Background Briefing has a new home at BackgroundBriefing.org.
Please visit and bookmark the new site. You can search show archives here.
July 22 - A Survivor of Virginia Tech on the Latest Gun Massacre; How Politics Trumps Public Safety; $21 Trillion Hidden in Tax Havens
|
|
LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM | |
|
|
We begin with a survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre, Colin Goddard, who was shot four times and was one out of seven in a class of seventeen to survive the shooting with three of the four bullets still in his body. We discuss why, after Virginia Tech and the mass shooting in Arizona of a U.S. Congresswoman and a Federal Judge, nothing was done to prevent deranged individuals from obtaining military firepower to up the ante and break records in the mass killing of innocents. |
 |
|
|
Then we look into the role of the NRA in preventing the oversight of an industry that manufactures a product that is completely unregulated from a health and safety standpoint. Kristen Rand, the Legislative Director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington DC joins us. |
 |
|
|
Then finally we examine a new report by the Tax Justice Network that reveals the super-rich are hiding $21 trillion in tax havens, the equivalent of the U.S. and Japanese economies combined. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and columnist with Reuters, David Cay Johnston joins us to discuss the scale of global tax-avoidance that might be as high as 32 trillion. |
 |
| MUSIC: The Beatles - Happiness Is A Warm Gun; MGMT - Pieces of What; Fionn Regan - Be Good or Be Gone; The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money |
Tags:
July 19 - Ann Romney's Marie Antoinette Moment; Our Terrorists and Their Terrorists; The Worst Drought Since 1956; The Geopolitics of Drought and Food Prices
|
|
LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM | |
|
|
We begin with today’s headline that 50% of the population, that’s half of the people in this country, have only 1% of America’s wealth. The Washington Bureau Chief for Alternet, Adele Stan, joins us to discuss Ann Romney’s Marie Antoinette moment where she told ABC’s Robin Roberts that “we’ve given all you people need to know about our financial situation and about how we live our life”. |
 |
|
|
Then as many celebrate the terrorist bomb that killed members of the Syrian dictator’s inner circle, we look into the double standard in terrorism where many prominent Americans from Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani to Governors Rendell and Howard Dean have taken money from the Iranian MEK, designated by the U.S. Government as a terrorist group. Jeremiah Goulka, who has an article at the American Prospect “Caught in a Bad Alliance”, joins us to discuss Israel’s and the neocon’s favorite terrorists. |
 |
|
|
Then we look into the worst drought since 1956 that is devastating corn and soybean crops and causing the price of corn to go up more than 50% in the last four weeks. Purdue University Agronomist Tony Vyn joins us to discuss the impact of the drought on food prices and food security. |
 |
|
|
Then we explore the global impact of droughts in the United States, Russia, the Ukraine and Australia on the global prices and availability of food. Eric Holt-Gimenez, the Executive Director of Food First and the Institute for Food and Development Policy joins us to discuss the geopolitics of drought that could lead to instability and revolutions. |
 |
| MUSIC: The National - Mansion On A Hill; Rolling Stones - My Sweet Neocon; Dirty Projectors - Cannibal Resource; M. Ward - Get To The Table on Time |
Tags:
July 18 - Media Shills For Mitt; Is Assad Circling The Drain?; The Future Plans of China's "Princelings"
|
|
LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM | |
|
|
We begin with the revelation that CNN’s Senior Political Analyst, the highly respected former White House insider David Gergen, had ties to Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital while commenting on the firm to the media. Veteran financial investigative reporter William Cohan joins us. A former Wall Street banker who had dealings with Bain Capital, Cohan found Bain not to be the sterling company that David Gergen describes as having a positive reputation within the business community of Boston and beyond. |
 |
|
|
Then, following the suicide bombing inside the national security headquarters in Damascus that killed three Generals at the heart of Assad’s military, and with the White House statement that “it’s clear that the Assad regime is losing control of Syria”, a specialist on Syria James Gelvin joins us to examine whether these latest victories for the Free Syrian Army are a setback for the regime or a death blow. |
 |
|
|
Then finally the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Susan Shirk joins us to discuss a front page story in Wednesday’s New York Times about how the children of China’s elite, the so-called “princelings”, who represent the next generation of Communist Party leaders, have met at private gatherings to urge deeper political and economic change. We look into whether the new privileged elite will want to hold onto power or share their wealth with more of China’s citizens. |
 |
| MUSIC: Kurt Vile - Puppet To The Man; The Doors - The End; Major Lazer - Get Free; Madonna - Material Girl (Chinese Version) |
Tags:
July 17 - The Fall of the Assad Regime Coming Soon; Bankers Behaving Badly; Big Donor Files Vanish From FEC
|
|
LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM | |
|
|
We begin with Syria, where street battles are underway in Damascus indicating the fall of the Assad regime might happen sooner than expected. Rafif Jouejati joins us from Cairo, she is the English-language spokesperson for the Syrian Local Coordinating Committees inside Syria and we discuss claims that the Assad regime has already used chemical weapons against the opposition and look into whether Syria’s WMD arsenals might end up with Iran or Hezbollah. |
 |
|
|
Then we examine a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released Monday about the extent to which the global British bank HSBC has been engaged in laundering money for Mexican drug cartels, dealt with Iran, Syria and Cuba, and is doing business with a Saudi Bank that was an early benefactor of Al Qaeda. Former banking investigator, William K Black, the author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One” joins us. |
 |
|
|
Then finally we speak with Thomas Ferguson who has been investigating the deletion of key files at the Federal Election Commission, documenting so-called “dark money” contributions from some of Romney’s biggest donors such as the “swift-boater” Harold Simmons. Tom Ferguson has an article at Alternet “Revealed: Key Files on Big-Ticket Political Donations Vanish at Federal Election Commission.” |
 |
| MUSIC: Dead Kennedys - Chemical Warfare; Immortal Technique - Rich Man's World; Shabazz Palaces - Yeah You; Ottis Redding - Tell The Truth |
Tags:
July 16 - Romney's Money and Money Men in Trouble; Restoring Wealth, Not Jobs, Is the Priority; Mini Skirts, Mickey Mouse and the Mystery Madam
|
|
LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM | |
|
|
We begin with an analysis of how bad things could get for Mitt Romney as the slow drip about his tenure at Bain Capital, how much money he made, what taxes he paid, and how much of his wealth has been hidden continues. Jacob Heilbrunn, a Senior Editor at The National Interest joins us to discuss this, as well as news that Romney’s biggest Super PAC donor Sheldon Adelson might be in big trouble. |
 |
|
|
Then we look into the “jobs” and “job creator” narrative that has been and presumably will be again, a central issue in this year’s presidential campaign. The Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Monthly magazine Paul Glastris joins us to discuss how the lack of jobs did not create the great recession that has wiped out 40% of the average family’s wealth, and that the campaign should be about how the middle class can get out from under ruinous debt and rebuild its wealth. |
 |
|
|
Then finally we look into the firing of the head of North Korea’s military and some of the recent surreal happenings in the hermit kingdom with Sue Mi Terry, the former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council and the Director of Japan, Korea and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council. She joins us to discuss mini-skirts, Mickey Mouse and the mysterious woman accompanying the boy emperor. |
 |
| MUSIC: Lynard Skynard - Money Man; Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues; Bright Eyes - Light Pollution; Mickey Mouse Club Theme |
Tags:
RSS Latest Radio Programs
Pacifica App