Name: News Brief Live: Tucker Carlson's Transparent 'Contrarian Left' Co-Option Strategy by Citations Needed Podcast
Duration: 41 min 25 s
Description: In this live streamed News Brief from 4/26/23, we discuss the recent firing of Tucker Carlson and the meta-discourse around whether or not "the left" should see any utility in petty, racist demagogues.

In this News Brief, we break down the recent controversy over the open letter sent by 1200+ NYT contributors pushing back on The Times' salacious coverage of "trans issues," and how the Paper of Record's response has proved to be thin skinned, sanctimonious, and hypocritical.

With guests Eric Thurm and Julia Carmel.

News Brief: The Battle Over NYT's Lurid, Tabloid Coverage of 'Trans Issues'

"Our progress has been part of the living history of America," President Jimmy Carter declared in a 1979 speech. "America is a nation of progress, of moving forward," Senator Chuck Grassley stated in 2022 on the Senate floor. "The story of America is a story of progress and resilience, of always moving forward, of never, ever giving up. It's a story unique among all nations," President Joe Biden announced in his 2023 State of the Union.

For decades - even centuries - policymakers, and media on their behalf, have employed some variation on the same rhetorical theme: the United States is a nation of progress, especially so-called "racial progress." Though our Great Experiment has been imperfect, we're told, it's constantly improving, steadily and automatically forging ahead toward its ideal state. Yes, we've been home to the violent oppression of untold sums of people, but look how far we’ve come!

There have objectively been political gains for all groups historically and currently denied basic rights in the U.S. This is obvious. But the trajectory is far from linear, raising the question: How far have "we" really come? Are people, especially Black, Latino, and Native people, less likely to suffer through poverty than any time before now? Are police and prisons any less violent? To what extent have U.S. law and policymaking really evolved?

On this episode, we dissect the liberal assertion that social, particularly racial, progress in the U.S. is inevitable, that there's this comforting "arc" of history bending towards justice. We examine how this idea came to be, who gets to define the metrics of "progress," and why it's dangerous to advance the tidy Vaseline-lens narrative that societal improvement is part of some preordained future.

Our guest is Dr. Julian M. Rucker.

Episode 178: The Palliative Pop-History of American "Racial Progress" Narratives

We explore Tucker Carlson's attempts to rewrite what happened on January 6th by focusing on footage of Jacob Chansley AKA the QAnon Shaman. We also delve into the changing story about what led to Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick's death. We then spend some time with a twitter account basically LARPing as Jack Smith, the special counselor who's the new great hope for Muellerites.
 
Subscribe for $5 a month to get an extra episode of QAA every week + access to ongoing series like 'Manclan' and 'Trickle Down': http://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous

QAA's Website: https://qanonanonymous.com

Music by Nick Sena. Editing by Corey Klotz.

Episode 224: The Battle to Frame J6 (Trump Arrested Edition)

Artists Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson join the show to talk about the state of the animation industry, AI art, and of course the famous Garfield cum comic

BUY THE BOOK https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Justice-Warriors/Matt-Bors/9781952090226

PAID PROTEST 04/06
https://dice.fm/event/w5drp-paid-protest-comedy-show-and-dsa-fundraiser-6th-apr-silo-comedy-community-events-new-york-city-tickets

MERCH
poddamnamerica.bigcartel.com

PATREON + DISCORD
patreon.com/poddamnamerica

JUSTICE WARRIORS w/ Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson

"Parents fighting schools to protect their kids are heroes, not book-banners," Fox News tells us. Are Privatized Public Libraries So Bad?" asks CityLab. "Huntsville Public Library could be privatized in aftermath of pride display dispute," reports Houston Public Media. 

For decades, public libraries have been under attack. Repeatedly, influential rightwing and centrist individuals, corporations, and governments––from Phyllis Schlafly to Ron DeSantis––have coordinated campaigns to weaken one of the most beloved and least means-tested public institutions in the country. They seek to, at best, restrict the materials, functions, and decision-making power of public libraries, and at worst, destroy public libraries completely, tossing aside the people who depend on them for education, employment, and often survival.

What is it about public libraries that inspires such contempt? What's responsible for the chasm between the US population's perceptions of public libraries––which are overwhelmingly positive––and policymaking that seeks to ruin those libraries? And who suffers when one of the few true public goods left in the US is targeted and seized by reactionary forces?

On this episode, we examine the decades-long right-wing assault on US public libraries, the history of book bans and defunding, attendant efforts to privatize public libraries, and how these intersect with the labor struggles of librarians nationwide.

Our guest is president-elect of the American Library Association, Emily Drabinski.

Episode 179: From Budget Cuts to Book Bans — The Decades-Long Assault on Public Libraries

In this public News Brief, we detail how uncritical acceptance by centrist––and even liberal––media that the US is seeing an unprecedented "labor shortage" is helping justify repealing child labor protections in roughly a dozen states.

Media's Credulous "Labor Shortage" Reporting Helps Lay Groundwork For Repealing Child Labor Laws

This week it's a grab bag of allergy-fueled bits and news, followed by an op-ed from a friend at the NYTimes about the formula for making crime go up

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 287: Big Time Criminality

The anti vaccine movement is still relatively fringe, despite exploding during the pandemic. But what happens when someone is too extreme even for the most dedicated antivaxers? That’s the tale of Christopher Key, aka Vaccine Police. In 2021 he made a name for himself by traveling from city to city while wearing a custom “Vaccine Police” shirt and fake badge in order to harass pharmacists, health executives, and city council members. We track his decades-long history of pushing disreputable health treatments — including what he euphemistically calls “urine therapy.” And we learn how his antics have led to multiple arrests and shunning by the anti vaccine community and even Donald Trump himself.
 
Subscribe for $5 a month to get an extra episode of QAA every week + access to ongoing series like 'Manclan' and 'Trickle Down': http://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous

QAA's Website: https://qanonanonymous.com
Music by Pontus Berghe. Editing by Corey Klotz.

References

Zachary Petrizzo
https://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo

Sports Illustrated: The zany story of two self-ordained sports science entrepreneurs
https://www.si.com/nfl/2013/01/29/strange-lab-lured-numerous-athletes

Washington Post: Self-proclaimed ‘Vaccine Police’ tells Walmart pharmacists they ‘could be executed’ for administering shots
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/19/walmart-christopher-key-anti-vaccine/

Episode 228: The Piss Drinking Vaccine Police

In this live streamed News Brief from 4/26/23, we discuss the recent firing of Tucker Carlson and the meta-discourse around whether or not "the left" should see any utility in petty, racist demagogues.

News Brief Live: Tucker Carlson's Transparent 'Contrarian Left' Co-Option Strategy

Bob Dylan goes to Deadwood, Thomas Friedman opens up some boxes, Cop City comes to West Virginia, Letcher County speaks its piece

Support striking WGA workers: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/the-snacklist-support-striking-workers

And support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 289: Work Smarter, Not Harder

This week on the Trillbillies we're disrupting the criminal justice system

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

Episode 290: The Penultimate Court

Citations Needed is a podcast about the media, power, PR, and the history of bullshit. It is hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson, and produced by Florence Barrau-Adams.

News Brief Live: Tucker Carlson's Transparent 'Contrarian Left' Co-Option Strategy

Citations Needed Podcast

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