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Scott interviews journalist Kevin Gosztola about Julian Assange’s testimony to the Council of European Parliamentarians — his first public speaking appearance since he was released from prison three months ago. Scott and Gosztola talk about what he said, how he appears to be doing and what this all means for the future of Wikileaks.

Discussed on the show:

• Video of Assange’s testimony
• The transcript
• “WikiLeaks cables: Saudis proposed Arab force to invade Lebanon” (The Guardian)

Kevin Gosztola is the managing editor of Shadowproof. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, “Unauthorized Disclosure.” He is the author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange. Follow him on Twitter @kgosztola.

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 interviews Patrick Eddington about the surveillance of U.S. citizens and the legislation that allows it. Although the USA Freedom Act ostensibly rolls back the NSA’s metadata program, it really only tweaks a technicality of whom the organization allowed to spy on, and has done nothing to limit the overall amount of data collected. Similar efforts to curtail the surveillance apparatus have met with concerns of increased terrorism. But Eddington reminds us that there’s never been a single proven case where electronic surveillance prevented an attack, so these programs do nothing but infringe on our liberty.

Discussed on the show:

• “The Snowden Effect, Six Years On” (Cato Institute)
• USA Freedom Act
• “Executive Orders” (National Archives)
• “PATRIOT Act” (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
• “Declassified Report Shows Doubts About Value of N.S.A.’s Warrantless Spying” (The New York Times)

Patrick Eddington is a research fellow at the Cato Institute, an ex-CIA analyst, and a former senior staffer in the House of Representatives. Follow him on Twitter @PGEddington.

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

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Jim Bovard reflects on the legacy of Barack Obama’s presidency in light of Donald Trump’s. Obama is garnering favorable comparisons now, explains Bovard, but we shouldn’t forget all of the horrible things he did, especially on civil liberties and foreign wars. The cycle of corruption and lies continues with President Trump, whose presidency will more than likely lead to the reactionary election of yet another charlatan.

Discussed on the show:

• “Obama’s Forgotten Frauds and Debacles” (The Future of Freedom Foundation)
• “William Barr’s Connection to Ruby Ridge, Defending FBI Snipers” (The American Conservative)
• “Obama: “We Don’t Have A Domestic Spying Program” | Video” (RealClearPolitics)
• “FBI Agent Can’t Be Charged in Ruby Ridge Case” (LA Times)

Jim Bovard is a columnist for USA Today and the author of Public Policy Hooligan: Rollicking and Wrangling from Helltown to Washington. Find all of his books and read his work on his website and follow him on Twitter @JimBovard.

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

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Scott talks to Doug Bandow about North Korea, China, Russia, and the rest of eastern Europe. Bandow holds out hope for the negotiations with North Korea, but fears the dangerous rhetoric coming from neoconservatives about America’s relationship with China. They are not America’s enemies, he explains, they just want their own region to be free of U.S. influence.

Discussed on the show:

• “China Isn’t an Enemy and Hawks Shouldn’t Turn It Into One” (The American Conservative)
• “Forget the U.S.-China Trade War: Is a Conflict Over Taiwan the Real Threat?” (Cato Institute)
• “The Latest Balkans Breakdown Is None of Washington’s Business” (Cato Institute)
• “Understanding the Failure of U.S. Foreign Policy: The Albright Doctrine” (The National Interest)

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a regular contributor at Forbes Magazine, the National Interest, and elsewhere. He’s on Twitter @Doug_Bandow.

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

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Eli Clifton discusses the influence of the Israel lobby over American politics. Even for President Trump, who famously claimed he didn’t need money from big donors, Israeli and Jewish-American money is important because it can win congressional elections, and Trump needs a Republican congress if he wants to get his agenda through.

Discussed on the show:

• “FDD Aligned With State Department To Attack Supporters Of Iran Diplomacy” (Lobe Log)
• “Watch the film the Israel lobby didn’t want you to see” (The Electronic Intifada)
• Foreign Agents Registration Act

Eli Clifton is a reporting fellow with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute and a contributing editor for Lobe Log. Follow him on Twitter @EliClifton.

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

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Scott interviews William Astore about his recent TomDispatch piece on American air power. Astore, a retired Air Force officer, explains what he was and was not taught about bombing as a strategy in war, most notably the fact that the perception of the U.S. military by the people getting bombed is rarely considered. Air power, and particularly unmanned drones, explains Astore, creates a tremendous amount of blowback from people living under the constant threat of death from the skies. This has explicitly been the case with several recent acts of terrorism, including the Times Square bomber of 2010.

Discussed on the show:

• “Tomgram: William Astore, The Dark Side of Air Power” (TomDispatch)
• Operation Rolling Thunder
• “Caught Between U.S. and Taliban, a Family Dies and the Survivor Seeks Justice” (The New York Times)
• “5/14/19 Andrew Cockburn on the Military-Industrial ‘Virus’” (The Libertarian Institute)

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and history professor. He is a contributing writer at Antiwar.com and TomDispatch.com. Read all of his work at his website, BracingViews.com.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Joe Lauria discusses the dangerous legal precedent set by the case against Julian Assange, whose actions in leaking government documents are not categorically different from those of a journalist. As Glenn Greenwald points out, there’s no “license” that makes someone a journalist, and no way to definitively identify an act of journalism—the first amendment must apply to everyone, regardless of their character and especially of the impact to the government of what they write.

Discussed on the show:

• “After Assange’s Espionage Act Indictment, Police Move Against More Journalists for Publishing Classified Material” (Consortium News)
• Official Secrets Act 1989
• United States diplomatic cables leak
• “ROBERT PARRY: All Investigative Journalists Do What Julian Assange Did” (Consortium News)
• “5/31/19 Trevor Timm on the Century’s Greatest 1st Amendment Threat” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “5/31/19 Daniel Ellsberg on the Importance of Whistleblowers” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “The indictment of Assange is a blueprint for making journalists into felons” (The Washington Post)
• “Under Intense Pressure to Silence Wikileaks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Proposed Drone Strike on Julian Assange – True Pundit” (True Pundit)

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: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Mike Swanson joins Scott to talk about President Trump’s latest tariff announcement against Mexico. Trump and his team may think these trade policies are good for the economy, says Swanson, but they may also just be using the trade war as a way to shift blame elsewhere, should the U.S. have a bad recession during Trump’s presidency. Yet another possibility is that Trump knows protectionism is deleterious overall, but believes the effect may be worse on countries like Mexico and China, so that if the world economy takes a hit, America may come out better than others, and still be able to attract investment. Swanson believes many of the same signs from the 2008 crisis are pointing to another big recession that could come in the next year or two. His advice: buy gold and silver now.

Discussed on the show:

• Long March
• Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act
• Greenspan’s Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve
• The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America
• Big Debt Crises
• Bretton Woods system

Mike Swanson provides investment advice at wallstreetwindow.com and is the author of The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite. He also works with the Neopolis Media Group, a group of historians, educators, authors, researchers, and free speech advocates who endeavor to provide original and engaging content, including The Ochelli Effect, and The Lone Gunman Podcast.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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Scott talks to Aaron Maté about the continuing Russiagate narrative. Democrats have far too much invested in the idea that Trump somehow stole the election from Hillary Clinton, says Maté, to ever admit that they were wrong in their hysteria. Maté reminds us that many skeptics aren’t even sure the DNC emails were hacked by anyone, let alone Russia, but may instead have been leaked from someone on the inside.

Discussed on the show:

• “NBC Claims Russians Plan To Give African Americans Combat Training” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “Trump-Russia Investigation: Was Brennan’s ‘Intelligence Bombshell’ the Steel Dossier?” (National Review)
• The Management of Savagery: How America’s National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump
• “12/13/16 Craig Murray: DNC, Podesta emails leaked by Americans, not hacked by Russia” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “On Russia, Did Mueller Overstate His Own Report?” (Accuracy.Org)

Aaron Maté is a former host and producer at The Real News and writes regularly at The Nation. Follow him on Twitter @AaronJMate.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

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