Unauthorized Disclosure

Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek interview journalist Max Blumenthal about his work covering Israel and the pushback he gets for be willing to report on Israeli military occupation. Blumenthal discusses the American left's reaction to his journalism and how Democrats like Rep. Alan Grayson are terrible on the issue of Palestine and Israel.  In a shorter discussion portion, Gosztola talks about the Left Forum in New York and groups like police reform groups that seem to have given up on struggling now that Bill Bratton is NYPD chief and Bill de Blasio is mayor

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Keane Bhatt, a DC-based activist and writer. He talks to us about a letter signed by individuals like two Nobel Peace laureates. The letter was written to pressure Human Rights Watch to close its "revolving door" and be more independent from the US government. Bhatt shares some examples of why those concerned with human rights should raise this issue with this organization, even as the organization is doing some critically important work on human rights.  During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss the UC Santa Barbara shooting, Venezuela sanctions, Obama as deporter-in-chief, proxy forces being used by the US government, a California Supreme Court decision on police secrecy around shootings, a lawsuit against an incident of mass detention in Aurora, Colorado, and Edward Snowden's NBC interview.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch. Wareham is the advocacy director for the arms division of Human Rights Watch and spearheads a global coalition to ban killer robots. She was recently in Geneva for the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) meeting to discuss how countries should respond to the rise of this technology.   During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss media organizations challenging secrecy around execution drugs for lethal injections, US citizens' support for the death penalty, a global survey that found 4 in 10 believe their governments would torture them if they were taken into custody, Guantanamo force-feedings and media coverage of Palestinian Nakba Day.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Carlos Garcia, the director of the Puente Arizona, which is part of a global movement for migrant justice and human rights. Garcia joined others from several states to come to Washington, DC, to speak to representatives of Congress about Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) "bed quotas." Every year, 34,000 beds have to be occupied by the bodies of immigrants in the process of deportation. During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss US forces sent in to Nigeria to help rescue kidnapped girls from Boko Haram, the US-Djibouti relationship that has helped make drone warfare and rendition possible, McClatchy journalist Adam Baron being deported from Yemen, James Clapper's massive gag policy on intelligence employees citing "known leaks" and Israeli stealing of US industrial secrets.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Rachel Meeropol of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Meeropol is a senior staff attorney, who argued in court this week that the FBI should not have rounded up Muslims in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and former US officials should be held responsible. Meeropol also discusses developments in a CCR lawsuit involving Communications Management Units (CMUs) in two US prisons. The units impose restrictive conditions and disproportionately affect Muslims and prisoners who maintain their political beliefs while imprisoned. During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss John Kerry's now-blasphemous comment—his use of the word "apartheid" (oh my!), Prince Georges Police Department's plan to live tweet a prostitution sting, a rather troubling instance of larger organizations policing dissent during the May Day march in Chicago. We also share some thoughts on surveillance panels dominated purely by white men.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Rooj Alwazir of the Support Yemen media collective. Alwazir is based in Sanaa, Yemen, and provides an update on the reported drone strikes and air strikes in country of which US and Yemen governments have been involved. She describes the cycle of violence along with what Americans are not hearing about the extent to which the attacks are unfortunately having the negative effect of making Yemenis more sympathetic to al Qaeda. During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss a prison hunger strike that was halted in Alabama, #myNYPD, a Jersey City man who was blinded after being shot by police but faces 30 years in prison, the FBI coercing Muslims to become informants by placing them on the No Fly List and James Clapper's gag order for intelligence employees so they don't talk to the press.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Yousef Al Jamal, a young Palestinian from Gaza who contributed to a collection of stories called "Gaza Writes Back." The collection of stories were all written by young Palestinians and highlight Gaza, Palestine, Israeli occupation, life in Gaza, society, politics, love, hope and everything in between.During the discussion, Gosztola and Khalek talk about Cliven Bundy, the Jewish center shooting by a white supremacist, Edward Snowden asking Putin a question and Vox.com, the new startup media outlet there to patronizingly explain the news to you.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined by Pardiss Kebriaei, a staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, to discuss the Awlaki decision. She is the leading attorney on the case which a judge dismissed and addresses what the families of US citizens were seeking from their government after their sons were killed in drone strikes. She also outlines some of the most troubling aspects of the judge's decision.  During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek discuss FBI agents on JSOC raids in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Albuquerque police, "Cuban Twitter" and President Barack Obama as this country's deporter-in-chief.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog host a special episode with voices sharing the experiences in the war on Palestinian solidarity activism on college or university campuses in America.  Iymen Chehade, a professor who teaches the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Columbia College Chicago, recounts how his academic freedom was violated by the college after he chose to screen the documentary 5 Broken Cameras to students. Farah and Suha, two University of Michigan students, discuss their struggle to get a divestment resolution passed and how the student government tried to silence and ignore them. And Tori Porell, a student at Northeastern University and president in exile for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, describes how the university banned SJP and targeted Arab or Muslim students they thought were associated with the group.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Molly Crabapple, an artist and writer who recently published, "Theater of Justice," for Vice, which described how trials she had attended to draw sketches were like performances. She discusses her work and how she chooses what to sketch next. During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about ABC News hiring former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, the White House launching a community channel on Buzzfeed, Mike Rogers leaving Congress to become Glenn Beck and how Obama rewrote the history of the Iraq War when denouncing Russia.