Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek, who publishes to the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog, are the hosts of this podcast. 

This week, Gosztola interviews Jesselyn Radack, who is one of the defense lawyers for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and the director for the Government Accountability Project's National Security and Human Rights Division. She talks about the latest with Snowden, the one-year anniversary of Chelsea Manning's conviction, mass surveillance and its effects on whistleblowing, lawyers and journalists as well as various other stories from the past week that all have some connection to the government's efforts to control information. 

During the discussion segment, the case of oncologist Dr. Rafil Dhafir, is highlighted. He used his own charity to raise money for Iraqis affected by depleted uranium until the government criminalized his activity, put him on trial and had him jailed. He is currently in solitary confinement, and a phone number for the federal medical center where he is being held is provided to those who feel moved and want to urge the prison to let him out of solitary.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and independent journalist Rania Khalek are joined by Hatem Abudayyeh, who is a national coordinating committee member for the US Palestinian Community Network. He has been involved in organizing demonstrations in Chicago in support of Palestinians and against Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza. He also had his home raided by the FBI in 2010 (along with 22 other activists) for his engagement in Palestinian solidarity activism and remains under a cloud of investigation that the Justice Department refuses to bring to an end, even though he has not been indicted or charged with any crime.

Abudayyeh discusses how the police handle Palestinian supporters versus the supporters of Israel, the upper-class gun-toting Zionist who was arrested in Chicago, efforts to suppress Palestinian solidarity activism and also the political case of Rasmea Odeh, who is a Palestinian on trial for alleged immigration fraud

Later, Khalek provides an update on Gaza and the West Bank. Gosztola highlights how CIA director John Brennan and former CIA officials are plotting to discredit the Senate intelligence committee's torture report and The Intercept's story on the National Counterterrorism Center's criteria for placing people on government watchlists.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and independent journalist Rania Khalek are joined by Deepa Kumar, an associate professor in the journalism and media studies department of Rutgers University and author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire. Kumar explores how the US media has been covering Palestinians in Gaza, especially as Israel's assault has escalated. She also provides context for why five named Muslim Americans became targets of the NSA and FBI, as The Intercept reported just over a week ago.

During a shorter discussion portion, we talk about Israel's ground invasion and how Israel is blaming Hamas for all the civilians who die. We also highlight censorship news organizations like NBC News and CNN have imposed on reporters covering Gaza. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and independent journalist Rania Khalek are joined by Todd Miller, a journalist who has covered US-Mexico border issues for over 15 years. He is the author of Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security. He appears on the show to provide historical context for why tens of thousands of children and their families have fled Central American countries to the US-Mexico border. He also addresses how private corporations stand to benefit from detention centers that the Obama administration plans to develop or build. 

During the discussion portion, Khalek provides an update on Israel's assault on Gaza, and Gosztola provides some comments on the NSA spying on American Muslims.  

This week we highlight efforts to get water to Detroit residents, who have had their water shut off by the city. We highlight Wiley Gill, a victim of an American domestic surveillance system known as the National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and independent journalist Rania Khalek are joined by The Nation's sports correspondent, Dave Zirin, to talk about the World Cup, FIFA, the sports "shock doctrine," Brazil culture and history, as well as the militarization of areas in and around the sites of the games. Zirin discusses numerous details from his book, "Brazil's Dance with the Devil," now available from Haymarket Books. We also discuss the protests and how they have pushed mainstream media to pay more attention to issues that arise from hosting mega-events like the World Cup or Olympics.

During the discussion portion, we talk about child refugees crossing the US-Mexico border, the Justice Department's decision to finally drop charges against Sami al-Arian and developments with Israel, particularly those related to the murder of a Palestinian teen. 

There's ten to fifteen extra minutes this week, as we talked to Zirin for about 40 minutes. Enjoy. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek, an independent journalist, are joined by Nafeez Ahmed, who is a writer and contributor to The Guardian. His most recent articles have covered the militarization of social science; specifically, the Pentagon's funding of research into preparing for a civil breakdown as well as how both the security agencies in both the United Kingdom and the United States regard differnt types of activists and factions of the poor as threats. We talk with him for over a half hour about the implications of this militarized social science. 

In the discussion portion of the show, we talk about the memo released this past week - with redactions - containing the Obama's "legal" justification for targeting and assassinating US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki. We also discuss the victory thirteen US citizens placed on the No-Fly List won in court and the water shut-offs occurring in Detroit. 

Dahr Jamail, a staff reporter for Truthout.org, is the guest this week. 

Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek are joined by Josmar Trujillo, a writer and activist who organizes with New Yorkers Against Bratton. Trujillo talks about police raids that took place where alleged members of gangs in Harlem were rounded up by the NYPD in a show of force. He discusses organizing for police reform now that Bill Bratton is NYPD chief and Bill de Blasio has been elected New York City mayor. 

In the discussion part of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about the crisis of immigrant children crossing the US-Mexico border and the escalating conflict in Iraq. Khalek also recounts what happened at a Ta-Nehisi Coates event when she tried to get him to answer a question about reparations for African-Americans. 

Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek interview journalist Max Blumenthal about his work covering Israel and the pushback he gets for be willing to report on Israeli military occupation. Blumenthal discusses the American left's reaction to his journalism and how Democrats like Rep. Alan Grayson are terrible on the issue of Palestine and Israel. 

In a shorter discussion portion, Gosztola talks about the Left Forum in New York and groups like police reform groups that seem to have given up on struggling now that Bill Bratton is NYPD chief and Bill de Blasio is mayor

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Keane Bhatt, a DC-based activist and writer. He talks to us about a letter signed by individuals like two Nobel Peace laureates. The letter was written to pressure Human Rights Watch to close its "revolving door" and be more independent from the US government. Bhatt shares some examples of why those concerned with human rights should raise this issue with this organization, even as the organization is doing some critically important work on human rights. 

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss the UC Santa Barbara shooting, Venezuela sanctions, Obama as deporter-in-chief, proxy forces being used by the US government, a California Supreme Court decision on police secrecy around shootings, a lawsuit against an incident of mass detention in Aurora, Colorado, and Edward Snowden's NBC interview. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch. Wareham is the advocacy director for the arms division of Human Rights Watch and spearheads a global coalition to ban killer robots. She was recently in Geneva for the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) meeting to discuss how countries should respond to the rise of this technology.

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss media organizations challenging secrecy around execution drugs for lethal injections, US citizens' support for the death penalty, a global survey that found 4 in 10 believe their governments would torture them if they were taken into custody, Guantanamo force-feedings and media coverage of Palestinian Nakba Day. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Carlos Garcia, the director of the Puente Arizona, which is part of a global movement for migrant justice and human rights. Garcia joined others from several states to come to Washington, DC, to speak to representatives of Congress about Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) "bed quotas." Every year, 34,000 beds have to be occupied by the bodies of immigrants in the process of deportation.

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss US forces sent in to Nigeria to help rescue kidnapped girls from Boko Haram, the US-Djibouti relationship that has helped make drone warfare and rendition possible, McClatchy journalist Adam Baron being deported from Yemen, James Clapper's massive gag policy on intelligence employees citing "known leaks" and Israeli stealing of US industrial secrets.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Rachel Meeropol of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Meeropol is a senior staff attorney, who argued in court this week that the FBI should not have rounded up Muslims in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and former US officials should be held responsible. Meeropol also discusses developments in a CCR lawsuit involving Communications Management Units (CMUs) in two US prisons. The units impose restrictive conditions and disproportionately affect Muslims and prisoners who maintain their political beliefs while imprisoned.

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss John Kerry's now-blasphemous comment—his use of the word "apartheid" (oh my!), Prince Georges Police Department's plan to live tweet a prostitution sting, a rather troubling instance of larger organizations policing dissent during the May Day march in Chicago. We also share some thoughts on surveillance panels dominated purely by white men. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Rooj Alwazir of the Support Yemen media collective. Alwazir is based in Sanaa, Yemen, and provides an update on the reported drone strikes and air strikes in country of which US and Yemen governments have been involved. She describes the cycle of violence along with what Americans are not hearing about the extent to which the attacks are unfortunately having the negative effect of making Yemenis more sympathetic to al Qaeda.

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss a prison hunger strike that was halted in Alabama, #myNYPD, a Jersey City man who was blinded after being shot by police but faces 30 years in prison, the FBI coercing Muslims to become informants by placing them on the No Fly List and James Clapper's gag order for intelligence employees so they don't talk to the press. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Pardiss Kebriaei, a staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, to discuss the Awlaki decision. She is the leading attorney on the case which a judge dismissed and addresses what the families of US citizens were seeking from their government after their sons were killed in drone strikes. She also outlines some of the most troubling aspects of the judge's decision. 

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss FBI agents on JSOC raids in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Albuquerque police, "Cuban Twitter" and President Barack Obama as this country's deporter-in-chief. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog host a special episode with voices sharing the experiences in the war on Palestinian solidarity activism on college or university campuses in America. 

Iymen Chehade, a professor who teaches the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Columbia College Chicago, recounts how his academic freedom was violated by the college after he chose to screen the documentary 5 Broken Cameras to students. Farah and Suha, two University of Michigan students, discuss their struggle to get a divestment resolution passed and how the student government tried to silence and ignore them. And Tori Porell, a student at Northeastern University and president in exile for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, describes how the university banned SJP and targeted Arab or Muslim students they thought were associated with the group. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Molly Crabapple, an artist and writer who recently published, "Theater of Justice," for Vice, which described how trials she had attended to draw sketches were like performances. She discusses her work and how she chooses what to sketch next.

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about ABC News hiring former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, the White House launching a community channel on Buzzfeed, Mike Rogers leaving Congress to become Glenn Beck and how Obama rewrote the history of the Iraq War when denouncing Russia.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Aviva Stahl, a journalist and contributor to The Nation. Kayyali discusses her recent story on how the British government is stripping dual citizens of their citizenship. These individuals are subsequently being attacked or targeted by US drones or, in some cases, they are being subject to rendition. At least one man ended up in a US prison in Manhattan. 

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about former RT anchor Liz Wahl and the role that a neoconservative from Bill Kristol's think tank played in encouraging her to resign. They highlight the anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq and criticize the media for generally ignoring what the US did to the country and continues to do by supporting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government and his brutal security forces. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Nadia Kayyali, an activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Kayyali discusses her role in the effort in Oakland to stop the proposed Domain Awareness Center (DAC), a surveillance hub. Activists and resident groups seem to have stopped it from metastasizing into the city. It will only monitor the area in and around the Port of Oakland. Yet, like any surveillance project, it could easily grow. 

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about the latest bombing of Gaza from Israel, the six US drone strikes in Yemen this month, corrupt prosecutors in the Justice Department, what happened when the US was confronted on its human rights record by a UN panel this past week and how the CIA doesn't want the fact that torture was official policy to be undisputed so it has fought the Senate. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Dahr Jamail, a staff reporter for Truthout.org. Jamail discusses his latest reporting on what has happened with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's forces in Fallujah. He also outlines some of the residual effects of the US occupation that Iraq is still experiencing, including the fact that forces are responsible for rape, torture and executions.

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about RT anchors, who decided to protest, to varying degrees. They discuss what the US media conveniently ignored and make some larger points about RT and the US media. And then, the detention of CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin in Cairo, where thuggish security officers broke her arms, is highlighted. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Eva Golinger, an American-Venezuelan lawyer and author of The Chavez Code. She puts the recent "crisis" in Venezuela into context by comparing it to the 2002 coup. She also highlights the role of private media in Venezuelan society, who are the leaders of the "opposition" and why the US government and American elites have considered the Bolivarian revolution a threat. 

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about a spat between Daily Beast reporter Eli Lake and national security journalist Joshua Foust. And, ahead of the Oscars, Gosztola calls attention to some of the films nominated that actually are worth seeing. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Paula Swearingen, a mother in West Virginia an an organizer who shares details on the impact of a chemical spill. She opens up about the impact of coal on West Virginians and how the industry controls people's lives.

This was the show's pilot episode, recorded on January 18, 2014. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Raven Rakia, an independent journalist. She discusses the verdict in the Michael Dunn trial, respectability politics that black people are often expected to follow, colorblind prosecutors and racist violence that the justice system has a way of making legitimate.

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss a man being shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent after allegedly throwing a rock at the agent, the LAPD's new love affair with drones—in Israel, the decision in an NYPD spying lawsuit brought by Muslims and the decision in the David Miranda case that has profound implications for press freedom, especially in the United Kingdom, and gives security services permission to treat journalists like terrorists.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Nima Shirazi, an analyst of US foreign policy toward the Middle East. Shirazi also an editor for Muftah.org and blogs at "Wide Asleep in America." Shirazi discusses the agreement over Iran's nuclear program, how AIPAC lost in its effort to win more sanctions against Iran and, in general, the charade the US and Israel has played to propagate myths about the country's nuclear program. 

During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss the abduction of drone victim, journalist and activist Kareem Khan in Pakistan, Joint Special Operations Command's use of NSA metadata for drone killings and a Malaysian doctoral student's placement on the no-fly list and how the Obama administration abused state secrets and secrecy to get away with violating her rights. 

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek, who publishes the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog, interview Kade Crockford, a director for the Technology for Liberty Project of the ACLU of Massachusetts. We discuss what is known about how all levels of government in the United States use surveillance capabilities or tools to target activists as if they are terrorists.

Following the interview portion of the podcast, Khalek and I discuss Sodastream and Scarlett Johansson and a couple of very disturbing cases where cavity searches by police allegedly occurred. Then, I read from some transcripts of court proceedings in the 'NATO 3,' giving listeners a flavor for what it has been like to be in the courtroom doing coverage.