Democracy Now!

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.

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."

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."

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."

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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 Dine 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."

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.

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 in July of 2023, 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."

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

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.

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."

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.

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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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."

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.

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."

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 Mori 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

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.

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."

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.

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

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."

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.

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.

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."

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

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.

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."

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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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.

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.

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."

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.

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

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.

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.

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."

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

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.

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.

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."