Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola wrap up this year's season of "Unauthorized Disclosure" with MintPress News founder and editor-in-chief Mnar Muhawesh.

During the show, they reflect on some of the more pernicious social and political developments in the past year. Mnar talks about censorship by Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies, and the impact it is having on independent journalists and alternative media outlets, especially the effect on MintPress News.

Later in the show, Mnar and Rania discuss the wars in Yemen and Syria. They take a moment to address the most recent development—President Donald Trump ordering the withdrawal of troops from Syria.

The show ends with Mnar, Rania, and Kevin each highlighting something they believe went significantly under-reported or virtually ignored in the U.S. press, including progressive media.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss yet another round of blaming Russia for dissent. They highlight the protests in France. Then, Gosztola shares how he was accused of helping Putin undermine faith in the rule of the law and the justice system by a think tank in Washington, D.C.

The hosts pay tribute to William Blum. He died at 85 and published work that was essential for anyone interested in fighting U.S. imperialism.

Finally, the hosts talk about the successful Yemen war powers resolution vote in the Senate and how Paul Ryan served the war industry by ensuring the House could not hold a similar vote. 

We recorded last week's show, and then the news came hours later that former President George H.W. Bush died.

As much as people have largely moved on, we could not ignore the media's nauseating revisionist portraits of who Bush was as a public figure. So we spend a large part of the show offering a kind of antidote to what was broadcast and published about Bush.

Later in the show, Rania Khalek highlights a Pew Research Center poll that shows how young people's views on U.S. foreign policy and military dominance in the world are dramatically different from their parents and grandparents.

The show concludes with a bit of discussion about Beto O'Rourke and Clinton people insisting there's some conspiracy by supporters of Bernie Sanders to tarnish him before he runs for president in 2020.

For this week's show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola rage against CNN for firing Marc Lamont Hill over comments he made before a United Nations committee on Palestinians and their struggle against Israeli military occupation.

They talk about a vote in the U.S. Senate, where a war powers resolution to end U.S. military involvement in the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen moved forward.

Later in the show, the hosts highlight a piece in POLITICO that was published by an unnamed author to promote a wild conspiracy theory about Russia planting a Paul Manafort-Julian Assange story in the Guardian.


[*Note: Unfortunately, we recorded less than 24 hours before former President George H.W. Bush's death was reported. We have plenty to say about his legacy and the response to his death. It will be nothing like what you're hearing on cable news networks, and we'll share our thoughts next episode.]

Gregory Shupak, author of "The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel, and the Media," joins the show to discuss his book that sharply critiques how establishment and left-of-center media cover the Israeli military occupation.

He organizes his criticism into three categories: how the media promotes this idea that "both sides" are equally responsible for violence, how the media pushes this idea that all would be resolved if extremists were eliminated from power, and how the media argue Israel has a right to defend itself to justify any sort of warfare against Palestinians.

Later, Shupak talks about recent examples of media coverage because this past week Israel launched more air strikes on Gaza.

It feels like it was way, way more than a month since host Rania Khalek was last heard from on "Unauthorized Disclosure." Finally, she is done making mini-documentaries and was able to do a show again.

Both Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the 2018 midterm elections, including ballot initiatives that passed. They criticize the Democrats for not doing more to fight voter suppression and talk about how they lost several seats in the U.S. Senate.

Aside from the elections, they recap some of what they missed an opportunity to talk about in October. Both also have good rants in response to CNN's Jim Acosta, who had his White House press pass revoked.

Joanildo Burity is a lead researcher at the Social Research Institute at Fundação Joaquim Nabuco. He is near the east coast of Brazil. His work involves research projects and post-graduate teaching in the areas of Brazilian and Latin American politics and religion and politics.

During the interview, Burity provides his initial analysis for why the far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, was able to win the election. He provides a brief rundown of what led up to the election, which includes mention of the police forces that were deployed to universities to investigate election materials that teachers unions were sharing.

He talks about the issue of how Brazil's democracy is young and faces a particular threat to its institutions, as well as the threats posed to the Amazon rain forest and other natural lands that Bolsonaro is intent to sell off to mining or logging corporations. He describes the threat to workers and their livelihoods.

Finally, Burity shares his views on whether or not Brazil could return to military dictatorship (whether the threat is real) and notes the role the American right, including Steve Bannon, played in Bolsonaro's rise to power.

Bernard Harcourt, author of The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went To War Against Its Own Citizens, joins the show for a conversation on President Donald Trump and what Bernard calls the Counterrevolution.

He outlines counterinsurgency and its objectives and how it accelerated after the September 11th attacks to become a form of government in the United States.

We discuss how Trump and his administration is counterinsurgency on steroids and highlight Cesar Sayoc, who was arrested for allegedly sending mail-bombs to targets of Trump's vitriol.

For this week's episode, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss recent attacks on Max Blumenthal and his journalism on Nicaragua. They became especially vicious in the past couple weeks, as The Guardian and Buzzfeed wrongly accused Blumenthal of having a Guardian freelancer Carl David Goette-Luciak deported from the country.

Also, former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for killing Laquan McDonald. Gosztola, who is based in Chicago, highlights some of what happened during Van Dyke's trial.

In this week's episode, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight some of what was said at the UN General Assembly, particularly by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump.

They, of course, spend some time on the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testified.

Later in the show, the hosts talk about Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, Andrew Gillum, and what he had to say about Venezuela. They revisit the issue of progressives being progressive except when it comes to other countries in the world.

Both share some personal updates during the show as well.