Democracy Now!

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.

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."