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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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6 FEB 2026 · Feb. 3, 2026 marked the three-year anniversary of the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster in East Palestine, OH—one of the worst industrial disasters in US history. Over the last three years, residents have been exploited and abandoned by Norfolk Southern, the government, opportunistic politicians, sensationalist media outlets, and self-serving attorneys. On the three-year anniversary of the day that changed their small-town lives forever, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez was on the ground in East Palestine speaking with residents about their lives and needs today. Here is what they said...
Additional links/info:
- Ohio Valley Derailment Mutual Aid https://www.facebook.com/ohiovalleyderailmentmutualaid/ and https://givebutter.com/OVDMA
- Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC) https://sites.google.com/view/cicc-solidarity/home?fbclid=IwY2xjawPzHGxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFBMktNQ01UczBWMm82blpzc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHrU6SCas2EhLcedZGfZKFp2qszeP7o3bmkS_wpk0V23lPMFh_JRtWCotkT3Q_aem_YJ1EeCJw1eKL9Rwmjc63og
- Golomb Research Group (UCSD) https://www.golombresearchgroup.org/ and East Palestine Health Effects Study https://www.golombresearchgroup.org/ep-study
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “https://therealnews.com/americas-toxic-future-looks-like-east-palestine-oh-today” (click for a full list of all of Max’s East Palestine reporting for TRNN over the last three years)
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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5 FEB 2026 · Hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed, medical supplies blocked, and doctors killed or detained—leaving children amputated without anesthesia, patients dying from infections, and families facing starvation and freezing conditions. Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, Dr. Nidal Jboor, and Dr. Maysa Hawwash, founders of https://doctorsagainstgenocide.org/, explain what’s happening inside Gaza and the West Bank, why silence from governments and medical institutions is enabling mass death, and how doctors are organizing globally to end genocide.
Host: Marc Steiner
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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4 FEB 2026 · Over the last two decades, Vladimir Putin has transformed his government in Russia from a managed democracy into an authoritarian regime. Many now view it as neofascist. Abroad, it has launched war after war to rebuild Russia’s former empire, while, at home, it has crushed the democracy movement, repressed all protests against Putin’s imperialist war in Ukraine, and jailed thousands of political prisoners. Two Russian dissidents, Ksenia Kagarlitskaya and Ilya Budraitskis join Ashley Smith in this episode of Solidarity Without Exception.
Resource links:
- Freedom Zone: https://www.futurerussia.ch/en/freedom-zone
- Posle Media: https://www.posle.media/?page_id=136&lang=en
- Ilya Budraitskis, Dissidents Among Dissidents, https://www.versobooks.com/products/913-dissidents-among-dissidentshttps://www.versobooks.com/products/913-dissidents-among-dissidents Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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3 FEB 2026 · It’s been three years since a Norfolk Southern “bomb train” carrying toxic chemicals derailed in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, on the night of Feb. 3, 2023. Three days later, Norfolk Southern pressured local authorities to make the disastrous and completely unnecessary decision to vent five giant carloads of vinyl chloride into a ditch and set the contents on fire, releasing a massive chemical plume into the air, exposing residents in East Palestine and the surrounding areas to deadly toxins in one of the worst industrial disasters in US history. Three years later, residents are still getting sick, many have been financially ruined, they have been abandoned by their government and Norfolk Southern, and forgotten by the public. And, as Katya Schwenk details in a blockbuster new report for The Lever, residents are still waiting for the restitution they were promised from the $600 million settlement that Norfolk Southern agreed to pay to resolve residents’ class-action lawsuit over the derailment.
Guest:
- Katya Schwenk is a journalist based in Phoenix, AZ, and a reporter for The Lever. Her reporting and essays have appeared in The Intercept, the Baffler, the American Prospect, and elsewhere.
Additional links/info:
- Katya Schwenk, The Lever / The Real News Network, “https://therealnews.com/three-years-later-life-in-east-palestine-ohio-is-still-derailed”
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “https://therealnews.com/americas-toxic-future-looks-like-east-palestine-oh-today”
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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3 FEB 2026 · Judge Brian Jackson of the U.S. District Court has certified a class action lawsuit against Angola Prison on behalf of men forced to perform punitive farm labor under unconstitutional conditions and in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under this ruling, the court certified two specific groups: a primary class encompassing all persons currently or potentially assigned to the Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP) Farm Line, and a specialized subclass for those with disabilities assigned to the same labor. In his findings, Judge Jackson noted that nearly every individual arriving at the facility is assigned to the Farm Line upon entry, with the majority remaining at risk of reassignment as a disciplinary measure.
Guest:
- Samantha Pourciau is a Senior Staff Attorney at The Promise of Justice Initiative based out of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Credits:
- Host: Mansa Musa
- Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Resource links:
- https://promiseofjustice.org/news/incarcerated-farm-line-workers-win-class-certification
- https://therealnews.com/prisoners-sue-over-inhumane-conditions-on-angolas-brutal-farm-line
- https://therealnews.com/prison-farms-and-agricarceral-slave-labor
- https://therealnews.com/louisiana-still-imprisons-people-convicted-by-jim-crow-juries Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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2 FEB 2026 · On January 3, 2026, the United States invaded Venezuela and kidnapped president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. It was the first U.S. invasion of a Latin American country since the 1989 invasion of Panama.
The United States fired missiles and bombs that blew out windows and hit residential apartment blocks. Helicopters. Explosions. Firebombs. They cut electricity. They destroyed a medical supplies warehouse. Testimonies say helicopters fired on innocent people. They traumatized thousands, if not, millions of Venezuelans.
The aftermath for everyday Venezuelans has been completely ignored. The voices of those on the ground — the voices of the victims — have been largely silenced in the international press and then forgotten as the news cycle hurtles on and our attention shifts elsewhere — to Greenland, Minneapolis, Iran, Gaza, or whatever Trump happens to be blustering about on social media.
So today, we’re heading to Caracas to speak to people who experienced the invasion first hand, whether sheltered in place in their homes or running for their lives in the streets of their city. We’ll hear their stories of Trump’s “impressive” attack, their messages for the U.S., and how they’ve promised to resist the ongoing attack on their sovereignty.
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.
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. All of the ambient sound of the invasion in this episode was taken from cell phone videos filmed and posted on social media or shared over WhatsApp on January 3rd, during the pre-dawn U.S. invasion.
Script editing by https://www.heathergies.com/
Hosted, written, produced, mixed and edited by Latin America-based journalist https://www.patreon.com/mfox.
Translator and freelance journalist Coromoto Jaraba Pineda helped with reporting for this episode. You can find her on https://www.facebook.com/coromotojp/ and https://www.instagram.com/coritoj/.
Many thanks to Ricardo Vaz and Jessica dos Santos.
Resources:
Today’s episode features filmmaker Angel Palacios. Below are some links to his documentary films:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ9jE1c0XPE (en Español)
- https://vimeo.com/40502430 (in English)
- Angel’s film serieshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq5QeLqAy31fJpDSLBoHYvehSKpw_vX5_(en Español)
Check out the previous Under the Shadow episodes on the U.S. invasion of Venezuela:
- https://therealnews.com/us-trump-invasion-of-venezuela
- https://therealnews.com/hands-off-latin-america
- https://therealnews.com/debunking-the-us-narrative-on-venezuela
Under the Shadow
- 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/
- 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 The Real News’s coverage on this and so much more
Support Under the ShadowPlease 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.
You can check out Michael’s https://therealnews.com/thousands-march-against-trump-war-venezuela about the protests against US intervention in Venezuela. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.
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1 FEB 2026 · Hundreds of union nurses, federal workers, and local residents gathered outside the Veterans Affairs central office building in Washington, DC, on Jan. 28, to hold a vigil for Alex Pretti and all who have been killed by ICE. The vigil was one of many events organized or co-sponsored by National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union and professional association of registered nurses, which has forcefully called for ICE to be abolished in the wake of Pretti’s killing. We speak with attendees of the vigil in this on-the-ground edition of Working People.
Additional links/info:
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “https://youtu.be/oCF066HZ6Ms”
- Maximillian Alvarez Working People / The Real News Network, “https://therealnews.com/nurses-union-abolish-ice-alex-pretti-killing”
- National Nurses United: “https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/week-of-action-in-honor-of-alex-pretti-rn-and-all-others-killed-by-ice”
- National Nurses United press release (1/24/26): “https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/national-nurses-united-outraged-by-murder-of-va-registered-nurse-by-immigration-agents
- National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/nnoc, https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/nnoc page, https://twitter.com/nationalnurses?lang=en page, and https://www.instagram.com/nationalnurses/
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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1 FEB 2026 · Non-unanimous jury verdicts were a Jim Crow–era policy designed to silence Black jurors and secure convictions even when the state failed to prove its case. In 2026, over 1,000 people remain imprisoned in Louisiana after being convicted by non-unanimous juries. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Erica Navalance, Associate Director of Strategic Criminal Litigation at the Promise of Justice Initiative, about the case of Lloyd Gray and why the state of Louisiana continues to uphold unconstitutional convictions.
Guest:
- Erica Navalance has worked with both Capital Appeals Project and https://promiseofjustice.org/ (PIJ) since 2015, but joined PJI full time in 2021 as a senior staff attorney for the Strategic Defense Litigation project, focusing on combatting excessive sentences, capital punishment, and other injustices in the criminal system.
Additional links/info:
- Richard A. Webster, Verite News / ProPublica, https://www.propublica.org/article/lloyd-gray-louisiana-split-juries-history
- Promise of Justice Initiative, https://promiseofjustice.org/news/new-hearing-granted-for-lloyd-gray
Credits:
- Producer / Videographer / 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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28 JAN 2026 · On Friday, Jan. 23, around 50,000 people in Minneapolis, MN, engaged in a historic mass strike and day of protest to demand an end to ICE terror and President Trump’s federal siege of Minnesota. Then, on Saturday, Jan. 24, an ICE agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, volunteer ICE observer and a registered union nurse who worked for the Veterans Health Administration. In this episode, we speak with Mary C. Turner, a registered nurse inn Minnesota and a member of the Council of Presidents of National Nurses United, the largest nurses union in the US, which is now forcefully calling for the abolition of ICE.
Additional links/info:
- National Nurses United: “https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/week-of-action-in-honor-of-alex-pretti-rn-and-all-others-killed-by-ice”
- National Nurses United press release (1/24/26): “https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/national-nurses-united-outraged-by-murder-of-va-registered-nurse-by-immigration-agents
- National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/nnoc, https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/nnoc page, https://twitter.com/nationalnurses?lang=en page, and https://www.instagram.com/nationalnurses/
- Devon Lum & Haley Willis, The New York Times, “https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html”
- Thomas Birmingham & Ari Bloomekatz, In These Times, “https://inthesetimes.com/article/minneapolis-ice-shooting-protests”
- Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “https://therealnews.com/trump-plans-massive-military-parade-while-cutting-veteran-jobs-benefits-healthcare”
- Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “https://therealnews.com/trump-cuts-leave-va-hospital-nurses-and-veteran-patients-in-a-crisis”
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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27 JAN 2026 · The Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Trump administration a victory this month in its ongoing attempt to deport Syrian-born Palestinian activist, husband, father, and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil remains in the country for now and the legal battle is far from over, but the future of free speech in the US hangs in the balance. This week on The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Amy Greer, an associate attorney at Dratel & Lewis and a member of Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team, about the status of Khalil’s case.
Guest:
- Amy Greer is an associate attorney at https://dratellewis.com/team/amy-greer/, and a member of Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team. Greer is a lawyer and archivist by training, and an advocate and storyteller by nature. As an attorney at Dratel & Lewis, she works on a variety of cases, including international extradition, RICO, terrorism, and drug trafficking. She previously served as an assistant public defender on a remote island in Alaska, defending people charged with misdemeanors, and as a research and writing attorney on capital habeas cases with clients who have been sentenced to death.
Additional links/info:
- ACLU Press Release (1/15/26): “https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/appeals-court-in-mahmoud-khalils-case-decides-federal-court-lacks-jurisdiction-until-immigration-court-proceedings-complete”
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “https://therealnews.com/call-amy-lawyer-for-mahmoud-khalil-reveals-how-he-won-his-freedom”
Credits:
- Production: David Hebden
- 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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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.
Sign up for our newsletter at therealnews.com
Text us at (410) 431-0868
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Sign up for our newsletter at therealnews.com
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