Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with emerging evidence of a war crime following a closed-door intelligence briefing

at which a select group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers saw the full video of the

September 2nd strike on a small boat allegedly shipping drugs to the United States.

In spite of the alternative reality expressed

by Senator Cotton, it appears that the second missile strike on Hegss's orders to, quote,

kill them all, was murder on the high seas, and that if and when the public saw the video,

the case against Heggeseth would be devastating.

Joining us is Rachel Van Lendingham, a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel,

the co-associate dean of research and a professor of law at Southwestern Law School,

as well as a former judge advocate in the United States Air Force.

During her military career, she served as a senior legal advisor on the international law of armed conflict, military prosecutor, criminal defense

attorney, appellate defense attorney, and nuclear security inspector stationed in the United

States, South Korea and Italy with deployments to the Middle East. She was a legal

advisor for international law

at headquarters of the United States Central Command, where she advised on operational and

international legal issues related to the armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Then we'll examine the Supreme Court's overturning of a lower court in Texas that halted

the implementation of a gerrymanded electoral map Trump demanded of Governor Abbott that would

give Republicans 30 of the 38 House seats in next year's election before a vote is cast.

Joining us to discuss how Alito's claim that it was, quote, pure and simple partisan advantage, not racial gerrymandering,

...