Background Briefing with Ian Masters

We Have A Fascist in the White House and the Only Democrat Trying to Stop His Second Coup is Marc Elias | A Postmortem on the NATO Summit as Europe Falls Apart backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

An Unstable Stalemate in the Persian Gulf is the Likely Outcome of Trump's Disastrous War | With the World's Richest Oligarchs Pushing AI, Will the People Demand Some Agency Over the Future of Their Communities and Livelihoods? | A View From Canada on the Zombification of America as the USA Destroys Itself backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Will the War of Words Between Trump and the Iranians Lead to a Real War? | The Scramble to Replace Platner Who Appears Reluctant to Step Down | The Lack of Vetting and Opposition Research in Choosing Candidates to Run in Democratic Primaries backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Latest Platner Scandal Has Bernie and Mamdani Urging Him to Step Aside | What it is Like to Have Russian Missiles and Drones Heading For Your Apartment Building | The NATO Summit Underway and What Does Putin Want From Trump backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Crypto Don Makes a Deal With the Head of the Notoriously Corrupt FIFA Which Will Stain a U.S. Victory If There Is To Be One This Evening | Will Trump's Revival of His Mentor Roy Cohn's Red Scare Work? | The Religious Underpinning of the Iranian Theocracy backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump's 4th of July Speech Appropriates Patriotism While Pushing Partisan Election Theft | The Declaration of Independence's Least Quoted Passage of Revolutionary Reform backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Unsettling Irony That Presiding Over the Celebration of 250 Years of American Democracy is a President Out to Destroy American Democracy | How a Government Of the People, By the People and For the People Can Be Reborn 250 Years After the American Revolution | Former Majority Leader Gephardt and Senator Tim Worth's Warning That Trump is Building the Infrastructure of Authoritarian Control backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Ludicrously Unqualified Government "Expert" Witness Who Turned Political Protest Into Terrorism to Put Anti-ICE Protesters Away for 450 Years | The Latest Victory For Democratic Socialists | SCOTUS Gifts Republicans With More Unregulated Dark Money backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship But Kavanaugh Shows Congress How to Undo it | Trump Claims "No Limits" to His Power As He Adds Himself to the List of Mass Murderers and Bloodthirsty Dictators He Calls "Great Men" | With Reality Intruding on Trump's Malignant Narcissism, Will He Become More Dangerous as He Becomes More Delusional? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A Supreme Court in an Alternative Universe Gives More Power to the "Orange Bandit" | How to Bridge the Different Understandings the U.S. and Iran Have Over the Future of the Strait of Hormuz | A Political Activist Who is Making a Difference backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Since Trump Claims He Runs Venezuela, What is He Doing to Help the Victims of the Devastating Earthquakes? | DHS and ICE's Criminalization of Protests Against Their Thuggish Cruelty | As Trump's Poll Numbers Crater, Cracks Are Emerging in Trump's White, Blue Collar Base backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump's Favorite Judge Shows How Protesting Against Government Cruelty Can Get You 30 Years in Prison Even If You Weren't at the Protest | Instead of Walls, A Welcome Table | As Trump Tries to End Our Democracy, How Can We Celebrate Our 250th Birthday He is Hijacking? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

What Do the Big Wins By Mamdani-Backed Democratic Socialists in New York Mean for the Future of Democratic Party Leadership | Could There Be a Silver Lining in the Wake of the Otherwise Unmitigated Disaster Trump and Netanyahu Brought to the Persian Gulf? | Could Ukrainian Gains in Crimea Bring About the End of Putin? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

In Spite of GOP Lies, There's An Easy Fix For a Social Security Shortfall in 2034 | The MAGA Fraud Frays As the Majority Tires of Trump's Lies, Amateurism and Incompetence | The Rise of Right Wing Authoritarian Leaders in Latin America backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The UK's PM Resigns With a People-Friendly Andy Burnham Poised to Replace Him | Why Did Republican Senators Confirm a Russian-Friendly Asset to Head U.S. Intel Who Took Her Marching Orders From a Homophobic, Islamophobe, Tinfoil-Wrapped Cult Guru? | The Crooks In Congress in Crypto's Corner backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Iran Closes the Strait Of Hormuz as Negotiators in Switzerland Try to Rescue the U.S.-Iran Peace Deal | Nazi Messages From DHS as MAGA-Trump Racism and Xenophobia Contrast with the Multi-Cultural Diversity and Joy of the World Cup |Could Ukraine Win and Bring Down Putin and Change Russia As We Know It? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Vance Unloads on Israel in an Obvious Warning Not to Spoil the White House Deal With Iran | How to Stop an Autocrat From Rigging Another Election | Efforts to Stop the Paramount-Warner Merger and Its Impact on Jobs, News and Culture backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Even if Trump Has Given Away the Store, Diplomacy is Better Than Continuing to Fight a Lost War | The Price the U.S. Will Pay for Trump's Hubris, Hegseth's Incompetence and Netanyahu's Mendacity | In Shelving His New DNI and FISA Deal, Trump Makes Clear That Rigging the Next Election is His Top Priority backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

A Deal to Make a Deal Has Hawks on All Sides Terrified it Will Succeed | G-7 Leaders Bring Trump and Zelensky Together to Change the U.S. Role From Messenger Between Ukraine and Russia to Mediator That Makes Peace | The Iran War and the Future of American Empire and is Trump Blowing a Chance to Make Peace in Ukraine? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Iran Will Sign a Deal on Friday as the Winner, But Will the War Be Over? | As Texas Republicans Target Talarico's Masculinity, the White House Puts on a Display of Toxic Masculinity and Cheesy Patriotism | Is the World's First Trilllionaire Elon Musk a "Human Ponzi Scheme"? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump's 80th Birthday Present Today Is Mindless Violence Where Jackie Kennedy's Rose Garden Once Stood Instead of Iran Signing a Peace Deal | A Post-War Strategic Realignment That Will Leave the U.S. Much Worse Off | With Big Oil a Winner of This War, It's Past Time to Kick the Habit and Get Off The Oil Drug backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump Tries To Spin His Way Out of a Defeat and the End of U.S. Hegemony in the Persian Gulf | Trump Ditches Pulte to Unblock FISA So the Government Can Spy on Americans | Trump's Lies About California Vote-Rigging Set the Stage To Rig the November Elections backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump's Plan to Destroy US Intelligence and Steal the Next Election | The Common Sense Coalition's Warning of the Trump Catastrophe For Our Democracy, National Security, Economy and the Future of the Planet backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

In Spite of Hit Jobs From the Liberal Media, a Progressive Populist is Poised to Win in Maine | A Report From Albania on Protests Against Jared and Ivanka's Luxury Resort in a Nature Reserve | Trump Has His Roy Cohn But Will the Mafia Boss Get His Consigliere Confirmed? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump to Netanyahu: "I Call The Shots" and You Have To Accept Any Peace Deal I Make with Iran | Amid Heightened Tensions Between the US and Israel, Congress Quietly Moves to Integrate US and Israeli Militaries | Scott Pelley Tells the NYT How Bari Weiss Ordered Changes to a 60 Minutes Report to Support Trump's Lies backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The US and Iran Exchange Fire Jeopardizing a Tenuous Ceasefire As Iran Insists on Trump Handing Over $24 Billion of Its Money Before Finalizing a Deal | Republican Senators Give Stephen Miller $70 Billion On Top Of $100 Billion Unspent to Pursue Cruelty a Majority of Taxpayers Oppose |The DoJ Under Todd Blanche is the Department of Trump Family Crime and Pedophile Protection backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Now That Trump Has His Roy Cohn, Will the Senate Confirm Todd Blanche to be the Nation's Attorney General? | The Impact of the Latest Scandal Swirling Around Graham Platner on the Democrat's Chances to Win Back the Senate | Having Turned Russia Into a Police State, Who is Left to Topple Putin? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Election Results From Yesterday's Primaries With a Focus on California | Trump's Roy Cohn Does a Bait and Switch Ending the $1.8 Billion Slush Fund While Shielding Trump and His Family From IRS Audits | Trump Publicly Displays Anger at Netanyahu While Quietly the Pentagon Takes Over Oversight of Aid to Israel

After Being Cursed Out, Netanyahu Defies Trump, Declaring "Iran's Days Are Numbered" As He Continues Bombing Lebanon | How Larry and David Ellison's Lackeys are "Murdering" CBS to Please Trump | Does Owning 5 Rundown Trailer Parks in Florida Qualify You to Head Up U.S. Intelligence? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Iran Suspends Peace Talks With Trump as Netanyahu Pounds Lebanon | How ICE Contactors Profit From Misery as Stephen Miller's Cruelty is the Strategy | The Continuing Cover Up Of Trump's Ties to Epstein By the MAGA Toadies Blanche, Patel and Comer backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump's Silence as Iran Holds the Cards, in Particular the Strait of Hormuz, a Prize Our Idiot Gave Them | As Trump Monetizes His Presidency, His Administration Rewards the Tech Bros By Criminalizing Opposition to AI | Could Trump Just Admit That He Screwed Up? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump Threatens to Blow Up Oman as Qatar and Bahrain Secretly Pay Bribes to Iran Not to Bomb Them | Trump Sells Out NATO to Putin Just as Ukraine Turns the Battlefield Against Russia | How a Democratic Socialist Beat Machine Politics and Even Won Over Donald Trump backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

In Spite of the "Art of the Deal," Trump Keeps Getting Rolled in Negotiations | Paxton and the Moral Decay and Collapse of Decency and Discourse in the Trump Era | How and Why Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracy backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Another US Senator Assaulted by Trump and Stephen Miller's ICE and DHS Thugs | The California Crackup That Could Have Republican Reality TV Gadflys Elected in the Bluest State | The Rise of Progressive Populism in the Heartland as the Con of Trump's Authoritarian Populism Sinks In backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

On Memorial Day a Pentagon Run by a Racist Incompetent Whose Number Two is a Defense Contractor Entrenching the Military Industrial Complex | Trump Will Try to Spin a Defeat as a Victory Over Iran Then Maybe Invade Cuba as a Distraction | Asymmetrical Warfare Goes Back to the American Revolution As Nowadays, Cheap Defense Favors Smaller Powers, While Expensive Offense Does Not Secure Victory for Major Powers backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

With Comedians Leading the Resistance, Colbert is Taken Off the Air by a President Who Can't Take a Joke | Trump's Conspiracy Theorist in Charge of US Intelligence Resigns | The Fate and Future of the Iranian Opposition backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

With Trump's War Stalemated, More Sticker Shock Coming For Working Americans Being Punished at the Gas Pump | The Flimsy DNC Autopsy on the 2024 Loss Fails to Mention Gaza | The Trump Family Are So Good at Being Bad as the Democrats and the Press Get Distracted by the $1.8 Billion Slush Fund When the Real Scam is Barring the IRS From Investigating the Family's Monetization of the Presidency backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump's Grip Over the GOP Tightens as His Poll Numbers Tank | Trump's Capture of the DoJ Gives Him a $1.77 Slush Fund and IRS Immunity From Tax Fraud | Hondurasgate Look Worse Than Watergate and Iran-Contra Combined But the US Media Is Ignoring It backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

A Scandal Worse Than Watergate and Iran Contra Combined Which Is Not Being Covered by the American Press | Trump Endorses a "Christian Crook" in Good News For James Talarico's Texas Senate Race | The Political Clout That Allows Police to Protect and Serve Themselves backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Different Versions on What Trump Had To Say And What Xi Said Happened at the Trump - Xi Summit | The Darkening Embrace of Evil as Trump's Mafia-Like Control of the GOP Strengthens | The Trickle Down Impact of the Gulf Oil Cutoff on Transportation, Food Supplies, Plastics, Chips and the Global Financial System backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

How Xi Handled the Barbarian Who Went Home Emptyhanded Ready to Sell Out Taiwan | The US Offers $100 Million in Aid to Cubans Suffering Collective Punishment As They Run Out of Oil From a Total US Blockade | Republicans Fight Against Imaginary Problems Like Cultural Marxism Because They Have Nothing Real to Offer backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Republican Electoral Coup Underway to Offset a Wipeout in November by Gerrymandering to Hold the House and Senate Before One Vote is Cast | An Update on the Trump - Xi Summit | How a Generation of Over-Qualified Young Americans With Degrees Working in the Gig Economy Will Impact Our Politics in the Future backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Growing Medical Concern About the President of the United States | The US and Israel Have Destabilized Global Oil and Gas Supplies For the Foreseeable Future | The Meaning of Fascism as Authoritarian Populism is on the Rise backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A Sunsetting Trump's Demonstratively Declining Mental and Physical Abilities | Trump's Weak Hand as He Meets With Xi | Molly Crabapple on the Jewish Labor Bund's Struggle For a Secular, Internationalist Society Based on Socialist Ideals of Equality and Dignity backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump Rejects Iran's Offer While Netanyahu Warns of "Reengaging Them Militarily" | In Turning Against Trump's War, a Prominent Neocon Wants a Bigger War | Andrew Cockburn on Corruption and Lies in the Age of Trump backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

As Trump Desperately Tries to Make a Deal With Iran, Will Israel Be the Spoiler? | Pressure on Trump From the Saudis and Gulf States to Make a Deal With Iran | Russia's Descent Into Madness and Murder Under Putin backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Pressure on Trump From the Saudis to Make a Deal With Iran While Israel Warns the Deal Would be a Disaster For Them | Chief Justice Roberts' Hollow Indignation at the American People For Thinking He and His Colleagues Are "Political Actors" | From Henry Ford's Production-Consumption Capitalism To Elon Musk's Techno-Driven Dismantling of the State that Funds Him backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

More Erratic Moves From Trump as He Appears Desperate and the Iranians seem to be Holding the Cards | How Long Can Iran Ride Out the Oil Blockade and What is Behind the Saudi-UAE Split Over OPEC | Trump's Cult-Like Hold Over the GOP Just Got a Boost From Indiana backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Are Putin's Days Numbered? | Six Right Wing Activists in Robes Killed the VRA to Make Sure Republicans Win Elections Regardless of the Majority Vote | Why the Democrats Lost Not Just the Vote, But the Voter in 2024 backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Leaks From European Intel Say Putin is Increasingly Paranoid and Afraid of His Own Military | Trump Pulls Troops Out of Germany After a Spat With Chancellor Mertz | Trump's Triply Illegal War on Iran Just Got More Dangerous backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Deadly, Delusional Amateurism of Trump's On and Off Talks With Iran As He Now Threatens to "Blast the Hell Out of Them" | The Rise of Left Wing Populism After a Devastating Era of Right Wing Populism Perpetrated By a Criminal Fraudster in the Service of a Greedy Oligarchy | May Day 2026 and What Kind of Nation Will We Be? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump's Briefing Today on How to Get Out From Under His Maniacal Misadventure in the Middle East | A Report From Kyiv on Trump Checking in With the Boss Yesterday in His Hour and Half Phone Call With Putin | Hegseth's Testimony Today Before the Senate Armed Services Committee backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

A Craven Creep Auditioning For a Mob Boss Who Wants a Consigliere Not an Attorney General | The Fulfillment of John Roberts Long Crusade To Give Republicans An Advantage By Undoing Voting Rights For Minorities | While Insulting House Democrats and Republicans, Hegseth Asks For an Extra $1.5 Trillion backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Political Assassins More Often End up Achieving the Opposite of What Their Manifestos Proclaim | Trump's Tactic of Attacking the Messenger in Order to Avoid the Message | King Charles' Repair Job For Anglo/American Relations at the White House and Congress Today backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

After Trump Assassinated Leaders Abroad, an American Citizen Struck Back Saying He Is "No Longer Willing to Permit a Pedophile, Rapist, and Traitor to Coat My Hands With His Crimes" | Are Our Allies Separating From Us or is a Divorce Underway? | Do the CIA Deaths in Mexico Mean Trump is Playing With Fire? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A Celebration of the First Amendment Upended by the Unregulated Second Amendment | Trump's Latest Diplomatic Dance Without a Partner | Will Iran be the Death Rattle of the American Empire? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

While Trump Thrashes About, Iran's Leaders Can Afford to be Patient | The Blowback From Assassinating Heads of State | If the Law is to Bring Down a Lawless President, Impeachment is Much More Likely to Succeed Than the 25th Amendment backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Our Reality TV President is at War With Reality in Iran | Trump Is Also Losing on the Domestic Front After Yesterday's Election in Virginia | On Earth Day a World Addicted to Oil Looking For a Fix as the Dealers Fight Over the Supply backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Kushner/Witkoff Diplomacy Fails Again with Trump "Ready to Go To War" as Iran Has "Prepared New Surprises" | Trump Turns Allies Into Enemies While Weakening America at Warp Speed | How Long Can the Ridiculous Drunken Fanboy in Charge of the FBI Last? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Uncertainty Over Talks to End the War on Iran Before the Ceasefire Deadline Expires | The CIA's Legacy of Blowback Where, But For Their 1953 Coup, Iran Would be a Thriving, Secular Democratic State Today | Palantir's Manifesto as a Technofascist Doctrine backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

With What Trump Calls the Strait of Iran Closed Again, It's Clear Whomever the Administration is Talking to Are Not in Charge of Iran | Although Trump Forced Netanyahu's Hand Prohibiting Him From Bombing Lebanon, the Israeli Public Wants the IDF to Finish Off Hezbollah | How to Remove an Increasingly Mentally Ill Trump From Office backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

A Reality Check on Trump's Claims He's Stopping His 10th War in Lebanon | How Big Oil is Making an Extra $30 Million an Hour Out of the Iran War | The Average Taxpayer Shelled Out Over $4,000 For War and Weapons Last Year | Amy Goodman on the New Film About Her STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Could a Ceasefire Between Israel and Lebanon Lead to an Iran-US Agreement to End the War? | On Tax Day Working And Middle Class Americans Do Their Patriotic Duty While the Richest Among Us Take Their Money and Run | The Delusional Democrats Crowding Out the Governor's Race Make it Likely a MAGA Republican Will be California's Next Governor backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Trump Administration's Explanation of Why We Are At War With Iran..."We're America Bitches" | The History of Blockades and Their Impact on Global Trade | The State of Opposition Movements Against Iran's Brutal Theocracy backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Escalation Trap Trump Set For Himself Deepens With the Naval Blockade and a Possible Use of a Nuclear Weapon on Esfahan | Trump Depicts Himself As Jesus While Disrespecting the Pope and 1.4 Billion Catholics backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

An Experienced Negotiator With Iran on Vance's Failure to Make a Quick Deal With an Enemy of 47 Years | An Update on Hungary's Election That Has Trump and Putin Campaigning For Orban | Threatening to Bring Down the Trump Regime, Melania's Former Friend Warns Her "I Will Tear Down the Entire System - Be Careful Bitch...I will Take Legal Action Against Your Pedophile Husband" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

In Desperation, Our Self-Serving and Imbecilic President Has Strengthened a Brutal Regime and Elevated Its Global Position | Will America's Defeat Liberate It From a Broken Imperial Model? | The Pentagon and Trump's War on Pope Leo

Both the Arsonist and the Fire Brigade, Trump Celebrates His Ceasefire Deal as "A Total Victory 100%" While Iran Says They Dealt the Enemy "A Crushing Defeat" | Questions of Trump's Competence, Morality, Credibility and Sanity Arise | The Cynical Tactics Big Money Now Uses to Attack Progressive Democratic Candidates backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump's Long and Loony Press Conference and How He Has Not "Decimated" Iran's Anti-Aircraft Capacity | A Founder of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps on What Is Not Being Done to Free Iranians From Their Brutal Theocratic Government backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump's War Has Turned the Strait of Hormuz Into an Iranian Tollbooth With China the Winner | "You're Fired" Pam Bondi and Replaced by an Even Worse Todd Blanche | Trump Told the Truth For Once Trashing Childcare, Medicare and Medicaid as "Scams" With the Military the Only Thing We Have to Take Care Of backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

In Three Weeks Trump Will Declare Victory Without Securing a Victory, Leaving Someone Else to Open the Strait of Hormuz | How Do Iranians Feel About Trump Bombing Them "Back to the Stone Age Where They Belong"? | With Trump in the Front Row, the Supreme Court's Right Wing Justices Express Skepticism of Overturning Birthright Citizenship backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump Poised to Announce Victory in a Surrender of His War on Iran | The Origins of Trump's war on Iran | How Serious is An Executive Order That Has Trump Deciding Who Gets to Vote By Mail? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Trump Will Either Double Down or Cut and Run Leaving Us, Our Allies and the Iranian People So Much Worse Off | Trump's Strategic Failure In Iran | Trump's War is Holding Him Hostage backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Strategic and Moral Danger of Having Adolescent Bullies Running an Ill-considered War of Choice | An Assessment of the Damage Being Done to the US and Global Economy | In Stripping Birthright Citizenship, Trump and Miller Want to Create and Exploitable Class on Non-Citizens backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Dementia on Display at Trump's North Korean-Style Cabinet Meeting Raises the Alarm For VP Vance to Invoke the 25th Amendment | The Political Impact of the Largest Demonstration Against a Sitting President in the History of the United States | Could James Talarico Flip Ruby Red Texas and the US Senate? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

No Kings and 11 Attempts by Democrats to Fund TSA Blocked by Trump As He Tries To Force His SAVE Act on Senate Republicans | Will Congress Balk at Hegseth's Extra $200 Billion and Trump's Extra $500 Billion on Top of a $Trillion Defense Budget? | Trump Postpones His Summit With Xi While Cutting Off Persian Gulf Oil China Depends On backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Our Reality TV President Unable to Deal With Reality, Makes Up Stories About Negotiating With Iran | Trump and Putin Work Together to Reelect Hungary's Kleptocratic Despot Orban | As Trump-Friendly Billionaires Buy Up the Media, the Former CEO of Viacom Now Owned by the Ellisons backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Life in Bomb Shelters Under Bombardment in a War 90% of Israelis Support | An Update on the Story Trump Has Waged a War to Distract Us From backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

TACO Trump Now Claims Peace is at Hand But Iran Says No Such Talks Are Taking Place | Crying Foul Over Cluster Bombs as Civilians Are Targeted | Oil Companies and Refiners Are Making Out Like Bandits With California Refiners Gouging a $1.50 Profit Per Gallon at the Pump backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Contradictory Signals From Trump to Wind Down the War While Sending in More Marines | The Winner of the Iran War Putin Prepares For a Spring Offensive in Ukraine While His Bootlicking Friend Trump Rewards Him With Extra Revenue | Celebrating the Iranian New Year Under Bombardment From Abroad and Repression at Home backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The Global Impact of the Trump/Netanyahu War on Iran as Energy Prices Shoot Through the Roof | A Former DIA Intelligence Officer on the Folly of Sending Marines Into the Gulf | Trump is Being Played at We Deplete Expensive Weapons on Cheap Iranian Drones backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Organizer of an International Humanitarian Flotilla Delivering Aid to the Desperate and Starving People of Cuba | Possible Scenarios to End the US/Israeli War on Iran and a More Likely Escalation of Attacks on Oil and Gas Terminals and Storage Facilities backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Today's Blowback and the Historical Record of US Meddling in Iran | The Intensifying War Between Afghanistan's Taliba And Their Former Sponsor Pakistan | Trump's Claim He will Have "The Honor of Taking Cuba" Which is Likely to Fall in a Matter of Weeks backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Although the US Navy Won't Go Into the Gulf, Trump is Demanding Other Navies Escort Tankers Through the Strait of Hormuz | Iran's Strategic Plans For a Long War With Layers of Redundancy in the Ranks of Leadership | The Crackup on the Right Against Trump's War on Iran backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump's War of Choice Rattles Allies While Rewarding Russia | Our Commander-in-Chief is a Senile Old Man Who is Losing His Mind | Trump's Cynical SAVE America Act Will Not Save Republicans in November backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

After Declaring Victory Over Iran, Trump Vows That Cuba Is Next | What Can Be Done To Reign In If Not Abolish DHS | AI's Sweeping and Growing Impact on Every Aspect of Society backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on Trump, Epstein and Putin | The Silicon Valley Billionaire Bros Are Determined to Have the Tech-Industrial Complex Replace the Military-Industrial Complex | The Iran War and the Return of the Neocons backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Trump Reverses Himself on Ending the Iran War After A Call With Putin | Iran's New Supreme Leader Will Likely Reverse His Father's Fatwa Against Nuclear Weapons | A Military Analysis of the Iran War and the Russia/Ukraine War backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

A War Iran Only Has to Stay in While We Can Only Win At a Price We Are Unlikely to Want to Pay | An Analysis of a Brutal Regime From Which the Iranian People Desperately Want to be Freed But Have No Power to Do So | A Lawless World Trump is Dragging Us Into Based on Force and His Whims backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

How Relying on Regime Decapitation Could Backfire | As Evidence Mounts That the War on Iran Is a Disaster, We Will Look For Some Kind of "Success" | Our Gen Z Reporter on the Texas Senate Race as Republicans Panic Over the Talented Young Talarico backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

The U.S. Continues to Resort to Force at Growing Cost in a Region of Diminishing Importance | How Do Iranians Feel About Being Bombed to Become Free as Their Government Increasingly Oppresses Them | A Highly Decorated Former CIA Officer Who Operated Against Iran in Iraq and Lebanon Explains What a Disaster Trump Has Blundered Into backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Could Kristi Noem be the First in the Trump Kakistocracy's Clown Car Cabinet to be Impeached? | A Report From Iraqi Kurdistan On the CIA Arming Kurdish Iranian Militias | The Anointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's New Supreme Leader backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

March 3, 2026 - Sidney Blumenthal | Sina Toossi | Bruce Schneier by Ian Masters

March 2, 2026 - Thanassis Cambanis | Daryl Kimball | Robert Pape by Ian Masters

Trump's Reality TV War and the Prospect He Will Sell Out The Iranian People Just as He Sold Out the Venezuelan People For Oil | The DoJ Leaks the FBI Reports Bondi Held Back to The Guardian and Breitbart to Discredit Trump's Then 13 Year Old Rape Accuser | Following the Putin-Orban Playbook, Right Wing Trump-Friendly Billionaires Are Buying Up the Mainstream Media backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

With the President of the United States Accused of Raping a 13 Year-Old Girl, the Brazen and Shameless Hypocrisy of Mike Johnson's Christian Nationalists and the MAGA Movement | Sasha Linden Cohen With Heather Ann Thompson on a Crucial Turning Point When Rupert Murdoch Stoked White Rage in the Reagan 80's backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Had All the Democrats Boycotted the State of the Union, Trump Would Have Been Left Insulting Empty Chairs | The Performative Nature of US/Russian Negotiations as Putin Strings Trump Along | The Top 10 Companies Profiting From ICE's Cruelty Host: Ian Masters Producers: Graham FitzGibbon, Asher Price & Sasha Linden Cohen

February 24, 2026 - Tamar Jacoby | Eric Blanc by Ian Masters

February 23, 2026 - Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera | Robert Creamer | Josh Gerstein by Ian Masters