David Vine, author of Island of Shame, discusses the thousand or so US military bases spread out among most of the world's countries; the enormous profits gained by contractors for building and supporting bases abroad; rampant waste, fraud and criminal activity that goes unpunished; and the latest setback for Diego Garcia's forcibly expelled natives, the Chagossians.

Kelley B. Vlahos, contributing editor for The American Conservative, discusses VA whistleblower Dr. Steven S. Coughlin's accusations that research affirming Gulf War Illness is being intentionally hidden; the enormous costs of lifetime medical care for hundreds of thousands of sick and injured veterans; the VA's apathetic response to surveys that revealed large numbers of suicidal veterans; and the disposable warriors (athletes and soldiers alike) who are celebrated as heroes then discarded...

Will Grigg, blogger and author of Liberty in Eclipse, discusses the government's persecution of middle-aged quilt maker Rita Hutchens in supposedly Constitution-loving Idaho; local police acting like an army of occupation in a foreign country; and how you can donate to support Will's continuing efforts to chronicle police brutality and corruption.

Eric Margolis, journalist and author of American Raj, discusses the results of Pakistani elections; the relatively poor showing of cricket star and anti-corruption champion Imran Khan; the Pakistani army's heavy losses while fighting a US proxy war in the northwest tribal areas; probable US influence on key Pakistani appointments under new prime minister Nawaz Sharif; why Muslims really want Sharia law; and the US retreat from Afghanistan.

Jim Bovard, author of Public Policy Hooligan, discusses the IRS's targeting of conservative nonprofit groups; a brief history of presidential administrations that used the IRS to combat political opponents; the terrible tax laws written by Congress; and why the earned income tax credit is a fraud-riddled, stealth-welfare abomination.

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern discusses the scores of Guantanamo prisoners being denied the right to "escape" by starving themselves to death; how Obama could close Guantanamo - if he really wanted to; using civil disobedience to effect political change; why Americans remain almost completely ignorant of Israel's attack on the USS Liberty in 1967; and Mearsheimer and Walt's incomplete analysis of the Israel lobby.

Blogger Marcy Wheeler discusses the DOJ's surreptitious collection of Associated Press phone records after two reporters scooped the White House on the foiled "UndieBomb 2.0" plot; the Saudi undercover infiltrator (on the payroll of the British and Saudis) at the center of the alleged AQAP terrorism plot; the Obama administration's war on (unflattering) leaks and confidential media sources; and the biometric ID proposal in the new immigration bill. (Transcript below) Scott Horton interviews...

Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, discusses the three nuclear weapons protestors facing long prison sentences for symbolically defacing a building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge; the incredibly poor security at nuclear weapons facilities; why the US still has thousands of weapons on hair-trigger alert decades after the Cold War; and the judge's refusal to accept the protestors' "Nuremberg defense," that citizens must prevent their...

Christopher J. Coyne, F.A. Harper Professor of Economics at George Mason University, discusses his paper on "The Origins of the Permanent War Economy;" and how the military, labor unions and industry have enabled "perpetual war for perpetual peace" since WWII.

Tom Devine, Legal Director of the Government Accountability Project (GAP), discusses the US government's attempts to silence whistleblower Robert MacLean, a former air marshal; Maclean's exposure of critical DHS security lapses and generally stupid policies in 2003-2006; the "civil war" within the Obama administration on free speech/whistleblower protection measures; and MacLean's significant - and surprising - victory in court.

Charles Goyette, author of Red and Blue and Broke All Over: Restoring America's Free Economy, discusses Ron Paul's radio spots appearing on 125 stations nationwide that are giving AM radio listeners a much needed dose of sanity from the usual blowhards spouting mindless Karl Rove talking points; the Austrian school of economics on booms, busts and central banking; and how the Federal Reserve is shooting stocks to the moon and making bankers richer than ever.

Sheldon Richman, vice president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses his satirical article "A Modest Gun-Safety Proposal;" why guns are a great equalizing force favoring the physically weak; why government prohibition doesn't work on drugs, guns, or anything else; how gun control disarms the law-abiding and leaves criminals more dangerous than ever; and the states rebelling against federal criminalization of marijuana.

Journalist Patrick Cockburn discusses why Iraq may be sliding into a civil war worse than in Syria; Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "government of thieves;" the violent crackdown on Iraqi Sunni protestors who tried staging their own Egypt-style peaceful revolution; the Al-Qaeda associated fighters traversing the porous Iraq-Syria border; and the hastening fragmentation of Iraq into sectarian enclaves.

Thomas C. Mountain, a reporter based in Eritrea, discusses why the UN is largely responsible for the 250,000 Somalis who starved to death since 2010; and Anthony Lake's terrible record in Africa from his failure to halt the Rwandan genocide as National Security Advisor in 1994, to Somalia's mass starvation under his watch as UNICEF chief.

Novelist Bill Kauffman discusses the new film Copperhead, about the Civil War opposition in upstate New York; the small "r" front-porch brand of republicanism; our lost tradition of Christian pacifism; and how you can help get Copperhead playing in a theater near you.