The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 412 - Mother Jones

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Mother JonesSourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

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And ready? Three, two, and you're listening to the dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. Oh good one Dave. Thank you. This is an American History podcast for each week. I, Dave Anthony, read a story from American History to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. How are you? Normal. Fine. Regular Sunday. Regular Sunday? Nothing. Yeah. Nothing interesting happened to you today? Nothing out of the ordinary? Went to church. Spoke a church. Obviously. Spoke a church. Of course you were saying a church. You love a signage church. Clap sang a church. Yeah. After church brunch with the Pastors.

Okay. Without Pastors they'd talk life advice to you. After that we cleaned up. We had to clean up. The church? Yeah. A lot of us just helped us tuck around pitched in. Why was it so messy? We had a really crazy brunch. We were doing a lot of crazies. I mean Waffle Maker that had was shaped like Mickey Mouse. So those were gone. Sure. So we ran out of batter. Anyway and then yeah after that. Go home? Did you go home? Went home. Did Bible study. Then went. Watched on TV. I don't believe I watch any TV. Went to the bedroom. Took a nap. Got up. After the nap. I got up. And then. Yeah then came here. Then came here. Nothing in between. Didn't watch

anything on TV. No one believes who. Oh the Packers game. Oh what's the Packers game? Yeah you want to say anything? Oh I know just that it was it was a good good well fought well fought battle. It was nice to see the Packers pick up what seemed like three-third downs on the final drive. That was what Mike McCarthy would have done which would have been hand the ball off three times and leave them with two minutes and ten seconds to go okay you know score them with the game. All right let's not this is not the time to bag on Mike McCarthy. I don't know at all. I don't know him personally. He's a friend. He's a friend. The the

pictures you posted of yourself. Your headshots. Oh. You little scam. Tennessee Williams presents Dave Anthony. I had my time. Yama yama. He used to be a young man. You drinking a Coke for a rebel. All right let's Dave Dave underscore Anthony underscore at Instagram if you want to see my old hat chops. Starting when I was about 22. Tell you what you get that guy laying face down on the mattress for me. Yeah look out. I'm coming aboard. Skipper. Excuse me permission to do whatever I want. Granted. May 1st 1830. Okay. Year by Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah. Maybe. This we need to start again. Mary Harris may have been born on that day to

devout Roman Catholics Richard Harris and Ellen Cotter in County Cork Ireland. Wait what's going on right now? We're not sure about her birthday. Okay. They lived in a small village described as quote a poor small irregular village that had 12 buildings in total. This this is just and this time my basic vision of Ireland. That's not one down. I mean yeah that's we got 12 buildings. We're sitting. We're sitting. We need to be respected. We'll need a 12th building. After Mary they had four more kids. There's very little record of Mary's early life. We don't we just don't know. Okay. Irish peasantry united in rebellions against land owners during the

1830s and 1840s. Sure. Mary's father and grandfather joined the fight. Okay. Jumped in that shit. Sure. Got their Irish on. So they would set fire to rent collector and landlord owned buildings. Okay. Or free fellow peasants that were imprisoned by the British. Which I'm all I'm all 400% on board. Yes. Right. The British sent occupying forces when that was happening. Sorry. Liberators. Right. Liberators. Liberators. When Mary was two her grandfather was arrested and hanged. Jesus. That's yeah. Well you don't remember that. You're two right. Yeah but you absorb the trauma in a way that's probably not. It's not. Cool. I mean you put it that way. Yeah. I'm sure

she's not like I remember today I saw it but she's like why am I so nervous around authorities. When she was five her father her father her father was put on a list of rebels who were to be captured and sentenced to death. Good Lord. So British soldiers came entered their home and tore their home apart looking for her father but he was already on a ship to America. Okay. With his 12 year old son Richard Junior. Okay. Just take the one kid who has your name. I wouldn't take any other ones. Right. You just want the one that's I'm also guessing there's probably a gender favorability at play. Yeah. Yeah. Also the 12 year old can work. Yeah. Well unlike in this area you were like I'm sorry

but you're a girl. So that's the end of our relationship. Oh there's our that's actually the end of our conversation. Okay. So have a good life. You were so close. Oh if you had an Audi. A keeper. If you had an Audi. They put it in you. So sorry. Tootles. Pushing her out an open door. There you go. Off you go. Run towards the city a little bit. You see those 12 buildings. Yeah. Go inside one of those. It's time to figure it out. There'll be no yawning. Are you crying. Oh well that's allowed. That was expected. I'm surprised it came so late. All right I'm shutting the door. Go to one of those 12 buildings. Go to one of those 12 buildings now. Get a life going. Hurry up. God she's really not moving out

there. She's really standing. I'm not caving. In America. Land of freedom. He worked railroad construction and saved money until you had enough to bring his entire family over. Aw. Who somehow all survived the family. Has that ever happened? That's the first I've ever survived the boat. I mean yeah my family survived it but I'm here. Relax. Look you had cute headshots settle down. So once in America the Harris's moved to Toronto. Okay. They're like fuck America. Sure. And then Mary became the first Harris to graduate from high school. Okay. She attended a teacher's college and got a job teaching in a convent in Michigan when she was 23. All right. But she hated the job and after a year she quit and went

to Chicago to become a dressmaker. Okay. And she said quote she preferred it preferred sewing to bossing little children. Sure I completely get that. I do too. Children are awful. Yeah. When I used to do children's birthday parties that was what I would think too. Dresses don't talk back. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. They shouldn't. Yeah. In 1861 she moved to Memphis and met George E. Jones. No right. Yeah. What is so you're knowing not is that there's been some sort of sexual interaction between the two. I think so. So a little fornication. They got married two months later. Jesus. Right after the Civil War started. Right after the Civil War. Okay. I mean it makes you horny. It really does. They called

it the lubi war. They did lubed a lot of people up. So much fucking organically. George was a skilled iron molder who worked 10 to 12 hour days in brutal conditions. Okay. So it's all he's awesome. He has a great job. Right. It does. I always tried it like whenever you like you know you have to work or you're tired from trying to always try to think back on what life used to be like because you say things like that you're like yeah it's not so bad. 10 to 12 hours like what are you doing like I'm wearing it with a hot iron all day like what did you do like I got a they gave me a free lunch and well the plane was just delayed and the plane was delayed 45 minutes which just kind of throws and then the fucking

internet was your routine and then they didn't have the internet probably working. He championed workers rights and was an active member of the National Union of Iron Molders. So he should be put to death. Yes. And this is how Mary was introduced to trade unions. George supported them and Mary stayed home to take care of their firstborn child. Okay. The Civil War was raging. Mary and George against slavery but you know they didn't really talk about it because they're in Memphis. Right. And keep them on the on the down right. Right. When the war ended in 1865 they had four kids three girls and a boy but they were the whole war they're just fucking. Yeah. Yeah. Post war industrialization took off many Americans

because they had a north south battle of their own. I don't get that. Catch my drift. I don't. The two of them had a battle at her bunker hill. I don't follow my logic. I do not. It appears that he attacked from the front and the battle well finished in the cave if you follow my meaning. I don't. I'm trying to say that the gentleman is very it's a he used a swing and dole technique but he penetrated her battle lines. If you catch the drift I'm hoping you will finally catch because it's been taking a while for you to seemingly click into my in your window if you will and you will. I don't. They were fucking. I don't think so. Oh my God. And so I don't think that's true. So they had three girls and a

boy. Many Americans became factory workers at this time and George started traveling and organizing workers across the U.S. who's a fucking union guy. Okay. In 1867 Memphis had a very rainy spring followed by a very hot summer. Sure. Means mosquitoes. Skeeters. Skeeters. Which leads to something called yellow fever. Feebies. Yes. So there's a feebies epidemic. Okay. Racist Southerners blamed immigrants calling it a quote the Strangers disease. Sure. Of course. Who else could be doing this? They have they clearly they are just they bring they just bring death with them. That's right. Obviously. The wealthy people fled the city and working class people had to stay behind work and risk their lives.

And goodbye to that scenario. That's right. So the city tries to do what it can to stop the spread of the disease in different ways. They naturally they set barrels of tar on fire in the streets. Yes. Helping to contain the disease in the plumes of toxic smoke. Yeah. That was to spread chemical disinfectants. Yes. So the theory here is just. Yeah. Yes. That's plenty. I don't even think I need to walk through it. It's called the animated it's an animated theory. Yeah. It makes sense. Yes. Obviously. Tar stops so many. Yes. It's maybe if you picture a pie cooling on a windowsill those sort of stink. That's right. But with the tar. Tar. Tar. Tar barrels. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Really get in here and with it

guys if you don't want to get your head over it. Take a poll. People over Memphis held sponges to their noses to avoid inhaling. They burned the bedclothes of the dead victims which polluted the air even more. So they're putting the actually putting it out. Yes. Right. Giving it a new yeah. Now they're like good news. It's airborne now from us. We found a way to make the yellow fever airborne. Over weeks Mary watched her four children and then George died. Oh no. You didn't know that was coming. No you did though and you were playing along. You were having a good old time. Yeah. You have no heart. Quote all about my house I could hear the weeping and the cries of delirium. At 32 Mary was a widow with no children

when just a couple months ago she had four kids. How was yellow fever transferred. Mosquitoes. So they all independently would have been bitten by mosquitoes. She just didn't. I don't want to say for sure but I believe it's you know mosquitoes can bite repeatedly. So you know they bite you and then they fly it over. Plus they were just like oh get out of here I'm trying to focus on getting the immigrants out of here. They're getting us sick. You're killing immigrants so you can't kill mosquitoes. You're busy. Yeah your hands are tied. So the Union George's Union paid for the family's funeral expenses. Mary spent months then as a volunteer nurse helping families tend to their sick. She was probably just like just

killed me with this fucking thing. She didn't get sick. In December the cold killed the mosquitoes and the plague ended. Okay. I don't know what you immigrants stop doing once snow started falling but stick to not doing it. Yeah. Yeah. You understand. Yeah. Yeah. I get that white people are fucking. We know that it was you the whole time. Stupid. What. We know that it was you the whole time. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. So I don't know why you guys came to an understanding that you were going to stop giving us all the yellow fever. Yeah. But we're happy. Well we're still watching you. Have you considered that you might be idiots. We considered everything and that theory held a lot of weight for some of us but we just couldn't put the pieces

together. I don't know what was standing in our way. We just get so distracted. It makes our minds hurt when we try to put. Well you're making my mind right now. Knock it off there. I like a spicy meatball. You got kids. Stay mad at you Luigi. You are terrific. You're one of the good ones. So Mary went to Chicago with a little money from Georgia's Union that they had raised a supporter and she opened a dressmaking shop. Okay. And quickly built an upper class client base. Okay. Her business flourished but she was still deeply affected by the lives of the poor. Her autobiography quote often while sewing for the lords and barons who lived in magnificent houses along the Lakeshore Drive. I would look out the

plate glass windows and see the poor shivering wretches jobless and hungry walking along the frozen lakefront. The contrast of their condition with that of the tropical comfort of the people for whom I sewed was painful to me. My employers seem neither to notice nor care. And then I wrote Parasite. And thank God things have changed. Yeah. And we've moved past that. Yes. As human beings we were like that's wrong. This is an impossible position to empathize with. Yeah. There's. Yeah. This is not applicable. I can't imagine living like that. No. No. No. No. No. In October 8th. I mean they call the taxes Jeff Bezos paid less. I know. I know. Let's keep going. It was great though. He gave six hundred thousand

dollars to charity to the Australian. It's a very big charity. Which is really great because he's worth. Yeah. Five hundred billion dollars. Yeah. So it's nice. It's really great. He'll notice. He'll notice it. He'll notice it. He'll notice it. Not even if he bit a penny in half. On October 8th. Which he does. He does. I know. On October 8th, 1871 the great Chicago fire burned the city of Chicago. They should have just called it the big Chicago fire. Instead of the great. It gives it this. It was pretty great. Yeah. As you know what I mean. It's just like man that was great. No. Damn. That's great. It's great fire. I think we have to call it the great of the fantastic. Yeah. I like that.

Really good. We'll call it a really great fire. I can't think of any other names. Hey that was great. Well awesome fire. All right. I'm good with it. His fire is fucking stupendous. Hey Luigi get out of here. What are you doing here. What are you doing here. I like a spicy meatball. All right Luigi. Mary fled to the lakeshore and waited out the fire for a day and a half. Over 300 people died. 90,000 lost homes and businesses. Wow. That is great. It really is great. Now that I hear it it is great. Yeah. It sounds. When you hear it. Yeah. Yeah. So Mary was. That's crazy. Yeah. This fire is insane. No. It's a bad fire. Yeah. So Mary was one of them. In two years she'd now lost everything twice. Well at least she's

used us to it. Yeah. At least she's used to it. Oh I know what happens. This is the delirium's hitting. This is oh I cry a lot. There it is. Just like she'd done in Memphis she started volunteering. She was helping homeless families relocate organizing soup kitchens allocating donations and then while she was doing that she would run into union men who had known George and respected him and loved him and they would help Mary stay helpful and give her a sense of working class solidarity. Okay. One night Mary came across an old acquaintance. He was standing at doorway kind of guarding the doorway of this abandoned building. Okay. And she's like what are you doing? What's and they start talking and after some discussion he goes okay you can

come inside. It was one of the earliest meetings of the noble order of the Knights of Labor in a newly established union. So you couldn't tell people you were forming a union back then because you meet in secret because workers who belonged to unions were blacklisted. Right. So they couldn't get work. So if you were forming a union in 1870 you're literally putting your life at risk. So there's just never ever been a time where the powers that be are the government ever has been pro-union. No. All a constant battle to always trying to extinguish unions constantly. Yeah, pretty much. In other countries they understand the value of union because the union gives you the ability to leverage negotiate with the whole group of workers at once. Right. Like when some

companies would come over here from Europe they to set up a car plant or whatever they'd be like and we want you to have a union. They'd be like no it's a non-union state. But you know what we were used to. Yeah. No. So here you just. There's a there is enough negative I mean there's plenty of that's what that's why it is so upsetting when you hear what you just said about like alright so the Knights of Labor they're meeting in secret because and then you get all we get so far and then again after you know we're probably what like 30 or 40 years past the union's peak essentially and and it's still is like people like they're not that good you know what I mean. If you told these people back then like they were oh and eventually will be so misinformed that people

will think this is a bad thing. Alright we'll see you later. Okay bye. We're in it. So the night started in 1869 and quietly spread across the country in cities. They accepted skilled unskilled workers from all industries and would soon accept African Americans and women but at this point the Knights are not allowing women but Mary still volunteered and started going to meetings. Sure. So they're long meetings there's a lot of heated debates and Mary discovered she had a natural talent for public speaking. Okay. And she started honing her speaking skills while learning everything about the labor movement and we waiting for a tornado to just kind of come and hit her now. Well then the financial panic of 1873 happened. Which up to that point is the

worst depression the U.S. had ever. Oh my god are you serious? Yeah could you imagine could you imagine a time in America where all of these guys who have all the money are just speculating on a bunch of bullshit and everything falls apart and all the banks close. No. Could you imagine that? No. Yeah. Well no. So this is the only time it happened except for all the other times. It's a fairy tale to me. So soon one million people were unemployed. Some cities had 25% unemployment. Wow. So the railroad industry was hit the hardest but CEOs wanted to keep their profits. Okay. That's shocking. Yeah. So they during the depression they increased the workers days and decreased their pay which they could do because there's 25% unemployment. Right. This is why I need a union.

Right. Well there we are. So many workers were killed by collapsing trestles or croted boilers because the owners want to save money. They're not fixing anything. It's not like we can't find more workers. That's right. When asked if he was worried his workers would rebel against him railroad tycoon Jay Gould said quote I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other. So this guy had suspenders and a cigar right? I want to have a worker class to kill the other. God damn it. I just thought of the most evil thing that I could actually say. I can't believe I just thought of it. That is the value of when you get money your value of human existence is it evaporates. There are studies that show that as you get more wealthy you lose

empathy. Yeah your empathy is drained. This guy has zero or he just started out as a psychopath but either way. I think it's bubble based. Yeah. So hunger and homelessness. Which my baths also are. Go ahead. I don't think I want to. Go ahead. No I think I want to stop this. Keep going. One leg's out. Hunger and homelessness were widespread. Companies did absolutely nothing to help. A prominent industry supporting minister said quote the necessities of the great railroad companies demanded that there should be a reduction of wages. Was a dollar a day not enough to buy bread? Water costs nothing. The man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live. Oh my god. The minister. Religion. I mean look Jesus turned water into wine. What are you so

lazy for? Come on. Oh I can't eat just bread and water. I'm a big man. Especially I mean that's very similar to when the priests get the jumbo jet. You know when the priest get the plan he's like it's a way for me to go and spread my message. It gives the parishioners now can see more. God needed me to have a million dollar play. The man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live. And that's my sermon today. All right. Now Jimmy come up here. I'm going to piss on your face. And we're going to hand around the collection bins too gang. Throw something in there. No bread either. No bread. Now you're fucking bread. No water. We're gluten-free Atkins based. In 1876 Unionists and political radicals joined forces for the first time to establish the Working

Men's Party. Okay. Workers were striking in Martinsburg, West Virginia. You didn't need the men's in there necessarily right workers. Men's? Yeah. Did I say men's? You did right. Isn't that what it's called the Working Men's Party? Oh the Working Men's Party. Yeah but I bet it was just men. Yeah I'm sure but yeah. So workers striking in Martinsburg, West Virginia it spreads to railroads all across the country because they're stopping trains right? Right. And then everyone starts walking off jobs all around the country. Okay. President Hayes sent federal soldiers to Pittsburgh who fired into a crowd of 20,000 killing 26. Jesus Christ. The next day riots 79 buildings and 105 locomotives were destroyed. So that turned out to be a bad idea for everybody. Yeah. The solidarity of the working

class had a powerful effect on Mary. Quote, then in there I learned in the early part of my career that labor must bear the cross for other sins, must be the vicarious sufferer for the wrong others do. I'm a little lost but I get this. Yeah yeah I mean it doesn't make sense but I get. In the late 1880s, laborers were required to work 14 to 16 hour days but they were selfish and they wanted just an eight hour day. What? Yeah. That leaves them time for life. I know. The nerve. So unions obviously supported it but most of union leaders at this point were immigrants so the demands were dismissed as foreign or un-American by the industrialists. Okay wait so just because the union leaders are immigrants? Yeah and most of the union workers probably

but specifically the leaders so they were just like well this is a foreign idea it's not your foreign or nonsense but in America, America boys like to work 14, 16. In America you work in your sleep. So Chicago's anarchist party endorsed the eight hour cause. At the time anarchists very radical very violent. Yes. This made politicians, businessmen and law enforcement even more reluctant to negotiate for the eight hour day. Sure. Quote, employers used the cry of anarchism to kill the movement. A person who believed in an eight hour working day was an enemy to his country, a traitor and anarchist. It is shocking how they are able to still get that message out there. Yeah. The foundations of government were being not away by the anarchist rats. Yeah. Yeah.

Always, always. The radical, this is radical, radical, these radical people like. It's, yeah. Police opened fire at a protest at the McCormick harvester plant in Chicago several killed then a meeting was held in response in Haymarket Square during which a bomb went off and then cops shot into the crowd. Why are they just shooting into the crowd? They're just sending a message. And then some strikers shot back, seven cops and four workers were killed, hundreds were injured and then the leaders of the unions mostly anarchists though were arrested and hanged even though the bombing was never linked to the protesters. Sure. Well, you don't need evidence. No, you don't need evidence that it went off. Yeah, it went off. Hang them. Newspapers,

civic and religious leaders and the public blame the violence on labor unions and anarchists with zero proof. Right, of course. At least things have changed. Yeah, no, of course. The Knights of Labor didn't believe in strikes and violence so they refused to help the wrongly charged protesters. Okay. A union that doesn't believe in strikes. It's a tough one. Not a great. They just wanted to talk shit out. What are we going to do? Go to work. All right, boys. All right, let's do it. We're living though. So, Mary and many workers felt betrayed by the Knights. Knights of Labor membership plummeted to the Haymarket Affair strengthened Mary's belief in the power of numbers and militant activism. The Knights of Labor went from having a million

to like 10 years later having a hundred thousand. Okay. There was toast. Sure. So, Mayday was recognized as a labor holiday after this and Mary began saying it was her birthday. Okay. This began a long tradition of Mary lying about her birth and age. Okay. Working in coal was an extremely dangerous job. Magnates like Rockefeller did everything they could to produce without spending money. Sure. Many workers were injured or died in accidents, but were quickly and easily replaced. Yeah. That's the cool thing. Just like now. Yeah. That's the cool thing about a guy dying on the job. You just get another guy. Right. Yeah. Mother Jones, as she started calling herself. Okay. Nicknamed Rockefeller Oily John. Okay.

The United Mine Workers of America, the UMW, was established in January 1890 and Mary joined up. Okay. The UMW quickly had millions of members and became the largest union in the country. Okay. All right. Part of that was due to Mary's field organizing. She spent hours talking to families and groups, getting to know workers, and provided literature on their plans for bettering conditions. John Brophy, a young miner from Pennsylvania, described his first encounter with Mary. Quote, she came into the mine one day and talked to us in our workplace in the vernacular of the mines. So, she knew mind talk. Right. Yeah. She like came in. She was like flowing in mine. Yes. Someone who understood. Someone who'd listened.

How she got in, I don't know, probably just walked in and defied anyone to stop her. When I first knew her, she was in her late and middle age, a woman of medium height, very sturdily built, but not fat. Nice. This guy's, this one of the reporters, like, I think we got the quote. I think we got the quote we need. Now, let me walk through some other problems. She would take a drink with the boys and spoke their idiom, including some pretty rough language when she was talking about the bosses. This might have been considered a little fast in ordinary women, but the miners knew and respected her. They might think her a little queer, perhaps. It was an odd kind of work for a woman in those days, but they knew she was a good soul and a

friend of those who most lacked friends. Okay. So, she fucking hang out. She drank. Right. She talked shit. Right. Yeah. Yes. Man, we're like, you're so cool. Yeah. We think you're an equal. Yeah. You swear like us. You're like a guy. I mean, she said fuck face. It's pretty great. Another worker quote, all this union business sounds ordinary enough, but we picture our organizer neither male nor a former miner, but an old woman drinking with the boys, telling off-coloured stories and talking union. Yeah. So, was there speaking skills that swayed many? Quote, her voice was low and pleasant with great caring power. She didn't become shrill when she got excited. Instead, her voice dropped in pitch and the intensity of it became something you could

almost feel physically. Okay. Yeah, it's hot. What? Hey. Excuse me? Hey, boys, won't talk union? I don't think. I'd rather. Mary adopted the persona of Mother Jones. Okay. Her nurturing spirit gave her an appealing maternal quality. She told people she was older than she was to reinforce the Mother Jones image. That's an amazing... I mean, that only happens for bars. She wore outdated black dresses and bonnets that she sewed herself and started referring to the male workers as her boys. They're my boys. I'm 91 now. I'm passing away. You look like you're 35. No, no, no. I'm very old. Okay. Oh. I just saw you last week and... I know. I'm deteriorating rapidly. Oh. I just became 92 since we started talking.

Oh, Jesus. And I'm so old. Okay. This is... Oh, my legs are hurting. I think it is. My legs are hurting. Like a legit mental illness. Rub them. No. I'm not going to rub your legs. Want to get a drink? Yeah. Okay. The New York world reported that she was building her own model of motherhood. Quote, it is a big brood she mothers, a big, toilsome, troublesome brood scattered all over the face of the land. How does she do it? By the greatest of all powers, the power of love. She loves her boys. She teaches them to love her. It sounds like a sitcom intro. She loves her boys. Okay. But also like a mother, she knows how to make her children behave. Thursday. As Mary leaned into the role of Mother Jones, more and more, she created a legend around herself.

She kept her past obscure so people did not know who she was before she became Mother Jones. She became Mother Jones and Mary Jones ceased to exist. Okay. On July 4th, 1897, the UMW called the nationwide strike of soft coal workers after they were asked to take a 20% pay cut. Wow. Hey, guys. How do you feel about making 20% less money? Terrible. This job's already awful. The conditions are impossible. You barely pay us. You overwork us. We have nothing. I haven't stopped my offer. Okay. Our more work. No, what? That's worse. That's more bullshit. Yeah, but now you're part of a team. No, we've always been part of a team. We all love each other. We hate you. But here's the deal though. If you take less money, you're doing more teamwork. We understand the concept. It's stupid

and we see through it. Team player. You can't take 20% of our money. We don't have anything. And one of you will get, you're going to be named employee of the month. Well, you didn't tell us that part. And what comes with that is we put a plaque up in the coal mine. We've seen it. We've all wanted our face up there. We're in. Yes. That is crazy. And by the way, I'm sure the, yes, the ability to actually get people to listen to these strikes or things like that is what we just completely, yeah, we do no longer have that. I mean, it's been happening. The fast food workers, the 15, the fight for 15 is and teachers, but we need a mass walkout. Teachers have done well. Yeah. But yes. So tens is the thousands walk in this strike, but the men and the families

had to be fed and housed during the strike, obviously. So Mother Jones went to Western Pennsylvania to help from the Pittsburgh Daily Post, quote, she was given a rousing reception. She advanced to the edge of the platform and listened to the noisy approval of the crowd with a smile of satisfaction. Someone in the gathering shouted hats off. And in an instant, every head was uncovered. Oh, my Lord, Dave, I need to lay down. She spoke, quote, I see that Liberty is not dead. This gathering is a protest of the army of toilers against the law by injunction. Someday, this army will rise up in its might and turn the tables. Army of toilers is fantastic. Yes. She's a good fucking speaker. I wish that there was

army of toilers, army of toilers. She brought it during the strike. She convinced farmers to donate food. She organized escorts for wagons delivering supplies. Now I don't know why they'd want sex workers with them. Hey. And she gave me with the wagon tonight. Hi, baby. And she gave speeches to fire up workers. And then once everything was set up in a place, she would move on to another other mining counties and do the same thing. So she's franchising. She's fucking organizing all these workers. Sure. Or franchising, as you call it. She was getting more and more attention. Red lobster. That's right. Thank you. The Tennessean on September 4th, 1897, quote, Mother Jones is a brave woman. She left her home in Chicago some time ago to visit the scene of

minor strikes. But with all this, Miss Jones is a womanly woman. When the reporter called on her yesterday, she had to excuse herself for a few moments for at the time she was engaged in curling her hair. What? I mean. I just love that they're like, she's still a woman, gentlemen. I know you're getting scared, but she is still a woman. We want to see the penis. Her heart was always in West Virginia, though, where the miners had it worst. Also a lot of Irish miners there. The man or woman who would witness such scenes, as I have witnessed in West Virginia, would betray God Almighty if he betrayed those people. West Virginia mines were in remote areas and coal companies built company towns, which we all know are awesome. They control everything,

the doctorate of the school and nurses, mayor, city council, judiciary, police, preachers. Most workers and their families lived in company housing and were paid in script. Company money, they can only use the company stores. This force managed to buy on credit, and then they were trapped in an endless cycle of debt. I mean, this is still going on in places in America. It's so crazy. I mean, it was like 10, 15 years ago that it was happening in orange farms in Florida. They still had fucking script and company stores. It's so crazy. Yeah. So forces miners to buy on credit, more debt, more debt. Company did not let miners shop elsewhere, even though they didn't have real money to shop elsewhere. They couldn't shop elsewhere. If you

figure it out, you still can't. So West Virginia's mines had the worst working conditions. Owners spent less on safety than any other state. They didn't follow any laws. It's great. It's a state law that banned scripts, but ban on child labor, ban on safety measures that blew all that off. West Virginia mines had the highest death rate in the US. If a worker said anything bad about the company, he'd just be fired and replaced immediately. And in 1987, sorry, in 1897, Mother Jones came to organize several counties into whole large rallies in Charleston, but armed guards stopped her. So she went door to door to talk to the families and the union men. A fellow organizer said she was good with foreign-born laborers who didn't speak much English.

She'd communicate with them, quote, through a combination of broken English, hand gestures, and French classics. French classics. Oh, okay. That's what they call swagger. French classic. We got to bring that back. That's great. It's the fucking best. You know that guy. I like his stuff, but he drops a lot of the French classics at the same time. French classics. Yeah, that's a thing. That's got to be a thing. Yeah. That's a Marx Brothers movie. She used Irish humor and told jokes about company bosses to lighten the mood. She also spoke, she talked shit about priests and ministers who took corporate bribes and said, quote, labor must be its own religion. She traveled with a band called the Mother Jones Band.

That's... Now, Dave, I've liked everything so far, but now I've found something I love. I couldn't find anything else about the Mother Jones Band, but the Mother Jones Band was a thing. I'm going to picture it as funk-based, if that's okay with everybody. Yeah, okay. They had three bass players. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to picture the P funk. Yeah, that's right. That's what I'm going to picture. Okay. She held up Miner's contracts and claimed, quote, even the Tsar of Russia would be dethroned if he attempted to enforce such tyranny on his subjects. Yeah, that's right. We're doing the Tsar of Russia. Miners began calling themselves Mother Jones Boys. They kept pictures of her in their homes

as if she were a patron saint. You know, she's 190. She wasn't always too kind. She scolded some miners from being cowards, telling them if they were afraid to fight, then she would continue alone. She went wherever she was needed, funded by the UMW and Socialists. She helped striking garment workers in Chicago, bottle washers in Milwaukee breweries, Pittsburgh steelworkers, El Paso street car operators, Kalman copper miners, and tons more. From Boston Herald, the article on West Virginia Strikes in 1901, quote, so the old lady standing very quietly in her deep, far-reaching voice painted a picture of a life of a miner from his boyhood to his old age. It was a vivid picture. You pity yourself, she said, but you do not pity your brothers

or you would stand together to help one another. And then she called on them to awaken their minds. And as she ceased speaking, many women looked at each other with shamefaces for almost everyone had been weeping. Wow. She's a fucking speaker. Jesus. Yeah, she brought the shit. Yeah. A game, always. Relax, you're getting a little intense. A game. Okay, settled down. In 1902, Mother Jones was leading a rally from a platform when a state marshals appeared in the distance. Here we go, finally. We found a law you broke that we just wrote. You're a woman talking. It's not okay. She shouted, quote, goodbye, boys. I'm under arrest. Don't surrender. Nice. She was arrested at her trial. The judge lectured her. What is she being arrested for? Yeah, I mean, did we just

arrest her on chumped up charges? Okay. So the judge lecture lectures her saying she had, quote, straight from the lines and paths, which the all wise being intended her sex to pursue. Oh, my Lord, this guy. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's really checking a lot of the boxes of wrong angles. Oh, did I did I stray from the line when my family died? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I made babies and then they all died and I decided to kick ass instead. The idea that you're using an invisible deity to tell you about what gender means. Yeah. Yeah. Well, now come on. There's a fake man in the sky. You know what, God? Do you know God? God was very clear. He says you should just be fucking and making food. You're here to cook and fuck. You're here to cook and

fuck. Cook, fuck, cook, fuck. Cook, fuck, if you're not. That's the whole last part of the Bible. Cook, fuck, cook, fuck, fuck. Read revelations. If you're not fucking, then you should be cooking. If you're not cooking, then you should be fucking. If you're not cooking and fucking, you should be dead. That's right. He also said that there were many charities that she could engage in of a lawful character that would be more in keeping with what we have been taught and what the experience has shown to be the true sphere of womanhood. Yes, thank you. She could do like a charity thing when she helps babies or something like that. Yeah. You know, raise money for cookies. Some sort of pie thing. Yeah, pie charity. That's right. All right.

Some other Jones listened. I sentenced you to oven mitts for a year. Some other Jones listened, and then when he was done talking, she called the judge a scab. You must have been furious. And then she told them she would do it all over again, and then in a very gentle voice, she noted how old they both were and suggested they might be friends in death one day. Wow. He was like, what the hell? I believe she's told them she would see him in hell. Yes. The courtroom audience flipped out, enjoyed it very much. Yeah. West Virginia district attorney Reese Blizzard's closing statement. That's a fucking name. I'm actually a weatherman. God, how can, how can there not be weathermen yet? My name is Reese Blizzard. If only he.

This closing statement, quote, there sits the most dangerous woman in America. She comes into a state where peace and prosperity reigns, crooks her finger, and 20,000 contented men lay down their tools and walk out. All right. And you can listen to me on what a quick strike tragedy in this state is. My last name is Blizzard. I rest my case. Case rest. Case rest. I think I'm going to, I don't know what I'm doing. I think I'm going to start to drop the Blizzard stuff from my closet. Yeah, it doesn't make sense. It legitimately doesn't make sense. I'm trying so hard, but I think I know there's a line. Let me take over. Let me take over.

I'm Bobby Reigns. And I'm something Blizzard. We're the weather lawyers. We rest our case. We rest the case. Hey, we should have not done that last part. I felt like I had something in there. You had nothing. I said my name. You had nothing. And then you had nothing. I did. I had nothing. You literally stood up, said your, just said your name. I said my name, but then I started thinking of your name. And then I also started thinking of the weather. And I'm like, why am I thinking of the weather right now? And I remember.

Because your last name is Blizzard. My last name is Reigns. I'll save it. And we don't know whether you say guilty or not guilty, but how's weather spelled in there? Wrap it up. I'm done. Wrap it up. Oh my God. That didn't make sense at all. Oh my God. That was hell. Here's what I think we should do. We need to kill each other. I think we should kill each other. We need to go out of the courtroom and kill each other. I have a gun. You have a gun. Let's just shoot each other in the face.

Let's hurry up. Let's go now. Let's go now. So she's, she's fine as in she's released. Okay. So 1897, 1904 strikes significantly improved miners, standard living, and workplace safety over those years. Okay. But the Johns was also very successful bringing workers' wives into the movement. Nice. She organized what she called the mop and broom brigades. Oh my, what? Okay. So they were mothers and wives who stood at the entrance to a mine where a strike was happening and they would be there 24 hours a day. There was always

wives or moms there. Usually they, she would always try to have a baby in their arms. Okay. And then they would shame any non-striking workers trying to go in. So they're like shame barkers? Yeah. Wow. Oh, where are you going? I've got to go to work. Yeah. I've seen my, you know, this little guy here, do you want to say hi? Hey, little guy. He hasn't eaten. All right. I got to get going.

He hasn't eaten in four days. And we should feed him. You know why? Why? Because my husband, we used to work in this mine. Oh, look, it's nothing to do with it. And now he can't, he's on strike because he wants to make more money. I am sorry about that.

Oh, oh, wait, he's dying. Oh my God. Is he dying? Okay. It looks like he's dying. You know why? Because you're, you're, you're killing him. Ah. Yeah. Oh, you're killing him. I'll come in for a minute. Okay. Just go ahead and leave.

Okay. I'll give up on you. Damn it. Yeah. Damn it. You're a scoundrel. Then another one. Hey.

Hey, excuse me. I got to go in there. Oh, this is my baby. It's a cute one. I know you're going to tell me it's dying. I'm not falling for it. Yeah. He died. Oh my God. I'll go in just for a minute.

Oh, look at that. Damn it. So, uh, so that worked. That was a great tactic. Yeah. Having women as part of the labor movement was very unusual for the time. Mother Jones quote,

Why wouldn't a woman be able to discuss mind affairs? Who has a better right? Has she not given birth? Has she not raised you and cared for you? Has she not struggled along for you? Does she not today when you come home covered with corporation soot,

have hot soap and water and towels ready for you? Does she not have your supper ready for you and your clean clothes ready for you? So old, old thinking there a little bit. She makes a good point. Well, Mother Jones advocated for the inclusion of women. She had a contradictory stance on women's rights. She was against female suffrage.

Interesting. Okay. And argued quote, Who's going to wet the towels? Argued quote, You don't need to vote to raise hell. You don't? Well, but dot, dot, dot.

But wouldn't it be great to have it? What about both? Just in case? Just in case democracy existed? She believed it was more important to liberate the entire working class before moving on to gender issues. I think we can walk and chew gum, but okay. Here's what I think she's saying.

I think that she's seeing middle-class women and upper-class women fighting for what they want and not giving a shit about the poor people. Splitting the movement. So that's what she's saying. She got a really negative, obviously, negatively attacked for this, but you see her point when she's dealing

with starving people versus people who want to vote. I think that it's a very applicable to today when, like, I think people who are as aware realize there is one issue, and that's the only issue that matters. That's right. But people are like, but also... Well, let's do this other stuff. What about this stuff?

Yeah. You're like, that's terrible. But she was attacked by suffragists and accused of being anti-women's rights. Mother Jones, quote, I am not anti to anything which brings freedom to my class. She thought wives played an important role as nurturers and motivators for striking men,

but not as workers. She's thought young girls working in mills were being robbed and demoralized, so, quote, working men should earn a wage that would allow women to stay at home to care for the kids. So that's a little old thinking. Sure. But, you know, it's... I get what she's saying.

Right. I also think you can fight for both things. Yes. But again, the upper class women are not fighting for poor people to have a decent living wage. They're fighting for the vote. Yeah. So it's complicated.

She wasn't great on race. This is like we're digging up her old tweets. Mother Jones always preached racial inclusivity, except she was against Chinese immigration. Oh, good Lord. What? I can't... How is that?

All the races should be working in the... Not the Chinese! Not just anyone. Not the Chinese! All of the races are my children. Accept those devils! It's not even like... It's just funny because that's so crazy.

How do you... Well, remember, so we've talked about this in other episodes. But the idea that you like... I mean, the Chinese... We need to look at your brother and your sister next to you, unless they're Chinese, then ask them again to leave.

We've been very clear. You're not welcome here. But everyone else, we are all one. We are all united. Is that a Chinese guy? Ask him, go, sir. So remember, this is when the strikes, the railroad kingpins brought in Chinese,

right, right, right. Specifically to fuck over the striking workers. So, yeah, again, but that's how capitalists play everyone against each other. That's how they keep their money. But you're saying that the probability that she would not have an issue with Chinese people if they were not brought in to work...

Under mine, the strikes? Yeah, probably. Yeah, probably, I would imagine. So she... But she did fight for the Chinese Exclusion Act. Quote, when the Union Pacific was bringing over Chinese to break the labor movement, the battle began there.

And I had a hand in that Chinese agitation. We kept it up and stopped the Chinese coming over. The Union Pacific had been bringing them over in hordes and using them to break the labor movement. Which is true, but you don't blame the Chinese people who just want jobs. The true villains are the fucking... Yes, again, the puppet master.

But she had a deep respect for African Americans and what they had been through. Unless they like those Chinese people. Unless they come for our jobs! In June of 1903, Mother Jones went to a textile mill in rural Philadelphia where thousands of child workers were on strike for better paying conditions. I mean, the idea...

America is so great. A child strike. 1903, children on strike. Children are striking for better wages. Children. 1903. 1903, children. All right, boys, come on.

These conditions are no good, I tell you. I want to make $8 now before I hit puberty! And five smoke breaks instead of four! They were mostly in their early teens, but some were as young as six. Pennsylvania law banned children under 13 from working in mills, but no one enforced it. Good.

Mother Jones, quote. Dave, imagine working with a six-year-old. Oh, God, what a fucking nightmare. I mean, imagine working... First of all, number one. Imagine sharing work space with a six-year-old. Number one, can I just say the chatter? Oh, my God.

Trying to give it directions? Fucking God. No, I'm telling you, go over there. Dude, dude, why? But why did they even make it like that? Don't ask me another goddamn question. Jesus Christ, put on your welding mask! I did, but then I forgot it next to my paintbrush!

I have a paintbrush! I got two paintbrushes! Shut up, Karen, just paintbrushes! Yeah, but then, I think the one guy went over there and then he helped me paint a dinosaur. Will you shut up, put on the welding mask, and put down the paintbrush? You're not a fucking painter.

I want to show you my drawings! And then I put on the welder's mask! I don't want to see your drawings. I got hot in there. This is the airplane. Yay! Can I put ink? It's tired again!

Will you hold my hand? I love you, mister. Jesus, I'm your foreman, just don't... How was work? It's really bad. I'll fire some of these kids. It's really bad. I honestly feel like I'm running a kindergarten.

We're not hitting our numbers. We're really bad. Our numbers are so bad. That's terrible! These kids don't understand! Mother Jones quotes, six and seven-year-olds start their workday at 5.30 a.m., taking their scanty lunch at noon, working until 7 p.m.

Then returning home to a rushed dinner. That's a game. Hey, Ma, give me a whiskey! Oh, the boss made it up my ass! And sleep until the factory was so blue again in the morning. Well, I'm only two diapers tomorrow, Ma. That's a big day. I'll pack my two.

Pack my two diapers, or I can shoot my pants a bunch tomorrow. I haven't seen mothers take their babies and slap cold water in their face to wake the poor little things. Oh, sorry, I'm laying. I'm just sleeping like a six-year-old. I watch them all day long,

tending to dangerous machinery. I've seen their helpless limbs torn off. And then, when they were disabled and of no more use to the master, thrown out to die. No! Throne out to die! Hey, we're going to need another four-year-old. That one's missing an arm.

Bye! Oh, my God! It's just when you see people say that socialism has never done anything. I really want to take a child's arm and beat them with it. Oh, my God. Her attention switched to child labor

after witnessing this. But the mills blew off all of Mother Joan's demands. They like it. Frustrated, Mother Joan's decided on another tactic. Quote, I'm going to show Wall Street the flesh and blood from which it squeezes its wealth. Oh, boy. July 7th, over 300 children and adults began to march

to President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home on Long Island from Philadelphia. We strike! It was hot, and many were too tired to march. Locals gave food and lodging as they walked along the coast. In Princeton, New Jersey, Mother Joan was asked to speak on campus. She pointed at a 12-year-old boy, quote,

here's a textbook on economics. He gets $3 a week, and his sister, who is 14, gets $6. They work in a carpet factory 10 hours a day while the children of the rich are getting their higher education. And then she glared at each and every student in the crowd. Which, so 45 minutes later, time to continue speaking.

Wow, that is so great. I mean, I'm also truly like being confronted with that. Like, I wish we could be confronted that. Yeah. Simply today. A week later, the striking kids arrived in New York City. They were greeted by thousands of supporters. The Social Democratic Party offered their headquarters

as a space for them to, you know, stay whatever. Uh-huh, sure. She took the kids to Coney Island, where she put them in cages as like a symbolic... I couldn't find more about this, but I just read that she put them in like metal cages. Careful with the message. Very fine line, actually, caging children.

And then the kids also got taken to the circus. That was nice. Sounds like a really fun strike. Yeah. The kids have been traveling for four weeks now. They were very tired. They walked. They walked from Philadelphia to New York in the heat.

Yeah. Mother Jones took three kids and four union men to President Theodore Roosevelt's Oyster Bay mansion, but they were stopped at the gates and told, quote, the president has nothing to do with child labor. What? Not my issue, lady. Oh, you're thinking of another Roosevelt.

Bulley. The president never responded. He's just got kid, like he's got a lion head on the wall next to like a child's hand. There we are. This is the trophy room. He never responds. And then soon a cold strike in Colorado pulled Mother Jones away

and the children marched back to Philadelphia and went back to work. Can we get a cab? No. They lost, but the mill children strike publicized child labor and pressured politicians to do something, which they didn't do, because it would take another 36 years for the federal government

to ban child labor. Wow. 36 years because America and capitalism are awesome. Yeah. Yeah, between 1905 and 1912, Mother Jones participated in strikes across the country and took jobs with the Socialist Party as a lecturer. But she was getting old and was hospitalized with pneumonia once.

Still, she exaggerated her age even more and now claimed to be. 285,000. She not claimed to be in her 80s when she was still in her 70s. OK. And then she started working at mines and helping children load coal. Uh-huh. That's the right age to start mine.

That's the rest of the 70s. Absolutely, yeah. February 1913, violence broke out during protests in the, I'm going to say this wrong, Kanawa Valley, West Virginia. The governor declared a martial law and sent the state militia to arrest strikers and organizers. So Mother Jones went and she gathered a small group and they marched, or they didn't march,

they got on a train heading for Charleston, hoping to talk to the governor, face him down. Now, a rumor started that she was coming with an army to assassinate the governor and bomb the Capitol building. Well, no, Dave, that's a big rumor. Papers reported it as fact. The Newcastle, Harold, said the strikers would, quote, tear out the heart of the sheriff, kill the governor,

and wipe the militia off the map. Uh-huh, uh-huh. This is just good journalism. When Mother Jones and her miners reached the train station, they were arrested. The Fairmont, West Virginia headline, quote, Mother Jones, aged agitator, kept in a boxcar. Okay.

She was then taken back to Kanawa Valley and jailed. She was charged with conspiracy to murder and had to appear in a military tribunal even though she was a civilian arrested in a civilian area. Okay, so they really bent the rules for this one. They just decided to give her a military trial. Will you wear this? And the beret?

Okay, there you are. Now she refused to recognize the legitimacy of a court marshal. Sure, which is, I mean, that's... That kind of makes sense. Sounds like it's legally right. The Supreme Court rejected that and she was given a 20-year sentence. What?

For conspiracy to murder, which she was never doing. Wow. Can you imagine a miscarriage of justice in America? Not here. She was put into solitary confinement. Oh, there's that fun term again. She said, quote, I can raise justice as much hell in jail as anywhere.

But 22 days later, she was found, quote, lying on a straw tick on the floor carrying a temperature of 104 with very rapid respiration and a constant cough. Mother Jones had pneumonia. So to safe face, the governor secretly had Mother Jones sent to hospital to recover. And then after she was recovered, he was just going to put her back in solitary.

But word got out and the public was furious. People demanded her release and a congressional investigation. Within a week, a congressional committee reached West Virginia and the industrialists were... Just for a second. It's... Can you imagine getting a congressional investigation into an anti-establishment figure's health within a week?

Yeah, I know. I mean, that just doesn't... That's not even on the radar of... That wouldn't happen at all. Possibility. No. And the industrials were under so much pressure that they were forced to negotiate with the union

and the workday was reduced to nine hours. Miners were allowed to buy from stores outside the company town. The miners were allowed to be people. Yeah, that's right. You can be humans. Okay, all right. But still enjoy your fun bucks. But Mother Jones remained in solitary confinement.

She survived a second battle with ammonia and after 85 days, they just let her go. Okay, very, very weird handling of this sentence. When she arrived in New York City, she was met by a mob, quote, shouting, stamping, hand clapping, people threw kisses to the aged agitator and flowers at her feet. She gave interviews to reporters in which she made horribly racist comments.

Okay, okay. Quote, but in calling for unity among American workers, she also made the most blatant racist comment of her long career complaining of both the Japs and the Hindus were entering the country in large numbers and becoming a serious menace to labor in the Western states. It's not a good look. No one's perfect.

It certainly... It's tough. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. She was close. Yeah, yeah. She went right back to work and headed for Colorado to organize strikers in the Colorado Coal War

where she was arrested again, quote, without a warrant or without any suspicion of a crime. You would say... Mother Jones was illegally held in a dungeon-like cell for a month. A letter she wrote, quote, let the nation know that the great United States of America is now holding Mother Jones in Communicado in an underground cell surrounded by rats,

tin horn soldiers, and other vermin. The public flooded the White House with telegrams and again she was released with no charges. She testified before the House Mines and Mining Committee and urged Congress to intervene in Colorado and Congress did absolutely nothing. And as we've talked about in the Ludlow Massacre episode, many men would be killed in that strike

in what would become known as the Ludlow Massacre. After that, people protested across the country and a government report claimed, quote, there was positive danger of a national revolution growing out of this Colorado strike. Now that's scary. Can you imagine the government doing something like killing someone and then saying,

well, they were going to attack somebody? Nope. I can't either. Not recently at least. Mother Jones spoke to President Wilson, but he just offered his sympathies and nothing more. The Union would eventually win in Colorado a few years later. Mother Jones opposed World War I and American involvement

and in 1920 she made a statement opposing the 19th Amendment, quote, I have never had a vote and I have raised hell all over this country. You don't need a vote. You need convictions and a voice. I'm not a suffragist in no sense of the word and my in favor of women's suffrage.

In a long life of study of these questions, I have learned that women are out of place in political work. There already is a great responsibility upon women's shoulders that of rearing rising generations. Home training of the child should be their task and it is the most beautiful of tasks. So here's what I, like I said, I think that she's saying richer women fighting for the vote

while being upset that poor kids are losing their limbs and shit like that. So, but at the same time, yeah, you can do both. Yeah, yeah. You can do both. So, yeah, she's wrong. Yes. She called women's suffrage a middle class movement.

At a dinner honoring her, she said, quote, God Almighty made the woman and the Rockefeller gang of thieves made the ladies for the idle rich woman who parades her finery before the hungry and poverty stricken and is a modern inquisitor turning the thumb screws of envy and despair into the very vitals of those who are in reality, her sisters. Jesus Christ.

I mean, she's very good with a word. Lord. But you know, that's how I feel about, you know, you see Hollywood liberals. Who's the, who's the actress from? Who's the boss? The Judith Light. No, the.

Oh, Alyssa Milano. Alyssa Milano is a great example, I think, today of what she's talking about, which is, you know. Yeah. They're fighting for what matters to them and yet the astounding poverty. Like the fact that you can drive around Los Angeles and there's where we have 70,000 homeless people or more

and then fight for other things. Like there's like this blind spot to horrific poverty that's astounding. The, the, that is, it's very interesting because people who are also liberally minded think that when someone who is a fellow liberal says, you know, says stuff like this is the only issue that matters or some of the rhetoric that comes out.

These are people who have now lost such touch with what actual people go through that they're just like, no, you know, there's, this is, this is the way to do it. And it's like, I have to feed a family. Yeah. Like there's just not room for this sort of thinking in my world there.

It's like every, I don't know why he particularly drives me crazy, but every time Donnie Deutsch talks, I want to. Well, he's fucking awful. He's the worst, but he's also a liberal who has no concept of what's happening, no concept and never has. And people who have never had a concept of what it's like to struggle or need help or just need safety nets there.

People who don't know that feeling, of course, they don't see the matter in that issue at all. It doesn't affect their kids. It doesn't affect their, the world right around them. Yeah. Of course not. So I think, I think that's what she's talking about. And I think, that's what Martin Luther King talked about.

That's what a lot of people. And with what you say about homelessness too, it is when do people become violent thinkers towards homeless versus, and that is something. It's happening. It's happening. The violent. And the reason is because the second that it starts to

make your neighborhood not as great as it was before, you want the problem done. I mean, I, it's like bees. Like everybody, it's like bees. Okay. Everybody, you know, save the bees. Bees are dying. Like I see bees all the time.

You know, you see bees in these like dazed states. Yeah. And you're like, gotta save the bees. The bees are everything. Einstein said, if the bees go away, we die. I had my apartment infested by bees once. He killed them. I mean, you want, you are like, get, I don't care.

Get the bees. I like, I can't live in a hive. You know what I mean? So it's like the second that that, you know, there is. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like the bees. It's like the bees.

Mother Jones wrote an autobiography in 1923 and her timeline events was very off. Historians believe the book cannot be trusted or used as a factual reference. She celebrated her 100th birthday on May 1st, 1930. I mean, who does this? Who lies? Yeah.

She died six months later on November 30th, 1930. And 130th. Probably 93 years old, they think. Okay. Thousands attended her memorial service in DC. She was buried where she wanted to be in Mount Olive, Illinois in the Union Miner Cemetery, where a lot of Miners who have been killed are buried.

She's known for the phrase, pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living. Sources, Mother Jones and the March of the Milt Children by Penny Coleman, Mother Jones, the most dangerous woman in America by Elliot Gorn. The Importance of Mother Jones, Madeleine Horton. The Speeches and Writings of Mother Jones. Well, that's just by Mother Jones.

And then Mother Jones, fierce fighter for Workers' Rights, Judith Pinkerton, Josephson. Judith, I would lose the middle name. Yeah. Yeah. So she's a badass. And yeah. It's the racism stuff is upsetting.

Yes. The suffragist stuff is a bummer. But you know, you gotta, you gotta, there's just some people you gotta go. So she, she did a lot for someone. Yeah. And you can take the good and use the good. Yeah, hopefully.

It is. I mean, as we know, the, the like unions are, it's so important to have. Oh, it turns out without unions, your country turns into a giant fucking shit pile. And again, it is, they are, any time that not gets tied tightly, they are pulling on the thread again.

They is constant. It never ends. Constant, constant, constant battle to make you believe you can trust them and don't need a union. Yep. And that's why people in errors and Amazon warehouses are walking on broken feet.

Yeah. Yes. And you're not allowed to like, I mean, yeah. I mean, there, there is a story that I've contemplated doing, which is about of, I don't remember the name of the company, but it's a factory in, in the South. And it's literally just like people getting

their arms ripped off all the time. And like horrific injuries because there's no union. And of course the government, the local government is not, doesn't give a shit about OSHA regulations. Yeah. And they're letting them do, and it's literally people getting maimed all the fucking time.

Because they need to make $10 an hour. Well, part of this didn't seem comedically fruitful to you. But also, and they are this stuff now that's happening with protest laws and stuff that are starting. I mean, that shit is. They're preparing for climate change.

Yes. And, but it is, you know, don't tell anybody, it's illegal to protest. Is there anything else we wanted to talk about, David? I don't know. Good luck to everyone in Australia. Yes, truly. And there are a lot of great charities to donate to.

Tofop guys have a go for me. Well, and Charlie from Tofop have one. There's the Red Cross. And then the, yeah, like I said, they're the place that I think I'm going to donate to. Kuala. Is, yeah, it's Kuala and like animals, you know, because that shit is.

Turns out the fucking wombats. Well, and it's awful. No, did you hear about the wombats? What? The wombats were, you know, wombats have dens that they hide from fires in. They were running out and guiding other animals into their dens.

Oh my God. That's crazy. Yeah. All right. We have fun in Australia. Thanks. Oh, no, we'll do one more podcast before that. Yeah. Right.

This week. When does this one come out? Tomorrow. All right. Can drop this one tomorrow. Yeah, it's hot. Drop it. All right.

Well, this is, I mean, let's do the regular wrap out. All right, everybody. This has been for Dave Anthony. This is Garrett Reynolds saying, Hey, if you think American history is fucked up, how about we do it nine more times? All right. That's how you follow the podcast on social media.

Thanks so much, everybody. Good night, America.