Dan McKnight returns to the show to talk about the ongoing effort to pass the Defend the Guard Act in state legislatures. First, he explains what Defend the Guard would do if passed and dispels common criticisms and misunderstandings of the bill. He then updates Scott on the progress made recently, including the positive statements made by now Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and explains how you can help get this bill passed in your state.

Discussed on the show:

Dan McKnight is the founder and Chairman of Idahoans to Bring Our Troops Home. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, three years active duty with the U.S. Army and ten years with the Idaho Army National Guard, including a one-year deployment to Afghanistan in 2006.

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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7/19/21 Peter McCormack on the Bitcoin Revolution Taking the World by Storm

Peter McCormack discusses the latest developments in the world of Bitcoin. The most important news is that El Salvador moved to make Bitcoin legal tender, alongside the U.S. dollar, which McCormack says is huge for its viability as a mainstream currency. Bitcoin should help to solve several problems that have long plagued El Salvador’s economy, and other Latin American countries may well follow suit. More and more people are also spending and accepting Bitcoin around the world, rather than just using it as an investment, especially as payment networks get better. Of course, the U.S. government isn’t terribly happy about any of this, since it threatens the position of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The beautiful thing about Bitcoin, McCormack says, is that there’s nothing they can do to stop it.

Discussed on the show:

“How Bitcoiners Are Working With El Salvador’s Leaders” (Decrypt)
“Contra Corner Monetary Arsonists At Work” (David Stockman’s Contra Corner)

Peter McCormack is the host of the What Bitcoin Did podcast. Follow him on Twitter @PeterMcCormack.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State and Why The Vietnam War?, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; EasyShip; Thc Hemp Spot; Green Mill Supercritical; Bug-A-Salt; Lorenzotti Coffee; Zippix Toothpicks and Listen and Think Audio.

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https://youtu.be/KF6Pcn0GEhM

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7/16/21 Ron Enzweiler: Requiem for America’s Ineffectual War State

Ron Enzweiler discusses the unlearned lessons of America’s wasteful and doomed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. First of all, he says, we should have known that the only thing keeping Iraq together was Saddam Hussein’s stranglehold on power, which prevented a civil war from breaking out. After the United States deposed him, explains Enzweiler, those tensions were going to bubble over no matter what. The best thing to do now would be to leave Iraq as soon as possible, but stubborn superstitions like the “safe haven” myth and the idea that President Obama pulled troops out too quickly make it hard for anyone to push withdrawal even today. In the case of Afghanistan, Enzweiler says that some fear the Taliban will not only take over that country, but will also try to export their vision of Islam to other nations. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding of who the Taliban are and what they want. They aren’t jihadists, says Enzweiler—they just want to spread their way of life within their own country and keep out foreign occupiers who try to change that. Social progress and cosmopolitanism may come to Afghanistan eventually, but we cannot force those things at the point of a gun.

Discussed on the show:

“Iraq and Afghan Wars: Requiem for America’s Ineffectual War State” (Antiwar.com)

Ron Enzweiler is an air force veteran and worked for USAID in Iraq for seven years. He is the author of When Will We Ever Learn. You can follow his writing at Antiwar.com.

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https://youtu.be/peS8-qTYS3Y

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7/16/21 Doug Bandow on the Calls for Intervention in Haiti and a Cold War With China

Scott talks to Doug Bandow about the recent assassination of Haiti’s president and the ensuing calls for U.S. intervention. Bandow warns about the perils of interventions like this, even when they are seemingly justified by the noble cause of humanitarianism. In Haiti in particular, he says, a history of disastrous foreign intervention is fresh in people’s minds, and any military response is likely to backfire. Luckily, Bandow doesn’t think Biden is especially keen on responding to the calls for intervention in this case. Similarly, in the case of China, where the more hawkish members of America’s foreign policy establishment have been beating the war drum, Bandow believes Biden has no real desire for war. Unfortunately, with pressure shifting from the Middle East toward Russia and China, tensions could escalate quickly and even an accidental provocation could escalate to full-scale war if the world’s governments aren’t firmly and carefully committed to maintaining peace.

Discussed on the show:

“The Tragedy of Haiti: Washington Should Keep Its Troops at Home” (Cato Institute)
“State Department Cables” (WikiLeaks)
“Wolf Warrior (2015)” (IMDb)

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.

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https://youtu.be/LPsd0wVp0pM

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7/16/21 Dave DeCamp on Iraq, Iran and US Withdrawal from the Middle East

Scott talks to Dave DeCamp about some of the latest stories at antiwar.com. Recently, says DeCamp, it’s been reported that Iran was urging Iraqi militias not to retaliate against the U.S., after they’d been the target of airstrikes by the Biden administration. Needless to say, this doesn’t exactly comport with the mainstream narrative about Iran, and you won’t see stories like this widely covered. Dave and Scott go on to discuss a rumored American withdrawal from Iraq and wrap up with an update on the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran surrounding a reinstatement of the nuclear deal.

Discussed on the show:

“Iraqi Militias Defy Iran By Attacking US Forces” (Antiwar.com)
“Keeping up attacks, some Iraq militias challenge patron Iran” (Associated Press)
“Iraq Says U.S. Discusses Troop Withdrawal, Biden Administration Denies” (Newsweek)
“US Denies Troop Withdrawal Was Discussed in Iraq” (Antiwar.com)
“Iran Not Ready to Resume Nuclear Talks Until New President Takes Office” (Antiwar.com)

Dave DeCamp is the assistant news editor of Antiwar.com. Follow him on Twitter @decampdave.

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https://youtu.be/fFw-a7MleEU

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7/16/21 Branko Marcetic on the Julian Assange Media Blackout

Branko Marcetic discusses the stunning lack of mainstream media coverage of Julian Assange’s case. Besides being the right thing to do, since Assange has heroically helped expose heinous crimes by many of the world’s governments, journalists also have a selfish reason to care about Assange’s plight: what he does at WikiLeaks is not categorically different from what any of them does when covering stories that originated from leaked documents. And yet nearly everyone in the press seems content to let Assange rot in solitary confinement.

Discussed on the show:

“The Julian Assange Media Blackout Must End” (Jacobin)
“7/1/21 Bjartmar Alexandersson on the Lies of America’s Star Witness Against Julian Assange” (The Libertarian Institute)
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
“Vault7” (WikiLeaks)
“Baghdad War Diary” (WikiLeaks)
“Collateral Murder” (WikiLeaks)
“State Department Cables” (WikiLeaks)
“The Kafkaesque Nightmare of Attorney Steven Donziger, a Literal Prisoner of the Chevron Corporation” (Jacobin)

Branko Marcetic is a writer for Jacobin Magazine, a fellow at In These Times, and host of the 1/200 podcast. He is the author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden. Follow him on Twitter @BMarchetich.

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https://youtu.be/kLTzBTW_-ME

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7/15/21 Ted Snider on Why the US Prefers Iranian Hardliners

Scott talks to Ted Snider about America’s relationship with Iran and Syria. Iran has just elected a new president, Ibrahim Raisi, who Snider says is much more of a hardliner than his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani was the one who worked with the Obama administration on the JCPOA, so on the surface it seems that Raisi’s more obstinate stance toward the U.S. will be to America’s disadvantage. But Snider goes on to explain a bizarre dynamic that pervades American—and especially neoconservative—foreign policy: the U.S. government will push for moderate leaders in Iran, then discredit their reformist positions by betraying our agreements (as President Trump did with the JCPOA), which in turn give rise to more radical, conservative leaders in their place. And Snider suspects that this pattern is deliberate. The establishment war planners in Washington want Iran to be America’s arch-nemesis, and moderate reformers stand in the way of that portrayal. Needless to say, none of this is actually good for the American people.

Discussed on the show:

“Why Are We Still at War with Syria?” (Antiwar.com)
“Iran’s Election: Making Your Iranian Nightmares Come True” (Antiwar.com)
“Why I’m Rooting for the Hardliner in Iran’s Elections” (POLITICO Magazine)
“The Redirection” (The New Yorker)
Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran
Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear

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.

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https://youtu.be/od7O-UUHgqM

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7/9/21 Jim Bovard on Biden’s Buffoonish War on Extremism

Jim Bovard discusses the recent rumblings about “domestic extremism,” which the Biden administration and many Democrats have been warning is a rising problem in America. So far, Biden has only issued executive orders about so-called extremism, but some politicians are pushing for new laws that would give expanded powers to U.S. law enforcement to crack down on this alleged problem. In reality, of course, “domestic terrorism” is not a significant problem compared to the many other ills facing this country. And rest assured, Bovard says, these new powers would be used selectively by the government as yet another means of cracking down on their opposition. All right-thinking Americans—not just libertarians—should be staunchly opposed to measures like these.

Discussed on the show:

“Biden’s Buffoonish War on Extremism” (The American Conservative)

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.

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https://youtu.be/4ZDe1SvyQDQ

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7/9/21 Kevin Gosztola on the Plights of Julian Assange and Daniel Hale

Kevin Gosztola is back with an update on Julian Assange and Daniel Hale, both of whom continue to languish in maximum security prisons for the “crime” of telling the people about the very real crimes of their own governments. Although a UK judge denied the U.S. extradition request in Assange’s case, she also granted the Justice Department an appeal of the decision, and ordered that Assange continue to be held until the appeal. It’s especially ironic that Assange and Hale are being held under inhumane conditions that are dangerous for their mental health, when the abysmal conditions of U.S. prisons was precisely the British judge’s reason for denying Assange’s appeal.

Discussed on the show:

“Assange Extradition: High Court Grants US A Limited Appeal” (Shadowproof)
“7/1/21 Bjartmar Alexandersson on the Lies of America’s Star Witness Against Julian Assange” (The Libertarian Institute)
“The Drone Papers: Secret documents detail the U.S. assassination program.” (The Intercept)
The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program
“National Bird (2016)” (IMDb)
“Kabul War Diary” (WikiLeaks)
The Pentagon Papers

Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, “Unauthorized Disclosure.” Follow him on Twitter @kgosztola.

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https://youtu.be/zWMttwq2FHc

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Recent Episodes of the Scott Horton Show

3/7/25 Dan McKnight on the Recent Progress Made with Defend the Guard

Recommended reading

7/19/21 Peter McCormack on the Bitcoin Revolution Taking the World by Storm

7/16/21 Ron Enzweiler: Requiem for America’s Ineffectual War State

7/16/21 Doug Bandow on the Calls for Intervention in Haiti and a Cold War With China

7/16/21 Dave DeCamp on Iraq, Iran and US Withdrawal from the Middle East

7/16/21 Branko Marcetic on the Julian Assange Media Blackout

7/15/21 Ted Snider on Why the US Prefers Iranian Hardliners

7/9/21 Jim Bovard on Biden’s Buffoonish War on Extremism

7/9/21 Kevin Gosztola on the Plights of Julian Assange and Daniel Hale

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