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Jul 23, 2021
Nearly 100 women from around the United States were arrested outside the Supreme Court as they marked the 173rd anniversary of the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls with a protest calling for voting rights and economic justice. We speak with Reverend Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and one of those who was arrested. She says Congress needs to scrap the filibuster, pass voting rights legislation and pass a "bold infrastructure bill" that addresses economic inequality, as well as the climate. She also discusses the work of her father, historian Athan Theoharis, who recently died after a lengthy career dedicated to exposing FBI misconduct.
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Jul 23, 2021
Nearly 600 water protectors have been arrested during ongoing protests in Minnesota against the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline at the Shell River, which the partially completed pipeline is set to cross in five places. On Monday, authorities arrested Indigenous leader Winona LaDuke and at least six others. She was just released from jail yesterday and joins us after three nights in jail. LaDuke describes how the Canadian multinational corporation Enbridge, which is building the pipeline, has funded more than 40 police squads from around the state to crack down on protests, saying, "It is a civil crisis when a Canadian multinational controls your police force." LaDuke is executive director of Honor the Earth. She says Enbridge's efforts to finish construction come as investors are increasingly pulling out of the fossil fuels sector. "Who wants to have the last tar sands pipeline? It's the end of the party."
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Jul 23, 2021
As the Summer Olympics begin in Tokyo after the International Olympic Committee pushed forward during a pandemic despite widespread opposition in Japan, we speak with a protester outside the Olympic stadium and former Olympic athlete Jules Boykoff. "The people have been frustrated actually ever since the awarding of the Olympics in 2013," says Satoko Itani, associate professor of sports, gender and sexuality at Kansai University. "The vast majority of Japanese people don't want these games." Boykoff argues the "saga in Tokyo has exposed an International Olympic Committee that openly disrespects the will of locals, that brushes off inconvenient facts from experts … And the IOC tends to prioritize its profits over all else."
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Jul 23, 2021
Tokyo Olympics Kick Off Amid COVID Surge, Protests; Italy Unveils New Pass for Vaccinated People, Missouri Hospital Worker Warns COVID Surge Will Get Worse; 20% of L.A.'s Cases Are Vaccinated People
, U.S. Imposes New Cuba Sanctions as 400 Noted Activists, Political Figures Call for End to Embargo, Rep. Hank Johnson, Prominent Black Voting Rights Advocates Arrested at Pro-Democracy Demonstration, Indian Farmworkers Renew Protests Against Neoliberal Agricultural Reforms, South Africa Updates Death Toll from Unrest to at Least 337 People, 20 Refugees Likely Dead After Mediterranean Shipwreck, U.S. Launches Airstrikes in Afghanistan; House Votes to Issue More Special Visas for Afghans, Senate Cmte. Votes in Favor of Upping Military Budget by $25 Million, Protesters Condemn UAE Plan to Extradite Ex-Guantánamo Prisoner, Demand Justice for All Detainees, Labor and Healthcare Advocates Call on Biden to Stop Closure of Largest U.S. Generic Drugs Plant, House Cmte. Considers AOC's Public Banking Proposal to Democratize Financial Services, UNESCO Refrains from Listing Great Barrier Reef as "In Danger" Despite Major Climate-Induced Damage
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Jul 22, 2021
As the impacts of the climate emergency continue to be felt around the globe, white men overwhelmingly dominate the airwaves on climate coverage.?? We speak with co-editors of the new book "All We Can Save," an anthology of essays by 60 women at the forefront of the climate justice movement. "We are simply not seeing very much climate coverage at all in the mainstream media," says Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist and co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab. Katharine Wilkinson, visiting professor at Sewanee: The University of the South in Tennessee, emphasizes women and girls around the world are "disproportionately impacted by climate change" and must lead the search for solutions. "There is a growing body of research that centering women's leadership on climate is not just something that sounds nice. It's actually a critical strategy for how we win," Wilkinson says.
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Jul 22, 2021
As the world's richest man flies his Blue Origin rocket into suborbital space, here on Earth calls are growing to tax the rich and let Amazon unionize. Billionaire Jeff Bezos has faced strong criticism after Tuesday's flight, for which he thanked Amazon workers and customers who "paid for all of this." Bezos traveled to the edge of space just days after another billionaire, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, took a similar trip on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft. "The richest and most powerful people in the world are turning their eyes away from the planet and to the stars," says Paris Marx, a writer and host of the podcast "Tech Won't Save Us." "We need to question whether we should be dedicating so much resources to this kind of grand vision of a future that may never arrive," Marx says. We also speak with journalist Peter Ward, author of the book "The Consequential Frontier: Challenging the Privatization of Space," who says billionaires who have monopolized large sectors of the economy are seeking to do the same for space infrastructure. "It's not the worst thing to have the private sector involved. It's just it can't be where they have complete control," Ward says.
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Jul 22, 2021
WHO: Global COVID Cases Jumped 12% Over Past Week, Pelosi Rejects GOP Reps. Jordan & Banks for Jan. 6 Select Committee, Armed DEA Agent Arrested for Taking Part in Jan. 6 Insurrection, Republicans Block $1 Trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, Opioid Crisis: States Reach $26 Billion Settlement with J&J and Drug Distributors, Four Colombian Mercenaries Tied to Moïse Assassination Were Trained at Fort Benning in U.S., U.S. Launches First Drone Strike on Somalia Under President Biden, Biden Administration Seeks 9-Year Sentence for Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale, Argentina Issues Gender-Neutral ID Cards in First for Latin America, Federal Courts Block Anti-Trans Laws in Arkansas and West Virginia, Israel Asks U.S. States to Probe Ben & Jerry's for Violating Anti-BDS Laws, Report: Government Informants Played Key Roles in Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor, Texas Starts Jailing Immigrants on State Charges After Crossing U.S. Border, Biden Taps Leading Antitrust Attorney to Key DOJ Post, Head of U.N. Climate Talks: Nations "Must Consign Coal Power to History", 3 Die in Iran Protests Sparked by Historic Drought, Toronto Police Arrest 26 While Evicting Unhoused Residents at Encampment, Tokyo Olympic Committee Fires Director of Opening Ceremony over Holocaust Joke, Spanish Swimmer Slams Olympic Rules Preventing Her from Breastfeeding Son During Games
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Jul 21, 2021
Two weeks after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Ariel Henry has been sworn in as Haiti's new prime minister, after acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced he was relinquishing power. Henry is a neurosurgeon who was appointed by President Jovenel Moïse shortly before he was assassinated, but not formally sworn in. Both Joseph and Henry had claimed power following Moïse's death. Over the weekend, the United States and other members of the so-called Core Group threw their support behind Henry, who will become Haiti's seventh prime minister in four years. Monique Clesca, a Haitian pro-democracy advocate based in Port-au-Prince, says despite the polarization and turmoil in the country, it is ultimately up to Haitians to find a political solution. ??"It is not up to the United States State Department to tell us who should be the prime minister of Haiti," Clesca says. "It is offensive. It should not be done. It is unacceptable."
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Jul 21, 2021
The role of Colombian mercenaries in the assassination two weeks ago of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse has come under scrutiny ater The Washington Post reported some of the Colombians received U.S. military training while they were part of the Colombian armed services. One of the mercenaries has been identified as former special commando Grosso Guarín, who was once assigned to a secretive elite military detachment of Colombia's Urban Counter-Terrorism Special Forces Group that carried out kidnappings and assassinations. Another Colombian mercenary arrested in Haiti was Francisco Eladio Uribe Ochoa, who was once investigated for his role in executing civilians in Colombia and then disguising them as combatants — a practice known as false positives. The Colombian military has been accused of killing over 6,400 civilians in this way. Joining us from Bogotá, Colombia, reporter Mario Murillo says the involvement of Colombian mercenaries stems from the "hyper-militarization of the country," rooted in decades-long counterterrorism and counternarcotics operations that have doubled the size of the Colombian military. "We're talking about thousands of soldiers who have been going around the world," he says, calling them highly trained "artists of war."
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Jul 21, 2021
We go to Colombia for an update on anti-government protests in several cities on the country's Independence Day, when right-wing President Iván Duque presented a new tax reform bill to Congress. The last tax proposal failed in April after it prompted a general strike and massive demonstrations that focused on deepening economic inequality and human rights abuses. The latest demonstrations came after some of the organizers were arrested and harassed over the weekend and protesters have faced intense crackdowns and brutality from Colombian police forces in recent months. "It was amazing that it took place, notwithstanding the fear tactics that were being used by the government leading up to the July 20 mobilizations," says award-winning journalist Mario Murillo, in Bogotá. We also speak with Colombian activist María del Rosario Arango Zambrano in Cali, a city with a long history of activism and resistance. "The repression has been especially brutal here, not only by security forces but also by paramilitary groups," she says.
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Jul 21, 2021
COVID-19 cases in the United States have tripled over the past month as the highly contagious Delta variant rapidly spreads across the country, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates. Deaths from COVID-19 have increased by nearly 50% over the past week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the Delta variant is now responsible for 83% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. "Things are much worse than people might realize," says Ed Yong, science writer at The Atlantic who has been reporting on the Delta variant's spread in Missouri, one of the hardest-hit areas in the U.S. "The more we let this pandemic linger on, rage on around the world, the less protected any of us will be — including those of us who currently luxuriate under the umbrella of vaccination." Yong recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for his coverage of the pandemic.
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Jul 21, 2021
"Once in a 1,000 Years" Rains and Flooding Kill at Least 25 People in China, Record-Breaking Wildfires Continue to Rage in Siberia, Western U.S., Releasing Toxic Fumes, Tokyo Olympic Events Start Even as Head of Organizing Committee Puts Games in Doubt, Thailand, Iran Impose COVID Lockdowns as France Launches "Health Pass" Amid Major Spike, Delta Variant Accounts for 83% of New U.S. Cases; Millions of Surplus Vaccines Could Go to Waste, Senators Unveil Legislation to Curb Presidential War Powers, Giving Authority Back to Congress, Immigrant Justice Activists Block New Jersey ICE "Black Site", Judge Blocks Arkansas Near-Total Abortion Ban, Veracruz Becomes Latest Mexican State to Decriminalize Abortion Before 12 Weeks of Pregnancy, Protesters Call for Release of Afro-Indigenous Garífuna Leaders in Honduras, State Department Bans Former Honduran President Lobo from Entering U.S., Emmanuel Macron, Cyril Ramaphosa, Imran Khan Among 14 Heads of State Targeted by NSO Group, Jeff Bezos Thanks Amazon Workers and Customers for Paying for His 10-Minute Suborbital Flight, Trump Associate Tom Barrack Arrested, Charged with Acting as Foreign Agent for UAE, Harvey Weinstein Extradited to Los Angeles to Face More Rape Charges, South Carolina State University Forgives $10 Million of Student Debt Using Stimulus Funds, Americans Owe $140 Billion in Medical Debt to Collection Agencies
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Jul 20, 2021
After a federal judge struck down DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, we look at what may come next with Cesar Espinosa, a DACA recipient and executive director of the Houston, Texas-based, immigrant-led civil rights organization FIEL. He says the latest ruling is "heartbreaking," and urges lawmakers to create a legislative solution for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. "We want to see Congress and the president take action."
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Jul 20, 2021
Fifty-six-year-old Abdul Latif Nasser is the first Guantánamo Bay prisoner to be released under the Biden administration. He was imprisoned for nearly two decades without charge and had been cleared for release since 2016. Thirty-nine prisoners remain at Guantánamo. "Legally speaking, morally speaking, that space that has been created has no significance other than the harm it is placing on people," says Agnès Callamard,
secretary general of Amnesty International.
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Jul 20, 2021
As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if he is extradited to the U.S. under the Espionage Act for publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard says his detention since 2010 "is arbitrary and that he should be released." She adds that allegations made against him by the U.S. authorities "raise a large number of problems and red flags in relation to freedom of the press."
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Jul 20, 2021
Mexico appears to have submitted more phone numbers for potential surveillance to the Israeli cybersurveillance company NSO Group than any other client country, according to an investigation of the company by an international collaboration of media outlets called The Pegasus Project. The Guardian found the mobile phone number of Mexican journalist Cecilio Pineda Birto was selected as a possible target for surveillance by a Mexican NSO Group client just weeks before Pineda's assassination in Guerrero in 2017. Nina Lakhani, senior reporter at The Guardian, says Mexico was NSO Group's first client and authorities there have a long record of "dire human rights abuses." She notes Mexico's use of Pegasus proves the technology is not only used to go after criminality. "The line between good and bad in Mexico is blurred," Lakhani says.
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Jul 20, 2021
Calls are growing for stricter regulations on the use of surveillance technology after revelations that countries have used the powerful Pegasus spyware against politicians, journalists and activists around the world. The Pegasus software, sold by the Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group, can secretly infect a mobile phone and harvest its information. While the company touts Pegasus as intended for criminals and terrorists, leaked data suggests the tool is widely abused by governments to go after political opponents and dissidents, according to reporting from The Pegasus Project, an international consortium of 17 media organizations. We feature a PBS "Frontline" report on the shocking findings that the Israeli government allowed NSO to continue to do business with Saudi Arabia even after the Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in 2018 in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and allegedly used Pegasus to surveil Khashoggi's fiancée. "Contrary to what NSO is claiming, the spyware Pegasus is used to target people absolutely unrelated to criminal activities or terrorism," says Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International. She adds that The Pegasus Project has exposed that abuse of powerful surveillance technology "is systematic, and it is global."
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Jul 20, 2021
Report: COVID Death Toll in India May Be Over 4 Million, As COVID Cases Rise in All 50 States, Biden Urges Unvaccinated to Get the Shot, Pediatricians Recommend Universal Masking in Schools, Ariel Henry to Become Haitian PM After Getting Support from U.S. & Core Group, Socialist Teacher & Union Leader Pedro Castillo Wins Peruvian Presidential Election, 35 Killed in Market Blast in Baghdad on Eve of Eid al-Adha, Rockets Land Near Afghan Presidential Palace During Outdoor Eid Prayers, In Victory for BDS Movement, Ben & Jerry's to Stop Selling Ice Cream in Israeli Settlements, Morocco Sentences Journalist Omar Radi to 6 Years in Prison, Trump Supporter Sentenced to Eight Months in Prison for Capitol Insurrection, McCarthy Names 5 to Select Committee Probing Jan. 6 Insurrection, Bootleg Fire Becomes Third-Largest Fire Ever in Oregon, Winona LaDuke & Water Protectors Arrested in Enbridge Pipeline Protest, 100 Arrested in D.C. at Poor People's Campaign's Women's Moral March, Trans Model Leyna Bloom Appears on Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover, NHL Prospect Luke Prokop Comes Out as Gay in First for League
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Jul 19, 2021
The remains of nine Indigenous children were buried by the Rosebud Sioux in South Dakota after being transferred back from the former Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, where the children were forcibly sent over 140 years ago. Carlisle was the first government boarding school off reservation land, and it set the standard for other schools with its motto, "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." The schools were known for their brutal assimilation practices that forced students to change their clothing, language and culture. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe negotiated the return of the children's remains buried at the school, and a caravan of Rosebud Sioux youth returned them to their tribe this week. Dozens of other Native American and Alaskan Native families have asked Carlisle to return their relatives' bodies. Knowledge of the boarding schools is still being recovered as many survivors are reluctant to revisit the trauma, says Christopher Eagle Bear, a member of the Sicangu Youth Council. "These schools, they played a key part in trying to sever that connection to who we are as Lakota," he says. "They took away our language, and they made it impossible for us to be who we really are."
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Jul 19, 2021
As the U.S. continues to deal with the fallout from the devastating opioid epidemic that has killed over 500,000 people in the country since 1999, we speak with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, whose latest documentary, "The Crime of the Century," looks at the pharmaceutical industry's methods in promoting and selling the powerful drugs. "I realized that the big problem here was that we had been seeing it as a crisis, like a natural disaster like a flood or a hurricane, rather than as a series of crimes," says Gibney. "You had these terrible incentives, where the incentive is not to cure the patient. The incentive is to just make as much money as possible." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says U.S. drug overdose deaths skyrocketed to a record 93,000 last year — a nearly 30% increase. It is the largest one-year increase ever recorded, with overdoses rising in 48 of 50 states.
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Jul 19, 2021
COVID Cases on the Rise Among Olympic Athletes Days Ahead of Tokyo Opening Ceremony, Boris Johnson Self-Isolates as U.K. Reopens; Mass Protests in France over COVID Measures, Delta Variant Spreads Across Africa, Latin America, Where Vaccines Are Sorely Lacking, Young Children at Risk as U.S. Cases Surge in Areas with Low Vaccination Rates, DOJ Set to Challenge U.S. Judge Ruling Declaring DACA Unlawful, Israeli Spyware Company Targeted Phones of Journalists and Politicians Around the World, Death Toll in Western Europe Flash Floods Nears 200; 70 Major Wildfires Rage in Western U.S., Colombian Police Say Former Haitian Gov't Official Ordered Assassination of Jovenel Moïse, Israeli Forces Violently Evict Palestinian Worshipers from Al-Aqsa Mosque, Egyptian Rights Activist Esraa Abdel Fattah Freed from Prison, Abdul Latif Nasser Released from Guantánamo Bay After 19 Years Without Charge, Thousands of Families Displaced Amid Heightened Violence in Afghanistan, Award-Winning Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui Killed While Covering Afghan Conflict, Shooting Disrupts MLB Game in Washington, D.C., in Another Weekend of Gun Violence Across U.S., Illinois Bans Police from Lying to Minors During Interrogations, Rosebud Sioux Bury Remains of Indigenous Children Who Died in U.S. Gov't Schools, Workers at Kansas Frito-Lay Factory Strike Against Horrific Conditions, Civil Rights Pioneer Gloria Richardson, Who Fought for Desegregation, Economic Justice, Dies at 99
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Jul 16, 2021
We look at the corporate profiteering off people who lost their homes and loved ones to recent fires in California, where wildfires continue to rage amid record temperatures. A major investigation by KQED and The California Report found a special trust set up to distribute $13.5 billion to survivors of wildfires caused by PG&E — the state's largest utility company — instead spent lavishly on its own administration while distributing almost nothing to the 70,000 fire victims, many of whom still live in trailers. Those who profited while the fire victims waited for help included Wall Street bankers and prestigious law firms. The investigation has prompted a bipartisan call from state lawmakers for the state attorney general to investigate. "A lot of fire survivors are looking at this situation and wondering: Why is this taking so long?" says Lily Jamali, a co-host for KQED's The California Report and the reporter behind the exposé. "They're getting really impatient, and they're very unhappy with the way this process has been run so far."
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Jul 16, 2021
We speak with leading climate scientist Michael Mann about the catastrophic impact of the climate crisis around the world. He says he and other scientists predicted the extreme weather events now wreaking havoc. "We said that if we don't stop burning fossil fuels and elevating the levels of carbon pollution in the atmosphere and we continue to warm up the planet, we will see unprecedented heat waves and wildfires and floods and droughts and superstorms," says Mann. His new book is titled ?"The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet."
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Jul 16, 2021
As a special congressional committee investigating the January 6 insurrection prepares to hold its first hearings later this month, we speak with author Michael Wolff, whose new book, "Landslide," provides fresh details about former President Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election, how he spurred his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol and why he still holds the reins in the party. "There's no question Donald Trump runs the Republican Party," Wolff says. "We have two realities here: the reality of Donald Trump in charge, and the other reality which is that everybody knows that there's something wrong with Donald Trump."
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Jul 16, 2021
COVID-19 Cases Rise in Nearly Every U.S. State as Delta Variant Becomes Dominant, Surgeon General Calls on Social Media Giants to Stop Spread of Anti-Vaccine Misinformation, Coronavirus Infections Continue Exponential Rise in Southeast Asia and Africa, German Chancellor Confronted over Blocking Patent Waiver for COVID-19 Vaccines, WHO Warns 23 Million Children Missed Vaccinations in 2020 Due to Pandemic, 110 Dead, 1,300 Missing as Once-in-a-Century Flooding Hits Germany and Belgium, Smoke Blankets Much of North America as Western Wildfires Grow in Size, Research Shows Parts of Amazon Rainforest Now Emit More Greenhouse Gas Than They Absorb, U.S. Military Trained Colombian Soldiers Arrested for Assassinating Haitian President, Biden Brands Cuba a "Failed State" Without Acknowledging Role of U.S. Blockade in Crisis, South Africa Sends 25,000 Troops into Street After Days of Protests and Unrest, Dutch Crime Reporter Peter R. de Vries Dies One Week After He Was Shot on the Street, IRS Begins Child Tax Credit Rollout to 60 Million Families, Biden's ICE Nominee Says He Would Let Local Law Enforcement Continue to Collaborate with Agency, FBI Failed to Intervene in Abuse Claims Against Larry Nassar, Leading to 100 More Sex Crimes, Capitol Police Arrest Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty and Others as They March to Defend Democracy
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Jul 15, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a sharp increase in the number of people going hungry worldwide, along with conflict and the impacts of climate change. A new report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world found about one-tenth of the global population were undernourished last year, more than 2.5 billion people did not have access to sufficiently nutritious food, and one in five children now face stunted growth. Saskia de Pee, the World Food Programme's head of systems analysis for nutrition, describes how the impact is "going to be long-term."
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Jul 15, 2021
We go to South Africa, where more than 70 are dead and at least 3,000 people have been arrested since demonstrations erupted after former President Jacob Zuma began his 15-month jail sentence for refusing to testify in a corruption probe. Protesters also expressed frustration with entrenched poverty and inequity as South Africa battles a devastating wave of COVID-19. "This was really a perfect storm that has built up," says Sithembile Mbete, a senior lecturer in political sciences at the University of Pretoria in Johannesburg. "The protests and the unrest has stopped being about former President Zuma and has become more about the socioeconomic conditions that people find themselves in and the problems of hunger."
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Jul 15, 2021
As the United States continues to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan after 20 years of war and occupation, the Taliban say they now control most Afghan territory, surrounding major population centers and holding more than two-thirds of Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan. Former President George W. Bush made a rare criticism of U.S. policy, saying, "I'm afraid Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm." But a leading Afghan women's rights activist says the plight of women in the country has always served as a "very good excuse" for U.S. military goals, while conditions in the country have barely improved. "Unfortunately, they pushed us from the frying pan into the fire as they replaced the barbaric regime of the Taliban with the misogynist warlords," says Malalai Joya, who in 2005 became the youngest person ever elected to the Afghan Parliament. She says the decades of U.S. occupation have accomplished little for the people of Afghanistan. "No nation can donate liberation to another nation," she says.
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Jul 15, 2021
1 Million Acres Burn in Western U.S. and Canada as Another Heat Wave Builds, Russia Deploys Military to Battle Siberian Wildfires Amid Record Heat, Global COVID-19 Cases Rise Again, Fueled by Surges in Southeast Asia and Africa, Anti-Vaccination Protesters March in France and Greece, U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Rose by 30% in 2020 to Record High, Biden Selects Dr. Rahul Gupta, Who Oversaw West Virginia Response to Opioid Crisis, as "Drug Czar", Sen. Schumer Unveils Proposal to Decriminalize Marijuana at the Federal Level, Haitian Police Arrest More Suspects in Assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Cuba Lifts Restrictions on Essential Goods Brought in by Travelers, Taliban Captures Key Border Crossing with Pakistan, Indigenous Children's Remains Returned to Families Amid Reckoning over Genocidal U.S. Gov't Schools, General Mark Milley Says Trump's Election Fraud Claims Felt Like "Reichstag Moment", Johnson & Johnson Recalls Sunscreens Containing Carcinogen, Family of Andrew Brown, Who Was Gunned Down by Police, Files Civil Rights Lawsuit, Jamaica Seeks Reparations for Slavery from Britain
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Jul 14, 2021
After months of decline in COVID-19 cases in the United States due in part to widely available vaccines, the number of new cases per day is on the rise again. Pfizer representatives met with U.S. regulators and vaccine experts to seek emergency use authorization for a second booster dose of its vaccine, as health experts are continuing to highlight the growing gap in administered vaccinations between rich and low-income countries. "In the United States, we have access to multiple vaccines," says Dr. Abraar Karan, an internal medicine doctor and infectious disease fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine. "Many countries have not seen any vaccine at all." He also says it's too early to say whether a third vaccine dose is necessary, as Pfizer has insisted. "I hope the science is what guides this, not the financial aspects," he says.
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Jul 14, 2021
We speak with two of the Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled to Washington, D.C., to block suppressive new voting laws in their home state and who are calling on Congress to quickly pass legislation protecting voting rights. Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott threatened them with arrest the moment they return to their state and said he would keep them "in chamber" in order to pass the new voting bills, but the fugitive lawmakers say they intend to stay in Washington for as long as necessary. "We're staying out," says Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat representing Dallas in the Texas House. "We're not going to be bullied and intimidated by anybody, including the governor or our colleagues," adds Trey Martinez Fischer, who represents San Antonio. "We have a job to be the voice of our constituents."
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Jul 14, 2021
We go to Havana, Cuba, to look at what is behind protests that brought thousands of people into the streets of Havana and other cities in rare anti-government protests denouncing the island's economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuba is facing its harshest phase of the pandemic with skyrocketing infections, and people are scrambling to cope amid shortages of medicine, food and other resources due to catastrophic U.S. sanctions. Thousands of others in Cuba led counterprotests in support of the Cuban Revolution and President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Cuban journalist Daniel Montero, a journalist with the independent news organization Belly of the Beast, says many people were demanding an end to communism on the island, but the protests were not entirely driven by ideology. "We just want more food. We just want medicine. We just want the basics," he says many protesters told him in interviews.
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Jul 14, 2021
Biden Condemns Republican "Election Subversion" But Does Not Call for End to Filibuster, U.S. Starts Vaccinating ICE Prisoners; Calls Mount for Germany to Support Vaccine IP Waivers, More Suspects Sought in Moïse Assassination as Groups Call on U.S. to Welcome Haitian Asylum Seekers, 72 Killed Amid Growing Unrest in South Africa, Mourners Gather in Ramallah for Funeral of Human Rights Activist Suha Jarrar, U.N. Rapporteur Says Israeli Settlements Constitute War Crimes, Calls for International Action, More Unmarked Graves Found at Another Canadian School for First Nations Children, Reproductive Rights Groups Sue Texas over 6-Week Abortion Ban, Fracking Companies Pumped Toxic PFAS into the Ground After Obama's EPA Approved Its Use, Jailed Immigrants File Complaint over Abuse and Neglect at Bergen County ICE Facility, Senate Dems Reach $3.5 Trillion Budget Plan That Could Forgo GOP Support, Care Workers Demand Proper Compensation and Benefits in Infrastructure Legislation, Sunrise Mvt Activists Camp Out at Sen. Dianne Feinstein's Offices to Demand Climate Action
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Jul 13, 2021
The award-winning documentary "Fly So Far" looks at the criminalization of abortion in El Salvador through the incredible story of Teodora Vásquez, a woman who in 2008 was sentenced to 30 years in prison after she had a stillbirth at nine months pregnant. Vásquez was released in 2018 after more than a decade behind bars. El Salvador has enforced a total ban on abortions since 1998, and dozens of people have been convicted and imprisoned after having miscarriages, stillbirths and other obstetric emergencies in the Central American country. The film highlights the stories of women convicted of aggravated homicide for having a miscarriage or an obstetric emergency, as well as the ongoing resistance of women and the LGBTQ community in El Salvador. Filmmaker Celina Escher, director of "Fly So Far," says women and girls in El Salvador face high rates of violence, rape and femicide, as well as hostility from the right-wing government. "Women have to live this violence every day," she says.
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Jul 13, 2021
The Supreme Court is set to review a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that intends to challenge Roe v. Wade, raising concern for advocates about how reproductive rights can be preserved without the landmark ruling. "I think it's very, very likely that the court will either eradicate the right to choose abortion as we now know it completely or so undermine it to make it meaningless for most of American women," says Kathryn Kolbert, longtime public interest attorney who argued the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey before the Supreme Court in 1992, which is credited with saving Roe v. Wade. She lays out her argument in a new book published today, "Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom." We also speak with co-author Julie Kay, a human rights attorney who argued for a human rights framework for abortion rights in Ireland before the European Court of Human Rights. "We're not just talking about privacy or even equality," Kay says of the fight for abortion access in the United States and beyond. "We're really looking at liberty, dignity and the ability to have full participation in all aspects of life."
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Jul 13, 2021
We speak with one of the Texas Democrats who has fled the state to block the Republican-dominated Legislature from passing new voter restrictions in the battleground state, which already has some of the toughest voting rules in the country. Without the Democratic lawmakers, the Texas House won't have enough members present to reach a quorum. "Republicans have turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the needs of the citizens of Texas," says Texas state Representative Jarvis Johnson. "We realized at that point there was no more negotiation that could be done, and we took the last tool in our toolbox." We also speak with Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, who says the Texas legislation's aim is to "suppress the Hispanic, Mexican American and the African American vote."
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Jul 13, 2021
Texas House Democrats Flee State to Stop GOP-Backed Voter Suppression Bills, Dozens Killed, 100 Injured as Fire Tears Through COVID Ward in Iraq, Conflict, Climate Crisis and COVID-19 Cause Sixfold Rise in People Suffering Famine , WHO Blasts Calls for Extra Booster Shots While Billions Lack Vaccine Access, FDA Warns of Very Rare Guillain-Barré Cases Tied to Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine, Suspects in Assassination of Haitian President Had Ties to U.S. Law Enforcement, Cuban President Calls for End to Blockade as Biden Voices Support for Cuban Protesters, 32 Killed Across South Africa in Protests That Erupted After Jailing of Former President , Press Freedom Groups Demand Release of Jailed Moroccan Journalist Soulaimane Raissouni, Protests Erupt in Tblisi, Georgia, over Killing of Journalist by Homophobic Mob, Guatemalan Protesters Demand Resignation of President over Mishandling of Pandemic, Federal Judge Blasts "Fantastical" Claims of Voter Fraud by Pro-Trump Attorneys, 2,500 Chicago-Area Workers Win Tentative Contract, Ending 18-Day Strike
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Jul 12, 2021
As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, less than 0.1% of vaccine doses have been administered in low-income countries, according to data available at the end of March, with more than 86% of shots being administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries. "We are not protecting ourselves from the virus, and we frankly are setting up the virus and COVID for being around for generations," says New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She calls on the United States to use tools like the Defense Production Act to mobilize mass production of vaccines to export for free around the world.
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Jul 12, 2021
As lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., following a two-week recess, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about efforts to pass major infrastructure funding that could address child care, climate change, education and poverty. President Joe Biden has already struck a $1 trillion infrastructure agreement with a centrist group of lawmakers concentrated on roads, bridges and highways, but a fight is brewing over a larger package that Democrats want to pass in the Senate using the budget reconciliation process, which can pass with just 50 votes and avoid a filibuster. "The Progressive Caucus is rather united in the fact that we will not support bipartisan legislation without a reconciliation bill, and one that takes bold and large action on climate, drawing down carbon emissions, but also job creation and increasing equity and resilience for impacted communities, particularly frontline communities," says Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York's 14th Congressional District. "That's where we've drawn a strong line."
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Jul 12, 2021
The winner of the New York City Democratic primary election for mayor, Eric Adams, focused on what he called his more conservative plans to address an increase in gun violence, and is set to meet with President Biden today at the White House. "The way that we counter these increases in incidents [of crime] is through economic opportunity and community investment in communities where these surges are happening," responds New York Democratic Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "The message should not be that we should continue to overpolice and oversurveil people in order to create reductions in crime and increase public safety."
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Jul 12, 2021
After the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse at his home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's interim government says it has asked the United Nations and the United States to send troops to help secure key infrastructure. The U.S. has so far declined, but has sent an inter-agency team from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Democratic Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says the situation in Haiti is "extraordinarily delicate and extremely fragile," and that the U.S. should not send troops to the country. "Our role should be in supporting a peaceful transition and democratic process for selecting a new leader," she says.
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Jul 12, 2021
Political turmoil continues in Haiti following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, with multiple people claiming leadership of the country and gangs unleashing a new wave of violence in the streets. Haitian police say they have arrested a key figure in the assassination, 63-year-old Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-born doctor based in Florida who arrived in Haiti in June with "political objectives." Sanon is one of three Haitian Americans now arrested in the attack, along with 18 Colombians. Five Colombians are still at large, and three were reportedly killed. The United States, meanwhile, has sent Homeland Security and FBI officials to Haiti to aid in the investigation but has so far declined a request to send military forces to the country. "We are in an extraconstitutional situation," says Magali Comeau Denis, a former Haitian minister of culture and communication who acts as coordinator for the Commission to Find a Haitian Solution, a civil society group to resolve the ongoing political crisis. She says none of the people claiming authority in the country right now has any legitimacy, and that political actors and civil society groups need to come together to create a broad consensus on how to move forward. "There is no other legal answer to that situation of exception."
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Jul 12, 2021
Police Arrest Man Who Planned to Assume Haitian Presidency as More U.S. Ties Emerge, COVID Cases on the Rise in 42 U.S. States; CDC Urges Schools to Reopen in Fall, Thousands Take to Streets of Cuba to Protest Economic Crisis, Pandemic, Top U.S. Military General Leaves Post in Afghanistan as Withdrawal Nears End, Ethiopian Elections Deliver Win for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Racist Trolls Attack England Soccer Team's Black Players After Loss to Italy in Euro 2020, G20 Members Back 15% Global Minimum Tax; Critics Say Greater Change Is Needed, Biden Signs Order to Combat Monopolies, Low Wages, Biden Fires Trump-Era Social Security Head with Anti-Union, Anti-Benefits Agenda, ACLU Says Trump Admin Began Family Separations in 2017, Months Before "Zero Tolerance" Policy, 62-Year-Old Hervis Earl Rogers Faces 40 Years in Prison for "Illegal Voting" in Texas, Charlottesville, Virginia, Removes Racist Statues After Protracted Legal Battle, Surfside Condo Collapse Death Toll Rises to 90, Branson Beats Bezos in Billionaire Space Race, California on Pace for Worst-Ever Wildfire Season as 300,000 Acres Burn in Western U.S., Records Fall in Las Vegas and Palm Springs as Western U.S. Suffers Latest Heat Wave
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Jul 09, 2021
Lebanon is days away from a "social explosion," according to the country's prime minister, amid what the World Bank has described as one of the worst economic depressions in modern history. The country's currency has lost more than 90% of its value, unemployment has skyrocketed, and fuel prices have soared. Most homes and businesses, and even hospitals, only have power for a few hours each day, and pharmacies are running low on medicine. The U.N. has warned over three-quarters of households in Lebanon do not have enough food or money to buy food. Lebanon is also facing a massive political crisis following the devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut last August, which killed over 200 people, injured 7,000 and left more than a quarter-million Beirut residents unhoused. Nisreen Salti, an economics professor at the American University of Beirut, says "the entire system crumbled" in Lebanon due to decades of structural inequality. "The business and political class that benefited from the system was able to plunder the economy for 20-odd years," Salti says. We also speak with Middle East scholar Ziad Abu-Rish of Bard College. He says the economic crisis and the port explosion, for which there have been no major prosecutions, both reveal the impunity with which the country's elites operate. "Part of the problem is the total lack of accountability," Abu-Rish says.
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Jul 09, 2021
The government of the southern African nation of Eswatini, which was known as Swaziland up until 2018, is brutally cracking down on the largest anti-government protests in the country since it became independent from Britain 53 years ago. Eswatini, bordered by Mozambique and South Africa, is currently facing an economic crisis with a shortage of gas, food and other resources. More than half of Eswatini's citizens live in poverty, while King Mswati III is known for his lavish lifestyle, including owning expensive cars. Amnesty International reports at least 20 protesters have been killed by state security forces, and dozens of others tortured, detained or abducted. We speak with a women's rights activist in Manzini, Eswatini, who asked for her face and voice to be obscured due to safety concerns. She says the situation is especially dire for women. "Their situation is very bad," the activist says. "We've been facing the scourge of gender-based violence, but this situation will exacerbate."
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Jul 09, 2021
As President Joe Biden met with civil rights groups this week to discuss how to fight voter suppression efforts, Texas lawmakers followed other battleground states controlled by Republicans with a new push to overhaul the state's election laws. New restrictions would include a ban on drive-thru voting and 24-hour or late-night voting options, and election officials could be penalized for sending out unsolicited absentee applications. The measures would also impose stringent signature-matching requirements and increase the power of partisan poll observers, which can result in intimidation. "This would make it the worst voter suppression bill in the country," says Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, who urges Democrats across the United States to take part in walkouts and other maneuvers to impede voter suppression bills. "What we need right now, along with civil disobedience on the streets, is legislative disobedience," Albright says.
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Jul 09, 2021
"I Will Not Send Another Generation of Americans to War": Biden Steps Up Afghanistan Pullout, Haiti Arrests Colombian Ex-Soldiers and Two U.S. Citizens for Assassination of President Moïse, Africa Suffers Worst Week Since Start of COVID-19 Pandemic , White House Coronavirus Task Force Warns of Surging Cases in Low-Vaccination Areas , Pfizer Tweaking Vaccine to Target Delta Coronavirus Variant, Will Seek Authorization for Third Shot, Texas GOP Unveils Sweeping Voter Suppression Measures in Special Legislative Session, 15 States Drop Case Against Purdue Pharma's Bankruptcy Plan in Landmark Opioids Case, White House Vows to Step Up Pressure on Russia After Cyberattacks, Dozens Killed in Factory Fire in Bangladesh, 3 Suspects Arrested in Homophobic Killing That Spurred Massive Protests in Spain, European Lawmakers Suspend Hungary's Funding over Its Attacks on LGBTQ Rights, Israel Continues Demolition of Palestinian Homes in Occupied West Bank, El Salvador Expels Mexican Journalist Daniel Lizárraga Amid Crackdown on Dissent, Pacific Northwest Heat Wave "Impossible Without Human-Caused Climate Change", Gov. Newsom Asks Californians to Reduce Water Use Amid Record Heat and Drought, 14-Year-Old Zaila Avant-garde Is the First African American Scripps Spelling Bee Champion
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Jul 08, 2021
We look at growing opposition to the Palestinian Authority after the killing of a prominent activist, Nizar Banat, a vocal critic of the ruling body who died in PA custody after security forces violently arrested him at his home. Banat's killing has sparked protests calling for President Mahmoud Abbas to step down. "The Palestinian Authority now is acting like a police state without the state," says Palestinian writer Mariam Barghouti. "The Palestinian Authority has often collaborated with Israel at the expense of Palestinians."
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Jul 08, 2021
Taliban fighters are escalating their offensive across much of Afghanistan, attacking major cities and seizing more territory as the U.S. military withdrawal from the country nears completion after nearly 20 years of war. The Taliban now reportedly control a third of all 421 districts and district centers in Afghanistan. Taliban representatives met with the Afghan government in Iran for high-level peace talks and said in a joint statement that "war is not the solution" to the country's problems. We go to Kabul to speak with reporter Ali Latifi, who says Afghan security forces are arming local groups across the country to oppose the Taliban. "They're really putting a lot of weight behind these uprising movements," says Latifi. "It's really a big gamble at this moment." We also speak with Sima Samar, longtime Afghan women's and human rights defender who previously served as the country's minister of women's affairs, who says the U.S. should have waited until a firm ceasefire was in place between warring factions before removing troops. "The withdrawal was not in the right time," she says. "Afghanistan should not be abandoned."
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Jul 08, 2021
The interim prime minister of Haiti has declared a state of siege and imposed martial law following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, who died in an armed attack on his home. The first lady of Haiti was injured in the attack and airlifted to a hospital in Miami, where she is reportedly in stable but critical condition. Haitian authorities say police have killed four suspects and detained two others, but the individuals have not been identified. No evidence linking them to the assassination has been made public. It is unclear who is now in charge of Haiti, which was already facing a political, security and economic crisis prior to the assassination of the president. Haitians are "in mourning," whether they supported Moïse or not, says Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. "Today the streets of Haiti are empty because people are trying to make sense of what just happened." She calls on the Biden administration to stop deporting Haitians and to allow more people who fled to the U.S. to apply for temporary protected status.
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Jul 08, 2021
Haiti Declares "State of Siege" After Assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Japan Declares Virus Emergency Through Tokyo Olympics as Global COVID-19 Deaths Pass 4 Million, North America Recorded Hottest June on Record Amid Worsening Climate Crisis, Line 3 Pipeline Foes Say Enbridge Spilled Drilling Chemicals in Minnesota River, U.S. Soldiers and Diplomats Come Under Fire in Iraq and Syria, Human Rights Commission Calls for Demilitarization of Colombia's Police, Unhoused Atlanta Residents Form Union, Occupy City Hall Pressing Demands , Dozens of States Sue Google for Creating App Store Monopoly , Trump Sues Big Tech CEOs; D.C. Court Suspends Giuliani's Law License, Surfside Search-and-Rescue Mission Ends With Dozens Still Missing, Darnella Frazier's Uncle Killed by Officer Pursuing Suspect in High-Speed Chase , NY Governor Declares Gun Violence Emergency, U.S. Says Assange Would Be Kept Out of Supermax Prison as U.K. Court Reopens Door to Extradition
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Jul 07, 2021
After months of controversy, acclaimed journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has announced that she will join the faculty at Howard University, one of the country's most prestigious historically Black universities, instead of joining the faculty at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she went to graduate school. The decision by Hannah-Jones comes after her tenure was initially denied by the UNC board of trustees in May, when it was unanimously approved by the faculty. The board typically rubber-stamps tenure for professors who have won such approval from their peers, and it reversed the decision after protests from alumni, faculty and students. Hannah-Jones has been a target of right-wing vitriol since she spearheaded the award-winning 1619 Project for The New York Times, which sought to reevaluate the role of slavery in the founding of the United States. Joe Killian, investigative reporter for NC Policy Watch whom Nikole Hannah-Jones credits with breaking the story about the "discrimination I faced in the UNC tenure debacle," says the tenure fight is a "microcosm" of the wider ideological divisions in the United States. He notes that the Chapel Hill board of trustees is filled with political appointees whose interests do not align with those of the student body. "The board at Chapel Hill is stacked with white men, stacked with people who are conservative, and it doesn't look anything like the university itself," Killian says.
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Jul 07, 2021
After months of controversy, acclaimed journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has announced that she will join the faculty at Howard University, one of the country's most prestigious historically Black universities, instead of joining the faculty at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she went to graduate school. The decision by Hannah-Jones comes after her tenure was initially denied by the UNC board of trustees in May, when it was unanimously approved by the faculty. The board typically rubber-stamps tenure for professors who have won such approval from their peers, and it reversed the decision after protests from alumni, faculty and students. Hannah-Jones has been a target of right-wing vitriol since she spearheaded the award-winning 1619 Project for The New York Times, which sought to reevaluate the role of slavery in the founding of the United States. Joe Killian, investigative reporter for NC Policy Watch whom Nikole Hannah-Jones credits with breaking the story about the "discrimination I faced in the UNC tenure debacle," says the tenure fight is a "microcosm" of the wider ideological divisions in the United States. He notes that the Chapel Hill board of trustees is filled with political appointees whose interests do not align with those of the student body. "The board at Chapel Hill is stacked with white men, stacked with people who are conservative, and it doesn't look anything like the university itself," Killian says.
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Jul 07, 2021
The next mayor of New York City will likely be the Brooklyn borough president and former police officer Eric Adams, according to a newly released tally in the Democratic primary race which accounts for most absentee ballots. Adams would be the city's second Black mayor and ran to the right of his party, promising to tackle crime. Democracy Now! co-host Juan González has covered Adams for three decades and says Adams captured the votes of people concerned about an increase in gun violence and crime, which González suspects stems from police "standing down" in response to the movement to defund them.
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Jul 07, 2021
Haiti is reeling from a new crisis after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his home in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince early Wednesday. In a statement, Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph said "a group of unidentified individuals" attacked the private residence of the president, killing him and injuring the first lady. Moïse, who had led Haiti since 2017, was accused of orchestrating a coup to stay in power beyond February 7, when his term officially ended. For months Haitians have staged large protests against Moïse demanding he leave office, but Moïse clung to power with support from the Biden administration, which backed his claims that his term should end next year. Dahoud Andre, a longtime Haitian community activist and member of the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti, says rumors are flying about who could be behind the killing. "As of now, we have no clue where this assassination came from," Andre says, adding that "the Haitian people loathed Jovenel Moïse" and describing him as a "tool" of the United States. We also speak with Kim Ives, editor of Haiti Liberté, who says the assailants appear to have been well resourced in their attack. "Clearly this was a fairly sophisticated operation," Ives says.
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Jul 07, 2021
Haitian President Jovenel Moïse Assassinated, Eric Adams Set to Become New York City's Next Mayor After Clinching Primary, Nikole Hannah-Jones Rejects Tenure at UNC, Heads to Howard University with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Biden Admin Extends Temporary Protected Status for Yemenis, Pentagon Cancels $10 Billion Cloud Computing Contract with Microsoft, White House Quietly Hosts Brother of Mohammed bin Salman, Lebanon on Brink of Economic Collapse as People Face Hunger, Poverty and Political Uncertainty, Far-Right Israeli Gov't Fails to Renew Apartheid "Citizenship Law", Iran Hosts Intra-Afghan Talks Amid Taliban Advances, U.S. Withdrawal, 84-Year-Old Indian Priest and Activist Dies in Police Custody, Indigenous Land Defender Assassinated in Chiapas, Colombian Special Tribunal Accuses Soldiers of Killing 120 Civilians as Part of Drugs War, 140 Children Taken by Gunmen as Nigeria's Kidnapping Crisis Mounts, Dutch Reporter Peter R. de Vries in Critical Condition After Being Shot on the Street, EU Bans Common Single-Use Consumer Plastics, Heat Wave May Have Killed 1 Billion Shellfish, Other Sea Creatures on Canadian Coast
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Jul 06, 2021
An international human rights commission has arrived in Colombia to investigate the right-wing government's brutal crackdown on protesters after a general strike was called in April. More than 80 people have died since the protests began, with many killed by police and paramilitary forces. We go to Bogotá to speak with Mario Murillo, an award-winning journalist and professor who has closely reported on Colombia for decades and says the current round of violence is "a continuation" of a right-wing backlash to the 2016 peace accords between the government and FARC guerrillas, which ended more than 50 years of conflict. Murillo says right-wing forces have worked since the signing of that agreement "to completely derail that peace process" and crush social movements.
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Jul 06, 2021
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna, the chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, has announced plans to ask the CEOs of Exxon and other fossil fuel companies to testify before the committee about their role in blocking congressional action to address the climate emergency. Khanna made the request after Greenpeace UK released a video of two lobbyists discussing Exxon's secretive efforts to fight climate initiatives in Washington, revealing how the oil giant supported a carbon tax to appear proactive about climate change while privately acknowledging that such a tax has no chance of being passed. We feature the complete video and speak to one of the activists involved with it. "The reality is that almost nothing has changed in the Exxon playbook," says Charlie Kronick, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace UK. "This has been going on for decades."
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Jul 06, 2021
A former U.S.-trained Honduran military officer and businessman has been found guilty of plotting the assassination of Berta Cáceres, the award-winning Lenca land and water defender killed in 2016. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled unanimously that David Castillo, the former president of the hydroelectric corporation DESA, was a co-perpetrator in Cáceres's murder. Cáceres was assassinated as she led the fight against the construction of DESA's massive hydroelectric dam on a river in southwestern Honduras that is sacred to the Lenca people. Seven hired hitmen were convicted of her murder in 2018 and sentenced in 2019. Castillo's conviction this week comes just days after Honduras marked the 12th anniversary of the 2009 U.S.-backed coup. "This is the first time in 12 years that we have seen any kind of justice in Honduras," says Honduran scholar Suyapa Portillo Villeda, an associate professor at Pitzer College and the author of "Roots of Resistance: A Story of Gender, Race, and Labor on the North Coast of Honduras."
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Jul 06, 2021
WHO Warns Against Dropping Public Health Measures as Delta Coronavirus Variant Spreads , President Biden Says Getting Vaccinated Is "Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do", U.N. Says 400,000 in Ethiopia's Tigray Region Are in Famine, with 1.8 Million on the Brink, U.S.-Trained Honduran Ex-Military Officer Found Guilty of Participating in Murder of Berta Cáceres, Tropical Storm Elsa Makes History as Worsening Climate Crisis Bakes Northern Hemisphere, "Eye of Fire" Erupts from Ruptured Pipeline Near Gulf of Mexico Oil Platform, Black Community in Memphis Defeats Oil Pipeline That Threatened Water Supply, Jessica Reznicek Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Eco-Sabotage on Dakota Access Pipeline, Israel Bombs Gaza Strip as Palestinians Launch Incendiary Balloons, Mapuche Leader Elisa Loncón to Lead Rewrite of Chile's Pinochet-Era Constitution, Eswatini Protesters Killed, Tortured Amid Demands for End to Absolute Monarchy, Surfside Condo Disaster Death Toll Rises to 28, with 117 Still Missing, 11 Heavily Armed Men with "Rise of the Moors" Militia Group Arrested in Massachusetts, Track Star Sha'Carri Richardson Suspended Ahead of Olympics over Positive Marijuana Test, Native Hawaiian Activist Haunani-Kay Trask, Who Opposed U.S. Imperialism, Dies at 71
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Jul 05, 2021
As gun violence soars in the United States, we look at the Second Amendment and its racist roots with Carol Anderson, author of the new book, "The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America." In the book, Anderson details how the Second Amendment was written to empower local militia groups to put down slave revolts and protect plantation owners. She writes the Second Amendment is "rooted in fear of Black people, to deny them their rights, to keep them from tasting liberty." Carol Anderson joined us from Atlanta, where she is a professor at Emory University. She is also the author of "One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy" and "White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide."
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Jul 05, 2021
Amanda Gorman became the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history when she spoke at the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. She was 22 years old when she read "The Hill We Climb," a poem she finished right after the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. We continue our July Fourth special broadcast with Gorman's remarkable address.
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Jul 05, 2021
We begin our July Fourth special broadcast with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" He was addressing the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. James Earl Jones reads the historic address during a performance of "Voices of a People's History of the United States," which was co-edited by Howard Zinn. The late great historian introduces the address.
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Jul 02, 2021
Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has announced she is deploying 50 members of the South Dakota National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border at the request of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. In an extraordinary twist, the deployment is being paid for by billionaire Republican megadonor Willis Johnson, who lives in Tennessee. Critics say Noem is turning the National Guard into a private mercenary force targeting migrants, but the governor's plans for the National Guard could encompass other activities. Water protector and land back attorney Bruce Ellison has obtained documents that indicate the same force could be deployed to suppress Indigenous activists resisting pipelines — including through "lethal force," Ellison says. We also speak to Tara Houska, Indigenous lawyer, activist and founder of the Giniw Collective, who adds the Department of Homeland Security has also been involved in suppressing resistance to construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline in northern Minnesota.
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Jul 02, 2021
Resistance to construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline continues in northern Minnesota, where more than a dozen water protectors this week locked themselves to construction vehicles at two worksites, and to the pipeline itself. Just last month, 179 people were arrested when thousands shut down an Enbridge pumping station for two days as part of the Treaty People Gathering. If completed, Line 3 would carry more than 750,000 barrels of Canadian tar sands oil a day across Indigenous land and fragile ecosystems. The pipeline has the backing of the Biden administration, and this week Indigenous leaders and climate justice activists blockaded access to the White House, calling on Biden to stop fossil fuel projects and invest in climate justice initiatives in his infrastructure plans. Indigenous lawyer and activist Tara Houska, founder of the Giniw Collective, describes the resistance to Line 3 as an "all-out ground fight" led by young people. "This, to me, is an extension of the fight that's happening all over Mother Earth, protecting the last beautiful places, protecting the sacred," Houska says.
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Jul 02, 2021
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has charged former President Donald Trump's family business with operating a 15-year tax fraud scheme, accusing the Trump Organization of helping executives evade taxes by giving them compensation off the books. Allen Weisselberg, the company's chief financial officer, who has worked with Trump for decades, was also charged with grand larceny for avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that he did not report as income. Weisselberg surrendered Thursday and pleaded not guilty, and he could face up to a decade in prison if convicted. Legal experts suggest prosecutors targeted Weisselberg with the hope he will flip and help investigators in other ongoing probes into the former president's company. "Donald Trump, while not named in the indictment, is all over the document in terms of actions he had to take," says David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who has followed Donald Trump and his finances for more than 30 years. "Donald Trump and the people around him believe that they shouldn't be subject to the law."
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Jul 02, 2021
In a pair of major rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court has gutted more of the Voting Rights Act while making it easier for billionaires to secretly bankroll political campaigns. In a 6-3 vote, the conservative justices upheld two Arizona election laws that have been widely criticized for their impact on minority voters, sending a signal that other voting restrictions in Republican-led states are also likely to be ruled constitutional if challenges are brought to the high court. In a separate case, the court's conservative majority struck down a California law that required charities to privately disclose their top donors to the state attorney general, which could open the door to more "dark money" spending in campaigns. Ben Jealous, president of People for the American Way and former president of the NAACP, says the Supreme Court's actions reflect the conservative takeover of the federal judiciary. "They are hijacking our democracy from the top to aid and abet these Republican governors who have sought to hijack it from the bottom," he says.
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Jul 02, 2021
Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Voter Suppression Law in Latest Blow to Voting Rights Act, Supreme Court Strikes Down California Donor Law in Major Win for Dark Money Groups, Trump Organization Charged with Criminal Tax Fraud, CFO Charged with Grand Larceny, WHO Warns Delta Coronavirus Variant Driving Massive Third Wave Across Africa, Venezuela Begins Administering Cuban-Made Abdala COVID-19 Vaccine, Extreme Heat Wave Scorches Canada, Nearly Wiping Out Canadian Town of Lytton, Pelosi Appoints Republican Liz Cheney to Select Committee to Probe Capitol Insurrection, Attorney General Merrick Garland Halts Federal Executions, U.S. Troops Withdraw from Bagram Airbase as Afghanistan's Future Hangs in the Balance, 10 Sentenced for Child Trafficking in Ivory Coast Cocoa Industry as Corporations Go Unpunished, Turkish Women Condemn Government Withdrawal from Treaty on Gender-Based Violence, NFL Slaps Washington Football Team with $10 Million Fine for Systemic Sexual Harassment, Boy Scouts of America Reach $850 Million Settlement with Survivors of Sexual Abuse, "No Pride in Genocide": Protests and Vigils Eschew Canada Day Celebrations
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Jul 01, 2021
The Ethiopian military has withdrawn its forces from Mekelle, the capital of the war-torn Tigray region, after the government declared a ceasefire. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed denied reports his military was defeated by Tigrayan forces, and said he had successfully pacified the city. Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, launched the offensive against Tigray separatists in November. Since then, thousands have been killed, over a million civilians have been displaced, and some 350,000 people are now on the brink of famine. Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, a constitutional law scholar, political theorist and conflict analyst, says Prime Minister Ahmed's "unilateral" ceasefire hides the reality of what happened. "He was defeated," he says. We also speak with Stanley Chitekwe, chief of nutrition at UNICEF Ethiopia, who says the organization is seeing "very high levels of malnutrition" in Tigray, including among children under 5. "This malnutrition situation may deteriorate into famine," he warns.
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Jul 01, 2021
After the Biden administration launched airstrikes targeting an Iranian-backed militia in Syria and Iraq, military historian Andrew Bacevich says the United States needs to reassess its decades-long hostility toward Iran. "The demonization of Iran is now a well-established reality of our contemporary politics. It's a mistake," he says. "Over the past 40 years or so, we've decided that Iran needs to be classified as an evil power, and I think that that inclination makes it very difficult for us to come to a reasoned understanding of how we got so deeply enmeshed in the Persian Gulf and how it is that we end up basically in the pocket of the Saudis." Bacevich also discusses the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and warns that a Taliban takeover of the country could spark another refugee crisis.
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Jul 01, 2021
Donald Rumsfeld, considered the chief architect of the Iraq War, has died at the age of 88. As defense secretary for both Presidents George W. Bush and Gerald Ford, Rumsfeld presided, his critics say, over systemic torture, massacres of civilians and illegal wars. We look at Rumsfeld's legacy with retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich, whose son was killed in Iraq. Bacevich is the president of the antiwar think tank the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He says the Iraq War should be the most important item inscribed on Rumsfeld's headstone. "He was a disaster," Bacevich says. "He was a catastrophically bad and failed defense secretary who radically misinterpreted the necessary response to 9/11, and therefore caused almost immeasurable damage to our country, to Iraq, to the Persian Gulf, more broadly."
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Jul 01, 2021
Trump Organization CFO Surrenders After Grand Jury Indictment, Bill Cosby Released from Jail After Court Overturns Sexual Assault Conviction on Technicality, Hundreds Feared Dead in Pacific Northwest in Unprecedented Heat Wave, Indigenous Groups Blockade White House Urging End to Fossil Fuel Projects, ExxonMobil Lobbyist Tricked into Disclosing How Firm Fights Climate Initiatives, Death Toll in Miami Beach Building Collapse Reaches 18; 145 Still Missing, Highly Contagious Delta COVID Variant Drives Cases, from Bangladesh to Russia, Brazilians Call for Bolsonaro Impeachment as COVD Death Toll Tops 500K, Iraq War & Torture Architect Donald Rumsfeld, 88, Dies, Just Two Republicans Back House Plan to Establish Jan. 6 Select Committee, Billionaire Funds Deployment of South Dakota National Guard to U.S.-Mexico Border, Amazon Seeks to Force New FTC Chair to Recuse Herself over Past Amazon Criticism, China Marks 100th Anniversary of Chinese Communist Party, U.S. & Japan Held Secret War Games & Military Exercises Targeting China, U.N. Sec.-Gen. Guterres Urges U.S. to Lift Sanctions on Iran, 182 More Unmarked Graves Found at First Nations Residential Schools in Canada, Report: Palestinian Authority Asks Israel for Munitions to Quell West Bank Protests, State Department to Allow "X" Gender Marker on Passports, Absentee Ballots Will Decide NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary, UNC-Chapel Hill Board Votes to Give Tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones
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Jun 30, 2021
As the death toll from the 13-story apartment building collapse in Florida rises to 12, with nearly 150 people still missing, we examine how the disaster raises new questions about how rising sea levels will impact oceanside buildings in Miami and other cities. "The reason this is so important is that either this is something unique to the building or this is a general problem that all the condos along the coasts of the world are going to have to deal with," says Harold Wanless, a professor in geography and urban sustainability at the University of Miami who leads a project called The Invading Sea, a collaborative effort by news organizations across Florida to address the threat of sea level rise.
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Jun 30, 2021
House lawmakers are set to vote to create a select committee that will investigate the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, while Republican leaders still aren't saying whether they will participate in the panel. Congressmember Nikema Williams of Georgia says it's vital to properly investigate the January 6 insurrection. "I experienced this attack on the Capitol my third day of being a member of Congress, having just been sworn in," Williams says. "I signed up to serve the people, but I never imagined that I would be unsafe as a member of Congress." Williams also discusses ongoing negotiations about infrastructure spending and the push to pass a sweeping voting rights bill.
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Jun 30, 2021
After President Biden signed legislation this month to create a federal holiday commemorating June 19 as Juneteenth, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Georgia Congressmember Nikema Williams reintroduced what is being called the "Abolition Amendment" to amend the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which banned slavery and involuntary servitude "except as a punishment for crime" — a clause that has allowed the widespread use of forced prison labor. "Eliminating the loophole … is one way to continue moving forward with addressing the problems of our past and building for the future," says Democratic Congressmember Nikema Williams. "American prisons are run by incarcerated labor," adds Jorge Renaud, national criminal justice director for LatinoJustice, who experienced forced labor while serving 27 years in a Texas prison.
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Jun 30, 2021
As the U.S. marks 50 years since President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs on June 17, 1971, we speak with journalist Maya Schenwar, editor-in-chief of the news website Truthout, whose sister Keeley died of a drug overdose in February 2020 at the age of 29. Schenwar says her sister's death came after "a long cycle of criminalization" that made her chances of recovery much harder. "She became so afraid of being rearrested," says Schenwar, who notes that many drug users avoid seeking medical help because of the fear of police involvement and incarceration. "Why are we supporting criminalization at the expense of people's actual survival?" she asks. Drug overdoses have soared during the pandemic, causing over 92,000 deaths in the United States in the 12-month period ending in November — the most since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began keeping track over two decades ago. Experts say the pandemic and the increasing availability of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have contributed to the death toll.
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Jun 30, 2021
Israeli Forces Begin Demolitions in East Jerusalem's Silwan, Attack Protesters, U.S. Military May Be Near End of Afghan Withdrawal as Top General Warns of Possible Civil War, Russia Tests Missiles in Crimea After Start of Ukraine-NATO's Black Sea Military Drill, Israel's Foreign Minister Inaugurates Embassy in UAE, Former South African President Jacob Zuma Sentenced to Prison for Contempt of Court, COVID Surge Brings Indonesia to "Edge of Catastrophe"; Virus Lowered Brazil's Life Expectancy, Vaccinated Angelenos Urged to Keep Masking Amid Delta Variant Spread; 800 Line 3 Workers Got COVID, Pfizer & Moderna Vaccines Could Offer Years of Protection; SCOTUS Allows Eviction Moratorium to Stand, NYC Board of Elections Posts, Then Retracts, Updated Tally in Mayor's Race After Counting Error, Maricopa County Will Replace Voting Machines Handled by GOP-Hired Firm in 2020 Election Audit, House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues from the Capitol, Rep. Cori Bush Introduces Bill to End Police Response in Mental Health and Substance Use Crises, NYT: Far-Right Spies Infiltrated Democratic Groups During 2020 Elections, SCOTUS Rules Asylum Seekers Who Were Once Deported Can Be Denied Bond, Locked Up Indefinitely, Immigrant Prisoners in New Jersey Attacked by Guards, Moved to Undisclosed Location, Dozens of Deaths in Canada Linked to Searing Heat Wave, Climate Activists Demand Congress End Fossil Fuel Subsidies
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Jun 29, 2021
Migrant children held by the Biden administration are reporting suicide and escape attempts and conditions of spoiled food, extreme heat and panic attacks in the largest so-called emergency shelter for migrant children in the U.S., at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. More than 14,000 migrant children are currently in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which has set up 15 emergency sites like the one at Fort Bliss to get them out of overcrowded Border Patrol holding facilities. Vice President Kamala Harris did not visit the Fort Bliss tent city on her recent visit to the southern border, and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was met with protests when he toured the facility Monday. "We have seen so many instances of potential abuse inside that specific detention center," says Fernando García, founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, who met with Harris during her visit. "Instead of investing in jails," he says the administration should take a more humane approach and "build welcoming centers to expedite family reunification."
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Jun 29, 2021
Criticism is growing of recent U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, which the Biden administration says targeted Iran-backed militias. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi condemned the attack as a "blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security." The U.S. airstrikes come as the Biden administration is holding indirect talks with Iran about reviving the Iranian nuclear deal. Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, says the U.S. needs to end its "constant tit-for-tat" with Iran across the Middle East. "By failing to pivot away from that and instead bombing targets inside of Iraq, we are giving more fuel to this conflict," he says.
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Jun 29, 2021
As western states battle record-breaking heat waves, climate activists are calling on the Biden administration and congressional Democrats to pass an infrastructure bill that includes major investments in green energy, including a fully funded Civilian Climate Corps. President Biden says he reached a bipartisan deal with senators on a slimmed-down infrastructure spending bill, but Democrats hope to pass a second, larger infrastructure package with a budget reconciliation process that would not require any Republican votes. The bipartisan deal is "completely unacceptable" on its own, says New York Democratic Congressmember Jamal Bowman. "If we want to maintain control and the opportunity to do great work in 2022, it's time for Democrats to deliver in this moment.'' We also speak with David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, who explains why the bipartisan infrastructure bill has been described as a "stalking horse" for privatization, and notes record heat and crumbling infrastructure are "screaming for a change in priorities in America because of the climate crisis."
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Jun 29, 2021
Pacific Northwest's Stifling Heat Breaks All-Time Records for Second Straight Day, Moscow Storms Break Russia's Record-Setting June Heat Wave, Dozens of Youth Climate Activists Arrested at White House Demanding Action on Climate Crisis, "An Overt Political Blockade": Minnesota Police Barricade Line 3 Pipeline Protest Camp, Ethiopia Declares Ceasefire After Separatists Claim Tigray's Capital City , Iranian-Backed Militia Strikes Back After Biden Orders Bombings in Iraq and Syria, Federal Judge Throws Out Antitrust Lawsuits Seeking to Break Up Facebook , Trump Reportedly Asked to Send Coronavirus-Infected Americans to Guantánamo Bay, Death Toll Reaches 11 in Florida Condo Collapse, with 150 Still Missing , Juul Reaches $40 Million Settlement with North Carolina over Teen Nicotine Addiction, SCOTUS Won't Hear Challenge to Ruling Declaring Transgender Student Segregation Unconstitutional, California Bans State-Funded Travel to 17 States with Anti-LGBTQ Laws, Human Rights Court Holds Honduran State Responsible for Killing of Trans Woman Vicky Hernández, Mexican Supreme Court Decriminalizes Adult Use of Marijuana, U.N. Demands End to Impunity for Officers Who Violate Human Rights of Black People , Olympian Gwen Berry Turns Back on U.S. Flag in Protest Against Systemic Racism
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Jun 28, 2021
The Supreme Court has ruled 6 to 3 that a California labor law violated the constitutional rights of property owners by giving union organizers access to workers on privately owned farms during their work breaks. The union-busting decision strikes down a crucial part of a landmark 1975 labor law that was the United States' first to recognize agricultural workers' rights to collective bargaining and grew out of efforts by the United Farm Workers to demand better pay and working conditions for California's agricultural workers. "This ruling is a setback for unions, for workers' rights," says Camila Chávez, executive director of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
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Jun 28, 2021
We speak with legal writer and author Adam Cohen about the growing question of whether liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer should step down so that he can be replaced while there is a Democratic president and Senate. Justice Breyer is 82 and the oldest member of the high court. "If Breyer doesn't step down now, there's a very real chance that Republicans will eventually fill that seat and maybe turn a 6-3 conservative majority, which has already been terrible, into a 7-2 conservative majority," Cohen says.
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Jun 28, 2021
Mike Gravel, former presidential candidate and Democratic U.S. senator from Alaska, has died at the age of 91. We look at how, in the 1970s, Gravel was fiercely opposed to the Vietnam War and the draft and played a seminal role in the release of the Pentagon Papers, the 7,000 pages of top-secret documents outlining the secret history of the U.S. War in Vietnam. While the papers were leaked to The New York Times and The Washington Post, Gravel spearheaded a one-man push on June 29, 1971, to read some 4,100 pages of the document into the Congressional Record, so that it would become public record and then anyone could read it and publish it. We feature an extended speech by Gravel in 2007 describing in detail how he received the Pentagon Papers from journalist Ben Bagdikian, who in turn had gotten them from Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. Gravel told the extended story during an event moderated by Amy Goodman at the 2007 Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly.
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Jun 28, 2021
One of the main witnesses in Julian Assange's extradition case has admitted he made false claims against Assange in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a bombshell revelation that could have a major impact on the WikiLeaks founder's fate. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if brought to the U.S., where he was indicted for violations of the Espionage Act related to the publication of classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes. According to a new article in the Icelandic newspaper Stundin, the convicted hacker Sigurdur "Siggi" Thordarson falsely claimed he was a prominent WikiLeaks representative instructed by Assange to carry out hacking attacks, but he was in fact only tangentially involved with the organization. The article suggests the U.S. Justice Department collaborated with Thordarson to generate the indictment for Assange that was submitted to the British courts. "This is just the latest revelation to demonstrate why the U.S. case should be dropped," says Jennifer Robinson, a human rights attorney who has been advising Assange and WikiLeaks since 2010. "The factual basis for this case has completely fallen apart."
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Jun 28, 2021
Iraq Condemns Violation of Sovereignty After U.S. Launches Airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, Judge Sentences Ex-Cop Derek Chauvin to 22.5 Years in Prison for Murdering George Floyd, WHO Urges Vaccinated People to Keep Taking COVID Precautions as Delta Variant Spreads Across Globe, Bangladesh, Australia, South Africa Among Nations Ordering New Restrictions Amid Surge in Cases, Biden Says U.S. Will Continue to Support Afghan Gov't After Withdrawal as Taliban Takes New Territory, 9 Dead, 150 Missing in Miami Condo Collapse as 2018 Report Shows Building Was Vulnerable, VP Kamala Harris Visits El Paso on U.S.-Mexico Border, Thousands of Cook County Workers Strike for Better Pay and Affordable Healthcare, Justice Department Sues Georgia over Voter Suppression Law, Manhattan District Attorney Set to File Criminal Charges Against Trump Organization, Trump Sought to Use Insurrection Act to Crush Black Lives Matter Protests in 2020, Millions Worldwide Celebrate LGBTQ Pride, Defying Police Harassment, Johnson & Johnson Reaches $230 Million Settlement with New York over Role in Opioid Epidemic, Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, Who Read Pentagon Papers into Congressional Record, Dies at 91
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Jun 25, 2021
The parents of a student killed in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School duped a former president of the National Rifle Association into giving a high school graduation speech defending gun rights in front of 3,044 empty white chairs — one chair for each student who could not graduate this year because they were killed by gun violence. David Keene, who still serves on the NRA board, thought he was giving a rehearsal speech for graduating students at the James Madison Academy in Las Vegas, but no such school exists. Video of the speech was turned into a viral video promoting universal background checks. The stunt was organized by the group Change the Ref, which was founded by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son Joaquin was shot dead in the Parkland, Florida, massacre. Manuel Oliver says the video has led to an outpouring of support from across the U.S. "We need to do these more often, because it shows that the NRA, the gun industry and the gun lobby are not as powerful as they say," he says.
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Jun 25, 2021
The Taliban have continued seizing districts in Afghanistan ahead of the U.S. military pullout set for September 11, now holding twice as much territory as they did two months ago. According to a Wall Street Journal report, U.S. intelligence agencies believe the government of Afghanistan could collapse within six months of the U.S. withdrawal. The Biden administration is reportedly planning to keep 650 troops in Afghanistan after the September 11 deadline, and the U.S. is also looking for nearby military bases for future aerial bombings and other operations. Afghan American scholar Zaher Wahab says Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is meeting with President Joe Biden this week, is "terribly isolated, out of touch and without much support" as the government continues to lose ground. "The situation in Afghanistan seems to be unraveling rather fast," says Wahab.
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Jun 25, 2021
An Ethiopian military bombing of a marketplace in the Tigray region killed at least 64 people in one of the deadliest attacks since government forces invaded the region last November. The bombing came just a day after Ethiopians voted in national and regional elections, but polls could not open in some areas due to ongoing fighting. The country is still waiting for results that will determine if the ruling coalition, led by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, stays in power. Thousands of people have been killed, and an estimated 2 million people have been displaced, since Ahmed ordered the Ethiopian military to invade Tigray, which is home to Ethiopia's former governing party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front. The invasion has led to massive food shortages, with aid groups warning 350,000 people in Tigray are on the brink of famine. "Both the famine and the bombing are not separate things from what has been happening in Tigray for the last eight months," says Ethiopian journalist Tsedale Lemma, who says what was cast as a minor "enforcement" action has "morphed into a civil war" with no clear resolution. "The war is not ending. There is no end in sight," says Lemma.
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Jun 25, 2021
Biden and Senators Reach Compromise Infrastructure Bill That Excludes Climate and Jobs Programs, Biden Administration Backs Permits for Enbridge Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline, Climate Crisis Driving Record-High Temperatures in Pacific Northwest, Federal Fire Agency Warns Historic Drought Is Increasing Demand for Firefighters, "Half-Measures and Broken Promises": European Parliament Commits to Climate Neutrality by 2050, Climate Crisis Pushes 1 Million People in Madagascar to "Edge of Starvation", 751 Unmarked Graves Found at Former Residential School for Indigenous Children in Saskatchewan, U.S. Bans Solar Panel Parts Produced in Xinjiang by Forced Labor, At Least Four Dead, Dozens Missing After Miami-Area Apartment Building Collapses, Pelosi Announces Select Committee to Investigate U.S. Capitol Insurrection, Michigan Senate Report Discredits Trump and GOP Voter Fraud Claims, New York Court Suspends Rudy Giuliani's Law License over 2020 Election Lies, Judge to Deliver Derek Chauvin's Sentence for Murder of George Floyd, Pandemic Exacerbating Vulnerability of Children in Conflict, West Bank Protesters Condemn Palestinian Authority After Death of Prominent Critic Nizar Banat
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Jun 24, 2021
Pressure is growing on Democrats to abolish the Senate filibuster in order to pass a major voting rights bill and other legislation. Republicans this week used the filibuster to prevent debate on the For the People Act, which would restore the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court eight years ago. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who is a lead sponsor of the For the People Act and self-described "Chief Filibuster Antagonist," says Republicans have broken the Senate's "social contract" of bipartisan cooperation in favor of total obstruction of all Democratic priorities. "The majority makes the decision, not the minority," he adds. Meanwhile, as much of the Pacific Northwest faces record-shattering temperatures, 30 degrees or more above average, including Merkley's home state of Oregon, lawmakers in Washington continue to negotiate over an infrastructure bill Democrats say needs to include major new funding to address the climate crisis. Merkley explains why he said, "If there's no climate, there's no deal."
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Jun 24, 2021
Ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, immigrant rights activists marched on the White House to call on the Biden administration to stop detaining trans asylum seekers, who often face severe abuse, discrimination and medical neglect in custody. Their actions included a service honoring and mourning the deaths of several trans people who died due to ICE negligence. Eight immigrant rights groups also sent a letter to the White House demanding the release of all transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS from immigrant detention centers. Jennicet Gutiérrez, a community organizer and advocate with Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, says transgender immigrants often face "tremendous challenges" that force them to seek asylum in the U.S. "Many are rejected from their homes. They're not supported and held with everything that they deserve. And they have no choice but to be out on the streets, trying to survive," Gutiérrez says.
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Jun 24, 2021
President Joe Biden has vowed to crack down on illegal gun dealers and to boost funding for police departments as part of an effort to combat a spike in gun violence across the country. Rejecting calls by activists to defund the police, Biden said cities could expand their police forces by diverting federal money allocated for the pandemic. He also pledged to strengthen enforcement of existing gun laws. The rise in gun violence can be traced back to "a lack of resources" in many communities, says Erica Ford, a longtime anti-violence activist in New York City and CEO and founder of LIFE Camp, Inc. "There's no job opportunities. There's no education opportunities," Ford says. "These preconditions that we face in our community help the disease of violence rise to a level that is unaddressable at the time because we don't have the tools and resources to address them."
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Jun 24, 2021
White House to Crack Down on Illegal Gun Dealers and Increase Police Funding, Revs. Jesse Jackson and William Barber Arrested at Nonviolent Protest Against Senate Filibuster, CDC Links COVID-19 Vaccines to Rare Cases of Myocarditis But Says Benefits Far Outweigh Risks, Supreme Court Rules Cheerleader's Profane Social Media Post Was Protected Speech, SCOTUS Cuts Off Union Organizers' Access to Farm Workers in Major Defeat for Organized Labor, ICE Force-Fed Immigrant Prisoners Who Went on Hunger Strike Against Poor Conditions, U.N. General Assembly Votes Overwhelmingly to Condemn U.S. Embargo on Cuba for 29th Time, Britain Disputes Russia's Claim of Naval Confrontation in Waters Near Russian-Annexed Crimea, Brazil Environment Minister Steps Down; Police Attack Indigenous Activists in Brasília, First Capitol Rioter Sentenced as Nancy Pelosi Set to Announce Cmte to Probe Jan. 6 Insurrection, Top Pentagon Chief Fends Off GOP Attacks over Military Teaching About Historical Racism, Connecticut Legalizes Recreational Marijuana, NY Judge Dismisses New York City Law Banning Chokeholds, Parents of Shooting Victim Trick Ex-NRA Head into Giving Fake Graduation Speech for Gun Control PSA
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Jun 23, 2021
The White House says it will miss its goal of getting 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4. Vaccinations are available for anyone age 12 and up in the U.S., but just 45% of people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, and only 16 states have fully vaccinated more than half of their populations. Epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan says despite more than 150 million people in the U.S. now being vaccinated against the coronavirus, the highly contagious Delta variant is quickly becoming a concern. "Our expectation should be, by July, this will be the dominant variant," he says.
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Jun 23, 2021
As Senate Republicans use the filibuster to block debate on the most sweeping voting rights bill considered by Congress in decades, we look at what is in the bill and the next steps forward. Elizabeth Hira, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program, describes the For the People Act as "a massive democracy reform package" that seeks to address systemic flaws in U.S. elections. "This bill creates a wholesale opportunity for us to fix all of the things that have been wrong in our democracy." We also speak with Reverend William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, who says Republican opposition to the bill exposes their cruelty. "They are committed to keeping alive voter suppression that started with the Southern strategy. They are today's Strom Thurmond," says Barber.
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Jun 23, 2021
We look at the early results from New York's highly anticipated primary election Tuesday. In the heated mayoral race, Brooklyn borough president and former New York police officer Eric Adams is leading, but it will likely take several weeks to announce a winner with the new ranked-choice voting system. Civil rights attorney Maya Wiley is currently in second place, followed closely by former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang has conceded after receiving less than 12% of the tallied vote even after the media covered him as a front-runner. "My sense is that Adams will probably prevail," says Democracy Now! co-host Juan González, who adds it has been largely overlooked that Adams and his billionaire backers are big supporters of charter schools, which could shape the city's public school system.
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Jun 23, 2021
Republicans Block Major Voting Rights Bill as Democrats Vow to Continue Fight, Air Raid in Tigray Kills Dozens, Adding to Conflict-Fueled Devastation, Japan Restarts First Nuclear Reactor in Over 3 Years Amid Widespread Opposition, Rights Groups Sound Alarm as Nicaragua's Gov't Escalates Crackdown on Opposition, Shooting in Mexican Border Town Kills at Least 15 People in Crossfire, At Least 3 Arab Israeli Journalists Have Come Under Attack in Past Month, U.S. Gov't Seizes PressTV.com and Other Websites Linked to Iran, Hong Kong Newspaper Apple Daily Shuts Down Days After Police Raid Newsroom, Arrest Editors, Catalan Separatist Leaders Released After Spanish Pardon, 200 Groups Call for Permanent End to U.S. Global Gag Rule, NYT: Saudi Men Involved in Jamal Khashoggi's Murder Were Trained by U.S. Group, Biden Admin to Reconsider Cases of Rejected Asylum Seekers Subjected to "Remain in Mexico" Plan, Interior Dept. to Probe Impact of Historic Boarding Schools for Native American Children, Nikole Hannah-Jones Will Not Join UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Without Tenure, Eric Adams Leads in NYC Mayoral Race; Socialist India Walton Set to Become Buffalo's 1st Woman Mayor
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Jun 22, 2021
More than a thousand coal miners at Warrior Met Coal are now in the third month of their strike in the right-to-work state of Alabama. The miners walked off the job on April 1 after their union, the United Mine Workers of America, called the first strike to hit the state's coal mining industry in four decades. Workers are fighting for improvements to wages and benefits after they agreed to drastic cutbacks in 2016, when Warrior Met Coal took control of the mines after the previous company went bankrupt. Today a group of striking mine workers traveled from Alabama to Wall Street to protest the investment firms backing Warrior Met. "These are the companies that fund Warrior Met and allow Warrior Met to pay their executives millions of dollars a year, while the miners, the workers themselves who are creating that value, are struggling to get by on sometimes as little as $22 an hour," says labor journalist and organizer Kim Kelly.
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Jun 22, 2021
As lawmakers in Washington continue to negotiate over an infrastructure bill that Democrats say needs to include major new funding to address the climate crisis, much of the U.S. is experiencing record heat, with many western states seeing record temperatures, drought and water shortages. "The climate crisis is here now," says climate and energy researcher Leah Stokes, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "The climate crisis is really happening right now, and every single year we delay on passing a climate bill, the worse the crisis gets."
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