Democracy Now!

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz formally accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president at the DNC on Wednesday. A former public school teacher, high school football coach and National Guard member, Walz spent six terms in Congress before his successful run for governor in 2018. We take a look at his record, including his moderate" record on police brutality following the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with two guests: Jacobin staff writer Branko Marcetic and Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, who is the son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Walz's progressive wins in Minnesota appear to have swayed Kamala Harris's selection, says Marcetic, as Harris hopes to mirror parts of his agenda on the federal level. I think that he's sincere in his efforts to see change," says Jeremiah Ellison, who is also an uncommitted" delegate and goes on to discuss the uncommitted movement's strategy at the DNC.

Delegates from the Uncommitted National Movement and their allies launched a sit-in protest Wednesday night outside the convention hall in Chicago after the DNC refused to honor their request to let a Palestinian American speak onstage, despite allowing family members of an Israeli American hostage to address the convention. We hear voices from the sit-in with uncommitted delegates and their allies. Today I watched my party say, 'Our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans,' but it can't fit an elected official like me?" said Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, referring to convention addresses given by anti-Trump Republicans. Romman was among the list of speakers offered by the uncommitted movement that the DNC refused to allow on onstage. We can't take no for an answer here," Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, an uncommitted delegate from Minnesota, tells Democracy Now!.

Tim Walz Touts Record as MN Gov. as He Accepts VP Nomination, Uncommitted Mvt. and Allies Launch Sit-In After DNC and Harris Refuse to Let Palestinian Take Main Stage, Exxon Lies, People Die!": Climate Activists Condemn Corporate Sponsorship at DNC, Israel's Genocide Continues Amid Dimming Hopes for Ceasefire, New Report Details Israel's Pattern of Kidnapping, Torturing and Humiliating Gazan Children, Israel and Hezbollah Continue Cross-Border Fighting Amid Fears of a Broader Conflict, Emmy Awards Stands Firm on Nomination of Gazan Reporter Bisan Owda After Pushback from Israel Lobby, Israel Kills at Least 2 More Journalists in Gaza: Ibrahim Muharab and Hamza Murtaja, Canada's Two Main Rail Freight Companies Shut Down, Locking Out 10,000 Workers, Judge Tosses FTC Ban on Noncompete Agreements Which Affect 30 Million U.S. Workers, RFK Expected to Drop Out, Endorse Trump, U.K. Gov't Official Resigns over British Arms Sales to Israel to Use in War Crimes, NYT: Biden Admin Shifts U.S. Nuclear Strategy to Focus on China, Taliban Bans U.N. Special Rapporteur from Entering Afghanistan, France's Attempt to Give Their Citizens Voting Rights in New Caledonia Undermines Kanak Rights, ACLU Sues Oregon Police Dept. for Illegally Spying on Progressive Activists, Harris Campaign Raises $500M Amid Transparency Concerns over Large Donations, TX Appeals Court to Review Acquittal of Black Mother Who Was Sentenced to Prison for Trying to Vote

We speak with former Michigan Congressmember Andy Levin, a former synagogue president, who lost his 2022 Democratic primary in a race that saw millions spent by pro-Israel groups to unseat the progressive Jewish lawmaker. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and other lobby groups have used the same playbook over the years to defeat members of Congress who do not toe the line, and Levin says the Democratic Party has to act to stop such dark money" from deciding elections and push for a new policy on Israel-Palestine that brings peace. We need to all get along there, and we need to work together here to make that happen," he says.

A group of American doctors who treated patients in Gaza held a press conference in Chicago on Tuesday to describe the suffering they saw among Palestinians injured and killed in Israel's war on the territory. The press conference, taking place during the Democratic National Convention, was organized by the Uncommitted National Movement, which is pressuring Democrats for an end to blanket U.S. support for Israel. Among those who spoke was Dr. Ahmed Yousaf, who returned from Gaza just weeks earlier. When we got to the hospital, everything I saw on TikTok and Instagram and all the television, all the stuff that we had in alternative media ... it was 100 times worse than I could have ever imagined," he said.

Democrats have centered reproductive rights throughout the week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with speakers discussing their abortions, how new restrictions have put women's lives at risk and why bodily autonomy is nonnegotiable. Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to restore reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Law professor Michele Goodwin describes the fight for reproductive rights as a tipping point for our democracy" and says Republicans cannot simply walk away from their record on the issue.

We play highlights from the second night of the Democratic National Convention, which ended with keynote speeches by Michelle and Barack Obama. The former first lady and president promoted Vice President Kamala Harris as a transformative leader while criticizing Donald Trump. Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs'?" Michelle Obama said.

Immigration has become one of the central issues of the 2024 race, with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump vowing to expand the draconian policies of his first term and deport 10 million immigrants from the country amid what he calls an invasion." Democrats, meanwhile, are touting their own border crackdown at the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago. President Joe Biden celebrated his executive action to block many asylum seekers at the southern U.S. border, and Vice President Kamala Harris promises to hire thousands more border agents if she is elected. We host a roundtable discussion in Chicago with Oscar Chacon, executive director of Alianza Americas, an immigrant rights group; Maria Hinojosa, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, founder of Futuro Media and host of the Latino USA podcast; and Marisa Franco, director and co-founder of Mijente, a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities.

The Israeli military has ordered new forced evacuations in parts of central Gaza, signaling the expansion of ground operations and the latest displacement of Palestinians, many of whom have already been displaced multiple times over the course of Israel's war on the territory. At least 50 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, pushing the official death toll past 40,200. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his ninth visit to the Middle East since October without securing any breakthrough for a ceasefire deal. In Chicago, where Democrats are gathered for the DNC, Gaza has been mentioned only in passing from the main stage of the convention. The party's official platform adopted this week does not call for an arms embargo on Israel and reasserts unwavering U.S. support for Israel. There's been an almost competition between Democrats and Republicans on 'how much can we show Israel that we support them and that we have their back?'" says human rights lawyer Zaha Hassan, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and previously the senior legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine's bid for U.N. membership. Why should Israel ever compromise its positions if they know that by holding out, they'll get more goodies from the U.S.?"

Kamala Harris Accepts Democratic Nom; Obamas, Bernie Sanders Take to the DNC Stage on Night Two, Chicago PD Arrests Protesters at Israeli Consulate; 16 Activists from U.K.'s Palestine Action in Prison, U.S. Doctors Share Horrors They Witnessed in Gaza at DNC Press Conference, Israel Continues Its Genocidal War, Attacking Another Gaza School and Pushing Gazans Out of Deir al-Balah, Released Palestinian Describes Detention at Ofer Prison, Site of Systematic Torture and Humiliation", Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Kill at Least 6 as Cross-Border Fighting Adds to Growing Tensions, Report Says Countries and Oil Co's Supplying Israel May Be Complicit in Genocide Under Int'l Law, Russia Says It Intercepted Major Drone Attack on Moscow as Ukraine Pushes Ahead in Kursk, Arizona and Montana Join at Least 6 Other States in Putting Abortion Rights on the Nov. Ballot, RFK Jr.'s Running Mate Says They Could End Their Campaign and Join Team Trump, Nurses at Univ. of Illinois Hospital Strike over Unfair Labor Practices, Work Safety Issues, Bob Menendez Is Resigning, Will Be Replaced with NJ Gov. Aide Until New Senator Elected in Nov., Panama Deports 29 Colombian Migrants on U.S.-Funded Flight, Migrant Deaths Surge on U.S. Southern Border Amid Extreme Heat, Biden's Hard-Line Immigration Policy, NYC Evicts Makeshift Migrant Camp; NY State Greenlights Shelter Eviction of 30,000 Migrant Families, Six Unhoused People Dying Each Day in Los Angeles Amid Brutal Crackdown, Failed Policies, Mass Shooting in Bosnia Kills at Least 3 School Workers, U.S. Sanctions Ex-Haitian President Michel Martelly for Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, East Palestine Residents Consider $600 Million Settlement with Norfolk Southern, Maryland Officials Warn PFAS Levels at Harford County Schools Too High for Drinking, Air Force Refuses to Clean Up Contamination of Tucson Waters, Cites SCOTUS Chevron Doctrine" Ruling

During President Biden's speech on the first night of the DNC, protesters briefly unfurled a banner that read Stop Arming Israel," before it was wrested away by convention staff. We speak to three members of the group Delegates Against Genocide who organized and carried out the action: Esam Boraey, a human rights activist and delegate from Connecticut; Florida DNC member Nadia Ahmad; and progressive Jewish activist Liano Sharon, an elected delegate from Michigan. We were there specifically to confront President Joe Biden," says Ahmad, explaining why the protesters chose to disrupt Biden's speech. He's the one who can stop this genocide by picking up the phone and making a phone call, and he has chosen not to do that."

We discuss Chicago's storied history of organized labor and the state of the labor movement today with Alex Han, a longtime union organizer and now the executive director of the Chicago-based progressive magazine In These Times, and with Stacy Davis Gates, the current president of the Chicago Teachers Union, of which Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson - who opened the 2024 DNC last night - was previously a member. As the Democratic Party increasingly embraces union rights as a major part of its policy platform, It's pretty remarkable to think of how far we've come. It's also important, sitting here in Chicago, [to] understand how far we still have to go," says Han.

Labor rights were in the spotlight during the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as union leaders, including UAW President Shawn Fain, took to the stage. We play part of Fain's address, in which he called Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a scab" and praised Democratic nominee Kamala Harris's labor record.

The acclaimed television host Phil Donahue died Sunday at the age of 88. Donahue's commitment to bringing major social and political issues to the American public spanned decades, a mission that was perhaps best encapsulated by his platforming of antiwar perspectives during the leadup to the Iraq War. He was fired in 2003 from his eponymous MSNBC talk show for doing so. In 2013, Democracy Now! spoke to Donahue about his firing. We play an excerpt from that interview and speak to journalist Jeff Cohen, who served as a senior producer on MSNBC's Donahue before its cancellation. Phil was a progressive. He was for peace and justice. He exuded it. It's what made him tick," recalls Cohen.

This year, the Democratic National Convention held its first-ever panel on Palestinian human rights. The panel came after persistent grassroots organizing against U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza. We play excerpts, including from the Arab American Institute's James Zogby, a former executive member of the Democratic National Committee; Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care surgeon who recently worked in Gaza; and Layla Elabed, co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement.Later that day, during President Biden's convention speech, protesters standing near the Florida delegation unfolded a banner proclaiming Stop Arming Israel." Democracy Now was at the scene. We speak with one of the protesting delegates, Liano Sharon, an elected DNC delegate from Michigan, as he was escorted off the convention floor. Sharon, who is Jewish, told Democracy Now! that he participated in the action because 'never again' means never again for anyone, anywhere, ever, period."

On the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, Democracy Now! was on the streets of Chicago during the March on the DNC as thousands of protesters held a rally and march to call on Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party to end U.S. support for Israel amid its ongoing assault on Gaza. We bring you the voices of some of the protesters.

Biden, AOC Address Night 1 of DNC as Palestinian Rights Activists Shine Light on Gaza Genocide, Women Affected by Abortion Bans in GOP-Led States Share Harrowing Experiences from DNC Stage, Protesters March on the DNC" Amid Heavy Police Presence, Arrests, Blinken Says Netanyahu Agreed to Ceasefire Proposal, But Israel Continues Its Genocidal War in Gaza, Court Sentences Chrystul Kizer to 11 Years for Killing Her Sex Trafficker in Self-Defense as a Teen, Georgia Approves New Rule That Could Delay Election Certification, Sow Chaos Post-Election, Disgraced NY Congressmember George Santos Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Identity Theft, Modest Tax on World's Wealthiest Would Generate $2 Trillion to Help Poor Nations Face Climate Crisis, 68 Million in Southern Africa Facing Severe Drought; Caspian Sea Shrinking Due to Climate Crisis, Wind and Solar Have Overtaken Coal in U.S. Energy Production in Major Climate Milestone, UAW's Shawn Fain Talks Labor Rights on DNC Stage as U. of Illinois Nurses Strike Nearby, 1,000+ Cornell Employees on Strike for Living Wage as School Year Kicks Off, Ukraine Continues Incursion into Russia, Calls Out Red Lines" in War as a Bluff", Judicial Unions in Mexico on Strike over Proposed Court Overhaul, Doctors in India Continue Strike, Demand Gov't Action in Response to Rape and Murder of Colleague, DRC Hopes to Receive Mpox Vaccines Soon After Pledges from U.S., Japan

The pioneering TV host Phil Donahue, who revolutionized daytime television by tackling major social and political issues in front of a studio audience, has died at the age of 88. The Phil Donahue Show, later renamed Donahue, ran from the 1960s through to 1996, and the affable host won 20 Emmy Awards and received a Peabody Award throughout his career. In 2003, Donahue was fired from his primetime MSNBC talk show for airing antiwar voices during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when most of the corporate media was cheerleading the Bush administration's drive for war. Donahue spoke with Democracy Now! about his firing in 2013, describing it as a decision from far above" in the network. They were terrified of the antiwar voice," he said. Donahue is survived by his wife Marlo Thomas, his four children and his grandchildren.

As Chicago hosts the 2024 Democratic National Convention, we look at the city's long history of police misconduct, including the use of torture under police commander Jon Burge, accused of leading a torture ring that interrogated more than 100 African American men in Chicago in the 1970s and 1980s using electric shocks and suffocation, among other methods, to extract false confessions from men who were later exonerated. Illinois has one of the highest rates of wrongful convictions in the United States, and a disproportionate number of the wrongfully convicted are Black or Brown people. For more, we speak with two men from Chicago who were exonerated after serving decades in prison: Stanley Howard spent 16 years of his life on death row for a 1984 murder that he confessed to after being tortured; Jimmy Soto was released from an Illinois prison in December after a 42-year fight to prove his innocence.

Arab American voters could significantly impact the 2024 presidential election, particularly in Michigan, home to the largest Arab community in the United States. Many of these voters, incensed at U.S. support for the Israeli war on Gaza, have mobilized over the past year to pressure the Biden administration to change policy, including by casting hundreds of thousands of ballots for uncommitted" in Democratic primary elections to signal their demand for policy changes. We speak with Osama Siblani, founder and publisher of The Arab American News, who has had several meetings with senior figures from the White House and the Democratic presidential campaign. Despite all those meetings, nothing has happened" except more killing," Siblani says. Something has to be done to stop Benjamin Netanyahu's appetite for killing."

Democracy Now! is in Chicago for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where protesters have actions planned throughout the week. The demonstrations kicked off on Sunday, on the eve of the convention, with the March for Bodies Outside Unjust Laws, which was organized by a coalition of several different activist groups to demand action on reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights and an end to the war on Gaza. We hear from protesters on the ground who say they will withhold their votes in the presidential election until the Democratic Party commits to reversing the Biden administration's policy of warmongering."

Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights icon who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr., ran for president twice, in 1984 and 1988, and founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is expected to appear on stage on the opening night of this year's Democratic National Convention. We play footage of an event held Sunday in Chicago to honor Jesse Jackson, which featured fellow civil rights activist Al Sharpton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, among many other speakers. We learned at his feet," Sharpton said of Jackson's impact on civil rights activism. Every time a Black [person] opens their mouth and talks about democracy, Jesse Jackson is talking. Every time we march, Jesse Jackson is walking. And when you see Kamala Harris get on that stage this week, Jesse Jackson is on that stage."

The 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, taking place against the backdrop of an unpopular war opposed by a growing number of voters, carries echoes of the 1968 DNC in the same city, when police violently attacked protesters calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. Much of the police riot unfolded on live national television, showing police, members of the National Guard and U.S. Army soldiers brutally assaulting and arresting protesters, many of them students. After four days and nights, more than 650 people were arrested and more than 1,100 injured. We look back on the infamous 1968 DNC with Bill Ayers, longtime Chicago activist, author and founding member of the Weather Underground, and Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez. Both of them were in Chicago to take part in the protests. It was really an eye-opening period for all of us who attended, who were out in the streets," says Gonzalez. Chicago showed us what the crisis in the country was, the crisis of racism and white supremacy, the crisis of empire and war," adds Ayers.

As the 2024 Democratic National Convention opens Monday in Chicago, we look at the protests planned throughout the week to pressure Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party on key policies, including the ongoing U.S.-backed Israeli war on Gaza. Meanwhile, at least 36 delegates are also inside the convention as official delegates representing the uncommitted" movement and are advocating an antiwar agenda to push for an end to U.S. arms sales to Israel. Although protesters this week come from a range of communities advocating on various issues, from economic injustice to reproductive rights, Palestine is at the center," says Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention and national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network. All of those communities are standing up very publicly and very proudly, saying, 'Free Palestine. End U.S. aid to Israel.'"

DNC Kicks Off as Progressives and Uncommitted Delegates Demand Harris Take Action on Gaza Genocide, Gazans Hold Out Little Hope as Blinken Pushes for Ceasefire in Tel Aviv, Israeli Soldiers Attack Deir al-Balah, Wiping Out Families, Children, Another U.N. Worker, First Case of Polio Identified in Gaza in 10-Month-Old Baby, Israeli Relatives of Hamas Hostages Rally in Tel Aviv Ahead of Blinken Visit, Israel Attacks Southern Lebanon, Killing 10 Civilians from Syria, Cholera Outbreak Adds to Misery of Displacement and Starvation in Sudan War as Peace Talks Falter, Kamala Harris Lays Out Economic Policy Agenda, Vows to Lower Medical, Housing and Child Care Costs, Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Taps Historian Butch Ware as Running Mate, Philippines Reports Mpox Case in Patient Who Had Not Traveled Abroad, Protesters Demand Not Another Bomb" on Gaza in Marches Across the Globe, Colombia Bans Coal Exports to Israel over Genocide, Belarus Threatens Kyiv over Border Troops as Ukraine Pushes Further into Russia's Kursk, Dominican Pres. Abinader Starts 2nd Term After Enacting Hard-Line Immigration Policy Against Haitians, X to Shutter Operations in Brazil Amid Legal Challenges over Hate Speech, Misinformation, Bangladesh's Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus Vows to Help Rohingya Refugees Who Fled Burma, SCOTUS Allows GOP-Led States to Continue Blocking Expansion of Title IX

Ukraine's government has denied a Wall Street Journal report this week that Kyiv approved the plan to blow up the Russian-owned Nord Stream pipelines in 2022. According to the newspaper, a crew of Ukrainian civilians and active-duty soldiers used a rented yacht to reach the pipelines, which deliver Russian natural gas to Germany via the Baltic Sea, and used explosives to sever three of the four pipelines. This comes as Poland says it was unable to carry out a German arrest warrant for a new suspect in its investigation into the Nord Stream attack, a 44-year-old Ukrainian diving professional who is alleged to have attached explosive charges to the pipelines. Polish authorities say the suspect fled to Ukraine in July. For more on the investigation, we speak with German journalist Holger Stark, deputy editor-in-chief and head of the investigative team at Die Zeit, who has been reporting on the Nord Stream attack for years.

The World Health Organization has declared mpox to be a global public health emergency. The viral disease, formerly known as monkeypox, spreads through close physical contact and can cause fevers, rashes and extremely painful lesions. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also declared a public health emergency over mpox earlier this week after logging over 15,000 cases. Scientists say this strain of mpox has a fatality rate of around 5% in adults and double that in children. For more, we speak with Nigerian journalist Zubaida Baba Ibrahim, who says there is still a shortage of mpox vaccines in Africa two years after the last major outbreak. We need to decolonize global health, where we're not just waiting for vaccines from somewhere else to come to Africa," she says. African leaders need to wake up and realize that this is dire and it needs proactive measures."

As Donald Trump tries to distance his campaign from Project 2025, those behind the right-wing policy blueprint to remake the U.S. government continue to brag in private about their close ties to the Republican presidential nominee and how they intend to push a radical right-wing agenda in a second Trump administration. In July, Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought met with two people he believed to be relatives of a wealthy conservative donor interested in funding the effort. In fact, he was meeting with two reporters with the U.K.-based Centre for Climate Reporting as part of an undercover sting captured on video. Over the course of two hours, Vought described Trump's disavowal of Project 2025 as mere theater and laid out plans for mass deportations, restricting abortion, gutting independent government bureaucracies, using the military against racial justice protesters and more. The secret plans are designed to ensure that this kind of radical agenda that the conservative movement has in the U.S. can be implemented from day one," says Lawrence Carter, founder and director of the Centre for Climate Reporting and one of the reporters who spoke with Vought. They want to make sure that the mistakes from the first Trump administration, as they see them, where not much got done, are avoided this time around."

Israel Continues Deadly Attacks in Gaza as Ceasefire Talks Resume for Day 2, Israeli Settlers Kill Palestinian as They Go on Armed Rampage in Occupied West Bank, Prices on 10 Common Medications Will Go Down in 2026 After First Round of Medicare Negotiations, Make the Road Action Endorses Kamala Harris for President, AZ's Top Court Allows GOP to Describe Fetuses as Unborn Human Beings" on Ballot Measure Pamphlet, Doctors in India to Strike Amid Protests over Rape and Murder of Kolkata Medical Trainee, Paetongtarn Shinawatra Named Thai Prime Minister, Indonesian President Holds First Cabinet Meeting in Future Capital Nusantara, Ukraine Says Its Troops Have Taken Full Control of Russian Town of Sudzha, Greenland Extends Detention of Anti-Whaling Activist Paul Watson as Japan Seeks Extradition, New York City Street Vendors Rally to Demand Easier Access to Permits

Up to 200 Rohingya Muslims were killed in drone strikes last week in Burma as they attempted to flee to Bangladesh. This comes amid intensifying conflict between the military junta and the Arakan Army, a rebel armed group. Human Rights Watch says the military and the Arakan Army have both committed extrajudicial killings, unlawful recruitment for combat, and widespread arson against Rohingya civilians. They are the enemy of each other, but when it comes to the Rohingya issue, they have the same intention," says Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition. Only about 600,000 Rohingya remain in Burma, down from about 1.4 million before a campaign of ethnic cleansing began in 2016, though Nay San Lwin says the Rohingya genocide goes back even further to 1978.

Eight years after the 2016 peace agreement in Colombia between government forces and guerrillas that was meant to end a half-century of conflict, around 5 million Colombians remain internally displaced and a growing number of people live in areas controlled by armed groups. The ongoing violence in the country has pushed many to flee, often by going through the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and neighboring Panama. For more on the security situation in Colombia and the state of the peace process, we speak with Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Dr. Manuel Rozental, a Colombian physician and activist who is part of the group Pueblos en Camino, or People on the Path.

Health officials in Gaza said Thursday that the official death toll from Israel's 10-month war has topped 40,000, though that is believed to be a vast undercount of the true figure. The grim milestone was reached just days after the Biden administration greenlit $20 billion in additional weapons sales to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets, tank ammunition, mortar rounds, tactical vehicles and advanced air-to-air missiles. The U.S. approved the sales despite growing calls for an arms embargo on Israel. This is just a continuation of a policy that has been going on now for 10 months of the U.S. providing to Israel all the arms that it requests," says Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest over Gaza policy in October. It is a dark day for American foreign policy." We also speak with Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who says it's incomprehensible" that the U.S. keeps supplying Israel with weapons. There should be no more arms going into that place before there is a ceasefire."

Father Grieves Newborn Twins, Wife Who Were Killed by Israel as Gaza's Death Toll Tops 40,000, You Are Complicit": Journalists, Media Groups Demand End to U.S. Arming of Israel, Columbia Univ. President Minouche Shafik Resigns After Ordering Brutal Crackdown on Protesters, Univ. of Chicago Delivers Diplomas, Drops Cases Against Gaza Solidarity Student Protesters, Tim Walz to Debate JD Vance on Oct. 1; WaPo: RFK Jr. Courted Both Harris and Trump for WH Jobs, Zelensky Denies WSJ Report Ukrainian Gov't Approved Plan to Blow Up Nord Stream Pipelines, Tanzania Frees Opposition Leaders Amid Crackdown on Protests, WHO Declares Mpox a Global Public Health Emergency, Unions Organize Heat Week" as Extreme Temperatures Pose Mounting Dangers to Workers, Citibank Security Guard Punches Peaceful Climate Activist in Face, Tropical Storm Ernesto Drenches Puerto Rico, Leaves Half the Island Without Power, Taliban Mark 3 Years Since Return to Power in Kabul, Amid Ongoing Humanitarian, Human Rights Crisis

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza, according to the official death toll, though the true casualty figure is likely far higher with thousands of the dead unaccounted for. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have raided towns and villages across the occupied West Bank, and settlers under military protection have repeatedly stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in recent days. This all comes as the State Department on Tuesday announced the approval of $20 billion in new arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets. We speak with the Reverend Munther Isaac, pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, who joins us in our New York studio for an in-depth conversation. He is in the United States on a speaking tour to encourage faith leaders to oppose U.S. support for Israel's onslaught. We're still calling for a ceasefire, and it feels like we're still calling for the world to humanize the people of Gaza, to humanize Palestinians," says Isaac. If you're silent, knowing how your money is being spent, that means you approve."

We speak with Wall Street Journal reporter Dana Mattioli about her new book, The Everything War, which examines how Amazon came to dominate the U.S. economy through its scorched-earth" tactics. I found just a ton of business practices driven by this toxic culture at Amazon, where the company lied, spied, cheated its way to the top," she says. Mattioli also discusses the threat of antitrust lawsuits to Amazon and other Big Tech firms, political pressure on Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and more.

The United Auto Workers has filed federal labor charges against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, accusing them of illegally attempting to threaten and intimidate workers who go on strike. The UAW's complaint comes in response to comments made by Trump during a discussion with Musk Monday on the social media platform X, which Musk owns. The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk is funding a new super PAC to help Trump in swing states and return him to the White House. There have been reports Musk was planning to spend $45 million a month to help elect Trump, but Musk has disputed that figure. Reporter Dana Mattioli says it's the culmination of Musk's remarkable political transformation," with his break from the Democratic Party largely driven by his anti-union politics and the Biden administration's ties to the United Auto Workers.

Israel Widens Evacuation Orders for Khan Younis Amid Deadly Strikes on Gaza and West Bank, U.N. Security Council Holds Emergency Meeting After Israeli Attack on Gaza School Kills 100+, Biden Administration Approves $20 Billion in Additional Weapons Sales to Israel, Sudan Peace Negotiations Open Without Participation of Sudan's Army, Second Russian Region Declares State of Emergency as Ukrainian Forces Push Deeper into Russia, Germany Seeks Arrest of Ukrainian Diving Expert for Bombing Nord Stream Pipeline, Bangladesh Opens Murder Probe into Ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin Sacked by Constitutional Court, Africa Centers for Disease Control Declares a Public Health Emergency over Mpox, Majority of U.S. States Report Very High" Levels of Coronavirus in Wastewater Samples, UAW Labor Charges Allege Donald Trump and Elon Musk Threatened and Intimidated Workers, Tim Walz Rallies Union Members Against Anti-Labor Policies of Trump and JD Vance, Rep. Ilhan Omar Defeats Primary Challenge After Pro-Israel Groups Raise Funds for Her Opponent, Arizona and Missouri to Determine Fate of Abortion Rights in November Ballot Measures, Ohio Cop Charged with Murdering 21-Year-Old Pregnant Black Mother Ta'Kiya Young, Olympic Boxer Imane Khelif Sues Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling for Cyberbullying

Turmoil continues in Venezuela after July's contested election, in which both President Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition claimed victory. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, but the opposition has released thousands of vote tally sheets online that, if authenticated, suggest a landslide win for Edmundo Gonzalez. Maduro has tasked the country's Supreme Court with verifying the electoral results, though critics question the court's impartiality. Meanwhile, dueling protests have taken place in Caracas and other parts of Venezuela as international rights groups have denounced a crackdown against demonstrators by government forces, including some 2,000 reported arrests. But Maduro and allies say it is the opposition that has led widespread attacks, causing the deaths of at least 25 people during protests after the July 28 election. For more on the crisis in Venezuela, we speak with Leonardo Flores, a Venezuelan political analyst, activist and founding member of the Venezuela Solidarity Network, and Alejandro Velasco, associate professor at NYU, where he is a historian of modern Latin America.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt are urging Israel and Hamas to hold a new round of negotiations to finalize a ceasefire deal in Gaza. However, Hamas is urging mediators to enforce the ceasefire terms proposed by President Biden in May that Hamas already agreed to and that Israel rejected. Daniel Levy, president of the U.S./Middle East Project and a former Israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin, says U.S.-led efforts for a ceasefire are likely to fail as long as the Biden administration remains unwilling to pressure Israel. It's quite clear Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire deal," says Levy, who adds that the Washington playbook of unlimited support for Israel and threats to keep other regional actors in line could pull the U.S. into a wider Middle East war. America is playing the role as a member of the axis of Zionist extremism."

Iran has rejected a call by France, Germany and the United Kingdom demanding it refrain from any retaliatory attacks over the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Tensions also remain high on Israel's northern border as Lebanon-based Hezbollah vows to respond to the Israeli assassination of its senior military commander Fuad Shukr. On Friday, Israel continued its assassination campaign by killing a Hamas commander in the Lebanese city of Sidon. It's a very, very tense time here in Beirut, and in Lebanon more generally," says Karim Makdisi, a professor of international politics at the American University of Beirut. He says the cycle of escalation across the region has a clear cause, which is Israel's war on Gaza backed by the United States, and that ending the violence there will bring calm elsewhere. Get a ceasefire, everything stops."

Latest Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 32 Palestinians; Hamas Says Hostages Killed, Wounded, Israeli Settlers Storm Palestinian Villages and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Joined by Far-Right Minister, Hundreds of Minority Rohingya Muslims Killed in Burma's Rakhine State, Putin Vows to Retaliate as Ukraine's Military Presses Deeper into Russia, Red Cross Marks 75th Anniversary of Geneva Conventions with Call for Action, Jan. 6 Rioter Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Assaulting Capitol Police, Trump Campaign Charters Private Jet Formerly Owned by Jeffrey Epstein, Greek Wildfires Rage Near Athens After Record High Summer Temperatures, Kampala Landfill Landslide Buries at Least 22 People After Torrential Rains, 110 Refugees Rescued Off Italian Coast Amid Stalled Plans to Transfer Migrants to Albania, Randy Kehler, Peace Activist Who Inspired Release of Pentagon Papers, Dies at 80

Fadi Deeb represents Palestine as a shot putter in the 2024 Paralympics and is the only member of Palestine's Olympic delegation from Gaza. He describes being shot by an Israeli sniper in 2001, which caused his disability; losing many family members in the current Israeli assault on Gaza; and why he feels a great responsibility in representing Palestinians on the world stage. I want to raise my country flag here in Paris and to show the people we are still here, we're still alive - we have hopes, we have dreams, we have goals," he says. The Paralympic Games begin in Paris on August 28.

With the 2024 Summer Olympics just concluded in Paris, we look at the highlights and lowlights of the past few weeks, both on and off the field. Journalist Shireen Ahmed discusses the victories for women in sport, including Dutch runner Sifan Hassan's gold medal in the women's marathon, which she accepted at the closing ceremony wearing a hijab while France's ban on its women athletes competing in hijabs was in effect. It was a very beautiful and quiet message to women all around the world, and particularly those in France," says Ahmed, senior contributor to CBC Sports and a lecturer in the journalism program at Toronto Metropolitan University. The Nation's Dave Zirin notes that while the Olympic Games had many powerful moments, they happened against a backdrop of mass social cleansing in Paris, with thousands of migrants and unhoused people unceremoniously loaded on buses" and dumped outside the city. We have to start organizing now to make sure that the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles are not a carnival of injustice," he warns.

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tries to downplay his connection to the far-right policy agenda known as Project 2025, ProPublica and Documented have just published dozens of training videos by the group that show how the conservative movement is gearing up for the next Republican administration. It's an effort led by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank and other groups to remake the federal government, including by replacing civil servants with thousands of partisan political appointees who would help carry out the extreme policies envisioned by Project 2025. Many of the people who crafted the policy blueprint are former top Trump officials. The training videos include discussions about undoing climate policy, combatting diversity efforts, denying freedom of information requests and more.The first time that Trump ... got elected, his operation was very unprepared. They did not have a bench of people ready. There was chaos, there was confusion, and that set back that administration for perhaps months, maybe even a year or two," says ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll. If he is elected again, that will not be the case."

The official death toll in Gaza now stands at just under 40,000, though the true number of casualties is likely far higher with many thousands of the dead unaccounted for. In one of the deadliest attacks of the entire war, Israel on Saturday bombed the al-Tabin school in Gaza City where thousands of Palestinians had sought shelter. Officials in Gaza say over 100 Palestinians were killed in the attack, many of them while they were praying at a mosque inside the school. Many of the dead were dismembered or destroyed beyond recognition, with medics reportedly collecting body parts in plastic bags. CNN has confirmed a U.S.-made GBU-39 small diameter bomb was used in the strike, which resulted in over 100 pieces of people," says Palestinian journalist Shrouq Aila in Gaza. I'm saying 'pieces' because nobody was able to recognize the full body of their beloved ones."

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Press freedom groups are raising alarm after New York police arrested and charged videographer Samuel Seligson for allegedly filming pro-Palestinian activists hurling red paint at the homes of top officials of the Brooklyn Museum, part of a campaign by activists demanding the institution divest from Israel. Seligson faces eight counts of criminal mischief with a hate crime enhancement, which is a felony. Police also raided his home twice. Seligson is a well-known local journalist whose work has appeared on major news outlets, and his attorney Leena Widdi says the charges are an attack on constitutionally protected press freedoms. It is an extremely concerning assault on the First Amendment. The reason why the freedom of press is so strongly protected is because there's some underlying belief that in order for the public to meaningfully participate in a democracy, they must be actually informed," Widdi tells Democracy Now!

We speak with the co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement, who briefly met with Vice President Kamala Harris this week as the Democratic presidential candidate is under pressure to define her platform on Palestine. Layla Elabed spoke with Harris before her rally in Michigan to press her on a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel. I was very emotional in that brief exchange. I did feel like her sympathy and empathy towards me was very genuine, but Palestinian children cannot eat words," says Elabed. We need action."

We go to Dhaka for an update as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is sworn in to lead Bangladesh's caretaker government just days after the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned and fled the country amid a wave of student-led protests over inequality and corruption. Yunus is known as the banker to the poor" and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work developing microloans that helped lift millions out of poverty. Yunus thanked Bangladeshi youth for giving the country a rebirth" and vowed to work for the public good.This is uncharted territory," says Shahidul Alam, an acclaimed Bangladeshi photojournalist, author and social activist, who has spent decades documenting human rights abuses and political and social movements in the country. Alam was jailed in 2018 for his criticism of the government and spent 107 behind bars, during which time he says he was tortured by the authorities. This repression has taken such a toll on so many people for so long, the nation is just hugely relieved."We also speak with Nusrat Chowdhury, an associate professor of anthropology at Amherst College and author of Paradoxes of the Popular: Crowd Politics in Bangladesh. She says it's very significant that student leaders are being brought into the new government and says Yunus is a rare public figure in Bangladesh who exists beyond party politics" and has the chance to unify the country.

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