Sun, 21 June 2015
Dr. Jemima Pierre, a professor at UCLA of African Diaspora Studies & an editor for Black Agenda Report, joins the show to talk about the Dominican Republic's plans to expel Haitian migrants and Dominican citizens of Haitian descent from the country. She addresses the deep-seated racism driving the government's push to get rid of black Haitians. She describes the history of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as the United States' role since it once occupied the island where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located. |
Sun, 14 June 2015
Peter Maybarduk, Global Access to Medicines Program Director for Public Citizen, joins the show this week to talk about the latest news with the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He highlights the latest leaked documents from WikiLeaks, breaks down the potential implications of the TPP on health care, addresses the secrecy and describes some other details from the agreement that the world knows thanks to WikiLeaks. During the discussion portion, Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek talk about how a former Guantanamo prisoner scheduled to speak at an anti-radicalization conference in Canada found out he is on the US No Fly List. We also get into the latest with Albert Woodfox, the police who killed Tamir Rice, a lawyer in New York who leaked a secret ruling against the Obama administration's family detention policy, and Rachel Dolezal. |
Sun, 7 June 2015
Journalist Marcy Wheeler joins the show to discuss the surveillance state now that the USA Freedom Act is law. She breaks down what the law does and what it does not do. She highlights how the NSA is targeting "malicious cyber activity" with the warrantless wiretapping program. She also highlights the FBI as one of the government agencies most in need of attention from activists because of its role in mass surveillance. |
Sun, 31 May 2015
Kat Craig, legal director for Reprieve, which is an international human rights non-governmental organization, joins the show to talk about Sharif Mobley's case. Mobley is a US citizen who was kidnapped in Yemen and has been detained by authorities for five years. The FBI is known to have interrogated him. His life has been in great danger since the war escalated in Yemen, and this past week the military compound where he has been held was bombed. His family and Reprieve are afraid that he was killed. During the discussion portion, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about the Obama administration being ordered to redact and prepare videos of Guantanamo Bay force-feeding for release. Khalek highlights the $1.9 million in arms being given to Israel by the Obama administration. Khalek and Gosztola also talk about the made-up terrorist group in Syria, "Khorasan Group," which the US government conjured to build support for war. Finally, Gosztola gets into the importance of the expiration of Patriot Act provisions.
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Sun, 17 May 2015
Jesselyn Radack, a Justice Department whistleblower and director of the National Security and Human Rights Division of the Government Accountability Project, joins the show to talk about the case of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Monday for leaking to a New York Times reporter. She discusses how he was punished for being a whistleblower, compares his case to other recent prosecutions of leaks and describes the personal toll that such a prosecution can take on people. We highlight the first interview Sterling did for an advocacy organization called Expose Facts as well.
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Sun, 10 May 2015
Janice Williamson, editor of the book, Omar Khadr: Oh Canada, and a professor at the University of Alberta, discusses the release of Khadr from Canadian jail. She reflects on his past history, from his experiences as one of the youngest children imprisoned at Guantanamo to his newfound freedom as the man he is now. She highlights the "sea of demonization" fueled by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has pushed counterterrorism measures in government that are inspired by anti-Muslim racism. During the discussion portion, the show's hosts, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola, talk about a reparations ordinance that passed in Chicago for police torture survivors, Israel's Knesset becoming even more virulently right-wing and two federal appeals court decisions of significance. One involves three activists having their Sabotage Act convictions reversed, and the other involves the NSA phone records collection surveillance program being ruled unlawful.
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Sat, 25 April 2015
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Mon, 20 April 2015
Gadeir Abbas, an attorney for Yemeni Americans challenging the US government's refusal to evacuate them from the war-ravaged country, joins the show to discuss the filed lawsuit. What power do these Americans have to force the government to uphold their citizenship rights and launch an operation to evacuate them? Why does the government treat Yemeni Americans as second class citizens? In the second half of the interview, Abbas, who represents Gulet Mohamed, an American challenging his placement on the No Fly List, discusses a development in the lawsuit where the government claims it has made changes to the process. It will now tell Americans if they are on the No Fly List if they use the government's system to write to the government and ask for confirmation. But Americans easily can figure this out when they are not able to travel because an agent tells them they are on the watch list. What of the changes are meaningful? What does this mean for No Fly List challenges?
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Sun, 12 April 2015
Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola co-host this 40-minute episode, where they talk about Rahm Emanuel's re-election, the Saudi-led US-backed coalition bombing Yemen, Yemeni Americans stranded in a war zone, the Clintons getting Colombian oil money and various police abuse or brutality stories, such as the case of Walter Scott and the trial of Chicago police officer Dante Servin, who killed Rekia Boyd in 2012.
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Sun, 29 March 2015
Aviva Stahl, an independent journalist, and Abraham Paulos, executive director of Families for Freedom, address the growth of immigrant detention in the United States and United Kingdom. Stahl highlights how hunger strikes are a key form of resistance for immigrants in detention and how detention centers in the US and UK shut down resistance by immigrants. (She wrote about this in her for Vice.) Paulos breaks down how immigrants are equated with criminals and the US history of being unwelcoming toward immigrants. He particularly focuses on the Immigration Act of 1964. He also addresses how difficult it is for immigrants to win asylum. |