Ep. 15: WMU Alumni Bob Piellusch on the Anniversary of the Kent State Massacre, and this week’s stories

We are joined by WMU (and 89.1WIDR) alumni Bob Piellusch to get his first hand account of some critical national and local history around the killing of several Kent State students by the Ohio National Guard on May 4th, 1970. Bob tells us about his experiences as a high schooler during these years, and his time in WMU student government and role in organizing protests later that decade to prevent Kent State from building a gym on the site of the murders.

 

After we are joined by Lawrence to discuss some critical issues of the day. We talk about a push to expand affordable housing in Michigan, some of the potential pratfalls such a measure may be up against, and why local news media (such as WWMT) does not draw the connection between the lack of affordable housing and homelessness.

 

We observe the grim milestone of 1,000,000 COVID deaths, the role of conservative propaganda and corporate greed in prolonging the pandemic (including vaccine profiteering from Kalamazoo's own Pfizer), and how even the Democratic Party- who largely campaigned in 2020 on dealing with the pandemic like "adults"- have largely given up on doing what is necessary to mitigate COVID.

 

In a story to be filed under "some of those that work forces," we look at a report from Reuters that reveals that police trainers with ties to fascist groups like the Oathkeepers, Three Percenters, and the Proud Boys have been hired by police departments across the country.

 

We talk about the reaction and protests to the leak about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as well as the larger conservative agenda that would very much like to turn back the clock to pre- reconstruction America.

 

0:00- 36:25 WMU Alumni Bob Piellusch on the Anniversary of the Kent State Massacre

38:00- 48:10 Affordable Housing in Michigan

50:00- 1:05:10 1,000,000 COVID Deaths in the U.S.

1:05:30- 1:17:40 Fascist Organizers Are Running Police Trainings Across the Country

1:21:20- 1:33:17 Roe v. Wade- Protests and The Conservative Agenda