Month: August 2023

Background Briefing: August 29, 2023

 

As DeSantis Erases Black History, His Campaign Appeals to the Likes of the Young White Nazi Who Murdered 3 Blacks In Jacksonville

We begin with Sunday’s vigil for the three African Americans murdered by a young white Nazi with swastikas painted on his assault rifle at which Governor Ron DeSantis was booed by the local residents. We speak with a local resident who understands why Florida’s black residents rejected DeSantis’s hollow indignation since he is running a campaign to the right of Donald Trump appealing to the very white racist fringes the shooter inhabited. As it happens DeSantis was booed on the same day August 23, when 70 years ago a white mob beat young blacks with axe handles as they tried to integrate lunch counters. Known as Axe Handle Saturday, that day in 1960 in Jacksonville is an example of the very black history that DeSantis is erasing from the state’s schools. Joining us is Brenda Priestly-Jackson, a former Democratic City Council member in Jacksonville, Florida. A fourth generation resident of Jacksonville, she serves as the executive director of Dynamic Education Foundation, Inc. and was elected to the Duval County School Board.

 

The First of Ten Drugs Medicare Will Bargain Down the Prices Of With Big Pharma

Then with The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announcing today the first of ten drugs they intend to bargain down the prices of with Big Pharma under the Inflation Reduction Act, we speak with Alex Lawson, the Executive Director of Social Security Works. His work focuses on protecting and expanding Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and lowering prescription drug prices. We discuss his op-ed at Common Dreams, “The Biggest Defeat Big Pharma Has Ever Suffered.”

 

Mark Meadows Fumbles Answers to Key Questions in Three and a Half Hours of Testimony

Then finally we examine Mark Meadows’ three and a half hours of testimony before a Federal Judge in Atlanta on Monday in which Trump’s former Chief of Staff fumbled many of the key questions as he argued why his case should be moved from state to federal court. Joining us is Chris Whipple, a multiple Peabody and Emmy Award–winning producer at CBS’s 60 Minutes and ABC’s Primetime. The author of the New York Times best-selling book, The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, and The Spymasters: How the CIA Directors Shaped History and the Future, his latest book is The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House.