Podcasts about mintcast

In this powerful and deeply emotional episode, MintPress News Director Mnar Adley sits down with American ICU nurse Wally Massay, who has just returned from Gaza after volunteering on the front lines of Israel's war on the civilian population. Having worked in some of Gaza's most devastated medical facilities—including Al-Aqsa, Nasser, and Indonesia hospitals—Massay offers a chilling firsthand account of the deliberate targeting of health workers, the systematic destruction of hospitals, and the devastating toll on Palestinian children.Massay shares how Gaza's hospitals function under siege: with no real shifts, medical professionals work 24/7 under the constant sound of crying children and explosions. According to Massay, the injuries he treated—many gunshot wounds to the head, chest, and groin of young boys—were too precise to be anything but intentional. “Their reproductive organs were completely dismantled and destroyed,” he tells Adley, calling it “ethnic cleansing at its worst.”The interview also addresses the Israeli military's targeting and imprisonment of doctors, including the death of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh under alleged torture in Israeli custody. Since October 7, 2023, over 1,150 health workers in Gaza have been killed, among them 165 doctors and 260 nurses. According to the World Health Organization, Israel has damaged or destroyed 33 out of Gaza's 36 hospitals.Massay's reflections are not just professional—they're personal. He speaks with anguish about the U.S. government's unwavering support for Israel's actions, including billions in aid and military assistance. "Looking into the eyes of a Palestinian child," he says, "it is a terrible feeling to know that my money and my taxes just killed you."This exclusive interview is a rare and urgent testimony from someone who witnessed the atrocities firsthand. It challenges listeners to confront the human cost of political choices and the moral consequences of silence.Trigger warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence against civilians and children.

While the destruction in the Middle East has been fierce, the media war surrounding who controls the narrative of events has been no less intense. And MintPress News has been caught up in it. Our investigations into Israeli attempts to manipulate public understanding of the genocide in Gaza have drawn the ire of The Jerusalem Post, who recently attempted to cancel us, labeling MintPress as part of a network of Iranian, Russian and Syrian-backed extremist websites pushing antisemitism.Alan MacLeod, senior staff writer and podcast producer at MintPress News, will join the MintCast host to discuss this. Alan's investigations, which revealed a network of former Israeli spies and lobbyists working in newsrooms across America, went viral and were read by hundreds of thousands of people.His report, entitled: “Revealed: The Israeli Spies Writing America's News,” discussed how former agents from Israeli spying group Unit 8200 have found a home in some of the corporate media's most prominent outlets, including Axios and CNN.Unit 8200 is the centerpiece of Israel's surveillance state and has been the source of many of the most controversial spying and hacking scandals of the last decade. Former Unit 8200 agents developed the Pegasus spyware, which was used to snoop on activists, journalists, world leaders and royals around the world.His second investigation cataloged hundreds of ex-Israel lobbyists who went on to work in newsrooms across the country. One example of this is the NBCUniversal network. CNBC's lead work report was, until 2011, a commander in the Israeli Defense Forces before moving back to America to work for the Friends of the IDF. This group raises money for supplies and support for Israeli soldiers, as well as encouraging Americans to enlist in the Israeli military. This pro-Israel bias goes straight to the top. MSNBC's executive producer, Moshe Arenstein, is a former IDF intelligence commander.The traction that these groundbreaking stories were receiving clearly put MintPress in the Jerusalem Post's crosshairs, the Israeli newspaper publishing an attack against us.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

2025 is promising to be a crucial year in the history of West Asia. Just weeks have passed since the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad and his replacement with pro-Western leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. Syria was a key member of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” – a coalition of actors opposing Israel and its actions. What will Assad's departure mean for the resistance against Israel, especially given Jolani's overt friendliness with Tel Aviv? Given their new government, what is in store for Lebanon and Hezbollah now? And how about Iraq and Yemen?To discuss all of this and more is returning guest, Ghadi Francis. Ghadi is an author, journalist, and war correspondent who has covered the situations in Syria and Palestine in great detail. Born in Lebanon, she is the author of the book “My pen and pain: One hundred days in Syria” (2012). Last month, Ghadi joined The MintCast to discuss the fallout of Israel's attack on its neighbors. During the interview, she set her sights on the Erdoğan administration in Ankara, stating that “Türkiye is as expansionist as Israel – and it is not new!” We lived in a nation that was called ‘Greater Syria' that was occupied by the Ottomans for around 300 years. And it stretched from Lebanon to Syria to Iraq. Nineveh, Aleppo, all of that was occupied by the Ottomans. We were part of the Ottoman Empire. We were ruled by them in a dictatorship and in an occupation.”Francis recently returned from a trip to Iraq, where she was impressed by the rebirth of the country after decades of occupation. Unlike Yemen, she assessed, Iraq is not in a position to face down the might of either the U.S. or Israel. “If the Iraqis continue to resist on their own and they get attacked by the Israelis, nobody is going to protect them,” she said. “So if they refrain for a while from being in active resistance operations and, rather, being a good and strong community…this itself is a great achievement.”Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

This show has been flagged as Explicit by the host. table td.shrink { white-space:nowrap } hr.thin { border: 0; height: 0; border-top: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3); } New hosts Welcome to our new hosts: Paulj, Jon The Nice Guy. Last Month's Shows Id Day Date Title Host 4261 Mon 2024-12-02 HPR Community News for November 2024 HPR Volunteers 4262 Tue 2024-12-03 DIY C02 operat0r 4263 Wed 2024-12-04 An interview with Adam Matthews about the Disco Pigeon Ken Fallon 4264 Thu 2024-12-05 Mintcast, high crimes and misdemeanors. Some Guy On The Internet 4265 Fri 2024-12-06 Drivecasting: arm sleeves, glasses and more. Some Guy On The Internet 4266 Mon 2024-12-09 What's the weather? Lee 4267 Tue 2024-12-10 Borderlands Movie Review Kevie 4268 Wed 2024-12-11 Book review and an Emacs rabbit-hole enistello 4269 Thu 2024-12-12 What is on My Podcast Player 2024, Part 2 Ahuka 4270 Fri 2024-12-13 Playing Civilization IV, Part 4 Ahuka 4271 Mon 2024-12-16 Beginners guide to Proxmox Al 4272 Tue 2024-12-17 Embed Mastodon Threads hairylarry 4273 Wed 2024-12-18 Improving videography with basic manual settings Trixter 4274 Thu 2024-12-19 The Wreck - I'm alright! Archer72 4275 Fri 2024-12-20 What is on My Podcast Player 2024, Part 3 Ahuka 4276 Mon 2024-12-23 PWNED operat0r 4277 Tue 2024-12-24 Introduction episode by Paul Paulj 4278 Wed 2024-12-25 Pi powered Christmas Tree Kevie 4279 Thu 2024-12-26 What is on My Podcast Player 2024, Part 4 Ahuka 4280 Fri 2024-12-27 Isaac Asimov: The Foundation Ahuka 4281 Mon 2024-12-30 My ridiculously complicated DHCP setup at home Jon The Nice Guy 4282 Tue 2024-12-31 Backup Power for my Gas Furnace Trey Comments this month These are comments which have been made during the past month, either to shows released during the month or to past shows. There are 26 comments in total. Past shows There are 7 comments on 4 previous shows: hpr3531 (2022-02-14) "Barrier: Software KVM" by Windigo. Comment 3: SolusSpider - Peter Paterson on 2024-12-01: "Fellow user of Barrier, and also InputLeap." hpr4070 (2024-03-08) "Civilization III" by Ahuka. Comment 1: Red Orm on 2025-01-01: "hpr4070 :: Civilization III" Comment 2: Kevin O'Brien on 2025-01-02: "Thank you" hpr4258 (2024-11-27) "Introduction and History of Using Computers" by SolusSpider. Comment 5: Spartan Minter on 2024-12-02: "Linux Mint " Comment 6: ClaudioM on 2024-12-03: "Hey Solusspider! Great First Episode!" hpr4260 (2024-11-29) "The Golden Age" by Ahuka. Comment 1: Moss Bliss on 2025-01-01: "Penguicon" Comment 2: Kevin O'Brien on 2025-01-01: "Sorry to hear it" This month's shows There are 19 comments on 10 of this month's shows: hpr4264 (2024-12-05) "Mintcast, high crimes and misdemeanors." by Some Guy On The Internet. Comment 1: Henrik Hemrin on 2024-12-06: "Thunderbird"Comment 2: Majid on 2024-12-07: "Mintcast and Thunderbird"Comment 3: Dave Morriss on 2024-12-14: "Thunderbird and email management" hpr4266 (2024-12-09) "What's the weather?" by Lee. Comment 1: Lee on 2024-10-21: "Errata" hpr4268 (2024-12-11) "Book review and an Emacs rabbit-hole" by enistello. Comment 1: Henrik Hemrin on 2024-12-15: "Thanks for the book tip" hpr4269 (2024-12-12) "What is on My Podcast Player 2024, Part 2" by Ahuka. Comment 1: Random listener on 2024-12-13: "Request for a bit more info in show notes" hpr4272 (2024-12-17) "Embed Mastodon Threads" by hairylarry. Comment 1: Ken Fallon on 2024-11-28: "Wayne Myers ?? Where did I hear that name before ?"Comment 2: Henrik Hemrin on 2024-12-18: "How is the post behaviour on Mastodon reflected on the web site?"Comment 3: Reto on 2024-12-25: "Plain text is not" hpr4274 (2024-12-19) "The Wreck - I'm alright!" by Archer72. Comment 1: SolusSpider - Peter Paterson on 2024-12-19: "I'm Mark's hospital room stalker!"Comment 2: Paulj on 2024-12-30: "Thanks for Sharing!" hpr4276 (2024-12-23) "PWNED" by operat0r. Comment 1: JonTheNiceGuy on 2024-12-28: "Exposed RDP, at least it wasn't VNC (which I did!), and VPN" hpr4277 (2024-12-24) "Introduction episode by Paul" by Paulj. Comment 1: SolusSpider - Peter Paterson on 2024-12-24: "Welcome Paul to HPR"Comment 2: Trey on 2024-12-24: "Welcome"Comment 3: Paul on 2024-12-25: "Thanks Peter"Comment 4: Paulj on 2024-12-26: "Thanks Trey!" hpr4280 (2024-12-27) "Isaac Asimov: The Foundation" by Ahuka. Comment 1: Red Orm on 2025-01-01: "hpr4280 :: Isaac Asimov: The Foundation"Comment 2: Kevin O'Brien on 2025-01-02: "Thank you" hpr4281 (2024-12-30) "My ridiculously complicated DHCP setup at home" by Jon The Nice Guy. Comment 1: Paulj on 2024-12-30: "Welcome, and thanks!" Mailing List discussions Policy decisions surrounding HPR are taken by the community as a whole. This discussion takes place on the Mailing List which is open to all HPR listeners and contributors. The discussions are open and available on the HPR server under Mailman. The threaded discussions this month can be found here: https://lists.hackerpublicradio.com/pipermail/hpr/2024-December/thread.html Events Calendar With the kind permission of LWN.net we are linking to The LWN.net Community Calendar. Quoting the site: This is the LWN.net community event calendar, where we track events of interest to people using and developing Linux and free software. Clicking on individual events will take you to the appropriate web page. Any other business Thanks to all 59 HPR contributors in 2024! Ahuka, Al, Andrew Conway, Archer72, Beeza, Beto, Bob, Brian in Ohio. Cedric De Vroey, Celeste, Claudio Miranda, Clinton Roy, Cov, crvs, Daniel Persson, Dave Hingley. Dave Morriss, Deltaray, dnt, dodddummy, enistello, Fred Black, gemlog, geospart. hairylarry, Henrik Hemrin, hobs, Honkeymagoo, HPR Volunteers, Jeroen Baten, Jon The Nice Guy, Ken Fallon. Kevie, Kinghezy, knightwise, Lee, Lochyboy, mnw, Moss Bliss, Mr. Young. MrX, Ne01sfree, Noodlez, norrist, operat0r, Paulj, Quvmoh, Rho`n. SolusSpider, Some Guy On The Internet, Stache_AF, Swift110, Thaj Sara, thelovebug, thompsgj, Trey. Trixter, Trollercoaster, Windigo. Provide feedback on this episode.

First up in the news: mintCast turned 16 while we weren't watching, Mint 22.1 being tested, Cinnamon 6.4 Desktop Environment released, US lawyers pushing Google to divest Chrome, El Capitan takes the lead In security and privacy: Hackers push fake BitWarden updates, Chinese hackers push Linux-focused WolfsBane, WordPress security flaw gives hackers admin access Then in our Wanderings: Bill cools the runnings, Joe cools his printer, Moss cools his ereaders, Majid gives in to temptation, and Eric finds value and delight in his secondhand hardware.

This show has been flagged as Clean by the host. Mintcast, high crimes and misdemeanors. Sgoti talks about mintCast episode 450 Crumbling Foundations. tags: Thunderbird, email, mintcast Source: mintcast: About mintCast. mintCast is "The podcast by the Linux Mint community for all users of Linux." As a community-driven podcast, we like to have as much involvement from special guests as possible. Supporting source: mintcast: Episode 450 Show Notes. Keep your mailbox and device(s) secure and clean. Take extra steps to keep your mailbox tidy and secure. Compromised mailbox can authorize access to your accounts on other websites, social media, etc. SECURE and TIDY are the keywords here. Supporting source: archive: 450 - Crumbling Foundations. Source: mozilla: Thunderbird Support. Supporting source: mozilla: Organize Your Messages by Using Filters. Supporting source: mozilla: ...force Thunderbird to sync ALL IMAP folders... Supporting source: mozilla: Where Thunderbird stores your messages... Source: wikipedia: High crimes and misdemeanors Provide feedback on this episode.

It is the album the Israel lobby tried – and failed – to kill. “Soundtrack to the Struggle 3” by MintPress News' Lowkey is released today.It is the rapper's first album in five years and is already receiving critical acclaim. Today on “The MintCast,” Mnar Adley sits down with Lowkey to discuss his new offering, the attempts to shut him down, and why good music is often political.A tireless fighter for justice, Lowkey's tracks have become anthems in the anti-war movement, particularly in the struggle for Palestine liberation. “Soundtrack to the Struggle 3” is no different and provides a political snapshot in time, taking on issues such as the genocide in Gaza, the persecution of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, and the pervasive surveillance power of our smartphones.If the Israel lobby had its way, this album would never have seen the light of day. Last year, the pressure group, We Believe in Israel petitioned music giant Spotify to remove his songs from their platform, citing non-existent anti-Semitism concerns. We Believe in Israel works hand-in-hand with the Israeli government, which has been monitoring Lowkey closely for over a decade. The Jewish Chronicle newspaper once noted that the rapper's skill and worldwide fan base constituted a “nightmare” for the government in Tel Aviv.“Pro-Israel groups had me no-platformed at different shows; I've been canceled in at least four countries so far, thanks to their maneuvers,” Lowkey told MintPress, adding: “They have recorded meetings I have been at, taken pictures of me in public, and I am sure there is a lot more we do not know about…I'm sure this album will make them very angry and unhappy… They certainly won't want people to listen to this album.”“Soundtrack to the Struggle 3” is available to stream for free on major music platforms such as Spotify. You can also watch official music videos on YouTube. Lowkey is currently on tour in the United Kingdom and will be playing live shows in London, Birmingham and Manchester this November. The album is available in hard copy for purchase at his shows.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

The United States is socially, politically and economically in crisis. As an increasingly large number of people are priced out of the economy, fewer and fewer buy into the sham of electoral politics. On the world stage, too, the U.S. is suffering. Countries everywhere are beginning to drop the dollar as the standard unit of exchange, and Washington's prestige has been severely shaken due to its relentless, unequivocal support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.Ben Norton joins MintCast host Mnar Adley to discuss all this and more. Norton is an investigative journalist and founder of Geopolitical Economy Report, a news source dedicated to looking at the world and seeing the big picture. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Beijing, China.“The dollar is – even more than the military – the strongest weapon the United States has,” Norton told Adley, explaining that, because of the exorbitant privilege it enjoys in printing the world's reserve currency, the U.S. can simply export many of its economic problems. It also means that Washington can print more money to pay for its military misadventures around the world. Thus, the dollar system has allowed the U.S. to preserve its global empire and avoid inflation despite running a massive global trade deficit for decades.“I hate when countries go off the dollar,” Donald Trump said recently, adding: “I would not allow countries to go off the dollar because when we lose that standard, that will be like losing a Revolutionary war. That would be a hit to our country, just like losing a war. And we can't let that happen.”And yet that is precisely what is coming to pass, as even U.S. allies in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have taken steps in that direction. Previously, if any country defied Washington's orders, it would be sanctioned into oblivion. Indeed, U.S. sanctions are powerful enough to destroy the economies of relatively small countries, such as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela. However, as Norton noted, Russia, and especially China, are simply “too big to sanction.”Join us for a fantastic conversation where Ben Norton stitches together the fabric of the world's top political news stories, allowing us to see the big picture.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

It sometimes feels like the world is on the brink of war. Israel has just escalated the conflict in the Middle East with a massive attack on Lebanon, implanting bombs in hundreds of pagers and other electronic devices, killing many and injuring thousands.Around the world, the action has been condemned as an act of terror.Today's guest, Scott Ritter, unequivocally denounced the move. “This is something that is unjustifiable under any circumstances. There is no element of the law of war that would allow this kind of indiscriminate attack,” he said. Ritter is a former United States Corps Intelligence Officer and UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq. He is an author and a geopolitical analyst, whose work you can find at ScottRitter.com. He has closely followed the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.The attack, he said, will have widespread implications, not least for Western corporations, who were caught unaware. “This is going to create a crisis of confidence among consumers that could end up costing Western companies billions of dollars,” he explained, adding:Anybody with any shred of common sense will immediately throw away their Western-made electronic device and source one from a country such as China, where Israel is not going to be able to infiltrate and corrupt the integrity of the electronic device to achieve either intelligence collection goals or assassination [goals].”While the Israeli military is vastly better armed and funded than Hamas, Ritter claimed that it was actually the Palestinian force that has come out on top after 12 months of fighting, stating:Hamas right now, in my opinion, is winning this conflict. They are winning it strategically. They are paying a horrible price for it. But on October 6, nobody was talking about the creation of a Palestinian state. Today, it is on the tip of the tongue of so many people around the world. Why? Because the world has seen the truth about Israel.”Not only that, but Israel is eating itself from within. Its military is seriously depleted; its economy has been shattered by rocket attacks, and by 12 months of war economy; and its society is beginning to fragment.Whatever happens, it is clear that October 7 fundamentally changed the situation for Israel and Palestine forever.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

No matter how bad the attack on Palestine gets, Israel seems to find a way to make it worse.With a series of high-profile assassinations that threaten to spark a regional war, Israel has raised the stakes once again. On July 30, it targeted Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut. One day later, it killed Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' lead ceasefire negotiator, while he was in Tehran.The killings sent shockwaves throughout the world, and both Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to respond, the former declaring that the war had entered a “new phase.” Could we be hurtling towards a wider, regional conflict?To discuss this, MintCast host Mnar Adley is joined by Sharmine Narwani. Narwani is a Beirut-based journalist and political commentator. She is a columnist at The Cradle, a publication covering West Asia that seeks to represent millions of voices not heard in corporate Western media. Before joining The Cradle, she was a senior associate at St. Anthony's College, Oxford.Quoting Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, Narwani told Adley today that “Israel is crossing all kinds of red lines now,” and is acting in an increasingly “unhinged” manner, actions which fundamentally come from weakness and vulnerability. “Israel very clearly cannot fight its wars by itself. Facing just one adversary on one front, Israel required the active assistance of three Western nuclear powers and one regional Arab state (Jordan), to thwart the [recent] Iranian attack,” she said.If Israel is indeed reliant on foreign powers, then that raises the worrying question of increased Western involvement in the region and the war. Already, NATO nations launched Operation Prosperity Guardian – an attempt to secure Red Sea shipping lines from Ansar Allah attacks.This has largely failed, as Ansar Allah has held firm and managed to overcome incredible odds. “Yemen is the surprise of the Resistance Axis, and their unity of fronts,” Narwani said, adding:Who would have thought that war-torn Yemen, severely depleted, with shortages of food, energy, medicines and basic supplies, without access to their ports…that they would rise up and become the star of the Axis, by just having the absolute nerve to hit the Americans, the British, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Israelis.”Narwani said that they have managed to do this because Yemenis do not read Western media and have, therefore, not been tamed into displaying “good behavior” toward the United States. Instead, they display an entirely different attitude.Support the Show.MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

It is election season once again, and that means that the world's eyes are drawn to our corrupt two-party duopoly. With a rapidly aging Biden decaying in front of us, Donald Trump is now a heavy favorite to become Commander-in-Chief of the US empire once more.Trump has chosen JD Vance as his running mate, a character made and financed by Silicon Valley and surveillance state billionaire Peter Thiel. It seems no matter whom you vote for, our national security state – and that of Israel – will be the winner.Peter Thiel's CIA-tech empire “Palantir” helped Israel develop the AI lavender system, which has been used by the Israeli military to target civilian homes and children and completely decimate the world's largest concentration camp with precision.However, this is not Peter Thiel's first ride in the Trump campaign as he helped bankroll Trump himself in the 2016 election and even worked in his cabinet to advance the surveillance state by collecting our data during COVID.Despite Trump campaigning as a populist anti-establishment draining the swamp, he is the swamp, and he's planning on overfilling his swamp with figures like Peter Thiel, who will take our technocratic surveillance state and war machine to the next level – far worse than what we say during COVID.And who better to help us learn more about this than one of the most influential journalists of our time – Whitney Webb. She's the contributing editor of Unlimited Hangout and the author of “One Nation Under Blackmail.” Whitney is also a former MintPress investigative journalist.Support the Show.MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Today we interview Moss Bliss Personal Home Page Full Circle is a free, independent, monthly magazine dedicated to the Ubuntu family of Linux operating systems We get a rundown of what the show is, how it's related to Ubuntu, and the history of the podcast. Moss goes on to explain his introduction to Podcasting via Distro Hoppers Digest, and the mintCast. We of course discuss those podcasts and their history. We wouldn't pass up this opportunity to discuss his first up to his favorite, well at least current, distro. Covering his hardware journey at the same time. Moss himself has an interesting story, which we start by asking why he goes by the handle "Bard Moss", where his roots are and where his heart is at the moment. Of course we delve into the exciting world of Filk Music, that's not a typo Dave. Actually it is but all is explained. And finally Ken sits back as Moss treats us to one of his own works "The Angels Never Came", released under a "CC-BY-SA 4.0" Links https://hackerpublicradio.org/correspondents/0431.html https://peacefulhippo.info/ https://fullcirclemagazine.org/ https://fullcirclemagazine.org/podcasts/ https://fullcirclemagazine.org/podcasts/index.xml https://mintcast.org/about/ https://distrohoppersdigest.org/ https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=ferenos https://ferenos.weebly.com/ https://www.bodhilinux.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk_music

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It is clear to at least half the world, some four billion people, that the United States is not the power that it once was… Our reputation is in tatters in the world.” That is what retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson told MintCast host Mnar Adley today.“When you talk about history and the history of empire in particular, what you find are examples of precisely what is happening to us today,” Wilkerson added, noting, in particular, the fall of the Western Roman and Persian empires and how, after they began to teeter, their leadership started to reinforce failures in military operations, in diplomacy and foreign policy in general.“Look at Ukraine. We are reinforcing what is clearly a defeat for NATO, Washington and London (Washington's poodle). And yet, we are reinforcing. We are sending billions more dollars,” he said, noting that U.S. policy in Gaza and Afghanistan were similar stories.Lawrence Wilkerson served in the Army for 31 years before joining the State Department, where he was Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Yet, in recent years, he has become one of the most vocal critics of American foreign policy. Today, he is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.The military is facing a severe recruitment crisis. Public confidence in the armed forces is at a modern low. According to a November poll, one-third of Americans would actively discourage their friends and family from military service. In 2023, the Army, Navy and Air Force all fell well short of the recruitment goals—a common occurrence in recent years. It appears Generation Z simply does not want to fight.Wilkerson says this has led to a serious dilemma for war planners in Washington. “If the United States were to go to war with China or Russia today, we would lose badly,” he told Adley, stressing that America has neither the mobilization capacity nor the defense industrial base to defeat their largest foes, and certainly not both of them together.In today's interview, Adley and Wilkerson touch on many of the key geopolitical hotspots of the day, including the Israeli assault on Gaza. Wilkerson is horrified by what he has seen there and suggests that U.S. support for Israel is costing Washington dearly on the world stage.Support the Show.MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

First up in the news: Mint 22 Beta in testing, Cinnamon 6.2 Desktop Environment Released, Linux's New DRM Panic "Blue Screen of Death" In Action, Ubuntu is Finally Adding DEB Installer Support to App Center, AlmaLinux comes to the RPi 5, Proton goes non-profit, and light-based chips are coming In security and privacy: nada Then in our Wanderings: Bill plays Pacman, Joe fixes more things, Moss sells cars, Majid is Synologised, and I am in search of a new mesh WiFi setup.

Buying Cheap Computers Hi. I'm Moss Bliss. You may have heard me on mintCast, Distrohoppers' Digest, or Full Circle Weekly News. I keep hearing people complain that they can't find a decent computer under $2,000. My response is: lower your expectations, and help end digital waste. Do you really need a top-end gaming machine? Most games will run on older computers just fine. And there are LOTS of 2016 models (and a few newer years) coming off office leases. My suggestion is the Lenovo ThinkCentre M700 Tiny; I will have other suggestions later in the podcast, but this is what I went with an have personal experience. The M700 Tiny is a box about the size of an older external DVD drive, with your choice of an i3, i5 or i7 processor, up to 64 Gb RAM, and a power supply sipping away at up to 35 watts. If you go on eBay or your local equivalent, you can find these for ridiculously low prices. My recommendation is to go for a box with an i5, 8 or 16 Gb RAM, with or without a drive. You can find them even cheaper if you search for "no OS", which frequently still includes the drive, but SSDs are quite cheap these days so it hardly matters. I recommend the i5 rather than the i7 because, in the 2016 models, the i7 wasn't much more than a heat producer compared to the i5 but no faster, and the i5-based machines are often $100-150 cheaper. Of course I recommend putting the Linux of your choice on these machines when you get it. You will need a monitor and keyboard for this. If you don't already have one, I would suggest looking locally for a used 26" LCD/LED TV. You will also want a cable for it, and you can either get a DisplayPort cable while you're at eBay, or a DP-to-HDMI adapter to use the HDMI cable which probably comes with the TV. For a keyboard, you should go to your local big box store and get one you like, if you don't want to buy used. You can find them from $5 to $20. I apologize for my US-centric prices, but you should have similar prices in your local currency if you have eBay or something like it. I just did a quick lookup for "M700 Tiny No OS" on eBay, and saw i5 machines which were purported to work from between $80 and $120 with 8 Gb RAM. Be careful to watch for shipping prices, I see a particularly good-looking refurbished model with 16 GB for under $120 -- but the shipping is over $35 from Australia! If you want an AMD chip, you'll need to research the model number... but they do make them, just not as many. If you don't like Lenovo, you can find Dells and HP EliteDesks in the same range. One good thing about the HPs is that they label which generation they are -- G2, G3, G4. Newer generations cost more, but will be more future-proof. There is currently an HP EliteDesk 800 G2 with 8 Gb RAM and No OS on eBay for $50! Again, if you buy a G3 or G4 it will cost more, but be a newer machine as well. These are all 64-bit quad-core computers, some over 3 GHz, with low power demands. Cheap to buy, cheap to use. Any version of Linux will run on them, and if you're desperate you can run Windows 10 on them as well. That should be enough to get you started. If you have questions, write me at bardmoss@pm.me. Hacker Public Radio needs more podcasts, on any topic and any length. Get in touch with Ken and volunteer! This is my second wholly unplanned podcast on HPR; you could be next!

The reason I found HPR can be traced back to the 1990's when I first heard about Linux and I got interested in Linux. But it was not until ten years ago that I actually started to try Linux for real. A friend was enthusiastic about Linux. Although he did not have a computer himself, he made CD copies of multiple Linux distributions and gave to me. And it happened more than once. At this time I was on macOS on a macMini. But I also had a cheap laptop with Windows 10 for a few programs. That laptop was too cheap with too little memory and soon, despite it was not old, it could not manage to keep Windows updated, it had too little memory even without additional software: 32 GB hard drive and 2 GB RAM. So, this was the driver to install Linux for real. I installed Linux Mint. And the laptop was now usable again, with an updated operating system. My interest in Linux Mint led me to start listen to the pod Mintcast some years ago. One of the hosts of Mintcast was also an HPR correspondent, and in his presentation of himself at every pod episode he told he gave shows at HPR and shared his ID number. Every Mintcast pod episode also had acknowledgements where Mintcast thanked HPR for letting them use the HPR Mumble server. At the end of each year, Mintcast also sends the jingle for the HPR New year show where everyone is welcome to live chat or just listen. I know I have tuned in and listened to the New year show. Eventually I also listened to one or another show in earlier years. When Mintcast this year, 2024, has talked about Hacker Public Radio they have mentioned it was low on episodes and encouraged Mintcast listeners to contribute. It was after this I finally started to become a regular listener to Hacker Public Radio and at the same time recorded my first show. I like HPR for its community based host approach. I like that shows mostly have the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. I like the concept of knowledge and experience sharing. I like that the content is what matters most, the equipment and presentation skills are of less importance. I like the monthly community shows with feedback and review of shows and comments. I like the occasional comments to my shows and my possibility to comment other shows on the website. That is how my journey with Hacker Public Radio started.

Since 9/11, the United States has launched a series of attacks on sovereign nations, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya, Syria and beyond. These wars have left the region beleaguered and broken. But recently, as American power wanes, a new set of forces has emerged. An axis led by Iran, Syria and Yemen has emerged to counter U.S.-Israeli dominance and global giants, such as China and Russia, are increasingly being drawn into the region.Could this lead to a new and even brighter future for West Asia?Tim Anderson joins the show to discuss all things West Asia. Tim is a writer, academic, and director of the Center for Counter Hegemonic Studies. His latest book, “West Asia After Washington: Dismantling the Colonized Middle East,” explores this topic.“It is quite obvious that the U.S.' influence in this region [West Asia] is in decline,” Anderson told MintCast host Alan MacLeod, laying out several factors in said decline, including the embarrassing American withdrawal from Afghanistan, the unanimous demands from Iraq that the U.S. leave the country, the growing importance of Russia and China in the region the increasing importance of the BRICS economic bloc, the successful Russian operation to keep Assad in power in Syria; the Yemeni blockade of the Red Sea; the failure of the U.S. in Syria and the nosedive in global public opinion of the United States.Anderson joined the show from Damascus, Syria – something that would have been nearly impossible until recently. He noted the tremendous destruction that the civil war had wrought upon the country, much of which is still occupied by the United States, Israel, and other actors. Nevertheless, despite American unilateral coercive measures (i.e., sanctions), life in the major cities is approaching normality again.Anderson identifies Iran as a critical player in the formation of a counter-hegemonic axis. It has found allies in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and, crucially, China and Russia. This grand alliance of powers opposing U.S. policy in the region was something that American planners in the 1990s considered their greatest fear.Nevertheless, a wounded animal is a dangerous one, and the U.S. is far from a spent force. And so, while American power wanes, the people of West Asia should still be on high alert.Support the Show.MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

My name is Moss Bliss. I'm a podcaster. This is technically my 2nd HPR podcast, but as the first one was unintentional AND back in 2019, I can start fresh. I don't know much of anything. I'm a Linux user, about the same way most people are Windows users. I have gotten more technical over the past few years largely due to being a regular on various Linux podcasts. I don't have sufficient education to be hired in computers (although I've tried several times), and I did spend a few years in radio back in my youth. So what do you have to know to become a podcaster? Almost nothing. Just so long as you have a computer, an Internet connection, and a microphone. (For some shows, you may need a webcam.) I got into podcasting by asking questions. I tried for almost 2 years to get Chris Fisher at Jupiter Broadcasting to co-feature me, with zero experience, on a podcast about using Linux desktops. It never happened. So when in 2018 Rob Hawkins asked for new hosts to take over mintCast, I was one of the first 10 or so people to apply, and one of 6 who eventually stuck with it. All I had was a computer, an Internet connection, and a Blue Yeti microphone my little sister gave me. Within a few months, I started another podcast, Distrohoppers' Digest with Tony Hughes. And a couple years later, I was asked to take over Full Circle Weekly News. Apparently some people like my voice. Since starting my little mini-career in podcasting, I have probably more than doubled what I know about Linux. I'm not all that scared of the Terminal anymore... Some microphones are pretty bad, and my Blue Yeti was the worst one on the show when I joined mintCast. In about a year, I found a very inexpensive CAD Audio U29 USB mic, currently $20 at Amazon, and that worked pretty well. Some time after taking on Full Circle Weekly News, the magazine bought me a Samson Q2U ($60), which I'm still using. I love this mic, as it can be used either as a USB mic or plugged into a sound box for even better audio. When I started, I had a T430 laptop and the Blue Yeti microphone. My listeners and co-hosts have made my life better with new and used equipment I could never have afforded on my own, including laptops, Raspberry Pis, modems, routers, headphones, and even a sound box. My current setup includes a 2016 Lenovo ThinkCentre M600 Tiny, which cost me under $200 on eBay, a Focusrite Solo sound box (a gift from a friend), a WavLink ST336A external goodies box (also a gift), and an old Dynex 26" TV I use as a monitor I paid $15 for locally. I have a boom arm for my microphone, which is made by Neewer and costs $15 on Amazon. My keyboard is a Fellowes Microban Natural, which I need as a trained touch typist. And I put all this stuff on a little rolling computer desk, which I bought used locally for $25. The only software I use is Audacity, and I didn't need to know any more than the basics. If you're part of a team, such as mintCast, you aren't even required to do any audio editing, although if you know your way around Audacity you will find your skills very welcome. If you want to start podcasting, have the equipment, contact Ken (Note: I misspoke in the audio and said Ronnie where I meant Ken) and do something here at HPR, which is a fairly low entry bar, or you might contact long-running shows such as mintCast. Participation and commitment are usually all that is required. OK, so maybe you want to do more than produce an HPR show or join mintCast. You have your own idea and you want to get it out there, your own personal podcast. This is where it gets a little more detailed. If you already have the information you need, you can stop the podcast here, but... First, you'll need a website or blog (if you're really broke, there are free WordPress sites available at wordpress.com, or you could use the dreaded Google blogs (blogger and blogspot). Other than that, you'd have to register a domain name, find a webhost, and write a website, some of which can be cheap (or not!). Then you have to find a way to stream your podcast. Google has closed Feedburner, but there are some paid places like Red Circle you can get for not much bread. Those will probably help you stream your podcast to places like Apple Music, Archive.org, Spotify, etc. But if you want help from me, I'm already lost. mintCast is handled by Bill H., Distrohoppers' Digest is handled by Dale M., and my Full Circle Weekly News is uploaded to Ronnie for publication. Or maybe you want to do it with a few friends, and they can't cram themselves into your bedroom to do that. In that case, you should explore using Discord, Jitsi, VDO.ninja, or (sizzle preserve us!) Zoom. Everyone will need to record their own part of the stream, and you'll need someone who knows Audacity well enough to edit a few (or several) streams together. Maybe you want to post it on YouTube. If you want both a video and audio podcast, someone will have to learn OBS and Audacity, and if you want the video podcast to be edited, have fun learning one of the many video editors out there (you might start with KDEnlive). For more information on streaming, you'll need to get someone else to make an HPR podcast on the subject. Way over my head. I hope this little show has pushed a few of you into wanting to try your hand. It doesn't take much, or it takes a whole lot, depending on what you want to do, and your future listeners will thank you. My listeners have certainly shown me lots of thanks.

In the wake of escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, MintCast brings you an exclusive interview with Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran. Join MintPress as we delve into the unfolding events and gain insights into Iran's perspective.As the world's attention remains fixated on the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the subsequent global student protests, focus has shifted to the broader implications of Israel's actions, particularly concerning Iran. Recently, Israel's bombing of the Iranian Embassy in Syria, followed by retaliatory drone attacks from Iran, sparked fears of further escalation. However, despite hawkish rhetoric from certain quarters, both sides seemed inclined to avoid further confrontation.Against this backdrop, we sit down with Dr. Marandi to explore the mood in Iran amidst these turbulent times. Furthermore, we delve into the motivations behind Iran's missile strikes on Israel, shedding light on the strategic rationale behind these actions.Moreover, Dr. Marandi addresses Iran's support for various groups across the region, including Ansar Allah in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. We examine the extent of Iran's involvement and the underlying rationale guiding its foreign policy decisions.We revisit Dr. Marandi's recent debate with TV host Piers Morgan, highlighting the nuances of language and the implications of demonizing terminology such as "regime," offering valuable insights into the power dynamics shaping media discourse on Iran and its adversaries.In this episode, we also explore the complexities of Iran's nuclear program and the implications of its enrichment activities in the aftermath of the United States' withdrawal from the JCPOA. Dr. Marandi also analyzes Iran's economic strategies, including its burgeoning partnerships with Russia, China, and other BRICS nations, and the potential impact on its resilience against American sanctions.Support the Show.MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Gaza is the “key issue of our era,” Green Party presidential hopeful Jill Stein told the MintCast today. “Every international law in the books is being broken,” she said, “This is not something that began on October 7. This is the continuation of ethnic cleansing and displacement that began in 1947 and 1948 with the displacement of 750,000 people.”While Stein condemned Israel for its actions, she placed ultimate responsibility for much of the violence on Washington, telling MintCast host Mnar Adley that:Quite simply, Joe Biden needs to pick up the phone and tell Israel to cease and desist from this war being conducted on Gaza, the blockade, the use of starvation as a weapon, the total violation of international law and the conduct of a genocide, which is going on. There is enormous agency that the United States has here: we are paying for this. We are supplying 80% of the weapons [to Israel]!”A physician by trade, Stein has been involved in the Green movement for decades. She first ran for office in 2002, attempting to become the governor of her native Massachusetts. In 2012 and 2016, she was selected as the Green Party's presidential candidate. Running against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, she received over 1% of the national vote. She is currently the overwhelming favorite to represent the Green Party in the 2024 presidential election.Congress, Stein noted, has just approved $3.8 billion in aid to Israel, with another $17 billion pending for the purpose of “not only continu[ing] its genocide but to expand its wars in the Middle East.”Global public opinion is increasingly turning against the U.S., Stein warned, turning both Washington and Israel into “pariahs.” Even inside the United States, recent polling shows that a majority of Democratic voters consider Israeli actions to constitute genocide. And President Biden continues to offer unconditional support.This, it seems, is pushing millions of voters to consider the Green Party as an alternative. Stein described the Democratic establishment as in a state of “panic” over the “widespread revolt” among its voter base, which could see the party's chances of winning elections destroyed. For that reason, she said, they are fielding “an army of corporate lawyers to try to dirty trick us, to find little technicalities to throw us off the ballot.”This is not a new phenomenon, as the Green Party has long dealt with the Democrats' attempts to suppress them. However, what has changed, Stein said, is the party's willingness to announce their intentions to limit democracy openly.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Haiti is in crisis. As armed groups come together and storm the island nation's institutions, leading to mass prison breaks, U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ariel Henry – who was abroad at the time, desperately trying to negotiate some kind of foreign intervention – has resigned.Henry's departure has left a power vacuum on the island. Will an alliance of armed groups seize power in a revolution? Will factions of the old government hang on? Or will the United States intervene to reassert control over the Caribbean nation?On today's MintCast, Jake Johnston joins Alan MacLeod to discuss the turbulent situation in Haiti. Johnston is Senior Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C. He is the lead author for CEPR's Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch blog and author of the book, “Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti.”Henry, Johnston said, has faced a “legitimacy crisis from day one.” Firstly, he was named prime minister in July 2021, just two days before the assassination of dictatorial president Jovenel Moïse. Secondly, many Haitians have never accepted the way he came to rule, either. Many in the West are now openly calling for another U.S.-led intervention on the Caribbean island nation. “This time, Haiti really is on the brink. The US and UN must act to restore order,” wrote the influential think tank Chatham House. Meanwhile, The Washington Post called for a more “robust” and “broader” intervention than the one the UN has suggested, which could see American boots on the ground for the third time in 30 years.But far from paying debts to Haitians, the current government in Washington D.C. is concentrating on stopping Haitian immigration and is reportedly even considering using its notorious detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to lock up Haitian migrants and refugees.The United States has an extremely long history of torturing Haiti. From refusing to recognize its independence for decades to invading and occupying it for two decades in the early twentieth century to supporting dictators and organizing coups on the island, Haiti's current predicament is, in no small part, down to Washington.Today, MacLeod and Johnston discuss the history, present and future of American imperialism in Haiti and what Haiti's future looks Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Coming up in this episode * Telemetry helps us all * Immutability blues * A correction or two * And more feedback

One week after Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in an extreme act of Protest for Palestine – the world has been awe-struck by his galvanizing act of courage, with his last words being Free Palestine. Across the world, including in Yemen and Gaza, Bushnell is being memorialized as a martyr for Palestine as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza that has left over 30,000 people dead. His protest was not only moving but stood in stark contrast to the empty rhetoric given by so-called liberal politicians who've done very little to stop Israel from continuing its war on civilians. Bushnell was horrified not only by Israel's actions but also by his own air force. It was recently revealed that Bushnell had classified information about the U.S. Air Force aiding Israel in bombing Gaza.Yet media searches of Bushnell's name produce headlines and articles framing his protest as a mental health issue, inferring that he may have been suicidal. YouTube even includes “suicide hotline” messages under videos discussing Bushnell.So, who was Aaron Bushnell, and how was his extreme act of protest actually in line with a long history of active military servicemembers who had a conscious awakening during their service, including in the Vietnam War era? To talk more about this, we are joined by Mike Prysner, a former Iraq war veteran turned antiwar activist and organizer. Prysner is also a producer and journalist with the Empire Files. He openly calls on military members to refuse to serve in the U.S. military and draws attention to the global class war.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Even as Israel turns Gaza into dust, few Western celebrities have dared to raise their voices against the genocide – and many have even supported it. One notable exception to this are the Hadids. The family of Palestinian-American fashion designers, influencers and models have been using their considerable platforms to bring attention to the slaughter and to call on the world to act to save innocent civilians. Today, Alana Hadid joins MintCast host Mnar Adley for a frank and insightful discussion about Israel, Palestine, and the world of entertainment.The family has hundreds of millions of followers on social media and can reach vast sections of the public, particularly young people. This is precisely why Israel fears them so much and has constantly lashed out at them. Israeli soldiers have dedicated missiles they are dropping on Palestine to the Hadids. Images show one that reads, "to [the] Hadid family Mohamed, Bella & Gigi from Israel."In the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, the official Instagram account for the state of Israel attacked Gigi Hadid, claiming that she was "just fine with turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered" – likely a reference to the now debunked "40 beheaded babies" story that was circulating at the time. And Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir denounced Bella Hadid as an "Israel hater." That senior Israeli officials feel the need to go out of their way to go after a family of fashionistas says a great deal about how insecure they feel their position is.Alana Hadid is a celebrated fashion designer and influencer who has collaborated with many of the world's most well-known models and brands. Last year, she followed in her younger siblings' footsteps by debuting as a model at Copenhagen Fashion Week.Today, she joins Mnar Adley to discuss the ongoing attacks against Palestine, her own family's history with displacement from their homes, and what it is like to speak out for justice when so many are staying silent.Don't miss this episode of the MintCast, and remember to subscribe on whichever platform you view us on.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

For all of his power and prestige,  Bill Gates is rarely scrutinized in our media. The Seattle native has been careful to cultivate an image of a well-meaning nerd who uses his wealth for good. Our guest today on the “MintCast” is an exception to that rule, being one of the few investigative journalists to critically examine Gates' power and influence. Tim Schwab is an award-winning investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C. His reporting has been published in outlets such as The Nation, The Columbia Journalism Review, The Baffler and Jacobin magazine. His latest book, “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire,” was published in November.Today, Schwab joins “MintCast” co-host Alan MacLeod to discuss Gates' origin story, how he uses his enormous wealth to negatively influence public health and education policy, his connections to disgraced child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and to ponder whether there is ever such a thing as a good billionaire.Gates' influence on health policy became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he used his funding connections to Oxford University to pressure the institution into their groundbreaking vaccine, telling them that only by partnering with a private corporation could they achieve their goals. Almost as soon as Oxford partnered with AstraZeneca, the latter announced that they would fall dramatically short of the vaccine production figures they had promised, leading to a massive dearth of vaccines for people worldwide, causing untold suffering.Few know about Gates' negative influence on global health, however, partially because the media rarely report on it. This is down in no small part to the hundreds of millions of dollars he and his foundation have lavished upon newsrooms across the United States and around the world. Gates is a major funder of many of the most well-known and influential outlets globally, including The New York Times, CNN, NBC, The Atlantic, NPR, PBS, the BBC, Al-Jazeera, El País and Le Monde. Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

The United States and the United Kingdom recently carried out their eighth round of strikes against targets in Yemen that they claim are being used by Yemen's Ansar Allah – known in the West as the Houthis – to threaten maritime navigation in the Red Sea.Since Israel began its deadly incursion into Gaza on October 7 of last year, Ansar Allah has carried out a de facto campaign of targeted sanctions against Israeli economic interests, attacking ships traveling through the Red Sea that it says are tied to Israel. The operation stands out in the region, as neighboring Arab countries have largely stayed out of the fray, if not directly supported Israel's bloody campaign.While Ansar Allah has been much discussed (or, more accurately, denounced) in Western media, they have rarely been allowed to talk for themselves. Joining the MintCast today to discuss the blockade and Yemen's escalating tensions with the United States is Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior political official and spokesperson for Ansar Allah. Bukhaiti has held his position since 2014, when the failed U.S.-backed Saudi campaign to dislodge Ansar Allah from power began.The human cost of the U.S.-Saudi campaign has been enormous. More than 400,000 people are thought to have been killed, and tens of millions of people lost their access to food, shelter and medical treatment in what the United Nations consistently called “the world's worst humanitarian crisis.” A 2021 MintPress investigation found that the United States had supplied Saudi Arabia with at least $28.4 billion worth of weapons and provided diplomatic support for the onslaught.Ansar Allah officials have repeatedly stated that the goal of their blockade is to pressure Israel into halting its assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, a deadly campaign that has claimed the lives of well over 25,000 people and has left over 63,000 injured, most of them women and children.Ansar Allah says that their blockade against Israeli interests is working, and indeed, major ocean carriers have suspended Red Sea and Suez Canal transport, instead sailing around Africa, creating significant delays and supply bottlenecks and costing the Israeli economy billions.When asked by reporters if U.S. strikes on Yemen were effective, President Biden responded by stating: “When you say ‘working,' are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

As China continues rising and the U.S. attempts to dominate the world, Northeast Asia becomes an increasingly crucial battleground. The United States is trying to encircle China with a network of hundreds of military bases while building a trilateral military alliance with South Korea and Japan. But many in those countries want to be free of U.S. domination.Our guest today is Tim Shorrock, a writer and commentator who has covered the region since the 1970s. Growing up in Japan, Tim has covered Korea for The Nation magazine since 1983. His writing can also be found on his personal website, TimShorrock.com.While Japan is often presented as a model democracy and a stable society with low rates of crime and inequality, beneath the surface, a different story can also be told. The U.S. has occupied the island nation since the end of the Second World War, with more than 54,000 troops stationed across 120 military bases. Washington also heavily interfered in Japanese politics, funding and supporting the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has remained in power almost uninterrupted since the 1950s. In turn, the LDP allows the U.S. military to do what it likes in Japan.“It is difficult to call a country sovereign when another country's military has control over its airspace,” he added.Likewise, South Korea is often presented as a modern, efficient, “good” nation instead of an authoritarian “bad” North Korea. But here again, the reality is considerably murkier. For much of its history, the South was ruled by a brutal military dictatorship that massacred its progressive opponents, ushering in a climate of fear across the country.While the dictatorship has gone, many of its anti-democratic laws remain. One is the National Security Law, which effectively allows the government to prosecute any left-wing political opponents (including human rights activists or unionists) under the premise that they are in league with the Communist North.And like Japan, South Korea was occupied by the United States, which maintains tens of thousands of troops there to this day. The U.S. presence is a major factor hindering the possibility of Korean unification. As Shorrock told MintCast host Alan MacLeod:The U.S. has always been against unification. They wanted the southern part of Korea to be part of their empire and linked up with Japan. That is what this trilateral alliance is all about maintaining U.S. forces there, basically forever.”Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

In the wake of the October 7 assault, more than 700 celebrities signed an open letter pledging support to the government of Israel. On the other hand, the hip-hop community has displayed solidarity with Gaza, with over 600 artists joining the Musicians for Palestine movement.Joining MintCast host Alan MacLeod today to talk about Gaza and the music industry is Immortal Technique. Immortal Technique is an independent rapper and activist widely regarded as one of his generation's most respected and gifted artists. He has used his platforms on social media to constantly speak out about the situation and educate his huge audience about colonialism, capitalism and imperialism. You can follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.Immortal Technique was keen to see the violence in Gaza as part of a bigger picture. “It is a continuation of the political aspirations of not just the United States, but [also] NATO,” he said. Israel has, for many decades, served as the United States' local cop on the beat, an extension of the U.S. empire, hence the unwavering support in Washington D.C.“There are some beliefs among revolutionaries and the left that need to be challenged,” the Peruvian-born MC told MacLeod today. One of them is the anti-Semitic trope that Israel pulls the strings in the U.S. “In reality,” he said, “it is the United States of America that is pulling all the strings for Israel. The United States uses the government of Israel to do the types of things that it cannot do.”Ultimately, though, Immortal Technique argued that Washington is not making ordinary Israelis safer. “The United States cannot really protect Israel; it can only sell them weapons to brutalize their neighbors,” he said.The pair discussed the huge pressures on artists in the entertainment industry to toe the line on Israel and the penalties that occur if they speak out.Luckily for Immortal Technique, his status as an independent musician with no corporate bosses means he can speak freely.  As he explained:If you take the stairs and you fall down, you only fall down a flight. But if you take the elevator and the cable snaps, you are going to the bottom, motherfucker. You hear me? And that's the difference between independence and being in the mainstream.”Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

First up in the news: mintCast has a birthday, Mint 21.3 is named, Amazon works on a Linux fork for their devices, Ubuntu commits to Netplan, Firefox attempts Wayland, FreeBSD 14 is out, Endeavour releases Galileo, Vivaldi comes to Flathub, Google kills magazine content, OpenMandriva releases Rock 5.0, Pipewire reaches 1.0.0 In security and privacy: Google Chrome's Privacy Washing Then in our Wanderings: Bill may just be losing his mind, (there are doubts?), Joe prints everything but money, Majid does VR, Moss hangs on, and Eric spends more quality time with his Linux tablet. Download

There is no doubt about it: China is rising. Whether it sparks hope and interest or fear and worry, it is impossible to ignore the country's rapid economic and social transformation. Just a few decades ago, the words “made in China” were a synonym for bad quality junk. But today, China leads the world in all manner of high-tech industries, including photovoltaic cells, semiconductors, 5G communications technologies, and electric vehicles.Joining “MintCast” host today is someone who knows China extremely well. John Ross is an economist and a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of the Renmin University of China. As far back as 1992, he accurately predicted the failure of economic reform in Russia and Eastern Europe and its success in China. He is the author of the book, “China's Great Road: Lessons for Marxist Theory and Socialist Practices.” He writes on Chinese politics and economics on his website, “Learning From China.”While many in the West take a very dim view of China, Ross is far more positive, telling MacLeod that China has seen the highest sustained economic growth of any country in world history. “People don't understand the scale of China's success, and they still don't understand what it means, therefore, in the transformation of the lives of ordinary Chinese people,” he said.Few in the Western media landscape would agree with Ross' position. Some might acknowledge China's rapid and remarkable transformation, but many are predicting that it is now entering a permanent slump or even an economic meltdown due to a property crash.Ross brushed off these concerns. “These articles are a farce,” he said, suggesting that a good course of action for understanding the truth about China is to “Read ‘The Economist' and assume that the opposite is going to take place.” He also noted that the current trade war with China has nothing to do with human rights, the rules-based international order, or any other buzzword the United States wishes to use. In fact, he argued, the United States is attempting to throttle China's economy because it cannot effectively boost or speed up its economy.From there, MacLeod and Ross also talked about Chinese rivalry with the United States, the high-tech trade war going on, the situation in Taiwan and the threat of a potential nuclear conflict between the superpowers.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

America is addicted to war. But its citizens rarely see the brutal realities of the U.S. military-industrial complex up close. That is because our pliant media hides the carnage from the public, refusing to report on the victims of the war machine, and uses euphemisms like “surgical strikes” and “enhanced interrogation techniques” to mask the barbarity meted out by Washington around the world. A recent study from the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that the post-9/11 wars have been responsible for some 4.5 million deaths worldwide, with at least 38 million also displaced from their homes. Our guest today has literally written the book on how the harsh realities of America's global empire are blocked from our views. Norman Solomon is a journalist, activist and media critic who co-founded activism website RootsAction.Org. He is the author of the new book, “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine,” which has been endorsed by a wide range of academics and public figures, from Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky and Medea Benjamin to Naomi Klein and Amy Goodman. Solomon contended that, while the United States has suffered serious military setbacks and embarrassments in the 21st century, the military-industrial complex driving the war machine has gone from strength to strength, telling “MintCast” host Alan MacLeod that:  “Raytheon, Boeing and other military contractors never lose a war. It is always extremely profitable [for them]. But in terms of geopolitical positioning, it is very difficult to maintain an empire in decline, which is not a bad description of the United States in the last decades.” While the U.S.' “forever wars” in West Asia might finally be dying down, tensions with Russia and China are being consciously ramped up in Washington, leading to an extremely dangerous standoff against two nuclear-armed nations. Russia and China have, between them, thousands of nuclear warheads, and a conflict with either, Solomon told MacLeod, could end the world. As he said: “The U.S. is on a collision course with sanity around the survival of humanity in the nuclear age, ginning up [passions] rather than engaging in diplomacy over the conflict in Ukraine, and the consequences, to put it mildly, are not only horrific in the present, but potentially omnicidal.” Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

South of the border, an entire region is rising, electing radical governments and moving towards integration and genuine independence.Today, “MintPress News” speaks to Ollie Vargas about Latin America and just what is going on in the region President Joe Biden called the U.S.' “front yard.” Ollie Vargas is an award-winning journalist based in Bolivia. He is the co-founder of “Kawsachun News,” an outlet reporting in the English language on Bolivia and Latin America. He has also contributed to “MintPress.”Key to the latest drive towards Latin America has been the role of Brazil and, in particular, President Lula da Silva, who has taken it upon himself to lead the Global South to take a more active role in world politics.Brazil is currently the only Latin American member of the BRICS economic bloc. However, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, Nicaragua and a host of other countries in the region have expressed interest in joining, which could turn the tables and provide balance to the U.S. “rules-based international order.”Another key figure providing pushback to American dominance of Latin America is Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. AMLO, as he is known, has refused to kowtow to Washington. Indeed, at President Biden's Summit for Democracy in March, he described the U.S. as nothing more than an “oligarch with a façade of democracy.”AMLO has proven very popular in Mexico, thanks to his pro-people policies. These include massively raising the minimum wage and state pensions, allowing tens of millions to live in dignity. All the while, he has kept inflation low. He holds a televised press conference every morning, in which he talks directly with the people. As Vargas put it, “While previous leaders stood above the population, AMLO stands with the people.”AMLO stands, in Vargas' opinion, in contrast to Chilean President Gabriel Boric. Heralded as a new kind of progressive at the time of his election, Boric has failed to maintain his popularity. Vargas explained that, while Boric has some superficially radical positions, he has changed little about the day-to-day existence of the ordinary people.Vargas also talks about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Latin America, about the upcoming elections in Ecuador, and what it was like reporting under the dictatorshSupport the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Have you ever wondered just how much of your hard-earned tax dollars go to funding our bloated war machine? On today's episode of “The MintCast,” Lindsay Koshgarian lays out the staggering expense that American taxpayers fork out each year to keep the U.S. empire going.“The average person is paying over $2300 per year for our military, plus another $700 for veterans' [benefits]. So that's over $3000. To put that in some other perspective, that's more than twice what the median rent is for a two-bedroom apartment is in this country... It's a really significant expense for individual taxpayers,” she told “Mintcast” co-host Alan MacLeod.Lindsay Koshgarian is the Program Director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. Her work and commentary have been featured in “NPR,” the “BBC,” “CNN” and “The Nation,” among others.Not only does the United States spend vastly more than any other country in the world on its military, the federal budget continues to become increasingly militarized. For the financial year 2023, $1.1 trillion of the $1.8 trillion total went to purchasing weapons or on militarizing the police or prison systems.If you include veterans' benefits, then the government spends more on war than anything else, even healthcare. More than $1000 of the average American's taxes go to Pentagon contractors – four times as much as is spent on K-12 education.Koshgarian's report, “Tax Day 2023: Where Your 2022 Tax Dollars Went,” even notes that weapons giant Lockheed Martin received $106 per American taxpayer this year. This is compared to just $11 on anti-homeless projects or around $6 to develop renewable energy.The National Priorities Project has proposed a modest spending cut to the military, bringing the budget down to 2018 levels. With that $100 billion saving, they calculate that the U.S. could:-  Provide free tuition for 2 out of 3 public college students in the U.S.- Send every household in the U.S. a $700 check to help offset the effects of inflation- Hire 890,000 Registered Nurses to address shortages- Cover medical care for 7 million veterans, or:- Triple current enrollment in Head Start, from 1 million children and families to 3 million.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Americans want change. A December poll found that only 38% of the country is satisfied with the way the political system is working, with nearly two-thirds expressing their discontent. Despite this, it appears that very little change is on the horizon; the 2024 election is looking increasingly likely that the two parties will select aging relics in Joe Biden and Donald Trump as their candidates. In this situation, half of Americans say they would consider voting for a third party, despite the clear drawbacks to this in the U.S.' two-party duopoly.One candidate who could shake up this cozy system is activist and public intellectual Dr. Cornel West. West's decades of activism and his natural charisma and speaking abilities could draw large numbers to his message, leaving many in Washington – especially Democrats – worried.West has declared his intention to be the Green Party's presidential candidate for 2024. Here to speak with us today about Dr. West, the Green Party, and the state of U.S. politics is West's campaign manager, Dr. Jill Stein.A physician by trade, Stein has been involved in the Green movement for decades. She first ran for office in 2002, attempting to become the governor of her native Massachusetts. In 2012 and 2016, she was selected as the Green Party's presidential candidate.Democrat-aligned media are already decrying West's run as a sideshow and as something that will ensure a Republican will be elected in 2024. “The Democrats absolutely do fear [West]. And they should!” Stein told MacLeod, noting that support for the Democratic Party is waning and that there are now as many independent voters as Republicans and Democrats put together:There's a huge block that doesn't vote. It's almost 40%. And who is it? It is communities of color, young people, low-income people, and communities who have basically been thrown under the bus. And that is exactly who Dr. West speaks to. And those are the demographics who are wildly excited about his race. So we could see voting really change.”Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Somebody blew up the Nord Stream II pipeline – that much is certain. Yet, since September last year, when the incident occurred, no one has come forward to take responsibility, and the attack has become the subject of intense international debate.Our guest on “MintCast” is Bryce Greene, a writer, journalist, activist and media critic who has covered the issue extensively in outlets such as “Fairness And Accuracy in Reporting.” Earlier this month, Bryce was invited to speak at the United Nations Security Council to shed light on who is likeliest to have been behind the attack. His full remarks can be read and seen here. Greene was highly critical of the press coverage of the event, telling “MintCast” host Alan MacLeod that the media seem “almost completely incapable of examining the facts in an objective and dispassionate manner.” While the press is happy to denounce Russia for the attack, despite the lack of concrete evidence, Greene said they have, in effect, enforced an “intellectual no-fly zone around entertaining the other obvious suspects” – i.e., the United States.Certainly, the U.S. had a lot to gain from ending Nord Stream. The attack has pushed Europe into the arms of the United States, forcing them to buy expensive American liquified natural gas rather than cheap Russian energy. Before the attack, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told the press: “If Russia invades, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 Will. Not. Move. Forward.” President Biden made similar remarks. And after the incident, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken seemed delighted, calling it a “tremendous opportunity” for the U.S.Therefore, it came as little surprise to many when legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh released an article claiming that U.S. Navy divers were behind the attack and that President Biden himself had ordered the pipeline be destroyed. Hersh's claims have largely been ignored in the mainstream press, however. A MintPress study of the 20 largest and most influential U.S. news outlets found only four mentions of Hersh's claims in the week after his report made worldwide headlines.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

As the war in Ukraine continues to take lives, many people worldwide question its legitimacy and demand an end to the violence. Yet even as calls to cease the conflict grow, the Biden administration has announced that it will up the ante by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine – a weapon banned by more than 100 countries worldwide. Today's guest, Medea Benjamin, an anti-war activist and co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK, was shocked by the decision. “The world came together in 2008 to ban cluster munitions for a real reason,” she told “MintCast” host Alan MacLeod. “And that is because of all the unsuspecting children and farmers who step on these bombs and whose limbs are blown off,” she added, noting that wherever these weapons have been used, the consequences and the destruction last for decades.“This is just an example of the desperation of the Biden administration to want to see some success in the Ukraine counteroffensive, which isn't going anywhere,” she concluded. Benjamin recently returned from a trip to Ukraine, where she survived a Russian air raid attack on Lviv. Yet arguably more concerning than the destruction was the mentality of many she met. As she told MacLeod:“The impression I got talking to a number of people in Ukraine is that they are being fed a daily diet – both from the media and from their own politicians – that this war is going in their favor, that this war is winnable (meaning they can get back Crimea and every inch of the Donbas, and they should.) So, I feel that, for many of them, they were really divorced from the reality of the fighting and Russia's ability to keep this battle going.”From there, the pair also talked about the U.S. buildup of troops around China, sanctions on Cuba, and why recent Biden-appointee Elliott Abrams is the neocon par excellence. According to Benjamin, Abrams should be tried for war crimes rather than serve in positions affecting U.S. government policy.MintPress has launched its annual funding drive. Faced with algorithmic censorship, arrests, financial sanctions and more, it is crucial that our readers and viewers support us. Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

MintPress speaks to James Rehwald. Thanks to his innovative comedy and razor-sharp wit, James has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across social media platforms, his viral, darkly satirical videos having been seen by tens of millions of people worldwide. James constantly takes aim at the entire power structure to produce explicitly anti-imperialist, radical shorts that cut deep. A frequent target of his is the CIA. "The CIA are basically gangsters for American capitalism,” he told Alan MacLeod, referencing their history of gunrunning and drug smuggling. “I love the new CIA ads. They really lean into identity politics. It feels like satire is dead when I watch their videos. It's like ‘you too can join the imperialist project, toppling governments!'' he added.James also spoke about how he got into comedy. Growing up in a conservative household, “The Colbert Report” was a favorite of his. “Just seeing somebody do a satirical mock of the right-wing pundits that I grew up around was genius. But then, of course, it is sad when you see a lot of these guys who don't point the target at Democrats. There's no criticism from the left, except from the very obvious ones,” he said.Liberals and liberalism is another primary target of James' content. But, he said, he treads a fine line, not wishing to be seen as a partisan hack and wanting to explicitly note that both parties are part of the same war machine. “I always feel this pressure when I am making fun of liberals or Democrats in my videos that I gotta, in the same sentence, make fun of Republicans, just to let them know that you are [also] part of this problem!” he said. Referencing the handful of conglomerates that control mainstream media, James notes that, “These are big corporations that have their own interests, as well as advertisers that they need to make sure they're creating a media environment that is conducive to their profits.” Their whole model is built on ad revenue. They have to maintain relationships, as broadcasters, with advertisers. And the ones that can spend the most are the biggest companies. And you have everybody from fossil fuels, to insurance companies to whatever. The largest corporations keep these channels afloat, and they gotta play a delicate balance and not ruffle their feathers.”Still, that only leaves the lane even more free for comedians like James to make a name for themselves on social media.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

It ain't easy being a YouTuber—at least, not a political one. The platform is a giant, Byzantine organization filled with secret rules and algorithms that content creators constantly fall afoul of. This is especially true for radical voices, who are incessantly shadowbanned and suppressed by the Google-owned platform.One person who has broken through the algorithmic barriers better than almost anyone is JT Chapman, host of the Second Thought channel. Chapman makes engaging video essays about some of the most pressing issues of the day, and the quality of his work has drawn 1.6 million subscribers to his main channel. He is also the founder of the YouTube news show First Thought and the co-host of The Deprogram podcast. Today, he discusses his tips for YouTube success, climate change, the economy, and what radicals could learn from Walmart.Having one of the world's largest corporations (Google) own the global town square poses huge problems for freedom of speech, not least because of the company's intimate links to the Central Intelligence Agency. Chapman has to tread a careful line on YouTube because of demonetization, age restriction, and other tactics the platform uses to suppress radical voices. All this, he says, “really disincentivizes people like me to produce radical content.” This leads many well-meaning YouTubers to just start chasing the algorithm and become “toxic little clout goblins,” he told “MintCast” host Alan MacLeod.When asked how useful YouTube is for inspiring people and producing societal change, Chapman said,I think investigative journalism that exposes corruption is useful in moving the needle…but on the other hand, I'd say that a large percentage of people doing what I do on platforms like YouTube really aren't all that useful, unless we are actively driving people to get engaged in organizations and on the ground movements.”On this episode, MacLeod and Chapman also chatted about how we could stop economic recessions entirely if we wanted to, how economies could be planned, and his tips for others wishing to make an impact online.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

The United States is an empire, even if its citizens don't all realize it. That is the conclusion from historian and political scientist Aaron Good, who joins Alan MacLeod on this week's edition of “MintCast.” Today, Good walks us through the history of how the United States came to dominate the world and the organizations it uses – especially the CIA and NATO – in order to enforce its control over the planet.He notes that as Europe and Asia were destroying themselves in conflict, the U.S. gave the powerful business think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, the task of planning America's entry into World War II.Enter the war, win it, and establish dominion over global capitalism. They are going to essentially take control of Western imperialism. It's not stated that way, but that's what ends up being the consensus of people at the top of the U.S. And that consensus of the U.S. as the global hegemon of capitalism worldwide is the story of our time.”In this, the U.S. has been very effective dominating the planet for the past 75 years, although Good does later note that China's growing role is loosening the American grip on the world.  Good describes the U.S. as a “paper tiger,” explaining that:In a sense, the U.S. is musclebound to the military, meaning that we may have all these bases and all these billions. But there are two things that the U.S. does not have the ability to do. One is actually using its nuclear arsenal because it would kill everybody. It is a non-starter.”“The other…is fielding a military. When they talk about the U.S. potentially entering a war in Ukraine. Good luck with that!... Who in the world is going to fight in some World War One-style battle?! In Iraq, the U.S. lost fewer than 10,000, and that was very unpopular. By some estimates, 400,000 have died in Ukraine. How could you possibly expect Americans or Europeans to want to die in that way?”Today, Good and MacLeod also chat about the power and purpose of the CIA, how the United States laid the groundwork for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the use and misuse of the term “the deep state.”Aaron Good is a historian and former political organizer. His book, “American Exception: Empire and the Deep State,” was published in 2022. He is also the host of the American Exception podcast, which can be found on most major podcast platforms.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Last month, on his way back to Great Britain, MintPress contributor Kit Klarenberg was detained and interrogated. The investigative journalist was met at the airport by six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror officers, who seized his electronic devices, and memory cards and took his fingerprints and DNA. Under Schedule Three, Section Four of the U.K. 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Act, they grilled him for over five hours, asking probing questions on everything from his opinions on the current British leadership to Vladimir Putin to 9/11.For Klarenberg, the real reason he was being targeted had nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with his investigative reporting that has exposed the machinations of the British state. In recent months, this has included revealing that British spies plotted to bomb the Kerch Bridge in Crimea, how the U.K. government is constructing a “secret terror army” in Ukraine, and how British intelligence seemingly worked with state broadcaster, the BBC to smear anti-war academics. While the United Kingdom continues to enjoy a reputation for being an island of relative freedom, prosperity and democracy, Klarenberg challenged this idea, pointing to several Draconian laws passed under the guise of keeping the public safe. As he told Adley: Britain has, for a very long time, had the most sweeping counter-terror laws in the Western world and arguably in the world. They have overturned centuries-old and hard-fought-for rights, protections and freedoms that average citizens enjoy, and have granted police sweeping and disturbingly vague powers.” Klarenberg's reporting has also uncovered many connections between established corporate media and the U.K. national security state, to the point where it is sometimes hard to ascertain where one ends and the other begins. As he said:For many, the Klarenberg case seems eerily reminiscent of the treatment of another journalist forgotten by his mainstream colleagues: of Julian Assange. Assange remains confined in Belmarsh high-security prison in London while British authorities negotiate with their American counterparts on whether to send him stateside.What is clear is that critical investigative journalism is under attack and that those who value a free press must stand together to fight against it.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Amid an ongoing crisis in recruitment, the military has found a novel way of enticing teens to enlist: thirst traps. “MintCast” co-host Alan MacLeod joins Mnar Adley for an in-house edition of the podcast to describe how the military is using young teens' horniness against them, utilizing an army of attractive women posting sexually suggestive content on social media – in effect, turning a generation of young men from simps into soldiers.Alan MacLeod is senior staff writer and podcast producer for MintPress News. He has worked at the company since 2019. Before joining MintPress, he was an academic and freelance journalist specializing in Latin America and in analyzing media and propaganda. In recent months, he has specialized in analyzing U.S. military propaganda and exploring the national security state's ties to big social media organizations. His latest investigation, “From Simp to Soldier: How the Military is Using E-Girls To Recruit Gen Z Into Service,” can be read exclusively at MintPress News.Chief amongst these new Army e-girls pushing their followers to join up is 21-year-old Hailey Lujan. In recent months, Lujan's social media profile has exploded, with the young star now boasting nearly three-quarters of a million followers on TikTok alone. In between posting highly sexually suggestive content and zany memes, however, are subtle and not-so-subtle commands to her army of loyal followers to join up. “Don't go to college; become a farmer or a soldier instead,” she says in one recent video.The plot thickens, however, when we look into Lujan's background. She is a member of the Army's psychological operations division, whose job it is to carry out online propaganda and influence operations. Despite constantly hinting that she is a “psyop” herself, Lujan strenuously denies that the Army controls her content.MacLeod told Adley that it is almost a moot point whether the Army is actively directing Lujan, stating:I think if you were [psychology expert and father of modern propaganda] Edward Bernays, you might say that it doesn't really matter whether she is or isn't being supported by the military, because, ultimately, what this is doing is getting people who look at this content – and there are millions of people watching this stuff – to associate lustfulness and horniness with joining the military. It's literally making them horny for war.”Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

You can indict Vladimir Putin over war crimes in Ukraine. But if you do, you'd better indict Joe Biden as well. That is the message that Professor Alfred de Zayas, world-renowned human rights and international law expert, gave “MintCast” host Alan MacLeod on today's episode of the series.  A Swiss-American lawyer, academic and United Nations official with over 50 years' experience in the field of human rights, de Zayas joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about international law and Ukraine, U.S. sanctions, whistleblowers, the successes and failures of the United Nations and its bodies, and the growth of a new and cynical “human rights industry” that weaponizes the concept to attack foreign governments. “The double standards [with regard to Russia] are absolutely breathtaking” de Zayas said, noting how British International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan had discontinued all investigations into NATO war crimes in Afghanistan but continued those into the Taliban against NATO. Now the ICC has issued an arrest warrant against Putin, another one-sided decision that de Zayas claims has made the organization a joke:“There is no question that here, the crime of aggression has been committed, and certainly Russian troops have committed crimes in Ukraine. But you cannot prosecute one side and let the other side off scot-free. If you are going to indict a serving head of state [like Putin], then you would have to indict Joe Biden.”The United States and NATO, he says, have been carrying out dangerous provocations in Ukraine for years, supplying weapons to militias who use them against civilians, while also carrying out similar crimes to Russia in Afghanistan, meaning that anyone with a semblance of balance or neutrality would conclude that American leaders need to be held accountable, too. After graduating from Harvard University in 1970, de Zayas practiced law in New York and Florida. For many years, he served in various human rights organizations and as a senior official at the United Nations. From 2010 to 2013 he was editor-in-chief of Ex Tempore, the United Nations' literary journal. Until 2018, he was UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order. In addition to this, he has taught law at academic institutions across the world, including the University of Geneva, the University of Trier, the Human Rights Institute at the Irish National University and DePaul University. Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Congress recently voted against pulling American troops out of Somalia. Officially, U.S. forces number 900 and are there in an advisory role to help the government of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud combat terrorist forces such as Al-Shabab.Yet our guest today states that U.S. boots on the ground in Somalia are doing nothing but serving as a recruiting tool for jihadists, their presence provoking widespread resentment among the people of the resource-rich but war-torn African nation.Ann Garrison is a journalist and a contributing editor to The Black Agenda Report. You can also find her at The Grayzone and on Pacifica Radio. Her latest article, “Ilhan Omar Voted to Withdraw from Somalia, but She's No Anti-Imperialist,” assesses the Minnesota Congresswoman's record on opposing U.S. actions in the Horn of Africa.Garrison notes that Washington has little interest in genuinely opposing radical jihadist groups in the region and is instead focused on maintaining control of a strategically important part of the world. Somalia sits on the Red Sea, across a narrow strait from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Around 40% of world seaborne trade passes by its waters on the way to or from the Suez Canal. Moreover, the nation is believed to possess over 100 billion barrels of untapped offshore oil reserves. “Securing African resources is an existential imperative” for the U.S., Garrison said.The United States has spent the past decade bullying and intimidating countries in North East Africa. From the bombing of Libya and the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 to its attempts to isolate Eritrea economically and politically to bombing Somalia and supporting the insurgency of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front against Ethiopia, Washington's actions have led many in the region to sour on the United States altogether.While Garrison welcomed the campaign led by Florida Republican Matt Gaetz to get everyone in Congress on record as to whether they support or oppose ending the seemingly endless war in Somalia, she cautioned that Gaetz is not a committed anti-imperialist, but a strong China hawk, and sees U.S. conflicts like the one in Somalia as a sideshow to the real showdown against Beijing.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

The war in Ukraine is well into its second year, and the United States is insistent on pumping billions more into the quagmire that has already seen thousands of lives lost and millions displaced.The U.S. has already approved more than $113 billion in aid to Ukraine, most of which is weaponry. This year, President Biden has earmarked a record-breaking $842 billion on the military. Yet much of this is not even directed towards Europe but at China. Seemingly not content with turning Europe into a war zone, Washington now has its sights set on Asia. Joining MintCast hosts Mnar Adley and Alan MacLeod to discuss Washington's permanent drive to war is author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Chris Hedges. “[War with China] is a serious threat given the mindset of the warmongers who dominate the Washington establishment,” Hedges says before naming and shaming many of the most callous hawks in the nation. “They never go away; it doesn't matter how wrong they are. They were, of course, all cheerleaders for the war in Iraq. But they represent those interests, and they are creations of the Washington establishment. They don't actually know war or geopolitics,” he added.Hedges spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent across the world, including in Central America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In 2002, he was part of a New York Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the global war on terror. After publicly denouncing the Iraq War, however, he was forced out of his job. Since then, he has worked in independent media. A prolific and best-selling author, his latest book, “The Greatest Evil is War” was published last year. You can find his work at ChrisHedges.substack.com/. America is “clearly on the decline,” Hedges told Adley and MacLeod, suggesting that:Anyone who drives through large swathes of the United States will tell you, it is one decayed city after another. All the mechanisms of repression that were tested largely on people of color (the way the Israelis do on Gaza) have migrated back to the homeland. Militarized drones, wholesale surveillance, militarized police, we have the largest prison system in the world; [the U.S. has almost] 25% of the world's prisoners even though we are less than 5% of the world's population. So we are dying the same way any empire dies.” Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

In 1999, South African anti-apartheid activist and revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela visited Gaza and said, "We know too well our freedom is not complete without the freedom of the Palestinians."Since his death in 2013, Mandela's unifying message of decolonization reverberated across the globe. The anti-colonial, anti-apartheid struggle that he led to end racial segregation and transform South Africa into a democratic nation has been lauded by Palestinians, who have drawn parallels between Israeli occupation and apartheid to the situation that Black South Africans faced.Joining Mnar Adley for this week's MintCast interview to discuss the struggle against Apartheid and the continued struggle against colonialism is Nkosi "Mandla" Mandela, who, since 2009, has been a member of the South African parliament for the African National Congress Party. He is also the grandson of Nelson Mandela.On Wednesday, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor called on the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders responsible for Operation Shield and Arrow, last weekend's series of airstrikes against the Gaza Strip.Over 20 Palestinians have been killed so far since Israel began bombing the world's largest open air prison. Entire families were killed in their sleep, including children, and several neighborhoods flattened to rubble, leaving many communities homeless.As the world witnesses yet another massacre committed by the apartheid state, South Africa and other African nations are rising in the fight against Israel's occupation of Palestine.Earlier this year, the African Union asked its member states to cut scientific, cultural and even some economic ties with Israel until it reverses its colonial practices against Palestine.Nkosi Mandela has been one of the world's most outspoken voices against Israeli apartheid and in support of Palestinian liberation. Join us today for this informative discussion.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

First up in the news, Chrome does fractions with Wayland, new Framework laptops, Docker changes their mind, ARM needs more money, Midnight BSD released, GnuCash is updated, Cinnamon Remix goes official, and PineStar64 is announced; In security and privacy, Mélofée happens, and Linux Tech Tips gets hacked; Then in our Wanderings, Joe has been sick, and Moss replaces a hard drive. In our Innards section, we beg for new hosts and talk about our experiences with mintCast. Download

Although corporate media inundate us with stories of Russian aggression, far fewer people are aware that the Ukrainian government itself has been using the fog of war to move against certain sectors of its own population, settle scores, and attempt to revolutionize society.These attempts have been led by President Volodymyr Zelensky himself, who, in recent months, has banned more than ten political parties (including the main opposition bloc), made trade unions illegal, outlawed Russian language, music and culture, and proclaimed his country open for business to Western investors.On the latest edition of the MintCast, host Mnar Adley is joined by journalist Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, to discuss Zelensky, the war, and the consequences for Europe.While Zelensky has been presented as a heroic figure in the West, he has also cracked down on all forms of dissent within Ukraine, even moving against religious groups he feels are not sufficiently loyal to his administration.“They are rounding up priests in Kherson as we speak, along with members of the Jewish ultra-orthodox sect, Chabad, to stayed behind in Kherson to tend to their people, when it was Russian territory, before the Russian retreat,” Blumenthal told Adley.While Ukrainian men in their millions are subject to being drafted into the military, others wait in fear of being targeted by the administration. Kill lists circulate online, while news of the latest politicians to be arrested spreads on social media.Blumenthal denounced what he described as “Pinochet-style regime of disappearances, assassinations, torture, arrests of all of Zelensky's opposition, including his most popular and prominent opponent, the leader of the Ukrainian Patriots Party, Viktor Medvedchuk.”Chile's General Pinochet, of course, used overwhelming violence as a tactic to force through economic measures to enrich his Western backers – measures that the population would not have accepted otherwise.Zelensky, too, it seems, is attempting to force through waves of privatization to revolutionize the Ukrainian economy. At the same time as jetting off to the New York Stock Exchange and proclaiming that Ukraine offers the best investment opportunity since World War Two, unions have effectively been banned across the country, and communists and labor rights activists have been jailed.Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

First up in the news: Mint 21.1 beta has been released, vivaldi adds mastodon plugin. In Security and Privacy, Eufy shows your videos, samsungs lost some keys, and more rootkits. The in our wanderings: Guy talk In our innards section, Bill discusses setting up podcasts. Download

First up in the news: Network-crashing leap seconds to be abandoned, Asahi Linux Improves Apple Silicon Support In security and privacy: OpenSSL3 Patch Arrives In security and privacy: updates are required Then in our Wanderings: Bill hammers nextcloud, Joe does tinkering In our Innards section: we discuss more history and finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions Download