Month: September 2021

Briefings

Background Briefing: September 30, 2021

On By gram

 

January 6 Subpoenas and Republicans Equate Egging of Larry Elder With Growing Threat of Domestic Terrorism

We begin with Andrew Feinberg, a reporter covering the White House, Congress and the aftermath of the 2020 election for The Independent where he just wrote an article about Wednesday’s hearing before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, “GOP more focused on ‘Antifa’ than domestic terror at hearing with FBI”. Republicans used a hearing on the growing threat of domestic terrorism to press top White House counterterrorism officials about graffiti outside a member’s home and the egging of the GOP candidate Larry Elder in the recent California gubernatorial recall. And with Trump claiming executive privilege in trying to quash the subpoenas sent to four Trump White House and administration officials issued by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, we look into the second round of subpoenas issued on Wednesday targeting the organizers of the January 6 rally.  

 

Trying to Understand Kyrsten Sinema Who Controls the Fate of Biden and the Democrats

Then we try to understand the person who controls the fate of the Democratic agenda and the presidency of Joseph Biden, Senator Kysten Sinema who has recently met with Biden ten times but has yet to spell out her agenda and negotiate seriously on the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package she can torpedo because her vote in necessary to pass the bill through budget reconciliation. Joining us is Steve Muratore, who has been writing about Arizona politics since 1992 and blogs at the Arizona Eagletarian where he focuses on Arizona redistricting and campaign finance. He has known the senator for decades as she has transitioned from a far-left Green to a right wing Democrat who often sits on the Republican side of the aisle in the Senate and just held a fundraiser with Republican donors opposed to the Biden agenda. Since Sinema won’t talk to the press and appears to have contempt for anyone who challenges or even questions her, the unfortunate conclusion appears to be that Biden is dealing with the vanity of a capricious narcissist who is only interested in being the center of attention and is more and more beholden to big donors like Big Pharma who have funded her with $750,000 to kill the proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate down the price of prescription drugs. 

 

An Ornithologist Who Has Studied the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Now on the Extinction List

Then finally we speak with John Fitzpatrick, Director Emeritus of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology where he conducted research as a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He is now active in a variety of research projects, including a long-term project on the ecology, landscape genetics, and conservation of the Florida Scrub-Jay and the Ivory Billed Woodpecker which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is adding to a list of extinct species, a decision John does not agree with.