Unauthorized Disclosure

In this year-end episode, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by writer Roqayah Chamseddine for a look back at 2015.

The discussion focuses on the last GOP presidential debate of the year and how extraordinarily violent and reactionary the rhetoric of GOP candidates has become. Conversation shifts to the rise in Islamophobia over the past months, including the attacks on Muslims—or people who are brown and are attacked for "looking" like they are Muslim.

Halfway through the show, conversation shifts to climate change. How does the Paris climate agreement give us false hope about what countries are going to do to stem the effects of climate change? And why isn't there more focus on the terror climate change is going to bring to our world if we do not act now?

Direct download: S2E39.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:13pm EDT

On this week's episode, Arun Kundnani, the author of "The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror," joins the show to talk about the implications of Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims. Kundnani describes how the American "War on Terrorism" reinforces hatred toward Muslims and Arabs. He offers an analysis of the Islamic State and how they are drawn to a fight they believe is between the West and Islam. He also assesses failures to counter certain narratives around the Islamic State as well as nationalist perspectives, which are now promoted by Trump. 

During the discussion, the show's hosts talk about the infamous Warden Burl Cain resigning from the Angola penitentiary and Rahm Emanuel and police brutality in Chicago.

 

Direct download: S2E38.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:10am EDT

Journalist Todd Miller joins the show after returning from France, where he attended a major weapons expo called Milipol and witnessed the French security state's crackdown on climate activists during COP21. Miller recalls being chased by French police, who enforced a ban against demonstrations instituted in the wake of the Paris attacks. He describes the detestable scene at the expo just days after the attacks, where companies were eager to use the Paris attacks to sell their products. He also highlights recent reporting at the U.S.-Mexico border on how the U.S. Border Patrol has turned indigenous American land into a war zone. 

During the discussion part of the show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola announce a year-end fundraiser to raise money for Season 3 of the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast. The hosts also talk about the San Bernardino shooting and how the media swarmed the shooters' home and effectively tampered with the scene. Finally, the hosts share their reviews of Spike Lee's new film, "Chi-Raq." 

Direct download: S2E37.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:53am EDT

Writer Roqayah Chamseddine joins the "Unauthorized Disclsoure" podcast as a guest co-host. For 45 minutes, Chamseddine and the show's hosts discuss responses to the Paris attacks and the latest wave of intensifying Islamophobia in the U.S. and other parts of the world. While condemning the fanatical death cult that is the Islamic State, the discussion highlights how the Islamic State desires a West that will react with a backlash against Muslims. The hosts talk about passengers kicked off flights for having brown skin and how the media, including CNN, is fueling fear. 

 

 

Direct download: S2E36.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:06am EDT

Independent journalist Raven Rakia joins the show to share her reporting on Rikers Island prison in New York, where the city has reformed solitary confinement by establishing Enhanced Supervision Housing Units (ESHUs). They are essentially enhanced solitary confinement units, and Rakia highlights how this system may further entrench the abuses of solitary confinement into the system at Rikers. 

During the discussion, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about the University of Missouri and how what happened there has inspired protests on campuses across the United States. Both talk about some of the tactics being used and whether these tactics will ultimately help students win power. Finally, Khalek comments on the Center for American Progress' event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Direct download: S2E35.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:14am EDT

Aviva Stahl, an independent journalist, talks about her story for the Gothamist on an NYPD undercover named "Mel," who infiltrated Brooklyn College. The undercover converted to Islam. She befriended students and even was in some of their bridal showers and wedding parties. Then, later, the students realized "Mel" was the undercover, who helped push two Queens women down the path to building a bomb so the FBI could arrest them. We talk about the operation and the NYPD's reaction to this story, which includes a ludicrous rejection of the idea that Muslims have ever before been subject to "blanket surveillance" by the city's police.

During the discussion portion, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight the problems with think pieces suggesting all critics of Hillary Clinton are "Bernie Bros." They also discuss Shaker Aamer's case and read from a prison letter from Chelsea Manning to Gosztola.

 

Direct download: S2E34.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:39am EDT

Direct download: S2E33.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:19am EDT

Direct download: S2E32.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:11am EDT

The director of Palestine Legal, Dima Khalidi, joins the show to discuss a reporting documenting hundreds of attacks against Palestinian human rights activists in the United States over the past two years. Khalidi addresses the escalation by Israeli advocacy groups against activists on college and university campuses. Khalidi highlights how Israeli consulate officials are spying on students, how students threatened are forced to pay for their own security or cancel events, and what organizations like Palestine Legal are doing to push back against states moving to pass legislation to discourage boycotts and divestment campaigns against Israeli apartheid. 

During the discussion part of the show, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about the US airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netyanahu's speech at the UN General Assembly, right-wing human rights activist Thor Halvorssen's effort to have a story on him censored, and some of the Clinton emails mentioning WikiLeaks. 

Direct download: S2E31.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:42am EDT

Writer Frederik deBoer, whose piece, "Why We Should Fear University, Inc," recently appeared in the New York Times, joins the show to discuss his argument about the corporatization of college campuses. 

Direct download: S2E30.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:43am EDT

Anna Jones, a single mother and a leading organizer in the Fight for Dyett High School, joins the show to talk about the struggle to save a neighborhood school on the south side of Chicago. As a 34-day hunger strike comes to an end, Jones describes what this fight means to her, why people have fought to save the school, and how this is critical campaign against not only the privatization of public schools but also separate but equal schooling in the city. 

During the discussion, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the open expressions of fascism at the GOP debate, Ahmed Mohamed, and the latest development in Guantanamo Bay prisoner Tariq Ba Odah's case. 


 

Direct download: S2E29.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:30am EDT

VICE reporter Jason Leopold joins the show to talk about documents he obtained containing new revelations about the collaboration that went on between "Zero Dark Thirty" filmmakers and the CIA. We talk about the significance of the documents, whether former CIA director Leon Panetta lied about interactions with screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow, and how the CIA was hoping to undermine a Senate intelligence committee investigation into torture with this mass-marketed Hollywood movie on the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. 

During the discussion, the show's hosts talk about the refugee crisis in Europe, the British government's decision to kill two British nationals with drones, a court decision in a No Fly List retaliation case brought by American Muslims against FBI agents, U.S. rejecting human rights recommendations from countries, and James Clapper's speech about U.S. intelligence having a lot in common with Spider-Man. 

Direct download: S2E28.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:46am EDT

This week on “Unauthorized Disclosure,” Patrick Strickland, who is an independent journalist and contributor to The Electronic Intifada and Al Jazeera English, talks to us from Beirut, Lebanon. He discusses his reporting on the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, a Palestinian refugee camp which has been under siege. He talks to us about the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon. Strickland also describes how ISIS and Jabhat al Nusra are taking over some of these camps with Palestinian refugees.

In the second half, during the discussion part of the show, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight the refugee crisis in Europe and, separately, how President Barack Obama’s administration has fought to continue detaining refugee mothers and children from Central America. We also talk about North Dakota becoming the first state, where drones can be weaponized with tear gas or tasers, the FBI setting up a cell phone surveillance system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and the latest appalling aspects of the Obama administration’s effort to keep a gravely ill Guantanamo prisoner detained indefinitely.

Direct download: S2E27.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:22am EDT

Imraan Siddiqi, a blogger and the chairman of the Arizona chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), joins the show to talk about anti-Muslim hysteria and racism in the United States. We talk about the threat against American Muslims from right-wing groups, including calls from people like former Marine Jon Ritzheimer to hold armed protests outside a mosque in Phoenix (which is where Siddiqi is based). We discuss a released May bulletin from the FBI warning militia extremists are increasingly targeting Muslims. We highlight how rhetoric promoting fear against Muslims spreads in this country.

In the second half, we continue our interview with Siddiqi by talking about white men attempting to frame American Muslims for terrorist plots by faking the plots themselves. We highlight a case in New York involving a KKK man, who wanted to build a death-ray machine to kill Muslims and essentially was entrapped by the FBI. And then, we spend the rest of the episode talking about mosques in the United States and what it is like for American Muslims to have agents and informants working for the FBI infiltrating their communities.

 

 

 

 

Direct download: S2E26.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:48am EDT

The guest this week is Page May, a Chicago-based organizer with the local group, We Charge Genocide. She describes organizing against stop and frisks by Chicago police and how the ACLU of Illinois essentially snubbed activists they had claimed to be working with when the ACLU negotiated a settlement. May reacts to the contents of the settlement and talks about an ordinance for addressing stop and frisks, which activists planned to introduce in the city council until the ACLU and City of Chicago forced the activists to delay introduction. 

During the show's discussion, the hosts talk about Israel's skunk weapon, various updates on news from Israel, the gravely ill Guantanamo prisoner, Tariq Ba Odah, who the Obama administration opposes releasing from the military prison, and we follow-up on last week's episode where we talked about Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter activists. 

Direct download: S2E25.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:57am EDT

Douglas Williams, a writer at TheSouthLawn.org and a doctoral student at Wayne State University in Detroit, is our guest this week. We talk to him about Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter, and the critique of Bernie Sanders not talking about race enough. He discusses how Democratic presidential candidates are using the "Black Lives Matter" mantra to make their campaigns relevant. We highlight Bernie Sanders' record in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which played a key role in the civil rights movement. We also talk about the problems the movement has with solidarity organizing and the role of white "allies" in organizing against institutional racism. 


 

 

Direct download: S2E24edit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:04pm EDT

The Movement for Black Lives had a gathering from July 24-26 in Cleveland to develop the collective mission of "Black Lives Matter" and ensure it grows into a movement that can fulfill a promise of equality and justice. And, as the show's guest this week, Waltrina Middleton, an organizer and co-founder of Cleveland Action, appeared on the show to talk about the critical importance of this gathering.

During the discussion part of the show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight DHS surveillance of Black Lives Matter protests, the firing of a man from a Chicago police review agency for refusing to change his findings, and UK's PREVENT program and anti-Muslim racism. The show's hosts also talk a little more about the Movement for Black Lives gathering, including the role of white "allies" or white anti-racism activists in movement building.

Direct download: S2E23.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:50am EDT

Telegraph writer Andrew Gilligan has a history of trying to out radical Muslims in the United Kingdom and smear them in his reporting. Gilligan's latest attack was against Abdullah al-Andalusi, an Islamic lecturer and writer, who is this week's guest. Al-Andalusi was the subject of Gilligan's slimy attack because he has worked for the public sector in the UK. Gilligan questioned whether Muslims should be permitted to work civil service jobs and tried to gin up additional fear by shamefully distorting al-Andalusi's previous writing to make him seem like an Islamic State sympathizer. Al-Andalusi talked about this experience and how this might help reinforce UK policies, which the government claims are necessary to fight Islamic extremism. 

During the discussion portion, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the Chattanooga shooting, Saudi Arabia rounding up over 400 people suspected of involvement in Islamic State plots, the Iran nuclear deal, Obama's NAACP speech, and Sandra Bland. 

 

Direct download: S2E22.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:38am EDT

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Adam Johnson, associate editor at AlterNet.org and contributing writer to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). Johnson outlines the bogus terror warnings promoted by the FBI ahead of the Fourth of July and then deconstructs the latest absurd development, where FBI Director James Comey claimed terorrism suspects arrested in June were the July 4th threat. Johnson goes into detail about what drives media outlets like CNN to hype terror warnings that cannot be backed up by specific threats. 

During the discussion part of the episode, the show's hosts cover a federal judge's order to prepare the release of videos of a former Guantanamo prisoner being force-fed, a major review showing American Psychological Association officials protected national security psychologists involved in US torture, the one-year anniversary of Israel's Operation Protective Edge, US strikes which killed over 100 people in Afghanistan, and Lindsey Graham calling peace activists dangerous as he bellows about bombing Iran.   

 

 

 

 

Direct download: S2_E21.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:49am EDT

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the major Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the US; an undocumented transgender activist who interrupted President Barack Obama's remarks at the LGBT Pride Reception at the White House and was booed; the threat of white terrorism, which the US government largely ignores; a recent elaborate FBI sting against a poor black felon that shows where the agency is putting its resources; and how the FBI monitored live streams of Ferguson protests. 

No guest this week. 

 

Direct download: S2E20.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:20am EDT

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. 

During the discussion part of the show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about Dylann Roof's manifesto and share thoughts on the political and media reaction to the church massacre in Charleston. They talk about a Louisville FOP president and his vitriolic open letter directed toward Black Lives Matter activists. And the show wraps with some quick thoughts about a court ordering US officials to intercept a Guatemalan mother and her child, who were deported, and return them to the United States. 

Direct download: S2E19.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:56am EDT

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. 

Direct download: My_Song_29.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:26am EDT

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.

During the discussion portion of the show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight how the US government declassified some of the torture memories of a former CIA detainee, Majid Khan. Gosztola talks about journalist Jason Leopold and how he was told to never file another FOIA request with a Pentagon in-house think tank. Khalek discusses a Texas law allowing people to carry firearms on school campuses and how President Barack Obama is trying to get an anti-slavery provision taken down out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

Direct download: S2E17.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:42am EDT

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. 

 

Direct download: S2E16.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:07am EDT

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. 

 

 

Direct download: S2E15.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:22am EDT

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. 

 

 

 

Direct download: S2E14edit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:36am EDT

Direct download: S2_E13.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:45pm EDT

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?

 

Direct download: S2E12-edit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:42am EDT

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.

 

Direct download: S2E11.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:18am EDT

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.

Direct download: S2E10.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:35pm EDT

Contributing writer for The Intercept, Trevor Aaronson, joins the show as a guest to talk about his feature story, "The Sting: How the FBI Created a Terrorist." We discuss the FBI's target, Sami Osmakac, the FBI agent, Amir Jones, and a couple other of characters, who played a role in giving Osmakac the means, opportunity and desire to carry out a terrorism act. Aaronson also describes how this case fits into other similar cases and whether he has seen a shift in how the media or public react to the FBI manufacuturing their own terrorism plots that they can thwart and then pretend they had nothing to do with creating. 

During the discussion portion, Rania Khalek provides a rundown on the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We both talk about the controversy at a New York high school involving the Pledge of Allegiance recited in Arabic. Discussion concludes with some climate disruption headlines and talk about the Obama administration censoring and keeping secret information at a greater rate than ever. 

 

 

Direct download: S2E9_RK_KG.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:27am EDT

Researcher at UK CAGE 

Direct download: S2E8_RK_KG.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:10am EDT

Page May of We Charge Genocide and Babur Balos of the Chicago Light Brigade join the show to talk about the Chicago Police Department and reports that the department has a "black site" for arrestees. They connect the reports to a push for reparations for police torture survivors that is ongoing in the city. Then, we talk about Mayor Rahm Emanuel being in a runoff primary and highlight a lawsuit filed against police and the city for the killing of 19-year-old Roshad McIntosh. 

 

Direct download: S2_E7.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:15am EDT

Co-host Kevin Gosztola interviews former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou, who was released from Loretto prison in Pennsylvania after 23 months in jail. He pled guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, but it was not until he spoke up about waterboarding being torture in an interview in 2007 that he became a target for prosecution. He maintains that, while what he did was wrong, he was the subject of a selective and vindictive prosecution. 

While in prison, he wrote at least 15 "Letters from Loretto," which Firedoglake published. We talk about how the Bureau of Prisons designated him a "dangerous" prisoner because of his crime, what he witnessed in terms of medical emergencies and unhealthy food and what it meant for him to be able to write letters from prison that were guaranteed to reach a wide audience. 

In the second part of the interview, we outline all the ways the CIA attempts to control information through prepublication review boards and secrecy contracts. We discuss whistleblowers like Jeffrey Sterling and Stephen Kim, who have similarly had their lives destroyed. 

Kiriakou is the guest for the full hour. 

Direct download: RK-KG_S2E6.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:43am EDT

Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek are joined by Dahr Jamail, Truthout writer, to talk about his monthly "Climate Disruption" dispatches. He provides an overview of thresholds that have perilously been crossed as a result of human-caused climate disruption. He highlights methane blowholes, disease and even describes electromagnetic war games the Navy has engaged in to the detriment of wildlife and humans. As the talk becomes more gloomy due to the reality of climate disruption, Jamail talks about dealing with depression and how scientists, institutions and even governments are fighting back against these dangerous developments.

During the discussion, we talk about the Chapel Hill murders, the FBI targeting anti-oil sands activists and Chelsea Manning being granted hormone therapy by the Pentagon.

Direct download: RK-KG_S2E5newedit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:14am EDT

Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek are joined by Baraa Shiban, a human rights activist and Reprieve project coordinator based in Yemen. He describes the significance of the US government's continued drone strikes, even when there is no person officially running Yemen right now. Shiban also recounts the rise of the Houthis and later addresses the effect the US has had on Yemen.

During the discussion portion, the hosts talk about a new weapon Ferguson police officers may be trying out soon, a Republican state representative's view on rape (we think he probably has raped his wife), Corrections Corporation of America inspecting the tampons of people who visit inmates in their facilities and US politicians' fact-free and fringe views on Guantanamo Bay. 

Direct download: RK-KG_S2E4.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:14am EDT

Hosts Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek are joined by VICE News journalist Jason Leopold to talk about some of his latest scoops related to Guantanamo Bay prison. He highlights a military legal document recently obtained, which shows the Pentagon understands forced-feeding violates medical ethics and international law. Leopold also discusses his effort to get the uncensored executive summary of the Senate report on CIA torture released and how the full torture report may never be seen by the public if some officials in government have their way. 

During the discussion, the hosts talk about the FBI listing the brother of a US citizen challenging the No Fly List as a "most wanted terrorist," former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling being convicted and a vile sex crime ring with influential people like Alan Dershowitz involved, who are working to cover up what happened.

Direct download: RK-KG_S2E3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:05am EDT

Marcy Wheeler, a journalist whose latest work can be found at ExposeFacts.org, appears on the show to discuss the Jeffrey Sterling trial. The former CIA officer has been facing charges stemming from allegations that he leaked details that exposed a botched CIA operation in Iran involving flawed nuclear blueprints. Wheeler recounts closing arguments and other aspects of the government's prosecution, which mostly relies on circumstantial evidence. She also addresses how this fits into the Obama administration's record of going after whistleblowers and undermining press freedom. 

During the discussion portion of the show, hosts Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek talk about the fawning over a dead tyrant, King Abdullah and Speaker John Boehner inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to provide a rebuttal to the State of the Union. The first book published by a Guantanamo prisoner is highlighted and excerpts are read on air. And Khalek discusses her efforts to expose the propaganda in the film, "American Sniper." 

Direct download: RK-KG_S2E2.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:51pm EDT

The first episode of Season 2: 

Dan Cohen, a Palestine-based journalist and Mondoweiss contributor, appears on the show to discuss the impact of a recent winter storm on Gaza. Still feeling the after effects of Israel's assault last summer, the people of Gaza are struggling to find shelter and warmth. Cohen also highlights some of his experiences as a Jewish person and how Israelis react to him when they find out he visits and reports from Gaza. 

During the discussion portion of the show, hosts Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek talk about Guantanamo Bay being designated a "battle lab" for developing and testing torture techniques, the violent Islamophobic backlash after attacks in Paris and the arrest of a young Ohio Muslim, who was targeted in an FBI sting operation and allegedly plotted an ISIS-inspired attack against the US capitol. 

 

 

Direct download: RK-KG_SE2EP01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:32pm EDT

1