Democracy Now!

We speak with The Nation's John Nichols about key outcomes from Tuesday's election night. In a major blow for Democrats, Republican Glenn Youngkin, who President Biden warned is an extremist in the vein of former President Trump, won the Virginia governor's race against former Governor Terry McAuliffe. Youngkin campaigned for so-called parents' rights — a catch-all phrase adopted by right-wing opponents of vaccine and mask mandates, transgender rights and critical race theory. Tuesday's elections also saw closely watched races in New Jersey, New York City, Buffalo and Boston, where Michelle Wu made history by becoming the first woman and first person of color elected as mayor. Nichols says disappointing results for Democrats are tied to the party's infighting in Washington and the inability to pass major legislation despite holding the White House and Congress: "You can't fail to deliver on your promises and then expect to win elections. And that's a big message for Democrats."

Youngkin Beats McAuliffe in VA Gov. Race; India Walton Trails Write-in Primary Loser Byron Brown in Buffalo, Eric Adams Wins NYC Mayoral Race; Michelle Wu Is 1st Woman, BIPOC Elected as Boston Mayor, Ohio Special House Races Go to Republican Mike Carey and Democrat Shontel Brown, Minneapolis Rejects Police Overhaul Measure, COP26: U.S. Joins 90 Nations in Pledge to Cut Methane Emissions; South Africa Coal Deal Announced, CDC Approves Pfizer COVID Vaccine for 5- to 11-Year-Olds, Ethiopia Declares State of Emergency as Tigrayan Forces Advance; U.N. Report Details Mass Atrocities, Sheikh Jarrah Families Reject Israeli Deal That Would Dispossess Them of Their Homes, Facebook Shutting Down Facial Recognition Program, Dems Reach Deal for Gov't to Negotiate Drug Prices Through Medicare, Same-Sex Partners Will Be Able to Access Social Security Benefits of Deceased Loved Ones, John Deere Workers Continue Strike After Rejecting Proposed Contract with Management

We look at Monday's Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionality of Texas's near-total ban on abortions with legendary lawyer Kathryn "Kitty" Kolbert, who argued the 1992 landmark Supreme Court case credited with saving Roe v. Wade. "'Save Roe' has been our mantra for so many years, and it no longer works because of the ultraconservatie nature of this Supreme Court," Kolbert says. Instead, people must protect abortion rights by "electing people who will preserve women's rights, and begin to think of that as our most important task."

A new ad released by the United Nations Development Program shows a computer-generated dinosaur speaking in the U.N. General Assembly hall, warning diplomats that "going extinct is a bad thing" and calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies. The dinosaur is voiced by Jack Black.

We speak with Brianna Fruean, an activist from Samoa, who implored global leaders at the U.N. climate summit to consider how small islands like Samoa, Tutuila and Tonga might drown without urgent action against rising sea levels. She told the audience, "If you're looking for inspiration on climate leadership, take a look at young Pacific people." Many Pacific islands are in danger of vanishing in the next decade if sea levels and global temperatures continue to rise. "If we are able to save the islands, we are able to save the world," Fruean tells Democracy Now!

Countries attending the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow have made new pledges to cut their emissions, but activists say it's not enough to avert the worst of the climate crisis. India has vowed to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2070. Over 100 leaders have agreed to end deforestation by 2030. The United States is announcing a new plan to reduce methane emissions, among other measures. Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, is in Glasgow for the talks and warns the heavy focus on "net zero" rather than absolute carbon reductions suggests leaders are not planning to make serious changes. "It's a continuing war against Mother Earth, against Father Sky," says Goldtooth. "It is an issue of life and death to many of our Indigenous peoples, from the North to the South." Climate campaigner Bill McKibben says the movement to divest from fossil fuels has had a major impact but that business interests are still holding back a transition to renewable energy. "Money is the oxygen on which the fires of global warming keep burning," says McKibben.

As President Biden addressed the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow on Monday, warning that "climate change is already ravaging the world," back home his climate agenda was dealt a major setback when Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia criticized the slimmed-down $1.85 trillion Build Back Plan. "The air went out of this conference" when Biden showed up with no major climate legislation passed, says Bill McKibben of 350.org in Glasgow. "It makes it extremely difficult to proceed when the world's carbon champion — the country that's poured more carbon into the atmosphere by far than any other — won't provide leadership."

World Leaders Gather in Glasgow for Start of Crucial COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, Sen. Joe Manchin Won't Commit to Build Back Better Act, Imperiling Biden's Domestic Agenda, Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on Texas's Near-Total Abortion Ban, Virginia Governor's Race Takes Center Stage on Election Day, Kids as Young as 5 Set to Be Vaccinated Within Days as Pediatric Doses Begin Shipping, Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate for Chicago Police Officers, U.N. Security Council Extends Peacekeeping Mandate in Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara, Burmese Military Forces Accused of Torture and Attacks on Civilians, U.N. Warns Afghanistan Faces World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis Amid Mounting Hunger, Striking John Deere Workers Win Wage and Pension Increases in Tentative Contract, Homicide Trial of Teen Gunman Kyle Rittenhouse Gets Underway in Wisconsin, Senate Confirms Beth Robinson as First-Ever LGBTQ+ Federal Appeals Court Judge, Rev. Jesse Jackson Hospitalized After Fall at Howard University

In a major development, a Guantánamo Bay detainee described his torture at CIA black sites for the first time in court last week, prompting military jurors to call his treatment a "stain on the moral fiber of America." On Thursday, Majid Khan became the first Guantánamo prisoner to describe publicly the torture he experienced after being detained in Pakistan and then being held at CIA black sites, including forced feedings, waterboarding and other physical and sexual abuse. Khan was sentenced Friday to 26 years but under a previous deal is scheduled for release in February 2022. His unprecedented testimony only represents the "top part of the iceberg," says Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center of Constitutional Rights, which has helped represent Majid Khan. "We need more meaningful accountability for what the United States government did to Majid and many dozens of other detainees in the so-called global war on terror."

As the U.K. government tries to claim the mantle of climate leadership at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, we speak with Mary Church, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth Scotland. She describes how activists are calling on U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to block the development of the giant Cambo oil field off the coast of Scotland, which would run counter to the U.N. goals of phasing out fossil fuels. "We know that fossil fuels need to be phased out long, long before 2050, but this proposal is to keep on drilling oil until 2050," says Church, adding that the extraction of 800 million barrels of oil would be "the equivalent of 10 years of Scotland's annual emissions."

This year's U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow may be the whitest and most privileged one ever, with thousands from the Global South unable to attend because of lack of access to COVID-19 vaccines and travel restrictions. The global inequity in vaccine access mirrors the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis that has fallen mostly on poor countries least responsible for emissions, says climate activist Dipti Bhatnagar in Mozambique. "The people who need to be there, who need to hold people accountable, are not going to be there," says Bhatnagar, climate justice and energy coordinator at Friends of the Earth International, who was unable to attend the climate conference in Scotland because of a lack of access to COVID-19 vaccines. "What is going to come out of this COP is going to be largely illegitimate because of the way that they've organized it and because of the intentions behind it."

As U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders gather amid massive protests in Glasgow for COP26, the U.N. Climate Change Conference, we look at the growing pressure on countries to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avert the most damaging effects of the climate crisis. Leaders of the G20, representing the 20 wealthiest nations, gathered ahead of COP26 and pledged to do more to curb emissions but offered few specifics on reaching that goal, despite representing the countries responsible for about 80% of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. "What we're seeing here is lots of tough talk on climate, but lack of plans, lack of policies and refusal to put money on the table," says Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want and lead spokesperson for the COP26 Coalition. Rehman also gives an overview of the demands from protesters, and plans for the next two weeks.

World Leaders, Activists Descend on Glasgow for COP26 as Future of Humanity Hangs in the Balance, G20 Members Agree to Minimum Corporate Tax Rate, Vaccines Push, Make Little Progress on Climate, Global COVID Death Toll Tops 5 Million; FDA Approves Vaccines for 5- to 11-Year-Olds, SCOTUS Rejects Religious Objection to Vaccine for Maine Health Workers; NYC Mandate Takes Effect, Biden Admin Issues New Memo to End "Remain in Mexico" as Migrant Caravan Takes Break on Trek to U.S., Veteran Reporter Fredy López Arévalo Is at Least the Ninth Murdered Journalist in Mexico This Year, 10 People Killed in Marib Fighting as 20 Million Yemenis Face Urgent Humanitarian Crisis, Sudanese Soldiers Kill 3 Protesters as Rallies Continue Against Military Coup, Third Bomb Attack in Under a Week Kills Two Children in Uganda, Texas Homeowner Who Killed Unarmed Driver Will Use "Stand Your Ground" Law as Defense, Philadelphia Bans Cops from Stopping Drivers for Low-Level Traffic Violations, Labor Board Ruling Boosts Union Drive of Buffalo, NY Starbucks Workers, Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Texas's Near-Total Ban on Abortions

Virginia's Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin caused public uproar this week when he released a political ad featuring a white mother who advocated banning Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved" from schools. The woman, Laura Murphy, describes the book as "some of the most explicit material you can imagine." In 2013, Murphy fought to have the "Beloved bill" passed, which was eventually vetoed by Governor Terry McAuliffe, who is running again for governor against Youngkin in the current race. Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of a family of former enslaved people set after the American Civil War. Dana Williams, professor of African American literature at Howard University, says the fight over "parents' rights" has become a racist dog whistle. "Books like 'Beloved' really do force us to have real conversations about history," she says.

We look at the Virginia gubernatorial race, where former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe is facing Republican Glenn Youngkin, the former CEO of a private equity firm. President Joe Biden, who has campaigned with McAuliffe, warns Youngkin is an extremist in the vein of former President Trump. A major point of contention is Youngkin's push for "parents' rights" — a catch-all phrase adopted by right-wing opponents of vaccine and mask mandates, transgender rights and critical race theory. Julia Manchester, national politics reporter for The Hill, says that Youngkin has essentially portrayed elected school board officials as "political figures trying to influence Virginia students' education."

A human rights network of 60 organizations working along the U.S.-Mexico border released a letter to Congress on Wednesday urging them to investigate "shadow police units" that have helped cover up beatings and killings by Border Patrol agents for more than three decades. The shadow units, identified in the letter as "Border Patrol Critical Incident Teams," are said to possibly be "the largest and longest standing shadow police unit that is operating today in the federal government." New details came to light when attorneys investigating the 2010 Border Patrol killing of Mexican father Anastasio Hernández Rojas found a secretive special investigative unit tampered with and even destroyed evidence in the case to shield the agents involved. Investigative journalist John Carlos Frey, who reported on the case and helped uncover the shadow groups, says agents "tampered with evidence, they obstructed justice, and they violated the law," adding that Border Patrol is being permitted to "investigate itself without any oversight."

Democrats in Washington remain divided over two key bills at the center of President Biden's domestic agenda: a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the $1.85 trillion Build Back Better plan, which has been cut down from $3.5 trillion. Even though Biden's latest framework is almost half the size of the original proposal, conservative Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are still refusing to commit to its passage. The new proposal strips out several key provisions, including paid family leave, free community college, expanded Medicare coverage for dental and vision, and prescription drug reform. Key elements still in the framework include provisions to provide universal pre-K education, an expanded child tax credit for another year, affordable child care, affordable housing, free school meals, expanded Medicare for hearing services, as well as $555 billion in climate initiatives. Economist Darrick Hamilton, founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School, says that despite the smaller size of the package, it would still transform the U.S. economy after decades of austerity and budget cuts. "This is a pivotal change," he says.

Biden Unveils Stripped-Down Build Back Better Act After Sens. Manchin, Sinema Demand Cuts, Big Oil Executives Grilled by House Democrats over Deception on Climate Crisis, As Climate Crisis Worsens, 10 World Heritage Forests Become Net Carbon Emitters, China Won't Commit to New Emissions Targets Ahead of COP26 Climate Summit , Protesters at Site of COP26 Climate Summit Demand Real Action to Limit Warming to 1.5°C, Ahead of G20, Protesters Demand Biden Make COVID-19 Vaccines Available to Poor Countries, Sudanese Protester Deaths Mount After Monday's Military Coup, Guantánamo Bay Prisoner Describes Surviving CIA Torture in "Black Sites", Biden Admin in Talks to Compensate Families Who Were Separated at Border Under Trump, Federal Jury Says GEO Group Must Pay Minimum Wage for Labor by Immigrant Prisoners, Facebook Rebrands as "Meta" as Scandals Pile Up , Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo Charged with Groping Former Aide at Executive Mansion, DOJ to Pay $88 Million to Survivors of 2015 Black Church Massacre, Neo-Nazi on Trial for "Unite the Right" Delivers Racist Opening Statement, Oklahoma Executes John Marion Grant as Witnesses Describe Torturous, Drawn-Out Killing, Lisa Brodyaga, Beloved and Pioneering Immigrant Rights Lawyer, Dies at 80

Wealthy nations have received over 16 times more COVID-19 vaccines per person than poorer nations dependent on the COVAX program backed by the World Health Organization, according to a new Financial Times analysis. COVAX, which was set up to ensure global equitable access to vaccines, has delivered only 400 million doses after promising 1.4 billion this year. Higher-income countries struck separate vaccine deals with manufacturers, leaving COVAX with less negotiating power. While the United States rolls out booster shots and stockpiles six vaccines per person, less than 3% of people in low-income countries have received at least a single dose. Infectious disease expert Dr. Monica Gandhi says she will not receive a booster as a healthcare worker because of the global vaccine inequity, and argues the push for boosters "detracts from the fact that we in no way have fulfilled a moral and ethical obligation to the world." We also speak with Kate Elder, senior vaccines adviser for Doctors Without Borders, who says that it is a structural issue caused by global leaders who are not "equitably sharing vaccines around the world."

As an appeals court in London is deciding whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States for publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes, we go to London to speak with British writer and activist Tariq Ali. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison in the U.S. under the Espionage Act for publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ali calls the case "a political trial" and a "punitive attempt by the British government … to try and punish Julian on behalf of the United States." We also discuss the significance of WikiLeaks revelations in exposing U.S. drone strikes, civilian deaths, torture and other abuses committed in Afghanistan, which Ali examines in his new book, "The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan: A Chronicle Foretold."

Biden Set to Announce "Framework" for Revised Social Spending and Climate Bill, Iran to Rejoin Talks to Restore Nuclear Deal Abandoned by Trump, Top U.S. General Compares Chinese Hypersonic Missile Test to "Sputnik Moment", U.S. Voices Rare Criticism as Israel Announces Plans to Further Expand Illegal Settlements, COVID-19 Sickened Nearly 60,000 Meat Industry Workers During Pandemic's First Year, Inexpensive Antidepressant Fluvoxamine Shows Promise as COVID-19 Therapeutic, Merck to Allow Generic Manufacturing of Pill That Reportedly Can Cut COVID-19 Deaths by Half, Nor'easter Rips Through New England, Cutting Power to 600,000 Customers, New York Denies Permits to 2 Power Plants, Citing Emissions-Curbing Law, Biden Campaigns for McAuliffe in VA as GOP Candidate Revives Attack on Toni Morrison's "Beloved", Facebook Papers: Mark Zuckerberg Reinstated Anti-Abortion Video, Opposed Spanish Voting Resources, Environmental Lawyer Who Took On Chevron Starts Serving 6-Month Prison Sentence for Misdemeanor, U.S. Pushes to Extradite WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange in London Court, Striking John Deere Worker Hit and Killed by Car as He Joined Picket Line, El Milagro Tortilla Plants Ending 7-Day Workweek After Employees Organize Against Labor Abuses, Harvard Student Workers Strike to Demand Better Pay and Healthcare

The environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger joins us just before he is ordered to report to jail today, after a years-long legal battle with the oil company Chevron and 813 days of house arrest. In 2011, Donziger won an $18 billion settlement against Chevron on behalf of 30,000 Indigenous people in Ecuador for dumping 16 billion gallons of oil into their ancestral land in the Amazon. Since the landmark case, Donziger has faced a series of legal attacks from Chevron and a New York federal judge, who has employed a private law firm linked to the oil company to prosecute him. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court, and his request for bail pending his appeal was denied. Amnesty International and United Nations human rights advocates, along with several U.S. lawmakers, are calling for Donziger's immediate release. "Chevron and these two judges, really allies of the fossil fuel industry, are trying to use me as a weapon to intimidate activists and lawyers who do this work," says Donziger. "I need to be prosecuted by a neutral prosecutor, not by Chevron."

We speak with one of the group of five climate activists who have entered their eighth day of hunger strike demanding President Biden pass the full $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan to combat the climate crisis and expand the U.S. social safety net. The climate programs drafted in the bill face opposition from Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who has made millions of dollars from coal companies in his home state of West Virginia since taking office. ​​"I'm on hunger strike for my family and my future and the promises that the president made to young people who put him in office," says Kidus Girma, who is on the eighth day of the hunger strike. He argues the reconciliation deal President Biden is said to have cut with Manchin "is simply not enough," and calls Biden "too much of a coward to fight for the people who actually put him in office."

New York City taxi drivers have entered their second week of hunger striking outside City Hall to demand that the mayor grant debt relief for thousands of drivers impacted by the taxi medallion price crash. Many drivers purchased taxi medallions, the permits required to drive a taxi, for upwards of $1 million. After the incursion of ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft, as well as more recent plummeting demand for taxis due to the pandemic, they are now only worth about $100,000. Faced with massive debt and financial ruin, at least nine drivers have died by suicide. Taxi driver Augustine Tang, who has been on hunger strike for six days and personally knew one of the drivers who committed suicide, says that he is striking for medallion owners who "went into financial ruin" and saw that "there was no way out." We also speak with Zohran Mamdani, a New York state assemblymember who joined drivers in the hunger strike. Mamdani says, "It's important for us as legislators to bring to light what it is that people are suffering from out of view of those in the political elite."

Four years after the deadly white supremacist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a federal civil trial charges the organizers with an unlawful conspiracy to commit violent acts. Defendants include Jason Kessler, the main organizer, and Richard Spencer, a white nationalist who spoke at the event. Neo-Nazi James Alex Fields, who slammed his car into a crowd of antiracist counterprotesters during the rally and killed activist Heather Heyer, has already been sentenced to life in prison. Plaintiffs in the case cite the careful advance planning done in online chatrooms to wreak irreparable harm. We look at the details of the case with Slate legal correspondent Dahlia Lithwick, who lived in Charlottesville during the 2017 rally, and also its relation to the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse now starting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the judge has ruled the three protesters shot by the white teenager during racial justice protests last year cannot be labeled "victims."

U.N.'s Guterres Warns World on Track for Climate Catastrophe, Even with Gov't Pledges Ahead of COP26, Brazilian Senators Back Report Accusing Bolsonaro of Crimes Against Humanity for Pandemic Response, Deborah Birx Says 130,000 Lives Could Have Been Saved, But Trump Admin "Distracted" by Election, FDA Panel Recommends Pfizer Vaccine for Children Aged 5-11; Moderna to Sell 110M Vaccines to African Countries, Afghanistan Heading Toward Collapse as Half the Country Faces Acute Food Insecurity, Four People, Including 3 Children, Drown Off Greek Coast, Dozens Arrested as Protesters in Ecuador Condemn Fuel Price Hike, New Economic Policies, Colombian Indigenous Misak Leader Nazaria Calambás Murdered by Gunmen, African Union Suspends Sudan After Military Coup, Rittenhouse Trial Judge Says the Word "Victims" Cannot Be Used to Describe Victims of Fatal Shooting, Senate Democrats Push Tax Plan for Billionaires to Help Fund Build Back Better Act, Staten Island Amazon Workers File Union Vote Petition, El Milagro Tortilla Company Facing Investigations over Working Conditions, AZ Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Others Testify on Threats to Election Workers, Ex-Member of Weather Underground David Gilbert Granted Parole After 4 Decades in Prison, Ex-Black Panther Russell "Maroon" Shoatz Freed After Half-Century Behind Bars, 22 Years in Solitary

We look at how the tragic shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the filming of "Rust" last Thursday on a set in New Mexico is drawing attention to cost-cutting decisions and overall safety in the film industry. Yahoo News is reporting the gun that killed Hutchins had been used by crew members just hours beforehand for live-ammunition target practice. The film's lead actor and producer Alec Baldwin later shot the revolver after he was reportedly handed it by the first assistant director, David Halls, who told him it was a "cold gun," meaning it was not loaded with live ammunition. Halls was fired in 2019 from his position as assistant director on the movie "Freedom's Path" after a gun "unexpectedly discharged" and injured a crew member. All of this happened after some of the unionized IATSE below-the-line crew members had walked off the set of "Rust" earlier on the day of the shooting to protest their housing, payment and working conditions. New Mexico is a "right to work" state, so producers were able to hire nonunion replacements and continue working on the film. We speak with Dutch Merrick, prop master and armorer for over 25 years and past president of IATSE Local 44 Property Craftspersons, Hollywood, who notes, "Hollywood handles firearms every single day," and calls the process "carefully regulated." Despite safety protocol and expertise, he says, Hollywood crews are getting "worked to death" with 80- to 100-hour workweeks, which he suggests played into the accidental shooting.

We look at the attempted coup in Sudan, where the military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan overthrew the transitional government Monday, detaining Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other political leaders. As protesters flooded the streets of Khartoum demanding the government be handed back to the civilians, Sudanese soldiers opened fire on them, killing at least 10 and wounding scores more. The United Nations has condemned the coup, and the United States has suspended a $700 million emergency aid package for Sudan. "No one is in support of this coup," says Walaa Salah, human rights lawyer and activist who attended the ongoing protests and spoke with Democracy Now! by phone from Khartoum on Tuesday. "Military rule is a regression." We also speak with Isma'il Kushkush, a Sudanese American journalist who lived in and reported from Khartoum for years, who says, for most Sudanese citizens, "the important thing is to see the transfer into a full civilian government, to see elections."

Thousands of internal Facebook documents leaked to media outlets continue to produce damning revelations about how the social media giant has prioritized its profits over user safety. The Facebook Papers have provided fresh evidence of how the company has let serious problems fester on its platform, including hate, misinformation, and human trafficking, and failed to invest in moderation outside English-speaking countries. The former Facebook product manager who shared the documents, Frances Haugen, is pressing lawmakers to more tightly regulate the company's activities and testified Monday before the British Parliament ahead of scheduled meetings with officials in France, Germany and the European Union. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the leaked documents paint a "false picture" based on cherry-picked evidence, but we speak with UCLA information studies professor Ramesh Srinivasan, who says they confirm what many critics have warned about for years. "This new form of digital capitalism that I believe Facebook is trailblazing is one that is playing with our intimate emotions on every single level."

Sudan's Military Opens Fire on Protesters Opposing Coup, FDA Panel to Review Pfizer's Application for COVID Vaccines for Children, U.S. to Allow Entry to International Travelers Who Prove Vaccination, New York City Police Union Sues to Roll Back COVID Vaccine Mandate, U.N. Warns Greenhouse Gas Levels Hit Record High in 2020, U.N. Blames Climate Crisis for South Sudan's Worst Flooding in 60 Years, Rare Mediterranean Hurricane Strikes Italy; California Sees Record October Rainfall , Extinction Rebellion Climate Protesters Block Busy Streets in New York, Madrid, Netherlands' Largest Pension Fund to Divest from Fossil Fuels, Facebook Whistleblower to U.K. Parliament: "Zuckerberg Has Unilateral Control Over 3 Billion People", Guatemala Puts Town Under Martial Law as Indigenous Leaders Protest Mining Project, Amnesty International to Close Hong Kong Office, Citing Fear of Reprisal from Beijing, Turkish President Reverses Threat to Expel Western Ambassadors, Lyft Reports Over 4,000 Incidents of Sexual Assault , Planners of Deadly Charlottesville "Unite the Right" Rally Face Federal Civil Charges, White House Rejects Trump's Latest Claims of Executive Privilege in January 6 Probe

As jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces an extradition hearing Wednesday in London, supporters gathered Friday for the Belmarsh Tribunal, named for the Belmarsh maximum security prison where Assange is being held. The mock trial highlighted major WikiLeaks revelations of U.S. war crimes and demanded Assange's freedom. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison in the U.S. under the Espionage Act for publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes. Though a British judge blocked his extradition in January, the U.S. appealed the decision. We feature speakers from the tribunal, including writer Tariq Ali, Afghan political activist Selay Ghaffar, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn. "Julian, far from being indicted, should actually be a hero," said Ali. "He should never have been kept in prison for bail. He should not be in prison now awaiting a trial for extradition. He should be released." We also hear from Srećko Horvat, philosopher and Belmarsh Tribunal chair; Ewen MacAskill, former Guardian journalist; and Stella Morris, partner of Julian Assange.

A consortium of 17 news outlets is examining the "Facebook Papers," a trove of internal documents turned over to federal regulators by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen that sheds new light on the social media giant's role in spreading misinformation and polarizing content. The documents reveal most of Facebook's efforts to combat online hate are focused on the United States, even though 90% of users are outside the country. A test account set up by Facebook managers to represent an average young adult user in India quickly became flooded with Hindu nationalist propaganda, anti-Muslim hate speech and incitements to violence. This is "deeply concerning," says Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, and notes his grandfather was active in Gandhi's independence movement and spent several years in jail for promoting human rights. Khanna says Facebook needs to take remedial action and acknowledge what's wrong. "You need legal remedies."

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said over the weekend that Democrats are close to reaching a deal on a pair of major budget bills that form the backbone of President Biden's domestic agenda. Progressives in Congress have spent months defending provisions such as Medicare benefits, paid family leave and free community college, but conservative Democrats such as Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have slashed them from the budget. Congressmember Ro Khanna draws a hard line on items such as climate provisions, as per President Joe Biden's wishes ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference "to show American leadership" and aim for a "50% reduction by 2030" on greenhouse gas pollution.

Sudanese Military Dissolves Transitional Gov't, Detains Prime Minister in Coup, "Facebook Papers" Reveal How Co. Fueled Violence in India, Facebook's Role in Jan. 6 Insurrection, "Stop the Steal" Organizers Say GOP Lawmakers, Trump Staffers Involved in Planning Jan. 6 Rallies, Israel Designates Palestinian Human Rights Orgs as "Terrorist" Groups, Turkey's Erdogan Orders 10 Western Ambassadors Expelled over Support for Jailed Dissident, U.N. Fears Possible "Mass Atrocity Crimes" in Burma as Troops Mobilize, Refugees in Libya Camp Outside U.N. Office to Demand Evacuation, Barbados Elects First-Ever President to Replace British Queen as Head of State, Thousands of Asylum Seekers Form Caravan in Southern Mexico, March Toward U.S., Apache Nation Asks Federal Court to Halt Proposed Copper Mine at Oak Flat, Supreme Court Again Refuses to Halt Texas's Near-Total Abortion Ban, Neera Tanden Named White House Staff Secretary Despite Progressives' Protests, Union Members Walked Off "Rust" Set Ahead of Prop Gun Killing of Halyna Hutchins

A damning new report shows that one of the leading COVID-19 vaccine makers appears to have played a role in restricting access to those very vaccines. The report, "Pfizer's Power," published this week by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, examines Pfizer's contracts with the United States, United Kingdom, European Commission, Albania, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic and Peru. They offer a rare glimpse into the power Pfizer has to silence governments, throttle supply, shift risk and maximize profits in the middle of a public health crisis. We speak with Public Citizen researcher Zain Rizvi, author of the new report.

As President Biden negotiates the final size and scope of the Build Back Better Act with fellow Democrats, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has emerged as a major hurdle to his agenda. The conservative Democrat and his family would potentially profit from his opposition to the key planks of the bill, including green energy investment and raising corporate taxes to pay for the package. Stephen Smith, co-chair of West Virginia Can't Wait, says Manchin fits into a long history of state lawmakers working for corporate interests. "Senator Manchin and the rest of our congressional delegation has never represented the people of our state," says Smith, who ran for governor in 2020, placing second in the Democratic primary. "Politics in West Virginia has never been left versus right, red team versus blue team. It's the people who are suffering and dying and surviving versus the people who are trying to profit off of that pain."

President Biden acknowledged Thursday his Build Back Better agenda is in jeopardy due to two Senate Democrats: Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Both senators have pushed Biden to slash in half his $3.5 trillion proposal that would be spent over 10 years to vastly expand the safety net and combat the climate crisis. We take an in-depth look at the two lawmakers, starting with Sinema. "Unfortunately, Sinema really reads as a cautionary tale of what happens when political ambition becomes a be-all and end-all," says Branko Marcetic, Jacobin staff writer, who describes the political evolution of Sinema, who ran in her early career as a socialist and has moved "rightward and rightward every step of the way."

We go to Brunswick, Georgia, for an update as jury selection began this week in the trial of three white men who fatally shot 25-year-old unarmed man Ahmaud Arbery while he was out for a jog last year. Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael claim they were attempting a "citizen's arrest" of Arbery last February when they pursued him in their pickup truck. Their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded a cellphone video that would later be released as evidence and spark nationwide outcry. Travis McMichael fired two shots, killing Arbery. Theawanza Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery's aunt, remembers Arbery as "an amazing young man … they took away from us," and discusses ongoing protests outside the courthouse and racial dynamics in the case. "It's impossible to find anyone in that small community who has not heard about what happened to Ahmaud," adds Lee Merritt, civil rights attorney representing the Arbery family, who also addresses key aspects of the defense’s argument, including the citizen arrest law the McMichaels used as an excuse to stop Arbery.

Report Reveals U.S. Immigration Officers' Violent and Sexual Abuse of Asylum Seekers , National Guard Troops Helped Texas Law Enforcement Arrest Over 70,000 Asylum Seekers, Haiti Gang Threatens to Kill Missionary Hostages Amid Dire Security & Economic Conditions , Just 14% of Vaccines Pledged to Poorer Nations Have Been Delivered as Rich Countries Hoard Doses, Climate Crisis Set to Drive Public Health Crisis and Threaten National Security , Wealthy Nations Tried to Dilute U.N. Climate Report Ahead of COP26 Global Summit, House Votes to Hold Steve Bannon in Contempt for Defying Capitol Insurrection Subpoena, J&J Spinoff Company Files for Bankruptcy to Stem Damage from Talcum Powder Cancer Lawsuits, Alec Baldwin Fires Prop Gun on Set, Killing Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and Injuring Director, Sen. Chuck Schumer Endorses India Walton for Buffalo Mayor Ahead of Nov. Election

The Biden administration says it is withholding about 10% of its annual military aid to Egypt because of concerns over human rights abuses by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Egypt will still get nearly $1.2 billion in military assistance, even as a new report by Human Rights Watch finds Egyptian authorities have killed perhaps hundreds of secretly held dissidents in extrajudicial executions in recent years. Egypt holds an estimated 60,000 political prisoners, including the prominent activist and blogger Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who appeared in court this week to face charges of spreading "false news" on social media. He has been imprisoned since his arrest in September 2019, just six months after he was released following a five-year prison term for his role in the peaceful demonstrations of 2011. El-Fattah's mother Laila Soueif, a mathematics professor at Cairo University, says he is under severe restrictions, with no exercise time or even reading materials permitted in jail. "He's been in jail on pretrial remand for more than two years, which is completely illegal," says Soueif. The case against the activist is part of a wider crackdown on civil society, says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, a reporter for the independent Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr. "The vast majority of political prisoners in Egypt have not been convicted of a crime," he says.

As Senator Joe Manchin demands Democrats drop critical climate funding to replace coal- and gas-fired power plants with renewable energy sources, investigative reporting into the financial dealings of Manchin reveals that he has profited over $4.5 million from investments in West Virginia coal companies since he became a U.S. senator. Investigative journalist Daniel Boguslaw, who looked into the network of coal companies that Manchin and his family has owned and held stock in over the decades, says Manchin's voting record in Washington shows him "prioritizing a dying industry that he's making millions of dollars off of." The report also finds that Manchin's family coal businesses have grim records of pollution, safety violations and death.

For weeks, conservative Democrats in Congress have prevented the passage of the Build Back Better Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has been a vocal critic of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have stalled the bills and forced President Biden to radically scale back the price tag of his agenda. "All Democrats are essentially on board," Omar says, "except for these two, who are essentially doing the bidding of Big Pharma, Big Oil and Wall Street." The Build Back Better Act, which began at $3.5 trillion when Biden introduced the bill, has reportedly been lowered to half the original amount due to resistance in Congress. Progressive initiatives that are in danger of being dropped include free community college, extended paid family leave and lower prescription drug prices.

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As early voting kicks off Saturday in a nationally watched mayoral race in Buffalo, New York, we speak with India Walton, who shocked the Democratic establishment when she defeated four-term Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown in the Democratic primary. Since then, the self-described socialist has faced stiff opposition from within her party, with many top Democrats in the state, including Governor Kathy Hochul and Senator Chuck Schumer, refusing to endorse her. State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs even compared Walton to former KKK leader David Duke in an interview, for which he later apologized. Walton is a Black single mother, a registered nurse and longtime community activist. If elected on November 2, she will be the first mayor of a major American city in decades who identifies as a socialist. Walton says she is "hyper-focused" on her campaign and does not want to take part in the vitriol of her opponents. "I am running for mayor of Buffalo as an expression of love," Walton adds.

A group of New York City taxi drivers launched a hunger strike Wednesday demanding the city provide debt relief from their taxi medallion loans. Since 9/11, thousands of taxi drivers have accrued massive debt largely due to the city artificially inflating the cost of taxi medallions, the permits required to drive a taxi. Drivers have also denounced the mental health impacts triggered by the financial ruin. At least nine have died by suicide. "At this point, drivers have an average debt of $550,000, [and] the city has basically no solution. They've come out with what's really just a cash bailout to the banks with no relief for the drivers," says Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. "Thousands of families are going to be left in a debt that will be beyond their lifetime, and they'll be earning below minimum wage just to pay it off." Despite popular congressional support for a solution being put forth by the union, Desai says Mayor Bill de Blasio hasn't been willing to discuss the proposal.

We go to the picket line in Iowa, where thousands of workers are on strike at John Deere after the United Auto Workers failed to reach an agreement with the company to improve wages. Despite reporting record profits in 2021, John Deere forced employees to work overtime and announced significant cuts to raises and benefits. Chris Laursen, 19-year John Deere worker on strike in Ottumwa, Iowa, says profit margins went to shareholders and a 160% salary increase for the CEO. "We came into work every day. We worked overtime, not only exposing ourselves, but our family, our friends," says Laursen. "At the end of the day, we feel that the offer brought up is very arrogant and ... is not going to cut it."

We begin our coverage of what some are calling "Striketober" with a look at how the union of 60,000 television and film production workers averted a strike just hours before a midnight deadline on Saturday, when it reached a tentative agreement with an association of Hollywood producers representing companies like Walt Disney, Netflix and Amazon. The tentative deal brings members of IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, higher pay, longer breaks, better healthcare and pension benefits. Some members say the deal doesn't go far enough, and about 40,000 members from 13 Hollywood locals must still approve the pact. Jacobin writer Alex Press says the averted strike is part of a "broader moment" of labor militancy across the United States, including workers at Amazon, Kellogg's and elsewhere. "Workers are willing to fight back," she says. "They understand they have more leverage right now."

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In an exclusive interview, we speak with Jean Montrevil, an immigrant rights leader who was deported to Haiti in 2018. He returned home to New York and reunited with his family Monday on a special 90-day parole. He hopes to stay longer. Montrevil was a founding member of the New Sanctuary Coalition, which worked with Families for Freedom to engage churches in immigrant defense. ICE targeted him for his activism, using a decades-old conviction as pretext to deport him. In his first interview since landing, Montrevil tells Democracy Now! he will continue to speak out and implore the current administration to "take a second look at their policies and to stop deportations to Haiti." His longtime lawyer Alina Das says, "We don't believe that anyone should be targeted for deportation, to be jailed, to be taken away from their family, to be expelled from this country because they've chosen to speak out."

We look at the life and legacy of Colin Powell, who is best known for giving false testimony to the U.N. Security Council in 2003 about nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, paving the way for the U.S. invasion and occupation that would kill over 1 million Iraqis. Powell, who was the first Black secretary of state, the first Black and youngest chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first Black national security adviser, died on Monday due to blood cancer and Parkinson's disease that left him vulnerable to infection from COVID-19. Tributes poured in from top U.S. leaders in both Republican and Democratic circles on Monday, but in other parts of the world Powell is remembered very differently. We speak with journalist and author Roberto Lovato, and Clarence Lusane, activist, journalist and political science professor at Howard University. Lusane describes Powell as "a complicated political figure who leaves a complicated legacy" whose public image was "in conflict with many of the policies of the party he supported and the administration in which he was involved." Assessing Powell's role in U.S. invasions around the world, from Vietnam to Central America, Lovato says "he's made a career out of being a good soldier and supporting U.S. mass murder around the world, but evading the credit for it."