Transcripts For WHUT Democracy Now 20130927

Earthquake, but the United Nations has refused to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation sought by victims and family members. Outside the u. N. , dozens of people gathered to condemn the u. N. Role. This is a protester. Wasn haiti or the issue already a poor country, it became worse because we didnt have infrastructure. It is crazy the water we consider as live [indiscernible] application [indiscernible] the worlds top climate scientists have unveiled their strongest warning to date about the disastrous consequences of human caused Climate Change is drastic efforts are not adopted Greenhouse Gas emissions. For the first time the International Panel on Climate Change formally endorsed a limit on emissions, saying no more than one jillion tons of carbon can be burned if humanity hopes to avoid a global temperature increase of more than 3. 6 degrees fahrenheit. Already more than half that amount has been admitted that she emitted. The world is on pace to build its trillion ton of carbon in less than a decade. The ipcc expressed even more certainty than ever that humans are responsible for global warming, saying there is a 95 to 100 chance most earning in recent decades has been caused by humans. A federal audit has revealed the fbi has been operating drones inside the United States since 2006 at a cost of more than 3 million. In total, the Justice Department has been nearly 5 million on drugs according to the report, which was issued by the agencys inspector general. That includes funds to several local police departments, which auditors said the department has failed to track. The report urged officials to develop new guidelines to protect privacy, saying drones raised unique concerns about privacy and drones currently operate under the same rule as man surveillance planes. The senate is set to approve a funding bill that would avoid a Government Shutdown on tuesday after eliminating a house approved provision to defund the Affordable Care act. During a News Conference on thursday, House Speaker john boehner signaled House Republicans will continue their bid to use the budget battle to advance their agenda and slash government spending. In light of bringing the debt bill limit to the floor, will you now [indiscernible] i do not see that happening. House republicans also set the stage for another battle over looming deadline to increase the debt ceiling, laying out possible conditions for raising the limit, including a oneyear delay for the health , a rollback of financial and environmental regulations and construction of the Keystone Xl Oil pipeline. Top u. S. Intelligence officials appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday to defend the National Security agencys sweeping collection of domestic phone logs. , generalostured or keith alexander, dodged questions from democratic senator ron wyden of oregon about whether the nsa had used cell phone signals to collect data on the location of u. S. Citizens. General alexander also faced questions from democratic senator mark udall of colorado. Isnt the goal of the nsa to collect the phone records of all americans . Au talk about building haystack. I believe it is in the nations best interest to put all the phone records into a lockbox that we can search when the nation needs to do it. Yes. And the way we do it and the way we comply would ensure better security for this nation. Senators udall and weiner backing a bill that would ban the nsas massive collection of phone records. Democratic senator dianne and republican senator Saxby Chambliss are drafting a rival bill that would preserve the nsa program. An International Appeals court has upheld a 50 Year Prison Sentence for former liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes during the civil war in sierra leone. Taylor was found guilty last year of overseeing crimes including murder, rape and sexual slavery, and drafting child soldiers. He was the first african head of state to be found guilty in an International Court and the first head of state convicted since world war ii. U. S. Officials have previously confirmed taylor worked for the cia and other u. S. Intelligence agencies during his emergence as a warlord in the 1980s. In florida, an africanamerican mother of three who was sentenced to 20 or some prison for firing a warning shot at a wall near her abusive husband will get a new trial. Marissa alexanders sentence true claims of racial bias in comparisons to George Zimmermans acquittal for killing africanamerican teenager Trayvon Martin. A florida Appeals Court ordered a new trial saying the jury for case had received faulty instructions. The court upheld an earlier judges ruling blocking alexander from using the states stand your ground law in her defense. Meanwhile, George Zimmermans estranged wife, shelly, is expressing doubts about claims zimmerman acted in selfdefense when he killed Trayvon Martin. Shellie zimmerman has filed for divorce and recently called 911 to report George Zimmerman had threatened her and assaulted her father. She was interviewed by matt lauer. Hiso you no doubt innocence, at least the fact he was acting in selfdefense on the night Trayvon Martin was killed . I think anyone would doubt that innocence, because i dont know the person i have been married to. A former Montana High School teacher convicted of raping a 14yearold student who later committed suicide has been released from prison after completing his 30 day term. Stacey rambolds monthlong sentence parked national outcry, particularly after judge todd baugh claimed rambolds 14 old victim was older than her chronological age and as much in control of the situation as her perpetrator. The judge later apologized, admitting he were demanding of all women. On 10 a prosecutors are appealing rambolds sentencing he should have received a minimum of two years under state law. The texas lawmaker who mesmerized the country when she rose to her feet for nearly 11 hour filibuster against an anti choice bill will run for governor of texas. Democratic state senator wendy davis is due to make announcements next week. The democrats never have confirmed her candidacy to media outlets. Lgbt groups are calling for a boycott of guerrillas to after its president told an italian Radio Program he wouldnt betray nonstraight couples in the companys ads because they diverged from his idea of the classic family. He suggested lgbt people who dont like the ads or the pasta could try another brand. He since apologized for his remarks. Details adian report lifethreatening conditions faced by migrant laborers in qatar as the country prepares to 22 inworld cup in 2022. Nepalese workers reportedly died at a rate of one per day in qatar. Many were young men who it said heart attacks. Workers who fall ill from school the Living Conditions and are denied wages and access to Drinking Water by employers who routinely confiscate their passports. According to the International Trade union congress, construction for the world cup will leave an estimated 4000 Migrant Workers dead. Qatar has the worlds highest proportion of workers Migrant Workers. An activist on Hunger Strike in solidarity with prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and in the california prison system has staged a Second Public force feeding. Was saidomas conteris through a nasal tube and front of the open headquarters of the California Department of corrections was surrounded by supporters. Andres Thomas Conteris has been on Hunger Strike for more than 80 days and lost nearly 60 pounds. The independent daily halfhour news program free speech radio news is airing its last edition today due to funding shortfalls. According to its website, fsrn is looking into the possibility of restructuring its organization in the future. Former black Panther Herman Wallace holden solitary confinement for more than 40 years in louisiana, now reportedly has just days to live. Supporters say his terminal liver cancer has taken a worse term for the worst and his request for compassionate release has so far gone unanswered by louisiana governor bobby jindal. Wallace and two others, known as the angola three, were placed in solitary in 1972 following their conviction for murdering a prison guard. They say they were framed because of their pitical activism. Herman wallace is 71 years old. Another member of the angola three who remains in prison, auburn woodfox, says he has been subjected to strip searches and cavity searches as often as six times a day even though his wrists and ankles are shackled tother when he is outside of his cell. He is 68 years old. The searchers have been declared unlawful in the 1970s by Louisiana District Court judge daniel leblanc. Arch reportedly resumed the search is almost immediately after the judge died in may. Woodfoxs legal team requested a restraining order to put a hold on the invasive searches, but a hearing on the motion has been delayed. Angolaave more on the three next week, broadcasting live from new orleans on monday and tuesday. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. As republicans try again to block the implementation of obamacare, the major part of the Affordable Care act is about to take effect. Individuals seeking Health Insurance under obamacare will be able to enroll online through a new federal marketplaces beginning tuesday, october 1. The marketplaces are primarily designed to serve the 40 million americans without Health Insurance and those who buy insurance on their own. Earlier this week, the white house unveiled new figures showing most Health Care Premiums or cost less than previous the projected. The average midtier plan will most 328 a month with qualifying for government subsidies to lowerhat price. Meanwhile on capitol hill, republican senator ted cruz of texas held a quasifilibuster against what has come to be known as obamacare. And anyone who is trying to make this a battle of personalities is trying to change the topic from the topic that should matter. Isther or not obamacare helping the american people. Mr. President , if you focus on substance, the evidence overwhelming, this law is a train wreck. On thursday, president obama mocked his republican opponents and vowed to stop attempts to get the program bogged down in an ongoing budget stalemate. Now, of course, the closer we have gotten to this date, the folkse responsible opposed to this law have become the more irresponsible folks opposed to this law have become. Some of the same republicans warned this law would be armageddon. That is what they said, armageddon. Stepsheyre threatening that actually would badly hurt our entire economy. For what theyre threatening to do. Some have threatened a Government Shutdown if they can shut down this law. Others have actually threatened in economic shutdown by refusing to pay americas bills if they cant delay the law. Going to happen as long as i am president. Under the new health care law, everyone must be enrolled in a Health Insurance plan or pay a penalty by next year. With the opening day for the Health Insurance the Health Exchanges less than a week away, many people still have questions about how it will work. In new york, people looking for Health Insurance will be able to turn to a network of agencies around the state to out them enrolled. One of the Partner Organizations is the Community Service society of new york. To walk us through what will happen here and throughout the country, were joined by its Vice President of Health Initiatives, elisabeth benjamin. Welcome to democracy now you are chosen or qualified as one of thousands of navigators throughout the country who are officially empowered to help people. So what happens on tuesday, october 1 . What happens on tuesday is the statebased exchanges and the federally facilitated exchanges of what we now call marketplaces will be open for business. That means there will be these websites, essentially, one giant one for the entire country that will be open and people will be able to put in some basic information about themselves and who lives with them and set up an account, a little username and an id, then it will put in information about themselves, their family. They will indicate if that the Social Security number or not. They will put how much their income is roughly, and then they will be processed and determined whether they are eligible for Financial Aid to buy Health Insurance. Once they decide theyre eligible for Financial Aid to buy Health Insurance, then they can select between the different plan options out there. Basically, people will be able to start shopping for Health Insurance in a way that does apple samples comparison. Box you mention in the state exchanges in the federal exchanges. Can you explain the difference . Where the states are running them as opposed to the federal government and why . Their 17 states that have decided to move forward with the implementation of the Affordable Care act and 17 states have for implementing it in another 17 im sorry, another 27 to us saying, we dont want anything to do with this. Were going to let the federal government come in and run the marketplace for our state. No matter where you are, you will be able to get a wide selection of insurance carriers and you will be qualified for Financial Aid. In new york, three quarters of the people who go to the marketplace will be eligible for some kind of Financial Aid to purchase commercial Health Insurance. So here you are, you go on this website, and you just said want to put in all of your information, you then choose the insurance you want. That sounds, to say the least, extremely daunting. First ofll, how many choices to people have in new york and all over the country . How on earth can you figure out what you want . The amazing thing is, it wont be daunting anymore. Right now if you are a Small Business and you wanted to shop for Health Insurance on the open market in new york state, you would have a choice of 15,600 products. That is overwhelming. That is complicated. When you go to the marketplace, you can fit in your information and it will give you a very small it will give you a selection of plans, you will have choices, but they will be standardized. You will be a blue do a real comparison. You will know exactly how, for with bluetna compares cross blue shield. For the first time, purchasing insurance will be on a level playing field, which is remarkable for consumers. It is more simple. You mention Small Businesses. There have been some kinks in androllout of the program some information, for instance, spanishlanguage information will not be available yet for several we . Also,nformation on Small Businesses, has that been delayed as well . No. What is great for Small Businesses, there was never a mandate for Small Business which is quite large, less than 50 employees, and that is, not employees, secret of 80 employees and half are halftime, you still qualify as a Small Business. There is no mandate or requirement for them to offer coverage to their employees. What there is, however, this opportunity of 50 tax credit. That means, say we have bob who owns a body shop and has 7 employees that make 24,000 a year. He lives in queens. Money, hisaying much workers are lowwage. He cannot the federal government pay 50 of the 60,000 insurance tab for that Small Business. 16,000 insurance tapper that Small Business. Incentivextraordinary for Small Business. If youre someone that has two or more employees, i encourage you to go with what theyre calling Small Business or marketplaces or shop exchanges or other words we use for them. There will be one of the federal level but also in the states moving forward, and shop yr there. What has been delayed was the mandate on large employers to either offer coverage or pay a penalty. The is not so important for simple reason that 95 of all large employers already offer coverage. Most large employers offer coverage, why . Because that is how you maintain good employees. Issue, mentioning Large Businesses that already supplied insurance. Are there provisions or tax credits for employees who are receiving Health Insurance but maybe the premiums theyre being offered are too high . Not just the 40 million who are uninsured, but people currently in short . Offere employers coverage. But what comes out of your check every two weeks, it can be expensive. If that insurance is over 9. 5 , your grosss income wages, you can then say, forget it, im not taking my employers offer of coverage, im going to go to this marketplace and get a big old tax credit or Financial Aid and get insurance through the marketplace. That is super good. Of thethe issue Associated Press reporting the spanishlanguage version of the Health Care Website will not be ready for several weeks . I believe it will be shortly. It takes a lot. It is a big project. They are working as hard as they can. The best minds are working on the federal exchanges and here in new york. I think it will be bilingual shortly. If you dont have access to a computer, what do you do . That is where people like me come in. We are called navigators and we are certified in new york state. We have been through a threeday training. We are the place you can go for absolutely neutral, independent assistance in enrolling into this marketplace. You can come to me. I can sit with you and walk you through the process. Youersonally or your organization . I am certified. In my organization. I think we have 10 of us already certified. We have a network of 40 other groups, 17 of which are chambers of commerce around the state of new york, gore certified help either small employers or individuals go through this process. What is great about these navigators, and every single state has them, we are absolutely neutral. We are not on commission from an Insurance Company. We have no opinion about whether one Insurance Company is better than another. We will figure out which Insurance Companies offer your hospitals, your doctors, how they rank. We can tell you how they rate on the quality ratings, like how they do on outcomes for various things like today vaccinate their kids by 100 or get enrolled in the company by age two or five or whatever it is. But anyway, that is what we can do. We are paid by grants from the government, not on a commission from an Insurance Company. You mention there are navigators across the country. Some states have anti certification and the availability of these navigators completely extremely difficult. Georgia, for example, florida. How do people find these navigators . Them . Licensing works were licensed through the training and your, we do it through state based training. We go through rigorous training, at least three days here in new york. Theres a inservice training going on all along. People find them by going to health care. Gov. If you go and type in new york, it will flip you over to the new york state of help marketplace. My organization is and 61 out of 62 counties. They do have great navigators in that county. What is the number of Community Service and her navigators taking calls now or is it october 1 . We are booking appointments now. In on tuesday. E 5400 orber is 888614 you can email us. Were going to take a break and come back to this discussion. We want to ask you about some of the people have come forward asking for help and how youre dealing with them. Elisabeth benjamin, Vice President of Health Initiatives at the Community Service society of new york, one of the thousands of navigators who have been trained all over the country doubt people navigate throughout the country to help people navigate the new health care system. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. I want to turn to president obama. On wednesday you spoke with bill clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative conference. Essentially, we have created what were calling marketplaces, in every state across the country where consumers are now pool. O be part of a big insurers have to essentially compete for the business of that pool. Up are now have set these marketplaces that provide highquality health care at affordable prices for giving people choices so they can get the Health Insurance that they need and want, and the premiums are significantly lower than what they were able to previously get. Ill take the example of new york state. Bidsnsurers put in their to participate in these marketplaces. It turns out that their rates than what50 lower was available previously if you just went on the open market and try to get Health Insurance. 50 lower in the state. [applause] california, about 33 lower. In illinois, they Just Announced about 25 lower. That was president obama at the Clinton Global Initiatives conference, where he. Elisabethe with benjamin. What about these lower premiums here in new york state . How is that accomplished . Also, can you talk about the Different Levels of coverage that people have access to because depending on the level, the premiums rise substantially. Costs arereason why lower, and i think the best would think about it is like cosco. You have the ability because of the mandate, more people are coming into the market. Youmore people that know, bulk purchasing. Which makes it highly discounting. If you go on the art of open market right now, you pay over 1000 a month for one person to be on Health Insurance. The lowest price on exchanges before Financial Aid. So it is really an extraordinary thing that weve been able to pull prices down so much. Going to your second question, which is the different tiers. First of all, there are two Different Things happening at once that affect prices. The first thing happening is you get Financial Aid based on your income level. So the people that are poorest, like 15,000 for a family of one, those folks will go in the medicaid. As you go up the income been for one person up to 45,000 dollars, theres really good Financial Aid. The most Financial Aid goes to the most needy, the people that 200 of poverty in the least amount goes to people at 400 poverty. So it depends on how many people are in your household. They will figure out what your Financial Aid amount is based on how many people in your household and how much income you have. And you take your Financial Aid and you can apply it to the cost of premiums every month come your voucher, if you will. There are different premiums. Some plans voucherow does the were . They comes directly off the payment you have to pay . Or you pay first and get a rebate . First of all you can say, apply to my coverage and your coverage will be discounted automatically. Then you just pay whatever is remaining to the carrier every month. Or you can say, i think i might be getting a big raise. My income is too unstable. Im just going to do it at tax on april 15. Up it really depends if you want to take it now or later. Going to your second question from before, there are different value levels for the Insurance Companies and they are ranked on each Insurance Company will have a bronze, silver and gold offering or a platinum offering. Bronze is not as good as platinum. Expectede, you will be to pay about 40 of your cost altogether. It is not every time you go to the doctor. The Insurance Company pays around 50 . At platinum, you paid less than 10 , or 200 ever, and the whole year. In new york, that is our platinum product. The Insurance Company pays the other 90 . The fancier the plan you get, the less you pay when you go to the doctor am a a you pay more we go tohly bill the doctor, but you pay more on the monthly bill. In the bronze plan, youll never have to spend more than altogether, deductibles and costsharing, then say 8,000 a 400 ofyoure at poverty or maybe 400 if youre at much lower income. People dont go bankrupt for 4000 or 8,000. Under the Affordable Care act, we will see medical bankruptcies go away. In existing insurance, those of us who have it, we are be wooldridge oesterle we are be wooldridge constantly. You can never figure out exactly what your payment is supposed to be. How will this function under the Affordable Care act . You will have two different forms of payment. Youll have your Premium Payment on a monthly level and youll you will have what we call cost sharing when you go to the doctors. If you have a very inexpensive plan, you might also have a deductible which means you have to pay a certain amount, usually in the platinum product for example it is 200 for silver and maybe 1000 although there are special costsharing reductions for very low income in the silver product. You have to pay that before your insurance kicks in. The good news is, those deductibles dont apply to things like primary care or preventive care. In new york he wont apply to drugs. There are several protections for people on the deductibles side. There is a monthly bill and then what you pay when you go to the doctor. Give us some examples of people who will go to the system. Angie, just graduated from college, making 20,000 a year as a graphic designer. Is 250 of she party. She is not eligible for any costsharing protection, but she is eligible for significant monthly coupon. Her discount, Financial Aid, whatever you want to call it, is around 176. If she goes for the bronze plan, which is around 300 in queens, she will get 176 discount off of that as of the most shall spend a month is 162. And someone else . Whats a family of four in brooklyn. 47,000. Around the wife is a freelance photographer, husband just got laid off. They used of jobbased coverage. Lets say it happens midyear. If you get laid off a dear, you can go onto the exchange during. He year lets talk about that. October 1, you sign up and get your Health Insurance october 1 . Know, starting january 1. This is the only year were you have that gap. You start shopping in october and you have until march 31 to voluntarily get into a plan. Maybe have year jobbased coverage and you lose that in july, then you can get into the exchange and get financial what if you get hurt in april so you decide, i need insurance . What then you might be out of luck. You wont get the Financial Aid. Talk about preexisting conditions now, that is ok . Existing will be no pre exclusion anymore. Of the 48 million roughly american to dont have insurance, how many are expected the affordabley care . It is a little confusing because of the medicaid wrinkle. Originally they thought around 15,000 people on medicaid and 15000 and Financial Aid. I do not three quarters of the people that go to the exchanges, at least in new york, will be eligible for some kind of Financial Aid or medicaid. That is about 3. 2 million in new york . There are 19 Million People in the state, 2. 3 million are uninsured, so theyre expecting about 1. 1 lead people to go into the marketplace. I want to turn to a new ad on the Affordable Care act fetish reduced by generation opportunity, an activist group with funding ties to the conservative koch brothers. It shows a nurse escorting a young woman into an exam room for gynecological exam. I will do some narration for our radio listeners. Chose obama you care. It is my first time here. Here we are, then, change into a down and the doctor will be with you soon. Your vitals looked good. Any change in your diet or exercise . Swing on over, screwed on down and try to make yourself comfortable. Ok, lets have a look. The doctor walked out of the room, the woman is alone with her legs in stirrups. And all of a sudden, uncle sam pops up between her legs. She screams. The note says dont let the government play doctor. Opt out of obamacare. He is holding up a speculum and it says opt out again. Debate going on in washington and what it means to say opt out, is it possible this wont happen, that the republicans will succeed in preventing the october 1 opening of the marketplaces from happening . Absolutely not. The marketplaces are up and running. Beta tests have been done. On october 1, there will be plans up and you will be able to start doing comparison shopping. Reproductive health care for women, how women choose what is covered, if they can go to the clinics of their choices . One of the things that is really nice about the Affordable Care act is most plans will offer health care and you will be a will to have contraception and no copays and it is really and extort very thing. That is new under the Affordable Care act . Yes. It is consider preventive care. It happens to matter what, with the debt ceiling, the happens to matter what . October 1, the marketplaces are paid for, the insurance plans have made they basically laid their bids, drop their prices. The insurance industry, i think in this case, really understands what is going on. For them to drop their prices by over 50 in new york state means it is. Ahead. In california . Looks over 30 . Oregon . Looks i think it is 20 . And those who choose not to participate in the Affordable Care act, what will be the penalties and how will they be assessed . The Affordable Care act gets that everyone will be able to do it at once. They really expect sort of a phasing in anticipation. The first or the penalty is relatively small, 95 or one percent of your income. That is not a lot of money. How that would be levied, if you will, would be not this coming april 15 in 2014, but 2015. So a year and a quarter away. You have to show you got some kind of coverage next year and then you can avoid paying a penalty. And subsequent years it rises . A maximum of tubing percent of Family Income then 3 . Elisabeth benjamin, thank you for being with us, Vice President of Health Initiatives at the Community Service society. And people call from other states . But we would, refer you to healthcare. Gov. The information is right there on the website. So you can be directed to a person that can help you. Elisabeth and john, thank you for being with us. Only come back, we will be joined by Anabel Hernandez. Her book, narcoland the mexican drug lords and their godfathers. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We ended today show with a woman who has been described as one of the most courageous journalists in mexico. In 2010, Anabel Hernandez published a groundbreaking book linking top Mexican Government officials to the worlds most powerful drug cartels. She receives so many death threats, the National Human Rights Commission assigned her two fulltime bodyguards. Despite the threats, she continued to report. In 2012, she received the golden pen of Freedom Award from the World Association of newspapers and news publishers. Her own father was kidnapped and murdered 13 years ago. s 2010 bookrnandez on the mexican drug wars has just been translated into english. It is called, narcoland the mexican drug lords and their godfathers. She joins us here in new york before heading back to mexico. It is an honor to have you with us. Thank you for having me. Happening what is with the drug cartels, the connection to the government. First, i have to explain i have been investigating the drug cartels for seven years and i have enough information to give my opinion about it. Mexico,ound is in doesnt really exist a war against the drug cartels. What exists is a government of Felipe Calderon between the cartels and the government took aside of that war, protecting [indiscernible] that is why all of the violence and crime grew in mexico. Way described a similar to what happened in what you described is similar to what happened in colombia a few years ago. Could you talk about some of what yo you uncovered about those drug implicated at the same time they were fighting the drug wars for being involved with the cartels . What i found in official is thets and testimonies secretary of Public Security in mexico, the most powerful chief of police and the government of Felipe Calderon, he was involved with a drug cartel. He was on the payroll as the same as the most chief of police of the federal police. Protect guys not just the cartel, they help them to traffic drugs and money in mexico. You name a number of prominent government officials. Talk about who they are. About the names of other president s like question mark wax Felipe Calderon. Is until the last day of the government of the last president that became [indiscernible] that government used to protect the heart tells. It is not new. It is knowles story. That government made a very powerful. Thehat does it mean when u. S. Gives millions to the Mexican Government for the war and drugs and you say the Mexican Government is not fighting against the drugs, but as part of the drug cartels and supporting them . What i discovered in my investigation as much of that money, much of that technology, much of that equipment now is in the hands of the drug cartels. The amazing story is, here you have Felipe Calderon deathsg this war, 80,000 in mexico, and yet youre saying his main federal police chief was involved with one of the cartels. What has been the reaction in mexico among the justice officials or authorities to some of your revelations . When i published his book, i really was able to put many of the proof in the book. It was published in spanish. It could be difficult for people to understand and believe, but it is really happening. And i published it, the government didnt say anything. They just kept quiet. Theyre still protecting the drug cartels. Now i think society in mexico warly knows that the bloody , it was fake, it wasnt true. The federal government didnt want to fight against the drug cartels. The federal government choose to fight against some cartels andies of senior cartels protect them. I shake as you speak, Anabel Hernandez, because mexico is one of the dangers countries for journalists to work again, especially mexican journalists. I want to talk about your safety. First, your father was a journalist . Can you talk about what happened to him . My father did everything for me. Inwas kidnapped and murdered december 2000. He was a businessman. He was not a journalist. He was just a businessman. In that year, many businessmen were kidnapped for money. He was murdered. Cry for justice from the police, the chief of police said, well, if you want justice, if you want us to investigate, you have to pay. Of course, the family chose not you cant buy justice. So i dont know who killed my father. Corruption hurts. He was killed in mexico city. Yes, he was kidnapped in mexico city and his body was in a nearby state. What about you . You travel with two bodyguards . Well, yes. Since i publish this book in 2010, i have received death threats. Not from the head of the cartels, the threats i received came from the chief of police. How do you know that . Because i have an informant that called me in december 2010. He said, it is really urgent to see you. He said, im coming from a meeting of the police and that their were talking about trying to contract some police to kill you. Simulating a car accident or Something Like that. And he is offering better salaries and better positions in the police if they do it. That information really saved my life. The National Commission of human these ordered to put bodyguards with me. I want to ask you about the issue of how widespread the violence is in mexico. About a year ago we had a foreign former dutch former foreign minister and we asked him about the drug war. He said that while it was tragic and it was a mistake of the calder own administration, he believed it was largely a regional situation. He said war is it not mexico. Mexico mexico citys, people dont have the same kind of fears they do in the areas in the north like war is in tijuana. I would like your reaction to that and your sense of how widespread the problem has been a mexico as a result of this disaster, as you say, this fake war. [indiscernible] the truth is now in mexico, there are many, many places of mediumcontrol gains they kidnap people, extortion people and now mexico is a very dangerous place. Sad to say because i am mexican. But im a journalist, not a duty to say the truth. In mexico, there are many places worse than juarez. What is the role of the Drug Enforcement administration, the u. S. Administration, in mexico . Thatam now investigating because i really cant believe how they used government of the Drug Enforcement administration really didnt show what is happening in mexico. In 2011und one document and one quart of chicago that really proves the Drug Enforcement administration has a connection with the cartels. Can you tell us who the leader of this cartel is . What i found in my investigation is that he was the son of a farmer. He is a leader. He almost cant read and write. He is a vicious man. He had to leave school when he was seven years old. In my book, how this man that is almost nobody, now is the most powerful drug lords in the world. That is the answer you can find in my book. He remains at large . He remains free from somewhere in mexico still . Yes. Of course he is in mexico. Im also sure he is everywhere because he has the power to buy the state, the power to break the laws with his money. He was escorted to the prison dress as a government official, company by conspiring government officers out to a helicopter and whisked away to freedom . Yes. What i found in the criminal is he didntan, escape as the official person in the laundry car with the help of one man. He really escaped by the help of he federal government and used the uniform of police and took in a la copter. What needs to be done and what makes you so brave . Im sorry . To be done and what makes you so brave . I really think the government, not just the Mexican Government, really has to start to fight against the drug cartels. I mean, the way to start to put all those officials in jail. But the businessmen that help the drug cartels and bel in jai. But those who launder the money in jail. And you can make a Huge Campaign against the drugs. If you cut the market, you really can cut the business. Would legalizing were decriminalizing drugs help . Im not sure, if mexico, for example, is ready for that. We can see options. About the second question is because, as i said, corruption hurts. The biggest problem in mexico is the corruption. Of . Corruption is the mother guseman and the other cartels. Thank you so much for your work, for your bravery. Have a safe journey home, Anabel Hernandez. Her book is called narcoland. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] tavis good evening. From los angeles, i am tavis smiley. Tonight, the conclusion of our conversation with linda ronstadt. Voice has been silenced due to parkinsons, a loss that she feels every day. She just published a memoir called simple dreams. We are glad you have joined us, coming up, right now. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Linda ronstadts impressive career has taken her from the small stage at the troubadour to arenas and broadway. She has written a book about her life and musical journey, simple dreams. And it informed her collaboration with artists from dolly parton to willie nelson. Andone of her great friends heroes, Smokey Robinson. Tavis how great songwriter is Smokey Robinson . A terrible crush on him like every other female on the planet. I was so nervous, i thought i was going to drop dead. In that gin singing a song he wrote with him. My god. My friends and i play the top five this are the top five that, moki is about as good as it gets. He sings in the same tradition that Aaron Neville does. It goes back to the french creole thing in louisiana. Byy were very influenced french baroque opera. Really loud and belting like caruso, they would go in the falsetto and saying a lot of embellishments. Thats why he loves doo wop. He is one of the best and the last of the great doowop singers. He is much more related to french baroque opera. Belters like wilson pickett. But those guys sang in the beautiful falsetto and made it a beautiful thing. To ask yous going this question last night but we ran out of time because there was so much to get to and i can do justice to everything in this book. But every time i talk to you, i am always struck