Unauthorized Disclosure

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Katie Halper of "The Katie Halper Show." She is a writer and contributor to FAIR. Her work has appeared at various outlets like The Nation, New York Magazine, etc.

During the show, Katie, Rania, and Kevin cover many of the highlights from the first 2020 Democratic presidential debate—and then some moments that have gone under-reported and have not been discussed. They critique the . format.

Katie gets into the media bias on display against Bernie Sanders. They talk about John Hickenlooper and John Delaney and how evident it is that Sanders has pulled debates over within the Democratic Party to the left.

Later in the show, they celebrate Kamala Harris using her rhetorical talents to go after Biden over segregation and racism. Other Biden moments are discussed, like how he praised himself for passing a bill with Mitch McConnell that made the Bush tax cuts permanent as well as how he falsely claimed he ended the Iraq War.

Rania shares her view on why U.S. foreign policy was so overlooked in the debate, and they talk about the right-wing politics of Miami residents—particularly those from Latin American countries.  

*Note: This show is typically posted on Sunday. It is published early while what happened in the first debate is still somewhat of a fresh topic of interest. Enjoy!

Direct download: S6E23.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:22pm EDT

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Gareth Porter, an award-winning journalist whose work has been published at Salon, The Nation, and Consortium News.

He is the author of "Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story Of the Iran Nuclear Scare," which was published in 2014.

Gareth talks with the hosts about what we know about the incident that allegedly occurred against a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which President Donald Trump's administration says was attacked by Iran. He outlines what the Trump administration has not proven and some of the many questions that should be answered.

He reacts to news of Iran shooting down a U.S. military drone and addresses how Trump seems to be the only prominent official in the White House reluctant to go to war against Iran.

And later in the show, Gareth discusses what a war with Iran would look like and why the U.S. military remains extremely reluctant to commit troops and resources to an open-ended conflict.

Direct download: S6E22.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:28am EDT

For this week's episode, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola interview a researcher for Food and Water Watch named Oakley Shelton-Thomas. He worked on the organization's recent report, "Fracking Endgame: Locked Into Plastics, Pollution, and Climate Chaos."

The report describes how fossil fuel companies are building a "wave of new gas-fired power plants" and relying on the proliferation of plastics plants to prop up business. Industry is propping up the fracking industry.

"Our latest research shows that their endgame is a world locked into plastics, pollu-ion and climate chaos. In addition to the buildout of a growing pipeline network, we’ve discovered that more than 700 new facilities have been built or proposed to capitalize off a glut of cheap fracked gas," according to the report.

In the organization's assessment, "These new projects [will] bring dangerous air pollutants associated with heightened cancer risks and respiratory illnesses, and color where they are most commonly located."

"If even a fraction of them come to fruition, they will condemn the planet to a future of climate chaos," the report declares.

Later in the show, the hosts stick with the issue of climate change and discuss a report from Brown University's "Cost Of War" project that details how the Pentagon is the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases.

They conclude the show by highlighting Bernie Sanders' "Democratic Socialism" speech and some of the reactions to the speech among Democratic presidential candidates and establishment media.

Direct download: S6E21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:04am EDT

Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss YouTube's purge of users, which was sparked by several complaints from Vox's Carlos Maza about right-wing vlogger Steven Crowder. They specifically highlight several examples of educational videos on Nazis and right-wing ideology that were taken down as part of the purge and once again share their concerns about encouraging Big Tech companies to make censorship decisions.

They respond to a patron's question about insane conspiracy theories and how seemingly respectable, level-headed, or smart people may come to believe such theories.

And since Rania finally watched all of the last season of "Veep," the show ends with a conversation about this unapologetic political satire, which they both enjoyed greatly and will miss.

Direct download: S6E20.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:55am EDT

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