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Background Briefing offers an educational approach to providing information in an era of “fake news.”
Trump Gets His Speaker With a Friendlier Face But a Hard Right Record We begin with the House Republicans coming together today to elect a new speaker, Mike Johnson, after Trump had torpedoed the Republican whip Tom Emmer. Now with Trump’s blessing since Johnson led the effort to hand Trump an unelected second term, a … Continued
Emmer Gets the Nomination, Trump Calls Him a RINO, Then He Drops Out of the Race For Speaker We begin with the attempt to elect another speaker with Tom Emmer getting the nomination, but with 26 House Republicans opposing him along with Trump, who is calling him a RINO, Emmer has decided to drop out … Continued
The Continuing Paralysis of the Legislative Branch We begin with the continuing paralysis of the legislative branch as nine Republican men, only two of whom accept the fact that Joe Biden won the presidency, offer themselves up as candidates to be the next speaker. Joining us is E.J. Dionne, a columnist for The Washington Post, a … Continued
An Assessment of the Latest Intelligence on the Strike on the Gaza Hospital Parking Lot We begin with the dust settling on what yesterday seemed like a monstrous war crime but today might have been a tragedy caused by a malfunctioning missile fired by Islamic Jihad that struck the parking lot of an Episcopalian hospital … Continued
With the Facts of Who and What Was Behind the Bombing of a Hospital in Gaza Not Yet Verified, We Look Into How it Has Backfired on Israel We begin with mass casualties from an explosion that struck a hospital in Gaza which Palestinians are blaming on Israel while Israelis are blaming a rocket fired … Continued
Paralysis at Home While Wars Rage Abroad With the House to Vote on Jim (Gym) Jordan For Speaker on Tuesday at Noon We begin with paralysis at home while wars rage abroad as House Republicans, who have been wrangling behind closed doors, prepare to vote on the House floor for a new speaker on Tuesday … Continued
Can Israel Destroy Hamas Then Hand Over Gaza to the UN and Arab States to Rebuild and Sustain it? We begin with an overview of the U.S. getting dragged back into the tormented Middle East as a war between Israel and Hamas rages while Washington tries to focus on a far more serious war of … Continued
Israel’s Intelligence Failures and the Recriminations Soon to Come We begin with the intelligence failures and recriminations soon to emerge once the Israeli military operation against Hamas is over, assuming the war does not widen. Joining us is Paul Pillar, who served for 30 years as an analyst at the CIA, in which his last position … Continued
Jared, MbS, Biden and Bibi Ignored the Palestinians as They Dreamed Up Their Plan for Peace and Prosperity in the Middle East We begin with the political failure amid talk of an intelligence failure that elites in Israel, the Middle East and in Washington are now having to face for not considering the plight of … Continued
The Intensifying War Between Israel and Hamas We begin with the intensifying war between Israel and Hamas as Israel cuts off fuel, water and food supplies to the Gaza Strip and assess the possibility of another front opening in the north as clashes with Hezbollah escalate. Joining us is Asher Kaufman, Director of the Kroc Institute … Continued
