Democracy Now!

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

The U.S House of Representatives still has no speaker after Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to get the full backing of his party over the course of two days and six rounds of voting. A contingent of about 20 far-right lawmakers opposes McCarthy’s elevation to the top job, but no other candidate has emerged so far who can garner the 218 votes necessary to claim the speaker’s gavel. The impasse has ground all congressional business to a halt, including the swearing-in of new members like Texas Democrat Greg Casar, who says the dysfunction in Congress is no accident. “This is part of their goal. They don’t want a functioning federal government that can pass legislation and support working people,” Casar says of the Republican Party. We also speak with The Intercept’s Ryan Grim, who says much of the press has missed the substance of the fight over the speakership, which is about the far right’s drive to slash social spending, even if it means refusing to raise the debt ceiling and triggering a U.S. default that would crash the economy.

Far-right Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Tuesday visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem is being roundly condemned across the Middle East. Ben-Gvir is a key part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government, which includes ultranationalist and ultraorthodox parties that are calling openly for the annexation of the West Bank. “The international community has to speak with one voice in rejecting this extremism and rejecting those terrorists and those elements of fascists in the Israeli government,” Palestine’s ambassador to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, urged Wednesday. In 2007, Ben-Gvir was convicted in an Israeli court of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization. In 2021, he relocated his parliamentary office to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, where settlers have attempted to violently evict Palestinian residents from their homes. As the newly sworn-in minister of national security, Ben-Gvir will now be responsible for border police in the West Bank. We speak to Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist and author, and Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization, about Ben-Gvir’s visit, Netanyahu’s new government and surging violence against Palestinians.

House of Representatives Fails to Elect Speaker for 2nd Straight Day Amid GOP Fractures, California Under State of Emergency as Massive Winter Storm Strikes, Israeli Forces Shoot and Kill 16-Year-Old in Nablus, 4th Palestinian Killed in 2023, Over 1,000 Palestinians Receive Eviction Notices as Israel Begins Home Demolitions Near Hebron, Palestinian Ambassador Condemns Desecration of Christian Gravesites in Jerusalem, Gen. Mark Milley Dissuaded Trump Officials from Trying to Court-Martial Trump’s Critics, European Regulator Fines Meta $414 Million for Forcing Users to Accept Personalized Ads, Amazon Cuts 18,000+ Jobs, Salesforce Slashes 10% of Workforce Amid Steep Cuts in Tech Sector, Biden to Visit Southern Border as Fate of Thousands Stranded in Mexico Remains Uncertain, Canada Added 431,000 Immigrants as New Permanent Residents in 2022, Biden Spoke with Family of Critically Injured NFL Player Damar Hamlin, Judge Sentences Mastermind of Elite College Admissions Scheme to 3.5 Years in Prison, New York Uber Drivers Begin One-Day Strike over Company’s Refusal to Raise Wages, NYPD Sparks Outrage for Escorting Proud Boys to Subway, Allowing Them to Evade Fare, NYPD Officer Suspended After Attack on Staten Island Teenager

Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday during an NFL game. He remains in critical condition. After making a routine tackle against an opposing Cincinnati Bengals player, the 24-year-old safety collapsed on the field. Stunned players from both teams cried, prayed and hugged as Hamlin received CPR from medical personnel before being taken to the hospital. In recent years, the NFL has faced increased controversy over player safety, as more research links the full-contact sport with concussion-related traumatic brain injury and other negative health outcomes. Hamlin’s injury came just minutes after Bills defensive back Taron Johnson left the game with a head injury, and just days after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered his third head injury of the season — following a concussion that left him hospitalized in September. “[Y]ou never know when your last day could be that you get to experience something like this. I’m cherishing it every moment that I can,” Hamlin said in an interview just weeks earlier. We speak to Donté Stallworth, a sports commentator and former NFL player who spent 10 years in the league, and William C. Rhoden, a longtime sports journalist and author of “Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete,” about Hamlin’s injury and the NFL’s response.

With Republicans now controlling the House of Representatives and vowing to fight President Biden’s agenda, journalist David Dayen says Democrats will need to get comfortable using executive action, as a raft of major legislation passed in the previous Congress will need to be put into action by the administration. “The next year, the next two years, isn’t going to be about legislative action,” says Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect. “But it can be a time of real governing changes as these big laws get implemented.”

The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives was thrown into chaos Tuesday as a group of far-right lawmakers prevented GOP leader Kevin McCarthy from becoming speaker, blocking him in three rounds of voting. This is the first time in a century that the process has gone beyond the first round. Voting for a new speaker is set to resume Wednesday. McCarthy needs 218 votes to become speaker, but with a razor-thin Republican majority of 222 representatives, the roughly 20 right-wing holdouts have essentially ground congressional business to a halt until a speaker is chosen. “Exactly what they’re fighting for is sort of unclear. They only know what they’re fighting against,” says New York Times staff writer Robert Draper. We also speak with The American Prospect’s David Dayen about how Republicans are attempting to eliminate congressional worker unions.

Far-Right Republicans Block Kevin McCarthy’s Bid to Become House Speaker, Patty Murray Becomes First Female Senate President Pro Tempore, FDA OKs Sale of Abortion Pill Mifepristone at Retail Pharmacies, Russia Admits 89 Soldiers Killed in Ukraine Missile Attack in Makiivka, Erdogan to Speak Today with Putin & Zelensky, UAE & China Call for U.N. Security Council Meeting on Ben-Gvir’s Visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli Forces Kill 15-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Near Bethlehem, U.S. Embassy in Cuba to Resume Processing Immigrant Visas for First Time Since 2017, Venezuela: Maduro Seeks Normalization with U.S. as Opposition Drops Guaidó as “Interim President”, New California Law Allows Incarcerated People to Make Free Phone Calls, Amber McLaughlin Becomes First Trans Woman Executed in United States, FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Fraud & Money Laundering Charges, Buffalo Bills Player Damar Hamlin Remains in Critical Condition, Funeral Held for Soccer Legend Pelé in Santos, Brazil, Google Doodle Highlights Legacy of Egyptian Writer Ihsan Abdel Kouddous

Six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns were released by a House committee on Friday after a years-long legal battle by the former president to keep them sealed. Early revelations include the finding that Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax during his first year in office in 2017, and he paid no tax in 2020. The newly released tax records give a long-overdue glimpse of Trump’s personal and business finances, which he refused to disclose during the 2016 presidential election, breaking with decades of precedent. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump for decades, says the new documents show “absolutely brazen” tax fraud. “Donald Trump has been a criminal his whole life,” says Johnston.

In Brazil, ​​former union leader and head of the Workers’ Party Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated Sunday for his third term as the country’s president, replacing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula served as Brazil’s most popular president from 2003 to 2010 and helped lift tens of millions of Brazilians out of poverty. But in 2018, as he prepared to run for office again, he was jailed on trumped-up corruption charges, paving the way for the election of Bolsonaro. The charges were later thrown out. Bolsonaro boycotted the ceremony, after first refusing to concede the election, and fled Brazil for Orlando, Florida, as he avoids criminal investigations. The new administration has vowed to fight poverty, invest in education and health, and halt illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest. We are joined by ​​Maria Luísa Mendonça, director of the Network for Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil, and journalist Michael Fox, host of the podcast “Brazil on Fire.”

118th Congress Convenes as GOP’s Kevin McCarthy Struggles to Clinch House Speaker Role, Disgraced GOP Rep.-elect George Santos Travels to Washington, D.C., for Congressional Swearing-In, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Sworn In to Historic Third Term as Brazil’s President, Xi Jinping Acknowledges “New Phase” of Pandemic After China Halts “Zero-COVID”, Extreme Winter Warmth Shatters Temperature Records Across Europe, Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir Visits Al-Aqsa Mosque in “Provocation” to Palestinians, Israeli Troops Kill Two Palestinians During Home Demolition in Occupied West Bank, Iranian Woman Chess Player Defects to Spain After Defying Dress Code, Russia Admits Ukrainian Missile Attack Killed Dozens of Soldiers, Former Pope Benedict XVI Dies at 95, 17 Killed in Juárez, Mexico, Prison Break That Springs Cartel Leader, Missouri Set to Kill Amber McLaughlin in First Execution of Openly Transgender Woman, Tax Returns Show Trump Claimed Huge Losses While Paying Little or No Income Tax, Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin Suffers Cardiac Arrest in Monday Night Football Game

We continue our Democracy Now! special broadcast with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González, who recently gave three “farewell” speeches in his hometown of New York before he moved to Chicago. González is an award-winning journalist and investigative reporter who spent 29 years as a columnist for the New York Daily News. He is a two-time winner of the George Polk Award and author of many books, including the classic “Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America,” which has just been reissued and published in Spanish. In December at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, he gave an address on “Latinos, Race and Empire.” Before his CUNY talk, New York City Councilmember Alexa Avilés presented González a proclamation recognizing his remarkable achievements. (Watch in full here.)

In a Democracy Now! special broadcast, we spend the hour with our own Juan González, who recently gave three “farewell” speeches in his hometown of New York before he moved to Chicago. González is an award-winning journalist and investigative reporter who spent 29 years as a columnist for the New York Daily News. He is a two-time winner of the George Polk Award and author of many books, including the classic “Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America,” which has just been reissued and published in Spanish. His other books include “News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media.” González is also the founder and past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Before beginning his career in journalism, he spent several years as a Latino community and civil rights activist, helping to found and lead the Young Lords Party during the late 1960s. He has also been the co-host of Democracy Now! since it started in 1996, and is continuing to co-host the show from his new home in Chicago. In the first part of our special, we feature his address in November at the Columbia Journalism School reflecting on “Forty Years of Fighting for Racial and Social Justice in Journalism.” (Watch in full here.)

We look at a remarkable film that follows how acclaimed playwright Liza Jessie Peterson gave a mesmerizing performance of her one-person play “The Peculiar Patriot” at the Louisiana State Penitentiary known as Angola, before authorities stopped it halfway through. “Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison” has just been shortlisted for an Oscar, and Peterson and the film’s director, Cinque Northern, join us to describe how they hope to raise awareness about conditions inside the infamous prison.

In 2022, more jails in the United States became death traps, as people faced inhumane conditions in overcrowded facilities amid a lack of mental healthcare, housing and backlash against bail reform. Most of those who died were incarcerated pretrial, and activists say this number is heavily underreported. From New York City to Houston, Texas, jail deaths have reached their highest levels in decades. We get an update from Krish Gundu, with the Texas Jail Project, and Keri Blakinger, investigative reporter with The Marshall Project. Blakinger is the organization’s first formerly incarcerated reporter, and her memoir, “Corrections in Ink,” was banned from prisons in Florida this week. She also discusses a new searchable database of which books prisons don’t want incarcerated people to read.

In a remarkable development, New York Democrats look likely to defeat Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s nomination of Hector LaSalle to be the state’s next chief judge, after progressives raised concern about his conservative judicial record and anti-abortion, anti-labor and anti-bail reform positions. “We have a situation here in New York where we have an opportunity to shift the highest court in a progressive direction, and the governor is completely fumbling that opportunity,” says Jabari Brisport, a Democratic Socialist state senator in Brooklyn who was one of the first to oppose LaSalle’s nomination.

Brazil has begun three days of national mourning to mark the death of the global soccer icon Pelé at the age of 82. Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé was a poor Afro-Brazilian who led the Brazilian national soccer team to its first World Cup title in 1958 at just 17 years old, and ultimately two more times in later years — more than any other player in history. Pelé was seen as a symbol of Brazil and played for 20 years in the country before retiring and becoming a global ambassador for the sport of soccer. He was also criticized for embodying the commercialization of the sport and was seen as complying with Brazil’s repressive dictatorship. Pelé later became a cabinet member in the Brazilian government in the early 1990s. We discuss the life and legacy of the soccer icon with Brenda Elsey, co-host of the feminist sports podcast “Burn It All Down,” co-author of “Futbolera: Women, Sports, and Sexuality in Latin America” and editor of the book “Football and the Boundaries of History.”

Benjamin Netanyahu Sworn In to 6th Term as Israel’s Prime Minister, Biden Calls Netanyahu “My Friend for Decades,” Doesn’t Mention Illegal Settlements, U.N. Halts Some Aid Operations in Afghanistan After Taliban Bans Women NGO Workers, Ukraine Claims to Have Shot Down Russian Drone Swarm Aimed at Kyiv, Belarus Summons Ukraine’s Ambassador After Missile Lands on Its Territory, Italy Cracks Down on Mediterranean Rescue Ships, Brazil’s Lula Names Environment & Rights Defenders to Cabinet in Sharp Turn from Predecessor, Brazilian Soccer Icon Pelé, Who Rose to Global Fame in Record-Breaking Career, Dies at 82, South Korea Conducts Military Exercises After Failure to Stop North Korean Drone Incursion, South Korea Joins Other Countries Imposing Restrictions on Travelers from China over COVID Fears, New York Opens First Recreational Cannabis Dispensary, Run by Housing Nonprofit

The war in Ukraine is now in its 11th month, and Russia unleashed a new bombardment this week of cities across the country, including the capital Kyiv. This comes as both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin have expressed a willingness to negotiate an end to the war — but their positions remain so far apart that there are no real hopes of peace talks, says longtime antiwar activist, author and international relations scholar Gilbert Achcar. “For now, both sides are just probably betting on being able to achieve more on the ground and not really serious about a ceasefire and negotiations under the present conditions,” he says.

Anti-government protests in Iran, launched in September following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police, have passed their 100th day, even as demonstrators have been met with widespread arrests, brutal violence by police and executions. The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports thousands of protesters have been arrested and more than 500 protesters have been killed so far, including 69 children. At least 26 more demonstrators are facing execution. As calls grow for the United States and the international community to respond to Iran’s brutal crackdown, President Biden has hinted attempts to restore the Iran nuclear deal may be dead. We’re joined by Hadi Ghaemi, executive director and founder of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, and Nahid Siamdoust, a former journalist who is now Middle East and media studies professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Israel Swears In Far-Right Government That Pledges to Expand Illegal Settlements, Russian Missile Attacks Pummel Ukrainian Cities, Causing Fresh Power Outages, China Warns Taiwan over Military Expansion; U.S. Approves Sale of Anti-Tank Mines to Taiwan, China CDC Stops Publishing Daily Coronavirus Data Amid Explosion of COVID Cases, U.S. Will Impose Coronavirus Testing Requirement on Travelers from China, Death Toll from Devastating Blizzard in Western New York Rises to 38 as Accusations Fly, Failures of U.S. Power Grid, Water Systems Prompt Calls for New Sustainable Infrastructure, Travel Chaos Continues as Southwest Cancels More Flights Amid Mounting Scrutiny, Leader of Gov. Whitmer Kidnapping Plot Sentenced to Over 19 Years Behind Bars, Paul Pelosi Attacker Pleads Not Guilty to California State Charges, Rep. Jamie Raskin Announces He Has Lymphoma, Probes Launched into Republican George Santos’s Lies About His Résumé, Family, and Finances, 3M to Stop Producing PFAS as Lawsuit Targets Bottle Manufacturer Inhance over PFAS in Household Goods

The U.S. Department of Transportation says it will investigate cancellations and delays by Southwest Airlines after the airline canceled about two-thirds of its flights since a Christmas snowstorm. The unprecedented operational meltdown left thousands of travelers stranded, causing scenes of chaos at airports across the country during one of the busiest travel seasons in the year. Corliss King, vice president of TWU Local 556 representing Southwest flight attendants, says the union has warned the company for years about the technical issues that contributed to this week’s chaos. We also speak with Paul Hudson of FlyersRights, the largest nonprofit airline passenger rights organization in the U.S., who blames decades of cost-cutting and chasing profits for the deteriorating service in the airline industry. “It’s more profitable to have bad service than good service,” says Hudson.

Buffalo, New York, is experiencing a Katrina moment after this weekend’s historic blizzard. The death toll has climbed to at least 32 as people froze to death in their homes and cars, with nationwide fatalities surpassing 60 people. State and military police have been deployed to Buffalo to enforce the city’s ongoing driving ban as road conditions remain treacherous after a 51.5-inch snowfall. We’re joined by India Walton, former Buffalo mayoral candidate and longtime community activist, as well as Cariol Horne, a community organizer and racial justice advocate who was arrested by Buffalo police during the storm, to discuss the nation’s latest climate emergency and the city government’s role in the tragedy.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has ordered the Biden administration to continue enforcing Title 42, blocking asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump-era pandemic policy Title 42 has been used to expel over 2 million people at the border since March 2020. The court is preparing to hear oral arguments in February by mostly Republican-led states who are challenging Biden’s push to end the policy, while hundreds of migrants face freezing cold temperatures in camps along the U.S.-Mexico border. We speak to Luis Chaparro, a journalist reporting from the U.S.-Mexico border, about the fight to put an end to Title 42, and how gangs in Mexico have pivoted much of their operations to human smuggling as the policy drags on.

SCOTUS Keeps Title 42 in Place for Now, Forcing Thousands to Remain Stranded at U.S.-Mexico Border, Winter Storm Death Toll Tops 31 in Buffalo as Southwest Airlines Chaos Upends Travel Across U.S., Transcripts from Jan. 6 Probe Detail Mark Meadows Burning Documents, Trump Weighing “Blanket Pardons”, Russia Bans Oil Exports to Countries Observing Price Cap as German Activists Protest Coal Revival, Russian Business Magnate Dies After Falling from Window of Indian Hotel, Kosovo Closes Largest Border Crossing as Tensions with Serbia Mount, 185 Rohingya Refugees Arrive in Indonesia After Being Adrift at Sea Since Late November, West Point Starts Removing Confederate Monuments from Campus, Judge Sentences Co-Leader of Far-Right Plot to Kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to 16 Years, University of California Student Workers End 6-Week Strike After Receiving Pay Raises and Other Wins

A new series of video reports by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Intercept called “Insecurity” looks at women leaving the workforce, the impact of the expanded child tax credit, and the wave of union organizing during the pandemic. The series spotlights people navigating food, housing and healthcare insecurity — who are falling through the cracks of the social safety net in the process. We feature clips from the series and speak with the host, Ray Suarez, former PBS correspondent and longtime journalist and an author, and Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and author of “Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America.”

International aid groups are suspending their relief programs in Afghanistan after the Taliban government announced on Saturday that humanitarian organizations are barred from employing women. The edict is the latest blow to women’s rights in the country as the Taliban reimpose draconian rules they employed in the 1990s, when they were previously in power. Last week, the government also barred women from attending universities. We speak with Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which is one of several NGOs to suspend operations in the country, as well as Afghan educator and women’s rights activist Jamila Afghani, who leads the Afghanistan section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and was evacuated from Kabul last August.

Buffalo Buried by Historic Blizzard as Winter Storm Kills Dozens Across U.S., Migrants Sleep Outside on Christmas After U.S. Denies Them Chance to Apply for Asylum, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Buses 100+ Asylum Seekers to Residence of VP Kamala Harris, Afghan Taliban Bans Women from Working at NGOs, South Korea Scrambles Warplanes as North Korean Drones Cross Border, Taiwan Lengthens Mandatory Military Service Amid Tensions with China, China Will End Coronavirus Quarantine Requirement for International Travelers, Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Air Base Kills Three , Former Maoist Leader Becomes Nepal’s Prime Minister for Third Time, Bolsonaro Supporter Charged with Bomb Plot Aimed at Stopping Inauguration of Lula, Meta Will Pay $725 Million to Settle Lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica Data Leak, Rep.-Elect George Santos Admits He Lied About Work, Family and Education

Ed Yong, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer at The Atlantic, talks about his recent book, “An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.”

In this special broadcast, we speak with Reed Brody, the international human rights lawyer who has been called “the dictator hunter” for his role in bringing historic legal cases against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and others. Brody’s new book is just out, titled “To Catch a Dictator: The Pursuit and Trial of Hissène Habré.” Habré, a former U.S. ally, was convicted in 2016 by the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegalese court system and sentenced to life in prison.

We speak with Guyanese environmental lawyer Melinda Janki about how she’s taking on the oil giant ExxonMobil to stop the company from developing an offshore oil field that would turn Guyana into a “carbon bomb.” Guyana is currently a carbon sink, but Exxon plans to produce more than 1 million barrels of oil a day, which could transform the South American country into one of the world’s top oil producers by 2030. Janki is suing the Guyanese government and Exxon under the constitution’s guarantee of a healthy environment to both current and future citizens. Her legal battle is profiled in a new article in Wired, “The Quest to Defuse Guyana’s Carbon Bomb,” written by independent journalist Antonia Juhasz, who also joins us.

The House select committee on the January 6 attack released its final 845-page report Thursday, and the word “racism” appears only once throughout the entire document — despite the central role white supremacist groups played in the insurrection. “Those who stormed the Capitol … didn’t merely come in defense of Donald Trump,” says Stanford professor Hakeem Jefferson, an expert on issues of race and identity in American politics. “They came in defense of white supremacy and white Americans’ hold on power.”

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol released its final 845-page report on the insurrection at the Capitol and Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The report names former President Trump as the central cause of the insurrection and calls for expanded efforts by the government to combat far-right and white supremacist groups. We’re joined by John Nichols, The Nation’s national affairs correspondent, to discuss the full report.

Jan. 6 Committee Releases Report on Capitol Insurrection, Recommends Barring Trump from Office, Senate Approves $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill, Polar Vortex Brings Winter Weather Advisories to 200 Million Across U.S., Asylum Seekers Remain Stuck at U.S.-Mexico Border Amid Freezing Temperatures, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey Agrees to Dismantle Illegal Border Wall, Afghan Taliban Assault and Arrest Women Protesting University Ban, Report Finds U.S. Did Not Compensate Foreign Workers Injured or Killed in Afghanistan, Car Bomb Kills Pro-Kremlin Official in Russian-Occupied Ukraine, Putin Calls Russian Invasion of Ukraine a “War” Instead of “Special Military Operation”, Chile to Open Embassy in Israeli-Occupied Palestinian Territories, TikTok Admits Its Workers Spied on Journalists, Genealogy Records Contradict George Santos’s Claims His Grandparents Fled Holocaust, Charlene Mitchell, First Black Woman to Run for U.S. President, Dies at 92

We speak with Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer and theologian Cornel West about the January 6 committee’s recommendation that former President Donald Trump and his allies be criminally charged for their role in the insurrection and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “Just because it’s unprecedented doesn’t mean that we can’t have prosecutions,” says Greer. She also responds to recent news reports that New York Congressmember-elect George Santos fabricated much of his political biography.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has wrapped up a one-day visit to Washington, D.C., where he called on the Biden administration and lawmakers to provide more military and financial aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. This was Zelensky’s first overseas trip in nearly a year, since the war began. Ahead of the trip, over 1,000 faith leaders in the United States called for a Christmas truce in Ukraine. For more on the war and hopes for peace, we speak with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, theologian Cornel West and Reverend Graylan Scott Hagler, senior adviser to the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

In Washington, Ukraine’s President Asks U.S. Congress for More Aid to Fight Russia, Biden Pledges More Military Aid to Ukraine, Won’t Press for Negotiations with Russia, European Officials Find No Evidence Russia Sabotaged Nord Stream Pipelines, Russia to Add 500,000 Troops After Putin Admits War in Ukraine Is “Extremely Difficult”, China and Russia Hold Naval War Games as U.S. Deploys B-52s and Stealth Fighters to South Korea, Japan Unveils $320 Billion Plan for Largest Military Buildup Since World War II, WHO Calls on China to Share COVID-19 Data, U.S. Life Expectancy Fell in 2021 as Drug Overdoses and COVID-19 Cases Surged, Up to 20 People Have Died on Rohingya Refugee Ship That Has Been Adrift for Weeks, Netanyahu Finalizes Deal to Form Israel’s Most Extremist Government Yet, U.S. Imposes More Sanctions on Iran as Prospects Dim for Revival of Nuclear Deal, Pentagon Fails to Submit Information on U.S. Role in Deadly 2017 Nigerian Airstrike, Fiji Deploys Military Amid Fallout from Disputed Election, Former EU Lawmaker José Bové Says Moroccan Prime Minister Tried to Bribe Him, Former FTX Execs Plead Guilty to Fraud, Will Cooperate in Case Against Sam Bankman-Fried, Roanoke, Virginia, to Honor Henrietta Lacks with New Statue