Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome Azadeh Shahshahani, who is a legal and advocacy director for Project South. She joins the show to talk about a report her organization worked on called "Imprisoned Justice: Inside Two Georgia Immigrant Detention Centers."

Shahshahani addresses how asylum seekers and immigrants are denied due process and in some cases even tricked into signing papers for deportation. At Stewart Detention Center and Irwin County Detention Center, solitary confinement is used as punishment against individuals who resist the conditions of their confinement.

She talks about the water in these facilities, the rotten food served to prisoners, and the labor they are expected to perform often for very little pay or no money at all. And Shahshahani describes the programs the government operates with local police forces that load up private facilities like Stewart with bodies for companies to make profits.

Later in the show, Khalek and Gosztola discuss a reaction to Max Blumenthal's interview last week, Chelsea Manning's upcoming release, and the firing of FBI director James Comey.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome Max Blumenthal, journalist, senior editor of AlterNet's Grayzone Project, and author of The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.

Blumenthal addresses how the Syrian conflict has created fractures among the left in the United States and its impact on the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

He talks about the International Socialist Organization and "Democracy Now!", including a recent appearance by journalist Anand Gopal on the show, and their politics on the conflict.

Later in the show, Blumenthal discusses how the far right in Europe capitalizes off the refugee crisis and the frenzy over Russia among Democrats.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss UC Berkeley and Ann Coulter, immigrant prosecutions, President Donald Trump's busy day on April 26, and one of the most recent ominous reports about the Arctic ice melting.

With Rania in the Middle East for the next months, she is a bit detached from U.S. current events. She asked Kevin to give her an update on some of what she missed.

No guest this week.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Host Kevin Gosztola interviews the filmmakers involved in the production of "Awake: A Dream From Standing Rock," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22.

Josh Fox, Oscar-nominated director of "Gasland" and "How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can’t Change," produced Part 1 of the film.

Part 2 was created by James Spione, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the short film, "Incident In New Baghdad." He is also known for directing "Silenced," a documentary profiling whistleblowers.

Myron Dewey, founder of Digital Smoke Signals, is Newe-Numah/ Paiute-Shoshone from the Walker River Paiute Tribe, Agui Diccutta Band (Trout Eaters) and Temoke Shoshone. Through Part 3, he captures much of the indigenous perspective of what unfolded at Standing Rock in the struggle against the Dakota Access pipeline.

Dewey also is a media maker known for live streaming and flying a drone to capture what was unfolding on the ground. What appears in the film from this footage is stunning, whether what we see happening at Standing Rock is beautiful or tragic.

The film is available at AwakeTheFilm.org for streaming.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Michael Mann, who is a distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University. He also directs the Penn State University Earth Science Center. And he's the co-author of the book, "The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Destroying The Planet, Ruining Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy."

Mann recounts his experience testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, which is chaired by Republican Representative Lamar Smith, a massive climate change denier. He addresses the chilly atmosphere for scientists currently in Washington, DC, and talks about the dire situation the world finds itself on as President Donald Trump rolls back initiatives intended to combat climate change.

Later in the show, Mann talks about why he wrote a satirical book about climate change. He also highlights the Science March planned for April 22, when scientists will mobilize against the Trump administration for its agenda of climate change denial and attacks on science.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola spend the full hour discussing President Donald Trump's attack on a Syrian airbase. In the beginning, the reaction of support from media personalities and Democrats and neoconservatives is highlighted.

Further into the show, the hosts break down who the media has referred to as sources for information on what happened in the alleged chemical attack that led Trump to escalate U.S. military action. The hosts also discuss the left's response to the strike and what the attack may mean for the Syrian conflict.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Michael Lighty, policy director for National Nurses United. He has worked on health care reform for over 25 years.

Lighty addresses the need for Democrats to go on the offensive and push for a national Medicare For All system. He describes why the Affordable Care Act is flawed and not enough. He highlights a push in the state of California for a Medicare For All system.

Later, Lighty speaks to the Trump administration's agenda of dismantling environmental regulations designed to protect the public's health. He also previews People's Summit 2.0 in Chicago, which was announced this past week and will take place from June 9-11.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss an effort to convince a student group at Oregon State University to disinvite Khalek from an event, where she is scheduled to speak with Mnar Muhawesh, editor of Mintpressnews.com, and journalist Abby Martin. The campaign is also targeting Muhawesh.

The students put out a statement refusing to cancel the event or disinvite Khalek. We talk about the stand the students took and then discuss the larger issue of "no platforming" or demanding groups or universities cancel speaking events.

In the last part of the discussion, Khalek and Gosztola address the expansion of war in Somalia by President Donald Trump's administration.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Mark Ames, a journalist and co-host of the Radio War Nerd podcast. He also is the co-author of "The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia" and "Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion from Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond." He worked on a satirical publication that was shut down by the Kremlin.

Ames joins the show to talk about the history of the United States government's meddling in Russia, especially how the government backed Boris Yeltsin to lead the country. He addresses the frenzy over Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and the complete lack of evidence of conspiracy. He also discusses Putin and who he is as a leader and how it is ridiculous to suggest Putin is similar to Trump.

There is no discussion portion because Ames talked with us for a full hour.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Patrick Cockburn, a longtime Middle East correspondent well-known for his coverage of Iraq and Syria. He is the author of The Age of Jihad: Islamic State and the Great War for the Middle East.

Cockburn discusses the destruction of Mosul, the rise of Sunni fundamentalism, the role of Turkey in Iraq and Syria, and President Donald Trump and his potential plans for aggression toward Iran.

During the discussion, Gosztola discusses a trip to New Zealand, and later, Gosztola and Khalek talk about Trump's proposed budget and the GOP's healthcare plan.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the campaign against Khalek, which led to her speaking event at the University of North Carolina being canceled. She also discusses Salafism and Wahhabism, extreme right-wing ideologies within Islam that are pretty modern.

The discussion veers into a discussion of U.S. empire and how the government has aligned itself with right-wing Islamic extremists in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. It all relates to the smears Khalek has had to confront because a faction of people—pro-regime change in Syria—have committed themselves to silencing her voice.

*No guest this week.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Ben Norton, a journalist for AlterNet's "Grayzone Project."

Norton provides a brief overview of the terribly under-covered and mostly ignored war in Yemen as well as recent developments involving a CIA-backed warlord in Libya. He sticks around for the latter part of the show, when Khalek and Gosztola discuss the election of Tom Perez to Democratic National Committee chair.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about President Donald Trump's pledge to go to war against "low-life leakers" in his administration. They express their frustrations over how the media is positioning itself as radical opponents of Trump, when they're still the same institutions that cozied up to the Obama administration for access. They also talk about whether a person should be allowed to be a trillionaire and highlight the press conference between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Josh Fox, the Oscar-nominated director of "Gasland," and, "How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change." He was also of the Democratic Platform Committee and a surrogate for the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders.

Fox provides a rundown on the thousands of pipeline leaks and disasters in the United States, which have occurred in recent years. He highlights many of the different struggles over pipeline projects, which are ongoing, and also addresses the confirmation of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Later in the interview, Fox tells the story of what happened when actress, activist, and friend Susan Sarandon asked Fox to come on MSNBC's "All In" with Chris Hayes with her. He was unsure if MSNBC would allow him to come on the show because, since working for Sanders in 2016, he was put on a blacklist and not allowed to be on MSNBC shows anymore.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, President Donald Trump's crime executive orders, Senator Joe Manchin, David Frum's advice for effective protest, and the CIA giving a Saudi prince an award for fighting terrorism.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Jacqueline Keeler, a writer who is of Dineh and Yankton Sioux Dakota heritage, is our guest this week. She is the author of "Edge of Morning: Native Voices Speak for the Bears Ears." Her work has been published by The Nation, Yes! Magazine, and other publications. 

Keeler talks with us about the U.S. government's decision to recommit itself to the Dakota Access Pipeline Project. She describes what can be done to fight the project and show solidarity with indigenous people. But she also goes deeper in her analysis and highlights the centuries-long history of America as a settler colonial state and how that remains true today.

America is not really a country in the sense that sovereign tribal nations are countries. America is still a colony, she contends.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Jamil Dakwar, the director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program. Dakwar addresses how the Muslim ban signed by President Donald Trump has been applied. He highlights the issues involved in arguing the executive order is discriminatory and unconstitutional. He also outlines how dangerous it is that the Trump administration treats Islam as more of a political ideology than a religion.

The interview was recorded just before a federal judge in Washington issued a restraining order against the ban, the broadest directive yet. It forced the Homeland Security Department and State Department to go back to issuing visas and admitting travelers as they did prior to the ban.

During the discussion, Khalek and Gosztola discuss how the left talks about the Muslim ban, the saber-rattling of the Trump administration against Iran, the kill operation in Yemen that went horribly wrong and killed dozens, and Trump's Black History Month event.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, please become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are joined by Sarah Jaffe, a journalist, Nation Institute fellow, and author of "Necessary Trouble: Americans In Revolt." Jaffe talks with us about the first week of resistance against President Donald Trump.

We discuss everything from the millions, who came out for the Women's March, to the protests in response to executive orders, like the orders against immigrants and refugees. Jaffe describes a protest she covered at a GOP retreat in Philadelphia. She also addresses how citizens recently becoming engaged can keep up the pressure and handle fatigue and how Trump really does not like seeing all these crowds turn out against him—and citizens should take advantage of that.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, then become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola kick off a new season of the podcast with guest Abby Martin, host of "The Empire Files." She joins the show for the entire episode. Martin discusses how a show she anchored for RT America was mentioned in the recent intelligence report on Russian hacking.

We discuss the deep state's push to increase aggressive action against Russia, and whether that is good if we all truly believe Donald Trump is erratic. We talk about where RT America fits in the media economy and how we need to focus on media literacy. And we talk about liberal delusions about America's history of meddling in democracies and supporting dictatorships. Trump will not be the first president to normalize this — at all.

If you would like to support the show and help keep us going strong, then become a subscriber on our Patreon page.

In this year-end show, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola look back at 2016 with deep contempt and look forward to whatever struggles and catastrophes lie ahead for the world. They are joined by Roqayah Chamseddine, co-host of the "Delete Your Account" podcast and a columnist for Shadowproof.com.

The show highlights the Flint water crisis, the contentious debate over identity politics among progressives and the left, and the strawman argument that people who focus on class politics are somehow automatically guilty of ignoring structural racism. 

Khalek, Chamseddine, and Gosztola also comment on a future in need of resistance, where there is more oil and gas drilling on indigenous land, where professors are targeted for expressing unpopular or controversial views, where the water crisis persists and impacts communities, and where the arming and funding of jihadist opposition groups in Syria directly results in more violence against Western countries. 

*

Thank you for listening and supporting the show all year. We will be back in 2017 with another season of the show and wish you a happy new year.

John Washington, a volunteer for No More Deaths which is a humanitarian aid organization, joins the show to talk about a report on the missing persons crisis created by the brutality of United States border patrol agents. The report is called, "Disappeared: How the U.S. Border Enforcement Agencies Are Fueling a Missing Persons Crisis." 

Washington highlights the strategy of "Prevention Through Deterrence," which aims to make it harder on border crossers by pushing them into the desert and creating situations where they will die. The border patrol agents also use deadly apprehension tactics that chase and scatter border crossers so they wind up alone, split from their guides, injured, and fail to make it to the border because they die.

During the discussion portion, Rania Khalek, who has just returned to the U.S. after going to Syria twice, talks about what happened in Aleppo this past week and comments on the narrative pushed by media that fails to acknowledge the true nature of the "rebels," who were in control of the part of Aleppo.

In an extra 20-minute discussion segment, Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek talk about the narrative pushed by United States press and establishment politicians that Russia interfered with the U.S. election to elect Donald Trump. We also mock the hypocrisy of those outraged because the U.S. has quite a record of interfering in other countries' elections. 

With great effort—we tried no less than four times to record this episode, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight some major developments from the past week, including updates on resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline, a horrible piece of legislation against speech that passed in the Senate against pro-Palestinian students, the vile attacks on Congressman Keith Ellison, and the debate on "fake news." 

Rania Khalek also provides an update on Syria, particularly the government's retaking of Aleppo, in the beginning of the episode.

In the first half of the show, Rania Khalek shares a bit of what she's seen while reporting in Syria and, for the first time, she publicly addresses the smear attacks on her reputation, which came when she chose to travel with other journalists to a conference in Damascus. Khalek was listed as a speaker, and because the conference primarily advanced a government perspective on the war and she is an easy target, Khalek was attacked, even forced to resign from her editor position at Electronic Intifada. She ended up not attending the conference. Meanwhile, other journalists at the conference spoke and attended but were not attacked by smear artists, who despise Khalek's politics. 

During the second half, the show highlights the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance and the police assault on water protectors that occurred one week ago. (Note: The show was recorded on November 25, hours before the Army Corps of Engineers issued an eviction notice to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. So that unfortunately goes unaddressed.) 

Khalek and Kevin Gosztola also slam pundits who think Donald Trump is now acting "presidential" and address progressive dishonesty toward Bernie Sanders just about any time he talks about the concepts of race and class and focuses on material conditions for working and middle class people instead of identity. 

Co-host Rania Khalek, who is currently in Lebanon, returns to the show to reflect on the panic, fear, and uncertainty around the presidential election of Donald Trump. We discuss what we need to prepare to resist under Trump, like the approval of oil pipeline projects, the reinstitution of the CIA torture program, etc. We celebrate the wave of protests in response to Trump's election while at the same time acknowledging the powers expanded by President Barack Obama, which Trump will be able to take advantage of now. 

We take the time to encourage people to donate to journalism, including our work. Rania Khalek currently has a GoFundMe page raising money to cover the war in Syria. Shadowproof has a membership program, which anyone interested in supporting the site's brand of journalism can join for $5/month (and we'll send you a tote bag). 

Kevin Gosztola interviews Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein about what her campaign managed to accomplish with the campaign. She describes several initiatives she intends to be a part of pushing in the months ahead. She also talks about Donald Trump's victory and the denial of Democrats, who seem to blame everyone but themselves for Hillary Clinton's loss. 

Following that interview, Gosztola interviews journalist Andy Worthington, who is one of the co-founders of the "Close Guantanamo" campaign. He regularly covers Guantanamo, and we discuss the future of Guantanamo now that Trump is the president-elect. He also is a musician, who wrote a song about closing Guantanamo. We play part of it on the show. And, finally, Worthington is from the United Kingdom so we discuss the rise of far-right forces in both the United States and the UK. 

Rania Khalek is in Lebanon. She will return to the show next week. 

Guest Fabio Andres Diaz Pabon, a Colombian who is a research associate for the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. He is also a contributor to Warscapes.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk to Pabon about why Colombians, who voted, rejected a peace deal by a very slim margin. He addresses some of the points he made in a piece for Warscapes titled, "Uncertainty, Peace Agreements, and Public Participation in Colombia." Pabon also reacts to the decision to give Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos the Nobel Peace Prize.

The co-hosts spend the latter part of the episode on the backlash to reporting by journalist Max Blumenthal, who published reporting on the Syrian rebels for the "Grayzone Project" at AlterNet and received threatening phone calls, emails, and messages on social media. Multiple individuals, who hold themselves as advocates for the liberation of Syria, sought to incite Arabs and Muslims to demonize Blumenthal for his work.

Khalek, who contributes to Electronic Intifada, was caught up in this backlash as well. She became a target, along with the site's editor-in-chief Ali Abunimah. This happened in spite of the fact that the website, which covers Palestine and Israel intensively, had nothing to do with Blumenthal's journalism. Essentially, a faction of people seized this opportunity to attempt to transform critical voices in media into pariahs when it comes to their views on the bloodshed and war in Syria.

The following are the two pieces Blumenthal produced: "<a href="http://www.alternet.org/world/inside-shadowy-pr-firm-thats-driving-western-opinion-towards-regime-change-syria">Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That's Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria</a>" and "<a href="http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-white-helmets-became-international-heroes-while-pushing-us-military">How the White Helmets Became International Heroes While Pushing U.S. Military Intervention and Regime Change in Syria</a>."

[*Note: We apologize for the low audio quality during Pabon's interview. As he informed us, the internet is poor in South Africa. We did our best to give him a platform while recognizing the fact that there were issues.] 

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the ongoing bloodshed and war in Syria, not limited to Aleppo. They also talk about the latest unsettling development with Chelsea Manning, who the U.S. Army punished with two weeks in solitary confinement. Finally, Kevin reads a piece of election-themed satire he wrote, which many mistakenly thought was a serious column. 

No guest this week. 

Gareth Porter, independent investigative journalist, discusses his recent piece, "Al Qaeda's Ties to US-Backed Rebels," on the Syria ceasefire deal. During the discussion, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about the massive aid package to Israel, the closing of Camp 5 at Guantanamo, and Oliver Stone's "Snowden."

Donna Murch, an associate professor at Rutgers University, joins hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola to talk about her report for Boston Review, "Paying for Punishment." We talk about "criminal justice debt" and how black Americans are more likely than whites to face municipal court judgments for debt collection. Murch also addresses the rise of the electronic monitoring industry as a form of "offender-funded justice." 

In the discussion portion of the show, Murch stays with us and shares her views on Lena Dunham, the protesting by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players, and the need among Hillary Clinton's campaign and her supporters to connect all things they despise to Russian President Vladimir Putin somehow. 

Azzurra Crispino, the media co-chair for the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), talks with us about a nationwide labor strike planned by prisoners. It will coincide with the rebellion by Attica prisoners, which took place 45 years ago. Crispino describes why prisoners are striking and the stakes for prisoners, who take the risk to engage in resistance.

During the discussion portion, host Rania Khalek discusses the re-branding of an al Qaeda group in Syria and how multiple journalists have fallen for it. Kevin Gosztola talks about the New York Times' yellow journalism on WikiLeaks. 

Robbie Martin, co-host of Media Roots radio and creator of the three-part documentary, "A Very Heavy Agenda," joins the show to talk about Hillary Clinton's alliance with neoconservative Republicans. We discuss the wild allegations around the DNC being hacked by Russia, which the Democrats have promoted. We highlight former CIA director Mike Morell's endorsement of Clinton his suggestion that Donald Trump is some kind of Manchurian candidate. Host Rania Khalek and Martin also talk about what they witnessed at a fundraiser for Clinton, which featured neocon Robert Kagan. 

Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant from the Socialist Alternative joins the show this week to talk about the walkouts of Bernie Sanders delegates at the Democratic National Convention, as well as how she has successfully defied the Democratic Party establishment to achieve reforms like the $15 minimum wage in Seattle. 

Sawant addresses Sanders' view on third party politics and the need for citizens to build independent political power. She also confronts the issue of "lesser evilism" in electoral politics, which she says is the most important in the next three months. 

During the discussion portion, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about their coverage of the DNC this past week, particularly how the Democratic Party worked to enforce conformity so they could make it appear delegates had successfully unified around Hillary Clinton. 

The co-editors of Verso's book, "Policing The Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter," join the show this week to help us apply a much-needed analysis to the police executions of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, as well as the tragedy which unfolded with the Dallas Shooting. 

Christina Heatherton, assistant professor of American Studies at Trinity College, and Jordan T. Camp, a postdoctoral fellow for the Institute of International Affairs at Brown University, highlight the policy of "Broken Windows" and its relationship to the neoliberal present. They address how many of the actions of police are a part of a "class project that has displaced the urban multiracial working class worldwide." The limitations of liberal frameworks for reforming police are also discussed. The two also talk about the "War on Terrorism" and its effect on policing, like for example, how the Dallas police used a "bomb robot" this past week to kill the shooter.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola recap what unfolded with the Democratic National Convention Platform Committee, where individuals appointed by Hillary Clinton and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz rejected key progressive policies from inclusion in the platform. 

Gosztola shares reporting on the New York state meeting, where a Clinton delegate hit a Sanders delegate and young woman of color with his cane. Khalek talks about the latest Republicans and neoconservatives to endorse Clinton.

Palestine Legal founder and director Dima Khalidi joins the show to talk about Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive order against the BDS movement, which includes a provision to blacklist companies or groups which boycott or divest from Israel. Khalidi breaks down the constitutional and free speech concerns created by this order and also places it within the context of a broader trend in state legislatures to crack down on the BDS movement. She also highlights recent cases where students have been criminalized for their Palestinian solidarity activism. 

This part of the episode opens with discussion about the Orlando massacre, especially how Senate Democrats responded with a filibuster and push for legislation that included a provision to expand the terrorism watch list in order to enforce gun control. The show's hosts pivot to the People's Summit, a gathering of two to three thousand Bernie Sanders supporters in Chicago. Host Kevin Gosztola attended shares observations from the summit.

Vice News reporter Jason Leopold joins the show to talk about new CIA documents he obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The documents contain revelations related to the case of Gul Rahman, who was tortured and died in his cell at the Salt Pit black site in Kabul, Afghanistan. Leopold highlights the implications and also shares how he was able to pry the documents loose from the grip of the United States government.

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and identity politics is a recurring topic on the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast. This week, in a mega episode, we talk with our guest, Katie Halper, about the media anointing Clinton the nominee before the California primary last week. Halper addresses some of the latest absurd identity politics in the election, such as a New York Times reporter asking if it was sexist for Bernie Sanders to stay in the race. 

The episode runs quite a bit longer than other shows produced previously. However, the extra 30 minutes is Rania Khalek, Kevin Gosztola, and Katie Halper reading some of awesomely atrocious and marvelous writing or arguments put together by Clinton boosters. Gosztola reads a piece from Slate that makes Khalek want to vandalize her room. Halper reads an exchange she had on Twitter with Jeffrey Wright. And Khalek reads a glorious piece from Blue Nation Review, a truly award-winning pro-Clinton project now owned and driven by David Brock. 

Challenging the dominant narratives, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola return from a weeks-long break to highlight the hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton's foreign policy speech against Donald Trump. The hosts talk about the tragedy of refugees drowning as they flee for Europe. U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning's appeal is briefly discussed. Finally, the hosts talk about the upcoming California primary and the Democratic Party's disdain for independent voters.  

Matt Karp, who is an assistant professor of history at Princeton and a contributing editor of Jacobin, appears on the show to talk about a story he co-authored with Shawn Gude on the Sanders campaign, class politics of the campaign, and how—despite the dominant narrative—it is not driven by white male angst. Karp wrote a piece that relied upon a survey, which shows white Sanders supporters are not only more class conscious than white Clinton supporters but are also less racist than white Clinton supporters.

We spend the interview breaking down this survey, discussing why it is important, and what Karp has learned from writing about the Sanders campaign for Jacobin.  

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight the U.S. military's decision to charge no officers with crimes for the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz and the storming of parliament by Iraqis. We discuss Donald Trump's foreign policy speech, and the next phase of Bernie Sanders' campaign for president.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, the author of "From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation" joins the hosts, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola, to talk about her book. She talks about the Congressional Black Caucus, solidarity in the Black Lives Matter movement, poverty among Black Americans, and the Democratic Party and what kind of obstacle it presents to Black liberation, and more. 

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the Democratic presidential debate in Brooklyn, including the extraordinary part where Bernie Sanders went after Hillary Clinton for ignoring the plight of Palestinians in her defense of Israel. The hosts talk about Clinton's latest laughable answer for why she cannot release transcripts of her speeches to Goldman Sachs. They also talk about the Daily News editorial board meeting Clinton did, where she defended her role in the military coup in Honduras and argued it was legal. 

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the Panama Papers, a class action lawsuit by American Muslims against the No Fly List, a human rights hearing on water crises in the United States, and some more of the latest developments in the 2016 presidential election. 

Douglas Williams, a writer for the TheSouthLawn.org, returns to the show to talk about Bill Clinton's rant against Black Lives Matter protesters in Philadelphia. We discuss the crime bill in the 1990s. We discuss how the Clinton campaign has used African Americans against each other and how the Democratic primary race has perverted the concept of diversity. Williams calls this the "cognitive dissonance election," and we explore this idea during the interview. 

In Part II of Episode 9, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola address how a black student group at York University in Toronto attempted to have Khalek's speaking event canceled because they claimed she was "anti-black." Khalek provides an update on some Israel and Palestine news, and Gosztola provides a report from Chicago on the Chicago Teachers Union strike on April 1.

Drew Franklin, an independent candidate for an At-Large seat on the D.C. City Council, joins the show as our guest. Franklin is also an activist and a writer and journalist, whose work has appeared at Orchestrated Pulse and AlterNet.

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk to Franklin about his candidacy for the D.C. City Council, D.C. statehood and how the issue of statehood is intertwined with numerous issues, Deray McKesson's campaign for Baltimore mayor and Teach for America, which Franklin has written about, and why Franklin chose to run as an independent instead of a Democrat.

Adam Johnson, a contributing writer for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), joins the show to talk about media bias against Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. We highlight how the three cable news networks refused to air Sanders' speech after last week's primaries. We talk about the rapid response teams at Hillary Clinton's network of super PACs, which feed talking points and "off the record" tips to media organizations. Johnson also addresses the media's Donald Trump obsession and how Trump understands how to work the media so any and all coverage, negative or positive, benefits him. 

During the discussion, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola highlight the upcoming AIPAC conference and how all the presidential candidates will be attending except for Sanders. We recap the primaries of the past week and talk about shaming people for not voting. 

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. 

"Unauthorized Disclosure" returns for a third season. 

The first episode features an interview with journalist Dahr Jamail on his report for Truthout.org about how documents, which show the U.S. Navy SEALs planned to use citizens as pawns in war games in the state of Washington in January 2016. The Navy circumvented the process so the public could not object to their plans. It excluded clandestine trainings from regulations requiring environmental impact statements. Plans were made to allow SEALs to deploy for war games in residential areas, state parks, and national parks without any consent from the people. Moreover, the SEALs would treat citizens as potential terrorists or enemies during their war games. 

In the discussion portion, hosts Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek recap the past few weeks of 2016 and talk about Guantanamo, Obama's State of the Union speech, and U.S. government raids and deportations against refugees from Central America.

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?

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.

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." 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.   

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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?

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.

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.

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. 

Researcher at UK CAGE 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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." 

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. 

Freelance writer Roqayah Chamseddine joined the show to talk about some of the more significant and/or underreported stories of 2014. 

For the whole hour, hosts Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek, along with Chamseddine, discuss Ferguson and police brutality, the "Torture Report" and US funding of torture states, the Islamic State and Israel/Palestine and the assault on Gaza. 

The show comes to an end with a few book recommendations, and we lash out at a couple movies released on Christmas.