Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240622

Latest. Then to athens greece where Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras is facing backlash from within his own syriza party for accepting austerity measures in exchange for a new bailout package. The people need to send a message, just as they sent one from the polls last week, that these measures will not be accepted. They are not allowed. We need to stand tall and be strong. Amy than Governor Walker makes 15. We go to wisconsin where he has launched his president ial bid. President obama grants clemency to 46 men and women who faced decades in prison for nonviolent, drug offenses. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Iran has reached a Historic Deal with the United States and five major world powers capping more than a decade of negotiations. Under the deal, sanctions imposed on iran would be lifted in return for iran agreeing to longterm curbs on its nuclear program. Well go to vienna for more on the nuclear deal after headlines. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing protests from members of his own syriza party after accepting harsh austerity measures in exchange for an international bailout. In order for the deal to move forward, the Greek Parliament must accept pension cuts and other reforms by wednesday, 10 days after voters rejected similar reforms in a referendum. Hundreds gathered in athens monday to protest the deal. Prime minister Alexis Tsipras and the government betrayed the greek people. He asks them a question, the greek people answered. What we have today is a betrayal. It is bordering on a coup. This coup was not up was not brought about solely by brussels who said we dont care about your referendum or mandate against austerity, the coup was brought about by the government. Amy members of new yorks Puerto Rican Community rallied monday to protest a meeting between puerto rican officials and creditors over possible austerity measures to address the islands financial crisis. Among those the meeting was former International Monetary Fund Official anne krueger, who has backed sweeping austerity proposals, including cutting the minimum wage below 7. 25 an hour and slashing subsidies for the university of puerto rico. Protesters gathered outside the manhattan offices of financial giant citigroup, where the meeting took place. I live here in new york city. My parents and my family live in puerto rico. I am here with a bunch of others from different parts of the city and solidarity with the people of puerto rico, saying in one clear voice no, to the austerity plans been proposed by a former imf official by the name of anne krueger and no to the yesterday plants being pushed by the hedge fund owners and the managers in the banksters the created similar situations in greece, spain, and even in this country. Amy the saudiled Bombing Campaign against Houthi Rebels in yemen has continued to claim civilian lives despite a u. N. Brokered truce. On monday, an airstrike killed 25 civilians in the capital sanaa. Oxfam, meanwhile is warning fuel , shortages caused by the saudiled blockade of yemen could claim even more lives than the bombing itself. In nigeria, newly elected president muhammadu buhari, has fired all of the top military leaders and appointed replacements after a series of attacks by the militant group boko haram. Two of the fired officials had been accused by Amnesty International of presiding over war crimes. Two Senior Leaders of the selfproclaimed Islamic State were reportedly killed monday in an air strike in northern syria, according to the syrian observatory for human rights who said it believed the attack was carried out by u. S. Led coalition forces. President obama has granted clemency to 46 prisoners including 14 who faced life without parole, more than doubling the number of sentences hes commuted since taking office. Many of the commutations went to crack offenders. Well have more on obamas push for Prison Reform later in the broadcast. The pentagon is taking steps to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military by early next year. Calling the ban outdated defense secretary ash carter said he would appoint a working group to examine the impact of lifting it. Meanwhile, the executive committee of the boy scouts of america has unanimously backed a resolution to end a blanket ban on gay adult leaders. The measure still needs to be ratified by the National Executive board later this month. Filmmaker laura poitras, who won an oscar for her film citizenfour about edward snowden, is suing the u. S. Government to find out why she has been detained, searched and interrogated more than 50 times at airports. The interrogations took place over six years beginning in , 2006, when poitras finished her documentary, my country, my country about postinvasion iraq. She said she was suing in support of the countless other less highprofile people who have also been subjected to years of kafkaesque harassment at the borders. New york city has reached a deal to pay the family of eric garner 5. 9 million, avoiding a potential lawsuit. Almost exactly one year after garner died following a police chokehold. On july 17, 2014, new York City Police accused garner of selling loose cigarettes in Staten Island. Officer Daniel Panteleo pulled him down by the neck, then officers piled on top of garner, who said, i cant breathe, at least 11 times before he died. A grand jury declined to indict pantaleo. Meanwhile, a Staten Island woman has filed a lawsuit saying police assaulted and falsely arrested her in retaliation for filming garners arrest. According to the new york daily news, taisha allen says police threw half her body over a fence and twisted her arms after calling her that bitch that filmed the eric garner video. Ramsey orta, who also filmed garners arrest, has been arrested multiple times and claims police have harassed him. In stonewall, mississippi, another unarmed africanamerican man was allegedly strangled to death by a white police officer, in a case being compared to eric garners. Attorneys for the family of 39yearold Jonathan Sanders told the Jackson Free Press sanders was driving a horsedrawn buggy wednesday night when he saw officer Kevin Herrington talking to someone he knew. As sanders chased his horse, herrington chased sanders, grabbed a headlamp around sanders neck, and put him in a headlock. Witnesses said sanders repeatedly told the officer he couldnt breathe, but herrington kept him in the headlock until medical help arrived up to 30 minutes later. Mississippi authorities are investigating sanders death. And the civil rights activist, actor, author and judge darmy bailey, who founded the National Civil Rights Museum in memphis tennessee, has died at the age of 73. Bailey joined with fellow African Americans to buy the Loraine Motel in memphis tennessee, where dr. Martin luther king, jr. Was assassinated and turned it into National Civil Rights Museum. In 2007, i interviewed darmy bailey on the balcony outside room 306, where dr. King last stood. It is not a museum that celebrates dr. King, it celebrates the spirit of the movement. So we had the exhibits on selma and montgomery and the freedom summer of 1954 and we have the exhibit on the courage of the nine black children at Central High School in little rock who braved the mobs to do so great that school desegregate that school and the sealer kurds to desegregate mississippi. In this tragic event that occurred here april 4, 1968. Amy darmy bailey died sunday in memphis after a battle with cancer. He was 73. To see the full interview with him at the Loraine Motel in 2007, you can go to democracynow. Org. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Iran has reached a nuclear deal with the United States and five major world powers capping more than a decade of negotiations. Under the deal, sanctions imposed on iran would be lifted in return for iran agreeing to longterm curbs on its nuclear program. The deal allows iran to maintain a civilian nuclear program, but aims to prevent iran from ever developing Nuclear Weapons. Earlier this morning and a National Address that was also broadcast on Iranian Television president obama said every pathway for iran to a Nuclear Weapon has been cut off. Today after two years of negotiations, the United States together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not. A conference of longterm deal with iran that will prevent him from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. This deal meets every single one of the bottom lines that we have established when we achieved framework earlier this spring. Every pathway to a Nuclear Weapon is cut off. And the inspection and transparency regime necessary to verify that objective will be put in place. Because of this deal, iran will not produce the highly enriched uranium and weapons grade plutonium that formed the Raw Materials necessary for nuclear bomb. Because of this deal, iran will remove two thirds of its installed centrifuges, machines necessary to produce highly enriched uranium for a bomb, and store them under constant international supervision. Iran will not use its advanced centrifuges to produce enriched uranium for the next decade. Iran will also get rid of 98 of its stockpile of enriched irani him. To put that in perspective, iran currently has a stockpile that can produce up to 10 Nuclear Weapons. Because of this deal, that stockpile will be reduced to a fraction of what would be required for single weapon. Amy president obama vowed to veto any congressional legislation to block the deal. The Iran Nuclear Agreement came after secretary of state john kerry and Iranian Foreign secretary javad zarif spent more than two weeks in negotiations. Speaking in vienna, zarif described the day as a historic moment. Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to everybody, to those who started this process and those who have continued this process, in order to reach a winwin solution on what, in our view was an unnecessary crisis, and open new horizons for dealing with Serious Problems that affect our International Community. I believe this is a historic moment. We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for anybody, but it is what we could accomplish and it is an important achievement for all of us. Today could have been the end of hope on this issue, but now we are starting a new chapter of hope. Amy sanctions on iran could be reinstated and 65 days of the deal is violated. A you and weapons embargo is to remain in place for five years and a ban on buying Missile Technology will remain for eight years. Despite these measures, israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal a bad mistake of historic proportions. We go now to vienna where we are joined again by Flynt Leverett author of, going to tehran why america must accept the Islamic Republic of iran. Hes a professor of International Affairs at penn state, served for over a decade in the u. S. Government as a Senior Analyst at the cia, a middle east specialist for the state department and as senior director for middle east affairs at the National Security council. We spoke yesterday. Today, the deal has been reached. Can you tell us the outlines of it and your reaction to it . I think the outlines i would emphasize three main sets of commitment. On the iranian side, there are a number of commitments spelled out relatively early on in the agreement, all told, 159 pages with the annex. But there is a set of commitment that iran undertakes regarding certain limits on its Nuclear Activities that will address nonproliferation concerns that the United States and some other countries have had. As an analyst, i personally never have been persuaded that iran was seeking to build a Nuclear Weapon, but for those who are concerned about that possibility or that risk, i think this is a very good deal from a nonproliferation standpoint. At the same time in terms of nuclear commitment, i think iran has achieved something very significant here. Which is basically, a recognition of the reality that states have a right to peaceful use of new Grid Technology in all respects Nuclear Technology and all respects. This is not a right granted by the nonproliferation treaty. It is a sovereign right that is recognized by the treaty from an iranian perspective, the United States, and the Security Council tried for years to deny iran that right. And now without iran having sacrificed it, the International Community is recognizing that right, and i think that is an important step on the nonproliferation front as well. The second big set of concerns, sanctions relief in return for iran accepting these limits on its nuclear capabilities, all International Sanctions authorized by the United Nations Security Council are going to be removed. European union sanctions against iran will be terminated. And the United States will, the language says, cease implementing a secondary sanctions, the sanctions that it threatens to impose on third countries that do business with iran. The United States. Implementing the sanctions although, they are likely to stay authorized in american law for some years. President obama will basically waive the implementation of those sanctions. So i think that is another second set of commissions. Theres a third set of commitments related to implementing this deal. And basically, the agreement sets up processes, committees commissions that will oversee the implementation of this deal. Theres a special committee set up to deal with the issue of infections with the International Atomic Energy Agency asked to visit a nonnuclear site that it doesnt regularly inspect, and iran is uncomfortable about that happening. There is a Committee Process laid out which will review why does the iaea want to come to the site, what is the basis for their concerns what are irans concerns about letting the agency in, and will weigh those and ultimately adjudicate or arbitrate those kinds of situations. Amy Flynt Leverett, i want to this is the first time this has been done. Amy i want to ask about what is going to happen in congress. President obama and his National Address has said he will veto any rejection of this. Then it will go back to congress to try to overturn his veto. For those who say this is a terrorist nation that doesnt stop iran from developing a nuclear bomb but simply delays it 10 or 15 years down the road your response . You know, i think for people who say that, you know, i think really the burden of proof should be on them to prove it is actually irans intent to build Nuclear Weapons, and the kinds of, you know, even after this deal runs out, iran is still going to be bound by the obligations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty not to build Nuclear Weapons. I went to work for the u. S. Government in 1992 and have been hearing ever since from Israeli Intelligence agencies, from u. S. Intelligence agencies, that iran is three to five years from being able to build a new their weapon. And every year we just push that three to five year estimate further and further out. I think at this point, we really need to ask ourselves, is iran does iran really have the intention to build a Nuclear Weapon . And i dont think there is any evidence that they do. Amy and to those who say now with the sentients lifted it will simply be able to get more support, for example to Bashar Alassad of syria, talk about an issue you ended with yesterday in our conversation, which was your feeling that president obama is selling this in the wrong way, that should be talked overall about a shifting of u. S. Policy in the middle east. The begin with that issue of those who say this is a terrorist nation supporting terrorists and now they will have more money to do that. My wife and i have been arguing for years, both inside the u. S. Government when we served their, and in the years since we left government, that the United States for its own interests needs to come to terms with the Islamic Republic of iran, relying overly much on partnerships with israel and saudi arabia is increasingly dysfunctional for the u. S. Position in the region will stop it is breeding to hottie terrorism across the region. It is enabling open ended israeli occupations of arab populations. All of that is ultimately bad for the United States. The only way the United States can recover from the many tragic mistakes it has made and is part of the world in recent years and put itself on a more positive trajectory, is like coming to terms with iran. Iran is a rising regional power. It is a legitimate political order for most iranians who live inside their country. We need to come to terms with that reality. Amy there was a discussion in the media today those who were saying iran is involved with Something Like four wars against the United States. And in fact, that is not exactly true, is it Flynt Leverett, . Look at iraq. The u. S. Is not looking at u. S. Is working on the side of iran. You look thats right. If you look at the constituencies that iran supports and these various arenas we may want to label them terrorists, but the reality is, these are unavoidable constituencies and their societies with real and legitimate grievances. And what iran does more than anything else is to help these communities organize in various ways to express their grievances more effectively. That is why irans influence is rising. If we want to be serious about conflict resolution in syria not about funding, working with the saudis to fundjihadi militants, if we want to get serious about conflict resolution in syria, we need to be talking with and working in a serious way with iran. If we want to get serious about conflict resolution in iraq and dealing with the Islamic State in a serious and effective way we need to stop just letting the saudis and helping the saudis fund the jihadi militants that fund these groups and work with iran to devise a regional strategy to contain that threat. It is an extremely unpopular thing to say in the United States. My wife and i have paid various kinds of personal and professional prices for making this argument over the years. But the reality is, if the United States is going to have a more effective Foreign Policy in the middle east, and frankly, a more humane and constructive Foreign Policy in the middle east it is essential to that. Amy Flynt Leverett, thank you for being with us professor of , International Affairs at penn state. Formerly worked with the Central Intelligence agency as well as the National Security council coauthor with his wife of a book dealing with going to tehran. When we come back, we look at another deal. This one in athens, greece. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Alexis tsipras is facing a tough fight to win support from coalition partners. After european leaders pressed greece to accept the austerity package, the hashtag thisisacoup trended on social media. The Greek Defense minister accused germany of a staging a coup. Yesterday, the countrys Prime Minister faced a coup, a coup by germany, but also by other countries like the netherlands, finland, and the baltic states. A coup that reach the point that greeces Prime Minister was blackmailed with the collapse of the banks and haircut on deposits. I want to be clear this deal is beyond the agreement the political leaders made with the greek resident in the Greek Parliament approved. However, this agreement, which also brought up new information, speaks of 50 billion euros worth of guarantees concerning public property. It speaks of changes to the law including the confiscation of homes, total collapse of constitutional values. We cannot agree to that. Amy the great Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said they were left with little choice but to accept the austerity measures. We fought hard for six months until the in we battled to get an agreement, to get the country back on its feet. We were faced with a very difficult decision with hard dilemmas. We took the responsibility to decide in order to effort in extreme lands a conservative circles and European Unions. Todays agreement keeps greek Financial Stability and gives the repository possibility for recovery. It will be an agreement that the implication will be difficult. The measures included are the ones passed in parliament. They will unavoidably cause recessionary effects will stop i have the feeling the constants and the hope that 35 billion Euro Development package which we managed along with the debt restructuring and the secure finance for the next three years will create the feeling among markets and investors, a greek exit is the thing of the past. Amy to talk more about the implications of the agreement, we go now to athens where were joined by Michalis Spourdalakis, professor of Political Science at Athens University who is also a Founding Member of syriza. Welcome to democracy now it looks like there is a split not only among the greek people Michalis Spourdalakis, but in your own party itself. Talk about the deal and what it means. Well, it is only natural to expect the objections to the deal because it is a deal which imposes to akoni and measures draconian measures to the Greek Economy and also people after the referendum were hoping for a much better deal. Except it seems to me the europeans did not take into account the no vote, no to austerity vote cast just 10 days ago from today. Therefore, everything that your report says, it is true, the greek Prime Minister and the countrys minister of finance were actually blackmailed by the eurozone people. They managed to convince some of them, but not all of them so at the end of the day, they got this deal, which is not only draconian, it will continue the recession in the country but also will be inefficient. It is a deal that at the end of the day, or i should say quite soon, there are going to be more measures imposed. Increases the debt of the country and i dont think were going to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But the Prime Minister had no choice because the alternative was to exit. But exit would delete us would lead us to a more [indiscernible] social development that this country has no experience or preparation, more technical to confront. Amy the term grexit the greek exit. So the hashtag trending, will this lead to the fall of syriza . Well, i hope not. This is the first leftwing government in this country. This is the first democratic response to the austerity measures in europe, so this government should not fall. It is very superficial and very unfair conclusion to claim the Prime Minister or the government has betrayed the people. They were forced to do that. There are all sorts of other fields that the government can verify or reinstate if leftwing radical orientation, and this is the way the government should proceed. Pretty soon, the people are going to face or the greek government rather, is going to be faced with more measures and by then, probably the balance of power are going to be different. As of the coup, ok, there many interpretations about this coup. I read someplace today that some 48 years ago, the dictatorship was imposed in this country by at the time of the army. Today, the coup is imposed by the european bankers and managed to close the greek banks and have held the society hostage. To me, there was no alternative not being prepared. But theres another coup, which has to do with the future of the European Union. In the future the perspective of the developing European Union in a democratic way. There is a major, major coup because it seems to me that the european leaders are paying attention to the fact in greece was the only country that it was a democratic response to austerity while and every other almost in every other european country, probably with the exception of spain and ireland, the political rearrangement gave signs and gave room to the right wing populists, and even neonazis. It seems to me the european leadership is more tolerant to these developments than the radical left. However, democratic response to austerity in europe. And this is very disappointing. Amy the eurogroup president defended the troika of european and International Monetary fund lenders against accusations that they interfered in greeces the mystic politics. I would like to Say Something on this issue. I have always felt the troika has been heavily criticized on the fact they sort of interfere with domestic politics and are very intrusive. In a given situation, the crisis situation that we have in case of a program for definition, we always try to find the balance between supporting a country but also talking about reasonable and effective conditionalitys. Theres not much point in borrowing money to a country or lending to a country that at the same time the underlying problems are not dealt with. I think that is a fair balance. And we have to find that. So it is not about taking over a country. It has to be a partnership and commitment on both sides to stand ready to further support the country, this case greece, and for greece to say, we will do what it takes on our part to make sure we dont depend on european loans forever. Amy i would like to get your response, Michalis Spourdalakis to the eurogroup president s response. Yeah, ok. I think this agreement, current is the country is going to stay at least for the time being time tied to further dependency in europe loans. It is impossible listen, the country had about 340 billion debt. No one in his right mind, his or her right mind, thinks that this is a manageable debt. Now there is another 83 billion 83 billion euros, if im not mistaken, added to this loan. So i dont know how were going to pay. You mentioned the 50 billion euros guarantee or collateral. Listen, the breakdown of this is about 29 billion to 30 billion going to go into repaying the old debts. About 17 billion 20 billion, are just the interest rates. There is another 20 some million who is going to support of the banking system. And the rest is going to be for development. In addition, is 50 billion euros are going to come from selling greek property type greek airports, the three major ports in greece, and other valuable parts of the greek infrastructure. This money is impossible to raise. Even if you sell the entire country, will of course, i am exaggerating, youre not when you get more than 8 million maybe 10 billion euros. So this is a deal which is not going to be efficient. It doesnt deal with the actual visible problems of the country of the economic problems of the country. It is a very vindictive, however, deal, which really wants to force the government to change its political orientation or wants to bring clearly, to bring, first radical leftwing government down. That is why this deal should be no matter what the criticism is, this deal should be supported because pretty soon, there is going to be a new round and improbably will be ready to respond to the pressures of the European Union and the eurogroup in a more efficient and more democratic and socially sensitive way than what this to promises. Amy Michalis Spourdalakis, i want your take on a letter that robert reisch, the former labor secretary under president clinton, has sent around. He says, people seem to forget the greek debt crisis which is becoming european and even possibly a World Economic crisis grew out of a deal with Goldman Sachs, engineered by goldmans Lloyd Blankfein. He said several years ago, Lloyd Blankfein and his team helped greece hide the true extent of its debt and in the process almost doubled it. He said, and doubly greece suffers from years of corruption and tax avoidance by its wealthy but Goldman Sachs isnt exactly innocent. It had at its profits by catastrophic leveraging up the Global Economy with secret off the Balance Sheet debt deals. Then he makes recommendations. He says the u. S. Is a key player in the imf and president obama should use that weight that people should join with allies across europe to show solidarity with the greek people and stand up to global austerity. Can you respond to the issue of Goldman Sachs and hedge funds and their role in this . We only have a minute. This is an old story. We all know the greeks and the corruption involved in a way that greece met the requirements to enter the eurozone. And since you mention corruption, it is quite interesting to respond about the issue like that. Corruption is the basis upon which the Greek Economy, the greek capitalist flourishes and rupert uses itself. Andrew produces itself. Tax evasion and the rest was the first reform that the syriza government proposed to the countrys debtors, but in the early february. And they did not really pay much attention to it. So it seems to me that the bottom line of all this debate is that the countrys debtors wanted to humiliate syriza tsipras, and as i said twice already, i think the first them a credit leftwing response against austerity in the 21st century. That is the bottom line. There is a lot of corruption in this country. This government has been committed to tackle corruption but the way the proposals that are imposed and the deals are imposed by our debtors, they are not i dont predict they are very efficient moving towards that way. So we will amy i want to thank you for being with us and i hope we come back to this conversation. Michalis spourdalakis is professor of Political Science at Athens University who is also a Founding Member of syriza. When we come back, we got to madison, wisconsin. Governor walker makes 15. Thats 15 republican president ial candidates. We will be back in a minute. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Wisconsin Governor Scott walker has become the 15th republican candidate to formally announce hes running for president. On monday, walker launched his campaign by touting his successful efforts to eviscerate Public Employee unions in his home state and later defeat a recall effort against him. He also extolled his record reducing taxes, cutting the size of the federal government, and passing voter restrictions. We need new, fresh leadership leadership with big, bold ideas from outside of washington. The kind of leadership that knows how to get things done like we have done here in wisconsin. Besides being government since ive been governor, we took on the unions and we won. We lower taxes i 2 billion. We lowered taxes on individuals, employers, and Property Owners property taxes today are lower than they were four years ago. How many other governors can say that . Since i have been governor, we passed lawsuit reform and revelatory reform. We defunded planned parenthood and passed for life legislation. Prolife legislation. [applause] we enacted [inaudible] so we could protect ourselves, families and property. [applause] and we now require a photo id to vote in this state. If our reforms can work in a blue state like wisconsin, they can work anywhere in america. Amy on the domestic front Governor Scott walker promised to repeal obamacare, build the keystone xl pipeline, subject welfare recipients to drug tests, and roll back federal regulations. On the international front, he vowed to reject the nuclear deal with iran reestablish an , unshakable bond with israel, focus more on islamic terrorism and less on climate change, as well as engage more aggressively with russia and china. He is best known for gutting collective bargaining rights for Public Sector workers in 2011. On sunday, he signed a state budget which slashes funding for the university of wisconsin, expands the Voucher Program for private schools, and eliminates the states living wage law. On monday, aflcio president Richard Trumka called walker a one sentence statement on Walker Scott Walker is a national disgrace. Well, for more, we go directly to madison, wisconsin, where were joined by john nichols, Political Writer for the nation and the author of, uprising how wisconsin renewed the politics of protest, from madison to wall street. His most recent piece for thenation. Com is called, scott walker campaigns against unions, wages, and weekends. John nichols, welcome to democracy now talk about this newest entry into the republican president ial race. Thank you for having me, amy. I especially appreciate coming after that very good segment on the fight on austerity. In many ways, scott walker connects to many of these local debates because if there is someone who has attempted to impose an austerity agenda in an american state in many senses, it is scott walker. When he came in as governor wisconsin, he claimed there was a huge financial crisis, so severe he had to do an emergency budget repair. That budget repair attacked Public Sector unions, collective bargaining, but also prepared the way for deep cuts to education and deep cuts to public services, and at the same time, this governor refused federal funding for mass transit, for highspeed rail and even refused federal funding for Broadband Internet as well as messing with all of the Medicare Medicaid payments. Here you have a governor who has really grabbed hold of some of the most extreme economic positions of republicans, and it hasnt worked. Wisconsin has an economy that is anything but vibrant. It trails neighboring states such as minnesota in job growth. It trails many of the top National Measures as regards to economic vitality. And perhaps most importantly, in wisconsin at this point, there is deep, deep division. Polling shows Governor Walker has a 55 disapproval rating. Only 41 of people approve of him at this point according to the most recent major poll in wisconsin. And notably, i think it is 67 of people do not believe he can effectively govern the state and run for president. So for all he says about being able to do nationally what was done in a blue state in a relatively democratic state, wisconsin, the fact is, if he takes his agenda national, that is not a promise to the future many ways, does a threat. And makeup earlier this year, he faced objections. You made a comment at the conservative Political Action conference. Should you become commander in chief, how would you deal with threats such as i says . We will have someone who leads and ultimately will send a message not only that we will protect american soil, but do not do not take this up on freedom loving people anywhere else in the world. We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If i can take on 100,000 protesters, i can do the same around the world. Amy john nichols, your response . It was a remarkable statement by the governor by any measure because it told us two things. First off, this is a candidate for president of the United States who has exceptionally limited background in Foreign Policy. Really does see it in very simplistic terms. Even in his speech yesterday, he defaulted toward in a most cheneyesque worldview in which was talking about ripping up with the iran agreement without saying it, again and again going toward militaristic, very aggressive stances globally. And then to suggest at the same time coming from this place of extremely limited knowledge on International Affairs, that he got his experience by taking on teachers and nurses and snowplow drivers, firefighters, Police Officers who came to that p is fully to say, look, we disagree with something youre doing. We think your assault on unions is wrong. It would not be damaging only to individual Union Members and unions, but the state of wisconsin. If i can just emphasize, this antiunion stance is so central to who scott walker is and to his candidacy for president yesterday it was the pivot point in his speech. He introduced himself a little and then he had a line roughly, we took on the unions and we won. The thing to remember, it did not just in in 2011 end in 2011. He is attacked unions again and again. He promised was not interested in doing the right to work law then earlier this year, he turned around and signed a right to work law, very antilabor legislation, and said yet always been for it and it would send a message to america and the world. More recently when he signed his current budget, this budget includes a gutting out of our states prevailing wage law which is very important for construction workers. It includes a rewrite of state legislation that used to guarantee a minimum wage would be a living wage. And it also eliminates a protection that said workers would get at least one day a week off. I want to emphasize, this governor had a chance to lineitem veto any of those items. People begged him to do so. Even some of his fellow republicans a dozen republicans voted against this budget. Many of them because they were concerned about how overthetop it is in this antiunion zone and really also in an austerity approach education and the public services. People need to have a full sense of scott walker. He is someone who begins i think all most every discussion and was every sort of commas of his candidacy on wanting to take national a very passionate antiunion agenda. Amy quickly his funders . He is reached out to the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson and frankly, these funders are really willing to give money to whoever they see as the most viable republican. But scott walker is trying very very hard to prove himself to them and in doing so, to make himself an alternative to both donald trump and jeb bush, somebody who is sort of a little more suit and tie, little more mainstream, but also i would emphasize, even more than bush and trump, probably willing to carry their agenda as far as it could possibly go. And also to carry the agenda of the American Legislative Exchange council. And that agenda in his speech yesterday, when he ran through all of those things that he had done, again and again and again those items he was running through, those were agenda items for the American Legislative Exchange council alec, and it is notable that scott walker as a legislator was very linked to alec and continues to be tied to it. Amy on a new issue, also in wisconsin, history was made for the president ial race of 2016, you introduced for my independent senator Bernie Sanders. That is not what the history was. Who is challenging Hillary Clinton. But the fact over 10,000 people showed up to see him. He is pulling of any republican or democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders, the socialist is pulling more people in, the largest crowd of this election season. I want to emphasize, i was asked to talk a little bit about movements and talk about the progressive tradition, not to tell people how to vote. In introducing Bernie Sanders, i had the unique setting. I got to say that this candidacy , in my view is not about Bernie Sanders. This is about the movements that have developed over the last five or six years, particularly since the meltdown of 2008, in which people have really begun to organize around Economic Issues and a host of other issues, and bring them to the forefront politically. Does bring them to the floor politically. What are someone supports Bernie Sanders or Martin Omalley or even Hillary Clinton, the key thing is this 2016 president ial race, at least on the democratic side, and a would even suggest on the republican side, is being profoundly influenced by movements that are demanding that income inequality, wage gaps, wage stagnation be addressed, they really are in many ways an american equivalent of a Global Movement that are raising austerity issues. I would emphasize also that while sanders has really brought a lot of these to a head, Martin Omalley is also beginning to talk about it and even Hillary Clinton yesterday in her remarks , embraced a lot of the language and some of the thinking of these movements. So Something Big is happening. I think that is why people are turning out in these huge numbers. They want to emphasize, talk about it. Amy john nichols, thank you for being with us, Political Writer for the nation. As we move now to our last segment. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We moved to a new move by president obama. We end todays show with a new push by the white house to support bipartisan Prison Reform this time, by reducing punishments for nonviolent crimes. On thursday, president obama granted clemency to 46 prisoners, including 14 who faced life without parole. Many of the commutations went to crack offenders, including one africanamerican man who is 84yearsold and the mother of Denver Broncos wide receiver demaryius thomas. President obama has now commuted 89 sentences, including 22 drug offenders who were granted release earlier this year and eight others in 2014. He is expected to call for more fairness in the criminal Justice System when he speaks today at the annual convention of the naacp. This thursday he will become the first president to visit a federal prison when he tours the el reno facility in oklahoma. For more, we are joined in washington, d. C. , by cynthia roseberry, director of the clemency project 2014. Her Organization Helps train lawyers to file clemency petitions for nonviolent drug offenders. Some of those petitions were among those granted thursday. And in chicago, we are joined by Reynolds Wintersmith, who once faced life in prison for selling crack, but was granted a new beginning in 2014 when president obama commuted his sentence. Wintersmith was just 17 in 1994 when he was arrested. It was his first offense. He is now a Restorative Justice counselor at cca academy, a high school in chicago. Welcome both of you to democracy now in washington, d. C. , lets begin, cynthia roseberry, with you. Talk about the people who are just granted clemency. Sure. Many of them were convicted under draconian drug laws. I was a clemency project 2014 is not limited to drug offenders but most of those laws have changed now. So this initiative gave hope to people who never thought they would be reunited with their families, who were given life sentences are very long sentences for nonviolent offenses. Amy talk about the significance of what president obama is doing , and did you work with the white house in choosing the names of the people who would get clemency . Know, we are wholly separate from the white house. We are an initiative of the merrick and bar association, the American Civil Liberties union, families against the mandatory minimum, and the National Association of criminal defense lawyers. So we work wholly independently of the white house. But we screen applicants. We have more than 30,000 now, to see if they appear to qualify under the president s initiative. And then we send those petitions over to the pardon attorney. Amy Reynolds Wintersmith tell us your story. Having once faced life in prison for selling crack. But talk about what the clemency that president obama granted you or the commutation of your sentence, what it means. To me, what it meant, it gave me another chance at life. To build upon this part of my life in the present. I am thankful it may me realize even when we have the possibility of failure in front of us, that doesnt mean we should give up hope. We should continue to strive you know, make it easier for a person to want to give you a second chance. I am thankful for it. Amy can you talk about the sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders like yourself . Yes. First, i would like to say that i believe in law and order and structure, so i understand the effects it had on the committee on the lives of the people. As far sentencing, when you come before a judge and he passes out the sentence to you, the only thing you hope for is to have fairness, a balance. A lot of times with the drug sentences, there is no balance. When i got sentence in 1994 november, there was no extraordinary circumstances they could bring up because of sentencing guidelines were mandatory at the time. It is just numbers commuted computed. I was given a sentence of life and 40 years for count one conspiracy and count for on the conspiracy. With this new treachery the president obama set forth for clemency, it is made of possible for people to reach forward, to believe they can have another chance that as we all know, the backlog of clemency positions runs in the tens of thousands. Amy reynolds, how did you get the clemency . You had been in jail already for 18 years . Yes, the process began long before i filed paperwork. I worked for a lady in the Educational Department named janice. I was a tutor. We had dialogue. A guy that president bush had pardoned, yeah life sentence and had been imprisoned for a years, when she told me what happened with him, he worked with us as a Leadership Library kirk clerk, she said, why dont you file for clemency . Facing things for my past and being held accountable for it, it was hard for me to see why they would give me another chance. I faced issues amy we have 10 seconds. Ok. It was a process. Im glad i had it. Great support group and then i had an attorney that said, yes, she would help me. Amy we will continue to follow what happened is week with president obama in the first sitting president to visit a prison, that in obama. Reynolds wintersmith and cynthia roseberry, thank you for being with us. That does it for our show. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. 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