usefulidiots

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Or find us on Locals at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/awful-media-round-up-eLnRIopxwR If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Or find us on Locals at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Click here for the full interview with Professor Joshua Landis: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/us-sanctions-block-aid-to-earthquake?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web “Sanctions are a form of war. They’re economic warfare. And they destroy people’s lives.” Joshua Landis (https://twitter.com/joshua_landis), Sandra Mackey Chair in Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, is one of the foremost experts on Syria. This week, as Syria, along with neighbor Turkiye, grapples with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, Professor Landis joins the Useful Idiots to explain the deadly consequences that sanctions pile on to the damage. “America likes to talk about all its precision bombing and hitting someone with a drone to avoid collateral damage,” Landis explains. “But sanctions? It’s all about collateral damage. Very little of it is targeted.” But if you read corporate media outlets like the New York Times or Washington Post, you’d find a much different story. Both papers this week published headlines that were hastily changed when they realized they were being a little too truthful. See if you can tell the difference: The Times changed their headline from “Syria is not able to receive direct aid from many countries because of sanctions” to “The Syrian government tightly controls what aid it allows into opposition held areas.” When the Times accidentally tells the truth, they can always be trusted to fix their mistake. The original WaPo headline implored “Don’t lift sanctions of Syria to help earthquake victims.” But when they realized they were saying the quiet part too loud, they made a quick change to “Lifting sanctions on Syria won’t help earthquake victims.” Good catch. Professor Landis knows that sanctions are exacerbating the death toll in Syria, as indicated by both original headlines. Watch the full episode to hear him explain the history of sanctions, why the poor bear the worst of their destruction, and how to help. Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown where Seymour Hersh reveals how Lyin’ Biden blew up the Nord Stream pipeline and Katie explains why Joe Rogan’s antisemitic defense of Ilhan Omar’s non-antisemitic statements was so unhelpful. Oy. And don’t miss the Absurd Arena’s new home: the Substack app chat. Katie and Aaron will now be live in the discussion board each Tuesday at noon EST. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. 0:00 Intro 1:04 The Four Food Groups of News 22:28 Useful Idiots announcement 23:55 Professor Joshua Landis interview

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/chinese-spy-balloon-scare-wKmNwRJqJh If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/chinese-spy-balloon-scare-wKmNwRJqJh If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Or find us on Locals at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Or find us on Locals at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Or find us on Locals at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Click here for the full episode: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/how-to-be-human-again?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web If an alien life form (or just someone who watches mainstream media) happened across the Useful Idiots community, watched a few episodes, and read the the Absurd Arena, they might start to think: “Hey, these people seem pretty down.” We’ve talked extensively about the discouraging nature of constant news and how escaping it feels increasingly impossible, waves of bad news drowning us, the next one always breaking just when we think there’s a moment of peace. But we also learned from you that 2023 is a year of wellness, a time to fight back and build a boat to sail atop those waves. You shared your tips for feeling good each day, and we promised an expert to teach us how to feel like humans again. Darcia Narvaez is a professor of psychology emerita at the University of Notre Dame. She joins the Useful Idiots to explain how we’re living in a culture that goes against everything it means to be human, emphasizing toughness over tenderness, isolation over togetherness, making the US the most depressed, anxious, and chronically ill country in the world. “We’re stuck in a cycle of competitive detachment, where we feel disconnected from others and even ourselves, while at the same time feeling we have to compete for anything worthwhile.” But Professor Narvaez has hope: we can break the cycle. “There are still societies around the world though that resist this hierarchicalism and think it’s immoral,” she explains. “We have a lot to learn from them because they successfully live in egalitarian and healthy, happy ways. Unlike us.” Watch the full episode to learn how other cultures and species are able to live rewarding, fulfilling lives, why learning and school is actually one of the biggest detriments to humanity, and everyday, practical tips to help you break your own cycle. Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown on the other way we might break the cycle: nuclear Armageddon. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. 0:00 Intro 2:09 The Absurd Arena (UI discussion board: get your comments and questions read on the show each Tuesday!) 8:42 The Four Food Groups of News 25:39 Professor Darcia Narvaez Interview

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/media-fails-xAVlgOWpDI If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/media-fails-xAVlgOWpDI If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview with former CIA counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-episode-cia-whistleblower?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web After CIA officer John Kiriakou blew the whistle on US torture, no one in the CIA was arrested for their crimes. Except, of course, John Kiriakou. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act. He served 23 months in prison as punishment for his opposition to the Bush administration’s torture program. This week, he joins Useful Idiots to speak (freely this time) about the torture and war crimes of the US Government, the sickening purpose of Guantanamo Bay and its continuing crimes against humanity, and the hardest question of all: Who’s worse – The CIA or the FBI? Don’t worry, John’s got a lot of dirt on each. It’s one of the most jarring, sickening, revealing, scary, and funny episodes of Useful Idiots, which is why you’re probably going to want to watch… …the extended interview, in which Kiriakou uncovers the CIA’s sadistic psychedelics testing, the hawks in the mainstream media who are gunning for war with China, and his last words spoken to Keith Olbermann and Alec Baldwin: “Fuck you, Olbermann.” and “Fuck you, Baldwin.” And don’t miss this week’s Thursday Throwdown on Hollywood's New "It" Couple: Volodymyr Seanpenskyy. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out.

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com 0:00 Intro 0:20 The Absurd Arena (UI discussion board winners: get your comments and questions read on the show each Tuesday!) 4:27 Four food groups of news 20:48 Shahid Buttar interview

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/force-the-gop-vote-EOqxJCIJyT If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/force-the-gop-vote-EOqxJCIJyT If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview with Ukrainian Professor Ivan Katchanovski: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-episode-ukrainian-scholar?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Ivan Katchanovski, Ukrainian-Canadian political scientist who teaches at the University of Ottawa, is exposing US media lies about the Ukraine proxy war. And, like many Useful Idiot guests, no one will report on his story. This week, Katchanovski shares his research on the Maidan Massacre, a mass killing of Ukrainians protesting the Yanukovich government in February 2014. The US and opposition leaders blamed Yanukovich, triggered a coup and the ensuing civil war that radically escalated with Russia’s invasion eight years later. But when Professor Katchanovski dug into video, witness testimony, and other evidence which reveals who really committed the massacre — including footage that CNN tried to bury — he was ignored by mainstream media for attempted disruption of the approved narrative. But now he’s joining the Useful Idiots to tell us what really happened: the massacre, he argues, was carried out by pro-Maidan snipers. Watch the full interview with Professor Katchanovski for his take on who committed the massacre, how the US media is covering it up, and that weird interview between David Letterman and Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “We did a survey,” Zelenskyy told Letterman. “It showed that 98% of our country’s population today would rather stay without electricity and water as long as they are free from Russia.” Ivan responds to that seemingly impossible statistic. Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown on how our “free press” is really just US-state media. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. 0:00 Intro 0:46 2023 Predictions: The Absurd Arena (UI discussion board winners: get your comments and questions read on the show each Tuesday!) 4:03 Four food groups of news 24:42 Ivan Katchanovski interview

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Our 2022 end of year show, plus the full version of our previous interview with Claire Daly and Mick Wallace 0:00 Intro, the latest from Ukraine, and other terrible 2022 moments 17:27 Claire Daly and Mick Wallace full interview

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview with Miko Peled: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-episode-far-right-israeli?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Miko Peled, author of “The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” is the son of an Israeli general and former family-friend of Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, he’s an anti-Zionist fighting for Palestinian rights. He joins Useful Idiots to warn about Israel’s new far-right government, headed by Netanyahu and far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, whose positions give them newfound power over occupied Palestinians. “The lives of Palestinians are going to be governed by two men who are dedicated more than anyone to the expulsion and terrorizing of all Palestinians,” Peled says. “Palestinians are going to be looking back at the years leading up to this government as the good old days. This year has been a record year in terms of killing of Palestinians. But they’re going to be looking back at this year as the good old days. What is coming up is the worst that Palestinians have ever suffered.” Subscribe to hear the full interview with Miko Peled on Israeli apartheid, US hypocrisy, and why we ignore Palestinians while funding billions in weapons for Ukraine. Plus, watch our Thursday Throwdown where we say goodbye to CNN’s Barbara Starr, the Pentagon’s most aggressive cheerleader, and join the holiday Absurd Arena to give presents to this year’s suckiest politicians. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. 0:00 Intro 1:37 The Absurd Arena (UI discussion board winners: get your comments and questions read on the show each Tuesday!) 3:54 Four food groups of news 18:59 Miko Peled interview

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/worst-media-moments-XOtLUILKLV If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/worst-media-moments-XOtLUILKLV If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview with Luhansk Deputy Foreign Minister Anna Soroka: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/how-do-pro-russian-ukrainians-see?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web War in Ukraine did not start with Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Ukraine has been at civil war since 2014, when the US backed a coup to overthrow President Viktor Yanukovych. When the new post-coup government cracked down on ethnic-Russian Ukrainians and their Russian culture, Ukrainians in the eastern Donbas region rose up in rebellion, leading to the creation of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Anna Soroka, joining the Useful Idiots from Ukraine, is the former Deputy Foreign Minister of the Luhansk People's Republic. She joins Useful Idiots to share what it’s like being on the other side of a civil war that has now escalated into a full-blown proxy war with Russia. Sometimes discussions about war can become abstract, but it’s important to go “behind enemy lines” and hear from real people on the other side. It’s a perspective that you don’t get to hear at all in the NATO states. Unless you follow shows like Useful Idiots. Plus, watch our Thursday Throwdown where Biden completes his transformation into Trump as he kills Bernie's bid to stop the Saudi war on Yemen. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. 0:00 Intro and Katie's new hobby 1:32 The Absurd Arena (UI discussion board winners: get your comments and questions read on the show each Tuesday!) 4:48 Four food groups of news 14:39 Anna Soroka interview

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/awful-media-moments-BosmmJjZpB If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview with Matt Kennard on the crimes against Julian Assange and the right to free speech: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-episode-why-is-establishment?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web “It’s a complete stitch up,” Matt Kennard, author and co-founder of Declassified UK, tells Useful Idiots about Julian Assange’s extradition case. “None of the rules of the game apply.” Assange, who has been jailed and tortured for nearly a decade for releasing documents which shed light on the crimes of the US government, now faces an extradition trial teeming with corruption. But after a crucial witness admitted to lying, the US government was caught plotting an assassination, and UK judges were revealed to have major conflicts of interest, the case is somehow still continuing on. “It doesn’t seem like anything can come out that will stop it.” Kennard says. “That for me is the scariest thing. If certain powerful forces within the deep structure of our country want to get you, they can, and none of the principles we’re taught at school apply. They will get you and you will be ruined and the message will be sent that you can’t play at this level again.” Subscribe to hear the full interview with Matt Kennard on the crimes against Julian Assange and the right to free speech, and why corporate media like the New York Times is suddenly backtracking its stance against the journalist. Plus, Katie and Aaron deep dive into the Twitter Files and mainstream media’s vitriolic reactions to Matt Taibbi in this week’s Thursday Throwdown. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. 0:00 Intro and Aaron saves a cat 1:49 The Absurd Arena (UI discussion board winners: get your comments and questions read on the show each Tuesday!) 7:52 Four food groups of news 23:32 Matt Kennard interview on Julian Assange 57:06 A Farewell to Herschel Walker

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to. Join Katie and Aaron with your questions right after the stream at Callin Just download the free app to ask a question or listen on the web. https://www.callin.com/room/awful-media-moments-KTWcPWnEiP If it's Monday Morning, it's #MondayMourning

For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and a chance to have your comment read on the show in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview with locomotive engineer Michael Paul Lindsey and host of Working People Maximillian Alvarez: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-episode-union-joe-biden?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Congress and Joe Biden are pushing through a contract backed by the rail companies and rejected by workers. Michael Paul Lindsey, a locomotive engineer for Union Pacific, and Maximillian Alvarez, editor in chief of the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People, join us to explain why this standoff is a dangerous step backward for all working people. “The rail carriers are going to take it as a sign that they can keep doing what they’re doing and we are all going to be worse off for it.” For the rail workers, this has included denying even a single sick day. “Gradually over the years they got tighter and tighter and stingier until it became you’re straight up asking for permission. They believe that they own a right to your life 24/7.” And ‘Union Joe’ Biden, who calls himself a pro-labor president, continues to side with the companies. “This is what happens when the reigning philosophy is to eliminate the cost of treating your workers like human beings. If you treat workers like faceless meatbags and no one stops you, you can exploit the shit out of them.” And corporate media, doing what it does best, all but blames the workers, warning viewers that a rail strike could mean economic catastrophe and cripple the economy — ignoring the crippling conditions the workers face. During the interview, news broke that a Congressional proposal for seven sick days, a meek bill that would do the bare minimum to help workers, would fail. Michael Paul, who’s worked 17 years for the rail industry, laments: “Anyone who works for a living just lost ground on better pay and benefits. You lost today.” So how do we fight for workers’ rights? “This is such a systemic problem for working people and we cannot rely on politicians to just bequeath us some sort of solution to this. Working people need to band together and assert their needs as an independent working class.” Subscribe for the full interview with Michael Paul and Max. Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown on how the US decides to censor itself (but only when it accidentally tells the truth). It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. 0:00 Intro and Useful Idiots announcements 0:43 The Absurd Arena (UI discussion board winners: get your comments and questions read on the show each Tuesday!) 4:42 Four food groups of news 13:34 Michael Paul Lindsey and Maximillian Alvarez interview