Tag Archives: Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! — Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016

Protests continue at the Sacred Stone Spirit Camp. Image: video still

In North Dakota, indigenous activists are continuing to protest the proposed $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which they say would threaten to contaminate the Missouri River. More than a thousand indigenous activists from dozens of different tribes across the country have traveled to the Sacred Stone Spirit Camp, which was launched on April 1 by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The protests have so far shut down construction along parts of the pipeline.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has also sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its approval of the pipeline. Amy Goodman spoke to Dave Archambault, chairperson of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He’s in Washington, D.C., where there is a hearing in the tribe’s lawsuit on Wednesday. Also appearing is Winona LaDuke, Native American activist and executive director of the group Honor the Earth. She lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota.

In Oklahoma, funeral services were held Friday for Khalid Jabara, a Lebanese-American man police say was shot dead by his next-door neighbor in a possible hate crime. Police say Stanley Majors will be charged with first-degree murder. Majors has harassed the Jabara family for years.

The August 12 killing came less than a year after Majors was arrested and jailed for hitting Jabara’s mother with his car while she was jogging. At the time, the mother, Haifa Jabara, already had a restraining order against Majors, after he had threatened and harassed her. But eight months later, Majors was released on $60,000 bond even though Tulsa County prosecutors called him “a substantial risk to the public.”

As the Jabara family mourns the death of Khalid Jabara in Tulsa, we remember a similar fatal shooting last year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 2015, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and her husband, Deah Shaddy Barakat, were shot dead by a white neighbor. Razan was 19 years old, Yusor was 21, and Deah was 23. Police initially said the killings resulted from a dispute over a parking space, but relatives of the victims described the killings as a hate crime. The suspected gunman, Craig Stephen Hicks, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

The interview with Khalid’s brother and sister, Rami Jabara and Victoria Jabara Williams, and with Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of Razan and Yusor, continues here.

We are honored to offer this broadcast as part of our affiliation with the Pacifica Network. Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.

Eric has completed the 2016 Midyear Reading, BALANCE. We strongly recommend you get all 12 signs. If you prefer, choose your individual signs here. Photo by European Southern Observatory.

Democracy Now! — Monday, Aug. 22, 2016

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After a year and a half of bombing by Saudi-led forces, residents of Yemen face the threat of starvation. Photo from Democracy Now! website.

Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Saudi Arabia as the Obama administration is facing increasing pressure for its support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen. This comes as up to 100,000 people gathered in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a Saturday to protest the ongoing Saudi strikes and in support of Houthi rebels. Over the past two weeks, the U.S.-backed Saudi coalition has bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing 19 people, and bombed two schools in northern Yemen, killing at least 14 children. Doctors Without Borders has since announced it will withdraw staff from six hospitals in the north of the country. For more, Amy Goodman spoke to Kristine Beckerle, a fellow at Human Rights Watch. She has just returned from Yemen.

Even before the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen began more than a year ago, Yemen was ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world. But now, a year and a half into the war, Yemen’s health system has broken down, and the population is facing the threat of starvation. Amy Goodman was joined by Andrew Cockburn, the Washington editor for Harper’s magazine. His latest piece for Harper’s is headlined “Acceptable Losses: Aiding and Abetting the Saudi Slaughter in Yemen.” He is author of “Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins.”

Also today: In 2012, 19-year-old Tevin Louis and his best friend Marquise Sampson allegedly robbed a restaurant. After reportedly making off with about $1,200, the two ran in different directions. Sampson crossed paths with an officer, who gave chase and ultimately opened fire, killing the teenager. Louis arrived at the scene where his friend was shot, and attempted to cross the police line. He was arrested for disorderly conduct. But in a shocking turn, Louis was eventually charged with first-degree murder in the death of his best friend, even though it was the officer who killed Sampson.

Louis was found guilty. He is now serving a 32-year sentence for armed robbery and a 20-year sentence for murder. Louis is one of 10 people with similar cases exposed in the Chicago Reader’s new article headlined “Charged with Murder, But They Didn’t Kill Anyone—Police Did.” The article’s authors joined today’s show: Alison Flowers, a journalist with the Chicago-based Invisible Institute, and Sarah Macaraeg, an independent journalist and fellow with the International Center for Journalists.

Eric has completed the 2016 Midyear Reading, BALANCE. We strongly recommend you get all 12 signs. If you prefer, choose your individual signs here. Photo by European Southern Observatory.

Democracy Now! — Friday, Aug. 19, 2016

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How did private federal prisons not function as well as state ones? It’s a mystery! Or maybe not. Photo from Democracy Now! website, and here’s the DOJ memo.

In what some are calling a historic change in policy, the Justice Department says it will phase out the use of privately run federal prisons. In a memo describing the policy shift, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said research showed private prisons “simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources” and “do not save substantially on costs,” either. Yates added that government education and training programs for prisoners “proved difficult to replicate and outsource” in the private sector. In the memo, she said as the contracts for 13 private federal facilities come to the end of their terms over the next five years.

Some 22,000 federal prisoners out of a total of 193,000 will eventually be impacted by the move. Most are immigrants convicted of crossing the border without permission—charges that currently account for 50 percent of all federal prosecutions. This follows a series of reports by investigative journalists. In today’s first segment, Amy and Juan spoke with reporter Seth Freed Wessler, whose yearlong probe for The Nation and Reveal News uncovered dozens of questionable deaths and years of dire warnings from internal monitors at the private prisons now set to lose their contracts.

The news sent stocks plummeting on Thursday for for the companies that operate the prisons: Corrections Corporation of America, The GEO Group and Management and Training Corporation. The show investigates the companies’ track record with Shane Bauer, whose 18-month investigation of a CCA prison for Mother Jones recently took up its entire issue. Titled “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard,” it chronicles his time as an undercover correctional officer at Louisiana’s Winn Correctional Center. His most recent article is titled “This Prisoner Hanged Himself at the Private Prison Where I Worked. His Family Says He Didn’t Have to Die.” We are also joined by reporter Seth Freed Wessler, who investigated several CCA prisons for the federal government that are now set to close.

The DOJ’s announcement will have no direct impact on private immigrant detention facilities, which are operated by the same companies under contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. Detention Watch Network has now called for DHS “to follow suit and break their ties with private prison companies that operate more than half of … U.S. immigrant detention facilities as a step towards ending detention completely.” Democracy Now! correspondent Renée Feltz notes the detention centers hold people who have committed civil offenses, and children as young as two years old.

Also today, there is a discussion on the State Department’s statement that a plane filled with $400 million in cash for Iran was “leverage” to ensure that five American prisoners held by Iran were released. Republicans, including Donald Trump, have said the money sent in January was a ransom for the prisoners. The Obama administration says it was a pre-planned transfer that was part of the landmark nuclear deal and that the negotiations regarding the two issues were separate. Guest Shane Bauer spent 26 months in Tehran’s Evin Prison, four of them in solitary, after he and two other Americans, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, were captured while hiking near the unmarked Iran-Iraq border and then freed after negotiations.

Finally, ahead of the final weekend of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian police have accused a group of U.S. Olympic swimmers of vandalism during an incident at a gas station last weekend and say they are now considering whether to recommend charges against them, including gold medalists Ryan Lochte and Jimmy Feigen. The swimmers said they were robbed by gunmen impersonating police officers in the early hours of Sunday as they returned in a taxi to the Athletes Village from a party in the city. However, after an investigation, Rio police said there had been no robbery. U.S. Olympic authorities later apologized to Brazil after two U.S. swimmers who were kept in the country for questioning were allowed to go home.

Eric has completed the 2016 Midyear Reading, BALANCE. Get all 12 signs for the bargain price of just $57 while you still can. Image from the 2012 Blue Marble by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Democracy Now! — Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016

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Dr Jill Stein and her running-mate, Ajamu Baraka, who both join today’s show.

While polls show Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are among the least popular major-party candidates to ever run for the White House, it appears no third-party candidates will be invited to take part in the first presidential debate next month. The debates are organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties. Under the commission’s rules, candidates will only be invited if they are polling at 15 percent in five national surveys.

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein have both witnessed recent surges in support, but neither have crossed the 15 percent threshold. More than 12,000 people have signed a petition organized by RootsAction calling for a four-way presidential debate. Amy Goodman spoke to Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein. Four years ago she was arrested outside a presidential debate protesting her exclusion from the event.

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Democracy Now! — Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016

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A rescue effort amid the devastation caused by yet more bombs. Image: video still

In the latest escalation of the war in Syria, Russia has begun launching airstrikes from an Iranian air base. The New York Times reports this marks the first time since World War II that a foreign military has operated from a base on Iranian soil. The move comes as fighting has intensified around Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Earlier this month, rebels fighting the Syrian government began a new offensive to break an ongoing government-backed siege of the city.

The rebels have been led in part by an offshoot of the Nusra Front, which up until last month had been aligned with al-Qaeda. The International Committee of the Red Cross has described the fight for Aleppo as “beyond doubt one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times.” The United Nations is warning of a dire humanitarian crisis as millions are left without water or electricity.

For more on the humanitarian and medical crisis in Syria, Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman spoke with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, founder of the American Relief Coalition for Syria and senior adviser and former president of the Syrian American Medical Society. He has visited Aleppo five times since the war began.

Hillary Clinton has announced former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as the head of her transition team. Salazar is a former U.S. senator from Colorado who now works at WilmerHale, one of the most influential lobbying firms in Washington. Some groups have criticized Salazar’s selection due to his vocal support of fracking, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Keystone XL pipeline. In addition to Ken Salazar, other leaders of the transition team include former Obama National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Center for American Progress head Neera Tanden, former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Maggie Williams, the director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

In New Jersey, lawmakers have recently introduced legislation that would require the state’s attorney general to review every death at the hands of law enforcement. One of the key backers of the New Jersey legislation has been Larry Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization for Progress in New Jersey. Amy and Juan recently spoke to Hamm and actor Danny Glover in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention.

Eric has nearly completed the 2016 Midyear Reading, BALANCE. Get all 12 signs for the bargain price of just $57 while you still can. Image from the 2012 Blue Marble by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Democracy Now! — Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016

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Matt Taibbi’s intriguing Rolling Stone cover. Image: video still.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump invoked the Cold War as he pledged to wage war against what he described as the “ideology of radical Islam” during a speech in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday. Trump also vowed to institute “extreme vetting” of visa applicants. He also said he’d create a commission on radical Islam, keep Guantánamo Bay open and stop trying people accused of terrorism in civilian courts. The Republican presidential nominee also reversed his earlier threats to defy NATO treaties, and instead said he would work closely with the alliance to defeat ISIS.

For more, Amy Goodman spoke with Matt Taibbi, award-winning journalist with Rolling Stone magazine; Phyllis Bennis, author of “Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror;” and Linda Sarsour, director of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPower Change, and co-founder of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York.

On Monday, while Trump was speaking, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden held a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Scranton is Biden’s hometown. During her speech, Hillary Clinton slammed Trump’s foreign policy positions on Syria and fighting ISIS. But what about her own positions? Phyllis Bennis and Linda Sarsour comment.

Finally, as the Olympics continue in Rio de Janeiro, Amy Goodman continues her conversation with sports writer Jesse Washington of the site The Undefeated and Anthony Ervin, who just became the oldest-ever individual Olympic swimming gold medalist. Ervin is also the author of the new book, “Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian.”

Democracy Now! — Monday, Aug. 15, 2016

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Sedan Smith, brother of Sylville Smith, speaks to a local reporter. “We’re losing loved ones every day to the people that’s sworn in to protect us. It’s other stuff that’s going on out here, and you wonder why. It’s ISIS in America.” Indeed. Image: video still

Protests are continuing in Milwaukee two days after police shot dead a 23-year-old African-American man named Sylville Smith. On Sunday, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker activated the National Guard after local residents set fire to police cars and several local businesses, including a gas station, on Saturday night. Seventeen people were arrested. Four police officers were reportedly injured. Milwaukee police say Smith was shot while trying to flee from an officer who had stopped his car. Police Chief Edward Flynn said he had viewed video from the officer’s body camera, and it showed Smith had turned toward him with a gun in his hand after the traffic stop. Many local residents said the tension between their community and the police has been rising for years. Milwaukee is considered to be one of the most segregated cities in the country.

Here is a link to the I Will Not Die Young campaign mentioned in the show.

The Olympics continue in Rio de Janeiro, where Stanford swimmer Simone Manuel has made history, becoming the first African-American female swimmer to win an Olympic medal in an individual event. After winning, Manuel said, “It means a lot, especially with what is going on in the world today, some of the issues of police brutality. This win hopefully brings hope and change to some of the issues that are going on.” Manuel’s win was only one of a number of historic Olympic victories for African-American female athletes over the last week. African-American gymnast Simone Biles scored her third gold medal when she became the first American woman to win the Olympic vault individual. And Michelle Carter became the first American woman to win a gold medal in shot put.

Eric is busy creating the new 2016 Midyear Reading, BALANCE. Covering Jupiter in Libra and other forthcoming astrology, this exciting reading will carry you well into 2017. Get all 12 signs today for just $57. Image from the 2012 Blue Marble by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Democracy Now! — Friday, Aug. 12, 2016

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What is the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department? Image: video still

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter James Grimaldi of The Wall Street Journal, who has covered the Clinton Foundation for years, looks at the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, and what it would be if she became president. Newly released State Department emails include exchanges between top members of the Clinton Foundation and Clinton’s top State Department advisers, including Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. The FBI reportedly wanted to investigate the Clinton Foundation earlier this year, but U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch pushed back.

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claims Barack Obama and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton founded the Islamic State by creating a power vacuum when it withdrew from Iraq, journalist Scott Anderson responds with a history lesson about developments in the Middle East since President Bush invaded the country in 2003. “In fact, it was the Bush administration that negotiated the withdrawal of American troops,” Anderson says, adding that Trump himself called for the U.S. to leave Iraq as early as 2007.