The Bullshit Filter

The second episode of our series on gun control and gun violence, finishing up our chat about the Aussie experience. Did the gun restrictions put into place in 1996 have an impact on reducing gun homicide, suicide, other forms of homicide and crime rates in general? [smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/bullshitfilter/Bullshit_2.2.mp3″ ] Theme music: Holy Deep by The Passion HiFi [......

The first episode of our series on gun control and gun violence in four countries - Australia, UK, Canada and USA. We'll explore the history of each country and look at the evidence as to whether or not gun control has lead to less gun homicides, less mass shootings, and lower crime rates. This first [...] The post Gun Control 2.1 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more about your ad choices....

The final episode! Trump launched 59 cruise missiles at Shayrat Air Base, but he first warned the Russians who in turn warned the Syrians. So the attack was mostly for show. Putin suggested the attack was an attempt to distract the world from civilian casualties in Iraq. An American-led bombing in Western Mosul on 17 March [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.25 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn...

Second last episode! On 8 October 2015, the U.S. officially announced the end of the Pentagon's $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels in an acknowledgment that the program had failed. The Pentagon admitted that it had trained only four or five fighters inside Syria and that others had surrendered to rival groups and handed [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.24 appeared first on The...

Third last episode! In June 2014 Syria had a presidential election. Guess you won? On August 19 American journalist James Foley, who had been captured in Syria, was beheaded in a video by ISIL member "Jihadi John". That started a run of ISIL beheadings and threats to America and the UK. On 30 September 2015, at an official request by [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.23 appeared first on The BS Fi...

After the Obama administration decided against a full out attack on the Syrian forces, they began to revamp a failed policy. In the end, the Obama administration spent $1 billion, according to the New York Times, on what the CIA called a train-and-equip program, trying to build a rebel army, code-named Timber Sycamore. It was [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.22 appeared first on The BS Filter. Le...

At a minimum, the Obama administration exaggerated its case to justify a military attack on Syria. At worst, the White House fabricated intelligence. Bottom line: no one has yet presented convincing evidence of who perpetrated the horrific Al Ghouta attack. But one thing remains clear: the Al Ghouta massacre changed US policy, just not in the way [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.21 appeared first...

Obama's "red line" and what happened after the Ghouta attack. On 31 August 2013, the US military was ready to make strikes on Syrian targets. But Obama blinked. Maybe because Donald Trump tweeted that attacking Syria would "look very bad". Hey our show is now listed in iTunes as "The BS Filter". Click here. You should be [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.20 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn m...

Syria were one of seven countries that had not joined the 1997 convention banning chemical weapons. They were widely believed to possess large undeclared stockpiles of mustard gas and sarin nerve agent. Fast forward to March 19, 2013: There's a gas attack in the town of Khan al-Assal in northern Syria. It resulted in at [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.19 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn mo...

More clips of Barbara Walters' 2011 interview with Bashar where he explains why Syria is "the faultline" of the Middle East and how he ended up President. We cover the major events of 2012, including the Benghazi attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya which, according to Seymour Hersh, may have had to do with the existence of [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.18 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn...

Late 2011, Bashar al-Assad did a lengthy interview with Barbara Walters, in which he explained his perspective on the violence engulfing his country, how he ended up as President, and his plans for the future. It's a fascinating and disturbing interview, and we play a few selected clips on this episode. At the time, the [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.17 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn mo...

Here's my interview with Muhannad Saker, a Syrian from Lattakia, an Alawii, who was in Damascus during the early years of the civil war. I chatted with him a few weeks ago to get an eyewitness account of the events. Hey our show is now listed in iTunes as "The BS Filter". Click here. You should [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.16 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more about your ad choices....

NATO attacks Libya to remove Gaddafi, in part, according to intelligence sent to Hillary Clinton (leaked by Wikileaks) to prevent him from introducing the gold dinar, a single African currency made from gold. Meanwhile in Syria, large crowds of Syrians rallied in Damascus and Aleppo in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad. And [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.15 appeared first o...

Why were there pro-government rallies in most of the country's cities at the end of March 2011? Why did the government formally declare the repeal of an emergency law that had been in place since 1963? Then in late April, SOMETHING TERRIBLE happened in the small Syrian town of Tel Kalakh. Meanwhile, in Libya, NATO [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.14 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more abo...

We cover the events of March 2011, including Assad's first speech since the start of the troubles, in which he blames foreign elements, sacks his cabinet, and points the finger at Al Jazeera, the satellite television network based in Qatar - which leads us to some talk about Qatar, their history, their recent troubles, their [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.13 appeared first on The BS Filter. Lea...

We talk more about the diplomatic cable, written in 2006 by William Roebuck, chargé d'affaires at the US embassy in Damascus, that talked about ways the U.S. could help overthrow the Assad regime. It was later leaked by Wikileaks. We cover his comments about how the U.S. could use former Syrian vice president Abdul Halim [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.12 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn m...

Then 9/11 happened. In 2003, despite their history with Iraq during the first Gulf War, the Assad government opposed the United States' invasion and occupation of Iraq. But that didn't stop the USA from using Syria as one of the main places where they sent their "ghost detainees" as part of a program known as [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.11 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more about yo...

When Hafez al-Assad died in June 2000 he was succeeded by his youngest son Bashar as President and Syrian Regional Branch head. He was 35 years old. He later ran unopposed in an election, receiving 97.29 percent of the vote. Sounds legit to us. Early in his Presidency, The Damascus Spring happened - some reforms, followed by [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.10 appeared first on The BS Filter. Lea...

We cover the last few decades of Hafez Al-Assad's Presidency of Syria, including his support for America's war on Iraq in 1991 and his brother Rifaat's attempt at a coup. Hey our show is now listed in iTunes as "The BS Filter". Click here. You should be able to find it in most podcast apps by searching for [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.9 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more about your a...

In this episode we continue to discuss the Lebanese civil war, the founding of the PLO (the Palestinian Liberation Organisation), Fatah, Hezbollah and the quick version of the Lebanese civil war from its genesis in 1975, how Syria got involved, right up until Syria was forced to leave the country in 2005 under mysterious circumstances. Hey our [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.8 appeared first on...

In this episode we discuss the Lebanese civil war which raged from 1975 - 1990 and claimed the lives of 120,000 people, with another 1,000,000 refugees. Syria played a huge role and their forces stayed in control of the country until 2005. We also explain a little about the "Eisenhower Doctrine" and the Suez Crisis [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.7 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more abo...

In this episode we examine the US' response to the OPEC oil sanctions of 1973. Kissinger promised to negotiate a settlement between Israel and Syria which was enough for Assad to convince Arab oil producers to lift the embargo in March 1974. But at the same time, and this was a closely held secret until 2016, [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.6 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more about you...

Part 5 of our Syria series looks at the era of Hafez Al-Assad, 1970 - 2000. His rise through the ranks of the military, becoming a general in the air force, defense minister, and finally President after his own coup. His wars against Israel and his role in the OPEC crisis of 1973 which brought [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.5 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

Part 4 of our series on the Syrian civil war focuses on the history of the Alawites, a bizarre and minor Islamic sect that spent most of its 1100 year history being oppressed (and beheaded) by the Sunni majority - until Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, became the President of Syria in 1970. They were originally [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.4 appeared first on The BS Filter. Learn more about your a...

Part 3 of our series on the Syrian civil war. We spend this episode talking about Saudi Arabia - from it's founding in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of the Wahhabi movement, a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam. We explain the fundamentalist [...] The post Syrian Civil War 1.3 appeared first on...