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We speak with Dr. Rupa Marya, a physician, activist, author and composer, who this week filed two free speech complaints against her former employer, the University of California, San Francisco. The school fired her last month after a lengthy suspension over her criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza and its impact on healthcare in the Palestinian territory. “I didn’t expect that my career-ending move would be to say 'stop bombing hospitals,' for expressing support for Palestinian liberation and for criticizing the U.S.-backed genocide,” says Marya. She was named one of the top 20 most influential women in biomedicine by Nature and served on multiple national advisory boards. Since her firing, over 1,000 healthcare workers and students have signed open letters demanding her reinstatement and denouncing UCSF’s suppression of political expression.

We get an update from the Madleen, the Freedom Flotilla ship sailing to Gaza with vital humanitarian aid for Palestinians. Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of 12 people on the ship, says “spirits are high” despite the constant presence of drones overhead and threats from the Israeli government. “Palestine is now the strategic place for all peoples to unite and fight against oppression, exploitation and the destruction of nature,” says Ávila. “People’s power is the ultimate power, and love and solidarity can beat any hateful, racist and supremacist ideology, like Zionism.” Earlier this week, the ship made a detour to respond to a mayday call to help dozens of migrants aboard a deflating vessel. The Madleen is expected to reach Gaza on Monday, though Israeli officials have said they will not allow it to land.

...IN MEMORIAM... ...NEXT WEEK!... * * * As The BRAD BLOG's former longtime toon sherpa PDiddie always reminded us: "With editorial cartooning increasingly an endangered species, please consider supporting them if you possibly can." * * * The BRAD BLOG is looking for someone --- other than me --- who may be [...]

There's probably not enough popcorn in the world for the hilarious madness that's blown up over the several hours or so, since we wrapped today's BradCast. Oh, well. I guess that's what next week is for. In the meantime... [Audio link to full show follows this summary.] Somewhat less amusing, if still very interesting and actually [...]

Through personal experience with navigating the system to care for her mother, Judy Karofsky explores how elder care is broken and how to fix it.

A new project called the Philadelphia Safer Journalism Project aims to change harmful crime coverage.