Democracy Now!

The ACLU is asking the Supreme Court to overturn an Arkansas anti-BDS law that penalizes state contractors unless they pledge not to boycott the state of Israel. Arkansas is one of more than 30 U.S. states to have passed “copycat” legislation to criminalize the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to boycott Israel and Israeli goods to protest its violation of Palestinian rights. The ACLU and other rights groups have argued the right to boycott is foundational to U.S. politics and protected free speech, and warn if the anti-BDS laws aren’t challenged, Americans could lose their right to boycott fossil fuel companies, gun manufacturers and more. We speak with ACLU lawyer Brian Hauss and Alan Leveritt, publisher of The Arkansas Times and plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit. “The state of Arkansas is requiring us to take a political position in return for advertising,” says Leveritt, who calls his lawsuit “purely a First Amendment issue.” We also speak with filmmaker Julia Bacha, who followed Leveritt’s story in her documentary “Boycott,” and says “it’s critical to start asking our elected officials why they voted for these bills and what they actually mean.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is launching a civil rights investigation into whether the state of Mississippi discriminated against the majority-Black capital of Jackson when it refused to use federal funds to address the city’s dangerous water crisis. Mississippi has received federal funds to address drinking water needs since 1996 but distributed funds to Jackson just three times over this 26-year span. “For years, Black communities have faced intentional disinvestment” in water infrastructure, says Abre’ Conner of the NAACP, which filed the complaint that led to the investigation. Conner says that through the creation of the EPA’s new civil rights office, the government now has “an opportunity to make right the wrongs that have happened to Black communities and to other historically disadvantaged communities for years.”

We speak with national security expert William Hartung about the Biden administration’s unprecedented military spending on Ukraine and the impact of U.S. arms sales on national and global security. Despite Biden’s campaign promises to curb arms sales, Hartung says the administration has followed an “outmoded ideology” that necessitates the U.S. achieve global military dominance through weapons sales. “There’s a lot of money at stake and it shapes policy in ways that are detrimental to human rights and peace and stability,” says Hartung, who also details the influence of the weapons lobby on government policy.

Kherson Braces For Battle; Russian Strikes Devastate Ukrainian Energy, Water Infrastructure, Xi Jinping Clinches Third Term, As Anti-Government Protest Quietly Spreads, Rishi Sunak to Become Next British Prime Minister After Rivals Withdraw, Italy Swears in Far-Right Giorgia Meloni as Prime Minister, Labor Strikes Spread Across Iran, Adding to Unrest Spurred by Mass Protests, Ibrahim Traore Becomes Second Coup President in Burkina Faso in Under a Year, WH Tells Borrowers to Keep Applying for Student Loan Relief After Judge Issues Temporary Stay, Steve Bannon Vows To Appeal After Receiving Four Month Prison Sentence, House Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Donald Trump, Donald Trump Suggests He’ll Run for President Again in 2024, Judges in Florida and Texas Rule Against GOP Voter Suppression Efforts, Penn Student Protesters Disrupt Football Game to Demand Fossil Fuel Divestment

We speak to law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw and civil rights attorney Barbara Arnwine, who are on an Arc of Voter Justice bus tour of 26 cities across the country to increase Black voter turnout at critical midterm elections in November. They discuss fighting voter suppression and racial gerrymandering, and the high stakes in states where Republicans have instated bans on what they describe as critical race theory. “African American voters are key to all these races,” says Arnwine. “They’re going to vote what’s in the best interests not only of their community, but the entire nation.” Crenshaw says she is handing out banned books and education to voters because “when racism is unspeakable, then democracy — a full multiracial democracy — is unachievable.”

Egypt is preparing to host world leaders next month at the U.N.’s annual climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, a move that prominent environmentalist and author Naomi Klein calls “greenwashing.” While the government embraces superficial causes to mitigate climate change such as recycling or solar panels, “what is not welcome would be pointing out this enormous lucrative network of deals that the military itself is engaged in that are linked to fossil fuels, that are linked to destroying remaining green space in cities like Cairo,” says Klein. She adds that the international community should seize the opportunity to pressure Egypt into releasing its imprisoned political prisoners, who face brutal conditions.

The family of imprisoned Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah has been staging a sit-in outside the British foreign office to demand the government help release him. El-Fattah, who was recently granted British citizenship, has been on hunger strike for over 200 days to protest being held in harsh conditions during his seemingly endless jail sentence in Egypt. “We’re not sure how much time is left. We’re not sure how much his body can take,” says his sister, Sanaa Seif.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned Thursday after just 45 days in office, the shortest term in the nation’s history. Her low-tax, low-regulation financial policies were widely criticized after they sent the pound plummeting, causing several senior ministers to quit. We speak to George Monbiot, British journalist at The Guardian, about her short-lived time in office, what this says about the Conservative Party, and who her likely successor will be. “You’d think we’d have a general election after all this chaos, … but that’s not how it works in this country, because we are a democracy in name only,” says Monbiot.

U.K. Conservatives Face Fresh Leadership Crisis as PM Liz Truss Resigns After 45 Days, Chadian Security Forces Kill Protesters Demanding Return to Civilian Rule, At Least 150 Killed as Rival Groups Clash in Southern Sudan’s Blue Nile State, Ukraine Orders Electricity Cuts Following Russian Attacks on Power Stations, Russia Says U.S.-Made Rockets Killed Civilians in Luhansk and Kherson, Ukraine Warns of Flood Risk from Hydroelectric Dam Rigged by Russia to Explode, Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Teen in Latest Raid on Jenin, ACLU Challenges Arkansas Anti-BDS Law, Pakistan Election Commission Bars Ex-PM Imran Khan from Holding Office, Courts Stymie Conservative Efforts to Block Biden’s Student Relief Plan, Lindsey Graham Must Testify in Georgia Grand Jury Probe of Trump Election Meddling, Massive Wildfires Bring Hazardous Air Quality to Pacific Northwest, EPA to Investigate Civil Rights Violations in Jackson, Mississippi, Water Crisis, CA Jury Finds Ex-UCLA Gynecologist Guilty of Sexually Abusing Hundreds of Patients, Mental Health Workers End Strike After Reaching Deal with Kaiser Permanente

We look at the scope, scale and sustainability of the protests in Iran, which have entered their second month, after being sparked in September by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s so-called morality police. More than a thousand protesters have been arrested, while some children have been sent to reeducation camps. The United Nations said Tuesday at least 23 children have been killed in the demonstrations. We speak in depth with Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her legal work on behalf of women and children in Iran, and she has lived in exile since 2009. Unlike previous protest movements, such as the 2009 Green Movement, she says today’s protesters are demanding fundamental change to the country’s system of government. “For 43 years, people have bottled up all this anger. For 43 years, the regime has turned a deaf ear to the demands of the people, and anyone who said anything against the regime has either ended up in prison or killed or has fled the country,” says Ebadi.

“A Narrow Window to Prevent Genocide”: WHO Warns 6 Million in Tigray Face Health Crisis, Putin Declares Martial Law in Occupied Parts of Ukraine, North Korea Fires Artillery Barrage into Sea Amid Joint U.S.-South Korea War Games, Cholera Outbreak in Syria Spreads to Lebanon , Iranians Cheer Homecoming of Female Rock Climber Who Competed Without Hijab, Biden Releases 15 Million More Barrels of Oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Scientist Rebellion: Climate Protesters Glue Themselves to Volkswagen Exhibition , Cuba Welcomes U.S. Aid for Ian Victims While Condemning U.S. Embargo as “Constant Hurricane”, Supreme Court Rejects Reprieve for Mentally Ill Oklahoma Death Row Prisoner , New York Opens Tent Shelter for 500 Migrant Men, ICE Jails Asylum Seekers Who Survived Fatal Shooting by Texas Brothers , U.S. Judge Says Trump Knowingly Signed Off on False Numbers in Election Fraud Suit, Trump Deposed in E. Jean Carroll Defamation Lawsuit, Judge Sentences Ex-UCLA Student to 42 Months over Jan. 6 Insurrection, Georgetown University Students Confront Mike Pence over Capitol Riot, Pioneering Asian American Actor Anna May Wong to Be Featured on New Quarter

As President Biden vows to codify abortion rights if Democrats can control Congress after the midterms, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Cori Bush, who faces reelection this November as a first-term Democrat in Missouri, where abortion was banned after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. She just wrapped up a “Roe the Vote: Reproductive Freedom Tour.” She discusses her experiences with abortion and much more in her new memoir, “The Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America,” which traces her journey as a registered nurse who took part in Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson to running for the House of Representatives. “It was not easy” becoming a Black woman politician in a state and country where “true equity or equality” has not yet been achieved, says Bush.

We get an update from immigrant justice advocate Guerline Jozef, who is in Mexico to look at the impact of the Biden administration’s expansion of Title 42 to turn away Venezuelan asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump-era policy lets the government expel asylum seekers on public health grounds. “It is unacceptable today for the government to try to expand Title 42, and forcing people to continue to die,” says Jozef. Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced it will allow 24,000 Venezuelans to enter the country by air if they have a financial sponsor in the United States. Applicants must first apply online. The program is similar to one set up for Ukrainians earlier this year. Jozef notes immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti are treated harshly, while Ukrainians fleeing similar political instability back home are welcomed, and that the immigration system should be structured to treat everyone with compassion and dignity.

Protests are growing in Port-au-Prince as thousands fill the streets to demand the U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ariel Henry resign after he announced he would raise fuel prices amid an already dire humanitarian crisis. Countries including the U.S. and Canada have sent military equipment to assist the Haitian police in cracking down on the unrest, and the U.S. has been pushing the United Nations Security Council to authorize a security mission, spurring more protests against foreign intervention. “We are seeing people really protesting on the street for the right to [a] sovereign solution to the issues that are happening, and they are saying 'no' to an armed invasion from the international community,” says Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance.

Somalia Is Facing Famine on a Catastrophic Scale, Russia Says It Will Evacuate 60,000 People from Kherson as Fighting Intensifies, Biden to Release More Oil from Strategic Reserve, Biden Vows to Codify Roe v. Wade If Democrats Win Midterms, Marco Rubio and Val Demings Spar on Abortion, Guns in Lone Debate Ahead of Midterms, Video of Florida Police Arresting Residents for Voting Spurs Outrage, Family of Alaa Abd El-Fattah Camp Out in Front of U.K. Gov’t Building to Demand His Release, Saudi U.S. Citizen Given 16-Year Jail Sentence for Tweeting, WaPo: Hundreds of Former U.S. Military Officers on Payroll of Authoritarian Governments, 100 Haitian Migrants Stranded on Island Near Puerto Rico, L.A. City Council Elects New President as Protests Continue in Wake of Racist Audiotape Leak, Amazon Workers in Albany Vote Against Unionizing, New Jersey Sues Oil Giants for Deceiving Public About Climate Change, California Offshore Wind Energy Lease Sale Could Power 1.5M Homes, Stores Start Selling Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids, Biden Administration Opens Up Applications for Student Loan Forgiveness

As nuclear powers ratchet up tensions around the Ukraine war, the U.S., NATO and Russia are carrying out nuclear war games. Meanwhile, anti-nuclear activists are calling on lawmakers and world leaders to “Defuse Nuclear War.” Their calls come on the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. “The Kremlin is making nuclear threats that are completely reckless. At the same time, there are things that the U.S. government can and should do that would reduce the chances of nuclear war,” says Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and co-founder of RootsAction.org. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders “are simply going along with this autopilot heading towards a precipice of nuclear annihilation globally.” His recent piece for Common Dreams is headlined “Don’t Just Worry About Nuclear War—Do Something to Help Prevent It.”

With midterm elections three weeks away, a new report links reported hate crimes against Asian Americans to anti-China rhetoric used on the campaign trail. This issue is also examined in a new PBS documentary, “Rising Against Asian Hate,” which explores the fight against anti-Asian racism following the Atlanta spa shootings in March 2021, when a white gunman targeted multiple Asian-owned businesses and killed eight people, six of them Asian American women. At the time of the killing spree, hate crimes against Asian Americans had been on the rise after then-President Trump blamed the outbreak of the coronavirus on China, calling it the “kung flu.” “We felt that we had to document this moment,” says executive producer Gina Kim, “and make sure that people recognize that this is an issue that we need to confront as a nation.”

Black residents in Kansas City, Missouri, say police ignored their warnings that a murderer was targeting Black women, until one of his captives escaped earlier this month. A 22-year-old Black woman in Excelsior Springs, just outside Kansas City, said she broke free from the basement where a white man held her captive for a month. She also claimed there were more victims, all of them Black women, who were similarly sexually abused. Timothy Haslett Jr. is now in police custody and faces rape, kidnapping and assault charges. Prior to his arrest, the Kansas City Police Department said concerns about a possible serial killer were “completely unfounded” rumors. “This speaks to the violent silencing of Black women specifically, of the Black community at large here in Kansas City,” says Ryan Sorrell, founder of the Black-led independent newspaper Kansas City Defender, which reported on the missing Black women. “This is ongoing. We have cases back in the ’90s where Black women have been murdered,” notes Justice Gatson, executive director of the Black women-led group Reale Justice Network in Kansas City, Missouri.

U.N. Secretary-General Calls for “Armed Action” in Haiti, Haitian Protesters Reject Foreign Troops and Demand Resignation of PM Ariel Henry, Ethiopian and Eritrean Soldiers Seize City of Shire from Tigrayan Rebels, Russian Strikes on Ukrainian Critical Infrastructure Knock Out Water and Power to Millions, Ukraine Says Russian Troops Killed Composer for Refusing to Join Concert in Occupied Kherson, AP: Russia Has Seized Thousands of Ukrainian Children and Made Them Russian Citizens, Fighter Jet Crashes Near High-Rise Apartment in Russia, Killing 13, NATO Opens War Games as Russia Threatens Nuclear Response in Ukraine, Death Toll from Nigeria Flooding Tops 600 as Climate Crisis Leaves Farms Underwater, Democratic Challenger Stacey Abrams Calls Out GOP Gov. Brian Kemp over Voter Suppression, Ohio GOP Senate Candidate J.D. Vance Confronted over Shifting Views on Trump, Arizona GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Kari Lake Won’t Pledge to Accept Election Result, Asylum Seekers at Torrance ICE Jail Claim Retaliation over Hunger Strike, Supreme Court Refuses to Reconsider Racist Rulings on U.S. Citizenship, Australia Reverses Prior Government’s Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

The new documentary “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” gives a comprehensive look at the legacy of the woman known for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955, a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement. Beyond helping to inspire the Montgomery bus boycott that ended Alabama’s bus segregation law, Parks was also a lifelong supporter of the Black Power movement and organized in campaigns to seek justice for wrongfully imprisoned Black people, political prisoners, and Black rape survivors like Recy Taylor, whose case Parks investigated for the NAACP in 1944. We speak to the film’s co-director, Yoruba Richen, who says Parks paid a price for her activism, including having to leave Montgomery for Detroit to escape public backlash. “We often think of these civil rights leaders as heroic, and [they] make these stances, and then everything’s fine. But the risk and the danger that they face is often not explored,” says Richen. We also speak with Jeanne Theoharis, author of the best-selling biography “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” on which the documentary is based, and a consulting producer. “She shows up for everything,” Theoharis says of Parks’s activism. “She is looking for all different kinds of strategies to challenge the kind of racial injustice in this country, the social injustice, poverty, war.”

Fire Erupts at Iran’s Evin Prison as Anti-Government Protests Continue , Explosions Rock Ukraine’s Capital; Gunmen Kill 11 Russian Military Recruits in Belgorod, Xi Jinping Set to Win Third Presidential Term as Chinese Communist Party Congress Opens, U.S. and Canada Send Armored Vehicles to Haiti , Australian PM Warns Historic Flooding May Worsen, Huge Protest in Paris Demands Action on Inflation and Climate Crisis, U.K. Protesters Throw Soup on Van Gogh Painting to Demand Climate Action, Greek Authorities Discover 92 Migrants Stripped Naked Near Turkish Border, Outrage in Turkey as President Erdogan Blames “Fate” for Mine Blast That Killed 41, GOP’s Herschel Walker Skips Second Debate with Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, Oklahoma City Apple Store Employees Vote to Join CWA, Becoming 2nd to Unionize, “Defuse Nuclear War”: Protesters Rally at Dozens of U.S. Congressional Offices

During the House select committee hearing Thursday, Representative Jamie Raskin revealed never-before-seen footage from January 6 of top lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, scrambling to stop the violence and making pleas for law enforcement and military support. Some Republicans had previously accused Pelosi of failing to call the National Guard to protect the Capitol, but the footage aired on Thursday sheds new light on her actions. Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson concluded the hearing with a vote to subpoena former President Donald Trump. “The need for this committee to hear from Donald Trump goes beyond our fact finding. This is a question about accountability to the American people,” said Thompson.

During Thursday’s hearing, the January 6 House committee aired video evidence showing how Donald Trump repeatedly made false claims about voter fraud that directly contradicted facts presented to him by top advisers. “These actions, taken directly by the president himself, made it clear what his intentions were: to prevent the orderly transfer of power,” said Congressmember Elaine Luria. California Congressmember Adam Schiff also presented several Secret Service messages showing prior knowledge of the potential for violence on January 6. “By the morning of January 6, it was clear that the Secret Service anticipated violence,” said Schiff, with one agent claiming in a chat group that it felt “like the calm before the storm.”

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol held what may have been its final public hearing on Thursday. The meeting ended with the committee unanimously voting to subpoena former President Donald Trump, likely setting the stage for a court battle. During the hearing, Congressmember Zoe Lofgren of California detailed how Trump had developed a plan to declare victory in the 2020 election regardless of the actual outcome. “This big lie — President Trump’s effort to convince Americans that he had won the 2020 election — began before the election results even came in. It was intentional, it was premeditated,” Lofgren said. The committee also aired a new video showing Trump’s ally Roger Stone telling Trump supporters to declare victory no matter the outcome. “I really do suspect it will still be up in the air. But when that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory,” said Stone, whom the committee also linked to right-wing extremist organizations, including the Proud Boys. “We’ll start smashing pumpkins, if you know what I mean.”

House January 6th Committee Subpoenas Donald Trump, Supreme Court Rejects Trump Appeal over Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago, Five Killed by White Male Juvenile Gunman in Raleigh, NC, Parkland Shooter Sentenced to Life Without Parole as Single Juror Rejects Death Penalty, U.S. Begins Title 42 Expulsions of Venezuelan Asylum Seekers , Texas Sheriff Says Migrants Sent to Martha’s Vineyard Were Victims of Crime, Russia Urges Kherson Residents to Evacuate as Ukraine Advances on Occupied City, Iraq Names New President and Prime Minister, Ending Long Political Deadlock, Israeli Forces Kill 20-Year-Old Palestinian, Put Doctor in Critical Condition During Jenin Raid, Living Planet Report Warns of “Devastating” Drop in Wildlife Populations , Judge Holds Federal Prisons Officials in Contempt over Mistreatment of Prisoner with Cancer, Video Reveals Guards’ Abuse of Florida Prisoner Who Died of Broken Neck in 2017, Social Security Administration to Boost Benefits by 8.7% Amid Soaring Inflation, Consumer Rights Groups Warn Against Kroger-Albertsons Merger, Charles Sherrod, Civil Rights Pioneer and Minister, Dies at the Age of 85

Russia launched a fourth day of missile strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities and towns Thursday, targeting Ukraine’s electricity systems and leaving many areas without power. The escalated attacks come after President Vladimir Putin had accused Ukraine of blowing up a key bridge connecting Russia to Crimea last week. Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia’s annexation of four territories seized from Ukraine. “The invasion of Ukraine is not some type of historical inertia. The ideology of Putin is a product of the past two centuries,” says Hanna Perekhoda, a Ukrainian graduate history student at the University of Lausanne, whose family in Donetsk was thrown into war eight years ago. Berlin-based Russian climate activist Arshak Makichyan, who fled his country in March, says that while he doesn’t believe negotiations with Putin are possible, the international community should engage Russian civil society as part of any solution toward ending the war.

Anti-government protests in Iran, first sparked last month by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, have moved into their fourth week. The youth and women-led protests cross class and ethnic divides, and the demands have grown in scale and scope, with many, even in the clerical community, now calling for the complete abolition of the Islamic Republic. Many sectors of society, including businesses and unions, have also joined in protest, with oil workers from one of the country’s major refineries going on strike Monday. Iranian authorities have launched a violent assault on protesters in response, explains Amnesty International’s Raha Bahreini, with security forces shooting live ammunition into crowds to disperse the protests, leaving thousands injured and at least 144 victims dead, 24 of them children. The government violence is “indicative of just what a threat the regime believes these protests are,” argues Iranian American scholar Reza Aslan, who says that despite numerous revolutions in Iran’s history, “this time feels different.”

U.N. General Assembly Condemns Russia’s Annexation of Ukrainian Territories, Ukraine Nuclear Plant Loses External Power Again; Fresh Russian Airstrikes Kill 13, Russia Warns Ukraine Joining NATO Would Spark World War III, North Korea Says It Test-Fired Nuclear-Capable Cruise Missiles, U.S. Regulators Approve Bivalent COVID Boosters for Children 5 and Older, White House Warns Congressional Inaction Is Harming U.S. COVID Response, U.S. Treasury Probes Whether Florida Gov. DeSantis Misused COVID Funds on Migrant Flights, U.S. Reaches Deal with Mexico to Expel Most Venezuelan Asylum Seekers, Nury Martinez Resigns from L.A. City Council over Racist Audio Tape, Nigeria Flooding Death Toll Rises to 500, with 1.4 Million Displaced, Climate Activists Call Out World Bank’s $15 Billion Financing of Fossil Fuel Projects, Jan. 6 Committee to Share New Evidence of Trump’s Role in Capitol Insurrection, Alex Jones Ordered to Pay $965 Million to Sandy Hook Families, T-Mobile Customer Service Workers Form Union

A stunning leak of more than 4 million documents from inside the Mexican military has revealed collusion between high-level military officials and the country’s cartels. The leak, published by the hacking group Guacamaya, is one of the largest in Mexico’s history and shows how military officials sold weapons, technical equipment and key information about rival gangs to cartels. The documents also show how officials monitored journalists and activists using Pegasus spyware, and evaded cooperation with the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa. For more, we’re joined by journalist Luis Chaparro, who examined some of the documents and reported in a piece for Vice that they reveal Mexico’s military sold grenades to the drug cartels.

Many of the nation’s largest health insurance companies have made billions of dollars in profits by overbilling the U.S. government’s Medicare Advantage program. A New York Times investigation has revealed that under the Advantage program, health insurance companies are incentivized to make patients appear more ill than they actually are. Some estimates find it has cost the government between $12 billion and $25 billion in 2020 alone. We speak with former healthcare insurance executive Wendell Potter, now president ​​of the Center for Health and Democracy, who says Medicare Advantage will be recognized in years to come as the “biggest transfer of wealth” from taxpayers to corporate shareholders, and blames the lack of regulation over the program on the “revolving door between private industry and government.”

The Biden administration has ruled out the idea of pushing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia to end the war, even though many U.S. officials believe neither side is “capable of winning the war outright,” reports The Washington Post. This comes as the war in Ukraine appears to be escalating on a number of fronts, with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing Ukraine of committing a “terrorist act” and launching the largest strikes on Ukraine in months. For more on the war, we speak with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and independent journalist Nicolas Davies, the co-authors of the forthcoming book, “War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict.” “We, the American public, have to push the White House and our leaders in Congress to call for proactive negotiations now,” says Benjamin.

Russia Detains 8 People for Crimea Bridge Blast; Zelensky Calls for Sanctions, Boost to Air Defenses, Biden to “Reevaluate” U.S.-Saudi-Relationship as Congressmembers Call for Halt to Arms Sales, Israel and Lebanon Agree to U.S.-Brokered Maritime Border Deal, Anti-Government Protests Continue in Iran Despite Deadly Crackdown, Spread to Other Sectors, Biden Calls for Racist L.A. City Councilmembers to Resign Amid Political Firestorm, San Antonio Ex-Cop Arrested and Charged for Shooting Unarmed Teen in McDonald’s Parking Lot, Texas Officer Found Not Guilty for Killing Pamela Turner During a Mental Health Crisis, Baltimore Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Adnan Syed in 1999 Murder of Hae Min Lee, Jury Starts Deliberation in Trial of Parkland Mass Shooter Nikolas Cruz, DOJ Asks SCOTUS to Reject Trump Classified Docs Appeal; Justices Weigh In on “Fetal Personhood,” Voting Case, Labor Dept. Proposes Rule to Prevent Violation of “Gig Workers” Rights, Guacamaya Leak Reveals Mexican Gov’t Sold Arms to Drug Cartels, Spied on Reporters, Angela Lansbury, Stage & Screen Actor and “Proud Socialist,” Dies at 96

As the United States heads into another recession and labor organizing is surging, we speak with leading sociologist and longtime social movement scholar Frances Fox Piven as she turns 90 years old. “We’re at another juncture: a bitter contest about democratic rights,” says Piven, who claims the U.S. has always been a “limited democracy.” Despite attacks on fundamental rights, Piven says, “people do have power” to organize and protect their rights, because “we live in a complex, integrated society where the activities of ordinary people really do matter.” Piven’s groundbreaking books include “Regulating the Poor” and “Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail” with her late husband and collaborator Richard Cloward.

In a major victory for animal rights, a jury in Utah has acquitted two animal rights activists who each faced up to five-and-a-half years of prison time for rescuing two sick piglets from Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms, one of the world’s largest pig farms. During the 2017 rescue operation, activists with the group Direct Action Everywhere found piglets feeding on their own mother’s blood, pregnant pigs held in gestation crates too small for them to turn around in, and sick and feverish piglets left to die of starvation or be trampled. The long-awaited decision sets the stage for a “right to rescue’’ legal precedent, which would allow anyone to rescue dying animals from unsafe conditions. For more, we speak with one of the activists, Wayne Hsiung, who represented himself in trial and says the jury decision is “a resounding victory not just for transparency and accountability in factory farms but for the idea that animals are living beings and not just things to be thrown away in a garbage can.”

A political scandal is unfolding in Los Angeles, where City Council President Nury Martinez resigned from her leadership post Monday after she was caught on tape using racist language about the city’s Indigenous immigrant population and referring to the Black son of another city councilmember as a “little monkey.” Martinez made the comments last year during a conversation discussing redistricting with Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, as well as Ron Herrera, the head of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, who also resigned from his leadership post Monday. “Her [Martinez] inciting hate against Indigenous people has a direct impact on their lives,” says Odilia Romero of the L.A.-based organization Indigenous Communities in Leadership, who’s calling for Martinez’s resignation. “Beyond the pain and beyond the hurt is also this effort to really sideline Black power,” says Melina Abdullah of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, who is calling for the resignation of all four councilmembers, an investigation into how racism within the city council has undermined Black electoral power, and a “fundamental culture shift” in city politics.

Russian Strikes Kill 19 Across Ukraine, U.N. General Assembly to Vote on Russia’s Annexation of Ukrainian Territories, Belarusian Troops Will Deploy Alongside Russian Forces Near Ukraine’s Border, Venezuela Floods Kill Dozens; Storm Triggers Deadly Mudslides in Central America, Heat Waves Could Make Human Life “Unsustainable” in Parts of Asia and Africa by 2050, U.N. Refugee Agency Makes Emergency Appeal as Number of Refugees Tops 100 Million, Protesters Reject Call for Deployment of Foreign Forces to Haiti, 12-Year-Old Palestinian Shot by Israeli Soldier Dies from Wounds, Mexico Files Lawsuit Against Arizona-Based Gun Sellers, Thailand Holds Funerals for Victims of Massacre at Child Care Center, Senate Candidate J.D. Vance Defends Donald Trump in Debate with Rep. Tim Ryan, Herschel Walker’s Wife Wrote to Ex-Girlfriend Whose 2009 Abortion Walker Allegedly Paid For, Nury Martinez Steps Down as L.A. Council President After Leaked Audio Reveals Racist Remarks, Railroad Workers Reject Proposed Union Contract, Setting Stage for November Strike, Billy Sothern, Who Defended Albert Woodfox and Other Death Row Prisoners, Dies at 45

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we remember the Indigenous actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who died last week at the age of 75, not long after she received an apology 50 years after she spoke at the Oscars in protest of Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans. In 1973, she accepted an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, who boycotted the ceremony, only to face boos from the crowd, threats of physical violence from the actor John Wayne and mocking by Clint Eastwood. The speech derailed her acting career, but she never stopped speaking out. “It was critical for the psyche of all our relations to bring awareness to and interrupt the negative interpretation and representation of Native American people by the film television and sports industries,” said Littlefeather, reflecting on her speech at the Oscars in September, just three weeks before her death.

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we speak with legendary Indigenous musician and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie, who has written and sung about the struggles of Native American and First Nations peoples for decades. “My take on Indigenous Peoples’ Day is that there’s an awful lot of work yet to be done,” says Sainte-Marie. She discusses the violent legacy of the U.S. Doctrine of Discovery, the derogatory appropriation of Indigenous peoples as mascots in U.S. sports, and the importance of implementing positive representations of Indigenous figures and culture in the education system.

Russia has launched its largest strikes on Ukraine in months, attacking civilian areas in Kyiv and nine other cities just two days after President Vladimir Putin had accused Ukraine of blowing up a key bridge connecting Russia to Crimea. As the war continues to escalate in Ukraine, we feature an interview recorded earlier this month with world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky in Brazil and political writer Vijay Prashad. Chomsky discusses why he thinks there is no major U.S. peace movement in response to the Ukraine war, and talks about the dangerous U.S. Senate policy on China and Taiwan, which he says, along with Ukraine, could end in a “terminal war.” Prashad also examines the destruction wrought in the Global South by Western so-called humanitarian invasion in the name of democracy, from Haiti to Libya. “You can’t bring democracy by warfare,” says Prashad. “You have to let people develop their own dignified histories.”

Russia Pounds Ukrainian Cities with Missiles, Killing at Least 10, Following Crimea Bridge Blast, Russian Attacks Kill at Least 13 in Zaporizhzhia; Nuclear Plant Temporarily Loses Power, Hackers Interrupt Iranian State TV, Call on Viewers to Join Mass Protests, Israeli Forces Kill 4 Palestinians Teens; Israel to Compensate Family of Slain Palestinian American, 15 Asylum Seekers Killed on Libyan Coast, Abortion Bans Blocked in Ohio, Arizona as Protesters Take to Street Ahead of Midterms, Sen. Tuberville Goes on Racist Rant Against “Pro-Crime” Democrats, Texas DA Names Fired Officer Who Shot Unarmed Teenager in McDonald’s Parking Lot, Uvalde School District Fires Police Force Amid Uproar over Failures in Robb Elementary Massacre, Jurors Acquit Animal Rights Activists Who Saved Piglets at Smithfield Foods Factory Farm, New York Hospitals Pay $165 Million to Survivors of Sexual Abuse by Gynecologist, New York Mayor Declares State of Emergency over Forced Influx of Asylum Seekers, Protesters Form Human Chain Around U.K. Parliament to Demand Freedom for Julian Assange

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is pardoning everyone convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law, and said the classification of the drug would undergo review. The move will remove many legal barriers for thousands of people to gain jobs, housing, college admission and federal benefits, and fulfills a campaign pledge made by Biden. However, the pardons will only affect about 6,500 people, as the vast majority of drug charges are at the state level and are disproportionately affecting communities of color. “We are demanding that the president actually deschedule and decriminalize cannabis,” says Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to two human rights groups, the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine and Memorial in Russia, as well as imprisoned Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski. The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised their work criticizing power and protecting fundamental human rights in neighboring countries torn apart by war. We speak to Anna Dobrovolskaya, who served as executive director of Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow, part of the Nobel-winning group Memorial, before it was shut down by the Russian government. “People can see this as a common victory for civil society, not just in Russia,” says Dobrovolskaya. We also speak with Ole von Uexküll, executive director of the Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation; all of Friday’s Nobel winners are also previous Right Livelihood laureates, known informally as the “alternative Nobel Peace Prize.” The hope of these international awards is that Belarus will “immediately release Ales Bialiatski” and that Russia will stop their legal persecution of human rights organizations, says von Uexküll.

Biden Pardons Thousands of People Convicted on Federal Marijuana Charges, Russian Strikes Kill 11 in Zaporizhzhia as IAEA Chief Rejects Russian Control of Nuclear Plant, Biden Says Putin “Not Joking” About Threat to Use Nuclear Weapons, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Honors Human Rights Workers in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, Hurricane Ian Death Toll Rises to 131, Report: World Bank Funded $15 Billion in Fossil Fuel Projects Despite Divestment Pledge, 13 DREAMers Arrested at D.C. Protest Demanding Congress Make DACA Permanent, Prisoners at For-Profit ICE Jail Stage Hunger Strike to Protest Inhumane Conditions, Rochester, NY, Will Pay $12 Million to Family of David Prude, Black Man Killed by Police, Federal Judge Declares Key Parts of New York Gun Law Unconstitutional, Gunmen Kill 20, Including Mayor, in Attack on Southern Mexican City, Julian Assange Supporters Plan Saturday Protests Outside U.K. Parliament, U.S. Justice Department, Federal Investigators Ask U.S. Attorney to Indict Hunter Biden, NFL Concussion Protocol Under Scrutiny as Star Players Suffer Brain Injuries

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a phone call on Tuesday that he will help peace efforts with Russia, just days after India abstained from a United Nations vote condemning the Russian annexation of four regions in Ukraine. We speak to the prominent Indian activist Kavita Krishnan about the different stances of India’s political parties toward the war in Ukraine and the interrelated struggles against authoritarianism in countries such as Iran and India. India’s foreign policy is currently like “walking a tightrope,” says Krishnan. “It would like to have a relationship with Russia. At the same time, it wants to build a bridge with America.”

Protesters in Iran are continuing to demand justice for Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in the hands of the so-called morality police, as well as envisioning a political future beyond the Islamic Republic. The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights estimates at least 154 people have been killed since the protests began. “We saw women, really, what it seemed like for the first time, putting their bodies in direct confrontation with the police,” says Nilo Tabrizy, writer and video journalist at The New York Times. “Today’s movement is not calling for reform. Today’s movement is calling for a new vision of politics … with women at the helm of it,” says Narges Bajoghli, professor of anthropology and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Biden Blames Climate Change for Hurricane Ian’s Path of Destruction in Florida, Ethiopia and Tigray Rebels Agree to Peace Talks as Airstrike Kills More Than 50, Putin Asserts Russian Control Over Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant, NYT: U.S. Believes Ukrainians Were Behind Assassination of Darya Dugina in Russia , Antiwar Protester Who Interrupted Russian TV News Broadcast Flees House Arrest, OPEC and Russia Agree to Slash Crude Output, Boosting Oil Prices , Rep. Ro Khanna Calls on Biden Administration to End Saudi Arms Sales, U.S. Prepares to Ease Sanctions on Venezuela to Allow Chevron Oil Drilling , “Who Voted for This?”: Protesters Reject U.K. Prime Minister’s Call to Lift Fracking Ban, 1 in 8 Birds Threatened with Extinction Due to Habitat Loss, Pollution and Climate Crisis, Michigan Judge Tosses Criminal Charges for Former Officials in Flint Water Crisis, Over 30 Killed in Thailand After Ex-Cop Begins Murderous Rampage at Child Care Center, At Least 15 Migrants Drown and Dozens Go Missing as Ships Sink Off Greek Coast, Japan Condemns Latest North Korean Missile Launch as U.S. Redeploys Aircraft Carrier, French Author Annie Ernaux Wins 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature

The Oath Keepers trial, in which senior leaders of the right-wing extremist group are accused of plotting violence at the January 6 insurrection, began Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors played a secret audio recording Tuesday of a meeting held by the Oath Keepers after the 2020 election in which founder Stewart Rhodes discussed plans to bring weapons to the capital to help then-President Trump stay in office. We speak to Arie Perliger, author of “American Zealots,” who says the Trump administration lended extremist groups legitimacy and access to a more mainstream audience. “For them, that was a disastrous situation, losing this kind of access,” says Perliger.

Mass protests in Haiti are condemning rising fuel prices and demanding the resignation of the U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ariel Henry. For nearly two months, street protests likened to a civil war have rocked the island nation’s capital Port-au-Prince after the government announced it would raise heavily subsidized fuel prices. We speak to Haitian activist Vélina Élysée Charlier about rising gang violence and how criminal groups are supported by the government. “There is a mafia that is ruling this country, and that mafia doesn’t want to face justice,” says Charlier.

We go to Puerto Rico to look at how the island is recovering from Hurricane Fiona, a Category 1 storm that left much of the island without electricity and clean water. President Biden has promised a $60 million relief package, but some doubt the aid will be distributed swiftly and in a manner that will truly protect the island from future storms, given the failed U.S. response after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Less than 3% of infrastructure money allocated for storm recovery after Maria has actually been used, says Carla Minet, executive director of the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico. She also discusses how problems have arisen from the transition to a privatized electrical grid.

As President Biden meets with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and survivors of Hurricane Ian, the deadliest storm to hit the state in decades, we get an update from Florida state Representative Michele Rayner on relief efforts underway and the housing crisis exacerbated by the storm. Republicans like Governor DeSantis are “more concerned about sticking it to Joe Biden than actually making sure that they can take care of their people,” says Rayner. She also discusses the treatment of asylum seekers in Florida and the anti-LGBT “Don’t Say Gay” bill.