Democracy Now!

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders has targeted Amazon for its role in widening the wage gap in the United States, and this week he is expected to unveil legislation requiring large employers like Amazon to cover the cost of federal assistance received by their employees. We speak with journalist James Bloodworth, who spent a month working undercover as a "picker" in an Amazon order fulfillment center and found workers were urinating in bottles because they were discouraged from taking bathroom breaks. His new book is "Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain."

Amazon made headlines Tuesday when it became the second American company, after Apple, to reach $1 trillion in value. Amazon's founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, is the richest man in the world, with a net worth of more than $167 billion. But what's behind that wealth? What about its workers? The working conditions in Amazon's warehouses have been the focus of protests, union drives and several investigations—including by student reporters. As students throughout the country head back to class, we feature an investigative report by students at the Rutgers University Department of Journalism and Media Studies.

Even as records about Judge Brett Kavanaugh's time in the White House remain concealed, much can be learned from his judicial record. We speak with Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, about their analysis of Judge Kavanaugh's opinions in split-decision cases, which found that during his 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Kavanaugh decided or wrote an opinion against the public interest 87 percent of the time in split-decision cases dealing with consumer, environmental and worker rights.

When Fred Guttenberg approached Judge Brett Kavanaugh during Tuesday's Supreme Court confirmation hearings to talk about his daughter Jaime, who was shot and killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre on Valentine's Day, he hoped to shake the nominee's hand and start a conversation. Instead, Kavanaugh turned his back and walked away. We speak with Fred Guttenberg about Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing and his record on the Second Amendment.

Protests, arrests and repeated calls from Democratic senators to adjourn the proceedings. That's how confirmation hearings began Tuesday for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's pick to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy's seat on the Supreme Court. We begin our look at the hearings with Heidi Sieck, co-founder of the national organization VoteProChoice, who was the first member of the public to enter the Kavanaugh hearings on Tuesday and was removed after she protested, along with dozens of others who interrupted the proceedings.

Dozens Arrested Disrupting First Day of Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings, U.S. to End All Funding for U.N. Agency Providing Humanitarian Aid to Palestinians, Nearly 500 Migrant Children Remain Separated from Their Parents, "Fear": Bob Woodward's New Book Depicts Trump White House as "Crazytown", Amazon Becomes Second-Ever U.S. Company to Reach $1 Trillion in Market Value, California Lawmakers Pass Net Neutrality Bill, in Rebuke to Trump's FCC, Mexican Television Reporter Javier Enrique Rodríguez Valladares Killed in Cancún, Worst Typhoon to Hit Japan in 25 Years Kills at Least 10, Iraq: At Least 5 Killed by Security Forces Amid Ongoing Protests in Basra, From Florida to Washington, Prisoners Continue Nationwide Strike, Ayanna Pressley Defeats Michael Capuano in Massachusetts Primary

Canada's Federal Court of Appeals has rejected the government's approval to triple the capacity of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline in a major victory for indigenous groups and environmentalists. On Thursday, Justice Eleanor Dawson nullified licensing for the $7.4 billion project and brought construction to a halt until the National Energy Board and the federal government complete court-ordered fixes. Her ruling cited inadequate consultations with indigenous peoples affected by the project, and found the National Energy Board's assessment of the expansion was so flawed that the federal Cabinet should not have relied on it during the approval process. Just minutes after the court's decision, Kinder Morgan's shareholders agreed to sell the existing pipeline and the expansion project to the federal government for $4.5 billion. Prime Minister Trudeau had announced in May that Canada would purchase the pipeline. This means the government now owns the project as its expansion faces years of further review. We speak with Winona LaDuke, Native American activist and executive director of the group Honor the Earth, and Eriel Deranger, founder and executive director of the group Indigenous Climate Action.

Confirmation hearings begin for Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill Justice Anthony Kennedy's seat on the Supreme Court. If he is confirmed, it would likely make the court the most conservative since the 1930s. Kavanaugh is 53 years old and could serve on the Supreme Court for decades to come. Critics warn his confirmation could lead to major rollbacks of civil rights, environmental regulations, gun control measures, voting rights and reproductive rights, including possibly overturning Roe v. Wade. We speak with Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Last week the committee released a damning report on Kavanaugh's record on cases and issued a statement opposing Kavanaugh's nomination. She will attend the Senate confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh this week.

Confirmation Hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh Begin Today, Trump Attacks Sessions for Filing Charges Against 2 Republican Congressmen, Father of Mollie Tibbetts: Don't Use Her Death to Promote Xenophobia and Racism, Trump Warns Syrian Government Not to Attack Idlib, Reuters Journalists Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison After Investigating Burmese Military Massacre, Saudi-Led Coalition Says Bombing of School Bus, Killing 40 Children, Was "Unjustified", Germany: 50,000 Attend Anti-Racism Concert in Chemnitz, Brazil: Fire at National Museum Destroys Millions of Pieces of Art and History, Canadian Court Rejects Effort to Triple Capacity of Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, "Protect the Protest": Activist Groups Launch Campaign to Fight SLAPP Suits, Gordon Slated to Hit Gulf Coast as Hurricane Today, Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Andrew Gillum Targeted by Racist Robocall, Colin Kaepernick Is New Face of Nike's "Just Do It" Campaign, Steve Bannon Disinvited from Headlining New Yorker Festival After Protests, Award-Winning Alternative Weekly The Village Voice Shuts Down After 63 Years, Funerals Held for Aretha Franklin and John McCain, Legendary Pianist and Composer Randy Weston Dies at 92

In a Labor Day special, we air an extended conversation with Boots Riley, writer and director of "Sorry to Bother You," his new film about an evil telemarketing company, a corporation making millions off of slave labor, and one Oakland man at the center of it all who discovers a secret that threatens all of humankind. His dystopian social satire is being hailed as one of the best movies of the summer. Riley is a poet, rapper, songwriter, producer, screenwriter, humorist, political organizer, community activist, lecturer and public speaker—best known as the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club.

In this exclusive broadcast, Democracy Now! breaks the media blockade and goes to occupied Western Sahara in the northwest of Africa to document the decades-long Sahrawi struggle for freedom and Morocco's violent crackdown. Morocco has occupied the territory since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. Thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the Moroccan occupation. A 1,700-mile wall divides Sahrawis who remain under occupation from those who fled into exile. The international media has largely ignored the occupation—in part because Morocco has routinely blocked journalists from entering Western Sahara. But in late 2016 Democracy Now! managed to get into the Western Saharan city of Laayoune, becoming the first international news team to report from the occupied territory in years.

Prisoners across the country join work stoppages, hunger strikes and commissary boycotts in at least 11 states to protest prison conditions and demand the end of what they call "prison slavery." Organizers report prisoners in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Indiana are demonstrating. Individuals in Texas, California and Ohio have gone on hunger strike, including some in solitary confinement. Meanwhile, at least six people have been hunger-striking inside the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, for more than a week. We speak with Amani Sawari, prison strike organizer working on behalf of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, a network of prisoners who are helping organize the nationwide strike.

Prisoners are dying at the highest rates the state of Mississippi has ever seen. Thirteen prisoners have died behind bars in the month of August alone. That's compared to 47 prisoner deaths in Mississippi in the entire year of 2015. Prison officials insist the deaths are by natural causes. But advocates and family members are demanding answers for the shocking spike in prisoner deaths, including the killing of 24 year-old Nija Syvallus Bonhomme at the privately run Wilkinson County Correctional Center in southwestern Mississippi. Bonhomme died in his cell after what officials say was a fight with another prisoner. But his family says that the prison failed to protect him from violent conditions that led to his death, allowing him to return to his cell after a violent altercation with his cellmate. His sister told Democracy Now!, "They threw him back to the dogs." We speak with Jody Owens, director and managing attorney of the Mississippi office of the Southern Poverty Law Center, part of a recent lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections alleging grave abuses of prisoner rights at a private prison.

After progressive candidate Andrew Gillum pulled off a stunning upset in Florida's Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, putting him on a path to become the state's first African-American governor, he was attacked within hours by his Republican opponent—handpicked by Trump—who warned voters not to "monkey this up" by supporting Gillum. Even Fox said they they don't condone his comments. We speak with two activists who've worked with Gillum: Phillip Agnew with Dream Defenders in Florida and Charlene Carruthers, head of Black Youth Project 100 and author of the new book "Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements."

"We Did a Fantastic Job": Trump Praises His Handling of Puerto Rico Despite 3,000 Deaths, Report: Trump Administration Jailing Passport Applicants with U.S. Birth Certificates, Betsy DeVos Prepares to Rewrite Campus Sexual Misconduct Policies, Baylor University Accused of Infiltrating Sexual Assault Support Groups, Texas Police Officer Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Fatally Shooting Black Teenager, California Lawmakers Push for State to Go Carbon-Free by 2045, Trump on Twitter Announced Donald McGahn Leaving White House Counsel Post, Florida GOP Candidate for Governor Said Black Opponent Andrew Gillum Will "Monkey This Up", Andrew Cuomo & Cynthia Nixon Spar in Only New York Gubernatorial Debate, U.N. Accuses Nicaragua of Widespread Repression; Ortega Faults U.N. for Ignoring Violent "Coup Mongers", Brazil Sends Troops to Venezuelan Border as Refugee Crisis Grows, Detroit School System Shuts Off Drinking Water Due to High Lead Levels

We look at the shocking case of a Texas woman sentenced to five years in prison for illegally voting, who could now have even more time added to her sentence. Crystal Mason cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election despite having a past felony conviction for tax fraud that prevented her from voting. In March, she was convicted of illegal voting; she says she did not know that she was barred from casting a ballot in Texas due to her criminal record. Her supporters argue her conviction was racially biased, and point to the case of Terri Lynn Rote, a white woman in Iowa who was convicted of the same crime after she tried to vote for President Trump—twice. Rote was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $750. Crystal Mason joins us along with her attorney, Kim Cole. Mason has a federal court hearing in Fort Worth, Texas, tomorrow, and if she loses the hearing, she will be heading to prison. We also speak with Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, about how policies restricting the voting rights of convicted felons disenfranchise more than 6 million people.

Puerto Rico officially raised the death toll from Hurricane Maria last year from 64 to nearly 3,000 following the release of a study ordered by the governor of the island. This officially makes Maria one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. We get response from Democracy Now! co-host Juan González and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Pressure is growing for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reject plans to grant federal funds to states to purchase firearms for teachers and school employees. The proposal comes after requests from Oklahoma, Texas and other states to train and arm school marshals. DeVos's plan would use federal Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants to pay for firearms and to train educators in their use, and would reverse long-standing federal policy prohibiting federal funds for arming educators. We speak with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Adam Skaggs, chief Counsel at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

As the school year begins this week across the United States, the top student loan watchdog has resigned in protest, accusing the Trump administration of siding with powerful predatory lenders over student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman worked as student loan ombudsman under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director, Mick Mulvaney. He wrote that under Mulvaney's leadership, "the Bureau has abandoned the very consumers it is tasked by Congress with protecting." This comes as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has proposed new rules that would cut an estimated $13 billion in federal student loan relief for people defrauded by for-profit colleges. We speak with Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of higher education policy and sociology at Temple University and author of "Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream."

Puerto Rico Increases Hurricane Death Toll to 2,975, Andrew Gillum, a Black Progressive Backed by Bernie Sanders, Wins Florida Gubernatorial Primary, Trump-Backed Martha McSally Wins Arizona GOP Senate Primary, Trump Warns of "Violence" If Democrats Win Control of Congress, Texas Police Officer Convicted for Killing 15-Year-Old African-American Student, Teachers in Washington State Begin Strike, U.N. Secretary-General: Report on Genocide Targeting Rohingya Needs Serious Consideration, India Carries Out Raids Arresting Critics of Modi Government, France's Environment Minister Resigns On-Air over Climate Change, Department of Homeland Security Analyst Linked to White Supremacists, 160 Workers Arrested in ICE Raid in Texas, Nine-Year-Old Dies by Suicide in Denver Shortly After Coming Out as Gay

We revisit the 1968 DNC protests in Chicago, where Yippies Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin nominated a pig named "Pigasus the Immortal" to compete with candidates Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. They hoped to In-Hog-Ur-Ate Pigasus instead. His platform was to be a pile of garbage—"just like the platform of all the other parties." They demanded Pigasus be taken to the White House for a foreign policy briefing and given a Secret Service detail. Pigasus was later arrested along with many others, who were charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and bringing a pig to Chicago. Defense attorney William Kunstler later accused the Democratic Party of the same charges. We continue our conversation with Black Panther Bobby Seale, arrested for inciting a riot and gagged during the Chicago 8 trial stemming from his speech at the protest, and SDS activists and organizers Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers.

As we revisit the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that became a national spectacle 50 years ago when police attacked demonstrators, we are joined by Bobby Seale, who was chair of the Black Panther Party when he spoke at the demonstrations and was later arrested and became part of the Chicago 8. Seale describes how at his conspiracy trial the judge ordered that he be gagged and bound to his chair. He was sentenced to 48 months in prison for 16 acts of contempt of court, but all of the charges were later dismissed.

It was 50 years ago this week that the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago became a national spectacle, as a major political event turned into chaos that culminated with a police riot, much of it unfolding on live national television. Chicago met the protesters with 24,000 police officers, National Guardsmen and Army soldiers using tear gas and clubs. We feature Newsreel clips from the week and go to Chicago to speak with former SDS and Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, who was arrested 50 years ago.

U.N. Accuses U.S.-Backed, Saudi-led Coalition of Possible War Crimes in Yemen, North Korea Warns Denuclearization Talks in Jeopardy, Federal Court Strikes Down North Carolina's Gerrymandered Voting Map, U.S. Student Loan Watchdog Accuses Trump Administration of Siding with Predatory Lenders, Facebook Bans Burmese Army Commander-in-Chief After U.N. Genocide Report, U.S. and Mexico Reach Agreement to Revise Portions of NAFTA, Trump Breaks Near-Silence on Death of Sen. John McCain, Study Links Air Pollution to Reduction in Intelligence, Bloomberg Reassigns Journalist Who Exposed Wells Fargo's Ties to Gun Industry, Former Egyptian Presidential Candidate Condemns Crackdown on Opposition Figures, Malian Singer Khaira Arby, the "Nightingale of Timbuktu," Dies at 58

Pope Francis marked the first papal visit to Ireland in 39 years by acknowledging the failure by church authorities to address child abuse crimes by the clergy. But Sunday, Pope Francis faced a new bombshell accusation from a former top-ranking Vatican official who called on him to resign, releasing a 7,000-word letter claiming the pope knew about allegations of sex abuse by high-ranking Cardinal Theodore McCarrick years before they became public, and failed to punish him. McCarrick faces allegations that he coerced men training to become priests into sexual relationships and abused a teenage altar boy. Pope Francis has refused to comment on the accusations. In Dublin, we speak with Peter Isely, a survivor of childhood sexual assault by a Wisconsin priest, and a founding member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. We also speak with Thomas Doyle, a former priest and longtime supporter of justice and compassion for clergy sex abuse victims. They're both part of the organization Ending Clergy Abuse.

After a major debate, Democrats have voted on a key progressive demand after the 2016 campaign: to vastly reduce the power of superdelegates in choosing the party's presidential nominee. Saturday's vote by the Democratic National Committee comes after the 2016 race for Democratic nominee between Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and pitted many DNC members who supported the change against two former party chairs and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. We get an update from Norman Solomon, national coordinator of RootsAction. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where he coordinated the independent Bernie Delegates Network.

We host a roundtable discussion on the life and legacy of John McCain, the Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war, six-term senator and two-time presidential candidate, who died Saturday at the age of 81 of brain cancer. We speak with Mehdi Hasan, columnist for The Intercept and host of their "Deconstructed" podcast. He's also host of "UpFront" at Al Jazeera English. He's been tweeting in response to McCain's death and wrote a piece last year headlined "Despite What the Press Says, 'Maverick' McCain Has a Long and Distinguished Record of Horribleness." We are also joined by Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink, which McCain once referred to as "low-life scum," and by Norman Solomon, national coordinator of RootsAction, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and author of "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."

John McCain Dies at 81, Democratic Party Officials Vote to Reduce Power of Superdelegates, Pope Francis Meets with Church Sexual Abuse Survivors in Ireland, Trump Administration Cuts $200 Million in Aid to Palestinians, U.N. Calls on Burma's Top Generals to Be Investigated for Genocide Against Rohingya, Reports: Head of ISIS in Afghanistan Killed in Airstrike, Corruption Scandal Engulfs Argentina, 3 Killed, Including Gunman, in Shooting at Video Game Tournament in Florida, Detainee Speaks Out from Hunger Strike in Northwest Detention Center, 7 Arrested at Protests at UNC over "Silent Sam" Confederate Monument

A Bangladeshi woman facing deportation has been granted a last-minute stay following public outcry against her removal. Salma Sikandar's deportation was halted less than 24 hours before she was supposed to board a one-way flight to Bangladesh, leaving behind her husband and 17-year-old son, who is a U.S. citizen. Sikandar has lived in the United States for nearly 20 years. But in June she was told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that she had to leave the country by August. That's when her community stepped in, staging protests in New Haven and a hunger strike outside the ICE office in Hartford, demanding Sikandar be allowed to stay in the United States. We speak with Salma Sikandar and her son Samir Mahmud, who will start his freshman year at Quinnipiac University next week. It has been Sikandar's lifelong dream to send her son to college.

In the wake of President Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen's plea deal and former campaign manager Paul Manafort's guilty verdict, many are advocating for Trump's impeachment. We speak with The Intercept's James Risen, who says lawmakers should indict Trump and prosecute him in a federal court.

NSA whistleblower Reality Winner was handed the longest sentence ever imposed in federal court for leaking government information to the media Thursday. She is the first person to be sentenced under the Espionage Act since President Trump took office. Winner was arrested by FBI agents at her home in Augusta, Georgia, on June 3, 2017, two days before The Intercept published an exposé revealing Russian military intelligence conducted a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software company just days before the U.S. presidential election. The exposé was based on a classified NSA report from May 5, 2017, that shows that the agency is convinced the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, was responsible for interfering in the 2016 presidential election. For more, we speak with Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadowproof Press, and James Risen, The Intercept's senior national security correspondent and former New York Times reporter.

NSA whistleblower Reality Winner has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison—the longest sentence ever imposed in federal court for leaking government information to the media. Twenty-six-year-old Reality Winner is the first person to be sentenced under the Espionage Act since President Trump took office. Her sentencing Thursday came after she pleaded guilty in June to transmitting a top-secret document to a news organization. She had faced up to 10 years in prison. We speak with her mother, Billie Winner-Davis.

Yemen: 31 Reportedly Killed in U.S.-Backed Airstrikes, Including 22 Children, National Enquirer Executives Had Safe Containing Dirt on Trump, New York City Prosecutor Opens Criminal Probe into Trump Organization, GOP Senators Give Trump Green Light to Fire AG Jeff Sessions, Rep. Duncan Hunter and His Wife Plead Not Guilty to Looting Campaign Funds, Prison Strike Against "Modern-Day Slavery" Spreads Nationwide, NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Sentenced to 63 Months in Prison, Hawaii: Flooding and Landslides Reported as Hurricane Lane Strikes, South Africa Rejects Trump Claim of "Large Scale Killing" of Farmers, Australia: Climate Change Naysayer Scott Morrison Becomes Prime Minister, Gulf Refineries Seek Taxpayer Dollars to Defend Against Rising Seas, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Mulls Federal Funds to Arm Teachers, Pope Francis Heads to Ireland Amid Clerical Sexual Abuse Scandals

Multiple people close to Donald Trump have direct ties to white supremacists. Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, has admitted he recently hosted white nationalist publisher, Peter Brimelow, at a birthday celebration at his home. Brimelow founded the anti-immigrant website VDARE.com. Meanwhile, Trump's speechwriter Darren Beattie was fired last Friday as revelations surfaced that he had spoken at a conference alongside prominent white nationalists, including Brimelow, in 2016. Beattie was a panelist at the H.L. Mencken Club conference, an event the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a gathering of "white nationalists and pseudo-academic and academic racists." We speak with Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Just two days after protesters tore down the "Silent Sam" Confederate statue at the state's flagship school, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the state's Historical Commission voted 9 to 2 to keep Confederate monuments on the grounds of the state Capitol. We speak with the African-American woman who dissented in the vote to keep the three Confederate monuments in place at the state Capitol. She also voted against adding historical context to the monuments. Valerie Johnson is one of only two black members of the North Carolina Historical Commission and the only black woman. She is a professor of women's studies and the director of Africana Women's Studies at Greensboro's Bennett College. She is also the chair of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission.

As fallout from President Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen's plea deal and former campaign manager Paul Manafort's guilty verdict continues to grow, could President Trump be next? We speak about the possibility of impeachment with Democratic Congressmember Al Green, who introduced articles of impeachment against Trump last year, and Ron Fein, legal director at Free Speech for People. He is the co-author of the book "The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump."

Trump Claims Hush Money Payments Didn't Break Campaign Finance Laws, Democrats Want to Delay Brett Kavanaugh SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings, New York State to Subpoena Michael Cohen in Trump Foundation Probe, Hungary's Government Accused of Starving Asylum Seekers, Asylum Seekers Denied Entry to Italy, Beaten in Croatia, Predominantly Black Georgia County to Close 7 of 9 Polling Stations, KKK Leader Sentenced for Firing Pistol at Charlottesville Rally, North Carolina to Retain Confederate Statues on State Capitol Grounds, Firefighters Join Net Neutrality Suit After Verizon Throttles Data During Historic Blaze, Hawaii Under State of Emergency as Category 4 Hurricane Approaches, Honduras: Prosecutors "Withholding Evidence" in Berta Cáceres Trial

We end today's show in North Carolina, where hundreds of student protesters in Chapel Hill toppled the "Silent Sam" Confederate statue at the University of North Carolina Monday night, on the eve of the first day of classes. The statue was erected in 1913 to honor Confederate soldiers, and has been the target of repeated protests. For more, we speak with Maya Little, UNC doctoral student facing charges of property destruction and possible expulsion for pouring red ink and her own blood on the statue during an earlier protest in April.

President Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night in West Virginia to announce a massive rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations on coal-fired power plants and carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. Trump's "Affordable Clean Energy" proposal would allow individual states to decide whether to curb emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency's own data shows the plan could cause up to 1,400 more premature deaths a year by 2030. The Washington Post reports the deregulation would also lead to the release of at least 12 times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the next decade. The current head of the EPA, Andrew Wheeler, is a former coal industry lobbyist. We speak with Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.

Talk of the possible impeachment of President Trump is growing in Washington after Tuesday's stunning legal developments. In New York, Trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges, including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Two hundred miles away, in Virginia, Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight charges related to tax fraud and bank fraud. The Cohen case is likely to put the president in the most legal jeopardy. Cohen, who worked for Trump from 2006 until this year, admitted in court that he arranged to illegally pay out money to two women—an adult film star and a Playboy model—to keep them from speaking during the 2016 campaign about their affairs with Donald Trump. Cohen said the payments were made "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office" and that they were made "for the principal purpose of influencing the election." Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis wrote on Twitter, "If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?" We speak with Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties. She runs the website EmptyWheel.net.

Cohen Pleads Guilty & Implicates President; Manafort Convicted of 8 Counts of Fraud, Coal Regulation Rollback Could Lead to 1,400 Premature Deaths Each Year, Trump Slams ESPN in Latest Attack on NFL Racial Justice Protests, Syrian Army Expected to Soon Launch Idlib Offensive, Uganda: Protests Mount Following Arrest of Opposition Leaders, In First, Saudi Arabia Seeks Death Penalty Against Woman Activist, CA Rep. Duncan Hunter Indicted for Campaign Finance Violations, Top Trump Adviser Larry Kudlow Hosts White Nationalist at Birthday Bash, For First Time in History, Strongest Arctic Ice Begins to Break Up, Water Protectors Arrested in Louisiana Resisting Bayou Bridge Pipeline, ND Drops Serious Charges Against Chase Iron Eyes over DAPL Resistance, Hundreds of Detained Immigrants Join National Prison Strike in Tacoma, WA

Prisoners in at least 17 states are expected to strike today in a mass mobilization demanding improved living conditions, sentencing reform, the right to vote and the end of "prison slave labor." The weeks-long strike begins on the 47th anniversary of the killing of Black Panther George Jackson, who was shot and killed by guards during an escape attempt from San Quentin prison. It will end on September 9, the 47th anniversary of the deadly Attica prison uprising. For more, we speak with Heather Ann Thompson, American historian, author and activist. She is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy." She is a professor of history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. We also speak with prison strike organizer Amani Sawari.

Prisoners across the country are set to launch a nationwide strike today to demand improved living conditions, greater access to resources and the "end of modern day slavery." Prisoners in at least 17 states are expected to participate in the coordinated sit-ins, hunger strikes, work stoppages and commissary boycotts from today until September 9—the 47th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising. For more, we speak with Amani Sawari, a prison strike organizer working on behalf of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, a network of prisoners who are helping organize the nationwide strike. We also speak with Cole Dorsey, a formerly incarcerated member of the IWW's Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee who is helping coordinate with prisoners on the prison strike.

For the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the pope has addressed a letter to the entire population of 1.2 billion Catholics on the topic of sex abuse by clergy. In the scathing 2,000-word letter, Pope Francis wrote, "We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them." Last week in Pennsylvania, a grand jury report revealed how more than 300 Catholic priests sexually abused 1,000 children, and possibly thousands more, over seven decades and that the church leadership covered up the abuse. More than 1,000 Catholic theologians, educators and parishioners have called on all Catholic bishops to resign. We speak with Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, an advocacy group for Catholic social justice which organizes the Nuns on the Bus campaign. She's the author of "A Nun on the Bus: How All of Us Can Create Hope, Change, and Community."

In Historic Letter, Pope Condemns Catholic Church Sex Abuse and Cover-Up, Trump to Announce Massive Rollback of Obama-Era Coal Regulations, In Racist Comment, Trump Says Hispanic Border Agent "Speaks Perfect English", Taliban Fires Rockets at Afghan Presidential Palace, India: Death Toll Rises to 400 in Kerala's Historic Flooding, French Oil Company Total Withdraws from Iran in Wake of U.S. Sanctions, Microsoft: Russian Hackers Targeting Conservative Think Tanks, Michigan Health Director Faces Involuntary Manslaughter Trial over Flint Water Crisis, NYT: #MeToo Leader Asia Argento Paid Off Her Sexual Assault Accuser, Musicians & Entertainers Slam President Trump During VMA Awards, NYT: Michael Cohen Being Investigated for Business Loans & Campaign Finance Violations, UNC Students Topple "Silent Sam" Confederate Statue, Colorado Immigrant Rights Leader Sandra Lopez Leaving Sanctuary Today, Prisoners Launch Nationwide Strike Demanding "End of Modern Day Slavery"

Longtime pacifist and socialist David McReynolds died Friday at the age of 88. Known to historian Howard Zinn and many others as a "hero of the antiwar movement," McReynolds was a staff member with the War Resisters League from 1960 to 1999. There, he focused on counter-recruitment and helped organize one of the first draft card burnings. He went on to play a key role in some of major demonstrations against the Vietnam War and campaign for nuclear disarmament. McReynolds ran for president in 1980 and 2000 as an openly gay man. For more, we speak with two of his close friends. Ed Hedemann worked with McReynolds for decades at the War Resisters League. Jeremy Scahill is an investigative journalist and co-founder of The Intercept.

In Texas, armed guards forcibly removed 16 fathers from the Karnes County detention center, where they were being held with their sons after the families were separated at the border and then reunited. Authorities appear to have reseparated the parents and sons as retaliation for organizing a nonviolent protest. Many of the imprisoned fathers said they had been tricked into signing deportation agreements in English that ICE told them were reunification papers. 
The families have now been reunited, and some have been released. For more, we speak with Casey Miller and Manoj Govindaiah
 with RAICES, a Texas-based legal aid group for immigrants.

In San Bernardino, California, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a man driving his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth last Wednesday, sparking widespread outrage. The ICE agents detained Joel Arrona-Lara when he stopped at a gas station, forcing his wife, Maria del Carmen Venegas, to drive herself to the hospital for her scheduled C-section. The couple has lived in the United States for more than 10 years and has five children, including their newborn baby. For more, we speak with Joel Arrona-Lara's lawyer Russell Jauregui, staff attorney at the San Bernardino Community Service Center.

CNN: Bomb That Killed 40 Yemeni School Children Was Made by U.S., California: ICE Arrests Man Driving His Wife to the Hospital to Give Birth, ICE Agents Forcibly Reseparate Fathers from Sons at Karnes Detention Center, Ex-CIA Director John Brennan May Sue Trump over Stripped Security Clearances, NYT: White House Counsel Donald McGahn Cooperating with Mueller Probe, Israeli Troops Kill 2 Palestinians and Injure Hundreds More During Friday's Protests, Longtime Israeli Peace Activist Uri Avnery Dies at 94, Afghan President Offers Conditional Ceasefire with Taliban, U.N.: Brazil Can't Bar Lula from Running in October Presidential Elections, Nigeria: Cholera Outbreak Kills 186 People, Trump Speechwriter Fired After Revelations of His Links to White Nationalists, Former U.N. Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kofi Annan Dies , David McReynolds, "Hero of the Antiwar Movement," Dies at 88

Aretha Franklin became the voice of the civil rights movement in 1967, when her cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" became an international sensation. Franklin was a steadfast supporter of the civil rights movement throughout her long and remarkable career. She sang at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral after his assassination in 1968. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Franklin anonymously helped fund the movement for decades. He said, "When Dr. King was alive, several times she helped us make payroll. ... Aretha has always been a very socially conscious artist, an inspiration, not just an entertainer." For more, we speak with Angela Davis, author, professor and activist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We also speak with Farah Jasmine Griffin, professor of English and comparative literature and African-American studies at Columbia University, and Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke professor of African & African American studies at Duke University.