Inside to registered to vote. We will hear from dr. Martin luther king jr. s eldest son, and we will speak to one of the few republican members of congress who went to selma this weekend, alabama senator Jeff Sessions. I am on free voting. Things happen in two weeks or more before the election, and oftentimes people are, you know urged to go to vote and vote before they are ready. Amy and we will go to the Edmund Pettus bridge, where on sunday more than 70,000 people marched for Voting Rights today. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now democracy now . Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A group of 47 republican senators has released an open letter to iran in a bid to disrupt the obama administrations attempt at a nuclear deal. It was spearheaded by senator tom cotton and signed by a number of potential 2016 president ial hopefuls, including senators marco rubio, ted cruz and read and rand paul. It reads in part, we will consider any Agreement Regarding your Nuclear Weapons program that is not approved by the congress as nothing more than an executive him and tour agreement between president obama and ayatollah khamenei. Irans foreign minister, Mohammed Javad zarif, dismissed the letter as mostly a propaganda ploy. President obama criticized republicans for aligning themselves with heart like critics with hardline critics in iran. Some members of commerce want to make common cause with the hardliners in iran. It is an unusual coalition. I think what we will focus on is seeing whether we can get a deal or not it once we do, then if we do, we will be able to make the case to the american people. Amy secretary of state john returns to switzerland sunday in a bid to reach a deal with iran before a march 31 deadline. President obama has declared venezuela a threat to National Security and slapped seven top officials of sanctions amid the worst of dramatic flare up of the past two years. The sanctions target leaders of Security Forces involved in violence last year which left dozens of people than from both sides of venezuelas political divide. The white house said it is targeting human rights abuses and corruption, not venezuelas ridge oil sector. Jen psaki discussed the move. This is an implementation of what we have been working on for months, which is cracking down on those who are violating human rights and, you know, abusers, and those cracking down on the civil society. Also a couple of individuals who will be named today. Amy venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro denounce the sanctions has a further bid to undermine his government. Maduro has ordered the United States to slash Embassy Staff and barred individuals from venezuela including former president george w. Bush, Vice President dick cheney, and members of congress, includi bob menendez, who is now facing corruption charges of his own. He reportedly lobbied that a cure officials on the half of a wealthy doctor, Salomon Melgen who provided him with gifts and luxury vacations. In wisconsin, High School Students and College Students packed the State Capitol monday in the fourth day of protest over theilling of unarmed black teenager tony robinson. Police say he was shot and killed in an apartment after officer matt kinney is bonded to a report of a man jumping in and out of traffic after assaulting someone. 1500 students packed the capitol rotunda, hanging a banner that read black lives matter your cap Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has signed a socalled right to work bill, striking a blow to organize labor four years after he got in collective for Public Sector workers. Labor workers had staged mass protests at the capitol against the bill, which makes wisconsin the 25th right to work state. The bill he signed was taken practically verbatim from model legislation proposed by the rightwing American Legislative Exchange council. It bans mandatory payment of union dues. The Missouri State green the Missouri Supreme Court has appointed a state judge to oversee Municipal Court cases in ferguson after a Justice Department report and covered systematic racial bias in violation of constitutional rights. The Justice Department has said the Municipal Court primarily used its Judicial Authority as the means to compel the payment of fines and fees that advance the citys whenever interest. Ronald brockmeyer, the minas book court judge singled out and report in the report for his pattern of jailing people unable to pay fines while fixing traffic tickets for himself, resigned his post. He reportedly owes 170,000 dollars in unpaid taxes. University of oklahoma has shut down a fraternity after video showed members on a bus singing a racist song. The songs lyrics include a racial slur and they found no black people will ever join the fraternity sae. There will never be a amy university of oklahoma president david boren said any students identified in the video could be suspended or expelled. Dark of this is not our way. These are not our values. This is not our way. These are not our values. Not from anyone. Those students will be out of that house by midnight tomorrow night. The house will be closed, and as far as im concerned amy the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the syrian man who sued the u. S. Government over his sevenyear wrongful imprisonment at guantanamo. Abdul rahim Abdul Razak Al janko was detained by the United States in 2002 after being tortured by al qaeda and imprisoned by the taliban and on suspicion of being a western spy. In the lawsuit, al janko described his time at guantanamo as a kafkaesque nightmare saying he was tortured, beaten, subjected to sleep deprivation and urinated on by u. S. Soldiers. He said he attempted suicide 17 times. In 2009 a judge ordered his release, saying that claim he was part of al qaeda defines common sense. But on monday the Supreme Court left in place a Lower Court Ruling al janko cannot e because he is an enemy combatant. In a second decision, the court declined the case concerning videos and photographs which according to the center for constitutional rights, would prove the torture of another guantanamo prisoner, mohammed alqahtani. The move leaves in place a Lower Court Ruling the images could threaten National Security by stoking antiu. S. Sentiment. A new report nds u. S. Weapons manufacturers are continuing to dominate the global arms trade saudi arabia replacing india as the top market. The United States accounted for a third of the more than 64 billion trade and military trade in military agreement last year. This year saudi arabia will account for one dollar of every seven dollars spent on military imports. As apple unveiled its new apple watch, i report by the intercept finds cia researchers have been working for nearly a decade to grapple to crack the security of apples iphones and ipads. Documents from Edward Snowden show the researchers claimed to have created a modified version of apples Software Development tool xcode, to sneak surveillance backdoors into any apps or programs created with the tool. Presumed democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton will reportedly News Conference will reportedly holding a News Conference to address her excessive use of a private email address while as secretary of state. White House Press Secretary josh earnest confirmed president obama had corresponded with clinton on her private account. Dark of the president was aware of your email address the president was aware of her email address and traded emails with her. But the president was not aware that this was a personal email server, and that this was the email address she was using exclusively for all her business. Amy a United Nations report has found rampant torture by Security Forces in new mexico in mexico, from local and federal police to the military. U. N. Special rapporteur on torture juan mendez highlighted the impact of the u. S. Backed war on drugs, noting the bulk of torture cases involved prisoners with a legit ties to organized crime. Medical has seen only five torture convictions between 2005 and 2013. Officials in florida have reportedly banned the terms Climate Change and Global Warming. Despite the disproportionate impact of Climate Change in the coastal state. Under the tenure of republican governor rick scott, officials at the department of Environmental Protection have been ordered not to refer to Climate Change or Global Warming in official reports or communications. Think progress notes at least two other states, North Carolina and pennsylvania, have been accused of similar bans. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracy now . Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we continue our coverage of the 50th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights campaign in selma alabama on this day in 1965, the second tuesday of march, dr. Martin luther king led a second attempt to march from selma to montgomery. Two days earlier on bloody sunday, Alabama State troopers eat peaceful marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus bridge. On what became known as turnaround tuesday, 2000 protesters marched over the bridge. On the other side they were greeted by a line of flashing lights and police cars and helmeted troopers carrying shotguns. Dr. King told the crowd, folks, we will have to stop and we have been assured that we can neil for a moment of that we can neil down for a moment of prayer. The third and final march from selma to mike emery would begin less than two weeks later. On sunday, Martin Luther kings eldest son, Martin Luther king iii, spoke at the historic Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in selma. I would never have guessed a couple of years ago that our Supreme Court would dismantle the Voting Rights act. Today we should be celebrating but we cannot celebrate yet. Some would say we idolize dr. King, and, yes, we should. But, unfortunately, that is not what he wanted us to do. When you idolize something come you put it on a shelf. When Martin Luther king day comes, you pull it out and show it. So when black History Month comes out, you pull it out and show it. But dad would not want us to idolize. He would want us to embrace his ideals. True freedom, justice, and equality and righteousness. So i am concerned because our Voting Rights have been decimated. We are a better nation than the behavior that we are exhibiting. To the 100 members of congress joined with the president yesterday, there ought to be legislation that is proposed tomorrow. [applause] three quick things we can do. We ought to first of all make registration online available not just number two, we might consider changing election day from tuesday if you want people not to participate in a party, throw it on tuesday. Why not look to at least a couple or three days, and at least a couple of those days the weekend days. And then if those who are so concerned about ideas we have always had to bring some form of id to vote. Bring new forms of id. Seniors and students and people of color it makes it challenging to get. So what we could do, as ambassador young proposed at the johnston ceremony just last year, is put a picture on our Social Security card. If we have to have a government form of id. Those are the three things we can do. The final thing, there is something wrong with us purporting to practice and promote democracy all over the globe, yet question democracy at home. That must change. Theres something wrong in a nation where 6 million black men are not allowed to vote because they were convicted of felony. They paid their dues to society, yet their right to vote has not been reinstated. Somewhere i heard about taxation without representation. Maybe they should not pay their taxes, because they have no ability to vote for someone. Every time i come to these anniversaries, i think about what dad said in montgomery in 1965. He talked about how long he went on to say he did not know how long, but he said he knew it would not be long because no lie can live forever. How long echo not long, how long . Not long. How long . Not long. He goes no lie can live forever. How long . Not long, because god almighty is still on the throne. Keep keeping on. We are going to be all right. We are not there yet. Amy that was Martin Luther king iii speaking of the historic brown chapel ame church in selma, alabama, where on march 7, 1965, hundreds of marchers left from the church and made their way to the Edmund Pettus bridge. Just outside the church i had it since i had a chance to speak with civil rights pioneer c. T. Vivian, a close friend and advisor to dr. King during 50 years ago vivian was punched in the face by Dallas County sheriff jim clark on the courthouse steps in selma as he tried to escort a group of African Americans inside to register to vote. The punch was so hard, sheriff clark broke his own hand. C. T. Vivian began by talking about the power of nonviolence. Nonviolent direct action is something we have brought to america, right . Nonviolent direct action has no violence in it, right . It is not there to destroy. It is there to develop and build, and that is what we have been trying to do at the core of that. The core of that is an understanding of the faithful life. Amy do you think for a Voting Rights have been achieved at this point . Dart go no, because if they had it would have been done in 1776. There is nothing we have not done for this nation. We have died for it. But it has been overlooked, what we have done for it. We kept knowing the scriptures, living by faith. We kept understanding that it is something deeper than politics that makes life worth living. Amy what gave you the courage 50 years ago to stand up at the courthouse and make that law . You cannot keep anyone in the United States from voting without hurting all other citizens. Democracy is built on this. Our grandmothers and greatgrandmothers taught us how to live even when they could not speak well as long as what society was concerned about. About it is as old as amy can you talk about the violence against you even leading up to march 7 . It is the understanding of nonviolent erect action. What we have to see of nonviolent direct action. What we have to see above all things is that Martin Luther king was our leader. What we have and what was given to us from the very beginning is an understanding that we could not win by killing. Light does not come because of darkness. We are here to change america and always have been. Sees it as they are changing us, but when he Christian Church exists that does not want to accept anybody but white people they have already denied the faith. Can you be a christian and a racist at the same time . We refuse to be racist. We just want to simply tell america what their faith is about. America talks about democracy but they have kept us from voting for years, and even when they give us the vote on paper politically they turn around and take away the important part of what they said they were giving, all right . The truth is we have to Work Together to save ourselves politically, save ourselves spiritually, and save ourselves physically. We are not going to be able to do it until we listen to the faith without the hate. When a preacher has to stand at the door and keep people out because of their color of their skin there is something wrong with their faith. Amy did you stand in front of sheriff clark and get punched in the face . Well, yes, but that is not why i was standing there bank or we are willing to be beaten for democracy, and you must use democracy in the street. We do not have to fear the opposition and we are willing to die for the freedom they say they have. Amy when he attacked you especially for young people to understand your thoughts at the time what went through your mind . That the problem was him. I was not the problem. He was trying to get rid of us show that he could act