Podcasts about Middle East Eye

Ralph welcomes Dr. Mimi Syed to discuss the recent report from Brown University's Costs of War Project: “Lethal Precision Without Accountability: Israeli Government ‘Quadcopter' Use in Gaza.” Then, Ralph speaks to Joel McCleary (former Deputy Assistant to President Jimmy Carter and international consultant) about his “Dancing in the Dark” essay series on the strategies that Trump is using to hold onto power at almost any cost.Dr. Mimi Syed is an emergency medicine physician and assistant clinical professor at University of Washington and Washington State University, and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Syed served in Gaza at both al-Aqsa Hospital and Nasser Hospital, where she documented severe injuries from drone strikes and she has firsthand experience treating civilians targeted by the IDF. She is co-author of the Costs of War Project's new report: Lethal Precision Without Accountability: Israeli Government “Quadcopter” Use in Gaza.A lot of the attention has essentially fallen off from Gaza because of this so-called ceasefire…And the media (Western media) unfortunately is complicit in this—has no interest in covering Gaza, has no interest in covering the ongoing slaughter that's happening in Gaza.Dr. Mimi SyedThe irony of all of this is that the drones and the capabilities that these drones have to shoot and to distinguish between a civilian and a combatant—the whole purpose of this is to mitigate civilian harm. And instead, perversely, they're being used for the opposite. They're being used to target civilians and children. And in the U.N. report, they specifically talk about a soldier describing the experience, saying that it's like a video game. He can be sitting somewhere far away, away from the dangers of a military zone, away from the dangers of combatants, and essentially target whoever he wants, and shoot. And these drones have the capability of distinguishing between a child, an adult, a combatant. And most of these cases that I documented, the child was by themselves. There was no other adult harmed.Dr. Mimi SyedJoel McCleary served as Deputy Assistant to the President during the Carter Administration. As president of the Sawyer-Miller Group he oversaw international strategic advisory work for fourteen prime ministers and presidents. Currently, he is Managing Partner of Four Seasons Ventures, which has conducted in-depth studies for the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security on biodefense. These studies reviewed the emergency powers of the President in the event of a pandemic or major biological weapons attack. He is co-founder of the nonpartisan nonprofit Keep Our Republic.November 3rd is just the prelude to January 3rd—the game (so to speak) is who controls the Speakership. And that is determined by the certified members who are certified by the current House—they will determine who meets on January 3rd. So obviously what Trump does not want (or any President does not want) is there to be an opposing party's Speaker.Joel McClearyWe're not saying that anything is inevitable. We're just saying what is possible if you look at what they're saying and if you look at where they might go if they feel compelled to do so. So NSPM-7 is probably the most frightening aspect of this whole thing. And what's most frightening is how few people have focused on it. All of us need to read these documents at the ACLU (the Brennan Center has done fantastic work). And Mark Medish and I just are appalled that still, in Democratic circles or other circles, we are not yet comprehending the meaning of NSPM-7 and how it threatens each one of us in reality.Joel McClearyNews 8/21/26* This week, another round of primaries were held, most notably in Florida. For progressives, the biggest victory is that of Angie Nixon, a DSA-backed member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing Jacksonville. Nixon trounced her opponent – Alex Vindman, who testified against Trump during the 2019 impeachment effort – winning 56% of the vote to his 44% despite being outspent by a margin of 16 to 1. Forbes reports that in her victory speech, Nixon said “We have proved that everyday people are more powerful than corporations and billionaires…We went up against the political establishment, against millions of dollars of outside spending…and we won. This win was for the little guys and girls…We, the hardworking everyday people of Florida, sent a shock wave to the Washington, D.C., establishment.” Unfortunately, Nixon's candidacy, like that of any statewide Democratic campaign in the Sunshine State, remains a long shot. The last Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in Florida was former astronaut Bill Nelson in 2012.* More disappointing were the down-ballot results in these primaries. In the 20th congressional district, a majority-minority district centered on Broward County, Debbie Wasserman Schultz won with 45% of the vote, according to NBC. She defeated four Black candidates, including young progressive Elijah Manley. Wasserman Schultz previously represented the 25th district, but following the Republican-led mid-decade redistricting program carried out in Florida, she opted to seek reelection in this heavily Democratic seat. The Black candidates had tried and failed to consolidate behind a single choice.* And in Florida's 25th congressional district, ultra-zionist incumbent Congressman Jared Moskowitz “warded off” a challenge from his left in the form of Oliver Larkin, a DSA-backed union organizer. Larkin drew substantial media attention, first when he appeared on Fox and, asked about immigration and crime, he demanded accountability for “this pedophile president Donald Trump” and others implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and again during an interview with WPLG Local 10 when Larkin was “faced with genocide denial.” According to the Middle East Eye, Larkin “raised the topic of Israel's genocide in Gaza, pointing to statements and findings from institutions such as the United Nations, Amnesty International and Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem,” which the interviewer, Glenna Milberg incorrectly dismissed as “factually incorrect.” Larkin “outlined Israel's deliberate targeting of civilians, restrictions on humanitarian aid and attacks on churches, schools and other places of worship,” and Milberg again “interrupted and said his account was ‘factually not correct.'” The Middle East Eye writes that the exchange was then “cut short when Milberg said she was being told they had to wrap up the interview.”* Turning to Texas, NOTUS reports Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico – capitalizing on the acrimonious primary battle between sitting Republican Senator John Cornyn and his victorious primary opponent Texas AG Ken Paxton – has taken the extraordinary step of bringing a Cornyn aide onto his campaign. According to this piece, “Jacob Smith, who worked for Cornyn for five years as a deputy legislative director and policy adviser, is taking on the role of deputy policy director for Talarico's campaign.” In a statement, Smith said that he is “proud” to join Talarico's campaign and that “Instead of playing partisan politics, Talarico speaks to the needs of everyday people who day in and day out work too hard for too little.” Smith also laid into Paxton, calling him “the most corrupt, self-dealing politician in Texas who would sell their futures to the highest contributor just to hold onto power,” and urging “fellow Republicans who know Ken Paxton is unfit to serve in the Senate to finally hold him accountable at the ballot box.” This piece quotes an anonymous “Republican operative” who characterized this kind of “cross-party hire” as “unheard of.” He added that Talarico has a “better chance than any Democrat has had in the state in a very long time.”* In more primary news, last week we discussed the victory of former Hartford, Connecticut Mayor Luke Bronin over 14-term incumbent Congressman John Larson. That same day, the Lever published an exposé of Stephen Mandel, a Connecticut-based billionaire hedge fund manager and Democratic mega-donor who is the “largest bankroller of a nascent political machine promising to ‘redefine' the Democratic Party.” Via two organizations – Majority Democrats and the Bench – Mandel and his wife have funneled tens of millions of dollars to candidates of their choosing in an attempt to form a “new [political] center.” According to this report, Bronin amassed a “sizable war chest,” during his primary challenge against Larson, much of which traces back to Mandel. Not only that, apparently, Bronin “used to be on the payroll of a nonprofit funded by the billionaire,” and his campaign's policy stances reflect the network's preferences and priorities. The Lever notes that, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Mandels did not return their requests for comment.* In more Connecticut news, in the wake of Larson's defeat, local media is beginning to question whether Senator Richard Blumenthal should run for another term in 2028, with WTNH noting that he will be 82 at the end of his current term. While Blumenthal has not formally announced that he will run for a fourth senate term, he did confirm that he has a campaign committee and it is raising money. This piece notes that Blumenthal is the second oldest member of Connecticut's congressional delegation, behind only Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, 83, who represents the state's third congressional district. With the increased scrutiny on aging Democrats, and donors like Stephen Mandel bankrolling primary challenges by younger candidates, Blumenthal's decision of whether or not to run or anoint a successor could prove critical. For his part, Blumenthal is quoted saying “Age is a state of mind…and I am very, very happy doing my job right now, as energetically as I feel is appropriate.”* Senator Blumenthal features prominently in another story this week from a different part of Washington. NOTUS reports that on K Street, lobbyists for the defense industry – literally the military industrial complex – are “girding for aggressive investigations of President Donald Trump's Pentagon and the companies that do business with it,” if the Democrats retake one or both houses of Congress in the midterm elections. This piece emphasizes that Democrats have “spent two years seething that the Trump administration shut Congress out of decisions about the Pentagon, from the Iran war to politically connected contractors and a defense budget that's ballooned to $1.5 trillion.” Lobbyists are reported to be particularly wary of their clients being caught between outraged congressional Democrats and an uncooperative White House for the next two years. Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, is already zeroing in on 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is an investor, and American Ventures, where Eric Trump is an investor, both of which received billions of dollars in government awards. He is quoted saying “We need to look into whether Trump's sons are profiting from investments in defense contractors that involve insider information or contracts awarded in ways that compromise defense interests.” Other investigations he signaled they might pursue include a probe of “the administration's growing reliance on single-source contracts and whether the administration has given preferential treatment to companies with political ties, particularly those that donated to Trump's White House ballroom project.” In the House, Democrats on the Armed Services Committee will likely focus on “military strategy, acquisition decisions and the Pentagon's rapidly growing budget,” while the Oversight Committee, is more focused on “corruption, conflicts of interest, companies connected to Trump allies such as SpaceX and other ethics issues.” When Republicans won control of the House, Senate, and presidency in 2024, many lobbying firms axed their Democratic staff. It seems they are beginning to regret that decision.* Our next two stories have to do with the AI boom. First, in Wisconsin, the politics of AI data centers have come to in large part define the ongoing race to succeed Democrat Tony Evers as Governor. DSA-backed candidate Francesca Hong rode her vow of a moratorium on new data center construction to front-runner status in the primary, only to lose by a hair to Evers' last minute chosen successor, David Crowley. Since becoming the nominee, Crowley has refused to adopt Hong's signature issue and his opponent, Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany is taking full advantage. According to Wisconsin Public Radio, Tiffany's campaign has released a new TV ad labeling his opponent “data center David Crowley.” In the ad, Crowley is “seen saying Wisconsin has the opportunity to be ‘an AI and a data hub not only for the entire country, but for the entire globe.'” Ironically, Tiffany himself has cast “pro-data center votes in Congress” and Crowley's campaign argues that Tiffany “wouldn't be as hard on developers as his campaign claims,” though he is now campaigning on “ending state subsidies for data centers and creating additional protections for ratepayers and the state's farmland and water.”* Next, a stunning feat of reporting by 404 Media exposed how “Amazon is buying massive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training data, and destroying them in the process.“ To investigate this, the outlet placed a tracking device in a rare book that they suspected would be acquired by an AI company for training data. Then, when indeed it was, they followed the book around the country to its final destination – an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas, Nevada – where employees say that “all [they] do is scan books..Some are assigned to cut books, and others go to receive where they get books and scan the bar codes.” The printed book is destroyed in the process. The logo of the Amazon team that works at this warehouse, called VGT3, is a dinosaur, brandishing its teeth and with a book in its hands. The piece notes that the AI company Anthropic has previously been sued for engaging in the practice of destroying rare books in order to feed them into their large language models, or LLMs, on copyright grounds, but the “judge in the lawsuit ruled it was fair use and not a copyright violation for Anthropic to scan a book for training data in part because it destroyed the original, printed copy.” The author of this piece notes that these rare books are not necessarily monetarily valuable – they could be rare because “not many copies of them were ever printed,” or “they are in a foreign language not many people speak.” Still, as one bookseller said “There are different types of value…[besides monetary value] There's historical value, intellectual value, sentimental value. All sorts of things, and all of those the AI companies don't care about. They just want the content as a bunch of words strung together.”* Finally, we turn to the Vatican, where, Drop Site reports, Pope Leo XIV is using his pulpit to call for the opening of humanitarian corridors for civilians in Sudan. In his weekly Angelus address, the first American Pope highlighted “the plight of civilians in the besieged city of el-Obeid.” In addition to his call for humanitarian corridors, the pontiff called for both sides to “cease attacks on civilian targets.” Drop Site explains that El-Obeid, the largest city in Kordofan – the region comprising central Sudan – has faced intense drone attacks as the rebels of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battle the Sudanese army for supremacy in the region. An RSF siege has “left over 500,000 people in famine conditions for months and without supplies.” The United Nations warns that if El-Obeid falls, it could follow in the mold of el-Fasher, which fell to the RSF last year and resulted in “mass ethnic cleansing massacres by the RSF that killed an estimated 60,000 people.” We can only hope that the world will heed the Pope's plea for peace and humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Sudan.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Ist das Ergebnis des Kriegs gegen den Iran die größte Niederlage der USA seit 25 Jahren?Ein Standpunkt von Jochen Mitschka.Einer der besten Kenner Westasiens und westlicher Politik gleichzeitig, der Chefredakteur vom Middle East Eye, David Hearst, schrieb am 17. Juni einen Artikel über das Ergebnis des Angriffskriegs von Israel und den USA gegen den Iran. Darin finden sich einige interessante Feststellungen, die auch für europäische Politik wichtig sind. Er schreibt, dass das Scheitern, den Iran zu unterwerfen, ein viel größeres Ziel gestoppt oder gar zunichtegemacht habe: ein Projekt zur Umgestaltung des Nahen Ostens mit einem „Großisrael“ an der Spitze.Hearst meint, dass von allen militärischen Niederlagen, die die USA in den letzten 25 Jahren im Nahen Osten erlitten haben, die gegen den Iran wohl die folgenreichste sei. Anders als bei den amerikanischen Militärinterventionen in Afghanistan, Irak, Jemen, Libyen und Syrien habe die Islamische Republik nicht einfach nur einen weiteren US-amerikanischen Versuch eines Regimewechsels überstanden. Im US-israelischen Krieg gegen den Iran sei es nie nur um das Schicksal eines einzelnen Regimes gegangen. Das Scheitern der Iran-Eindämmung habe ein viel größeres Ziel gestoppt oder gar zunichtegemacht: das Projekt, die Gestalt des Nahen Ostens, oder um es nicht-kolonialistisch zu nennen, Westasien, zu verändern, mit einem "wiedergeborenen" und gestärkten „Großisrael“ an der Spitze.Das sei das strategische Ziel der Abraham-Abkommens gewesen, und als Saudi-Arabien sich weigerte, dieses zu unterzeichnen, wurde stattdessen ein Krieg mit dem Iran inszeniert. Ironischerweise, so meint der Autor, brauchte es „den größten Freund Israels im Weißen Haus“, um den größten Traum des israelischen Premierministers Benjamin Netanjahu zu zerstören.Trump musste aus dem Kaninchenbau von Alice im Wunderland herauskommenFür US-Präsident Donald Trump war es eine beschlossene Sache, wieder einen klaren Kopf zu bekommen und Netanjahu nicht weiter blind in dessen Sackgasse zu folgen, meint Hearst. Für Netanjahu dagegen sei Trumps Kehrtwende im Iran-Konflikt eine Katastrophe, deren Folgen noch Generationen spürbar sein könnten.Die US-Inflation, angetrieben durch die kriegsbedingt höheren Energiekosten, befinde sich auf einem Dreijahreshoch; Trumps Zustimmungswerte seien auf einem historischen Tiefstand; er sehe sich wachsendem Widerstand in der eigenen Partei gegenüber; die Lähmung der Golfstaaten belaste den Trump-Clan finanziell; und die bevorstehenden Zwischenwahlen könnten ihm die Mehrheit in beiden Häusern des Kongresses kosten. Trump wollte einen schnellen Sieg nach venezolanischem Vorbild, und sobald klar wurde, dass der Iran sich nicht kampflos ergeben würde, habe der 80-jährige Präsident gedanklich abgeschaltet....https://apolut.net/usa-und-israel-blamiert-von-jochen-mitschka/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A landslide win, only two years ago - yet now UK prime minister Keir Starmer's resisting calls to step down. The return to parliament of Andy Burnham makes a leadership challenge more likely. What's gone wrong so fast, for Starmer? And why so much turmoil at the top of British politics? In this episode: Peter Oborne - UK Political Commentator and Associate Editor of Middle East Eye - a digital news organisation. Jonathan Tonge - Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool and author of numerous books on British and Northern Irish politics. Peter Geoghegan - Editor of Democracy for Sale - an investigative news site in London Host: Per Nyberg Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

Il ministro degli Esteri Gideon Sa'ar, rispondendo mercoledì sera al video del collega Itamar Ben Gvir che cammina ridendo fra gli attivisti della Global Sumud Flotilla bendati e inginocchiati ad Ashdod, scrive su X: «No, tu non sei il volto di Israele». Lo stesso fa Benjamin Netanyahu poche ore dopo: il comportamento di Ben Gvir «non è in linea con i valori e le norme dello Stato di Israele». Da Roma Sergio Mattarella parla di «livello infimo», Giorgia Meloni e Antonio Tajani chiedono «scuse immediate». Lo schema della falsa eccezione regge un pomeriggio. La pena di morte per i palestinesi giudicati nei tribunali militari, primo cavallo di battaglia di Ben Gvir, è stata approvata dalla Knesset il 30 marzo coi voti compatti del Likud, il partito di Netanyahu. Il piano di «migrazione volontaria» da Gaza, ricondotto da Euro-Med Monitor allo schema giuridico della pulizia etnica, è uscito dal gabinetto di sicurezza a marzo 2025 a firma del ministro della Difesa Israel Katz. La Corte internazionale di giustizia parla di “plausible genocide”. La Corte penale internazionale, riferisce Middle East Eye, ha già chiesto mandati d'arresto sigillati per Bezalel Smotrich, Orit Strock e due ufficiali dell'esercito. Ben Gvir, da gennaio, è di nuovo dentro la coalizione: era uscito dopo la tregua di gennaio 2025, è rientrato a marzo quando il governo ha ripreso i bombardamenti. Gli avvocati di Adalah ieri sera lasciano Ashdod e diffondono la nota: decine di partecipanti con sospette fratture costali, taser, proiettili di gomma in mare, molestie sessuali, hijab strappati alle donne, tre ricoveri. Ottantasette in sciopero della fame, trasferimento al carcere di Ktziot. Giovedì l'udienza per l'espulsione. Non è il volto di Israele, ripete il governo. È il volto del suo governo. #LaSveglia per La NotiziaDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/la-sveglia-di-giulio-cavalli--3269492/support.

A la Une de la presse, ce mardi 19 mai, l'information exclusive de Middle East Eye, qui affirme que le procureur de la Cour pénale internationale a demandé un mandat d'arrêt contre un ministre israélien d'extrême droite. Israël et ses stratégies d'influence, notamment en France, objets d'une enquête du journal français Libération et du quotidien israélien Haaretz. Le retour du débat sur le Brexit au Royaume-Uni. Et une querelle autour de paons italiens qui tourne à l'affaire politique.

This week Howie is joined by Sacha Ismail, Policy & Education Officer for the Green Party Trade Union Group and Green candidate for Wandsworth Town Council in southwest London, for a discussion of the May 7 local elections.Links Shared During the Stream:Sacha Ismail blog, South London Socialist, https://southlondonsocialist.wordpress.com/Sacha Ismail, “Why I'm standing in the local elections,” South London Socialist, March 30, 2026, https://southlondonsocialist.wordpress.com/2026/03/30/why-im-standing-in-the-local-elections/Green Party of England & Wales, “Election Results,” https://greenparty.org.uk/Scottish Greens, “Scottish Greens Hail Seismic Results,” May 8, 2026, https://greens.scot/news/scottish-greens-hail-seismic-resultBrad Reed, "‘Two Party Politics... Is Dead' in UK Says Green Party Leader After Labour Thrashed,” Common Dreams, May 8, 2026, https://www.commondreams.org/news/uk-elections-reform-greensEvening Standard, "Local elections 2026 LIVE: Polanski's Green Party storms London as Labour suffers historic defeats,” May 8, 2026, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections-2026-latest-live-london-polls-greens-labour-reform-tories-lib-dems-b1281363.htmlKatherine Hearst, "Green Party leader Zack Polanski condemns 'vile antisemitic caricature' in The Times,” Middle East Eye, May 3, 2026, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-zack-polanski-condemns-vile-antisemitic-caricature-timesMajor British newspapers' antisemitic cartoon caricatures of Zack Polanski, https://x.com/benphillips76/status/2051909751076975056Sacha Ismail, "The left and antisemitism – thoughts from a Green activist and candidate,” South London Socialist, April 22, 2026, https://southlondonsocialist.wordpress.com/Green Party of England and Wales Workers' Charter, https://greenparty.org.uk/workerscharter/https://greenparty.org.uk/2026/02/24/fourth-anniversary-of-russian-invasion-of-ukrainehttps://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2025/12/23/ukraine-solidarity-motion-to-green-party-of-england-wales-2026-spring-conference/https://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2026/02/13/uk-young-greens-stand-with-ukraine/Streamed on 5/9/26Watch the video at: https://youtube.com/live/Ba3JxzTb748Green Socialist Notes is a weekly livestream/podcast hosted by 2020 Green Party/Socialist Party presidential nominee, Howie Hawkins.  Started as a weekly campaign livestream in the spring of 2020, the streams have continued post elections and are now under the umbrella of the Green Socialist Organizing Project, which grew out of the 2020 presidential campaign.  Green Socialist Notes seeks to provide both an independent Green Socialist perspective, as well as link listeners up with opportunities to get involved in building a real people-powered movement in their communities.Green Socialist Notes PodcastEvery Saturday at 3:00 PM EDT on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.Every Monday at 7:00 AM EDT on most major podcast outlets.Music by Gumbo le FunqueIntro: She Taught UsOutro: #PowerLoveFreedom

Former political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda was first arrested by Israeli occupation forces in 1992 due to his involvement in the First Intifada and his membership in Islamic Jihad. Since then, for the past three decades, al-Arda has been incarcerated in different Israeli prisons, and he made international headlines in 2021 after leading a daring, successful, but short-lived escape from the maximum-security Gilboa Prison. In this blockbuster episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa—a former Black Panther and political prisoner in the US—speaks with al-Arda after he and 2,000 other Palestinian prisoners were finally released from incarceration in Israel in 2025.Additional Links/InfoB'Tselem, Statistics on Palestinians in Israeli CustodyB'Tselem, “Welcome to Hell”: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps (Report)Mansa Musa, TRNN, “Inside Israel's Prison Regime”Ruwaida Amer, Electronic Intifada, “Freedom is the eternal dream”Aseel Mousa, Middle East Eye, “Jailbreak, freedom, exile: Life of Mahmoud al-Arda, architect of daring Israeli prison escape”Credits Videography: Ruwaida Amer, Cameron GranadinoProducer / Editor: Cameron GranadinoVoiceover: Danny Bou-MarounBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Former political prisoner Mahmoud al-Arda was first arrested by Israeli occupation forces in 1992 due to his involvement in the First Intifada and his membership in Islamic Jihad. Since then, for the past three decades, al-Arda has been incarcerated in different Israeli prisons, and he made international headlines in 2021 after leading a daring, successful, but short-lived escape from the maximum-security Gilboa Prison. In this blockbuster episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa—a former Black Panther and political prisoner in the US—speaks with al-Arda after he and 2,000 other Palestinian prisoners were finally released from incarceration in Israel in 2025.Additional Links/InfoB'Tselem, Statistics on Palestinians in Israeli CustodyB'Tselem, “Welcome to Hell”: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps (Report)Mansa Musa, TRNN, “Inside Israel's Prison Regime”Ruwaida Amer, Electronic Intifada, “Freedom is the eternal dream”Aseel Mousa, Middle East Eye, “Jailbreak, freedom, exile: Life of Mahmoud al-Arda, architect of daring Israeli prison escape”Credits Videography: Ruwaida Amer, Cameron GranadinoProducer / Editor: Cameron GranadinoVoiceover: Danny Bou-MarounBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Follow Rattling the Bars on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer

The shaky ceasefire between Iran and the US has been extended. Whether it lasts much longer or fighting resumes depends partly on Lebanon, where another fragile truce has been struck between Israel and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah. So why is Lebanon so important to peace with Iran? And what happens if the ceasefire fails? This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Jack Clover, assistant foreign news editor, The Times and The Sunday Times.Host: Luke Jones. Producers: Micaela Arneson, Edward Drummond. We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.comRead more: With war in its DNA, will Hezbollah ever disarm?Further listening: Trump's ceasefire with Iran - what's in it and what's nextClips: Channel 4, The Guardian, CNN, Global News, Middle East Eye, Reuters. Photo: Getty Images.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ralph welcomes journalist and author Megan Greenwell to discuss her book "Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream." Then, Ralph speaks to James Zogby (co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute) about the recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon.Megan Greenwell is a journalist who has written or edited for publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, New York Magazine, WIRED, and ESPN. She is also the deputy director of the Princeton Summer Journalism Program, a workshop and college-access initiative for students from low-income backgrounds. She is the author of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream.The real trick with private equity (and this was the thing that made me want to write a book on it) is that when they take out those billions of dollars worth of loans (if you're buying a bigger company), the private equity firm is not responsible for paying those loans back. Only the portfolio company in whose name the private equity firm has taken the money out is on the hook for that money. And so what you end up with is this split in incentive where what's good for the private equity firm is not necessarily what's good for its own portfolio company.Megan Greenwell[Congress hasn't repealed the carried interest loophole] because Congress is in the pocket of the private equity industry. 88% of members of the House and Senate take donations from private equity. Interestingly, Donald Trump has called twice for the carried interest loophole to be closed. And still, even he, as much of a stranglehold as he has on the Republican Party, he can't build support for it among Republicans. Because they're all taking private equity money, as are the vast majority of the Democrats. So this is not a partisan issue.Megan GreenwellOne of the reasons I was really interested to write this book as a series of narrative profiles of people trying to do something about [private equity] is: none of them are trying to do something about it through the federal government. And I think when we talk about “Only the federal government can save us,” we really risk turning people away from trying to do anything. And I think we've seen on the private equity issue there has been some really interesting movement on the state level in several places—real reforms that are much easier to accomplish on the state level than on the federal level.Megan GreenwellJames Zogby is co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute, and he is featured frequently on national and international media as an expert on Middle East affairs. Since 1992, he has written a weekly column— “Washington Watch” —that is published in 12 countries. He is the author of several books, including Looking at Iran: The Rise and Fall of Iran in Arab Public Opinion, The Tumultuous Decade: Arab, Turkish, and Iranian Public Opinion - 2010-2019, Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why it Matters, and Palestinians: The Invisible Victims.Not only are thousands being killed [in Lebanon], but there's a process underway of demolishing villages, obviously expelling lots of people, creating internal refugees and sectarian tension as a result of it. And clearly (as Israel has stated, and I think we have to believe them), that they actually want to annex the territory up to the Litani River and maybe even further. They call it a buffer zone, but we've heard that buffer zone stuff before. It's merely a way of taking new land and providing opportunities for settlements.James ZogbyAs we saw ourselves in Vietnam, as we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel is now getting PTSD reports that are deeply disturbing to them. They're getting suicides. They're getting an exhausted military. They're not exhausted with the weapons that they're losing (because they're losing a lot and they're using a lot), they're getting emotionally and physically exhausted. Look, when the soldiers do what they've been doing—which is basically inhuman behavior, I mean, it's disgraceful behavior—it begins to eat away at the soul. You get these suicides. You get these emotional collapses. And what gets me upset is that—72,000 Palestinians dead, a few Israeli soldiers having PTSD and trauma and committing suicide becomes a news story? My feeling has to be with the Lebanese and Palestinians.James ZogbyWhen I hear on the DNC from other members who say to me, “When you talk about Israeli genocide, that's anti-Semitic, it makes me uncomfortable,” I said, “You know what makes me uncomfortable? That genocide is actually taking place. And it makes me equally uncomfortable that you won't admit it or even want us to talk about it.”James ZogbyNews 4/17/26* Our top story this week comes to us from New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani is delivering on yet another campaign promise thought impossible by mainstream pundits and beltway insiders: the creation of municipal grocery stores. Capping off his first 100 days in office, Mayor Mamdani delivered remarks in front of La Marqueta in East Harlem, the site of one of the original city-run grocery stores created under Fiorello LaGuardia. Mamdani laid out how the stores will operate, noting that while “A private operator will run the store,” they will “answer to the standards the city will set…[including] requirements that at our stores bread will be cheaper. Eggs will be cheaper. Grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation. And workers will be treated with dignity.” Mamdani plans to have the first of these stores open in 2027 and stores in all five boroughs open by the end of his term in 2029. This from NBC4 New York.* Meanwhile, in New York's 10th congressional district, former NYC Comptroller and Mamdani ally Brad Lander is aligning himself with AOC and calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. In a meeting with a group of local journalists, Lander said “We need to follow the Leahy Law and condition all of our foreign policy aid on human rights and international law compliance…At the moment, Israel is very far from complying with human rights and international law. So I would not vote for any more aid,” adding that he “hopes” Israel will “[get] there.” The Forward notes that this is an evolution from the position he took during his mayoral candidacy last year. At that time Lander opposed sending offensive weapons to Israel, but believed that the US should keep funding Israel's Iron Dome, per the New York Post. Through a representative, Lander's opponent in this race, incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman, told the Forward he “will always support defensive systems,” like Iron Dome.* The liberal Zionist organization J Street is also shifting its position. The Middle East Eye reports the group is calling for an end to “direct” US military support to Israel, according to a new policy paper. To be clear however, while this does mark a shift from J Street's previous position that the U.S. should provide defensive weapons systems – like resupply for Iron Dome, at no cost to Israelis – J Street now argues that Israel should simply purchase these weapons instead. In short, J Street is arguing that Israel is rich enough to provide for its own defense and that the American financial subsidies are “unnecessary and politically counterproductive, creating avoidable tensions in US domestic politics and in the bilateral relationship.” This is in line with statements by Netanyahu himself, who has made it clear that Israel wants to reduce its reliance on U.S. military aid “all the way down to zero.”* In other news, Reuters reports Apple is closing several of its brick-and-mortar stores, including the first ever unionized Apple store. Over 100 workers at the store, located in Towson Town Center mall in Maryland, voted to join the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) in 2022; Reuters notes that “a similar union drive in Atlanta [around that same time] was withdrawn, ‌with ⁠Apple workers alleging intimidation.”At the other stores being shuttered, employees were offered the option to continue their jobs at other nearby Apple stores. At the Towson store however, Apple is claiming that the collective bargaining agreement prevents relocation. The union says this is “false” and is reportedly exploring all legal options. IAM also expressed “serious concerns that ​this closure is a cynical attempt to ​bust ⁠the union.”* Elsewhere in Maryland, the state legislature has passed the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act. This bill, which Gov. Wes Moore has vowed to sign into law, is designed to prohibit surveillance pricing, the practice of retailers charging different shoppers different prices for the same item at the same time based on information the store knows about them as an individual. While crucial and innovative legislation, Consumer Reports – which “engaged on the bill…throughout the legislative process,” argues that it has been watered down to the point of inadequacy via lobbying by the Maryland Retail Alliance. Some of the added exceptions include failing to establish any baseline or standard price – given that “with no set standard price, everything can be marketed as a discount” — and exempting any pricing associated with loyalty or membership programs or subscriptions. The bill also does not contain strong enforcement provisions, such as a private right of action. So, while this bill is a start – and you have to start somewhere – we echo Consumer Reports' urging that “other state legislatures considering personalized pricing legislation to build in stronger consumer protections and avoid loopholes that weakened this bill.”* In more consumer news, the scourge of sports betting continues to metastasize. A new report from Siena Research Institute has produced staggering findings: “27% of Americans and [52%] of men ages 18-49…[say] they have an active account with an online sportsbook such as DraftKings, Caesars, FanDuel, or BetMGM.” And, while most respondents maintain that they bet because it is “exciting” and “fun”, “31% of bettors report having had someone express concern about their usage of online sportsbooks, [42%] of bettors...say they have felt that they bet more than they should…Fifteen percent of bettors…say they have called a problem gambling Helpline or sought other help with problem gambling, and 22% of respondents overall say they know someone that has or has had a problem with online sports betting.” Taken together, this represents a deeply troubling gambling wave cresting in this country. And, while legislators are beginning to take notice, the sports betting interests are beginning to fight back, with Bloomberg reporting that these companies – FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics Sportsbook – are beginning to dump money by the truckload into new Super PACs. Just this year, they have contributed $41 million to Win for America, according to new FEC filings, and show no sign of stopping there.* In our final domestic story, this week saw the implosion of leading California gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell. Swalwell ultimately opted to resign his seat in Congress after it became clear that the Democratic and Republican House leadership was mulling a deal to expel him and flagrantly corrupt Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick along with two scandal-ridden GOP Reps., Tony Gonzales and Cory Mills. The fact that Swalwell's resignation was paired with that of Gonzales lends credence to the idea that some deal was worked out behind closed doors. Yet, deal or no, this leaves Cherfilus-McCormick and Mills in their seats despite general acknowledgment that they should be expelled, per the Hill. This constitutes congressional horsetrading at its most base.* Turning to international news, this week Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has for months governed the country with a plurality in the House of Commons, has successfully secured a majority for his ruling Liberal Party. This majority was secured via three byelection victories, but more significantly, by five recent “floor crossings” – elected MPs switching parties to join the Liberals. Having secured a majority, Carney is now confident in his ability to stave off a no-confidence vote and will likely remain in power at least until the 2029 general election. Unfortunately, the New Democratic Party (NDP) saw improvement in their share of the vote in only one “riding” despite their new leadership. This just proves the party has a long, difficult climb back to relevance in Canadian politics. This from the CBC.* Looking Southward, this week, Peru held the first round of their presidential election. The top two vote getters will advance to a runoff, but who those candidates would be remained unclear for an agonizingly protracted period of time. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the former Japanese-Peruvian dictator and a perennial far-right candidate herself, came in first with 17% of the vote. And at first, it seemed like the second slot would be taken by ultraconservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga. However, following days of vote counting, Aliaga moved down to third place, with the second place finisher proving to be Roberto Sanchez, a figure of the Peruvian Left and ally of ousted former President Pedro Castillo. Sanchez however is also allegedly allied with the Andean supremacist movement led by Antauro Humala in Peru. The Peruvian political system has been rocked by instability, churning through “eight presidents in the past 10 years, including four who were impeached,” per France 24. Castillo, the last democratically elected president, was sentenced to over 11 years in prison in 2025; if elected, Sanchez would likely pardon the former president as other left-wing Latin American leaders including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum have urged. How long Sanchez, or for that matter Fujimori, might last in office is another question.* Finally, we turn to the United Kingdom where the dream of a new Leftist party – Your Party – is foundering. After a promising start, Your Party ultimately descended into infighting between the Grassroots Left faction, led by Zarah Sultana, and another faction, the Many, led by former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Your Party also chose to bar from participation any avowedly leftist organizations. These moves, alienating to the very constituencies most interested in backing the YP, paired with the meteoric rise of the Green Party under Zack Polanski and a threatened exodus by the Scottish YP segment, have rendered what could have been a substantial power in Parliament, pressing for concessions on issues if not achieving a majority itself, utterly toothless. An inside account of the internal battles is available at Counterfire.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

With the world's attention fixed on the war in Iran, Israeli settler gangs are rapidly and violently expanding outposts in the West Bank – seemingly with impunity. So, what's it like on the ground? Is the Israeli government softening to the ‘extremist' settler movement? And will settlers ever be held accountable? This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Richard Spencer, world affairs correspondent, The TimesHost: Manveen RanaProducers: Sophie McNulty, Taryn SiegelWe want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.comRead more: Israel's settlers seize their chance to snatch land in West BankFurther listening: The Board of Peace: the new UN or Trump's vanity project?Clips: CNN, France 24, BBC, CBS, ABC 7, Middle East Eye.Photo: Getty Images.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Howie talks about Iran, other current events, and takes viewer questions. Links Shared During the StreamJake Johnson, "Oman's Foreign Minister Said US-Iran Deal Was ‘Within Our Reach.' Then Trump Started Bombing,” Common Dreams, February 28, 2026, https://www.commondreams.org/news/oman-foreign-minister-iran-dealAljazeera, "Al Jazeera investigation: Iran girls' school targeting likely ‘deliberate',” March 3, 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/3/questions-over-minab-girls-school-strike-as-israel-us-deny-involvementMalachy Browne and Aaron Boxerman, "Analysis Suggests School Was Hit Amid U.S. Strikes on Iranian Naval Base,” New York Times, March 6 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-school-us-strikes-naval-base.htmlNick Turse, “Rubio Admit That US Is Fighting Israel's War,” The Intercept, March 3, 2026, https://theintercept.com/2026/03/03/rubio-trump-iran-israel-war/Tom Latchem, "Veteran Appears to Snap Bone During Tussle With MAGA Senator at War Hearing,” Daily Beast, March 5, 2026, https://www.thedailybeast.com/veteran-brian-mcginnis-appears-to-snap-bone-during-tussle-with-maga-senator-tim-sheehy-during-war-hearing/Full video of Brian McGinnis protest: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DVecHEVie0u/Anthony Aguilar on Brian McGinnis isolation, https://x.com/anthonyagu88102/status/2030017845610844278?s=46Brian McGinnis for US Senate: https://www.brianmcginnis4ussenatenc.orgMaryam Namazie, Iranian socialist-feminist, "Stop the War on Iran! ,” https://www.facebook.com/MayamNamazie/posts/pfbid02BJfkVBzj36R4uD6XsiFcoUqrJQJWcXco7iWDBJetyCPDhbPpHGRCC2XzTpkLe3PSlNick Turse, "Trump's Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers,” The Intercept, March 2, 2026, https://theintercept.com/2026/03/02/trump-board-peace-human-right-abuses/Azad Essa, "Brics missing in action as war on permanent member Iran spirals,” Middle East Eye, March 3, 2026, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/brics-missing-in-action-israel-war-permanent-member-iran-spiralsZoltan Grossman, "Escalation of this War Could Shatter Iran into Ethnic Enclaves,” CounterPunch, February 27, 2028, https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/27/escalation-of-this-war-could-shatter-iran-into-ethnic-enclaves/Hannah Spencer's by-election victory speech: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckglkz1rp01oHowie Hawkins, A Political Paradox, https://newgreenhorizons.us/a-political-paradox-a-progressive-leaning-public-elects-a-far-right-president/Streamed on 3/8/26Watch the video at: https://youtube.com/live/YO8MhYK7GkEGreen Socialist Notes is a weekly livestream/podcast hosted by 2020 Green Party/Socialist Party presidential nominee, Howie Hawkins.  Started as a weekly campaign livestream in the spring of 2020, the streams have continued post elections and are now under the umbrella of the Green Socialist Organizing Project, which grew out of the 2020 presidential campaign.  Green Socialist Notes seeks to provide both an independent Green Socialist perspective, as well as link listeners up with opportunities to get involved in building a real people-powered movement in their communities.Green Socialist Notes PodcastEvery Saturday at 3:00 PM EDT on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.Every Monday at 7:00 AM EDT on most major podcast outlets.Music by Gumbo le FunqueIntro: She Taught UsOutro: #PowerLoveFreedom

Ralph welcomes sociologist and historian Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi to discuss the United States' war of aggression on Iran.Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi is an Iranian-born American historian and sociologist. He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the CUNY Graduate Center. He was the Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies and Director of the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University. He is the author of four books on different aspects and historical context of the Iranian revolution of 1979 and its aftermath.The only countries that I see that are in constant violation of international law is the United States and Israel. And frankly, I am speechless, although I'm speaking, but I am speechless—in what universe can this war be justified as self-defense? You listened to Secretary Rubio's speech in Munich where he laments 400 years of colonial rule being lost to this international law and laws of fighting wars because they want to go back to the way things were in the 18th and 19th century. This is a naked expansionist, extortionist administration here, and that's the only reason they have launched this war, and there is absolutely no justification for it.Behrooz Ghamari-TabriziFor years and years, the Israelis have been assassinating Iranian scientists. They were sabotaging Iranian industries. And actually, the Iranian government showed tremendous restraint in responding to these Israeli provocations because they didn't want to create the situation in which we find ourselves today. But then at the end of the day, calling Iran the aggressor here I think is a total ignorance of history and the context in which this war has started.Behrooz Ghamari-TabriziAll these things are not to suggest that the Iranian government in any form or shape is a democratic and just state. But the question here is about the sovereignty of the Iranian state. And the only inheritance of the revolution that has been kept throughout these forty-odd years was the question of sovereignty. Because that was one of the demands of the revolution. The question of social justice was thrown out of the window after the revolution. The question of civil liberties was thrown out of the window after the revolution. The only thing that is left is Iranian sovereignty. And according to every single intelligence study, what Iranians do outside their borders is a defensive posture. Iran does not have an expansionist agenda.Behrooz Ghamari-TabriziNews 3/6/26* Last week, Bill and Hillary Clinton testified before the House Oversight Committee on their respective relationships with financier and sexual predator, Jeffrey Epstein. Hillary Clinton, in a deposition described as contentious, maintained that she had virtually zero connections with Epstein, stating at one point “I am so tired of answering that question,” per PBS. Former President Bill Clinton meanwhile, tried to downplay his relationship with Epstein, describing it as “cordial,” and claiming that he had come to an arrangement with Epstein where the financier provided his private jet for humanitarian trips in exchange for Clinton discussing politics and economics with him. The committee pressed Clinton on this point, noting that Epstein visited the White House numerous times during Clinton's presidency and that there are photos of the two men shaking hands. Clinton told lawmakers he “did not recall those interactions.” These answers leave much to be desired.* Meanwhile, another Epstein associate occupies the Oval Office today – Donald Trump – and on February 26th the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice, under the stewardship of Attorney General Pam Bondi, has been withholding interviews with a woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault back in the 1980s. As the Journal writes, the suppression of this interview “raises new questions about the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files release and the pages that have been kept private.” The Journal adds that “Trump officials initially opposed the release of the files and then fumbled their response, including inconsistent redactions that exposed dozens of Epstein victims and initially kept some prominent men's names hidden.” However, on March 5th, POLITICO reported that the FBI has now published a trio of FBI interviews with the woman who accused the president of sexually assaulting her in collusion with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump and his allies categorically deny any wrongdoing on the part of the president, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the allegations “completely baseless…backed by zero credible evidence, from a sadly disturbed woman who has an extensive criminal history.” This story also highlights what is sure to be the next flashpoint in this saga: on Wednesday, a House committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about her handling of the Epstein files.* Turning to media news, last week we covered how Paramount-Skydance, led by the Ellison family and backed by the Trump administration, outmaneuvered Netflix to close a deal acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery – including CNN. Throughout this process, many have raised the alarm that if the Ellisons were to get their hands on CNN, they would turn it over to their ideological attack dog, Bari Weiss, as they did with CBS News. Variety is now echoing those concerns, reporting that “It's expected that Weiss will have a big role in steering CNN.” Just what exactly this role will be remains to be seen, but given her tenure as editor-in-chief of CBS News, there is much cause for concern.* In related news, Variety reports Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has filed to sell 4,004,149 shares – over $114 million worth of stock – in the company following the announcement of the sale to Paramount, including Paramount's eye-popping offer of $31 per share. Zaslav retains additional stock and options which he could cash out as the deal moves forward. Curiously, even as the Trump administration backed the Paramount buyout over the Netflix deal, the president himself continues to bank on the fiscal stability of the streaming giant, with the Hollywood Reporter documenting that Trump bought between $600,000 and $1.25 million worth of Netflix debt in January, adding to the $500,000 to $1 million in Netflix bonds that he purchased in December. This story notes that while the Netflix-Warner deal fell through, Netflix walked away with a $2.8 billion “break-up fee,” and an investment grade credit rating, unlike both WBD and Paramount.* Looking at domestic politics, this week primaries were held in Texas and North Carolina which yielded the nomination of James Talarico in Texas, beating out Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic nod, and the razor thin victory of incumbent Valerie Foushee over her progressive challenger Nida Allam in the Durham-Chapel Hill region. But many more primary battles lay ahead, perhaps the most interesting of which is unfolding in Maine, where the Bernie Sanders-backed veteran-turned-oysterman Graham Platner is duking it out with Chuck Schumer's preferred candidate, outgoing Governor Janet Mills. Platner, despite damaging stories, has continued to draw massive crowds and enjoys a huge polling advantage. Last week, Platner's allies, led by United Autoworkers President Shawn Fain, staged a sort of intervention with Schumer, with Fain lambasting the “shortcomings” in Democratic leaders' approach to the 2026 midterms, “particularly their failure to adequately listen to working-class voters.” Michael Monahan, a high-level official in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, also sent a letter to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee strongly urging the DSCC to “refrain from intervening further in [the Maine] primary.” A mid-February independent poll found Platner with a 38-point lead over Mills among likely Democratic primary voters, yet the party continues to back Mills to the hilt. This from NBC.* Our remaining stories this week concern foreign affairs. First, in South Africa, it seems the forces of the Left are looking to pool their support by entering into a political alliance. According to TimesLIVE, a prominent South African online newspaper, the country's largest standalone Left party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has convened with the South African Communist Party (SACP) to discuss such an electoral pact. The SACP has long participated in a tripartite alliance with the African National Congress party (ANC), which has ruled South Africa since the end of Apartheid, but recently announced they would contest elections independently. The EFF and SACP emphasized that their priorities align on the “deep crises confronting South Africa: de-industrialisation, austerity-driven fiscal consolidation, collapsing energy security, mass unemployment, and extreme poverty.”* In another major political realignment, the Green Party of England and Wales is surging as the Labour Party, under the centrist leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, continues to lose ground to the Nigel Farage-led far right party, Reform UK. The rise of the Green Party has been bubbling for some time, as progressive voters feel betrayed by Labour and the momentum behind Jeremy Corbyn's “Your Party” has fizzled, but the first major test occurred recently in the Labour stronghold riding of Groton and Denton in Greater Manchester. According to the BBC, this marks the first ever win for the Greens in a by-election, with 34-year-old plumber Hannah Spencer becoming the party's first ever MP in northern England. Reform ran second, with Labour dropping by 25% into third place. Moreover, Zeteo reports the Greens have leapfrogged ahead of Labour in national polling, second only to Reform and has become the single most popular party among voters under 50. For the past five months, the Greens have been led by self-described “eco-populist” Zack Polanski, and have espoused policies including giving councils the power to control rents, extending free school meals to all children, and imposing a new ‘wealth tax' on assets above £10m.* In Congress, Representative Ro Khanna has introduced the West Bank Human Rights Resolution to Condemn Israeli Settlement Expansion. This resolution is described as utilizing far more specific language to condemn “Israeli settler violence and referencing potential sanctions tools while also calling for a review of US policies that may indirectly subsidise settlement activity,” per the Middle East Eye. In part, this resolution is a response to the Israeli government's February 8th approval of “sweeping changes to land registration and civil control in Areas A and B of the West Bank, which Palestinians say breach the Oslo Accords and advance de facto annexation.” This resolution was drafted in conjunction with Cameron Kasky, the survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who has become a leading activist on rights for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. In a statement upon the introduction of this resolution, Kasky wrote “this is a necessary measure for Democrats and Republicans to unite behind the upholding of international law. Democrats and Republicans can agree that U.S. taxpayer money being used to subsidize the violation of international law is an outrage.”* Our final two stories concern the U.S. attacks on Iran. First, a bizarre sequence of conflicting claims between the U.S. and Spain have left many observers puzzled. First, on March 3rd, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed the Iberian nation, saying “Very often great wars start with a chain of events spiralling out of control due to miscalculations, technical failures, and unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, we must learn from history and cannot play Russian roulette with the fate of millions.” Sánchez warned of “repeating the mistakes of the past,” and drew a comparison with the invasion of Iraq, concluding his government's position is “No to war,” per CNBC. More pointedly, the Spanish government prevented two jointly operated bases in its territory from being used in the strikes on Iran. Trump responded on the 4th by vowing to cut off all trade with Madrid, saying “Spain has been terrible…We don't want anything to do with Spain.” Then, on March 5th, Karoline Leavitt told the press that “With respect to Spain, I think they heard the president's message yesterday loud and clear, and it's my understanding, over the past several hours, they've agreed to cooperate with the U.S. military.” Yet, the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares immediately responded that “The Spanish government's position on the war in the Middle East ... and the use of our bases has not changed at all.” This also from CNBC. Trump's threat to cut off trade with Spain would be difficult to follow through on, given that the 27 nations in the European Union negotiate trade agreements collectively,* Finally, far from assuaging concerns about the attacks on Iran leading to blowback, the Hill reports that, when asked during a phone call with Time magazine about whether Americans should be worried about a potential strike on the homeland, Trump replied, “I guess.” Trump went on to say “We think about it all the time. We plan for it. But yeah…we expect some things…some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.” Stunningly, despite Trump openly declaring that we are at war with Iran sans congressional authorization and even casually admitting Americans could be killed on home soil, the feckless Congress has voted down War Powers resolutions in the House and Senate. In the upper house, the bill introduced by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, failed 47-53, with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky crossing party lines to support it while Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania crossed party lines to vote nay, per the AP. A similar measure in the House, introduced by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie – the duo behind the Epstein Files Transparency Act and other war powers resolutions including on Venezuela – failed by a vote of 212-219. In addition to Massie, Republican Rep. Warren Davison of Ohio voted in favor of the resolution, while four House Democrats voted nay, per Axios. Again the question is presented to us, if this won't shock Congress to action, what will?This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Care about independent and ethical news? Support Media Storm on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! In December, Australia enforced a world-first, nationwide ban prohibiting children under 16 from holding accounts on major social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and YouTube. And now, the UK could be following suit.  But are concerns over "child safety" really behind the ban, or is this a smokescreen for state surveillance and control?  For many teenagers, social media is where they first encounter global news, social justice movements, and political debate - especially if they don't have access to formal education or traditional news environments. Is the social media ban a blessing for traditional media gatekeepers?  Will it even work, or will the digital native generation simply find a way around it? Shouldn't we be regulating content, not children? Will the government ever stand up to Big Tech? And is the legacy media completely out of touch with young people?  To discuss the perspectives missing from the mainstream, we're joined by two Gen Z's with big voices. Fiona Lali is the youth organiser for the Revolutionary Communist Party, delivering political analysis and explainers to hundreds of thousands of people across her social media platforms. Tamara Himani is journalist and analyst reporting on politics in the US and the Middle East for Middle East Eye, an outlet built on social media.  The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mathildamall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and Helena Wadia (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@helenawadia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)  The music is by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @soundofsamfire⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does Greece's Byzantine and Ottoman past shape its future? In this episode, Helen Carr speaks to journalist and author Sean Matthews about Greece's shifting geopolitical role and alliances. Caught between wars raging in both Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Greece is an island of relative stability. Popularly considered the cradle of Western civilization, this is a Christian Orthodox state on the edge of the Islamic world. And, after a half-century of integration into NATO and the EU, Greece is now reabsorbing into the Near East, as the West fractures and new Middle Eastern powers rise. As Greek-American journalist Sean Matthews argues, the country's importance as a cultural and geopolitical hybrid is growing. Sean is a Greek-American journalist who has covered a wide swath of the Middle East.  He is a correspondent with Middle East Eye, and has also written for The Economist and Al-Monitor, among others. The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East is his first book. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Where does Greece belong? Many look at the ancient Greek ruins of Athens, and see the cradle of Western civilization. But much of Greece's history actually looks eastward to the rest of the Mediterranean: to Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. In his book The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East (Hurst: 2025), Sean Mathews argues that it's best to think about Greece as belonging to the “Near East”—and doubly so with today's more complicated geopolitics. Sean Mathews is a Greek-American journalist who has covered a wide swath of the Middle East. He is a correspondent with Middle East Eye, and has also written for The Economist and Al-Monitor, among others. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The New Byzantines. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In 1924, the Republic of Turkey voted to abolish the Ottoman caliphate, ending a 400-year-long claim by the Ottomans that they were the leaders of the Islamic world. Abdülmecid II—who had been elected to the position by the Republic of Turkey just two years before—decamped for Europe. What followed was a bold plan by Indian Muslims and the Nizam of Hyderabad, one of the world's richest men at the time, to potentially revive the caliphate, as told in Imran Mulla's book The Indian Caliphate, Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Prince (Hurst, 2025) Imran Mulla is a journalist at Middle East Eye in London, before which he studied history at the University of Cambridge. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Indian Caliphate. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In 1924, the Republic of Turkey voted to abolish the Ottoman caliphate, ending a 400-year-long claim by the Ottomans that they were the leaders of the Islamic world. Abdülmecid II—who had been elected to the position by the Republic of Turkey just two years before—decamped for Europe. What followed was a bold plan by Indian Muslims and the Nizam of Hyderabad, one of the world's richest men at the time, to potentially revive the caliphate, as told in Imran Mulla's book The Indian Caliphate, Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Prince (Hurst, 2025) Imran Mulla is a journalist at Middle East Eye in London, before which he studied history at the University of Cambridge. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Indian Caliphate. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

In 1924, the Republic of Turkey voted to abolish the Ottoman caliphate, ending a 400-year-long claim by the Ottomans that they were the leaders of the Islamic world. Abdülmecid II—who had been elected to the position by the Republic of Turkey just two years before—decamped for Europe. What followed was a bold plan by Indian Muslims and the Nizam of Hyderabad, one of the world's richest men at the time, to potentially revive the caliphate, as told in Imran Mulla's book The Indian Caliphate, Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Prince (Hurst, 2025) Imran Mulla is a journalist at Middle East Eye in London, before which he studied history at the University of Cambridge. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Indian Caliphate. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

In 1924, the Republic of Turkey voted to abolish the Ottoman caliphate, ending a 400-year-long claim by the Ottomans that they were the leaders of the Islamic world. Abdülmecid II—who had been elected to the position by the Republic of Turkey just two years before—decamped for Europe. What followed was a bold plan by Indian Muslims and the Nizam of Hyderabad, one of the world's richest men at the time, to potentially revive the caliphate, as told in Imran Mulla's book The Indian Caliphate, Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Prince (Hurst, 2025) Imran Mulla is a journalist at Middle East Eye in London, before which he studied history at the University of Cambridge. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Indian Caliphate. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

Where does Greece belong? Many look at the ancient Greek ruins of Athens, and see the cradle of Western civilization. But much of Greece's history actually looks eastward to the rest of the Mediterranean: to Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. In his book The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East (Hurst: 2025), Sean Mathews argues that it's best to think about Greece as belonging to the “Near East”—and doubly so with today's more complicated geopolitics. Sean Mathews is a Greek-American journalist who has covered a wide swath of the Middle East. He is a correspondent with Middle East Eye, and has also written for The Economist and Al-Monitor, among others. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The New Byzantines. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Where does Greece belong? Many look at the ancient Greek ruins of Athens, and see the cradle of Western civilization. But much of Greece's history actually looks eastward to the rest of the Mediterranean: to Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. In his book The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East (Hurst: 2025), Sean Mathews argues that it's best to think about Greece as belonging to the “Near East”—and doubly so with today's more complicated geopolitics. Sean Mathews is a Greek-American journalist who has covered a wide swath of the Middle East. He is a correspondent with Middle East Eye, and has also written for The Economist and Al-Monitor, among others. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The New Byzantines. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Where does Greece belong? Many look at the ancient Greek ruins of Athens, and see the cradle of Western civilization. But much of Greece's history actually looks eastward to the rest of the Mediterranean: to Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. In his book The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East (Hurst: 2025), Sean Mathews argues that it's best to think about Greece as belonging to the “Near East”—and doubly so with today's more complicated geopolitics. Sean Mathews is a Greek-American journalist who has covered a wide swath of the Middle East. He is a correspondent with Middle East Eye, and has also written for The Economist and Al-Monitor, among others. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The New Byzantines. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where does Greece belong? Many look at the ancient Greek ruins of Athens, and see the cradle of Western civilization. But much of Greece's history actually looks eastward to the rest of the Mediterranean: to Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. In his book The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East (Hurst: 2025), Sean Mathews argues that it's best to think about Greece as belonging to the “Near East”—and doubly so with today's more complicated geopolitics. Sean Mathews is a Greek-American journalist who has covered a wide swath of the Middle East. He is a correspondent with Middle East Eye, and has also written for The Economist and Al-Monitor, among others. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The New Byzantines. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

Journalist Peter Oborne claims both Labour and Conservatives have fallen short on their response to Israel's war in Gaza.--Peter Oborne is a journalist, author and commentator. He was the political editor of The Spectator, a commentator for the Daily Telegraph and now writes for Middle East Eye. A long-time conservative, Oborne joins Oli Dugmore to explain why he believes the Conservative Party have abandoned their principles, and to discuss the role that successive British governments have played - or failed to play - in dealing with genocides around the world. Peter Oborne's book "Complicit: Britain's role in the destruction of Gaza" is out now.SAVE £££ THIS CHRISTMAS:⭐️ Gift big ideas, bold politics, and proper journalism from just £2LISTEN AD-FREE:

Beginning in 2021, when Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (now X) censored posts by Palestinians protesting their expulsion from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah to today's genocide in Gaza, Big Tech has advanced an imperialist agenda and betrayed its own alleged commitment to free speech and democratic values. Through alliances with the Israeli government and Zionist activists, they have leveraged their massive power to spread propaganda, silence criticism of Israel, and smear dissenters. In our latest, we talk with Prof. Omar Zahzah (@omarzahzah.bsky.social), professor at San Francisco State, and author of "TERMS OF SERVITUDE: zionism, silicon valley, and digital settler colonialism in the palestinian liberation struggle," to discuss the censorship of pro-Palestinian voices, targeting of the Palestinian liberation movement in Gaza and beyond, and the spreading of Zionist propaganda being done by Big Tech. Please listen in on this important interview. Bio//Omar Zahzah is a writer, poet, organizer of Lebanese Palestinian descent, and Assistant Professor of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies at San Francisco State University. Omar has covered digital repression in relation to Palestine as a freelance journalist since May 2021, with work appearing in such outlets as Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, CounterPunch, and more. He is the Author of “TERMS OF SERVITUDE: zionism, silicon valley, and digital settler colonialism in the palestinian liberation struggle."—————-

On Tuesday the UN General Assembly met to discuss a plan for Palestinian statehood, two months after President Trump announced his twenty-point peace plan for Israel and Gaza. But has the fighting actually stopped? Is the region any closer to peace? And could Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing criminal trial derail the whole process?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Gabrielle Weiniger, Israel correspondent, The Times. Host: Manveen Rana. Producers: Micaela Arneson, Olivia Case. Read more: ‘With or without Netanyahu, Trump will lead us to a two-state solution'Further listening: How Trump's Gaza deal could still unravelClips: WPLG Local 10, Fox, DW News, RTE News, The Guardian, WFAA / YouTube, Middle East Eye, NBC, Yvette Cooper / Twitter.Photo: Getty Images.Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.comThis podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a Katie Halper Show exclusive, journalist Matthew Petti discusses for the first time, his reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, Israel, Qatar, Tom Barrack, Trump's Middle East envoy, and Sultan bin Sulayem, a very powerful Dubai businessman tied to the royal family and more. Then Katie gets an update from Zeyad Kadur about his nephew Mohammed Ibrahim, a 16 year old American Citizen who is languishing in an Israeli prison where he has been kept since early 2025. For the full discussion, please join us on Patreon at - https://www.patreon.com/posts/patreon-full-143899463 Links for Mohammed Ibrahim: Institute For Middle East Understanding Policy Project: https://www.imeupolicyproject.org/newsletters/lawmakers-call-on-trump-admin-to-free-mohammed-ibrahim-from-israeli-detention CAIR and CAIR-FL Urgent Action Alert: https://secure.ngpvan.com/DYkFiy0PwEiVEvRJaQFdIQ2 freeMohammedIbrahim: https://linktr.ee/freeMohammedIbrahim Matthew Petti is an assistant editor at Reason and a proud New Jersey native. He has previously reported for the BBC (in Persian and English), The Intercept, The Daily Beast, New Lines magazine, Responsible Statecraft, Middle East Eye, and The National Interest, among other publications. Matthew covers U.S. national security policy and its interactions with American society and domestic politics. In 2022, Matthew was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to research the ways in which Arab journalists interact with foreign media. Through the Fulbright program, he worked at a variety of newsrooms in Amman, including Jordan News and Radio al-Balad, where he hosted a program on Latin music. Previously, he was a Center for Arabic Study Abroad and Foreign Language Area Studies fellow in Amman. Matthew graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. He got his start in journalism as a features writer at the Columbia Daily Spectator. **Please support The Katie Halper Show ** For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon - / thekatiehalpershow Get your Katie Halper Show Merch here! https://katiehalper.myspreadshop.com/all Follow Katie on Twitter: https://x.com/kthalps Follow Katie on Instagram: / kthalps Follow Katie on TikTok: / kthalps

A2 THE SHOW #588 Our next guest on A2 THE SHOW is Mohamed Hashem — a seasoned journalist and the host of Real Talk on Middle East Eye, known for his thoughtful, unfiltered conversations about the Middle East and the human stories behind the headlines. With years of experience reporting for Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, Hashem brings rare depth, clarity, and emotional intelligence to some of the most difficult topics of our time. In this episode, he opens up about the challenges facing journalists today, the power of Palestinian reporting, the global shift in public consciousness, and the personal stories that have shaped him — including the devastating losses carried by the very people he interviews. This conversation is raw, honest, and deeply important.

  To hear the full episode and to gain up-to-the-minute access to the entire library of the American Exception podcast, subscribe to our Patreon at https://patreon.com/americanexception We are also on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@americanexception9407 Aaron is joined by Omar Zahzah, the author of Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital/Settler-Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle. Omar Zahzah is a writer, poet, artist, musician, freelance journalist, and Assistant Professor of Arab, Muslim, Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies in the Department of Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University. An organizer for Palestinian liberation for over ten years, Omar is the former Education and Advocacy Coordinator for Eyewitness Palestine, a role that saw him training delegates to Palestine on Palestinian political history and culture and racial justice. Omar's writing on Palestine has appeared in outlets such as The Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, The Nation, and the New York Times. Omar holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from UCLA. Special thanks to: Dana Chavarria, production Casey Moore, graphics Michelle Boley, animated intro Mock Orange, music

Is the British media complicit in the Gaza genocide?This week, things heat up as Alan and Lionel are joined by Peter Oborne, former Telegraph chief political commentator, whose most recent book is Complicit: Britain's role in the destruction of Gaza.Peter discusses the influence of pro-Israel lobbyists on British politics, his own political evolution, and the challenges of reporting fairly. He asks why the BBC never reported on Israel's Dahiya doctrine, which he thinks explains its assaults on civilian infrastructure.Peter, who now writes for Middle East Eye, analyses where the British media has failed on Gaza—but also which reporters are getting it right. The three discuss the impact of media narratives about international events, the stories that get silenced, and who the heroes of this moment in history might be. Plus, Peter and Lionel go head-to-head in a memorable exchange—one of the fieriest in Media Confidential history. Listen to hear it as it happened. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Palestinian liberation struggle is a fundamental class and anti-colonial issue. First-time guest to the podcast, Professor Omar Zahzah, talks with Steve about the active collaboration of Silicon Valley tech giants with the US and Israeli governments to censor and suppress anti-Zionist narratives. "What these companies are doing is digitally amplifying a physical process of settler colonial dispossession." Omar goes beyond labeling digital censorship as simple political bias. He argues that Silicon Valley's actions are a direct extension of imperialist goals in Palestine: the erasure of a people, their narrative, and their history. Big Tech is not a referee – not even a biased one. It is an active combatant. Omar provides a sharp critique of how the language of safety and anti-racism is co-opted and weaponized. Online platforms use terms like "harassment" and "hate speech" to silence criticism. In their discussion, Omar and Steve apply Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony to the digital sphere. They analyze how Big Tech platforms shape our "common sense," not just through outright censorship, but through algorithmic curation, shadow-banning, and overwhelming activists with trolls and bots, waging a "digital war of attrition" that drains energy and shifts perceptions. They also suggest the potential TikTok ban is not just a US-China trade issue but a symptom of a crisis of hegemony. Omar Zahzah is a writer, poet, organizer of Lebanese Palestinian descent, and Assistant Professor of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies at San Francisco State University. Omar has covered digital repression in relation to Palestine as a freelance journalist since May 2021, with work appearing in such outlets as Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, CounterPunch, and more. Omar holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from UCLA. His recently published book is Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle @dromarzahzah on X

In addition to the United States, several key European governments continue to provide intelligence and arms to the Israeli military—support that enables the ongoing genocide in Gaza and obstructs the path toward a political solution. Germany is among these governments, and its complicity is particularly striking given its own history of genocides in the 20th century. In a recent article for Middle East Eye titled “As Gaza becomes a death camp, German complicity reveals the West's racist biopolitics,” Dr. Jürgen Mackert analyzes how this ideology determines who is deemed worthy of life and resources, and who is not. Dr. Mackert is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Potsdam, Germany, and the author of several works. His most recent book, On Social Closure: Theorizing Exclusion, Exploitation, and Elimination, explores the mechanisms by which societies create and enforce boundaries of belonging.

Ralph welcomes constitutional scholar, John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of the group “Free Speech for People,” which has launched the non-partisan campaign “Impeach Trump. Again.” Plus, Ralph, Steve, and David discuss Donld Trump's servile corporatist agenda and his attempt to rig the midterms by ordering Texas to gerrymander him five more districts.John Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney and the co-founder and president of Free Speech For People. Mr. Bonifaz previously served as the executive director and general counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute, and as the legal director of Voter Action. In 2004, Mr. Bonifaz wrote the book Warrior-King: The Case For Impeaching George W. Bush.We either have a constitution,or we don't. We either have an impeachment clause, or we don't. If we're not going to invoke the impeachment power at this critical moment in our nation's history, then we might as well say we're giving up on the Constitution. We refuse to give up on the Constitution.John BonifazI think the biggest thing that we have to deal with are the naysayers. Those who somehow claim that we're not going to invoke the impeachment power because either it's not the right time, or he's already been impeached twice and what's the point or we just need to move on.John BonifazThese are high crimes against the state. These are not policy disputes. These are political high crimes against the state, for which you must be held accountable via the impeachment process.John BonifazI think it's disgraceful for any member who claims that they're out there defending the Constitution and defending our democracy, and yet they won't even want to mention the "I- word”. As much as I respect them on other fronts and what they do, if they're not invoking the impeachment clause at this critical hour, frankly, they're part of the problem.John BonifazNews 8/29/25* In an interview on “Hamakor” or “The Source” on Israel's Channel 13, former Biden State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told former Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he planned to continue fighting in Gaza for decades, per the Middle East Eye. Other revelations in this interview include behind the scenes accounts of ceasefire negotiations, such as a story about Netanyahu blowing up a proposed six-week ceasefire with his declaration that Israel would invade Rafah “whether there was a ceasefire or not,” according to the Times of Israel. It is disgraceful that Miller and the Biden administration kept this information from the public at the time, but better late than never.* A new report in the Chronicle of Higher Education reveals that, “Hundreds of pages of previously unseen documents reveal that [Pennsylvania Governor Josh] Shapiro's office was intimately involved in managing the controversy [over the pro-Palestine demonstrations and encampments at the University of Pennsylvania], seizing an unprecedented level of influence over the university in the process.” Through a proxy, a lawyer named Robb Fox, Shapiro “pushed the university to ban Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine (PAO), its main pro-Palestinian student group,” and “worked closely with the Penn Israel Public Affairs Committee — a significant pro-Israel group on campus — to a great enough extent that PIPAC effusively thanked Shapiro and Fox for their ‘partnership.'” Shapiro putting his thumb on the scales against pro-Palestine student activism is sure to come back to haunt him if he seeks the presidential nomination in 2028, as many speculate he will.* In more foreign policy related news, investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reports “The Trump administration has directed the military to prepare for lethal strikes against cartel targets inside Mexico…which are to be ready by mid-September.” This is the latest escalation in Trump's campaign against transnational criminal organizations, or TCOs, but critically, “sources say that military action could be unilateral — that is, without the involvement or approval of the Mexican government.” If so, this would constitute an extremely aggressive act within the sovereign territory of another country. It is unlikely that Mexico would respond with any kind of military action, but diplomatic and economic sanctions would be on the table.* In domestic political news, the Democratic National Committee held a much-anticipated meeting in Minneapolis on Tuesday, featuring dueling resolutions to lay out the party's position on Gaza – one of which called for a “military arms embargo and suspension of military aid to Israel.” As POLITICO reports, “The committee initially voted to reject that measure while advancing…one backed by [DNC Chair Ken] Martin, which called for ‘unrestricted' aid to Gaza and a two-state solution. But soon after the arms embargo vote failed, Martin announced he was withdrawing his successful resolution.” Martin stated “There's a divide in our party on this issue,” and urged Democrats to “keep working through” what their position should be. Allison Minnerly, the progressive Florida delegate who sponsored the more strident resolution, expressed that while she was glad Martin didn't ram through his preferred position, she considered the result “disappointing” when “it's clear what voters want.” According to Gallup, just 8% of Democrats approve of Israel's actions in Gaza.* More Democratic Party division surfaced in Minnesota this week, with Axios reporting that, based on a technicality, the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's rules committee vacated the local DFL's endorsement of democratic socialist mayoral candidate Omar Fateh. Fateh, who has been hailed as the “Mamdani of Minneapolis” won the local party's endorsement in July, which gave him – rather than incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey – exclusive access to the party's voter database. According to this report however, a third candidate was wrongfully eliminated from the endorsement vote process, rendering the endorsement null and void. Fateh's campaign is understandably incensed by this decision and views it as an attempt by the state party to intervene on behalf of Frey. Moreover, Ryan Faircloth of the Star-Tribune reports “the state DFL committee [also] barred the Minneapolis DFL from holding another endorsing convention this year…placed the Minneapolis DFL on probation for two years and said it must be supervised by [the] state DFL executive committee.” Fateh co-campaign manager Graham Faulkner is quoted saying “Our campaign sees this for what it is: disenfranchisement of thousands of Minneapolis caucus-goers and the delegates who represented all of us on convention day…The establishment is threatened by our message…They are scared of a politics that really stands up to corporate interests and with our working class neighbors." Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called the move a “stain on our party.”* In more local politics news, the administration of New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been rocked by yet new corruption indictments. On August 21st, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, “announced the indictment of INGRID LEWIS-MARTIN for accepting more than $75,000 in bribes…in a wide-ranging series of bribery conspiracies …while serving as Chief Advisor to the Mayor of the City of New York.” Lewis-Martin was previously charged in an alleged bribery conspiracy totaling more than $100,000 in December 2024. This new indictment is related to Lewis-Martin accepting bribes in exchange for favorable treatment by city agencies, including “help[ing] fast-track permit approvals for a karaoke bar in Queens,” and “hav[ing] the New York City Department of Transportation…withdraw its approval for a street redesign of McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn, which would have included new, protected bike lanes.” For the latter, Lewis-Martin allegedly received a speaking role on the television show Godfather of Harlem. This indictment further cements the comically corrupt reputation of the Eric Adams administration.* In more news of possible corruption, Unusual Whales, which tracks congressional stock trading, reported on August 19th that Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott just disclosed trades worth $26,000,000 more than a year late, noting that Scott “traded millions on companies he legislated.” Scott, one of Trump's closest allies in the Senate, previously served as CEO of Columbia/HCA, the largest for-profit healthcare company in the nation in the 1990s. He was forced to resign in 1997, when the Department of Justice won 14 felony convictions against the company and imposed a $1.7 billion fine, the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history up to that point.* Moving on to consumer news, the Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against “LA Fitness and other gyms over allegations they make it exceedingly difficult for consumers to cancel their gym memberships.” The agency is “seeking a court order prohibiting the allegedly unfair conduct and money back for consumers harmed by the difficulty in cancelling memberships.” This lawsuit is related to the FTC's “click to subscribe/call to cancel” rule, but these gyms go far beyond requiring customers to merely call to cancel their memberships. As the FTC explains, “LA Fitness has required consumers who want to cancel their membership to either go to the gym itself or send a cancellation notice by mail,” and they make both processes as difficult as possible. For instance, “consumers who tried to cancel in person…could only cancel with one specific employee, even though LA Fitness authorized several employees to sign consumers up for memberships. This restricted cancellation hours to times when consumers are typically at work, despite most locations operating up to 19 hours per day, seven days per week.” These kinds of mundane degradations are far too common throughout the economy and the only thing that will force companies to treat their customers with the respect they are due is regulatory action.* Our last two stories concern lawsuits against Amazon. First, Law360 reports a federal judge has ordered Amazon to disclose information “regarding the company's alleged ties to antitrust researchers.” In a series of antitrust cases, Amazon's “expert economists” have cited “various academic authors,” about whom the plaintiffs “have presented records suggest[ing Amazon] ‘has communicated with or funded.'” This includes “antitrust research by economists, scholars and think tanks that [were] ‘funded, solicited or edited' by the company.” This decision could prove to be momentous if it turns out that Amazon funding of antitrust research has been as deep and widespread as some believe. As the Lever's Luke Goldstein puts it, “Grifters are on notice. Clock is ticking.”* Finally, the Hollywood Reporter is out with a story on a proposed class action lawsuit against Amazon, filed in Washington Friday, over a “‘bait and switch' in which the company allegedly misleads consumers into believing they've purchased content when they're only getting a license to watch, which can be revoked at any time.” Essentially, this lawsuit revolves around the fact that despite marketing “purchases” of movies on their platform, these “purchases” can actually be revoked at any time if Amazon loses the rights to the film. This is also a case of a “fine print” contract; as this story notes, “On its website and platform, the company tells consumers they can ‘buy' a movie. But hidden in a footnote on the confirmation page is fine print that says, ‘You receive a license to the video and you agree to our terms.'” This issue has previously arisen with regard to video games, spawning the so-called “Stop Killing Games” movement which seeks to prevent companies from “destroying titles consumers had already bought.” California has responded to that movement by passing a law “barring the advertisement of a transaction as a ‘purchase' unless it offers unrestricted ownership of the product.” Amazon will surely deploy an army of lawyers to fight this case, but for the time being at least, the momentum is on the side of the consumers for once. We can only hope for their victory.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Die Verenigde Nasies se sekretaris-generaal, António Guterres, vra ʼn onmiddellike en onpartydige ondersoek na dodelike Israelse aanvalle op die Nasser-hospitaal in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Minstens 20 mense, insluitend vyf joernaliste, is volgens berigte in die aanvalle dood. Die joernaliste het vir Reuters, Associated Press, Al Jazeera en die Middle East Eye gewerk. Guterres se woordvoerder, Stéphane Dujarric, sê ʼn onmiddellike en permanente skietstilstand is Gaza is nou nodiger as ooit:

On Monday morning, Israeli forces launched not one, but two strikes on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. The first hit just after 10am. Then, around ten minutes later, as journalists and medics rushed to the scene, a second strike hit the same spot. At least twenty people were killed. Among them: five journalists and four health workers. The journalists were working for outlets including Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye and others. But, how is Israel justifying this latest attack, one that, on many fronts, may amount to a war crime?Join us on our journey through the events that shape the European continent and the European Union.Production: By Europod, in co production with Sphera Network.Follow us on:LinkedInInstagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our resident constitutional expert Bruce Fein joins to make the case for impeaching the Supreme Court AND the President, and what we—as citizens—can do to make it happen. Then we welcome Lori Wallach of Rethink Trade to evaluate Trump's tariff policy. Are these trade deals bringing manufacturing back to the US? Or is Trump just using tariffs as a cudgel to punish countries that annoy him?Bruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.This has real consequences for you people all over the country because one of their shadow docket decisions (without explanation or hearing) briefs just very recently said that Trump can fire all these people in the IRS or the Education Department or EPA and get away with it. And, in fact, paralyze the workings of his (statutorily-established-by-Congress) Cabinet Secretary and Department…So this is devastating to your health, economic safety, environment, workplace safety, education, all kinds of things that are being ridden into the ground.Ralph NaderIn my judgment, the court has basically abandoned its role as a check on executive power…It's actually become an appendage of the executive branch. Nothing placing any kind of serious or material handcuff on what the President can do on his own. And the President is taking full advantage of that.Bruce FeinLori Wallach is a 30-year veteran of international and U.S. congressional trade battles— starting with the 1990s fights over NAFTA and WTO when she founded the “Global Trade Watch” group at Public Citizen. She is now the director of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project, and a Senior Advisor to the Citizens Trade Campaign.What these guys are doing [with Trump's tariff policy] it's basically trying to build a house with just a hammer—we are against saws; we are against screwdrivers; we do not actually believe in nails, no other tools; we will just hammer a bunch of wood. And as a result, we're going to make some noise and we're definitely going to break some things, but we're not actually building a new redistributed trade system—which we could.Lori WallachBest that we can tell, the dynamic is something like: Trump is so engaged in the fun and chaos—fun (from his perspective) and chaos of throwing tariff news around like a lightning bolt that he really is not taking advice about it from people who know how you could use tariffs to try and ostensibly achieve the things he promised. He's just enjoying throwing around tariffs.Lori WallachNews 7/18/25* Last week, Elon Musk's pet AI program – Grok – began identifying itself as “MechaHitler,” and spitting out intricate rape threats and sexual fantasies directed at individuals like liberal pundit Will Stancil and now-ex X CEO Linda Yaccarino. This week, Musk rolled out Grok's new “sexy mode” which includes a visual avatar feature depicting the artificial entity as a quasi-pornographic anime-esque character who can flirt with users, per the Standard. So, naturally, the Trump Defense Department awarded xAI, the parent company behind Grok, a $200 million contract. According to CNN, “The contracts will enable the DoD to develop agentic AI workflows and use them to address critical national security challenges.” It is unclear how exactly the entity calling itself MechaHitler will accomplish that.* In local news, a special election was held in Washington DC's Ward 8 this week, seeking to replace corrupt councilmember Trayon White. White was implicated in an FBI bribery investigation and was expelled from the council in February. Yet, because of the splintered opposition, White pulled out a narrow victory on Wednesday, winning with 29.7% of the vote compared to his opponents' 24.3%, 23.7% and 22.3% respectively, per WTOP. In 2024, DC Voters approved a ballot measure to implement ranked-choice voting, which could have helped prevent this outcome, but it has yet to take effect. The DC Council could vote to expel White again more or less immediately; if not, they would likely wait for his trial to commence in January 2026.* Turning to foreign affairs, Israel has bombed the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing three and wounding 34, in strikes primarily targeting the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters, per NPR. Israel's attack comes amid tensions between the new, post-Assad Syrian government and the Druze minority in the Southern Syrian city of Sweida. The government claims the Druze violated a ceasefire reached earlier in the week and Syrian troops responded; a new ceasefire deal has been reached and the office of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a statement reading, the “rights [of the citizens of Sweida] will always be protected and…we will not allow any party to tamper with their security or stability.” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said in a statement that the U.N. chief “condemns Israel's escalatory airstrikes,” as well as reports of the Israeli military's redeployment of forces in the Golan Heights. As journalist Séamus Malekafzali notes, “Damascus is now the 4th Middle Eastern capital to be bombed by Israel in the past 6 weeks, alongside Tehran, Beirut, and Sana'a.”* In more news from Israel, the Knesset this week sought to expel Palestinian lawmaker Ayman Odeh, leader of the Hadash-Ta'al party. According to Haaretz, “The vote was triggered by a Likud lawmaker after Odeh published a social media post in January, saying that he ‘rejoices' over the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.” However, the motion failed to reach the 90-vote threshold, meaning Odeh will remain in the legislature. Six members of Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party voted for the motion, but not Lapid himself. The United Torah Judaism party did not back the motion. Haaretz quotes Hassan Jabareen, an attorney, director of the Adalah Legal Center and legal counsel for Odeh, who said, “The overwhelming support for this initiative – from both the coalition and the opposition – reveals the state's intent to crush Palestinian political representation...This was not a legitimate legal process, but rather a racist, fascist incitement campaign aimed at punishing Odeh for his principled stance against occupation, oppression and Israeli violence.” Senator Bernie Sanders celebrated the failure of the motion, writing “Israel's far right tried to expel Ayman Odeh, an Arab Israeli opposition leader, from the Knesset because of his opposition to Netanyahu's war. Today, they failed. If Israel is going to be considered a democracy, it cannot expel members of parliament for their political views.” This from the Middle East Eye.* Sanders also made news this week by declaring that “Given the illegal and immoral war being waged against the Palestinian people by Netanyahu, NO Democrat should accept money from AIPAC – an organization that also helped deliver the presidency to Donald Trump,” per the Jerusalem Post. Sanders posted this statement in response to a video by Obama foreign policy advisor Ben Rhodes, who said “AIPAC is part of the constellation of forces that have delivered this country into the hands of Donald Trump…These are the wrong people to have under your tent...The kind of people that they are supporting, Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump, I don't want my leaders and my political party cozying up to these people.” Bernie's statement is perhaps the strongest stand taken by any American politician against AIPAC, Israel's front group in American politics and one of the biggest special interest groups in the country. AIPAC throws around eye-popping sums of money to members of both parties; to name just one example, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has accepted over $1.6 million from the group, according to Track AIPAC's Hall of Shame.* In a similar vein, last week we discussed the National Education Association's vote to suspend its ties with the Anti-Defamation League due to the ADL's shift in focus from Jewish civil rights to laundering the reputation of Israel. Since then, the ADL has sought to mobilize their allies to demand the NEA reject the vote. To this end, the ADL has sought the support of J Street, a liberal Jewish group critical of Israel, per the Forward. J Street however has rebuffed the ADL, refusing to sign the group's letter. Though they oppose the NEA resolution, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami issued a statement reading in part, “charges of antisemitism must not be wielded to quash legitimate criticism of Israeli policy...the NEA vote can[not] be dismissed as being driven by fringe ‘pro-Hamas' antisemitic activists.” Hopefully, more Jewish groups will follow the example of J Street and break with the Zionist orthodoxy of the ADL.* In other foreign policy news, the Guardian reports French President Macron has reached a deal with the leadership of the French “overseas territory” New Caledonia to grant the island statehood and more autonomy within the French legal system. New Caledonia is one of several UN-designated ‘non-self-governing territories.' France has exerted rule over the Pacific Island – over 10,000 miles from Paris – and its nearly 300,000 inhabitants since the 19th century. Last May, riots broke out over France's decision to grant voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous residents. This violence “claimed the lives of 14 people, [and] is estimated to have cost the territory…$2.3 bn... shaving 10% off its gross domestic product.” However, the Times reports indigenous Kanak independence activists reject the deal outright. Brenda Wanabo-Ipeze, a leader of the Co-ordination Cell for Actions on the Ground, who is currently detained in France, said, “This text was signed without us. It does not bind us.” The Times adds that, “The conservative and hard-right French opposition accused Macron of failing to ensure security in the territory. The left accused the president of imposing colonial tactics on a people who should be allowed self-determination.” It remains to be seen whether this deal will prove durable enough to weather criticism from so many angles.* Much has been made of Attorney General Pam Bondi's decision last week to not release any more information related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. A Department of Justice memo reads, “it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” This has created a firestorm in the MAGA world, with many Trump supporters feeling betrayed as the president implied he would declassify these files if reelected. Now, Congressmen Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna have introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act which would “force the House of Representatives to vote on the complete release of the government's files related to Jeffrey Epstein,” according to a press release from Massie's office. This resolution specifically states the files cannot “be withheld, delayed, or redacted” should they cause “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.” The resolution is attracting support from some Republicans, but it is unclear how far this will go under Speaker Johnson, who maintains there is “no daylight between his position and that of Trump,” per the Hill. The position of congressional Republicans has been further complicated by a bombshell report in the Wall Street Journal documenting previously unknown details of the intimate relationship between the late pedophile financier and the president.* Meanwhile, the Trump administration is once again torching America's reputation abroad – this time literally. The Atlantic reports “Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people abroad who need it. Nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food—enough to feed about 1.5 million children for a week—are set to expire tomorrow, according to current and former government employees with direct knowledge of the rations. Within weeks…the food, meant for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will be ash.” This cartoonishly evil decision paired with the “Big Beautiful Bill”'s provisions cutting food assistance for children in poverty, point to one inescapable conclusion: the Trump administration wants children to starve.* Finally, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Mexico News Daily reports the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum is debuting a healthy, domestically produced and affordable staple for Mexican consumers – chocolate bars. “This ‘Chocolate de Bienestar' is part of the government's ‘Food for Well-Being' strategy, which aims to bring nutritious and affordable food options to consumers while supporting national producers, particularly those in the southern states of Tabasco and Chiapas — a region that has historically lagged behind other regions in several social and economic indicators.” The Sheinbaum administration is stressing the health benefits of chocolate, noting that, “Studies have shown that chocolate improves cardiovascular health via its antioxidants, provides energy, helps control blood pressure, improves cognitive capacity, satisfies hunger and lifts mood.” At the same time, the administration is seeking to minimize the sugar content “striking a supposedly healthier balance between natural cane sugar and the cacao itself.” This chocolate will be available in three forms:“Chocolate bar containing 50% cacao, and priced at…less than $1.Powdered chocolate with 30% cocoa, priced...$2Chocolate de mesa or tablet chocolate, with 35% cacao, priced at …$5”This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

The extent to which western soft power and legal and moral authority has been shredded by Gaza is lost upon British, American and European populations for the most part, but across the global south a new movement appears to be coalescing around South Africa and Columbia. In Europe, Ireland and Spain have joined with them and sixteen other global south countries to form the Hague Group, dedicated to upholding international law as it relates to Gaza. This, until quite recently, was inconceivable and the intervention of China is the one factor that makes this resistance possible. Full report in Middle East Eye here*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just two days after we sat down with Francesca Albanese, the Trump Administration placed her under sanctions.They accuse the UN Special Rapporteur of waging “economic warfare” on the United States. She says the sanctions are “mafia style intimidation techniques” and vows to continue her work to remind states of their obligations to “stop and punish genocide. And those who profit from it.”So why has the US taken such a drastic move? That has a lot to do with a scathing report Albanese just published, titled the “economy of genocide”.In it, she accuses more than 60 corporations of “sustaining and profiting off of Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.”Some of these companies include Google, Amazon, Hyundai Booking.com and the bank Barclays.This week on the Big Picture Podcast, we sit down with Francesca Albanese to talk about what her explosive report exposes about the world's richest companies, and how the rest of us are implicated in a system that exploits the pain of Palestinians for the sake of profit.We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG

Reports that Eastern Libya's parliament is considering endorsing the 2019 maritime agreement between Turkey and the Tripoli-based government in Libya that attempted to split the eastern Mediterranean between the two - and at the expense of neighboring countries - is sounding the alarm in Greece and Egypt. Sean Mathews, a journalist for the Middle East Eye covering the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans, joins Thanos Davelis as we look at why the Turkey-Libya deal is back in the headlines, and examine what a decision to endorse it in eastern Libya would mean for Greece, Egypt, and the East Med.You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:Exclusive: Greece to lobby Egypt against Haftar endorsing Turkey-Libya maritime dealEU warns Greece over lack of water strategyAthens, Cairo back at the table over ancient monastery status

At this very moment, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have managed to survive Israel's scorched-earth siege and bombing are being deliberately starved to death as a result of Israel's 11-week blockade preventing food and aid from entering Gaza. As Jem Bartholemew writes at The Guardian, “The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC [Tuesday] morning that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time. Five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday but Fletcher described this as a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for the population's needs.” In response to this dire humanitarian crisis, students at multiple university campuses in the US have launched hunger strikes in solidarity with the starving people of Gaza. In this urgent episode, we speak with four hunger strikers at the University of Oregon (UO), including: Cole, Sadie, and Efron, three undergraduate students who are all members of Jewish Voice for Peace - UO and who just completed a 60-hour solidarity hunger strike; and Phia, a Palestinian-American undergraduate student who has organized with JVP-UO on the hunger strike and who currently remains on hunger strike herself.Additional links/info: UO Gaza Hunger Strike Instagram and TikTok UO Gaza Hunger Strike: Community Calls to Action! Press Release: University of Oregon Students, Faculty, and Staff Launch “UO Gaza Hunger Strike” Campaign Protesting Mass Starvation and Genocide Jewish Voice for Peace - UO Instagram Nathan Wilk, KLCC, “University of Oregon protesters begin hunger strike for Gaza” Michael Arria, Mondoweiss, “Students across the U.S. are going on hunger strike as Israeli-engineered famine takes hold in Gaza” Syma Mohammed, Middle East Eye, “US: UCLA student hospitalised during hunger strike for Gaza” Jem Bartholemew, The Guardian, “First Thing: UN says 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in next 48 hours under Israeli aid blockade” Ronen Bergman & Natan Odenheimer, The New York Times, “In private, some Israeli officers admit that Gaza is on the brink of starvation” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘The raids happened Wednesday, finals started Thursday': FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘A tremendous chilling effect': Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid Trump attacks” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘People are hiding in their apartments': Inside Trump's assault on universities”  Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘Worse' than McCarthyism: Trump's war on higher education, free speech, and political dissent” Permanent links below… Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music… Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

At this very moment, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have managed to survive Israel's scorched-earth siege and bombing are being deliberately starved to death as a result of Israel's 11-week blockade preventing food and aid from entering Gaza. As Jem Bartholemew writes at The Guardian, “The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC [Tuesday] morning that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time. Five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday but Fletcher described this as a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for the population's needs.” In response to this dire humanitarian crisis, students at multiple university campuses in the US have launched hunger strikes in solidarity with the starving people of Gaza. In this urgent episode, we speak with four hunger strikers at the University of Oregon (UO), including: Cole, Sadie, and Efron, three undergraduate students who are all members of Jewish Voice for Peace - UO and who just completed a 60-hour solidarity hunger strike; and Phia, a Palestinian-American undergraduate student who has organized with JVP-UO on the hunger strike and who currently remains on hunger strike herself.Additional links/info:UO Gaza Hunger Strike Instagram and TikTokUO Gaza Hunger Strike: Community Calls to Action!Press Release: University of Oregon Students, Faculty, and Staff Launch “UO Gaza Hunger Strike” Campaign Protesting Mass Starvation and GenocideJewish Voice for Peace - UO InstagramNathan Wilk, KLCC, “University of Oregon protesters begin hunger strike for Gaza”Michael Arria, Mondoweiss, “Students across the U.S. are going on hunger strike as Israeli-engineered famine takes hold in Gaza”Syma Mohammed, Middle East Eye, “US: UCLA student hospitalised during hunger strike for Gaza”Jem Bartholemew, The Guardian, “First Thing: UN says 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in next 48 hours under Israeli aid blockade”Ronen Bergman & Natan Odenheimer, The New York Times, “In private, some Israeli officers admit that Gaza is on the brink of starvation”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘The raids happened Wednesday, finals started Thursday': FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘A tremendous chilling effect': Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid Trump attacks”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘People are hiding in their apartments': Inside Trump's assault on universities” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘Worse' than McCarthyism: Trump's war on higher education, free speech, and political dissent”Audio Post-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

On Tuesday President Trump said that the US would stop attacking the Houthis in Yemen because the group had "capitulated", adding that the Houthis had pledged to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. This move comes after pressure from both regional players like Saudi Arabia - which President Trump is planning to visit - and from within the MAGA camp. Sean Mathews, a journalist for the Middle East Eye covering the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans, joins Thanos Davelis as we look into this announcement and break down what it means for the wider region - including Greece. You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:Exclusive: Saudi Arabia pressed Trump to stop attacks on Yemen ahead of visitTrump says the US will stop bombing Yemen's Houthis after rebels say they'll stop targeting shipsGreece aims to boost domestic defense industry's role, Dendias saysGreece leverages defense spending to underscore US alignmentMerz's messy path to power raises questions for future governmentMerz is weakened from Day 1. Europe will pay the price.

Tazeen M. Ali (she/her) is assistant professor of Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research and teaching focus on Islam and gender, US Islam, and race and religion in America. She is the author of The Women's Mosque of America: Authority & Community in US Islam (NYU Press, 2022). She has also published in Religion & Politics (now ARC Mag), The Conversation, The Maydan, and Middle East Eye. Ali is currently writing her second book, Muslims on Screen: Racism and Sexuality in Anglo-American Islam, which analyzes entertainment media projects produced by British and American Muslims. She also serves on the advisory board of the National Museum of American Religion. Ali earned her PhD in Religious Studies from Boston University in 2019. Visit Tazeen Ali Visit Classical Ideas Visit Sacred Writes  

Ralph welcomes New York Times journalist, David Enrich, author of “Murder the Truth” an in-depth exposé of the attack on freedom of the press as protected by the landmark Supreme Court decision “Sullivan v. The New York Times.” Also, Professor Michael Graetz a leading authority on tax politics and policy joins to discuss his book “The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America.” Plus, our resident constitutional scholar, Bruce Fein, updates us on his latest efforts to push for the impeachment of Donald Trump.David Enrich is the business investigations editor for The New York Times. He writes about the intersection of law and business, including the power wielded by giant corporate law firms and the changing contours of the First Amendment and libel law. His latest book is titled Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful, an in-depth exposé of the broad campaign—orchestrated by elite Americans—to overturn sixty years of Supreme Court precedent, weaponize our speech laws, and silence dissent.When all the institutions are crushed by a dictator in the White House, it's only the people that can save the people.Ralph NaderThe interesting thing was that Fox, and these other right-wing outlets for years had been kind of banging the drum against New York Times v. Sullivan and against the protections that many journalists have come to count on. And then they get sued and their immediate fallback is to very happily cite New York Times v. Sullivan.David EnrichThese threats and these lawsuits have become an extremely popular weapon among everyone from the President down to mayors, city council members, local real estate development companies, on and on and on…And the direct result of that will be that powerful people, companies, organizations, institutions are going to be able to do bad things without anyone knowing about it.David EnrichPeople keep asking me what they can do, what they should do. And I think the answer is really to try and understand these issues. They're complicated, but they're also getting deliberately misframed and misrepresented often, especially on the right, but sometimes not on the right. And I think it's really important for people to understand the importance of New York Times v. Sullivan, and to understand the grave threats facing journalists, especially at the local level right now, and the consequences that could have for our democracy.David EnrichMichael Graetz is professor emeritus at Columbia Law School and Yale Law School and a leading authority on tax politics and policy. He served in the U.S. Treasury's Office of Tax Policy and is the author and coauthor of many books, including Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth and The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right. His latest book is The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America.I spent a lot of time asking people to name the most important political and social movements of the last half century. And no surprise, they named the civil rights movement, the women's movement, the LGBTQ movement, the Christian Evangelical movement, the MAGA movement lately, but no one ever mentioned the anti-tax movement. And unlike the other movements I've named, the anti-tax movement is really the only one that has not suffered a serious setback in the past half century.Michael GraetzThe anti-tax movement has always relied on a false dichotomy between “us” (those who pay taxes) and “them” (those who receive government benefits).Michael GraetzThe Democrats now don't want to tax 98% of the people and the Republicans don't want to tax 100% of the people and the question is: how do you get anywhere with those kinds of firm “no new taxes” pledges? And that's a problem. And I think it's a problem that the Democrats have fallen into basically based on the success of the Republicans antitax coalition.Michael GraetzYou're going to see individuals' budgets pinched because the federal government refuses to treat its budget with any degree of seriousness.Michael GraetzThe label they use to justify tax cuts for the rich and the corporate they call them the “job creators.” Well, that has not been proven at all.Ralph NaderBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.Certainly, the current Congress is not going to act without citizen involvement, pressure, clamoring that they do something to save the processes which are the heart and soul of our civilization as opposed to the law of the jungle.Bruce FeinNews 3/19/251. The AP reports that on Tuesday Israel broke the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, launching airstrikes that have killed over 400 Palestinians. These strikes, which have killed mostly women and children, are described as “open-ended and expected to expand.” This new offensive began the same day Prime Minister Netanyahu was scheduled to appear in court to provide testimony in his corruption trial; according to Israeli broadcaster KAN News, Netanyahu used the surprise attack to annul this court date.2. This new offensive endangers the lives of some two dozen Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. These hostages would have been released as part of the prisoner exchanges brokered through the ceasefire agreement. In order to dissuade further escalation, journalist Dimi Reider reports “Israeli hostage families are trying to make a human chain around Gaza to physically block a ground incursion.” This human chain includes prominent Israeli activist Einav Zangauker, whose son is still held in Gaza and who has made herself an implacable opponent of Netanyahu.3. On the home front, a new round of state-backed repression is underway, targeted at pro-Palestine activists on college and university campuses. The Mahmoud Khalil case has received perhaps the most attention and with good reason. Khalil is a legal permanent resident of the United States and is married to a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant. He has long been active in pro-Palestine organizing at the college, which White House officials have claimed make him a “threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States.” The Trump administration has refused to honor Khalil's Constitutional rights – including refusing to let him meet with his lawyer – and has admitted that they are persecuting him on the basis of political speech, a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment. A White House official explicitly told the Free Press, “The allegation…is not that he was breaking the law.” In addition to Khalil however, Columbia has taken the opportunity to expel, suspend and revoke the degrees of 22 students involved in the Hind's Hall occupation last year, per the Middle East Eye. This raft of penalizations includes the expulsion of Grant Miner, President of UAW Local 2710, which represents thousands of Columbia student workers. Per the UAW, “the firing comes one day before contract negotiations were set to open with the University.” The timing of this expulsion is suspicious to say the least.4. Yet, even in the face of such repression, pro-Palestine campus activism perseveres. Democracy Now! reports that on March 14th, Harvard Law School students “overwhelmingly passed a referendum calling on Harvard to divest its more than $50 billion endowment from ‘weapons, surveillance technology, and other companies aiding violations of international humanitarian law, including Israel's genocide in Gaza and its ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine.'” The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee adds that the referendum passed with approximately 73% of the vote, an unquestionably decisive margin. Even still, the university is unlikely to even consider adopting the resolution.5. The resilience of student activists in the face of state-backed repression highlights the fecklessness of elected Democrats. The political leadership of New York for example has not mobilized to defend Mahmoud Khalil from authoritarian overreach by the federal government. Even locally, none of the current mayoral hopefuls – a rather underwhelming lot including the comically corrupt incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, infamous for killing thousands of seniors via his Covid policies and for the pervasive culture of sexual harassment in his office – have forcefully spoken up for Khalil. That is except for Zohran Mamdani, the DSA-endorsed mayoral candidate steadily climbing in the polls thanks to his popular message and well-crafted political ads. His advocacy on behalf of Khalil seems to have won him the support of perhaps the most principled progressive in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, who likewise is leading the meager Congressional effort to pressure the administration to rescind the disappearance of Khalil.6. In light of their anemic response to Trump and Trumpism, Democratic discontent is reaching a boiling point. A flashpoint emerged last week when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer opted not to fight the Republican budget proposal and vote for cloture instead of shutting down the government. Democratic voters were so incensed by this decision that Schumer was forced to postpone his book tour and the Democratic Party registered its lowest ever approval ratings, with just seven percent of voters saying they have a “very positive” view of the party. As this debacle unfolded, House Democrats were at a retreat in Leesburg, Virginia where AOC “slammed…[Schumer's]…decision to ‘completely roll over and give up on protecting the Constitution.'” One member told CNN Democrats in Leesburg were “so mad” that even centrists were “ready to write checks for AOC for Senate.” And Pass the Torch, the grassroots progressive group that called for President Biden withdraw from the 2024 campaign is now calling for Schumer to resign as minority leader, the Hill reports. In their statement, the group writes “[Schumer's] sole job is to fight MAGA's fascist takeover of our democracy — instead, he's directly enabling it. Americans desperately need a real opposition party to stand up to Trump.”7. In the early evening on Tuesday March 18th, Trump unlawfully dismissed the two remaining Democrats on the Federal Trade Commission, POLITICO reports. One Commissioner, Alvaro Bedoya, tweeted “The President just illegally fired me.” Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter was also ousted from her post. In her statement, she wrote that her dismissal violated “the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent. Why? Because…[Trump] is afraid of what I'll tell the American people.” Trump similarly violated the law when he dismissed National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox who filed a lawsuit which prevailed in federal district court. POLITICO reports she returned to work last week. Biden's superstar FTC Chair Lina Khan, already ousted by Trump, commented “The @FTC must enforce the law without fear or favor. The administration's illegal attempt to fire Commissioners Slaughter & Bedoya is a disturbing sign that this FTC won't. It's a gift to corporate lawbreakers that squeeze American consumers, workers, and honest businesses.” On March 19th, Bedoya added “Don't worry…We are still commissioners. We're suing to make that clear for everyone.”8. Trump's radical deregulatory agenda could not come at a worse time. Amid a streak of horrific aviation accidents and incidents, it now appears that Elon Musk is seeking to permanently worm his way into the Federal Aviation Administration. Forbes reports that the Campaign Legal Center has filed a legal complaint with the Office of the Inspector General of the Transportation Department alleging that Musk may have violated conflict of interest laws through his “involvement with a deal between the Federal Aviation Administration and his own company Starlink.” Per the Washington Post, the FAA is “close to canceling” its existing $2.4 billion contract with Verizon in favor of working with Starlink, and according to the legal complaint, Musk “appears to have personally and substantially participated” in these negotiations. This matter will have to play out in court, but the risks are very real. As Representative Greg Casar put it, “Musk is trying to make our air traffic control system ‘dependent' on him by integrating his equipment, which has not gone through security and risk-management review. It's corruption. And it's dangerous.”9. In more Musk news, President Trump has announced that he will institute a new rule classifying any attack on Tesla dealers as domestic terrorism, Reuters reports. This comes in response to the peaceful, so-called “Tesla Takedown” protests, which urge participants to “Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines.” Any connection between the protests and isolated cases of vandalism against Teslas or Tesla dealerships is tenuous at most. Instead, this theatrical display of support for the auto manufacturer seems to be a response Tesla's declining stock value. Reuters reports “Tesla's market capitalization has more than halved since hitting an all-time high of $1.5 trillion on December 17, erasing most of the gains the stock made after Musk-backed Trump won the U.S. election in November.” It seems unlikely that invoking the iron fist of the state against peaceful protestors will do much to buoy Tesla's market position.10. Finally, in a humiliating bit of tragic irony, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long maintained a personal brand as a crusader against junk food, is being deployed by the Trump administration to boost the fast food chain Steak ‘n Shake. Ostensibly, the endorsement is predicated on the chain using beef tallow rather than seed oils to prepare their French fries – the company called it “RFK'ing the fries” – yet even that claim appears shaky. According to NBC, “the chain's move inspired some in the [Make America Healthy Again] world to look deeper… finding that [Steak ‘n Shake's] fries were precooked in seed oils.” Nevertheless, RFK's endorsement has been echoed by many others in Trump-world, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kari Lake, Charlie Kirk, and others. NBC adds that in February, Tesla announced it had signed a deal to build charging stations at Steak 'n Shake locations. Funny how Musk's fingers seem to appear in every pie, or in this case grasping at every tallow French fry.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Ralph welcomes Marc Rotenberg, founder and president of the Center for AI and Digital Policy to fill us in on the latest international treaty aimed at putting guardrails on the potential Frankenstein monster that is Artificial Intelligence. Plus, as we get to the end of the Medicare enrollment period, we put out one last warning for listeners to avoid the scam that is Medicare Advantage.Marc Rotenberg is the founder and president of the Center for AI and Digital Policy, a global organization focused on emerging challenges associated with Artificial Intelligence. He serves as an expert advisor on AI policy to many organizations including the Council of Europe, the Council on Foreign Relations, the European Parliament, the Global Partnership on AI, the OECD, and UNESCO. What troubles me is the gap between an increasingly obscure, technical, and complex technology—abbreviated into “AI” —and public understanding. You know, when motor vehicles came and we tried to regulate them and did, people understood motor vehicles in their daily lives. When solar energy started coming on, they saw solar roof panels. They could see it, they could understand it, they could actually work putting solar panels on roofs of buildings. This area is just producing a massively expanding gap between the experts from various disciplines, and the power structure of corporatism, and their government servants and the rest of the people in the world.Ralph NaderThe difference between these two types of [AI] systems is that with the old ones we could inspect them and interrogate them. If one of the factors being used for an outcome was, for example, race or nationality, we could say, well, that's impermissible and you can't use an automated system in that way. The problem today with the probabilistic systems that US companies have become increasingly reliant on is that it's very difficult to actually tell whether those factors are contributing to an outcome. And so for that reason, there are a lot of computer scientists rightly concerned about the problem of algorithmic bias.Marc Rotenberg[The sponsors of California SB 1047] wanted companies that were building these big complicated systems to undertake a safety plan, identify the harms, and make those plans available to the Attorney General…In fact, I work with many governments around the world on AI regulation and this concept of having an impact assessment is fairly obvious. You don't want to build these large complex systems without some assessment of what the risk might be.Marc RotenbergWe've always understood that when you create devices that have consequences, there has to be some circuit breaker. The companies didn't like that either. [They said] it's too difficult to predict what those scenarios might be, but that was almost precisely the point of the legislation, you see, because if those scenarios exist and you haven't identified them yet, you choose to deploy these large foundational models without any safety mechanism in place, and all of us are at risk. So I thought it was an important bill and not only am I disappointed that the governor vetoed it, but as I said, I think he made a mistake. This is not simply about politics. This is actually about science, and it's about the direction these systems are heading.Marc RotenbergThat's where we are in this moment—opaque systems that the experts don't understand, increasingly being deployed by organizations that also don't understand these systems, and an industry that says, “don't regulate us.” This is not going to end well.Marc RotenbergIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DesantisNews 11/27/241. Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. According to a statement from ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, the international legal body found reasonable grounds to believe that each has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against civilians. This news has been met with varied reactions throughout the world. These have been meticulously documented by Just Security. The United States, which is under no obligation to honor the warrant as it is not a party to the Rome Statute, has said it “fundamentally rejects” the judgment and has called the issuing of warrants “outrageous.” Canada, which is party to the Rome Statue has vowed to uphold their treaty obligations despite their close ties to Israel. Germany however, another signatory to the Rome Statute, has suggested that they would not honor the warrants. In a statement, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said the warrants are “long overdue” and signal that “the days of the Israeli apartheid government operating with impunity are ending.” One can only hope that is true.2. On November 21st, 19 Senators voted for at least one of the three Joint Resolutions of Disapproval regarding additional arms transfers to Israel. As Jewish Voice for Peace Action puts it, “this is an unprecedented show of Senate opposition to President Biden's disastrous foreign policy of unconditional support for the Israeli military.” The 19 Senators include Independents Bernie Sanders and Angus King, progressive Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen and Raphael Warnock, and Democratic caucus leaders like Dick Durbin, among many others. Perhaps the most notable supporter however is Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, whom Ryan Grim notes is the only Democrat representing a state Trump won and who is up for reelection in 2026 to vote for the resolution. Ossoff cited President Reagan's decision to withhold cluster munitions during the IDF occupation of Beirut in a floor speech explaining his vote. The Middle East Eye reports that the Biden Administration deployed Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer to whip votes against the JRD.3. Last week, we covered H.R. 9495, aka the “nonprofit killer” bill targeting pro-Palestine NGOs. Since then, the bill has passed the House. Per the Guardian, the bill passed 219-184, with fifteen Democrats crossing the aisle to grant incoming-President Trump the unilateral power to obliterate any non-profit organization he dislikes, a list sure to be extensive. Congressman Jamie Raskin is quoted saying “A sixth-grader would know this is unconstitutional…They want us to vote to give the president Orwellian powers and the not-for-profit sector Kafkaesque nightmares.” The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass while Democrats cling to control. Come January however, Republicans will hold a decisive majority in the upper chamber.4. President-elect Donald Trump has announced his selection of Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer as his pick for Secretary of Labor. Chavez-DeRemer is perhaps the most pro-labor Republican in Congress, with the AFL-CIO noting that she is one of only three Republicans to cosponsor the PRO Act and one of eight to cosponsor the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act. Chavez-DeRemer was reportedly the favored choice of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien, who controversially became the first ever Teamster to address the RNC earlier this year. While her selection has been greeted with cautious optimism by many labor allies, anti-labor conservatives are melting down at the prospect. Akash Chougule of Americans for Prosperity accused Trump of giving “A giant middle finger to red states,” by “picking a teachers union hack” and urged Senate Republicans to reject the nomination.5. Unfortunately, most of Trump's selections are much, much worse. Perhaps worst of all, Trump has chosen Mehmet Cengiz Öz – better known as Dr. Oz – to lead the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Beyond his lack of qualifications and history of promoting crackpot medical theories, Oz is a longtime proponent of pushing more seniors into privatized Medicare Advantage, or “Disadvantage,” plans, per Yahoo! Finance. This report notes that the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 called for making Medicare Advantage the default health program for seniors.6. According to CNN, Brazilian police have arrested five people who conspired to assassinate leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula, in 2022. This assassination plot was allegedly cooked up even before Lula took office, and included plans to kill Lula's Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The conspirators included a former high-ranking Bolsonaro advisor and military special forces personnel. Reuters reports investigators have discovered evidence that Bolsonaro himself was involved in the scheme.7. In more news from Latin America, Drop Site reports that the United States and Colombia engaged in a secretive agreement to allow the country's previous U.S.-backed conservative President Ivan Duque to utilize the Israeli Pegasus spyware for internal surveillance in the country. Details of the transaction and of the utilization of the spyware remain “murky,” but American and Colombian officials maintain it was used to target drug-trafficking groups and not domestic political opponents. Just two months ago, Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro delivered a televised speech revealing details of this shadowy arrangement, including that the Duque government flew $11 million cash from Bogotá to Tel Aviv. As Drop Site notes, “In Colombia, there's a long legacy of state intelligence agencies surveilling political opposition leaders. With the news that the U.S. secretly helped acquire and deploy powerful espionage software in their country, the government is furious at the gross violation of their sovereignty. They fear that Colombia's history of politically motivated surveillance, backed by the U.S. government, lives on to this day.”8. Following the Democrats' electoral wipeout, the race for new DNC leadership is on. Media attention has mostly been focused on the race to succeed Jamie Harrison as DNC Chair, but POLITICO is out with a story on James Zogby's bid for the DNC vice chair seat. Zogby, a longtime DNC member, Bernie Sanders ally and president of the Arab American Institute has criticized the party's position on Israel and particularly of the Kamala Harris campaign's refusal to allow a Palestinian-American speaker at this year's convention. He called the move “unimaginative, overly cautious and completely out of touch with where voters are.” This report notes Zogby's involvement in the 2016 DNC Unity Reform Commission, and his successful push to strip substantial power away from the so-called superdelegates.9. Speaking of Democratic Party rot, the Lever reports that in its final days the Biden Administration is handing corporations a “get out of jail free card.” A new Justice Department policy dictates that the government will essentially look the other way at corporate misconduct, even if the company has “committed multiple crimes, earned significant profit from their wrongdoing, and failed to self-disclose the misconduct — as long as the companies demonstrate they ‘acted in good faith' to try to come clean.” This is the logical endpoint of the longstanding Biden era soft-touch approach intended to encourage corporations to self-police, an idea that is patently absurd on its face. Public Citizen's Corporate Crime expert Rick Claypool described the policy as “bending over backward to protect corporations.”10. Finally, on November 23rd lawyer and former progressive congressional candidate Brent Welder posted a fundraising email from Bernie Sanders that immediately attracted substantial interest for its strong language. In this note, Sanders writes “The Democrats ran a campaign protecting the status quo and tinkering around the edges…Will the Democratic leadership learn the lessons of their defeat and create a party that stands with the working class[?]…unlikely.” The email ends with a list of tough questions, including “should we be supporting Independent candidates who are prepared to take on both parties?” Many on the Left read this as Bernie opening the door to a “dirty break” with the Democratic Party, perhaps even an attempt to form some kind of independent alliance or third party. In a follow-up interview with John Nichols in the Nation, Sanders clarified that he is not calling for the creation of a new party, but “Where it is more advantageous to run as an independent, outside of the Democratic [Party]…we should do that.” Whether anything will come of this remains to be seen, but if nothing else the severity of his rhetoric reflects the intensity of dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party in light of their second humiliating defeat at the hands of a clownish, fascistic game show host. Perhaps a populist left third party is a far-fetched, unachievable goal. On the other hand, how many times can we go back to the Democratic Party expecting different results. Something has got to give, or else the few remaining pillars of our democracy will wither and die under sustained assault by the Right and their corporate overlords.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Ralph welcomes Vani Hari, also known as “The Food Babe,” to tell us about her campaign against Kellogg's to stop using artificial dyes in their cereals that have been linked to various health problems and have been banned in Europe. Plus, noted labor organizer, Chris Townsend gives us his take on the AFL-CIOs obeisant relationship to the Democratic Party.Vani Hari is an author and food activist. A former corporate consultant, she started the Food Babe blog in 2011, and she is the co-founder of the nutritional supplement startup Truvani.It is a game of whack-a-mole because we get these corporations to change, or they announce that they're going to change, and then they go back on their commitment. And that is what's happened with Kellogg's.Vani HariChris Townsend is a 45-year union member and leader. He was most recently the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International Union Organizing Director. Previously he was an International Representative and Political Action Director for the United Electrical Workers Union (UE), and he has held local positions in both the SEIU and UFCW.These workers who have been betrayed, lied to, wrecked, destroyed, poisoned, all of these things—this becomes the breeding ground for Trumpist ideology. And the Democrats won't face this.Chris TownsendOur media largely ignores the labor movement. Our small labor press—left press—generally subscribes to the “good news only” school of journalism. So these endemic problems and even immediate crises are never dealt with. Now, some of that is because the existing labor leadership generally is not fond of criticism or is not fond of anyone pointing out shortcomings (or) mistakes.Chris TownsendWe're a cash cow—and a vote cow— to be milked routinely and extensively by this Democratic machinery… The leadership today in the bulk of the unions is an administrative layer, business union through and through to the core. The historic trade union spirit that always animated the unions in various levels is not extinguished, but in my 45 years, I would say it is at a low ebb. In the sense that we just have been sterilized because of this unconditional and unholy alliance or domination by the Democratic Party. And there's no room for spark. There's no room for dissent. There's no room for anyone to even raise the obvious.Chris Townsend[Leaders of the AFL-CIO are] basically bureaucrats in that building on 16th Street, collecting their pay and their nice pensions. Completely out of touch with millions of blue collar workers that have veered into the Republican Party channels—the so-called Reagan Democrats, which have spelled the difference in election after election for the Senate, for the House, for the Presidency.Ralph NaderIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 11/20/241. In his new book Hope Never Disappoints, Pope Francis writes “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide,” and called for the situation to be “studied carefully…by jurists and international organisations,” per the Middle East Eye. These comments come on the heels of a United Nations committee report which found that Israel's actions are “consistent with characteristics of genocide,” and alleged that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. The Catholic pontiff has long decried violence in all forms and has previously criticized Israel's “disproportionate and immoral” actions in Gaza and Lebanon, per AP.2. On November 14th, the AP's Farnoush Amiri reported that more than 80 Congressional Democrats sent a letter to President Biden on October 29th, urging the administration to sanction Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Only made public after the election, this letter called for sanctions on these individuals “Given their critical roles in driving policies that promote settler violence, weaken the Palestinian Authority, facilitate de facto and de jure annexation, and destabilize the West Bank.” This letter was principally authored by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and in addition to dozens of House Democratic signatories, was signed by no less than 17 Senators.3. Another remarkable post-election Israel story concerns outgoing Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who was ousted from his seat by a flood of AIPAC money. In an interview with Rania Khalek, Bowman relates a remarkable anecdote about the presidential campaign. Bowman says he specifically requested to campaign for Kamala Harris in Michigan – where he was so popular his AIPAC-backed primary challenger disparagingly said “[Bowman's] constituency is Dearborn, Michigan” – but the campaign ignored him and instead deployed surrogates that seemed almost designed to alienate Arab-Americans: Liz Cheney, Ritchie Torres, and Bill Clinton who went out of his way to scold these voters. These voters were likely decisive in Kamala Harris' loss in that state.4. On November 13th, Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he intends to bring Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to the Senate floor. As Sanders writes in a press release, the “The JRD is the only mechanism available to Congress to prevent an arms sale from advancing.” Unlike previous efforts however, Sanders no longer stands alone. According to Reuters, “Two of the resolutions, co-sponsored with…Senators Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch, would block the sale of 120 mm mortar rounds and joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS). A third, sponsored by Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, would block the sale of tank rounds.” Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen have announced their intention to support the JRD. Certain heavy-hitting Democratic-aligned institutions have also bucked precedent to back this effort, including the massive Service Employees International Union and leading Liberal-Zionist group J Street.5. In the House, Republicans and many Democrats are pushing H.R. 9495, a bill which would grant the executive branch the power to unilaterally strip non-profit organizations of their tax-exempt status based on accusations of supporting terrorism. As the Intercept notes, “The law would not require officials to explain the reason for designating a group, nor…provide evidence.” The ACLU and over 150 other “civil liberties, religious, reproductive health, immigrant rights, human rights, racial justice, LGBTQ+, environmental, and educational organizations,” sent a letter opposing this bill in September, and celebrated when the bill was blocked on November 12th – but it is back from the grave, with Nonprofit Quarterly reporting the bill has cleared a new procedural hurdle and will now advance to the floor. Yet even if this bill is successfully blocked, little stands in the way of Republicans reviving it in the next Congress, where they will hold the House, Senate, and the Presidency.6. Back in October, we covered Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib's letter to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen expressing grave concern over the company's decision to roll out facial recognition-based price gouging technology. According to Tlaib, Kroger has stonewalled Congress, so she is leading a group of House Democrats in a new letter demanding answers to the critical questions that remain, such as whether Kroger will use facial recognition to display targeted ads, whether consumers can opt out, and whether the company plans to sell data collected in stores. This letter is co-signed by progressives like AOC, Barbara Lee, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, among others.7. In new labor news, the NLRB has issued a rule banning anti-union “captive audience meetings,” per the Washington Post. This report notes that these meetings, in which employers warn workers of the risks in unionizing, are considered highly effective and are commonly used by companies like Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and Trader Joe's. According to the Post, Amazon alone spent more than $17 million on consults to do exactly this between 2022 and 2023. On the other hand, Bloomberg Law reports a federal judge in Texas has blocked a Labor Department rule that would have expanded overtime eligibility to four million mostly lower-level white collar workers. This was seen as among the Biden Administration's key achievements on labor rights and foreshadows the rollback of worker protections we are likely to see in a Trump presidency redux.8. Donald Trump has signaled that he will nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy will likely face a difficult confirmation process; his past environmental activism is anathema to Republican Senators, while his more recent vaccine-skepticism is unpopular among Democrats. Yet just as Donald Trump emerged as an improbable RFK ally, a surprising opponent has emerged as well: former Vice-President Mike Pence. In a “rare” statement Pence writes “For the majority of his career, RFK Jr. has defended abortion on demand during all nine months of pregnancy, supports overturning the Dobbs decision and has called for legislation to codify Roe v Wade. If confirmed, RFK, Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history…I…urge Senate Republicans to reject this nomination.” As with other unpopular Trump nominees, many expect RFK to be appointed on an acting basis and then possibly installed via the recess appointment process.9. In some positive news, Drop Site reports that in Sri Lanka, the Leftist president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who wrested the office from the corrupt clique that has ruled the nation since independence has won a resounding victory in the recent parliamentary elections. Reuters reports that Dissanayake's coalition won a “sweeping mandate,” with enough seats to pass his anti-corruption and poverty-alleviation agenda. More shocking is the fact that Dissanayake's coalition ran up the score in the Tamil-dominated north and east of the country. As Drop Site notes, only 15 years ago the Sri Lankan government crushed the Tamil Tigers and carried out large-scale massacres of the Tamil minority. Dissanayake has vowed to end the occupation and release Tamil political prisoners, as well as take on the International Monetary Fund which is seeking to impose economic control on the country in exchange for a fiscal bailout. Neither goal will be easily achieved, but the size of Dissanayake's victory at least provides the opportunity for him to try.10. Finally, AP reports that three of Malcolm X's daughters have filed a $100 million lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, and NYPD. This lawsuit alleges that these agencies were “aware of and…involved in the assassination plot,” and that law enforcement was engaged in a “corrupt, unlawful, and unconstitutional [relationship with]…ruthless killers that…was actively concealed, condoned, protected, and facilitated by government agents.” Two of Malcolm X's alleged assassins were exonerated in 2021 after an extensive re-investigation found that authorities withheld crucial evidence, per AP, and new evidence reported earlier this year by Democracy Now! supports the theory of an assassination plot involving collusion between the FBI and NYPD, if not others.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast National Spokesperson for the Uncommitted campaign Hudhayfah Ahmad returns to Bad Faith along with independent journalist and founder of votepact.org Sam Husseini to address the recent controversy surrounding Middle East Eye's report that the Uncommitted campaign effectively "committed" itself to a narrow range of political action after it accepted $400,000 from a Democratic Party-aligned PAC with the condition that it could not endorse any candidate outside the Democratic Party. Sam. Housseni makes the case for additional leverage via "vote pacts" -- agreements between Red- and Blue-aligned voters who want to make a principled third party vote to cancel each other out so they can confidently vote their values. Also, what's next for Palestine protests in the Trump era? Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).