Democracy Now!

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday halted a ban and other restrictions on the abortion medication mifepristone, keeping the nation’s most popular abortion method available for now as an appeal of the nationwide ban on the pill plays out. The ban was issued earlier this month by the Trump-appointed Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who ruled the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the drug was invalid. The case is likely to end up before the Supreme Court again after making its way through a lower appeals court. We speak with Mary Ziegler, law professor at the University of California, Davis, whose new piece for The Atlantic is headlined “The Justices Pass on an Abortion-Pill Ban…Until they hear a better case.”

The United States and other countries moved to evacuate diplomats and citizens from Sudan over the weekend amid fighting between rival military factions that’s killed at least 420 people and injured over 3,700 more, in a crisis that began on April 15 when the Sudanese military and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces began exchanging fire in the capital Khartoum, further dashing hopes of a return of civilian rule in the country. CNN reports the powerful Russian mercenary group Wagner has backed the RSF by providing the paramilitaries with surface-to-air missiles. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has denied the report but offered on Friday to act as a mediator between the two warring factions. Meanwhile, many residents remain trapped in Khartoum with dwindling supplies of food, water, medicine and power. For more on the crisis, we speak with Khalid Mustafa Medani, associate professor of political science and Islamic studies who chairs the African Studies Program at McGill University. He says neither side has much support from the civilian population, which has shown an overwhelming commitment to a democratic transition. “It’s not so much a civil war, but essentially a fight to the death between two generals,” says Medani.

Diplomats Lead Sudan Exodus as Sudanese Reel from Intense Fighting, Food and Power Shortages, SCOTUS Keeps Abortion Pill Mifepristone on Market While Challenge to Ban Proceeds, Peru’s Ex-President Alejandro Toledo Detained, Facing Corruption Charges Following U.S. Extradition, Kenya Exhumes Bodies of 47 Cult Members Who Starved Themselves to Death, Burkina Faso Attack Near Malian Border Kills 60 People, Thousands of Asylum Seekers Make Their Way Up Mexico to Protest Migrant Abuse, Mississippi GOP Expands State Control Over Police and Courts in Majority-Black Jackson, Rasheed Williams AKA “Koka Da Doll,” Star of Film on Trans Sex Workers, Fatally Shot in Atlanta, President Biden Set to Announce Reelection Bid, Biden Establishes White House Office of Environmental Justice, U.N. Warns Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2022 as Sea Level Rise Accelerated, EPA Plan Would Phase Out Emissions from Power Plants by 2040, Activists Demand End to Fossil Fuels in Earth Day Marches, Acts of Civil Disobedience

In Yemen, at least 79 people were killed and over 300 injured in a stampede on Wednesday in the capital city of Sana’a. The crowd crush began after armed Houthis fired into the air to control the crowd, striking electrical equipment and causing it to explode. The tragic deaths come as Yemen continues to face one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises following years of fighting between U.S.-backed Saudi forces and the Houthi rebels. While a ceasefire began a year ago, no agreement has been reached yet on making it permanent. We speak to Ali Jameel, the accountability and redress director of Mwatana for Human Rights, a group based in Yemen.

We get an update from South Texas, where Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket blew up four minutes after launch Friday and residents reported particulates or ash rained down on their neighborhoods near the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. We speak with Bekah Hinojosa of Another Gulf Is Possible, who has been targeted for participating in protests against SpaceX. She says, “We’re clearly being exploited by a billionaire and his pet project.” She also responds to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval Thursday of three new liquified natural gas projects in the area.

We discuss the U.S. gun violence epidemic with historian Andrew McKevitt, who says, “We ought to conceive of our gun problem as a problem of gun capitalism.” He covers the history of the proliferation of individual gun ownership since World War II in his forthcoming book, Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture & Control in Cold War America. McKevitt also discusses how the NRA and pro-gun lobby impedes progress on gun control through the implicit threat of “political violence.”

Sudan’s Warring Factions Announce 72-Hour Ceasefire, But Fighting Continues, Accelerating Ice Melt from Greenland and Antarctica Is Driving Sea Levels Higher, Ukraine’s Zelensky Asks NATO Leader for Invitation to Join Alliance, Labor Secretary Nominee Julie Su Defends Pro-Union Views in Senate Confirmation Hearing, Ugandan President Asks Parliament to Make Draconian Anti-LGBTQ Bill Even Harsher, House Republicans Approve Bill Banning Trans Women and Girls from Scholastic Sports Teams, Colin Kaepernick to Fund Autopsy of Lashawn Thompson; Protesters Demand Closure of Fulton Co. Jail, Richard Glossip Faces Execution in One Month After Oklahoma Court Denies Bid for New Trial, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Must Pay $5M to Man Who Proved His Election Rigging Claims Were False, Texas Residents Report Environmental Fallout from SpaceX Launch After Rocket Explodes in Flight, BuzzFeed News Shuts Down, Citing Lack of Profitability, Chile Will Require National Stake in Lithium Industry as It Expands Int’l Copper Mining Permit

We look at the historic settlement reached this week in Dominion Voting Systems’s lawsuit against Fox News for promoting lies about voting machines being rigged against Trump in the 2020 election. Fox repeatedly aired conspiracy theories even though some of the network’s most prominent hosts, including Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, as well as multibillionaire and Fox Corporation Chair Rupert Murdoch, were privately admitting they knew Trump’s election fraud claims were false. Earlier this week, shortly after a jury was picked for the trial, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to settle the case. As part of the deal, Fox was not required to apologize for airing lies about Dominion. We look at the settlement and what is next with Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, which recently filed a Federal Elections Commission complaint against Fox News based on evidence from the Dominion lawsuit.

As the Supreme Court weighs whether to keep mifepristone available nationwide, we speak with Julie Burkhart, who is on the frontlines of the fight for reproductive justice. Burkhart is president of Wellspring Health Access, the only full-service abortion clinic in Wyoming, that was firebombed by an anti-abortion activist last year, as well as co-owner of Hope Clinic in Granite City, Illinois. Burkhart previously worked for eight years with Dr. George Tiller before his assassination in 2009. She describes the difficulties of providing abortion services in two states with different political and legal landscapes. “People in every part of this country deserve to have access to reproductive healthcare and to make their own decisions and determinations about their bodies,” says Burkhart. We also continue our conversation with law professor Michele Goodwin.

As the abortion pill mifepristone remains available for at least another two days after a delayed U.S. Supreme Court ruling, we discuss the case with law professor Michele Goodwin. She notes the push to force more people to give birth is taking place against a backdrop of poor maternal health outcomes. “The United States is the deadliest place in all of the industrialized world to be pregnant,” says Goodwin, who notes that people are 14 times more likely to die from carrying a pregnancy to term than from abortion.

Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens as Rival Military Factions Battle for Sixth Day, Dozens Killed, Over 100 Injured by Crowd Crush in Yemen’s Capital, U.N. Warns 50 Million Across West and Central Africa at Risk of Hunger, Climate Crisis Fuels Deadly Heat Wave Across Much of Asia, Research Finds Air Pollution Harms Human Health at Every Stage of Life, Study Finds African Americans Live Longer in Counties with More Black Doctors, Supreme Court Delays Decision on Medication Abortions Until Friday, Oklahoma Officials Caught on Tape Discussing Lynching Black People, Murdering Journalists, Autopsy Shows Tortuguita, Forest Defender Protesting “Cop City,” Was Shot 57 Times in Police Raid, Kansas City Homeowner Pleads Not Guilty to Assault Charges for Shooting Black Teen Ralph Yarl, Mass Shooting in Maine Adds to Grim Toll of U.S. Gun Violence, Tennessee GOP Passes Bill Protecting Gunmakers from Litigation Weeks After Nashville Massacre, Montana Conservatives Seek to Censure Transgender Lawmaker for Calling Out GOP’s Transphobia, Florida Expands “Don’t Say Gay” Ban to All K-12 Public Schools, DOJ Indictment Claims Pan-Africanist Group Conspired with Russia to Interfere in U.S. Elections

As pressure grows on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign over his decades-long relationship with a billionaire benefactor, we speak with legal journalist Adam Cohen, who says there is a precedent that should guide lawmakers in how to address the growing scandal. In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas was forced to resign after his financial relationship came to light with businessman Louis Wolfson, who paid Fortas to consult for his foundation. Fortas was a Democratic appointee, but the scandal led to a bipartisan call for his resignation — even though his replacement would be named by Republican President Richard Nixon and shift the balance of the court. Cohen writes in a guest essay for The New York Times that the strong, bipartisan outrage against Fortas “is both a blueprint for how lawmakers could respond today and a benchmark of how far we have fallen.”

Calls continue to grow for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to step down or to be impeached, after ProPublica uncovered more damning information about his relationship with Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. According to the new report, Thomas and his family sold a house and two vacant lots in Savannah, Georgia, to Crow for around $130,000 but never disclosed the sale, which appears to be a violation of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. In addition to being a major benefactor to Thomas and the GOP, Crow is also an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia, including a copy of Mein Kampf signed by Hitler, paintings by Hitler, Nazi medallions, swastika-embossed linens, and a garden filled with statues of 20th century dictators. We speak to Justin Elliott, a reporter for ProPublica who helped break the story.

A New York immigration judge on Tuesday ruled that Jean Montrevil, a Haitian immigrant and longtime activist, will no longer face deportation, after a decade of being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his activism. Montrevil was deported to Haiti in 2018 under the Trump administration but got a second chance in 2021, when Virginia Governor Ralph Northam granted him a pardon for two drug convictions from three decades earlier, which ICE had used as a pretext to deport him. Montrevil sought to regain his legal immigration status and was allowed to return to the United States on a 90-day special parole, but the threat of deportation continued to hang over his head — until Tuesday, when the decades-long saga came to a close. “It was huge for me,” says Montrevil in his first interview following the ruling. We also speak with Alina Das, part of Montrevil’s legal team and co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law, who says Black people face much harsher treatment under immigration law than others.

Our guest Hannah Dreier, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The New York Times, has published a bombshell new investigation headlined “As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Ignored Warnings.” It reports that the Biden administration has repeatedly ignored or missed warnings about a surge of migrant children as young as 12 working in factories across the United States under grueling and often dangerous working conditions in serious violation of child labor laws. “People were punished for bringing this to the attention of their supervisors,” says Dreier.

Fox News Settles Dominion Defamation Lawsuit over 2020 Election Lies for $787.5 Million, Fighting in Sudan Continues as Terrorized Residents Grapple with Food and Power Shortages, Biden Issues Executive Order Seeking to Expand Child Care and Elder Care Access, Senate GOP Blocks Democrats from Replacing Ailing Dianne Feinstein on Judiciary Cmte., Tunisian Police Detain Prominent Political Rival, Raid Ennahda Party HQ in Crackdown on Opposition, Top Saudi Diplomat Meets Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in Damascus for 1st Time Since Start of War, Indonesia Military Disputes Claim West Papuan Fighters Killed 12 Soldiers in Mission to Rescue Pilot, EU Seeks to Ramp Up Response to Climate Crisis by Increasing Cost of Carbon Emissions, Germany Shuts Down Last Nuclear Reactors After Turning to Coal Amid Ukraine War, Holtec Pauses Plan to Dump Toxic Nuclear Waste Water into Hudson, Gov. Hochul Nominates Caitlin Halligan, Who Defended Chevron Against Steven Donziger, to Top NY Court

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that poverty is the fourth-greatest cause of death in the United States. Roughly 500 people die from poverty in the U.S. every day. Our guest, sociologist Matthew Desmond, is the author of the new book, Poverty, by America, the follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. “There’s so much poverty in America, not in spite of our wealth, but because of it,” says Desmond in an in-depth interview.

In Atlanta, Georgia, the family of a prisoner says he was “eaten alive” by insects and bedbugs in his cell there last year. The family of 35-year-old Lashawn Thompson, who was being held in the jail’s psychiatric wing, is demanding a criminal investigation and that the jail be shut down. In an exclusive interview, we speak to Thompson’s brother Brad McCrae and sister Shenita Thompson, as well as Michael Harper, a lawyer representing the family.

Sudan’s Army Agrees to 24-Hour Ceasefire with Rival Faction as Civilian Toll Mounts, Kansas City Homeowner Charged for Shooting Black Teen Who Rang Wrong Doorbell, Grand Jury Won’t Indict Akron, Ohio, Police Officers Who Shot Jayland Walker 46 Times, Two Indianapolis Cops Charged with Manslaughter for Killing Herman Whitfield in Parents’ Home, Video Shows New Mexico Police Fatally Shooting Homeowner After Knocking on Wrong Door, Florida Gov. DeSantis to Sign Bill Allowing Divided Juries to Hand Down Death Sentences, DeSantis Proposes Building New Prison Near Disney World over Disney’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy, House Speaker McCarthy Proposes Raising Debt Ceiling in Exchange for Sweeping Budget Cuts, GOP Rep. Jim Jordan Holds Hearing in NYC to Attack DA Alvin Bragg Following Trump’s Indictment, GOP Rep. George Santos Will Run for Reelection as He Faces Multiple Scandals, FBI Arrests Two, Alleging They Ran “Secret Police Station” for China in New York, U.S. Journalist Evan Gershkovich Denied Bail by Russian Court, Faces Espionage Charges, New Jersey Climate Activists Hold Peaceful Protest Against Fracked Gas Project

We discuss climate solutions and the need for broad involvement in the fight to avert climate catastrophe with writer and activist Rebecca Solnit and longtime Filipino climate activist Renato “Red” Constantino. Solnit is the co-editor of Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, which features an essay by Constantino about his role in the Paris Climate Agreement titled “How the Ants Moved the Elephants in Paris.” “This is the decade of decision, and we need as many people as possible engaged as fully as possible,” says Solnit.

We speak with Ugandan LGBTQ activist Frank Mugisha about a draconian new anti-gay bill the country is on the verge of imposing, which makes it a crime to identify as queer, considers all same-sex conduct to be nonconsensual, and even allows for the death penalty in certain cases. Both the Biden administration and the U.N. secretary-general are urging Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill into law. Mugisha says anti-LGBTQ measures in Uganda reflect the legacy of British colonialism, which introduced anti-sodomy laws across Africa, as well as the influence of the U.S. religious right. “The homophobia and transphobia we are seeing toward queer and trans people in Uganda is from the West,” says Mugisha, Uganda’s most prominent gay rights activist, who could face decades in prison for “promotion” of homosexuality under the new legislation.

We go to Khartoum, Sudan, for an update on fighting that began Saturday between the Sudanese military and a rival paramilitary force that has left at least 97 civilians dead and hundreds more injured. The fighting pits Sudan’s military against a powerful paramilitary group and has dashed hopes of a civilian-led, democratically elected government — a key demand of protesters who led Sudan’s mass mobilizations in 2019 — and sparked fears of civil war. “What should be the priority right now is a ceasefire,” says Sudanese activist Marine Alneel.

Sudan’s Civilian Deaths Near 100 After 3 Days of Fighting Between Rival Military Factions, SCOTUS Pauses Ban of Mifepristone to Review Case Ruled On by Anti-Abortion Judge, Colorado Enshrines Protections for Abortions and Gender-Affirming Care, Russian Missile Attack Kills 11 in Sloviansk Amid Intensifying Battles in Eastern Ukraine, Kremlin Critic Vladimir Kara-Murza Sentenced to 25 Years for Antiwar Activism, Brazil’s Lula Calls on Nations Backing Peace in Ukraine to Form Group to Counter War Machine, 2 Indian Politicians Killed on Live TV While in Police Custody, Macron Signs Highly Unpopular Retirement Reform into Law After Greenlight from Top Court, G7 Members Pledge to Boost Clean Energy But Won’t Agree to 2030 Phase-Out of Coal, Prisoners Transferred from Atlanta Jail Where Prisoner Was “Eaten Alive” by Insects, 4 Killed, 28 Injured at Birthday Party as U.S. Suffers Another Deadly Weekend of Gun Violence, At NRA Convention, Donald Trump Pledges to Return as Most Pro-Gun U.S. President, Rutgers Faculty and Academic Staff Suspend Strike After Reaching Tentative Deals with School

We look at U.S. policy toward Cuba as U.S. and Cuban officials met Wednesday to discuss migration from the island. This January, the U.S. Embassy in Havana began processing immigrant visas for the first time in more than five years in an attempt to control the extent of undocumented migration from the island. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to face pressure to lift the embargo that has severely limited trade and more with Cuba for decades. We speak with Liz Oliva Fernández, award-winning Cuban journalist with the independent Cuba-based media organization Belly of the Beast who is in the U.S. to report on the economic and political interests driving Cuba policy under President Biden.

Faculty at the state-run Rutgers University in New Jersey have entered their fifth day of a historic strike — the first faculty strike in the school’s 257-year history. Organizers of three unions, representing more than 9,000 professors, lecturers and graduate assistants, are demanding increased pay and better job security, especially for poorly paid graduate workers and adjunct faculty. We get an update from Donna Murch, an associate professor of history at Rutgers University and New Brunswick chapter president of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, one of the academic workers’ unions on strike.

President Biden was in Ireland this week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the U.S.-brokered peace deal that ended three decades of fighting in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles. Biden’s visit comes less than two months after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced he had reached a deal with the European Union on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, and a year after the British Parliament introduced a bill to provide amnesty to former British soldiers and individuals involved in the Northern Ireland conflict. Human rights experts have accused the bill of undermining the Good Friday Agreement. We speak to renowned activist Eamonn McCann, a former member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

We look at the state of abortion access in the United States with The Nation's Amy Littlefield as the Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on a ruling set to take effect Saturday that effectively overrides the Food and Drug Administration's two-decade-old approval of the medication abortion pill mifepristone. Her most recent piece is headlined “A Conservative Christian Judge Rules Against Medication Abortion. How Hard Will Democrats Fight Back?”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Abortions at Just Six Weeks, Federal Judge Issues Conflicting Ruling on Abortion Medication, Setting Up Supreme Court Fight, ProPublica: Clarence Thomas Failed to Disclose Sale of Property to Billionaire GOP Donor , 21-Year-Old Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira Arrested over Leaked Classified Documents, Leaked Documents Show U.S. Spied on U.N. Leader, Reveal Russian Infighting over Ukraine, Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny May Have Been Poisoned in Prison, Supporters Say, Saudi Arabia Restores Ties with Syria, Swaps POWs with Yemen’s Houthi Rebels, El Salvador’s News Site El Faro Relocates to Costa Rica Amid Bukele’s Crackdown on Press, Biden Seeks to Expand Medicare Access to DACA Recipients, North Dakota Becomes 20th State to Ban Trans Students in School Sports, NE Democratic Lawmaker Machaela Cavanaugh Has Been Filibustering Anti-Trans Legislation For 7 Weeks, More Mass Protests Take Over French Streets Ahead of Ruling on Macron’s Pension Cuts

President Biden has declared an end to the COVID-19 national emergency, but people living with long COVID say the pandemic is far from over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found nearly one in five people infected with COVID-19 go on to experience symptoms of long COVID. We speak to science writer Ryan Prior about the movement to expand research and resources for those with long COVID, and his own experience living with the chronic illness. Prior is the author of The Long Haul and writes the “Patient Revolution” for Psychology Today.

We discuss the debate over gun control, as well as Republican attacks on democracy, with author and academic Carol Anderson, who says U.S. gun culture has always been connected to “the inherent, fundamental fear of Black people.” She notes the expulsion of two Black Democratic state lawmakers in Tennessee for leading a gun control protest at the Capitol highlights how gerrymandered state governments uphold white supremacy in the face of “youth that are pushing forward for a different vision of America.” Anderson is professor of African American studies at Emory University and author of The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. She also comments on the right-wing assault on abortion rights and education.

As the world watched, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to reappoint Justin Pearson to the Tennessee House of Representatives, less than a week after the Republican-led House voted to expel him and fellow state Representative Justin Jones from the body for joining peaceful protests against gun violence after the school massacre in Nashville. Pearson and Jones were the two youngest Black lawmakers in the Tennessee House. The Nashville Metropolitan Council unanimously voted Monday to restore Jones to office, and he was sworn in Tuesday. Pearson is being sworn back in today. We feature their remarks at the vote and rally Wednesday in Memphis.

U.S. Appeals Court Partially Restores Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone, Expelled Lawmaker Justin Pearson to Be Reinstated to Tennessee House of Representatives, U.N. Says Somalia Faces Catastrophic Hunger as Climate Crisis Fuels Drought, Zelensky Condemns Video Appearing to Show Russian Soldier Beheading Ukrainian POW, Brazil’s Lula Will Ask China’s Xi to Help Broker Peace in Ukraine; U.S. Sees No Peace Talks in 2023, At Least 10 Migrants Drown Off Tunisia’s Coast as U.N. Warns of Soaring Deaths in Mediterranean, Mexico Charges Immigration Chief over Ciudad Juárez Fire That Killed 40 People, Biden Addresses Irish Parliament, Marks 25th Anniversary of Good Friday Agreement During Ireland Visit, The Fed Projects a Recession This Year as It Plans Another Interest Rate Hike, Lawsuit Says Indiana Prison Let Mentally Ill Man Die of Starvation in Solitary Confinement, Calls Mount for Dianne Feinstein to Resign as the Ailing Senator Steps Back from Judiciary Cmte., Judge Sanctions Fox for Lying About Murdoch’s Role in Dominion Lawsuit Days Before Trial Starts, Toxic Smoke Spewing Over Indiana Town After Massive Fire at Recycling Plant, Juul Reaches $462 Million Settlement with New York, California, Massachusetts and Others

We look more at what recently leaked Pentagon documents reveal about the war in Ukraine, and U.S. spying on both its adversaries and its allies, including Israel. In Part 2 of our interview with James Bamford, the longtime investigative journalist discusses how the leaks challenge the corporate media’s portrayal of the war in Ukraine, and more. Bamford’s latest book is Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence.

Protesters in the Philippines have been speaking out against the growing U.S. military presence in the country as nearly 18,000 troops from both countries take part in a massive military drill in the South China Sea. This comes as tension is escalating between the United States and China over espionage, economic competition and the war in Ukraine. The Philippines, a former U.S. colony, recently agreed to give the Pentagon access to four more of its military bases, including two located in the northern province of Cagayan about 250 miles from Taiwan. Ties between Washington and Manila have been growing closer since the inauguration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the former U.S.-backed dictator of the same name. For more, we speak with Renato Reyes Jr., the secretary general of Bayan, an alliance of leftist groups in the Philippines opposed to U.S. militarism. He says that “poor countries like the Philippines” will be “the biggest losers if the conflict escalates between the U.S. and China.”

Burma’s military junta carried out its deadliest attack yet on civilians in rebel-held areas when it bombed a meeting of community leaders Tuesday in the Sagaing region, killing an estimated 100 people, including 30 children. The military junta has increasingly used airstrikes to crush the resistance since it seized power in 2021, often targeting schools and clinics run by the opposition. The United Nations has warned of worsening humanitarian and human rights crises in Burma, with mass arrests, torture of prisoners, the killing of civilians, and media repression. To discuss this latest attack and the ongoing crisis in Burma, we’re joined by Maung Zarni, a Burmese scholar, dissident and human rights activist. His recent piece is titled “Myanmar Military’s Acts of Terrorism from the Sky & Savage Beheadings on the Ground.”

Kentucky and Tennessee Officials, Incl. GOP Gov., Call for More Gun Control After Mass Shootings, EPA Moves to Accelerate Transition to All-Electric Vehicles, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Sues Jim Jordan for “Brazen and Unconstitutional Attack” on His Office, U.N. Staff in Afghanistan Unable to Go to Work Due to Taliban Ban on Working Women, IDF Kill 2 More Palestinians in West Bank as Israel Bars Jews from Al-Aqsa for Rest of Ramadan, U.K. Doctors Continue Strike Actions, Say They Are at Breaking Point, Rep. Tlaib and Other Progressives Call on DOJ to Drop Charges Against Julian Assange, Democratic Governors Stockpile Abortion Drugs, Vow to Keep Treating Residents Who Need Abortions, NYC Brings Back Controversial Digidog and Other High-Tech Police Weapons, Missouri GOP Votes to Defund Libraries Amid a Nationwide Republican Crackdown, Chicago to Host 2024 Democratic National Convention

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into a recent leak of highly classified Pentagon intelligence documents revealing secrets about the war in Ukraine, as well as details about the U.S. spying on a number of its adversaries, as well as its allies, including Israel and South Korea. We discuss the documents, the agencies they come from, how and where they were released, and more with investigative journalist James Bamford, whose latest book is Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence.

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott says he is “working as swiftly” as possible to pardon a U.S. Army sergeant who was just convicted Friday of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020 just blocks from the Texas state Capitol. Daniel Perry was also convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for fatally shooting 28-year-old Air Force veteran Garrett Foster. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles said Monday it is now launching an investigation into Governor Abbott’s request for an expedited pardon. We’re joined by Hiram Gilberto Garcia, an independent journalist who live-streamed that night and was the first witness on the stand to testify at Daniel Perry’s murder trial, and Rick Cofer, a former Travis County assistant district attorney.

Democratic Representative Justin Jones has returned to the Tennessee state House, just days after Republicans voted to expel him. The Metropolitan Council of Nashville voted 36 to 0 on Monday to reinstate him. Following the vote, Jones’s supporters marched to the Tennessee Legislature, where he was sworn in on the steps of the Capitol. Justin Pearson of Memphis, who was also expelled last week, could be reappointed to the Tennessee House Wednesday if a majority of the Shelby County Commission’s 13 members agree to it. We air highlights from Monday’s proceedings, as well as Pearson’s speech Sunday in Memphis to his supporters.

Gunman with Assault Rifle Kills 5 and Injures 8 at Louisville Bank, Nashville Council Reinstates State Rep. Justin Jones After GOP Ousts Him for Anti-Gun Protests, Prosecutors File Criminal Charges Against Mother of 6-Year-Old Who Shot Virginia Teacher , DOJ Sues to Block Texas Judge’s Ruling Revoking FDA Approval of Abortion Drug, Witnesses Say Burmese Military Airstrikes Kill 100 Villagers, U.S. and Philippines Launch Largest-Ever Joint War Games in South China Sea, Russia Launches Fresh Wave of Attacks Across Ukraine, Completes POW Swap , Egypt’s President Sought to Covertly Ship 40,000 Rockets to Russia, Belarusian President Asks Russia for Security Guarantee, Israel’s Netanyahu Reverses Decision to Fire Defense Minister as Protests Mount, Israeli Ministers Lead March in Support of Illegal West Bank Settlements, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Seeks Pardon of Man Who Murdered Black Lives Matter Protester , U.S. Arrests Salvadoran Ex-Colonel over 1981 Massacre by U.S.-Trained Forces in El Mozote

We look at how racial disparities in healthcare treatment and access will shape the impact of anti-abortion rulings with Dr. DeShawn Taylor, an OB-GYN physician, abortion provider and owner of Desert Star Family Planning in Phoenix — the only Black-owned independent abortion provider in the border state of Arizona. Her upcoming book is Undue Burden: A Black Woman Physician on Being Christian and Pro-Abortion in the Reproductive Justice Movement.

We look at access to medical abortion pills and advice on how to manage abortions at home with Dr. Linda Prine, physician and co-founder of the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline. Prine says the hotline is increasingly busy and now has 70 clinicians taking calls for 18 hours each day. She says the laws restricting abortion pills do not prevent access, “they just make it harder,” and that “we want people to be able to get their pills in a timely fashion, as they did prior to Dobbs.” Prine also discusses the need for shield laws to protect access to the abortion pill, and allegations of so-called abortion trafficking.

When U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled Friday the Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade old approval of the leading abortion drug mifepristone violates the law, he cited the 19th century Comstock Act, a so-called anti-vice law that prohibits the mailing of contraceptives and instruments or drugs that can be used in an abortion. It has been dormant for half a century. We speak to Lauren MacIvor Thompson, a historian of birth control, about the Comstock Act and its legacy.

We look at the dueling rulings by two federal judges on the abortion pill mifepristone. A Trump-appointed judge in Texas suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s decades-old approval of the drug, while a judge in Washington state ordered the agency to maintain the status quo. Jessica Mason Pieklo, executive editor of Rewire News Group, says the judicial assault on reproductive health is “a constitutional crisis” that requires urgent attention. “This is not just about trying to restrict access to abortion pills. This is an authoritarian movement that is afoot in this country, and Congress needs to act.” Pieklo is the author, with Robin Marty, of The End of Roe v. Wade: Inside the Right’s Plan to Destroy Legal Abortion.

We speak with Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, about the ruling by a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas to revoke the Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Shortly after the Texas ruling, a federal judge in Washington ordered the FDA to keep mifepristone on the market and maintain the status quo. The Justice Department has appealed the Texas ruling. “People will not stop seeking access to abortion,” Johnson says. “We are just making it harder for people to get the medication and the care that they need, and that is just unconscionable.”

Fate of Medication Abortion in Legal Limbo as Two U.S. Judges Issue Conflicting Rulings, Clarence Thomas Defends Luxury Gifts from Harlan Crow, GOP Megadonor and Nazi Memorabilia Collector, DOJ Probes Leak of Pentagon Documents About Ukraine War, U.S. Surveillance on Allies, Russian Strike Kills Young Girl and Father as 31 Abducted Ukrainian Children Returned to Families, China Holds Military Drills Following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s Trip to U.S., Israel Strikes Syria, Gaza as IDF Raid In Occupied West Bank Kills Another Palestinian Teen, Saudi and Houthi Officials Meet for Yemen Peace Talks Mediated by Oman, Iranian Police Install Surveillance Cameras to Identify Violations of Strict Female Dress Code, Tennessee Democratic Lawmakers Ousted over Gun Protests Could Soon Be Reinstated, 9,000 Faculty and Graduate Workers at Rutgers Go on Strike over Pay and Job Security, Family Demands Justice for Raul de la Cruz, Bronx Resident Critically Wounded by NYPD

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to report frequent luxury trips paid for by a billionaire Republican megadonor named Harlan Crow, leading to renewed calls for the conservative jurist’s impeachment. According to ProPublica, Thomas has for decades accepted flights on Crow’s private jet, trips on his yacht and frequent stays at his exclusive lakeside resort, in apparent violation of a law requiring justices and other federal officials to disclose most gifts. “Justice Thomas has this extraordinary and apparently unprecedented relationship with this outside billionaire who is basically subsidizing his life,” says ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott. Thomas has previously come under scrutiny for conflicts of interest after he refused to recuse himself from cases about Republican efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, even as his wife, Ginni, was pressuring officials to ensure Donald Trump’s victory.

Israel has bombed southern Lebanon and Gaza as tension soars in the region days after Israeli police repeatedly attacked Palestinian worshipers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. In response to the raids on the mosque, militants in southern Lebanon and Gaza fired dozens of rockets into Israel. It was the largest rocket attack from Lebanon in 17 years. Meanwhile, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a vehicle near an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, killing two Israeli settlers. This all comes as Israel continues to impose a violent crackdown in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army has killed at least 94 Palestinians so far this year. Israel’s raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan have sparked international condemnation. For more, we speak with Mohammed El-Kurd, the Palestine correspondent for The Nation, who is from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem and says the escalating violence in Palestine cannot be separated from “the larger settler-colonial enterprise” of the decades-old Israeli occupation.

We speak with Justin Jones, one of two Black Democratic lawmakers expelled by a Republican supermajority in the Tennessee state House of Representatives Thursday for peacefully protesting gun violence in the chamber last week as thousands rallied at the Capitol to demand gun control after the Covenant elementary school shooting in Nashville. A vote to expel their white colleague who joined them in solidarity failed. “They thought by expelling us they would silence us, they would silence our movements that we’re part of, but in fact they’ve amplified it, because the nation can see how racist they are. The nation can see how retaliatory and absurd and authoritarian they are,” says Jones.We also feature some of the dramatic exchanges that unfolded on the House floor, which Jones calls “a public lynching” targeting the two youngest Black lawmakers in the Legislature.

Israel Strikes Gaza and Lebanon After Rocket Fire; 2 Israeli Settlers Shot Dead in West Bank, U.N. Aid Workers Halt Work in Afghanistan After Taliban Bans Female Members, GOP Supermajority Expels Two Black Lawmakers from Tennessee House over Gun Control Protests, ProPublica: Billionaire GOP Donor Lavished Clarence Thomas with Luxury Trips for 2 Decades, Biden Admin Proposes Rule Barring Blanket Bans on Transgender Student Athletes, Idaho Enacts “Abortion Trafficking” Law That Bans Helping Minors Get an Out-of-State Abortion, DOJ to Probe Police Killing of D.C. Teenager Dalaneo Martin, Sudan’s Military Leaders Again Delay Transition to Civilian Rule , Oklahoma AG Says Conviction of Death Row Prisoner Richard Glossip Should Be Vacated