Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20170912

Catetegory 5 and when he hit cu, the gogovernment reports just 10 people have died. We will look at why many nations study cubas hurricane preparedness. According to one study, a person is 15 times as likely to be killed by hurricane in the United States as in cuba. And even though they were hard doctorsa spent over 750 and Health Professionals throughout the caribbean during the storm. Then to a storm of silenence. Catastrophihic flooding. G. The monumental floodidingnd humanitarian disaster r continu. Houstonians are still under siege in the city still under water. Publicgot a new study by citizen looks at how much of the Corporate Media failed to mention Climate Change during its coverage of Hurricane Harvey. Then we go to houston to look at mutual aid and rescue efforts after harvey. We have to distribute the goods, but we also have to go and distribute the care. Eople are still being ignored because they have handed them something, theyve decided all of their problems are fixed. Undnder,ot possible likeke, capitalism. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As many as 13 Million People remain without power in florida as the state begins toto survey the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Irma. At least 11 people died on the mainland u. S. From the hurricane. Authororities say someme parts f the florida keys may be inaccessible for weeks. The u. S. Military is now helping evacuate some florida keys residents who did not leave before the storm. Jacksonville experienced its worst flooding since 1864. The storm also caused destruction when it swept across georgia and South Carolina on monday. In puerto rico, hundreds of thousands of people remain without power. Authorities have warned parts of puerto rico could be without electricity for up to six months. The head of fema announced he is heading to puerto rico and u. S. Virgin islands today. The death toll from the storm also rose in the caribbean, where at least 34 people are confirmed dead. 10 in cuba,a, where irma hit the northern coast as a category 5 storm. It was t the deadliestst hurrice inin cuba since e 2005. Well have more on Hurricane Irma in puerto rico and cuba after headlines. In texas, Authorities Say hurricicane harvey is respononse for causing nearly 500,000 gallons of gasoline to spill from two storage tanks, marking the largest spill so far from the devastating storm. The 460,000 gallons were released from a Petroleum Tank farm operated by Magellan Midstream partners in texas, just east of houston. Some of the gasoline contaminated a waterway alongside the houston ship channel. Hurricane harvey killed 70 people a and causesed widespread environmental contamination, with the center for biological diversity reporting flooded Oil Refineries and chemical plants released as much as 5 Million Pounds of pollutants into the air during the storm. Pope francis h has spoken out foforcefully against climamate change denial. Speaking to reporters as he flew over caribbean islands decimated by Hurricane Irma on sunday, pope francis said humans must make progress in tackling Climate Change and called those who continue to deny its existence stupid. Will nonot go backwards. We will go down. That is true. Climate change scientists tell us the road to take. All of us have a responsibility. All of f us. Some small, some big. A moral responsibility to n not accept it, to give one is opinion or to make decisionons. And we have to take it seriously. I think it is something we cannot joke about. Whoever denies this must go to the scientists and ask them. They speak clearly. The scientists are precise. Man is stupid. Withthe pope was speaking a black eye because he hit his head on the pope mobile all traveling in columbia. The United Nations Security Council has imposed a new round of sanctions on north korea. The resolution was drafted and pushed for by the United Nations. It seeks to further cripple north koreas economy by limiting north koreas oil imports, banning its textile exports, and imposing other restrictions on the nations economy. Ahead of mondays Security Council vote, north korea warned the u. S. It could face retaliation if it passed the pushed for the harsh sanctions. Meanwhile, german chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for a new round of negotiations with north korea, advocating for a diplomatic alternative to the rising military tensions between north korea and the u. S. Merkel highlighted the role germany played in brokering the landmark iran nuclear deal, and said i could imagine such a format being used to end the north korea conflict. The Trump Administration is moving forwaward with itits plee to s stop the closing of guantanamo bay. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson has announced the position of the spspecial envovoy for closuf the guantanamo detention facility would be eliminated. The pentagon has also proposed spending 500 million in new construction at guantanamo. The u. S. Is currently imprisoning 41 people indefinitely at guantanamo bay. Cuba was hard hit by hururricane irma. Former white house chief strategist Steven Bannon says trumps decision to fire fbi director james comey was the biggest political mistake in modern history. Bannon, now the chairman of the far rigight breitbartrt media, e ththe comments while speakakingh 60 Minutes Charlie Rose in a. Someone said you describe the firing of james comey, you are a student of history, as the biggest mistake in politicacal histstory. Toohat would probably be bombastic even for me, but may be an modern political history. Am t this clipip did not appearn the 60 minutes piece. They posted it online sunday night. The wall street journal is reporting some of prPresident Trumps lawyers have recommended White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner should step down over concerns about his meetings with russian officials during the campaign. Kushner is also President Trumps soninlaw. He met multiple times with russian officials and businessmen. These meetings are now part of the multiple investigations into the trump campaigns ties to russia. In international news, in barcelona, one Million People poured into the streets on monday to dedemand indepenendene for catalonia. The march increaseses pressure n spain ahead of an independent referendum on Catalan Independence on october 1. This is protester eva solitger. We come for another year to fight for what we believe in the step we are people with our own identity and language, but what we cannot have is the oppression we have been experiencing so far. We want to build have a democratic and peaceful vote. Amy in france, dozens of unions are on strike today with 200 demonstrations planned nationwide to protest french president emmanuel macrons plans to roll back Labor Protections by president ial decree. The strikes are disrupting key industries, including travel, with more than 100 flighghts canceled and trains suspended. In brazil, authorities are investigating reports that gold miners brutally murdered about 10 Indigenous People last month and later bragged about dismembering their bodies. The alleged murders occurred in the amazons javari valley, brazils secondlargest indigenous reserve. The victims were members of an uncontacted tribe. Brazilian president michel temer has close ties to the mining industry. And earlier this year, he issued a decree opening up a wide swath of the amazon to mining and extraction. Hes also cut funding for Government Agencies that work to protect indigenous groups from attacks by miners and loggers. In india, a caravan of peace activists has arrived in the capital delhi as part of a monthlong journey across india to highlight the rise of lynchings and violence against muslims, dalits, and other minority groups. Led by activist harsh mander, the caravan is visiting with leaving with families of the victims of hate crimes, which have risen sharply under indian Prime Minister narendra modi. Data from the group india spend shows some antimuslim hate crimes have risen 10fold since modi came to power in 2014. In egypt, at least 18 Police Officers were killed in an isis attack on the Sinai Peninsula on monday. It wasas one of the dedeadliest attacks this year in egypts Sinai Peninsula. Back in the United States, the u. S. Supreme court has temporarily lilifted restrictios on president nt trumps muslimim travel ban, meaning about 24,000 refugees may now be barred from entering the United States. Last week, an Appeals Court in seattle ruled that tens of thousands of refugees who had received promises of assistance from Refugee Resettlement organizations should be allowed to enter. But on monday, the Supreme Court intervened to block this ruling. The Supreme Court is soon expected to issue a fuller ruling on the ban, which blocks refugees and all citizens of six majority muslim nations from entering the United States. A new hampshire, authorities are investigating an apparent attempted lynching in the town of claremont. A mother sasays her eight year d biracial child had to be airlifted to the hospital after a group of white teenagers reportedly hung him from a tree. She also posted photographs on toebook showing the injuries the childs neck. The childs grandmother also says the white teenagers were taunting the child with racial slurs before the attack. The town of claremont is 96 white. And in texas, at least eight people are dead after a man allegedly killed his estranged wife and her friends in what appears to be the deadliest incident of Domestic Violence in the towns history. On sunday, 27yearold meredith hight was watching the cowboys Football Game with a group of friends and family in the dallas suburb of plano when her estranged husband reportedly entered her house and opened fire, killing her and seven other adults. The shooter was killed by police. Local news reports hight had filed for divorce in july. Hights mother said her daughter loved hosting friends and families. This was her first opportunity to do it after the divorce, and he referring to her estranged husband didnt take it well. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. From the u. S. Virgin islands and puerto rico to florida and georgia, millions of americans remain without electricity as they attempt to recover from the devastating Hurricane Irma. On the island of st. John in the virgrgin islands, 80 of homes have been n severelyly damaged. 5000 u. S. Service members are being sent to the Virgin Islands to help with relief efforts as Drinking Water and food begin to run out. In puerto rico, hundreds of thousands of people remain without power. Authorities have warned parts of puerto rico could be without electricity for up to six momonths. Femama will travevel there toda. In florora, as manyny as 13 Million People have been left without popower. Some p parts o of the florida ks may be inaccessible for weeks. The u. S. Military is now helping evacuate some florida keys residents who did not leave before the stormrm. Jacksonville is recovering from its worst flooding since 1864. The destruction from irma also stretched into georgia and South Carolina. Amy meanwhile, one of the caribbean islands hardest hit was cuba, where 10 people died. Irma hit cubas northern coast as a category 5 storm. It was the deadliest hurricane in cuba since 2005 when 16 people d died in hurricane denn. Cuba has lonong been viewewed aa worlrld leader in huhurricane prepeparedness andnd recery. Y. According to t the center for internrnatiol l policy, a person is 15 times as likely to be killed by a hurricane in the United States as in cuba. Meanwhile, cuba has already sent more than 750 Health Workers to antigugua, barbuda, saint kitts, nevis, saint lucia, the bahamas, dominica, and haiti. We begin todays show with Elizabeth Newhouse, director of the center for international policys cuba project. She has taken numerous delegations from the u. S. To cuba to see how the cubans manage disaster preparedness. Elizabeth, welcome to democracy now you grew up in cuba . Yeses, i didid. Talk about what happened in cuba, first, and then we will talk about their record in hurricane preparedness and what we can learn from them. Well, as you just mentioned, the hurricane made landing on the north coast, down towards the east, then skirted the coast close to havana. Did not reach havana. And then headed north. The brunt of it was felt across the island, but the worst part down around the area other towns in that area. They were really, truly, very, very badly hurt. Overa had waves comining up the seawall, unfairly, something that reached like 32 feet. Perfect flooding that went in five or seven blocks. People were up to their withders in some areas water. Huge amounts of flooding. However, 10 people died, as you an enormous whihich is number of people for cuba because of the tremendous operation that they do. Normally, people do not die in hurricanes in cuba. If they do, there are a very smsmall number. Normally very say few people die in hurricanes in cuba, why is that . Given the fact that cuba is not a wealthy country, it has had all kinds of economic problems, what is it about the governments preparedness that is so distinct from what happens in the rest of the caribbean or even in the United States . Well, it is distinct because they have an ingrained culture of prevention and preparedness that is really quite unique. It is very rigorously followed. The children learn from a very early age that disasters will happen. Their lessons are included throughout all of their years growing up. They really expect these thihins to happen and know what to do when they y do happen. Cuba has been hit with hurricanes so many times. Not only hurricanes, but major tropical storms, which bring huge amounts of flooding and see surge. They have to be ready for it. They are ready. They save enormous numbers of lives by massive evacuation. I think this time they evacuated one Million People. Even though the infrastructure is poor and many of the houses are very poor, their focus is on saving lives. Theiryou studied preparedness. Good you talk about the impact of things like neighborhood mapping that they do, of who exactly lives in what neighborhood and the role the neighborhood groups, the committees for defense off the revolution play in disasters like this . They have all of the neighborhoods mapped. They nooks ackley who lives where. They knowwho the exactly who lives where. They know who the honorable and elderly live. A few days before the hurricane hits, they evacuatate them all. They start with them. Pregnant women get put in hospitals. People with infirmities get put in hospitals. Others get taken to either shelters or with family or friends who are living in more secure houses. But everybody in cuba knows what theyre going to do is a hurricane hits. Plan, whether it is to go to a family or friend or whether it is to go to a shelter. Haphazards no sort of organizing at the last minute will stop it is very, very well thought out. The Civil Defense system controls it all. The president of the Civil Defense is the president of the country, the head of the Civil Defense. It is very tightly organized. Bottomup and from the top down. It is really a very impressive thing to see and the results are quite astounding, even though the material damage is always horrific. I mean, i think they are still trying to find ways to house people who were displaced in the last hurricane. What theyre going to do this time, i dont know. Theyre putting a big emphasis on trying to get the Tourism Infrastructure back because tourism is so desperately important to the economy. Theyre going to be putting a lot of focus on rebuilding resortrts along the north coast that were very badly hurt. That is the area where most of the e resorts are. They were hugely damaged. And they want to give them up and running before the big tourism season begins in a couple of months. So i t think people are wonderig what is going toto happen to ininviduals who are in shelters now, how long will they have to be there. It will probably be quite some time. Amy what about well, i want to turn to some of the voices of people in cuba in the fishing village of cojimar, many fishermen found theieir boats ad equipment destroyed. This is fisherman ernesto rivero. All of the boats were finished. The ways in the wind did the most damage. It destroyed a lot of groups. Total collapses of the houses and all that. Amy havana residents Margarita Halzilk and d Miladys Cardoso also spoke about the impact Hurricane Irma had on the city. See, everything got wet. Although we tried to raise some things, the doors broke and everything below was destroyed. Very bad. Lousy transportation. Critical, this transport thing. Amy just some of the voices in ,uba dustup Elizabeth Newhouse the cuban government, though the island was hard hit, sending over 750 doctors, Health Professionals thrhroughout the cabbean. Can n you talk about thihis poly they have . This is nott new. This is not new. They have a kind of Rapid Response to disasters. They group and they go out. They have into many, many places, putting earthquakes in pakistan and disasters in central america. It is really very impressive. They were among the first in haiti when the earthquake hit. However many years ago that was. And they are very good. They are very well trained. This is an area theyre just superb at. And ththey go help other people, despite their own problems. Juan i want to asask you about the u. S. Cuba relations. In june, donald trump announced he would reverse the normalization of relations between the u. S. And cuba, reimposing travel and trade restrictions less than a year after president obama relaxed the decadesold embargo on the island. Pres. Trump ourur new policy begins with strictly enforcing u. S. Law. Liftnot live sanctions on the cuban regime until all Political Prisoners are freed. Freedoms of assembly and expression are respected. All Political Parties are legalized. Free and internationally supervised elections are scheduled. Restrictery strongly american dollars flowing to the military, security, and Intelligence Services that are the core of the castro regime. They will be restricted. Enforce the ban on tourism. We will enforce the embargo. One code that was president almosteversing completely president obamas toward cuba. Your response . And fact, he did not reverse it completely. They toward cuba. Your response . Are cutting back on it, but we still have diplomatic relations with cuba. Curtail people going to cuba for tourist reasons, tourism reasons. But he is not changing the ability to travel for a whole host of f other reasons, includg going down on cultural and educational trips. It is just from now on, people groups,go in tour rather than individually. So really that is about as far as travel is concerned, that is about the extent of it. As far as dealing with the military, that is going to be curtailed. We do not know exactly what that means yet because the regulations with government new policy have not been issued. They are being written right now. We expect to know what they are in the next few weeks. And what entities they consider military are going to be put on the list, and those are the ones that are going to be prohibited from having any monetary connection with. But, you know, there are so many military entities in cuba, are they going to be how open is that policy going to be or how tight it is going to be is going to depend on what the regulations look like. So we dont know yet. Amy will there still be direct flights between u. S. And cuba that happened after president obama changed the policy . Bilateral relationship is still there. The problem is, there is kind of a now there is kind of a much more kind of hostile approach. When president obama was there, he was trying very hard to open lots of different avenues. And now that is kind of slammed shut. While it certainly possible to do business down there still, it is going to be tougher and tighghter. At the samame time, cuba is goig through a transition because president raul castro is retiring in the early part of 2018 and who is going to succeed him as yet unknown. There is a fellow fair amount of jockeying for his job. I think they feel being seen as being too close to the u. S. Is not good for them. So essentially, the relationship is quieting down considerably. Amy it is interesting and light of the fact that a newsweek investigation revealed before becoming president , President Trumps businesses violated the embargo, sigrid leading business newly 1990s and trying to cover it up. You know trump would like nothing more than to have a large hotel in cuba. But he is the hardline americans who are absolutely adamantly opposed to this, these obama openings. I mean, it i ia much, much Smaller Group thth it used to be, but they tend to be wealthy and influential. Those are the ones he is listing two. Amy a number of republican governors have made trips to cuba. U. S. Corporations to a lot of those that support the Republican Party have a different view on cuba. Arent the hardline Cuban Community in florida much smaller . Even though republican cubans of the Younger Generation what some kind of normalization . Youre absolutely right. The u. S. Chamber o of commercrcs in favor of lifting the embargo. They would love to do business with cuba. There is a of big business to be done. It is kind o of counterintuitive for trump, who is this great business man and a great deal maker, to be kind of slamming this door shut, but it has too with a small group of cubanamericans who are adamantly,y, for reasons going back to the revolution, are adamantly opposed to the castro regime. Amy finally, i want to ask you about the Trump Administration moving forward with its plan to stop the closure of the guantanamo prison. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson announcing the position the special envoy for the closure of the guantanamo detention facility will be eliminated. The pentagon proposing spendinig 500 million in new construction at guantanamo. The u. S. Currently imprisoning 41 people and definitely there ere. Nd definitely thr tuna campaign, trump was adamamant about keeping the prin open. We never expected guantanamo to be handed back to the cubans, which does the base, which is what they want. This is really something quite new. I think, unfortunate. However, that is the composition. Amy what advice do you think fidel castro could give to President Trump around hurricane preparedness, or on any issue rightt n now . Certainly, educating people, getting them ready for eventualities and certainly preparing in a way that we have gotten much, much better at. I i think the rereason we have gotten better at it, we took eight or ninine groups delegations of Emergency Managers from florida, the gulf coast, the sououtheast, from the panhandle down to cuba over thee years to introduce them to the cuban system. And they were all extremely impressed. They all came back wiwith ideas. And i think some of the much tighter preparedness t that we e seeing in these recent hurricanes had too have had o have been influenced in some way by the cuban model. Amy we want to thank you, Elizabeth Newhouse, for joining us director of the center for , international policys cuba project. Has taken numerous delegations from the u. S. To cuba to see how the cubans manage disaster preparedness. Elizabeth newhouse herself grew up in cuba. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the wars report. When we come back, the silence around the 20 hohour coveragee f the hurricanes, but where is the issue of Climate Change mentioned . And we will talk about puerto rico, the powerlessness there. There were one Million People who did not have power, now down to 300,000. The head of fema is headed to go there today. Stay with us. [music break] amigo singing live at central park summer stage on sunday. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. The fema administrator brock long is traveling to puerto rico today in the us Virgin Islands. He Just Announced this this morning. Hes when is he fifirsthand thte damage caused by h hurricane ir. 8 of homes have been some really damaged in some areas. In puerto rico, 300,000 people remain without power. Authorities have warned parts of puerto rico could be without electricity for up to six months in part due to the islands economic crisis. , youve closely been covering the situation in puerto rico. What does the hurricane have to do with the political crisis in puerto rico . Juan it is important to understand hurricane did not hit puerto rico headon like it did the other even in caribbean islands. It basically glanced the island. And yet many people on the island were stunned to see so much electricity go down, as you whenoned, at the beginning the hurricane hit, about as many as one Million People went without electricity and about one third lost water because so many of the pumping stations, water pumping stations in puerto rico depend on the electrical grid for the power source. So there are hundreds of thousands of people also without water on the island. Is, the electrical system of puerto rico has been inin crisis now for decades. Just one example, the Electrical Company, which is a government , ind Electrical Company 2000 had about 7000 linemen to take care of repairs along the system. 3500. It has 50 of the workforce has been reduced. When a hurricane like this gets near the island and creates enormous devastation f for the electrical system. And now this has become the basis for the attempts to privatize the electrical system because the Electrical Company is the crown jewel of industry in puerto rico. Everybody needs electricity, especially in an island so hot. Nd humid and so industrialized so there have been efforts now to try to privatize the company. And how the electricity is generated in puerto rico is critical. One example, 51 of all the electricity in puerto rico is produced through burning petroleum, compared to less than 1 of all of the electricity generated in the u. S. In addition, coal natural gasas fossil fuels amount for about 98 of the g generating powerf the electrical system in puerto rico. Very little wind or solar generation. So part of the problem is puerto rico has the most expensive way of generating its electricity. And then there is no investment of the Capital Infrastructure or workforce. So anything like this, a hurricane like this, immediately create a crisis that will be for a month in order to be repaired. Amy we will continue to follow what is happening in puerto rico. Any final comments . Did you hear how your hometown was affected . Juan it wasnt. I spoke to my sister who lives in the center of the island. They were surprised how little impact the axel merk and was on the island, yet everyone lost electricity. Amy were going to move on right now. Hurricane harvey, Hurricane Irma, hurricane jose. Well, theres another Storm Brewing a storm of silence. Thats the title of a new report by the Watchdog Group public citizen, which looks at the medias failure to discuss climimate change in its walltowall hurricane coverage. While all the Television Networks commented on the magnitude of Hurricane Harvey and extreme weather, virtually none explained how warmer ocean winds and many other issues. David arkush is with this. David arkush is the managing director of public citizens climate program. Tatalk about what you found, david. So we look at climate coverage coverage of harvey from eight days starting when it first hit texas on a friday and running through the following friday. We found a few things. The most interesting i think r, first abc and nbc news did not mention, change at all in the context of Hurricane Harvey. This is for we looked at eight days. I updated the research, nbc still hasnt mentioned Climate Change in any of its recent hurricane coverage. Im sorry, abc has not mention it. Nbc got around to it finally on saturday after more than two weeks had passed since harvey hit and after we call them out on it with this report. Another major finding was that we looked at 18 media sources, two newspapers, three newsweeklies, five broadcast networks. 72 ofall 18 sources, the mentions of Climate Change in the context of Hurricane Harvey came from just four of these sources. Those were cnn, new york ands, Washington Post houston chronicle. If you live in a certain media bubble and that is what you watch and read, you might have thought the climate connection with harvey was done well. It turns out outside that bubble, it was pretty awful. Amy lets s play a sampling of some of the news reports as harvey made landfall in texas. Threatetening millions of texans w with cataststrophic flooding. G. T the monumental flflooding d humanitatarian disasterr contin. Tonight, houstonians are still under siege in the city still underwater. Amy david arkush what is going on here . Where not just talking about fox. There are occasional mentions of , extremelynge occasional, on msnbc, cnn, but given the walltowall coverage, there is almost no mention of Climate Change. It reflects the broader problem. This is why we are sort of policing this and watching what the medias doing, and are going to be pushing them to do better. There is a general problem in this country of people not talking about Climate Change. It is the biggest looming threat. It is really shocking how few people are talking about it. There is research that suggests only 43 of americans report hearing about Climate Change in the media at least once in the month. 57 will say the hear about Climate Change in the media less than once a month or not at all. Only 19 of people report hearing people they know talk about Climate Change at least once a month. 28 of americans report never hearing anyone they know talk about Climate Change. Threat facingible this country, an existential threat, that is much in the error and much more urgent than most people think. Most people think it is an issue that will affect people in faraway places, people 100 years or 200 years from now. That is mistaken. It is already hurting people in the United States. It will hurt worse and worse, and it is going to pose potentially catastrophic, existential threats to the United States as early as the second half of this century. It is very soon. We have little time left to fight it. We are great solutions, but people dont know about these things. Juan david, what about those who say no single extreme weather event such as Hurricane Harvey can be directly attributed to Climate Change . That is right. It is a mistake to say to even pose the question, day, change cause Hurricane Harvey or did Climate Change caused this or that particular event. Systems are complex. Climate change worse is in intensifies and contributes to these problems. Climate change contributes to hurricane like harvey in several ways. The three biggest and most raised are climate has sea levels. Higher sea levels mean worse storm surges. Has warmed the oceans, which means stronger winds and hurricanes. Change hasimate warmed the air temperature. Warm air holds more moisture, makes it more humid, and that leads to more precipitation. Those are three major ways that Climate Change contributes to an event like harvey and worsens it. The prediction is we get more intense hurricanes. It is not even clear we necessarily get more hurricanes overall, but when we have them, they will be worse. The a majoror piece about Weather Channel the New York Times reports the article goes on to quote republican saying has the term been politicized . The term has been politicized. At the same time, i dont think that means we shouldnt talk about it. The same article suggests it is a policy position, a policy at the Weather Channel to not mention climate because they are afraid of alienating conservatives that watch. I think that is too far. I think at some point there is an obligation to talk about the truth. Amy in fact, the Weather Channel itself getting hit hard, being in atlanta. And the chief executive completely acknowledging, as doe of the meteorologists privately, that Climate Change is an issue but saying their catering to their audience. That is absolutely right. As ofof all, at least now, it is not as if theres a rightwing alternative to thee viewerschannel where will go. It is not as if people dont like cnns coverage and think it is too liberal for reporting facts, they can go watch fox news and be lied to if they want. That is not really the case with the Weather Channel. I think the Weather Channel ought to do its job and report the truth. We are to have enough problems, for example, in epa administrator who doesnt want to talk about the truth and talk about science. We dont need our news reporting agencies down to our weather reporters essentially making political decisions not to talk about reality. Amy how much do you think the fact he also fuel industry sponsors the networks, along with the weapons manufacturers and others, you know, you will see jake tappers lead brought to you by the American Petroleum institute. How much do you think that determines how little is said about Climate Change . Some role. E play i almost want to say it probably plays a role in the margins because there a little coverage, that there arent i would not say there are very many opportunities for those sponsors to get upset about it. Juan i want to ask you about a remark on friday, the former epa administrator Christine Todd whitman wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times titled how not to run the epa. In it, she writes that the current epa administrator scott pruitt recently unveiled a plan that amounts to a slow rolling catastrophe in the making, the creation of an antagonistic red team of dissenting scientists to challenge the conclusions reached by thousands of scientists over decades of research on Climate Change. It will serve only to confuse the public and sets a deeply troubling precedent for policymaking at the epa. This is a republican, former administrator of the epa. The reaction now go i think she is right. This notion of doing a red team, blue team on Climate Science is really absurd. Scott pruitt was talking about this around the time he got confirmed. He is in a new climate then ill what he says im not denying it is happening, im just saying we dont understand enough and we need to debate it more before we act on it. He was saying wewe should be having a big c conversatioion at this, talking about it in t the high schooools and in congress. With all respect, no, it is scientists who should be debating it and they have an have reached a conclusion. It is clear what the science is. If youre not going to accept what the scientists have to say about it, then the debate never has to. The debate will go on and on and on if youre going to reject conclusive evidence on one side. That is what scott pruitt is doing. It is a filibuster. Brought by the fossil fuel industry, a basically, which she is a part. He is continuing that. Amy our videographer hany massoud was flying back from houston in our coverage of Hurricane Harvey, watching fox on the plane. There was the image of the Hurricane Irma bearing down on and texas ii mean, florida. And at the same time, the president speaking in north dakota were so many native americans had been arrested for protesting the dakota pipeline. She was celebrating the fact he pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord and green let both the Dakota Access pipeline and keystone xl. Last comments . Heon trump, i will say obviously is on course to probably be ththe worst presidet in american h history. Numeral scandals around him. He might even be impeached. If there is a history, 200, 300, 500 years from now, you will possibly be remembered most for his terrible decisions on climate history. He is turning the wrong way and heading us down a path toward disaster. Amy david arkush, managing director of public citizens climate program. Author of the new report, a storm of silence Media Coverage of Climate Change and Hurricane Harvey. We will link to it at democracynow. Org. When we come back, mutual aid. The centralized help in committees. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we end todays show in houston, texas, two weeks after Hurricane Harvey caused historic floodiding and left residents so coordinate with each other to rescue thousands of people who were left stranded when officials were overwhelmed. Now that volunteer spirit of mutual aid has continued in the storms aftermath. Amy democracy now s renee feltz joins us now with a report from her home town of houston, where so many houstonians who formed decentralized networks to clean out flooded homes, feed thousands who lost everything, and offer muchneeded counseling. Welcome back, renee. Why dont you set this up for us. Renee great to be back in new york. Like many people who lived in houston the gulf coast come i feel like im going through a bit of ptsd. It was good to see people down there, but it is a longterm recovery situation. Part of what i was happy and excited about was the fact people that helped each other, neighbor to neighbor, are now helping each other in a longterm relief. We spoke with a woman named mary. She will introduce us in this video to her home that was destroyed. Then we will meet some of the volunteers helping to clean it out. We will meet people helping to serve meals and do counseling. Feltzts go to renee piece just back from houston. Everything was very wet. Renee could you tell how high the water got . About four feet. A contractor came. I could not afford to pay him because i ran out of money. I got a volunteer through my niece. I dont know how she found the volunteers, but she brought them recommended them to me so they started helping me. My name is james. Thes a lot of work gutting houses, taking up the drywall, furniture and belongings basically, everything that is below four feet on the house. And then cleaning it out, doing step two remediate the mold. This is at least the third day that groups of volunteers have an out at this house. Renee that noise sounds like a vacuum. Looks like the bottom part of the walls is ripped out on the drywall in the living room where you walk in. This is my kitchen. This is my microwave. I had a cooktop and a builtin oven over here. Renee there is no think. I thought i saw a sink. Im just getting. Renee co ic pipes only. Text right now youre in my master bedroom. Myht over to my right is bags. That is terrible thing out. This is my comfort zone right here. Like a not look muuch copper zone, but it will be. I figure when you go through Something Like this, you just dont realize it until you go through it. I did not cry until yesterday. It is just hard to talk about. Like i said, i would not wish this on my worst enemy. I cant explain how i feel. Devastated to know everything you worked for all your life is gone. I think the effort in houston is going to be a longterm effort. Is not something youre going to just clean up in the next couple of days. I think one of the Biggest Challenges is sort of keeping it on peoples radar. It is important a question why be state is so eager to outsourcing these functions. I dont think it is the state wanted to reassert its control over relief efforts, but the sort of question the legitimacy of that entire approach to begin with and why were not better off, in many aspects of our lives, sort o of self organizing. Nd decentralizing these tasks organizing around concepts like mutual aid and solidarity, sort of basic Human Dignity and decency. Renee ken from visisiting a won whose house is being gutted by volunteers. The house had no stove, no appliances, no cabinets. You can see how hard it would be prepared to prepare a meal. We heard about the kitchen collective and how theyre preparing prepared meals to share with people like we just met. My name is matthew. Were here the midtown kitchen collective and running a site oodineedfood. Com. Two forms that ask you to describe the food you have come the quantity, when it is ready. Another is the people to describe what type of food they need, how much, where it is going to first responders, evacuees, things like that. We have arranged, picked up to or cooked meals for over 200 people. Renee it looks like theyre preparing sandwiches. We have been repairing sandwiches for the past week. Making literally thousands of sandwiches. Renee were in a bustling kitchen. Were using the commercial kitchen space. We have dozens and dozens of their times,te using products that have been donated, to create hot meals. We are giving out to people all over the city, and including outlying areas like beaumont and port arthur. It is one thing to give them sandwiches, and that is a necessity when youre talking about dealing with a lot of people, but the ability to provide neighborhoods and communities and shelters with hot food they can sit down and sit around the table and talk to each other over a hot dinner which many of the people that have been affected by the hurricane have not been able to do in weeks now has beenen incredible. Were working hard to make sure were cataloguing what we have done and making it available for other communinitys. Other people should have the system and be able to have it setup in place prior to a disaster happening s so that one the disaster does happen, it can be activated immediately. It is an innovative approach, utilizing technology, utilizing social media. And really everybody coming together to servivice a neeeed t is not being fulfilled by entities like the red cross or fema in a media disaster response. Rinrenee have made it to the fifth ward. We have been here mostly distributing goods. We have engaged with the public a little bit and tried to figure out how best to serve their needs. We h have another partner who he been demoing houses the past few days. As more crews have gotten out and started distributing goods and showing up to demolition houses and doing other things like that, i felt like i could do less of that and more of my ique skillll set. Peertopeerirecting counseling every siningle day, trying to work on actual total care. I think a large portion of that is dealing with the trauma and the multilayer trauma. These are people are ready in trauma z zones and already livig in full crisis mode, and now have lost all of their assets on top of it. People are still being ignored actively because they have been passed by by someone because someone has handed them anything, then decided all of their problems are fixed. That is not possible under, like, capitalism. It is not possible to say that people will be ok tomorrow. Ands giving them tools, long term staying with them so they can help build and be the example for the next. Amy special thanks to democracy now s renee feltz and to tish stringer for that report from houston, texas, and to austin airwaves always. That does it for our show. Will be inht, you washington, d. C. , continuing his book to her with his new book reclaiming gotham. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] anchor this week on globobal 303000, we track k down a mystl creature whose habitat is under threat. In the philippines, we meet a chef transforming leftover food into tasty new dishes. But first, were off to kenya to find out more about daytoday life in the slums. Today, over half of the worlds population live in cities. Thats almost 4 billion people. The u. N. Estimates that the