Killed in iraq in 2004. Khan spoke out at the Democratic National convention. Donald trump, youre asking americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you, have you even read the United States constitution . Will i will gladly lend you my copy. Amy khizr khan is the author of an American Family a memoir of hope and sacrifice. Today he joins us to discuss his families struggle and sacrifice, their experience as muslim immigrants in the United States, and more. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In puerto rico, less than 10 of the islands Public Schools were able to resume classes on tuesday, now a month after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Of the schools that were able to reopen, most had no electricity internet access. More than 80 of the island is still without power. On tuesday, Congress Approved a 36. 5 billion emergency spending plan to fund the recovery from hurricanes harvey, irma, and maria. The spending plan gives puerto rico access to 4. 9 billion in loans. The plan also gives billions to fema and the National Flood insurance program. Meanwhile, a tiny Montana Company called Whitefish Energy has won a 300 Million Contract with the puerto rico electric power authority, known as prepa, to restore parts of puerto ricos devastated electrical power grid. The company is only two years old and had only two fulltime employees when Hurricane Maria hit puerto rico. Its based in whitefish, montana the tiny hometown of interior secretary ryan zinke. Zinke has admitted he knows the companys ceo, although zinke claims he had no role in brokering the contract. The company, Whitefish Energy, is backed by the private equity firm hbc investments, whose founder donated 27,000 to trumps primary Election Campaign and another 20,000 to the Trump Victory pac during the general election. At least 80 of puerto rico still has no electricity, and about a quarter of the island still lacks clean drinking water. There are dozens of suspected cases of the leptospirosis, a potentially fatal bacterial infection caused by contact with water contaminated by animal urine. Authorities are investigating whether four deaths were caused by the disease. Meanwhile, in texas, a 31yearold man who was helping repair homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey has died after he was diagnosed with a rare flesheating bacterial disease. Hes at least the second person now in texas to die after contracting the extremely rare disease from harveys floodwaters. A sweltering heat wave is smashing temperature records across southern california. At least eight cities set new daily records on monday, including long beach, which hit 105 degrees. On tuesday night, the professional baseball teams the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers faced off at the hottest World Series Game ever played. It was 103 degrees at the dodgers stadium in los angeles, smashing the previous temperature record by nearly 10 degrees. The dodgers beat the astros three to in more news on climate one. Change, a new study by the World Bank Says that the amount of food destroyed by drought could feed 80 Million People every day for a year. Scientists have linked increasing and worsening droughts to climate change. The United Nations reports Global Hunger is now on the rise after declining for the last 15 years. The u. N. Study says 815 Million People went hungry in 2016 and that the rise was primarily caused by war and climate change. Arizona republican senator jeff flake has announced he will not run for reelection in 2018 and condemned President Trump in a blistering speech on the senate floor on tuesday. The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and diaries bank of america strong are undermine and as the alliances and agreements that assure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters. The notion that we should say or do nothing in the face of such material behavior is ahistoric and i believe profoundly misguided. We must stop pretending the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal. They are not normal. Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as telling it like it is, when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified. Amy Tennessee Republican senator bob corker slammed President Trump tuesday after trump took to twitter to disparage corker for not supporting his tax plan, which would shower massive tax breaks onto the wealthiest americans, including trump himself. Trump tweeted senator corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee, couldnt get elected dog catcher in tennessee. Corker responded by tweeting same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. Alertthedaycarestaff corker also slammed trump in an interview with reporters hours before trump joined Senate Republicans for a lunch on capitol hill. Standing up in front of the American People and stating untruths that everyone knows to be untrue, just attempted bullying that he does which everybody sees through. Just the dividing of our country. The president of the United States is something that i think is debasing to our country. Amy a protester was arrested tuesday after he threw russian flags at President Trump and repeatedly shouted trump is treason as trump walked into a lunch with Senate Republicans at the u. S. Capitol building. Trump is treason. Trump is treason. Amy the protester, ryan clayton, with the Group Americans take action, also accused President Trump of colluding with russia to steal the 2016 president ial election. New details have emerged showing that the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National committee funded the research that led to the dossier alleging trump had ties to russia and that the Trump Campaign may have colluded with the government of russia. Post reports a Clinton Campaign and dnc lawyer contracted a washington dcbased firm, which went on to hire former British Intelligence agent Christopher Steele to investigate and prepare the dossier. Senators have drafted a nuclear deal with iran following President Trumps refusal drafted legislation that would impose new terms on the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with iran, following President Trumps refusal to certify irans compliance with an International Nuclear deal. The legislation is being drafted by republican senators bob corker and tom cotton with the backing of the Trump Administration. Opponents say the legislation could violate the international agreement. Reuters reports it would impose new terms related to trade and aviation, and would instantly reimpose sanctions if iran were deemed capable of developing a Nuclear Weapon within one year. Senate republicans voted down a rule that would have made it easier for americans to sue banks and credit card companies. Vice president mike pence cast the tie breaking vote tuesday. It was a major victory for wall street. The rule, developed by the Consumer Financial protection bureau, would have allowed people to file classaction lawsuits that could cost the banks billions of dollars. In media news, the fcc have voted to eliminate a decadesold rule that ensured Community Residents can have say in their local broadcast station. The regulation, known as the main studio rule, requires broadcasters to have a physical studio near where they have a license to transmit. Opponents say the elimination of the rule will accelerate the consolidation in the media industry, allowing massive Corporate Media companies, such as the rightwing sinclair broadcast group, to buy up and control even more local stations. A number of prominent fashion magazines and companies have announced they will no longer work with photographer Terry Richardson following nearly two decades of accusations of sexual harassment. Richardson is one of the most prominent photographers in the world. He has photographed everyone from former president barack obama to model kate moss. He has long faced accusations that he coerces young women into exploitative positions and sexually harasses them during photo shoots. His blacklisting comes after dozens of women came forward to accuse nowdisgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, assault and rape. In the philippines, Community Radio journalist Christopher Iban Lozada was murdered by gunmen on tuesday night in the city of bislig in the Southern Region of mindanao. Lozada had received multiple Death Threats leading up to his murder. The philippines is one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists. Back in the United States, one third of u. S. Service members said they consider White Nationalist to be a greater threat to u. S. Security than the conflicts in iraq, afghanistan, or syria. That is according to a new poll by the newspaper military times. The poll shows one in four Service Members say they have seen displays of White Nationalism by their fellow soldiers. A federal kill scored in washington, d. C. , a federal Appeals Court in washington, d. C. , has ruled an undocumented teenager detained in a Refugee Resettlement shelter in texas does have the right to have an abortion. The ruling comes after the Trump Administration tried to stop the 17yearold from accessing an abortion. Her lawyer says the staff at the refugee shelter in the brownsville, texas, forced the girl to call her abusive parents to tell them about her pregnancy despite the fact that her parents allegedly beat the girls older sister until she miscarried for getting pregnant out of wedlock. The lawyer also says the staff retaliated against the girl after learning about her plans to get an abortion, limiting her time with other kids at the shelter, and allegedly repeatedly asking her what she planned to name the baby. And Football Players on the Philadelphia Eagles traveled to pennsylvanias capitol to lobby for criminal Justice Reform tuesday. The three players malcolm jenkins, chris long, and torrey smith lobbied for the passage of the clean slate act, which would seal criminal records for nonviolent misdemeanors after 10 years, making it easier for people to get homes and housing. To get jobs and housing. Malcolm jenkinss brother was convicted of Marijuana Possession while still a teenager, a conviction that continues to make it difficult for him to find jobs. Torrey smiths mother also had trouble finding wellplaying jobs after she was convicted of a felony stemming from her abusive relationship with her exhusband. She was later pardoned by thenvirginia governor mark warner. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. As President Donald Trump refuses to back down from attacks on the widow of a u. S. Soldier killed in niger, today we spend the hour with one of the countrys best known gold star family members whose son was killed in iraq. As investigations continue into a deadly october 4 ambush in which five soldiers from niger and four u. S. Soldiers were killed while on patrol, the widow of one of the men is speaking out against trumps handling of the aftermath of the attack. The widow of u. S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson said during a condolence call, the president couldnt remember the name of her husband. In an interview with abcs good morning america, Myeshia Johnson also said she heard President Trump say, he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway. What he said was the president. Yes, the president. He said, he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway. It made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he set it. He couldnt remember my husband name. The only way he remembered my husband name because he told me he had my husband report in front of him. And that is when he actually said la david. Juan the week before, trump falsely claimed his predecessors didnt call the families of fallen soldiers. Last thursday, white house chief of staff john kelly, a former marine corps general and a gold star father himself, defended donald trump and doubled down on his criticism of florida Congressmember Frederica Wilson, who is a close friend of the Johnson Family and was in the car when trump made the call. She later told reporters what he said. Both the congresswoman and the widow are africanamerican. This is kelly. He knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted. He enlisted. He is where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. That was the message. That was the message that was transmitted. It stuns me that a member of congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And i thought, at least that was sacred. Up, a lot ofing things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred. Looked upon with great honor. That is always laid out the case anymore as we have seen from recent cases. The dignity of life was sacred. That is gone. Religion. That seems to be gone as well. Gold star familys, i think that left in the convention over the summer. Devotionought selfless that brings a man or woman to die on the battlefield, i just thought that that might be sacred. Amy well, the convention over the summer that general kelly refers to is likely last years Democratic National convention, where one of the defining moments of the president ial campaign took place. Thats when gold star father khizr khan, joined by his wife ghazala, spoke about his son, captain humayun khan, who was killed in 2004 by a suicide bomber in iraq. The army posthumously awarded captain khan a bronze star and a purple heart. He was the highestranking pakistaniamerican to die in iraq and was buried in Arlington National cemetery with full military honors. During khizr khans speech, he criticized trumps call to ban muslims from entering the United States and famously pulled a copy of the constitution from his pocket, held it up for all to see, and offered to lend it to the then republican candidate donald trump. Cameke many immigrants, we to this country emptyhanded. We believed in american democracy, that with hard work and goodness of this country, we could share in and contribute to its blessings. We are blessed to raise our wheresons in a nation they were free to be themselves and follow their dreams. Son humayun had dreams, to, of being a military lawyer. Aside put those dreams lifeay he sacrificed his to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. [applause] Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son the best of america. [applause] if it was up to donald trump, he never would have been in america. Smearstrump consistently the character of muslims. He disrespects other minorities women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country. [boos] trump, youre asking americans to trust you with their future. You, have you even read the United States constitution . Applause]d copy. Gladly lend you my [applause] document, look for the equalliberty and protection of law. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery . Bravek at the graves of patriots who died defending the United States of america. You