Democracy Now!

We look at how decades of U.S. military intervention in Central America have led to the ongoing migrant crisis, with Salvadoran American journalist Roberto Lovato, author of the new book "Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas." Lovato recounts his own family's migration from El Salvador to the United States, his return to the country as a young man to fight against the U.S.-backed right-wing government responsible for grave human rights violations, and his embrace of journalism to tell the stories of people on the margins. "I'm unforgetting a history of not just El Salvador, but the United States and of myself," says Lovato.

As the long-awaited extradition hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gets underway in London, his legal adviser, Jennifer Robinson, says the case could set a chilling precedent for press freedoms around the world. "He faces 175 years in prison for doing his job as a journalist and a publisher. That's why this case is so dangerous," says Robinson. Assange faces numerous charges, including under the U.S. Espionage Act, related to the release of diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks that revealed war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He faces a possible life sentence if he is extradited to the U.S.

California Governor Has "No Patience for Climate Change Deniers" Amid Historic Fires, Report Estimates Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Led to Quarter-Million COVID-19 Cases, Peru COVID-19 Death Toll Reaches 30,000, Senate Republicans Abandon New Stimulus Checks Despite Economic Crisis, Tropical Storm Rene Forms, Continuing Record Atlantic Hurricane Season, Sudan Under State of Emergency as Nile River Flooding Sets Records, Senegal's Capital Partially Submerged Following Record-Shattering Rainfall, Trump Extends Offshore Drilling Bans in Republican-Led States, DOJ Seeks to Defend Trump from Rape Accuser's Defamation Lawsuit, 13-Year-Old Autistic Boy Shot by Salt Lake City Police After Mother Calls 911 for Help, Rochester Police Chief and Commanders Resign over Police Killing of Daniel Prude, Thousands Flee as Fires Consume Refugee Camp in Greece, 10 Killed in Roadside Bomb Attack Targeting Afghan Vice President, Pentagon to Draw Down U.S. Troops in Iraq, Report: U.S. "Global War on Terror" Displaced at Least 37 Million People, Press Organizations Demand Justice for Murdered Pakistani Journalist Shaheena Shaheen Baloch, Michael Cohen's New Book Recounts Donald Trump's Racist Diatribes, DHS Identifies White Supremacists as Most Lethal Threat to U.S., Graduate Students Strike in Michigan, Form New Union in Arizona, Thousands Join Two-Day Scholar Strike to Protest Racism and Police Violence

Iván Velásquez is a Colombian prosecutor who headed the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala from 2013 to 2019, a powerful U.N.-backed commission formed to investigate corruption in the country and supported by the Obama administration. But Velásquez and other investigators were expelled from the country after the Trump administration agreed to withdraw support for the commission in apparent exchange for Guatemala's support of Trump's immigration and Middle East policies. The details of that quid pro quo between President Trump and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales are detailed in a new investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. We speak with reporters Aaron Glantz and Anayansi Diaz-Cortes.

Filmmaker Yoruba Richen, director of The New York Times documentary "The Killing of Breonna Taylor," says the 26-year-old EMT's killing was not just a devastating blow to her friends and family, but a "loss of the entire community." Police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, fatally shot Taylor during a raid on her home in March, part of a botched drug investigation. Richen says that in visiting Louisville and speaking with Taylor's loved ones, she "personally felt the trauma that we endure as African American people" as a result of police killings.

Months after the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, new details have emerged about the final moments of the 26-year-old EMT's life and the police raid that brought it to a violent end, as detailed in a New York Times documentary that includes dozens of interviews and a review of more than 1,200 new photos of the crime scene. Taylor, whom police shot five times in her own home on March 13, has since become a household name and rallying point in the national movement for racial justice. The police officers responsible for her death have not been charged. We speak with Yoruba Richen, director and producer of "The Killing of Breonna Taylor," who says the case exposes the systemic violence at the heart of U.S. policing.

Record-Breaking Wildfires and Heat Scorch California, Rochester Protests Continue as Mayor Promises Changes After Police Killing of Daniel Prude, Major Drug Companies Pledge to Not Rush COVID-19 Vaccine as U.S. Cases Top 6.3 Million, India Becomes Second Most Infected Country; Spain First European Country to Surpass 500,000 Cases, Belarusian Opposition Leader Resists Expulsion at Border with Ukraine After Reports of Abduction, Alexei Navalny Out of Induced Coma as He Continues Recovery from Poisoning, Extradition Hearing Resumes for Julian Assange in U.K., Hundreds of Rohingya Refugees Arrive on Dry Land After Months at Sea, Duterte Pardons U.S. Marine Convicted of Killing Transgender Woman, U.N. Calls Saudi Sentences in Jamal Khashoggi Murder a "Parody of Justice", Trump Lashes Out at Pentagon Following Report He Called U.S. Soldiers "Losers" and "Suckers", Trump Goes After Gov't Antiracism Training, Threatens to Cut DOE Funding over Use of 1619 Project, Prosecutors Drops Case Against Curtis Flowers After Six Trials and 23 Years Behind Bars, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Under Fire over Reports He Made Employees Donate to GOP Candidates, CA Judge Halts Trump Effort to End Census Collection Efforts Early, Climate Activists Target News Outlets for Failing to Truthfully Report the Climate Crisis, Beloved Peace Activist and Lawyer Kevin Zeese Dies at the Age of 64

In a Democracy Now! special, we revisit our June 2020 interview with the legendary activist and scholar Angela Davis about the uprising against police brutality and racism launched in May after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The protests have helped dramatically shift public opinion on policing and systemic racism, as "defund the police" becomes a rallying cry of the movement. Davis is professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz. For half a century, she has been one of the most influential activists and intellectuals in the United States and an icon of the Black liberation movement.

In a Democracy Now! special, Harvard professor Cornel West and Ben Jealous, president of People for the American Way and former president of the NAACP, discuss the 2020 DNC, Joe Biden's vow to fight systemic racism and "overcome this season of darkness in America," the historic nomination of Kamala Harris as his partner on the ticket, and how the convention was a showcase for a broad anti-Trump coalition, including prominent Republican figures given plum speaking slots, but few voices from the party's insurgent left wing. "At this moment, with the decline and fall of the American empire, it looks as if the system is unable to generate enough energy to seriously reform itself. It remains sanitized, superficial," says Dr. West. "I want fundamental change." Jealous says Biden is someone progressives can work with and pressure. "The theme of this convention was really one of unity," he notes. "This is a time when we have to come together to defeat a president who is the most evil, the most corrupt that any of us have seen." We originally interviewed West and Jealous last month as the DNC ended.

Upon the death of acclaimed anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber, we feature his 2011 interview on Democracy Now!, two days after the Occupy encampment began. Graeber helped organize the initial Occupy Wall Street protest and was credited with helping to develop the slogan, "We are the 99%." "The idea is the system is not going to save us; we're going to have to save ourselves," says Graeber. "So, we're going to try to get as many people as possible to camp in some public place and start rebuilding society as we'd like to see it." He also discusses how his influential book "Debt: The First 5,000 Years" makes the case for sweeping debt cancellation.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the election of socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile, a significant moment in the history of political revolutions. We speak with Chilean American author, human rights defender and poet Ariel Dorfman, who was cultural and press adviser to Allende's chief of staff in the last months of his presidency, about how the revolution used peaceful means to bring about radical change in Chile and beyond. "Allende's revolution, which was a peaceful revolution, was the attempt to put the resources of the country and the future of the country into the hands of the majority," Dorfman says.

As President Trump openly embraces the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon and promotes "law and order" while refusing to condemn armed followers of his who target antiracist protesters, we speak with Jason Stanley, Yale philosopher and scholar of propaganda, author of "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them." Stanley says Trump built a cult of personality within the Republican Party, as evident during the Republican National Convention, and has moved the United States steadily into authoritarianism during his term. "Fascism is a cult of the leader who promises national restoration in the face of supposed threats by leftist radicals, minorities and immigrants. He promises only he can save us," Stanley says. "In the RNC, what we saw is we saw a cult of the leader."

Key Model Projects 410,000 Dead in U.S. from COVID-19 by January 1, Trump Mocks Biden for Wearing Mask During Pandemic, COVID-19 Cases Surge on College Campuses, Amnesty: Over 7,000 Health Workers Have Died During Pandemic, 1,300 in Mexico, U.S. Marshals Kill Anti-Fascist Activist Suspected in Fatal Portland Shooting, Rochester Suspends Seven Officers Tied to Death of Daniel Prude, D.C. Protesters Condemn Police Killing of Black Teenager Deon Kay, Biden Visits Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Meet Family of Jacob Blake, L.A. Airport Workers Stage Die-In Calling for Benefits for Laid-Off Workers, Attorney General Barr Refuses to Criticize Trump for Urging Supporters to Vote Twice, Report: Trump Called War Veterans "Losers" & "Suckers", Portuguese Youth Sue European Countries over Climate Crisis, Massive Oil Tanker on Fire Off Coast of Sri Lanka, White Professor Admits to Pretending to Be Afro-Latina for Years, Prominent Trans Activist Killed in Mexico, Anthropologist & Occupy Wall Street Activist David Graeber, 59, Dies

As Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden heads to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to meet with the family of Jacob Blake, we speak with Congressmember Mark Pocan, who was born and raised in Kenosha. "Clearly, what happened — someone shot in the back seven times, close range, in front of their children, by the police — was another example of the policing problem we have in this country," Pocan says. He also discusses Attorney General Barr's attacks on mail-in voting, his proposal to cut the Pentagon budget by 10% to make more funds available for COVID-19 and unemployment relief, and calls for those behind the homophobic smear campaign in the Alex Morse primary to be fired.

Mass protests entered their fourth week in Belarus to demand the ouster of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed victory in the country's August 9 election that critics say was rigged. But Lukashenko shows no sign of backing down, and authorities have responded to protests with violence and arrests. Sadakat Kadri, a human rights lawyer and writer, says Russian President Vladimir Putin is invested in keeping Lukashenko in power. "He can't afford to see Belarus fall," Kadri notes.

The top commander at Fort Hood is removed from his post, and the U.S. Army has launched an investigation, after a series of murders and accusations of sexual abuse at the base, with 23 deaths at Fort Hood this year and 13 soldiers disappeared, killed or who died by suicide. In April, the remains of soldier Vanessa Guillén were found near the base, and the main suspect in that case killed himself in July shortly after he was accused of her murder. Her case sparked national outrage about sexual assault in the military and led to the introduction of legislation to make it easier for military personnel to report sexual assault and harassment. "Rape culture, systemic racism, corruption and impunity has been really part and parcel in the Department of Defense for decades," says Air Force veteran Pam Campos-Palma, who leads the Vets for the People project, adding that Congress must provide proper oversight of the military.

CDC Urges States to Be Ready by Late October to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine, Iowa Sen. Ernst Spreads COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories as Cases Soar in State, U.S. Pulls $62 Million in Funding for World Health Organization, U.S. Sanctions Top ICC Prosecutors for Investigating U.S. War Crimes, Trump Campaign Aide Justifies Vigilante's Killing of Black Lives Matter Protesters, Trump Moves to Cut Billions in Federal Aid to Cities, Citing "Anarchist Jurisdictions", The Killing of Daniel Prude: Naked Black Man Suffocated After Police Put Hood Over His Head, California Police Officer Charged with Shooting Dead Black Man in Walmart, Did an L.A. Sheriff Deputy Kill a Teenager as Part of Police Gang Initiation?, In Violation of Law, Trump Urges North Carolinians to Vote Twice, Lara Trump Campaigns with Self-Described Islamophobe GOP Candidate Laura Loomer, Federal Appeals Court Rules NSA Bulk Collection of Phone Records Is Illegal, Germany: Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny Poisoned in Russia by Nerve Agent, Trial Begins in 2015 Attack on Charlie Hebdo Newspaper, Calls Grow for U.S. to Halt Deportation of Ugandan Pastor Steven Tendo, Reparations Lawsuit Filed over 1921 Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The mainstream media's role in perpetuating racism has come under increased scrutiny during the nationwide uprisings against injustice, leading to resignations and firings at news outlets across the country and calls for more diverse newsrooms. Daniel Thompson, the former digital editor at Kenosha News, says that's what led him to quit his job after his news outlet ran a misleading headline and article about a peaceful Jacob Blake protest that focused almost exclusively on one speaker's threat of violence. "Now more than ever for the media, it's important to try to give a full, accurate picture." says Thompson. "I don't think the situation happened out of any malicious intent. I think it was simply ignorance and a lack of diversity or diverse voices that were part of the decision."

New York unions representing teachers and principals have reached a deal with the city over how to reopen the largest public school system in the United States, averting a planned strike by educators. "We feel betrayed, and we feel as if it's an inadequate plan," says Aixa Rodriguez, a Bronx-based high school teacher. We also speak with education writer Eric Blanc, who says New York has failed to learn the lessons of other school districts that reopened too quickly without adequate safety measures in place against COVID-19. "When educators in New York are saying it's not safe to go back, that's not just born out of paranoia; that's born out of looking at what happens when you open schools," says Blanc.

As the coronavirus pandemic contributes to a glut of fossil fuels, groups like Greenpeace are calling on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to ban fossil fuel interests from his campaign and administration, if he wins, even as he recently declared at a campaign stop that he "will not ban fracking." We discuss the politics of fossil fuels with reporter Antonia Juhasz, who says the end of oil could be near, and look at how the industry has profited from the COVID bailout. "The pandemic has taken essentially every weakness that already existed in the oil industry and then made each of them much, much worse, leaving the oil industry in a situation where I would argue it is at its weakest since its inception," she says.

U.S. Refuses to Join Global Effort to Develop COVID-19 Vaccine, NIH Panel: No Evidence Convalescent Plasma Works Despite FDA Approval, Florida Cuts Ties to Quest Diagnostics over Delay in COVID-19 Tests, Faced with Possible Teacher Strike, NYC Delays Reopening Schools Until Sept. 21, Russia Surpasses 1 Million COVID Cases; India Becomes New Epicenter, Trump Travels to Kenosha But Never Says Name of Jacob Blake, Trump Spreads Conspiracy Theories About Biden, "Dark Shadows" & Thugs on Airplanes, Sheriff Deputies in L.A. Shoot Dead Black Bicyclist Stopped over Alleged Bike Violation, Over 50 Black Former Franchise Owners Sue McDonald's for Systematic Racism, CDC Orders Temporary Halt to Residential Evictions to Slow Spread of COVID-19, Green New Deal Co-Author Sen. Ed Markey Defeats Joe Kennedy in Mass. Primary, Sudan Suffers Devastating Flood as Nile Rises to Highest Level in Over 100 Years, Rwandan Dissident Portrayed in "Hotel Rwanda" Abducted in Dubai to Face Charges, ACLU Warns of Dystopian Nightmare as U.S. Moves to Collect More Biometric Info from Immigrants, Top Commander at Fort Hood Demoted over Series of Killings & Disappearances, Trump Denies Suffering from "Mini-Strokes" Amid Questions over His Health, Extinction Rebellion: Over 90 Arrested at Climate Actions in London

People held in immigration jails in Louisiana report horrific conditions and continued mistreatment after Hurricane Laura devastated the area. Immigrants detained at the LaSalle and Jackson Parish jails say that after the storm, the two facilities have flooded with urine and feces and lack electricity, clean food or water. Many of those protesting the conditions are from Cameroon, and refugee rights groups, including the Cameroon American Council, are demanding an investigation into conditions. "The current immigration system is based on the racist practices, the white supremacy of 400 years," says Sylvie Bello, founder of the Cameroon American Council, one of the leading immigration advocacy groups working with Black and African communities in the U.S. She says it's vital during a time of "racial reckoning" to fight for Black immigrants in ICE detention.

We look at how the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has brought renewed scrutiny to another case from 2018: that of Black teenager Chrystul Kizer, who faces charges of killing her alleged sex trafficker, a 34-year-old white man, when she was just 17 years old. Court records show Randall Volar had a history of sexually abusing underage Black girls that was known to the Kenosha police, but he remained free for months. In June 2018, Kizer says she shot and killed Volar in self-defense after he drugged her and tried to rape her. Kizer was freed from jail on $400,000 bail in June but is still fighting her case. "It really says a lot about the police force there, the prosecutors there," says Washington Post reporter Jessica Contrera. "Chrystul is at the center of this case that says everything about the sexual trauma that so many young Black girls go through when they are trafficked."

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States passes 6 million, with a death toll of over 183,000, the Trump administration is loosening coronavirus restrictions, fast-tracking vaccine approval and disregarding safety tests, and now one of Trump's top medical advisers is pushing for the country to adopt a controversial "herd immunity" strategy, raising alarm among public health officials. Washington Post health reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb says Dr. Scott Atlas is not an epidemiologist and was brought on specifically because he would back President Trump's position "about how the pandemic was going, that the threat was receding, that the country should reopen." We also speak with Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, who argues the U.S. is already following an "implicit" herd immunity policy. "They realize it's politically toxic, so they don't want to use the phrase, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck," he says.

Trump Heads to Kenosha, WI After Defending White Teen Who Killed Two People, Cops Who Kill, Biden Blames Trump for Recent Violence as Trump Defends Violent Supporters in Portland, Progressive Groups Call on Biden to Ban Fossil Fuel Interests from Campaign and Admin, KY Prosecutors Offer Breonna Taylor's Ex-Boyfriend Plea Deal to Name Taylor in Drug Case, Trump's Newest Pandemic Adviser Reportedly Pushing "Herd Immunity" Strategy, Honduran Man Dies of COVID-19 in ICE Jail, Reports: Hamas and Israel Reach Deal to Cease Hostilities, Imprisoned Turkish Human Rights Lawyer Dies After 7-Month Hunger Strike, EPA Rolls Back Rule Protecting Waterways from Toxic Coal Ash, Senator Ed Markey Faces Challenge from Rep. Joe Kennedy in Massachusetts Primary, House Dems to Subpoena Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, Appeals Court Denies Justice Dept. Bid to End Case Against Michael Flynn, Appeals Court Says House Dems Cannot Compel Former WH Counsel Don McGahn to Testify, Naomi Osaka Wears Face Mask with Breonna Taylor's Name at U.S. Open

In Part 2 of our interview with Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, we air excerpts from the families of Jacob Blake and George Floyd at the massive protest marking the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, and discuss President Trump's planned visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, as he blames Democrats for violence during protests there and in Portland, Oregon. "Racism has spread to every part of the body," says Kendi, comparing U.S. racism to cancer, "and then we have a president who is claiming that it doesn't exist."

Tributes continue to pour in for beloved actor Chadwick Boseman after his death at age 43 following a private four-year battle with colon cancer. Boseman is best known for his iconic role as King T'Challa in the groundbreaking "Black Panther" — the first mainstream Black superhero movie and a smash hit that earned more than $1 billion at the box office. He is also widely acclaimed for his portrayal of major historical figures such as Thurgood Marshall, James Brown and Jackie Robinson. Boseman's death has highlighted the higher rates of colon cancer among Black men and the links to systemic racism. "Cancer, like heart disease, there's all sorts of racial disparities, just as there are with COVID-19 deaths," says professor Ibram X. Kendi, cancer survivor and director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. "What is happening in our society that is causing so much Black death? Why is Black death so normal?"

Protests Continue in Kenosha as Officials Plead with Trump to Cancel Visit, One Dead in Portland as Pro-Trump Rally Clashes with Antiracist Protesters, U.S. COVID-19 Cases Top 6 Million, Deaths Top 183,000, Under Pressure from Trump, FDA Admits It Might Approve Vaccine Before Trials End, Gaza Extends Lockdown, India Reports Record Daily Numbers as Global COVID-19 Cases Top 25 Million, Chadwick Boseman, Beloved and Groundbreaking Actor, Dies at 43 After Battle with Cancer, "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" Rally Held on 57th Anniverary of March on Washington, Mustapha Adib Set to Become New Prime Minister of Lebanon, Anti-Government Protests Continue in Belarus Amid Crackdown on Press and Dissent, Hundreds of Refugees Stranded in Mediterranean as Banksy-Funded Ship Evacuated, Mass Protests in Mauritius as Environmental Toll from Oil Tanker Spill Worsens, Sudanese Government and Darfur Rebel Groups Sign Peace Deal, U.N. Warns Life of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege Could Be at Risk, Record Flooding in Pakistan Kills At Least 13, Submerges Much of Karachi, Jailed Immigrants in Louisiana Report Unlivable Conditions in ICE Jails After Hurricane Laura, Black National Convention Tackles Elections, Abolition, Trans Rights, Disability Rights & More, Dems Denounce Decision by DNI to Halt In-Person Election Security Briefings, Family of Layleen Polanco Awarded Record $5.9 Million in Settlement over Her Death

Hurricane Laura has slammed ashore as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, bringing sustained winds of 150 miles per hour to the Gulf Coast. The strongest storm to hit Louisiana in over a century, Laura made landfall near the border of Louisiana and Texas. At least six people have been killed. Residents near Lake Charles were told to stay indoors with windows and doors shut when a chemical fire broke out at a BioLab plant. Hilton Kelley, the executive director of the Community In-Power and Development Association, says local communities are dealing with multiple crises amid the devastation of the hurricane. "People are ingesting all of these dangerous toxins and at the same time dealing with COVID-19 and the extreme heat," he says.

President Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s nomination on Thursday before a crowd of about 1,500 on the South Lawn of the White House. In defiance of social distancing guidelines, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few people wearing masks. Trump spoke as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000 — by far the highest total in the world — and repeatedly defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Trump warned of chaos and violence if Joe Biden becomes president, but made no reference to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or the killing of two protesters in Kenosha by a 17-year-old Trump supporter. We speak with historian Rick Perlstein, who says Trump paints a "picture of the world that bears no resemblance to reality" and that he has driven people to act violently.

In light of the police shooting of unarmed African American father Jacob Blake, we look at the past misconduct of the Kenosha police department. In 2004, Kenosha police killed white 21-year-old Michael Bell in front of his mother and sister. The Kenosha Police Department conducted its own review of the incident, and within two days completely exonerated the officers. Bell’s father, Michael Bell Sr., commissioned an independent inquiry that found the police account of the incident to be forensically impossible. "It was really hard for me to believe that a uniformed person would do that," says Michael Bell Sr., who claims the Kenosha police department "covered up the true facts of the case."

The ACLU of Wisconsin is calling for top Kenosha law enforcement officials to resign in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who was left paralyzed below the waist after a white officer shot him in the back seven times. The shooting has sparked mass protests in Kenosha and around the U.S., bringing renewed attention to racism and violence in the Kenosha police force. A damning video of Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth has surfaced from a 2018 news conference, when he described Black people accused of shoplifting and crashing a stolen car as "garbage people that fill our communities that are a cancer to our society." We speak with Chris Ott, executive director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, who says both Beth and Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis need to go. "When police and law enforcement go into communities in this militarized way, this heavy-handed way, it just inflames tensions, makes things worse and creates dangerous new situations," says Ott.

Trump Assails Biden's "Socialist Agenda" in RNC Acceptance Speech Riddled with Lies, CDC Projects Official U.S. Death Toll Will Top 200,000 in September, Two Navajo Sisters Who Worked as Frontline Health Workers Die of COVID-19, Alabama Professors Ordered Not to Warn Students of Exposure to Infected Classmates, Hurricane Laura Leaves Path of Devastation in Louisiana, Triggers Chemical Plant Fire, Hurricane Topples Confederate Monument That Lake Charles Officials Refused to Remove, Jacob Blake, Left Paralyzed by Officer's Bullets, Reportedly Handcuffed to Hospital Bed, Teenage Militia Member Charged over Shooting Deaths of Kenosha Protesters, ACLU Demands Resignation of Kenosha Police Chief and County Sheriff, Ronnie Long, Wrongly Convicted by All-White Jury, Freed After 44 Years in Prison , Baseball, Basketball and Hockey Games Postponed as Players Protest Police Violence, Thousands to March on Washington on Anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech, U.S. Jobless Claims Continue to Shatter Pre-Pandemic Records, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Resigns, Citing Poor Health, Indigenous Protesters in AZ Block Border Wall Assembly Site, Trump Administration Considered Using "Heat Ray" Against Asylum Seekers in 2018, Cameroonian Refugees on Hunger Strike Denounce Inhumane Conditions at Louisiana ICE Jail, Body of Missing Fort Hood Soldier Elder Fernandes Found Hanging from Tree, Fifth Federal Execution of 2020 Back On Despite Lower Court Ruling on Lethal Injection Drug

As President Trump is set to accept the Republican Party's formal renomination for president amid ongoing scandals and multiple crises, we speak with John Dean, who served as the White House counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1970 to 1973. His testimony during the Watergate scandal helped bring down Nixon. His new book is "Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers." "I worked for the last authoritarian president we had," Dean says. "Trump is of a different cut than Nixon. … He's going to make Nixon look like a choir boy before it's all over."

Vice President Mike Pence headlined the third night of the Republican National Convention, focusing largely on preserving law and order and attacking Joe Biden. We play excerpts of the comments made by Pence, who made no mention of police brutality or the recent police shootings that have sparked protests across the U.S. Pence also failed to mention the white gunman accused of killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Professional athletes are taking part in unprecedented collective action in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against police violence, bringing basketball, baseball and soccer leagues to a grinding halt. The protests and calls to recognize systemic police brutality also extended across tennis arenas. Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation and host of the "Edge of Sports" podcast, says the actions constitute "a sports strike wave" for racial justice. "It's more than a boycott. It's them withdrawing their labor," Zirin says. "It's not just an example for racial justice protesters around the country. I think it's a challenge to the labor movement as a whole."

The police shooting of Jacob Blake has sparked massive protests across the country and in Kenosha, where a white teenager opened fire on Black Lives Matter protesters and killed two people. Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old self-declared militia member and avid Trump supporter, was apprehended in Antioch, Illinois, after fleeing Wisconsin. He has been charged with murder. Wisconsin state Representative David Bowen, who has attended racial justice protests in Kenosha, says he "witnessed firsthand" how freely organized white supremacists targeted protesters without interference from law enforcement, and accuses police of giving Rittenhouse the "Dylann Roof treatment," managing to arrest him without incident, while unarmed Black people are frequently met with deadly force. "This is Exhibit A and Exhibit B of why we need to transform law enforcement and public safety in Wisconsin and in this country," Bowen says.

Hurricane Laura Hits Louisiana with 150 MPH Winds, "Unsurvivable" 20-Foot Storm Surge, Mike Pence Tells Republican National Convention, "We Will Have Law and Order", Kenosha Police Officer Who Shot Jacob Blake ID'd as Rusten Sheskey, 17-Year-Old Trump-Supporting Militia Member Charged with Murdering 2 Protesters, NBA, WNBA, MLS and MLB Games Postponed as Players Protest Police Shootings, Trump Administration Officials Pressured CDC to Weaken Coronavirus Guidelines , Coronavirus Cases Hit Record High in Burma; Doctors Strike in South Korea Amid Outbreaks, Just Two States Are Distributing Trump's Promised Unemployment Supplements, Only Native American on Federal Death Row Executed Over Objections of Navajo Nation, White Supremacist Terrorist Gets Life in Prison for New Zealand Mosque Shootings

A new book on Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration's unprecedented attack on immigrant communities and the immigration system, describes the White House adviser as a dangerous man bringing white nationalist ideology to the highest levels of government. "This is what shapes the immigration policy," says Jean Guerrero, author of "Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda." Miller, descended from Jewish immigrants, has been obsessed with fighting multiculturalism since his teenage years and has steadily climbed the right-wing political ladder to become one of Donald Trump's most trusted associates. He is credited with many of Trump's most vicious anti-immigrant policies, including separating immigrant children from their parents. "Stephen Miller primarily has been targeting families," says Guerrero. "It becomes clear that for Stephen Miller, this is not about national security, this is not about keeping out criminals. This is about reengineering the ethnic flows into this country to keep Brown and Black families out."

At the second night of the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, speakers largely ignored the devastating public health and economic crisis facing the country as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus nears 180,000 and tens of millions of Americans are out of work and struggling to pay for food and housing. We feature excerpts from the night, which included praise for President Trump's actions in the Middle East and more dire warnings about a Joe Biden presidency, as well as several speeches that appear to violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their office for partisan political activity.

Protests continue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where police shot an unarmed Black man in the back seven times as he was getting into his car, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Jacob Blake was reportedly breaking up a fight before police shot him, and the shooting was witnessed by his three young children. On Tuesday, the situation escalated further when at least one white gunman opened fire on a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters. Two people were killed, and a third was injured, as police continued a violent crackdown on protesters demanding justice for Blake. We speak with Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who says the police response to Blake was completely unjustified. "There's no way that any officer could look at that video and say that that's the way policing should happen," he says. "We need police departments, sheriff's departments to acknowledge that there is a real problem in the culture of policing."

Two Killed as White Militia Member Fires on Black Lives Matter Protesters in Kenosha, WI, Family of Jacob Blake Demands Arrest of Officers Who Shot Him in the Back, Black Lives Matter Protesters Shot At While Marching in Pennsylvania, Republican National Convention Speakers Continue to Flout Hatch Act Ethics Laws, CDC Quietly Drops Test Recommendation for Asymptomatic People Exposed to COVID-19, Far-Right Militia Leader Ammon Bundy Arrested at Idaho State Capitol, Argentina Posts Record Coronavirus Toll; COVID-19 Resurgent in Europe, Hurricane Laura Could Become Category 4 Storm Ahead of Gulf Coast Landfall, Lebanese Border Residents Say Israel Dropped Cluster Bombs, White Phosphorus, African Continent Declared Free of Wild Polio, Belarus Arrests Opposition Leaders as Teachers Join Anti-Government Protests, Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump Rule Making It Harder for Soldiers to Become Citizens

As climate-fueled wildfires engulf California, tens of thousands of firefighters have been deployed across the state to combat the blazes amid a record heat wave and deadly pandemic. We look at how more than 1,300 incarcerated firefighters — who are annually deployed to the frontlines in California for just $1 an hour — are fighting back the blazes as coronavirus outbreaks in state prisons limit how many are available to fight the fires, and lay bare the state's reliance on prison labor to control its ever-growing wildfire season with an exploitative system many have called slave labor. "What they're not saying is we lack the incarcerated firefighters … [who] make up the backbone of the firefighting department," says Rasheed Lockheart, who was a firefighter at San Quentin State Prison until his release in January.

As party loyalists gather for the Republican National Convention, a group of veteran Republican operatives who want to defeat President Trump have launched a $4 million advertising blitz targeting voters in swing states. The anti-Trump ads are funded by The Lincoln Project, a super PAC that can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money. We speak with longtime Republican political consultant Stuart Stevens, a senior adviser to The Lincoln Project who worked as a strategist on five Republican presidential campaigns, about Trump's takeover of the party and efforts by so-called "Never Trump" Republicans to prevent his reelection, and why he says "race is the original sin of the modern Republican Party."

The Republican National Convention opened in Charlotte, North Carolina, with dire warnings that a Joe Biden presidency could destroy the country. We feature excerpts from President Trump's surprise speech after he was formally nominated for a second term, claiming without evidence that Democrats are planning to steal the election, and other speakers throughout the evening who repeatedly praised Trump's handling of the pandemic even as the U.S. coronavirus death toll passes 177,000.

Trump Claims Dems Trying to Steal Election, Biden Will "Destroy" Country, as RNC Kicks Off, WI Calls in National Guard as Protests Intensify over Police Shooting of Unarmed Black Man, FDA Head Says Plasma Treatment Results Were Overstated as Schools Grapple with Reopening, Hong Kong COVID-19 Patient Becomes Reinfected; Reports of Brutal Repression in Xinjiang Pandemic Response, Gaza Goes into Lockdown After New COVID-19 Cases; Libyan Doctors Warn System Can't Cope with Pandemic, Death Toll in Climate-Fueled California Wildfires Climbs to 7 as 600+ Blazes Burn Across the State, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Fails to Answer Basic Questions About the Mail by House Dems, Questions Mount over Possible Deal for U.S. to Sell F-35s to UAE After Normalization Deal with Israel, Bangladesh Still Reeling from Massive Floods Which Submerged One-Third of Country, Activists Say U.K. Detention of Refugee Children Unlawful, Appeals Court Says Rights of Ronnie Long Were Violated When He Was Convicted for Rape 40+ Years Ago, NY Attorney General Investigating Trump Org. for Inflating Assets; Seeking Testimony of Eric Trump, TikTok Sues Trump over App Ban, Reports: Jerry Falwell Jr. Resigns from Liberty University After Pool Attendant Affair Story Breaks

As the Republican National Convention gets underway this week, we look at how the party has openly embraced the far-right conspiracy theory known as QAnon, which claims, among other things, that President Trump is secretly at war with a deep state cabal of Satan-worshiping elites who run a child sex trafficking operation. Trump has retweeted messages from supporters of the conspiracy theory and recently spoke publicly about it for the first time, describing QAnon believers as "people that love our country." "At this point, it's reached full spread, that we really can't ignore it anymore," says Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, who notes 20 "full QAnon adherents" are on the ballot in November.

President Trump's former campaign CEO and White House adviser, Steve Bannon, is his sixth close associate to face criminal charges by the Department of Justice. Bannon and three others are accused of defrauding donors to We Build the Wall, a private effort to build a wall along the Mexican border, and redirecting funds to fund their own lavish lifestyles. We follow the money and look at how an investigation last month showed a private wall project the funds were used for is already eroding and could be in danger of falling into the river. We speak with Perla Trevizo and Lexi Churchill, two reporters at the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit.

The battle over the future of the United States Postal Service is intensifying, with a record number of mail-in ballots expected to be cast in the 2020 presidential election, and Democrats and Republicans locked in a fight over the future of the agency. Historian Philip Rubio, who teaches at North Carolina A&T State University and worked as a mail carrier for two decades before that, says decades of political interference have caused a "manufactured crisis" at the U.S. Postal Service. "The damage has been done," Rubio says of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's changes. "I think he's discouraged a lot of voters who were hoping to vote by mail to vote safely and securely because of the pandemic."

Raging California Wildfires Displace 120,000, Burn 1.2 Million Acres, FDA Approves Blood Plasma Treatment as U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Tops 176,000 , Countries Grapple with Second Wave, as South Korea Warns Country Is in "Grave Situation", House Passes Bill to Halt Changes at USPS as Fears Mount over Mail-in Ballots, House Passes Bill to Provide Emergency Funding for USCIS as Agency Plans Major Staff Cuts, Belarus Protests Continue Demanding Resignation of President Lukashenko, At Least 17 Killed in Colombia Over Deadly Weekend, At Least 14 People Killed in Twin Bombings in the Philippines, U.S. Troops Withdraw from Camp Taji in Iraq, Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny in Coma in German Hospital, Hurricane Laura Kills at Least 9 People in Caribbean as It Heads to Southern U.S., on Heels of Storm Marco, Protesters in Lafayette, Louisiana, Demand Justice for Trayford Pellerin, Shot Dead by Police, Protests Erupt in Kenosha, Wisconsin, After Police Shooting of Jacob Blake, "Alt-Right" Groups Attack Antifascist Protesters in Portland, Oregon, New Law in Tennessee Would Criminalize BLM Protesters, Strip Them of Their Right to Vote, Protesters Take to the Streets of Charlotte, NC as RNC Kicks Off , Longtime White House Adviser Kellyanne Conway to Step Down, Trump's Sister Calls Out President's Family Separation Policy, Lies and Cruelty in Audio Tapes, Lori Loughlin Gets Two-Month Prison Term for College Admissions Bribes, Golden State Killer Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole