Democracy Now!

Joe Biden Accepts Presidential Nomination, Pledging End to "Season of Darkness", CDC Director: Up to 60 Million U.S. Residents Were Infected with Coronavirus, White House Declares Teachers "Essential Workers" as Unions Threaten Strikes over Coronavirus, Stock Markets Surge Even as 1.1 Million U.S. Workers File New Unemployment Claims, Protesters Call on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to #MakeBillionairesPay, Postmaster General to Face Congressional Grilling over "Sabotage" of Postal Service, Massive California Wildfires Leave 5 Dead, 700,000 Acres Burned, Steve Bannon Arrested, Charged with Pocketing Private Border Wall Funds, Federal Judge Rules NY Prosecutors Can Subpoena Trump's Tax Records, Iraq Is "Open for American Business," Says Iraqi PM in Meeting with Trump, Prominent Iraqi Women's Rights Activist Reham Yacoub Gunned Down in Basra, Israeli Military Attacks Gaza for 10th Consecutive Day, Newly Released Bodycam Footage Shows Two Deaths at Hands of Phoenix Police, Portland's Nightly Anti-Police-Brutality Protests Continue to Face Police Violence, Black Lives Matter Groups Protest New York Police Union's Endorsement of Trump, Uber, Lyft Win Temporary Stay of Order to Reclassify Contract Drivers as Employees

Senator Kamala Harris is the first Indian American and first Black woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket, but, as many historians have noted, Harris is not the first Black woman to run for vice president. That distinction belongs to the journalist and political activist Charlotta Bass, who was the editor of The California Eagle for nearly 30 years, one of the country's oldest Black newspapers, which covered women's suffrage, police brutality, the Klu Klux Klan, and discriminatory hiring and housing practices. Bass joined the Progressive Party ticket in 1952 on an antiracist platform that called for fair housing and equal access to healthcare. Bass's exclusion from the public narrative signals a tendency to "sideline Black radical politics," says author and historian Keisha Blain.

As Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman of color to run on a major party presidential ticket, many Black progressive women remain ambivalent, says Derecka Purnell, a human rights lawyer, abolitionist and columnist for The Guardian newspaper. "It's just unfortunate that you have to protect someone because of their identity … while at the same time if you care about the masses of Black people, the masses of poor people, the masses of immigrants in this country, you know that you have to speak truth and be honest about their record," Purnell says.

Senator Kamala Harris has formally accepted the Democratic vice-presidential nomination, becoming the first woman of color to run on a major party presidential ticket. We feature part of her historic speech.

On the third night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, party leaders argued that U.S. democracy is at risk if President Trump is reelected in November, with a lineup of speeches from former Congressmember Gabby Giffords, senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and former President Barack Obama, who grew emotional describing the stakes of the election and urged people not to "let them take away your democracy." We air excerpts from the night's events.

Kamala Harris Accepts Democratic Party's Nomination for Vice President, Hundreds of Wildfires Choke California, as Coronavirus Sidelines Prisoner Firefighters, U.S. Records Nearly 1,300 New Coronavirus Deaths as PPE Shortages Persist, NYC Teachers' Union Threatens Strike If Schools Reopen Without Safety Measures, New Zealand Deploys Troops to Enforce Quarantine; Zambian Vice President Positive for Coronavirus, Emails Reveal Swedish Epidemiologist Urged Coronavirus Spread to Attain Herd Immunity, Iran's Official COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 20,000 as Trump Pushes for New Sanctions, European Union Readies Sanctions Against Belarus as Authoritarian Ruler Digs In, Russian Opposition Activist Alexei Navalny Falls into Coma After Apparent Poisoning, Israel Assaults Gaza Strip for Ninth Consecutive Night as Palestinians Protest Israel-UAE Deal, Biden Campaign Attacks Palestinian American Activist Linda Sarsour over Israel Boycott, President Trump Embraces Supporters of Far-Right QAnon Conspiracy Theory, Facebook Bans Anti-Fascist and Anarchist Groups Along with QAnon Conspiracy Pages, Supreme Court to Hear Trump Admin Challenge to Affordable Care Act on Nov. 10, Cincinnati Reds Broadcaster Suspended over Anti-Gay Slur, Michigan Agrees to Pay $600 Million to Flint Water Crisis Victims

After massive public outcry against cuts to mail service ahead of November's election, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has announced he will suspend changes to the U.S. Postal Service until after the election, when a record number of voters are expected to cast ballots by mail. President Trump has admitted he's working to undermine the USPS in order to make it harder to vote by mail in November. We speak with Lisa Graves, executive director of the policy research group True North Research, who says Louis DeJoy is "the most partisan person, in 100 years at least, to head the Postal Service" and warns that U.S. democracy is at stake. "We need to really hold this Postal Service accountable."

The Democratic National Committee has dropped a pledge to eliminate tax breaks and subsidies for the fossil fuel industry from its party platform, after a DNC spokesperson said the amendment was originally included in "error," despite both Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris supporting it on the campaign trail. Varshini Prakash, co-founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, says it is "disappointing to see" Democrats back away from the pledge, but adds that as long as social movements sustain pressure, "it will be a priority for the Biden administration, should they win in November." Prakash also discusses hopes for a Green New Deal, the importance of Kamala Harris's place on the ticket and the lack of young voices at the DNC.

As Democrats coalesce around Joe Biden ahead of the November presidential election, we speak with economist Darrick Hamilton, a former Bernie Sanders supporter who took part in the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force, about where the Democratic Party is headed on economic policy. Hamilton says that while Biden's policies are not as radical as the moment requires, he can be pushed by social movements. "We will make Biden do it," Hamilton says, quoting Franklin D. Roosevelt on the need for activists to pressure lawmakers. "But first and foremost, Donald Trump needs to get removed."

As the Democratic Party formally selected Joe Biden as its nominee for president at the virtual Democratic National Convention, one of those who joined in the call to elect him was activist Ady Barkan, who is paralyzed and unable to speak due to terminal ALS. Barkan is a leading advocate of Medicare for All and has publicly challenged Biden, who does not support Medicare for All. "We live in the richest country in history. And yet we do not guarantee this most basic human right. Everyone living in America should get the healthcare they need, regardless of their employment status or ability to pay," Barkan said, using computer assistance.

Joe Biden is the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, after he was formally picked by the party to challenge President Trump in November on the second night of the virtual Democratic National Convention. We feature highlights from the night, which featured speeches from 17 so-called rising stars in the Democratic Party, including voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, who unsuccessfully ran for Georgia governor in 2018, as well as Democratic heavyweights like former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. For a second night in a row, the DNC prominently featured the voices of Republicans and former Republicans backing Biden, including John McCain's widow Cindy McCain, former defense secretary and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who helped make the case for invading Iraq in 2003 by lying to the United Nations about Iraq's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. The night ended with a keynote address by Jill Biden.

Joe Biden Formally Wins Democratic Presidential Nomination, Postmaster General Promises to Suspend Service Cuts Until After Election, Notre Dame Cancels In-Person Classes Amid COVID-19 Outbreak Linked to Party, Coronavirus Death Toll from U.S. Prisons and Jails Tops 1,000, World Health Organization Says Young People Are Driving Coronavirus Outbreaks, Malian President Deposed in Military Coup Following Weeks of Protests, Senate Intelligence Committee Alleges Trump Campaign Associate Was Russian Agent, Far-Right Activist, Banned from Twitter over Racism, Wins Florida House GOP Primary, RNC to Feature St. Louis Couple Who Threatened to Shoot Black Lives Matter Protesters, Trump Issues Posthumous Pardon to Suffragist Susan B. Anthony, California Under State of Emergency as Heat Wave Sparks Wildfires, Federal Judge Halts Trump Admin Rollback of Transgender Healthcare Protections, Anti-Choice Ethics Panel Convened by Trump Recommends Against Fetal Tissue Research

As this year marks 100 years since the ratification of 19th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing women's right to vote, we look at the connection between the movement for women's suffrage and the movement to abolish slavery. Many states created laws to continue to deny women the vote, and African American women were subjected to the same Jim Crow laws already used to deny the vote to African American men. "To look for African American women and their history of the vote in 1920 is to miss the important chapter that begins in 1920 and doesn't culminate until the Voting Rights Act is adopted in 1965," says author and Johns Hopkins University history professor Martha Jones, whose forthcoming book is "Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All."

The Democratic National Convention faces criticism over the lack of diversity in its primetime programming during this year's virtual event, even as Latinx voters are slated to make up the largest bloc of nonwhite voters in 2020. Only a handful of Latinx speakers and no Muslim speakers are appearing during the broadcasted convention, while Republicans like former Ohio Governor John Kasich were given slots. "There were 35 primetime speakers, and only three of them were Latinx, and I raised a concern about that," says Julián Castro, former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and the only Latinx candidate in the race. "I don't think that represented the beautiful coalition that the Democrats put together."

One of the most memorable speeches of the opening night of the virtual Democratic National Convention was delivered by Kristin Urquiza, who said her father, a supporter of Donald Trump, died after believing the president's assurances that the coronavirus was under control. "My dad, Mark Anthony Urquiza, should be here today, but he isn't," she said. "My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump — and for that, he paid with his life."

Calling the 2020 election "the most important in the modern history of this country," Senator Bernie Sanders, in his speech to the Democratic National Convention, urged people to fight "against greed, oligarchy and bigotry" by voting President Trump out of office in November. "We need Joe Biden as our next president," Sanders said.

On the first night of the Democratic National Convention, former first lady Michelle Obama delivered a searing critique of President Trump, accusing him of being "in over his head" and incapable of carrying out the duties of the office. "If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can," Obama said. We air excerpts from her keynote speech, delivered virtually after the convention was moved online due to the pandemic.

Virtual DNC Kicks Off with Calls for Unity, Speeches by Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders, UNC Switches to Remote Classes After 177 Students Contract COVID-19, Indigenous Groups in Brazil Protest Gov't Inaction on Coronavirus; South Korea Outbreak Grows, Postmaster General Agrees to Testify as Fears Mount over USPS Changes That Could Threaten Election, Special Tribunal Delivers Verdict over 2005 Killing of Ex-Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri, Mapuche Protesters Demand Hunger-Striking Leader Be Released, Spanish Royal Family Confirms Exiled Former King Juan Carlos Is in UAE, Trump Admin Finalized Plan to Open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for Oil Drilling, Death Valley Hits 130 Degrees, Possibly the Highest Temperature Ever Recorded, Greenland's Ice Sheet Has Shrunk Past the Point of Return, Ex-DHS Chief of Staff Under Trump Endorses Joe Biden for President, New Bodycam Video Shows Officer Pushing Back Concerned Onlookers During Killing of George Floyd, Louisiana Man Sentenced to Life for Stealing Hedge Clippers to Get New Hearing, Black Man from NC Proves Death Sentence Was Racially Motivated, Has Life Sentence Reinstated, Austin City Council Redirects Police Funds to Abortion Access Services

At least 212 land and environmental defenders were murdered last year — the highest number since the group Global Witness began gathering data eight years ago. Some 40% of those killed were Indigenous peoples. We get an update from Honduras, where the Afro-Indigenous Garífuna community continues to demand the safe return of five Garífuna land defenders who were kidnapped by heavily armed men who were reportedly wearing police uniforms and forced them into three unmarked vehicles at gunpoint. This was the latest attack against the Garífuna community as they defend their territory from destructive projects fueled by foreign investors and the Honduran government. "We are in danger daily — all the leaders of the Garífuna community, all the defendants of the land in Honduras," says Carla Garcia, international relations coordinator at the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras.

We speak with Cori Bush, a nurse and single mother who was formerly homeless, who joins the growing number of young Black progressives likely headed to Congress this November, after she won a stunning primary upset over 10-term incumbent Congressmember William Lacy Clay Jr. in Missouri's 1st Congressional District in the St. Louis area. Bush says her campaign's victory was a result of a grassroots effort from across her district and beyond. "We believed that it's time for a change, it's time for an active leader, someone who knows the streets, someone who knows the struggle of what's happening in our country, especially with COVID-19 and how that's devastated communities," she says. The Black Lives Matter activist says she supports defunding the police and that she's looking forward to working with other progressive women in Congress. "We have to expand the Squad," she says, referring to Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley.

As the Democratic National Convention kicks off virtually in Milwaukee, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna, who says he will be voting no on the Democratic platform because it does not support Medicare for All. Khanna, who served as national co-chair of Senator Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign, says ensuring universal healthcare is crucial for the Democratic Party, especially during a pandemic. "I am very enthusiastic about supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to defeat Donald Trump, but I cannot vote for this platform that does not have universal healthcare as a right," says Khanna.

As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls lawmakers back from summer recess for an urgent vote this week to stop changes at the U.S. Postal Service that could interfere with the upcoming election, we speak with California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who says millions of ballots could be at risk of going uncounted. "That, in my view, is a deliberate strategy to try to disqualify millions of votes and for the president to try to steal this election," says Khanna. President Trump recently admitted he's working to undermine the Postal Service in order to make it harder to vote by mail in November. Protests took place this weekend outside the homes of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — a major Trump donor — who has instituted changes at the USPS that have slowed mail delivery and led to a days-long backlog in many parts of the United States, and the Postal Service sent letters to 46 states and Washington, D.C., warning that all mail-in ballots may not get delivered in time for voting.

Pelosi Calls House Back from Recess as Outrage Mounts over Turmoil at USPS, AZ Teachers Halt School Reopening; COVID-19 Data Shows Devastating Effect on Latinx, Black People, New Zealand Postpones Election Amid COVID-19 Spike; Virus Compounds Disaster in Lebanon, Mass Protests Continue in Belarus Amid Reports of Torture in Jails, Student Protests in Thailand Swell, Demanding Democratic Reforms, 16 People Killed After Car Bomb Blast at Hotel in Somalia, At Least 6 People Killed as Protests Intensify in Ivory Coast, Trump Vows to Reinstate U.N. Sanctions Against Iran, Lawyers Say Guards at Immigration Jail "Systematically" Sexually Assaulted Prisoners, Top Homeland Security Officials Were Invalidly Appointed, Says Congressional Watchdog, Far-Right Protesters Attack Antiracist Protesters in Georgia, Michigan and Oregon, Three Officers in Jackson, MS Charged with Murdering Black Man, White Georgia State Trooper Charged with Murdering Black Motorist, Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Lose Primary Bids, 2 Million Californians Lose Power as Heat Wave Sparks Rolling Blackouts, Robert Trump, Younger Brother of President Donald Trump, Dies at 71

The coronavirus crisis and the movement for racial justice have magnified the challenges faced by people released from prison, whose criminal record makes it hard to find a job and even housing, especially women. We feature a new AJ+ series by Messiah Rhodes, whose mother was in and out of jail throughout his childhood and was able to break the cycle of incarceration. Rhodes says his work serves as a response to calls to defund police. "Instead of giving law enforcement agencies tanks and sci-fi-level weaponry, we should be funding … housing, education, family reunification, mental health support," he says. We also speak with DeAnna Hoskins, president of JustLeadershipUSA, which will host Rebuilding the Table, an event on the official schedule of the Democratic National Convention that centers formerly incarcerated voices.

In a deal brokered by the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to fully normalize relations after years of secretly working together on countering Iran and other issues. Under the deal, Israel has also agreed to temporarily halt plans to annex occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, which had already been on hold due to international condemnation. We speak with Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, who says the agreement is being falsely characterized as a peace deal. "I don't see that it has anything to do with peace," he says. "On the contrary, it makes the chance of a just, equitable and sustainable peace much, much, much harder."

U.S. Records 1,000+ Daily Coronavirus Deaths Again as 2,000+ Quarantined at Schools, Georgia Governor Drops Lawsuit over Atlanta Mask Mandate, CDC Director Warns U.S. Risks Worst Fall in Public Health History, Senate Adjourns Without Deal on New Coronavirus Aid as Millions Face Hunger and Eviction, Coronavirus Cases Surge in India, Peru, Spain, France and Elsewhere, Israel to Normalize Relations with United Arab Emirates Despite Palestinian Protest, Unexploded Missile Found at U.N.-Run School as Israel Attacks Gaza Strip, Trump Admits He's Undermining the U.S. Postal Service to Thwart Mail-in Voting, USPS Confirms Removal of Public Mailboxes from Oregon Cities, Trump Questions Kamala Harris's Eligibility, Echoing Racist Conspiracy Theory About Obama, Trump Refuses to Answer Question About Lying to the American People, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Met with Kanye West, Who's Running for President, Belarus Releases Political Prisoners as Protests Grow Against Authoritarian President, Afghan Government Releases Taliban Prisoners, Paving Way for Peace Talks, Trump Administration Halts Private Charter Flights to Cuba, Afro-Colombian Teenagers Found Tortured and Murdered in Cali, Brazilian Police Set Fire to Landless Workers' Encampment During Mass Eviction, Protesters Temporarily Halt ICE Arrests of Immigrants in Bend, Oregon, Documents Show Trump Admin Ignored Threat of Border Wall to Endangered Species, Trump Admin Accuses Yale of Discriminating Against White and Asian Applicants, Kentucky AG Meets Breonna Taylor's Family, Over 150 Days After Her Killing by Louisville Police, Western Wildfires Destroy Over 90,000 Acres in California, Oregon and Colorado, UC Santa Cruz to Reinstate 41 Grad Students Fired for Holding Wildcat Strikes

We go to Bolivia, where opponents of the coup government have entered day 11 of a general strike and nationwide highway blockade to protest the repeated postponement of Bolivia's first presidential election since last year's ouster of Evo Morales by the right-wing coup government of Jeanine Áñez, which was followed by an economic collapse and oppression. "Almost all of the key highways have roadblocks … bringing the country to a standstill," says Ollie Vargas, Cochabamba-based reporter with Kawsachun News. "People feel impoverished. They feel persecuted. There's a climate of authoritarianism in the country, persecution against leftists, media outlets."

As Senator Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman of color on a major party ticket, we host a debate on her record as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, when she proudly billed herself as "top cop" and called for more cops on the street. San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Niki Solis says Harris was the state's most progressive DA and advocated for "so many policies and so many alternatives to incarceration." Law professor Lara Bazelon says Harris was on the wrong side of history for often opposing criminal justice reform, though her record did change as a senator. "Her office fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that in some cases kept innocent people in prison," Bazelon says.

As Kamala Harris, the first woman of color on a major presidential ticket, hits the campaign trail with Joe Biden for the first time, we play an extended excerpt of her address, in which she blasts President Trump's handling of the economy, immigration, racial justice and the coronavirus pandemic. "The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut," Harris says. "Just look where they've gotten us: more than 16 million out of work; millions of kids who cannot go back to school; a crisis of poverty, of homelessness, afflicting Black, Brown and Indigenous people the most."

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden Make First Appearance as Running Mates, U.S. Records Highest Coronavirus Death Toll of Summer, NJ Schools Allowed to Reopen as NY Educators Call for Delay to Start of School Year, Florida Sheriff Bans Deputies from Wearing Masks as Coronavirus Cases Spike, New WH Coronavirus Task Force Chief Is Radiologist Who Favors Herd Immunity, New Zealand Imposes New Lockdown as Coronavirus Spreads for First Time in Months, Argentine Doctor Warns of Spike in COVID-19 Deaths as Hospitals Hit Capacity, India Records Record Coronavirus Deaths as Ex-President with COVID-19 Placed on Ventilator, House Speaker Pelosi Says Lawmakers "Miles Apart" on New Stimulus Bill, Iowa Postal Union President Says Mail Sorting Machines Were Removed Amid Dramatic Cuts at USPS, U.N. Sounds Alarm as Belarus Police Open Fire on Anti-Government Protesters, Turkish Police Arrest 25 Women Demanding Turkey Remain in Women's Rights Treaty, State Department IG, Third of the Year, Clears Secretary Pompeo over Saudi Arms Deal, Tucker Carlson Blasts Guest Who Corrected Mispronunciation of Kamala Harris's Name, Trump Nominates Florida Lawyer Who Graduated College in 2009 to Lifetime Judicial Appointment

In her extensively researched new book, "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents," Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson argues the United States' racial hierarchy should be thought of as a caste system, similar to that in India. In a wide-ranging interview, she describes how she also looks at the ways Nazi Germany borrowed from U.S. Jim Crow laws. "The Nazis needed no one to teach them how to hate," Wilkerson says. "But what they did was they sent researchers to the United States to study Jim Crow laws here in the United States, to study and to research how the United States had managed to subordinate and subjugate its African American population."

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's selection of California Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate for the November election makes her the first Black woman and the first Indian American on a major party presidential ticket. "It's hard to overstate how historic, how monumental this is," says Aimee Allison, president of She the People, which works to elevate the political voice and leadership of women of color. But in the midst of the largest protest movement in American history against racist policing, Briahna Joy Gray, the former national press secretary for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, says "there's a great deal of frustration" with Harris, who is "known for being the top cop from California."

Joe Biden Taps Kamala Harris as Vice-Presidential Running Mate, Florida, Georgia Record Record Coronavirus Deaths as U.S. Colleges Delay Fall Sports Season, Bodies of COVID-19 Victims Lie Unclaimed Outside Chapel in La Paz, Bolivia, QAnon Conspiracy Theorist Wins Georgia 14th Congressional District GOP Primary, Rep. Ilhan Omar Fends Off Primary Challenger Who Dramatically Outraised Her, Clintons, Obamas Among Top Speakers at Democratic National Convention, Beirut Vigil Marks One Week Since Catastrophic Port Explosion, Thousands of Protesters in Mali Demand President's Ouster, Chicago Man Accused of Firing at Police Held on $1 Million Bond, Family of Elijah McClain Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Aurora, CO, L.A. Sheriff's Deputies Detain Alleged Assault Victims at Gunpoint, Michigan Teen Jailed for Failing to Complete Online School Work Removed from Probation, California Orders Uber, Lyft to Reclassify Drivers as Employees

California's notorious San Quentin State Prison is experiencing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the United States. At least 2,200 prisoners have been infected, and 25 have died. More than 260 staff members have also been infected. We hear from two people incarcerated at San Quentin about conditions inside and the punitive measures authorities have taken against prisoners campaigning for better safety measures, and speak with James King, a member of the Stop San Quentin Outbreak Coalition. "The conditions at San Quentin are horrific," says King, who was incarcerated at San Quentin from 2013 until December 2019. "You have these tightly confined spaces where people are living in close proximity to each other with no ability to physically distance."

As the world passes a grim milestone of 20 million coronavirus cases, we look at how the pandemic humbled and humiliated the world's most powerful country. Over a quarter of the confirmed infections and deaths have been in the United States, which has less than 5% of the world's population. Ed Yong, a science writer at The Atlantic who has been covering the pandemic extensively since March, says existing gaps in the U.S. social safety net and the Trump administration's "devastatingly inept response" made for a deadly combination.

After days of protests, Lebanon's government has resigned following the devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut that killed 200 people and injured thousands. The port blast, the source of which was 2,700 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate left unattended in a warehouse for more than six years, occurred as Lebanon was already facing political, economic and public health crises. We speak with Ziad Abu-Rish, a historian and research fellow at the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies and co-director of Bard College's Masters of Arts program in human rights and the arts, who says despite public outrage toppling the government, structural change may be harder to attain. "The fall of cabinets and even the holding of early parliamentary elections are not necessarily signs that fundamental transformation is underway in Lebanon," Abu-Rish says. "For now at least, this is politics as usual."

Lebanese Gov't Steps Down in Wake of Catastrophic Beirut Explosion and Mounting Protests, Trump Mulls Barring Americans from Reentry into U.S.; Coronavirus Cases Rise in Kids, Russia Approves First COVID-19 Vaccine; New Zealand Goes Back into Lockdown, Unrest in Chicago Sparked by Police Shooting Leads to 100+ Arrests, 16 People Arrested in Portland, OR Protests, Including Hate Crime Survivor Demetria Hester, Belarus in Turmoil as Lukashenko Cracks Down on Protests, Opposition Candidate Flees to Lithuania, Bolivia Protests Against Interim Right-Wing Gov't Intensify; Union Calls for General Strike, Fires in Brazilian Amazon on Pace to Create Record-Breaking Destruction, Last Intact Ice Shelf in Canadian Arctic Has Collapsed, EPA to Rescind Methane Regulations, Advocates Call for ICE to Free Persecuted Mexican Prisoner; Family of South Korean Man Demands Probe into Suicide, New Bodycam Footage Reveals More Devastating Details in George Floyd's Killing by Police, NC Jail Staffers Face Manslaughter Charges over Killing of Black Prisoner, Baltimore Gas Blast Kills One Person, Injures Seven, President Trump's Deal with Kodak on Hold Amid SEC Probe, Florida Court Rules School Cannot Discriminate Against Transgender Students

President Trump's latest executive orders to extend unemployment benefits and defer payroll taxes may be unconstitutional. Democrats had hoped to extend a program to give unemployed workers an additional $600 in weekly benefits and to extend a federal moratorium protecting some renters from evictions, but failed to overcome opposition from Republican lawmakers. Under Trump's order, unemployed workers would continue receiving an additional $400 a week, but only once states put up a quarter of the money and set up a new system to distribute the payments — a process that could take months. Trump also signed an executive order on evictions that does not extend the federal moratorium on evictions, and ordered a deferral of payroll taxes that will still need to be paid back next year, after the election. Trump's executive orders amount to "political theater," says David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, but could "set a really dangerous precedent" for the separation of powers in the future.

Democratic lawmakers say the Trump administration is sabotaging the United States Postal Service ahead of the November election, when a record number of votes are expected to be cast by mail. Since taking office, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — a major Trump donor — has instituted a number of cost-cutting measures that have slowed down the delivery of mail, and overhauled the leadership of the agency in a move that critics say will give him more power. This comes as President Trump continues to attack mail-in voting, claiming the post office can't handle an increase in ballots. We speak with Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, and David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect and author of the new book, "Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power."

The Lebanese government may be on the verge of collapse amid protests over the massive port explosion that devastated much of Beirut and killed at least 200 people and injured thousands. At least four ministers and nine members of Parliament have resigned. "The dominoes are falling," says Dion Nissenbaum, a Beirut-based reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who led an investigation into the official neglect that preceded last week's explosion, and says it has intensified public outrage over long-standing government dysfunction, calling it "the straw that's broken the camel's back here."

Lebanon Unrest Mounting as Death Toll from Catastrophic Port Blast Tops 200, Trump Signs Executive Orders After Coronavirus Bill Stalls, Dems Say They Are Unconstitutional , U.S. COVID-19 Cases Top 5 Million, with More Evidence of Infections in Children and Teens, Coronavirus Surging Across India, Brazil as Europe and Cuba Reimpose Containment Measures, Hong Kong Arrests Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai Under National Security Law, Protesters Take to Streets of Belarus, Accuse Officials of Fraud After Lukashenko Claims 80% of Vote, Mauritius in State of "Environmental Emergency" as Tanker Leeches Fuel into Protected Areas, 8 People Killed in Somalia Suicide Attack, Airstrikes Kill At Least 9 Children in Northern Yemen, Venezuela Sentences 2 Ex-U.S. Soldiers to 20 Years for Failed Coup Attempt, Afghanistan Set to Release 400 Taliban Prisoners Ahead of Peace Talks, Postmaster General, a Trump Ally, Overhauls Leadership of USPS Ahead of Elections, Kai Kahele Wins HI Congressional Primary; Marquita Bradshaw Becomes TN's Dem. Candidate for Senate, Puerto Rico Suspends Primary Voting Due to Lack of Ballots, Louisiana Supreme Court Upholds Life Sentence for Black Man Who Stole Hedge Clippers, Salt Lake City Protesters Face Life in Prison over Broken Windows, Red Paint, Nagasaki Mayor Calls for Nuclear Weapons Ban on 75th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing

"In my family, being kind was considered being weak," says Mary Trump, President Trump's niece, a clinical psychologist and author of "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man." We spend the hour with Mary Trump, discussing her book the president doesn't want people to read, in which she describes his upbringing in a dysfunctional family that fostered his greed, cruelty and racist and sexist behaviors — which he is now inflicting on the world. Mary Trump also discusses the president's mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, his long history of lies and misrepresentations, and the dangers of his reelection. "I believe that this country is on the knife's edge, and I don't want anybody going to cast their vote in November being able to claim that they just don't know who they're voting for," she says.

Study Predicts U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Could Reach 300,000 by December, Georgia High Schoolers Suspended for Sharing Images of Unmasked Students in Crowded Halls, India's COVID-19 Cases Top 2 Million as WHO Warns of Worsening Outbreaks in Africa, Peru's Health System in Collapse as COVID-19 Death Toll Reaches 20,000, Congressional Talks on New Coronavirus Stimulus on Brink of Collapse, "Make Billionaires Pay Act" Would Tax Richest 0.001% to Fund Healthcare for Millions, Police Fire Tear Gas at Anti-Government Protesters as Anger Rages over Beirut Blast, New York Attorney General Files Suit to Dissolve NRA over Executives' Self-Dealing, Trump Claims Biden Would Take Away Guns, "Hurt God", Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Tests Positive, Then Negative, for Coronavirus , State Department Taps Elliott Abrams as Special Representative to Iran, Trump Nominee to Pentagon Post Grilled over Firm's Alleged Ties to Saudi Assassins, Trump Signs Executive Order Effectively Banning WeChat and TikTok, Report: Facebook Gave Preferential Treatment to Right-Wing Pages and Fired Whistleblower, WNBA Players Stage Protest of Anti-BLM Senator and Team Owner Kelly Loeffler, Emails Show Officials Blocked Coronavirus Testing During Outbreak at Mesa Verde ICE Jail, San Quentin State Prison Has Largest Coronavirus Outbreak in U.S.

On the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, when the United States became the only country ever to use nuclear weapons in warfare, we look at how the U.S. government sought to manipulate the narrative about what it had done — especially by controlling how it was portrayed by Hollywood. Journalist Greg Mitchell's new book, "The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood — and America — Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," documents how the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki triggered a race between Hollywood movie studios to tell a sanitized version of the story in a major motion picture. "There's all sorts of evidence that has emerged that the use of the bomb was not necessary, it could have been delayed or not used at all," says Mitchell. "But what was important was to set this narrative of justification, and it was set right at the beginning by Truman and his allies, with a very willing media."

On the 75th anniversary of when the United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing some 140,000 people, we speak with Hideko Tamura Snider, who was 10 years old when she survived the attack. "The shaking was so huge," she recalls. "I remember the sensation, the color and the smell like yesterday." Tamura Snider describes her harrowing journey through a shattered city, suffering radiation sickness following the attack, and her message to President Trump.

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Calls are growing to break up the Big Tech giants, with a handful of companies controlling more and more of the technology industry, crowding out or acquiring would-be competitors and exercising vast power over the U.S. economy. Lawmakers grilled the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook during a hearing last week on whether their companies are guilty of stifling competition, in a scene reminiscent of the 1994 hearing of tobacco executives who claimed cigarettes were not addictive. This came just days after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly made $13 billion in a single day, even as the coronavirus pandemic has left millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. We speak with Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU Stern, who says we may be seeing "the beginning of the end" of the tech monopolies.

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."

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