Background Briefing: October 6, 2026
Trump Invites Iran to Nuke the Democratic Cities of Los Angeles and San Diego
We begin with the deadly combination of Trump’s diminishing grasp on reality as his sanity slips away together with his obsession with nuclear weapons, having once asked “why do we have them if we don’t use them.” Now to the glee of his MAGA followers in Nebraska, Trump has invited Iran to nuke Los Angeles and San Diego, two California cities with predominantly Democratic voters. Joining us is Dr. Henry Abraham who has served as Unit Chief of the Westboro State Hospital, Director of Psychiatric Research at the St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston and also served as a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences, and as advisor for several revisions of the Diagnostic Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. A member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, he shared in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize and is a signatory to an open letter from leading mental health professionals, “A Statement of Medical Concern about the President of the United States.” He writes a weekly newsletter on Substack, Henry David Abraham’s Stuff for Public Consumption where his latest article is “Why the Emperor Has No Clothes in 11,198 Words From TIME Magazine.”
Putin Offers the Mother of All Corrupt Deals to the Trump/Witkoff Families For Selling Out Ukraine
Then we look into the mother of all corrupt deals the Trump/Witkoff families have entered into with Putin who is offering up Lukoil at fire sale prices, meaning Jared, Ivanka, Steve and the kids and their friends in the Gulf will be getting the sanctioned Russian oil giant worth $22 billion once sanctions are lifted for a fraction of what it is worth. Needless to say this all comes at the expense of Ukraine. Joining us is Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Stockholm Free World Forum, a professor at the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University and a former senior fellow at The Atlantic Council. A member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, he worked as a Swedish Diplomat in Moscow and served as an economic advisor to the governments of Russia and Ukraine. His books include Ukraine: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It and Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path From Market Economy to Kleptocracy.
Russia Covers Up a Researcher’s Death by Pneumonic Plague in Siberia While Rubio Asks For Transparency
Then finally we investigate what we know about the death of a researcher at a Russian biolab from pneumonic plague which Putin is covering up while Secretary of State Rubio calls for more transparency. Joining us is Gregory Koblentz, Associate Professor and Director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government as well as the co-director of the Global BioLabs Initiative that tracks high containment laboratories and biorisk management policies around the world. A member of the Scientist Working Group on Chemical and Biological Weapons at the Center for Arms Control, he is the author of Living Weapons: Biological Warfare and International Security.