Democracy Now!

Separated by two plates of plexiglass, Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris met Wednesday in the only vice-presidential debate of the campaign season. Pence, who heads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, repeatedly defended the Trump administration's handling of the crisis as the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 nears 212,000 and millions of people remain out of work. The debate also took place against the backdrop of a White House outbreak that has infected President Trump and dozens of other senior figures. "The White House has had more cases than the country of Yemen recently, than Vietnam, than New Zealand," says Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. "How can we expect the White House to keep the U.S. safe if it can't keep the White House safe?"

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence Face Off in VP Debate Separated by Plexiglass Barriers, Contagious with COVID-19, President Trump Returns to Oval Office, Trump Calls COVID-19 Diagnosis a "Blessing from God", Top Security Official "Gravely Ill" with COVID-19 as White House Coronavirus Cluster Grows to 34, White House Quietly Told Gold Star Families They May Have Been Exposed to Coronavirus, Wisconsin Restricts Indoor Gatherings Amid Record Spike in Coronavirus Cases, New England Journal of Medicine Calls on Voters to Vote Against Trump in First-Ever Endorsement, Ex-CDC Director Calls on Robert Redfield to Expose "Colossal Failure" of Pandemic Response, Arizona GOP Sen. Martha McSally Refuses to Restate Her Support for Donald Trump, Texas High Court Bars Harris County from Sending Mail-in Ballot Applications to Voters, California Records First "Gigafire" in State History, with Over 1 Million Acres Burned, Last Month Was the Hottest September on Record, Edging Out September 2019, Greek Court Declares Fascist Golden Dawn Party a Criminal Organization, Police Shooting Victim Jacob Blake at Spinal Rehabilitation Center After Leaving Hospital, Minneapolis Officer Who Killed George Floyd Released from Jail on $1 Million Bond, Louise Glück, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier Awarded Nobel Prizes

Nearly 41 years after Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis shot dead five antiracist activists in the town of Greensboro, North Carolina, the City Council there has passed a resolution apologizing for the attack and the police department's complicity in the killings. We speak with two survivors of the 1979 attack, Reverend Nelson Johnson and Joyce Hobson Johnson, who say the city's apology acknowledges "the police knew and chose to do nothing. In fact, they facilitated what we name now as a North American death squad."

As President Trump compares the deadly COVID-19 outbreak to the flu despite being hospitalized for the virus, we speak to his only niece, Mary Trump, about his increasingly erratic behavior in the final weeks of the election season and how his family views illness as a weakness. "To be treated for something is to admit that you need the treatment, and I don't see him having any self-awareness," she says. "Clearly the people closest to him don't care about his well-being. If they did, he'd still be at Walter Reed." She also warns that the "worst-case scenario" would be for President Trump to overcome his illness relatively quickly, because it would convince him to continue ignoring the pandemic. Mary Trump is a clinical psychologist. In July, she overcame Trump's legal threats and published the now best-selling book, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man."

Stephen Miller Tests Positive for COVID-19 as Top Pentagon Generals Quarantine, Rudy Giuliani Coughs Through TV Interview While Awaiting Coronavirus Test Result, White House Refuses Contact Tracing Help as Trump Puts Residence Staff at Risk of COVID-19, Two Presidential Valets Who Carry Nuclear Launch Codes Test Positive for Coronavirus, Six States Report Record Hospitalizations as U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Nears 211,000, Trump Calls Off Stimulus Talks, Then Reverses Course in Erratic Series of Tweets, Facebook, Twitter Crack Down on Trump's False Claim COVID-19 Is Less Lethal Than Flu, FDA to Require Two Month Safety Review for Vaccines Before Emergency Use, Vaccine Expert Who Blew Whistle on Trump's Coronavirus Response Resigns, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris Vice-Presidential Debate to Feature Plexiglass Barriers, Joe Biden Condemns Racial Injustice, Calls for Fully Funding Police, Amy Coney Barrett Served as "Handmaid" in Secretive Religious Group, Two Supreme Court Justices Mull Reversal of Marriage Equality Ruling, Hurricane Delta Strikes Mexico's Yucatan, Tracks Toward U.S. Gulf Coast, East Africa Flooding Forces 1.5 Million from Homes Amid Historic Rainfall, Kyrgyzstan's Election Commission Invalidates Disputed Vote Amid Mass Protests, Senators Want U.S. Military Aid to Azerbaijan Cut as Nagorno-Karabakh Fighting Escalates, 18 Killed in Truck Bombing in Turkish-Controlled Syrian Town, Grand Jury Indicts Wealthy St. Louis Couple Who Brandished Guns at BLM Protesters, Homeland Security Dept.: White Supremacists Are "Most Persistent and Lethal Threat", House Democrats Accuse Big Tech Companies of Monopolistic Practices, NYT: Jeff Sessions Defended Child Separations, Saying, "We Need to Take Away Children"

As the number of people in President Trump's orbit who test positive for COVID-19 continues to grow, we meet a student journalist who is doing what the White House doesn't want the CDC to do: tracing the contacts of people who may have infected or been infected by President Trump. Benjy Renton, a Middlebury College senior, helped develop a real-time tracking tool to monitor the growing number of people in President Trump's circle who were exposed or infected with COVID-19. The site is called COVID-19 at the White House and lists over 270 contacts and 25 positive cases, so far. It uses "publicly available information to ensure the American public have access and have the transparency that they deserve," says Renton.

As the highest-profile coronavirus patient in the world returns to the White House while still infectious and a danger to others, we speak with activist Kristin Urquiza, whose father died from COVID-19 earlier this year. She says President Trump's minimizing of the disease is a slap in the face to families who have lost loved ones. "I was appalled," says Urquiza. "Every single person out there who's lost a loved one to COVID, who has seen up close and personal what this virus can do, felt the same way." Urquiza, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August about her father, is co-founder of Marked by COVID, a project elevating the stories of Americans who have died in the pandemic.

Shocking medical experts, President Trump has returned to the White House while still infectious with the coronavirus and after more than a dozen people in Trump's orbit have already tested positive for COVID-19. Emergency room physician Dr. Dara Kass says she was "horrified" by President Trump's dismissive attitude toward a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States. "I had this virus," says Dr. Kass. "I never left my bedroom without an N95 mask on my face, because I was petrified of giving it to my friends and family."

COVID-Positive Trump Returns to WH, Removes Mask, as Number of Coronavirus Cases Around Him Mount, NYT: WH Officials Blocking FDA from Delaying Approval of Vaccine to Make Sure It's Safe, 10% of World May Have Had COVID-19 as Countries Around the World Report Record Cases and Deaths, New Voting Hurdles Emerge in South Carolina, Florida as Early Voting Gets Underway in More States, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence to Debate Behind Plexiglass; Joe Biden Slams Trump for Eschewing Masks, TX Officer Charged with Murder in Shooting of Beloved Ex-College Football Player Jonathan Price, California Prosecutors to Reopen Investigation into 2009 Killing of Oscar Grant, Survivors of Chemical Attacks in Syria File Complaint as U.N. Blocks Testimony of Former Head of OPCW, Protests Erupt in Kyrgyzstan After Disputed Parliamentary Vote, Scientists Warn of Ecological Disaster in Eastern Russia After Apparent Chemical Spill, Leaked ExxonMobil Documents Reveal Oil Giant Plans to Increase Annual CO2 Emissions by 17%, EPA Strips Tribes in Oklahoma of Environmental Regulatory Rights, L.A. Times Exec. Editor Steps Down After Toxic Workplace Reports and Staff Demands for More Diversity, Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Black Holes Discoveries, Medicine Award for Hepatitis C Research

Breonna Taylor's family is calling on Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear to appoint a new special prosecutor to reopen the case after they say newly released grand jury tapes confirm the state Attorney General Daniel Cameron "did not serve as an unbiased prosecutor in this case and intentionally did not present charges to the grand jury that would have pursued justice for Ms. Taylor." Cameron complied with a judicial order to release 15 hours of audiotapes just before the judge's noon deadline on Friday. "The recordings that were released were just as we assumed they were, that nobody was presenting evidence on behalf of Breonna Taylor," says Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Taylor's family. We also speak with Democratic Kentucky Representative Attica Scott, who was arrested last month during a protest in Louisville calling for justice in the case and faces charges of first-degree rioting, failure to disperse and unlawful assembly, even as police officers were directly charged in Taylor's killing.

As President Trump and a growing number of prominent Republicans are infected with COVID-19, we speak with Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, who says Trump was reckless in his approach to the coronavirus and continues to flout public health recommendations. "There is an outbreak happening at the White House. It will continue to spread. It will not go away on its own," says Dr. Jha. "The way you stop it is to test, trace and isolate."

As the White House and President Trump's medical team issue conflicting statements on Trump's condition after he was hospitalized for COVID-19, and when he was infected, we speak with Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason. The administration's lack of transparency "certainly raises questions about the decisions that were made to allow him to travel, for him to decide to travel, and to expose what seems like a lot of people," Mason says.

Trump Breaks Isolation, Endangers Secret Service as WH Sends Mixed Messages on Trump's Condition, GOP Vows to Push Through SCOTUS Hearings as 3 Senators Test Positive for COVID-19, Coronavirus Cases on the Rise Across the Country as NYC Seeks to Shut Down 9 Neighborhoods, ICE Prisoners in Washington Tested for COVID-19 After Exposure from a Guard, Police in Chile Throw Teenager Off Bridge During Anti-Government Protest, Fighting in Disputed Nagorno-Karabakh Region Escalates, Killing at Least One, Guatemala Deports Thousands of Central American Migrants Headed Toward U.S., ICE Erects Billboards with Faces of Immigrants in Pennsylvania, California Wildfires Burn Over 4 Million Acres as Record-Breaking Fires Devastate South America, Court Overturns Extension on Absentee Ballots in Georgia; Groups Sue Texas over Ballot Drop-Off Order, South Carolina Dem Challenger Jaime Harrison Brings Plexiglass Barrier to Debate Lindsey Graham, Federal Judge Enforces Previous Ruling That Census Collection Must Continue Through October, Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Tapes Released as Second Juror Requests Permission to Speak About Case, Protesters at California Governor's Mansion Demand Justice for Sean Monterrosa, Convicted Rapist Harvey Weinstein to Face New Sex Crimes Charges

President Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19, throwing the final month of an already unprecedented election season into disarray. What will this latest news mean for the debates and the Supreme Court? And what will happen if President Trump is unable to lead the country? We speak to journalist John Nichols about the line of succession, campaigning in the critical swing state of Wisconsin, and more. We also speak with Naomi Klein, senior correspondent at The Intercept and a professor at Rutgers University.

How will President Trump's revelation that he tested positive for COVID-19 affect the presidential race? Acclaimed journalist, author and activist Naomi Klein warns that the Trump campaign is likely to exploit the news. "We need to be prepared for the president using the fact that he's having to cancel campaign events for two weeks to try to further delegitimize elections," she says.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19. The announcement came early Friday morning, hours after Bloomberg News reported that Trump adviser Hope Hicks became ill during Trump's Wednesday night rally in Duluth, Minnesota, and had to be quarantined aboard Air Force One on the return flight to Washington. Hicks went on to test positive for coronavirus early on Thursday, though the White House did not report her illness. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is also getting tested over fears that Trump may have infected him at Tuesday's debate. We speak with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who says Trump and his inner circle regularly flouted safety precautions leading up to his positive COVID-19 test. "The problem with science is that if you try and mess with science, science always wins." We also speak with infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Gandhi.

Just days after mocking his presidential rival Joe Biden for regularly wearing masks, President Donald Trump has revealed that he and first lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for COVID-19 and are entering 14 days of isolation. For months, Trump has downplayed the severity of the pandemic, which has killed over 200,000 Americans. President Trump is 74, has elevated blood pressure and is over the threshold for obesity — three factors linked to higher morbidity and mortality among COVID-19 patients. For more on the pandemic and Trump's coronavirus diagnosis, we speak with Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Test Positive for Coronavirus, Joe Biden to Receive Coronavirus Test After Tuesday's Debate with President Trump, Trump Continued Public Events After Adviser Hope Hicks Became Ill and Tested Positive for COVID-19, Trump, 74, Faces Greater COVID-19 Morbidity Risk Due to High Blood Pressure and Obesity, Before Testing Positive, Trump Planned Rallies in Wisconsin's Coronavirus "Red Zones", Coronavirus Outbreak Shutters Queens School on First Full Day of In-Person Classes in NYC, Texas Republican Governor Orders Closure of Absentee Ballot Drop-Off Sites, Far-Right Activists Charged over Robocalls Targeting Black Voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania "Election Integrity" Commission Would Give GOP Power to Disrupt Nov. 3 Election, President Trump Disavows White Supremacists After Telling Proud Boys to "Stand By", Federal Officials Ordered to Defend 17-Year-Old Charged with Murdering Protesters , Texas Police Authorized Use of Deadly Force at George Floyd Burial, Secretive Religious Group Deletes All References of Amy Coney Barrett from Website, House Democrats Pass $2.2 Trillion Coronavirus Stimulus Bill, Face Republican Opposition, Dozens of NY Housing Activists Arrested Demanding Halt to Looming Evictions, Thousands Flee Extreme Poverty & Violence in Honduras as Caravan Hopes to Reach U.S., Melania Trump Recorded Dismissing Criticism of Family Separation at Southern Border, Renowned Colombian Historian Campo Elías Galindo Assassinated in His Apartment , Fox News Paid Kimberly Guilfoyle's Former Assistant $4M After Sexual Harassment Complaints

Two years ago, in a story that shocked the world, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul for marriage documents and was never seen again. It was later revealed that Khashoggi — a Saudi insider turned critic and Washington Post columnist — was murdered and dismembered by a team of Saudi agents at the direct order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. We speak with a friend of Khashoggi and with the director of a new documentary, "Kingdom of Silence," that tracks not only Khashoggi's brutal murder and the rise of MBS, but also the decades-long alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia. "What drew me into this story is Jamal was one of our own," says director Rick Rowley. "When one of our colleagues is killed, it falls on all of us as journalists to try to do what we can to rescue their story from the forces that would impose silence on it."

As India becomes just the second country to hit 6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, we speak to journalist Rana Ayyub in Mumbai, who was recently hospitalized after testing positive for the disease. India's lead pandemic agency says an antibody study suggests more than 60 million people in the country have already been infected with the coronavirus — 10 times the official count but still a small fraction of its population of 1.3 billion. "It doesn't feel like India is even talking about the pandemic," says Ayyub, a global opinions writer for The Washington Post. "More than the fear of the pandemic, people in this country are fearing the massive unemployment and the fact that they are going without food."

Hate Groups Celebrate Trump's Call for Far-Right Extremists to "Stand By", FBI Warns of Far-Right Terrorism as Trump Boosts Hate Group, Ex-Trump Campaign Manager Quits After Arrest on Spousal Abuse Allegations, Commission on Presidential Debates to Change Rules to "Ensure a More Orderly Discussion", Madrid Back on Lockdown as Coronavirus Infections Surge, Peruvian Medical Workers Strike, Demanding Personal Protective Equipment, Trump Plans Rallies in Wisconsin Even as State Becomes Coronavirus Red Zone, U.S. Economy Shrank at Record-Breaking 31.4% Annualized Rate in Second Quarter, Federal Courts Halt Trump Campaign Efforts to Thwart Mail-In Voting, Release of Grand Jury Recordings in Breonna Taylor's Killing Delayed Until Friday, Native American Activists Continue Fight Against Trump's Border Wall in Arizona, Northern California Under New Red Flag Warnings as Record Fires Continue, House Democrats Grill Pharmaceutical Executives over Skyrocketing Drug Prices, India Erupts in Protest over Gang Rape and Murder of Dalit Teenager, Right Livelihood Awards Go to Iranian Lawyer, Nicaraguan Land Defender, Belarusian Activist & U.S. Civil Rights Lawyer

After massive outcry from activists and young voters, debate moderator Chris Wallace questioned President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden about the climate crisis at the first presidential debate. He did not include it in his initial list of debate topics. Kate Aronoff, author and staff writer at The New Republic, says she didn't expect climate change to come up, but was unsurprised by the responses. "We've known for years that Donald Trump denies the science of climate change," she says. "And we know that Joe Biden doesn't support a Green New Deal."

"It's a rigged election," claimed President Trump when he and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden were asked about election integrity during last night's debate as the two men sparred over mail-in voting. Trump ended the debate by calling for poll watchers. We speak with Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who says Trump is promoting unlawful intimidation and voter suppression, and has vowed to go to court to block any attempt to discourage or block people from freely casting their ballots.

During the first presidential debate, former Vice President Joe Biden repeatedly criticized President Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 205,000 people in the United States — the highest death toll in the world. Trump mocked Biden for wearing a mask, while claiming that a vaccine would be available within weeks. "It was very bizarre," says Marc Lamont Hill, author and professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University. "The idea of not erring on the side of caution is representative of the entire Trump administration's handling of the COVID-19 crisis."

Donald Trump and Joe Biden were asked about how to address racism during the first presidential debate held in Cleveland. While Biden expressed sympathy with victims of police brutality, President Trump insisted that most violence came from left-wing groups — a false claim ignoring that the vast majority of political violence in the U.S. comes from right-wing extremists, according to the FBI and others. Trump's refusal to reckon with the issue "poses a real and grave threat to Black and Brown people in particular in our country who are often the victims of racial violence," says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

President Trump refused to condemn white supremacists during the first of three scheduled presidential debates with Joe Biden. When pressed by moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News to disavow far-right extremism, Trump name-checked the Proud Boys and told them to "stand back and stand by," words widely denounced as a tacit endorsement of the violent, white supremacist organization classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. The Proud Boys almost immediately responded by changing its logo online to include the Trump quote. Christian Picciolini, a former neo-Nazi who now leads the Free Radicals Project, a group focused on helping people disengage from violent extremism, says Trump's words were a clear encouragement for "continued violence" from far-right groups. We also speak with Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill, who says Trump's performance at the debate is a continuation of his white supremacist project. "He wants violence in the streets, he wants chaos at the polls, because he wants Americans to feel a sense of unsafety. It's its own kind of diplomatic terrorism," he says.

Trump Refuses to Condemn White Supremacists or Rule Out Post-Election Violence, New York City Coronavirus Infections Surge for First Time in Months, Indian Health Officials Claim 60 Million Coronavirus Infections Nationwide, House Democrats Unveil Pared-Down $2.2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill, Texas Sheriff and Prosecutor Indicted for Evidence Tampering in Javier Ambler Police Killing, Kentucky AG Didn't Recommend Murder Charges for Breonna Taylor's Killers, Trump Plans Pre-Election ICE Raids in U.S. Sanctuary Cities, More Women Detail Forced Sterilizations, Unnecessary Surgeries at Georgia ICE Jail, World Health Organization Workers Accused of Sexually Exploiting Women in DRC, Amnesty International Shuts Indian Offices Amid "Incessant Witch-Hunt" by Modi Government, Mexico Orders Arrest of Soldiers over Disappeared Ayotzinapa Students

Ahead of the first of three presidential debates between President Trump and Joe Biden, we speak with David Cay Johnston, founder and editor-in-chief of DCReport.org, who says the bombshell New York Times report on Trump's taxes highlights the existence of "two income tax systems, separate and unequal." The Times reports that Trump paid no federal income tax in 10 of the past 15 years and just $750 in 2016 and 2017. In a follow-up report, the Times reveals Trump made $427 million in connection to the hit reality TV show "The Apprentice," providing him a financial lifeline as other investments lost money. "People who own their own businesses, like Donald Trump, are under a different system," says Johnston.

In a historic victory for unhoused people, Philadelphia city officials agreed to hand over 50 vacant homes to a community land trust, following months of organizing and protest encampments. We hear from one of the organizers and speak to Philadelphia-based Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, who has written extensively about housing insecurity and says the direct actions there are applicable across the U.S. "This dynamic exists all over the country where you have both empty housing and houseless people, a completely irrational expression of what American capitalism means," Taylor says. The sustained movement in Philadelphia established "a model for what all tenant organizing and activist groups should be taking up, which is occupy the space, occupy the properties and put political pressure on public housing authorities to do their job and house people that are unhoused."

We speak with Vice News correspondent Roberto Ferdman about new body camera footage he obtained from the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor in Louisville in March, which has raised troubling questions about the integrity of the crime scene, and the investigation that followed. "The public deserves more information to understand what we know for sure and what we don't and why things have been presented the way they have been," Ferdman tells Democracy Now!

President Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court could threaten reproductive rights across the U.S., according to Planned Parenthood president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson. Barrett, who once called abortion "always immoral," would give conservatives a decisive 6-3 advantage on the top court if she is confirmed by the Senate, and President Trump has openly promoted her nomination by suggesting she would help overturn the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion in the U.S. Barrett "would be a huge threat to reproductive rights" on the Supreme Court, says McGill Johnson. "Reproductive healthcare is healthcare. And the most immediate threat that we are facing in the time of a pandemic is the fact that the ACA, which has been one of the biggest advancements for women's health across the board, is also under attack."

As President Trump nominates conservative federal judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat, we look at how an emboldened 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court could dramatically loosen gun laws, hurt immigrant communities and play a possibly central role in deciding a close presidential election. "Her religious conservatism is not what's extreme about her. It's her actual judicial opinions," says Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation. "She does not use her religion to guide her through her decisions; she uses her extremist conservative views."

In a bombshell report a month before November's presidential election, The New York Times reveals Donald Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years, and just $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017. "We don't have to just take his word for the fact that he paid lots of taxes. We can see in the documents that he didn't," says Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation who has written about the legal fight over Trump's tax returns. "If those documents are wrong, Donald Trump can release his taxes and show us what he claims is the real truth."

Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett to SCOTUS; GOP-Led Senate Could Confirm Before Nov. 3, NYT: Trump Paid $750 in Fed. Income Taxes in 2016, No Income Taxes in 10 of Last 15 Years , Protests Continue over Impunity in Breonna Taylor's Case as Her Family Speaks Out, U.S. Coronavirus Cases Top 7 Million, on the Rise in Two Dozen States, Global Coronavirus Deaths Approach 1 Million; Latin America Has Half of Most Infected Nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan Declare Martial Law as Fighting Kills at Least 23 People, Belarus Protests Continue as EU and U.S. Refuse to Recognize Lukashenko as Legitimate Ruler, At Least 16 Refugees Feared Dead After Shipwreck Off Libya's Coast, Lebanese Prime Minister-Designate Steps Down, Salvadoran Woman Who Was Jailed for Having Stillbirth Released After 6 Years Behind Bars, Youth Climate Activists Mark Global Day of Climate Action, Activists Take Aim at KKR's New York Building, in Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en Land Defenders, Wildfires Continue to Ravage California; At Least 1,200 Fatalities Linked to Inhaling Toxic Smoke , Judge Blocks Trump's Unlawful Public Lands Head from Serving , Judge Orders Halt to Trump's Ban on TikTok Downloads, Philadelphia Housing Activists to Set Up Community Land Trust for Unhoused People

We speak with Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the first African American to lead the denomination, about systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter movement, the 2020 election and President Trump's use of faith as a political prop. "The church must not be used for partisan political purposes," Curry says. "The faith, the Christian faith, is not up for sale." Curry's latest book is "Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times."

In an address to the country, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has issued a stark warning about the threat posed by President Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the November election. Trump, who has made spurious claims of voter fraud and election-rigging against Democrats for months, recently ramped up his efforts to discredit the election results by suggesting he will refuse to concede if he loses. "This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy. And democracy must win," Sanders said. We air excerpts from his speech.

As President Trump refuses to commit to accepting the results of the upcoming election, we speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman, whose latest piece in The Atlantic looks at how Trump could subvert the election results and stay in power even if he loses to Joe Biden. "Trump's strategy is never to concede. He may win, he may lose, but under no circumstances will he concede this election," says Gellman. "That's a big problem, because we don't actually have a mechanism for forcing a candidate to concede, and concession is the way we have ended elections."

Sen. Bernie Sanders Warns of an Election "Between Donald Trump and Democracy", FBI Director Sees No Evidence of Widespread Voter Fraud, 24 Arrested as Louisville Protesters Defy Curfew to Demand Justice for Breonna Taylor, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul Says Goal of Black Lives Matter Is "Terrorism", Drivers Attack Peaceful Black Lives Matter Protesters in Los Angeles, Family of Tucson Man Who Died in Police Custody Demands Charges for Officers, Virginia Officials Warn of "Severe Public Health Threat" If Trump Rally Allowed to Proceed, Iowa Slaughterhouse Fined $957 After COVID-19 Outbreak Infected Hundreds of Workers, U.N. Says 1 Million Coronavirus Deaths Due to Nations' Lack of Preparedness and Solidarity, Global Youth Climate Strikes Return "For as Long as It Takes", U.S. Households Face Widespread Hunger as 1.5 Million File New Jobless Claims, "Vote Him Out": Trump Heckled While Viewing Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Casket at Supreme Court, Congressional Report Finds Immigrants in ICE Custody Died from Medical Neglect, Mexican Soldiers May Be Arrested in Case of 43 Disappeared Ayotzinapa Students, Volkswagen to Pay $6.4 Million to Brazilian Dictatorship Torture Survivors

As outrage mounts over the grand jury ruling in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, we look at the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where an investigation is in its final stages. The case sparked renewed national protests in August after viral video showed Kenosha police shooting the Black father in the back seven times, paralyzing him. We speak with Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr. He says police shootings and killings of Black people reveal there are "two systems of justice" in the United States, and asks, "Why are our children scared to death of people that are supposed to protect and serve them?"

We go to Louisville, where protests erupted after police officers who shot Breonna Taylor in her own home were not charged for her death. A grand jury indicted a third officer for "wanton endangerment" for shooting into an adjacent apartment during the fatal raid that killed Breonna Taylor in March. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across the country demanding justice for Taylor and defunding of police departments. "The lack of indictments in the grand jury process is an indictment on the system itself," says Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League. "They have created a completely separate grand jury system for police officers."

Officer Who Shot into Breonna Taylor's Apartment Charged, But Not for Her Killing, Donald Trump Won't Commit to Peaceful Transfer of Power If He Loses Election, Dr. Deborah Birx Reportedly "Distressed" by Direction of WH Coronavirus Response, Dr. Anthony Fauci Warns of Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Survivors, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, Who Opposes Mask Mandates, Tests Positive for Coronavirus, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau Warns of Second Wave of Coronavirus Infections, Antarctic Ice Melt May Bring 8 Feet of Sea Level Rise Even If Paris Climate Goals Are Met, Climate Crisis Drives Record Fires in Brazil, Western United States, China Accused of Forcing Thousands of Tibetans into Mass Labor Camps, Amnesty International Tells Senate to Reject Chad Wolf as Homeland Security Secretary, Trump Administration Restores "Public Charge" Wealth Test for Green Card Applicants, Trump Praises "Good Genes" of White Audience, Cites Eugenics Theory, Far-Right Trump Supporters in Portland Planned Political Assassinations, Zoom, Facebook and YouTube Censor SFSU Seminar Attended by Palestinian Activist, Florida Voting Rights Activist Denied Pardon He Needs to Join Bar Association

As immigration authorities say they have stopped sending women to a Georgia gynecologist accused of sterilizing female prisoners without their consent, we continue our look at United States' disturbing history of forced sterilization with the producer and historian behind the 2016 documentary called "No Más Bebés," which tells the story of how a whistleblower doctor spoke out about a large number of tubal ligations performed on mostly Latinx patients at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center some 46 years ago. "Quite often they did not understand the terminology. They did not, in some cases, understand the language," says Virginia Espino. "They didn't quite know what was happening to them." She notes, "It feels like definitely the Georgia case is mirroring what had taken place in Los Angeles. You had people not fully understanding the procedures that were being performed on them."

As President Trump appears poised to announce a nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, we speak with a former member of the secretive Catholic group People of Praise, known for its rigid gender roles and lifelong loyalty oaths, which apparent front-runner Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a member of. "Many call it a community, but I describe it as a cult," says Coral Anika Theill, who was a member of People of Praise from 1979 to 1984 and is now speaking out against the organization.

We look at President Trump's top pick for a woman to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who is a devout Catholic who has taken conservative stances on abortion, gun rights, immigration and LGBTQ rights. Barrett's involvement with the conservative Catholic group People of Praise, whose members pledge a lifelong loyalty oath to the group, has also raised questions about her ability to rule independently. "There's some real concerns about whether her involvement in there will affect her ability to be impartial and fair as a judge," says Heidi Schlumpf, executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter.

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 200,000, On Track to Double by Year's End, FDA Reportedly Planning Stricter Guidelines for Release of COVID-19 Vaccine, Pentagon Spent $1 Billion of Coronavirus Funds on Military Supplies, Trump Says Coronavirus "Affects Virtually Nobody" as U.S. Death Toll Tops 200,000, U.N. Secretary-General Warns of New Cold War as Trump Attacks China over Coronavirus, Sen. Mitt Romney Backs Rapid Vote on Trump's Supreme Court Nominee, Officer Involved in Breonna Taylor's Killing Defends Actions, Calls Protesters "Thugs", Federal Agents Tapped Cellphones of Portland Protesters, President Trump Dodges Question About Poisoning of Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny, Belarusian Leader Sworn In at Secret Ceremony as Protests Continue Against His Rule, Jailed Transgender Woman Dies After Describing Horrid Conditions in Ohio Prison, For-Profit ICE Jail Will No Longer Send Women to Doctor Accused of Forced Sterilizations, Mexico Demands U.S. Investigation into Alleged Forced Hysterectomies at ICE Jail, California Prisoner Firefighter Transferred to ICE Custody, Census Watchdog Says Order to Cut Short Data Collection Came from Outside Bureau, Kamala Harris Urges Black Michiganders to Vote as Joe Biden Declares "I Am Not a Socialist", William LeCroy Becomes Sixth Federal Prisoner Put to Death Under Trump, University of California Admitted White, Wealthy Students Over More Qualified Applicants

Revelations about forced hysterectomies at an ICE facility in Georgia have forced a reckoning with the long history of sterilizations in the U.S. — particularly of Black, Brown, poor and disabled people — and the way this procedure has continued in jails and prisons to the present day. We speak with Kelli Dillon, who was sterilized at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla in 2001 and who is featured in the documentary "Belly of the Beast," which tells the stories of women subjected to unwanted sterilization behind bars in California. She says incarcerated women are "punished" for simply requesting medical records. "If we begin to press … we are reprimanded and sometimes put in lockdown," says Dillon, who in 2006 became the first survivor of sterilization abuse to sue the California Department of Corrections for damages. Between 2006 and 2010, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 women without required state approval. "Forced sterilization is genocide," notes filmmaker Erika Cohn, who directed "Belly of the Beast" and spent nearly a decade making it. The film opens in theaters on October 16 and will premiere on PBS's "Independent Lens" on November 23.

As ICE confirms the 20th person to die in its detention in fiscal year 2020, making it one of the deadliest periods in the agency's history, we talk to the whistleblower at the center of an explosive complaint that accuses an ICE jail in Georgia of failing to adhere to coronavirus safety protocols and performing a large number of unwanted hysterectomies on detainees. The doctor who carried out the procedures became known to women inside the facility as "the uterus collector." Whistleblower Dawn Wooten, a nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center, says the neglect and abuse at the facility was "jaw-dropping." We also speak with Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director at Project South, who says authorities must take action now. "What else would it take for decision makers to finally move and do something about this before we see additional tragedies at these facilities?" she says.

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg first gained fame in the 1970s when she co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union and argued six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court. One of those cases was Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, which centered on a widower who was refused Social Security benefits after his wife died during childbirth. We speak with Stephen Wiesenfeld, who was told his gender made him ineligible and that only women were entitled to survivor's benefits. Ginsburg argued in the Supreme Court that denying fathers benefits because of their sex was unconstitutional, and won a unanimous 8-0 decision in the case. Wiesenfeld, who would become a lifelong friend to the late Supreme Court justice, says she "took their very conservative court and taught them that the stereotypes when they hurt one gender, hurt the other gender, as well."

In her later years, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was internationally known simply as her initials — RBG — and a 2018 documentary film by the same name about Ginsburg's legal career, personal history and unexpected celebrity became a surprise smash hit. We speak with Julie Cohen, co-director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "RBG," about Ginsburg's early years and leadership in fighting for equal rights for women, including arguing a case before the Supreme Court with all male justices who were condescending to her. "She never let that condescension get her down," notes Cohen. "She was a deeply strategic person."