The Case Against Ed Troyer, Part 2 – Justin Camarata – Reviewing Evidence from the Public Record – #174

In this episode, the second of a two-part series, we continue exploring the controversial term of Pierce County Sheriff, Ed Troyer. In this episode, we look and the public record including two official investigations into Troyer’s misconduct, first as the department’s Public Information Officer and eventually as Sheriff.  

Our guest today is Justin Camarata. He is a former member of the Tacoma City Council and a regular guest across the shows here on Channel 253. This conversation leans heavily on the reporting of local journalists, particularly Kari Plog from KNKX. Each document or report we refer to in the discussion is in the show notes below. 

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The Case Against Ed Troyer, Part 1: Troyer and the Black Community – Jamika Scott – Tacoma Action Collective – #173

In this episode, the first of a two-part series, we dig into the turbulent term of the elected Pierce County Sheriff, Ed Troyer. In this episode, we look at Troyer’s influence on the investigation into the killing of Manuel Ellis and his stalking & harassing of Black newspaper delivery driver Sedrick Altheimer, which we covered in 2021. This conversation is focused on Troyer’s impact on the Black community and Black residents in Pierce County. In part two, we will take a longer look at the public record on Sheriff Troyer.

Our guest today is Jamika Scott. She is a former candidate for mayor of Tacoma, a filmmaker, co-host of We Art Tacoma here on Channel 253, and a member of the Tacoma Action Collective (TAC). TAC is a group of activists and organizers pushing for governmental reform & accountability in the City of Tacoma.

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Mass Incarceration & Restorative Justice at San Quentin – Katherin Hervey, Writer & Director of “the Prison Within” – #172

The United States imprisons twice as many people per capita as Vladimir Putin’s Russia and four times the number of communist China. The Prison Within is a documentary about mass incarceration and the harm it does to the incarcerated and all of us. 

Our guest this week is Katherin Hervey. She is the writer and director of the film. We talked about her motivations for making the film, what she learned about our punitive system of mass incarceration, and what all of this tells us about the US.

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How to Resist Amazon and Why — Danny Caine, Author & Bookseller — #171 

Danny Caine is the co-owner and proprietor of the Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas. He is also the author of How to Resist Amazon and Why a zine/audiobook about the business practices of Amazon and how they harm society. We discussed his book and the monopolistic, predatory market behavior that Amazon engages in: data mining, exploiting marketplace sellers & sub-contractors, union busting, etc.

In the second segment, we talked about some alternatives to Amazon products that we utilize, like our friends at LibroFM (remember to use promo code “Tacoma”), rather than Audible and the recent choice to move Channel 253 to Libsyn, rather than hosting our shows on Amazon Web Services.

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Understanding the Worst Inflation in 40 Years — Bill Dickens, BJNJ – #170

On July 13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a year over year price rise of 9.1%. Driven by rising food and energy costs, the United States is experiencing the worst inflationary period since 1980. We wanted to get to the bottom of the causes of this inflationary cycle (nope, it’s not stimulus checks), how people can protect themselves from inflation (congrats, vegans), and how long this inflationary cycle might last (shorter than you think).

Our guest is our favorite economist, Bill Dickens. Bill is a utilities economist and chief economist and president of BJNJ. His work typically focuses on hydro, natural gas, and smart grid technologies. But he’s always up for a conversation about macroeconomics.

Special thanks to Rep. Strickland for introducing Bill to us last summer.

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Police Unions and Enabling Politicians – Aaron Brickman, Labor Relations Specialist – #169

This week, we are discussing police unions and how they protect bad actors. But it is also a conversation about the elected officials who don’t hold law enforcement accountable. This conversation is in part a response to the decision by the Pierce County Prosecutor to not charge Officer Phan for his vehicle attack in January 2021. It is also partly in response to the ongoing “slow-strike” Tacoma Police are engaging in. Lastly, it is inspired by the ongoing controversy around Ed Troyer, the disgraced Pierce County Sherriff, who is facing criminal charges.

Our guest, Aaron Brickman, is a Labor Relations Specialist who has worked with several major national unions. He joined us to discuss police unions, their contracts, and why so often police officers get to keep their jobs after committing gross misconduct.

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On the Rightward Lurch of the US Supreme Court and the Threat to Our Rights – Summer Stinson, Economic Opportunity Institute – #168

Over the month of June, the US Supreme Court released a series of rulings that upended established precedent (accepted legal patterns) in American society. They weakened the first amendment’s establishment clause, the fifth amendment’s Miranda protections, the ability of states to regulate gun ownership, the EPA’s ability to issue regulations regarding climate change, and most notably gave states the green light to ban all abortions within their borders.

Other rights appear on the chopping block with the court’s belligerent 6-3 DGAF Conservative majority and their peculiar reading of the US Constitution. 

So we put up the Bat-Signal and were able to connect with legal nerd and policy activist Summer Stinson. Summer has a JD from the University of Oregon, was a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and currently leads the Economic Opportunity Institute. 

She appears today on the show in a personal capacity.

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The January 6 Hearings, Christian Nationalism, and the Campaign Against the LGBTQ Community – Professor Will Horne, Activist History Review – #167

The founding thesis of this podcast back in 2017 was that national politics in the US is largely broken, possibly irreparably, and that it’s essential to put our collective energy into state/local activism, issues, and elections. My life choices have taken me overseas since then but that ethos remains at the heart of this show and the Channel 253 Podcast Network.

The rightward momentum that in many ways inspired this podcast is arguably stronger than ever. In this week’s conversation with Will Horne we talked about three legs of the current Christian theocratic movement: white rage politics, the rejection of democracy, and anti-LGBTQ+ gender traditionalism.

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A Mid-Season Sounders and Defiance Check-in — Dave Clark, Sounder at Heart — #166

Dave Clark is the founder of Seattle Sounders blog, Sounder at Heart and a former color commentator for Tacoma Defiance. He came on the show to offer a mid-season check-in on the state of the season for both teams.

We also discussed the Emerald City Supporters’ decision to retire Take ’em All, a choice we both support.

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Reflecting on the Crypto Crash and Looking for Use Cases for Digital Assets — Jonas, Defire Podcast — #165

The host of this show is not a crypto true-believer but I do dabble in the digital asset market. I remain unconvinced about the long-term value of current cryptocurrencies, but I think there is potential utility in the underlying technology. This is a conversation about both that doubt and that technological potential.

Jonas is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and is the host of Defire. His show is about cryptocurrencies, DeFi (decentralized finance), and NFTs. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Terra Luna Ecosphere and the crash of the crypto market in May, we brought him on to talk about lessons he’s learned and the real-life use cases for the technology behind cryptocurrency.

Only ⅓ of the world’s cryptocurrency assets are held by Americans. I think Jonas is an important voice in this conversation because he’s not one of the usual suspects–he’s not a right-wing “cryptobro” spouting Austrian economics and anarchocapitalist platitudes. 

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