But in recent years, his voice has been silenced after being ousted in a coup and then jailed by his political opponents. He has just received political asylum in britain and joins us today from london. But an Army Chaplain resigns his first, post to protest the u. S. Drone program. I submitted a resignation in protest of the president. I resign because i refused to serve and support u. S. Armed drone policy, a policy of unaccountable killing. I resign because i refused to support u. S. Nuclear weapons policy, Nuclear Weapons should not be modernized or miniaturized. They should be completely eliminated. I resign because i refuse to serve as an empire chaplain. Amy we will speak with the reverend chris antal and get new revelations in the tragic case of Kalief Browder, who took his own life nearly one year ago at the age of 16 when he was locked up at Rikers Island and held for three years without trial on suspicion of stealing a backpack. A new expose by the new yorker by magazine magazine by Jennifer Gonnerman. All of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In san jose, california, clashes broke out between supporters of Presumptive Republican president ial nominee donald trump and hundreds of protesters who gathered to condemn trumps rhetoric against mexicans and muslims. The San Jose Mercury news called it the biggest and most violent political protest san jose has seen in decades. Dozens of scuffles broke out with reports multiple people being punched. There are all sorts of video that came out. San jose mayor sam liccardo, a democrat, criticized trump for sparking problems that fall on local police departments. At some point donald trump needs to take responsibility for the irresponsible behavior of his campaign, liccardo said. House Speaker Paul Ryan has endorsed donald trump. Ryan, the top elected republican in the country, had previously criticized trump, saying his proposal to bar muslims from entering the United States was not what this country stands for. Last month, ryan told cnn he was just not ready to endorse trump. But on ryan said he changed his a column mind and submitted to his hometown paper, the janesville gazette, ryan wrote its no secret that he and i have our differences. I wont pretend otherwise. And when i feel the need to, ill continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more Common Ground than disagreement. In another potential sign of support from the republican establishment, trump has held a private meeting with karl rove, the architect of george w. Bushs president ial campaigns. Rove, who has launched a vast network of political fundraising organizations, has publicly criticized trump calling him a complete idiot. But the New York Times reports karl rove and trump met two weeks ago at the home of a mutual friend, casino magnate steve wynn. Meanwhile trump has continued to , attack the judge overseeing a civil Fraud Lawsuit against the forprofit trump university. Now defunct. Trump told the wall street journal thursday u. S. District judge Gonzalo Curiel had an absolute conflict in presiding over the litigation because he is of mexican heritage and a member of a latino lawyers association. Trump cited his pledge to build a wall along the u. S. Mexico border, saying im building a wall. Its an inherent conflict of interest. Democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton took aim at donald trump with some of her harshest criticism to date. Speaking in san diego ahead of tuesdays california primary, clinton said collecting trump would be a historic mistake. This is not someone who should ever have the Nuclear Codes because it inot hard to imagine donald trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin. Amy trump responded by blasting clintons decision to stupidly raise her hand for the iraq war. Meanwhile, speaking in modesto, california tuesday, clintons democratic rival, vermont senator Bernie Sanders said he was the best candidate to defeat trump. Sanders also took aim at clintons policies on Climate Change. Of course to recognize is the reality of Climate Change, but i want her to join me in supporting a tax on carbon. I want her to change her views on the very important issue of fracking. She supports fracking. She wants to regulate fracking, but there are people who think by definition it cannot be effectively be regulated. When she was secretary of state, she pushed the Fracking Technology on countries all over the world. Amy Bernie Sanders says the Democratic National committee the code vetoed his nomination of a Labor Union Leader to the committee that will write the party platform. Sanders was allowed to choose five of the 15 platform members. One of the people he tapped was roseann demoro, head of National Nurses united, but sanders said the dnc rejected her. Dnc Platform Committee spokesperson Dana Vickers Shelley told the Washington Post because Union Leadership was represented on the full Platform Committee, a decision was made no Union Leadership would be represented on the platform drafting committee. The dnc did approve one labor union pick by Hillary Clinton paul booth of the American Federation of state, county and municipal employees. The German Parliament has voted to call the 1915 massacre of armenians by ottoman forces a genocide. The turkish government continues to deny the genocide, which saw an estimated 1. 5 million armenians exterminated through direct killing, starvation, torture and forced death , marches. In response to the german vote, turkey recalled its ambassador to germany and said it would consider further actions. In texas, massive flooding around fort hood has killed five soldiers and left four missing. The soldiers died after their army truck overturned in a swollen creek. May was texas wettest month on record. Massive flooding has also struck in europe, where Paris Louvre Museum closed today as artwork was moved to higher areas. In southern germany, flooding has killed at least six people in recent days. Scientists say such heavy rains and flooding are linked climate linked to Climate Change. In brazil, suspended president Dilma Rousseff joined protestors in Rio De Janeiro denouncing what they consider a coup against her. Congress suspended rousseff purportedly for manipulating budget accounts, but leaked transcripts showed at least one plotted to oust rousseff in order to end a corruption investigation that was targeting him. The political crisis has coincided with protests over the gang rape of a 16yearold girl by more than 30 men. On thursday, the ousted president rousseff addressed a crowd at the womens march for democracy. We know that what happened here was a gang rape and the same time, one of the elite country club has clearly shown its prejudice against a nanny, prohibiting her from sitting or using the bathroom. This culture of rape and social excursion against women is something that we know needs to be defeated. Amy rousseff was brazils first woman president. Her replacement, michel temer, appointed an allmale cabinet. The American Civil Liberties union is suing alabama over antichoice restrictions, including a law that treats abortion clinics like sex offenders. The measure banning abortion clinics from operating within 2000 feet of a k through 8 kindergarten through eighth grade school would shutter the only abortion clinics in huntsville and tuscaloosa, which together provide more than half of abortions in the state. The Alabama Womens Center in huntsville is located across from a school. It was forced to move there to comply with other antichoice restrictions. The aclu also challenged restrictions banning a safe abortion method and forcing abortion providers to give every patient a copy of her medical records, even if she doesnt want them. The man accused of killing a professor at ucla in what authorities called a murdersuicide appears to have killed his exwife first. Authorities said they found a kill list in the home of accused gunman mainak sarkar, which included three names william klug, the ucla professor who was shot to death on wednesday, another ucla professor, and a woman identified as sarkars exwife ashley hasti. She was found shot to death in her home. Here in new york city, hundreds of macys workers rallied outside the retailers Flagship Store in Herald Square to call for a living wage, reliable schedules and affordable , healthcare. Thousands of macys workers have authorized their union to call a strike if macys doesnt meet their demands for a fair contract by june 15. Stuart appelbaum, president of the retail, wholesale and Department Store union, said macys is seeking unreasonable cuts. Macys is looking to take away pensions from senior employees, reduce commissions for commission workers, refuses to provide Affordable Health care coverage. The workers are angry. The workers are upset. The workers have taken a strike vote. And it was unanimous. People are prepared to strike if macys refuses to give them the respect they have earned and deserve. Amy toxicology tests have revealed the legendary singer prince died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl. Fentanyl is many times more powerful than heroin and morphine. 78 americans die every day from opioid overdoses. An elderly new york prisoner who won wide support for his freedom has died just two months after he was released to a nursing home in staten island. Mohaman koti was 89 years old. In 1978, koti was convicted of attempted murder after he shot a new York City Police officer during a traffic stop in which he says the officer drew his gun first. The officer later recovered, and koti was offered a plea deal of 7. 5 years. When he demanded a trial, he was sentenced to 25 years to life. He spent the next several decades mentoring young men young male prisoners. A corrections officer at sing sing said he had never met anyone so well respected on both sides of the bars. 10 years after koti was eligible for parole, he was profiled in a 2013 New York Times column about prisoners over the age of 60 who are denied release based on their original crime, instead of an accurate assessment of the threat they pose. It described a parole Board Hearing where commissioners had to repeat questions to koti because he was hard of hearing. He suffered from several medical problems and used a wheelchair but he was still found to be at , risk of committing another crime. Koti was ultimately granted parole in september 2014 when a judge ruled the previous denials were irrational and called for a new hearing. Then, because of a pending bank robbery charge from the time of his arrest, he was ordered to serve an additional year in prison at a Federal Medical Center in bunter, north carolina. Koti was finally freed in march. His longtime lawyer and friend Susan Tipograph told democracy now the kind of life koti lived when he got out confined to a nursing home because he was not able to care for himself shows that it was ludicrous to think he would have posed threat to society all these years. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. During a commencement speech on thursday, president obama defended his foreignpolicy, including targeted assassinations and drone warfare. Obama made the remarks at the u. S. Air force academy in Colorado Springs. Ive not hesitated to use force where necessary to protect the american people. Thanks to our military, intelligence, counter intelligence, the modern is gone. Anwar awlaki is gone. The al qaeda leader in somalia, he is gone. The man accused in the attacks in benghazi, captured. The leader of the taliban, gone. Leader after leader in isil, the number two, the man who brutally murdered americans, the isil leader in libya all gone. The leader of their chemical weapons program, captured. The list goes on. Because if you target americans, we will find you and justice will be done and we will defend our nation. [applause] amy that was president obama delivering the commencement speech at the u. S. Air force academy in Colorado Springs on thursday. With only a small number of u. S. Special forces on the ground, iraq and syria have become new fronts in a global drone war that has launched thousands of strikes in pakistan, afghanistan, yemen and somalia. , the exact number of civilians killed by drones is unknown because the program operates in secret. We turn now to an unlikely voice challenging the Drone Warfare Program former u. S. Army reserve , chaplain captain chris antal. He recently resigned his post in protest. In april, he wrote a letter to president obama detailing his reasons for leaving the u. S. Army reserves, citing his opposition to the administrations use of drone strikes, its policy on nuclear proliferation, and what he calls the executive branchs claim of extraconstitutional authority and impunity for international law. This is not the first time reverend antal has voiced his concerns. In 2012, he delivered a sermon in afghanistan and anonymously posted the text on a Unitarian Universalist website. At the time, he identified himself only as an Army Chaplain in afghanistan. The sermon read in part we have sanitized killing and condoned extrajudicial assassinations war made easy without due process, protecting ourselves from the human cost of war. We have deceived ourselves, denying the colossal misery our wars inflict on the innocent. Reverend antals superiors discovered the sermon and he was reprimanded, nearly losing his job. In mid april, he decided to voluntarily resign over his continued concerns about drone warfare. In doing so, reverend antal forfeits benefits that otherwise would have accrued to him through his eight years of service in the u. S. Army reserve. Reverend chris antal joins us in the new york studio. He is a minister for the Unitarian Universalist congregation at rock tavern, new york, and a founder of the Hudson Valley, new york, chapter of veterans for peace. Welcome to democracy now i am glad to be here. Amy you are still in the army . The paperwork has not been completed yet. Amy but you have resigned. I have submitted my resignation, but the army is a big iraq receipt and it takes time to get all of the signatures. Amy so you are still a u. S. Army chaplain. I am. I cant speak from the capacity on this program, but on paper, yes. Amy talk about your decision. How long did you serve as a normally Army Chaplain and where did you serve . I served for five years. Eight years and reserve, five years as a chaplain and most of that time was as a reserve chaplain. I did spend about two years in active duty. And altogether, about six months in afghanistan. Amy talk about your decision to leave. Talk about myn decision to leave, i need to say why i got in in the first place. As a minister, ouster of and by compassion to care for the wounded. And as a citizen, driven by a sense of civic duty to carry my fair share in our nations wars. I think i did both of those things during my time in service , but eventually, began to feel a role conflict between my role as a military officer and my role as an ordained minister. I could not reconcile that conflict, so i decided to resign. Amy talk about the speech i just quoted from. Where did you give that speech . It was a sermon. It was never anonymous, as you said, when i posted it i identified myself. I gave that sermon on veterans day, which was on a sunday in 2012 at Kandahar Airfield to gathered community Desperate Community and other for worship it might tradition. That was about six weeks into my deployment when i had witnessed drones. I had learned about practices that violate my sense of what is right. And i decided it was my prerogative as a religious leader to address that in the context of a religious service, a form of limitation, a confession. And on that is what i did. And because i think the issues i raised are of concern for a larger audience for the all nation, i made that available through a Church Website that is sponsored in my denomination. Amy and talk about what happened then. How was it discovered and what was the response by the military . Clucks two days after it appeared online, i was contacted by an army lawyer you had read the post. You forwarded it to my commander. I was summoned to the commanders office. He told me that my message doesnt support the mission. He told me that i make us look like the bad guys.