Democracy Now!

Six days after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory remain without adequate food, water and fuel. But as the massive crisis became clear over the weekend, President Trump failed to weigh in, instead lashing out at sports players who joined in protest against racial injustice. It took the president five full days to respond, with comments that appeared to blame the island for its own misfortune. We examine the dire situation in Puerto Rico with Yarimar Bonilla, Puerto Rican scholar, who wrote in The Washington Post, "Why would anyone in Puerto Rico want a hurricane? Because someone will get rich." And we speak with Puerto Ricans in New York who have been unable to reach loved ones after nearly a week.

Puerto Rico: Millions Without Electricity, Water, Food & Fuel Six Days After Hurricane Maria, North Korean Foreign Minister Says Trump Has Declared War, Capitol Hill: 181 Arrested Protesting GOP Healthcare Bill, Which Appears to Be Dead, NBA Superstar LeBron James Celebrates Ongoing NFL Protests Against Racism, Amnesty Condemns Mass Iraqi Execution of 42 People, Millions of Iraqi Kurds Vote in Independence Referendum, HRW Report: U.S. Airstrikes on School and Market Killed 84 Civilians in March, Palestinian Killed 2 Israeli Security Guards & Israeli Cop at West Bank Settlement, Peru: Indigenous Achuar Seize Control of 50 Oil Wells to Protest Drilling in Amazon, Indonesia: 60,000 People Evacuated in Bali Ahead of Possible Volcano Eruption, NYT: Six Close Trump Aides Have Used Private Email Addresses for White House Work, Chelsea Manning Says She Was Blocked from Entering Canada, Texas: Appeals Court Allows Parts of Anti-Immigrant SB 4 Law to Take Effect, Alabama Voters Head to Polls for GOP Senate Runoff That Has Divided Bannon & Trump, Anthony Weiner Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for Sexting to Underage Girl, Georgia Slated to Execute Keith Tharpe Tonight, Despite Racial Bias of Juror

Amid increasing concern over chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head, a recent study of the brains of 111 deceased NFL players found all but one were found to have CTE. We speak with Dr. Harry Edwards, sociologist, author and sports activist, who says a consequence of CTE that is largely overlooked is the lack of alternative job opportunities for black players. We're also joined by Donté Stallworth, sports commentator and former NFL player who spent 10 years in the league.

As sports players join a growing movement of kneeling during the national anthem ahead of games to protest racial injustice, we get response from one of the advisers to the player who started it all, former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Dr. Harry Edwards, a longtime staff consultant with the San Francisco 49ers, says he hopes Kaepernick "will become a person of the year" and should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Edwards is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of "The Revolt of the Black Athlete," reissued this year for its 50th anniversary edition. He was the architect of the 1968 Olympic Project for Human Rights.

At a campaign rally in Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday evening, Trump lashed out at players who have joined a growing protest movement started by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick against racial injustice, kneeling during the national anthem ahead of games. We get response from former NFL player Donté Stallworth, who spent 10 years in the league and is now a sports commentator, who says, "We can't allow the president to hijack this conversation and make it all about him."

In the biggest display of athletic defiance in years, football teams across the nation protested President Donald Trump after he attacked the NFL, NBA and some of their most popular athletes for daring to draw attention to racism and police violence. We look at the unprecedented role of political activism among athletes under the Trump presidency and the politics of playing the national anthem at games. We speak with Dr. Harry Edwards, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of several books, including "The Revolt of the Black Athlete," reissued this year for its 50th anniversary edition. He was the architect of the 1968 Olympic Project for Human Rights and is a longtime staff consultant with the San Francisco 49ers. We're also joined by Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation magazine, who notes that playing the national anthem before games has a long and hallowed history that goes back to the days of "Jersey Shore" and Justin Bieber.

After Trump Attack, Sports Leagues Unite in Protest of Racism & Police Brutality, Puerto Rico: Thousands Evacuate Amid Fears of Dam Collapse After Maria, Mexico: Death Toll from Earthquake Tops 300 as 2 More Quakes Strike South, Trump Threatens North Korea; NK Foreign Minister Says Trump on "Suicide Mission", Trump Admin Issues New Order Expanding Travel Ban to Chad, North Korea & Venezuela, Republican Lawmakers Scramble as McCain Says He'll Oppose Healthcare Bill, Germany: Merkel Wins 4th Term; Right-Wing Party Wins 13% to Enter Parliament, Tensions Escalate One Week Ahead of Catalonia Independence Referendum, Iraqi Kurds Head to Polls for Kurdish Referendum Vote, U.S. Launches 6 Drone Strikes into Libya, Killing 17, Syrian-American Journalist & Her Mother, Syrian Opposition Activist, Assassinated in Turkey, France: Tens of Thousands Protest After Macron Signs Anti-Worker Laws, St. Louis: 22 Arrested Protesting Acquittal of Cop for Killing Anthony Lamar Smith, Howard University Students Disrupt FBI Director James Comey's Speech

Amid tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, 51 countries have signed the world's first legally binding treaty banning nuclear weapons. It prohibits the development, testing and possession of nuclear weapons, as well as using or threatening to use these weapons. It was first adopted in July by 122 U.N. member states, despite heavy U.S. opposition. None of the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons signed the measure, including Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. We speak with Susi Snyder, nuclear disarmament program manager for the Netherlands-based group PAX and author of the report "Don't Bank on the Bomb."

Thousands gathered Saturday to celebrate the life of legendary comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, who passed away last month at the age of 84. We feature some of the voices of those who gathered to remember him, including Rev. William Barber, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach; Rep. Maxine Waters; and children of civil rights legends, such as Martin Luther King III; Reena Evers, daughter of Medgar Evers; and Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X.

A major new investigation by Amnesty International reveals a bomb that killed 16 civilians in Yemen's capital last month was made in the U.S.A. Among the survivors was 5-year-old Buthaina, whose photograph went viral in the aftermath of the strike. She lost her entire family in the strike. Amnesty International’s arms expert analyzed remnants of the weapon and found clear markings that matched U.S.-made components used in laser-guided, air-dropped bombs. Coalition airstrikes continue to be the leading cause of child casualties, as well as overall civilian casualties. The latest finding by Amnesty comes as some European Union countries recently tabled a motion at the U.N. Human Rights Council calling for an independent inquiry into human rights abuses committed by all sides in the conflict. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has called the humanitarian crisis in Yemen an "entirely man-made catastrophe." We speak with Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA.

North Korea Threatens Pacific H-Bomb Test as U.S. Brings New Sanctions, Puerto Rico Under Curfew as Hurricane Maria Death Toll Rises to 32, Mexico: Earthquake Death Toll at 273 and Climbing, Iran Nuclear Deal Signatories Oppose U.S. Threatened Withdrawal, Iraq: Tens of Thousands Trapped in Hawija as U.S.-Backed Offensive Begins, Amnesty International: U.S.-Made Bomb Killed Yemeni Civilians, NYT: Trump Rolling Back Limits on Drone Strikes, Commando Raids, India: Muslims Protest Planned Mass Deportation of Rohingya Refugees, Bangladeshi PM Lays Out Plan for U.N.-Backed Repatriation of Rohingya, Indian Journalist Killed on the Job in Northeast State, Philippines: Mass Protests Oppose President Duterte's Authoritarianism, France: Unions March as President Macron Plans to Cut Labor Protections, Sen. Bernie Sanders to Debate Republican Authors of Healthcare Bill, Children of Interned Japanese Americans Oppose Trump Travel Ban, Ex-NFL Star Aaron Hernandez Had Severe CTE at Time of Suicide, Vice Media Workers Vote to Unionize, St. Louis: Protests Against Acquittal of White Police Officer Continue, Cornell University Black Students Protest Racist Incidents on Campus

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Burma, where more than 400,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority have fled the country after hundreds of their villages were burned to the ground. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has accused the Burmese government of waging a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. In the United States, there are increasing displays of anti-immigrant sentiment and anti-Semitism. In Palestine, the United Nations has warned the Gaza Strip has become uninhabitable. For more on concentration camps and anti-Semitism, we speak with journalist and author Andrea Pitzer. Her book has just been published, titled "One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps."

At the United Nations, President Trump's chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, said Monday the U.S. would withdraw from the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord as planned. His comments came as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said climate should be a top priority at this year's General Assembly. Our guest, economist Jeffrey Sachs, notes that the "agreement is completely symmetrical for all 193 countries," and also argues that chemical and oil companies should help pay for recovery efforts after extreme weather related to climate change.

President Trump's comments at the United Nations General Assembly urging the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal sounded familiar to our guest, Jeffrey Sachs. "The last time we had this kind of rhetoric was George W. Bush with the axis of evil," Sachs said. "It was immediately followed by the Iraq War, which was the most disastrous single step of American military action and 'diplomacy,' or anti-diplomacy, in modern times. So this is a setup, again, for war, for conflict. And it is extraordinarily ignorant and dangerous. Iran is in compliance with the agreement that was reached."

On Tuesday, President Trump gave his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, boasting about the size of the U.S. military and threatening to "totally destroy" North Korea. "[N]uclear war is a real threat," says Jeffrey Sachs, leading economist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. "It's not some idle imagination right now. You have two leaders—both seem unstable—yelling at each other. Both have nuclear arms."

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, bringing record rainfall and catastrophic flooding, destroying power lines and leaving the entire country in the dark. This comes as many homes on Puerto Rico were still dark two weeks after Hurricane Irma cut electricity to hundreds of thousands. The storm also raised concerns about potential environmental disasters. Puerto Rico is home to 23 Superfund sites, including on the island of Vieques, site of a former U.S. naval test range, which took a near-direct hit from the storm. It is also the site of a coal-fired power plant owned by the private company AES. Residents across the island have been demanding the plant be closed and that the company stop dumping toxic coal ash into their community, saying the waste is poisonous to their health and the environment. We speak with Emily Atkin, staff writer covering the environment at the New Republic, who writes, "Puerto Rico is Already an Environmental Tragedy. Hurricane Maria Will Make It Even Worse."

Mexico: Death Toll from Massive Earthquake Rises to 250 People, Hurricane Maria Knocks Out Power & Causes Catastrophic Flooding in Puerto Rico, Dozens of Countries Sign Landmark Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons at U.N., Iran Slams Trump for Threatening to Undo Nuclear Treaty, Trump Considering Resuming Suspended Military Aid to Egypt, Obama Slams Republicans' Latest Effort to Repeal Affordable Care Act, California Sues Trump over Border Wall, Togo: Hundreds of Thousands Demand President's Ouster and Term Limits, Spanish Officials Raid Catalan Offices in Crackdown on Independence Referendum, U.S.-Led Coalition Airstrikes Reportedly Kill Six Civilians on Syria-Iraq Border, Croatia Removes Billboards of Melania Trump After She Threatens Lawsuit, Scottie Nell Hughes Sues Fox, Alleging Fox Anchor Charles Payne Raped Her, ND Judges Trying to End Program Allowing Out-of-State Lawyer to Represent Water Protectors, Palestinian Activist Rasmea Odeh Deported from U.S. to Jordan

On Tuesday, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump railed against the Cuban government and said the U.S. would not lift its sanctions against Cuba. Trump has moved to reverse the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba and reimpose travel and trade restrictions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also said the U.S. may close the embassy over a host of unexplained health problems that embassy workers are suffering, including hearing loss and brain injury. The health problems appear to be caused by some form of sonic attack. Cuban officials deny any involvement in the apparent sonic attack and are cooperating with U.S. officials to investigate the incidents. We speak with José Pertierra, a Cuban attorney who represented the Venezuelan government in its efforts to extradite Luis Posada Carriles. We also speak with Jeri Rice, director of the film "Embargo," a new documentary about U.S.-Cuba relations premiering this week in New York.

A humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in Burma, where more than 400,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority have fled the country to escape a brutal Burmese military operation. According to Human Rights Watch, tens of thousands of Rohingya homes have been burned to the ground. Some 214 Rohingya villages in Burma have been destroyed. Before-and-after satellite photos distributed by Human Rights Watch reveal that wide swaths of Rakhine state have been destroyed in recent weeks. Last week, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein accused the Burmese government of waging a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations General Assembly to condemn the Burmese military operation. Meanwhile, Burmese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now Burma's de facto president, is facing mounting criticism for her handling of the violence. Last year, she attended the United Nations General Assembly as Burma's much-esteemed new civilian leader. This year, she has refrained from attending the gathering, choosing to avoid questions about the Burmese military's crackdown on the Rohingya. During a nationally televised speech on Tuesday, Suu Kyi refused to blame the military or address the U.N.'s accusation of ethnic cleansing. We speak with Azeem Ibrahim, author of the book "The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar's Hidden Genocide." He's a senior fellow at the Center for Global Policy.

Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump administration officials spent Tuesday on Capitol Hill lobbying Republican senators to support the latest healthcare plan, known as the Graham-Cassidy bill, named after its main architects, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The last-ditch effort by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has to be done by September 30, when a deadline allowing the Senate to pass the legislation by a simple majority expires. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the bill would cause many millions of people to lose coverage, gut Medicaid, eliminate or weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions and increase out-of-pocket healthcare costs to individuals, all while showering tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans. The New York Times editorial board wrote on Tuesday, "It is hard to overstate the cruelty of the Graham-Cassidy bill." We speak with Alice Ollstein, a politics reporter at Talking Points Memo focusing on healthcare. Her recent piece is titled "Where Things Stand with the Senate's Last-Ditch Obamacare Repeal Push."

In the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria struck the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico this morning as a major Category 4 storm—the most powerful hurricane to make landfall there since 1928. The landfall on Puerto Rico came after Maria lashed the U.S. Virgin Islands and devastated the island of Dominica, causing what the country's prime minister called "mind-boggling" devastation. For more, we speak with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González.

In Mexico, a massive 7.1-magnitude quake struck 100 miles southeast of Mexico City Tuesday, collapsing dozens of buildings around the capital city and trapping schoolchildren, workers and residents beneath the rubble. At least 217 people are dead, and hundreds more are missing. Among the dead are least 21 students at a primary school in Mexico City and 15 worshipers who died during a Catholic mass when the earthquake triggered an eruption at a volcano southeast of the city. The disaster struck just hours after residents participated in an earthquake preparedness drill marking the 32nd anniversary of a 1985 earthquake that killed 5,000 people. Tuesday's quake follows another earthquake less than two weeks ago, which killed at least 90 people and leveled thousands of homes after it struck near the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca. We speak with Laura Carlsen, director of the Mexico City-based Americas Program of the Center for International Policy.

Massive Earthquake Rattles Mexico City, Killing at Least 217, Hurricane Maria Strikes Puerto Rico as Dangerous Category 4 Storm, In U.N. Speech, President Trump Threatens North Korea, Iran and Venezuela, Senate Approves Record-Shattering $700 Billion Pentagon Spending Bill, Syria: Hospitals Bombed in Idlib; Mosque Destroyed in Raqqa, Nigeria Cholera Epidemic Adds to Global Spread of the Disease, Burmese Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Denies Reported Ethnic Cleansing, Turkish President: Trump Apologized for Indictments Against Guards Who Beat Protesters, Equifax Confirms Another Data Breach Exposed Employee Tax Information, Three Lawmakers Among 10 Arrested at DACA Protest Outside Trump Tower

This past weekend, a surprising gathering took place at President Trump's childhood home in Queens, New York. The home is now an Airbnb. On Saturday, the international humanitarian and development organization Oxfam America rented out the home for refugees to spend the day there sharing their stories of home, resistance and life in the United States. This comes as The New York Times reports that President Trump is now considering whether to further reduce the number of refugees allowed into the United States to fewer than 50,000. For more, we speak with Eiman Ali, a refugee whose family fled Somalia in the 1990s and eventually settled in the United States. She spent this weekend inside Trump's childhood home in Queens. We also speak with Isra Chaker, the refugee campaign leader for Oxfam America.

On Monday, six recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program sued the Trump administration in a San Francisco federal court over its plans to rescind the program. The lawsuit argues the Trump administration failed to follow proper administrative procedures in rescinding DACA and that revoking the program violates due process laws. DACA was instituted by the Obama administration in 2012 after years of sustained grassroots organizing by young undocumented students. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have also sued the Trump administration over its plans to end DACA. We speak with one of the six plaintiffs, Dulce Garcia, an immigration lawyer who regularly defends other immigrants in court in California. She's been living in the United States since her family immigrated from Mexico when she was four years old.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration plans to rescind the DACA program—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program. DACA gives nearly 800,000 young people the legal right to live and work in the United States. President Trump and Democratic Party leaders are now attempting to strike a deal to protect DREAMers. Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi met with President Trump at the White House for a meeting aimed at enshrining the protections of DACA into law. After the meeting, Trump said any potential deal would rely on also approving "massive border security." On Monday morning, dozens of undocumented activists and their allies shouted down Congressmember Pelosi during her news conference, accusing her of using DREAMers as "bargaining chips" in her meeting with Trump. The protesters demanded protections not only for DREAMers, but for all 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. We speak with Congressmember Luis Gutiérrez, Democrat of Illinois. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee and the co-chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Category 5 Hurricane Maria Threatens Storm-Ravaged Caribbean, U.N. Leader Gives Climate Warning as U.S. Continues Exit from Paris Agreement, At U.N., President Trump Threatens Venezuela, Plans Military Parade, Sen. John McCain to Support New Republican Obamacare Repeal Effort, DREAMers Sue the Trump Administration in Bid to Save DACA, Immigration Activists Disrupt Event Held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, CNN: Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Was Wiretapped, Nigeria: Suicide Attack in Borno State Kills 12, Indian Government Moves to Deport Rohingya Refugees Amid Ethnic Cleansing, Interior Department Plans to Shrink 10 National Monuments, Trump Admin Moves to Open Alaskan Refuge to Oil and Gas Drilling, Georgia Tech Students Protest Police Shooting of LGBTQIA Group's President

Last week, Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill that would provide universal healthcare by expanding Medicare to include every American. Sanders introduced the bill flanked by doctors, nurses and some of the bill's 15 Democratic co-sponsors. For more, we're joined by best-selling author Naomi Klein.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has tapped the former head of U.S. operations for oil giant Shell to lead Houston's post-Hurricane Harvey recovery effort. Marvin Odum was the chair of Shell for eight years. He retired in 2016. Hurricane Harvey killed at least 82 people, flooded thousands of homes and destroyed billions of dollars of property. It also caused widespread environmental contamination, triggering a half-million-gallon gasoline spill and the release of up to 5 million pounds of pollutants into the air. For more, we speak with best-selling author and journalist Naomi Klein.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly. Climate change is expected to be high on the agenda at this year's gathering. As the world leaders meet, another major storm—Hurricane Maria—is gaining strength in the Caribbean and following a similar path as Hurricane Irma. The current forecast shows Maria could hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm as early as Wednesday. The U.S. Virgin Islands, which were devastated by Irma, also appear to be in line to be hit by Maria. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that the Trump administration is considering staying in the Paris climate agreement, just months after the president vowed to pull out of it. The White House denied the report. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday signaled Trump may stay in the Paris accord, but National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster gave a different message on Fox News Sunday. We speak with best-selling author Naomi Klein, a senior correspondent for The Intercept. Her most recent book, "No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need," has been longlisted for a National Book Award.

U.N. General Assembly Opens This Week in New York City, Trump Admin Issues Conflicting Information About Paris Climate Deal, Ex-Head of U.S. Operations for Shell to Lead Houston's Harvey Recovery, U.S. to Expand Green Zone in Kabul—and U.S. War in Afghanistan, Yemen: Residents Say 12 Civilians Killed in U.S.-Backed, Saudi-Led Strike, Trump Admin Considering Closing U.S. Embassy in Cuba, St. Louis: Massive Protests Erupt over Acquittal of White Ex-Cop for Murder of Anthony Lamar Smith, Trump Retweets Doctored Video of Him Hitting Hillary Clinton with Golf Ball, Spanish Authorities Seize 1M Fliers in Crackdown Against Catalan Referendum, Bangladesh: Authorities Restrict Rohingya Refugees' Movements, Mexico: Thousands Protest Femicide After Young Woman's Murder, ISIS Claims Responsibility for London Subway Bombing, Facebook Turns Over Info on Russian Election Ads to Special Counsel Mueller, Trump Mocked at Emmys as Donald Glover, Riz Ahmed & Lena Waithe Make History

We turn to the devastating floods in South Asia, where more than 41 million people have been battling floods and displacement. More than 1,300 people have died in Bangladesh, India and Nepal in recent months, after the region was hit by the worst flooding in at least 40 years. Some 40 million more people have seen their homes, businesses or crops destroyed. In the coming decade, devastating floods are expected to increase as changing weather patterns worsen risks in the region, climate researchers say. Flooding accounted for 47 percent of all weather-related global disasters between 1995 and 2015, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said in a report. Of the 2.3 billion people affected, 95 percent were in Asia. We speak with David Molden, the director general of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, Nepal. The group works in eight countries across South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan

Hurricane Irma made landfall in the U.S. Virgin Islands as a Category 5 storm just over one week ago, knocking out electricity and running water, and cutting off communications with the outside world. Now, Governor Kenneth Mapp says the islands of Saint John and Saint Thomas are still nearly entirely without power. The hurricane also destroyed schools and the main hospital on Saint Thomas. The devastation was so extensive, it can be seen from space. Earlier this week, a U.S. military amphibious ship arrived on Saint Thomas ladened with equipment and supplies. The islands have also received emergency aid from residents of the nearby island of Puerto Rico, where volunteers banded together to collect supplies and transport them on dozens of ships. But while Hurricane Irma hit the U.S. Virgin Islands days before it made landfall on the Florida Keys, the Virgin Islands have been largely forgotten in the wall-to-wall U.S. media coverage of the storm. And that omission is even more striking given that the U.S. Virgin Islands are in the midst of celebrating their centennial as U.S. territory. We speak with Saint Thomas native Tiphanie Yanique, award-winning poet and novelist. She's an associate professor in the English Department at Wesleyan University and the author of the poetry collection "Wife" and the novel "Land of Love and Drowning."

Authorities in Florida have obtained a search warrant to investigate the deaths of eight elderly residents at a nursing home in Hollywood in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The victims ranged in age from 71 to 99 years old. They died in the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills after a transformer was knocked out following the hurricane, causing the nursing home's air conditioning unit to shut down. Authorities say that the administrators of the nursing home were aware that the air conditioning unit had failed, and that they installed fans and portable air coolers inside the facility. But the remedies did little to protect the residents from the sweltering heat. At 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning, one nursing home resident was rushed to the emergency room of Memorial Regional Hospital, a Level I trauma center just down the street. By 5 a.m., when the hospital received a third rescue call, some hospital workers went down the street to check on the nursing home. They found a situation so critical, the hospital sent in more than 50 medical workers under a mass casualty protocol. At least 150 people were evacuated, many with severe dehydration and other heat-related symptoms. We speak with Dale Ewart, vice president of 1199SEIU, the United Healthcare Workers East union. We also speak with Stephen Hobbs, a reporter for the Sun Sentinel who has been covering the eight deaths.

North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan, Prompting New Sanctions Threats, London: At Least 22 Injured by Bomb Left in Subway, Iraq: ISIS Claims Attacks in Nasiriyah That Kill 84, Injure Nearly 100, Trump Sows Confusion over Agreement on Young Undocumented Immigrants, Arizona: Motel 6 Workers Gave Guest Names to Immigration Agents, Indian Widow of Hate Crime Victim Loses U.S. Visa, ICE Agents Make Arrests at Brooklyn Courthouse, Trump Again Claims Both Sides to Blame for Charlottesville Violence, Trump Exempts Iran from Nuclear-Related Sanctions—For Now, Mexico: 2.5 Million in Need of Aid Due to Massive Earthquake, Following Hurricane, Barbuda Uninhabited for First Time in 3 Centuries, U.S. Virgin Islands at Risk of Bankruptcy Amid Hurricane Devastation, Amnesty: Burma Behind "Scorched Earth" Campaign Against Rohingya, Senate Leader McConnell Opposes Resolution to Shield Rohingya, Brazilian President Michel Temer Faces New Corruption Charges, Greece: Sunken Tanker Leaks Oil into Sea and onto Beaches Near Athens, Harvard Rescinds Chelsea Manning's Fellowship After CIA Director Protests, North Carolina: Derricka Banner Becomes 20th Trans Person Murdered in 2017

Last week, Roger Waters wrote a piece in The New York Times titled "Congress Shouldn't Silence Human Rights Advocates." In the op-ed, Waters criticized a bill being considered in the Senate to silence supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel. The bill seeks to criminalize individuals who participate in the BDS effort. We speak to Waters and Sut Jhally of the Media Education Foundation. We also discuss criticism of the BDS movement and ask Waters about his public spat with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, whose band has rejected calls to join BDS.

We continue our conversation with legendary British musician Roger Waters, founding member of the iconic rock band Pink Floyd. Waters is the narrator of a recent documentary titled "The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in the United States." We air clips from the film and speak to Roger Waters and Sut Jhally, professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts and founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation, which produced the documentary.

Today we spend the hour with the world-famous British musician Roger Waters, founding member of the iconic rock band Pink Floyd. In recent years, he has become one of the most prominent musicians supporting BDS, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. Waters is scheduled to play Friday and Saturday in Long Island, despite attempts by Nassau County officials to shut down the concerts citing a local anti-BDS bill. Despite this, Roger Waters has continued to speak out. Last week, he wrote a piece in The New York Times titled "Congress Shouldn't Silence Human Rights Advocates." In the op-ed, he criticized a bill being considered in the Senate to silence supporters of BDS. Roger Waters joined us in the studio on Wednesday.

Democrats Claim Breakthrough Deal with Trump over Young Immigrants, Caribbean Hurricane Damage is So Severe, It's Visible from Space, U.S. Hurricane Death Toll Rises as 8 Found Dead in Sweltering Nursing Home, Western U.S. Wildfires Scorch 8 Million Acres, Stevie Wonder Calls Climate Deniers Either "Blind or Unintelligent", Sen. Bernie Sanders and 15 Co-Sponsors Introduce Medicare-for-All Bill, White House Asks ESPN to Fire Anchor Who Called Trump a White Supremacist, Congress Sends Trump Resolution Condemning White Supremacist Violence, Trump Meets Only Black Republican Senator over Charlottesville Comments, Anti-Racist Protesters Unveil Banner at Boston Red Sox Game, Afghanistan: ISIS Claims Suicide Attack Killing 3 Near Cricket Match, U.N. Security Council Condemns Burmese Violence Against Rohingya

As the nation marks the 16th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, questions still swirl about the role of Saudi Arabia in the attacks. The 9/11 attack was carried out by 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were from Saudi Arabia. Sixteen years after the attacks, 9/11 families and survivors are continuing their efforts to take Saudi Arabia to trial. Just this week, the New York Post reported new evidence presented in the case alleging the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., funded a "dry run" of 9/11 two years before the attacks. The families' lawyers say the new allegations offer "a pattern of both financial and operational support" by the Saudi government. We speak with Andrew Cockburn, whose latest piece is headlined "Crime and Punishment: Will the 9/11 case finally go to trial?"

President Donald Trump's so-called election integrity commission held its second meeting on Tuesday in Manchester, New Hampshire, even as it faces a series of lawsuits and calls for the resignation of its vice chair, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. President Trump convened the commission to look into his allegations of voter fraud during the 2016 presidential election. But many voting rights advocates worry that the commission aims to lay the groundwork for a nationwide voter suppression effort. At Tuesday's contentious meeting, the witness list was comprised of 100 percent white men, including the far-right pro-gun activist John Lott Jr., who proposed requiring voters to first pass a background check. We speak with Ari Berman, senior reporter at Mother Jones. His recent article is titled "Lawsuits, Falsehoods, and a Lot of White Men: Trump's Election Commission Meets Amid Growing Controversy." We also speak with Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The organization has filed a complaint against Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is slated to introduce universal healthcare legislation today, aimed at expanding Medicare coverage to include every American. In a New York Times op-ed published today, Sanders wrote, "This is a pivotal moment in American history. Do we, as a nation, join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee comprehensive health care to every person as a human right? Or do we maintain a system that is enormously expensive, wasteful and bureaucratic, and is designed to maximize profits for big insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street and medical equipment suppliers?" Fifteen senators have already signed on as co-sponsors. The introduction of the Medicare for All Act comes after Republicans repeatedly failed to push through their legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The Republicans' efforts sparked sustained grassroots protests, led by disability activists and healthcare professionals. We speak with Michael Lighty, director of public policy for National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association. National Nurses United has long advocated for a Medicare-for-all system.

Sen. Bernie Sanders to Introduce "Medicare for All" Healthcare Bill, Caribbean Hurricane Survivors: "We're Running Out of Water", 90 Percent of Florida Keys Buildings Damaged by Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Harvey "Toxic Soup" Contains E. Coli, Heavy Metals, China to Evacuate Hundreds of Thousands as Twin Typhoons Approach, Trump Adviser Says Climate Change is Real, Won't State Its Cause, NYT: Trump Admin Might Lower Refugee Quota Below 50,000, Hope Hicks Named White House Communications Director, Hong Kong Protesters to Steve Bannon: "Nazis are Not Welcome Here", Saudi Arabia: Death Sentence Imminent for Man Tortured over Protests, Saudi Arabia Clears Itself over Yemen Civilian Deaths, Rohingya Refugees Warn of Shortages as U.N. Says 370,000 Have Fled Burma, Trump Admin Won't Charge Baltimore Officers over Freddie Gray's Death, Seattle Mayor Resigns Amid Child Molestation Accusations, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Wins Democratic Primary, Marriage Equality Activist Edie Windsor Dies at 88

We end today's show in Houston, Texas, two weeks after Hurricane Harvey caused historic flooding and left residents to coordinate with each other to rescue thousands of people who were left stranded when officials were overwhelmed. Now that volunteer spirit of mutual aid has continued in the storm's aftermath. We air a report from Renée Feltz on how many Houstonians have formed decentralized networks to clean out flooded homes, feed thousands who lost everything, and offer much-needed counseling.

"A Storm of Silence." That's the title of a new report by the watchdog group Public Citizen that looks at the media's failure to discuss climate change in its wall-to-wall hurricane coverage. While all the television networks commented on the magnitude of Hurricane Harvey and "extreme weather," virtually none explained how warmer ocean temperatures lead to heavier winds, warmer air causes more precipitation, and higher sea levels exacerbate storm surges. The report examined 18 media sources' coverage of Hurricane Harvey—looking at 10 major newspapers, three weekly news magazines and national programming from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox News over the course of eight days' worth of Hurricane Harvey coverage. The report concludes, "Many failed to discuss the issue [of climate change] much or failed to cover important aspects of it. ... Two of the three major broadcast networks, ABC and NBC, did not mention climate change at all in the context of Hurricane Harvey." We speak to David Arkush, managing director of Public Citizen's Climate Program.

FEMA Administrator Brock Long is traveling today to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to see firsthand the damage caused by Hurricane Irma. In Puerto Rico, 300,000 remain without power—despite the fact that the island was barely hit by the storm. Authorities have warned parts of Puerto Rico could be without electricity for up to six months, in part due to the island's economic crisis. We speak with Juan González about how U.S.-imposed austerity and divestment are contributing to the electricity crisis after Irma.

One of the Caribbean islands hardest hit by Hurricane Irma was Cuba, where 10 people died. Irma hit Cuba's northern coast as a Category 5 storm. It was the deadliest hurricane in Cuba since 2005, when 16 people died in Hurricane Dennis. Cuba has long been viewed as a world leader in hurricane preparedness and recovery. According to the Center for International Policy, a person is 15 times as likely to be killed by a hurricane in the United States as in Cuba. Meanwhile, Cuba has already sent more than 750 health workers to Antigua, Barbuda, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Saint Lucia, the Bahamas, Dominica and Haiti. For more, we speak with Elizabeth Newhouse, director of the Center for International Policy's Cuba Project. She has taken numerous delegations from the U.S. to Cuba to see how the Cubans manage disaster preparedness.

13 Million Remain Without Power in Florida as Residents Survey Irma Damage, Texas: Harvey Triggered Spill of a Half-Million Gallons of Gasoline, "Man is Stupid": Pope Francis Slams Climate Change Deniers, U.N. Security Council Imposes New Sanctions on North Korea, Tillerson Moves to Eliminate Job of Envoy Tasked with Closing Guantánamo, Bannon: Trump's Decision to Fire Comey was Biggest Political Mistake in Modern History, WSJ: Trump Lawyers Recommended Kushner Step Down over Russia Ties, One Million March in Barcelona to Demand Independence for Catalonia, France: Nationwide Protests over Macron's Plans to Roll Back Labor Protections, Brazil: Gold Miners Reportedly Murdered & Dismembered Members of Indigenous Tribe, India: Month-Long Caravan Highlights Rise of Lynchings of Muslims and Dalits, Egypt: 18 Police Officers Killed in ISIS Attack in Sinai Peninsula, Supreme Court Lifts Restrictions on Trump's Travel Ban, Affecting 24,000 Refugees, NH: Family Says 8-Year-Old Biracial Boy Survived Being Hung from Tree in Attempted Lynching, Plano, TX: 8 Dead in Deadliest Incident of Domestic Violence in Town's History

In Mexico, the death toll from Thursday's devastating 8.2-magnitude earthquake has risen to 90 people as rescue teams continue to search through the rubble in parts of the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. Over the weekend, journalist Andalusia Knoll spoke to survivors from the earthquake in Juchitán, Oaxaca, which was the city hardest hit by the earthquake.

The death toll from Hurricane Irma has reached at least 27 in the Caribbean. The numbers are expected to rise as rescuers reach the hardest-hit areas. Irma destroyed major parts of several Caribbean islands, including Barbuda and Saint Martin. Cuba also suffered major flooding in Havana and other cities, but there were no reported deaths. The entrepreneur Richard Branson has called for a "Disaster Recovery Marshall Plan" for the Caribbean. Cuba has already sent more than 750 health workers to Antigua, Barbuda, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Saint Lucia, the Bahamas, Dominica and Haiti. While Haiti avoided a direct hit from Irma, the hurricane still caused substantial damage in a country still recovering from the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew last year. Hurricane Irma displaced more than 100,000 Haitians and destroyed crops in the north of the country. We are joined here in New York by Kim Ives, an editor at Haïti Liberté.