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We look at the unprecedented five federal executions President Trump's Department of Justice has scheduled before Inauguration Day, starting with Brandon Bernard on International Human Rights Day, and ending with Dustin Higgs on January 15, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Four of the people set to die are Black men, and the other is Lisa Montgomery, a severely mentally ill white woman who faced a lifetime of sexual abuse and would be the first woman executed in nearly 70 years. "When you give absolute power over life and death to government officials, they can really do what they want,” responds Sister Helen Prejean, one of the world's most well-known anti-death-penalty activists. She also discusses the life and legacy of Bill Pelke, who co-founded the group Journey of Hope and partnered with Prejean to campaign against the death penalty and spare the life of the woman who was 15 years old when she killed his grandmother.

We look at one of the most shocking cases in the slew of federal executions the Trump administration has scheduled in its final months: Lisa Montgomery, who was convicted in 2007 for a gruesome murder of a pregnant woman, is set be the first woman to be executed by the federal government in 70 years if her January 12 execution goes forward. Advocates say Montgomery suffers from mental illnesses caused by a life of abuse and sexual assault, and that she deserves clemency. "She is profoundly mentally ill," Cornell law professor Sandra Babcock says. "Why the rush to execute someone like Lisa Montgomery among all of these other people? That for me illustrates the brutality that we're witnessing right now."

Sister Helen Prejean, one of the world's best known anti-death-penalty activists, says the spate of federal executions carried out by the Trump administration reflect a "fundamental flaw" in the law, which does not set limits on use of the death penalty. "When you give absolute power over life and death to government officials, they can really do what they want," she says.

FEATURING MEDEA BENJAMIN – Iranians are mourning the death of Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the top nuclear scientist in the nation who was just assassinated. The Monday burial was accompanied by angry denunciations from Iran’s top leadership. Reports confirm that Israel, at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for the scientist’s killing.  Medea...

FEATURING JANIL HERNANDEZ – Dozens of people were arrested over the Thanksgiving holiday in East Los Angeles after protesting the eviction of people who had been occupying empty homes owned by Caltrans. California Highway Patrol officers forcibly entered the homes as protesters demanded they stand down. The actions came just as California issued new shelter-in-place...

The Wisconsin election recount ordered and paid for by President Donald Trump’s campaign has confirmed Joe Biden’s win. In Milwaukee County, Biden’s final count was a net gain of 132 votes over Trump, while in neighboring Dane County Trump’s total increased by 45 votes over Biden. In other words, there was a negligible change to...

Assessing Biden's Economic Team and the Challenges They Face | Killing Minks Won't End the Danger of Factory Farms | Who Will Clean Up the Wreckage Left By Betsy DeVos? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

The Pompeo, MbS, Netanyahu Secret Meeting That Led to the Hit on the Iranian Nuclear Scientist | A Founder of the IRGC on Israel's Fear Iran is Three Months Away From the Bomb | Can Trump Undo His Rhetorical Damage to Get Out the Georgia Vote in an Election He's Called Rigged? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

A Native American Perspective on Thanksgiving | What We Can Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving | The Reverend Billy on the Sin of Shopping backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

On today's BradCast we try to catch you up with at least five days of important news from over the long holiday weekend. That's damned near impossible in the Trump Era, unfortunately. But we did get about half way there, with the most important parts of Trump's continuing attempt to steal the 2020 election (yes, [...]

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Hey, it's NICOLE SANDLER in for Brad and Desi today (they'll be back after the holiday weekend.) On today's BradCast, we're talking turkey. Okay, not really, but it is the day before Thanksgiving, and the lame duck yesterday pardoned a turkey named Corn. The big question is, what happened to the second turkey, Cob? What [...]