Puerto Rico Energy Crisis; Line 3 Goes Operational; Democratic Disunity

Adriana Garriga López, associate professor of anthropology at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, associate faculty of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, anthropologist and multidisciplinary artist, and Esteban Gómez, historian and co-host of the “Plan de Contingencia” podcast, join us to talk about the ongoing energy crisis which has seen hundreds of thousands of citizens affected by rolling power outages throughout weeks, and what role the new private energy company Luma has played in this crisis. We talk about how this is yet another example of disaster capitalism and how public-private partnerships have wreaked havoc for workers and the provision of essential services in the name of profit.

Darren Thompson, reporter for Native News Online and Unicorn Riot, and Heather Keeler, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, join us to talk about the news that the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline is going operational today, despite months-long protests. We also talk about some of the social impacts of projects like these beyond the environmental harm, the documented effects of bringing this kind of work, done this kind of way, into indigenous communities, how resistance will continue against this project, what future actions could look like, and the often overlooked tragedy of missing native women.

Sara Dady, immigration attorney and former Democratic congressional candidate for IL-16, joins hosts Michelle Witte and Bob Schlehuber to talk about the intraparty fight among Democrats over the proposed infrastructure bill, which now seems certain to be considerably slimmed down, how this manufactured crisis goes beyond characters like Sinema and Manchin, and how disunity conveniently happens whenever there actual meaningful policy at stake. We also talk about how funding for infrastructure is usually disbursed, whether it actually goes to fund the public good and not deepening the pockets of private contractors, the Biden administration announcing new rules that require authorities to only pursue migrants who recently crossed into the country without permission or are deemed to pose a threat to public safety, the future of DACA, and the long racist history of US immigration policies.