Max Blumenthal and Sam Husseini Are the Free Press of the New Age

On Anthony Blinken and Matt Miller’s Last Press Conference

Recently I watched the absolutely incredible footage of legends Sam Husseini and Max Blumenthal being manhandled and dragged out of Matt “Dracula” Miller’s final shit press conference. Husseini and Blumenthal were removed from the room for the crime of actually doing journalism. They were silenced because they, unlike other journalists in the room who warmly and collegially wished their war criminal pal Tony goodbye because the laws of decorum demand it, understood that at a certain point, decorum is not actually more important than speaking truth to power when thousands of lives are at stake.

The clips, which show Husseini and Blumenthal accusing Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of peddling lies and propaganda about the genocide in Palestine and being a criminal Zionist paid off by the insidious AIPAC lobby, are sure to go down in history as symbolic of how the state of the press has changed since the internet transformed the information world. These legacy outlets are no longer the free press. They have been corrupted and controlled by power and greed. But the free press lives on, through people like Husseini and Blumenthal, or Asa Winstanley and Sarah Wilkinson in the UK, who are willing to challenge and attack power, even if it means they will personally be smeared by those same structures they attack.

Look for example at this awful, deceitful way CNN framed this brave and historic moment at the press conference. These shit so-called “journalists” at CNN tried to minimize Husseini and Blumenthal as “activists,” even though they are real journalists more talented and honest than any journalist at CNN. In the clip, CNN tries to call Max and Sam “cringeworthy,” because I guess accurately calling out evil people for provable complicity in genocide is “cringe.” But unlike CNN, Husseini and Blumenthal are doing what they are supposed to be doing—representing the free press and challenging power structures. And they were punished for it, by the administration that supposedly represents the “greatest democracy in the world.”

Pictured: Anthony Blinken’s legacy (also the NY Times pretending they weren’t involved in the underreporting)

Husseini and Blumenthal are indeed correct. Blinken, as a review, has failed to adhere to the Leahy Law when it comes to Israel, and continues to deny the genocide in Palestine even as literally everyone else confirms it. He knew Israel was blocking US aid to Gaza, and ignored his own government’s assessment of war crimes, lying about it to Congress. And recently, Blinken was forced to admit that all the lost lives in Palestine were provably for nothing, because Hamas has recruited as many fighters they have lost. This is a fact that surprises exactly no one, given that new recruits are consistently provided with new incentives to join every day, as Israel slaughters their family, friends, and children even after the ceasefire was agreed upon.

Online, they call him Bloody Blinken, the Butcher of Gaza. They call him Secretary of Genocide. He is an evil man who belongs in the Hague, and as journalists with the facts that support this, Husseini and Blumenthal are morally obligated to voice it.

That moment in the press room is reminiscent of this moment from 2021, where Mike Prysner called out the lie that we all know was a lie about the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” bullshit that “justified” the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and reportedly killed Prysner’s friends. If I’m going to be honest, when I watched that clip of Prysner, I became a bit emotional. Because watching it really hit to home that many activists and journalists—real journalists, and not these awful paid-off “journalists” who refuse to call Israel out for any of its shit while fake-crying about the decline of the not-actually-free press—have probably emotionally suffered for decades for speaking the truth. There have been people calling out Israel for years and years and years, and in return, they have been sneered at, smeared, ignored, condescended to, and silenced, long before I was even alive.

Hundreds of journalists in Palestine have been murdered by Israel with aid from the West since October 7. Their crime was gathering the truth, voicing it to the public, and attempting to save human lives. Watching Biden whinge about democracy and the decline of the free press in his farewell address sent me into an absolute rage. Biden, who approved another $8 billion arms sale to Israel that will certainly kill more journalists. Biden, who approved this sale after it was confirmed Israel is committing genocide, after the ICC issued arrest warrants for war criminal Netanyahu, and after Biden was decisively voted out of office by the American people. The President warns the world about oligarchs while pretending he’s not one of them. He receives millions from the AIPAC lobby, just as Trump does. Red oligarchs fighting blue oligarchs, while the world burns.

The truth is valuable. There is something inherently within humans that craves the truth. It is like we are spiritually owed it, as people with power and wealth are not owed it any more than the average person. So when governments lie to their people about war crimes that we fund with our own money, it is hardly different from treason. We have been deprived of the truth for decades; for I don’t even know how long.

But the good news is that the spirit of the truth is still alive. It doesn’t matter how much people lie, and how much legacy media has collapsed. Because it turns out that the free press still exists. It just isn’t located where it used to be.

Thank you for reading! I am so appreciative of all my readers and subscribers. If you like my writing and want to support me, please consider subscribing to my free newsletter or sharing my work with others. Free Palestine and stay safe in 2025.

Writers and articles I’ve been reading:

• "Why Are You Not in the Hague?" by Sam Husseini

• Leaked emails expose ‘collaborative efforts’ between Israeli govt and Center for Countering Digital Hate by Max Blumenthal

• Bloody Blinken, Secretary of Genocide by Ismaele

• Blinken Admits Hamas Recruited As Many Fighters As It Lost During US-Backed Israeli Bombardment by Rachel Blevins

• Gaza v. Blinken: Palestinians Sue Secretary of State Over 'Failure' to Follow US Law on Sending Military Aid to Israel by Prem Thakker

• Secretary Antony Blinken’s Exit Tour: A Masterclass in Gaslighting and Genocidal Complicity by Suchitra Vijayan

• Biden Administration Quietly Carves TikTok Ban Loophole for Itself, Leaked Document Shows by Ken Klippenstein

• The CIA’s Racak Massacre Hoax by Kit Klarenberg