Episode 25: "Shutdown Showdown"

Episode Info

  • Hosts:
    • Faolan: @kitsuneflame@mastodon.social
    • Hemms: @hemmsfox@twitter.com
  • Music:
    • Ending title: “House of Frogs (Richard’s Villa)” from “Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening: Threshold of a Dream” from OverClocked Remix.

Notes

Child Deaths in Migrant Camps

  • Child of A. Portillo, 23, from Honduras
    • "Migrant Baby Contracted Pneumonia After Five Days in a ‘Freezing’ Holding Cell." New York Magazine: Intelligencer.
      • 5 month old infant contacted pneumonia after being held in confinement in a camp in California.
      • The child was kept in a cold cell and did not recieve medical attention until they were transferred from San Diego to North Carolina.
  • Felipe Alonzo & Jakelin Caal
    • "7-year-old migrant girl taken into Border Patrol custody dies of dehydration, exhaustion". Washington Post.
    • "Another Migrant Girl Nearly Died After She Was Detained In New Mexico By The Border Patrol." Buzzfeed News.
    • "An 8-year-old Guatemalan child died on Christmas Eve while in Border Patrol custody, agency says." Insider.
  • Trump Blames the Democrats
    • "Trump Wrongly Says Democrats Are Responsible for Children’s Deaths at the Border." Rolling Stone.
      • In a Bizzaro world Twitter rant, Trump blamed the Democrats for the deaths to the three migrant children at the hands of Border Patrol.
      • In a recent study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it was revealed that children in the migrant camps lack basic necessities such as food and water and are not being given medical care.
  • Update on camp conditions:
    • "Almost 15,000 Migrant Children Now Held At Nearly Full Shelters." NPR.
      • Almost 15K children are being held in government custody in camps running at nearly full capacity. Over 100 shelters are declaring more than 92% full according to Health and Human Services.
      • In Tornillio, TX one of the largest facilities, over 2,800 are living in heated canvas tents.
    • "U.S. House Democrats call for congressional investigation into Guatemalan child's death." The Texas Tribune.
      • Several members of Congress toured the facility where Jakelin died and were shocked by their findings.
      • US Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) stated they had no running water, no area to bathe, and no water to cook." and that food included granola bars, juice boxes, and frozen burritos.
      • Housing included overcrowded cells housing children with adults and use of shared toilets.

Border Wall Shut Down

  • Trump refused to sign a bill funding the government, forcing a shutdown over the boarder wall, as members of Congress refused to pass a funding bill with the inclusion of a $5G to go towards the boarder wall.
  • But even Trump not only used migrant workers, but also knowingly forged documents to avoid authorities: "FBI, New Jersey investigators gathered evidence of undocumented immigrants who say they worked at Trump golf course, lawyer says." Washington Post.
    • FBI reports that managers at the Trump Nation Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey forged green cards and social security cards to give to workers.

Austerity in Action

California

  • "“There’s Nothing Left of This Town.” Paradise, California, May Never Come Back From the Ashes." Mother Jones.
    • Over 100 confirmed dead in California and thousands of structures destroyed in total. Thousands of people still missing.
    • 52K people forced to evacuate and 1,385 were located in shelters.
  • "The Eviction of Wallywood: Dispatch from Chico #2." It's Going Down.
  • "How Anarchists Helped Californian Fire Refugees in a Walmart Parking Lot." Vice.
    • Anarchists set up a camp in a Walmart parking lot to give aid to people effected by the Camp Fire that blazed through Paradise, CA.

Florida

  • North Florida still a disaster zone after Hurricane Michael. Mexico Beach and Panama City still look like a war zone.

Federal Funding Cuts

  • "Trump issues order freezing pay rate for federal workers." The Hill.
    • Just as Trump announces his refusal to pass a budget Trump issued a federal freeze on workers pay for 2019 following through on a pledge to cut spending by denying a 2.1% pay increase for government officials.
    • The pay cancels the "locality pay increase" designed to combat inflationary forces against workers checks.

Capital Collapse in America

  • "Extreme Inequality: 44% of US adults cannot cover an emergency expense costing $400. UN Special Report." Reddit.
  • "Millennials are too poor to live like Generation X and baby boomers, federal study says." Deseret News.

Social Media

  • "Snowden: Stop Relying on Facebook for Your News." Scribblrs.
  • "Turning Off Facebook Location Tracking Doesn't Stop It From Tracking Your Location." Gizmodo.
    • Facebook appears to be using IP log-in information it collects for security and debugging purposes for advertising even when Location Services are turned off.
  • "Facebook gave Spotify and Netflix access to users’ private messages." The Verge.
      -

Rojava

  • "Northern Syria rises up against invasion." ANF News.
  • "Turkey’s Latest Invasion Plans Must be Stopped – Rojava Must Survive." Global Rights.
  • "What Trump’s Syria decision means on the front lines of the fight against the Islamic State." Washington Post.
  • "‘We are coming’: Blackwater’s ominous message portends a new Trump era of privatized warfare." Alternet.
    • Trump's declaration to leave Syria may just be an attempt to privatize the war.
  • "The Threat to Rojava." crimethinc.
  • "It's About Time for the U.S. to Exit Syria and Afghanistan." The Black Alliance for Peace.
  • "Don't Let Rojava Become Another Yemen." Emergency Committee for Rojava. (via Twitter)

China

  • "China arrests Marxist student leader for celebrating Mao's birthday." Phil Star Global.
  • "Leading Chinese Marxist student taken away by police on Mao's birthday." Reuters.

Patreon Shoutout

  • Dark Moonpaw