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

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

We begin with the Texas Supreme Court issuing a stay on a ruling in a critical abortion case

that would have allowed a pregnant woman to have an abortion because her life is in danger,

as is her future fertility. The recently impeached Texas Attorney General with no medical qualifications has decided the 20-week

pregnant woman does not have a life-threatening condition and is threatening her and medical

facilities and staff with felony prosecution and fines. Joining us to discuss the casual

cruelty of delaying a life-saving procedure is Jane Cohen,

a professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law, who teaches in the area of

feminist theory. She's the author of Abortion and Reproductive Rights in the Oxford Handbook of

Legal Studies. Then we'll examine the emerging campaign issue of dictatorship,

which has Trump's toady, Foxes Hannity,

doing damage control again,

as Trump repeatedly refused to answer

whether he has dictatorial plans,

eventually suggesting he would be a dictator only on day one.

Joining us is Thomas Nichols, a staff writer at the Atlantic and a professor emeritus

of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.

He previously taught international relations and Soviet Russian affairs at Dartmouth College

and Georgetown University.

He is the author of The Death of Expertise, the Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters,

and Our Own Worst Enemy, The Assault from Within on Modern Democracy.

...