Headlines September 23, 2022 Democracy Now!

In Nigeria, heavy flooding has killed at least 300 people and displaced over 100,000 others since the rainy season began in April. This week 13 Nigerian states were inundated after Cameroon released excess water from a dam on a tributary of the Niger River. Nigeria’s northern food belt has been hit hard, with floodwaters washing over farms and destroying crops. Even before the floods, the U.N. predicted nearly 17 million Nigerians could be impacted by the global food crisis through the end of the year.

In Washington, D.C., Capitol police arrested 11 environmental and community leaders Thursday as they nonviolently blockaded the entrance to the Senate Office Building. The sit-in protest came a day after West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin unveiled a permitting reform bill that would speed federal review of energy projects. The legislation would limit environmental and community review of oil, gas, coal and mining projects, while fast-tracking approval of the Mountain Valley fracked gas pipeline and other fossil fuel projects. The bill has the support of both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has pledged Senate passage ahead of a September 30 deadline to fund the government. On Thursday, protesters gathered outside Senator Schumer’s office. This is David Galarza Santa, lead organizer with Emergency Action on Puerto Rico.
bq. David Galarza Santa: “We are sick and tired of Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, being in cahoots and doing these side deals with one of the most destructive senators in the United States — Manchin. He stands to gain, as do the carbon industry and the fossil fuel industry that puts money in his pockets, even as they kill people around the world. And we say, 'No!'”

Iranian authorities have cut off internet access to the capital Tehran and other regions as protests over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in police custody continue to spread. Iranian state TV reports as many as 26 people have died in the protests since Mahsa Amini’s death last week. She was arrested by so-called morality police for allegedly leaving some of her hair visible in violation of an Iranian law requiring women to cover their heads. Click here to see our coverage of the protests.

Senate Republicans have blocked legislation to expose the names of wealthy donors who give unlimited funds to so-called dark money organizations. On Thursday, all 49 Republican senators in attendance joined a filibuster of the DISCLOSE Act. The bill would increase transparency in elections by requiring super PACs — and other groups spending money on political ads — to promptly disclose the names of donors who give more than $10,000.

A government watchdog reports the U.S. Secret Service was tracking at least one neo-Nazi group and multiple individuals that planned to engage in violence and occupy the U.S. Capitol, ahead of the January 6 insurrection. That’s according to documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which says this is just the latest evidence that the Secret Service failed to respond to threats ahead of the attempted coup.

This comes as former President Donald Trump is openly embracing the far-right, antisemitic QAnon movement. Adherents of the conspiracy theory believe Trump is secretly at war with a deep state cabal of elite Satan-worshiping Democrats who run a child sex trafficking operation. Last week, Trump shared a post on his “Truth Social” platform of him wearing a “Q” on his lapel and featuring two QAnon slogans. And on Saturday, Trump led a rally for Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio, where he set part of his speech to music that was almost identical to a theme song adopted by QAnon. Hundreds of Trump supporters responded with a one-fingered salute — a gesture that’s drawn comparisons to the infamous salute used in Nazi Germany.

Italian voters head to the polls for parliamentary elections on Sunday, when the leader of a neo-fascist party is widely expected to become Italy’s most far-right leader since Benito Mussolini. Polls show Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party in first place, after a campaign laced with anti-immigrant rhetoric. This week, the party suspended a candidate from Sicily after he was discovered to have praised Adolf Hitler in online posts.

The family of slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has filed a complaint against Israel at the International Criminal Court. Abu Akleh was shot in the head on May 11 while covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Her family says she was deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli forces. Shireen’s brother, Anton Abu Akleh, spoke with Al Jazeera from The Hague.

Anton Abu Akleh: “This is the least we can do for Shireen. We have to pursue justice for her in The Hague, in the ICC, in other courts. Whatever we have to do, we will do it to ensure accountability for Shireen for her killing. … Any person shooting at the press is intentionally trying to kill and assassinate someone in the field doing their job.”

Boeing has agreed to pay $200 million to settle charges that it misled investors over the safety of its 737 MAX jet, which was involved in two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed all 346 on board both flights. As part of the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing and its former chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, will admit no wrongdoing over the fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. Michael Stumo, the father of Ethiopian Airlines crash victim Samya Rose Stumo, said in a statement, “This settlement is protection for Boeing rather than justice. It is a continuation of Boeing evading accountability and transparency.” Click here to see our interview with Michael Stumo.

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