Poppin Off

Though we raged against cops and capitalism last week, these motherfuckers keep murdering people so we go off about it all again this week when covering Breonna Taylor’s murder at the hands of police:

Breonna Taylor, a 26 yr old EMT and aspiring nurse, was murdered in Louisville, KY on March 13 by a drug task force of plainclothes police officers that busted into her apartment at 1 a.m. while she was asleep with a “no-knock” search warrant without identifying themselves. Her boyfriend Kenneth Walker was in bed with her. Walker thought they were being robbed, took his licensed legal gun out and shot a cop in the leg. The cops opened fire in the apartment, shooting more than 20 bullets into the place and shooting Breonna 8 times in her bed. They arrested Kenneth Walker and charged him with attempted murder.

The officers were looking for a different man, and no drugs were found in the apartment. The police officers were not wearing body cams because as they are on the “Criminal Interdiction Division” handling violent and narcotic-based crimes, they don’t have to. Isn’t that nice.

Police claim they knocked on the door several times and announced themselves to the sleeping residents. Four neighbors contradict that claim.

These no-knock warrants are a huge problem in an already fucking terrible situation. In Houston last year, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Douglas were murdered after officers busted in on a no-knock warrant and immediately killed their dog with a shotgun, prompting Tuttle to fire at the intruders.

Imagine being completely innocent and thereby having no reason to think people busting into your house are cops.

Also cops are financially incentivized. Fuck capitalism. Fuck cops.

Resources

* The Breonna Taylor Shooting Shows How Reckless Drug War Tactics Lead to Senseless Deaths (reason)* Breonna Taylor Was Murdered for Sleeping While Black (The Nation)* Lawsuit Filed in 2019 Against Cop Involved in Breonna Taylor’s Death Claims He Was Vindictive, Planted Evidence (The Root)* Why Were the Louisville Police Who Fatally Shot Breonna Taylor Not Wearing Body Cameras? (The Root)* ‘If You Ran for Ahmaud, You Need to Stand for Bre’: Breonna Taylor’s Death Isn’t Getting Enough Attention (The Root)* Cuba Giving Hope to Doctors Worldwide Despite US ‘Terror’ Accusation | By Any Means Necessary Podcast (Spreaker) – fourth segment discusses Breonna’s murder.* From Russiagate to “Obamagate,” Blame Game is Bipartisan | By Any Means Necessary Podcast (Spreaker) – second segment discusses five people killed in Houston by police

Joke

I’m sorry, your dad has been pronounced dead…

Main Topic: Our Item and Favorite Dish for The Pit

We recorded an episode doing an analysis of The Platform, a Netflix film,

Poppin Off

There’s so much shitty news this week, it’s hard to even know what to focus on, so we didn’t. We do a loose rant about everything from Ahmaud Arbery’s murder to meat-packing plant workers being forced to work in dangerous conditions.

Related Resources

* Meatpackers and Others to Lose Jobless Benefits If They Refuse Return-to-Work Orders (Democracy Now!)* It is time to get out of here. It’s time to go. | Ti Talks GRWM (YouTube)* Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto (Verso Books) – HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!* Buy Nothing Project* Right Wing and Left Wing Populists Can’t Coexist | Millennial Review (Libsyn)* Can’t find which Benjamin Dixon episode it was but highly recommend ALL his episodes (Spreaker)

Joke

What is a procrastinator’s favorite thing to do?

The American Idiot & Freedom

Content warning for explained and intentional use of the word “idiot” in relation to the article linked below.

Inspired by the article linked below, we talk about the concept of freedom in the United States, particularly the idea of freedom from vs freedom to; as well as the the original Greek definition of “idiot” and how it relates to the current political climate.

Related Resources

* How Freedom Became Free-dumb in America (Medium)* What Governments Do. 3/25 | Irami Osei-Frimpong – The Funky Academic (YouTube)

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Transcript

Nichole [00:00:27] Hey, everyone. I’m Nichole.

Callie [00:00:28] And I’m Callie.

Nichole [00:00:29] And today we’ll be talking about.

Callie [00:00:31] Freedom.

Nichole [00:00:33] No!

Nichole [00:00:34] Today we will be bitching about God damn it!

Nichole [00:00:38] I did the transcript for last week and I was like, fuck!

Callie [00:00:43] That makes it even funnier since we’re going to be bitching about freedom because people are going to be like, what?

Nichole [00:00:50] We are going to be bitching about freedom though.

Advice Question: Embracing My Jewish Heritage Later In Life

Hello Nichole and Callie,

I apologize for not letting you know sooner, but I would love if you talk about it.  Ever since the “whiteness” episode I’ve been confused about how to handle my Judaism.  I’ve been “passing” as white my whole adult life… I don’t look Jewish, my father’s family changed their last name so my name doesn’t sound Jewish, and since I rejected the sexist, patriarchal bullshit of the religion in my youth I never identify as Jewish to anyone who doesn’t know where I come from.  My family still identifies as Jewish, but they are mostly on the east coast and I live in California and don’t see them much or for holidays.  Anyway, I would love to embrace my non-whiteness, but don’t know how to separate the religion from the culture, or whatever it is… I’ve heard there’s Jewish DNA but I don’t understand that at all!

Thanks! love you two and the new show!

If you want us to answer a question, submit your query to [email protected]

Joke

What are the only kind of jokes you can tell during the quarantine? (Thanks, Amanda!)

If you have a joke for the show, send it to [email protected]

Update: Thoughts On The Open Country Protests

Nichole gives a quick update about our segment last week re: the open the country protests after discussing it with a listener, mostly highlighting the fascist motivations behind the protests and how the whole topic of who to try to reach out to and who to see as the enemy is one that continues to confound her.

Main Topic: Spoiler-Free Knives Out Discussion

We have a quick chat about Knives Out, highlighting a few things we noticed as themes in the movie but without giving anything away. Mostly, we just liked it and thought it was a fun lil romp.

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Transcript

Nichole [00:00:26] Hey, everyone. I am Nichole.

Callie [00:00:28] And I’m Callie.

Nichole [00:00:30] And today we’ll be talking about..

Callie [00:00:32] Today we are going to do an advice question. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of those, so we are very excited to dip our toes back into that pool. And then we will also be doing a short fun main segment on Knives Out, a movie that we watched last night.

Callie [00:00:49] We are taking a little break from politics for the most part, much as we can ever really turn it off completely and just doing something kind of fun and silly and light.

Callie [00:01:00] So.

Nichole [00:01:01] Yeah.

Pop Tops: Seeing beyond Our anger over the Michigan protests to reopen the country

Callie takes the lead on this week’s Pop Tops section to talk about how we need to see beyond our rage at the Michigan protests where citizens are clamoring for the government to reopen the country – some of whom are doing dangerous shit like blocking hospital entrances and threatening health care workers with their cars.

Equating them to Trump voters, we dissect our complicated feelings around these actions while recognizing that some of these protestors are people who, just like all of us, are not being taken care of by the government and think the only way to care for their families is to reopen the country. How can we reach these people instead of lumping everyone together and vilifying them, “basket of deplorables” style?

Timenergy Information

theory pleeb’s Timenergy Theory Playlist (YouTube) – this is a formalized theory of “timenergy” as developed by the person behind theory pleeb’s channel over years of research. Check it out to get a deeper exploration of the concept!

Help The Show

Fundraising Efforts: Nichole is trying to raise money for transcription services to offer transcriptions on all episodes, if you want to help, you can donate on Patreon or PayPal <3

YouTube: We will start live streaming and publishing educational videos on our YouTube channel soon; we’re trying to get 1,000 subscribers so sign up if you’d like to follow us there!

Joke

What concert costs $0.45?

Bonus Joke:

Main Topic: Racism, Xenophobia and Red Scaring In How We Talk About Other Countries

Nichole then takes lead on the main topic to explore the way that we talk about other countries in our media and politics, and how this ties into Callie’s topic with Michigan protests screaming about “if you want communism, go to China!” The media in the U.S. usually criticizes and villainizes other countries by their name, as a whole, instead of specifically criticizing the leadership or government specifically as corrupt.

This is a clear way to continue the long, nasty tradition of “red scaring” in the U.S. where we have economic systems conflated with brutal dictatorships in other countries, and those countries themselves become emblems of tyranny and corruption (rather than being seen as victims of tyranny and corruption). This increases nationalism in the U.S. to fervent heights, facilitating brutal policies on immigration, sanctions on other countries, and an understanding that to question capitalism or the U.S. government will brand you a traitor and put you in direct conflict with the government and other patriotic citizens.

We use a vicious cycle of this rhetoric to increase racism and xenophobia in the U.S. while also linking socialism, communism, and anarchy to brutality, terrorism, and being a traitor to your country. We talk about how people say socialism and communism lead to tyranny and yet claim that capitalism is equivalent to democracy, if only we make a couple of tweaks to it, it’ll be the most perfect and free system ou...

COVID19 & Mask Information from a Nurse

Question: How are surgical masks suppose to protect the public from COVID19, but are not considered protective against COVID19 to the individual wearing the mask?

TYPES OF PRECAUTIONS: Before diving in to an explanation, I’m going to present the basic infection control protocol that all health care organizations adhere to. There are different categories we have that helps us categorize the disease types with how they infect individuals, and the types of protective equipment recommended—these are the main ones:

* Universal Precautions- also known as “standard precautions”; every patient is considered this— PPE used for this are standard gloves, and hand hygiene before and after contact with the patient.* Contact precautions- PPE used for this are gloves and a protective gown as the pathogen is spread by skin to skin contact. The gown protects us because it is put on over our scrubs, and is removed after patient care. An example of this would be MRSA bacteria in a patient’s wound, or shingles lesions which are scabbed over.* Droplet precautions- PPE used for droplet precautions are gloves, a basic (surgical) mask, and (depending on disease) eye protection. This prevents large droplets from coughs and sneezes from directly entering our mouths and nose. Droplets are considered to be in the air temporarily but the weight from the droplet is too heavy to be aerosolized, so it falls towards the ground. Some diseases include influenza (flu viruses) and rhino viruses (common cold). Doors to these rooms are to remain closed.* Airborne Precautions- With this type, pathogens are in the air around the patient for an extended amount of time. They are placed in a special “negative pressure room”— where air is pulled out of their rooms continuously and diverted through filtration systems in the vents—then to outside. PPE includes gloves, a gown, hair cover, and a type of respirator—- N95 is the most basic, but we also use air purifying respirators that look like a space helmet and have a filtration component; they are battery powered. N95’s are sized for us upon hiring to ensure the size we wear is securely sealed around our mouths and nose. Diseases on this precaution include chicken pox, meningitis, tuberculosis, open sore shingles, and COVID19.* Neutropenia Precautions/ sterile bedside Procedures- used when a patient has very low white blood cells or we are preforming a sterile procedure at bedside— for this, it’s usually our cancer patients and is intermittently used with certain sterile bedside procedures to protect the patient. If it’s a sterile procedure, the patient and I both have a new surgical mask on and I have sterile gloves on. If it’s a cancer patient, I wear a mask because I’m protecting them from me.

WHAT ARE N95s AND SURGICAL MASKS MADE OF: Both N95s and surgical masks are made with “melt blown fabric”— a process in which different polymers are melted down and blown at high speeds to create a randomized “webbing” pattern. Surgical masks typically have two to three layers of this with a hydrophobic—water repelling—outer layer, while N95s have melt blown fabric layers, activated cotton layers, an activated carbon layer, and a hydrophobic outside layer. Basically, the “activated” layers are electronically charged to help “catch” super tiny charged particles and bacteria and viruses. The randomized webbing of the melt-blown fabric helps create inconsistent “holes” in the various layers. In contrast, a homemade mask out of cotton, would have a woven pattern with consistent predictable gaps even upon layering the cotton.

HOW MASKS SLOW COVID19: wearing a mask out in public is super important in helping to REDUCE the amount of virus particles you spread when you cough, sneeze, and breath.

This week we’re joined by our friend Hilary, reality TV connoisseur, to dish on Netflix’s surprise hit dystopian dating reality show, Love is Blind.

Joke

Why do melons have to get married?

What About Bernie?!

Since we wanted to have time to relax with this week’s episode, we skipped the news but obviously had a LOT of thoughts and feelings about Bernie dropping out of the Democratic presidential race and endorsing Joe Biden. We did a live stream in the Bitchy Shitshow Experience Facebook group, you can watch the replay if you are in that group (or request to join!).

Love is Blind BreakDown: Analyzing the Mess

We go deep on Love is Blind, wading through the mess with glee. We dig into the Carlton-Diamond fiasco, reveal the true villain of the series (hint: it’s not Jessica!), wonder what the hell actually happened between Kelly and Kenny, talk about the fucking fiasco that was Jessica and Mark, give some behind the scenes goss we scoured off the internet, and rage about Damien’s WASP-y treatment of Giannina.

Fun Resources

* Michael & Anthony Love is Blind Parodies Playlist (YouTube)

* 20 Strict Rules Netflix’s Love Is Blind Contestants Are Forced To Follow (YouTube)

* What The Biggest Fans Don’t Know About Netflix’s Love Is Blind (YouTube)

* 10 Details Netflix’s Love Is Blind Doesn’t Want You To Know (YouTube)

* Jessica from Love Is Blind says she ‘attempted to leave’ the show but ‘wasn’t able to’ (EW)

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Transcript

We review a LOT of news items this week, all under the general category of “In finding out there’s no more bread, U.S. Elite tell citizens to buy cake.” Then we delve into the recent scourge of landlord fragility. If you are a landlord, please listen.

Ranting About COVID19 Updates + Landlord Fragility

News

We go through a slew of news items, facts and updates to describe the ghoulish current “Let them eat cake” moment we’re living through, only it’s “Let them buy insurance

* Here’s when you’ll get your Coronavirus relief check (Two Cents)* Early data shows African Americans have contracted and died of Coronavirus at an alarming rate (Propublica)* Economists pan Pelosi’s proposal to lift cap on state and local tax deductions in next bailout (Politico)* In desperation New York State pays up to 15 times the normal price for medical equipment (Propublica)* Saagar Enjeti: 6.6 Million Unemployment Claims, The Revolution Is Coming (YouTube)* Tweet about liquor stores (Twitter)

Joke

What’s a tiger running a copy machine called?

Request

Someone please explain to me how masks (including N95 masks) supposedly DON’T protect YOU from getting COVID19, but DO protect OTHERS from getting it from you. I do not understand the mechanics of one-way protection, I’ve read so many articles, I still don’t get it. Thx, Nichole.

Rant/Discussion

We do a restrained rant this week about landlord “fragility” ie all these landlords in their fee-fees about anti-landlord memes and calls for a rent strike. We hope said landlords will listen, we tone it down from the full-throated rage it could’ve been, to understand where tenants are coming from, and why the practice of being a landlord is inherently wrong, even as we understand it is the reality of our current housing situation. If you refuse to listen, the main takeaway is that regardless of your financial situation or why you are renting out, being a landlord is a privileged position in which you are extracting wealth from people who are not on equal standing with you and will not get to share in any of the long-term value and stability enabled by their rent payments. So, you may be a good person and a “good” landlord, but you are still participating in a harmful institution.

Also, we all know that it makes sense to also suspend mortgages, we are asking for that as well. But you, as landlords, have way more political power than us and should fight for that on your own. Call your governor, call your bank. Get your mortgage extended and then tell all your tenants that they are safe until the pandemic is over. The entire point of a rent strike is to put pressure on landlords to do just that – get them mobilized to call for rent and mortgage freezes in all states. So hop to it! We can organize together and work towards a common goal, but you have to come into the situation understan...

Part 1: Coronavirus (Covid-19) and Productivity Obsession

This week we take a dive into the COVID-19 relief bill that was passed in the House and the Senate last week, digging into where the bill falls short and the politics behind the concessions that were made in it. Then we’re joined by comrade Mexie from The Vegan Vanguard podcast to dismantle “productivity” in a time of COVID. This is part one of a two-part episode, you can find part two over on The Vegan Vanguard where we extend the conversation to talk about Hopeful Headlines, potential dangers in a time of crisis as well as the opportunities in this time to move our countries left and make gains for citizens.

Poppin Off

We pop off today about the COVID-19 relief bill (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the CARES Act), talking about how insufficient it is, how many people it leaves behind, and even more so, the ways in which massive concessions were made to put provisions in place to restrict the giant corporate bailout in the bill, only to have Trump to overturn those when he signed off on the bill. We mourn the lack of collaboration and strength in the progressive segment of Congress to allow this bill to pass without putting up a massive, public fight. One bright spot, and a not insignificant one, is the unemployment insurance expansion and increase in this bill, which will help millions of people (thank you, Bernie!).

See the full text of the bill here.

Jokes

Nichole reads off several “social distancing pick-up lines,” much to Callie’s dismay. (Thanks, Tina!)

Submit your jokes to [email protected] (don’t worry, only Nichole checks this inbox!)

Main Topic

Today we’re joined by our beloved comrade Mexie, from The Vegan Vanguard podcast as well as her amazing YouTube channel Mexie, to explore and deconstruct the capitalist concept of productivity in a time of lockdown, as well as our thoughts about how the pandemic might shift the populations’ view of things like a 40-hour workweek, flexible work options like working from home, the importance of service workers, and more. Nichole and Mexie speak extensively of their perspective as people with disabilities (chronic and acute illness) and how it colors their experience of this time of shutdown as well as their hopes for a less ableist future for workers.

LISTEN TO PART 2 ON THE VEGAN VANGUARD. We explore questions like: can capitalism survive 18 months of this? Can we continue to organize without being able to meet in person? What are the risks to citizens right now? What are the potentials in this climate for activists and organizers, and for socialism itself? It’s an awesome episode, don’t miss out!

Follow Mexie

The Vegan Vanguard: Twitter | Website

Mexie – Twitter | YouTube

Referenced In This Episode

* Sonya Renee Taylor on Instagram – video post about productivity in this tim...

In This Episode: Coronavirus Updates and a Discussion on Ableism and the Way We Approach Health Crisis

JOKES, that’s right, TWO OF EM

Nichole: Due to the quarantine…

Callie: Why can’t you find toilet paper anywhere?

Main Topic

FYI: We’re recording remotely for the foreseeable future so the audio quality is going to take a hit until we can get back together or figure out a better solution.

This week we’re talking about the Coronavirus again: we have updates about the fuckery that Democrats and Republicans are up to and information about who is really at risk. We use this to jump off into a more philosophical conversation, our former bread and butter, about the rampant ableism we’ve seen in how people are talking about and processing the pandemic, including our thoughts surrounding the way we tend to approach health crises (if it doesn’t affect ME, then it doesn’t exist!) and the insufferable privilege of only focusing on the health crisis and not the related economic crisis crashing down on our heads. Our individualistic approach to emergencies never worked, but is especially disastrous now as we enter an age of global catastrophy. The human race will not survive this if we don’t think about these situations in terms of community.

Resources

* A Medical Worker Describes Terrifying Lung Failure From COVID-19 — Even in His Young Patients (ProPublica)* DOJ Wants to Suspend Certain Constitutional Rights During Coronavirus Emergency (RollingStone)* Ohio halts procedures at abortion clinics amid COVID-19 outbreak (The Hill)* Bernie Sanders Coronavirus Livestream with AOC, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib (Periscope)* Tanks rolling through San Diego (Twitter)

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Transcript

Not going to lie, this episode is a way-too-long meandering mess, but hopefully an informative and still enjoyable one! We’re incredibly distracted by Coronavirus, our rage over finding out more about Biden’s terrible track record, and our panic over Trump having national emergency powers…so…we’re talking about it all!

Resources

* The Alarming Scope of the President’s Emergency Powers (The Atlantic)* 6 unbelievable things the president can do during a crisis (Business Insider)* Noam Chomsky: “Bernie Is Vilified Because He Has Inspired a Movement” (Tribune)* Democrats, You Really Do Not Want To Nominate Joe Biden | Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs): Article | Podcast – iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play | Video – Short Version, Long Version

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Transcript