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Dec 03, 2024
"Canada needs to stop arming Israel and implement an immediate arms embargo." In Ottawa, over 100 Jewish activists began a sit-in inside a Canadian parliamentary building Tuesday to demand Canada stop arming Israel. Rachel Small, a member of the Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition and a member of the sit-in, says that the Canadian government's claims that it is halting arms shipments to Israel are obfuscating the fact that Canadian weapons are still being transported via the United States. "We're here to make sure that they … actually cut off the flow," says Small. Such protest "is what we should be seeing more of," adds Israeli journalist and former conscientious objector Haggai Matar.
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Dec 03, 2024
We're joined in our New York studio by 972 Magazine journalist Haggai Matar to discuss the latest developments in Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. Matar is a former conscientious objector who previously refused to participate in Israel's mandatory military service during the Second Intifada. At the time, says Matar, he was protesting war crimes committed by former chief of staff of the Israeli military Moshe Ya'alon, who is currently making headlines again after accusing the Israeli military of war crimes. For the Israeli public, which doesn't "get the news that everyone else in the world is getting," Ya'alon "just sounds like a madman," says Matar. He urges protesters around the world to continue pressuring their governments and calling attention to Israel's "horrific acts of massacre and ethnic cleansing" in an ongoing effort to hold Israel accountable and end its aggression in the region.
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Dec 03, 2024
Despite committing to tackling mass incarceration during his presidential campaign, President Joe Biden has rarely used the presidential pardon to commute sentences during his time in office. As his term draws to a close and amid outrage over the pardon of his son Hunter, advocates are pressuring Biden — who has pardoned thousands who had been convicted of federal drug charges but were not incarcerated at the time of their pardons — to grant clemency to thousands more who are still in prison over cannabis offenses. The president has a chance to atone for his past support of "tough on crime" measures, says the Last Prisoner Project's Jason Ortiz. He says Biden has an opportunity of "correcting the injustices that were done over the past 20 or 30 years" and should "extend the same grace and compassion" he showed his son Hunter "to all the folks that he helped put in prison to begin with."
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Dec 03, 2024
President Biden is in Angola today in his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president and as the first U.S. president to visit the former Portuguese colony. The U.S. is attempting to transform its relationship with Angola, still marked by the legacy of the Cold War, in order to compete with China's growing influence, particularly over access to African resources. Biden is expected to promote a U.S.-funded multibillion-dollar railway project connecting Angola to Central Africa. Biden's approach will likely further entrench Angola in its "profound economic crisis," says Angolan anthropologist António Tomás, as foreign loans mire the country's government in even higher levels of debt while enriching elites. "This visit has excluded the majority of Angolans," says Zenaida Machado, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in the region. Machado speaks to Democracy Now! from the neighboring country of Mozambique, another former Portuguese colony, where protests over election results are continuing for the second straight month.
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Dec 03, 2024
Israel Kills 12 in Renewed Attacks on Southern Lebanon, Threatening to Unravel Ceasefire, Israeli Attacks on Gaza Lead to World's Highest Rate of Child Amputees, U.N. Says, Trump Threatens "Hell to Pay" as Hamas Says 33 Hostages Were Killed by Israeli Airstrikes, 14-Year-Old Becomes Youngest-Ever Palestinian Sentenced to Prison by Israel, Biden Administration "Surges" Weapons to Ukraine Ahead of Trump's Inauguration, Trump's DOD Nominee Ducks Questions About Corruption, Drunkenness and Sexual Harassment, Delaware Judge Again Rejects Elon Musk's $56 Billion Tesla Pay Package, Small Island States Bring Landmark Climate Case to World Court, Australia Bans Social Media Use for Children Under 16, Tens of Thousands Strike at German Volkswagen Plants to Oppose Wage Cuts and Factory Closures, Wisconsin Judge Strikes Down Ban on Collective Bargaining for Public Unions
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Dec 02, 2024
Syrian opposition forces have seized most of Aleppo after launching a surprise offensive in recent days that ousted government forces from the country's second-largest city. The offensive is being led by an armed group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate that cut ties with them in 2017. Syrian and Russian forces have retaliated with airstrikes on rebel-held areas, with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting 446 deaths in Syria since Wednesday. The rebel advance into Aleppo is the most significant turn in the Syrian civil war since 2020, when rebel forces were forced to retreat to Idlib. The offensive was launched at a time when the key backers of Bashar al-Assad's government — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah — are also focused on other conflicts. "It was a surprise offensive that people did not expect at all," says Associated Press reporter Kareem Chehayeb.
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Dec 02, 2024
Israel killed more than 200 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including 40 members of a single family. The official death toll in Gaza is now over 44,000, although experts believe that is a vast undercount of the true figure. Israel's onslaught has continued to kill medical and aid workers in recent days, including three people with World Central Kitchen, the head of the intensive care unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital, a staff member with Save the Children, as well as Mahmoud Almadhoun, who co-founded the Gaza Soup Kitchen that has fed Palestinians suffering hunger due to Israel's blockade of vital food aid. Almadhoun was killed in an Israeli drone strike and is survived by seven children, including a newborn baby. His brother Hani Almadhoun joins Democracy Now! to discuss what he calls a targeted assassination. "My brother slowed down the ethnic cleansing of north Gaza, and that's why he was taken out," says Almadhoun. "This is a war against the civilians in Palestine."
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Dec 02, 2024
We speak with journalist Mehdi Hasan, founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo, about the incoming U.S. administration and President-elect Donald Trump's picks for key roles, including lawyer Kash Patel to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Trump reportedly considered Patel for FBI deputy director during his first term but dropped the idea after pushback from within his own administration. Hasan describes Patel as a "toady" whose threats against political opponents and journalists should be disqualifying, but that he aligns with Trump's goals of further politicizing the FBI. "He wants to use it as an instrument of vengeance."
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Dec 02, 2024
President Joe Biden on Sunday issued a "full and unconditional pardon" to his son Hunter, claiming the gun and tax cases against him — for which he faced possible prison time — were politically motivated. The outgoing president had repeatedly pledged not to use his office to help his son. Journalist Mehdi Hasan, founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo, says that while Biden's move makes him a liar and hypocrite, Republican outrage over the pardon is also "ridiculous" given how expansively Donald Trump is expected to use the same authority. Hasan also notes that there are 40 people on federal death row and thousands more serving prison time for cannabis offenses whom Biden could help. "There's so much a president could do with the presidential pardon power for good," he says.
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Dec 02, 2024
President Biden Pardons Hunter Biden After Repeatedly Vowing Not To, Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill Hundreds over Bloody Weekend, Incl. Aid Workers, ICU Director, Reporter, U.S. Approves More Arms for Israel as Netanyahu's Former Minister Says Israel Guilty of War Crimes, France Says Israel Has Violated Lebanon Ceasefire 52 Times, Syrian Rebels Capture Aleppo in Surprise Offensive; Russia-Backed Syrian Gov't Launches Air Attacks, NYPD Arrests 21 Anti-Genocide Protesters at Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Trump Picks Kash Patel, Who Has Called for Prosecuting Journalists, to Head FBI, Trump Names In-Laws Charles Kushner and Massad Boulos to High-Level Gov't Roles, New Details Reported on Pete Hegseth's Sexual Assault History, Ethics Violations, Prime Minister Trudeau and President Sheinbaum Speak with Trump Following Tariffs Threat, Biden in Angola to Push Rail Project That Would Transport Congolese Minerals, in Counter to Beijing, Chad Ends Military Partnership with Former Colonizer France, Mass Protests Roil Georgia Amid Disputed Election and Support for EU Membership, India Charges Activist Nadeem Khan in What Civil Rights Groups Call a "Witch-Hunt", "A Moral Failure": U.N. Plastics Summit Ends Without Urgently Needed Treaty on Plastics Production
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Nov 29, 2024
In Part 2 of our special broadcast, we look at a recent victory for Indigenous communities in Ecuador, where people overwhelmingly voted to approve a referendum last year banning future oil extraction in a biodiverse section of the Amazon's Yasuní National Park — a historic referendum result that will protect Indigenous Yasuní land from development. But the newly elected president, Daniel Noboa, has said Ecuador is at war with gang violence and that the country is "not in the same situation as two years ago." Noboa has said oil from the Yasuní National Park could help fund that war against drug cartels. Environmental activists and Indigenous peoples say they're concerned about his comments because their victory had been hailed as an example of how to use the democratic process to leave fossil fuels in the ground. "Amazonian women are at the frontlines of defense," says Nemonte Nenquimo, an award-winning Waorani leader in the Ecuadorian Amazon who co-founded Amazon Frontlines and the Ceibo Alliance. Her recent piece for The Guardian is headlined "Ecuador's president won't give up on oil drilling in the Amazon. We plan to stop him — again." Nemonte has just published her new memoir titled We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People. We also speak with her co-author and partner, Mitch Anderson, who is the founder and executive director of Amazon Frontlines and has long worked with Indigenous nations in the Amazon to defend their rights.
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Nov 29, 2024
In this special broadcast, we begin with an extended interview with Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha about the situation in Gaza and his new book of poetry titled Forest of Noise. He fled Gaza in December after being detained by the Israeli military, but many of his extended family members were unable to escape. He reads a selection of poems from Forest of Noise, while sharing the stories of friends and family still struggling to survive in Gaza, as well as those he has lost, including the late poet Refaat Alareer. He also describes his experiences in Gaza in the first months of the war, including being displaced from his home and abducted by the Israeli military, noting that the neighborhood in Jabaliya refugee camp that his family first evacuated to last year was bombed by the Israeli military just days ago. "Sometimes I want to stop writing because I'm repeating the same words, even though the situation is worse. The language is helpless," Abu Toha says. "Why does the world make us feel helpless?"
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Nov 28, 2024
As the war on Gaza spans a second year, we continue our conversation with the acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. His new book, The Message, is based in part on his visit last year to Israel and the occupied West Bank, where he says he saw a system of segregation and oppression reminiscent of Jim Crow in the United States. "It was revelatory," says Coates. "I don't think the average American has a real sense of what we're doing over there — and I emphasize 'what we're doing' because it's not possible without American support."
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Nov 28, 2024
We spend the hour with the acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose book The Message features three essays tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, book bans and academic freedom, and the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. The Message is written as a letter to Coates's students at Howard University, where he is the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair in the English department. As part of the research for the book, Coates traveled to Senegal and visited the island of Gorée, often the last stop for captured Africans before they were shipped to the Americas as enslaved people. Coates also visited a schoolteacher in South Carolina who faced censorship for teaching Coates's previous book, Between the World and Me, an experience he says showed him the power of organizing. "That, too, is about the power of stories. That, too, is about the power of narratives, the questions we ask and the questions we don't," Coates says of the community's response.
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Nov 28, 2024
Lakota historian Nick Estes talks about the violent origins of Thanksgiving and his book Our History Is the Future. "This history … is a continuing history of genocide, of settler colonialism and, basically, the founding myths of this country," says Estes, who is a co-founder of the Indigenous resistance group The Red Nation and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.
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Nov 27, 2024
Security forces in Pakistan arrested over 1,000 supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan during a march on the capital of Islamabad. Protesters had vowed to stage a sit-in until Khan — who has been imprisoned since August 2023 on what are widely viewed as politically motivated charges — was released, but ended their efforts after six people were killed. Our guest Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, who teaches political economy at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University, discusses the political maneuvering behind Khan's dramatic ouster and explains how Khan's image as an "outsider" in Pakistani politics contributes to his lasting public appeal.
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Nov 27, 2024
Next week, our guest Chase Strangio will make history as the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court. Strangio will argue on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBTQ & HIV Project that Tennessee's state ban on gender-affirming hormone therapies for transgender children is a form of sex discrimination. "Our hope is that the cultural anxiety about trans people … is not going to sway the justices from applying straightforward constitutional principles," says Strangio about the case. We also discuss recent cultural backlash against trans rights as part of an "approach to gender that is regressive and dangerous." The Democratic Party has been unwilling to provide a robust defense to conservative attacks on trans identity, says Strangio, ceding ground to the further loss of the community's civil rights and protections. Yet even as trans people are "demonized" and blamed for structural problems in the U.S., he adds, "We have always resisted. We have always taken care of each other. No matter what happens, that is what we'll do."
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Nov 27, 2024
We're joined by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy as we continue our conversation on the Israeli-Lebanon ceasefire. We take a look at the mood within Israel, where Levy characterizes the Israeli public as "sour" about what is seen as a premature deal. "They would like to see more blood, more destruction in Lebanon," says Levy. "Israel wants wars." This retributive stance is still being felt in Lebanon, adds writer Lina Mounzer, who says Lebanese people are "very terrified of the day after" and do not feel that they have been awarded peace, despite the terms of the ceasefire. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has unanimously voted to sanction the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, claiming that its editorials "have hurt the legitimacy of the state of Israel and its right to self defense." Haaretz has criticized the move, which comes just months after Israel banned the international media outlet Al Jazeera, as anti-democratic. Levy, a columnist for Haaretz, says the sanction makes it clear that Israelis cannot take the freedom of speech "for granted anymore."
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Nov 27, 2024
Nearly two months after Israel invaded Lebanon, a "fragile" ceasefire has been reached between Israel and Lebanon. Under the deal, Israel says it will withdraw troops from Lebanon's south over a 60-day period, though Lebanese writer Lina Mounzer says "this is already being contradicted by the behavior and the directives of the Israeli army," which continued to bomb Lebanese civilian areas through the waning hours of official hostilities. Thousands of displaced Lebanese are now returning to southern Lebanon, hoping that their homes are still standing. Many are mourning the nearly 3,800 Lebanese killed by U.S. weapons and Israeli warfare. While there is "relief" in the country, "people are finding it very difficult to celebrate," says Mounzer. "The grieving process begins now."
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Nov 27, 2024
Israel Halts Assault on Lebanon as Ceasefire Takes Effect, 2024 Becomes Deadliest Year for Humanitarian Aid Workers Due to Israel's Assault on Gaza, Trump Taps Kevin Hassett, Who Crafted 2017 Tax Cuts for the Rich, to Lead National Economic Council, Jay Bhattacharya, Who Argued Against COVID Interventions, Picked by Trump to Lead NIH, Trump Nominates Jamieson Greer, Who Helped Wage Trade War with China, as U.S. Trade Representative, Mexican President Blasts Trump's Pledge to Impose Tariffs, Warning Against Trade War, Texas Offers Trump Land for Mass Deportation Camps, Walmart Cancels Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives Amid Pressure from Republicans, Supporters of Imran Khan Call Off March on Islamabad After Deadly Crackdown, As Bird Flu Spreads on U.S. Factory Farms, CDC Confirms California Child Became Infected, U.K. Lawmakers Vote in Favor of Strict Limits on Cigarettes and Vapes
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Nov 26, 2024
We speak with journalist Keri Blakinger about a new documentary, I Am Ready, Warden, based partly on her reporting about death row prisoner John Henry Ramirez, who was sentenced to die for the 2004 murder of a convenience store clerk named Pablo Castro in Texas. While on death row, Ramirez became a devout Christian and sued for the right to have his pastor lay hands on him when he was ultimately executed in 2022. I Am Ready, Warden examines the forces of redemption and vengeance by following Ramirez, as well as the son of his victim, Aaron Castro, and Ramirez's own son and his supporters. The film was directed by Smriti Mundhra and is newly available on the Paramount streaming service. The film "really makes the viewer think about the circles of loss and trauma that come with every death row case and every execution," says Blakinger, who reported on the case for The Marshall Project. She is now an investigative journalist at the L.A. Times.
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Nov 26, 2024
We continue our conversation with Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O'Brien, who has written to President Joe Biden urging him for a number of policy changes before he leaves office in January. O'Brien's letter calls for Biden to stop arms transfers to Israel and use U.S. leverage to end the war in Gaza; transfer detainees out of the Guantánamo Bay military prison and close the facility; commute the death sentences of people on federal and military death row; and restore asylum rights, which the administration severely curtailed this year. "He could do so much more," O'Brien says of Biden's last weeks in office.
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Nov 26, 2024
With just weeks left in President Joe Biden's term, we speak with Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O'Brien, who has written to the outgoing president urging him to "change course on critical human rights" before the end of his term in office. One of his key demands is for Biden to free Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has been imprisoned for decades and repeatedly denied parole. Peltier recently turned 80 and has always maintained his innocence for the 1975 killing of two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His conviction was riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. "It's time to give him a chance to spend his last days with his family and with his community," says O'Brien. "He's been incarcerated as long as Joe Biden has been in national politics."
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Nov 26, 2024
Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 3,700 people in Lebanon, with most of the deaths occurring over the past 10 weeks. The attacks have forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes in Lebanon, where Israel has also repeatedly targeted journalists. In a new report, Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing an apparent war crime by killing three journalists and injuring four others last month, when it bombed the Hasbaya Village Resort in southern Lebanon, where more than a dozen journalists had been staying. The attack killed Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda, both from Al Mayadeen TV, and Wissam Kassem, a cameraman from Al-Manar TV. Human Rights Watch has revealed Israel used an airdropped bomb equipped with a U.S.-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kit. "Journalists are civilians, and deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime," says Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kaiss.
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Nov 26, 2024
Israel Continues Deadly Assault on Lebanon as Cabinet Votes on Ceasefire Deal, Israeli Attacks Kill 14 in Gaza; Bezalel Smotrich Calls for Palestinian Population to Be Halved , Jack Smith Drops Federal Charges Against Trump over Stolen Documents and Attempted Coup, Trump Vows Heavy Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on First Day Back in Office, Trump's Immigration Czar Warns Governors of Sanctuary States, "Get the Hell Out of the Way", Trump Adviser Boris Epshteyn Sought Bribes for Potential Appointees, Russia Launches Largest Drone Attack on Ukraine Since 2022 Invasion, Romanian Far-Right Candidate Takes Surprise Lead in Presidential Election, Pakistani Soldiers Open Fire on Supporters of Imran Khan Calling for His Release from Prison, At Least the 3 Pregnant Texas Women Died After Being Denied Proper Care Since Abortion Ban, French Prosecutors Demand 20-Year Sentence for Man Who Invited 50 Men to Rape His Wife , Thousands March in Spain to Demand an End to Violence Against Women, Gaza Genocide
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Nov 25, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a key architect of the right-wing Project 2025 planning document, Russell Vought, to return as head of the Office of Management and Budget. The Trump loyalist wrote the chapter of Project 2025 that lays out how to redefine the executive branch by firing thousands of civil servants. He has also supported deploying the military domestically. ProPublica reporter Molly Redden has recently published an investigation on Vought and the ideology he will bring to Washington, D.C. She explains that as head of OMB, Vought will be able to push Trump's anti-regulatory agenda and help him to ignore Congress, concentrating power in the hands of the executive branch.
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Nov 25, 2024
We continue our coverage of the COP29 U.N. climate summit hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, wth a look at Azerbaijan's treatment of the country's Armenian minority population. Last year, the Azerbaijani government ethnically cleansed Armenians from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, leading to the forced expulsion of some 100,000 Armenians from the enclave and gruesome human rights violations, including cultural erasure and the torture and mass killing of civilians. There are at least 23 known Armenian political prisoners currently held in Azerbaijan and many more who are not identified. These colonial policies against Armenians "started long ago," says Armenian climate and antiwar activist Arshak Makichyan. He calls out the silence of international actors on the persecution of Armenians during COP29, stating that "Azerbaijan was allowed to greenwash the genocide" while "we continue to be threatened."
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Nov 25, 2024
After wealthy countries refused to agree to a $1 trillion proposal from developing countries facing the brunt of climate change's impacts, the COP29 U.N. climate summit concluded with a $300 billion climate finance deal that is "a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed." For more, we hear from two climate activists who attended the conference and were among those calling for wealthier countries to contribute more to a global green energy transition. Brandon Wu, the director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA, says the U.S. in particular owes "a climate debt to the rest of the world," yet has spent years performing a "great escape from [its] obligations" by avoiding and reneging on promises to commit its vast financial resources to fighting the climate crisis. We're then joined by Asad Rehman of War on Want and the Climate Justice Coalition, who further discusses the deal's shortcomings and what to expect from next year's conference in Brazil.
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Nov 25, 2024
Global South, Climate Groups Slam COP29 Deal as Another U.N. Climate Summit Ends in Disgrace, Kamal Adwan Hospital Director, Dr. Abu Safiya, Critically Injured by Israeli Drone Strike, Israel Continues Deadly Assault on Lebanon Even as News of Ceasefire Deal Emerges, Israel Likely Committed War Crime with U.S. Weapons by Targeting and Killing Journalists in Lebanon, "Another Step in Netanyahu's Dismantling of Democracy": Haaretz Newspaper Slams Israeli Sanction, More Trump White House Picks Announced, Incl. Project 2025 Co-Author Russell Vought as Budget Chief, Far-Right Pundit Sebastian Gorka Returns to Trump WH, Recently Claimed Palestine Doesn't Exist, Trump Transition Raises Ethics Flags as He Announces Picks for Public Health, Housing, Agriculture, Sentencing Indefinitely Postponed in Trump's New York Election Interference Hush Money Conviction, Center-Left Candidate Yamandú Orsi Wins Uruguayan Presidency, Pakistani Authorities Lock Down Islamabad Amid Massive Protests Demanding Release of Imran Khan, Philippine VP Sara Duterte Threatens to Assassinate Pres. Marcos During Live-Streamed Briefing, 1,500 March in South Korea as Global Plastics Treaty Talks Get Underway, Climate Activists Blockade World's Largest Coal Port in Australia
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Nov 22, 2024
Donald Trump has tapped a new loyalist to head the Department of Justice, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who served on his defense team during his first impeachment trial and now works at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. Bondi previously dropped a probe into Trump University in 2013 after Trump's family foundation donated $25,000 to her campaign. This comes after Trump's first pick, former Florida Congressmember Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration Thursday amid a firestorm over allegations of sex trafficking involving a 17-year-old girl. "In Pam Bondi, Donald Trump has just the person he really wants: someone who will be a lapdog when it comes to wrongdoing by those people he likes and wants to insulate and protect, and a vicious attack dog for anybody Donald Trump wants to seek revenge against," says Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump for decades.
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Nov 22, 2024
The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would empower the Treasury Department to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit it deems has provided material support to a terrorist organization. A broad coalition of civil society groups have opposed the bill, warning that it would give the Trump administration sweeping powers to crack down on political opponents. H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, passed the House 219 to 184 largely along party lines, with 15 Democrats supporting the Republican majority. "This bill is essentially a civil rights disaster," says Darryl Li, an anthropologist, lawyer and legal scholar teaching at the University of Chicago. Li, who recently wrote a briefing paper on the anti-Palestinian origins of U.S. terrorism law, says "anti-Palestinian racism is one of the great bipartisan unifiers in Congress."
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Nov 22, 2024
We speak with the celebrated Palestinian human rights lawyer Raji Sourani after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza. Israel called it "an antisemitic decision," and the Biden administration said it rejects the charges on the grounds that the ICC does not have jurisdiction. But many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and the Netherlands, have vowed to comply with the court's decision, which obligates states party to the Rome Statute that established the court to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they enter their territory. Sourani, now in Cairo after fleeing Gaza when his house was bombed by Israel, applauds the ICC for withstanding intense pressure from Israel and the United States to carry out its mandate. "They feel they are fully immune, they are free to do whatever they can, they will never be held accountable, and why their appetite for crimes [is] growing like a snowball every day," Sourani says of the Israeli government.
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Nov 22, 2024
Broadcasting from Baku, Azerbaijan, on the final official day of this year's finance-themed United Nations climate summit, we look at how climate justice activists are outraged at how little money is being offered by the most polluting nations to countries most severely affected by climate change. We speak with Mohamed Adow, founding director of Power Shift Africa, and Claudio Angelo, head of international policy at the Brazilian Observatório do Clima (Climate Observatory), who describe the latest text as "a great swindle" and "totally unacceptable."
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Nov 22, 2024
On the final official day of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, it is still unclear if this year's United Nations climate summit will lead to an agreement before the end of the official conference or if talks will extend into the weekend. The COP29 presidency has released a draft text that calls for a $1.3 trillion in annual climate financing by 2035, but it only obligates rich countries to provide $250 billion of that total. Climate justice activists and members of civil society who held a protest at COP29 on Friday say that amount falls far short of what's needed, demanding "trillions, not billions." Democracy Now! was there.
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Nov 22, 2024
COP29 Latest Draft Calls for $1.3T in Climate Funding, But Civil Society Orgs Say It Falls Far Short, Israel's Genocide in Gaza Continues After ICC Arrest Warrants, with Attacks on Hospital, Shelters, Israeli Airstrikes in Lebanon Level Beirut Building, Kill 2 More Paramedics, Trump Taps Ex-Impeachment Lawyer, Ex-Florida AG Pam Bondi to Lead DOJ After Matt Gaetz Withdraws, U.S. House Passes Bill Allowing Trump to Silence Critics, Label Nonprofits as Terror Groups, Brazil's Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro Indicted over 2022 Coup Plot Against Rival Pres. Lula, Kremlin Says It Fired New Hypersonic Missile, Not ICBM, in Attack on Dnipro, Ukraine, 42 Shia Muslims Killed in Attack on Convoy in Pakistan's Northwest, U.S. Prosecutors Indict India's Wealthiest Man, Gautam Adani, on Bribery Charges, New York Union Members Join Climate Activists Calling for 15 Gigawatts of Renewable Energy, Family and Supporters Demand Justice for Kansas City-Area Mother and Baby Killed by Police, National Book Award Winner Lena Khalaf Tuffaha Calls on Writers to Oppose Israeli's Genocide
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Nov 21, 2024
At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, civil society members held a People's Plenary called "Pay Up, Stand Up: Finance Climate Action, Not Genocide" outside negotiation rooms in which U.N. member states attempted to hammer out a global climate finance deal. In the face of the conference's restrictions on protest, civil society members unfurled the names of Palestinians who have been killed, reading out the names of those killed by Israel's military aggression and calling for an end to ecocidal violence worldwide. We hear from three people who participated in the action, including Palestinian activist Jana Rashed and Sudanese activist Leena Eisa — both of whom call on nations to stop providing fuel for genocides being perpetrated against Palestinian, Lebanese and Sudanese people — and the plenary's co-chair Lidy Nacpil, who calls the gathering a "celebration" of marginalized voices at the climate summit.
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Nov 21, 2024
We continue our look at COP29's ongoing negotiations for an international climate finance agreement, which is still under contention as of Thursday morning due in large part to wealthy countries' refusal to commit to a proposed monetary target on the financing of developing nations' transition from fossil fuels. Countries that have already industrialized off the backs of fossil fuel exploitation have a "responsibility" to offset these "injustices," according to Indian climate activist Harjeet Singh. "Developed countries are trying to pose themselves as climate leaders … but back home they're expanding fossil fuels," says Singh. "The core of the issue remains finance. Unless money is put on the table, the transitioning away from fossil fuels is not going to be a reality in developing countries."
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Nov 21, 2024
As the U.N. climate summit nears its close, we examine a proposed climate finance deal that is already being contested by participants. Among the major issues is the absence of a firm number in the draft text on how much rich countries will pay. Poorer nations bearing the brunt of the climate crisis say at least $1.3 trillion a year is needed, a target that comprises just 1% of the global economy. "We're here to negotiate a global settlement on climate finance, which is all about getting the funds that the poor world needs in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions, shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather driven by the climate crisis," explains our guest Fiona Harvey, a longtime environment editor at The Guardian. Developed countries' resistance to shifting their methods of industrial development, as well as the outsized role of fossil fuel lobbyists at the summit, has led to a deal that satisfies no one. However, says Harvey, for as long as their investment in fossil fuels creates the very problem "we are trying to solve," it is crucial that wealthy nations commit to setting aside funding for poorer nations, as "the future of these countries depends on getting this finance."
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Nov 21, 2024
Just hours after the United States vetoed yet another U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected three resolutions supported by less than two dozen Democratic senators that sought to block the sale of U.S. tank rounds, bomb kits and other lethal weapons to Israel. HuffPost correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed reveals that the White House lobbied against the Senate resolutions and suggested that lawmakers who support blocking arms sales to Israel were aiding Hamas. In the face of such stringent opposition from Democratic leadership, even partial support from party members is "historic and symbolic." As the Biden administration continues "working hand in glove" to provide weapons and rhetorical cover for Israel's genocidal war, says Ahmed, such willingness to buck the status quo proves dissatisfaction with the U.S.'s role is "not going away."
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Nov 21, 2024
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Israel's assault on Gaza. The court also issued a warrant for Hamas's military chief Mohammed Deif, whom Israel said they killed in August. This is a major development on the international stage, says HuffPost correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed, particularly in its implications for U.S. culpability in Israeli war crimes. The Biden administration, as Netanyahu's "ultimate enabler," is visibly "totally alone" in its refusal to recognize Israel's crossing of "red lines," as even its ally nations who are party to the ICC are now legally required to cooperate with the court's decision.
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Nov 21, 2024
ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Sanders's Senate Resolutions Blocking Arms Transfers to Israel Fail But Gain Unprecedented Support, Israeli Soldiers and Settlers Continue Assault on West Bank Palestinians, Israeli Strikes Kill 36 in Syria, 9 in Lebanon as Hezbollah Responds to U.S.-Led Ceasefire Proposal, U.S. Stands Alone in Vetoing Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at U.N. Security Council for Fourth Time, Kyiv Says Russia Launched ICBM for 1st Time as Ukraine Uses U.S.- & U.K.-Supplied Missiles in Russia, COP29 Draft Deal Stirs Anger; Ukraine and Palestine Lay Out Wars' Climate Devastation, Doctors Without Borders Suspends Aid Operations in Haiti as Violence Roils Port-au-Prince, Brazil and China Deepen Ties with New Trade and Development Deals, Greek Workers Hold 24-Hour General Strike to Protest High Cost of Living, Trump Taps Loyalist Matthew Whitaker as U.S. NATO Envoy, Project 2025 Author Russ Vought for OMB, House Will Vote Again on Bill Granting President the Power to "Kill Nonprofits", DOJ Asks Court to Break Up Google's Internet Search Monopoly
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Nov 20, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped several TV personalities for key posts in his incoming administration, including Dr. Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency that oversees health coverage for 150 million people. Oz, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022, supports privatizing Medicare. "His background really has nothing to do with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services," says Dr. Robert Steinbrook, director of the Health Research Group for Public Citizen.
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Nov 20, 2024
President-elect Trump has announced his nomination of billionaire Linda McMahon to head the Department of Education, which Trump has pledged to shut down. McMahon is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and also headed the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term. "President-elect Trump has a habit of choosing people who have either a desire to destroy the department or who have no experience. She falls into the latter category: She does not have any experience in education," says education historian Diane Ravitch, who served as assistant secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush.
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Nov 20, 2024
We continue to look at the attacks on civil society in Azerbaijan leading up to the COP29 U.N. climate summit. The government's crackdown has included the arrests of local journalists, including several with the independent outlet Abzas Media. Since November of last year, at least six of their reporters have been arrested on trumped-up charges of smuggling foreign currency into the country. Leyla Mustafayeva, the outlet's acting editor-in-chief, speaking from Berlin, lays out how there has been a "total crackdown on Azerbaijani media" over the last year.
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Nov 20, 2024
As we broadcast all week from COP29 in Baku, climate justice activists and civil society groups have raised concern over Azerbaijan's role as host of the U.N. climate talks. The authoritarian country has cracked down on journalists, activists and government critics leading up to COP29 and has been accused of using the climate summit to drum up business for its oil and gas industry. On Wednesday, Democracy Now! attended a news conference led by Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiev, who is the COP29 lead negotiator, but who refused to answer a question about the arrests. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman later tried to ask Rafiev in the halls of the convention venue, but he again refused to answer.
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Nov 20, 2024
As we broadcast all week from COP29 in Baku, climate justice activists and civil society groups have raised concern over Azerbaijan's role as host of the U.N. climate talks. The authoritarian country has cracked down on journalists, activists and government critics leading up to COP29 and has been accused of using the climate summit to drum up business for its oil and gas industry. On Wednesday, Democracy Now! attended a news conference led by Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiyev, who is the COP29 lead negotiator, but who refused to answer a question about the arrests. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman later tried to ask Rafiyev in the halls of the convention venue, but he again refused to answer.
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Nov 20, 2024
As we broadcast all week from COP29 in Baku, climate justice activists and civil society groups have raised concern over Azerbaijan's role as host of the U.N. climate talks. The authoritarian country has cracked down on journalists, activists and government critics leading up to COP29 and has been accused of using the climate summit to drum up business for its oil and gas industry. On Wednesday, Democracy Now! attended a news conference led by Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiyev, who is the COP29 lead negotiator, but who refused to answer a question about the arrests. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman later tried to ask Rafiyev in the halls of the convention venue, but he again refused to answer.
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Nov 20, 2024
As Democracy Now! continues to broadcast from the U.N. climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, we speak with Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad, who chairs Colombia's delegation here at COP29. She calls the return of Donald Trump to the White House "a disaster for global climate" due to his promise to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement again, discusses Colombia's plan to phase out fossil fuels despite being a major exporter of coal, and says a recent biodiversity conference held in Colombia could point the way for how to finance a green energy transition. Muhamad, who is of Palestinian heritage, also discusses Colombia's decision to suspend coal exports to Israel earlier this year. "We are calling other countries to not supply … fossil fuel energy that is used in genocide," Muhamad tells Democracy Now!
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Nov 20, 2024
U.S. Shuts Embassy in Kyiv, Citing Possible Imminent Russian Attack, Biden Approves Transfer of New Type of Landmines to Ukraine, Crowds of Hungry Palestinians Queue for Food Amid Shortage of Flour Due to Israeli Siege, Al Jazeera Reporter Injured After Israel Struck Gaza Home Following Earlier Attack, Protests Rock Senate Office Building Ahead of Vote on U.S. Military Aid to Israel, Trump Taps TV Personality Dr. Oz to Lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Trump Taps Wrestling Mogul Linda McMahon for Education Secretary, Billionaire Howard Lutnick for Commerce, Leaked Records Show Matt Gaetz Sent $10,000 to Two Women Who Testified He Paid Them for Sex, L.A. City Council Adopts Sanctuary City Ordinance, GOP Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Incoming Trans Colleague from Using Women's Bathroom, Texas Board of Education Wants Bible Lessons in Public Schools
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Nov 19, 2024
The search for an energy alternative to fossil fuels has renewed interest in nuclear power production across the globe. Despite nuclear boosters' promotion of the energy source, Tim Judson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service calls nuclear power an "elaborate greenwashing scheme." Nuclear is "not carbon-free," says Diné organizer Leona Morgan, who highlights the fuel costs and environmental contamination — particularly within and around Indigenous communities in the southwest United States — of the uranium mining required to produce nuclear power. Because the carbon costs before and after nuclear generation are not factored into energy calculations, says Morgan, "it's really not going to solve the energy crisis."
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Nov 19, 2024
Tech companies are turning to nuclear to fulfill the skyrocketing energy needs of artificial intelligence, with major corporations like Amazon, Google and Microsoft announcing plans to invest in nuclear power. But the speed at which energy needs are growing may not align with the construction or revitalization of nuclear infrastructure, says Alex de Vries, who researches the unintended consequences of AI and cryptocurrencies. There may be a "mismatch between the needs of tech companies today" and the future, while nuclear power continues to carry the same safety risks that led to its phasing out in the first place.
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Nov 19, 2024
In Baku, Azerbaijan, Democracy Now! continues our coverage of the 2024 U.N. climate summit and its host country's record on human rights. "Considering that our economy is completely relying on oil and gas sales and the COP29 is a great place to have a lot of oil and gas lobbyists, it's actually a great chance for the Azerbaijani government to have more oil and gas contracts … and then to enrich the regime itself," says Zhala Bayramova, a human rights lawyer focused on LGBTQ rights now. Their father Gubad Ibadoghlu is one of hundreds of Azerbaijani political prisoners targeted for his criticism of corruption and the fossil fuel industry. Ibadoghlu and his wife were violently assaulted and threatened last July, and Ibadoghlu has been detained ever since. "The reason that they did this, the way that they physically assaulted my parents and brutally attacked them, is because they wanted to show everybody and to create also a chilling effect," says Bayramova, who notes that the country's arrests of activists appear to have aligned with its preparations to host the U.N. climate summit, as the regime sought to "clean up the streets."
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Nov 19, 2024
Israeli Strike on Northern Gaza Kills 17 Family Members of Doctor's Family, U.N. Committee on Palestinian Rights Warns Israel's Assault on Gaza Has "Characteristics of Genocide", UNICEF Warns Israeli Attacks Have Killed Over 200 Children in Lebanon, Senate to Vote on Resolutions to Block U.S. Arms Sales to Israel, Kremlin Says Ukraine Fired U.S.-Supplied ATACMS at Russia as Putin Issues New Nuclear Doctrine, Trump Taps Fox News Personality and Climate Conspiracist Sean Duffy as Transportation Sec., Woman Testified to House Committee She Saw Matt Gaetz Have Sex with a Minor, Trump Confirms Plans to Deploy Military Resources in Mass Deportation Campaign, New Wave of Harassing Text Messages Target Latinx and LGBTQ People, House GOP Weighs Austerity Measures, New Restrictions on Medicaid and SNAP, COP29 Negotiators at Odds over Carbon Markets Which Allow Polluters to Greenwash Emissions, Hong Kong Court Sentences 45 Pro-Democracy Activists in Landmark National Security Trial, 42,000 People Call on New Zealand to Respect Treaty of Waitangi in Historic Protest
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Nov 18, 2024
As we broadcast all week from the COP29 talks in Azerbaijan, we look at what Donald Trump's reelection as U.S. president means for the climate. Clean energy and environmental advocates are raising alarm over Trump's picks for key roles in his administration, including fracking magnate Chris Wright to serve as energy secretary and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department, where he could greatly expand drilling on federal lands. Burgum, a major ally of the fossil fuel industry, was also tapped to head a newly created National Energy Council aimed at increasing oil and gas production. For more on the White House transition, we speak with Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Natural Resources Defense Council Action. He calls Trump's picks "deeply troubling" but says there is still room for optimism. "The clean energy transition in the United States is unstoppable. It's going to hit some speed bumps now, but it will move forward," says Bapna.
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Nov 18, 2024
As we broadcast this week from the U.N. climate talks in Baku, human rights groups have warned of Azerbaijan's escalating crackdown on civil society groups, government critics and the press. Since the announcement last year of Azerbaijan as the host of COP29, dozens of activists and journalists have been arrested, arbitrarily detained or prosecuted on "bogus charges," says Giorgi Gogia, associate director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch. "Azerbaijan has had an abysmal rights record for many years, but it has dramatically deteriorated in the run-up to COP29," states Gogia, who joins us from Tbilisi, Georgia, and co-authored the recent HRW report titled "'We Try to Stay Invisible:' Azerbaijan's Escalating Crackdown on Critics and Civil Society."
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Nov 18, 2024
We are broadcasting live from the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, which has entered its second and final week, and already there is frustration over a lack of progress on the key issue of financing the energy transition and climate adaptation in Global South countries. Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want and lead spokesperson for the Climate Justice Coalition, says this year's summit is supposed to be "the finance COP" and calls for about $5 trillion a year in financing, but "rich, developed countries are putting pennies on the table." He also addresses the overwhelming presence of industry lobbyists at the annual summits and calls from some activists to boycott the talks. "If we, as civil society, weren't here also holding the feet of Global North governments to the fire, we would see much worse outcomes than we are seeing already," says Rehman.
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Nov 18, 2024
We are broadcasting live from COP29, the United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, where countries are shaping the world's response to the climate crisis. Despite pledges at last year's summit in Dubai to cut global emissions, the burning of coal, oil and gas has continued to rise as the world keeps breaking temperature records. This year's summit is also taking place under the shadow of a second term in the White House for Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and promised to take the United States out of the Paris Agreement and ramp up domestic fossil fuel production. Despite restrictions on demonstrations at COP29, climate justice activists have been taking a stand, including on Saturday when they held a silent protest in the halls of the conference venue to demand trillions in climate financing for the Global South to speed up the transition to clean energy. Democracy Now! was there, and we bring you some of their voices. "I'm here because I am trying to enhance my voice to talk about our people, our communities and why climate change [needs] to be treated urgently. We need the money. We need it now," says Juliana Melisa Asprilla Cabezas, an Afro-descendant climate activist from Colombia, referring to the push for a fair climate finance deal. "We are protesting here because we have discovered that there's more fossil fuel lobbyists attending the COP29, which means the voices of the voiceless will still be suppressed," adds Thabo Sibeko. Palestinian delegation member Akram Al-Khalili explains that a key demand is for a global energy embargo.
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Nov 18, 2024
Biden Gives Ukraine Go-Ahead to Strike Inside Russia with U.S. Long-Range Missiles, Pope Calls for Investigation into Gaza Genocide as Israel Kills Dozens More Palestinians Every Day, Israeli Strikes Kill Another 8 Paramedics in Lebanon, Hezbollah Media Chief, Protesters Arrested After Setting Off Flares Near Home of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, House GOP Working to Push Through Bill That Would Let Trump Shut Down Nonprofits, Trump Selects Fracking Exec. Chris Wright, Climate Crisis Denier, to Lead Energy Dept., WaPo: Defense Secretary Nominee Pete Hegseth Paid Off Woman He Sexually Assaulted in 2017, Trump Taps FCC's Brendan Carr, One of Project 2025's Authors, to Chair Communications Agency, Deadly Typhoon Man-yi Slams Philippines, Sixth Major Storm to Hit the Country in Past Month, COP29 Protesters Call for Energy Embargo over Gaza Genocide, Climate Catasrophe, Activists Take to Rio Streets as G20 Gets Underway in Brazil, Guatemala Court Reverses House Arrest Order for José Rubén Zamora, Sending Journalist Back to Prison, Las Vegas Police Kill Man Inside His Home After He Called 911 to Report a Break-in, DOJ Opens Civil Rights Probe into Sheriff's Deputy's Fatal Shooting of Sonya Massey in Her Own Home, Malcolm X's Family Files $100 Million Federal Lawsuit Against NYPD, CIA, FBI
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Nov 15, 2024
In the acclaimed new book Gaza Faces History, historian Enzo Traverso challenges Western attitudes toward Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza by reckoning with the larger historical context of the Holocaust and the Nakba. Traverso details how memorializing the Holocaust became a sort of "civil religion" that honored human rights and the values of Western liberal democracies after the Second World War. However, in recent decades, Traverso warns, "the memory of the Holocaust experienced a paradoxical metamorphosis, and it was weaponized by Israel and by most Western powers in order to become a policy of an unconditional support of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories." Witnessing this distortion of history, "I was shocked by the way in which many words, many concepts had been abused and misunderstood," says Traverso. "Now we are facing a paradoxical situation in which the perpetrator is Hamas and the Palestinians, and the victims are the Israelis. And this is a reversal of reality."
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Nov 15, 2024
Concerns are mounting over Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth. Hegseth is a vocal opponent of the military's multiculturalism and decision to allow women to serve in combat, promises to purge the military of generals disloyal to Trump and sports tattoos connected with neo-Nazi and white nationalist movements. "Here's a man who wrote a book declaring his intention to wage, not metaphorical, but actual war within the United States," says Jeff Sharlet, an expert on the rise of far-right extremism in the United States. Sharlet explains how Hegseth and Mike Huckabee, Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to Israel, have Christian nationalist and Christian Zionist views that ultimately work to whip up animosity toward domestic enemies of the far right.
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Nov 15, 2024
Public health officials are decrying President-elect Donald Trump for selecting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, Kennedy would head a sprawling agency that oversees drug, vaccine and food safety, as well as medical research. Kennedy is one of the nation's most prominent vaccine skeptics and has spread numerous public health conspiracy theories. Kennedy has claimed HIV may not cause AIDS. He claimed COVID-19 was designed to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. He has claimed chemicals in the nation's water supply are leading more children to be gay and transgender, and he's publicly spoken about removing fluoride from drinking water. "I can't think of a darker time for public health in America and globally than now," says Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University. "He has no fidelity to truth, to science. … He will make America sick, certainly not healthier again."
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Nov 15, 2024
Trump Taps RFK Jr., Vaccine Skeptic and Health Conspiracy Theorist, to Lead HHS, Trump Names Oil and Gas Industry Ally Doug Burgum to Oversee Interior Dept., Trump Elevates Personal Lawyers to Top Gov't Roles, House Dems Call for Release of Ethics Probe into Matt Gaetz, Israeli Airstrikes Devastate Beirut, Baalbek, Killing Dozens of People and Forcing 100,000s to Flee, Rashida Tlaib Calls on Blinken to Resign for Violating U.S. Laws on Aid and Arms Trade, Netanyahu's Aides May Have Doctored Phone Records on Israeli General's Pre-Attack Warning on Oct. 7, NYT: Elon Musk Secretly Met with Iranian Ambassador in NY; IAEA Visits Tehran over Nuclear Program, Sri Lanka's New President Receives Mandate for Leftist Economic Agenda After Parliamentary Victory, Biden in Lima for Last APEC Gathering as Peruvian Police Crack Down on Protests, EU Fines Meta over Facebook Marketplace Monopoly, Norway Apologizes to Indigenous Peoples for Forced Assimilation Policy, Thousands March to New Zealand's Capital to Oppose Rollback of Maori Rights, Gov. Kathy Hochul Revives NYC Congestion Charge Program Before Trump Comes into Office, The Onion Buys InfoWars in Bankruptcy Auction, Plans to Turn Conspiracy Outlet into Parody Site
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Nov 14, 2024
A federal jury in Virginia has ordered the U.S. military contractor CACI Premier Technology to pay a total of $42 million to three Iraqi men who were tortured at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. The landmark verdict comes after 16 years of litigation and marks the first time a civilian contractor has been found legally responsible for the gruesome abuses at Abu Ghraib. We discuss the case and its significance for human rights with Baher Azmy, the legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the Abu Ghraib survivors. "This lawsuit has been about justice and accountability for three Iraqi men — our clients, Salah, Suhail and Asa'ad — who exhibited just awe-inspiring courage and resilience," he says.
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Nov 14, 2024
We go to Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where we get an update from Arwa Damon of the humanitarian organization INARA on "deteriorating conditions" as Palestinians are "slowly exterminated" by disease and starvation caused by Israel's brutal siege. A special U.N. committee has found that Israel's actions in Gaza are "consistent with the characteristics of genocide." Palestinians in Gaza feel that "they are living through their own annihilation," says Damon. "There is actually a real sense that the worst is yet to come."
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Nov 14, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated far-right Florida Congressmember Matt Gaetz to serve as his attorney general. The selection of Gaetz, a staunch Trump loyalist, appears to signify Trump's intent to weaponize the Department of Justice to target political enemies. Gaetz has "no appreciable law enforcement experience," says Noah Bookbinder, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has sued the federal government for access to a DOJ investigation into allegations that Gaetz was involved in the sex trafficking of an underage girl. That investigation was not made public, and no federal charges were filed, but the House Ethics Committee launched its own inquiry into Gaetz, the status of which is now up in the air after Gaetz resigned on Wednesday. If approved as attorney general, Gaetz is likely to "take an ax to the nonpartisan functioning of the Justice Department," warns Zack Beauchamp, a senior correspondent at Vox. "His chief qualification … is his willingness to do whatever Donald Trump needs to be done." We also discuss the status of various other legal issues swirling around Trump and his supporters, including the Justice Department probes into Trump, the potential pardoning of January 6 insurrectionists and if Trump will abuse the presidential power of recess appointments when he takes office.
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Nov 14, 2024
U.N. Report Finds Israel's Assault on Gaza "Consistent with Genocide," Including Starvation Campaign, Israeli Airstrikes Pound Beirut; WaPo: Israel Planning to Offer Lebanon Ceasefire as "Gift" to Trump, U.S. and U.K. Carry Out More Airstrikes on Yemen, Senate GOP Pick John Thune as New Leader as PA Recount Could Extend Republican Majority to 53, Matt Gaetz Tapped by Trump to Head DOJ, Resigns from Congress Ahead of "Damaging" Ethics Report, Trump Taps Democrat Turned Trump Loyalist Tulsi Gabbard for Nat'l Intelligence Director, Trump's Pick to Lead U.S. Military Has Tattoos Linked to White Supremacists and Nazis, House Democrats Introduce Bill to Clarify Trump May Not Run for Third Term, Death Toll from Sudan's Civil War Is Far Higher Than Previously Known, Ambush on MSF Ambulance Kills 2 in Haitian Capital Amid Worsening Violence, Climate Activists Demand Wealthy Polluters "Pay Up" to Fund Adaptation and Resilience, CIA Officer on Trial for Leaking U.S. Documents Detailing Israel's Plans to Attack Iran, Airman Jack Teixeira Gets 15 Years in Prison for Leaking Classified Pentagon Documents, "A Toxic Media Platform": The Guardian Stops Posting on X, Citing Elon Musk's Influence
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Nov 13, 2024
The U.N. climate summit known as COP29 is underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, where negotiators are trying to make progress on reducing emissions and preventing the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Many activists, however, have criticized the decision to hold the talks in an authoritarian petrostate. The host country is also facing accusations that it is using the climate talks for business, after the head of the talks, Elnur Soltanov, was caught in a secret recording promoting oil and gas deals. That sting was organized by the group Global Witness, which put forward a fake investor. "In exchange for just the promise of sponsorship money, that got us to the heart of the COP29," says Lela Stanley, an investigator at Global Witness. "We need the U.N. to ban petro interests from sitting at the table, from influencing the COP."
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Nov 13, 2024
Environmental defenders are raising alarm over Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former New York Congressmember Lee Zeldin, who has a history of opposing critical environmental protections and clean energy job investments. Zeldin's nomination comes as Trump is reportedly discussing moving the EPA headquarters outside of Washington, D.C., which could lead to an exodus of staff and expertise from the agency. "I really don't think this is about government efficiency. I think this is about terrorizing the career staff," says Judith Enck, who served as a regional administrator of the EPA in the Obama administration.
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Nov 13, 2024
Arizona voters on Election Day approved a sweeping ballot measure that would allow state and local law enforcement to arrest immigrants suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border outside of ports of entry, while empowering state judges to order deportations. Proposition 314, which creates a series of state crimes targeting immigrants, is modeled after a similar measure in Texas known as S.B. 4 that is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Only certain portions of Prop 314 are scheduled to go into effect later this month, while the most harmful parts won't be enforced until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the Texas law. The measure has drawn comparisons to Arizona's controversial S.B. 1070, a 2010 law that also gave local police authority to arrest immigrants suspected of being undocumented, though large parts of it were later struck down by the Supreme Court. For more, we speak with Tucson-based activist Alejandra Pablos, who was targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for her activism and has been facing deportation proceedings for years. "People who are speaking out are the first to feel the chills," Pablos says of Trump's looming anti-immigrant crackdown. She urges the Biden administration to do what it can to mitigate the harm, including by closing deportation cases against people like her.
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Nov 13, 2024
Immigrant rights lawyers are preparing to fight back against Donald Trump's plans to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history once he takes office again in January. The president-elect has already named some leading anti-immigration figures for his incoming administration who will lead the plan, including former ICE head Tom Homan and his longtime aide Stephen Miller. Trump's picks were central in family separations, the Muslim ban, attacks on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and other anti-immigrant policies during the first Trump administration. Trump is also reportedly planning to greatly expand immigrant detention in private for-profit prisons, and during the campaign he spoke of invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up deportations. "We have been preparing nearly a year for this," says attorney Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, who argued some of the most high-profile immigration cases during the first Trump administration. He stresses that while groups like the ACLU will challenge the Trump administration in the courts, "it needs to be a national effort" to prevent abuses. "We are not opposed to basic immigration reform, but this cannot be a situation where we're just going after immigrants left and right."
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Nov 13, 2024
"Gravest International Crimes": U.N. Aid Chief Blasts Israel's Deadly Siege on Gaza , Biden Won't Enforce U.S. Law Requiring Halt of Arms to Israel Despite Clear Human Rights Abuses, Israeli Strikes Kill Dozens in Beirut Suburbs and Mount Lebanon Governorate, National Press Club's Press Freedom Award Goes to Wael al-Dahdouh for Gaza Coverage, Mike Huckabee, Who Declared "There's No Such Thing as a Palestinian," Named U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Trump Nominates Fox News TV Personality Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, John Ratcliffe, Who Defended Trump During Impeachment Hearings, Nominated as CIA Director, Trump Picks Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to Lead Drastic Overhaul of Federal Bureaucracy, Senate GOP Meets to Pick New Leader; House Freedom Caucus May Challenge Speaker Mike Johnson, House Fails to Pass Bill Granting President Sweeping Powers to Target Nonprofits, Jury Orders Military Contractor CACI to Pay $42 Million to Abu Ghraib Torture Survivors, Climate Campaigners Ask Scottish Court to Halt Development of Rosebank Oil Field
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Nov 12, 2024
American Coup: Wilmington 1898 premieres tonight on PBS and investigates the only successful insurrection conducted against a U.S. government, when self-described white supremacist residents stoked fears of "Negro Rule" and carried out a deadly massacre in Wilmington, North Carolina. Their aim was to destroy Black political and economic power and overthrow the city's democratically elected, Reconstruction-era multiracial government, paving the way for the implementation of Jim Crow law just two years later. We feature excerpts from the documentary and speak to co-director Yoruba Richen, who explains how the insurrection was planned and carried out, and how the filmmakers worked to track down the descendants of both perpetrators and victims, whose voices are featured in the film.
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Nov 12, 2024
Incoming President Trump's vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants when he starts his term has sent private prison stocks soaring. Immigrant rights advocates, including our guest, the executive director of Detention Watch Network, Silky Shah, are preparing for the Trump administration's threats of mass deportation, a central tenet of his presidential campaign. "The first Trump campaign was defined by the border wall, and this one is really defined by mass deportations," says Shah. If the Biden administration wants to protect immigrants' rights before Trump takes office, she adds, it must begin reducing detention capacity by "shutting down facilities now."
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Nov 12, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to appoint his former senior adviser Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller will play a key role along with Trump's border czar Tom Homan and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who will reportedly be the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Miller is the architect of Trump's anti-immigrant agenda, an avowed white nationalist and a man who is spurred by his "animus to the notion of the United States as a multicultural and multiethnic democracy," says author Jean Guerrero, author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. Guerrero says the Trump administration's "obsessive deportation" attempt to "radically reengineer the racial demographics of the United States" will "backfire" on the U.S. economy and destroy "the United States' global reputation as a safe haven for the persecuted."
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Nov 12, 2024
Israel Fails to Meet 30-Day U.S. Deadline to End Starvation Campaign in Northern Gaza , Israel Bombs Beirut Suburbs as Defense Minister Rules Out Ceasefire with Lebanon, Israel's Smotrich Lauds Trump's Victory, Orders Preparations to Illegally Annex West Bank, GOP to Retake House Majority, Cementing Party's Control Over All Branches of U.S. Government, Trump to Nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Trump Taps Rep. Elise Stefanik as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Trump Nominates SD Gov. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary, Trump Selects Foreign Policy Hawk GOP Rep. Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser, Ex-VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to Head Pentagon Transition Despite Mishandling Sexual Assault Report, White Nationalist Anti-Immigrant Adviser Stephen Miller to Return to Trump White House , Trump Taps Former Rep. Lee Zeldin to Lead EPA, Considers Moving the Agency from D.C., Trump Refuses to Sign Presidential Transition Ethics Agreement as Required by Law, House GOP Bill Would Grant President Power to Target Nonprofit Organizations, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé Sworn In as Haiti's Prime Minister, Promises New Elections, Firefighters Battle Blazes Across the Northeast as the U.S. Faces Record Drought, 2024 Was a "Master Class in Climate Destruction": U.N. Issues Dire Warning at COP29, Dutch Court Overrules Landmark Decision That Required Shell to Accelerate Emissions Cuts
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Nov 11, 2024
Dutch Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani discusses the violence that broke out last week between visiting Israeli soccer fans and pro-Palestinian protesters in Amsterdam. The Dutch authorities made over 60 arrests, and at least five people were hospitalized as a result of the clashes, which local and international leaders were quick to brand as antisemitic, even though observers in Amsterdam have said it was Israeli hooligans who instigated much of the violence. Rabbani says that while it's common for rival teams' fans to get into skirmishes, what happened in Amsterdam was different. "What we're talking about here in Amsterdam is not a clash between the hooligans of two opposing sides, but rather these Israeli thugs attacking people who, in principle, had nothing to do with the game, and then afterwards being confronted by their victims," Rabbani says.
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Nov 11, 2024
Dutch Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani discusses the violence that broke out last week between visiting Israeli soccer fans and pro-Palestinian protesters in Amsterdam. The Dutch authorities made over 60 arrests, and at least five people were hospitalized as a result of the clashes, which local and international leaders were quick to brand as antisemitic, even though observers in Amsterdam have said it was Israeli hooligans who instigated much of the violence. Rabbani says that while it's common for rival teams' fans to get into skirmishes, what happened in Amsterdam was different. "What we're talking about here in Amsterdam is not a clash between the hooligans of two opposing sides, but rather these Israeli thugs attacking people who, in principle, had nothing to do with the game, and then afterwards being confronted by their victims," Rabbani says.
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Nov 11, 2024
We speak with Dutch Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani about the latest developments in the Middle East as Israel continues its deadly assaults on Gaza and Lebanon. Qatar recently announced it will no longer act as mediator for ceasefire talks, saying the two sides were not serious about reaching a deal to stop the fighting. "This entire process from the outset has been a complete charade," Rabbani says of the U.S.-backed ceasefire negotiations, urging Egypt to follow suit and also stop acting as a mediator. Rabbani also discusses how a second Trump administration could deal with the region, saying Trump's "erratic" behavior makes predictions difficult, but that signs point to a more aggressive posture toward Iran.
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Nov 11, 2024
Thousands attended a Palestine Festival of Literature event about "America and the War on Palestine" at the historic Riverside Church in New York Sunday, featuring conversations about U.S. complicity in Israeli human rights abuses. The literary festival, known as PalFest, aims to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle through arts and letters. The acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates moderated the conversations, including one featuring the Palestinian human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat. "This is about all of us," says Erakat. "The fact that Palestinian children have been evaporated, beheaded, killed in NICU, their NICU system, rotted in NICU beds, right? And their parents have had to collect their flesh to weigh it in rice bags in order to bury them, right? At this point, there should have been mercy."
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Nov 11, 2024
Thousands attended a Palestine Festival of Literature event about "America and the War on Palestine" at the historic Riverside Church in New York Sunday, featuring conversations about U.S. complicity in Israeli human rights abuses. The literary festival, known as PalFest, aims to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle through arts and letters. The acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates moderated the conversations, including one featuring the Palestinian human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat. "This is about all of us," says Erakat. "The fact that Palestinian children have been evaporated, beheaded, killed in NICU, their NICU system, rotted in NICU beds, right? And their parents have had to collect their flesh to weigh it in rice bags in order to bury them, right? At this point, there should have been mercy."
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Nov 11, 2024
The FBI is investigating a spate of racist text messages targeting Black Americans in the wake of Donald Trump's election victory last week. The texts were reported in states including Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, addressing recipients as young as 13 by name and telling them they were "selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation" and other messages referencing slavery. For more, we speak with Robert Greene II, a history professor at Claflin University, South Carolina's first and oldest historically Black university in Orangeburg, where many students were targeted. "Initially when I heard about the texts, I thought it was a bit of a hoax, but … it quickly became clear that this wasn't just a Claflin problem, it was a national issue, as well," says Greene. We also speak with Wisdom Cole, senior national director of advocacy for the NAACP, who says "this is only the beginning," with a second Trump administration expected to attack civil rights and embolden hate groups.
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Nov 11, 2024
Ex-ICE Dir. Thomas Homan, Trump's Pick for "Border Czar," Says U.S.-Born Children Could Be Deported, Trump Poised to Sweep Swing States; Democrat Gallego Defeats Trump Ally Kari Lake in AZ Senate Race, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Not Resigning Before Biden Leaves Office, FBI Probes Racist Text Message Campaign Against Black Americans Referencing Slavery, Israel Kills Dozens of Members of the Same Family in Jabaliya as Genocidal Attacks Continue, Israel Kills at Least 4 More Palestinian Journalists in Gaza, Israeli Strikes Kill Dozens in Lebanon, Including 10 Paramedics, Kremlin Denies Reports of Trump-Putin Call as Ukraine and Russia Both Launch Drone Strikes, COP29 Kicks Off in Azerbaijan; Summit Leader Secretly Filmed Negotiating Fossil Fuel Deals, Greta Thunberg Shuns COP29, Calls for Protests Against Azerbaijan Human Rights Abuses, Amsterdam Police Crack Down on Pro-Palestinian Protesters After Israeli Hooligans Wreak Havoc in City, Haiti's Interim PM Ousted by Transitional Council as Violence, Humanitarian Crisis Worsens, Train Station Blast Kills 26 in Pakistan; Thousands Rally to Demand Release of Former PM Imran Khan
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Nov 08, 2024
Top U.N. officials are again warning that the entire Palestinian population in north Gaza is "at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence." At least 1,800 Palestinians have been killed, many of them children, since October, when Israel imposed a draconian siege and began an intensified campaign of ethnic cleansing on northern Gaza. Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council recently spent several days in Gaza. He describes what he saw as "devastation beyond belief," as Palestinians face "the most intense and most indiscriminate bombardment anywhere in the world in recent memory," coupled with the utter depletion of aid. Egeland pleads for the United States, the largest supplier of military funding and equipment to Israel, to condition its weapons to Israel, enforce the provision of aid and commit to ending Israel's assault. "It's not in Israel's interest to destroy its neighborhood in Gaza and in Lebanon. It will create new generations of hatred," Egeland says.
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Nov 08, 2024
In the wake of the reelection of Donald Trump, some of the richest people in the world saw their net worths soar as stock prices rapidly shot up. "What was different about this election was how central billionaires were in the entire political discourse," says The Lever's David Sirota, who joins Democracy Now! to discuss the outsized role of the super-rich in U.S politics, pointing out that both Trump and Kamala Harris campaigned heavily with billionaires, including Elon Musk and Mark Cuban. "These people are not giving money simply out of the goodness of their hearts. They want things. They have policy demands," Sirota says. "The investors, the donors, like billionaires, are looking for a return on their investment." Sirota, who previously worked as a communications adviser and speechwriter for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, also explains how Elon Musk's influence on Trump's campaign is a preview of the power he could wield if he ends up appointed to the Trump administration.
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Nov 08, 2024
"Why is it that the issues that most of the public agrees with — healthcare, living wages, voting rights, democracy — why is it that those issues weren't more up front?" We speak to Bishop William Barber about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's failed election campaigns, Donald Trump's election as president and the urgent need to unite the poor and working class. Barber is the national co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and a co-author of the book White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy. He urges the Democratic Party to recenter economic security and poverty alleviation in its platform and draws on historical setbacks for U.S. progressive policies to encourage voters to "get back up" and "continue to fight."
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Nov 08, 2024
Trump Taps Campaign Co-Chair Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff as His Electoral College Tally Hits 301, House Control Undecided with Republicans Leading Dems, Expanding Senate Control, "Project 2025 Is the Agenda": Trump Allies Gleefully Flaunt Far-Right Plans in Wake of Election, Judge Tosses Program That Would Allow Undocumented Spouses to Stay in U.S. During Legal Process, "We Are the Solution": New Yorkers Vow to Fight Trump's Anti-Immigrant Agenda, Israel Attacks Another School Shelter, Killing 12 Palestinians, as North Gaza Remains on Precipice, Israel Acquires 25 Boeing Fighter Jets, Paid For by U.S. as Part of "Aid" Package, Spain Rejects Arms Ships Headed for Israel; Canadian Palestinians Sue Trudeau Gov't over Genocide, New York Activists to Launch Hunger Strike for Gaza Outside U.N., Joining Global Protest Movement, Israel Kills More Civilians in Attacks on Lebanon, Levels Historic Structures, U.N. Report Finds Wealthy Nations Have Given a Pittance Toward Climate Finance Pledges, Unprecedented Wildfires in Bolivia Scorch 75,000 Acres of National Park, Mozambique Police Kill 5, Wound Scores in Latest Crackdown on Protests over Contested Election, Australia Poised to Restrict Social Media Use for Children Under 16
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Nov 07, 2024
Donald Trump has made the mass deportation of immigrants a centerpiece of his plans for a second term, vowing to forcibly remove as many as 20 million people from the country. Historian Ana Raquel Minian, who studies the history of immigration, says earlier mass deportation programs in the 1930s and '50s led to widespread abuse, tearing many families apart through violent means that also resulted in the expulsion of many U.S. citizens. "These deportations that Trump is claiming that he will do will have mass implications to our civil rights, to our communities and to our economy, and of course to the people who are being deported themselves," says Minian. She also says that while Trump's extremist rhetoric encourages hate and violence against vulnerable communities, in terms of policy there is great continuity with the Biden administration, which kept many of the same policies in place.
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Nov 07, 2024
With former U.S. President Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term, we speak with Pakistani author and columnist Fatima Bhutto. Bhutto is an award-winning author and writes a monthly column for Zeteo on world affairs. She criticizes Kamala Harris's campaign for relying heavily on celebrity endorsements and vague appeals to "joy" while silencing dissent on Gaza as the Biden administration continues backing Israel. "You don't need to be a man to practice toxic masculinity, and you don't need to be white to practice white supremacy," says Bhutto.
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Nov 07, 2024
We speak with historian Robin D. G. Kelley about the roots of Donald Trump's election victory and the decline of Democratic support among many of the party's traditional constituencies. Kelley says he agrees with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who said Democrats have "abandoned" working-class people. "There was really no program to focus on the actual suffering of working people across the board," Kelley says of the Harris campaign. He says the highly individualistic, neoliberal culture of the United States makes it difficult to organize along class lines and reject the appeal of authoritarians like Trump. "Solidarity is what's missing — the sense that we, as a class, have to protect each other."
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Nov 07, 2024
We speak with historian Robin D. G. Kelley about the roots of Donald Trump's election victory and the decline of Democratic support among many of the party's traditional constituencies. Kelley says he agrees with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who said Democrats have "abandoned" working-class people. "There was really no program to focus on the actual suffering of working people across the board," Kelley says of the Harris campaign. He says the highly individualistic, neoliberal culture of the United States makes it difficult to organize along class lines and reject the appeal of authoritarians like Trump. "Solidarity is what's missing — the sense that we, as a class, have to protect each other."
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Nov 07, 2024
Kamala Harris Concedes to Trump as Data Show Majority of U.S. Voting Groups Swung Right, Democrats Lose Montana Senate Seat, Hold On to Nevada & Michigan as Fate of House Remains Unknown, Puerto Rico's Third-Party Leftist Alliance Appears to Narrowly Lose Governorship to Trump Ally, Elon Musk Becomes Even Richer After Trump Win; Trump Reportedly Taps Brian Hook for State Dept., Special Counsel Jack Smith Winds Down Cases Against Trump, Who May Also Avoid NY and GA Trials, Immigrants Waiting Near U.S. Border Could Face Even More Treacherous Conditions with Trump in Power, Israeli Strikes Kill 27 Palestinians; Military Says It Won't Let Northern Gaza Residents Return, 40 Killed as Israel Bombs Lebanon's Beqaa Valley and City of Baalbek, North Korean Troops Enter Combat in Russia as Moscow and Pyongyang Agree to Mutual Defense Pact, German Coalition Government Collapses After Olaf Scholz Fires Finance Minister, Toxic Smog Shrouds Pakistan's Punjab, Leaving Hundreds Hospitalized with Respiratory Ailments, Thousands Ordered to Evacuate Southern California Wildfires, Hurricane Rafael Collapses Cuba's Power Grid, Made Vulnerable by U.S.-Led Embargo
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Nov 06, 2024
While Democratic candidates suffered major losses in this year's U.S. elections, elsewhere on the ballot voters supported liberal positions. In the wake of tightening federal and state restrictions on abortion, historic ballot measures enshrining the right to an abortion passed in seven states, while other initiatives to raise the minimum wage and codify marriage equality also won by wide majorities. We're joined by Chris Melody Fields Figueredo of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center to examine the role of ballot measures, a form of direct democracy, in elections, and why this "powerful tool" may be at risk as conservatives flood elected office. "Because we are resisting, we are winning on these progressive issues, they are trying to take that power away from us."
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Nov 06, 2024
Shortly after Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the U.S. presidential election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to social media to enthusiastically congratulate him. Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued its violent assault on Gaza, killing multiple Palestinians in strikes on apartment buildings and homes. We speak to Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri about what we know of Trump's pro-Israel policies and how Trump beat Kamala Harris for the presidency. "Trump out-dramatized Harris, and that's how he won," he says.
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Nov 06, 2024
Donald Trump's performance in the 2024 election surpassed expectations, with the candidate winning the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and picking up larger shares of more diverse segments of the electorate, including Black and Latino male voters. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a professor of African American studies at Princeton University, says the blame lies squarely on the Harris campaign, which refused to differentiate itself from unpopular incumbent President Joe Biden. "The problem here is with the leadership of the Democratic Party," adds John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation. Nichols and Taylor discuss how Democrats "demobilized" young voters and grassroots organizers, to their electoral detriment. "Donald Trump, as a president who has very few guardrails, has the potential to take horrific actions," says Nichols. For those seeking to oppose him, says Taylor, "There's a lot of rebuilding that has to be done."
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Nov 06, 2024
In the Arab American-majority city of Dearborn, Michigan, Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris by over six percentage points, with third-party candidate Jill Stein capturing nearly one-fifth of the vote. During the primary elections, a majority of Democratic voters in Dearborn selected "uncommitted" over then-presumptive nominee Joe Biden, citing disapproval of the president's handling of Israel's aggression in the Middle East. "Uncommitted" voters continued to press the Harris campaign to shift its Israel policy as the election went on, but were routinely ignored. Democrats "made a calculation that they did not need Arab American, Muslim American and Palestinian American voters," says Palestinian American organizer Linda Sarsour, who was in Dearborn on election night. We speak to Sarsour about the Harris campaign's failure to secure the support of a previously key part of the Democratic base. "We are going to be in big trouble, and I blame that solely on the Democratic Party and one of the worst campaigns I have seen in my 23 years in organizing."
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Nov 06, 2024
When Donald Trump reenters the White House, he will be met with a newly Republican-controlled Senate, consolidating power in the hands of a party now dominated by supporters of Trump. We take a look at the results of down-ballot races for the Senate and House, and the possibilities for congressional opposition to Trump's agenda with John Nichols, The Nation's national affairs correspondent. Nichols notes that losing Democratic Senate candidates missed opportunities to highlight working-class voters and economic issues, likely to their detriment.
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Nov 06, 2024
"This is a collapse of the Democratic Party." Consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader comments on the reelection of Donald Trump and the failures of the Democratic challenge against him. Despite attempts by left-wing segments of the Democratic base to shift the party's messaging toward populist, anti-corporate and progressive policies, says Nader, Democrats "didn't listen." Under Trump, continues Nader, "We're in for huge turmoil."
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Nov 06, 2024
Donald Trump has been reelected president of the United States. Ahead of Kamala Harris's expected concession speech, we speak to professors Carol Anderson and Michele Goodwin to discuss Harris's historic campaign — and historic loss. "The Confederacy won," says Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University. "It paints a picture of what Americans are willing to embrace," says Goodwin, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown and an expert on healthcare law, who warns of the public health dangers of a second Trump administration and discusses the election's implications for reproductive rights.
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Nov 06, 2024
Donald Trump Wins Presidency After Kamala Harris Underperforms in Swing States, Republicans Win Senate Majority for First Time Since 2020, House of Representatives Remains Up for Grabs as Vote Counting Continues, Voters in 7 States Approve Abortion Rights Measures; 3 Others Fail, Protests Erupt Across Israel After Netanyahu Fires War Chief Yoav Gallant, Palestinians Condemn Biden's Support for Israeli Military as Assault on Gaza Continues, Israeli Raids on Occupied West Bank Kill 8, Wound Child and Photojournalist, Israeli Strike on Residential Building Kills 20 in Beirut Suburb, NGOs Ask U.N. Human Rights Council to Probe Israel's Assault on Lebanon, U.K. Authorities Drop Terrorism Charges for Retired Academic Who Advocated for Palestinian Rights, Rudy Giuliani Empties Prized Possessions from Manhattan Home Following $148M Defamation Judgment
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Nov 05, 2024
As Latino voters are a key voting bloc in the 2024 presidential election in battleground states like Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania, they have been targeted by a rise in Spanish-language misinformation. Most of the false messaging disparages Kamala Harris and supports Donald Trump, says Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, host of Latino USA, which investigated the phenomenon in a new episode called "The Misinformation Web." She interviewed some of the content creators in this "blob" of online vitriol and says there is almost no effective content moderation online, nor many reliable fact-checking sources in Spanish to counter the lies.
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