Posted by Alexander Jerri
On This Day in Rotten History...
On this day in 1815 – (201 years ago) — some 65,000 troops lay dead, wounded, or missing in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, in which French troops loyal to Napoleon Bonaparte were defeated by a multinational force that was led by the Duke of Wellington, and made up of soldiers from England, Ireland, Scotland, Prussia, Holland, Belgium, and other European countries. The defeat brought an end to Napoleon’s domination of Europe and his dreams of greater conquest. Napoleon was soon forced to abdicate as emperor of the French, and he was sent into exile for the rest of his life on the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena. On the field of battle, meanwhile, scavengers carrying pliers and buckets hurried to and fro among the decaying corpses to pull and collect the dead soldiers’ teeth — which they then sold to dentists, who used them to make dentures. The dentists did not conceal the origins of the teeth from their customers. On the contrary, some proudly advertised their dentures as being made from “Waterloo teeth.”
On this day in 1972 – (44 years ago) — British European Airways Flight 458, en route from London Heathrow to Brussels, went into a deep stall shortly after takeoff, and crashed near the town of Staines, England. All 118 passengers and crew aboard were killed. The accident occurred in the context of a threatened air pilot’s strike over pay, conditions, and the hazard of airline hijacking, which had become common in the early 1970s. Not all BEA pilots were in favor of the strike, but many co-pilots had already walked off the job, to be hurriedly replaced by recently hired rookies. An inquest later concluded that the crash of Flight 458 was due mainly to several oversights and bad decisions made by inexperienced crew members.
Rotten History is written by Renaldo Migaldi
Posted by Alexander Jerri
Listen live from 9AM - 1PM Central on WNUR 89.3FM / stream at www.thisishell.com / subscribe to the podcast
9:10 - Historian David Broder explains how the radical left lost Italy's anti-establishment vote.
David wrote the recent Jacobin piece on Italian politics and the Five Star Movement, Losing Ground.
10:05 - Live from Budapest, Todd Williams reports on the power of right wing populism, in Hungary and the US.
Todd will also cover round two of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's widely mocked billboard campaign. Todd explained round one last year.
10:35 - Writer Yasmin Nair examines the cost and consequence of Hillary Clinton's carceral feminism.
Yasmin's essay "Marry the State, Kill the People: Hillary Clinton and Carceral Feminism" appears in the Verso collection False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
11:05 - Historian Andrés Reséndez chronicles the long, hidden history of Indian enslavement in America.
Andrés is author of The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America from Houghton Mifflin.
12:05 - Sociologist Alexes Harris outlines the criminal justice system's financial punishment of poor Americans.
Alexes is author of A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor from the Russell Sage Foundation.
12:45 - In a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen continues his hostile plea for an end to hostilities.
As we learned last week, it involves you voting for Hillary Clinton if that helps your hostility at all.
Posted by Alexander Jerri
Here is what Chuck is reading to prepare for Saturday's show:
Losing Ground - David Broder [Jacobin]
False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton - Yasmin Nair [Verso Books]
The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America - Andrés Reséndez [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]
A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor - Alexes Harris [Russell Sage Foundation]
Posted by Alexander Jerri
On This Day in Rotten History...
On this day in 1805 – (211 years ago) — the city of Detroit caught fire and almost completely burned to the ground. Detroit was just a territorial outpost then — an inland seaport, population about six hundred. Lacking any real fire department, the citizens formed a bucket brigade, passing pails of water hand-to-hand from the Detroit River to the burning wooden buildings. Of course, it was hopeless. And soon there was nothing left of the city but one stone building and a few brick chimneys. Amazingly, no one was killed.
On this day in 1837 – (179 years ago) — in Boston, long-simmering tensions between New England Yankees and recent Irish immigrants erupted in violence when a group of firefighters, emerging from a saloon after having put out a fire, ran into an Irish funeral procession on Broad Street in the city center. Trash talking and insults gave way to pushing and shoving, then kicking and punching, and finally an open riot. Estimates vary, but thousands of people were apparently involved, as rioters threw rocks and looters broke into nearby homes. The unrest eventually forced Mayor Samuel Eliot to call in ten military units to make arrests and bring an end to what is still, to this day, regarded as the worst riot in the history of Boston.
On this day in 1963 – (53 years ago) — not one but three rotten historical events occurred within a time span of twenty-four hours. In Saigon, Vietnam (known today as Ho Chi Minh City), in the presence of several international journalists, a Buddhist monk named Thích Quảng Đức calmly sat down in a busy intersection, had gasoline poured on himself, and set himself on fire as a protest against the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government of President Ngo Dinh Diem, who favored the country’s Roman Catholic minority. Gruesome photographs of the monk burning to death shocked the world.
In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Governor George Wallace, recently elected on a campaign promise to keep the state’s schools racially segregated in defiance of federal law, staged a political media stunt by standing in the doorway of a University of Alabama building to prevent two black students from entering to register for classes. Wallace was forced to back down after National Guard troops, acting on orders from President John Kennedy, ordered him to step aside and let the students... read more
Posted by Alexander Jerri
Listen live from 9AM - 1PM Central on WNUR 89.3FM / stream at www.thisishell.com / subscribe to the podcast
9:10 - Sociologist Lori Leonard examines the collapse of a corporate pipeline project in Chad.
Lori is author of the new book Life in the Time of Oil: A Pipeline and Poverty in Chad from Indiana University Press.
10:05 - Journalist Alison Flowers explores the uncertain life beyond bars faced by exonerated prisoners.
Alison wrote Exoneree Diaries: The Fight for Innocence, Independence, and Identity, available now from Haymarket Books.
11:00 - Anuradha Mittal exposes a Western corporate takeover plan aimed at agriculture across Africa.
The Oakland Institute released the report The Unholy Alliance: Five Western Donors Shape a Pro-Corporate Agenda for African Agriculture.
11:35 - Investigative journalist Greg Palast presents your guide to not being able to vote in the year 2016.
Earlier this week Greg posted the article How California is being stolen from Sanders right now.
12:05 - Social historian Eva Swindel makes the case for reclaiming time, not money, from the demands of capitalism.
Eva is author of the Monthly Review article Radical Leisure.
12:45 - In a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen tries to talk us out of shooting our hostage before we have the ransom.
Is the Bernie the hostage or the ransom in this scenario?
Posted by Alexander Jerri
On This Day in Rotten History...
On this day in 1913 – (103 years ago) — at the prestigious Epsom Derby horse race in Great Britain, a women’s suffrage activist named Emily Davison ran out onto the track just as the lead horses were coming around a bend. Spectators noticed that she was holding a long piece of cloth, believed to be a banner bearing the slogan “VOTES FOR WOMEN.” Davison stood quietly as several horses passed — and then stepped directly into the path of a horse owned by King George V. She raised her arms in an apparent attempt to disrupt the race and capture media attention for the cause of women’s suffrage. But the fast-moving horse hit Davison, knocking both her and the jockey to the ground. The horse and the jockey recovered, but Davison died four days later of a broken skull and internal injuries. Another fifteen years would pass before British women were allowed to vote.
On this day in 1974 – (42 years ago) — in Cleveland, a special event called “Ten Cent Beer Night” drew some twenty-five thousand fans to a baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers. An estimated sixty thousand cups of beer were sold, and by the sixth inning, with the Rangers leading 5–3, the drunken crowd was a security nightmare. Hot dogs, bottles, chairs, and firecrackers came raining out of the stands. Dozens of spectators, some of them naked, ran onto the field before being subdued. One woman tackled an umpire and tried to kiss him. A father and son entered the outfield and pulled down their pants to moon the crowd. But in the seventh inning, after Cleveland scored two runs to tie the game, the jovial, drunken mood turned ugly when two Cleveland fans threw a punch at a Rangers outfielder, and the outfielder punched back. It triggered an all-out riot as thousands of people poured onto the field — including players from both teams, armed with baseball bats. The bloody chaos went on for twenty minutes before umpires pulled the plug, and Cleveland was forced to forfeit the game.
On this day in 1989 – (27 years ago) — the Chinese political leadership decided it had finally had enough of the massive pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where for several weeks, thousands of students and other nonviolent protesters had been occupying the public space, demanding major government reforms and... read more
Posted by Alexander Jerri
Listen live from 9AM - 1PM Central on WNUR 89.3FM / stream at www.thisishell.com / subscribe to the podcast
9:10 - Writer Chris Lehmann explores the long business partnership between Christianity and capitalism.
Chris is author of the new book The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream from Melville House.
10:05 - David Skalinder says goodbye to the cultural quirks and social geography of London after 12 years.
David will be moving somewhere with just as distinctive an accent, he'll reveal that on his segment.
10:35 - Journalist Elizabeth Grossman reports on the underreported health costs of meat processing work.
Elizabeth wrote the In These Times story New Study Reveals Just How Brutal Meat and Poultry Work Is for Workers.
11:05 - Public interest advocate Wenonah Hauter traces the causes and consequences of America's fracking boom.
Wenonah is author of Frackopoly: The Battle for the Future of Energy and the Environment from The New Press.
12:05 - Public policy researcher Kathleen Geier deflates Hillary Clinton's newfound economic populism.
Kathleen is one of the contributors to the collection False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton from Verso Books.
12:45 - In a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen mulls over humanity's long-range goals.
Jeff got his subject to me a day early this week, so he's already up on planning for the future.
