The Real News Podcast

President Trump repeatedly promised that his mass deportation efforts would target “the worst of the worst” criminals, yet the government’s own data reveals that immigrants with no criminal record are the largest group in US immigration detention today. How can the Trump administration justify its deployment of federal agents, and even the military, to US cities based on the factually disprovable fictions that American cities are crime-ridden “war zones” overrun with criminal “illegal aliens”? To answer that, one must study the long-established precedent in the USA of overpolicing poor communities of color that are painted as inherently violent, chaotic, and crime-ridden. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with TRNN reporters Stephen Janis and Taya Graham about what the history of policing in America can teach us about Trump’s authoritarian deployment of law enforcement agencies today.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

It was once called Columbus Day, and it still is in many parts. A day to celebrate the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, who supposedly “discovered” America. But America was there long before Columbus came. And so were millions of people up and down the continent. Experts estimate that there were anywhere from 60–90 million people in the Americas at the time. Possibly even more people in the Americas than in Europe at the time. But disease and successive wars by waves of invading Europeans decimated the local Indigenous populations. Over the next century, roughly 90% of Indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere had been wiped out.But they have constantly resisted to this day.Please consider supporting this podcast and Michael Fox’s reporting on his Patreon account: patreon.com/mfox. There you can also see exclusive pictures, video, and interviews. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review. And please consider signing up for the Stories of Resistance podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, or wherever you listen.Written and produced by Michael Fox.Stories of Resistance Indigenous resistance episodes:Episode 4: How Indigenous peoples in Brazil fought COVID-19Episode 8: Celebrating Indigenous roots in Chile’s Arica carnivalEpisode 23: Reforesting the Andes, one tree at a timeEpisode 48: Protecting Q’eswachaka, the last Incan rope bridgeEpisode 50: Inti Raymi returns as an act of resistanceEpisode 54: How Indigenous field hockey is reviving Mapuche cultureEpisode 56: Karipuna resistance: Defending the AmazonBecome a member and join the Stories of Resistance Supporters Club today!Follow Stories of Resistance on Spotify or Apple PodcastsSign up for our newsletterFollow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetwork

Eric King is a father, poet, activist, and anarchist who was imprisoned in 2014 for acts of solidarity with the Ferguson, MO, uprising in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown. While locked up, King endured years of documented physical and psychological torture, spending the last 18 months of his sentence in the ADX supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with King about how he survived his incarceration “with heart and soul intact,” and about King’s new book, A Clean Hell: Anarchy and Abolition in America’s Most Notorious Dungeon, in which he “opens the doors of America’s most secretive prison and lets the reader step into the cell to experience all the horrors the Federal Bureau of Prisons tries to keep hidden underground.”For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Friday, October 10, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Thursday, October 9, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Wednesday, October 8, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Intent to destroy all or part of a group is required to meet the criteria of genocide, and Israeli officials have made their intentions towards the people of Gaza explicitly clear, says Phyllis Bennis. In this discussion of her new book, Understanding Palestine & Israel, she explains how other recognized genocides have been defined, the influence of the Holocaust and its aftermath on Zionism and Jewish identity, and why the ceasefire movement indicates a change in the movement for Palestinian rights.Guests:Phyllis Bennis is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where she also serves as co-director of the New Internationalism Project. She is a founding member of the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation and served for six years on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace. She is the author of numerous books, including Understanding Palestine & Israel.Credits:Studio Production: Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Stephen FrankFollow The Marc Steiner Show on Spotify Follow The Marc Steiner Show on Apple PodcastsHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetwork

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Tuesday, October 7, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Monday, October 5, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in recent days. They've marched in dozens of cities. They're demanding respect and safety for the flotilla passengers kidnapped and detained by Israeli forces. They're demanding an end to the violence in Gaza and an end to their countries’ complicity in the genocide in Palestine. BIG NEWS! This podcast is a finalist for this year’s Signal Awards for best history podcast. It's a huge honor just to get this far. And you can help us win. Your vote can make a difference. Anyone can vote. Here’s the link: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/shows/genre/historyAll you have to do is click on the link. That will take you to a page where you can click on the Stories of Resistance icon. Register your email and you’re all set. While you’re there, please also vote for The Real News’s Marc Steiner. He’s in the running for best episode host. You can vote for him here: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/individual-episodes/craft/best-hostPlease consider supporting this podcast and Michael Fox’s reporting on his Patreon account: patreon.com/mfox. There you can also see exclusive pictures, video, and interviews. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review. And please consider signing up for the Stories of Resistance podcast feed, either in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, or wherever you listen. Written and produced by Michael Fox.Resources“The Freedom Flotilla: Sailing to break Israel’s siege of Gaza,” TRNN“Palestino: Chile’s soccer club standing in defense of Palestine,” TRNN“How Italy’s Workers Shut Their Country Down for Gaza,” The NationHere is the link to the website for the Global Sumud Flotilla: https://globalsumudflotilla.org/As of Monday, October 6, Israel had freed 166 passengers of the flotilla. Israel was still holding the other 296 people.Become a member and join the Stories of Resistance Supporters Club today!Follow Stories of Resistance on Spotify or Apple PodcastsSign up for our newsletterFollow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetwork

In a stunning and massive development, tech giant Microsoft has announced that it is terminating parts of the Israeli military’s access to proprietary technology that it was using to conduct mass surveillance and targeting of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. “Microsoft told Israeli officials late last week that Unit 8200, the military’s elite spy agency, had violated the company’s terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data in its Azure cloud platform,” the Guardian reports. “The termination is the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza.” This major development would not have happened without the joint-investigative work of reporters at The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call exposing Microsoft’s complicity with Unit 8200’s mass-surveillance campaign, but it also would not have happened without the disruptive protests by tech workers within Microsoft. In this panel discussion, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with three fired Microsoft tech workers and members of the “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign—Nisreen Jaradat, Julius Shan, and Anna Hattle—about the role workers have played in pressuring Microsoft to end its complicity in Israel’s war crimes.Credits:Studio Production / Post-Production: David HebdenHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Friday, October 3, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

In Ecuador, the country's largest Indigenous movement has been leading mass protests in the streets for nearly two weeks against President Daniel Noboa’s lifting of diesel subsidies. Gas prices have spiked. They say it will impact the price of food.They’re calling their protests an “indefinite national strike.” The country is now on fire. They have faced repression. But they have vowed to continue in the streets, demanding justice. Demanding their rights. Standing in defense of their communities, their lives, and their future. This is Stories of Resistance—a podcast produced by The Real News. Each week, we’ll bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times. Please keep an eye out for Michael’s latest article about the Ecuador protests. It’ll be online with Truthout. You can visit www.Truthout.org for more.  If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review. And please consider signing up for the Stories of Resistance podcast feed, either in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, or wherever you listen.Written and produced by Michael Fox. Resources:"Indigenous-Led Movement Against Austerity Is Gaining Momentum in Ecuador," Truthout“Ecuador’s President Emulates El Salvador’s Bukele as He Builds Ties With Trump,” Truthout“‘It’s political persecution’: How the US is helping Ecuador’s right-wing government persecute political opponents,” The Real News NetworkBecome a member and join the Stories of Resistance Supporters Club today!Follow Stories of Resistance on Spotify or Apple PodcastsSign up for our newsletterFollow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetwork

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Thursday, October 2, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Seven years ago, during Donal Trump’s first presidential term, the US endured the longest government shutdown in its history: 35 days. Now, in the first year of Donald Trump's second presidential term, with Republicans and Republican appointees controlling all three branches of government, the government is shut down again. How long will this shutdown last? What short-term and long-term impacts will the shutdown have on poor and working people, on the Affordable Care Act, on the Trump agenda, and on the Congressional battle to release the Epstein files? TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and “Inequality Watch” hosts Taya Graham and Stephen Janis  break down your questions on Day 1 of the government shutdown.Studio Production / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Peace activists sailing to Gaza with the Global Sumud Flotilla reported Wednesday evening that Israeli naval ships had begun intercepting vessels in their fleet and arresting flotilla members. On Tuesday, just hours before the flotilla entered the “high-risk zone” near the shores of Gaza, Marc Steiner spoke with Phillip Tottenham and Jessica Coltfelter, two US Marine Corps veterans sailing with the flotilla. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Tottenham and Coltfelter discuss why they, as veterans, felt compelled to join this humanitarian mission, and what message they wanted to share with the world in the event of their capture—or worse—by Israel.Guest:Philip Tottenham is a US Marine Corps veteran, a member of Veterans For Peace, and a peace and human rights activist.Jessica Coltfelter, is a US Marine Corps veteran (2008-2012) who served as security detail for Presidential Helicopter Squadron Marine One and, upon End of Active Service, worked as a defense contractor for Triple Canopy. Refusing to perpetuate imperialism, Coltfelter became an activist, educator, and an anti-fascist librarian serving rural and marginalized communities in pursuit of mindful liberation.Additional resources:Global Sumud Flotilla website, TikTok, and InstagramEphrat Livni and Liam Stack, The New York Times, “Israel intercepts boats headed to Gaza with humanitarian aid”Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network,”‘If I’m killed on this mission…’: Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail for Gaza despite Israel’s threats”Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Why US veterans are sailing to Gaza with the Global Sumud Flotilla”Credits:Producer: Rosette SewaliStudio Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Stephen FrankFollow The Marc Steiner Show on Spotify Follow The Marc Steiner Show on Apple PodcastsHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetwork

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Wednesday, October 1, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Last week, The Real News Network published a bombshell interview with two federal whistleblowers working in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez spoke with Paul Osadebe and Palmer Heenan, two attorneys in HUD’s Office of Fair Housing, about the “chaos” that has upended HUD under the new Trump administration, and the vulnerable Americans who are being systematically abandoned as a result. Then, on Monday, Sept. 29, exactly one week after going public, Osadebe and Heenan were fired in what the Federal Unionist Network describes as “a stunning act of illegal retaliation.” In this urgent followup interview, we speak once again with Osadebe and Heenan about the conditions of their firing, and what this attack on whistleblowers means for the future of government transparency and the future of HUD itself.Guests:Paul Osadebe is a shop steward for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) - Local 476, a member of the Federal Unionists Network, and, until recently, an attorney working in the federal government. Osadebe is one of the four employees within HUD who have filed formal whistleblower complaints through the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - Massachusetts). Osadebe was fired for his whistleblowing on Sept. 29.Palmer Heenan is a rank-and-file member of AFGE - Local 476, a member of the Federal Unionists Network, and, until recently, an attorney working in the federal government. Heenan is one of the four employees within the Department of Housing and Urban Development who have filed formal whistleblower complaints through the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - Massachusetts). Heenan was fired for his whistleblowing on Sept. 29.Additional resources:Debra Kamin, The New York Times, “Trump appointees roll back enforcement of Fair Housing laws”Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “EXCLUSIVE: Federal whistleblowers expose how Trump’s HUD is abandoning vulnerable Americans”Federal Unionists Network: “BREAKING: HUD whistleblowers fired after exposing civil rights violations”Federal Unionists Network website, BlueSky, and InstagramAFGE - Local 476 websiteCredits:Studio Production / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

There are two primary federal agencies tasked with immigration detention: ICE, which is well known, and the US Marshal Service. Under the Trump administration, the US Marshals have dramatically increased their role in detaining and incarcerating undocumented immigrants, using their federal power to override restrictions on immigrant detention in local jails around the country. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, about how the Trump administration is weaponizing legal loopholes and the US Marshal Service to execute the mass incarceration of immigrants.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Tuesday, September 30, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!