RE: Balance

27 MARCH 2025: What on earth just happened?? Some of the most senior people in the Trump Administration used Signal to communicate sensitive information about a strike against the Houthis in Yemen, AND invited a reporter from The Atlantic into the group chat? In this edition of RE:Balance, Kamahl breaks down the seriousness and the absolute lunacy of the situation, but also raises issues from the chat which are flying under the radar.AUDIO CLIPS COURTESY: Crooked Media, Fox News, C-SPAN, The White House (all via YouTube)

14 MARCH 2023: Donald Trump’s plan is to run the U.S. economy (into the ground) with tariffs.  Which is stupid.  Or is it? (no, it IS stupid).  But his long-term plan doesn’t not make sense either… if that makes sense?Just listen to the podcast and you’ll see where we’re going with this.  Because long-term economic plans are extremely important, but tough to make happen.Audio clips courtesy: ABC News, MSNBC, NBC News, India Today, Fox Houston (all via YouTube)

7 MARCH 2025: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is a hero; everyone says so.  But is that why he’s a hero - because it’s the prevailing narrative?  This week we look at the overlooked geopolitics from before the Russian invasion, where Zelensky was perhaps more puppet than paragon.Audio clips courtesy: MSNBC, AP, The Sun, The London Standard, Sky News Australia (all via YouTube).  AI voiceover provided by TTSmaker.com

21 FEBRUARY 2025: When Donald Trump was inaugurated, we talked about learning from his first term and finding ways to limit our Trump intake.  Turns out that’s a LOT harder than expected.  In amongst all the talk of authoritarianism and the end of democracy, we attempt to sort the wheat from the chaff; the stuff you can ignore, from the things that could change so much in our world.Audio clips courtesy: NBC News, BBC News, CNN, France 24, The White House, MSNBC, Democracy Docket (all via YouTube)

THIS WEEK: It turns out video pieces can make good audio too, so here are two recent Viditorials from The Balance, exploring current events with a balanced lens.First, it's the Gulf of Mexico/America, and how the White House has turned what is basically a vanity project into a vendetta against the Associated Press. It's extremely worrying that media organisations which don't conform with the 'Dear Leader' are now being banned from certain events.And then, we're revisiting the 'prisoner vs hostage' debate in Israel and Gaza - something which the BBC felt it had to apologise for on-air.

THIS WEEK: With the ceasefire in Gaza holding, Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners have been released as part of the deal.  But what makes the Israelis ‘hostages’, and the Palestinians ‘prisoners’?  Plus Donald Trump’s confusion over the two words, in a completely different context.Audio clips courtesy: CBC News, DW, CBS News, The Independent, CNN, Newsmax (via Youtube and Substack)

THIS WEEK: the truth behind the TikTok “ban” and the company (i.e. TikTok!) that was in on the whole thing - this was more an orchestrated stunt than any real ban.  Plus the second Trump Administration and what you can do to limit your intake - because do you really believe the media won’t still be covering his every word, no matter how outlandish they might be?  Audio clips courtesy: TikTok, ABC News, Crooked Media, MSNBC, Bloomberg, Saturday Night Live, Brut America, and Sky News (via YouTube).

RE:Balance is back and rebooted!News stories can get big very quickly and take on a life of their own, fuelled by social media and hot takes. So each week, RE:Balance will take those stories and give them context and new perspective - because you don’t have to agree with all sides of a story, but you should understand them.THIS WEEK: Meta’s decision to end fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads has caused all sorts of concern about misinformation and fake news.  And Mark Zuckerberg’s apparent cosying-up to Donald Trump hasn’t helped.  But he’s doing it for good reason - and they’re in his interests, not necessarily yours.Audio clips courtesy NBC News, MSNBC, CNN, and The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast