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As more details emerge about those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, it's becoming clearer that the insurrection was not the work of a "fringe" group, but rather the result of a decades-long conservative effort to undermine democracy, according to author Brendan O'Connor. "The events of January 6 were not just months, but years, decades, in the making," says O'Connor, who notes that major Republican donors and prominent conservative groups were connected to the Trump rally that immediately preceded the Capitol riot.

As the House of Representatives prepares to pass a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, a fight is brewing over the inclusion of an increase to the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The measure is at risk in the Senate, where conservative Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema oppose its inclusion in the relief bill or suggest a lower amount. Congressmember Jan Schakowsky of Illinois says Congress must pass the minimum wage hike to help address inequality in the United States. "The current minimum wage, federally, is $7.25. Now, you can't live on that. You can't raise a family on that," she says. "Those colleagues of mine who think that it is too high, that we have to have perhaps a regional wage, are so disrespectful."

As the pandemic's death toll nears 2.5 million, stringent rules around intellectual property rights could be preventing much of the world from obtaining COVID-19 vaccines. Over 45 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the United Nations, while 130 other countries have not received any vaccines at all, leading to what some describe as "vaccine apartheid." At the World Trade Organization, South Africa and India are leading a push by over 100 nations to waive intellectual property rules that give pharmaceutical companies monopolistic control over vaccines they develop, even when the vaccines are developed largely with public funds, in order to speed up distribution of the life-saving medicines — but the U.S. has been a key impediment to loosening those restrictions. "The proposal really seeks to ensure that everyone has access," says Mustaqeem De Gama, a member of the South African WTO delegation. "We should enable more producers to produce, to scale, and to ensure that all of us are safe in the shortest possible time." We also speak with Congressmember Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, who supports the WTO waiver. "We know that these intellectual property rights really do put profit over people all over the world," she says.

FEATURING MONIQUE MORRISSEY – US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, known for his allegiance to Donald Trump, faced a House Oversight committee hearing this week where he said he intended to remain his position until kicked out. He told lawmakers, “get used to me.” But President Joe Biden appears to be laying the groundwork to oust...

FEATURING PAUL RUSESABAGINA – The Rwandan hotelier and humanitarian who protected over a thousand of his countrymen during the height of the 1994 Rwandan genocide is now facing trial under Paul Kagame’s government. Paul Rusesabagina is the author of An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography, and founder of the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation. He has been...

Yet another new variant of the coronavirus has been found, this time in New York according to researchers. The first emergence was as far back as last November. After the United States passed its grim milestone of half a million deaths amid a downward trend in infections and deaths, some epidemiologists are now worried about...

While Holding the Mob Accountable For Storming the Capitol, We Cannot Police Our Way Out of Authoritarianism | No Report from the DNI Because Biden Can't Get the Saudi King on the Phone | A Senate Insider on How Nothing Will Get Done Unless the Democrats Get Rid of the Filibuster backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Further Investigations of the Capitol Riot Could Involve Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Mike Flynn and Steve Bannon | Relief For the 45 Million Americans Drowning Under $1.7 Trillion in Student Loan Debt | More Evidence About to Emerge On MbS's Role in the Murder of Khashoggi backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

America's Deadly Milestone of 500,000 Preventable Deaths Had We Not Had Such a Sick and Stupid Leader | Capitol Cops on the Failures of Their Chiefs and Sergeants-at-Arms | Rediscovering America's Tradition of Taming Markets to Advance Freedom backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

I'm back! It's Nicole Sandler, filling in for Brad and Desi for a couple of days so they can celebrate Desi's birthday. Any excuse for some downtime. Welcome to today's BradCast. It was another busy news day, as confirmation hearings continue for Biden's cabinet picks.The Equality Act passed the House today, but not before Rand Paul [...]

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Historic Interior Department nominee Rep. Deb Haaland pledges balance amid GOP attacks; New U.S. Postal Service trucks won't be all-electric; Texas deregulation cost electricity customers $28 billion more than a regulated utility market; PLUS: Refineries legally released tons of toxic air pollution during Texas power crisis... All that and more in [...]

On today's BradCast: Try as they did, Donald Trump and the Republican Party were unable to steal the 2020 Presidential election. But they've got their plans in place for how to try and do it next time. They just need their currently stolen and packed Republican U.S. Supreme Court majority to help them pull it [...]