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 the upcoming No Kings rallies across the country on Saturday,

the third of which is likely to be bigger with anti-war sentiments swelling the ranks,

although the Iran War is not the focus of the organizers.

We'll discuss growing grassroots activism against the multiple-magger disasters tearing

us down at home and abroad, with airports clogged as travelers wait in long lines, watched

over by ice goons while Trump stops 11 attempts by Democrats to fund TSA, trying to force Republicans to shoehorn the voter

suppression save act into Senate DHS funding negotiations. Joining us is Jeremy Surrey, who holds

the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas

at Austin, where he's a professor

of history and public affairs. He's the co-host of the podcast. This is Democracy and the author

and editor of a number of books, including The Impossible Presidency, The Rise and Fall of America's

highest office, and most recently Civil War by other means America's long and unfinished fight for democracy.

He has an article at his sub-stack democracy of hope.

Iran is winning so far.

Then we'll examine whether a Congress that automatically approves Pentagon spending on a bipartisan basis

will balk at the extra 200 billion

Hegsef wants for the Iran War, and the extra 500 billion Trump is asking for on top of the

trillion-dollar defense budget already approved. Joining us is William Hartung, a senior research fellow

with the Quincy Institute.

His books include Profits of War, Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military Industry Complex,

and his latest book is The Trillion Dollar War Machine.

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