Voices: River City

We're discussing state and local elections, and who the bastards really are.

Enjoy.

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tune

The Biden administration on Monday eased American restrictions on Cuba, but Cuban officials were strong in their position that these were simply baby steps to a true relationship.

We're joined today by Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela to discuss her recent trip to Cuba--a country where healthcare is free and housing is a human right.

Valenzuela was in the Caribbean to meet with workers from all over the globe to discuss how solidarity can be fostered throughout the world.

We also dispel a lot of American talking points on Cuba. The American government talks about Cuban "terrorism." Let's not forget about Cubana Air flight 455 in 1976, a clear act of American terrorism against a commercial flight that killed 73 people.

Finally, we have an initial discussion on this year's budget. After everything Sacramentans have gone through, and everything they've asked for, are we still going to add money to our police department?

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Today we talk with Liz Blum, Campaign Coordinator (and co-founder) of Decarcerate Sacramento, a coalition dedicated to lowering the number of people incarcerated in the Sacramento region through public health tactics.

Central to today's discussion is a push to increase public support for a new, successful Public Defender's Pretrial Support Program over the current  punitive Probation program, which has a markedly less successful recidivism rate (by a factor of six) below what public health advocates and experts are presently recommending to the council.

We also discuss the two pushes over the last three years from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department to increase the corrections infrastructure. Twice, Decarcerate Sacramento has beaten them, but they are vigilant of a third effort. 

Finally, we touch on a Wednesday morning demonstration by Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) to encourage Governor Gavin Newsom to continue decarcerating the state of California. 

Will he keep doing what is right?

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

We discuss a Washington Post piece by a reporter who parachuted into Sacramento to cover the homelessness crisis.

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Today we discuss the story of Jordan McGowan, a beloved history teacher at Rio Tierra Junior High who is being targeted by his school district for telling the truth.

 

Mr McGowan was chair of the school's History and Social Science Department, the boys basketball coach, and the advisor of the Black student union. Everyone loved him.

 

So why is he in the process of being fired? We discuss.

 

We also cover the horrific push by the region's liberals to sweep our unhoused neighbors from the American River Parkway. 

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

President Joe Biden's approval ratings are plummeting with the nation's most progressive demographic -- young people. A Quinnipiac poll last week found that just 1 in 5 people under 30 approve of the president, who turns 80 in November, while 58 percent disapprove (-37% rating). The following day, a Gallup poll found that his approval rating with Millennials and Gen Z has tanked since the beginning of his term, dropping 20 points to just ~40% approval.

The numbers are even worse for young folks who are also Black or Latino, and for those who are registered as independent voters.

 

While the geniuses at Vox are stumped by this phenomenon, progressives have a pretty clear idea why young folks don't like Biden.

 

We discuss why these issues are largely being ignored by Democrats, and what can be done with a party that is more gerontocratic than leadership in the late stages of the USSR. 

 

Here in California, our senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, is increasingly under the microscope with questions on her mental acuity. Stories emerge daily that raise questions on the 88-year-old's ability to carry out her role as a top legislator.

 

Sure, Democrats have a stranglehold on California. In the last two months, The state GOP added just 464 registered voters in a state of 40 million, while both the Democrats and third parties (in aggregate) made gains in the tens of thousands.

 

But there are signs that Democrats are losing the youth in California as well. Over that same period, Dems saw a drop in pre-registered teens aged 16 and 17 throughout the state, with nearly 400 fewer youths choosing their party. Meanwhile, No Party Preference voters in that demographic grew by 600, and third-party pre-registration numbers increased by over 200.

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

In a move confusing nearly every Sacramentan, City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood has announced that Sacramento City Council members are, in fact, still in charge of the districts they ran before redistricting last December, adding major implications to a recall push by reactionaries against District 4 Councilmember Katie Valenzuela. The new districts will not go into effect until their upcoming elections in 2022 and 2024.

 

So what does that mean for an area like East Sacramento, which will technically not have representation until 2024 after the next District 4 election? And who can now participate in the Valenzuela recall? If it makes the ballot this year, will Land Park residents be able to vote both in the District 7 election (where they will subsequently be represented) AND the recall? If so, why?

 

We spoke with some of the state's top redistricting experts to get the inside scoop.

 

We also discuss the new homelessness ballot measure that City Council was coerced into putting into play by local business leaders, with little notice to the community (and just days after the biggest mass shooting the region has seen in the modern era).

 

Yousef Baig outlined just how disgusting this was last week, while councilmembers Katie Valenzuela and Mai Vang wrote an op-ed explaining the problems with this move.

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

We discuss the local Sacramento shooting with our friend Ryan McClinton. 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Hi everyone! 

This week's episode will be publishing on Thursday, April 7. 

As always, we're sure it will be a banger.

A federal judge has found that former President Donald Trump most likely committed felonies during his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including "obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States." In a ruling against Trump's attorney John Eastman (who now-famously wrote the Trump coup memo), Judge David O. Carter ordered him to hand over some 101 documents, striking down his claim of attorney-client privileges on the basis of the crime-fraud exception--meaning that both Eastman and Trump knowingly worked toward committing felonies in their correspondence.

 

This ruling could lead to the Jan. 6 Committee going forward on a criminal referral to the Justice Department for Trump, which would put further pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue a criminal investigation against the former GOP president. (There's also evidence that the DOJ is already doing this.)

 

All of this takes place as the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol comes into sharper focus with some incredible new details:

 

- Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is likely to be pursued by the Jan. 6 Committee for an interview after conspiracy-theory laden text messages between her and Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows surfaced. These correspondences show that she may have been involved in some way in the coup. 

 

- Multiple members in the Proud Boys, including leader Enrique Tarrio, are facing prison over mounting evidence in their roles in the planning of the Jan. 6 coup attempt. 

 

- Apparently--astoundingly, stupidly--former Trump advisor Roger Stone allowed a Danish documentary team to follow him in the lead-up to the 2020 coup attempt. In under a month, footage has pinned him to multiple public lies. 

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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