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

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

We'll begin with the frightening strides Trump is making towards a fascist takeover of American democracy as he notches up big wins in his war on the media with ABC's suspension of his most annoying critic, Jimmy Kimmel,

as his close ally, Larry Ellison, the richest person in the world, except

for Trump's handler Putin, poised to buy Warner Discovery and TikTok after having bought

CBS Paramount. Joining us is William Cohen, a former senior Wall Street investment banker for 17 years

at Lazare Fred and Company, Murrow Lynch,

and J.P. Morgan Chase, as well as a New York Times bestselling author, whose books include money and power, how Goldman Sachs came to rule the world, House of Cards, a tale of hubris

and wretched excess on Wall Street, and most recently power failure, the rise and fall of an

American icon. He is a founding partner at Puck News,

and we'll discuss his article at the New York Times,

the billionaire Trump supporter who will soon own the news.

Then we'll look into the ambush of Jimmy Kimmel

by Trump's Maga Apparachic at the FCC, Brendan Carr,

who seized upon a mild remarked by the late-night

comedian about Charlie Kirk, who the writer beatifying as a champion of free speech only to

enact cancel culture against those who criticize or make fun of Carr's dear leader.

Joining us is Craig Aaron, President and co-CEO of Free Press Action.

He's the editor of two books, Appeal to Reason, 25 years of In These Times and Changing Media,

Public Interest Politics for the Digital Age.

Andy has an article at Free Press.

We will discuss Federal Censorship Commission reaches new low in push to force Jimmy Kimmel

...