Democracy Now!

Palestinian writer Tareq Baconi joins us to discuss his new memoir, Fire in Every Direction, a chronicle of his political and queer coming of age growing up between Amman and Beirut as the grandson of refugees from Jerusalem and Haifa. While LGBTQ+ labels have also been used by the West as part of empire," with colonial projects seeking to portray Native populations as backward and in need of saving, there's a beautiful effort and movement among queer communities in the region to reclaim that language," says Baconi. I identify as a queer man today as part of a political project. It's not just a sexual identity. It expands beyond that and rejects Zionism and rejects authoritarianism, and that's part of my queerness."Baconi also comments on the so-called ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the election of Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Palestinians are the ones that have to govern Palestinian territory, not this international force that comes in that takes any kind of sovereignty or agency away from the Palestinians," he says.

A new special report from Futuro Media follows the Trump administration's federal immigration raids and the growing community resistance against them. Taken: The Agents Raiding Communities and the People Trying to Stop Them" documents how Latinos in the U.S. are being racially profiled, kidnapped," denied due process and forced to sign their own removal orders. This is psychological terror," says investigative journalist Maria Hinojosa. Trump is saying we should have ethnic cleansing against Latinos and Latinas, if it hasn't gone far enough."Hinojosa also comments on the recent public sexual harassment of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the growing public profile of Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino.

Amid federal immigration raids in the Chicagoland area, the mayor of one Chicago suburb is on the frontlines of the anti-ICE protest movement. Mayor Daniel Biss says what he has seen of federal immigration raids in Evanston, Illinois, amounts to an invasion from our own federal government." His office is now launching investigations into reports of federal agents brutalizing and threatening community members. They appear to have just started beating people up for no reason," Biss says. If that was anybody except for a federal agent, they would be under arrest."

Israel Kills at Least Two Palestinians in Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israeli Forces Carry Out Raids in the Occupied West Bank, Killing a 15-Year-Old Boy, FAA Announces It Will Cut Traffic by 10% at 40 U.S. Airports Due to Government Shutdown, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Analysis: 5 Million People Will Receive No SNAP Benefits Despite Court Orders, Drone Strike Kills at Least 40 People at a Funeral in Sudan, DHS to End Deportation Protections for South Sudanese Immigrants, Federal Judge in Chicago Orders Authorities to Improve Conditions at Broadview ICE Jail, Federal Agents in Chicago Arrest Teacher at a Day Care in Front of Parents and Students, Federal Immigration Agents Arrest U.S. Citizen and Drive Off with His Daughter in Los Angeles, Mexican President Sheinbaum Presses Charges After Being Groped by a Man, California Republicans Sue to Block New Congressional Map Benefiting Democrats, Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Claims Trump Has Power to Impose Sweeping Tariffs, U.S. Asks U.N. Security Council to Lift Sanctions on Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa, NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani Pledges to Hold ICE Agents Accountable

We get an overview of how Democrats won big across the United States in Tuesday's elections, with Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts. Democratic Congressmember Mikie Sherrill won New Jersey's governor's race, and Abigail Spanberger flipped Virginia's governorship. In California, voters approved a new congressional map that could help Democrats pick up five additional congressional seats in a move to counter Texas's redistricting plan. Local races across the countries also saw widespread Democratic wins. Nichanian says he has never really quite seen this level of systematic win for pretty much anything that there was [for Democrats] to win."

At Zohran Mamdani's victory party at the Brooklyn Paramount on Tuesday night, Democracy Now! spoke with Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We're not going to be intimidated," Ocasio-Cortez said. We're going to fight for working families. We're going to stand with immigrants. We're going to stand with the diversity of this city."Brad Lander, former mayoral candidate who cross-endorsed with Mandani in the Democratic primary, commented on the power of having a Muslim New Yorker and a Jewish New Yorker say we are not going to allow Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams or Donald Trump or Elon Musk or Stephen Miller to weaponize fear and pit us against each other."This is such an incredible proof of concept of how to fight fascism," added the Canadian journalist, author and activist Naomi Klein.

Democracy Now! spoke with supporters celebrating Zohran Mamdani's win in the New York City mayoral race Tuesday night. Volunteers with the Democratic Socialists and other campaign organizers at the Brooklyn Paramount victory party described the night as surreal" and vowed to fight back against President Trump's agenda. Sumaya Awad, a NYC-DSA member, describes Zohran as a politician that doesn't put the platform and the mission at the expense of anyone."When people's needs aren't being met, they need an alternative, and so far, only the far right was providing an alternative in the form of authoritarianism, in the form of fascism, in the form of hate, turning against immigrants, against queer people, against Muslims," says Fahd Ahmed, director of DRUM Beats. What this campaign and our movement was able to do was offer a left alternative."

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral race, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo. A year ago, Mamdani was polling at just 1%, but on Tuesday he became the first New York mayoral candidate to win over a million votes since the 1960s. Mamdani won despite being vastly outspent by Cuomo, who was backed by a group of billionaires. We play part of Mamdani's victory speech to supporters at the Brooklyn Paramount, in which he vows to stand up to President Trump and acknowledges his unlikely path to Gracie Mansion: I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this."

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani Wins New York City Mayoral Race, Democrats Dominate First Major Elections of Trump's Second Term, Federal Shutdown Becomes Longest in U.S. History, Israel Continues Striking Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, U.N. Secretary-General Warns Sudan's Civil War Is Spiraling Out of Control", Pentagon Announces Another Deadly Strike on Alleged Drug Boat, NBC News: Trump Admin Looking into Possible U.S. Military Mission Inside Mexico, U.N.: World Likely to Surpass 1.5 Degrees Celsius Climate Goal

We speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis on the day they publish their new book, Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department, which looks at how the DOJ during the Biden administration was overly cautious in pursuing cases against Trump and his allies over 2020 election interference, the January 6 riot and more. Attorney General Merrick Garland felt it was important to turn the page from Donald Trump" and not look too closely at abuses of power, says Leonnig, who also stresses many stubbornly brave people ... tried to do the right thing and could not succeed in this institution."

Dick Cheney, the former vice president and one of the key architects of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, died Monday at age 84. Cheney served six terms in Congress as Wyoming's lone representative before serving as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush, when he oversaw the first Gulf War and the bloody U.S. invasion of Panama that deposed former U.S. ally Manuel Noriega. From 1995 to 2000, Cheney served as chair and CEO of the oil services company Halliburton, before George W. Bush tapped him as his running mate. As vice president, Cheney was a leading proponent of invading and occupying Iraq, which killed hundreds of thousands of people and destabilized the entire region. Dick Cheney also steadfastly defended warantless mass surveillance programs and the use of torture against detainees of the so-called war on terror. We speak with The Nation's John Nichols, author of multiple books about Cheney, who says the neoconservative leader had a very destructive" impact on the world.

Voters in the United States are casting ballots in several closely watched elections on Tuesday, including mayoral races in New York, Seattle and Minneapolis, and gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia. The Nation's executive editor John Nichols says Zohran Mamdani's campaign in New York, in particular, has captured the imagination of the country." He notes many of Tuesday's races could help shape the agenda of the Democratic Party and move it toward being an activist party that uses government to really tip the balance in favor of the working class."

Trump Endorses Cuomo, Threatens to Cancel Funding to NYC If Mamdani Is Elected Mayor, Trump Administration Will Only Partially Fund Expiring SNAP Benefits as Shutdown Drags On, Fed Warns of Weakening Labor Market as U.S. Companies Announce AI-Driven Layoffs, 10 Richest U.S. Billionaires Have Expanded Wealth by $700 Billion Since Trump's Return, Dick Cheney, Architect of Iraq Occupation and U.S. Torture Program, Dies at 84, U.N. Says 36,000 Have Fled North Darfur's Capital Since Paramilitaries Seized Control, Israel Continues to Attack Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israel and Hamas Exchange Bodies of Captives, with More Signs of Torture Against Palestinians, ICE Agents Shoot U.S. Citizen in Los Angeles Area, U.S. Courts Halt Deportation of Man Wrongfully Jailed Under Murder Charges for 43 Years, At Least 26 People Killed as Typhoon Kalmaegi Strikes Philippines, Trump Admin Says It Will Not Send Any High-Level Officials to COP30 Climate Talks

We speak to Wole Soyinka, the 91-year-old celebrated Nigerian writer and first African Nobel laureate, who recently had his U.S. visa revoked after he made comments critical of Trump. As Trump threatens U.S. military action against Nigeria over claims of a Christian genocide" in the country, Soyinka says, when religious differences began to be invoked as a means of political power, and even social and economic powers, we've had unquestionably the issue of impunity." By expanding the force of hostility," he adds, Trump is not making things easy for there to be a resolution."

President Trump is threatening to bomb Nigeria, alleging the country is failing to protect Christians from persecution, even as many victims of the fundamentalist insurgent group Boko Haram are Muslims. This theme of persecution of Christians is a very politically charged, and actually religiously charged, theme for evangelicals across the world," says Anthea Butler, the author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. Despite the fact that the country's conflict cannot be reduced to religious enmity, for extremist evangelical Christians, Nigeria is a place where the administration could prosecute a holy war" using a savior narrative."

Democracy Now!'s Anjali Kamat reports on working-class South Asian support for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. South Asian voter turnout increased by 40% during the Democratic primary, contributing to Mamdani's upset victory against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is now running as an independent candidate. We've had several South Asian or Indo-Caribbean candidates, and none of them elicit this response. And I think the fact that the campaign spoke to the very material issues of working-class people has, first and foremost, has really made a very significant difference," says Fahd Ahmed, director of the South Asian community organization DRUM Beats, whose members have been canvassing for Mamdani's campaign.

President Trump held a lavish Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago Friday, just hours before an estimated 42 million people lost SNAP benefits across the country. Kirk Curnutt, the executive director of the international F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, says that while "Gatsby is famous for its lavish party scenes, [what] people often miss is that the entire thrust of the book is to critique that conspicuous consumption and the wastage that goes on in these sorts of events."

As the U.S. federal government shutdown enters its second month, over 40 million people are now struggling to feed themselves and their families after SNAP food assistance was cut off over the weekend. We are headed for a major public health and economic crisis," says child hunger expert Mariana Chilton. She adds that by refusing to disburse SNAP benefits, the Trump administration is breaking the law."

42 Million Americans Lose Food Benefits as Trump Holds Gatsby-Themed Party, Israel Continues to Carry Out Attacks in Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israeli Forces and Settlers Kill Two Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, Former Top Lawyer for Israeli Military Arrested for Leaking Video of Soldiers Raping Palestinian Prisoner, Israel Threatens to Step Up Attacks in Lebanon Despite Last Year's Ceasefire, Trump Says Maduro's Days Are Numbered in Venezuela as U.S. Strikes Another Boat in Caribbean, Trump Threatens to Go into Nigeria Guns-a-Blazing" over Attacks on Christians, Head of Red Cross: History Repeating" in Sudan's Darfur Region, Federal Immigration Agents in Evanston Brutally Beat Man, Point Gun At Residents, Mexican Mayor Shot and Killed During Day of the Dead Celebrations, U.N. Security Council Backs Morocco's Plan for Western Sahara

Omar Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants and a democratic socialist, is a leading candidate in the mayoral race in Minneapolis and seeking to unseat incumbent Jacob Frey. Fateh made history in 2020 by becoming the first Muslim and first Somali American to be elected to Minnesota's state Senate. Fateh has run for mayor on a platform advocating for rent stabilization, raising the minimum wage and reforming how the city handles public safety. Minneapolis can have a different kind of politics," says Fateh. Five years after the murder of George Floyd, [Mayor Frey] doesn't have a plan, or doesn't intend to have a plan."

A retired U.S. colonel who investigated the death of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has gone public to accuse the Biden administration of inaction" and a possible cover-up." Steve Gabavics says the U.S. government soft-pedaled the finding that Israeli forces intentionally killed her to appease the Israeli government. He and his colleagues were left flabbergasted by the Biden State Department's statement attributing Abu Akleh's killing to tragic circumstances" rather than formally assigning blame. It all came down to, in my mind, not trying to anger the Israelis by holding them accountable for intentionally killing an American citizen," Gabavics tells Democracy Now!

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is calling for federal agents to pause immigration enforcement in the Chicago area until after Halloween, amid widespread condemnation of violent arrests and confrontations with residents. Meanwhile, the person at the center of much of Chicago's enforcement, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, did a five-hour deposition Thursday in a case challenging federal agents' treatment of protesters, journalists, children and immigrants. Bovino is in charge of the Chicago raids. And that style of aggressive, militarized enforcement is something that the Trump administration loves, because it plays very well for them among their base," says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. He also discusses the rapid expansion of immigration detention, the normalization of racial profiling by federal agents, arrests of U.S. citizens and more.

Israel Continues Striking Gaza Despite Claiming to Abide by U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Report: Google and Amazon Violated Their Own Terms of Service in Israel's $1.2 Billion Project Nimbus" Deal, Death Toll from Hurricane Melissa Rises to 49, Prince Andrew Stripped of Royal Titles and Evicted from Royal Mansion, Trump Urges Republicans to Kill the Filibuster to End the Government Shutdown, Trump Cuts Refugee Admissions to 7,500, Prioritizing White South Africans, 404 Media: ICE and CBP Using Facial Recognition Technology to Identity Immigration Status, Dramatic Video Shows ICE Agents Violently Arresting Mother Driving Her Daughter to School, Federal Judge in Chicago Orders Border Patrol Commander Bovino to Appear for a Deposition, General Orders National Guard in All 50 States to Prepare Quick Reaction Forces" for Riot Control, Hegseth Orders Pentagon to Provide Lawyers to DOJ to Bolster Immigration Crackdown, U.N. Condemns Massacres in Sudan's Darfur Region: No One Is Safe in El Fasher", Protesters Demand Justice for Victims of Rio de Janeiro Police Raid That Killed 119

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 33rd consecutive year, with just seven opposed, including the United States, Israel and Ukraine. The vote came as Cuba was battered by Hurricane Melissa, causing widespread damage.We get an update from the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba with Liz Oliva Fernandez, a reporter with Belly of the Beast, who says the U.S. embargo and other economic sanctions make it much harder for Cuba to respond to natural disasters. Nevertheless, it has a robust early warning system, detailed plans for evacuating the most vulnerable and an extensive network of government shelters.Mikael Wolfe, a historian at Stanford University, notes this system is rooted in lessons from early in the Cuban Revolution when another devastating storm killed hundreds of people across the island. The U.S. could learn much from the Cuban government when it comes to dealing with hurricanes, says Wolfe.

Sudan's military is accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of killing at least 2,000 people since seizing control of El Fasher in the Darfur region, including some 460 at the Saudi Maternity Hospital. Meanwhile, tens of thousands have fled.What's happening is no less than a ... campaign of destruction and annihilation," says Mathilde Vu, Sudan advocacy manager at the Norwegian Refugee Council, speaking to Democracy Now! from Kenya.What's unfolding in El Fasher is the sum of all our fears," adds Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health. He urges the United States to put pressure on the United Arab Emirates, which has backed the RSF in the civil war as the group carries out acts that are tantamount to genocide."

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to a one-year trade truce after meeting in South Korea. China will postpone export controls on rare earth minerals, and the U.S. will lower its tariffs on Chinese goods. China also agreed to resume buying American soybeans. The deal could lower tensions between the world's two leading economies, and the fact that they met at all has to be a good thing," says Northwestern University economics professor Nancy Qian, an expert on U.S.-China relations. Talking means not fighting."

President Trump has directed the Pentagon to resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992. He made the announcement just before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss trade relations. Dr. Ira Helfand, former president of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a leading campaigner against nuclear proliferation, says the White House needs to clarify" Trump's intentions, and urges countries to recommit to nuclear disarmament.This idea is dismissed sometimes as being unrealistic. I think what's unrealistic is the belief that we can continue to maintain these enormous nuclear arsenals and expect that nothing is going to go wrong," says Helfand. Our luck is going to run out at some point."Trump's announcement comes just months before the last major nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia - the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START - expires in February 2026.

Sudanese Paramilitaries Reportedly Kill at Least 2,000 People After Seizing El Fasher, Israel Bombs Khan Younis in Latest Violation of Gaza Ceasefire Agreement, Israel to Deport Activists Who Joined West Bank Olive Harvest in Solidarity with Palestinians, Hegseth Says Pentagon Bombed Another Alleged Narcotrafficking Vessel in Pacific, Trump and Xi Agree to Deescalate U.S.-China Trade War After Face-to-Face Talks, Trump Orders First U.S. Nuclear Weapons Tests in 33 Years, Death Toll Rises to 34 After Hurricane Melissa Batters Caribbean, U.N. General Assembly Condemns U.S. Embargo on Cuba for 33rd Consecutive Year, Senate Majority Leader Thune Blocks Democrats' Bill to Fund SNAP Benefits Amid Shutdown, DOJ Indicts Illinois Congressional Candidate Kat Abughazaleh over ICE Protests, DOJ Suspends Two Prosecutors Who Described Jan. 6 Insurrectionists as Mob of Rioters", Illinois Sheriff's Deputy Found Guilty in Shooting Death of Sonya Massey, Far-Right Anti-Immigrant Party Loses Seats in Dutch Elections

Coexistence, My Ass! is a new documentary opening Wednesday in New York highlighting Noam Shuster Eliassi, an Israeli comedian and peace activist. Shuster Eliassi hopes for justice and equality for Palestinians and to make present the elephant in the room" that a lot of artists in Israel prefer to ignore." We also speak with director Amber Fares, who says the film - like others dealing with the topic of Palestine - is struggling to find distribution in the United States but has six screenings already set up, including an opening at the IFC Center in New York City.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is replacing ICE leadership at 12 of the 25 ICE field offices nationwide with Border Patrol officials who will take over immigration enforcement in those regions as President Trump demands more arrests. Meanwhile, Chicago continues to be a focus of the administration's immigration crackdown. We speak with Hoan Huynh, an Illinois state representative, who was confronted by federal agents as he was filming them after getting alerted to their presence in his district by a rapid response network. The officers came to the passenger window of the car that I was in and pointed a gun to my head," he says, calling the actions of federal agents in Chicago unconstitutional."

Jamaica remains in a state of emergency after being battered by Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic cyclones in history. The Category 5 storm slammed into Jamaica on Tuesday with 185-mile-per-hour winds, and the extent of the damage is not yet known because communication remains limited. Mikaela Loach, a Jamaican British climate justice activist, says the hurricane was caused by the climate crisis," and says fossil fuel companies are to blame. It's important to direct that anger towards people who are responsible," Loach says, suggesting that hurricanes be named after oil executives.

Israel launched major airstrikes on Gaza, killing at least 104 people, including 46 children, in the deadliest attacks since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire was announced. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered powerful strikes" on Gaza Tuesday after Israeli officials accused Hamas of killing an Israeli soldier in Rafah - which Hamas has denied. Netanyahu is trying everything possible to resume the genocide in Gaza," says Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza. The only condition is that he needs to maintain the facade of the ceasefire."

Israel Kills at Least 104 People in Gaza, Including 46 Children, Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall in Cuba as a Strong Category 3 Hurricane After Battering Jamaica, Pentagon Carries Out Another Three Strikes Against Vessels in the Pacific Ocean, AP: U.S. Attempted to Capture Maduro by Bribing His Pilot, Amnesty International: U.S. Strike on Yemen Prison Killing Dozens of African Migrants May Be a War Crime, Dozens of States Sue Trump Administration over Suspending SNAP Benefits, ICE Agents Beat and Choke a Houston Teen and His Father During a Traffic Ambush, Masked ICE Agents Continue to Detain Immigrants Attending Court Hearings in Manhattan's 26 Federal Plaza, Chanthila Shawn" Souvannarath Deported to Laos Despite Court Order Blocking His Removal, Federal Judge Orders Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino to Report to Her Every Day, Wired: CBP Searched a Record Number of Phones at the U.S. Border Over the Past Year, President Trump Announces Trade Deal with South Korea, Reuters: Trump Organization Earned More Than $800 Million from Crypto Assets, At Least 64 People Killed in Brazil in Police Raid of Favela

We speak with journalist David Sirota about his new book, Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Co-authored with Jared Jacang Maher, the book is based on their award-winning investigative podcast of the same name for The Lever.Sirota says that while the United States is now immersed in corruption" in a way that seems like an inevitable part of politics, it is the result of a decadeslong agenda by the wealthy to deregulate the campaign finance system and to essentially make anti-bribery laws unenforceable. This is all part of a plan by a corporate movement that sees democracy - the government providing what people want - sees that as a threat."

The central fight in the U.S. federal government shutdown has been over healthcare costs, with Democrats demanding that Republicans agree to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act set to expire this Saturday. Without an extension of those subsidies, health premiums could more than double for millions of people across the country. The enhanced subsidies were first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.The purpose of healthcare has increasingly become profit-making rather than a public service," says Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, professor of public health at Hunter College and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. She says that while extending the Obamacare subsidies is vital, the United States should move toward universal public healthcare like every other major Western economy and away from our private, profit-oriented healthcare system."

More than 1.4 million federal employees missed their first full paychecks on Friday as the government shutdown enters its fifth week. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture warns that food aid to 42 million people could be cut off starting November 1, as the Trump administration refuses to use a $5 billion contingency fund to maintain SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, popularly known as food stamps.Gina Plata-Nino from the Food Research and Action Center says the loss of SNAP benefits will have cascading impacts as credit card debt soars, rent payments are delayed and food banks get overrun. We are going to see a decrease in people's well-being," says Plata-Nino.

Sudan's military has withdrawn from El Fasher, its last stronghold in the country's Darfur region, ceding control of the city to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after an 18-month siege. The United Nations and the African Union have called for safe passage for civilians and an immediate ceasefire, condemning reports of war crimes by RSF fighters including summary executions of civilians. Fighting between the Sudanese military and RSF has killed more than 150,000 people and displaced about 12 million since 2023.This just shows us that what the Sudanese Armed Forces have been promising, which is a military victory that is going to end the war, is nowhere near happening," says Sudanese activist Marine Alneel, joining us from Nairobi, Kenya. She says the capture of El Fasher raises fears of basically two governments" and calls on external powers, including the United Arab Emirates, which backs the RSF, and the United States, to push for humanitarian measures.

Jamaica Faces Catastrophic" Winds and Flooding as Hurricane Melissa Strikes, U.N.'s Guterres Warns of Devastating Consequences" as Nations Fail to Cap Global Heating at 1.5C, Humanitarian Groups Say Israel Is Allowing Just a Fraction of Aid Promised Under Ceasefire Deal, Israeli Forces Kill 3 Palestinians Near Jenin, Call in Airstrikes, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt": U.S. Colonel Says Israeli Sniper Intended to Kill Shireen Abu Akleh, Venezuelan Government Says It Captured CIA-Backed Mercenaries Plotting False Flag Attack, Head of Federal Workers' Union Calls for End to Government Shutdown, GOP Governor Braun Calls for Special Legislative Session to Redraw Indiana's Congressional Maps, Trump Admin Instructs DOJ to Send Election Observers to New Jersey and California, Trump Meets with Japan's Newly Elected Ultra-Nationalist Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, World's Oldest President Paul Biya Reelected in Cameroon, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara Wins Fourth Term After Rivals Disqualified

A record 164,000 people cast ballots in New York on the first two days of early voting in the city's mayoral race. If elected, Zohran Mamdani would be the city's first Muslim mayor. In recent days, he has faced a string of Islamophobic attacks. I see a dynamic that I think lots of Muslims have experienced in the United States, which is when they're given positions of power or are in a position of public scrutiny, that their faith is often the first thing that gets scrutinized," says Meher Ahmad, staff editor for The New York Times opinion section.

Israel has carried out repeated attacks in Gaza and killed about 100 Palestinians over the past two weeks since the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal with Hamas came into effect. Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site News, is one of the few Western journalists in regular contact with Hamas leaders. It's utter malpractice on the part of all of these news organizations that have not regularly been interviewing the leaders, the negotiators of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is, by default, allowing the dehumanization narrative of Palestinians to just take hold," he says.

The Trump administration has now killed at least 43 people in 10 strikes against so-called drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The threat of war against Venezuela and the surrounding region is growing as the Pentagon deploys the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, to the Caribbean. Alejandro Velasco, associate professor at New York University, says the Latin American policy is primarily Marco Rubio's ideological project," motivated by a desire to oust the government of Venezuela and weaken the allied government of Cuba.

Venezuela Denounces the U.S. for Docking Warship in Trinidad and Tobago, Israel Kills 2 People in Southern Gaza, Israel Strikes Lebanon, Killing 3 People, U.S. Federal Government Shutdown Enters 27th Day, U.S. and China Agree to Framework of New Trade Deal, Trump Announces 10% Tariffs on Canada in Response to Ad Featuring Ronald Reagan, Far-Right President Milei's Party Wins Decisive Victory in Argentina's Midterm Elections, Independent Socialist Catherine Connolly Wins Irish Presidency, RSF Claims It Has Captured Sudanese Army Base in Darfur, Hurricane Melissa Intensifies to Category 5 Hurricane, Honduran Immigrant Josue Castro Rivera Dies While Fleeing ICE Agents, Federal Judge Rules ICE Agents Illegally Detained Chicago Man Whose Daughter Is Fighting Cancer, Activists Call on Maryland to End State's Contract on Avelo Airlines Responsible for Deportation Flights, U.S. Detains Prominent British Muslim Journalist Sami Hamdi, Zohran Mamdani Holds Massive Rally in Queens as Early Voting in NYC Mayoral Race Begins

The new short film Criminal highlights the injustices of the criminal legal system with a look at how for-profit bail preys on the poor and mentally ill. We're joined by three contributors to the film, musician Stew Stewart and bail reform advocates Krish Gundu and Alec Karakatsanis, to discuss how what Karakatsanis calls the unconstitutional" system of cash bail leads to millions of coerced guilty pleas every single year all across the country, just because people are so desperate to get out." Criminal focuses on Texas's notorious Harris County Jail, where at least 15 people have died in pretrial detention just this year. Gundu explains, We have criminalized mental illness. We've criminalized homelessness. We've criminalized reproductive rights. And so, the jail has become the emergency room of our community."

The Republican Party has really become an extremist movement." Amid a growing political divide in the Republican Party over the release of federal documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, we speak to former Republican political operative Stuart Stevens about the erosion of support for Donald Trump from some of his most prominent backers. Stevens traces the MAGA takeover of the Republican Party and shares how the Lincoln Project, a Republican-led anti-Trump organization where he is a senior adviser, is working to stop Trump's anti-democratic agenda.

Israel's Knesset has advanced legislation that would effectively annex the West Bank, prompting rare criticism from the Trump administration, which says it does not support annexation. We get a report on the state of illegal settlement activity in the Palestinian territory from the Norwegian Refugee Council's Jan Egeland, who has just returned from the occupied West Bank. I think the settler movement felt they had a free hand to do whatever they wanted on the West Bank, and it happened in the shadows of the war in Gaza," he says about the growth in settlements and widespread impunity for settlers. Every single day, Palestinian houses are demolished. Every single day, their communities are attacked. Every single day, people are beaten up, thousands of olive trees are uprooted. I mean, it's happening as we speak."

U.N. Urges Israel to Open Rafah Border Crossing to Allow Aid into Gaza, Trump: Israel's Not Going to Do Anything with the West Bank", Israeli Minister Smotrich Resorts to Stereotypes When Talking About Saudi Arabia, We're Going to Kill Them": Trump Claims Broad Authority to Launch Strikes Against Alleged Drug Boats, Trump Suspends Canada Trade Talks over Ad Criticizing Tariffs, Civil Rights Groups Demand ICE Stop Jailing Pregnant Immigrants Amid Reports of Medical Neglect, States Prepare to Cut Off Food Assistance as Government Shutdown Enters 24th Day, New York AG Letitia James Faces Arraignment in Federal Court as Trump Seeks Retribution", Trump Administration Opens 1.5 Million Acres of Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to Oil and Gas Drilling, Trump Pardons Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, Who Aided Trump Family's Crypto Firm, White House Releases List of Donors to Trump's Ballroom as Demolition Crews Raze East Wing, Trump Reverses Plans to Surge" Federal Forces to San Francisco at Request of CEO Friends"

New York mayoral candidates held their final debate Wednesday before the November 4 election, with early voting beginning Saturday. Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani faced off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani. While the debate itself is unlikely to have much impact, the fact that a pro-Palestine democratic socialist is leading the race is very significant, says writer Ross Barkan. Assuming he wins, Zohran Mamdani is going to run one of the great and massive and important cities in the world. And all eyes are going to be on him," Barkan says. His latest book is Fascism or Genocide: How a Decade of Political Disorder Broke American Politics.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the latest top U.S. official to visit Israel as part of a push to maintain the Gaza ceasefire. Reports suggest the Trump administration is worried about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu undermining the agreement, with the U.S. visits dubbed Bibi-sitting" missions to prevent any sabotage. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Knesset have advanced a bill to apply Israeli sovereignty to all illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank - a move that would effectively annex the territory and kill already dim hopes for a future Palestinian state on that land.For more on the state of the Gaza ceasefire and the future of Palestine, we speak with Robert Malley, co-author with Hussein Agha of the new book Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine. Malley is a veteran negotiator involved in previous U.S.-backed peace talks between Israel and Palestinian leadership. He says despite the many flaws in the Trump plan, including deciding everything for Palestinians without Palestinians having a voice," it has at least halted the worst of the violence. He also notes the double standard" in how all U.S. administrations have dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as the search for a two-state solution became a gimmick" while the U.S. allowed Israel to entrench its occupation.

The International Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that Israel, as an occupying power, must allow United Nations humanitarian aid into Gaza and may not use starvation as a method of warfare. In its advisory opinion, the World Court also found that Israel had failed to provide evidence for its claims that UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, lacks neutrality or that a significant number of its staff are affiliated with Hamas. Israel denounced the ruling and said it would not comply with the court's instructions. The Trump administration also condemned the opinion.The opinion is unambiguous. It's an opinion by the highest legal authority of the U.N.," says UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai, speaking to Democracy Now! from Amman, Jordan. She adds that for the Trump-backed ceasefire to succeed, aid groups must have unrestricted access to Gaza and be allowed to flood" the territory with food and other basic supplies.

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