Part 2 of Episode 9

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola offer a critique of those on the left who refuse to engage or support the anti-austerity multi-racial movement Bernie Sanders and his campaign are building in their challenge to Hillary Clinton. We talk about Donald Trump (but this part was recorded before the Trump rally was shut down in Chicago). We also discuss some of the latest lies the Clinton campaign is relying upon to attack Sanders. 

Donna Murch, an associate professor at Rutgers University, joins the show to react to activists who shut down Donald Trump's rally in Chicago. She responds to Hillary Clinton's statement on what happened, and how it relied upon coded language. We highlight the Clintons' records with African Americans.

The discussion expands into a full assessment of the successes and struggles, which Bernie Sanders' campaign has had with black voters. Particular attention is paid to the patronage networks, which benefit the Clintons. Also, we talk about the issue of whether Sanders knows how to talk to black voters and what it means to be mounting an insurgent campaign from within the Democratic Party. 

Journalist and author Vijay Prashad joins the podcast this week to talk about Libya, where the the United States has resumed bombing. Prashad recounts what led to the intervention and the role Hillary Clinton played in influencing the U.S. decision to bomb Libya when she was secretary of state. Prashad also talks about Syria, the "suicidal death pact" the U.S. government has with the Saudi government, and the geopolitics between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which greatly influence developments in the Middle East.

 

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola break down some of the many social issues raised by the campaigns of Clinton, Sanders, and Donald Trump. This episode includes talk about Black Lives Matter activist Ashley Williams confronting Clinton over her "super-predator" comment in 1996. We spend time on Washington Post Jonathan Capehart, who helped the Clinton campaign do damage control and even went so far as to defend what Clinton said about "super-predators" back in 1996. We also highlight recent developments with the closure of Guantanamo military prison and Rasmea Odeh's case.

Throughout March, as the election intensifies even more with primaries, we intend to post our interview and our discussion separately so we are not posting 90-minute episodes, which listeners cannot consume and appreciate in one sitting. By separating them, there will be more political discussion for our listeners to enjoy throughout the entire week.

*Our interview with Vivek Chibber, a sociology professor at NYU, was posted separately.

Vivek Chibber, a sociology professor at New York University and the author of "Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital" joins the show to help analyze how neoliberals and the Democratic Party wield identity politics to push citizens to vote against their self-interests. First, he offers a basic explanation of "post-colonial theory," and then he talks about how the New Left first popularized the political or intellectual thinking prevalent today. The interview then pivots to Hillary Clinton and how her campaign deploys the language of radical left-wing politics in order to manage and lower the expectations of voters, especially minorities. 

This interview is Part 1 of Episode 7. In a second part (posted separately), hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola dive deeper into some of the social issues raised by both Clinton and Bernie Sanders' campaign as well as Donald Trump's campaign. 

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the use of U.S.-manufactured cluster bombs in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition. The conversation also addresses: the case of Palestinian hunger striker Mohammed al-Qeeq, who is close to death in an Israeli prison, the case of Younous Chekkouri, a former Guantanamo prisoner who was released only to find himself imprisoned in a notorious jail in Morocco, and a George Washington University professor who called for Beirut to be "flattened" by explosive weapons. 

In the second part of the show, Khalek and Gosztola discuss the results of the Nevada Caucuses in the Democratic presidential primary. They address the manufactured controversy, which spread around Dolores Huerta offering to translate for one of the precincts as well, and how the reaction to it fits a pattern, which has become a hallmark of Hillary Clinton's campaign. 

Yana Kunichoff, an independent journalist who worked on a major cover story for the Chicago Reader titled, "How Chicago's 'Fraternal Order of Propaganda' shapes the story of fatal police shootings," joins the show. She discusses FOP spokesperson Pat Camden, who is at the center of scandal around the Chicago Police Department. She highlights how Camden manipulated the press and how the press failed to followup when Camden's claims did not match witness statements on police shootings. She also describes how this helps protect police from prosecutions. 

We spend the hour with writer Roqayah Chamseddine talking about all the madness in the 2016 presidential election. From "Bernie Bros" to how Hillary Clinton's campaign and her supporters are increasingly using her identity to disrupt meaningful debate about her record, Chamseddine critiques the narrow concept of feminism that is behind all of this. Host Rania Khalek leads a discussion of Clinton's foreign policy and calls attention to key questions about Bernie Sanders' foreign policy. Finally, we talk about "electability" and what it means to be "realistic" when voting. 

Jesselyn Radack, director of national security and human rights at ExposeFacts.org and one of Edward Snowden's attorneys, joins the show to discuss the D.C. Bar's decision to go after Thomas Tamm, a former Justice Department lawyer who exposed warrantless wiretapping by President George W. Bush's administration. Radack compares the D.C. Bar's action to the complaint she faced from the D.C. Bar after she became a Justice Department whistleblower. 

Later in the interview, Radack responds to what was learned in a Washington Post report on the plea negotiations between David Petraeus' lawyers and Justice Department prosecutors. Petraeus was concerned he would be embarrassed if former CIA officer John Kiriakou's case was referenced in his plea, and his lawyers had the Justice Department remove mention from the statement of facts. He successfully protected himself from prison and losing his pension. 

Finally, Radack addresses the continued scandal over Hillary Clinton's emails, especially how the State Department has chosen to not release emails until after key primaries in the 2016 election. 

Journalist Zachary Senn, who wrote a piece for Shadowproof titled, "Shunned by the West, 10,000 Refugees Seek Asylum in Hong Kong, joins the show to talk about what he saw at the Chungking Mansions. He stayed in the tower houses, where asylum seekers are housed. He talks about the country's open border policy and why he wanted to write this story about refugees. He puts what he saw into a global context, and it becomes abundantly clear that no country in the world wants refugees. Hong Kong is another example of what happens because of callous and indifferent border policies in the United States.

During the discussion, the show's hosts, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola, talk about Central American families, who President Barack Obama's administration are deporting in raids intended to instill fear in immigrant communities. We highlight the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and finish the episode with a discussion of Hillary Clinton's attacks on Bernie Sanders' campaign and why it is important to challenge those attacks.