Proudly Radical

Proudly Radical - Episode 12 - Another Livestream!

After my co-host for Misery Likes Company didn't show up as scheduled, I decided to do another livestreamed Proudly Radical. In this episode Glenn from the Random Couple Show stopped by and helped out with some conversation. Topics range from politics, corruption, religious sexual perversions, cultural topics from Canada and the US, vacationing, travel, adrenaline chasing, drug use and misspent youths. Hope you enjoy this, it's another 3 hour doozy!

Proudly Radical - Episode 11 - Let's Do Some Headlines!

Back closer to normal rhythm and let's get to some political headlines from the day. I cover the on-going manipulations and undermining conducted by the GOP to our national election security, the Russian strategy's origins in Aleksandr Dugin, Facebook's unwillingness to fix anything because it might "hurt" the conservatives, the backroom deal offered to Julian Assange by Dana Rohrabacher in an effort to make some of the dirt go away, the appointment of a truly unqualified individual to be "Acting" Director of National Intelligence, the White House finally admitting that tariffs actually hurt the economy (though they half-assed it, the DoD's Inspector General report that showed $876 million in contracts went to ineligible companies, Florida's GOP facebook pages being managed by someone out of Turkmenistan and the strangeness of that, the Florida GOP's failed attempt at further preventing felons from voting despite the amendment that the citizens passed, how it took a Federal judge to order the CBP to treat refugees as fucking human beings and to stop acting like Nazis and finally Mango Mussolini's xenophobic old-man rant against the movie Parasite (despite, of course, never having seen it).

 

You can find the various links mentioned in the show below:

https://apnews.com/4912baca0c4cbc6cb7a3580f4f3c9b96
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin
https://outline.com/8ACGDa
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rohrabacher-assange-trump-pardon_n_5e4eb326c5b615cb7bdc0bf8
https://outline.com/8UuaLE
https://forensicnews.net/2020/02/20/florida-republican-party-facebook-pages-managed-from-turkmenistan/
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending/court-rules-fines-fees-cant-stop-florida-felons-voting/6E3DYPBJEVHFFN24WCND3A7CFQ/
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2020-02-20/white-house-admits-that-trump-trade-stance-did-depress-economy?
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/20/pentagon-awarded-876m-contracts-meant-disabled-vets-ineligible-companies-ig.html/
https://www.newsweek.com/judge-says-conditions-us-border-holding-cells-violated-constitution-monumental-ruling-1488281
https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-orders-feds-to-give-immigrant-detainees-food-blankets-showers/
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/20/politics/trump-south-korea-best-picture-parasite/index.html

Proudly Radical - Episode 10 - The Hellspawn of the Religious and the Right

In this continuation of my mini-series into religion and politics in America I look into the when, who and how of the creation of union between the political right and the religious southerners in the US. From convention speeches, private schools, the IRS to Reagan I cover the basics of how we ended up in the absolute clusterfuck of a mess we find ourselves today as Americans.

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5502785?storyId=5502785
http://jsr.fsu.edu/Volume10/Freeman.pdf https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/04/us/justice-dept-says-dissidents-are-welcome-to-leave-jobs.html https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/
https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/race-party-realignment-in-the-south-old-times-not-forgotten2.pdf

MLC Livestream - Series 2 - Episode 07 - Video Games, Capitalism, Taxes and Voting

In this livestream I start off discussing my latest binge of the Assassin's Creed video game series and the corrupting force of capitalism even in something as "simple" as video games. We also have a talk about taxes in their many forms and implementations here (the USA) and abroad, the extraction of wealth by the wealthy and the oppression of poor people in general. We also discuss voting and different voting styles after my anecdote about voting in the Nevada Democratic Caucus. Also on the table is the ramifications of the Poverty of Philosophy and we, as always, take a caller.

***Due to some strangeness with Adobe Audition I had to use the backup stream recording of this show and as such some audio elements may be below the quality that is normal for our show (music, etc). Sorry for that!

 

Songs used in this episode:
Elephant Funeral - The Greedy
Yarostan - L'inertie du mouvement (The Inertia of Movement)
Toussaint - New Gods (feat Molly Dean and Chersti Rydning)
The Polish Ambassador - Electrons Orbiting Melancholy
Provided and used under Creative Commons licensing.

MLC Livestream - Series 2 - Episode 06 - From Class Warfare to A Racist Caller and Everything In Between!

In this stream we had our very first racist caller and surprisingly enough, it was a black man. While we all harbour no ill feelings towards him, I (Kai) unfortunately had to disconnect him as a caller because while I'm all for an open forum and discussion of differing view points, I refuse to platform certain ideologies. While that goes against my instincts that are anti-censorship, I also feel it's my responsibility and right to end a discussion when it has become counter-productive as that one had.

Besides the fireworks that was that singular caller, we had some amazing back and forths, Glenn from the Random Couple Show stopped in and also was a caller for the end of the show.

Homelessness, audio equipment and class warfare were also on the table. As well as a small discussion on pejorative epithets.

We also received our first gifts from livestream! (shout out to fridaykindofguy!).

Proudly Radical - Episode 09 - How to Piss Off Jesus

Still dealing with a damaged throat, it sucks but here's another episode. Shorter than I'm used to doing but I'm working within my limitations. 

In this episode I tell the story of the Cleansing of the Temple, my favorite biblical story. Now I'm a non-believer but this story has such a clear and "good" ethic to it that I can't help but love it. It has a clear anti-capitalistic message and shows Jesus at his angriest, which I also appreciate greatly.

I tell this story in order to lead in to, what I see, as perfectly valid criticism of modern American pseudo-Christians, their leaders and their practices. 

This is the first of a little mini-series dissecting some particularly toxic strains of ideology present in many so-called Christian denominations today.

 

Coming soon will be Dominionism and the "Southern Strategy".

Proudly Radical - Episode 08 - The Origins of and Problem with Policing

In this episode I re-visit an old episode topic and re-work it on my new equipment and add a slightly different ending to it.

This episode is about the historical origins of what we recognize as modern metropolitan police forces. In what may be true or apocryphal (it's difficult to tell) I tell you the tale of how police came to earn the nickname of "pigs" and how that set that tone for all future policing efforts.

I then move the story over to "the colonies", or what would become the United States of America and explain the two separate origin points for policing in our country today. The northern model and the southern model. With that covered I go on to explain some of the glaring deficiencies and outright cancerous problems with how police are trained and equipped that lead to the tragic outcomes we often see today.

Article mentioned in episode: https://kaisthings.com/police-officer-fatalities-or-how-to-control-a-populous-using-lies-and-force

MLC Livestream - Series 2 - Episode 05 - A Late Co-Host, Some News, Privacy and So Much More

Welcome to the 5th episode of the MLC Livestream! I started this episode solo as Mike was out driving (gotta earn that rent!) but I soldiered through. We covered a variety of topics from the Cheeto in Chief's $3.4 million superbowl party, terrible superbowl advertising, facial recognition being racist, Bernie Sander's winning the Iowa caucus, protesting abroad and the lack of it in America, climate change and so much more!

 

*Note: As a co-hosted and livestreamed podcast not all opinions expressed are that of Kai. Every person is their own and while I may not agree with nor condone what they may say, I always support their right to self-expression.

Proudly Radical - Episode 07 - Livestreamed and It's a Doozy

Where to begin? Geez. First, it's 3 hours. Second, it covers a lot of ground. There are some repetitive parts in the beginning due to various listeners coming and going but stick with it and you'll get to meet Kristina a fellow podcaster (you can find she and her boyfriend at the Random Couple Show). She and I had a great (nearly) 2 hour conversation about a range of topics. Together we also address some various issues brought up by other listeners (it was great to have a woman's perspective on things).

All in all it was a great livestream, which is a change of pace for my solo stuff.

Strap in and enjoy!

 

(sorry, no show notes links for this sucker)

Music: "Ion" by audionautix.com

Proudly Radical - Episode 06 - Back in the Rhythm

In this episode I end up in a solid rant towards the end with just a bit of personal journaling up front and a bunch of headlines and stories for the majority of the episode.

I talk about my shift from non-participation/apathy to voting and active participation despite my streaming partner's (and friends') opinions on the matter. I show some love and support for Bernie Sanders and some of his latest (and not so latest) policy choices/bills. Of course it wouldn't be a day in American news and politics without mentioning some of the latest atrocities and horrors committed by the "conservatives" and this shitshow of an administration. Starting with a Pastor who lamented at not assaulting John Bolton when he got the chance and that Jesus would have "kicked the crap out of him" as well.

Sitting firmly in the "horror" side of the camp the administration is rolling back the policy that restricted use of landmines and handing authority to use them to military commanders. In the cruelty for cruelty's sake arena ICE murdered another asylum seeker by allowing a 16 year old to lay on the cold concrete floor while sick with the flu and refusing him proper treatment. To emphasize the point I talk a bit about the missing 1,475 children (that we know of) that ICE/HHS "lost".

Addressing climate change and one particular "fun" effect I talk about a story out of the west coast concerning dungeness crab and how the increased acidity of the ocean in now dissolving their shells and destroying their sensory organs.

Also a story of note is the massive 20%, in one year (2019), uptick in family farm bankruptcies being declared.

Rounding out the effects of capitalism on people I talk about how Chipotle restaurants in Massachusetts were fined $1.2 million for over 13,000 child labor violations and how Starbucks was sued into finally (as in for the first time EVER) giving their baristas sick leave.

Ending on the firefighters' protests in France and their battles with the police.

 

You can find the various links mentioned in the show below:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjw8ww/bernie-sanders-is-the-first-candidate-to-call-for-ban-on-facial-recognition

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/480777-sanders-introduces-bill-to-ban-hydraulic-fracking

https://www.newsweek.com/conservative-pastor-says-jesus-would-have-beat-crap-out-john-bolton-1484767

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/absolutely-horrific-trump-preparing-to-roll-back-restrictions-on-us-military-use-of-landmines/

https://outline.com/9RgtR9

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/27/us/pacific-ocean-acidification-crabs-dissolving-shells-scn-trnd/index.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farms-bankruptcy-idUSKBN1ZT2YE

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chipotle-fined-13m-thousands-child-labor-abuses-68575444

https://www.reddit.com/r/ABoringDystopia/comments/ewd2y2/starbucks_actually_did_this_in_2018_but_in_dec/

https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/28/french-firefighters-set-alight-start-fighting-police-12139804/