Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160224 : vimarsana.com

Won with the young, we won with the old, we won with highly educated, we won with poorly educated i love the poorly educated. Amy winning 45 of the Republican Caucus vote in nevada , donald trump usually wins the caucus in his third victory in a row. We will go to reno. Then we remember black lives matter activist Marshawn Mccarrel, who shot himself to death at the entrance of the ohio statehouse in columbus earlier this month. He was a young man that could see all of the our precious oppression and injustice, committed himself to working for, and still bring light. Even if he was angry at the system, he managed to somehow bring a positive energy to the work he did. He was remarkable. Amy we will speak with one of Marshawn Mccarrels former teachers as well as the highs will students who worked with him closely. All of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President obama submitted a plan to close Guantanamo Military prison, despite his pledge to close the facility as one of his first acts after taking office in 2009. There are still 91 prisoners there, 35 of whom have been cleared for release. Obama wants to transfer all prisoners to their home countries or to u. S. Military or civilian prisons. In an address tuesday, obama said guantanamo must close. For many years it has been clear the death detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our National Security. It undermines it. This is not just my opinion, this is the own opinion of experts, many in our military. Is cap productive counterproductive against terrorists because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. Amy more on the president s plan to close guantanamo and republican plans to block him after headlines. In his third consecutive victory, billionaire Businessman Donald Trump easily won the nevada Republican Caucuses last night capturing 46 of the vote. Florida senator marco rubio placed second with 24 , texas senator ted cruz had third with 21 . Speaking to the nevada voters that of the caucus, donald trump opposed obamas plan to close guantanamo prison. This morning i watched president obama talking about gitmo, Guantanamo Bay. Which, by the way, we are keeping open. Which we are keeping open. And we are going to load it up with some bad dudes, believe me. And because Senate Republicans about to not hold as he did a courtesy meeting with president plastic president obamas pick for the supreme court. This is he unique circumstance and youd have to go back to 1888 when Grover Cleveland was president to find the last time a vacancy created in our president ial elected year was approved by a senate of a different party. Amy italian Authorities Say they have rescued more than 700 people from boats off the coast of libya, and recovered the bodies of four others. More than 400 people have died in the mediterranean this year, attempting to reach europe. Meanwhile along the , greekmacedonian border, Greek Riot Police forcibly removed afghan refugees from train tracks policies that have stranded them in northern greece. Macedonia closed its border to afghans, reclassifying the refugees as economic migrants, meaning they cannot obtain political asylum. A spokesperson for the u. N. Refugee agency expressed concern over how macedonia and other countries are profiling refugees at the border. In general, we are concerned about the profiling of refugees at the borders. Andeel we think refugees asylumseekers, their claim should be looked at individually through sign in systems of people should not be selected on the basis of their nationality. They should be selected on whether they are in need of International Protection or not. And you cannot do that by selecting a setting up a selecting mechanism by nationality. Amy the International Organization for migration says more than 110,000 people have arrived in greece and italy this year, a sharp uptick over last year. In rhode island, hundreds of protesters flooded an antirefugee News Conference at the state house. Speakers at the event included former michigan representative peter hoekstra, rhode island republican congressional candidate russell taub, and charles jacobs, president of a group called americans for peace and tolerance, who was shouted down by protesters as he described the supposed dangers posed by syrian refugees. The protesters chanted, say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here. [chanting] amy privacy advocates rallied at apple Stores Across the United States tuesday to praise the company for refusing to provide a backdoor allowing the government to break into its iphone. Apple has said it will resist a court order to help the fbi penetrate an iphone recovered from one of the San Bernardino shooters. The rallies came amid reports the Justice Department is now demanding apple help it unlock at least nine other iphones. In peru, the state oil company has acknowledged at least 3000 barrels of crude oil have spilled in the Amazon Region after ruptures in perus main oil pipeline. The oil spills contaminated two rivers used as a water source by at least eight indigenous achuar communities. There were reports petroperu was using children to clean up the oil. Panama has begun flying more than 1000 u. S. Down cubans u. S. Bound cubans to northern mexico. The cubans were trapped after Central American countries closed their borders to them. They are trying to reach the United States amid fears thawing relations between the u. S. And cuba could end u. S. Asylum rights for cubans. Costa rica has launched similar flights for some 8000 Cuban Migrants trapped there. President obama plans to visit cuba for the first sitting president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Italy has summoned its u. S. Ambassador after reports the National Security agency tapped the phones of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his aides in 2011. Italy said it wanted specific clarifications after italian news media, citing wikileaks, reported on the spying. An Advocacy Group says a palestinian prisoner has entered unknown territory with his more than 89day Hunger Strike. Physicians for human rightsisrael says journalist mohammed alqeq has been on Hunger Strike longer than any other palestinian prisoner, and longer than any of the Irish Republican Army prisoners held by britain in northern ireland, 10 of whom died after their fast. Israeli authorities have accused him of terrorist activities tied to the group hamas. He is in Critical Condition in a hospital. Alqeq is one of nearly 600 prisoners being held under administrative detention, which lets israel incarcerate people without charge or trial. In mexico, a federal court has ruled criminal charges against zapatista leader subcomandate marcos are no longer valid more than two decades after they were first lodged. The zapatistas launched an uprising on the day the north American Free trade agreement went into effect, january 1, 1994, declaring that nafta meant death to indigenous people. Subcomandante marcos was charged with rebellion, terrorism and other crimes. But under mexican law, such charges expire when half the possible prison term for the most serious charge has lapsed. The court said that makes marcos charges invalid. Pope francis is a socialist. Thats according to democratic president ial candidate vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who made the remarks in an interview with reverend thomas rosica. People say you are a socialist. Do you think the pope is a socialist . Yes. What does it mean to be a socialist . What im talking about this to say we have got to do our way and live our lives in a that it alleviates human suffering. That does not accelerate the disparities of income and wealth. Amy in new york, workers in the basement warehouse of b h photo videos Flagship Retail store in manhattan have voted 46 to 14 to join the united steelworkers union. The move comes after b h warehouse workers in brooklyn voted to join the same union in november. The workers say they have faced rampant discriminaon and ns. Sive and erous in the Hospital Center that dispatched paramedics and treated eric werner the , africanamerican man who died after Police Chokehold in Staten Island has agreed to pay , garners family 1 million. The settlement with Richmond University Medical Center was revealed in Court Records obtained by the associated press. Video Footage Shows Police officer Daniel Pantaleo wrestling garner to the ground by his neck. Officers then pile on top of garner, who said, i cant breathe,11 times. Video also shows emt workers taking garners pulse but doing little else to assist him as he lies unresponsive on the ground. Three of the four emts are back at work. A remains on modified duty. Fourth Court Documents accused the emts of failing to adequately examine garner or provide him with the necessary lifesaving procedures. Meanwhile the man who filmed the , fatal chokehold of eric garner has been arrested again. Ramsey orta says he has faced Constant Police harassment and surveillance by officers who at one point told him, you filmed us, so now were filming you. Ramsey orta was arrested friday after police said he assaulted his wife and her twoyearold son. But ortas wife, jessica, has come to ortas defense, saying police have retaliated against orta for filming the garner video. To see our interview with ramsey orta and eric garners daughter erica, go to democracynow. Org. , protesters gathered at New York City Hall tuesday to call for shutting down the Rikers Island jail complex. The rally came after new york city mayor bill de blasio dismissed the idea of shutting down rikers as impractical. Among those who attended was akeem browder, whose brother, kalief browder, spent three years at rikers without charge after he was accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack. He maintained his innocence and requested a trial. After enduring abuses, including a beating by gardens guards and nearly 800 days in solitary confinement, browder was finally released when the charges were dismissed. Last year he committed suicide at the age of 22. His brother spoke out tuesday. My name is akeem browder. Im here with a campaign to shut down rikers along with other coalitions to demand justice for khalifa browder, to see that writers island is shut down from the torturous state that it is to nothing. We dont want to reform. We dont want to build new jails. We want our voices heard. If everyone compare attention to the facts of what happened with Kaleif Browder and understanding can happen to their loved ones and to themselves as well, if they can understand what happened, then they should be out here as a people to voice their opinion. Amy an africanamerican transgender woman has killed in philadelphia, less than two days after another africanamerican transgender woman was found dead in a motel room in san antonio, texas. Maya young was pronounced dead early sunday after being repeatedly stabbed. Less than 48 hours earlier, veronica banks cano was found dead in a bathtub, fully clothed. The cause of her death remains unknown. Last year, more than 20 transgender women were murdered, the highest number on record. And while the oscars are being handed out this weekend, a starstudded cast of African American actors, musicians and filmmakers will throw a free event in flint, michigan. Flint has been in the National Spotlight over lead poisoning in its water, which stemmed from an unelected Emergency Managers decision to switch the citys water to the corrosive flint river. The oscars have also been the center of media scrutiny over the whiteness of the nominees. After no actors of color were nominated for a second year in a row. While movies about African Americans like Straight Outta Compton and creed received nominations, they went to the white writers of Straight Outta Compton and white Actor Sylvester Stallone for creed. The africanamerican directors and nonwhite actors were excluded. Creed director and cowriter ryan coogler will attend the justiceforflint event on oscar night, as will selma director ava duvarney who was passed over for a best director nomination last year. Other attendees will include grey anatomy star jesse williams, musician janello monae and comedian hannibal buress. , 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 of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. President obama has submitted a plan to congress to close Guantanamo Bay military prison. Despite obamas pledge to close the facility as one of his first acts after taking office in there are still 91 prisoners 2009, there, 35 of whom have been cleared for release. Republicans in congress have repeatedly obstructed his attempts to close the prison. On tuesday, obama announced to transfer all detainees to their home countries or to u. S. Military or civilian prisons. During his address, the president explained why the prison must be shuttered. For many years it is thing clear the Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our National Security. It undermines it. Not just my opinion, this is the opinion of experts, many in our military. It is counterproductive to our fight against terrorist because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values. It undermines our standing in the world and viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law. Amy Congress Remains strongly opposed to detainees being moved to u. S. Soil and is expected to block obamas plan. President obama said he hoped his plan would receive a fair hearing. In congress, i recognize in part because of some of the fears of the public that have comes byed often misinformation, there continues to be a fair amount of opposition to closing guantanamo. If it were easy, it would have happened years ago, as i wanted, as i have been working to try to get done. But there remains bipartisan support for closing it. Stakes involved for our security, this plane deserves a fair hearing. Amy to find out more about the significance of this move, were joined now by two guests. Baher azmy is legal director of the center for constitutional rights, which has been representing guantanamo detainees since 2002. Ken gude is a senior fellow with the National Security team at the center for american progress. Katie respond to president obamas proposal yesterday . First, i want to thank you very much for being on your program. It is a great honor to be here. I think president obamas plan that he put out represents the best and most secure way to close guantanamo. It is that particularly new from what he is been trying to do over the course of the last seven years, but i am hopeful that with about 11 months to go in his administration, this will be a renewed push to finally get the prison closed. I think we have to be realistic about the prospects of at least one element of his claim that he put forward yesterday, which was to try and bring some detainees into the United States to stand trial in federal court or to be held as law of war detainees. Congress is just not going to change the law to allow that to happen, especially given the amount of opposition that this congress is thrown at the president on every issue. So the notion that they are going to be detainees here in the United States from guantanamo in anything like the nearterm is just not going to happen. I am hopeful the Obama Administration has some alternative plans for what to do with detainees that they were intending to bring to the United States so that they can actually close the prison under his administration. Juan baher azmy, you have been engaged with the administration for years on this issue. What is your reaction to the president latest plan . We appreciate the vigor with which he delivered his condemnation about guantanamo, but ultimately, think the plan is both too late and too little. It is to