Voices: River City

Voices: River City

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Voices: River City episodes

  • 105 - Election Reflection, with Councilmember-elect Katie Valenzuela (11.6.2020)

    The 2020 general election is over, and no one feels 100% great as ballots are being counted throughout the nation.

    Here in Sacramento, the people saw a win in defeating Mayor Darrell Steinberg's 'strong mayor' power grab. But they also suffered defeat at the hands of the deep-pocketed real estate industry in the fall of the Measure C rent control initiative.

    Mai Vang is neck-and-neck against Pastor Les Simmons in Sacramento City Council's District 8 race, after Simmons threw a hail mary by taking tens of thousands of dollars from the real estate industry. Similarly, Democrat Gregg Fishman is a couple of points ahead of lifelong cop Rich Desmond in the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors' District 3 contest. These races may not be decided for weeks, but it appears that Councilmember Allen Warren may have underestimated his challenger Sean Lololee.

    The people of California saw some serious defeats in state propositions, with both renters' and workers' rights taking a hit. We saw two big wins in prison reform, though the bail system will once again be instated. Bizarrely, the people of 'liberal' California shot down an attempt to reestablish affirmative action.

    On the federal level, Democrats underperformed, losing seats in the House of Representatives and failing to capture a majority in the Senate (at least for now). We can take solace in Donald Trump leaving the White House in January. The downside?

    Our next president is Joe fucking Biden.

    Thanks for listening and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 33 min
  • 104 - Dewey Defeats Human (An Election Day discourse)

    The crew talks Trump, Biden and their thoughts on America's decision come election day.

    Your homework is this fantastic newsletter on the likelihood of a Biden win: https://kendallkaut.substack.com/p/why-joe-biden-is-going-to-win

    Thanks for listening and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 21 min
  • 103 - SCUSD Candidates Nailah Pope-Harden and Lavinia Grace Phillips (10.30.2020)

    We're joined by Sacramento City Unified School District candidates Nailah Pope-Harden and Lavinia Grace Phillips, who are running in areas 4 and 7, respectively.

    They share with us why they've been moved to run for office during such an acrimonious time between the existing board and the teachers union, and discuss the ways the district has historically failed students of color. We also discuss education in the time of COVID, the long overdue removal of cops in our schools, and how one particular newspaper columnist simply has it wrong on SCUSD's challenges and solutions.

    Finally, we take a moment to congratulate Dr Flo and the countless other advocates who worked tirelessly to make Sacramento the first city in the nation to incorporate prevention in its definition of public safety.

    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

     

    1 hr 17 min
  • 102 - Willie Brown Jr (10.27.2020)
    Friends and family of Willie Brown Jr., the 38-year-old Sacramento man found hanging from a basketball hoop last week, continue to process their grief while demanding answers to what happened.
     
    The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department claims that it was a suicide attempt, but people are worried that these circumstances reflect a pattern in the US last summer of Black men found hanging in public spaces. 
     
    Brown, a father of four, is still alive but not exhibiting brain activity. If you'd like to help his family, they have started a GoFundMe.
     
    We also take some time this episode to talk about the right-wing madness taking place a few hours north of Sacramento in Shasta County, where State of Jefferson crazies are finding new and creative ways to intimidate and threaten a county board of supervisors that is simply trying to mitigate the threat of coronavirus. (For further reading on this absurd story, check out this piece in Bloomberg.)
     

    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 7 min
  • 101 - Navdeep, Darrell, Donald, Joe (10.23.2020)

    We've got just eleven days until election day, so the crew takes some time to reflect on Thursday evening's final presidential debate.

    We also discuss a couple of late-breaking tidbits of Sacramento news:

    • County Supervisors Phil Serna and Patrick Kennedy are calling for county CEO Nav Gill to resign after his latest flub in handling the coronavirus pandemic. Also joining the chorus is District 3 candidate Gregg Fishman.
  • It turns out that Mayor Darrell Steinberg wasn't up-front with the people of Sacramento about the legal possibility of a third (or even fourth) term at the helm of the city if his Measure A 'strong mayor' power grab is successful. 

    • Thanks for listening, happy birthday to Skyler and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 2 min
  • 100 - Milestones and Exorcism (10.20.2020)

    It's our 100th episode! We take some time to look back on our work during an absolutely wild year, and to thank the godfather of the VOICES: River City podcast, Anthony Siino, for his pioneering work in the first 22 episodes (seriously, go back and listen to them -- they're works of art).

    Then we get into some current events.

    Did you hear the one about the Bay Area archbishop exorcising the spot where a Junipero Serra statue was torn down over the summer? As that went down, the city of San Francisco held discussions on renaming 44 of its public schools schools, including ones named after George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Dianne Feinstein. (Mayor London Breed didn't seem to approve.)

     
    Speaking of Feinstein, the California Democratic senator is now facing calls to step down after her buddy-buddy behavior with GOP colleagues at the Amy Coney Barrett hearing. Has anyone else seen a resurgence of this SNL skit in the last couple of days? We have.
     

    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 13 min
  • 99 - 99 Luftviolentcops (10.16.2020)

    This week the Los Angeles Police Department went hog wild on reveling Lakers fans, 'exploding' one young man's eyeball and knocking eight teeth out of another's mouth.

    We're not sure how many times the community needs to have these conversations before we see that the cops are not going to stop their violence against Americans, and that the only answer is to cut their funding in favor of more human public safety and public health programming.

    But the California Senate certainly hasn't gotten the message yet. Last month they allowed Assembly Bill 66--which would have put an end to police use of both gas and the projectiles that maimed the young Lakers fans and so many demonstrators over the summer--to die without a vote.

    On Tuesday Governor Gavin Newsom's 'policing advisors' put out recommendations against police using these weapons against Californians. Forgive us if we don't see the cops taking these 'recommendations' seriously.

    Newsom this year signed a few modest police reforms into law, but refused to pass stronger legislation, such as a law that would have created funding for a pilot program for alternative first-response programs.

    Oh, and a quick update on Sacramento City Council's District 8 race between Mai Vang and Pastor Les Simmons:

    In an act of desperation, the Simmons campaign has accepted the help of the state's realtors, to the tune of $76,000. Now, surprise-surprise, Simmons has changed his tune on Measure C, the fight for real rent control.

    This unfortunate move will inexorably affect how the people of District 8 view the pastor.

    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 4 min
  • 98 - Republican Voter Fraud to Own the Libs (10.13.2020)

    The California GOP is thumbing its nose at state law, dropping unofficial 'ballot drop boxes' (which they've marked as 'official') throughout Orange County and other regions in California. Often, these drop boxes are placed at churches and gun ranges.

    Naturally, the California Attorney General and Secretary of State are upset about this, but GOP representatives such as Hector Barajas don't appear to care, and are even refusing to say how many drop boxes are out there, or where they might be located.
     
    All of this appears to stem from the classic GOP accusations against Democrats of "ballot harvesting," which they say constitutes voter fraud. They consider very legal means of ballot drop-offs--such as signing off on your envelope for a particular person to drop off your votes--as illegal.
     
    But that's not the case here in California, or elsewhere in the US.
     
    You might remember the Project Veritas video claiming that Rep. Ilhan Omar was participating in voter fraud in Minnesota. In fact, it came out that the PV team appeared to try to bribe people to lie and say they were committing actual fraud for the Democratic politician.
     
    In some ways, this appears to be one more example of the death rattle of California's GOP. The party continues to shrink in relation to Democratic registration, and the nation's usual deep-pocketed contributors for Republican elections all but consider the state a lost cause. More than 75% of the state's Assembly members are now Democrats, and four of the 11 remaining GOP seats in the state Senate (there are just 40 senators in total) are also in serious trouble. Three of these four districts now have more registered Democrats than Republicans.
     
    We also take this moment to talk about the Republican Party on a national level, and how voter suppression is necessary for their survival. They've always had fascist tendencies, and we're watching it all in action here in 2020.
     
    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 1 min
  • 97 - Elections Chat with Tamie Dramer (and Shannon's return!) (10.9.2020)

    If you're a Californian, you've likely received your ballot in the mail this week. (And if you haven't, check and see if you need to register--there's still time!)

    We're joined by our friend Tamie Dramer to discuss some of the races that interest us the most.

    How are we feeling about Joe Biden's chances against the fascist Donald Trump? Does Democrat Gregg Fishman have a chance against lifelong cop Rich Desmond in the race for the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors? Where did the local papers land on rent control and the 'strong mayor' power grab? (Pro-tip: Ignore them both and check out the Sacramento Sister Circle's voter guide.)

    We're also ecstatic to have Shannon back on the show after her recent battle with a rare medical condition. She talks us through her experience, and what it's been like trying to navigate an already broken medical system in the age of COVID-19. 

    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 10 min
  • 96 - Mai Vang, Candidate for Sacramento City Council, District 8 (10.6.2020)

    You may not have heard much about the Hmong experience in California, but Mai Vang is here to change that. Her family was among the hundreds of thousands who fled Laos due to political fallout after the Vietnam War, forced to start a new life in the United States.

    The oldest of 16 siblings, Mai's first memories involve taking care of her younger brothers and sisters. She's long been community-oriented, which has been a cornerstone to her activism and political trajectory.

    Mai shares with us what it was like growing up in poverty in Oak Park, how her activism with Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) led to her tenure as a board member on the Sacramento City Unified School District, and how she hopes her city council run will help enfranchise and empower a Sacramento community that has long felt left out of the public process.

    Mai has pulled in a number of important endorsements, including the coveted recommendation from the Sacramento Sister Circle (and endorsement from Black Women Organized for Political Action), but this race is not so simple. Her opponent, Pastor Les Simmons, is another longtime activist and community advocate. You don't see it often in politics, but the people of District 8 have a pretty great problem on their hands.

    Ballots should be hitting mailboxes this week, so read up on your candidates, state propositions and local ballot measures (No on A, Yes on C!).

    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 7 min

About Voices: River City

From the publisher's feed

Voices: River City is an independent, socialist news podcast based out of Sacramento, discussing California politics. Local radio listeners can hear us Tuesdays at 5 pm on KUTZ 103.1, with a second…