prevention-programs/

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