With the LA wildfires of January 2025 still fresh in Californians' minds, a number of little considered issues popped up. Not least of which is, where does the water to fight fires come from? Wait… someone owns the water?! This episode is about the privatization of utilities and how we got here.

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Robert and Mia talk with Revolutions Podcast host Mike Duncan about the similarities between his new series The Martian Revolution and the Trump administration and the politics that inspired the show.

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Margaret reads chapter five of her book The Barrow Will Send What it May.

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The gang talks about concentration camps in El Salvador, an ICE arrest of another green card holder, and RFK Jr.’s autism eugenics. Plus updates on tariffs and DOGE.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/investing/us-stock-market/index.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live/trump-tariffs-live-updates-china-signals-readiness-for-talks-if-us-shows-respect-amid-numbers-game-191201017.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-ensures-national-security-and-economic-resilience-through-section-232-actions-on-processed-critical-minerals-and-derivative-products/

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/16/temu-cuts-us-ad-spend-drops-in-app-store-rank-after-trump-tariffs-.html

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-issues-export-licensing-requirements-nvidia-amd-chips-china-2025-04-16/

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Mia and Spencer Jordan of the Urban Ore Workers Union discuss the workplace as a microcosm of the authoritarianism currently sweeping the American political system and how their strike is fighting back.

https://gofund.me/9ce38160

https://www.instagram.com/urban_ore_workers/

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Gare and James discuss a meeting between Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on expanding CECOT style prisons to hold US citizens and immigrants.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogLw7I2BWO0

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/14/el-salvador-president-return-wrongly-deported-trump-00289234

https://documentedny.com/2025/04/14/ice-bukele-cecot-tren-de-aragua-el-salvador-new-york-deported/

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James and Gare discuss the terrible impact of the earthquake that hit Sagaing in late March, how the Junta has blocked aid workers, and how the revolution has responded. We also talk about how you can help.

Sources:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/up-to-700-myanmar-muslims-killed-in-quake-hit-mosques-weakened-by-neglect.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/world/asia/myanmar-earthquake-aftershocks-airstrikes.html

https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/myanmar-juntas-aerial-attacks-continue-despite-post-quake-ceasefire/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/myanmar-junta-shoots-chinese-earthquake-aid-convoy-rcna199233

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/world/asia/myanmar-earthquake-aid.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/economy/myanmar-lashes-out-at-quotchocolate-barquot-foreign-aid-idUSSP172535/

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/lives-updates-quake-death-toll-rises-to-3600-junta-suspends-tourist-visa-after-quake-private-us-field-hospital-in-naypyitaw-and-more.html

https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/guest-column/global-response-to-myanmar-earthquake-shines-light-on-strategic-rivalries.html

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/live-updates-death-toll-exceeds-3500-hundreds-in-urgent-need-of-quake-aid-juntas-airstrikes-still-rage-on-and-more.html

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/world/live-updates-death-toll-rises-to-3471-quake-relief-teams-must-obey-junta-us-pledges-additional-7-million-in-quake-relief-and-more.html

https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/resistance-forces-capture-indaw-town-after-months-of-fighting/?sfnsn=scwspmo

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/war-against-the-junta/myanmar-junta-airstrikes-kill-over-30.html

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