Tom Woods gives his thoughts on the government response to the coronavirus and the economic fallout that is likely to come afterward. Scott and Woods discuss the bizarre division along political lines of opinions about the severity of the virus, the proper response, and even the effectiveness of possible treatments. Both agree that Americans need to know the metrics by which they will be allowed to leave their homes and go back to work. Making a new, vague announcement about the shutdown every...

Scott talks to Ray McGovern about the heroic Julian Assange, who is still languishing in solitary confinement during his extradition trial to the U.S. on charges that he coordinated with Chelsea Manning to steal classified documents from the U.S. government. McGovern reminds us of how many important truths have been exposed to the American people thanks to WikiLeaks, and wonders what calamities could have been avoided had WikiLeaks been around sooner, such as 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. In...

Scott talks to Chip Gibbons about his research into FBI spying on nonviolent pro-Palestinian activist groups. Although these activists are made out to be dangerous terrorist sympathizers, Gibbons says that the actual evidence against them amounts to criminalization of political speech and some very questionable guilt by association. Unfortunately, these abuses of surveillance power are far from rare, as the FBI has almost no oversight from other branches of government. Political will to reform...

Jeff Deist discusses the political responses to the coronavirus, varying on a state-by-state level from complete lockdown to nearly complete normalcy. Deist says this is an example of federalism actually working, since beyond issuing recommendations and printing money, there isn’t all that much the federal government can do to enforce policies across the entire country. Deist fears the negative economic ramifications of both the way the virus has shut down major parts of the economy and the...

Daniel Lazare talks about the grave danger facing the U.S. military of coronavirus sweeping through environments like infantry barracks, submarines, and aircraft carries with almost no possibility for social distancing and quarantine. Already the spread of the virus has clustered around military bases in the U.S. The same could happen at our bases in the Middle East, which is already one of the hardest hit regions in the world. Scott hopes that a silver lining of the virus will be a widespread...

Scott interviews Tommy Salmons about what life is like for truck drivers these days. Salmons describes dealing with longer hours, different routes and products, deserted truck stops and empty roads. Scott reminds everyone just how important it is that people like Salmons are still out there doing their jobs so that most of us can stay home in relative safety. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike...

Christine Ahn talks about U.S. relations with North Korea in light of the global coronavirus outbreak. President Trump made what in Ahn’s mind was a very good move when he offered to help North Korea in any way he can a few weeks ago. Some members of his administration, however, have continued to support a maximum pressure sanctions policy, which already hurts North Korean civilians and is bound to make things even worse during a serious public health crisis. The good news is that both North...

David Stockman pulls back the curtain on congress’ recent multi-trillion dollar bailout package, which, although billed as emergency aid for individuals actually allocates most of the money to various special interests on both sides of the aisle, including millions for the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, Public Broadcasting and the Department of Education. Beyond the bailout, Stockman says this shutdown of almost the entire economy is a disastrous overreaction, given what he thinks is a...

Jason Ditz talks about escalating tensions in Iraq, the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and the murmurings of another attempt by the U.S. to put Juan Guaido in power in Venezuela. Scott and Ditz are stunned that America keeps making the same foreign policy mistakes over and over again. Scott sees a real opportunity for a politician like Bernie Sanders to make these topics a leading issue, given that nobody else talks about them and that the American people, when asked, are mostly on the...

Scott interviews Doug Bandow about his recent article for the National Interest, which discusses the effects of the coronavirus on U.S. relations with North Korea. Bandow explains how after years of hand-wringing over the imminent threat posed by Kim Jong-un’s aggressive nuclear posturing, and the need for America to respond strongly, everyone forgets all about it as soon as an actual emergency like the current pandemic emerges. If North Korea really posed an existential threat to the United...

Hassan El-Tayyab talks to Scott about the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, where the U.S. continues to help Saudi Arabia wage an aggressive war against the Middle East’s poorest country. Scott reminds us that President Trump could end the war with a single phone call, but is too concerned with the arms contracts with the Saudi government to risk jeopardizing the relationship. Things are already desperate for the Yemeni people, who have a hard time getting food, medicine, and clean water....

Scott talks to Andrew Bacevich about the ways U.S. military spending over the last few decades has indebted our country and will continue to impoverish future generations. The mistakes go back to America’s squandering of its Cold War peace dividend in the early 1990s, drastically expanding its empire in Europe and Asia instead of shrinking the military and focusing on prosperity at home. This problem escalated under Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama with more spending, more wars in more...

Ted Carpenter discusses the possible ramifications of the coronavirus on both the economy and our personal liberties. He first reminds us that this is not a question of sacrificing economic productivity for the sake of saving lives, as some would have us believe—shutting down huge sectors of the economy itself threatens human lives through increased risk to the most vulnerable, ruined careers, and increased deaths related to stress and despair. Carpenter also worries that it will be difficult...

Charlie Davis talks about his project, Skate Palestine, which is trying to spread the sport of skateboarding to Palestinians in the West Bank. He says that Palestinians, already perceived by the state of Israel as outsiders in their own homeland, are in some ways perfectly suited to skateboarding culture, which historically has also attracted outsiders and misfits. He even hopes that skateboarding can provide an opportunity for Israeli and Palestinian youth to meet on neutral terms and...

Scott interviews Eli Clifton about the U.S. sanctions regime against Iran. These sanctions were already having a severe impact on the ability of Iranian civilians to conduct business and buy necessary goods, and in the face of coronavirus they could turn an already bad situation into a humanitarian disaster. None of this has deterred the sanctions hawks in the Trump administration from sticking to their idea that by pressuring a country’s population you can weaken its government. This has...