Scott talks to Dave Smith about the upcoming Pennsylvania Libertarian Party convention and the special Mises Caucus event happening in Pittsburgh the same weekend. Both Smith and Scott will be speaking this Friday, May 14th, and there will be a host of other guest appearances on Saturday. The event will be hosted at the Double Tree, Pittsburgh—don't miss out! Discussed on the show: "Take Human Action Bash" (Eventbrite) Dave Smith is the host of the podcast Part of the Problem and a member of...

Scott talks to Dan Cohen about unrest in Jerusalem, where Israeli soldiers stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque, and in Colombia, where protestors have been clashing with government forces, resulting in at least 39 civilian deaths so far. Both of these stories are perverted by most mainstream media sources in order to obscure the real story. In Israel, in this and all similar cases, the headlines invariably focus on the fact that Palestinians have attacked Israeli forces, without ever providing the...

Kevin Gosztola discusses the alarming new developments in the case of Daniel Hale, a whistleblower who helped expose the U.S. military's secret drone assassination program during the Obama administration. Because it's so easy to obtain convictions of whistleblowers, Hale recently pled guilty to one of the charges against him, hoping to receive a deal from the court. But now he's being held, mostly in solitary confinement, in the Alexandria Detention Center, the same facility where Chelsea...

Scott interviews Professor Alfred McCoy about the history of the drug trade during America's decades-long involvement in Afghanistan. Before the 1980s, McCoy explains, drugs were not a significant part of the Afghan economy—but that all changed when President Bush's CIA began arming a resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. These Mujahideen fighters turned to opium for their funding, quickly growing Afghanistan's opium trade to thousands of tons a year, and accounting for 70%...

Doug Bandow discusses the creation of the Vandenberg Coalition, the latest in a long string of neocon think tanks that do little more than promote American interventionism halfway across the world. Bandow reminds us of two strong motivating factors behind this strain of foreign policy: On one hand, there really are a lot of true believers in the American empire—people who think that the U.S. military is a force for good in the world that spreads democracy and maintains relative peace through...

Scott talks to Heather Brandon-Smith of the Friends Committee on National Legislation about the effort to repeal the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use of Military Force. Although the 2002 AUMF has been less widely cited as grounds for America's ever-expanding wars in the Middle East than the 2001 version (which authorized the war in Afghanistan), it has been used to justify the war against ISIS in Iraq and the Trump administration's assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, among other...

Trita Parsi talks about the possibility of diplomatic talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which he views as a consequence of the Biden administration's somewhat less aggressive stance toward the Middle East. People often allege that American military involvement abroad keeps the world safer; in reality, Parsi explains, it is only when the U.S. pulls back from conflict that countries must resort instead to diplomacy. He hopes Biden will make a commitment to ending some of America's forever...

Scott talks to Tom Collina about the alarming plan to expand America's nuclear arsenal. The $2 trillion package, Collina explains, would include a large investment in what's known as the "nuclear sponge": a collection of ICBMs in America's heartland designed to draw a nuclear attack from America's enemies, rather than one targeted at Washington D.C. or other major cities. But this policy actually makes things far more dangerous, says Collina, since there's then tremendous pressure to fire...

Aisha Jumaan discusses the situation in Yemen. Although the Biden administration claimed earlier this year that it would end American support for Saudi "offensive operations" in Yemen, they have recently announced that certain support functions—like providing maintenance and spare parts for the Saudi air force—will continue. But this bald-faced reversal, says Jumaan, isn't even the main issue. Yes, the Saudis are killing innocent Yemenis in air strikes and other direct attacks, but by far the...

Scott interviews Andy Worthington about Guantanamo Bay, America's secret black site prison, where 40 men are still being held, some of them without ever having been charged with a crime. President Obama famously campaigned on closing Guantanamo, but ultimately was unable (or unwilling) to do so. President Trump, too, allowed the atrocious human rights abuses to continue throughout his administration. Worthington is optimistic about the possibility of change, but if the American people continue...

Scott talks to Dan Gifford, producer of the famous film, Waco: The Rules of Engagement, about the tragedy of the Waco siege, all the government and media lies to cover it up and what really happened behind the scenes. Gifford shares his decades of experience looking into this topic, including all the times when the government tried to shut him up. Discussed on the show: "What Really Happened At Waco And The Establishment Collusion to Cover It Up" (Dan Gifford) "Will ABC really tell us what...

Gareth Porter discusses the recent announcement that the Biden administration will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11 of this year. This is obviously a violation of the May 1 withdrawal agreement made under the Trump administration, but Porter is optimistic that Biden and his team are serious about getting out by this fall. Scott and Porter also talk about the latest negotiations in Vienna regarding American sanctions and the Iran nuclear deal. Porter worries that the...

Scott interviews Edward Hasbrouck about the effort to finally abolish America’s “selective service” requirement, the modern-day remains of what was once the draft. Hasbrouck explains how, after Nixon abolished the draft in the 1960s, Jimmy Carter reinstituted the system we have today, partially to combat national anxiety over the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis. Hasbrouck says that what the draft really is is an assurance to America’s war planners that there will always be an unlimited...

Scott interviews Ray McGovern about America’s perilous foreign policy stance in Eastern Europe. Over the last few years, the U.S. has increasingly thrown its support behind Ukraine—and specifically the pro-Western, anti-Russian forces in that country. This policy has shown itself to be extremely dangerous, given Russia’s clear willingness to go to war to defend its interests in Crimea and on its own border. Luckily, explains McGovern, the Biden administration seems to have backed down for the...

William Arkin discusses the changing nature of America’s military, specifically the way that operations have shifted away from traditional “boots on the ground” and toward drone strikes, special forces, civilian contractors and intelligence analysts. In fact, for every soldier on the ground in the Middle East today, Arkin estimates that there are at least one hundred other people around the world to support that soldier. This has led to a Faustian bargain for the American people: the number of...