Mass For Shut-ins: The Gin And Tacos Podcast

Dr. Olufemi Taiwo (@OlufemiOTaiwo) joins us with his new book Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). We talk about the future of organizing and activism and what those of us without power should be doing to avoid falling into the traps more powerful actors set for us. I also do my best to embarrass him by recalling an incident from ~2005, when he and I first met in a classroom at Indiana University. Please support Mass for Shut-ins, an independent and ad-free podcast, via Patreon. Contact me via twitter (@edburmila).  Thanks: Dr. Taiwo, the bands that contribute music (Waxeater, IfIHadAHiFi, The Sump Pumps, Oscar Bait), Zachary Sielaff, Question Cathy, and all Patreon supporters, subscribers, and listeners.

This is a quick teaser to let non-Patreon subscribers know that you missed the last Minicast, which I uploaded two weeks ago on Patreon.  I won't be putting all Minicasts behind the paywall, but this one was a special treat for subscribers. If you want to listen and can spare $1, join at https://www.patreon.com/ginandtacos

The resplendent radio voice of Ryan Cooper joins me to talk about his new book, How Are You Going to Pay For That? Smart Answers to the Dumbest Question in Politics. You might be familiar with his writing from his tenure at The Week, or from his cohosting duties on the Left Anchor podcast. He currently is the managing editor of the American Prospect. We talk the social welfare state, unemployment, why workers being able to quit lousy jobs drives so many people crazy, and Spuds MacKenzie, Reagan-era America's horny drunken dog-id.  Please support Mass for Shut-ins, an independent and ad-free podcast, via Patreon. Contact me via twitter (@edburmila).  Thanks: Ryan Cooper, the bands that contribute music (Waxeater, IfIHadAHiFi, The Sump Pumps, Oscar Bait), Zachary Sielaff, Question Cathy, and all Patreon supporters, subscribers, and listeners.

In 1989 Kraft held a promotional sweepstakes (grand prize: a new minivan) with game pieces in packages of Kraft Singles and due to a series of errors, every single one was a winner. By the time they caught the mistake, over 10,000 people had already "won" $17,000+ minivans. Kraft is based in the Chicagoland area, so the heavy local coverage this fiasco received in Summer '89 led 10 year-old me to believe this was the biggest news story of the century. Of course in reality, nobody really noticed or remembered. Wasn't local news great like that? Micro-sensations nobody outside of your area knew about? I miss it. I value your support on Patreon.

The Glass-Steagall banking bill was one of the most important progressive reforms of the 20th Century. It's gone now, but as often happens with members of Congress, Glass and Steagall have been almost entirely forgotten. Glass's story offers some very interesting insights into how the ideological range of American politics has narrowed. Because Glass and Steagall, the Great Reformers, were actually interested in preventing reform. I value your support on Patreon.

Guest: Steve Mang, college professor and amateur ultra-long-distance runner, joins us to talk about CC Pyle's Bunion Derbies, the informal name of two LA-to-NYC footraces held in 1928 and 1929. Amateur runners, some lacking basic equipment or running experience, ran an average of 50 miles per day for at least 84 consecutive days. Steve gives non-runners like me some insight into the, let's call them "challenges" the human body experiences under those conditions. For the cocktail of the month we RUN with the theme: the London Marathon QC joins us for the mailbag. Please support Mass for Shut-ins, an independent and ad-free podcast, via Patreon. Contact me via Facebook, Twitter (@edburmila), or the venerable website Gin and Tacos.  Thanks: Steve Mang, the bands that contribute music (Waxeater, IfIHadAHiFi, The Sump Pumps, Oscar Bait), Zachary Sielaff, Question Cathy, and all Patreon supporters, subscribers, and listeners.

Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928 had little immediate impact on the world because it took over 15 years to crack the secret of how to mass-produce the it. Until that happened, penicillin existed more as an idea than as a medical intervention. The code to producing it in big batches was finally cracked in, of all places, Peoria, Illinois thanks to the timely intervention of a cantaloupe. I value your support on Patreon.

Will the US mint a trillion-dollar coin? Probably not, but in 2001 the tiny island nation (I know, I know) of Vanuatu created $300 million overnight by quadrupling its sovereign debt using as its stated collateral a 182-pound ruby that may or may not actually have existed. I value your support on Patreon.

In 1975 a right-wing loon purchased 300 acres of swampland outside Cape Canaveral with the dream of building a theme park recreating the experience of a US Special Forces barracks in a rural Vietnamese hamlet at the height of the war. Visitors could take turns firing a machine gun at real Vietnamese refugees play-acting as Viet Cong, while replica thatched huts dispensed souvenirs and snacks. Oh, and there were punji stakes. Real punji stakes. And a lot of barbed wire. I value your support on Patreon.

After a player died from being hit by a pitch in 1920, Major League Baseball banned the "spitball." But it allowed 17 players whose careers were determined to be dependent on it to continue throwing it. A century later, baseball is still dealing with what it now calls the "foreign substances" issue.  The physics and history of baseball's dirtiest pitch, plus a guy named Urban Shocker. I value your support on Patreon.

In the late Sixties through the Seventies, John Brisker was widely known as the meanest, toughest man in professional basketball. After winning ABA titles in Pittsburgh and punching his way through a few tumultuous seasons with the Supersonics of the NBA, John Brisker visited Africa, came back to the US, told his friends he was off to Africa again, and disappeared without a trace. Theories of what happened to him abound. The most widely accepted involves Idi Amin. I value your support on Patreon.

Guest: Jen Howard (@JenHoward) author of Clutter: an Untidy History on Belt Publishing. Her book looks at the social, economic, and political causes of our addiction to Stuff, and our talk ranges from Marie Kondo to the Container Store to the Montgomery Ward Outlet. Why do we have all this crap and what is the right thing to do about it? It's not as simple as "throw everything out." The cocktail of the month isn't a cocktail, it's a short dive into Triple Sec (not literally). A truncated mailbag without Question Cathy will be followed shortly on Patreon (because capitalism) with a full mailbag. Please support Mass for Shut-ins, an independent and ad-free podcast, via Patreon. Contact me via Facebook, Twitter (@edburmila), or the venerable website Gin and Tacos.  Thanks: Jen Howard, the bands that contribute music (Waxeater, IfIHadAHiFi, The Sump Pumps, Oscar Bait), Zachary Sielaff, Question Cathy, and all Patreon supporters, subscribers, and listeners.

What if I told you that right now you can get a new car very nearly for free? Sounds like a scam, right? Well thanks to Hydrogen Fuel Cells, the Technology of the Future of 2002, you can. With some caveats. Crazy, right? Now what if I also told you this isn't the first time Americans have had the opportunity to get a brand new car for free? That part of the story takes to a place called ... Kragujevac.  I value your support on Patreon.

Agatha Christie's two most popular characters - Poirot and Marple - can only exist and make sense in a universe in which the police simply cannot solve crimes. If they could, why would they need a weird Belgian private detective or a random old lady to do it for them? To understand why this was so plausible to Christie and to her contemporary readers, the story of Christie's own "disappearance" in 1926 emphasizes just how inept the police really were in her day. Even being given the answer didn't help them solve this big mystery. I value your support on Patreon.

Guest: David Parsons (@davidlparsons) from the excellent history podcast Nostalgia Trap joins me to discuss Gerald Ford's disastrous rollout of a nationwide vaccination program in 1976 to combat a swine flu pandemic that didn't materialize. Vaccine recipients developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which is sometimes fatal, at a rate 8.8 times higher than the unvaccinated, making this event the foundation of the modern American anti-vax movement. But a closer look reveals that those numbers may not be what they seem, and certainly not what anti-vaxxers use them to mean. Despite our interest in this poorly-remembered historical event, neither David nor your host endorse any vaccine-related conspiracies, and encourage you to do as we are doing: getting the COVID vaccine at the earliest opportunity. The cocktail of the month is the Typhoid Mary. Has history been unkind to her? Yes, but it turns out she really was kind of a dick. Question Cathy returns with the mailbag, where we cover the 9th Amendment, Biden's first

In 1996 a loutish young Briton got drunk and, on a lark, asked a tiny island nation if he could be their poet laureate. Mind you, the nation has no poet laureate and doesn't really do European-style poetry at all. That's ok, he doesn't know how to write poetry anyway. So the government of Kiribati said yes, and then, his bluff called, the young man said yes, and then hilarity ensued. Inspired by America's recent fascination with former National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, who is also the only poet I know by name right now. I value your support on Patreon.  

Guest: Mike Konczal (@rortybomb) returns with his new book, Freedom from the Market. We take a look at all the great things government used to (or could) do a pretty good job of providing for Americans but no longer does because we've turned them over to The Free Market, which isn't well-suited to provide them at all. It's a great blueprint for a better world, and we talk about where the political will to do it might come from. A full unedited version of my chat with Mike is available on Patreon, because capitalism. Please support Mass for Shut-ins, an independent and ad-free podcast, via Patreon. Contact me via Facebook, Twitter (@edburmila), or the venerable website Gin and Tacos.  Thanks: Mike Konczal, the bands that contribute music (Waxeater, IfIHadAHiFi, The Sump Pumps, Oscar Bait), Zachary Sielaff, Question Cathy, and all Patreon supporters, subscribers, and listeners.

"A Visit from St. Nicholas" standardized many parts of the Santa Claus story, but one key element of the story bridged a gap between Protestants and Catholics - as well as opening the door for the cultural, secular embrace of Christmas in the U.S. I value your support on Patreon.

I never promised you a Rose Garden, but I can give you a short primer on the how, what, and why of pardons before delving into the murky waters of what Trump does and does not have the power to do for himself and his felonious hangers-on. Can he pardon himself? Can he pardon people for crimes they haven't even been charged with yet? Why does the pardon power exist at all? 10 minutes of your time will answer all. I value your support on Patreon.

Question Cathy joins me for the post-election tradition of an all-mailbag episode devoted to listener-submitted questions. A partial list of topics covered here: Electoral College reform, rogue state legislatures, the census / redistricting, Trumpian antics, and more. We also dress the dog, and accidentally do a Ritz Crackers product placement. Please support Mass for Shut-ins, an independent and ad-free podcast, via Patreon. Contact me via Facebook, Twitter (@edburmila), or the venerable website Gin and Tacos.  Thanks: Tom Sexton and all the Trillbillies, the bands that contribute music (Waxeater, IfIHadAHiFi, The Sump Pumps, Oscar Bait), Zachary Sielaff, Question Cathy, and all Patreon supporters, subscribers, and listeners.