If there is a platform on which i will be privileged to stand my opening remarks will something like, welcome to the fourth reich. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In charleston, south carolina, a judge has declared a mistrial in the murder trial of white former Police Officer michael slager, who was caught on video fatally shooting 50yearold africanamerican walter scott in the back as he ran away in april 2015. Officer slager stopped walter scott for a broken taillight. After scott fled the car, video filmed by a bystander shows officer slager fatally shooting scott in the back from more than 17 feet away. Despite the distance and the fact that walter scott was unarmed, officer slager argued during his trial that he was in total fear for his life. There were 11 white jurors and one black jury on the jury, which deadlocked after four days of deliberations. This is judge clifton newman. I have a final note from the we as the jury regret to inform the court that despite the best efforts on all tobers, were unable to come a unanimous decision in the case of the state versus Michael Slater slager. So im going to bring the jury out and declare a mistrial. Amy Walter Scotts killing in 2015 sparked protests nationwide. Prosecutors say they will retry the case. This is Walter Scotts mother judy scott. God i am encouraged because i know god is able. His just reward. And we have the federal trial and another trial to go. Im just waiting on the lord. Im going to rest in the lord. I dont care how it looks, it is not over. Youll hear me . It is not over. Until god say it is over. Amy the jury of 11 white jurors and one black juror was chosen north charleston, that is a must half africanamerican. Almost half africanamerican. The mistrial comes after a jury deadlocked in another highprofile police killing, the Fatal Shooting of africanamerican Samuel Dubose by white former university of cincinnati Police Officer ray tensing in ohio in 2015. A republican member of the Electoral College has come out saying he will not vote for president elect donald trump when the Electoral College meets on december 19. Christopher suprun, a paramedic from texas, wrote in an oped published in the New York Times monday that trump is not qualified for the office of the presidency and called on his fellow republican electors to unite behind another republican president ial candidate, such as Ohio Governor john kasich. In florida, three voters have sued to demand a hand recount of the paper ballots, alleging the president ial election was skewed by hacking and malfunctioning voter machines. Donald trump was declared the winner of florida by more than 112,000 votes. Meanwhile, a recount in michigan is running into problems due to a state law that says a voting precinct cannot be recounted if the number of ballots in the box dont exactly match the number on the poll books. The law could make precincts across the state ineligible for the recount. To see our interview with the green partys dr. Jill stein who , sued for the recount in michigan as well as in wisconsin, go to democracynow. Org. President elect donald trump and his daughter met with al gore monday to discuss Climate Change. Trump has rejected global Scientific Consensus and called Climate Change in chinese hoax. Peaks ofs as a volcano hawaiis big island have been hit by nearly three feet of snow, with meteorologists warning more is on the way. The Washington Post has revealed the pentagon sought to bury an internal study that revealed the agencys vast bureaucracy wastes as much as 125 billion. Sources told the Washington Post the pentagon hid the study out of concerns congress would use it to cut the defense budget. Palestinian leaders and others are expressing outrage at the israeli parliaments vote monday to retroactively legalize thousands of jewishonly settlements on Palestinian Land in the israelioccupied west bank. The settlements are considered illegal under international law. The measure passed the first of three required votes during a contentious session 60 to 49. Monday, this is arabisraeli lawmaker ahmad tibi. The law organizing and legalizing the settlements is one of the most dangerous laws. This has the state and its institutions are focusing on settlements and changing the law are putting the law are facing the high court, which ordered , whosecuation of omona owners exists. In news from the moroccooccupied western sahara, 22 yearold media activist walid fatal was sentenced yesterday by a Moroccan Court to 14 months in prison for filming a peaceful protest in the city of smara last november 25 on International Day for the elimination of violence against women. 20 protesters, mostly women, were injured by police at the protest according to the sahrawi womens group fafesa. The court found fatal guilty of obstructing a public road and attacking a Police Officer, but fatal claims he was only filming the protest for the sahrawi media group smara news. He is one of several media activists recently arrested and tried by morocco in the western sahara, where independent journalists are routinely harassed. Last month, Reporters Without Borders called on moroccan authorities to stop violating the rights of sahr reporting restrictions in western sahara, a territory occupied by morocco for 41 years. Back in the United States on the Standing Rock sioux reservation in north dakota, wes clark, jr. , the son of retired u. S. Army general and former Supreme Commander at nato, wesley clark, sr. , led military veterans in a ceremony monday to ask forgiveness from native americans for the crimes of the u. S. Military. Thousands of native and nonnative veterans have descended on Standing Rock to support the water protectors fighting the 3. 8 billion pipeline in recent days. This is wes clark, jr. We came. We took your land. We signed treaties that we broke. We stole minerals. We blasted the faces of our president s on to her sacred mountain. Land, then wemore took your children. Then we tried to take your language. We tried to eliminate your language that god gave you and that the creator gave you. We did not respect you. We polluted your earth. We have hurt you in so many ways. We have come to say that we are sorry. We are at your service. Amy that was army veteran wes clark, jr. , son of u. S. Retired army general wes clark, sr. , former Supreme Commander of nato, kneeling at the feet of leonard crow dog, a Sicangu Lakota medicine man who was part of the 1973 occupation of wounded knee. On sunday, the u. S. Army corps of engineers denied the Dakota AccessPipeline Company a permit to drill underneath the Missouri River halting construction for , now. Water protectors have committed to remaining at the site and stay vigilant, and the company has vowed to build on. To see our coverage of sundays historic victory, go to democracynow. Org. Meanwhile, advisers to president elect donald trump told reuters they are proposing to privatize native American Reservations in order to further accelerate the extraction of oil, gas, and other minerals. In response, tom goldtooth, head of the indigenous environmental network, said our spiritual leaders are opposed to the privatization of our lands, which means the commoditization of the nature, water, air we hold sacred. Privatization has been the goal since colonization to strip native nations of their sovereignty. In flint, michigan, residents are warning the leadpoisoned water is still undrinkable and may be getting even more toxic. Flint resident melissa mays of the group water you fighting for . Said the longer they wait to change our pipes, the worse our water gets. Last week, a judge rejected the state of michigans attempt to stop delivering bottled water to flint, warning of irreparable harm to residents. In new york city, a 45yearold muslim transit worker wearing a head scarf was attacked monday, pushed down the stairs at Grand Central terminal, and called a terrorist in the latest of a series of hate crimes against muslims following the election of donald trump. On in brooklyn, another man saturday violently threatened an offduty muslim Police Officer, referring to her as isis and saying i will cut your throat, go back to your country. In oakland, california, residents are mourning the death of at least 36 people who were killed in a fire at the ghost ship warehouse friday night. The fire is one of the deadliest building fires in the last half century in the United States. The ghost ship was an artist collective that housed many Young Artists and musicians, and the victims were overwhelmingly Young Artists, activists and community organizers. This is oakland resident amir. Obviously, i am sad. I knew two people in the fire named alex and ana. I am sad, but i am more concerned about their family and their wellbeing. More than that, have lost two friends. Any car in maryland, 30 separately shut down authorities have abruptly evicted a collective workspace with things locked inside. They described the bell foundry as a haven for queer people and people of color with one saying this saved my life, literally. The state of georgia is slated to execute William Sallie at 7 00 p. M. Tonight. Sallies lawyers have demanded his execution be halted so he can have a hearing to address claims of juror bias, an issue that has not yet been heard by a court in his case. If executed tonight, sallie would become the night person killed by the state of georgia this year. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On monday night, over 2300 people packed into the Historic Riverside Church here in manhattan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of democracy now democracy now first went on the air on the eve of the 1996 New Hampshire primary. The date was february 19, 1996. The show began as a radio show on a handful of stations. Today over 5000 episodes later, democracy now airs on over 1400 Public Television and radio stations across the globe. Well, today, we spend the hour airing highlights from last nights celebration. We begin with noam chomsky worldrenowned political , dissident, linguist, author, Professor Emeritus of linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of technology. I would just like to begin by saying a word about what a privilege and honor it is to be able to participate in the celebration of the remarkable success of democracy now for these many years. In particular, the quite astonishing achievements of amy goodman, Juan Gonzalez, their colleagues, in showing us how we might aspire to achieve democracy now. It will be a long struggle. Again, it is an enormous pleasure to be able to share this occasion with people like Harry Belafonte, who has been such an inspiration in being in the forefront of this endless. Truggle for many hard years and for the young people among word you will be facing problems that have never risen in the 200,000 years of human history, hard, demanding problems. It is a burden that you cannot will all coming you in particular, and the rest of us, will have to be in their struggling hard to save the human species from a pretty grim fate. Well, my wife and i happened to be in europe on november 8 that fateful day. In fact, in barcelona, where we watched the results come in. That had special personal resonance for me. The first article i wrote at least that i can remember was 1939. Ruary it was about the fall of barcelona to franco fascist forces. The article, which im sure it was not very memorable, was about the apparently inexorable spread of fascism over europe and maybe the whole world. Old enough to have been able to listen to hitlers speeches, the nuremberg rallies, not therstanding the words, but reaction of the crowd was enough. O leave indelible memories and watching those results come in did arouse some pretty unpleasant memories, along with what is happening in europe now which in many ways, is pretty frightening as well. Well, the reaction to november 8 in europe was disbelief, shock, horror. It was captured pretty ofquently on the front cover the major german weekly after characterepicting a of donald trump presented as a meteor hurtling toward earth, mouth open, ready to swallow it up. The end headline read, of the world. In small letters below, as we have known it. There might have been some truth to that concern. Even if not exactly in the the artist, the authors, the others who echoed that conception had in mind. It had to do with other events that were taking place right at the same time, november 8, events that i think were a lot more important than the ones that have captured the attention of the world in such an astonishing fashion, events that were taking place in morocco, marrakesh, morocco. There was a conference there of 200 countries of the socalled cop22. Their gold, at this conference, was to implement the rather vague promises and commitments of the preceding International Conference on global warming, cop21 in paris and december 2015, which had in fact been left vague for reasons not unrelated to what happened on november 8 here. The paris conference had the goal of establishing verifiable commitments to do something about the worst problem that humans have ever faced the likely destruction of the possibility for organized human life. They could not do that. They could only reach a nonverifiable commitment, promises, but not fixed by treaty, a real commitment. And the reason was the Republican Congress in the United States would not accept binding commitments. So they were left with something much weaker and looser. The morocco conference intended to carry this forward by putting teeth in that loose, vague agreement. The conference opened on november 7 in the normal way. November 8, the World Meteorological organization presented an assessment of the current state of what is called is new geological epic that marked by radical human modification, destruction of the environment that sustains life. November 9, the conference basically ceased. Was,uestion that was left whether it would be possible to Carry Forward this global effort to deal with the highly critical problem of environmental catastrophe if the leader of the free world, the richest and most powerful country in history, would pull out completely as a beauty be the case. That is the stated goal of the regards whos regards Climate Change as a hoax and whose policy is to maximize the use of fossil fuels and regulations, the Environmental Protection agency established by richard nixon, which is a measure of where politics has shifted to the right and the vast generation, and in other ways, accelerate the race to destruction. That was essentially the end of the marrakesh conference. So thated without might signal the end of the world, even if not quite in the intended sense. In fact, what happened in marrakesh was a quite astounding spectacle. The hope of the world for saving us from this impending disaster. As china authoritarian, harsh china. That is where hopes were placed. At the same time, the leader of the free world, the richest, most powerful country in history, was acting in such a way as to doom the hoax to total disaster. Spectacle. Tonishing it is no less astounding that it eived almost no comment something to think about. Well, the effects are quite real. Cop21, the pairs negotiations come could not reach a verifiable treaty because of the refusal of the Republican Congress to accept binding commitments. The followup conference, cop22, ended without any issue. We will soon see in the not very distant future even more dangerous, horrifying consequences of this failure right here to come to term, to address in a serious way this impending crisis. So take the country of bangladesh. Within a few years, tens of millions of people will be fleeing from the lowlying coastal plains simply because of the rise of sea level with the melting of the huge antarctic glaciers much more quickly than was anticipated. In the Severe Weather associated with the global warming. That is a refugee crisis of a kind that puts todays crisis, which is more a moral crisis in the west then an actual refugee crisis that will put this Current Crisis in two it will seem like a footnote to tragedy. The leading, scientist in bangladesh the leading climate scientist in bangladesh has reacted saying these migrants should have a right to move to the countries from which all of these Greenhouse Gases are coming. Millions should be able to go to the United States. [applause] the United States and the