Background Briefing: September 7, 2025
Trump Escalates Threats Against Venezuela as Rubio Calls For a Regional Latin American Campaign of Extrajudicial Killings
We begin increasing threats coming from Trump and Rubio warning Venezuela’s Maduro not to fly his F-16’s near US navy ships off Venezuela’s coast while Rubio in Ecuador outlined plans for a broader regional campaign of extrajudicial murder of drug traffickers giving Latin American countries a choice “”For cooperative governments, there’s no need because those governments are going to help us, they’re going to help us find these people and blow them up, if that’s what it takes.” Joining us is Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor Emeritus of Latin American History and Chicana-Latina Studies at Pomona College. An authority on political and social issues confronting Latin America, he is the author of Venezuela, What Everyone Needs to Know, The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela and co-editor of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez and the Decline of an Exceptional Democracy.
The Weak and Cynical Trump Plans For Defending Ukraine In a Possible Deal With Putin
Then as Trump claims he is disappointed in Putin who has stiffed him after his amateurish Alaskan summitry to end the war in Ukraine but continues to do nothing about it, we examine US plans for a buffer zone between the warring sides with non-NATO troops and a $100 billion arms deal in exchange for Ukraine giving the US all of its cutting edge drone and other technology it has developed to hold off the Russian onslaught. Joining us is Aram Shabanian, a national investigative reporter and the former Open-Source Information Gathering Manager at New Lines Institute. He recently taught in Non-Proliferation and Terrorism Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey where his research focused on the Cold War and contemporary histories of Eastern Europe and the Middle East and he just returned from Kyiv.
The Consequence of DHS Violence Prevention Funding Cuts to Minnesota Just Ahead of the Minneapolis Mass Shooting of Kids on Their First Day of School
Then finally we investigate the consequences of the DHS cuts of funds to protect schools and churches from mass shootings which appears to have contributed to the recent massacre of kids praying at a church in Minneapolis on their first day of school. Joining us is Brette Steele, President of Eradicate Hate and one of the nation’s leading experts in preventing hate-fueled violence who has advised the White House, U.S. Congress, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, National Governors Association, and multiple states. She previously served as the Regional Director of Strategic Engagement for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Terrorism Prevention Partnerships, Deputy Director of the U.S. Countering Violent Extremism Task Force, Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, and Senior Director of Preventing Targeted Violence at the McCain Institute.