Unauthorized Disclosure

The "Unauthorized Disclosure" weekly podcast interviews Shahid Buttar, who is running against Speaker Nancy Pelosi in California.

He is the first Democrat in the 30-plus years that Pelosi has been in Congress to make it to a general election to challenge her.  

In the first half of our interview, Shahid addresses some of the allegations that have swirled around his campaign.

Rania and Kevin discuss the disappointing rush to judgment, including among progressive media organizations and progressive left groups.  

Shahid assesses how Pelosi and the Democrats have done when it comes to responding to the COVID-19 crisis. He reacts to the Democratic Party's strategy to distance themselves even further from progressives and embrace so-called Biden Republicans to defeat President Donald Trump.   

The interview concludes with Shahid commenting on whether NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden should be pardoned.

Category:general -- posted at: 10:55am EDT

For this week's episode of "Unauthorized Disclosure," Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome Lee Camp to the show.

Lee is a stand-up comedian who is the host of "Redacted Tonight." He has a new comedy special, "Not Allowed on American TV." He also has a book, Bullet Points & Punch Lines.

Stand-up comedy has become near impossible or extraordinarily difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask Lee what the the last months have been like then quickly pivot to a conversation about deterioration of political comedy in the era of President Donald Trump.

Lee talks with us about social media platforms that label your content as "dangerous." Rania and Kevin talk about satire being interpreted more and more as fact or truth.

And Lee discusses how he covers United States-backed coups and wars through his comedy, unlike the vast majority of stand-up comedians who delve into politics.

Direct download: UD-LeeCamp.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:48am EDT

The show was relieved that co-host Rania Khalek survived the Beirut blast and did not suffer any severe injuries. That unfortunately cannot be said for more than 150 people, who were killed, and over 5,000 who were wounded.

For this week's episode, Rania recounts her experience during and after the explosion. She describes the widespread devastation in and around the port. She also addresses the criminal negligence on the part of the Lebanese government that led to this tragedy.

What happened will have lasting impacts, especially since Lebanon was already in the middle of a massive economic crisis.

During the latter portion of the episode, which was recorded exclusively for patrons, Rania provides further clarity on who was responsible and why it could not be Hezbollah or Israel.

Both Rania and Kevin Gosztola move on to discuss how Twitter labeled media accounts "state-affiliated," including In The Now, where Rania works. They outline the implications and continue a conversation that took place last week after Maffick (the parent of In The Now) sued Facebook.

*To access the exclusive content for this episode go to https://www.patreon.com/unauthorizeddisclosure and subscribe.

Direct download: S7E29edit.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:13am EDT

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