S10.E08: Farmworkers

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic: Farmworkers

Also: NRA annual convention is not diverse; judicial ban of mifepristone; did you know Action News' Robert Grant has a dairy allergy?

Original air date 2023.04.15

[Annber03]

"We're going to start with abortion, the thing that Republican men love to ban almost as much as they love tp secretly pay for." 

Seriously. 

And how fitting that that segment follows a clip about the NRA convention. Y'know. The organization that the supposedly "pro-life" GOP likes to support. 

The main story tonight was truly wild. People were actually sold. And this was a recent thing. What. The. Fuck? Also, that Manuel asshole should go hang out with the guy who freely threw out the "n" word in that one clip. They'd get on disturbingly well. 

We're not even going to talk about those poor guys who drowned in cow manure, 'cause good lord...

But yeah, sadly, as wild as this stuff was, it also wasn't at all surprising. We've seen how truly "valued" essential workers really are as it is, but add in the fact that they're undocumented on top of everything, well... People rail against undocumented people living here and refuse to treat them like human beings, but boy, they sure will do anything they can to try and keep them around to do the work the rest of us don't want to do. 

I did like that there was some hopeful news on how to tackle these issues, though...and from Florida, of all places! I agree that it shouldn't be on the workers alone to try and solve these problems, but kudos to those who did step up and at least get the ball rolling, and kudos to the other states who've been starting to implement those solutions as well. I hope that does lead to some more significant change on a national scale eventually.

[swanpride]

I was kind of amused about John saying that he had no idea that this is how a field of asparagus looks like...that is pretty much common knowledge in Germany (yeah, we are kind of obsessed with asparagus), except that it doesn't quite look like that since a huge chunk of asparagus sold here is white asparagus, which means it has to be harvested before it breaks through the earth, which in turn means that the farming is even more complicated. And yes, most of the workers aren't Germans, they are from eastern Europe (and usually are only in the country for the harvest). They get a minimum wage, though. And basic worker protection. There is certainly still exploitation, though, because the farmer organisations aren't really interested in acting against those who break the rules.

But as usually, the US wants to be "better", meaning better at exploitation in this case. You can bet that the cases which are known are just the tip of the iceberg. Considering that we are talking about workers who need to be invisible or risk getting deported, as well as workers who are dependent on holding any job, there isn't much incentive to speak up - until someone dies. 

 

[DoctorAtomic]

"We don't have any n* that work here"?!!!!! He said it so casually and matter of fact. 

The game at the end got a lot of groaners from the audience. 

[peeayebee]

Seems like John starts every show with, "It has been a busy week." I guess it's always been a busy week.

Judge Kacsmaryk is a piece of work. A story that John didn't touch on was that back in 2017 before he became a judge he submitted an article to a law review. The article criticized Obama-era protections for transgender people and those seeking abortions. A few months later he emailed an editor at the journal to ask that his name be removed from the article and replaced with two of his colleagues. The thing was, he had been interviewed for the judgeship that Trump ended up nominating him for. Nominees are supposed to provide a list of all their published work. No surprise to see the clip of him saying, "Duh I don't remember saying that duh."

The controversial article Matthew Kacsmaryk did not disclose to the Senate.

BTW, that logo for the frisbee site was very clever.

I thought the montage about that news guy with the dairy allergy was pretty funny and that the news team meant for it to be funny. They were making fun of themselves.

The farmworkers story was infuriating. Some people complain about 'illegals' taking our jobs, but these people don't want those jobs. 

There's a small farm I drive past occasionally that has cute mini houses around the pond. From a distance it's hard to tell how big they are, but I wondered if they were children's playhouses or some kind of guest houses. Now I wonder if they are dwellings for farm workers. Fortunately they look pretty nice.

[sugarbaker design]

Was that Nick Offerman narrating the video at the end?

[peeayebee]

Yes, I caught his name in the credits.

[iMonrey]

I wonder who they get to pose for the mock photos, like "Jeff," the exception to the sexual harassment policy. It can't just be some stock photo they found, do they hire actors for these photos? Or are they staffers on the show?

[peeayebee]

I was wondering the same thing when that photo popped up! I imagine there ARE stock photos like that.

[andromeda331]

Sure Viagra kills more then the birth control pill but amazingly no one is trying to ban that. Gee, I wonder why.

I knew illegal farm workers were being treated horrible but I was shocked by how much worse it was. 

[purist]

I was floored by the farm owner who said the N-word like it was no big thing. I mean, I'm well aware that I live in a left-wing liberal bubble, but I really thought that word wasn't used by white people anymore, except maybe in private by the worst people, or at least with the knowledge that it's a bad word. For that dude, it seemed to be an everyday part of his vocabulary. WTAF?

[Lantern7]

On 4/19/2023 at 2:04 AM, andromeda331 said:

I knew illegal farm workers were being treated horrible but I was shocked by how much worse it was. 

It's So Much Worse would be an apt title for this series. And that's not including those who drowned in cow manure, which . . . how? And why?!?

Grisly episode. I figure the high note was the salute to late Mad Magazine artist Al Jafee during the credits. Child labor, hazardous conditions, horrific living conditions . . . and these are the jobs that immigrants are stealing from Americans?

Stupid question . . . does anyone reading this eat asparagus? I don't think I've ever had that.

[purist]

17 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Stupid question . . . does anyone reading this eat asparagus? I don't think I've ever had that.

All the time. I adore it! I boil green asparagus spears lightly and then roll them in melted butter. Yum!

[ahisma]

25 minutes ago, purist said:

All the time. I adore it! I boil green asparagus spears lightly and then roll them in melted butter. Yum!

I made up some hollandaise last weekend, which is kind of a pain but SO good on asparagus! I love when asparagus is in season.

[peeayebee]

I've had asparagus many times. I could take it or leave it. I've never had white asparagus, but my Polish father used to rave about it.

[possibilities]

I love asparagus. I just cook it and eat it plain.