Democracy Now!

In 1970, Aretha Franklin offered to post bail for Angela Davis, who was jailed on trumped-up charges. Aretha Franklin told Jet magazine in 1970, "My daddy says I don't know what I'm doing. Well, I respect him, of course, but I'm going to stick by my beliefs. Angela Davis must go free. Black people will be free. I've been locked up (for disturbing the peace in Detroit) and I know you got to disturb the peace when you can't get no peace. Jail is hell to be in. I'm going to see her free if there is any justice in our courts, not because I believe in communism, but because she's a Black woman and she wants freedom for Black people. I have the money; I got it from Black people—they've made me financially able to have it—and I want to use it in ways that will help our people." We speak with activist and scholar Angela Davis about what Aretha Franklin meant to her.

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, died Thursday at her home in Detroit at the age of 76. For decades, Aretha Franklin has been celebrated as one of the greatest American singers of any genre, who helped give birth to soul and redefined the American musical tradition. In 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She held the record for the most songs on the Billboard Top 100 for 40 years. Rolling Stone ranked her the greatest singer of all time on its top 100 list, calling her "a gift from God." Her hit single "Respect" became part of the soundtrack to the civil rights movement, which she also supported behind the scenes. We speak with professors Mark Anthony Neal of Duke University and Farah Jasmine Griffin of Columbia University.

Pope Expresses "Shame and Sorrow" over Pennsylvania Sex Abuse Case, New Special Representative on Iran to Enforce Hardline U.S. Policies, Boston Globe Reports Bomb Threat as President Trump Assails the Paper, Former National Security Officials Blast Trump over Security Clearance Revocations, Pentagon Delays Plans for Trump's Military Parade, In New Tape, Lara Trump Offers Omarosa Manigault Newman "Hush Money", Aretha Franklin, the Legendary Queen of Soul, Dies at 76, India: Floods from Monsoon Rains Leave At Least 164 Dead, Philippines: Wave of Garbage Floods Manila After Heavy Rains, China: Typhoon Rumbia Makes Landfall in Shanghai, Court Orders New Environmental Review for Keystone XL Pipeline, Court Reverses Trump Admin Rollback of Clean Water Rule, 1,400 Google Workers Protest Plans for Censored Chinese Search Engine, Argentina: After Senate Rejects Pro-Choice Law, Woman Dies from Banned Abortion, Louisiana: Shreveport Mayoral Candidate Threatened with Lynching, Children of Deported Parents Plan Protest at U.S.-Mexico Border

Detroit Democratic congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib is poised to become the first Palestinian-American woman and first Muslim woman to serve in Congress, after winning the Democratic primary for John Conyers's old House seat in Michigan last week. Tlaib is a Democratic Socialist who supports the Palestinian right of return and a one-state solution, Medicare for all, a $15 minimum wage and abolishing ICE. The child of immigrants, she has spoken out against the Trump administration's travel bans. We speak with Rashida Tlaib about her historic victory and her plans for Congress.

A shocking new Pennsylvania grand jury report has revealed that more than 300 Catholic priests sexually abused 1,000 children, and possibly thousands more, over a span of seven decades. The church leadership covered up the abuse, lying to communities, transferring predator priests rather than firing them, and locking abuse complaints away in what the church called a "secret archive." For more, we speak with Shaun Dougherty, a survivor of sexual abuse by a Pennsylvania priest. His story was included in Tuesday's grand jury report. He was molested by a priest from the Altoona-Johnstown diocese in Pennsylvania for three years, starting when he was 10 years old. George Koharchick, the priest responsible, has been defrocked. Even though the FBI determined he was a child predator, Koharchick cannot be tried as such because of an expired statute of limitations. We also speak with Bob Hoatson, a former Catholic priest and the co-founder and president of Road to Recovery, which assists victims of sexual abuse.

In Pennsylvania, a grand jury report has revealed that more than 300 Catholic priests sexually abused 1,000 children, and possibly thousands more, over seven decades, and that church leadership covered up the abuse. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro described harrowing accounts of priests raping young girls and boys, including one priest who raped a young girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils out. Another priest impregnated a young girl and then arranged for her to have an abortion. The report reveals that the church orchestrated a massive, systematic cover-up to conceal the abuse, including lying to the community about why a priest was removed from a parish, transferring predator priests rather than firing them, and locking abuse complaints away in what the church called a "secret archive."

Violence Roils Afghanistan as Taliban Cracks Down on Red Cross, Trump Revokes Security Clearance of Ex-CIA Director, a Major Critic, Security Clearance Flap Comes Amid Mounting White House Scandals, Trump's Lawyer Prepared to "Unload" on Mueller "Like a Ton of Bricks", Hundreds of Media Outlets Condemn Trump's Attacks on the Free Press, Turkish Court Releases Jailed Amnesty International Chair, Brazil: Lula Registers from Prison as Presidential Candidate, Malta Allows Migrant Ship to Dock After 5 Days Stranded at Sea, ACLU Says ICE "Trapped" Immigrant Spouses at Green Card Interviews, CDC Says Record 72,000 Americans Died of Drug Overdoses Last Year, GOP to Withhold Documents on Kavanaugh from Public and Most Lawmakers, Puerto Rican Officials Say Electricity Fully Restored After 11 Months, Puerto Rican Teachers Hold 1-Day Strike to Oppose Education Cuts

As the Trump administration continues an immigration crackdown at the border, asylum seekers are being told to wait for days or weeks on end before being allowed entry into the United States. This practice is leading more and more immigrants to risk their lives on dangerous journeys through the desert to enter the country instead, says investigative reporter John Carlos Frey. We speak with the Marshall Project reporter about the Barry Goldwater bombing range in Arizona, a vast swath of land across the border from Nogales, Mexico. The area is part of an incredibly dangerous migrant path, but aid workers are not allowed access to the site. Frey estimates hundreds of immigrants could have died there in recent years but that their bodies have not been recovered.

Nearly three weeks after the court-imposed deadline for reuniting families forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Trump administration has admitted that 559 children remain in government custody. More than 360 of these children are separated from parents who have been deported by the U.S. government. Most of the families separated at the border were seeking asylum from violence in their home countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Instead, the parents were charged in federal court with a crime for illegally crossing the border, then held in jail and detention. The children, some still breastfeeding, were sent to shelters around the country. Judge Dana Sabraw, who ruled the Trump administration must reunite all separated families, said, "For every parent who is not located, there will be a permanent orphaned child, and that is 100 percent the responsibility of the administration." For more, we speak with John Carlos Frey, award-winning investigative reporter with The Marshall Project and special correspondent with "PBS NewsHour." He is recently back from reporting trips in Guatemala and Nogales, Mexico, where he spoke with asylum seekers waiting for days and even weeks to enter the United States.

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, return to class today, amid heavy security, after summer break. It was six months ago Tuesday when a former student, armed with a semiautomatic AR-15, gunned down 17 students, staff and teachers in just three minutes. It was one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. After the horrific attack, many of the students who survived the shooting became leading activists for gun control. 
Among the students killed at Stoneman Douglas High School was Joaquin Oliver. On Tuesday, Democracy Now! spoke to Joaquin's parents, Manuel and Patricia Oliver, who have started a new nonprofit called Change the Ref to promote the use of urban art and nonviolent creative confrontation to expose the disastrous effects of gun violence.

Pennsylvania Priests Abused 1,000 Children and Covered Up the Abuse, Christine Hallquist Becomes First Transgender Major-Party Gubernatorial Nominee, In Minnesota, Ilhan Omar Is Poised to Be First Somali American Elected to Congress, Keith Ellison Wins Democratic Primary for Minnesota Attorney General, Jahana Hayes Poised to Be Connecticut's First Black Woman in Congress, Kansas: Jeff Colyer Concedes to Kris Kobach in Republican Primary for Governor, In Sexist & Racist Attack, Trump Calls Omarosa "Crazed" and a "Dog", Italy: 39 Killed in Bridge Collapse in Genoa, Yemen: 13 Reportedly Killed by Airstrikes in Hodeidah Province, Gaza: Israeli Blockade Forces Doctors to Halt Chemotherapy for Cancer Patients, Thousands Rally in Tunisia to Demand Equal Inheritance Rights for Women, Nebraska Executes Death Row Prisoner Using Fentanyl for First Time in U.S. History

The U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has repeatedly cut secret deals with al-Qaeda, even paying its fighters to retreat from towns or join the coalition, a bombshell Associated Press investigation has revealed. The AP probe accuses the United States of being aligned with al-Qaeda in the fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, despite claiming to be fighting the extremist group in the region. One senior tribal leader told the AP, "Al-Qaeda wasn’t defeated. It didn’t fight in the first place." We speak with Maggie Michael, one of the three reporters for the Associated Press who broke the story, headlined "U.S. Allies Spin Deals with al-Qaida in War on Rebels."

Thousands of mourners gathered in Yemen's northern city of Saada Monday for the funerals of 51 people, including 40 children, who were killed in a U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a school bus last week. The massacre of school boys between the ages of 6 and 11 was one of the worst attacks on children in the history of Yemen's brutal war. Images posted online suggest a U.S.-built Mark 82 bomb was used in the bombing. We speak with Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni scholar and activist and an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. Her latest piece for In These Times is titled "Fine Print in Defense Bill Acknowledges U.S.-Backed War in Yemen Will Go On Indefinitely."

As Monsanto comes under scrutiny for allegedly hiding the dangers of its weed killer, Roundup, we talk to a reporter who says the company attempted to censor and discredit her when she published stories on their product that contradicted their business interests. Carey Gillam is a veteran investigative journalist and author of "Whitewash - The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer and the Corruption of Science."

California jurors have awarded $289 million in a historic verdict against Monsanto in the case of a school groundskeeper who developed cancer after using its weed killer, Roundup. We speak with Brent Wisner, the lead trial counsel for Dewayne Lee Johnson, who has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Doctors say he is unlikely to live past 2020. Johnson's was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging glyphosate causes cancer. Filed in 2016, it was fast-tracked for trial due to the severity of his illness.

Economists Fear Turkish Financial Crisis Could Spread, Thousands Attend Funeral of 40 Yemeni Children Killed in Saudi Airstrike, Car Drives into Security Barrier at UK Parliament, Three Injured, Trump Signs $716 Billion Military Spending Bill; Includes $21 Billion for Nuke Program, State of Virginia Confirms Immigrant Teenagers Were Strapped to Chairs With Bags Over Their Heads, Stephen Miller's Uncle: My Nephew Is an "Immigration Hypocrite", U.N. Official: Trump's Attacks on Press Are "Very Close to Incitement to Violence", Firefighter Dies Battling Mendocino Complex Fire, DNC Lifts Ban on Fossil Fuel Company Donations, Poll: More Democrats Have Positive View of Socialism than Capitalism, FBI's Peter Strzok Fired After Months of Republican Attacks, Nebraska Prepares to Carry Out First Execution in U.S. with Fentanyl, Facebook Takes Down Page for Latin American Broadcaster Telesur, Voters Head to Polls in Four States for Primaries

As more than 100 fires rage in the western United States, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wrote an op-ed last week in USA Today about forest management on public lands that blamed “radical environmentalists” for the fires. "Most Americans get it, that climate change is no longer something we can just wish away with this administration,” responds Joel Clement, who served as director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the U.S. Interior Department until July of 2017 and worked at the Interior Department for seven years. We also speak with Ben Lefebvre, an energy reporter for Politico who has done a series of stories on Zinke’s alleged ethics violations.

We go to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to speak with Sallie Holmes and Jesse Brucato, who interrupted a speech by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday. Zinke has faced 14 federal misconduct investigations since joining President Trump’s cabinet. The protesters asked Zinke about his alleged ethical lapses and questioned why he refuses to acknowledge the role of climate change in the wildfires raging across the western United States. We are also joined by Politico reporter Ben Lefebvre, who broke the stories linking Zinke to a real estate deal with energy giant Halliburton’s chairperson David Lesar.

Tensions are escalating between the U.S. and Iran after the Trump administration re-imposed economic sanctions against Iran last week. This news followed Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. Trump has threatened other countries seeking to trade with Iran, tweeting, "Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned the sanctions as "psychological warfare," saying last week he would not begin negotiations until the sanctions are withdrawn. We speak with Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He served as spokesperson for Iran in its nuclear negotiations with the European Union from 2003 to 2005.

Korean Leaders to Meet Next Month in Pyongyang, On Anniversary of Charlottesville, White Supremacist Rally in D.C. Fizzles, Baltimore Police Officer Resigns After Videotaped Repeatedly Punching Man, Trump to Sign $716 Billion Military Spending Bill With Over $21 Billion For Nuclear Weapons, Afghanistan: Over 200 Killed After Taliban Attacks Critical City of Ghazni, Israeli Forces Shot Dead Gazan Medic Armed with "Bandages & Surgical Masks", U.N.: China Is Detaining Over 1 Million Uighurs in Massive Internment Camp, Maduro Welcomes FBI to Come to Venezuela To Help Probe Assassination Plot, White House Looks to Stop Former Staffer from Releasing Audio Recorded in West Wing, Monsanto Ordered to Pay $289 Million After Groundskeeper Got Cancer from Roundup Exposure, Seattle Airport Worker Dies After Crashing Stolen Plane, Rep. Keith Ellison Denies Abusing Ex-Girlfriend, Egyptian-Born Marxist Economist Samir Amin, 86, Dies

While tensions between the U.S. and Russia continue to heat up, one group of filmmakers has found a way to strengthen ties between the two countries through a common bond: their disabilities. A new film premiering tonight in New York follows the Media Enabled Musketeers, American and Russian filmmakers with disabilities, as they make original films to tell their stories. "All For One" tells the story of 35 Russians and 13 Americans who collaborated to create films about everyday issues to empower themselves, educate the public and provide more opportunities for people with disabilities. These include films about accessibility, finding love, confronting prejudice and following dreams. For more we speak with Jon Alpert, co-founder of Downtown Community Television Center, or DCTV, the country's oldest community media center. He is the co-director of the Media Enabled Musketeers project. We also speak with Jon Novick and Ben Rosloff, filmmakers with Media Enabled Musketeers.

In Colombia, right-wing politician Iván Duque has been sworn in as Colombia’s new president. Duque was hand-picked by former right-wing President Álvaro Uribe and has vowed to roll back key parts of Colombia’s landmark peace deal with FARC rebels. Just before Duque’s inauguration, Democracy Now! spoke to Gustavo Petro, who placed second in this year’s presidential race, receiving 8 million votes in his attempt to become Colombia's first leftist president. In the 1980s Petro was jailed and tortured for being a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement. He later went on to lead efforts in Colombia’s Congress to investigate ties between paramilitary death squads and top politicians.

Puerto Rican Government Admits At Least 1,427 People Died After Hurricane Maria, Judge Threatens to Hold Sessions in Contempt of Court over Asylum Seekers’ Deportation, Trump Admin Has Still Not Reunited 559 Separated Children with Their Parents, Trump Travel Ban Preventing Iranian Woman from Seeking Life-Saving Treatment in U.S., Melania Trump’s Parents Become U.S. Citizens Through Process Trump Wants to Eliminate, Fox’s Laura Ingraham Faces Backlash After Going on Racist Tirade, Pence Calls for Military Space Force to Maintain “American Supremacy” in Outer Space, New Details Emerge About U.S.-Backed Bombing of Schoolchildren in Yemen, APA Rejects Proposal to Reverse Rules Barring Psychologists from Interrogations, In Leaked Audio, Rep. Nunes Talks about Protecting Trump from Mueller Probe, New Town, ND: March Demands Justice for Olivia Lone Bear and Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Common Application Will No Longer Ask Students About Criminal Histories, NFL Preseason Kicks Off with Protests Against Police Brutality, This Weekend Marks First Anniversary of Charlottesville White Supremacist Rally

Seventy-three years ago today, on August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people and forever changing the lives of those who survived the nuclear attack. The bombing came just three days after the U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing some 140,000 people. For more we speak with two guests who travelled from Japan to New York City on the Peace Boat—an international boat that sails around the world campaigning for nuclear disarmament and world peace last month. Terumi Kuramori is a hibakusha—that's the Japanese word for a survivor of the atomic bomb—and Tatsuya Yoshioka is the co-founder and director of the Peace Boat.

California relies on thousands of prisoners, including many women, to battle the wildfires burning statewide. Prisoner firefighters gain training and earn time off of their sentences for good behavior, typically two days off for each day served. But critics of the program say the state is exploiting prisoners' eagerness to earn time for early release. While salaried firefighters earn an annual mean wage of $74,000 plus benefits, inmates earn just $2 per day with an additional $1 per hour when fighting an active fire. According to some estimates, California avoids spending about $80-$100 million a year by using prison labor to fight its biggest environmental problem. For more we speak with Romarilyn Ralston, a member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners-LA Chapter, and the program coordinator for Project Rebound at Cal State University, Fullerton. Ralston was imprisoned for 23 years, during which time she worked as a fire camp trainer. We also speak with Deirdre Wilson, who was imprisoned for three-and-a-half years, and worked as a landscaper at a women's fire camp in San Diego.

The Mendocino Complex Fire in Northern California is now the largest wildfire ever recorded in California’s history. It started burning in July—the state's hottest month on record. Of the 20 largest wildfires in California history, 15 have occurred since 2000. This year's fires have already burned nearly three times as many acres as the same time last year. Experts say climate change has increased the length of fire season. In Oakland, California, we speak with Michael Brune, the director of the Sierra Club. We also speak with Michael Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University and author of "The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial
 is Threatening our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving us Crazy."

Saudi-Led Airstrike in Yemen Hits Bus Carrying Children, Killing Dozens, U.S. Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills a Dozen Afghan Soldiers "By Mistake", Israeli Airstrikes Kill Three in Gaza, Including Mother and Her Toddler, In Colombia, Nikki Haley Escalates Anti-Venezuela Rhetoric, U.S. to Impose New Sanctions on Russia, Senate Committee Asks Julian Assange to Testify about Russian Meddling in Election, Virginia & Charlottesville Under States of Emergency Ahead of White Supremacist Rallies, Longtime DRC Leader Joseph Kabila Will Not Run for Re-election, Argentine Senate Rejects Legislation to Legalize Abortion, NY Congressmember Chris Collins Charged with Insider Trading, Tribune Media Pulls Out of Proposed Merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, Pennsylvania Rookie Cop Charged with Manslaughter for Killing Unarmed Man, New York Becomes First Major U.S. City to Crack Down on Uber and Lyft, Japan Marks 73rd Anniversary of U.S. Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, Who Fought U.S. Military Bases, Dies at 67

Today marks the 40th anniversary of a massive police operation in Philadelphia that culminated in the siege of the headquarters of the black radical group known as MOVE. The group was founded by John Africa, and all its members took the surname Africa. It was August 8, 1978, when police tried to remove members of MOVE from their communal home with water cannons and battering rams, even as some continued to hide in the basement with children. During the siege on MOVE's house, gunfire was exchanged, and a police officer named James Ramp was killed. Two years later, nine MOVE members were convicted of third-degree murder in Ramp's death. They were sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison and became the MOVE 9. We speak with Debbie Africa, the first of the nine to be released from prison, and her son Mike Jr. At the time of Debbie's arrest, she was 8-and-a-half months pregnant with her son, who was born inside prison. They were reunited on June 16 after nearly four decades separated.

It's been three days since a masked gunman opened fire on a Madison community radio station early Sunday morning, injuring one person. A station DJ who was shot in the buttocks was taken to the hospital and later discharged. No arrests have been made. WORT-FM is a member-controlled community radio station broadcasting to South Central Wisconsin that has been on the air since 1975. The Madison police say they do not believe the attack was motivated by hatred of the media. We speak with political writer John Nichols on the community response to the shooting.

Voters headed to the polls Tuesday for a special election in Ohio and primaries in Michigan, Kansas, Missouri and Washington. A special election in Ohio's 12th Congressional District remains too close to call, but Republican Troy Balderson has already claimed victory over Democrat Danny O'Connor to serve the remainder of former Republican Congressmember Pat Tiberi's term. Balderson leads by just 1,754 votes, and thousands of absentee and provisional ballots still need to be counted. O'Connor is hoping to pull off a major upset. President Trump won the district in 2016 by a margin of more than 11 percent. In Michigan, Rashida Tlaib won the Democratic primary for John Conyers's old House seat. She could now become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress. In Washington, D.C., we speak with Zaid Jilani, staff reporter at The Intercept. In Madison, Wisconsin, we speak with John Nichols, political writer for The Nation.

Tight Races in Ohio & Kansas Remain Too Close to Call, Judge Certifies Class-Action Suit Against GEO Group over Wage Theft, Court Rules Family of Mexican Teen Killed by Border Patrol Can Sue Agent, Colombia: Right-Wing President Iván Duque Sworn Into Office, Ethiopian Gov't Signs Deal to End Hostilities with Oromo Liberation Front, Bangladeshi Authorities Arrest Photographer Shahidul Alam for Covering Protests, California Youth Arrested at Sit-in in Gov. Brown's Office Demanding Climate Action, Puerto Rico Proposes Transporting 3,200 Inmates to Prisons on U.S. Mainland, Tennessee: Lawyers Ask Supreme Court to Stay Execution of Billy Ray Irick, New York Becomes First Major U.S. City to Make Prison Calls Free

It has been nearly a year since anti-racist activist Heather Heyer died in Charlottesville, Virginia, when white supremacist James Alex Fields drove his Dodge Charger into a crowd of counterdemonstrators. As white supremacists plan to mark the first anniversary of Charlottesville by holding another "Unite the Right" rally in Washington, D.C., we speak with Heyer's mother Susan Bro about Heather Heyer's legacy and what activists can do to combat racism.

When hundreds of white supremacists arrived in Charlottesville, Virginia, for a deadly "Unite the Right" protest last August, local authorities were unprepared for the violence that terrorized the city, largely standing back during bloody encounters between white supremacists and counterprotesters. One year later, we speak with investigative reporter A.C. Thompson on his work to track down and identify white supremacists from Charlottesville and other extremist rallies across the country. His investigation, "Documenting Hate: Charlottesville," premieres tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on PBS.

This week marks one year since white supremacists and neo-Nazis descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, in the deadly "Unite the Right" rally to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a downtown park. It became the biggest and deadliest white supremacist rally in the United States in decades. We look back at the deadly rally in Charlottesville with a new documentary by Frontline PBS and ProPublica titled "Documenting Hate: Charlottesville." We speak with A.C. Thompson, the reporter who produced the investigation, which premieres tonight on PBS.

U.S. Reimposes Sanctions Against Iran, Brazil's Workers' Party Nominates Lula as Presidential Candidate, Rick Gates Testifies He and Manafort Committed Crimes, Voters Head to Polls in Missouri, Kansas, Michigan & Washington State, Tennessee Democrats Celebrate "Blue Wave" That Swept Shelby County, Massive Student Protests Sweep Bangladesh Demanding Safer Roads, Canada Criticizes Saudi Arabia over Arrest of Feminist Activists, Mendocino Complex Now Largest Fire in California History, Social Media Platforms Remove Alex Jones, Citing Hate Speech, The Dream Defenders Organize National Protests Against GEO Group, Gunman Opens Fire at Madison Community Radio Station WORT-FM, Former Black Panther Robert Seth Hayes Freed After 45 Years Behind Bars

Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the United States' atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, which killed 140,000 people and seriously injured another 100,000. In remembrance, we turn to the words of a Hiroshima survivor, or hibakusha. Koji Hosokawa was 17 years old when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. His 13-year-old sister Yoko died in the bombing. He gave us a tour of the city when Democracy Now! was in Japan in 2014. He spoke to us near the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, one of the few structures in the city that survived the atomic blast.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro survived an apparent assassination attempt Saturday. Officials say two drones loaded with explosives detonated above Maduro as he gave a nationally televised speech at a military event in Caracas. It was the first known attempted assassination by drone strike against a sitting head of state. We get response from Alejandro Velasco, executive editor for NACLA Report on the Americas; Gabriel Hetland, assistant professor of Latin American studies at SUNY Albany; and Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and president of Just Foreign Policy.

Seventeen-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi has been freed from Israeli prison after eight months behind bars. Known to some as the Rosa Parks of Palestine, Tamimi became a hero to Palestinians and people around the world last year after a viral video showed her slapping a heavily armed Israeli soldier near her family's home in the occupied West Bank. The incident came just after Tamimi learned her cousin had been gravely wounded by an Israeli soldier who shot him in the head using a rubber-coated steel bullet. Video of Tamimi confronting the soldier went viral, elevating her into a symbol of Palestinian resistance. Ahed was soon arrested in the middle of the night and charged with assault in an Israeli military court. She was sentenced to eight months in an Israeli prison and celebrated her 17th birthday behind bars. Her mother was also arrested and charged for incitement, in part for streaming video online showing the interaction between Tamimi and the Israeli soldier. Tamimi and her mother, Nariman, were released in late July. We speak with Ahed Tamimi from her home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Survives Apparent Assassination Attempt by Drone, Trump Tweet Reveals He Lied Last Year About Son's 2016 Meeting with Russian Lawyer, Mendocino Complex Fire Now Fourth Largest in California History, Indonesia: 7.0-Magnitude Earthquake Kills 91, Death Toll Expected to Rise, Zimbabwe: Crackdown Against Opposition Activists Continues After Elections, South Sudan President & Rebel Leader Reach Peace Deal, Israeli Military Kills 2 Palestinian Protesters at Latest Gaza Demonstrations, In Racist Attacks, Trump Insults LeBron James, Don Lemon & Maxine Waters, Randy Moss Honors Victims of Police Brutality at NFL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Portland: Antifa & Far-Right Groups Clash in Protest & Counterprotest, Metro Cancels Plan for Special Trains for White Supremacists for August 12 Rally, Today Marks 73rd Anniversary of U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

After an agonizing 9-month search, the body of Olivia Lone Bear was found Tuesday in a pickup truck submerged in a lake right by her house on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The mother of five went missing in late October in New Town, North Dakota. Her disappearance has sparked renewed attention to the disproportionately high rates of disappearance, rape and murder of Native American women across the United States. These already-alarming rates are particularly high in areas of oil extraction, like North Dakota's Bakken Shale, which is the origin point for the Dakota Access pipeline. We speak with Olivia Lone Bear's brother Matthew, who spent the last nine months searching for his sister. We also speak with Mary Kathryn Nagle, a citizen of Cherokee Nation and a partner at Pipestem Law, a law firm dedicated to the restoration of tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction.

Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto and his son Oscar have been released from ICE detention after being jailed for seven months. Gutiérrez first sought asylum in the United States in 2008 after receiving death threats for reporting on alleged corruption in the Mexican military. He was detained in December, only weeks after he criticized U.S. asylum policy during a speech at the National Press Club. A federal judge has questioned whether the Trump administration's detention of Emilio Gutiérrez Soto and his son Oscar violated his First Amendment rights. We speak with Emilio Gutiérrez Soto in El Paso, Texas, shortly after his release.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world as a wave of extreme violence sweeps the country. Some 2 million Congolese fled their homes last year, nearly 7 million Congolese are now internally displaced, and another 500,000 have fled to other parts of Africa. According to the United Nations, 13 million Congolese are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. The international media has largely ignored what's happening, but this week Vice News published a shocking investigation into a recent case of ethnic cleansing. Hundreds of machete-wielding militiamen swept through areas in Congo near the Ugandan border, attacking around 120 communities. Hundreds were killed, thousands of homes were destroyed, and some 350,000 people were displaced. The violence came after the U.S. abruptly cut support for peacekeeping efforts in the Congo and elsewhere last year as part of President Trump's "America First" policies. We speak with Vice News contributor and author Nick Turse. His article is titled "A Slaughter in Silence: How a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign in DRC was made worse by Trump's 'America First' policies and the world's neglect."

Trump Administration Plans to Slash Auto Fuel Efficiency Standards, As Trump Rails Against Media, U.N. Officials Warn of Attacks on Reporters, Ivanka Trump Calls Family Separations "Low Point", Fathers and Sons Launch Strike in Texas Immigration Jail, Yemen: 55 Killed in U.S.-Backed Assault on Port City of Hodeidah, Zimbabwe: Emmerson Mnangagwa Declared Winner of Presidential Election, U.N. Says 23,000 Nicaraguans Have Fled Violence for Costa Rica, Madagascar: Nearly All Species of Lemurs At Risk of Extinction, Mexican President-Elect Set to Ban Fracking, Pennsylvania: Woman Arrested for Protesting a Pipeline on Her Property, CBS CEO Les Moonves Silent on Sex Misconduct Charges in Earnings Call, Smith College Apologizes over Racial Profiling of Student

Major corporate broadcast networks reported on July's 2-week global heat wave at least 127 times, but mentioned climate change only once. That's according to a report by Media Matters, which tracked coverage of the extreme weather by ABC, CBS and NBC. We host a panel discussion on the media's role in the climate change crisis, the fossil fuel industry and global warming-fueled extreme weather across the globe. We speak with Nathaniel Rich, writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. His piece "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change" was published August 1 in a special edition of The New York Times Magazine dedicated to climate change. We also speak with Rob Nixon, author of "Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor," and Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist and director of climate science for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Losing Earth." That's the title of The New York Times Magazine article by Nathaniel Rich published August 1 in a special edition of the magazine dedicated entirely to climate change. The story tracks the 10-year period from 1979 to 1989, the decade Rich claims that humankind first came to a comprehensive understanding of climate change but failed to address its extreme dangers while there was still time. The story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center. We speak with Nathaniel Rich, writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine.

With unprecedented fires, floods and heat waves sweeping the globe, 2018 is on track to be the fourth-hottest year on record. The regions most affected by the disastrous effects of global warming are overwhelmingly not the countries that have contributed the most to climate change. According to the 2018 Global Climate Risk Index released by the public policy group Germanwatch, the nine countries most affected by climate change in the past 20 years are developing nations, including Honduras, Haiti, Burma, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Indian government says more than 500 people have died as a result of flooding and heavy rains in recent weeks. In Iran, there is a chronic shortage of water, and it is estimated there is some form of drought in 97 percent of the country. We speak with Rob Nixon, professor in the humanities and the environment at Princeton University. He is the author of "Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor."

In California, tens of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate as deadly wildfires continue to rage across the state. The worst wildfire, the Carr Fire, has engulfed more than 100,000 acres and destroyed more than a thousand homes in and around Redding, California, making it the sixth most destructive fire in the state's history. Authorities said Wednesday that 16 of the largest wildfires burning in California have scorched 320,000 acres—an area larger than Los Angeles. Eight people have died. Governor Jerry Brown called the growing intensity and frequency of California wildfires the state's "new normal" this week. More fires continue to consume parts of Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Arizona, along with recent blazes across the globe in Greece, Canada and the Arctic Circle. We speak with Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist and director of climate science for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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"Black Elevation." "Mindful Being." "Resisters." "Aztlan Warriors." Those are the names of some of the accounts removed from Facebook and Instagram Tuesday after Facebook uncovered a plot to covertly influence the midterm elections. The tech giant said 32 fake accounts and Facebook pages were involved in "coordinated inauthentic behavior." This announcement comes just days after the company suffered the biggest loss in stock market history: about $119 billion in a single day. This is just the latest in a string of controversies surrounding Facebook's unprecedented influence on democracy in the United States and around the world, from its pivotal role in an explosion of hate speech inciting violence against Rohingya Muslims in Burma to its use by leaders such as Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in suppressing dissent. Facebook has 2.2 billion users worldwide, and that number is growing. We speak with Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of "Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy." He is a professor of media studies and director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia.

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