Ep. 58: Pfizer & the Kzoo River, Ottawa Impact Drives Away Young People, Michigan SOS & Voter Suppression, and More

We start the show with a brief bit of funny news about YouTube fool, abuser, and all around scumbag Andrew Taint being arrested yet again.

 

We then pivot to some actual news to talk about Pfizer contaminating the Kalamazoo River with methylene chloride. We tie this in to broader issues and critique how corporations, more often than not, value their bottom line over public safety.

 

In an ongoing story we revisit the hyper-reactionary County Commission in Ottawa (i.e., "Ottawa Impact"). A recent series of polls from MLive has shown that their brand of reactionary far-right hokum is very unpopular with young people and other people the county may try to attract. We break down the numbers and discuss how conservative media's focus on radicalizing their base is coming back to bite them in their capitalist butts.

 

We look at a lawsuit filed by the national Republican Party against the Michigan Secretary of State, claiming that the voter rolls are overinflated and need to be trimmed. We talk about this in its proper historical context, and how Republicans have long used this tactic to prevent people they don't want to vote from voting (i.e., non-white voters).

 

The TikTok ban has passed in the house and we break down the various angles the media hasn't covered- from how the U.S. government's accusations of Chinese spying are pretty rich coming from the world's most pervasive spy (the U.S. gov't), how Palestinian voices on the platform made it a target for AIPAC, and how it may be a trojan horse for future crackdowns on social media.

 

We close with a piece from LeftVoice talking about the situation in Haiti and the legacy of imperialism that has brought us here.

 

3:45- 9:00 Andrew Taint Arrested Again

 

9:00- 19:45 Pfizer Contaminates Kalamazoo River

 

19:50- 37:30 Ottawa Impact's Right- Wing Extremism Driving Young People Away

 

37:45- 52:20 GOP Sues Michigan SOS Over Voter Rolls

 

53:15- 1:06:20 Reading Between the Lines of the TikTok Ban

 

1:06:20- 1:16:00 The Crisis of Imperialism in Haiti

 

SOURCES/ FURTHER READING

 

ADIN ROSS GOT ANDREW TATE ARRESTED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1os42L3HIs

 

Pfizer chemical spill prompts no-contact advisory of Kalamazoo River
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2024/03/pfizer-chemical-spill-prompts-no-contact-advisory-of-kalamazoo-river.html

 

‘This isn’t the place for you’ is Ottawa County’s message to college-educated people, pollster says
https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2024/03/this-isnt-the-place-for-you-is-ottawa-countys-message-to-college-educated-people-pollster-says.html

 

The Republican National Committee sues Michigan over the state's voter rolls
https://www.yahoo.com/news/republican-national-committee-sues-michigan-003953242.html

 

3 Smart Takes on the TikTok-alypse
https://www.readtpa.com/p/3-smart-takes-on-the-tiktok-alypse

 

Declaration: End Imperialist Intervention in Haiti, Solidarity with the Haitian People
https://www.leftvoice.org/end-imperialist-intervention-in-haiti-solidarity-with-the-haitian-people/