Background Briefing: April 14, 2024

 

Iran’s Theatrical Response to the Israeli Strike and the Fear of Netanyahu Escalating

We begin with Iran’s almost theatrical retaliation against Israel’s April first strike against its diplomatic compound in Damascus, which is clearly a limited tit-for-tat meant to placate Iran’s hardliners while giving Israel and its allies plenty of warning that the drones and missiles were on their way, contributing to the 99% success rate of shooting them down. Joining us is Nicholas Heras the Senior Director for Strategy & Innovation at the New Lines Institute and the former Middle East Security Program Manager at the Institute for the Study of War. From 2016-2017, Nicholas served as the tenth 1LT Andrew J. Bacevich, Jr., USA Fellow at the Center for New American Security and he is the author of From the Bottom, Up: A Strategy for U.S. Military Support for Syria’s Armed Opposition. He’s conducted an extensive study on Iran’s proxies in the Middle East for the National Defense University.

 

Finally the Architect of the Far-Right Takeover of the U.S. Judiciary is Subpoenaed

Then we look into the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subpoena that finally is directed at Leonard Leo, architect of the far-right takeover of the Federal judiciary and the stacking of the Supreme Court to enact the moral authoritarianism and laissez faire capitalist agenda of an extreme minority fueled by billions of dark money. Joining us is Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of the new corporate watchdog group True North Research. She has served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government–as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department, as Chief Counsel for Nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a Deputy Chief of the article 3 judges division for the U.S. Courts.

 

An Assessment of the Trump vs. Biden Records of Achievement

Then finally we assess the records of achievements from the consecutive terms of Trump then Biden, and speak with Paul Glastris, the editor in chief of The Washington Monthly who spent ten years as a correspondent and editor at U.S. News & World Report’. From September 1998 to January, 2001, he was a special assistant and senior speechwriter to President Bill Clinton. He wrote over 200 speeches for the president, on subjects ranging from education to health care to the budget, and is a contributor to a new series at The Washington Monthly, “Trump vs. Biden: Who Got More Done: The Washington Monthly’s Presidential Accomplishment Index?”