Democracy Now!

The Department of Justice is attempting to sabotage a reparations initiative that compensates victims of historic housing discrimination in Evanston, Illinois. For decades, Black residents of Evanston were subjected to redlining and other forms of housing discrimination, which prevented them from obtaining bank loans to purchase property. Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century, housing has been the primary way that families have built wealth, and we are in a country where there is 10 times as much wealth in the white community as there is in the Black community. ... [T]hat gap is a result, primarily, of this type of dispossession on the grounds of housing," explains Howard University law professor Justin Hansford.Evanston's reparations program, funded through donations and a local tax on recreational marijuana sales, grants Black residents and their descendants up to $25,000 for property down payments, mortgages, home repairs and other related fees. It is the first of its kind in any U.S. city and seen as a model for similar initiatives across the country and the world.The effort to bring a lawsuit to stop this particular program is meant to send a message to programs in cities and states around the country that this is something that is dangerous or illegal," says Hansford, who is helping Evanston city officials defend their reparations program from the DOJ's claims that its race-based criteria are unconstitutional. We want to make sure that everyone knows that it is constitutional to pursue reparations in the United States."

President Donald Trump has received another setback in his ongoing quest to control U.S. elections. In a 5-4 split, the Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots do not need to be received by Election Day to be counted, as long as they were postmarked by then. Although a rare victory for voting rights," the conservative justices' assertion that voting by mail is prone to fraud - a disproven theory that Trump blames his loss in the 2020 election for - is very disturbing," says Ari Berman, the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones. My fear is that this is going to embolden Republicans to double down on their efforts to try to get rid of mail voting, including the SAVE America Act, Trump's sweeping voter suppression bill, which he seems desperate to go to any lengths to try to pass," says Berman, who also comments on the court's decision to strike down a federal law limiting campaign spending.

The Supreme Court has ruled that states can prohibit transgender student athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports teams, with the court's conservative justices finding that such bans - currently introduced in Idaho and West Virginia - do not violate the Constitution, and all nine justices agreeing that they do not violate Title IX, the federal anti-sex discrimination statute. These bans are part of an effort that we're seeing escalate to push trans people out of public life," says Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project. They have the ultimate effect of increasing the legitimacy of the Trump administration's authority over every aspect of our bodily autonomy and everyday life."

Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights - to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land.' ... We keep that promise today." So concludes the decision of the Supreme Court in the landmark case Trump v. Barbara, affirming the constitutional right to birthright citizenship and rejecting President Trump's attempt to end it. Trump's executive order had aimed to prevent babies born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents from automatically becoming American citizens. We speak to Columbia University historian of immigration Mae Ngai about the case and the white nationalist logic behind Trump's challenge.

Satellite Images Show Over 58,000 Buildings Damaged by Venezuela Earthquakes, Iran's Top Negotiator Rules Out High-Level Talks Until U.S. Abides by MOU, Israel's Netanyahu Visits Troops in Southern Lebanon, Says Occupation Will Continue, 22 House Democrats Join Republicans to Defeat Lebanon War Powers Resolution, Trump's Board of Peace" Plans to Operate Hamas-Free Humanitarian Zones" in Gaza, House Republicans Block Vote on Amendment to Halt U.S.-Israeli Military Integration, Supreme Court Upholds 14th Amendment's Guarantee of Birthright Citizenship in 6-3 Ruling, SCOTUS Rules States Can Ban Trans Athletes from Women's and Girls' Sports, Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits on Political Parties' Campaign Spending, Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Defeats Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado Primary Election, Over 400,000 Children Appeared in U.S. Immigration Courts Without Lawyers, Rights Groups Accuse Ghana of Complicity in Unlawful Third Country" Deportations by U.S., South Africans March in Anti-Immigrant Protests as Vigilantes Target the Undocumented

Rescue efforts in Venezuela continue as thousands of people remain missing - trapped under the rubble of flattened homes and buildings nearly a week after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated the capital, Caracas, and the nearby city of La Guaira. Rescue teams are desperately searching for survivors, with Venezuelan health officials saying Monday that over 1,700 people are confirmed dead. The toll is expected to rise dramatically as the window for finding survivors closes.In the face of the wreckage, we're seeing also a lot of solidarity from the Venezuelan people" who are sharing space and resources with those displaced by the quakes, says Beatriz Ochoa, Latin America head of advocacy for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Looking ahead, We will need to transition to more medium- and longer-term solutions, so that people can have affordable housing and a more dignified place to sleep and to be able to rebuild their lives," says Ochoa, calling for more international support.

The Democratic Socialists of America's slate dominated the New York primaries last week, with Aber Kawas winning the Democratic nomination for a New York state Senate seat in the New York City borough of Queens with a 20-point lead against progressive State Assemblymember Steven Raga. Born and raised in New York to Palestinian parents, Kawas campaigned on affordable housing, universal healthcare, immigration reform, public transit, climate action and opposition to U.S. support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.Over the past decade, the DSA has grown from about 5,000 members to over 100,000 members in 200 chapters across the United States. What we are saying is that we want to make sure that people who are struggling are provided the best social services possible by our government," says Aber Kawas of DSA candidates. That is not a threat to people. That is a really hopeful message that so many Americans and so many people are looking for, and that is why we were able to win in these landslide victories."

Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July Fourth, we speak to award-winning Cherokee author and journalist Rebecca Nagle about what's missing from the conventional story of the American Revolution.The last grievance in the Declaration of Independence is about 'merciless Indian savages,'" says Rebecca Nagle. According to our founders, in their own words, the thing that they were most angry about was Native people." She also argues that the biggest myth" is that the founders built a democracy, because they also built an empire," and that the two can't coexist.Nagle partnered with leading Indigenous scholars on a new documentary podcast called First America. The series challenges the conventional U.S. origin story by examining the experiences of Indigenous peoples, and traces how laws and legal doctrines first used to dispossess Indigenous nations continue to impact questions of executive power, immigration, xenophobia, citizenship, territorial expansion and U.S. foreign policy today.Nagle links the dark history of the United States' founding to ongoing oppression in the country. I would be reporting on America's past, and then the same thing would happen in our present," she says. Rounding people up, putting people in detention, even shooting anybody who gets in the way, these are things that our government has done before - not once, not twice, but many, many times."

Iranian Officials Deny Trump's Claims of High-Level Talks in Doha, Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill 8, Including 2 Children, as Smotrich Calls for Gaza Settlements, Rights Group Says Israel Is Killing Palestinian Children in West Bank at Fastest Rate Since 1967, More Than 130 Venezuelans Recently Deported from U.S. Feared Dead in La Guaira Earthquakes, Ukrainian Drones Target Moscow After Russian Attacks on Ukraine Kill 8, SCOTUS to Allow the President to Fire Independent Agency Heads, Except at the Federal Reserve, Divided Supreme Court Upholds Grace Periods for Mail-In Ballots Postmarked by Election Day, SCOTUS Rules Cellphone Location Data Is Protected by the Fourth Amendment, SCOTUS Declines to Hear Trump's Appeal of $5 Million Sex Abuse and Defamation Case, Supreme Court Will Consider Arizona Laws Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote, DSA-Backed Insurgents Target Democratic Incumbents as Colorado Holds Primaries, New York City Council Employee with TPS Released from Newark ICE Jail After 5 Months, Trump Bought Stock in Taser Company Before ICE Announced $220 Million Contract, New York Mayor Mamdani Closes Part of Rikers Island Jail

The Trump administration's commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the country's founding have drawn criticism for their overt partisanship and conflicts of interest for the Trump family. Surveys show widespread ambivalence and lack of enthusiasm for the semiquincentennial.StoryCorps founder Dave Isay has set out to capture the national mood with Connect250, an oral history project matching strangers across the United States to interview each other about their lives, families and formative experiences. The series is produced in partnership with NPR's Morning Edition, with the conversations to be preserved in the Library of Congress.It's actually a very hopeful project," says Isay. We have to hold on to hope."

I do not love America, and never have, especially now." Those are the opening words of America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries, a new book from Princeton historian Eddie Glaude. Released ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, the book is a critical look back at how the United States has celebrated previous milestone birthdays, including what narratives were left out of the official commemorations. This comes as President Donald Trump has made himself the center of many events and celebrations for the 250th anniversary, while promoting a storybook version" of U.S. history that elides the injustice that was baked into the very founding of the country, Glaude tells Democracy Now! in a wide-ranging conversation about race, inequality and the legacy of slavery.Donald Trump and his supporters, they want to be white without judgment," says Glaude. History is a battleground, because history, of course, holds them to account."

Nearly 50,000 Remain Missing in Venezuela as Earthquake Rescue Efforts Pivot to Recovery, Iran Denies U.S. Claims of Upcoming Talks Following Weekend Clashes, Israel Renews Attacks on Southern Lebanon After Signing U.S.-Brokered Deal, Children Among the Dead as Israel Continues to Bombard Gaza, Despite Ceasefire Deal, Gaza Humanitarian Convoy Activists Released from Libyan Prison, France's Death Toll Tops 1,000 as Europe Bakes Under Unprecedented Heat Wave, Appeals Court Blocks Trump's Rollback of Pollution Limits from Coal-Fired Plants, Kenyan Activists Arrested at Anti-Government Protests Say They Were Tortured by Police, Trump Taps Former Oklahoma State Trooper Lance Schroyer as Next ICE Director, Mexican Immigrant Dies at For-Profit ICE Jail in Texas, the 20th Such Death in 2026, Tens of Thousands in Budapest Celebrate First Pride Event Since Viktor Orban's Ouster, Court in Chile Sentences Former Secret Police over 1976 Assassination in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to restrict thousands of lawsuits claiming Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, had a duty to warn consumers about potential cancer risks from its popular weed killer Roundup. The case before the Supreme Court began in St. Louis, Missouri, where a resident named John Durnell, who had used Roundup for decades and was later diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, sued Monsanto under Missouri state law for not putting a warning label on its product. But because the federal Environmental Protection Agency found no cancer risk in its assessment of Roundup, the court has ruled against Durnell.The ruling essentially says that only the EPA can make a determination that something is harmful to us and has to carry a warning label," explains reporter Nate Halverson, who has been documenting health and environmental harms allegedly linked to Roundup, as well as efforts to hold Monsanto accountable. In his reporting, Halverson found that scientific studies cited by the EPA in its Roundup assessment were ghostwritten" by Monsanto itself - and that ghostwritten information has now made its way into the Supreme Court's decision."

Thousands of Haitians and Syrians living in the United States are newly at risk of deportation after the Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump administration to strip them of temporary protected status," or TPS. The program, designed for foreign citizens of countries the U.S. government believes are too unstable or dangerous to be returned to, often due to natural disasters or war, has been a major target of attack by the Trump administration and its anti-immigrant agenda.We are looking at the catastrophic deficit in the workforce in the United States if we allow this deportation machine and cruelty to take effect," our guest, Haitian Bridge Alliance's Guerline Jozef, says.This is just part of the Trump administration's efforts to feed the detention and deportation machine and essentially halt immigration," adds Lupe Aguirre of the International Refugee Assistance Project. It's about maintaining their campaign promises to root out people that they see as undesirable."

The death toll from twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela Wednesday night is expected to reach into the thousands as rescuers continue to search for bodies trapped in the rubble. Hospitals are rapidly reaching a breaking point, and thousands of survivors have been left homeless. Reporter Andreina Chavez's building was one of the countless residences in Venezuela's capital Caracas and its surrounding region that were damaged by the massive quakes. Chavez was on the street when the earthquakes struck, and says she saw at least three buildings partially collapse right in front of [her]."As Venezuelans band together to find survivors, the country is calling for international support and resources to step up critical rescue and recovery efforts. We weren't prepared for a disaster of this magnitude," says Chavez. Venezuela is a country that has been under U.S. sanctions ... as well as a country that has an infrastructure that is very deteriorated. We have public services that are very deteriorated, and all of that has been something that has really added to this tragedy."

The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration in a major blow to the rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The court ruled 6 to 3 along partisan lines to sanction so-called metering at the southern border, which allows immigration officers at ports of entry to block asylum seekers from setting foot on U.S. soil.In a time of increasing conflict and climate catastrophe, this will result in many more deaths," warns Erika Pinheiro of Al Otro Lado, the lead plaintiff in the case. When the turnback policy was first introduced, recounts Melissa Crow of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, who served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs' case, many asylum seekers became so desperate that they ended up trying to enter between ports of entry, either by swimming across the Rio Grande or by traversing the desert under harrowing conditions, and many, many of them didn't make it to the other side."

Over 500 Are Dead and Thousands Remain Missing Following Twin Earthquakes in Venezuela, U.N. Shipping Agency Halts Strait of Hormuz Evacuations as Projectile Strikes Cargo Ship, Israeli Airstrikes Kill 2 in Lebanon as Netanyahu Says Occupation Will Continue Indefinitely, Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Block Asylum Seekers at U.S. Border, Supreme Court Will Allow Trump to End TPS for 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, Supreme Court Blocks Cancer Patients from Suing Bayer over Popular Weed Killer, U.S. Plans to Deport Over 500 Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, Federal Agents Confront Election Worker at Syracuse Polling Place over Instagram Post, Judge Blocks Trump's Order Creating Confirmed Citizen Lists" and Restricting Mail-in Voting, JD Vance Praises Richard Nixon, Downplays Watergate Scandal, New York City to Freeze Rents for Nearly 1 Million Apartments for Next Two Years

Democracy Now! speaks with science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow about AI and his latest book, The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence - Before It's Too Late.Doctorow comments on AI's bad unit economics" and the connection between automation and labor. When labor drives automation, it's usually in service to making the product better, and when capital drives automation, it's usually in service to making more of the product," says Doctorow.

A group of anti-ICE protesters in Texas were sentenced to 30 to 100 years in jail on Tuesday, after federal prosecutors accused them of being an antifa terror cell." The activists attended a protest outside the Prairieland ICE jail in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4 of last year, during which fireworks were set off and a police officer was shot and wounded. All nine defendants were found guilty after being tried before a federal judge in Texas. Matt Sledge, political reporter for The Intercept, warns that we just have to watch for this playbook to be applied elsewhere."Now anyone engaged in basic protests with the wrong political beliefs can be labeled a domestic terrorist, when they have no intention of violence, not engaged in any violence, not interested in any violence," says Sufia Khalid, deputy director of the National Security Criminal Defense Center, who represents one of the Prairieland defendants.

Thousands are feared dead in Venezuela after back-to-back powerful earthquakes struck the country Wednesday evening, collapsing buildings in the capital Caracas and surrounding areas. Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez has declared a state of emergency as rescue workers frantically search for survivors in the rubble of dozens" of collapsed buildings. Historian Alejandro Velasco, who has family in Venezuela, reports that many Venezuelans abroad are trying to get in touch with their loved ones in Venezuela and are having a hard time doing so."The current death toll is at 164, with 1,000 people injured, but the U.S. Geological Survey warns there's a high chance the death toll could rise into the tens of thousands - or even top 100,000.

Thousands Feared Dead After Twin Earthquakes Rock Venezuela, White House Requests $87.6 Billion in Supplemental Funds, Mostly for Iran War, Israel Kills Two in Southern Lebanon, Straining U.S.-Iran Ceasefire, Drone Kills 12-Year-Old in Gaza as U.N. Inquiry Finds Israel Targets Children in Ongoing Genocide", Palestinian Journalist's Shocking" Photo Shows Effects of Torture, Medical Neglect in Israeli Jails, Professor Fired for Pro-Palestinian Activism Reinstated by San Jose State, Trump Clashes with GOP Senators over Iran and Blocks Housing Bill to Force SAVE Act Vote, Ukrainian Drones Kill 3 in Russian-Held Donetsk as Russia Bombards Team Clearing Landmines, Moscow Court Sentences Politician to Seven Years in Prison for Antiwar Messages, Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to Resume Mass Deportations Without Trial, Pentagon Restores Flu Vaccine Mandate After Outbreak Sickens Hundreds at Air Force Base, Five Eyes" Intelligence Alliance Warns AI Models Pose Huge Cybersecurity Risks, Keiko Fujimori, Daughter of Peru's Former Dictator, Poised to Win Razor-Thin Presidential Runoff

A new documentary explores a growing body of scientific research documenting the wide range of gender and sexual diversity found in the animal kingdom, from pregnant male seahorses to matriarchal monkey troops. Second Nature, directed by queer filmmaker Drew Denny, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Elliot Page, who says he joined the project because I was so moved by it and found it so affirming as a trans and queer person."Learning about animal life beyond binary concepts of sex and gender was life-changing, Denny shares about her inspiration for the film. I finally felt in my body, for the first time, that I belong here on Earth, just like anybody else." Featuring interviews with evolutionary biologists and eye-opening footage of the natural world, Second Nature is now showing in major cities across the United States.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani may be the new kingmaker of New York City politics. In a sweeping affirmation of his affordability-focused agenda, all three congressional candidates endorsed by Mamdani in a set of contested Democratic primary elections declared victory Tuesday night. Manhattan and the Bronx's Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brooklyn's Claire Valdez and Brad Lander were all joined on the campaign trail by the progressive NYC mayor in the weeks leading up to election night. Like Mamdani, Avila Chevalier and Valdez are members of the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, which backed their campaigns.We speak to John Tarleton, editor-in-chief of the New York City local independent newspaper The Indypendent, about the insurgent left of the Democratic Party and the potential national ramifications of the Zohran-DSA machine.Two of the races also functioned as a referendum on the growing split in the Democratic Party over Israel/Palestine. While the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC funneled an estimated $50 million into their staunchly pro-Israel opponents' campaigns, Avila Chevalier and Lander refused to take any funding from pro-Israel groups and consistently emphasized their support of efforts to restrict U.S. military aid for Israel. If you ignore the cause of Palestinian liberation, you do so at your own peril," says Tarleton.

A wave of progressive candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani won big in New York last night. DSA members Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated two Democratic Party establishment picks for Congress, Antonio Reynoso and five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat. Other DSA candidates, including Palestinian American Aber Kawas, running for New York state Senate, notched wins further downballot. And Mamdani-backed candidate Brad Lander defeated Dan Goldman, another congressional incumbent.Darializa Avila Chevalier joins Democracy Now! in her first live broadcast interview since her upset win. After weathering a vicious and often racist campaign conducted by her AIPAC-funded opponent Espaillat, Avila Chevalier is projected to become the first Dominican American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, representing New York's 13th Congressional District.Americans are tired of this politics of death, politics of cynicism, and want to make sure that our resources are coming back to our communities and investing in the life and the needs of the people here," says Avila Chevalier, a former student organizer at Columbia University who has been active in the pro-Palestine and immigrant rights movements for over a decade. She credits part of her decision to run to her experience advocating for fellow student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil's release from federal ICE detention last year. When I was first considering whether or not this was a race that I wanted to throw my hat in, I just kept thinking about Mahmoud and the millions of people like him and [Khalil's wife] Noor, who are so fearful right now, and what it would have meant to them to have a representative who was actually fighting for them."

Mamdani-Endorsed Progressives Sweep New York House Primaries, Congress Directs Trump to End U.S. War on Iran, France Experiences Hottest Day on Record as U.N. Warns of More Frequent Climate Disasters, Anti-ICE Protesters Sentenced to Decades in Prison over Terrorism" at Texas ICE Jail, Supreme Court Ruling Gives U.S. Blank Check" to Weaken Green Card Holders' Rights, Trump's Efforts to Ram Through SAVE America Act Meets Resistance from GOP Senators, Trump Loyalist Bill Pulte Begins Purge at National Intelligence Office, WaPo: Tulsi Gabbard's Political Rise Was Highly Influenced by Guru of Hare Krishna Offshoot, Congress Approves Housing Bill Limiting Institutional Investors and Easing New Construction

A new report by CorpWatch titled "MAGA Inc." reveals which allies of President Trump are profiting off of the administration's policies. Pratap Chatterjee, executive director of CorpWatch, says that prison companies and Big Tech companies have cashed out on policies of mass deportation. The people that we think are profiting the most out of MAGA [are in] the business of deportation, the business of gathering data," says Chatterjee. Palantir, in particular, has provided the government with information to support the surveillance of immigrants and data to support war efforts.The Trump family is also expanding their fortune through cryptocurrency, according to the report. These are schemes by which you can move money anonymously around the world, something that drug dealers, gun manufacturers or gun dealers and criminals love," says Chatterjee. This is the sort of business that is now benefiting the Trump family."

Today is Election Day in New York, with a number of primary challengers hoping to unseat Democratic establishment politicians. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have a packed slate of 10 candidates across congressional, state Assembly and state Senate races. People are really looking for something else other than these corporate Democrats," says Liza Featherstone, author and columnist for Jacobin. Describing the DSA as a key part of the grassroots base" of the left wing of the Democratic Party, Featherstone says DSA members want elected leaders who have come out of movements themselves, not just lifelong politicians who only turn to movements for endorsements every four years.Palestine is a key issue in many of the races, with DSA challengers taking a strong stand against genocide, while some incumbents have received large donations from AIPAC-linked super PACs. People are absolutely disgusted with the U.S. relationship with Israel, absolutely appalled by the killing that we've seen," says Featherstone. Today's primary results will show to what extent the DSA is seen as a genuine alternative to the establishment wing of the Democratic Party.

Acclaimed conservationist Mona Khalil was killed by an Israeli strike on her beachside home in the village of al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon. The 76-year-old spent more than 25 years working to protect endangered sea turtles, and her work helped turn a stretch of southern Lebanon's coastline into one of the most important nesting sites for endangered sea turtles in the eastern Mediterranean.Khalil lived in the Orange House" - her grandmother's home, which she helped transform into a refuge for endangered sea turtles, an ecotourism site and a training ground in ecological conservation for a generation of volunteers. This is not a project that belongs to me," she once said. It belongs to Lebanon. It belongs to the whole world."A refugee of the Lebanese civil war, Khalil returned to Lebanon from the Netherlands in 1999 and began her conservation work after seeing a turtle laying eggs on the beach near her family's seaside home. Since then, Mona rarely left her home and the beach she had spent years protecting.Mona was like a symbol of hope, of life and of resistance in south Lebanon, and probably that's one of the reasons she was killed," says Rami Khashab, a Lebanese herpetologist who worked alongside Khalil. They are trying to kill the hope of the Lebanese people."

Israel is continuing to attack Gaza despite the so-called ceasefire. Israeli strikes killed Ahmed Wishah, a cameraman with Al Jazeera, and at least six people, including two children, on Saturday. Wishah's brother Mohammed, who also worked for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli strike this April. Israel has now killed over 260 journalists in Gaza, including at least 12 working for Al Jazeera, since October 2023.We don't see the type of outrage that we would see if a Western journalist was killed by a country that is not a U.S. ally," says Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Middle East and North Africa editor at Drop Site News. It's really a shameful state of affairs." Kouddous also comments on the expansion of Israel's genocidal tactics" in Gaza that have now been exported outside of Palestine in places like Lebanon."

Top Negotiator Says Iran Will Permanently Manage Strait of Hormuz, Pentagon Seeks $80 Billion in Additional Iran War Funding, Israeli Forces Kill 2 In Lebanon After Iran Warns Continued Attacks Could Scuttle Ceasefire, U.N. Commission of Inquiry Finds Israel Is Committing Genocide by Killing Gaza's Children, Not Afraid to Stand Up to Genocide": United Auto Workers Vote to Divest from Israel, Pentagon Says Latest Attack on Alleged Drug Boat Killed Two, Leaving Six Survivors, U.N. Warns Paramilitaries Are Poised to Commit Atrocities in Sudan's el-Obeid, Confirmed Cases of Ebola Top 1,000 in DRC, NYC Mayor Mamdani Orders Protections for Outdoor Workers Facing Extreme Heat, Interior Dept. Seeks to Roll Back Fees and Regulations for Coal, Oil and Gas Extraction, Judge Blocks Trump's National Citizenship Database That Threatens the Sacred Right to Vote", Federal Judge Derails Trump's Retribution Campaign Against Minnesota Officials, Supreme Court Postpones Considering Trump's Appeal of E. Jean Carroll Verdicts for 15th Time, Alan Greenspan, Fed Chief Whose Policies Fueled Economic Inequality, Dies at 100

Right-wing Trump ally Abelardo de la Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in Sunday's runoff presidential election in Colombia, defeating leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, an ally of current President Gustavo Petro. De la Espriella ran a fearmongering, tough-on-crime" campaign, promising to build mega-prisons inspired by El Salvador's authoritarian President Nayib Bukele, to bomb narcoterrorist camps" and to abandon Petro's peace efforts. His reported victory is also a win for U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration is waging an intensifying war on drugs" across Latin America, targeting left-wing leaders like Petro with false allegations and threats of military intervention.De la Espriella clearly represents a criminal approach to politics: lying, propaganda, coordination and collusion with criminal narcotrafficking, restriction of rights, and money laundering," says longtime Colombian activist Manuel Rozental. With his victory, says Rozental, We expect to have military operations and a U.S. intervention within the country. We expect to have human rights abuses. We expect to have militarization. And it's all for the extraction of resources and the link of drug trafficking to the U.S. government, U.S. interests and global mafia."

Keir Starmer has announced his resignation as the United Kingdom's prime minister and leader of the Labour Party following growing pressure from within his own party to step down. During his time in office, Starmer faced mounting opposition over his embrace of austerity measures amid a cost-of-living crisis in Britain, as well as his brutal crackdown on Palestine solidarity protesters. Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is widely expected to become the next prime minister. Some leaders of the British left have warned Burnham may do little to shift from Starmer's policies, including his position on Israel.Starmer really lost support in the party because he was perceived as too right-wing for it and because he was too boring. He lacked charisma," explains our guest, the Australian British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson.Robertson also discusses Britain's Court of Appeal's ruling that the government's proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization is lawful, making it a criminal offense to belong to or support the organization. Four Palestine Action activists were recently sentenced as terrorists over their involvement in a 2024 raid on a British factory operated by one of Israel's largest arms manufacturers, Elbit Systems.

Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar say the United States and Iran made encouraging progress" during 18 hours of negotiations in Switzerland, where the two sides agreed to a roadmap toward reaching a final deal within 60 days. The talks took place despite Iran on Saturday announcing it was closing the Strait of Hormuz after Israel killed 83 people in Lebanon on Friday. Israel said it would agree to a new ceasefire in Lebanon but is also refusing to end its occupation of southern Lebanon.Iran has, through its throttling of the Strait of Hormuz, enormous leverage to produce pain on not just the United States, but global markets," says award-winning journalist Spencer Ackerman. We're going to await how the Iranians will ultimately play that card when it comes to Lebanon."Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, fellow at the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at the CUNY Graduate Center, says that by demanding the ceasefire extend to Lebanon, the Islamic Republic focused on creating a rift between Israel and the U.S., and I think, possibly, along with the successes in the war front politically, that was one of the most successful projects that they followed."

Progress Cited in U.S.-Iran Talks Despite Trump's Threat to Resume Bombing, Despite Ceasefire," Israel Killed 83 in Lebanon on Friday, Lebanese Turtle Conservationist Mona Khalil, 76, Dies After Israeli Attack on Her Home, Gaza: Israel Kills Al Jazeera Cameraman Ahmed Wishah, Keir Starmer Resigns as PM Amid Mounting Pressure from Labour Party, Trump-Backed Far-Right Lawyer Wins Colombian Presidential Election, Bolivia Declares State of Emergency, Military Deployed to Quell Protests, Under Intense U.S. Pressure, Cuban Lawmakers Approve Sweeping Economic Changes, Salah Sarsour, Head of Wisconsin's Largest Mosque, Released from ICE Jail, Car Hits Protester Outside Delaney Hall ICE Jail During Father's Day Vigil, U.S. to Stop Funding HIV & AIDS Program in South Africa, Trump Claims Without Proof That Vandals Caused Greening of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Another Wasted Life." That's the name of a remarkable new song by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens. She released a video of the song on October 2 to mark International Wrongful Conviction Day. The song was inspired by Kalief Browder, a Bronx resident who died by suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after being detained at Rikers Island jail for nearly three years, after being falsely accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack. He was held in solitary confinement for two years and was repeatedly assaulted by guards and other prisoners.In the video for Another Wasted Life," Rhiannon Giddens features 22 people who were wrongly incarcerated. Together, they collectively served more than 500 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit. The video includes two men, David Bryant and Tyrone Jones, who each spent 40 years in prison. Another seven of the men each spent over 25 years locked up after wrongful convictions. Rhiannon Giddens made the video in partnership with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.

As part of our Juneteenth special broadcast, we feature our interview with pioneering musical artist Rhiannon Giddens, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her opera Omar, about Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar in Africa who was sold into slavery in the 1800s.

We feature a special broadcast marking the Juneteenth federal holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. We begin with our 2021 interview with historian Clint Smith, originally aired a day after President Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth the first new federal holiday since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Smith is the author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. When I think of Juneteenth, part of what I think about is the both/andedness of it," Smith says, that it is this moment in which we mourn the fact that freedom was kept from hundreds of thousands of enslaved people for years and for months after it had been attained by them, and then, at the same time, celebrating the end of one of the most egregious things that this country has ever done." Smith says he recognizes the federal holiday marking Juneteenth as a symbol, but it is clearly not enough."

The new documentary Shoot the People profiles the Nigerian British photographer and activist Misan Harriman, the first Black photographer to shoot the cover of British Vogue and an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights. We speak to Harriman in New York City ahead of the film's U.S. premiere, about his work, the repression and criminalization of pro-Palestine protest in the United Kingdom - including the unprecedented sentencing of four activists with the group Palestine Action as terrorists - and more. I genuinely believe that through art and culture, we can see that the sum of all of our parts is stronger than the powerful few," says Harriman.

The Department of Justice has intervened in a legal case involving the world's first trillionaire, Elon Musk, asking a Mississippi federal court to toss a lawsuit from the NAACP against Musk's company xAI, a subsidiary of SpaceX. The NAACP says xAI is violating the Clean Air Act by running dozens of unpermitted gas-burning turbines in majority-Black neighborhoods to fuel its data centers in Memphis, Tennessee. The Department of Justice, however, is arguing that the lawsuit violates national security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations."We should be concerned about this type of authoritarian rule," says NAACP attorney Abre' Conner, who adds that communities themselves should be the ones to make the decisions about our health, about pollution in communities, about stopping sacrifice zones from being furthered because of an agenda that does not serve everyday people."

World leaders are returning home from the annual G7 summit, having failed to address issues such as income inequality, climate change and territorial conflict, while entertaining the wealthy executives of the artificial intelligence and fossil fuel industries. Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar calls the G7 a club of the super-rich super-elites" and slams the summit's focus on business, and business as usual, at the expense of humanitarian efforts and improving the lives of the common people."

The United States and Iran have officially signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in Iran. The 14-point agreement includes an immediate end to fighting on all fronts including Lebanon, an end to the U.S. naval blockade on Iran and the full resumption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. It also proposes easing oil sanctions on Iran, unfreezing Iranian assets and launching a $300 billion investment fund to rebuild Iran, all while tabling the question of Iran's nuclear program, which is instead set to be negotiated over in the coming months.The United States is more eager for this war to end than Iran is," says professor Vali Nasr, who teaches at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In Iran, they're very triumphant." We discuss the long-term effects of the war, from the growing U.S. distrust of Israel, to the new generation of political leaders in the Islamic Republic, to the evolution of Iran into a major power player in an increasingly multipolar world.

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Israel has killed over 260 journalists and media workers in Gaza and 28 in Lebanon since October 7, 2023. Irish filmmaker Sean Murray investigates Israel's killings of journalists in his new feature documentary Journacide: The War on Truth. He says the term journacide" applies to Israel's military actions because of the explicit nature of the targeting and killing of journalists" as a way to silence the truth. Murray calls it the Gaza doctrine that is now being applied in Lebanon."

The United States and Iran are set to formally sign an agreement Friday to end military hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin negotiations on a long-term peace accord between the two countries.According to terms of the memorandum of understanding obtained by CNN and other media outlets, there is to be an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon." The leaked text also promises sanctions relief for Iran and access to the country's frozen assets held abroad, as well as a $300 billion fund for reconstruction and development. The memo reiterates Iran's long-held position that it will never produce nuclear weapons, with the fate of its nuclear program delayed until further negotiations.Israel has vowed to ignore the U.S.-Iran agreement and maintain its occupation of southern Lebanon, with many Israeli leaders and commentators expressing outrage about the apparent terms of the deal for being too conciliatory to Iran. President Trump, meanwhile, has expressed criticism of Israel's actions in Lebanon.Trump's had enough," says Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg, speaking to Democracy Now! from Tel Aviv. He hasn't had enough because he cares about the Palestinians or about Lebanon. He's had enough of Netanyahu's disrespect. He's had enough of the notion that it's actually Netanyahu who's calling the shots."

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have announced criminal charges against 15 people in connection with anti-ICE protests in the Twin Cities. The defendants are accused of conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers" and of allegedly violently" impeding immigration enforcement in Minneapolis during Trump's so-called Operation Metro Surge, during which thousands of federal immigration agents were deployed and fatally shot two U.S. citizens.The indictment focuses on Direct Action Minnesota, or DAMN, a broad activist coalition that prosecutors have linked to anti-fascist, or antifa," groups. Last fall, President Trump categorized antifa as a domestic terror organization" even though it is not an actual group.All 15 of the defendants are members of the community, active in mutual aid, union members, workers, neighbors," says defense attorney Bruce Nestor, who represents one of the 15. The point of this is to spread fear to try to divide us."

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President Donald Trump's name has been removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., after a judge ruled its addition was illegal. The Kennedy Center's board, which was handpicked by Trump, voted to add Trump's name to the center late last year. The battle over the Kennedy Center's name comes during a broader push by Trump to overhaul the institution, which is closed for renovations" amid mass cancellations by artists.We, the American people, have rarely been afforded the decency of a public conversation or process," says Marc Bamuthi Joseph, who was fired from his role as vice president and artistic director of the Kennedy Center's Social Impact initiative in March 2025. There were no procedural protocols in the affixing of this person's name on a national memorial, and so ... this does feel like a small victory for the rule of law."The removal of Trump's name really does mean something. We have been fighting for it since it went up in December," says Mallory Miller, who was fired from her job as assistant manager of dance programming at the Kennedy Center in August 2025. Miller is the co-founder of Hands Off the Arts, which has been rallying outside the Kennedy Center every week. This is just the first step in rebuilding the trust that has been lost," says Miller, pointing out that Trump is still the boss" at the Kennedy Center and that workers at the center are still being fired.

Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire on Friday with the largest initial public offering in stock market history for his rocket and AI company SpaceX. The company is based in South Texas in a city controlled by Musk known as Starbase, which SpaceX has operated from since 2014. Environmental and conservation groups recently filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block a land swap approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would give SpaceX more than 700 acres of a national wildlife refuge in South Texas.With Starbase, SpaceX has already burned down dozens of acres of wildlife habitat, is dumping polluted water on our beach, has sent rocket debris into our communities, into communities in Mexico," says Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, which is part of the lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Elon Musk is using our impoverished community as his laboratory to blow up dangerous experimental SpaceX rockets."While groups like the South Texas Environmental Justice Network are organizing opposition to Musk's operations in South Texas, local officials are ignoring constituents' complaints that SpaceX is degrading the environment and their quality of life, says Hinojosa. We've seen elected officials take money from SpaceX here and lobby in favor of more bills that benefit SpaceX."

The U.S. and Iran reached a memorandum of understanding on Sunday extending the ceasefire by 60 days. It is set to be formally signed in Geneva on Friday. The text of the agreement has not yet been released, but Iran has agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while the U.S. will lift its naval blockade. According to Iran, the deal calls for a permanent and immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon. But Israel, which is not a party to the agreement, says it plans to keep troops in parts of southern Lebanon. The Israelis are trying to destroy this deal, and they will continue to try," says Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. It will require persistent, consistent pressure by Trump on the Israelis in order to hold them back."We also discuss how The Free Press, founded by Bari Weiss, published an article last week claiming the State Department had opened a probe into Parsi that could lead to his deportation. The State Department issued a statement just hours later claiming that it had no plans to revoke the green card of Mr. Parsi at this time."I do believe that there were elements inside the State Department that wanted to move in this direction," says Parsi. They thought that this hit piece would help move things forward, but I think, frankly, it backfired."

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