The Kitchen Table with Lisa and Ari

Recorded on 4th Feb. 2021. It varies by jurisdiction and depending on whom you are talking to. Journalists will often make decisions regarding responsible publishing. Censor not lest ye be censored. Keyboard crusaders, attacking individuals from the comfort of your home, feeling that you have an impact and your work for the day is done. What is social media's role in free speech and censorship? Going after Reddit for hate speech. Protesting rights during lockdown and invasion of Capitol.  Vaccine passports, what's the issue, is it right? Should you have the right to refuse vaccination? How is the government promoting vaccination, are they browbeating the public, is peer pressure overwhelming?

Recorded on 21st January 2021. Hate everything and everyone. There is no hope. Optimistic hopes are always dashed. Kamala Harris is not good example of democracy, she is very unpopular. Why is identity politics so important? Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott. Walled city of the capital. 25,000-30,000 troops on the streets. Without division in America, those at the top wouldn’t be able to stay in power. Analogy of American society using an undiagnosed cancer and a person’s reaction to it. Police and military more likely to support fascist takeover than a socialist one. Wealthy people had their neo-liberal ideology all ready to go after the failure of Keynesianism. Cryptocurrencies. What sort of phenomenon is it? What are you buying? Blockchain is maybe something? Do we need a new gold standard? National governments are spending profligately. Will Bitcoin replace money? Explanation of neo-liberal economics by Lisa. All money is debt. No underlying economy in existence. So much money is around and large investors have nothing to do with it. Keynesian economics is not the solution because it involves constant growth and it’s not possible in the current climate/population. There’s nothing to replace the current system with. People are not naturally selfish. It has not been proven. 

Recorded on, or shortly before, 7th January 2021. American ‘storming of the bastille’, what does it mean? You’d image there would be security at the Capitol? Domestic agenda will be fear of Trump so that no good policies for the people can be enacted. Jimmy Dore was campaigning for democrats to withhold votes for Pelosi to ensure vote on medicare for all. In the end, he was attacked by 'the squad'. Was the US govt. involved in this raid? Trump will stick around and the media will not let him go because he is great for fear and great for ratings. No way through electoral politics to change anything. All the avenues have been closed to us. Are there any ways to change things? Biden can’t be pushed to the left. Corruption is legalised in America, so it’s an ideal platform from which America can criticise others is corruption is illegal in their countries. Why do people like the squad always disappoint? It’s like politics is an actual job, from which you can be fired? There was money for some people in American society, trillions for those at the top. Sanctions also kill millions. How can the government of Britain be criticised when no one is doing well against the coronavirus? Uptake of the vaccine might be low. Public confidence could be hit. If they give the vaccine to the old people, and there is a problem, they won’t be taking up the health service’s resources for long. Magic money tree exists for those at the top.

Recorded on, or slightly before, 23rd December 2020. Christmas alone this year. No deal will mean looser regulations in UK. Won’t things be better in the UK for us if there is deregulation? Won’t we live a very wealthy and excellent life like in Singapore and Switzerland? People can’t choose to not go to work. Will we end up like the US? Supply lines getting too strained, will we have enough food to survive? Will the UK be much better off once we’re outside the EU? None of the candidates stand for changing the status quo. Topics spoken about are always distractions and never the real issues. Bezos could have given every single one of his employees $105,000 and he would still be as rich as he was before the coronavirus pandemic. The more neo-liberal the government, the worse the spread of the coronavirus. Is there anything to be positive about this Christmas? Do you have an optimistic Christmas message? 

Recorded sometime shortly before 13th December 2020. Were the elites to blame for Trump’s victory? How long will stability last? America’s war machine. Corporations don’t pay taxes. No chance for climate change unless end of capitalism. Plan for after Brexit, is there one? Will humans leave the Earth to survive as Hawking suggested?

Recorded sometime shortly before 7th December 2020. Mother and son discussing the COVID-19 Vaccine, US election and Dominic Cummings. Piers Corbyn said MPs should get the vaccine first, should they? Is the coronavirus response an overreaction? Pfizer gets the profits. Is a vaccine necessary are other treatments better? Why is Trump such a hate figure? Difference between fascism of the 20th century and present-day America? Dominic Cummings, what’s up with him?