Democracy Now!

Trump Calls Stimulus Bill a "Disgrace" as Dems Seize on Call to Up Direct Payments to $2,000, Trump Pardons Blackwater Mercenaries, Ex-GOP Lawmakers, and Border Guards Who Shot a Man, U.N. Official Calls for Julian Assange Pardon; Trump Mulls Granting Immunity to Mohammed bin Salman, Dozens of Al Jazeera Journalists Hacked with Israeli Company's Spyware, Targeted Murders of Journalists Doubled in 2020, with Mexico Worst-Affected Country, Israeli Voters Will Head to Polls for Fourth Time in Less Than 2 Years After Gov't Collapse, Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill Palestinian Teenager in Occupied East Jerusalem, Pakistani Human Rights Activist Karima Mehrab Baloch Found Dead in Canada, Alex Padilla Will Replace Kamala Harris in Senate, Becomes CA's First Latinx U.S. Senator, DOJ Sues Walmart for Helping Fuel the Opioid Epidemic, ICE Guards Threaten to Force-Feed Hunger Striker as More Immigrant Prisoners Join Protest, Essential Workers in Chicago Walk Off Job to Demand Fair Pay and Safe Working Conditions

As President Trump continues to look for ways to overturn the 2020 election, he has also continued to raise massive sums of money — over half a billion dollars since mid-October, including more than $250 million since Election Day. The New York Times reports more than $60 million of what Trump raised has gone to a new political action committee that he will control after he leaves office, an unprecedented war chest for an outgoing president. There are few legal limits on what Trump can do with the raised funds, and he could use it to pay off his massive $420 million debt or to fund a potential 2024 run. "This is entirely unprecedented," says Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at Campaign Legal Center, who has been closely following Trump's fundraising since the election. "It's a loosely regulated political vehicle that Trump can tap into after he leaves the White House to retain influence in the Republican Party and also to potentially benefit himself and his family financially."

More than 40 countries have temporarily suspended some or all travel from the United Kingdom after British health officials announced a highly infectious variant of the novel coronavirus has been spreading in the country. South Africa has detected a similar variant. The new variant is believed to be 70% more contagious, but health experts say existing vaccines will still be effective against it. "What's important to remember is that mutations will naturally happen in the course of a virus that's in the community and circulating," says Dr. Taison Bell, critical care and infectious disease physician at the University of Virginia. "It's not unexpected to have these changes." Bell also describes how he received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine earlier this month.

As Congress passes a $900 billion coronavirus relief package, the first new aid since April, critics say the bill does not go far enough in providing direct aid to those most impacted by the economic downturn. "It needs to be thought of as a relief bill, as a bridge to get us to a Biden presidency, where we can do something that is far more intense and larger in scale," says Darrick Hamilton, professor of economics at The New School and founding director of the Institute for the Study of Race, Stratification and Political Economy.

Congress Approves $900 Billion Coronavirus Relief Bill After Months of Partisan Gridlock, U.S. Hospitalizations Hit Record High Amid Surge of Holiday Travel, First Doses of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Distributed Across U.S., HHS, CDC Chiefs Subpoenaed over White House Interference in Pandemic Response, Over 40 Countries Ban U.K. Travel over Fears of New Coronavirus Variant, Outgoing AG William Barr Refuses Trump's Demand He Seize Voting Machines, Isolated at the White House, Trump Makes Last-Ditch Effort to Overturn 2020 Election, Biden Set to Nominate CT Schools Commissioner Miguel Cardona as Education Secretary, Jamaican Asylum Seekers Walk Free 843 Days After Taking Sanctuary in Philadelphia Church, Prisoners in New Jersey ICE Jail Continue Protests Demanding Release Amid Pandemic, GOP-Led Lawsuit Seeks to Overturn DACA Program Protecting Undocumented DREAMers, Biden May Shield 1 Million Central Americans from Deportation After Devastating Hurricanes, Congress Expands Program to Identify Remains of Asylum Seekers Who Died Crossing Border, Mexican Ex-Governor of Jalisco State Assassinated in Puerto Vallarta, Far-Right Protesters Opposing to Public Health Measures Storm Oregon State Capitol, Statue of Civil Rights Pioneer Barbara Johns to Replace Robert E. Lee at U.S. Capitol

As President-elect Joe Biden unveils key members of his team who will tackle what he called the "existential" threat of the climate crisis, we speak to former Environmental Protection Agency official Mustafa Ali, who led the agency's environmental justice program until resigning in 2017 in protest of the Trump administration's policies. Biden's picks for the Climate Cabinet are the result of "a transformational set of movements," says Ali, who is currently vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. "It also speaks to all the hard, incredible work that environmental justice leaders have been doing to ensure that our president-elect is giving serious thought to vulnerable communities, to the impacts that are happening from the climate crisis."

Under pressure from progressives and communities of color, President-elect Joe Biden vowed Saturday to make environmental justice and science top concerns as he selects his climate team, which he formally introduced Saturday. If confirmed, many will represent historic firsts, including Michael Regan, who will be the first Black man to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Regan's selection comes after weeks of speculation Biden would instead tap Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board, but faced opposition for what critics called her "bleak track record in addressing environmental racism." Biden also tapped Democratic Congressmember Deb Haaland of New Mexico to lead the Interior Department, making her the first Native American Cabinet secretary in history. We feature highlights from Saturday's speeches by Regan, Haaland and others, including environmental attorney Brenda Mallory, who will chair Biden's Council on Environmental Quality; Gina McCarthy, head of the EPA under President Obama, who will lead a new White House Office of Climate Policy; and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who will be energy secretary.

As Congress is rushing to pass a new $900 billion coronavirus aid package, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is calling the new relief package "totally inadequate, given the nature of the unprecedented crisis that we face." Sanders took to the floor of the Senate Friday to call for $1,200 emergency checks for every working-class adult and $500 per child. We air portions of his address.

Lawmakers Agree on $900B Stimulus Bill with Reduced Direct Payments, Unemployment and No Local Aid, Moderna Vaccine Ships Out; CDC Recommends People 75+, Other Essential Workers Receive the Shot Next, Coronavirus Surges in U.S. as Tennessee Emerges as Major Hot Spot, U.K. Increasingly Isolated After Highly Infectious Coronavirus Strain Prompts Strict Lockdown, Joe Biden Introduces Diverse Climate Crisis Team, Trump Mulls Martial Law, Sidney Powell as Special Counsel on Election Fraud, Trump Asks SCOTUS to Throw Out PA Votes; Judge Rejects GA Senators' Attempt to Block New Voters, Rockets Fired at U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Ahead of Anniversary of Qassem Soleimani's Assassination, Violent Attacks Continue in Afghanistan as Car Bomb Kills 9 in Kabul, Ghazni Blast Kills 15, 25 Protesters Die as Historic Strike Against Deregulation of Agricultural Markets in India Continues, Cyclone Yasa Kills at Least 4 in Fiji, on the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, NYPD Used Excessive Force in Response to Racial Justice Uprising, Bodycam Footage Shows Police Did Not Immediately Assist Ahmaud Arbery as He Lay on Ground Dying, Seattle Police Clear Encampment in Public Park Amid Pandemic Surge, Apache Nation Organizes Day of Action Against Proposed Copper Mine, Trump Downplays Cyber Espionage Attack That Penetrated Nuclear Weapons Agency, SCOTUS Tosses Challenge to Trump's Plan Excluding Immigrants from Census Count

A shocking exposé in The Intercept reveals CIA-backed death squads in Afghanistan have killed children as young as 8 years old in a series of night raids, many targeting madrassas, Islamic religious schools. In December 2018, one of the death squads attacked a madrassa in Wardak province, killing 12 boys, of whom the youngest was 9 years old. The United States played key roles in many of the raids, from picking targets to ferrying Afghan forces to the sites to providing lethal airpower during the raids. The Intercept reports this was part of a campaign of terror orchestrated by the Trump administration that included massacres, executions, mutilation, forced disappearances, attacks on medical facilities, and airstrikes targeting structures known to house civilians. "These militias … were established in the very early days of the Afghan War by CIA officers, many of whom had been brought back into the fold after the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 who had previously been working in Afghanistan during the 1980s," says reporter Andrew Quilty. "This network of militias was set up and appear to be entirely under the control of the CIA but made up entirely of Afghan soldiers."

Indigenous and environmental activists have been holding daily protests against the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to a terminal in Superior, Wisconsin, cutting through Indigenous territory and running under more than 200 streams. Winona LaDuke, director of the group Honor the Earth, says the project's approval amid a historic slump in oil prices and accelerating climate crisis make it unsound on economic and environmental grounds. "This is the end of the fossil fuel era," LaDuke says. "The industry is ending, and there's certainly no reason to approve a new tar sands pipeline."

President-elect Joe Biden has picked New Mexico Congressmember Deb Haaland to become secretary of the interior. If confirmed, Haaland will be the first Native American to serve in a Cabinet position. Haaland's nomination was backed by progressives, as well as more than 120 tribal leaders, who sent a letter to Biden last month urging him to select her for the post. "That was a very, very important step for the Biden administration," says Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth, rural development economist and Native American activist. "Indian people know how to take care of this land."

Millions across the U.S. could be forced from their homes in the middle of the pandemic if Congress does not extend the federal eviction moratorium that is due to expire at the end of December. Congress is expected to push the moratorium back by one month, to January 31, in the $900 billion stimulus bill being debated in Washington, but such an extension would only be a temporary fix to a much wider problem. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that one-third of U.S. households are behind on rent or mortgage payments and will likely face eviction or foreclosure in the next two months. We speak with UCLA researcher Kathryn Leifheit, who says the lifting of state eviction moratoriums this summer led to 430,000 new COVID infections and 10,000 deaths. "We think these deaths are preventable, and they could have been prevented had those moratoriums been kept in place," says Leifheit. We also speak with tenant rights activist Tara Raghuveer, who says the federal evictions moratorium "wasn't good enough to begin with," but allowing it to expire would leave "millions of families vulnerable to eviction within the first 20 days of the next year."

U.S. Has Second-Worst Day of Pandemic as L.A. Logs Two COVID-19 Deaths Per Hour, FDA Panel Recommends Emergency Use of Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine, U.S. Unemployment Claims Surge as Lawmakers Haggle Over Pandemic Relief, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls for New Democratic Party Leadership, Biden Nominates Deb Haaland to Become First-Ever Native American Cabinet Member, Biden Taps North Carolina's Top Environmental Official Michael Regan to Head EPA, Rep. Cedric Richmond, Top Biden Adviser, Tests Positive for COVID-19, 28 Children from Haiti, Central and South America to Be Deported with Their Families, 344 Kidnapped Schoolboys Have Been Freed in Nigeria, Billionaire Sackler Family Refuses to Apologize for Fueling Deadly Opioid Epidemic , Federal Death Row Prisoner Contracts COVID-19 Weeks Before Planned Execution, Google Faces Third Major Antitrust Challenge as Dozens of AGs Launch Lawsuit, Google Employees Demand Company Reinstate Researcher Who Was Fired for Calling Out Bias in AI, NYC Council Passes Bill to Protect Fast-Food Workers from Being Fired Without Cause

After months of inaction, Congress finally appears close to passing a second, $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package. The agreement is likely to include additional unemployment assistance of $300 a week and one-time direct cash payments of between $600 and $700 for people in the U.S. — a sharp reduction from the first COVID check of $1,200. The COVID-19 relief checks were put back in the bill after a major push from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. A new study reports 8 million Americans have been pushed into poverty since the summer, in part due to a lack of federal assistance. "It's just staggering that Congress can't come together to help people in their time of need," says David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, who has been following stimulus talks closely.

As the "very exciting" rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution gets underway in the United States, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, says the country is still experiencing "astronomical" numbers of new infections and deaths. "We've just had a federal government that has given up on any efforts to try and control the pandemic," he says. "What we have to do is get through the next few months with basic public health measures until vaccines become widely available and widely adopted. Until that time, there is no reason to let up whatsoever."

Health experts are raising concerns that wealthy countries have reserved enough coronavirus vaccine doses to immunize their populations multiple times over, while poorer countries may only have enough to vaccinate about 20%. Reuters reports the World Health Organization's global plan for delivering COVID-19 vaccines to 91 poor and middle-income countries faces a "very high" risk of failure and could leave billions of people with no access to vaccines until 2024. "What we see is that something like 90% of all the vaccine doses that have been purchased have actually been done directly by countries, mostly middle-income and high-income countries," says Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, founding director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, who has been tracking COVID-19 vaccine purchases around the world. "What we are seeing is a lot of side deals, in essence, where people are trying to also ensure that they are hedging their bets to make this work."

U.S. Shatters COVID-19 Daily Record with 3,656 Deaths & Quarter-Million New Cases, WHO's COVID-19 Plan to Vaccinate Poorer Nations Faces "Very High" Risk of Failure, FDA Panel to Vote on Emergency Use Authorization for Moderna Vaccine, Trump Appointee Pushed COVID-19 Herd Immunity Strategy: "We Want Them Infected", Chris Christie on COVID-19: "How Wrong I Was to Remove My Mask at the White House", French President Tests Positive for COVID-19 After Meetings with European Leaders, Brazil's Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Top 7 Million, Lawmakers Near Deal on $900B Coronavirus Relief Bill as U.S. Poverty Surges, Poverty on the Rise Across the Globe, as 2.7 Billion People Saw No Public Assistance Amid Pandemic, U.N. Warns Locust Swarms Threaten Food Security for Millions in Horn of Africa and Yemen, Top U.S. General Holds Unplanned Talks with Taliban and Afghan President, France Delivers 14 Guilty Verdicts in 2015 Charlie Hebdo and Connected Attacks, Hungary Bans Same-Sex Adoptions in Latest Crackdown on LGBTQ Rights, Religious Leaders Call for Ban on "Conversion Therapy", University of Mississippi Slammed for Firing Prof. Who Called Out Relationship with "Racist Donors", MLB Elevates Negro Leagues to Major League Status in Effort to Correct Decades of Racism, Tyson Foods Fires Managers Who Started Betting Pool on Employees Getting COVID-19, Climate Groups Urge Biden to Take Immediate Executive Action to Tackle Climate Crisis, 22 Arrested as Indigenous Water and Land Protectors Fight Against Enbridge Line 3

President-elect Joe Biden promised to reverse Donald Trump's most restrictive immigration policies during his 2020 campaign, but since he was elected, Biden has not included immigration among his top four priorities. Hundreds of immigrant activists and their allies caravaned through Biden's home city of Wilmington, Delaware, demanding he issue a moratorium on deportations and advance a path to citizenship for undocumented people within his first 100 days in office. This comes as more than half of ICE's immigration detention centers are currently reporting coronavirus outbreaks. Protesters are also mobilizing at the Northwest Detention Center run by GEO Group in Tacoma, Washington, where another detainee has tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the number up to at least 22. ICE has punished many who protest conditions and call for release by putting them in solitary confinement. "Guards and employees of ICE are bringing in the virus. They're testing positive and yet coming in to work," says Maru Mora-Villalpando, an undocumented immigrant activist and co-founder of La Resistencia. We also speak with Manuel Abrego, head of La Resistencia's phone support system for people detained in Tacoma, who describes how he spent eight months in solitary confinement at the jail after going on hunger strike to protest conditions.

We speak with Nina Turner, one of Bernie Sanders's top allies, the day after she announced she is running for Congress in Ohio to fill the seat of Congressmember Marcia Fudge, who Biden tapped to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Turner has promised to hold the Biden team accountable and pressure the incoming administration to enact a progressive agenda. "I'm running in service of the people," says Turner. "We need more, not just bold voices, but people who will take action and will be fearless when it comes to standing up for what is just, for what is right and for what is good." Turner is a former state senator from Ohio who served as president of Our Revolution, the progressive organization spun out of the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign, and national co-chair of Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign. If elected, she will join the growing progressive wing of the Democratic Party in Congress.

Positive Vaccine News Tempered by Surging Cases, 3,000 New Deaths and Record Hospitalizations, California Activates "Mass Fatality" Program as Coronavirus Spikes, FDA OKs At-Home Rapid Test, as Staff Warns Against Possible Bell's Palsy Symptoms After Vaccine, Mitch McConnell Acknowledges Biden's Win, Urges GOP Senators Not to Oppose Election Results, Biden Taps Pete Buttigieg for Transportation Secretary, Jennifer Granholm for Energy Secretary, Immigration Activists Call on Biden to Enact Major Reforms After Helping Propel Him to Victory, Biden Hits Georgia Campaign Trail to Get Out the Vote for Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Trump Rolls Back Endangered Species Act, Removes Habitat Protections of At-Risk Animals, Bolivian Expedition Uncovers 20 New Species, Underscores Need to Protect Natural Habitats, ICC Rejects Calls to Probe China for Genocide Against Uyghur Population, ICC Says Philippines Likely Committed Crimes Against Humanity in President Duterte's Drug War, European Officials Introduce Measures to Curb Monopoly Power of Big Tech, Halt Misinformation, New Trump Admin Rule Will Send Asylum Seekers to Wait in El Salvador Despite Dangers, Myon Burrell Leaves Prison After Minnesota Commutes Life Sentence, Chicago Woman Speaks Out After Being Terrorized by 9 Officers in Her Own Home in Botched Raid, Report Finds Massive Wage Theft on Farms as Farmworkers Provide Essential Services During Pandemic, MTA Workers Rally Against Layoffs and Service Cuts, Call for Taxes on the Rich

Prisons across the U.S. are facing their greatest swell in COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Nearly a quarter-million incarcerated people in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19, according to the Marshall Project, and advocates are pushing for incarcerated people to be prioritized in the country's vaccine rollout. All of California's state prisons have active coronavirus cases, but the California Department of Corrections is continuing to transfer incarcerated people between institutions. San Quentin State Prison has begun the transfer of nearly 300 incarcerated people to other institutions, against the advice of health professionals and despite the outcry of prisoners, after a California appeals court ordered prison authorities to cut the population of the overcrowded prison in half in October after a first wave of the coronavirus at the prison left 28 people dead. "The outbreak throughout the 34 prisons is surging in a way that shows that overcrowded, unventilated prisons throughout the state are not safe to protect people from COVID-19, something that public health officials have been saying for the past nine months," says James King, a state campaigner for the Oakland-based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and a member of the Stop San Quentin Outbreak Coalition.

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris officially won the Electoral College Monday, as electors met in their respective state capitols to formalize their victory. President Trump continued to claim without evidence he was the victim of a massive conspiracy to rig the election. Republicans across the country attempted to undermine the election results, and right-wing supporters threatened violence. John Koza, chair of National Popular Vote, says the chaos of the 2020 election is further proof that the United States should abandon the Electoral College system as it is currently constituted and elect presidents by popular vote instead. "The flaws of the current system have become more and more apparent to people," he says.

William Barr is resigning as attorney general, leaving his post after angering President Trump for not backing his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud more strongly. But despite their split, Barr has been one of Trump's staunchest allies, echoing much of the president's inflammatory rhetoric about Black Lives Matter and antifascist activists this year even while downplaying the threat posed by far-right extremists. In June, Barr reportedly personally ordered police to beat and tear-gas peaceful protesters gathered near the White House in order to clear a path for President Trump to walk to the nearby St. John's Episcopal Church for an infamous photo op holding a Bible. David Cole, the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says despite their recent split, Barr was Trump's "most loyal henchman" during his tenure. Barr was "entirely President Trump's right-hand man, doing his bidding rather than providing an independent Justice Department," Cole says.

First Americans Receive Coronavirus Vaccine as U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Top 300,000, More European Nations Enter Lockdown as Mexico Approves Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro Accused of "Lethal Incompetence" over Lack of Vaccine Planning, Joe Biden Condemns Trump's "Abuse of Power" as Electoral College Affirms His Win, Rep. Paul Mitchell Leaves GOP, Blasting Trump's "Disgusting" Efforts to Overturn Election, Lawmakers Unveil Coronavirus Relief Package as 12 Million Face Loss of Jobless Benefits, Oil Tanker Hit by Explosives in Saudi Port Amid Houthi Rebel Attacks on Saudi Infrastructure, U.S. Removes Sudan from List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, U.S. Sanctions Turkey over Purchase of Russian-Made Missile Defense System, Boko Haram Claims Responsibility for Mass Kidnapping of Schoolchildren, Report: Russian Intelligence Agents Poisoned Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny, Pentagon and State Dept. Join Growing List of Agencies Hit by Cyber Espionage Attack, Eraina Pretty, Maryland's Longest-Serving Woman Prisoner, Released

The U.S. Army has fired or suspended 14 officers and soldiers stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, following an investigation into sexual assaults and murders at the base, including the bludgeoning to death of 20-year-old soldier Vanessa Guillén, whose remains were found in July. "These are institutional failures at scale. And by the Army's own admission, and in this report, it's clear that this is not unique to Fort Hood," says Pam Campos-Palma, an Air Force veteran who leads the Vets for the People project at the Working Families Party. "The military is dealing with large-scale corruption and crime, and it should be treated as such." Meanwhile, veterans groups are demanding the firing of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie after an inspector general report found he tried to smear a woman who filed a complaint of sexual assault at a VA hospital.

As the first shipments of a federally approved COVID-19 vaccine arrive across the United States, healthcare workers and residents of nursing homes will receive the first shipments, and epidemiologist Camara Phyllis Jones says communities of color with high rates of COVID-19 should also get consideration for early access. "I think that CDC got it right partially in terms of those overexposed because of their work or their living conditions, but they did not include our brothers and sisters in prisons, jails, detention centers, and they did not include those of us who are more exposed and less protected in our work," say Dr. Jones, who is the former president of the American Public Health Association.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who launched the global Fridays for Future youth climate movement, issued a stark warning on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement that the world is not doing enough to keep global heating below 2 degrees Celsius — the target set in the landmark 2015 deal. "The gap between what we need to do and what is actually being done is widening by the minute. We are still speeding in the wrong direction," Thunberg said in a video message posted on social media.

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Rolls Out Across the U.S. as Death Toll Tops 300,000, Gov't Funding Extended by One Week as Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Lingers in Congress, Harris County, Texas, Prisoners Can Now Attend Virtual Funerals During Pandemic, Germany Announces Hard Lockdown as Cases Surge in Japan, South Korea, Electoral College Electors Cast Their Votes, Further Cementing Biden's Win, Trump Rally in D.C. Turns Violent as Four People Stabbed, Protesters Attack Black Churches, Police Go After Protesters Outside Bergen County Jail, While a Car Rams into a NYC Solidarity Action, Indian Farmers Stage One-Day Hunger Strike as Historic Protest Against Agricultural Reforms Continue, Nigerian Authorities Search for 300+ Missing Students After Gunmen Raid Boarding School, Azeri and Armenian Forces Accused of Breaching Ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, Israel and Bhutan Establish Full Diplomatic Relations, U.S. Adopts New Map of Morocco Including Western Sahara After Israeli-Morocco Deal, Fate of Brexit Uncertain as Both Sides Agree to Extend Talks with Just 2 Weeks to Spare, U.S. Gov't Continues Execution Spree with Alfred Bourgeois, Despite His Intellectual Disability, Protesters Demand Justice for Bennie Edwards, a Black Oklahoma Man Who Was Fatally Shot by Police, Kris Smith Becomes Second Breonna Taylor Protest Leader to Be Killed in Under a Month, Veto-Proof Majority of Lawmakers Approve $741B Pentagon Budget Bill, Trump Admin Admits Russian Intelligence Was Likely Behind Major Hack of U.S. Networks, Cleveland's Major League Baseball Team Drops Racist Name After 105 Years, John le Carré, Iraq War Critic and Legendary Author of Spy Novels, Dies at 89

Joe Biden's nominee for defense secretary, retired four-star Army General Lloyd Austin, would make history as the first African American to lead the Pentagon if confirmed by the Senate. But Austin can only be confirmed if he secures a waiver from Congress due to laws designed to preserve the civilian control of the military, and several leading Democratic senators have indicated they would oppose granting a waiver. Andrew Bacevich, president and co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says he shares those concerns. "The general is not a civilian, and it seems to me if we're serious about civilian control of the military — and we should be as citizens — that we ought to have a bona fide civilian in charge of the Pentagon," he says.

We continue to examine the U.S.-brokered deal between Morocco and Israel to normalize relations. As part of the deal, the U.S. will become the first country in the world to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, which Morocco has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the international community. We convene a roundtable to discuss developments: Mouloud Said, a representative of the Polisario Front in Washington; Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco; and Sahrawi journalist and activist Nazha El-Khalidi.

In a deal brokered by the Trump administration, Morocco and Israel have agreed to establish diplomatic relations. The United States has also agreed to recognize Morocco's sovereignty over occupied Western Sahara, the first country in the world to do so. Morocco has occupied much of the resource-rich territory since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. Thousands of indigenous Sahrawis have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the Moroccan occupation. Morocco is the fourth Arab nation to establish ties with Israel since August, part of a diplomatic push by the outgoing Trump administration to shore up international support for Israel. Palestinian diplomat and scholar Hanan Ashrawi says this latest agreement is legitimizing land theft. "This is part of a whole pattern of behavior, a process whereby the Trump administration has been acting as the errand boy for Israel in order to try to get as many victories, as many benefits, as many privileges for Israel," she says.

FDA Nears Emergency Use Approval of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, CDC Director Warns Daily U.S. COVID-19 Toll Could Top 9/11 Death Toll for Months, New Hampshire House Speaker Dies of COVID-19 After Close Contact with Fellow Republicans, Shoplifting Soars with Millions Across U.S. Set to Lose Jobless Benefits and Eviction Protection, Sen. McConnell Rejects $908B Coronavirus Relief Plan as Sen. Sanders Demands $1,200 Stimulus Checks, Morocco and Israel Normalize Ties as U.S. Recognizes Moroccan Claim on Occupied Western Sahara, Rights Groups Say Azerbaijan and Armenia Committed War Crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh, Biden Tells Civil Rights Leaders to Back Off Police Reform Campaigns Until After GA Election, Biden Taps Obama Alums Susan Rice for Top Domestic Policy Role, Denis McDonough to Lead VA, Report Finds VA Secretary Robert Wilkie Smeared House Aide Who Reported Sexual Assault, 106 House Republicans Back Lawsuit Seeking to Invalidate Votes in States That Biden Won, State Dept. Watchdog Steps Down After Pompeo Blasts Report About Wife's Travel, SCOTUS Rules Muslim Men Who Were Placed on No-Fly List by FBI Can Sue, Acting Head of ICE Resigns After Less Than 5 Months on the Job, U.S. Executes Brandon Bernard After Widespread Calls for Clemency

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending the two-decade "state of war" between Ethiopia and Eritrea, with many hailing a new era of peace in the region. Just one year later, Ahmed's military has displaced tens of thousands of civilians in an ongoing military campaign in the northern Tigray region. Thousands have died since Ethiopia declared war on the Tigray People's Liberation Front in early November, and at least one massacre has been reported. Ethiopia has admitted federal troops fired at and detained U.N. workers in the northern Tigray region for attempting to enter areas they say are forbidden. Awol Allo, associate professor at the Keele University School of Law in the United Kingdom, was among those who nominated Ahmed for the Nobel Peace Prize, but he now says the prime minister has dashed hopes for peace in the region. "Ethiopia over the course of the last two years moved from a moment of a very high degree of hope and optimism, a vision of transformation, into a total civil war that threatened to destabilize not only the country but also the broader Horn of Africa region," he says.

Progressives and environmental and labor activists are objecting to President-elect Joe Biden's selection of Tom Vilsack to be his agriculture secretary, reprising the role he held in the Obama administration. Those opposed to Vilsack's nomination say he has a record of supporting corporate interests over those of farmers, loosening regulations and backing genetically modified, herbicide-resistant crops. The NAACP has pointed to Vilsack's role in firing former USDA official Shirley Sherrod in 2010 as disqualifying. Biden's pick of Vilsack is a missed opportunity to reshape the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Going back to a secretary of the past is not the way to strike in a new direction. That is status quo."

As the World Food Programme accepts the Nobel Peace Prize, we look at the growing global hunger crisis amid the pandemic, the climate crisis and war. In the United States, as many as 50 million people could experience food insecurity before the end of the year — including one in four children. "It's important to remember that hunger does not always happen because of natural disasters," says Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It is often the result of things that we do to each other deliberately."

The World Food Programme, the world's largest humanitarian organization dealing with hunger and food security, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today, with its executive director David Beasley warning that the combination of conflict, climate crisis and COVID-19 could push 270 million people to the brink of starvation. In his acceptance speech, Beasley said, "Because of so many wars, climate change, the widespread use of hunger as a political and military weapon, and a global health pandemic that makes all of that exponentially worse, 270 million people are marching toward starvation. Failure to address their needs will cause a hunger pandemic which will dwarf the impact of COVID."

U.S. Records Deadliest Day of Pandemic as COVID-19 Patients Fill Intensive Care Units, Germans Asked to Skip Christmas Celebrations Amid Record COVID-19 Surge, U.K. Warns People with Strong Allergies to Avoid Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine, FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee Could Approve COVID-19 Vaccine Thursday, UAE Reports China's Sinopharm Vaccine Has 86% Efficacy at Preventing COVID-19, FTC and 46 States Demand Breakup of Facebook in Antitrust Lawsuits, Joe Biden Taps Capitol Hill Attorney Katherine Tai as U.S. Trade Representative, Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin's Nomination as Pentagon Chief Challenges Civilian Control of Military, Senators Reject Bid to Halt $23 Billion U.S. Arms Deal with United Arab Emirates, 8 People Killed in Kurdistan Protests Amid Mounting Unrest, Financial Crisis, Gunmen Kill Afghan Television Journalist Malalai Maiwand, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo Wins Reelection as 5 People Killed in Related Violence, NOAA Warns Climate Crisis Is Leading to Radical Transformation of Arctic, New York to Divest Its $226 Billion Pension Fund from Fossil Fuels, Trump Asks SCOTUS to Toss Millions of Votes in Battleground States as Part of Texas AG Lawsuit, Rudy Giuliani Leaves Hospital After Exclusive COVID-19 Treatment, Federal Investigators Probing Hunter Biden's Taxes, Foreign Business Dealings, Minneapolis City Council Redirects $8 Million from Police Dept. in New Budget, New Los Angeles DA George Gascón Calls for Major Changes to Criminal Justice System, Johns Hopkins, Namesake of Baltimore Hospital and University, Enslaved Black People, Connecticut to Require High Schools Offer African American, Black, Puerto Rican, Latinx Studies, Lebanese Prime Minister, Ex-Ministers Charged With Negligence Over Deadly Beirut Blast

President Trump has sent eight people to their deaths so far this year, breaking a 17-year hiatus in federal executions, and plans to execute five more in the final weeks of his administration. On December 10, International Human Rights Day, the federal government is scheduled to kill Brandon Bernard, a Black man who was 18 years old when he was convicted as an accomplice to the murder of a young white couple in Texas. Bernard did not kill either person and says he was a "getaway driver" during a robbery gone wrong. Citing moral reasons and new evidence, five of the nine surviving jurors have changed their minds, and the former assistant U.S. attorney who helped secure his death sentence is calling for his execution to be halted. "It's very rare that you have five of the nine surviving jurors saying that they would like to see clemency in this case," says Liliana Segura, a criminal justice reporter for The Intercept, who has covered the case extensively. "Brandon Bernard's death sentence hinges on evidence that has been called into significant question."

While the United States, Britain and other wealthy countries race to vaccinate their populations against the coronavirus, a new report finds that as much as 90% of the population in dozens of poorer countries could be forced to wait until at least 2022 because wealthy countries are hoarding so much of the vaccine supply. A growing movement is calling for the development of a people's vaccine and the suspension of intellectual property rights to expand access. We speak with Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni, a policy adviser to the People's Vaccine Alliance, and Achal Prabhala, a public health advocate and coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil and South Africa.

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We look at how the House of Representative voted Friday to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and "address the devastating injustices caused by the War on Drugs," as voters in Arizona and New Jersey approved ballot measures in November that legalize the possession and use of recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and up. Oregon also became the first state to decriminalize low-level drug possession while legalizing the recreational use of psychedelic mushrooms under Measure 110. Ronald Newman, national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union, says the overall trend toward undoing the drug war is positive. "We are developing a collective consensus that we need not throw people behind bars for use of marijuana, and we should be happy about that progress," he says.

Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft scored a major victory with the passage of Proposition 22 in California, and worker rights advocates fear they will push similar measures in other states. Prop 22 will exempt companies in the so-called gig economy from having to classify their workers in the state as employees rather than as independent contractors. Uber, Lyft and other companies that rely on gig workers spent more than $200 million to promote Prop 22, and a survey of California voters who voted "yes" on the measure showed 40% thought they were supporting gig workers' ability to earn a living wage, even though critics say the measure will do the opposite. "The law will now exempt drivers like me from basic wage and labor protections afforded to most workers in the state in the middle of a pandemic and recession," says Cherri Murphy, a Lyft driver and organizer with Gig Workers Rising. We also speak with Veena Dubal, professor of law at the University of California, Hastings, who says measures like Prop 22 pose "extreme danger" to American workers. "If this spreads past California, we are headed for an even worse situation of inequality than we are already experiencing," Dubal says.

A Black mother who was attacked by a horde of Philadelphia police officers is speaking out about the harrowing experience. Rickia Young was driving an SUV with her 2-year-old son and teenage nephew on October 27 as the city was engulfed in protest over the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. earlier that day. Officers descended on the vehicle, broke its windows, assaulted and arrested her and separated her from her child. Young's arrest went viral due to a shocking video of the police swarming her vehicle, and after the National Fraternal Order of Police — the country's largest police union — posted a photo of her 2-year-old on social media, falsely claiming he "was lost during the violent riots in Philadelphia, wandering around barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness." More than a month after the police attack, Rickia Young is demanding the officers involved be fired. "The police have not offered an explanation as to why they acted the way they did that night. They responded instead with a police investigation into Rickia," says Kevin Mincey, Rickia Young's attorney.

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Civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, was one of four human rights defenders to win this year's Right Livelihood Award on December 3. "I work in a country that has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. I work against a system that treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent," he said in accepting the honor. "We work to overturn this horrific era of mass incarceration in America that has been brought about by the politics of fear and anger." We feature his full acceptance speech of the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." This year it was also given to Indigenous rights and environmental activist Lottie Cunningham Wren of Nicaragua, Belarusian pro-democracy activist Ales Bialiatski and Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was returned to prison one day before the ceremony after being temporarily released last month due to her worsening health.

On the voter registration deadline for Georgians who want to vote in two Senate runoff elections on January 5, we speak with Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, about why the state is "ground zero" for Republican voter suppression efforts. Black Voters Matter has filed a federal lawsuit alleging Georgia's current secretary of state improperly removed nearly 200,000 voters from the rolls. Those voters "were purged illegally" ahead of the 2020 election and almost certainly affected the results, says Albright. "At the end of the day, this election … should not have even been close." We're also joined by Emory University professor Carol Anderson, who argues President Trump's attacks on the legitimacy of the presidential election reflect the entire party's attitude toward voting. "He's not an aberration," she says. "He is the culmination of decades of the Republicans hollering voting fraud, of creating the theater of voter fraud as a means to justify massive voter suppression."

Two Georgia Senate runoff elections on January 5 will decide who controls the upper chamber and whether the Biden administration will be able to pass its ambitious policy agenda. If Democrats succeed in unseating Georgia's two senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, the Senate will be split 50-50, with incoming Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast tie-breaking votes. In two debates Sunday night, Perdue skipped his debate with challenger Jon Ossoff, who took the stage opposite an empty podium, and Loeffler faced off against Reverend Raphael Warnock. We play excerpts and host a discussion with author and Emory University professor Carol Anderson, as well as Democratic state Representative Bee Nguyen, whose district includes Atlanta.

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We continue our conversation with medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer, whose new book, "Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds," tells the story of his efforts to fight Ebola in 2014 and how the history of slavery, colonialism and violence in West Africa exacerbated the outbreak. "Care for Ebola is not rocket science," says Dr. Farmer, who notes that doctors know how to treat sick patients. But the public health response was overwhelmingly focused not on care but containment, Dr. Farmer says, which "generated very painful echoes from colonial rule."