Democracy Now!

In what is believed to be the first time a president or vice president has publicly toured an abortion clinic, Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Planned Parenthood location in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday. The visit was the latest in a nationwide tour by Harris to highlight reproductive rights. In her remarks outside the clinic, she lauded Minnesota's efforts to protect abortion rights in the face of what she describes as a very serious health crisis," with restrictive laws and outright abortion bans in more than a dozen states. Clinics in Minnesota have seen a drastic rise in appointments for reproductive healthcare as one of the last remaining access states in the region, says our guest Megan Peterson, who adds that it is really important" that the Biden team not take pro-abortion voters for granted." Peterson is the executive director of Gender Justice Action, a reproductive rights group working in Minnesota and North Dakota. We also speak to professor Michele Goodwin, who calls the consequences of state-level abortion bans since Dobbs v. Jackson a trail of horrors" that are antithetical" to science, health and human rights.

Israeli Soldiers Kill at Least 29 More Palestinians Seeking Aid, Hamas Offers New Ceasefire and Hostage Exchange Plan; Abbas Appoints New Palestinian PM, Schumer Calls for Elections in Israel, Warns U.S. Could Have More Active Role" in Israeli Politics, 100 Activists Arrested After Occupying NYT Building, McGill Students Are on Hunger Strike to Demand University Divest from Israel, Prominent Authors Turn Down Prestigious PEN World Voices Festival over Org's Response to Gaza, Dozens Feared Dead in Mediterranean After Europe-Bound Migrant Vessel Broke Down at Sea, 300+ Detained Immigrants and Allies Are on Hunger Strike in Washington State, Kamala Harris Decries Healthcare Crisis" as She Visits Minnesota Abortion Clinic, Jury Convicts James Crumbley of Involuntary Manslaughter for Son's Mass Shooting, Why Did You Shoot My Baby?": Bodycam Footage Shows CA Deputy Killing Autistic Teen Ryan Gainer, Bernie Sanders Introduces Legislation to Reduce Workweek to 32 Hours

In a rare bipartisan effort, the U.S. House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday requiring TikTok to be sold by its China-based owner, ByteDance, or face a ban throughout the United States. Backers claim the popular social media app could give the Chinese government access to U.S. residents' personal data and potentially affect the 2024 elections. The fight over TikTok comes at a time of rising anti-China rhetoric in both major parties, as well as alarm among conservatives that content supportive of Palestinian rights and critical of Israel is popular with many young users of the app. The fate of the TikTok legislation now rests in the Senate, and President Joe Biden says he will sign it into law if it reaches his desk. Former President Donald Trump, who tried to crack down on TikTok while in office, now opposes the effort. It is singling out TikTok and China without any evidence whatsoever that they are engaging in any nefarious or spying activity," Ramesh Srinivasan, professor of information studies at UCLA, says of the legislation. What we need is expansive, comprehensive digital rights legislation that really applies to every social media company and gives Americans power over their own data."

Journalist Mehdi Hasan warns U.S. media coverage of the 2024 election is largely unable to capture the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump and the modern Republican Party. We need to speak very clearly about what that fascist threat is," says Hasan, who warns media outlets cannot normalize his extremism and racism and bigotry," because the right to free press itself could be under threat if he regains power. One of our two major parties has been fully radicalized and is now in bed with white supremacists. ... Let's be plain about that."

Acclaimed journalist Mehdi Hasan joins us to discuss U.S. media coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza and how the war is a genocide being abetted by the United States. Hasan says U.S. media is overwhelmingly pro-Israel and fails to convey the truth to audiences. Palestinian voices not being on American television or in American print is one of the biggest problems when it comes to our coverage of this conflict," he says. Hasan has just launched a new media company, Zeteo, which he started after the end of his weekly news program on MSNBC and Peacock earlier this year. Hasan's interviews routinely led to viral segments, including his tough questioning of Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev, but the cable network announced it was canceling his show in November. The move drew considerable outrage, with critics slamming MSNBC for effectively silencing one of the most prominent Muslim voices in U.S. media. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to threaten a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, which human rights groups warn would be a massacre. President Biden has said such an escalation is a red line" for him, but Netanyahu has vowed to push ahead anyway. Where is the outcry here in the West?" asks Hasan of reports of Israeli war crimes, including the killing of over 100 journalists in the past five months in Gaza and the blockade of aid from the region. It's a stain on [Biden's] record, on America's conscience."

At Least 5 People Killed, Including U.N. Staffer, as Israel Bombs UNRWA Gaza Aid Site, 27 Gazans Have Died of Hunger, Including 23 Babies and Children, as Israel Continues to Block Aid, U.N.: Israel Violated International Law When It Killed Reuters Reporter Issam Abdallah in Lebanon, Activists from San Francisco to New York Disrupt Business as Usual to Shine Light on Gaza Genocide, Jewish Voice for Peace Occupies Hakeem Jeffries's Office as 20+ Orgs Launch Reject AIPAC" Coalition, U.S. House Votes in Favor of TikTok Ban Bill Amid First Amendment and Other Questions, Reports: Biden Weighs Detaining Haitians in Guantanamo If Crisis Leads to Increase in Migration, Sudan: 230,000 Children and People Recovering from Birth Are at Risk of Death by Starvation, Torrential Rains in La Paz, Bolivia, Kill at Least One Person, Destroy Homes, Methane Emissions Remain Far Above Levels Needed to Curb Climate Catastrophe, You Are Not an Ally. You Are a Murderer": Climate Defiance Confronts Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, Boeing Deleted Footage of Work on Alaska Airlines Door That Blew Off 737 MAX, U.S. Court Upholds Texas Law Barring Minors from Getting Birth Control Without Parental Consent, Georgia Judge Throws Out 6 Charges in Trump Election Subversion Case, Autopsy Finds Nex Benedict Died of Suicide the Day After Being Attacked in High School Bathroom, David Mixner, LGBTQ+ Rights Leader Who Pushed Politicians to Reject Homophobia, Dies at 77

It's official: Following Tuesday's primaries, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump appear set for a rematch in November after both candidates secured enough delegates to win their parties' nominations. This past weekend, Republican front-runner Donald Trump hosted Hungary's authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago and openly praised Orban's autocratic style of rule. To talk more about Orban and Trump, we spoke Tuesday with Gabor Scheiring, a former Green Party member of parliament in Hungary, who has a new essay titled I watched Hungary's democracy dissolve into authoritarianism as a member of parliament - and I see troubling parallels in Trumpism and its appeal to workers." He explains that strongmen" like Orban and Trump are subverting democracy from the inside, gradually," using tactics like gerrymandering and control of the courts to seize and consolidate power.

Author and civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander's new piece in The Nation reflects on Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s April 4, 1967, speech in New York opposing the war in Vietnam and its lasting lessons for American society today. She describes revolutionary love" as the transnational connections between liberation struggles" around the world, and calls for anti-oppression movements in the U.S. to continue working to end the occupation of Palestine and commit to the thriving of all of the people who have been subjected to endless war and occupation." Revolutionary love, argues Alexander, is the only thing that can save us now."

The European Union's foreign policy chief has accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war by blocking aid from entering Gaza. The World Food Programme managed to deliver aid to Gaza City for the first time Tuesday in three weeks, but the agency said famine is imminent in northern Gaza unless aid deliveries increase exponentially. Meanwhile, as the United States proposes building a seaport off Gaza and airdrops for food aid, Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri calls the proposals sheer entertainment" that is designed primarily to make Americans feel better about themselves."

Israel is expanding its attacks in Lebanon for the third day in a row, with Israeli warplanes striking deep in the country amid growing concern about a regional escalation, and Hamas ally Hezbollah launching a barrage of over 100 rockets at Israel in response. Tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel and southern Lebanon have fled their homes as attacks rise. Israel expects the Americans will come in and help them ... knock down Hezbollah's power," says Rami Khouri, a Palestinian American journalist and senior public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut. This is not something that we should celebrate," adds Khouri, who also discusses the historical context of decades of conflict in the Arab region, and Hezbollah's role in Lebanese politics.

Biden & Trump Set for Rematch in November, EU Foreign Policy Chief Accuses Israel of Using Starvation as Weapon of War, Senators Urge Biden to Cut Military Aid to Israel for Blocking U.S. Aid from Entering Gaza, U.N.: More Children Have Been Killed in Gaza Than in All Other Wars over Past Four Years, Israel Kills Four in Occupied West Bank, Israel Expands Attacks on Lebanon; Hezbollah Launches 100 Rockets Over Border, Kenya Halts Plan to Deploy Police to Haiti Until New Government Is in Place, Ukraine Drones Attack Russian Oil Refineries as Putin Says Russia Is Ready to Use Nukes, Top Aide to Alexei Navalny Attacked in Lithuania, Democratic and Republican Lawmakers Criticize Special Counsel Robert Hur, House to Vote on Banning TikTok, Rep. Ken Buck to Leave Congress Next Week in Blow to GOP, Florida Settles Don't Say Gay" Lawsuit, Columbia Sued for Banning Students for Justice in Palestine & Jewish Voice for Peace

At one of the largest for-profit immigrant detention centers in the country, human rights advocates report, there were two suicide attempts Monday, just hours apart. The privately run Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, the site of multiple hunger strikes to protest inhumane conditions over the years, also reported 61-year-old Charles Leo Daniel from Trinidad and Tobago died at the facility last week. He had been detained for about four years and was in solitary confinement at NWDC when he was found unresponsive Thursday in what is suspected to be another suicide. This all comes as a federal judge blocked Washington state from fully enforcing a law intended to increase oversight at the for-profit immigrant jail, run by GEO Group. This recent string of events reveals the importance and the urgency to shut down the detention center now," says La Resistencia's Maru Mora Villalpando, who explains why immigrants are vulnerable and used for votes, for political gain and as scapegoats. We are in this midst of horrible, horrible situations in detention centers, at the border, in the countries where people need to flee, because it's working for corporations and for governments. ... That's why we're not waiting for the government to solve this. We have to save ourselves."

We speak with Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, who says the monstrosity" of Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, including attacks on civilians and restrictions on aid, shows that the International Court of Justice's provisional orders to protect civilians are being ignored. What should be done is an arms embargo right now and sanctions, because Israel is not in compliance with the critical measures ordered by the ICJ," says Albanese.

Palestinians in Gaza marked the first day of Ramadan on Monday amid rising hunger and desperation, with Israel continuing to restrict aid shipments into the besieged territory. United Nations officials have complained that even basic items like medical scissors have resulted in trucks being stopped by Israeli forces at the border. This comes as countries such as the United States conduct dangerous airdrops of essential supplies and have announced plans to build a pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver aid. It's going to be more simple, more realistic and more efficient if the United States has pushed the Israelis to allow the aid truck to go into the north of Gaza and Gaza City," says Yousef Hammash, advocacy officer with the Norwegian Refugee Council, speaking to us from Rafah. The only issue that we are facing on delivering the aid on the ground is the restrictions the Israelis put on it." Hammash also describes living day by day" amid madness, violence [and] bombardment."

Unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry has announced he plans to resign amid rising opposition in Haiti, where a coalition of armed groups opposing the de facto leader have declared an uprising, led mass jailbreaks and taken over the country's airport. At an emergency meeting with international actors in Jamaica, the regional bloc CARICOM has reportedly proposed a plan to set up a seven-member presidential panel that would appoint a new interim prime minister. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the panel would only include Haitians who support the deployment of a U.N.-backed security force, a policy supported by Henry, while large swaths of Haitians voiced opposition to another hand-selected leader. I'm not sure this solves the problem that's been going on in Haiti," says Haitian American scholar Jemima Pierre, who explains why Henry's resignation and transition announcement attempts to put a veneer of legality on this situation," while the country continues to operate under occupation by foreign interests. There's going to be more flare-ups in the next few months ... if we don't stop this problem by its root, which is the constant U.S. imposition of its terms on Haitian people and the denial of Haitian sovereignty."

Haiti's PM Ariel Henry to Resign After Losing Support of Washington, Gaza Health Officials: Israeli Forces Have Killed 400 Aid Seekers, Israel Blocks Aid Truck Bound for Gaza Because It Contained Medical Scissors, U.S. Intelligence Head: Gaza War Will Have Generational Impact on Terrorism", Israeli Groups Accuse Netanyahu Gov't of Failing to Abide by ICJ Ruling on Aid, UNRWA Says Israel Tortured & Waterboarded Staffers, Leading to False Confessions, India Enacts Anti-Muslim Citizenship Law Ahead of Election, Boeing Whistleblower Found Dead After Giving Evidence in Lawsuit, Trump Suggests He Supports Social Security and Medicare Cuts, Sen. Katie Britt Blasted for Sharing Misleading Story About Survivor of Sex Trafficking in Mexico, Police in California Fatally Shoot 15-Year-Old Black Teenager with Autism, Swedish Police Remove Greta Thunberg & Other Climate Activists Blocking Parliament

Palestinian novelist, poet and activist Susan Abulhawa recently returned from two weeks in the Gaza Strip, where she witnessed firsthand the destruction and misery wrought upon the territory and its people by Israel's relentless assault. Abulhawa spoke with Democracy Now! last Wednesday from Cairo and said the trauma is immeasurable" for the Palestinians in Gaza. Abulhawa describes hearing stories of abuse, humiliation and torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers as people struggle to find basic necessities to survive. The degradation is total," says Abulhawa. And on top of that, they're bombed, day in and out."

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was found guilty of cocaine trafficking Friday after a two-week trial in a New York federal court, where prosecutors accused Hernandez of ruling the Central American country as a narco-state and accepting millions of dollars in bribes from cocaine traffickers in exchange for protection. He faces a possible life sentence. Hernandez served as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022 and was a close U.S. ally despite mounting reports of human rights violations and accusations of corruption and involvement with drug smuggling during his tenure. Hernandez was arrested less than a month after his term ended and was extradited to the United States in April 2022. The majority feeling is satisfaction, a feeling of progress in achieving justice," says activist Camilo Bermudez from Tegucigalpa. He is a member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, the organization founded by Berta Caceres, the Lenca Indigenous environmental defender who was assassinated in 2016 while Juan Orlando Hernandez was president. We also speak with Dana Frank, professor of history emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who says the 2009 U.S.-backed coup against President Manuel Zelaya set the stage for the corrupt governments that followed. While U.S. prosecutors may have convicted Hernandez, Frank stresses that multiple U.S. administrations legitimated and celebrated him."

Caribbean leaders are holding an emergency meeting in Jamaica today to discuss the crisis in Haiti, where armed groups are calling for the resignation of unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Haiti is under a state of emergency, with tens of thousands displaced amid the fighting, and United Nations officials warn the country's health system is nearing collapse. Ariel Henry was appointed prime minister after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, but he is currently stranded outside the country after a trip to Kenya, where he was seeking a U.N.-backed security force to help him maintain power. For more, we speak with Haitian American scholar Jemima Pierre, who says the unrest in Haiti today can be traced to decisions made two decades ago by the United States and other outside powers. The root of this crisis is not last week, it's not this week, it's not even Ariel Henry. But we have to go back to 2004 with the coup-d'etat," says Pierre. She adds that because successive security plans have been sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, the whole world is participating in the occupation of Haiti unwittingly."

Death Toll in Gaza Tops 31,000; Israel Continues Assault as Ramadan Begins, Biden Vows to Keep Supporting Israel But Says Netanyahu Is Hurting Israel More Than Helping", Haiti: CARICOM Holds Emergency Meeting as Calls Grow for Ariel Henry to Resign, Pope Francis Urges Ukraine to Negotiate and Have Courage of the White Flag", Jury Convicts Ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez on Drug Trafficking Charges, U.N. Security Council Pushes for Ramadan Ceasefire in Sudan, Biden: I Regret Describing Immigrant as Illegal" During State of the Union, Trump Meets & Praises Hungary's Authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, U.N.: Iran Responsible for Death of Mahsa Amini, 180,000 Protest in Mexico City Against Femicide on International Women's Day, Protesters Calling for Ceasefire in Gaza Block Traffic & Delay Start of Oscars, Oscars: Director of The Zone of Interest" Condemns Israeli Occupation, 20 Days in Mariupol" Wins Oscar for Best Documentary

In his State of the Union address, President Biden addressed Israel's assault on Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen amid a relentless bombing campaign and siege. We're joined by two guests: Eman Abdelhadi, a Chicago-based Palestinian Egyptian American professor, artist and activist, who on Thursday delivered an alternate State of the Union address called The State of Genocide," and Neta Heiman Mina, a member of the Israeli chapter of Women Wage Peace, whose 84-year-old mother, Ditza Heiman, was one of the hostages released during the temporary ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas in November. Abdelhadi says that by arming Israel while offering limited aid to the starving population of Gaza, the Biden administration is effectively holding a gun to Palestinians' heads, shooting at them with one hand and throwing crumbs at them with the other." Meanwhile, Mina calls on the Israeli government to do everything we can" to return the remaining hostages, including an immediate ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners. This genocide has been going on for 152 days, and it is 100% an American project," Abdelhadi says, adding that campaigners plan to hold Biden electorally accountable for his continued support for Israel. We are going to make sure that the DNC knows where we stand on this issue."

President Biden delivered his State of the Union address Thursday night. In it, he made his case for a second term ahead of this year's presidential election, criticizing Republican front-runner Donald Trump without mentioning him by name, and highlighting his administration's policies to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, reinstate reproductive rights and provide support to Ukraine. Our guest Katrina vanden Heuvel, the publisher of The Nation, describes current U.S. foreign policy as a Cold War redux moment" that threatens the success of populist economic policies that have recently taken hold in the Democratic Party after decades of trickle-down, neoliberal economics. She calls for ending the policing and the global policing which the establishment believes is their right," warning that if you don't have a transformative foreign policy, you will end up with military Keynesianism."

Biden Talks Taxing the Rich, Abortion Rights, Immigration Crackdown and Gaza in Election Year SOTU, Hundreds of Activists Block D.C. Streets, Deliver People's SOTU Calling for End to Genocide, We Don't Need Aid. We Need Them to Stop the Killing": Gazans Respond to Biden Aid Port Plan, Palestinian Women Prisoners Share Accounts of Inhumane Treatment, Sexual Assault, Israel Hastens Illegal Construction in Occupied West Bank as It Decimates Gaza, At Least 275 Students Abducted in Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso Team Up for Security Force Days After 170 People Killed in Burkina Faso, Senegal Sets New Election for March 24 After Protesters and Court Push Back on Macky Sall's Delay, Haiti Extends State of Emergency as PM Ariel Henry Remains Stranded Outside of Country, Narendra Modi Visits Kashmir for First Time Since 2019 Crackdown, Hong Kong Introduces New Draft National Security Law, Expanding Its Control on Dissent, U.S. Court Rejects Case Against Big Tech for Its Complicity in Child Labor in DRC, Google Fires Dozens of Contract Workers After They Unionized, Autopsy Shows Lewiston, Maine, Mass Shooter May Have Suffered from Traumatic Brain Injury, Biden Wins Hawaii Democratic Primary; Uncommitted" Takes Nearly 30% of Votes, FDA Issues Warning for 6 Brands of Ground Cinnamon, After Oct. 7, There Are No Longer Any Women": Gazan Women Struggle to Survive on IWD

In Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in Monday as prime minister for a second time, days after newly elected members of Parliament were seated amid protests by lawmakers from the party of ousted and jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Sharif will lead a coalition government after none of the major parties won a majority of parliamentary seats in February's election, when Khan supporters accused the military of election tampering. Regardless of actual policy, Khan's enduring popularity as an anti-establishment figure comes from a young, disaffected population, a set of regimes that historically does not deliver, and underlying structural crises that just get worse," says Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, associate professor of political economy at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. That's why I think you have this groundswell of opinion which is both anti-domestic elite and also anti-foreign elite."

While the Biden administration has been publicly voicing reservations over the mounting death toll in Gaza, a Washington Post investigation revealed the administration has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate weapons sales to Israel over the last five months, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters and other lethal aid. Only two approved foreign military sales to Israel have been made public since the launch of Israel's assault on October 7, which the Biden administration approved using emergency authority to bypass Congress. It is actually illegal to provide military assistance to a country that is restricting U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance, and we know that this is the case with Israel," says Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest of a push to increase arms sales to Israel amid its assault on Gaza. Paul describes the production line"-style sale of weapons to Israel and says increasing internal dissent is putting pressure on Biden to change his dead-end" policy of unconditional support for Israel. We have a president and a set of policies ... that remain set on this course regardless of the harm it is doing to Israeli security, to American global interests and, of course, to so many Palestinians."

As Israel continues its relentless bombardment and siege of Gaza, where hunger and dehydration have reached deadly levels, Hamas has accused Israel of thwarting" efforts to reach a ceasefire deal. A Hamas delegation in Cairo said that Israel has insisted on rejecting elements of a deal for a phased process that would culminate in an end to Israel's assault on Gaza, as well as ensuring the entry of aid and facilitating the return of displaced Palestinians back to their homes in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is pushing Hamas to accept the terms on the table, claiming that a rational" offer had been made for a six-week truce in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. The White House statements seem to be a very politically calculated move so that they can essentially point the blame at Hamas if this fails," says Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group. Mustafa also provides updates on UNRWA's collapsing operations, repression in the West Bank and the utility of international law for Palestine today.

Ceasefire Talks Falter as Famine Plagues Gaza, Aid Remains Blocked by Israel, South Africa Asks ICJ to Help Stop Imminent Tragedy" in Gaza; Canada to Resume UNRWA Funding, Houthi Attack Kills 3 People in First Known Fatalities in Campaign Against Red Sea Trade Ships, Palestinian Americans Share Stories of Loved Ones in Gaza Killed by Israel, Activists in D.C. Line Israeli Embassy with Palestinian Flags, Banners Condemning Gaza Genocide, Musicians Pull Out of SXSW over Gaza; Brazilian Union Calls for End to Military Cooperation, Deadly Russian Strike Rattles President Zelensky and Greek PM Mitsotakis During Odesa Visit, Yulia Navalnaya Urges Russians to Protest Putin When Voting on March 17, U.S. Reportedly Pressuring Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry to Step Down Amid Mounting Crisis, Nikki Haley Ends Presidential Run; Mitch McConnell Endorses Trump, UAW's Shawn Fain, Palestinian Who Lost 35 Relatives in Gaza Among Guests Invited to SOTU, Alabama Passes Law Protecting IVF Providers from Prosecution, A Promise Made to the Future": France Enshrines Abortion Rights into Constitution, A Page Out of the Giuliani Playbook": NY Gov. Hochul Sends National Guard to Patrol Subways, Jury Finds Rust" Armorer Guilty in 2022 On-Set Killing of Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

We speak with Palestinian novelist, poet and activist Susan Abulhawa, who is in Cairo and just returned from two weeks in Gaza. What's happening to people isn't just this death and dismemberment and hunger. It is a total denigration of their personhood, of their whole society," says Abulhawa. What I witnessed personally in Rafah and some of the middle areas is incomprehensible, and I will call it a holocaust - and I don't use that word lightly. But it is absolutely that."

We look at Monday's unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states do not have the authority to remove Donald Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment with Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern, who calls the decision a disaster" that appears tailor-made to let Trump avoid accountability for the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He says despite the superficial unanimity of the 9-0 ruling, it was closer to a 5-4 split, with the five conservative justices who wrote the majority opinion raising additional barriers to keeping insurrectionists from public office.

On Super Tuesday, millions of voters cast ballots in primaries across the United States, and we look at key contests in California, North Carolina, Arizona and elsewhere with American Prospect executive editor David Dayen. He says the California race to fill the seat of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein highlighted the ideological fight inside the Democratic Party, with centrist Congressmember Adam Schiff successfully boxing out his more progressive rivals by spending millions to elevate the profile of Republican candidate Steve Garvey. Both men are now headed to the general election, where Schiff is all but certain to win. It was quite successful," Dayen says of Schiff's strategy.

Biden & Trump Nearly Sweep Super Tuesday Primaries; Haley to Drop out, Schiff and Garvey Advance in California in Senate Race to Fill Feinstein's Seat, Mark Robinson, Holocaust-Denying, Gay-Bashing Candidate, Wins NC Gubernatorial Primary, Israel Blocks World Food Programme Aid Delivery to Northern Gaza as Agency Attempts to Avert Famine, Hamas Demands Permanent Ceasefire Before More Hostages Are Released, Lebanon: Israel Kills Hezbollah Fighter Along with His Wife & Son, World Food Programme: Sudan Could Soon Face World's Largest Hunger Crisis", Gang Leader Jimmy Cherizier: Haiti Is Heading to Civil War Unless Ariel Henry Resigns as PM, ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Two High-Ranking Russian Military Officers, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Announces She Will Not Seek Reelection in Arizona, Sen. Menendez Faces New Charges in Egypt & Qatar Bribery Case, Justice Clarence Thomas Hires Clerk Who Once Wrote I Hate Black People", Dartmouth Men's Basketball Team Votes to Unionize, Liberty University Fined $14 Million for Failing to Report Sexual Assaults, German Leftist Group Claims Responsibility for Sabotage at Massive Tesla Plant

Ahead of the 96th Academy Awards, we're joined by James Wilson, producer of the Oscar-nominated film The Zone of Interest, who raised Israel's assault on Gaza in his BAFTA Award acceptance speech last month. The film follows the fictionalized family of real-life Nazi commandant Rudolf Hoss as they live idyllically next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Wilson says the film serves as a metaphor for the occlusion of systemic violence, injustice, oppression, from our lives," and challenges audiences' complicity by asking them to identify with Hoss and his wife Hedwig. The idea of this film was to look for the similarities, rather than the differences, between us and the perpetrator," says Wilson.

Federal prosecutors in New York have rested their case against former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is accused of turning the Central American country into a narco-state. Hernandez is on trial for cocaine trafficking and weapons charges and is the first former head of state to stand trial in the United States since Panamanian dictator and U.S. ally Manuel Noriega was also tried on drug charges after a U.S.-led ouster. Prosecutors accuse Hernandez, a longtime U.S. ally accused of human rights violations throughout his presidency, of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from cocaine traffickers in exchange for protection and turning Honduras into a drug trafficking narco-state. If convicted, Hernandez could join his brother Juan Antonio in serving a life sentence in the U.S. We speak to two writers who have been attending the trial in New York: historian Dana Frank and author and Honduran screenwriter Oscar Estrada. There's a narrative here that ... the Honduran people can't govern themselves, and then suddenly the U.S. is coming in and heroically imposing the rule of law," says Frank about U.S. public perception of the trial. However, she continues, It's the opposite. It's the United States that helped destroy the criminal justice system in Honduras."

Haiti is under a state of emergency after the country's gangs freed thousands of people from the country's largest prisons and are reportedly uniting to bring down Haiti's de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has yet to return to the country since he traveled to Kenya last week to discuss a deal to bring a U.N. force of 1,000 Kenyan police to the island. It is a desolation that we are feeling. It is a terror that we are living," says Haitian pro-democracy advocate Monique Clesca about escalating gang violence that has already displaced thousands of Haitians. We have been terrorized for the last 30 months of Ariel Henry's government," she says, emphasizing the Biden administration has its hands in the bloodshed." We are also joined by researcher Jake Johnston, who traces the relationship between U.S. intervention and Haiti's unrest, a process stoked and perpetuated by the international community, and namely the United States," and we speak with Kenyan MP Otiende Amollo, who opposes the plan to send Kenyan peacekeepers" to Haiti, calling it a move that flies in the face of the rule of law."

Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Trump Can't Be Barred from Ballot over Jan. 6, Super Tuesday: Millions Head to Polls in 15 States, from California to Alabama, Minnesota Activists Urge Voters to Select Uncommitted" to Protest Biden's Backing of Israel, Look at Yazan": Palestinian Diplomat Decries Death of Palestinian Boy Who Starved to Death, U.N. Experts Weigh In on Sexual Violence on Oct. 7 & Inside Israeli Jails, Ukraine Sinks Russian Warship in the Black Sea, 20,000 Soldiers Take Part in NATO War Exercise in Finland, Norway and Sweden, Chad: Head of Military Junta Announces Presidential Run Days After Killing of Opposition Leader, South Korea Moves to Suspend Licenses of Striking Doctors, Jack Teixeira Pleads Guilty to Posting Classified Intelligence Documents Online, Five Catholic Worker Activists Arrested Outside General Dynamics Plant

Reproductive health and medical groups are asking the Alabama Supreme Court to rehear the case in which the justices ruled frozen embryos should be considered children. The decision sent shockwaves through the world of reproductive medicine regarding potential effects on access to in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments. We speak with Abbey Crain, a journalist and artist who had been undergoing IVF treatments for nearly two years when the court made its ruling. She says her clinic has paused fertility treatments after the decision. My first reaction was just sheer rage. I was extremely angry and, honestly, fell apart for a little bit," says Crain, who describes the impacts of this decision on patients and the politics of reproductive health in the state today. These men down the street from me who serve on the Alabama Supreme Court have more say over when I choose to become a mother right now than me."

Thousands gathered Friday in Moscow for the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony on February 16. The funeral was live-streamed on Navalny's YouTube channel to millions of his supporters, who suspect President Vladimir Putin is behind the dissident's death. We live in an open dictatorship where any forms of public disobedience are forbidden," says Russian historian and political theorist Ilya Budraitskis, who says Navalny's death has galvanized public opposition for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. With the war enabling the Kremlin to suppress political freedom, Budraitskis says Russian leaders are ready to continue" their invasion and are openly advocating for the dismantling of Ukraine. If Ukraine will be not supported from the West, Russia will continue its offensive and realize its final goal: the elimination of Ukraine as a state."

The death toll from Israel's assault on Gaza has surpassed 30,000 as health officials say at least 16 Palestinian children have died in recent days from starvation and dehydration. UNICEF is warning the number of child deaths will likely rapidly increase" unless the war ends. As Palestinians desperately seek aid being withheld by Israel, officials have accused Israeli forces of attacking crowds gathered to retrieve the little humanitarian supplies entering the besieged territory. Live from Rafah, Gaza-based journalist Akram al-Satarri shares his brother's account of surviving an Israeli attack while attempting to secure food for his kids. It looks like the objective is to continue the starvation of the people of Gaza and to kill them when they dare to think that they can secure something to feed their children," says al-Satarri, who reports that U.S. airdrops of aid are doing little to relieve the suffering of millions in Gaza while U.S. military aid supports Israeli attacks. In one hand, they are providing people with food, and in the other hand, they are providing people with death."

16 Children Starve to Death in Gaza as UNICEF Warns Child Deaths Will Rapidly Increase", Kamala Harris Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza as U.S. Begins Airdrops of Food Aid into Gaza, In Global Day of Action on Gaza, Protesters Condemn U.S. Arming of Israel, Israel Boycotts Ceasefire Talks in Cairo; Protesters in Tel Aviv Criticize Netanyahu, Benny Gantz's Unauthorized" Trip to D.C. Highlights Rift Within Israeli War Cabinet, Israeli Attacks Kill Seven Members of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Environmental Crisis Feared in Red Sea as U.K. Ship Carrying Fertilizer Sinks After Houthi Attack, Haley Beats Trump in D.C. After Ex-President Wins in Michigan, Missouri & Idaho, Ukraine: 12 Killed in Russian Drone Strike on Apartment Building in Odesa, Leaked Audio: Germany Discussed Supplying Ukraine Long-Range Missiles to Attack Crimean Bridge, Thousands of Russians Pay Tribute to Alexei Navalny, U.N. Warns Blocking of Aid Access in Sudan May Be a War Crime, Shehbaz Sharif Elected as Pakistani PM Amid Protests by Imran Khan Supporters, Haiti Declares State of Emergency After Thousands of Prisoners Escape in Jailbreak, Largest Wildfire in Texas History Continues to Expand, CDC Drops 5-Day Isolation Guidance for COVID-19, U.S. Education Department Probes Death of Nonbinary Student Nex Benedict in Oklahoma, Paramedic Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Role in Death of Elijah McClain

We speak with Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim of The Intercept about their expose of a major New York Times piece into alleged mass rapes committed by Hamas militants on October 7 that raises serious questions about the accuracy of the story. The Times article was headlined 'Screams Without Words': How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7," and its release in late December helped the Israeli government to justify the ongoing war on Gaza and to paint pro-Palestine supporters abroad as not caring about sexual violence. One of the reporters of the Times piece, Israeli freelancer Anat Schwartz, is being investigated by the Times for her social media activity, which included dehumanizing language and endorsements of violence against Palestinians in Gaza. "The New York Times has grave, grave mischaracterizations, sins of omission, reliance on people who have no forensic or criminology credentials to be asserting that there was a systematic rape campaign put in place here," says Scahill, who criticizes the newspaper for not issuing any corrections for their flawed reporting. We also hear from Ryan Grim about how the flawed Times article touched off extremely intense debate" inside the newsroom. They're used to external criticism, but the amount of internal criticism they're getting has them on the back foot," he says.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump both visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Thursday, where the two leading presidential candidates each pitched anti-immigration measures to further militarize the border and restrict asylum. Meanwhile, a federal judge blocked a new Texas law set to go into effect that would give police the power to arrest migrants they suspect of entering the U.S. without authorization.For more, we speak with Marisa Limon Garza, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, one of the groups challenging this Texas law. Clearly, Texas has become a battleground for the soul of this nation," she says, adding that regardless of which party is in power, immigrant communities come under attack.

Israeli Attacks Continue Unabated After Gaza Food Aid Massacre, 4 More Children Starve to Death, Defense Sec. Austin Refuses to Draw Line in Sand for Israel After Food Aid Massacre in Gaza, Washington's Largest Union Backs Democratic Vote for Uncommitted" Ahead of Primary, Lebanese PM Says Gaza Ceasefire Would End Conflict on Its Border with Israel, New Jersey Community Members Warn Against Synagogue's Plan to Host Israeli Real Estate Event, Texas Judge Halts Draconian Immigration Law as Biden and Trump Make Dueling Trips to Border, Human Rights Panel Holds First U.S. Hearing on Climate Crisis-Driven Migration in the Americas, Smokehouse Creek Fire Kills 2 as It Grows to Texas's Largest Wildfire, U.S.'s 2nd Largest, Pakistan Swears In New Parliament as Imran Khan's Allies Protest Alleged Vote Rigging, Iran Holds First Elections Since 2022 Uprising; Low Turnout Expected, Alleged Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira to Plead Guilty, The Intercept, Raw Story and AlterNet Sue OpenAI and Microsoft, Ghana's Parliament Passes Bill Further Persecuting LGBTQ+ Communities, Thousands Gather at Alexei Navalny Funeral Amid Heavy Police Presence

In Gaza City, at least 104 Palestinian refugees were killed Thursday when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd waiting for food aid. This isn't the first time people have been shot at by Israeli forces while people have been trying to access food," says the U.N.'s special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, who accuses Israel of the war crime of intentional starvation. This comes as reports grow of Palestinians resorting to animal feed and cactus leaves for sustenance and as experts warn of imminent agricultural collapse. Every single person in Gaza is hungry," says Fakhri, who emphasizes that famine in the modern context is a human-made catastrophe. At this point I'm running out of words to be able to describe the horror of what's happening and how vile the actions have been by Israel against the Palestinian civilians."

As Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell announces he will step down as the Senate's Republican leader after 17 years - the longest term in Senate history - we speak with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, who says, McConnell's legacy has been one of obstruction." He describes McConnell's aggressive" use of the filibuster, the topic of Merkley's new book, Filibustered!: How to Fix the Broken Senate and Save America, as having broken the cycle in which government can function." Merkley also discusses Republican manipulation of judicial appointments and the cloture motion in pushing the legislature further right.

As over 100 Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces while gathering for food aid in Gaza City, we speak to Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who in November became the second of only five U.S. senators to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. In January, he traveled to the Rafah border crossing in Egypt to witness the system of humanitarian aid deliveries, which he described on the Senate floor as a complicated, bizarre inspection process." Merkley is now calling for the U.S. to bypass Israel in order to directly send aid to Gaza. Because of the United States' relationship to Israel - more closely tied than any situation in the world" - Merkley says, It's the United States that has leverage to address this situation, and the world expects us to take the lead."

Israeli Forces Fire at Gazans Waiting for Food Aid, Killing at Least 100, Injuring Over 760 Others, New Yorkers Hold Vigil and Reading of the Names of 30,000 Gazans Killed by Israel Since Oct. 7, Missouri Girl Scout Troop Leaves Organization After Scout Leadership Banned Their Gaza Fundraiser, McConnell to Exit GOP Leadership, Leaving Behind Legacy of Obstruction, Far-Right Judicial Takeover, SCOTUS to Hear Trump Immunity Case as IL Judge Orders Trump Removed from State Ballot, Marianne Williamson Unsuspends" Her Campaign, SCOTUS Considers Challenge to Bump Stock Ban, Enacted Under Trump, Congress Announces Bipartisan Deal to Extend Gov't Funding Another Few Weeks, We've Lost Everything": Texas Wildfire Grows to 900,000 Acres, Razing Entire Neighborhoods, Texas Executes Man Despite Doubts over Guilty Conviction; Idaho Calls Off Botched Execution, Guinean Trade Unions Suspend Strike After Labor Leader Released from Detention, Nigerian Workers Launch Strike Amid Soaring Cost of Living, ICC Awards $56 Million to Survivors of LRA Commander Dominic Ongwen, GOP Blocks Senate Measure Protecting IVF Access Nationwide, DOJ Launches Boeing Probe as FAA Gives Co. 3 Months to Submit Safety Plan

In an act that has captured the attention of the world, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington Sunday to protest Israel's assault on Gaza and U.S. support for the military campaign. Bushnell, who live-streamed the action, said, I will no longer be complicit in genocide," before lighting himself on fire and repeatedly shouted Free Palestine" as he was engulfed in the flames. He was pronounced dead in the hospital later that day. Democracy Now! speaks with Bushnell's friend and conscientious objector Levi Pierpont, who says his friend's death was not a suicide but was about using his life to send a message for justice. We have to honor the message that he left," says Pierpont, who says Bushnell died to get people's attention about the genocide that's happening in Palestine." Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army colonel and former diplomat, lays out the history of self-immolation to protest war and how Bushnell's act could impact U.S. policy for the war on Gaza. It was an act of courage, an act of bravery, to call attention to U.S. policies," says Wright, who offers support to Pierpont and other veterans advocating for peace live on air.

President Joe Biden won the Michigan Democratic primary on Tuesday, but over 100,000 voters cast their ballots for uncommitted" in an organized campaign protesting U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza. The major battleground state is home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country, but the movement to vote uncommitted" is now expected to spread to other states, including Minnesota and Washington. I've rarely seen such an organic and authentic movement come together," says former Democratic congressmember from Michigan Andy Levin. We really need actual change in policy, and I think we sent that message strongly last night." President of the Arab American Institute James Zogby says that Democratic voters need a reason to come out to the polls. We gave them a reason with 'uncommitted.' Joe Biden's got to give them a reason in November," says Zogby. There is genocide unfolding. People want it to end. The president either is going to have to act decisively to end it, or it's going to have an impact in November."

Biden Wins in Michigan, But 100,000+ Vote Uncommitted" in Gaza Protest, Haley Warns a Trump Victory in November Would Be Suicide for Our Country", U.N. Special Rapporteur Accuses Israel of War Crimes By Depriving Food to Gaza, Hamas and Fatah to Hold Talks in Moscow on Forming Palestinian Unified Gov't, 50+ Broadcast Journalists Call on Israel & Egypt for Access to Gaza, Netanyahu: Strong U.S. Public Support Helps Perpetuate War on Gaza, Biden Holds Talks with Congressional Leaders over Shutdown & Military Aid Package, Massive Texas Wildfire Forces Closure of Nuclear Weapons Facility, Brazilian Climate Head Warns Climate Change Will Lead to Great Global Instability, Russian Court Jails Campaigner from Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Organization Memorial, Alexei Navalny Funeral to Be Held in Moscow on Friday, Two Protesters Killed in Guinea After Union Called for General Strike, Two Mayoral Candidates Murdered in Mexican City of Maravatio, San Francisco Issues Formal Apology to Black Residents, Mercedes-Benz Workers in Alabama Back Union Drive

On his 90th birthday, the legendary consumer advocate, corporate critic and four-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader joins Democracy Now! for an in-depth conversation about U.S. democracy and why Congress is a weapon of mass destruction." He says lawmakers have shredded the country's social safety net, refused to rein in the U.S. war machine, allowed white-collar crime to go unpunished, failed to enforce tax fairness and more. All of these are very unpopular with the American people," Nader says. He also discusses the 2024 presidential race and encourages people to vote their conscience" and find some way out of this two-party duopoly gulag." Nader, who publishes the monthly print-only newspaper the Capitol Hill Citizen, was recently profiled in The Washington Post for his ongoing advocacy.