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After a chaotic night in Iowa, the focus of the Democratic race has now shifted to New Hampshire. Senator Bernie Sanders is leading in most New Hampshire polls a week ahead of the state's primary. While Sanders has been surging in popularity across parts of the country, the Democratic Party establishment is openly expressing concern that the self-described democratic socialist could win the nomination. While Bernie Sanders faces attacks from the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, many of his supporters say he is the candidate best suited to beat Trump in November. We host a debate with two guests who have different views on Sanders's electability. David Frum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of "Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic." In 2001 and 2002, he served as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush and was credited with helping write Bush's famous "axis of evil" line. Frum's recent article is titled "Bernie Can't Win." Bhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor and publisher of Jacobin and the author of "The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality." Sunkara's recent piece in The Guardian is titled "Sanders is leading the pack in Iowa — and that's good news for Democrats."
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Democracy Now!
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Updated | 2024-11-24 09:00 |
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The Iowa Democratic Party delayed releasing results from Monday's caucuses after uncovering inconsistencies in the reporting of data. Caucuses were held in 1,600 precincts across the state on Monday, but many precincts had trouble reporting the delegate totals to the state Democratic Party. Part of the blame was placed on a new smartphone app designed to help precinct chairs tabulate and report the vote. Early Tuesday morning, Bernie Sanders's campaign released internal caucus numbers from 40% of the precincts in Iowa showing the Vermont senator was in first place with nearly 30% of the final count vote. According to the data released by the Sanders campaign, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg placed second with about 24.5% of the vote, followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren with 21%. Former Vice President Joe Biden placed a distant fourth with 12%, just beating Senator Amy Klobuchar. For more on the chaos in Iowa, we speak with John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the podcast "Next Left." He's been reporting on the ground in Iowa and just wrote the piece "How to Figure Out Who 'Won' the Iowa Caucuses."
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Delay in Iowa Democratic Primary Results Causes Confusion, Mixed Messages, Final Arguments Made in Impeachment Trial of President Trump Ahead of SOTU, Hong Kong Medical Workers Demand Border Closure as Coronavirus Claims Life of Hong Kong Man, Leaked Audio Shows Iran Knew It Downed Ukraine Jet Despite Early Denials, Syrian and Turkish Forces Escalate Attacks as Turkey Suffers First Losses from Direct Combat, Massachusetts Prisoners Allege Violent Retaliatory Abuse by Guards, Trial Begins For Ex-CIA Software Engineer Accused of "Vault 7" Leak, Weinstein Rape Accuser Breaks Down During Harsh Questioning, Shooting at Texas College Campus Kills 2; One Dead in California Bus Shooting, Maryland Voters Go to Polls in Primary for Elijah Cummings's Congressional Seat, "American Dirt" Publisher Agrees to Increase Latinx Representation Thanks to Dignidad Literaria Campaign
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As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, the United States has declared a public health emergency and is barring foreign nationals who have recently traveled to China from entering the country. So far, there are 11 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. The virus has claimed at least 361 lives in China. A 44-year-old man in the Philippines became the first casualty of the disease outside of China Saturday, and over the weekend the number of confirmed cases worldwide rose to at least 17,205 across more than two dozen countries, with most of those cases occurring in China. U.S. citizens who have visited Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, will be quarantined when re-entering the country. Questions are being raised about the handling of the disease by Chinese authorities, who critics say delayed their response and downplayed the severity of the problem. The local Red Cross in Hubei has also come under fire for failing to distribute essential medical supplies to the hospitals which need it most. Meanwhile, Chinese and Asian communities in countries including France and Canada say they have been the target of increased racism because of the outbreak. We speak to Laurie Garrett, former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer.
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The Trump administration has expanded its contested travel ban to six additional countries — most of which are African nations. Under the new restrictions, nationals of Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan will no longer be able to obtain visas to live and work in the U.S., while Sudan and Tanzania will no longer be able to participate in the diversity visa lottery program. The ban, commonly referred to as the "Muslim ban," already affects citizens from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela and North Korea. The expansion is expected to affect more than 350 million people. Democrats say they will challenge the new ban and are expected to introduce the NO BAN Act in Congress soon. The latest travel ban takes effect February 22. We speak to Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.
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The Republican-controlled Senate appears poised to acquit President Trump in just the third impeachment trial in U.S. history, with a final vote on the two articles of impeachment scheduled for Wednesday. On Friday, the Senate voted 51 to 49 against calling witnesses to the Senate trial. Just two Republican senators supported calling for witnesses and collecting new evidence: Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine. Without new witnesses, Republicans have cleared the biggest hurdle in their drive to acquit President Trump on the two impeachment charges, which relate to his withholding of military aid to Ukraine in return for that country launching investigations into his political rivals. The final vote in the Senate is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a day after President Trump gives his State of the Union address. To talk more about the impeachment trial, we are joined by John Nichols of The Nation. He is the author of many books, including "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism." John Nichols joins us from Des Moines, Iowa, where he is covering the Iowa caucuses.
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The Iowa caucuses take place today, kicking off the official start of the 2020 presidential election season. Democratic presidential candidates spent the weekend making last-minute pitches to voters at rallies across Iowa. Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee is facing criticism for overhauling its rules, opening the door for billionaire former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is running a self-funded campaign, to take part in the next debate. This comes as fear is growing among some Democrats that Bernie Sanders might win the nomination. Politico reports a small group of DNC members have begun discussing a proposal to increase the role of superdelegates to give the party establishment more say in who becomes the nominee. From Des Moines, Iowa, we're joined by John Nichols, The Nation's national affairs correspondent and host of the podcast "Next Left." He's covering the Iowa caucuses on the ground and recently wrote the piece "The DNC's Move to Accommodate Bloomberg Stirs Outrage in Iowa."
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GOP Refuses to Call Witnesses in Impeachment Trial, Paving Way for Trump's Acquittal, Iowa Caucuses Kick Off 2020 Elections as DNC Loosens Rules to Let Bloomberg into Debates, Trump Expands Racist, Anti-Muslim Travel Ban, Coronavirus Claims First Victim Outside of China as Death Toll Tops 360, Hospitals in Syria Targeted as 100,000s of Civilians Forced to Flee, Palestinian Authority Cuts Ties with U.S. and Israel over Trump Middle East Plan, Iraqi Protesters Slam Appointment of Establishment Prime Minister-Designate, Dept. of Defense: U.S. Dropped 7,500 Bombs on Afghanistan in 2019, 6 Indigenous Leaders Killed in Nicaragua Biosphere Raid, Second Mexican Butterfly Conservationist Killed, Australia: Dozens of Koalas Killed at Timber Plantation, Activists Storm NYC Subways and Landmarks to Protest Excessive Policing, Cost of Public Transportation
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As South Dakota becomes the latest state to pass anti-transgender legislation in the state's lower house, we look at how trans people have been depicted in film and television over the last century. The film "Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen," which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, traces trans representation from the 1914 silent film "A Florida Enchantment" to the Oscar-winning 1999 film "Boys Don't Cry" to the new hit television series "Pose." Through in-depth interviews with transgender actors, activists and writers, the documentary reveals the way Hollywood and the media both manufacture and reflect widespread misunderstandings and prejudices against transgender people. The film also champions the transgender people in film and television who have fought and continue to fight tirelessly for accurate and dignified representation on screen. We speak with the film's director, Sam Feder, as well as actress Jen Richards, Emmy Award-winning director Yance Ford and ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio — all of whom are featured in "Disclosure."
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The Republican-led Senate appears poised to acquit President Trump as early as today in his historic impeachment trial. On Thursday night, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee announced he would vote against calling witnesses. Alexander said it was "inappropriate" for Trump to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival, but he went on to say "there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution's high bar for an impeachable offense." Democrats need four Republican senators to support calling for witnesses, but it appears they will fall short. Republican Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney have said they will vote yes. If Lisa Murkowski of Alaska votes with them, it will result in a 50-50 tie, meaning no witnesses will be called unless Chief Justice John Roberts casts a tiebreaking vote. If the vote to call witnesses fails, the Republican leadership is expected to move quickly to end the trial and vote to acquit the president. Democrats have been demanding that former Trump national security adviser John Bolton testify in the trial. In an upcoming book, Bolton writes that Trump personally told him that $391 million in military aid to Ukraine was held up in order to pressure that country into launching investigations into Trump's political rivals, including Joe Biden. We speak with Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate magazine, where she is the senior legal correspondent and Supreme Court reporter, as well as host of the legal podcast "Amicus."
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Senate Poised to Acquit President Trump in Impeachment Trial, World Health Organization Declares International Public Health Emergency, U.S. Special Envoy Warns of International Crisis in Idlib, Syria, Britain Formally Withdrawing from European Union Tonight, Pentagon Deploys 1st Low-Yield Nuclear Warhead-Armed Submarine, Trump Admin Poised to Loosen Restrictions on Use of Landmines, Human Rights Groups Condemn Mexico for Crackdown on Central American Migrants, Mexican Butterfly Conservationist Found Dead, Bolivia's Movement for Socialism Candidate Luis Arce Returns to Bolivia, U.S. Pushes EU to End Ban on Chemical-Washed Chicken as Part of Trade Deal, Colorado Poised to Repeal the Death Penalty, Saturday Marks 60th Anniversary of Historic Greensboro Four Sit-In
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A new documentary looks at the dangers of artificial intelligence and its increasing omnipresence in daily life, as new research shows that it often reflects racist biases. Earlier this month, Cambridge, Massachusetts, became the latest major city to ban facial recognition technology, joining a growing number of cities, including San Francisco, to ban the artificial intelligence, citing flawed technology and racial and gender bias. A recent study also found that facial recognition identified African-American and Asian faces incorrectly 10 to 100 times more than white faces. The film "Coded Bias" begins with Joy Buolamwini, a researcher at the MIT Media Lab, discovering that most facial recognition software does not recognize darker-skinned or female faces. She goes on to uncover that artificial intelligence is not in fact a neutral scientific tool; instead, it internalizes and echoes the inequalities of wider society. For more on the film, we speak with Joy Buolamwini, a researcher who uses art to raise awareness on the implications of artificial intelligence and is featured in the documentary "Coded Bias," which just premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. We also speak with Shalini Kantayya, director of "Coded Bias."
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President Trump's legal team offered an extraordinary new defense during Trump's impeachment trial on Wednesday. Attorney Alan Dershowitz said that a sitting president could take any action to boost his re-election chances if he felt his re-election was in the public interest. "If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment," Dershowitz said. Trump was impeached by the House last month for freezing military aid to Ukraine in an effort to pressure Ukraine to open an investigation of Trump's political rival, Joe Biden. Dershowitz's claim came during a portion of the trial where senators were given a chance to submit written questions to Trump's legal team and the House impeachment managers. The question-and-answer period continues today. The impeachment trial could end as soon as Friday if the Senate Republican leadership succeeds in blocking Democrats from calling any witnesses. Democrats are hoping to secure enough votes to get Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton to testify. For more on President Trump's ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate, we speak with Neal Katyal, former acting U.S. solicitor general in the Obama administration, a Supreme Court lawyer and a Georgetown University law professor. Katyal is the author of "Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump."
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Rev. William Barber: Mitch McConnell Is Bringing Old Southern Justice to U.S. Senate, European Parliament Votes to Ratify Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, Coronavirus Death Toll Hits 170, Racial Justice Groups Call on Klobuchar to Suspend Campaign, French Firefighters Clash with Riot Police in Latest Protests Against Pension Overhaul, Cuban Man Dies in ICE Custody, Marking 6th Death Since October, Salvadoran General Admits U.S.-Trained Forces Carried Out 1981 Massacre, South Dakota Passes Bill Criminalizing Gender-Affirming Surgery, #DignidadLiteraria: Latino Writers Launch Campaign in Response to "American Dirt"
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The South Dakota Legislature is expected to debate a bill today that would criminalize gender-affirming surgery for transgender youth. If passed, House Bill 1057 would make it a felony for doctors to provide anyone under the age of 16 with puberty blockers, hormones and other transition-related healthcare. Medical professionals who provide this care could face up to 10 years in prison under the terms of the Republican-backed bill, which was passed in committee last week. On Tuesday, South Dakota introduced another anti-trans bill that would authorize parents to deny gender-affirming treatment to their children. It's the third bill targeting trans youth introduced in South Dakota this year alone and one of more than 25 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced around the country. We speak with Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, and the award-winning director Yance Ford, who became the first openly transgender director nominated for an Academy Award for his film "Strong Island" in 2018. "It never ceases to amaze me how determined people are to erase trans people — even when they're children," Ford says.
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At the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told fellow Republican senators in a private meeting Tuesday that he does not yet have enough votes to block Democrats from calling impeachment witnesses. Democrats have pushed for former national security adviser John Bolton to testify. On Sunday night, The New York Times published details about a draft of Bolton's forthcoming book, in which he claims Trump personally told him in August he wanted to maintain a freeze on $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until Ukraine turned over materials related to former Vice President Joe Biden. On Tuesday, Trump's defense team wrapped up their opening arguments. We speak with Mehdi Hasan, senior columnist at The Intercept and host of "UpFront" on Al Jazeera English. John Bolton's role in the impeachment trial is "hugely ironic, because we've always known that John Bolton wanted regime change around the world; I just didn't realize he wanted regime change in Washington, D.C.," Hasan says.
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We continue our discussion of President Trump's long-awaited Middle East plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he has described as the "deal of the century." The plan was drafted by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner without any input from Palestinians and would give Israel sovereignty over large areas of the occupied West Bank, control over all of Jerusalem, and keep all illegal settlements built in the occupied West Bank. We speak with Mehdi Hasan, senior columnist at The Intercept, and Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University. Khalidi's latest book is titled "The Hundred Years' War on Palestine."
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"Yet Another Declaration of War on Palestinians": Rashid Khalidi on Trump's Middle East "Peace" Plan
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to annex about 30% of the occupied West Bank, after Israel was given the green light to do so by the United States. On Tuesday, President Trump — with Netanyahu by his side — unveiled a so-called Middle East peace plan that was drafted by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner without any input from Palestinians. Under the plan, Israel will gain sovereignty over large areas of the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem would be under total Israeli control, and all Jewish settlers in the occupied territory will be allowed to remain in their homes. The plan also calls for a four-year settlement freeze and the possible creation of a truncated Palestinian state, but only if a number of conditions are met. Palestinians responded to the U.S. plan with protests in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the deal. Only hours before the plan was announced, Netanyahu was indicted for corruption, marking the first time in Israel's history that a sitting prime minister will face criminal charges. We speak with Mehdi Hasan, senior columnist at The Intercept, and Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University. Khalidi's latest book is titled "The Hundred Years' War on Palestine."
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McConnell Tries to Secure Votes to Block Impeachment Witnesses, "Our Rights Are Not for Sale": Palestinians Reject Trump's Middle East Plan, Trump Praises Pompeo for Shouting and Cursing at NPR Reporter, WaPo Reinstates Reporter Suspended for Tweeting About Kobe Rape Case, Death Toll from Coronavirus Virus Hits 132, with 6,000 Infected, Over 100,000 Syrian Civilians Flee Regime Offensive in Idlib, Floods Kill 30, Displace 16,000 in Madagascar, Mississippi to Shut Down Unit of Parchman Prison After Deaths of 9 Prisoners, Maryland Cop Charged with Murder for Killing Handcuffed Man in Police Car
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In 2014, 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College disappeared after they were abducted in Iguala, Mexico. More than five years after their disappearance, the families of the students are still fighting for justice. The story is the subject of a stunning new documentary by the world-renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. The film, "Vivos," follows the families of the disappeared students in their daily lives as they grapple with the absence of their loved ones and attempt to hold the Mexican government accountable for their disappearance. We sat down with Ai Weiwei earlier this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, to speak with him about "Vivos," why his next project will focus on Hong Kong, and more.
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Isabel Cabanillas, a 26-year-old beloved feminist activist and artist, was recently assassinated in Ciudad Juárez, resurfacing the border city's painful legacy of femicides and violence against women. Cabanillas was reported missing on social media by her friends on Saturday, January 18, after she never returned home. On that same day, she was found shot to death on a sidewalk next to her bicycle in downtown Juárez. We speak with Nana Rebell, a feminist activist in Ciudad Juárez and a member of the Juárez feminist collective Hijas de su Maquilera Madre, about Cabanillas's life and the endemic issue of femicide in the region.
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During eight hours of oral arguments at the president's impeachment trial on Monday, President Trump's legal team repeatedly said that he has done nothing wrong, and largely ignored the explosive revelations made by Trump's former national security adviser. The president's case was made on Monday by a team of lawyers including Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz and former independent counsel Kenneth Starr, whose probe led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. In an upcoming book, former national security adviser John Bolton says Trump told him the withholding of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine was linked to his push for investigations into his political rivals, including Joe Biden. The withholding of congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine is at the center of the impeachment trial. On Monday, Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah said the Bolton revelations underscore their case for allowing witnesses in the impeachment trial. For more, we speak with Claire Finkelstein, a professor of law and philosophy, and the faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. "This is a moment of very serious constitutional crisis for our democracy," she says, "because we have a Senate that is unable to act to remove the president because they are unable to push back on the president's own obstruction of the process involved in impeachment."
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Trump Lawyers Says He Did No Wrong as Calls Mount for Bolton and Other Witnesses to Testify, Trump to Unveil Middle East "Peace Plan" as Netanyahu Indicted over Corruption, SCOTUS Allows Trump's "Public Charge" Rule Targeting Low-Income Immigrants to Take Effect, State Dept. Bars NPR Reporter from Upcoming Pompeo Trip, Washington Post Suspends Reporter for Tweet About Kobe Bryant Rape Allegation, Mixed Accounts After U.S. Military Plane Crashes in Afghanistan, Torrential Rains and Landslides Kill At Least 46 People in Brazil, Nigerian Journalist Maxwell Nashan Killed, 2nd Accuser Testifies in Weinstein Trial as Prosecutor Slams Prince Andrew's Lack of Cooperation, 13,000 Healthcare Workers Launch Strike in Seattle
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As Roe v. Wade faces unprecedented attacks, the new short film "Ours to Tell" puts a human face to the fight for reproductive justice and highlights those whose stories are often sidelined by the media: LGBTQ communities and communities of color. The film focuses on Ylonda, Nick, Hannah and Brittany, four people who discuss how having access to abortion shaped their lives. The film was directed by Rayka Zehtabchi and was created by Planned Parenthood and We Testify. For more on the film, as well as the state of reproductive rights in the United States, we speak with Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and executive director of We Testify and the executive producer of "Ours to Tell."
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Donald Trump on Friday became the first sitting president in U.S. history to attend the so-called March for Life, the annual anti-abortion rally held in Washington, D.C., that draws thousands of participants. President Trump — who once described himself as "pro-choice in every respect" — accused Democrats of infanticide and falsely stated that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam supports an abortion bill that would "execute a baby after birth." The March for Life began in 1974 in response to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion. Past U.S. presidents who opposed abortion considered the march too extreme and divisive to attend, and instead sent surrogates or recorded video messages. The same day that Trump addressed anti-abortion activists in Washington, his administration threatened to cut off federal funding for some health programs in California unless the state ends its requirement that private health insurers cover abortions. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state would not change its policy. Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos also recently compared anti-abortion activism to the fight to end slavery. We speak with Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center.
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Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles at the age of 41. The crash killed all nine people on board, including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter Gianna and beloved college baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and their 13-year-old daughter Alyssa. They were heading to a youth basketball game. Bryant won five NBA championships, two Olympic gold medals and was crowned an All-Star 18 times. He played for the L.A. Lakers for 20 years before retiring in 2016. Gianna Bryant reportedly hoped to one day play for the University of Connecticut women's basketball team. Tributes continue to pour in on social media from fans, athletes and other public figures. But some are also calling on the media and supporters not to forget a sexual assault allegation from early in his career. We speak with Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation and host of the Edge of Sports podcast, and Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center.
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Calls are growing for the Senate to call witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial, after The New York Times published details about former national security adviser John Bolton's forthcoming book. In the book, Bolton writes that President Trump personally told him in August that he wanted to maintain a freeze on $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until Ukraine turned over materials related to former Vice President Joe Biden and supporters of Hillary Clinton in Ukraine. The New York Times broke the story on Sunday, one day after President Trump's legal team began its defense of the president. During Saturday's opening arguments, White House deputy counsel Mike Purpura claimed the Democratic case for impeachment is based on assumptions, and Trump's attorney Pat Cipollone accused the Democrats of attempting to overturn an election. Trump's lawyers will continue their opening arguments Monday, after the Democratic House impeachment managers wrapped up their three days of opening arguments on Friday. We speak with Dan Friedman, a reporter in the D.C. bureau of Mother Jones who focuses on foreign influence and national security.
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Impeachment Trial Resumes as Leaked Bolton Manuscript Bolsters Democrats' Case, Coronavirus Death Toll Reaches 81 in China as Disease Spreads Around the World, Pentagon: 34 U.S. Troops Have Brain Injuries After Iranian Attack on Iraqi Airbase, Deadly Crackdown on Iraqi Protests Continue as 100,000s March Against U.S. Military Presence, Turkey Earthquake Kills 38; At Least 1,600 Hospitalized, Ugandan Activist Vanessa Nakate Slams Racist Media After Being Cropped from Photo with White Activists, Trump Attends Anti-Abortion "March for Life" as Admin Continues Assault on Reproductive Rights, High-Ranking Pharma Exec Sentenced to 5.5 Years for Role in Opioid Crisis, Fire at Museum of Chinese in America Destroys 10,000s of Historical Artifacts, Blast at Houston Plant Kills 2, Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant, 13-Year-Old Daughter Gianna Die in Helicopter Crash
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In Oakland, California, a months-long struggle between a group of unhoused mothers occupying a vacant home and the real estate firm that owned it ended with an unexpected offer to purchase the property earlier this week. The major win in the mothers' fight against homelessness and real estate speculation comes just a week after Wedgewood Properties forcibly evicted the families — known as Moms 4 Housing — from the home they were living in for more than two months. Two mothers and two of their supporters were arrested in the early-morning eviction after armed police officers battered down the door. The heavily militarized action sparked widespread outrage and condemnation, and left the mothers and their families homeless once again. But on Monday — Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Wedgewood announced, under growing public pressure, that it would sell the property at a fair price through the Oakland Community Land Trust. The moms will then be able to purchase the house through the trust. We speak with Misty Cross, one of the members of Moms 4 Housing, and Carroll Fife, longtime organizer and director of the Oakland office for Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. "People are invested in a system that is broken," Fife says. "It's incumbent upon our legislators to listen to the moms, to listen to the people who have been part of these programs that are just broken, so we can do something different."
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In a major ruling, the U.N. International Court of Justice at The Hague has ordered Burma to "take all measures within its power" to protect Rohingya Muslims from genocide. The court issued the ruling Thursday, calling the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Burma, also known as Myanmar, "extremely vulnerable" to military violence. The court ordered Burma to report regularly to the tribunal about its progress. The ruling is a sharp rebuke of Burma's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who last month asked the court to drop the genocide case against Burma. Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize winner who spent over a decade fighting against the Burmese military that she is now defending. For more on the ICJ ruling, we speak with Reed Brody, counsel and spokesperson for Human Rights Watch. "This is the most important court in the world intervening in one of the worst mass atrocity situations of our time while the atrocities are still happening," says Brody. "It doesn't really get more significant than that."
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Democratic lawmakers are continuing to lay out their case for removing the president from office in the final day of opening arguments by Democrats in the historic impeachment trial of President Trump. Republicans will begin their opening arguments on Saturday. The Senate trial comes a month after the House impeached Trump for withholding congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine as part of an effort to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate Trump's political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. On Thursday, House impeachment manager Jerrold Nadler made the case that a president can be impeached for noncriminal activity. During another part of Thursday's proceedings, House impeachment manager Congressmember Sylvia Garcia relied on polls by Fox News to make the case that President Trump decided to target Joe Biden after polls showed the former vice president could beat Trump in 2020. For more on the impeachment trial, we're joined by Marjorie Cohn, professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the former president of the National Lawyers Guild. Her most recent book is "Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues."
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Impeachment Managers Continue Opening Arguments in Trump's Senate Trial, 33 Million on Lockdown in Chinese Cities as Coronavirus Outbreak Spreads, Hundreds of Thousands of Iraqis March to Demand U.S. Troop Withdrawal, Trump Invites Israeli Leaders to White House for "Peace Plan" Unveiling, Mexican Soldiers Attack Central American Migrant Caravan, Arresting 800, U.S. to Send Ambassador to Bolivia After Coup That Ousted Evo Morales, Puerto Rican Protesters Demand Ouster of Gov. Wanda Vázquez, SC Official Switches Presidential Endorsement from Biden to Sanders, National Archives Replaces Doctored Women's March Photograph with Original, Annabella Sciorra Testifies That Harvey Weinstein Raped Her in 1990s, Lawsuit Bolsters Claims of Innocence by Arkansas Man Put to Death in 2017, Doomsday Clock Now 100 Seconds from Midnight, Closest Yet to Catastrophe, U.S. Treasury Secretary Draws Fire for Mocking Climate Activist Greta Thunberg, 12 Anti-Pipeline Activists Arrested in Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Protest
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The new film "Dark Waters" tells the story of attorney Rob Bilott's 20-year battle with DuPont over contaminated drinking water in West Virginia from toxic chemicals used to make Teflon. The Environmental Working Group credited Billot with "uncovering the most heinous corporate environmental conspiracy in history," and the issue of contaminated water from the plastics industry continues to devastate areas across the country. On Wednesday, the Environmental Working Group released a shocking report about how toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS have been found in the drinking water of dozens of U.S. cities, including major metropolitan areas including Miami, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. The so-called forever chemicals are linked to cancer, high cholesterol and decreased fertility, and they do not break down in the environment. We speak with attorney Robert Bilott, who has just published a new book titled "Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont." He is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in the Hollywood film "Dark Waters." We're also joined by Tim Robbins, Academy Award-winning actor and director, who plays Bilott's boss at his law firm in "Dark Waters."
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We continue our conversation with Academy Award-winning actor and director Tim Robbins, whose recent projects include the new film "Dark Waters" and a play about immigration called "The New Colossus." He recently endorsed Vermont senator and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders for president. "I believe he is the only one of them that can defeat Trump," Robbins says.
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President Trump said Wednesday that he would expand his highly controversial travel ban, which already bars citizens from seven countries, most of which have Muslim-majority populations — Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Venezuela — from entering the United States. Politico reports that the expanded ban could implement immigration restrictions on seven more countries: Belarus, Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania, according to two sources. We speak with acclaimed actor, director and activist Tim Robbins, whose recent work has focused on immigration to the United States. He has starred in many movies, including "The Shawshank Redemption," "Mystic River" and "Dark Waters." He also wrote and directed the highly acclaimed film "Dead Man Walking." He is the director of a new play about immigration called "The New Colossus," with the play's title borrowed from the 1883 Emma Lazarus sonnet that is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
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Trump Brags About Withholding Evidence as Democratic Impeachment Managers Lay Out Case in the Senate
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4YAW2)
During the opening day of oral arguments in the impeachment trial, President Trump was accused of abusing his office to "cheat an election." House impeachment managers spent about eight hours on Wednesday laying out their case for why President Trump should be removed from office. The Senate trial comes a month after the House impeached Trump for withholding congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine as part of an effort to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate Trump's political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. While the impeachment trial was taking place in the Senate, President Trump was across the Atlantic at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he tweeted more than 140 times and dismissed the impeachment trial as a hoax. Trump also appeared to boast about having withheld evidence from the impeachment process, saying, "We have all the material; they don't have the material." For more on the historic impeachment trial, we speak with Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor and Supreme Court reporter at Slate.com.
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Democrats Accuse Trump of Trying to "Cheat" Upcoming Election, Supreme Court Decides Not to Fast-Track Obamacare Case, D.C. Sues Trump's Inaugural Committee over $1M Rental of Trump Hotel Ballroom, ICJ Orders Burma to Protect Rohingya from Genocide, Trump Says He's Planning to Add More Countries to Travel Ban, State Department to Make It More Difficult for Pregnant Women to Receive Visas, Trump Says He May Cut Medicare, Social Security, Trump Plans to Speak at Anti-Choice March for Life Friday, Chinese Authorities Seal Off City of Wudan as Coronavirus Spreads, Tulsi Gabbard Sues Clinton for Defamation, U.N.: Climate-Fueled Droughts in Central America Driving Migration, Mexican Feminist & Activist Isabel Cabanillas de la Torre Killed in Juárez, American Journalist Philip Jacobson Faces 5 Years in Prison in Indonesia, U.N. Experts Accuse Saudi Crown Prince of Hacking Jeff Bezos's Phone, Study: Tap Water in 43 U.S. Cities Contaminated with PFAS Chemicals, Trump Admin to Remove Environmental Protections for Waterways, San Francisco District Attorney's Office Ends Cash Bail
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Criminalizing Reporting: Glenn Greenwald Faces Cybercrime Complaint After Exposing Scandal in Brazil
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In Brazil, federal prosecutors have filed a criminal complaint against journalist and Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald in connection to a major investigation he spearheaded that exposed misconduct among federal prosecutors and a former judge. Called "The Secret Brazil Archive," the series of pieces published in The Intercept and The Intercept Brasil used a trove of documents to offer new and damning insight into the sweeping anti-corruption campaign that brought down former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and paved the way for the election of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. The investigation used previously undisclosed private chats, audio recordings, videos and other information provided by an anonymous source to expose the wrongdoing of top officials, including Justice Minister Sérgio Moro, who oversaw the anti-corruption crusade known as "Operation Car Wash." On Tuesday, a justice minister filed a denunciation of Glenn Greenwald, claiming he "directly assisted, encouraged and guided" individuals who allegedly accessed online chats related to Operation Car Wash. A judge will now decide whether to press charges. The move has sparked international outrage at what many are condemning as an attack on the free press in Brazil. We speak with Andrew Fishman, managing editor of The Intercept Brasil and reporter for The Intercept.
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A Torturer Meets His Victims: CIA Psychologist Defends Brutal Methods at Guantánamo Military Hearing
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On Tuesday, the psychologist identified as the "architect" of the CIA's torture program testified for the first time to the war court at Guantánamo Bay. James Mitchell was in the courtroom for a pretrial hearing for five 9/11 suspects who had been subject to torture, euphemistically called "enhanced interrogation techniques." Mitchell and his partner, Dr. Bruce Jessen, were paid $81 million to help design the CIA's torture methods, including some of the agency's most abusive tactics. The pair had no prior experience in interrogation. At the hearing, Mitchell reportedly told defense lawyers he only came to Guantánamo to testify in person before the families of the 9/11 victims, and at one point told the torture survivors, "You folks have been saying untrue and malicious things about me and Dr. Jessen for years." In 2014, James Mitchell confirmed to Vice News that he personally waterboarded alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mitchell also reportedly waterboarded Abu Zubaydah at a secret CIA black site in Thailand. Earlier this month, protesters marked the 18th anniversary of Guantánamo by donning orange jumpsuits and lining up in front of the White House. They later held a mock funeral at Trump International Hotel for those who died at the U.S. detention facility. We speak with Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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After the first marathon day leading up to President Trump's impeachment trial, we speak with Vince Warren and Baher Azmy, executive director and legal director, respectively, of the Center for Constitutional Rights. In a 13-hour session, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate approved rules for the impeachment trial that Vince Warren says are tantamount to a "cover-up." Under the rules, each side will be given 24 hours over a three-day period for opening arguments. Senators also agreed to automatically admit evidence from the House inquiry into the trial record. Republicans rejected 11 amendments from Democrats to subpoena witnesses and documents at this stage in the trial.
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y93S)
After a nearly 13-hour marathon session, the U.S. Senate approved by a party-line vote the rules for the impeachment trial of President Trump. This marks just the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. The Senate trial comes a month after the House impeached Trump for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden. Under the rules, each side will be given 24 hours over a three-day period for opening arguments. Senators also agreed to automatically admit evidence from the House inquiry into the trial record. Republicans rejected 11 amendments from Democrats to subpoena witnesses and documents at this stage in the trial. Democrats were attempting to subpoena documents from the White House, the State Department and the Office of Management and Budget. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke early on Tuesday laying out the Democrats' case for impeachment. "President Trump is accused of coercing a foreign leader into interfering in our elections to benefit himself, and then doing everything in his power to cover it up," Schumer said. "If proved, the president's actions are crimes against democracy itself. It's hard to imagine a greater subversion of our democracy than for powers outside our borders to determine the elections from within." For more, we speak with Manisha Sinha, professor of American history at the University of Connecticut and author of "The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition."
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Senate Approves Rules for Trump's Impeachment Trial, Spain Declares Climate Emergency & Readies Climate Legislation, Australian Wildfires Release Massive Amounts of Greenhouse Gas, Airstrikes in Syria Kill 40 People, Including Children, in Idlib, Protesters Denounce Lebanon's Newly Formed Government, U.S. Deports Honduran Children Seeking Asylum to Guatemala Despite Being Ill, Hillary Clinton Slams Bernie Sanders in New Documentary But Says She Will Support Democratic Nominee, Architect of CIA's Torture Program Testifies in War Court at Guantánamo Bay, The Guardian: Bezos's Cellphone Was Allegedly Hacked by Saudi Arabia, Iranian Northeastern University Student Deported from Logan Airport, Arizona: Police Officers Attacked Black Teenager with Developmental Disability, Brazilian Prosecutors File Criminal Complaint Against Glenn Greenwald, First U.S. Case of Coronavirus Confirmed, FDA Issues Warning About Sunscreen, Boeing Stops Production of 737 MAX Plane, Oakland Passes Measure Barring Housing Discrimination Based on Criminal History, Rutgers Names First African-American President in University's 253-year History
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y75M)
The 17-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered a speech Tuesday to the world leaders and global elite gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, one year after she first condemned the forum for its inaction on climate change. "We don't need a 'low-carbon economy.' We don't need to 'lower emissions.' Our emissions have to stop," Thunberg said. "And until we have the technologies that at scale can put our emissions to minus, then we must forget about net zero. We need real zero."
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y75P)
The National Archives and Records Administration apologized Saturday for doctoring a photo of the 2017 Women's March to remove criticisms of President Trump. In an exhibit called "Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote," the National Archives had displayed a large image of the first Women's March. But at least four signs referencing Trump had been blurred to remove his name, including a poster reading "God Hates Trump." Signs in the photo referencing female anatomy were also blurred. The shocking revelation that the archives — which calls itself the country's "record keeper" — had altered the image was first reported in The Washington Post last week. The National Archives initially stood by its decision to edit the photo, telling The Washington Post that the changes were made "so as not to engage in current political controversy." But Saturday, as tens of thousands in Washington, D.C., and across the country took to the streets for the fourth Women's March, officials at the archives were seen flipping over the image at the exhibit as an apology went up in its place. But critics say an apology is not enough. We speak with Louise Melling, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The job of the National Archives is to record history. Its job is not to manipulate history … so as to obliterate critiques of the president," Melling says.
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y75R)
The impeachment trial begins its proceedings in the Senate today amid accusations of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attempting to rush the impeachment process. Senators will have 16 hours for questions and four hours for debate, after 24 hours for opening arguments on each side. We speak with Rick Perlstein, historian and author, and Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Clarke says that thanks to the rules set by McConnell, Trump's impeachment trial could be over within a week, with much of the debate taking place in the evening. The process is designed "to keep the Senate and the public in the dark," she says.
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y75T)
The Senate opens the third impeachment trial of a U.S. president in the country's history Tuesday, marking a historic day in Washington. Under proposed rules by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, each side will be given 24 hours over two days for opening arguments, after which senators will have 16 hours for questions and four hours for debate. The Senate will then vote on whether to hear from any new witnesses. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said McConnell is trying to rush the impeachment process, while House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff, who is one of the impeachment managers, has accused the CIA and NSA of withholding documents potentially relevant to the impeachment trial. This comes as President Trump has added several prominent lawyers to his legal team, including former independent counsel Kenneth Starr, whose probe led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and former Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz. In 2008, Starr and Dershowitz helped serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein receive a sweetheart plea deal when he was arrested on sex trafficking charges. One of Epstein's victims also accused Dershowitz of sexually assaulting her, but Dershowitz has long denied the charge. We speak with Rick Perlstein, historian and the author of several books, including "The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan," which covered the Watergate investigations and Nixon's impeachment.
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y75W)
Impeachment Trial Opens as Democrats Accuse GOP of "Cover-Up", Trump and Greta Thunberg Address Elites at Davos as Oxfam Condemns Mounting Inequality, NYT Endorses Senators Warren, Klobuchar, as Sanders Gets Backing from Reps. Jayapal and Pocan, Puerto Ricans Call on Governor Vázquez to Resign After Viral Video Shows Unused Emergency Supplies, Attack Kills 100 Soldiers in Yemen, Police Injure Hundreds in Lebanese Anti-Government Protests, At Least 4 Killed, Dozens Injured in Iraq as Popular Protests Mount Nationwide, Racist Treatment of Meghan Markle Highlighted as Plans for "Megxit" Move Forward, 10,000s Attend Pro-Gun Rally in Virginia, Appeals Court Dismisses Landmark Youth Climate Lawsuit Against U.S. Government, Protesters Turn Out for Women's March as National Archives Under Fire for Doctoring Photo of 2017 March, MOVE 9 Member Delbert Orr Africa Released from Prison, Ex-GOP Rep. and Trump Supporter Chris Collins Sentenced for Insider Training, Oakland #Moms4Housing to Buy Home They Occupied
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y5KZ)
Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated.
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by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) on (#4Y21G)
As the U.S. continues to use hostile policies to stop people from seeking refuge and asylum in the United States, we look at a key problem that is preventing migrants from getting due process, and in many cases getting them deported: inadequate interpretation for indigenous asylum seekers who speak Mayan languages. Guatemala has a population of 15 million people, and at least 40% of them are indigenous. In the past year, a quarter of a million Guatemalan migrants have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. At least half of them are Mayan. Many speak little or no Spanish. This is the focus of a new report in The New Yorker magazine titled "A Translation Crisis at the Border." We speak with the article's author, Rachel Nolan, in Guatemala City. We also spoke with Odilia Romero, Zapotec interpreter and a longtime indigenous leader with the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations. Romero is a trilingual interpreter in Zapotec, Spanish and English, who recently developed a training program for indigenous-language interpreters.
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In Honduras, a new report by the Violence Observatory at the Honduran National Autonomous University says that at least 15 women have been murdered in the first 14 days of this year. Violence against women, LGBTQ people, indigenous leaders and environmental activists has skyrocketed in Honduras under the U.S.-backed government of President Juan Orlando Hernández. The report comes nearly four years after the Honduran indigenous environmental activist Berta Cáceres was shot dead inside her home in La Esperanza, Honduras, by hired hitmen. Last month in the capital of Tegucigalpa, seven men were sentenced to up to 50 years in prison for her killing in March 2016. At the time of her assassination, Cáceres had been fighting the construction of a major hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River on sacred Lenca land in southwestern Honduras. In November 2018, a court ruled that Cáceres's killing was ordered by executives of the Honduran company behind the Agua Zarca dam, known as DESA, who hired the convicted hitmen. Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work protecting indigenous communities and for her environmental justice campaign against the massive dam in 2015. In December, we sat down with one of her daughters, Laura Zúñiga Cáceres, in Madrid, Spain, where she was receiving a human rights award. "This is a late conviction. It has been almost four years of seeking justice. It is the product of a rather difficult and painful process that has been putting us as victims in direct dispute with a murderous and aggressive state, and they produced the minimum consequences that the state could have given," Zúñiga Cáceres says.
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