Democracy Now!

Trump and Biden Make Final Election Push as Trump Preemptively Sows Doubt over Results, U.S. Judge Thwarts GOP Effort to Toss 127,000 Early Votes in Texas, Judge Blocks Lawsuit by Nevada GOP over Ballot Counting in State's Largest County, Dr. Deborah Birx Contradicts Trump Claims and Actions in New Internal Coronavirus Report, U.K. Readies for Second Lockdown Amid Surge in Cases, Gunmen Kill at Least 22 People in Kabul University Raid, At Least Four Killed in Coordinated Attacks in Vienna, U.N. Calls for End to Attacks on Civilian Targets in Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, Protests in Washington State Call for Justice for Kevin Peterson, a Black Man Killed by Police, Police Union Posts Propaganda Photo with Black Child After Attacking His Family in Philadelphia, SCOTUS Sides with DeRay Mckesson in Lawsuit over Police Officer Injured at Protest, Kentucky Police Quoted Hitler, Instructed Officers to Be "Ruthless Killers" During Training, Central America Braces for Catastrophic Damage from Hurricane Eta

We go to Florida, which could prove decisive in the 2020 presidential election and where immigration is a key issue for many voters, to speak with Haitian American writer Edwidge Danticat, who says voters in the state should cast their ballots to protect immigrant families under threat of deportation by the Trump administration. Trump has repeatedly tried to end temporary protected status for Haitians in the country. We also speak with 13-year-old Christina Ponthieux, the U.S.-born daughter of two TPS recipients from Haiti. "Terminating TPS would affect all of us, especially kids like me who are U.S.-born children who have never been to their parents' country before," says Christina, a member of Family Action Network Movement, or FANM, and a co-chair of the group's Children for Family Reunification initiative.

This weekend, a caravan of Trump supporters in Texas tried to run a Biden campaign bus off the road, ahead of a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court Sunday rejecting a Republican effort brought by a QAnon supporter to throw out nearly 127,000 early votes from 10 drive-thru polling locations in Harris County, but now a similar lawsuit has been filed in federal court. The drive-thru polling locations allowed any registered voter to cast their ballot in a car instead of going inside polling centers, as polls show a close race between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Texas, a traditionally Republican state. Susan Hays, a special counsel to Harris County on election matters, says the drive-thru locations have been "enormously popular" during the pandemic, and tossing those ballots undermines the democratic process. "An election contest is the remedy to any issues with the voting process, not lawsuits that happen before the election," she says.

Police in Alamance County in North Carolina pepper-sprayed a peaceful get-out-the-vote march Saturday, descending on the crowd after they stopped near a Confederate monument to kneel in honor of George Floyd, who was killed by police in Minneapolis in May. Viral videos of the violent police action show officers in riot gear attacking the marchers, including young children and elderly people, who had intended to walk to a polling place on the last day of early voting in North Carolina. At least eight people were arrested, including march organizer Rev. Greg Drumwright, who says police gave the crowd of hundreds only 14 seconds to clear out before attacking. "We never made it to the polls," says Drumwright. "We believe that this interaction, this interference from local authorities, has obstructed our marchers from not only lifting up our First Amendment rights to protest, to speak out, but also our rights to vote."

Police Arrest, Pepper-Spray Peaceful Voters at North Carolina Rally, TX Court Denies GOP Attempt to Throw Out 127,000 Early Ballots as Case Goes Before Federal Court, Trump Outlines Post-Nov. 3 Strategy to Win Election as He and Biden Campaign in Battleground States, U.S. COVID-19 Cases Top 9 Million, as Study Finds Trump Rallies May Have Led to 700+ Deaths, Trump Suggests He May Fire Dr. Fauci After Election, Report Finds 25,000+ Migrant Children Locked Up for More Than 100 Days over Past 6 Years, Ongoing Protests Against Polish Abortion Ban Draw 150,000 People to Streets of Warsaw, At Least 12 People Killed in Ivory Coast in Election Day Violence, 8 Hong Kong Opposition Politicians Arrested as National Security Law Crackdown Continues, Super Typhoon Goni Kills at Least 16, Displaces 1 Million People in Philippines, Aegean Sea Earthquake Kills at Least 80 People as Rescue Efforts Continue, Robert Fisk, Noted Middle East Reporter and Critic of Western Imperialism, Dies at 74

As Donald Trump and Joe Biden make their final campaign pushes in battleground states that could decide the election, we speak with author and journalist Jesse Wegmen about the case for abolishing the Electoral College system altogether and moving toward a national popular vote for electing the president. Two of the last three presidents — George W. Bush and Donald Trump — came to office after losing the popular vote. "The framers who met at the Constitutional Convention really had no idea what they were doing when they established how to pick a president," says Wegman, New York Times editorial board member and author of "Let the People Pick the President."

Native American voters could sway key Senate races in next week's election in Montana, North Carolina, Arizona and Maine. Investigative journalist Jenni Monet says that for many tribal citizens, the contest is not just about Democrats and Republicans. These voters "support those who understand their sovereignty," says Monet, who writes the newsletter "Indigenously." She is a tribal citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna.

As the 2020 campaign enters its final days, we go to Georgia, where two Senate seats are up for grabs and both Republican incumbents face stiff opposition. Joe Biden is also spending significant time in the state, which no Democratic presidential candidate has won since 1992. "Georgia is truly in play," says Emory University professor Carol Anderson. "We have had grassroots organizing and mobilizing, registering folks to vote, working through getting through all of the voter suppression barriers to bring people out to the polls in unprecedented numbers." Anderson is the author of "One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy."

U.S. Records Nearly 90,000 Daily Coronavirus Infections, a New Record, Trump Admin Cleared Nursing Homes Where 40,000 Died of COVID-19 of Infection-Control Violations, Trump and Biden Hold Competing Rallies in Battleground State of Florida, Pennsylvania On-Time Mail Delivery Plummets as Voters Cast Record Number of Mail-In Ballots , Family of Walter Wallace Jr. Calls for Police Reforms Rather Than Murder Charges for Officers, Justice Department Quietly Ended Probe into Police Killing of 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice, "Reckless Incompetence and Intentional Cruelty": Lawmakers Blast Trump Family Separations, ICE Sued for Records on Forced Sterilizations at Georgia Immigration Jail, Family of David Villalobos Demands Justice After Fatal Shooting by U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Speeds Deportations to Haiti, Risking Further Coronavirus Spread, 60 Bodies Found in Mass Graves in Mexico's Guanajuato State, U.S. Drone Strikes and Raids on Yemen Accelerated Under President Trump, U.K. Labour Party Suspends Jeremy Corbyn After He Challenged Findings of Anti-Semitism Report, IRS Audited Just 0.03% of Wealthiest U.S. Families Under President Trump in 2018, Glenn Greenwald Resigns from The Intercept, Citing "Censorship" of His Story on Hunter Biden, Trump Administration to End Protections for Endangered Gray Wolves, Peace Activist Ted Glick Nearing End of Month-Long Fast to Defeat Trump

The massive $2 trillion CARES Act — which sent households one-time payments and boosted unemployment checks with an additional $600 a week through July — helped keep millions afloat, but more than 8 million people have been forced into poverty since the aid ended. "The relief was temporary, and much of it has now expired, so now we're seeing poverty rise again," says Megan Curran, a researcher at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. "We know that families can be protected again, but it does require action at the federal level."

Big Tech CEOs were grilled Wednesday about how they moderate election disinformation and extremist content, and were accused by Republicans of censoring conservatives. Overlooked were reports that Facebook designed changes to its news feed algorithm in 2017 to reduce the visibility of left-leaning news sites like Mother Jones. Mother Jones editors wrote in 2019 that the site had seen a sharp decline in its Facebook audience, which translated to a loss of around $600,000 over 18 months. "The fact that we are trying to do everything we can to get the truth out and Facebook is deliberately sabotaging our readership is so disturbing, at the same time that Facebook is spreading all of this dangerous information by conservatives, by President Trump," responds Ari Berman, senior writer at Mother Jones magazine, who has been reporting extensively on the 2020 election.

Lawmakers grilled the chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter just days before Election Day on how they moderate hate speech, extremist content and election disinformation, including tweets from President Trump. Republicans have long accused Big Tech platforms of censoring conservative views, but tech policy expert Ramesh Srinivasan says the argument is shaped around talking points that are aimed at invalidating election results. "What we see coming from the Republicans is this argument that lacks any evidence, frankly, that there are systematic biases in terms of censorship, as well as algorithmic biases that skew against conservative talking points," says Srinivasan, a professor at UCLA, where he also directs the Digital Cultures Lab. "In fact, in reality, the opposite is exactly what is true."

A record 76 million people have already voted in the U.S. election, but the battle over the counting of mail-in ballots continues, with the Supreme Court issuing rulings on how long after Election Day ballots can be counted in the battleground states of Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. We speak with Mother Jones senior writer Ari Berman, author of "Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America," who says the Supreme Court could yet decide who wins the presidency if a close result leads to legal challenges. "My message to voters in these states and other states is drop your ballot off," says Berman. "Don't leave it to chance that your vote could be thrown out."

"Unrelenting, Broad Community Spread": U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surge to Record Highs, L.A. Dodgers' Justin Turner Celebrated with Teammates Despite Positive Coronavirus Test, France and Germany Lock Down Again as COVID-19 Cases Surge, Supreme Court to Allow Counting of Absentee Ballots Past Election Day in PA, NC, International Crisis Group: Trump's "Toxic Rhetoric" Fuels Election-Related Violence, 7 Hospitalized in Nebraska as Trump Campaign Leaves Hundreds Stranded in Cold, Former DHS Official Miles Taylor Was "Anonymous" Critic Within Trump Administration, Virginia to Curb Militarized Police Departments, Ban No-Knock Raids, Philadelphia Activist Anthony Smith Arrested Amid Protests of Police Killing of Walter Wallace Jr., Hurricane Zeta Is Fifth Named Storm to Strike Louisiana During Record 2020 Season, Trump to Open Alaska's Tongass National Forest to Logging and Road Building, 21 Civilians Killed as Azerbaijan and Armenia Continue War over Nagorno-Karabakh, Colombian Riot Police Evict Hundreds of Indigenous People from Homes in Amazonas, ICE to Pay $100,000 Settlement for Targeting Migrant Justice Leaders in Vermont, Baltimore Museum of Art Calls Off Auctions to Fund New Exhibits by Women and Artists of Color

We get an update from Chile, where an overwhelming majority have voted to rewrite the country's Pinochet dictatorship-era constitution and tens of thousands poured into the streets to celebrate, just one year after mass protests against social and economic inequalities rocked the country and set it on a path to social reform. Javiera Manzi, a spokesperson for Chile's largest feminist advocacy group, Coordinadora Feminista 8M, says the referendum is the result of people doing what politicians had refused to do for decades. We also speak with journalist Pablo Vivanco, who says Chile's neoliberal model has long been held up as an example to follow across Latin America. "Now with this vote … it really sends a signal throughout the region that this selling of the Chilean model and of the neoliberal state is a lie," Vivanco says.

Two members of a Kentucky grand jury convened after the Louisville police killing of Breonna Taylor have spoken on camera for the first time, calling the actions of the Louisville officers responsible for Taylor's death "criminal" and saying the state's Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron never gave them the option to consider murder or manslaughter charges against the police officers involved. "From the very beginning, we have seen a campaign of prevarication, of dishonesty, of outright neglect of any semblance of justice for Breonna Taylor or for her family," responds Marc Lamont Hill, professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University, who notes that in lieu of justice, her family at least deserves accountability.

Less than a week out from Election Day, we look at President Trump's call for poll watchers in battleground states like Pennsylvania that he needs to win. Trump is "framing this all as a left-wing conspiracy to take away his presidency," says Marc Lamont Hill, professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University in Philadelphia. "When he calls for people to come and form this sort of 'army,' when he calls for people to be his security force, he's calling in his white nationalist base. … Trump very clearly knows the numbers are against him."

Protesters in Philadelphia mark a second night of calling for the abolition of police after two Philadelphia police shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old Black man, while he was having a mental health crisis. The shooting reflects decades of defunding of social services, including for mental health, while police departments have continued to grow, says author and activist Marc Lamont Hill, who argues, "If all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail." Lamont Hill is professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University and author of "We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, and Possibility."

White House Credits Trump with "Ending the COVID-19 Pandemic" as U.S. Cases Hit Record Highs, As 54 Million U.S. Residents Struggle for Food, Senate Adjourns Without Passing Relief Bill, Family of Walter Wallace Jr. Demands Justice After Fatal Police Shooting, Grand Jurors Call Actions of Louisville Police Officers Who Killed Breonna Taylor "Criminal", Trump Mocks Media Coverage of Coronavirus Crisis, Trump on Counting Votes Beyond Election Day: "I Don't Believe That's by Our Laws", Muslims Denounce French President for Defending Caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, Yemen's Humanitarian Workers Plead for International Aid as Malnutrition Soars, United Arab Emirates Opens Consulate in Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara, Hong Kong Activists Arrested Under Chinese National Security Law, Hurricane Zeta Strengthens and Takes Aim at New Orleans, NXIVM Cult Leader Keith Raniere Sentenced to 120 Years for Sex Trafficking, Forced Labor, Federal Judge Will Allow E. Jean Carroll to Sue Donald Trump for Defamation over Rape Allegations, Poland Protesters Denounce Court Ruling Banning Nearly All Abortions

In her new book, "The Purpose of Power," Black Lives Matter co-creator Alicia Garza lays out how people can build power and effect change. "Movements are not just about protests," she says. "Movements are absolutely about how we get more power into the hands of more people."

This election season, Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza says President Trump is "stoking fires he has no intention of controlling" and inciting far-right extremists. She was recently approached by the FBI after agents found her name on a list in the home of a white supremacist in Idaho who was arrested on weapons charges. "Racial terror has always been used as a form of control, particularly during periods of people fighting for social change," she says.

As right-wing judge Amy Coney Barrett is sworn in as the ninth justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, just 30 days after President Trump announced her nomination and eight days ahead of the November 3 election, we speak with Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, who says the rushed confirmation shows that the Supreme Court "is not a neutral body — it is incredibly political." Barrett's confirmation to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just six weeks after her death seals the court's 6-3 conservative majority potentially for decades to come and could have major consequences for reproductive rights, civil rights, environmental protections, the Affordable Care Act and the 2020 presidential election. "It is concerning that Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed yesterday, particularly given her complete lack of qualifications for the role, but also considering her extreme views on everything from reproductive justice and reproductive rights to civil rights and racism," says Garza, the principal at Black Futures Lab and co-founder of Supermajority.

Amy Coney Barrett Sworn In, Giving SCOTUS Heavy Conservative Majority Ahead of Pivotal Cases, SCOTUS Rules Wisconsin Cannot Count Ballots Received After Election Day, Surging COVID-19 Cases Trigger Curfews; Doctors Say 800,000 Children Have Been Infected, China Testing 5 Million People After One Asymptomatic Case in Xinjiang, New Lockdowns in Germany, Mask Orders in Russia as COVID-19 Cases Surge, Oxford Vaccine Shows Promising Results as New Data Suggests Antibodies in Recovered Cases Don't Last, U.S. Imposes Harsh New Sanctions on Iranian Oil, Airstrikes Kill Dozens at Training Camp in Idlib, Syria, Explosion at Religious School in Pakistan Kills at Least 7 People, Injured 120+, Bolivian Court Dismisses Terrorism Charges and Arrest Warrant Against Evo Morales, Mexico Reaches Disputed Deal with U.S. in Water Debt Case, Thai Protesters Ask Germany to Probe King's Activity as Protests Show No Sign of Slowing Down, China Imposes Sanctions on U.S. Military Contractors After U.S.-Taiwan Arms Deal, Japan Says It Will Become Carbon Neutral by 2050, Climate Activists Arrested in NYC After Shutting Down Construction of North Brooklyn Pipeline, Protests Erupt in Philadelphia After Police Killing of a Black Man, Walter Wallace Jr., Illinois Police Officer Fired After Fatally Shooting a Black Teenager, Activists Demand Probe into Fatal Shooting of Mexican Man by Border Patrol, Jared Kushner Makes Racist Comments About Black People "Complaining" About Systemic Problems, 100,000 SoCal Residents Evacuated as New Blaze Explodes in Size, Diane di Prima, Feminist Utopian Beat Poet and San Francisco Poet Laureate, Dies at 86

As the presidential race enters its final full week, we speak with filmmaker Nadine Natour about "Natours Grocery," her new documentary short that tells the story of her Palestinian American family living in Trump's America. Natour's immigrant parents own a store in the highly conservative town of Appomattox, Virginia, which voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016. The Natours say they don't talk about politics or religion with their customers to avoid confrontation, but as they strive to build bridges with their neighbors, President Trump's anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric inspires a backlash in Appomattox. "In the election of Donald Trump we saw a lot of that bubbling racist sentiment toward immigrants, towards Muslims, become part of the mainstream discourse," says Natour. "You really could see a shift in attitudes." "Natours Grocery" premieres tonight as part of "POV Shorts" on PBS.

An independent medical review team has submitted a report to Congress on a lack of informed consent and "disturbing pattern" of questionable gynecological surgical procedures at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, after an account from a nurse whistleblower in September prompted congressional and federal investigations. At least 19 women, most of whom are Black and Latina, have come forward to allege they were pressured into "unnecessary" gynecological treatment and surgeries — including procedures that left them sterile — while they were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We speak with Jaromy Floriano Navarro, a survivor of medical abuse and neglect at Irwin who was the original source of the information about medical abuse by Dr. Mahendra Amin that was eventually included in the whistleblower report. "From day one that I met Dr. Amin, he said, 'OK, you need surgery,'" Navarro says. "They were really trying to do the surgery on me, for whatever reason. They wanted to take my womb out." We also speak with Dr. Maggie Mueller, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern Medical Center who was part of the independent medical review team that produced the new report, and Adriano Espaillat, Democratic congressmember from New York who visited the Irwin County Detention Center in September as part of a delegation from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Pence Remains on Campaign Trail Despite COVID Outbreak in Inner Circle as U.S. Cases Surge, Trump Administration Pressures CDC to Sign Off on Locking Up Migrant Children, Citing Pandemic, Illinois Public Health Official Breaks Down in Tears While Reporting Coronavirus Toll, New Wave of Restrictions in Europe as COVID-19 Cases Explode in Spain, Italy, France, GOP-Ruled Senate Set to Confirm Amy Coney Barrett, Trump's Third SCOTUS Justice, Early Voting Brings Huge Turnout as New York Voters Face Hours-Long Lines, TX Court Reinstates Limit on Drop Box Sites; PA Court Allows Ballots with Mismatched Signatures, Sudanese Political Parties Reject U.S.-Brokered Deal to Normalize Sudanese-Israeli Relations, Nigerian Police Orders Further Crackdown on Protests as Death Toll Mounts, Security Forces Kill at Least 10 Protesters in Guinea During Post-Election Unrest, 3rd Ceasefire Between Armenia and Azerbaijan Breaks Down Within Minutes, Opposition Launches Nationwide General Strike in Belarus, Suicide Bomber Kills 24, Including Children, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Iraqis Rally to Mark First Anniversary of Anti-Government Protests, Libyan Government Signs "Permanent Ceasefire" with Khalifa Haftar's Forces, Palestinian Teen Dies After Beating by Israeli Forces, Chileans Overwhelmingly Approve Rewrite of Pinochet-Era Constitution, Pope Francis Names Wilton Gregory as First African American Cardinal, Far-Right "Boogaloo" Gunman Arrested for Shooting Minneapolis Police Precinct, Black Lives Matter Leader Alicia Garza Says FBI Warned Her About White Supremacist, Colorado's Two Largest Fires on Record Continue to Burn, Power Cut to Hundreds of Thousands in California to Prevent Wildfires, 50th Nation Ratifies Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

During the second and final presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, moderator Kristen Welker asked Trump and Biden about immigration and family separation. Trump deflected questions during the debate, repeatedly stating that the Obama-Biden administration "built the cages" and falsely claiming that kids seeking asylum in the U.S. are "well taken care of." However, the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy "took children away from their families at the border," says Erika Andiola, advocacy chief at RAICES Action, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. "He's not owning up to that."

President Trump and Joe Biden sparred on their records over race and criminal justice in Thursday's presidential debate. Trump simultaneously promoted his criminal justice reform efforts while continuing to lean on "tough on crime" rhetoric. Trump also criticized Biden for authoring the 1994 crime bill and supporting other laws that intensified mass incarceration in the U.S., which Biden acknowledged was "a mistake." Rashad Robinson, spokesperson for Color of Change PAC, says Biden's admission highlights the importance of continued pressure on politicians on racial justice issues. "The Democrats can't just make this about hating Trump. They also have to continue to fight and build and put out the policies that are going to change lives and remove barriers and systems that have stood in people's way," Robinson says.

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden met in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday in the second and final debate of the 2020 campaign. It was a more subdued debate than their first clash, when Trump refused to abide by the rules and interrupted Biden at least 128 times. Thursday's debate was moderated by NBC's Kristen Welker, who began by asking the candidates about COVID-19. Biden criticized Trump for repeatedly downplaying the severity of the pandemic, while the president boasted about his handling of the crisis, falsely claiming a vaccine was "ready" to be deployed within weeks. Epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and former director of the CDC's Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, says the political divide on how to deal with COVID-19 would be "unimaginable" for any other disease. He also says the Trump administration's aims of reaching "herd immunity" by letting the virus run rampant in the U.S. is cruel and scientifically unsound. "That is the most unethical, disastrous approach possible," he says.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden Meet for Final Debate of 2020 Campaign, U.S. Confirms Over 71,000 Daily Coronavirus Cases as Some Hospitals Near Capacity, FDA Approves Remdesivir for COVID-19 Despite WHO Study Showing No Benefit, France Extends Curfew and Czech Republic Locks Down as COVID-19 Surges Across Europe, India's BJP Party Promises Free COVID-19 Vaccines But Only If It Wins Regional Election, Senate Democrats Boycott as Judiciary Committee Advances Amy Coney Barrett's Confirmation, Rocky Mountain National Park Closes as Colorado Experiences Two Largest Wildfires on Record, Asylum Seekers Say ICE Agents Tortured Them into Signing Deportation Orders, 19 Women Now Say ICE Subjected Them to Invasive Surgeries Including Sterilizations, Google Artificial Intelligence Technology to Aid "Virtual Wall" on U.S.-Mexico Border, Florida Officials Accused of Voter Suppression over Last-Minute Changes to Ballot Drop Box Rules, SCOTUS Allows Alabama to Ban Drive-Up Voting During Pandemic, U.S. Billionaires' Wealth Jumped by $931 Billion During Pandemic, Federal Workers Call Trump Executive Order a "Declaration of War on the Civil Service", Venezuelan President Calls on National Assembly to Pass Marriage Equality Bill, Poland's Highest Court Outlaws Almost All Abortions

As fighting continues between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, we look at the roots of the conflict that has already killed at least 700 people since fighting began in late September and which threatens to escalate despite two ceasefire attempts brokered by Russia. Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians, was the site of a bloody conflict in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This latest spike in violence is the worst since the 1990s and holds the risk of spiraling into a regional war, with Turkey openly supporting Azerbaijan while Russia has a mutual defense pact with Armenia. "You enter into the capital, Stepanakert, and the lights are off. The city is in complete darkness, and everyone is in bunkers and shelters," says reporter Roubina Margossian, who has been reporting from the region. We also speak with UC Berkeley professor Stephan Astourian, author of the forthcoming book "At the Crossroads of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict: History, Territory, Nationalisms."

Mass protests against police brutality continue in Nigeria after security forces shot and killed 12 peaceful protesters in Lagos this week. Video widely shared on social media shows security forces firing directly into a crowd of demonstrators in Lagos singing the country's national anthem. Authorities have imposed a curfew to clamp down on the growing demonstrations, which started as a demand to disband the notorious police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, but which have since grown into a wider movement against police brutality and official impunity. "We are asking for justice. We are asking for our lives to be preserved, not to be killed arbitrarily by these officers of state," says lawyer and human rights activist Aderonke Ige, who has taken part in the protests. We also speak with Omoyele Sowore, who says young people in the streets are also confronting other systemic issues. "They are fighting against police brutality, but they are also fighting against army brutality, they are fighting against unemployment, they are fighting against the incompetence and indifference of the regime that has been in power," he says.

Columbia Researchers Say Trump's Failures Led to at Least 130,000 Coronavirus Deaths, California to Slash San Quentin Prison Population After Massive Coronavirus Outbreak, Obama Blasts Trump's Record as Candidates Head to Nashville for Final Presidential Debate, NYT: Trump Maintains Chinese Bank Account and Paid Nearly $200,000 in Taxes to China, DNI John Ratcliffe Claims Iran Is Meddling in 2020 Election to "Damage President Trump", Democrats to Boycott Senate Committee Vote on Amy Coney Barrett's SCOTUS Nomination, Billionaire Sackler Family Gets No Jail Time in $8 Billion OxyContin Settlement, In Historic Shift for Catholic Church, Pope Signals Support for LGBTQ Civil Unions, Protesters at U.S. Border Decry Trump's "Remain in Mexico" Policy for Asylum Seekers, Leaders of National Strike in Colombia Demand Meeting with President Iván Duque, Mass Grave Discovered in Tulsa May Be Linked to 1921 Racist Massacre, Trump Rape Accuser E. Jean Carroll "Stunned" by DOJ's Handling of Defamation Lawsuit

We speak with legendary Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernández about a case that has sent shockwaves throughout Mexico: the U.S. arrest of Mexico's former defense secretary for allegedly working with a major drug cartel while heading Mexico's military. General Salvador Cienfuegos served as secretary of defense from 2012 to 2018 in the former government of President Enrique Peña Nieto and has long been accused of human rights abuses, including refusing to allow investigators to interview soldiers who may have been involved in the 2014 disappearance and likely massacre of 43 students from a teachers' college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. Hernández's book "Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers" links top Mexican government officials to the world's most powerful drug cartels, and she has received so many death threats that the National Human Rights Commission assigned her two full-time bodyguards. Despite the danger, she has continued to report. We are also joined by John Gibler, author and independent journalist based in Mexico, and examine how Mexican soldiers were involved in the 2014 disappearance and apparent massacre of the 43 students in Ayotzinapa.

Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout says Senate Democrats can still block the confirmation of President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, if they use every possible procedural method available to them to slow and frustrate the process. "A Barrett confirmation is a catastrophe," Teachout says. "A 6-3 majority on the court is basically a bomb coming at what is left of our protections against corruption in politics, against corporate money, against what is left of the Voting Rights Act."

The Department of Justice and 11 states have filed a major antitrust lawsuit against Google in a move that could lead to the breakup of the company's business and holds major implications for other tech giants. The lawsuit accuses Google of engaging in illegal practices to maintain a monopoly on the search market, which fuels its dominance in online advertising. Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout, who has long advocated for breaking up Big Tech monopolies, says it's "an incredibly important lawsuit" that should be the start of a wave of legal and legislative action to tackle "this incredible democratic crisis we have of Big Tech really becoming a form of private, for-profit government that is taking over so many parts of our lives."

Nigerian Soldiers Open Fire on Protesters Opposing Police Brutality, As U.S. Faces Third Coronavirus Surge, CDC Reports 300,000 Excess Deaths in 2020, Pope Wears Mask at Public Event for First Time as EU Coronavirus Cases Surge, Justice Department and 11 States Sue Google in Biggest Antitrust Lawsuit in Decades, ACLU Can't Find Hundreds of Asylum-Seeking Parents Separated from Children by Trump Admin, L.A. Times: Just Three of 265 Reported Crimes at California ICE Jails Led to Prosecutions, Early Voting Opens for Pretrial Prisoners in Chicago's Cook County Jail , Armed Poll Watchers Deploy to Democratic Precincts as Trump Jr. Calls Up "Army for Election Security", Joe Biden Vets Republicans for Cabinet Positions, Won't Disclose Names of Major Fundraisers, First Lady Skips Campaign Rally in Erie, PA, Due to "Lingering Cough" from COVID-19, Trump Cuts Short "60 Minutes" Interview, Demands AG Barr Investigate Bidens, Fiancée of Slain Journalist Jamal Khashoggi Files Suit Against Saudi Crown Prince , Two Colombian Social Leaders Assassinated in Latest Politically Motivated Killings, Venezuelan Tanker Idled by U.S. Sanctions Puts Caribbean at Risk of Massive Oil Spill, Grand Jurors in Breonna Taylor's Killing "Not Given the Opportunity" to Bring Homicide Charges, SCOTUS Nominee Barrett Was Trustee of School That Bans LGBTQ Students, Faculty, Study Finds Lead in Tap Water of 80% of U.S. Homes, with African Americans Most Affected

As tens of millions of people across the U.S. cast their ballots in early voting ahead of the November 3 election, we look at voter suppression efforts with journalist and academic Jelani Cobb. His new "Frontline" documentary "Whose Vote Counts" examines the long lines, record number of mail-in ballots and the legal fights that have marked voting during the pandemic, with a focus on Wisconsin. "This is a state where the presidency was essentially decided in the last election," says Cobb, a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a contributor to The New Yorker. He describes voter suppression as "a fire that has spread across the country."

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales's political party MAS has claimed victory in the country's presidential election, with Morales's handpicked successor Luis Arce securing over 50% of the vote, according to exit polls. If confirmed, the result will put the socialist party back in power almost a year after a right-wing coup that ousted Morales and installed Jeanine Áñez as president. The election was postponed twice, and protests rocked Bolivia for months leading up to the vote, calling out the government's use of military and police repression and violence against Indigenous communities. "It's an extraordinary election," says Ollie Vargas, a reporter for Kawsachun News. "In 2019, Evo Morales won by a margin of just over 10%, and now we have a margin of over 20% with which the left is ahead." We also speak with Leonardo Flores, Latin America campaign coordinator of CodePink, who calls the election results "a huge, huge victory" for Bolivian people and for democracy itself. "It's a blow against neoliberalism and fascism in this country," says Flores.

Trump Continues Attack on Fauci as U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surge and Death Toll Mounts, SCOTUS Deadlock Hands Victory to Voters in Pennsylvania as Floridians Break Early Voting Record, Debate Commission Announces Changes Ahead of Final Presidential Face-Off, Evo Morales Celebrates Victory of MAS Party, Says He Will Return to Bolivia, Trump Admin to Remove Sudan from U.S. List of Terrorist States, At Least 15 People Killed as Nigerian Protests Against Police Violence Continue, WSJ: U.S. Held Talks with Syrian Intelligence About Missing U.S. Citizens, Palestinian Prisoner in Critical Condition After Nearly 3 Months of Hunger Strike Against His Detention, 10,000s Displaced, at Least 115 Dead in Vietnam and Cambodia After Intense Storms, Indigenous Communities in Colombia Demand an End to Murders, Join in National Strike, DOJ Announces Hacking Charges Against Russian Military Intelligence, Tax Fraud and Evasion Probe Launched Against Euro Pacific Bank, SCOTUS to Hear Cases on Funding of Trump's Border Wall and "Remain in Mexico" Policy

As President Trump campaigns in swing states that are also coronavirus hot spots, The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill argues he is directly responsible for the poor U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed almost 220,000 people in the country so far and sickened millions. "I don't know how else to describe what Trump has done except homicidal," says Scahill, host of a new seven-part audio series that examines the Trump era.

Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 with a mixed message of attacking the legacy of the Iraq War and U.S. military adventurism, while simultaneously pledging to commit war crimes and promote imperialism. As we look back at Trump's record, Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept, says his flouting of international norms and bullying of other countries is in keeping with how U.S. presidents have long behaved. "Donald Trump is not the root of the problem. Donald Trump is a product of American imperial history," Scahill notes.

In Part 2 of our discussion of the Trump era with The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill about his new seven-part audio documentary "American Mythology," he examines how Trump's xenophobic immigration policies have been a "methodical, surgical operation" to make life miserable for both current and prospective immigrants, including asylum seekers fleeing violence. He also notes that while Trump's policies have been particularly vicious, "this country has had a racist immigration policy for a very long time, and it's bipartisan."

As the 2020 presidential campaign enters its final two weeks, we look at the past four years of the Trump presidency with investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill of The Intercept. His podcast "Intercepted" has just released the fourth chapter in a seven-part audio documentary titled "American Mythology," which critically examines the Trump presidency and places it within a larger historical context. Scahill says Trump has empowered white supremacist vigilantes and given permission to law enforcement to act extrajudicially to enforce a racist status quo, but he cautions that "Donald Trump is not an aberration of U.S. history or some anomaly, but he's a very overt representation of many of the absolute most violent, destructive, racist, xenophobic trends in U.S. history."

U.S. COVID-19 Cases Surge as Trump Continues Unmasked Campaign Rallies, Cases Mounting Across Europe as New Restrictions Enacted, Top Palestinian Official Saeb Erekat in Critical Condition with COVID-19, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Accuses Trump of Inspiring, Incentivizing and Inciting Terrorism, White Supremacists Indicted for Arms Trafficking, Murder and Plotting to Bomb Synagogue, Death Toll in Nagorno-Karabakh Fighting Mounts as New Ceasefire Falls Apart, Kyrgyzstan Installs New President, Who Will Also Serve as Prime Minister, Alexei Navalny Calls on Trump to Denounce Use of Chemical Weapons, Car Bomb in Central Afghanistan Kills at Least 12, Injures Over 100 People, Thailand Protests Continue in Face of Government and Police Crackdown, Evo Morales's MAS Party Set for Outright Victory in Bolivia, One Year After His Ouster, Chileans Take to Streets One Year After Start of Mass Protests & Ahead of Constitutional Referendum, Mexican Ex-Defense Sec. Indicted on Laundering and Drugs Charges, Has History of Rights Abuses in Mexico, Tens of Thousands of Pakistanis Rally to Demand PM Imran Khan Resign, Iran Arms Embargo Expires Despite U.S. Objections, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern Wins Landslide Reelection After Stamping Out Coronavirus, Rallies Around the Country Call on People to Vote in U.S. Election, Colorado Fires Shatter Records as Trump Reverses Course on California Wildfire Aid, SCOTUS to Decide Whether to Exclude Undocumented Immigrants from Census Count

During confirmation hearings this week for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island opted not to ask the judge any questions. Instead, he gave a 30-minute presentation on how right-wing groups, including the Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network, use dark money to shape the nation's judiciary. We air excerpts from his presentation and get reaction from Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony this week from Crystal Good, who spoke about her experience of having an abortion and expressed concerns that Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation to the Supreme Court would limit access to safe, affordable care. During three days of hearings, Judge Barrett has repeatedly refused to answer questions about her views on abortion and the future of Roe v. Wade, despite her public record opposing reproductive rights. "If confirmed, Judge Barrett will be a fifth vote to eviscerate the important protections that have been afforded by Roe v. Wade," says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who also testified in the Senate this week.

The Senate confirmation hearing for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett ended Thursday with Republicans on the Judiciary Committee scheduling a vote on her nomination for October 22, with a full Senate vote to follow shortly thereafter — less than two weeks before the presidential election, in which the Supreme Court could play a decisive role. The right-wing judge's confirmation looks all but assured, after four rushed days of questioning in which Barrett refused to state her position on abortion rights, gay marriage, the Affordable Care Act, voting rights, climate change, and even if President Trump could delay the election. If confirmed, she gives conservatives a 6-3 majority on the high court. "We have never had a president put forth a nomination and commence confirmation hearings in the middle of an ongoing presidential election," says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

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We air highlights from the second day of questioning of President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, who faced eight hours of questions on Wednesday about her views on issues ranging from climate change to voting rights to gay marriage and abortion, as Republicans race to confirm her ahead of the election and secure a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court for conservatives.