Background Briefing: March 5, 2024
VP Harris’s Clear Rebuke of Netanyahu Calling For a Ceasefire and What Amounts to Regime Change
We begin with Vice President Harris making news with a speech on Sunday in Selma, Alabama commemorating the 59th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” at which she called for an immediate six weeks ceasefire in Gaza. Then, in a clear rebuke of Netanyahu, on Monday she met in the Oval Office with Benny Gantz, a member of the three-man war cabinet and essentially the leader of the opposition in Israel. Joining us to discuss the reaction in Israel to strong pressure from the U.S. for a ceasefire, and what amounts to leadership change, is Dr. Guy Ziv, a professor at the Department of Foreign Policy at American University’s School of International Service and Associate Director of the Meltzer Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies, where he teaches courses on U.S.-Israel relations and Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. He has worked in the U.S. Department of State, on Capitol Hill, and for leading non-profit organizations that promote American involvement in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and is the author of Why Hawks Become Doves: Shimon Peres and Foreign Policy Change in Israel. His latest book is Netanyahu Versus the Generals: The Battle for Israel’s Future.
The Role of the Right Wing Supreme Court as it Goes Out of Its Way to Protect Trump
Then we look into the role of the right wing Supreme Court in appearing to go out of its way to protect Trump in the ruling yesterday in the Colorado case and the delay of the January 6 case while the judge in Florida seems to bending over backwards to help Trump as the state case in Georgia is stalled with the prosecutor on trial. Joining us is Lawrence Douglas, the James Grosfeld Chair in Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College and a contributing opinion writer for The Guardian. His latest book is Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Electoral Meltdown in 2020 and he we discuss his article at The Guardian, “The US supreme court could still swing the election for Trump.”
Sinema Quits the Senate but Rewards From Big Pharma and Hedge Funds Likely Awaits Her
Then finally with today’s announcement by Senator Sinema that she will not run again, we examine how she will presumably be rewarded in retirement by Big Pharma for stopping the lowering of prescription drugs, costing the government $600 billion over 10 years, and by hedge funds for keeping the carried interest loophole open, denying the treasury another $14 billion over 10 years. We’re joined by Jim Small, Editor In Chief of the Arizona Mirror, a non-profit newsroom in Phoenix that covers state and local politics and government. A native Arizonan, he has covered state government, policy and politics since 2004 and previously was the Executive Director and Editor of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting as well as the Editor of the Arizona Capitol Times. We discuss his latest article at The Arizona Mirror, “Does anyone still believe Sinema will run for reelection? Because she won’t. (UPDATE: She isn’t).”