Month: February 2022

Briefings

Background Briefing: February 1, 2022

On By gram

 

With Trump the GOP Frontrunner, Are We Heading For Putin-style Gangster Government?

We begin with whether or not America will soon have gangster government like the Russians have under Putin since our criminal-in-chief Donald Trump now controls the Republican Party and is their frontrunner for 2024 and could be elected to a second term by GOP voter suppression alone. Joining us is Peter Strzok, the former FBI Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence and a 22-year veteran of the Bureau. He served as one of the original case agents for the Russian couple who inspired the TV series The Americans, and he has investigated a range of other high-profile cases, from WikiLeaks to the 9/11 hijackings to Hillary Clinton’s private email server. He was selected to head the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and worked with Robert Mueller as a leader of the FBI’s efforts in creating the Special Counsel’s Office. The author of Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump, just out in a new paperback edition, we discuss what can be done to stop Trump who has already issued a call for civil war, having urged his followers to engage in the biggest demonstrations ever if he is indicted.

 

What Can Be Done To Stop Corporate Price Gouging

Then we speak with Amanda Starbuck, the research director at Food and Water Watch where she has a new analysis, “On Eve of Congressional Hearing, Data Shows Egregious Profiteering in Food, Energy Sectors.” We discuss the drivers of inflation and what can be done to stop corporate price gouging during the pandemic when energy costs have increased by 20.3% and the cost to feed a family of four on a thrifty budget has increased by 33.5%.

 

Big Oil Rewards Senator Sinema For Killing Build Back Better Which Manchin Pronounced Dead Today

Then finally with Senator Manchin pronouncing Biden’s Build Back Better bill dead, we examine the extent to which the other saboteur of the Democratic party’s agenda, Senator Sinema, is being rewarded by Republican donors for her death blow to voting rights, clean energy, child care and other measures that would help America’s women. This after Sinema made sure American men got heavy construction jobs through her so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill. Joining us is Sheila Krumholz, the Executive Director of OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money, politics and influence in Washington and we discuss the fundraising haul Sinema is being lavished with from oil company executives as she capitalizes on her success having delivered on taxes and climate change for her big donors.