Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with questions arising from yesterday's conviction of Hunter Biden on three felony counts,

asking why he did not plead guilty in the first place,

and how much the trial was a Republican political hit job in the way Maga World is portraying the New York case that nailed Trump 34 times.

In the so-called hush money trial, Trump's lawyer called for a mistrial over Stormy Daniels' description of sex with the defendant she called the Orange Turd.

Presumably Hunter Biden will appeal on the basis of so much prejudicial evidence against him,

like video of him smoking crack and looking like a homeless wretch,

provided by his ex-wife, who was immunized by the prosecution.

All of this appears to be designed to embarrass and humiliate the troubled son,

and by extension what Maga World calls the Biden

crime family, which will happen again in the September trial just before the election.

Joining us is Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who has covered the Hunter Biden case

closely for the last 15 months. She has contributed to MSNBC and wrote,

Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation. We'll discuss her latest article

at EmptyWil.net. The scolding that Hunter Biden should have pled guilty ignores the

complexity of what happened. Then we'll look into the rethinking underway about how much we got hooked on globalism

as supply change shortages due to the COVID pandemic dramatically laid bare the consequences

of relying on faraway factories and container ships, exposing a system in which corporations

win while everybody else loses. Joining us is Peter Goodman,

the global economic correspondent for the New York Times. He was previously the New York Times

European Economic Correspondent based in London and the National Economic Correspondent based in New York

...