Democracy Now!

President Trump and House Republicans have unveiled their long-promised proposal to reform America's tax code, with Trump calling it a "big, beautiful Christmas present" for the American people. Critics say the gift is a tax cut for the richest Americans. We discuss the proposal with economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who argues, "It's an out-and-out class war waged against the poorest, the weakest, the disenfranchised—the very same people that Donald Trump appealed to in order to get elected."

As the White House finally agrees to release FEMA disaster aid with more flexibility to try to help rebuild Puerto Rico's devastated power grid and other infrastructure, we speak with economist Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister, about the history of the island's debt crisis and what to do as it recovers from Hurricane Maria.

Six weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, millions of residents are still living without safe drinking water and electricity. Health experts say the storm's massive damage to Puerto Rico's water system is threatening to cause a public health crisis, as more and more people are exposed to contaminated water. Over the weekend, Democracy Now! was in Puerto Rico, and we traveled about three hours into Puerto Rico's mountainous highland region in the interior of the island in order to look at the ways austerity has exacerbated the crisis caused by Hurricane Maria.

Catalan Ministers Jailed on Charges of Rebellion & Sedition over Independence Vote, Republicans Unveil Tax Bill That Would Shower Billions upon Rich, ISIS Claims Responsibility for NYC Attack, Sessions Demands Tech Companies Turn Over Encrypted Communications, Pope Francis Warns the World Is Headed "Forcefully into War", Donna Brazile: DNC Struck Unethical Deal with Clinton During Election Campaign, On Final Day of Work, Twitter Employee Deactivates Trump's Twitter Account, The New Republic's Publisher Hamilton Fish & Longtime Editor Leon Wieseltier Accused of Sexual Harassment, SEIU Ousts Two Top Staffers over Sexual Harassment Accusations, Robert Mercer Steps Down from Company After Backlash over His Ties to Breitbart, Bannon, U.N.: Humanitarian Crisis Escalates at Closed Australian Refugee Detention Center on Manus Island, Notre Dame to Stop Covering Birth Control for Professors, Staff & Students, Billionaire Shuts Down Gothamist and DNAinfo a Week After Newsrooms Vote to Unionize

Sayfullo Saipov, the alleged assailant in the Tuesday attack that killed at least eight people in New York City, is an immigrant from Uzbekistan, a country that is now the focus of much attention, with some in the media calling it a hotbed of Islamist terror. We go to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to speak with Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch. We're also joined by Edward Lemon, postdoctoral fellow at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University.

We look at how the treatment of Muslims and how the phrase "Allahu akbar" is used in the media after so-called terror attacks, like the one in New York City, with Farhana Khera, the executive director of Muslim Advocates.

Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect in the New York City attack that left eight people dead, is an immigrant from Uzbekistan who entered the United States in 2010 through the diversity visa lottery program. Now President Trump has called for a crackdown on immigration, telling Congress to cancel the program. We speak with Yolanda Rondon, staff attorney with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who argues that blaming the visa program "scapegoats the vulnerable, which always happens to be immigrants under this administration."

In the deadliest terror attack on New York City since September 11, 2001, Sayfullo Saipov is accused of carrying out a relatively low-tech plan to kill people when he drove a rented Home Depot truck down a bicycle path, striking pedestrians and bicyclists, then crashing into a school bus. "With low-tech attacks, I think people tend to look at them and throw up their hands and think, 'What can we do if someone's using knives or driving a car into a crowd?' But the reality is, we can do a lot to make ourselves harder targets," says Shayana Kadidal, senior managing attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. He outlines calls by transportation advocates to install barriers that keep cars from being able to drive onto bike and pedestrian paths.

After Sayfullo Saipov reportedly drove a rented Home Depot truck down a bike path along Manhattan's Hudson River, killing multiple people before crashing into a school bus, President Trump called for his execution and said he would consider sending him to Guantánamo Bay. We get response from Shayana Kadidal, senior managing attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, who says Trump wouldn't be talking about sending the alleged attacker to Guantánamo Bay "if [Saipov] weren't a Muslim guy with a beard."

Trump Calls for Death Penalty for Suspect in New York City Attack, Trump Called Justice System "Laughingstock," Then White House Claims Otherwise, WH Press Secretary Refuses to Answer Whether Trump Thinks Slavery is Wrong, U.S. Votes Against U.N. Resolution to End Embargo on Cuba, Further Rolling Back Relations, Trump to Nominate Multimillionaire Banker Jerome Powell to Chair Federal Reserve, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon Resigns over Sexual Harassment Claims, Multiple Women Accuse Renowned Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan of Rape, Three Dartmouth Professors Placed on Paid Leave over Sexual Harassment Accusations, Dustin Hoffman Apologizes After Accusations He Touched 17-Year-Old Without Consent, NPR's Michael Oreskes Resigns over Accusations of Sexual Assault, Six Women Accuse Filmmaker Brett Ratner of Sexual Harassment and Assault, Matt Taibbi Apologizes for 2000 Book That Boasts of Sexual Harassment, Says It was Satire Not Memoir, Eritrea: Opposition Groups Say Security Forces Killed 28 People at Protest, India: Explosion at Coal-Fired Power Plant Kills 26 People, Three Killed in Mass Shooting in Colorado, White Student Arrested & Charged with Hate Crime After Harassing Black Roommate, Musician, Author & Environmental Activist Katie Lee Dies at 98

As a federal judge blocks part of President Trump's transgender military ban, we speak with a trans former marine who is challenging the ban, and look at how six active-duty transgender servicemembers sued the Trump administration. We speak with Z Shane Zaldivar, a former marine and community advocate, and Jennifer Levi, director of GLAD's Transgender Rights Project. She is the lead attorney in Doe v. Trump, the first case filed against President Trump’s transgender military ban.

While in Puerto Rico this past weekend, Democracy Now! spoke to Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, the head of UTIER, the electrical workers' union in Puerto Rico, about Elon Musk's proposal to make Puerto Rico the model of sustainable energy. We also visited the Casa Sol Bed and Breakfast in San Juan, which runs entirely on solar power.

We look at the recovery of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, which dominated a Senate hearing Tuesday and was supposed to be the focus of another hearing in the House today, before it was canceled. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz was set to testify at the hearing alongside FEMA chief Brock Long. Earlier Tuesday, Long testified before the Senate that his agency had nothing to do with approving the controversial $300 million no-bid contract with Whitefish Energy, a tiny company based in the Montana hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Meanwhile, Democracy Now!'s Juan González says other companies are moving in to privatize other services on the island, such as the public water utility.

We look at shocking revelations released Tuesday that link the assassination of renowned Honduran indigenous environmental leader Berta Cáceres to the highest levels of the company whose hydroelectric dam project she and her indigenous Lenca community were protesting. We speak with New York Times reporter Elisabeth Malkin, who has read the new report by a team of five international lawyers who found evidence that the plot to kill Cáceres went up to the top of the Honduran energy company behind the dam, Desarrollos Energéticos, known as "DESA." The lawyers were selected by Cáceres's daughter Bertha Zúniga and are independent of the Honduran government's ongoing official investigation. They examined some 40,000 pages of text messages. The investigation also revealed DESA exercised control over security forces in the area, issuing directives and paying for police units' room, board and equipment.

NYC: 8 Dead and 11 More Wounded in Attack Officials Are Calling Act of Terror, Up to 8 Dead After ISIS Bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, NYT: U.S. Military Redacts Key Statistics in Report on Afghan Security Forces, Yemen: U.S.-Backed, Saudi-Led Airstrike Kills 26 Civilians in Hotel and Market, Lawmakers Question Facebook, Twitter over Russian Ads Ahead of U.S. Election, Mueller Widens His Investigation, Planning to Interview Current WH Officials, Historians Slam John Kelly for Claiming "Lack of Ability to Compromise" Led to Civil War, Israel Blocked Amnesty's Raed Jarrar from Entering Occupied West Bank, Iraq: Kurdish Journalist Arkan Sharif Assassinated, Danish Inventor Admits to Dismembering Journalist Kim Wall, Peru: Beauty Pageant Contestants Protest Violence Against Women by Reciting Murder Statistics Instead of Bust Sizes, NBC Fires Mark Halperin & NPR Suspends Michael Oreskes over Sexual Harassment, Utah Nurse Wins Settlement After Arrest for Refusing to Draw Blood from Unconscious Man, New Jersey Sues Purdue Pharma, Maker of OxyContin, over Opioid Crisis

We continue our coverage of Puerto Rico, where United Nations experts are warning of "alarming" conditions, now more than five weeks after Hurricane Maria. This weekend, the Democracy Now! team traveled to the island, and on Friday afternoon we sat down with Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz for an extended interview about how Hurricane Maria had changed Puerto Rico since it struck the island on September 20, Trump's attacks and her vision for the future.

Democracy Now! goes to Puerto Rico, where the FBI is investigating the $300 million contract between Puerto Rico's electric power company and the tiny Montana-based company Whitefish, named for the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. "It truly is unnerving that people can just swindle, swindle an entire population when they are at their most vulnerable," says San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. We also speak with Vice Mayor Rafael Jaume about the Whitefish contract.

President Donald Trump's former campaign chair Paul Manafort and his former business associate Rick Gates surrendered to the FBI, after being indicted on charges that include money laundering, acting as unregistered agents of Ukraine's former pro-Russian government and conspiracy against the United States. The White House said the indictments have nothing to do with the president's 2016 campaign. However, Trump stopped tweeting yesterday after his former campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. We speak with Marcy Wheeler, who in a new piece writes, "George Papadopoulos's Indictment is Very, Very Bad News for Attorney General Jeff Sessions."

Trump Associates Charged as Special Counsel Reveals First Indictments, Tillerson, Mattis Ask Lawmakers for Authorization to Attack Anytime, Anyplace, Federal Court Halts Trump's Ban on Transgender Military Service, Syria: U.N. Convoy Delivers Aid to Starving Syrians in Damascus Suburb, Israel Bombs Gaza Tunnel, Killing 8 Palestinians, In Brussels, Catalan Leader Vows to Continue Independence Fight, Kenyan President Kenyatta Claims Victory in Disputed Revote, U.S. Navy Investigating Navy SEALs over Murder of Green Beret in Mali, France: Protesters Disrupt Roman Polanski Event over Sex Crimes Charges, Thousands of French Women March Against Sexual Assault in #MeToo Protests, Netflix Cancels "House of Cards" Amid Kevin Spacey Sexual Assault Allegations, Carbon Dioxide at Record Level Ahead of U.N. Climate Talks in Bonn, Amnesty International Joins Call to End Immigrant Family Detentions, ACLU Calls for Release of 10-Year-Old Girl Detained by ICE After Surgery

Tensions continue to mount between the United States and North Korea, after U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis's week-long visit to Asia and ahead of Trump's 12-day visit later this week. Mattis emphasized a diplomatic resolution to the standoff between the two countries, but warned that the U.S. would not accept a nuclear North Korea. Congressional Democrats are pushing legislation that would prevent President Trump from launching a preemptive strike against North Korea. We speak with Christine Ahn, founder and executive director of Women Cross DMZ, a global movement of women mobilizing to end the Korean War.

Democracy Now! has just returned from Puerto Rico, where we interviewed Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, head of the Puerto Rico electrical workers' union, just as the island's governor announced he was instructing the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA, to cancel its controversial $300 million contract with the tiny Montana-based company Whitefish Energy. The move came after enormous pressure and scrutiny of the contract to reconstruct Puerto Rico's electrical power grid devastated by Hurricane Maria. Whitefish Energy is based in the tiny hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The head of the private equity company that backs Whitefish, Joe Colonnetta, was a Trump campaign donor. All of this comes as a leaked copy of the contract sparked even further outrage last week, when it revealed that the terms barred penalties for work delays and prohibited the project from being audited.

Spanish prosecutors say they will seek charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement against ousted Catalan Cabinet officials. This comes after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced his Cabinet had fired Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and dissolved the region's Parliament, just after Catalonia's regional Parliament voted Friday for independence by a margin of 70 votes to 10. On Sunday, tens of thousands of pro-unity demonstrators waved Spanish, Catalan and European Union flags on the streets of Barcelona. We are joined by John Carlin, a journalist and contributor to the Spanish newspaper El País until two weeks ago, when he was fired for writing an article in The Times of London headlined "Catalan independence: arrogance of Madrid explains this chaos."

Former Trump Campaign Chair and Associate Arrested in Russia Probe, Russian Lawyer Who Met Trump Campaign Had Kremlin Talking Points, Pentagon Chief Threatens "Overwhelming" U.S. Attack on North Korea, Vice President Pence: "No Greater Force for Peace" Than U.S. Nuclear Arsenal, Somalia: Attack on Mogadishu Hotel Kills 29, Wounds 30+, Spanish Government Seizes Control of Catalonia After Independence Declaration, Puerto Rico to Cancel $300 Million No-Bid Contract to Whitefish Energy, Rose McGowan Says She Rejected $1M Hush-Money Payoff over Weinstein Charges, More Women Accuse Former President George H.W. Bush of Sexual Assault, White House Says 16 Women Accusing Trump of Sex Crimes are Liars, JFK Files Reveal CIA Planned to Stage Bombings, Then Blame Castro, New Yorkers Demand Climate Action on 5th Anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, NFL Players Protest After Team Owner Calls Them "Inmates Running the Prison", AIM Co-Founder and Anishinaabe Leader Dennis Banks Dies at 80

President Trump announced Thursday that he is directing the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency—walking back his plans, announced in August, to declare it a more serious "national emergency." The shift means the federal government will not, as of now, direct any new federal funds to address the opioid crisis, which killed 64,000 Americans last year. We speak with Columbia University psychology and psychiatry professor Carl Hart, who argues people are dying because of ignorance, not because of opioids.

As U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley travels in Africa and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a classified briefing Thursday with Pentagon officials on the deadly ambush in Niger, where five Nigerien soldiers were killed along with four U.S. soldiers, we speak with reporter Nick Turse, who says U.S. military activity in Africa is a recruiting tool for terror groups.

Trump Declares Opioids a Public Health Emergency But Dedicates No New Funds to Crisis, House Narrowly Approves Budget Plan, Paving Way for Trump's Tax Bill, Democrats Pushing Bill to Stop Trump from Launching Preemptive Strike on North Korea, Gov't Releases Some Secret JFK Assassination Documents, But Trump Withholds Final Cache, Trump Instructed DOJ to Lift Gag Order on FBI Source in Russian Uranium Sale, Tillerson: "The Reign of the Assad Family Is Coming to an End", Catalonia Conflict Escalates as Rajoy Asks Spanish Senate to Seize Control of Region, Kenya: 4 Killed in Clashes During Presidential Election Rerun, Actress Selma Blair Says Filmmaker James Toback Threatened to Kill Her If She Exposed Sexual Harassment, Lawmakers Grill Refugee Resettlement Office Head for Trying to Block Undocumented Teen's Abortion, Texas: Agents Detained 10-Year-Old Undocumented Girl with Cerebral Palsy at Hospital, Native Professor Quits After U. of North Dakota Blocks Him from Teaching About Standing Rock

An undocumented teenager at the center of a lawsuit with the Trump administration over her right to have an abortion has finally obtained the procedure she wanted. The 17-year-old is detained in a refugee resettlement shelter and had the abortion on Wednesday, after a U.S. appeals court ruled in her favor. The teen is referred to in court documents as Jane Doe. The Trump administration spent a month trying to stop her from accessing an abortion. We get an update from her lawyers: Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, and Susan Hays, legal director of Jane's Due Process, a legal referral service for minors facing unintended pregnancy in Texas.

A major decision by the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday eliminated a decades-old rule that ensures community residents can have a say in their local broadcast TV station. This comes as the FCC announced plans Wednesday to abolish long-standing media ownership rules. Opponents say these changes will accelerate media consolidation, allowing massive corporate media companies, such as the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group, to buy up and control even more local stations. We speak with Andy Kroll, senior reporter at Mother Jones magazine, whose story in their new issue is titled "Ready for Trump TV? Inside Sinclair Broadcasting's Plot to Take Over Your Local News."

After nine months of struggling to deliver on their legislative priorities, Senate Republicans found unity Tuesday when they overturned a rule that makes it easier for Americans to sue banks and credit card companies. The rule was developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and would have allowed people to file class action lawsuits that could have cost the banks billions of dollars. We get an update from Public Citizen's Amanda Werner, who recently dressed as Rich Uncle Pennybags, with a top hat and monocle, and sat directly behind former Equifax CEO Richard Smith when he testified about a security breach that left sensitive personal information for 143 million Americans exposed to hackers.

GEO Group Held Annual Conference at Trump's Private Golf Resort, Trump to Declare Opioid Crisis a Public Health Emergency, WaPo: Republican Establishment Declares "Open Warfare" on Bannon, Senate Chaplain: "Give Us More Legislators Who are Not Afraid to Call Sin by Its Right Name", Report: Firm Linked to Trump Campaign Reached Out to Assange During Election for Help, Kenya Voters Head to Polls in Presidential Election Rerun, Tanzania: Journalists Demand Overturn on Ban of Popular Daily Newspaper, Brazil: President Temer Narrowly Avoids Corruption Trial, Indonesia: Dozens Killed in Explosion at Firecracker Factory, Nikki Haley Says U.S. Has Lost Trust in South Sudan Government, Reports: U.S. Drone Strikes on Afghan-Pakistan Border Killed More Than 2 Dozen, Puerto Rico's Control Board to Impose Emergency Manager to Run Energy Company, NAACP Warns Black Passengers About Traveling on American Airlines, George H.W. Bush Apologizes for Repeatedly Groping Women, Journalist Mark Halperin & Artforum's Knight Landesman Ousted over Sexual Harassment Claims, Long-Awaited JFK Assassination Files to Be Released Today, Undocumented Teenager Obtains Abortion After Battle with Trump Administration, Legendary Pianist Fats Domino Dies at 89

We continue our interview with Khizr Khan, one of the country's best-known Gold Star family members. Khan famously spoke out against Trump at last year's Democratic National Convention and now reflects on the war that took his son Humayun’s life, the 2003 Iraq War. Capt. Humayun Khan died while fending off a suicide bomber outside the gate of his troop’s Army compound.

As President Trump denies that he told the widow of a U.S. soldier killed in Niger that her husband "knew what he signed up for," we spend the hour with Khizr Khan, one of the country's best-known Gold Star family members, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004. Khan famously spoke out against Trump at last year's Democratic National Convention and continues to do so. Khan has said the U.S. Declaration of Independence is "the story, really, of all colonized peoples everywhere and in every era." He discusses his first experience reading the U.S. Constitution as a young man, noting: "It all made so much sense."

Tiny Firm Linked to Trump & Zinke Wins $300M Contract to Restore Puerto Rico's Electricity, Sweltering Heat Wave Smashes Records Across Southern California, Climate Change & War Fuels Rising Hunger Worldwide, Sen. Flake Slams Trump for "Reckless, Outrageous & Undignified Behavior", #AlertTheDaycareStaff: Sen. Corker Again Criticizes Trump for Lying, Bullying, "Trump is Treason": Protester Throws Russian Flags at Trump at Capitol, Clinton Campaign & DNC Funded Research for Trump Dossier, Senators Draft Legislation to Impose New Terms on 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, With Pence as Tie-Breaker, Republicans Kill Rule to Allow Americans to Sue Banks, FCC Eliminates Rule to Ensure Residents Have Say in Local Community Broadcast, Magazines Blacklist Photographer Terry Richardson After Sexual Harassment Allegations, Philippines: Community Radio Journalist Christopher Iban Lozada Murdered, Poll: U.S. Troops Say White Nationalists Pose Greater Threat Than Iraq, Afghanistan, Federal Appeals Court Rules Detained Undocumented Teenager Can Get an Abortion, Philadelphia Eagles Players Lobby for Clean Slate Act to Seal Criminal Records

We look at the U.S. military presence in Africa and what happened during the ambush of U.S. Special Forces by militants in Niger, in which five Nigerien soldiers were killed along with four U.S. soldiers. The incident is now the subject of a military and FBI investigation. At least 800 U.S. servicemembers are currently stationed in the country to support a French-led mission to defeat militants in West Africa. Meanwhile, Somalia continues to recover from a massive bombing in Mogadishu that killed at least 358 people. We speak with Horace Campbell, who is currently spending a year in West Africa as the Kwame Nkrumah chair at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. Campbell is a peace and justice scholar and professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University. We are also joined by Mark Fancher, an attorney and frequent contributor to Black Agenda Report, where his new article is headlined "U.S. Troop Deaths in Niger: AFRICOM's Chickens Come Home to Roost."

President Donald Trump said his administration deserves a "10 out of 10" for its response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. But over 1 million people on the island still lack clean drinking water, and residents say they are suffering from eye infections and gastrointestinal diseases as a result of exposure to contaminated water. We speak with Puerto Rican environmental activist Elizabeth Yeampierre, who co-wrote a piece with Naomi Klein headlined "Imagine a Puerto Rico Recovery Designed by Puerto Ricans."

Pentagon Promises Niger Probe as Widow of Slain Soldier Blasts Trump, Philippines: Marawi in Ruins as Government Declares Victory After Long Fight, Video Shows DEA Agents Opening Fire on Civilians in 2012 Honduras Raid, Sen. John McCain Appears to Criticize Trump Draft Deferments, Donors Pledge $434 Million to Rohingya Refugees as U.S. Mulls Sanctions, Russian Journalist Critical of Kremlin Stabbed at Her Radio Station, Russian Dissidents Pussy Riot Protest for Political Prisoners at Trump Tower, Department of Education Rescinds Papers on Rights of Disabled Students, New York Opens Civil Rights Probe into Weinstein Company, Megyn Kelly Blasts Fox News and Bill O'Reilly over Sexual Harassment, Montreal Protesters Defy Face Veil Ban in Solidarity with Muslim Women, Pipeline, Barge Disasters Lead to Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills, Nicaragua to Join Paris Climate Accord, Leaving U.S. and Syria as Lone Holdouts, GAO Report: Climate Change Costs Taxpayers Billions Each Year, Climate Activists Call for Divestment from Banks That Fund Fossil Fuels

As the Senate narrowly passes a budget bill that clears the path for a historic tax reform, we'll look at how President Trump's proposed tax overhaul would shower billions of dollars in tax cuts upon the wealthiest Americans—including President Trump's family and members of his administration. An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund shows President Trump's family and Trump's Cabinet members would, combined, reap a $3.5 billion windfall from the proposed repeal of the estate tax alone. Trump's plan would cap the tax rate on "pass-through income" at 25 percent—a move that would also shower millions in savings upon millionaires and billionaires. We speak with economist James Henry of the Tax Justice Network and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, whose latest piece is titled "Nine Reasons Trump's Tax Plan Will Hurt You."

In Austria, conservative leader Sebastian Kurz has been tasked with forming a government after he won a slim majority in the snap elections earlier this month. His conservative party, which campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, is now weighing whether to form a coalition with Austria's far-right populist Freedom Party, which won 26 percent of the vote in the Austrian elections. The Freedom Party was founded by former Nazis six decades ago. This comes as hate crimes in Britain hit a record high and anti-immigrant nationalist movements are surging across Europe. For more, we speak with Dominic Thomas, professor at UCLA who specializes in European politics. Thomas is chair of the Department of French and Francophone Studies.

Spain is plunged into a political crisis as the Spanish government moves to impose direct rule over Catalonia, following the region's independence referendum. On Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the move, stripping the northeastern region of its autonomy in an effort to crush Catalonia's independence movement. Following an emergency Cabinet meeting on Saturday, Rajoy said he will invoke Article 155 of the Constitution, which has never been used in Spain's modern democratic history. The speaker of the Catalan Parliament has called Spain's move to seize political control of the region a "de facto coup d'état." Puigdemont said that Catalonia's Parliament will meet in the coming days, amid speculation he might unilaterally declare Catalan independence. For more, we speak with Dominic Thomas, professor at University of California, Los Angeles, who specializes in European politics.

Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan Cap Bloody Week in Which 250 Killed, NYT: CIA Sending Paramilitary Officers to Hunt Taliban, Air Force Authorized to Call Up Retired Pilots; Nuclear Bombers Placed on Alert, Rep. Frederica Wilson: White House Lied in Attacks Over Soldier Killed in Niger, Senate to Review War Authorization Following U.S. Troop Deaths in Niger, Spanish Prime Minister to Fire Catalan Leaders, Prompting Protests, Russia Compares U.S.-Led Bombing of Raqqa to Dresden in WWII, Egypt: Militant Ambush Kills 59 Police and Security Forces, Somalia: Roadside Bomb Attack Kills 11 Civilians, Japan: PM Abe to Challenge Pacifist Constitution After Election Victory, Chile: Investigators Say Poet Pablo Neruda Did Not Die of Cancer After 1973 Coup, Bill O'Reilly Settled $32 Million Sexual Harassment Claim, L.A. Times: 38 Women Accuse Director James Toback of Sexual Misconduct, Jackson, MS to Rename School After Obama, Ditching Confederate Name

After a summer of extreme weather around the world, we host a roundtable discussion with environmental leaders on next steps: Lindsey Allen, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network; Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network; and May Boeve, executive director of 350 Action, the political arm of the climate organization 350.org.

California wildfires have killed at least 42 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, scorching more than 200,000 acres—roughly the size of New York City. The blazes are the deadliest since record keeping began. As global temperatures continue to rise, we'll look at the link between fires and climate change with Max Moritz, fire research scientist based at UC Santa Barbara.

As catastrophic wildfires in California kill at least 42 people and leave thousands of homes and businesses in ruins, many of the area's 20,000 undocumented immigrants have had no sanctuary from the flames, with some sleeping on beaches in order to avoid federal agents at shelters. This comes as far-right media outlets like Breitbart are falsely reporting that an undocumented immigrant was arrested in connection to the fires. Police said there is no indication the man had anything to do with the wildfires. We speak with Alegría De La Cruz, deputy county lawyer of Sonoma County, and Juan Hernandez, executive director of the La Luz Center in Sonoma, California.

Without Uttering "Trump," Obama & George W. Bush Denounce President, Trump to Visit China, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines & South Korea, California: Deadly Wildfires Cause $1 Billion in Insured Losses, One Month After Maria, Millions in Puerto Rico Still Without Power, Quentin Tarantino on Harvey Weinstein: "I Knew", Army Soldiers Tasked with Preventing Sexual Assault Are Instead Charged with Rape, Spain to Trigger Article 155, Suspending Catalonia's Autonomy, Colombia: Community Leader José Jair Cortés Assassinated in Nariño, Argentina: Thousands Protest as Body Is Found Near Site of Activist's Disappearance, Standing Rock: Judge Sentences 2 Water Protectors to Jail Time

Guantánamo Bay detainees who are on hunger strike have accused officials of a sudden change in practice that could result in them starving to death, as doctors threaten to stop force-feeding them and are no longer monitoring their medical condition. We speak with Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve, which represents eight of the 41 Guantánamo detainees. Reprieve is urging supporters to join a solidarity hunger strike with the detainees. Among those participating are British Labour Party MP Tom Watson, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, comedian Sara Pascoe, director Mark Rylance and French-born actress Caroline Lagerfelt.

This week, President Donald Trump's nominee for drug czar, Republican Congressmember Tom Marino, had to withdraw from consideration after a Washington Post/"60 Minutes" investigation found he led a drug industry-backed effort to pass a law that weakened the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's ability to crack down on addictive opioids. Meanwhile, calls are growing to look at the major pharmaceutical companies that have fueled the opioid crisis. A new investigation by Esquire magazine reveals how the secretive Sackler family, owners of the company that invented OxyContin, downplayed the risks of addiction and exploited doctors' confusion over the drug's strength. We speak with Christopher Glazek, the Esquire reporter behind the story.

President Trump's latest attempt to bar some citizens of eight Muslim majority countries from entering the U.S. suffers a second defeat, as another federal judge rules that the latest policy is unconstitutional. We speak with Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Federal Judge in Maryland Deals Second Blow to Trump's Latest Travel Ban, Somalia: Thousands Protest Saturday's Massive Bombing in Mogadishu, Afghanistan: Taliban Attack Kills 43 Afghan Soldiers, Tillerson: Burmese Military Responsible for Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing, WaPo: Trump Promised Father of Slain Soldier $25,000—But Money Never Arrived, Sessions Says in Senate Committee Testimony He Would Jail Journalists "If We Have To", NBC: Shake-up Inside DNC Ousts Officials Loyal to Sanders, Florida: Thousands Expected to Protest Richard Spencer Speech at UF-Gainesville, Britain: Hate Crimes Surge to Record-High Levels, Togo: At Least 4 Protesters Killed in Crackdown Against Pro-Democracy Protests, Mexico: Zapatistas Nominate Indigenous Activist as Presidential Candidate, In California's Capitol, Legislators Say #MeToo, NYC: Teenager Says NYPD Officers Raped Her While Handcuffed in Police Car, Women's eNews Founder Rita Henley Jensen Dies

As raging wildfires in California scorch more than 200,000 acres—roughly the size of New York City—more than 11,000 firefighters are battling the blazes, and a number of them are prisoners, including many women inmates. We speak to Romarilyn Ralston with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Los Angeles chapter, who is the program coordinator for Project Rebound at Cal State University. Romarilyn experienced 23 years of incarceration, and while she was incarcerated, she was a fire camp trainer and a clerk for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Reporter Jaime Lowe also joins us to discuss her New York Times Magazine report, "The Incarcerated Women Who Fight California's Wildfires."

In Puerto Rico, residents desperate for drinking water have begun pumping water from the Dorado Groundwater Contamination Site—a hazardous waste Superfund site. The EPA warns the water contains chemicals that cause liver damage and an increased risk of cancer. We speak with Rosa Clemente, just back from Puerto Rico, where she joined other independent journalists in documenting conditions for a project called PR on the Map, including at the Dorado site. She also interviewed San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz about her message for the Puerto Rican diaspora.