[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: on saturday my direction the united states successfully concluded an airstrike in kabul, afghanistan to kill the leader of al qaeda, ayman al-zawahri. amy: the united states is claiming a cia drone has killed

the leader of al qaeda, ayman al-zawahri, at a safe house in kabul in area where many taliban live. we will get the latest and look at the legacy of al-zawahri and u.s. war on terror. then we go to the fight for reproductiveights inansas. >> kansas, which has been at the center of antiabortion attacks for decades has now become a destination for folks elsewhere who can no longer get abortions in their home states. today, kansans are voting on whether to allow the legislature to ban abortions here, too. this is the first state to vote on thisince supreme court overturned roe v. wade. amy: illinois declares an emergency over monkeypox. we will speak to steven thrasher , the author of “the viral underclass: the human toll when inequality and disease collide." all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united states has announced it has killed al qaeda leader ayman al-zawahri in a drone strike in downtown kabul in afghanistan. the u.s. reportedly fired two hellfire missiles at al-zawahri as he was standing on balcony in a safe house located in a wealthy neighborhood where many leaders of the taliban live. the united states has long accused al-zawahri of being a key 9/11 plotter along with osama bin laden who was killed in a u.s. raid in pakistan in 2011. president biden announced the assassination on monday night. pres. biden: the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it

takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out. amy: the taliban criticized the u.s. attack, saying the drone strike was a “violation of international principles.” u.s. secretary of state tony blinken accused the taliban of violating the doha agreement by hosting d sheltering the leader of al-qaeda. after headlines we'll get the latest from afghan journalist bilal sarwary. in kentucky, the death toll from some of the worst flooding in state history has risen to 37, with more rain and searing temperatures forecast throughout the week. hundreds are missing in kentucky. in california, two people were found dead in a charter vehicle after the mckinney fire became the largest wildfire of the year at over 55,000 acres. this follows record heat in the pacific northwest, and forecasters predict 40 million residents face triple digit

temperatures over the ne week. west virginia senator joe manchin's office said monday the conservative democrat has secured a promise from party leaders and the white house to complete a highly contested gas pipeline. in 2020, construction of the mountain valley pipeline was halted by a federal court after activists argued its construction violates environmental laws and could pose catastrophic threats to nearly 1,000 streams and wetlands. the deal to complete the pipeline came as senator manchin ended months of opposition to president biden's legislative agenda, and agreed to support a scaled-down bill to battle the climate crisis. in washington, d.c., indigenous-led protesters erected large tripods monday in a nonviolent, symbolic blockade of the interior department. the protesters are demanding that president biden take immediate executive action on the climate, and are rejecting mandated oil and gas lease sales on public lands and waters as part of any new climate legislation.

this is activist ashley engle of the ikiya collective. >> people are dying, my people are dying right now. we are not going to be your sacrifice. we will not sacrifice our land, our maters, our children, or future generations. that includes your children, too. we also want biden to declare a climate emergency. amy: a federal judge in washington, d.c. has sentenced a far-right militia leader to seven years in prison over his role in the january 6, 2021 insurrection. it is the longest sentence yet for a capitol rioter. guy reffitt, a recruiter for the texas three percenters militia group, was convicted in march of five felony charges for leading a mob that charged and overran a capitol police line. he was reported to the f b his son. his daughter called reporters

after the sentence "trump deserves life in prison if my father is in prison this long." meanwhile, a new study finds far-right dark money groups have poured unprecedented amounts of cash into secretary of state races across the u.s. this election year, aimed at candidates who espouse trump's "big lie" that the 2020 election was stolen. china is warning the united states of potentially "disastrous consequences" if house speaker nancy visits taiwan this week. the chinese foreign ministry's warning came as pelosi traveled to singapore and malaysia as part of an asia tour that includes plans to become the highest-ranking u.s. official to visit taiwan in a quarter century. >> if speaker pelosi visits taiwan, it would grossly appear in taiwan's internal affairs, seriously -- wantonly trample on the one china principle, threaten the peace of the taiwan strait, and ceiling to bandage

-- severely damage china-u.s. relations. we would like to mourn the united states again that china is fully prepared for any eventuality. the chinese people's liberation army will not sit back. amy: in response, pentagon spokesperson john kirby warned china against using pelosi's visit as a pre to increase military activity around the taiwan strait. the u.s. navy currently has four warships positioned in waters east of taiwan, including the nuclear aircraft carrier, the uss ronald reagan. here in new york, the united nations has opened a review of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. united nations secretary-general antonio guterres opened the conference with a stark warning. >> we have been extra ordinarily lucky so far, but luck is not a strategy, nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions bubbling over into nuclear conflicts. humanity is just one

misunderstanding or miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation. we need a treaty as much as ever. amy: u.s. secretary of state antony blinken accused russia of "dangerous nuclear saber rattling" over its invasion of ukraine and blamed iran and north korea for harming efforts at nonproliferation. his comments come as the u.s. and the world's eight other nuclear-armed nations continue to refuse to sign the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, which was adopted by the un last year after it was ratified by more than 50 states. -- 50 countries. in iraq, hundreds of supporters of the powerful shiite cleric muqtada al-sadr continue to occupy the iraqi parliament, protesting efforts led by al-sadr's pro-iran rivals to form a new government. al-sadr supporters have declared an open-ended sit-in at parliament until their demands are answered. meanwhile thousands of al-sadr opponents held a counter protest monday and were met with police using water cannons. at least 125 people have been

injured in the unrest. the formation of a new government has been stalled since the parliament election was held last october, where al-sadr's sadrist movement won the most seats. back in the united states, voters head to the polls today for primary elections in arizona, kansas, michigan, missouri, and washington. in arizona, several republicans who have denied joe biden's 2020 presidential election victory are competing to become secretary of state the official who oversees elections. they include trump-endorsed state representative mark finchem, who sought to overturn trump's 2020 loss, and state lawmaker shawnna bolick, who sponsored a bill to allow lawmakers ignore election results and choose their own presidential electors. in washington state, congressmembers jaime herrera beutler and dan newhouse face republican primary challengers. they were two of the 10 house republicans who voted to impeach former president trump over the

january 6th insurrection. in missouri, former president trump on monday delivered his endorsement in a crowded race of 19 republicans seeking to replace retiring republican senator roy blunt. on the eve of the primary, trump wrote, "eric has my complete and total endorsement!" there are two people named eric among the 19 candidates vying for missouri's open senate seat missouri attorney general eric schmitt and eric greitens, the former governor. greitens is attempting a political comeback after a report commissioned by missouri's legislature in 2018 found he sexually assaulted and physically abused a woman, before blackmailing her to cover up his crime. meanwhile in kansas, voters are deciding today on a ballot measure that, if approved, would repeal the state's constitutional protection for abortions and pave the way for conservative lawmakers to enact a near-total ban on the procedure. in kentucky, a state court of appeals has reinstated an

abortion trigger law and a so-called "heartbeat" statue that bans the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy. this comes after about a month after a lower state court had halted the enforcement of the measures. we'll have more on the kansas abortion ballot measure and reproductive rights in the country later in the broadcast. new york city has declared monkeypox a public health emergency, after officials described new york as the "epicenter" of the outbreak, with tens of thousands of people vulnerable to exposure." california and illinois also declared states of emergency over the rapid spread of monkeypox. this week, the first monkeypox deaths outside of africa were reported in spain, brazil, and india. meanwhile african nations still have not received a single dose of vaccines against monkeypox, even as the united states and european union have secured hundreds of thousands of doses. this is dr. ahmed ogwell, acting director of the african centers for disease control. >> let us get vaccines out to

the continents. let's get more resources for preparedness and response to come to the continent. let us get attention focused on where we will be able to really stop monkeypox at the source. coming to africa is the best place to start. amy: we'll have more on the monkeypox outbreak later in the broadcast with journalist steven thrasher, author of “the viral underclass: the human toll when inequality and disease collide." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'amy goodman. joined by juan gonzalez in new brunswick, new jersey. juan: welcome to everyone around the world. amy: the u.s. has announced it has killed ayman al-zawahri in a don't -- drone strike in downtown kabul in afghanistan. the u.s. reportedly fired two hellfire missiles at al-zawahri as he was standing on balcony in

a safe house located in a wealthy neighborhood where many leaders of the taliban live. the attack occurred on sunday morning in kabul. al-zawahri's assassination comes 21 years after al qaeda attacked the united states on sept. 11, 2001, and just under a new year after the taliban seized control of afghanistan. the united states has long accused al-zawahri of being a key 9/11 plotter along with osama bin laden who was killed in a u.s. raid in pakian in 2011 president biden announced the death of al-zawahri on monday night. pres. biden: my fellow americans, on saturday, at my direction, the united states successfully completed an airstrike in kabul, afghanistan that killed the emir of al qaeda, ayman al-zawahri.

al-zawahri was bin laden's leader, he was his number two man, his deputy at the time that the terrorists attacked 9/11. he was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11. one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2977 people on american soil. amy: the taliban criticized the u.s. attack saying the drone strike was a “violation of international principles." u.s. secretary of state tony blken criticized the taliban for allowing al-zawahiri to live in kabul. in a statement, blinken said, "by hosting and sheltering the leader of al qa'ida in kabul, the taliban grossly violated the doha agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries.” al-zawahri was a key figure in the international jihadist movement since the 1980s. he was trained as surgeon in egypt where he was born to a prominent family. in 1981, he was arrested as part

a broad plot to assassinate egyptian president anwar sadat. egyptian authorities tortured al-zawahri and others involved in the plot. the author lawrence wright said al-zawahri's time in prison and torture led to his further radicalization. after his release from prison after three years, al-zawahri traveled to afghanistan and pakistan where he met osama bin laden. the united states has accused al-zawahri of being involved in numerous attacks including the bombing of the uss cole in 2000 and the bombing of u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania in 1998. after 9/11, the united states put a $25 million bounty on his head. we begin today's show with the afghan journalist bilal sarwary who reported from afghanistan for 20 years. he fled the country after the taliban takeover last year and is now in toronto. on sunday, he published photos on twitter of the house where the drone strike occurred, but at the time, the target of the

attack was not known. bilal sarwary, your response now to the news that al-zawahri has been assassinated by the united states. bilal: i think it is shocking that the taliban would have kept him there, the upscale neighborhood, not far from western embassies and also the presidential palace. what has come to light, the house that was targeted had 17 rooms, four stories, basement, balcony. it is sort of a pakistani inspired villa that was previously rented by an organization with whom i have spoken. we are being told actually now by multiple sources that the house belonged to the chief of staff for the interior minister

of the taliban. the police chief of kabul also resided on the same street, and they frequently visited this area. the haqqani network has had an historical and ideological connection with al qaeda, starting from the 1980's, many intermarriages, but again, this is a strike inside the heart of kabul in an area that is very well known to the cia and other western intelligence agencies. the last 20 years, they had a presence specifically in this area, safehouses, partner agencies. the irony is that these houses did come under suicide and

complex attacks from the haqqani before the fall of kabul in 2021. i remember shortly before the fall of kabul, the house of the former defense minister was targeted, first by powerful, car bombs. then there was a gun battle for hours. juan: the u.s. has said that there were no civilian casualties from this strike. from what you been able to report, is that accurate? you also mentioned the haqqani network. jan you talk about the relationship between the haqqani and the taliban, and al qaeda? bilal: according to sources in kabul city that i have spoken to, at least 12 arab nationals

and foreign fighters were among those killed, including egyptians. we are being told by several eyewitnesses that, shortly after this strike here, vehicles were seen transporting what appeared to have been foreign fighters what their families, possibly going to other locations, including to the presidential palace. this also shows you that al qaeda was not only quite confident at the very highest echelons, feeling safe in an area like this, but they had a presence. now they feel it is basically their own backyard. as far as the relationship goes, as i said earlier on, it is extremely close, generational,

ideological. i would not be surprised if there were intermarriages for second and third generation of arab and afghan fighters. here i'm talking about the taliban. we also have to remember that ayman al-zawahri was someone who has been in the region for more than 20 years. he knows a lot of these players in the afghan conflict. in the east, he was being hunted down. quite honestly, this is an embarrassment for the taliban, as well, who continue to protect themselves as the victorious, powerful force that can deal with any situation. we don't know who may have given up al-zawahri, what sort of an operation this could have been,

but according to some sources, ayman al-zawahri was transported from north waziristan, possibly in the month of may, to kabul, where he lived with his family. i've been looking at some pictures that were shared that shows within the same house certain taliban officials, including members of the afghani family, did take pictures. it would appear from the sno around winter 2021. it will be interesting if this is a sort of about about moment for leaders where some may have known about the presence but others did not. yesterday, there was a big issue between various taliban administrators and ministers about whether there should be a state funeral for

al-zawahri. it is a conundrum for the taliban because they cannot deny this anymore. juan: i want to bring in karen greenberg, director of the center on national security at fordham university school of law. your reaction to this assassination of al-zawahri, and were you surprised thahe was in the midst of kabul? karen: it was surprising to many that he was found in afghanistan. it sort of underscores, as bilal was saying, this resurgent time between the taliban and al qaeda, something that the war on terror succeeded for the most part in separating. i was also surprised a little bit at president biden's speech, the way he described this as part of us having to be ever

vigilant about the war on terror in many ways, this was the final blow of the site that the united states had in mind in countering the 9/11 threat in the post-9/11 era. after bin laden, who was the most important leader of al qaeda nce 9/11? that is al-zawahri. i think his death is actually a very important moment in understanding, addressing 9/11, the war on terror. although in many ways terrorism may continue to collaborate -- proliferate around the world, and there are a number of splinter groups, the question is, is this the final part of the post 9/11 war on terror no matter what the future may bring? those are my initial thoughts on it. amy: the author lawrence wright

wrote extensively on al-zawahri in his book. in 2010, he appeared on "fresh air," and talked about how al-zawahri was further radicalized after being imprisoned in egypt. >> many of the ideas that were percolating they are boiled into al qaeda. there is one thing that i think was not voiced as an idea, but the torture they endured, in my opinion, is what really gave them an appetite for revenge. the bloodletting that is so characteristic of al qaeda, unusual for terror groups, which are usually interested in theater, was born in the humiliation that those men felt in those egyptian prisons. amy: lawrence wright talking about al-zawahri.

karen greenberg, you wrote the book "subtle tools: the dismantling of american democracy from the war on terror to donald trump." can you talk about the significance of him being tortured? give us a thumbnail history of who al-zawahri was. what is his history? karen: this is something that you did well in the introduction to the show, so i'll try not to be too repetitive, but ayman al-zawahri was born to a well-to-do family, educated, a family that consisted of doctors, famously, numerous docts. he studied at the university of cairo, study to become a doctor, opting referred to as "the doctor." the reason he was imprisoned, he was convicted, not of the actual assassination, but having arms in his possession, as part of

the plot that assassinated and more also. -- al sadat. he went to prison for three years. yes, the stories of the torture that affected him -- lawrence does a fantastic job, he is a fellow at my center, by the way. he does a fantastic job of telling how torturereaks down the hun being and really transformative and how it can lead to violence in the future. ayman al-zawahri is an example of this. after he was released from prison, he was expelled from egypt, went to afghanistan, where he met osama bin laden and began what became this relationship that eventually led to al-zawahri uniting egyptian jihadists, islamic forces with bin laden's al qaeda.

a person known for strategy, mastermindg a number of attacks, not particularly charismatic or liked, but no matter, a very effective strategist in terms of fighting. he was identified not just with the plans for 9/11, but prior there that, the attacks on the uss cole, attacks in the gulf of aden which led to the death of 17 u.s. servicemen. also, he was indicted along with bin laden, in the indictment against those who conducted the bombgs in eastfrica in 1998. he has a long history after that imprisonnt of violence in the me of jihad. the other thing about al-zawahri that is interesting, it was bin laden who basically said we are going to be an international

organization, and we are going to attack the west, attacked the united states. prior to that, much of the islamic jihad were focused on local issues, local insuency. under al-zawahri's command, after bin laden, thereas not an entire separation from anti-american, but a return to a focus on local issues, local insurgencies. much of what al-zawahri did was to have a hand, if not formal affiliation, with these terrorist groups affiliating in the middle east, africa, and elsewhere. he has had an important imprint on al qaeda for many decades now. we will see what hiseath actually means goingorward in terms of the organization of al qaeda. we don't really know what -- who will be in charge of al qaeda

going forward. my guess is this is a really identify moment for al qaeda, whether it has a future, and what it looks like is in question after his death. juan: i want to follow up on that issue with bilal. there is historically an american appach dealing with its enemies you assassinate the head and therefore stop the movement. it is not just with bin laden, al-zawahri, but the leaders of isis. you can go back to the days when the u.s. was hunting jay guevara -- che guavara, going back to the 1930's, nicaragua. is it your sense that cutting off the head really deals with the fundamentals raised by these insurgencies? bilal: i think al qaeda did

transform the taliban as an insurgency over the last 20 years. let's go back and see how the taliban learned how to use roadside bombs, learned to have an army of suicide attackers, how they learned to have powerful truck bombs. in my view, al qaeda has done their job, as far as i'm concerned. the relationship between al qaeda and the taliban is extremely close, on the battlefield, as well. today, if you look at afghanistan, i would say there goodeveral thousand foreign fighters including arab fighters, those from central asia, operating in afghanistan alongside the taliban. there are those like the islamic movement in pakistan that are

inspired by al qaeda. these are militant groups that have lived and fought together in afghanistan, but also before afghanistan in places like waziristan. it will be interesting how the television would try to deal with -- taliban would try to deal with that internally. how do fighters and mid-level commanders react to this? also the issue of foreign fighters. in my view, if tomorrow the taliban wanted to get rid of the foreign fighters, they could not, because the numbers are big , and it would become a headache. we would also have to see what would be the future of al qaeda from here on. the islamic state has a presence, it is an emerging threat, we know that. it would again be the question of howhe taliban could

continue to convince the international community and the west that they are not only harboring such figures at the very highest echelons, but that they can be trusted. we remember that this news comes only weeks after august 15, when the taliban took power militarily. in my view, over the last one year, we have continuously reported the presence of drones over kabul, northern and eastern parts of afghanistan, and that also means that the americans in particular did not trust the taliban as partners. there was this joke going around kabul before afghanistan fell to the taliban, there was a counterterrorism corporation going on between the americans and the taliban. where i come from, there was a

time when there was evidence that the americans were carrying out airstrikes against the islamic state. possibly the coordinates were given by mobile phone. that did not send a powerful message at the time to the afghan government, specifically to special forces, who had a close relationship with the american army. amy: we want to end by going back to president biden's speech last night and getting professor greenberg's comments. pres. biden: as commander-in-chief, it is my solemn responsibility to make american save in a dangerous world. the united states did not seek this war against terror, you came to us. we answer with the same principles and resolve that has shaped us for generations. to protect the innocent, defendant liberty, and we keep the light of freedom burning as a beacon for the rest of the entire world.

because this is a great and divine truth about our nation and people. we do not break. we never give in. we never back down. amy: karen greenberg, your response to biden and the so-called war on terror? karen: my response is that the speech could have been much more about how this is a final moment in the war on terror as we defined it after 9/11. i do think biden is seeking vindication for pulling out of afghanistan and saying we can still protect ourselves even in afghan space if we need to buy these over the horizon strikes. i do think it was a little more bellicose than what the future would bring for those of us that dotty the pitfalls on the war on terror. on the other hand, this was an important moment in saying those

who brought about 9/11, many of the attacks prior to 9/11, many of the threats that u.s. have. the question is how does the u.s. now move on now that we are in a different era of power rivalries, attention has turned elsewhere in the world. as we said from the beginning, managing terrorism, as opposed to making it a war, may be the future of counterterrorism. although i'm not sure that we would know that from the speech last night. amy: karen greenberg director of , the center on national security at fordham university school of law. bilal sarwary, afghantan journalist, thank you for being with us. voters are going to the polls today in kansas to decide whether to repeal the state's constitutional protection for abortion and pave the way for conservative lawmakers to enact

a near total ban on abortion. we will go to wichita. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "instrumental robab" by afghan ensemble. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. with juan gonzalez. we turn to the first major vote that could shape reproductive rights at the state level since the u.s. supreme court decision to overturn roe v. wade. today, candace is set to vote on a ballot measure which could repeal the states constitutional protection for abortion and could clear the way for republican state lawmakers to ban abortion. four states already have similar measures in place: alabama,

louisiana, tennessee, and west virginia. for now, abortion is legal in kansas and clinics there have reported an influx of patients from neighboring states where abortion is now banned, including arkansas, missouri, oklahoma, and texas. for more, we go to wichita, kansas, the home of george tiller, assassinated 13 years ago. he ran an abortion clinic there. we're joined by reporter amy littlefield who focuses on reproductive health care and is the abortion access correspondent for the nation where her recent piece is headlined, "in these 6 states, abortion rights are literally on the ballot.” you have been on the ground ahead of today's vote. welcome back to democracy now! lay out what you are seeing. amy l.: great to be with you on this pivotal day, not far from the clinic of assassinated dr. george tiller.

i wanted to come to wichita to report on this amendment. it is a city with such a deep and rich history, complicated and violent history when it comes to abortion rights. what is happening here in kansas today, the republican-controlled state legislature is trying to repeal the right to abortion that has been enshned in state constitution. the state supreme court in 2019 said there is a right to abortion under the state constitution. that has allowed clinics here to remain open. to give you a sense of the stakes, in terms of where kansas is on the map, if you look at the map, it is a wall of the breaded to the east and south of kansas. patients from oklahoma, texas, louisiana, arkansas, missouri, are all flocking to this state which actually has quite a few

abortion restrictions in place already here. it is not by any means a haven state, it is actually restricted here, but it is a haven state where people are flocking from neighboring states. republicans are trying to strip away this protection in the constitution using tactics of voter suppression. that started when they schedule the vote. they scheduled it for the august 2 primary, when turnout is about half of what it generally is in the general election. they scheduled it during a primary, knowing that 30% of vors in kansas are unaffiliated with parties in kansas. they may not realize that you can still go to the polls and vote on a ballot andment like this one, ballot referendum let this one, even if you are not registered with a political party. candace has a requirement that people have to register three weeks before the election.

one of the clinic workers was saying to me yesterday that her son has a vote no bumper sticker on his car, he is so excited to vote for abortion rights,the no position, and then he realizes that he had to register the night before. that is too late under the law. the language of the amendment is incredibly confusing. it starts out by stating with the state constitution already says, and then gives the people through their elected reps edited, the ability to pass laws with abortion including rape and incensed. reading that, you may have to puzzle through weather that sounds like a good thing or bad thing, whether the pro-choice vote is yes or no. if you want to keep the status quo, yes or no? to top things off, yesterday, a text message from a toll-free number went out to thousands of kansans.

i was standing in a clinic when the staff there started getting notifications. even people they knew were getting these text messages. these text messages said voting yes would give women a choice. it is the total opposite of that, in fact. voting "no" is the pro-choice position here. voting "yes" would allow state lawmakers to pass the most extreme antiabortion laws. this is a deceptive text from an onymous number. i tried to trace it, message it, and i just got a downtown. -- dial tone. it is likely a violation of fcc rules. this is just giving you a sense of this is not a clear up or down vote on abortion. abortion right proponents here understand that abortion is a popular issue.

more than 60% of kansans not want to ban abortions in all circumstances. it is just a question of whether those people get to the polls, can vote, understand what they are voting for. we know at when measures to ban abortion are enshrined, are on the ballot, and it's a direct question of the most extreme abortion ban orot, those measures have been voted down and even the most conservative states like south dakota and mississippi. juan: you attended an antiabortion rally last night in wichita called unite the light. what happened there, who spoke? amy l.: it was a prayer vigil, so they had spread out all along the sidewalk in front of a large christian church here in wichita

holding "vote yes" signs. if i had to guess, standing on the sidewalk, watching the cars go by, which side this will go based on people's reactions. some of them were hawking, seemed excited about the vote yes position, and summer yelling profanities out the window, booing. what is clear is that this amendment is deeply present here. you cannot go a block without seeing a lawn sign one way or the other. it is absolutely everywhere. i think what is really encouraging, there has been an enormous grassroots mobilization that may just to the odds that are stacked against the abortion rights position here. i think it will be very close,

but i think abortion rights supporters here are cautiously optimistic that the huge up swelling of outrage and political participation from people who have never been involved in that kind of activism before will be enough to tip the balance in their favor. even the republicans have tried to stack the deck against abortion rights in the vote. amy: the significance of kansas not only for kansans, but as you describe, the sea of antiabortion states, the thousands of women coming from all over the south and midwest, texas, other places in the midwest, would then not have kansas to come to. amy l.: absolutely. i spent the day at former dr. tiller's clinic. the last patient of the day, i spoke with her, asked where she is coming from. i said do you have a long ride home? she said just oklahoma city.

that is about two and a half, three hours away. she had been talking to women in the waiting area, other people who were there that day for their abortions, who had to pay $400 just to fly into town. people who had gotten into a car that morning, driven at 2:00 a.m. from dallas. a patient drove from houston, nine hours. i want to emphasize, these are the patients who made it that day. what staff were trying to get across, this is not a common experience, this is the anomaly. the patients who make it to their appointment and have air abortion, at this point it is so rare, that is the exception and not the rule. toward the middle of the day when all of the patients had been checked and, i asked the staff, one about the patients we

did not make it there today? 20 were seen. seven were no-shows. they called and said, why didn't you come to your appointment, and they didn't reach anyone. they dn't know what happened. those pients were supposed to be coming from dallas, tulsa, a town in oklahoma four hours away, richmond, texas, arkansas. two of the patients were right up against the state limit. they were probably not going to get an abortion unless they could travel further to colorado or new mexico. those are people who are staying pregnant. those are stories that we are not hearing. and i should add, staff, in oklahoma, abortions are banned, staff are making the same journey as patients, traveling to provide care. amy: we will continue to follow

this. a state court of appeals in kentucky has reinstated a trigger man on abortion, a law that makes abortion a felony to perform. we will be coming back to you soon, amy littlefield. a journalist who focuses on reproduction health care, abortion access correspondent for the nation, former democracynow producer. next up is new york, california, illinois declaring emergencies over the monkeypox. we will speak to steven thrasher. his new book out today, “the viral underclass: the human toll when inequality and disease collide." ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "letter to the past" by brandi carlile. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. with juan gonzalez. president joe biden is naming top officials from the federal emergency management agency and the centers for disease control and prevention to coordinate the white house response to the

monkeypox outbreak in the united states, where the virus has been reported in 47 states and washington, d.c. new york city declared monkeypox a public health emergency, after officials described the city as the "epicenter" of the outbreak, with tens of thousands of people vulnerable to exposure. california and illinois also issued a state of emergency over the rapid spread of monkeypox. worldwide, over 23,000 infections have been detected in at least 80 countries, with the united states leading confirmed cases, though health experts believe many more monkeypox cases have gone undiagnosed due to shortages of testing. this week, the first monkeypox deaths outside of africa were reported in spain, brazil, and india. for more, we are joined by steven thrasher, an lgbtq scholar, professor at the medill school of journalism at northwestern university, and faculty member of northwestern's

institute of sexual and gender minority health and wellbeing. his new book is out today, "the viral underclass: the human toll when inequality and disease collide.” steven thrasher, welcome back to democracy now! congratulations on the release of this extremely important book. you wrote a piece for scientific american titled "blaming gay men for monkeypox will harm everyone." talk about why this is so important, but we should understand about the state of monkeypox around the state, around the world. steven: thank you so much for having me. i started writing the piece at the end of may. like many people, we were extremely concerned with how monkeypox was moving around the world and how we were seeing cases in the united states. at the time, i was making the case to the national government

that we needed to proactively start vaccinating men who had sex with men, considering that we were coming into pride month. multiple opportunities in june, where i live in chicago, pride events all throughout the month. we needed to take the opportunity to vaccinate people because we could see where the outbreaks were happening. that did not happen, as the new york times reported. the biden administration had the option to purchase 300,000 doses of this vaccine that works well, it easy to administer, but took away the approach. this is a difficult thing to think about and parse, but it's important that we drill down on it. this disease is one that in theory can affect anyone but has worked its way particularly into communities of men who have sex with men. the reason i think it's important to think of it as a sexually transmitted infection,

like hiv, hepatitis, herpes, sti's can move in a variety of ways, but this is moving sexually right now. i started looking into a couple of research papers, one out of london which showed 196 of 197 cases were from men who have sex with men. that was information that we didn't quite understand. also as npr was reporting this week, based on a research paper i recently read, there was a doctor in nigeria who had looked at and outbreak in 2017. 2019, he started publishing research saying he had reason to think that this virus was moving through genital secretions. we have a situation that has turned, the virus has changed. a lot of people's reference is coming off of close contact with

animals and other people, but it seems to be particularly moving through sexual contact between men who have sex with men. it does not mean that it is a gay disease, should not be stigmatized that way, but we should think about who it is affecting, deal with it with a great sense of urgency. not with panic butith a real sense of urgency. juan: in your book, you break it up into 12 chapters that look at 12 factors that create the conditions for unequal bible transmission. some of the chapters, one on racism, individualized shame, capitalism. why did you check the book that way, particularly on individualized shame? steven: reporting on viruses, i have seen that the same kinds of people are coming into harm's way.

it has been alarming sometimes when you look at how different the viruses are. for years i have been reporting on the criminalization of hiv, killing of black people by police officers and others in poverty. hiv is happening in places where police violence happs a lot. then when the covid-19 pandemic begin to break out, i started to see the same maps, in st. louis where i was doing research, and in new york city. that seemed strange to me because hiv and covid are differentiruses,iruses, they hae different virological components to them, but they are happening in the same places. but it is because of the social determinants of health that put people in the path of the viruses and their bodies are less likely to defend them. even when we look at covid-19, it is primarily lling peop who are elderly, people in nursing homes and in poor areas are more likely to die.

we are seeing something similar in monkeypox. it is happening not only to men who have sex with men, but as the washington post reported, about two thirds of cases are happening in black and brown people. anecdotally, white people and professionals like myself, who have time on their hands, have been able to get vaccines. we will see upper-class people getting access to the vaccine while for black and brown people get less access to it. with lgbt people, something to help the viewers understand why it is a social determinate, we know that there is a sexual transmission component with hiv or hiv. but with covid, lgbt people were more lucky to get sick or die from covid. that is because lgbtq people are structurally lower class. we are poor, more likely to lose

our jobs, less likely to have salaried jobs, less lucky to have health insurance. all of those things make our bodies vulnerable in a way that viruses have an easier time of getting into the. particularly anti-trans practices make it difficult for people who are trans to get the health care they need in general, the health care they viewed around viruses, and that would become a much easier point of entry and reproduction for viruses. juan: you also write about the role of borders. obviously, viruses do not respect borders nations. we have about one minute or so. steven: borders themselves create a kind of violence. when we try to keep people inside a nation or gender identity, we put up a strong wall. in the u.s., one of the biggest part of our viral history, at guantanamo bay, it was founded

10 years before that when the first bush administration tried to keep haitian immigrants from coming into the country and set up this detention camp in cuba. they tested everyone for hiv and that they sterilized everybody who was positive for hiv. we imagine that the virus is somewhere else, but with monkeypox and covid, we are the leading country in the boat with these infections. it is not a matter of keeping them out but managing within our own country, working with countries to lower transmission. amy: we are showing images from an illustrator from your book. not a single vaccine has de its way to africa? steven: that is my understanding. i know none have made it to nigeria where doctors are doing amazing work. if we had help these countries earlier, we would not be dealing with global pandemic now. amy: we will talk much more

extensively about this in part two, posted on democracynow.org. steven thrasher, his new book is “the viral underclass: the human toll when inequality and disease collide." that does it for our show.

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