The government should be doing more, honestly. Theyre not doing enough. And they have failed because this is a natural disaster. It is a national disaster. Amy hundreds of protesters condemn the governments handling of last weeks devastating Apartment Fire that has killed at least 79 people. We will get the latest in london. Than more from naomi klein on no is not enough. All of that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Republican Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell is scheduled to release the senates plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care act today, pushing for a rapid vote ahead of the july 4 holiday on a bill that was crafted in secret. A drug versions are given to do yesterday, seen by the Washington Post from the resembling a house bill that passed narrowly last month. It would see draconian cuts that would slash medicaid, the federal Health Program covering lowincome and disabled americans, even more than the house bill, thgh over a longer period of time. The bill was crafted by 13 republican men in closeddoor session. On tuesday, three Democratic Senators visited the Congressional Budget Office demanding to see a copy of the bill as the cbo works to score the legislation to predict its impact on Health Insurance coverage and the u. S. Economy. Meanwhile, President Trump visited cedar rapids, iowa, winston for campaignstyle event and it promoting the republican push on health care. The rally was interrupted by. Rotesters during the address, the president defended his cabinet, by far the wealthiest cabinet in history, including billionaire commerce secretary wilbur ross. Pres. Trump and i love all people, rich or poor, but in those particular positions, i just out one a poor person. Does that make sense . Amy through public and National Committee compiled the republican National Committee compiled a vast trove of data detailing personal information on virtually every u. S. Voter, and then left the information unsecured on the open internet for nearly two weeks earlier this month. Thats according to the Internet Security firm upguard, which reports the rnc gathered more than a petabyte of data or more than one quadrillion bytes of information on 198 million voters addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and social media posts. The data was compiled by the republican firm deep root analytics on behalf of the rnc, and included socalled advanced sentiment analyses of voters views on hotbutton issues like gun rights, health care, and abortion. Upguard discovered the data was available for download from june 1 to the june 14, meaning it could now be in the possession of hackers, foreign governments or identity thieves. In newly released video, two military psychologists who helped devise the bush administrations Interrogation Program defend their roles in helping the cia torture detainees in u. S. Custody. On wednesday, the New York Times published video depositions of James Mitchell and bruce jessen, who were questioned over torture as part of a lawsuit brought by the aclu on behalf of several former prisoners. This is James Mitchell being asked about his support for the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding. You thought waterboarding was a bad a painful thing, right . I thought it could be done safely. I thought he would be uncomfortable. It sucks. I dont know that it is painful. It is distressing. Us on interview with you with someone being breaking the leg and being waterboarded, you said most People Choose having their leg broken. Do remember that . No. Amy the videos release came as the Associated Press reported that hundreds of accused terrorists have been swept up in a secret network of prisons in yemen, where u. S. Military officials participated in interrogations where torture is routine and extreme. The ap reports one method called the grill involved tying detainees to a spit and rotating them over flames like a rotisserie chicken. The pentagon acknowledged the report, but denied any knowledge of human rights abuses. In south sudan, the United Nations says parts of the country are no longer under a famine, but that the country remains in crisis with some 6 million residents remaining severely food insecure. This is james elder, a spokesperson for unicef. It no with the latest data people, one inin two of every south sudanese, a struggling to find food every single day. Amy the group Famine Early Warning Systems Network warned wednesday that conflict and drought fueled by Climate Change have left an unprecedented 81 Million People needing food aid in 2017. The u. N. Warns three countries remain at risk of famine somalia, nigeria, and yemen, where a massive cholera epidemic has added to residents misery amid a u. S. Backed, saudiled bombing campaign. We will have more on yemen after the headlines. In the gaza strip, egypt trucked an emergency supply of diesel fuel to gazas only power plant wednesday after israel further restricted the amount of electricity it provides to the palestinian territory. The restrictions limited most residents to just two to three hours electricity, and compounded the misery of nearly 2 million gazans as summertime temperatures soar. The power cuts left homes dark, spoiled food in refrigerators, and led to the release of raw sewage into the mediterranean. Meanwhile, President Trumps soninlaw and senior adviser, jared kushner, visited israel and the occupied west Bank Wednesday in a short, irlwind visit the white house said was aimed at reviving middle east peace talks. Kushner was warmly welcomed in jerusalem by israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu before traveling to ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority president mahmoud abbas. Kushners visit came a day after israeli bulldozers broke ground on a new jewishonly settlement in the occupied west bank. A spokesperson for president abbas condemned the construction as a violation of international law. Resumption of these activities is a clear message to the American Administration and. He efforts of President Trump the american envoy is already in the area. Willrow, president abbas be receiving him. This is an obstacle to the efforts of President Trump to resume the peace process. Amy Jared Kushners israel trip came as democratic Congressmember Elijah Cummings demanded to know why kushner still has a toplevel security clearance after he failed to report dozens of contacts with foreign leaders on his application, including russian leaders. Meanwhile, Chinas Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the Chinese Government has invited kushner and his wife, President Trumps daughter ivanka trump, to beijing later this year for an official visit. The invitation came as the guardian reported ivanka trumps brand continued to order shoes from a factory cited for labor abuses two months after the company claimed it had halted contracts with the manufacturer. The guardian report comes as three chinese activists with the group china labor watch continue to be imprisoned after they were arrested while investigating Labor Conditions at the shoe factory. In wisconsin, a jury in milwaukee acquitted a former Police Officer wednesday of charges of reckless homicide for shooting and killing 23yearold africanamerican resident sylville smith. Body cam video showed smith fleeing from thenofficer dominique heagganbrown after a smith wasop before shot in the arm, smith had a gun, but the video shows he threw the weapon away and had his hands on his head when he was killed. The killing sparked an uprising last summer that saw Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker call out the National Guard after local residents set fire to police cars and several local businesses. In minnesota, new video shows the fouryearold daughter of Diamond Reynolds consoling her heartbroken mother, whos handcuffed in the back of a Police Squad Car minutes after Saint AnthonyPolice OfficerJeronimo Yanez shot and killed her boyfriend philando castile. The video from last july shows reynolds mourning castiles death and cursing, before her daughter daeanne begs her to stop, saying, i dont want you to get shooted. Cussing because i dont what you to get shooted. Amy the release of the footage given day after Police Dashcam video was made public for the first time, showing officer yanez fired his gun seven times within moments of approaching Philando Castiles car. Last friday, officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter. In arizona, prisoners at a notorious openair jail known as tent city have remained sleeping under thick canvas tents this week, even as a recordsetting heat wave has pushed temperatures to nearly 120 degrees fahrenheit. Some 380 prisoners are housed at the jail outside phoenix under a socalled Work Furlough Program employing them in day jobs under , supervision. Many of the jobs invve outdoor manual labor. At night, prisoners return to tent city, where overnight temperatures this week bottomed out around 90 degrees. Tent city has drawn condemnation from International HumanRights Groups who say housing prisoners in outdoors in the desert is tantamount to torture. Sheriff paul penzone promised in april to close tent city, which has housed as many as 1700 prisoners at a time. In the gulf coast, Tropical Storm cindy made landfall in southwestern louisiana this morning as forecasters warned the storm could bring up to a foot of rain and deadly flash flooding in places. Cindy was blamed for at least one death in alabama on wednesday. The storms landfall comes just a day after the senate voted overwhelmingly to approve former alabama emergency manager brock long as head of fema the federal Emergency Management agency. His confirmation came more than 150 days into trumps presidency and three weeks into this years hurricane season. President trump has yet to name administrators to nasa and noaa two agencies that play a major role in tracking storms and Climate Change. And in detroit, michigan, a judge has dismissed all charges against water rights activists known as the homrich 9, finding they were denied their right to a speedy trial after prosecutors spent nearly three years pursuing misdemeanor Disorderly Conduct charges against them. In july of 2014, the activists peacefully blockaded a facility run by the contractor homrich, which was hired by detroit to cut off the water to thousands of homeowners who were behind on their bills. The shutoffs came as the city more than doubled the price of water over a decade, and as detroit suffered through what was then the largest municipal bankruptcy in u. S. History. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We begin today in saudi arabia, where king salman has deposed his nephew as crown prince and replaced him with his son, Mohammed Bin Salman bin abdulaziz, who is now first in line for the throne. Mohammed bin salman currently serves as defense minister and has been presiding over the devastating u. S. Backed saudiled war in yemen. In response to the news, the huffington posts Foreign Affairs reporter Akbar Shahid Ahmed tweeted this is huge. Man he is replacing was against qatar crusade yemen war. Saudi is doubling down on its most controversial actions. Last month, President Donald Trump signed a series of arms deals with saudi arabia totaling a record 110 billion during a visit to riyadh. The arms deal includes tanks, artillery, ships, helicopters, Missile Defense systems and cybersecurity technology. United nations monitors have warned previous saudiled attacks on yemen could constitute crimes against humanity. More than 10,000 people have died amid the ongoing u. S. Backed saudiled war in yemen, which has also destroyed yemens health, water, sanitation systems, sparking a deadly cholera outbreak. The United Nations warns some 19 million of yemens 28 Million People need some form of aid, with many of them at risk of famine. For more, were joined by kristine beckerle, the yemen and uae researcher for Human Rights Watch. She was in yemen earlier this year. Human rights watch in the Associated Press have just revealed the existence of a secret network of prisons in southern yemen were prisoners are tortured. Were going to begin. We are going to begin with the change, the shakeup in saudi leadership. Explain the significance of the king now replacing his nephew with his son as crown prince. So i think when i saw the news yesterday, my first feeling was of surprise and my second feeling was of dread because my interaction with the idea of Mohammed Bin Salman has been to the war in yemen. He was the deputy crown prince and the defense minister, so he was the official responsible for the ongoing military campaign in yemen. It is not just because he was the defense minister, but because when people talk about the war in yemen, they talk about Mohammed Bin Salman and now he has been the driver of this war. Amy he is very young. He is 31. A kid, basically. When you talk about what is going on in yemen, you look at the actions of saudi arabia and its coalition, it is hard to see a plan or strategy but easy to see devastation. Efm in, cholera, and repeated have famine, you color, and repeated war crimes. When you say youre going to give this person more power and reform,n him commit to but marred by numerous abuses and the new u. S. Administration, donald trump, court this young prince and say in his first trip abroad that he is going to go and sell the saudis 110 billion worth of arms, i think the question now becomes with this new power, is mohammed bin iman going to say, ok, now going to push rights reforms or are we going to see more of this reckless and dangerous and destructive policies we have been seeing out of saudi . Amy and the crown prince you replace, the kings nephew . Many was implicated in abuses because he oversaw the interior ministry. s interior ministry has been, for a long time, sort of a centerpiece of prosecutions of dissidents, of these sorts of things, abuse in detention facilities. The idea the hope would be with the replacement, saudi would take an opportunity to push reforms but the question is, is Mohammed Bin Salman, a man we have not seen Committee Human rights reforms and reforms needed in yemen or at home, going to do those things . Talk about what is happening in yemen right now and the significance of this arms deal that President Trump made with saudi arabia against saudi arabia, the first foreign country that he visited as president of the united states. One of the reasons why we have we talk about arms deals is not simply because of the fact of the arms deals, but the signal it ends. Donald trump going to reodd saying in a speech he praises saudi arabias strong action in yemen, not mentioning Human Rights Concerns and then saying, by the way, years another 100 10 billion were the arms, since a pretty clear message keep doing what youre doing, keep carrying out war crimes and devastating yemeni civilian populations and we will still give you weapons. It is significant not only because u. S. Should care the way its weapons are being used in yemen, because it exposes the u. S. And u. S. Officials to legal liability for aiding and abetting Coalition War crimes in yemen. Human rights watch has already found remnants of weapons produced seven months after the start of the war, after violations were clear at the site of an entirely unlawful attack that killed over 30 civilians and now were saying, dont worry, here are some or weapons you might really use in the war in yemen. It is significant for yemenis and those exposing themselves to legal liability potentially. Amy talk about how devastating the situation is in yemen. Describe ind to words, to be frank. You have what