Hello and welcome to Background Briefing available 247 at background briefing. I'm Ian Masters,

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

We'll begin with the power behind the throne who financed the political career of the president

in waiting, J.D. Vance, and is a close advisor to Trump, tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who began a lecture

series last night on the Antichrist and the Apocalypse, hosted by the Acts 17

collective, Acts acknowledging Christ in technology and society, in an off-the-record talk

held at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Joining us to assess the merging of techno-fascism

and Christofascism is Gilderan, a San

Francisco journalist who previously served as editorial page editor of the Sacramento B and the San

Francisco Examiner. He currently writes the Frame Lab as well as the NerdWrite newsletters on

Substac and regularly contributes to the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications.

He served as press secretary for Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris when she was the Attorney General of California

and he is working on a new book, The Nerd Right, Silicon Valley's Fascism and the War on Global Democracy.

And we'll discuss his article at the New Republic,

what's up with Peter Thiel's obsession with the Antichrist.

Then we're looking to Cash Patel's testimony today before,

the Senate Judiciary Committee,

where he was grilled on his mishandling of the investigation

into the Charlie Kirk assassination

and questioned about a slew of top FBI officials he has

fired who are suing him. Joining us is Scott Horton, a former lecturer at Columbia Law School and a

contributing editor at Harper's in Legal Affairs and National Security. He serves on the American

...