US Politics

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that members of the Sackler family can receive immunity from all current and future civil litigation related to their role in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. The billionaire Sacklers own Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin. The legal shield could lead to a settlement in the range of $6 billion for thousands of plaintiffs, including states, local governments and tribes. Opioid overdoses have killed over 500,000 people in the U.S. over the past two decades, according to the CDC. For more, we speak with Ed Bisch, founder of the group Relatives Against Purdue Pharma, whose 18-year-old son, Eddie, died of an OxyContin-related overdose in 2001. He says drug company executives responsible for the opioid crisis should be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. And in Mexico City, Christopher Glazek is the investigative reporter who was the first to publicly report how the Sackler family had significantly profited from selling OxyContin while fully aware it was directly fueling the opioid epidemic in America. “The Sacklers did what they’ve always done: They struck a deal, they paid a bribe, and they’re getting away with it,” Glazek says of the latest settlement.

We get an update on the armed police SWAT team raid and arrest of three organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has been raising money to bail out protesters opposed to the construction of a massive police training facility known as Cop City in the Weelaunee Forest, one of the city’s largest green spaces and the former site of a prison farm. Marlon Kautz, Adele Maclean and Savannah Patterson were charged with money laundering and fraud. The arrests come as 42 protesters face charges including domestic terrorism for opposing Cop City and just days before the Atlanta City Council is set to vote on the project. These new and unprecedented arrests are a clear attack on “the infrastructure of the movement,” says Kamau Franklin, founder of the organization Community Movement Builders and a vocal Cop City opponent. He joins us from Atlanta for the latest on the protests and the state repression campaign against them.

Dianne Feinstein returned to the Senate last month after a prolonged absence due to poor health and as questions continue to grow about her fitness for office. Feinstein said she would resume her duties with a lighter schedule, but the 89-year-old senator is reportedly suffering from mental decline that leaves her heavily reliant on her aides. Congressmember Ro Khanna of California is among a growing number of Democrats who have called on Feinstein to retire. “The reality is that she’s not able to do the job,” says Khanna. “She just has a staff that’s running everything, and it’s a very, very sad situation.”

After a contentious battle with the Republican House majority, President Biden and Congress have agreed on a bipartisan deal suspending the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025. Among other concessions to Republicans, the deal caps domestic spending below the current rate of inflation, allows for larger increases to the military budget, implements new work requirements for social programs and fast-tracks the approval and construction of the controversial 300-plus-mile-long fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline through West Virginia and Virginia. Our guest, California Congressmember Ro Khanna, is among a number of progressive Democrats who voted against the legislation. He calls it a “punch in the gut to climate activists” that “came on the backs of the poor, of students, of the most vulnerable, of women.”

Senate Approves Debt Deal Limiting Domestic Spending and Rolling Back Climate Protections, Senate Votes to Rescind Biden’s Student Debt Relief Plan, Russia Fires More Missiles at Kyiv Amid Fresh Cross-Border Attacks from Ukraine, U.N. Warns Foundering Black Sea Grain Deal Could Exacerbate Food Crisis, Zelensky Presses EU and NATO to Grant Ukraine Membership; China Calls for Peace Talks, Protesters Disrupt Arms Convention as Canadian Defense Minister Touts Cybersecurity Plans, Rights Groups Slam “Sham Trial” for Iranian Journalists Who Helped Expose Death of Mahsa Amini, Workers Protest Florida’s Latest Anti-Immigrant Law Targeting Farm Laborers, Republican States Challenge DACA in Court Before Judge Who Ruled Against Program in 2021, Chicago Will Use $50 Million in City Surplus Funds to Assist Asylum Seekers Sent from Texas, SCOTUS Decision Will Make It Easier for Employers to Sue Workers Who Strike, Amazon’s Corporate Workers Walk Out to Protest Climate Inaction, Labor Issues, Bill Cosby Sued for 1969 Sexual Assault as Part of California’s Survivor Lookback Law, NYC to Stop Reporting Prison Deaths as Federal Investigator Probes Recent Death at Rikers