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 wins for Democrats in Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia, which augurs well

for Democrats in 2024, in contrast to the poor poll numbers of the leader of the party,

President Joe Biden. Joining us to examine the successful narrative that resulted in a 13-point victory that

counted the lies and dirty tricks of the Ohio Republicans is David Pepper, who served as chairman

of the Democratic Party of Ohio from 2015 to 2021, and is the author of a number of books,

including A Simple Choice, The Voter File and Laboratories of Autocracy,

a wake-up call from behind the lines. Then we look further into the politics of abortion,

which will surely play a role in 2024, and already appears to be benefiting the Democrats

beyond the issue of abortion itself in the broader sense that a large majority of Americans

don't want a tyranny of the minority infringing on their freedom, imposing their religious

dogma in the name of religious freedom. Joining us is Amanda Marcotte, a feminist author, blogger,

and politics writer for Salon. She's the author of Troll Nation, how the right

became Trump-worshipping monsters set on rat-effing Liberals America and Truth itself, and

we will discuss her article at Salon. Voters aren't fooled by Republican lies on abortion, and Democrats

are benefiting at the ballot box.

Then finally, we'll examine how much Biden is losing the Arab-American vote because of his stance on the war in Gaza and the display of Islamophobia in the House

with the censure of the only Palestinian-American in Congress.

Joining us is Wajahat Ali, a New York Times contributing writer based in

Washington, D.C., a columnist of The Daily Beast, and the co-host of the Democracy-ish podcast. His

latest book is Go Back to Where You Came From and other helpful recommendations on how to

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