Background Briefing: September 16, 2019
Tehran's Not-Too-Subtle Message to the White House We begin with heightening tensions in the Gulf following an Iranian strike by drones and cruise missiles on two key Saudi oil facilities which has Trump threatening in a tweet that the U.S. “is locked and...
Background Briefing: September 15, 2019
Some 2020 Presidential Predictions We will begin with some political predictions, particularly since some sober analysts like Peter Wehner, in an article at The Atlantic titled “Trump is Not Well”, argue that Trump’s psychological flaws were alarming when he...
Background Briefing: September 12, 2019
Finally Antitrust Action Against the Tech Monopolies We begin today’s program as the latest round of Democratic presidential candidate’s debates begins in Houston and speak with Matt Stoller, a Fellow at the Open Markets Institute whose latest book out soon,...
Background Briefing: September 11, 2019
The Falling Out between the Adelsons and the Netanyahus We begin on this 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and speak with veteran Washington correspondent Jim Lobe who was chief of the Washington bureau of Inter Press Services and runs the influential...
Background Briefing: September 10, 2019
Will Bolton's Exit Mean More Trump Photo Ops with Tyrants? We begin with the firing today by President Trump by Twitter of his third National Security Adviser John Bolton who Trump said he “disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions” and that “I will be...
Background Briefing: September 9, 2019
Was the Aborted Summit About Trump's Ego or Afghanistan's Future? We begin with President Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of an invitation to the Taliban to come to Camp David for peace talks with the Afghan government who have so far been excluded from ongoing...
Background Briefing: September 8, 2019
Trump's Orwellian Dictate to NOAA We begin with the Orwellian nature of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, being forced to support an absurd claim by President Trump that Hurricane Dorian was about to strike Alabama in a craven act of...
Background Briefing: September 5, 2019 – Shirley Jahad sits in for Ian Masters
Big Pharma Faces More Big Court Challenges in the Opioid Addiction Epidemic First, big pharma is on trial in the opioid crisis … thousands of local and state officials have filed lawsuits against the drug makers and many of those cases, joined together, are...
Background Briefing: September 4, 2019 | Shirley Jahad sits in for Ian Masters
Why the Federal Election Commission Is Broken and What It Means for 2020 Today, Shirley Jahad sits in for Ian Masters who is on assignment in Europe and will be back on Sunday. First, at a time when questions of influence peddling and foreign interference in US...
Background Briefing: September 3, 2019 – Alan Minsky sits in for Ian Masters
How the Democratic Presidential Candidates Differ on the Climate Crisis Today we have Alan Minsky, the former Program Director at KPFK, sitting in for Ian Masters while Ian is on assignment in Europe until Sunday, September 8. We begin with journalist Kate...