Democracy Now!

Donald Rumsfeld, considered the chief architect of the Iraq War, has died at the age of 88. As defense secretary for both Presidents George W. Bush and Gerald Ford, Rumsfeld presided, his critics say, over systemic torture, massacres of civilians and illegal wars. We look at Rumsfeld's legacy with retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich, whose son was killed in Iraq. Bacevich is the president of the antiwar think tank the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He says the Iraq War should be the most important item inscribed on Rumsfeld's headstone. "He was a disaster," Bacevich says. "He was a catastrophically bad and failed defense secretary who radically misinterpreted the necessary response to 9/11, and therefore caused almost immeasurable damage to our country, to Iraq, to the Persian Gulf, more broadly."

Trump Organization CFO Surrenders After Grand Jury Indictment, Bill Cosby Released from Jail After Court Overturns Sexual Assault Conviction on Technicality, Hundreds Feared Dead in Pacific Northwest in Unprecedented Heat Wave, Indigenous Groups Blockade White House Urging End to Fossil Fuel Projects, ExxonMobil Lobbyist Tricked into Disclosing How Firm Fights Climate Initiatives, Death Toll in Miami Beach Building Collapse Reaches 18; 145 Still Missing, Highly Contagious Delta COVID Variant Drives Cases, from Bangladesh to Russia, Brazilians Call for Bolsonaro Impeachment as COVD Death Toll Tops 500K, Iraq War & Torture Architect Donald Rumsfeld, 88, Dies, Just Two Republicans Back House Plan to Establish Jan. 6 Select Committee, Billionaire Funds Deployment of South Dakota National Guard to U.S.-Mexico Border, Amazon Seeks to Force New FTC Chair to Recuse Herself over Past Amazon Criticism, China Marks 100th Anniversary of Chinese Communist Party, U.S. & Japan Held Secret War Games & Military Exercises Targeting China, U.N. Sec.-Gen. Guterres Urges U.S. to Lift Sanctions on Iran, 182 More Unmarked Graves Found at First Nations Residential Schools in Canada, Report: Palestinian Authority Asks Israel for Munitions to Quell West Bank Protests, State Department to Allow "X" Gender Marker on Passports, Absentee Ballots Will Decide NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary, UNC-Chapel Hill Board Votes to Give Tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones

As the death toll from the 13-story apartment building collapse in Florida rises to 12, with nearly 150 people still missing, we examine how the disaster raises new questions about how rising sea levels will impact oceanside buildings in Miami and other cities. "The reason this is so important is that either this is something unique to the building or this is a general problem that all the condos along the coasts of the world are going to have to deal with," says Harold Wanless, a professor in geography and urban sustainability at the University of Miami who leads a project called The Invading Sea, a collaborative effort by news organizations across Florida to address the threat of sea level rise.

House lawmakers are set to vote to create a select committee that will investigate the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, while Republican leaders still aren't saying whether they will participate in the panel. Congressmember Nikema Williams of Georgia says it's vital to properly investigate the January 6 insurrection. "I experienced this attack on the Capitol my third day of being a member of Congress, having just been sworn in," Williams says. "I signed up to serve the people, but I never imagined that I would be unsafe as a member of Congress." Williams also discusses ongoing negotiations about infrastructure spending and the push to pass a sweeping voting rights bill.

After President Biden signed legislation this month to create a federal holiday commemorating June 19 as Juneteenth, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Georgia Congressmember Nikema Williams reintroduced what is being called the "Abolition Amendment" to amend the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which banned slavery and involuntary servitude "except as a punishment for crime" — a clause that has allowed the widespread use of forced prison labor. "Eliminating the loophole … is one way to continue moving forward with addressing the problems of our past and building for the future," says Democratic Congressmember Nikema Williams. "American prisons are run by incarcerated labor," adds Jorge Renaud, national criminal justice director for LatinoJustice, who experienced forced labor while serving 27 years in a Texas prison.

As the U.S. marks 50 years since President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs on June 17, 1971, we speak with journalist Maya Schenwar, editor-in-chief of the news website Truthout, whose sister Keeley died of a drug overdose in February 2020 at the age of 29. Schenwar says her sister's death came after "a long cycle of criminalization" that made her chances of recovery much harder. "She became so afraid of being rearrested," says Schenwar, who notes that many drug users avoid seeking medical help because of the fear of police involvement and incarceration. "Why are we supporting criminalization at the expense of people's actual survival?" she asks. Drug overdoses have soared during the pandemic, causing over 92,000 deaths in the United States in the 12-month period ending in November — the most since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began keeping track over two decades ago. Experts say the pandemic and the increasing availability of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have contributed to the death toll.

Israeli Forces Begin Demolitions in East Jerusalem's Silwan, Attack Protesters, U.S. Military May Be Near End of Afghan Withdrawal as Top General Warns of Possible Civil War, Russia Tests Missiles in Crimea After Start of Ukraine-NATO's Black Sea Military Drill, Israel's Foreign Minister Inaugurates Embassy in UAE, Former South African President Jacob Zuma Sentenced to Prison for Contempt of Court, COVID Surge Brings Indonesia to "Edge of Catastrophe"; Virus Lowered Brazil's Life Expectancy, Vaccinated Angelenos Urged to Keep Masking Amid Delta Variant Spread; 800 Line 3 Workers Got COVID, Pfizer & Moderna Vaccines Could Offer Years of Protection; SCOTUS Allows Eviction Moratorium to Stand, NYC Board of Elections Posts, Then Retracts, Updated Tally in Mayor's Race After Counting Error, Maricopa County Will Replace Voting Machines Handled by GOP-Hired Firm in 2020 Election Audit, House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues from the Capitol, Rep. Cori Bush Introduces Bill to End Police Response in Mental Health and Substance Use Crises, NYT: Far-Right Spies Infiltrated Democratic Groups During 2020 Elections, SCOTUS Rules Asylum Seekers Who Were Once Deported Can Be Denied Bond, Locked Up Indefinitely, Immigrant Prisoners in New Jersey Attacked by Guards, Moved to Undisclosed Location, Dozens of Deaths in Canada Linked to Searing Heat Wave, Climate Activists Demand Congress End Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Migrant children held by the Biden administration are reporting suicide and escape attempts and conditions of spoiled food, extreme heat and panic attacks in the largest so-called emergency shelter for migrant children in the U.S., at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. More than 14,000 migrant children are currently in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which has set up 15 emergency sites like the one at Fort Bliss to get them out of overcrowded Border Patrol holding facilities. Vice President Kamala Harris did not visit the Fort Bliss tent city on her recent visit to the southern border, and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was met with protests when he toured the facility Monday. "We have seen so many instances of potential abuse inside that specific detention center," says Fernando García, founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, who met with Harris during her visit. "Instead of investing in jails," he says the administration should take a more humane approach and "build welcoming centers to expedite family reunification."

Criticism is growing of recent U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, which the Biden administration says targeted Iran-backed militias. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi condemned the attack as a "blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security." The U.S. airstrikes come as the Biden administration is holding indirect talks with Iran about reviving the Iranian nuclear deal. Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, says the U.S. needs to end its "constant tit for tat" with Iran across the Middle East. "By failing to pivot away from that and instead bombing targets inside of Iraq, we are giving more fuel to this conflict," he says.

As western states battle record-breaking heat waves, climate activists are calling on the Biden administration and congressional Democrats to pass an infrastructure bill that includes major investments in green energy, including a fully funded Civilian Climate Corps. President Biden says he reached a bipartisan deal with senators on a slimmed-down infrastructure spending bill, but Democrats hope to pass a second, larger infrastructure package with a budget reconciliation process that would not require any Republican votes. The bipartisan deal is "completely unacceptable" on its own, says New York Democratic Congressmember Jamal Bowman. "If we want to maintain control and the opportunity to do great work in 2022, it's time for Democrats to deliver in this moment.'' We also speak with David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, who explains why the bipartisan infrastructure bill has been described as a "stalking horse" for privatization, and notes record heat and crumbling infrastructure are "screaming for a change in priorities in America because of the climate crisis."

Pacific Northwest's Stifling Heat Breaks All-Time Records for Second Straight Day, Moscow Storms Break Russia's Record-Setting June Heat Wave, Dozens of Youth Climate Activists Arrested at White House Demanding Action on Climate Crisis, "An Overt Political Blockade": Minnesota Police Barricade Line 3 Pipeline Protest Camp, Ethiopia Declares Ceasefire After Separatists Claim Tigray's Capital City , Iranian-Backed Militia Strikes Back After Biden Orders Bombings in Iraq and Syria, Federal Judge Throws Out Antitrust Lawsuits Seeking to Break Up Facebook , Trump Reportedly Asked to Send Coronavirus-Infected Americans to Guantánamo Bay, Death Toll Reaches 11 in Florida Condo Collapse, with 150 Still Missing , Juul Reaches $40 Million Settlement with North Carolina over Teen Nicotine Addiction, SCOTUS Won't Hear Challenge to Ruling Declaring Transgender Student Segregation Unconstitutional, California Bans State-Funded Travel to 17 States with Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws, Human Rights Court Holds Honduran State Responsible for Killing of Trans Woman Vicky Hernández, Mexican Supreme Court Decriminalizes Adult Use of Marijuana, U.N. Demands End to Impunity for Officers Who Violate Human Rights of Black People , Olympian Gwen Berry Turns Back on U.S. Flag in Protest Against Systemic Racism

The Supreme Court has ruled 6 to 3 that a California labor law violated the constitutional rights of property owners by giving union organizers access to workers on privately owned farms during their work breaks. The union-busting decision strikes down a crucial part of a landmark 1975 labor law that was the United States' first to recognize agricultural workers' rights to collective bargaining and grew out of efforts by the United Farm Workers to demand better pay and working conditions for California's agricultural workers. "This ruling is a setback for unions, for workers' rights," says Camila Chávez, executive director of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

We speak with legal writer and author Adam Cohen about the growing question of whether liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer should step down so that he can be replaced while there is a Democratic president and Senate. Justice Breyer is 82 and the oldest member of the high court. "If Breyer doesn't step down now, there's a very real chance that Republicans will eventually fill that seat and maybe turn a 6-3 conservative majority, which has already been terrible, into a 7-2 conservative majority," Cohen says.

Mike Gravel, former presidential candidate and Democratic U.S. senator from Alaska, has died at the age of 91. We look at how, in the 1970s, Gravel was fiercely opposed to the Vietnam War and the draft and played a seminal role in the release of the Pentagon Papers, the 7,000 pages of top-secret documents outlining the secret history of the U.S. War in Vietnam. While the papers were leaked to The New York Times and The Washington Post, Gravel spearheaded a one-man push on June 29, 1971, to read some 4,100 pages of the document into the Congressional Record, so that it would become public record and then anyone could read it and publish it. We feature an extended speech by Gravel in 2007 describing in detail how he received the Pentagon Papers from journalist Ben Bagdikian, who in turn had gotten them from Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. Gravel told the extended story during an event moderated by Amy Goodman at the 2007 Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly.

One of the main witnesses in Julian Assange's extradition case has admitted he made false claims against Assange in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a bombshell revelation that could have a major impact on the WikiLeaks founder's fate. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if brought to the U.S., where he was indicted for violations of the Espionage Act related to the publication of classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes. According to a new article in the Icelandic newspaper Stundin, the convicted hacker Sigurdur "Siggi" Thordarson falsely claimed he was a prominent WikiLeaks representative instructed by Assange to carry out hacking attacks, but he was in fact only tangentially involved with the organization. The article suggests the U.S. Justice Department collaborated with Thordarson to generate the indictment for Assange that was submitted to the British courts. "This is just the latest revelation to demonstrate why the U.S. case should be dropped," says Jennifer Robinson, a human rights attorney who has been advising Assange and WikiLeaks since 2010. "The factual basis for this case has completely fallen apart."

Iraq Condemns Violation of Sovereignty After U.S. Launches Airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, Judge Sentences Ex-Cop Derek Chauvin to 22.5 Years in Prison for Murdering George Floyd, WHO Urges Vaccinated People to Keep Taking COVID Precautions as Delta Variant Spreads Across Globe, Bangladesh, Australia, South Africa Among Nations Ordering New Restrictions Amid Surge in Cases, Biden Says U.S. Will Continue to Support Afghan Gov't After Withdrawal as Taliban Takes New Territory, 9 Dead, 150+ Missing in Miami Condo Collapse as 2018 Report Shows Building Was Vulnerable, VP Kamala Harris Visits El Paso on U.S.-Mexico Border, Thousands of Cook County Workers Strike for Better Pay and Affordable Healthcare, Justice Department Sues Georgia over Voter Suppression Law, Manhattan District Attorney Set to File Criminal Charges Against Trump Organization, Trump Sought to Use Insurrection Act to Crush Black Lives Matter Protests in 2020, Millions Worldwide Celebrate LGBTQ Pride, Defying Police Harassment, Johnson & Johnson Reaches $230 Million Settlement with New York over Role in Opioid Epidemic, Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, Who Read Pentagon Papers into Congressional Record, Dies at 91

The parents of a student killed in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School duped a former president of the National Rifle Association into giving a high school graduation speech defending gun rights in front of 3,044 empty white chairs — one chair for each student who could not graduate this year because they were killed by gun violence. David Keene, who still serves on the NRA board, thought he was giving a rehearsal speech for graduating students at the James Madison Academy in Las Vegas, but no such school exists. Video of the speech was turned into a viral video promoting universal background checks. The stunt was organized by the group Change the Ref, which was founded by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son Joaquin was shot dead in the Parkland, Florida, massacre. Manuel Oliver says the video has led to an outpouring of support from across the U.S. "We need to do these more often, because it shows that the NRA, the gun industry and the gun lobby are not as powerful as they say," he says.

The Taliban have continued seizing districts in Afghanistan ahead of the U.S. military pullout set for September 11, now holding twice as much territory as they did two months ago. According to a Wall Street Journal report, U.S. intelligence agencies believe the government of Afghanistan could collapse within six months of the U.S. withdrawal. The Biden administration is reportedly planning to keep 650 troops in Afghanistan after the September 11 deadline, and the U.S. is also looking for nearby military bases for future aerial bombings and other operations. Afghan American scholar Zaher Wahab says Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is meeting with President Joe Biden this week, is "terribly isolated, out of touch and without much support" as the government continues to lose ground. "The situation in Afghanistan seems to be unraveling rather fast," says Wahab.

An Ethiopian military bombing of a marketplace in the Tigray region killed at least 64 people in one of the deadliest attacks since government forces invaded the region last November. The bombing came just a day after Ethiopians voted in national and regional elections, but polls could not open in some areas due to ongoing fighting. The country is still waiting for results that will determine if the ruling coalition, led by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, stays in power. Thousands of people have been killed, and an estimated 2 million people have been displaced, since Ahmed ordered the Ethiopian military to invade Tigray, which is home to Ethiopia's former governing party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front. The invasion has led to massive food shortages, with aid groups warning 350,000 people in Tigray are on the brink of famine. "Both the famine and the bombing are not separate things from what has been happening in Tigray for the last eight months," says Ethiopian journalist Tsedale Lemma, who says what was cast as a minor "enforcement" action has "morphed into a civil war" with no clear resolution. "The war is not ending. There is no end in sight," says Lemma.

Biden and Senators Reach Compromise Infrastructure Bill That Excludes Climate and Jobs Programs, Biden Administration Backs Permits for Enbridge Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline, Climate Crisis Driving Record-High Temperatures in Pacific Northwest, Federal Fire Agency Warns Historic Drought Is Increasing Demand for Firefighters, "Half-Measures and Broken Promises": European Parliament Commits to Climate Neutrality by 2050, Climate Crisis Pushes 1 Million People in Madagascar to "Edge of Starvation", 751 Unmarked Graves Found at Former Residential School for Indigenous Children in Saskatchewan, U.S. Bans Solar Panel Parts Produced in Xinjiang by Forced Labor, At Least Four Dead, Dozens Missing After Miami-Area Apartment Building Collapses, Pelosi Announces Select Committee to Investigate U.S. Capitol Insurrection, Michigan Senate Report Discredits Trump and GOP Voter Fraud Claims, New York Court Suspends Rudy Giuliani's Law License over 2020 Election Lies, Judge to Deliver Derek Chauvin's Sentence for Murder of George Floyd, Pandemic Exacerbating Vulnerability of Children in Conflict, West Bank Protesters Condemn Palestinian Authority After Death of Prominent Critic Nizar Banat

Pressure is growing on Democrats to abolish the Senate filibuster in order to pass a major voting rights bill and other legislation. Republicans this week used the filibuster to prevent debate on the For the People Act, which would restore the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court eight years ago. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who is a lead sponsor of the For the People Act and self-described "Chief Filibuster Antagonist," says Republicans have broken the Senate's "social contract" of bipartisan cooperation in favor of total obstruction of all Democratic priorities. "The majority makes the decision, not the minority," he adds. Meanwhile, as much of the Pacific Northwest faces record-shattering temperatures, 30 degrees or more above average, including Merkley's home state of Oregon, lawmakers in Washington continue to negotiate over an infrastructure bill Democrats say needs to include major new funding to address the climate crisis. Merkley explains why he said, "If there's no climate, there's no deal."

Ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, immigrant rights activists marched on the White House to call on the Biden administration to stop detaining trans asylum seekers, who often face severe abuse, discrimination and medical neglect in custody. Their actions included a service honoring and mourning the deaths of several trans people who died due to ICE negligence. Eight immigrant rights groups also sent a letter to the White House demanding the release of all transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS from immigrant detention centers. Jennicet Gutiérrez, a community organizer and advocate with Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, says transgender immigrants often face "tremendous challenges" that force them to seek asylum in the U.S. "Many are rejected from their homes. They're not supported and held with everything that they deserve. And they have no choice but to be out on the streets, trying to survive," Gutiérrez says.

President Joe Biden has vowed to crack down on illegal gun dealers and to boost funding for police departments as part of an effort to combat a spike in gun violence across the country. Rejecting calls by activists to defund the police, Biden said cities could expand their police forces by diverting federal money allocated for the pandemic. He also pledged to strengthen enforcement of existing gun laws. The rise in gun violence can be traced back to "a lack of resources" in many communities, says Erica Ford, a longtime anti-violence activist in New York City and CEO and founder of LIFE Camp, Inc. "There's no job opportunities. There's no education opportunities," Ford says. "These preconditions that we face in our community help the disease of violence rise to a level that is unaddressable at the time because we don't have the tools and resources to address them."

White House to Crack Down on Illegal Gun Dealers and Increase Police Funding, Revs. Jesse Jackson and William Barber Arrested at Nonviolent Protest Against Senate Filibuster, CDC Links COVID-19 Vaccines to Rare Cases of Myocarditis But Says Benefits Far Outweigh Risks, Supreme Court Rules Cheerleader's Profane Social Media Post Was Protected Speech, SCOTUS Cuts Off Union Organizers' Access to Farm Workers in Major Defeat for Organized Labor, ICE Force-Fed Immigrant Prisoners Who Went on Hunger Strike Against Poor Conditions, U.N. General Assembly Votes Overwhelmingly to Condemn U.S. Embargo on Cuba for 29th Time, Britain Disputes Russia's Claim of Naval Confrontation in Waters Near Russian-Annexed Crimea, Brazil Environment Minister Steps Down; Police Attack Indigenous Activists in Brasília, First Capitol Rioter Sentenced as Nancy Pelosi Set to Announce Cmte to Probe Jan. 6 Insurrection, Top Pentagon Chief Fends Off GOP Attacks over Military Teaching About Historical Racism, Connecticut Legalizes Recreational Marijuana, NY Judge Dismisses New York City Law Banning Chokeholds, Parents of Shooting Victim Trick Ex-NRA Head into Giving Fake Graduation Speech for Gun Control PSA

The White House says it will miss its goal of getting 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4. Vaccinations are available for anyone age 12 and up in the U.S., but just 45% of people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, and only 16 states have fully vaccinated more than half of their populations. Epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan says despite more than 150 million people in the U.S. now being vaccinated against the coronavirus, the highly contagious Delta variant is quickly becoming a concern. "Our expectation should be, by July, this will be the dominant variant," he says.

As Senate Republicans use the filibuster to block debate on the most sweeping voting rights bill considered by Congress in decades, we look at what is in the bill and the next steps forward. Elizabeth Hira, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program, describes the For the People Act as "a massive democracy reform package" that seeks to address systemic flaws in U.S. elections. "This bill creates a wholesale opportunity for us to fix all of the things that have been wrong in our democracy." We also speak with Reverend William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, who says Republican opposition to the bill exposes their cruelty. "They are committed to keeping alive voter suppression that started with the Southern strategy. They are today's Strom Thurmond," says Barber.

We look at the early results from New York's highly anticipated primary election Tuesday. In the heated mayoral race, Brooklyn borough president and former New York police officer Eric Adams is leading, but it will likely take several weeks to announce a winner with the new ranked-choice voting system. Civil rights attorney Maya Wiley is currently in second place, followed closely by former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang has conceded after receiving less than 12% of the tallied vote even after the media covered him as a front-runner. "My sense is that Adams will probably prevail," says Democracy Now! co-host Juan González, who adds it has been largely overlooked that Adams and his billionaire backers are big supporters of charter schools, which could shape the city's public school system.

Republicans Block Major Voting Rights Bill as Democrats Vow to Continue Fight, Air Raid in Tigray Kills Dozens, Adding to Conflict-Fueled Devastation, Japan Restarts First Nuclear Reactor in Over 3 Years Amid Widespread Opposition, Rights Groups Sound Alarm as Nicaragua's Gov't Escalates Crackdown on Opposition, Shooting in Mexican Border Town Kills at Least 15 People in Crossfire, At Least 3 Arab Israeli Journalists Have Come Under Attack in Past Month, U.S. Gov't Seizes PressTV.com and Other Websites Linked to Iran, Hong Kong Newspaper Apple Daily Shuts Down Days After Police Raid Newsroom, Arrest Editors, Catalan Separatist Leaders Released After Spanish Pardon, 200+ Groups Call for Permanent End to U.S. Global Gag Rule, NYT: Saudi Men Involved in Jamal Khashoggi's Murder Were Trained by U.S. Group, Biden Admin to Reconsider Cases of Rejected Asylum Seekers Subjected to "Remain in Mexico" Plan, Interior Dept. to Probe Impact of Historic Boarding Schools for Native American Children, Nikole Hannah-Jones Will Not Join UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Without Tenure

More than a thousand coal miners at Warrior Met Coal are now in the third month of their strike in the right-to-work state of Alabama. The miners walked off the job on April 1 after their union, the United Mine Workers of America, called the first strike to hit the state's coal mining industry in four decades. Workers are fighting for improvements to wages and benefits after they agreed to drastic cutbacks in 2016, when Warrior Met Coal took control of the mines after the previous company went bankrupt. Today a group of striking mine workers traveled from Alabama to Wall Street to protest the investment firms backing Warrior Met. "These are the companies that fund Warrior Met and allow Warrior Met to pay their executives millions of dollars a year, while the miners, the workers themselves who are creating that value, are struggling to get by on sometimes as little as $22 an hour," says labor journalist and organizer Kim Kelly.

As lawmakers in Washington continue to negotiate over an infrastructure bill that Democrats say needs to include major new funding to address the climate crisis, much of the U.S. is experiencing record heat, with many western states seeing record temperatures, drought and water shortages. "The climate crisis is here now," says climate and energy researcher Leah Stokes, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "The climate crisis is really happening right now, and every single year we delay on passing a climate bill, the worse the crisis gets."

Senate Republicans are expected to use the filibuster to block debate on the For the People Act, a sweeping bill that would protect voting rights across the United States and improve ballot access. The Senate vote comes as Republican state lawmakers are passing sweeping measures to suppress the vote. According to the Voting Rights Lab, 18 states have enacted more than 30 laws to restrict voting since the November election. The For the People Act is "the most important voting rights bill since the Voting Rights Act of 1965," says Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman. "It just goes to show you how afraid the Republican Party is of democracy that they won't even debate legislation to make it easier to vote, let alone vote on the actual bill."

South African President Blasts Big Pharma for Refusing to Share COVID-19 Vaccine Technology, Cuba Says Abdala Vaccine Shows 92% Efficacy Against COVID-19, Coronavirus Surges in Indonesia; Colombia Death Toll Passes 100,000, White House Falls Behind Goal of Donating 80 Million Vaccine Doses by End of June, Deaths Soared by 32% in U.S. Nursing Homes, Where 4 in 10 Had COVID-19 in 2020, Senate GOP to Filibuster Restoration of Voting Rights Protections, Belarus Hit with New Sanctions as U.N. Rights Chief Decries Torture and Other Abuses, Zapatistas Arrive in Spain, Marking 500 Years Since Cortés's Conquest of Mexico, U.S. Bishops Seek to Deny Communion to Joe Biden over His Support for Reproductive Rights, California to Pay Off All Past-Due Rent Accumulated During the Pandemic, Dozens of Incarcerated Texans Died in Prison After They Were Cleared for Parole, Lawsuit Accuses Smithfield Foods of Stoking Fears over Meat Shortages as Workers Died of COVID-19, Tornado Devastates Chicago Suburbs; Record Heat Wave Sparks Fires in Western States, 400-Mile Youth Climate March Ends with Protest at Houston Home of Sen. Ted Cruz, New York Mayoral Primary to Be Decided by Largest-Ever Ranked-Choice Vote, Supreme Court Rules NCAA Can't Deny Education-Related Pay and Benefits to Student Athletes, Carl Nassib Becomes First Active NFL Player to Come Out as Gay

We look at the push to end what the World Health Organization is calling "vaccine apartheid," as many countries have yet to see a single COVID-19 vaccine shot amid mounting infections. "What we're looking for is an alternative to a system that has basically allowed for COVID-19 vaccines to be absolutely concentrated in the higher-income countries," says Carina Vance Mafla, former health minister of Ecuador, who co-chaired this weekend's emergency Summit on Vaccine Internationalism. She argues vaccine access can be improved by expanding vaccine "production in other countries ... that have developed vaccine candidates, but also having pricing that is based on solidarity." We also speak with Achal Prabhala, coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil and South Africa. Prabhala says the pandemic is now "largely a developing country problem."

More than 2.6 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, but many countries have yet to see a single shot amid mounting infections. Eighty-five percent of vaccines administered worldwide have been in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Only 0.3% of doses have been administered in low-income countries. Last week, G7 nations pledged to donate just 613 million new vaccine doses — far less than the 1 billion originally promised. This was the focus of an emergency four-day virtual Summit for Vaccine Internationalism this weekend, attended by government ministers, parliamentarians and public health officials from many countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Vietnam, India, Greece, the United Kingdom, Canada and Cuba. The summit was organized by Progressive International, an organization founded by Senator Bernie Sanders and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. "This is how we radicalize the world in order to be able to end the patent monopoly of Big Pharma," says Varoufakis in his address, "so that there are no more patents that prevent people from access to pharmaceuticals … available in order to save lives."

Fears are growing in Peru that supporters of right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former dictator Alberto Fujimori, will stage a coup to prevent her rival, the socialist teacher and union leader Pedro Castillo, from taking power. With 100% of votes counted from the June 6 election, Castillo has a 44,000-vote lead, but Fujimori is claiming fraud without offering any evidence. She is calling for hundreds of thousands of votes, mostly from poor Andean regions, to be annulled. Thousands took to the streets in Lima to protest against Fujimori's claims. We speak with José Carlos Llerena, a Peruvian educator and activist, who recently co-authored a piece for Peoples Dispatch titled "The coup that is taking place in Peru."

Hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi won the Iranian presidential election with about 62% of the vote. Raisi has headed Iran's judiciary since 2019 and is seen as a protégé and possible successor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Turnout in the election was just 49% — the lowest since the 1979 Iranian revolution — and dozens of candidates were barred from running in the election, including former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Raisi appears to "have higher ambitions than just [the] presidency," says Nega Mortazavi, an Iranian American journalist and host of "The Iran Podcast." "He is preparing to be a potential successor to the supreme leader," Mortazavi says. "The hard-liners tried to disqualify any serious moderate or reformist rival to Ebrahim Raisi to clear a path to victory for him."

More Transmissible Delta Variant Becoming Dominant, Threatening COVID Recovery, Cuba's Soberana 02 Vaccine Offers Hope as COVID Surges in Latin America, Brazil Tops 500,000 Deaths, Japan, Uganda Impose New Measures Amid Mounting COVID Cases, Hard-Line Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi Wins Iranian Presidency as Nuclear Deal Talks Continue, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Meet with Biden Amid Surging Violence and Taliban Advance, MSF Warns Access Urgently Needed to Bring Aid to Syria's Idlib Region, Authorities Uncover Likely Remains of Missing Indigenous Activist 3 Weeks After Disappearance, Ethiopia Holds Twice-Delayed Elections Amid Conflict and Hunger Crisis, U.N. Resolution Condemns Coup in Burma, Stops Short of Calling for Arms Embargo As Crisis Deepens, Over 82 Million People Were Forcibly Displaced in 2020, Two Guantánamo Prisoners Granted Release After 17 Years in Captivity Without Charge, Georgia GOP Secretary of State to Purge Over 100,000 from Voter Rolls, Seven Killed, Dozens Injured in Mass Shootings Across U.S., Portland Riot Police Quit Unit En Masse After Officer Indicted for Assaulting Protester, 13 Killed as Tropical Storm Slams Southeastern U.S., Hugs Not Walls: Separated Families Briefly Reunite at U.S.-Mexico Border

We look at another significant June 19 in the history of slavery in the United States: June 19, 1838, when Jesuit priests who ran what is now Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved people to pay off the school's debts. In 2016, Georgetown University announced it would give preferential admissions treatment to descendants of the Africans it enslaved and sold. "Ours, as Americans, is an uninterrupted line of inheritance that many of us refuse to believe that we are descendants of," says Mélisande Short-Colomb, who is one of the first two Georgetown University students to benefit from legacy admission for direct descendants and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Georgetown Memory Project.

As President Biden signs legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday to mark the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, we speak to the writer and poet Clint Smith about Juneteenth and his new book, "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-endedness 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."

Biden Signs Bill Making Juneteenth a Federal Holiday Commemorating End of Slavery, Senate GOP to Filibuster Voting Rights Legislation, Reject Sen. Manchin Compromise Bill, House Votes to Repeal War Powers Granted to President Ahead of U.S.-Led Invasion of Iraq, Brazilian Senate Inquiry Reveals Bolsonaro Ignored Pfizer's Offers to Supply COVID-19 Vaccines, British Lockdown to Continue Until July 19 as Delta Coronavirus Variant Drives Surge of Cases, Israel Bombs Gaza Strip in Second Breach of Ceasefire That Capped Deadly May Assault, Palestinians Mourn West Bank Teenagers Killed While Protesting Illegal Israeli Settlements, Iranians Begin Voting in Presidential Election, North Korea's Kim Jong-un Acknowledges Food Crisis Due to Sanctions, COVID-19 and Crop Failures, Bolivian Ex-Defense Minister Plotted to Use U.S. Mercenaries to Launch Coup in 2020, Affordable Care Act Survives Third Supreme Court Challenge, SCOTUS Rules in Favor of Nestlé & Cargill in Child Slave Labor Case, Supreme Court Sides with Anti-LGBTQ Foster Agency in "Religious Freedom" Case, DOJ Asks SCOTUS to Reinstate Death Penalty for Boston Marathon Bomber, South Carolina Delays Executions So Prisoners Can Choose Between Electrocution or Firing Squad, Arizona to Pay Prisoners $1.50/Hour to Fight Wildfires as Record Heat Scorches Western U.S., Police Arrest Editors of Hong Kong Newspaper Under National Security Law

Early voting is underway in a historic New York City Democratic primary election for mayor, 35 City Council seats and several other key races. For the first time in almost a century, New Yorkers will use ranked-choice voting, which allows them to choose up to five candidates in order of preference in each race. In the mayor's race, Brooklyn borough president and former New York police officer Eric Adams has led recent polls, while businessman Andrew Yang seems to be falling behind. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers have already cast their votes ahead of the June 22 Democratic primary, with the general election set for November 2. Journalist Ross Barkan says despite New York City's reputation as a progressive stronghold, the Democratic primary for mayor reflects "an incredible amount of diversity" within the Democratic coalition. "You have a real competition of ideas," he says.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva Wednesday for a three-hour summit and agreed to set up working groups to deal with nuclear arms control, as well as cyberattacks. The sides also agreed to send ambassadors back to their posts, restoring "normal diplomatic relations of a kind which exist between most countries on the face of the Earth," says Anatol Lieven, senior fellow for Russia and Europe at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. "A more cooperative atmosphere has been established so that the U.S.A. and Russia can work together." He also discusses ongoing tensions over NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe, American hypocrisy about its actions in other countries and how China's rise impacts the U.S.-Russian relationship.

Biden, Putin to Restore Diplomatic Ties After Brief Summit in Geneva, CureVac COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Disappointing 47% Efficacy in Large Clinical Trial, Arizona Bars COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Requirements for Public Colleges, Amid Record Temperatures, NASA, NOAA Say Earth's Energy Imbalance Has Doubled Since 2005, House of Representatives Votes 415-14 to Establish Juneteenth as Federal Holiday, DOJ Ends Trump-Era Rules Blocking Survivors of Domestic and Gang Violence from Receiving Asylum, Department of Education Will Restore Title IX Protections to LGBTQ+ Students , North Carolina's Ban on Abortions After 20 Weeks Ruled Unconstitutional by Federal Court, Remains of Third Victim of Mexico's 2014 Ayotzinapa Massacre Identified , Peruvian Presidential Candidate Pedro Castillo, Who's Vowed to Fight Inequality, Declares Victory, Rep. Jim McGovern Calls on Biden to End U.S. Sanctions on Venezuela over "Needless Death", Chinese Military Sends Record 28 Warplanes into Airspace Controlled by Taiwan, Three Taikonauts Arrive at New Chinese Space Station After Successful Launch, Saudi Arabia Beheads Man Accused of Joining Anti-Government Uprising as Teenager, 3 Honolulu Police Officers Face Murder Charges in Fatal Shooting of Teenager , Video Shows Honolulu Officers Failed to ID Themselves Before Killing Black Man Who Posed No Threat , Texas Signs Law to Allow Permit-Free Gun Carrying; San Jose Tightens Gun Rules After Mass Shooting, Jack Weinstein, Federal Judge Who Sided with Ordinary Citizens Against Corporations, Dies at 99, Another Power Outage Hits Puerto Rico After Takeover of Grid by LUMA Energy, Greek Unions Strike Against Labor Reform Bill

President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting in Geneva for a closely watched summit between the world's two largest nuclear powers. Topics expected to be discussed include nuclear arms, cybersecurity, Syria, the Iranian nuclear deal, Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Korean Peninsula, Putin's crackdown on dissent inside Russia and the U.S. military presence near the Russian border. The two world leaders are coming to the summit with fundamentally different goals, says Russian American journalist and writer Masha Gessen. Putin "accomplishes what he has come to Geneva for by simply having the summit," Gessen says. "Biden is concerned … with finding areas of common interest, and he is alone in that. He is alone in actually trying to negotiate in good faith." Gessen also discusses the ongoing imprisonment of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Russia's low vaccination rate and their own experience with COVID-19.

Presidents Biden and Putin Meet in Geneva for Highly Anticipated Summit, Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill Palestinian Woman After Overnight Air Raids on Gaza, Palestinians Protest Ultranationalist Israeli "March of the Flags" in Occupied East Jerusalem, New York and California Lift Majority of Coronavirus Restrictions, Senate Approves Bill Making Juneteenth a National Holiday, Texas Bans Critical Race Theory in Schools, Reps. Cori Bush and Bonnie Watson Coleman Unveil Bill Decriminalizing All Drug Possession, Bomb Blast Kills 15 People in Mogadishu, Hungarian Lawmakers Advance Legislation Barring LGBTQ Content for Minors, Arctic Scientists Say We May Have Already Passed Climate Tipping Point, Indigenous Activists Continue Resistance Against Line 3 After Setback in Court, Antitrust Leader Lina Khan Confirmed by Senate, Named as Chair of FTC, Biden Administration Lays Out New Strategy to Combat White Supremacist Domestic Terror, Trump and Aides Pressured DOJ to Back Fabricated Voter Fraud Claims, Program Allowing Central American Children to Reunite with Parents in U.S. Set to Be Expanded, Janitors Unite to Demand Justice, Fair Working Conditions, William vanden Heuvel, Former Gov't Adviser and Advocate for Prisoners, Dies at the Age of 91, 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Honors Climate Justice Activists Around the World

More than 1 million people in Puerto Rico were left in the dark this month after power transmission and distribution for the island was taken over by a private company under a 15-year contract. Much of Puerto Rico lost power after a fire at an electrical substation caused a massive blackout just days after the private U.S. and Canadian company LUMA Energy formally took over management of the island's electric grid from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria. Many people are still without power or facing ongoing blackouts. "This is a classic example of disaster capitalism," says Arturo Massol-Deyá, executive director of Casa Pueblo, a community-based natural resources conservation and sustainable development group.

China says NATO is adopting a "Cold War mentality" after the military alliance singled out China and Russia for criticism during a summit in Brussels. In its final communiqué, NATO leaders said, "China's stated ambitions and assertive behavior present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order." NATO leaders also criticized Russia and called on Moscow to withdraw troops from Ukraine, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova. Stephen Wertheim, a historian of U.S. foreign policy, says he is concerned that the Biden administration is "moving toward a quite hostile posture toward China and Russia simultaneously." He also says policymakers need to urgently reevaluate the purpose of NATO, which he says could fuel greater conflict. "Is that really what the American people need for the rest of the 21st century?" he asks.

Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Leigh Winner was released from prison Monday to serve the rest of her sentence in a halfway house. We get an update from the lawyer handling her commutation and pardon process. Winner was arrested in 2017 under the Espionage Act for leaking classified government information about Russian interference in the 2016 election to reporters at The Intercept. Prosecutors told The New York Times she got the longest sentence ever given by a federal court for unauthorized disclosure of government information to the press. Winner's family and legal team say she should receive a pardon and are calling for her sentence to be commuted. "Reality released a document that gave us information that we needed to know at a time that we absolutely needed to know it," says Alison Grinter Allen, Winner's attorney.

China Blasts "Cold War Mentality" as Biden Pushes NATO to Declare China a Security Risk, WHO Says G7 Vaccine Pledge Falls Far Short of What's Needed to End Pandemic, COVID-19 Surges in Unvaccinated African Nations; Chile Locks Down Santiago Despite Vaccinations, Brazilian Indigenous Leaders March Against Copa América, Demanding Vaccines, Not Soccer Matches, U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Top 600,000, the Worst Toll in the World, NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Released from Prison, Sen. Mitch McConnell Suggests Republicans Won't Confirm Biden SCOTUS Nominees After 2022 Election, Boeing to Resume Campaign Contributions to Republicans in "Sedition Caucus", Marjorie Taylor Greene Won't Apologize for Calling Democrats "Nazis" After Comparing Masks to Holocaust, Protesters Demand West Virginia Sen. Manchin End Opposition to Filibuster Reform, Voting Rights Bill, Progressives Reject "Compromise" Infrastructure Bill They Say Fails to Meet Scale of Climate Crisis, Massive Fire Erupts at Illinois Chemical Plant, Driver Kills Peaceful Protester at Minneapolis Vigil for Black Man Killed by Police, Burmese Military Junta Begins Closed-Door Trial for Deposed Leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ICC Prosecutor Seeks Probe of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte over Drug War Killings

As President Biden meets with leaders of NATO countries, where he is expected to continue stepping up rhetoric against China and Russia ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this Wednesday in Geneva, we speak with famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg about why he recently released another classified document showing that U.S. military planners in 1958 pushed for nuclear strikes on China to protect Taiwan from an invasion by communist forces. The top-secret study revealed the U.S. military pressed then-President Dwight Eisenhower to prepare a nuclear first strike against mainland China during the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1958. Taiwan "could really only be defended, if at all, by the U.S. initiating nuclear war against China," says Ellsberg. The document also shows that U.S. military planners were ready to accept the risk that the Soviet Union would launch its own nuclear retaliation, including against Japan. Although Ellsberg's online release of the document was publicized in May, he reveals that he shared the same information with Japan decades earlier. "I had given the entire study to the Japanese Diet," Ellsberg says.