Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Click here for the full interview with Ofer Cassif: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/israeli-lawmakers-dire-warning-with?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Fox News Guy is SO Over Palestine https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/fox-news-guy-is-so-over-palestine?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiotspodcast.com/chat “I am not anti-Israeli,” explains Israeli Knesset member Ofer Cassif, who was suspended from the legislature for 45 days after criticizing Israel’s “fascist assault” on Gaza. “The government is anti-Israeli. The government undermines the security and the well-being of the state and its citizens.” Cassif, who is Jewish and served in Israel’s military, goes on: “Because I stand with Israel, I stand against the government of Israel. Because I stand with Israel, I stand with the Palestinians.” Rational, empathetic voices like Ofer’s have become not only controversial in today’s political culture, but illegal. “There is now persecution of every and any voice which is in opposition to the war, to the assault on Gaza, or even expresses any sympathy for the children of Gaza. People who try to demonstrate are violently beaten by police.” And after the interview concluded, Ofer called us back to share an ominous breaking update: “Netanyahu and his thugs use the smokescreen of the war to impose a martial law on Israeli citizens, predominantly Palestinian ones: PROTESTS ARE PROHIBITED AND CAN NOW BE ANSWERED WITH LIVE AMMUNITION, workers and students are suspended and dissidents are persecuted for posts on the social network. “I plea to the world - supporting the Israeli government is not supporting Israeli people - it is supporting fascism, death and dictatorship. If you wish to help Israeli people in this dire time - support the peace movement, not the warmongers who waged a war against their own people!” Subscribe for the full interview with Ofer Cassif where he responds to Bernie Sanders’ refusal to call for a ceasefire, the only way to find a solution to this war, and his dire warning if we continue on this path: “We are on the verge of an international or even world war, and everyone is going to pay the price.” And after listening to the extended interview, we challenge you to find any US politician with half as much journalistic knowledge or bravery to criticize their own government as Ofer Cassif. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Miko Peled: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/israeli-generals-son-slams-israels?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Senator Chris Murphy (D–CT) believes anything Israel says https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/senator-chris-murphy-dct-believes?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiotspodcast.com/chat “Israeli society has always been held together by scotch tape. The scotch tape is falling apart,” says Miko Peled. And he would know. Miko is the son of one of Israel's highest ranking generals and the grandson of a signatory to Israeli independence. He was raised in Israel and served in its army. And he condemns Israel's "savage" attacks on Palestinians. He answers several questions: How was Hamas able to do what it did? Where was the Israeli army? Is the IDF prioritizing keeping the hostages alive or killing Hamas? And explains the history of Israel’s control over Gaza, how it led to the brutal massacre we’re witnessing today, and the way to end this war. “That really is the conversation: how we bring this to an end, for real. Not a ceasefire, but a complete end to the blockade, a complete release of Palestinian prisoners, immediate aid to Palestinians. And all this with no conditions.” He’s not stopping at just a reprieve from the bombings: “To the point that at the end of the day we bring the unconditional surrender of the apartheid state. That should be the main goal.” Subscribe for the full episode to hear Miko’s logical plan for achieving this, and the harsh reality Palestinians face until we do. “Between now and then, we can be certain that Palestinians are going to continue to pay a heavy price. And the world is silent.” The world is silent, for the Palestinians at least. In the US, the president, Congress, and media brazenly cheerlead the genocide, lamenting the deaths of only Israeli citizens, understanding that referring to Palestinians as “civilians” will get you in trouble. “One party explicitly rejects talking about Palestinian civilians and explicitly blames Hamas for whatever happens to them. The other party pays some lip service but doesn’t do anything. And that is American democracy.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: US politicians call for religious war against Palestine https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-politicians-call-for-religious?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiotspodcast.com/chat After Hamas’s attack in Israel on Saturday, the Israeli massacres of Palestinians in Gaza have skyrocketed. This genocidal ethnic cleansing has scarcely been reported by mainstream media at any time in its 50 year history, let alone at a time when western media and politicians openly support a religious war against Palestine. So we’re giving a platform to three Palestinian voices to share their story. We speak with Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian academic currently sheltering 15 children in his Gaza apartment, Yumna Patel, the Palestine news director for Mondoweiss, and Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian writer from Gaza. Their stories of bombings, murder, cruelty, and lies from the Israeli government and malicious rumors from US media and politicians are difficult to hear, but so important when they’re being silenced everywhere else. “The American public and the general public around the world is being sold a genocide,” they tell us. “We are being convinced through the rhetoric of Israeli politicians, the US president, and US state department spokespeople that Palestinians, specifically Gazans, are not human. They are trying to wipe Gaza off the map.” And while the deaths of Israelis must be covered and mourned, the West’s hypocrisy and double standard on the value of life is clear. “I have never seen the amount of profiles and interviews with the families of victims than I’ve seen of mainstream media interviewing these Israeli families. I have never seen this level of attention paid to one singular Palestinian.” Israeli children matter. Why don’t Palestinian children matter? “No attention is being paid to the killing of 270 children just in the span of three or four days.” Refaat, Yumna, and Muhammad share their frustration and disgust with “the fact that our government and the President of the United States is repeating dehumanizing genocidal language, repeating these unsubstantiated claims.” And sadly, we may not be able to hear their voices for long. Refaat, calling from Gaza with the sounds of bombs exploding in the background during the interview, warns that resources are running low. “But in a couple of days, maximum a week or two, if things don’t change, we’re looking at a total blackout, no coverage, no media, no internet. Not that Israel cares, and mainstream media is complicit.” Hear them speak, and share the interview to spread their message. At a dangerous time, we thank you for continuing to support Useful Idiots and our guests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Gordon Hahn: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/ukraines-inconvenient-truth?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Speaker Trump to the Rescue? https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/speaker-trump-to-the-rescue?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiotspodcast.com/chat Analyst Gordon Hahn has been covering the Ukraine conflict since long before Russia invaded, focusing on the West’s strategic efforts to use Ukraine as a proxy under the guise of defending its sovereignty. “You have to lie about everything,” Hahn explains, detailing how self-serving Western narratives became so successful. “You have to maintain that Putin is Hitler II.” But the real goal of the west, as independent journalists tirelessly report and US/NATO officials endlessly prove, has nothing to do with the Ukrainians. “The goal is eternal NATO expansion.” “It’s all got to do with the inability to make some kind of a compromise,” Hahn says. “It’s all or nothing. And it’s leading to a disaster. And the greatest sufferers are the Ukrainians.” Subscribe for the full interview with Gordon Hahn where he explains the western sabotage of the Ukrainian-Russian peace deal (and the tens of billions of dollars made from its collapse), the struggle to reach the people who believe the US really does care about Ukrainians, and how to end the war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Norm Finkelstein: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/norman-finkelstein-on-canadas-applause?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: US Govt shutdown threatens workers' salaries – but not Ukraine's https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-govt-shutdown-threatens-workers?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Norman Finkelstein, whose latest book is I’ll Burn that Bridge When I Get to It, returns to Useful Idiots with as much heretical bravado as ever: he’s coming out swinging. First, he’s dissecting the embarrassing Nazi celebration in Canada: the Orwellian push to have it erased from history, Trudeau’s fake apology, and the despicable claims that Zelensky, who speaks English and understands Ukrainian history, didn’t know that he was saluting a Nazi soldier. “When he [Zelensky] raised his hand,” Norman explains, “this Jew as we’re constantly told, he was lending himself to the Nazi cause.” Next, Norman’s talking about presidential candidate and celebrated leftist Cornel West. Norm explains he hadn’t read any of West’s books until this month when he prepped for an interview with the candidate. “I was dazzled,” Norm says. “He’s better than me!” The interview, which drops soon on Norman Finkelstein’s Podcast, will be a three-hour wide-ranging intellectual conversation. Norm gives us a preview. Subscribe (before prices rise on Oct 1!) to hear our full 90-minute interview where Norm shares his take on Cornel West’s candidacy, and we get into a long debate about Norm’s favorite pseudo-intellectual millionaire Ibram X Kendi. You’re not going to want to miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Bryce Greene: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-media-cant-stop-lying-about-ukraine?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Nikki Haley's Unhinged China Rant https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/nikki-haleys-unhinged-china-rant?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat In the old world of journalism, reporters forced themselves through rounds of fact checks, dug through sources, interviewed every witness and expert they could find, and even then wouldn’t publish a story until they were absolutely sure of its veracity. And if all that failed and their story was wrong, they swallowed hard and published a correction. An embarrassing yet humbling check on the press that only added points to their credibility. That was the old world. The old world is dead. “Russian missile attack hits market in Ukraine, kills 16,” read headlines from every major news outlet. Weeks later, once the story had spread into the public consciousness, the New York Times quietly posted an update to the story: “Evidence suggests Ukrainian missile caused market tragedy.” The same happened with the evil Chinese spy balloon (later revealed to be a spy balloon that did no spying), the Nord Stream pipeline, and countless other stories in which the US media shaped the war instead of report on it. Journalist Bryce Greene joins Useful Idiots to shed light on the truth, break down the lies, debunk the corporate media.   Subscribe to watch the full episode where Bryce explains the US path to peace (and the lies used to sabotage it), the extent of the corporate lies used to blame the missile strike on Russia, the terrifyingly weird English-speaking Ukrainian spokesperson who wants to “hunt down” Russian propagandists (which is extra scary when we’re constantly labeled as Putin puppets…), and how western media is shaping the Ukraine proxy war against Russia as a proxy for the larger proxy war against China. There’s a lot of lies, so let Bryce Greene be your tour guide through the truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Amanda Yee: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/bidens-trumpian-war-on-korea-a0b?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: NATO Chief Spreads "Pro-Putin Talking Points" https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/nato-chief-spreads-pro-putin-talking?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Journalist Amanda Yee of Liberation News joins the show to break up some hardened American propaganda about the “forgotten” war in Korea and what’s actually going on behind the travel ban in North Korea, which Trump started and Biden has renewed each year since. This proves, once again, that despite running as the opposite of Trump, the one campaign promise that Biden has actually kept is the one he made behind closed doors to donors: "Nothing would fundamentally change." Even some of the most jaded skeptics of US propaganda still believe the misrepresentations about North Korea, and the travel ban makes it that much harder to see reality for ourselves. Luckily, Amanda Yee is sharing some first-hand accounts to shed light. She explains the painful family separations caused by Biden’s draconian ban and the untold horrors of the war the US wants us to forget. A war which never ended. Amanda also discusses the national security state’s selective, unprincipled and hypocritical war on independent organizations who dare to criticize U.S. foreign policy. Subscribe now (while the price is still low!) for the full interview with Amanda where we discuss the New York Times disinformation campaign to fuel fear of our “enemies” and the New Cold War with China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full episode with Matt Taibbi: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/matt-taibbi-on-gop-debates-censorship?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Click here for the full interview with Max Blumenthal and Matt Orfalea: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/matt-taibbi-and-max-blumenthal-on?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: NATO Pinky Swears that it's a "Defensive Alliance" https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/nato-pinky-swears-that-its-a-defensive?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Did you ever wonder what Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman would sound like if she was played by director and actor Werner Herzog? Or what Chris Christie would do if Trump ordered food for him that he was allergic to? Have you wondered what the German word is for a Brazilian spider bite that causes painful, hours-long erections? Do you know the world-record time for drinking 2-liters of soda? Can you guess how many buffalo wings Matt Taibbi has eaten in one hour? Or how many hugs two erotically-charged men can do in one minute? Did you ever wonder if hugs could be counted? Or if an act of love such as a hug can’t be quantified as there is so much more to a hug than a physical entanglement of arms, and that in the same way a competition for who can fall in love more times is a fleeting grasp at ordering the confusing nature of life, it is ultimately an impossible feat, and maybe the point of life isn’t to count but to live, so when you finally allow yourself the freedom of falling out of control instead of waiting indefinitely behind the curtains of a stage that only exists in your own mind, preparing to say the lines you wrote for yourself but know deep down you’ll never perform, when you finally let all that go and “embrace” the lack of control you realize you aren’t falling but flying? Did you ever wonder those things? If so, you’re in luck! Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper have all the answers while they celebrate three and a half years of Useful Idiots with a reunion episode, throwing it back to the four food groups, terrible media clips, a scary new censor, and as always, a whole lotta nonsense. Subscribe to watch the full episode where Matt and Katie do shrooms with Trump in a bowling alley and discuss the dystopian future of government censorship where the word transparency no longer means we get to see what they’re doing, but where they get to always keep an eye on us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Max Blumenthal: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/matt-taibbi-and-max-blumenthal-on?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch the latest Thursday Throwdown: NATO Pinky Swears that it's a "Defensive Alliance" https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/nato-pinky-swears-that-its-a-defensive?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat “The constitution is just a sideshow at this point.” Censorship, no longer just a threat from the government but now from private tech corporations as well, has snowballed into dystopian size. And the scariest part about censorship? It hides itself. So it’s hard to know just how huge it really is. Which makes this an issue on a scale so large that the only team possibly fit to crack into its titanium shroud is the original Useful Idiots: Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper. That’s right, Matt’s joining us for a two-week special. Buckle up. This week, we’re interviewing two journalists recently trampled by the wheels of big tech. First is Max Blumenthal, editor and founder of the Grayzone, which had a recent fundraiser frozen and withheld by GoFundMe “due to some external concerns.” GoFundMe, along with corporations like PayPal, has buried other independent news sites for speaking out against US war. But none as big as the Grayzone. Which means they can speak up and fight back. Tune in and join the fight. The second guest is Matt Orfalea, video editor and Racket News contributor, whose videos on Youtube have been deleted and demonetized for being “potentially harmful,” or for spreading election lies. The main video in question was simply a mashup of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump claiming that the 2016 and 2020 elections were stolen from them. No opinion, just documentation. Check out the video, it’s back up on Youtube but demonetized. You wouldn’t want such a dangerous video to make any money for its creator. Subscribe for the full interviews with Max and Orf where they explain the digital de-democratization of the world under the guise of a NATO proxy war, the terrifying new DIIA app which is creating a new digital passport, and Max Blumenthal’s grim prediction: As the power of corporations takes hold, “the only kind of activism that’s going to be allowed is activism that supports the state’s objectives.” It’s a new world model where transparency no longer means we get to see what they’re doing, but where they get to always keep an eye on us. Subscribe to watch the full episode and support independent media at a dangerous time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Sohrab Ahmari: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/how-both-parties-work-for-tyranny?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Read Tyranny, Inc. here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/708057/tyranny-inc-by-sohrab-ahmari/ For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: NATO Pinky Swears that it's a "Defensive Alliance" https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/nato-pinky-swears-that-its-a-defensive?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat After claims of fraud in the 2020 election and the rise of Trump’s pseudo-populist wing of the GOP, Sohrab Ahmari wrote Tyranny, Inc. In the book, the journalist and founding editor of Compact magazine gives a tour of our political economy from the point of view of ordinary people who faced private tyranny and paid the price for it. Private being the key word. Ahmari, even as a conservative columnist for the NY Post, can sometimes sound more leftist than some Congressional progressives. “Conservatives are quite used to thinking of government as the only potential source of coercion,” Ahmari tells us, “so the fact that a segment of the right was suddenly alert to what big tech could do to you, seemed to me an opening to say, ‘Hey, let me show you other kinds of private coercion which are less visible, but all the more insidious.’” Sohrab Ahmari’s in-depth reporting and bipartisan critiques emerge as some mix of conservative populism and Marxist theory. It’s a fascinating perspective that, in a world ruled by tech censorship and private coercion, is increasingly rare to hear anywhere other else than on Useful Idiots. Watch the full interview to hear his response to Jacobin excluding him from a left-right coalition because of his cultural views, Oliver Anthony’s controversial country song, the actual difference between his critique of capitalism and the leftist one, and the unprecedented support by the US so-called left of the military industrial complex and the Ukraine proxy war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy