Whistleblower Chelsea Manning. He bowed to speak out against incoming preresident trump if he sees the nations core values at risk. We will look back at obamas legacy with professors Rashid Khalidi and eddie glaude. Then as u. S. Scientists officially declare 2016 to be the warmest year ever, the senanate holds a a confirmatatin hearing fofor epa director nomie scott pruiuitt, a longtime clime change denier. Science tells us the climate is changing. Human activity in some manner impacts of change. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact and what to do about it are subject to continuing debate and dialogue, and well it should be. Amy and we will look at tom price, a critic of the Affordable Care act, medicare, and medicaid, who has been tapped by trump to be secretary of health and human services. He was repeatedly questioned about investing thousands of dollars in a medical device maker shortly before introducing a bill to benefit the company as well as he was asked about his views on medicaid. Did you propose to cut more than 1 trillion out of medicaid over the next 10 years . You have the numbers before you. Is that a yes . Amy all that and more, comiming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today marks president obamas last full day in office. On friday at noon Supreme Court , chief Justice John Roberts will swear in donald trump as the countrys 45th president. On wednesday, obama gave his last press conference as president , during which he warned trump he will not stay silent if he sees what he called the nations core values at risk. Obama also thanked the press and spoke about the role theyve played during his presidency. Pres. Obama having you in this placeng has made this work better. It keeps us honest. It makes us work harder. Howhave made us think about were doing what we do, and whether or not were able to deliver on what has been requested by our constituents. Amy the Incoming Trump administration had proposed moving the press corps out of the white house and instead relocating them nearby to the Old Executive Office building. Trump had to back away from the proposal wednesday, after outrage among members of the press and those concerned about press freedoms. During preresident obamas s fil News Conference wednesday, he also spoke about his recent decision to commute Army WhistleblowerChelsea Mannings sentence. Pres. Obama it has been my view ,hat given she went to trial that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence she received was very disproportional disproportionate relative to what other l leakers had receiv. Amy also on the office of the wednesday, pardon attorney has announced president obamama has denied clemency to imprisoned native american activist leonard peltier. Peltier is a forormer member of the amamerican Indian Movement o was convicted of killing two fbi agents during a shootout on south dakotas pine ridge indian reservation in 1975. He has long maintained his innocence. Amnesty international condemned the decision, saying we are deeply saddened by the news that president obama will not let leonard go home. We will have more on president obamas speech and legacy after the headlines with professors eddie glaude and Rashid Khalidi. Scientists with both nasa and noaa, the National Oceanic and atmospheric administration, have confirmed 2016 was the hottest yearar on record, totopping the previous record set in 2015, which h topped the previous recd only a year earlier. This mararks the first t time in recorded Human History that the earth has smashed previous temperature records three straight years in a row. Scientists with the u. S. National Snow Ice Data Center have also announced global sea ice levels are at their lowest point in recorded hun n history. The unprecedented warming of the planet due to human caused Climate Change comes as Oklahoma Attorney general scott pruitt underwent his confirmation hearing to be the head of the Environment Protection agency. Pruitt has long denied the overwhelming Scientific Consensus on Climate Change. Dozens of people protested outside his hearing. At least three were arrested, including lakota water protector joann spotted bear, who was arrested while in prayer. This is scott pruitt being questioned by vermont senator bernie sanders. Sen. Sanders so you are applying for a job as administrator for the epa to protect our environment, overwhelming majority of scientists a we have gotot to at only, and you were telling me that there needs to be more debate on this issue . Im asking your personal opinion. My personal opinion is immaterial. To the job sen. Sanders you are going to be the head of the agency to protect the environment and your personal feelings about whetherr Climate Change is caused by human activity and Carbon Emissions is immaterial . Senator, i have acknowledged the human impacts sen. Sanders impact. That is the kind of epa administrator you will be, youre not going to get my vote. Amy well have more on pruitts confirmation hearing later in the broadcast. Georgia congressman tom price also testified wednesday before the senate during his confirmation hearing to be the head of health and human services. Price is one of the leading opponents of president obamas Affordable Care act. He supports privatizing medicare, opposes abortion, and has voted to cut all federal funding for planned parenthood. His hearing came only days after cnn reported price invested thousands of dollars in the medical device maker Zimmer Biomet shortly before introducing a bill to benefit the company. Prices legislation sought to delay regulations that would have changed the way medicare pays for hip and knee replacements, thereby cutting into Zimmer Biomets profits. We will have more on congressman tom prices confnfirmation hearg later in the broadcast. Confirmation hearings were also held wednesday for billionaire wilbur ross, trumps pick for commerce secretary. Estimated 2. 9n billion. If confirmed, he will be one of the richest people to ever hold public office. During the hearing, ross admitted he had recently fired an undocumented immigrant who had been working in his home since after rechecking all of 2009 his household employees documentation status. Former South Carolina governor nikki haley also went before the senate for her confirmation hearing to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations. During her hearing, she criticized the u. N. For what she claimed was its bias against israel, and she said she supports trumps plan to move the u. S. Embassy in israel from tel aviv to jerusalem a proposal which has outraged palestinians and much of the world community. More confirmation hearings are slated to take place today, including for former Texas Governor rick perry, who trump tapped to head the energy department. Governor perry famously attempted to propose to abolish ththe energy department, but thn could not remember the agency during a live televised debate in 2011, when perry was running for president. Former g goldman sachshs execute Steven Mnuchin will also go have his confirmation hearing for treasury secretary today. Mnuchin has faced criticism for his role at onewest, a bank which has been called a foreclosure machine that profited from the collapse of the housing market. On wednesday, homeowners who face foreclosure by onewest or its subsidiaries testified at a meeting held by massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. This is 84yearold colleen isonhodroff, who took out a reverse loan with the onewest subsidiary financialal freedom n 2006 on the home she and her husband, monroe, had been living in since 1963. My husband monroe passed us september 12, 2014. A mere 10 days later, despite what we had been told by Financial Freedom contacted me and told me that i needed to pay off the loan immediately. This was news to me. I was in no financial position to do so. Since then, Financial Freedom has been trying to foreclose on me. I think this is an injustice in that an elderly woman was deceived and now Financial Freedom is trying to take my home. I hear that Steve Mnuchin was the leader of the bank that is doing this to me and other seniors. I do not think a man like that should be the treasury secretary and in charge of our economy. Amy speaking about her fight to save her home from foreclosure by a subsidiary of onewest, stephen mnuchins bank. Hearing,todays mnuchin submitted a revised questionnaire which reveals he is the director of Investment Capital international limited, incorporated in the tax haven that came in islands. He admitted he is management post and seven other funds which he claims s he inadvertently failed to include on his f first questiononnaire. Donald trump has announced he is nominated former georgia governor sonny purdue to be secretary of agile culture of agriculture. Perdue ran a grain and fertilizer business before becoming georgias first republican governor since reconstruction. Environmental activists have slammed purdue for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidies that support chemical corporations and factory farming. The Environmental Working Group said its certainly hard to imagine that a former fertilizer salesman will tackle the unregulated farm pollution that poisons our drinking water, turns lake erie green, and fouls the Chesapeake Bay and the gulf of mexico. With perdues nomination, trump has now named all his cabinet choices, which are overwhelmingly white male millionaires or billionaires. If all his picks are confirmed, trumps cabinet will be the first wiwithout a latino member since 191988. More controversies are surfacing about some of trumps other choices for top positions. The Washington Post reports South Carolina republican congressman Mick Mulvaney did not pay 15,000 in taxes for a household worker from 2000 to 2004. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports billionaire wall street investor vincent viola, whom trump has tapped to be army secretary, was accused this past summer of punching a concessions worker in the face at a racehorse auction in saratoga springngs, new york. Hundreds of people danced the night away wednesday at a Queer Dance Party outside Vice President elect mike pences rental home in chevy chase, maryland. The dance party was a protest against the former indiana governors long history of pushing extreme antilgbt legislation. Pence has opposed Marriage Equality and antidiscrimination laws to protect lgbtq people. Native americans and their allies fighting the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline have scored a series of legal victories. The north dakota Supreme Court partially granted a petition that will open the door forr outofstate lawyers to represent the more than 600 people who h have been arrested amid the ongngoing resistance. Also a federal judge rejected wednesday, the Dakota AccessPipeline CompanyEnergy Transfer partners to block the army corps of engineers from beginning a lengthy Environmental Impact statement on the section of the pipeline slated to cross the missouri river. The ruling means the Environmental Impact study will now move forward, indefinitely halting construction of the pipeline. The legal victories came only hours before Late Wednesday night water protectors say , Police Deployed tear gas and rubber bullets against native americans trying to erect a tipi a tepee on backwater bridge, a site of frequent police attacks. The Royal Canadian mounted police say more than a halfmillion dollars of damage was caused after people sabotaged an oil pipeline under construction in northern alberta. Authorities say people used heavy machinery to dig up a section of the contested pipeline. In afrfrica, west africatrtroops are amasassing at gambias bord, poiseded to intervenif president yahya jammeh does not relinquish power today. Incoming President Adama Barrow won decembers elections, but jammeh has so far refused to step down. Hes been in power since 1994 and once vowed to rule for a billion years. The United Nations say more than 25,000 people have fled gambia to neighboring senegal amid the rising tensions. Back in the United States, former president george h. W. Bush and his wife barbara bush are both hospitalized in houston. The 92yearold former president is in stable condition after experiencing respiratory problem stemming from pneumonia. Hes currently the oldest living u. S. President. Barbara bush was hospitalized for fatigue and coughing. In indiana, republican legislators have sparked outrage after introducing a bill that will empower police to remove protesters blocking traffic using any means necessary. Organizers and activists opposed to the legislation have dubbed it the block traffic and you die bill. The bill is being pushed by Indiana Republican senator jim tomes, who has previously pushed other controversial proposals, including one to jail transgender people for using public bathrooms that match their gender identity. In financial news, Jpmorgan Chase will pay 55 million to settle a lawsuit with the Justice Department accusing the bank of discriminating against more than 50,000 homeowners of color between 2006 and 2009. The lawsuit accuses Jpmorgan Chase of violating the Fair Housing Act and equal credit opportunity act. As part of the settlement, Jpmorgan Chase does not have to admit wrongdoing and no bankers are facing criminal charges. And in colombia, human rights defenders Emilsen Manyoma and her husband Joe Javier Rodallega have been assassinated. Manyoma was a leader in bajo calimas Human Rights Organization and has been documenting Human Rights Violations in the region. She first began organizing against the paramilitary control of the region in 2005. She and her husband reportedly received a series of threats in the days leading up to their murders. Last week, three other human rights defenders were killed in colombiaia. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today marks president obamas last full day in office. On friday at noon, Supreme Court chief justice johnhn roberts wil swear in donald trump as the countrys 45th president. On wednesday, in his last press conference as president , obama defended his decision to commute the sentence of Chelsea Manning and condemn the israeli occupation. He also warned trump he will not obama sees what he called the nations core values at risk. Pres. Obama there is a difference between that normal andtioning of politics certain issues or certain moments where i think our core values may be at stake. Category, if i saw systematic discrimination, being ratified in some fashion, i put explicit orgory peoplenal obstacles to being able to vote, to exexercie their franchise. I put in that category institutional efforts to silence dissent for the press. And for me, at least, i would to in that category efforts roundup kids who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American Kids and send them someplace else. Country, love this they are our kids friends and their classmates, and are now entering into Community Colleges , or in some cases, serving in our military, that the notion that we would just return early politics, punish those kids when they didnt do anything wrong themselves. I think that would be something that would merit me speaking out. It doesnt mean that i would get on the ballot anyway. Amy we begin todays show looking back at obamas legacy and what lies ahead with the new administration. We are joined by two guests. Here in new york Rashid Khalidi, edward said professor of arab studies at columbia university. Author of several books. His most recent b