i'm amy goodman.democric presidential nominee joe biden has taken a roughly 900-vote lead in georgia as mail-in ballots continue to be counted in key battleground states. according to the associated press, biden has secured 264 electoral votes and needs to win just one of the undecided battleground states to top the needed 270. biden is also expanding his leading in nevada and gaining ground in pennsylvania, where trump's lead is down to 18,000 votes with over 160,000 absentee ballots still uncounted. biden's lead in the popular vote is now approaching 4 million and is expected to keep growing significantly. on thursday, joe biden called for all votes to be counted. mr. biden: in america, the vote is sacred. it is how people in this nation express their wealth. it is the will of the voters, no one, not anything else, that chooses the president of the united states of america. must be counted and that is what we're going to see going through now and that is how it should be. amy: president trump addres

i'm amy goodman. today a democracy now! exclusive, "four days in western sahara: africa's last colony." western sahara, where peaceful protesters, led by women, are beaten in the streets. thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the moroccan occupation. >> he jabbed right at my eye with his baton. i was yelling at him, "hey, you moroccan! you pulled out my eye!" amy: where natural resources are plundered, from phosphates to fish. >> i say that our damnation comes from the natural resources we have here. if it wasn't for these natural resources, morocco never would have invaded western sahara. amy: where a massive wall divides a people, the sahrawi, the native population, denied a vote for self-determination. >> if we don't speak out, especially us, as victims who have suffered all of this, if we don't speak out and defend our cause, this problem will remain. amy: western sahara -- the center of a four-decades-long struggle for independence from morocco, its neighbor to the north. moro

i'm amy goodman. the trump administration has cleared the way for president-elect joe biden's transition after 16 days of delay that threatened to derail the incoming administration's preparations for reviving the economy and battling the coronavirus pandemic. emily murphy, the trump-appointed head of the general services administration, had refused to declare joe biden the apparent victor of the november 3 election despite overwhelming evidence. murphy finally made that determination on monday as house democrats demanded she appear on capitol hill and as president trump tweeted his support for her. trump did not concede his election loss but tweeted that he would allow the transition to begin "in the best interest of our country." the move will free up more than $7 million in funding for biden's transition team, which will now receive office space and government briefings. on monday, michigan's board of state canvassers certified joe biden's win by a margin of more than 154,000 votes. also monday, mo

i'm amy goodman. attorney general william barr upended longstanding justice department policy on monday by announcing federal prosecutors could investigate "specific allegations" of voter fraud. in a response the justice election crimes richard pilger, resigned in protest. former justice department official vanita gupta criticized barr saying -- "this is about disruption, disinformation, and sowing chaos." this comes as top republicans are backing president trump's refusal to concede the election, claiming, without providing any evidence, that the vote was marred by fraud. has secured 290 votes in the -- according to the associated press, biden has secured 290 votes in the electoral college and his lead in the popular vote is approaching 5 million and counting. on monday, senate majority mcconnell defended trump's decision not to concede to biden. >> president trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options. amy: the trump campaign is also continu

i'm amy goodman. the presidential race remains too close to call, but democratic presidential nominee joe biden is closing in on securing enough electoral votes to win after news outlets projected him winning two key states in the midwest -- wisconsin and michigan. according to the associated press, biden has now secured 264 electoral votes. he will reach the needed 270 if he wins any of the four undecided races -- nevada, where he has a slim lead of less than 8000 votes, georgia, where trump is winning by 18,000 votes, but many tens of thousands have yet to be counted. north carolina, where trump is leading by 77,000 votes, or pennsylvania, where trump is up by 165,000 but many absentee ballots have still not been counted. biden briefly spoke on wednesday. mr. biden: i am not here to declare we won, but i am here to report when the account is finished, we believe we will be the winners. amy: president trump made multiple false claims on wednesday suggesting democrats are stealing the election. at one

i'm amy goodman. the united states has set another world record for coronavirus cases, confirming more than 140,000 infections on wednesday and over 1400 deaths. more than 65,000 people are hospitalized with covid-19 around the u.s. -- also a record -- and doctors are warning they may have to begin rationing care as intensive care units fill to capacity. every state in thenion is seeing covid cases rise. here in new york, governor andrew cuomo has ordered new limits on social gatherings in private homes and is ordering bars, restaurants, and gyms to close by 10:00 p.m. in ohio, republican governor ron dewine told residents they can no longer congregate at weddings, funerals, and banquets. he ordered tougher enforcement measures for his state-wide mask mandate. >> when you're going t rhough hell, keep going. what you do in your private lives affects everyone. amy: across the u.s., hospitals and nursing homes are warning of an alarming shortage of masks, surgical gowns, and other personal protective equ

i'm amy goodman. the united states repoed over 170,000 new covid-19 cases and 2100 deaths in tuesday alone, the deadliest day in more than six months. hospitalizations are at an all-time high at nearly 90,000. the s. deatholl is now approaching 26000. in california, covid-19 hospitalizations have gone up over 80% in the past two weeks, with icu hospitalizations increasing by over 50%. much of california imposed a curfew over the weekend in hopes of slowing a surge that health officials fear will only get worse due to thanksgiving travel and gatherings. 11 states, many in the midwest, have recorded more deaths in the past week than in any other week since the pandemic began. the white house coronavirus task force said tuesday 6.4 million doses of pfizer's vaccine wi be dtribut across the country by mid-december with frontline healthcareorkers receiving the first doses. the vaccine wafound to be 95% effective inrials, though it mu still undergo a final authorizion before widespread usage. an internation

i'm amy goodman. over people died in the united 1700 states tuesday from covid-19 in what's been described as the deadliest day of the pandemic in six months. the overall u.s. death toll is approaching a world high of 250,000. at least 20 states have broken new records for covid-related hospitalizations. in news from washington, d.c., 87-year-old iowa senator chuck grassley has tested positive for covid-19. he is the oldest republican in the senate. he is president pro tem, making him third in line for the presidency. grassley spoke from the senate floor without his mask monday. during monday's senate session, ohio's sherrod brown blasted republicans for their wanton disregard for basic coronavirus protection measures and asked alaskan senator dan sullivan to wear a mask while presiding over the chamber. >> i would start by asking the presiding officer to please wear a mask while he speaks. the people below him -- i can't tell you what to do -- >> i don't wear a mask when i'm speaking, like most senat

i'm amy goodman. the united states recorded nearly 167,000 new coronavirus cases on monday, the third highest daily toll of the pandemic. the official u.s. death toll, already the highest in the world, is rapidly approaching 250,000 with 800 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours. in california, democratic governor gavin newsom ordered pandemic restrictions for three quarters of the states counties and is considering a statewide curfew. iowa's republican governor kim reynolds has ordered a statewide indoor mask mandate, with some exceptions, along with limits on bars and restaurants and a ban on certain public gatherings. in arizona, the navajo nation on monday ordered nonessential businesses closed, canceled in-person classes, and shut roads to visitors -- warning of uncontrolled spread of the virus. in south dakota, where the covid-19 death rate is among the worst in the world, emergency room nurse jodi doering says she's treated many patients who deny that covid-19 is making them ill even as the

i'm amy goodman. the united states is once again shuttering its own world record for daily coronavirus infections, reporting a staggering 163,000 cases thursday. nearly 1200 people died of covid-19 in the last 24 hours. public health officials are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe as the virus continues to spread exponentially and hospitals are pushed the on capacity. california has become the second u.s. state with more than a million confirmed infections, joining texas. in chicago, mayor lori lightfoot has issued a 30-day stay-at-home advisory and will cap social gatherings at 10 people. in pennsylvania, prison officials are warning of a deadly full-blown resurgence of coronavirus. 17 incarcerated people have died of covid 19 in pennsylvania during the pandemic, six of them since mid-october. meanwhile, when a president-elect biden stop hasnavirus advisors proposed congress pass a relief package to allow u.s. residents to remain at home for four to six week lockdown to flatten the curve of transm

i'm amy goodman in new york, joined remotely by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. meen: good morning, amy. lcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the official u.s. death all from covid-19 has passed quarter of a million people as the virus rages out of control withcoast-to-coast, 172,000 infections and nearly 2000 deaths reported on wednesday alone. u.s. hospitalizations continue to shatter records with over 73,000 covid9 patien. the average daily death toll is rising in 33 states. but as covid breaks every reco here in the united states with expected holiday spikes still to come, health and human services secretary alex azar said he will not work with wednesday president-elect joe biden until the general services administration declares an election winner. hhs staffers have been directed to not communicate with biden's team. biden said the move could delay vaccine distribution by weeks or even months. this comes amid reports of hospitals reaching capacity, overwhelmed healthcare workers and a lack of personal pr

i'm amy goodman. president trump continues to contest the results of last week's election after counts showed joe biden won the electoral college and the popular vote by more than five million ballots. on tuesday, the office of management and budget said it was proceeding with president trump's budget request for next fiscal year and trump's top cabinet member secretary of state mike pompeo said he was preparing for a second trump term. pompeo was questioned by reporters at the state department. . >> at what point does a delay camera smooth transition pose a risk to national security? >> there will be a smooth transition to second trump administration. we are ready. amy: an official with joe biden's transition team told cbs news the congratulatory phone calls president-elect joe biden is receiving from world leaders are happening without the help of the state department. secretary of state pompeo was asked to compare the trump administration's response to biden's victory with overseas elections where

i'm amy goodman. the united states confirmed 187,000 new coronavirus infections on thursday -- the highest one-day total of any nation since the start of the pandemic. more than 2000 people died across the united states thursday, the highest one-day death toll since may. disease modelers at the university of washington school of medicine now predict over 470,000 u.s. coronavirus deaths by march 1 unless face masks are widely adopted, something they say would save 65,000 lives. the centers for disease control and prevention is calling on americans to avoid travel over the thanksgiving holiday, warning family get-togethers could lead to a spike in new infections and deaths. on thursday, the white house coronavirus task force held its first news briefing since august, led by vice president mike pence. vice pres. pence: this administration and our president does not support another national lockdown and we do not support closing schools. amy: president trump was notably absent from thursday's white house b

i'm amy goodman. today is election day. over 100 million people have already voted -- a record-shattering number that is more than two thirds of the total votes cast in 2016's -- 2016, with tens of millions still casting their ballots today. election officials have warned full results could take days, or possibly weeks, to be verified due to the much higher number of mail-in ballots this year. but president trump has decried post-election day ballot-counting and threatened to "go in with our lawyers." on monday, trump claimed on twitter, that a supreme court ruling that allows pennsylvania to count mail-in ballots postmarked by election day and received up to three days later will "induce violence in the streets" and "rampant and unchecked cheating." twitter labeled the tweet with a warning that its content might be misleading. reports emerged sunday that trump is preparing to claim victory tonight if he even appears to be ahead of joe biden. biden told reporters in response, "the president is not going to steal this electi

i'm amy goodman. one day ahead of election day, over 94 million people have already cast their ballots -- more than two thirds of the total number of ballots cast in 2016. in graham, north carolina, police arrested eight people and unleashed pepper spray on a peaceful get out the vote rally in march which plan to end at an early voting site. the participant started at a black church and stopped at a confederate monument opposite the county courthouse to honor george floyd and black lives before law-enforcement officers in riot gear attempted to clear them out. officers then started deploying pepper spray on a crowd that included young children and elderly people. north carolina governor roy cooper and rights groups condemned the police action. we'll have more on this after headlines with the event's organizer reverend greg drumwright. the texas supreme court on sunday denied a republican request to invalidate nearly 127,000 drive-thru votes cast in harris county. harris county set up 10 drive-thru pol

i'm amy goodman. the united states recorded more than 80,000 new coronavirus infections wednesday and over 1000 new deaths as the white house coronavirus task force warned in an internal report of unrelenting broad community spread in the midwest, upper midwest, and west. every state in the union is either holding steady or seeing an increase in new cases, with the u.s. headed for a third surge that is set to rival two previous peaks. on the campaign trail, president trump continues to rally his supporters at packed campaign events where few people wear masks. on wednesday, trp umtraveled to arizona where he mocked a statewide mask mandate ordered by california's governor gavin newsom. pres. trump: in california you have a special mask. you cannot under any circumstances take it out. you have to eat through them. amy: trump's remarks came as a new study by vanderbilt university researchers found coronavirus hospitalizations rose dramatically in places without a local mask mandate compared to places wh

i'm amy goodman. the u.s. soared past 12 million confirmed covid-19 cases this weekend as the number of new cases quickly approaches 200,000 a day. over a quarter of a million people in the u.s. have died from the coronavirus. despite warnings from public health experts, including that centers for disease control and prevention, who are urging people to skip travel and indoor gatherings, a surge in holiday travel has already started ahead of thanksgiving. the department of health and human services warned over 1000 hospitals across the country are critically short of staff and the number is expected to rise. north dakota is the worst hit with over 50% of hospitals facing shortages. in washington state, the housing rights group "tacoma housing now" has turned a former middle school building into emergency pandemic accommodations for unhoused people and is demanding the formation of a community land trust in response to the housing crisis. leaders from the g20 nations pledged sunday to distribute corona

i'm amy goodman. the united states has topped 11 casesn confirmed covid-19 thus than a -- less than a week after it passed the 10 million cases milestone. a record 70,000 people are now hospitalized. with the surge affecting every part of the country, michael osterholm, a top adviser on president-elect joe biden's coronavirus taskforce, said the u.s. is having "many mini-epidemics." ates are rolling out new measures to combat the surge. wisconsin and chicago have issued new stay-at-home orders. vermont has barred all gatherings outside of members of the same household. washington state has also set strictules on gatherings outside of household members, limited capacity at restaurants and prohibited indoor service at gyms, museums, and movie theaters. utah and north dakota are the latest states to mandate mask wearing. meanwhile, in south dakota, where the covid-19 death rate is among the worst in the world, governor kristi noem, a close trump ally, has said she would not enforce a mask mandate even if

i'm amy goodman. the united states recorded nearly 75,000 coronavirus cases on tuesday as the confirmed death toll from covid-19 neared 227,000. the u.s. has recorded over a half-million new coronavirus cases over just the last week. more than half of states are at or near record levels of infections and no state in the union is seeing a decline in new cases. despite the grim news, the trump administration declared victory over the coronavirus on tuesday. in a news release accompanying the release of a 62 page report, the white house office of science and technology policy cited "ending the covid-19 pandemic" as one of president trump's first term accomplishments. in wisconsin, health officials reported 64 coronavirus deaths and nearly 5300 new daily cases tuesday -- shattering previous records. just hours after that announcement, president trump rallied his supporters in western wisconsin, where thousands packed shoulder-to-shoulder at a campaign event where few people wore masks. president trump sai

i'm amy goodman. the presidential race between donald trump and joe biden remains too close to call with ballots still being counted in the undecided races of michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, georgia, nevada, and north carolina. early this morning, biden spoke in wilmington, delaware, and called for patience as votes are being counted. mr. biden: i am here to tell you tonight we believe we are on track to win this election. we knew because of the unprecedented early vote and the mailing vote it was going -- mail-in voting was going to take a while. we have to be patient until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. it ain't over until every ballot is counted. amy: shortly before 1:00 a.m., trump took to twitter to accuse democrats of trying to steal the election without offering any proof at all. then just after 2:20 a.m., trump addressed the nation. pres. trump: this is a major fraud in our nation. we want the law to be used in a proper manner, so we will be going to the u.s. supreme court

i'm amy goodman. conservative judge amy coney barrett has been sworn in to replace justice ruth bader ginsburg on the supreme court after the republican-led senate voted 52-48 to confirm her. for the first time in 151 years, a supreme court nominee was confirmed without a single vote from the minority pay. on monday night, supreme court justice clarence thomaswore barrett in to her lifetime seat. >> the oath i have solemnly taken tonight means at its core i will do my job without any fear or favor and that i will do so independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences. amy: hundreds attended the white house ceremony despite a new covid-19 outbreak that has infected at least five of vice president mike pence's aides. justice coney barrett is president trump's ird appointee to the supreme court and gives the court a 6-3 conservative majority. democrats slammed republicans for ramming through the confirmation at a time when tens of millions of votes have already been cast in the elect

i'm amy goodman. the trump presidency is coming to an end. saturday, every major news network called the election for former vice president joe biden and his running senator kamala harris after they won the key battleground state of pennsylvania. harris will become the first woman vice president as well as the first african-american, indian-american, and asian-american elected to the office. according to the associated press, the biden-harris ticket has now secured 290 electoral votes -- well over the 270 needed to win the white house. georgia and north carolina remain too close to call. president trump has refused to concede the race and is continuing to file a slew of lawsuits alleging voter fraud. but the trump campaign has offered no evidence of actual fraud being committed. shortly before the race was called, trump sent out a tweet in all caps reading -- "i won this election, by a lot!" in fact, biden's lead in the popular vote is now up to million and growing. 4.5 on saturday night, joe biden addressed supporters in wilmington, delaware

i'm amy goodman. today in this special broadcast, we look at this year's historic election and the devastating covid-19 pandemic. we begin in north dakota, which has the highest covid-19 death rate of any state or country in the world, with one in every thousand residents dead from the virus. south dakota's death rate is nearly as bad, after both republican governors spent months downplaying the crisis. as covid-19 ravages the dakotas, we turn to look at how thrapid spread of covid-19 is affecting native american communities. we begin with two guests, jodi archambault is a citizen of the standing rock sioux tribe and the former special assistant to president obama for native american affairs for the white house domestic policy council. she is ibismarck, the capital of north dakota. and in farmington, new mexico, we're joined by allie young, a citizen of navajo nation, founder of protect the sacred. she lives in arizona. i began by asking jodi archambault to talk about the pandemic's devastating effect

i'm amy goodman. welcome, lisa, back to democracy now!. talk abo the latest. sa: thank you so much, amy and juan. itching that we're obviously seeing an historic turn-out tonight. i hear from thwisconsi commissioner that they expect to be counting ballots here until possibly at least 4:00 in e morning. sentee balts can't be counted until after the polls close so i think it's still too soon to call the rails in wisconsin and in -- many other places and ulf as you and i spoke about a month ago we're seeing also this intervention or lack of intervention by the major fundraisers for donald trump, head of the postal service and he's refused to comply with an order today to ensure these more than 300,000 ballots are cents forward to the polling locations. so that's a huge issue for that many baltso far it appears not to have been delivered in states across the country. juan: lisa, what's been the main surprise that you've seen today as the results have come in this terms of what you expected? my sense is virginia, for instance, was a state that was seen in my polls a

i'm amy goodman. iran's top nuclear scientist was assassinated while driving on a highway outside of tehran on friday. iran accused israel of orchestrating the killing of mohsen fakhrizadeh, who reportedly led iran's nuclear program. a state funeral was held today in tehran where photographs of him were displayed next to iranian commander qassim suleimani who was assassinated in a u.s. drone strike in baghdad 10 months ago. the iranian defense minister, amir hatami spoke at the funeral. that nonemy knows crime, no terror and no stupid act will remain unanswered by the iranian people, and we will severely pursue the criminals. they must know that they will be punished for their actions. statesminal united has thousands of nuclear weapons and the criminal zionist regime has hundreds of nuclear weapons. what are these weapons for? are they are used as decor in your home? amy: iran's foreign minister mohammad javad zarif has described the killing of the top nuclear scientist as an act of state terror. con

the thing the 2 media spheres have in common and one of the few points that a liberal like amy goodman and the conservatives like john ziegler can agree on is the corporate profit driven imperative that both bubbles are built there is absolutely no question that commercialism drives almost all this is the prism through which every news media outlet sees everything that happens it is the worst kept secret in all the media that conservative outlets do much better when a liberal is in office and liberal news media outlets do much better when a conservative or a repub. it is an office and trump clearly proved that to start pulling degree you know he has essentially a save the m.s.m. b.c. and c.n.n. and he has kept liberal internet outlets in business the media is addicted to trump the media are large multinational corporations their main motive is the profit on centive where i. was their gratitude by corporations that profit from war we need independent media where we're not productive by the weapons manufacturers when we cover climate change we're not prachi by the oil the cas the gas the

randall robinson was on the program, randall schweikert, amy goodman, melanie phillips, rick atkinson whose few viewers have referenced it is now working on a trilogy on the early days of the u.s., mary roach, ben carson, ben schapiro, john lewis, the late john lewis, kitty kelly and christina off summers. in 2009 a few callers have brought him up and of course we talked about his father, but christopher buckley was on the program. he's an author in his own right, mostly satirical fiction. here is a little bit of his program. >> i got the idea for thank you for smoking. one day i was making summer watching the news hour as it was called and by the way i still think of it as the mcneil larra. it still makes me chuckle to think, but they have someone on who was there to present the latest evidence that smoking is, hello, bad for you and he had to phd use at the bottom of the screen. to balancece it out they had someone from the tobacco institute which of course is tobacco industries lobby and it was this gorgeous attractive woman. every time the scientist from ene national institutes of

guests bring a couple best-selling political books and exposes, randall robinson was on the program, amy goodman, melanie phillips, rick atkinson who several viewers have referenced who is working on a trilogy on the early days of the us. mary roach, ben carson, ben schapiro, john lewis, kitty kelly and christina summers for two more years. can't talked about his father, christopher buckley was on the program, an author on his own right, mostly satirical fiction, here's a little bit. >> i got the idea, making supper, i still think of it as the neil lehrer news hour. still makes me chuckle. they had someone on who is there to present the latest evidence, bad for you. had two phds on the bottom of the screen. and and they are here and every time the scientists, from the national institutes of smoking. 7 words that are incomprehensible like receptor and inhibitor. and make it sound as though it is the most preposterous - and say goodbye to the kids. and so death for a living. i was oblique about what i was up to. so i got to hang out with her. there is something i am dying to ask. i feel a little a

randall robinson was on the program, larry schweikert, amy goodman, melanie phillips, rick atkinson whichseveral viewers have reference. who by the ways work on a trilogy on the early days of the u.s. mary roach, ben carson, ben shapiro, john lewis, the late john lewis, kitty kellyanne christina hoff summers were two more years. and in 2009 a few colors and brought him up. course we talked about his father. but christopher buckley was on the program. he's an author in his own right. mostly satirical fiction. here is a little bit of his program. i got the idea for thank you for smoking one day, i was making supper, watching the news hour as it was called, i still think of it that way. [laughter] still makes me chuckle to think of it. they had someone on who was there to present the latest evidence that smoking is, hello, bad for you. he had at least two phd's after his name, at the bottom of the screen. and. [laughter] to balance it out, they had someone on from the tobacco institute was of course tobacco industries lobby. she was a gorgeous attractive woman, brendan dawson was her name. [