Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
A leaked U.S. military document describes socialists as terrorists and lists them alongside neo-Nazis and the far right, according to a report by the Intercept.
Meanwhile, Motherboard reports that the Teamsters union is about to announce a coordinated nationwide effort to organize Amazon workers.
And lastly, the U.S. appears to have seized Iranian news sites under suspicious...
Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
A leaked U.S. military document describes socialists as terrorists and lists them alongside neo-Nazis and the far right, according to a report by the Intercept.
Meanwhile, Motherboard reports that the Teamsters union is about to announce a coordinated nationwide effort to organize Amazon workers.
And lastly, the U.S. appears to have seized Iranian news sites under suspicious circumstances
THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:
The Intercept has a shocking, yet somehow predictable report from the U.S. military today.
According to a leaked document, soldiers are being told that anarchism and socialism both represent so called terrorist ideologies.
The document, according to military sources interviewed by the Intercept, is part of a longer training manual designed for the Navy’s internal police. It’s part of the military’s wider internal push against extremism inside its ranks.
The Intercept reports that a section of the training document subtitled “Study Questions” includes the following question: “Anarchists, socialists and Neo-Nazis represent which terrorist ideological category? A source told the Intercept that the correct answer was quote “political terrorists.” endquote.
This is basically the what we all worried about when the military announced it would crack down on domestic extremists in its own ranks. Puting socialists, and even anarchists, on the same level as neo-Nazis and far-right groups who actively wish harm against other Americans doesn’t make any sense.
But it does help push resources and the power of the status quo into suppressing leftist thought. As one anonymous military official told the Intercept::
“It’s just ineffective training because whoever is directing the Navy anti-terror curriculum would rather vilify the left than actually protect anything. Despite the fact that the most prominent threat is domestic, right-wing terror.”
Teamsters Take Aim at Amazon
Motherboard reports that the Teamsters union, one of the largest and most powerful forces in organized labor, is about to get serious with Amazon.
The Teamsters are expected to announce publicly today that they’ll be embarking on a coordinated, nationwide effort to unionize workers at Amazon.
Randy Korgan, the Teamster’s National Amazon Director, said in a video obtained by Motherboard that the union would quote “build the types of worker and community power necessary to take on one of the most powerful corporations in the world and win. That video was set to play at the Teamsters convention on Tuesday, and on Thursday, delegates from Teamsters local unions will vote on a similar resolution, which Motherboard reports should pass comfortably.
That resolution will create and fund a specially designed Amazon Division within the Teamsters, to aid Amazon workers in unionizing and defend standards in the logistics industry. But unlike the massive NLRB election in Bessemer, the Teamsters plan to take on Amazon with a more guerilla warfare strategy. Motherboard reports that the union is going to try to apply direct pressure wherever possible, with work stoppages, petitions, and other collective action.
The hope is that it also cuts down the opportunities Amazon has to throw its massive pocketbook into anti-union campaigns, like it did in Bessemer.
Details on the rest of the program are still scarce, but Motherboard reports that the union says it has committed “tremendous resources” to the effort.
U.S. Seizes Iranian Websites
The U.S. government seized dozens of American website domains connected to the government of Iran on Tuesday, saying that they were connected to disinformation campaigns.
The AP reports that the domains of a handful of sites, including Iran state television’s English-language arm Press TV, redirected to a federal notice saying the sites had been seized by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement and the FBI.
A U.S. official anonymously told the AP that these sites were linked to disinformation campaigns, but otherwise the reasons for their seizure is unclear. Iran tightly controls much of its state media, as do many other countries. And though it’s not a perfect comparison, there’s plenty of disinformation coming out of our own news sources as well.
What that means is this action is most likely a shot in a broader conflict with the Iranian government. Actions like this don’t usually happen in a vacuum, especially considering the ongoing international talks about Iran’s nuclear program and the country’s new hard-line president.
This story was still developing as of script time on Tuesday evening, but we may have a clearer picture of what this means for Iran’s relationship to the U.S. in the coming days.
AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:
The Daily Beast reports that back in 2019, Donald Trump asked his advisors and lawyers what the FCC, courts, and the DOJ could do to mess with or mitigate SNL, Jimmy Kimmel and other TV hosts, proving that once again that he was the thinnest skinned president we’ve ever had.
The LA Times reports that a top aide to LA’s mayor Eric Garcetti mocked labor icon Dolores Huerta in a private facebook group, and has been placed on administrative leave -- just in case you’re wondering what people in the halls of power think of activists and social justice leaders.
BuzzFeed News reports that The Biden administration will let immigrants sent or deported to Mexico without a court appearance under a Trump-era policy seek entry into the U.S., a major change for some families stuck in immigration limbo for months if not years.
Joe Manchin said on Tuesday that he would vote to open debate on the Democrats Voting Rights bill, which he previously said he didn’t support. This isn’t an endorsement of the bill, just a vote to move procedure along, however, so we’re really not far from where we were last week.
AM QUICKIE - JUNE, 23, 2021
HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner
WRITER - Jack Crosbie
PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn
