Ep. 31 — Not Me, Us (Part II)

Quote: "It's a heated field." -Otto Pippenger About: A two-part story about a campaign trying to unseat Speaker Nancy Pelosi from her congressional seat leads to a much larger reckoning for the left.

 
 
It’s a heated field.
— Otto Pippenger
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About

The gold brooch Nancy Pelosi placed on her white blazer the night of the State of the Union Address earlier this year was a miniaturized version of the Mace of the United States House of Representatives. The actual Mace is nearly four feet tall and made of silver and ebony.

It represents the authority of the Speaker. It is a symbol.

And for so many years, Speaker Pelosi, in her own right, has been a symbol: one of power, divisiveness, and #resistance.

As she was tearing up a copy of the President’s speech that night, a San Francisco progressive activist named Shahid Buttar was firing off tweets about the shallowness of her performative politics.

He and his team of political misfits have spent months building up a campaign to challenge her seat in Congress. It is a long shot but has been billed as the second most important race to watch in this country.

Shahid is the first serious Democratic contender to Nancy Pelosi in years. Or at least, he was.


Show Notes: 

  1. [00:30] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica

  2. [01:10] “Coulis Coulis” by The Blue Dot Sessions

  3. [03:45] On Senator Amy Klobuchar, sporks combs and salads 

  4. [04:00] “Grizzlies” by Mary Riddle

  5. [04:30] “The second most important race” to watch

  6. [06:30] Full results of San Francisco’s 2020 Primary elections

  7. [06:45] h/t Dorris Burke

  8. [07:30] Follow Jasper Wilde

  9. [08:50] Read Jasper’s 4,300-word essay here

  10. [09:20] “Vik Fenceta” by The Blue Dot Sessions

  11. [10:30] Recent progressive wave in San Francisco

  12. [11:30] Light reading on:

  13. [12:35] “Dusting” by The Blue Dot Sessions

  14. [13:00] Related: AOC’s shoes and sneakers

  15. [17:05] Follow Otto Pippenger

  16. [19:20] A past read on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

  17. [22:10] Liz Croydon’s sexual harrasment allegations against Shahid Buttar

  18. [23:10] Coverage of the allegation:

  19. [23:45] More from The Intercept’s Akela Lacy on the allegations and its impact on the Shahid Buttar campaign

  20. [36:45] “Tarte Tarin” by The Blue Dot Sessions 

  21. [37:15] Gloria Berry’s defense of Shahid Buttar

  22. [42:00] Follow Akela Lacy for more political coverage

  23. [44:30] Amy Klobuchar didn’t eat a salad with a spork, it was actually a comb

  24. [54:20] “Swing That Horn” by Mary Riddle