Political Misfits

More on the show: Political Misfits brings you news, politics and culture ‒ without the red and blue treatment. We guide conversations that take new looks at the stories and topics that mean a lot to us, including corporate misconduct, foreign policy and secret wars, climate change, media criticism, poverty, pop culture, electoral politics and much, much more.

Political Misfits airs live daily Monday through Friday from 12-2 p.m. EST and is broadcast on 105.5 FM in Washington, DC, 102.9 FM in Kansas City, Missouri, and to 35 countries on signals such as FM, digital DAB/DAB+ (Digital Radio Broadcasting), and HD-Radio. The show is also made available globally live on SputnikNews.com and is distributed as a podcast shortly after broadcasting on iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spreaker and more, and you can check us out on Twitter @SputnikMisfits.

About us: Hosts John Kiriakou and Michelle Witte bring different backgrounds to Political Misfits, but arrive with a mutual curiosity and compassion. John is a former CIA officer, former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former counterterrorism consultant for ABC News. In 2007, John blew the whistle on the CIA’s torture program, saying that the CIA tortured prisoners, that torture was official U.S. government policy, and that the policy had been approved by then-President George W. Bush. He was indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act – a law designed to punish spies – and served 23 months in prison as a result of the revelation. He won the PEN Center USA’s prestigious First Amendment Award in 2015, and won the first Blueprint International Whistleblowing Prize for Bravery and Integrity in the Public Interest and the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence. John has written a number of books about his experiences in Washington’s secret wars and his time in the prison system.

Michelle is a committed explorer, observer and documentor of our big, beautiful planet and the strange creatures that inhabit it. A long-time writer, teacher and journalist, she returned to the US after ten years overseas with a broader perspective on American politics and culture and our impact on the world. She has worked, traveled and sometimes reported from Thailand, Lao PDR, Taiwan and Kazakhstan, and has spent significant time elsewhere in Asia. Michelle gets fired up about foreign policy, indigenous rights, responsible travel, good books and bad movies, animal welfare, baking and long-distance hikes.