Ep. 43: Pollution in Kzoo, Strike Updates, Student Debt, Transphobia in Michigan, and More

On today's program we begin with a couple of important articles that provide serious analysis to issues around the state.

NowKalamazoo recently published a special report on the challenges facing Kalamazoo teachers in our school system. LeftVoice provides us with a critical update on the striking grad students at the University of Michigan, and looks at how the administration is engaging in some deceptive propaganda around the concept of a 'living wage.'

We are joined by our co-hosts Lawrence and Norah and talk about some important local environmental issues. Last week there was a massive dumping of duplicitous doo-doo into the Kalamazoo River, and the lawsuit against Graphic Packaging for polluting the Northside neighborhood will be moving forward.

Pivoting to national news we look at the big story around SAG-AFTRA joining the writer's guild in one of the most monumental strike actions in the entertainment industry in 60 years. We talk about the conditions that lead to the strike, break down the reductive propaganda about the actor's union being an exclusive providence for residents of the Hollywood hills, and how the larger points around AI factor into broader worker's struggles.

The Biden administration has unveiled its newest student debt relief plan. While maneuvering around the legal hurdles imposed by the Supreme Court, it is another exercise in lowered expectations addressing a problem that is unique to American capitalism.

We close the show by looking at transphobia in Traverse City and Hamtramck. The Traverse City story highlights the aftermath of the disastrous Supreme Court decision, and in Hamtramck we talk about how municipalities can weaponize the decision- and how the Hamtramck city council is making a fundamental error in the necessity of solidarity (the same people who are coming after the LGBTQ+ community are similarly prejudiced against the all-Muslim city council).

We then talk about the transphobic rhetoric coming from progressive news outlet "The Young Turks"- where they lost their way and how it emboldens transphobes on the right.

01:30- 13:20 NowKalamazoo Article Highlights Struggles of KPS Teachers

13:21- 26:00 Update on Grad Student Strike at University of Michigan

27:55- 34:50 A Crappy Week For the Kalamazoo River

34:50- 49:30 Graphic Packaging Lawsuit Moves Forward

49:30- 54:20 A Brief Discussion on Billionaires and Submarines

54:30- 1:14:20 Lights! Camera! Strike Action! Writers & Actors Unite

1:14:50- 1:30:00 Student Debt- Biden's New Plan and Neoliberalism in Action
--1:30:00- Student Debt and the Supreme Court

1:32:00- 1:50:20 Transphobia in Michigan and "The Young Terfs"

 

SOURCES/ FURTHER READING

 

KPS educators and administration at odds on solving teacher shortage

https://nowkalamazoo.com/2023/07/kps-educators-and-administration-at-odds-on-solving-teacher-shortage

 

The University of Michigan Exploits Graduate Workers, Refuses to Pay a Living Wage

https://www.leftvoice.org/the-university-of-michigan-exploits-graduate-workers-refuses-to-pay-a-living-wage

 

No-contact order for Kalamazoo river lifted after wastewater discharge

https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/07/no-contact-order-for-kalamazoo-river-lifted-after-wastewater-discharge.html

 

Federal judge rules lawsuit against Graphic Packaging can move forward

https://wwmt.com/news/local/graphic-packaging-international-kalamazoo-lawsuit-northside-air-quality-gas-emission-michigan-health-study

 

Thousands of actors join picket lines in Los Angeles and New York

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/15/jslr-j15.html

 

How Biden's latest student loan forgiveness differs from debt relief blocked by Supreme Court

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-different-student-debt-relief-supreme-court/

 

A Michigan Hair Salon Is Refusing Trans Clients, Citing Pronouns and Pedophiles

https://www.them.us/story/michigan-hair-salon-refusing-trans-clients

 

Detroit-area human relations commissioners ousted after flying LGBTQ+ flag in violation of new ban

https://wwmt.com/news/state/hamtramck-lgbtq-flag-ban-human-relations-commissioners-russ-gordon-catrina-stackpoole-public-violation