Democracy Now!

The explosion in the Port of Beirut, which killed at least 100 people and injured about 4,000 others, is the latest blow to Lebanon, which already faces an economic, political and public health crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic. The blast is believed to have been triggered by 2,700 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate inexplicably left unattended in a warehouse for six years. Journalist Rami Khouri says it's further proof of "the cumulative incompetence, corruption, lassitude, amateurism and uncaring attitude by successive Lebanese governments" that have failed the country. "It's the ruling political elite that is responsible for this," he says.

As Beirut reels from a massive explosion that killed at least 100 people and injured thousands, we get an on-the-ground update from pediatrician and writer Dr. Seema Jilani, who treated her own daughter for injuries after the blast. "It was extremely packed because we're just coming out of a four-day lockdown," says Jilani. "Everybody was out." Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab called the explosion a "national catastrophe."

Massive Explosion Tears Through Beirut, Leaving Hundreds Missing and Thousands Injured, Lebanon's PM Says 2,700 Tons of Ammonium Nitrate Sparked "National Catastrophe" in Beirut, Mississippi Becomes Biggest U.S. Coronavirus Hot Spot as Governor Mandates Masks, Georgia Prisoners Live-Stream Video from Prison Uprising Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Chicago Schools Cancel September Classes as Union Threatens Strike over Coronavirus Safety, U.N. Warns Coronavirus School Closures Have Impacted Over 1 Billion Students, Brazil COVID-19 Deaths Approach 100,000 as Infections Surge in India, Black Lives Matter & Ferguson Activist Cori Bush Pulls Off Huge Upset in Missouri Democratic Primary, Kris Kobach, Architect of Voter Suppression Efforts, Loses Kansas GOP Senate Primary, Rep. Carolyn Maloney & NYC Councilmember Ritchie Torres Win New York Primaries, Former Census Bureau Directors Blast Trump Admin's Early End to Collection Effort, Trump Refuses to Praise Late Civil Rights Icon John Lewis, Aurora, CO Police Detain Black Mother and Four Children at Gunpoint, Ex-Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Placed Under House Arrest , U.S. Appeals Court Finds Former Bolivian President Liable for 2003 Indigenous Massacre, Tropical Storm Isaias Kills At Least 5 People, Leaves Millions Without Power Across East Coast, Heat Wave in Europe Shatters Temperature Records in the U.K., France & Spain, Trump Mispronounces "Yosemite" Twice at White House Event, BP to Slash Oil & Gas Production, Invest Billions into Renewable Energy

In Arizona, heavily armed Border Patrol officers raided the medical camp of humanitarian group No More Deaths and detained 30 migrants whose whereabouts are now unknown. It was the second raid in just two days on the camp, which provides water, food and medical attention to refugees crossing into the United States through the scorching Sonoran Desert. "Immediately after they entered the camp, the first thing they did was round up all of the No More Deaths aid workers and zip-tie them, remove their phones," says Montana Thames, a humanitarian aid worker with No More Deaths. "It was very clear they didn't want any witnesses." No More Deaths also recently published documents revealing the Border Patrol Union, a pro-Trump and anti-immigrant extremist group, had instigated a 2017 raid of the same camp.

People being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails are holding work strikes and hunger strikes over the lack of access to personal protective equipment or quality medical care, and to demand their release. We speak with Joe Mejia, an asylum seeker who was among a group of prisoners at Yuba County Jail in California who led a hunger strike while he was held there for nearly 11 months. "That place is dangerous," Mejia says. "It is a death sentence to detainees, especially right now with the coronavirus."

The U.S. government continues to hold tens of thousands of asylum seekers and immigrants in detention centers and jails, ignoring the advice of medical experts as the coronavirus continues to spread. ICE has also continued to transfer and deport people — including those who are infected — making it a global superspreader. We speak with Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, an immigration attorney and co-director of Pangea Legal Services in San Francisco, who himself is undocumented and recently got arrested at a protest outside the mansion of California Governor Gavin Newsom demanding the release of people in state prisons and immigration jails, calling the situation "really alarming."

As the U.S. coronavirus death toll passes 155,000, there is still no national testing program, with widespread shortages and delays hampering efforts to contain the pandemic. This continues months after President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner launched a White House task force with the goal of establishing a national testing plan. We speak to investigative reporter Katherine Eban, whose explosive Vanity Fair report chronicles Kushner's fumbling efforts and the sudden decision to abandon the project on political grounds. "The participants expected that at any moment in early April, the plan would be announced," says Eban. "It vanished into thin air."

Concerns Mount over Politicization of COVID-19 Vaccine, as Trump Lashes Out at "Pathetic" Dr. Birx, WHO Warns There May Never Be a Coronavirus "Silver Bullet", Trump Threatens to Sue Nevada After It Expands Voter Access, Leaked Video Shows George Floyd Pleaded for His Life, Cooperated with Police, Before He Was Killed, Video Shows LAPD Shot Peaceful Protester in the Head as He Held His Arms in the Air, Prosecutor Clears Arkansas Officers Who Pushed Black Man into the Ground for 6.5 Minutes Before He Died, Census Bureau Cuts Short Collection Efforts by One Month, Mexican Man Dies After Falling from Border Wall, Mexican Journalist Pablo Morrugares Shot Dead in Guerrero, 3 Salvadoran Officers Sentenced to 20 Years for Killing a Trans Woman Who Was Deported from the U.S., Egypt Sentences 6 Women to Prison over TikTok Videos as Calls Grow to Free Activist Sanaa Seif, Former Spanish King Juan Carlos Goes into Exile over Corruption Scandal, U.S. to Permanently Station Thousands of Troops in Poland, Manhattan DA Investigating Trump for Bank and Insurance Fraud, NJ Federal Judge, Whose Son Was Killed by Racist, Misogynistic Lawyer, Calls for Privacy for Judges, FDA Expands List of Dangerous Hand Sanitizers to Over 100 Products, John Hume, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Architect of Irish Peace Deal, Dies at 83

Award-winning journalist and human rights activist Omar Radi spoke to us from Casablanca on July 16. Two weeks later, on July 29, last Wednesday, Moroccan authorities arrested him on what press freedom advocates call "retaliatory charges." Now a court has charged Radi with undermining state security by receiving foreign funding and collaborating with foreign intelligence, and also charged him with rape. He is reportedly being held in a prison that is a COVID hot spot, and has not been allowed to have visits from his lawyer or his parents. We feature our interview with Radi, which focuses in part on an Amnesty International report, published about one month before his arrest, that alleges Moroccan authorities hacked his phone using Pegasus spyware from the Israeli company NSO Group.

With President Trump trailing in most polls, he tweeted recently that he was floating the idea of delaying the November election — something he cannot legally do — and continued his attacks on mail-in voting. "We have a president who is probably the most fascist president that we've ever had in this country," responds LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund and the BVM Capacity Building Institute. "He is hellbent on pushing the boundaries, whatever he needs to do, to undermine and undercut democracy."

As President Trump floats the idea of delaying the election, we speak with Nils Gilman, historian and co-founder of Transition Integrity Project, which organized a bipartisan group of experts to game out what a contested November election might look like. "In every scenario except for the one where Biden won in a landslide, we ended up with severe electoral contestation, protests in the streets, crazy stories happening on social media, and the challenges went down to Inauguration Day," Gilman says.

White House's Dr. Birx Warns U.S. Has Entered New Phase in Pandemic as Death Toll Tops 155,000, Lawmakers at Standstill over Coronavirus Bill as Democratic Rep. Grijalva Goes After GOP Response, Worldwide Cases Top 18 Million as Countries Across the Globe Hit Grim New Milestones, Border Patrol Raid Arizona Humanitarian Camp for 2nd Time in 2 Days, Detain 30 Asylum Seekers, SCOTUS Rules Trump Can Move Forward with Border Wall Construction, Trump Admin to Start Charging Fees for Asylum Applications, Islamic State Claims Attack on Afghanistan Jail Which Killed At Least 29 People, Award-Winning Author Tsitsi Dangarembga, Opposition Party Spokesperson Arrested in Zimbabwe, Hong Kong Postpones Elections, Issues Arrest Warrants Under National Security Law, Microsoft in Talks to Acquire TikTok's U.S. Operations, Trump Installs Islamophobic Fox News Pundit in Top Pentagon Post, Bypassing Senate Approval, Appeals Court Overturns Death Penalty for Boston Marathon Bomber, Active Army Sergeant ID'd as Killer of Austin, TX Antiracist Protester, Department of Homeland Security Removes Official Who Surveilled Journalists, Michigan Court Frees Black Teenager Jailed for Missing Online Schoolwork, Protesters in New York Demand End to Discrimination and Anti-Trans, Anti-Sex-Worker Laws

In his stirring eulogy at the funeral service for Congressmember John Lewis, President Barack Obama said expanded voting rights would be the greatest way to honor the civil rights icon's legacy. In a speech that condemned the status of American democracy without ever naming the sitting president, Obama called for Election Day to be declared a national holiday, full congressional representation for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and the end of the filibuster, which he called a "Jim Crow relic." "You want to honor John? Let's honor him by revitalizing the law he was willing to die for," Obama said in reference to the Voting Rights Act. We feature an extended excerpt from Obama's remarks at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

As mourners gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to honor the life of Georgia Congressmember John Lewis, among those who spoke was civil rights icon Rev. James Lawson, who helped to train John Lewis in nonviolence when Lewis was a student in Nashville. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once described Rev. Lawson as "the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world." Lawson invoked John Lewis's life as a call to action. "We will not be quiet as long as our nation continues to be the most violent culture in the history of humankind," Lawson said. We feature his extended remarks.

As family, friends and dignitaries paid their final respects at the Atlanta funeral of John Lewis, the civil rights leader and 17-term Georgia congressmember was remembered as a singular force for equality and justice. The funeral took place at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, once led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., where senior pastor Rev. Raphael Warnock contrasted Lewis's legacy with "some in high office who are much better at division than vision," and described the late politician as "a true American patriot who risked his life and bled for the hope and promise of democracy."

U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 1,000 for Fourth Consecutive Day, U.S. Economy Recorded Worst Quarterly Drop on Record as Coronavirus Spread, New Orleans Protesters Block Eviction Court Proceedings as Rent Comes Due, Brazil's First Lady Tests Positive for COVID-19 as Deaths Top 91,000, Coronavirus Cases Spike in European Countries That Lifted Lockdowns, Donald Trump Suggests Election Delay, Sparking Bipartisan Outrage, U.S. Postal Delays Spark Fears over Mail-In Ballots in November Election, Civil Rights Icon and Georgia Congressmember John Lewis Laid to Rest, Herman Cain, Co-Chair of Black Voices for Trump, Dies of COVID-19 , Baghdad Posts Record 125-Degree High as Middle East Swelters, Nearly One-Third of Bangladesh Under Water Amid Torrential Monsoon Rains , Palestinian Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Leader Arrested in Occupied West Bank, Homeland Security Dept. Gathered Intelligence on Journalists Covering Oregon Protests, ICE "Citizens Academy" Flooded with Fake Applications Amid Fears of Vigilantism, Border Patrol Raids No More Deaths Humanitarian Camp in Arizona, Jeffrey Epstein Victim: Ghislaine Maxwell "Trained Me as a Sex Slave", Jailed Saudi Feminist Activist Marks Birthday in Prison

Noam Chomsky says Israel's planned annexation of the occupied West Bank "basically formalizes" what has already been official policy over the last half-century, from both left-wing and right-wing parties in Israel. He compares Israel's treatment of Palestinians to anti-immigrant policies in the United States, and says the main goal of annexation is to take over as much territory while excluding its Palestinian inhabitants. "Israel does not want to bring Palestinian populations into the greater Israel they're constructing."

As the world races to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Noam Chomsky says any successful treatment must be accessible to everyone, and he warns that President Trump's withdrawal from the World Health Organization will hamper the international body's efforts to distribute medicine in countries racked by poverty and war. "There's at least one country in the world that is showing genuine internationalism, providing medical aid and support for people that need it," Chomsky says, and that is Cuba.

As the U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 150,000, we spend the hour with world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky, who says decades of neoliberal policies that shredded the social safety net and public institutions left the country ill-prepared for a major health crisis. "We should understand the roots of this pandemic," he says.

U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Tops 150,000 as Public Health Experts Call for "Reset" in Response, GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert Tests Positive for Coronavirus After Refusing to Wear Mask in Capitol, Brazil Records Record Daily Coronavirus Toll as Deaths Top 90,000, Mexico's Health Ministry Recommends Masks But Won't Require Them, Vietnam Reports First Coronavirus Cases in Months; Just 1,000 Pilgrims Join Hajj in Mecca, Oregon Governor Says Federal Agents Will Withdraw from Portland Amid Protests, Lawmakers Grill Big Tech CEOs over Anticompetitive Practices, Extended Jobless Benefits Expiring as Lawmakers Fail to Break Stalemate on Coronavirus Relief, Trump Accused of "Blatant Racism" After Trumpeting End of Fair Housing Rule, Police Raid Camp for Unhoused Residents of Denver, Displacing 200, Pentagon to Withdraw 12,000 U.S. Troops from Germany, Trump Admin Stymies Work of Agency Tasked with Preventing Industrial Disasters, New Report: Communities of Color in U.S. Will Be Hardest Hit by Extreme Heat, Press Freedom Group Condemns Morocco for Arresting Journalist Omar Radi, Barack Obama to Give Eulogy at Funeral for John Lewis

We revisit civil rights leader and Congressmember John Lewis's early years of activism with Bernard Lafayette, one of Lewis's closest friends and collaborators. Lafayette participated with Lewis in the first Freedom Rides of 1961 as they attempted to integrate buses and faced brutal beatings by white mobs, and was a fellow leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Lewis "knew how to relate to people who were different from him and who had different orientations, different values, different philosophies, and that's why he was such a great leader," Lafayette says. "He found a way to make a way."

We look at the life and legacy of late civil rights icon and Georgia Congressmember John Lewis, who is being mourned across the U.S. and who became the first Black politician to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. "The irony of this moment is that even as we celebrate and honor John Lewis, the patron saint of voting rights, he hailed from the state which in many instances is ground zero for voter suppression," says Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, who serves as senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, was with Lewis in the final days of his life and will preside over his memorial service. "In recent years, voting has become increasingly a partisan issue, and there are those who are not embarrassed by making it difficult for people to vote." Rev. Warnock is also running as a Democrat for Senate in Georgia.

We play highlights from Attorney General William Barr's grilling by the House Judiciary Committee over how he sent militarized federal forces to confront Black Lives Matter protesters, and his opposition to voting by mail, and get response from a close friend of Congressmember John Lewis who is now running for Senate. "In spite of the machinations of Donald Trump and those who do his bidding, including the attorney general, the good news is that we're seeing a multiracial coalition of people pouring out into American streets," responds Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, "saying that we're concerned about the soul of our democracy." Rev. Warnock is running as a Democrat for Senate in Georgia.

U.S. Records Highest One-Day Coronavirus Death Toll Since May, Trump Retweets Doctor Who Warned of Sex with Demons and "Alien DNA", Twitter Suspends Donald Trump Jr. for Spreading COVID-19 Misinformation, Progressives Say GOP Coronavirus Bill Would Bring "Mass Poverty and Mass Hunger", Teachers' Union Prepared to Strike If Schools Aren't Made Safe from Coronavirus, World Health Organization Warns Summer Weather Isn't Slowing Coronavirus, Argentina Reports Record COVID-19 Death Toll as Guatemala Reopens Economy, Attorney General Barr Grilled over Police Violence Against Peaceful Protesters, Portland Demonstrators Ordered Not to Protest Again as Condition of Release from Jail, New York Police in Plainclothes Force BLM Protester into Unmarked Van, "Umbrella Man" at George Floyd Protest in Minneapolis ID'd as White Supremacist Provocateur, George Floyd Hologram Projected Above Toppled Confederate Monument, Detroit Protesters Demand Justice After Video Shows Police Killing of Hakim Littleton, Trump Admin to Reject DACA Applications in Defiance of Supreme Court Ruling, United Nations to Set Up Shelters for Asylum Seekers Stranded at U.S.-Mexico Border, Protesters Demand Driver's Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants in Massachusetts, Thousands of Bolivians March to Protest Delayed Presidential Election, Land and Environmental Defenders Killed at Record Pace in 2019, Joe Biden to Name Running Mate Next Week, Two Transgender Women Murdered, the 20th and 21st Such Killings in the U.S. This Year, WikiLeaks Lawyer Says Julian Assange Faces Additional Charges in "Political Persecution"

Under a shocking new Trump administration policy, hundreds of people who came to the United States seeking asylum were secretly held in hotels for days on end before being expelled from the country, often with little or no paper trail. This includes more than 200 unaccompanied immigrant children — including babies and toddlers — who were taken to hotels near the Texas-Mexico border by a private contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "The Trump administration has been just basically expelling them without due process and without any paper trail," says Zenén Jaimes Pérez, advocacy director for the Texas Civil Rights Project, which helped uncover the abuse. We also speak with Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

As researchers around the world race to find a vaccine for COVID-19, we speak with Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen's Access to Medicines Program, about who is profiting from government efforts to fund vaccines, testing and treatment. The Trump administration has announced major contracts with pharmaceutical companies as part of its $6 billion program, Operation Warp Speed, including with firms that have never brought a vaccine to market. Meanwhile, a New York Times investigation shows corporate insiders from at least 11 companies working on coronavirus research have sold shares worth more than $1 billion since March. "The problem is that the companies, the executives, the hedge funds are feeding on people's hope and desperation, and it only takes a little bit of positive news to send stocks soaring," says Maybarduk. Public Citizen recently released a database that tracks the billions of taxpayer dollars supporting COVID-19 research.

With 30,000 people taking part in the first major COVID-19 vaccine study in the United States, hopes are high that the collaboration between drugmaker Moderna and the National Institutes of Health will yield positive results as early as November. Researchers around the world are working on more than 165 vaccine candidates, though only a handful are conducting large-scale human trials. We speak with BBC science journalist Richard Fisher, who took part in the vaccine trial run by Oxford University that is among the most promising. "It was both a personal decision and a journalistic one," Fisher says of his decision to volunteer. "I wanted to do something that helps the collective effort to get us closer to a vaccine."

Senate Republicans Unveil Plan to Slash Unemployment Benefits as Pandemic Rages, Moderna Late Stage Vaccine Trial Starts, as Trump's NSA Tests Positive for Coronavirus, WHO: COVID-19 "Most Severe Global Health Emergency" as Global Death Toll Tops 654,000, AG Barr and National Guardsman to Testify Before Congress with Battling Narratives, John Lewis Lies in State in Capitol Rotunda as He Is Honored by Fellow Lawmakers, 100s of DNC Delegates to Oppose a Party Platform Without Medicare for All, DNC Members Vote to Support Israel's Illegal Annexation of West Bank, "Free Them All!": Immigrant Rights Activists Chain Themselves to Gates of Gov. Gavin Newsom's Mansion, Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak Found Guilty of Graft, Brazilian Indigenous Groups and Others Demand Justice in Lawsuit over 2015 Mariana Dam Disaster, MLB Postpones Games After 14 Players and Coaches Contract Coronavirus; NFL Cancels Preseason, Deutsche Bank to Stop Funding Drilling in the Arctic, New Report Shows Financial Links Between Fossil Fuel Companies and Police

Amid a nationwide reckoning with systemic racism, we speak with Princeton African American studies professor Eddie Glaude, whose new book on James Baldwin offers lessons from the iconic writer for the present. Baldwin, says Glaude, insisted that "we put aside the myths and illusions and understand what white supremacy has done in terms of disfiguring and distorting the character of this nation." The book is titled "Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own."

Memorials for John Lewis, the civil rights icon and 17-term congressmember, are highlighting the bravery he and others showed in the face of police violence as they fought for the right to vote. We highlight the radical early years of Lewis, when he was chairperson of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. His political upbringing as a youth and student organizer and "the movement that he came out of" can't be ignored, says Princeton professor Eddie Glaude. It's important that people "don't simply yoke him to Dr. King, [and] understand him as a product of this student activism." Glaude is chair of Princeton University's Department of African American Studies.

As nationwide protests against systemic racism and police violence stretch into their second month, President Trump has sent a team of federal agents to Seattle, following a controversial deployment of federal forces in Portland, Oregon. "We don't know exactly what the federal officers are doing. What we do know is we are in a situation where local police are welcoming those federal agents into our city," says Seattle community organizer Nikkita Oliver, co-executive director of Creative Justice. We also speak with Pastor E.D. Mondainé, president of the Portland, Oregon, branch of the NAACP.

Florida, Texas and California Grapple with Mounting Infections as U.S. Caseload Tops 4.2 Million, Protesters in Puerto Rico Call for Halt to Tourism to Curb Mounting Coronavirus Cases, Judge Denies Trump Request to Delay Deadline for Releasing Immigrant Children, Senate to Unveil New Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Cutting Unemployment Benefits, U.K. Reinstates Spain Quarantine; N. Korea Declares Emergency; Cases Mount Across Latin America & Africa, BLM Protesters Face Attacks from Federal Agents, Police, and Other Violence in Cities Across the U.S., John Lewis Crosses Edmund Pettus Bridge for Last Time as Family and Supporters Pay Their Respect, Dozens of Journalists Quit Hungary's Largest Independent News Site Amid Gov't Crackdown on Press, Protesters in Honduras Demand Release of Garífuna Land Defenders and End to State Persecution, Tens of Thousands Protest Putin in Far Eastern Russia for Third Week, Trump Clears Way for Alaska's Pebble Mine, Which Would Cause Major Environmental Devastation, Progressive Dems Introduce Bill to Stop Federal Subsidies to Fossil Fuel Companies, ProPublica Releases Thousands of NYPD Disciplinary Records, Florida GOP Rep. Ted Yoho Forced Out of Board of Christian Hunger Org. After Sexist Attack on AOC, GOP Senator Tom Cotton Calls Slavery a "Necessary Evil"

As millions of people in the U.S. lose work and face eviction due to the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, the 1% have seen a massive increase to their wealth, with the Amazon founder and world's richest person, Jeff Bezos, recently adding an estimated $13 billion to his net worth in a single day. World-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky says the corporate windfall is yet more evidence that the U.S. is run "essentially by the corporate sector" for its own profits. "They're just running wild."

Is the United States being run by a madman? "What can you say about a person who, before speaking before an adoring crowd, raises his eyes to heaven and calls himself the chosen one?" says Noam Chomsky, responding to President Trump's boast that he aced a mental acuity test.

"President Trump is desperate," says world-renowned dissident, professor Noam Chomsky in an extended interview that begins with President Trump's vow to send a "surge" of federal agents into major Democrat-run cities across the United States. "His entire attention is this one issue on his mind: That's the election. He has to cover up for the fact he's personally responsible for killing tens of thousands of Americans. It's impossible to conceal that for much longer."

We bring you Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's full address from the floor of the House, when she excoriated her Republican colleague, Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida, after he verbally attacked her earlier in the week on the steps of the Capitol and used a sexist slur overheard by a reporter, calling her a "fucking bitch," then issued a non-apology from the House floor. "My mother got to see Mr. Yoho's disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television," she says, "and I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men."

Trump Cancels RNC in Jacksonville as COVID-19 Deaths Soar in Florida, CDC Issues New Guidelines Urging Schools to Reopen, South Africa Closes School for a Second Time as COVID-19 Cases Top 40,000, 1.4 Million File for Unemployment as Moratorium on Evictions Ends, Whistleblowers Reveal How ICE Used Deception to Deport Immigrants with COVID-19, ICE Attempted to Censor Embedded Journalists Who Filmed Wrongdoing, Judge Bars Federal Agents in Oregon from Targeting Journalists & Legal Observers, 37 Senate Democrats Join GOP in Passing $740 Billion Military Spending Bill, AOC Delivers Moving Response to Rep. Ted Yoho's Sexist Slur, China Orders Closing of U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, Ecuador Denounced for Barring Party of Ex-President Correa from Upcoming Election, Judge Orders Michael Cohen to Be Released from Prison, Sierra Club Apologizes for Racist Views of Founder John Muir, Planned Parenthood Removes Margaret Sanger's Name from Health Center, Body of Rep. John Lewis to Lie in State at U.S. Capitol, NFL Team Will Be Temporarily Known as "Washington Football Team", Baseball Players Take Knee on Opening Day to Pay Tribute to Black Lives Matter

The harrowing scenes of paramilitary-style units in the streets of American cities like Portland has shocked mainstream America, but award-winning independent journalist Todd Miller, who has reported on border security and immigration for over a decade, says it's a reflection of how the U.S. has operated around the world. We also speak with Cecilia Menjívar, UCLA sociology professor, who says the image of unmarked vans snatching people from the streets "brings back memories to Latin Americans who lived through disappearances of families and friends and co-workers."

Protesters in Chicago are demanding justice after police officers attacked a teenage activist last week during a demonstration in which people attempted to topple a statue of Christopher Columbus in Grant Park. An officer struck 18-year-old Miracle Boyd, a recent high school graduate and organizer with the group GoodKids MadCity, in the face, knocking out several teeth. Journalists also reported being mistreated by police officers, who used chemical sprays and batons on protesters. "This is consistent with what we've seen from the Chicago Police Department in their response to these uprisings," says Sheila Bedi, the civil rights lawyer representing Boyd.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has made addressing police corruption a cornerstone of his time in office, and he says it affects many criminal cases, including that of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has always maintained his innocence for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer for which he has spent four decades behind bars. Within weeks of the end of the trial, a third of the police involved in his case were jailed for systematically tampering with evidence to obtain convictions in cases across the city, and at least one police officer in the case, James Forbes, lied on the stand, saying he had properly handled guns. "It is a microcosm of the realities of what progressive prosecutors face now when they're trying to go back in time and do justice," Krasner says of efforts to rectify police abuses steeped in "a culture that used to shred and used to hide and used to destroy."

As President Trump announces a "surge" of federal agents into major U.S. cities to confront protesters, we speak with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who warns he will arrest and charge Trump's police forces if they violate the rights of residents in his city. "The law applies to the president of the United States, even though he doesn't think so. The law applies to law enforcement. The law applies to civilians. It is real simple," says Krasner. He also discusses the importance of releasing incarcerated people during the pandemic, and tackling police corruption, such as in the case of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Trump to Send "Surge" of Federal Officers into Democrat-Run Cities, COVID-19 Hospitalizations in U.S. Near Same Level as Peak of Pandemic in April, Trump Falsely Claims Children Do Not Transmit COVID-19, McConnell to Unveil New $1 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Package, Global COVID-19 Cases Top 15M as Deaths Reach New High in Brazil, U.N.: Israeli Threat to Annex West Bank Is Hampering Palestianian Response to Pandemic, Federal Judge Rejects Releasing Detained Immigrant Families, Report: U.S. Holding Immigrant Toddlers in Hotels for Weeks Before Deportation, Canada Court Rules United States Is Not Safe for Asylum Seekers, New York Senate Passes Bill to Prohibit ICE Courthouse Arrests, House Passes NO BAN Act to Reverse Trump's Muslim Ban, House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues at U.S. Capitol, Great American Outdoors Act Hailed as Landmark Conservation Bill, Senators Introduce John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Anti-Feminist Attorney Suspected in Ambush on Judge's Home Is Linked to California Murder, 45 Killed in Afghan Airstrikes, Civil Rights Activist Charles Evers, Brother of Medgar Evers, Dies at 97, Andrew Mlangeni, Anti-Apartheid Activist Jailed with Mandela, Dies at 95

Amid a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations across the United States, the Latinx community has been hit especially hard in places like California, where many Latinx workers fill essential jobs as farmworkers and meatpackers. "Latino and people of color basically do the scut work that keep the state going, its economy going, but get very little of the resources," says Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His recent study shows Latinx Californians between the ages of 50 and 64 have died at more than five times the rate of white people of the same age.

The African continent has mostly escaped the worst of the pandemic, but the World Health Organization is now warning of an impending acceleration of its spread. "We have always been very clear that the pandemic in Africa was a delayed pandemic, that the continent wasn't spared," says Dr. John Nkengasong, director for Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

COVID-19 infections are skyrocketing in South Africa, now fifth in the world for coronavirus cases, with an already fragile hospital system. "I really think it's our inequality reckoning moment," says Fatima Hassan, a human rights lawyer with the Health Justice Initiative. "All of the fault lines of South Africa's post-apartheid democracy, and its inequality and its violence, is actually coming to the fore."

As U.S. Records 1,000 More COVID-19 Deaths, Trump Admits "It Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better", California Surpasses New York in Total Coronavirus Cases, COVID-19 Death Toll at San Quentin State Prison Reaches 12, HRW: 14 Egyptians Have Died of COVID-19 in Overcrowded Prison, Brazilian COVID-19 Death Toll Surpasses 80,000; Bolivian Police Recover 400 Bodies, Israel Authorities Demolish Coronavirus Testing Center in West Bank, U.S. Military Infection Rates Soar, Raising Concerns for Areas Near Overseas Bases, Trump Moves to Exclude Counting Undocumented People in Drawing Congressional Districts, Massachusetts Protesters Demand Driver's Licenses for Undocumented Residents, DHS Confirms It Sent Three Paramilitary-Style Units to Patrol Streets of Portland, Detroit Police Officer Charged for Shooting 3 Journalists with Rubber Bullets, NYPD Raid Occupy City Hall Encampment; 7 Arrested, Housing Activists Camp Outside Home of NYC Official, Democrats Join GOP in Blocking Proposals to Cut Pentagon Budget & Afghan Troop Withdrawal, U.S. Orders China to Close Consulate in Houston, Speaker of Ohio House Arrested in $60 Million Bribe Scheme over Nuclear Plant Bailout, 15 Injured in Mass Shooting at Funeral in Chicago, Former Sudanese President al-Bashir Goes on Trial for 1989 Coup, Acclaimed Fashion Designer Locks Herself in Bird Cage to Protest Jailing of Julian Assange, "I Wish Her Well": Trump on Arrest of Jeffrey Epstein Associate Ghislaine Maxwell, "Bitches Get Stuff Done": AOC Responds to Sexist Slur from GOP Congressman

As President Trump continues to push for schools to reopen even as COVID-19 rates skyrocket in many states, teachers are revolting. "I love my students, and I know that the best place for them to learn is in classrooms where they can collaborate and collectively solve problems," says Seattle high school teacher Jesse Hagopian. He says teachers recognize that online learning is not an adequate replacement for in-class education, "but I also want to live, and I also want my students to live." We also speak with Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance, which published an open letter to President Trump outlining 14 demands that must be met before schools are reopened, including zero new positive COVID cases for 14 consecutive days.

As mayors in six cities call for the immediate removal of the president's rapid deployment units and for Congress to investigate the tactics of federal authorities against antiracism protests, Trump says he may send troops to Chicago this week. "We're looking at the infringement on our rights that is just escalating," says Chicago activist Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance. We also speak with Jesse Hagopian, a history teacher in Seattle, where Trump has also vowed to send federal officers to quell ongoing demonstrations.

The U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon has called for an investigation into the conduct of federal officers deployed to protests in Portland, calling their behavior "unlawful." Local officials are also mounting legal challenges to remove the agents from city streets. Juan Chavez, project director and attorney at the Oregon Justice Resource Center, says it's a terrifying situation for Portland residents who face "these camouflaged goon squads" who often refuse to identify themselves or their agencies. "They just appear in the middle of the night next to people who are in and around downtown who then get corralled into these vehicles, not told where or who's picking them up," he says.

Heavily armed federal officers without name tags have carried out nightly attacks on antiracist demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, and snatched people off the streets into unmarked vans, sparking widespread outrage. "What we've seen is a continuous escalation in violence against our protesters," says Lilith Sinclair, an Afro-Indigenous local organizer in Portland. They note the federal violence follows many years of "severe police brutality" from local police. "It's left the people of Portland not only worried about their safety, but, even more so, justified in the fight that we're engaged in."