The Orchardcast

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TikTok, the immensely popular short-form video app, is on the verge of getting banned in the U.S., calling its future viability into question.

In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law, passed with bipartisan support in Congress, forcing the the Chinese company that owns the app, ByteDance, to sell it by Jan. 19.

ByteDance is challenging…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.readtheorchard.org

Dr. Tarek Loubani first came on my radar in 2013, when he and filmmaker John Greyson were arrested by the Egyptian military junta en route to Gaza.

In 2018, he was shot in both legs by Israeli snipers when he was in Rafah providing medical care during the Great March of Return.

Since Israel’s latest onslaught began last year, he’s been barred from enter…

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For the past six years, Arshy Mann has been the voice of COMMONS.

When I heard that Mann and his producer Jordan Cornish recently decided to leave Canadaland and start their own project, the Hatchet, I knew I wanted to interview Arshy about the state of independent Canadian media.

We spoke about his latest project, the risks of going independent, why the…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.readtheorchard.org

The consensus on COP29 is that it was a flop.

Delegates to the annual climate summit, held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, reached an agreement to provide $300 billion (USD) in financing to transition developing countries off of fossil fuels by 2025, a target which climate campaigners say barely scratches the surface of what’s needed.

There’s also been s…

Donald Trump will be returning to the White House in January after defeating Kamala Harris in a landslide, in which he won every single major swing state—Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

Trump also obtained control over both Houses of Congress, meaning for the next two years at least, he’ll have nearly unlimited legislative power.

How did he do it? What lessons should the Democrats take away from this resounding defeat? And what lessons will they take from it?

Joshua Frank, managing editor of Counterpunch, co-host of Counterpunch Radio and author of Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America, joins me to answer these questions and more.

Related Links

* Republicans Win Control of House, Cementing a G.O.P. Trifecta Under Trump, New York Times

* Tracking who Trump has named to serve in his Cabinet, administration, ABC

* Anatomy of three Trump elections: How Americans shifted in 2024 vs. 2020 and 2016, CNN

* Project 2025: The right-wing wish list for another Trump presidency, BBC

* Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America (Haymarket Books, 2022)

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.readtheorchard.org

When Chrystia Freeland’s grandfather, whom she’s repeatedly cited as a political influence, was outed as a Nazi collaborator to Canadian media in 2017, much ink was spilled defending his wartime activities as an act of sheer survival.

A new book reveals that narrative to be totally bunk.

Mikhaylo Chomiak, Freeland’s maternal grandfather, edited Krakivsk…

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On Oct. 15, the U.S. and Canadian governments announced that they were declaring Samidoun, a registered Canadian charity also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, as a terrorist entity.

The designation was based on a vague assertion that Samidoun is funnelling money intended for Palestinian prisoners towards the Popular Front for the Li…

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It’s no secret that American (and Canadian) football puts players at great physical risk by the very nature of the game. There’s a reason teams play games weekly and a player suiting up for every game of the season is a rarity.

While players put their bodies on the line for our entertainment, advertisers, owners and coaches make a killing, creating a fi…

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Canada’s troubled Victims of Communism Memorial is back in the news.

It turns out that more than 330 of the 553 names slated to be inscribed on the Ottawa monument, which was first proposed by then-secretary of state for multiculturalism Jason Kenney in 2008, belong to outright Nazis and Nazi collaborators.

That’s three out of every five names, accordin…

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The campaign for British Columbia’s upcoming provincial election has already featured arguably the most stunning development in Canadian provincial politics since Danielle Smith temporarily sabotaged her political career by crossing the floor to the PC government benches in 2014.

In late August, less than two months before British Columbians head to the…