Audio: Ballots & Bullets: War Machine, Vote Suppression Ramp Up Amid Outbreak

By Any Means Necessary

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In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Democratic Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor to talk about the new lawsuit by the Republican-controlled legislature attempting to force the state’s residents back to work amid the pandemic, how political brinkmanship left dozens of voters and election officials sickened with coronavirus after primaries were held despite the danger, and how politicians from both parties are taking advantage of the chaos to implement draconian voter suppression tactics.

In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Amanda Starbuck, senior food researcher and policy analyst at Food & Water Watch, to talk about the breakdown of food production supply chains under amid the coronavirus outbreak, the news that major meatpacking plants are shutting down across the country, and how the crisis is revealing the importance of returning to a more diverse and less corporate food distribution system.

In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by David Swanson, activist, journalist, radio host and author of the book “Curing Exceptionalism,” to talk about the new legislative push to force women to register for the draft, the revelation that the US government is pressuring Mexico to re-open factories needed for weapons manufacturing, and why the Pentagon looks to be one of the only employment options for the millions left jobless by the economic shut-down.

Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Aja Taylor, Advocacy Director at Bread For The City, to talk about how mutual aid efforts in the city of DC by groups like Bread for the City are filling the enormous gaps left by the government’s response, why voters in DC continue to vote the same leaders back into City Hall year after year despite the lack of tangible improvements in living standards, and why it’s so crucial to push for progress now as millions in the US are realizing another world is possible.

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