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Scott interviewed Max Blumenthal on Antiwar Radio this week about his new documentary Atrocity Inc. Everything Israel is currently doing in Gaza is being justified by a series of atrocities that it claims Hamas committed on October 7th. But Blumenthal and his colleagues at the Gray Zone have uncovered the fact that many of the most horrific and dramatic stories are either outright fabrications or were actually atrocities committed by the IDF that were later blamed on Hamas. Blumenthal and Scott discuss what he uncovered and documented in this new film.

Discussed on the show:

• Atrocity Inc: How Israel Sells Its Destruction Of Gaza

Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project and the author Goliath, Republican Gomorrah and The 51 Day War. Follow him on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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Scott talks to Dave Smith about the upcoming election and the role of the Libertarian Party in presidential politics. Both agree that the right move for the Party, given that it has essentially no chance of winning the presidency in the near future, is simply to spread the message of liberty to as many people as possible, just as Ron Paul did during his campaigns. Instead, the LP seems more focused on saying the politically correct thing, not offending too many people and accepting a few percentage points at the ballot box. This strategy is sure fail in waking people up to the radical message of libertarianism that our country so desperately needs. Scott and Smith also discuss the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the likely fallout from the Republicans’ attempts to install a new justice before January 2021.

Discussed on the show:

• “9/11/20 Ford Fischer on the Unified Activism the Media Doesn’t Want You to See” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “Leaked phone recordings reveal CNN head supported then-candidate Trump during 2016 elections” (One America News Network)
• Hate Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another
  
• “War Crime Risk Grows for U.S. Over Saudi Strikes in Yemen” (The New York Times)
• “9/18/20 Nasser Arrabyee on the Continued Horrors of the War in Yemen” (The Libertarian Institute)
• Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War
  
• “9/11/20 Ted Snider on the Israel-UAE Normalization Agreement” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “9/17/20 Ted Snider on the Bahrain ‘Peace’ Agreement” (The Libertarian Institute)

Dave Smith is the host of the podcast Part of the Problem and a member of Legion of Skanks. His debut comedy special, Libertas, reached #1 on iTunes. Follow him on Twitter @ComicDaveSmith.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Gareth Porter discusses the slow death of the “Russiagate” narrative, which has been allowed to live on mainly because of deliberate obfuscation by democrats and the mainstream media. Rarely do they lie outright about the facts, says Porter—instead they will cherry-pick statements from favorable experts and make vague references to incidents where some website or database was accessed by a computer somewhere in Russia. None of this is enough to prove actual Russian interference in the 2016 election, and probably isn’t meant to be. But for those who already refuse to accept the results of the election, and who will look for any morsel of evidence to sustain their theory, no matter how outlandish, these tactics prove to be effective.

Discussed on the show:

• “Dark web voter database report casts new doubts on Russian election hack narrative” (The Grayzone)
• “Russia Targeted Election Systems in All 50 States, Report Finds” (The New York Times)

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state. He is the author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare and, with John Kiriakou, The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Muhammad Sahimi discusses Mike Pompeo’s continual efforts to provoke a war between the U.S. and Iran, or to incite regime change from within. His “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign is part of the quest to attain one of these outcomes, a policy that Sahimi thinks is both doomed to fail and incredibly dangerous for America. The JCPOA, negotiated by the Obama administration, helped to take the excuse for war off the table, easing tensions between the U.S. and Iran. But President Trump withdrew from the deal almost right away, and his administration has been making aggressive moves toward them ever since. Sahimi reminds us just how dangerous such a conflict would be, given the size and military power of Iran.

Discussed on the show:

• “When it comes to Iran, how many failures is enough for Pompeo?” (The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft)
• “Another Opinion Columnist Pushing War With Iran Who Doesn’t Actually Exist” (The American Conservative)

Muhammad Sahimi is a professor of chemical engineering at USC, Iranian expatriate, and expert on Iranian and U.S. foreign policy.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott talks to Grant Smith about the role of evangelical Christians in the Zionist movement in America. Grant examines the premise that evangelicals are the most significant driving force behind American support for Israel, a popular notion ever since George Bush Sr. blamed his loss to Bill Clinton on his failure to appease evangelical voters on the issue of Israel. But Smith argues that their influence is overblown. He says that the power wielded by actual lobbying groups like AIPAC are still the overwhelming driving force in shaping U.S. policy toward Israel, pushing for things like weapons sales, anti-BDS legislation and the moving of the American embassy to Jerusalem.

Discussed on the show:

• “Are Christian Zionists the ‘Largest Pro-Israel Lobby’?” (Antiwar.com Original)
• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
• “The Clinton Administration’s Approach to the Middle East” (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
• “Antisemitism think tank ISGAP got grant from Israel” (The Forward)
• “Watch the film the Israel lobby didn’t want you to see” (Electronic Intifada)
• IsraelLobbyCon 2021

Grant F. Smith is the author of a number of books including Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby Moves America, Divert!, and most recently The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. He is director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott interviews Tana Ganeva about her recent article detailing the death of a woman due to medical neglect in one of America’s worst private jails. Holly Barlow-Austin, an HIV patient, was detained for violating probation starting in April, and within a few short months of brutal neglect, had died. Ganeva hopes to bring attention to this story and others like it through her reporting on private prisons and corrupt police departments.

Discussed on the show:

• “In April, She Was Jailed on a Probation Violation. By June, She Was Dead.” (Reason)

Tana Ganeva is a reporter covering criminal justice, drug policy, immigration, and politics. Follow her on Twitter @TanaGaneva.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Nassar Arrabyee discusses the war in Yemen, where the Trump administration is now approaching four years of continued support for Saudi Arabia in their war of genocide against the Yemeni population. The UN estimates that close to a quarter of a million civilians have died there since Obama helped start this war, and Arrabyee says that with all the excess deaths from malnutrition and deprivation, there is good reason to believe that that number is much higher. Scott reminds us that the war in Yemen differs from other modern wars in the Middle East in that in most of America’s wars, civilians are just tragic collateral damage—in Yemen, on the other hand, deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure has been the strategy all along.

Discussed on the show:

• “War Crime Risk Grows for U.S. Over Saudi Strikes in Yemen” (The New York Times)
• “Saudi Arabia announces more than $200 million in UN aid funding to Yemen” (CNN)
• “Yemen war dead could hit 233,000 by 2020 in what UN calls ‘humanity’s greatest preventable disaster’” (The Independent)

Nasser Arrabyee is a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a, Yemen. He is the owner and director of yemen-now.com. You can follow him on Twitter @narrabyee.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Joe Lauria comments on the last few days of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing. He notes a movement on the part of the prosecution away from their previous tack, which was to argue that Assange was not really a journalist, but actually engaging in hacking and intelligence himself. By establishing that, they may have been able to avoid the obvious problem that the prosecution of Assange could create a precedent for the prosecution of any news organization that published classified documents. The British prosecution may have realized that this strategy was not working because of the obvious double standard it relied on. Instead, they are continuing to hit Assange with the charge that he deliberately revealed the names of confidential informants. Again, Lauria explains, the reality is that Assange worked very hard to redact such informants before Wikileaks released them—much harder, in fact, than mainstream news outlets did when publishing the same information. Assange even went to the U.S. government for help in knowing what was important to redact in the name of national security, but the government refused to help. To claim wrongdoing on Assange’s part now, says Lauria, is the height of hypocrisy.

Discussed on the show:

• “Daily Video Report on Assange Hearing–Day 9” (Consortium News)
• Hit & Run
• “State Department Cables” (WikiLeaks)
• “Baghdad War Diary” (WikiLeaks)
• “Kabul War Diary” (WikiLeaks)
• WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy
  
• Iraq Body Count
• A Political Odyssey
  
• “Schenck v. United States” (Oyez)

Joe Lauria is the editor-in-chief at Consortium News. He is a former UN correspondent and wrote at the Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal. You can follow him on Twitter @unjoe.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Ted Snider comes back for an update on the recent round of “peace deals” conducted by President Trump over the last few weeks. Now Bahrain has joined the normalization agreement between the U.S., Israel and the UAE, a move that Trump and his allies are hailing as unprecedented, but which Snider believes is a great deal of fanfare with very little substance. For one thing, he reminds us that these countries can’t declare peace, since they were not at war; they’ve already been at peace for decades. These deals amount to a public announcement of policies that in practice have been in place for a long time—this is simply an opportunity for the leaders of these countries to get some positive PR. Snider says that on the other hand, we have to consider what this means for the Palestinians, whose cause was long championed by Arab nations that refused to negotiate with Israel until the Palestinian situation had been addressed. These deals also promise a great deal of American weaponry to our allies, which will only serve to ratchet up tensions with Iran, against whom this posturing is obviously directed.

Discussed on the show:

• “Peace Plans That Have Nothing To Do With Peace” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “What’s in the Israel/UAE Agreement? Here’s Five Things That Aren’t” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “Israel Asks US for $8 Billion in Warplanes for ‘Qualitative’ Edge” (News From Antiwar.com)

Ted Snider has a graduate degree in philosophy and writes on analyzing patterns in U.S. foreign policy and history. He is a regular writer for Truthout, MondoWeiss and antiwar.com.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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