Right to vote. Amy fifty years after the Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights act, efforts to role back Voting Rights continue across the country. As president ial candidates proliferate, who gets to vote. Well speak with ari berman author of the new book on the modern struggle for Voting Rights in america. Then to venezuela. We should be proud. I dont know if there were someone proud about 11. Emiko we will look at the the making of Leopoldo Lopez venezuelas leading opposition figure. We will speak with Roberto Lovato, author of a new investigation into his rise to prominence. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Fox news has chosen the top ten republican candidates to participate thursday in the first debate of the 2016 president ial election. The candidates include frontrunner donald trump, jeb bush, scott walker, marco rubio, ted cruz, rand paul, ben carson, mike huckabee, Chris Christie and john kasich, who eeked out a spot as the tenthhighest polling candidate. The remaining seven republican candidates who will participate in a Forum Earlier in the afternoon are carly fiorina, rick perry, bobby jindal lindsey graham, rick santorum, George Pataki and jim gilmore. Fox news calculated its topten list by averaging five National Polls, a process which came under fire from polling agencies earlier this week. The Mayors Institute for Public Opinion temporarily suspended its polling saying foxs debate criteria ignores the margin of error. Another top pollster said based on current polling, theres no good rationale proper to early selecting a top 10. In more news from the campaign trail, republican candidate jeb bush has sparked outrage with his statement that Womens Health care is over funded. Bush made the comments when responding to an interviewers question about the planned parenthood sting videos, which are edited to appear to suggest that the organization sells fetal tissue, an allegation planned parenthood has vehemently denied. Should we say, not more red center planned parenthood . We should. In the next president should define deFund Planned Parenthood. We did the Fund Planned Parenthood when i was governor. The argument against this as well, Womens Health issues are going to be your attacking women and attacking Womens Health issues. You could take dollar for dollar, although im not sure we would need half 1 billion for Womens Health issues. Amy jeb bush later partially walked back the statement saying he was not speaking about Community Health centers but only about planned parenthoods hardtofathom 500 million in federal funding. He had a twitter war with Hillary Clinton who was questioning his saying he did not support Womens Health care in america. The Washington Post is reporting the fbi has opened a preliminary probe into the security of the private email setup democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton used while she served as secretary of state. The probe is looking into whether any classified material that may have moved through the private server was handled improperly. The fbi inquiry was confirmed by clintons lawyer, who said they are cooperating with the probe. This comes 10 days after the New York Times incorrectly reported that two inspectors general had asked the Justice Department to open a formal investigation into the private email account, a story that the times later retracted. In news from ohio, the mother of sandra bland has filed a lawsuit over the death of her daughter who was found hanging in a Waller County texas jail cell last month. Bland was arrested on july 10 by texas state trooper brian encinia, who alleged that bland failed to signal a lane change. Dash cam video of her arrest shows encinia forcibly removing bland from her car and threatening to light [her] up with a taser. She can later be heard accusing police of slamming her head into the ground. Authorities have said bland committed suicide in jail, a claim her family has disputed. The wrongful death suit filed tuesday argues the officer used an inappropriate level of force during the arrest and bland should not have been arrested in the first place. The suit also contends bland was placed in a cell containing a large garbage bags and exposed beams even after she told authorities shed attempted suicide in the past. The suit names state trooper encinia, two Waller County jail guards, the Texas Department of public safety, and Waller County. Meanwhile, in news from North Carolina, a white Police Officer has begun trial over the 2013 Fatal Shooting of unarmed African American jonathan ferrell. He was seeking help after a car crash in 2013. Randall kerrick, a white Police Officer, is facing charges of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly shooting 24 the 24yearold jonathan ferrell. According to prosecutors ferrell had sought help from a nearby homeowner after a car crash, but the woman had believed she was being robbed and called the police. When the officers arrived, one pointed the laser of his taser at ferrells chest. Ferrell fled in fear and attempt ed to hide between the two police cars. This brought ferrell close to where kerrick was standing, prompting the officer to open fire, striking ferrell 12 times. If convicted, kerrick could face up to 11 years in prison. In news on puerto rico, the white house has said that it is not considering a bailout for the u. S. Territory, which failed to pay a 58 million debt payment monday. Tuesday, White House Press secretary josh earnest said that the commonwealth needs to restructure its liabilities, but that a bailout was off the table. We believe Puerto Rico Needs and ability to pay, but as i said before, the administration does not envision a bailout for puerto rico, but where available federal assistance coming leveraged to assist the leaders of puerto rico in meeting some of their financial obligations that we stand ready to help. Amy this comes as the New York Times is reporting that puerto rico has also temporarily stopped its Monthly Payments to a fund that is used to pay back investors who hold general obligation bonds. Puerto rico has a 370 million payment to this fund due january 1. A bill before congress would allow puerto rico to declare a limited bankruptcy, a move currently permitted only for cities and municipalities inside u. S. States. We will have more on puerto rico after headlines. In science news, new report shows significantly more methane gas could be leaking into the atmosphere than previously thought. The study found that a device used to measure methane escaping from natural gas facilities was consistently under reporting the emissions as a result of a technical glitch. Methane is a Greenhouse Gas that fuels Climate Change. The studys findings could mean that natural gas fracking, which emits methane, is more detrimental to the climate than previously thought, and that Climate Change could be happening at an even faster rate than current estimates. In news from afghanistan the United Nations is reporting civilian casualties are at record high levels. The u. N. Says nearly 1600 civilians have died since january, the highest number of any similar time period since 2009. The majority of the deaths are reportedly from taliban forces. However, the report notes a 60 increase in deaths caused by u. S. Backed government forces. Danielle bell, the director of the United Nations human rights unit in afghanistan, spoke wednesday. The vast majority or 90 of all civilian casualties resulted from ground engagements improvised explosive devices complex and suicide attacks and targeted killings. This destruction and damage must be met by new commitment by all parties to the conflict to protect civilians from harm. Amy in news from mexico authorities have released footage of three suspects leaving the apartment of photographer ruben espinosa, who was murdered alongside human rights activist nadia vera and three other women in the capital city friday. According to human rights advocates, epinosas death signals a new level of violence against journalists in mexico, who had previously considered mexico city a safe zone. Mexico City Attorney general said the office is pursuing an investigation. The office has come under fire to focus on robbery as the reason for the killing despite espinosa reporting. To see our full coverage of ruben espinosas murder, go to democracynow. Org. Israel has arrested and jailed a jewish settler for six months without charges or trial marking likely the first time the controversial policy of administrative detention has been used against an israeli citizen. The detention comes as israel attempts to crack down on jewish extremism following a firebombing of a palestinian home in the west bank last week, which killed an 18monthold baby. The government has expanded the use of detention without trial to include Israeli Citizens and said that it can use harsh interrogation methods against jailed jewish extremists. Both policies were previously only applied to palestinians. Meanwhile, authorities have also arrested the grandson of an americanisraeli rabbi who is considered the father of rightwing jewish extremism has also been arrested for involvement and activities in extremist jewish organizations. The Political Party called for the forced removal of all palestinians. In more news from the region, a palestinian soccer team in the west bank will face off against its rival team in gaza for the first time in 15 years. Israel approved the travel plans for west bank team after palestine threatened to call for israels suspension from fifa over the governments attempts to restrict soccer players and coaches movement in and out of palestinian territories. Islam albatran from the west bank team alahly spoke about his excitement over the visit. I cannot describe this feeling. This is a historic visit. This is the first time we visit gaza. Were surprised to much the gazans are amazing people. We also thank the people for hosting and the audience of the club for their festive welcoming in the journalists and everybody. This is a truly amazing thing. Amy two undocumented immigrants have been appointed to serve as commissioners in the Southern California city of huntington park. It is reportedly the first time undocumented commissioners have been appointed in the state. Huntington park mayor Karina Macias lauded the appointments saying, they have every right to be at that table, because they are part of our community. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Amy you just wrote a piece in the New York Daily News explain what is happening. Juan there is news this week puerto rico missed its 58 million bond payment that it owes in 72 billion debt load it has. Of course, theres not much news it did pay about 500 million in other bond payments that were due. At this is technically the first default in what is expected to be a string of defaults over the next several months. Because the reality is the island of puerto rico, the government, cannot pay the amount of debt it has. This year alone, puerto rico has to pay about 3 billion in debt service. That is about 17 of its entire revenues of the government. Next year, it will go up to 20 of its entire revenues. If you were named individual and you had that much credit card debt, you cannot meet all your bills. If you were a corporation facing that much that amount of debt service, you would probably have to declare bankruptcy and Real Organization and try to restructure your debts. The problem is, puerto rico cannot do that. It is amazing to me how so many journalists are reporting this reality that unlike states in the United States come a puerto rico does not have the ability to have its municipalities or its public corporations reorganize under aggressive protection. No one questions why this is so. But say it is anomaly. A point i tried to make in a column today, this is part of a 117year relationship of colonialism. This is part of the colonial status of puerto rico. Even the marxist historian richard wolf this week claimed puerto rico was a semicolony. No, it is not. Puerto rico is a colony of the United States. I pointed to the decisions of the Supreme Court that ratified this colonial situation rendered in the early 1900s called the insular cases when puerto rico had just been acquired after the spanishamerican war. In a 54 decision back then, the same five judges, by the way, the decided plessy versus ferguson, the same five judge conservative majority back at the turnofthecentury said in their decision, called the downs versus bidwell, the island of puerto rico is a territory, pertinent and belonging to the United States, but not part of the United States within the revenue causes of the constitution. Basically, saying the constitution only applied in puerto rico those portions that congress decided deemed necessary to apply. So the problem for puerto rico has been for 117 years that all major decisions about the island are made by congress, not by the elected officials a puerto rico themselves. You have had numerous examples. One example i gave people forget about, the current crisis, really originated with ill clinton. 1996, bill clinton was attempting to get a new federal minimum wage past, Newt Gingrich the republicans in congress were resisting it so clinton cut a deal with the republicans. Congress would raise the federal minimum wage that would provide billions of dollars in tax benefits to small businesses. Where would they get the money for that . Clinton agreed to do with the way do away with a special Tax Exemption corporations in puerto rico had that were worth lanes of dollars. As a result it would be phased in over 10 years, between 1996 and 2006. Over those 10 years, that special Tax Exemption was lost taken away by congress, and thousands of jobs left the island is pharmaceutical companies Electrical Medical equipment companies, chemical firms decided it was no longer profitable for them so they left the island. The best thing jobs were lost. Puerto rico has been basically an Economic Contraction since 2000 since for the last 10 years. Yet the decisions in Congress Setting the basis for what is happening puerto rico now so now once again, puerto rico is having to go to congress, asking for the right to reorganize like General Motors did, like detroit did, like Orange County did to be able to reorganize under bankruptcy protection and congress is resisting. President obama, the white house, as you saw, is only paying lip service, not really fighting over this issue. It remains to be seen how it will be resolved. The reality is, all of this is rooted in the fact puer rico remains a colony of the United States with no voting representation in congress. Amy how to the debt crisis affect the people of puerto rico . Is unbelievable. You have a situation were just a few weeks ago, the government raised sales tax from 7 to 11 . It has already effectively eliminated all the definedbenefit Pension Funds of government workers. Now between the hedge funds and the economists the imf economists were saying the way to get out of this is by austerity, they now want to eliminate protections from overtime, they want to encourage the island of puerto rico to sell off of its publicly owned it is our he sold off its airport, and some of its toll roads, now they want to sell the ports, to sell government buildings. Basically, so any government assets as a means to raise money. They want to reduce medicaid, lower the minimum wage, Want Congress to lower the minimum wage below that of the federal animal wage. They want to create an even deeper cut in wages for young people. They basically want the population to bear the brunt of the economic problems of the island, and i think what leaders of puerto rico are saying, hey were in this together. All of these wall street firms kept pedaling loans to us. Just last year, 3. 5 billion in new bonds are issued, largely bought up by hedge f