The Real News Podcast

20 formerly incarcerated people in Florida are facing charges for exercising their right to vote in the 2020 election. In 2018, a ballot referendum in Florida passed Amendment Four, granting certain former felons the right to vote. While the victory of Amendment Four was celebrated by many, lawmakers in Florida had other plans. A law was passed through the state legislature which stipulated that former felons eligible to vote under Amendment Four could only do so if they paid all their outstanding fines and fees. This legal loophole is now being used to charge formerly incarcerated Floridians with voter fraud. Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani joins The Real News editor-in-chief Maximillian Alvarez and Rattling the Bars co-host Mansa Musa to explain what's behind this latest attack on voting rights.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!

The wave of grassroots worker organizing is spreading to different industries and businesses around the country, including those that have notoriously resisted any and all unionization efforts in the past. The Home Depot, the single largest home improvement retail company in the US, is one of those businesses, and there is a union drive underway as we speak at a store in Philadelphia. As Johan Furman writes at More Perfect Union, "On Monday, September 19, workers filed a petition to organize a union among 276 workers at a Home Depot in northeast Philadelphia. If successful, the independent union would be the first at the home repair chain, the fifth-largest private employer in the U.S." We talk to Vince Quiles, who's worked at the northeast Philly store for five years and is one of the worker-organizers leading the drive to become the first unionized Home Depot location in the country.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!

Our contemporary political discourse is rife with claims that certain forms of art, literature or thought are poisoning our culture and advancing the decay of civilization. The right has whipped itself into a frenzy over "critical race theory" bogeymans and campaigns to ban any books that contain even a passing acknowledgment of LGBTQ life. While certainly less zealous, the left can be sanctimonious and counterproductive when it comes to genres and works of fiction we deem politically pernicious—or just bad. Of course, none of this is new. Pop culture has been a terrain of political struggle for about as long as pop culture has been around. In her forthcoming book, Dangerous Fictions, Art for the End Times host Lyta Gold traces the history of these "cultural" conflicts and the deeper social fissures they belie.Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Brent TomchikHelp 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!

On Oct. 6, President Biden announced an official pardon of anyone incarcerated on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana. Biden framed his pardon in terms of correcting the historic injustices meted out against people of color by the War on Drugs, but is it enough? The pardon itself affects about 6,500 people, but does not necessarily guarantee that every one will have their records expunged. Furthermore, countless other people remain incarcerated, on probation or parole, or with criminal records for cannabis-related charges. To talk more about what else should be done, Rattling the Bars speaks with Taya Graham and Stephen Janis, co-hosts of the The Real News program Police Accountability Report. Stephen and Taya make a case for the full legalization of cannabis, which remains a federal Schedule 1 drug, pointing out that so long as cannabis laws are passed unevenly, it will be the poor and people of color who pay the price.Read the transcript here: https://therealnews.com/its-time-to-legalize-marijuanaStudio/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!

Journalist Oren Ziv joins The Marc Steiner Show to explain how the Israeli government is sending a message of defiance against the international community with its continued attacks on Palestinian NGOs.Post-Production: Brent TomchikHelp 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 full transcript and show notes of this interview here: https://therealnews.com/"On the morning of Oct. 1... almost 500 union members from three United Steel Workers (USW) locals at WestRock’s Mahrt Mill paper mill in Cottonton, Alabama, voted to reject a second contract offer from the company," Jacob Morrison recently reported for The Real News Network. "The refusal to ratify WestRock’s 'last, best, and final' offer came as a result of the company insisting on removing contract language pertaining to what the workers there call 'penalties' for long hours. Members resoundingly rejected this contract, even though it included an unheard-of $28,000 ratification bonus—increased from an already staggering offer of $20,000, which workers already rejected on Sept. 21." Workers at WestRock's Mahrt Mill paper mill have been locked out by the company since early October and say they can't be bought off with bonuses for signing a contract that will ensure they have even less time for life outside of work. In this special guest-hosted episode, Morrison speaks with Mahrt Mill workers from the picket line about the lockout and their fight to get their lives back.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!

In 2020, San Quentin State Prison in California had some of the worst rates of COVID infection in the nation. At least 23 people died from COVID after contracting it at the prison. Prisons, jails, and detention centers across the US proved similarly vulnerable to the pandemic, which easily spread among incarcerated populations and into surrounding communities due to the already abhorrent health, sanitation, and human rights conditions of such facilities. Two years later, COVID remains a challenge for San Quentin and California officials. While prisoners are tested regularly multiple times a week, guards and other prison staff are exempted from testing. Sanitation conditions within the overcrowded prison remain atrocious, and prisoners who are exposed to COVID are often quarantined in solitary confinement units. Although California has a more rigorous COVID policy than much of the nation, the state's inability to protect prisoners is a reflection of the fundamental violence of the mass incarceration system. Incarcerated journalist Juan Moreno Haines calls into Rattling the Bars from San Quentin prison with his colleague, journalist Katie Rose Quandt, to discuss COVID policies at the prison, how the ongoing pandemic has made life considerably worse for prisoners, and why freeing people could be a better solution than the band-aid solutions California has attempted thus far.Juan Moreno Haines is an award-winning incarcerated journalist and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the editor of the San Quentin News.Katie Rose Quandt a freelance journalist who writes about criminal justice, incarceration, and inequality. She is a senior editor at the Prison Policy Initiative, and a writer and editor at Solitary Watch.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!

Censorship of voices supportive of Palestinian liberation from Zionist settler colonialism and occupation is nothing new. Journalists, members of the academy, and even schoolteachers have found themselves out of a job after voicing criticism of Israel in the past. Katie Halper, a popular podcast host and former contributor to The Hill TV’s Rising, is the latest big name casualty of such censorship. Halper had worked for The Hill TV for three years when she was terminated over a dispute with a higher up regarding a monologue in which she defended Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s description of Israel as an apartheid state. Halper joins The Marc Steiner Show to discuss her firing, the all-around censorship campaign against voices critical of Israel, and their shared political affinities as anti-Zionist Jews.Katie Halper is a writer, podcast host and video correspondent. She hosts The Katie Halper Show Livestream, podcast and WBAI radio show and co-hosts the podcast and YouTube show Useful Idiots, which she co-founded with Matt Taibbi and currently co-hosts with Aaron Maté while Matt is on book leave. She worked for The Hill TV’s Rising for three years. Studio/Post-Production: Dwayne GladdenHelp 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!

The life of a graduate student looks much closer to that of an average worker than many universities care to admit. After completing core courses, most students at this level devote the equivalent of full time working hours or more towards research. Levels of compensation and protections vary across the country, but many graduate students are simply handed paltry stipends that hardly cover their needs, and ultimately amount to pathetic hourly wages. At Johns Hopkins University, many graduate students are producing much-needed research on the COVID-19 pandemic. These students produce vast profits for the university, but don't even receive a living wage for their innovative and lucrative research. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez interviews Johns Hopkins graduate students Andrew and Caleb about conditions at their university, and the general struggle of graduate students across the country to win protections and recognition as workers.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!

Cases of cholera have been confirmed at Haiti’s National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. Cholera, which spreads through unsanitary water, has become endemic in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, and is believed to have been inadvertently introduced by UN peacekeepers. According to advocates, the Haitian prison system has been a ticking time bomb for cholera for years. Migrant justice organizations in the US have raised the alarm over conditions in Haitian prisons, where migrants deported by the US are often warehoused without formal charges or a trial.S.B., a survivor of deportation who spent time in Port-au-Prince’s National Penitentiary, joins Rattling the Bars to share his experience of the Haitian prison system. S.B. reports a total lack of sanitary infrastructure within the prison, even attesting that prisoners who died in their crowded cells were often left there overnight in the presence of other inmates. Sociologist Jon Shaffer also joins the show to contextualize how Haiti’s current predicament is the result of centuries of colonial intervention and extraction from Haiti. Schaffer, S.B., and other advocates are calling for the immediate release of prisoners in Haiti, and an end to US deportations to Haiti. They also strongly oppose the US’s proposal to redeploy foreign soldiers to Haiti through the UN.Jon Shaffer is a sociologist and organizer based in Baltimore who studies global health organizations, social movements, and their struggles over scientific knowledge. He is Peste Magazine’s Associate Editor for Labor, Organizing, and Activism.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!