Unauthorized Disclosure

Co-host Rania Khalek, who is currently in Lebanon, returns to the show to reflect on the panic, fear, and uncertainty around the presidential election of Donald Trump. We discuss what we need to prepare to resist under Trump, like the approval of oil pipeline projects, the reinstitution of the CIA torture program, etc. We celebrate the wave of protests in response to Trump's election while at the same time acknowledging the powers expanded by President Barack Obama, which Trump will be able to take advantage of now.  We take the time to encourage people to donate to journalism, including our work. Rania Khalek currently has a GoFundMe page raising money to cover the war in Syria. Shadowproof has a membership program, which anyone interested in supporting the site's brand of journalism can join for $5/month (and we'll send you a tote bag).

Kevin Gosztola interviews Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein about what her campaign managed to accomplish with the campaign. She describes several initiatives she intends to be a part of pushing in the months ahead. She also talks about Donald Trump's victory and the denial of Democrats, who seem to blame everyone but themselves for Hillary Clinton's loss.  Following that interview, Gosztola interviews journalist Andy Worthington, who is one of the co-founders of the "Close Guantanamo" campaign. He regularly covers Guantanamo, and we discuss the future of Guantanamo now that Trump is the president-elect. He also is a musician, who wrote a song about closing Guantanamo. We play part of it on the show. And, finally, Worthington is from the United Kingdom so we discuss the rise of far-right forces in both the United States and the UK.  Rania Khalek is in Lebanon. She will return to the show next week.

Guest Fabio Andres Diaz Pabon, a Colombian who is a research associate for the Department of Political and International Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. He is also a contributor to Warscapes. Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk to Pabon about why Colombians, who voted, rejected a peace deal by a very slim margin. He addresses some of the points he made in a piece for Warscapes titled, "Uncertainty, Peace Agreements, and Public Participation in Colombia." Pabon also reacts to the decision to give Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos the Nobel Peace Prize. The co-hosts spend the latter part of the episode on the backlash to reporting by journalist Max Blumenthal, who published reporting on the Syrian rebels for the "Grayzone Project" at AlterNet and received threatening phone calls, emails, and messages on social media. Multiple individuals, who hold themselves as advocates for the liberation of Syria, sought to incite Arabs and Muslims to demonize Blumenthal for his work. Khalek, who contributes to Electronic Intifada, was caught up in this backlash as well. She became a target, along with the site's editor-in-chief Ali Abunimah. This happened in spite of the fact that the website, which covers Palestine and Israel intensively, had nothing to do with Blumenthal's journalism. Essentially, a faction of people seized this opportunity to attempt to transform critical voices in media into pariahs when it comes to their views on the bloodshed and war in Syria. The following are the two pieces Blumenthal produced: "Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That's Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria" and "How the White Helmets Became International Heroes While Pushing U.S. Military Intervention and Regime Change in Syria." [*Note: We apologize for the low audio quality during Pabon's interview. As he informed us, the internet is poor in South Africa. We did our best to give him a platform while recognizing the fact that there were issues.]

Hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss the ongoing bloodshed and war in Syria, not limited to Aleppo. They also talk about the latest unsettling development with Chelsea Manning, who the U.S. Army punished with two weeks in solitary confinement. Finally, Kevin reads a piece of election-themed satire he wrote, which many mistakenly thought was a serious column.  No guest this week.

Gareth Porter, independent investigative journalist, discusses his recent piece, "Al Qaeda's Ties to US-Backed Rebels," on the Syria ceasefire deal. During the discussion, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about the massive aid package to Israel, the closing of Camp 5 at Guantanamo, and Oliver Stone's "Snowden."

Donna Murch, an associate professor at Rutgers University, joins hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola to talk about her report for Boston Review, "Paying for Punishment." We talk about "criminal justice debt" and how black Americans are more likely than whites to face municipal court judgments for debt collection. Murch also addresses the rise of the electronic monitoring industry as a form of "offender-funded justice."  In the discussion portion of the show, Murch stays with us and shares her views on Lena Dunham, the protesting by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players, and the need among Hillary Clinton's campaign and her supporters to connect all things they despise to Russian President Vladimir Putin somehow.

Azzurra Crispino, the media co-chair for the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), talks with us about a nationwide labor strike planned by prisoners. It will coincide with the rebellion by Attica prisoners, which took place 45 years ago. Crispino describes why prisoners are striking and the stakes for prisoners, who take the risk to engage in resistance. During the discussion portion, host Rania Khalek discusses the re-branding of an al Qaeda group in Syria and how multiple journalists have fallen for it. Kevin Gosztola talks about the New York Times' yellow journalism on WikiLeaks.

Robbie Martin, co-host of Media Roots radio and creator of the three-part documentary, "A Very Heavy Agenda," joins the show to talk about Hillary Clinton's alliance with neoconservative Republicans. We discuss the wild allegations around the DNC being hacked by Russia, which the Democrats have promoted. We highlight former CIA director Mike Morell's endorsement of Clinton his suggestion that Donald Trump is some kind of Manchurian candidate. Host Rania Khalek and Martin also talk about what they witnessed at a fundraiser for Clinton, which featured neocon Robert Kagan.

Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant from the Socialist Alternative joins the show this week to talk about the walkouts of Bernie Sanders delegates at the Democratic National Convention, as well as how she has successfully defied the Democratic Party establishment to achieve reforms like the $15 minimum wage in Seattle.  Sawant addresses Sanders' view on third party politics and the need for citizens to build independent political power. She also confronts the issue of "lesser evilism" in electoral politics, which she says is the most important in the next three months.  During the discussion portion, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk about their coverage of the DNC this past week, particularly how the Democratic Party worked to enforce conformity so they could make it appear delegates had successfully unified around Hillary Clinton.

The co-editors of Verso's book, "Policing The Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter," join the show this week to help us apply a much-needed analysis to the police executions of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, as well as the tragedy which unfolded with the Dallas Shooting.  Christina Heatherton, assistant professor of American Studies at Trinity College, and Jordan T. Camp, a postdoctoral fellow for the Institute of International Affairs at Brown University, highlight the policy of "Broken Windows" and its relationship to the neoliberal present. They address how many of the actions of police are a part of a "class project that has displaced the urban multiracial working class worldwide." The limitations of liberal frameworks for reforming police are also discussed. The two also talk about the "War on Terrorism" and its effect on policing, like for example, how the Dallas police used a "bomb robot" this past week to kill the shooter.