Background Briefing: December 13, 2023
Hunter Biden Defies the House Witch-Hunters Ahead of the Vote To Impeach His Father
We begin with Hunter Biden’s appearance on the steps of the Capitol offering to testify in person to the Republican Kangaroo Court, who have been smearing him for years, ahead of today’s vote by House Republicans to begin an impeachment inquiry into President Biden based on no evidence but Speaker Johnson’s craven obedience to Trump who wants payback for his two impeachments. Joining us is Allan Lichtman, a political historian who teaches at American University and has studied both the American right and the presidency. The author of The Keys to the White House: A Surefire Way to Predicting the Next President, his prediction system has correctly predicted the outcomes of all US presidential elections since 1984 including the 2016 election when against all odds, he predicted a Trump victory. His most recent books are The Embattled Vote in America, The Case For Impeachment, and Thirteen Cracks: Repairing American Democracy After Trump. He has a new weekly show at 9 PM on Thursdays at @allanlichtmanyoutube.
Hypocrisy Hardly Begins to Describe What is Going on With Florida Republicans
Then we assess the need for a new word to replace hypocrisy, which hardly describes what is going on in Florida where the Sarasota school board voted to oust the co-founder of the anti-gay book-burners Moms For Liberty, who engaged in a threesome with her husband and another woman who is charging the husband, the head of the Florida’s Republican Party, with rape. Joining us is Grant Stern, a Miami based columnist and radio broadcaster who writes two national news columns, one at the Washington Press by Occupy Democrats, and one focused on original investigative reporting at The Stern Facts. He is also a contributing investigative reporter for DCReport.org.
The COP28 Pledge to “Transition Away” From Fossil Fuels That Leaves a Lot of Wiggle Room
Then finally we look into what came out of the COP28 climate talks, which is a pledge to “transition away” from fossil fuels as opposed to phasing them out. Joining us is Michael Mann, the Presidential Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. He has received many honors and awards, including National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s outstanding publication award in 2002, selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002, and, additionally, he contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and in 2020 was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change, The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet, and his latest book is Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis. We will discuss his article at The LA Times, “COP28 has become a shameless exercise in the fight against climate change. But can we afford to walk out?”