Democracy Now!

President Trump praised the state of the U.S. economy in a primetime address Wednesday evening, even though new government statistics show the nation's unemployment rate is at a new four-year high of 4.6%. Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says Trump's aides should be wondering about the man's sanity" after Wednesday's speech. This is utterly divorced from reality." Though Trump blames former President Biden for the poor economy, Baker notes that Trump had inherited an incredibly strong economy by almost every measure imaginable."

House Rejects Resolutions Seeking Congressional Approval for Boat Strikes or Attack on Venezuela, Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Record $901 Billion Military Spending Bill, Israeli Army Shells Gaza Residential Area in Latest Violation of U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, House Passes Healthcare Bill That Does Not Address Skyrocketing Insurance Premiums, House Advances Bill That Would Criminalize Gender-Affirming Care for Minors, Trump Touts Economic Record in Primetime Address as U.S. Unemployment Ticks Higher, Dan Bongino Announces Resignation as FBI's Second-in-Command, Pentagon Opens Formal Inquiry into Sen. Mark Kelly, Who Told Service Members to Defy Illegal Orders, Jack Smith Had Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" Trump Conspired to Overturn 2020 Election, Trump Attempts to Pardon Colorado Clerk Who Tampered with Voting Machines After 2020 Election, White House Says It's Breaking Up National Center for Atmospheric Research, Senate Confirms Billionaire Private Astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA Chief, NYT: Trump Admin Ramping Up Efforts to Denaturalize Immigrants, Minneapolis Police Chief Criticizes Federal Immigration Agents for Dragging Woman Down Street, Federal Judge Rules Trump Admin Broke Law by Limiting Congressmembers from Visiting ICE Jails, Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Human Rights Activist Jeanette Vizguerra, FCC Chair Brendan Carr Says Agency Is Not Independent

As the Trump administration is expected to release investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein later this week, a recent New York Times investigation delves into one of the biggest mysteries about the deceased sexual predator: how the college dropout with no financial training rose through the world of finance and amassed his wealth, which enabled his abuse and insulated him from scrutiny for decades.David Enrich, deputy investigations editor at The New York Times and lead author of the report, headlined Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich," says Epstein's early success in business was due to a series of lucky breaks, lies and scams that nevertheless convinced sophisticated investors and business titans to give him their money.

Jose Antonio Kast has won Chile's presidential election, with the far-right leader getting about 58% of the vote in Sunday's runoff against Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party who served as labor minister under outgoing President Gabriel Boric. Kast has openly praised former U.S.-backed dictator Augusto Pinochet and is the son of a Nazi who fled Germany after World War II. Kast campaigned on fighting crime and carrying out mass deportations of immigrants.It is a political and ethical earthquake," says acclaimed Chilean American writer Ariel Dorfman, who served as a cultural adviser to socialist President Salvador Allende from 1970 to 1973. He pins much of the blame for Kast's rise on an uninspired left" that has lost its way since the end of dictatorship and turned its back on the troubles of the people."

President Trump has ordered what he called a total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, as the United States escalates pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro. The move comes amid a major U.S. military buildup in the region and days after U.S. forces seized an oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil. Since September, the U.S. military has carried out at least 25 airstrikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific near Venezuela, killing at least 95 people.The administration's actions against Venezuela signal the total renunciation of liberal internationalism" and further abandonment of a world governed by common laws," says Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Yale University professor Greg Grandin. This comes as Latin America is on a knife's edge between the left and the right," with the Trump administration eager to boost its authoritarian allies across the region, says Grandin.

Trump Orders Blockade on Sanctioned Oil Tankers Entering and Leaving Venezuela, ICC Rejects Israel's Bid to Block War Crimes Probe in Gaza, First Funerals Held Today for Victims of Bondi Beach Massacre, Manhunt Still Underway for Brown University Shooting Suspect, MIT Professor Fatally Shot in His Home, Trump's Chief of Staff Wiles Says He Has an Alcoholic's Personality" in Explosive Vanity Fair Interview, Speaker Johnson Says He Will Not Call for a Vote to Extend Healthcare Subsidies, Trump Expands Travel Ban to 20 More Countries, NYT: Trump Admin Transfers 22 Cuban Immigrants to Guantanamo, Drone Attacks Killed Over 100 Civilians in Sudan This Month, M23 Rebel Group Announces Exit from Key Town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Toxic Air Pollution Forces Schools in India to Cancel In-Person Classes and Employees to Work from Home, Greeks Protest Against Low Wages as Parliament Approves New Budget, Warner Bros Rejects Paramount's $108 Billion Hostile Takeover Bid

At least a dozen people have died in Gaza as winter storms batter displaced Palestinians forced to shelter in makeshift tents among the rubble of collapsing buildings severely damaged by Israeli bombing. That rubble is being eyed by U.S.-based contractors, who are already vying for lucrative contracts to rebuild Gaza under the Trump-backed ceasefire deal. People are lining up and treating this the way they they treated reconstruction in Iraq," says Aram Roston, whose latest investigation for The Guardian US looks at how the company behind the notorious Florida immigration detention jail nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz" has been involved in rebuilding plans spearheaded by Trump's so-called Board of Peace.Roston also discusses his reporting on the CIA's involvement in U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean. It plays this key role in picking the targets that are chosen by the military for destruction."

New York City housing advocate Patrick Markee's new book, Placeless: Homelessness in the New Gilded Age, looks at homelessness through the lens of housing affordability. Homelessness, which affects millions across the United States, has roots in structural economic changes, right-wing economic policies and systemic racism," explains Markee. There's a reason that other advanced capitalist countries in this world ... don't have the levels of homelessness that we have, and that's because, there, government plays a much larger role in creating and even owning affordable housing."

The two victims in Saturday's mass shooting at Brown University have been identified: freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and sophomore Ella Cook. We speak to another sophomore, Zoe Weissman, who came to Brown from Parkland, Florida, where she was a student at the middle school adjacent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the mass shooting that occurred there in 2018. Because I've already processed all the grief and the sadness before," says Weissman about surviving a second school shooting in her young life, my most predominant emotion right now is, honestly, anger ... because we are the only country where this happens, and ... the only country that has more guns than people."

Pentagon Says It Blew Up Three More Alleged Drug Boats as Trump Declares Fentanyl a WMD, Palestinians in Gaza Face Flooded Tents and Collapsed Buildings from Winter Storm, Australia's Prime Minister Says Bondi Beach Gunmen Were Inspired by ISIS, Social Media Sites Amplify False Accusations Against Man Who Shares Bondi Beach Attacker's Name, Manhunt for Brown University Gunman Enters Fourth Day, Trump Loyalist Announces First Indictment of Left-Wing Activists After Trump's Antifa Order, Veterans Administration to Cut Another 35,000 Healthcare Jobs, Former CDC Leaders Who Criticized RFK Jr. Will Lead New California Public Health Agency, Trump Sues BBC for $10 Billion over Edits to Jan. 6 Speech, Trump Blames Trump Derangement Syndrome" for Killing of Rob and Michele Reiner

A deadly mass shooting at Brown University left two students dead and nine others injured on Saturday. One student, Mia Tretta, had survived a shooting in 2019 when she was shot in the stomach as a high school student. Her best friend was killed in the shooting, and she had selected Brown University for Rhode Island's strong gun control laws. Now she has survived yet another school shooting. Physically and emotionally, a school shooting takes your whole life and flips it upside down," says Tretta, who criticizes politicians who refuse to enact meaningful gun reform. We know that every single act of gun violence is 100% preventable."

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, one of Iran's most prominent human rights activists, was rearrested Friday when Iranian authorities violently raided a memorial ceremony she attended at a mosque in Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad. She's been seen as a huge threat to the Islamic Republic's regime," says Porochista Khakpour, Iranian American author and essayist. They find her moral authority extremely intimidating."Mohammadi has spent more than 10 years of her life in and out of prison, most recently when she was arrested in November 2021 and accused - among other charges - of threatening Iran's national security and spreading propaganda" against the state for her decadeslong work fighting for human rights, women's rights and democracy in Iran.

At least 15 people were fatally shot during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's famed Bondi Beach this Saturday, and at least another 42 people were injured, marking Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly three decades. Victims included a 10-year-old girl, two rabbis and a Holocaust survivor who died while shielding his wife from bullets.After Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu blamed Australia's recognition of a Palestinian state for the shooting, Antony Loewenstein, member of the Jewish Council of Australia, says the shooting is being weaponized by the worst people imaginable to support incredibly draconian policies."

At Least 15 People Killed in Mass Shooting at Hanukkah Event in Australia, Gunman Still at Large After Deadly Shooting at Brown University, Filmmaker Rob Reiner and His Wife Found Dead in Los Angeles Home, Trump Vows to Retaliate After 3 Americans Were Killed in ISIS Attack in Syria, Hamas Confirms Death of Senior Commander, Israel's Security Cabinet Approves Plans to Formally Recognize 19 Settlement Outposts in West Bank, At Least 37 People Killed in Flash Floods in Morocco, U.S. Seized Oil Tanker Near Venezuela as Warrant Was Set to Expire, Chile Elects Far-Right Candidate Jose Antonio Kast as President, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi Arrested in Iran, Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Campaigner Jimmy Lai Found Guilty in National Security Trial, Belarus Releases 123 Political Prisoners as U.S. Lifts Sanctions, Rep. Omar Says Federal Agents Pulled Over Her Son, Asking Him to Provide Proof of Citizenship, House Democrats Release Photos Showing Epstein's Ties to Clinton, Trump and Other Powerful Men, National Trust for Historic Preservation Sues to Stop Construction of White House Ballroom, JetBlue Plane Narrowly Avoids Midair Collision" with U.S. Military Aircraft Near Venezuela

Democratic lawmakers repeatedly called on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign as they confronted her on Trump's immigration crackdown during a heated House Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday. We speak with Congressmember Delia Ramirez, who reiterated her call during the hearing for Noem to resign and announced that she would begin taking steps for her impeachment.The Department of Homeland Security is operating as a criminal organization" under Noem's leadership, Ramirez tells Democracy Now! She thinks that she is above the law as long as Republicans are in leadership. ... We can't allow her to think this is a laughable matter as people are dying under her watch."

As the Trump administration expands its immigration crackdown nationwide, President Trump is simultaneously creating new pathways for wealthy noncitizens to obtain U.S. visas. Earlier this week, Trump officially launched a program allowing affluent visitors to fast-track permission to live and work in the United States. For a $1 million payment, applicants can receive a so-called Trump Gold Card, which promises to speed up U.S. residency applications in record time." The administration says it will also soon offer a $5 million Trump Platinum Card" that would allow participants to avoid paying some U.S. taxes. The announcement comes as new rules published this week would require visitors from 42 countries in the visa waiver program to submit up to five years of social media history, along with phone numbers, email addresses and biometric data.Shev Dalal-Dheini, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says the changes show that if you're wealthy, if you can pay to play, then you're welcome to come to the United States. But if you're not - if you're coming as a tourist, or you're coming to seek humanitarian protection - then we're going to make it much tougher for you to come here and really put a lot of hurdles along the way in the guise of security and vetting."

Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel's surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinians throughout the genocide in Gaza have been watched, tracked and often killed by Israeli forces who have access to their most intimate details, including phone and text records, social relations, biometric data and more.This all-encompassing surveillance system is reshaping how people speak, how they're moving, how they're even thinking," says Mhawish. It manufactured behavior for people, so they shrink their lives to reduce risk, they rehearse what version of themselves feels safest to present, and that creates an enormous psychological burden."Mhawish also describes the terror of when his family's house was bombed, killing two of his cousins and two neighbors in an attack he says was linked to Israeli surveillance of his reporting activities. I was being watched and tracked," he says.

As Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dramatically reshapes U.S. immunization policy, we speak with Dr. Fiona Havers, a former top vaccine expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who resigned in June.Last week, Kennedy's handpicked advisers on a federal vaccine panel voted against universal hepatitis B shots for newborns, reversing 35 years of CDC guidance that all newborns receive the vaccine within 24 hours of birth. The Trump administration also recently altered the CDC's website to include false claims linking autism and vaccines, in keeping with Kennedy's spreading of vaccine misinformation going back decades. CNN is reporting the FDA is also considering putting a black box" warning on COVID-19 vaccines.This administration is causing a lot of confusion and is using, basically, the CDC to spread misinformation now about vaccines," says Dr. Havers. She also discusses her decision to resign from the CDC and the chaos the Trump administration has caused at the agency, calling RFK Jr.'s changes a hostile takeover" to advance anti-science views."

U.S. Tightens Sanctions on Venezuela and Plans to Seize More Oil Tankers as Trump Threatens War, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Won't Rule Out Regime Change in Venezuela, 12 Die in Gaza Strip Amid Winter Storm and Israeli Ceasefire Violations, Health Insurance Costs Are Set to Explode After Republicans Reject Extended Tax Credits, Hundreds Quarantined in South Carolina as Measles Spreads Rapidly in Unvaccinated Communities, Rep. Haley Stevens Seeks Impeachment of Health Secretary: "RFK Jr. Has Turned His Back on Science", Indiana Republicans Revolt Against Trump's Demand to Gerrymander Congressional Map, Kilmar Abrego Garcia Reunites with Family After Judge Orders His Release from ICE Jail, ICE Agents in Minneapolis Racially Profile and Violently Arrest Somali American U.S. Citizen, You Lied on the Record": House Democrats Grill Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Justice Department Fails for Second Time to Win Grand Jury Indictment of New York AG Letitia James, House Republicans Cross Aisle to Advance Bill Restoring Federal Workers' Union Rights, Disney Agrees to Allow OpenAI's Sora App to Make Videos Using Copyrighted Characters, Trump Signs Executive Order Blocking States from Regulating AI

Palestinians were battered with rain and freezing temperatures overnight as winter storm Byron hit the Gaza Strip. Soaked tents and makeshift shelters flooded, causing some mattresses to float and improvised roofs to blow away. An 8-month-old baby girl, Rahaf Abu Jazar, died from hypothermia. Moureen Kaki, an aid worker living in Gaza, says conditions at hospitals have not improved since the announcement of the so-called ceasefire. It is not really a ceasefire," she says. It's just a slower form of death."

The acclaimed academic and writer Mahmood Mamdani speaks with Democracy Now! about the rise of his son, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. The professor cites Zohran's refusal to budge, to soften his critique of the state of Israel" as a critical aspect of his rise to power. His refusal to change his stance told the electorate that this was a man of principle, that affordability was not just merely rhetoric, that he could be taken seriously at his word," Mahmood says.

We speak with the acclaimed academic and writer Mahmood Mamdani, who has just released a new book, Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State. Mamdani, who has taught at Columbia for decades, was raised in Uganda and first came to the United States in the 1960s to study. He and his family were later expelled from Uganda during Idi Amin's dictatorship. The book is about the reversal of the anti-colonial movement" in Uganda, says Mamdani. The anti-colonial movement fought to create a nation out of a fragmented country ... and I speak of slow poison as a gradual, piecemeal, step-by-step cutting up of the country so that you no longer have a single citizenship."

U.S. troops seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, a major escalation that the Venezuelan government called international piracy." We speak with New York University professor Alejandro Velasco about the Trump administration's intentions in the country, which has the world's largest known oil reserves. Though the Pentagon has claimed the conflict is aimed at combating narcoterrorism, Velasco says the violence is actually an effort to get rid of leftist governments in the region."

Caracas Condemns U.S. Seizure of Oil Tanker Off Venezuela's Coast as International Piracy", He'd Better Wise Up, or He'll Be Next": Trump Threatens Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Child Freezes to Death as Torrential Rains Flood Tents of Gaza's Displaced Palestinians, Five Palestine Action Supporters Hospitalized While on Hunger Strike to Protest Imprisonment, House of Representatives Passes $901 Billion National Defense Authorization Act, NTSB Chair Says New Military Bill Would Make Washington, D.C., Airspace Less Safe, Federal Reserve Votes to Cut Interest Rates by Quarter Point, 200+ Environmental Groups Demand Halt to Construction of New U.S. Data Centers, Report: Wealthiest 0.001% Hold Three Times More Wealth Than the Poorest Half of Humanity, Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration to End Deployment of Troops to Los Angeles, Trump Launches Trump Gold Card" Visa Program for Wealthy Noncitizens, Trump Administration Abruptly Cancels Naturalization Ceremonies for Immigrants from 19 Nations, At Least 33 People Killed After Myanmar Military Bombs Hospital, Bolivia's Former President Luis Arce Arrested over Alleged Graft

What are the lessons from the Montgomery bus boycott launched 70 years ago this month? The boycott, which sparked the civil rights movement, began after the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated city bus to a white man. Historian and biographer Jeanne Theoharis, author of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, argues, Part of what her courage is, is the ability to step forward again and again, without any sense that this is going to change anything, and say, 'This is the line. And I refuse.'" Theoharis's new piece for The Guardian is What we get wrong about the Montgomery bus boycott - and what we can learn from it."

Nineteen-year-old Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was detained and deported, despite a lack of removal order, when attempting to head home from Babson College in Boston to surprise her family in Texas for Thanksgiving. This is the first arrest of its kind I've seen," says her attorney, Todd C. Pomerleau, who says the student has been the victim of character assassination." After Lopez Belloza was taken down near the border on a bus, had shackles around her ankles, chain around her waist, shackles around her wrist," her family attempted to speak out to the press about the rights violations she suffered. They are now being harassed by law enforcement, as well.

Bruna Ferreira, a DACA recipient and mother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew, has lived in the United States since she was 6 years old, but was recently arrested by ICE in her own driveway in what her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, calls a brazen, unconstitutional arrest, a clear violation of her rights." Ferreira was transported to a remote detention center in Louisiana following her arrest in Massachusetts, and just released Tuesday. All of a sudden, now the Leavitts have a problem with 'criminal illegal aliens.' Yet one of them was about to marry one of their loved ones, and there was no problem," says Pomerleau.

Lights on 24/7. Overflowing toilets and lack of access to showers. Solitary confinement in a 2*2-foot box. These are some of the torturous conditions documented in a new report from Amnesty International investigating human rights violations at two ICE detention centers in Florida: the Krome North Service Processing Center and the Everglades Detention Facility, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz" by Trump and his supporters. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is denying the report's findings, calling them fabricated and politically motivated. We speak to the report's lead researcher, Amy Fischer, about the intentional development within immigration detention that is aiming to make it increasingly cruel, increasingly abusive, so that people are forced to give up their immigration claims [because] the conditions are so cruel that they can't handle it anymore."

The world's largest conflict by scale is in Sudan, where tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced since fighting broke out between the UAE-backed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese military (SAF) in April 2023. Last week, the RSF attacked a kindergarten, killing over 40 children. Almost every part of Sudan is somehow impacted by this war," which has been rife with reports of child killings and widespread sexual violence, says Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair. Satellite imagery reviewed by researcher Nathaniel Raymond of the Yale School of Public Health depicts the RSF-captured city of El Fasher as a ghost town," indicating a major civilian massacre carried out by the UAE-supported paramilitary group. Khair draws attention to the shortfall in humanitarian funding being directed to Sudan, and urges international actors to financially support civil society groups and the U.N. crisis response fund. Nobody is helping them. No one is putting money and resources to them to enable them to save lives."

Hamas Calls for Greater International Pressure on Israel Before Agreeing to Next Phase of Ceasefire Deal, UAE-Backed Forces Claim Control of Oil-Rich Southern Half of Yemen, Trump Presses Zelensky to Accept a Peace Deal with Russia, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Machado Travels to Oslo But Unable to Attend Award Ceremony, Two U.S. F-18 Fighter Jets Enter Venezuelan Airspace for 40 Minutes, Honduran President Castro Accuses Trump of Interfering in Presidential Election, Trump Attacks Rep. Omar in Racist, Expletive-Filled Rant While Calling for More Immigration from Northern Europe, Florida Governor DeSantis Designates CAIR a Foreign Terrorist Organization, Texas Governor Abbott Pushes Turning Point USA in Public High Schools Across the State, Australia Officially Bans Children Under the Age of 16 from Using Social Media Apps, One Student Dead and Another in Critical Condition After Shooting at Kentucky State University, Education Department Moves to End Biden's Student Loan Repayment Program, Judge Rules Tufts Student Rumeysa Ozturk Can Resume Teaching and Conducting Research, Illinois Governor Pritzker Signs Bills to Protect Immigrants from ICE Agents, Alina Habba Resigns as U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, Miami Elects First Democratic Mayor in Nearly 30 Years, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander Launches Primary Challenge Against Rep. Dan Goldman

Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal are on a 103-mile, 12-day march ending Tuesday in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where he is imprisoned at the Mahanoy state prison. The march ends on the same day Abu-Jamal was arrested in 1981 for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, for which he has always maintained his innocence. One of the best-known political prisoners in the world, Abu-Jamal was an award-winning journalist and co-founder of the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party before his incarceration, and has continued to write and speak from prison. Human rights groups say he was denied a fair trial, with evidence unearthed in 2019 showing judicial bias and police and prosecutorial misconduct. Abu-Jamal is now 71 years old, and advocates say he is being denied proper medical care in prison, permanently risking his eyesight.We're marching today to demand freedom for Mumia and all political prisoners," says activist Larry Hamm.We ration healthcare in this country, and in particular for prisoners," says Noelle Hanrahan, part of Abu-Jamal's legal team, who is demanding that Mumia get specialist care ... and that he is given the treatment that he deserves."

The Trump administration is facing backlash after ending free admission at national parks on the only two federal holidays honoring Black history - Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day - while adding free entry on President Trump's birthday, June 14. The Interior Department also announced higher entry fees for non-U.S. residents under what it calls America-first entry fee policies."Denigrating Black history can't erase the truth," says Carolyn Finney, who served on the National Parks Advisory Board during the Obama administration. It's not going to change how we feel, not just as Black Americans, but Americans in general, about honoring our history."We also speak with Audrey Peterman, author of Our True Nature: Finding a Zest for Life in the National Park System, who says the entire history of America, the entire history of every racial and ethnic group in America, is in the national park system."

President Donald Trump says he will be personally involved in the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, with two enormous buyout offers on the table that risk further exacerbating U.S. media concentration. Netflix announced an $83 billion deal last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, which would give the tech giant control of the Warner Bros. movie studio and rival streaming service HBO Max. Paramount Skydance then launched a hostile takeover bid worth $108 billion that would create a Hollywood behemoth and bring CBS News and CNN under the same roof, in addition to a host of other media properties. Paramount Skydance is controlled by the pro-Trump billionaires Larry Ellison and his son David; the takeover offer is also backed financially by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Media critics and anti-monopoly advocates have warned that both offers for Warner Bros. should be rejected by federal regulators, though the Trump administration has largely ended aggressive antitrust enforcement.We have these giant companies trying to take control of even more of what we watch, see, hear and read every day," says Craig Aaron, the co-CEO of Free Press and Free Press Action, two media reform organizations. He calls the media giants' efforts to woo Trump a Mafia-type situation" and warns that previous media mega-mergers have been disastrous" for workers, consumers and the businesses themselves.

Israeli Military Chief Says Gaza's Yellow Line" WIll Become New Border" for Israel, U.N. Condemns Israeli Raid on UNRWA Headquarters in Occupied East Jerusalem, Supreme Court Signals It Will Grant Trump Power to Fire Independent Agency Heads, Trump Insults Another Female Reporter as He Walks Back Support for Releasing Boat Strike Video, Honduras Seeks to Arrest Ex-President and Narcotrafficker Juan Orlando Hernandez After Trump Pardon, Republicans Unveil Record $901 Billion Military Spending Bill, Trump Announces $12 Billion Aid Package to Farmers Hit Hard by Trade War, ICE Points Guns at Crowd Protesting Arrest of Student at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Democratic Senator Murray Condemns ICE After Agents Release Attack Dog on Constituent, California's DOJ Announces New Online Portal for Public to Document Unlawful ICE Activity, Dozen Former FBI Agents File Lawsuit Accusing Kash Patel of Unlawfully Firing Them, Paramount Skydance Launches Hostile Takeover Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, ProPublica: Trump's Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Clashes Between Thailand and Cambodia Erupt Again After Trump-Brokered Ceasefire, Longtime Peace Activist Cora Weiss Dies at Age 91

We speak with former EPA regional administrator Judith Enck about her new book, The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It's Too Late.Scientists have found microplastics in our blood, our kidneys, our lungs," says Enck. They've been found in heart arteries, and if it's attached to plaque, you have an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, premature death." Enck says plastic is a political" issue shaped by the powerful chemical, fossil fuel, plastics industry - and consumer brands."

A leaked memo by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directs the Justice Department and FBI to compile a list of groups that may be labeled domestic terrorism" organizations based on political views related to immigration, gender and U.S. policy. The memo was obtained by independent investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein, who joins us to discuss how it expands on President Donald Trump's NSPM-7 directive following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which ordered a national strategy to investigate and disrupt groups the administration claims could incite political violence. Bondi's effort targets not just the left," but anyone who isn't a Trump supporter," says Klippenstein of the sweeping order, which identifies targets as entities expressing opposition to law and immigration enforcement," support for mass migration and open borders," radical gender ideology," or views described as anti-American, anti-capitalist or anti-Christian, as well as hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality." People who report extremists may be financially rewarded, and the FBI is reviewing records from the past five years, as well as the present.

Democracy Now! speaks with Democratic Congressmember Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, who says she was attacked by masked ICE agents Friday as she tried to find out more information about a raid taking place at a restaurant in her district in Tucson. Grijalva says she was pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed as she was attempting to deescalate the situation" and conduct oversight. Grijalva also responds to divisions in the Republican Party, including over the Epstein files, calls to replace House Speaker Mike Johnson, and how massive premium increases could soon kick in for millions of Americans as Johnson races to finalize a Republican healthcare plan.

Pressure is growing on the Trump administration to release video of a U.S. airstrike on September 2 that killed two men who were left shipwrecked in the Caribbean after an initial U.S. strike on their vessel killed nine people. The Trump administration claims all of the passengers on the boat were involved in drug trafficking but has offered no proof. This is no more a war on drugs than sending National Guard to Democratic cities is about fighting crime or attacking free speech on campuses is about protecting from antisemitism," says war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody, who calls the strikes murder on the high seas." He argues, They're just making this stuff up, and basically they're forcing the debate into their own terms."

Hegseth Defends Sept. 2 Double Attack That Killed 11 People Aboard an Alleged Drug Boat, Hamas Ready to Discuss Freezing or Storing" Its Weapons, Israeli Forces Continue Violent Raids in Occupied West Bank, RSF Drone Strikes Kill 116 People, Including 46 Children, in Sudan, Hundreds Flee Fighting in Congo Within Hours of Trump's Peace Deal Ceremony, Russia Launches Massive Wave of Drone Strikes on Ukraine Over the Weekend, SCOTUS to Hear Arguments on Trump's Executive Order Ending Birthright Citizenship, CDC Advisers Vote to Stop Recommending Hepatitis B Shots at Birth for Most Newborns, Leaked Memo Shows Attorney General Bondi Ordered FBI to Compile List of Domestic Terrorism" Groups, Rep. Grijalva Says She Was Sprayed in the Face" by ICE Agents, Trump Admin Changes Name of Transgender Leader on Her Official Portrait, Pentagon Awards $620M Contract to Startup Backed by Donald Trump Jr.'s Venture Capital Fund, Judge Orders Release of Grand Jury Documents in First Federal Investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump Gets Gold Trophy as FIFA Awards Him Inaugural Peace Prize", Trump Hosts Kennedy Center Honors After Completing Takeover of Venue

The U.S. military said Thursday that it blew up another boat of suspected drug smugglers, this time killing four people in the eastern Pacific. The U.S. has now killed at least 87 people in 22 strikes since September. The U.S. has not provided proof as to the vessels' activities or the identities of those on board who were targeted, but now the family of a fisherman from Colombia has filed the first legal challenge to the military strikes. In a petition filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the family says a strike on September 15 killed 42-year-old Alejandro Andres Carranza Medina, a fisherman from Santa Marta and father of four. His family says he was fishing for tuna and marlin off Colombia's Caribbean coast when his boat was bombed, and was not smuggling drugs.Alejandro was murdered," says international human rights attorney Dan Kovalik, who filed the legal petition on behalf of the family. This is not how a civilized nation should act, just murdering people on the high seas without proof, without trial."

Federal authorities are carrying out intensified operations this week in Minnesota as President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on the Somali community in the state. The administration halted green card and citizenship applications from Somalis and people from 18 other countries after last week's fatal shooting near the White House. During a recent Cabinet meeting, Trump went on a racist tirade against the Somali community, saying, We don't want them in our country," and referring to Somali immigrants as garbage." Minnesota has the largest Somali community in the United States, and the vast majority of the estimated 80,000 residents in the state are American citizens or legal permanent residents.We have seen vile things that the president has said, but in these moments, we need to come together and respond," says Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR-Minnesota. He also highlights the connections between Trump's targeting of the community and foreign policy. If you demonize Muslims, then you can get away with killing Muslims abroad. This has always been the case, from the Afghanistan War to the Iraq War."

A major immigration crackdown is underway in New Orleans and the surrounding areas of Louisiana, dubbed Operation Catahoula Crunch" by the Trump administration. According to planning documents, 250 federal agents will aim to make 5,000 arrests over two months. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the operation will target the worst of the worst," though the number of arrests being planned suggests that authorities will conduct broad sweeps including those who have no criminal records, as has happened in other immigration crackdowns.They're going to target whoever they can, and as the Supreme Court has unfortunately authorized them, they're using racial profiling as part of that approach," says Homero Lopez, legal director for the New Orleans-based organization Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, or ISLA. What they're doing is they're taking folks out of our community: our neighbors, our friends, our family members."

The conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a gerrymandered congressional map in next year's midterm elections that a lower court found racially discriminatory. The 6-3 ruling is another political win for President Donald Trump and his allies, who have gotten a number of favorable rulings from the justices after being stymied by lower courts. Trump has asked Republican-led states to redraw their maps in order to preserve the narrow GOP majority in Congress when voters head to the polls in November 2026. The Texas effort could flip as many as five seats for the party.Ari Berman, voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones magazine, calls it a catastrophic ruling" that further normalizes extreme partisan gerrymandering. This whole exercise made a complete mockery of democracy."

One of the Most Troubling Things I've Seen": Lawmakers React to U.S. Double-Tap" Boat Strike, Pentagon Watchdog Finds Hegseth's Use of Signal App Created a Risk to Operational Security", CNN Finds Israel Killed Palestinian Aid Seekers and Bulldozed Bodies into Shallow, Unmarked Graves, Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and the Netherlands to Boycott Eurovision over Israel's Participation, Protesters Picket New Jersey Warehouse, Seeking to Block Arms Shipments to Israel, Supreme Court Allows Texas to Use Racially Gerrymandered Congressional Map Favoring Republicans, FBI Arrests Suspect for Allegedly Planting Pipe Bombs on Capitol Hill Ahead of Jan. 6 Insurrection, DOJ Asks Judge to Rejail Jan. 6 Rioter Pardoned by Trump, After Threats to Rep. Jamie Raskin, Grand Jury Refuses to Reindict Letitia James After Judge Throws Out First Indictment, Protesters Ejected from New Orleans City Council Meeting After Demanding "ICE-Free Zones", Honduran Presidential Candidate Nasralla Blames Trump's Interference as Opponent Takes Lead, Trump Hosts Leaders of DRC and Rwanda in D.C. as U.S. Signs Bilateral Deals on Minerals, Trump Struggles to Stay Awake in Another Public Event, Adding to Speculation over His Health, Netflix Announces $72 Billion Deal to Buy Warner Bros. Discovery, 12 Arrested as Striking Starbucks Workers Hold Sit-In Protest at Empire State Building, Democratic Socialists Win Two Jersey City Council Seats in Groundbreaking Victories, Judge Sentences California Animal Rights Activist to 90 Days in Jail for Freeing Abused Chickens, National Parks Service Prioritizes Free Entry on Trump's Birthday Over Juneteenth and MLK Holidays

Amid escalating ICE raids in New York City, Democracy Now!'s Messiah Rhodes spoke to immigrants and advocates supporting newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers from West Africa with hot meals, legal advice and job training. When I help the people here, the people will help me one day," Guinean immigrant Abdul Karim, a cook at Cafewal weekday kitchen, told Rhodes.Murad Awawdeh, of the New York Immigration Coalition and a member of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's transition team, also comments. He shares how the incoming mayoral administration can work to protect immigrants from Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.

Immigrant rights advocate Murad Awawdeh joins us to discuss Donald Trump's nationwide anti-immigrant crackdown and how it's manifested in Trump's hometown of New York City, where hundreds of New Yorkers recently blocked a federal immigration raid targeting street vendors from West Africa before it even started. This has never been about vetting. This has never been about security and safety. It's about cruelty," says Awawdeh about the Trump administration's persecution of immigrants. His war on immigrants and his mass deportation agenda is all to lead to making America white again."

Foreign policy analyst Matt Duss discusses the status of Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks and new data on the extent of casualties from the now nearly four-year Russian invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. For what did these people die? For what reason were they sent into this horrible meat grinder?" asks Duss.

Pete Hegseth, much like the president he serves, sees himself as, essentially, above the law, as unconstrained by legal procedure." Foreign policy analyst Matt Duss discusses the brewing conflict within the Trump administration over the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, including his involvement in a leaked announcement of U.S. strikes on Yemen in March and the chain of command behind U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Legal experts say the boat strikes, which have already killed at least 80 people, are likely illegal.

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WTO/99 is a new immersive archival documentary" about the 1999 protests in Seattle against the World Trade Organization that uses 1,000+ hours of footage from the Independent Media Center and other archives. The historic WTO protests against corporate power and economic globalization were met with a militarized police crackdown and National Guard troops. We feature clips from the film and discuss takeaways that have relevance today. These issues haven't gone away," says Ian Bell, director of WTO/99. We also speak with Ralph Nader, who is featured in the movie.