Colonial Outcasts

Latest Episodes:

205. How Can You Defend Those People?! Empathy in an Era of Mass Dehumanization w/ Sarah Bennett Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

Our society exhibits a suicidal lack of empathy. We are witnessing mass death, violence, displacement on a global scale, all normalized and obfuscated by generations of bourgeois media and propaganda.

How do we begin to push back against it in order to fight for a more sane, sustainable, and equitable world? In this episode of Colonial Outcasts we go inside the isolated and near-invisible world of US women’s prisons with former defense attorney and photojournalist Sarah Bennet.

She is the author of “Looking Inside: Women with Life Sentences,” a long-term photographic project about women convicted of homicide and sentenced to life in New York State. The book follows them inside prison, after release, and in everyday life afterward, using portraits plus personal materials like letters, drawings, Polaroids, and handwritten notes to show that they are more than the crime that led to their sentences. The project resists stereotypes and asks readers to consider how punishment, memory, identity, and rehabilitation shape a life over decades.

This is a challenging topic. Hope you enjoy!

Link to Sarah’s book:https://www.kehrerverlag.com/en/Sara-Bennett/978-3-96900-238-4

https://www.amazon.com/dp/3969002389?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

204. Occupation and Forever Wars: Is US Media Propaganda Finally in Collapse? w/ Assal Rad Sep 20, 2026

Show notes

Subscribe to https://www.rfemedia.com/ for ad-free episodes and exclusive content.

In this episode we discuss the recent socio-cultural backlash against the war with Iran and Dr. Rad’s new book “Don't Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide.”

Are we finally, as a population, gaining a modicum of media literacy?

Assal Rad is a historian of Middle East history and a Nonresident Fellow at Arab Center Washington DC and DAWN. She works on research and writing related to U.S. foreign policy issues and the Middle East. She is the author of The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and Don’t Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide (Vintage, 2026). Assal completed a PhD in History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018.

Links to the book here:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/834977/dont-say-palestine-by-assal-rad/

https://www.audible.com/pd/Dont-Say-Palestine-Audiobook/B0H4RTFV8W?srsltid=AU7gw4V5CgpfTLQ1m3_RJ0UAB2EYPX8zcoFssW1cWlg33XVstlAwWcxG

You can follow Assal here:

https://x.com/AssalRad

Big Bend Betrayal: The Federal Assault on Our Public Lands Sep 16, 2026

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Our first Doc! The US Government is building a pointless wall through America's last wild border. This flagrant breach of public trust begins in Big Bend and ends in your backyard.

Watch the full documentary with NO ADS at https://www.rfemedia.com/or on our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/ColonialOutcasts

DO NOT be distracted by “the pause.” Bulldozers are tearing through protected desert, sacred grounds, and decades of federal protections along the last truly wild stretch of the US-Mexico border. “Big Bend Betrayal” goes inside the fight between local conservationists, concerned citizens, border communities and a federal government contract awarded to a major Trump donor.

You will see how ludicrous this border construction is, and how it is part of a larger normalization campaign to break the protections on all public lands in the continental United States. The end goal: privatize everything.

After the midterms on Nov 3rd, the assault will continue…

It’s High Time for Pre-Crime! A.I. Policing in a Post-Accountability World w/ Jack Jones Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Join us on Substack at https://www.rfemedia.com/ or on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/ColonialOutcasts for ad-free episodes and so much more!

What exactly is predictive policing and how is law enforcement using it to skirt the Constitution and go on “fishing expeditions?” Are they baiting attacks? Haaretz reveals October 7th foreknowledge.

Today we are joined by Jack Jones (quadzillahikes) to talk about his favorite subject - ICE and law enforcement overreach and unaccountability. What does this mean for the future of political action and activism. You can follow him here:

https://www.instagram.com/quadzillahikes/

https://substack.com/@quadzillahikes?utm_source=global-search

Sourcelist:

https://prospect.org/2026/09/09/anthropic-artificial-intelligence-surveillance-system-monitor-activists/

https://www.404media.co/a-secretive-dhs-predictive-policing-unit-is-analyzing-americans-financial-habits-and-pulling-them-over/

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-security/2026-09-08/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/netanyahu-got-an-explicit-warning-before-oct-7-he-didnt-brief-security-chiefs/000001a0-7a3b-d7d5-a9fc-7eff3d0f0000

https://theintercept.com/2026/09/03/ice-palantir-privacy-personal-info-access/

https://theintercept.com/2026/09/09/flock-cameras-police-loitering-curfew-surveillance/

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-surveillance-tech/https://www.axios.com/2026/09/09/anthropic-insiders-warn-ai-could-kill-all-humans

201. Survival and Solidarity Among Sumud Flotilla Hostages w/ Mea Marie (Part 2) Sep 06, 2026

Show notes

This podcast is a production of Radio Free Empire Media. To get access to all RFE media content including ad free and bonus episodes, subscribe at https://www.rfemedia.com.

Also, support the Black Panther Party by subscribing to their newspaper (PRINT ONLY!) at https://www.thebpp.usThis podcast is a production of Radio Free Empire Media. To get access to all RFE media content including ad free and bonus episodes, subscribe at https://www.rfemedia.com. And please like, rate and review wherever you are listening it helps others find us.
Recorded over two months ago. Mea Marie is a humanitarian, activist and independent journalist who sailed as a volunteer on the last Sumud Flotilla bringing aid to Gaza, whose inhumane treatment only scratches the surface of the everyday reality for Palestinians living under occupation.
She describes in detail the physical torture, psychological abuse, sadism and psychopathy of her captors but also the solidarity, bravery, and heroism of her peers. Follow her journalism at her socials here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacebunnynews1/
Instagram 2: https://www.instagram.com/@cityheightsdc
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@spacebunnynews1
Support RFE Media for $5/month and get: no ads, 30 extra minutes of Colonial Outcasts every episode, access to our supporters channel and community chat on Substack, and Fuck Around Fridays — our unhinged bonus series where Mark and Greg just fuck around. You'll also get access to our Hope This Finds You Well livestreams (also on RFE Media's YouTube). Subscribe at https://rfemedia.com
We're building RFE Media into more than just this show: social clips, on-the-ground news reporting, and a new audio-only series with Greg going deep on individual topics. Follow our Substack and socials @rfemedia to stay tuned for everything.

200. Spiritually Depraved and Misery-Inducing Landscapes of North America w/ Joey Santore Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

This episode is in a way a spiritual rant which you can watch or listen ad-free at https://www.rfemedia.com/

This episode is in a way a spiritual rant.

Dystopia intensifies but do not despair! As star base after star base are constructed on coastal wetlands just be consoled that one way or the other, this ride ain’t lasting forever.

Joey Santore is a botanist, artist, author and ex-railroader who travels the world documenting plant life. He is the host and producer of the youtube channel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t and was the host of a small-scale tv show called Kill Your Lawn. He advocates for native plants, building a closer human relationship with Earth’s plant life, and a re-thinking of modern American horticulture and landscaping due to its mundane disconnection from both ecological and biological reality. You can follow him here:

https://www.youtube.com/@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt

https://www.instagram.com/crime_pays_but_botany_doesnt/

https://thornscrubsanctuary.org/

199. THE US IS RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS: Iran, Ukraine, Venezuela & the Crisis of American Power Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

A bombshell leak to the Washington post on Sunday, August 31st, demonstrated that US General Officers in the Pentagon are vying for increasingly finite assets and matériel across Combatant Commands, limiting the military viability of interventions in Iran, Ukraine, and Latin America.

This episode examines how and why that is. Here is our general outline:

Part 1: Russia–Ukraine

Why did the CIA Director urgently fly to Russia?
The US trying to freeze the Ukraine conflict
NATO’s fragility
Can the US rebuild its industrial base?

Part 2: Iran, Sanctions & Economic Warfare

The limits of military force
The new sanctions / economic isolation
Iran’s capacity to withstand the war
Iran’s international partners

Part 3: Venezuela & Latin America

Securing Latin America
The Venezuela deal
Long-term objectives
China & multipolarity in the Americas

Final synthesis:

● The three sections ultimately connect:

○ Ukraine: limits of US/NATO military power.

○ Iran: limits of US military and financial coercion.

○ Venezuela: attempt to compensate by consolidating influence closer to home.

● Central question: Is the US adapting to a declining relative position—or attempting

to reverse it through increasingly aggressive economic, military and political

coercion?

198. Western "Leftism" panders to Empire as West Asia unites against it w/Laith Marouf Aug 30, 2026

Show notes

Subscribe to the Black Panther Newspaper thebpp.us/newspaper and YouTube.com/@tvfreepalestine

This podcast is a production of Radio Free Empire Media.

To get access to all RFE media content including ad free and bonus episodes, subscribe at www.rfemedia.com. And please like, rate and review wherever you are listening it helps others find us.

GUEST: https://www.instagram.com/free.palestine.tv

Laith Marouf unveils the reality on the ground in defiance of western media's obfuscation.

In the wake of an open letter from Western "Revolutionaries" parroting CIA and imperial talking points with the cloaked aim of delegitimizing Iran's resistance against an unceasing U.S. and Israeli global aggression, West Asia is proving its resilience through its ability to withstand desperate attempts to divide and conquer populations in Lebanon, Syria and Iran along sectarian, national or religious lines.

Laith speaks on the current status within Lebanon, Syria and the shifting dynamics of power that Iran has managed to assert. These new material changes has exposed western failures in its goals for division and the growing momentum of revolutionary unity manifesting in Lebanon, Syria and West Asia as a whole.

Laith Marouf is a long-time political activist, award-winning journalist, and political commentator working in media since 1999. He is also the founder of Free Palestine TV and regularly appears on television and radio, including Press TV, RT, and Al Mayadeen and has published with independent media such as Electronic Intifada, Mint Press, Black Agenda Report and more.

197. US Imperialism Bad, Iran Regime Also Bad: An Open Letter From The “Left” Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, himself a former political prisoner, models what a letter of solidarity written to Iranian political prisoners might look like: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/47613/An-Alternative-Open-Letter-to-Iran%E2%80%99s-Political-Prisoners
I'd say subscribe to https://www.rfemedia.com/ for the full episode but we forgot to get to Dr. Ghamari-Tabrizi's solidarity letter until the very end. So enjoy the full episode for free!
Our argument is not a new one: that western intellectuals who purport to be anti-imperialist often do the work of imperialism by bothsidesing human rights abuses and war crimes, thereby manufacturing consent or at least fostering an information atmosphere of moral confusion so people find it challenging to pick a side. This directly aids and abets both Imperialism and the War State. Enjoy!

194. Averting Apocalypse: Taking on Climate Collapse in a Hopeful Way w/ Michael Mezzatesta Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

Get the full episode with no ads at: https://www.rfemedia.com/

We really have to talk about climate catastrophe in an non-apocalyptic way in order to get people productively on-side. Besides, there's plenty to be done.

The horrifying research I did for this episode might turn me into an environmental activist from a geopolitical position - things are going to get wild. States will collapse, wars will happen. Gone will be the days of carrier strike groups or even drones as global supply chains break down and all the evangelicals will be euphoric seeing that the end is nigh. There are going to crisis cults popping up everywhere - UFO cults, AI machine god cults - 4 billion people could die in the 25-30 years, and the bottomline is that we here at RFEmedia will still be transmitting this podcast and our Thursday livestream, if we live, from the Great Lakes region of the continental United States.

Today we are joined by friend of the show, Michael Mezzatesta, a storyteller working at the intersection of economics, climate, and culture. His work reaches tens of millions of viewers each month and is recognized for making complex economic and climate issues accessible to a mainstream audience. He has an economics degree from Standoff university and champions a post-capitalist world. He is the host of the Better Future Podcast, the links for which are in the description. Cheers y’all!

https://betterfuturemedia.substack.com/podcast

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