Videos -- In These Times

Bhaskar Sunkara is Fed Up with the Bloodless Wonks

Posted May 22, 2013

Three years ago, Jacobin founder and In These Times Senior Editor Bhaskar Sunkara was a frustrated 20-year-old, fed up with what he calls, “the bloodless, wonkery of Beltway liberals.” The economy was clearly in crisis, along with the US system of government. Big questions needed to be asked and yet most media outlets were still pumping out guff about “recovery.” As he puts it in this interview with Laura Flanders of GRITtv, “We’ve been sold an ideology that’s based on the golden age of capitalism; based on the welfare state. We were told that if we work hard, if we keep our heads down, then we would be given at the very least a stable nine-to-five job, at the very least enough for a home, enough for a car, enough to raise a family. Workers for the last few decades have been finding out that that’s a lie. The question is what happens then?”
The Most Amazing Speech by a 9 Year Old You Will Ever See

Posted May 21, 2013

Nine-year-old Asean Johnson gives an impassioned speech against school closures in Chicago at a downtown rally on May 20, 2013 that worked the crowd into a frenzy. Asean goes to Marcus Garvey Elementary School, slated for closure by the Chicago Public Schools, an un-elected board who's members are appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Who is America’s Largest Low Wage Job Creator?

Posted May 7, 2013

Answer: workers who are employed by private companies through federal contracts, concessions and leases. Yet, while employers reap billions of dollars in profits from taxpayers every year, they are paid such low wages that they're unable to afford basic needs such as food, clothing, and even rent.
Cartoonists Demand Action on Gun Control

Posted May 6, 2013

Some of the nation's best-loved cartoonists are calling on Congress not to back down on enacting commonsense gun laws.
Will Outrage Following the Factory Collapse in Bangladesh Lead to Safer Working Conditions?

Posted May 2, 2013

ITT's Mike Elk joins Current TV’s John Fugelsang to share his perspective on whether protests following a garment factory collapse in Bangladesh will lead to safer working conditions and whether American workers face similar dangers. “In Bangladesh there is a lot of outrage about what has happened,” Elk says. “They went and they arrested the head of the factory and he’s going to face criminal charges over this so I do think that there might be some movement for change.” Elk cites the recent fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, as an example of why Americans should be concerned about working conditions closer to home: “This fire was preventable, but there were not the proper safety measures … I do think things like this happen in this country but on a much smaller scale.”
The Sad Truth About the West, TX Plant Explosion

Posted April 29, 2013

ITT's Mike Elk discusses the cause of the West, TX industrial accident, the weak government oversight of the plant, and President Obama's missed opportunity to raise awareness around the need for increase health and safety regulations on MSNBC.
How Regulation Could Have Helped Prevent Texas Plant Explosion: Mike Elk Discusses with Chris Hayes

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Posted April 19, 2013

In These Times Staff Writer Mike Elk talks with Chris Hayes and Celeste Monforton, former policy analyst for OSHA, about how proper regulation would keep more Americans safe at work in the wake of the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.
Major Workplace Safety Issues Prior to Explosion at Non-Union Texas Fertilizer Plant

Posted April 18, 2013

Today, In These Times labor reporter Mike Elk appeared on Democracy Now discussing how the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion is symptomatic of an inadequate workplace safety regulatory structure that leads to the deaths of 4,500 Americans every year on the job. Despite there being over 8 million workplaces in the United States, the US only has 2,200 OSHA inspectors. OSHA on average could inspect a facility like the West, Texas fertilizer plant once only every 129 years. Indeed, according to OSHA records, the West, Texas plant had not been inspected by OSHA in the last 5 years.

Despite the dangers posed by the plant evident in the explosion, in 2006 the company told the EPA that the plant posed no risk of explosion. As Tom O'Connor, Executive Director of the National Council on Occupational Safety and Health told In These Times earlier today, "It looks like in the plant's application for a permit, it checked 'no' in the box asking whether it was a fire or explosion hazard." At a minimum, someone at the EPA ought to be looking a little more carefully at these permits to verify their accuracy. Any plant with a large volume of explosive chemicals is clearly a fire/explosion hazard.
The Hilarious Exxon Spoof That Was Blocked From Airing

Posted April 15, 2013

Days before this anti-Exxon spoof ad was set to run on ABC, NBC and Fox News affiliate stations in Arkansas, the Texas-based oil company threatened legal action and the ad was pulled, reported the Institute for Southern Studies on Thursday. Fortunately, we have the Internet--the video is available on YouTube.

Thanks to the Internet, you can also read the cease and desist memo [PDF] written by ExxonMobil lawyers, which is just as funny as the spoof. The memo challenges the "numerous inaccuracies" of the ad. For instance, "Here at Exxon we hate your children," is accompanied by pages of proof that the assertion "cannot be substantiated."

Bogged down in a controversy over the recent oil spill in Arkansas where reporters have been threatened with arrest for entering the contamination zone, Exxon, it seems, just wants to stick to the facts.
The Rap Song That Rahm Emanuel Doesn’t Want To Hear

Posted April 11, 2013

Matt Farmer spins some rhymes about Chicago school closings. Guess who he calls a "progressive poseur / walkin' bulldozer / union bustin' / grade school closer"?