Unauthorized Disclosure

For this week's show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome Jamie Kilstein, a stand-up comedian and host of "The Jamie Kilstein Podcast," to the show.

Jamie is a prominent performer and longtime friend of the show's hosts. He recently returned to comedy and podcasting after going through a transformation personally. We talk to him about what led to this dramatic change.

We have a wide-ranging discussion about identity politics and cancel culture, as it manifests itself within left-wing discussions of issues and current events.

Later in the show, Jamie talks about the difference between selling out and wanting to communicate with people who you think can be reached without sacrificing principles, even in the era of Donald Trump.

Direct download: S6E30.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:02pm EDT

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola spend the hour with journalist Todd Miller, whose book, Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World, was released this month.

Miller's book is an exceptional and revealing work of journalism. He traveled to various border zones, particularly where security regimes are influenced by the United States, and he describes what he found over the past several years.

The United States government has developed a multi-layered border strategy that involves recruiting countries to help prevent refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, etc, from ever reaching the U.S. border. Miller outlines how border zones are increasingly internationalized.

There are more than "77 border walls, billions upon billions of dollars' worth of surveillance technology—including biometrics—and tens of thousands of armed agents guarding the dividing lines between the Global North and Global South." It is estimated that there are over 2,250 detention centers throughout the world that are crammed with people.

Miller recounts his trip to the Zacapa military base in Guatemala. He talks about freedom of movement—who is really free to travel—and the U.S. special operations unit, the Border Patrol Tactical Unit or BORTAC.

Later in the interview, Miller addresses how the security states that are developed around these border zones are designed to control poor populations. In fact, the very people who are likely to be oppressed by these systems are also the cheap labor making the tools for these state-of-the-art border zones.

The final part of the interview highlights Israel's role in pushing security technology that can be used against populations and the funding the U.S. has provided to Jordan to control the flow of Syrians fleeing their country.

Note: For those of you who are patrons, there is bonus material with Todd Miller for further listening. Thanks again for all your support.

Direct download: S6E29.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:06am EDT

For this week's show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the massacres in El Paso and Dayton, and Rania describes how the raids by ICE in Mississippi made her very angry. She also shares the rage she felt when she learned about this terrible story of a man's deportation to Iraq, which resulted in his death.

Rania highlights the seizure of a food shipment in the Panama Canal due to the United States' blockade of Venezuela.

Kevin provides an update on Chelsea Manning. A federal judge refused to reconsider harsh fines against her, and she remains in jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.

Direct download: S6E28.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:56am EDT

For this week, we have a crossover episode with "The Katie Halper Show."

In our main episode, Katie joins Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola to discuss how the centrist Democrats were encouraged to gang up on Bernie Sanders by CNN. We highlight how Sanders and Elizabeth Warren stood their ground.

Katie shares some glaring examples of media bias against Sanders. Kevin highlights parts of his recent article at Medium, "A Guide To Bad Faith Arguments Against Bernie Sanders."

We discuss how questions were addressed to candidates and share some general critiques about how the debate unfolded over the two nights. We also mention how distressed we are that Vice President Joe Biden might be the nominee, given how unsteady and heedless his answers to questions have been in the first two debates.

In a second bonus section for patrons, we get into how Tulsi Gabbard confronted Kamala Harris and discuss Harris' criminal justice record. We also talk about Biden a bit more, as well as some of the candidates polling less than one percent, who were present on the stage. 

Direct download: S6E27.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:17am EDT

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