The Real News Podcast

President Trump has renewed his efforts to “Build the Wall” in areas along the US-Mexico Border that don’t currently have border barriers—including the Big Bend region of West Texas. Invading people’s private properties and upending their local economies and shared ecosystem with a border wall residents say they don’t want or need, the Trump administration continues to dole out billions of taxpayer dollars to flood Texas border towns like Terlingua, Sanderson, and Marfa with troops and federal agents—and to pay construction contractors with ties to the Trump family. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of residents living near Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park who have banded together with their neighbors to fight back against the federally funded destruction of their homes. Panelists include: Yolanda Alvarado, a fifth-generation cattle rancher and the regional director for Conserve Big Bend: No Big Bend Wall; Crystal Allbright, a longtime resident and bicycle shop…

In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa interviews archivist, photographer, and veteran Black Panther Party member Billy X Jennings. Joining the Party at age 17 after relocating from Hobson City, Alabama, to Oakland, Jennings managed BPP offices and served as bodyguard to Huey P. Newton. During Bobby Seale’s 1973 Oakland mayoral run, Jennings helped spearhead an unprecedented electoral effort: "…an organizing event on the highest level the parties had ever been. I mean, the party is known for organizing, but to go into electoral politics and do what we did for a first time basis, it changed over. Even though Bobby lost that election, it changed openly because it opened up so many doors. Part of his job was to kick down doors because we were the Vanguard." Today, Jennings operates the official Black Panther Party Alumni website and leads political education initiatives across the Bay Area for the Party’s 60th Anniversary. Production/Post-production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this…

Because he was bullied in elementary school for being Native American, James Gardner’s friends lovingly call him “NDN.” His friends and family know NDN to be a fiercely loyal, loving person, and a fiercely hard worker. But as a third-generation concrete specialist, NDN was exposed to chemicals that have left him disabled, terminal, and facing foreclosure on his home. In this episode of Working People, we speak with James “NDN” Gardner and his best friend James Quigg. Additional links/info: GoFundMe: James Gardner: Terminal Liver Failure—Home at Risk Maven Navarro, Forth Worth Star-Telegram, “Terminally ill, this proud man is fighting to keep the Fort Worth home he built” Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow…

From the heinous crimes of the Epstein class to the Cornell 7, from the toxic cultures of the “manosphere” to the increase of antisocial relationships with online pornography and AI bots, we need to talk about what is going on with men in our society. We speak with renowned scholar, author, and commentator Dr. Mark Anthony Neal about his new book “Save a Seat for Me: Notes on American Fatherhood,” and about the ways capitalism damages everyone and trains boys to become monstrous men. Videography: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The Real News Network Twitter: @TheRealNews YouTube: @therealnews Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Brazil votes this Sunday, and the Trump administration has spent months trying to tilt the outcome toward far-right presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro. Tariffs. Terrorist designations. Revoked visas. Frequent meetings with the Bolsonaro family. Taken alone, each move looks random. Put the pieces together, and a picture emerges: U.S. interference in Brazil's 2026 elections. Over the last year, Trump has met frequently with members of the Bolsonaro family. In June, the State Department put two Brazilian gangs on the terrorist list. Just a few weeks later, Trump shared an article on Truth Social that said Brazil was his next big challenge. Less than a month later, in July, Trump imposed new 25% tariffs on Brazilian goods. In August, Trump revoked the U.S. visa of the Brazilian ambassador. The Brazilian Intelligence Agency recently raised the risk of external influence and interference by the United States in Brazil’s 2026 elections to a quote, “critical level.” This is Episode 15 of Under the Shadow,…

“We are living in a pivotal moment in labor history,” Cole Rockarts writes in their new book Fired Up About Unions. “At a time when corporations have more power, profit, and political influence than ever before, workers are leading inspiring union organizing campaigns and taking on bosses to win big… Their struggles reveal that everyday people can unite, change their conditions, and build better workplaces and a better world.” In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of labor organizers across the USA and Canada about why labor unions are more important now than ever, and how workers organizing collectively can change their workplaces, their lives, and the world. Panelists include: Hassan Husseini of the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Labor for Palestine - Canada; Tina Oh of SEIU Local 2 in Hallifax, Canada; Alex Raymond of Teamsters 322 in Virginia, USA, and Cole Rockarts, veteran labor educator and organizer and author of the new book Fired Up About Unions. Additional links/info:…

Residents are shaken and demanding answers after ICE agents terrorized a quiet, suburban neighborhood in Frederick, Maryland, earlier this month. On September 4, federal agents swarmed the Tasker’s Chance neighborhood in West Frederick, invaded the home of one family, and eventually left without making any arrests. ICE agents were filmed beating peaceful protestors and menacingly driving their unmarked cars onto sidewalks and private property while local police officers stood by and watched. In this on-the-ground report, TRNN takes you to the very spot in Frederick where these terrifying events transpired, and we speak with an eyewitness who saw everything. Videography: Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The…

After being abducted by plainclothes ICE agents from his New York apartment building in March of 2025 and locked away in immigration jail for 104 days, Mahmoud Khalil has been freed and reunited with his family. But Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student who was heavily involved in the student-led justice for Palestine movement, is still being targeted by the Trump administration and still faces the possibility of deportation. In this exclusive interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with Khalil to speak about his new book, “No Land to Stand On,” and his continuing fight for freedom and justice. Special thanks to the Parkway Theater in Baltimore, Maryland, and Red Emma's Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse for hosting and helping to facilitate this interview. Post-Production: David Hebden Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis…

In this episode of Rattling the Bars, the midterms edition, we take you to the Commonwealth, where Andrea James—abolitionist, author, and organizer—is currently running for governor of Massachusetts. The countdown to November 3 is officially underway. Debates are scheduled for October, but independent and third-party candidates are being excluded from participating. Andrea James has led national campaigns to reunite families by demanding clemency from high-level officials for incarcerated women and men. Now, she is running for governor with a platform focused on rent stabilization, lower energy costs, free childcare and stopping the construction of a new $360M women’s prison. Related Links: Andrea James' Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky Credits: Production/Post-production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming…

Editor’s Note: Council Bill 26-0174 (data centers) will get another public hearing in front of the Baltimore City Council’s Land Use & Transportation Committee on the 4th floor of City Hall on the morning of September 24. Baltimore, Maryland, currently has a moratorium on new data center development, but a proposed City Council bill has residents nervous that the door is creaking open for data centers to come into the city—and that City Council views this as “inevitable.”Council Bill 26-0174, sponsored by City Councilmember Phylicia Porter, would require new data center projects in Baltimore to go through a conditional use approval process that includes a health equity assessment. Residents opposed to the bill say that while the bill may be well intentioned, they want a full data center ban, not stricter guidelines for data centers operating in Baltimore.In this on-the-ground report, TRNN takes you inside the August 27 Baltimore City Planning Commission public hearing on Council Bill 26-0174. Credits:…

On the morning of August 18, residents living near the Brent Industries facility in Toledo, Ohio, awoke to a series of massive explosions and a towering chemical fire in their backyards. Two Brent Industry workers who were on shift at the time of the explosion were killed. Members of the surrounding community say they are experiencing symptoms of chemical exposure, and that they are not getting the answers they need from Brent Industries or the Environmental Protection Agency. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of Toledo residents about the industrial disaster at Brent Industries and the harrowing aftermath. Panelists include: Toledo Councilwoman Dr Brittany Jones; Mike Balonek, Toledo-based filmmaker and sacrifice zone advocate; Sarah Locker and Kris Ramsdell, who both live right next to the Brent Industries facility where the deadly explosion occurred. Editor’s note: According to WTVG Toledo, “The coroner’s office identified those who died in the [Brent Industries] fire as Heladio G.…

What will a DSA-led state look like — will it back defund and community control of police, or bow to the powers that block affordability? Lawrence Grandpre, political commentator for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, explores this question in his recent Baltimore Times article, "The Dangers of 'Law and Order' Leftism: Toward a Black Power Public Safety," asking whether DSA will embrace the outmoded Law and Order politics that fueled America's prison boom. As officials like AOC and Mamdani backtrack on defunding police — one of the biggest carceral drains on housing, healthcare, and education funding — Grandpre sits down with former political prisoner and Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa to unpack these contradictions ahead of the midterms, where Democrats hope to retake the House and Senate. Tune in for an unflinching look at the Left's relationship to the state and to law and order. Production/Post-production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast:…

This is a particularly important episode, coming just two weeks ahead of the 1st round of high stakes presidential elections in Brazil. Host Michael Fox speaks with Artur Romeu. He’s a Brazilian journalist and the Latin American Director for Latin America of the international NGO Reporters Without Borders. They spoke ahead of Episode 6 of The Battle for Free Speech, about Brazil’s fight against disinformation. He has an important analysis, which helps to deconstruct how Trump, Silicon Valley and the far-right in the United States, and around the world is "instrumentalizing the idea of free speech for their own political purpose and abandoning key dimension of freedom of expression, which is this more social and collective dimension to receive plural, reliable, diverse, and free information from others.” This is the third bonus episode of The Battle for Free Speech. The Battle for Free Speech Podcast is a production of The Real News Network hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Guests: Artur Romeu…

Long after his death in 2010, the books and speeches of Howard Zinn are frequently targeted by right-wing critics, MAGA book-bans, and fundamentalist politicians. In 2020, President Trump called out Zinn by name from the White House lawn, smearing Zinn’s work as “propaganda… that tries to make students ashamed of their own history.” So, who was Howard Zinn? And why are his critics so determined to keep his work from the public? In this live event, hosted at Red Emma’s Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Baltimore, Maryland, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with author and TRNN contributor Dave Zirin about his latest book, “The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn.” Credits: Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on:…

Fernando Cerimedo. A name that unless you follow Latin America closely, you likely have never heard. He’s been called “MAGA’s man” in Latin America. And he is at the heart of a shocking scandal that includes “attempted femicide,” election rigging, fake news, disinformation and powerful political ties to far-right presidents across Latin America, and even the White House, under Donald Trump. It’s big news in Latin America, even though it's been largely under the radar in the United States, until now. The scandal has dire implications for the legitimacy of elections up and down the Americas, including elections where U.S. President Donald Trump has been throwing his weight around over the last year. Elections where right-wingers have won close, but shocking victories. And big elections are coming up in Brazil and elsewhere. This is Episode 14 of Under the Shadow, Season 2. Under the Shadow is an investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous…

On August 27, registered nurses, patients, and community allies rallied and stopped traffic in cities around the US to demand that hospitals and elected officials cut all ties with artificial intelligence giant Palantir. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of registered nurses—Kelli Brennan (Portland, Maine), Lee Barker (Kansas City, Missouri), and Kiera Arbour (Chicago, Illinois)—about National Nurses United’s “Purge Palantir!” campaign, and about the disturbing creep of Big Tech and Big Brother into a US healthcare system that is already in crisis. Additional links/info: National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and Instagram National Nurses United: “Nurses hold nationwide civil disobedience actions to demand ‘Palantir Out!’” Sheera Frenkel & Aaron Krolik, The New York Times, “Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans” Aisha Down & Robert Booth, The Guardian, “Palantir manifesto described as ‘ramblings of a supervillain’…

Today, host Michael Fox speaks with Mary Anne Franks. She is a professor of Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at George Washington University and the President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. She is also the author of the book Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment,which was published in 2024, by Bold Type Books. She has an incredible analysis about free speech historically and today — the challenges and how we need to try to understand free speech beyond the 1st amendment. Michael and Mary Anne spoke last year — 2025. This is the second bonus episode of The Battle for Free Speech. The Battle for Free Speech Podcast is a production of The Real News Network. Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Guests : Mary Anne Franks Resources: You can check out the full Battle for Free Speech podcast series, here. Many thanks to everyone who has supported this show. Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Support Michael Fox's reporting at…

Over the 2026 Labor Day weekend, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez spoke at the Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium in Wheeling, West Virginia, organized by the Wheeling Academy of Law & Science (WALS) Foundation. The theme of this year’s Symposium was “The Art of Labor,” and other speakers included: Tabitha Arnold, textile artist and tapestry maker; Erik Ruin, printmaker and shadow puppeteer; and Shaun Slifer, a multidisciplinary artist and the Creative Director for the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. In this episode of Working People, we share the audio recording of Alvarez’s speech, “Why the Stories Working People Tell Ourselves About Ourselves Matter.” You can read the full, edited transcript of this speech on the TRNN website. Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and…

This is the first bonus episode of The Battle for Free Speech. Today, host Michael Fox speaks with Fara Dabhoiwala. He is a professor of History at Princeton University. And he’s the author of the book, What is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea. That book was published in 2025 by Penguin Random House and Harvard University Press. His book, in many ways, challenges the status quo about our understanding of free speech. Professor Dabhoiwala has a wealth of knowledge on the subject of free speech and he appeared throughout this podcast series. But there were many questions we weren’t able to fit into the series, in particular about the beginnings of what we understand as free speech in the United States, and the difference between free speech in the US and abroad. So today, we’re bringing you Michael’s conversation with him in its entirety. They spoke last fall. The Battle for Free Speech Podcast is a production of The Real News Network. Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Guest Fara Dabhoiwala…

This week marks the 1-year anniversary of Trump’s boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans. On September 2, 2025, President Donald Trump announced the first air strike on a boat in the Caribbean. Trump said the boat allegedly carried drugs off the coast of Venezuela. It marked the beginning of a hostile U.S. foreign policy that has seen the U.S. invade Venezuela, unleash a devastating oil blockade on Cuba, and justify it all under a renewed Monroe Doctrine, which the President is calling his Donroe Doctrine. Meanwhile, the boat strikes have continued until today, even though Trump administration officials say they have not actually decreased the amount of drugs arriving on U.S. soil. As of this week, the U.S. government has attacked at least 68 boats over the last year, killing more than 220 people. The Trump administration is now using his foreign policy to attack progressive opponents at home, labelling them pawns of Cuba, and "one of the single largest, most sophisticated and dangerous vectors for…

The 20th-century days of vinyl records, tape decks, CDs, Tower Records, and MTV have given way to our 21st-century age of MP3s and music streaming, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, and Ticketmaster. While certain people and certain companies in the music industry are making more money than ever, working musicians are finding it increasingly impossible to pay the bills and make a living from their art. In this episode of Working People, we speak with all four members of veteran Chicago rock band The Empty Pockets about the work that goes into being a professional musician, and the realities of working and trying to make a living in the music industry today. Additional links/info: The Empty Pockets website, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube channel, and Spotify channel Josh Solomon, Hypebot, “We stopped waiting to be chosen and mailed 100,000 CDs instead” Jules Taylor Music website, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube channel, and Spotify channel Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits:…

Author and community organizer Dominque Conway has transformed a house at the epicenter of the 2015 Baltimore uprising into "Eddie’s Front Porch," a people’s museum dedicated to preserving the remarkable legacy of her late husband, Eddie Conway. To mark the opening of the museum, this special episode of Rattling the Bars features host Mansa Musa sitting down with Dominque to discuss the project and Eddie's enduring impact. The conversation also highlights perspectives from formerly incarcerated organizers who worked alongside Eddie inside Maryland prisons and are now building community power on the ground in West Baltimore. Together, they share powerful stories celebrating the man, the myth, and the legend behind the movement. Credits: Production: Maximillian Alvarez Post-production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and…

On August 8th at the Real News Studio, a screening of the new documentary Beyond the Wire—directed by filmmaker Dr. S. Rasheem—was followed by a panel discussion featuring seasoned conflict mediation organizers from the film. The participants explored their grassroots efforts to challenge the corporate media establishment’s heavy emphasis on crime—which drives city policy and the local economy—and redefine Baltimore’s historical present as a city of abolition. Credits: Videographer: Cameron Granadino/David Hebden Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The Real News Network Twitter: @TheRealNews YouTube: @therealnews Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

David Sirota joins Taya Graham and Stephen Janis to expose the enormous financial incentives shaping Democratic politics and why political consultants can accumulate “generational wealth” even when their candidates lose. David Sirota explains how consultants profit from massive television-ad purchases, how billionaire-funded super PACs influence the candidates and policies voters are offered, and how the language of “moderation” and “electability” is used to undermine progressive and populist challengers. We examine the consequences of legalized political corruption: Washington’s silence on America’s healthcare crisis, the widening gulf between voters and their representatives, and the 50-year campaign to transform elections into auctions while concentrating power in the presidency. David Sirota is the founder of the investigative news organization The Lever, a former speechwriter for Bernie Sanders, an Oscar-nominated co-creator of the story for the movie Don’t Look Up, and the producer of the podcast…

After a deadly “derecho” storm and flash floods slammed the midwest in early August, downing trees and power lines, tens of thousands of residents in and around Gary, Indiana have been surviving without power for 12 days and counting. According to the Associated Press, “Northern Indiana Public Service Co. said 68,000 customers were still without power as of Thursday morning, the majority of them in Lake County beside the Illinois border. The utility said it has restored power to 306,500 others since Aug. 11. But power is not expected to be fully restored until Tuesday [Aug. 25] in some places, including Gary.” In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of residents and community leaders about the ongoing blackout in Gary and the conditions that led to this avoidable national tragedy. Panelists include: GlenEva Dunham, president of the Gary Teachers Union, AFT Local 4; Freida Graves, Project Director at the faith-based nonprofit Families Anchored in Total Harmony (FAITH) CDC; and Reverend…

Today, we are pleased to share with you an episode from the podcast Scene on Radio. It’s hosted by longtime journalist John Biewen, with co-host journalism professor Chenjerai Kumanyika. It’s a series from the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University and distributed by PRX. This episode is Season 8, Episode 6, of Scene on Radio: What Could Have Been? Ever thought about whether America's overwhelmingly corporate, for-profit news system is working as it should? It didn't have to be this way. In the 20th century, reformers fought for a more democratic and more accountable news media in the United States. They won victories, including the creation of the nation's public broadcasting system. What happened next? By John Biewen, with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with John Lowery, Dan Schiller, Victor Pickard, and Mark Lloyd. Story editor: Diane Hodson. Assistant Producer, Arlene Arevalo. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol Mazzini. Music by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Michelle Osis, Lili Haydn,…

In her 2001 masterwork Nickel and Dimed, the late Barbara Ehrenreich went undercover to report on the daily realities working people in America face trying to get by on minimum-wage. After working as a housekeeper, a nursing aide, a home cleaner, a server, and more, Ehrenreich wrote that “The first thing I discovered is that no job, no matter how lowly, is truly ‘unskilled.’” It is difficult to overstate the impact that Ehrenreich’s book and body of work have had on US culture and working-class politics over the last 25 years, and the enduring relevance of her work today. In this special episode of Working People, we commemorate the anniversary of Nickel and Dimed and celebrate the life and legacy of Ehrenreich by speaking with a panel of guests who are carrying on that legacy today. Panelists include: Deirdre English, coauthor of three books with Barbara Ehrenreich, former editor in chief of Mother Jones, and a former director of the Magazine Center at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of…

Effective public safety policy is founded on preventing crime and repairing harm, but these are not the foundations of America’s reactionary criminal justice establishment. This week on Rattling the Bars, we host a roundtable discussion about the DC Justice Lab’s 2026 Public Safety Policy Agenda, which has been endorsed by 30 progressive organizations working directly with system-impacted individuals, and about criminal justice reforms that would ensure safer communities through restorative justice, not draconian punishment.Additional links/info: DC Justice Lab website, Facebook page, X page, and Instagram DC Justice Lab, 2026 DC Public Safety Policy Agenda Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The Real…

How are hip hop and Black Liberation connected? In this special Black August edition of Rattling the Bars, former political prisoner and Black Panther Mansa Musa sits down with artist, producer, and "Panther Cub" Mopreme Shakur on the rooftop of a hotel in the nation's capital. Together, they explore Shakur’s memoir, This Thug's Life, tracing the trajectory from the rise and fall of Black Power to the birth of hip hop through the eyes of the son of a Panther and the stepbrother of a legend. Additional links/info: Mopreme Shakur, Penguin Random House, This Thug’s Life: An Unapologetically Black Story Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The Real News Network Twitter: @TheRealNews YouTube: @therealnews…

In 2024, at the height of Israel’s US-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, one of the most widespread waves of college campus protests since the Vietnam War exploded across the United States. Then came the repressive backlash. Over the past two years, we’ve seen a harrowing assault on free speech and the right to protest from the federal government and Zionist organizations, and universities themselves have ramped up their own internal surveillance and repression machines, weaponizing them against their own students, grad students, and faculty. Life, learning, and activism on American college campuses looks very different today than it did in 2024, but the student-led Palestine solidarity movement is not going away. As a new school year begins, we speak with four students at different college campuses across the University System of Maryland (USM), who are all organizers and members of the USM Divestment Coalition for Palestine, about how the movement is maintaining its demands and adapting its tactics…

Frontline healthcare workers and the patients they serve are facing a major crisis at the University of Vermont Health network—the state’s leading healthcare provider. “In June, UVM Health eliminated over 140 positions across its network, a third of which were union positions,” Matt More reports at The Rake Vermont. “The cuts, which the hospital estimated will save $9.5 million, comes as the network faces a $300 million budget shortfall… Later that month, UVM Health handed down a speed-up order to its Medical Group, which includes outpatient clinics and more than 1,000 physicians, which practitioners say will result in briefer appointments with patients.” How did Vermont’s flagship health network end up in this crisis? How is it affecting healthcare workers and their patients? And what can be done to fix it? In this episode of Working People, we speak with Melissa Lavallee, secretary of UVMMC Support Staff United and VP of healthcare for AFT-Vermont; and Teagan Cook, lead outpatient chemotherapy scheduler at…

For the last five months, oil giant British Petroleum (BP) has locked 800 workers out of their jobs at a crude oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana. The facility, located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, is BP’s last unionized oil refinery in the United States. BP says it is pursuing “modernized job structures, training, and upskilling,” but workers and their union—United Steelworkers Local 7-1—say that the company has not bargained in good faith, that its contract proposals pose blatant existential threats to workers’ jobs, pay, and collective bargaining rights, and that the company is illegally trying to crush the union out of existence with the lockout. In this episode of Working People, we speak with three locked out workers at the BP oil refinery in Whiting: Eric Schultz, president of USW Local 7-1; Leno Miller, assistant griever for USW Local 7-1; Tim Powell, a 19-year member of USW Local 7-1, and a volunteer for the lockout assistance committee. Additional links/info: USW Local 7-1 Official…

As GOP lawmakers push “tough-on-crime” policies in Washington, D.C., re-entry advocates argue these backward measures will only increase recidivism, not prevent it. In Part Two of our series on conservative attempts to use D.C. as a testing ground for harsh criminal justice policies, Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa sits down with Chelsea Canterbury and Eric Franklin of Voices for a Second Chance. They discuss the danger of proposed measures—including charging 14-year-olds as adults, increasing mandatory minimums, repealing the Second Look Act, and reinstating cash bail—and explain why doubling down on mass incarceration won’t make the city safer. Additional links/info: Voices for a Second Chance Instagram Sarah Staudt, Prison Policy Initiative, “Bad Omens: Reform rollbacks in Washington D.C. are a warning sign for state-level advocates” Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.…

In 2022, the United States nearly experienced its first national railroad strike in decades, until then-President Joe Biden, along with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, stepped in to block a strike before it could begin. Rail labor unions were forced to accept contracts that did not substantively address long-brewing crises in the freight rail industry that have had disastrous consequences for frontline workers, trackside communities like East Palestine, Ohio, the passenger rail system, and the US supply chain writ large. In this episode of Working People, we speak with returning guest “Jay,” a veteran train dispatcher who’s been in the industry for 22 years, about what has changed—and what hasn’t—for rank-and-file railroad workers on the job over the last four years. Additional links/info: Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Ask a railroad worker: How did railroad jobs get so bad?”” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Freight workers explain why a national railroad strike is looming”…

When workers at the historic Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper hit the picket line in October of 2022, they had no idea that they would be on strike for over three years—or that the strike would end with new owners taking over the paper and most strikers losing their jobs. But now, a new chapter is being written in their epic story. This week, workers and community supporters launched the Pittsburgh Progress, “a cooperative news organization, owned and democratically run by its workers and members… dedicated to looking out for, and telling the stories of, the working-class people who form the heart and soul of our diverse communities.” In this episode of Working People, we discuss the birth of the Pittsburgh Progress, and what it means for working people in and beyond Pittsburgh, with Steve Mellon and Natalie Duleba, both former strikers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and both founding worker-members of the newly launched Pittsburgh Progress. Additional links/info: Pittsburgh Progress website, Facebook page,…

A 7-11 on Liberty Heights Avenue in Northwest Baltimore, Maryland, has become a flashpoint of community rage and resistance after Ade Oba Tokunbo (Stephen King), a 74-year-old resident, was attacked and brutally beaten there by six teenagers on July 7, 2026. The same location is also the site of multiple robberies and the murder of Victorious Swift in March of 2017. In response, “A Clarion Call,” a new coalition of local community organizations and residents, organized a rally at the 7-11 on Sunday, July 26, and led a community march into the store to demand the company implement policies that will keep customers safe and aid in the apprehension of the youth responsible for the July 7 attack. In this on-the-ground report, TRNN takes you inside the community rally held at the 7-11, near Mondawmin Mall, on July 26. Watch the video version of this report here. Additional links/info: Organizers of A Clarion Call have set up a GoFundMe for Ade Oba Tokunbo and are asking community members to contact…

The outcome of Michigan’s Senate race will have major implications for the balance of power in Washington, DC, and for the future of the Democratic Party itself. With primaries taking place on August 4, all eyes are on the battle between progressive candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and establishment candidate Haley Stephens to see who will represent Democrats in the general election. In this full, unedited interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with El-Sayed to talk about his campaign, the civil war within the Democratic party, and about fighting corporate oligarchy and MAGA fascism at the same time. Credits: Post-Production: David Hebden Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The Real News Network Twitter: @TheRealNews YouTube: @therealnews…

Republicans in Congress are attempting to push policies in the District of Columbia that would charge 14-year-olds as adults, increase mandatory minimum sentences, repeal the Second Look Act, and re-institute cash bail, which was banned in 1992. In this week's episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa reports from U Street and sits down with Bethany Young and Darby Hickey from the DC Justice Lab to discuss how the GOP is using Washington, DC, as a laboratory to wage a national crusade against decades of criminal justice reforms. This is part one of a two-part series. Subscribe to TRNN and stay tuned for Part 2 next week. Additional links/info: DC Justice Lab website, Facebook page, X page, and Instagram Sarah Staudt, Prison Policy Initiative, “Bad Omens: Reform rollbacks in Washington D.C. are a warning sign for state-level advocates” Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.…

“Existence is struggle,” says Marc Steiner. “It always has been, and always will be.” In this podcast series, we’ve looked at the attacks on free speech rights today in the United States. We looked at the history and how movements and organizations have stood up for and exercised free speech in their work. We looked at how social media, AI, and disinformation are undermining our free speech, and at how people are responding in the United States and abroad. In the final episode of this series, we’re focusing on what free speech means within the context of the life of one person who has been through it all — co-host Marc Steiner. He turned 80 earlier this year. In this episode, Michael Fox sits down with Marc to discuss all of these incredible layers of his life, from fighting civil rights and community organizing to underground newspapers, street theater, education, and journalism. What do they all mean for him, how do they all add up to nearly seven decades standing up and fighting for free speech, and how…

For many around the US and around the world, the World Cup was a welcome distraction from the dismal state of the world and the daily overwhelm of relentless war, corruption, fascism, and disaster. But the games were also an uncomfortable reminder that, no matter how much we love sports and want them to be an escape from politics and the pain of living in a broken society, there is no way to truly escape those things, and the manufactured illusion that sports are an escape from political reality is just that: an illusion. At a live event hosted on July 16, 2026, at Chilo’s bar in New York City, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez spoke with legendary sports writers Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff about what it means to love sports in an age of authoritarians. Additional links/info: Chilo’s bar website and Instagram Jules Boykoff, OR Books, Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine Dave Zirin, Penguin Randomhouse, The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn…

A groundbreaking new report reveals a direct link between prison phone call rates and prison safety: higher rates fuel more violence within prisons; lower rates and free phone calls dramatically reduce it. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host and former political prisoner Mansa Musa speaks with Peter Mayer, Director of Research & Data Innovation for Worth Rises. Additional links/info: Worth Rises website, Facebook page, Bluesky page, X page, and Instagram Peter Mayer & Bianca Tylek, Worth Rises (May 2026), “Critical Connections: The Power of Free Communication in Prisons and Jails” Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The Real News Network Twitter: @TheRealNews YouTube: @therealnews Instagram:…

Time is running out to save the life of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was abducted by Israel’s military and has been held for over 18 months in Israeli detention without charge. Dr. Abu Safiya’s lawyers report that he has suffered extreme torture and medical neglect and that his life is in mortal danger, but Israel has repeatedly ignored international calls to free him. We speak about the current condition of Dr. Abu Safiya and international efforts to free him with Dr. Nidal Jboor and Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, cofounders of Doctors Against Genocide. Additional links/info: Doctors Against Genocide website and Instagram Amnesty International: “Emergency Leahy Appeal: Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s Life at Imminent Risk in Israeli Detention” Credits: Producer: Rosette Sewali Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent…

Disinformation is impacting our lives. Much of it is being pushed by unregulated Silicon Valley tech companies and their billionaires owners. But people in Europe are pushing back. In this episode, co-host Michael Fox goes to Spain, to look at how members of the Spanish far right have been inspired by Charlie Kirk. Then we look at grassroots organizing against Big Tech in Ireland, media education initiatives in Finland, and European measures regulating Big Tech. “This has now been a topic of discussion very much in Europe,” says Finish educator Saara Salomaa, “Should we actually trust any U.S. tech companies or should we try to get rid of U.S. tech companies as soon as possible?” Michael is joined in the episode by Laura Flanders. She is the host of Laura Flanders and Friends — on public television — formerly known as the Laura Flanders show. The Battle for Free Speech Podcast is a production of The Real News Network. Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel…

In so-called “red states” and “blue states” around the US, from rural areas to urban centers, the explosion of new data center projects is impacting residents in poor, working-class, and middle-class communities alike. In this episode of Working People, we speak with a diverse panel of residents fighting new and proposed data center projects in Texas and Maryland about what it means for you and your community when one of these loud, polluting, energy- and water-guzzling behemoths comes to your town—and how to fight back. Panelists include: Cheryl Shadden, a registered nurse anesthetist who lives right next to the site of a Marathon bitcoin mine in Granbury, Texas; Karen Pearson, a licensed professional counselor and a resident of Granbury who also lives right next to the Marathon bitcoin mine; Dr. Shannon Wolf, Precinct Chair in Hood County, who lives three miles from the Marathon bitcoin mine; Craig Jackson, a resident of Granbury who lives 300 feet from the site of a new proposed data center, and who is…

While calls to "abolish ICE" have exploded during the second Trump presidency, critics have been calling out the threats the agency poses to immigrants, US citizens, and democracy itself since it was created just over 20 years ago. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host and former political prisoner Mansa Musa speaks with author and immigrant justice organizer Harsha Walia about the origins of ICE and what it will take to abolish it and the new American police state. Guests: Harsha Walia is the award-winning author of Undoing Border Imperialism and Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism. She has been involved in community-based grassroots migrant justice, feminist, anti-racist, abolitionist, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements for over two decades, including No One Is Illegal, Defenders of the Land, and the DTES Women’s Memorial March Committee. Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast:…

This is really a tale of two countries: The United States and Brazil. In both countries, far-right presidents come to power — Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro. In both those countries, the presidents spent several years unraveling democratic institutions and public policy. Both presidents then ran for reelection. Both presidents lied about their country's voting systems in order to undermine the elections and whip up their base. Both those president lost their reelections — Trump in 2020. Bolsonaro in 2022. They both claimed fraud and tried to carry out a coup to stay in power. But that is where these two paths diverged. In the United States, president Donald Trump continued to peddle his lies about the elections. He created his own social media platform and he used it to push his agenda. He was reelected in 2024 and returned to power. In Brazil, however, the country’s Supreme Electoral Court blocked former president Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for 8 years, because of the lies he told about the…

Establishment Democrats have racked up disastrous electoral losses over the past decade—so why are they furious when their own party actually wins? Taya Graham and Stephen Janis break down the meltdown of Democratic "centrist" operatives and pundits after recent socialist victories in New York and Colorado, from James Carville calling for a party "schism" to Rep. Josh Gottheimer's panicking about the future of the party on CNN. Plus: we revisit our interviews with actual Mamdani voters—the people the mainstream media refuses to talk to. Credits: Production / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino, Stephen Janis Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com Facebook: The Real News Network Twitter: @TheRealNews YouTube: @therealnews Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork Become a member and join…

10 years before the catastrophic train derailment and chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, one of the deadliest rail disasters in North American history took place in the Canadian town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. On July 6, 2013, an unattended freight train that had been parked on the tracks overnight began to roll downhill and gather alarming speed as it careened towards the city center of Lac-Mégantic. The train, which was operated by Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Railway and carrying over 2 million gallons of crude oil, derailed around 1:15 AM. The resulting explosions and fire killed 47 people and destroyed over 40 buildings, obliterating a large portion of the downtown area and prompting mass evacuations. In this special episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of survivors of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Canada and the East Palestine rail disaster in the USA. Panelists include: Robert Bellefleur, a resident of Lac-Mégantic and spokesperson for the Lac-Mégantic Citizens' Coalition for…

On this episode of Rattling the Bars, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party in 1966, host and former political prisoner Mansa Musa speaks with Dr. Joy James and Dr. K. Kim Holder about the history of the Panthers and their unique approach to, and practice of, communal socialism. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Watch Part 1 here. Guests: Dr. Joy James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College. She is the author of numerous books, including: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love; Resisting State Violence; and Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics. Creator of the digital Harriet Tubman Literary Circle at UT Austin, James is also editor of The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings; Imprisoned Intellectuals; Warfare in the American Homeland; The Angela Y. Davis Reader; and co-editor of the Black Feminist Reader. Dr. K. Kim Holder is an assistant professor of educational foundations and…

On the eve of the United States' 250th birthday, Michael Fox sits down with Mansa Musa — longtime activist, former Black Panther, host of TRNN’s Rattling the Bars, and a man who spent nearly 49 years in prison — to ask a deceptively simple question: what does free speech actually mean? From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to Quito, Ecuador, to Frederick Douglass's 1852 address "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July," this episode unravels the gap between the promise of the First Amendment and the reality of who gets to speak in America — and who pays a price for it. "There's a kind of narcotic effect of those words — free speech," says legal scholar Mary Anne Franks (Fearless Speech). "It's because we think we know it so well that we don't know anything about it." Historian Fara Dabhoiwala traces how the US broke from the rest of the world's balanced approach to free expression during the Cold War, and a forgotten 1986 Ursula K. Le Guin speech offers a radically different vision: speech as dialogue, not…