Thu, 31 March 2022
Emma hosts Danielle Lindemann, Associate Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University, to discuss her recent book True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us. Then, Emma is joined by Alexandra Hunt, candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's 3rd District, to give us an update from the campaign trail! First, Professor Lindemann joins as she and Emma bond over their school rivalries and love for reality TV, diving into how these reflections of social interaction and hierarchy can provide a zany, yet very useful sociological lens. They begin by situating where and how the social juggernaut that is reality TV came to be, looking to the 2000s cultural benchmark of “Survivor” to serve as the emergence of the genre, before it took off on a wider scale amid the 2007 writers’ strike. This leads them to a discussion on how reality TV’s structure differs from typical programming, requiring drastically less overhead, from flexibility in paying talent, to lack of writers or any union staffing, and how the genre fits into the profit incentives of the industry, and thus reflects many of the economic models of our society, particularly when it comes to the gig economy. Next, Professor Lindemann dives into how she unpacks this sociological lens throughout her work, looking first at the smallest social unit of the individual, before working through what it can tell us about families and other smaller groups, leading all the way up through the larger and more abstract social structures of class, race, gender, and sexuality. Emma then gets into how, despite the largely hedonistic picture that reality TV shows paint, the majority of them still work to reinforce conservative and Christian values, showing the right ways that certain people should act and dress, as she looks to Rachel Lindsay’s discussion of being the first Bachelorette of color, and the insanely high standards she had to meet to even be a part of that world. Then, they look to American Idol as Emma and Danielle explore how reality TV is a producer’s dream in terms of its ability to be manipulated to tell a specific story, as this talent show was able to constantly spew themes of patriotism, individualism, and meritocracy. They then look to the larger themes that we can see in the genre, as it explains to us the legitimacy of the class system, from the Honey Boo Boos and Tiger Kings with their working-class buffoonery to the indulgence of the Real Housewives, and how whiteness is the standard of having your story told, all serving up an incredibly regressive picture of people under the shield of “this is just people being people.” They wrap up the interview by touching on the hold reality TV has on our culture, from forming para-social relationships in the internet age to gifting us our 45th president. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon and Matt as they unpack Charlie Kirk’s obsession with kids, and letting liberation movements run wild with supporting the self-confidence and identity of our youngest generations, and the flip the right is trying to pull by portraying queer Disney employees as the “elite” while the ones actually in power, their bosses, shut down progressive pushes inside the company, and fund homophobic bills outside of it. Wren from South Oregon calls in as she unpacks the importance of decentralized currency when it comes to access to hormones amid a shutdown on trans healthcare, and IMers celebrate today’s PA-centric show. Ben Shapiro lists off lynching statistics like a baseball-obsessed pre-teen, Sean from Washington discusses political divides between union members and union leaders, and Alex from NY gives his weekly matchups, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Wed, 30 March 2022
Sam and Emma host Paul Renfro, Assistant Professor of History at Florida State University, to discuss his recent book Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State. Check out Paul's book here: https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190913984.001.0001/oso-9780190913984 Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: MySolarNerd.com: There are a lot of homeowners that aren't aware of the solar options currently available. It is now possible to retrofit a home with solar panels for no money down. Most homeowners that switch over to solar see significant savings starting in their first year. This is possible thanks to the Solar Investor Tax Credit (going away soon). My Solar Nerd’s mission is SIMPLE: Help you find the best solar program for your home and make the transition as EASY and SMOOTH as possible. Go to https://mysolarnerd.hubspotpagebuilder.com/the-brightest-choice-in-solar and fill out the inquiry form now. Make sure you select Majority Report Listener for how you heard about My Solar Nerd to receive a $200 gift card upon installation! Quip: Quip gets your smile ready, making good habits easy with all the essentials you need to care for your mouth. The quip Electric Toothbrush uses timed vibrations with 30-second pulses to guide a dentist-recommended two-minute clean. It’s loved by over SEVEN MILLION mouths. You can even upgrade with a NEW Smart Motor to track and improve your brushing AND earn sweet rewards. If you go to https://www.getquip.com/store?coupon=majority&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_campaign=the_majority_report_with_sam_seder RIGHT NOW, you’ll get your first refill FREE. That’s your first refill FREE at https://www.getquip.com/store?coupon=majority&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_campaign=the_majority_report_with_sam_seder. Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Tue, 29 March 2022
Sam and Emma break down a crazy weekend in news, from Biden's EuroTrip to KBJ's confirmation process, labor to COVID, the courts and more! They begin with Ron DeSantis’s official signing of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, as he pulls out the classics when it comes to homophobic fear-mongering, calling out corrupt Hollywood and the predators that endanger our children, and the role of public education and our teachers as scapegoats of the Right’s attack. Next, they jump into the changing tides in Ukraine’s defense against Russia as ceasefire talks become more hopeful, Putin lets go of his “de-nazification” claim, and discussions of letting Kyiv join the EU begin, before they also touch on how the Donbas region will come into play. This brings them to a discussion on Biden’s recently released budget proposal, as he finally puts forward more progressive taxation, including a wealth tax on families worth more than $100,000,000, only to boost the defense budget by 10%, and then look to the media’s reaction to this, as CBS hosts totally unbiased technocrat and former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to explore why this wealth tax is so unnatural and perhaps even unconstitutional. They wrap up the bigger news stories by covering, “How Joe Manchin Aided Coal, and Earned Millions,” in the New York Times, diving into his campaign of corruption, starting as State Senator in the 80s as he paved the way for extra coal power plants with lower regulations, just happening to take them on as the sole customer of his mines, before striking up some political bargains with AmBit utilities, alongside getting a small stake in the company, and effectively grew his power from Governor to Senator as he benefited from his mutualistic relationship with the coal industry. And in the Fun Half: Emma and Sam are joined by Nomiki Konst as they admire NE State Senator Bruce Bostelman’s willingness to go after the true cancer in our school systems (furries that defecate on the floor) and the horrendous sanitary implications it might have, before Nomiki and Emma dive into the $850,000,000 investment into a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills despite their renovations less than a decade ago. Madison Cawthorn drops some incredibly hot gossip on his fellow party members and their perverse behavior, Nomiki touches on Fox News SILENCING her for discussing price gouging, and the crew discusses their favorite fish, plus, your IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: Cozy Earth: One out of three Americans report being sleep deprived, and their sheets could be the problem. Luckily Cozy Earth provides the SOFTEST, MOST LUXURIOUS and BEST-TEMPERATURE REGULATING sheets. Cozy Earth has been featured on Oprah's Most Favorite Things List Four Years in a Row! Made from super soft viscose from bamboo, Cozy Earth Sheets breathe so you sleep at the perfect temperature all year round. And for a limited time, SAVE 35% on Cozy Earth Bedding. Go to https://cozyearth.com/and enter my special promo code MAJORITY at checkout to SAVE 35% now. Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Mon, 28 March 2022
Sam and Emma host freelance journalist Alexander Zaitchik to discuss his recent book Owning The Sun: A People's History of Monopoly Medicine From Aspirin To COVID-19 Vaccines, on the development of patent regimes from an attempt to democratize knowledge to a system of corporate and institutional control. Zaitchik begins by walking Sam and Emma back to the inception of intellectual property and patents in Elizabethan England as a tool to constrain the Crown’s power to assign monopoly rights, and why, despite this attempt to democratize the production of knowledge, liberal thinkers of the time (such as John Locke) saw it as dampening the flow of knowledge. After briefly touching on the belief in IP rights as encouraging innovation, despite the transhistorical belief in knowledge as a collective product, and the lack of financial incentives behind almost every technological development before the industrial revolution, Sam, Emma, and Alexander look to the affirmation of patents and IP in the US Constitution as a tool of democratization, as we saw in England, and how that developed into a practice of corporate obstructionism beginning in the Gilded Age. Zaitchik then dives into the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, and his attempt to further “democratize” (his words, not mine) the patent regime by aligning it with physical property rights, thus completely individualizing knowledge under the guise of opening it up. This led to a rise of corporate research labs in the late 1800s, as they figured out how to amass more and more patents for technological and medical developments, keeping them in the hands of a corporate monopoly rather than individual innovators. Next, Alexander jumps to the New Deal era and attempts to rein in the patent regime, as FDR’s Department of Justice pushed a culture of anti-trust regulation, looking back to the Constitution’s statements on patents as a charge to support the diffusion of knowledge, particularly in the wake of WW1’s technological advancements falling into the hands of corporations that would go on to work intimately with Nazis. This brings them to the period from the 40s to the 80s which saw treasury-funded research go into public control, requiring genuine commitment to public interest for any monopoly approval, before neoliberalism took over in the Reagan era, with the passing of the Bayh-Dole act and Reagan’s creation of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals as a tool to fast track the approval of monopolies, really taking ideological court-packing to a new level. They wrap up the interview with an extended discussion on Bill Gates’s philanthropy in the world of global health, his leveraging of incredible financial, institutional, and media power to push his ideology, and how incredibly representative this is of countless issues with medical and technological IP, and the laundering process that is American philanthropy. Sam and Emma also touch on Biden’s falling approval ratings as he clamors to grab onto bad faith footholds, and the live drama that we saw this weekend (at the MR show, of course). And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma cover the most ridiculous takes in the wake of Will Smith’s slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars, some of which are offered up by our very own comments section, and Jimmy Dore realizes that the true victims of the assault are stand-up comedians everywhere. Amy Klobuchar comes at the moral authority of the Supreme Court without going far enough to impact the power they have, Rick Scott offers up his plan to hike up taxes on half of the country and take away their healthcare as McConnell, for some reason, tries to sweep it under the rug, and Lara Logan returns for some classical anti-Semitic conspiracy theory stemming from Darwin. Nick from Pittsburgh discusses nuclear power and private regulation and Kowalski from NE reflects on the live show, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Alexander here: https://www.zaitchik.com/ https://www.counterpointpress.com/dd-product/owning-the-sun/ Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: LiquidIV: Cooler weather makes it easier to miss signs of dehydration like overheating or perspiration, which means it's even more important to keep your body properly hydrated. Liquid I.V. contains 5 essential vitamins—more Vitamin C than an orange and as much potassium as a banana. Healthier than sugary sports drinks, there are no artificial flavors or preservatives and less sugar than an apple. 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Fri, 25 March 2022
It's Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox, to discuss the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Then, Sam and Emma are joined by comedian Judy Gold, host of the Kill Me Now podcast! Sam and Emma start off by discussing President Biden visiting Brussels to survey NATO's positioning in the Russia/Ukraine conflict, as well as answer questions from reporters like "Have you considered World War 3 more strongly yet, and if so, why not?" Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: sunsetlakecbd is a majority employee owned farm in Vermont, producing 100% pesticide free CBD products. Great company, great product and fans of the show! Use code Leftisbest and get 20% off at http://www.sunsetlakecbd.com. And now Sunset Lake CBD has donated $2500 to the Nurses strike fund, and we encourage MR listeners to help if they can. Here’s a link to where folks can donate: https://forms.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Thu, 24 March 2022
Emma hosts journalist William Neuman to discuss his recent book Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela. Then, Emma is joined by Summer Lee, candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's 12th District, to give up an update from the campaign trail. William Neuman begins by jumping back to his first move to Venezuela at the start of the 2010s, as a correspondent for the New York Times, tracing the story of Venezuela’s economic collapse. He starts with the booming success of Hugo Chavez in the 2000s, as he oversaw an incredible jump in oil prices, and began a spree of government spending and borrowing, without saving the income for any future crisis – thus, when Chavez died from cancer in the wake of his 2010 reelection, passing the reins to Nicolás Maduro, only for a massive drop in oil prices, down to around a quarter of the peak of Chavez’s administration, to completely cripple the economic output of the country beginning in 2012. The rest of the 2010s saw Maduro attempt to grapple with the crisis while uncertain about altering Chavez’s pre-existing policy, as hyperinflation, depression, and rising refugee rates took over, leading up to the mass blackouts in 2019, and eventual controversy over Maduro’s reelection. This brings Neuman and Emma to the role of US foreign policy and sanctions in pushing Venezuela over the edge, as former President Trump and John Bolton pushed intervention to the extreme, with the Defense Department rejecting any actual invasion, before Bolton chose to “go for the win” and push Maduro completely out of office by putting an incredibly stringent set of general sanctions, effectively enforcing a complete oil embargo against the country, cutting them off from the world economy and digging them deeper into this crisis – effectively. This, of course, came alongside the declaration by Juan Guaidó that he was the legitimate president, with much of the West clamoring to support and recognize him, despite the similar illegitimacy of his claim in the wake of large disenfranchisement and voter suppression, with American Republicans attempting to capitalize on the socialist boogeyman to bolster their electoral push in Florida. Emma and William then dive into the counter to this negative branding of Socialism by the US, looking to Chavez’s autocratic rise as a populist, appropriating the socialist rhetoric and symbolism of the 60s and 70s in Latin America, without taking on the actual policy, pushing increasing polarization and capitalizing on the oil boom. After briefly touching on what the country looked like during the economic collapse, and the various unsuccessful (and some successful) policy the government took on at the time, Emma gets Neuman to dive into what the role of the leftist opposition in Venezuela is, as they discuss the discourse from politicians such as Henrique Capriles and the need to not just take down the bad guys in government, but to build up good and functioning institutions in the wake. Emma also touches on the end of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, the continued Russia escalation in Ukraine, and the disastrous and corrupt shadow docket decision by SCOTUS to overturn the Wisconsin State Supreme Court’s decision regarding redistricting. And in the Fun Half: Emma hosts Summer Lee as they unpack fighting for her base of poor and working-class Pennsylvanians when up against union-busters, being a part of a legislative arena with white supremacists strewn throughout it, and what working for Pittsburgh means to her. Then, Brandon and Matt join as Kowalski gives his agriculture update, Tucker goes deep into the role of genes and the Supreme Court, and Joe Rogan defends the ideology behind the “don’t say gay” bills, lighting fire under the bigots’ fight for the right to be themselves (violent assholes). Bee from PA discusses Leftists and the culture war, as Matt, Brandon, and Emma unpack who the “Left” is, and the difference between “culture war” and “civil rights,” before Cory Booker goes Cuckoo for Crypto, Bari Weiss takes the crown for cringiest Ukraine poem – overtaking both the Pelosi x Bono collaboration and the wonderful AnnaLynne McCord's “If I Were Your Mother” – plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Donate to the Minneapolis teacher's strike fund here: https://www.mft59.org/strike-fund Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Wed, 23 March 2022
Sam and Emma host Jacob Silverman, staff writer at The New Republic, to discuss cryptocurrency and his upcoming book with Ben McKenzie, Easy Money. Sam and Emma start off by recapping some of the crazier moments from Day 2 of Ketanji Brown Jackson (KBJ)'s confirmation hearing, like when Lindsey Graham screamed at Dick Durbin that he'd spend countless taxpayer dollars to kill Guantanamo Bay inmates, despite most of them still there never being charged with any crimes. Then they are joined by Jacob, who begins the conversation by defining cryptocurrency, the high priced Wall Street deals we've been seeing regarding the asset recently, and how "tokens" are now being used as opposed to stock options in these deals to skirt around securities regulations. They then touch upon where these massive cash infusion and expenditures go in these deals (the answer-mostly marketing and celebritizing these assets). Jacob then touches on the "greater fool theory" and how passing the buck to more and more credulous investors leads to greater profits for some of these crypto companies, and whether standard policy white papers and prospectuses exist for such a speculative asset. They then touch on how exactly Bitcoin and other cryptos could possibly be valued given how unstable an asset it is, the fallacious notion that Bitcoin is extremely "state of the art" tech to begin with, the emergence of "casino capitalism" within both crypto and sports betting, and how many of the Bitcoin scams (think Turkish Martha Stewart) mostly operate either as "rug pulls" or as basic multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes. They then discuss the limits of "DYOR" (Do Your Own Research) when the research available usually comes from people with skin in the crypto game, as well as what the hell NFT's actually are. They end the conversation with Jacob distilling the crypto business model to its essence: that of people with too much cash exploiting people with not nearly enough cash to make up for how much they'll lose investing in these products. And in the Fun Half, Sam dishes about how he came into a vintage H.R. Geiger sculpture that he could've waited much longer to cash out on, the crew checks in on Day 3 of KBJ's hearings and Round 2 of Graham-Durbin, with Graham storming off AGAIN, Tom Cotton asking KBJ whether more or less murderers is good or bad, and Josh Hawley going hard for the 2024 QAnon constituency with his line of questioning. Then, Sen. Mike Braun says that interracial marriage should be arbitrated at the state level (he said he didn't mean it), Marjorie Taylor Greene blames Ukraine for Russia invading, and right-wing nutjobs like Steven Crowder and Ron DeSantis obsess over trans athletes. Plus, your calls and IM's! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: MySolarNerd.com: There are a lot of homeowners that aren't aware of the solar options currently available. It is now possible to retrofit a home with solar panels for no money down. Most homeowners that switch over to solar see significant savings starting in their first year. This is possible thanks to the Solar Investor Tax Credit (going away soon). My Solar Nerd’s mission is SIMPLE: Help you find the best solar program for your home and make the transition as EASY and SMOOTH as possible. 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) 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Tue, 22 March 2022
2801 - KBJ Hearing Reveals Republican Birth Control Agenda, Financial Sanctions Decimate Afghan Children
Sam and Emma break down a big weekend in news, from the SCOTUS confirmation hearings of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, from labor to COVID and more! They begin by tackling the continued holdup on aid to Afghanistan (alongside other war-torn regions like Yemen) by the West in the wake of Biden pilfering the $7 Billion of funds for the region. Then, Sen Durbin helps Ketanji Brown Jackson address Josh Hawley’s shameless comments and his utter lack of self-awareness, as she discusses literally just doing her job, before Sam and Emma watch Marsha Blackburn use KBJ’s nomination to tee-up the Right’s next attack on bodily autonomy, and ponder how much more Republicans might have respected the nomination, if she had spent her time pissing and shitting and screaming about beer and her anti-child pornography calendar. Former AG Bill Barr continues the theme, as he shamelessly plugs the Right’s commitment to respecting SCOTUS nominations, completely forgetting how the current AG, Merrick Garland, came to assume that position. After briefly touching on the Republicans trying to tie KBJ to CRT, Sam and Emma cover updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden’s trip to Europe, and the horrifying child death rate in Afghanistan in the wake of the US pullout and thievery. And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma are joined by Nomiki Konst as they discuss Stephanie Murphy’s version of “Why I Left the Left,” despite successfully pushing every centrist policy during Biden’s time in office, before getting into Fox hooking onto a regional women’s swim meet as the pinnacle of women’s oppression, interviewing DOZENs of women (the rest are just off-screen) who just happen to be walking away from the Democrats, entrusting the well-being of the female sex to anti-abortion activists. Emma also dives into the rise of the UK as TERF-Island, and what we can expect as this conservative campaign begins to dig into US mainstream media, and why – just like every other piece of fascist agenda – the solution to tackle this (non) “problem” (giving gender-affirming care to help assimilate trans people to their preferred bodies) will never be used. Sam is baffled why this is even a problem, Donald Trump talks the future of the past, and Eric Trump discusses the horribleness of contemporary geopolitics and what that means for Biden riding a bicycle. JD Vance balances not being a winner with being a massive loser, Tucker works on his best Fallon impression to flatter Kid Rock, plus, your IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: Nutrafol: You don’t have to choose between better hair growth and your health. There’s a holistic solution for men that promotes both healthier hair and whole-body wellness: Nutrafol. Nutrafol is the #1 dermatologist-recommended hair growth supplement, clinically shown to improve your hair growth, thickness, and visible scalp coverage. You can grow thicker, healthier hair AND support our show by going to https://nutrafol.com/ and entering the promo code MAJORITY to save fifteen dollars off your first month’s subscription. 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) 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Mon, 21 March 2022
Sam and Emma host Adolph Reed, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss his recent book The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives, on the lasting legacy of the racial order that defined the post-reconstruction era, and its intrinsic ties to labor and exploiting the Black workforce. Professor Reed first situates when the Jim Crow period was, as regimes of racial segregation began consolidating as reconstruction waned, and becoming a genuine wholescale institution of the South at the end of the 1800s, lasting well into the 20th Century and beyond the Second World War, before he dives into the driving forces behind this coalition: power and labor. Prof. Reed leads Emma and Sam through the pushback to rising Republican populism in the South during the flux period of reconstruction, as the white Democratic elite began to fear their overthrow (just more taxes and multi-racial labor coalitions), thus pushing coups (some literally) throughout southern governments, and shutting the doors behind them, reserving politics to control of the ownership class, and employing disenfranchisement and segregation to undermine the growing power of Black freed folks. This brings them to the concept of disenfranchisement as a means to an end for the Right, keeping them in power by relying on the racial social order that had been created, and how this is representative of why the Right has found footholds in power where the left has failed: having a practical end (keeping power and elite control) that they can maneuver different means to support. Next, Professor Reed dives into two mainstream misunderstandings of the end of Jim Crow: 1) That racism ended with the end of Jim Crow, or 2) that the changes didn’t truly matter. He then dives into how neoliberalism (and liberalism) have created a view of race as the one and only fault-line of American politics – that slavery and Jim Crow were made to produce racism, not cotton and sugar or Right-wing governments – and the importance of centering the labor exploitation of Black folks (alongside many others), before they wrap up the interview by looking at how anti-racism organizing and the future of US politics will have to deal with this “flattening” of political discourse. Sam and Emma also touch on Lindsay Graham complaining that he was criticized for supporting Brett Kavanaugh (potential sexual assaulter) while the Dems don’t receive that backlash for the Kentanji Brown Jackson (definitely a Black woman) nomination. And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma watch Josh Hawley go off about the constitutional nature of child pornography as he tries to tie Ketanji Brown Jackson to the people she put in jail, Chucky Summer from LA calls in about redistricting, and then they cover Kentucky’s 15-week abortion ban and State Sen. Karen Berg’s incredible impassioned plea as one of the few women and ONLY radiologist in the State Senate. Ronald Raygun and Emma team up to question Sam on why he doesn’t capitalize on this correlation between the amount of skin he exposes and wealth redistribution to refugees. Kowalski from NE goes from Sam’s body to rising wood (prices), and Ohio republicans brawl over… definitely something. Dave Rubin responds to the backlash to his birth announcement and grapples with maintaining both his dignity and grift, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: LiquidIV: Cooler weather makes it easier to miss signs of dehydration like overheating or perspiration, which means it's even more important to keep your body properly hydrated. Liquid I.V. contains 5 essential vitamins—more Vitamin C than an orange and as much potassium as a banana. Healthier than sugary sports drinks, there are no artificial flavors or preservatives and less sugar than an apple. Grab your favorite Liquid I.V. flavors nationwide at Walmart or you can get 25% off when you go to https://www.liquid-iv.com/ and use code MAJORITYREP at checkout. 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland Donate to the Minneapolis teacher's strike fund here: https://www.mft59.org/strike-fund Watch Sam's debate with Don Peebles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSNHI9rpX58 The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Fri, 18 March 2022
It's Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Alex Pareene, Contributing Editor at the New Republic and proprietor of the AP newsletter on Substack, to round up the week in news. Then, Sam and Emma are joined by comedian Andy Kindler, host of the Thought Spiral podcast! Alex, Sam, and Emma dive right into the Democrats being faced with their biggest fear (doing literally anything for the public) as they watch Nancy Pelosi absolutely rip a reporter a new one for asking about COVID when people are dying… but not the ones dying of COVID – simply dumping the pandemic to the side in favor of the Democrats’ “single kitchen table issue” tactic, where they don’t discuss anything but, in this case, Ukraine, and how they are once again turning to a very arbitrary scapegoating of Russia. Next, they dive into the absurdity of the Dems’ (supposedly) popularist tactics, yet are scared to death of taking on “culture war” issues that are supported by vast majorities of the American public, from reproductive freedom to education and queer rights, instead reading limericks from Bono in support of the Ukrainian people, rather than, say, accepting Ukrainian refugees. Alex then leads Sam and Emma into a discussion of this fear-of-culture war that Democrats cannot overcome, and how their inaction on these issues, if anything, reinforces their inaction on genuine policy issues, especially when both of them are having rampant material effects as the right garners more and more state majorities, before they wrap up the interview with a discussion on the Cuomo coalition taking on cancel culture, with a guiding hand of the law helping them along the way. Sam and Emma also cover the horrors of the Idaho abortion bill, the 11k civilian deaths (supported by the US) in the war in Yemen that the US refuses to acknowledge, and the role the Supreme Court might play in the upcoming midterm elections.
And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma are joined by the great Andy Kindler, as he explores his proud time spent as a “Brief Boy,” and cover the beauty of Darlene Rudin, before they all get into the backlash to Dave Rubin (no relation) announcing that he and his husband are expecting a future baby, from friends and foes alike. Sam and Emma also cut up the pie with the ranking of US pizzas, and discuss the narrow scope of the things Democrats are actually fighting for, plus, your IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: sunsetlakecbd is a majority employee owned farm in Vermont, producing 100% pesticide free CBD products. Great company, great product and fans of the show! Use code Leftisbest and get 20% off at http://www.sunsetlakecbd.com. And now Sunset Lake CBD has donated $2500 to the Nurses strike fund, and we encourage MR listeners to help if they can. Here’s a link to where folks can donate: https://forms.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Members can watch here. Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Thu, 17 March 2022
2798 - The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League w/ Britni de la Cretaz & Lyndsey D'Arcangelo
Emma hosts writer Britni de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D'Arcangelo, women's basketball writer for the Athletic, to discuss their recent book Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League, and what they’ve uncovered in diving into the history of the league and the women that played in it. D’Arcangelo and de la Cretaz dive into the research that led them to the history of this league, first studying the role of women in football writ large, before stumbling onto the Toledo Troopers, the winningest team in Pro Football history, and somehow the only National Women’s Football League team that the media has left any trace of. Next, Britni and Lyndsey walk through what the league’s relationship with the media and public looked like at the time, including the shoestring budgets and misogynistic coverage that they had to operate with, which unfortunately still reflects the state of women’s sports in the US, before they dive deeper into the limited coverage they received, which generally focused on the body shapes, and “attractiveness” of the women playing the game, and how it petered off as soon as they found it had lost its novel appeal. Jumping back to the end of the 19th Century, de la Cretaz and D’Arcangelo dive into a Harvard - Yale women’s football game that saw incredible reception, both by the women who came to play and spectate, and even by the male onlookers – despite the exploitative nature behind their attendance – and how throughout the history of Football, women have clearly shown their interest in playing and engaging with the sport. This brings them to the beginnings of the NWFL in the 1960s, as Sid Friedman, a sports agent at the time, saw an opportunity to make a spectacle of women that could play the sport against men, slowly expanding it to more and more women’s football teams in the rust belt, and eventually launching the creation of the league. Despite the success the teams saw in the run-up to the creation of the league, in the wake of the expansion the women saw little-to-no media coverage, and what they did see hinged on the misogyny they had begun the discussion with, not to mention rampant homophobia both within the media and in the running of the teams themselves, despite the largely queer player base. This brings them to a discussion of the role of infrastructure to bolster the development of young athletes, and how when it comes to male athletes the positive impact of the infrastructure is ignored, just like the negative impact on women with lacking infrastructure is ignored, as they discuss the role of Title IX’s passing in the same era as the NWFL, and look forwards to see what changes could and should be done to promote women’s sports in the future. Emma also covers the ramping efforts to get the US involved in hot warfare, alongside the complete evaporation of international aid to other war-torn countries like Yemen, and dives into Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA)’s love for disaster capitalism. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Matt Binder and Brandon Sutton as they admire Brian Holmes pressing Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin of Idaho on her White Supremacist connections, even though she only JUST googled Nick Fuentes’s beliefs, before reflecting on a beautiful Michael Brooks clip to celebrate St Patty’s day, and Ben Shapiro and Pat Robertson take on US intervention from wildly different, yet equally violent sides. Justin from Seattle calls in to discuss revamping public housing on the federal level, Evan from Portland explores the peer review process in the scientific community, and Fox discusses Biden’s tardiness. Eric Metaxas and Charlie Kirk proclaim their appreciation for Bill Clinton’s economic policy, Ben in VT promotes his state’s upcoming constitutional amendment, and Sam from Indiana discusses personal liberties and gun ownership, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Wed, 16 March 2022
Sam and Emma host Vivek Chibber, professor of sociology at New York University, to discuss his recent book The Class Matrix: Social Theory After the Cultural Turn, on the postwar shift in the left from strategic takes on the material condition of the working class to an analysis of capitalist indoctrination, and the unproductive nature of this development when it comes to organizing for the downfall of capitalism. Professor Chibber situates leftist thought in the 1800s and early 1900s with an understanding that if you want people to change the systems of the world, you must look at their material conditions, the choices they have, and the constraints they face, before contrasting that thought process with the prominent academic thought after the cultural turn that put ideological indoctrination at the center, no longer seeing workers as rational responders to their material circumstance, but as victims to the whims of the state, media, and cultural elite. They walk through the obvious elitism that resulted from driving this wedge between workers who have been fooled and academic Marxists that perceive the world as it is, before jumping back to the end of the 1800s to see how this developed. They begin with a discussion on the socialist perspective that dominated the first half of the 20th Century, seeing revolutions and upheavals of social and political orders across the world that encouraged and reinforced the inevitability of capitalism’s downfall, only to come out of the devastation of the Second World War with the system more stabilized than ever. Prof. Chibber, Sam, and Emma then walk through the material contrast that organizing offered between the 30s and the late 50s, as the circumstances required for worker solidarity became riskier and riskier, and the jobs they held became more and more central to maintaining their livelihood – not duping workers into consent, but resigning them to the hand they’ve been dealt. They then dive into the strategic work, and unfortunate failures of the union left over the 70s and 80s, forcing them into retreat as the academic world took over the role of pondering capitalism’s faults despite their removal from the material issues central to those faults. Next, Professor Vivek Chibber looks to the ’60s as he takes on the internal contradictions of solving these material issues, as this period saw incredibly high wages in the wake of decades of union success, yet also saw some of the largest waves of striking in the west, as the capitalist class offset that development with a rampant increase in the speed and level of production. They wrap up the interview by taking on the modern-day implications of this shift, the differences in funding and supporting worker organizing versus telling workers they don’t understand their world, and why seeing organizing take a front seat again might signify a shift away from this resignation, as organizing becomes more and more worth the risks, before touching on the role of the legislative arena in bolstering this fight. Sam and Emma also touch on the US media’s insistence on making sure everyone knows how much Ukraine needs a no-fly zone to deal with their “bully,” and their willingness to have the hard discussions when it comes to other people’s livelihood. And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma run through some Republican Primary races, touching particularly on Herschel Walker’s touching analysis of why apes still exist if they evolved into humans, and why that’s going to help him reach the end zone of the general election for GA Senate. Arash from the 510 dives into the inability of anti-vaxxers to cite their sources, and how central a lack of scientific literacy is to their promotion of misinformation, Dave Rubin takes Crowder’s “bit” of pretending to be a woman, but still having political opinions – crazy, right? Ryan Grim questions Jen Psaki on what the US is doing to give Zelesnky leverage in negotiations with Russia, particularly on the material level, Tennessee fully commits to favoring rapists over bodily autonomy, and Candace Owens can’t get beyond the meanness of the criticism levied against her, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: Magic Spoon: Magic Spoon is a new cereal company that’s discovered a way to recreate your favorite childhood cereals with 0 sugar, 12 grams of protein, and only 3 net grams of carbs in each serving. Go to to https://magicspoon.com/pages/partner?partner=majorityreport&utm_source=majorityreport&utm_medium=Podcast for your custom bundle of cereal and try it today! Be sure to use our promo code MAJORITYREPORT at checkout to save five dollars off your order. MySolarNerd.com: There are a lot of homeowners that aren't aware of the solar options currently available. 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Tue, 15 March 2022
2796 - Manchin Places EXXon On Biden Fed Nominee, CIA Torture As "Teaching Tool", While Talks And Fighting Continue In Ukraine
Sam and Emma (freshly back from vacation!) break down a huge weekend in news, from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the courts to labor and COVID, and more! Sam and Emma begin by reflecting on the myriad examples of incredible anti-war activism in the face of repression that we’ve seen by the Russian people, from newscasters to the elderly, as they dive into the xenophobia required to hold citizens accountable for the horrors of an autocratic regime, and how the Russian people are pushing back on it. Continuing with the theme of authoritarian terror, they then look to the recent Guardian report on the CIA keeping detainees (pre-trial, of course) at Guantanamo Bay to serve as “training props” to teach “interrogators” full-on torture techniques, as they follow the story of Ammar al-Baluchi, his abduction from Pakistan, and the decades he has spent at the bloody hands of American intelligence operatives as they were celebrated for their work. Next, they dive into legislatively-backed oppression in the US, as the Texas Supreme Court releases their final decision affirming the state’s bounty-based abortion ban, and the immediate legislation it inspired across the US, from Idaho’s law featuring higher bounties and more provider-focused penalties, to Missouri taking on the “out of state” loophole – states’ rights who? Sam and Emma also dive into Joe Manchin sinking Biden’s Fed Nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin, as he sidles up with the Republicans, keeping his word to his passionate and loyal base of oil tycoons. And in the Fun Half: Emma and Sam watch Fox & Friends rant about Biden using TikTok to disseminate information, referring to the up and coming influencers as “useful idiots,” which, honestly, might give them too much credit in their usefulness, Jay from Canada dives into the horrors of long-term COVID, particularly when it comes to the neurological effects, and Robert from NY differentiates gun ownership from bodily autonomy. The media sees the everyman Tom Brady as the model for retirees getting back into their absurdly physical labor, Lara Logan discusses build-a-bioweapon, and Glenn Greenwald gets dissected in only 33 tweets. Fox and Frenemies build their tension, Gregory from Oklahoma gives some updates from the campaign trail, and Sam busts a union live, on-air, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/
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Mon, 14 March 2022
2795 - Back From On The Ground In Ukraine, And The Corruption Of SEAL Team 6 w/ Matthew Cole & Jack Crosbie
Sam hosts Matthew Cole, investigative reporter at The Intercept, to discuss his recent book Code Over Country: The Tragedy and Corruption of SEAL Team Six. Then, Sam is joined by Jack Crosbie, writer for Rolling Stone and Discourse Blog, to discuss the recent developments in Ukraine. Matthew Cole begins tracing by SEAL Team Six’s origins to the combat-swimmer units in WW2, known as “Frogmen,” known as the most elite soldiers in the navy, before the failure of the US Military in the 1979 hostage rescue in Tehran inspired President Carter’s creation of a new counter-terrorism special ops unit, JSOC, with control over the Army’s Delta Force and the newly created Navy SEAL Team Six. Next, Cole dives into the origins of the corruption in the unit, reaching back to their creation under Carter, and Commander Marcinko’s lasting imprint on its culture, which he built to resemble a mafia, with himself as the Don at its center, pushing an outrageous lifestyle that included alcohol and drug abuse, fraud, and a code of silence when it came to the outside world – even the rest of the military. They then look to the wake of 9/11, as SEAL Team Six saw their first real extended warfare, beginning a twenty-year period in Afghanistan that saw unprecedented levels of violence for any individual unit. Cole and Sam parse through the little accountability that the unit faces, with their only superiors besides JSOC being the Pentagon and White House, so when things began to spin out of control, with war crimes and bodies piling up at the feel of SEAL Team Six, they were able to escape any incident with the leverage of their supposed “results.” Matthew Cole then explores Admiral Collin Green’s public rebuke of an internal review of the team, calling out the cultural virus running rampant through the community, and bringing forward the clear and obvious need for an investigation into the history and facts of SEAL Team Six, with a genuine (even if non-criminal) system of accountability for the generations of brutality and corruption. Jack Crosbie then joins the show as he covers his return from Ukraine and what he has thought of coverage at home and abroad. They also touch on Jack’s history, covering the conflict beginning in 2014, as he walks through the original violence and the eight years of constant war that followed, before he dives into this year’s Russian invasion and the much higher levels of bloodshed, alongside the absurd horror of Putin’s propaganda and what, if anything, could see us get closer to a ceasefire. Sam also covers the Texas courts’ injunction on their abusive legislation targeting trans and queer children, the Texas Supreme Court’s shutting down a final challenge on the Abortion ban, undermining that fight even further, and Rachel Maddow promoting a brand new Russian conspiracy, this time invoking the Holocaust (as a more positive example). And in the Fun Half: Sam discusses the role of satire in a society rife with ironic and unironic misinformation, Bill Maher claims his libertarian conservatism is actually the fault of trans people and anti-police activists for suddenly coming into existence five years ago, and Dave Rubin has Nikki Haley walk him through why the US’s fear of leading with violence would lead the world into catastrophe, not something like nuclear war. Jordan Peterson relies on some low-budget misinformation to promote Ivermectin in the year 2022, only to be met with corrections by the first author of the experiment he supposedly cited. Matt Lech makes his return, plus, your IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: ZipRecruiter: Some things in life we like to pick out for ourselves - so we know we've got the one that's best for us - like cuts of steak or mattresses. What if you could do the same for hiring - choose your ideal candidate before they even apply? That’s where ZipRecruiter’s ‘Invite to Apply’ comes in - it gives YOU, as the hiring manager, the power to pick your favorites from top candidates. 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland Check out Jack's piece at Discourse Blog "How NATO Could Help Millions of Ukrainians Without Firing a Shot" here. Check out the Twitter exchange with Jordan Peterson and UMiami medical student Iakov Efimenko here. Check out Prof Greg's video "Watching Ivermectin Covid-19 misinformation spread in real time" here. The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/
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Fri, 11 March 2022
2794-COVID Wished Away, The Republican Culture War, and Are Birds Real? w/ Heather Digby Parton and Peter McIndoe
It's Casual Friday! Sam hosts Heather Digby Parton, contributing writer at Salon.com and proprietor of the blog Hullabaloo, to round up the week in news. Although technical difficulties cut the episode slightly short, Digby and Sam touch on the two year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of the COVID-19 Pandemic, diving into what we’ve learned about our rampant individualist culture, and the complete decimation of our government’s capacity to do anything – from the fact we still have no assessment of the role long COVID truly plays, to the absence of any infrastructure or apparatus to prepare or deal with future waves. Next, they walk through Biden’s reactions to the invasion of Ukraine, from his steadfast commitment to keeping the US out of the actual warfare to his rhetoric around American energy independence, before diving into the failures in putting this rhetoric into practice, as he goes from discussing this independence from oil to flaunting the US’s oil production. This brings them to the failure of Democratic leadership since Biden’s arrival at the White House, and the myriad steps along the way, and then they wrap up with the surprisingly not-devastating effects of the recent round of gerrymandering on the Democrats. Next, the Public Information Officer for independent organization “Birds Aren’t Real,” Peter McIndoe joins as he takes on mainstream media’s refusal to do any research, and insistence on shutting down alternative opinions, before he dives fully into his organization’s project, and how they’ve been fighting against takedowns by CNN and the New York Times. Sam also touches on the return of baseball, the collapse of the Iran deal, and Biden’s potential reversal of Title 42. And in the Fun Half: Sam watches Sean Hannity do his best to lead Trump to water, but can’t make him not come out as pro-authoritarian leaders worldwide, as he insists Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong-Un understood him better than he understood himself. Laura Ingraham continues her tradition of using her journalistic “integrity” to do whatever she can to make the world more dangerous for queer folks, and Ben Carson reminds the “LGB-whatever” community that they matter. Sam also dives into the Democrats’ inability to portray the right in any honest and toxic light, and Andrew Callaghan’s coverage of the alt-right’s changing takes on Putin, plus, your IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: sunsetlakecbd is a majority employee owned farm in Vermont, producing 100% pesticide free CBD products. Great company, great product and fans of the show! Use code Leftisbest and get 20% off at http://www.sunsetlakecbd.com. And now Sunset Lake CBD has donated $2500 to the Nurses strike fund, and we encourage MR listeners to help if they can. Here’s a link to where folks can donate: https://forms.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Mail supplies to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland here: Urzad miejskiw Przemyslu ul. Rynek 1 37-700 Przemysl, Poland The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Thu, 10 March 2022
Sam hosts Kelly Weill, reporter at the Daily Beast, to discuss her recent book Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything. Kelly begins by situating her research into flat earthers as a case study in people’s inclination to faith and belief, separating the flat earth belief from other conspiracies in how – rather than fitting itself within established views of reality – it forces its believers to truly throw out all known information about our world. She and Sam then work to unpack the flat earth canon, walking through the enclosed disk surrounded by ice that is our “earth,” and how this view stemmed from the global construction itself. Next, Kelly dives into how, despite this being rather disprovable, flat earthers tend to not be dissuaded by contrary evidence, as she walks through different attempts to find this ice wall (both legitimate attempts and grifts), before she and Sam jump back to England in the 1840s, in the midst of a shift from religion to natural sciences, to look at Samuel Rowbotham’s foundational works on the flat earth and how they served to make sense of a rapidly changing view of our world. They then move to the 1900s in America, with the founding of the town of Zion, Illinois as a Christian fundamentalist, theocrat-ruled community that quickly was overtaken by a flat earth doctrine, and work through the malleability of this particular conspiracy in fitting alongside countless other beliefs. Moving into contemporary times, Sam and Kelly discuss the role of social media in giving flat earth the boost it needed to push it onto the fringes of the mainstream (oxymoron, sorry), as they dive into the artificial promotion on YouTube and Facebook before they look to the relationship between flat earthers and the other conspiracies flowing through the modern Right-wing, discussing how Q Anon and anti-vax believers are jumping on their overlap with other conspiracists to recruit even more to their side. They wrap up their interview by discussing the flat earth influencer hierarchy, and look into governments, Jews, and witches as the antagonists at the core of these theories. Sam also touches on Russia’s continued attacks on civilians and hospitals, and Trump’s appearance on an MMA pod to discuss his relationship with Putin and Ukraine. And in the Fun Half: Sam is joined by Matt and Brandon as they dive into Ben Shapiro soft-pitching a new anti-environmentalist conspiracy theory, Fox News giving a voice to the voiceless CEOs of the petroleum industry, and the building bad-faith tension between Jen Psaki and Doocy Jr. They also hold an extensive conversation on the nationalization of the energy industry, Frank from Minneapolis discusses would-be watershed-moments, and Fox News hosts a discussion on false-flag bioweapons. Ben from Worcester gives his own flat earther insight, and Matt gets into Crypto dating scams, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ Buy tickets to see Sam with Francesca Fiorentini at the Bell House in Brooklyn TONIGHT here: https://bitchuationroom.com/ |
Wed, 9 March 2022
Sam hosts author and journalist Jessie Singer to discuss her recent book There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster-Who Profits and Who Pays the Price, on the policy and regulatory collapse that has pushed America’s number of “accidental” deaths through the roof. Jessie begins by situating her research over the last two decades; her best friend was killed by a driver that accidentally ran through a biking pedestrian path – an incident that would be repeated (on accident) countless times over the next decade – until in 2017 a driver purposefully took the same exact route in a terror attack killing eight and injuring eleven, finally resulting in barrier protections for the path. She then dives into the concept of “accidental” deaths, and how that term makes them seem random despite the patterns within them, with Black and brown people, impoverished people being hurt at drastically higher rates, and a clear inverse relationship with crumbling regulatory capacity and social safety net policy on every level of US politics – as they decline, deaths ramp up. Next, she and Sam dive into the fall and rise of these deaths after WWII, as regulatory agencies pushed safety on the American public up until the turn of the neoliberal era, when we see a complete turnaround as the number of deaths double after 1992, before they look to the willful ignorance behind this increase as a social and political problem, not a design or regulatory one. Lastly, they cover the role of two American ideals in pushing this narrative – the profit motive and the obsession with personal responsibility – and how they have encouraged the creation of more and more dangerous (and more and more expensive) cars, discouraged the creation of mitigation efforts in the opioid epidemic, and just generally undermine the ability of communities to be built around protecting human life. After they wrap up with a discussion on policing and judgment, Sam touches on developments in the West’s response to Russia, and dives into his passion subjects of Postal regulation and America’s history of poisoning its citizens with lead. And in the Fun Half: Stephen Crowder discusses the bad people on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine “conflict” (invasion), Bro Flamingo talks night clubs and Trump’s personal agenda, and Sam dives into the firing of a Starbucks organizer. Graph from CO discusses the current wave of anti-LGBTQ culture war from the right, Dave Rubin takes on the authoritarian nature of parent-child relationships (just imagine the GOVERNMENT enforcing your BEDTIME and making you eat VEGETABLES), and Noah from NoLa has a difficult time holding a conversation on misinformation, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: MySolarNerd.com: There are a lot of homeowners that aren't aware of the solar options currently available. It is now possible to retrofit a home with solar panels for no money down. Most homeowners that switch over to solar see significant savings starting in their first year. This is possible thanks to the Solar Investor Tax Credit (going away soon). My Solar Nerd’s mission is SIMPLE: Help you find the best solar program for your home and make the transition as EASY and SMOOTH as possible. Go to https://mysolarnerd.hubspotpagebuilder.com/the-brightest-choice-in-solar and fill out the inquiry form now. Make sure you select Majority Report Listener for how you heard about My Solar Nerd to receive a $200 gift card upon installation! Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ Buy tickets to see Sam with Francesca Fiorentini at the Bell House in Brooklyn tomorrow here! Learn more about the Minneapolis teacher's strike here. |
Tue, 8 March 2022
Emma hosts Andrew Ross, professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, to discuss his recent book Sunbelt Blues: The Failure of American Housing, on the continued financialization of the housing market in the wake of the 2008 recession as seen through myriad communities throughout the sunbelt. They begin by situating Professor Ross’ research within the sunbelt region, moving back two decades to the birth of Disney’s Celebration Village, where he lived as he researched the fledgling years of the town, before looking at the rapid global expansion of the affordable housing crisis, and the focus of the coverage centering on urban areas, despite the expansive effect of the crisis on rural and suburban areas. Professor Ross explores how the sharpest poverty increase has been in areas like Celebration in the Sunbelt, as he explores the sale of the town to a private equity firm in 2004 as an early example of what we saw in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis: venture capitalists swooping in and purchasing homes across the US aiming to jack up the rent, refinance them, and generally bleed them, and their communities, dry. He and Emma then look to the effects of this rampant exploitation, as Prof. Ross dives into the flood into local motels and encampments as the levels of poverty grew in this relatively well-off village, eventually making the high school in Celebration the largest enrolled of homeless students. They explore the lower requirements of motels and how this translates into a lack of tenants' rights, especially with the eviction moratoria of the pandemic, before looking to how the immediate need for money to pay for housing pushes people into the more precarious informal economy. They wrap up by taking on the complete transformation of America into a full-on rentership society, as Black homeownership has reached a lower rate than before the Fair Housing Act of 1968, and a complete lack of federal investment in affordable housing since before the Reagan years, while wage stagnation and the Wall St-focused response to the 2008 recession reinforced this, before they walk through the genuinely obvious solution of mass investment in public and full-spectrum social housing policy. Emma also covers Mitch McConnell running on the child poverty platform, and Democrats' inability to capitalize on the disgusting policies of their opponents. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Nomiki Konst as they celebrate International Women’s Day, Nomiki dives into Russia invading Ukraine the day she arrived in the Bay of Pigs, and they take on Fox’s Oil Tycoon coverage and their deep desire to serve the whims of tyrants and dictators. Wren from Oregon calls in to discuss Biden’s violent inaction in refusing to federally take on Texas’ family criminalization and separation tactics against trans kids, and Emma and Nomiki discuss Florida passing the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Louie from Palm Springs expands on Florida’s insane upper-class housing projects, and Kowalski wraps up with a quick discussion on the recent IPCC report. Tulsi Gabbard ties the invasion of Ukraine back to CRT and queer people in the US, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop |
Mon, 7 March 2022
Sam and Emma host Kimberly St. Julian Varnon, Ph.D student in history at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss her work on Soviet-Ukrainian history and the role race has played in the wake of the fall of the USSR. They begin by walking through the history of the unification of Ukraine, which was split between the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires before WWI, with the eastern segment featuring the black earth region as a center of agricultural production for Russia and cities like Odessa (which birthed Orthodox Judaism), all under repressive rule against Ukrainian culture and language. With the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire with the first World War, and the rise of the USSR in 1922, Ukraine finally saw its unification with the creation of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, becoming the second most powerful republic in the communist union, until Stalin began his five-year plan with pushback from Ukrainian peasants, responding to them with the state-created starvation of the Holodomor, killing millions of Ukrainians. In the wake of the massacre, Ukraine ended up falling in step with the USSR up until its dissolution, opening the country up in 1991 to finally acknowledging the horrors it faced under Stalin. This brings us to the contemporary era, as St. Julian Varnon explores the 1994 Budapest memorandum that officially recognized an independent Ukraine under the conditions that they give up their nuclear arsenal, up until Russia’s invasion in 2013 which officially broke the deal, before she, Sam, and Emma take on the concept of joining NATO or the EU, with the former really not gaining popularity until Putin’s recent escalation and invasion, whereas the latter became central to Ukrainian politics in the wake of the 2013 start of this conflict. This leads Kimberly to walk through the 2013 invasion of Ukraine and the 2014 annexation of Crimea in the wake of the Euromaidan protests, looking at the progression of the war between separatists and Ukraine and the fourteen thousand deaths (largely ignored by the West) leading up to Putin’s escalation in 2022. They wrap up the interview by looking at St. Julian Varnon’s study of race in the region, especially coming out of the socialist era of race-neutrality, as she takes on the legitimate claims of ultra-nationalist neo-nazi organizations (such as the Azov Battalion) in Ukraine, which have been vaguely relevant on a national level, and understanding this segment of Ukraine as something we see throughout Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and even the United States, before they look to the rapid assimilation of Ukrainians into “whiteness,” despite their previous treatment over the years, and the massive impact this has had on the treatment of African and Afro-Ukrainian people also looking to find safety and stability. Sam and Emma also touch on the 4,500 arrests in Russia in the wake of anti-war protests, Joe Scarborough’s encouraging the US to flex their nuclear arms, despite the horrors it would obviously result in (even in a best-case scenario). And in the Fun Half: Emma and Sam take a call from Casey from Spokane on pandemic monetary policies and their impact, admire Marco Rubio admitting that he truly knows better than Ukrainian officials what dangers are facing them, and Tucker “D's get degrees when they stand for ‘donations’” Carlson ramps up the racism against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Luke from Oneonta discusses the Azov Battalion and their Neo-Nazi counterparts in the Russian army, such as the Wagner Group, Andrew Cuomo returns to remind us that we should really be canceling legislative gridlock, not sexual assault, Ronald Raygun talks tayhaysay, and Mike Lindell announces his class-action lawsuit against “all machines,” plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: Ritual: We deserve to know what we're putting in our bodies and why. Ritual’s clean, vegan-friendly multivitamin is formulated with high-quality nutrients in bioavailable forms your body can actually use. Get key nutrients without the B.S. Ritual is offering my listeners ten percent off during your first three months. Visit https://ritual.com/?utm_source=arm&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=majority to start your Ritual today. Grove: Did you know that only nine percent of plastic actually gets recycled, no matter how much we put in our recycling bin? 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) 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Fri, 4 March 2022
It's Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Perry Bacon Jr., columnist for the Washington Post, to discuss his recent pieces "Let's puncture some myths about Democrats' struggles" and "Why Ketanji Brown Jackson would be such an upgrade over Breyer." Then, Sam and Emma are joined by John Hodgman and David Rees to discuss their new project "Dicktown" on FXX! Perry, Sam, and Emma begin by parsing through Biden’s State of the Union and his gratuitous hits on the left as they set up a discussion on the Democratic establishment preparing the midterm blame-game on progressivism and “wokeness.” This brings them to the role of the consultant class in bolstering these arguments, as well as how the ideological battle for the future of the party, and the media readiness to accept centrist talking points work in tandem. Next, they take on the Democratic establishment’s fear of all things culture war, and why younger generations are more willing to explicitly take on the Republican push to start banning books. They take on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and why she was the obvious choice, before they wrap up the interview by reflecting on Breyer’s role over these last few years, and why his typical SCOTUS Justice pretension has reinforced the institution's anti-democratic nature. Sam and Emma also touch on the continuing backlash to Russia, and Manchin calling for a massive fracking investment in the domestic oil industry. Then they are joined by David Rees and John Hodgman as they discuss their new show “Dicktown,” why their adult animation isn’t more “adult,” and reflect on the general dickheadery of their youth. And in the Fun Half: Tucker Carlson, not weeks after laughing at support for Ukraine and hitching his own wagon to Russia, decides to put out a call for escalation against Russia, Sean Hannity calls for war, but like, suuuuper secret war, and Lindsay Graham gives Putin all the anti-American propaganda he needs. A Florida school suspends a student for promoting protests against the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, DeSantis preps his presidential run, and Greg Gutfeld wants to redefine mutually assured destruction, plus, your IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: sunsetlakecbd is a majority employee owned farm in Vermont, producing 100% pesticide free CBD products. Great company, great product and fans of the show! Use code Leftisbest and get 20% off at http://www.sunsetlakecbd.com. And now Sunset Lake CBD has donated $2500 to the Nurses strike fund, and we encourage MR listeners to help if they can. Here’s a link to where folks can donate: https://forms.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Shopify: Scaling your business is a journey of endless possibility. 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Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) 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Thu, 3 March 2022
Emma hosts Alex Sammon, staff writer at The American Prospect, to discuss his recent piece in the New Republic "IKEA's Race for the Last of Europe's Old-Growth Forest." Alex dives right into his surprisingly high-risk coverage of the rampant illegal deforestation going on in Europe’s last old-growth forest in Romania, first situating his research within stories relayed to him a few years ago regarding the multiple murders of forest rangers in the region, and countless recorded assaults of folks documenting the illegal logging. Next, he and Emma jump back to 1989 and the fall of the USSR, as Romania, alongside many other countries, was opened up to neoliberalism and expansive privatization, with the Harvard University endowment jumping on the opportunity and (illegally) buying up a majority of land in the post-communist country, before selling it off to Ikea to dump the legal battles. They then accelerate to Romania’s acceptance to the EU in the oughts, which provided a perfect example of the contradictions of the union when it came to deforestation, as the increased neoliberalization and bolstering of the privatized regimes ramped up the logging, while the developing environmental “pledges” centered the forest as a key ecosystem. This finally brings us to the last decade and a half, as Alex takes on the facade of regulation offered by environmental Non-Governmental Organizations in the region, and walks through the myriad steps of the supply chain, all of which helps Ikea to obscure the illicit activities along each step of the way. Of course, this is further supported by a complete lack of regulatory capacities in the forest itself – resulting in a majority of wood from the region being produced by illegal logging – and the countless stories of violence, from full murder to attempted assault, which all make cracking down on the deforestation incredibly difficult. They wrap up the interview by looking at the future of the furniture industry, as production is expected to ramp up, and Ikea completely vacating the Russian market putting even more pressure on Romania’s forest. Emma also covers the incredibly devastating developments in Texas as the state begins investigating parents for providing gender-affirming care for their trans children, diving into the stories of actual trans children and their families, and the fear and anxiety that has suddenly been forced on them, before they touch on updates in Ukraine, as deaths continue to mount, and briefly explores stories of anti-war protestors in Russia and the inhumanity involved in blanket blaming citizens for the horrors of their government. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Matt and Brandon as they take on the incredibly unsurprising attack on Biden and the defund movement by the right, just days after Biden himself tried to do the same thing. Phil from the Chicago suburbs calls in to chat about the mineral industry and the domestic Russian politics that might be slowing down their invasion, Ron DeSantis yells at high schoolers for their PC theater, Alex from NYC talks school choice, and Brandon one-ups Ben Shapiro on pointless political analogies. Brian in Germany inquires on potential ends to the conflict in Ukraine, Kowalski gives his agriculture update, supply chain and all, and Zack from East TN grapples with aligning national progressive movements with those that already have roots in his region, plus, your calls and IMs!
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Wed, 2 March 2022
Sam and Emma host David Dayen, executive editor at the American Prospect, to discuss Biden's State of the Union address, as well David's recent pieces in the New York Times and the Prospect. They begin by unpacking the popularism woven throughout Biden’s address, looking to the limits of highlighting exclusively popular ideas (especially when you haven’t gotten many of them done), and the flip side presented by the President railing against what he sees as unpopular ideas within his own party, despite the only effect being undermining his fellow Democrats. David also walks through myriad ways Biden could’ve offered more practical examples over platitudes in his speech, before they look to Rick Scott’s proposed tax raise on half of Americans and a sunsetting of Social Security and Medicare, as well as McConnell’s swift shutdown of this despite it clearly being a central element of the Republican agenda over the last two decades. Next, they cover Casar’s incredible progressive victory that we saw yesterday in Texas, before David, Sam, and Emma discuss Biden’s successful rhetoric on inflation. David wraps up by bringing in his recent series on the American Prospect on the supply chain failures, walking through the various neoliberal developments that built up a single-lane supply chain with little to no reserves that set us teetering on the edge of disaster until the pandemic pushed us over, before he also dives into his piece in the NYT on Larry Summer’s role in fear-mongering inflation to cover up countless weaknesses in a system he set up. Sam and Emma also explore Russia’s continued advancement through Ukraine, Texas formalizing their wildly invasive anti-family child-abuse policy, targeting trans kids who are already incredibly vulnerable, and discuss Biden’s (correct) claims on job growth. And in the Fun Half: Sam unpacks his time at Disney, John from San Antonio parses through yesterday’s Texas primaries and what the Cisneros - Cuellar runoff could look like, and Joe from Maine explores how the conflict in Ukraine might affect electoral politics, before Emma highlights the whiplash from the right as they turn from boisterous support for Putin, to suddenly seeing him as at fault. Jesse Watters and Monica Crowley discuss the nasty, schoolyard-bullying Russia is facing in the face of their geopolitical “cancellation” (this sentence means nothing), Rachel calls in from Warsaw to discuss her experiences leaving Ukraine this past week, from racism at the borders to the emotional response from Ukrainians, and Dave from Jamaica expands a little on the administrative racism of the response to Ukrainian refugees. Crowder and his babysitter watch the state of the union, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Check out today’s sponsors: Magic Spoon: Magic Spoon is a new cereal company that’s discovered a way to recreate your favorite childhood cereals with 0 sugar, 12 grams of protein, and only 3 net grams of carbs in each serving. Go to to https://magicspoon.com/pages/partner?partner=majorityreport&utm_source=majorityreport&utm_medium=Podcast for your custom bundle of cereal and try it today! Be sure to use our promo code MAJORITYREPORT at checkout to save five dollars off your order. Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |
Tue, 1 March 2022
Sam and Emma host Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), to discuss the recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as the U.S. airstrike in Somalia from a few days ago, the first in the area since last August. Matt, Sam, and Emma begin with a clip of a journalist in Poland pleading with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, as they work through the tactic as a clear declaration of war, recognize World War 3 as a choice that will lead to countless deaths, and unpack what non-military action and de-escalation is still viable at this point. Next, Matt situates the conflict within the last decade of geopolitical development, starting with the overthrow of a Russian-sympathetic Ukrainian government in 2014 and the resulting annexation of Crimea, before they work to define the role of Russia to Ukrainians both inside and out of the Donbas region, and use a leaked essay from a Russian outlet to unpack what Putin sees as the “Ukrainian Question,” and the role he hopes to assume in tackling it. Matt also leads Sam and Emma through a conversation on what the future of this war could look like, especially if Russian action expands outside of Ukraine, how Putin created the exact situation he supposedly feared, and the central importance of helping Ukrainians survive and thrive while also ensuring the least bloodshed – especially through economic and immigration policy. Sam and Emma also touch on today’s primaries in Texas, Russia’s advancement on Kharkiv, and the domestic blowback that Putin is facing, before they dive into the ghoulish and inhumane pitch by Hillary Clinton on Rachel Maddow’s show, pushing treating Ukraine as we did Afghanistan in the ‘80s, despite the unnecessary death and destruction that wrought on the country and its people. And in the Fun Half: Ronald Raygun calls in as he unpacks the emotional responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both in himself and others, John from San Antonio runs through his expectations for today’s Texas primaries, and Candace Owens takes on the RadFems and their darned Women’s Lib, leaving men everywhere with empty plates upon coming home from making his man money. Todd Starnes and Steven Crowder continue the right’s commitment to reusing, reducing, and recycling their trash-ass comedy, Jason from CT calls in on the SCOTUS’ evisceration of the VRA, and Dave Rubin and Dennis Prager take on the real divisive issue in our country: learning about the divisive issues in our country. Pat Robertson lives, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE: Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow 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 The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Buy tickets to Francesca Fiorentini's live show with Sam next Thursday 3/10 at the Bell House here! If you can assist Ronald Raygun, contact him on Twitter here. The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ |