Journalists. Then, the naacpa boycott of North Carolina over the antitrans bathroom bill in the state and other policies. We will speak with reverend william barber. It is the first step of Economic Engagement and the first step is that we, as an will not bring our National Convention to north while these abuses continue. Amy then we go to philadelphia, where as many as 500 tombstones have been damaged or overturned in a Jewish Cemetery. And we will look at the results of the race to head to the Democratic National committee. Did congressman Keith Ellison lose due to his views on palestine . All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Former labor secretary tom perez has been elected to lead the Democratic National committee beating out minnesota congressman Keith Ellison in a contentious secondround vote that is seen as determining the future of the Democratic Party. Congressman ellison is the cochair of the congressional progressive caucus and the first muslim elected to congress. He was widely backed by supporters of senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Partys more progressive wing, and labor unions, including afscme, aflcio and aft, the American Federation of teachers. Also National Nurses united. Perez was backed by the partys establishment, including president obama. He becomes the first latino head of the Democratic Party. After saturdays contentious vote which marked the first time , in more than 30 years that the outcome was not known ahead of balloting, ellisons supporters erupted in protest, chanting party for the people, not big , money. [chanting] inbound perez quickly appointed Ellison Deputy party chair and new position. They both urged party unity. This is tom perez. Right now, we are suffering from a crisis of confidence, a crisis of relevance. We need a chair that can take the fight to donald trump and make sure we are talked about, our positive message of inclusion and opportunity. We also need a chair that can lead turnaround and change the culture of the Democratic Party and the dnc. Amy some critics say saturdays vote represents the Democratic Partys failure to learn from its leftleaning base and the partys defeat during the november election. Current Affairs EditorNathan Robinson wrote at this point, one has to conclude that the national Democratic Party has a death wish. Well have more on the dnc vote later in the broadcast. President trump again escalated his selfdeclared war on the media while speaking at the cpac politicalervative action conference, on friday. President trump a few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people. The cause they have no sources. Whenjust make them up there are none. Amy that is donald trump speaking on friday, the same day that the white house took the unprecedented act of barring the New York Times, cnn, politico, the los angeles times, the bbc and several other news , organizations from an offcamera briefing known as a gaggle. Several rightwing news outlets were allowed to attend, including breitbart, the Washington Times, and one america news network. The following day trump , announced he wont attend the White House Correspondents Association dinner in late april, despite the tradition that president s attend the annual blacktie affair. The last time a president skipped the dinner was when president Ronald Reagan didnt attend in 1981 because he had been shot in an assassination attempt. On sunday, white house spokesperson Sarah Huckabee explained trumps decision by saying, one of the things we say in the south is if a girl scout egged your house, would you buy cookies from her . I think that this is a pretty similar scenario. In 2011, trump attended the dinner and was ridiculed by president obama. President obama i know he has taken some flack lately, but no one is happy. Wants to put it to rest more than the donald. That is the cozy wants to focus on the issues that matter, like, did we fake the moon landing . [laughter] obama what really happened in roswell . And where are biggie and tupac . Amy that was president obama ridiculing nowPresident Trump back in 2011 at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. On sunday, news also surfaced that White House PressSecretary Sean Spicer has attempted to crack down on leaks coming out of the white house by calling an emergency meeting and then forcing his staff to submit to a random phone check to prove they hadnt been leaking information to the press. Spicer also reportedly warned his staff not to leak news of the meeting to the press. But the news did leak to politico, which broke the story sunday. Well have more about the Trump Administration and the media after headlines. President trump is slated to give his first address to congress tuesday. Democratic lawmakers have begun giving their tickets away to immigrants as a protest against trumps crackdown against immigration and immigrants. Among those invited to trumps address tuesday is dr. Mona hannaattisha an iraqiamerican doctor who first discovered flints children had elevated levels of lead in their blood. President trump is expected to sign a new executive order banning travel from seven majority muslim nations later this week. His muslim travel ban was blocked by the courts. Despite trumps travel bans first suspension, the son of legendary boxer muhammad ali was detained for hours by immigration officials at Fort Lauderdalehollywood International Airport on february 7, only a few days after the travel ban was blocked nationwide by seattle district judge james robart. The laywer for 44yearold muhammad ali, jr. , says as he was going through customs on the way back from jamaica, he was stopped, asked if he was muslim, and then when he said yes, he was held and questioned for nearly two hours about his religion. Olympic gold medalist, Reality Tv Show star, and Republican Trump supporter Caitlyn Jenner has issued a direct message to President Trump, calling the administrations decision to reverse president obamas landmark decision to order Public Schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms matching their chosen gender identity a disaster. I have a message for President Trump from one republican to another. This is a disaster, and you can still fix it to did you made a promise to protect the lgbtq community. Call me. Amy President Trumps pick to head the navy, philip bilden, is withdrawing his name from consideration, saying he, will not be able to satisfy the office of government ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my familys private financial interests. Bilden is a private Equity Investor who has amassed a fortune in hong kong. Hes the third of trumps cabinet nominees to withdraw in recent weeks, including labor secretary nominee andrew puzder, and Army Secretary nominee vincent viola, who also withdrew over concerns about financial scrutiny. The father of Navy Seal Ryan owens, who was killed during a botched u. S. Military raid in yemen in january, says he refused to meet with President Trump and is calling for an investigation into his sons death. Bill owens told the miami herald, my conscience wouldnt let me talk to him. The raid on the yemeni village left 25 civilians dead, including nine children under the age of 13. Both he and trump had gone to Dover Air Force base. President trump is expected to tell federal agencies today to create a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that will sharply increase military spending, while dramatically cutting spending across domestic agencies. The New York Times reports the budget will include cutting tens of billions of dollars from the Environmental Protection agency and the state department. Human rights watch is speaking out after the is really government rejected a work visa for the organizations israel and palestine the rector, claiming Human Rights Watch is engaged in palestinian propaganda. Shakir. Omar our request was denied on the basis that Human Rights Watch is not a real human rights organization, that we were engaging and propaganda. Amy that in the United States, more than 100, some say 500, headstones at a Jewish Cemetery in philadelphia were toppled or damaged. In the second apparent incident of vandalism of a Jewish Cemetery in about a week. Meanwhile, and florida, a mosque was intentionally set on fire friday, the second time in mosque in florida has been burned since september. And moonlight, a comingofage film about a young gay black man, won the oscar for best picture at last Nights Academy awards. The win came after faye dunaway incorrectly announced la la land as the winner after she appears to have received the wrong envelope, forcing the awards ceremony officials to come on stage and correct the error. Guys, guys, im sorry. There is a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won best picture. Likes it is not a joke. Amy moonlight also garnered a best supporting actor oscar for mahershala ali, who is the first muslim actor to win an academy award. Ali was among a series of black writers and actors who won awards, including viola davis, who won best supporting actress for her role in fences. Overall, last night had more black winners than any Previous Academy awards night. Moonlight also won best adapted screenplay. These are the writers tarell , Alvin Mccraney and Barry Jenkins accepting the award. , all you people out there who think there is no mirror from you, you are not reflected, we have your back, the academy has your back. For the next four years, we will not leave you alone. Two voice from liberty city up on this stage representing. This goes out to all those black and brown boys and girls and nongender conforming to do not see themselves. We are trying to show you you and us. This is for you. Amy throughout the awards ceremony, many of the attendees also wore blue ribbons to show their support for the aclu. The awards ceremony also included other political moments. Best actress for la la land and wore a planned parenthood pin. A mexican actor denounced the border wall while announcing the oscar for dust animated feature film. White helmets won the oscar for best documentary short subject. In their acceptance speech, the directors read a statement from raed saleh, the head of the organization, calling on people to, to work on the side of life, to stop the bloodshed in syria and around the world. Iranianamerican astronaut Anousheh Ansari accepted the oscar for best foreign film on behalf of iranian director asghar farhadi, who boycotted the Award Ceremony over trumps muslim travel ban. This is ansari reading farhadis statement. I am sorry im not with you tonight. My absences out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane band of entry of immigrants to the u. S. Amy ahead of the awards ceremony, the directors of the oscar nominated foreignlanguage films issued a statement reading, on behalf of all nominees, we would like to express our unanimous and emphatic disapproval of the climate of fanaticism and nationalism we see today in the u. S. And in so many other countries, in parts of the population and, most unfortunately of all, among leading politicians. Oj made in america won for best documentary, beating out Ava Duvernays 13th about mass incarceration and raoul pecks i am not your negro about jims baldwin, and other documentaries. And awards ceremony Host Jimmy Kimmel critiqued President Trump throughout the night, including during his opening set. We are at the oscars, the Academy Awards hewitt you are nominated. You got to come here to your families are nominated. Some of you will get to come up and give a speech that the president of the United States capstweet about in all during his 5 00 a. M. Bowel movement tomorrow. Amy as of now, President Trump has not yet tweeted about the oscars. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. I am amy goodman. Am juan gonzalez. Welcome to our viewers around the country and around the world. We turn now to look at the Trump Administration and press freedom. On the white house took the friday, unprecedented act of barring the New York Times, cnn, politico, the los angeles times, the bbc and several other news , organizations from an offcamera briefing known as a gaggle. Meanwhile several rightwing , news outlets were allowed to attend, including breitbart, the Washington Times and one america , news network. New york times editor dean baquet said, nothing like this has ever happened at the white house in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. Amy Washington Post editor marty baron described the white houses decision as appalling saying the trump admin is on, an undemocratic path. Interestingly, even White House PressSecretary Sean Spicer has spoken out against banning news outlets from press briefings. Well, that was two months ago. In spicer said, we have a december, respect for the press when it comes to the government, that that is something you cant ban an entity from. I think that is what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship. Spicer said in december. Just hours before the New York Times and other outlets were barred from attending the briefing, President Trump spoke at the cpac conference. That is the conservative Political Action conference. President trump i want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It is fake, phony, fake. A few days ago, i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people. Sources. Hey have no they just make them up when there are none. There are some great reporters around. They are talented, honest as the day is long, great, but there are some terrible, dishonest people, and they do a tremendous disservice to our country and to our people, a tremendous disservice. They are very dishonest people, nation not use sources. They should put the name of the person you will see stories dry up like never before. Juan donald trump speaking at cpac on friday. Hours later cnns jake tapper , began his show by responding to trumps actions. Dont misunderstand what is going on with that rhetoric and with the action banning various media outlets. This white house does not seem to respect the idea of accountability. This white house does not seem to value an independent press. There is a word for that line of thinking. The word is unamerican. Amy cnns jake tapper on friday. On saturday, President Trump announced he would not attend this years white house correspondents dinner. The last president to skip the dinner was Ronald Reagan in 1981. That was when he was recovering from an assassination attempt. To talk more about President Trump and press freedom we are , joined by robert mahoney, deputy executive director of the committee to protect journalists. Lets start with, well, President Trump calling the press the enemy of the people. It is very dangerous to vilify the press and undermine its credibility. The press has a very welldefined role in democracy, holding officeholders and those in power accountable. I think were seeing a deliberate attempt to undermine the press so that, in the future when the press does its job and uncovers something that the administration would like to keep quiet, it will be dismissed as a fake news. It is very troubling that this should be happening so soon enter his