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Jan 24, 2025
The prominent British Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah remains imprisoned in Cairo even after he completed his five-year sentence last September. Fattah came to prominence during the Egyptian revolution as a blogger and political activist, and he has been jailed multiple times by the authoritarian government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for his advocacy. His family and supporters continue to demand his freedom and have pressed the U.K. government to pressure Egypt into releasing him. Fattah's mother Laila Soueif is now on her 117th day on hunger strike, standing on Downing Street for at least an hour every workday until her son is released. Now Australian journalist Peter Greste has launched his own hunger strike to pressure the British government, saying he owes his life to the Egyptian activist, who helped him survive when he was imprisoned in Egypt in 2013. "I quite literally owe Alaa my life," says Greste. "He is the most popular, the most recognized political prisoner in the system, and I think they fear his capacity to mobilize people. They fear his capacity to inspire."
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Jan 24, 2025
As one of his last acts in office, President Joe Biden issued a posthumous pardon for Black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, who influenced Malcolm X and generations of civil rights leaders. Advocates and congressional leaders had pushed for Biden to pardon Garvey for years, with supporters arguing that Garvey's 1923 mail fraud conviction was politically motivated and an effort to silence the popular leader who spoke of racial pride and self-reliance. "This electrified a people around the world that were in the midst of oppression," says Howard University law professor Justin Hansford. Garvey was deported to Jamaica, his birthplace, and died in 1940 in England. Hansford says his story is important to revisit amid Republican attacks on racial justice and Black history, saying the pardon is part of a larger reckoning with U.S. racial injustice. "More of our institutions need to look back and acknowledge the harms of the past," he says.
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Jan 24, 2025
As the Trump administration launches what it touts as the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history, we look at how immigrant communities and advocates are fighting back. The administration already faces some setbacks, including in its attempt to end birthright citizenship, which a federal judge halted Thursday from going into effect because it was "blatantly unconstitutional." Thursday's ruling is the first in what's expected to be a long legal battle against Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. "We're in a moment where there's a ton of fear in the community," says Harold Solis, legal director at Make the Road New York, which has filed its own lawsuit against the government. We also speak with Columbia University historian Mae Ngai, who says the fight over birthright citizenship is part of the long history of restrictionist immigration policies in the country. "What we're seeing this week is shock and awe. It's meant to terrorize," she says. "We have to fight on all levels."
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Jan 24, 2025
Newark Mayor Vows to Fight Back After ICE Raid as Feds Launch Nationwide Deportation Operation, "Blatantly Unconstitutional": U.S. Judge Blocks Trump Order Ending Birthright Citizenship, State Dept. Halts Passport Applications with Gender Nonbinary "X" Sex Marker, Senators Confirm John Ratcliffe as CIA Head and Advance Trump's Energy & Environment Nominees, More Damning Info on Pete Hegseth Surfaces as Senate GOP Poised to Confirm Him as Pentagon Chief, Trump Ultimatum to World Economic Forum: Invest in U.S. or Face Tariffs, Bitcoin Surges After Trump Discusses Cryptocurrency Plans with El Salvador's Bukele, Ongoing Israeli Attacks on West Bank Have Killed 34 Since January 1, Gaza Faces Fresh Hunger Crisis as Israel Readies Ban on U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, Iraq Approves Child Marriages for Girls as Young as 9, ICC Seeks Arrest of Taliban Leaders for Gender-Based Crimes Against Women and Girls, Amazon Closes Warehouses in Quebec and Lays Off 1,700 After Workers Unionize, Serbian Students and Workers Launch General Strike Against Government Corruption, Sackler Family Increases Opioid Settlement Offer with New Conditions, Northwestern Won't Discipline Professor Steven Thrasher over Gaza Protest, Palestinian-Israeli Film "No Other Land" Nominated for Oscar Despite Snubs by U.S. Distributors
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Jan 23, 2025
While a ceasefire is largely holding in Gaza, Israel is intensifying attacks on the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military has killed at least 13 people in a major military operation targeting Jenin that began on Tuesday when Israeli troops raided the city, backed by airstrikes, drones and U.S.-made Apache helicopters, following a six-week siege. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been "emboldened" by Trump's lifting of sanctions on far-right Israeli settler groups. Further violence is increasingly likely, says Mariam Barghouti, a Palestinian writer and journalist based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. "We're seeing Israel wage a war that very much resembles the practices they have committed in Gaza," with Palestinians left "completely defenseless," she says. "It's a very slow slaughter of Palestinians. If you survive a bullet, you don't know if you're going to survive daily life."
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Jan 23, 2025
Former FBI special agent Mike German, whose new book Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within chronicles his experience working undercover in far-right, white nationalist militias and warns of the unchecked danger they pose to American society, responds to Trump's mass pardons of January 6 insurrectionists, many of whom were members of or affiliated with far-right militias. "The pardons definitely send a message both to the far-right militant movement that political violence against Trump's enemies will be rewarded … [and] sends a message to law enforcement that there's no value in investigating and prosecuting far-right violence," says German. He also notes that right-wing extremism has already infiltrated much of U.S. law enforcement, making it harder to root out and guard against political violence.
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Jan 23, 2025
Upon returning to the presidency, Donald Trump has granted presidential pardons to over 1,500 of his supporters involved in the violent January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, including members of far-right, anti-government militias like our guest's father. Guy Wesley Reffitt helped lead the crowd that stormed the Capitol, just weeks after his then-18-year-old son Jackson attempted to warn the FBI about his plans. Jackson Reffitt now believes that Trump's pardons will embolden far-right extremists to commit further political violence, including potential backlash against those close to them. "To completely validate actions like that is going to be explosive," says Jackson Reffitt, who is now estranged from his family and fears for his own safety.
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Jan 23, 2025
In one of his first executive orders after taking office, President Trump ordered the United States to withdraw from the U.N.'s World Health Organization, putting numerous WHO programs at risk, including efforts to tackle tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, says the move is a "grave mistake for American national interests and our national security," as well as "an attack on science, public health and public health institutions." He warns that the U.S. will likely fall behind on public health innovation and disease prevention, putting the country and the world at greater risk to "the next pandemic."
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Jan 23, 2025
Trump Revokes 6-Decades-Old Ban on Discrimination in Federal Contracting, DOJ Freezes Civil Rights Cases, Orders Prosecution of Local Officials Who Resist Deportation Policy, ACLU Sues Trump over Expedited Deportation Policy as Pentagon Sends Another 1,500 Troops to Border, Trump Health EOs Target Drug Costs, ACA Enrollment, Medicaid Recipients and More, OMB Nominee Russ Vought Defends Social Program Cuts, Welfare Work Requirements, Trump Names Failed 2017 Labor Nominee Andrew Puzder as Ambassador to E.U., Palestinians Return to Gaza Neighborhoods Reduced to Rubble by Israel's Bombs, Israeli Troops Surround Hospitals in Jenin, Fire on Medical Workers, U.N. Chief Warns Israeli Leaders Seeking to Fully Annex West Bank, Trump Redesignates Yemen's Houthis as Foreign Terrorist Organization, Thousands Flee M23 Rebels' Advance in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC Files Criminal Complaint Against Apple in Europe over Conflict Minerals in Electronics, Angelenos Warned over Toxic Ashes as Tens of Thousands Evacuate New L.A. Fires, European Regulators Order Dutch Government to Cut Nitrogen Emissions by 2030
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Jan 22, 2025
The Trump administration has begun its crackdown on immigrant communities in the United States, with the Department of Homeland Security announcing Tuesday it will allow federal agents to conduct raids at schools, houses of worship and hospitals, ending a yearslong policy that banned Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting people at these sensitive locations. This comes a day after President Trump signed a series of executive orders that included declaring a "national emergency" at the southern border, launching mass raids and deportations, restricting federal funds from sanctuary cities, and claiming to end birthright citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. For more on the fight for immigrant rights, we speak with immigrant rights activists Ravi Ragbir and Amy Gottlieb and lawyer Alina Das. Ragbir received a last-minute pardon from outgoing President Joe Biden that removed the threat of deportation that he has faced for about two decades. "I feel so light and so free," Ragbir says, vowing to continue his advocacy for other people facing arrest and deportation.
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Jan 22, 2025
Many Silicon Valley companies and their billionaire owners have formed "a symbiotic relationship" with Donald Trump, showering the president and his administration with money and adulation in exchange for friendly policies, according to researcher Becca Lewis. She says that while Silicon Valley has always had reactionary currents, the Biden administration's stricter regulation of the industry led to a decisive break with Democrats, who had previously benefited from Big Tech's cash and influence. "Now you see a wholehearted embrace of Trump with the hopes of deregulation," says Lewis.
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Jan 22, 2025
President Donald Trump's return to the White House comes almost exactly 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Citizens United ruling, which opened the floodgates for corporations and billionaires to pour unlimited money into elections. At Trump's inauguration on Monday, the front row included several of the world's richest and most powerful men, including Tesla's Elon Musk, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai. Their collective net worth is over $1 trillion. For more on money in politics and the legacy of Citizens United, we speak with Brendan Fischer, the deputy executive director at Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project. "Democrats and Republicans have both embraced super PACs and embraced the megadonors that fund them, but Trump is taking this to another level," says Fischer, who notes that about 44% of Trump's election was funded by just 10 megadonors.
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Jan 22, 2025
The Trump administration is facing four lawsuits over the formation of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a new government advisory committee headed by the world's richest man, Elon Musk. One of these lawsuits is being brought by the watchdog organization Public Citizen, which says DOGE fails to comply with laws on the composition and reporting duties of such bodies. "Musk's role in this government is part of a broader convergence of corporate and government power … that doesn't really have a parallel in American history," says Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman, who calls it "profoundly dangerous."
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Jan 22, 2025
On Tuesday, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde gave the sermon at the inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington. Directly addressing President Trump in the front row, she urged him to "have mercy" on immigrants and LGBTQ people targeted by his policies. We play an excerpt from her sermon.
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Jan 22, 2025
Trump Takes Steps to Weaponize Justice Department, Reassigning Key Prosecutors, 22 States Sue to Block Trump's Attempt to End Birthright Citizenship, Trump Administration to Allow ICE Raids at Churches, Hospitals and Schools, Israeli Forces Raid Jenin, Killing 10 Palestinians, Newly Freed Palestinians Describe Torture and Ill-Treatment in Israeli Jails, Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Child in Southern Gaza Despite Ceasefire, Four Injured in Tel Aviv Stabbing Attack, Israeli General Who Led Campaign That Devastated Gaza to Resign over October 7 Failures, Trump's U.N. Ambassador Pick Elise Stefanik Says Israel Has a "Biblical Right" to West Bank, Google Provided AI Tech to Israel Despite Public Pronouncements, Panama's President Rejects Trump's Threats to Retake Panama Canal, Former Sister-in-Law Describes Violent and Threatening Behavior by Pete Hegseth, Leaders of Capitol Insurrection Freed from Prison After Trump's Pardons and Commutations, Costco Union Members Authorize Strike by 18,000 Workers at 56 Warehouses
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Jan 21, 2025
Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier is coming home after nearly half a century behind bars. Just minutes before leaving office, former President Joe Biden granted Peltier clemency and ordered his release from prison to serve the remainder of his life sentence in home confinement. In a statement, Peltier said, "It's finally over — I'm going home. I want to show the world I'm a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me." Biden's historic decision came after mounting calls by tribal leaders and supporters, and a community-led campaign that fought for Peltier's freedom for decades. We speak with the NDN Collective's Nick Tilsen, who just visited Leonard Peltier in prison after news of his sentence commutation, about fighting for Peltier's freedom, his health and Trump's executive orders attacking environmental rights and Indigenous sovereignty. "Indigenous people, we're going to be on the frontlines fighting this administration."
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Jan 21, 2025
On his first day back in the White House, Donald Trump moved to roll back protections for transgender people. In his inaugural address, Trump declared the U.S. government's policy is "there are only two genders: male and female." Chase Strangio, co-director of the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBTQ & HIV Project, describes Trump's executive orders aimed at pushing "a slew of policies that just seek to both eradicate trans people from civic and public life and also push trans people out of federal government." "Trans people are bracing themselves for a lot of negative outcomes here, not just symbolic, but really material ones," says Strangio. "I know the community is scared. I know people are confused. And in this chaos, we just have to come together and build all the forms of resistance we know how to."
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Jan 21, 2025
As immigrant communities are bracing for raids and mass deportations promised by Donald Trump, the future for thousands of asylum seekers is also uncertain. As Trump took office, his administration immediately shut down the Biden-era CBP One mobile app, used by Customs and Border Protection to manage asylum requests at ports of entry. Thousands of asylum seekers lost their appointments scheduled for Trump's first day in office, January 20. "People are afraid. Their lives are uncertain, especially those who have children, those who have fled extreme conditions. Now their lives are once again at risk," says Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, who describes how immigrant communities are preparing to resist Trump's agenda. "We stand ready, committed to push back against the policies that are being created to criminalize people of color and people of immigrant backgrounds."
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Jan 21, 2025
During Donald Trump's inaugural address on Monday, he declared a national emergency at the southern border. On the first day back in office, Trump signed a number of executive orders on immigration that seek to end birthright citizenship and use military resources for Trump's border policies. "This is a massive abuse of emergency power," says Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. "These emergency powers are intended to address sudden, unexpected crises … that are moving too quickly for Congress to be able to address. That is not unlawful immigration at the border. It is not sudden or unexpected, and it is something that Congress can and should be addressing through comprehensive immigration reform."
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Jan 21, 2025
During Monday's inauguration, Donald Trump repeated his threat to retake the Panama Canal. The United States controlled the waterway since the early 20th century, but in 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed a landmark treaty to give Panama control of the canal. Democracy Now! co-host Juan González debunks Trump's "grossly false" claims about the canal's history. "The Panama Canal was created at gunpoint by the United States," says Juan González. "The entire myth that Trump has created is entirely false and needs to be challenged."
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Jan 21, 2025
President Donald Trump was sworn in Monday as the nation's 47th president. The inauguration took place inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, the same spot where Trump's supporters staged an insurrection on January 6, 2021, in a violent attempt to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 race. Hours after Monday's inauguration, Trump granted "full, complete and unconditional" presidential pardons for about 1,500 people involved in the January 6 insurrection. He also commuted the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, many of whom had been convicted of seditious conspiracy. "The expansiveness of the pardon, the glee with which the pardon was issued, is striking," says Jeff Sharlet, an expert on the far right, who describes the overtures Trump and his close allies made to white supremacists and antisemites during the first day of Trump's presidency.
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Jan 21, 2025
Tech Billionaires Share Stage as Donald Trump Takes Oath of Office as 47th U.S. President, Trump Declares Emergency at Southern Border, Promising "Millions and Millions" of Deportations, Trump Pardons 1,500 Capitol Rioters Including Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Biden Grants Clemency to Indigenous Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier, Trump Withdraws U.S. from Paris Climate Agreement , Trump Withdraws from WHO, Rolls Back LGBTQ Rights and Puts Cuba Back on Terrorism List, Senate Votes 99-0 to Confirm Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Senate Armed Services Committee Advances Pete Hegseth's Nomination to Lead the Pentagon, Gaza Authorities Say 10,000 Bodies Could Be Uncovered from Rubble After 15 Months of Genocide, Trump Lifts U.S. Sanctions on Far-Right Illegal Israeli Settlers, Threatens to "Develop" Post-War Gaza, Vivek Ramaswamy Departs DOGE to Launch Campaign for Ohio Governor , Elon Musk Appears to Make Nazi "Seig Heil" Gesture Twice During Trump Inauguration, Cecile Richards, 67, Longtime Former President of Planned Parenthood, Dies of Brain Cancer
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Jan 20, 2025
Today is the federal holiday that honors civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929, and was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis at just 39 years old. We play an excerpt from King's last speech, "I Have Been to the Mountaintop," in which he spoke of the ongoing struggle for equal rights that he said would continue even without him. "I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land," King said. He was killed one day later.
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Jan 20, 2025
With the U.S. political establishment gathered in Washington for the second inauguration of Donald Trump, the iconic venue Busboys and Poets on Sunday hosted the Peace Ball, an event held around presidential inaugurations since 2009 and featuring voices of resistance to war, racism, poverty and more. This year's Peace Ball featured author Angela Davis, who spoke of the power of "infinite hope" to fight against injustice. "I want us all to generate the kind of collective hope that will usher us into a better future," said Davis. We air highlights from the event.
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Jan 20, 2025
Ahead of President elect-Donald Trump's second inauguration, thousands of people rallied in Washington, D.C., on Saturday at the People's March to oppose his policies on immigration, abortion, LGBTQ rights, the climate crisis and more. We air voices of resistance from the protest. "All of us deserve to feel like human beings, and all of us deserve to have our rights respected," said Hope Giselle, executive director of the National Trans Visibility March. "Without a democracy, without a true democracy, we all fall to the wayside of corruption and a government that does not see us as human beings, and I refuse to allow that to stand."
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Jan 20, 2025
We continue our coverage of the long-awaited Gaza ceasefire by going to Jerusalem to speak with Israeli activist Gershon Baskin, who has experience negotiating with Hamas, including during this latest conflict. Baskin says while it's heartening to see captives returning home, the ceasefire agreement is "a bad deal" because of how fragile it is. "Hamas would not have agreed to enter into this two- or three-phase deal without having guarantees … that in fact the war would end," says Baskin. "But we don't know that, because Netanyahu has given alternative promises to members of the government that Israel reserves the right to return to war."
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Jan 20, 2025
As the ceasefire in Gaza has entered its second day and appears to be holding, we begin our coverage in Ramallah. "We're hoping that it will continue, the Israelis will continue to release prisoners. And, of course, we have no guarantees they will not be rearrested again," says Tala Nasir, a lawyer with the Palestinian prisoner and human rights organization Addameer. She also notes that many of those released are coming home in poor health. "They were starving inside the prisons," Nasir notes.
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Jan 20, 2025
Palestinians Return to Decimated Homes, Israeli Hostages Released as Ceasefire Takes Effect, Netanyahu Says U.S. Gave Him Green Light to Resume Attacking Gaza Despite Ceasefire, Trump Vows Blitz of EOs Cracking Down on Immigration, Schools, Gov't Agencies Ahead of Swearing-In, Immigrant Communities Brace for Mass Deportations as Trump Returns to Presidency, "Literally Cashing In on the Presidency": Donald and Melania Trump Launch Their Own Cryptocurrencies, TikTok Briefly Goes Dark, Then Returns After Trump Says He Will Delay Its Ban, Biden Issues Preemptive Pardons for Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, House Jan. 6 Cmte. Members, Biden Pardons Marcus Garvey, Immigration Activist Ravi Ragbir, Biden Declares ERA Is "Law of the Land" But Fails to Back Up Announcement with Executive Action, Biden Admin Reveals U.S. Role in Developing, Funding Kyiv's Drone Program, Tehran Gunman Assassinates Two Top Iranian Judges, 80 People Killed in Northeast Colombia, Thousands Flee as Peace Talks Collapse, DOJ Sues Walgreens for Role in Opioids Crisis, Atlanta City Workers Kill Unhoused Man as They Bulldozed Encampment Near Ebenezer Baptist Church, American Historical Association Council Rejects Members' Will, Vetoes Scholasticide Resolution
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Jan 17, 2025
After commuting the sentences of over 2,500 people imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses, Joe Biden has set a record for most pardons and commutations by a U.S. president. But Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier remains behind bars. Over 120 tribal leaders are calling on Biden to grant clemency to Peltier as one of his final acts in office, warning this may be the last opportunity Peltier has for freedom. Peltier is 80 years old and has spent the majority of his life — nearly half a century — in prison despite a conviction riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. In December, tribal leaders, including the NDN Collective's Nick Tilsen, met with a pardon attorney at the Department of Justice to prepare a recommendation on Peltier's case for Biden. With only a few days left in Biden's term, Native Americans are eagerly anticipating his decision. "All of us see a little bit of ourselves in Leonard Peltier, and that's why we fight so hard for him," says Tilsen. "This is about paving a path forward that gives us the opportunity to have justice and begin to heal the relationship between the United States government and Indian people. And so, this decision is massive."
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Jan 17, 2025
The ultra-rich have donated a record-shattering amount of funds to the 2025 Trump-Vance Presidential Inaugural Committee, with contributions from major corporations like Apple, Chevron, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Google, Pfizer, Microsoft and the pharmaceutical lobby. On Monday, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos will attend Trump's inauguration with the world's richest man, Elon Musk, and a slew of other wealthy individuals tapped to join the new White House administration. "What's even more concerning than the total amount being spent is the size of the donations that are coming in from corporations and billionaires, all of whom — just about all of whom — want something from the Trump administration," says Craig Holman, Public Citizen's Capitol Hill lobbyist, who is pushing for new legislation to regulate donations to the inauguration ceremony. "They are buying influence with the Trump administration, so we're going to see scandal after scandal follow this inauguration. And reform often comes on the heels of scandal."
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Jan 17, 2025
Israel's security cabinet has approved a long-awaited ceasefire deal with Hamas. If finalized, the ceasefire is expected to go into effect on Sunday. "The main challenge will be the second phase, and here there are many, many problems on the horizon," says Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who stresses the importance of also freeing the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. "Again and again, Israelis always think that they are the only victims." The announcement comes in the final week of U.S. President Joe Biden's term as Israel prepares for the incoming Trump administration. "The only reason that Israel did not agree to this text until this week is because it didn't have to worry about U.S. pressure," says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani, who explains why the limited agreement will not shift politics in Israel and Palestine. "I believe Netanyahu will do everything possible, with the collusion of certain Trump officials, to try to scuttle it after the first phase."
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Jan 17, 2025
Israel Continues to Pound Gaza as Cabinet Votes on Ceasefire Deal, Israeli Forces Continue Raids on Occupied West Bank, Including Hospital in Nablus, "How Does It Feel to Have Your Legacy Be Genocide?": Max Blumenthal Confronts Outgoing Blinken, Trump Nominees for Treasury, Interior, EPA Face Senate Hearings, Ron DeSantis Names Trump Loyalist, Florida AG Ashley Moody to Fill Marco Rubio's Senate Seat, Giuliani Holds On to NY, FL Properties as He Settles with Defamed Georgia Election Workers, Death Toll from L.A. Wildfires Hits 27 as Study Says Disaster Could End Up Claiming 1,000s of Lives, Climate Activists Tell Oil Cos to "Pay Up" for L.A. Wildfires as Guterres Slams Fossil Fuel Industry, Biden Administration Sanctions Sudan's Army Chief al-Burhan Amid Mounting Humanitarian Disaster, Ohio Woman Sues Ohio City and Hospital After She Was Arrested over Miscarriage, Biden to Commute Sentences of 2,500 Prisoners Convicted of Nonviolent Offenses, JBS and Perdue Farms to Pay $8 Million for Child Labor Violations at Slaughterhouses
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Jan 16, 2025
In her confirmation hearing Wednesday, Trump's nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, refused to answer Democrats' questions about maintaining the Department of Justice's independence from the president and pursuing his personal vendettas. Bondi also avoided directly answering questions about Trump's vow to pardon January 6 defendants and refused to say Trump definitively lost the 2020 election. "Bondi clearly has a comfort level with basing her prosecutorial discretion on whether someone has power and influence, and whether they're willing to give her a taste of that," says The American Prospect's David Dayen, who explains how such abuse of power could dangerously expand the ability of the president to go after political enemies.
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Jan 16, 2025
We host a roundtable on the planned Gaza ceasefire with former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy of the U.S./Middle East Project, Gazan analyst Muhammad Shehada of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and journalist Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News. We discuss how incoming President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff pressured Israel to accept the deal and what it reveals about the outgoing Biden administration's refusal to use its own leverage for the same end. "Joe Biden could have ended this long ago," and that he chose not to "exposes the utter moral rot that existed within the Biden White House," says Scahill. Still, our guests say it's unlikely that the ceasefire announcement signifies true relief for Palestinians beset by Israel's genocidal violence. Levy says Netanyahu is already working to renege on the deal and continue a war that has helped him retain his political power, while Shehada warns that all signs point to the continued subjugation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories in conditions "more painful than the war."
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Jan 16, 2025
We go first to Gaza for reaction from Palestinians to the long-awaited ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas announced Wednesday. When implemented, the deal would mark the first pause in Israel's relentless attack on the Gaza Strip in over a year. The ceasefire is expected to go into effect Sunday, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed a Cabinet vote required to approve it. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to strike civilian-dense areas in Gaza. "The bloodshed is not stopping since the announcement," reports journalist Shrouq Aila, on the ground in Deir al-Balah. "Nobody knows what the future holds."
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Jan 16, 2025
Netanyahu Puts Ceasefire on Hold as Gaza Celebrates Possible End to 15 Months of Genocide, Ceasefire Terms Include Prisoner Exchange, Surge of Aid into Gaza, Israeli Withdrawal, Israel Kills at Least 70 More Palestinians in Hours After Ceasefire Deal Announced, Attorney General Nominee Pam Bondi Won't Rule Out Prosecuting Trump's Critics, Secretary of State Nominee Marco Rubio Defends Trump's "America First" Foreign Policy, Confirmation Hearings Open for Trump's Picks to Lead Transportation, Energy, CIA and OMB, ExxonMobil Countersues California AG and Environmentalists over Plastic Pollution Claims, Mike Turner Ousted as House Intelligence Committee Chair Following "Concerns from Mar-a-Lago", In Final Oval Office Address, President Biden Warns of Growing "Tech-Industrial Complex", Ukraine Claims Largest Attacks Yet on Russia Using U.S.- and U.K.-Made Missiles, U.N. Rights Chief Joins Calls for End to Western Sanctions on Syria, Haitian Armed Groups Have Displaced 1 Million from Their Homes
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Jan 15, 2025
We speak with journalists Steven Thrasher and Afeef Nessouli about their new report for The Intercept, which examines how queer, HIV-positive Palestinians are struggling to survive in Gaza with limited access to medication due to Israel's siege and ongoing attacks on the territory. The report centers on E.S., a young Palestinian man who is HIV-positive and who has been in "a race against time," says Nessouli. "The genocide is making it impossible to get medication to people like E.S.," adds Thrasher.
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Jan 15, 2025
The Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick to be defense secretary, was repeatedly disrupted Tuesday by protesters who denounced the nominee's history of hateful remarks against women, LGBTQ people and others, as well as to demand an end to U.S. support for Israel's genocide in Gaza. We speak with two of those protesters, military veterans Josephine Guilbeau and Greg Stoker, who say they were motivated to speak out against the "war machine" that hurts people who serve in the military as well as people around the world who are victims of U.S. militarism. "They use us as pawns to go to these wars and ultimately go kill innocent people," says Guilbeau.
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Jan 15, 2025
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick to become defense secretary, appears to be moving toward confirmation after a contentious Senate hearing on Tuesday. He was grilled over his alleged history of sexual misconduct, reports of frequent public drunkenness at work, financial mismanagement at veterans' organizations he led, and statements he has made disparaging women, LGBTQ people and others in the military. Hegseth's confirmation can only be blocked if three or more Republicans join Democrats in opposing the former Fox News host, but so far the party appears aligned behind Trump's nominee. Watch the highlights from Tuesday's Senate confirmation hearing.
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Jan 15, 2025
Israel Steps Up Attacks on Gaza, Bombing Homes and School-Turned-Shelter Despite Talk of Ceasefire, Six Palestinians, Including Teen and Three Brothers, Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Jenin, Death Toll from L.A. Fires Rises to 25 as Forecasters Warn of 70 Mile-Per-Hour Winds, Billionaires Zuckerberg, Bezos and Musk to Share Platform at Trump's Inauguration, Pete Hegseth Wins Backing of GOP Sen. Ernst, Nearing Confirmation, Senate Judiciary Opens Confirmation Hearings for Trump Loyalist Pam Bondi, "Bloody Blinken, Secretary of Genocide": Blinken Confronted over Gaza at Farewell Keynote, Biden Lifts "State Sponsor of Terrorism" Designation for Cuba, House Approves Ban on Transgender Women and Girls in Public School Sports, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Arrested After Armed Standoff over Martial Law Decree
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Jan 14, 2025
Around Los Angeles, firefighting crews continue to battle the Palisades and Eaton fires and other smaller blazes. Nearly a thousand of the firefighters deployed to help contain the devastating fires are incarcerated. They have been working around the clock while earning as little as between $5.80 to $10.24 a day. For more on how California's incarcerated firefighting program works, we speak to investigative journalist Keri Blakinger, who is herself formerly incarcerated, and who recently had to evacuate her home in Los Angeles.
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Jan 14, 2025
Human rights advocates and healthcare professionals around the world are demanding the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the largest major hospital in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan Hospital. Abu Safiya disappeared in December after Israeli forces raided and shut down Kamal Adwan. He is believed to be held at the troubled Sde Teiman Israeli prison, which has been plagued by reports of gruesome abuses including torture and sexual violence against Palestinians in custody. Abu Safiya's friend and former colleague, Dr. John Kahler, a co-founder of the medical humanitarian aid group MedGlobal, speaks to Democracy Now! about Abu Safiya's tireless commitment to his medical work while suffering the pain, trauma and tragedy of Israel's genocide on Gaza. "His bravery is a supreme act of resistance," says Kahler. "What no oppressor will tolerate is that level of resistance."
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Jan 14, 2025
After Biden's major foreign policy address Monday at the State Department, we go to Jerusalem and get an analysis of Biden's foreign policy decisions in Israel and Palestine from Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders. "There's simply no question at this point that the laws of war have been egregiously violated," he says of the Israeli military's genocidal conduct against Palestinians in Gaza. "When it comes to America's friends and allies, he has a different standard."
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Jan 14, 2025
The confirmation hearing for President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, former Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth, begins today amid backlash over his history of sexual assault, misusing funds in his previous positions, and various violations committed while under the influence of alcohol. Hegseth was also one of 12 National Guard members removed as guards for President Biden's 2021 inauguration over possible extremist ties. He has tattoos associated with the white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements, including what's known as a Jerusalem cross, a symbol used by Christian nationalists. If Hegseth is confirmed, "the Trump administration would stand to gain a loyalist," says reporter Alice Herman, who is covering Hegseth in The Guardian.
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Jan 14, 2025
Ceasefire Mediators Say Deal Is Closer Than Ever as Israel Continues Its Genocidal Campaign in Gaza, Reporter Ahlam Al Nafed, Who Reported from Gaza's Besieged Indonesian Hospital, Is Killed by Israel, ICJ President Nawaf Salam Named New Lebanese Prime Minister, L.A. Could See "Explosive Fire Growth" as High Winds Return, Jack Smith: Enough Evidence to Convict Trump for Election Subversion If He Weren't Reelected, Senate Committee Holds Hearing for Trump Defense Nom, Accused Rapist Pete Hegseth, Steve Bannon Brands Elon Musk an "Evil Guy" as NYT Reports Trump Will Give Musk a White House Office, Judge Orders Patriot Front to Pay Black Musician $2.8 Million After Racist Attack in Boston, Climate Activists Spray-Paint Darwin's Grave in London to Draw Attention to Climate Disaster, Biden Cancels More Student Debt as Activists Urge Outgoing President to Do More in Final Days, Charles Person, Youngest of the Original Freedom Riders, Has Died at 82
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Jan 13, 2025
Belgian Lebanese activist Dyab Abou Jahjah, the founder of the Hind Rajab Foundation, discusses how the organization seeks to hold Israeli soldiers accountable for war crimes committed in Gaza. Named after a 6-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza almost a year ago, the Hind Rajab Foundation uses evidence gathered from soldiers' own social media to build cases against them. The group recently filed a complaint against a soldier in Brazil, leading a local judge to issue an arrest warrant for him that he only avoided by fleeing to Argentina. "Unfortunately, the Israeli government smuggled the soldier out of Brazil, which is, of course, obstructing justice," Abou Jahjah tells Democracy Now! "We are relentless in seeking justice, and we are very convinced that one day justice also will be served in a court of law."
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Jan 13, 2025
As negotiators from Israel and Hamas continue discussions in Qatar about a possible Gaza ceasefire, we speak with Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, who spoke at a press conference of Gaza media workers last week urging the international press to speak up for their Palestinian colleagues. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023. "The world just keeps turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to what is happening," says Abed from outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. "It's completely enraging and unacceptable." His recent article for Drop Site News is headlined "What It's Truly Like to Sleep in a Damp, Frigid Tent: A Report From Gaza."
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Jan 13, 2025
We speak with Leah Stokes, a researcher on climate and energy policy, who says the scale of the Los Angeles wildfires is a result of burning fossil fuels and destabilizing the planet's equilibrium. "The ultimate driver here is climate change," says Stokes. She says that as people begin to consider rebuilding their communities, they should think about how to build more resilient homes or whether the risk is simply too great in some areas. "Are these places where people really want to be building back at that same density, with that same risk?" she asks. "We do have to be asking tough questions because of the climate crisis, because we have not stopped burning fossil fuels, about where it is safer and less safe to be building back."
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Jan 13, 2025
We continue our coverage of the devastating wildfires in Southern California, which have killed at least 24 people as of Monday. Some 150,000 more have been forced to evacuate their homes and over 40,000 acres have burned up as firefighters struggle to contain the multiple fires still raging in the Los Angeles area.
Journalist and activist Sonali Kolhatkar, who recently returned to her home in Pasadena, describes community mutual aid efforts underway and how they stand in stark contrast to the militarized response from police and National Guard forces who are seemingly more interested in protecting property than helping residents. She warns that predatory real estate actors are also looking to profit from the devastation, particularly in the historically Black neighborhood of Altadena. "The embers haven't even gone cold. The smoke is still rising, and the developers are circling," she says.
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Jan 13, 2025
L.A. Wildfires Death Toll Rises to 24 as Health Officials Declare Emergency over Air Quality, Mexico Sends Firefighters to Help L.A. Wildfire Effort; 1,000 Incarcerated Firefighters Battling Blazes, Israel Killed Over 5,000 Palestinians in North Gaza Since Start of Siege, Another Palestinian Journalist, Saed Abu Nabhan, Killed by Israeli Forces in Gaza, Poland Paves Way for Netanyahu to Attend Auschwitz Commemoration Without Risking Arrest, Trump Sentenced to Unconditional Discharge, Avoiding Prison in 2016 NY Hush Money Case, Senate Begins Confirmation Hearing for Trump Noms Incl. Defense Pick Pete Hegseth, Accused of Rape, SCOTUS Likely to Allow TikTok Ban as Justices Hear Arguments Ahead of Jan. 19 Deadline, Sudan Says It's Retaken Key City of Wad Madani from RSF as Brutal War Nears 2-Year Mark, "Greenland Will Decide Its Future": Greenland PM Shuts Down Trump's Threats to Take Arctic Territory, Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro Sworn In for Third Presidential Term After Contested Election, Biden Admin Extends TPS for Recipients from Venezuela, El Salvador, Ukraine and Sudan, Check-in for Ravi Ragbir, Immigration Activist Fighting Deportation, Postponed Until March, DOJ Finds 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Was a Systematic, Military-Style Attack, Longtime Columbia Law Professor Terminated After Defending Student Gaza Protests, Free Speech, José "Cha Cha" Jiménez, Founder of the Young Lords, Dies at 76
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Jan 10, 2025
Immigrant rights activists are urging the Biden administration to pardon longtime activist Ravi Ragbir, who has been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for potential detention and deportation since 2001. Ragbir has been subject to regular ICE check-ins for over two decades, each time facing the possibility of being taken into custody by the agency. "Once you go into that building, your family, your friends, your community don't know if you'll walk back out," says Ragbir. We speak to Ragbir, his wife Amy Gottlieb and his lawyer Alina Das about his case and why they are calling on Biden to take action before the new Trump administration, with its promises to carry out mass deportations, has the opportunity to pose an even bigger threat to immigrants like Ragbir. A presidential pardon "will ensure that as a green card holder, Ravi will be able to remain here in the U.S.," says Das.
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Jan 10, 2025
We continue to reflect on Jimmy Carter's foreign policy with history professor Brad Simpson. Despite presiding over an administration that stood out for its successful championing of human rights elsewhere in the world, "in Southeast Asia, Carter really continued the policies of the Nixon and Ford administration," particularly in Indonesia, which was at the time occupying and carrying out a genocide in East Timor. Simpson founded the Indonesia/East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, which provided thousands of U.S. documents to East Timor's Truth Commission in the aftermath of the Indonesian military's mass killings of tens of thousands of Timorese civilians with U.S. arms under the dictatorial regime of President Suharto.
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Jan 10, 2025
The late President Jimmy Carter presided over a key landmark in the Arab-Israeli peace process, the 1979 Camp David Accords signed by Egypt and Israel. Carter's lifelong interest in resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict is an analog for his complicated legacy in foreign policy and human rights. As Seth Anziska, a professor of Jewish-Muslim relations at University College London, explains, while on one hand Carter believed that Israel's treatment of Palestinians constituted apartheid "far worse" than what he had seen in South Africa, on the other, his deep Christian faith made him fundamentally sympathetic to religious beliefs framing Israel as a Jewish homeland. "He was the first U.S. president to talk about the idea of a Palestinian homeland alongside his commitment to Israeli security," says Anziska, who argues that the failure of the Camp David Accords in promoting lasting peace lies in their "perpetuation of Palestinian statelessness."
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Jan 10, 2025
Former President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100, has been laid to rest in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, following a state funeral held in Washington, D.C. "He was the last president to actively encourage participation and involvement in governmental processes by the progressive civil community," remembers the celebrated civil society and consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Nader compares Carter's progressive credentials to President-elect Donald Trump's flouting of the law and embrace of dangerous beliefs like climate denialism. Carter "brought the best out of people," Nader says, while "Trump brings the worst out of people."
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Jan 10, 2025
At least 10 people have died in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires as firefighters continue to battle multiple infernos in the area. Thousands of homes and other structures have been destroyed, and some 180,000 people are under evacuation orders. Multiple neighborhoods have been completely burned down, including in the town of Altadena, where our guest, climate scientist and activist Peter Kalmus, lived until two years ago, when increasing heat and dryness pushed Kalmus to leave the Los Angeles area in fear of his safety. "I couldn't stay there," he says. "It's not a new normal. … It's a staircase to a hotter, more hellish Earth." Kalmus discusses an op-ed he recently published in The New York Times about the decision, which he says was toned down by the paper's editors when he attempted to explain that fossil fuel companies' investment in climate change denial and normalization has only accelerated the pace of unprecedented large-scale climate disasters. "This is going to get worse," he warns, "Everything has changed."
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Jan 10, 2025
Death Toll in Los Angeles Wildfires Reaches 10 as Largest Blazes Remain Uncontained, As Historic Fires Tear Through L.A., Scientists Confirm 2024 Was Hottest Year Ever Recorded, The Lancet Says Gaza Genocide Death Toll Likely 40% Higher Than Official Estimates, House Votes to Sanction International Criminal Court over Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders, NYU Suspends 11 Students over Peaceful Antiwar Protest, "We Are Documenting Our Genocide": Gaza Journalists Demand Int'l Media Defend Palestinian Colleagues, NYT "Chooses Silence Over Accountability" as It Refuses to Run Quaker Ad Condemning Gaza Genocide, Jimmy Carter Buried in Georgia After State Funeral at Washington National Cathedral, M23 Rebels Seize Town in Eastern DRC, Advance on Goma, Elon Musk Accused of Election Meddling over Interview with German Far-Right Leader, Supreme Court Denies Trump's Request to Halt Sentencing in Hush Money Case, Federal Judge Rejects Biden's Expansion of Title IX to Include LGBTQ Students
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Jan 09, 2025
Raging wildfires continue to scorch communities across the Los Angeles area, killing at least five people, displacing about 100,000 more and destroying thousands of structures. With firefighters unable to contain much of the blaze, the toll is expected to rise. The wildfires that started Tuesday caught much of the city by surprise, quickly growing into one of the worst fire disasters in Los Angeles history. Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council have come under criticism for cutting the fire department's budget by around 2% last year while the police department saw a funding increase. Nearly 400 incarcerated firefighters are among those who have been deployed to battle the fires. Journalist Sonali Kolhatkar, who evacuated her home to flee the destruction, says it has been "frustrating" to watch the corporate media's coverage of the fires. "No one is talking about climate change in the media," she says. We also speak with journalist John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World, who says the L.A. wildfires should be a wake-up call. "This blind — frankly, suicidal — loyalty to the status quo of keeping fossil fuels preeminent in our energy system is creating an increasingly difficult situation and unlivable situation," says Vaillant.
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Jan 09, 2025
Raging wildfires continue to scorch communities across the Los Angeles area, killing at least five people, displacing about 100,000 more and destroying thousands of structures. With firefighters unable to contain much of the blaze, the toll is expected to rise. The wildfires that started Tuesday caught much of the city by surprise, quickly growing into one of the worst fire disasters in Los Angeles history. Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council have come under criticism for cutting the fire department's budget by around 2% last year while the police department saw a funding increase. Nearly 400 incarcerated firefighters are among those who have been deployed to battle the fires. Journalist Sonali Kolhatkar, who evacuated her home to flee the destruction, says it has been "frustrating" to watch the corporate media's coverage of the fires. "No one is talking about climate change in the media," she says. We also speak with journalist John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World, who says the L.A. wildfires should be a wake-up call. "This blind — frankly, suicidal — loyalty to the status quo of keeping fossil fuels preeminent in our energy system is creating an increasingly difficult situation and unlivable situation," says Vaillant.
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Jan 09, 2025
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced major changes to what content is allowed on his company's social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Threads, scrapping the system of independent fact-checkers in favor of "community notes" from volunteer users. Zuckerberg also loosened moderation rules around offensive speech, which will allow hateful content targeting women, LGBTQ people and other groups. Meta's changes have been widely interpreted as a gift to Donald Trump and other Republicans, who have long argued against the policing of hate speech and disinformation online. The company has also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and recently added Trump ally Dana White, the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship, to its corporate board — part of a larger shift in Silicon Valley toward Trump and his MAGA movement. For more on these changes, we speak with media scholars Siva Vaidhyanathan and Marc Owen Jones, as well as Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, whose media company Rappler has been at the forefront of battling disinformation and hate speech on social media. "As of last year, 71% of the world is under authoritarian rule. We are electing illiberal leaders democratically, partly because our public information ecosystem … is corrupting our individual communications with each other," says Ressa.
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Jan 09, 2025
L.A. Wildfires Kill 5; Officials Order 130,000 Residents to Evacuate as Angelenos Brace for More Blazes, Israel Kills 70 Palestinians in Gaza; 15 Incubated Newborns Could Die Unless Hospital Receives Fuel, "Let's Call It Mexican America": Pres. Sheinbaum Fires Back After Trump's "Gulf of America" Remark, DOJ Plans to Release Findings on Trump's 2020 Election Subversion Efforts, But Not on Classified Docs, Russian Attack Kills 13 in Zaporizhzhia; Biden Admin Sends Final $500M to Ukraine, Chad Says It Fended Off Armed Attack on Presidential Residence, Lebanon Elects Joseph Aoun as President After 2-Year Vacuum, Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iranian Imprisonment, Longshoremen Reach Tentative Deal, Averting Major Ports Strike, SEIU Rejoins AFL-CIO, Expanding Umbrella Labor Group to 15 Million Workers, North Carolina's GOP Justices Block Certification of Democratic Justice Who Won Nov. Election, Advocates Demand New York Lawmakers Protect Immigrants Ahead of Trump's Inauguration, Washington National Cathedral to Host State Funeral for President Jimmy Carter
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Jan 08, 2025
Eleven Yemeni men imprisoned without charge or trial at the Guantánamo Bay detention center for more than two decades have just been released to Oman to restart their lives. This latest transfer brings the total number of men detained at Guantánamo down to 15. Civil rights lawyers Ramzi Kassem and Pardiss Kebriaei, who have each represented many Guantánamo detainees, including some of the men just released, say closing the notorious detention center "has always been a question of political will," and that the Biden administration must take action to free the remaining prisoners and "end of the system of indefinite detention" as soon as possible.
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Jan 08, 2025
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday he is stepping down as leader of Canada's Liberal Party, following rising discontent over his leadership and growing dissent within his government. Trudeau had served as Canada's prime minister since 2015. His resignation comes as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to annex Canada. For more, we speak with Canadian activist and electoral candidate Avi Lewis for the New Democratic Party, who says that, "like Joe Biden," Trudeau "waited way too long" to step down from candidacy in upcoming national elections. Lewis calls Trump's aggressive rhetoric on Canada a "cartoon threat" that comes out of the real estate mogul's long-running use of "force" in his personal and business dealings.
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Jan 08, 2025
Massachusetts Congressmember Jim McGovern calls on President Biden to pardon environmental activist Steven Donziger, who has been targeted for years by oil and gas giant Chevron. Donziger sued Chevron on behalf of farmers and Indigenous peoples who suffered the adverse health effects of oil drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon. "I visited Ecuador. I saw what Chevron did. It is disgusting" and "grotesque," says McGovern. "Donziger stood up for these people who had no voice." In return, Chevron has spent millions prosecuting him instead of holding itself to account, he adds, while a pardon from the president would show that the system can still "stand up to corporate greed and excesses."
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Jan 08, 2025
Calls are growing for President Biden to posthumously exonerate Ethel Rosenberg following newly publicized documents proving that the FBI knew of her innocence long before she was prosecuted by the federal government more than 60 years ago. Rosenberg and her husband Julius were charged with sharing nuclear secrets with the Soviet Union and executed on June 19, 1953. A federal pardon or exoneration would be "the right thing to do," says Massachusetts Congressmember Jim McGovern, who is part of an effort led by the Rosenbergs' son Robert Meeropol "to get history right." Ethel Rosenberg "was framed," says Meeropol. "She was not a spy."
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Jan 08, 2025
At a news conference Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump renewed his threats against Gaza, Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal as he continues to push an agenda of extreme U.S. imperialism. Democratic Congressmember Jim McGovern calls Trump's comments "outrageous," "ridiculous" and, ultimately, a distraction from his planned abandonment of social services. We also discuss social networking behemoth Meta's announcement that it is ending its fact-checking program, in what's being seen as a capitulation to Trump and conservative media disinformation campaigns, and how President Biden's unqualified support for Israel's assault on Gaza violates multiple U.S. human rights laws.
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Jan 08, 2025
Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 51, Including Five Children, in Israeli-Designated "Safe Zone", Far-Right Israeli Minister Calls for Destruction of West Bank Cities, Ireland Joins South Africa's Genocide Case Against Israel at International Court of Justice, U.S. Concludes Sudanese Paramilitary Group Has Committed Genocide, Trump Threatens Military Action to Seize Greenland, Panama Canal; Says Canada Should Join U.S., Pope Names Trump Critic and Immigrant Rights Defender as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Congress Approves Bill to Deport Immigrants Charged with Minor Crimes, L.A. Orders Mass Evacuations as Fast-Moving Wildfires Threaten Homes and Lives, Meta to End Fact-Checking on Facebook, Instagram and Threads , Washington Post Lays Off 4% of Workforce Following Reader Exodus over Harris Non-Endorsement, New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Rule Wipes Medical Debt from Credit Reports, Jimmy Carter Lies in State at U.S. Capitol Ahead of State Funeral
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Jan 07, 2025
As the remains of Jimmy Carter arrive in Washington, D.C., as part of a weeklong state funeral, we speak with historian Greg Grandin about the former U.S. president's legacy. Carter, who served a single term from 1977 to 1981, promised to restore faith in government after the twin traumas of Watergate and the Vietnam War and to reorient U.S. foreign policy toward upholding human rights. "He came to power promising … a new kind of doctrine, that the United States was moving away from both the ideological excess and the support for dictatorships that led to wars like Vietnam or coups in Chile," says Grandin. "Pretty quickly, events got ahead of him." Carter's "mixed and confused" legacy was nowhere more apparent than in Latin America, where he moved to limit aid to some right-wing dictatorships while supporting others, especially in Central America. He also began funding the mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan, which ultimately led to the Taliban and the 9/11 terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda. "For all of his decency and humanity, especially compared to the … clown circus that we're living under now, we have to look at the more unfortunate legacies of Carter's administration," says Grandin.
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Jan 07, 2025
Israeli forces are continuing their unrelenting attacks across the Gaza Strip, killing scores of Palestinians in the first week of 2025 even as Israeli and Hamas officials resume talks in Qatar aimed at reaching a ceasefire. The official death toll in Gaza is nearing 46,000, although experts say the true figure is likely much higher. The United Nations has warned its efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip are at a "breaking point" after Israeli forces opened fire on a World Food Programme convoy over the weekend, and healthcare facilities across much of the territory are destroyed, shuttered or barely functioning. For more on the deteriorating situation in Gaza, we're joined by acclaimed Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha. His latest piece for The New Yorker is headlined "Requiem for a Refugee Camp," examining Israel's destruction of Jabaliya. He describes the double devastation of Palestinians who have not only been displaced during the 1948 Nakba but also during Israel's current genocide of Gaza, placing refugees "farther and farther from [the] dream of return."
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Jan 07, 2025
We speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joshua Kaplan about his latest blockbuster article for ProPublica chronicling the rise of a "freelance vigilante" through the ranks of the right-wing militia movement in an effort to surveil and disrupt their operations. Kaplan's source, a wilderness survival trainer named John Williams, says he went undercover after being shocked by the January 6 insurrection, when members of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other armed right-wing groups led the riot at the U.S. Capitol. "He's an extraordinarily talented liar," Kaplan says of Williams. "These militia guys loved him." Williams would eventually gain the trust of senior leaders in Utah and beyond, collecting information that revealed a sprawling extremist movement with connections to law enforcement, lawmakers and more. Kaplan says Williams's infiltration revealed the militia movement is surging across the country, despite the failed 2021 insurrection. Now with Donald Trump promising to pardon many of the Capitol riot participants, this same movement appears set to expand even further over the next few years. "The ramifications could be massive," says Kaplan. "They have the potential to trigger a renaissance for militant extremists."
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Jan 07, 2025
U.N.'s Humanitarian Efforts in Gaza Hit "Breaking Point" Amid Israeli Attacks on Aid Workers, Canada's Justin Trudeau Resigns as Liberal Party Leader and Prime Minister, Vice President Kamala Harris Certifies Donald Trump's 2024 Election Victory, Trump Seeks to Block Release of Special Counsel Jack Smith's Findings, Rudy Giuliani Found in Contempt of Court in Georgia Election Workers' Defamation Case, Biden Bans New Offshore Oil Drilling Along Most of U.S. Coastline, U.S. Transfers 11 Yemeni Prisoners from Guantánamo to Oman; 15 Prisoners Remain, Pentagon Reaches Historic Settlement with LGBTQ Vets Dismissed Under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Minneapolis City Council Approves Consent Decree Mandating Federal Oversight of Police, At Least 95 Die as Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake Strikes Tibet, Austrian Far-Right Party Tasked With Forming Ruling Coalition, French Neo-Nazi Leader Jean-Marie Le Pen Dies at 96
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Jan 06, 2025
Billionaire Trump associate Elon Musk's latest disinformation campaign is targeting the U.K. government, which Musk appears to believe is not sufficiently anti-immigrant. Musk, who has already shaped the incoming Trump administration's economic policy by proposing cuts to government spending and tech-oriented privatization of services, signifies a "new era" in American politics, says our guest Quinn Slobodian, who is chronicling right-wing tech billionaires' accelerating attempts to mold the world according to their "destructive" and "nihilist" beliefs. In a far-reaching conversation, Slobodian touches on Musk's clear admiration of authoritarian strongmen, market deregulation and white supremacist rhetoric.
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Jan 06, 2025
The American Historical Association, the oldest learned society in the United States, has adopted the "Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza," condemning Israel's "intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system." We speak to Sherene Seikaly and Barbara Weinstein, two scholars who supported the resolution and helped push for the groundbreaking vote. Seikaly, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says, "This moment was one I never thought I would experience," hailing the resolution as an opportunity for historians to "narrate our past and imagine our future." Weinstein, who teaches at New York University and previously served as the president of the American Historical Association, adds, "Over the years it has become increasingly clear that we can't have a narrow definition of what our roles are as historians."
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Jan 06, 2025
Israel Bombs Gaza Over 100 Times in 3 Days, Killing Scores of Palestinians, Netanyahu's Office Downplays Reports of Progress in Gaza Ceasefire Talks , Attack on Israeli Bus and Cars in Occupied West Bank Kills 3 and Wounds 8, Biden Approves Sale of $8 Billion in Additional Bombs, Missiles and Arms to Israel, Israeli Embassy Helps Army Reservist Flee Brazil to Avoid War Crimes Inquiry, Ukraine Launches Surprise Cross-Border Offensive in Russia's Kursk Region, House Speaker Mike Johnson Narrowly Retains Gavel After Trump Intervenes, "We Have a Territories & Colonies Problem": Del. Plaskett Blasts Silencing of 4 Million U.S. Citizens, Congress to Certify Trump's Electoral College Win Four Years After MAGA Rioters Stormed Capitol, NY Judge Upholds Trump's Election Subversion Felony Conviction But Will Not Sentence Him to Prison, Trump Welcomes Far-Right Italian PM Giorgia Meloni to Mar-a-Lago, Prominent Cartoonist Quits Washington Post After Editors Kill Caricature of Trump and Bezos , Pyongyang Tests Ballistic Missile as Blinken Visits a South Korea in Political Turmoil, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Reportedly on Cusp of Resigning
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Jan 03, 2025
The Pentagon announced this week it launched a wave of airstrikes on Sana'a and other parts of Yemen on Tuesday. U.S. Central Command said it targeted command and weapons production facilities of Ansarallah, the militant group also known as the Houthis that rules most of Yemen. The attacks came just after Israel bombed the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah and the main airport in Sana'a, killing at least six people. A Houthi spokesperson said Wednesday the movement would continue attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and against Israel aimed at ending that country's war on Gaza. "These are strikes on Yemeni infrastructure. These are strikes on Yemeni civilians," Yemeni American scholar Shireen Al-Adeimi says of the Israeli and U.S. strikes. "The only thing that will stop Ansarallah from rerouting ships in the Red Sea and stopping their attacks … is an end to the genocide in Gaza and an end to the starvation of the Palestinian people."
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Jan 03, 2025
As the genocide in Gaza enters its 15th month, we look at From Ground Zero, a collection of 22 short films made in Gaza by Palestinian filmmakers surviving Israel's bombings and brutal blockade. The film has been shortlisted for this year's Academy Awards in the category for best international feature. "In spite of all what happened, we were trying to search for hope," says filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, director of From Ground Zero, now playing in U.S. theaters. Masharawi was born in Gaza and has lost many relatives during the war. He says the film is an opportunity to focus on "the normal stories" of survival and perseverance, calling it "cinema for humanity."
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Jan 03, 2025
We look at what we know about two deadly incidents that unfolded in the United States on New Year's Day: a truck attack in New Orleans in which a driver killed at least 14 people before being shot dead by police, and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, part of an apparent suicide. The FBI has identified the New Orleans suspect as 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who had posted videos to social media before the attack pledging allegiance to the Islamic State militant group. In the Las Vegas case, the driver was 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado, an active-duty Army Green Beret, who is believed to have shot himself before the blast. Investigators say they have not found a link between the two incidents despite both men being connected to the military, but Army veteran and antiwar organizer Mike Prysner says "military service is now the number one predictor of becoming what is called a mass casualty offender, surpassing even mental health issues." Prysner says the U.S. military depends on social problems like alienation and inequality in order to gain new recruits, then "spits them back out" in often worse shape, with people exposed to violence sometimes turning to extremism. "We have these deep-rooted problems in our society that give rise to these incidents of mass violence. Service members and veterans … can actually be a part of changing society and getting to the root of those issues and moving society forward," he says, citing uniformed resistance to the Vietnam and Iraq wars as examples.
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Jan 03, 2025
"How to Hide a Genocide": Al Haq Report Shows How Israel Hides Behind "Safe Zones", Doha Ceasefire Talks Set to Resume as UNSC Takes Up Israeli Attacks on Gaza Hospitals, 3,500 Children in Gaza Could Die of Malnutrition as Hunger Grips Besieged Territory, Texas Veteran Who Killed 15 People on Bourbon Street Previously Planned to Harm Family, Driver of Cybertruck That Exploded Outside Trump Hotel ID'd as U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, Fate of House Speaker Mike Johnson Uncertain as 119th Congress Is Sworn In, Biden Awards Presidential Citizens Medal to Republican Ex-Rep. Liz Cheney, Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC Net Neutrality Rules, Biden to Block Nippon Steel's Takeover Bid of U.S. Steel, China Sanctions U.S. Arms Makers as Xi Jinping Acknowledges "Uncertainties" of Trump Trade War, Security Forces Block South Korean Police from Arresting Disgraced President Yoon Suk Yeol, Dozens of Asylum Seekers Drown in Shipwrecks Near Tunisia and Libya Attempting to Reach Europe, Biden to Designate Two New National Monuments in California
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Jan 02, 2025
As we move into 2025, we look at how the world is cracking down on migrants and asylum seekers, and the dangers they face when trying to flee their countries due to persecution, economic conditions, the climate crisis and more. As Greek prosecutors open a murder investigation of "unknown perpetrators" following a damning exposé of the deadly crackdown on asylum seekers by the Greek coast guard, we revisit the BBC film, Dead Calm: Killing in the Med? The investigation revealed evidence the coast guard routinely abducted and abandoned asylum seekers in the Mediterranean Sea. The film found the Greek coast guard caused the deaths of dozens of migrants over a period of three years, including of nine asylum seekers who had reached Greek soil but were taken back out to sea and thrown overboard. "We really have no real clue about the true numbers of the people that are crossing [the Mediterranean Sea]. Many people don't make it," producer Lucile Smith told Democracy Now! in an interview last year, when the film was released. "And when people do arrive, they tend to disappear, because … if you are caught by the authorities in Greece, you will be most likely subjected to some very serious violence."
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Jan 02, 2025
For our first live interview of 2025, we go to Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip to get an update from Palestinian journalist Shrouq Aila, the head of Ain Media, a media company founded by her late husband, Roshdi Sarraj, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. Aila describes worsening conditions in the winter rain and cold, and the complete hollowing out of infrastructure as Palestinians are struggling to survive. "Being here in Gaza means I'm doing a change," she says about her "duty" to report. Her dedication to reporting on Israel's now 15-month-long assault on Gaza was recently honored by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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Jan 02, 2025
Israeli Assault on Gaza Continues as Data Show 6% of Palestinians Have Fled or Been Killed, Palestinian Authority Bans Al Jazeera in West Bank After Critical Coverage, Biden Says Texan Who Killed 15 in New Orleans Pledged Allegiance to ISIS Before New Year's Assault, One Dead, 7 Injured After Tesla Cybertruck Explodes Outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, FBI Finds 150 Pipe Bombs in Home of Far-Right Extremist Who Used Biden's Photo for Target Practice, Pentagon Says It Targeted Houthis in U.S. Airstrikes That Followed Israeli Attacks on Yemen, Russian Attack Kills 2 In Kyiv on New Year's Day as Ukraine Halts Flow of Russian Gas to Europe, Russia Battles Massive Oil Spill Near Crimea, Honduras May Cancel Military Cooperation with U.S. Unless Trump Cancels Mass Expulsion Plans, Ivory Coast to Expel French Soldiers, Following Other Former French Colonies in Africa, South Korea's Yoon Resists Arrest Warrant over Failed Martial Law Declaration, Flight Data Recorder Recovered from South Korean Airline Crash That Killed 179, North Carolina Governor Commutes Death Sentences of 15 Death Row Prisoners
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Jan 01, 2025
We speak with The Nation's Chris Lehmann about President-elect Donald Trump's escalating attacks on the press and how major media figures and institutions are "capitulating preemptively" to the pressure. ABC News recently settled a defamation suit brought by Trump by making a $15 million donation to his future presidential library, despite experts saying the case was easily winnable. Trump is also suing The Des Moines Register for publishing a poll before the election that showed him losing to Vice President Kamala Harris. "What's happening is a very clear pattern in Trump's public life," says Lehmann. "This is a show of power."
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Jan 01, 2025
We continue to discuss the new HBO Original film Surveilled and explore the film's investigation of high-tech spyware firms with journalist Ronan Farrow and director Matthew O'Neill. We focus on the influence of the Israeli military in the development of some of the most widely used versions of these surveillance technologies, which in many cases are first tested on Palestinians and used to enforce Israel's occupation of Palestine, and on the potential expansion of domestic U.S. surveillance under a second Trump administration. Ever-increasing surveillance is "dangerous for democracy," says Farrow. "We're making and selling a weapon that is largely unregulated." As O'Neill emphasizes, "We could all be caught up."
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Jan 01, 2025
Is that a spy in your pocket? In a holiday special we speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow and filmmaker Matthew O'Neill about Surveilled, their new HBO documentary looking at how high-tech surveillance spyware is threatening democracy across the globe. As part of the reporting for the documentary, Farrow traveled to Israel for a rare interview with a former employee of NSO Group, the Israeli software company that makes Pegasus. He warns that it's not just "repressive governments" that abuse Pegasus and other surveillance technology, but also a growing number of democratic states like Greece, Poland and Spain. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies under both the Biden and Trump administrations have also considered such spyware, although the extent to which these tools have been used is not fully known. "Surveillance technology has historically always been abused. Now the technology is more advanced and more frightening than ever, and more available than ever, so abuse is more possible," says Farrow.
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Dec 31, 2024
International outrage is growing over Israel's abduction of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabaliya refugee camp, who was detained after Israeli forces raided and shut down the last major hospital in northern Gaza last week. A new United Nations report finds that Israeli strikes on and near hospitals in the Gaza Strip have "pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse." Displaced Palestinians throughout the territory are dying from the ongoing Israeli bombardment, as well as injuries, infections and diseases due to Israel's restrictions on medical care and medical supplies. At least six babies have also died of hypothermia in recent days amid plunging winter temperatures. "Living conditions are just deplorable. They are not compatible with human life," says Dr. Mimi Syed, an emergency medicine physician who just left Gaza after volunteering there for a month. We also speak with trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who previously volunteered at the European Hospital in Khan Younis. "It's very likely that tens or even hundreds of thousands of people are going to die of the combination of malnutrition, displacement, exposure to the elements and hypothermia this winter," says Sidhwa.
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Dec 31, 2024
Gaza is entering its second winter under attack from Israel, and talks to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas appear to have stalled yet again. For more on efforts to end the war and secure the release of captives on both sides, we speak with veteran Israeli negotiator Gershon Baskin, who has acted as a backchannel to Hamas leaders in the current and previous conflicts. "We need to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the agenda again and make sure this is the last war we fight," says Baskin.
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Dec 31, 2024
Russian missile and drone attacks are continuing across Ukraine as the country already faces a cold, dark winter after Russia's strikes destroyed about half of the country's energy infrastructure. This comes as Russia and Ukraine completed a prisoner swap, repatriating more than 300 prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates ahead of the new year. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has approved billions more in military and economic assistance to Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office with a pledge to curtail aid and end the war. Since Russia's invasion nearly three years ago, Congress has approved $175 billion in total assistance to Ukraine. "Putin doesn't want peace," says Oleksandra Matviichuk, a leading Ukrainian human rights lawyer, who says Russia's goal is to restore its empire by force. "Russian occupation means torture, rapes, enforced disappearances, denial of your own identity, forcible adoption of your children, filtration camps and mass graves," she says.
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Dec 31, 2024
U.N. Warns 136 Israeli Attacks on Medical Centers Have Left Gaza Healthcare Near "Total Collapse", Israel's U.N. Ambassador Warns Houthis to Halt Attacks or Face "Miserable Fate", Syria's New Foreign Minister Calls for "Strategic" Ties to Ukraine, More Than 300 Russian and Ukrainian Soldiers Repatriated in Prisoner Swap, Biden Releases Another $2.5 Billion in Military Aid to Ukraine Ahead of Trump's Inauguration, Kenyan Police Tear-Gas Protesters Demanding Justice for Abducted Government Critics, U.S. Releases Tunisian Imprisoned at Guantánamo for 22 Years Without Charge, Trump Loses Appeal on 2023 Verdict Finding Him Liable for Sexually Abusing E. Jean Carroll, Taliban Bans NGOs That Employ Afghan Women, Says Women Should Not Be Seen in Windows, Iran Confirms Arrest of Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala in Tehran
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Dec 30, 2024
Former President Jimmy Carter died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, at 100 years old. The 39th president served a single, tumultuous term in the White House from 1977 to 1981. As we begin our look at his life and legacy, we hear Carter's own words in a Democracy Now! interview discussing his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Carter criticized Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza, and argued Israel's settlements in the Occupied Territories were the main barrier to peace. "Americans don't want to know and many Israelis don't want to know what is going on inside Palestine. It's a terrible human rights persecution that far transcends what any outsider would imagine," said Carter in 2007. "And there are powerful political forces in America that prevent any objective analysis of the problem in the Holy Land."
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Dec 30, 2024
Since October 7, 2023, Israel's onslaught in Gaza has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians and injured more than 108,000. At the same time, Gaza officials continue to accuse Israel of deliberately blocking aid deliveries. Human rights organizations are condemning Israel for attacking Palestinian lifesaving infrastructure, including Gaza's water supply and medical system. All of this has led to the world's leading specialist on the subject of genocide to declare Israel is carrying out a combination of "genocidal actions, ethnic cleansing and annexation of the Gaza Strip." Omer Bartov, an Israeli American professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, describes why he believes Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza right now. "There was actually a systematic attempt to make Gaza uninhabitable, as well as to destroy all institutions that make it possible for a group to sustain itself, not only physically but also culturally," says Bartov, who warns impunity for Israel would endanger the entire edifice of international law. "This is a total moral, ethical failure by the very countries that claim to be the main protectors of civil rights, democracy, human rights around the world."
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Dec 30, 2024
Gaza's Health Ministry has confirmed that close to 46,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's ongoing assault, but Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah estimates the true number is closer to 300,000. "This is literally and mathematically a genocidal project," says Abu-Sittah, a British Palestinian reconstructive surgeon who worked in Gaza for over a month treating patients at both Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli Baptist hospitals. Israel continues to attack what remains of the besieged territory's medical infrastructure. On Sunday, an Israeli attack on the upper floor of al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza City killed at least seven people and wounded several others. On Friday, Israeli troops stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, northern Gaza's last major functioning hospital, and set the facility on fire. Many staff and patients were reportedly forced to go outside and strip in winter weather. The director of Kamal Adwan, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was arrested, and his whereabouts remain unknown. "It's been obvious from the beginning that Israel has been wiping out a whole generation of health professionals in Gaza as a way of increasing the genocidal death toll but also of permanently making Gaza uninhabitable," says Abu-Sittah. "On the 7th of October, the Israelis crossed that genocidal Rubicon that settler-colonial projects cross."
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Dec 30, 2024
Sixth Palestinian Child Dies of Hypothermia in Gaza as Israel Continues Unrelenting Attacks , Family Blames Palestinian Security Forces for Killing of West Bank Journalist Shatha al-Sabbagh, Syria's De Facto Leader Says It Could Take Four Years to Organize Elections, Israelis Hold Nationwide Rallies to Demand Gaza Ceasefire Deal and Netanyahu Resignation, South Korean Airliner Crash Kills All But Two of 181 People Aboard, Azerbaijan's Leader Calls on Putin to Admit Russia Shot Down Airliner, Georgia's Outgoing President Refuses to Quit as Mikheil Kavelashvili Is Inaugurated, Former President Jimmy Carter Dies at 100, Rare December Tornadoes Claim 4 Lives in Southern U.S. States, Video Reveals NY Prison Guards Beat Prisoner Robert Brooks to Death While Handcuffed
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Dec 27, 2024
Silicon Valley and tech billionaires are lining up to support the incoming Trump administration. With the world's richest man, Elon Musk, as one of Trump's closest advisers, Trump has hosted Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for dinners at Mar-a-Lago. Amazon, Meta and OpenAI's Sam Altman have all announced donations of $1 million each to Trump's inaugural committee. Trump has placed tech executives all over his new administration, including PayPal co-founder Ken Howery, venture capitalists Scott Kupor and Sriram Krishnan, and tech boss David Sacks, whom Trump has picked to be "czar" of crypto and artificial intelligence. "The core things come down to displacing workers with artificial intelligence, displacing the currency with crypto, and getting rid of any kind of taxation on wealth that might come up," says author and former tech investor Roger McNamee, who encourages people to consider using less Silicon Valley tech products. "We have been accepting all kinds of invasions of privacy, all kinds of surveillance, all kinds of manipulation in exchange for convenience. … Could we do with less convenience for a while in exchange for regaining human autonomy?"
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Dec 27, 2024
Donald Trump has set his sights on the Americas, threatening to retake the Panama Canal if Panama doesn't lower fees for U.S. ships. The United States controlled the waterway until 1977, when President Jimmy Carter signed a landmark treaty to give Panama control of the canal. Trump has also recently floated the idea of annexing Canada, and even a possible "soft invasion" of Mexico. Pulitzer Prize-winning Yale historian Greg Grandin explains the practical impossibilities of such plans but analyzes the political impacts of Trump's statements. "There's no way the United States is going to fill out greater America. This is red meat for the Trump base," says Grandin. "It's classic Trump."
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Dec 27, 2024
We speak with a Greenlandic member of the Danish Parliament, Aaja Chemnitz, about incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to make America larger, in part by taking ownership of Greenland, which is controlled by Denmark. Greenland's prime minister rejected the idea this week, saying, "We are not for sale and will never be for sale." Trump's statement on Greenland was made as he announced he was picking PayPal co-founder Ken Howery as his pick for United States ambassador to Denmark. "We're open for business. We're not for sale," says Chemnitz. "The decision on what should happen with the future of Greenland is up to the Greenlandic people."
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Dec 27, 2024
In northern Gaza, the director of the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital says five medical workers were among 50 people killed in Israeli strikes near the hospital. Israeli forces then stormed the hospital and forced hundreds, including patients, into the streets. This all comes as The New York Times has confirmed past reporting by 972 Magazine that on October 7, 2023, Israel loosened military rules meant to protect noncombatants in Gaza. Award-winning Israeli journalist Gideon Levy decries the moral decay of Israel, which has gone so far as to open a luxurious rest area for soldiers in northern Gaza: "It's the same moral blindness to what's going on around you." Levy also discusses his latest piece, headlined "The IDF's Own Sickening 'Zone of Interest' in the Heart of Gaza."
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Dec 27, 2024
Israel Forces Evacuation of Northern Gaza Hospital After Attack That Killed 50, Watchdog Finds 75,000 in Gaza at Risk of Famine, Buries Report After U.S. Ambassador to Israel Objects, Israel Bombs Yemeni Capital and Port City of Hodeidah, Killing 6 and Wounding Dozens, Famine Spreads as Fighting Escalates in Sudan, Prompting Exodus of Refugees, More Than 10,000 Asylum Seekers Have Died at Sea Attempting to Reach Spain in 2024, CDC Warns Sample of First Severely Ill U.S. Bird Flu Patient Contains Troublesome Mutations, South Korean Parliament Impeaches Acting President 2 Weeks After Former President's Ouster, New York Gov. Signs Bill to Hold Climate Polluters Accountable But Vetoes Anti-Deforestation Bill, L.A. Deputy Who Beat Trans Man Fired Along with 7 Others Amid FBI Probe
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Dec 26, 2024
More than 3,100 Indigenous students died at boarding schools in the United States between 1828 and 1970 — three times the number of deaths reported earlier this year by the Department of Interior, according to a new investigation by The Washington Post. Many of the students had been forcibly removed from their families and tribes as part of a government policy of cultural eradication and assimilation. The new report was led by Dana Hedgpeth, an enrolled member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina, and expanded its reach beyond federal records to achieve a full public accounting of the death toll of what many scholars and survivors have described as "prison camps," not schools. Hedgpeth shares how some tribes have now been able to recover the remains of children who had been buried at the boarding schools and return them for traditional burials in their ancestral homelands. "The impact of these schools is still being felt in many ways," she says.
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Dec 26, 2024
We go to Damascus for an update on the state of affairs in Syria after the surprise collapse of the long-reigning Assad regime, with BBC Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab. She is reporting in Syria for the first time in over a decade, after she was forced to flee the country in 2013. She relays the "sense of freedom and joy" now present on the streets of Damascus, where ordinary Syrians, for the first time in generations, "feel that they are liberated and they are proud of where they are today." Current estimates put the number of forced disappearances under the Assad government at 300,000 likely tortured in prisons and buried in mass graves. We discuss Syria's new transitional government, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and whether it can fulfill its promises of inclusion and accountability for all Syrians. "There's no way for peace and stability to happen in Syria without a prosecution, without a legal system that will hold those who have blood on their hands accountable, for the sake of reconciliation in the country," says Sinjab.
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Dec 26, 2024
After a 15-year career in the Foreign Service, Michael Casey resigned from the State Department in July over U.S. policy on Gaza and is now speaking out publicly for the first time. He was deputy political counselor at the United States Office for Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem for four years before he left. Casey says he resigned after "getting no action from Washington" for his recommendations on humanitarian actions for Palestinians and toward a workable two-state solution. "We don't believe Palestinian sources of information," Casey says about U.S. policymakers. "We will accept the Israeli narrative over all others, even if we know it's not correct." He also discusses what to expect for Gaza under the incoming Trump administration.
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Dec 26, 2024
Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill Dozens, Including Five Journalists; Three Babies Freeze to Death, Russia Launches Massive Christmas Attack on Ukraine's Energy Grid, Azerbaijani Airlines Crash in Kazakhstan Leaves Behind 38 Dead, 29 Survivors, Turkey's Erdogan Threatens to "Bury" Syrian Kurds Unless They Lay Down Arms, Dozens Killed in Violence Across Mozambique Following Disputed Election Result, Gunmen Kill 2 Haitian Journalists Covering Reopening of Port-au-Prince Hospital, Judge Voids Arkansas Law Criminalizing Booksellers and Librarians Providing "Harmful" Books to Minors
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