Baseball and Bosses vs. the Georgia GOP (Ruling Class Resistance Redux‪)‬

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Scott and Bob have another discussion about the ruling class, this time emphasizing its role in opposing the “new” Jim Crow voting laws just passed in Georgia.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/CorpResistGandR

Corporations based in Georgia–especially Delta and Coca Cola, and the Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank–have been vigorously critical of these overt attempts to suppress Black votes, in a campaign organized by African American business leaders.

The Cold War in Central America w/ Prof. Phillip Berryma‪n‬

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In this episode, on the 41st anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in San Salvador, we talk with Prof. Phillip Berryman about the tumultuous history of Central America during the 1970s and 80s. We discussed liberation theology, his work in Central America during Carter and Reagan’s wars against the people of countries like El Salvador and Guatemala, the solidarity movements of the 80s and compared the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

BAmazon! The Amazon Union Drive in Alabama, w/ Mike Elk of “Payday Report‪”‬

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One of the most important union organizing drives in recent history is playing out in the Birmingham-Bessemer, Alabama area as Amazon workers are holding a union vote due to end next Monday.  We spoke with Mike Elk, the creator and editor of “Payday Report,” about the situation in Alabama, the impact of Joe Biden’s endorsement, the intersection of Black Lives Matter and the union efforts, and Amazon’s attempts to intimidate and defeat the organizing drive.

Iran! Biden, Nukes, and Sanctions, with Professor Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerd‪i‬

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In this episode we talked with Dr. Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi about the politics and history of U.S.-Iranian relations.

Listen in here: https://bit.ly/BidenIranGandR

Dr. Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, who is an assistant professor in Comparative Political Theory at Goldsmith’s University of London.   He was previously a  British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford  (2016-2019), where he also obtained his doctorate

Coda: Collin College Fires Another Professor

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cross-posted from Afflict the Comfortable

 

by Bob Buzzanco

Matkin’s Offensive against the First Amendment gets worse!

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote, and the Green and Red Pod

cast interviewed, two professors from Collin College who had just been fired–Suzanne Jones and Audra Heaslip. See, “Professors Fired for Covid Concerns.” and Podcast interview, at “Professors Fired from Collin College. Retaliation in Texas.”

As we’ve seen with right-wing Texans, when they’re

caught doing something despicable (as in their handling of COVID and the recent power grid failure), they double down.

And so it is with Collin College, as President Neil Matkin, a right-wing ideologue himself who fired Jones and Heaslip simply for questioning the schools COVID reopening policies and being active members of the Texas Faculty Association Union (and he wasn’t cryptic about it, making it clear publicly that the reason for their termination was clearly retaliatory) has now fired another professor, Lora Burnett.

Cowboy Capitalism, Big Oil’s Spin Machine and Mutual Aid

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cross-posted from Medium

wo weeks ago, a polar vortex hit my home state of Texas. The heating Arctic pushed cold air far south and temperatures plummeted below freezing. In a state that has been hit by hurricanes, drought and wildfires, the climate crisis coming home to roost in one of the most pro-oil and gas states in the country is nothing out of the ordinary. Despite decades of dealing with the aftermath of these climate disasters, the notoriously libertarian state fails at providing for the needs of its residents over and over. But a polar vortex hitting Texas was completely new and it’s leadership even more unprepared for the disaster.

Gas and coal-fired power plants lacking winterization had their facilities freeze and shut down. In a state of 29 million, this led to over four and a half million people without power in frigid weather. Residents living in homes built for the tropics shivered in the dark. Some froze to death. The next phase of the disaster had more than twelve million Texans lose their water or put under “boil advisories,” (which means you have to boil your tap water before you drink it.) More than 130 of the state’s 254 counties were experiencing water outages or potential contamination, and more than 250,000 residents had not had water service for three days, according to state data. Some still don’t have water.