In this week's episode, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss latest developments in Idlib in Syria, where al Qaida "rebels" face attacks from Syrian government forces supported by Russia. President Donald Trump's administration, especially through US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, has pounded the table constantly in the past week and threatened war if those forces are attacked.

Later in the show, the hosts talk about national security adviser John Bolton and his attack on the International Criminal Court. Particularly, the hosts focus on how the U.S. government has never really supported the court and Bolton is, for the most part, hostilely expressing a policy that has been long-held by the government.

In Part 2 of our interview with investigative journalist Yasha Levine, we discuss the power Silicon Valley corporations like Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc, are claiming to engage in censorship and how troubling it is to see liberals cheer corporations.

Later in the show, Levine recalls attacks he experienced for investigating the Tor Project, a popular tool for protecting one's privacy on the internet. He addresses the issue of journalists and how they should respond to constant surveillance enabled by tech corporations.

Levine argues there needs to be a political solution that shifts the culture around privacy, but that cannot and will not come from Silicon Valley.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola interview investigative journalist Yasha Levine about his book, "Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History Of The Internet," which was released this year.

There are two parts to the interview. In Part 1, Levine describes how the origin of the internet is rooted in the United States military. It was developed for counterinsurgency and anti-communism efforts. This is a narrative that is typically missing when the history of the internet is told.

Later in the segment, Levine gives a brief history of Google and talks about the CIA's support for Google Earth. He also discusses the amazing power that Google's search streams give the corporation.

[NOTE: Part 2 will be posted for patrons later tonight. It will be made available for all listeners of the show on Wednesday.]

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola spend most of the episode assessing the media coverage of John McCain's death from brain cancer. They focus on the myth of McCain that was promoted and pretty much adopted across the spectrum from Republicans to progressive Democrats.

They read a few examples of the worst hagiography. Like did you know he wasn't only a "war hero" but also a "climate hero"? And he was even an "anti-racist hero" too?

Toward the end of the episode, Gosztola talks about the national prison strike, and in particular, media coverage by the Marshall Project that promoted the organization's bias against prisoner-led resistance.

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Thank you to our patrons. At the end of August, we had 182 patrons. We're 18 patrons shy of our goal of 200 patrons. We believe we can get there by October. And we'll plan a special edition for patrons if we reach this goal.

On the "Unauthorized Disclosure" weekly podcast, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Sarah Smith, a Democratic Party candidate running for Congress in Washington's 9th District. She recently beat the Republican to qualify for the general election against the incumbent, Democratic Representative Adam Smith.

Sarah Smith is both a member of the local Democratic Party and Democratic Socialists of America. She's run a scrappy grassroots campaign that consists of all volunteers. She also has garnered a reputation as a rare antiwar candidate in the 2018 midterm elections because she views foreign policy as a top issue.

For Part 2 of our interview with Sarah Smith, she discusses her views about the Democratic Party, what she thinks about Democrats who claim corporate money does not influence them, and how she views the Democratic National Committee's recent decision to encourage donations from the employer political action committees of fossil fuel companies.

Later, she shares what she thinks about Democrats, who believe in climate change but will not act meaningfully to combat disruption to the climate. She also talks about why disability rights is a top issue for her campaign.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Sarah Smith, a Democratic Party candidate running for Congress in Washington's 9th District.

She recently beat the Republican to qualify for the general election against the incumbent, Democratic Representative Adam Smith.

Sarah Smith is both a member of the local Democratic Party and Democratic Socialists of America. She's run a scrappy grassroots campaign that consists of all volunteers. She also has garnered a reputation as a rare antiwar candidate in the 2018 midterm elections because she views foreign policy as a top issue.

In Part 1 of our interview with Sarah Smith, we talk about why she decided to run, why foreign policy is so important to her campaign, and what she thinks about the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel for its occupation of Palestine.

Later, the show's hosts get her thoughts about the war economy, Puerto Rico, and the head tax proposal in Seattle to raise funds for affordable housing, which Amazon defeated.

*Part 2 will be posted on August 22.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the latest bloodshed caused by Israeli military forces and the Saudi Arabia-led coalition backed by the United States, which continues to wage war on Yemen. They wonder if there's some kind of competition.

The episode highlights the assassination attempt against Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, as well as the media coverage of the attempt.

Later in the show, the hosts talk about Alex Jones and the several platforms that banned him and the recent round of primaries, which much of the media treated as a signal that socialism was rejected by voters.

In the final minutes, Rania and Kevin review the August 5 episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's "Who Is America?".

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome journalist Max Blumenthal, the editor of the Grayzone Project and co-host of the podcast, Moderate Rebels. He recently returned from a reporting trip in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua has experienced violence over the past months, as opponents of President Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas launched an insurrection back in April.

The U.S. government, as Blumenthal reported, laid the groundwork for what has unfolded. He also interviewed Ortega.

Blumenthal describes how he was shocked by the "extent of sadistic violence that was meted out against average supporters of the Sandinistas during the period in which the national police were ordered to stay in their barracks."

He recalls meeting one person after another who was tortured, beaten, or kidnapped and how their stories were overwhelming.

Blumenthal also outlines what he found out about the students who Western media have treated as leaders of democratic uprising, when that is not really the case.

Later in the interview, Blumenthal breaks down how opposition groups set up roadblocks to establish zones of control and strangle the country economically.

Blumenthal goes on to discuss how right-wing Republicans, like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, have helped meddle in Nicaragua, and the impact that U.S. sanctions have had.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola interview journalist Tim Shorrock, who recently returned from a trip to South Korea. He was in Singapore to cover the summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un

He has covered Korea since the 1970s. He is a contributor for the Nation and a correspondent for the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism. He has a new piece recently published at the Nation: "An Audacious Proposal for a U.S.-North Korean Alliance."

In the interview, Shorrock describes his background covering North and South Korea, as well as the U.S. military presence in South Korea and the surrounding region. He contextualizes the diplomatic negotiations between Trump and Kim.  

Shorrock provides a history of the armistice that was signed in 1953, which could potentially be used to establish peace. He addresses why South Koreans would not want U.S. troops—30,000 of them—to remain in their country and how South Korea is really responsible for most of the progress toward peace so far.

Later in the show, Shorrock offers a brief history going all the way back to the Korean War,  which highlights the impact of the U.S. war and the ramifications it has had for Koreans seeking peace and democracy in the past decades.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Aaron Maté, a host and producer for The Real News. He has regularly covered Russiagate and all the media coverage around President Donald Trump and Russia for well over a year. And he was a guest on the show five months ago.

During the show, Maté addresses the reaction to the summit with Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. He describes what from the summit does matter and then breaks down what led up to the summit and why there is such a frenzy over it now.

Later, Khalek and Gosztola read multiple tweets and share quotes from liberal Democrats, who have totally lost it. They also wonder what it will take to defeat Trump if this is where Democrats continue to focus.