Democracy Now!

Mourners gathered in Memphis, Tennessee, Wednesday for the funeral of Tyre Nichols, who died on January 10, three days after being severely beaten by five police officers following a traffic stop near his home. The funeral will be held at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. Expected attendees include Vice President Kamala Harris and relatives of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, two other Black Americans who were killed by police violence. We discuss national responses to police violence and calls to abolish the police with two guests. Justin Hansford is a professor at Howard University School of Law and the founder and executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. Hansford is also the first American nominated and elected to the United Nations Permanent Forum for People of African Descent. Andrea Ritchie is a lawyer and organizer who has worked on policing and criminalization issues for over 30 years. Ritchie is the author of several books, including, most recently, “No More Police: A Case for Abolition,” co-authored with Mariame Kaba.

Community Leaders Join Tyre Nichols’s Family at Historic Mason Temple on Eve of His Funeral, Protests Erupt After California Police Shoot and Kill Black Man in Wheelchair, Atlanta Moves Ahead with “Cop City” in Face of Growing Protests, Democratic Lawmakers Urge Biden to Halt Peru Security Aid as Protester Death Toll Reaches 58, 4 Suspects in Assassination of Haiti’s President Moïse Transferred to U.S. to Face Criminal Charges, At Least 166 People Died in Afghanistan in January Due to Winter Weather, U.S. Accuses Russia of Violating New START Amid Ongoing Threat of Nuclear War, George Santos Recuses Himself from House Cmtes Pending Investigations as His Treasurer Resigns, California Unable to Find Compromise with 6 Other Western States on Colorado River Plan, EPA Issues Clean Water Act Protections for Alaska’s Bristol Bay, ExxonMobil Makes Record-Breaking $59 Billion in Profits, Greenpeace Workers Climb Aboard and Occupy Shell Platform Headed to North Sea, Emissions Gap Between Rich and Poor in Same Country Greater Than Emissions Gap Between Countries

As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden prepare for their first face-to-face meeting this week to discuss raising the debt ceiling, we speak with Marxist economist Richard Wolff about why the limit on the federal government’s borrowing lets politicians avoid making hard choices about taxing the wealthy. House Republicans are pushing for major spending cuts as part of any deal to raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. “It’s 99% theatrics,” says Wolff, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of The New School. Wolff also discusses the economic impact of the Ukraine war.

We look at a new investigation into the collapse of an LGBTQ+ unit at the massive Rikers Island jail in New York City that was meant to help protect incarcerated trans women, stranding many in male units where they have been harassed and raped. The changes at Rikers came after Mayor Eric Adams appointed a new jails commissioner who pushed out leaders supportive of the unit and shelved a draft policy directive aimed at getting more trans and gender-nonconforming detainees into gender-aligned housing. Data shows trans women jailed in men’s facilities are many times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other incarcerated people. We are joined by George Joseph, a senior reporter at The City focusing on criminal justice and courts, who exposed the collapse of the unit, and by Robin Robinson, a former services coordinator with the LGBTQ+ unit at Rikers who quit in protest this past June.

Memphis police have revealed a sixth and a seventh officer have been placed on administrative leave in addition to the five fired officers over the death of Tyre Nichols, after Nichols was brutally beaten at a traffic stop. On Saturday, Memphis disbanded the police unit responsible for the killing, known as SCORPION, which stood for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhood.” We look more closely at these so-called special police units in cities nationwide that operate with little oversight with investigative reporter Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces” and of the criminal justice newsletter, The Watch. His opinion piece for The New York Times is headlined “Tyre Nichols’s Death Proves Yet Again That 'Elite' Police Units Are a Disaster.”

In New York, asylum seekers are continuing to protest outside a Manhattan hotel where they’d been living for weeks, after city officials suddenly evicted them over the weekend to move them to a remote camp in Brooklyn with a thousand cots and no heat. We hear from migrants and activists fighting the eviction.

Antony Blinken Meets Palestinian Leaders After Reiterating “Ironclad” U.S. Support for Israel, Taliban Offshoot Claims Responsibility for Bombing of Pakistani Police Compound, Amnesty: Iranian Protesters Were Denied Fair Trials and Tortured Before Their Death Sentences, White House Will End COVID-19 Emergency Declarations in May, Memphis Fire Department Terminates 3 Who Responded to Tyre Nichols’ Violent Arrest, Family Calls for Federal Civil Rights Probe into Newark Police Killing of Carl Dorsey, New Zealand Prime Minister Blames Climate Change for Record Flooding, Missing Mexican Environmentalists’ Families Accuse Mining Company of Complicity, Manhattan DA Revives Probe into Trump’s Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels, French Labor Unions Lead Massive Protests Against Proposed Cuts to Pension Benefits, U.K. Unions Prepare Mass Protests as Conservative MPs Support Anti-Strike Legislation

A New Jersey grand jury has decided not to indict Newark Police Detective Rod Simpkins in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man named Carl Dorsey on New Year’s Day 2021 in Newark, New Jersey. The decision last week came after an investigation by the state attorney general into Dorsey’s death has dragged out, even though his family says the facts are clear: He was shot dead by Simpkins, who was undercover and in an unmarked police minivan and in plainclothes when he arrived at the scene after reportedly hearing gunshots. Within seconds of exiting his car, Simpkins fired his gun at Dorsey, and it is unclear if he first announced himself as a police officer. Now Larry Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization for Progress, says he and the family of Dorsey are calling for the U.S. attorney to launch a civil rights investigation into his death.

Memphis police released disturbing footage on Friday showing the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by five former police officers who now face murder charges over the 29-year-old Black father’s death. The videos show officers kicked, punched, electrocuted and struck Nichols with batons for several minutes while he offered almost no resistance. It took more than 22 minutes for medics to appear on site and treat Nichols, who died three days later from his injuries. Memphis has since disbanded the SCORPION police unit that the five ex-officers belonged to and which was known for its aggressive practices, but activists are calling for deeper changes, including the end of qualified immunity that shields police officers from being sued by victims and their families. Larry Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization for Progress, and DeRay Mckesson, executive director of Campaign Zero, join us for a discussion about Tyre Nichols, police violence and more.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories amid an alarming rise in violence, with Israel killing at least 35 Palestinians since the beginning of January. The deadliest incident occurred on Thursday, when Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, killing 10 people, including two children — the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in two decades. A day later, a Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people in occupied East Jerusalem, targeting worshipers observing the Sabbath. Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank responded by carrying out scores of attacks on Palestinians as the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, vowed to make it easier for Israelis to get guns. We speak with Israeli activist and journalist Orly Noy, in Jerusalem, and Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University.

Blinken in Middle East Amid Mounting Violence Following Jenin Raid and Attack on Jewish Worshipers, Iran Says It Foiled Israeli Drone Attack on Isfahan Military Site, Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens, Wounds 150 in Attack on Mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, Memphis Police Department Releases Video Showing How Officers Killed Tyre Nichols, Ukraine Calls on Allies to Send Long-Range Missiles and Fighter Jets, OPCW Blames Syrian Military for Chlorine Gas Attack on Douma in 2018, Tunisians Boycott Parliamentary Elections Following President Kais Saied’s Power Grab, Maldives’ Mohamed Nasheed Refuses to Concede Primary Election Defeat, Claiming Fraud, Brazil: Lula Declares Public Health Emergency for Yanomami, Accuses Bolsonaro of “Genocide”, Utah Bans Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth, Mass Shooting Near Beverly Hills Is California’s 6th in 13 Days, Jan. 6 Rioter Who Assaulted Brian Sicknick Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison

A day after prosecutors charged five former Memphis police officers with murder over the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, we speak with his parents, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, about their drive to seek justice for their son. “He had a beautiful soul, and he touched everyone,” RowVaughn Wells says of her son. Nichols was a 29-year-old Black father, amateur photographer and longtime skateboarder who died January 10 from kidney failure and cardiac arrest, three days after he was brutally beaten by the five officers during a traffic stop. The officers were fired earlier this month and indicted on Thursday with second-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges for their role in Nichols’s death. We also speak with civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family.

Amid nationwide protests, prosecutors have charged five former Memphis police officers with murder in the death of Tyre Nichols, who died January 10 of kidney failure and cardiac arrest after a vicious beating three days earlier during a traffic stop. Memphis and other cities across the U.S. are expecting mass protests against police violence over the weekend, with body-camera footage of the deadly traffic stop set to be released Friday evening. We go to Memphis for an update from community organizer Amber Sherman, a member of the Memphis chapter of Black Lives Matter, who says police brutality is nothing new for many residents. “It’s literally just being caught on camera,” Sherman says. “We have experienced this same kind of violence over and over and over again in our communities.”

Five Fired Memphis Police Officers Arrested for Murder of Tyre Nichols, Georgia Gov. Declares State of Emergency, Calls Up National Guard Amid “Cop City” Protests, Haitian Police Blockade Port-au-Prince Streets After Gangs Kill 14 Officers, Israel Bombs Gaza Strip One Day After Israeli Forces Kill 9 in West Bank Raid, Democratic Lawmakers Slam Biden for Mass Expulsion of Migrants at U.S. Border, NYT: Bill Barr Pushed Trump-Russia Investigator to Use False Russian Intelligence Claims, Chevron to Buy Back $75 Billion in Own Stock After Posting Record Profits in 2022, Dutch Police Arrest Climate Activists Ahead of Planned Peaceful Protests, 450+ Groups Condemn Choice of Oil Executive to Lead COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, ICC Resumes Probe of Philippines’ Deadly “War on Drugs”, California Farm Where Four Were Murdered Had Another Shooting Last Year, President Biden Repeats Call for Assault Weapons Ban, Warns Against Anti-Asian Hate

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.

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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.

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