Month: March 2024

Briefings

Background Briefing: March 14, 2024

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Johnson Won’t Hold a Vote to Impeach Biden as Evidence Emerges the Source Who Fed House Republicans Russian Disinformation Was Paid $600,000 by Friends of Trump

We begin with House Speaker Johnson telling reporters that he can’t commit to holding a Biden impeachment vote following the implosion of the case against Hunter Biden which was based on fabrication by Russian intelligence passed on by an FBI informant Alexander Smirnov who The Guardian revealed today was paid $600 thousand by businessmen in the Emirates with ties to Trump. Joining us is Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who writes about national security and civil liberties at emptywheel.net and is a contributor to Motherboard, the New Republic, Al Jazeera among others. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and has been blogging full time since 2007. She served on the Advisory Committee for the House Fourth Amendment Caucus and was declared an Internet Human Rights hero by AccessNow. We will discuss her latest article at emptywheel.net, “A Third Tie Between Trump World and Alexander Smirnov.”

 

More Problems For An Already Troubled Boeing Whose Disastrous CEO is Still on the Job

Then we examine the latest problem for Boeing which is already in trouble having lost a quarter of its value with a $40 billion drop in market valuation now that a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plunged suddenly injuring passengers as the pilot temporarily lost control of the aircraft. Joining us is William McGee, a Senior Fellow for Aviation and Travel at the American Economic Liberties Project who spent 22 years at Consumer Reports and served as the lone consumer advocate on Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood’s Future of Aviation Advisory Committee. An FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher who spent seven years in airline flight operations management and was a Flight Release Officer in the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, he is the author of two books, the airline industry exposé Attention All Passengers and Half the Child and he has a new report at The American Economic Liberties Project, “How to Fix Flying: A New Approach to Regulating the Airline Industry.“

Senator Schumer’s Public Break With Netanyahu

Then finally we assess the impact of Senator Schumer’s public break with Netanyahu calling for new elections in Israel at a time when the unpopular Prime Minister’s slim majority in the Knesset has been bolstered by four defections from Benny Gantz’s opposition coalition. Joining us is Asher Kaufman Director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and a professor of History and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to that, he taught at Hebrew University, Jerusalem and was a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace where he headed its Middle East Unit. His latest book is Contested Frontiers: Cartography, Sovereignty, and Conflict at the Syria, Lebanon, Israel Tri-Border Region.