A seriously mixed 'Signal'

24 MAY 2025: Which is more important - the decline of a former president, or the one in office right now?  America’s been presented with that dilemma this past week, as yet more revelations were made about the mental and physical state of former president Joe Biden.  And it happened in the same week he was diagnosed with stage four cancer.But what about the mental state of the current president Donald Trump - is that not arguably just a little more significant?  And what if it was  Biden saying the things Trump does?  A bit of artificial intelligence gives us a look at what 'AI Joe' would sound like.Audio clips courtesy: CNN, Yahoo News, CBS News, MSNBC, Access Hollywood, The David Pakman Show (all via YouTube)AI clips created using Parrot AppFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

16 MAY 2025: Air Force One is the official plane of the United States president - a literal White-House-in-the-sky.  So what happens when a country wants to give the current president a jumbo jet to use as HIS Air Force One?  This week we look at Qatar’s $400m gesture to the United States - why it can’t work, why it perhaps should work, what may well stop it from working, and what Qatar gets out of it.Be sure to check out our YouTube channel as well for the Viditorial on this story.Audio clips courtesy: AP, CNN, Crooked Media, Fox News, NBC News, Sky News Australia(Also in the podcast, Kamahl briefly talks about the extraordinary usage of the C-word in the New Zealand media this past week. You can (and should!) read his two Substack posts on it here and here.)For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 MAY 2025: Fairness, balance, and accuracy are the cornerstones of journalism - which is why it’s so extraordinary when a news outlet breaches them, and in such spectacular fashion.This week we look at a decision from the Broadcasting Standards Authority, which shows how ThreeNews blew through those tenets of reporting in a story about an anti-smoking group and its supposed links to the vaping industry.It’s an almost-perfect example of what happens when the narrative overrides the facts, the public gets misled, and the journalists are called out for their tactics.All audio voice-overs generated using AI: TTSMaker: Free Text to SpeechThreeNews theme music courtesy: NaruTVMock (via YouTube)Original Substack article: 'Keeping them honest: a Substack by Kamahl SantamariaFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 APRIL 2025: How much of 2025 can you actually remember? Sorry, let's rephrase - how much of 2025 can you actually remember which DOESN'T involve America and/or Donald Trump? We're only three months in but there's been plenty happening all over the world. So in this podcast, we're doing a quarter-year review - and it's a Trump-free zone.AUDIO CLIPS COURTESY: CityNews, CBS News, BBC News, SBS News Australia, Sky NewsFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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)For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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)For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.comFor more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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)For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THIS WEEK: An occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United States?  Well it’s what the President wants - only he calls it ‘ownership’.  Donald Trump’s plan for the U.S. to level and then rebuild Gaza, while forcing Palestinians out into Egypt and Jordan, is as outlandish as it sounds.  So we’re taking some time to go through Trump’s announcement in detail… not necessarily to see how it could work, but to remind you of all the things he seemingly hasn’t considered.Audio clips courtesy: The White House, Channel 9 Australia, MSNBC, CNN, AJ+ (all via Youtube)For more, visit thebalance.website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.