Democracy Now!

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.

Ukraine Recaptures More Land Days After Russian Annexation, The Pope Urges Stop to “Spiral of Violence and Death” in Ukraine, Supreme Court Appears Poised to OK Racial Gerrymandering in Alabama, Trump Asks Supreme Court to Intervene in Dispute over Classified Documents, Prosecutors Accuse Oath Keepers of Planning “Armed Rebellion” Against U.S. Gov’t, Biden Heads to Florida as Hurricane Ian Death Toll Tops 109, Amazon Suspends 50 Workers at Unionized Warehouse in Staten Island, Ex-Counterintelligence Agent Helped DeSantis Scheme to Send Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, South Korea Missile Test Malfunctions, Sparking Fire at Base, Filipino Journalist Percy Lapid, a Critic of Marcos & Duterte, Is Killed Near Manila, U.N. Urges Extension of Ceasefire in Yemen, 30 Palestinian Prisoners on Hunger Strike Against Israeli Administrative Detention, At Least 15 Die Inside Overcrowded Prison in Ecuador, “Everything Has Been a Lie”: Herschel Walker’s Son Blasts His Father Amid Tight Georgia Senate Race

This weekend marked the 103rd anniversary of the 1919 Elaine massacre, one of the deadliest episodes of racial violence in U.S. history. The violence started on September 30, 1919, when guards stopped two white men from breaking into a meeting between Black sharecroppers in Elaine, Arkansas, who were organizing to demand fair payments for their crops. After an exchange of gunfire, a white man was killed. White mobs, backed by the U.S. military, responded with three days of anti-Black violence, indiscriminately killing hundreds of Black people under the false claim of stopping a Black insurrection. Much of the Black farmers’ land was stolen as a result. We speak to Julia Wright, daughter of the acclaimed Black author Richard Wright, who called Elaine home and wrote about his great-uncle Silas Hoskins’s lynching in Elaine three years prior in 1916. Wright says she saw the lynching in a new light after the murder of George Floyd. “Two lynchings separated by so many years and yet so similar,” says Wright. We also speak with Paul Ortiz, historian at the University of Florida, who recalls the nationwide crusade, which included journalist Ida B. Wells, to seek justice for the Black farmers who remained and were taken into custody after the massacre, and ultimately won their freedom.

The western African nation of Burkina Faso is facing its second military coup in eight months. After a day of gunfire rang out Friday in the capital Ouagadougou, Captain Ibrahim Traoré announced on public television that he had replaced Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba as president. Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch, says Damiba’s inability to improve security in the face of an Islamist insurgency was “the primary reason for the coup d’état.” We also speak with Aziz Fall, coordinator for Justice for Sankara, an international campaign dedicated to uncovering the truth behind the 1987 assassination of Burkina Faso leader Thomas Sankara. He says the legacy of U.S. military intervention and French colonialism has led to instability in the region. “People are outraged with the role of France but also the role of the United States,” says Fall.

As public support of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court falls to a record low, justices are set to hear major cases on affirmative action, voting rights and online speech. The court opened its term Monday with new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson becoming the first Black woman in U.S. history to hear a Supreme Court case. Although Jackson is a welcome progressive voice on the bench, “all she’ll be able to do is to highlight the extremism of the conservative majority voting bloc on the Supreme Court,” says The Nation’s legal correspondent Elie Mystal. He adds that the term ahead includes challenges to Native American sovereignty, voting rights, LGBT rights and more.

Ukraine’s Zelensky Rules Out Direct Peace Talks with Russia’s Putin, Afghan Women Protest Attack on Girls’ School as Death Toll Climbs to 53, Iran’s Supreme Leader Blames U.S. and Israel for Mass Protests , Haitian Protesters Demand Relief from Soaring Prices, Resignation of U.S.-Backed Leader, 20 Killed in Somalia Car Bombings After U.S. Claims Airstrike Killed al-Shabab Leader, Amnesty Calls on EU to Hold Israel Accountable for “Crime of Apartheid Against Palestinians”, Palestinians Warn U.K. Against Moving Embassy to Jerusalem, North Korean Missile Test Triggers Air Raid Alerts in Japan, In Puerto Rico, Biden Pledges $60 Million in Hurricane Resilience Aid, University of Idaho Warns Employees Against Discussing Abortion and Contraception, Investigation Reveals “Systemic” Abuse of Players at All Levels of U.S. Women’s Soccer

We speak to world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky and political writer Vijay Prashad about the Russian war in Ukraine, now in its eighth month. When it comes to continuing the war rather than negotiating a peace settlement, “the United States and Britain are pretty isolated on this,” says Chomsky. “The United States saw Ukraine as a kind of loose nail under which they place their weapons, billions of dollars of weapons … in order to egg Russia on,” says Prashad. Chomsky and Prashad are co-authors of the new book, “The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power,” which covers failed U.S. foreign policy in recent wars and the importance of seeing beyond dominant media narratives.

Brazil’s presidential contest will be settled by a runoff vote on October 30 after leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fell short of a majority in Sunday’s election, winning 48% of votes compared to incumbent far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who received 43%. Bolsonaro outperformed expectations set by recent polls, which had suggested an outright win for Lula. On Friday, we spoke to world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky in Brazil and political writer Vijay Prishad, just back from the country, about the stakes in one of the most important elections in Latin America. The results of the contentious election will determine, among many things, the fate of the Amazon, and another Bolsonaro term would be “devastating for the world,” says Chomsky. Lula is leaning more left than in his previous presidency and has made “very clear that questions of social justice will be at the forefront of his presidency,” says Prashad.

Brazil: Lula & Bolsonaro to Face Off in Presidential Runoff, Ukraine Recaptures Lyman a Day After Russia Annexed Area, Russia Vetoes U.N. Resolution on Annexation as Biden OKs $12B in More Military Spending for Ukraine, Putin Blames U.S. for Sabotaging Nord Stream Pipelines; Blinken Cites Development as “Tremendous Opportunity”, Hurricane Ian Death Toll Reaches 87 as Search Missions Continue, Iran Protests Continue for 16th Day; Group Says 133 People Have Died So Far, 7-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Dies After Being Chased by Israeli Soldiers, 125 Die in Indonesia After Riot Police Fire Tear Gas After Soccer Game, Burkina Faso Sees Second Military Coup in a Year, U.S. & Venezuela Conduct Prisoner Exchange, Texas Brothers Charged with Manslaughter for Shooting Migrants Getting Water Near Border, Liz Truss Scraps Plans to Lower Taxes for Rich Following Mass Protests, Supreme Court Begins New Term as Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes History as First Black Female Justice, Indigenous Activist & Actress Sacheen Littlefeather, 75, Dies

We speak with the award-winning filmmaker Reid Davenport about his directorial debut, “I Didn’t See You There,” in which he reflects on the portrayal of disability in media and popular culture. “Documentary film has traditionally subjugated disabled people, so I wanted to completely turn that on its head” by filming from his perspective without being seen, says Davenport. He says the title of the film is a phrase he has heard from others, and it’s “coded in apology” for ignorance of the way Davenport exists in the world, but that “ignorance is a choice at the end of the day, and an apology is only going to do so much.”

The lobby of DCTV’s new documentary film center in New York will be dedicated to the filmmaker Brent Renaud, who worked out of the historic firehouse alongside Democracy Now! for many years. Renaud was the first journalist to be killed in the Ukraine war after he was shot dead on March 13, 2022, while filming refugees near the capital Kyiv for a documentary series. We speak with Brent’s brother, filmmaker Craig Renaud, who was his partner in the field for decades, and feature some of their work in Iraq and about U.S. soldiers deployed there from the Renauds’ home state of Arkansas. “It’s still surreal at this point,” comments Renaud, who says the theater lobby “couldn’t be a better way to honor him.”

The New York City firehouse studio that housed Democracy Now! from 2001 to 2009 has reopened as a movie theater devoted to documentary films. The opening of Firehouse: DCTV’s Cinema for Documentary Film comes as Downtown Community Television celebrates 50 years of media activism and training. “We wanted to build something that really respected and paid tribute to documentaries,” says DCTV’s co-founder Jon Alpert, who says the theater is “completely interactive” and will “serve the community.” DCTV is also part of a broad alliance in the Chinatown neighborhood to stop the development of a new jail — a 300-foot-tall “jailscraper” — that Alpert says would likely be “the physical end” of DCTV. Alpert just won the News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Crime and Justice Documentary for the last part of his HBO trilogy, “Life of Crime: 1984-2020.”

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro faces former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s presidential election. Lula is a former union leader who held office from 2003 through 2010. He’s running on a leftist platform to uplift Brazil’s poor, preserve the Amazon rainforest and protect Brazil’s Indigenous communities, and is supported by a broad, grassroots alliance, explains Brazilian human rights advocate Maria Luísa Mendonça. Polls show Lula has a strong lead over Bolsonaro, but it is unclear if he will win the majority of the vote needed to avoid a runoff. This comes as Bolsonaro and his party appear to be attempting to prepare to stage a coup if he loses the election, says reporter Michael Fox, former editor of NACLA and host of the new podcast “Brazil on Fire.” Despite fear over a coup, Fox says people in Brazil “are really hopeful that they’re going to see change on Sunday.”

Hurricane Ian Bears Down on South Carolina After Carving Path of Destruction Across Florida, Putin Announces Plans to Annex Ukrainian Territory Seized by Russia, Sweden Discovers Fourth Leak in Nord Stream Pipeline as NATO Cites Sabotage , Senate Approves $12.3 Billion in New Aid to Ukraine in Stopgap Spending Bill, White House Pledges Renewed Push for Passage of Sen. Manchin’s Permitting Reform Bill, Polls Show Brazil’s Lula with Wide Lead Over Bolsonaro Ahead of Presidential Election, Suicide Bomb Attack on Kabul School Kills 19, Mostly Young Women , India Expands Abortion Access to Single Women and Survivors of Marital Rape, Alito Pushes Back After Justice Kagan Warns Supreme Court’s Legitimacy Has Suffered, Ginni Thomas Tells Jan. 6 Committee She Still Believes 2020 Election Was Stolen, Biden Administration Halts Student Loan Relief After GOP Attorneys General Sue, ICC Opens Trial of Félicien Kabuga, Accused of Financing 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil Top List of Most Dangerous Nations for Environmentalists

Russia has announced it will formally annex four areas of occupied Ukraine on Friday, after organizing referendums in the regions widely denounced by Ukraine and its allies as a sham. We speak with Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk, who explains how armed Russian soldiers went to the houses of Ukrainians in the occupied territories, forcing them to vote. She also describes widespread abuses committed by Russian forces, including mass graves and suspected torture chambers. Meanwhile, more than 200,000 Russians have fled the country over the past week following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial military mobilization to draft at least 300,000 people. Gumenyuk says she hopes the draft will “create some disturbance within Russia” now that the war is impacting middle-class Russians.

As millions of Florida residents in the path of Hurricane Ian were ordered to evacuate, advocates pushed authorities to also evacuate what they say are as many as 176,000 people incarcerated in prisons, jails and immigrant detention centers. Now the storm has left millions without power and many without water. “We’re worried about the conditions in the days and weeks following, with no AC, lack of sanitation and water, lack of food, lack of appropriate staff and access to health,” says Angel D’Angelo, a member of Restorative Justice Coalition and Fight Toxic Prisons.

Authorities say hundreds may be dead after Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday along Florida’s southwestern coast as a powerful Category 4 storm, one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the continental United States. We get an update from Tampa and look at links between the climate crisis, rising sea levels and intensifying storms. “It’s just been devastating, and we don’t know the full extent of the damage yet,” reports Seán Kinane, WMNF news and public affairs director. “We are seeing these storms that aren’t otherwise stressed just exploding in intensity,” says Harold Wanless, professor in geography and urban sustainability at the University of Miami.

Hurricane Ian Carves Path of Destruction Along Florida’s Gulf Coast with 150 MPH Winds, 20 Cuban Migrants Missing and Feared Dead After Boat Capsizes Off Florida Coast, DHS Lifts Shipping Restrictions to Allow Hurricane-Ravaged Puerto Rico to Import Fuel, Russia’s Putin Set to Announce Annexation of Occupied Ukrainian Territories, Germany Warns Nord Stream Pipeline Disaster Could Be Among Worst Gas Leaks in History, Finland to Close Its Border with Russia Amid Mass Exodus of Military-Age Men, Kamala Harris Visits Demilitarized Zone, Warning North Korea Over Nuclear Program, Israeli Raid on Jenin Refugee Camp Kills Four Palestinians and Wounds Dozens, Gunman Remains at Large After Wounding 6 Adults at Oakland School for Immigrants, Highland Park Mass Shooting Survivors Sue Smith & Wesson, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Bill Protecting Farmworker Union Rights, Alabama Prisoners Stage Work Stoppage to Protest Squalid Conditions, New Images Reveal Shocking Conditions in New York’s Rikers Island Jail, Right Livelihood Foundation Announces 2022 Award Winners, Truthout Columnist and Antiwar Activist William Rivers Pitt Dies at 51

We speak with Dahlia Lithwick, who covers the courts and the law for Slate, about women who fought the racism, sexism and xenophobia of Trump’s presidency. She profiles many of them in her new book, “Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America.” “Law is slow and takes a long time, but at its best, it really can make us all freer and safer and restore dignity to those that have been harmed,” says Lithwick.

NASA successfully crashed a robotic spacecraft into an asteroid this week, a first-of-its-kind test of technology that could prevent a comet or asteroid from hitting the Earth, though the chances of such a catastrophe are low. We speak with NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who calls the successful mission “bittersweet.” “We’re doing these amazing missions like redirecting asteroids, and yet with all that technology, with all that knowledge, somehow it’s not translating into stopping what is clearly the biggest threat facing humanity, which is global heating,” says Kalmus.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin abandoned his own energy permitting proposal Tuesday that would have fast-tracked the federal review of energy projects, including the contested Mountain Valley Pipeline. Following intense pressure from a range of climate justice and Appalachian organizers, Manchin asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to drop the permitting reforms from a funding bill after it became clear he did not have the votes to pass the proposal. 350.org founder Bill McKibben says Manchin may try to partner with the GOP to revive the proposal later this year, but still says the news represents an “impressive win by grassroots environmentalism.”

As Hurricane Ian is set to strengthen into a Category 4 or 5 storm and make landfall Wednesday afternoon south of Tampa Bay, the storm already knocked out power in Cuba and killed at least two people Tuesday. Communities across Central Florida are preparing for a “very strong storm,” says Seán Kinane, news and public affairs director at Tampa community radio station WMNF, and many acknowledge the strength of the hurricane is “definitely impacted by climate disruption.”

Florida Braces for Hurricane Ian as Winds Reach 155 MPH, Hurricane Knocks Out Power to All of Cuba, EU Says Leaks to Nord Stream Pipelines Caused by Sabotage, Russia Expected to Annex Occupied Areas of Ukraine After Referendums, Report: Nearly 200K Russians Have Fled Since Putin Mobilization Order, MBS Named Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Giving Him Immunity to Khashoggi Lawsuit, Oath Keepers Seditious Conspiracy Trial Begins, Trump Supporter Sentenced to 7+ Years for Assaulting D.C. Officer on Jan. 6, In Climate Victory, Manchin Drops Proposal to Ease Energy Permitting Rules, Mastriano in 2019: Women Should Face Murder Charges for Violating Abortion Bans, Thousands of Students Walk Out in Virginia to Oppose Youngkin’s Anti-Trans Policies, California Gov. Newsom Signs 13 Abortion Protection Bills & Outlaws “Pink Tax”, IMF Warns U.K. over Plan to Cut Taxes as Value of Pound Plummets, Meredith Tax, Longtime Feminist & Socialist, Dies at 80

We speak with Bishop William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign to get an update on the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, where tens of thousands of residents are still without clean tap water. “It’s an immoral and sinful violation of equal protection under the law and human rights,” says Barber, who led a rally Monday outside the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson demanding the state reverse decades of disinvestment in the majority-Black capital. “Everything we’re talking about was created by bad policy, therefore it can be fixed by good policy.”

Low-income Black and Brown housing activists in Philadelphia are fighting to stop the displacement of residents who live in an affordable housing complex in the largely gentrified neighborhood of University City. The complex, known as University City Townhomes, was built to provide affordable housing to low-income residents, many of whom are elderly and disabled, but the property owner has since announced plans to redevelop the property, which is near the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. We speak with University City Townhomes residents Rasheda Alexander and Sheldon Davids, who have held months of encampments and protests alongside William Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign. “It was always about greed and money and racism,” says Barber, who notes the move to redevelop the complex is part of a larger assault on poor people and housing services in the United States.

A property management company partly owned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has agreed to pay a $3.25 million fine to the state of Maryland and to reimburse potentially tens of thousands of tenants in Baltimore. The state of Maryland sued the Kushner-owned company after ProPublica published a 2017 investigation that exposed how the company hounded low-income tenants with a barrage of lawsuits, eviction notices and late fees — even when residents had the legal right to continue living there. We speak with Alec MacGillis, the author of the 2017 ProPublica report, who describes how Kushner was the leading architect in the housing scandal that left many residents paying for uninhabitable units riddled with pests and sewage issues. He says while the settlement is a “relative pittance” for Kushner, it has delivered some “solid form of accountability” for his company’s wrongdoings, and the money will likely make a difference in the lives of those tenants who were harmed.

Dozens of people in Iran have been killed in a series of escalating women-led protests demanding justice for Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in the custody of the so-called morality police. Amini was detained on September 13 for allegedly leaving some of her hair visible in violation of Iran’s hijab law. Iranian American writer Hoda Katebi calls the protests “exciting and beautiful,” bringing together women from across economic and ethnic backgrounds and opening up conversations about the policing of women’s bodies. She says the government is using the protests to “advance nationalist ideas,” crack down on Kurdish communities and propel a false narrative of an uprising against Islam. Katebi’s recent piece for the Los Angeles Times is titled “Iranian women are rising up to demand freedom. Are we listening?”

Russian-Held Parts of Ukraine Hold Final Day of Voting on Whether to Join Russia, Russian Military Mobilization Prompts Mass Exodus of Draft-Age Men, Hurricane Ian Lashes Western Cuba with Sustained 125-Mile-Per-Hour Winds, Hundreds of Thousands Ordered to Evacuate Florida’s Gulf Coast as Hurricane Ian Approaches, Puerto Rico’s Governor Calls on Biden to Waive Shipping Restrictions in Aftermath of Hurricane, Hurricane Ian Forces NASA to Delays Test Launch of New Moon Rocket, NASA Crashes Spacecraft into Asteroid in First-Ever Planetary Defense Test, Protesters Rally at Mississippi Governor’s Mansion to Demand Clean Water for Jackson, Russia Grants Citizenship to NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden, Thousands Protest Outside State Funeral for Japan’s Assassinated Former Leader Shinzo Abe, Two-Thirds of Cuban Voters Approve Referendum on Marriage and Gender Equality

As the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection is set to hold its first fall public hearing, we look at one of the key groups that helped plan and carry out the attack as part of their goal to normalize political violence, with HuffPost journalist Andy Campbell, author of the new book, “We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered In a New Era of America.” He says, “They’ve been on a parade of violence at the behest of Trump and the GOP for six years now.” Campbell recently obtained a document that gives rare insight into how the Proud Boys “meticulously” plan their rallies and how they were going to carry out a march in New York City on January 10. He says GOP rhetoric, parroted by the right-wing media, is normalizing the political violence committed by the Proud Boys and, in effect, “sanitizing them for the rest of the country.”

Italy’s first far-right leader since Benito Mussolini, Giorgia Meloni, has declared victory. Her Brothers of Italy party is allied with Spain’s far-right Vox party, Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice party and the Sweden Democrats party, which emerged out of its neo-Nazi movement. We look at “the return of fascism in Italy” with professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” who says that Meloni, a self-declared conservative, “really sees her party as carrying the heritage of fascism into today.” Ben-Ghiat also describes why Meloni is part of a “transnational design” to create a far-right political culture across Europe.

Death Toll in Iran Protests Climbs to 41, Giorgia Meloni Set to Become Italy’s Most Far-Right Leader Since Mussolini, Arizona Judge Reinstates 158-Year-Old Abortion Ban, “Catastrophic Consequences”: U.S. Warns Russia Against Using Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine, 730 Antiwar Protesters Arrested Across 32 Russian Cities, China Calls for Peace Talks to End Russia’s War on Ukraine, 13 Killed in Mass Shooting in Central Russia, 97 Refugees Drown as Boat Sinks Off Syria’s Coast, Typhoon Noru Slams Philippines, Killing 6 and Leaving Millions Without Power, Remnants of Hurricane Fiona Carve Path of Destruction in Eastern Canada, Puerto Rican Farmers Hit Hard by Hurricane Fiona at Harvest Time, Florida Governor Declares State of Emergency as Hurricane Ian Approaches, Vanuatu’s President Calls for Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty, “Fridays for Future” Protesters Demand Climate Action in 450 Locations Worldwide, Video Shows Train Hitting Colorado Police Car Holding Woman Handcuffed in Back Seat, ACLU Demands Closure of For-Profit ICE Jail After Asylum Seeker Dies by Suicide, Kushner-Owned Company Settles Lawsuit over Unfair Rental Practices and Rodent-Infested Apartments

A new series examines how protests that erupted over a police killing three decades ago offer important lessons for the Black Lives Matter movement today. We speak to the family of Phillip Pannell, a 16-year-old Black boy who was fatally shot in the back in 1990 by a white police officer later acquitted for the killing. Pannell is the subject of “Model America,” a new four-part series by MSNBC that looks at the racial divide in the U.S. through the lens of the small town of Teaneck, New Jersey, where the shooting took place. “Here we are 32 years later, and it’s still happening,” says his sister, Natacha Pannell. His mother Thelma Pannell-Dantzler says the police officer, Gary Spath, lied on the stand about the shooting and “should be prosecuted” for perjury. We also speak with the series’s co-director, Dani Goffstein, who was raised in Teaneck and says he became interested in the story after noticing parallels with the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.

Climate activists, led by Fridays for Future, are holding a global climate strike today to pressure world leaders to do more to address the crisis. We speak to Mikaela Loach, who has helped lead the fight against developing the Cambo oil field off the coast of Scotland and who describes the importance of seeing antiracism and climate activism as linked. “We’re in this crisis because fossil fuels and nature have been completely extracted and destroyed to make profit and to continue expansion of economies, in the Global North in particular,” says Loach.

Antiwar protests are flaring up in Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced what he called a partial military mobilization to add 300,000 troops into its armed forces. Over 1,300 protesters have been arrested at antiwar demonstrations, with one prominent rights group saying some protesters are being forced to enlist or face heavy jail time. We go to Moscow for an update with Anna Dobrovolskaya, the former executive director of the Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow, which was shut down by the government last year. She says some people who are drafted without any military experience are publishing their stories, and thousands more have fled Russia to avoid being forced to enlist. “People will be trying to save their lives with any tools they can,” says Dobrovolskaya.

Russia Holds Annexation Referendums in Occupied Ukrainian Territories, Russian Antiwar Protesters Conscripted After Mass Arrests, Russian Foreign Minister Storms Out of U.N. Security Council Debate on Ukraine, Hurricane Fiona Swipes Bermuda, Barrels Toward Canada’s East Coast, Nigeria Suffers Worst Flooding in Years, Exacerbating Food Crisis, 11 Climate Activists Arrested at Sit-In Protest of Sen. Joe Manchin’s “Dirty Side Deal”, Iran Cuts Internet Access as Death Toll from Protests Rises, Republican Senators Block Bill to Require Disclosure of “Dark Money” Donors, CREW: Secret Service Knew of Neo-Nazi Threat on Jan. 6, Failed to Respond, Trump Openly Embraces Far-Right QAnon Conspiracy Theory, Neo-Fascist Party Founded by Mussolini Supporters Poised to Take Power in Italy, Shireen Abu Akleh’s Family Files Complaint Against Israel at International Criminal Court, Boeing Will Pay $200 Million to Settle SEC Probe into 737 MAX Crashes

We speak to Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío about U.S.-Cuba relations, sanctions and more. He is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where countries are expected to vote again in favor of lifting the 60-year economic blockade imposed by the U.S. on Cuba. “The aim of the United States policy since 1960 has been to make life as difficult and as unbearable as possible for the people of Cuba with the ambition that that would lead to the overthrow of the government,” says Fernández de Cossío. He also discusses Cuba’s abstentions in U.N. votes critical of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, saying that while Cuba “cannot and does not support” a violation of another country’s sovereignty, the U.S. still bears “huge responsibility” for the conflict because of its push to expand NATO into Eastern Europe.

An attack by Azerbaijan on Armenia left more than 200 people dead before a ceasefire was called last Wednesday. It was the latest round of fighting between the two neighbors in the South Caucasus, which have fought a series of wars over territory. For more, we speak with Armenia-based reporter Roubina Margossian, who has reported from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that is at the center of the conflict.

Protests in Iran continue after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in custody of the so-called morality police. Mahsa Amini died last week after being detained for allegedly leaving some of her hair visible in violation of an Iranian law requiring women to cover their heads. Witnesses said Amini was severely beaten by police, but authorities claim she died of natural causes. Thousands of people, often led by young women, have taken to the streets in outrage over Amini’s death, chanting slogans against the morality police and the government, with some burning their headscarves in a show of defiance. “This anger against the morality police and the violence they are committing on the streets has been building up for years,” says Iranian American journalist Negar Mortazavi.

Former President Donald Trump is facing his greatest legal peril yet, as New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against Trump, three of his children and his family business for widespread financial fraud. The suit alleges they overvalued assets by billions of dollars in order to secure more favorable financial arrangements, then deflated those values to pay less in taxes. If the lawsuit is successful, the Trump Organization could be barred from conducting business in the state of New York. “He’s gotten away with this for decades. Now he’s going to have to answer in civil court,” says award-winning reporter David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump for years. Also on Wednesday, a three-judge federal appeals panel, including two who were appointed by Trump, allowed the Justice Department to continue reviewing the documents seized by the FBI from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

New York AG Sues Donald Trump and His Children for “Staggering” Financial Fraud, Appeals Court Will Allow DOJ to Resume Use of Documents Seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Ginni Thomas Agrees to Be Questioned by Jan. 6 Committee, 203 Republicans Vote “No” as House Approves Bill to Prevent Stolen Elections, Nearly 1,400 Arrested as Antiwar Protests Erupt Across Russia, Russia and Ukraine Agree to Swap Prisoners, At U.N. General Assembly, Biden and Zelensky Condemn Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Senate Votes to Phase Out Use of Refrigerants That Contribute to Climate Crisis, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin Unveils Bill to Speed Permitting of Energy Projects, Ex-Minneapolis Cop Thomas Lane Gets Three Years in Prison for Manslaughter of George Floyd, Progressives Warn Fed’s Interest Rate Hikes Will “Throw Millions of Americans Out of Work”

Half of full-time workers in the United States cannot make ends meet. Thousands of them work for the Walt Disney Company. One of them reached out to the dissident heiress Abigail Disney, whose grandfather Roy Disney built what is often called the “happiest place on Earth.” Now she’s made a documentary about how the family business exploits its workers: “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales.” The film follows workers who have difficulty making ends meet despite the lofty claims of the Disney conglomerate. “This is a phenomenon that’s happening across this country in corporations and even around the world,” says Disney, who co-directed the film with Kathleen Hughes. Employees who agreed to be filmed “had a hope that if they could change Disney from within, Disney could lead the way for other corporations,” notes Hughes.

Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular podcast “Serial,” was released Monday after a Maryland judge vacated his murder conviction due to evidence withheld during the trial that might have helped exonerate him. Syed spent 23 years in prison after being convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee as a teenager in 1999. He has not been declared legally innocent, and prosecutors could decide to retry the case, but that appears unlikely. We speak with Syed’s first attorney, Doug Colbert, who says Brady violations, in which prosecutors fail to disclose evidence to the defense, happen “much too often.” He argues, “There are many other people innocent of their crimes who should not have been convicted.”