Democracy Now!

Across the U.S., officials report a severe shortage of test kits for coronavirus. New York officials say they're preparing their own kits, after kits distributed by the Centers for Disease Control failed validation tests. Meanwhile, new cases of coronavirus continue to spring up worldwide, with Nigeria reporting its first case and one of Iran's vice presidents testing positive. We discuss how MSF USA, or Doctors Without Borders USA, is responding to coronavirus, with the organization's executive director, Avril Benoît.

In Syria, 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike by Russia-backed Syrian forces in rebel-held Idlib in a major escalation on Thursday. Turkey has vowed to respond in kind, as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres calls for an immediate ceasefire, saying "the risk of even greater escalation grows by the hour." Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly spoke by phone on Friday to discuss the crisis, as NATO urged rapid deescalation. The all-out offensive by the Syrian government is the single largest displacement in a nine-year war that has forced 13 million to flee and left hundreds of thousands dead. Since December alone, some 900,000 people, at least half of them children, have been displaced from northwestern Syria. As the humanitarian catastrophe deepens, aid workers are describing scenes of chaos and devastation on the ground, with families scrambling for shelter as temperatures fall below freezing. We speak with Avril Benoît, the executive director of MSF USA, or Doctors Without Borders USA.

California Monitoring 8,400 People for Coronavirus as Fears of Pandemic Grow, Syrian Airstrike Kills 33 Turkish Soldiers in Idlib, Escalating Tensions, New Justice Department Task Force Seeks to Strip Naturalized Immigrants of Citizenship, Joe Biden's Campaign Walks Back False Claims of Arrest in 1970s South Africa, Democratic Superdelegates Overwhelmingly Oppose Bernie Sanders Campaign, Mike Bloomberg Refuses to Apologize for Spying on Muslims, As NYC Mayor, Mike Bloomberg Called for Cuts to Social Security "Ponzi Scheme", ProPublica: Mike Bloomberg Advised Billionaire Sackler Family on Opioid Crisis, Emails Show Georgia's Republican Governor Mocked Reports of Voter Suppression, Watchdog Probing Whether VA Secretary Sought to Smear Adviser Who Reported Sexual Assault, Report Finds USC Mishandled Decades of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Gynecologist, Colombian Social Leader Cristóbal Anaya González Found Murdered, Costa Rican Indigenous Land Defender Yehry Rivera Murdered by Mob, Accomplice Sentenced in Murder of Mexican Journalist Javier Valdez, Strike Spreads as University of California Graduate Students Demand Living Wages

In India, the death toll from anti-Muslim violence in Delhi has risen to at least 34, with police accused of turning a blind eye to assaults on Muslims committed by Hindu nationalist mobs. The violence began Sunday, when groups of Hindus attacked peaceful sit-ins of Muslims protesting against Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new citizenship law, which widely restricts Muslim immigration to India. Modi said nothing as the violence continued for days, instead hosting President Donald Trump on a two-day state visit in which Trump heaped praise on the Indian prime minister. We speak with Neha Dixit, independent Indian journalist, and Priya Gopal, lecturer at the University of Cambridge and author of "Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent."

Sonia Shah is an investigative science journalist and author of "Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond." Her new book is titled "The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move" and will be published in June. She says the climate crisis is making outbreaks of infectious diseases more common, with the destruction of natural animal habitats and the changes in migration bringing humans and animals into ever-closer contact and making new pathogens more likely. Her latest article, published in The Nation, is titled "Think Exotic Animals Are to Blame for the Coronavirus? Think Again."

The coronavirus disease that was first diagnosed in China's Hubei province has now spread to at least 47 countries and every continent except Antarctica. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an international health emergency. President Trump sought to play down the threat from coronavirus and announced Vice President Mike Pence would be his point person to coordinate government efforts to prevent a widespread outbreak. As Trump spoke, a new milestone in the novel coronavirus outbreak was reported, in a possible example of community spread: A person was diagnosed with the virus in Northern California who had not traveled to any of the affected regions of the world, nor had known contact with anyone else who did. We speak with Laurie Garrett, former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer. She is the author of several books, including "Ebola: Story of an Outbreak," "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance" and "Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health."

Fears of Coronavirus Pandemic Grow as U.S. Cites First "Community Spread" of Pathogen, Trump Blames "Caronavirus" Fears on Democrats and Fake News Reporting, Trump Taps VP Mike Pence, Who's Blamed for Indiana HIV Outbreak, to Lead Coronavirus Response, Gunman Kills 5 at Molson Coors Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Physicians Group Calls U.S. Migrant Family Separations "Torture", U.S. Drops Charge Against Scott Warren, Who Aided Migrants Crossing Desert, House Approves Emmett Till Act to Make Lynching a Federal Hate Crime, Feds Arrest Five Neo-Nazis for Threatening Journalists and Activists, ABC Suspends David Wright over Remarks Secretly Recorded by Far-Right Group, U.S. Holds Joint Military Exercises in Saudi Arabia as Yemen War Escalates, Buttigieg and Klobuchar to Skip AIPAC Conference, Joining Warren and Sanders, Trans Woman Murdered in Puerto Rico After Using McDonald's Bathroom, Trump Cancels NYC Climate Resiliency Study After Mocking Planned Sea Wall, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reads Green New Deal into Congressional Record

We speak with Bob Hennelly, an award-winning reporter for The Chief-Leader, who says that billionaire Michael Bloomberg lied during the past two Democratic presidential debates when he claimed he released his taxes while he was mayor of New York City. Hennelly covered Bloomberg during his time as mayor as a reporter for WNYC, New York's main public radio station. In 2012, he had an exchange with Bloomberg after a press conference in which the then-mayor said he didn't have to disclose his federal taxes. We hear that audio recording and discuss Bloomberg's record.

Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate comes just four days before South Carolina's first-in-the-South primary — and one week before more than a dozen states vote on Super Tuesday. Billionaire Tom Steyer has poured money into outreach to African-American voters, who make up more than half of South Carolina's Democratic electorate. He may help front-runner Bernie Sanders build an insurmountable delegate lead. A new Reuters poll shows Senator Sanders has overtaken former Vice President Joe Biden in support among African Americans. We speak with three guests in South Carolina: Kevin Alexander Gray, a longtime civil rights activist and community organizer, author of "Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics," and Jesse Jackson's South Carolina campaign manager in 1988; Democratic state Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, as well as a senior national adviser for Tom Steyer; and Adolph Reed Jr., professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, a columnist with The New Republic and an organizer for the "I'm a Medicare for All Voter" campaign in South Carolina.

The 10th Democratic presidential debate took place Tuesday in Charleston, South Carolina, and two billionaires were at either end of the stage: Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer. Front-runner Bernie Sanders, who has made attacking the power of the "billionaire class" a central theme of his campaign, stood in the middle. It was a visual representation of the split within the Democratic Party, in which a growing number of people are "rising up against plutocracy," says Anand Giridharadas, editor-at-large at Time magazine and author of "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World." His recent piece for The New York Times is titled "The Billionaire Election: Does the world belong to them or to us?

CDC Warns of "Severe" Disruption to Daily Life in U.S. as Coronavirus Spreads, DHS Secretary Grilled over Coronavirus Preparedness as Trump Downplays Risks, Two Billionaires Join Democratic Debate in SC as Rivals Target Bernie Sanders, At Least 24 Killed in India After Hindu Nationalists Attack Muslim Demonstrators, President Trump Wraps India Trip with Praise for $3.5 Billion Weapons Deal, 20 Civilians Killed in Syria's Idlib as the Red Cross Pleads for a Ceasefire, Airwars Reports U.S.-Led Strikes Killed Up to 139 Somali Civilians Since 2007, Supreme Court Rules Border Patrol Agents Who Shoot into Mexico Can't Be Sued, Drug Maker Mallinckrodt Reaches $1.6B Settlement for Role in Opioid Crisis, Harvey Weinstein's Accusers Prepare for Los Angeles Rape Trial, Opera Star Plácido Domingo Apologizes for Sexual Misconduct, Orlando Police Release Video Showing Arrest of 6-Year-Old Girl

Senator Bernie Sanders's campaign continues to ride the wave of its decisive victory Saturday in the Democratic presidential caucuses in Nevada. Sanders's win came with support from young voters, union members and Latinx voters, who strengthened his status as Democratic presidential front-runner. He won 73% of the Latino vote in Nevada, a remarkable victory that supporters hope will bode well heading into Super Tuesday and beyond. Through March 17, the Democratic primary calendar will run through seven of the 12 states where Latinx communities constitute at least 10% of the total eligible voting population.We speak to the architect of Sanders's stunning success in Nevada, campaign senior adviser Chuck Rocha. He's a political strategist, a self-described "Tex/Mex Redneck" and founder of Solidarity Strategies, the largest Latino-owned and -operated political consulting firm in the country.

Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of first-degree commission of a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape, but acquitted of two more serious charges. "If we turn a blind eye to the systems that they operate in, then we'll just have another Harvey Weinstein. … That's why we have to upend the systems," says Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement. We also speak with award-winning actress Rosanna Arquette, who was one of the first women to share details of Weinstein's sexual misconduct.

A jury has found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault, following a seven-week trial in Manhattan. The jurors convicted the disgraced Hollywood producer Monday of raping then-aspiring actress Jessica Mann in a hotel room in 2013 and of sexually assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley at his apartment in 2006 by forcibly performing oral sex on her. Weinstein was convicted of first-degree commission of a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape. But he was acquitted of two more serious charges of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape. He faces a total sentence of up to 29 years in prison. His sentencing has been set for March 11. "It's a beginning," says Rosanna Arquette, award-winning actress, filmmaker and activist. She was one of the first women to share details of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct. We are also joined by Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement and now the executive director of the newly established organization of the same name, known as "Me Too" International.

Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty of Rape, 2020 Democratic Candidates Gear Up for Debate as More Damning Comments by Bloomberg Surface, Bernie Sanders Defends Praise for Fidel Castro's Literacy Program, Protests in India Kill At Least 7 as Trump Continues Visit, Former Egyptian Dictator Hosni Mubarak Dies, U.K. Court Opens Deliberations on Julian Assange's Extradition Case, As Coronavirus Spreads Around the Globe, White House Requests Emergency Funding, China Sentences Bookseller Critical of Chinese Government to 10 Years in Prison, Clashes Between Haitian Police and Soldiers Leave One Dead as Anti-Gov't Protests Rage On, Canadian Police Clear Indigenous Protests Blocking Railways, Equinor Abandons Plans to Drill for Oil in Australia's Bight Marine Park, JPMorgan to Stop Funding Arctic Drilling, Will Continue to Fund Oil and Gas Projects Elsewhere, Appeals Court Upholds Trump "Gag Rule" on Abortion Referrals, SCOTUS to Take Up Discrimination Case Involving Gay Foster Parents, Bernie Sanders Unveils Universal Child Care Plan, MSNBC Host Chris Matthews Apologizes for Comparing NV Victory to Nazi Takeover of France, UC Santa Cruz Says It Will Provide Stipend to Graduate Workers in Response to Strike, Katherine Johnson, Pioneering African-American NASA Mathematician, Dies at 101

As Bernie Sanders's runaway win in Nevada cements his position as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, the Democratic Party establishment and much of the mainstream media are openly expressing concern about a self-described democratic socialist leading the presidential ticket. His opponents have also attacked his ambitious agenda. Last week during the primary debate in Las Vegas, Bernie Sanders addressed misconceptions about socialism. Invoking the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sanders decried what he called "socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor."For more, we host a debate on Bernie Sanders and democratic socialism, featuring two well-known economists. Paul Krugman is a New York Times op-ed columnist and author of many books, including his latest, "Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future." One of his recent columns is headlined "Bernie Sanders Isn't a Socialist." Richard Wolff is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and visiting professor at The New School. He is the founder of Democracy at Work and hosts the weekly national television and radio program "Economic Update." He's the author of several books, including "Understanding Socialism."

Senator Bernie Sanders scored a decisive victory Saturday in the Democratic presidential caucuses in Nevada, riding a wave of support from young voters, union members and Latinx voters, who strengthened his status as front-runner. His win shows the potential for the nation's largest minority group to reshape the next stage of the Democratic presidential race. In the next four weeks, six more of the 12 states with a large Latinx population will vote in the Democratic primary. On Super Tuesday, Texas, California and Colorado go to the polls. Arizona, Florida and Illinois will vote on March 17. We speak with Erika Andiola, chief advocacy officer for RAICES Action, the advocacy arm for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and Cristina Beltrán, associate professor and director of graduate studies at New York University's Department of Social and Cultural Analysis. Her latest book is "The Trouble with Unity: Latino Politics and the Creation of Identity."

Bernie Sanders Wins Nevada Caucuses by a Landslide, Calls for MSNBC's Chris Matthews to Resign After He Likens Sanders's NV Win to Nazi Takeover of France, Global Coronavirus Cases Surge, Trump Touts Defense Deal, Praises Modi at Massive Indian Rally, In Afghanistan, U.S. and Taliban Start Partial Truce, Iran: Conservatives Pick Up Bulk of Parliament Seats After 1,000s of Candidates Barred from Running, Outrage After Video Shows Israeli Bulldozer Removing Body of Killed Palestinian, Teck Resources Withdraws Application for Contested Alberta Oil Sands After Sustained Protests, Reports: Trump Admin Out to Purge Disloyal Staffers, Justice Sotomayor Slams SCOTUS Ruling on Trump's Hard-Line Immigration Policies, 34-Year-Old Mexican Man Dies in ICE Custody, Thousands Protest Suspension of Municipal Elections in Dominican Republic

Fifty-five years ago today, Malcolm X was assassinated. The civil rights leader was shot to death on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. He was only 39 years old. Details of his assassination remain disputed to this day. Earlier this month, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said he was considering reopening the investigation, just days after a new documentary series about the assassination was released on Netflix called "Who Killed Malcolm X?" It makes the case that two of the three men who were convicted for Malcolm X's murder are actually innocent and that his uncaught killers were four members of a Nation of Islam mosque in Newark, New Jersey. We are joined by Ilyasah Shabazz, one of six daughters of Malcolm X, who was just 2 years old when her father was assassinated in front of her, her siblings and her mother. We also speak with award-winning author Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, independent scholar, historian, journalist, writer and activist, who is widely regarded as one of the most respected authorities on the life and legacy of Malcolm X and is featured in the new documentary series, and Shayla Harris, a producer for the series and an award-winning filmmaker and journalist.

Roger Stone Sentenced to 40-Month Prison Term, Trump Lashed at Intel Chief over Warning of Russian Meddling in 2020 Election, Germany Mourns Victims of Right-Wing Terror Attacks, Suspect Arrested in Stabbing at London Mosque, U.K. to Close Borders to "Unskilled" and Non-English-Speaking Immigrants, Protests Erupt as Acting ICE Director Challenges New York Pro-Immigrant Laws, Mexican Radio Journalist Murdered in Ciudad Juárez, February Flowers Bloom in Moscow Amid Record-High Winter Temperatures, 28 Arrested in Seattle Protesting Chase Bank Fossil Fuel Ties, Rail Blockades Continue as Protests Grow Against Coastal GasLink Pipeline, South Korea Reports First Two Coronavirus Deaths, Report: 20 Million Americans Used Crowdfunding to Pay Medical Expenses, California Apologizes for WWII-Era Incarceration of Japanese Americans

As the primary season heads into the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, we unpack the ninth Democratic presidential debate in a roundtable on the tensions at work on the Las Vegas debate stage. Senator Bernie Sanders, currently the front-runner in the race, said the candidate with the most delegates should become the nominee; all his rivals on stage suggested they would be open to a brokered convention, with superdelegates and other party insiders potentially deciding the nomination. We continue our discussion with Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation; Raquel Willis, journalist, activist and executive editor of Out magazine; Ana María Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy; and Annise Parker, former mayor of Houston and president of the Victory Fund.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, just awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump, has attacked former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg in recent days as a "37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage," suggesting the Democrat would look weak next to Trump, whom he described as "Mr. Man." Buttigieg condemned the radio host's homophobic comments, saying he would take no lessons on family values from Limbaugh or Trump. "One thing about my marriage is it's never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse," Buttigieg told CNN's Erin Burnett this week. Buttigieg is the first openly gay candidate ever to win delegates in a presidential nominating contest, but his candidacy has been criticized by many progressive LGBTQ Democrats who say his centrist politics do not reflect the needs of the queer community. We continue our roundtable discussion on Wednesday's Democratic debate in Nevada. Our guests are Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine, and a columnist for WashingtonPost.com; journalist and activist Raquel Willis, executive editor of Out magazine, who has endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren for president; Ana María Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a progressive advocacy group that has endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders; Annise Parker, the former mayor of Houston, now president of the Victory Fund, which works to increase the number of openly LGBTQ officials in government and has endorsed Pete Buttigieg for president.

Healthcare continues to be a central issue of the Democratic nomination fight, with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren repeating their calls for Medicare for All on the debate stage Wednesday night while their rivals proposed more incremental approaches. We continue our roundtable discussion on Wednesday's Democratic debate in Nevada. Our guests are Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine, and a columnist for WashingtonPost.com; journalist and activist Raquel Willis, executive editor of Out magazine, who has endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren for president; Ana María Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a progressive advocacy group that has endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders; Annise Parker, the former mayor of Houston, now president of the Victory Fund, which works to increase the number of openly LGBTQ officials in government and has endorsed Pete Buttigieg for president.

Tensions flared at the ninth Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Senator Bernie Sanders sought to defend his position as front-runner in the Democrats' nomination fight, and former Vice President Joe Biden, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar tried to attract more supporters. Senator Elizabeth Warren led a night full of attacks on the new person on stage: billionaire former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Bloomberg faced questions about his vast wealth, his defense of stop-and-frisk and his treatment of women. We host a roundtable on the debate and Saturday's Nevada caucuses: Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine, and a columnist for WashingtonPost.com; journalist and activist Raquel Willis is executive editor of Out magazine, as well as a supporter of Senator Elizabeth Warren; Ana María Archila is co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a progressive advocacy group that has endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders; Annise Parker is the former mayor of Houston, now president of the Victory Fund, which works to increase the number of openly LGBTQ officials in government and has endorsed Pete Buttigieg for president. The Victory Fund is the largest LGBTQ political action committee in the United States.

Democratic Contenders Take Aim at Billionaire Michael Bloomberg in Nevada Debate, Protesters Interrupt Nevada Debate to Demand Immigration Discussion, Michael Bloomberg Made Transphobic Remarks in 2019, Bloomberg Campaign NDAs Could Prevent Reporting of Abuses, U.N. Warns of Unfolding Humanitarian Catastrophe in Syria's Idlib, German Far-Right Gunman Kills 10 in Frankfurt Suburb, China Expels Wall Street Journal Reporters over "Racist" Op-Ed, Trump Taps Ally Richard Grenell as Director of National Intelligence, As Roger Stone Faces Sentencing in Federal Court, Trump Hints at Pardon, Julian Assange's Lawyers: Trump Offered Pardon in Exchange for Denying Russian Hack of DNC, Lawyers Demand Release of Chelsea Manning, Held for Refusing WikiLeaks Testimony, Ex-Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto Faces Corruption Probe, Federal Judge Orders Remedy for "Inhumane" Border Patrol Treatment of Migrants, Tennessee Set to Electrocute "Model Prisoner" After Governor Denies Clemency, Court Bars "Poll Tax" Against Formerly Incarcerated Voters in Florida, Thousands Rally Across Argentina Demanding Legalized Abortion

In its first-ever presidential endorsement, the Latinx and Chicanx organization Mijente endorsed Bernie Sanders on Tuesday ahead of the Nevada caucuses. The group tweeted its decision, saying, "We know that in 2020, Trump's potential re-election is a life-or-death threat for us, for our people, and for our planet. This moment demands a historic mobilization. That's why Mijente is uniting with the movement to elect @BernieSanders." A video accompanied the announcement. After the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the electorate is overwhelmingly white, Nevada is the first election with a diverse population. Nevada's population is nearly 30% Hispanic or Latinx and 10% black, and according to entrance polls, nearly one-third of voters in the Nevada Democratic caucuses in 2016 were either black or Latinx. We're joined by Marisa Franco, director of Mijente.

As the Democratic presidential hopefuls prepare to take to the debate stage tonight, we turn to a central issue of the campaign: Medicare for All. In a new study, Yale scholars have found that Medicare for All will save Americans more than $450 billion and prevent 68,000 deaths every year. The study in The Lancet — one of the oldest and most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals — found that Medicare for All, supported by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, will save money and is more cost-effective than "Medicare for All Who Want It, "a model supported by Pete Buttigieg. Sanders referenced the study at a campaign rally in Carson City, Nevada. For more, we go to New Haven, Connecticut, where we're joined by Alison Galvani, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at Yale's School of Public Health. She is the lead author of the new Lancet study, "Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA."

We continue our conversation with Marcie Wells, activist and waitress who is a member of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada, and Hamilton Nolan, labor reporter with In These Times. Nolan says 2020 had been "the most promising election year for organized labor in a long time," with Democratic candidates releasing platforms with strong labor protections. But Michael Bloomberg's entry into the race threatens to upend the Democratic Party's pro-worker shift. The billionaire former mayor of New York has a long track record of hostility toward organized labor, particularly teachers' unions, whom he has compared to the National Rifle Association. "He is not a great friend of unions," Nolan says of Bloomberg.

The third presidential contest of the primary season takes place Saturday in Nevada. One of the state's most coveted endorsements is from the Culinary Workers Union, which represents some 60,000 workers in the restaurant and hospitality industries in Las Vegas and Reno. Its membership is 54% Latinx. But last week they decided not to endorse any of the candidates. Nevada is a "right to work" state, and the Culinary Workers Union has attracted members by offering them healthcare. It has said it supports "choices" in healthcare. The mobilization of service employees could be critical to winning the Nevada caucuses. We speak with In These Times labor reporter Hamilton Nolan and Marcie Wells, an activist, waitress, single parent, and a member of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada for 16 years. Her essay for CommonDreams.org is titled "I Have 'Some of the Best' Health Insurance a Union Member Can Get, But I Would Trade It Today for Medicare for All."

Trump Falsely Claims He Is "Chief Law Enforcement Officer" of U.S., Trump Issues Clemency to White-Collar Criminals and Political Allies, Democratic Presidential Candidates to Take Debate Stage in Nevada, Resurfaced Video Shows Bloomberg Calling for Cuts to Medicare and Social Security, Death Toll from Coronavirus Surpasses 2,000 People, Afghanistan: Ashraf Ghani Declared Winner of Presidential Election, U.N.: 22 Killed, Including 14 Children, in Massacre in Cameroon, Somali Broadcast Journalist Abdiwali Ali Hassan Assassinated, North Carolina Court Temporarily Blocks Discriminatory Voter ID Laws

The Democratic presidential candidates face off in Las Vegas Wednesday night ahead of the Nevada caucuses. Nevada could be a decisive state for candidates who performed poorly in Iowa and New Hampshire, including former Vice President Joe Biden. As Biden hopes for a comeback, a new short documentary sheds light on his extensive role in the Iraq War — an issue that has been raised repeatedly on the campaign trail. Biden has apologized for supporting the war, but the new film, directed by the Center for Economic and Policy Research's Mark Weisbrot, exposes Biden's central role in pushing for an Iraq invasion. It's called "Worth the Price? Joe Biden and the Launch of the Iraq War." The documentary is narrated by Danny Glover.

A jury of seven men and five women meet today in New York Supreme Court to begin deliberations on whether to find disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault. The case has drawn international attention amid the #MeToo movement. If the jurors find Weinstein guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 100 women but in this case faces five charges based on evidence relating to two main accusers. One woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, alleges she was raped by Weinstein in a New York hotel, for which he has been charged with rape in the first and third degrees. The second main accuser is former "Project Runway" production assistant Miriam Haley, who alleges Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. For this, Weinstein faces a count of criminal sex act. If the jury finds Weinstein guilty of the charges relating to either or both of the main accusers, then it can consider two counts of predatory sexual assault against him. We speak with Irin Carmon, a senior correspondent for New York magazine who has followed the allegations against Harvey Weinstein. She spoke with 21 of his accusers in her article "100 Women vs. Harvey Weinstein" and wrote about a 57-page PowerPoint Harvey Weinstein's team sent to reporters that smeared his alleged victims. Her new piece is headlined "The Woman Who Taped Harvey Weinstein."

Irin Carmon is a senior correspondent for New York magazine who has followed the allegations against Harvey Weinstein. She just published her new profile on Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, a Filipina-Italian model who reported Weinstein to the New York Police Department in 2015 for allegedly groping her during a meeting at his Tribeca office. At the urging of police, she wore a recording device for an arranged meetup at a Manhattan hotel and got Weinstein to admit on tape that he groped her and sought unsuccessfully to get her to come to his room. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance decided not to pursue the case and said "a criminal charge is not supported." Carmon's article is headlined "The Woman Who Taped Harvey Weinstein."

2,000+ DOJ Ex-Officials Call for AG Barr to Resign as Judge Calls to Review Status of Roger Stone Case, Bloomberg Qualifies for Dem Debate as More Evidence of Past Comments Draw Ire, Calls Mount for Manhattan DA to Resign over Case of Alleged Sexual Abuser OB-GYN Robert Hadden, Prominent Wuhan Doctor Dies from Coronavirus as Cases Top 72,000, Pakistan Suicide Bomb Kills At Least 8 at Religious Rally, Mexican Protests Take Government to Task After Murder of 7-Year-Old Girl, Second-Strongest Storm to Hit North Atlantic Lashes United Kingdom, Mississippi Residents Displaced, Homes Inundated from Torrential Rains, Flooding, California Set to Apologize for Incarceration of Japanese Americans in WWII, Virginia Democrats Reject Assault Weapons Ban, Boy Scouts File for Bankruptcy Protection as Organization Faces Hundreds of Sexual Abuse Lawsuits, 20 Teens Arrested as Youth Climate Activists Take Over Capitol Building for Green New Deal Teach-In

In Yemen, 31 people were killed in U.S.-backed Saudi airstrikes over the weekend, including women and children. The strikes in the northern al-Jawf province came just hours after the Houthis said they had shot down a Saudi fighter jet in the same area. The United Nations called the drone strike "shocking." The deadly strike follows a recent uptick in violence in northern Yemen and comes as the war there hits a five-year mark. More than 100,000 have died, and far more have been displaced, since the conflict began in 2015. On Sunday, the United Nations said the Houthis and U.S.-backed Saudi and United Arab Emirates coalition had agreed to a major prisoner swap, the first of its kind in the long-running war. We speak with Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni scholar, activist, and an assistant professor at Michigan State University.

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg's self-funded campaign has flooded the airwaves with political advertisements, with the billionaire former New York City mayor having already spent more than $400 million on TV, radio and other ads — far outpacing other campaigns. But it's not just Bloomberg's unprecedented campaign spending that has raised eyebrows. As The New York Times reports, Bloomberg has also kept potential critics quiet by making major donations to progressive causes and advocacy groups around the country over the years. This may have played a part in obscuring Bloomberg's checkered record as mayor of New York. In 2015, researchers at the liberal Center for American Progress published a major report on anti-Muslim bias in the United States, and though the draft included a chapter of more than 4,000 words about New York City police surveillance of Muslim communities under Bloomberg, that chapter was excised from the final report — as was any mention of Bloomberg's name. We speak with Yasmine Taeb, one of the people behind the report, who says the authors were told to make major changes to the chapter or remove it. Other officials told the Times they revised the report to make it focused on right-wing groups targeting Muslims. When the report came out, Bloomberg had already given the Center for American Progress three grants worth nearly $1.5 million, and he contributed $400,000 more in 2017. Yasmine Taeb is now a member of the Democratic National Committee.

With the Nevada caucuses less than a week away, many Democratic candidates are courting voters in state and increasingly targeting their attacks on a new challenger — billionaire Michael Bloomberg — whom they are accusing of buying his way into the election. In the lead-up to Super Tuesday on March 3, when voters in 14 states go to the polls, Bloomberg has spent an unprecedented $417 million of his own $60 billion fortune on advertising. He's also paid meme influencers to share sponsored content on Instagram, and hired thousands of on-the-ground political operatives to work in more than 125 offices around the country. The Washington Post reports several lawsuits have been filed over the years alleging that women were discriminated against at Bloomberg's business-information company, including one case filed by a former employee who blamed Bloomberg for creating a culture of sexual harassment and degradation. But a major investigation in Sunday's New York Times, headlined "In Bloomberg, Liberals See a Wallet Too Big to Offend," lays out how Bloomberg established a foundation for potential critics to stay silent during his presidential bid by making major donations to progressive causes and advocacy groups in dozens of states and cities. The Times estimates Bloomberg has spent at least $10 billion on his charitable and political pursuits related to his political ambitions. We speak with Blake Zeff, a journalist and documentary filmmaker who has covered New York politics and Michael Bloomberg's terms as mayor.

Americans Aboard Cruise Ship Repatriated as 71,000 Global Cases of Coronavirus Confirmed, 1,100+ Ex-DOJ Staff Call on Attorney General Barr to Resign, Sen. Klobuchar Can't Say Name of Mexican President, Sen. Sanders Calls Out Bloomberg on Campaign Trail, Bloomberg's Company Faced Years of Sexual Discrimination and Harassment Lawsuits, LGBT Activists of Color Call Out Pete Buttigieg for Ties to Big Money, Conservative Positions, Airstrikes Kill 31 People, Including Children, in Yemen, Intensifying Syrian Gov't Offensive Has Displaced 800,000 Civilians Since December, Airstrike Kills 8 Civilians in Afghanistan as U.S., Afghan Officials Say Peace Deal with Taliban Imminent, Demonstrators Call Out Mexican Government, Media for Enabling Femicide Crisis, Border Patrol to Deploy Tactical Units to Sanctuary Cities, White House Memo Does Not Support "Imminent Threat" Justification for Soleimani Assassination, Michael Avenatti Found Guilty of Wire Fraud and Extortion, Appeals Court Strikes Down Medicaid Work Requirements, Case Against Venezuela Embassy Protectors Ends in Mistrial

This Valentine's Day, people around the world are taking to the streets to protest violence against women and girls. From the Philippines to India to Italy to Bolivia, thousands of women in more than 100 countries will reclaim public space through dance and performance as part of a global movement called One Billion Rising. The movement takes its name from the shocking statistic that one in three women across the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. One Billion Rising started on Valentine's Day 2012 and has continued to grow every year since. Participants say they won't stop dancing until violence against all women — cis, transgender and those with fluid gender identities — has ended. We speak with Eve Ensler, the award-winning playwright and author of "The Vagina Monologues." She is the founder of V-Day and One Billion Rising. We're also joined by Taína Asili, a Puerto Rican singer, filmmaker and activist whose song is the One Billion Rising anthem.

We continue our conversation with Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress. She responds to President Trump's Middle East plan, under which Israel would gain sovereignty over large areas of the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem would be under total Israeli control, and all Jewish settlers in the occupied territory would be allowed to remain in their homes. Tlaib says the plan was formulated with a "racist lens" that ignores Palestinian lives and aspirations. Tlaib says she wants people "to know what the human impact is of taking people's land, taking people's livelihood away from them."

In Detroit, a showdown between progressive lawmakers and the city is taking on racist housing policies that robbed African Americans in Detroit of their homes and widened the racial wealth gap. On Thursday, the Coalition for Property Tax Justice announced a class-action lawsuit against the city of Detroit, Wayne County and the state of Michigan in response to unfair property tax foreclosures. One in four Detroit properties have been subject to property tax foreclosure, a level comparable only to tax foreclosure rates during the Great Depression. According to legal experts, many of the foreclosures were caused by illegally inflated property taxes that violated the state's Constitution, which says that no property can be assessed at more than 50% of its market value. Detroit is now 80% African-American, and 40% of the city's residents live below the federal poverty line. But as downtown Detroit becomes increasingly gentrified, thousands of the city's longtime residents, mostly African-American families, have lost their homes to foreclosure for property taxes they should not have been paying in the first place because the poverty tax exemption excuses those in poverty from paying. From Detroit, Michigan, we're joined by Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who has worked on this lawsuit from before the time she entered Congress, and Bernadette Atuahene, a professor at IIT, Chicago-Kent College of Law, and research professor at the American Bar Foundation. She is a member of the Coalition for Property Tax Justice, and her forthcoming study, to be published in the UC Berkeley Law Review, is titled "Predatory Cities."

Billionaire Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is rising in the polls in the wake of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Democracy Now! co-host Juan González speaks with us about Bloomberg's approach to campaign spending, the administration's policies during his three terms as mayor of New York City and the scores of lawsuits filed against Bloomberg and his company. "It's amazing to me that Michael Bloomberg is getting as much attention as he is," González says.

Senate Passes Resolution Limiting Trump's War Powers Authority, Attorney General William Barr Criticizes Trump's Tweets, Bloomberg Criticized for Falsely Blaming 2008 Crisis on End of Redlining, Top Wall Street Executives on Biden Guest List for Manhattan Fundraiser, Ex-Ohio State Wrestler Says Rep. Jim Jordan Begged Him to Cover Up Sexual Abuse, Last Month Was Hottest January on Record, Indigenous Anti-Pipeline Blockades Cripple Canada's Rail Transportation, Intercept: Canadian Fossil Fuel Company "Bought" Oregon Sheriff Department Unit, Judge Temporarily Blocks Microsoft-Pentagon Contract After Amazon Lawsuit, McClatchy Files for Bankruptcy, 17 Arrested Amid Wildcat Strike by UC Santa Cruz Graduate Students, Trump Admin Faces Outcry over Plan to Weaken National Environmental Policy Act

After a surprising third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is attempting to gain ground in the national polls. But Klobuchar is also facing mounting scrutiny over her record as a district attorney in Minnesota. The Minneapolis NAACP, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and other racial justice groups recently called on Klobuchar to suspend her presidential campaign following a shocking investigation by the Associated Press. The AP report centered on the case of Myon Burrell, an African-American teenager who was sentenced to life in prison over the 2002 murder of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards. Klobuchar led the case against Myon Burrell when she was Hennepin County's district attorney, but the AP report says she may have mishandled the case and that Burrell could be innocent. The Associated Press report shows how prosecutors had no DNA or fingerprints tying Burrell to the murder and that they relied on jailhouse informants, some of whom have since recanted their testimonies. Burrell has always maintained his innocence. On the campaign trail, Klobuchar has cited the jailing of Burrell as one of her achievements and brought up the conviction during a debate in September. We speak with Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights attorney, activist, head of the Racial Justice Network and former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. "It's shocking at this point that Amy Klobuchar is still in the race for president of the United States, given the significance of Myon Burrell's case," she says.

A major anti-pipeline struggle continues in Canada, where protests have broken out across the country in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders whose sovereign land in northern British Columbia was raided last week and over the weekend by Canadian police. Dozens were arrested in the days-long raid of unceded indigenous territories, where hereditary chiefs have been in a protracted battle to protect their land from the construction of TransCanada's 400-mile, $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. The raids took place about 700 miles north of Vancouver and sparked outrage across the country. In Ontario, a Mohawk solidarity protest has shut down the Canadian National Railway for days, halting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for a quick resolution to the protests on Wednesday. In New York, protesters on Wednesday gathered for a sit-in outside the United Nations headquarters in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders. For more, we go to Wet'suwet'en territory, where we're joined by land defender and matriarch Molly Wickham. Her clan, the Gidimt'en Clan, was raided last week by 60 heavily militarized officers with assault rifles and dogs. And in Toronto, we're joined by Pamela Palmater, Mi'kmaq lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick. She is the chair in indigenous governance at Ryerson University.

We continue our conversation about the trial of alleged sexual predator Harvey Weinstein, ahead of the scheduled start of opening arguments today. Weinstein is facing five felony charges, based on accusations brought forth by two women in the case, and, if convicted, could face up to life in prison. Last week, one of his accusers, Jessica Mann, broke down and went into an apparent panic attack during questioning from Weinstein's lawyers, forcing the judge to adjourn proceedings for the day. Mann was made to read past emails to a boyfriend, in which she disclosed she had been sexually assaulted before meeting Weinstein. She accuses Weinstein of raping her in New York and Los Angeles and said she had an "extremely degrading" relationship with him.We speak with Louise Godbold, the executive director of Echo, which provides training to trauma survivors and those who support them. The organization is hosting a conference for trauma survivors, including Weinstein survivors, next month called "And Still We Rise," a reference to the Maya Angelou poem.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Thursday in the trial of disgraced Hollywood mogul and accused sexual predator Harvey Weinstein. The jury is expected to begin deliberating on Tuesday. Weinstein faces five felonies based on accusations by two women and, if convicted, could face up to life in prison. The trial comes more than two years after initial accusations against the film producer were published in The New Yorker and The New York Times, fueling the #MeToo movement that swept Hollywood and beyond. Since then, over 100 women have accused Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. During the trial, six women told the jury in graphic detail about how Weinstein had sexually assaulted them. Weinstein did not testify, but his lawyers described the sexual encounters as consensual and repeatedly attempted to discredit the claims of the women. While the trial centers on the accusations of two women, many other women who say they were victimized by Weinstein have attended the trial. For more, we speak with J. Clara Chan, media and politics reporter at The Wrap, where she's been covering the Weinstein trial extensively.

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2020 presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg has surprised many with his strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, two of the country's whitest states. But as the race moves on to South Carolina and Nevada, Buttigieg continues to poll extremely low with African-American voters. His own former constituents are condemning his treatment of the black community in South Bend during his time as mayor, calling out systemic racism in the police force. During Buttigieg's tenure, black residents were 4.3 times more likely to be arrested for possessing marijuana than white people. We speak with Henry Davis Jr., a South Bend city councilmember since 2008, as well as legendary feminist scholar Barbara Smith, co-founder of the Combahee River Collective.

"#BloombergIsRacist." That's the hashtag that's trending on Twitter since audio of remarks made by 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg surfaced earlier this week. In the clip from the 2015 Aspen Institute, Bloomberg is heard defending the New York City Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policies, saying, "Ninety-five percent of your murders and murderers and murdered victims fit one MO. You can just take the description, xerox it and pass it out to all the cops." He continues, "They are male minorities, 15 to 25. That's true in New York. It's true in virtually every city." Bloomberg issued a statement Tuesday saying, "I inherited the police practice of stop-and-frisk, and as part of our effort to stop gun violence it was overused. By the time I left office, I cut it back by 95%, but I should've done it faster and sooner. I regret that and I have apologized." But Bloomberg didn't just inherit stop-and-frisk. During his tenure, use of the practice increased sevenfold. At its height, there were nearly 700,000 stops in 2011 compared to around 100,000 in 2002. The vast majority of those stopped were black or Latino. Bloomberg defended stop-and-frisk as recently as 2019, only apologizing for the practice publicly in November, shortly after entering the presidential race. We speak with the journalist who unearthed the 2015 audio of Bloomberg, Benjamin Dixon, the host of "The Benjamin Dixon Show" and podcast. Dixon is the co-founder of the TheNorthStar.com, the revitalized abolitionist newspaper of Frederick Douglass.