Background Briefing: January 25, 2023

McCarthy’s Revenge as he Strips Schiff and Swalwell of Their Seats on the House Intelligence Committee

We begin with the new Speaker Kevin McCarthy stripping Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of their seats on the House Intelligence Committee arguing in a heated exchange with a reporter that it was not hypocritical to give George Santos a seat on committees because Swalwell had some connection to a Chinese spy and Schiff did something wrong when Nunez was the HPSCI Chair, although it was hard to follow his charges. Joining us is a former Republican Staff Director of the House Intel Committee, Mark Lowenthal, President Emeritus of the Intelligence & Security Academy and a professor at the Johns Hopkins University, he has served as Assistant Director of Central Intelligence (ADCI) for Analysis & Production; Vice Chairman for Evaluation at the National Intelligence Council; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence; and Staff Director, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).  Dr. Lowenthal is the author of the standard college/graduate school textbook on intelligence, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, (now in its 9th edition.)

 

India’s Prime Minister Modi’s Frantic Efforts to Prevent 1.4 Billion in the World’s Biggest Democracy From Seeing a BBC Documentary

Then we look into India’s Prime Minister Modi’s frantic efforts to stop the 1.4 billion people in the world’s largest democracy from seeing a BBC documentary about him that exposes his role in the 2002 pogrom against muslims in Gujarat at the time the Hindu Nationalist Modi was the Chief Minister of the State. Joining us is Dr. Sumit Ganguly, who holds the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University. His books include India Since 1980, India, Pakistan, and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia (Contemporary Asia in the World) and his latest book, The Oxford Handbook of India’s National Security.

 

Although the Republicans Did Not Vote For the IRA, Green Money is Pouring Into Red States

Then finally we speak with Harold Meyerson, one of the nation’s best-known progressive columnists and editor-at-large of The American Prospect. He also writes regularly about California politics for the Los Angeles Times and other national publications. We discuss his latest article at the American Prospect, “The Democrats’ Green Investments Are Going to Republican States” and Biden’s re-industrialization of America with the irony that although not one Republican voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, green money is pouring into red states.