Unauthorized Disclosure

In a special episode, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola stand up to a slew of smear attacks against Rania for speaking out on the attempted coup in Venezuela. Particularly, journalists like Michael Weiss of The Daily Beast, Yashar Ali of Huffington Post, and Casey Michel of Think Progress attacked members of Congress who interacted with her tweets on Venezuela. They labeled her a "Russian propagandist" to further isolate and make them denounce her. Rania's Wikipedia page was defaced around January 28. It was brought to editors' attention. A slanderous sentence was removed from the top of her page and then re-inserted further down. It was then locked making it difficult for anyone to remove what was added. She had to wait for nearly a half of a day before it was deleted altogether, and her page still going through maintenance so it conforms with Wikipedia's standards and does not attack her reputation. This has lasted for about a week. In the words of Kevin, this sustained campaign of attacks are an effort to silence a strong and effective woman journalist who is unapologetic in her anti-imperial views. She agitated for members of Congress to come out against President Donald Trump's support for a coup in Venezuela, and it worked because multiple representatives responded to her favorably. That deeply upset those in media who despise her. We spend nearly an hour going through several of the attacks. Most importantly, we give Rania space to deal with what she has endured. Nobody is going to shut Rania down on "Unauthorized Disclosure."

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola welcome As'ad AbuKhalil to the show. He is a political science professor at California State University and a contributor to Consortium News. During the interview, AbuKhalil comments on United States government's support for an attempted coup in Venezuela and what this reveals about the state of American empire. He highlights what is unfolding around Syria, as a conflict that started in 2011 shifts to one with less US troops involved. Particularly, he addresses recent Israeli attacks in Syria against alleged Iranian targets. Later in the interview, AbuKhalil talks about Israel versus Hezbollah and whether there may be a full-blown war against Hizbullah in Lebanon in the near future. *** Further reading: "" by As'ad AbuKhalilShaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about what is unfolding in Venezuela, where Juan Guaido and the right-wing opposition refuse to recognize Nicolas Maduro as president. They have the support of President Donald Trump's administration and aim to overthrow Maduro. Later in the show, the hosts shift to Tulsi Gabbard's announcement on CNN in the past week, where she said she will run for president in 2020. Both of the hosts challenge the media's reaction, as well as the left's reaction, while breaking down several of her strengths and flaws as a candidate.Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola are glad to be back for another season of the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast. For the first episode of the year, journalist and Nation contributor Aaron Maté joins the show to talk about a recent article he , "New Studies Show Pundits Are Wrong About Russian Social Media Involvement in US Politics." Maté highlights several aspects of reports on alleged Russian influence in the 2016 election that were co-signed by members of Congress. They show marketing campaigns were small, amateurish, and mostly unrelated to the election. During the show, Maté addresses a recent story about Paul Manafort that was all but retracted entirely and how this happens frequently with "Russiagate" news reports. The show opens with Maté and the hosts discussing how incredible it is that there were no sonic weapons attacking U.S. embassies in Cuba. It turns out the sounds supposedly making officials ill were .Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola wrap up this year's season of "Unauthorized Disclosure" with MintPress News founder and editor-in-chief Mnar Muhawesh. During the show, they reflect on some of the more pernicious social and political developments in the past year. Mnar talks about censorship by Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies, and the impact it is having on independent journalists and alternative media outlets, especially the effect on MintPress News. Later in the show, Mnar and Rania discuss the wars in Yemen and Syria. They take a moment to address the most recent development—President Donald Trump ordering the withdrawal of troops from Syria. The show ends with Mnar, Rania, and Kevin each highlighting something they believe went significantly under-reported or virtually ignored in the U.S. press, including progressive media.Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss yet another round of blaming Russia for dissent. They highlight the protests in France. Then, Gosztola shares how he was accused of helping Putin undermine faith in the rule of the law and the justice system by a think tank in Washington, D.C. The hosts pay tribute to William Blum. He died at 85 and published work that was essential for anyone interested in fighting U.S. imperialism. Finally, the hosts talk about the successful Yemen war powers resolution vote in the Senate and how Paul Ryan served the war industry by ensuring the House could not hold a similar vote.Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We recorded last week's show, and then the news came hours later that former President George H.W. Bush died. As much as people have largely moved on, we could not ignore the media's nauseating revisionist portraits of who Bush was as a public figure. So we spend a large part of the show offering a kind of antidote to what was broadcast and published about Bush. Later in the show, Rania Khalek highlights a Pew Research Center poll that shows how young people's views on U.S. foreign policy and military dominance in the world are dramatically different from their parents and grandparents. The show concludes with a bit of discussion about Beto O'Rourke and Clinton people insisting there's some conspiracy by supporters of Bernie Sanders to tarnish him before he runs for president in 2020.Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

For this week's show, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola rage against CNN for firing Marc Lamont Hill over comments he made before a United Nations committee on Palestinians and their struggle against Israeli military occupation. They talk about a vote in the U.S. Senate, where a war powers resolution to end U.S. military involvement in the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen moved forward. Later in the show, the hosts highlight a piece in POLITICO that was published by an unnamed author to promote a wild conspiracy theory about Russia planting a Paul Manafort-Julian Assange story in the Guardian. [*Note: Unfortunately, we recorded less than 24 hours before former President George H.W. Bush's death was reported. We have plenty to say about his legacy and the response to his death. It will be nothing like what you're hearing on cable news networks, and we'll share our thoughts next episode.]Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Gregory Shupak, author of "The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel, and the Media," joins the show to discuss his book that sharply critiques how establishment and left-of-center media cover the Israeli military occupation. He organizes his criticism into three categories: how the media promotes this idea that "both sides" are equally responsible for violence, how the media pushes this idea that all would be resolved if extremists were eliminated from power, and how the media argue Israel has a right to defend itself to justify any sort of warfare against Palestinians. Later, Shupak talks about recent examples of media coverage because this past week Israel launched more air strikes on Gaza.Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

It feels like it was way, way more than a month since host Rania Khalek was last heard from on "Unauthorized Disclosure." Finally, she is done making mini-documentaries and was able to do a show again. Both Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the 2018 midterm elections, including ballot initiatives that passed. They criticize the Democrats for not doing more to fight voter suppression and talk about how they lost several seats in the U.S. Senate. Aside from the elections, they recap some of what they missed an opportunity to talk about in October. Both also have good rants in response to CNN's Jim Acosta, who had his White House press pass revoked.Shaving Mirror Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/