Out d’Coup | MAGA Bomber; Millennials and New Politics; Billionaires Fatter in 2017; Turzai In Danger of Losing?; Koch Funded Orgs Talk Post-Janus in PA; Publication News; New Free Will Cans; more!

“Bombs! Not Jobs” is the Republican rallying cry heading into the 2018 midterm election. The MAGA bomber has now targeted at least a dozen high-profile Democrats and Trump critics. [News broke during recording that MAGA bomber has been arrested]. Trump refuses to give up his personal iPhone. Now the Chinese and Russians are listening in. Blunder or strategy?

Surprise, surprise. Richard Spencer is not just that fame-seeking white supremacist trying to make nazis cool again. He’s also a wife-beater, according to divorce documents filed by his wife.  

Those social media loving millennials are actually a hell of a lot better than their Gen X and Baby Boomer elders at distinguishing facts from opinions, according to a new study by Pew Research Center. Maybe that’s why an NBC/GenForward poll found that 71% of millennials think it’s time for a third party. It looks like a specter is haunting the White House ahead of Halloween. What’s going bump in the night at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Socialism! That’s right, Trump’s council of economic advisors releases an official report on the threat of socialism right before the midterms.

Billionaires become 20% richer in 2017. That’s right, according to report by Swiss bank UBS, billionaires made more money in 2017 than in any year in recorded history. The richest of the rich on our Big Blue Marble increased their wealth to a whopping $8.6 trillion. That’s a more concentrated wealth than the Gilded Age.

Opening arguments are scheduled for Monday for a watershed lawsuit  against the Trump administration about climate change. 21 plaintiffs between the ages of 11 and 22. The plaintiffs are claiming government inaction on climate change violates their “fundamental constitutional rights to freedom from deprivation of life, liberty, and property.”

It’s time to talk about it.  Mike Turzai may actually lose his race against Emily Skopov. Scott Perry is fighting back against his “I don’t want to pay for about maternity care” comments, and is asking his opponents to “release the tapes.”  The Pennsylvania Senate GOP Policy Committee invited Koch Brother affiliated organizations to talk about legislation to pursue in the post-Janus world.

PSEA and the AFL-CIO have endorsed Republican Brian Fitzpatrick over Scott Wallace in the PA-1. So, instead of organizing for power, we’re going to look for the “nice Republicans?” Am I getting that right?

The UN’s IPCC report released earlier this month, we have 12 years to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions. You wouldn’t know that in this year’s PA gubernatorial race, despite the fact that PA is the third largest carbon emitter among all the states.

Cool news: I got my copy of Unruly Rhetorics: Protest, Persuasion, and Publics in the mail this week! My article, “We Are Not All In This Together: A Case for Advocacy, Factionalism, and Making the Political Personal,” is in there along with a bunch of amazing writing.

In the bonus of the week, this week the interview Rachel Riedner and Gordon Matler’s interview with Seth Kahn and me just got published in the open access journal, Academic Labor this week. It’s titled “Neoliberal Higher Education: Background of the Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty Strike of 2016.”

Free Will Brewing has a double can release tomorrow. They’ll have 4-packs of Grapesicle, a Pastel IPA w/Merlot & Muscat Grapes, oats, milk sugar, and vanilla. This one is brewed in collaboration with Stone & Key Cellars. And the much anticipated Pineapple Rant, a Contemporary Gose w/Pineapple & Coconut,l will also finally be available.