The Majority Report with Sam Seder

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

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The Majority Report with Sam Seder episodes

  • 2812 - Coal Baron Blockade & A Crude History of Palm Oil w/ Jonathan Robins & Warren Hilsbos

    Sam and Emma host Jonathan Robins, Associate Professor of History at Michigan Technological University, to discuss his recent book Oil Palm: A Global History. Then, Sam and Emma are joined by Warren Hilsbos of the Coal Baron Blockade! Prof. Robins begins with the state of the palm oil industry – the world’s biggest oil industry – extracting from tropical regions of South East Asia, with some production in Africa and Latin America as well, all funneling into the oil’s ubiquity across our food products, as well as the industry’s absurd rates of deforestation, indigenous displacement, and destruction of biodiversity. Next, he, Sam, and Emma jump back to the 19th Century with Europe’s colonization of countless African nations and communities and the appropriation of many of their medicinal and culinary practices, central to which was the use of palm oil. As the transatlantic slave trade was slowly abolished, the shipping industries saw palm oil as the perfect replacement, central to countless of the developing products of the industrial revolution. As the world progressed into the 20th Century, fats and oils became central to nutrition in the western world, palm oil slowly moved to the center of colonial business interests, producing more oil per tree, per acre, than coconuts and other agricultural oils, yet, as Professor Robins explores, the power of indigenous communities, and their connection to their land stood strong, refusing to hand over their forests or their labor to the settlers in their backyard. Thus, the settler-colonial industry switched its focus to the much less densely populated forests of South East Asia, where it was much easier to lay claim to others’ land and funnel in indentured servants from across the continent, subsidized by European regimes like the English and the Dutch. Next, Jonathan walks Sam and Emma through the developments of the mid-1900s, which saw a crackdown on cheap labor practices that competed with American businesses, with much of the labor coercion leaving the industry up until the 1980s (classic). They wrap up the interview by touching on regulation in recent years, as more progressive practices exist only independently, while the main palm oil industry employs the ever-trustworthy practices of self-policing, evaluating, and promoting their own vastly more expensive “ethically sourced” products (which, unsurprisingly, has seen little-to-no engagement on the corporate level). Sam and Emma also touch on the rampant spread of “Don’t Say Gay” and anti-abortion bills throughout the South and Midwest, all charges falling through in the murder of Amir Locke, and Jen Psaki’s incredulous response to Steve Portnoy’s “why not?” take on World War Three.

    Then, Emma and Sam are joined by Warren Hilsbos with West Virginia Rising, as they discuss this weekend’s “Coal Baron Blockade” at Grand Town Power Plant, the sole consumer of Manchin’s dirty coal plant, and how the group is taking on their senator’s decision to side with corporate corruption over his constituents’ well-being. In the Fun Half, Ben Shapiro joins in with Senators Cotton and Blackburn as they take on “radical left” constitutionalist Ketanji Brown Jackson, due to her fear of discussing bajingos and hoo-has in a Senate confirmation hearing for a SUPREME COURT seat. Dustin from Queens calls in on Democrats’ refusal to invest in public housing, particularly from the angle of building their base, and PR Mayor Eric Adams funnels some taxes to billboards promoting his city in Florida. Mike Lindell gets served, before trying to politely return the envelope, Charlie Kirk and the Right want MORE gender neutrality in schools (one would assume with their rhetoric at least), and Wren from Oregon calls in with updates on anti-trans legislation, and her experiences with Gender Critical community members, plus, your calls and IMs!

      Check out Jonathan's book here: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469662893/oil-palm/   Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule

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    Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

    @SamSeder

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    @MattLech

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    Check out this USAToday article on KBJ and Marsha Blackburn here: https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/7152439001

    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    1 hr 4 min
  • 2811 - Amazon's Union Busting In App Form w/ Ken Klippenstein
    Emma hosts Ken Klippenstein, investigative reporter at The Intercept, to discuss his recent piece "LEAKED: NEW AMAZON WORKER CHAT APP WOULD BAN WORDS LIKE “UNION,” “RESTROOMS,” “PAY RAISE,” AND “PLANTATION”.  Ken and Emma begin by summarizing the incredible culmination of the Staten Island Amazon unionization effort, beginning back in April 2020 with a walkout for MINIMAL safety protocols in the middle of a pandemic, resulting in the firing of Christian Smalls, only for the fight to completely turn on its head as employees found inspiration and a drive to solidarity with Christian and his other co-workers turning their attention to the creation of a new, independent union for Amazon laborers, combatting wildly offensive and dismissive attempts at union-busting by the company, leading up to last weeks astounding success. After briefly touching on the incredible response to the successful union vote, looking at it as one of the biggest labor victories in half a century, Ken dives into a few of the other investigations he has held into Amazon’s poor safety regulation. They then get to the real reveal that Klippenstein discovered, as they dive into Amazon’s leaked internal messaging server and its exhaustive list of banned words ranging from the obvious (racial epithets, slurs) to the obviously exploitative (union, fire, accessibility, freedom, slave labor, living wage, identity, FREEDOM). Ken walks through both the original senior meetings that saw internal social media as a solution to their inability to keep employees, and the revelation that was realizing such a platform would also have to guard against the “dark side” of social media (worker solidarity). They wrap up the interview with a little compare and contrast between Amazon’s internal messaging and their external social media policy which is actual humans cranking out dissociatively positive tweets in support of management. Emma also dives into Howard Schultz’s return to the podium of Starbucks Town Halls as he dangles shiny tokens of the non-fungible variety in the eyes of his “partners” to distract from the incredible wave of unionization efforts occurring in his coffee shops throughout the country, before touching on the information coming in about Russian war crimes, what their retreat from Kyiv might mean, and insights into the UN’s new IPCC report.

    And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Nomiki Konst as they show off their Elizabeth Holmes impressions, Justin from Georgia calls in to discuss the Amazon unionization victory, and how and WHY different media members tried to tie in AOC to the conversation. JD Vance discusses the bad hombres coming over the border, but just means the Sacklers, as Emma and Nomiki reflect on the absurdity of the liberal Hillbilly Elegy phase. Sarah Palin and Jesse Watters fantasize about AOC in a piece on the left just “pounding and pounding” ideas of sex and gender deeper and deeper into our heads, and Kenny from Berkeley discusses changing the conversation on electoralism. Evan from NJ talks about representations of Biden’s weaknesses, Prager U says “let us into your kids’ bed(times)” Kowalski talks about the YouTube channel “Knowing Better,” plus, your calls and IMs!

    Check out Ken's reporting here: https://theintercept.com/2022/04/04/amazon-union-living-wage-restrooms-chat-app/

    Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule

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    Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/

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    Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover

    Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow

    Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder

    Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse

    Check out The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles

    Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!)

    Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/

    Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein’s podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere 

    Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

    @SamSeder

    @EmmaVigeland

    @MattBinder

    @MattLech

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    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    1 hr 2 min
  • 2810 - How Presidents Lie Us Into War w/ John Schuessler

    Sam and Emma host John M. Schuessler, Associate Professor of Government and Public Service at Texas A & M University, to discuss his book Deceit On The Road To War: Presidents, Politics, and American Democracy, and how the blueprint to manufactured consent for US intervention developed over the last century. Professor Schuessler begins by situating his work coming out of graduate research on FDR and the leadup to WW2 in the early aughts, right as the debate around the Iraq war was peaking, and the inspiration he found in the parallels between how President Roosevelt and President Bush saw a window to get into war, and took it. Jumping back to 1941, Sam, Emma, and John look to FDR’s perspective as the Second World War escalated, understanding that if the Nazis took control over the USSR or Europe our time at the top of the global stage would be over, while having to balance that with an anti-interventionist public that wanted no more than economic and military aid to the allies. They distill his plan into the sphere of the Atlantic, where FDR hoped to isolate any action, and the Pacific, where he wanted to avoid any military engagement. However, unable to find any excuses in the Atlantic to garner support for action against Germany, FDR’s policy began to shift as he used an oil embargo to push Japan over the brink, expecting light retaliation and instead getting the Pearl Harbor attacks. Next, they walk through the state of the foreign policy elite at the time, who, much like the leaders of the Military-Industrial Complex today, were concerned with the downfall of the Liberal order above all, with much more invested in America’s role as a global superpower than they have to lose in going to war. Jumping forwards, they contrast this with the tools George W. Bush had at his disposal, between a fully developed relationship between government, business, and the military, an incredibly homogenized media industry, and an ethos of “the end of history” in the air, all serving to bolster his choice to ride complete misinformation into decades of disaster and bloodshed in the Middle East. They wrap up by shifting to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as they unpack Biden’s maneuvers to avoid joining the warfare compared with the complete lack of subtlety on Putin’s end, as leak after leak reveals false flag plans and other clamors for justification, before they unpack the relationship between deceptions for war and deceptions for peace, and the similarities that intelligence disclosure plays among the two. Sam and Emma also touch on the updates to KBJ’s nomination to the Supreme Court, the House’s weed bill, and CNBC’s unintelligible squawking about the Staten Island Amazon union win.

    And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma take a call with Jeremy from Indiana on the IBEW strike in Chicago, Mel from TX-3 calls in with some juicy RINO drama, and Dick Durbin talks overnight specials in LA (not innuendo). Sen. Roy Blunt discusses why, despite KBJ meeting all standards, he won’t vote to confirm her, Sen. Graham rallies against electing her to the high court, and Tulsi Gabbard says “keep the government out of our children’s beds, that’s where I belong!” Amir from Northern Virginia showers the crew with front-handed insults, Sam and Emma get some Space Force revelations, and Katie Porter calls in following Nerd Cheetah’s whistleblowing on MR’s dark money slush fund, plus, your calls and IMs!

      Check out John's book here: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801453595/deceit-on-the-road-to-war/#bookTabs=1   Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule

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    Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

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    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    1 hr 13 min
  • 2809 - April Fool's Day! w/ Ryan Grim

    Sam and Emma host Ryan Grim, DC Bureau Chief at The Intercept, to round up the week in news. Then in the Fun Half, we have a special April Fool's Day compilation! Ryan and Sam begin by taking on the incredible work done by Amazon organizers in Staten Island and Bessemer Alabama as the unionization votes trickle in, with the former looking like a raving success, and the latter showing vast improvements over last year’s vote, leading them into a discussion on the stagnation in the National Labor Relations Board, with the Right’s dedication to the war on organized labor building over the last few decades as the Democrats just sort of stand around. This gets Sam and Ryan into a discussion on corporate Dems, Manchin, Sinema, and Kelly, effectively sinking the Biden Administration’s nomination for the Labor Department, and the general anemia of Biden and Democratic leadership. Shifting to the other crumbling party, Ryan and Sam look to the Republicans’ tantrums during the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, spewing talking points about her being “weak on pedophilia” alongside their typical bad faith racist attacks, and the failure of the Democrats on the committee to properly respond to and amplify the absurdity of their opponents. Next, they look to the discussions around Medicare Advantage plans, how good insurance companies are at taking what they know about you and making you pay more because of it, and the connection between Democrats’ refusal to associate with Medicare (despite its popularity) goes hand in hand with Democrats’ refusal to do anything to expand it (despite its efficacy), before they wrap up with a discussion on the pathways of change for the CMS. They wrap up the interview with a discussion on Manchin’s coal corruption and familial fraud, the state of states’ gerrymandering, and Sam dives into the supply line, and gas industry price gouging.

    And in the Fun Half: Sam is caught BLUE-handed (because he’s a lib!) by independent journalist and Substacker Ronald Raygun as he openly drinks store-bought apple cider and makes uncannily succinct comments, before Ken, Ken & Ken (no relation to Ken & Ken in the Morning) take on Sam’s estrogen elitism and soyboy stupidity. The show is wrapped up with an incredibly passionate takedown of all things corrupt by fringe genius Danny Bruce and source A. A. Seeman.

      Purchase tickets for the live show in Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule

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    sunsetlakecbd is a majority employee owned farm in Vermont, producing 100% pesticide free CBD products. Great company, great product and fans of the show! Use code Leftisbest and get 20% off at http://www.sunsetlakecbd.com. And now Sunset Lake CBD has donated $2500 to the Nurses strike fund, and we encourage MR listeners to help if they can. Here’s a link to where folks can donate: https://forms.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/

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    Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse

    Check out The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles

    Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!)

    Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/

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    Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

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    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    2 hr 40 min
  • 2808 - What Reality TV Says About Society's Rot w/ Danielle Lindemann & Alexandra Hunt

    Emma hosts Danielle Lindemann, Associate Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University, to discuss her recent book True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us. Then, Emma is joined by Alexandra Hunt, candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's 3rd District, to give us an update from the campaign trail! First, Professor Lindemann joins as she and Emma bond over their school rivalries and love for reality TV, diving into how these reflections of social interaction and hierarchy can provide a zany, yet very useful sociological lens. They begin by situating where and how the social juggernaut that is reality TV came to be, looking to the 2000s cultural benchmark of “Survivor” to serve as the emergence of the genre, before it took off on a wider scale amid the 2007 writers’ strike. This leads them to a discussion on how reality TV’s structure differs from typical programming, requiring drastically less overhead, from flexibility in paying talent, to lack of writers or any union staffing, and how the genre fits into the profit incentives of the industry, and thus reflects many of the economic models of our society, particularly when it comes to the gig economy. Next, Professor Lindemann dives into how she unpacks this sociological lens throughout her work, looking first at the smallest social unit of the individual, before working through what it can tell us about families and other smaller groups, leading all the way up through the larger and more abstract social structures of class, race, gender, and sexuality. Emma then gets into how, despite the largely hedonistic picture that reality TV shows paint, the majority of them still work to reinforce conservative and Christian values, showing the right ways that certain people should act and dress, as she looks to Rachel Lindsay’s discussion of being the first Bachelorette of color, and the insanely high standards she had to meet to even be a part of that world. Then, they look to American Idol as Emma and Danielle explore how reality TV is a producer’s dream in terms of its ability to be manipulated to tell a specific story, as this talent show was able to constantly spew themes of patriotism, individualism, and meritocracy. They then look to the larger themes that we can see in the genre, as it explains to us the legitimacy of the class system, from the Honey Boo Boos and Tiger Kings with their working-class buffoonery to the indulgence of the Real Housewives, and how whiteness is the standard of having your story told, all serving up an incredibly regressive picture of people under the shield of “this is just people being people.” They wrap up the interview by touching on the hold reality TV has on our culture, from forming para-social relationships in the internet age to gifting us our 45th president.

    And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon and Matt as they unpack Charlie Kirk’s obsession with kids, and letting liberation movements run wild with supporting the self-confidence and identity of our youngest generations, and the flip the right is trying to pull by portraying queer Disney employees as the “elite” while the ones actually in power, their bosses, shut down progressive pushes inside the company, and fund homophobic bills outside of it. Wren from South Oregon calls in as she unpacks the importance of decentralized currency when it comes to access to hormones amid a shutdown on trans healthcare, and IMers celebrate today’s PA-centric show. Ben Shapiro lists off lynching statistics like a baseball-obsessed pre-teen, Sean from Washington discusses political divides between union members and union leaders, and Alex from NY gives his weekly matchups, plus, your calls and IMs!

    Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule

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    Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/

    Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning

    Subscribe to Matt’s other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover

    Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow

    Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder

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    Check out The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles

    Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!)

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    1 hr 16 min
  • 2807 - The Republican Rallying Cry Behind "Save The Children" w/ Paul Renfro

    Sam and Emma host Paul Renfro, Assistant Professor of History at Florida State University, to discuss his recent book Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State.

    Check out Paul's book here:

    https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190913984.001.0001/oso-9780190913984

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    1 hr 11 min
  • 2806 - Manchin-Sized Corruption, Biden's Wealth Tax Gambit, & More

    Sam and Emma break down a crazy weekend in news, from Biden's EuroTrip to KBJ's confirmation process, labor to COVID, the courts and more! They begin with Ron DeSantis’s official signing of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, as he pulls out the classics when it comes to homophobic fear-mongering, calling out corrupt Hollywood and the predators that endanger our children, and the role of public education and our teachers as scapegoats of the Right’s attack. Next, they jump into the changing tides in Ukraine’s defense against Russia as ceasefire talks become more hopeful, Putin lets go of his “de-nazification” claim, and discussions of letting Kyiv join the EU begin, before they also touch on how the Donbas region will come into play. This brings them to a discussion on Biden’s recently released budget proposal, as he finally puts forward more progressive taxation, including a wealth tax on families worth more than $100,000,000, only to boost the defense budget by 10%, and then look to the media’s reaction to this, as CBS hosts totally unbiased technocrat and former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to explore why this wealth tax is so unnatural and perhaps even unconstitutional. They wrap up the bigger news stories by covering, “How Joe Manchin Aided Coal, and Earned Millions,” in the New York Times, diving into his campaign of corruption, starting as State Senator in the 80s as he paved the way for extra coal power plants with lower regulations, just happening to take them on as the sole customer of his mines, before striking up some political bargains with AmBit utilities, alongside getting a small stake in the company, and effectively grew his power from Governor to Senator as he benefited from his mutualistic relationship with the coal industry.

    And in the Fun Half: Emma and Sam are joined by Nomiki Konst as they admire NE State Senator Bruce Bostelman’s willingness to go after the true cancer in our school systems (furries that defecate on the floor) and the horrendous sanitary implications it might have, before Nomiki and Emma dive into the $850,000,000 investment into a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills despite their renovations less than a decade ago. Madison Cawthorn drops some incredibly hot gossip on his fellow party members and their perverse behavior, Nomiki touches on Fox News SILENCING her for discussing price gouging, and the crew discusses their favorite fish, plus, your IMs!

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    Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!)

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    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    1 hr 13 min
  • 2805 - Pharmaceuticals Steal Our Wealth And Health For Their Profits w/ Alexander Zaitchik

    Sam and Emma host freelance journalist Alexander Zaitchik to discuss his recent book Owning The Sun: A People's History of Monopoly Medicine From Aspirin To COVID-19 Vaccines, on the development of patent regimes from an attempt to democratize knowledge to a system of corporate and institutional control. Zaitchik begins by walking Sam and Emma back to the inception of intellectual property and patents in Elizabethan England as a tool to constrain the Crown’s power to assign monopoly rights, and why, despite this attempt to democratize the production of knowledge, liberal thinkers of the time (such as John Locke) saw it as dampening the flow of knowledge. After briefly touching on the belief in IP rights as encouraging innovation, despite the transhistorical belief in knowledge as a collective product, and the lack of financial incentives behind almost every technological development before the industrial revolution, Sam, Emma, and Alexander look to the affirmation of patents and IP in the US Constitution as a tool of democratization, as we saw in England, and how that developed into a practice of corporate obstructionism beginning in the Gilded Age. Zaitchik then dives into the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, and his attempt to further “democratize” (his words, not mine) the patent regime by aligning it with physical property rights, thus completely individualizing knowledge under the guise of opening it up. This led to a rise of corporate research labs in the late 1800s, as they figured out how to amass more and more patents for technological and medical developments, keeping them in the hands of a corporate monopoly rather than individual innovators. Next, Alexander jumps to the New Deal era and attempts to rein in the patent regime, as FDR’s Department of Justice pushed a culture of anti-trust regulation, looking back to the Constitution’s statements on patents as a charge to support the diffusion of knowledge, particularly in the wake of WW1’s technological advancements falling into the hands of corporations that would go on to work intimately with Nazis. This brings them to the period from the 40s to the 80s which saw treasury-funded research go into public control, requiring genuine commitment to public interest for any monopoly approval, before neoliberalism took over in the Reagan era, with the passing of the Bayh-Dole act and Reagan’s creation of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals as a tool to fast track the approval of monopolies, really taking ideological court-packing to a new level. They wrap up the interview with an extended discussion on Bill Gates’s philanthropy in the world of global health, his leveraging of incredible financial, institutional, and media power to push his ideology, and how incredibly representative this is of countless issues with medical and technological IP, and the laundering process that is American philanthropy. Sam and Emma also touch on Biden’s falling approval ratings as he clamors to grab onto bad faith footholds, and the live drama that we saw this weekend (at the MR show, of course).

    And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma cover the most ridiculous takes in the wake of Will Smith’s slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars, some of which are offered up by our very own comments section, and Jimmy Dore realizes that the true victims of the assault are stand-up comedians everywhere. Amy Klobuchar comes at the moral authority of the Supreme Court without going far enough to impact the power they have, Rick Scott offers up his plan to hike up taxes on half of the country and take away their healthcare as McConnell, for some reason, tries to sweep it under the rug, and Lara Logan returns for some classical anti-Semitic conspiracy theory stemming from Darwin. Nick from Pittsburgh discusses nuclear power and private regulation and Kowalski from NE reflects on the live show, plus, your calls and IMs!

    Check out Alexander here: https://www.zaitchik.com/

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    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    1 hr 17 min
  • 2804 - Supreme Court Hearings, Devastating Cases, and QAnon Wives w/ Ian Millhiser & Judy Gold
    It's Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox, to discuss the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Then, Sam and Emma are joined by comedian Judy Gold, host of the Kill Me Now podcast! Sam and Emma start off by discussing President Biden visiting Brussels to survey NATO's positioning in the Russia/Ukraine conflict, as well as answer questions from reporters like "Have you considered World War 3 more strongly yet, and if so, why not?"   Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule

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    sunsetlakecbd is a majority employee owned farm in Vermont, producing 100% pesticide free CBD products. Great company, great product and fans of the show! Use code Leftisbest and get 20% off at http://www.sunsetlakecbd.com. And now Sunset Lake CBD has donated $2500 to the Nurses strike fund, and we encourage MR listeners to help if they can. Here’s a link to where folks can donate: https://forms.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/

    Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/

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    Check out The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles

    Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!)

    Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/

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    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    2 hr 40 min
  • 2803 - The Collapse of Venezuela w/ William Neuman & Summer Lee

    Emma hosts journalist William Neuman to discuss his recent book Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela. Then, Emma is joined by Summer Lee, candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania's 12th District, to give up an update from the campaign trail. William Neuman begins by jumping back to his first move to Venezuela at the start of the 2010s, as a correspondent for the New York Times, tracing the story of Venezuela’s economic collapse. He starts with the booming success of Hugo Chavez in the 2000s, as he oversaw an incredible jump in oil prices, and began a spree of government spending and borrowing, without saving the income for any future crisis – thus, when Chavez died from cancer in the wake of his 2010 reelection, passing the reins to Nicolás Maduro, only for a massive drop in oil prices, down to around a quarter of the peak of Chavez’s administration, to completely cripple the economic output of the country beginning in 2012. The rest of the 2010s saw Maduro attempt to grapple with the crisis while uncertain about altering Chavez’s pre-existing policy, as hyperinflation, depression, and rising refugee rates took over, leading up to the mass blackouts in 2019, and eventual controversy over Maduro’s reelection. This brings Neuman and Emma to the role of US foreign policy and sanctions in pushing Venezuela over the edge, as former President Trump and John Bolton pushed intervention to the extreme, with the Defense Department rejecting any actual invasion, before Bolton chose to “go for the win” and push Maduro completely out of office by putting an incredibly stringent set of general sanctions, effectively enforcing a complete oil embargo against the country, cutting them off from the world economy and digging them deeper into this crisis – effectively. This, of course, came alongside the declaration by Juan Guaidó that he was the legitimate president, with much of the West clamoring to support and recognize him, despite the similar illegitimacy of his claim in the wake of large disenfranchisement and voter suppression, with American Republicans attempting to capitalize on the socialist boogeyman to bolster their electoral push in Florida. Emma and William then dive into the counter to this negative branding of Socialism by the US, looking to Chavez’s autocratic rise as a populist, appropriating the socialist rhetoric and symbolism of the 60s and 70s in Latin America, without taking on the actual policy, pushing increasing polarization and capitalizing on the oil boom. After briefly touching on what the country looked like during the economic collapse, and the various unsuccessful (and some successful) policy the government took on at the time, Emma gets Neuman to dive into what the role of the leftist opposition in Venezuela is, as they discuss the discourse from politicians such as Henrique Capriles and the need to not just take down the bad guys in government, but to build up good and functioning institutions in the wake. Emma also touches on the end of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, the continued Russia escalation in Ukraine, and the disastrous and corrupt shadow docket decision by SCOTUS to overturn the Wisconsin State Supreme Court’s decision regarding redistricting.

    And in the Fun Half: Emma hosts Summer Lee as they unpack fighting for her base of poor and working-class Pennsylvanians when up against union-busters, being a part of a legislative arena with white supremacists strewn throughout it, and what working for Pittsburgh means to her. Then, Brandon and Matt join as Kowalski gives his agriculture update, Tucker goes deep into the role of genes and the Supreme Court, and Joe Rogan defends the ideology behind the “don’t say gay” bills, lighting fire under the bigots’ fight for the right to be themselves (violent assholes). Bee from PA discusses Leftists and the culture war, as Matt, Brandon, and Emma unpack who the “Left” is, and the difference between “culture war” and “civil rights,” before Cory Booker goes Cuckoo for Crypto, Bari Weiss takes the crown for cringiest Ukraine poem – overtaking both the Pelosi x Bono collaboration and the wonderful AnnaLynne McCord's “If I Were Your Mother” – plus, your calls and IMs!

    Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule

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    Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse

    Check out The Letterhack’s upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles

    Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!)

    Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/

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    The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

    1 hr 25 min

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