Democracy Now!

Anti-Kremlin Militia That Staged Attacks in Russia Used U.S.-Made Armored Vehicles, Fighting Punctures Ceasefire in Khartoum as U.N. Warns 1.3M Have Fled Sudan, U.N. Appeal for Aid to Drought-Stricken Horn of Africa Falls Far Short of Goal, After Battering Guam, Typhoon Mawar Heads Toward Philippines as Category 5 Storm, German Police Stage Nationwide Raids Against “Last Generation” Climate Action Group, Watchdog Says 90% of Chevron’s Carbon Offsets Are “Junk”, Rep. Matt Gaetz Admits Republicans Are Holding U.S. Economy “Hostage” over Debt Limit, Ron DeSantis Launches 2024 Presidential Bid in Glitch-Plagued Twitter Announcement, Texas Families and Teachers Mark First Anniversary of Uvalde School Massacre, BBC Faces Defamation Charges in Indian Court for Documentary Critical of PM Narendra Modi, Australian Police Officer Charged After Death of Tased 95-Year-Old Nursing Home Woman, Elmhurst Hospital Doctors End Strike After Tentative Deal to Increase Pay in Line with Peers, Tina Turner, International Musical Sensation and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, Dies at 83

A bombshell new investigation from The Intercept reveals that former U.S. national security adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was responsible for even more civilian deaths during the U.S. war in Cambodia than was previously known. The revelations add to a violent résumé that ranges from Latin America to Southeast Asia, where Kissinger presided over brutal U.S. military interventions to put down communist revolt and to develop U.S. influence around the world. While survivors and family members of these deadly campaigns continue to grieve, Kissinger celebrates his 100th birthday this week. “This adds to the list of killings and crimes that Henry Kissinger should, even at this very late date in his life, be asked to answer for,” says The Intercept’s Nick Turse, author of the new investigation, “Kissinger’s Killing Fields.” We also speak with Yale University’s Greg Grandin, author of Kissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman.

The United States faces a default on its debt in early June if a deal on the debt ceiling is not reached between the Biden administration and Republicans in Congress before then. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pushing for sweeping budget cuts and new work requirements for recipients of government programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP. Notably, however, neither Republicans nor Democrats are proposing cuts to one of the biggest drivers of the nation’s debt: the massive U.S. military budget. “We’ve got to get this military-industrial lobby under control, but it’s hard to do, because it’s a bipartisan affair,” says our guest, economist Jeffrey Sachs, whose recent article is headlined “America’s Wars and the US Debt Crisis.”

South Carolina GOP Passes 6-Week Abortion Ban, Sends Bill to Republican Governor’s Desk, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Warns Social Media Poses “Profound Risk” to Kids and Teens, Ron DeSantis to Launch 2024 Bid on Twitter Live Stream with Elon Musk, Florida School Bans Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration Poem After Parental Complaint, Elmhurst Doctors on Strike in Queens, Demand Parity with Manhattan Counterparts, New York Times and Unionized Reporters Reach “Groundbreaking” Tentative Deal, Illinois Investigation Finds Nearly 2,000 Children Abused by Catholic Church Clergy Since 1950, U.K. Regulator Orders Meta to Sell Giphy; U.S. Judge Dissolves American Airlines-JetBlue Partnership, Julian Assange’s Family Says His Release Could Be Closer Than Ever as Australia Ups Diplomatic Push, India’s Kashmir Crackdown in Spotlight as China, Saudi Arabia Boycott G20 Meeting in Disputed Region, The Earth Nears Sixth Mass Extinction in First Such Event Caused by Human Activity, New Reports Sound the Alarm on Increasing Human Risks Posed by Extreme Heat, U.S. and EU Lawmakers Call for Removal of Oil Company Chief as President of U.N. Climate Conference, Activists Take Over London Shell Shareholder Meeting as Climate Groups Stage Protests Across Europe, Guam Residents Face Strongest Storm in Decades as Typhoon Mawar Lashes the Island

A sweeping anti-immigrant crackdown is underway in Florida by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to enter the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination this week. SB 1718 is set to take effect July 1, but has already led to walkouts by immigrant workers. It bans people who are undocumented from using driver’s licenses issued in other states, and prohibits state ID cards to be issued to them. It also requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask about citizenship during intake, and expands requirements for employers to use the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration status of their workers. “SB 1718 has been the harshest immigration bill that we have seen,” says Florida immigration attorney Andrea Reyes. We also speak with historian Geraldo Cadava, who says DeSantis’s policies may not “translate nationally,” given Florida’s unique demographics and gerrymandered political system. Reyes is featured in a new piece for The New Yorker by Cadava, “Florida’s Right Turn on Immigration.”

Wednesday marks one year since an 18-year-old gunman armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle entered his former elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and shot dead 19 children between the ages of 9 and 11 and two of their teachers, as nearly 400 officers rushed to Robb Elementary School but took 77 minutes to confront the gunman. Investigators later found officers “failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety.” More than 1,000 incidents involving firearms have shaken America’s schools since 2018 — a dramatic increase over any similar period since at least 1970, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. We discuss this uniquely American epidemic with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, the founder of Futuro Media and host of Latino USA. She anchors the upcoming Frontline, Futuro Media and Texas Tribune co-production, After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas.

McCarthy Rules Out Repealing Tax Cuts for the Rich After White House Talks Fail to Secure Deal on Debt Ceiling, Anti-Putin Militias Launch Cross-Border Raid on Russia’s Belgorod from Ukraine, U.N. Finds Wagner Mercenaries Led Massacre on Village in Mali in 2022, India Issues Heat Alerts as Temperatures Top 113 Degrees Fahrenheit, Alberta Wildfires Scorch Millions of Acres and Trigger Air Quality Alerts, Western States Reach Deal to Conserve Water from Colorado River, Nevada Lawmakers Approve Bill Protecting Out-of-State Abortion Patients, Sen. Tim Scott Enters Race for 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination, E. Jean Carroll Seeks Further Damages from Trump over CNN Remarks, Special Counsel to Probe Trump’s Foreign Ties in Mar-a-Lago Documents Investigation, Driver Who Crashed Into White House Barriers Had Nazi Flag in Truck, Border Patrol Agents Shoot and Kill Tohono O’odham Artist in Arizona, Mother Says Agents Denied Medical Care to 8-Year-Old Girl Who Died in CBP Custody, Autopsy Finds Lashawn Thompson Died of Homicide Due to Severe Neglect of Fulton County Jailers, “Pay Your Writers!”: Warner Bros. CEO Booed at Boston University Commencement, Transgender Youth Hold First-Ever “Trans Prom” Celebration on National Mall

Ecuador’s conservative President Guillermo Lasso has dissolved the opposition-led National Assembly in a move widely seen as an effort to block efforts to impeach him, and came as the body held its first hearing into corruption and embezzlement allegations against Lasso. Lasso used a constitutional power that has never been used in Ecuador before, allowing him to rule by decree until new elections are held. That vote is likely to come in August, and Lasso told The Washington Post he does not plan to run again. For more on the political crisis in Ecuador, we speak with Andrés Arauz, the Ecuadorian politician and economist who ran against Lasso for president in 2021. He previously served as director of Ecuador’s Central Bank and then minister of knowledge and human talent under the administration of former leftist President Rafael Correa. He’s also a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

We speak with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel about the resignation of journalist Masha Gessen from the free expression group’s board following the cancellation of a Russian writers panel at the recent PEN World Voices Festival after Ukrainian writers threatened to boycott. “It’s unfortunate,” Nossel says, but notes Gessen plans to remain a PEN member and work on its project to archive Russian independent media.

As we speak with Professor Kellie Carter Jackson, who teaches Africana studies at Wellesley College and joined a teach-in in Florida over the weekend, we ask about the new Netflix documentary series African Queens: Njinga, which she is featured in and tells the story of the 17th century warrior queen who fought the Portuguese slave traders. The series is executive produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith. Jackson calls it a “major contribution to understanding slavery and the slave trade” and notes it is “readily available” online “if students cannot get this in Florida in their classroom.”

With Ron DeSantis expected to formally announce his run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination this week, we look at his controversial record as governor of Florida, which has been marked by attacks on LGBTQ rights, immigrants, public education, antiracism initiatives and more. The NAACP recently issued a travel advisory for Florida, deeming the state to be “openly hostile” to Black Americans and other minority groups. Meanwhile, PEN America, the book publishing company Penguin Random House and several authors and parents are suing the Pensacola, Florida, school board for banning books on race and LGBTQ issues from school libraries for violating the First Amendment. The censorship “runs counter to the very role and purpose of public schools in a democracy,” says Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America. We also speak with Kellie Carter Jackson, an associate professor of Africana studies at Wellesley College, who recently participated in a Florida teach-in to push back against DeSantis’s censorship. “We can’t discuss major events, major turning points, without talking about Black people, without talking about women, without talking about LGBTQ people,” she says.

The G7 summit wrapped up Sunday in Hiroshima, where much of the summit focused on the war in Ukraine and China. While in Japan, President Biden and other world leaders paid tribute to the victims of the world’s first nuclear attack — the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 — laying wreaths at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and planting a tree. But President Biden did not issue an apology for the attack, which killed an estimated 140,000 people and seriously injured another 100,000. For more, we speak with Setsuko Thurlow, who survived the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 and devoted her life to nuclear disarmament. In 2017, she was chosen to accept the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Ukraine Says It’s Still Fighting for Bakhmut After Russia Claims Control, Zelensky Appears at G7 in Hiroshima; Biden OKs Training for Ukrainian Pilots on F-16 Jets, Conservative Party of Greek PM Mitsotakis Claims Bulk of Votes But Falls Short of Outright Victory, NYT Video Shows Greek Authorities Stranding Migrants at Sea, Including 6-Month-Old Infant, Israeli Forces Kill Another 3 Palestinians in West Bank; Extremist Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Al-Aqsa, Sudan’s Warring Parties Sign One-Week Ceasefire, Agree to Allow Aid Workers to Operate, Bahrain and Lebanon to Restore Diplomatic Ties, U.S. Signs Security Pact with Papua New Guinea Amid Rising Tensions with China, Brazil’s Palm Oil Companies Face Scrutiny After Indigenous Leader Is Shot in Head, Meta Fined $1.3 Billion by European Regulators for Violating Data Privacy Rules, Nebraska Republicans Ban Abortions at 12 Weeks and Gender-Affirming Care for Youth, FBI Abused Mass Surveillance Database to Spy Unlawfully on U.S. Residents, D.C. Police Lieutenant Indicted for Warning Proud Boys Leader of Impending Arrest, Protesters Shut Down New York’s Brooklyn Bridge to Demand Fair Housing, Jordan Neely, Beloved Street Performer Choked to Death on NYC Subway, Laid to Rest

Malcolm X was born 98 years ago today, on May 19, 1925, and assassinated at age 39 on February 21, 1965, as he spoke before a packed audience in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. We end today’s show remembering his life and legacy with an excerpt of a speech Malcolm X gave at the Audubon Ballroom about half a year earlier called “By Any Means Necessary.”

We hear from civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit this year on behalf of the family of Malcolm X against the FBI, the CIA, New York City and state, the NYPD and the District Attorney’s Office for concealing evidence of their involvement in Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination.

We dedicate the show to remembering Malcolm X on what would have been his 98th birthday Friday. We begin with an address by world-renowned abolitionist, author and activist Angela Davis on Malcolm’s legacy, attacks on the teaching of Black history by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and more. “This is a time to reflect deeply on the long struggle for liberation,” Davis said. “And Malcolm asked us to keep our eyes on the future, future worlds, radical democratic futures for all beings who inhabit this planet.”

Biden Won’t Apologize for 1945 Nuclear Attacks on Japan as G7 Leaders Gather in Hiroshima, Russia and Ukraine Agree to Extend Black Sea Grain Deal, Pentagon Says Accounting Error Will Allow U.S. to Send $3 Billion in Additional Arms to Ukraine, Family of Syrian Killed in U.S. Drone Strike Says He Had No Ties to al-Qaeda, Bashar al-Assad Joins Arab League Summit for First Time Since Start of Syrian Civil War, Israeli Flag Day Marchers Chant “Death to Arabs” and Attack Palestinians and Journalists, Democrats Mull 14th Amendment Workaround as Republicans Stonewall on Debt Limit, New Details Reveal Gravity of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Health Problems , Medicare for All Act Reintroduced with Record 120+ Congressional Backers, New Bill Would Make Paid Sick Leave Mandatory for Most U.S. Workers, 8-Year-Old Girl from Panama Dies in Border Patrol Custody, Supreme Court Tosses Republican-Led Effort to Revive Title 42, Cori Bush Unveils Reparations Bill to Address Slavery and Its Enduring Effects on Black Americans

In a dramatic hearing Tuesday, the CEO of the startup behind ChatGPT warned Congress about the dangers of artificial intelligence — his company’s own product. We discuss how to regulate AI and establish ethical guidelines with Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Center for AI and Digital Policy. “We don’t have the expertise in government for the rapid technological change that’s now taking place,” says Rotenberg.

The Center for Policy and Research has just published a new report titled “American Torturers: FBI and CIA Abuses at Dark Sites and Guantánamo,” which compiles a series of 40 drawings by Guantánamo Bay prisoner Abu Zubaydah that chronicle the horrific torture he endured since 2002 in CIA dark sites and at Guantánamo Bay, where he has been detained without charge since 2006. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued a new call for the United States to release him immediately. We speak with one of his attorneys, Mark Denbeaux, and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, who exposed the Bush-era torture program and was the only official jailed in connection to it.

Calls are growing for the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump’s attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for allegedly plotting to sell presidential pardons during the Trump administration, after his former employee Noelle Dunphy filed a $10 million lawsuit against Giuliani accusing him of sexual assault and other misconduct. The complaint alleges Giuliani “asked Ms. Dunphy if she knew anyone in need of a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split.” Dunphy is not the first person to publicly reveal this scheme; CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou has previously divulged that he was among those asked to pay up in return for a clean slate. “This lawsuit is the first that I heard that money was supposed to be split with President Trump,” he tells Democracy Now! Kiriakou, who did not ultimately get a pardon, says he was told by a Giuliani aide not to bother with a formal application and that it would be handled informally. “It was all supposed to be hush-hush,” he says.

U.N. Warns Global Heating Is Poised to Set Records and May Exceed 1.5°C Within Five Years, Eight Killed as Torrential Rains Bring Massive Flooding to Northern Italy, Burma’s Government-in-Exile Says Death Toll from Cyclone Mocha Has Topped 400, Climate Activists at Africa Energies Summit in London Demand End to Fossil Fuel Projects, U.N. Appeals for $3 Billion in Emergency Aid to Sudan as Humanitarian Disaster Spirals, Accusations of Voting Issues in Turkey as Erdoğan’s Rival Appeals to Nationalists Ahead of Runoff, Florida Signs Draconian Anti-Trans Laws, as Texas GOP Advances Bill to Ban Trans Healthcare, SC House Passes Another 6-Week Abortion Ban; U.S. Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Abortion Pill Case, Montana Becomes First State to Ban TikTok, as Rights Groups Warn of Censorship and Sinophobia, Deutsche Bank Agrees to $75M Settlement for Epstein Survivors as JPMorgan Chase Faces Lawsuit, Ecuadorian President Dissolves National Assembly to Avoid Impeachment, Argentines Call Out Skyrocketing Prices and Austerity as Inflation Hits 109%

On May 13, 1985, police surrounded the home of MOVE, a radical Black liberation organization that was defying orders to vacate from 6221 Osage Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Police flooded the home with water, filled it with tear gas, blasted it with automatic weapons, and finally dropped a bomb on the house from a helicopter, setting it ablaze and killing 11 residents — six adults and five children. The fire ultimately burned the entire city block to the ground, destroying over 60 homes. We speak with second-generation MOVE member Mike Africa Jr., who has launched a “Reclaim Osage” campaign to repurchase the bombed MOVE house after the city previously used eminent domain to seize it and turn it into a police substation before selling it to developers.

More than a dozen former U.S. national security officials have released an open letter calling for a diplomatic end to the Russia-Ukraine war. The call for peace was published as a full-page ad Tuesday in The New York Times and organized by the Eisenhower Media Network. They called the war an “unmitigated disaster” that the U.S. should work to end before it escalates into a nuclear confrontation. We speak with Dennis Fritz, director of the Eisenhower Media Network and a retired command chief master sergeant of the U.S. Air Force. “The majority of my life has been in and out of the Pentagon, and this is probably the most fearful I’ve ever been with a nuclear escalation,” says Fritz.

With the United States just two weeks away from a possible default on its debt for the first time ever, President Joe Biden has cut short a trip to Asia to continue negotiations with congressional leaders in Washington over lifting the federal government’s debt ceiling. Republicans are seeking major budget cuts, as well as new work requirements for recipients of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, but prominent Democrats are pushing the White House to stand firm. For more, we speak with The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner, who says the debt ceiling deadline and budget negotiations later this year are part of a larger effort by Republicans to shred the social safety net.

North Carolina Bans Abortion After 12 Weeks as GOP Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto, Nebraska Lawmakers Advance Bill to Ban Abortion & Ban Gender-Affirming Medical Care, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida Hold Elections, Talks over Debt Ceiling Remain Stalled as GOP Pushes Sweeping Cuts, Biden to Head to Hiroshima for G7 Summit But Cuts Rest of Asia Trip Short, Chinese Special Envoy Arrives in Ukraine to Push for War to End, Costs of War Project: Post-9/11 Wars Have Resulted in 4.5 Million Deaths, Ecuador: Guillermo Lasso Dissolves National Assembly to Block Impeachment Push, Biden Administration Grants Key Permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline, Florida Investigates Teacher for Showing Disney Film with a Gay Character, Report: Black Community in U.S. Has Suffered 1.63 Million Excess Deaths over Past 20 Years, DOJ Pressured to Investigate Giuliani for Offering to Sell Presidential Pardons for $2 Million, Congressional Democrats Introduce Resolution to Expel George Santos After DOJ Indictment

We host a roundtable discussion on the human rights crisis unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border and the impact of President Biden ending the Trump-era pandemic policy known as Title 42 last Thursday, after it had been used to expel nearly 3 million migrants without due process. Guerline Jozef is co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, an immigrant advocacy organization that provides humanitarian assistance to Haitians and other Black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa; Erika Guevara-Rosas is a human rights lawyer and Americas director for Amnesty International; and Erika Pinheiro is an immigration attorney and the executive director of Al Otro Lado, a binational nonprofit helping immigrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

We look at a newly confirmed direct connection between a white supremacist leader and a staffer for one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress. The digital director for right-wing Arizona Congressmember Paul Gosar has been revealed as a prominent follower of neo-Nazi online influencer Nick Fuentes. Gosar himself is linked to organizers of the January 6 insurrection and was censured for posting an animated video on social media where he murdered Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacked President Biden. We speak with Talking Points Memo reporter Hunter Walker about his exclusive report, which he says “removes that veil of plausible deniability” from Gosar about his office’s ties to extremists.

As President Biden warned Saturday that white supremacy is the “most dangerous terrorist threat” facing the United States, and members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front marched Sunday on the National Mall, we look at how Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is under fire for expressing support for white nationalists in the U.S. military. Tuberville is a major backer of Donald Trump. In 2020, he defeated Democrat Doug Jones, who served in the Senate from 2018 to 2021 and was a U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted two members of the Ku Klux Klan involved in the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing that killed four girls. We get response to Tuberville from Jones and look at white supremacists in the military and more with Southern Poverty Law Center senior investigative reporter Michael Edison Hayden.

200,000 Fled Sudan in First Month of Fighting Between Rival Military Factions, Flooding in Somalia Kills at Least 22, Affects Nearly a Half-Million People, Heat Waves Bake China and West Coast of North America, House Republicans Reject Closing Tax Loopholes as June 1 Deadline on Debt Ceiling Looms, SCOTUS to Review South Carolina Congressional Maps Struck Down over Racist Gerrymandering, Trump-Era Special Prosecutor Faults FBI over Probe of Russian Interference in 2016 Campaign, Ex-Associate Sues Rudy Giuliani, Alleging Rape, Abuse and Harassment, 18-Year-Old with Assault Rifle Kills 3, Injures 6 in New Mexico, Vice Media Files for Bankruptcy Following Mass Layoffs of New Staff, San Francisco DA Won’t Bring Charges Against Guard Seen in Video Killing Banko Brown

Palestinians across the globe are marking the 75th anniversary of the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic), when some 700,000 Palestinians fled from or were violently expelled from their homes upon Israel’s founding in 1948. The occasion comes as five days of fighting, that killed 33 Palestinians in Gaza and two people in Israel, was brought to a stop this weekend after the Israeli army and the militant group Islamic Jihad agreed to a Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. Today the United Nations is holding its first-ever high-level special meeting to commemorate the Nakba. We host a roundtable discussion with Munir Nuseibah, a human rights lawyer and director of Al-Quds Human Rights Clinic in Jerusalem; Saleh Hijazi, a member of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee; and Peter Beinart, editor-at-large for Jewish Currents.

Turkey’s closely watched presidential election is headed to a May 28 runoff, as both incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his main rival fell short of the 50% needed to win outright in Sunday’s vote. Erdoğan is facing his toughest challenge since coming to power 20 years ago, as opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu leads a broad coalition in a bid to unseat him amid criticism for his administration’s economic policies, weakening Turkey’s democracy and poor response to the deadly February earthquakes. Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed closer ties with NATO and the EU and to reinforce democratic institutions. We get an update from Istanbul with Turkish historian Kaya Genç, who says Erdoğan’s political survival was a “stunning comeback” that contradicted polls predicting a comfortable first-round victory for Kılıçdaroğlu. “This was a total shock for the Turkish establishment,” he says.

Turkish Elections Head to Runoff as Pres. Erdoğan Fails to Capture 50% of Vote Against Kilicdaroglu, Thai Voters Back Reform Parties in Sharp Rebuke to Monarchy and Military Gov’t, Ukraine Makes Gains in Bakhmut as European Leaders Up Military Support for Zelensky, Israel and Gaza Fighters Agree to Truce After 5 Days of Fighting Kills 33 Palestinians, Powerful Cyclone Kills at Least 6 People in Burma, Destroys Rohingya Refugee Shelters, Death Toll from Kenyan Starvation Cult Tops 200, Including Many Children, Guatemalan Newspaper El Periódico Shutters After Persecution by Giammattei Gov’t, Unaccompanied Honduran Migrant Teen Dies in U.S. Custody, Sen. Tuberville Under Fire for Backing White Nationalists in Military, Buffalo Remembers Victims of Racist Massacre One Year After Tops Supermarket Mass Shooting, North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Vetoes Abortion Ban, Setting Up Possible GOP Override, Texas Woman Killed by Partner After Returning from Colorado, Where She Had an Abortion, Florida Bans Textbooks Dealing with Race, Social Justice; Allows Discrimination in Healthcare, SF Community Members Demand Justice for Banko Brown, a Trans Activist Killed by Security Guard, Jordan Neely’s Family Blasts Manslaughter Charge; Lawyer Implores Bystanders to Help Those in Need

We speak with Serbian journalist Ljiljana Smajlović as Serbia reels from a pair of mass shootings that left 17 people dead, incidents that spurred mass protests and demands for stronger gun control. In light of the massacres, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić vowed to completely disarm the country. More than 6,000 unregistered guns and weapons were turned in after the government announced a month-long amnesty on illegal weapons. “People are stunned. Their sense of security has been taken away completely,” says Smajlović. She notes the shock of the mass shootings is providing a rare opening for the opposition to attempt to weaken the ruling party, which has been in power for more than a decade.

We look at the political crisis in Pakistan as the Islamabad High Court on Friday granted two weeks’ bail to former Prime Minister Imran Khan after his arrest sparked mass protests. Paramilitary forces arrested Khan on corruption charges, but Pakistan’s Supreme Court later ruled his arrest was “invalid and unlawful.” Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted from office in what he called a “U.S.-backed regime change” plot carried out by his political opposition. Mohammed Hanif, an award-winning writer and journalist based in Karachi, says the corruption accusations are part of a larger power struggle in the country, pitting the extremely popular Khan against the country’s establishment, including the military. “Elections are due, and they want to keep him out of the election race. Either they want to disqualify him or put him behind bars,” says Hanif.

The number of asylum seekers from Cuba and Venezuela is expected to grow as the Trump-era Title 42 asylum restriction ends. A group of House Democrats are urging the Biden administration to lift sanctions on the countries, which they say are driving people to leave their homes out of economic desperation. We speak with Venezuelan economist Francisco Rodríguez, author of a new report for the Center for Economic Policy and Research, “The Human Consequences of Economic Sanctions.”

The Trump-era Title 42 policy has come to an end, but the Biden administration has instituted what human rights advocates say amounts to a new asylum ban. We get an update from the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego, California, where hundreds of asylum seekers have been sleeping on the ground under trash bags and foil blankets, with many reporting they’ve not eaten in days. Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S.-Mexico Border Program, says Biden’s anti-asylum policies are “reconfiguring the concept of asylum to a point where it no longer offers the promise that it did post-World War II.”

Biden Administration Adds New Obstacles to the Right to Seek Asylum as Title 42 Expires, Ex-Marine Who Choked Jordan Neely to Death Surrenders to New York Authorities, Israeli Air Raids on Gaza Continue, Death Toll Tops 30 as Gazans Describe Terror of Nonstop Attacks, Sudan’s Warring Military and Paramilitary Agree to Protect Civilians and Allow Aid, Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan Released on Bail After Top Court Rules His Arrest Was Unlawful, At Least 7 People Killed in Protests Against Guinea’s Military Government, U.S. Scraps COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for International Visitors as Public Health Emergency Ends, U.S. Judge Strikes Down Federal Law Banning Handgun Sales to 18-20-Year-Olds, Texas Lawmakers Vote for Bill Banning “Glock Switches,” Against Increasing Age of Purchase to 21, SCOTUS Backs Transgender Guatemalan Woman Challenging Her Deportation, SCOTUS Sides with California Law Seeking More Humane Treatment for Farmed Pigs

One year ago, on May 11, 2022, an Israeli soldier fatally shot the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the head as she was reporting on an Israeli military raid just outside the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. She was shot while wearing a blue helmet and blue flak jacket clearly emblazoned with the word “press.” Abu Akleh was one of the most prominent TV journalists in the Arab world and had worked for Al Jazeera for a quarter of a century. She was also a U.S. citizen. But a year after her death, no one has been held accountable despite detailed testimony from eyewitnesses to the shooting. We air excerpts from the Al Jazeera investigation The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, which just won a George Polk Award, and speak with correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. “There’s still no justice in her case, no accountability whatsoever,” says Abdel Kouddous. He adds that while the White House has been very vocal about the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is detained in Russia, the response to Abu Akleh’s killing has been muted. “Shireen was an American citizen, and her family deserves the same calls for justice, the same push for accountability from the White House.”

Scandal-plagued New York Republican Congressmember George Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges at a courthouse on Long Island Wednesday. He is charged with wire fraud, money laundering, lying on federal disclosure forms, and fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits while earning a $120,000 salary. Santos has been under investigation since his election to Congress last year exposed his history as a serial liar who fabricated his educational background, employment history and religion. He has thus far refused to step down and has denied the allegations against him. We talk to Mother Jones reporter Noah Lanard, who was in the courtroom and says this indictment is just the beginning of Santos’s legal troubles.

Under a law passed last year in New York that allows sexual abuse survivors to sue their abusers in civil court even after the criminal statute of limitations has passed, a jury has found former President Donald Trump to be liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll at a department store in the 1990s. After just three hours of deliberations, the jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million. Following the ruling, Trump appeared in a televised town hall on CNN, where he mocked E. Jean Carroll while the Republican audience laughed at his remarks. We discuss the verdict, Trump’s response and the legal system’s treatment of sexual assault cases with Jane Manning, a former sex crimes prosecutor who is now the director of the Women’s Equal Justice Project.

Children Among the Dead as Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill 27 Palestinians, Rep. Rashida Tlaib Leads Capitol Hill Nakba Event Despite Speaker McCarthy’s Efforts to Cancel It, 8 Killed in Growing Unrest Across Pakistan over Arrest of Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, Five Killed as Gunman Opens Fire on Historic Synagogue in Tunisia, Japan Plans to Open NATO Liaison Office, Rep. George Santos Pleads “Not Guilty” to 13 Federal Charges, Sen. Dianne Feinstein Returns to Capitol Hill After Lengthy Illness, Daniel Perry Gets 25-Year Sentence for Murdering Texas Protester; Gov. Abbott Has Pledged a Pardon, Trump Praises Jan. 6 Rioters, Touts “Big Lie” and Mocks E. Jean Carroll in Unhinged Town Hall, FDA Advisers Vote in Favor of Making Popular Birth Control Pill Available Over the Counter, Climate Disaster: Asia Heat Wave, Spain Drought, Canada & Russia Wildfires Cause Misery Around Globe, Biden Yields to Manchin’s “Dirty Deal” on Oil and Gas Projects as Manchin Vows to Stonewall EPA Noms, Climate Defiance Joined by Steven Donziger, Jane Fonda to Protest Biden Fundraising Dinner

As President Biden ends Title 42, the Trump-era policy blocking asylum seekers, and plans stronger enforcement measures on the border, we speak with Salvadoran poet and writer Javier Zamora, whose best-selling memoir, Solito, details his odyssey as a 9-year-old child traveling unaccompanied through Guatemala, Mexico and eventually through the Sonoran Desert, before he makes it to Arizona and reunites with his parents with the aid of other migrants. “We’re all just human beings trying to have a chance at a better life,” says Zamora about his work humanizing the people caught in the migrant crisis.

A jury on Tuesday found Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. We speak with one of the people who testified at trial: Jessica Leeds, a retired businesswoman who says Trump sexually assaulted her on an airplane in the 1980s — one of dozens of women who has accused him of sexual misconduct over the years. Leeds tells Democracy Now! she is “really pleased” with the verdict and that she hopes it will encourage other survivors of sexual abuse to come forward, although she is not personally interested in bringing a case against Trump. “This was a good outcome, and I’m very thankful,” says Leeds.

A Manhattan jury on Tuesday sided with the writer E. Jean Carroll in her civil case against former President Donald Trump, finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, and awarding her $5 million in damages. The jury did not find that Trump had raped her, as she has claimed. Trump says he will appeal. The closely watched trial stemmed from an incident in the 1990s, when Carroll says Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in New York. “Today, the world finally knows the truth,” Carroll said in a statement, reacting to the verdict. “This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.” We speak with columnist Moira Donegan, who covers gender and politics for The Guardian and who calls it “a really significant moment for American women, and specifically for the #MeToo movement.”

Donald Trump Found Liable for Sexual Abuse and Defamation of E. Jean Carroll, Rights Groups Call on Biden to Implement Humane Immigration Policies as Title 42 Ends, Immigrant Rights Defenders Condemn Texas Bills That Would Create Vigilante ICE Force, No Progress on Debt Limit Talks After Biden-McCarthy Meeting as White House Weighs Unilateral Action, Israel Continues Air Attacks on Gaza, Killing at Least 16 People in Two Days, AFP Journalist Killed Covering Ukraine War; France and U.K. Move to Label Wagner a Terrorist Group, Protests Mount, Hundreds Arrested in Pakistan as Court Charges Detained Imran Khan with Corruption, President Erdogan Faces Challenge from More Liberal Kilicdaroglu as Turks Reel from Earthquake, NY Rep. George Santos Charged by Federal Prosecutors, California Advances Effort to Offer Reparations to Black Residents, SEIU Workers at D.C. Headquarters Authorize Strike over Stalled Contract Negotiations, MTV News Shutting Down as Part of Mass Layoffs at Paramount, David Miranda, Journalist, Ex-Lawmaker and Fighter for Brazil’s Poor and LGBTQ Community, Dies at 37

Eleven people were arrested at a protest in New York on Monday demanding justice for Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused Black man who was choked to death on a subway car last week by another passenger. Neely was well known as a dancer and Michael Jackson impersonator. He was crying out that he was hungry, when he was fatally attacked on the train by a 24-year-old former marine named Daniel Penny, who was questioned by police but released without charges. The city medical examiner has ruled Neely’s death a homicide. The subway killing comes as New York is facing a growing population of unhoused people who lack the support they need, with many facing a mental health crisis. “What we need to see is not a mobilization of violence, but a mobilization of care,” says Jawanza Williams, director of organizing at the community group VOCAL-New York. We also speak with musician Lorenzo Laroc, who knew Neely for decades as a fellow busker in the New York subway system. “He gave freely to the city of New York and brought nothing but joy to this town for decades,” says Laroc, calling Neely a “gentleman” and a “consummate professional.”

Conflict in Sudan between two rival military factions is entering its fourth week. Despite international calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, both combatant groups have repeatedly breached truce agreements. More than 700 people have died. As thousands of Sudanese civilians flee both the capital Khartoum and the country entirely, the fighting is expected to continue, with no end in sight. As Sudan braces for the renewed possibility of full-scale civil war, we speak to McGill University professor Khalid Mustafa Medani and Sudanese activist Marine Alneel about the country’s brewing humanitarian crisis. “The only path toward stability is the establishment of a civilian democracy,” says Medani.

Israel launched surprise airstrikes in Gaza overnight, targeting three commanders of the Islamic Jihad militant group, who were assassinated in their homes. The attacks killed a total of 13 people, including the wives and children of the men. The Israeli attack broke a ceasefire that had been reached last week after a spike in violence following the death of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan in Israeli custody. “As the occupying power, Israel has the obligation to protect the civilian population,” says Phyllis Bennis, author and fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. “Instead, we’re seeing the expansion of an apartheid regime, and one which is prepared to use violence at extraordinary levels without a moment’s hesitation.”

As Russia marks the Soviet Union’s defeat of the Nazis 78 years ago, Ukraine is preparing to launch a major counteroffensive, which has forced Moscow to issue an evacuation order for thousands of residents in areas occupied by Russian forces. Meanwhile, international actors are calling for negotiations, possibly brokered by China or Brazil, to end the war. For more on the prognosis for peace in Ukraine, we’re joined by Phyllis Bennis, author and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Israel Bombs Gaza Strip, Killing 13 People, Including Children, Putin Delivers Defiant “Victory Day” Speech as Russia Fires Missiles Across Ukraine, Sudan’s Warring Parties Hold Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia But Won’t Agree to Ceasefire, Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Arrested in Islamabad, Tens of Thousands March Against Gun Violence in Serbia After Two Mass Shootings, Texas Gunman Was Rejected from Army, Had Nazi Tattoos But Purchased AR-15 Legally, Texas Man Who Rammed SUV Into Migrants Charged with Eight Counts of Manslaughter, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Deploys “Tactical Border Force” Ahead of Title 42 Expiration, Jury Begins Deliberations in Rape and Defamation Civil Trial Against Donald Trump, ProPublica Reports Rep. James Clyburn Protected His District at a Cost to Black Democrats, 11 Arrested at Protest Demanding Arrest of Vigilante Who Killed Jordan Neely