Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240713

This is the problem with issuing test you yourself cannot pass. Candidatesdemocratic held their final debate of the year in n los angeles. Was009, go back and look, i on the opposite side of that with the pentagon. The only reason i can speak to it now is because it has been published. I am the guy from the beginning argued it was a big mistake to surge forces to afghanistan. You are also the guy who helped lead us into the disastrous war in iraq. What we need to rethink is the entire war on terror. Amy we will play highlights from the democratic president ial debate and host a roundtable discussion on what the candidates were asked and not asked, which candidates were included in the debate and which were excluded. We will speak with immigrant rights activist Erika Andiola, investigative or reporter azmat khan, Heather Mcghee, kristen aarke, and alan minsky progressive democrats of america who pushed for the debate to address poverty. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is continuing to delay sending the two articles of impeachment against President Trump to the republicancontrolled senate, as she and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell sparred thursday over her unprecedented move. In a historic vote wednesday, the house of representatives impeach President Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congress. But pelosi then said shed delay sending the charges to the senate until she is certain there will be a fair trial. Majority leader mcconnell has said he is not an impartial juror and has vowed to closely coordinate any impeachment trial with the white house. House lawmakers left capitol hill thursday for a twoweek vacation, meaning the battle over sending the articles of impeachment will continue into the new year. This is house Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking toto reporters thursday. I was not prepared to put the managers and that bill yet because we dont know the arena that we are in. Frankly, i dont care what the rerepublicans i. Amy and this is Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell speaking from the floor of the senate. Some House Democrats imply they are withholding articles. For some kind of leverage. So they can dictate the senate process to senators. I admit im not sure what leverage there is in refraining from sending us something we do not want. Meanwhile, other House Democrats seem to be suggesting they would prefer never to transmit the articles. Fine with me. Amy in more news on impeachment, the influential evangelical magazine christianity today has turned against trump in an editorial. It was founded by billy y graha. It accuseses trumpf f having a grossly immoral character. And on thursday, President Trump met with new jersey Congressmember Jefferson Van drew at the white house after van drew announced he would switch parties and become a republican following his decision to vote against the articles of impeachment against trump. Seven democratic president ial candidates took the stage for a televised debate thursday night at Loyola Marymount university in los angeles. During the debate, the onstage candidates Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, joe biden, Pete Buttigieg, amy klobuchar, tom steyer and andrew yang sparred about immigration, the economy, Climate Change, health care, and education. Meanwhile, off stage, two prominent candidates of color corey booker and Julian Castro ran ads during the debate to remind voters they are still in the race. The Democratic National committee has come under fierce criticism for its debate criteria, which excluded booker and castro from the debate stage thursday. After headlines, well spend the rest of the hour hosting a roundtable discussion and playing highlights of thursdays debate. The Senate Passed a 1. 4 trillion spending package thursday to avoid a government shutdown. The package includes a 738 billion defense bill one of the most expensive military bills in u. S. History. The spending package also includes 1. 4 billion for trumps border wall and allocates 25 million for Gun Violence Research for the first time in 20 years. The house has passed the United States mexico, canada agreement. The usmca. The replacement for nafta for the 1994 north American Free trade agreement. A new deal includes strtronger labor and environment provisions, American Labor groups have backed the deal. This is aflcio Labor Union President richard trumka. It is going to take a a few yearars to begin to reverse the bad d and evil that was done by nafta, the harm that was sent to our economy and to the Manufacturing Sector in our economy, and other sectors as well. It is going to take 8, 10, 12 yeyears for this process to work through and reverse itself. But you never get to the end product if you dont start somewhere. Amy the original agreement took effect in 1994, devastating the livelihood of Small Farmers across mexico. In lebanon, president michel aoun has named a former Education Minister and University Professor as the next Prime Ministerer after massive antigovernment protests forced Prime Minister saad hariri to resign in late october. Hassan diab is a professor at the American University y of beirut who is backed by christian n and shiite political parties, including hezbollah. On thursday, crowds poured into the streets of b beirut and othr cities to protest diabs nominaon. This is Marwa El Bacha in beirut. We are here today because we are not satisfied with the newly imposed Prime Minister that was imposed without our consent, nor the consent of many in lebanon. We went to the streets to make our voice heard. Amy in brazil, the number of People Killed by police is soaring. Last year, the Police Killed an average of 17 people every single day accordingng to officl government data. But human rights activists say offduty and retired Police Officers also regularly carry out t extrajudicial killinings s part of a statesanctioned war on crime stoked by brazilian president jair bolsonanaro, who said criminals should die like cockroaches. In sudan, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets across the country to mark the First Anniversary of the mass Popular Uprising that ousted longtime ruler omar albashir. The protesters demanded justice for those killed during the popular protests last year and vowed to continue the political revolution. This is fatma ali. Thank god the revolution is moving toward the right direction, but there is still more to be done. We are asking about all those responsible. Where are they and why arent they being punished . Those who are correct such as the former president omar albashir. He should not be treated like a president. He belongs on trial at the hague. Amy in Washington State, republicans are calling on their fellow republican lawmaker matt shea to step down after a new report commissioned by the Washington State House Republicans found shea participated in domestic terrorism. The report found shea planned, engaged in, and promoted Armed Conflicts of Political Violence against the u. S. Government between 2014 and 2016 as a leader of the antigovernment patriot movement. The report also says representative matt shea has cultivateded close ties with ard antigovernment militias since being elected in 2008. Shea is resisting calls to resign, writing on facebook thursday night i will not back down. Stand strong fellow patriots. And amazon is facing criticism over its Home Security and smart home product called ring after a data leak exposed the personal information of over 3000 users. The data breach first exposed by Buzzfeed News includes emails, passwords, and camera names, information that would allow potential intruders or voyeurs to access live camera footage from inside every room of peoples homes. The data breach follows criticism over rings cooperation with more than 400 police departments, giving police the ability to use homeowners camera footage in their investigations. In october, a group of 30 civil Rights Groups published a joint letter dememanding lawmakers stp the police partnership, calling it a threat to civil rights and liberties, especially for black and brown communities. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , demomocracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Within a day of President Trumps impeachment, the democratic president ial candidates held their final debate of the year at Loyola Marymount university in los angeles. The debate was almost put on hold when the candidates vowed to boycott it if a labor dispute between a Food Workers Union unite here local 11 and the Company Sodexo was not resolved. On tuesday announced they had reached a tentative contract agreement. The lead up president ial caucuses in iowa just 6. 5 weeks away, candidates traded barbs and jokes such as this exchange after moderator tim alberta of politico asked them to respond to former president obama who recently said women were better leaders and old men needed to get out of the way. Alberta noted senator Bernie Sanders with the was the oldest candidate on stage and then had this exchange with senator Elizabeth Warren. Senator warren, would be the oldest president ever inaugurated. I would also o be the younget woman ever inaugurated. Amy joining senators warren and sanders on stage were senator amy klobuchar, south bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Vice President joe biden, billionaire tom steyer, and andrew yang. This is amna nawaz, the first pakistaniamerican and first muslimamerican to moderate a president ial primary debate, questioning yang about being the only nonwhite candidate on the stage. The Democratic Party relies on black and hispanic, and asian voters that you are the only candidate of color on the stage tonight and the entire field remains overwhelmingly white. What message do you think this since to voters of color . It t is both an honor and disappointment to be the lone candidate of color on the stage tonight. I miss kamala, i miss cory, though i think cory will be back. [applause] i grew up the son of immigrants, and i had many racial epithets used against me as a kid. But black k and latinos have something much more powerful working against them than words. They have numbers. The average net worth of a black household is only 10 that of a white household. For latinos, its 12 . If youre a black woman, youre 320 more likely to die from complications in childbirth. These are the numbers that define race in our country. And the question is, why am i the lone candidate of color on this stage . Fewer than 5 of americans donate to political campaigns. You know what you need to donate to political campaigns . Disposable income. Amy that is president ial candidate andrew yang. Today we host a roundtable discussion on the debate and issues that came up, including immigration, c climate even r the first time, the rights of transgender women of color. Well also look at who and what was left out. And who was and was not on the stage. We begin in washington, d. C. , with Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law. Kristen clarke, welcome back to democracy now your response overall to the debate last night and then this specific point, which was who was not on the stage, candidates of color, harris has pulled out of the race, and of course then cory booker and Julian Castro who were both still president ial candidateses, excludeded from ts debate. The elephant in the room last night during the debate was the fact that virtually all of the candidates of color have been wiped out by the e rules, the restrictions, and the norms governing this process. But for yang. I think this is a moment that requires a pause and have a questionon conversatition abt money dd politics about racially polarized votining patterns in our r country. We have never had a woman serere as president but weve have also never had a person we alalso deserve to have a process that yields a person of color on the ticket. Thatnow, it is very clear white privileged candidates with tremendous amounts of personal wealth enjoy and a Natural Advantage a Natural Advantage in this process. I was glad to see some of the interviewers force the conversation about this very issue. There was a moment where the question was presesented to bere divert a who started to bit and talk about Climate Change and the i interviewer sa, no, im asking you a very explicit question ababout race. We need to make sure that as the slate becomes whiter, were still forcing the conversation about race and racism in our country. And really pushing these candidates to articulate their position on issues that matter to africanamericans in this country. At the end of the day, if we want energized turnout and participation among africanamericans and latinos, we have to make sure the issues that matter to our communities are not wiped out from this debate. We need to make sure this debate is not whitewashed at the end of the day. Amy 2020 president ial candidate new jersey senator cory booker may not have been invited on the debate stage last night, but he did use the debate to run his Televised Campaign ad. Firstit ran on cable in 22 markets, including in the four states that vote in february iowa, new hampshire, nevada and South Carolina as well as in washington, new york, and los angeles, the host city for the debate. The 30second spot is part of a 500,000 digital and Television Ad buy. This is rtrt of. Can affordsure we is . You wl l onlyee this once becaus i anot a billionair iilill not be on tight to be sge but iilill win this electionnynyway. Ththislectioiois not about spend the most who slings the most mud. It is about the ople. It is about as standing tetether anand fitingng tether,r,ot just in beat donald trumpbubut brg abt the transformivive change we need. Join us. I amory book and approve this messa. Inme Kristen Clarke, you got to pay to play. He had to pay to get into that debate. He was the commercial image we the floor debate. Yeah. Yang said he thinks that senator booker will be back. I think it is clear he is not going away. He is findining alternative waws to get his voice out. It really forces us to take a step back and say white is that this debate stage is becoming whiter and more male . I think it should force us to take a step back and look at the rules, the norms, the restrictioions, the unduee influencnce of f money, privile, and p power, and how that is locking out the voices of color from this process. I am happy that senator booker is finding ways to connect with the electorate and get his message out there. But as we go into a new decade, 2020, think about what it will take to o build a a true multirl democracy in our country. We have to be deeply concerned about the fact this stage, as broad as it was, is getting whiter and more am by the day. Amy le last month i comoderator the first ever president ial forum on Environmental Justice at South Carolina university in orangeburg. I asked Elizabeth Warren about the role of the order of the primaries. Injustice,out racial do you think the order of their primary state should change . You have iowa and new hampshire, two of the whitest states in the country, and then we moved to South Carolina with a very significant population of people of color. It means the candidates spend so much of their time catering to those first two states. Overall, do you think i should change . I am just a player in the game. Amy that is Elizabeth Warren responding last month and a president ial forum we held in South Carolina. I wanted to bring Erika Andiola into the debate. She works with the group raice. Can you respond to this issue of the two of the whitest states determining being the first two primary and caucuses . It does not have the case for people of color in many ways. We saw your other guest also is really speaking to the fact that the more and more that we advance through time in the debates and more people of color are left out, i definitely miss julian casastro last time. I missed cory booker. In some ways i disagree a lot with kamala harris, but it is important to see women of color. It was not great to see that sometimes some candidates were asked about issues such as s rae or immigration, criminal Justice Reform did not come up as much. They changed the topic many times or just the topic does not come up at all. We have a huge impact on howow theyre trying to cater to the first states. Most of them spend most of their time in iowa right now, where there is a community the latino community, very Small Community of people of color compared too nevada and other states, but it makes a difference in the way theyre really talking about the issues. Probably at the beginning of the year, they will not talk about immigration or issues that people care about. Amy we spoke to the head of the texas Democratic Party who said he has been trying to hold the president ial forum in texas and the candidates just keep saying, this is particular significant because of how long the lead up to the first primaries and caucuses are, that these candidates say, no, we have to do the first states. Of course, Julian Castro has called for a change in the order. Issuesanted to go to the specifically of immigration come to turn to a clip of senator Bernie Sanders addressing his plans for Immigration Reform. Questionanders, ive a for you. If you can respond to mr. Yangs comments. Immigration question . This isiselated. Ththere arare to be as many as 2 million undocumented immigrants in the u. S. , more than 2 million right here in california. If you have a chance to forge a bipartisan Immigration Reform plan, would you insist on a path to citizenship for all 12 million or just a segment of that population . This is what i would do. Day one, executive order, restore the legal status of 1. 8 million young people in the daca program. Day one, we change border policy so that federal agents will never snatch babies from the arms of their mothers. Day one we introduce bipartisan legislation, which will, in fact, be comprehensive, which will result in a path toward citizenship for all of the 11 million who are undocumented. That is what the people of our country want. Amy that was senator Bernie Sanders answering the question of pbs moderator amna nawaz, the First American muslim to moderate the debate. She also asked former Vice President joe biden if he supports reparations for the children who have been separated from their families at the u. S. Mexexico border. This wasas bidens response. Vice President Biden, do you support reparations . Since i have not spoken on reason number one, the were the country we are is because of immigration. Weve been able to cherry pick the best from every single continent. The people who come here have determination, resilience. They are ready to stand up and work like the devil. We have 24 out of every 100 children in our schools today is hispanic. The idea that we are going to walk away and not provide every opportunity for them is not only stupid and immoral, but its bad for america. They are the future of america and we should invest in them. Everybody will benefit from it, every single american. And you should get used to it. This is a nation of immigrants. Thats who we are. Thats why were who we are. Thats what makes us different. And we should invest in them. Erika andiola amy can youka andiola, respond to both of these issues . Absolutely. I was a first t of all, im reay happy that immigration came out this time around. In the past few debates, the issue did not even come up and if it did, it was very tiny question that did not get much of an answer, as much as we need it. Theuld say bernie is in right direction. I think he is right. Forannot wait to ask conference of Immigration Reform right away, as soon as, hopefully, democratic presidenential candidate w winsd we have a different administration. We dont want them to focus j jt on passing a big bill as soon as they come into office because they cant just can do a lot on day one. He said he will do what he can to change the policies that purrs the trumpet administration has enacted, but also the Obama Administration had in place suppororting millions of people. At the same time, there was immigrant rights organizations outside of the debate pushing for what were calling them migrant justice platform. It is a push for a new direction on immigration that we are not just us talking about passing this big bill as soon as the democrats get elected because obama did that. He promised this really big bill and he also deported a lot of people. We need a new direction. We need day one executive action. Amy it is interesting to point out that december 18, the day President Trump was impeached, was National Migrant day. Protestso outside the come outside the debate yesterday, the immigrants were protesting. That is correct. There were p people who were the toto ask to pressure the Democratic Party to take a new direction on this issue. There has been a lot of conversations about what can we do as a nation with immigrants . I know democrats have a lot to apologize for. I think they should be apologizing, especially joe biden, working in the Obama Administration. Because the fact is what they did of course they give us trump sorry, not trump. Obama gave us daca because we pressured him so much, but a lot of people got deported. Millions of people got deported, and this was a democratic president. We need a promise fromom joe bin and d from other candidate that theyre not going to do the same and theyre going to push for all of the policies trump has enacted right now that has hurt so manyy people to be undone and all of the harm to be undone but also reparations for the children who were separated and make sure we bring back all of the people who work deported unjustly under the Obama Administration and Trump Administration. ,my Erika Andiola of raices thank you for being with us. Were going to look at the issue of war and peace, as we look at the last debate that is taking place this year of the democratic president ial candidates. Stay with us. [music break] amy dont get down by hayden. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On thepend the hour final democratic president ial debate of the year held at Loyola Marymount university in los angeles. Were going to turn right now the pbs moderator who questioned senator warren about Guantanamo Bay. President obama pledged to close Guantanamo Bay but could not. 40 prisoners remain there. Last year u. S. Taxpayers paid 100 540 Million Dollars to keep guantanamo open. Would you pledge to finally closose the detentioion facilit . And if elected, how will you do it . Yes. It is time to close this detention facility. It not only costs us money, it is an international embarrassment. We have to be anan america that lives our values every single day. We cant be an america that stands up and asks people to fight alongside us, as we did with the kurds in fighting isis, and then turn around in the blink of a tweet and say that were turning our backs on the people who stood beside us. After that, who wants to be an ally of the United States . We have to be an america that understands the difference and recognizes the difference between our allies, the people who will work alongside us, and the dictators who would do us harm. And we need to t treat our allis better than we treat the dictators. Vice President Biden why couldnt you c close Guantanamo Bay . You have to have Congressional Party to do it. We in fact, is, think its greatest it is an advertisement for creating terror. Look, what we have done around the world in terms of kekeeping guantanamo open or what what trump has done by no longer being an honest broker in israel, theres no solution for israel other than a twostate solution. It does not exist. Its not possible to have a jewish state in the middle east without there being a twostate solution. And he has played to all the same fears and all the prejudices that exist in this country and in israel. Bibi netanyahu and i know one another well. He knows that i think what hes doing is outrageous. What we do is, we have to put pressure constantly on the israelis to move to a twostate solution, not withdraw physical aid from them in terms of their security. Amy that was Vice President joe biden being questioned by the pbs moderator. Were joined right now by azmat. Han an awardwinning investigative reporter, a New York Times magazine contributing writer, and a future of war fellow at the new america foundation. Her investigations into u. S. Wars have taken her to iraq, afghanistan, pakistan and syria. Can you respond to everything from the israelpalestine conflict to guantanamo . This question about guantanamo is one that was big in the 2008 election. We have heard little talk about guantanamo in recent years. That is because the american public, largely believes that the u. S. Is no longer involved in the detention of socalled terrorism suspects. And the reality is very different than that. While there are a few people left in guantanamo and the United States is struggling with what to do with them, the reality is someone is writing presents that the u. S. No longer maintains and countries like iraq and syria and in places like afghanistan. And that is the u. S. Is now relying on partner government come on allied governments come on partner forces, for example kurds in syria, are running these prisons and holding the suspects. In torture and abuse are widespspread inn some of these prisons. We may not be talking about it, you may not be in agenda issue, the detainee and torture and policy related to that should be a major issue for candidates to be talking about because it is something that continues to happen and is not being discussed particicularly with respect to isis. Withand syria are filled rawling prprisons. Some of them include karen. Families who have been accused of involvement in isis. Theres been little discussion about what to do with them. If you look at recent historory, we know these have had devastatingg c consequences, ofn serving as incubators for groups like isis. Theres very little discussion about what to do with them. Particularly when it comes to the repatriation of isis fighters who came from western countries. The u. S. Needs clear policies and it is not something candidates are talking about. This discussion about it has been relegated to guantanamo and if you prisoners, but it is much bigger than that. And the torture discussion rereally warrants serious debat. Amy and israelpalestine, and overall your assessment of the questions asked last night on these issues . These questions came up briefly and there were some answers. With the israelpalestine question, Bernie Sanders said we dont need to just be proisrael, we need to be propalestinian as well. Biden came forward to say he criticizes netanyahu and what he is doing and there needs to be a twostate solution, but what that actually would turn into, there were very few specifics. There is not much to dig into here when it comes to what a real policy forward would look like, what kind of pressure that biden said needed to be put on israel. What does that pressure actually look like . Particularly when he said the military or security aid should not be off the table. You need to really illustrate what the pressure points are, and he did not actually do that. Amy i want to turn to afghanistan. Last week the Washington Post published confidential documents that revealed for years senior u. S. Officials misled the public about the war in afghanistan. I want to turn to a clip of pbs moderator r and on arras questioning joe biden about whether he withheld information about the war during his time as Vice President under president obama in the white house. Was about your time in the white house. Im talking about the white house. In that report, senioior natitional security official sad there was constant pressure from the Obama White House to produce figures showing the troop surge was working, and im quoting from the repeport here, despipe hard evidence to the c contrary what do you say y to that . Since 2009, go back and look. I was on the opposite side of that with the pentagon. The only reason i can speak to it now is because its been published. Its been published thoroughly. Im the guy from the beginning who argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to afghanistan, period. We should not have done it. And i argued against it constantly. Senator sanders, you had your hand up. Well, in all due respect to my joe, joe, youre also the guy who helped lead us into the disastrous war in iraq. What we need to do is, i think, rethink and the Washington Post piece was very educational what we need to rethink is the entire war on terror. We have lost thousands of our own men and women, brave soldiers. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people have been killed abroad or forced to leave their countries. It is time right now that we bring this world together to try to end these endless wars and address the root causes which are causing these wars. Amy that is senator Bernie Sanders and before that, former Vice President joe biden. Here was bidend refer back to an effort he made in 2009 to promote something that is referred to as the biden plan for as the zero option, this idea that he argued for against the advice of military generals that the united should scale back its footprint. These Ground Troops in afghanistan, focus more exclusively on Counterterrorism Operations and u. S. Special forces. It is something he push for a did not win back in 2009. He failed to do that. He says this is the kind of approach he wowould bring now bt there is a massive misconception here. This implies that somehow were operations would decrease. The reality is that most combat operations today are conducted not by Ground Troops, their actually conducted via airstrikes. There have been more bombs dropped in afghanistan when u. S. Troop levels have been lower than they were at their surge in 2011. In 2011, we saw 5000 around 5000 bombs dropped in afghanistan. In 2018 when troop levels are at some of their lowest, we saw more than 7000 bombs dropped come and the same with this year, we have seen that escalated. What there is an even any kind of in zero option would have included was an acceleration and a pace of airstrikes. These airstrikes have devastating consequences on civilians. More civilians have been killed in the war in afghanistan this year than in any year of u. S. History in this work come in these 18 years of war. What were seeing is a reality in which there is a belief, a mistaken belief that ending the work comes down to removing troops on the ground. When the reality is, most of these wars are being carried out via airstrikes. And whoever these candidates are who are trying to shape or talk were hearingta a lot of, ending endless war, well need to have a specific policy when it comes to airstrikes not just about Ground Troops. That is an erroneous misconception that comes up again and again. It is interesting because we heard sanders as well talk about ending endless wars. If you look at the Foreign Policy statements of each of these democratic candidates, they are more or less in a similar vein with one exception, and that so far has been sanders who i think in june issued a sort of lengthy piece on ending endless warars and foreign affas and which he sort of set up spelled out what it would take to get there and distinguish them from any of the other candidates on stage. None of whom have really articulated a clear vision on what itt would take to end in te source. Amy cnn just released a poll that said it is Bernie Sanders who is the most Popular Democratic president ial candidate right now. But on this issue of his challenge to biden, you had biden together with senator clinton who voted to authorize the iraq war back in 2002, the vote for authorization. Right. Bidensook at what statements, he is oscillating in describing what is thinking was at the time. There are many who voted to for the iraq war who have come back and said, i dont think i made the right decision, we did not have the right information stop is one where there is a lot of political leeway in expressing regret. The Afghanistan War vote has not had that same kind of regret. Regret. It was interesting here sanders i last at that was a vote he regretted. That was far less controversial, that were about. Amy interesting to go back to the one person who said no, anad that was barbara lee. Exactly. She is the one person who said no who is now being talked about by these other candidates for that vote. It is coming up in the context of a reconsider relation reconsidering of the authorization for the use of military force. This is something that Pete Buttigieg brought up last time. He said that he was reflecting on his war experience, saying im surprised it has gone on for this long. I would propose a three year limit on these kinds of these authorizations for force. And the implication here that he is making is had there been some kind of a three year limit in which congress would have to revote on the war in afghanistan, maybe we would not be in that word today. I dont think that stacks up with reality. If you look at congressional leaders, if you look at senators, congressional leaders on the Afghanistan War, it has been relatively bipartisan when it comes to an understanding of troop levels, when it comes to an understanding of what the United States should be doing in the country. The only real shakeup we have seen when it comes to that war has been under the Trump Administration as the United States pursued negotiations with the tataliban. So i dont think while it may be worthy to reconsider the amf and hear c candidates talk about it, to assume that would have ended the Afghanistan War, i think is a mistake. Amy i want to thank you, azmat , investigative reporter, a New York Times magazine contributing writer, and a future of war fellow at the new america foundation. Her investigations into u. S. Wars have taken her to iraq, afghanistan, pakistan and syria. Currently writing a book about americas socalled precision airstrikes. She mentioned Pete Buttigieg. We will hear him and Elizabeth Warren spar over who pays for gate, youates, wine might say. Stay with us. [music break] amy crossbones style by cat power. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the wawar and peace report. Im amamy goodman. As we spend d e hour on n the democratic president ial debate in los angeles thursday night, the last one of the year. One of the most heated exchanges of the evening came when senator Elizabeth Warren criticized south bend mayor Pete Buttigieg for holding a closeddoor fundraiser in what she called a wine cave. The mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served 900 a bottle wine. Think about who comes to that. According to forbes magazine, i am literally the only person on this stage who is not a millionaire or a billionaire. Is important. Thisis important. This is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. I do not sell access to my timeme. Amy i want to bring heather ,cghee into this discussion distinguished senior fellow and former president ofdemos. Memeis going to become the of the night. Can you talk about the significance of what Elizabeth Warren raised and also what Pete Buttigieg raised, that i am the only nonmillionaire billionaire on this stage tonight . That was probably the strongest way to deflect from what is a major issue. And it is a major issue, this question about how these candidates are running their campaign, who they are giving their ear who has got and therefore what shape it will have on the policymaking. Mayor pete try to make the point that Elizabeth Warren started out her career of politics by doing the same kind of fundraising that everybody else does. The only difference here that i think senator warren did not actually say this, but if you think about who these two people are, senator warren came into politics and it was very clear what her values were. She came into politics on the heels of the financial crisis, standing up to the Consumer Financial protection bureau, Holding People like jamie dimon and Timothy Geithner accountable. Is more of ag cipher. He is someone who a lot of different people, including lot of billionaires, think this is the kind of moderate we can get behind, this is the kind of moderate maybe we can influence. So that is really the question, right . Amy he also raised, although she is think she is not having a closeddoor big fundraiser that she donor calls, only recently made that decision and that she was able to take her Senate Finance has, the money she raised doing just that, and move it into her president ial campaign. You saw later on she had to and davidith cnn axelrod try to pin her on this. She said basically, this is the question of not a purity test, but people in america want to see that you are trying. I think what she was trying to say is that she is trying to influence the way democrats are running their campaigns now on the biggest skill of the campaign shes ever done. And the question is policy. It is very different for Elizabeth Warren to come out and say, i want a wealth tax, i want to fundamentally breakup Big Companies versus pete who is saying, isaac medicare for all goes too far, i think free college goes too far. That is the issue. That did not land in the debate, but it is very different for someone who still have closeddoor fundraisers, still raising for billionaires, who is also being soft on economic inequality for amy i want to bring alan minsky into this discussion. Aser senator warren as well Pete Buttigieg sparred over this issue of donors, were going to go to a clip right now, after they sparred over big dollar donors, sanders weighed into. Maybem rather proud, billy candidate up here that doesnt have any billionaire contributions. You know what i do have . We have received more contributions from more individuals that any candidate in the history of the United States of america at this point in an election, averaging 18 a piece. Now, theres a real competition going on up here. My good frieiend, joe, and he ia good friend, hes received contributions from 44 billionaires. Pete, on the other hand, hes trailing, pete. You only got 39 billionaires contributing. So, pete, we look forward to you. I know youre an energetic guy and a competitive guy to see if you can take on joe on that issue. Amy so joining us now from los angeles with Heather Mcghee is alan minsky, executive director of the progressive democrats of america. His latest piece in the nation is headlinined the democratic president ial debate must address poverty. What is your grade for them last night, alan . Obviously, a straight f. Theyve received that now through six rounds of debate and eight total debates. The word poverty has yet to be mentioned by a moderator. This is not a matter of semantics. I went through all of the previous debate transcripts and anded for the words poor poverty and homeless those quote and only poor has been mentioned by any of the moderators. The only other time that poor was mentioned is when Anderson Cooper asked joe b biden if his son had poor judgment. It is the reality of the lives of tens of millions of american. There are 38 Million People below the level of poverty that is that at such a ridiculously low lelevel that you really have to consider people at t the Poverty Level or near the Poverty Level. In the u. S. Right according to the latest statistics, that is 40 of the population a and yet there is no consideration about poverty issues, the lives of the poor, and in los angeles, california, i really thought this would be broken last night a poll in the Los Angeles Times in 2019, just 35 days ago, they ranked homelessness far and away the top issue facing them. There is an epidemic of homelessness. To come to los angeles, no reference to that that was an incredible feeling. Not unexpected. Amy despite not qualifying for the debate, 2020 president ial candndidate Julian Castro was in los angeles this week. On wednesday, he toured las skid row. He tweeted last night how in the world do we just have a president ial debate in los angeles, the epicenter of a National Housing and homelessness crisis, without a single question about housing opportunity . Your response . Castro gly, julian a few of them have brought up poverty and the poor and homelessness across the debates. And going back to the earlier conversation with the first guest on todays show, cory booker and Julian Castro were two of the candidates that brought up poverty and homelessness in previous debates. Elizabeth warren and Bernie Sanders have not. Last night, Pete Buttigieg, i was on most left wondering if he read my article, he spoke specifically about how he made reference to the fact that, basically, political advisers will tell candidates not to mention the word poverty. Youre supposed to talk about the middle class. This was the lives of basically half the population in the u. S. Under erasure. Issues aroundlex how we have got to the situation, where there are 70 homeless people, so many People Living and dire poverty in the United States. I did not have the democratic candidate answer questions about what the programs would become a with her policies, is a tremendous failure in it really goes toward a host of these debate and i think the Democratic National committee because they sort of set the framing for the debates. This is a longstanding thing that has gone on in Democratic Party politics from the age of reagan over where it is viewed as a losing issue to talk about poverty. I think it is time, specially in likea in which canadas Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have really painted a picture of the American Economy not working for the average household. What are those households experiencing . Poverty or fear of poverty and all the way to fear of homelelessness. There is a real consideration in their lives that puts incredible stress on people. I do want to say this, too. When people talk about emotional issues in American Society and in the world, people just now talk about homelessness as effective american life. Just how traumatic this experience is for the people who go through homelessness. In Southern California and across the country, it is so profound. There is no consideration of this by the political class, and there is so much dimension to how this needs to be addressed, how poverty needs to be addressed. We need to hear from the people who o want t to be the presidenr ththe united, particularly from the Democratic Party, about these issues and it is just crickets. We hear nothing from the moderators. No asking for details on these issues. Amy Heather Mcghee, you have long written about and been an activist around the issue of inequality. What about the stance of the democratic and republican establishment on this . And also, last night Climate Change was addressed, but Climate Justice this whole idea of who is affected the most, both by climate, pollution, environmental etc. . Ice, this issue is the defining issue of our times. The issue of inequality. Inequality, which is created by inequality in our democracy, and that inequality of voice is the major thing stopping our country from acting in our own best interest to save the planet and create Economic Transformation that could be huge for our childrens generation and could be huge right now. These inequalities that compound on one another, some people talk about it in terms of corruption. The idea that just a handful of fossil fuel companies could have a vice grip on an entire political party, which is ically changing the planet planetary course of history. Of idea that the inequality voice is making it so that you have got half of American Families who are living paychecktopaycheck, who are under threat of homelessness, who are seeing jobs have to be sorted added together and are absolutely vulnerable to pretty much every major cost childcare, health care, housing, transportation a carburetor could put you into homelessness if it breaks on your card. These this is the kind up or carry that we have been waiting for for a long time. Activist have been pushing for a long time to the democratic amy governoran inslee call for debate specifically on the Climate Crisis is of the Democratic Party at least, the d c, cast themselves specifically against that and simply said no. It was really unbelievable. What could be more important than talking about the way our current politics and our current economy are unsustainable for the planet . This idea of agree new deal has shot heart and light into the climate debate in this country. You have young people getting tattoos that say i am generation gnd. This is something that is managed to capture the imagination of millions of people all over the world. But it is an old idea. It is an idea rooted in Economic Justice will stop the idea that the people who have been first in line for pollution should be the first in line for the Economic Transformation that is to come. Amy i want to go to a first time issue raised in terms of the moderators, that is the violence against transgender women of color brought up for the first time by moderator last night. Candidatesindo asked how they as president would protect trans lives, and this was senator warrens response. The transgender commumunity s been marginalized in every way possible. And one thing that the president of the United States can do is lift up attention, lift up their voices, lift up their lives. This is a promise i make. I will go to the rose garden once every year to read the names of transgendeder women, of people of color, who have been killed in the past year. I will make sure t that we readd their names so that as a nation we are forced to address the particular vulnerability on homelessness. I will change the rules now that put people in prison based on their birth sex identification rather than their current identification. I will do everything i can to make sure thatat we are an amera that leaves no one behind. Amy we have less than 30 seconds. Heather mcghee . This is a clear contrast between the republicans and democrats. The democrats ran on right to ran on the republicans making sure that transgender children had to go to the wrong bathroom. To where we began with Kristen Clarke Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law, as impeachment happened this week, as the debate happened, you still have Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell pushing through 11 Federal District court judge nominations, the significance of the changing of the federal court . The biggest issues i think of the trumump era and one that we will be wrestling with for decades, President Trump, with the complicity of senator mcconnell, has managed to transformm the judiciary by appointing judges, one, who do not reflect the diversity of our country, two, who use need a logical position that are extreme and outside the legal mainstreream, and, three, judges that are destroying Public Confidence in the courts ability to be fair and independent forms to resolve some of the greatest crises that we face in the country. I think what this is this is going to be one of the top issues must have amy we have to leave it there. Th sami weelcome to pararanambu, bbrazil. Brazil, the land of samba, football, and beautiful people. But theres more to this place than the carnival in rio or the rainforests. Im traveling to a lesser known region, at least from the Western Point of viewthe northeast state of paranambuco. The last time i was here was in 2008. I got me a bunch of albums, local stuff. On the plane, after reaching cruising altitude, i ordered cachaca on the rocks and slammed in the earbuds. The music had me flying even higher. It was a traditional paranambuco sound fused with rock, funk, hip hop, and reggae. It was something compmpletely openminded and