Ironweeds

With the election looming large over Rensselaer County, Sex Pest Steve is helping out his pals by handing out contracts to donors. While at the national level Dems abandon child care in their reconciliation bill, Capital District parents are unable to find spots for their own kids. Handsy Andy is being charged for a groping incident, but apparently is too important to be perp walked. With a wave o...

This week we’re talking about the spooky history of the New York State Capitol Building, where the devil is in the details. Tesla is paying out a whopping $137 million dollars due to its toxic, racist work environment, and your boss can’t fire you for being high. Too high, yes, but not like, normal high.   Tesla Pays $137 million for racist work environment: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/05/tesla-m...

This week we’re blessed with a guest! Ashley joins us to share her experiences working in child care activism and to inform us about the dismal state of child care in the US. We also discuss dreadful conditions at the Rensselaer County Jail, the rights of vapers, and Zuck’s massive pay cut in the wake of whistleblower allegations and Facebook downage.    Vapers’ rights https://www.nytimes.com/2021...

This week we ask ourselves: What is the good life? American men are dropping out of the above board workforce in huge numbers, while women are increasing their numbers. We talk about the Buen Vivir movement and the tensions between Deep Ecology and Social Ecology, with David channeling cranky Bookchin. In China, workers are celebrating Tangping, or Lying Flat, in response to brutal work schedules....

This week we’re returning to an old favorite, the nightmarish business model of Tesla and the lack of any meaningful regulation to curtail it. We also remember the rallying cry of kids in cages as President Biden allows Border Patrol to play cowboy/slave driver on Haitians seeking asylum. Oath Keepers communications have been hacked, and the documents are riddled with cops and military types. Brit...

Everyone is responding to the vaccine mandates, as you would expect: badly. Already strained hospitals and schools are about to lose a ton of employees. Cuomo was gonna assemble the NY Cannabis Control Board but then he got high (on ziti) so Hochul finished the job. The Intercept shares some spooky reporting on the lab-leak theory of Covid19 and gain of function research. And the courts block a hu...

Coming to a working class near you: entire towns owned and operated by Amazon. Don’t worry, it’s for your own good! And as a parting gift, our pull out from Afghanistan features the murder of seven children and three adults whose crime was transporting water. We have a few updates on Britney, Byron, and Buffalo, and for a palate cleanser we talk about Barcelona reclaiming space from cars to create...

In this New York-themed episode we’re joined by friend of the pod Adam to talk about union support for India Walton’s opponent and what it means for the general election. In North Country, a CIA officer is looking to kick Stefanik out of Congress by attracting moderates. And in Saratoga, cops are targeting BLM activists and doing a great job of convincing everyone that they are definitely not raci...

In an admirable attempt to level the playing field among gamers, China limits video game use for youths under the age of 18. The Instagram user who sold fake vaccination credentials has been arrested. Florida man has been charged with extorting another Florida man and his Florida son. Hurricane Ida wreaks havoc in the north and south and in between, and slum lords are of course making the problem...

It’s yet another brutal week of Covid news. Two more anti-vax radio hosts have died, and the gang wonders if there’s a media market gap there that we could fill. Governor Hochum announces that an additional 12,000 New Yorkers will be added to the list of those who died under Andy Cuomo. Fake vaccine cards are apparently way easier and cheaper to get than you might imagine. Meanwhile, Israel is pro...

So much has happened in our absence! The end of US operations in Afghanistan shows just how little we’ve accomplished in 20 years. Well, something was accomplished at least: a massive transfer of wealth. As Covid continues to worsen, people are losing their minds in some very disturbing ways, and even Trump isn’t immune. For our wildflower, a cannabis factory is coming to the Cap District!   Mask...

We're off this week, but please enjoy this released Patreon episode! Get more bonus content at patreon.com/ironweeds What if you could have everything exactly as it is, with no disruption to your daily life, and end fossil fuel pollution? Well you can’t. But some guy thinks you can! We’re talking about electrifying America, the pros, the cons, the infeasibility… all of it! And we also get into the...

This week we’re talking Covid, Critical Race Theory, and Cuomo. The Covid numbers are going in the absolute wrong direction and no one seems to be doing anything about it. Meanwhile people dying in hospital beds are doubling down on their right to die and kill others. Reactionaries are freaking out about CRT because they think their children will be discriminated against. And Cuomo… well, you know...

This week the fellas are joined by Jess Bennett, a founding member of the activist group Friends of the Mahicantuck, an organization dedicated to saving an 11 acre parcel of land from a real estate developer. The land has been used by indigenous people for thousands of years and is a unique archaeological site as well as the last patch of undeveloped riverfront land in Troy. Despite a huge outcry...

New evidence suggests that the Pfizer vaccine is good at keeping you out of the hospital but less impressive when it comes to infection. Meanwhile, one random dude is apparently a major hub of covid misinformation (and a New York Times bestselling author!) The people of Hoosick Falls have received a $65 million settlement after their water was contaminated with carcinogenic PFOAs. And for our wild...

In this very special Srsly Weeds crossover episode, the Ironweeds gang talks with the Srsly Wrong boys about library socialism, violence, and the (utopian) future of labor.  Check out Srsly Wrong   Library socialism episodes are 189 (Library Socialism & Usufruct), 196 (Library Socialism & The Irreducible Minimum), and 200 (Library Socialism & Complementarity). Theme song by Spam Risk

Ever heard of scromiting? Us neither. Troy is about to lose grant money to develop prime downtown property, but it's not gonna be that easy. Are the Cuban protests authentic? Let's follow the money! And finally, the state of Maine is going some pretty neat stuff lately.  Scromiting: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/high-potency-weed-linked-psychotic-episodes-mysterious-vomiting-illness-y...

Just another week of upbeat content from your buddies at Ironweeds! Is the planet dying, or just trying to buck us like an angry bronco? Did climate change cause the South Florida condo collapse, or was it actually democracy? We talk about how these crises will keep speeding up, and our responses to them are outdated and counter-productive. Also, we must once again distance ourselves from Presiden...

This week there’s a lot to celebrate after a series of DSA electoral wins across the state, including Kiani Conley-Wilson, and cautious optimism for Marketa Edwards’ campaign as well. And AG Letitia James settles a lawsuit with Johnson and Johnson for $230 million to ease the opium epidemic.    Election results: https://www.troyrecord.com/news/rensselaer-county-2021-primary-election-results/articl...

101 - New Normal, New Weird   Tired of making money the hard way, Britney, David, and Chris brainstorm what words and phrases we could trademark to make them Disney bucks. Albany Med hospital has violated human trafficking laws by turning Filipine nurses into indentured servants to avoid bargaining with the nurses’ union. Our climate is still a slow-motion trainwreck. The FBI is still using honeyp...

It's episode 100!  Engineered for Dystopia by David A. Banks: https://thebaffler.com/latest/engineered-for-dystopia-banks Conquest of Bread read by Britney Gil: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ngehu1tpjxcc4zx/AAB9ZAvgu3AoC8Wh3yuxGw5ka?dl=0 Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/ironweeds

The Troy PD, intent on strangling even the last bit of transparency they have, is encrypting their radio transmissions. Albany County Sheriff promises to go hard on broken windows policing. The nation’s first line of defense against the bad guys has leaked critical information about our nuclear weapons arsenal in the dumbest way possible.    Police using encrypted radios to hide behavior from publ...

NY nurses speak out against Cuomo’s lifting of the mask mandate, and two NY men have a very different take on acceptable mask wearing behavior. HBO is using unfair labor practices while filming in Troy, and looking only for NON UNION extras. The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing the city of Troy for our police department’s failure/refusal to release disciplinary records. And RIck Santorum’s...

We must sadly rescind our endorsement of President Biden after he doubles down on US unilateral support for Israel. The IDF continues its reign of terror, now including journalists as targets. In Saratoga, a very brave anonymous Facebook group is attacking a school teacher for bringing BLM activists to a classroom to speak on (gasp!) civil disobedience. Also hailing from our region, Elise Stefanik...

We’re back baby! After six long months of remote podding we’re together again to discuss some awful stuff. The government is destroying private industry by giving people enough money to survive. Palestinians in East Jerusalem are being evicted and brutalized by the IDF and settlers. We all do a self crit on our former hatred of Elon Musk. And in Belgium, an adorable border dispute has caused a bit...