Podcast time baby! Don’t forget you can subscribe to the Podcast on Patreon and also find it on all or most of the common podcast apps. You can also add the feed directly to your prefered player by following the instructions at the bottom righthand corner of the audio player.
Also my lovely cohost Dan is a few months into his tattoo apprenticeship at Ideal Americana and you can follow his journey to real deal artisthood and real deal tattooin’ on his Instagram page, @danielfritztattoos. He’s let me in on a few ideas he has for his first real pieces and they’re awesome. Get in on the ground floor.
In this episode we talk about the decertification drive among the nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in all it's flagrantly union-busting glory. Check out my story on the matter in The Intercept if you haven't yet. And we also go over the Board of Health's 3-2 decision to repeal the mask mandate. Unfortunately, we recorded this episode before it came out that Gary Rosen forgot to get sworn in to his BOH decision, a blunder which hilariously casts the decision into question, as he was the deciding vote. Expect a comprehensive post on that situation in the coming days. It might be the most classically Worcester story of all time.
The board is going to meet again on Thursday and the vote is the only thing on the agenda. Imagine having to reconvene a meeting because some guy who’s been in Worcester politics for decades and should know better… and has no public health experience at all… and also coincidentally was acting as a bully whip to get the BOH to support the city manager’s proposal (we talk at length about that in the episode)… you have to take time out of your week and revist a contentious issue because that freakin guy forgot to get sworn in.
Also, while the city maintains that Rosen’s goof-em-up doesn’t affect the Feb. 18 mask mandate lift, I’m not so sure, and I’m far from the only one. More on that in a couple days but one thing that could happen here is the mask mandate has to stay in effect for several months on a technicality. You love to see it.
This episode was recorded on Tuesday but getting published on Sunday because I spent the whole week pretty much down in Pawtucket at Machines With Magnets helping Worcester thrash heroes High Command record their upcoming record. So in honor of that, this week's music is brought to you by the heavy metal rippers themselves. The song's called The Commanders Code, off their first LP, and you can find it on their Bandcamp page.
I played some cello (and celloooo you’ve got a bass) and some synth stuff and ate some sandwiches. Machines With Magnets is a really cool studio and Seth Manchester is a great engineer. Making a record is an insane process. It’s tedious, stressful and boring and it makes two weeks feel like six months but also with all that said it’s one of the more edifying artistic endeavors I’ve been a part of and that’s a pretentious way of saying that it kicks ass. Can’t wait for people to hear it.
Meanwhile Carolyn Jackson over at St. Vincent continues to be a real piece of work.
It’s sort of hard to stress how transparently evil it is that the CEO of the company is trying, well after the resolution of the strike, to destroy union power at the hospital. It’s also hard to fathom how much support and legal firepower she’s getting from shady right wing union busters. This is a story where there is a very clear good guy and a very clear bad guy and the nurses have endured enough. Shame on Carolyn Jackson and here’s to hoping she gets it handed to her when it comes time to tally the votes. She shouldn’t even be involved in the decertification in the first place and if there’s any justice in the world she’ll face legal consequences for her interference in it but we’ll see I guess.
And then there’s the Holden Police Department lol.
Here’s the full text:
This Valentine’s Day weekend is for celebrating the love in your life, but we don’t want you to forget those ex’s that did you wrong either!
Do you have an ex-Valentine and know they have outstanding warrants? Do you have information that they are driving with illegal drugs or weapons in their car? Give us a call with their location and we’ll take care of the rest.
This Valentine’s Day special starts off with a set of limited-edition platinum bracelets, free transportation with a chauffeur, a one-night minimum stay in luxurious accommodations and professional glamour shots that will be posted on online for all to enjoy. This special is capped off with a special Valentine’s dinner. We know this special is so incredible that you may be tempted to provide additional referrals. We don't blame you, but this special is too sweet to pass up!
We are joining police departments nationwide with this Valentine’s special. Our operators are standing by at
Where your head has to be to find any humor in this… just reveling in the prospect of ruining someone’s life. Like it’s some joke to you.
No bars on the cage cuz there’s no way out baby!
Please consider a paid subscription if you like the podcast or any of my posts! It don’t pay much but it’s honest work.
P.S. The new Jackass movie is an absolute cinematic delight and you should go see it!
W.G.B.H. Episode 6: The Expedition Is Getting Desperate