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Part One:
We speak with Kevin Purdy, part of the team at IFixit.org, about the idea that we should have a “right to repair” everything we own. Mega-corporations like Apple and John Deere install parts that render their products useless if we – the purchasers – try to fix any malfunctions ourselves. Apple disables our phones if we dare to install a new battery ourselves, i.e., if we do not want to pay for an Apple service technician to install an Apple-produced battery. Just because it has a huge advantage in market power, why should a corporation be able to cream extra profits from us any time we need a replacement part? Why can they force us to pay the high cost of “authorized” technicians to do the repair work even if an ordinary consumer might be able to do the work ourselves?
Part Two:
In the wake of Jeffrey Epstein’s death in federal custody, Bob Hennelly is our guest, describing his reporting (from last year!) in the NY Chief-Leader about the dangerous under-staffing at the Metropolitan Correction Center. Guards who have worked excessive amounts of overtime — like those responsible for watching over Epstein and preventing him from harming himself — are not only too exhausted to function competently but they are often in a trance-like haze which clouds their perception and judgment.
This is a larger issue than merely Jeffrey Epstein, as notorious as he was. Prior to his case, numerous minority inmates and minority corrections officers at MCC and other similar jails have had their lives put in jeopardy due to the government’s failure to invest enough resources to enable the system to do what it’s supposed to do. Now that a well-known rich white guy (with a salacious history) has become one of the system’s victims, perhaps the politicians, the media, and the public will pay attention to the chronic, system-wide problems and take action to resolve them.
