Scott talks to Jacob Sullum about the many ways policing in America disproportionately targets black and hispanic communities, both by means of explicitly racist policies, and also those that have racially skewed impacts without necessarily having been conceived that way in the first place. Sullum cites many examples of the disparate treatment of black and brown people that are difficult to dismiss with explanations based on differential crime rates or heavier police presences in certain...

Scott interviews Jeff Abramson about America’s convoluted process for selling weapons to foreign governments. The arms trade is a multi-billion dollar industry for private firms like Raytheon—but it’s also a process that is highly controlled by the U.S. government, muddying the incentives and leading to a public-private partnership with very little accountability and unfailingly terrible results. Abramson describes the circular way in which weapons companies and various branches of government...

Patrick Cockburn joins the show for an update on Julian Assange, who continues to languish in jail as he awaits the results of his possible extradition from Britain to the U.S. on charges under the Espionage Act. Scott and Cockburn revisit the important role Assange has played in exposing government malfeasance over the last decade, including, notably, by enabling the heroic leaks by Chelsea Manning, which provided the source material for tens of thousands of news stories that the public...

Dave DeCamp shares the tragic story of David McAtee, the owner of a barbecue restaurant in Louisville who was killed by National Guard troops during a recent night of protests. McAtee was cooking for a group of friends and customers several miles away from the nearest crowds of protesters, but the police showed up to enforce the city’s new curfew nonetheless. A small crowd began to rush toward McAtee’s restaurant, and thinking that it may have been looters, McAtee retrieved the gun he legally...

Ali Abunimah discusses the odd relationship between U.S. policing and the Israeli government. He describes the way higher-ups at many American police departments are sent on all-expenses paid trips by the Israel lobby, where they learn counter-terrorism tactics from the Israeli military. This is framed as a way to keep U.S. cops on the cutting edge, but really has the effect of making them view their communities as insurgents that need to be suppressed. No wonder, then, that police in America...

Jake Johnston discusses the coup in Bolivia last year following accusations of election fraud by former President Evo Morales. Leading up to the election, the Organization of American States had raised concerns about the legitimacy of the election, given Morales’ decision to seek another term in excess of official term limits. On the other hand, a Bolivian court had previously ruled that the move was constitutional. In any case, the OAS and its allies in the U.S. quickly claimed that early...

Kelley Vlahos discusses the scandalous ties between the arms industry and the American government, starting with the fact that so many members of the Defense Department are former employees of top arms firms like Raytheon, Lockheed, and Northrop Grumman—and vice versa. This revolving door inevitably leads to a deliberate alignment of the interests of these two parties, meaning more unnecessary wars in the Middle East so we can make and sell more bombs. In particular, the entire justification...

Scott and Matt Agorist discuss the recent protests against police brutality that have swept through cities across the nation. Both agree that America’s police are in serious need of reform, though see deficiencies in the proposed solutions of movements like Black Lives Matter. For example, trying to end the war on drugs would remove the excuse for most police interactions in the first place, particularly those with racial minorities and in poor neighborhoods. Simply trying to eliminate...

Scott talks to Ray McGovern about the June 8th anniversary of the USS Liberty attack, a U.S. ship that was fired on by Israeli forces during the 1967 Six-Day War. The Israelis claimed the attack had been an accident, but evidence at the time—not to mention a more recent investigation—showed that it was really an intentional attack. More than 30 sailors were killed and over 100 injured, yet all the survivors were ordered to keep silent under pain of court martial, and such orders went all the...

Scott talks to David Stockman about his latest article on the economic fallout from the coronavirus lockdowns. Stockman begins by pointing out a startling fact: though the stock market has now returned to all-time highs, the American job numbers are back down to where they were in the year 2000. This economic bloodbath, he insists, is not the effect of the virus at all—it is simply the result of a forced shutdown that never needed to happen. Why, then, are financial markets doing so well? Only...

Danny Sjursen discusses America’s absurd Afghan War strategy for the last nearly two decades. Sjursen served in Afghanistan during the Obama surge, seeing firsthand the utter futility of America’s attempt to conquer and rule a country that for centuries has been the graveyard of empires. Scott and Sjursen are hopeful that President Trump will follow through on some of his rhetoric and instincts and actually try to end this war, though they realize how difficult it will be even for a president...

Scott talks to Coleen Rowley about the failures in America’s intelligence agencies that contributed to the 9/11 attacks, and that continue to plague us today. She reminds us that three FBI agents in three different states tried to pass very specific warnings to their higher-ups about the possibility of an attack like the one on September 11th, but were ignored in all three cases. After 9/11, of course, our politicians assented to an unprecedented expansion of surveillance powers, most likely...

Ron Enzweiler discusses the narratives surrounding domestic terrorist attacks like the one in Pensacola, Florida last December. Too often, these incidents are practically ignored, disappearing from the news before anyone can dig deeply into the details. When they are covered, the story often conveniently revolves around the idea that the attacker supposedly hated American freedoms or was simply radicalized by a dangerous form of Islam. In reality, says Enzweiler, these terrorists are often...

Max Blumenthal discusses the outrageous treatment of Julian Assange during his time at the Ecuadorian embassy in London over the last few years, and since his arrest last year. Blumenthal has reported on the extensive spying Assange was subjected to at the embassy, and on the scandalous connection between the Sheldon Adelson-backed security firm, UC Global, and an espionage campaign overseen by the CIA that attempted to illegally gather information on Assange, and possibly even kidnap him from...

Scott interviews James Bradley about the growing threat of war with China, evinced by political rhetoric, public sentiment, and media coverage. The thing is, Scott and Bradley agree, this threat has no real basis in any bellicosity on China’s part. It is mainly the result of powerful interest groups who stand to gain from hostilities, and the rabble rousers who exploit a natural need in the American people to find a scapegoat for domestic problems. The problem, of course, is that an actual...