Democracy Now!

A new Biden administration plan announced Wednesday aims to make rent more affordable and protect tenants’ rights. This comes as rental costs in the United States rose nearly 25% between 2019 and 2022. It also comes as investors bought nearly a quarter of all single-family homes sold in 2021, making home ownership increasingly impossible for people forced to spend much of their money on ever-increasing rent. Housing activists pushed for the “Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights” in the administration’s finalized plan to regulate predatory rental practices and provide relief for tenants, but say what was ultimately included is full of weak commitments and a lack of federal enforceability, while landlords retain their power to set prices and hoard housing stock. We discuss the affordable housing crisis, tenant organizing and the limits of Biden’s new plan with Tara Raghuveer, Homes Guarantee campaign director at People’s Action.

Ukrainian Associated Press journalist Mstyslav Chernov joins us for an in-depth interview about how he and others risked their lives to document the Russian invasion. He is the director of the new documentary, “20 Days in Mariupol,” which has just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It tells the story of how Chernov and his colleagues documented the first three weeks of Russia’s siege of the strategic eastern port city of Mariupol, even after many international journalists had fled. “The whole city spiraled down into complete chaos. People were in shock, in panic. They didn’t know what to do,” says Chernov, whose team was helped by locals in evading Russian soldiers and later escaping the city with their footage. The film is a co-production by the Associated Press and PBS Frontline.

Israeli Forces Kill 9 Palestinians, Including Elderly Woman, in Raid on Jenin, Russia Fires Cruise Missiles Across Ukraine After Biden Agrees to Send M1 Tanks, Peruvian Lawmakers Move to Impeach Dina Boluarte as Protesters Reject “National Truce”, Suspect in Half Moon Bay Mass Shooting Charged with 7 Murders, Denied Bail, Vice President Harris Visits Memorial for Monterey Park Shooting Victims, Schools Superintendent Fired over Missed Warnings After 6-Year-Old Shoots Teacher, Kevin McCarthy Denies Committee Assignments to Democratic Reps. Schiff, Swalwell, “Heinous, Reckless and Inhumane”: Memphis Police Chief Condemns Tyre Nichols’s Killing by Officers, Former Columbia University Gynecologist Robert Hadden Found Guilty of Sexual Abuse, Meta Reinstates Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram Accounts, Indian PM Narendra Modi Moves to Censor BBC Documentary , “Being Homosexual Is Not a Crime”: Pope Francis Urges Repeal of Anti-LGBTQ Laws, Archbishop of Canterbury Says Church of England Won’t Recognize Same-Sex Marriages, GOP Rep. George Santos Admits “Personal” Loans to Campaign Came from Other Sources

Civil right advocates, educators and lawyers, like Ben Crump, are fighting Florida education officials who rejected a new advanced placement course for high school students on African American studies. Officials say the course “lacks educational value,” and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis claims the course violates state law. Opponents object to the course’s inclusion of works by scholar and former Black Panther Angela Davis, and of material on intersectionality, reparations and Black queer history, among other topics. Last year, Florida passed a so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law that prevents Florida teachers from discussing sexuality and gender identity in classrooms. We go to Miami and Tallahassee to speak to Dr. Steve Gallon, a lifelong educator and a former teacher, principal and superintendent, who now serves as an elected school board member for Miami-Dade County Schools, and Democratic state Senator Shevrin Jones, the first openly gay person to serve in the state’s Senate.

On Tuesday, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reset the Doomsday Clock for 2023 to 90 seconds to midnight, warning the world is closer to global annihilation than ever before, in part due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since 1947, the Bulletin has maintained a Doomsday Clock to illustrate how close humanity is to the end of the world due to existential threats including nuclear war and the climate emergency. We speak with Frida Berrigan, longtime peace activist and nuclear weapons abolitionist, whose new cover story for In These Times is “How to Avoid Nuclear Stand-Offs That Threaten the Entire World.”

After weeks of pressure from international allies, Germany has announced it will send 14 German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and allow other NATO countries to send more German tanks to help Kyiv in its fight against Russia. The announcement came after the United States agreed to also send a shipment of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. For more, we speak with lawmaker Sevim Dağdelen, a member of the Left Party in the German parliament who says the majority of the German public wants more diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. “It concerns me a lot that many so-called progressives in the United States are supporting this line by the Biden administration to push Germany more and more into this proxy war,” says Dağdelen.

Germany and U.S. to Send Heavy Tanks to Ukraine, Talks on Swedish and Finnish Bid to Join NATO Delayed Amid Tensions with Turkey, U.K. Says 200 Asylum-Seeking Children Are Now Missing, New Zealand Swears In Chris Hipkins as New Prime Minister, Judge Resumes Probe into 2020 Beirut Blast, Reportedly Charges Ex-PM Hassan Diab with Homicide, U.N. Condemns Assassination of Eswatini Activist, Opposition Politician Thulani Maseko, Prominent Cameroonian Journalist Martinez Zogo Found Murdered, Florida Rejects New African American Studies Course; Manatee County Teachers Cover Books After New Ban, Classified Documents Found at Mike Pence’s Home, DOJ Sues Google in Bid to Break Up Digital Advertising Monopoly, Bipartisan Senators Blast Live Nation for Squeezing Out Competition in Live Event Market, FDA Proposes New Limits on Lead in Commercial Baby Food, Walmart Raises Minimum Wage to $14/Hour, Victor Navasky, Journalist, Author & The Nation Publisher, Dies at 90

We speak with The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill about the brewing scandals over the handling of classified documents by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, and how they “point to deeper systemic problems with Washington’s obsession with secrecy.” While the details differ, Scahill says both cases show powerful players in Washington who routinely mishandle classified documents face different rules than whistleblowers who have endured the full brunt of the law for exposing government secrets in the public interest.

As California is reeling after three mass shootings over the past three days, we go to Oakland to speak with Connie Wun, co-founder of the AAPI Women Lead organization and a researcher on race and gender violence, and look at the state of gun control with Nick Suplina, managing director for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety.

7 Killed in Half Moon Bay as California Suffers 3 Mass Shootings in 3 Days, Death Toll in Monterey Park Shooting Rises to 11 as Authorities Name Some Victims , Video Shows Memphis Cops Brutally Beat Tyre Nichols “Like a Human Piñata”, Jury Finds Four More Oath Keepers Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy, Ex-FBI Official Charles McGonigal Indicted over Ties to Russian Billionaire, Nuclear-Capable Warplanes Join U.S. and Israel in War Games Simulating Strikes on Iran, Palestinian Bedouins Resist Calls by Israeli Lawmakers to Demolish Their Village, President Lula Fires Brazil’s Army Commander in Wake of January 8 Riots, Brazilian Authorities Name Alleged Mastermind of Murder of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, Spotify Will Slash 6% of Workforce in Latest Tech Company Layoff, Peet’s Coffee Shop in Davis, CA, Becomes Chain’s First Unionized Store , Amazon Worker Who Led Alabama Union Drive Blames Corporate Retaliation for Firing

Former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, famed linguist and dissident Noam Chomsky and others gave testimony Friday at the Belmarsh Tribunal in Washington, D.C., calling on President Biden to drop charges against Julian Assange. The WikiLeaks founder has been languishing for close to four years in the harsh Belmarsh prison in London while appealing extradition to the United States. If convicted in the United States, Julian Assange could face up to 175 years in jail for violating the U.S. Espionage Act for publishing documents that exposed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Friday’s event was held at the National Press Club and co-chaired by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. We spend the hour featuring compelling excerpts from the proceedings.

Suspected Gunman in Killing of 10 at L.A. County Dance Studio Found Dead , Germany Will “Not Stand in the Way” of Shipments of Battle Tanks to Ukraine, Over 200 Arrested as Peruvian Police Violently Raid University in Lima, Rights Groups Decry “Politically Motivated” Charges Against El Salvador Water Defenders , 100,000 March in Tel Aviv to Protest Far-Right Israeli Government , National Grid Failure Leaves 220 Million Without Power Across Pakistan, Canada to Pay $3 Billion to Settle Lawsuit over Residential School Abuses, Burkina Faso’s Military Rulers Order French Troops to Depart, FBI Discovers More Classified Documents in Biden’s Home After 12-Hour Search, U.S. Judge Orders Trump to Pay $1 Million over Frivolous Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton and Others, UIC Faculty End Strike After Reaching Deal on Pay and Mental Health Resources for Students , ATL Police Arrest Protesters Demanding Justice for Slain Activist as Opposition to Cop City Grows, Rallies Take Place Across U.S. on 50th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, 7 Months After Ruling Overturned

We look at calls for police accountability in Los Angeles, where officers killed three men of color within 48 hours earlier this month, including 31-year-old Black school teacher Keenan Anderson, who died hours after he was repeatedly tasered. We speak with Anderson’s cousin Patrisse Cullors, a Black Lives Matter co-founder, who has joined in protests over the police killings. “The last two weeks have been a nightmare,” says Cullors. “No human being deserves to die in fear, to die publicly humiliated and without their dignity.”

We get an update on calls for an independent investigation into the Atlanta police killing of an activist during a violent raid Wednesday on a proposed $90 million training facility in a public forest, known by opponents to the facility as “Cop City.” Law enforcement officers — including a SWAT team — were violently evicting protesters who had occupied a wooded area outside the center when they shot and killed longtime activist Manuel Terán, who went by the name “Tortuguita.” Police claim they were fired on, though protesters dispute this account. We hear a statement from an Atlanta forest defender about what happened, and speak with Kamau Franklin, an anti-“Cop City” activist and the founder of the Atlanta organization Community Movement Builders.

In Washington, D.C., human rights and free speech advocates gather today for the Belmarsh Tribunal, focused on the imprisonment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Assange has been languishing for close to four years in the harsh Belmarsh prison in London while appealing extradition to the United States on espionage charges. If convicted, Assange could face up to 175 years in jail for publishing documents that exposed war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five major news organizations that once partnered with WikiLeaks recently called on the Biden administration to drop charges against Assange. We speak to British MP and former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is in Washington, D.C., to participate in the Belmarsh Tribunal, about Assange and freedom of the press. We also cover the state of leftism around the globe, from labor rights in the U.K. and Europe to the war in Ukraine, to political unrest in Brazil and Peru.

U.S. Pledges Armored Vehicles to Ukraine but Stops Short of Sending Heavy Tanks, Peru’s Interim President Says Protests “Will Not Go Unpunished” as Death Toll Rises to 50, Over 1 Million March Across France as Unions Strike to Oppose Cuts to Pensions, U.K. Public Sector Unions Plan Work Stoppage over Proposed Anti-Strike Law, Israeli Supreme Court Orders Netanyahu to Fire Minister over Criminal Convictions, U.S. Reaffirms “Bone Deep” Commitment to Israel After Two Palestinians Shot Dead in Jenin Raid, Harvard Restores Fellowship to Former HRW Director Who Criticized Israel’s Human Rights Abuses, Colombia to End New Government Contracts for Oil and Gas Drilling, Two Indigenous Pataxó Land Defenders Shot Dead in Brazil, SCOTUS Fails to Identify Leaker of Dobbs Decision, Which Overturned Roe v. Wade, Texas Prisoners in Second Week of Hunger Strike Protesting Solitary Confinement , Alec Baldwin, “Rust” Armorer to Face Manslaughter Charges in Death of Halyna Hutchins, Google Lays Off 12,000 Workers Amid Steep Job Cuts in Tech , David Crosby, Legendary Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 81

It was a dramatic scene when scientist and climate activist Rose Abramoff joined fellow scientist Peter Kalmus in December to disrupt the world’s biggest meeting of scientists who study Earth and space: the American Geophysical Union. The nonviolent protest was meant as a call to action to address the climate crisis. She and Kalmus went up on stage and unfurled a banner that read, “Out of the lab & into the streets.” This was not Abramoff’s first protest. She previously chained herself to a White House gate and to a fence at Charlotte Douglas International Airport as part of a series of global protests coordinated by a group called Scientist Rebellion to raise awareness of how luxury air travel contributes to the climate crisis. Until earlier this month, Abramoff worked as an Earth scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. But in a New York Times opinion piece this month, she announced, “I’m a Scientist Who Spoke Up About Climate Change. My Employer Fired Me.”

We get an update on Azerbaijan’s month-long blockade of the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh, home to ethnic Armenians in the South Caucasus. Russia, which brokered a ceasefire between the two countries in 2020 following six weeks of intense fighting, says it’s ready to send troops to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, but with the Russian military bogged down in a costly war in Ukraine, the country’s capacity to enforce a settlement may have changed. We speak with journalist Roubina Margossian, managing editor of the independent news site EVN Report in Armenia, who reported from Nagorno-Karabakh during the 2020 war.

As election violence fueled by lies about “rigged” elections escalates, we go to New Mexico to look at how a former far-right Republican candidate and election denier faces charges of orchestrating shootings at the homes of four Democratic officials following his landslide election loss. We speak with Debbie O’Malley, former Bernalillo County commissioner, whose home was attacked, and with New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver.

Ice Cores Show Greenland at Warmest Temperature in Over 1,000 Years, “Big Oil Peddled the Big Lie”: U.N. Secretary-General Condemns Oil & Gas Execs for Disinformation, At World Economic Forum, Ukraine’s President Appeals for Tanks, Biden Administration Readies Shipments of Armored Vehicles for Ukraine, IAEA Places Inspectors at Ukraine’s Four Nuclear Power Plants, Belarus Opposition Leader Tried in Absentia for Treason, New York Democrats Narrowly Reject Nominee for Top Judge in Win for Progressives, Microsoft to Cut 10,000 Jobs, Amazon Announces More Layoffs, Gets Cited by OSHA over Unsafe Workplaces, Parents of Herman Whitfield III Share Bodycam Video Showing How Officers Killed Their Son, SWAT Team Fatally Shoots Activist at Site of Protest Against “Cop City” Police Training Center, Jacinda Ardern Will Not Seek Reelection as New Zealand’s Prime Minister

We speak with philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, who has recently written two widely acclaimed books: “Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)” and “Reconsidering Reparations,” which focuses in part on the climate crisis. He says identity politics is a concept that was stripped of its radical power to build solidarity and is now weaponized to split people into ever narrower categories that hamper movements for racial and social justice. “Elite capture is what happens when the advantaged few in a group steer the resources and political direction of organizations or movements or parts of our social structure like the justice system toward their narrower interests and aims,” Táíwò says.

The growing problem of crushing medical debt was raised by Senator Bernie Sanders in a national address Tuesday on the American working class. We hear from patients and discuss the fight to stop hospitals from suing patients, garnishing wages and putting liens on homes of people facing medical bills they can’t afford. We are joined by Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society of New York and co-founder of the Health Care for All New York campaign.

This Sunday marks what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. But the landmark decision was overturned by the ultraconservative Supreme Court just over six months ago in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. The court’s removal of the right to safe, legal abortions has led to total abortion bans in 12 states. Meanwhile, the push to ensure access to abortion has spurred new legal challenges and greater reliance on the abortion pill mifepristone, as medication abortions account for more than half of all U.S. abortions. We get an update from Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent at The Nation, whose most recent piece looks at how cities and states are acting to limit the damage from Dobbs. “There are an untold number of people staying pregnant against their will, despite the best efforts of activists,” she says.

Helicopter Crash Near Kyiv Kills 17, Including Ukrainian Interior Minister, U.S. Begins Training Ukrainian Troops at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Filipino Journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa Acquitted of Tax Evasion Charges, Election Deniers Marjorie Taylor Greene & Paul Gosar to Join House Oversight Committee, Serial Liar George Santos Picked by GOP for Two House Committees, White House: GOP Plan over Debt Ceiling Is “Recipe for Economic Catastrophe”, Brazil Charges 39 Bolsonaro Supporters with Staging a Coup, Iranian American Jailed in Tehran Begins Hunger Strike, Peru: Thousands Converge in Lima to Demand Resignation of Dina Boluarte, Greta Thunberg Detained for Second Time in Germany at Coal Mine Protest, Amnesty Seeks Investigation After Jailed Dissident Dies in Equatorial Guinea, Justice Department Won’t Seek Death Penalty for Texas Gunman in Walmart Mass Shooting, Faculty at University of Illinois Chicago Launch Strike

The Justice Department and Congress are facing new calls to investigate Donald Trump’s financial ties to Saudi Arabia. The latest controversy centers on a new golf tournament owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund, which is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. LIV has paid millions to golf resorts owned by Donald Trump, who has publicly supported the new league which is attempting to compete with the PGA. Meanwhile, an exposé has revealed that the Saudi government infiltrated Wikipedia to control information on the kingdom. Government administrators were recruited to edit the crowdsourced site in ways that portrayed Saudi Arabia in a positive light, and two noncompliant editors who contributed critical information about political detainees were themselves prosecuted and imprisoned. The Wikimedia Foundation, the parent company of Wikipedia, appears to have banned 16 Saudi users for “conflict of interest” editing, yet it is unclear what additional steps they have taken to combat the Saudi government’s disinformation campaign. We speak to Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), the organization that released the report on Wikipedia’s infiltration, who says that Saudi Arabia’s financial investments in American political leaders’ business dealings and deployment of government agents inside international organizations are key to its global project to conceal evidence of its human rights abuses.

The death toll from two weeks of flooding in California has reached at least 20. As climate scientists are predicting more extreme weather linked to climate change over the next two years, outrage is growing over how fossil fuel companies were fully aware of the link between fossil fuel emissions and global warming but spent decades obscuring the science in order to make maximum profits. We speak with Democratic California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who recently concluded a congressional investigation into the allegations and says the oil industry needs to be held accountable for the damage it has wrought. Khanna also discusses the looming fight over raising the federal debt ceiling, the refugee crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, espionage charges against Julian Assange, charges Biden faces of having classified documents at his home, calls for Republican George Santos to resign and more.

Ukraine Blames Russia After Strike on Dnipro Apartment Building Kills at Least 44, U.S. Expands Training for Ukrainian Soldiers at Military Base in Germany, German Defense Minister Resigns as Allies Press for More Arms to Ukraine, Former Afghan MP Mursal Nabizada Assassinated in Her Kabul Home, More Than 50 Women Abducted by Insurgents in Burkina Faso, Death Toll from Unrelenting California Storms Rises to 20, Meteorologists Forecast Global Heating Will Accelerate in 2024, German Police Use Tear Gas to Clear Climate Activists from Site of Coal Mine, Activists Blockade Private Jet Airport Used by World Economic Forum Attendees, Nepal Airliner Crash Kills Dozens, Israeli Soldiers Kill 14-Year-Old Palestinian in West Bank Raid, “Unconscionable and Indefensible”: U.K. Government Vetoes Scottish Gender Equality Bill, New Mexico GOP Candidate Arrested for Shootings at Homes of Democrats, GOP Insiders Knew More Than a Year Ago About George Santos’s False Résumé, NYC Mayor Warns Asylum Seekers “There Is No More Room in New York”, Oklahoma Carries Out First of 11 Executions Set for 2023, Russell Banks, Novelist Who Wrote About Criminals, Outcasts and Revolutionaries, Dies at 82

Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his “Beyond Vietnam” speech, which he delivered at New York City’s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated.

Twenty-four volunteer rescue workers connected to the group Emergency Response Centre International face trial for human smuggling in Greece for giving life-saving assistance to thousands of migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, fleeing violence, poverty and persecution. A European Parliament report described the trial as Europe’s “largest case of criminalization of solidarity.” We’re joined by New Yorker staff writer Alexis Okeowo. Their latest piece, “The Crisis of Missing Migrants,” covers the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and the tens of thousands of people who have gone missing en route to Europe. “It’s so inhumane, the way people are being forced to cross to Europe. And that is, by the way, because there are not safer migrant crossings. There are not more open migrant routes. We are forcing migrants to do this,” Okeowo says.

Former Argentine prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, who served as deputy prosecutor in Argentina’s Trial of the Juntas and later as the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is portrayed in the film “Argentina, 1985,” which won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in a Non-English Language this week. The film dramatizes the efforts of Argentina’s civilian court to prosecute the country’s former military leaders for brutal crimes committed during the U.S.-backed right-wing military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. Ocampo spoke to Democracy Now! recently about that landmark trial, the new film and why “democracy is at risk everywhere.”

We speak with director Santiago Mitre about “Argentina, 1985,” his dramatization of the Trial of the Juntas, when a civilian court prosecuted Argentina’s former military leaders for brutal crimes committed during the U.S.-backed right-wing military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. The film just won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in a Non-English Language and is also shortlisted for an Oscar for best international film. Mitre talks about following the landmark trial in Argentina as a boy, just a short time after the end of the dictatorship, and why he felt compelled to tell the story as a filmmaker. “The decision of the government to do this trial was very brave and very important, and it founded the basis of the new democracy,” says Mitre.

DOJ Names Special Counsel to Investigate Biden’s Mishandling of Classified Documents, Tornadoes and Storms Sweep Southern States, Killing 7, World’s Oceans Broke Heat Records Again in 2022, Exxon Scientists Privately Predicted Global Heating with “Breathtaking” Accuracy in the 1970s, South Korea Warns It Could Build a Nuclear Arsenal to Counter North Korean Threat, U.S. and Japan Pledge Stronger Military Ties as Biden Meets with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, LAPD Releases Video Showing Police Attack on Keenan Anderson That Led to His Death, U.N. Says Mass Expulsion of Migrants at U.S. Border Violates International Law, Democrats Urge Biden to Revoke Jair Bolsonaro’s Visa; Lula Accuses Military of Aiding Jan. 8 Rioters, New York Lawmakers Introduce SANTOS Act to Penalize Candidates Who Lie to Get Elected, Arkansas Gov. Outlaws Term “Latinx” on Official State Communications, Bernie Sanders Blasts Moderna over Plan to Quadruple Price of COVID-19 Vaccine, U.N. Says 4-Month Ebola Outbreak in Uganda Is Over

In California, at least 19 people have died as storms continue to batter the region, leading to widespread flooding, mudslides and power outages. The National Weather Service says large portions of Central California have received over half their annual normal precipitation in just the past two weeks — and more rain is coming. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 34 million Californians are under a flood watch. Despite the devastating impacts, few media outlets have drawn a connection between the historic weather and human-induced climate change. For more on the climate emergency, we are joined by Daniel Swain, climate scientist at UCLA, fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and author of California weather blog Weather West.

We speak with journalist Lynzy Billing, whose investigation for ProPublica details how CIA-backed death squads, known as Zero Units, have yet to be held accountable for killing hundreds of civilians during the U.S. War in Afghanistan. The Afghan units, which were routinely accompanied by U.S. soldiers, became feared throughout rural Afghanistan for their brutal night raids, often descending upon villagers from helicopters and carrying out summary executions before disappearing. Families of victims continue to demand answers, but since the operations were directed by the CIA rather than the military, there is almost no oversight or disclosure when things go wrong. “Many people I spoke to feel that these operations … were counterproductive and actually had turned their families against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul and against the U.S.,” says Billing.

We go to Kabul to speak with Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council about the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, where at least five people died Wednesday in a suicide bombing near the Foreign Ministry. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, pressure is growing on the ruling Taliban to reverse bans on women attending university or working with nongovernmental organizations. In recent weeks a number of major international aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have suspended operations in Afghanistan due to the ban, potentially worsening the humanitarian crisis in the country, where the United Nations estimates more than 28 million Afghans, or over 70% of the population, require humanitarian assistance. “We need to help the same 28 million people in need that the NATO countries left behind,” says Egeland, who recently met with Taliban leaders to urge them to lift restrictions on women’s rights.

Russia Appoints New Military Commander in Ukraine as Battlefield Toll Mounts, Protesters Demand Closure of Guantánamo Prison on 21st Anniversary , “We Need Negotiations, Not More War”: CodePink Disrupts Defense Policy Talk , Alabama’s AG Warns People Taking Abortion Pills Could Be Prosecuted, GOP Congressmembers Pass Anti-Abortion Measures Days After Taking Control of House, Dozens of NY Republicans Call for Rep. George Santos to Resign, GOP Speaker McCarthy Defends George Santos, Sanctions Prominent Democrats, Illinois Bans Assault Weapons; SCOTUS Allows NY Gun Limits to Remain for Now, Kabul Blast Near Foreign Ministry Kills at Least 5 People, Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Man Standing on His Own Roof, Peru Protest Death Toll Reaches 48 After Ouster of President Castillo, Three Mexican Journalists Kidnapped in Guerrero State, UAE Appoints CEO of Oil Giant to Preside Over U.N. Climate Summit, Biden Aides Find Second Batch of Classified Documents from Vice Presidency , Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin Discharged from Hospital 9 Days After Mid-Game Cardiac Arrest, 7,000 New York Nurses End Strike After Hospitals Agree to Increase Staffing

We speak with one of the 7,000 nurses on strike now in New York City at two hospital systems that account for more than a quarter of all hospital beds in the city, and a journalist who has documented how hospital CEOs are boosting their own pay by millions of dollars while slashing charity care. The strike began Monday after nurses failed to reach a new contract agreement with Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center, with higher wages and better staffing among their main demands. “If we do not address this, we will continue to see nurses leaving the workforce because of unsafe staffing,” says Sasha Winslow, a striking nurse at Montefiore Medical Center. The Lever’s Matthew Cunningham-Cook details his investigation into how hospital CEOs have received millions in raises and perks while medical staff have been pushed to the breaking point during COVID.

We go to Peru for an update after Peruvian authorities declared an overnight curfew in parts of southern Peru as mass protests continue following the ouster and arrest of leftist former President Pedro Castillo. At least 17 people were killed Monday after security forces opened fire at anti-government protesters in the city of Juliaca, and over 40 people have been killed across Peru over the last month, with human rights groups accusing the authorities of using indiscriminate force against protesters. The country’s crisis started in early December when then-President Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, resulting in his arrest and replacement by his vice president. We are joined from Desaguadero, Peru, near the Bolivian border, by Ollie Vargas, a journalist with Kawsachun News, who says protesters are demanding new elections, the resignation of Castillo’s successor Dina Boluarte and the formation of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. A major contributor to the current crisis is “the extreme weakness of the political system in Peru” in which many politicians lack any real connection to their constituents, adds Peruvian sociologist Eduardo González Cueva.

U.N. Condemns Iranian Executions as Families of Death Row Prisoners Plead for Loved Ones’ Lives, Ukraine and Russia Battle for Control of Eastern Towns; 14 Million Displaced Since Start of War, German Police Evict Climate Activists Protecting Abandoned Town from Mining Plans, Two Honduran Environmental Activists Killed for Fighting Mining Project, Brazil Orders Arrest of Gov’t Security Officials over Jan. 8 Riots, Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez Mina Says She Escaped Another Assassination Attempt, House Republicans Create Cmte to Go After Agencies That Are Investigating Trump, California Rep. Katie Porter Launches Bid for U.S. Senate, “Don’t Run Joe” Campaign Urges President Biden Not to Seek Reelection in 2024, Ex-Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg Gets 5 Months at Rikers over Tax Crimes, New Alzheimer’s Drug Offers Hope to Some Patients But Comes at High Cost, USVI Attorney General Fired Days After Suing JPMorgan Chase for Financing Epstein Sex Trafficking, Environmental Groups Sue Danone in France for Failing to Curb Plastic Use, FAA System Outage Temporarily Grounds Flights Across U.S., Golden Globes Award Feature Drama “Argentina, 1985” About the Prosecution of Military Dictatorship

We speak with civil rights leader Ben Jealous about his new memoir, “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free,” which examines his long career as an activist and organizer, and growing up the son of a white father and a Black mother. He discusses the lessons he drew from his mother, Ann Todd Jealous, and his grandmother, Mamie Todd, about the racism they experienced in their lifetimes. Jealous has led the NAACP and the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way, and is set to be the next executive director of the Sierra Club.

As ceremonies mark the 100th anniversary of when a white mob attacked and burned down the Black town of Rosewood, Florida, we look at the largely untold story of how a racist mob murdered at least six Black residents and forced the rest of the town to flee. Many eyewitnesses said the true death toll was far higher. The bloodshed began after a white woman accused a Black man of assault, resulting in several days of violence by the white mob that ultimately destroyed the once-thriving community. We speak with Jonathan Barry-Blocker, whose late grandfather, Reverend Ernest Blocker, was a survivor of the 1923 massacre.

We go to Mexico City for an update on the North American Leaders’ Summit, where the presidents of Mexico, the United States and Canada are discussing migration, the economy, trade and security. The summit comes just days after Biden announced that the United States will start to block migrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba from applying for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. We speak with Elías Camhaji, Mexican journalist and reporter with the Spanish newspaper El País, and Erika Guevara-Rosas, human rights lawyer and Americas director for Amnesty International.

House Republicans Vote to Gut Congressional Ethics Office, Slash IRS Funding, Over 1,500 Arrested over Assault on Brazilian Capital, Jair Bolsonaro Hospitalized in Florida as U.S. Lawmakers Demand His Extradition to Brazil, 17 Killed as Peru Suffers Deadliest Day of Protests over President’s Ouster, Israel Revokes Travel Permits for Palestinian Foreign Minister , Israeli Security Minister Orders Removal of Palestinian Flags from Public Spaces, Evacuations Ordered as California Endures Relentless Rain and Flooding , Classified Records Found in Joe Biden’s Former Office, Rudy Giuliani Receives Federal Grand Jury Subpoena over Trump Campaign Payments , Georgia Grand Jury Wraps Probe of Election Interference by Trump and His Allies, Judge Delays Unsealing Trump’s Deposition in Rape-Defamation Lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, 31-Year-Old Black Father Keenan Anderson Dies After Violent Arrest by LAPD , “Enough Is Enough!” 7,000 NYC Nurses Continue Strike over Wages & Staffing Levels

We speak with the longtime former head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, about losing a prestigious position at Harvard over his criticism of Israeli human rights abuses. Roth was set to begin as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy after he retired as director of the renowned human rights organization in April. But the school’s dean, Douglas Elmendorf, vetoed the move over Roth’s and Human Rights Watch’s “anti-Israel bias,” The Nation reports. “We hold Israel to the same standards as everybody else,” Roth says of Human Rights Watch’s work. He adds that while it’s unclear what pressure the Kennedy School may have faced in its decision, reporting truthfully on Israel’s rights record often brings down the ire of pro-Israel groups who want to shut down all criticism. “They want us to exempt Israel from human rights scrutiny, and no credible human rights group could possibly do that.”

Immigrant rights groups are denouncing President Biden’s recent announcement that the United States will start to block migrants from Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba from applying for asylum if they’re apprehended crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The move is an expansion of the contested Trump-era Title 42 pandemic policy set to be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Over the weekend, Biden visited El Paso, one of the country’s busiest border crossings, in his first visit to the border as president. He reportedly did not meet with or see any migrants during his four-hour visit. For more, we speak with two immigrant rights activists who have been urging the Biden administration to drop Title 42 and create the infrastructure to welcome asylum seekers: Guerline Jozef, executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Fernando García, executive director of the El Paso, Texas-based Border Network for Human Rights.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is condemning thousands of supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro who stormed the Brazilian Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace Sunday in a scene reminiscent of the U.S. Capitol insurrection. Rioters smashed windows, ransacked offices and set fire to a carpet inside the Congress building before authorities made over 400 arrests. Bolsonaro has never formally conceded the race to third-term President Lula and fled to Florida, where he has reportedly met with Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago, while his supporters have blockaded highways and set up protest encampments outside military bases and in the capital Brasília to protest what they falsely claim was a rigged election. We get an update from Brazilian newspaper columnist and professor Thiago Amparo in São Paulo and reporter Michael Fox, host of the “Brazil on Fire” podcast.

Pro-Bolsonaro Brazilians Storm and Ransack Gov’t Buildings, Hundreds Arrested, Biden Visits U.S.-Mexico Border for First Time as President, McCarthy Voted House Speaker After 15 Rounds, a Near Brawl, and His Power Significantly Diminished, House Members Sworn In Amid New Concerns About Republican George Santos, House Set to Vote on Republican Rules Package That Guts Ethics Office, Empowers Extreme Right of GOP, China Lifts Pandemic Travel Restrictions; Celebrity Deaths Add Doubt to Official COVID Toll, Iran Hangs Two More Anti-Government Protesters, Kenyan LGBTQ Activist Edwin Chiloba Found Murdered, Great Salt Lake Could Dry Up in 5 Years Without Dramatic Cuts to Water Use, 7,000 Nurses at Two NYC Hospitals Strike over Pay, Staffing & Working Conditions, Rosewood, FL, Marks 100th Anniversary of Racist Massacre

Russian President Vladimir Putin has unilaterally declared a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Russian Orthodox Christmas on January 7. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Putin’s overture, however, saying that Russia wants to use Christmas as a pretext to stop Ukrainian advances in the Russian-occupied Donbas region. Putin’s declaration comes after about 1,000 U.S. faith leaders called in an open letter last month for a ceasefire during the holidays, inspired by the Christmas truce of 1914 during World War I, arguing that a pause in the fighting could create room for negotiations to peacefully end the conflict. We air a recent sermon by Bishop William Barber, one of the signatories, in which he discussed the need for a Christmas truce. “We need a ceasefire to interrupt this warring madness,” Barber said. “A ceasefire doesn’t mean both sides are equally culpable for starting the war, but it can have the impact of stopping the massive, massive killing on both sides.”

Friday marks two years since the January 6 Capitol insurrection, when President Donald Trump incited thousands of supporters to violently storm Congress, attempting to overturn the 2020 election. The attack on the Capitol briefly shut down Congress as lawmakers fled for their safety from the mob, which included members of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other violent extremist groups. Two years later, part of Congress has been effectively shut down again, this time because a group of far-right Republicans, including many who supported the January 6 insurrection, have blocked Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s attempt to become House speaker. We speak to Andy Campbell, senior editor at HuffPost and author of “We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered In a New Era of American Extremism,” as the House speaker vote drags on and the Proud Boys face trial for seditious conspiracy over their involvement in the insurrection.

Biden to Block Migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua from Seeking Asylum at Border, House of Representatives Fails to Elect a Speaker for Third Straight Day, Biden to Award Medals to Democracy Defenders on Anniversary of Jan. 6 Insurrection, Family of Officer Who Died After Jan. 6 Capitol Assault Sues Donald Trump and Rioters, South Carolina Strikes Down Abortion Ban; Idaho Upholds Near-Total Ban , Ukraine Dismisses Russian 36-Hour Truce as U.N. and Turkey Seek Path to End War, UNSC Calls for Status Quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque After Visit by Far-Right Israeli Minister, Israel Frees Palestinian Prisoner Karim Younis After 40 Years, Harvard Rescinds Fellowship to Former HRW Head over Israel Criticism, China to Reopen Hong Kong Border as WHO Accuses Beijing of Obscuring COVID’s Toll, Murder-Suicide in Utah Claims 8 Lives, Uber Drivers Hold 2nd Strike After Company Refuses to Implement Pay Raises in New York