On this very special episode, we share some of the most important individual paragraphs of writing in our lives - paragraphs that have planted acorns in our brains that have grown over time into mighty oaks. We revisit Thomas Mann, Christopher Hitchens, Jean-Luc Godard, and other luminaries. PLUS: Checking in on Bari Weiss at CBS.

Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Our classic Leonard Cohen episode - https://www.patreon.com/posts/186-new-skin-for-44083560

Past Essential Paragraphs discussions:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-essential-28574337

https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-essential-36315183

The tweet that Luke cites in the opening discussion - https://x.com/mattpolprof/status/1976069728541245770

#662 - Essential Paragraphs

Katie catches up with Palestinian-American physician Dr. Dhiaa Daoud, who joined the show last week from the freedom flotilla, to talk about being kidnapped and tortured by the IDF. They're also joined by Tommy Marcus, a Jewish-American activist and the creator of the viral Instagram account Quentin Quarantino who was also kidnapped and tortured from another flotilla. But first Katie talks to Palestinian-American grandmother and activist Janine Ali and her lawyer, Palestinian-American free speech attorney Jenin Younes. Janine is being falsely accused of choking a member of the zionist extremist organization Betar, which is famous for harassing, doxxing and presenting people with pagers, in a reference to Israel's terrorist pager attack in Lebanon. 

For the full discussion, please join us on Patreon at - https://www.patreon.com/posts/patreon-full-dr-141249387


At 73, Janine Ali is a dedicated activist and proud Palestinian American. A retired professional, she is the mother of four and the grandmother of eleven, cherishing her family while passionately advocating for peace. Since the 1980s, Janine has been a vocal advocate for peace, speaking out against the bombings in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the war in Iraq and Bosnia. She has volunteered in many Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon, providing support and compassion to those in need. Janine was also part of the 24/7 peace vigil in front of the home of then Secretary of State Antony Blinken from January 26- July 26 2024. Since October 7, she has spent her time demonstrating against the genocide in Gaza, working tirelessly to bring awareness to the American public about the atrocities being committed by Israel and striving to educate others and foster understanding. Janine channels her energy and experience into making a positive impact in her community through peaceful means.

Jenin Younes is a civil liberties and free speech attorney and is National Legal Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.  She is on the defense team representing Janine Ali.

Tommy Marcus is the creator of the viral Instagram account Quentin Quarantino. He set out to create a meme page during the pandemic, but has since used his Instagram fame to raise more than $30 million for humanitarian causes. He was aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying aid to Palestinians when they were arrested by Israeli naval forces. Tommy and his fellow Jewish-American friend David Adler were singled out and forced to be filmed with Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir when the convoy was intercepted. Tommy spent 5 days in an Israeli prison and returned home to Los Angeles on Friday. 

Dr. Dhiaa Daoud is a Palestinian-American emergency physician and humanitarian. His work in Gaza during the 2024 war inspired him to found the Doctors for Hope Foundation, which provides medical care and rebuilds essential infrastructure. He recently returned from a humanitarian flotilla to Gaza.


**Please support The Katie Halper Show **
For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon -   / thekatiehalpershow  

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Israel's DESPERATE Final Attack With Jenin Younes, Quentin Quarantino, Janine Ali & Dr. Dhiaa Daoud

As the 63rd New York Film Festival drew to a close last weekend, it was once again time for Film Comment’s Festival Report, our annual live overview of the NYFF that was. FC Editor Clinton Krute was joined by critics Molly Haskell, J. Hoberman, and Beatrice Loayza for a spirited wrap-up analysis of the highlights and lowlights from the NYFF63 lineup. In front of a lively audience, the panel discussed and debated Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25, Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Lav Diaz’s Magellan, Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Alexandre Koberidze’s Dry Leaf, and many other selections.

NYFF63 Festival Report, with Molly Haskell, J. Hoberman, and Beatrice Loayza

We discuss the filmography of Writer/Director/Producer/Editor Jerry Warren, the man behind such films as MAN BEAST, TEENAGE ZOMBIES and THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN. 

Join the Patreon now for an exclusive episode every week, access to our entire Patreon Episode back catalogue, your name read out on the next episode, and the friendly Discord chat: patreon.com/theimportantcinemaclub

Send us stuff like zines, movie-related books, physical media or memorabilia c/o Justin Decloux, Unit 1010, 3230 Yonge St, Toronto, ON, M4N 3P6, Canada.

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Check out Justin's other podcasts, THE BAY STREET VIDEO PODCAST (@thebaystreetvideopodcast), THE VERY FINE COMIC BOOK PODCAST (www.theveryfinecomicbookpodcast.com) and NO SUCH THING AS A BAD MOVIE (@nosuchthingasabadmovie), as Will's MICHAEL AND US (@michael-and-us).

#444- Jerry Warren: The Most Boring Horror Director To Ever Do It

The boys enjoy a nice, casual conversation like friends sometimes have - and invite you along to join! Topics discussed include Trump on the cover of Time Magazine, Bari Weiss at CBS, Justin Trudeau's love life, and films we've been watching.

Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

#663 - A Nice, Chill Episode

Secret Base’s sports-data auteur Jon Bois is back to preview a new series: a history and analysis of mound charges in baseball, coming this November. We talk a little bit about recent sports news including Dana White’s new boxing league, Shohei Ohtani’s generational run, and the Seattle Mariners (RIP). We then do a deep dive on former Reform Party member Curtis Sliwa, his statements about parades, Hasids, and cats, and his eating competition scandals. Finally, a quick check-in on Jordan Peterson’s recent health woes.

Subscribe to Secret Base: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRmGMSgrtZkOsh_NQl4_xw 

YEAR ZERO: A Chapo Trap House Comic Anthology is back on sale! Buy it at badegg.co/products/year-zero-1. Hurry while supplies last!

NEW MERCH IS OUT NOW! Go to https://chapotraphouse.store/ and buy a new hat or shirt, especially our great new “Carousel Club” design.

AND be sure to pre-save the date of October 28 for Will and Hesse’s LIVE WATCH PARTY of Re-Animator with Bryan Yuzna! Tickets available now – use the promo code CHAPO20 for 20% off! https://checkout.stagepilot.com/collections/chapo-trap-house 

979 - Cat People (Running For Mayor) feat. Jon Bois (10/20/25)

In this News Brief, we are joined by Matthew Cunningham-Cook to discuss his recent media analysis of "embedded reports" of ICE raids that prime the public for brutal crackdowns on undocumented immigrants. 

News Brief: Media Helps Sell ICE Raids with Zero Dark Thirty Ride-Along Schlock

Katie speaks to Human Rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber about the Gaza Tribunal being held in Istanbul October 23-26, which Craig helped organize and Katie will be covering. Katie will also be delivering testimony on the media’s complicity in the genocide. Then Katie speaks to three people arrested for protesting the UK’s Draconian Terror Laws, which make it illegal to support proscribed organizations like Palestine Action, a direct action group from the UK and has targeted and sabotaged the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems factories. All three are Jewish and the descendents of Holocaust survivors: Colonel Chris Romberg is a former Army officer and  defence attache with the UK embassies in Jordan and Egypt. His family fled Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938. Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi is a Jewish activist and former Labor Party electee, as well as the cofounder of Jewish Voice for Labour. Carolyn Gelenter is a longtime activist since the Vietnam war and is also the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

For the full discussion, please join us on Patreon at - https://www.patreon.com/posts/israels-veterans-141778520

Craig Mokhiber is an American former United Nations (UN) human rights official and a specialist in international human rights law, policy, and methodology. On October 28, 2023, Mokhiber stepped down as the director of the New York office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). In his final letter to High Commissioner, he harshly criticized the organization's response to the war in Gaza, calling Israel's military intervention a "textbook genocide" and accusing the UN of failing to act.


**Please support The Katie Halper Show **
For bonus content, exclusive interviews, to support independent media & to help make this program possible, please join us on Patreon -   / thekatiehalpershow  

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Israel’s Ceasefire DESTROYED, Veterans ARRESTED Supporting Gaza w/ Craig Mokhiber & Col. Romberg

Who needs that new Frankenstein movie when we have this classic? It's Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (1994)!

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Episode #191 - Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another has been the talk of the town since its wide release last month—from critics to filmmakers to audiences, the reception has been nothing short of euphoric. Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, the film opens in an unspecified present, detailing the activities of a militant group led by a Black revolutionary (played by Teyana Taylor). Years after her disappearance, her partner (Leonardo DiCaprio) and their daughter (newcomer Chase Infiniti) are hunted down by an old enemy, Sean Penn’s Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw. The chase takes them across California, with an assortment of other characters becoming embroiled along the way. 

The movie is an unabashedly fun, feel-good action flick—one that also calls back to films as disparate as The Searchers, Commando, and Running on Empty. But is it among the greatest of the decade, as some have claimed? Film Comment Editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish invited critics and programmers Miriam Bale and Adam Piron on the Podcast to discuss the film’s successes and failures, how it fits into PTA’s larger body of work, and its engagement with American history and the present. If there’s one thing the four agreed on, it’s that One Battle After Another is indeed a “very rich text.”

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, with Miriam Bale and Adam Piron

A podcast about culture, politics, and our crumbling world. Hosted by Luke Savage and Will Sloan.

Exclusive subscriber-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus/overview

#662 - Essential Paragraphs

Michael and Us

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