Democracy Now!

At COP23, the International Energy Agency predicts U.S. oil production is expected to grow an an unparalleled rate in the coming years—even as the majority of scientists worldwide are saying countries need to cut down on fossil fuel extraction, not accelerate it. Meanwhile, a group of 15,000 scientists have come together to issue a dire "second notice" to humanity, 25 years after a group of scientists issued the "first notice" warning the world about climate change. We speak with the co-author of this report, Kevin Anderson, one of the world's leading climate scientists. Anderson is deputy director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester in Britain. The report is entitled "Can the Climate Afford Europe's Gas Addiction?"

This year's U.N. climate summit in Bonn, Germany, marks the first climate conference since President Donald Trump vowed to pull the United States out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement, a process that takes four years. We speak with Trump's climate adviser David Banks, the White House special assistant for international energy and environment, about his views on climate change and the Trump administration's stance on the role by humans in inducing climate change. This comes one day after the Trump administration made its official debut at COP23 with a forum pushing coal, gas and nuclear power that included speakers from coal company Peabody Energy, a nuclear engineering firm and a gas exporter.

Reporting from COP23 in Bonn, Germany, Democracy Now! travels to the nearby blockade of the Hambach coal mine, the largest open-pit coal mine in Europe. Activists say the mine extracts an extremely dirty form of coal called lignite, also known as brown coal, which causes the highest CO2 emissions of any type of coal when burned. For more than five years, they have been fighting to shut down the mine and to save the remaining forest from being cut down to make way for the expanding project. Only 10 percent of the ancient forest remains.

Broadcasting from the U.N. climate summit in Bonn, Germany, we look at protests underway against oil, coal, gas and nuclear power. Indian activists are demonstrating against India's largest nuclear power station, the Kudankulam plant in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. Activists also disrupted a presentation by the European Investment Bank at an annual corporate conference held alongside the climate summit here in Bonn, with a protest against the construction of the Trans Adriatic gas pipeline, known as TAP, which is slated to run from the Greek-Turkish border, under the Adriatic Sea and into Italy. Meanwhile, activists had a special welcome ready for German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday before her address to the conference.

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South African activist Kumi Naidoo joins us at COP23 to discuss the U.S. presence at this year's U.N. climate summit. "The U.N. cannot continue to pander to the madness that comes out of the Trump administration," Naidoo says, after the U.S. hosted a panel at the conference with a forum pushing coal, gas and nuclear power.

This year's U.N. climate summit is known as the first "Islands COP," with Fiji presiding over the event, but hosting it in Bonn, Germany, because of the logistical challenges of hosting 25,000 people in Fiji at the start of the South Pacific cyclone season. Today is also Gender Day here at the U.N. Climate Change Conference. We are joined by the first woman president of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, and her daughter, poet and climate change activist Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner.

Democracy Now! was there when activists and Democratic lawmakers at the U.N. climate summit in Bonn, Germany, staged a full-fledged revolt Monday when the Trump administration made its official debut at this year's conference with a forum pushing coal, gas and nuclear power. The presentation was entitled "The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation." The panel was the only official appearance by the U.S. delegation during this year's U.N. climate summit. Of the four corporate representatives pushing nuclear, gas and coal, Lenka Kollar of NuScale Power and Amos Hochstein of Tellurian told Amy Goodman that they disagreed with Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the climate agreement.

As the U.N. climate summit gets underway in Bonn, Germany, African negotiators, activists and youth are particularly vocal about the need for urgent action to mitigate the most devastating effects of global warming. Africa is expected to suffer more from climate change than any other continent. This summer, flooding and mudslides in Sierra Leone killed more than 1,000 people, while extreme drought has left millions of people at risk of famine in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. We speak with Kumi Naidoo, longtime South African anti-apartheid activist and former head of Greenpeace International. He is the chair of a new organization called Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity.

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At the United Nations climate summit in Bonn, Germany, Democracy Now! speaks with Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, who has joined a coalition of U.S. lawmakers to represent an anti-Trump bloc at the conference.

We speak with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts about Alabama's Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused by at least four women of making sexual advances on them while they were teenagers. "He should pull out of the race to become the new senator from the state of Alabama," Markey says.

Despite President Trump's vows to pull the United States out of the landmark 2015 Paris accord, there are a number of U.S. senators, mayors and governors who are staging an anti-Trump revolt at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany. We speak with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who is part of a coalition that rejects Trump's vow to pull the U.S. out of the Paris deal. Markey also addresses need for more resources in Puerto Rico as some 3.5 million U.S. citizens there still lack electricity as they recover from Hurricane Maria, and discusses the Trump's threats of nuclear war against North Korea.

As the second week of the U.N. climate conference gets underway in Bonn, Germany, we speak with two activists about the impact of climate change on their countries, and their goals for this year's talks. "It was devastating to see thousands of homes damaged, and about 40 people lost their lives," says George Nacewa, Fiji islander and 350.org Pacific Climate Warrior. "This is something we've never experienced before." Meanwhile, Tetet Lauron, a former member of the Philippines delegation, says negotiators must increase their sense of urgency "to avoid runaway climate change."

President Donald Trump is visiting the Philippines as part of his 13-day trip across Asia, where he met with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and said the two have a "great relationship." Since taking office in 2016, the controversial Filipino leader has presided over a bloody so-called war on drugs in which more than 7,000 people have been extrajudicially killed by police or vigilantes. It is unclear whether Trump raised the issue of human rights when he saw Duterte. While broadcasting from the U.N. climate conference in Bonn, Germany, we speak with Tetet Lauron, program manager for climate justice at IBON International, who was a member of the Philippines delegation to the United Nations climate summits from 2011 to 2013.

At the U.N. climate summit in Bonn, Germany, Democracy Now! was there when thousands of people took to the streets Saturday for a march to demand an end to fossil fuel extraction, and some also called for climate reparations.

Democracy Now! broadcasts live from the U.N. climate summit in Bonn, Germany, where representatives from nearly 200 nations have gathered for negotiations aimed at bolstering the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. This year's climate change conference comes after President Trump has vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, but there are still a number of U.S. delegations in Bonn. One is a coalition of U.S. lawmakers, universities, companies and faith groups that is staging an anti-Trump revolt by rejecting Trump's action and declaring, "We are still in." On Saturday, a group of protesters, many of whom were Native American, disrupted California Governor Jerry Brown's speech at Bonn, calling on California to ban fracking, yelling, "Keep it in the ground!"

Hundreds Killed as Powerful Earthquake Hits Iran Near Iraqi Border, In Philippines, Trump Embraced by Notorious President Duterte, Hundreds Protest Ahead of Trump's Visit to the Philippines, ASEAN Summit Blasted for Silence on Burmese Persecution of Rohingya, President Trump Calls North Korea's Kim Jong-un "Short and Fat", Former Intelligence Chiefs Dispute Trump on Russia Election Meddling, 750,000 Protest in Catalonia for Release of Jailed Leaders, Poland: 60,000 Far-Right Nationalists March in Warsaw, German Newspaper Tallies 33,293 Migrant Deaths, Former Prime Minister Hariri Says He'll Return to Lebanon Within Days, U.S. Drones Strike Somalia Amid Increased Troop Presence, Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore Denies Child Sexual Assault Charges, More Prominent Men Face Sexual Assault and Abuse Allegations, In Hollywood, Hundreds Join #MeToo March Against Sexual Assault

As Democracy Now! heads to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, we speak with 350.org's Bill McKibben. Several U.S. delegations are scheduled to attend despite the fact that President Donald Trump says he is pulling the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. The Trump administration is sending officials to push coal, gas and nuclear power during a presentation at the U.N. climate summit. Meanwhile, a coalition of U.S. cities, companies, universities and faith groups have opened a 2,500-square-meter pavilion outside the U.N. climate conference called "We are Still In"—an effort to persuade other countries that wide swaths of the United States are still committed to the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. McKibben also discusses his newly published first novel, "Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance."

President Donald Trump's five-nation tour of Asia will include a stop in the Philippines to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been overseeing a controversial "war on drugs." Since Duterte was elected in 2016, more than 7,000 people have been extrajudicially killed by police or vigilantes. While human rights groups have condemned Duterte, he has received backing from Trump, who invited Duterte to visit the White House. Human Rights Watch slammed the invitation, saying, "Trump has made himself morally complicit in future killings." We speak with Raffy Lerma, an award-winning photojournalist who has documented Duterte's "war on drugs." He describes his work and the situation in the Philippines and says he hopes Trump will address the deadly crisis.

President Donald Trump continued his five-nation tour of Asia, landing in Vietnam today for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. This comes as Trump said on Thursday that he wants Russia's help in getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. In Korea, he attempted to visit the Demilitarized Zone, but his fleet of helicopters was turned back due to bad weather. We speak with Professor Bruce Cumings, who just returned from Seoul, South Korea, where Trump was met with protests. He is professor of history at the University of Chicago and the author of several books on Korea, including "Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History."

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Saudi authorities arrested scores of prominent officials over the weekend, including 10 princes, four ministers and dozens of former ministers, in a massive shakeup by King Salman aimed at consolidating power for his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the main architect of the kingdom's war in Yemen. Among those arrested was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest people, with an estimated net worth of at least $17 billion. Talal has investments in many well-known U.S. companies, like Apple, Twitter, Citigroup—and Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corp. The arrests, on unspecified "corruption" charges, came just hours after the crown prince convened a new anti-corruption committee with wide-ranging powers to detain and arrest anyone accused and to search their homes and seize their assets. Meanwhile, the White House said President Trump called King Salman to offer thanks for the kingdom's purchases of billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry, while praising what it called the kingdom's "modernization drive." We speak with Toby Jones, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, and with Afrah Nasser, Yemeni journalist and founder and editor-in-chief of the Sana'a Review.

United Nations officials say Yemen will face the world's largest famine in decades if the Saudi-led coalition refuses to lift its blockade on deliveries of aid. On Monday, the coalition shut air, land and sea routes into Yemen after Houthi rebels fired a missile that was intercepted near the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Saudi Arabia says its blockade is needed to stop Iran from sending weapons to the rebels. The U.N. says aid agencies were given no prior notice of the Saudi decision to shut down all land, air and seaports in Yemen. Meanwhile, medical experts warn the clampdown will worsen Yemen's cholera epidemic, which has sickened more than 900,000 people. We are joined by Afrah Nasser, an independent Yemeni journalist who is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Sana'a Review. Facing death threats, she is in exile from Yemen but continues to report on human rights violations, women's issues and press freedom there. She is here in the U.S. to receive the International Free Press Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

We go to Beijing for an update on President Trump's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of his five-nation trip to Asia. Trump used the talks to call on China to sever ties with North Korea, and address the U.S. trade deficit with the country he once accused of "raping" the United States. Human rights activists have urged him to use his trip to discuss climate change and challenge China over its crackdown on dissidents and call for the release of political prisoners. We speak with Joanna Chiu, China correspondent for Agence France-Presse, and Rajan Menon, professor of political science at the Powell School at the City University of New York and senior research fellow in the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.

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Examining the Paradise Papers, The Guardian reports seven Republican super-donors mentioned in the papers stored some of their fortunes offshore, beyond the reach of public scrutiny and tax authorities. Together, the billionaires pumped more than $350 million into the 2016 election. Some are well-known backers of conservative causes, like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and Charles and David Koch. Another investigation focuses on Democratic donor James Simons, who spent $11 million to back Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Simons is the founder of Renaissance Technologies, the world’s most profitable hedge fund. Leaked records show he kept much of his $8 billion fortune in an offshore private wealth fund in Bermuda in order to avoid "particularly severe" taxes that would be triggered if he tried to bring the funds onshore. We speak with Jon Swaine, senior reporter for The Guardian.

The Paradise Papers revealed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is conducting business with Russian President Vladimir Putin's son-in-law through a shipping venture in Russia. According to the leaked documents, Ross owns a stake through offshore entities in Navigator Holdings, a shipping firm that receives millions of dollars from a company owned by Putin's close allies. On Monday, Ross told the BBC he had declared his interests earlier this year when he joined Trump's administration, and had done nothing wrong. "This Trump administration is responsible for imposing sanctions on various Russians, some of whom are involved in this company, Sibur," responds our guest Jon Swaine of The Guardian. "That's a pretty big conflict."

A major new investigation by The Guardian based on the Paradise Papers shows how billionaire Robert Mercer and his family built a $60 million war chest for conservative causes inside their family foundation by using an offshore investment vehicle to avoid U.S. taxes. The report traces the money directly to future White House chief strategist Steve Bannon of the far-right news outlet Breitbart Media. We speak with Jon Swaine, senior reporter for The Guardian.

As voters on Tuesday turned against the Republican Party one year after Donald Trump was elected president, a new report, "Autopsy: The Democratic Party in Crisis," examines the role of Democratic Party loyalists in the party's 2016 defeat. We look at the outcomes from election night and speak with the report's co-author, Norman Solomon.

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Best-selling Chilean writer Isabel Allende discusses her new novel, "In the Midst of Winter," which centers around the lives of several immigrants, and the role of writers and artists in the Trump era.

Acclaimed novelist Isabel Allende, an award-winning author who has written 23 books, including "The House of the Spirits," "Paula" and "Daughter of Fortune." Her latest novel, "In the Midst of Winter," is a love story that explores the plight of immigrants and refugees. Her books have been translated into 35 languages, sold over 57 million copies around the world. Her father's first cousin was Salvador Allende, Chile's president from 1970 until September 11, 1973, when Augusto Pinochet seized power in a CIA-backed military coup. Salvador Allende died in the palace that day. Isabel Allende would later flee from her native Chile to Venezuela.

In New York City, two police officers have quit the New York Police Department after they were charged with rape, kidnapping and official misconduct. Prosecutors say former NYPD detectives Edward Martins and Richard Hall arrested an 18-year-old woman after stopping her car and finding a small amount of marijuana and a few anti-anxiety pills in her purse. Testing shows the DNA of both officers was found on the teenager. The former police officers are claiming the acts were consensual as their defense. "Violence is learned," responds Mariame Kaba, an organizer and educator who works on anti-domestic violence programs. "Of course people exposed to violence all the time will use it."

The 26-year-old white man named Devin Patrick Kelley who allegedly killed 26 people Sunday as they attended church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, had a history of domestic violence. He was court-martialed on charges he repeatedly hit his wife and attacked his stepson. But after he was kicked out of the Air Force with a bad conduct discharge, officials failed to report his crimes to a federal database, so Kelley had no problem buying the gun he used Sunday. We look at the link between mass shootings and domestic violence with Soraya Chemaly, director of the Women's Media Center Speech Project, and with Mariame Kaba, an organizer and educator who works on anti-domestic violence programs.

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This weekend, a slew of 13.4 million leaked documents revealed how the world's richest men stash away billions of dollars in wealth in offshore tax havens. The revelations, known as the Paradise Papers, implicate more than a dozen of President Trump's Cabinet members, advisers and major donors. The 13.4 million leaked documents also reveal how millions of pounds of the British queen's private estate were hidden in an offshore fund based in the Cayman Islands, and how the senior adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau helped funnel millions of dollars to offshore tax havens. For more, we speak with Frederik Obermaier, co-author of the Paradise Papers. He is an investigative reporter at Germany's leading newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung. Obermaier also worked on a separate investigation, the Panama Papers, and is co-author of the book "Panama Papers: The Story of a Worldwide Revelation."

While Sunday's shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, has received wall-to-wall media coverage, there was another mass shooting in Texas in September that received far less attention. In Plano, Texas, a man allegedly killed his estranged wife and her friends in what appears to be the deadliest incident of domestic violence in the town's history. Twenty-seven-year-old Meredith Hight was watching the Cowboys football game with a group of friends and family when her estranged husband reportedly entered her house and opened fire, killing her and seven other adults. The shooter was killed by police. Local news reports Hight had filed for divorce in July. Hight's mother said her daughter "loved hosting friends and families. This was her first opportunity to do it after the divorce, and he didn't take it well." For more, we speak with Ed Scruggs, vice chair and spokesperson for Texas Gun Sense, and Sarah Tofte, research director at Everytown for Gun Safety. Her team has just published a new report on the links between domestic violence and mass shootings.

Sunday's shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, was one of the deadliest mass shootings in Texas state history. It comes only a month after the shooting massacre in Las Vegas, where another white man, Stephen Paddock, opened fire on concertgoers, killing 59 people, including himself. The majority of mass shootings are carried out by white men. For more on the connections between race, white supremacy and mass shootings, we speak to George Ciccariello-Maher, political science professor at Drexel University and the author of "Decolonizing Dialectics." He was banned from campus after questioning why mass shootings in the United States are almost always carried out by white men.

On Sunday, suspected shooter Devin Patrick Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, wearing a ballistic vest and carrying a Ruger AR-556 assault-style rifle and opened fire, killing at least 26 people and wounding at least 20 more. Among the victims was a pregnant woman, the 14-year-old daughter of the church's pastor and other children as young as five years old. In April 2016, Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle at an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in San Antonio, Texas, despite having been court-martialed and jailed for a year for assaulting his wife and child. In filling out the background check paperwork, Kelley indicated he did not have a criminal history that disqualified him from purchasing the firearm. For more on gun control and background checks, we speak with Ed Scruggs, vice chair and spokesperson for Texas Gun Sense.

We begin today's show with Sunday's mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a tiny rural community east of San Antonio, Texas, which killed 26 people and wounded 20 more. The suspected shooter has been identified as a 26-year-old white man named Devin Patrick Kelley from New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2010. In 2012, he was court-martialed for assaulting his wife and child, leading to a year-long imprisonment and a "bad conduct" discharge in 2014. The "bad conduct" discharge—versus a "dishonorable discharge"—meant Kelley was still eligible to buy firearms legally.For more, we speak with Sarah Tofte, research director at Everytown for Gun Safety. Her team has just published a new report on the links between domestic violence and mass shootings.

Gunman Massacres 26, Wounds 20 at Church Service in Rural Texas, In Asia, Trump Threatens North Korea, Urges Weapons Sales to Japan, "Paradise Papers" Reveal Massive Tax Evasion by World's Wealthiest, Afghanistan: U.S. Airstrikes Reportedly Kill Scores in Kunduz Province, Saudi Princes, Officials Arrested as Royal Family Consolidates Rule, Saudi-Led Coalition Launches Massive Attack in Yemen Following Missile Launch, Lebanese PM Resigns During Trip to Saudi Arabia, Vietnam: 49 Dead Amid Flooding from Powerful Typhoon, U.S. Government Report Finds Climate Change Massive, Human-Caused, United Nations Climate Talks Open in Bonn Amid U.S. Withdrawal, Germany: Thousands March in Bonn, Shut Down Open-Pit Coal Mine, Belgian Judge Grants Conditional Release to Catalan Leaders as Spain Seeks Arrests, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul Suffers Broken Ribs After Assault by Neighbor, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Gets Dishonorable Discharge, No Prison Term, Donna Brazile Considered Swapping Biden for Clinton in 2016 Race, Hundreds March Against Trump and Fascism in Cities Across the U.S.

We speak with former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis about the rise of the far-right Golden Dawn party in his country and how their policies "have infiltrated the mainstream" in European politics, including anti-immigrant measures similar to those proposed by Trump. Varoufakis says Trump's vow to crack down on immigration after the attack in New York City will only inspire more attacks, noting that "ISIS loves Donald Trump."

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."