Nostr notes by Democracy Now! (RSS/Atom feed)

Headlines for October 30, 2026 * [DOJ Opens Criminal Probe of ...

2026-10-30T14:28:34Z

Headlines for October 29, 2026 * [Arab Parties Could Determine ...

2026-10-29T15:32:53Z

"She Was a Fighter": Dolores Huerta, Legendary Farmworker ...

2026-10-29T15:32:43Z

"She Was a Fighter": Dolores Huerta, Legendary Farmworker Organizer & Activist, Dies at 96

[[2017 05 13t114445z 1993615260 mt1zuma000y84var rtrmadp 3 zuma]][1]

Immigrant rights and labor icon Dolores Huerta died Wednesday at the age of 96. Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962 and then the United Farm Workers of America, working with Cesar Chavez. From 1965 to 1970, the union organized the historic Delano grape strike, which ended in major gains for farmworkers’ labor rights.

In the years that followed, Huerta became heavily involved in the women’s liberation and immigrant rights movements and became a major supporter of the Democratic Party. In March, *The New York Times* published an investigation into Cesar Chavez’s history of sexual abuse of women and girls in the farmworkers’ movement, prompting Huerta to reveal that she, too, had been raped by Chavez. Huerta said the assaults led to the births of two of her children.

Dolores Huerta appeared on *Democracy Now!* many times over the years. We remember her legacy with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, who says, “Dolores was not only a labor organizer, a civil rights organizer, a feminist, committed, always optimistic about the possibilities of this country, but she loved life, and I want people to remember that.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/29/dolores_huerta_death_maria_hinojosa

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/29/dolores_huerta_death_maria_hinojosa

Meet AI Engineer Who Resigned from DeepMind over ...

2026-10-29T15:32:22Z

Meet AI Engineer Who Resigned from DeepMind over "Google's Complicity in the Gaza Genocide"

[[Seg sofia 2]][1]

Several tech workers at Google’s AI unit DeepMind have resigned in protest over the tech giant’s work with the U.S. and Israeli militaries. Last week, DeepMind research engineer Sofia Liguori announced her resignation in a letter to her colleagues titled “Stay Human.” She denounced what she called “Google’s complicity in the Gaza genocide” and the increasing integration of Google’s technology into military and surveillance systems.

“I felt I could not, in good faith, send this message of building AI to benefit humanity while ignoring that our company was complicit in a genocide,” Liguori tells *Democracy Now!* “The problem is that when the focus is on the model capabilities and on the potential for agents 'going rogue,' we are shifting the attention from a specific human choice … which is this unrestrained, unregulated integration of the systems without red lines.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/29/sofia_liguori_google_military_tech_ai

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/29/sofia_liguori_google_military_tech_ai

Headlines for October 27, 2026 * [Netanyahu Battles to Hold Power ...

2026-10-27T14:32:22Z

Trump Is Already Undermining Confidence in Midterm Election ...

2026-10-27T14:32:17Z

Trump Is Already Undermining Confidence in Midterm Election Results from Alaska to California: ACLU

[[Seg1 maga]][1]

A competitive Senate race has gripped the once reliably Republican state of Alaska. If Democratic challenger Mary Peltola wins the election against incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, it could tip the balance of power in Washington. Attorneys for Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have submitted a motion to dismiss a Department of Justice lawsuit filed last week that seeks to block the certification of the election results in Alaska if Sullivan loses. President Trump confirmed on Friday he had ordered the DOJ to file the lawsuit, which alleges that the appearance of another candidate on the ballot with a similar name, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., would mislead voters. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled ahead of the primary that Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher who is running unaffiliated, could appear on the ballot.

The ACLU — on behalf of two Alaska voters, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause — has moved to intervene in the case and has also filed a motion asking the court to dismiss it.

“There is no merit to this claim,” says Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “We’ve asked the court to consider sanctions, because the courts shouldn’t be used to launder baseless claims into distrust in our elections. There should be consequences for that.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/27/voting_2026

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/27/voting_2026

"Anti-Fascist Economics": Isabella Weber on How ...

2026-10-27T14:32:09Z

"Anti-Fascist Economics": Isabella Weber on How Inequality Fuels Extremism & Erodes Democracy

[[Seg1 guest weber]][1]

With the U.S. midterm elections just a week away, the affordability crisis — intensified by President Trump’s tariffs and war on Iran — has emerged as a major campaign issue. Across the country, families are struggling to make ends meet, while oil and gas companies have reported record profits during recent periods of price shocks.

Economist Isabella Weber’s new book, *Anti-Fascist Economics: In Defense of Affordability, Dignity, and Democracy*, warns economic insecurity can fuel the rise of authoritarian movements, and argues protecting democracy requires making life affordable for everybody.

Anti-fascist economics is “not about getting rid of the market,” says Weber. “It’s about having public players that behave differently, and by behaving differently, changing the dynamic of the market as a whole and literally creating an alternative so that people are not dependent on often very concentrated and private providers as the only choice,” she explains, providing current examples of governments enacting such policies from New York City to Mexico City to Rome.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/27/isabella_weber

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/27/isabella_weber

Headlines for October 26, 2026 * [Brazilian President Luiz ...

2026-10-26T15:20:18Z

Brazil: Lula Wins Stunning Upset Over Flávio Bolsonaro in Blow ...

2026-10-26T15:20:12Z

Brazil: Lula Wins Stunning Upset Over Flávio Bolsonaro in Blow to Far Right & Trump

[[Seg1 lula wins 1]][1]

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a record fourth term in office, defeating far-right challenger Flávio Bolsonaro by 4 million votes in a runoff election on Sunday. Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who remains under house arrest for plotting a coup against Lula four years ago. The younger Bolsonaro, who narrowly defeated Lula in the first round of voting earlier this month, is now refusing to concede.

Lula’s surprise comeback comes after weeks of student-led organizing and campaigning on his behalf, and amid accusations that U.S.-based tech companies were suppressing Lula’s reach online in favor of his Trump-aligned opponent. “The amount of organizing, the amount of marches and rallies, campaigning, pamphlets that we’ve seen the last three weeks has been something that I have never seen in my entire life, ever, covering elections for decades in so many different countries. It is absolutely unprecedented,” says Brazil-based journalist Michael Fox. “It is an absolute game-changer for the region.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/26/brazil_election_lula_beats_bolsonaro

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/26/brazil_election_lula_beats_bolsonaro

Serbia's Student-Led Movement Ousts Strongman Aleksander ...

2026-10-26T15:20:06Z

Serbia's Student-Led Movement Ousts Strongman Aleksander Vučić in Shock Election Result

[[Seg2 serbia celebrations 1]][1]

Serbia’s longtime leader Aleksander Vučić has been swept out of power by a historic student-led opposition movement against Vučić’s right-wing Serbian Progressive Party. Candidates from the Student List, who are not students themselves but largely first-time politicians selected by student-led popular assemblies, won a majority of seats in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, marking a seismic shift in Serbian politics. Their victory comes two years into a student-led movement sparked by the collapse of a roof at a train station in the city of Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. The disaster became a focal point for anti-government protests over corruption, cronyism, political violence and democratic backsliding.

“Students really changed the whole political landscape of the country, and maybe even more important, they changed political imagination. They changed our understanding of what’s politically possible for all of us,” says journalist Lela Vujanić, who speaks to us from Belgrade about the groundbreaking elections. “This was a great democratic opening and democratic awakening, not only for the students, but for the rest of the country also.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/26/serbia_aleksandar_vucic

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/26/serbia_aleksandar_vucic

Will Ousting Netanyahu Change Anything for Palestinians? Diana ...

2026-10-26T15:19:59Z

Will Ousting Netanyahu Change Anything for Palestinians? Diana Buttu on Upcoming Israeli Elections

[[Seg3 buttu idf 1]][1]

Israeli parliamentary elections are being held on Tuesday, the first since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently embroiled in a corruption scandal in Israel, is up for reelection. On Friday, after two Israeli soldiers were killed at a checkpoint near Hebron, just days before Israeli polls are set to open, Netanyahu announced heavy restrictions on the movement of Palestinians out of the West Bank. Since then, Israeli forces have detained and expelled thousands of Palestinian residents from the area and begun home demolitions to clear the way for future Israeli settlements.

“The reason that they’re doing this is because this entire election is about who is going to be tougher on Palestinians,” says Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu. “What [Netanyahu is] trying to do in the lead-up to this is say to Israelis that ’I’m the only person who can provide you with security.’ So, while lighting the place on fire, he’s also selling water.” Buttu explains that Netanyahu’s opponents across the Israeli political spectrum are equally punitive toward Palestinians. “The fact that you have all of these parties that are advocating major war crimes and nobody is blinking says something very deep about Israeli society, but also about an international community that has fostered this and that has allowed this to brew for all of these years.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/26/israel_election_west_bank_closure

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/26/israel_election_west_bank_closure

Headlines for October 23, 2026 * [Netanyahu Moves to Fully Lock ...

2026-10-23T14:46:28Z

Ohio Governor's Race: Trump Backs Ramaswamy Ad Siding with ...

2026-10-23T14:46:22Z

Ohio Governor's Race: Trump Backs Ramaswamy Ad Siding with Opponent's Indicted Childhood Rapist

[[Ramaswamyad]][1]

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both defended Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy after his campaign released a TV ad that appears to accuse Democratic nominee Amy Acton of lying about being sexually abused as a child. Acton’s stepfather was indicted in 1978 on charges of sexually assaulting her when she was between 10 and 12 years old, though he fled before he could be convicted. Acton’s mother, who lost custody of her two children, sided with her husband and remained with him as a fugitive until his death in 2004. In the controversial campaign ad, the elderly Donna Arthur says her daughter Amy has “lied her entire life” and can’t be trusted as governor, which has been widely interpreted as casting doubt on what Acton has said about being abused as a minor.

“Vivek Ramaswamy is now using that personal trauma as an effort to exploit what she went through and win this race,” says Abby Vesoulis, a reporter for *Mother Jones*. “He’s currently polling beneath Amy Acton, which shows, I think, that this ad is a desperate attempt to somehow pull off a victory despite poor odds.”

Vesoulis says outrage over the ad, even among Republican voters, is tied to simmering anger about how the Trump administration has handled the Epstein files. She also discusses abuse allegations against Ohio Republican Congressmember Max Miller, who is running for reelection.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/23/ohio_election

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/23/ohio_election

Brazil Elections: How AI, Meta and Evangelicals Could Sway the ...

2026-10-23T14:46:08Z

Brazil Elections: How AI, Meta and Evangelicals Could Sway the Presidential Race for Bolsonaro

[[Seg2 candidate split]][1]

Brazilian voters are heading to the polls on Sunday for the presidential runoff between incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and far-right Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, with polls showing a tight race that will decide whether Brazil remains led by the left or joins the right-wing surge across Latin America.

According to *The Intercept Brasil*, Bolsonaro’s campaign paid 600,000 Brazilian reais (about $119,000 USD) to a U.S. company, Elytron, that specializes in election manipulation, including through online disinformation and “psychological warfare techniques” to undermine opponents.

Reporter Laís Martins says that while it’s not clear whether or how the Bolsonaro campaign used Elytron’s services, it adds to suspicion of U.S. interference in the election, including Meta’s restrictions on President Lula’s social media profiles. “We’ve seen evidence pile up that something is not right, that this playing field is not equal,” says Martins.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/23/brazil_election

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/23/brazil_election

"Dying in Detention": Al Jazeera Investigates Immigrant ...

2026-10-23T14:46:01Z

"Dying in Detention": Al Jazeera Investigates Immigrant Deaths in California's Adelanto ICE Jail

[[Seg3 guest split1]][1]

At least 59 people have died in ICE custody since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the highest number in more than a decade. Many deaths have been linked to medical neglect, including four of five recent deaths at California’s Adelanto Processing Center, according to a 2026 report by the state attorney general. Al Jazeera English’s *Fault Lines* investigated deaths at the facility, which is operated by the private prison company GEO Group, in the new documentary *Dying in Detention*.

“GEO Group has made over a billion dollars in profits from immigration detention. They have given more than a million dollars … to help reelect Donald Trump,” says correspondent Natasha Del Toro. “That raises a lot of questions for us about the relationship between GEO and the federal government, and some of these conflicts of interest.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/23/dying_in_detention

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/23/dying_in_detention

Headlines for October 22, 2026 * [U.S. and Israeli Militaries ...

2026-10-22T14:33:00Z

Mehdi Hasan on AIPAC's Role in El-Sayed vs. Rogers Race in ...

2026-10-22T14:32:53Z

Mehdi Hasan on AIPAC's Role in El-Sayed vs. Rogers Race in Michigan & Trump's Targeting of Ilhan Omar

[[Seg1 elsayed rogers]][1]

One of the most closely watched races in the midterm elections is in Michigan between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed is a former public health official who is campaigning on a platform of Medicare for All, ending military aid to Israel, and getting corporate money out of politics. Rogers is a former Republican congressman backed by President Trump.

If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate. During Wednesday’s debate in Michigan, Rogers repeated the claim, without providing evidence, that El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed has repeatedly denied the accusation.

“If Abdul El-Sayed wins, it will be a reminder that the left can win in a swing state like Michigan,” says Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief of Zeteo. “And it will be actually a moment to say, 'You know what? Americans rejected Islamophobia.'”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/22/el_sayed_omar

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/22/el_sayed_omar

Should AIPAC Register as a Foreign Agent? Zeteo Examines ...

2026-10-22T14:32:48Z

Should AIPAC Register as a Foreign Agent? Zeteo Examines Pro-Israel Lobby's Influence on Elections

[[Seg1 guest split3]][1]

The growing controversy over AIPAC’s impact on U.S. politics is the subject of a new Zeteo documentary titled *Night Flower: Inside AIPAC’s Fight for Influence*. The film examines AIPAC’s history and its role in shaping U.S. policy toward Israel, and questions whether its activities warrant further scrutiny under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. “It says that you have to register under this law if you are acting at the request of a foreign government,” says Dion Nissenbaum, the filmmaker behind *Night Flower: Inside AIPAC’s Fight for Influence*. “And we talked to numerous people who showed us several examples of how AIPAC is acting at the request of Israel.”

Referencing the title of the film, *Night Flower*, Zeteo editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan says AIPAC “blossoms in the dark, shrivels in the light. We’re trying to put some sunlight onto AIPAC.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/22/zeteo_aipac

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/22/zeteo_aipac

"A Spark from the Cockroaches": Arundhati Roy on ...

2026-10-22T14:32:42Z

"A Spark from the Cockroaches": Arundhati Roy on India's Youth Protests & Modi's Crackdown

[[Seg2 guest split3]][1]

A court in India on Wednesday ordered the release of two leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party, the youth-led movement that has led historic waves of protests in India since the summer. Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were detained amid massive protests last week after they scaled a barricade to enter a site popular for protest, unfurled the national flag and called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Kumar oversaw the deletion of 130 million names from the voter rolls in India since June of last year. Opposition parties say those impacted are primarily Muslims and other minorities less likely to support the BJP, the Hindu nationalist ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“You have a deep and wide — an ideologically wide — historical culture of resistance in India,” says acclaimed writer and activist Arundhati Roy. At the same time, the Modi government “has three things in its playbook: One is false-flag attacks, two is engineering communal riots, and the third is massive repression. And I don’t think we’ve seen its hand yet.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/22/arundhati_roy

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/22/arundhati_roy

Headlines for October 21, 2026 * [Ansar Allah Attacks Taiz as ...

2026-10-21T14:32:45Z

Flamingo Revolution: Albania Protests Escalate over Corruption ...

2026-10-21T14:32:39Z

Flamingo Revolution: Albania Protests Escalate over Corruption & Kushner/Trump Luxury Resort

[[Seg albania]][1]

Student-led anti-corruption and cost-of-living protests in Albania are calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, among other demands. Hundreds of injuries and arrests have been reported amid a violent police crackdown, along with widespread damage to public and private property. The student demands are an outgrowth of the “Flamingo Revolution,” which erupted earlier this year in opposition to a luxury resort being developed on the ecologically sensitive Sazan Island. The planned resort is backed by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s son-in-law and daughter, and has been fast-tracked by the Rama government.

“Students find no future in Albania,” says Bora Mema, a founding member of the left-wing political party Lëvizja Bashkë, about the motivations behind the burgeoning pro-democracy movement. “Many of us have to migrate because the only development model that the government proposes is to clean the toilets of the rich and the mafia in luxurious resorts, like the one that Trump and Kushner and the national oligarchs and mafia in Albania are constructing.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/21/albania_protests_edi_rama

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/21/albania_protests_edi_rama

"When the Bubble Bursts": Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor ...

2026-10-21T14:32:34Z

"When the Bubble Bursts": Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor on Reclaiming Democracy from AI Oligarchs

[[Seg ai]][1]

We’re joined by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, co-authors of the book *End Times Fascism*, for a wide-ranging conversation on the multitrillion-dollar global investment in artificial intelligence and its reverberating effects around the world.

Klein recently spoke at the People’s AI Assembly, alongside other critics of the artificial intelligence industry, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan. “The resistance to AI is taking many forms, and it’s really a resistance to oligarch power, which is concentrated in the hands of these tech companies,” Klein tells *Democracy Now!* “After 50 years of outsourcing and hollowing out of public functions of the state, the very last stage is the outsourcing of thinking, of intelligence itself.”

Taylor, a co-founder of the Debt Collective, warns that the “circular” debt financing of much of the AI economy is “a waste of resources that also endangers the public.” The AI buildout “is so intense, so frenetic and so redundant” that it risks causing a major economic crash akin to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, Taylor says. If that happens, she adds, “Naomi and I think we need to use this moment, just like during the Great Depression and the New Deal era, to demand a real renovation, transformation, of our public services.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/21/naomi_klein_astra_taylor_ai

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/21/naomi_klein_astra_taylor_ai

Headlines for October 20, 2026 * [Finland to Purchase 1 Million ...

2026-10-20T14:03:12Z

Nobel Peace Laureate Navi Pillay on ICC, Gaza, Rape as War Crime, ...

2026-10-20T14:03:07Z

Nobel Peace Laureate Navi Pillay on ICC, Gaza, Rape as War Crime, Her South African Roots & Mandela

[[Navipillay]][1]

We speak with the acclaimed South African human rights lawyer and international jurist Navi Pillay, who was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay has been the United Nations high commissioner for human rights and a judge at both the International Criminal Court and at an international tribunal investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Most recently, she led the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry that concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Hours after Pillay was announced as winner of the Nobel Prize, the United States imposed sweeping new sanctions against the International Criminal Court.

“It’s extremely shocking to me, totally unacceptable, that the United States administration can today impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court,” says Pillay, speaking to *Democracy Now!* from The Hague.

Navi Pillay is now 85 years old. She was born into an Indian Tamil family in apartheid South Africa in 1941. The first woman to start a law practice in Natal, South Africa, in 1967, Pillay began her legal career defending anti-apartheid activists including Nelson Mandela, exposing torture, and helping establish key rights for prisoners on Robben Island. Mandela, as president, later appointed Pillay to the High Court of South Africa, making her the first woman of color on that bench.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/20/navi_pillay

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/20/navi_pillay

A Wealth Tax on Billionaires? California Voters to Decide Prop 40 ...

2026-10-20T14:03:02Z

A Wealth Tax on Billionaires? California Voters to Decide Prop 40

[[Seg2 billionaire tax bernie]][1]

As voters across the United States cast ballots on November 3, Californians are weighing whether to approve a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of billionaires in the state. The tax would apply to roughly 250 Californians who now hold an estimated $2.3 trillion in wealth. Supporters say the wealth tax could raise up to $100 billion, with about 90% going toward healthcare. The remaining funds would support education and food assistance programs.

If Proposition 40 passes, it will mark the first time a government in the U.S. successfully taxes the wealth — rather than just the income — of the ultra-rich.

“It’s past time that billionaires pay their fair share,” says Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, which is backing the initiative.

We also speak with California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who criticizes fellow Democrats like Governor Gavin Newsom for opposing Proposition 40. “We can either be a Democratic Party that stands for the working class in the tradition of the New Deal, or we can continue to cater to the donor class,” says Khanna.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/20/california_billionaire_tax

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/20/california_billionaire_tax

Headlines for October 19, 2026 * [Hundreds of Thousands March in ...

2026-10-19T14:40:15Z

French Gov't Cracks Down on Mass Protests over Cost of ...

2026-10-19T14:38:23Z

French Gov't Cracks Down on Mass Protests over Cost of Living, Education Cuts; 2,400+ Arrested

[[Standard]][1]

Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in over 140 cities across France on Saturday, demanding relief from the high cost of living, more funding for public services and improvements to deteriorating schools, among other grievances. The demonstrations were the latest — and largest — in a series of protests that began in September with high schooler-led demonstrations against overcrowded classrooms and crumbling school infrastructure. Some cities saw property destruction, arson and theft on Saturday, with city halls and other symbols of the state coming under attack. Officials said nearly 1,000 police officers were injured and some 2,400 people were arrested.

“What is frustrating to see is how little the police violence is addressed and talked about, which is really the main violence and the real violence today that is taking place in France,” says Rayyan Seriket, a member of the French student union.

“We’re talking about shattered jaws, high schoolers and adolescents who have been blinded,” adds Harrison Stetler, an independent journalist and teacher based in Paris.

This all comes as Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party is leading in the polls six months ahead of France’s elections. “This situation is essentially what Marine Le Pen hopes for,” says Stetler.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/19/france_student_protests

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/19/france_student_protests

Masked Israeli Settlers Nearly Kill Washington Post Journalist as ...

2026-10-19T14:38:17Z

Masked Israeli Settlers Nearly Kill Washington Post Journalist as Attacks on Palestinians Escalate

[[Standard2]][1]

Israeli settlers backed by IDF soldiers brutally assaulted Palestinian olive farmers in the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, on Friday. Witnesses say dozens of masked Israeli settlers armed with clubs, sticks, slingshots and guns hurled rocks at Palestinian farmers, set olive trees ablaze and drove people from their fields. Veteran *Washington Post* photojournalist Heidi Levine, a 64-year-old American, was documenting the attack when settlers began beating her. She suffered stab wounds, a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and a severe hand injury. Levine was wearing a clearly marked press vest and a helmet at the time of the attack. According to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, Israeli settlers have carried out at least 170 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since September 27, which marked the start of this year’s olive harvest.

“It looked like they were killing her,” says independent American journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who witnessed the attack on Levine and helped intervene. “The Palestinian youth, the *shabab*, stepped up. They ran out ahead, and they started beating the settlers back by throwing stones at them, which is the only thing that allowed me to then run out front and grab Heidi.” As the journalists and Palestinians retreated into Abu Falah, “The Israeli military jeep that had been standing by the settlers who were attacking us then drives into the village itself, … and they start firing into crowds of Palestinian people.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/19/west_bank_journalists

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/19/west_bank_journalists

Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa: Prominent Anti-Corruption Lawyer ...

2026-10-19T14:38:09Z

Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa: Prominent Anti-Corruption Lawyer in Guatemala Assassinated

[[Standard3]][1]

The prominent Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa was fatally shot along with another man on Saturday at a sports center in Guatemala City. For years, Solórzano Foppa had been outspoken against Guatemala’s most powerful politicians, business leaders and companies. He was known for his anti-corruption work as head of the Criminal Investigations Directorate within the Public Prosecutor’s Office and later as head of Guatemala’s tax authority, when he helped prosecute dozens of powerful Guatemalan business figures.

“In more recent years, he developed a social media presence, and he was forcefully denouncing corruption,” says Roman Gressier, a journalist based in Guatemala City. “We were thinking about [the killing of Solórzano Foppa] not only as an assassination, but also having a deep effect on freedom of expression.”

“Juan Francisco was a young lawyer coming from a background of pro-democracy and revolutionary activists,” says Silvia Solórzano Foppa, Juan Francisco’s mother. Her son was 43 years old when he was killed.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/19/guatemala

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/19/guatemala

Headlines for October 15, 2026 * [WFP Warns Growing Conflict in ...

2026-10-15T14:32:51Z

U.S. Sanctions ICC in a Bid to Avoid "Criminal ...

2026-10-15T14:32:46Z

U.S. Sanctions ICC in a Bid to Avoid "Criminal Liability": War Crimes Prosecutor Reed Brody

[[Seg1 guest split1]][1]

The Trump administration on Friday placed sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court that target the institution as a whole. This comes on top of earlier sanctions against individual ICC judges and personnel. The administration has been escalating attacks on the ICC since the court issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. It announced the sanctions just hours after former ICC Judge Navi Pillay — the South African jurist who led the United Nations commission of inquiry that concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza — was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

“This is really an insurance policy against accountability for crimes that the United States and its ally Israel are committing in plain sight,” says war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody, a member of the International Commission of Jurists. The sanctions, which prevent U.S.-based banks and companies from transacting with the ICC, constitute an “existential attack” on the court, he says.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/15/reed_brody_icc

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/15/reed_brody_icc

The Midterm Battle over Data Centers: Memphis House Candidate ...

2026-10-15T14:32:41Z

The Midterm Battle over Data Centers: Memphis House Candidate Justin Pearson Fights Elon Musk's xAI

[[Seg2 guest justin pearson]][1]

The energy needs of the AI boom and the construction of massive data centers in states across the country have created a backlash from both Democratic and Republican voters. The battle against data centers is at the heart of a campaign in Tennessee: Democratic state Representative Justin J. Pearson is opposed to the Colossus data centers built by Elon Musk’s xAI in the Memphis area. Pearson is running against Republican state Senator Brent Taylor in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, which, after recent redistricting, includes parts of Memphis, as well as rural and suburban counties.

“Across the 15 counties that I’ve traveled, I’ve yet to meet anyone, including folks who are Republicans who are voting for us, who want data centers,” says Pearson. “Gas is high; groceries are high; healthcare costs are high; wages are low. Yet the billionaire class continues to profit off of our pain and pillage our communities and our pocketbooks.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/15/xai_justin_pearson

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/15/xai_justin_pearson

"Hyperscale": Paris Marx on Excess of Big Tech Data ...

2026-10-15T14:32:36Z

"Hyperscale": Paris Marx on Excess of Big Tech Data Empires & His Critique of Bernie Sanders' AI Bill

[[Seg3 guest split book]][1]

We speak with tech journalist Paris Marx about his new book, *Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires*. In the book, Marx exposes the deceptive ways tech companies are taking resources from vulnerable communities in order to build massive AI data centers. “We have seen the tech companies that, back in 2019, 2020, wanted us to see them as climate leaders … completely throw their targets out the window in order to pursue generative AI and this data center buildout,” says Marx. He notes that after failing to connect to electrical grids in the locations where they were building data centers, some AI companies have pivoted to building “on-site gas plants,” further increasing dependency on fossil fuels.

Tech companies “want us to believe” that AI models are “starting to become so powerful that within 10 years they could decide that they want to wipe out humanity or a significant chunk of humanity,” says Marx. “That is a mix of science fiction and delusion … and it is also a very effective way to distract from the real harms that we’re seeing from these generative AI products.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/15/hyperscale_paris_marx

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/15/hyperscale_paris_marx

Headlines for October 14, 2026 * [Fighting Escalates in Yemen ...

2026-10-14T14:02:26Z

Can Democrats Flip the House and Senate? The Lever’s David ...

2026-10-14T14:02:21Z

Can Democrats Flip the House and Senate? The Lever’s David Sirota on Midterm Races To Watch

[[Seg1 guest split1]][1]

The midterm elections are in less than three weeks, on November 3. With Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress on the line, the Trump administration has thrown its time and resources into holding rallies in newly competitive states. We take a look at key Senate races in Georgia, Texas, Michigan and Maine with *The Lever*’s David Sirota. Ultimately, says Sirota, election results will hinge on voter turnout. “Will there be that surge of turnout based on how unpopular Trump is and how bad the affordability crisis is?” And, if they win, can Democrats then “deliver” on their promises?

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/14/midterms

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/14/midterms

"Bogus": Minnesota State Senator Zaynab Mohamed on DHS ...

2026-10-14T14:02:16Z

"Bogus": Minnesota State Senator Zaynab Mohamed on DHS Raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's D.C. Home

[[Seg2 guest split2]][1]

On Monday, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided the Washington, D.C., home of Congressmember Ilhan Omar. Omar has faced years of racist targeting from President Trump over her ethnicity and immigrant background. She immigrated to the United States as a refugee from Somalia when she was a child. Omar is the first Somali American elected to federal office, the first woman of color to represent Minnesota and, along with Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

“Congresswoman Omar has been under attack by this administration for the last decade. … She’s a symbol of everything that this administration hates: an immigrant who stands up for her community, who fought to be here in this country, and now is doing her job and her duty to serve her constituents,” says our guest Zaynab Mohamed, a fellow Somali immigrant who represents Minneapolis in Minnesota’s state Senate. As Trump spews racist invective against the Somali American community in Minnesota, Mohamed says, “We will continue to do everything we can to reject this type of hate and rhetoric from this administration.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/14/ilhan_omar_home_raided

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/14/ilhan_omar_home_raided

"Propaganda Show": IDF Raids Palestinian NGOs in the West ...

2026-10-14T14:02:10Z

"Propaganda Show": IDF Raids Palestinian NGOs in the West Bank Ahead of Israeli Elections

[[Seg3 iof raid palestine ngos]][1]

Israeli forces have raided what they say are the offices of several Palestinian NGOs in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian officials say a child was injured from Israeli gunfire, while others suffered from tear gas inhalation. At least one journalist was reportedly detained in the raids, which come four years after the forced closure of multiple NGOs that the Israeli government designated as “terrorist” organizations.

“This is part of the whole propaganda show that this government is actually implementing just before the Israeli election,” says human rights lawyer Sahar Francis. “They just wanted to cause harassment, and this is the main message: the persecution and the collective punishment for the whole Palestinian community.” Francis was formerly the general director at Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, one of the organizations that Israel claims to have raided this week despite the fact that it was already forced to close its West Bank offices in 2022.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/14/israel_raids_west_bank_ngos

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/14/israel_raids_west_bank_ngos

Headlines for October 13, 2026 * [Houthis Warn of "Swift and ...

2026-10-13T14:32:38Z

Yemen Plunges Back into "Full-Scale Civil War," Houthis ...

2026-10-13T14:32:33Z

Yemen Plunges Back into "Full-Scale Civil War," Houthis Trade Strikes with Saudi Arabia

[[Seg yemen]][1]

Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, have repeatedly attacked the Saudi capital of Riyadh in recent days. On Saturday, a missile strike on the airport in Riyadh killed at least 12 and injured over 300 in the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in over a decade. President Trump is now weighing whether to join the Saudi fight against the Houthis in Yemen.

This latest escalation comes after Ansar Allah captured key areas along Yemen’s Red Sea coastline in recent weeks, driving back the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government and taking control of the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

“Yes, the Houthis are attacking Saudi Arabia with airstrikes, but there is now, actively, a real ground war going on within Yemen, and that is a far more relevant and important issue for the Yemenis on a day-to-day basis because they are now back into a full-scale civil war,” says Middle East scholar Helen Lackner.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/13/houthis_strike_saudi

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/13/houthis_strike_saudi

"Musk": Alex Gibney on New Film, Legal Threats & Elon ...

2026-10-13T14:32:25Z

"Musk": Alex Gibney on New Film, Legal Threats & Elon Musk Spending $366M to Help GOP in Midterms

[[Seg musk gibney]][1]

We speak with the Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney about his new documentary *Musk*, an expansive, nearly four-hour examination of the world’s first trillionaire and how he has amassed unprecedented power in business, technology and politics. The film traces Elon Musk’s early ventures and the rise of SpaceX and Tesla, examining the role of government support in their growth. It also explores his acquisition of Twitter, now X; his alliance with President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement; and his role in the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, whose cuts devastated federal programs, including USAID.

Gibney says Musk has carefully crafted an image of a “polymath” who can solve the world’s most pressing problems, but that he is really “kind of a ruthless businessman” willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, including “a series of elaborate cons” to win government support for his companies.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/13/musk_documentary

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/10/13/musk_documentary

Headlines for August 6, 2026 * [Trump Blasts Democratic Nominee ...

2026-08-06T20:44:13Z

"Fire Climate": Hot, Dry, Windy Days Are Becoming Common, ...

2026-08-06T20:44:07Z

"Fire Climate": Hot, Dry, Windy Days Are Becoming Common, Making Wildfires Harder to Control

[[Seg1 splits fire]][1]

The Pacific Northwest is facing its worst fire season in more than 30 years. Scientists say drought, extreme heat and climate change are making wildfire seasons longer, more frequent and more destructive across the western United States.

“The homes, the communities, they’re just not simply prepared for fire,” says Paul Hessburg, former senior research ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service and professor of fire and landscape ecology at the University of Washington. Hessburg walks us through the history of the region, from the controlled fires practiced by Indigenous peoples before European settlement to present-day ecologically unsound factors including “accidental ignitions, dense forests, the wrong kinds of fuels on the ground [and] rapidly changing climate.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/6/spokane_fires

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/6/spokane_fires

Amid Growing Fears of Rogue AI, Expert Urges Governments to ...

2026-08-06T20:44:01Z

Amid Growing Fears of Rogue AI, Expert Urges Governments to "Bring This to a Grinding Halt"

[[Seg2 splits robots]][1]

Is AI superintelligence inevitable? AI safety researcher David Krueger says it doesn’t have to be. Krueger, an assistant professor at the University of Montreal and founder of the nonprofit Evitable, warns that “we need to mitigate the risk of extinction” with regulation and moratoriums to halt the development of AI’s computational power and complexity, which he says is progressing at a rate much faster than current levels of human supervision can manage. Public statements from AI companies that their models have circumvented test constraints and broken into other systems are “what we should expect to happen with the way that we’re building AI, with how little we understand it and how primitive our techniques are for controlling it,” Krueger says. “We just don’t know how to build it safely. End of story.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/6/ai

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/6/ai

"Struggle for Dignity": At Least 40 Killed in Mass ...

2026-08-06T20:43:52Z

"Struggle for Dignity": At Least 40 Killed in Mass Protests in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir

[[Seg3 splits kashmir]][1]

In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a coalition of local politicians, activists and small-business leaders called the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) has been leading mass protests over the soaring cost of living and the limits placed on political autonomy. In response, the Pakistani government banned the group under counterterrorism laws and ordered a communications blackout. Security forces have been accused of indiscriminately firing on nonviolent demonstrators, killing at least 40 people. For more, we speak to Kashmiri writer Mirza Waheed, who grew up in India-administered Kashmir, on the other side of the “Line of Control.”

In the Pakistani-controlled region known locally as Azad Kashmir, the center of the JAAC protests, “the discontent is not recent,” explains Waheed. “It’s been simmering under the surface for a while, and now it’s kind of burst out [in] the open.” He traces the turmoil in the disputed territory to the 1947 Partition of the Indian subcontinent by the departing British colonialists. “All these grievances about increasing prices, unemployment, healthcare, infrastructure, they have coalesced into a larger, broader critique of the political arrangement.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/6/kashmir_mass_protests

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/6/kashmir_mass_protests

Headlines for July 24, 2026 * [U.S. Bombs Iran for 13th Night as ...

2026-07-24T15:04:53Z

"America First or Israel First?" Ex-Israeli Negotiator ...

2026-07-24T15:04:46Z

"America First or Israel First?" Ex-Israeli Negotiator Daniel Levy on Saudi Nuclear Deal, Iran & More

[[Seg1 trump netanyahu]][1]

The status of a newly signed U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal is in question after President Trump made the surprise announcement that the deal is off unless Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel. The deal paves the way for Saudi civil nuclear development, although critics warn that it could lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the politically volatile Middle East.

Saudi Arabia has long maintained that it would not officially recognize Israel by joining the Abraham Accords, the U.S.-negotiated diplomatic deal between Israel and a number of Arab states, until there is a pathway toward the creation of a Palestinian state. The Abraham Accords provision indicates that “Israel is calling the shots again,” when it comes to U.S. policy in the Middle East, notes Daniel Levy of the U.S./Middle East Project. Levy says it is unlikely that Saudi Arabia will agree to Trump’s new conditions, at a cost to U.S. business interests, which stand to profit handily from the sale of nuclear energy technology to the oil-rich kingdom.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/saudi_nuclear_deal

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/saudi_nuclear_deal

"Cockroach Democracy": Arundhati Roy on India's ...

2026-07-24T15:04:39Z

"Cockroach Democracy": Arundhati Roy on India's Youth-Led Protest Movement & Modi's Collapsing Support

[[Seg2 arundhati protests 2]][1]

A youth-led protest movement in India is demanding an end to the country’s status quo. Sparked by the leak of national exam questions, tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets. They are protesting under the banner of the Cockroach Janta (People’s) Party — a new party named to reflect the words of India’s chief justice, who compared unemployed youth to cockroaches and parasites. The movement has only swelled in response to a violent crackdown on protesters. Although the protesters’ initial demands were for the resignation of the country’s education minister, “everything has shifted to directly attacking [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi,” says Indian writer Arundhati Roy, who joins us from New Delhi, the physical center of a movement that first found exponential success online. The erosion of democratic principles under Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata (Indian People’s) Party is being contested on a large scale for the first time, says Roy. “It’s really a generation
whose parents and grandparents wore those Modi masks and chanted 'Modi, Modi, Modi,' and got him into power. It is their children now who are saying the emperor has no clothes.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/india_cockroach_movement_arundhati_roy

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/india_cockroach_movement_arundhati_roy

Report from San Juan: New Bill Targets Citizenship Rights As ...

2026-07-24T15:04:32Z

Report from San Juan: New Bill Targets Citizenship Rights As Puerto Rico Marks 10 Years of PROMESA

[[Seg3 promesa protests pr 2]][1]

After failing to overturn birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, Republican legislators are turning to new tactics to disenfranchise people born on U.S. soil. Their latest targets are those born to noncitizen or permanent resident parents in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, where the Supreme Court has said citizenship is granted by statute and full constitutional protections do not apply. The proposed “End Birthright Citizenship for the Territories Act” would create “a subclass of people who can be discriminated against” and “disregarded as human beings” in the U.S. territories, says Puerto Rican legal scholar Efrén Rivera Ramos, who joins *Democracy Now!* from Puerto Rico’s capital city, San Juan. While the bill’s sponsor, Republican Congressmember Morgan Griffith of Virginia, says he’s focused only on so-called birth tourism, Rivera Ramos says the language of the law is less clear.

The quasi-colonial status of Puerto Rico is also being highlighted by the 10th anniversary of PROMESA, the Obama-era legislation that created a U.S.-appointed fiscal control board to manage the island’s finances and restructure debt. In practice, PROMESA “has been a failure,” says Rivera Ramos, asserting the anti-democratic structure has imposed austerity measures and done little to address corruption, waste and inefficiency that plague the economy.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/puerto_rico_promesa_birthright_citizenship

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/puerto_rico_promesa_birthright_citizenship

"Farmers of the Sea": PBS Film Profiles Puerto Rican ...

2026-07-24T15:04:26Z

"Farmers of the Sea": PBS Film Profiles Puerto Rican Fishermen on the "Frontlines of Climate Change"

[[Farmersofthesea]][1]

Filmmaker Juan Carlos Dávila’s new film for PBS, *Farmers of the Sea*, documents climate change’s threats to the fishing industry and food security in Vieques, Puerto Rico. For islands in the Caribbean, explains Dávila, “we are situated geographically in one of the frontlines of climate change. [We’re] not only facing stronger hurricanes now, [but] we could face food shortages, especially the islands that depend so much on the food that comes from the sea.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/farmers_of_the_sea_documentary_puerto

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/farmers_of_the_sea_documentary_puerto

Headlines for July 23, 2026 * [House GOP Approves $73B in New ...

2026-07-23T14:33:38Z

Meet Milwaukee Muslim Leader Salah Sarsour. ICE Detained Him for ...

2026-07-23T14:33:33Z

Meet Milwaukee Muslim Leader Salah Sarsour. ICE Detained Him for 80 Days

[[Seg1 guest split]][1]

We speak with Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian community leader in Wisconsin, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and a legal permanent resident of the United States for over 30 years. He faces possible deportation after being arrested in March and detained in an ICE jail for 80 days. The Department of Homeland Security claims Sarsour was arrested for lying on his 1993 green card application about a conviction in Israeli military courts when he was a teenager in the occupied West Bank, but Sarsour’s lawyers say he is being targeted by the federal government over his advocacy for Palestinian human rights. Although a judge ordered Sarsour’s release from detention in June, he still faces deportation proceedings set to resume next week.

“In ICE detention,” says Sarsour, “it brought to me these bad memories from my childhood, when I was under the Israeli military occupation and Israeli military rules in Palestine.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/23/salah_sarsour

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/23/salah_sarsour

"Enough Is Enough": Mohsen Mahdawi Says New Deportation ...

2026-07-23T14:33:27Z

"Enough Is Enough": Mohsen Mahdawi Says New Deportation Threat Seeks to Silence Palestine Activism

[[Seg2 guests split]][1]

Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, whose arrest by masked and hooded ICE agents when he arrived for his naturalization interview to become a U.S. citizen made national headlines last year, is facing a new deportation threat after a three-judge panel overturned a lower court ruling that had freed him from ICE custody. Mahdawi was involved in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, where he was a student, demanding an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. He says he is being targeted solely for his advocacy.

“Enough is enough,” Mahdawi says. “Palestinian people deserve to have safety, freedom and equal rights between the river and the sea, and this government is trying to silence me.”

“That is just textbook censorship, and the First Amendment doesn’t allow it,” adds ACLU attorney Nathan Freed Wessler, a member of Mahdawi’s legal team.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/23/mohsen_mahdawi

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/23/mohsen_mahdawi

As Mamdani Calls on Trump to Arrest Netanyahu, Genocide Scholar ...

2026-07-23T14:33:22Z

As Mamdani Calls on Trump to Arrest Netanyahu, Genocide Scholar Decries Israel's Ongoing Impunity

[[Seg3 guest split2]][1]

Israeli American Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov says Israel’s assault on Gaza predicts “the future of genocide,” with the perpetrator not only enjoying impunity for crimes against humanity but also profiting from the death and destruction. He says Israeli leaders will almost certainly escape accountability because international allies, including the United States and many European states, have failed to uphold international law.

“The denial of what Israel has done is ubiquitous because there is no [accountability] mechanism that kicks into place,” he says. “If you don’t bring people to account, you’re sliding back into what the international community tried to prevent after 1945.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/23/omer_bartov_on_gaza

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/23/omer_bartov_on_gaza

Headlines for July 22, 2026 * [Defense Secretary Hegseth ...

2026-07-22T15:03:29Z

"Empire of Abuse": MAGA Influencers Andrew & Tristan ...

2026-07-22T15:03:24Z

"Empire of Abuse": MAGA Influencers Andrew & Tristan Tate Arrested on Rape & Sex Trafficking Charges

[[Seg tate arrested]][1]

Andrew and Tristan Tate have been arrested in Miami after British authorities issued new rape and sex trafficking charges against them. The brothers, dual British-U.S. citizens, are prominent in the far-right, hypermasculine online community known as the “manosphere.” They previously lived in Romania, where in 2023 prosecutors filed a criminal indictment against them for human trafficking, while Andrew faces a rape charge. Despite the charges, they were freed from travel restrictions in Romania early last year after White House officials reportedly took an interest in their case.

“Andrew Tate has become a really important political force for the MAGA movement,” explains Heidi Blake, a reporter for *The New Yorker*. Despite the Tate brothers’ popularity with prominent figures in the U.S. right wing, including Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk, Blake says the fact that the extradition request has been greenlit by the State Department suggests the Trump administration won’t be protecting the Tates.

Blake’s recent [investigation][2], “Andrew Tate’s Empire of Abuse,” documents the Tate brothers’ systematic exploitation of women over the past decade.

“What I was hearing from women I spoke to was an incredibly similar description of the way Andrew Tate would assault them, by choking them either 'til they passed out or ’til they couldn't breathe, raping them,” says Blake. “Often they describe being beaten over the head, as well, during these assaults.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/22/tate_brothers_arrested
[2]: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/15/andrew-tates-empire-of-abuse

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/22/tate_brothers_arrested

"Unlimited Money for Bombs": Democrats Slam Hegseth for ...

2026-07-22T15:03:18Z

"Unlimited Money for Bombs": Democrats Slam Hegseth for Seeking $67B for Iran War

[[H1 hegseth iran funding]][1]

The U.S. is continuing to strike Iran for an 11th straight day. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday revealed the cost of the war on Iran has soared to over $37 billion during an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. However, independent estimates and media reports based on internal leaks suggest the true figure is much higher. Hegseth is now seeking $80 billion more from Congress, including $67 billion for the war on Iran.

“You’re requesting billions of dollars in supplemental funding for a war that you said would last for weeks and that the president has no plan or ability to end,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, during the hearing. “You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/22/hegseth_military

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/22/hegseth_military

Trump Says Images of Bombed Iran School Could Be "AI" But ...

2026-07-22T15:03:13Z

Trump Says Images of Bombed Iran School Could Be "AI" But Study Confirms U.S. Killed 140+ in Strike

[[Seg minab]][1]

On February 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, missiles landed on Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the Iranian city of Minab, in a civilian area near the Strait of Hormuz. At least 121 schoolchildren were killed along with 26 teachers. Forensic Architecture and Sky News analyzed the attack, finding that the neighborhood was bombed a second time while families and rescuers were still on the ground. The Trump administration has repeatedly refused to take responsibility for the school strike, with President Trump even suggesting that images of the destruction were AI-generated.

“There were images and videos available from the time of the strikes,” says Samaneh Moafi, assistant director of research at Forensic Architecture. “A second wave of strikes hit, and it’s in these ones that we do see the profile of a Tomahawk. And the only party within the war that has this missile is the U.S.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/22/minab_forensic_architecture

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/22/minab_forensic_architecture

Headlines for July 21, 2026 * [Yemen's Houthis Declare Naval ...

2026-07-21T14:33:50Z

As the U.S. Commits War Crimes in Iran, Trump Admin Vows to ...

2026-07-21T14:33:44Z

As the U.S. Commits War Crimes in Iran, Trump Admin Vows to Dismantle Int'l Criminal Court: Reed Brody

[[Seg1 brody icc 1]][1]

As the Trump administration carries out its campaign against the International Criminal Court, imposing wide-reaching sanctions on judges, prosecutors and groups who have accused Israel of war crimes in front of the international tribunal, we’re joined by veteran war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. Brody says that the U.S. government’s rejection of the ICC’s jurisdiction is not about “American sovereignty,” as the Trump administration claims, but about “impunity,” for both U.S. allies, like Israel, and the U.S. itself. “Marco Rubio knows that bombing Iran without Security Council authorization constitutes aggression under the U.N. Charter,” says Brody. “This is an insurance policy against accountability for crimes that the Trump administration is committing in plain sight.”

Brody also responds to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s statements that his office may attempt to carry out the ICC arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister attends the United Nations General Assembly later this year, and to the recent announcement by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that his country will no longer hold elections, further entrenching the onetime revolutionary’s authoritarian rule.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/21/reed_brody_icc_rubio_trump_admin

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/21/reed_brody_icc_rubio_trump_admin

What Spain's Victory Means: Jules Boykoff on the World Cup, ...

2026-07-21T14:33:38Z

What Spain's Victory Means: Jules Boykoff on the World Cup, FIFA, Trump, "Collectivity" & More

[[Seg2 jules spain win]][1]

The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup has concluded, with Spain defeating Argentina to claim the coveted title. Spain’s national team players accepted the championship trophy at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his close ally, United States President Donald Trump. Former professional soccer player Jules Boykoff, now a scholar who studies the political dimensions of the sport, joins us to discuss the various controversies that swirled around this year’s tournament, held in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. this past month.

“While many of us were engrossed in this World Cup, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramped up its violent deportation machine,” says Boykoff. “And so, the World Cup helped Trump advance his agenda. It deflected attention from a lot of people away from his brutal immigration program, and it sets him up well to do the same in Los Angeles in 2028 when the United States hosts the Summer Olympics.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/21/fifa_world_cup_2026_jules_boykoff

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/21/fifa_world_cup_2026_jules_boykoff

"A Company That Trades Privacy for Profit": ACLU on ...

2026-07-21T14:33:32Z

"A Company That Trades Privacy for Profit": ACLU on Flock's Growing Nationwide Surveillance Network

[[Seg3 flock cam 2]][1]

The tech company Flock, makers of traffic cameras that automatically record and log car license plates for law enforcement agencies, is facing increasing scrutiny over accusations that its vast, AI-sorted database has created a new, nationwide mass surveillance system. With few regulations or oversight on its use, Flock’s data can be sold to third parties or shared with federal agencies such as ICE, says the ACLU’s Chad Marlow, who works on efforts to regulate and cancel Flock’s contracts with local law enforcement. Because Flock’s indiscriminate system records information on all cars and drivers that pass its cameras, “we have a company working to record the comings and goings of every single person in the country,” in what Marlow calls “a very un-American take on privacy.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/21/flock_aclu_chad_marlow

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/21/flock_aclu_chad_marlow

Headlines for July 20, 2026 * [U.S. Continues Strikes Against ...

2026-07-20T14:33:31Z

U.S. Escalates War on Iran, Targeting Civilian Infrastructure as ...

2026-07-20T14:33:26Z

U.S. Escalates War on Iran, Targeting Civilian Infrastructure as 3 U.S. Soldiers Are Killed

[[Seg1 guest split1]][1]

The United States is expanding its attacks on Iran after three U.S. soldiers were killed over the weekend, the first U.S. fatalities in the conflict since March. Two U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan, and a third soldier was killed in northern Iraq during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. The United States has now bombed Iran for nine consecutive nights, and Iran has retaliated by striking U.S. allies across the Persian Gulf. The war, which has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has squeezed global supplies of oil and gas.

“The United States has considerable violence at its disposal, but it has limited political capacity to dictate terms,” says Toby Jones, associate professor of Middle East history at Rutgers University. Jones says that while the United States has tried to “inflict pain” on Iranian civilians in order to weaken the government, “it’s hard to say that it’s working.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/iran_update

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/iran_update

"Justice for Lorenzo": Houston Community Demands ...

2026-07-20T14:33:20Z

"Justice for Lorenzo": Houston Community Demands Accountability After ICE Killing of Mexican Father

[[Seg2 maria reporting]][1]

Houston community members continue to demand justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican father who was shot and killed by an ICE agent July 7. He had lived in the United States for nearly 35 years and had three U.S. citizen children. The ICE agents involved in his killing have not been identified, and it’s unclear whether they remain on active duty.

For more on the community response, we get a report from *Democracy Now!* producers on the ground in Houston. To many people in the city’s immigrant communities, Salgado Araujo was “Houston’s dad,” representative of their own families and not a dangerous criminal as the government has tried to portray him.

“He looks just like all of our parents. He has the same story, the same American dream,” a resident named Sonia told *Democracy Now!*

“We are demanding justice for Lorenzo, but it’s not just that,” a mourner said at a rally. “These terrorists coming from the government, it’s not just in Houston, it’s not just in Texas, it’s not just in the United States. It’s terrorism all over the world.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/report_from_houston

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/report_from_houston

Texas Rep. Al Green Accuses Trump Admin of Attempting to Cover Up ...

2026-07-20T14:33:14Z

Texas Rep. Al Green Accuses Trump Admin of Attempting to Cover Up ICE Killings

[[Seg2 guest split3]][1]

As calls mount for accountability over the ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Al Green, who represents Texas’s 9th Congressional District. He demands an independent investigation into the shooting to stop “an attempt to cover up” the killing by the Trump administration.

Democratic lawmakers led by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will hold a public hearing in Houston on Friday to gather testimony from community members about Salgado Araujo’s killing. Green, one of the longest-serving Black members in Congress, highlights the importance of solidarity between different communities facing oppression.

“Invidious discrimination is the common enemy for Latinos and African Americans, and we have to confront this common enemy together,” says Green. “We cannot allow people to segregate us.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/lorenzo_salgado_araujo

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/lorenzo_salgado_araujo

Nearly 1,000 Wildfires in Canada Continue to Burn as Trump & ...

2026-07-20T14:33:08Z

Nearly 1,000 Wildfires in Canada Continue to Burn as Trump & Carney Double Down on Fossil Fuels

[[Seg3 guest split2]][1]

Millions of people across North America have experienced hazardous air pollution this month as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. In addition to releasing hazardous chemicals and smoke darkening skies across the continent, the fires in Canada have also disproportionately impacted Indigenous communities, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. Republican politicians have been loath to acknowledge the role of the climate crisis in making extreme weather events like this more frequent and intense, instead blaming Canadian officials for poor forest management. President Donald Trump has even threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada over the record levels of hazardous air.

Independent Canadian journalist Rachel Gilmore says that while Trump’s comments are “extremely offensive” to people in the country, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney’s policies — while acknowledging the science — also do little to mitigate the climate crisis as he approves new oil pipelines that would operate for decades.

“He’s not exactly taking the climate action that we need here in Canada,” Gilmore says of Carney.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/canada_wildfires

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/20/canada_wildfires

Headlines for July 17, 2026 * [Iran Claims Eight People Killed as ...

2026-07-17T15:03:04Z

Denise Oliver-Vélez, Pioneering Young Lord & Black Panther, ...

2026-07-17T15:02:58Z

Denise Oliver-Vélez, Pioneering Young Lord & Black Panther, Dies at 78

[[Seg0.5 guest split2]][1]

Lifelong activist, organizer and educator Denise Oliver-Vélez has died at the age of 78. She was a central figure in the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s and was the first woman elected to the Young Lords Central Committee, a radical Puerto Rican human rights group modeled on the Black Panther Party, which Oliver-Vélez was also a member of. She later became the first Black female program director in public radio and taught at SUNY New Paltz.

As a founding member of the Young Lords, *Democracy Now!*'s Juan González worked alongside Oliver-Vélez. “She helped develop many of [the Young Lords'] Serve the People programs and helped to shape and write some of the key literature we produced back then,” says González, adding that “Denise was never afraid to speak her mind, to challenge authority and to tell her comrades what they needed to hear — not what they wanted to hear — and she always did it with love and kindness.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/denise_oliver_velez

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/denise_oliver_velez

Trump's Election Integrity Speech Lays Groundwork for Midterm ...

2026-07-17T15:02:53Z

Trump's Election Integrity Speech Lays Groundwork for Midterm Interference: Ari Berman

[[Seg1 guest split2]][1]

In a primetime address on Thursday, President Trump accused China of meddling in U.S. elections in his latest effort to spread doubt about the U.S. voting system ahead of the midterm elections in November. Trump announced he was declassifying documents that show what he called “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure,” but offered no evidence that China or any other country directly interfered with recent elections.

“If Trump was trying to build … a smoking gun case that the 2020 election was stolen, he failed miserably,” says Ari Berman, the national voting rights correspondent for *Mother Jones*. “I am still very concerned that this speech is intended to lay the groundwork for the administration to interfere in the midterms.”

Berman argues that U.S. elections are “secure” and that results are “audited extensively at the state level” and reviewed at the federal level. He says the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden, was “found to be the most secure in American history.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/trump_election_claims

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/trump_election_claims

Report from Houston: Family of ICE Shooting Victim Lorenzo ...

2026-07-17T15:02:47Z

Report from Houston: Family of ICE Shooting Victim Lorenzo Salgado Araujo Holds Public Viewing

[[Seg2 salgado family]][1]

Hundreds of community members gathered in Houston on Thursday evening for a public viewing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican man shot and killed by an ICE agent on July 7. His sons stood by their father’s casket for hours greeting mourners who wore blue, Salgado Araujo’s favorite color. A mariachi band played, and several altars adorned the chapel: One table held Salgado Araujo’s construction tools and hard hats, while another displayed two of his Mexico soccer jerseys. Photos and videos of some of the family’s most joyful moments were projected in the background.

*Democracy Now!*’s María Inés Taracena spoke to some of the attendees outside of the funeral home. “Looking back at history, it brought back memories of Emmett Till, when his mom also let the community grieve with them,” said Cesar Espinosa, a local immigrant rights activist. “She wanted to show the world what they had done to her son, and I think today, this family also wanted to show the world what they had done to them.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/lorenzo_salgado_araujo_houston

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/lorenzo_salgado_araujo_houston

"Disrupt, Identify, Defund, Debank, Arrest & ...

2026-07-17T15:02:42Z

"Disrupt, Identify, Defund, Debank, Arrest & Prosecute": Trump Admin Threatens Leftist Groups

[[Seg3 guest split1]][1]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top White House adviser Stephen Miller are pushing for a global crackdown on leftist organizations. The State Department on Thursday hosted a summit “on the resurgence of political terrorism,” where Miller described the left as “enemies of civilization” and described efforts to “disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest and prosecute these political terrorists that are operating in our country.” Rubio announced the U.S. would soon designate more left-wing groups as terrorist organizations. Also on Thursday, the State Department announced new visa restrictions targeting what it calls “members of Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups.”

“They’re putting political groups in the United States and abroad on the same footing as groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS,” says independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, who has been closely following the Trump administration’s designation of left-wing activism as terrorism.

“This effort to designate left-wing groups as foreign terrorists using these broad terms like 'antifa' will allow them to go after people who are not committing violence but who are simply engaging in the political process,” adds former FBI special agent Mike German.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/trump_leftist

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/trump_leftist

Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" Faces Boycott Calls ...

2026-07-17T15:02:36Z

Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" Faces Boycott Calls over Filming in Occupied Western Sahara

[[Seg4 guest split 2]][1]

Hollywood’s blockbuster adaptation of the ancient Greek epic *The Odyssey* premieres around the world today amid growing calls for a boycott. Human rights campaigners are criticizing director Christopher Nolan over his decision to film part of the film in Western Sahara, a vast territory in northwestern Africa that Morocco has occupied for the past half-century.

“This occupying force is practicing cultural genocide against the Sahrawi people, ethnic cleansing,” says María Carrión, the executive director of the Western Sahara International Film Festival. “By staying silent for one year and then using this footage, Nolan has basically become an accomplice to Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.”

Abidin Mohamed Hamudi, a Sahrawi filmmaker speaking to *Democracy Now!* from Algeria, says he cannot return to his home in Western Sahara, but Nolan “can just go there and film and be complicit in the occupation of my homeland.” He calls it “a metaphor of how the Western world uses human rights, democracy narratives whenever they want, and then ignore it in other parts of the world.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/the_odyssey

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/17/the_odyssey

Headlines for July 16, 2026 * [U.S. Strikes Iran for Fifth ...

2026-07-16T14:33:10Z

Todd Blanche Is "Not Fit" to Be AG, from Epstein Files to ...

2026-07-16T14:33:05Z

Todd Blanche Is "Not Fit" to Be AG, from Epstein Files to Trump's $1.8B Slush Fund: Rep. Jayapal

[[Seg1 guest split2]][1]

Confirmation hearings are underway for President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, his personal attorney Todd Blanche. Blanche is mired in a number of controversies, most notably his mishandling of the administration’s release of the Epstein files while serving as deputy attorney general under Pam Bondi. Washington state Representative Pramila Jayapal, who is co-sponsoring a bill to allow Epstein survivors whose identifying information was improperly publicized by the Department of Justice to sue the federal government for damages, says “Todd Blanche was responsible” for the breach. “He really wanted to discourage anyone else from coming forward with more information. … It’s [a] big reason why he shouldn’t be the attorney general.” Jayapal also discusses the Department of Justice’s surveillance of herself and other legislators who viewed Epstein-related documents and Blanche’s longstanding personal and professional connections with Trump.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/todd_blanche_doj_pramila_jayapal

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/todd_blanche_doj_pramila_jayapal

We Are Sending a Message to Netanyahu: Rep. Jayapal on 100+ Dems ...

2026-07-16T14:33:00Z

We Are Sending a Message to Netanyahu: Rep. Jayapal on 100+ Dems Voting to Cut Israeli Military Aid

[[Seg1 guest split5]][1]

As we continue our conversation with Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, we turn to recent developments involving the United States military. On Wednesday, Jayapal was one of over half of all House Democrats to vote in favor eliminating over $3 billion in military aid to Israel. Although the proposed amendment was ultimately shot down, the final tally with over 100 members voting yes is still a “sea change” in U.S. political support for Israel, says Jayapal. Following Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, “it is the horror of what has unfolded that has finally allowed us to confront the fact that we should not be using taxpayer dollars to send to Israel to perpetrate this kind of violence.”

Jayapal also responds to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new order mandating testosterone testing and offering testosterone replacement therapy for servicemembers aged 30 and over. “Providing testosterone is actually gender affirming care,” Jayapal remarks. Last year, Hegseth ordered a halt to all gender-affirming medical procedures for military servicemembers and banned openly trans people from service. These actions are “intrusive behavior,” says Jayapal, “where the government is getting involved in prescribing what medication you do or don’t take, without your consent.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/congress_israel_vote_democrats_pramila_jayapal

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/congress_israel_vote_democrats_pramila_jayapal

Victor Salgado Araujo Saw ICE Agent Kill His Brother in Texas. He ...

2026-07-16T14:32:54Z

Victor Salgado Araujo Saw ICE Agent Kill His Brother in Texas. He Is Now Detained, Faces Deportation

[[Seg1.5 vigil]][1]

After ICE agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, last week, they quickly arrested three witnesses: the other men that the 52-year-old father of three was driving to work. The three men, including Salgado Araujo’s younger brother Victor, are now being detained by ICE and threatened with deportation.

“There is a Trump militia roaming our streets, our towns, our cities, killing people regardless of immigration status with absolutely no accountability. … They are either not getting training or getting training to shoot directly at people, to murder people, in the streets,” says Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, explaining that the three incarcerated witnesses must be protected from deportation for at least as long as they can provide information for the investigations on Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s killing. Victor Salgado Araujo “wants to be accessible as a witness, and it’s really hard for him to do that when he’s [being detained] 45 minutes away from Houston,” says his attorney Ruby Powers. “Being able to be in the United States freely, to be able to give that testimony is what we’re asking for.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/brother_of_lorenzo_salgado_araujo_shooting

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/brother_of_lorenzo_salgado_araujo_shooting

A "Forever War" in Iran? Ali Vaez on Escalating War, U.S. ...

2026-07-16T14:32:49Z

A "Forever War" in Iran? Ali Vaez on Escalating War, U.S. "Diplomatic Malpractice"

[[Seg2 guest ali vaez]][1]

Has the United States launched a forever war on Iran? As the Trump administration renews its attacks on Iran, killing at least 35 civilians over the course of five days, political analyst Ali Vaez warns that the U.S. is inciting potentially never-ending “cycles of violence” with its manipulations of the diplomatic process. The U.S.’s unilateral renunciation of the “memorandum of understanding” as a “pretext for another round of war” has further eroded trust between the countries, says Vaez. “There is really no military solution,” he concludes. “The best solution is for both sides to agree to return to the MOU and to respect its terms.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/ali_vaez_iran_war_hormuz_strait

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/ali_vaez_iran_war_hormuz_strait

Earthjustice Sues to Block Trump's Move to Gut Endangered ...

2026-07-16T14:32:44Z

Earthjustice Sues to Block Trump's Move to Gut Endangered Species Act

[[Seg3 guest split2]][1]

The Trump administration has introduced a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act, a bedrock of successful U.S. wildlife conservation for more than 50 years, dramatically weakening its power to protect natural habitats and opening vulnerable lands to real estate development, oil drilling and other extractive industries. A coalition of conservation groups is suing the Trump administration over the rule change. They are represented by the environmental law group Earthjustice and senior attorney Ben Levitan, who calls this latest Trump administration attack on the environment “a total repudiation of the premise that endangered species need places to have shelter, to have food, to raise their young.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/change_to_endangered_species_act

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/16/change_to_endangered_species_act

Headlines for July 15, 2026 * [Trump Threatens to Attack Civilian ...

2026-07-15T22:02:09Z

"Fighting Back": Mahmoud Khalil Sues Trump Admin, ...

2026-07-15T22:02:04Z

"Fighting Back": Mahmoud Khalil Sues Trump Admin, Pro-Israel Groups for Conspiracy to Suppress Speech

[[Seg1 mahmoud presser 3]][1]

We speak with Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil about his lawsuit against top Trump administration officials, two pro-Israel groups and a conservative think tank for conspiring to suppress his constitutional right to free speech.

Khalil, who helped lead protests at Columbia University against the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, was one of several international students targeted for deportation by the Trump administration last year over pro-Palestine advocacy.

“I don’t want everything that happened to me to go in vain,” says Khalil.

The lawsuit names Secretary of State Marco Rubio and several other top administration figures; the Heritage Foundation, which launched Project Esther, a campaign to suppress pro-Palestine protests; the far-right pro-Israel group Betar; and Canary Mission, a long-running operation to identify and harass pro-Palestine activists. The lawsuit was brought under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, a Reconstruction-era law to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups like the Klan.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/15/mahmoud_khalil_lawsuit

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/15/mahmoud_khalil_lawsuit

Israeli Settlers Attack Convoy of Journalists & Father of ...

2026-07-15T22:01:58Z

Israeli Settlers Attack Convoy of Journalists & Father of Palestinian American Killed 1 Year Ago

[[Seg2 jasper adele attack split]][1]

Israeli settlers armed with clubs, rocks and a knife attacked a convoy of journalists in the West Bank on Saturday, the latest targeting of foreign journalists documenting the Israeli occupation. Four settlers have reportedly been detained over the attack. The convoy, which included CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, were accompanying the father of Palestinian American Saif Musallet to the site where he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers one year ago. To date, no one has been arrested for Musallet’s killing.

Independent journalist and Palestine solidarity activist Adele Shoko, who was in one of the cars, says the attack is part of an “unprecedented” escalation of settler activity in the occupied West Bank, taking place in so-called Area A, which is nominally under the full control of the Palestinian Authority. “Area C is almost entirely ethnically cleansed by the settlers backed by the Israeli state, and they moved to Area B, attacking big villages. But Area A is another level.”

We also speak with Jasper Nathaniel, who was also in the convoy and has been attacked multiple times while reporting in the occupied West Bank. He says pro-Israel advocates who accuse journalists, activists and other international observers of staging “publicity stunts” are downplaying how routine settler intimidation and violence has become. “If you spend enough time in the West Bank — and by enough time, I mean a couple days — something like that is going to happen to you,” says Nathaniel.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/15/israeli_settlers_attack_journalists_west_bank

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/15/israeli_settlers_attack_journalists_west_bank

"AI Resist List": Karen Hao on Data Center Resistance, ...

2026-05-22T15:04:32Z

"AI Resist List": Karen Hao on Data Center Resistance, Tech Billionaires, "Empire of AI" & More

[[Seg3split]][1]

We speak with journalist Karen Hao, author of *Empire of AI*, about the Trump administration’s alliance with tech billionaires, efforts to regulate artificial intelligence technology, and rising local opposition to data centers across the United States.

“In 2025, these data center protests successfully stalled over $100 billion worth of these facilities,” says Hao. “It really does cut across political lines.”

Hao recently launched [The AI Resist List][2] with a group of fellow journalists, researchers and technologists. It’s a collaborative project to track and reshape how artificial intelligence is deployed around the world.

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/22/data_centers_and_ai
[2]: https://airesistlist.org/

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/22/data_centers_and_ai

Rising Conflict in DRC, Sudan, Other African Countries Linked to ...

2026-05-21T20:38:49Z

Rising Conflict in DRC, Sudan, Other African Countries Linked to Trump's Gutting of USAID: Study

[[Seg2 usaid]][1]

The decades-old U.S. humanitarian aid agency USAID was largely dismantled in the early days of President Trump’s second term by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The authors of a new study in the journal *Science* conclude, “The abrupt withdrawal of USAID led to a significant and sustained increase in conflict across Africa’s most USAID-dependent regions.”

We are joined by Austin Wright, one of the study’s authors and a professor of public policy at the University of Chicago. “What we found is that that shutdown had these large effects,” says Wright. “These are often double-digit percentage increases in the incidence, severity and lethality of violence across Africa in the affected regions.”

[1]: http://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/21/usaid_conflict_africa

http://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/21/usaid_conflict_africa