Eric Blanc joins us to talk about a recent essay he wrote assessing the break that founded the UK Labour Party, of which there are tremendous resonances with the socialist movement in the U.S., today. 

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Tune in for this wide-ranging and informative discussion.

You can find the essay here: https://jacobinmag.com/2021/02/labour-party-uk-lessons-socialists

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Taking Lessons from the Break That Founded the Labour Party w/ Eric Blanc

In the wake of the Labour Party's disastrous performance in the 2021 U.K. local elections, we're taking a look back at a key moment in recent British history. The made-for-TV movie COALITION (2015) documents the wheelings and dealings that led to Nick Clegg's Liberal-Democrats joining forces with David Cameron's Conservatives after. the 2010 election left no party with a parliamentary majority. We share some larfs over a perfectly mediocre movie, and. discuss the true meaning of "Cleggmania" and its aftermath. PLUS: Why can't Keir Starmer sell centrism like Tony Blair could? And reflections on Toronto's alt-media landscape, from NOW Magazine to Eye Weekly to The Grid.

"The Grid R.I.P." - http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-grid-rip.html

"Keir Starmer’s Televised Meltdown Was Decades in the Making" by Luke Savage - https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/05/keir-starmer-bbc-meltdown-labour-election-hartlepool

Michael and Us

#234 - Cleggmania Revisited

Since the early 2000s, a spate of forensics-focused TV shows and films have emerged on the pop culture scene. Years after Law & Order premiered in the '90s, shows like CSI, NCIS, and The Mentalist followed, trumpeting the scientific merit of analyzing blood-spatter patterns, reading facial and bodily cues, and using the latest fingerprint-matching technology to catch the bad guy.

Yet what these procedurals neglect to acknowledge is that many of these popular forensic techniques are deeply unscientific and entirely political. Spatter pattern-matching, firearms analysis, hair analysis, fingerprint and bite mark analysis — they’re all mostly bullshit with little scientific merit. Despite this, forensics have helped contribute to the wrongful convictions of thousands of people: a storytelling aid, prosecutorial smoke and mirrors, a courtroom PR tool to lend scientific verisimilitude to what is very often just circumstantial, hunch-based police work.

On this episode, we break down how popular culture depictions of forensics helps mislead viewers — and by extension jurors — into thinking forensics are science that proves guilt rather than what they really are: slick marketing collateral to help prosecutors convict someone they already think is guilty for other, nonscientific reasons. 

We are joined by Aviva Shen, Senior Editor at Slate.

Episode 94: The Goofy Pseudoscience Copaganda of TV Forensics

To hear Aaron Maté on #BountyGate & #CheneyGate, Marianne Williamson on Marx, & Nomiki Konst on the DNC suckage, go to Patreon https://www.patreon.com/posts/40021342

Nina †urner, Marianne WIlliamson & Tim Black on 2020, Aaron Mate on Syria

Inequality.org's Sarah Anderson on the political and economic crises hitting the US Postal Service, and her recent article "USPS Needs Financial Aid to Continue Providing Essential Services" for Inequality.org, and in a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen publishes the Rotten Egg Manifesto.

1218: On the US postal crisis / Sarah Anderson

Helena Paul examines the disasterous consequences of global capitalism and its industrial food system - on the environment, humans and the relationship between us - and explains how a massive shift to the sustainable practices of radical, democratic agroecology.

Helena wrote the article Looking beyond the pandemic: Agroecology, and the need to rethink our food system for Radical Ecological Democracy.

https://www.radicalecologicaldemocracy.org/looking-beyond-the-pandemic-agroecology-and-the-need-to-rethink-our-food-system/

Going forward for all: From food system crisis to agroecology

Robert Vitalis on his book "Oilcraft: The Myths of Scarcity and Security That Haunt U.S. Energy Policy" from Stanford University Press.

https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28252

1228: The geopolitics of oil / Robert Vitalis

Kate Clark on her report "War in Afghanistan in 2020: Just as much violence, but no one wants to talk about it" for Afghanistan Analysts Network

https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/war-and-peace/war-in-afghanistan-in-2020-just-as-much-violence-but-no-one-wants-to-talk-about-it/

1231: Peace and death in Afghanistan / Kate Clark

Researcher Christian Sorensen on his book "Understanding the War Industry" from Clarity Press.

https://www.claritypress.com/product/understanding-the-war-industry/

1232: On the war industry / Christian Sorensen

Australian Celebrity Chef/Conspiracy Theorist Pete Evans is back and he's crazier than ever! You'd need a state of the art Biocharger NG to cure what's making him post white supremacist memes! We've also got Monster Wolf Robots, Redditor wedding trouble and another installation of Dutchwatch.

EPISODE 175: How To Kill Your Baby In Ten Days Or Less

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Lucy, Andrew, and Ben talk about getting parenting advice from the man who stole your car, the cow that stayed at-large from authorities for far too long, big fish dicks, and living at the airport Kirbying the security guards.

Read Jesse's paper here: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v658/feature/

Outro music: Fish - Mr Scruff
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1231: Peace and death in Afghanistan / Kate Clark

This Is Hell!