Background Briefing: September 2, 2019
Will the Democrats Run Away from Their Progressive Majority? On this Labor Day we look back on stories that we covered in 2019 on the challenges working Americans face as our democracy succumbs to plutocracy in this new gilded age. We begin with an...
Background Briefing: September 1, 2019
The Gig Economy Turns Us Into a Nation of Rickshaw Drivers On this Labor Day weekend we begin and speak with Stacy Mitchell, the Co-Director of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, who recently testified before the United States House Judiciary Committee at a...
Background Briefing: August 29, 2019
The Deadly Legacy of David Koch We begin with the passing last Friday of David Koch who, despite being eulogized in the right-wing press as a philanthropist, along with his brother Charles was a greater funder than even Exxon Mobile of climate change denial,...
Background Briefing: August 28, 2019
Why Does the CIA Not Spy On the UAE? We begin with the stunning news from Reuters that the CIA doesn’t spy on the UAE even though the United Arab Emirates finances a warlord fighting against the U.S. and the U.N. in Libya and it was revealed that former NSA...
Background Briefing: August 27, 2019
Bernie Sanders' Plan to Protect American Journalism We will begin with Bernie Sanders’ detailed and ambitious plan to protect American journalism which was unveiled on Monday to what seems an unsurprising and predictable lack of coverage by the mainstream...
Background Briefing: August 26, 2019
Could Collective Action Against Bad Actors Stop Climate Change? We begin with the pressure on Brazil from the G-7 to stop burning the Amazon rainforests and assess whether this could be the precursor for collective action against a bad environmental actor or...
Background Briefing: August 25, 2019
Trump Has Second Thoughts About The Trade War With China We begin with the apparent backpedaling by President Trump who seems to be having second thoughts about his intensifying trade war with China. An expert on Chinese politics and the Chinese Communist...
Background Briefing: August 22, 2019
"The Chosen One" Is Losing It We begin with the growing concern that Trump is becoming unhinged following Wednesday’s rambling diatribe on the south lawn of the White House where he looked up to the heavens and declared himself the chosen one. One of the first...
Background Briefing: August 21, 2019
Is Trump Losing It? Is the President Crazy? We begin with the question more and more people are asking, including those who have worked closely with Trump, and that is, is he losing it? Is the president crazy? Joining us is William Cohan, a former senior Wall...
Background Briefing: August 20, 2019
Another Cowardly Retreat by Trump After a Call from the NRA We begin with President Trump’s latest reversal of a promise to do something about recurring gun massacres in this country with his capitulation to the NRA after a phone call from its head Wayne...