Episode

5/11 CNN’s Trump Town Hall DISASTER; Rural Community Defeats Megapolluter w/ Corban Addison

May 11, 2023

It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She hosts author Corban Addison to discuss his recent book Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country On Trial. First, Emma dives into updates on the indictment of George Santos, Dianne Feinstein’s return, the end of the COVID national emergency, Israel’s continuing genocide against Palestine, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Sen. Bernie Sanders teaming up for a Nakba day, healthcare legislation, and Amazon’s tax breaks, before parsing through the absolute sh*t show that was CNN’s Town Hall with Donald Trump, and the Media’s complete capitulation to his celebrity. Corban Addison then joins as he walks Emma through his story on the real-world legal thriller that was the Mass Action lawsuit against North Carolina’s hog farms, beginning with a discussion of the broader legal avenues this case followed, before stepping back to explore the history of North Carolina’s hog industry, which arose in the 1960s following the Tobacco industry’s collapse as Wendell Murphy, owner of the largest feed mill at the time, took a page out of the book of Tyson’s chicken industry, contracting the floundering NC farms to be packed full of his pigs. Moving forward, Addison dives into the slow but sure monopolization of the region’s industry, culminating in the purchase of Murphy’s Smithfield Foods by the WH Group, the world’s biggest pork manufacturer based out of China, who continued to streamline the production in the US, as China did not allow the same industry tactics that North Carolina saw. Parsing through these practices, Corban and Emma tackle the creation of mass cesspools of hog waste by these corporations, and the complete disregard for the environmental impact or the well-being of their neighbors. After looking at the horrors that came out of this regulatory disaster, Addison wraps up by assessing the compensation in the case, and why, ultimately, the only solution is federal regulation.

And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder, diving into the genuine horror that is Dianne Feinstein’s staff (and Democratic leadership) letting her return to the Senate, Kowalski from Nebraska calls in with his assessment of today’s interview, and Charlie from New Jersey dives into the Mainstream media’s obsession with Donald Trump and their co-dependent relationship with far-right politics. They also tackle the indictment of George Santos, the right-wing response to the Allen, TX shooter citing Tim Pool and LibsofTikTok, and Lucy from Brooklyn dives into the role of NDAs in elite culture, and the despicable and alien behavior of today’s ultra-wealthy, plus, your calls and IMs!

Check out Corban’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/688403/wastelands-by-corban-addison/

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