Back to the Grind

In this episode - recorded on the 29th of December - we talk about the insanity that was 2020. 2020 brought the further rise of war mongering, climate change, conspiracy theories and the far-right. Not to mention a pandemic. But it also brought us two of the largest protests in human history, with the fight for racial and carceral justice and now the farmers movement, out of India. Both becoming a global phenomenon. So tune in to hear us wax poetic about a year that was.

The only sure thing in life is death and.... In this episode a special guest and friend of the show helps the team grind through a very interesting topic. We ask: why do we have to pay? And, who pays at the end of the day? That's right, this episode is about taxes!

We are finally back with Part 2 of Why we work. In this episode things get a little dark. (sorry folks, but hey, it's almost Halloween!) We talk about the ways in which the state attempts to push back and to crush poor and worker descent, but we also talk about the incredible ways that workers can and have fought back!

In this episode we talk about work. Why do we have to do it? What keeps us in jobs that don't pay us well and that many of us don't even like.

Bad Boy, Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do?! In this episode we investigate the police! We look back at their history and trace it to our current moment to better understand who they protect (spoiler: it isn't the majority of us) and why they get away with brutality and murder. Who's holding them accountable?! Definitely not the police union!

Fact Checks:
Brief history of policing in Canada: http://www.clioscurrent.com/blog/2014/7/28/a-brief-history-of-policing-in-canada

Police Bonds in the US: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akzkze/how-wall-street-profits-from-police-brutality

Section 98: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/section-98-criminal-code

The cost of policing in Canada (2013 article) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/the-exploding-cost-of-policing-in-canada-1.1330251

Bill 1: https://docs.assembly.ab.ca/LADDAR_files/docs/bills/bill/legislature_30/session_2/20200225_bill-001.pdf

The #BlackLivesMatter movement has gone international with protests breaking out all over the world following the killing of unarmed George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In this episode we talk about the demand by protestors to "Defund the police", why corporations are coming out in support, why building from the message of BLACKLIVESMATTER is so important, and what's an ANTIFA?

Fact Checks:
Raid for Apple intellectual property (was actually for allegedly stolen IPhone prototype not photos): https://www.theguardian.com/technology/pda/2010/apr/26/iphone-gizmodo-police-search-apple

School police agree to give back grenade launchers, decide to keep semi-automatic rifles: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-schools-weapons-20140917-story.html

In a study by Barbara Perry and Ryan Scrivens, over a 30 year period (not 6 years), from 1985 to 2015, there were 120 terrorist attacks by far-right actors and and about 12 by Islamic extremists.

In this, our inaugural episode, we talk about and debate the merit and faults of Universal Basic Income. We also talk a little bit about Jeff Bezos (is he smart?) and ask ourselves how a government that is supposed to represent workers is giving awards to billionaire bosses.