Skepticism about what government is doing. I had the programs reviewed and putting additional safeguards to make sure there is federal Court Oversight as well as congressional oversight, that there is no spying on americans. We dont have a domestic spying program. What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or email address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat. Edward snowdens father says he believes president clinton will continue to stand firm in the face of pressure from the Obama Administration to hand r his son whom the name president Vladimir Putin will continue to stand firm in the face of pressure from the Obama Administration to hand over his son. This isnt about russia. The fight isnt in russia. The fight is right here. The fight is about these programs that undermine, infringe upon, violate our Constitutional Rights. Presiding over the sentencing hearing of Army Whistleblower Bradley Manning has rejected some of the governments evidence about the alleged damage caused by the publication of documents he gave to wikileaks. Army colonel denise lind said evidence about the supposed Chilling Effect of mannings leaks on u. S. Foreign relations would only be admissible if the impact happened directly after the documents were released. The judge tossed out the claims by Top State Department official Patrick Kennedy that the impact continues to this day. The group of young immigrants 9 have been dream released from detention in her xoma while they seek asylum in the United States. They had been held for nearly three weeks after attempting to cross u. S. Mexico border to protest the Obama Administrations record deportations. They were all brought to the u. S. As children. While most have previously been deported or left the u. S. Do to current policies, some of them have fled to mexico in order to accompany the others back. Several of the Group Members were graduation outfits. Officials this week determined they had her credible fear of persecution of deported to mexico, a decision which allows their bid for asylum to move forward. That process could take years. In the meantime, the dream 9 will be allowed to remain at home in the United States. Syrian rivals are claiming to have fired rockets that hit the motorcade a president Bashar Al Assad as he traveled to a mosque in the capital damascus. The government denied the claims in the state tv showed footage of alassad attending prayer. Ervices the Syrian Military on wednesday killed more than 60 rebel fighters in an ambush near the capital. Theate news agency said group along to the al nusra fro nt, which the u. S. Considers a terrorist organization. Than 100 thousand people have died since the conflict in syria began in 2011. In egypt, supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi are gathering today for rallies honoring the muslim holiday which marks the end of ramadan. The United States and European Union have both called on morsi supporters and egypts interim government to resolve what they termed a dangerous stalemate after the egypts interim president said diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict had failed. The Egyptian Military said to be holding off for now on threats to clear sit in spy morsi supporters in cairo over fears that Vice President Mohamed Elbaradei might resign over such a crackdown. The interim Prime Minister issued more warnings to pro morsi demonstrators on wednesday. We asked them once more to leave quickly and return to their homes and work without resistance those who do not have blood on their hands, the state promised to provide them free transportation. The cabinet warns against the continuing dangers excavation and incitement escalation and incitement and those who are deceiving them amongst the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood that threatens national security. A missouri judge has found death row prisoner Reggie Clemens was beaten by police and coerced into confessing to a role in the murders of two women in 1991. In a sweeping review of the case, judge michael manners found state prosecutors violated his Constitutional Rights by concealing evidence about the beatings and said the suppression might have changed the outcome of the case. However, the judge manners, who was appointed by the mistress of court missouri supreme to conduct the review, also said clemens had failed to make a sufficient case that he is innocent. Clemons, who is african american, was one of four men charged in the deaths of two White Sisters who are raped and then drown in the mississippi river. The Missouri Supreme Court will now decide his fate. Walmart has agreed to approve improve safety conditions as part of a settlement with federal health and safety regulators. Federal inspectors have uncovered what they termed repeat and serious violations at a store in rochester, new york. Under the deal, walmart will improve procedures relating to trash compactors and the handling of chemicals and hire an outside monitor to ensure compliance at store locations in 28 states. Walmart will also pay 190,000, tiny fraction of its profits which amounted to 17 billion dollars last year. In a statement, the worker group our walmart, which has lisa only which has recently led a number of historic strikes, said last month workers at a california warehouse that moose products for walmart launched a twoday strike to protest alleged retaliation after reporting safety issues that included blocked emergency exits, nonfunctioning forklift brakes and a lack of sufficient ventilation, and water under intense heat. Japans Prime Minister has ordered Government Action to help stop radioactive water leaks at the embattled fukushima day to Nuclear Power plant. Thecials now estimate contaminated water is leaking into the Pacific Ocean at a rate of 300 tons per day, enough to fill an olympic serving pull in a week. Reuters is reporting Chesapeake Energy has abandoned a twoyear legal battle to retain leases on thousands of acres of land in new york where it plan to drill natural gas using the controversial technique of fracking, provided new york state lift a ban on the practice area did land owners have been fighting to prevent the firm from extending leases signed over the past decade under their current terms. Now chesapeake reportedly lands to walk away from the leases. Another grass gas firm has come under fire following revelations it imposed a gag order on a pennsylvania couple that prevented their children from ever talking about fracking. The family reached a settlement in 2011 after being sickened by a castrol in operation adjacent to the property. The settlement, which was unsealed last week, bars the family from commenting on the marcella shales fracking activity. The gag orderw applies to the whole family, and would be enforced that way. At the time of the settlement, the children were seven and 10 years old. Last week the Company Spokesperson denied the gag order applies to the children. More women have come forward with Sexual Harassment claims against san diego mayor bob filner. Her teen women have publicly accused filner of unwanted sexual behavior ranging from verbal remarks to groping. According to cnn, at least 8 of the women are military veterans, most of whom were victims of Sexual Assault while serving. A retired air force Master Sergeant who was rate three times role in the military says she was speaking last year at an event for the National Womens Veterans Association of america when filner, then a u. S. Congressmember, made unwanted advances. Filner had formerly served as head of the House Veterans Affairs committee. She said she believes he targeted survivors specifically. We are all victims of military Sexual Assault. It appears to me that he was targeting this organization and hitting on the women in this organization because they were easy prey, so he is part of an organization that is against Sexual Assault and Sexual Violence toward women and Sexual Harassment him a that he is doing the very thing that we are fighting to make stop in our service and in our country. She was speaking on cnn. Hagel isecretary chuck reportedly completing a number of new rules to address rampant Sexual Assault in the military after Pentagon Survey estimated 26,000 people in the armed forces were sexually assaulted last year. The National Institutes of health says it has reached an unprecedented deal with the family of Henrietta Lacks that gives them a say in how her genetic material is used for research. Henrietta lacks was a poor africanamerican tobacco farmer who died of Cervical Cancer in baltimore in 1951 at the age of 31. Her cancer cells collect it without her consent or knowledge did not die in the lab as others had, but instead they multiplied and became the backbone for tens of thousands of studies, aiding in key medical breakthroughs. s family did lacks not learn how they were being used until decades later. Their struggle to come to terms with that lack of control became the subject of the bestselling book the immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, by rebecca skloot. Group of year, a european scientists published the genome of one of her cell lines without telling the family. Family members objected and finally reached a deal which will require researchers to submit applications to access Henrietta Lackss genome which will be reviewed by a panel that includes two members of their family. A grand jury in the bronx for a new york city has failed to read and i the new York City Police officer who fatally shot unarmed africanamerican teenager Ramarley Graham who was shot at close range last february after being chased by an aquatics officers into his building. Police say he was trying to empty a small bag of marijuana into the toilet before he was killed. Officer Richard Hastings invited manslaughter,r but a judge reluctantly throughout the indictment in may on procedural grounds. On wednesday, another grand jury chose not to indict officer haste a second time. Ramarley grahams mother Constance Malcolm told the New York Post the family will hold a News Conference today to announce the next steps. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin today with a Major Development for opponents of new York City Police departments controversial stop and frisk row graham. In a settlement announced wednesday, the nypd agreed to stop storing the names of people who were arrested or issued a summons after being stopped and frisked and later cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. For years police have used the database to target new yorkers for criminal investigations, even though it includes people who were victims of unjustified police stops. Since 2002, the Police Department has conducted over 5 million stop and frisk. The vast majority of those stopped have been black and latino. According to the Police Departments own reports, nearly nine out of 10 new yorkers stopped and frisked have been innocent. Two of the people at the center of the case spoke about what happened to them in 2010 in this video produced by the new york Civil Liberties union, which filed the case just settled. First we hear from daryl kahn who was pulled over by two Police Officers in an unmarked van and issued a summons for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. The summons was later dismissed. We also hear from clive lino, who is issued a summons for spitting in public and possessing an open to tanner. His charges were also dismissed. I was riding my bike through the streets of new york. Name came up in his secret database with by private information in it, for doing nothing wrong. Anyone in the city can end up in a database. I have been stop so many times i have lost count. It is a waste of my time and an embarrassment, especially when you havent done anything at all. See n average when i on edge when i see officers. I feel like a hostage in my own neighborhood. I was riding my bike when i was pulled over by a couple of members of the nypd. Usually im not doing anything when i get stopped. They let me go. They started asking me a series of questions, none of which i was comfortable asking because i had done nothing wrong. When i protested, more Police Officers were called over. I am usually just speaking up for myself and the officers dont like that. Against thismed up van with my arms wrenched behind my back, handcuffed in my head slammed against the van repeatedly. No, im not a bad person. I dont have a felony. Ive never been to prison. I hold a job. Up my mastersd degree at mercy college. The voices of clive lino and daryl kahn who sued the new york Police Department for its stop and frisk database. A federal judge is expected to issue a ruling in a major case challenging the constitutionality of the overall stop and Frisk Program. For more were joined by donna lieberman, director of the new york Civil Liberties union. The new york Police Department did not respond to our request for comment. Donna, explain the settlement. It follows a couple of years of litigation. It is an important victory for all new yorkers because it really closes the last loophole in the nypd stop and frisk database. A law was passed in 2010, signed into law by governor paterson, that prohibits the Police Department from maintaining the names and addresses of individuals who were stopped and frisked and not arrested. The people who were arrested and cleared of criminal wrongdoing have their names kept in the Police Department database, even though there is a statute that says when someone has been charged their charges are dismissed, the database has to be cleared with regard to the incident. So the Police Department was doggedly holding onto this information, so we had to go to court. Finally, they agreed to settle it after the Appeals Court said we had valid claims. Explain who was in this database and how many people are in it. Millions, 5e million, 6 Million People in the nypd database. Ay kelly and the letter couple of years ago said this is important for us to have because it helps us to investigate crimes translates into rounding up the usual suspects. There were many who believed in fact the proliferation of stop and frisk of hundreds of thousands, millions of new yorkers and youre so innocent they walked away without even a summons, was prompted by the Police Departments desire to get a database of all black and brown new yorkers. That may be a little extreme, but who knows . Who knows how it was really being used. We do know the Collateral Damage of the stop and Frisk Program that targeted people of color is totally out of control, was this Police Database of innocent new yorkers and there is no reason why there should be a Permanent Police file of innocent people by virtue of stop and frisk. We invited the new york Police Department on. The Deputy Commissioner paul browne could not join us but its in the following comment funny the court didnt inc. So. Funny the port didnt think so. The striking the personal information for the people who werent arrested and the other was an already existing law that required the ceiling of records with regard to people, people who were arrested and people were exonerated to the court proceedings. It was that law the Police Department was not complying with. If the Police Department wasnt doing it, is sort of surprising they didnt decide to settle it a long time ago. It is interesting in the new york times, Senior Lawyer for the city said some of the information was already accessible to Police Officers or other databases. She said, at the end of the day, it did make sense to continue thisarticular litigation. The forms the police are required to fill out remain available to the Police Department, but they are not an electronic database. What we had here was an electronic easily searchable database that could pull up information in seconds. And that was the problem. Of course the police hold onto the records they maintain on paper. Theof course, by the way, database is really, really important, just other personally added to file information that is important. The database tells us how many stops and frisk circling on and who theyre targeting. That is how we have found out, that is why new yorkers know the program is out of control. It is really important to keep the information, but to keep it in and epidemiological way without personally attend a viable information so we can track this epidemic and not hurt people whose privacy rights are being impacted. Stop and frisk hurts when it happens. People are sometimes physically brutalized. People are subjected to humiliation. Their dignity is disrespected. T is a traumatic experience the database is the silent pain, the silent heart of stop and frisk. If by virtue of walking while black youre put into a permanent Police Database of usual suspects, that is a scar that can hurt you in any time in your life. Lets look at the numbers. In 2012, well over half a million stops and frisks, two years after the law. This doesnt change the number of stop and frisks. Andwere totally innocent 55 were africanamerican, 32 latino. This doesnt change the stops and frisks, just how they collect data. Ofexactly. There are a lot challenges going on to the nypd stop and Frisk Program. There are three major class action lawsuits now pending in federal court. One that challenges the abuses in the stop and Frisk Program overall, one that challenges what is called the clean holes program which is stop and frisk abuse in residential buildings where landlords sign up for particular Police Protection and the police have used that as a pretext to suggest residents all sorts of constitutional violations. And one that is involved with public housing. We expect a ruling from the federal court about the constitutional violations that are part of the nypd stop and Frisk Program any day, any week now, and that will be very, very important. Theres another aspect of the work going on to rein in this outofcontrol Police Department, which is the legislation pending in the city council. The city Council Passed an Inspector General bill in which a profiling bill with a super majority on the boat, the mayor has promised to strongarm one vote so his veto will not be overridden, and i think we are convinced the city council is and theseold firm historic pieces of legislation will override the veto and we will have a better framework for fair and just policing and safe streets, by the way, in new york city at the end of the day. s what about mayor bloomberg response who has said there are not enough stops and frisks . Is hard to take that seriously. The rand corporation, which was commissioned to do the Police Departments bidding in a report a few years ago, said in a city this size, you would expect maybe 250,000, three hundred thousand stops and frisks. That is when we only had 400,000, 500,000 going on. It is live, ludicrous and you know what it says about the mayor . Get it,he just doesnt that he is not black, he doesnt understand the experiences of black parents who have to train their kids how to survive in encounter with the police where they are dissing you and you havent done anything wrong. He just doesnt get it. I am confident that we will see major changes clearly show the stops are generally proportionate with the suspects descriptions and for years now critic seven try and argue minorities are stopped disproportionally, he said. He said, if you look at the crime numbers, its just not true. The numbers dont lie. Say the word black, you arrest a lot of people in new york city or stop and frisk them. The myth about stop and frisk is it is about stopping suspiciouspeople. About 15 i think my number is right of the stops are of people who fit the suspects description. The overwhelming majority are Police Initiated on the street. And when so ma of the people walk away from a stop it is supposed to be based on suspicious activity without so much as a summons in an era broken windows policing where they arrest people and give them a ticket for an open container, for spitting on the sidewalk like clive lino . That is hollow. This isnt a program about stopping. , this is about stopping and frisking people who are innocent. Innocent new yorkers who commit the crime of walking while black. Thank you very much, donna lieberman, for being with us, executive director of the new york city Civil Liberties union. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn to the case of the longtime civil rights attorney who is fighting for her life behind bars. Lynne stewart has long been known as an attorney who championed unpopular clients whom she felt should be fairly represented in court read this rahmans sheik omar abdel who was convicted of conspiring to blow up the United Nations in new york city. In 2010 Lynne Stewart was sentenced to 10 years in prison for passing messages from the shaikh to his followers in egypt. Now 73 years old, she is dying from cancer. Last month her treating physician in prison estimated her Life Expectancy is approximately 18 months. This came after the federal bureau of prisons denied her request for early release. A denial her lawyers are repealing. Before we are joined by one of her lawyers along with Lynne Stewarts has been an daughter, who is a doctor, i want to read to aetter who wrote letter that Lynne Stewart wrote to the judge that democracy now obtain a copy of. Stewart wrote in part that is what Lynne Stewart wrote to the judge will hear arguments today in federal court for a compassionate release. This is Lynne Stewart in 2000 and what she spoke to democracy now in our last podcast interview before beginning her prison sentence. Lynne stewart explained the background of the case and why she had been charged. I represented Omar Abdel Rahman at trial. That was in 1995, along with ramsey clark and i was lead trial counsel. He was convicted in september of 1995, sentenced to a life prison plus 100 years one of the usual outlandish sentences. We continued all three of us to visit him while he was in jail. He was a political client. That means he is targeted by the government. And because it is so important to prisoners to be able to have access to their lawyers, sometime in 1998, i think, maybe it was, they imposed a severe restriction on him. That is his ability to communicate with the outside world, to have interviews, to be held even call his family was limited by something called measures. Ministrative the lawyers were asked to sign on for the special administrative measures and warned that if the measures were not adhered to, they could indeed lose contact with their client. In other words, be removed from the case. In 2000, i visited the sheik and he asked me to make a press release. This press release had to do with the current status of an organization that at that point was basically defunct. I agreed to do that. In may maybe it was later than that, sometime in 2000, i made the press release. Interestingly enough, we found out later the Clinton Administration under janet reno had the option to prosecute me, and they declined to do so. Based on the notion that without lawyers like me or the late bill kunstler remedy that i could name or many that i could gag they need the flies. I signed the agreement again not to do this. They did not stop me from representing him. I continue to represent him. It was only after 9 11 in april 2002 that John Ashcroft came to new york, announced the indictment of me, my paralegal, and the interpreter for the case on grounds of materially aiding a terrorist organization. To thethe footnotes case, of course, is ashcroft also appeared on nationwide television with letterman that night, ballyho great bushs Justice Department in indicting. That was Lynne Stewart speaking on democracy now in 2009, on her last broadcast interview before beginning her prison sentenced. She has served 46 months so far for 10 year sentence, just shy of numeral four years. We will be joined by attorney jill shellow, her husband ralph poynter, and her daughter zenobia brown. We asked the prison officials if Lynne Stewart could join us by television from the federal prison, but they did not respond to our request. Our producer renee feltz visited her a few weeks ago when we did our report on her from the present. We welcome you all to democracy now lets begin, ralph poynter, your wife is in prison. He visited her last week. Talk about the significance of todays hearing. It is possible that lynne could be released by the judge. It is possible he will reserve decision. There are many possibilities. Theres a possibility he will agree with a prosecution. We dont know. We are showing support by amassing people in front of the courtroom, in the courtroom for it 20,000 signatures came in to support her compassionate release. Many people around the world brazil. If you name the country, we have a letter from the particular area. Many people understand the injustice taking place in many people have signed on in support of lynne and her struggle for liberation. I want to read a letter from the federal bureau of prisons, the assistant director dated june 24 in which denied Lynne Stewart request for compassionate release. She wrote i want to compare that to the prognosis given by Lynne Stewart s treating physician before she went into prison. Her doctor wrote in july 2012 about a year ago jill shellow, you are Lynne Stewarts attorney. She was denied compassionate release. Is this your last chance today with judge koeltl, the original touch her case . I hope not. I think it will be part of a process. Lynne as a letter you started kinney, ifm kathy your circumstances change he may seek consideration. E has sought consideration. I believe judge koeltl will hear us today we had while he could rule today, i believe that we can also appear before him again at least once before this matter is resolved. I also want to get response mccarthy, former federal prosecutor who was Lynne Stewarts adversary during the 1995 trial of mr. Omar abdel rahman. He said he had no problem with the idea that prisoners like mr. Omar abdel rahman who are serving life sentences for heinous offenses should have to die in prison. But regarding Lynne Stewarts case he said to lynne turn stewarts daughter, dr. Zenobia brown. How will your mother be cared for if released . She will probably continue with the same treatment shes been getting in prison. I think what people are not aware of is at the stage of cancer, there is no cure. Basically, it is a battle for time. At ts point she is losing that battle and that is clear. That is why it was so shocking when they denied her compassionate release based on really what was not the case. There are 200 pages of medical records that went into her went up to washington and would appear that none of them were reviewed, that no specialist in Palliative Care or has prognostic background, that a single document you are a specialist. Yes. It, sort of looking through they literally made this decision based on a single physicians comment that the patient was responding well. No doctor in this country is really trained to deal out justice. And basically, the entire case of whether my mother would be released or not was on a two sentence letter from her treating oncologist. So it is just the injustice of that and the fact there really was no sort of object of party looking at this data really is mind boggling. A 2012nt to read part of report by Human Rights Watch on compassionate release in u. S. Federal prisons dr. Zenobia brown, could you respond to that . It is quite remarkable that you are a hospice physician. The irony is shocking. Really, it almost is a no brainer. The b. O. P. Has to interest in releasing prisoners. That is not their business. Their business is heads in the beds. So to put them in charge of deciding whether or not these cases even get presented, i mean, there is no one who would sort of support that is the way it should be done. Also this arbitrary increase from 12 months to 18 months, there is no medical foundation for it, no Research Done on a 12 to 18 month basis, so that is also completely arbitrary. Mothers case, basically, the physicians were visiting with her in carswell everyday see her losing 20 pounds, supported her compassionate release only to have it tonight. The prison warden supported it. So it is to happen tonight at this higher level is just heinous and cruel and unusual. How would you care for her if she were released . It is doing all of those things. I think anyone who has battled cancer knows just being treated for cancer outside of prison is difficult. It is trying physically and emotionally. There are some basic things, for example, in prison and she has lifethreatening low blood counts the sort of nothing is done. There is no recourse, knowing to call, nor did treat her so as she is seen her cellmates die horrible deaths with no medical care, she could see that. If she got a fever, we would take her to the emergency room, to a doctor read if she has pain, we will make sure she has metastatic disease to the bone. We would make sure she has no pain during the night, has no fluid on her lungs, make sure she can breathe. It is so basic free at it is just humanitarian. Were not talking about wild and outrageous treatment, just compassionate and basic care. Ralph poynter, if you could talk about your visits to the prison. Lynne does nothing for herself. Everything is done for her. In prison you have to make your own bed but she does not have to because she does not take long walks read the prison brings her food. Everything is done for her as she sits. For them to say she can take care of herself is just outrageous. Obviously, she does not. She looks to have a walker to walk around the visiting room is a chore. In prison they dont like you to be close. We dont walk because she holds on to walk. For them to make a statement that she is improving when we know her lungs are being clogged, this is dangerous a dangerous situation and the prison once heard that. I dont call them prisons anymore, i call them death camps. Jill shellow, what will you be arguing in court . The bureau of prisons failure for them toailure come to court and asked for the sentence to be reduced in itself is a constitutional violation. It gives judge koeltl the authority both combined with a great baby is ripped areas he has the power to reduce her sentence or vacate her sentence. There are exceptional and compelling circumstances that is beyond doubt. The United States Attorneys Office does not came dispute she is dying. They dont dispute at this point monthstor says she has lef to live. They dont dispute that the doctors caring for her at carswell believe she should be released. There is no excuse. None. That is the argument. I remember covering this case all of the years that Lynne Stewart was going through this in court. And that moment when she came out on the courthouse steps, this very controversial moment, she then sentenced to 2. 5 years in prison. She looks out and her grandchildren are weeping. She is also i havent seen her in prison, but shes a very funny person. She uses humor to comfort people. Seeing people grieving like that i she was sentenced, first to 2. 5 years, she said, dont worry i can do the standing on my head. That is a misstatement. What she said, as many as my clients have said to me when they received a sentence that as less than possible from expected, i can do that standing on my head. That is a big difference than her saying i can do that standing on my head. If you do that, go back and look at the tapes, you can see this. She also began by thanking the judge. All of this has been skipped by the media who lied about what she said. Why this is relevant at all is the fact that lynne into dubbing sentenced to 10 years, q explain how she was sentenced to 2. 5 years and then 10 years . Jill shellow. I wish i had a good explanation. I can tell you technically that when she appealed her conviction, the underlying , thection for the conduct government cross appealed her sentence. The conviction was affirmed in the sentence was vacated with directions to judge koeltl in no Uncertain Terms that the court of appeals thought the 28 months was too lenient. , followingl then what he believed, im sure, to begin structures of the court of appeals, sentenced her to 10 years. The only thing that changed between his first sentence in the second sentence was the statement that ralph described in the court of appeals opinion. Nothing other than that changed. That is one of the issues pending in the Supreme Court. On herd a petition behalf earlier this year and will be conference at the end of september. The solicitor general has opposed that, which is surprising only in that the solicitor general does not file very many oppositions. And that will be a question that hopefully the Supreme Court will address. What time today is the Court Hearing . I know it will be packed. Square. At foley we will be covering it and report tomorrow what ever comes of this, whether a decision is made or whatever happens we will report on it tomorrow. Thank you all for being with us, attorney jill shellow, Lynne Stewart ralph poynters husband who is just returned from visiting her in jail in texas, and her daughter, dr. Zenobia brown. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We will be back in a moment for. Ou an [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we in today show by looking at a startling new article detailing how an undercover Police Officer infiltrated useful protest and got caught for it article is written by reporter mike elk called activists identify d. C. Cop who infiltrated bangladesh sweatshop protest. He writes that the activist had long suspected Police Routinely infiltrated and spied on their protest, but until now, were unable to conclusively identify any specific undercover Police Officer. After months of gathering evidence, attorneys jeffrey light and sean canavan worked with the United States students against sweatshop or usas, to confirm the true identity of metro Police Officer nicole rizzi who had posed as a protester named missy. On monday, usas filed suit against the District Of Columbia seeking an injunction to stop police from spying on the groups activities. Activities were able to uncover nicole rizzis identity ago she left several clues on social media sites. In a photo posted on the site yfrong, nicole rizzi points out a typo on a piece of no address to the d. C. Metropolitan Police Department read her finger partially covers up the address line, but it appears to identify her as director of the intelligence branch. On her now deleted tweeter account, she tweeted they used to call me no sweat nico because no matter how hot it was at academy, i never sweat. Tumblro wrote on her account. For more on the story were joined by reporter mike elk who broke the peace. Welcome. Explain how they identified this officer and what the significance of this means. In some ways i think it is a testament to what a small town d. C. Is that they could identify this woman. She had been seen that a lot of meetings, nearly every protest, but no one seemed to know her and she acted strange. And i guess this will one activist was at a bar and shouted twitter account of this woman and right away lacey knew this woman was missy. After scrolling through the account, began to discover her name was actually nicole and she was a cop, based on her describing the daytoday routine. , there matter of time was a lot of obsessive facebook stalking a social media stocking and found this woman by being an undercover cop could not stop talking about being a cop on twitter and facebook, etc. , etc. Jeffrey light was walking outside a protest at childrens place which refuses to sign the fire safety accord for bangladesh, and they spotted her and observed her a several other protest. Real crack work by some activists. Explain what usas is doing. Right now theyre putting pressure on retailers like cap, the childrens place, walmart, target to sign the bangladesh accord on fire and safety that would set up a thirdparty organization to monitor safety conditions in bangladesh as well as allow binding arbitration i bydesh he courts bangladeshi courts. And what are they doing about the infiltration by the d. C. Officer . Under a law passed in 2004, an officer cannot be used undercover unless there is approval from a designated person within the Police Department. An audit by the d. C. Government last year showed in 17 cases over five years in which Police Officers were used undercover, not one of them had approval. Rom this right now the lawyers are suing to get an injunction to stop the spying on the usas. I see. You also write that this missy, nicole rizzi, the undercover cop, was at an antikeystone pipeline protest as well at the Canadian Embassy on march 21. That a world bank protest and people claim their spotted her at other events over the years. Quite a few people have spoken about her. What does this infiltration mean for protest . What kind of effect do you think it has . Does it make people afraid to get involved and doesnt make people been suspicious of each other, like who is infiltrating . Who is really here because theyre deeply concerned about an issue . Certainly, organizing is about folks coming together that dont know each other to fight for something collectively. If you are an organizer or activist and a stranger, a well intentioned stranger comes up to you and wants to get involved and you dont know them, are you going to be suspect this person is a cop who might spy on you and disruptor protest . I think it builds distrust among strangers at an increasingly difficult time need to come together and organize. I think it is a real problem. You have written a great deal about bangladesh labor abuses and their connection to u. S. Multinational corporations. Latestout what is the now and why people would be outside childrens place, when clothing store, and other places like this. It appears u. S. Government did slap a small sanction on the Bangladeshi Government for its records on workers right. They took away the special traits status, but it only cost the industry about 40 million a year and doesnt directly involve the garment industries. It was more symbolic. It appears things are going back to normal in bangor. Workers got the right to join a Union Hospital workers right to joining union were taken away. Show the by people building inspectors are still doing the same corrupt things they did in the past. It appears business is going back to normal. And thing has been done to try to the people they killed in the i trade unionist the bangladeshi trade unionist. Photoont even provide a of the suspect. It appears there is more pressure going on but bangladesh seems to be waiting it out. The u. S. Could slap tougher sanctions, but they keep throwing out this card that it would breed radical islam in bangladesh. You see the war on terror preventing or disrupting activists at home here in the u. S. As was preventing tougher sanctions on bangladesh because of this fear of radical islam in bangladesh. Mike elk, does anything happen when undercover officers posing as a protester actually gets outed like in the case of nicole rizzi . She may get fired. It is unclear. Why would she get fired . She is not doing this on her own. I think when someone does something as sloppy as being an undercover cop in talking about it all over social media, that is kind of a screwup. Mike all, thank you for being with us. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] tavis good evening. From los angeles, i am tavis tonight, a conversation with Harrison Ford. He has played a president and adventurers. His films have grossed billions worldwide, but of all the men he has played, nine is like the brooklyn dodgers player who challenge the pervasive situation of the day by putting Jackie Roosevelt Robinson on the field, and sports would never be the same. We are glad you joined us for our conversation with Harrison Ford, coming up right now. There is a saying that dr. King had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. I just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. We know that we are only about halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. Walmart committed 2 billion to fighting hunger in the u. S. As we work together, we can stamp hunger out. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Tavis more than a decade before civil rights activists took to the streets to challenge jim crow laws, branch rickey, general manager of the then brooklyn dodgers, and played by Harrison Ford in the movie 42, went up against a wall of segregation and brought in Jackie Roosevelt Robinson to integrate americas then all white pastime. It was a courageous move by both men. Robinson endured horrendous opposition, of course, from racially charged taunts to death threats, all the while triumphing on the field. Rickey took on the baseball establishment, defied owners, general managers, and fans. That important piece of history is front and center in 42, a movie that celebrates how rickey and robinson changed america. Before we start our conversation with Harrison Ford, lets take a look. Proofdo you do it it . I love baseball. I have given my whole life to it. 40odd years ago, i was at a university, and we had a negro catcher, the best hitter on the so i am laid low, broken because of the color of his skin and i did not do enough to help. I told myself. Unfair atsomething ,he heart of the game i love and i knew that when the time came that i could no longer do i could love baseball again. Tavis first of all, good to see you again, welcome back. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Tavis congratulations, number one last weekend. Yeah, im very pleased
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