Tribunus Plebis Podcast

Not only does capital have control of the government and media, it also has control of the cultural zeitgeist and it has a hold so powerful that most of us hear a so called journalist ask a locomotive repairman making 80 grand a year or something whether fighting for the ability to not work while they are uncontrollably defecating water and physically decimated and not get fired for it is worth de...

We need to organize, unionize, work together, and undertake ventures which by their mere existence helps us all see that there are goals out there worth achieving and that the best way to do so is to make cause of common interests no matter our race or creed or culture and, even more importantly, no matter the race, creed, or culture of the worker standing with us on the picket lines as we fight f...

(Ep. 61) [Book Talk] ECONOMISM - Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality, by James Kwak In “Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality”, James Kwak makes a compelling case that an overly simplistic understanding of economics (‘Econ 101’) is exacerbating the economic, social, and political problems of both the United States and the world at large. It’s extremely important to understand th...

Today I want to talk about class, solidarity, and the labor struggle. I’m going to argue that the way we use class in the united states is purposefully misleading, intentionally vague and, ultimately, destructive. Class, when defined properly, is an incredibly important concept. But, as we will see, the way we talk about class in the united states borders on gibberish. Terms like the middle class...

Let’s talk about William “Big Bill” Dudley Haywood! Standing at 6 feet tall and weighing well over 200 pounds, Big Bill was truly larger than life as he battled mining trusts, corporations, private armies, and government forces alike. He fought them with his agile mind, his calloused knuckles, and probably most importantly he damaged them with his words. He, along with Mother Jones and Eugene Debs...

Billionaires give to destroy the country and they give to fill the gaps in society which they create along the way. Philanthropy is being used to reify the ultra wealthy, sustain and support power and influence, and destroy democracy and choice. Philanthropic giving is about power and the arrogant assumptions that the wealthy know better what to do with your stolen wealth than you would if they’d...

Donald Trump gets raided, and the fallout from the Breonna Taylor murder continues. What do these two events have in common? They can help us understand how systemically corrupt, violent, and lazy the justice system truly is and this understanding can provide insight into the crumbling of the 4th amendment, especially as it relates to class disparities. The reactions to these two events exposes ho...

Stochastic Terrorism noun 1. The public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted. Join me for a discussion of rhetoric, demagogues, power wielders, and the probable but unpredictable terror which they are able to unleash on the world at large through their very loud, very frequent demoniz...

The cowardice of the police in Uvalde was shameful enough, but since that horrific event those same police have shown cowardice in a myriad of other ways. Everything from their initial lies about what happened, wrongfully blaming innocent people, lying about the events and trying to gaslight everybody, and even right down to harassing the woman who defied the cops cowardice and saved her own child...

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, and opens the door to return to the dark days of no federal protection for same-sex marriage, anti-sodomy laws, loss of contraceptive care, and possibly even interracial marriage. Also: Cops get even more immunity, immigrants lose yet another basic right, and more chuds will be armed in the streets. To sum it up: Right to abo...

Just me yelling about cowardly, quailing, perpetually shook police and how their lack of action killed children in the Uvalde, TX school shooting. ---------------------------- This podcast and related works take a lot of effort and time to produce! Please help us keep it going if you are able with a one-time donation or recurring subscription at Buy Me A Coffee! LINK: www.buymeacoffee.com/tribunus...

A white supremacist murdered multiple people in Buffalo, NY, driven to murder by, at least in part, the so-called Great Replacement conspiracy theory which is extremely popular amongst racists, nazis, white supremacists all across the globe, and the alt-right in the United States. This racist theory has been trumpeted all across the media, but nowhere more loudly than FOX News, and its most popula...

The Supreme Court is about to officially overturn Roe v. Wade and Florida passes homophobic law. I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but we should definitely be angry about these things. ------------------------------------------ This podcast and related works take a lot of effort and time to produce! Please help us keep it going if you are able with a one-time donation or recurring subscription at...

Such was the power of El Pulpo, the United Fruit Company octopus, whose arms stretched across the Caribbean and throughout Central and South America. They ran countries, monopolized shipping lanes, hoarded land, corrupted militaries and governments, used the United State military as knuckle breakers and as their own personal military force, and broke the backs and spirits of peasants and president...

Policy ghouls are telling us, in a sort of passive voice sort of way, that if we just impose sanctions on this other country then they’ll be nicer. That’s what they tell us. What they actually do is begin to starve, debase, degrade, torture, and murder poor people in a bid to create internal resentment. Sanctions are cruelty. Sanctions do not work. Sanctions are murder. ---------------------------...

Welcome to the inaugural " Book Talk " episode on Tribunus Plebis ! We will discuss the book "Austerity - The History of a Dangerous Idea" by Mark Blyth, as well as austerity in a broader, more general discussion! Austerity is, basically, the idea that regressively taxing citizens while also drastically reducing government spending on basic services is a good way to alleviate the debt burden of a...

I listened to REI's anti-union podcast so that you don't have to! Employees at REI's flagship SoHo store have filed to form a union and REI hired a law firm to help them fight against it's employees with a groan inducing woke-backed anti-union message. The dynamic duo of CEO Eric and Lawyer Wilma star alongside Anti-Worker Rhetoric. I listen, react, and do my best to break down the anti-union nons...

Monopsonistic practices by corporations are simply an exertion of power over the labor force.  This power dichotomy is not a mistake and it is not a symptom of some other issue.  The power imbalance is purposefully baked into a system which pre-supposes scarcity and demands constant profit growth and mass distribution of wealth to the investor class, at the expense of all else. -------------------...

The problems with this ‘fissuring of the workplace and economy’ are manifold. Wages are depressed, job security is destroyed, fewer people with company provided insurance, etc. As all of these wage and benefit structures collapse in favor of the lowest bid, there is further degradation of these systems further downstream. When workers lose the ability to demand, or even request, better wages and b...

The one thing that has been consistent in hyper capitalist america over the past… well, forever… is that companies and capital owners will absolutely, positively, without doubt and without hesitation put employees lives on the line to make an extra buck and nobody but the workers themselves have ever been able to put a stop to it. It was true in 1911, it was true even on 9/11 when multiple compani...

I recently made use of a safety net program to get food into our home and had some thoughts about using welfare and the phenomena of Karen's and Ken's trying to shame struggling people and families. I also touch on the Rittenhouse debacle and the Arbery trial and it's verdict. No, he isn't a hero, yes, they were racist scumbags.  And, no, the Arbery decision does not let the locals or this na...

Members of  The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union, representing workers at various Kellogg's plants just voted down a proposed contract and continue their strike! Solidarity! Kellogg's is set to hire 'replacement workers', aka SCABS. This episode is for those thinking about crossing the picket lines and stealing jobs from their union siblings. Scabs are a loathsom...

The citizenry of the United States is on the ropes. We are fed up, broke, unhealthy, unlikely to succeed, and dying sooner than we should be. And all that through no fault of our own. A revolution still seems far-fetched for some, but I don’t agree. A revolution is far closer than most of us would like to admit. There is still time, but things must be done, actions must be taken. The systemic fail...

As I was pondering the impact of #Striketober and the surge of union strikes and general labor activity in 2021, my mind drifted back to the strikes of 2018 and 2019 and what they mean for the current movement. We look back to those pre-2020 labor actions and even dip our toes into labor related legislative and cultural issues which both fed the rise of unions in the mid 20th century and then star...

Company towns harm workers, they do nothing to combat inequality - in fact they only exacerbate inequality, and they DEFINITELY do not promote anything we can even remotely call ‘freedom’ Company towns are nothing less than base feudalism. They always have been, they are right now, and they always will be. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Please, if you have a mo...