Episode 55

55: Vax the Filibuster: The Delta Outbreak

Published on: 26th July, 2021

Vax the Filibuster: The Delta Outbreak

(00:00) Intro and T-shirts. Drew Scott joins The Radical Secular team.

(04:32) Pandemic news: Global perspective. The Delta variant outbreak. Many nations have no vaccines. Deaths are soaring worldwide. The decline of the social contract, and the failure of democracies to solve collective action problems through voluntary compliance. Decline in life expectancy in the US. Decline in vaccinations administered since April, and decline in testing.

(28:57) The misinformation infodemic. Parallels to climate change denial. New IPCC report is about to come out. The fallout from America's turn to anti-science. How secularism and science are inseparable. If you're anti-vax, you're not secular.

(35:38) Rand Paul vs. Dr. Anthony Fauci. The undermining of institutions as the central strategy of fascism.

(43:14) The spread of vaccine refusal even before the pandemic. The adoption of anti-vax propaganda by mainstream Republican politicians and media. Without gatekeepers, information has become a direct threat to democracy.

(51:06) When things get bad enough, even Republicans will flip and begin to support vaccines. Recent examples are Alabama governor Kay Ivey, and conservative talk show host Phil Valentine. Valentine is now critically ill and in intensive care, with Covid.

(59:58) The Biden Town Hall.

(01:05:31) Biden and the filibuster. The history of the filibuster. How it works. A century of civil rights and progressive legislation has fallen victim to it. It's one of the most powerful structures in our system holding back justice and equality.

(01:16:05) The Senate itself saddles America with a minority veto, even without the filibuster. This is a relic of our Constitution. Could the filibuster in the hands of democrats potentially be a bulwark against fascism?

(01:23:00) Wrapup and Outro.

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Show notes:

Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant

Viral infection and transmission in a large well-traced outbreak caused by the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant

What to Expect from the Next Major Global Climate Report

California’s epidemic of vaccine denial, mapped

Alabama’s GOP governor says ‘it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks’ for covid-19 spike

Family says conservative radio host has changed his tune on vaccines after he was hospitalized with Covid-19

Filibuster in the United States Senate

6 Times the Filibuster Helped Senators Kill Big Bills

U.S. Senate representation is deeply undemocratic — and cannot be changed