Unauthorized Disclosure

Hosts Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek interview Shane Bauer, who is a reporter for Mother Jones and recently attended the massive "Urban Shield" police meet-up and training exercise in Oakland, California. He had many following his reporting on the event on Twitter, and he interviewed vendors and snapped many amazing, if not also disturbing, photos of what was happening. And, before the five-day meet-up was over, Bauer had his media badge taken by police and he was booted. During the discussion portion, we talk about going to President Barack Obama's announcement that America is going to war against ISIS—and how the Obama administration won't call it a a war on ISIS. Khalek highlights a report she did on a religious zealot Israeli general, who ordered an Israeli soldier to be killed by friendly fire rather than captured by Hamas. The episode concludes with some talk about District Attorney Sam Sutter. Sutter stunned environmental activists this past week when he had criminal charges against two men who engaged in direct action dropped because he sympathizes with their view that climate change is a serious crisis.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and independent journalist Rania Khalek are joined by Deepa Kumar, an associate professor in the journalism and media studies department of Rutgers University and author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire. Kumar explores how the US media has been covering Palestinians in Gaza, especially as Israel's assault has escalated. She also provides context for why five named Muslim Americans became targets of the NSA and FBI, as The Intercept reported just over a week ago. During a shorter discussion portion, we talk about Israel's ground invasion and how Israel is blaming Hamas for all the civilians who die. We also highlight censorship news organizations like NBC News and CNN have imposed on reporters covering Gaza.

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 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 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 Dahr Jamail, a staff reporter for Truthout.org. Jamail discusses his latest reporting on what has happened with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's forces in Fallujah. He also outlines some of the residual effects of the US occupation that Iraq is still experiencing, including the fact that forces are responsible for rape, torture and executions. During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about RT anchors, who decided to protest, to varying degrees. They discuss what the US media conveniently ignored and make some larger points about RT and the US media. And then, the detention of CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin in Cairo, where thuggish security officers broke her arms, is highlighted.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Eva Golinger, an American-Venezuelan lawyer and author of The Chavez Code. She puts the recent "crisis" in Venezuela into context by comparing it to the 2002 coup. She also highlights the role of private media in Venezuelan society, who are the leaders of the "opposition" and why the US government and American elites have considered the Bolivarian revolution a threat.  During the discussion portion of the show, Gosztola and Khalek talk about a spat between Daily Beast reporter Eli Lake and national security journalist Joshua Foust. And, ahead of the Oscars, Gosztola calls attention to some of the films nominated that actually are worth seeing.

Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek of the "Dispatches from the Underclass" blog are joined for the interview segment by Paula Swearingen, a mother in West Virginia an an organizer who shares details on the impact of a chemical spill. She opens up about the impact of coal on West Virginians and how the industry controls people's lives. This was the show's pilot episode, recorded on January 18, 2014.