The Unfettered Speech Podcast

Omali Yeshitela: From FBI Raids to Censorship: The Cost of Speaking Out

Neutral journalism is a comforting myth until you ask who it protects. We sit down with Omali Yeshitela, political activist, author, and longtime leader of the African People Socialist Party, to trace how Black journalism has functioned as a tool of liberation rather than a referee for “both sides.” From small community papers to global publications like Marcus Garvey’s Negro World, he argues that media has always carried a premise and the oppressed pay the price when that premise is hidden. We also talk about what independent media looks like as a daily practice. Omali explains why the Burning Spear newspaper is built for organizing, not just informing: selling it person to person, using it to teach politics on front steps, and creating a direct line to the public without relying on mainstream media or platform gatekeepers. That direct line matters even more when dissent gets punished, from deplatforming to FBI raids and “foreign agent” accusations aimed at silencing anti-war speech. The conversation widens into U.S. foreign policy and global realignment, including Iran’s impact on perceptions of U.S. military power, the ongoing Cuba blockade, pressure on Venezuela, and the Ukraine war as a proxy conflict shaped by NATO expansion. We bring it back home with a hard question: what keeps a movement speaking when the government makes clear it wants you quiet. Subscribe for more long-form conversations on free speech, independent journalism, Black political history, and anti-colonial analysis. If this one challenged you, share it with a friend and leave a review, then tell us what part you disagreed with most. Chapters: 0:00. Welcome And Guest Background 1:54. Black Journalism And Fake Objectivity 10:20. Garvey To Jet Media As Resistance 18:58. Burning Spear And Organizing Door To Door 25:40. The Obama Center And Political Mythmaking 38:05. Iran And Why The World Shifted 52:10. Cuba Blockade Venezuela And Internationalism 1:00:10 Ukraine Proxy War And Silencing Dissent 1:03:35. Closing Thoughts And Subscribe Our theme music, Adventures In Jazz, was used with permission. Composed and performed by Bob Mamet.

UnchainedTV: Jane Velez-Mitchell's Free Speech Mission

The fastest way to understand what our media system rewards is to watch which stories never get finished. Veteran journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell joins us to explain why animal rights reporting so often disappears unless activists “get naked or get arrested,” and why she believes that kind of coverage gap is not random. We dig into open rescue, including the beagle laboratory controversy, and what it means when people document conditions openly, wait for arrest, and try to give animals their day in court. From there, we zoom out to the bigger picture Jane keeps coming back to: animal agriculture, climate change, and public health are tied together, but most legacy outlets cover them as separate problems. We talk about advertiser incentives, fast food and pharmaceutical money, and how that shapes what gets framed as “normal,” what gets dismissed as “activism,” and what gets ignored entirely. Jane also shares the internal reality of corporate newsrooms, including the rare moments when she found room to run hard animal segments on CNN, and why she calls that freedom a fluke rather than a rule. We also get practical about solutions and strategy. Jane points to technological alternatives to animal testing like AI and organs-on-a-chip, and she makes the case that a plant-based diet is a direct lever people can pull three times a day. Finally, she walks us through the real nuts and bolts of building Unchained TV, a nonprofit streaming network powered by donations and volunteers, plus her critique of subsidies and food policy that keep meat and dairy artificially cheap. If you want more conversations like this on independent journalism, veganism, animal liberation, and the incentives behind what we all see and hear, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the question you want us to tackle next. CHAPTER MARKERS * 0:00. Welcome And Guest Introductions * 2:19 Open Rescue And The Beagle Case * 4:34 What To Do When Voting Fails * 8:32 Plant-Based Solutions For Climate And Health * 16:41. Advertisers, Incentives, And Media Blind Spots * 19:40. Inside CNN And Editorial Reality * 36:09 Building Unchained TV From Scratch * 45:11. Donations, Volunteers, And Citizen Journalism * 48:33. Subsidies, Corporate Power, And Food Policy * 51:01 Closing Thoughts And Thanks

Alan MacLeod : The AI Security State, When Big Tech Merges With Government Power

AI is starting to look less like a helpful tool and more like a new layer of governance: it can rank what you see, summarize what you’re “allowed” to know, and accelerate decisions that used to require human judgment. We sit down with investigative journalist Alan McLeod (MintPress News) to trace how Big Tech and the national security state are becoming hard to separate, from OpenAI politics to the defense contracts that quietly turn consumer platforms into military infrastructure. We talk through the hype versus reality of large language models, and why people still treat AI as an authority even when they say they don’t trust it. Then we get into the darker uses: surveillance, content moderation, and the way AI can act as a reality filter on social media. Alan breaks down reporting on leaked DHS and FBI planning around domestic unrest tied to AI-driven job displacement, including the chilling concept of labeling critics as “anti-AI extremists.” From there, we explore what massive AI data centers mean for communities, why these facilities demand so much power and water, and how similar systems are used for total information capture and control. We also discuss AI-assisted targeting, autonomous warfare, and why removing human hesitation can make war easier to sell at home. Finally, we look at the information economy itself: how independent media gets deranked, demonetized, and scraped, and why Google’s security-state ties and monopoly power matter for free speech worldwide. If you care about AI ethics, digital privacy, surveillance, independent journalism, and the future of free speech, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. CHAPTER MARKERS * 0:00. Welcome And The Tech Elephant * 1:30 OpenAI Power Plays And Political Money * 4:18 Is AI Breakthrough Or Overhyped * 7:06 AI As Reality Referee Online * 9:59 Feds Brace For AI Upheaval * 16:39 How Surveillance Shaped The Internet * 21:37 Why Data Centers Are Exploding * 24:05 Israel’s Dragnet And Narrative Control * 28:48 AI Kill Lists And Automated Targeting * 36:37 Robotic War And Fewer Limits * 41:36 Nuclear Risk And Machine Logic * 43:24 Think Tanks, Arms Profits, Tech Contractors * 47:49 How People Can Push Back * 52:06 Independent Media Versus Platform Control * 55:20 Google, The CIA, And A Global Filter * 1:02:02 AI Search Eats The Open Web * 1:04:31 Where To Follow Alan And Closing

Kevin Gosztola : The Whistleblower’s Dilemma

War lies do not spread on their own. They move through incentives: access, career safety, secrecy laws, and a media culture that treats “official” as synonymous with “true.” We sit down with Chicago independent journalist Kevin Gosztola, editor of The Dissenter and author of *Guilty of Journalism*, to trace how whistleblowers and adversarial reporting collide with the modern national security state. We start with the Iraq War as a formative media failure and follow Kevin’s path into covering WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and the machinery that punishes disclosure. Kevin shares what it was like to report on the Chelsea Manning court-martial, including how the “Collateral Murder” video landed in that setting, why the “aiding the enemy” theory was so dangerous, and how even top-tier outlets sometimes walked into the room unprepared to understand what was happening. Along the way we challenge the comforting myth of “proper channels,” dig into how the Espionage Act reshapes journalism, and ask what it means when civil disobedience is treated as treason. From there, we zoom out to the forces that make accountability reporting harder now: access journalism, newsroom profit pressures, and algorithmic gatekeeping that elevates legacy brands while drowning out independent work. We also connect censorship pressures across borders, from subpoenas and leak investigations in the United States to military censorship practices tied to wartime reporting abroad. If you care about press freedom, government secrecy, whistleblowers, and the public’s right to know, this conversation lays out what is at stake and what audiences can do to help. Subscribe, share the episode with someone who still trusts anonymous briefings, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. CHAPTER MARKERS * 0:00. Welcome And Guest Introduction * 3:05 Iraq War And Becoming A Skeptic * 12:05 Learning Activism And Media Reform * 19:55 WikiLeaks Influence And Early Reporting * 27:10 Inside The Chelsea Manning Court-Martial * 38:15 Prestige Media Failures And Espionage Logic * 46:55 Access Journalism And The National Security State * 53:35 Algorithms And The Squeeze On Indies * 58:50 Censorship Pressures From DC To Israel * 1:01:55 Two-Party Paralysis And How To Help

“Don’t platform dissidents.” He did it anyway. Tucker Carlson on Free Speech and Independent Media.

You can feel when a society loses its ability to talk and starts reaching for labels instead. Unfettered Speech brings on Tucker Carlson for a frank conversation about how he went from the top of corporate news to independent media, and why the most punished questions are often the most important ones: What are we doing overseas, who benefits, and what is it doing to us at home? Leonard, Patrick, and Tucker get into the mechanics of modern propaganda, including how accusations like “racist” or “anti-Semite” can function less as arguments and more as social tools to shut down curiosity. From there, we talk diplomacy and dehumanization, why interviewing adversaries used to be normal journalism, and how the post-9/11 era hardened the idea that understanding an opponent is the same as defending them. The conversation turns toward war ethics and public morality: euphemisms like “collateral damage,” the normalization of killing innocents, and the blowback that follows when a superpower stops caring what it does in other people’s countries. We also connect foreign policy to domestic reality: the shrinking middle class, globalization and union decline, corporate consolidation, and why free speech becomes fragile when ordinary people lose economic power. We close with leadership, accountability, and unanswered questions around political violence and government secrecy. Thanks for Watching or Listening to Unfettered Speech. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What claim in this conversation do you most agree or disagree with? CHAPTER MARKERS * 0:00. Welcome And Guest Introduction * 0:56. From Corporate News To Independence * 6:59. Smears That Block Real Debate * 11:49. Diplomacy Dies When We Dehumanize * 18:30. War Morality And Killing Innocents * 25:52. Israel Policy And The Fear Trap * 34:16. Economics Behind Censorship And Control * 44:34. Globalization Kills Unions And Loyalty * 51:16. Trying To Stop War Up Close * 57:38. Butler Shooting Mysteries And Hidden Files * 1:01:01 Citizens As Shareholders Final Thoughts