And goliath the hidden battles to capture your data and control your world. Then eric home to the Corporate Law firm that represents many of the wall street giants he refused to prosecute. We will speak to the Rolling Stone matt taibbi. Then to gaza one year after the launch of the israel assault. We will speak to journalist Mohammed Omer in gaza city. Mohammed i believe gaza will need several years to fix or reconstruct the damages caused by the israeli military. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. European creditors have given greece five days to reach a deal to bail out its floundering economy. On sunday, greek voters overwhelmingly rejected further budget cuts and tax hikes in exchange for the bailout. As greek banks remain closed european leaders have given greece until the end of thursday to present a detailed reform plan ahead of a summit in brussels on sunday. Donald tusk, president of the european council, said this weeks deadline is final. Council president tusk we have only five days to find the agreement. Until now i have avoided talking about deadlines, but tonight i have to say the final deadline ends this week. All of us are responsible for the crisis and all of us have a responsibility to resolve it. Amy iran and world powers have extended talks on a nuclear deal for another few days after missing a selfimposed deadline tuesday. U. S. Officials are still hoping to secure a deal by thursday the last day before a mandatory congressional review period jumps from 30 days to 60 days. The talks have already been extended past a previous deadline of june 30. The white house says a deal is close but differences remain. U. S. Drone strikes have killed up to 49 people in afghanistan. The strikes reportedly took place in an area along the Pakistani Border where the taliban and militants with the selfdescribed Islamic State have been clashing. Local sources put the death toll as high as 49, and said the victims were militants. A spokesperson for the Afghan Spy Agency claimed the secondhighest figure loyal to isil in afghanistan, gul zaman was killed in an airstrike in the area. Meanwhile Afghan Government officials and taliban representatives met in pakistan tuesday, marking the first known talks between the two sides. In kenya, at least 14 people were killed when the militant group alshaabab attacked a residential compound with guns and grenades. The victims were mostly quarry workers who lived in the compound near the somali border. Alshaabab has staged a series of attacks in kenya following kenyas 2011 invasion of somalia. The massacre comes just weeks before president obama is due to visit kenya. Defense secretary ash carter has acknowledged the Obama Administrations program to train and equip moderate Syrian Rebels currently has just 60 vetted candidates. Speaking before the Senate Armed Services committee, carter said the trainees have been subjected to intense screening. Secretary carter we are also in the early stages of our Training Mission in syria. Three months into the Program Training is underway and we are working to screen almost 7000 volunteers to ensure they are committed to fighting isil passe counterintelligence screening and meet requirements required by u. S. Law and necessitated by operations. As of july 3, we are currently training about 60 fighters. The number is much smaller than we had hoped for at this point, partly because of the vetting standards i described. Juan amy amy the Syrian Rebel Training Program cost 500 Million Dollars this year. The South Carolina senate has given final approval to a measure to remove the confederate battle flag from the capitol grounds. The final tally was 36 to three. The vote came 20 days after the massacre of nine africanamerican churchgoers in africanamericans at a Charleston Church by a white suspect who embraced the confederate flag. The wife of South Carolina state senator reverend clementay pinckney visited the Senate Chambers after the measure passed. State senator Gerald Malloy addressed the family. Senator malloy this state love senator pinckney and this state loves you and your girls and the entire pinckney family. We will keep our arms wrapped around you and his family forever. It is the least we can do for our brother and we hope to have you back here soon to hang his portrait so that he will be sharing this spot with us forever. Amy the confederate flags fate now rests with the South Carolina house. Meanwhile activists from charleston and a nephew of massacre victim Myra Thompson are heading to the u. S. Capitol in washington, d. C. , today to press lawmakers to approve legislation on gun control. In the spanish capital madrid, the new leftist city council has announced plans to remove all names relating to former spanish dictator general Francisco Franco from city squares and streets. Despite a 2007 law aimed at replacing symbols of francos decadeslong rule, about 170 madrid streets still bear the names of regime figures. Madrids new mayor, manuel carmena, is a retired judge and former member of spains underground communist party. She worked as a labor lawyer defending workerrights activists detained under franco. In guatemala, governmentbacked experts have declared former dictator Efrain Rios Montt mentally incompetent to stand trial for genocide. The National Institute of Forensic Sciences says rios montt, who is 89, cannot understand the charges against him. The declaration could potentially derail attempts to retry rios montt for overseeing the killings of nearly 2000 ixil mayans under his rule in the 1980s. Rios montt was found guilty in 2013 but a court annuelled his 80year sentence less than two weeks later. Fbi director james comey is set to testify against encryption before the Senate Intelligence committee today. Encryption refers to the scrambling of communications so they cant be intercepted and read without a key or password. The fbi and British Intelligence have been pushing for expanded access to encrypted data. Thirteen of the worlds preeminent cryptographers computer scientists and Security Specialists have issued a letter opposing the push. Well speak with one of them bruce schneier, later in the broadcast. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and progressive allies have reportedly stalled president obamas plans to nominate a financial regulator with ties to wall street. Politico reports obama was planning to tap corporate attorney keir gumbs to fill a democratic seat on the securities and exchange commission. But activists protested gumbs record, including his work representing the American Petroleum institute before the sec. Gumbs is a partner at the Corporate Law firm covington and burling, the same law firm to which former attorney general eric holder has just returned after leaving the Justice Department. Earlier this year, gumbs and colleagues at the firm wrote a guide advising corporations on how to avoid disclosing their political spending to shareholders. Senator warren wants the sec to require companies to disclose such spending. Protests by her and others have now reportedly delayed gumbs nomination, at least until until august. We will talk more later in the broadcast. At least nine people were arrested tuesday as hundreds took part in a series of direct actions against oil and gas extractionn vermont and upstate new york. Protesters blockaded trucks carrying fracked gas in Addison County vermont, blocked construction and staged a lake flotilla in ticonderoga, new york. Using the slogan not by truck not by rail, not by pipeline, the organizers denounced attempts to make the champlain valley into an oil and gas corridor. The events are part of a week of action marking the second anniversary of the lacmegantic oil train derailment, which killed 47 people in quebec. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced plans to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Police Killings of unarmed civilians. Cuomo said tuesday he will appoint new York Attorney general Eric Schneiderman under a oneyear executive order. The move will make new york the first state to institute an independent prosecutor for Police Killings, a step recommended by president s obamas task force on policing. Cuomos move came the same day mothers of new yorkers killed by police rallied outside his office to accuse him of backtracking on a promise to appoint the special prosecutor if state lawmakers did not take action. Gwen carr, mother of eric garner, who died after a Police Chokehold in staten island, said all cases should be investigated not just those where Police Acknowledge the victim was unarmed. She also urged Governor Cuomo to appoint the special prosecutor for more than one year. Gwen we want justice for all not just for one. Not just one year. It would be renewed after one year. It would not be just for unarmed killings. We know how things go. Sometimes they will say the person was arms and the person was not armed. We have seen South Carolina, different cases. Thank god for the videotape. Amy gwen carr, mother of eric garner, who died almost exactly one year ago, on july 17, after police pulled eric garner to the ground in a chokehold and piled on top of him while he said i cant breathe 11 times. A grand jury declined to indict the officer who used the chokehold, daniel pantaleo. The prosecutor was recently elected to congress. The incident was caught on video by ramsey orta, who has been arrested repeatedly since garners death, alleging police harassment. New york city is announcing a plan today to end cash bail payments for thousands of people accused of lowlevel or nonviolent crimes. The city has faced calls for reform after a mentally ill homeless man died in a sweltering cell at Rikers Island jail because he couldnt make a 2500 dollar bail payment. Protests increased after the suicide of 22yearold kalief browder, who spent three years at rikers as a teenager, after he was accused of stealing a backpack and couldnt pay 3000 bail. He denied he committed the crime and was eventually released without charge. The plan described by the Associated Press ahead of todays announcement will replace bail for lowlevel suspects with daily checkins and text message reminders. And new york city will hold a ticker tape parade for the u. S. Womens National Soccer team for their world cup victory, a rare honor for a team not based in new york. Manhattan borough president gale brewer had urged mayor bill de blasio to hold the parade, writing quote new york city has a strong history of honoring sports achievements. But has never held a parade to honor a womens team. Our newest soccer champions represent an opportunity for new york to recognize that heroes and role models come in all genders, she wrote. The last time new york city honored a group of National Athletes was in and those are 1984. Some of the headlines this is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and i am want gonzales. Welcome to our listeners and viewers around the country and the world. We turn now to the latest sign of the revolving door between wall street and washington. We see that eric holder is returning home to covington and burling, where he worked for eight years before coming becoming head of the Justice Department. During his time, clients included ubs and the fruit giant chiquita. The list included many of the big banks that the Justice Department failed to criminally prosecute for their role in the financial crisis, including bank of america, jp morgan chase, and citigroup. Amy in a new interview with the National Law Journal holder said it might mean that certain institutions would not work with him, and that is fine. However, in 2013 he suggested some banks are too big to jail. Attorney general holder i am concerned that the size becomes too large that it does become hard to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large. Im not talking about hsbc. It is more of a general comment. It has an inhibiting impact on our ability to bring resolutions that i think would be more appropriate. Well amy well for more we , are joined by matt taibbi, awardwinning journalist with Rolling Stone magazine, who writes about holders time at covington and burling, and much more, in his book, the divide american injustice in the age of the wealth gap is now out in paperback. You were tweeting up a storm yesterday. Talk about the significance of this. Matt this is the biggest example of the revolving door we have had. We have had some whoppers in the past. Previously, the louisiana congressman leaving congress and taking a 2 million year job with pharma after he helped to pass the Prescription Drug benefit bill. What holder did blows that away spending six years guiding these wall street firms, many of whom are clients of the company is working for. He guided them to profitability allow bankers to escape prosecution, and now he will go back to the firm and enjoy lucrative partnership, whether he ever works again for the rest of his life. Juan holder became a point person for these extrajudicial settlements. Can you explain what they were and how they worked . Matt holder pioneered ways these banks were able to buy their way out of trouble and one of the most notorious was that he included ways that were not reviewed by a judge. We did have instances where pesky judges i think one of the most infamous was Jed Ray Croft who throughout a settlement with citigroup because he thought it was not harsh enough. To fix the problem, holder started striking deals had not submitting them for judicial review. He did a settlement with j. P. Morgan chase were no judge signed off. It was done in secret. He institutionalized the back room. It was bankers with justice officials, money changed hands and that was it. All of the criminal charges went away. It is very dangerous. Juan he also took the term Collateral Damage into the financial world, out of the military world. Matt he actually predated the Collateral Damage idea back when he was a lawyer in the clinton Justice Department. He wrote a memo now known as the holder memo where he outlined the policy known as collateral consequences and basically all it says is if you are a prosecutor and you are worried about prosecuting a company that employs a lot of people and you are concerned that innocent people might suffer as a result of a prosecution, you may pursue noncriminal remedies when you go after that country company. The problem is when he became general, the economic landscape had these enormous, too g to fail companies and there was a real threat that if you prosecuted the firms it might cause a serious damage to the overall economy. You saw what happened with lehman brothers, for instance. This became the unofficial policy of the United States. We started taking companies that had done very bad things hsbc is the biggest example laundering money for war drug dealers, money for drug dealers we got the banks to pony up a big find that shareholders paid and they got to stay in business. Amy as you were tweeting your criticism, a lot of obama supporters were pushing the line that holder did not send anyone to jail because no laws were broken. Matt this comes directly from something barack obama said on 60 minutes once. He said some of the worst behavior, the least ethical behavior was not illegal. He corrected the phrase. He did not say all of it. He said some of that worst behavior, and that is true, but some of it was very illegal. To the worst cases, hsbc admitted to laundering 880 billion for a pair of south American Drug cartels, including a cartel infamous all over the world for torture videos. We have hsbc, europes largest bank washing hundreds of millions of dollars for people who chop peoples heads off with chainsaws. That is a crime. Anyone who thinks that holder did not send anyone to jail because they did not commit crimes is not paying attention to what went on at this time. Amy also at covington and burling, eric holder will be reunited with lenny brewer. Explain the significance. Matt lenny brewer went to be his deputy. From the sources i have spoken to he was terrified of going to court when he did not have been have an absolute victory. What happened early in their tenure together was they took one case to trial, went to trial