Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! is joined by the nephew of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has endorsed Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Fred Trump III's new memoir, All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way, shares fresh insights into the Trump family and acts as a platform to advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities. Fred Trump's own son William has a rare genetic disorder that causes severe developmental and intellectual disabilities. He says Donald Trump once told him to abandon William, saying, He doesn't recognize you. Let him die, and move down to Florida." After a meeting in the Oval Office about dedicating more resources to people with disabilities, Fred Trump says his uncle said, Those people, the costs. They should just die."How could one human being say that about any other human being, least of all your grandnephew?" says Fred Trump, who calls on the next president to support disabled Americans. The Harris campaign and her positions are ones that I believe. Now, that being said, I have yet to hear anything regarding disability actions ... and I will put their feet to the fire on this."

The United Nations is warning the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains beyond catastrophic" as more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza did not receive any food rations in August amid Israel's relentless assault. Israel's 11-month campaign has killed more than 15,000 children and enabled the besieged territory's first polio outbreak in a quarter-century. INARA founder Arwa Damon just got back from spending two weeks in Gaza, where the nonprofit currently provides medical and mental healthcare to Palestinian children. Israel has decimated every single aspect of any sort of infrastructure within the Gaza Strip, from sewage to water to electricity to you name it," says Damon, who reports that humanitarian assistance has diminished significantly while displaced Palestinians play a macabre, dark, twisted game" of trying to escape constant Israeli bombing.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced more U.S. aid for Ukraine just days after the country was hit by one of the deadliest airstrikes since Russia's invasion in early 2022. On Tuesday, a pair of Russian missiles struck a military academy and hospital in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, killing at least 51 people and injuring more than 270. The sense ... is that the U.S. is giving Ukraine enough so that it doesn't lose, but not enough so that it can actually make significant and needed gains," says award-winning journalist Arwa Damon, who is in Ukraine providing medical and mental healthcare with her organization INARA, the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance. This has been going on for well over two years right now, and they really want to begin to be able to see a way out."

Israel Hinders Polio Vaccination; U.N. Warns Gazans Getting No Food in Beyond Catastrophic" Scenario, Israel Continues Assault on West Bank, Leaves Devastating Scenes After Attacking Jenin and Tulkarm, Georgia Authorities Charge Father of Apalachee High School Mass Shooter, Harris Calls for 28% Capital Gains Tax Rate, Proposes Tax Benefits for Small Businesses, DOJ Indicts Russians over Election Subversion Scheme Involving Social Media Propaganda" Accounts, Activists Demand Justice After Ugandan Olympic Runner Rebecca Cheptegei Is Killed by Her Partner, DRC Finally Gets First Mpox Vaccine Doses, Nicaragua Expels 135 Prisoners Jailed by Daniel Ortega's Crackdown on Opposition, Honduran Pres. Xiomara Castro Warns of Possible U.S. Coup Against Her Gov't, Haiti Expands State of Emergency Nationwide as Blinken Visits Port-au-Prince, Hunter Biden Pleads Guilty to 9 Tax Evasion Charges, FBI Raids Homes of Four Top Members of NYC Mayor Eric Adams's Inner Circle, 50 Climate Activists Arrested at Citibank HQ Demanding Fossil Fuel Divestment

As the fall term gets underway for students across the United States, we speak with journalist and academic Natasha Lennard about how college administrators are attempting to quash Gaza solidarity actions following mass protests at campuses across the country in the spring. One example is New York University, which recently updated its student policy to make criticisms of Zionism potentially punishable under its anti-discrimination rules. It's extremely dangerous," says Lennard, who teaches at The New School. It performs de facto apologia for Israel, and to have that put into writing by a university so clearly is just open for further abuses."

Columbia University law professor Katherine Franke last appeared on Democracy Now! in January to discuss an attack on Columbia's campus targeting pro-Palestinian student activists with a foul-smelling liquid that led to multiple hospitalizations. Following her interview, Franke now faces termination after two Columbia professors filed a complaint against her claiming she had created a hostile environment for Israeli students; she also became a target for Republican lawmakers.Franke joins Democracy Now! to discuss the campaign against her, the ongoing crackdown on pro-Palestine activism at Columbia and more. There's an overreaction by the university, a weaponization of the disciplinary system against students and faculty in ways that in my over 40 years at Columbia I have never seen," she says.We are also joined by attorney Kathleen Peratis, who is representing Franke along with the Center for Constitutional Rights after she quit her former law firm, Outten & Golden, because it dropped Franke as a client, saying she was too controversial. What happened at Outten & Golden is the kind of thing that's happening all over," says Peratis.

We speak with journalist, author and academic Steven Thrasher, the chair of social justice reporting at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He was singled out by name during a congressional hearing about pro-Palestine protests on college campuses earlier this year, with one Republican lawmaker calling him a goon" for protecting students in an encampment from violent arrest. Northwestern filed charges against Thrasher for obstructing police that were later dropped, but students returning to Northwestern for the fall term will not see him in their classrooms because he has been suspended as Northwestern says he is under investigation. In his first interview about the affair, Thrasher tells Democracy Now! that he stands by his actions and that he has received no due process" from his employer. He says the university has previously celebrated him, including in glowing" job reviews and by publicizing his work. What they don't like is that I am now applying the same social justice journalism principles that I've applied to race and that I've applied to LGBTQ people, to COVID and HIV, that I was now applying those to Palestine," says Thrasher.

A 14-year-old student opened fire Wednesday at a high school in Winder, Georgia, just outside Atlanta, killing two fellow students - both also 14 years old - and two teachers, while injuring at least nine others. The teen shooter, who used an AR-platform-style weapon in his deadly rampage, surrendered to school resource officers and faces multiple murder charges as an adult. The violence in Georgia marks the deadliest U.S. school shooting of 2024 and comes after the teenager was interviewed by police last year following tips to the FBI about online threats of a school shooting.We were shocked, of course, but we were not surprised," says Georgia state Representative Dr. Michelle Au, a practicing physician in Atlanta. She had proposed a gun safety bill that was blocked by Republicans in the state who hold both legislative chambers and the governor's office. Georgia actually has some of the most lax gun laws in the country, which is of course correlated with having a very high incidence of preventable gun violence."We also speak with Kris Brown, president of the gun violence prevention organization Brady, who says hard-line Republican lawmakers with extreme" views of the Second Amendment are fine with it being a death sentence to their fellow Americans."

Israel Continues Deadly West Bank Incursion, Destroying Streets, Homes, Water & Health Infrastructure, Israel's Genocide in Gaza Continues as New Leak Details How Netanyahu Torpedoed Ceasefire Deals, U.S. Criticizes Netayahu's Failure to Reach Ceasefire But Continues to Arm His War on Gaza, Portland, Maine, to Divest from Israeli Companies Tied to Israel's Assault on Palestinians, From the River to the Sea": Meta Says Palestinian Solidarity Slogan Is Not Hate Speech, 14-Year-Old with Assault Rifle Kills Two Teachers and Two Students at Georgia High School, U.K. Prime Minister Apologizes for Grenfell Fire as Report Makes Clear Disaster Was Preventable, AfD Becomes First Far-Right Party to Win German State Election Since Nazis, Macron Appoints Conservative Politician as New PM, Eschewing Demands for a Progressive Leader, Biden Administration Considers Making Sweeping Asylum Restrictions Permanent, Harris Agrees to Terms of Debate with Trump; Liz Cheney Endorses Harris for President

Historian and journalist Betsy Phillips discusses her new book, Dynamite Nashville: Unmasking the FBI, the KKK, and the Bombers Beyond Their Control, which chronicles three bombings in 1957, 1958 and 1960 aimed at supporters of the civil rights movement in Nashville. The book has sparked a reopening of the formerly cold cases, the likely perpetrators of which Phillips names in her book. Phillips details what she uncovered through her research about the connections between the white supremacist terror campaign of the previous century and ongoing neo-Nazi activity in Nashville and the U.S. today.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects growing domestic and international calls to accept a Gaza ceasefire deal, we go to Jerusalem to speak to Gershon Baskin of the human rights advocacy group International Communities Organization. Baskin has spent years as a back-channel Israeli negotiator with Hamas in ceasefire deals, including throughout Israel's current war on Gaza. It's very clear that Netanyahu doesn't want to end the war," says Baskin, who calls for all remaining stakeholders, including Hamas, the United States and Israeli protesters, to increase pressure on the defiant prime minister.

The World Health Organization has completed the first phase of a critical polio vaccination campaign in central Gaza. After health officials confirmed Gaza's first polio case in 25 years, the Israeli military agreed to calls for limited humanitarian pauses on its attacks in order for aid organizations to carry out vaccinations. But there's real practical, operational problems with this current pause," says Yanti Soeripto, president and CEO of Save the Children US, whose staff is part of the vaccine drive. It is not a ceasefire at all. It is an eight-hour pause every day." As Israel has repeatedly attacked civilians awaiting the provision of aid over the course of its war, it is difficult to reach normal coverage numbers" - especially for the two-dose vaccine course necessary to vaccinate against polio. Soeripto also discusses outbreaks in other current war zones, including the recent outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and warns that these diseases often cause even more casualties than bombs and bullets."

Israeli Attacks Kill 42 in Gaza as WHO Cites Progress in Polio Vaccination Efforts, Israeli Raids on West Bank Kill 33 Palestinians in a Week, Doctors Demand Justice for Palestinian Medical Workers Tortured in Israeli Custody, Thousands of Israelis Continue Protests Demanding Gaza Ceasefire and Hostage Deal, Russia Continues Deadly Airstrikes as Ukraine's President Orders Cabinet Reshuffle, At Least 129 Killed as Prisoners Try to Escape DRC's Notorious Makala Prison, Boko Haram Attack in Northeastern Nigeria Leaves 81 Dead, 12 Asylum Seekers Die Attempting to Cross English Channel, Phoenix Records 100th Day Over 100 as Heat Wave Bakes Southwestern U.S., Trump Pleads Not Guilty" to Amended Indictment in Election Interference Case, Montana GOP Senate Candidate Tim Sheehy Recorded Making Racist Comments, Indictment Alleges Former Aide to New York Gov. Hochul Worked as Chinese Government Agent, Trial of Uhuru Three" Opens in Florida as Group Rejects Russian Influence Claims

After nearly two decades of obstruction by the U.S. military, The New Yorker has obtained and published 10 photos of the aftermath of the 2005 Haditha massacre, when U.S. marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians in revenge for an IED bombing that killed a service member. The graphic images show dead Iraqi men, women and children, many of them shot in the head at close range. The victims ranged in age from 3 to 76. Release of the photos came only after producers of the investigative podcast In the Dark sued the Navy, the Marine Corps and U.S. Central Command to force them to turn over the photos and other records. What the photos clearly show is that these were innocent people who do not appear to be doing anything threatening at the time of their deaths," says Madeleine Baran, host and lead reporter of the podcast. Four marines were charged for the killings, but the charges were dismissed in three cases, and the last ended with a plea deal that did not result in a single day in prison. Baran says the survivors of the massacre, who cooperated with producers to get the photos released, are still waiting for justice. What they want is the world to know what happened to their family, to know that their family were good people, not insurgents, and they want justice," she says.

About 10,000 hotel workers with the union UNITE HERE went on strike across the United States over the Labor Day long weekend to fight for raises, fair workloads and respect in the workplace. The multiday strike affects Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotels in several major cities, including Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. We speak with striking worker Rebeca Laroque, who has worked as a room attendant for over 12 years at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut, and UNITE HERE Local 2 President Lizzy Tapia in San Francisco. We're working hard, and then the money they pay, you cannot afford nothing with this, because everything is going up," says Laroque. That's why we ask for a better wage, health insurance and pension, because we cannot afford nothing."

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested this weekend to demand a ceasefire following the deaths of six more hostages in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject the terms of a deal that would remove Israeli troops from southern Gaza. This comes after nearly 11 months of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in the territory, according to local health authorities. Our politicians won't listen to anything, because they're driven out of self-interest," says Israeli peace activist Yonatan Zeigen, whose mother Vivian Silver was killed in the October 7 Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be'eri. Despite the feeling of solidarity on the streets, Zeigen says there is a sense of hopelessness" in the mass protests in Israel. We also speak with Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, who says the outrage in Israel is still mostly confined to critics of Netanyahu and has not yet penetrated his base of support, and that the United States has a major role in the continued violence and Netanyahu's refusal to agree to a ceasefire. If President Biden would have really liked to put an end to this war, he could have done it within days by stopping or at least conditioning ... the supply of arms and ammunition to Israel. He didn't do it," Levy notes.

Israeli Attack on U.N.-Operated Shelter in Gaza Kills 8 Palestinians in Bread Line, Polio Mass Vaccination Campaign Begins in Gaza Despite Ongoing Israeli Attacks, Israeli Military Returns Body of 58-Year-Old Palestinian Man with Signs of Torture and Abuse, Israeli Military Attacks Journalists Covering West Bank Raids, Kills Gaza TikTok Star, Hundreds of Thousands of Israelis Protest After Army Recovers Bodies of 6 Hostages, U.K. Suspends Some Weapons Shipments to Israel, CENTCOM Says 7 U.S. Military Personnel Are Injured in Raid on ISIS in Iraq, The New Yorker Publishes Images from U.S. Marines' 2005 Massacre of Iraqi Civilians, Attacks by Russia and Ukraine Leave Civilians Dead and Wounded, Venezuela Accuses U.S. of Piracy" After President Maduro's Plane Is Seized, 10,000 U.S. Hotel Workers Go on Strike to Demand Higher Pay and Increased Staffing

We end our Labor Day special with Shawn Fein, the president of the United Auto Workers. In August, he addressed the Democratic National Convention. Midway through his speech, Fain took off his jacket to show that he was wearing a T-shirt that read Trump is a scab."

As part of our Labor Day special, we remember the longtime labor organizer and scholar Jane McAlevey, who died in July at the age of 59. She dedicated her life to empowering rank-and-file workers, training tens of thousands around the world to effectively strengthen their unions. She gave one of her last interviews to Democracy Now! in April after she announced she was entering hospice. We like to win," says McAlevey, and we like to teach workers how to win. What are the methods? What is it we can do?"

In 1980, historian Howard Zinn published his classic work, A People's History of the United States. The book would go on to sell over a million copies and change the way many look at history in America. We begin today's special with highlights from a production of Howard Zinn's Voices of a People's History of the United States, where Zinn introduced dramatic readings from history. We hear Alfre Woodard read the words of labor activist Mother Jones and Howard's son Jeff Zinn read the words of an IWW poet and organizer Arturo Giovannitti.

Investigative journalist David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, is the host of a new podcast series exploring how extremist ideologues and wealthy oligarchs have developed a system of legalized corruption in the U.S. Master Plan traces the decadeslong conservative-led plan to increase the role of money in politics. This was a plan, a specific plan, to deregulate the campaign finance laws," says Sirota.

In her first major interview since replacing Joe Biden on the ballot, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was questioned about her shifting statements on fracking, which has been linked to a surge in methane gas emissions over the past decade. Harris, who has previously made comments opposing fracking, vowed not to ban it if elected. The vice president went on to highlight the Biden-Harris administration's environmental record, which activists have criticized for vastly expanding oil production rather than drawing down the country's reliance on fossil fuels. The data is telling us that what Kamala Harris said about fracking - that we can do it without dealing with reducing the supply of fossil fuels - it's just not borne out by the numbers," explains The Lever's David Sirota, who adds, Ultimately, consequences for that will be on the United States, for the entire world."

Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first major interview Thursday since becoming the Democratic nominee, laying out her plans for an opportunity economy" if she becomes president. Sociologist Nikhil Goyal, author of Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty, says Harris's support for policies like an expanded child tax credit shows a clear contrast between herself and Republican nominee Donald Trump. He fights for the billionaire class," while Harris is on the side of working people," says Goyal.

We turn to Kamala Harris's position on Israel's war on Gaza, which many are calling a genocide. After she was asked about calls to condition U.S. arms shipments to Israel by CNN reporter Dana Bash, Harris refused to consider halting the flow of weapons and instead affirmed her support of Israel. This position violates both federal and international law, argues Palestinian American political analyst Yousef Munayyer, and, coupled with her campaign's denial of a requested Palestinian American speaking spot from uncommitted" voters at the DNC, he warns that Harris could be worse than Biden" when it comes to U.S. support for Israel.

In her first major interview since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was questioned by CNN's Dana Bash about her policy positions and campaign platform. We begin with a look at Harris's increasingly rightward stance on immigration and border policy with immigration activist Erika Andiola. As she touted her support for hard-line border security and asylum policies, Harris positioned herself as tougher on immigration than Trump. Republican talking points ... now truly have become Democrat talking points," says Andiola.

WHO Readies to Start Gaza Polio Vaccine Drive After Israel Agrees to 3-Day Partial Pause, Israeli Forces Continue Deadly Assault on West Bank's Jenin, Leave Tulkarm and Tubas in Ruins, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Give First TV Interview as Democratic Ticket, JD Vance Says Kamala Harris Can Go to Hell" at Pennsylvania Rally, Arlington Nat'l Cemetery Files Report After Trump Aides Attack an Employee, South Korea Court Finds Climate Law Violates Rights of Future Generations, Heavy Flooding Brings Death, Displacement and Disease in Sudan, Yemen and Bangladesh, Record Wildfires in Brazil Rage Across Amazon, Pantanal Wetlands, Klamath River Flows Freely Again After Crews Take Down Last Dam, East Timor Marks 25 Years of Independence, Immigrant Prisoners in California Are on Labor and Hunger Strike Against Their Inhumane Detention, 4 Arrested at UMich Gaza Protest; Pro-Palestinian Students at Columbia, NYU Face Censorship, Painters' Union to Divest Pension Fund from Israeli Firms to Protest Gaza Genocide, Video Game Performers Enter Second Month of Strike, Seeking Protections from AI, First Arrest Made as New York's Nassau County Bans Face Masks in Public

As Ukrainian forces press their counteroffensive deeper into Russian territory, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned of the heightened risk of a nuclear catastrophe from fighting near the Kursk power plant. The war between the two countries, now in its third year, has also impacted the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, controlled by Russian forces in the occupied southeastern part of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both signaled the war is likely to drag on for the foreseeable future. For more on the risk of nuclear disasters and possible peace talks to end the fighting, we speak with Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Russian environmental organization Ecodefense, and foreign policy expert Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan is drawing renewed outrage over a new law banning women's voices in public, forcing them to completely cover their bodies and faces out of the home, and more. This comes after the Taliban banned women from working in most fields and ended girls' education past primary school following their takeover of the country in 2021. We speak with Sima Samar, an Afghan human rights advocate and doctor who chaired the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission from 2002 until 2019; she also briefly served as minister of women's affairs in the interim Afghan government in 2002, after a U.S.-led coalition toppled the first Taliban government for its support of al-Qaeda. You cannot see such a law in any other regime on this planet," she says. This is a crime against humanity. It is gender apartheid."

At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 30 more wounded in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has launched its largest military operation in two decades. Israeli forces have simultaneously raided four cities and refugee camps in the north, with hundreds of soldiers backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers, fighter jets and drones. Much of the violence has been centered on Jenin, a frequent target of raids by Israeli forces, but this latest military operation is the largest since the Second Intifada. Ahmed Tobasi, artistic director at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp, says Israel's tactics are about punishing the people, punishing the civilians," with an ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing. They want Palestine empty from Palestinians." He also calls on the U.S. public to speak out against continued military support for Israel, saying the killings in both Gaza and the West Bank are only possible because Israel has the green light from the U.S. government."

We get an update from Gaza, where at least 68 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours as Israel continues its relentless assault on the territory. After nearly 11 months of war, the official Gaza death toll now stands at over 40,600, although the true figure is estimated to be much higher. The World Food Programme announced it is pausing the movement of all staff in Gaza until further notice after Israeli forces shot at one of its clearly marked vehicles despite receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities. This comes just two days after U.N. humanitarian efforts in Gaza virtually ground to a halt due to new Israeli evacuation orders that disrupted operations again. Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza over the past week, displacing a quarter of a million people in Deir al-Balah alone, including from the Al-Aqsa Hospital, where tens of thousands of residents and wounded were seeking shelter. Journalist Akram al-Satarri, speaking from just outside the hospital, describes continuous military operations, continuous devastation, continuous targeting and [an] increased number of Palestinians affected by those ongoing operations either by being killed or being injured or by becoming displaced because of the new evacuation orders."

Israeli Attacks Kill Another 68 Palestinians in Gaza; Mother of First Polio Patient Decries Baby's Fate, WFP Suspends Staff Travel in Gaza After Israel Attacks Convoy, Israel Escalates Invasion of Occupied West Bank, Kills at Least 18 Palestinians, EU Weighs Sanctions on Israeli Ministers Propagating Hate Messages Against Palestinians", Egypt Rejects Israeli Troops on Border; Namibia Blocks Vessel Heading to Israel with Weapons, U.S. Rejects Resumption of Nuclear Talks After Overture by Iran, Hong Kong Convicts Pro-Democracy Editors of Stand News of Sedition, U.S. National Security Adviser Meets Chinese President Xi Jinping, Honduras Ends Extradition Treaty with U.S. over Ambassador's Narcotrafficking Allegations, Rights Groups Sound Alarm as Texas GOP Purges 1 Million Voters from Rolls, Union Workers at Cornell University Win Historic Pay Increases After 10-Day Strike

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing accusations he is using his office to suppress Latino voters in the state. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the country's oldest Latino civil rights group, is calling on the Justice Department to investigate Paxton over a series of police raids on the homes of LULAC members, state lawmakers and other community leaders in the San Antonio area last week. Previously, Paxton had tried and failed to shut down the Houston-based and immigrant-led civil rights group Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL) by claiming it engaged in electioneering. We're joined by the director of FIEL, Cesar Espinosa, and the CEO of LULAC, Juan Proano, who both share how their organizations have been impacted by the attorney general's harassment and intimidation. Proano calls the targeting of Latino leaders and organizations a pattern of blatant discrimination" and says, We see these as tactics essentially for Republicans to stay in control of the government in Texas."

New voting rules in key battleground states could impact the 2024 election results. In Georgia, Democrats are suing to halt a set of Trump-backed election rules which Democrats say could be used to block certification of election results if they win in November. It appears that Georgia Republicans are laying the groundwork not to certify the presidential election if Kamala Harris wins," explains Ari Berman, who is the voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones magazine. Berman also discusses Tim Walz and JD Vance's voting rights records and a recent voting rights law out of Arizona that requires new voters to prove their U.S. citizenship.

The Israeli military has launched its biggest operation in the occupied West Bank in close to two decades, with hundreds of troops, backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers, fighter jets and drones, conducting simultaneous raids in the northern cities of Jenin and Tulkarm. At least nine Palestinians were killed overnight, with an additional 11 injured. In total, at least 652 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October - nearly 150 of them children - most of them during near-daily raids by the Israeli military. Israeli officials have indicated that the raids are just the first stage of an even larger operation in the West Bank. They are trying to repeat the Nakba. ... They are trying to repeat the same ethnic cleansing, the same genocide that is committed in Gaza," says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, who joins us from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Their goal is ethnic cleansing. Their goal is annexation of the West Bank."

9 Palestinians Killed as Israel Launches Largest Raid on West Bank in Two Decades, Israeli Attacks Kill Dozens in Gaza, Including 8 at School Sheltering Displaced Palestinians, Israeli Forces Rescue Bedouin Arab Man Kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, Zelensky Rules Out Ceasefire as Russia Continues Largest Aerial Assault" of Its War on Ukraine, IAEA Chief Warns Ukraine's Advance on Russian Power Plant Threatens Nuclear Catastrophe, Afghan Taliban Approves Gender Apartheid Law Banning Women from Speaking in Public, Indian Police Fire Tear Gas as Protesters Decry Rape and Murder of Medical Trainee, Jack Smith Files Amended Indictment of Trump over Jan. 6 Insurrection, Trump Adds Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to Transition Team, Mexico Freezes Diplomatic Relations After U.S. and Canada Criticize Judicial Reform Plan

As sky-high rents and a housing shortage become major issues in the 2024 presidential election, the U.S. Justice Department has sued software company RealPage, alleging its algorithm enabled landlords nationwide to collude in raising rents on tenants. The DOJ says the price-fixing scheme has impacted millions of renters across the United States. ProPublica reporter Heather Vogell, whose investigation first exposed RealPage, says as much as 70% of big apartment buildings in some neighborhoods are owned by property managers using RealPage, with landlords seeing the software as a way to have a rising tide that lifts all boats." We also speak with tenant rights organizer Tara Raghuveer, who says RealPage is guilty of some of the grossest, most extractive business practices" documented in recent years, but the firm is hardly alone. For so much of the market which is a catastrophic failure, landlords' business model is predicated on tenants' instability," says Raghuveer.

We speak with Human Rights Watch researcher Milena Ansari about the organization's new report detailing the torture of Palestinian medical workers in Israeli prisons. HRW spoke with eight doctors, paramedics and nurses who were picked up in Gaza before being transferred to the notorious Sde Teiman camp and other facilities, where they say they suffered beatings, starvation, humiliation, electric shocks and other forms of abuse. The men also describe threats of sexual violence during brutal interrogations and seeing another prisoner bleeding after being gang-raped with an M16 rifle by three soldiers. The findings track with other reports from researchers and survivors, and HRW has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for its attacks on healthcare workers. We're really ringing the alarm about the situation inside the Israeli custody and detention facilities," says Ansari, who says evidence is mounting of a systematic pattern of ill-treatment and abuse."

U.N. Forced to Halt Aid in Gaza Amid Dire Humanitarian Needs Due to Nonstop Evacuation Orders, U.S. Has Sent Over 50,000 Tons of Arms and Military Equipment to Israel Since Genocide Started, Israeli Forces and Illegal Settlers Continue Deadly Attacks in Occupied West Bank, Greek Tanker in Red Sea with 150,000 Tons of Crude Has Been on Fire for Days After Houthi Strike, Russia Ramps Up Attacks on Ukraine in Wake of Kyiv's Surprise Incursion, Baloch Separatists Claim Attacks That Kill 40+ in Southwestern Pakistan, There's No Lifeboat to Take Us Back:" U.N. Head Demands Urgent Action Before Pacific Islands Wiped Out, Uganda Cracks Down on Climate Protesters Speaking Out Against EACOP, Arrests 20+ Activists, 130+ Killed in Heavy Flooding in War-Torn Sudan; Arbaat Dam Collapses in Red Sea State, French President Macron Shuns Progressive Coalition as Talks on Future Gov't Hit a Wall, Jake Sullivan Is First U.S. Nat'l Security Adviser to Visit China in 8 Years Amid Simmering Tensions, Trump and Vance Downplay Anti-Abortion Record and Plans, Special Counsel Jack Smith Seeks to Reinstate Classified Docs Case Against Trump, Texas Officials Raid Homes of Latino Elected Leaders, DNC and Georgia Dems Sue to Block New GOP Rules That Could Delay Election Results and Sow Chaos, Georgia Unveils Statue of John Lewis Outside Decatur Courthouse, U.S. Judge Blocks Biden Immigration Policy for Spouses of U.S. Citizens, Nashville Mayor Urges City Lawmakers to Pass New Safety Rules After Nazi Gatherings in TN City, Climate Reporter Peter Dykstra, Who Called Out Corporate Media Cover-Up of Climate Crisis, Dies at 67

We end today's show in conversation with New York City Councilmember Yusef Salaam. He was one of five teenagers from Harlem - four Black and one Latino - wrongfully accused and convicted of raping and nearly killing 28-year-old white investment banker Trisha Meili in 1989. Meili had been jogging in Central Park when she was assaulted, and the accused teens became known as the Central Park Five. They faced a barrage of racism from the public and news media during their trial, including from real estate mogul and future U.S. president Donald Trump. All of the boys were convicted and served at least six years, with one, Korey Wise, having been tried as an adult, spending over a decade in prison. All were later exonerated after DNA evidence corroborated a separate man's confession to the attack. Redubbed the Exonerated Five, four of the five members addressed the Democratic National Convention last week, slamming Trump, who called for their execution and says he still believes the men are guilty, as hateful and dangerous. The reality was that we were guilty of the color of our skin," says Salaam, who successfully ran for city council last year.

A federal judge in Kentucky has thrown out felony charges against two former Louisville police officers for their roles in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020. Instead, the judge ruled that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, is legally responsible for her death because he fired his gun to fend off intruders, after plainclothes police officers broke down the couple's front door and barged in just after midnight. Taylor was a Black 26-year-old emergency medical technician and aspiring nurse. Since then, only one officer has been found guilty of playing a role in Taylor's death, admitting to falsifying a no-knock warrant that claimed police had evidence of drug dealings taking place in Taylor's home. No drugs were ever found and the two cops who fatally shot Taylor have never been charged. This lack of accountability is part of a systematic pattern of disrespect" of Black women, says civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Breonna Taylor's family. Crump also discusses the latest developments in the cases against police officers accused of excessive force in the widely publicized deaths of Tyre Nichols in Tennessee and Roger Fortson in Florida.

Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri responds to the latest exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah and the drawn-out ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, which Khouri calls a fictitious political dynamic" that is primarily used as diplomatic cover for Israel's warfare. The ceasefire talks should not be taken very seriously as an effort to bring about a ceasefire," he says. It's pretty clear now that the ceasefire negotiations today are the equivalent of the so-called peace process in the bigger Arab-Israeli conflict over the last 40 years."

U.N. Seeks Immediate Deescalation" After Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Heavy Fire, Human Rights Watch: Israel Has Tortured Detained Palestinian Medical Workers, No Deal Yet as Ceasefire Talks Continue in Egypt, Russia Launches Wave of Attacks on Ukraine, Member of Reuters Team Killed in Russian Attack on Ukrainian Hotel, Two Journalists Killed in Turkish Drone Strike in Iraqi Kurdistan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Suspends Campaign & Endorses Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Raises Record $540 Million in a Month, Trump's Bedminster Resort to Host Gala Honoring Jan. 6 Defendants, DOJ Sues RealPage for Helping Corporate Landlords Collude to Raise Rents, Felony Charges Tossed Against Two Former Cops Charged in Breonna Taylor Killing, Second Memphis Officer Pleads Guilty in Police Killing of Tyre Nichols, Sheriff's Deputy in Florida Charged in Connection to Killing of Airman Roger Fortson, French Authorities Detain CEO of Telegram Messaging App, Militant Group Kills Up to 200 in Burkina Faso, At Least 13 Migrants Die After Boat Sinks Near Yemen, Extinction Rebellion Protesters Block Norwegian Oil Terminal, Summer of Heat: Dozens of Climate Activists Arrested Outside Home of Citi CEO Jane Fraser, Federal Court Bars Biden Administration from Using Civil Rights Law to Block New Fossil Fuel Projects

Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, vowing in her speech to the Democratic National Convention to continue the Biden administration's tough line on immigration. While describing the United States as a nation of immigrants" and promising to reform our broken immigration system," Harris also said that, as president, she would revive a harsh border bill that Republicans blocked from passing this year that limits asylum rights, speeds up deportations and hires more border agents. The Biden administration implemented many parts of the border bill through executive action after Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers to vote it down. Our politics have been pushed so far to the right on immigration by Donald Trump that we have to fight back ... to realign our politics on immigration back to where they were just a few years ago," says Congressmember Greg Casar of Texas.

The city of Chicago, which hosted the 2024 Democratic convention, is home to the highest concentration of Palestinian Americans in the United States. In the suburbs of the city, residents of Bridgeview - known as Little Palestine" - have been hard hit by Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed over 40,200 Palestinians. We take a tour of Little Palestine, where Palestinian flags and signs reading Free Palestine" adorn many of the streets and businesses, and traditional pastry and coffee shops have colorful murals of Palestinian landscapes on their walls. And we speak with residents about how they are organizing against anti-Palestinian racism and pushing for an end to uncritical U.S. support for Israel.

Vice President Kamala Harris made history Thursday as the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated to lead a major party's presidential ticket. There are now just two-and-a-half months left before the November 5 election, when she will face Republican nominee Donald Trump at the polls. For more, we speak with two political organizers - Maurice Mitchell, national director for the Working Families Party, and Mohammed Khader, manager of policy and advocacy campaigns at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights - and with historian and activist Barbara Ransby.

The Democratic National Convention wrapped up in Chicago on Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepting the presidential nomination, capping a week of political showmanship and celebration for many party members. One of the things that struck me most was the level of choreographed mass spectacle of this convention that would be really worthy of Leni Riefenstahl," says Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez. He says Democrats and Republicans presented the two faces of American capitalism" at their respective conventions this summer, with the GOP home to white supremacist capitalism" while Democrats promote a multiracial neoliberal capitalism." He adds that despite the constant chants of U.S.A." throughout the week, the reality is that the United States has never been lower in its prestige and never more discredited around the world than it is today."

Vice President Kamala Harris made history Thursday as the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent in the United States to be nominated to lead a major party's presidential ticket. We speak with historian Barbara Ransby about two Black women pioneers who helped pave the way for her historic nomination: former Congressmember Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress who sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1972, and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who led the fight to desegregate the party's Southern delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Thousands of protesters marched on the DNC on Thursday night calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. Protesters rallied into the night as Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on the DNC stage. Demonstrators had planned to march toward the convention site but were blocked by hundreds of police in riot gear who forced the march to disperse. We hear from some of the protesters who took to the streets.

Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday after a four-day convention in Chicago where her campaign refused to allow a Palestinian American to take the stage to address Israel's war on Gaza. We hear Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, who was among the list of speakers offered by the Uncommitted National Movement that the Harris campaign rejected, reading the speech she would have given on the convention floor had the DNC and the Harris campaign allowed her onstage.

Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, making history as the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for president by a major party. Her ascent to the top of the Democratic Party comes just over a month after President Biden dropped out of the race. We play excerpts from her speech and speak with historian Barbara Ransby, who says that while the nomination breaks a barrier," it's important to note the contradictions," as well. "Yes, it breaks barriers. Yes, it is a historic moment in a certain sense. But we have to also talk about the gravity of this moment and the politics that Kamala Harris brings with her," says Ransby, who criticizes Harris for her pro-Israel policy and for refusing to let Palestinian Americans address the convention. I was glad to hear her mention the suffering of the Palestinian people, but, of course, it didn't ring true. It rang a little bit hollow, because the Biden administration could stop much of that suffering by not sending 2,000-pound bombs and $3 billion a year to the Israeli government."