Democracy Now!

Russian authorities have arrested thousands of people during anti-government protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been held in jail since returning to Russia on January 17 after recovering in Germany from an attempt on his life in August using the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the poisoning that nearly killed him. While Navalny has emerged as Russia's leading opposition figure and anti-corruption campaigner, his political roots have links to right-wing nationalist and anti-immigrant causes. Joshua Yaffa, Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker, says that Navalny has been willing to change and adapt his views to court public opinion, including through his "flirtation" with Russian nationalism. "We'll only know what sort of politician Navalny is when he's actually allowed to participate in formal politics."

Russia has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, recording about 73,000 deaths and over 3.8 million infections over the past year. Meanwhile, there is widespread skepticism over the domestically developed Sputnik V vaccine, with many Russians reluctant to get the shot. Now a peer-reviewed study published in the respected Lancet medical journal has confirmed the vaccine's 91.6% efficacy, as developers of the shot have long maintained. "That's good news for the developers of the vaccine in Russia. That's good news for Russia writ large, which certainly has plenty of geopolitical ambitions surrounding the vaccine," says Joshua Yaffa, correspondent for The New Yorker in Moscow. "And it's frankly good news for the world."

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Black and Latinx people in the United States have died at higher rates, and new data shows that they are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than white people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 60% of those vaccinated were white, while just 11.5% were Latinx, 6% were Asian, and just over 5% were Black. The CDC data is based on details gathered during the first month of the U.S. vaccination campaign that saw nearly 13 million Americans get a shot, though race and ethnicity was only known for about half of the recipients. Black and Latinx people continue to face a disproportionate risk for COVID-19 in their jobs as essential workers and are more likely to have preexisting conditions. "What we're seeing illustrated is about 150 years of medical neglect," says Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA School of Medicine. "These disparities didn't suddenly appear nine months ago at the beginning of the pandemic. These disparities have been built in, decision by decision."

U.S. Tops 26 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Shots, Surpassing Confirmed Coronavirus Cases , Biden Takes Executive Action to Reverse Trump Immigration Policies as Deportations Continue, Senate Republicans Meet at White House to Press Far Smaller Coronavirus Relief Bill, South Africa Receives First COVID-19 Vaccines; New Variant Linked to Reinfections in Brazil, WHO Team Probes Virus Origins in Wuhan; Australia Puts Perth on Lockdown After Single COVID-19 Case, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reveals She Is a Sexual Assault Survivor in Video Recalling Jan. 6 Capitol Attack, Trump Hires New Lawyers. One Declined to Prosecute Bill Cosby. Another Met Jeffrey Epstein in Jail, Senate Republican Leader Blasts Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's "Loony Lies and Conspiracy Theories", Salvadoran President Bukele Inflames Tensions After Attack That Killed Two Leftist Activists, U.N. Condemns Military Coup in Burma, Calls for Restoration of Democracy, Top Turkish Official Attacks Students as "LGBT Freaks" over Rainbow Flag Artwork, Former Guantánamo Prisoners Urge Biden to Close Military Prison , Biden Releases Hurricane Recovery Funds for Puerto Rico Withheld by Trump Admin, Police Union President Defends Officer Who Handcuffed, Pepper-Sprayed 9-Year-Old Girl in Rochester, NY, Oregon Becomes First U.S. State to Decriminalize Low-Level Possession of All Drugs

A highly anticipated new feature film, "Judas and the Black Messiah," tells the story of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and William O'Neal, the FBI informant who infiltrated the Illinois Black Panther Party to collect information that ultimately led to Hampton's killing in 1969 by law enforcement officers. The film is premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and stars Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton, LaKeith Stanfield as O'Neal and Martin Sheen as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Shaka King, the film's director and co-writer, says focusing on Hampton and O'Neal was a way "to make 'The Departed' inside the world of COINTELPRO," referring to the decades-long illegal FBI program to undermine Black and radical political organizations. "I just thought that that was a very clever vessel and intelligent way to Trojan-horse a Fred Hampton biopic."

Newly unearthed documents have shed new light on the FBI's role in the murder of the 21-year-old Black Panther leader Fred Hampton on December 4, 1969, when Chicago police raided Hampton's apartment and shot and killed him in his bed, along with fellow Black Panther leader Mark Clark. Authorities initially claimed the Panthers had opened fire on the police who were there to serve a search warrant for weapons, but evidence later emerged that told a very different story: The FBI, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the Chicago police had conspired to assassinate Fred Hampton. FBI memos and reports obtained by historian and writer Aaron Leonard now show that senior FBI officials played key roles in planning the raid and the subsequent cover-up. "It was approved at the highest level," says attorney Jeff Haas. We also speak with attorney Flint Taylor. Both are with the People's Law Office and were the lead lawyers in a landmark civil rights case over the deaths of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark.

Republicans face increasing pressure to strip Georgia Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene of her post on the House Education Committee. Greene was elected in November 2020 and is a far-right conspiracy theorist who has promoted QAnon, supported the execution of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and claimed the school shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, were staged — as was the September 11 attack on the Pentagon. She also has a history of racist, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic comments. Bee Nguyen, a Democratic state representative in Georgia, recently joined other lawmakers in signing a resolution that calls on Greene to resign. "The congresswoman has proven to be dangerous, not just to our state, but to our country," says Nguyen. We also speak with Michael Edison Hayden, senior reporter for the Southern Poverty Law Center, who says media discussions of QAnon and other far-right conspiracy theories tend to focus on how outlandish they are rather than on their hateful content. "While some of these ideas are crazy-sounding to people, I think it's very, very helpful to start reframing it in your mind as something that is part of this drift toward anti-democratic, hard-right, authoritarian tendencies in the Republican Party," says Hayden.

CDC Orders Mask-Wearing on Public Transportation as Experts Urge Speedy Vaccination to Combat Variants, Johnson & Johnson Says One-Shot Vaccine Is Effective, Especially in Preventing Severe Cases, Major Racial Disparities Emerge in Vaccine Recipients as Latinx Deaths in L.A. Jump by 1,000%, Biden Meets with GOP Leaders to Discuss Stripped-Down Counter Bill to $1.9 Trillion Package, Burmese Military Stage Coup, Detain Aung San Suu Kyi, Police Arrest Over 5,100 in Pro-Navalny Protests Across Russia, Car Bomb Blasts Kill at Least 12 in Aleppo, Syria, U.N. Calls for Repatriation of 27,000 Children Stranded in al-Hol Camp, Hotel Attack in Mogadishu Kills at Least 9 People, FBI Uncovers Evidence Jan. 6 Attack Was Premeditated as More Far-Right Rioters Face Charges, Trump Faces More Businesses-Related Woes as His Legal Team Departs a Week Before Impeachment Trial, Federal Appeals Court to Allow U.S. Deportations of Unaccompanied Children, U.S. Deports Survivor of 2019 Massacre in El Paso, TX; ICE Reports 2nd COVID Prisoner Death Since Oct., Water Protectors Target Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline with Nonviolent Direct Actions

We spend the hour looking at the life of one of the most pivotal figures in the history of struggle for gender equality and racial justice, Pauli Murray, whose story is told in the new documentary "My Name Is Pauli Murray," premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Murray was a trailblazing Black, nonbinary, queer, feminist poet, lawyer, legal scholar and priest, who influenced the likes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall and is viewed as a hero to many in the trans rights movement. We feature excerpts from "My Name Is Pauli Murray," which features new footage and audio recordings of Murray in their own words and interviews about Murray with Ginsburg and Bishop Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and speak with the filmmaking team behind the documentary, directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen. We are also joined by Dolores Chandler, a social worker and equity facilitator and trainer in Durham, North Carolina, who is featured in the film and is the former coordinator of the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. "The fact is most of us were not taught about Pauli Murray," says Cohen. "This is a person who influenced so many different movements in the U.S."

South African Coronavirus Variant Detected in U.S. for First Time, Novavax Vaccine Cut COVID-19 Cases by 90% in Trial But Lagged Against South African Variant, President Biden Expands Affordable Care Act Enrollment Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. Economy Shrank by 3.5% in 2020 as Pandemic Took Hold , "Brazen, Entitled, Dangerous": Capitol Rioter Who Looted House Speaker's Office Denied Bail, House Speaker Blasts GOP for Assigning Racist Conspiracy Theorist to House Education Committee, House GOP Leader Signals Devotion to Trump as Lawmakers Target Rep. Liz Cheney over Impeachment Vote, Indian Farmworkers Call Off Upcoming March After Violent Clashes with Police, Pakistan Court Rules to Free Men Convicted of Kidnapping and Murdering Journalist Daniel Pearl, Robert Malley, Who Helped Negotiate Iran Nuclear Deal, to Be Named Special Envoy on Iran, Russian Authorities Crack Down on Social Media Ahead of More Protests as Navalny Speaks Out , German Neo-Nazi Who Killed Official Walter Lübcke in 2019 Sentenced to Life in Prison, Dutch Appeals Court Orders Shell to Pay Damages to Nigerian Farmers for Oil Spills, GM to Phase Out Gas Cars, Aims to Go Carbon Neutral by 2040, Lawmakers Demand Probe into Trading App Robinhood After It Blocked Stock Sales That Hurt Hedge Funds, Veteran NYT Reporter Investigated for Racist and Sexist Language, CBS Suspends Two Execs over Charges of Sexist and Racist Behavior, Austin to Turn Hotel into Permanent Shelter for Unhoused People Using Diverted Police Funds, At Least 2 Mexican Nationals Among Six Dead After Nitrogen Leak at Georgia Poultry Plant , Pioneering African American Actor Cicely Tyson, Winner of Two Emmys, Dies at 96

We speak with Reuters investigative journalist Aram Roston, who has revealed a leader of the extremist hate group the Proud Boys, which played a key role in the Capitol riot on January 6, has a prolific history of cooperating with law enforcement. Court records show Enrique Tarrio was an FBI and police informant in Florida who went undercover in multiple drug and illegal gambling investigations after he was arrested in 2012. This comes as the Department of Homeland Security warns of a heightened threat posed by "ideologically-motivated violent extremists" angry over Joe Biden's inauguration.

As rich countries race to roll out their vaccination programs, leaders in the Global South and global health advocates are increasingly decrying vaccine hoarding that has pushed poorer countries to the back of the line during the pandemic. Some rich countries have secured enough COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate their populations several times over, while poorer countries struggle to secure enough doses, almost certainly prolonging the pandemic by months or even years. Public health policy expert Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni says an obvious way to address the issue is to share technology so more companies in more countries can produce the vaccines. "There is a supply issue," she says. "We're in a pandemic. We need to vaccinate a big percentage of the population globally if we want to be safe."

The Biden administration has vowed to increase the rate of vaccinations as COVID-19 continues to spread uncontrollably across the entire U.S., with 90,000 people predicted to die in the next four weeks. President Biden announced plans to acquire another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and is devising ways to allow retired nurses and doctors to administer vaccines. Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, says the Trump administration's lies and inaction around the pandemic laid the groundwork for the current explosion in cases. He also warns that a "globalized anti-science movement" has grown stronger in recent years, spreading dangerous disinformation and threatening the public health response to COVID-19. "It's a killer, because now people are tying their political allegiance to not getting vaccinated, to not wearing marks, to not social distancing."

U.S. Records Another 4,000 COVID-19 Deaths as White House Warns Vaccinations Will Take Months, DHS Warns of Threat from "Violent Extremists" as More Arrests Are Made over Jan. 6 Insurrection, Leader of Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, Was a Government Informer , Biden to Reverse "Global Gag Rule," Expand Reproductive Healthcare in U.S., Democrats Reintroduce Bill to Make Washington, D.C., the 51st State, Western Hemisphere COVID-19 Deaths Top 1 Million , 4th Zimbabwean Cabinet Official Dies of COVID-19; WHO Begins Probe into Pandemic Origins in Wuhan, Hungry Lebanese Protesters Clash with Police over Coronavirus Lockdown , U.S. Freezes Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia, Reviews Deal with UAE Made Under Trump Admin, Rights Groups Demand Release of Political Cartoonist Arrested on 10th Anniversary of Uprising, Poland Enacts Near-Total Ban on Abortions, Triggering More Protests, Honduras Locks In Total Ban on Abortions, Attacks Marriage Equality, Newark Reaches Settlement over Water Crisis, Video Showing School Officer Slamming Student into Concrete Prompts Outrage and Investigation, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Confronts Parkland Survivor David Hogg in Newly Resurfaced Video, Activists Demand a More Just Immigration System, Call for Demilitarization of Border in New Resolution, Chicago Grants Landmark Status to Childhood Home of Emmett Till

January has become the deadliest month of the pandemic in the United States, with at least 80,000 deaths from COVID-19 so far, and public health experts worry new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus could make things worse. President Joe Biden has announced plans to acquire another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, aiming to vaccinate most people in the U.S. by summer, but vaccine distribution continues to be a problem. The Daily Beast reports that of the 41 million vaccine doses handed out to states, fewer than 22 million have been administered. Meanwhile, many states report running out of vaccines. "States are telling federal officials that they believe millions of doses are lost in the distribution system," says reporter Erin Banco. "What the Biden team is trying to do now is sort of do an accounting exercise to figure out where these vaccine doses are located."

President Joe Biden is expected to issue executive orders to suspend new oil and gas leasing on federal property, reestablish a White House council of science advisers, and set a goal to protect 30% of federal land and water by 2030. He is also predicted to announce a number of initiatives prioritizing environmental justice by creating a White House interagency council on environmental justice and directing federal agencies to invest more in communities of color heavily impacted by pollution and the climate crisis. These actions, as well as executive orders to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline and put a moratorium on oil and gas permits in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, come after Biden used his inaugural address to declare the climate crisis to be one of the core issues facing the nation. Varshini Prakash, co-founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, says Biden is "off to a good start," but says he needs to go beyond simply undoing the damage of the Trump administration. "We're going to need to see a lot more from Joe Biden at the executive level and directing every branch of the federal government to action. But we're also going to need to see him working actively to organize his congressional colleagues to pass what we need to be the greatest green jobs and infrastructure recovery plan that this country has seen," says Prakash.

President Joe Biden was elected with massive support from people of color, and in his second week in office he issued four executive orders to advance what the White House calls his "racial equity" agenda. The orders aim to strengthen anti-discrimination policies in housing, end Justice Department contracts with private prison companies, reaffirm sovereignty of Native American tribes and combat xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Biden's racial justice push comes as COVID-19 has devastated communities of color in the U.S., who are experiencing higher rates of infection, death and unemployment during the pandemic. Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, co-executive director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, says Biden's executive orders are "a step forward" and credits social movements who have been pressuring the administration to act. "This is not just because of his good graces," Henderson says. "This is because movement made it possible that racial equity be something that is prioritized in the executive branch of our government."

Biden Ramps Up Vaccine Rollout as World Tops 100 Million COVID Cases, U.S. Records Deadliest Month, U.K. Tops 100,000 Deaths as European Nations Move Toward Requiring Medical-Grade Masks, COVID Curfew Riots Rock Dutch Cities; Canadian Mogul Fined for Receiving Vaccine Meant for Indigenous Group, 45 Senate Republicans Back Dismissal of Trump Impeachment Trial, Biden Orders DOJ to End Contracts with Private Prisons, HUD to End Discrimination in Housing, Biden Issuing Orders Promoting Environmental Justice, Combating Climate Crisis, U.S. Judge Blocks Biden Deportation Moratorium While Texas Challenge Is Reviewed, U.S. Capitol Security Officials Apologize for "Failings" in Response to Jan. 6 Insurrection, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Supported Violence Against Pelosi and Others in 2018 Facebook Posts, U.N. Secretary-General Says Neo-Nazism Is on the Rise, Spurred by Pandemic, U.S. Agencies Halt and Review Trump's Designation of Yemen's Houthi Rebels as Terror Group, Biden Admin to Restore Aid, Diplomatic Relations with Palestinian Officials, Israeli Soldiers Fatally Shoot 17-Year-old Palestinian Near Settlement, Italian PM Conte Resigns as Political Crisis Deepens Amid Coronavirus Wave, 19 Shot and Burned Bodies Found Near U.S.-Mexico Border; Victims Could Be Teenage Asylum Seekers

As the wealth of U.S. billionaires soars by over a trillion dollars during the pandemic, Oxfam is warning COVID-19 could lead to the biggest increase in global inequality on record. A new Oxfam report finds it could take more than a decade for poor people to recover from the health and economic crisis, and urges governments to take immediate action. "In every country that we looked at, inequality has gotten worse during the pandemic," says Paul O'Brien, vice president of Oxfam America. "All around the world now, we are seeing folks struggling on the wrong end of inequality, while those who have been the beneficiaries of our broken economic system have done quite well."

President Joe Biden has placed immigration at the center of his ambitious agenda, signing several executive orders reversing Trump's anti-immigrant policies and promising a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. But Biden is not only navigating the destructive legacy of his immediate predecessor, but also that of the Obama administration when he was vice president, which oversaw 3 million deportations. "These are people who had families, jobs and homes in the United States," says investigative journalist Jean Guerrero. "What he needs is not just to reverse Trump's policies and go back to Obama-era policies. He needs to actually repair the harm that was done when he was vice president." Guerrero also urges Biden not to carve out exceptions that exclude immigrants with criminal records, including members of her own family.

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order repealing the Trump administration's ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military and ordered the Pentagon to review the files of troops who were forced out because of the ban and to immediately halt discharges of transgender troops now serving. Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, calls it "an incredibly important development," but warns the attack on transgender rights is continuing at the state level, with a raft of new legislation targeting trans people in education, healthcare and more. "We have this significant backlash to the very notion that trans humanity is going to be recognized," says Strangio. "It is truly painful to hear a movement that essentially, at its core, believes that being trans is wrong and should be eradicated."

House Delivers Article of Impeachment to Senate, Triggering Trump's Second Trial, Inspector General to Probe Whether DOJ Officials Worked with Trump to Overturn Election, Dominion Voting Systems Sues Rudy Giuliani for Lying About 2020 Election, President Biden Increases U.S. Vaccination Goal to 150 Million Shots in 100 Days, California's Governor Lifts Stay-at-Home Orders Even as Many ICUs Remain Full, Moderna Prepares Modified COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Amid Concerns over New Variants, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Drops Demand to Preserve Filibuster, President Biden Reverses Trump's Transgender Military Service Ban, Senate Confirms Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Backs Tony Blinken for Secretary of State, As Yemenis Protest U.S. Blacklisting of Houthis, Canadians Act to Halt Saudi Arms Sales, Eritrean Soldiers in Ethiopia's Tigray Region Accused of Murder, Looting and Sexual Assault, U.S. Plans Curbs to Oil and Gas Leasing as Satellite Data Show Massive Loss of Earth's Ice Sheets, U.N. Labor Body Says the Pandemic Cost Workers $3.7 Trillion in Lost Wages , Lawmakers Call on President Biden to Commute Death Sentences of Federal Prisoners, New York Times Denies It Fired Editor Lauren Wolfe "Over a Single Tweet" Favorable to Biden, Biden Restores Plan to Feature Abolitionist Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill, Indigenous Authors of "We Are Water Protectors" Win Caldecott Prize

Workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in New York City have overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract, ending a week-long strike that captured national attention and galvanized the community behind the essential workers at the Bronx-based business. Some 1,400 members of the Teamsters Local 202 union walked off the job on January 17, demanding a $1 raise and recognition for their work to keep New Yorkers fed during the pandemic, with the Hunts Point Market supplying about 60% of the city's produce. Management had offered a 32-cent raise instead. But after a week on the picket line and widespread support from the community, workers won raises of $1.85 per hour over three years, as well as improved terms for family health benefits. "They were resolved with each other, and they were standing shoulder to shoulder with each other on the basic premise of being treated decently," Daniel Kane, president of Teamsters Local 202, says of the workers' job action. "They fought, and they came away with their dignity."

We look at how COVID-19 has increased economic inequality with anti-poverty campaigner Reverend William Barber, who delivered the homily at the official inaugural prayer service. Barber says President Joe Biden's focus on unity cannot come at the expense of major reforms needed to fight systemic racism, poverty, environmental destruction and more. "It cannot be just kumbaya. It has to be fundamental change," he says. "We cannot be the wealthiest nation in the world, where billionaires in this country made a trillion dollars between May and November during COVID, while poor and low-wealth people of every race, creed, color, sexuality have suffered and continue to suffer."

President Joe Biden has promised swift action on the pandemic, the economic crisis and more, but much of his agenda hinges on whether he can get enough support in the Senate, where an unprecedented number of bills in recent years has required a 60-vote supermajority in order to overcome filibusters. Many progressives and civil rights groups have urged Democratic leaders to kill the filibuster, warning that if they don't, Senate Republicans will obstruct Biden's plans just as they did with the Obama administration. Former Senate aide Adam Jentleson, author of the new book "Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy," says the filibuster has historically been used to stop racial progress and thwart majority opinion. "The framers … did not want the filibuster to exist," he says. "When they created the Senate, it was an institution that had no filibuster power. It was designed to be a majority-rule body."

U.S. Tops 25 Million COVID-19 Cases as Biden Restricts Travel to U.S., Warns "Things Will Get Worse", Deborah Birx Says Trump WH Had "Parallel" COVID Data as Biden Admin Faces Multiple Vaccine Challenges, Pandemic Takes Heavy Toll on Children and Students' Physical and Mental Health, Bernie Sanders Says Senate Dems Could Use Reconciliation to Pass Pandemic Relief, Senate Moves Forward on Cabinet Confirmations as Biden Revokes More Trump Orders, Senate Will Start Trump's Second Impeachment Trial in 2nd Week of February, National Guard Deployment at U.S. Capitol Becomes COVID-19 Superspreader Event, Biden Administration Orders Probe of Domestic Violent Extremism After January 6 Insurrection, COVAX to Begin Vaccine Delivery in Feb.; South Africa Paying 2.5x EU Prices for AstraZeneca Vaccine, AMLO Tests Positive for COVID; Brazilians Demand Bolsonaro's Impeachment; NZ Reports 1st Case in Months, Russia Violently Cracks Down on Protesters Calling for Release of Alexei Navalny, Protesters in Tunisia Call for End to Corruption, Police Repression, Cyclone Eloise Leaves Path of Devastation in Mozambique, Grand Jurors Call for Impeachment of KY AG Daniel Cameron over Mishandling of Breonna Taylor Case, Trump Plotted to Oust Acting AG, Use DOJ to Force Georgia to Overturn Election Results, Indigenous Leaders and Allies Demand Halt to Construction of U.S. Border Wall, Hunts Point Market Workers in the Bronx Win Wage Increase After Week-Long Strike, Chicago Teachers Union Rejects Return to In-Person Classes, Citing Coronavirus Risks, Veteran Talk Show Host Larry King Dies After Hospitalization for COVID-19, Hank Aaron, Who Overcame Racist Barriers to Become Home Run Record-Holder, Dies at 86

After President Joe Biden issued an executive order on his first day in office canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, pressure is growing from Indigenous leaders and environmental groups for the new administration to do the same with the Dakota Access pipeline, the controversial project that sparked the historic Standing Rock uprising in 2016. "The pipeline is illegal," says Jodi Archambault, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and former special assistant to President Barack Obama on Native American affairs. "The best thing that he can do is drop the appeals to this and stop the oil from flowing now." We also speak with Alex White Plume, a former vice president and president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, whose late wife Debra White Plume was a key organizer at Standing Rock.

We look at the fight to save tribal elders and Native language speakers as the pandemic rips through Indian Country, with Indigenous communities facing woefully inadequate healthcare, lack of governmental support, and the living legacy of centuries of colonialism. Native Americans have died from COVID-19 at twice the rate of white people across the U.S. To combat this crisis, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has prioritized elders who speak the Dakota and Lakota languages to receive vaccines. "Knowing that there were a lot of elders who were at really, really high risk, this was a concern from the very beginning," says Jodi Archambault, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the former special assistant to President Barack Obama on Native American affairs. The parents of Nola Taken Alive, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council, both recently died of COVID-19. "My parents were very humble people," she says. "They played a very important role not only in my siblings' and our family's lives, but also to the entire community of Standing Rock." We also speak with Alex White Plume, a former vice president and president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation who is a Lakota interpreter.

On his first full day in office, President Joe Biden unveiled a 198-page national plan to tackle the coronavirus pandemic as the U.S. death toll tops 410,000. He signed 10 executive orders to create a new national COVID-19 testing board, to help schools reopen, to mandate international travelers to quarantine upon arrival, and to require masks on many forms of interstate transportation. Biden also invoked the Defense Production Act to increase COVID-19 testing and the production of vaccine supplies, saying a wartime effort is needed to combat the virus. "It just feels like the federal government is back, the federal government is going to play a constructive and helpful role in this pandemic and the pandemic response. And that's critical," says Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. "It's science-driven stuff that I wish we had had a year ago." Dr. Jha also discusses his proposal to delay giving out second shots of coronavirus vaccines until there is more supply, as well as how new variants of the coronavirus impact the efficacy of existing vaccines.

Joe Biden Unveils National Strategy to End COVID-19 Pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci Describes "Liberating Feeling" of No Longer Working for Trump, As U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Supplies Dwindle, Tens of Thousands Face Canceled Appointments, China Builds Quarantine Facility to Isolate New Cases; Fire at India's Serum Institute Kills 5, Biden Seeks 5-Year Extension to Last Remaining Nuclear Treaty Between Russia and the U.S., Lawmakers Approve Waiver for Biden Defense Secretary Nominee Gen. Lloyd Austin, Biden Appoints Jessica Rosenworcel, Supporter of Net Neutrality, as Acting FCC Chair, Biden Admin to Keep U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Recognizes Contested City as Israel's Capital, Senate Dems Reject McConnell's Bid to Preserve Filibuster as He Pushes for February Impeachment, Senate Dems File Ethics Complaint Against Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley over Jan. 6 Insurrection, Federal Forces Arrest Ex-Marine for Beating Officer with a Hockey Stick During Capitol Riots, Rights Groups Warn Any New Anti-Terror Laws Will Be Used for Racial Profiling, Domestic Surveillance, Biden Suspends Trump's Contested "Remain in Mexico" Policy, Biden to Sign Exec. Order Expediting Stimulus Checks, Food Aid as House Readies New Pandemic Bill, Instacart Lays Off 2,000 Workers, Including Group Who Started Company's First Union, AOC Joins Striking Workers at Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, The New Yorker Union Goes on One-Day Strike to Protest "Egregious" Wage Proposal

One of the most remarkable moments from Wednesday's inauguration ceremony came from poet Amanda Gorman, the youngest poet in U.S. history to speak at a presidential inauguration. The 22 year-old read "The Hill We Climb," a poem she finished right after the riot at the Capitol earlier this month. We feature her full recitation and get reaction from scholar Cornel West and award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

We host a wide-ranging discussion of the historic inauguration of President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — the first-ever woman, South Asian and Black vice president — how we got here, and what comes next, with award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa and author and Harvard professor Cornel West. Hinojosa says she had "mixed emotions" watching the inauguration, her sense of hope tempered by memories of the Obama administration. "We all had these extraordinary expectations, and then things didn't turn out that way," she says. "The work continues." West says that while getting Trump out of office was vital, he is still suspicious "of the capitulation to the neoliberal greed and lies and hatred, now that we've pushed back the neofascist forms of greed and lies and hatred." On his first day in office, President Biden ended many of the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies. Hinojosa says parts of this agenda are promising, but lack urgency. "In eight years, there could be a new administration. Everybody knows that," she says. "Do you understand that if you were to do massive immigration reform right now … what that would do to boost the American economy across the board?"

Joe Biden was sworn in as 46th president of the United States Wednesday, ending the Trump era with a call for national unity and urging Americans to come together during a period of turbulence. President Biden signed 17 executive orders in his first official act from the Oval Office, including on immigration, the pandemic and the climate crisis. Biden has promised more executive actions in the coming days. Vice President Kamala Harris swore in three new Democratic senators Wednesday afternoon, giving Democrats narrow control of the Senate and laying the groundwork for the administration's ambitious agenda. We play highlights from the day.

Joe Biden Sworn In as 46th President of the United States, Ending Trump Era, Kamala Harris Sworn In as Vice President, Setting Several Historic Firsts, Biden Signs Executive Orders on Environment, Immigration, Civil Rights, Economy & Pandemic, Biden Unveils Pandemic Strategy as U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Near Record High, VP Harris Swears In Three Senators, Giving Democrats Narrow Control of Senate, Senate Confirms Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence, House to Vote on Waiver Paving Path for Retired General Lloyd Austin to Lead Pentagon, President Biden Fires Union-Busting Lawyer Who Refused to Resign from Labor Board, Donald Trump Leaves Office and Washington, D.C., Threatens "We Will Be Back", Far-Right Proud Boys Leader Joe Biggs Charged over Role in Jan. 6 Capitol Insurrection, U.K. Has World's Highest COVID-19 Death Rate as Health Workers Report "Exhaustion" and "Trauma", Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Dies of COVID-19; Deaths Mount in Amazonas, Brazil, as Oxygen Runs Out, At Least 28 Killed, Scores Injured After Twin Suicide Bombs Go Off in Baghdad, Biden Admin to Continue Imperialist Policies Toward Venezuela, Recognizing Guaidó as President, 43 Refugees Killed in Shipwreck Off Libyan Coast in First Major Mediterranean Disaster of 2021, DOJ Drops Insider Trading Probe of Sen. Richard Burr, Biden Exec. Order Bans "Golden Parachutes," Lobbying for Federal Workers, Watchdogs Demand Transparency as Corporations Pour Millions into Biden-Harris Inauguration, Reality Winner’s Family Urges Biden to Order Her Release, Says She Was Sexually Assaulted by Prison Guard

We look at the path forward for the Biden-Harris administration and the role of social movements with political strategist Waleed Shahid and author and analyst Michael Eric Dyson. Shahid, spokesperson for the progressive political action committee Justice Democrats, says Biden could be "one of the most transformative presidents" in U.S. history if he acts boldly. "But it will take an immense amount of pressure on Joe Biden, on the political system, on the political class for him to get there," says Shahid.

As Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are inaugurated and the Trump presidency comes to an end, we look back at his regime with author and analyst Michael Eric Dyson. "The Trump presidency has been an unmitigated disaster," Dyson says. His "direct assault" on democratic processes resulted in a "neofascist presidency that attempted to undermine the very legitimacy of the democracy that he was put in office to uphold."

Avril Haines, Biden's nominee for director of national intelligence, began her confirmation hearing Tuesday. She was President Obama's top lawyer on the National Security Council from 2010 to 2013 and CIA deputy director from 2013 to 2015, where she authorized using drone strikes to carry out targeted extrajudicial assassinations. "We know that in almost all cases that she said it was legal to put these names on the kill list, and people were subsequently killed by drone, including American citizens," says CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, who exposed the Bush-era torture program and was the only official jailed in connection to it. He also discusses Haines's handling of CIA agents who illegally hacked the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee to thwart its investigation into the CIA's detention and interrogation program that used torture methods like waterboarding.

With less than 12 hours before the end of his presidency, Donald Trump issued 143 pardons and commutations, including a pardon for Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist and campaign manager. Trump, who has pardoned other associates and allies during his single term, has so far rejected calls to pardon prominent whistleblowers including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and NSA whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Reality Winner. Details continue to emerge about how allies of Trump have personally profited from people seeking pardons. We speak with John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst and case officer who exposed the Bush-era torture program and was the only official jailed in connection to it, about the pardon system. He says an associate of Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani offered him a pardon for $2 million, which Kiriakou declined to pay. "They don't see this as a bribe," says Kiriakou. "This is the way Washington works."

Biden and Harris Attend Memorial to Honor 400,000+ COVID-19 Victims in U.S. on Eve of Inauguration, 12 Nat'l Guards Removed from Inauguration; Charges Filed Against "Oath Keepers" over Jan. 6 Riot, Steve Bannon Among Final Trump Pardons and Commutations, Rachel Levine Could Become 1st Transgender Official Confirmed by Senate as Biden Cabinet Hearings Start, Biden to Rejoin WHO as Global Death Toll Soars Past 2 Million, Countries Grapple with New Variants, Trump Admin Declares Multiculturalism Is "Not Who America Is" as WH Releases Racist, Revisionist Report, Pompeo Says China Guilty of Genocide Against Uyghur Muslims, 155+ Killed and 50,000 Displaced in Sudan's West Darfur as U.N. Troops Start to Withdraw, Two Female Judges Shot Dead in Kabul; Aid Group Warns 18 Million Afghans Need Urgent Support, ICE Rips 9-Year-Old Haitian Boy from His Older Brother, Before Deporting 19-Year-Old, Asylum Seekers in Mexico Ask Biden to Adopt Humane Immigration Policies, Union Leaders Condemn Police Attack on Striking Workers at Hunts Point Market in the Bronx, 4,000+ Columbia Students Take Part in Largest-Ever Tuition Strike

Outrage continues to build as more evidence emerges about participants in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which included members of violent white supremacist groups, including some who were on a terror watchlist. Leading Democrats, including President-elect Joe Biden, have called for new domestic terror laws to crack down on white supremacist violence, but civil liberties groups warn that law enforcement agencies already have the powers they need to disrupt violent far-right groups and that new domestic terrorism laws will ultimately harm marginalized groups. "We cannot find our solutions in systems that ultimately harm us, particularly Black and Brown people," says Manar Waheed, senior legislative and advocacy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.

At least 28 law enforcement officers from across the United States attended the Trump rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6 that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, with some even boasting on social media about taking part in the riot that left five people dead. BuzzFeed News investigative reporter Albert Samaha says off-duty police officers' involvement in the insurrection reflects a growing problem of right-wing radicalization in police ranks — a problem Black officers say has gone unaddressed by higher-ups. Samaha says that while "white supremacist ideology in law enforcement is as old as law enforcement in the U.S." there was a marked change in tone and attitudes among police officers following the 2014 Ferguson uprising against police brutality. He says that Donald Trump's loud support for police against claims of misconduct and systemic violence gave officers new license to express bigoted and extremist views. "The top came off, and the rhetoric suddenly became acceptable within locker rooms," he says.

Israel has been hailed as having the world's most vaccinated population, but Palestinians are not included. Human Rights Watch and others have called on Israeli authorities to provide COVID-19 vaccines to the more than 4.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. "Israel is a racist state," responds Congressmember Rashida Talib of Michigan, who is Palestinian American and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress and says her Palestinian grandmother was denied access to a vaccine. "I hope my colleagues, I hope our country, sees what the Palestinians have been trying to tell us for a very long time. … You can see it with the distribution of the vaccine."

Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and eight other former officials were charged last Thursday in a sweeping criminal investigation into the Flint water crisis. Snyder faces two charges of willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor. In 2014, Flint's unelected emergency manager, appointed by then-Governor Snyder, switched the city's water supply to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. The move has been linked to at least 12 deaths from an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and widespread lead poisoning in residents, including children, in the majority-Black city. "It is really important that many of those elected, including the governor, are held to a higher standard," responds Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. She says some children face ongoing side effects from the water crisis, such as learning disabilities, and many residents remain sick and in need of support for their care.

As President-elect Joe Biden prepares for his inauguration on Wednesday, he has outlined sweeping plans for his first days in office to address the raging coronavirus pandemic and roll back key parts of Donald Trump's agenda, including on immigration, the climate crisis and more. President Trump, meanwhile, leaves office as the only president ever impeached twice, after he encouraged a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. For more on the transition, we speak with Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who says senators must vote to convict Trump after his impeachment in the House. "I hope that there's an awakening in the Senate, but I've been waiting for that awakening to happen for quite a while," says Tlaib.

WHO Warns of "Catastrophic Moral Failure" as Wealthy Nations Hoard Vaccines, U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 400,000, New York Seeks Vaccines Directly from Pfizer After HHS Fails on Promise to Distribute Doses, FBI to Vet 25,000 National Guard Troops Deploying to Washington, D.C., for Inauguration, FBI Arrests More Far-Right Militia Leaders, White Supremacists Over Capitol Attack, New Yorker Footage Shows How Insurrectionists Breached Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, Senate to Begin Confirmation Hearings for Joe Biden Cabinet Nominees, Biden Executive Orders on Day 1 to Reverse Many of Trump's Most Contentious Actions, Trump Admin Guts Environmental Protections During Final Days in Office, Last-Minute Trump Admin Deportations Target Black Immigrants, Cory Johnson and Dustin Higgs Are 12th & 13th Federal Prisoners Executed Under Trump, Trump Installs Loyalist Michael Ellis as Top NSA Lawyer in Final Days in Office, Amid Accusations of Bribery Scheme, Trump Prepares Final Flurry of Pardons and Commutations, Uganda Opposition Candidate Bobi Wine Under House Arrest After Claiming Election Fraud, Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny, Who Survived Poisoning, Arrested Upon Return to Russia, Florida COVID-19 Whistleblower Rebekah Jones Arrested, Accuses Gov. DeSantis of Retaliation, Guatemalan Police and Military Beat Back Caravan of Honduran Asylum Seekers, 700 Refugee Children Crossed into U.S. Alone Due to Trump's "Remain in Mexico" Policy

Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated.

The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. is set to top 400,000 before Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, but rollout of coronavirus vaccines has been slow, with many describing a vexing amount of red tape standing between them and the shot. We look at the development and distribution of another vaccine during the polio epidemic in the 1950s with Dr. Peter Salk, a physician and professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh, whose father, Dr. Jonas Salk, developed the first polio vaccine and famously declined to patent his invention. "The rest of the world and the countries that are less able to afford vaccines need consideration, as well," says Dr. Salk. "There needs to be a creative cooperation among all of us, including the businesses, in order to find ways to satisfy the needs of these other countries."

As security is ramped up in Washington, D.C., and state capitols across the U.S., the FBI is warning of more potential violence in the lead-up to Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20. Federal authorities have arrested over 100 people who took part in last week's deadly insurrection at the Capitol, and The Washington Post reports that dozens of people on a terrorist watch list — including many white supremacists — were in Washington on the day of the insurrection. "This was something that had been coming for a long time," ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson, who covers right-wing extremism, says of the January 6 riot. "If you looked at the rhetoric online … it was all about revolution, it was all about death to tyrants, it was all about civil war."

Joe Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus and Economic Relief Package, U.S. on Pace to Top 400,000 COVID-19 Deaths by Inauguration Day as Unemployment Surges, Dozens of Capitol Rioters Were on FBI Terrorism Watch List, QAnon Insurrectionist Jacob Chansley, Who Threatened VP Pence, Seeks Trump Pardon, NY Rep. Adriano Espaillat Tests Positive for Coronavirus After Receiving 2nd Dose of Vaccine, Hospitals in Brazil's Amazonas Run Out of Oxygen as Fears of Variant Trigger Travel Bans, 2020 Was Hottest Year on Earth, Bringing Record Fires, Heat Waves and Extreme Weather, Yemen's Humanitarian Disaster Set to Worsen as U.S. Moves to Label Houthis as Terrorists, Michigan Ex-Gov. Rick Snyder, 8 Top Ex-Officials Charged over Flint Water Crisis, DOJ Inspector General Report Details How Trump and Allies Pushed to Separate Families, ICE's Acting Director Resigns After Two Weeks on Job, Caravan Departs Honduras, Fleeing Economic Crises and Hurricane Devastation, Report Says ICE Failed to Provide Basic Coronavirus Protections, Threatened Prisoners, New York Attorney General Sues NYPD for Abuses During 2020's BLM Uprising, The Intercept Co-Founder & Oscar Winner Laura Poitras Says She Was Fired by First Look Media

As the United States breaks all records for coronavirus cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns another 92,000 could die in the next three weeks as complaints grow over the slow distribution of COVID vaccines. Across the country, hospitals are overflowing, and ICU beds are in short supply. In Los Angeles County, an epicenter of the outbreak, a staggering one in three residents has gotten the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to new data. For more on the pandemic, we speak with epidemiologist Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Public Health and the former director of the CDC's Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, where he oversaw the Strategic National Stockpile. He says that despite the grim statistics in the United States, other countries with more proactive pandemic responses have shown that it is possible to bring the virus under control and largely return to normal life. "We can do that same thing here in the United States if we use good science," he says.