Sam Husseini talks about the new film, "Official Secrets", which tells the story of Katharine Gun, a British intelligence analyst who leaked information about the false case for war in Iraq to the press in 2003. Scott and Husseini also talk about Joe Biden's record on opposing the war—at the time he was perfectly willing to go along with the war, but now he has to pretend he's been an opponent all along. Discussed on the show: "Film ‘Official Secrets’ is the Tip of a Mammoth Iceberg"...
9/6/19 Asa Winstanley on the Documentary the Israel Lobby Doesn’t Want You to See
Asa Winstanley reminds us about the incredibly important documentary, The Lobby USA, which was produced but then shut down by Al Jazeera, and finally released by Winstanley’s organization, The Electronic Intifada. The documentary exposes the unbelievable power and reach of Israeli lobbying in American politics through undercover reporting, meaning everything comes directly from the people involved. All four parts of the documentary are available on YouTube and at electronicintifada.net....
8/30/19 John Kiriakou on the Deep State’s Search for a ‘Russiagate’ Scalp
John Kiriakou fills in some of the details of the real story of Maria Butina, the alleged Russian spy who is said to have conspired with the 2016 Trump campaign. The problem with the official narrative, explains Kiriakou, is that Butina is not a spy at all and there’s no evidence for illegal activity, except for a Foreign Agents Registration form that she should have filled out but did not. For this relatively minor, first time offense, Butina is serving more than a year in prison and has had...
8/30/19 Danny Sjursen on the Hidden Cost of America’s Endless Wars and How Trump Could End Them
Danny Sjursen explains why staying in Afghanistan, even indefinitely, won’t make any difference in its eventual outcome. Right now the U.S. military is only enforcing the Kabul government’s grip on a small part of the country, and if they leave, either the Taliban will take over the country, or Kabul will hang on to an even smaller sliver. These are the two possible outcomes, says Sjursen, and it doesn’t make a difference if America withdraws today, next year, or in another twenty years. The...
8/30/19 Jim Bronke on Joe Biden’s Role in the Iraq War and the Media’s Refusal to Cover It
Scott interviews Jim Bronke about Joe Biden’s role, as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in militating for the invasion of Iraq in 2002. He deliberately stacked hearings meant to examine the potential threat of Iraqi WMD with war hawks that he knew would support the conclusions he wanted them to. Today, most democratic politicians and voters don’t seem to care at all about Biden’s worst crimes, and instead like to focus on comparatively trivial issues like his stance on busing...
8/27/19 Gar Alperovitz: the Decision to Nuke Japan
Historian Gar Alperovitz shares the history of America’s use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Contrary to what most of us learned in school, many of the top military officers and intelligence officials were adamant at the time that use of the bombs was unnecessary to get the Japanese to surrender, which they expected to happen as soon as the Soviet Union invaded. The bombs were used instead as a political maneuver to intimidate the Russians, but which of course only led to the...
8/28/19 Q&A Show
Scott answers questions from the Reddit room.
8/26/19 Philip Weiss on the Zionist Doctrine of the Trump Whitehouse
Scott interviews Philip Weiss about Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the way the Palestinian people have been completely deprived of their rights there. Weiss is glad that the recent fiasco around Rashida Tlaib’s and Ilhan Omar’s visit to Israel has brought publicity to the BDS movement, but is baffled that most Americans are either unaware of Israel’s gross abuses, or simply don’t care. Discussed on the show: “Trump is parroting Zionist doctrine: U.S. Jews must be loyal to Israel”...
8/26/19 Jacob Hornberger on the Trump Economy and Jeffrey Epstein
Jacob Hornberger explains why the American president has become a democratically elected dictator, largely through the president’s power to manage the economy by threatening businesses, negotiating trade agreements with foreign countries, and issuing executive orders that impact the way private companies run their businesses. Donald Trump has put this on display the way few previous presidents ever have, but his protectionist policies are also a big part of what got him elected by...
8/23/19 Peter Van Buren: the Hiroshima Myth
Scott talks to Peter Van Buren about the effects of war on American culture. They discuss the fact that America has been at war almost constantly for its entire history, ever since the nation was formed by overthrowing the British. Having an external enemy supposedly allows people to put their differences aside and feel unity as a country, but it comes at the cost of money, lives, and an ever-increasing encroachment of government power into the private sphere. Van Buren also discusses his...
8/19/19 Trevor Aaronson on the Case of Hamid Hayat
The Intercept’s Trevor Aaronson joins the show to talk about the travesty of justice in the trial of Hamid Hayat, who has finally been released after nearly 15 years in prison. Hayat was an alleged terrorist, convicted based on a coerced confession he gave to FBI agents under duress, as well as recordings from his conversations with an FBI informant who had pretended to befriend Hayat’s family. Hayat is just one of many such cases of U.S. government entrapment, which make up the majority of...
8/16/19 Gareth Porter Debunks the Claims of State Election System Hacking
Gareth Porter explains why the claim that the Russian government “hacked all 50 U.S. states” is false—namely, the states themselves know that their systems were intact! The narrative has nonetheless been pushed continuously, as democrats try to justify Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss by any means necessary. Discussed on the show: “U.S. States: We Weren’t Hacked by Russians in 2016” (The American Conservative)“Russia Targeted Election Systems in All 50 States, Report Finds” (The New York Times)...
8/16/19 John Mueller on Finally Ending the War in Afghanistan
Scott interviews Cato’s John Mueller about why it’s time to leave Afghanistan. Fundamentally, the Taliban cannot be defeated at any remotely acceptable cost of American lives and U.S. dollars, says Mueller, and at the same time military interventions has only made the Al-Qaeda problem—America’s original enemies—even worse. Fortunately, it seems like President Trump might see ending the war in Afghanistan as a possible path to reelection. Discussed on the show: “Overcoming Inertia: Why It’s...
8/16/19 Alan Kuperman on America’s Support for Al-Qaeda in Libya
Alan Kuperman explains the true story of the 2011 civil war in Libya, which the United States famously and disastrously supported. Contrary to the narrative that this uprising was started by regular, educated citizens like doctors and lawyers, Kuperman and his research assistants discovered that the key actors fomenting revolution were actually Al-Qaeda veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Kuperman reflects on the dangers of reckless use of American military force throughout the years. Discussed...
8/16/19 Max Blumenthal on Joe Biden’s Catastrophic Record in Latin America
Max Blumenthal explains how the policies of the Obama administration, pushed by Joe Biden in particular, have fueled the migration crisis in Latin America we see today. Notably, America gave material support to the Colombian regime that massacred thousands of innocent civilians and dressed them as guerrilla revolutionaries in order to claim they were winning the war, and thereby get more aid from the U.S. Biden also supported brutal regimes in Honduras, El Salvador, and other countries, whose...
