From the Free Thought Project: WATCH: School Cops Handcuff Mentally Disabled 8yo Boy, Bring Him to Adult Prison for Misbehaving WATCH: Incompetent Cop Tasers Fellow Officer Causing Him to Shoot Unarmed Man Residents Outraged After Cops Open Fire on 5 Children, Ages 9-16, After They Rolled a Stop Sign
Scott talks to Michael Klare about the incentives behind America's involvement in wars in the Middle East. One common narrative says that Bush invaded Iraq simply because America needed the oil—the truth, says Klare, is somewhat more complicated. He explains that American war planners see a combined strategic interest in U.S. involvement in the Middle East that includes military positioning and the economic interest of exerting control over the oil trade. For one thing, America has essentially promised Saudi Arabia that it will defend their kingdom forever in exchange for a privileged...
Brett Wilkins discusses the story about Hiroshima and Nagasaki that everyone learned in school: the U.S. was forced to drop the atomic bombs, because the alternative would have meant a ground invasion of Japan that would have cost a million American lives. In reality, Japan was already making moves toward negotiating a surrender, especially after the USSR declared war on Japan earlier that summer. What's more, seven out of eight U.S. generals at the time, including Eisenhower and MacArthur, agreed that the bomb was unnecessary. Scott and Wilkins go on to talk about the state of the world's...
Kingston Reif talks about the imminent lapse of the New START treaty, one of the last remaining nuclear safeguard agreements between the U.S. and Russia. Russia has made some moves to renegotiate the treaty, but the Trump administration has refused to do so, ostensibly in the name of making it much more restrictive, and of including China in the negotiations. These efforts would be admirable, Reif notes, except that there is little reason to believe they are legitimate. Reif suspects that the U.S. and Russia are actually both interested in being able to use the threat of medium range...
Taibbi's new piece is called: "Our Man in Cambridge." It's about Stephen Halper's assistant, Steven P. Schrage, who has now written this new piece, "The Spies Who Hijacked America." Update: Steven Schrage's interview with Maria Bartiromo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O1Nxx0TQWE&feature=emb_logo
Scott interviews Tom Woods about his new eBook, which provides a libertarian perspective on some of the national questions being raised these days about the future of policing. Scott and Woods focus in on the war on drugs in particular, which has been the culprit behind so many of the police abuses of the last few decades. They review the reasons why this policy has been completely ineffective, a staggering waste of resource and has led to vastly disproportionate outcomes between white and minority populations. As a libertarian, Woods supports the replacement of government police forces with...
Scott talks to Stephen Zunes about Susan Rice, one of the leading candidates for Joe Biden's VP pick. Rice fits Biden's criteria in that she's a black woman with political experience, but Zunes raises serious concerns about her track record. In particular, Rice turned out to be one of the most hawkish Democrats during her time in the Clinton and Obama administrations, and she played a role in pushing for America's invasion of Iraq in 2003. Zunes points out that if "a black woman" is Biden's only important qualification, then he should at least pick someone with better left-wing credentials...
Australian journalist Mark Willacy talks to Scott about his investigations into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces units in Afghanistan. Willacy has worked closely with former SAS operative Braden Chapman, the leading figure in blowing the whistle on what has become a spate of such allegations. The incidents include the killing of unarmed, compliant civilians and the fabrication of evidence to cover up wrongdoing. There is currently an investigation underway in Australia into these misdeeds, but Willacy reminds us how much is at stake with the image of the Australian military,...
