The Real News Podcast

This Feb., Norfolk Southern's train derailment catastrophe in East Palestine, Ohio dragged the decrepit state of the US rail system into the national spotlight. A rash of other railroad catastrophes in recent weeks has only piled on questions about why and how the railroads have become so dangerous. With over 1,000 train derailments per year, the rate and net occurrence of rail disasters in the US far exceeds that of other wealthy countries. While the attention of the mainstream media and general public may be new, the issue of rail accidents and safety has been slowly simmering for years—and railroad workers' unions have long been at the forefront of the struggle to fix this problem. TRNN Associate Editor Mel Buer speaks with Michael Paul Lindsay, a locomotive engineer, union organizer, and 17-year employee of Union Pacific about the state of US railroads, the link between train derailments and rail carriers' profit-seeking behavior, and what unions are trying to do about it.Post-Production: Jules TaylorThe Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Click here to read the transcript: https://therealnews.com/the-ron-desantis-counter-revolution-is-about-stopping-floridas-progressivesUnder Gov. Ron DeSantis, "Florida" has become synonymous with attacks on LGBTQ rights, public schools, and unions. Yet this offensive isn't only driven by hatred and ideology. It's also about curbing the power of Florida's progressives—power that was building steadily before DeSantis came along. State House Rep. Anna Eskamani and Nailah Summers-Polite join The Marc Steiner Show to talk about Florida's recent trajectory and the prospects for a future progressive comeback.Anna Vishkaee Eskamani is a member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 47th District in Orange County.Nailah Summers-Polite is the Co-Executive Director of Dream Defenders.Studio/Post-Production: David HebdenThe Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Click here to read the transcript: https://therealnews.com/jalil-muntaqim-the-time-to-end-prison-slavery-is-nowIn 2021, the International Tribunal On US Human Rights Abuses Against Black, Brown, and Indigenous Peoples found the United States government guilty of genocide. The tribunal drew upon the legacy of the 1951 petition submitted to the United Nations by the Civil Rights Congress: "We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People.” Jalil Muntaqim joins Rattling the Bars to discuss his life, the US's long history of genocide, the need for a New Afrikan independence movement in the US, and the strategy to internationalize this struggle beyond compromised institutions such as the United Nations.To learn more about the Spirit of Mandela campaign to organize a People's Senate, click here: https://spiritofmandela.org/peoples-senate/Jalil Muntaqim is a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. He was incarcerated for 49 years as a political prisoner of the United States, and released in 2020. Muntaqim's is the author of several books, the most recent of which is We Are Our Own Liberators: Selected Prison Writings. You can find We Are Our Own Liberators here: https://blackdragonmme.com/new-releases/To read the 1953 'We Charge Genocide' petition, click here: https://www.crmvet.org/info/genocide.htmStudio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Click here to read the transcript: https://therealnews.com/atlantas-cop-city-is-a-blueprint-for-americas-futureWe went on the ground in Atlanta, GA to find the truth behind the Cop City protests, the police shooting death of Manuel "Tortuguita" Tehran and the dark money funding the creation of the Atlanta Public Safety Center. We will also have special guests joining us like cop watcher, auditor and champion of transparency @lackluster and cop watcher and reform advocate Chris Reiter of the @forpublicsafety channel to better understand how to demand transparency and accountability of our local police departments.Studio: David Hebden, Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/the-pendleton-2-saved-a-mans-life-a-judge-sentenced-them-to-200-years-for-itOn Feb. 1, 1985, prison guards at the Indiana State Reformatory (now Pendleton Correctional Facility) affiliated with a KKK-splinter group known as the Sons of Light chained prisoner Lincoln Love in their office and began to mercilessly beat him. John "Balagoon" Cole and Christopher "Naeem" Trotter led a group of prisoners to the office and demanded entrance. When the Sons of Light responded with more violence, the prisoners took hostages and occupied a cell block for 15 hours, releasing a list of demands to improve inhumane prison conditions. John "Balagoon" Cole and Christopher "Naeem" Trotter were ultimately sentenced to 84 and 142 years for their successful attempt to save Lincoln Love's life. Cole and Trotter remain incarcerated to this day, and now face major medical complications from old age and decades of institutional neglect. On this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks about the "Pendleton 2" with poet Too Black and journalist Victoria Law. Click here to learn more about the campaign to free the Pendleton 2 and how you can get involved.Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/an-essential-workers-history-of-the-pandemicThe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic devastated the working class from the start. Those deemed "essential workers" in the service, medical, transportation, agriculture, and other sectors were hit particularly hard. While the sacrifices of workers were paid lip service in the early days of the pandemic, the rhetoric rapidly shifted towards denunciations of a "labor shortage" as worker resistance mounted with time. As the capitalist class continues to espouse a dominant narrative of the pandemic that insists that the worst is over and workers ought to accept diminished real wages and deteriorating conditions, the need for a counterhistory of COVID-19 becomes increasingly urgent. At a joint book event hosted by Red Emma's in Baltimore, sociologist Jamie K. McCallum and TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sat down to discuss the effects of the pandemic on the working class as told through their respective books, Essential and The Work of Living.Post-production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript and shownotes for this podcast: https://therealnews.com/youre-going-to-see-more-books-get-banned-floridas-war-on-public-schoolsThings are getting very dark in Florida, and educators at all levels have found themselves on the frontlines of a reactionary political crusade led by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. "As the new semester began," Florida-based journalist Michael Sainato recently reported, "teachers throughout Florida were faced with new state laws strictly limiting curricula—prompting schools to remove droves of books from their classrooms and libraries for fear of being in violation of the draconian but opaque new laws. An already-chilling reality gripping the third most populous state is getting even chillier in the wake of controversial legislation such as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the Stop Woke Act, which both went into effect in July 2022." What is it like teaching in DeSantis's Florida today? For those who haven't already fled the state or left the profession altogether, what do these sweeping, draconian policy changes translate to on the day-to-day level for educators, and how can we stand in solidarity with them? In this episode, we talk with Philip Belcastro and Brennen Pickett, two public high school English teachers and union members in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the hosts of the PCTA FYRE podcast.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/israels-protest-movement-cant-succeed-without-embracing-palestinian-liberationAs Israelis march en masse against Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial coup, many around the world are questioning why these protests did not materialize in defense of Palestinian land and life. For a special Passover installment of the "Not in Our Name" series, Rabbi Arik Ascherman joins The Marc Steiner Show to talk about the current protest movement in Israel and why democracy there cannot be attained without Palestinian liberation.Rabbi Arik Ascherman is a Reform rabbi and executive director of the Israeli human rights organization Torat Tzedek-Torah of Justice. He is a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize and the Rabbi David J. Forman Memorial Committee's Human Rights Award.Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/ugandas-draconian-new-anti-lgbtq-law-includes-life-in-prison-and-the-death-penaltyA new law in Uganda broadly criminalizing the LGBTI* community has captured global attention. The law includes provisions against "Aggravated Homosexuality" that criminalize the sexual activity of HIV+ people with life in prison or even the death penalty. Other loosely defined activities such as "abetting homosexuality" and "conspiracy to engage in homosexuality" are also criminalized. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with renowned Ugandan LGBTI activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera to discuss the origins of Uganda's recent turn towards politicized homophobia and transphobia, as well as the consequences of the new law.*LGBTI stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex—this is the preferred acronym used in Uganda.Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera is a founder of the LGBTI movement in Uganda, and the founder of Freedom & Roam Uganda, a prominent human rights organization that addresses discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people. Nabagasera opened Uganda's first gay bar and organized the country's first pride parade. She's also the first LGBTI rights activist to be awarded the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, and additionally received the Right Livelihood Award for his activism in 2015. She currently resides in Massachusetts.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/university-of-michigan-seeks-court-injunction-to-stop-grad-student-strikeEditor's Note (4/3/23): In the first half of the episode, Alvarez mistakenly refers to the previous GEO strike as having occurred in the fall of 2022, but it took place in fall of 2020. Stark and Alvarez make the correction in the second half of the conversation.Graduate student-workers at the University of Michigan are on strike for the second time in three years, officially hitting the picket line this week. Speaking to The Michigan Daily, Amir Fleischmann, chair of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) Contracts Committee, said, "Grad workers are very frustrated. They’re struggling to pay rent. They’re struggling to afford childcare. They lack access to gender-affirming care. And I think we’re saying enough is enough. The University needs to give us a fair contract now.” On top of that, the University of Michigan administration is once again seeking to weaponize the courts to end the strike, filing an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against the union, claiming that the strike violates the university's existing contract with the union. In this urgent mini-cast, we talk with Alejo Stark, a grad worker and rank-and-file member of GEO, to get an update on the strike, the response from the administration, and what listeners can do to show support for GEO and its members.Disclaimer: Max is a former GEO member and earned his PhDs from the University of Michigan.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!