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 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 Click here for the full interview with Shahid Buttar: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-episode-force-the-vote-with?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Advocate, artist, lawyer, organizer, musician, and former politician Shahid Buttar joins Useful Idiots to explain why Democrats are failing. Why is he a former politician, you ask? Well after running a campaign against Nancy Pelosi and getting buried by racist attacks from liberals, Shahid realized a sad truth about politics: “Politicians, as well as journalists and lawyers,” he told us. “Are all about careerism. People care about their careers more than the principles of their profession.” And so self-proclaimed non-racists like Pelosi use racist attacks against opponents of color, like Shahid and Nina Turner, to keep their claws sunk deep into power, shielding themselves from any review of their own anti-democratic voting records. But Shahid doesn’t put all the blame on these power-hungry, corporate vultures for choosing power over human values: “It’s impossible not to in a fascist country.”

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 Shahid Buttar: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-episode-force-the-vote-with?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Advocate, artist, lawyer, organizer, musician, and former politician Shahid Buttar joins Useful Idiots to explain why Democrats are failing. Why is he a former politician, you ask? Well after running a campaign against Nancy Pelosi and getting buried by racist attacks from liberals, Shahid realized a sad truth about politics: “Politicians, as well as journalists and lawyers,” he told us. “Are all about careerism. People care about their careers more than the principles of their profession.” And so self-proclaimed non-racists like Pelosi use racist attacks against opponents of color, like Shahid and Nina Turner, to keep their claws sunk deep into power, shielding themselves from any review of their own anti-democratic voting records. But Shahid doesn’t put all the blame on these power-hungry, corporate vultures for choosing power over human values: “It’s impossible not to in a fascist country.” He explains how the body of insider-trading millionaires known as Congress has no conception of ethics.

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 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 Ukrainian Professor Ivan Katchanovski uncovered leaked videos and audio which CNN tried to bury. He joins the Useful Idiots to share the hidden tapes. In ignored audio, Joe Biden brags about his power over Ukraine, threatens to withhold military support if they don't fire the prosecutor, and shows his power in deciding who gets to lead Ukraine. The mainstream media not only ignored this story but even tried to bury it. So we're going to broadcast it.

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 Pentagon over poverty! Millionaires over Medicare! Wall Street over working class! Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader of the most diverse Congress in history, is finding clever new ways to prop up the wealthy and crush the working class. Laugh along with Katie and Aaron at his childish acrostic poem that he somehow thought was genius. Have you ever seen someone so proud of themself?

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.

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 Thursday Throwdown: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/an-ode-to-the-pentagons-most-aggressive?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web MSNBC's Morning Joe fawns over the legend of Nancy Pelosi to incoming House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies. In countries like North Korea, the newscasters might ask only easy questions and celebrate their leaders. But on MSNBC, they're real journalists. 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 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 After causing the deaths of thousands of people around the world as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton is now singing that she will survive in carpool karaoke. And we think that's weird.

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 Doubting Donald has become the most humble president, calling himself "hopefully" your favorite president, and question if dinner with him really is amazing. After years of self-improvement, he's truly found humility. And now, you can get his NFTs for only $99! Just don't take a screenshot!

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 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 The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted against Marjorie Taylor Greene's bill to audit the billions of dollars sent for weapons in Ukraine. Said Democratic Rep Gerry Connolly: "We're all for transparency and accountability, just not now."

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.”

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 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.”