Bernardino shooters. Edward snowden has called this the most important tech case in a decade. If apple gives the fbi a way to access user data, who else could use the backdoor to hack into your phone . We will speak to the aclus alex abdo. Then to utah. Your greatgranddaughter, your greatgranddaughter, your greatgranddaughter. Your greatgranddaughter. Your greatgranddaughter. Your greatgranddaughter. Amy more than 100 protesters disrupt a federal auction of oil and gas leases spontaneously bursting into song until they were forced to leave. One activist, the famous author Terry Tempest Williams registered as bidder 19, successfully bidding on 1750 acres of land to spare it from fossil fuel extraction. She will join us from salt lake. Then will south dakota become , the first state to ban transgender students from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity . All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In turkey, a car bomb has killed at least 28 people and injured more than 60 in the capital ankara on wednesday. 20 of those killed were Turkish Military personnel. The turkish Prime Minister spoke out. We believe that both civilians and soldiers lost their lives in the attack. We will continue to give information to the people as the bodies are identified. 61 citizens have been injured and are being treated at various hospitals. Amy no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Turkey has blamed the kurdistan workers party, known as the pkk, but a ppk leader says the group was not behind the attack, and does not know who is responsible. Despite the fact that no one has claimed responsibility, turkish warplanes began bombing Northern Iraq within hours after the attack. Turkish Authorities Say the strikes are targeting pkk camps. The white house is slated to announce today that president obama will visit cuba in the coming weeks. The trip would make president obama the first sitting us president to visit cuba in nearly nine decades. This comes amid the normalization of relations between the two countries. Earlier this week, the United States and cuba signed an agreement to restore regular u. S. Commercial flights to cuba for the first time in more than half a century. The Obama Administration has approved the first u. S. Factory in cuba in more than 50 years, allowing an Alabama Company to assemble tractors there. Pope francis wrapped up his visit to mexico with a mass in the border city of juarez, where he spoke out against the humanitarian crisis caused by u. S. Immigration policies. He spoke near a cross erected in memory of the thousands of people who have died trying to cross the u. S. Mexico border. Step, a path filled with terrible injustice, enslavement, kidnappings, extortion. Many of our brothers are the fruits of the business of human trafficking. We cannot deny a humanitarian crisis, which in recent years, as in the migration of millions of people. Amy pope francis also criticized the role of capitalism in u. S. Border policies saying, the flow of capital cannot decide the flow and life of people. In texas, u. S. Marshals have arrested a man over his federal Student Loan Debt. The federal government has contracted studentloan collections to private debt collectors, who have the ability to deploy u. S. Marshals. Houston resident paul aker says that last thursday, seven armed u. S. Marshals arrived at his home, arrested him, and placed them in gel over what was initially a 1500 Student Loan Debt that has been outstanding since 1987. Paul aker spoke to fox 26. They took me downtown to the federal court, where they put me in a 4 x 4 cell for about an hour, then an hour later, i was taken before a judge, surrounded by seven marshals. For a payment agreement . Absolutely. Just totally mindboggling. I could not believe i was standing before the court with no rights read to me, no legal representation, and i have been told that i o 1500. The u. S. Marshals confirmed arrest, saying the agency has been trying to collect the loan for the past three years. Approximately 40 Million People in the United States currently have Student Loan Debt. A Yemeni Journalist with the independent news outlet and the staterun yemen tv station has been shot to death. Journalist Ahmed Alshaibani was reporting on the fighting in the city of taiz. A photographer who was reporting with alshaibani says he believes the journalist was purposefully targeted by prohouthi rebels. The two were in taiz to report on a fire in a Plastics Factory that had been hit by a shell from prohouthi fighters. Meanwhile, also in yemen, a drone strike killed three people in the Southern City of huta on monday. The attack also badly damaged the offices of public water and telecommunications utilities. Here in the United States, two Los Angeles Police officers have been charged with Forcible Rape and Sexual Assault of four women. Prosecutors say the attacks primarily occurred while the two officers, James Christopher nichols and luis gustavo valenzuela, were on duty. The four women had been arrested by the officers for drugrelated crimes. The Los Angeles Police department has been aware the officers may have been sexually assaulting women for nearly three years. Back in 2013, lapd detectives sought a warrant to confiscate the mens computers and phones. The warrant alleged that the officers repeatedly threatened women with jail in order to get them to enter an unmarked car the two drove while on duty. The warrant went on to accuse the two officers of driving the women to a secluded area, where they would demand sex. The Los Angeles Times wrote about these allegations against the two officers in 2013. Yet it wasnt until tuesday that officers were filed against the two officers. In new york city, a new report filed by a federal monitor appointed to oversee reforms to the new york city Police Department has found many officers have failed to comply with rules for stopping and questioning people on the street. In more than a quarter of cases, of stop and frisk police failed , to document their initial reason for stopping someone. Officers rarely documented stops that led to arrests. The monitor found, many appear not to understand what is expected of them. A landmark 2013 ruling found the new york city Police Departments stop and frisk policy unconstitutional. In kentucky, Democratic State representative Mary Lou Marzian on has introduced a bill that would place significant restrictions on men with erectile dysfunction who are seeking treatment, such as viagra. The bill, introduced last week, would require men seeking erectile dysfunction treatments to first have two doctor visits, provide a signed consent letter from a current spouse and make a , sworn statement that he will only use the drugs for sex with his current spouse. The bill would also make all unmarried men ineligible for the treatment. Representative marzian, who is also a nurse, introduced the legislation after Kentucky Governor matt bevin signed a bill requiring women to consult a doctor at least 24 hours before an abortion. Marzian spoke to tv station wdrb. When we start invadings desk invading peoples private lives and medical decisions, to me, it is, what is next . There are six or seven antijoyce bills filed to restrict access to womens reproductive health. I am appalled that the kentucky general assembly, which very few have any medical degrees, feel that it is important that they insert themselves between a woman and her physician. Amy the number of hate groups rose considerably across United States last year. Under report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found the number of hate groups rose 14 last your, bringing the total number of hate groups in the u. S. To nearly 900. The report found the number of Klu Klux Klan groups more than doubled. It also documented 34 antimuslim hate groups, and 48 antilgbtq hate groups. Report author mark potok pointed to the president ial election cycle as one of the primary reasons for a rising number of hate groups across the u. S. , saying last year was marked by hate speech in mainstream politics to an extent that we have not seen in decades. White supremacist forums are awash with electoral joy, having dubbed trump their glorious leader. In bolivia, six government workers have died of asphyxiation in a suburb of the capital la paz, after city officials reportedly refused to let them leave a building in advance of a demonstration that ended with the Municipal Building being set on fire. City workers say they asked to leave before the demonstration arrived, but that the Human Resources director told them they had to remain inside the building. The demonstration was organized to protest of the conditions of local schools. Organizers say the building was set on fire after protesters dispersed, and that infiltrators were to blame for the blaze. In libya, thousands took to the streets in the capital tripoli wednesday to celebrate the five Year Anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime dictator muammar gaddafi. The uprising, known as the february 17 revolution, ended with a 2011 u. S. Led military intervention that helped oust gaddafi. Libya slid into conflict soon after. The country currently has two competing governments. In january, the chair of the u. S. Joint chiefs of staff, general joseph dunford, says he wants to begin taking decisive military action against the selfproclaimed Islamic State in libya. Ahead of the republican South Carolina primary saturday, ted cruz and donald trump are feuding over a Cruz Campaign tv ad that accuses trump of having been prochoice in the late in the past. The ad, airing in South Carolina, features a clip from a 1999 trump interview on nbcs meet the press. In the interview, trump says he is prochoice in every respect. In response, the Trump Campaign sent a cease and desist letter to the Cruz Campaign. Trump has also threatened to sue cruz for defamation if the Campaign Continues to air the ad. A recent bloomberg poll shows donald trump with a 19point lead over cruz in South Carolina. In more news from the campaign trail, the biggest Labor Federation in the United States, the aflcio, says it is withholding an endorsement for an individual candidate, a move thats being seen as a victory for democratic president ial candidate bernie sanders. The aflcio was expected to announce its endorsement next week after a vote by the executive council at the annual winter meeting. But in an email, aflcio president Richard Trumka says the executive council will not be voting at the meeting, saying i have concluded that there is broad consensus for the aflcio to remain neutral in the president ial primaries for the time being. The aflcio endorsement is by far the most significant labor endorsement for a president ial candidate. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has won the majority of labor endorsements to date, although National Nurses united has come out endorsing bernie sanders. And in new york city, a protest against beyonces politically charged super bowl performance turned into a probeyonce, antiracist demonstration tuesday after beyonces supporters vastly outnumbered her opponents. The event outside the nfl headquarters was billed as a protest against racebaiting by beyonce, whose superbowl super bowl performance invoked the black panthers, black lives matter and malcolm x. But only about two or three people actually showed up to criticize beyonce, while dozens showed up to defend her. This is an exchange between a beyonce critic and two supporters. Can you go back to when you were telling us meit just came across to that it was a political statement. Listen, which is fine. But this is a football game. Lets keep it light. Why was it a political statement . Have you seen it since . Ive seen it on the news. You know it is on youtube. Toyou cannot speak as whether or not it was a political statement. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A major debate over privacy and online encryption has broken out after the computer giant apple announced it will a resist a court order to help the fbi break into an iphone recovered from one of the San Bernardino shooters. Federal prosecutors requested the court order citing an 18thcentury law to compel apple to assist the investigation into unlocking the phone of syed rizwan farook. In farook and his wife killed 14 december, and injured 22 others in San Bernardino. The two were killed in a shootout with police. Fbi director james comey recently revealed the agency has been unable to access the data on farooks phone. It is a big problem for Law Enforcement armed with the search warrant and you find a device that cannot be opened even know the judge said there is probable cause to open it. It affects our counterterrorism work. San bernardino, a very important investigation to us. We still have one of those killers phones we have not been able to open. It has been over two months and were still working on it. Amy on tuesday night, apple ceo tim cook published an open letter to customers. He announced apples decision to fight the court order. Cook wrote we are challenging the fbis demands with the deepest respect for american democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications. Tim cook went on to write up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the u. S. Government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iphone. To talk more about the dispute between apple and the fbi and the larger debate over encryption and cybersecurity, we are joined by alex abdo, staff attorney at the National Security project at the American Civil Liberties union. Welcome to democracy now so will the fbi, will the government take a bite out of the apple . That is the question. I think the courts are going to ultimately side with apple. What the government is asking for is too far. It is not enough resident a demand that apple give information that it has, but write software that happened to one of its users phones. That is an Unprecedented Authority the government seeks and not an authority you can limit to just this case. It is not just about this one phone, but every phone. Amy explain how it works. Is it true or the government cannot break into it is because of a change that apple made just in 2014 . This is an old phone, so it is anchored to the people in the outside, the relationship between this phone and more recent changes apple has made. Basically, the phone is locked using a passcode. There protections built into the device to prevent people from trying every password under the sun to try to break into it. The government wants apple to write software that would have those protections, that would undermine them, so the government can break into the phone. That is what is different about this case than anything before the government has asked from the Tech Companies. The government has rightfully asked for companies to hand over information they have that is important to their investigations. Apple and other companies have complied with those requests. This time theyre asking for the company to build a backdoor. Apples job is to secure the data of its customers. These are customers who trust their private information to the phones made by apple. Instead, the government once apple to break those security features. That is a dangerous precedent the government is setting. Rejected earnest claims that theyre asking apple to create this backdoor to its products. I think it is important to note what the department of justice is requesting. Theyre not asking apple to redesign its product or to create a new backdoor to one of their products. There simply asking for something that would have an impact on this one device. Again, for the merits of that why the department of justice has concluded that is important, i would refer you to them. Obviously, the department of justice and the fbi can count on the full support of the white house as they conduct an investigation to learn as much as they possibly can about this particular incident full stop the president believes that is an Important National priority, but it is ultimately the responsibility of these independent Law Enforcement professionals to do that. Is what theyre trying to do. Amy that is white