Ted lieu who is calling for a Justice Department probe of exxon as well as 350. Org cofounder Bill Mckibben who just got arrested for temporarily closing a local exxon gas station in a oneman protest, holding a sign reading, this pump temporarily closed because exxonmobil lied about climate. And remember this stunning announcement . So, mr. Zuckerberg, what role are you playing in all of this . Will the be a check offered at some point . Yeah, i have committed to starting the start of Education Foundation. The first project will be 100 million challenge grant. 100 million . Amy where has all the money gone . Five years ago, facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated 100 million to fix the schools of newark, new jersey. Tens of millions have been spent on hiring outside consultants and expanding Charter Schools, but what about the children in one of americas poorest cities . We will speak to Dale Russakoff author of, the prize whos in charge of americas schools . All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Slovenia has called in the army as refugees fleeing violence in their home country are streaming across slovenian territory in a bid to reach Northern Europe as winter approaches. Earlier today, a major fire erupted at a refugee camp about 20,000 people have arrived in slovenia since the weekend when hungary closed its border with relation. In sweden, suspected arson attack has gutted a shelter for asylumseekers southwest of stockholm, 14 people fled, but none were seriously injured. More than a dozen fires have been reported in accommodations for refugees in sweden this year. Benjamin netanyahu is facing criticism for saying the palestinian was the one who inspired adolf hitler to exterminate european juice. Netanyahu described as opposed in in between the hillary november 1941 when hitler did not want to exterminate the, wanted to expel the jews. That since fired the isocide of European Jews rejected by most historians. The not these final solution was already underway when the meeting took place. The comments, midst a spate of violence in israel and the occupied territories. Earlier today, Israeli Forces shot and injured a palestinian teenage girl. Israeli forces accused the girl is having a knife and planning to sneak into a settlement to stab residence. Canadas newly elected Prime Minister, justin trudeau, says he has spoken to president obama and confirmed his election pledge to withdraw canadian fighter jets from the u. S. Led Bombing Campaign against isil. Speaking hours after his election, trudeau declined to say when the jets will be withdrawn. About an hour ago, i spoke with president obama and we talked about canadas continued engagement as a strong member of the coalition against isil, and i committed that we would continue to engage in a responsible way that understands how important canada has as a role to play in the fight against isil, but he understands the commitments i have made around ending the combat mission. Amy syrian president Bashar Alassad traveled to moscow for his first overseas trip since the uprising against him erupted in 2011. Assad held talks on syria with russian president vladimir putin. Russia launched airstrikes in syria three weeks ago, saying it was targeting the selfproclaimed islamic state, although its strikes have also hit rebels fighting assad. During the visit, assad praised russia for the help they are giving syria, while putin said he wanted to see a political settlement to the conflict. The Obama Administration has approved an 11. 25 billion deal to sell four advanced, Lockheed Martinmade warships to saudi arabia. The move comes as Amnesty International has called on the United States to halt arms transfers to saudi arabia or risk being complicit in war crimes in yemen, where saudi arabia is waging a u. S. Backed campaign against houthi rebels. Mexico has agreed to relaunch its search for 43 students from Ayotzinapa Teachers College who disappeared last year. The Mexican Government says the students were attacked by local police and turned over to drug gang members who killed and incinerated them. But International Experts have rejected the Mexican Governments account and pointed to involvement by federal police and the military. The Student Senate at the university of mississippi has voted to call for removing the Mississippi State flag from university grounds. The flag features the confederate battle symbol in its upper left corner the only state flag in the country that continues to use the design. Tuesday night, students voted 33 to 15 with one abstention to remove the flag. The University Chancellor still has the ultimate authority to decide whether the flag is removed. He has not yet said whether he will do so. To see our interview with two student activists at the university of mississippi, go to democracynow. Org. Other state schools in mississippi have removed the Mississippi State flag from their campus grounds. Wisconsin Congressmember Paul Ryan has said he is willing to serve as House Speaker if the Republican Party unites behind him. Ryan was mitt romneys running mate in the 2012 president ial race and is known for pushing deep budget cuts. He made the announcement on tuesday. We have been entrusted by them to lead, and yet the people we serve, they do not feel that we are delivering on the job that they hired us to do. We have become the problem. If my colleagues entrust me to be the speaker, i want us to become the solution. Amy utah Congressmember Jason Chaffetz has said he will drop out of the speakers race to back ryan. Former virginia senator jim webb has dropped out of the race for the democratic president ial nomination, saying he will consider running as an independent. I am stepping aside in the democratic primary process, but will never abandon my loyalties to the people who do the hard daily work of keeping this country great at home and secure abroad. We will just have to see what happens next. Amy webb is a former republican who served as Navy Secretary under president ronald reagan. The Arkansas StateSupreme Court has delayed the planned executions of eight prisoners until at least march, to allow prisoners to continue challenging secrecy around the source of lethal injection drugs. The move blocks to the execution scheduled for today. Its the latest fallout from a shortage of execution drugs after european firms barred their use in u. S. Executions. This week ohio delayed all executions until at least 2017 due to difficulty obtaining the drugs. Meanwhile in oklahoma, officials are testifying before a grand jury about how they used the wrong drug to execute Charles Warner last january. Nebraska, meanwhile, bought 54,000 worth of drugs from Salt Lake City india, not utah. Buzzfeed news has revealed a salesman in india has illegally sold execution drugs to nebraska and at least three other states. In florida, family and friends are raising questions about a Plainclothes Police officers Fatal Shooting of africanamerican musician corey jones. Palm beach Gardens Police say officer nouman raja was in an unmarked cruiser when he stopped to investigate jones car, which had broken down. Police said the officer was suddenly confronted by an armed subject, and opened fire, killing jones. Its unclear if raja identified himself as an officer. There is no Police Dashboard or body camera video. And ahmed mohamed, the texas teenager who was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school after authorities said it result a long a bomb, brought it to school to show his teacher, he is moving to qatar where he has a scholarship to continue his education. The announcement comes after mohamed visited the white house for astronomy night and met president obama on monday. 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. We begin with the latest in the exxon Climate Change coverup that some compare to the deceptions of big tobacco. Recent exposes by inside climate news and the Los Angeles Times reveal that for decades, exxon concealed its own findings that fossil fuels cause Global Warming, alter the climate, and melt the arctic. Exxon scientists earliest known warnings on Climate Change date as far back as 1977. Toward the end of the 1980s, the company radically changed course and openly embraced climate denial. Since then, it has spent millions of dollars funding efforts to reject the Climate Science its own experts once advanced. Still, even as it spread climate doubt and lobbied against environmental regulation, exxons denial wasnt across the board. In internal planning kept from the public, the oil giants researchers and Engineers IncorporatedClimate Change projections to determine how best to adapt their operations to a warming planet. Amy the bombshell news of exxons climate deception is now sparking calls for a federal investigation. On tuesday, president ial candidate senator Bernie Sanders wrote to attorney general Loretta Lynch urging a department of justice probe into exxon. Another democratic hopeful, former Maryland Governor martin omalley, tweeted two House Democrats from california, ted lieu and Mark Desaulnier have also requested a doj probe. In a letter to lynch they write if these allegations against exxon are true then exxons actions were immoral. We request the doj investigate whether exxonmobils actions were also illegal. On tuesday, the prosecutor who won the massive 2006 racketeering case against big tobacco for hiding the dangers of smoking, agreed. Sharon eubanks, a former Justice Department attorney now in private practice, told think progress it appears to me that there was a concerted effort by exxon and others to confuse the public on Climate Change. They were actively denying the impact of humancaused carbon emissions, even when their own research showed otherwise. I think a rico action is plausible and should be considered. We are joined now by two guests. Democratic congressmember ted lieu of california, who cosigned that letter calling for a federal probe of exxon. And Bill Mckibben is cofounder of 350. Org, one of the nations leading environmental activist groups. His recent piece for the nation is, exxon knew everything there was to know about Climate Change by the mid1980s and denied it. Mckibben was arrested last week after staging a oneman protest at a local exxon station, in protest of exxons climate denial. He held a sign reading, this pump temporarily closed the gets exxonmobil lied about climate. We welcome you both to democracy now congressmember lieu, talk about what you are calling for right now. If the facts are true, i believe exxons action once actions are shocking and outrageous. It is difficult to think of a company that could have set back humanity for decades and perhaps permanently, that is what happened here. In this case, exxon scientists new Climate Change was happening, that also feels were causing Climate Change, and not only did they deny that and spread uncertainty and confusion about the science, they took actions to plan and take it manage of Global Warming. Advantage of Global Warming. This is beyond hypocrisy. Im not sure what to call it. I believe this should be an investigation by the federal government to see if they should be prosecuted for their actions. Juan congressman, what most stunned you in terms of the information that has come out now in the recent exposes . Scientists were on the cutting edge of research on Climate Science, that they had done tremendous work, that they confirmed Global Warming was happening and then top executives essentially shut that down and embarq on a disinformation and confusion campaign thomas simply for profit. At the same time, knowing this could really damage all humanity. And to me, just how shocking this was really was what stood out to me. Amy a recent investigative series by the Pulitzer Prize winning News Organization inside uncoveredange has decades ago exxon was actually on the cutting edge of climate research. This is a clip from the pbs series frontline which partnered with inside climate news on the project. We found a trail of documents that go back to 1977. Exxon knew Carbon Dioxide was increasing in the atmosphere, that combustion of fossil fuels was driving at, and that this posed a threat to exxon. At that time, exxon understood very quickly that governments would probably take action to reduce also fuels consumption. They are smart people, great scientists, and they saw the writing on the wall. One Exxon Research project help fit the tanker with agreement to measure co2 atmosphere levels and in the ocean. Talks the gulf of mexico, western indian ocean. Basically, every hour we would get several measurements and we called it a data monster. Today exxon says the study had nothing to do with co2 emissions, but scientist involved remember it differently. We were doing some serious science. It was a significant budget, i would say on a scale of 1 million a year. And that was a lot of money and 1975. Amy that was ed garvey. From 1978 to 1983, he was a researcher at exxon where he helped start the companys Greenhouse Gas research program. Last month, he appeared on democracy now and talked about how he felt when exxon started funding climate deniers. I think was an opportunity that was missed. Having developed this knowledge in house, exxon was in position to lead the discussion on how to deal with the problem, but instead decided to deny the program problem. Any code that was ed garvey, which brings us to Bill Mckibben, who, well, bill, it is nice that you are back home after your arrest at your local on station for protesting protesting what youre learned from the information that has come out in the Los Angeles Times series as well as inside Climate Change. Talk about what has most surprised you. Your hard to surprise prize. You have been working on this issue for years. What is most chilling in these documents that have been released . The thing that really gets me is the realization that exxon is probably the one institution on earth that could have shortcircuited this 25 years of pretend faux debate we are been having about Climate Change. If in 1989 when jim hansen from nasa had stood up before congress and said, yeah, the planet is warming, is exxon at that point it said, you know what, he is right. Our internal science confirms everything that he is saying, the world has a terrific problem. Well, it would not have solved Global Warming by now, but we would be well on the way. We would not have engaged in a quarter century of denial and debate. Instead, that is precisely what exxon funded and underwrote. The most compelling moment of that probably came i think in 1997 when the ceo of exxon stood up before the most powerful people in china and told them that the planet was probably cooling and that their computer models, which exxon was using at that very moment to guide their own investments, told him the computer models did not work. This was tragic. Juan bill, if i could interrupt. We have a clip from 1996 around that time of the exxon Ceo Lee Raymond speaking about Global Warming. Lets hear that. Global warming theory say that higher levels of Greenhouse Gases are causing world temperatures to rise in the burning fossil fuels is the reason. But Scientific Evidence remains inconclusive as to whether human activities affect the global climate. Many scientists agree there is ample time to better understand climate systems and consider policy options. S