Be testifying not republican Governor Rick Snyder, nor flints former unelected emergency manager Darnell Earley. On tuesday, earley announced his resignation from his current job as emergency manager of the detroit Public Schools. Well get the latest. Then Michael Eric Dyson on the black presidency barack obama and the politics of race in america. What is interesting is obama has faced extraordinary levels of obstruction. No other president has been subjected to what he is been subjected to. Used in an incredible he has done an incredible job. On the other hand, his own selfimposed gag order when it comes to race is not benefited the nation or given us the opportunity to see his mind on the issue of race. Amy and who was behind the publication of yesterdays fake New York Times declaring the paper was rethinking its coverage of israel and palestine . You will find out here on democracy now all of that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Officials in texas have reported the first case of zika virus contracted in the United States, saying it was sexually transmitted. If confirmed, it marks the second known case of zika transmission through sexual contact. Zika has continued to spread rapidly across latin america, with chile reporting its first three cases. The mosquitoborn illness, while generally not lifethreatening , has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. The link has raised debates over restrictive abortion laws in countries like brazil, which has seen nearly 3700 suspected microcephaly cases. The World Health OrganizationsAnthony Costello announced the latest steps. We have set up a Global Response unit, which brings together all people across who in headquarters in the regions to deal with a formal response to using all of the lessons we have learned from the ebola crisis. The final results from the Iowa Democratic caucus show Hillary Clinton beating vermont senator Bernie Sanders by just. 2 with 49. 8 of the vote, compared to 49. 6 for sanders. But sanders swept the vote among Young Democratic voters, with 84 of people between ages 17 and 29 choosing sanders versus 14 for clinton. The candidates are now pressing ahead to next tuesdays primary in new hampshire, where sanders holds a doubledigit lead in statewide polls. Activists around the world have kicked off a series of protests over the signing of the Transpacific Partnership trade deal in new zealand, due to take place just hours from now. The tpp encompasses 12 pacific rim nations, including the United States and 40 of the worlds economy. Opponents say it will benefit corporations at the expense of health, the environment, free speech and labor rights. , a maori tribe refused a request to perform at a welcome ceremony for trade ministers, saying that tpp threatened sovereignty. Protesters are planning a nonviolent direct action to blockade the Convention Center in auckland, new zealand where , the signing is due to take place. In bangladesh, a massive fire at a sweater factory has renewed concerns over labor conditions. The factory supplied western retailers h m and jc penney. The blaze injured at least four people but most of the more than , 6000 workers had not arrived yet to work. In 2013, factory collapse in bangladesh killed over 1100 people. In pakistan, a crackdown by Security Forces on striking Airline Workers has killed at these two protesters at the airport in karachi. The workers have been protesting plans to privatize the national airline. The Obama Administration has proposed quadrupling its budget for european operations next year to address russian aggression. Obama reportedly plans to significantly ramp up deployment of heavy weapons to nato countries in central and eastern europe, even as Russian Military activity in Eastern Ukraine has calmed. Defense secretary ash carter also sought a 50 increase in spending on the u. S. Led fight against the selfproclaimed islamic state. Of ourbasic elements Defense Strategy remains valid, it has also been abundantly clear to me over the last year the world has not stood still since then. Versions of il and th resurgce of russia, being just a couple of the examples. This is reflective of a broader strategic transition underway, not unlike those we have seen in history following the end of other major wars. Amy congress is holding its first hearing today on lead poisoning in the water supply of flint, michigan. The crisis began after an unelected emergency manager appointed by republican Governor Rick Snyder switched the source of flints Drinking Water to the corrosive flint river. Flints former emergency manager Darnell Earley refused to testify at todays hearing despite a subpoena. ,on earley announced he was tuesday, resigning from his current position as emergency manager of the detroit Public Schools. Well have more on the story after headlines. Here in new york the family of , Ramarley Graham has held an allnight vigil outside the local Justice Department office to mark four years since the unarmed, africanamerican 18yearold was fatally shot by Police Officer richard haste. On february 2, 2012, haste shot graham inside his home, in front of his grandmother and sixyearold brother. Haste was initially indicted for manslaughter by a grand jury, but the case was dismissed over a prosecutors error. A new grand jury declined to indict him. Since the shooting, haste has received nearly 25,00 in raises. Grahams mother, constance malcolm, spoke outside the Justice Department. We really mean business. We want some answers. This office is the last place that can give us answers to why my son is dead. Amy Ramarley Grahams family has called for the city to fire officer haste. The federal investigation is ongoing. In saudi arabia, a court has overturned the death sentence against palestinian poet ashraf fayadh, instead sentencing him to eight years in prison. Fayadh will also be subjected to 800 lashes to be carried out over 16 sessions and forced to , renounce his poetry publicly. Fayadh had previously been convicted of apostasy and sentenced to beheading, sparking an International Outcry among fellow artists. European officials have unveiled a deal with the United States to allow corporations, including google and amazon, to continue moving user data back and forth overseas. The socalled e. U. U. S. Privacy shield comes after the European Court of justice struck down a prior agreement following revelations of u. S. Mass surveillance from nsa whistleblower edward snowden. The deal includes written u. S. Assurances that intelligence agencies will not have indiscriminate access to european user data. Snowden was among those to criticize the pact, tweeting its not a privacy shield, its an accountability shield. Immigrant rights advocates say an undocumented 32yearold mother of three has been deported from the United States, even though she had been granted a reprieve from deportation under president obamas executive action. Lesly sophia cortezmartinez came to the United States when she was 15. She was granted a reprieve from deportation under obamas deferred action for childhood arrivals program, or daca. Cortezmartinez had reportedly received permission to visit mexico. But Border Agents detained her when she returned to the chicago airport, apparently citing an old deportation order from 2004. She was deported to mexico tuesday with her infant and another one of her children. Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders has expressed concern about a new wave of violence against journalists in mexico. In the Southern State of oaxaca, two journalists have been murdered over the span of two days. Marcos hernandez bautista, a reporter for noticias newspaper who also worked for several radio stations, had reportedly expressed safety fears after reporting on the interests of bosses in the region. The second victim, reinel martinez cerqueda, presented musical programs for a Community Radio station. Both journalists were shot to death. In california, los angeles prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the Southern California gas company over a massive ongoing methane gas leak. The Company Faces misdemeanor charges for failing to report the release of Hazardous Materials from the leak, which has been called the worst u. S. Environmental disaster since the bp oil spill. California attorney general Kamala Harris also sued the gas firm for violating health and safety laws. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, continues to leak more than three months after the breach was revealed. And a new autopsy result shows former nfl quarterback dennis stabler had stage three chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or cte , the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma. Austin University Researchers have found cte and 90 of the 94 former nfl players they examined. Stabler had requested his brain be examined after he experienced cognitive decline before dying after a battle with cancer at the age of 69. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Congress is holding its first hearing today on lead poisoning in the water supply of flint, michigan. The crisis began after an unelected emergency manager appointed by republican Governor Rick Snyder switched the source of flints Drinking Water to the corrosive flint river. Flints former emergency manager Darnell Earley refused to testify at todays hearing despite a subpoena from the u. S. , House Oversight and government reform committee. On earley announced he was tuesday, resigning from his current position as emergency manager of the detroit Public Schools. One person that will be testifying is snyders handpicked appointee to run the state department of Environmental Quality, keith creagh. According to the detroit free press, creagh is expected to fault the federal Environmental Protection agency for contributing to the flint crisis saying it did not display the sense of urgency that the situation demanded. Amy while many michigan residents have called on Governor Rick Snyder to resign over the crisis, he was not asked to testify at todays hearing. Newly discovered emails show michigan officials began trucking clean water to a state building in the city of flint last january, long before admitting to residents the water was poisoned. Progress michigan, which obtained the emails, told mother jones they blow a hole in the governors timeline for when they knew or started to have concerns about flint water. Karen weaver called for the lead contaminated types to be replaced. To talk more about flint and the resignation of detroit Public Schools emergency manager Darnell Earley, who was the emergency manager for flint as the water was contaminated we , are joined by two guests. Thomas stephens is a member of detroiters resisting Emergency Management. Hes an attorney who has long been involved in the Environmental Justice movement. Hes also a member of the National Lawyers guild. And were joined by tawanna simpson, an elected member of the detroit board of education. Before we talk about Darnell Earley who is just left his position as the head of the detroit Public Schools, we are going to turn to Thomas Stephens to talk about these latest developments around flint. A congressional hearing, Darnell Earley, refusing to testify, he was subpoenaed late yesterday. And this news of the Michigan State building getting water more than a year ago this was well before Governor Snyder says they knew there was a problem with the flint water. Talk about the significance of all of this. Good morning, amy. Thank you for having us on. Yes, this story just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more and more shocking. You mentioned a couple of the points. The question i think on everybodys mind is, how could they do this . Once the water started flowing in april 2014 and it was brown and yellow and tasted bad and smelled bad and gay people chemical burns, how could they possibly allow it to continue for 18 months and take no action, and even then, even since then, since october 2015, their action has been perhaps the clumsiest coverup that ive ever seen in my life . And i think it has reached a stage where the governors supporters are trying to narrow the question to, well, who was responsible for the decision to withdraw water from the flint river . For thewas responsible failure to include anticorrosive chemicals in that water . I think it is really important for people as these congressional hearings began and the fingerpointing between the epa the state department of Environmental Quality and the state officials and the Emergency Managers in the local officials in flint Gains Momentum for people to realize there is a wider historical significance in that in the 1990s, when for brief time, it seemed like there might be some relief in the offing from the environment authorities for environmental racism, that there was a president ial order the Clinton Administration early on, Environmental Justice, and there was a draft guidance by the epa i think in the late 1980s that begin the process of responding to this disproportionate and adverse environmental risk and contamination that low income people of color communities in particular are exposed to. It was in flint where with a republican governor, the previous republican governor and his director russell harding, leading the charge, the epa in the state of michigan decided, no, were not going to provide the kind of protection these communities need to have the kind of environment and Public Health that are enjoyed in white communities. In particular, in what is known as the infamous select steel decision, the epa under enormous political pressure from both democrats and republicans in congress threatening to cut their funding, determined they were not going to even apply civil rights analysis. It is a long and complicated story and requires an understanding of how civil rights and environmental regulation intersect. The important thing to realize, this is not the reason why the good explanation for what the Snyder Administration did is unbelievable incompetence is because, this was the policy that clinton place 25 years ago. Juan in terms of policy, this whole issue of water supplies, privatizing water supplies, the switch from the water supply by the detroit water system, talk about the privatization efforts that have been occurring. Sure. Youre in a state were this governor instituted the Emergency Management policy, which is like privatization on steroids. Total privatization of government. In southeastern michigan, we have two water authorities. Andthat is still being the great lakes Water Authority, which has taken over all of the old infrastructure and operations of the detroit water and sewers department. And while these authorities are being created, yet poisoning of the poor people of color communities and mass water shut offs come also in violation of human rights and detroit. What is happening is the resource the very essence of life itself, water, is been privatized and subjected to a corporate bottomline approach that is in violation of the human rights of the most Vulnerable People in the state. Amy a lot has been made or said , the the detroit switch Emergenc