The Real News Podcast

Click here to read the transcript of this story and see full show notes:On June 22 of this year, workers at a Chipotle location in Augusta, Maine, made history by becoming the first store in the US to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. Then, on Tuesday, July 19, Chipotle announced that it would be permanently closing the Augusta location. While spokespeople for the fast-casual dining giant deny that the closure is related to union organizing activity, workers and their supporters say the drastic move is a clear act of retaliation and "union busting 101." The Chipotle store closure coincides with a broader, aggressive escalation of anti-union actions taken by other employers who have also recently closed stores and production plants where workers were organizing, including multiple Starbucks locations across the US, Heine Brothers' Coffee in Kentucky, Amy's Kitchen in California, and G&D Integrated, LLC, in Illinois. “By closing the Augusta store," Jeffrey Neil Young, a lawyer representing the Chipotle workers, told The New York Times, "it's signaling to Chipotle workers elsewhere who are involved in or contemplating nascent organizational drives that if you organize, you might be out of job.” But workers are refusing to be bullied and silenced by the company, and they are fighting back. In this extended mini-cast, we talk with Brandi McNease, a worker-organizer at the Augusta Chipotle location and a founding member of Chipotle United.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

"Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation's Capital on January 6th, 2021," as the description of Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry's new book, The Flag and the Cross, notes. "And many were bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; "Jesus saves" and "Don't Tread on Me;" Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus' name after storming the Senate chamber. Where some saw a confusing jumble," though, Gorski and Perry "saw a familiar ideology: white Christian nationalism." In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Gorski and Perry about their book, the white identity politics of Christian nationalism, and the deep political roots of today's reactionary Christian right. Philip S. Gorski, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, is a comparative and historical sociologist who writes on religion and politics in early modern and modern Europe and North America. He is the author of numerous books, including American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy Before and After Trump and American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present. Samuel L. Perry, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, is a sociologist of American religion, race, politics, sexuality, and families. He has authored and co-authored numerous books, including Growing God's Family, Addicted to Lust, and Taking America Back for God. Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The venerable Star Trek universe is really the only major pop culture property that can be claimed as certifiably leftist. But how do the newest batch of shows hold up? In a special crossover episode, Lyta Gold of Art for the End Times teams up with a lively panel of fellow podcasters and Trekkies—David Banks and Britney Gil (Iron Weeds), Leslie Lee III (Struggle Session), and Aaron Thorpe (Trillbilly Workers Party, Struggle Session, and Everybody Loves Communism)—to discuss the most recent Star Trek show to hit the airwaves, Strange New Worlds. Drawing on decades of collective Trekkie experience, they debate Paramount's increasingly cynical approach to making Trek, and how the whole series succeeds (or fails) in imagining fully automated luxury space communism while still being created by capitalists.Post-Production: Dwayne GladdenHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript and see full show notes for this episode: https://therealnews.com/the-new-lavender-scare-is-an-attack-on-the-working-classThings are getting very dark in this country, and it's likely going to get worse before it gets better. At every turn—as collective society breaks down, as the ruling class continues to rob us blind, as humanity barrels towards climate catastrophe—working people are being encouraged to turn on each other and to see certain groups of their fellow workers as the enemy. From the demonization and increasingly violent attacks against LGBTQIA+ people, to an extremist-dominated Supreme Court preparing to strip away queer people's right to marry, to legislatures around the country working to eliminate trans people's right to exist, we must respond to these assaults on our neighbors and coworkers with the same spirit of solidarity that gives life to labor's eternal message: an injury to one is an injury to all. In this special and urgent episode, we speak with Gabbi Pierce and Martha Grevatt about how far the labor movement has come in defending the rights of LGBTQIA+ workers, how far we still have to go, and what role the labor movement can and must play in fighting for dignity and equality for all.Gabbi Pierce is an organizer with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), co-chair of Pride at Work—Twin Cities, and she is the first transgender person to serve on the Minnesota AFL-CIO General Board. Martha Grevatt is a retired autoworker and member of the United Auto Workers (UAW); she formerly served as Executive Board member for UAW Locals 122 and 869 and was a founding member of Pride at Work. Pre-production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/from-haiti-to-minneapolis-anti-colonial-resistance-catches-white-supremacy-by-surpriseResistance is everywhere, but everywhere a surprise, especially when the agents of struggle are the colonized, the enslaved, the wretched of the earth. Anticolonial revolts and slave rebellions have often been described by those in power as “eruptions”—volcanic shocks to a system that does not, cannot, see them coming. In his new book, Anticolonial Eruptions: Racial Hubris and the Cunning of Resistance, Geo Maher diagnoses a paradoxical weakness built right into the foundations of white supremacist power, a colonial blind spot that grows as domination seems more complete. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez interviews Maher about his book and what understanding the dynamics of anticolonial eruptions, past and present, can tell us about the historical moment we're in and the task ahead of us.Geo Maher is an organizer, writer, radical political theorist, co-editor of the Duke University Press series Radical Américas, and Visiting Associate Professor at Vassar College. He is the author of numerous books, including We Created Chávez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution; Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela; Decolonizing Dialectics; A World Without Police; and Anticolonial Eruptions: Racial Hubris and the Cunning of Resistance.Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/mutulu-shakur-former-black-liberation-army-member-denied-compassionate-release-despite-terminal-cancer-diagnosisAfter 36 years behind bars as a political prisoner, Mutulu Shakur is on his deathbed. The movement elder, radical healer, and former member of the Black Liberation Army was diagnosed with stage 3 bone marrow cancer in June of this year. Despite qualifying for compassionate release and having been eligible for parole since 2016, prison and federal authorities have refused to grant Shakur his freedom. With time running out, activists gathered at the Department of Justice on the weekend of July 23 to demand Shakur's release. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa reports from the rally to free Mutulu Shakur.Born in Baltimore and raised in Queens, Mutulu Shakur first became politically active in the 1960s as a member of the Revolutionary Action Movement and Republic of New Afrika. In 1970, Shakur helped found the People's Drug Program at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx alongside the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords. As the husband of Afemi Shakur, Mutulu Shakur was the stepfather of Tupac Shakur. He was convicted in 1988 for his role in the prison escape of Assata Shakur, as well as for his part in the 1981 Black Liberation Army robbery of a Brink's armored car in Nanuet, New York, which resulted in the deaths of two police officers and a security guard.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/inside-airport-workers-fight-for-dignity-and-livable-wagesAirport workers have been on the front lines of the pandemic and the labor struggle in recent years. In Florida, for instance, workers in Tampa, Orlando, Miami and beyond have staged multiple actions over the past year to demand a living wage. Many airport workers in Florida earn as little as $7 an hour, tips included. Now, a new bill, the Good Jobs for Airports Act, could establish national wage and benefits standards for airport workers. To learn more about airport workers' ongoing fight for dignity and higher wages, freelance journalist and new TRNN contributor McKenna Schueler talks with Scottie Walker, a cabin cleaner at Tampa International Airport and a member of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/mainstream-media-says-copwatchers-are-a-menace-heres-why-theyre-wrongIn this live conversation and Q&A, Police Accountability Report hosts Taya Graham and Stephen Janis discuss a recent win to protect the right to record police in the second highest court in the land. Guest Abade Irizarry (aka Liberty Freak) joins the stream to discuss the cop watching incident that started his quest and how the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment must be fought for.If you have evidence of police misconduct or brutality, or if you have a question for Taya or and Stephen, please share it with us and we might be able to investigate for you. You can email us tips privately at par@therealnews.com, message us at Police Accountability Report on Facebook or Instagram, or @eyesonpolice on Twitter.Pre-Production: Stephen Janis, Taya Graham, Studio: Jocelyn DombroskiHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/police-used-this-dangerous-restraint-during-a-fatal-arrest-so-why-isnt-anyone-talking-about-itThe death of Christopher Robert Hensley in the custody of Fletcher, North Carolina, police is raising new questions about the use of deadly restraint by law enforcement. In this episode of Police Accountability Report, Taya Graham and Stephen Janis talk to independent pathologist Cyril Wecht, who reviewed footage of the arrest, to shed light on the circumstances surrounding Hensley's death. We ask questions of North Carolina law enforcement officials to learn why cops are still using a tactic that has been widely recognized as both dangerous and deadly.Pre-Production/Studio: Stephen JanisPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript and see show notes for this podcast: https://therealnews.com/uk-rail-workers-prepare-for-second-round-of-strikesLast month, roughly 40,000 UK rail workers with the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) went on strike for three days, bringing major portions of the British rail system to a halt in a historic show of collective strength. This week, after receiving a contract offer from state-owned Network Rail that union leaders described as "paltry," the RMT announced that workers at Network Rail and the train operating companies will engage in another day of strike action on Wednesday, July 27. With these strikes, and in the ongoing negotiations, workers are fighting for livable wages at a time when the cost of living is spiraling out of control and corporate executives and shareholders are stuffing their pockets with cash. As Adam Bychawski writes, "Train companies paid out nearly £800m to shareholders last year before telling rail unions that employees must take a real-terms pay cut for them to stay afloat." But workers are fighting for much more; they are fighting against years of austerity policies and corporate profit-generating schemes that have led to deteriorating working conditions and quality of service on the rails; they are fighting against further job losses for the sake of "modernization"'; and they are fighting for better, safer, more accessible, and well-staffed rail services for the people who depend on them.In this special panel episode, we speak with four rail workers and RMT members/officers—Mel Mullings, Clayton Clive, Cat Cray, and Gaz Jackson—about the strike and the importance of workers around the world standing in solidarity with strikers.Help us make our coverage of international labor stories even better by taking this quick, 90-second survey: https://therealnews.com/workers-of-the-world-90-second-audience-survey?article_url=https://therealnews.com/uk-rail-workers-prepare-for-second-round-of-strikes-podcastHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: Marilynne Robinson established herself through some of the most biting critiques of neoliberalism written in her time. Since being identified as Obama's "favorite novelist," she's taken political positions more aligned with the powerful than her readers might have once thought possible. Nevertheless, the searing insight and aesthetic magnificence of Robinson's ornate prose can't be denied. Phil Christman, author of How to be Normal, joins Lyta Gold on this episode of Art for the End Times to discuss Robinson's oeuvre, its impact on his own writing, and what the left can still recover from her work.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/virginia-revokes-early-release-for-inmates-with-good-behaviorLawmakers in Virginia have approved a draconian budget measure from Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin that takes aim at inmates' eligibility for early release. The new law prevents so-called “violent offenders” from applying credits earned for good behavior towards their early release. Even inmates who have already earned early release are being affected, with some families learning at the eleventh hour that their loved ones will no longer be allowed to come home. Prison reform activist Chari Baker, whose spouse is also incarcerated, recently confronted Governor Youngkin over his cruel decision to prolong the separation of families on the verge of being reunited. Baker joins Rattling the Bars co-host Mansa Musa to discuss the new Virginia law and what advocates, families, and incarcerated people are doing to fight back.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: Last week, after months of tortured talks and compromises from Democrats to pass legislation that their extremist colleague and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin would approve, Manchin still blew up all hopes for Congress and President Biden to meaningfully address the climate crisis. Meanwhile, Biden's budget priorities continue to focus on throwing good money after bad into the military, even exceeding the amounts that the Pentagon requested. From 2022 to 20223, as Lindsay Koshgarian has pointed out, the amount of money added to the military budget could cover most of the cost of Biden's Build Back Better package. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Koshgarian about Democrats' self-destructive addiction to pumping cash into the military-industrial complex while failing to address the issues that matter most to voters.Lindsay Koshgarian is the Program Director of the National Priorities Project, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies, where she analyzes the federal budget process and politics, military spending, and specifically how federal budget choices for different spending priorities and taxation interact.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/starbucks-and-other-companies-escalate-war-on-unions-with-store-closuresThe union wave is hitting coffee chains big and small, but the bosses aren't going down without a fight. In June, after workers there voted overwhelmingly to unionize, Starbucks permanently closed the popular College Ave. location in Ithaca, New York, in a suspected act of retaliation, leaving workers in dire financial straits. Then, on July 11, Starbucks announced it would close 16 of its branches over alleged “safety concerns.” Workers and organizers have been quick to point out that two of the branches targeted for closure in Seattle also recently unionized, and they allege that Starbucks is breaching US labor laws. Meanwhile, in Louisville, Kentucky, local “progressive” coffee chain Heine Brothers' Coffee has come under fire for its own response to employees' efforts to unionize, including closing the Douglass Loop location, where some of the most vocal pro-union workers were employed. In an urgent panel discussion, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with worker-organizers from the closed Heine Brothers' store in Louisville and the closed College Ave. Starbucks in Ithaca: Gami Ray, a barista and worker-organizer with the Heine Brothers' Workers Union, and Bek, a shift supervisor and worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast:Voter suppression has been on the rise throughout the country for years, but there are other ways to keep the nation's working poor from the ballot box. The daily grind of surviving poverty itself can shut potential voters from participating in elections. In Georgia, activists were forced to confront this reality while canvassing for the 2020 elections—and still managed to flip the state and achieve record voter turnout. As part of our ongoing series about grassroots efforts to fight voter suppression ahead of the 2022 midterms, The Real News Network journalist Jaisal Noor speaks to community organizer Auburn Wideman of the group Song Power about how they helped flip Georgia blue through mutual aid and ensuring their members had their basic needs met.This story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

To read the transcript of this podcast and see full show notes, visit: We wish everyone could have been in Chicago for the Labor Notes 2022 conference! But for those who couldn't make it, we convened this comradely panel with some fan-favorite guests of the Working People podcast—Tevita 'Uhatafe, McKenna Schueler, and Jacob Morrison—to share our thoughts and reflections on the gathering, and to talk about the lessons and strategies we're taking from Labor Notes and applying in our daily lives.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/how-to-make-sure-you-go-home-and-not-to-jail-a-civil-rights-attorney-shares-the-ugly-truthEditor's Note: During the introduction to this podcast, we incorrectly stated the Loveland, Colorado, police department has 19 sworn officers. That was an error: the police department in Loveland, Ohio, has 19 sworn officers; the police department in Loveland, Colorado, has 95 sworn officers. We apologize for the error.The small town of Loveland, Colorado, has found itself in the national spotlight due to the wanton brutality and corruption of its police department. In June 2020, Loveland police violently arrested Karen Garner, a 73-year-old woman with dementia. Garner suffered a broken arm and dislocated shoulder. Later, footage revealed Loveland officers laughing as they reviewed the video of Garner's arrest. This spring, another victim of the Loveland Police Department, Harris Elias, filed a lawsuit alleging he had been unlawfully arrested on DUI charges despite being "completely sober." These and other cases demonstrate a pattern of disturbing practices within the department that incentivize brutality and lawbreaking, including a monthly quota of DUI arrests that officers try to meet by any means necessary. In this special podcast edition of the Police Accountability Report, civil rights attorney Sarah Schielke joins Taya Graham to explore just how deep the corruption goes in Loveland and to discuss the ongoing fight to hold Loveland police accountable.Help us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/roe-v-wade-is-gone-a-wave-of-criminalization-is-comingThe recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case achieved something the right has pursued for decades—overturning Roe v. Wade. From legislation recognizing "fetal personhood" in Georgia and Alabama to a new Louisiana law that outlaws sending abortion pills in the mail, state legislatures are wasting no time finding new ways to criminalize and surveil abortion. In an age of Big Data and digital surveillance, the coming crackdown could lead to a future even bleaker than the days before Roe v. Wade. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Katha Pollitt, a columnist for The Nation, lays out just what our new reality means for reproductive rights in the United States.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Since 2013, Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and host of The Chris Hedges Report, has taught college courses in drama, literature, philosophy, and history at East Jersey State Prison (aka “Rahway”) and other New Jersey prisons. In one such course, after reading plays by Amiri Baraka and August Wilson, among others, Hedges' students wrote a play of their own. The play, Caged, would eventually be published and performed at The Passage Theatre in Trenton, New Jersey, for a month-long run in 2018 to sold-out audiences. In his latest book, Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison, Hedges chronicles the journey he and his class embarked on together. Joining Mansa Musa on Rattling the Bars, Hedges speaks about his book and the transformations he witnessed among the men he taught behind prison walls.Chris Hedges is the former Middle East bureau chief of The New York Times, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and a columnist at ScheerPost. He formerly hosted the program Days of Revolt, produced by TRNN, and currently hosts The Chris Hedges Report. Hedges is the author of several books, including America: The Farewell Tour; American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, and Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/chris-hedges-on-trauma-and-teaching-writing-in-prisonPre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The story of an El Paso family's terrifying encounter with police shows just how treacherous it can be when we point our cameras at law enforcement. PAR speaks to members of the family, who were doing just that when cops decided to arrest them during a violent raid on their home. We dig deep into police records and examine video evidence that reveals how law enforcement can still retaliate when cameras are pointed at them.Read the transcript of this episode: https://therealnews.com/they-filmed-cops-on-their-own-property-police-raided-their-homePre-Production/Studio: Stephen JanisPost-Production: Dwayne GladdenHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The Amazon Labor Union victory at the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island was historic, but right now, as we speak, Amazon is currently in court trying to throw out the results of that election, and pro-union worker-organizers keep getting fired. One of those workers is Alicia Johnson, who, as Luigi Morris writes, is "a 56-year-old Black immigrant who lives in the deep Bronx and worked at JFK8 as a Picker Packer. Her commute to work took more than two and a half hours." After Johnson exercised her right to request accommodation from Amazon that would allow her to keep working with an injured leg, she was fired in a suspected act of retaliation. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks to Johnson about her time working at Amazon, why she supports the union, and about the Kafkaesque nightmare she's faced trying to secure the unemployment benefits she's entitled to.To read the transcript of this episode and read show notes, visit: Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The prison-industrial complex has many ways of turning the incarceration of human beings into a profitable business model. In New York state, new regulations targeting care packages for prisoners show this logic at work. Friends and families of incarcerated people can no longer send packages containing food to those inside, and are now limited to sending two “non-food packages” a year, purchased from pre-approved, third-party vendors. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa interviews writer Molly Hagan about this draconian new policy and her recent report for The Appeal, “New York's Prison Package Ban Places New Burdens on the Incarcerated.”Molly Hagan is a writer based in New York City, who has taught creative writing at the Women's Prison Association.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/new-york-prisons-ban-care-packages-containing-foodPre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The Loveland, Colorado, Police Department has made national headlines for brutality and overreach. But a new case involving the disturbing arrest of an entire family is raising more questions about what local officials are doing—if anything—to rein in the agency. PAR takes a deep dive into the details of a lawsuit filed against Loveland police, and speaks to a local civil rights attorney who is fighting for change in a town that seems incapable of embracing it.Read the transcript of this episode: https://therealnews.com/a-father-tried-to-protect-his-daughter-then-cops-attacked-him-and-his-dogPre-Production/Studio: Stephen JanisPost-Production: Dwayne GladdenHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Love is rarely simple, and love on the high seas is no exception. The HBO Max show Our Flag Means Death brings something fresh to television we didn't know we needed until we saw it: queer pirate love. Created by David Jenkins and starring Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi, this romantic comedy series brings the right mix of humor, humanity, and heartthrob to light up our dark days. In this episode of Art for the End Times, Lyta sits down with Allegra Silcox and Adrian Rennix to discuss the show's surprising tenderness—and to butcher the New Zealand accent.Read the transcript of this podcast: Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Dwayne GladdenHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

America's electoral system is broken. From partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression to an Electoral College that sidelines the popular vote, it should surprise no one that a majority of Americans don't believe they live in a democracy. As the January 6 hearings play out in Congress, some argue that the attempted coup on that fateful day was only made possible by the fact that the American political system subverts meaningful democratic participation. How can progressives organize in the face of such widespread voter apathy and systemic barriers preventing so many from exercising their most fundamental democratic right? TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez chats with former TRNN senior reporter Jaisal Noor, who's spent the past few months reporting on grassroots get-out-the-vote campaigns from rural Georgia to Nevada.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-americas-broken-electoral-system-made-the-jan-6-insurrection-possiblePre-Production/Studio: Jaisal Noor, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Native Americans overcame multiple challenges to turn out in record numbers during the 2020 elections, playing a crucial role in Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump. One of those challenges: many Native reservations lack their own polling sites, forcing residents to sometimes travel hours to cast a ballot. As part of our series “Defending Democracy in the 2022 Midterm Elections,” TRNN's Jaisal Noor and Carly Sauvageau speak with leaders of the Walker River Paiute and Pyramid Lake Paiute, two tribes that successfully sued Nevada for the right to get polling sites on their reservations, which played a key role in Native organizers' efforts to mobilize and empower their community.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-native-organizers-won-voting-access-and-reached-record-turnout-in-2020Pre-Production/Studio: Jaisal NoorPost-Production: Jaisal Noor, Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Georgians went to the polls in record numbers during the May 24 primary ahead of the crucial 2022 midterm elections, despite renewed GOP efforts to suppress the votes of the state's communities of color. Passed in the wake of the 2020 elections, inspired in large part by former President Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, Georgia's SB 202 (the Election Integrity Act of 2021) is perhaps the most egregious example of Republicans' nationwide efforts to roll back voting rights through a flurry of restrictive voting laws. Such laws disproportionately impact people in low-income communities and communities of color, and they are being passed at a moment when the power of communities of color to shape election outcomes is rapidly increasing. Case in point: Georgia's Latinx community has grown by 30% over the past decade and now comprises 10% of the state's population. In this on-the-ground report for our special series “Defending Democracy in the 2022 Midterm Elections,” TRNN's Jaisal Noor and Jeffrey Moustache speak with organizers from the Georgia Alliance of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), an advocacy group that helps Latinx voters unlock their political power, about how they are working to “out-organize voter suppression” by mobilizing and empowering the state's Latinx community.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-georgias-latinx-community-is-working-to-out-organize-voter-suppressionPre-Production/Studio: Jaisal Noor, Jeffrey MoustachePost-Production: Jaisal Noor, Jeffrey Moustache, Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

In rural North Carolina, dog-whistle politics focused on scapegoating minorities for social and economic problems have long fueled racial resentment but have done little to address high poverty rates and rising inequality, says Alicia Walker-Patterson. This is why Walker-Patterson, deputy field director of Down Home North Carolina, works with other grassroots organizers to get residents in rural areas engaged in the political process and to show them that their voices matter. Since 2016, these progressive activists have organized areas like Alamance County and other parts of deep-red, rural North Carolina that have long been ignored by the Democratic Party. However, just going door to door and asking voters to support their cause doesn't make much of a difference, and that is why Down Home relies on deep canvassing, a strategic approach to canvassing that draws on active listening and asking non-judgmental questions to spark deep, meaningful conversations.In this on-the-ground report for our special series “Defending Democracy in the 2022 Midterm Elections,” TRNN's Jaisal Noor and Joshua Komer speak with members of Down Home North Carolina about how they are working to build working-class, grassroots power one voter at a time.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-organizers-in-rural-north-carolina-are-bridging-racial-and-class-dividesPre-Production/Studio: Jaisal Noor, Joshua KomerPost-Production: Jaisal Noor, Joshua Komer, Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

We all know that, even before the horrific, world-changing event of COVID-19, society would fall apart without hospital workers and medical staff. But like so many other fields and sectors of work, the medical field is a very stratified one. Even though we as patients may not see it, many of the folks who make hospitals and medical facilities run are overworked, understaffed, under-protected, and paid way less than we're led to believe. This was made painfully clear last month when frontline physicians at LA County hospitals voted overwhelmingly in favor of striking over unfair labor practices. After voting to authorize a strike, LA County members of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU), a local of the Service Employees International Union, won historic contract gains, including major increases in salaries and housing stipends, the creation of a $125,000 fund for diverse recruitment efforts, and more. To talk about all of this and more, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez chats with Dr. Frances Gill, a first-year resident physician at LAC/USC Medical Center who is training to be a psychiatrist.To read the transcript of this episode and read show notes, visit: Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Breathless media coverage of a purported ‘crime wave' is galvanizing the right and prompting reactionary calls for expanding policing and the prison-industrial complex. Already, just two years after the historic nationwide protests in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, the pendulum has swung violently in the opposite direction, as exemplified in the right's lionization of Kyle Rittenhouse, the recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and "centrist" Democrats' calls to "refund the police." At the same time, the failures of police in Uvalde, Texas, to protect the lives of innocent children poses serious questions about how effectively police actually prevent violence. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, New York City public defender Olayemi Olurin unpacks the relationship between white supremacy, the police, and the systematized cruelty of American society.Olayemi Olurin is a public defender and staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society and an analyst at the Law & Crime Network and The Hill's Rising.Read the transcript of this podcast: Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankTune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Education is one of the few rehabilitative options available to incarcerated people, yet all across America prisoners are prevented from pursuing their education. “Atiba” Demetrius Brown, for instance, has been dedicated to improving himself and his post-incarceration prospects by taking correspondence courses while incarcerated in Maryland, but thanks to a draconian new decree by the Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services (DPSCS), Atiba can't take his exams. In this installment of Rattling the Bars, Victor Wallis joins Mansa Musa to discuss the case of “Atiba” Demetrius Brown and the calculated cruelty of the prison-industrial complex.Victor Wallis is a professor in the Liberal Arts Department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has been involved in prisoner support activities since the 1970s in Indiana, and he is the author of numerous books, including Democracy Denied: Five Lectures on US Politics, which has been used in prison education projects.To contact “Atiba” Demetrius Brown:Demetrius Brown #401226sid #2642892MCTC18800 Roxbury Rd.Hagerstown, MD 21746Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoRead the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/how-maryland-is-preventing-prisoners-from-getting-college-degreesHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding failure at every level of government to prevent its spread dealt a devastating blow to healthcare workers. Nurses, doctors, and other medical workers faced increasingly dangerous conditions, along with employers more concerned with increasing profits than saving the lives of their patients or employees. At St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, nurses fought back against their corporate employer by organizing a strike of over 700 workers that lasted for 10 months. Filmed by TRNN contributor Gino Canella, these interviews with St. Vincent nurses comprise an oral history of a ferocious labor battle that became the longest nurses' strike in Massachusetts state history.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/an-oral-history-of-the-10-month-st-vincent-hospital-strikePre-Production/Studio: Gino CanellaPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

From Dollar General and Dollar Tree to Family Dollar, dollar stores are spreading rapidly throughout Louisiana and across the country, often strategically located in low-income communities and “food deserts.” But dollar store workers notoriously have to endure low pay, understaffing, and hazardous working conditions; some workers report frequently working alone in stores and having their air conditioning controlled from corporate headquarters in another state. That's why Step Up Louisiana, "a community based organization committed to building power to win education and economic justice for all," is organizing employees, customers, and community members to fight for safer stores and better pay and working conditions for dollar store workers. In this episode, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Kenya Slaughter, who has been an organizer and frontline worker at Dollar General for a number of years, and Curtis Williams, a dollar store customer who has gotten involved in Step Up Louisiana's campaign.To read the transcript of this episode and read show notes, visit: https://therealnews.com/louisiana-dollar-store-workers-cant-control-air-conditioning-in-their-own-storesFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/the-right-won-by-playing-the-long-game-what-is-the-lefts-response“It took most of us far too long to fully comprehend that Trump's presidency represented a qualitative uptick in the determination and capacity of the right to impose minority rule,” Linda Burnham, Max Elbaum, and Maria Poblet write in the introductory essay to their co-edited book Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections. “Forty years of Republican anti-tax, anti-regulatory, anti-government ideology and governance; backlash against the election of the nation's first Black president; fear of demographic change; the growth of a far-right, all-encompassing media environment; and long-standing, deeply rooted patterns of white and Christian supremacy set the stage for his election.” Now, as a conservative-dominated Supreme Court is poised to launch a legalistic assault on civil rights and Republicans continue to undermine the democratic process around the country, the right is reaping the gains it has sought and fought for over the course of generations. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Burnham and Elbaum about how the right's long-term strategy paid off and how the contributions compiled in their new book chart a path for the left to fight back.Linda Burnham served as national research director and senior advisor at the National Domestic Workers Alliance for nearly a decade and co-authored, with Nik Theodore, Home Economics: The Invisible and Unregulated World of Domestic Work. She was a leader in the Third World Women's Alliance in the 1970s, and co-founded, with Miriam Ching Louie, the Women of Color Resource Center, serving as the organization's executive director for 18 years. Max Elbaum has been involved in peace, anti-racist, and radical movements since joining Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s. The third edition of his book about the US revolutionary efforts that emerged from the 1960s upsurge, Revolution in the Air, was released in 2018 by Verso Books. He is currently on the editorial board of Convergence (formerly Organizing Upgrade).Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen Frank

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/how-native-organizers-won-voting-access-and-reached-record-turnout-in-2020Native Americans overcame multiple challenges to turn out in record numbers during the 2020 elections, playing a crucial role in Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump. One of those challenges: many Native reservations lack their own polling sites, forcing residents to sometimes travel hours to cast a ballot. As part of our series “Defending Democracy in the 2022 Midterm Elections,” TRNN's Jaisal Noor and Carly Sauvageau speak with leaders of the Walker River Paiute and Pyramid Lake Paiute, two tribes that successfully sued Nevada for the right to get polling sites on their reservations, which played a key role in Native organizers' efforts to mobilize and empower their community.This story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: The best-selling and (mostly) critically acclaimed Irish novelist Sally Rooney has sometimes come under fire for not—despite her professed personal left-leaning politics—writing “Marxist” novels. But what does a Marxist novel look like? Is the novel form itself inherently bourgeois? In this episode of Art for the End Times, Lyta Gold sits down with writer and McGill University PhD candidate Richard Joseph to discuss Rooneymania, love stories, the limitations of the realist novel, and what exactly we are asking of writers when we ask them to tell “Marxist” stories.Richard Joseph, LA Review of Books, "Everyone's a Critic": https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/everyones-a-critic/Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Brent Tomchik

In this urgent episode of Working People, we get an update on Starbucks' escalating retaliation against pro-union workers and Starbucks Workers United. As Rina Torchinsky writes for NPR, "Starbucks is closing a store in Ithaca, NY, in what Starbucks union organizers are calling an illegal move of retaliation after workers at the location voted to unionize. The coffee giant gave the employees at the College Ave. location near Cornell University a one-week notice of the closure, the union says, with the store slated to permanently close on June 10. The coffee giant has said the decision to close the store was unrelated to the unionization effort.” In this mini-cast, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with Nadia Vitek, a partner at the College Ave. location and a worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United, about the sudden decision to close the store and the mounting evidence that this is an illegal act of retaliation meant to send a chilling message to pro-union workers around the country.To read the transcript of this episode and read show notes, visit: Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this episode:In the richest country in the world, poor and low-income people are disproportionately harmed by everything from economic inequality and climate change to COVID-19 and gun violence, yet they are disproportionately excluded from the process of addressing any of these crises. That is why, on June 18, tens of thousands from around the country are expected to descend on Washington, DC, for the Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls, organized by the Poor People's Campaign. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc is joined once again by Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis of the Poor People's Campaign to discuss this historic march on Washington and the need to channel the pain, anger, and struggles of the nation's poor into a powerful force that can drive systemic political and economic change.Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis is co-director of the Kairos Center, as well as a founder and coordinator of the Poverty Initiative. She is co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, and author of Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said about the Poor. She is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a biblical scholar in New Testament and Christian origins.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Adam ColeyPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

“At least 40% of people incarcerated in American women's prisons identify somewhere under the broad lesbian-bisexual-trans-queer umbrella—a shocking statistic that holds true when looking at detention centers for youths as well,” historian Hugh Ryan recently wrote in The Washington Post. “As women's incarceration skyrockets in America—increasing 700% in just the past 40 years—naming and dealing with the homophobia and transphobia at its root is crucial to understanding this phenomenon and unraveling it.” In this edition of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Ryan about why so many LGBTQ people are incarcerated today and how sexism, homophobia, and transphobia became baked-in features of our modern prison-industrial complex.Hugh Ryan is a New York-based historian, curator, and author of The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison and When Brooklyn Was Queer.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoRead the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/why-are-so-many-lgbtq-people-incarcerated-in-the-usHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The story of one Minnesota couple's ongoing problems with police provides a pointed example of the systematic overpolicing of rural communities across the country. In this episode of the Police Accountability Report, hosts Taya Graham and Stephen Janis describe the couple's most recent encounter with cops, then they provide updates on a number of previous investigations into police overreach that they are committed to following.Read the transcript of this episode: https://therealnews.com/a-cop-pulled-them-over-for-a-minor-infraction-then-the-encounter-took-a-bizarre-turnPre-Production/Studio: Stephen JanisPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world for the past two years, but there's a potentially deadlier threat creeping across the globe right now that hardly anyone is talking about. According to a recent report in the medical journal The Lancet, drug-resistant bacterial infections were linked to five million deaths worldwide in 2019. According to a UK government study, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could kill ten million people annually by the year 2050. Moreover, as with COVID-19, drug-resistant bacterial infections aren't equitable, and poor and marginalized populations are the hardest hit, both in North America and around the globe. TRNN correspondent David Kattenburg speaks with Dr. Shira Doron and Dr. Tomislav Meštrović about the growing AMR crisis, why it has garnered so little public attention, and what can be done to address it.Dr. Shira Doron is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University and the Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Tufts Medical Center. In 2021, Dr. Doron co-authored a letter to the journal Nature Medicine entitled “Antibiotic Resistance: A Call to Action to Prevent the Next Epidemic of Inequality.” Dr. Tomislav Meštrović is a medical doctor and clinical microbiologist, and an associate professor at University North in Croatia. He's also a scholar at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/like-covid-a-crisis-of-drug-resistant-bacterial-infections-is-hurting-the-poor-and-marginalized-mostPre-Production/Studio: David KattenburgPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The world is in a bleak state right now, and every day it feels a little more certain that the elite power brokers who control our society are not going to do anything to make things better. But giving up on the possibility of a better world and giving in to hopelessness and despair is not an option; if we're going to get out of this mess, we have to fight.In her new acclaimed book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, journalist and organizer Kim Kelly writes about working people who faced similarly impossible odds throughout US history but refused to accept the status quo and fought to change their circumstances. From freed Black washerwomen in the Reconstruction-era South to Jewish immigrant garment workers in early 20th-century New York, to incarcerated workers, sex workers, and disabled workers fighting to have their rights and humanity recognized, Fight Like Hell reminds readers today that working people's struggle for justice, equality, and dignity is just that—a struggle. In this special discussion, hosted by Red Emma's, a worker cooperative bookstore, cafe, and community events space in Baltimore, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Kelly about writing the history of that struggle and about the people who are carrying that struggle forward today.Kim Kelly is a freelance journalist and organizer based in Philadelphia. Her work on labor, class, politics, and culture has appeared in a wide range of outlets, including Teen Vogue, The New Republic, The Washington Post, The Baffler, Esquire, and The Real News Network. She is the author of the acclaimed book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor.The recording of this talk was produced in partnership with Red Emma's in Baltimore, a worker-owned restaurant, bookstore, and social center, co-founded by our Executive Director John Duda.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/kim-kelly-workers-make-history-and-so-can-youPre-Production/Studio: Phil GlaserPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

As Wendy Sawyer and Wanda Bertram recently wrote for the Prison Policy Initiative, “Over half (58%) of all women in US prisons are mothers, as are 80% of women in jails, including many who are incarcerated awaiting trial simply because they can't afford bail… And these numbers don't cover the many women preparing to become mothers while locked up this year: An estimated 58,000 people every year are pregnant when they enter local jails or prisons.” In this edition of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Debra Bennett-Austin of Change Comes Now about the shocking number of incarcerated mothers in the US today, the barriers keeping incarcerated mothers from staying connected with their families, and the irreparable damage those severed connections cause for everyone involved.Debra Bennet-Austin is the president and co-founder of Change Comes Now, a nonprofit “focused on assisting those who have been, are in danger of being, and who are currently impacted by the criminal legal system.” Bennet-Austin was formerly incarcerated for 19 years in the Florida Department of Corrections and has been home for four years.Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/cutting-incarcerated-mothers-off-from-their-families-hurts-everyonePre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Donald Trump claimed to be a supporter of Medicare, yet his administration took numerous steps to cut its budget and introduce schemes to privatize it, including the Direct Contracting Entity (DCE) program, also known as ACO REACH. Rather than overturn this program, President Biden and his administration have been quietly letting it continue. As Branko Marcetic recently wrote in Jacobin magazine, "ACO REACH's continued existence is a serious looming threat to Medicare as we know it and to seniors themselves. And in a sadly typical trend, it's a Democratic president who's trying to get away with gutting Medicare, something a Republican could never hope to get away with."In the latest installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with Marcetic about his recent Jacobin piece, the corporate-serving "logic" behind the push to privatize Medicare, and about the grassroots effort to fight against it.Branko Marcetic is a Jacobin staff writer based in Toronto, Canada, and the author of Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden.Read the transcript of this episode: https://therealnews.com/trump-wanted-to-privatize-medicare-bidens-letting-it-happenTune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Adam ColeyPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Adjunct faculty and lecturers at Santa Clara University, a private Jesuit university in Silicon Valley, have been working to organize a non-tenure track (NTT) faculty union for five years. Along with navigating the particular challenges that come with worker organizing in higher education, theirs is a historic campaign because it is taking place at a religious institution, which the National Labor Relations Board does not exercise jurisdiction over. Nevertheless, after years of organizing and union busting, NTT faculty at Santa Clara are currently voting in their long-awaited union election. In this mini-cast, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez reconnects with former Working People guest Maggie Levantovskaya to talk about why NTT faculty have fought so hard for so long to get to this point and why organizing your workplace—in higher ed and beyond—is so important. Levantovskaya is a lecturer in the English Department and member of AFLOC, the Adjunct Faculty and Lecturer Organizing Committee, at Santa Clara University.To read the transcript of this episode and see full show notes, visit: https://therealnews.com/the-long-uphill-battle-to-unionize-workers-at-religious-institutionsFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules Taylor

Qualified immunity is a legal precedent that has allowed cops to evade accountability for violating civil rights for decades. But recent arguments in front of the federal circuit appeals court by two cop watchers could bring that precedent to an end. The Police Accountability Report examines how the actions taken by police in Lakeland, Colorado, to prevent First Amendment activists Liberty Freak and Eric Brandt from filming a seemingly routine traffic stop could could lead to a legal showdown that might make it easier to hold police accountable.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/cops-stopped-him-from-filming-a-traffic-stop-but-changed-their-tune-when-they-went-to-courtPre-Production/Studio: Stephen JanisPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

As updates on the unspeakable mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, continue to come in, the details are as horrifying as they are horrifically familiar. Even more familiar has been the public response to these heinous crimes: empty “thoughts and prayers” and inaction from feckless politicians, and an immediate, depressing conviction among the population that nothing will change. How did we get here? How can this keep happening? How can we continue to accept the unacceptable? In this conversation for the TRNN podcast, Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and Marc Steiner, host of The Marc Steiner Show, speak with world-renowned historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz about how mass shootings became so commonplace in the US and how America's voracious gun culture feeds off of its settler-colonial roots.Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma in a tenant farming family. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. She is a world-renowned historian, the winner of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize, and she has authored and edited many books, including An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, which won the 2015 American Book Award, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment, and Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/roxanne-dunbar-ortiz-on-uvalde-the-second-amendment-and-the-great-american-arms-racePre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Caliber Public Schools, a group of charter schools in Northern California, states on its website that its mission is "to achieve educational equity by shifting the experiences, expectations and outcomes for students in historically underserved communities. Our strengths-based educational program validates, affirms, respects and supports students, families and staff members to reach their full potential." But when teachers and staff who believe in that mission did not feel validated, affirmed, respected, and supported, they took it upon themselves to organize and push Caliber to live up to its promise. Earlier this month, the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled that a majority of the 150 teachers and staff at Caliber: Beta Academy in Richmond and Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy in Vallejo had demonstrated sufficient support for unionizing with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and ordered management to formally recognize the union.In this episode of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with Tyler Powles, who was a fourth grade teacher at Caliber: Beta Academy for five years, and Erinn Murphy, an education specialist (and school parent) at Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy, about their experience working for the charter school network and fighting for a union.To read the transcript of this podcast and see full show notes, visit: Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

“As a result of being on or near wastelands, prisons constantly expose those inside to serious environmental hazards, from tainted water to harmful air pollutants,” Leah Wang recently wrote for the Prison Policy Initiative. “These conditions manifest in health conditions and deaths that are unmistakably linked to those hazards.” In this edition of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Paul Wright about the scope and scale of the drastic environmental hazards the prison-industrial complex poses to incarcerated people, prison staff, and surrounding communities.Paul Wright is the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center. He is also editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), the longest-running independent prisoner rights publication in US history. Wright has co-authored three PLN anthologies: The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry; Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor; and Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Imprisonment.'Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/the-prison-industrial-complex-is-an-environmental-catastrophePre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

From gang life and drug addiction in East LA to community organizing, activism, and becoming an internationally acclaimed poet and writer, Luis J. Rodriguez has walked a long and arduous path. Now Rodriguez is running for governor in the California primaries under the campaign slogan “Imagine a New California for Shared Well-Being. Then Let's Build It!” Primary voting will take place on June 7. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Rodriguez about his campaign and why—in this urgent and dangerous political moment when the right is ascending, climate change and inequality are accelerating, and working people's faith in the political system is collapsing—he is taking on Gavin Newsom's political machine.Luis J. Rodriguez is a current candidate for California governor; his campaign has been endorsed by the Green, Peace & Freedom, and Justice parties. Rodriguez is an acclaimed writer and poet who served as the official Poet Laureate of Los Angeles from 2014-2016. He is the author of numerous novels, memoirs, children's books, and essay collections, including Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA and It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing. He is also the founding editor of Tia Chucha Press and co-founder of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the San Fernando Valley.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Read the transcript of this podcast:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Eric King is an antifascist, antiracist, anarchist activist who is currently serving a 10-year federal prison sentence for throwing Molotov cocktails into an empty government office in Kansas City, Missouri, in solidarity with the 2014 uprisings after Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown. From the beginning of his imprisonment, King and his advocates say he has been targeted and “tortured” by the state, including assaults from prison guards and white supremacist gangs, solitary confinement, communication bans, and unexplained transports to different private and federal prison facilities. Now, even though he does not qualify for maximum security designation, King has been transferred to USP Lee, a maximum security prison in Virginia where his life has been threatened, and advocacy groups, including Amnesty International, are sounding the alarm. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Josh Davidson, a member of Eric King's support crew, about King's case, his treatment while serving out his sentence, and what is known about his current condition.Josh Davidson is an activist focusing on prisoner support and the abolition of the carceral state. He is involved in numerous social justice projects, including the Certain Days collective and the Children's Art Project, and also works in communications with the Zinn Education Project.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/imprisoned-ferguson-activist-assaulted-by-guards-assaulted-by-nazisPre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoAdditional resources/info provided by the Support Eric King collective…Eric's mailing address:Eric King #27090-045USP LeePO Box 305Jonesville, VA 24263Eric has a wishlist for books.For updates on Eric's case, follow the Support Eric King collective:Linktree: https://linktr.ee/supporterickingWebsite: https://supportericking.orgFacebook page: Support Eric KingTwitter page: https://twitter.com/SupportEricKingHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews