Background Briefing with Ian Masters

Russia Swaps Innocent Hostages For Putin's Spies, Criminals and Hackers | Will Netanyahu Drag the US Into Another Forever War in the Middle East | A Profile of a Possible VP Pick, Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

With Assassinations in Tehran and Beirut, Netanyahu Taunts Iran and Hezbollah to Bring It On | The Arrest of 9 IDF Soldiers by Military Police For Gang Rape of Palestinian Prisoners 36 of Whom Have Been Tortured to Death | A Profile of Senator Mark Kelly as a Possible VP for Kamala Harris backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Biden's Supreme Court Reform Plans Now That Leonard Leo and the Federalists Have Stacked the Courts | As Governor Shapiro Auditions for the VP Slot, We Look at His Pros and Cons | The Cryptocurrency Industry is All-In For Trump Who is Promising to Give Away the Store to Them backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Venezuela's Maduro Defies Most of the World Claiming Victory When the Vote Was as Much as 70 to 30% Against Him | On the Brink of Another War as the US and Israel Reject Hezbollah's Claim a Missile That Killed 12 Was Not Theirs | With the GOP Now Seen as a Cult, Why Are Americans Susceptible to Cults? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

With Democrats Reeling From Despair to Euphoria, Kamala Harris Steps Out of the Shadows Into the Limelight | After Capturing Our Judiciary, Opus Dei Operatives Are Poised to Capture the Executive Branch With J.D. Vance and Kevin Roberts, the Leader of Project 2025 | Since He Should Lose Today's Election in Venezuela, Will Maduro Do a Trump and Not Concede? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

More Alarming Information About Who J.D. Vance is and What he Believes Continues to Surface | Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear as a Possible Running Mate For Kamala Harris | Netanyahu's Visit With Biden and Harris Followed by His Meeting Tomorrow With Trump Host: Ian Masters Producer: Graham FitzGibbon Assistant Producer: Asher Price

A Former State Department Official Who Just Quit Over Gaza on Netanyahu's 4th Address to a Joint Session of Congress | Demonstrations Against Netanyahu Outside Congress Today and the Boycott of His Speech Inside | Netanyahu's Speech Was Aimed at His Domestic Audience With No Ceasefire Since His Coalition Will Collapse If He Makes a Ceasefire Deal Before the Knesset Adjourns backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Contours of a Kamala Harris Campaign Emerges Contrasting the Felon With the Prosecutor Who Went After For-Profit College Ripoffs Like Trump University and Investigated Big Oil While Trump Invited Them to Bribe Him | Kamala Harris Campaigns in Wisconsin Today Which Trump Barely Won in 2016 and Biden in 2020 | Project 2025 Is More of a Corporate Wishlist Than a MAGA Manifesto and Trump and Vance Are Running Away From Its Unpopularity backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

How the Most Important Hire in the World Has Been Made With, Good, Bad and Ugly Consequences | The Vice Presidential Sweepstakes and the Importance of Swing States | A Democratic Party Reborn backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Gulf Between Rhetoric and Reality As One Presidential Candidate Drones on Disavowing his Plans While the Other is in a Bunker Not Listening | A Recap of the Republican Convention and What it Tells Us About a Future Trump Presidency | How a Handful of Tech Billionaires Are Poised to Enact Their Techno-Fascist Fantasies with Their Bro in the Oval Office backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mounting Pressure From Democratic Leaders on Biden to Step Down Could Overwhelm His Stubbornness | Beyond Biden, America Has a Problem With Gerontocracy | Doubling Down on America First, the Trump/Vance Ticket Will Undermine Democracy and the Rule of Law at Home and Abroad backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

J.D. Vance's Foreign Policy Views Plus Trump's Ties to Putin Spell Doom For Ukraine | 75 Years of Rightwing Conmen, Quacks and Charlatans Making Money Attacking Liberals, Influencing the Wider Political Landscape and Moving the Country to the Right backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Disconnect at the RNC Between Trump's Call For Unity and Partisan Speeches From MAGA Warriors | Republicans Pretend to Love Workers While Biden Loses Support Except For Unions | What is Behind Chinese Soldiers Drilling on the Border With Poland and Ukraine? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump's Judge Dismisses the Most Winnable Case Against Him Taking Her Cue From Justice Thomas | J.D. Vance, the Authoritarian Brains Behind a Trump Dictatorship | Orban Has Invited China Into Europe as He Acts as a Courier For Secret Messages From Putin and Xi to Trump backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Assassinations That Changed the World or Might Have Changed the World | America's Historical Legacy of Presidential Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations | The Inciter of Political Violence Now Calls For Unity as He Moves Closer to Joining the Illiberal Club of the World's Despots and Kleptocrats backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A Former Press Secretary to Kamala Harris on Who Could Best Beat Trump as Divisions Among Democrats Intensify While Republicans Can't Get Enough of Their Candidate's Depravity and Dementia | An Assessment of the So-Called Reformist President of Iran and What He Means For Women, Life, Freedom backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Insight Into Biden's Inner Circle Resisting Growing Calls For Him to Step Down | Shifting the Focus to Trump and His Scary GOP Party Platform | A Journalist Who Has Taken on the Nazis at Charlottesville and Was at Risk Inside the Angry Mob That Stormed the Capitol On Trump's Far-Right Capture of American Politics backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

As Biden and the Democrats Circle the Wagons, Concerns Persist in the Rest of the Country, Meanwhile Trump Gets a Free Pass in the Media | The 75th Anniversary of NATO at a Washington Summit Concerned About Biden and Afraid Trump Could be Reelected | While NATO is Not Ready For Ukraine to Join, Will it Sustain Ukraine Over the Long Haul? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Biden's Defiance As We Learn a Parkinson's Expert Visited the White House 8 Times in 8 Months | The Far Right Comes in Third In France as Le Pen Joins Forces With Orban to Form the Third Largest Bloc in the European Parliament | An Update From Kenya on the Bloody Demonstrations Against a Government Sending Police to Haiti When They Are Needed at Home backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Should Biden Follow the Example of George Washington? | The Washington Gerontocracy | Will a Fresh Face Bring Back Younger Democratic Voters? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A View From Abroad as Biden Stands Between the Survival of Global Democracy and the Rule of Law and Dictatorship | Even If Biden Could be Convinced to Step Down Soon, He Would Be Making Himself a Lame Duck President backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A Historical Assessment of How the Major Political Parties Have Become Hollow Shells | Will the Conviction of a Former Trump Business Partner Who Laundered Millions Into Trump Real Estate Revive the Trump/Russia Collusion? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Supreme Court Has Handed the Criminal Trump a Loaded Gun, Might Biden Also Use it? | How the Shift to the Right in Europe Could Impact the War in Ukraine | The Other Alarming SCOTUS Decision Overshadowed by the Ruling to Give Trump a License to Kill backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

In the Service of a President Convicted of Crimes, the Supreme Court Allows Presidents to Commit Crimes | Hope in Dark Times as Many Americans Reel From the One-Two Punch of Biden's Debate Performance and Today's Supreme Court Ruling | Alarming Gains by the French Far Right as the Left and Center Maneuver to Block a Neo-Fascist Takeover of Parliament backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

If Biden is Lucky to Be Running Against Trump and Not a Younger Candidate, Does That Mean The Republicans Would be Worse Off Against a Younger Democratic Candidate? | The Impact of Biden's Disastrous Debate on the Democratic Down-Ticket | "Foolhardy Nonsense" Coming From Pundits, the Press, and Anxious Democrats Clutching Their Pearls backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Why Do More Americans in Swing States Think Trump is Better For Democracy? The Answer Might be the Local Influence of Sinclair Broadcast Group | How We Arrived at a Moment Where a Reality TV Right Wing Populist Captured One of America's Two Major Political Parties | The Author of Nasty Politics: The Logic of Insults, Threats, and Incitement backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A Journalist Who Faced Jail Under the Espionage Act on Assange's Plea Deal | Presidential Debate Prep and How to Fact-Check Trump From a Former Democratic Strategist | War Between Israel and Hezbollah Appears Increasingly Likely backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump's Open Declaration of War Against the Rule of Law | The US is Running Out of Ammo While Spending Trillions of Gold-Plated Turkeys As Enemies Have Plenty of Ammunition and Allies Make Better Ships Much Cheaper | Trump Follows the Far-Right Culture Warrior Governor of Louisiana's Call for the Ten Commandments to be Displayed in Schools backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Heatwave Baking the Planet and the Contrast Between Biden's Understanding of Global Warming and Trump's Denial | The Sources of Climate Change Denial and a Future Beyond Denial | Is the Putin/Kim Jong Un Pact Alarming or Pathetic as Two Murderous Pariah's Resume Their Love Affair With Trump? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Secret Recordings of Trump's Dirty Trickster Reveals Plans to Steal the Next Election | How the Next Election Can Be Stolen and What to Do About It backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Juneteenth and the Legacy of Racism in Texas | The Wholesale Self-abasement, Humiliation and Degradation in the Recent Groveling of GOP Lawmakers Before the Insurrectionist Who Directed the Attack on Their Capitol Workplace | The Senate Votes 88 to 2 to Boost Nuclear Power Based on "New" Reactor Technology That is Old and Less Safe backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

America's Plutocrats Believe the Threat to Capitalism From Democrats is Worse Than the Threat to Democracy From Trump | A Critique of the Surgeon General's Call for Warning Labels on Social Media Platforms | Putin Meets to Make Weapons Deals With His "Comrade-in-Arms" Kim Jong Un backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Netanyahu Dissolves the War Cabinet as Tensions on Israel's Border With Lebanon Intensify | Trump's Gaza Policy Would Be So Much Worse Given Who He Put in Charge of Israeli/Palestinian Issues During His Presidency | The U.S., the U.K. and Canada Warn Putin is Actively Sabotaging Upcoming Elections in Moldova backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

How to Reign in a Supreme Court Even More Out of Step With the American People | The Message Versus the Messenger Conundrum Following Revelations in the Alito Tapes | With Peace Talks Underway, Ukraine's Future and the U.S. Military Industrial Complex backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Senate Launches a Probe Into Jared Kushner's $2 billion Payoff From Saudi Arabia's MbS | The Saudi/Israel Security Pact Biden is Doggedly Pursuing | Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni Hosts the G-7 Summit With Glamour Amidst "Dead Men Walking" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Hunter Biden Trial as a Political Hit Job With More Humiliation of the Troubled Son Coming in the September Trial | How We Got Hooked On Globalism and a System in Which Corporations Win While Everybody Else Loses | How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Undercover Activist Who Captured the Real Justice Alito as a Christian Nationalist | The Hypocrisy of MAGA Republicans Celebrating Hunter Biden's Convictions on Gun Laws They Violently Oppose | President Macron's Call For a Snap Election Already Appears to be Backfiring backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Israel's Opposition Leader Quits the War Cabinet But Netanyahu Will Continue the War Through the US Elections to Hurt Biden and Help Trump | An Analysis of the Results of the EU Elections and the Right Wing Sweep That Did Not Materialize | A Historical Analysis of Whether We Are in 1938 With Putin's War on Ukraine backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Already Governing, Trump Has His Puppet Mike Johnson Appoint Two Clowns to Cripple the House Intel Committee | The Inevitability of Trump 250 Years in the Making With the U.S. Captive to Its Contentious Past backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The 80th Anniversary of D-Day and Today's Struggle Against Tyranny | How Corporate Power and Technology Have Combined to Gouge Consumers | As Billionaires and Corporations Back Trump to Continue Tax Cuts For the Rich, Biden Needs to Make it Clear We Have a Revenue Not a Spending Problem and Make Them Pay

Legal Challenges to Biden's EO on Closing the Border | Agreements and Disagreements Between Americans and Europeans on China, the Wars in Ukraine and Gaza and European Security | An Assessment of the Results of the Elections in India | India's Foreign Policy Choices as Russia and China Grow Closer backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Will Biden's Executive Order to Close the Border Win or Lose Votes? | Although Trump and Biden are Raising Billions, Money Will Have Little Effect on the Presidential Race | Following the CIA, The Pentagon Falls For Silicon Valley's Promise of AI Miracle Weapons backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Oligarch's Lining Up to Line Trump's Pockets | The Upcoming Ukraine Peace Conference China Won't Attend Because Russia Won't Go and Now Saudi Arabia Won't Attend Because China Isn't Going | Will Scheinbaum's and Morena's Blowout Victory Lead to an Institutional Collapse in Mexico? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

After Getting MAGA World and the Trump GOP to Believe He Won the Last Election, Now Trump Has Them Believing the Trial That Convicted Him 34 Times Was Rigged | Are Biden and Netanyahu on the Same Page With the Gaza Ceasefire Plan? | Today's Elections in Mexico Will Result in a Woman as President For the First Time backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Why We Should Care About the Trump Trial and, With the Tail Wagging the Dog, Biden Has to End the Gaza War Which Netanyahu Plans to Continue for 7 Months | The War in Ukraine Has Gone From a Proxy War to a NATO Conflict backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Complaints From Ukraine's Front Lines That Big Ticket U.S. Weapons Don't Work, Get Jammed or are Unsuitable | A Possible Trade War with China or a Necessary Stimulus For the Next Green Economy? | Today's Election in South Africa as a Referendum on the ANC Host: Ian Masters Producer: Graham FitzGibbon Assistant Producer: Evan Green

The Ghost of Roy Cohn Hangs Over Trump's Hush Money Trail as Closing Arguments Were Heard Today | Bibi and MbS Have Biden in a Trap and the Pentagon and the CIA Have Drunk the Silicon Valley Kool-Aid | The Libertarians Boo Trump and Quickly Reject RFK Jr backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

On Memorial Day Those Who Serve America vs Those Who Want to Tear it Apart | Consciousness, Authoritarianism and Political Violence backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Many Staffers in Trump's GOP are White Nationalists Who Casually Use Nazi Terms Like "Unified Reich" Because That is Their Milieu and Mindset | The Political Grifters Who Co Opt Leftist Issues and Repackage Them in MAGA-Friendly Terms | As Armenia and Iran Come Together and Israel and Azerbaijan Grow Closer, There are Now 73 Israeli Bases in Azerbaijan Aimed at Iran backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Right Wing Leaders Gathered in Madrid to Declare War on Socialism | Republicans Are Dusting Off the 1873 Comstock Act to Ban Abortion Pills and Even Birth Control Pills | Justice Alito's display of Christo-Fascist Allegiance backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia