Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20160404

Thousands from the polls tuesday . We will speak to ari berman, author of, give us the ballot the modern struggle for Voting Rights in america. It is critical urgent to restore the Voting Rights make it easier to vote in a lot of different ways, things like early voting and sameday Voter Registration, automatic footer registration, to get a lot more people involved in the political process. 50 Million People right now are not even registered to vote and wont be purchase of trading and the 2016 election. Amy after Bernie Sanders addressed close to 20,000 people in the south bronx, the first time a president ial candidate went there in decades, we bring you an interview with actress Rosario Dawson on why she is backing sanders for president. Sandersupporting bernie because he says no to fracking, because we do need a singlepayer Health Care System that takes care of everyone and that is not a pipe dream. We are soldiers of democracy. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. It is being called the biggest leak in journalism history. On sunday, journalists revealed 11. 5 million secret files from the database of the worlds fourth largest offshore law firm. The files show how the law firm set up a Global Network of Shell Companies for heads of state politicians ceos, and celebrities to store their money offshore to avoid taxes and oversight. More than 100 journalists from 80 countries worked on the investigation, which contains far more files than the Edward Snowden nsa leaks and the 2011 wikileaks cables links combined. At least 12 National Leaders are among the more than 150 politicians implicated by the leak, including russian president vladimir putin, the Prime Minister of iceland, the former Vice President of iraq wil. In a surprising reversal in nevada, sanders could actually end up winning the majority of nevada delegates come even though Hillary Clinton won the first round in february. On saturday, sanders won the support of 55 of the delegates at county level voting. The delegates will now head to the state convention on may 14, which will term in determined about his final count. There was turmoil, especially the largest commission of clark county, where Hillary Clintons campaign tried at the last minute to oust a top official who supports sanders. The credentials chair staged a sit in in the middle of the convention after the Clinton Campaign accused her of sharing Sensitive Information with the Sanders Campaign and demanded she be removed. In response, the credentials chair said the Clinton Campaign was trying to change the caucus rules at the last minute and she had only included the sanders staffers on the email so that both campaigns would have the same information. Meanwhile, tensions between Bernie Sanders and his rival Hillary Clinton are rising over the issue of fossil fuel money being used to finance president ial campaigns. During an event at State University of new york at purchase last week, Hillary Clinton accused the Sanders Campaign of lying about her when she was confronted by a greenpeace activist, who asked whether clinton would continue to accept money from fossil fuel companies. In response, sanders called on the Clinton Campaign to apologize during a rally in wisconsin. The truth is, secretary clinton has relied heavily on funds from lobbyists working for industry. As, and coal according to analysis done by greenpeace, Hillary Clintons campaign and her super pac have million more than 4. 5 from the fossil fuel industry. Fact, 57 oil, gas, and coal industry lobbyists have directly contributed to her campaign with 43 of them contributing the maximum allowed for the primary. And these are not just workers in the fossil fuel industry, these are paid registered lobbyists will stop secretary clinton, you owe our campaign an an apology. We were telling the truth. Amy well have more on this story with the activist who confronted clinton and a researcher from greenpeace after headlines. Meanwhile, on the republican side, new polls show donald trump is now one of the most unpopular political figures in at least three decades. A recent bloomberg poll shows 68 of americans do not approve of donald trump. The only political figures to show similar levels of unpopularity in recent history were former president george w. Bush in the final year of his presidency, and former president richard nixon, following his resignation over the watergate scandal. In greece, Border Agents have begun forcibly deporting refugees on the greek islands of refugees on the greek island back to turkey, amid outcry from human Rights Groups and protests by refugees. On monday, authorities deported to order to refugees in the first wave of a controversial new plan reached last month to deport all newly arriving refugees back to turkey. In exchange, the European Union said it would formally resettle one refugee from a turkish camp for every refugee deported. At least 4000 refugees have been detained on greek islands since the accord took effect three weeks ago. Former u. N. High commissioner for refugees spokesman Metin Corabatir criticized the plan. This deal in its current will show harm to people, these poor people. It will be a second trauma. They are are you traumas, and this will be the next trauma. Amy this comes as Syrian Refugees blockaded a highway in northern greece over the weekend, protesting the border crackdowns across europe, which has left refugees stranded in greece. Syrian protester fatme spoke out. We are asking, what is going to happen to us . Im asking all of the countries, what is our fate . No one understands what were going through but us. We ran away, not because we were hungry, we did not leave because we were hungry, we left because there is a war. It is our fate to die here also . No one is paying attention to us. Absolutely no one. Amy environmental activist Gustavo Castro soto has been freed by honduran authorities anhas returned to mexico a month after he survived an assassination attempt that left fellow honduran activist Berta Caceres dead. Early in the morning of march 3, armed gunmen entered caceres home, killing her and shooting castro soto twice. He was then detained by honduran authorities for nearly a month without cause. Many feared his life was in danger. On friday, he was allowed to return to mexico. This is castro soto, speaking with radio progreso about the indigenous land struggles in honduras after he returned home to San Cristobal de las casas. What we are confronting our forces very powerful, obscure forces filled with ambition. These forces are what the movements are fighting. I think for this as well, this has been an example of the power of the struggle in the am breakable spirit of the comments of the indigenous communities who have marched, who have walked until exhaustion am all to demand respect to the territories and demand their land be free of these megaprojects that are being imposed and are even acting people from their lands. Evicting people from their lands. Amy in the philippines, farmers in the south are demanding justice after police opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing at least three farmers and leaving dozens more wounded. At least 6000 farmers were blocking a highway in the Southern City of kidapawan to demand the government provide rice, because extreme el nino conditions had destroyed the harvest. On friday, the police tried to break up the blockade by firing farmers who h linked ms to form a human barricade. Farm noralyn laus spoke out after the shooting. Why we came down here is not to make trouble. Want to demand for rice because of the situation as el nino is leaving our tribes hungry. What happened yesterday, we did not start it. Us. Started it i beating they would not be angry if we were not beaten up or attacked. Were having a crisis. We dont have anything to eat or harvest. Our plants wilted. Even our water has dried up. Amy the syrian observatory for human rights says at least 20 people have died in airstrikes in the Northwest Province of idlib, including the spokesperson for the militant group al nusra. It is not clear who launched the airstrikes. The syrian observatory said the strikes were launched by assads regime or the russian military, while other groups said it was a u. S. Drone strike. This comes as the partial ceasefire in syria appears to be under threat, amid heavy fighting in the north and accusations from france that assads regime has violated the ceasefire by continuing to launch airstrikes against civilians on the outskirts of damascus. Dozens of people have been killed after fighting broke out in a disputed region on saturday. The region lies inside, but controlled by armenians. It was the site of a bloody conflict in the wake of the collapse of the soviet union. The fighting, which reportedly included civilian because of on besides, threatened the ceasefire which has been in place since 1994. The Washington Post reports the pentagon is drafting up a list of targets for potential airstrikes inside libya against isil militants. This comes after a new u. N. Backed unity government was installed in tripoli last week. Libya already has two other rival governments, who do not accept the new u. N. Backed administration. The u. S. And european allies has have said that installing a westernbacked unity government is a precondition for launching an increased military campaign inside libya targeting isil. In poland, thousands of people protested to defend womens reproductive rights after the conservative ruling party backed calls by the Catholic Church to ban abortions entirely. Poland already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in europe. On sunday, thousands took to the streets of warsaw, waiving signs and coat hangers. In nevada, more than a dozen activists were arrested during a series of protests blockading access to the Creech Air Force base on friday to demand the base be closed down. Creech air force base is one of several homes for the u. S. Militarys Lethal Drone Program in pakistan, afghanistan, somalia, yemen and other , countries. During one of the protests on friday, a group of children and adults dressed as angels and performed a mock drone attack on a funeral to protest u. S. Drone strikes on funeral processions. A total of 25 activists have been arrested in a series of protests against the base in the last week. Crow nation war chief activist and historian joseph medicine crow has not the age of 102. He was the last surviving war chief for the crow nation, distinction he earned after completing the requirements to become war chief during his u. S. Military service in world war ii. Medicine crow was also an acclaimed historian, best known for his work on the 1876 battle of little bighorn. In which a commendation of nations defeat of the u. S. Army and killed army officer George Armstrong custer. And former death row prisoner Moreese Bickham has died at the age of 98. In 1958, he was sentenced to death for choosing shooting and killing a Police Officer in louisiana, even though Moreese Bickham said the officers were klansmen who had come to kill him and shot him on the front porch of his own home. Multiple other people in the Community Also said the officers worked with the ku klux klan, a common practice in seven smalltowns. Bickham, who is africanamerican, served 37 years in angola state penitentiary in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. He won seven stays of execution but the louisiana governors repeatedly denied him clemency until under pressure, he was released in 1996. This is Moreese Bickham speaking on wakeup call when the cohost and i interviewed him in 1996. I know how it feels now to be free. When i was flying over the west coast going to oakland, i looked down at the Northern Lights of the black stars up in heaven. I said to him i always been looking up and see the stars. I know heaven is at that weight will step but, lord, is that heaven down there . Amy that was Moreese Bickham speaking only days after he was free. It was Martin Luther king day when we spoke to him onwbai. He died sunday in california. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. With the wisconsin primary just a day away, democratic president ial challengers Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders sparred over the weekend over whether fossil fuel lobbyists are funding Clintons Campaign. The dispute took center stage after video emerged of a greenpeace activist questioning clinton at a Campaign Rally at the State University of new york thursday. You have to listen closely to the interaction between the activist and Hillary Clinton. Fossil fuel money in your campaign . Sickam so sick i am so of Sanders Campaigns lies. On Bernie Sanders called Hillary Clinton to apologize for characterizing remar he made about the oil and gas industrys donations to her campaign as lies. Yesterday, some of you may know secretary clinton was met with by an environment like the rest environmental activist at a form she held. The activist asked her if she would reject money from the fossil fuel industry, which i have. And the reason i have [applause] the reason i have is that i happen to believe that Climate Change is one of the great crises facing our planet. [applause] but secretary clinton said to this young woman, she said she was sick sick of the Sanders Campaign lying about contributions she received from the fossil fuel industry. Well, secretary clinton owes us an apology. We went online. We were telling the truth. The truth is the truth is that secretary clinton has relied heavily on funds from lobbyists working for the oil, gas, and coal industry. According to an analysis done greenpeace, Hillary Clintons campaign and her super pac have received more than 4. 5 million from the fossil fuel industry. Fact, 57 oil, gas, andcoal industry lobbyists have directly contributed to her campaign with 43 of them contributing the maximum allowed for the primary. And these are not just workers in the fossil fuel industry, these are paid registered lobbyists. Secretary clinton, you owe our campaign an apology. We were telling the truth. Meet thenday, we d press host asked her about her ties to the fossil fuel industry. Ive been working to try to move us away from fossil fuels. When i was in the senate, i introduced legislation and voted against the dick Cheney Energy bill. I could go on and on. When i got to be secretary of state, i was at the original meeting of 2009 1 president obama, where we were trying to convince china and india and others to come on board with accepting some restrictions that would lead to what finally occurred with the paris agreement. So when people make these kinds of claims, which now i think have been debunked, actually, Washington Post said three pinocchios and other analysts have said that they are misrepresented by record my record. I feel sorry sometimes for the young people who believe this. They dont do their own research. Im glad we can now point to toiable independent analysis say, no, it is not true. Amy joining us now is eva resnickday, the greenpeace activist who confronted Hillary Clinton as well as charlie cray a research , specialist for greenpeace. He was the lead researcher on the fossil fuel lobbyists contributions to the Clinton Campaign. Therding to the research, Clinton Campaign has received more than 4. 5 million from lobbyists, bundlers, and large donors connected the fossil fuel industry. Clinton maintains that shes received only about 330,000 from individuals who work for fossil fuel companies. We welcome you both. Eva resnickday, described the scene when you were able to question Hillary Clinton. How hard was it to get to her . Absolutely. It is pretty difficult to make sure you will get to the front of a rally, and even have the opportunity to stick your hand out and, hopefully, get to ask a question to secretary clinton. From 350d an activist action named miles had weighed about six hours in order to make sure that we were at the front of the line stephen get the opportunity to propose this question. Amy had you been trying before this day . Absolutely. This is a larger Climate Movement of thousands of activists across the country who have showed up to rallies to protest at fundraisers, demanding that whoever our future leader is is accountable to the people and not contributions and corporations in a campaign. Amy she says you are Bernie Sanders representative who was trying to word doc her. Is that true . It is absolutely not true. Im a democracy organizer for greenpeace usa. I have no affiliation to the Sanders Campaign. Greenpeace is an independent organization that does not support or oppose candidates. We only work on issues. Amy explain what it was you exactly asked her and what she replied. Thank you so much. The first part of my question seems to never make it into the news, and that was, thank you so much for tackling Climate Change. Will you act on those words and reject future fossil fuel money in your campaign . Amy what was her answer. Her answer was, i have only taken money from employees of the oil and gas industry and im so sick of the Sanders Campaign lying. I dont know if you could hear it, but in the video i also try to interject, but was unable to come also fossil fuel lobbyists money. Amy explain what you mean. , oil,57 registered coal and gas lobbyists have directly donated or bundled more than 1. 3 million to the Hillary Clinton campaign. And these lobbyists are people whose job it is to make connections with senator clinton to influence her policy going forward, and giving her money and the campaign they are clearly trying to find influence. I dont think that that is how democracy should work. It should be democracy for the people, not registered lobbyists. Amy what is the pledge your asking her to sign . So greenpeace and 20 other organizations launched a pledge to fix democracy, asking all president ial candidates to reject future fossil fuel money from lobbyists in their campaigns, and also to champion campaignfinance reform and restore Voting Rights for everyone. Amy i want to turn to charlie cray him to some of the numbers from the greenpeace report on fossil fuel lobbyists contributions to the Clinton Campaign. The report shows all that Clintons Campaign and the super pac supporting her have received more than 138,000 from fossil fuel lobbyists and more than more than one point really and dollars 1. 3 million. You say that all told, the campaign has received more than 4. 5 million from lobbyists, bundlers, and large donors connected the fossil fuel industry. Where is the rest of that money coming from . Who are these lobbyists and bundlers, and who do they represent . There are 58 lobbyists to 11 of them worked directly for the industry for exxonmobil, American Petroleum institute and other trade associations, and the rest are hired lobbyists who work on behalf of a whole range of gas and oil and coal companies. Overall, 58ese lobbyists have bundled money for the campaign. The total combined between direct contributions and bundled money comes close to one point finally in dollars, actually. Amy talk about Bernie Sanders and where he is getting his money from, what your if yournding is, research on the campaigns. Campaign a direct contributions from industry employees, which he is taken over 330,000 directly to sanders who has taken Something Like 50,000. Most of this money for both is coming from employees. The pledge we have put to all of the candidates is to stop taking money from top executives, lobbyists, and company pacs. None of the democrats have taken money from company pacs. The top executives is an issue that may distinguish sanders and camp and the lobbyists as well. We defined his pledge by these three categories because in fact, clinton has a ready pledged not to take any money from top executives, lobbyists, the privateacs from prison industry. We think it is pretty safe and pretty easy for her to do the same for the fossil fuel industry. Amy how does she compare to the republicans . The republicans have taken far more money. This is a nobrainer. Honest all of them, with the exception of john kasich, are outright climate deniers. They of outside super pacs that are taking millions of dollars, in some cases well over 10 million, from very large industry representatives and investors. Amy the Washington Post has also challenged your research. They gave you three pinocchios. Can you explain, and how do you respond to that . Theyre looking at the big picture and saying the 300,000 comes from lowlevel employees, in the case of clinton, and they also say it is really a small percentage of the contributions overall that she is taken in and her campaign. What we say is, great, if it is a small contribution, if you dont really need it, then stopped taking any more of it. As far as lobbyists and employees, back in 2008, she criticized then candidate obama for taking money from the industry, challenging his assertion that it did not affect cheneye on the halliburton loophole bill, the energy bill of 2005. In 2008 and 2012, obama himself took no money from any registered lobbyists. And now we see clinton basically backsliding and taking money from lobbyists of all kinds. Amy the Washington Post also says Greenpeace Council of the money raised or contributed by lobbyists as oil and gas industry funds, but these lobbyists have many other clients besides the oil industry. Lets take a step back. Clinton has taken some very good decisions on climate, and she has pledge to regulate the fracking industry. A lot of those regulations would have to come through congress. If youre taking money from, say, pharma and the oil and gas industry, pharma is not going to lobby on fracking legislation. The gas industry lobbyists are. Shes basically taking money from the lobbyists for those very companies that would oppose the policies that she is pledged to. Respond to the Clinton Campaign and other campaigns saying they cannot control what kind of contributions come to super pacs, even that support them that theyre working independently . Well, legally, they cannot control it, but she can say she does no one her super pac taking any money from the fossil fuel industry, and they would abide by that. You know, and sanders, of course, said he did not want any super pacs. So it is really a question of leadership here and whether or not she wants to pledge not to take any money from the industry to demonstrate person 30 about the many good policies demonstrate her sincerity about the many good policies. Amy in the paper is says again, these are 58 of these lobbyists, many work for exxonmobil or the gas industry, so it is kind of, you know, insincere for kessler does say that these are small because these are people have a lot of influence in washington and are pretty wired and when it comes to policies. Amy i want to go back to what Hillary Clinton said on meet the press. I feel sorry sometimes for the young people who believe this. They dont do their own research. Im glad that we can now point to reliable come independent analysis to say, no, it is just not true. Amy eva resnickday, can you respond . Absolutely. It felt insulting that Hillary Clinton called all youth climate activists are prepared and not looking toward our own research. As a youth movement, we have done her own research and that is why we are so terrified for the future. Said was a report that 400,000 people are dying every year today because of Climate Change and going hungry due to drought and being pushed out of their homes because of rising sea levels. Scientists are saying we have half the amount of time that we thought we did to tackle Climate Change before we go over the Tipping Point will step and because of that, youth, the people who are going to have to inherit and do with this problem, are incredibly worried what happens in the next four or thet years could determine human species. That is why we are asking the tough questions to all candidates to make sure that whoever is in office is not going to continue things as they have been, but take a real stand to tackle Climate Change in a meaningful and deep way for the future of our planet. Amy charlie cray, you pointed out that Hillary Clinton did take a pledge against taking money from the private prison industry. Can you compare what you are asking for her to take with this pledge . It is honest a carbon copy of the same pledge that she made to not take money from top executives, lobbyists, or company pacs. So, you know, how difficult would it be for her to take the same pledge for fossil fuel money . Amy we are going to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. Charlie cray, Research Specialist at greenpeace. And eva resnickday, democracy organizer for greenpeace. This is democracy now when we come back, Rosario Dawson speaking out on why she supports Bernie Sanders. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On thursday night, between 16000 and 20,000 people gathered in st. Marys park in the south bronx for Bernie Sanders rally, where sanders stressed his brooklyn roots. It was the first time in decades a president ial candidate spoke in the south bronx. He spoke alongside director spike lee and actress Rosario Dawson. She is known for many films as well as rent. I caught up with dawson after the rally. I began by asking her why she supports Bernie Sanders. Im supporting Bernie Sanders because he says no to fracking. Im supporting Bernie Sanders because we do need a singlepayer Healthcare System that takes care of everyone. And that is not a pipe dream. Thats thats happening all over the world and in really positive ways. We are a social democracy. Thats our firefighters, thats our policemen. And it shouldnt be drawing a line, thats you know, a fireman will go into your house to take your hard drive out and save your cat, but if you break your leg, screw you. That doesnt make any sense, you know . And when you actually go and you travel around the world and you start recognizing that people can actually be sick, they can take you know, have a broken leg and not lose their job and lose their livelihoods and lose their homes over it, thats really important. You know, free college, universities, thats a really, really big deal. People shouldnt be thinking about that for the rest of their life theyre going to be having these deals, because im looking at people who are in their 40s, 50s, and that are still paying 60s off their student loans. Thats crazy. You know, like how are we supposed to compete in the economy as its moving forward . The world were being replaced by robots. Like, were not going to be globally competitive if were not making sure people are getting the education that they need. Amy and why do you think Bernie Sanders can solve these issues in a way that Hillary Clinton cant . The reason why bernie can do that is because its a revolution. And the revolution is all of us being a part of that conversation. Its not going someones going to go into office and just go, great, i take it from here, but actually inspiring people to come and take off you know, when you see what black lives matter is doing with byeanita, when you see people like nina turner coming up and Tulsi Gabbard and all of these other people. This idea that, you know, this has to be the only person, this only woman no, i dont want to vote for someone who said yes to the iraq war and yes to the patriot act twice. I dont want to support someone who said yes to nafta up until 2008 and when obama even called her out on it, because s was running for presidency. She was saying, yeah, the Gold Standard of the tpp deal, but you know exactly what shes going to do when she goes into office, and sign it. This is not ok. Profits for prisons, and now actually profits for the rehabilitation centers, because the same people who own those private prisons are also the same people who own the Detention Centers and for for the undocumented who are going in there. And its not just undocumented people. People are going and getting thrown in there who have green cards, all types. I mean, theres a real serious problem thats going on right now, and has been going on for a long time. And so, for someone like her to be talking about that she cares, but hasnt done anything really about it, is really shocking to me, you know, and really even admitting and talking about how her policies were so devastating for people. You know . Amy and what about what about the tv networks that say that Bernie Sanders cant get the support of communities of color . Well, thats obviously ridiculous. You know . And thats but again, like, i mean, youve got to really look at the fact that these companies and their Parent Companies are the ones who have you know, theyre dependent on fossil fuel and pharmaceutical companies putting the commercials around them. You know, theyre dependent on all of you know, this is about people making money and lobbyists. This is not about us. Amy can you can you talk about what youre doing tomorrow night, the forum youre having in harlem . Are you doing it with Michelle Alexander . Yeah, so, i wanted to put together actually, i was talking to eve ensler about it, and we just came up with this idea of talking about just women and what we have to talk about in policies and politics. And so i wanted to round up particularly a couple of women who are definitely bernie supporters, but not necessarily everybody. But were going to have Michelle Alexander, who wrote the new jim crowe tessa thompson, who was in , dear white people donna hylton, who was incarcerated for 23 years and can really talk to these issues and, like, give people information, because the one thing i keep finding is people who are supportive of the other candidates tend to do so with these really broad sort of ideas as to why. And as soon as you go, well, why . And you challenge them, they dont really have the facts to back it up. And i really feel like theres a possibility of especially undecided voters, giving them the information that they actually need, that a lot of the group mass media is not giving them, because hes you know, and he doesnt have the benefit of super pacs or being a household name or a brand name, you know, so he just has us. And he has his message, that has been consistent for decades. And so now because of social , media, the difference between him and obama like, you know, the twitter only just had its 10th anniversary of existence, you know . Like, there, he had a Mass Movement behind him, but, you know, people can tell you, two months in, they were disenchanted because he closed the door and started trying to reach across the aisle with people who had been calling him a terrorist for years. And so then he lost the house and the senate and all these different things. And thats when the obstructionism came. It wasnt that he walked into it like that. And i think its really this is someone whos got understands that, whose momentum is solely built off of the online space. We know because hes been , consistent his entire career, that hes not going to make an aboutface when he gets into the oval office, that hes going to stay true to his promises, because hes doing so right now. The desire and need to want to be president and do the things that he can do has got to be really so intense, and he must really want to be able to say, yes, please, from companies that are good companies, say, give me some money, but he still says no, because he wants the people to get him there. He wants all of us to win the presidency. And thats why im behind him. Amy and, Rosario Dawson, your thoughts on donald trump, both saying originally just a few days ago saying that women should be jailed for having abortions. He has walked it back a little in saying, no, the doctors who give them abortions should be punished. Yeah, thats already happening, unfortunately. You know, i think thats one of the sort of red herrings, the fallacies about you know, about trump, is that he somehow is making up the divisiveness, that hes somehow creating it, when thats just not true. This has been going on for a long time. Black lives matter, the Dreamer Movement exists for a reason. And this has been going on on our streets for a really, really long time. And hes been calling obama out as being a dreamer for years. And that didnt start with him. That started when a picture of obama with a turban came out of the Hillary Clinton camp, you know . And so, like, theres a real reality about theres been dirty politics and things that have been going on for a very long time, and they got out of hand. And now you have people like Lindsey Graham going, i support ted cruz, which you know he would never want to do, because the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have really lost touch with the people on the ground. Amy and what about donald trump having trouble disavowing david duke and the ku klux klan and then retweeting benito mussolini, the fascist dictator of italy . Well, i mean, again, youre talking about someone who is dividing the country, whos been doing that for a really long time. The fact that he was never brought his feet to fire by going, hey, if you really think that the president is not legally capable of being the president i wonder if he would have had as much to say about mccain having been born in panama. But, you know, i really think its really striking that no one called him out on that. So now you want to be the president of the country that you believe could have hired someone for the job who wasnt legally capable of doing it . Like, so i think theres a lot of insanity. But again, like i its not he doesnt he isnt the problem. He hasnt been the problem. There is a lot of stuff thats been going on for many, many years that have gotten out of control, and now he represents that problem. And i think now were finally dealing with it. You know, there are a lot of people who follow him who are so grateful to be able to have the chance to maybe say spic again. Theyre like, yes you know, this guy is talking to us, and hes giving us permission. Because you know what . Weve had this insane level of Political Correctness that has been glossing over the fact that things arent politically correct, that things are really devastating for a lot of people black, white, brown, male, female, different religions, all of it. And weve been pretending like somehow weve broken through the ceiling, the Glass Ceiling for women, that because we have a president named Barack Hussein obama, that were no longer racist. And thats just not true. So i think what we really have to talk about is not exactly what hes saying individually, but what he represents and the fact that a lot of people behind him feel that way. And what are we going to do about that . Lets try to get bernie on, so the more opportunity he has to talk to the people and not get the facts obfuscated or misconstrued by the mass media, that has been happening. I mean, the times that i watch him on these other shows, and then watch them right after and start rolling their eyes, like, boko welcome a did you hear . Unlike no, thats not what he , said. Ugh and because people are busy, theyre taking advantage of the fact. Like, this is something i understand because im an actor. Were constantly trying to put out this new movies coming out. This new thing, whatever, is coming up. And were trying to razzledazzle you to Pay Attention in the midst of your busy lives. Whats happening with the Corporate Media is theyre abusing the fact that they know that youre busy with your lives, and so theyre hoping that you missed the debate and that you missed all this stuff, so that their summary is what you walk away with. And its yellow journalism, and youre misleading people. And youre going to have that on your hands. The iraq war that they sold you, thats blood on your hands. Like, this is the reality. You cannot be selling us someone who voted yes on it and take no responsibility. That is not ok. Thats why im here and try to do what i can, because its not about making anyone feel better. Its like luis guzman was saying. If you just took away their brand names, and you took away, you know, their faces, and just listened to what they had to say, who would you vote for . Its very clear that that is Bernie Sanders. Its very clear. So thats what we have to do, is keep giving people that information, because when i say people are voting against themselves, its because, im telling you, you are. Because im actually looking at this information, and im watching people do it. So if you have real, substantive reasons why you want to support your candidate, then, great, bring that to the table. But thats not what ive been hearing. And thats what im trying to give people now. Amy and what do you think Bernie Sanders path to the presidency is right now . This is it. You know, im seeing a lot of people already going and starting to, you know, talk to their superdelegates and talk to these different people and going, hey, like, this is not ok. You know, this is what happened. What happened was, hillary lost in 2008 because of her iraq war vote, and she lost because a lot of election politics that went on that left a really sour taste in peoples mouths. And she lost because of the delegates. And so rather than go, lets take that out of the system, she just started to work for it and started to get them on her side. And she started, before the primaries, having over like 400 delegates pledged to her. That is not ok, you know . And so i think that this is our moment right now. People are starting to wake up to what our election process looks like. We are not a democracy, even though we keep trying to push that colonially all around the world. What we are is a republic. And so if we want it to be a democracy, we need to hire someone for the job whos going to actually want to make that happen, so that we can have the voter you know, voter day you know, the election day be a holiday, so that we can have mandatory and automatic Voter Registration, so that we can maybe start being about an electoral college. Thats great, but right now the powers that be, the establishment politicians in politics, they dont want that to happen. I can tell you. Ive done Voter Registration for over 11 years. I have to say, like, the one thing ive noticed is, you know, the millionaires and the billionaires that we sat down with, they didnt want to give us money for Voter Registration or any of the other places. They want to give you money for the candidates. And they just want to give you money for the, you know, get out the vote. They want to know that the few amount of people that are voting, that they can persuade one way or the other. They dont want all you new young voters, because they dont know thats too risky. They dont know what youre going to do. And you disrupt the system. Amy i mean, in these primaries, more than 80 of the people are not voting. Yeah, and its crazy. And what were seeing come ally, record numbers of Voter Registration also happening. And part of its responsible people wanting to vote against trump. And a lot of its responsible because people want to get their chance to vote for the first time for Bernie Sanders. Amy who do you think could beat donald trump . Its not a question this, again, like even that kind of question like already across the polls, bernie beats him by a landslide. So, again, its a false its a red herring. Its a false narrative to think that the only way to beat trump is to somehow vote for the other democratic candidate. Thats not true. And now were not in the general election. He doesnt have the nomination yet. So stop making us jumping us into the path, into the future. Right now were in our present, and we get to vote for someone, who has values that we believe in and who supports us in the way that he needs us to support him. Thats actually a really beautiful thing. Millions of people marched against the iraq war before it happened. Thats historical. Millions of people marched against the bailout. Millions of people, students, walked out in 2006 against immigration reform. They texted each other and walked out of their high school classrooms. Like, we keep seeing these Mass Movements of people going, this is not the way things should be done, and it gets ignored. The thousands of people who have been marching across america for bernie, that doesnt get any press covege, because, Gil Scottheron said, the revolution will not be televised. But its time for it to be televised. And thank you so much for televising it, because we need people to know how beautiful this moment is. No matter what, look at this. This is incredible. And we have a jewish man whos taing about palestine. Like, do you know what im saying . Like, this is a really, really remarkable, huge moment, and we cannot gloss it over. Youre doing a disservice to people by doing so. This is something really beautiful. Im doing this because love trumps hate, not because i need to vote against somebody, but because love trumps hate. This is a love movement. Amy actress Rosario Dawson speaking late thursday night after addressing 18,000 people at the Bernie Sanders rally in the south bronx. The New York Primary as april 19. 247 pledged delegate up for grabs. Currently, clinton and sanders are sparring over went to hold a debate in york. Clinton is pushing to do it on april 14 when sanders has a major rally scheduled in Washington Square park. He is pushing for any other date. When we come back, who gets to vote in these primaries and who doesnt . We will speak with ari berman. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On tuesday, voters head to the polls in wisconsin for both the democratic and republican primary as one of the countrys toughest voting restrictions takes effect. Wisconsins controversial and restrictive voter id law could prevent some 300,000 registered voters from casting ballots. Last week in madison, wisconsin, democratic president ial hopeful Bernie Sanders criticized attempts to suppress the vote in the badger state. One person, means one vote. And whether Governor Scott walker likes it or not, that is [boos] that is exactly what we are going to bring to every state in this country, including wisconsin. Amy according to wisconsins strict new requirements, voters going to the polls tomorrow must now have a governmentissued photo id to cast a ballot. While supporters say the law prevents fraud, critics note 9 of the wisconsin electorate could be disenfranchised, a disproportionate number of them poor and people of color. The voterid law is just one of several new voting restrictions passed by republicans in wisconsin since 2011. The state Legislature Also eliminated earlyvoting hours on nights and weekends and made it nearly impossible for grassroots groups to conduct voterregistration drives. To explain all of this, we go to chicago to speak with ari berman. He covers Voting Rights for the nation and his book is titled, give us the ballot the modern struggle for Voting Rights in america. His new piece for the nation is called, wisconsins voterid law could block 300,000 registered voters from the polls. Ari berman, welcome to democracy now explain how 300,000 people in wisconsin alone can be blocked from voting. Thank you for having me. As you mentioned, nearly 10 of the electorate in wisconsin lack a government issued photo id. Theres a crate the racial discrimination. Many of these people do not have birth certificates are cannot afford to pay hundreds of dollars to get the birth certificate. An 89yearold woman who is been voting since 1948, and she would have to pay 200 to change the misspelled made name on her breast certificate. That is what we stood call a poll tax. Students are being targeted by wisconsin. Most student ids are not accepted, including the entire Wisconsin University system. They would have to issue separate ids. It is very burdensome. These are some of the barriers in wisconsin, not only that, but open five 92dmvs are days a week. There lots of issues heading up to this crucial primary. Talking about the scott wisconsin being one of the most important battleground states. And you guys say you are a student at the university. What id can you use . Yet to get a separate id. After print separate ids for voting because the wisconsin legislator wrote this lawn a way that student ids that count have to have signatures and a two year expiration date, which no student ids have. Drivers licenses have a 10 year expiration date, so they added all of these new requirements that only apply to students. You have to bring proof of enrollment for your school. Normally in wisconsin, you could show up and vote without any of this hassle. Now you have to separate id, go to a special place to get it a mile away from downtown and the campus, and bring proof of enrollment. This is being done because if theres large turnout of students, large turnout of voters of color, this tends to benefit democratic candidates. Lower turnout, that benefits people like scott walker. Passed how did this get . What happened is, after the 2010 election, there was a surge of new voting restrictions. 180 new v restrictions introduced important one states, and half the states in the country made it harder to vote. Wisconsin was in many ways ground zero for these efforts. When scott walker and the republicans took power, they were determined to keep power. This is how they are try to keep power, by making a harder for people to vote. They eliminated early voting, and i can weekends, made it nearly impossible to register voters. Scott walker try to eliminate stain day Voter Registration sameday Voter Registration. It turns out his own son used it in the last election. He was forced to back down. What is happening wisconsin is scott walker and Wisconsin Republicans are waging a war against democracy the minute they took power, determined to do everything they could to keeop it. Four five, there were our lines to vote because of the percent of the polling places were closed from 200 and 2012 to just 60 in 2016. In North Carolina, they had new voter id law in effect and a bunch of problems with long lines and people being turned away from the polls. Both states were severely impacted by the gutting of the Voting Rights act. Previously, North Carolina and arizona wouldve had to approve their voting changes with the federal government. If Maricopa County in phoenix wanted to close 60 or 70 of its polling places, if North Carolina wanted a strict id law, they wouldve had to approve that with the federal government. After the Supreme Court headed the act, they no longer have to do this. Amy these voter lines in phoenix, an area that is heavily latino, where there had originally been 200 polling places cut to 60. How is it possible that that happened and what does this mean also for november and for the recorder or whatever the name of the person responsible for this, is it just because of her, her level, she who apologized . They said they were trying to save money. I guess you can take them at face value. The Republican Legislature did cut the amount of money that local counties have to run elections. They miscalculated the voter turnout and thought people would vote early or by mail. A lot of people ended up voting on election day. This is why the Voting Rights act is so important. If Maricopa County wanted to close 70 of its polling places, they would have had to get federal approval and we would have known month in advance this was coming. They wouldve had to show it did not leave minority voters worse off. And Maricopa County, minorities are 40 of the vote. Clearly, there were very few polling places in predominately latino areas, for example, so this would have been blocked. If it had not been blocked, we would have known months in advance and voters can of adjusted. Instead, it caught people by surprise. The worrisome thing is, if this happens on election day in 2016, people have no recourse that there is going to be not just one arizona potentially on election day, there could be multiple places with long lines, with new voting restrictions in effect. This is the consequence of having the first president ial election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights act. Amy i was on the subway friday night in new york and there was a guy sitting next to me with a bernie button and i asked if he was voting in the primary. He said, yeah, im one of the lucky ones. I said, why lucky . He said because all of his friends want to be able to vote, although, he said they were for Bernie Sanders. I said, why cant they vote . He said, because the independents can vote in the primary unless they switch the registration to democrat, and that happened last october before any of the debate and any of the debates in any of the primaries or caucuses, so they did not understand that Bernie Sanders would have a chance. Because it is a closed primary. Explain what he means. What he means is only democrats can vote in the democratic primary and only registered republicans can vote in the republican primary. I dont think this makes a lot of sense at a time when independents are the fastestgrowing Political Group in the country, theyre not represented in somebodys primaries and caucuses that are being held. What happened and Maricopa County in arizona in addition to the five our lines, is 20 of 24,000 provisional ballots were thrown out. Incredibly high number. So many registered independents showed up not realizing they could not vote for Bernie Sanders or another candidate will stop people waited in five hour lines only to have their ballots rejected, which i think is a huge problem. We have millions of people being shut out of the political process because of restrictive voting laws, because of the way parties are structuring their primaries and caucuses. I think this these to change going forward. Amy what are the states coming up in our they closed or open primaries . For example, wisconsin, then you have new york, california. Sorry, amy, i lost it. Amy i was asking for people to understand, wisconsin, what are the primaries closed, what are the open ones, california, new york, wisconsin. The laws are different in each state, so i would urge everyone to google it, to check to see what you can do. Hopefully, you can vote in the primaries. If not, definitely make sure youre registered to vote in the general. I think we should have things like sameday Voter Registration all across the country so not only can you show up and register to vote at the same time, but you can update, for example, your Party Affiliation to build a cast a ballot for one party or another. That makes a lot of sense. Amy ari berman, they can for being with us, covering Voting Rights for the nation. His book is titled, give us the ballot the modern struggle for Voting Rights in america. He is in chicago today, headed to wisconsin tomorrow for the wisconsin primary. And that does it for our show. We are on our 100 city tour starting this week. 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