Michael Boldin describes the appalling state of an American government that has strayed so far from its founding principles as codified by the constitution. Today the federal government wields so much power over every aspect of our lives that the only rational choice is to seize as much control as possible while your party is winning, and then hope that your opponents don't abuse that same power too much while they are. Tom Woods calls this a perpetual low-grade civil war. The alternative,...

Michael Heise of the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus tells Scott about his work in his hometown to decriminalize marijuana. He describes the struggles trying to appeal to an overwhelmingly liberal populace and city council, but also the ways he's been able to make the libertarian message appeal to them on grounds of social justice and personal freedoms. Heise says that on the national scene libertarians can't be content to just be the vaguely centrist, moderate "third option"; the party needs...

Danny Sjursen talks about the ways his experience in Iraq convinced him of the futility of that war, allowing him to see things that the generals and the war planners often could not. Sjursen says that not all officers paid attention to the local situation or to the people their units were supposed to be working with. Failure to do so led to far greater casualties, among both American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Sadly the generals and politicians still seem unable or unwilling to learn the...

Philip Weiss discusses the latest in Israeli politics, where incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently been indicted on corruption charges. Neither Netanyahu nor his main opponent, Benny Gantz, have yet been able to form a government, and Weiss thinks this revelation may cause some of Netanyahu’s supporters in Parliament to jump ship. In America, Scott and Weiss agree that both democrats and republicans are horrible on recognizing the truth about Israel and Palestine, because...

Donald Bolduc shares some of his experience from his time overseas with the U.S. army during the terror wars. He spells out the fact that although America’s mission is ostensibly to suppress groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, we often end up supporting the very same people in one place that are the enemy elsewhere. This happened in Mali, fighting those we had supported in the regime change war in Libya in 2011, and in Syria, where America sided with Al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels in the rebellion...

Peter Van Buren rehashes some of the details behind the surveillance of the Trump campaign through FISA warrants on Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, which originally opened up the “Russiagate” investigation into Trump. Now the same anti-Trump plot has expanded into the current Ukraine hearings. Van Buren urges us to look beyond the partisan politics of 2019 and think about the effect this kind of conflict could have on the future of American life. Discussed on the show: “Marie Yovanovitch,...

David Stockman discusses everything that’s going on with Ukraine and President Trump right now, which he says is nothing more than a shallow ploy to oust the president and to gin up fear around the general threat of Ukrainian and Russian power. Stockman reminds us that compared to America Russia has a tiny GDP and a weak military, posing no credible threat to the U.S. They would be perfectly happy to get along with us, he says, if it weren’t for a deliberate effort to expand NATO right up to...

Scott interviews Ted Snider about his recent article, “Finally Got Him,” which explores the details behind the coup in Bolivia. Although it’s being held up as a triumph of democracy, Snider says this is obviously a coup, just like recent cases in Venezuela, Brazil, Ukraine, and many others. “Democracy”, in fact, pretty much just means whatever political outcome is favorable to the U.S. government. And for some reason, the puppets in the mainstream media are perfectly happy not to question any...

Reese Erlich has the latest on some of the many conflicts in the Middle East today. He first discusses the strange fact that most Americans seem utterly unaware of what’s going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians whose land they are occupying. Too often, the narrative is simply that Israel is an advanced, first world country that wants peace, and Palestine is just a group of savage terrorists bent on murdering Israelis. Erlich moves on to discuss the latest with the demonstrations in...

Scott talks to comedian Jimmy Dore about all the problems with the foreign policy positions of the Democratic presidential candidates. He and Scott agree that the only one with a halfway decent antiwar stance is Tulsi Gabbard, who the media has been trying their utmost to silence. Even Gabbard, though, has a fairly conventional view of the wars against Al-Qaeda, and what separates her is that she’s the one willing to oppose the wars America is fighting for Al-Qaeda. Dore says that...

Daniel Ellsberg discusses the Kings Bay Plowshares case, in which he was set to testify as an expert witness before such testimony was banned by the judge at the last moment. His testimony would have centered on the threat that these Trident missiles pose to end almost all human life on earth. He says most people are totally unaware of just how dangerous the global nuclear situation is at the moment, and how easily a nuclear war could be set off. Ellsberg applauds people like the Kings Bay...

Scott talks to Eric Margolis about the history of the Soviet Union and its aftermath, in honor of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall last week. Margolis reminds us what a mistake the Cold War was, as is the new Cold War that American neocons and neoliberals seem so intent on perpetuating. These people are not the Soviet Communists of yesteryear, and there is no reason we can’t get along with them. In fact, given the arsenal of nuclear weapons with the potential to end human life on...

Daniel McAdams talks with Scott about some of the unintended—or maybe not so unintended—consequences of America’s support for regime change revolutions all over the world. These include powerful drug cartels, the rise of regimes that are more extreme and violent than the ones they replaced, and immigration crises and terrorism that can come back to directly affect America and its allies. Not only is the current impeachment inquiry into Ukraine a direct result of the Obama administration’s...

Michael Bell shares the story of his son, who was killed by police in 2004 at age 21. Michael Jr. was coming home after a night out, was accosted by officers for spurious reasons, and was eventually fatally shot after one officer claimed Michael was trying to take his gun from him. Michael Sr. has spent the last 15 years putting together his own investigation into his son’s death, fighting to uncover the truth and to change unjust laws about police misconduct investigations. You can find out...

Ray McGovern explains some of the background to the current Ukraine impeachment inquiry, starting with the fact that Russia is obviously just being used today as a bogeyman and a scapegoat for fears of any potential challenge to absolute American global hegemony. McGovern reminds us that after the Russiagate narrative completely fell flat, the democrats and the mainstream media shifted seamlessly to supposed Ukraine corruption, without ever acknowledging the false narrative they’d been pushing...