Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20170316 : vimarsana.com

KCSM Democracy Now March 16, 2017

And why Border Agents are increasingly searching the cell phones of visitors and even u. S. Citizens. Then we go to capitol hill to speak with democratic congressman Luis Gutierrez, who was arrested by ice after refusing to leave a meeting immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Plus, we look at a stunning new report from a u. N. Agency calls israel an Apartheid Regime. Results arerts based on a scholarly inquiry and overwhelming evidence that israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid toward the Palestinian People. Amy we will speak to the reports coauthor, richard falk, the former u. N. Special rapporteur on palestinian human rights. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On wednesday, only hours before the Trump Administrations new travel ban was set to go into effect, a federal judge in hawaii issued a nationwide halt to the executive order, which would have temporarily suspended refugees and people from six majority muslim nations from entering the United States. This morning, a federal judge in maryland also blocked part of the travel ban dealing a second , legal blow to the trumps executive order. On wednesday, Hawaii Attorney general doug chin celebrated the ruling by hawaiian federal judge Derrick Watson. That is a big reason why hawaii brought this case, is because it is really something that hits us to the core. If you have an order that is coming out there that is taking us back half a century to a time when there was discrimination by nations of origin or by religion, that is something we have to speak up against. Amy this is now the second time President Trumps executive orders banning refugees and travelers from majoritymuslim countries have been blocked by the courts. On wednesday, President Trump criticized the ruling in hawaii. Pres. Trump this ruling makes us look weak. Which, by the way, we no longer are. Believe me. Just look at our borders. Were going to fight this terrible ruling. Were going to take our case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court. Amy we will have more on trumps blocked travel ban after headlines. President trump is set to send his proposed budget to congress today. The budget calls for an unprecedented 54 billion increase in military spending, as well as a 2. 8 billion increase in funding for the Homeland Security department, largely to pay for trumps expanded border wall and the hiring of 1500 new Border Patrol and ice agents. The budget slashes funding for the Environmental Protection agency by 31 and funding for the state department by 28 . It also proposes cutting billions in funding for the department of housing and urban development and health and human services. The Education Department would see 9 billion cut from its budget, even as socalled School Choice programs would receive 1. 4 billion more in funding. Trumps education secretary betsy devos has been a major backer of such programs, which divert public funding out of the Public School system. Trumps budget also proposes entirely eliminating funding for the corporation for public broadcasting, which supports public radio and television stations nationwide, the National Endowment for the humanities, the National Endowment for the arts and the , Legal Services corporation, which funds free legal aid nationwide. The proposed budget is expected to face fierce opposition in congress. Meanwhile, on wednesday, House Speaker paul ryan admitted the republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act will have to be changed if its if it is to pass the house. The plan has been losing support since the Congressional Budget Office released a report monday saying 24 million americans would lose their insurance under the plan within 10 years. On capitol hill wednesday, Top Republicans rejected President Trumps unsubstantiated claims that president obama ordered the wiretapping of trumps phones during the 2016 president ial campaign. House Intelligence Committee chair devin nunes said he does tapped trumps phones. Attorney general Jeff Sessions said he has not provided any evidence to trump that would substantiate the president s claims. Senate judiciary chairman Charles Grassley and South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham , both republicans both , threatened to block trumps nomination of Rod Rosenstein for Deputy Attorney general unless the fbi answers lawmakers questions about the wiretap claims. President trump spent part of wednesday in nashville, tennessee, where he honored former president andrew jackson, laying a wreath at jacksons tomb site and comparing himself to the former president during a visit to jacksons mansion. The hermitage. President jackson was a slave holder who signed the order to remove native americans 16,000 from their land in what became known as the trail of tears. Trumps words and visit drew condemnation from many, including members of the cherokee nation, who called jackson a destructive man, to not just cherokee people, but native people in general. The senate has voted to approve the confirmation of former indiana senator dan coats as director of national intelligence. In 20,003, he said as he Us Ambassador to germany where he pressure the government not to oppose president george w. Bush hoss invasion of iraq. He is also a vocal enemy of planned parenthood, saying in 2015, the barbaric practices of planned parenthood should not receive a dime of taxpayer money. Meanwhile, former Goldman Sachs beentive deana powell has promoted to Deputy National security advisor. She is one of more than a halfdozen people tied to Goldman Sachs who have been tapped for top positions in trumps administration. Reporters are expressing outrage over the state departments decision to allow only one reporter to travel with secretary of state Rex Tillerson on his trip to asia. The only reporter who will be allowed to travel with tillerson is erin mcpike of the conservative news outlet the independent journal review. It was founded by two republican litical consultants. Mcpike has only been working for the outlet for a few weeks, and she doesnt typically even cover the state department. The Justice Department has announced the indictments of two russian spies and two hackers over the 2014 hacking of 500 million yahoo accounts. It is the first time u. S. Criminal cyber charges have been brought against russian officials. In the netherlands, the Prime Minister fought off a challenge from the scene of public far right wing politician Geert Wilders in a closely watched election wednesday. Dutch voters turned out in record numbers. Showingruttes party far more than expected by pundits. With 95 of the votes counted, ruttes centreright Peoples Party for freedom and democracy has won 33 parliament seats. Wilders antiimmigrant, antieuropean union party for freedom, whose slogan was make the netherlands ours again won only 20 parliament seats. This is Prime Minister mark rutte. When thes also a night netherlands, after brexit come after the american elections, has said stop to the wrong time cut of populism. Amy the dutch left party, greenleft, also won big in wednesdays elections, increasing its seats in parliament from 4 to 14. The party is headed by 30yearold yessie klahver, whose father is moroccan and his mother is of indonesian descent. After the election, klahver said to all my leftwing friends in europe dont try to fake the populace. Be prorefugee. Be proeuropean. Were gaining momentum in the polls. And i think thats the message we have to send to europe. You can stop populism. In more news on european elections, frances rightwing president ial candidate Francois Fillon has been formally charged with multiple counts of embezzlement over allegations he gave his wife and two of his children fake jobs as parliamentary aides. He is currently polling third in the race, behind farright wing candidate marine le pen, and former economy minister emmanuel macron. Meanwhile, frances left candidate, jean luc melenchon, who has been compared to bernie sanders, says hes received the 500 endorsements from elected officials required to run in the first round of frances president ial elections on april 23. A United Nations agency published a report wednesday accusing israel of imposing an Apartheid Regime of Racial Discrimination on the Palestinian People. The report was commissioned and published by the u. N. Economic and social commission for western asia, which is comprised of 18 arab states. This is the head of agency rima khalaf. The importance of this report is not only because it is the first of its kind, one that is published by one of the United Nations bodies they clearly and frankly concludes that israel is a racist state, that is an established apartheid system, that persecutes the Palestinian People, but also it sheds light on the essence of the palestinian cause and the conditions needed for a conferencing peace. Amy in response, israels u. N. Ambassador danny danon said the attempt to smear and falsely label the only true democracy in the middle east by creating a false analogy is despicable and constitutes a blatant lie. Meanwhile, palestinian novelist Khalida Ghosheh has been released after Israeli Forces raided her home in East Jerusalem and subjected her to hours of detention and questioning on saturday. The acclaimed novelist says her interrogation centered on her upcoming novel the jackals trap, which deals with palestinian informants working for the Israeli Government in the israeloccupied territories. She was released on bail and is awaiting unspecified future charges. Well have more on israel and palestine later in the broadcast. Cambodias Prime Minister says he will resist a demand by the u. S. Government that cambodia repay a 50yearold loan to a government that came to power through a u. S. Backed coup. Prime minister hun sen said this month the u. S. Is pressuring the International Monetary fund to withhold loans to cambodia unless it repays approximately 500 million in u. S. Loans paid to the lon nol dictatorship, which used the money to buy weapons it used to kill its own citizens. The loans came as the u. S. Government dropped 500,000 tons of explosives on cambodia as part of president Richard Nixons escalation of the vietnam war. In syria, more than 30 people were killed in two suicide bomb attacks in the capital damascus wednesday. More than 100 more people were injured in the attacks on the palace of justice and a local restaurant. No group claimed responsibility for the bombings. This comes as the washington post, citing unnamed u. S. Officials, is reporting the pentagon is considering deploying up to 1000 more u. S. Troops to Northern Syria in the coming weeks. In breaking news from france, at least one person has been injured in an explosion after opening an envelope at the headquarters of the International Monetary fund in paris. States, theunited texas Senate Passed an antilgbt bathroom bill tuesday, which would prohibit transgender people from using public bathrooms that match their gender identity. The legislation, sb6, is similar to north carolinas hb2 bathroom bill, which has caused widespread protests and boycotts of the state. The texas bill now heads to the state house of representatives. And the San Francisco board of supervisors has unanimously voted for legislation aimed at divesting up to 1. 2 billion from banks financing the contested 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Other u. S. Cities, including seattle, alameda, santa monica , and davis, california and , native american nations, including the muckleshoot tribe in seattle, the nez perce tribe in idaho, and the mille lacs band of ojibwe in minnesota, have approved similar divestment legislation. A 70 billion pension fund owned by norways Public Sector employee unions has also announced it will divest from its shares in the Dakota Access linked Companies Energy transfer partners, phillips 66, enbridge , and marathon, citing an unacceptable risk of contributing to serious or systemic human rights violations. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nermeen and im nermeen shaikh. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Just hours before the Trump Administrations new travel ban was set to go into effect, a federal judge in hawaii issued a nationwide halt to the order. And this morning a judge in , maryland also temporarily blocked the travel ban which would have temporarily suspended entry to all refugees and blocked entry to visitors from six majority muslim nations iran, syria, sudan, somalia, yemen, and libya. This is now the second time President Trumps executive order banning refugees and travelers from majority muslim countries have been blocked by the courts. U. S. District judge Derrick Watson in hawaii said evidence exists to show the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion. Amy in his ruling judge watson , cited comments made by trump as well as those of white house aide Stephen Miller and former new york mayor rudolph giuliani. Who said trump originally called it a muslim ban. Speaking in memphis on wednesday, trump criticized the judges ruling. Pres. Trump this ruling makes us look weak. Which, by the way, we no longer are, believe me. Just look at our borders. Were going to fight this terrible ruling. Were going to take our case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court. Trump speakingas in nashville. Last week hawaii became the first state to sue trump over the travel ban. On wednesday, hawaiian governor david ige praised the court ruling. We felt compelled to assure that we will not tolerate discrimination on the basis of National Origin or religion, because that truly goes against the very essence of what makes hawaii a very special place. And so, certainly, we felt compelled to file the lawsuit and are very happy that the court agreed with our position. And make, were joined right now by lee gelernt, the aclu attorney who presented the first challenge to trumps initial travel ban last month. Lee gelernt, welcome back to democracy now talk about these two stays of the ban. First hawaii, and now in maryland. We are extremely pleased. I think we are not surprised because there is so much evidence out there that the primary purpose of this was religious discrimination. And i think the judges rightly saw that and so a few tweaks here or there would not with a said is, this does not illuminate religious dissemination illumina religious discrimination. Said, do not psychoanalyze covering officials. Theres no need to psychoanalyze here. The president stated we want a muslim ban and that is what happens when you say we what religious dissemination, the courts pushed back. Nermeen how common is it to look at statements made in the past . The judge said we played part of his words, that these plainly worded statements which raid the executive orders stated secular purpose. So is it unusual for courts to reference statements made in the past to infer in the present that the intent is the same . Unusual. Not the Supreme Court has made clear you need to look at full context and you cannot just avoid judicial scrutiny by cleaning up in order. You can look at statements what i think is unusual is the president of the United States may these kinds of discredit for statements, but there were so much evidence and so much direct evidence, that normally, most government officials would try to hide it a little. Amy lets go back to donald last night speaking in nashville. Pres. Trump a judge has just blocked our exe

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