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Daily Reports, specials, and podcasts by The Real News Network (TRNN). TRNN makes media connecting you to the movements, people, and perspectives that are advancing the cause of a more...
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Daily Reports, specials, and podcasts by The Real News Network (TRNN). TRNN makes media connecting you to the movements, people, and perspectives that are advancing the cause of a more just, equal, and livable planet. TRNN is a nonprofit media organization. We do not accept advertising revenue or corporate sponsorship.
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13 MAR 2026 · As their public approval sinks lower and lower, the MAGA right is leaning harder and harder into policies of abject cruelty directed at vulnerable populations that have been turned into sacrificial scapegoats; that is especially true when it comes to immigrants and trans people. In the state of Kansas, for instance, Republicans just rammed through one of the most extreme anti-trans bills in the country. TRNN Editor-in-Chief speaks with journalist and LGBTQ+ policy analyst Erin Reed about how the new law is affecting trans Kansans and about the explosion of anti-trans policies around the country.
Additional links/info:
- Erin Reed https://www.erinreedwrites.com/, https://www.erininthemorning.com/, https://www.facebook.com/ErinInTheMorning/, https://bsky.app/profile/erininthemorning.com, https://www.tiktok.com/@erininthemorn, and https://www.instagram.com/erininthemorning/
- Erin Reed, Substack, “https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/anti-trans-national-legal-risk-assessment-a5d”
- Erin Reed, Substack, “https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/you-outlaw-it-heritage-foundation”
- Sherman Smith & Morgan Chilson, Kansas Reflector, “https://kansasreflector.com/2026/02/26/trans-kansans-struggle-with-reality-of-legislatures-cruelty-as-drivers-licenses-are-invalidated/”
- Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector, “https://kansasreflector.com/2026/02/27/trans-men-file-lawsuit-over-kansas-law-that-restricts-bathroom-use-and-invalidates-drivers-licenses/”
Credits:
- Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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12 MAR 2026 · 38-year-old regional video gaming champion Ludovic Mbock, who came to the US legally from Cameroon, was snatched by ICE while applying for his yearly work permit—as he’s done for 20 years. He has since been detained for three weeks and moved to facilities in Louisiana and Georgia, and his freedom depends on a critical bond hearing this week. In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with Diane Sohna, Ludovic’s sister, and Nikhil Delahaye, a close friend of Ludovic’s and a fellow gamer.
Additional links/info:
- Ludovic Mbock https://www.instagram.com/ludthinks/
- GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ludovics-legal-defense
- Antonio Planas & Rondez Green, The Baltimore Banner, “https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/ludovic-mbock-deportation-4HHPVY4P5JH3BJO5M6GIDGCMCQ/”
- Heidi Kemps, GameSpot, “https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-fighting-game-community-bands-together-in-solidarity-to-help-free-player-from-ice/1100-6538299/”
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.
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11 MAR 2026 · A new report from The Marshall Project reveals that the daily number of kids in ICE detention has increased sixfold under the second Trump administration. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Shannon Heffernan and Anna Flagg of The Marshall Project about the the human cost of Trump’s mass deportation campaign, and about the horrifying reality inside the South Texas Family Processing Center—the "black box" facility in Dilley, TX, where children are subjected to substandard food, medical deprivation, and prolonged detention beyond legal limits.
Guests:
- https://www.themarshallproject.org/staff/anna-flagg is a senior data reporter at The Marshall Project and works with data to report on detention, deaths in custody, crime, race, policing and immigration. Her reporting has appeared in The Marshall Project, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, ProPublica, Politico, The Guardian, The Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and others.
- https://x.com/shannon_h is a staff writer at The Marshall Project whose work focuses on prisons and jails across the US, as well as sexual and gender-based violence, immigration and mental health, and how arts and culture shape (and are shaped by) crime and punishment.
Additional links/info:
- Anna Flagg & Shannon Heffernan, The Marshall Project, “https://www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/29/ice-kids-in-detention-numbers”
- Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “https://therealnews.com/texas-concentration-camp-for-children-families”
Credits:
- Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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10 MAR 2026 · President Trump’s catastrophic decision to plunge the US into a war with Iran is following a depressingly familiar playbook to those who lived through—and those who served in—the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with military veteran, author, and peace activist Rory Fanning—who served two tours in combat as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan—about the reality of what the US military has done in the Middle East, and about the veterans who are speaking out against the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Guests:
- https://roryfanning.org/ is a war resister, military counter recruiter, and writer living in Chicago, IL. Fanning served two deployments with the Second Army Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan, and he is the author of http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Worth-Fighting-For.
Credits:
- Producer: Rosette Sewali
- Studio Production: David Hebden
- Audio Post-Production: Stephen Frank Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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9 MAR 2026 · The term “mass incarceration” is inaccurate and misleading, Distinguished Professor and author Dylan Rodríguez says: “The masses are not being policed, targeted, and incarcerated; it's a targeted war with asymmetrical casualties.” In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Rodríguez speaks with former political prisoner and Black Panther Mansa Musa about the horrifying truth behind the US prison-industrial complex—and about the "pseudo-abolitionist" politics that often dilute the power of radical movements trying to dismantle it.
Follow Rattling the Bars on https://open.spotify.com/show/0KlHDkdaZ2gq4g0snp9lUH?si=661987d705374aa3 or https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rattling-the-bars/id1554787359
Guests:
- https://www.instagram.com/dylanrodriguez73/?hl=en is a teacher, scholar, organizer, and collaborator who has worked at the University of California-Riverside since 200. He is a Distinguished Professor in the recently created Department of Black Study as well as the Department of Media and Cultural Studies. He is the author of three books: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/forced-passages; https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/suspended-apocalypse; and https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823289394/white-reconstruction/, which won the https://blog.apaonline.org/2022/02/01/the-caribbean-philosophical-associations-2022-award-winners%EF%BF%BC/ from the Caribbean Philosophical Association.
Additional links/info:
- Mansa Musa, Ratting the Bars / TRNN, “https://therealnews.com/manifest-destiny-domestic-war-white-supremacy”
Credits:
- Producer, Videographer, Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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7 MAR 2026 · Cuba is facing the greatest existential threat it has seen in decades. Trash is filling streets, because garbage trucks can’t make the rounds. Rolling blackouts, rising food prices and cuts to transportation, university classes, and hospitals amid a gas shortage, the likes of which the country hasn’t seen in years.
US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other officials have made it clear that they aren’t interested in anything less than regime change. And they’re going after that goal full throttle. The United States is now imposing an oil blockade on the island nation that is pushing it to the brink – and hitting its most vulnerable residents the hardest.
In this episode, we look at Cuba, the history of the more than 65-year-old US embargo on Cuba and Trump’s actions, which are pushing the country to the brink.
This is Episode 7 of https://therealnews.com/under-the-shadow, Season 2.
https://therealnews.com/under-the-shadow is an investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present. Season 2 responds in real time to the Trump administration’s onslaught on Latin America.
Hosted by Latin America-based journalist https://www.patreon.com/mfox.
This episode was made in collaboration with https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/. Many thanks to them for the interview with Liz Oliva Fernandez and the use of the sound from several of their videos.
This podcast is produced in partnership between https://therealnews.com/under-the-shadow and https://nacla.org/under-shadow.
Theme music by Michael Fox’s band, https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nexDyQCZI89JH8zsYu5wa. Monte Perdido's 2024 album Ofrenda is available on https://open.spotify.com/album/1THq4wHHqkY8yydUMJRmWj, https://www.deezer.com/pt/album/587476202, https://music.apple.com/za/album/ofrenda/1746696244, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n1lCcdFJEQczm-VSiraOuUpGcbzLxnRXs or wherever you listen to music.
Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Guests:
- https://www.instagram.com/liz_oliva_fdez/?hl=en with https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/
- Camila Pineiro
- https://www.instagram.com/medea.benjamin with https://www.codepink.org/
- https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/about/staff/peter-kornbluh with https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/
- https://x.com/gregwilpert, founder of https://venezuelanalysis.com/
Script editing by https://www.heathergies.com/. Hosted, written, produced, mixed and edited by https://www.patreon.com/mfox.
Resources Please visit https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/ for their excellent coverage of the situation in Cuba.
You can see a copy of the Mallory Memo on the National Security Archive’s website: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2022-02-02/cuba-embargoed-us-trade-sanctions-turn-sixty This is the 1960 document that created the justification for the Eisenhower’s first sanctions on Cuba.
Here is the link to Peter Kornbluh’s co-authored book, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana https://www.amazon.com/Back-Channel-Cuba-Negotiations-Washington-ebook/dp/B00W1VH9LE
To get involved in the flotilla to carry aid to Cuba this month, you can find out more on the Code Pink website, here: https://www.codepink.org/convergecuba
Under the Shadow, Season 1: https://therealnews.com/under-the-shadow
- https://therealnews.com/the-beginning-monroe-and-migration-under-the-shadow-episode-1
- https://therealnews.com/panama-us-invasion-under-the-shadow-episode-13
- https://therealnews.com/he-legacy-of-monroe-under-the-shadow-bonus-episode-4
Michael Fox’s recent reporting on the boat strikes and the ramp-up for war in Venezuela:
- https://www.thenation.com/article/world/venezuela-trump-air-strike-monroe-doctrine/
- https://truthout.org/articles/caribbean-leaders-call-for-unified-latin-american-resistance-to-us-attacks/
- https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-monroe-doctrine-2-0-outlines-imperial-intentions-for-latin-america/
- You can check out Michael’s https://therealnews.com/thousands-march-against-trump-war-venezuela about the protests against US intervention in Venezuela.
- NACLA’s https://nacla.org/a-curated-guide-to-the-us-attack-on-venezuela/
- Truthout’s ongoing reporting on https://truthout.org/section/war-and-peace/ and the US invasion of Venezuela
- Visit https://therealnews.com/ for all of TRNN’s coverage on this and so much more
Please consider supporting this podcast and Michael Fox’s reporting on his Patreon account: http://patreon.com/mfox. There you can also see exclusive pictures, video, and interviews. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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6 MAR 2026 · The US-Israeli war with Iran is spiraling into a regional catastrophe, and the number of dead is rising quickly. While President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the war hawks in their cabinets are responsible for this illegal war, they are not the only ones with blood on their hands. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Abby Martin, host of The Empire Files, and Adam Johnson, co-host of Citations Needed, about how Western media and American politicians in the Democratic "opposition" have helped manufacture the conditions for war with Iran.
Guests:
- https://www.instagram.com/fababs/?hl=en is an independent journalist, filmmaker, and host of https://www.youtube.com/empirefiles. She is the director of the 2019 documentary https://gazafightsforfreedom.com/ and the 2026 documentary https://earthsgreatestenemy.com/.
- https://x.com/adamjohnsonCHI is a writer, media critic, co-host of the podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/citations-needed/id1258545975, and a https://therealnews.com/author/adam-johnson.
Credits:
- Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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4 MAR 2026 · As general president of the union, Sean O’Brien has operated with a “Teamsters vs. Everybody” mentality, especially when it comes to dealing with President Trump and embracing the MAGA right. But now, 14 months into the second Trump administration, the labor movement and the entire working class—Teamsters members included—is under attack. In this episode of Working People, we speak with veteran Teamsters Richard Hooker Jr. and John Palmer, who are running to oust O’Brien from leadership in the upcoming union election.
Guests:
- Richard Hooker Jr. has dedicated 26 years to the Teamsters, spending 20 of those years at UPS and the last six in leadership roles. He is the Secretary-Treasurer and Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 623 in Philadelphia, and he is now running on the Fearless Slate to unseat Sean O’Brien as a candidate for general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
- John Palmer has 38 years of experience in the Teamsters and is currently serving as a vice president at large of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He is running on the Fearless Slate as a candidate to be the union’s general secretary-treasurer.
Additional links/info:
- Teamsters Fearless Slate https://be-fearless.org/meet-the-fearless-team
- Hank Kennedy, Current Affairs, “https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/sean-obrien-sold-labor-to-trump-and-got-nothing?fbclid=Iwb21leAQN4Q5jbGNrBA3hBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHizUU-6HNXMKcsC0EetFTu_Y91W6ecbm4uDcr2seoEiVuHwo77Cbbrz60RiB_aem_ji-K2c4Z7iYBlZIbA7J9uA”
- Michael Sainato, The Guardian, “https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/01/teamsters-union-leadership-trump”
- Joe Allen, CounterPunch, “https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/17/why-are-the-teamsters-endorsing-greg-abbott/”
- Peter Eavis, The New York Times, “https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/business/ups-jobs-layoffs-2026.html”
- Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “https://therealnews.com/everybody-hates-sean”
- Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “https://therealnews.com/we-asked-8-different-teamsters-what-they-thought-of-sean-obriens-speech-their-responses-may-surprise-you”
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.
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2 MAR 2026 · From the very beginning, the United States of America has been at war—not just abroad, but domestically. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with scholar and author Dylan Rodríguez about how the US operates as a nation in a perpetual state of internal war, and how the white supremacist legacy of domestic warfare has reached terrifying new heights in the Trump era.
Resource Links:
- Purchase Dylan Rodríguez’s book https://fordhampress.com/white-reconstruction-hb-9780823289387.html
- https://therealnews.com/revolt-against-the-carceral-world
- https://therealnews.com/coronavirus-pandemic-anti-chinese-racism-xenophobia-collective-care
- https://therealnews.com/why-corporate-media-doesnt-talk-honestly-about-racism
Credits:
- Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino
Follow Rattling the Bars on https://open.spotify.com/show/0KlHDkdaZ2gq4g0snp9lUH?si=661987d705374aa3 or https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rattling-the-bars/id1554787359 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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28 FEB 2026 · How did the promise of Black wealth become a tool for white elites? In this Black History Month special of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with UVA Professor and author https://justenehilledwards.com about the tragic history of the Freedman’s Bank. They dive into the economic intelligence of enslaved people and how they navigated the inherent violence of the slave economy. Professor Hill Edwards also breaks down the betrayal detailed in her book, Savings and Trust, revealing how a bank built for the formerly enslaved was redirected to fund D.C. infrastructure and white elite interests.
Get the book at this https://bookshop.org/p/books/savings-and-trust-the-rise-and-betrayal-of-the-freedman-s-bank-justene-hill-edwards/81aadc94156d611f?ean=9781324073857&next=t on http://bookshop.com/
Host: Mansa Musa Videographer / Editor / Producer: Cameron Granadino
Follow Rattling the Bars on https://open.spotify.com/show/0KlHDkdaZ2gq4g0snp9lUH?si=661987d705374aa3 or https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rattling-the-bars/id1554787359 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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Daily Reports, specials, and podcasts by The Real News Network (TRNN). TRNN makes media connecting you to the movements, people, and perspectives that are advancing the cause of a more...
show more
Daily Reports, specials, and podcasts by The Real News Network (TRNN). TRNN makes media connecting you to the movements, people, and perspectives that are advancing the cause of a more just, equal, and livable planet. TRNN is a nonprofit media organization. We do not accept advertising revenue or corporate sponsorship.
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Text us at (410) 431-0868
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Sign up for our newsletter at therealnews.com
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