Ben Chou is a candidate for Harris County Commissioner Precinct 4 which covers Katy, CyFair, West Houston, Alief, Meyerland, Briarforest, Galleria, River Oaks, Timbergrove. We talk about why he decided to run for office, white supremacy, capitalism, and how he plans to bring the community into the work. 

Learn more about about his campaign here.

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So you vote in the Democratic Party - do you know about precinct chairs? Delegates and caucuses? What a party platform is and how it's supposed to hold the party accountable? It's okay if you don't. In this Left of Liberal throwback, I interview Prince E Winbush III, state delegate twice and more, and we talk specifically on this education. If you can, you should definitely learn more about the processes of the party.

Molly Cook, RN, ER nurse, an organizer and advocate for a more sustainable transportation future joins me to talk about her campaign for Texas Senate, District 15. We talk about:

John Whitmire, the current elected official, has been in there for decades and plans on leaving barely half way through his term to run for Houston mayor - this would leave District 15 without representation and open for Republicans. If you want to volunteer for Molly's campaign, click here.

If you want a sustainable transportation future, there is a group working on exactly that - click here.

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So you vote in the Democratic Party - do you know about precinct chairs? Delegates and caucuses? What a party platform is and how it's supposed to hold the party accountable? It's okay if you don't. In this Left of Liberal throwback, I interview Prince E Winbush III, state delegate twice and more, and we talk specifically on this education. If you can, you should definitely learn more about the processes of the party.

Franklin Bynum is running for re-election for judge of the Harris County Criminal Court at Law #8. He joined me to talk about his re-election campaign. During our conversation, we cover how intensely racist the "justice" system is and how the overall issue in his courts is how capitalism fails people. Most are houseless and turn to "crime" for survival. 

He is a socialist organizer, a prison abolitionist, and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Click here if you want to join his campaign.

If prison abolition interests you, there is an abolitionist collective in Houston - click here.

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So you vote in the Democratic Party - do you know about precinct chairs? Delegates and caucuses? What a party platform is and how it's supposed to hold the party accountable? It's okay if you don't. In this Left of Liberal throwback, I interview Prince E Winbush III, state delegate twice and more, and we talk specifically on this education. If you can, you should definitely learn more about the processes of the party.

Lauren, Houston DSA member, and Stephanie, DSA Medicare for All Steering Committee member, talk to me about the movement to have Harris County support Medicare for All by voting on a resolution. What is a resolution? Why does this matter? We tackle those questions and more.

Action items:

For questions, email: [email protected]

Spike, Houston Tenants Union organizer and Brompton tenant, joins me to talk about Fat Property, the corporate landlord, and the campaign to hold them accountable to tenants.

Help the tenants of Terraces on Brompton apply more pressure by shining a light on Fat Property’s inadequacies and reducing their ratings across the web! Here are the instructions on how to help.

Follow:

Montrose Local

Houston Tenants Union

Crystal Dávila, Pasadena ISD Trustee, Position 2, joins me to provide an update on the Pasadena school district. We also discuss balancing life as a trustee and teacher during the pandemic.

Today we talked about the Denver mass shooter and the Patriot Front. This thread has the GoFundMe links for the victims of the Denver shooter.

We then talked about national news including Enbridge gave funds to the cops/prosecutors that are hurting Water Protectors. 

Bringing it back home:

Professor Justice and D.Elohim are fellow podcasters on All Real Radio and have their show, Nation With No Flag. They recently joined me to recap 2021. While it was an insane year where the system continued to purposely fail, the labor movement came in strong as folks continue to fight back and reclaim their wages.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the deep disparities between essential workers and people who got to stay at home. In summer 2020, the Workers Defense Project partnered with coalitions and workers on the ground to create an Essential Workers Board at the Harris County level - the first of its kind in the nation. This board is for workers, by workers.

In this interview, Sandra and Yabsira, with Workers Defense Project, go through the process of how this board was created and how the board will likely function in the future. 

Episode art is from the Workers Defense Instagram, see here.

Kendra, founder of Our Afrikan Family, and Molly with Stop TxDOT I-45 join me discuss how the pause on the I-45 freeway expansion was randomly and unexpectedly lifted last week. The I-45 expansion will displace 1079 homes, 2 schools, 5 places of worship, and 344 businesses, learn more here. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) originally paused the project to investigate violation of residents’ civil rights through Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now, the pause on construction has been lifted for section 3A, 3B, and parts of 3C of the freeway despite the civil rights investigation being incomplete. 

This week the FHWA will be visiting Houston to continue the civil rights investigation. Kendra and Molly join me to discuss why the pause has been lifted despite the investigation still being in process.

If you are an affected resident, you can make an appointment with the FHWA and/or submit a Title VI complaint, here.

From the Stop TxDOT 1–45 press release: